NON-SUPPORT OF DOS

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Guest

I recently purchased a new PC with Windows XP Home
Edition. It doesn't have DOS capabilities and I have many
DOS programs written in QBasic. What's the best solution
to this problem? Anything short of re-programming
everything in a language supported by XP?? And if re-
programming is the best solution, what language is the
closest to Qbasic? Is PERL a compatible and easy to use
language?
Thank You,
J B Waskom
(e-mail address removed)
 
Windows XP (Home and Professional) are not based on MS-
DOS and do not have
the option of booting to MS-DOS mode.
There is a command prompt available and various
additional compatibility
settings, but the ability to run an old MS-DOS only
program is not
guaranteed.

To get "Command Prompt" (DOS) options:

Open Command Prompt window:
Start -> All programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt
Type "help | more" (no quotes)
Press Enter key

That's the words "help" - vertical bar (Shift+\) - "more"
 
Keep your old DOS based computer to run the DOS programs. A machine that
will run XP will run DOS 6.22 extremely fast but it is overkill. You also
probably won't find DOS drivers for the sound card and much of the other
equipment in the system that requires drivers.

You can also partition your C: drive into a less than 2 GB partition for DOS
and dual boot the computer using a boot manager. This would give you the
ability to use XP on the larger partition. DOS wouldn't be able to access
the larger partition.
 
-----Original Message-----
I recently purchased a new PC with Windows XP Home
Edition. It doesn't have DOS capabilities and I have many
DOS programs written in QBasic. What's the best solution
to this problem? Anything short of re-programming
everything in a language supported by XP?? And if re-
programming is the best solution, what language is the
closest to Qbasic? Is PERL a compatible and easy to use
language?
Thank You,
J B Waskom
(e-mail address removed)
.
Click to expand...
 
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE ANSWER TO MY PROBLEM. I
LOADED MY OLD QBASIC PROGRAMS ONTO THE "C" DRIVE AND
FOLLOWED YOUR INSTRUCTIONS AND EVERYTHING WORKS GREAT.
THANKS AGAIN.
J B WASKOM
 
David B. said:
That's not DOS, it's a command prompt, 2 entirely different things.
Click to expand...

If it looks like DOS and it acts like DOS and it runs DOS applications
............


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
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