PFS First Choice (yes there are STILL some people who use it) andVista

N

None

First of all I'm wondering how many readers here have even heard of PFS
First Choice. For you kids who haven't, it's an ancient office suite
(word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation and
communications-as in computer-to-computer dialup!) that ran on MS-DOS
and the early versions of Windows. My first computer (8088 processor,
MS-DOS 3.3, two 5 1/4" floppy drives, no hard disk) came with it, and
I've been using it ever since. Don't ask why.

Anyway, I've moved up over the years to a MacBook Pro on which I'm
running Vista Business virtually via VMWare Fusion. When one of those
rare occasions when I need to fire up First Choice again comes along,
Vista has taken to giving me the dreaded "run-time error R6009-not
enough space for environment" message. I had this same issue in XP and
the standard Google-derived remedies (tweak the memory settings on the
MS-DOS executables) sufficed. The funny thing is that they also had in
Vista up until just now. No matter how I set the environment, XMS and
EMS memory values or the compatiblity mode, I still can't get First
Choice to run. I saw some suggestions for how to edit the config.nt
file in XP to deal with this (specifically to add a line specifying
command.com as the shell and allocating environment space to it), but
they don't help in Vista.

So, I'm stumped. I know Vista CAN run this program because it did for
about four months. I can't think of anything I've installed that could
have changed things to where I can't change them back. Anyone with any
suggestions? If anyone has run into this with ANY old DOS program, I
think hearing what you changed and how might help.

And I don't mean to add insult to injury to anyone, but I downloaded
DOSBox for Mac OS X this morning, and guess what? I can now use First
Choice without starting up the Vista VM if I absolutely have to. I hope
I don't, though. It worked better in Windows-when it DID work.
 
G

glsj.dw

Your questions are not clear...

I sugest you use DOSBOX,
there is dosbox for windows too...
 
N

None

glsj.dw said:
Your questions are not clear.
Click to expand...

Oh, sorry. I'll speak a bit more slowly. Is there anyone out there
who's had the runtime error R6009 problem with PFS FIrst Choice or
another DOS program in Vista and been able to fix it who can give me an
idea of how to?

There. Clear enough?
I sugest (sic) you use DOSBox.
(T)here is DOSBox for (W)indows too.
Click to expand...

So I've heard. But before I throw in the towel on the operating system
software I paid for because it was supposed to be better, I'll wait a
bit to see if someone here has a solution first. Besides, DOSBox isn't
exactly a finished product. For instance, it doesn't support printing
as of yet.

Anyway, thanks for responding.
 
M

MacArthur

Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables >

Select the string: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

Edit it to include: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /e:2048

OK yourself back to main screen and close Control Panel.

Reboot and First Choice should work.

--
Live strong and have a nice day, - "Nil carborundum illegitimi"!
Mac H E L P the planet - Don't I D L E ! ! !
Over 1600 Links at Http://MacArthur.Funknstyle.Com
Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur-ii/
 
D

Dave

Sorry, None, I don't have PFS Choice, but I did dig up my 1990 version of
Professional Write.
I copied the contents of both floppy disks over, and it runs fine. Except
for printing to my USB printer...

And a 1991 version of Quattro Pro runs ok, at least for what little I tried.
 
N

None

MacArthur said:
Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables >

Select the string: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

Edit it to include: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /e:2048

OK yourself back to main screen and close Control Panel.

Reboot and First Choice should work.
Click to expand...

Sorry, it didn't. I tried bumping it up all the way to 32768 (correct
me if I'm wrong, but I think that's still the maximum for the
environment size) and it didn't help. And yes, I DID reboot after each
change.

Bummer; your suggestion was Vista-specific and really looked promising.

Thanks anyway for taking a swing at it. Anyone else with an idea?
 
U

User

None,

Found this searching Google. May or may not help you but worth a try...

[[[[[ I had the same problem. I have PFS:First Choice version 3.0 and am
trying to run it on an XP system.
I kept getting the infamous R6009 run-time error.
I tweaked first1.exe memory settings and compatibility mode.
Memory
Conventional:
Total: Auto
Initial Env: 4096
EMS: 16384
EMS: 16384
DPMI: Auto

Compatibility Mode:
Windows 98
(all other boxes unchecked.
BUT I found that I also HAD to do the following:
cd c:\choice
set HOMEPATH=c:\
set PATH=
Then I was able to run first1.exe from the command line c: first1.exe]]]]
 
N

None

User said:
None,

Found this searching Google. May or may not help you but worth a try...
Click to expand...
Yeah, this is what you've got to do to get it running in XP. As I said
initially, I've already tried this in Vista with no luck. Thanks anyway.
 
M

MacArthur

G

glsj.dw

I loved professional write...

PW


Dave said:
Sorry, None, I don't have PFS Choice, but I did dig up my 1990 version of
Professional Write.
I copied the contents of both floppy disks over, and it runs fine. Except
for printing to my USB printer...

And a 1991 version of Quattro Pro runs ok, at least for what little I
tried.
Click to expand...
 
R

ronald.phillips

Oh, sorry. I'll speak a bit more slowly. Is there anyone out there
who's had the runtime error R6009 problem with PFS FIrst Choice or
another DOS program in Vista and been able to fix it who can give me an
idea of how to?

There. Clear enough?


So I've heard. But before I throw in the towel on the operating system
software I paid for because it was supposed to be better, I'll wait a
bit to see if someone here has a solution first. Besides,DOSBoxisn't
exactly a finished product. For instance, it doesn't support printing
as of yet.

Anyway, thanks for responding.
Click to expand...

The official builds of DosBox do not support printing but there are
unofficial patches. You should ask over at the Official DOSBox forums
and we may be able to point you to a build that has printer support.

http://vogons.zetafleet.com

Official DOSBox doesn't support printing because it's not really a
game feature. If it is included in the official build in the future
then most likely it will only print to images and not the host print.
(There are unoffical patches for both printing to images and host
printers).
 
N

None

Okay, I've got it working, and kudos to MacArthur who, true to the
legacy of his (or her?) famous namesake, had us at least pointed in the
right direction with the proper strategy.

However, I've got to tell you that this process is not for the faint of
heart. If you're running Vista natively, have a good backup and you
probably need System Restore operating in case you hose things up like I
did. (Since I'm running virtually via VMWare Fusion, I saved my bacon
by simply reverting to the last snapshot I'd taken-which I'm thankful
was recent.)

What you do is go into Control Panel>System>Advanced System
Settings>Environment Variables like MacArthur described, but instead of
editing any of the lines under System Variables, you're going to DELETE
some of them. The dangerous part is that deleting the wrong ones could
leave you with a system you can't reconfigure, because every time you
try to make a change you'll get a message that such-and-such executable
or variable can't be found. I'd found this procedure mentioned in a
Google search (the link to which I regrettably didn't keep) that brought
up a discussion of a similar problem with a DOS program, but with XP
instead of Vista. I remember that it said definitely NOT to remove any
variables labled COMSPEC, PATH, CLASSPATH, PATHEXT, TEMP, or TMP, but
all the rest were fair game. Well, at least in Vista, all of them aren't.

After getting my VM usable and back up to date again, I went in and
gamely deleted the variables that looked nonessential one by one (mostly
dealing with the processor and a few rarely-used programs; I wish I'd
kept more detailed notes, but...), clicking "OK" on the box and trying
to fire up PFS FC after each one. I hit paydirt after the third
deletion, as I recall, and it's worked since. If I don't see any ill
effects on Vista itself by this evening, I'll pull another snapshot and
get on with my life.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who tried to help. With the rather low
signal-to-noise ratio this group seems to be afflicted with, your
standout efforts are all the more valuable and appreciated.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Environment space 1
Dos Program: PFS First Choice on XP SP2 2
Ultimate: clean re-install, need some advice.. 8
Vista Business Upgrade Questions from an XP guy 12
Device Manager and some services error 13
Vista after 08 APR 08 Update "loses" screen and needs Restarting. 9
XP not installing on VM installed on Vista home premium 2
MS Vista! The new Windows ME for MAC users! 15

Top