DOS ain't dead

Here is a nice article about Wordperfect under Vista, Windows 7 and 64-bit windows versions. It is about Wordperfect but is useful for any DOS software.

http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/windowsseven.html

---
DOS-u-akbar!

> http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/windowsseven.html

I knew about the DOS icon bug, but I didn't know about the workarounds.

That bit about "security" preventing a simple "copy" is insane!

No "Run" is common even in Vista, but I never use the menu, just press Win+R manually. It works.

Did someone tested if DOS programs using VESA graphics run under Win7 on real hardware? I tested only in virtualized Win7 (vmware) and and program using VESA didn't work. It can detected several VESA modes but fails to set it. Only VGA modes seems to work (tried Quake 1). I also tried DPMI memory limit registry hack and it works.

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> Did someone tested if DOS programs using VESA graphics run under Win7 on
> real hardware? I tested only in virtualized Win7 (vmware) and and program
> using VESA didn't work. It can detected several VESA modes but fails to
> set it. Only VGA modes seems to work (tried Quake 1). I also tried DPMI
> memory limit registry hack and it works.

What is the state of VESA on modern cards?

> > Did someone tested if DOS programs using VESA graphics run under Win7 on
> > real hardware? I tested only in virtualized Win7 (vmware) and and
> program
> > using VESA didn't work. It can detected several VESA modes but fails to
> > set it. Only VGA modes seems to work (tried Quake 1). I also tried DPMI
> > memory limit registry hack and it works.

If what you say is true and isn't some kind of fluke (e.g. available to all Win7 users), that's good news. (Although I thought Quake was VESA2 only.)

> What is the state of VESA on modern cards?

My 2007 laptop has VESA 3.0. It's easy to check, as you probably know, see here.

> > > Did someone tested if DOS programs using VESA graphics run under Win7
> on
> > > real hardware? I tested only in virtualized Win7 (vmware) and and
> > program
> > > using VESA didn't work. It can detected several VESA modes but fails
> to
> > > set it. Only VGA modes seems to work (tried Quake 1). I also tried
> DPMI
> > > memory limit registry hack and it works.
>
> If what you say is true and isn't some kind of fluke (e.g. available to
> all Win7 users), that's good news. (Although I thought Quake was VESA2
> only.)

I don't think it is good but maybe it is just limitation of VMWare tools drivers. I guess that this feature maybe HW/driver dependent. I plan to install Win7 on real HW for further (performance) tests. But I though someone here has it on notebook and can try it (or it was Vista?)

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> What is the state of VESA on modern cards?

Fortunately works good on VESA 2.0 level. The refresh rate setting according VESA 3.0 works correctly, as far I know, only on Intel chips.

However I am not sure about support of 16:9 modes.

---
DOS-u-akbar!

> I don't think it is good but maybe it is just limitation of VMWare tools
> drivers. I guess that this feature maybe HW/driver dependent. I plan to
> install Win7 on real HW for further (performance) tests. But I though
> someone here has it on notebook and can try it (or it was Vista?)

I read the WP Win7 and they give warning that "You will almost certainly not be able to use any graphics mode in WPDOS. This means that you will not be able to use Print Preview or graphics-editing mode in WPDOS 5.1 or any graphics or preview mode in WPDOS 6.x" Even worse in some case also full screen text mode 80x25 may not work. This is really poor!

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> Even worse in some case also full screen text mode 80x25 may not
> work. This is really poor!

Full-screen console isn't supported at all, DOS or Windows, text or gfx. And that's in Vista or 7. You can make the window bigger, but it won't cover nearly the whole screen.

I did very briefly test my bro's Win7 laptop yesterday. PSR's Invaders (320x200x256 VGA) didn't work. paq8o8z (37 MB DPMI) didn't work. So it's no better and no worse than Vista. I suppose the registry hack still works, but I didn't try. (Why it's not fixed by default is beyond me. Either they are really dumb or really mean.)

> Full-screen console isn't supported at all, DOS or Windows, text or gfx.
> And that's in Vista or 7. You can make the window bigger, but it won't
> cover nearly the whole screen.

When tested in VMware it CAN switch to true fullscreen but of course it is emulated. I readed that it depends on drivers. Some could do it. But of course it's important to test it on real HW we use. I'll have to find some spare HDD with enoough free space ;)
BTW I wonder if vista/7 kernel supports function for calling BIOS routines (mentioned x86BiosCall()) so then they could make bridge in NTVDM between DOS app and BIOS. Maybe it could be solved with extra VDD...

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> When tested in VMware it CAN switch to true fullscreen but of course it is
> emulated. I readed that it depends on drivers. Some could do it. But of
> course it's important to test it on real HW we use. I'll have to find some
> spare HDD with enoough free space ;)

<sarcasm> It's only 16 GB. Who doesn't have that much free these days? </sarcasm>

> BTW I wonder if vista/7 kernel supports function for calling BIOS routines
> (mentioned x86BiosCall()) so then they could make bridge in NTVDM between
> DOS app and BIOS. Maybe it could be solved with extra VDD...

I don't know, but I'm not optimistic.

> <sarcasm> It's only 16 GB. Who doesn't have that much free these days?
> </sarcasm>

Yes but common true is that HDD of ANY size will be filled some day :) And currently I don't have enough free space on my 500GB HDD because of filled with a lot of temporal work data. I have a lot of old HDDs but this are only hundreds to thousands of MB...

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.