Back to home page

DOS ain't dead

Forum index page

Log in | Register

Search:  
Back to the forum
Board view  Mix view

Swap Files in MS-DOS/DOSSHELL: How to configure? (Users)

posted by Arjay, 16.02.2013, 18:54

> So, should I then also add a line in my AUTOEXEC.BAT to create a TEMPFILE
> directory like this:
>
> MD E:\TEMPFILE
YES, as the temp variable expects a directory NOT a file and it needs to exist. I would recomend calling it call E:\TEMP which more standard/common.
I would also suggest using the tmp variable as some programs expect that instead, the batch file (use for autoexec) will create a E:\TEMP folder if it does NOT already exist and then point the variables TEMP + TMP to it.

@echo off
if NOT exist e:\temp\NUL md e:\temp
SET TEMP=E:\temp
set tmp=%temp%

The device name NUL will exist in any directory that exists but will NOT exist in any directory that does NOT exist, therefore it's a good trick for checking if a directory does exist or NOT.

> I then run DOSSHELL from a batch file that first copies DOSHELL.EXE and the
> rest of its ancillary files into a directory on RAM drive E: named
> DOSSHELL, and then runs it from that directory on the RAM drive.
Your best bet is to stick COMMAND.COM onto the ramdrive and keeping the drive spare for temporary files to be honest. e.g. have autoexec.bat like this:

COPY /B COMMAND.COM E:\
SET COMSPEC=E:\COMMAND.COM

> But I'm curious to know the syntax for the command that to "set
> the location of DOSSHELL.INI into %DOSSHELL%"
 I believe it is DOSSHELL=C:\DIRNAME

Download Axcel216's W31-11D.ZIP from http://www.mdgx.com/31.htm which has a file called DOSSHELL.TXT

> Do you think it would be helpful to insert an E: command into
> the DOSSHELL.BAT file just before the line where it runs DOSSHELL?
 Yes, it's good practice and ensures commands are actioned to the right drive.

> Also, those "swap" files I found on my C: drive had .SWP extensions. From
> what I recall they contained what appeared to be data from and about all
> the programs I had open in DOSSHELL (including the decrypted text of files
> with sensitive information like passwords, etc.).
They will be the contents of memory saved out by DOSSHELL to then allow more space to load other things, e.g. COMMAND.COM So they will and can contain pretty much anything. As your likely to be the only one using your PC I wouldn't worry much about the password aspect to be honest.

> I used Norton Utilities Version 5.0 to wipe those files from the C: drive.
 If you set the temp files setting they should appear on your ram drive and obviously get auto deleted when you shut the computer down (problem solved).

> I didn't write down the filenames of those files that I'm calling "swap"
> files, but the names looked something like this:
>
> G1937563.SWP
 Normally most of them are generated using the time and date to provide a unique filename. There are various programming API calls that generate them or programmers just make up their own system but often still time/date related


> My memory's not so good these days, so that's just an approximation of what
> the filenames looked like. Does that look like something that DOSSHELL
> would have created?
 Yes, as it creates SWP files. I would suggest seeing DOSSHELL.TXT as it has a huge section on DOSSHELL and will provide a helpful reminder of it's usage.

Post reply
 

Complete thread:

Back to the forum
Board view  Mix view
22762 Postings in 2122 Threads, 402 registered users (0 online)
DOS ain't dead | Admin contact
RSS Feed
powered by my little forum