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Phoenix CD 2.0
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Phoenix_CD.cdr
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mtask.zip
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MTASK.DOC
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1986-07-28
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USING HKE.COM
HKE is for DOS 2.00 to 3.10 and is a DOS extension allowing you to
run two DOS partitions in a time-sharing mode. RAM is divided into
2 parts, one for each application. DOS is shared between partitions.
To switch control from one partition to the other, use the Alt-Esc
key (or Alt Tilde/Reverse Apostrophe on the PC/AT). If you have 2
monitors, a monochrome and a color monitor (excepting the PC Jr),
one partition can have the color display and the other partition
the monochrome display. In this mode you can see the output for both
tasks at the same time - the Alt-Esc key only switches ownership of
the keyboard. The upper left corner of the screen shows which
partition is in use.
Color displays can be driven by either the Color Graphics Adapter
(the CGA) or the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), but HKE does not
support applications which use graphic modes not supported by the
CGA.
The PC, Portable, /XT, the Jr (DOS 2.0 and above) and the /AT (DOS
3.0 and above) aqre supported. Any application which confines its
screen and keyboard to DOS and/or BIOS calls can work.
Interrupt - driven applications may only be run in partition 1,
and BASIC programs only in partition 2. BASIC programs which
support RS232 communications are not supported.
page 2
Before running HKE issue any commands such as PATH or PROMPT which
extend the DOS system environment. Add a '1' to the front of the normal
prompt string to designate partition 1. Start HKE by the DOS command:
HKE <MEM nnn<K>> <B1*/F1> <F2*/B2> </1D*/2D> </EX>
where the angle brackets are optional and the asterisk (*) denotes
operands which are mutually exclusive. The first time HKE is run after
a boot or after being removed with the /EX parameter, COMMAND.COM
must be available from the disk drive and directory specified by
the environment parameter COMSPEC= (usually the IPL disk and root
directory). Otherwise HKE will terminate with an error message
without installing itself.
Partition sizes can be specified only after a system boot or after
removing HKE from the system. Thiis is done with the MEM nnnK
parameter, and specifies th size of partition 1. Partition 2 takes
up the rest of RAM to the highest memory location, and gets an extra
4k because a new COMMAND.COM is started there. The minimum size of
partition 1 is 16k with DOS 2.n0 and 20k under DOS 3.n0. The other
operands can be specified at a later time from either partition.
You specify for either partition whether it owns the screen and
keyboard (foreground) or can also be multi-tasked (background). If
you specify /F1, for example, the application in partition 1 will
be run only when it owns the keyboard and screen. The switches
are defined as:
/F1 P1 Foreground only
/F2 P2 Foreground only
/B1 P2 Foreground/Background
/B2 P2 Foreground/Background
When the background task is set to /Fn, no time-slicing occurs and
the background task will get no CPU cycles - the foreground task
will perform near or at maximum. When the background is set to /Bn,
the background task gets about 30% of the CPU when neither task is
waiting on the keyboard or other task. The default settings are
/B1 /F2, which allows partition 1 to multi-task, but partition 2
runs only in the foreground.
With 1 display, '1D' is the default and should never be changed.
With a color and monochrome display, the '2D' option both screens
can be used, to show the same or two different applications. Both
screens are switched when Alt-Esc is pressed.