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4DOS Compatibility Documentation
Version 3.01, 5/22/90
Copyright 1989, 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published by
J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617)
646-3975.
This file provides information on compatibility between 4DOS and a
variety of other software products. It is intended for use whenever you
have a question about compatibility or suspect a compatibility problem
with another product.
Inclusion of a product in this file does not mean there are significant
compatibility problems with it, but only that there is some information
you need to be aware of when using the product with 4DOS.
Information added or significantly changed in version 3.01 of 4DOS is
identified with a "3.01" in the left margin.
This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and
page footers. It can be printed properly on most PC printers using the
command:
copy compat.doc prn
Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work
due to the formatting included in the file.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 1
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Causes of Compatibility Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Multi-Way Software Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Running 4DOS along with COMMAND.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Executing DOS Commands via Interrupt 2E . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4DOS and Multitasking / Task Switching Programs . . . . . . . . 7
CAUTION: Multitaskers and Disk Swapping . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4DOS and Command Line Editing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4DOS and TSR (Memory-Resident) Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Swapping to RAM Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Information on Specific Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
MS-DOS APPEND Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
MS-DOS DATE and TIME Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MS-DOS FASTOPEN Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MS-DOS 4.0 SELECT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MS-DOS SHARE Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1DIR+ (Bourbaki) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3+Open Network (3COM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
AllCharge Card (All Computers Inc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
ANSI.SYS (various manufacturers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Btrieve (Novell) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
CED and PCED (Cove Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
CheckFree (CheckFree Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
DESQView (Quarterdeck) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
DESQView DOS Services (Quarterdeck) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
DoubleDOS (SoftLogic Solutions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Epsilon (Lugaru Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
HIMEM.SYS (Microsoft) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Hot Line (General Information Inc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
MOVE-EM (Qualitas) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Netware (Novell) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
PC Tools (Central Point Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
QuickCache II (Glassel and Associates) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
QEMM and QRAM (Quarterdeck) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Software Carousel (SoftLogic Solutions) . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
TSRCOM Utilities (TurboPower Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
UltraVision (Personics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
VTSR (Golden Bow Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
WordPerfect 5.1 (WordPerfect Corp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 2
Introduction
------------
We have made every effort to insure that this file is as accurate and up
to date as possible. Our information is based on our own investiga-
tions, technical support calls, conversations with manufacturers of
other products, and reports from our beta testers. Unfortunately, test-
ing for software compatibility is not always reliable. Varying condi-
tions between systems or between software releases can easily invalidate
the results of previous tests. Therefore we cannot guarantee that every
item in this file is accurate for all systems or will remain accurate
over time; you may have to do your own testing to determine what works
well on your system with the software you own.
In some cases we may have found that upgrading another manufacturer's
software to a newer release helps with a particular problem. Unfortu-
nately we cannot guarantee that it will always do so on your system, for
the reasons described above.
If you have a compatibility problem, the first thing you should do is
read through Appendix D of the 4DOS manual ("Troubleshooting and Tips").
Appendix D gives general suggestions for solving compatibility problems,
and should always be used along with this file when attempting to solve
such a problem.
If the information in Appendix D doesn't help, check below for both
general suggestions which pertain to your problem, and information on
the specific product you are having trouble with. Please note that some
products are listed by category rather than by product name; check the
Table of Contents carefully to see where any particular product may be
covered.
If you cannot resolve a compatibility problem, contact J.P. Software for
technical support.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 3
General Information
-------------------
This section describes some techniques you can use to either diagnose or
solve compatibility problems. It also includes general information
which may be used in solving problems with a whole group of products
(e.g., multitaskers).
Causes of Compatibility Problems:
In most cases software which does not to run properly under 4DOS
is experiencing one of the following problems:
* 4DOS is not configured properly;
* The other software is not configured properly;
* Some condition in your system (for example, insufficient
memory) is preventing the other software from running at
all, but you are so used to 4DOS that you haven't noticed
that the same problem occurs under COMMAND.COM, i.e. the
problem is not related to 4DOS;
* There is a multi-way interaction between 4DOS, the other
software, and one or more of your TSRs or device drivers;
* The presence of 4DOS in your system has uncovered a bug
or design problem in the other software that did not appear
when running it under COMMAND.COM, but that is not due to
a malfunction or error in 4DOS.
* The other software was written based on specific
characteristics of COMMAND.COM, and cannot run under 4DOS
unless COMMAND.COM is also loaded.
* The other software was written based on specific
characteristics of COMMAND.COM, and cannot run under 4DOS
at all.
Multi-Way Software Interactions:
In many cases programs which appear to fail under 4DOS, yet run
properly under COMMAND.COM, are actually involved in a 3-way
interaction with one of your TSRs or device drivers. If you are
having trouble with a program, try removing then replacing your
TSRs and device drivers as described in Appendix D, and see if
you can determine whether there is such an interaction occurring.
Running 4DOS along with COMMAND.COM:
You may find a rare program which will not work under 4DOS, but
runs properly under COMMAND.COM. If you have determined that the
problem cannot be solved through configuration changes or by
eliminating or reconfiguring a third program which is causing the
problem, use this section to see how to run 4DOS and COMMAND.COM
together in order to diagnose such a problem.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 4
There are two methods of loading COMMAND.COM before another pro-
gram. The first is to load it only when a specific program is
running. This can be accomplished with the following command
(assuming COMMAND.COM is in the root directory of drive C:):
c:\command /c progname options
where "progname" is the program name (with path if necessary) and
"options" are any parameters for the program. This command will
run COMMAND.COM, load and run the program, and upon exit from the
program will exit from COMMAND.COM and return to 4DOS. If this
is necessary to run a specific program, it can be defined as an
alias:
alias progname `c:\command /c progname %&`
The "%&" passes all command line arguments on to the program.
With this method, if the program is large COMMAND.COM may need to
reload itself when the program exits. It will not be able to do
so unless the COMSPEC is set properly. If you experience prob-
lems such as "Invalid COMMAND.COM" errors when using this method,
use a batch file like the following to run the program in ques-
tion (the SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL cause COMSPEC to be restored to
its previous value after the program exits). You will need to
modify this file if your copy of COMMAND.COM is not stored in the
C:\ directory:
setlocal
set comspec=C:\COMMAND.COM
c:\command /c progname %&
endlocal
The second method is more drastic: you can start your system
under COMMAND.COM, then run 4DOS. This approach is rarely neces-
sary, and will use about 4 - 5K of additional RAM for the resi-
dent portion of COMMAND.COM.
The following steps will set your system up to boot with
COMMAND.COM, and run 4DOS automatically as part of the boot pro-
cess:
(1) Set up the SHELL= statement in CONFIG.SYS to run
COMMAND.COM, or leave it out entirely. In other words, set
it up just as you would if 4DOS were not on your system.
(2) Be sure the statement:
DEVICE=KEYSTACK.SYS
is included in CONFIG.SYS if you wish to use the 4DOS
KEYSTACK command.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 5
(3) Separate your AUTOEXEC file into two parts: part 1,
which remains in AUTOEXEC.BAT, should contain any commands
you wish to have COMMAND.COM execute before 4DOS is started.
This might include loading any TSRs which you cannot get to
load properly under 4DOS. Part 2, which you must place in a
separate batch file (we suggest the name 4DAUTO.BAT, but you
can use any name with a .BAT or .BTM extension), should con-
tain the commands you wish to have 4DOS execute when the
system is started.
(4) Place the following line as the last line in the modified
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
4DOS parameters filename
where "parameters" represents the appropriate 4DOS parameters
for swapping, environment and history size, etc. (see the
Installation section of the manual), and "filename" is the
name of the new batch file you created for part 2 of your old
AUTOEXEC file. Do NOT include a /P in the "parameters" or
4DOS will re-run AUTOEXEC and therefore load itself again, ad
infinitum!
This will load COMMAND.COM, execute the commands in AUTOEXEC,
load 4DOS, execute the commands in your new batch file, and then
give you the normal 4DOS prompt.
There is one drawback to this second approach: because 4DOS is
not loaded with a /P, the EXIT command will return you to
COMMAND.COM if you inadvertently enter it at the primary shell
prompt. You can get around this by including the /P parameter
despite the caution above, and then placing the following line at
the start of AUTOEXEC.BAT:
if not "%@eval[2+2]"=="4" quit
This line tests the 4DOS variable function %@EVAL, which will be
blank under COMMAND.COM and non-blank under 4DOS. If %@EVAL is
non-blank, the statement QUITs the batch file, preventing the
infinite loop described above.
Executing DOS Commands via Interrupt 2E:
COMMAND.COM contains an undocumented (and unsupported) feature
which allows programs to execute DOS commands by passing the
command through software interrupt number 2E (hex). Very few
programs use this feature, and the current release of 4DOS does
not support it.
If you have a program which is supposed to execute DOS commands
and it does not work under 4DOS, first read the Troubleshooting
appendix in the manual, especially page 160, and check over your
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 6
settings of COMSPEC and 4DSHELL. If these appear correct, your
program may be trying to use INT 2E to execute commands.
To diagnose this problem, add a /I to the switches on your SHELL=
line. This forces 4DOS.COM to beep if your program issues an INT
2E. Run the program and try to execute a DOS command. If you
hear a beep each time you try, the program is probably trying to
use INT 2E to execute commands. At the moment the only way to
resolve such a problem is to boot your system with COMMAND.COM,
and load 4DOS from AUTOEXEC (see above).
4DOS and Multitasking / Task Switching Programs:
(For convenience below we will refer to all these programs as
"multitasking", even though some are only task switching pro-
grams, and to all windows or partitions they use as "windows",
even though some systems do not support windowing).
4DOS can be used with most multitasking systems including Win-
dows, DESQView, Back and Forth, OmniView, Software Carousel, and
VM/386. See the section on specific products below for informa-
tion on the individual products.
Unless otherwise noted below, 4DOS should work properly both as
the root shell loaded before the multitasking system, or when run
inside a window.
To start 4DOS inside a window in any of these systems you can
define it as a program to be run directly, or you can have the
multitasker load it automatically as the command processor, by
leaving COMSPEC set to 4DOS. Regardless of the approach used,
you can use the 4DSHELL environment variable to set the 4DOS
command line parameters (such as swapping method and environment
size) to be used when starting the 4DOS window. If 4DOS is de-
fined as a program to be run directly you can also set these
parameters on the command line.
Under most multitasking systems the COMSPEC setting will control
whether 4DOS or COMMAND.COM is used to run batch files and to
open windows that are NOT closed on exit to DOS. In some cases
setting the COMSPEC to COMMAND.COM before starting the multi-
tasker can provide slightly more efficient operation (when most
windows do not require the capabilities of 4DOS), and 4DOS can
then be set up in its own window. In most other cases you will
find it works best to leave the COMSPEC set to 4DOS.
Note that if you boot your system with COMMAND.COM, then set the
COMSPEC to 4DOS, if you return to COMMAND.COM (e.g., by exiting
from your multitasking program) the system may hang, as
COMMAND.COM needs to use the COMSPEC setting to find and reload a
portion of its own code.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 7
CAUTION: Multitaskers and Disk Swapping:
3.01 (Entire section modified in version 3.01).
When 4DOS is swapping to disk in multiple windows of a multi-
tasking system, it must be configured properly to avoid conflicts
among the swap file names used in each window.
When loaded normally, the primary copy of 4DOS will act as a
"traffic cop" for the copies of 4DOS in the different windows,
assigning each one a unique "shell number" which is used as the
extension for the disk swap file (4DOSSWAP.001, 4DOSSWAP.002,
etc.). In this case no conflict will occur.
However, if 4DOS is NOT loaded before the multitasking program
this capability will not be available. In this case the copy of
4DOS in each window will use the swap file name 4DOSSWAP.000. To
avoid a filename conflict every copy of 4DOS started in disk
swapping mode MUST place its swap file in its own unique direc-
tory specified with the "/S:Dd:\path" switch. If this rule is
not observed the system will hang when switching windows or upon
exit from an application.
In version 3.0 and earlier, you could satisfy this condition
simply by starting each window in its own unique directory. But
beginning with 4DOS version 3.01, disk swap files default to the
root directory of the drive COMSPEC points to, and not to the
current directory; hence to make 4DOS disk swapping work properly
under these conditions you must EXPLICITLY use /S:D to place the
swap files in separate directories.
This problem will only occur if 4DOS is NOT the primary shell,
AND disk swapping is used in more than one window as described
above. There is no such conflict with EMS or XMS swapping. Note
that since the default /S:B swapping option uses disk swapping if
no EMS or XMS memory is available, you can be invoking disk swap-
ping your multitasker windows even if you haven't explicitly
requested it.
4DOS and Command Line Editing Programs:
Programs such as Anarkey (Moderne Software), PCED (Cove Soft-
ware), and ReDOS (Multisoft) will require the use of SETDOS /L1
to operate, which will disable 4DOS's command recall and command
line editing. In most cases you will be able to switch back and
forth between 4DOS editing and the other editor by toggling the
SETDOS /L state. When another editor is used 4DOS's command his-
tory will be maintained, and can be viewed with HISTORY, but will
not be available for recall until a SETDOS /L0 is executed.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 8
4DOS and TSR (Memory-Resident) Programs:
3.01 In 4DOS version 3.0 and above many memory-resident programs
should be able to unload themselves, even if they could not do so
under earlier versions of 4DOS. You may still experience unload
problems if you have a complex system or many TSRs loaded; if you
do, use MARK and RELEASE from the TSRCOM utilities, available on
many bulletin boards and on the 4DOS Utility Disk. These prod-
ucts will allow you to unload virtually all TSRs without diffi-
culty.
Swapping to RAM Disks:
In order to swap to a RAM disk with the root shell the RAM disk
must be completely defined in CONFIG.SYS via a DEVICE= statement
(most RAM disks are set up this way). RAM disks completely or
partially defined in AUTOEXEC.BAT (such as the RAM disk / cache
combination in Multisoft's PC Kwik Power Pak) cannot be used for
root shell swapping, because AUTOEXEC.BAT has not been executed
at the time that the root shell is loaded.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 9
Information on Specific Products
--------------------------------
The information below is listed alphabetically by product, with manufac-
turers' names included. MS-DOS commands are listed before other soft-
ware products.
Items marked with two asterisks [**] after the product name were sup-
plied by users, and have not been tested by J.P. Software.
MS-DOS APPEND Command:
Unlike most other commands in MS-DOS, APPEND has both an external
portion and an undocumented internal portion. The first time
APPEND is run the external portion is executed, and loaded into
memory as a TSR. Subsequent uses of APPEND to adjust the APPEND
path use the internal portion built into COMMAND.COM.
4DOS does not support the internal portion of APPEND command.
This means that you cannot change the APPEND path directly from
4DOS. However you can still use APPEND with 4DOS.
APPEND should be started in the usual way, from AUTOEXEC or any
other batch file, or from the command line. However to change
the APPEND path you must run APPEND from COMMAND.COM, not from
4DOS. To do this, enter the following command (modify the com-
mand appropriately if COMMAND.COM is not in the directory C:\):
c:\command /c append [new append path list]
You could also set up a 4DOS alias to do the above command for
you, for example:
alias app `c:\command /c append`
which would be invoked with the command
app [new path list]
The /X switch can be used, and it will affect 4DOS directory
searches for many 4DOS commands (as it does for COMMAND.COM).
Please note that this makes APPEND a little dangerous: if you
APPEND a directory and then (say) delete all the .BAK files, the
.BAK files in the APPENDed directory will be deleted too.
The APPEND /E switch will not work with 4DOS.
3.01 CAUTION: In our opinion APPEND is an extremely dangerous com-
mand. It is capable of "fooling" programs into thinking they are
accessing one file when they are really accessing another one
with the same name in a different directory. This can either do
just what you want, or cause all sorts of trouble, depending on
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 10
the circumstances. If you must use APPEND to make certain appli-
cations work, we suggest that you set up the aliases described
above, and load APPEND in AUTOEXEC.BAT with an empty path. Then,
for each application, set up an alias to run it that is similar
to the following:
alias myprog `app c:\mydata^d:\util\myprog.exe^app ;`
This alias sets the APPEND path, runs the application, and clears
the APPEND path. When used in this way APPEND is less likely to
cause trouble because it is disabled except when it is explicitly
needed.
In MS-DOS version 4.0 the new APPEND /PATH:OFF switch mitigates
this problem somewhat; we suggest that you use it.
MS-DOS DATE and TIME Commands:
Versions of DOS distributed by some manufacturers will automa-
tically set the hardware clock date and time (which is maintained
while the system is turned off, and is different from the DOS
date and time) when the corresponding DOS command is executed.
This is a hardware-specific feature which may not function as you
expect under 4DOS. If you normally set the hardware clock's date
and time with DOS commands, either run a secondary copy of
COMMAND.COM to set them, or invoke your system's SETUP or other
utility program to do so.
MS-DOS FASTOPEN Command:
The MS-DOS FASTOPEN command does not properly detect renamed
directories. If you use FASTOPEN and rename a directory with the
4DOS REN command, then do a DIR command, you may see the old name
and not the new one displayed; you may also occasionally have
trouble accessing files under the new name. The only solution we
are aware of in this situation is to reboot your system.
MS-DOS 4.0 SELECT Command:
In MS-DOS 4.0 a SELECT command was introduced. This external
command is totally unrelated to the 4DOS internal SELECT command.
If you need to use both, you can set up aliases to adjust how the
command names are handled. For example, the following two alias-
es set up SELECT to access the DOS 4.0 external SELECT command
(assumed to be stored in C:\DOS\SELECT.EXE), and SEL to access
the internal 4DOS SELECT command:
alias select c:\dos\select.exe
alias sel *select
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 11
MS-DOS SHARE Command:
3.01 Due to a bug in SHARE, earlier versions of 4DOS had problems with
SHARE when it was installed via INSTALL in CONFIG.SYS, or via a
SHARE command in AUTOEXEC.BAT. The problems appeared as "Access
denied" errors when redirecting output or (occasionally) input.
We have changed 4DOS version 3.01 to work around this bug.
1DIR+ (Bourbaki):
The information below was obtained from tests with 1DIR+ version
3.02.
1DIR+ will work properly under 4DOS version 3 in its partially
resident or EMS modes when set up as described below. It will
work in its fully resident mode but cannot reliably exit back to
4DOS once started.
If your copy of 1DIR+ is set up for fully resident mode, you can
load it into memory under 4DOS to switch it to partially resident
or EMS mode. To do so, from the directory where you normally run
1DIR+, type the commands:
setdos /l1
1dirplus
When 1DIR+ starts go to the "Wonder" / "Setup" menu (F8 then F2)
and switch the mode to partially resident or EMS. Hit Esc to
exit, and take the "Exit/Save" option (not "Save/Reset"). Back
at the main menu, exit with "Wonder" / "Exit" (F8 then F8). At
this point the system will probably hang. Reboot your computer.
You should then be able to run 1DIR+ as described below.
The above steps only need to be done once, when you install or
re-install 1DIR+.
Once 1DIR+ is set to EMS or partially-resident mode, you can
start it from 4DOS using the following alias:
alias 1dir `setdos /L1 ^ 1dirplus`
The SETDOS /L1 is necessary to allow 1DIR+ to send command lines
to 4DOS.
You must do a SETDOS /L0 when you are done with 1DIR+ in order to
get normal 4DOS command-line editing back. You can NOT do this
within the alias above, as 1DIR+ returns to 4DOS in order to
accomplish its work, and you don't want to switch back to /L0
mode until 1DIRPLUS has been removed from memory. If, after
exiting from 1DIR+, you find that 4DOS's command line editing and
history are unavailable, it is because you forgot to do the
SETDOS /L0. If you go in and out of 1DIR+ regularly aliases like
the following can be used to make the process quick:
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 12
alias 1d `setdos /L1 ^ 1dirplus`
alias 1e setdos /L0
3+Open Network (3COM):
3.01 There is one known problem with 3+Open: the LOGON.EXE program
will hang the system. We are investigating the cause of this
problem with 3COM. In the meantime, use NET LOGON followed by
LOGIN. This accomplishes the same result as using LOGON.EXE, and
will work properly under 4DOS. This problem applies only to
3+Open, not to 3+.
AllCharge Card (All Computers Inc.): [**]
3.01 4DOS, including EMS swapping, works properly with the latest
AllCharge Card software release (ALLEMM4.SYS file dated 10-3-89).
Earlier releases may hang. The feature to put FILES and BUFFERS
in AUTOEXEC may not work; if you have trouble with it, try rear-
ranging the position of these commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT, or as a
last resort place them in CONFIG.SYS.
ANSI.SYS (various manufacturers):
3.01 If you have trouble with screen scrolling in 43-line or 50-line
mode, try a different version of ANSI (we use PC Magazine's free
utility ANSI.COM); for more information see page 156 of the 4DOS
manual.
3.01 If you use ANSI to redefine function keys F1, F8, F9, or F10
these keys will no longer be available for their usual functions
in 4DOS (HELP, or filename completion at the command line).
Btrieve (Novell): [**]
The most recent release of Btrieve as of this writing should work
properly under 4DOS. Earlier releases contain a bug in their EMS
(expanded memory) access which conflicts with 4DOS's EMS swap-
ping, and therefore will not run with EMS swapping enabled. If
you have an earlier version of Btrieve, run 4DOS with XMS or disk
swapping and the two products should work properly together. If
you aren't sure whether you are encountering this problem, just
try switching 4DOS from EMS to disk swapping and see if any
Btrieve problems are cleared up. If so, upgrade to the newest
release of Btrieve.
CED and PCED (Cove Software): [**]
3.01 4DOS version 3.01 has been modified to allow CED and PCED to
properly recognize 4DOS secondary shells; in previous versions of
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 13
4DOS this was not possible. Also see the section on command line
editors (above).
CheckFree (CheckFree Systems): [**]
Version 2.0 of this package should work properly under 4DOS.
Earlier versions may need to be run under COMMAND.COM, using the
method discussed above in the General Information section (use
the batch file shown there which begins with a SETLOCAL command).
Because CheckFree uses Btrieve, see the note on Btrieve (above)
as well.
DESQView (Quarterdeck):
Please see the section on multitaskers under General Information
above before reading this section.
3.01 The information below was obtained from tests with DESQView ver-
sion 2.26. All sections below have been modified for 4DOS 3.01.
To use 4DOS with DESQview, you must add it to your DESQview Open
Window menu. To do this, select the Add a Program option, then
press the "O" key (for Other Program). Press Enter and you will
get a standard Change a Program window.
You must set the program parameters and startup directory before
opening a 4DOS window. Set the Program Name to d:\path\4DOS.COM
where "d:\path" is the drive and directory where 4DOS.COM is
stored. Set the Parameters to whatever 4DOS startup options you
want (swapping type, environment size, etc.; do NOT use /C or
/P). For other DESQView parameters, the defaults are workable
except for the following changes:
Writes Text Directly to Screen Y (screen 1)
Close on Exit to DOS Y (screen 2)
Uses its Own Colors Y (screen 2)
You may wish to adjust the height, width, and position to provide
a full-screen window for 4DOS. 4DOS is written to be "Desqview-
aware", and will not "bleed through" when running 4DOS's full-
screen commands (DRAWBOX, DRAWHLINE, DRAWVLINE, LIST, SCRPUT, and
SELECT) in a window smaller than the full screen. In 4DOS ver-
sion 3.01 the HELP command has been modified to be DESQView-aware
as well.
You can set up a batch file to be run when a DESQView window is
opened -- just create it, and place its name (with drive and path
if necessary) as the last thing on the Parameters line. This
batch file will be run after and independently of any 4START.BAT
or .BTM file.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 14
DESQView will work properly with the 4DOS /U and /E:nnnnU options
in the primary shell, but may not work properly if these options
are set in 4DSHELL and/or used explicitly in a DESQView window.
The 4DOS /E:nnnnS (swapped environment) option is incompatible
with DESQView.
DESQView DOS Services (Quarterdeck):
Under 4DOS, the DESQView DOS Services option will not work in its
default configuration. To make DOS Services work under 4DOS, you
must first create a batch file, DOSSERV.BAT, in your DESQView
directory to run DOS Services under COMMAND.COM. (We are assum-
ing that DESQView is in directory C:\DV and COMMAND.COM is in
directory C:\; you will need to modify the settings below if your
system is configured differently.) The batch file is:
set comspec=c:\command.com
c:\dv\dosserv
c:\command
exit
Then, make the following changes on the DESQView change a program
screen for DOS Services (items marked ** are on the second page
of the screen):
* Memory Allocation = 100K or greater
* Program Name = C:\DV\DOSSERV.BAT (modify from
previous value of C:\DV\DOSSERV).
** Close on Exit to DOS = N
** System Memory = 10K or greater
** Allow Close Window = N
Once these steps are taken, you should be able to open the DOS
Services window normally. However you will not be able to close
it with a close window command. Instead, go to the window where
DOS Services allows you to compose a DOS command, and type EXIT
to close the window.
DoubleDOS (SoftLogic Solutions): See Software Carousel.
Epsilon (Lugaru Software): [**]
Epsilon can run 4DOS as a concurrent process, and pass commands
to 4DOS for execution. In this mode it traps 4DOS's input re-
quests and feeds the keystrokes to 4DOS. However it does not
feed backspaces etc. -- only actual characters. This means that
editing of input isn't seen by 4DOS. To fix the problem, either
use a SETDOS /L1 before running Epsilon, for example:
alias eps `setdos /L1^epsilon %&^setdos /L0`
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 15
or, run 4DOS as a shell, and not as a concurrent process.
HIMEM.SYS (Microsoft):
4DOS's XMS swapping will work properly with HIMEM.SYS, but
HIMEM.SYS alone does NOT support the memory mapping required to
use the 4DOS /U and /E:nnnnU options. To use these options you
must have 386MAX, QEMM 5.0 or above, QRAM, or a combination of
MOVE-EM 1.02 or above and HIMEM.SYS (see MOVE-EM below).
Hot Line (General Information Inc.):
The information below was obtained from tests with Hot Line ver-
sion 2.10.
Previous problems with Hot Line have been solved. You should
have no trouble accessing Hot Line via any of its hot keys.
If you get "insufficient memory" error messages when installing
Hot Line, reboot with COMMAND.COM to complete the installation.
These errors are due to an old version of the PKSFX program used
to extract files from the compressed copies of Hot Line on dis-
kette. This problem occurs only during installation, and is
unrelated to the actual operation of Hot Line.
If you load Hot Line from your AUTOEXEC file, you may find that
it will not pop up properly at the prompt if you try to invoke it
immediately after boot. As soon as even the simplest application
or utility program is run this problem clears up, and does not
appear to recur. We have been unable to determine its source, as
it clears up when we run our debugger!
MOVE-EM (Qualitas): [**]
MOVE-EM version 1.00 contains a bug which causes the system to
crash whenever any program attempts to access XMS memory. 4DOS
will attempt to access XMS memory if you specify the /U or
/E:nnnnU option, or use the MEMORY command, so these 4DOS fea-
tures cannot be used if MOVE-EM 1.00 is installed.
MOVE-EM version 1.02 corrects the above bug, but is only compat-
ible with 4DOS's /U and /E:nnnnU options if Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS
is also loaded in your system. MOVE-EM itself does not fully
support the XMS specification which permits 4DOS to load itself
and the master environment in high memory.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 16
Netware (Novell): [**]
The information below was obtained from tests with Netware ver-
sions 2.12 and 2.15 and Netware 386, and from discussions with
Novell support personnel.
When Netware's LOGIN and/or MAP commands are used to map network
drives into the path, the local path will be lost if it is not
stored in upper case. Earlier versions of 4DOS stored the path
in whatever case it was entered in; beginning with version 3.0
the PATH command always shifts its input to upper case to get
around this problem. However if you use SET to modify the path
you can still manage to include lower case characters, and there-
by exercise this Netware bug. Novell has informed us that they
intend to fix this problem in an upcoming release. In the mean-
time, keep your PATH environment variable entirely in upper case
to avoid the problem.
3.01 Netware also appears to lose one or more characters from the name
of an environment variable (usually the second or third one in
the environment) when setting other environment variables from
inside a LOGIN script. If you are setting environment variables
such as COMSPEC within your LOGIN script, you can get around this
problem by using a batch file to set the variables after LOGIN is
complete. Even if you cannot control the LOGIN script, you can
still use a batch file to reset the "damaged" variables after
LOGIN has finished.
It is not currently possible to do disk swapping to a network
drive under Netware. This is because Netware closes all files --
including the 4DOS swap file -- each time an application exits.
When 4DOS goes to reload itself or swap out to start another ap-
plication, a swap file seek error will occur. We are considering
possible internal workarounds for this problem; for now the
available methods are to swap to EMS, XMS, or a local hard disk
or RAM disk.
Use caution with the 4DOS UNSET command under Netware. When Net-
ware is loaded it remembers the location of the COMSPEC variable
in the master environment, and it may therefore have problems if
variables such as COMSPEC and PATH are removed and reloaded in a
different sequence.
3.01 The Novell MENU system distributed with Netware uses an undocu-
mented and unsupported feature of COMMAND.COM (INT 2E) to execute
menu options, and therefore is not compatible with the current
release of 4DOS.
3.01 The 4DOS /U command line option is reported to be compatible with
Netware, but the /E:nnnnU and /E:nnnnS options are not.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 17
PC Tools (Central Point Software):
The information below was obtained from tests with PC Tools ver-
sion 5.5, and from user reports on versions 5.5 and 6.0.
Most elements of this popular package work properly with 4DOS.
We have had some problems reported but in all cases investigation
has shown that the problems occurred under COMMAND.COM as well
(though not always with the same exact symptoms).
PC Tools' PCSHELL will refuse to launch applications from the
4DOS prompt, giving an error indicating that you are not at the
prompt. This problem is due to the design of PCSHELL, and occurs
with all command line editing programs. It can be solved by
loading PCSHELL with Innovative Data Concepts' shareware product
SWAPSH, available on the 4DOS Utility Disk and on many bulletin
boards and on-line systems. SWAPSH will reduce PCSHELL's resi-
dent memory requirements as well.
We have had one report that PC Tools' MIRROR program will not run
properly from AUTOEXEC.BAT under 4DOS if SWAPPING OFF is in ef-
fect. If you experience this problem, be sure SWAPPING is ON
before running MIRROR.
QuickCache II (Glassel and Associates): [**]
QCACHE is compatible with 4DOS only if its "Use low memory" op-
tion is enabled. If this option is disabled (the QCACHE default)
your system is almost certain to hang when QCACHE is loaded and
4DOS is running in swapping mode.
QEMM and QRAM (Quarterdeck):
The information below was obtained from tests with QEMM versions
4 and 5, and user reports on QRAM.
Both QEMM 5.0 and QRAM are compatible with 4DOS, and will allow
you to load the 4DOS resident code and the master environment
into high DOS memory (UMBs) via the /U and /E:nnnnU switches
respectively.
3.01 The FILES.COM program distributed with QEMM version 5 allows
parts of the DOS file handle table to be loaded into high memory,
using the LOADHI FILES=nn command. This option does not work
properly under 4DOS and may cause your system to hang. We are
investigating the cause of this problem with Quarterdeck. No
similar problems have been reported with the LOADHI BUFFERS=nn
command.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 18
Software Carousel (SoftLogic Solutions):
Please see the section on multitaskers under General Information
above before reading this section.
The information below was obtained from tests with Software Car-
ousel version 3, and discussions with SoftLogic technical sup-
port.
Neither Software Carousel nor DoubleDOS will work properly with
4DOS loaded as the primary shell. Both programs are written with
the assumption that COMMAND.COM is the system command processor,
and both contain logic which specifically depends on COMMAND.COM
and the way it is written. This makes it impossible to write a
program which works properly as an alternate command processor
loaded underneath these products.
However, 4DOS can be run without difficulty inside a Software
Carousel partition, and should work properly as a program to be
run under DoubleDOS. It will not work as the primary shell when
using Software Carousel or DoubleDOS (see below).
When loading 4DOS into a Carousel partition, the best method is
to leave the COMSPEC set to COMMAND.COM when Carousel is loaded.
4DOS should then be set up in the Carousel options file just like
any other program. For example, to load 4DOS into partition 1:
d:\path\4DOS.COM [parameters] [filename]
where:
d:\path is the drive and path where 4DOS.COM is lo-
cated
[parameters] is the 4DOS command line parameters (/S, /E,
etc.; do NOT use /P here)
[filename] is the name of a batch file to be executed
when the partition is started
Because 4DOS can only be loaded in a partition when running Soft-
ware Carousel, and not as the primary command processor, using
4DOS disk swapping in multiple partitions is subject to the cau-
tionary note on this subject in the general information section
on multitaskers; please read it carefully.
TSRCOM Utilities (TurboPower Software):
Versions 2.5 and earlier of these popular utilities from Turbo-
Power Software are not compatible with 4DOS. The problem was
corrected in release 2.6, issued in January, 1989. Up-to-date
copies of these utilities are available on the 4DOS Utility Disk
and on many bulletin boards and on-line systems.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 19
UltraVision (Personics): [**]
3.01 When using 4DOS and Personics' UltraVision 2.0, you may need to
have a 4START.BAT (or .BTM) that contains a SETDOS /S command to
set the cursor shape, or your cursor may disappear. The proper
cursor start and end values depend to some extent on the UV line
size, but all values less than 14 appear to work in all UV line
sizes.
The DE program distributed with UltraVision is written specifi-
cally for COMMAND.COM, and cannot currently be used to set direc-
tory colors with 4DOS.
VTSR (Golden Bow Systems): [**]
Version 2.0 of VTSR will work properly with 4DOS. Earlier ver-
sions will report (incorrectly) that no TSRs are installed.
WordPerfect 5.1 (WordPerfect Corp.): [**]
Early releases of WordPerfect 5.1 had a variety of problems in
the way they accessed expanded (EMS) memory, and therefore may
conflict with 4DOS's EMS swapping. Symptoms of the conflict
include incorrect response to keystrokes, and system hangs. If
you have a problem with WordPerfect 5.1 and 4DOS when using
4DOS's EMS swapping, try changing to disk swapping. If this
resolves the problem, you can probably solve it permanently by
upgrading to a later release of version 5.1.
4DOS 3.01 [5-22-90] COMPAT.DOC page 20