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Re: We should [NOT] move en masse to Nota Bene (sorry Anne!)

Sorry, I just can't take this anymore. All of this fussing and
heartbreak is really completely unnecessary.


If you're fed up with MS or the difficulties of getting some gamey
version of virtual DOS working, just try Ubuntu. The cost of trying it
out is one blank DVD and ten minutes of your time. Navigate here


http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

download an ISO, burn it to that blank DVD, and boot to it. You don't
have to install anything. The preliminary menu will ask just what you
want to do: just click on the "try it out" selection and wait for the
desktop to appear -- it will take a few minutes, but eventually you will
be looking at Ubuntu's default Unity desktop. Browse, create a couple of
LibreOffice documents, open the music player (clicking on the speaker
icon will show you the installed audio program and allow you to adjust
the volume).


A few years ago I decided if I had to spend a day or two learning how to
use a new tool in order to get what I want out of my machine, I should
do that. And lo and behold, what did I discover? that Linux offers me
the capability to do exactly what I want to do with my computer. The
work I put into configuring my desktop and programs the way I want them
to work has been rewarded.


Thanks to the work of some very smart people, Linux (and Ubuntu in
particular) is just about as user-friendly as an OS can get while still
offering the same phenomenal control as traditional CLI Unix. And, most
particularly, a very remarkable and robust capacity to emulate DOS in a
way which suits my use of XyWrite very nearly perfectly.


Now, is getting XyWrite running under dosemu as easy as burning a DVD
and booting it up? No, of course not. However, 1) it isn't that
difficult, and 2) the steps required will help you learn the
fundamentals of Linux.


Look, if DOS is dead, and you need to communicate with its ghost, why
not follow the best way that works? There isn't any indication that
dosemu is going away -- but if something *should* remove it, all the
people who have worked on it can actually *do something* about it,
rather than pray over MS product announcements and disclaimers.




On 12/23/2012 02:22 AM, Kari Eveli wrote:


It seems to me, since Win 8 (-64) is already here, and since it seems to have been designed with
virtualization in mind, that we ought to be trying out strategies for getting XyWrite to work on
that. It is beginning to look like DOS support will never go away. I haven't tried Win8 yet but I am
will have to in the next couple of months. For what it's worth, though I seem to have found XyWrite
in XP Mode the merest trifle sluggish on a 2009 i-5, it seems acceptable on a 2011 i-7. One thing I
like is that XP mode doesn't seem to take up much memory, as programs nowadays go. Obviously, I
would prefer a much simpler environment, but this is so easy to deal with, it doesn't bother me.
Regarding something someone said about two different C: drives, on my default XP Mode setup, the XP
"c" drive is a network drive, so I just assign it another letter, such as G. End of
confusion. I must admit that I have spent almost no time at all getting this to work. The benefits
of the stable Xy


4


 code base seem to me to outweigh any possible disadvantages. And it's still faster to do common
operations than with Word. That said, I have found Word 2010 to be surprisingly good, and hope that
Word 2013 doesn't lose any of the improved code. That's what's so great about Xy4. You know exactly
where you are. Nothing can get better, but far more important, nothing can get worse. In this
dreadfully unstable world, that must count for something.

You said "DOS support will never go away". I am not so sure anymore.

Some excerpts to contemplate:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2724115 states:
With the end of extended support for Windows XP in April 2014, Microsoft has decided not to develop
Windows XP Mode for Windows 8. If you're a Windows 7 customer who uses Windows XP Mode and are
planning a move to Windows 8, this article may be helpful to you.

When you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, Windows XP Mode is installed on your machine, however
Windows Virtual PC is not present anymore. This issue occurs because Windows Virtual PC is not
supported on Windows 8. To retrieve data from the Windows XP Mode virtual machine, perform the steps
listed in the More Information section.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/e18f4409-6b2d-437a-b505-7e18db77f608 reads:


As I mentioned, MS-DOS is too old, it doesn't make sense to support it on Hyper-V.


Windows 8 will have Hyper-V as a virtualization solution.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/05/27/installing-windows-98-on-windows-virtual-pc.aspx states:

Windows Virtual PC only officially supports Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as guest
operating systems. Thankfully it has great compatibility and can run many operating systems that
are not officially supported.

I recently needed to setup a Windows 98 virtual machine ...

I was then able to install Windows 98 with no real problems: ...

But you will not get:

  a.. Clipboard integration
  b.. Time synchronization
  c.. Shared Folders
  d.. Printer / smart card sharing

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/16/running-windows-8-developer-preview-in-a-virtual-environment.aspx states:
Windows 8 Developer Preview only came out a few days ago, so many of the virtualization products on
the market have not yet been updated to work well with it. We are working closely with all of the
major manufacturers of virtualization products to support Windows 8 as we move toward release.

Forum members are reporting success using a few products. Of the most popular options, our baseline
assessment is as follows:

Functional:

  a.. Hyper-V in Windows 8 Developer Preview
  b.. Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2
  c.. VMware Workstation 8.0 for Windows
  d.. VirtualBox 4.1.2 for Windows
Non-functional:

  a.. Microsoft Virtual PC (all versions)
  b.. Microsoft Virtual Server (all versions)
  c.. Windows 7 XP Mode
  d.. VMWare Workstation 7.x or older

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/08/19/running-virtual-pc-2007-on-windows-7.aspx says:


Yes, it is possible to run Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7

http://blog.frankovic.net/2009/03/vpc-2007-inside-hyper-v-20/ says:

VPC 2007 inside Hyper-V ...
Installing Virtual PC 2007 inside virtualized Windows XP went like a breeze. Using Virtual PC I
installed Windows 98 SE in virtualized Windows XP, and guess what, it works, and it works very well
and fast as soon as I installed Virtual Machine Additions.

The conclusion: Windows 8 does not support VirtualPC, Hyper-V does not support DOS, DOS is in dire
straits on the MS platform. Windows 7 is the last system where you can easily exchange information
between DOS and Windows using virtualization (Virtual PC 2007 and DOS additions) if you do not want
to perform double-virtualization tricks (Virtual PC 2007 and DOS additions under virtualized XP
under Hyper V).

XP is still the best platform for no-nonsense computing in the MS realm. Continued support for XP is
very important for many businesses and people who want to avoid unnecessary hassles. Windows 7 is a
modern alternative, but Windows 8 seems to be a no-go. I will be sticking with XP as long as I can.

Best regards,

Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
lexitec@xxxxxxxx

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