Re: DOS box creepers and (now AUTOEXEC and CONFIG)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from michael.norman@xxxxxxxx on Sat, 30 Nov 2002 12:06:48
-0500

Michael:

> 1. Is it better in XP to create a shortcut (pif) right from editor.exe or
> write a .bat that switches to the \xy directory where editor resides?

The former. But you're not expressing it correctly -- you don't make anything
"from" Editor. You RMB [RightMouseButton!] on an empty part of the Desktop,
select New==>Shortcut, and fill in the form. If, say, Editor resides in
E:\XY4, your PIF would indicate the CmdLine to be "e:\xy4\editor.exe" and the
Working dir "e:\xy4". So if STARTUP.INT resides in e:\xy4, what do you need a
BATch file for -- it's going to start up in E:\XY4, no two ways about it. If
you're still uncertain, put:
BX e:Q2 ;*;
BX cd \xy4Q2 ;*;
at the top of your INT file. Hasn't Windows always worked this way, since 3x?

> 1A. If it's a pif for editor.exe, then what are the best settings for the
> properties tab, especially with memory management. (There was partial
> discussion of this here in four posts, but no conclusion to the thread.)

Conventional mem AUTO Initial Env AUTO
Expanded EMS mem 5120
Extended XMS mem NONE
DPMI mem AUTO

> 2. If it is best to create a .bat, I'm assuming it is still better to start
> TSR's like TAME in autoexec.nt, rather than do it through commands in the
> bat file?

Start TAME in AUTOEXEC. Then it applies to all DOS sessions, as it should.
Tame installs *itself* in AUTOEXEC, so you really don't have to do anything

> 2A. But how about memory management. Should that now be addressed in
> config.nt or in the properties window of the .bat pif?

The Properties window. Unless you need to exclude certain memory ranges, or
set a different "page" for EMS, which is a real possibility, especially on
late-model machines, and also slightly technical. But try it the default way
first (i.e. set mem in the Properties windows), then shell to DOS from XyWrite,
command MEM /C -- it will tell you whether EMS is loaded or not. If it is,
then forget about it. If it isn't... well, we're getting rather far afield.

> 3. But re-reading the inquiries here about memory management, I don't think
> anyone yet has posted standard settings for Config.sys or Config.nt memory
> management or pif memory management under properties, if there are such
> standard or recommended settings.

That's because ordinarily there aren't any changes that _you_ need to make in
AUTOEXEC or CONFIG -- memory is managed in the PIF!

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------