Re: On button, & straight to the Command Line

[Wolfgang Bechstein bechstein@xxxxxxxx]

Steve Webber  wrote:

> How might I go about re-arranging my win98se setup here so that
> when I turn on the pc, not the ms startup page, but the Xy command
> line appears to do my bidding?

In the root directory of drive C:, locate the file MSDOS.SYS. This
file has various pesky attributes set (Hidden, System, and
Read-only). The first thing you must do is change all of these
so that the file becomes visible and can be edited. (I do this
attribute toggling with an old DOS file manager.) Then open MSDOS.SYS
in your favorite text editor (Sprint, anyone?) and change the line
that reads "BootGUI=1" to "BootGUI=0". While you're at it, add the
line "Logo=0" to banish the vapid Windows sky/clouds thingie at
startup. Save the edited MSDOS.SYS. (No need to reset the attributes
to their former state; Windows functions just as well with MSDOS.SYS
visible.) The next time you boot, the process should only go as far
as the DOS prompt (you can later start the Windows GUI at any time by
entering "Win"). Create or modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT as needed, so
that it fires up XyWrite. Voila.

One thing I do not know is what will happen if you shell out to DOS
>from within XyWrite and then enter Win to start the GUI. Actually, I
could easily try this out at my next bootup, but so can you (no
assurances whatsoever as to integrity of computer innards, mental
composition, marital bliss, etc. given).

Wolfgang Bechstein
bechstein@xxxxxxxx