Minimal XYWRITE & DOS Virtualization

[Matt Gumm mattgumm@xxxxxxxx]

I'm a lurker--my first time writing. Just wanted to offer a bit of assistance to those trying to get XY & DOS running on other OSs.

MINIMAL XY

Here's a list of files that I put on my toy (16MB) thumbdrive. You can probably run it with less, but I haven't had the time (nor do I probably have the experience) to really trouble-shoot it. Anyway, this will give the ability to edit, mouse, and save. If you want the filters, you can add them,
 too.

\XY4
ASCII.PRN
CHARSET
COLOR.DSP
EDITOR.EXE
ERROR.MSG
GAS.DSP
GENERIC.PRN
GOTOQUIT.PGM
GRA-REV.DSP
G-SCALE.DSP
HPDJ560.PRN
INSTALL.HLP
INSTALL.MNU
LCD.DSP
LOG.LOG
MAIL.PRN
MATT.LOG
MINI.MNU
MONO.DSP
MSLAMOUS.MNU
MSMOUSE.MNU
PRINTERS.LST
SAMPLE.SET
SAVEGET.SGT
SETTINGS.DFL
SETTINGS.XY4
STANDARD.PRN
STARTUP.INT
STRIP.PRN
UPGRADE.MNU
XONXOFF.COM
KY4-3.KBD
XY4.DLG
XY4.INF
XY4.KBD
XY4.MNU
XY4_CF.MNU
XY4PRN.INF
XYLAMOUS.MNU
XYMOUSE.MNU

I also have a \FILTERS directory, but it only has NCP2X.EXE. I just haven't had the time to mess with it and see what filters I wanted/needed.

The total size is about 2MB, vs. the 18±MB I have on the harddrive.

The other directory I have is the /btfonts directory, which has screen fonts, I think. I don't think it's required, but I got tired of it beeping at me, so I added it. Here are the
 contents.

BX230003.SPD
BX230004.SPD
BX230005.SPD
BX230006.SPD
BX230011.SPD
BX230012.SPD
BX230013.SPD
BX230014.SPD
BX230419.SPD
BX230582.SPD
BX230583.SPD
BX230611.SPD
DEFAULT.FNT

A couple of other notes, if anyone is interested. I'm running XP on a Dell 8600. I changed my BIOS so that it looked to USB in the boot procedure before the harddrive. So it goes Floppy, CD, USB, harddrive. Here's the interesting thing. I have an old Win98 floppy, and if I have the USB plugged in and reboot, it actually boots up in DOS with the USB as the C drive.

VIRTUALIZATION

I've been messing with the virtualization thing on XP. I'm using Virtual PC 2004, though MSFT has just released 2007. That should work for the person having problems with the Vista system.

For those who don't happen to have original DOS 6.22 floppies hanging around (I happened to find a set in a cabinet at work--lucky me!), a possible alternative is
 FreeDOS. They have several ISO images, including one of a minimal OS, and an image of a boot floppy. Info here: http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/

As a (not as great) alternative, you could try DOSbox. I've had some success running it and (again) mounting my USB drive as the C drive. I don't consider that to be a permanent solution. Files: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1&begaming_website_session=303443d8528777ce98b52331dcca4313

The other Mac possibility is to have a dual boot machine. I can't help you there, but maybe your local mac guy can.

Oh, and as far as nifty little programs that will open lots of misc files, I like Edxor. Link: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/edxor.htm

***
Now, I need someone to teach me about U2, and I would love to get my hands on some original disks instead of having to rely on an internet copy of dubious legality.

Matt Gumm



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