This chapter describes the operating system that PCs use, called MS–DOS, and explains how to take advantage of the most useful features of the MS–DOS editor to help you run PC applications under Unix.
SoftWindows includes MS–DOS version 6.22. As with earlier versions of MS–DOS, this lets you give commands by typing instructions at the MS–DOS prompt.
MS–DOS 6.22 includes a simple screen editor which you can use to create, edit, and print plain text files. You can choose editing commands from menus and edit text using the mouse. The MS–DOS editor is particularly useful for editing MS–DOS batch programs such as AUTOEXEC.BAT and other files such as CONFIG.SYS.
EDLIN, the less powerful line editor provided with earlier versions of MS–DOS, is also provided.
For example, to edit the AUTOEXEC.BAT startup file type:
EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT |
The file will then be displayed in the MS–DOS editor window as shown below.
Choose Attach Mouse from the Actions menu.
For more information refer to Chapter 4, “Using the mouse in MS-DOS”.
Position the cursor using the arrow keys or by moving and clicking the mouse.
Type to insert text at the cursor.
Press and drag the mouse pointer over the text you want to cut or copy.
Use the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear functions from the MS-DOS editor's Edit menu.
Press and drag the mouse pointer over the text you want to delete.
Press the Delete key or type over the text you highlighted for deletion.
Choose Exit from the editor's File menu.
You can do this from the keyboard by typing the Alt and F keys at the same time, then type X.
You will be prompted to save the file before exiting if you have made any changes to it, as shown in the Figure below.
You can type MS–DOS commands at the MS-DOS prompt as you would on a real PC.
The following list gives the most useful MS–DOS commands; refer to an MS–DOS reference guide for more detailed information.
In the syntax for each command, square brackets indicate optional arguments.
Note that MS-DOS is not case-sensitive; that means MS-DOS treats upper and lower case characters as equivalent.
Changes the current directory.
Copies one or more files between two directories.
Deletes specified files.
Lists the files in a directory.
Formats a disk.
FORMAT [drive:] [/option] |
The options are shown in the following table:
To format | Give this command |
|---|---|
5.25-inch low density | FORMAT A: /F:360 |
3.5-inch low density | FORMAT A: /F:720 |
3.5-inch high density | FORMAT A: /F:1.44 |
You should format only low-density disks in the 720 Kbyte format and only high-density disks in the 1.4 Mbyte format.
A drive set up as a SoftWindows FSA drive cannot be formatted.
Gives help about using an MS–DOS command.
Selects a foreign keyboard character set.
KEYB [xx,,[[drive:][path][file]]] |
where xx is a two-letter keyboard code and file is the name of the keyboard definition file; refer to "Setting up keyboards" in the SoftWindows for Unix Administrator's Guide.
Makes a subdirectory.
Removes an empty directory.
Displays the contents of a text file on the screen.
To install an MS-DOS application you should follow the installation instructions in the manual supplied with the application.
MS-DOS software is typically supplied on one or more floppy disks, and to install the program you copy the files from these disks to your PC hard disk.
To simplify the installation process, most PC programs provide a batch file which automatically copies the files for you. The batch file is typically called SETUP.BAT or INSTALL.BAT, and you run it by typing SETUP or INSTALL at the MS-DOS prompt.
The simplest way of installing PC software, if you have a floppy disk drive available, is to install directly from 3.5-inch installation disks.
Make sure your floppy drive is set to the A: or B: drives. To do this:
Open the SoftWindows menu item Actions, and choose Activate.
A red checkmark should appear next to the A: or B: drive. This indicates that the drive is active.
If neither the A: drive nor the B: drive is active, see "Setting up floppy disk drives" in the SoftWindows for Unix Administrator's Guide.
Follow the instructions supplied with the software. For example, you may be instructed to type:
A:\SETUP
If at any stage in the installation you need to change disks, refer to Chapter 4, “To eject a floppy disk”.
If the software is supplied on 5.25-inch disks, in some cases you can use a PC to copy the software onto 3.5-inch MS–DOS format disks, and then install from these.
Instead of installing directly from 3.5-inch disks, you can copy the software from a PC to a directory on your workstation via a network or serial connection. To do this:
Make a directory on your workstation to copy the application installer files into (these installation files are usually called SETUP.BAT or INSTALL.BAT).
To make this directory available to SoftWindows, you must specify the directory as an FSA drive. To do this, see "Setting up FSA drives" in the SoftWindows for Unix Administrator's Guide.
Now you can install the files from your newly set-up directory.
 | Note: Some installer programs assume that you are installing from floppy disk. They may not work correctly if you copy all the files to a hard disk first, and then try installing from the hard disk. |
The installation program will typically give you the option of where to install the files it is copying from the installation disks.
You have the following options:
Install here | To do this |
|---|---|
Drive C: or D: SoftWindows hard disk file. | If you are sure that the SoftWindows files you are installing will fit on your SoftWindows hard disk file, and you do not need to access the files using other Unix programs. |
Drive E: to Z: SoftWindows FSA drive | If you want to install into the Unix filesystem rather than your SoftWindows hard disk file so that you can share data with other Unix applications or other SoftWindows users. |
| Note: Some PC application installer programs will only install onto a hard disk file (drives C: or D:).. Also, some installers will assume that drives E: to Z: are a PC network, and install additional networking software if you specify these drives. |
Before installing onto the hard disk, check the disk space requirements specified in the PC application's manual, and verify the available hard disk space. For example, if you are installing to drive C: type:
CHKDSK |
at the C:\> prompt in SoftWindows.
| Note: 1048576 bytes = 1 Mbyte. |
If you do not have enough space on your hard disk to install the application, refer to the "SoftWindows for Unix Administrator's Guide" for details on how to enlarge or create PC drives.