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Post by jwhartwell on Jun 27, 2020 20:36:03 GMT 1
Well, now I've done it... I bought a new Win 10 machine and I moved vDos from the older machine. It was the 2017 version (the .exe dated 10/10/2016), and it worked fine. But it didn't work on the new box. So I installed vDos 2020 there and had the same failure: the program PCFile executes properly, but the screen is a jumble and can't be read. Please see two screen shots attached.
The two Win 10 machines are similar, both with 1920x1080 screens, but the old one had been upgraded from Win 7. WP 5.1 does fine on both machines and with both versions of vDos. I spent a day editing autoexec.txt and config.txt, but I never made either version work on the new Lenovo. So I went back to the old Vaio to see if I could induce a failure there. Well, I certainly did! Now both versions of vDos show the jumbled screen, even the 2017 version using exactly the old config and autoexec files! It must be something about how Windows treats vDos...something triggered by the 2020 version...but I am completely clueless!
autoxec.txt has just two lines: USE C: C:\ C:
PCFile is invoked from the prompt by this tiny batch file c:\pcf.bat cd \notebook path c:\pcf7;c:\windows\system32 \pcf7\pcf
config.txt has only MOUSE = ON
PCFile responds to the mouse properly, but not WP 5.1. (It seems to want MOUSE.SYS.)
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Post by Jos on Jun 27, 2020 21:44:15 GMT 1
Quite some ambiguous stuff.
There never was a vDos 2017 dated 10/10/2016, that would be vDos 2016.10.01 latest silent update. vDos, nor its installer, changes anything to the Windows host, so copying/installing it to another system should give the same results. Certainly the old Vaio isn’t in any way effected.
The line “C:” in autoexec.txt doesn’t do anything. C: is already the DOS working directory.
You could have more pcf.bat files around?
Since PCFile is a graphics mode program, you might add a PAUSE line before starting it.
WP 5.1 would never work with an enabled mouse in vDos?
Jos
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Post by jwhartwell on Jun 30, 2020 14:37:31 GMT 1
Thanks for your response, Jos. I'm on the road with just the new Lenovo. Inserting PAUSE in pcf.bat didn't help the jumbled screen, I'm sorry to report.
About the mouse and WP5.1, it did work for me a long time ago. I will say that it ceased when I began using the 10/10/2016 version. I don't recall now why I changed to that...Presumably something else changed or I wouldn't have downloaded vDOS again. Maybe that's when I moved from Win 7 to Win 10.
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Post by Jos on Jun 30, 2020 16:00:47 GMT 1
I thought PCF needed the vDos window displayed before it was started, will be some other program. vDos only supports basic VGA graphics, it’s only thanks to Edward Mendelson that support is still in vDos. I suspect PCF is doing some low level video card stuff vDos simply doesn’t support. You could either: Use DOSBox, it also supports more than just the 640x480 VGA mode of vDos, or Use the PCF character display mode. Menu – Utilities – Configuration – Uncheck Graphics mode. That would also bring a more scalable vDos window and a more snappy PCF. WP is all but the only program that uses mouse drivers of its own. For what I know, WP 6.x is the only version with somewhat dummy MS Mouse drivers that connect to the DOS mouse interface. Besides WP 5.x drivers connecting to hardware PS/2 or serial ports, WP has to inquire the X and Y coordinates of the mouse position, not its relative movements since the Windows mouse can leave (and reenter) the vDos Window. I can not imagine the WP 5.x mouse would ever have worked in vDos, or even NVTDM. So you have to do without. Jos Attachments:
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Post by jwhartwell on Jul 1, 2020 21:00:19 GMT 1
A fine idea! I will get PCFile out of graphics mode. (Just now I can see to uncheck the box, but I can't see to answer the subsequent question, probably something like "make this permanent?") It's good to know about how WP used a mouse. I run the program with a large set of keyboard macros. I looked at them again last night (for the first time in 25 years), fearful that somehow one might have an unplanned side-effect. Thanks for being there, mate!
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Post by jwhartwell on Jul 3, 2020 0:37:46 GMT 1
Straight to heaven, you!
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