kulokari@cc.helsinki.fi (01/05/90)
A while back, it was said here that DESQview needs command.com to start applications. That is not true. If you install the program with full pathname and .EXE or .COM extension, DESQview loads the program directly. And the DESQview equivalent for the Windows PIF file is a .DVP file. Look into your DV directory. It is full of them. I cannot resist throwing in a number of additional points: 1) Point one in DESQview's favor (and I think it is the better product) is the ability to customize the operating environment for each DOS application, so that the application really works and receives the protection it needs, and only that. Windows/386 handles all applications more or less the same way, with a penalty on performance. 2) The DESQview/QEMM combo (DESQview 386) is compatible with the Virtual Control Program specification. You can run 386-specific programs written using the Phar Lap DOS extended (or similar) in DESQview windows. I have personally done this with the 386 version of PC-Matlab. With Win/386 this is impossible. 3) If you are writing your own programs, it is quite easy to make them "DESQview-aware", so that they perform even better. You do not need any expensive toolkits (although one inexpensive is available), all the basic info is in the DESQview manual. 4) Almost every PC-user needs *some* TSR programs and drivers. All European users need a keyboard remapping utility, and mouse driver is also quite common. QEMM allows them to be loaded in high memory, above the 640K limit, Win/386 does not. Even disk buffers can be moved to the high memory, if you are running DOS 3.x (not DOS 4.x). Win/386 handles the keyboard remapping for DOS applications (somehow), but it keeps the mouse to itself. If your DOS program wants to use a mouse, you need a mouse driver. Therefore, in a real-world situation, DESQview gives you more free memory per task. 5) When you exit DESQview 386 to run plain DOS, you still have access to expanded memory (QEMM does that). Win/386 offers expanded memory to only those DOS applications running under it, and not every application I have tried has recognized it. To get expanded memory after Win/386 you must reboot the machine with different config.sys (to load QEMM or 386MAX). In my opinion DESQview 386 does a pretty good job multitasking standard DOS applications, and even some not so standard (Windows). It is not perfect, and it does crash now and then, especially if you did not interpret the documentation correctly. On the other hand, it looks like the Windows/386 was not really intended to support straight DOS applications. It is a control program for running Windows and, with luck, something else. Crashes are to be expected. But if you REALLY need a multitasking environment for your (high-end) AT or 386 machine, and are prepared to replace your applications, do yourself a favor and take a look at OS/2 (or some brand of Unix, but it costs more, takes more space on your disk, and can be a little overwhelming for the non-hacker types). There are already some commercial applications available, a good selection of programming tools, and a growing lot of PD stuff. If you are like me, who spends his working days communicating, writing and programming, you can do most of your daily work in the protected mode environment. No crashes. And straight DOS is just a reboot away, should the DOS box prove insufficient for the occasional running of a DOS program. Recommended. Try it, anyway. Just my opinions. Hannu Kulokari CC, U of Helsinki kulokari@cc.helsinki.fi (internet) kulokari@finuh (bitnet)