yuan@uhccux.UUCP (Yuan Chang) (03/20/88)
[ Purena Line-eater Chow ]
I have a question about how most programs do their "configuration."
Setting configuration for display adapter, for example. Why not store
the display type within the environment in a consistent manner, so that
you don't have to tell every new software that you have EGA or something?
This way, you might get your software to "auto-configure" without having
to mess with install programms. And changing configurations will be as
easy as changing a line in AUTOEXEC.BAT, rather than having to dig up
the distribution disks (for programs like Windows, 1-2-3) and re-install
everything.
I realize that there a limit on how big the default environment
size in MS-DOS is, but that can be easily changed from DOS 3.20+. Besides,
I don't think these config items will take up a lot of memory.
Basically, what I can think of right now to put into the environment
would be:
PRI-DISPLAY: The name of your display adapter. The exact name
of your video adapter. So that a program can take
full advantage of it should it recognize it. Let's
say I set this to ATI Wonder.
SEC-DISPLAY: If the program doesn't recognize the Primary display
adapter, then it'll try driving the display as an
adapter as specified by SEC-DISPLAY. Types here should
be limited to:
MONO = IBM Monochrome adapter
CGA-BW = CGA running with comp. mono. monitor.
CGA-COL = CGA with RGBI monitor
EGA = EGA
VGA = VGA
PGC = If anybody's rich enough to own one...
So if the program I want to run doesn't recognize the
Primary Display, it should be able to recognize one of
the above whether it supports them or not. So in this
case I might set my SEC-DISPLAY to EGA to get at least
EGA resolution with the ATI Wonder.
MOUSE: Some programs can figure out which mouse you have if
you have MOUSE.COM loaded (or something similar).
However, putting mouse type into the environment
probably will make it easier to configure. I'm not
too sure how many different "standards" for mouse
exists, so I'll just mention the few that I know:
LOGI = Logitech mouse
MICRO = MicroSoft mouse
MOUSE = Mouse System's mouse
KEYBOARD: Believe it or not, some programs still can't figure
out the enhanced keyboard. With KEYBOARD clearly
defined in the environment, programs can make exact
placement for keys, instead of trying to compromise
between all keyboards (think of VT-100 emulation
down to the keyboard!). Valid types are:
PC = The old 83-key PC keyboard.
AT = Old 94-key AT keyboard.
NEW = New 101-key keyboard with 12 function
keys accross the top.
JR = If we really have to 8(...
TEMP: Directory for temperary work files.
PRINTERS: Basically, apply the same idea from display. So there
should be PRI-PRINTER and SEC-PRINTER. With SEC-
PRINTER, I don't want to be suggesting the possible
types, because I don't know that many printers. Perhaps
the 10 most emulated printers should find their homes
here. If you want to worry about more than one
printer(s), then we could add a 1, 2, or 3 indicating
which LPT port the printer is being configured. Re-
direction to COM ports will be handled by DOS.
Did I cover all grounds with that? I hope you see my idea by
now. All these environment variable will basically be entered into
memory at boot-time in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Any time your system configura-
tion changes, just modify AUTOEXEC.BAT, and all (hopefully) of your
programs will adjust accordingly. And temperarily changing the
configuration will be easily accomplished with SET on the commandline.
Programs which call up another copy of COMMAND.COM will get a copy
of the environment, can even modify it until they exit, and all
will be the same. Now if I could only get MicroSoft or Lotus
to listen 8)...
P.S. Don't let my standard .signature fool you. I (sort of) know
what I'm talking about 8-)
--
Yuan Chang
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--
Yuan Chang
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