ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) (05/23/91)
Archive-name: sys/msdos/4dos/1991-05-22 Archive-directory: wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/msdos/4dos/ [128.252.135.4] Original-posting-by: ee5391aa@triton.unm.edu (Duke McMullan n5gax) Original-subject: Re: 4dos ... Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) In article <1991May20.212703.8135@welch.jhu.edu> glenn@welch.jhu.edu (Glenn M. Mason) writes: >In recent unrelated postings, I have seen reference to a command >interpreter called 4dos. Could anyone give me a brief description >of it, enhancements over command.com, where it comes from,. etc. Sure. 4dos, by J.P.Software, is a replacement for the command.com command processor. 4dos will do the things that many of us use a pile of TSRs to effect, to wit: ---> flexible command line editing ---> command history and recall (including a _smart_ his- tory mechanism...just type the first few letters of the command you want to recall, and start hitting the up-arrow; all the matching commands will be displayed ---> multiple commands on a line ---> conditional command execution (&& and || connectives) ---> 255 characters on the command line ---> a _good_ aliasing mechanism ---> a superior, more UNIX-like wildcard expansion *uy.txt != *.txt ---> use messdos anytime (just enter "command" to use command.com) ---> single-key filename completion ---> semi-built-in help system...a GOOD one, with hyper- text characteristics ---> fast batch files (filename.btm loads the .btm file _into_memory_, and executes it from there) ---> much reduced memory usage, if you can do swapping to disk, EMS or XMS ---> 40-character file descriptions built into DIR ---> expanded and readily editable environment ---> environment variables ---> redirection includes stderr, and the ability to block automatic file overwrites ---> TEE and Y "pipe fittings" are provided ---> most standard messdos commands are enhanced ---> ALMOST 100% messdos compatible ---> push and pop directory changes; examine dir stack ---> built-in timer, will do split times ---> rename files and directories ---> a _greatly_ enhanced batch processor ---> other stuff too, but that's the best of it 4dos is MS-DOS, the way it _should_ have been written. Why MicroSoft doesn't just licence 4dos from JP, or buy them out, is beyond me. Perhaps it's the NIH syndrome. It has failings: It's not quite 100% messdos compatible, although the ONLY noticable problem I've had is a PD Pacman clone called eatit, or something like that, that insists on running at an unplayably high speed under 4dos. It's perfectly happy under messdos, but simply trying to do it under an ex- plicitly called command.com doesn't work -- the machine must be booted under messdos for this program to work at reasonable speeds. It still uses that awkward \ as a pathname separator. There _is_ a built-in provision for using /, etc., but it's not terribly effective, as too many pro- grams _demand_ \. Ah, well.... 4dos has the same damned 640k barrier. That's not the authors' fault, though. That's deeply buried in both the hard- and software designs. Probably the only real cure for that is OS/2...or UNIX. ;^) 4dos is widely available as shareware. It is _not_ crippled in any way; the only difference is that it beeps a couple of times during the boot phase, and flashes a "register me" sort of notice on the screen. A complete manual is included as an ASCII file. If you register, there's a nicely printed, spiral bound manual available. Also, an editor which allows you to edit the HELP files is available to registered users. The earlier versions had a flat ASCII file for the help, but in version 3 they started compressing it, so your favorite text editor will no longer do the job. You should be able to find 4dos on almost any messdos BBS (I hear that there are a few of those around ;^) or ftp messdos site. SIMTEL-20 carries it, and even has an entire directory dedicated to it. Both wuarchive and umich archives have it; I'm sure Timo Salmi has it on his site, since it's a SIMTEL mirror also. If you can't ftp, or find it locally (and you almost certainly can), let me know. I'll get a copy from an ftp site, and mail it to you uuencoded. Having used 4dos for over a year now, the thought of going back to unenhanced messdos is reprehensible, ugly, unpleasant and bad. d -- comp.archives file verification wuarchive.wustl.edu total 855 -rw-r--r-- 1 root 1532 May 19 19:00 00-index.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 7880 Apr 18 19:00 4dosinf.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 145920 Apr 18 19:00 4dos303u.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 101769 Apr 17 19:00 4dos303d.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 274448 Apr 17 19:00 4dos303p.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 44032 Mar 14 18:00 4menu11w.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 34169 Feb 5 18:00 4edit106.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 7006 Dec 29 18:00 4d2411.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 42206 Nov 16 1990 4map.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 60546 Jul 13 1990 4zip.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 8693 May 17 1990 4dtech01.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 8332 Mar 23 1990 4d30ref.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 9422 Mar 23 1990 4d30ref2.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 86135 Feb 1 1990 4help.arc -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 5558 Jan 9 1990 svalias.arc -rw-r--r-- 1 20002 3744 May 12 1989 4dostip.arc found 4dos ok wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/msdos/4dos/