[comp.windows.ms] 4dos revisited

akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (07/07/90)

I've been running 4dos on my 386/AMI BIOS/Chips & Tech
chipset/4Meg/VGA paradise 800x600 as the command shell, and I haven't
been having any problems. A friend of mine recently bought the same
hardware, and after she installed windows on her machine, I copied the
contents of my root directory onto her machine,  giving her
the same config.sys, autoexec.bat 4dos executables and startup files.

This resulted in 4dos being the command processor on her machine, and
worked just fine at the "Dos" level.  However, when I run 4dos on her
machine, the first 4dos window appears just fine. The second causes
windows to produce the message "This application has violated system
integrity and will be terminated.  Please close all applications, exit
windows and reboot your system."

As far as I can see, we have the *exact* same setup. I have no problem
running multiple copies of 4dos.

Another strange behavior on her machine is that if I run some dos
applications after the first 4dos shell, and before the second (no
obvious pattern/number required), the second shell comes up just
fine.At other times, this second shell will appear after some number
of intermediate dos applications are loaded, and will cause the
windows terminate message after I run a dos application in its window
and exit from the app. 

I was initially using ems swapping for 4dos (that is how it works on
my machine), but that doesn't work on her machine. I tried all the
other combinations too. I also switched to 600x400, and that didn't
help. 

If anyone has any ideas, or could pass this bug onto the developers of
4dos, I'd be grateful.

The only differences I can think of are:

-	She has a different disk controller and disk drive.
-	The disks that her windows came on are 5.4", mine are 3.5". (So I'm
	going to try and install win with my disks and see if that makes a
	difference.) 
-	The Bioses might have slightly different dates.


thanks,

kartik
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Anant Kartik Mithal					akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Department of Computer Science				akm@oregon.BITNET
University of Oregon					

akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (07/08/90)

In article <1990Jul6.204325.1736@cs.uoregon.edu> akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (me) writes:
>
>I've been running 4dos on my 386/AMI BIOS/Chips & Tech
>chipset/4Meg/VGA paradise 800x600 as the command shell, and I haven't
>been having any problems. A friend of mine recently bought the same
>hardware, and after she installed windows on her machine, I copied the
>contents of my root directory onto her machine,  giving her
>the same config.sys, autoexec.bat 4dos executables and startup files.
>
>This resulted in 4dos being the command processor on her machine, and
>worked just fine at the "Dos" level.  However, when I run 4dos on her
>machine, the first 4dos window appears just fine. The second causes
>windows to produce the message "This application has violated system
>integrity and will be terminated.  Please close all applications, exit
>windows and reboot your system."
>
>As far as I can see, we have the *exact* same setup. I have no problem
>running multiple copies of 4dos.
>
[stuff deleted]
>
>The only differences I can think of are:
>
>-	The disks that her windows came on are 5.25", mine are 3.5". (So I'm
>	going to try and install win with my disks and see if that makes a
>	difference.) 

Working on the assumption that the only difference was the
distribution disks, I installed windows on her machine using my
distribution disks. 4dos now works fine. I suspect, therefore, that
there is some difference between the 5.25" and 3.5" disks. On
comparing the dates/sizes of the files in the windows and
windows\system directory, the obvious difference is that the date of
win.com is different. I haven't as yet run a fcomp on them, but if I
do, I will post info regarding what I find.

My recommendation to 4dos users who are having problems is this: if
you are using 5.25" distribution disks, try reinstalling windows using
3.5" disks, and see if that fixes the problem. If someone from MS is
listening, could you shed light on the subject?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anant Kartik Mithal					akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Department of Computer Science				akm@oregon.BITNET
University of Oregon					

goodearl@world.std.com (Robert D Goodearl) (07/08/90)

In article <1990Jul8.012530.22561@cs.uoregon.edu>
akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) writes:

>>I've been running 4dos on my 386/AMI BIOS/Chips & Tech
>>chipset/4Meg/VGA paradise 800x600 as the command shell

>>friend of mine recently bought the same
>>hardware...

>>the first 4dos window appears just fine. The second causes
>>windows to produce the message "This application has violated system
>>integrity and will be terminated. ...

>>The only differences I can think of are:
>>
>>-	The disks that her windows came on are 5.25", mine are 3.5".

>I installed windows on her machine using my
>distribution disks. 4dos now works fine.

I am using 4dos both at home (386 sx clone) and at work (PS/2 Model 70).
Windows was installed at home from 5 1/4" floppies and at work from 3 1/2"
floppies.  In general, things are fine on both machines and I haven't seen
the symptoms that Anant describes.  

I have occasionally been dumped back to the inital 4dos prompt (ie: windows 
quits) without warning.  The good news is that it happens very rarely (once 
or twice a week at work, less frequently at home) so it's not a significant 
problem.  The bad news is that it happens very rarely ;-) so I haven't been 
able to establish a cause.

I am using windows 95% of the time on my machine at work (writing and debugging
windows software, accessing network files and mail, etc.), so I am willing
to live with the infrequent problems because of the benefits
I get from using 4dos.  These include command line and file name completion,
command editing, many features that are unix like, etc.  Since the old and
familiar TSR's cannot be used with windows, this package is of  significant
benefit.  I've exchanged mail with Tom Rawson of JP Software, and he is
interested in fixing the bugs if enough information can be passed for him
to duplicate them.

As soon as I can get a set of disks from the author directly, I'll post the
package to comp.binaries.ibm.pc.  This is a very good shareware package and
a bargain at $50.  If you use it, please register it.  We as a community
benefit greatly from the work of shareware authors, and they won't continue
doing shareware if we don't support them.

(I have no connection with J.P. Software other than as a satisfied user.)

Bob Goodearl -- goodearl@world.std.com

akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (07/09/90)

In article <1990Jul8.012530.22561@cs.uoregon.edu> akm@comix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) writes:
[Stuff deleted]
>On
>comparing the dates/sizes of the files in the windows and
>windows\system directory, the obvious difference is that the date of
>win.com is different. I haven't as yet run a fcomp on them, but if I
>do, I will post info regarding what I find.

The date on win.com seems to be the date that it was installed,
which is why the dates were different. Doesn't mean that there is any
difference in the distributions. If someone can tell me what software
is "standard" for doing a checksum (and that runs on a PC), I can post
a checksum of the 3.5" distribution. Perhaps someone else can compare
that to a 5.25" distribution. 

I recall someone else saying that the notebook paste date/time
function posted only the time, well, mine only posts the date. So, if
this person is listening, is your distribution 5.25" or 3.5"?

kartik.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anant Kartik Mithal					akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Department of Computer Science				akm@oregon.BITNET
University of Oregon