howard@kcl-cs.UUCP (JR Howard) (02/13/91)
I may have missed it, but while there's all this hype on MSDOS5.0 taking a small area of low memory. A secondary and equally important question also exists: Has 'sys.com' been improved? Generally speaking, every increase in DOS has meant larger system files. As these seem to 'have' to sit at the begining of a harddisc's boot area, upgrading normally means scratching the boot drive - temporaly or otherwise. Downgrading - that wonderful thing you can do by mistake, works fine as the system files are smaller and the space is restricted to the previous versions size. Anyone know the angle on this 'feature' in MSDOS5.0? 32Meg worth of floppies doesn't strike me as a 'fun' idea in order to achieve the upgrade. JR
bxw@ccadfa.adfa.oz.au (Brad Willcott) (02/16/91)
howard@kcl-cs.UUCP (JR Howard) writes: >I may have missed it, but while there's all this hype on MSDOS5.0 taking >a small area of low memory. A secondary and equally important question >also exists: > Has 'sys.com' been improved? >Generally speaking, every increase in DOS has meant larger system files. As >these seem to 'have' to sit at the begining of a harddisc's boot area, >upgrading normally means scratching the boot drive - temporaly or otherwise. >Downgrading - that wonderful thing you can do by mistake, works fine as the >system files are smaller and the space is restricted to the previous versions >size. >Anyone know the angle on this 'feature' in MSDOS5.0? 32Meg worth of floppies >doesn't strike me as a 'fun' idea in order to achieve the upgrade. >JR The problem you are refering to can be answered as follows: a) The "system" files ARE larger. b) Installing the upgrade is NOT a problem. MSDOS 5.0 will come with a VERY good and simple to use "install" program that does the whole thing for you. It will even store your old OS files in a hidden directory and create a "unistall" disk for you, so that should you wish, for some unknown reason, to go back to your previous version of DOS, you can. I have recently received a beta test version of MSDOS 5.0 from Microsoft. I am very impressed with its capabilities. The hardware is a 386 w/4Mb ram. The first thing that I noticed after a successful installation, was that I had an EXTRA 39Kb ram available for DOS. I dare not go any further than I already have, as I don't want to breach any beta testing agreements with Microsoft. But I will say, that although I was not willing/interrested in upgrading from DOS 3.2 to 4.X, I am very willing to go to 5.X. Brad. -- Brad Willcott, ACSnet: bxw@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz Computing Services, Internet: bxw@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au Australian Defence Force Academy, UUCP:!uunet!munnari.oz.au!ccadfa.oz!bxw Northcott Dr. Campbell ACT Australia 2600 +61 6 268 8584 +61 6 268 8150 (Fax)