[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] 4DOS any good to lower memory usage over command.com?

gsisson@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Glenn Sisson) (04/21/91)

I read that 4DOS is a command.com replacement and only occupies 5K of
conventional memory when you load other applications over it.  Sounds
too good to be true.

What I want to do is replace command.com which I load before I run
DesqView.  Will 4DOS do this and save me memory, yet still support dos
system calls for applications?

I tried to obtain 4DOS from SIMTEL20 via a mail message to
listserv@vm.ecs.rpi.edu (to answer these questions for myself), but
the package was not found (although it is listing in the latet
SIMTEL20 directory).  Any other locations for picking up 4DOS?

Thanks,
--- glenn

reisert@mast.enet.dec.com (Jim Reisert) (04/21/91)

In article <gsisson.672201290@beowulf>, Glenn Sisson writes...
>
>I read that 4DOS is a command.com replacement and only occupies 5K of
>conventional memory when you load other applications over it.  Sounds
>too good to be true.

No it's not.  Actually, 4DOS only takes .3K of conventional memory in my 386
using QEMM.  The rest lives in expanded memory.

>I tried to obtain 4DOS from SIMTEL20 via a mail message to
>listserv@vm.ecs.rpi.edu (to answer these questions for myself), but
>the package was not found (although it is listing in the latet
>SIMTEL20 directory).  Any other locations for picking up 4DOS?

A new version was posted recently - 3.03.  I don't remember all the file
names, but I think they're in PD1:<MSDOS.4DOS> on SIMTEL20 as:

	4DOS303P.ZIP	programs
	4DOS303D.ZIP	documentation

I just loaded the update to version 3.02a, so I didn't need the whole kit,
and thus don't quite remember the names.  You might try looking through the
last week's worth of articles in comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d.

- Jim (who feels *naked* without 4DOS!)

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c60b-1eq@e260-1a.berkeley.edu (Noam Mendelson) (04/21/91)

In article <gsisson.672201290@beowulf> gsisson@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Glenn Sisson) writes:
>I read that 4DOS is a command.com replacement and only occupies 5K of
>conventional memory when you load other applications over it.  Sounds
>too good to be true.

Not really, since 4DOS occupies ~4K of resident memory while COMMAND.COM
occupies ~5K (unless you have XMS, in which case you can decrease the
resident size of 4DOS further).  4DOS is *not* a replacement for DOS--
just a replacement for the command line interpreter (and an excellent
replacement at that).

-- 
+==========================================================================+
| Noam Mendelson   ..!ucbvax!web!c60b-1eq       | "I haven't lost my mind, |
| c60b-1eq@web.Berkeley.EDU                     |  it's backed up on tape  |
| University of California at Berkeley          |  somewhere."             |

ralphs@seattleu.edu (Ralph Sims) (04/21/91)

gsisson@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Glenn Sisson) writes:

> I read that 4DOS is a command.com replacement and only occupies 5K of
> conventional memory when you load other applications over it.  Sounds
> too good to be true.

I renamed 4DOS.COM to command.com and the kernel is only 256 bytes when
it is swapped out.  With a CGA monitor and a LOT of things loaded in
high memory, I have 689K free for DOS.

> What I want to do is replace command.com which I load before I run
> DesqView.  Will 4DOS do this and save me memory, yet still support dos
> system calls for applications?

I do this on a 386/25 with 8 megs of RAM, running a mail/news site with
a full feed and cron as a background task.

> SIMTEL20 directory).  Any other locations for picking up 4DOS?

You can download it from here.  It's in /public/4dos.  Or I can email it
to you.

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