[comp.os.msdos.desqview] DOS 5.00 - Release Notice and Features

Jonathan.Bradshaw@thevoid.rn.com (Jonathan Bradshaw) (06/08/91)

I just received the DOS 5.00 release and features notice. So, maybe now would be 
a good time to talk about it. Since it will have an impact on Desqview users, 
here is what Microsoft says:

MS-DOS 5.0 FEATURE/BENEFIT SUMMARY

* Memory Saving Features

 DOS LoadHigh - DOS loads most of itself into the HMA on 286/386 machines
 UMB Support - Lets you move device drivers and TSRs up above 640k

* Ease of use features

 DOS Shell - New graphical, mouse driven shell
 Task Switcher - Allows more than one application to be active
 On-Line Help - Help for all DOS commands in on-line, just keystrokes away
 Full Screen Editor - New editor that works with keyboard or mouse
 Quick Format - Speedy format for hard drives and floppy disks
 DosKey - DOS command line history and macro-creation utility

* MS-DOS 5.0 Data recovery utilities

 Undelete - Lets you recover files you didn't mean to delete
 Unformat - Lets you recover all files on a floppy or hard disc

* Other MS-DOS 5.0 features

 QBasic - QuickBasic 4.5 interpreter included
 Large Disks - Handles disks larger than 32mb WITHOUT SHARE.EXE

* Technical Facts

 o Old version of DOS to be upgraded must be at least 2.11
 o Upgrade will work on any 8088, 8086 or 80x86
 o Supports network setup from server
 o will use 3.3MB of hard disc space (ed: Gee, just what we wanted!)
 o will load itself into UMB to save conventional memory
 o automaticly updates config.sys and autoexec.bat when installing
 o provides an uninstall feature
 o Task swapper enables switches between tasks with hot keys
 o Can load DOS high (UMB)
 o New versions of HIMEM.SYS, RAMDRIVE, SMARTDRIVE
 o Improvements to EMM386.EXE (ed: shouldn't that be .SYS?)
   - LIM 4.0 support, access to UMB via new DEVICEHIGH= and LOADHIGH=
 o New switches for MEM.EXE include
   - /P displays information on programs use of memory
   - /C displays usage of UMBs
 o Safe and reliable -- more than 7000 beta testers (ed: bug free? sure!)
 o Check README.TXT for obscure areas of compatibility (ed: obscure?)
 o Support for new 2.88MB floppy drives (ed: I want one!)
 o Delete tracking and unerase support
 o All commands have on-line help using "/?" option
 o ATTRIB now affects hidden and system files
 o DEL /P, prompt before deleting
 o DIR /s, recursive directory search
 o DIR /o, specify sort order
 o DIR /a, display files with selected attribute
 o Plus DIR now report total bytes used by listed files
 o FDISK, now deletes NON-DOS partitions
 o FORMAT, allows non-destructive RECOVERABLE quick format
 o RESTORE, restores backups from previous versions of DOS

o MS-DOS v5.0 with Windows 3.0 (ed: what about 3.1?)

 o Streamlined kernel, 5k smaller, SHARE.EXE no longer needed (6k savings)



Ok, so now, you've seen it... bigger files but takes less conventional memory.
Ship date is June 7th, I'll let you know when my copy comes.

Can Quarterdeck now tell us what they have up their sleaves?  With any luck, 
bigger windows!
 

 * Origin: The Voidian Gateway of Michiana [thevoid.rn.com] (1:227/1.6)

phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) (06/11/91)

Jonathan.Bradshaw@thevoid.rn.com (Jonathan Bradshaw) writes:

> Unformat - Lets you recover all files on a floppy or hard disc

Hmmm, let's see, It's JUNE, not APRIL 1.

> o automaticly updates config.sys and autoexec.bat when installing

Is this "safe computing"?

> o provides an uninstall feature

Assuming it will go back down to the version you had before, it somehow
has to keep a copy of all that.

> o Safe and reliable -- more than 7000 beta testers (ed: bug free? sure!)

But aren't they bound by a gag contract?

> o Support for new 2.88MB floppy drives (ed: I want one!)

Me, too!

> o DIR /s, recursive directory search
> o DIR /o, specify sort order

Yay!

> o FORMAT, allows non-destructive RECOVERABLE quick format

NOW we see the joke from above.  I bet they are still going to get a lot
flack from people wanting to unformat a fully formatted disk.

>Ok, so now, you've seen it... bigger files but takes less conventional memory.
>Ship date is June 7th, I'll let you know when my copy comes.

Would you say "tastes great, less filling"?

Well, I would still like to have a rename ability that can actually move a file
from one directory into another just by its rename, without copying anything.
Longer file names would be nice, too.
-- 
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billj@uop.uop.edu (Snugglupagus) (06/11/91)

phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) writes:
>Jonathan.Bradshaw@thevoid.rn.com (Jonathan Bradshaw) writes:

howdy johnathan!  haven't we met somewhere before?   :-) 

>> Unformat - Lets you recover all files on a floppy or hard disc
>Hmmm, let's see, It's JUNE, not APRIL 1.

(gee, he's smart...)  but seriously, i've tested it and it works.
apparently, microsoft licensed some of these features from central point
software, so it's not really "new". 

>> o automaticly updates config.sys and autoexec.bat when installing
>Is this "safe computing"?

>> o provides an uninstall feature
>Assuming it will go back down to the version you had before, it somehow
>has to keep a copy of all that.

it does just that.  in fact, it saves a copy of the necessary recovery
programs on a floppy - just in case.

>> o DIR /s, recursive directory search
>> o DIR /o, specify sort order

and dir /l, for lower case
and dir /g, groups directories at the top - a la 4dos
and dir /b, "bare" format - no heading information 
and dir /a:{a,h,s,r}, shows hidden and system files  (finally!)

you can also set up parameters at boot-time with the dircmd environment
variable. 

(note: the attrib command can now change the hidden and system
attributes as well as read-only.} 

>> o FORMAT, allows non-destructive RECOVERABLE quick format
>NOW we see the joke from above.  I bet they are still going to get a lot
>flack from people wanting to unformat a fully formatted disk.

actually, it can recover from a standard dos format.  i'm sure it can't
recover a low-level formatted disk, though...

>Well, I would still like to have a rename ability that can actually move a file
>from one directory into another just by its rename, without copying anything.

well, it would be nice... but there are shareware move commands that
work just fine. 

>Longer file names would be nice, too.

maybe dos 5.5/6.0?  (hint hint)


snugglupagus 
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ralf+@cs.cmu.edu (Ralf Brown) (06/11/91)

In article <1991Jun10.193627.18400@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) writes:
}> o DIR /s, recursive directory search
}> o DIR /o, specify sort order
}
}Well, I would still like to have a rename ability that can actually move a file
}from one directory into another just by its rename, without copying anything.

I've had that in REN for over a year.  Of course, I'm using 4DOS instead of
COMMAND.COM....  4DOS has also had the directory sorting and recursion for
a long time.

The DOS kernel has actually had the ability to rename files from one
directory into another for over seven years (since DOS 2.0), but COMMAND.COM
never caught up with the kernel's abilities (that applies in other areas
as well).
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Jonathan.Bradshaw@f310.n227.z1.rn.com (Jonathan Bradshaw) (06/13/91)

Well, I've installed IBM DOS 5.0. (Not Microsoft, since they haven't shipped me 
a review copy yet). It's great if you DON'T RUN QEMM/DV!

The problem is: DOS= command. If you DOS=HIGH to load DOS in the HMA, you get 
something like 630K of conventional memory. Unfortunatly, Desqview now loads, 
and since it can't use the HMA takes conventional ram and your back to SQUARE 
ONE!  Also, if you say DOS=UMB then Desqview can't use any UMBs either! I 
settled for leaving DOS low and using QEMM for all upper memory operations. Of 
course, you may as well stick with DOS 4.01!

Oh, the UNFORMAT, UNDELETE and MIRROR programs are licensed from PC-Tools! At 
least we know they'll work <grin>  So if you have PC-Tools then there is no 
need to upgrade either!

Also, 4DOS can't seem to figure out if ANSI.SYS is loaded and is tricked into 
thinking it is. An anonying problem since you now get ansi codes sent to the 
screen.

Argh... why can't DOS load itself into an UMB instead of HMA or in protected 
mode? Or, why can't DV!?
  


 * Origin: VOIDian Gateway of Michiana (thevoid.rn.com) (1:227/310.0)

reisert@mast.enet.dec.com (Jim Reisert) (06/13/91)

In article <676762314.0@thevoid.rn>, Jonathan.Bradshaw@f310.n227.z1.rn.com (Jonathan Bradshaw) writes...
>Well, I've installed IBM DOS 5.0. (Not Microsoft, since they haven't shipped me 
>a review copy yet). It's great if you DON'T RUN QEMM/DV!
>[...]
>I settled for leaving DOS low and using QEMM for all upper memory operations.
>Of course, you may as well stick with DOS 4.01!

I noticed something similar.  My solution was to have QEMM manager all the
high memory, and use QEMM's LOADHI.SYS and LOADHI.COM, rather than DOS
5.0's.  Also, I use DOS=HIGH but no UMBs.  With 4DOS, this resulted in 639K
of free DOS memory, and 598K of free memory for DESQview tasks.  If you
want, send me mail and I'll send you a copy of my CONFIG.SYS file.

- Jim

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