Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS/Wildcat Gold - The Optical BBS (The Golden ROM Series)(Volume 4 Number 1)(The Digital Publishing Company)(1992).ISO/util/msdos500.txt

Text File | 1991-11-13 | 15.5 KB | 308 lines

 Technical Bulletin
11.13.91 DOS50 JAG
OPERATING SYSTEMS:  Microsoft DOS 5.0


Installing MS-DOS 5.0:
In general, the user should follow the instructions for installing MS-DOS 5.0
that are provided in the Getting Started booklet included in the 5.0 upgrade.
For most PCs, this is as easy as putting the DOS Upgrade Disk #1 in the floppy
drive and typing "a:setup" at the DOS prompt. When running SETUP on a LANtastic
Network, there are three general issues to consider:

1. SETUP cannot be run while the LANtastic SERVER program is running on a
PC.  If this is attempted, SETUP reports: "Setup detected an error in
identifying the hard disk partition your system starts up from" and
indicates that it cannot install MS-DOS 5.0 on the hard drive.  To run
SETUP on a server, bring the PC up without the SERVER program running
and run SETUP as documented.  SETUP will run correctly on a LANtastic
workstation (i.e. a PC running the REDIR program but not running SERVER).

2. "Chapter 3 Updating Networks for MS-DOS Version 5.0" of the MS-DOS
5.0 "Getting Started" booklet includes documentation for upgrading to MS-
DOS 5.0 when LANtastic versions 2.5x through 3.02 are also installed on
the PC.  These notes indicate that when running NOS versions 2.5x
through 3.01 (See note 1) , DOS will display two "Incorrect DOS version"
messages after installing MS-DOS 5.0 and attempting to install the LAN
software. These error messages are actually generated by the REDIR and SERVER
programs, not by DOS.  However, by following the instructions in the
booklet, the user can use the new DOS SETVER command to eliminate the
error messages and run the LAN software normally. The SETVER command
does not need to be used with LANtastic versions 3.02 or higher. For
more information on the new SETVER command, see the 'new features of
MS-DOS 5.0' section below and Chapter 15 of the Microsoft "MS-DOS
User's Guide and Reference."

3. If the DOS EMM386.EXE Expanded Memory Manager is included in the
CONFIG.SYS and the PC has an Artisoft 2Mbps or Enhanced 2Mbps
(E2Mbps) adapter installed, the RAMBASE address of the card must be
excluded from use by EMM386.EXE.  This also applies to LANtastic/AI
installations with adapters that use a RAMBASE address, such as the
WD80x3 adapters and some ARCNET NICs.  To exclude the RAMBASE,
use the "X=mmmm-nnnn" switch in the DEVICE command for
EMM386.EXE in CONFIG.SYS.  See the "Notes on EMM386.EXE"
section below and Chapter 15 of the "MS-DOS User's Guide and
Reference" for further information on EMM386.EXE.


New Features of MS-DOS 5.0
This section is not intended to completely document MS-DOS 5.0's new
features, but to provide a brief overview for experienced DOS users.  MS-DOS
version 5.0 introduces some powerful new abilities and commands as well as
improving on many of the familiar DOS functions.  See the "MS-DOS User's
Guide and Reference" for full descriptions of new features.

On 286, 386 and 486 machines, MS-DOS can now be relocated to the High
Memory Area (HMA), making more conventional memory available for
applications to use.  On 386 or higher machines, it is also possible to load
some device drivers and memory resident software in upper memory.
Using the new LOADHIGH, or LH, command, all of the LANtastic NOS TSRs
(version 3.03 or higher) can be loaded into upper memory assuming that
there is enough RAM available. Relocating the NOS this way provides even
more space for applications to execute in conventional memory.

The MS-DOS Shell (DOSSHELL) has been improved and now includes a task
switcher which allows you to swap between DOS applications.  Since it uses
the same task switching conventions as Microsoft Windows in Real mode, it is
possible to use the DOS Shell task switcher on a LANtastic non-dedicated
server.

Microsoft has licensed several disk utilities from Central Point Software (PC
Tools): UNFORMAT, UNDELETE, and MIRROR.  MIRROR stores information about the
hard drive (it is NOT disk mirroring software) and can also track file deletions
for later use by UNDELETE and UNFORMAT.  MIRROR, UNDELETE, and UNFORMAT
cannot be used on a server's drives, either locally or through the network from
a workstation.  However, it may be used on the local hard disk(s) of a
LANtastic workstation. If MIRROR is included in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a
server it can be used to take a 'snapshot' of the hard disk(s) at boot time.  If
the NOS is loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT on a LANtastic server, MIRROR must be
run before the SERVER command is executed and cannot be loaded in its TSR
form.

Help is available through the new HELP [COMMAND] command.  Help for all
DOS commands can also be invoked at the DOS prompt by typing the desired
command followed by /?.

MS-DOS 5.0 provides the MS-DOS Editor (EDIT), a new full screen, CUA
compliant ASCII file editor similar to the editor supplied with Microsoft Quick
BASIC.

Disk partitions up to 2 gigabytes in size are now directly supported.  MS-DOS
5.0 no longer requires SHARE to be loaded for partitions greater than 32 MB.
However, any PC that functions as a LANtastic server must still use SHARE for
network file and record locking support.

MS-DOS 5.0 includes DOSKEY, a TSR program that allows the user to recall
commands previously typed at the DOS prompt in order to re-issue and/or
edit them.  DOSKEY also has a macro feature that enables easy recall of
frequently used command sequences.

The SETVER command is provided to allow programs that expect a specific
version of DOS to run under MS-DOS 5.0.  This command can be used with
the LANtastic version 2.5x through 3.01 SERVER and REDIR programs to permit
them to run under MS-DOS 5.0.  SETVER  performs two basic functions.  First,
when run as a device driver in the CONFIG.SYS, it loads a table into memory
consisting of program names and the MS-DOS version number to report for
these programs.  DOS then checks this table each time a program is
executed to see if a version number other than 5.0 needs to be reported to
the program.  Second, when invoked at the command line, it modifies the
copy of the version table stored on disk, either adding or deleting table
entries.  Therefore, the machine must be rebooted after running SETVER from
the DOS prompt for the changes it makes to the table on disk to take effect.
For SETVER to work correctly with LANtastic's REDIR and SERVER programs
(versions 3.01 and lower), make sure that CONFIG.SYS contains this line:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE

Then execute the commands:

setver redir.exe 4.0
setver server.exe 4.0

at the DOS prompt.  SETVER only needs to be run one time each for REDIR and
SERVER, thereafter MS-DOS will remember what version number to report to
the programs.  Once again, the PC must be rebooted in order for these
changes to take effect.  It has also been found that it may be necessary to use
SETVER to solve certain lockup problems that occur during execution of
LANtastic's NET.EXE utility.  To do this, run

SETVER NET.EXE 4.0

at the DOS prompt and reboot the PC.


Notes on Using EMM386.EXE
MS-DOS 5.0 provides enhanced support for loading DOS into high memory and
for loading device drivers and other TSR programs into upper memory.  When
installing MS-DOS 5.0 on a 286 or higher machine which has more than 640K of
RAM, the SETUP program automatically alters the CONFIG.SYS to include two
statements that will load DOS into the high memory area (HMA, See note 2).
The two lines are:

DEVICE=c:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=high

This allows DOS to be loaded in HMA, but does NOT allow for device drivers and
TSRs to be loaded into upper memory.  MS-DOS 5.0 considers these separate
issues, and in order to load programs into upper memory, Upper Memory Blocks
(UMBs, also called the upper memory area or UMA) must be created by invoking
EMM386.EXE.  To do this, CONFIG.SYS must contain these statements:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=high,umb
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS

Note that EMM386 will only work on 386 or higher processors with at least 384K
of extended memory.  It has two separate functions:  The first is to provide
expanded memory emulation of LIM 4.0 EMS in the eXpanded Memory
Specification (XMS) memory managed by HIMEM.SYS, and the second is to
enable UMBs.  If EMM386 is run without any switches, it creates 256K of EMS
and does not enable the UMA.  To enable UMBs, the RAM or NOEMS switches
must be used.  Use the NOEMS switch to enable UMBs and disable EMS
simulation, and the RAM switch to enable both UMBs and EMS emulation.  If the
RAM switch is used, the UMA will be smaller in order to accommodate the
required 64K EMS page frame.  Once EMM386 is installed using the RAM or
NOEMS  switches, the DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH commands can then be used to
load device drivers and TSRs into the UMA.  In the above example, the NOEMS
switch tells EMM386 to enable UMBs but to leave all extended memory as XMS
memory.  The following command would be added to CONFIG.SYS in order to
enable the UMA and allocate 512K of LIM 4.0 EMS for use by any DOS program
that requires it:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 512 RAM

If the PC has more than 512K of extended memory, then the remainder is
treated as XMS.  Which switch is used depends on the applications that will be
run on the PC and what type of memory they require.  See Chapter 15 in the
"MS-DOS User's Guide and Reference" for more information about EMM386.


Loading LANtastic into Upper Memory
LOADHIGH can be used to load the LANtastic NOS TSRs into UMA.  This has
been verified for versions 3.03 and 4.0 of the NOS.  For example, if a user
wishes to run Microsoft Windows in 386 Enhanced mode (which requires XMS
memory), to load device drivers and the LANtastic E2Mbps NOS 4.0 TSRs into
UMA, and to load DOS into HMA, the following lines would be included in
CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=D800-DFFF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\ANSI.SYS

Then, in the STARTNET.BAT (or other batch file that loads LANtastic NOS), the
LOADHIGH, or LH, command would be inserted on the command lines for the NOS
TSRs.  For example:

lh lanbios2 irq=15 rambase=D800
lh redir host logins=10
lh share
lh server

An important switch included in the example CONFIG.SYS lines above is the
X=D800-DFFF on the DEVICE line for EMM386.  X= is the short notation for the
EXCLUDE=  switch which is used to protect an address range in upper memory
from being converted into UMBs.  In this example, the excluded range is the
default RAMBASE address (a shared memory address in the 640K to 1MB range)
for the LANtastic Enhanced 2Mbps adapter.  Since this address is in the middle
of the UMA, excluding it will cause fragmentation of the UMA and limit the size
of TSRs that can be loaded in upper memory.  To reduce UMA fragmentation, it
would be necessary to move the adapter's RAMBASE to an address range just
above video memory and then exclude that address from being converted to
UMBs by EMM386.  On a PC with VGA, the B000-B7FF range (monochrome
display memory) can usually be used for the LAN adapter's address.  For a
machine with a monochrome display, the A800 or the C000 ranges could be
used.  Also, other adapters that require a RAMBASE address will also require
EMM386 to exclude the address they use.  Using the example of a machine with
a LANtastic Enhanced 2Mbps adapter and VGA card installed, the EMM386 line
in the CONFIG.SYS would be:

DEVICE=c:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS x=B000-B7FF

The command to load the LANBIOS2 program into upper memory would be
changed to:

lh lanbios2 irq=15 rambase=B000

It is not necessary to exclude an upper memory range when using the Artisoft
AE-1/T, AE-2 or AE-3 adapters as they do not use a RAMBASE address.

LOADHIGH will load a TSR in UMA if there is enough upper memory available,
otherwise the program is loaded in conventional memory.  Unfortunately,
LOADHIGH does not report where it loaded the program.  However, MS-DOS' new
MEM command can be used to find out where the TSR was loaded.  In general,
the MEM command is used to display the amount of free memory in the PC.  It
has several switches that can be used to view both free and occupied memory in
various ways. One such switch is the /C or /CLASSIFY switch which displays
programs that are loaded into both conventional memory and the UMA and the
amount of memory used by each, and also lists available memory blocks.
Therefore, entering MEM /C at the DOS prompt will show where a TSR or device
driver was actually loaded.  For a full discussion of the MEM command, see the
"MS-DOS 5.0 User's Guide and Reference."  Note that the DEVICEHIGH command
is used in CONFIG.SYS to load device drivers into UMA.


Using LANcache with MS-DOS 5.0 Memory Management
LANcache version 2.14 began shipping with LANtastic NOS version 4.0 and is
now able to use XMS memory for caching.  On 286 and higher machines on
which HIMEM.SYS is installed, loading LANcache v2.14 will require that you
specify the type of memory for it to use, for example:

lancache type=XMS

On 386 and higher machines on which EMM386.EXE is also used, the
LANcache's TYPE switch will be set to XMS if NOEMS is specified when the
EMM386 device driver is loaded, or TYPE may be set to EMS if EMM386 is
performing EMS emulation (see the "Notes on Using EMM386.EXE" section
above for details).

LANcache version 1.31, which shipped with LANtastic NOS 3.02 and 3.03, was
not capable of using XMS memory for caching.  For this reason, EMM386 must
be used to simulate EMS in order to run LANcache v1.31.  Note that this means
that LANcache v1.31 cannot be used in conjunction with HIMEM.SYS on 286
processors.  Upgrading to version 2.14 of LANcache and 4.0 of LANtastic NOS
will resolve this limitation.


SHARE.EXE Issues
MS-DOS version 4.0x required SHARE to be installed in order to support hard disk
partition sizes greater than 32 MB.  If SHARE was not explicitly installed in
the CONFIG.SYS, MS-DOS 4.0x would automatically install it with default
parameters.  Therefore, it was recommended to load SHARE in CONFIG.SYS
using the INSTALL= directive if values greater than the defaults were needed.
This is no longer required in MS-DOS 5.0, but may still be done if desired.  For
example, a user may wish to load SHARE in CONFIG.SYS on a server with
version 4.0 of LANtastic so that the NOS TSRs may removed from memory at a
later time.  SHARE cannot be unloaded, so if it is installed after the NOS is
loaded, then the LANtastic TSRs also cannot be removed (See the LANtastic
NOS Reference Manual  for further information on removing the NOS from
memory).


Conclusion
MS-DOS version 5.0 is compatible with the LANtastic Network Operating System
versions 2.5x through 4.0, and provides new utilities and services that were
previously available only through third-party manufacturers.


Vendor Information:
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA  98052-6399


NOTES:
1. Artisoft did not officially ship a version 3.01 of the NOS, but Microsoft's
notes apply to any NOS version less than 3.02 and greater than or equal to 2.50.

2. The HMA is the first 64K of RAM above 1 MB that HIMEM.SYS creates by enabling
the A20 address pin on 286 and higher machines.



ARTISOFT, Inc. makes no warranties as to the completeness or accuracy of this
document.  LANtastic is a trademark of ARTISOFT, Inc.  Company names, brand
names and product names are trademarks or registered trade marks of their
respective companies.