Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Whither goest DOS?

At 04:27 PM 1/23/02 -0000, Lee wrote:

>Hi,
>Can you still create a Dos boot disk from the newer OS's? I havnt
>tried it in a while. Hopefully the Dos boot will still have access to
>the ports and not some minimal window stuff with protected(
>crippling ) I/O access. -Lee

In Windows NT, 2000 and now XP, there is no underlying DOS at all. The
machine boots directly into the 32-bit Windows. DOS (command line) is
emulated, and has fairly limited capabilities. No direct hardware access,
as has been mentioned, and graphics programs are limited to the "vanilla"
VGA of 640x480x16 colors. I can run VersaCAD (1988-era DOS CAD program),
but it is very slow compared to running in Win98 (and of course the screen
resolution stinks!)

There is no "boot floppy" at all (at least, in Win2k). If the machine
won't boot (as happened to a co-worker last week) you boot from the
installation CD, or from a prepared set of "recovery floppies" if you
thought to create them beforehand.

From everything I've read, Win98SE was the pinnacle of DOS-based Windows
operating systems from the reliability and usability standpoint. It's what
I'm using at home, and will not likely "upgrade"! And of course, you can
boot into command line only, as my machine running CNC Pro does...

Best regards,

Randy

Randy Gordon-Gilmore ,----.___________ ______________ _________________
ProtoTrains // = = === == || == == == = || == == == = == =|
Rio Vista, CA, USA /-O==O------------o==o------------o==o-----------o==o-'
zephyrus@... http://www.rickadee.net/~zephyrus