Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!nosc!crash!ncr-sd!se-sd!lord
From: lord@se-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Dave Lord)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: MS/PC DOS 3.3 vs 4.? (which is better?)
Message-ID: <4054@se-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM>
Date: 17 Oct 90 20:44:13 GMT
References: <1990Oct15.025303.6582@odetics.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: NCR Corporation, Systems Engineering - San Diego
Lines: 36

In article <1990Oct15.025303.6582@odetics.com> frank@odetics.UUCP (Frank Merrow) writes:
<I have been running under the assumption that DOS 4.x is NOT the way to
<go.  I guess someplace I heard that it is MUCH bigger than 3.3 and that
<the "graphical interface" (is this COMMAND.COM?) is not that good.  In

 Yes, it can be much bigger depending on what options you specify when
 you install it. I'd recomend using QEMM which will move parts of it to
 high memory. The "graphical interface" is a separate program that seems
 totally pointless to me.

<scanning some other News I happened to notice that 4.x supports disc
<partitions bigger than 32K.  IF THIS IS TRUE it is a VERY big plus.  Is

 Yes, that's why I use it.

<the shell really all that bad.  Does is really support partition bigger
<than 32K?  Do you have to use this "graphical interface" or is there
<something more like COMMAND.COM included also?  How does Windows 3.0 and
<DOS 4.x get along.  How about utilities like Mace and Fastback - do they

 Windows 3.0 runs fine. Fastback runs fine although I've heard that it
 won't run if you install DOS in "minimal" mode (which uses less memory).
 I haven't tried Mace. Oh and DESQview 2.3 works well.

<have problems with the large partitions?  I assume that even though
<the Hard Disc is a large partition that the standard floppies still
<work too (even Microsoft would not dare screw up that bad).

 I'd say that if you have a big system (> 1 meg and a big disk) then
 4.01 is the way to go.

 Oh, one problem, in 3.3 I could fool Solitaire Royal in to thinking
 that the master floppy was in drive a: (It's one of THOSE anti-copying
 schemes). In 4.01 I can't fool it anymore. I have to actually drag out
 the floppy to play the game. Needless to say, I don't play it much
 anymore.