Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!spool2.mu.edu!uunet!comp.vuw.ac.nz!csc.canterbury.ac.nz!phys169 From: phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: DR DOS Message-ID: <1991Jan11.132332.32@csc.canterbury.ac.nz> Date: 11 Jan 91 05:35:58 GMT References: <278ab4b6-2430comp.ibmpc@point.UUCP> Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Lines: 125 In article <278ab4b6-2430comp.ibmpc@point.UUCP>, akcs.vladimer@point.UUCP (kevin kadow) writes: > Does anybody know anything about this product? Is it really anywhere near > as good as their ads seem to claim? > What are the drawbacks? bugs? fatal flaws? I've used DR DOS 5.0 for a few months now. It is nice to use, very compatible, and offers a lot of advantages for anyone using a 386 with 2Mb of RAM or more (things you would have to get otherwise with expensive memory management add-ons). If you don't have a 386, or have programs that manage the extra memory themselves, there's still some advantage in DRDOS, but you have to decide whether the advantages are worth the extra cost (in my opinion, not a big problem). Advantages (not in any order): * screen-oriented editor instead of EDLIN, Turbo/Wordstar-like (that may be a disadvantage to some) * recall previous command lines with the arrow keys, and better editing of command lines in general. * option of insert mode on by default * better FASTOPEN * good use of memory in all its forms (details below) * VERY nice installation program, easy to understand, doesn't require reformatting your hard disk, easy to re-configure later, sensible questions about retaining existing files. * Nice optional windowy user interface (better than PCDOS 4, probably not quite as good as MS DOS 5) * free fast file transfer-over-coms-line utility * read-write-execute password protection (file-by-file and whole dir's)... if used sensibly, this seems to be good protection from some viruses * the boot sector program does a more complete restart, clearing memory, if this isn't a system disk (might help a wee bit with some viruses). * CONFIG.SYS can have comments and (most importantly) optional lines (you are prompted whether to execute this line). Avoids separate boot diskettes for some situations. * Norton's SI is happy with the disk caching system, compared with some 3rd party caching add-ons, with won't allow the disk test to proceed, i.e. the caching is more transparent, and gives faster transfer rates than some I have tested. * built-in help with most (external) commands * you can specify an indirect list of files - e.g. DIR @MYLIST * good memory display utility (MEM), and a few other goodies... all reasonably well thought-out, and probably popular with Unix types. * doesn't permit deleting all your files by typing DEL *ABC*.* (MSDOS treats this as DEL *.* while DRDOS gives an error message). * Compatibility with NOVELL was said to be a key design goal. * DRDOS and any of your programs (at your option) can use any RAM space above 640Kb (e.g. on a 386 or NEAT chipset 286's, with a mono video card, you can get 800Kb available for programs! * option of confirm-before-delete (for some reason, there are 4 ways to do this under DRDOS!) Disadvantages: * When you JOIN a disk, the DOS call to show the disk space of the JOINed disk fails (but the DIR command, in the JOINed directory, gives the disk space of the wrong (root) directory - as MSDOS does). * The caching program introduces too many disk seeks - the transfer rate is better but the average access time is actually WORSE! Norton's SI gives a good disk speed index, but that's too simple a test. * Networking systems designed for/by Microsoft might not be sure to work. I don't know about MSNET but DECNET DOS (which was written by MS for DEC, I hear), and NCSA telnet & ftp seem to run okay (DECNET DOS's TFA actually works better with DRDOS's COMMAND.COM than MSDOS's for some reason, but I'm using an old version of DECNET DOS). If you run odd-ball networking I'd suggest try-before-you-buy (which is good advice if you run clones or odd BIOSes, etc, anyway). * The FILELINK program doesn't know about modems, so you can't ask it to dial, etc. Also, you have to run it one command at a time (minor niggle). * No BASIC (okay, perhaps that's an advantage!) * The replacement for DEBUG is SID, which takes a little getting used to, but probably is better. Some commands are identical to DEBUG, some are different. * The EDITOR program should have much better search/replace facilities, and although it recognises any function key redefinitions made via ANSI.SYS, it would be nicer if the program made more use of function keys (especially if you don't want ANSI.SYS loaded). * If you use a 286 with extended memory (over 1Mb), and load the kernel high (at segment FFFF), you gain 37Kb of low memory (nice) but the other 27Kb out of the 64K seems to be wasted. You might even waste the rest of extended RAM. * If you use extended memory for anything, it takes over all of the extended memory, leaving nothing for non-DRDOS software (as far as I can see), unless you grab it first - but then you can get conflicts. * They use /H for help, while many programs use /? Since the main advantage for most people, here's my summary of memory use: ON A SIMPLE 8088/8086 or 286 with no more than 640Kb: About the same memory requirements as MSDOS 3.3 (varies according to your setup; you may want to use FASTOPEN more, and BUFFERS less). It will run on a 256Kb machine (even a 208Kb DG1), but the installation program needs 512Kb; of course you can manage without that. If you have EMS it can use it for a virtual disk and/or caching, but not relocate DRDOS itself to give you extra room for programs. ON ANY 286 with memory above 1Mb: You can choose to relocate 37Kb of the operating system's kernel up to segment FFFF, i.e. use the first small part of extended memory (without upsetting things too much by changing modes). This should give you about 600Kb available to programs. You can also use Extended memory for VDISK and/or CACHE. If you use Extended memory for any DRDOS purpose, you'll see no extended memory left for anything else, though.. I don't know why. ON C&T LeAPSet, NEAT, etc 286 machines with more then 640Kb: You can map RAM into gaps in the 640K to 1Mb region (left over after various cards and BIOS ROMs), and use them for DRDOS, device drivers, and your own programs (e.g. TSR's). I've had little problem with using this area for TSR's except MARK/RELEASE and some parts of DECNET DOS. By default, this area is closed off after DRDOS installs itself. ON 386/486 machines: All of the above, plus you can simulate EMS using Extended memory (using EMM386.SYS). Again, you can get about 800Kb (with a Hercules card, less with VGA) available to programs. If you use Windows, QEMM, etc then you'll probably need to avoid some of DRDOS's fancy memory usage (a leaflet with DRDOS tells you what to do; I've seen DRDOS+Windows3 working, but don't use it myself). Summary: A tidy package (they've added lots of things that should have been there years ago, but not added too much), subjectively nice to use, and with some features that might be very important to some people (password protection and use of high/extended/expanded/upper memory). Some minor flaws, but no real worries. A lot of the features are available as PD/whatever add-ons to standard DOS, but putting them into one cohesive product shows up in efficiency and ease of use. Disclaimer: I'm just a satisfied customer. And no, I haven't tried MSDOS 5 yet. Mark Aitchison, Physics Dept, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.