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From: connery@bnrmtv.UUCP (Glenn Connery)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: History mechanism in MS-DOS?
Message-ID: <316@bnrmtv.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Apr-86 20:30:43 EST
Article-I.D.: bnrmtv.316
Posted: Sat Apr 12 20:30:43 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 14-Apr-86 03:45:45 EST
References: <199@dcc1.UUCP> <3000006@ccvaxa> <802@cyb-eng.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Northern Research, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 56

> This subject seems to recur every couple of months.  DOSEDIT was available at
> one time as a public domain (I think) program, and I imagine that it still
> is.  It was written by an IBM employee whose name is very well-known but which
> I cannot remember at the moment.  In any case, DOSEDIT was enhanced and then
> offered by IBM as one of several programs on a Utilities diskette for around
> $20 (whole diskette price, of course) under the name of RETRIEVE.  I used it
> and another one or two of the utilities for a while before I discovered CED.
> CED was written by someone who was obviously a fan of RETRIEVE.  He expanded
> its functionality by adding stacked commands, longer aliases (now called
> "synonyms"), etc.  Very nice; I still use it.  I have heard that the nameless
> IBMer has once again enhanced RETRIEVE and that it has leapfrogged CED in
> functionality.  I haven't found it yet, so I don't know.  I suppose I will
> just follow the leapfrogging, while leaning a little closer to the DOSEDIT/
> RETRIEVE product evolution.
> 
> -- 
> 	- bc -
> 
> ..!{seismo,topaz,gatech,nbires,ihnp4}!ut-sally!cyb-eng!bc  (512) 835-2266

The original author of DOSEDIT and DOS Command Retriever, into which it
evolved, is Jack Gersbach.  DOSEDIT is still available on many bulletin
boards, though as far as I know, IBM was none too happy with it being
let out.  DOS Command Retriever is part of the disk Utilities I, available
for $19.95 from IBM's Personally Developed Software series.  Just call
1-800-IBM-PCSW (its Part No. 6276517).  And make sure you get the catalogue
which is full of good stuff (basically the only good software that IBM
has ever done for the PC, and all of it is quite cheap).  A recent posting
to this user group of KEYDO appears to be a predecessor to all of these
and just offers the history/command line editing stuff that is inherent
to all of these programs.  Again, I suspect IBM does not want this stuff
floating around, but the posting was apparently from within IBM.

The author of CED is Chris Dunford.  CED is in the public domain.  The latest
version is 1.0D.  The program has been enhanced to Pro-CED and is now
available for some amount of small change from The Cove Software Group,
P.O.Box 1072, Columbia, Maryland 21044; (301) 992-9371.

The 'enhanced' Retrieve referred to is, I think, DOS Memories, also from
the IBM PDS line, this time for $34.95.  It is by Dick Balonek and has
no relation to Retrieve or any of the others.  After examining it for
a while I really can't recommend it.  The feature set is just going off
the deep end, and this is a resident program, remember?  Besides, its
not worth the bucks.

If all you want is a command history and intelligent command line editing,
KEYDO or CED will do just fine.  I can't think of a single reason to use
Retreive over CED, but perhaps someone else can.  DOSEDIT is also okay,
but has been superceded by Retrieve and CED.  You can also get a command
history in SuperKey or Keyworks (both keyboard enhancers).  I think PRO
CED has the most balanced and useful set of features, but its not free
like CED and it takes more memory.  Its all a trade-off.
-- 

Glenn Connery, Bell Northern Research, Mountain View, CA
{hplabs,amdahl,3comvax}!bnrmtv!connery