Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!super.upenn.edu!dsl.cis.upenn.edu!catone From: catone@dsl.cis.upenn.edu.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: getting started with MS-DOS Message-ID: <989@super.upenn.edu.upenn.edu> Date: Wed, 1-Apr-87 04:01:40 EST Article-I.D.: super.989 Posted: Wed Apr 1 04:01:40 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 4-Apr-87 05:22:47 EST References: <5190@shemp.ucla-cs.UCLA.EDU> Sender: root@super.upenn.edu.upenn.edu Reply-To: catone@dsl.cis.upenn.edu.UUCP (Tony Catone) Distribution: world Organization: University of Pennsylvania Lines: 33 In article <5190@shemp.ucla-cs.UCLA.EDU> flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU (Margot Flowers) writes: > > >Someone asked about decent sources of information for people who know >about computers but simply don't know MS-DOS. A few months ago I was >in the same situation. I found various sources, below, useful. > > >What other worthwhile sources are there? > >Margot Flowers Flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU ...!{ucbvax|ihnp4}!ucla-cs!flowers The best introduction to MS-DOS I've ever read is by Chris DeVoney. It's been a long time since I've seen my copy (it's almost always on loan), but I believe the title is "Using MS-DOS", though it might be "Introducing MS-DOS". In any case, it's published by Que Books, starts off at a very basic level suitable for both novice and experienced users alike, and soon proceeds to dicuss the more advanced features of DOS such as i/o redirection, file concatentation using the copy command, looping control in batch files, using for statements interactively from the command line (a really neat time saver!), etc. The book may be getting somewhat dated, since it first came out circa 1983 and thus only covered DOS 1.x and 2.x, but I don't hesitate to recommend it as an excellent starting point. I'm not sure if a newer version covering the DOS 3.x enhancements ever appeared. There was another version, "Using PC-DOS" (or "Introducing PC-DOS") which was almost identical; it included PC specific stuff like the comp command, and left out the generic MS-DOS stuff like fc (file compare, like comp but much better) that IBM cut out. - Tony catone@dsl.cis.upenn.edu catone@wharton.upenn.edu