Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!rtech!cpsc6a!cpsc6b!crs
From: crs@cpsc6b.cpsc6a.att.com (Chris (I'm Outta Here!) Seaman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: MKS Toolkit question (Really the MKS Korn shell)
Summary: Not just a clone
Message-ID: <505@cpsc6b.cpsc6a.att.com>
Date: 3 Apr 89 22:18:11 GMT
References: <465@thor.wright.EDU> <1040012@hprnd.HP.COM>
Organization: AT&T (CPSC), Oakland, CA
Lines: 44

In article <1040012@hprnd.HP.COM>, pyt@hprnd.HP.COM (Pierre-Yves Thoulon) writes:
< > Recently, I have read some discussions on the net concerning the 
< > MKS Toolkit. As far as I know, there is a c-shell clone included in
< > the kit.
< It's actually a K-shell clone.

This may seem like picking nits, but I just wanted to say (for the benefit
of those considering the MKS Toolkit) that the sh.exe provided is NOT a clone
of the Korn shell, it IS the Korn shell, meaning that it is a fully licensed
version, and is considered (by David Korn) to be an official PC
implementation.  At least that is the way he mentions it in his book
on KSH.

< > My question is: Is it run on top of the COMMAND.COM or as
< > a replacement?
< As you like. I have thrown away COMMAND.COM and specified the MKS shell
< in my config.sys.

You can also run an MKS version of init, that actually uses an inittab
file, and can spawn a 'login' process, which gives the capability of
running command.com, ksh, or directly logging into an application.  The
overhead of init is about 10K, but login dies after 'execing' the program
specified in (you guessed it) /etc/passwd.  I've been using it for about
a year and a half, with no trouble at all.

< > How much free RAM (out of 640K) would left after
< > loading the shell (or anything else)?
< On my system I get roughly 480K. I start some TSR's before my shell and
< haven't really played enough with it to tell whether I could gain the
< extra 30K you  need.

You can also load TSR's through the inittab (mentioned above), before loading
login (or shell, or command.com, or ...).  The actual amount of memory used
by the shell varies, depending on how you configure it, but the minimum is
(to the best of my recollection) 77K.

NOTE: I have no connection with MKS other than as a very satisfied customer,
      etc....

-- 
Chris Seaman            |    o\  /o
crs@cpsc6a.att.com <or> |      ||         See "Attack of the Killer Smiley"!
..!ihnp4!cpsc6a!crs     |   \vvvvvv/     Coming Soon to a newsgroup near you!
                        |    \____/