Xp Pro With Dos Apps

[Lianna]

Let's say you have an antiquated DOS-based accounting system that can be currently interfaced through Win95 and Win98 pc's on a Novell 6 Network.....

 

Q1: We have to replace a few of the pc's... We'd like to replace them using XP Pro operating system. But they (the new pc's) will still need to be functionally connected to the DOS accounting program. Is there a SHELL that can be used with XP Pro to make that happen?

 

Q2: If there happen to be several shell apps out there, what experiences have been had with each...good, bad or indifferent?

 

Q3: If a shell app does not exist, is there any other way possible to make XP Pro interface with a DOS-based app?

 

Q4: Anybody got $20,000-25,000 to replace a very specialized antiquated accounting program?

[TCH-JimE]

Hi,

 

XP still comes with DOS, but its slow and problematic.

 

I suggest you trash the old account system in, as even the free accounting systems found on the front of many magazines should suffice!

 

Jim

Edited July 21, 2003 by Jimuni

[Lianna]

Jim, nope, this account system is for a very specialized, very audited, very mandated, very red-taped organization. It WILL cost 20-25K to replace the accounting software. We know that for a fact already.

 

 

Somebody throw me a bone here? Please?

[TCH-JimE]

Hi Li,

 

Sounds like a manager does not want to give out the money. They will have to when 64bit comes along. Even with it auditited and red-taped, it should be shown that anything is better then dos, and as long as it audited correctley, the move should not be a problem. I can't believe companys around the world still use such ancient technology and then wonder why it will cost so much to do anything with it! I have scoured the net for you, Try these few links:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/c...-technology-col

 

http://peccatte.karefil.com/Software/EasyC...yConsoleENG.htm

 

The only thing I can suggest is try them out before doing anythign rash. get 2 machines together and see what happens. I don't think there are many gurantee's with XP and dos these days.

 

Jim

Edited July 21, 2003 by Jimuni

[Lianna]

Jim,

 

While I agree that the accounting systems should be the first to get the upgrade, I also know that the organization that we're talking about is a non-profit that is funded through many many sources. Each of the contributors then have their own set of requirements for auditing and such. Right now, ALL of the funding sources have signed off on this system. Any change to the existing system requires the approval/confirmed audit of ALL of the funding sources....Heck of a position to be in. Thus all the dough it would take to replace it with a newer, compatible version. The sheer effort-hours involved in the confirmation and validation process is mind-blowing.

 

 

Thanks for the links and your effort. It's greatly appreciated. I'll take a look through them tonight so that I can make a reco to the client.

 

THANKS!

[boxturt]

Ouch! Working for a non-profit myself I can certainly empathize with your situation.

 

Best Luck!

[Lianna]

Ty,

 

It's actually a worse situation becuase of what's raising this question. Most of their existing pc's on the network are 8+ year old Win95 machines that are really pushing the limits of their usefullness. So what'da'ya'do? Replace old machines with kinda-old machines or new machines with old OS, or new machines with new OS that forces you to spend more on the accounting software replacement! It's a war no matter what we do at this point. They've been bandaid-ing their systems for too long and now have to make a decision and go beg for the dough.

 

Tough spot.

[Kaewsawng]

Something that I found on the net. Hope it will give you some ideas or help.

 

I use to run Tamer to play my DOS games on XP but I just can't remeber where that darn page is.

I'll try and find it later unless someone else knows where it is.

 

---

 

September 3, 2002

Old Apps Find A New Home On Windows XP

 

By Brian Proffit

 

 

Microsoft Windows 9x users have been reluctant to move to Windows NT for

years, but around the same time it released Windows XP, Microsoft dropped

its support for Windows 95. Industry insiders speculate that Windows NT 4.0

support will be the next to go. In effect, options are shrinking for those

who want to hang on to the older OSs.

 

The reluctance to upgrade has been based on two factors: heavier hardware

requirements and poor compatibility with applications not specifically

written for Windows NT.

 

The hardware has caught up, to the point that even today's low-end systems

are sufficient for Windows XP. But what about application compatibility?

Although on the surface, Win XP is the Windows version least compatible with

its predecessors, it has special tools that give Win XP users more options

for compatibility than ever before. These tools, some obvious and some

hidden, let you tweak the environment so that many older applications will

run.

 

Running DOS Programs

 

DOS programs are the oldest, and since Microsoft dropped the DOS

Compatibility Mode from Windows XP, you might think it dropped support for

DOS programs altogether. In fact, new options in Windows XP may make running

DOS programs easier.

 

Right-click on a DOS program, and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

Most of the tabs in the Properties dialog are familiar, but the

Compatibility tab is new. This tab lets you set the program to run in

256-color mode and at a resolution of 640-by-480. You can also disable the

default visual themes that Windows XP imposes on programs.

 

There's also a less obvious and more powerful tool. With DOS, you could

fine-

tune the environment for your programs by modifying the Config.sys and

Autoexec.bat files. In some cases, you'd reboot the system with a special

configuration just for one program and then go back to the normal setup to

run other programs. Windows XP lets you define a customized Config.sys and

Autoexec.bat for each of your DOS programs.

 

Here's how it's done. First, copy the C:\Windows\System32\Config.nt and

C:\Windows\ System32\Autoexec.nt files to the directory of your DOS program,

then edit them to reflect the configuration you want. Save them with a new

name. Bring up the Properties dialog for the DOS program, move to the

Program tab, and click on the Advanced button.

 

Enter the Config and Autoexec filenames you created for the program and

Windows XP will run the program in its own customized environment. This

dialog also lets you try to slow down DOS programs that performed actions

based on the clock speed of your processor. Programs that ran well on a

50-MHz system can be unusable on an 850-MHz system without this emulation.

 

Windows Programs Not Designed for XP

 

The three main reasons older Windows programs fail under Windows XP are that

they query for a specific Windows version number, they expect results that

older versions of a Windows API call return, and they expect user folders to

be in a different location or format. These problems can be fixed by setting

the Windows program to run in compatibility mode.

 

Right-click on a Windows program, and select Properties. If you click on the

Compatibility tab, you will see a drop-down list that lets you set the OS

best suited for this program. Click in the Compatibility mode box, and

select the operating system. Using this mode will activate a set of patches

(called shims) that make Windows XP treat the program as an earlier version

of Windows would.

 

What if you aren't sure which environment to use, or the program has other

compatibility problems? There is a powerful package hidden on the Windows XP

CD that will help you fine-tune your application environment.

 

 

The Application Compatibility Toolkit

 

In the \Support\Tools directory of the Windows XP CD, Microsoft included an

Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT). An update (Version 2.5) came out in

April, and you can download it from www.microsoft.com/windows/appexperience.

The ACT contains four tools for improving application compatibility.

 

Two of the tools, Application Verifier and PageHeap, are designed for

software developers, who use them with a debugger to test areas that might

pose problems under Windows XP. But the other two, QFixApp and Compatibility

Administrator, can help end users tweak the environment so that older apps

run successfully.

 

QFixApp lets you test a number of low-level tweaks on a specific

application. We don't have enough space to discuss each of the 199

applicable fixes, so we'll cheat and show you a couple of shortcuts to

finding the particular shims that will restore your program.

 

Open QFixApp, and select the application you need to work on. Click on the

Layers tab, and select a layer. The layers in QFixApp correspond to the

compatibility modes we saw earlier in the application's Properties dialog.

Select a layer, such as Win95, and then select the Fixes tab. You can see

that the Win95 compatibility mode is a predefined set of 54 shims (Figure

1). This number can fluctuate, however, depending on whether you've

installed the latest patches and updates.

 

From there, you can tailor the list to add or remove shims. For example, if

your application changes the screen mode and your system is stuck there when

the program ends, scroll down and try the ForceTemporaryModeChange fix. As

you select a fix, a description of its function appears in the lower pane.

Click on the Run button to test the effect of the changes on your

application. When you close QFixApp, the environment changes you've made

will be stored with the executable. Until then, you can select and deselect

shims as you wish.

 

Browsing Predefined Fixes

 

You don't have to search for fixes by trial and error. Microsoft includes a

number of predefined fixes, and you can browse those for tips.

 

Open the Compatibility Administrator tool, and expand System Database |

Applications. A good start in tweaking your application is to find a similar

program in the database. For example, if you are working with a program in

the 102 Dalmatians series, select one of the programs in that series for

which Microsoft has already defined fixes. Cross-referencing with QFixApp,

you see that the EmulateHeap and EmulateMissingEXE fixes are already

included in the Win95 compatibility mode, but the IgnoreAltTab fix isn't.

Try setting this shim in QFixApp and running your application.

 

Note that Windows XP provides predefined fixes for the application's setup

program as well as the app itself. You can group the fixes associated with

an application into one package.

 

Compatibility Administrator becomes even more important in corporate IT

departments that need to support legacy applications. Once you have

determined which set of fixes is required, click on New and a new database

is created under Custom Databases. With the new database selected, click on

Fix to open a wizard that will guide you through creating an application fix

set for this database. Follow the prompts to choose a compatibility mode,

and set the additional shims you identified during your QFixApp testing.

Finally, group related files with this application. Windows XP will try to

find these for you when you click on Auto-Generate. Use File | Save to save

the custom database to an SDB file that you can send to other computers.

 

If you have a number of legacy applications that all require similar sets of

fixes, you can create a new compatibility mode in your custom database. With

the database highlighted, click on Mode. You can name the mode Legacy and

select the set of fixes to be applied when this mode is selected. Once the

database has been saved and installed, you can apply the whole set of fixes

to a new app simply by selecting the Legacy compatibility mode. To add this

mode to another system, copy the SDB file to the other computer and run

Sdbinst.exe to install it.

 

The Windows NT platform earned its reputation for being reluctant to run

older applications. But with the new tools in Windows XP, you have a better

chance than ever of keeping your legacy programs going until they can be

updated.

[Kaewsawng]

Of course I found that site after I posted.

 

---

 

TameDOS

 

Are you running DOS Programs?

If you run DOS programs, you have probably noticed that the DOS program will take over the CPU. This can be devastating in a multi-user environment such as Microsoft Terminal Server or Citrix Metaframe. A dual processor machine can slow to a crawl with just a few users.

 

Tame allows you to efficiently run DOS programs

Tame has a long history of solving this problem. Tame will monitor all the DOS applications that are running on the system, and allocate CPU resources efficiently so that applications that need the CPU resources--get them.

 

Tame can automatically detect appropriate settings for most applications so that the system runs as smoothly as possible with the least amount of effort. Just load the Tame program in the DOS session, and Tame takes care of the rest.

 

Tame improves compatibility of DOS applications

Some applications have expectations that are not met in a multi-user system, or behave in a way that causes problems. Tame can provide an isolation layer to solve problems like this. Here is a partial list of problems that DOS programs run into. Tame solves these problems and many others.

Application changes the system date

Application forces the console to full screen mode

Application uses file locks excessively

Only one user at a time can start the application

Printing is delayed, or does not start until you exit the application

Application depends on BIOS services that are not implemented

[Lianna]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

I'm going to give it a shot.

 

Will post back here after some testing.