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LW1DSE > TECH 13.11.11 23:13l 294 Lines 13748 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: DOS: The "config.sys"
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From: LW1DSE@LW8DJW.#1824.BA.ARG.SA
To : TECH@WW
[――― TST HOST 1.43c, UTC diff:5, Local time: Sun Nov 13 09:04:12 2011 ®®®]
A DOS Boot Menu Can Resolve 'Impossible' conflicts Between IRQ, DMA,
and I/O addresses.
How would you like to get all those pieces of equipment tuned up and
working properly in a computer? With DOS 6.0+, there is a way to have it boot
[up] with any configuration you want. It's like having a computer to run
that favorite old scanner, and another for that special game (without network
drivers), and another one doing the big jobs. Its free and it only takes a
few minutes of work to set up.
What are drivers?: The PC is a big box of parts. It takes software to
make the computer operate with different hardware. "Drivers" connect the
software to the hardware.
Why have a boot menu?: Drivers load into memory in the Config.sys and
Autoexec.bat and remain there as a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident). They
wait for you to use that particular hardware "device". The command line
loading the driver into memory is a .sys or .exe file, which includes
options the device will use. These options look like "/switches" added to the
line. These options often, correspond to physical 'jumpers' on the card.
Options or "/switches" direct the device to use a certain IRQ, DMA and I/O
port to connect with the CPU. *No* device can use the same IRQ, DMA or I/O
port address which another device is using, and certainly not at the same
time. Crashes caused by a conflict have slightly different symptoms depending
on which item was in conflict.
F8 Tip: Pressing F8 on bootup gives you the choice of bypassing the
loading of individual start up files in any computer. Then in Windows 95/98,
choose "Step by step configuration".
What can boot menu do?: A boot menu can load conflicting drivers at
different boot times to prevent crashes. In the following example an old
scanner and sound card both want to use IRQ5. If run simultaneously, it will
cause the computer to lock up. The boot menu will boot up the scanner or the
sound card or interlink. Once you learn to make a boot menu from this simple
example, there is no limit to the amount of tuning and tweaking you can do
with it.
Lets make a boot menu: Refer to the DOS 6+ manual for more informa-
tion on Boot Menus and Batch file programs. In this example the culprit device
is a scanner, your menu may deal with a game or any other inharmonious device.
When your system boots, it will pop up with a menu of the great stuff you
want. So where it says "scan" , substitute "game", "Joe", "MIKE" or whatever
you want.
If you aren't using Windows 95/98, skip the next (#1) topic.
For Windows 95/98/00: Back up your registry.
When using a boot [up] menu for Windows 95/98 you will be able to
eventually remove the associated "virtual" drivers from the "Hardware
Profile". This is done in
Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Hardware Profiles
First, copy the "Original Configuration" and , then rename the second
copy to whatever name might indicate the difference for what you want to
boot with. Remove conflicting drivers from this extra profile. This trick can
also be used for diagnostic purposes, which can be switched back to the
normal "hardware profile" on boot up.
This extra "Hardware Profile" also makes Windows 95/98 stop during
boot up and present you with its own menu choices. Notice that Windows 95/98
loads all drivers as virtual drivers when it needs them. There isn't much in
the Config.sys or Autoexec.bat. of Windows 98 except the CD-ROM driver in the
Config.sys and Mscdex.exe in the autoexec.bat.. (as it used to be).
Tip: For DOS Games, remove the Win start up command from the autoexec.bat.
In order to make extensive changes to Windows 95/98 you will probably
need to refer to documentation such as the "Program Developer's" CD and book.
But, our little DOS menu will work for most single items.
#1 As a preliminary safety measure, first make an extra copy of your
important boot files. Put them on a "boot diskette". Make a boot diskette.
Using a blank diskette in drive a:, type, "format a: /s" at the C:\>
prompt. Now, copy your present config.sys and autoexec.bat to the boot
diskette. At the C:\>prompt, Type "copy config.sys a:". and "copy
autoexec.bat a:" Now, if something goes wrong, they can be copied back to
C:\, and everything will be as it was.
#2 Start adding a menu by Typing at the C:\>prompt "EDIT CONFIG.SYS".
At the first line, put the word [menu] and include the brackets. Now your
menu will pop up when booting. Tip: a great diagnostic feature of DOS is
that you can press F8 at boot, then bypass any errant files or mistakes
you might have made. An example of the config.sys is item #10.
#3 Lets call the items in our menu "regular" for normal every day work, and
"scan" for running the scanner, and "link" for interlink to an old 486.
So, on the next line of the config.sys put "menuitem=regular". and on the
next line put "menuitem=scan", the next line "menuitem=link", without the
quotes. If you don't which to make a choice every time the system boots,
the computer can choose a default automatically. With the following
command, the computer will wait N seconds, for you to press a key, then it
will go ahead and choose "regular" for you. Put the command for this:
"menudefault=regular ,N"
#4 ***Exclusive; Undocumented anywhere else*** When making a menu with many
different options, or on different computers, I forget what "regular"
means. I can add more description for the menu to display after a ";"
semicolon. The menu will display your description as a choice, but follows
the item named "regular" in the program. The descriptive choice is only
for display. So after a "menuitem" put a space then a ";" (semicolon) then
put the description you want it to display for your choices. It can also
be added to your menu later. Here is an example of what it could display
for "regular". The complete command line to make it display more
description is: "menuitem=regular ;Regular is CD and Sound for DOS".
Likewise "scan" could say; "menuitem=scan ;Scan+RAM+DMA No_sound or CD
Tip: To prevent commands from loading and taking effect in the config.sys
and autoexec.bat. Precede the line with a "rem", they will become remarks
or comments. Similarly, any Windows .ini file entry can be remarked out by
preceding the line with two ";;" semicolons then a space.
#5 That's a start in choosing different items to boot up. What about all the
other stuff that has to load in the config.sys and autoexec.bat? There is
a nifty item called [common] to take care of all the usual items that need
to be loaded. [common] items can be placed anywhere in the menu. Placing
[common] stuff in the first and last areas are the least confusing to me.
#6 On your new menu, put [common] and on the lines under that, put the items
which stay the same on each boot. For instance [common] then some lines
might say: device=c:\dos\himem.sys and "share" etc.
#7 When you want computer start up options to be different for the scanner
put them under the item: [scan] These lines might include:
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe 3072 ram d=64 /v
These emm386.exe memory manager options insure the scanner will have 3 MB
minimum RAM with a DMA buffer of 64k. Emm386 also provides the older EMS
(exPanded memory) with Page frames. Oh, and load the scanner driver here
too with a line like:
devicehigh=c:\scan\marstek.sys /1 /c3
#8 Put [regular] then the normal options you want that are different from the
"scan" and "link" boot. Load the CD-ROM drivers and the sound card stuff
that wouldn't work properly at the same time as the scanner. You can also
load emm386.exe with different memory options. In this case put:
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe noems
Devices and programs can load "high" into the upper memory area, but aren't
provided with old EMS memory.
#9 For Win3.1 and DOS, be sure to put all the rest of the [common] stuff;
including, but not limited to:
dos=high
dos=umb
files=60
buffers=20,0
lastdrive=Z,
stacks=9,250
etc.. and a shell command such as:
shell=c:dos\command.com c:\dos\ /e:1024 /p
Here is an example of the config.sys.. Yours will be different! Leave
out the extra spaces between the lines and leave out the "(descriptions)".
[menu]
menuitem=scan ;SCAN+RAM+DMA-No_CD Turn Scanner On!
menuitem=regular ;Regular is CD and Sound for DOS
menuitem=link ;Interlink Warning, do not multitask.
menudefault=regular ,10
[common]
(Put all the usual stuff that boots up the same every time under common, as
per #6.)
[scan]
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe 3072 RAM D=64 /V
devicehigh=c:\scan\marstek.sys /1 /c3
[regular]
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe NOEMS
devicehigh=c:\fus\mvsound.sys D:7 Q:7 S:1,220,1,5 M:0 J:1
devicehigh=c:\mtm\mtmcdia.sys /d:mtmide01
(Thats any stuff that is different from the "scan" and "link" boots)
[link]
devicehigh=c:\ interlnk.exe /lpt:1 /drives:3 ....(or more) (or on serial
cable). (Be sure to copy DOS 6.2x interlnk.exe and intersvr.exe to the root
of c:\ drive on both machines.)
[common]
(Put any more of the usual stuff that stays the same, as per #9.)
Half of the battle is finished, save the config.sys.. Now we have to
edit the autoexec.bat file and insert instructions that will correspond to
the config.sys instructions.
Now, on to the Autoexec.bat Batch files (.bat) execute each command
in order, just like if you had typed them in at the "C:\>" prompt. If you
need help, refer to the DOS manual for instructions about using batch file
programs. For help with a batch file command such as "choice", type
"help choice"
at the "C:\>" prompt. Plus batch files have a few extra commands for making
decisions, such as "IF" and "Choice", then they branch to a label. Labels
always start with a ":" colon. The batch file then continues to process each
instruction.
#10 Lets keep it simple, and not change your original autoexec.bat any more
than is necessary. When adding a menu, the autoexec.bat continues
processing instructions normally as it did before. The top part of the
autoexec.bat should stay the same and contain all the usual common stuff.
If you have a line(s) that needs to be different for the "scan" or "link"
part of the menu, move it to the bottom. For instance, move the line(s)
that are needed to make the scanner work to the bottom. Then, move the
line(s) needed to make the sound and CD (second choice) work below that,
to the *very* bottom.
#11 The autoexec.bat will execute all the (usual) common stuff first. Then we
want it to branch to any "menuitem" which is different. The "menuitem"
that was chosen in the config.sys is now called a label and is carried
the config.sys.
The autoexec.bat will execute all the commands after skipping to the
:scan or :link label. After processing any lines necessary to make the
scanner, or interlink work, we want it to skip down and not process the
sound and CD stuff too. So, on another line after the scanner stuff, put:
goto same.
#13 After the scanner stuff and before the sound stuff, put a label for
:regular. Then, put all the commands which are necessary to start the
sound and CD. If "regular" was originally chosen. The "goto%config%" will
skip all the scanner stuff and go here. After that, it can have an
optional "goto same" command too. If batch files branch, always put an
":end" label on the end.
Example:
First, put all the usual things needed in the autoexec.bat here. Then
put the changes that might be added to make it work in conjunction
with the menu in the config.sys. (goto%config%, branches to :scan or
:regular.)
Put all the usual stuff here like path etc... then:
goto %config%
:scan
(Put any commands that need changing for the scanner to work most efficiently.
Or, just a remark. Or if not necessary, not even have a "goto %config%" in
the autoexec.bat Tip: To skip smart drive or any other item, put "goto end".)
goto same
:regular
lh c:\dos\mscdex.exe /d:mtmide01 /e /l:d /m:10 /v (Loads the CD-rom
extensions, which aren't used at the same time as the scanner)
set blaster=A220 D1 I5 T3
goto same
:link (on smaller HD and older 486).
c:\intersvr.exe
(Warning, do not multitask at all, as each computer is treating the HD as a floppy. It can corrupt the low level formatting and/or boot sector, rendering the HD useless.)
goto same
:same
c:\dos\smartdrv.exe 2048 1024.
Tip: Smartdrv following mscdex.exe will cache the CD read data too.
:end
Now you are a programmer. With interlink, on both machines connected
by a parallel cable, file manager "Explore.exe" will show all the drives. You
may need to move the drive letter assigned to the CD-ROM to an unused drive
letter. It is done in the config.sys. Check your CD_ROM installation
instructions. For your next challenge, choose something simple, like building
a space shuttle in your back yard.
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