










We don't know if the following text fie is accurate or not since it came from 
"scuttlebutt", we picked up here and there.  But we present it here as a sort 
of `wish list' for us Dossers.






















Well, DOS 5.00 will probably be out by the end of 1990, and you are probably 
anxious to know what is new.  Most people either don't know what is new, or 
"can't tell you".  We'll tell you all we know (and some stuff on our "wish 
list").  















Changes/Additions:

1.  DOS can now load itself into the first 64K of Extended memory if
    you have it.  You must have the line, "DOS=HIGH" in your config.sys
    and you must have at least 64K of extended memory available.  This
    will only work on AT machines since 8088/8086 processors can only
    address up to 1 Megabyte of memory, and Extended Memory begins at
    1 Meg.  Loading DOS high will free up quite a bit of valuable
    conventional memory.

2.  The QuickBasic interpreter is included along with GWBasic.









3.  The Shell program (DOSSHELL) has been completely changed.  It now
    resembles the "File Manager" Program that comes with Windows or
    OS/2.  DOSSHELL can be run in either graphics or text mode, in
    color or black and white.  The F1 key brings up online help.

4.  If the environment variable "TEMP" is set, DOS will use the
    directory set in "TEMP" to write temporary files for piping
    operations.  If there is no "TEMP" directory set, the current
    directory is used.

5.  If the environment variable "DIRCMD" is set, DOS uses it for
    all "DIR" commands.  For example, if "DIRCMD=/W", when you type
    "DIR", DOS would act like you typed "DIR/W" (Wide display).

6.  A short help screen is available for all DOS commands by adding
    a "/?" after the command, for example, "DIR /?" would give you
    a help screen for the DIR command.










7.  There is a utility called "DOSKEY" that is basically a command
    line editor that lets you backup through your previous DOS
    commands.  Here is the help screen for DOSKEY:



       DOSKEY [/reinstall] [/bufsize=] [/dmacs] [/dhist] [macro=text]
       /reinstall  Installs a new copy of doskey.
       /bufsize=   Specifies the size of the command buffer.
       /dmacs      Displays all macros and lets you redirect them to a file.
       /dhist      Displays all command lines stored in memory.




















8.  A program called UNFORMAT is included.  It restores a hard drive
    to its condition prior to the last FORMAT command.










9.  The DIR command now reports how many bytes the files listed
    total up to.  Here is an example DIR command:

       E:\>dir

        Volume in drive E is whatever
        Directory of E:\

       WIERDOS      <DIR>     06-28-90  12:42a
       DUDE     ZIP    724409 07-26-90  10:14p
       TMP          <DIR>     07-28-90   6:32p
       IHATE-U      <DIR>     06-28-90  12:42a
       MASM     EXE    103175 07-31-87  12:00a
       STSCFG   CFG      2339 04-30-90   1:49a
       SD       INI      2497 07-13-90   2:52a
       FRECOVER DAT     50688 07-14-90   1:25a
               8 File(s)    3883108 bytes
                           21868544 bytes free

       E:\>


        **NOTE***IGNORE THE HIGHLIGHTED AREAS ON YOUR SCREEN...











10.  The FORMAT command now supports 2.88 Meg 3.5" diskettes.



















Here are the help screens for a few of the DOS commands:


DIR [pathname] [/p] [/w] [/a:attributes] [/o:sortorder] [/s] [/b]

    /p  Pause after each screen page of display.
    /w  List Files in columns with up to five filenames on each line.
    /a:attributes  Displays only files with the attributes you specify.
    /o:sortorder   Displays files sorted in the specified order.
    /s  Displays files in the specified directory and all subdirectories.
    /b  Lists filenames, one per line, without any file information.











ORMAT drive: [/1] [/4] [/8] [/n:sectors] [/t:tracks] [/f:size]
              [/b] [/s] [/u] [/v[:label]]

    /1  Formats a single side of a floppy disk.
    /4  Forces a high-capacity floppy drive to format a 360K Floppy-disk.
    /8  Formats eight sectors per track.
    /n  Specifies the number of sectors per track.
    /t  Specifies the number of tracks on the disk.
    /f  Specifies the size of the floppy disk to format.
    /b  Formats the disk, leaving space to copy an operating system.
    /s  Copies the operating system files.
    /u  Specifies an unconditional format for a hard disk.
    /v  Specifies the volume label.















COPY [pathname1] [pathname2] [/v] [/a] [/b]

    /v Verifies sectors written on the target disk.
    /a Copies Ascii files.
    /b Copies binary files.

















BACKUP source destination [/s][/m][/a][/f:size][/d:date][/t:time][/L:pathname]

    /s Backs up subdirectories
    /m Backs up only those files that have changed since the last backup
    /a Adds backed-up files to an existing backup disk
    /d:date Backs up only files modified since the specified date
    /t:time Backs up only files modified since the specified time
    /L:pathname Creates a log entry to record the backup operation
    /f:size Formats the target backup disk














RESTORE drive1: [drive2] [pathname] [/s] [/p] [/b:date]

        [/a:date] [/e:time] [/l:time] [/m] [/n]
    /s  Restores all subdirectories.
    /p  Prompts before restoring read-only files or filed modified
        since the backup.
    /b  Restores only those files last modified on or before date.
    /a  Restores only those files last modified on or after date.
    /e  Restores only those files last modified a
    /n  Restores only those files that no longer exist on the
        target disk














MODE - Configure a device.

Device Status:     MODE [device] [/sta]
Printer port:      MODE LPTn[cols=c] [lines= l] [retry=r]
Serial port:       MODE COMm baud=b [data=d] [stop=s] [parity=p] [retry=r]
Display mode:      MODE con:[cols=m] [lines=n]
Typematic rate:    MODE con [:] [rate=r] [delay=d]
Prepare codepage:  MODE device cp prepare=((yyy) [drive:][path]filename
Select codepage:   MODE device cp select=yyy
Redirect printing: MODE LPTn[:]=COMm[:]














XCOPY pathname1 [pathname2] [/a] [/d:date] [/e] [/m] [/p] [/s] [/v] [/w]

    /a  Copy files with archive bit, but don't modify archive bit.
    /d  Copies source files modified on or after specified date.
    /e  Copies any subdirectories, even if they are empty.
    /m  Copy files with archive bit set and clear the archive bit.
    /p  Prompts before creating a new file in the target directory.
    /s  Copy directories and subdirectories, unless empty.
    /v  Verify each file as it is written to the target.
    /w  Causes xcopy to wait before it starts copying files.
















     There is also a neat little program included with the beta
version of DOS 5.0 called "Microsoft Infer".  We don't know if Infer
will be included with the release version of DOS.  Infer tells lots
of useful information about your system, like: Operating System
Version, Machine type, Environment, Processor type, Memory info,
Video Adapter info, Serial/Parallel port info, disk drive info,
and much more.  Infer includes a ROM BIOS browser, memory browser,
and several other useful functions. How about <THAT> for a wish list?

MICRONEWS...
