GEOWORKS ENSEMBLE AND THE MS DOS 5 TASK SWAPPER:

Since MS Dos 5 is the hot item these days, thought some may be interested in how to swap Geoworks Ensemble and other programs using a feature of the dosshell, the task swapper.

1. Enter the DOSSHELL (either automatically when you boot up or by typing DOSSHELL and any command prompt).

2. You see Four windows:
Directory Tree (upper left)
Current highlighted branch of dir tree window  (upper right)
Main programs  (lower left)
Active Task list  (lower right)

Mouse click on your Directory tree window and highlight your \GEOWORKS directory. Notice that all your Geoworks files are now displayed in the window to the right (upper right).

3. Go to the upper right window where your Geoworks files are displayed and highlight GEOS.EXE, the file that starts Geoworks Ensemble for you.

4. Do a SHIFT-ENTER (hold down the SHIFT key while hitting ENTER). This will move Geos.exe to your active task list and will start Geoworks Ensemble for you. You can use ensemble as you normally would.

5. When ready to swap out of Ensemble, do a CTRL-ESC (hold down the CTRL or "control" key while hitting the ESC or "escape" key). This key combination will be passed on to dos and will take you out of Ensemble and put you back in the dos shell. Ensemble is now inactive but it is NOT shut down. Notice that "Geos.exe" is now listed in your active task window (lower right).

6. Repeat steps 2-4 but this time instead of picking your Geoworks directory and Geos.exe, pick another directory and program you wish to use. Or, you may wish to highlight "Command Prompt" in the Main programs window (lower left) to get to the dos prompt (a handy exit to dos when using Ensemble that won't disturb your work within Ensemble.. you will be able to pick up where you left off without closing any windows). When satisfied with your choice, do SHIFT-ENTER again to start this program. 

7. Now that you have two programs in your active task list. To swap between them, do a CTRL-ESC, highlight the other program in active task list, and bingo, you're there. Or, you can take a shortcut.. hitting ALT-TAB will take you to the other program in your active task list without the need to return to dosshell in between.

8. You will need to close each program in your task list before exiting dosshell. Don't worry, if you forget, dos will remind you and give you a chance to close them from the dosshell itself.

NOTES:
If you want to get fancy, you can have many programs in your active task list and swap directly between them.. ALT-ESC takes you to the next program in your list, ALT-SHIFT-ESC takes you to the previous program.

If you don't remember all these key sequences, there's help for you in dosshell. Just click on HELP. Pick INDEX. Pick "Active Task List". All of the keys and functions are described for you there.

If you try this and it doesn't work, don't panic. Chances are you're not doing anything wrong. Whether this works for you or not depends on how much memory you have and how your system is configured.

Finally, there is one catch. For a program to be swapped out, it must be completely inactive. That means it can't be printing a document, writing to a disk, etc. It also means your modem can't be online (sorry, no swapping out AOL).

Good luck and happy Swapping!