© 2010, Gerald Aitken and Barbara
Griffith.
Table of Contents (click the link)
1. Customize
your computer using MS-DOS 3.3 (1987)
In recent versions of Windows, almost everything is decided for the user. Even the Control Panel only lets you choose from a limited selection of prefabricated choices.
However, back in the good old days of MS-DOS, you could really design and customize your system. You did this by editing your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files in order to change the default settings for startup, memory usage, and other configurable system options. Both files were stored in the root directory of your system drive, usually C.
The AUTOEXEC.BAT file ran automatically every time the system booted up. So in this file, the user developed his computer’s startup procedure.
The CONFIG.SYS file also ran automatically when booting. The CONFIG.SYS file was actually loaded by the system before AUTOEXEC.BAT ran. CONFIG.SYS specified installable device drivers such as your mouse driver, and reserved space in system memory for information processing.
So far our user has been running his computer without an AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file. But he has been reading his MS-DOS user manual, and today he will configure his AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files for the first time.
First the user will configure his AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The user will:
- Give the command to create an AUTOEXEC.BAT file by
entering and saving the text that he types on the screen.
- Turn the screen ECHO off, so the rest of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file does not list to the screen as it executes.
- Include a clear-screen command.
- Set up a PATH that the computer will search automatically every time it looks for a file. This will include the DOS directory where the MS-DOS files are stored, the pfs: First Choice directory, and the PC-Write directory.
- The user will then customize the DOS prompt. He will make DOS display the drive, the current directory, the input prompt and an underscore.
- Then the user will make the computer go to the C drive and run pfs: First Choice every time the computer starts. The user does most of his word processing with First Choice, and only uses PC-Write occasionally for longer and more complex documents.
- Finally the user will enter Ctrl-Z to save the newly
created AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory.
Now the user will clear the screen and enter his new CONFIG.SYS file. The user will:
- Give the command to create a CONFIG.SYS file just has
he created the AUTOEXEC.BAT file from text typed to the screen.
- Enter information needed for the system to load the mouse
driver at startup.
- Redirect printing from the parallel port to the serial port
(perhaps to free up the parallel port for a flatbed scanner).
- Reserve space for 80 simultaneous file handlers in system
memory.
- Reserve space for 20 simultaneous disk buffers in system
memory.
- Finally the user will enter Ctrl-Z to record the file
in the root directory.
File handles were a
particular kind of smart pointer used in memory management in PC's in the
1980s. Disk buffers act as a go-between
for the computer and the hard disk platter.
Then the user remembers, he now has a new shareware program, PC-File, which he will only use occasionally. So he needs to modify the PATH command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to include the “pcf” directory. If the user typed in the new path at the DOS prompt, he would have to type in the whole AUTOEXEC.BAT file all over again. So instead, the user loads the AUTOEXEC.BAT file into his favorite word processor.
The user:
- Adds “c:\pcf” to the end of the PATH command.
- Then hits File/Save.
- Then specifies text file format (so the word processor does not place any of its formatting characters in the file).
- Then clicks File/Exit.
This concludes our sample user session using MS-DOS 3.3.
2. Use the
spreadsheet module in FrameWork III (1988)
Pull down the Create menu and select Spreadsheet.
And here it is:
We will name the spreadsheet Mark, after Mark Acker, the author. Then we will press the PLUS (+) key to enter the spreadsheet frame:
Here is a schematic diagram of the spreadsheet Mark will develop:
____________________________________________________________________
MARK'S FINANCIAL DILEMMA
Monthly Income: 1500
Monthly Expenses: 1800
Monthly Deficit: [Income minus Expenses]
Financial Reserve: 1200
How many months
before Mark can
no longer make
ends meet: Reserve / (-1 * Deficit)
In this snapshot Mark has entered the labels and fixed amounts for his spreadsheet, everything except the formulas:
Mark isn't sure how to enter a formula into a FrameWork spreadsheet cell, so he consults Help by pressing F1:
Now Mark accesses the specific Help for performing calculations:
Pressing Escape returns Mark to the spreadsheet. He enters the following formula: @sum (b3-b5).
After Mark presses the ENTER key, here is the result - a deficit of "-300" highlighted in
color:
Now Mark enters the formula for "How many months before Mark can no longer make ends meet":
:
And here is the result - as Mark has a 4 month reserve, in 4 months' time he will no longer be able to make ends meet:
Looks like Mark had better
send this spreadsheet with a letter to his relatives, asking for some money.
3. Create a
footnote in WordPerfect 5.1 (1989)
Now we will attempt to insert a footnote. Move the cursor to the comma after “Kung Fu” at the beginning of paragraph four. Then hit Ctrl-F7. A dialog appears at the bottom of the screen.
Type 1 for Footnote.
Type 1 for Create.
Type in the footnote.
Then press F7. Notice the highlighted “1” next to “Kung Fu” indicating Footnote 1.
Hit File/Print/View. The footnote is clearly visible in the preview screen, although it does not appear in the editing screen.
4.
Enter data into dBASE III+ (1984)
Now that you are finished designing the file structure, a dialog at the bottom of the screen asks you if you want to enter records now.
Type Y for yes.
Enter Record 1 as shown.
Then press Enter to save the record in the database and open an empty template for Record 2. You will add eight more records. Here is Record 9:
Now to exit data entry mode, hit Ctrl-End.
5. Call another
computer using ProComm (1986)
Here is ProComm's opening screen:
Now we will press Alt-F10 to display a command summary:
Now we will check our line settings:
The current line settings are for a 9600 baud modem, no parity bit, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and COM port 1. Since these settings are fine, we will hit Escape. Now from the main screen we will press Alt-D to access the dialing directory.
If we plan to call a particular number often, we would enter it here. Now we will press M for Manual Dialing:
When we press Enter, ProComm dials the number:
When ProComm reaches the target computer, its screen appears on your screen, and ProComm goes into hiding in the background. After we get done using the host bulletin board, or whatever we are doing online, we then return to ProComm and hang up by pressing Alt-H.
Then we hit Alt-X and type Y to exit ProComm and return to DOS:
6. Have
a quick look at QuickBasic 4.50 (1988)
Here is QuickBasic 4.5’s opening screen:
We need to open quiz.bas, the
program I wrote. Pull down the file menu
and click Open Program. (When you see menus, read the entire menu to
see what else QuickBasic does.)
Click quiz.bas, then click OK.
The file opens with the top module’s code showing.
Now run the program. Click Run, then Start.
My quiz program starts. First you see the main menu.
7. Where to
find more information on early PC computing
Gerald Aitken and Barbara Griffith have written a book about Early PC Computing. If you liked the samples shown here, you'll love the book, which contains much more material. Here is the link to our storefront:
https://www.createspace.com/3467895
8. About the Authors
Gerald
Aitken Barbara Griffith
GERALD
AITKEN is a talented and experienced technical writer. He has written books and web sites on
computing, security training, karate, and Buddhism. Gerald has used computers extensively since
1987, and long ago he used many of the programs featured in this book. Gerald now collects antique software as a
hobby.
BARBARA
GRIFFITH has been working in IT since 1990. She has worked as a Support Manager for the
University of Colorado at Boulder. She
holds a Master of Science in Computer Information Technology from Regis
University, and she is a former Novell CNE, PGP certified technician, and
certified in Comptia Project +.
The photograph of the IBM PC Model 5150, which at the
top of this page, is courtesy of the Elsmar Cove
Forum.