[Dx4win] Upgrading to XP?

Kurt W. Zimmerman [email protected]" <[email protected]
Tue, 30 Jul 2002 14:53:39 -0400


Actually DOS is not really "gone".  One has to understand the architecture 
of XP, Win2K as well as WinNT4.  They are much the same.  DOS as well as 
the 16 bit runtime run as "sub-systems".  This has been true with XP and 
its predecessors.  Chances are that DOS will never go away because there 
are too many things tied to the DOS sub-system that makes it almost 
impossible to get rid of.

As for accessing things like modems, soundcards or other devices all 
depends on how the sub-system has been designed to access them.

But, for now, with the risk of getting into a long boring diatribe on this, 
lets just say it's not worth getting into.... However, the older DOS 
programs should be able to access these devices.

73;
Kurt - W2MW




XP is an evolution of WIN2000 and WIN98 and doesn't "really" have DOS.  XP
and WIn2000 have a Command Prompt (C:> prompt), and certain old DOS 
commands
are still available, but I doubt you could count on "old" ham programs that
utilize anything very special, e.g. soundcard, to work under XP.  This is
why RITTY/K6STI won't run under WIN2000 Command Prompt.

If you're still tied into DOS, stick with WIN98.  Someday you will want to
move up though, so be thinking about saying bye bye to DOS!  ;-)