From: gt6698a@prism.gatech.EDU (Andrew Hobson) Subject: DOSEMU 0.47.7 and WordPerfect 5 Date: 11 Feb 1993 02:01:20 GMT
(I posted this here because of all the WordPerfect requests. Most
of my posts will be on the MSDOS mailing list, so if you're interested
in dosemu, join that)
Friends,
While I don't plan to produce "how to run" reports for every piece of
software DOSEMu can run, I thought this was important enough to
post. I've gotten a lot of requests for the ability to run WordPerfect,
so here it is (sort of). Ideally, once I get the emulator working
solidly, you won't need this kind of info at all.
I have been able to get WordPerfect 5.0 running under dosemu 0.48 (please
excuse the nasty version numbering). You need to do 2 things (probably
under a real DOS session...): set the graphics mode to none (Text), and
choose normal cursor speed. For WP 5.0, here are the keystrokes:
Shift-F1 ; select display setup
2 n ; set cursor speed to Normal
3 5 [choose Text] 0 ; disable graphics
5 1 1 n 2 n 3 n 0 0 ; disable all beeps
3 2 2 y 0 ; turn Fast Text on
0 0 ; exit setup
Turning Fast Text on shouldn't hurt anything, and it will speed screen
writes up. Fast Text is basically waiting for the vertical retrace to
write to video RAM, which is a CGA technique.
(NOTE: even if you're using a CGA card, you should turn Fast Text on.
the current emulator doesn't really allow DOS programs to check
for retrace, but tells them it's okay to write no matter what.
If this causes anyone snowy screens, please tell me, and I'll fix
it up.)
Exit with F7 to save the settings, and you're all set to load it under
the DOS emulator.
DANGER
======
I recommend that you save often. I can't seem to find Autosave in WP 5.0
(my roommate's copy, don't use it myself), but it's probably a good
idea.
If the emulator crashes while running WP, WP will ask you
if other copies of WP are running when you load it again. Just
answer no.
REQUIRED SOFTWARE
=================
I haven't tried WP 5.1 (don't have it), but this whole thread of
inquiry into WP was started by a kind report that someone had made Wp 5.1
(kinda) work by the small fix below to dosemu 0.47.7.
I haven't released dosemu 0.48 yet. You can try WP with dosemu
0.47.7 by finding and removing the line
error = 9;
in emu.c. It should be in the function int1a(). No guarantees.
STABILITY
=========
Occasionally, a WP error message will cause a freezeup/crash. I'm
looking into this.
WHAT WORKS:
Most everything that I've tested except graphics and beeping.
Printing is slow, and goes to the dosemulpt1 file, so you'll have to
copy that to /dev/lp1 (or use lpr) yourself until I revamp the
printing code.
WHAT DOESN'T:
============
Some ERROR messages lock WP up, beeps freeze while waiting for a
timer interrupt (currently unimplemented). Graphics don't work, of
course. Sometimes an emulator bug that strikes every one strikes
WP...holding down a key too long will sometimes cause a crash.
KEYBOARD
========
Oh, yeah, and you'll have to use -k (RAW keyboard) mode right now, as
there's currently no other way to generate SHIFT/ALT/CTRL fkeys. Any
suggestions are welcome. I guess I'll have some precursor key set
the shift/alt/ctrl mode, but that sounds pretty clumsy. Please tell
me about any schemes that you've seen work well.
VIDEO
=====
I also recommend -c (direct console video ) mode if you can do it.
When XFree86 1.2 comes out, you'll be able to flip VC's with X, so
using X at the same time won't be a problem. You'll need to have Linux
boot into an 80x25 screen size, but if you use WP much, you'll
appreciate the speed.
I haven't yet buckled down and made the termcap (non -c) output
decent, so I'm afraid non-console video won't be too appetizing for a
while.
Also, someone has released a dosemu based on Matthias' original dosemu0.4
that opens a color xterm for display. I'll probably look at this
and see if we can achieve some sort of merger. His xdos isn't
terribly fast, and it's not very much different from 0.4, but you
could always give it a try. (it's in tsx-11.mit.edu /pub/linux/ALPHA/dosemu).
I currently invoke my pre-0.48 version of dosemu like this (just for info):
dos -ckVm 720 -Dkx-v > doserr
WHEN YOU CAN EXPECT DOSEMU 0.48
=================================
Well, I had decided to wait until I got VGA, XMS, and some hardware
emulation working a bit better before releasing 0.48. However, I'm
finding lots of important non-huge things that I can fix fairly easily
now, and if enough people can't do what they want with WordPerfect under
dosemu 0.47.7 (the current release), maybe I'll release 0.48.
However, I WOULD like to get at least XMS working well first. So on
the inside, expect 1.5 to 2 weeks, unless there's a need.
I'll announce 0.48 on the mailing list and comp.os.linux.announce.
Robert Sanders
gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu
--
Robert Sanders
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
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