Date:	Wed, 5 Feb 1997 09:57:17 +1000 (AEST)
From:	Jason White <whiteja AT rvib2 DOT rvib DOT org DOT au>
To:	opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
Subject:	[opendos] Download and installation questions
Message-ID:	<Pine.SCO.3.95.970205093708.8431A-100000@rvib2.rvib.org.au>
MIME-Version:	1.0
Sender:	owner-opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net

I am planning to download and install OpenDOS during the next few days and
would appreciate some advice. First, I should mention that Caldera's
OpenDOS web page is definitely difficult to access using "text only"
browsers (Lynx 2-4-2 in my case), as it uses an image map for which no
textual alternative is provided. By reading the HTML code, I have been
able to find the relevant pages containing the licence agreement and
OpenDOS information. My questions are as follows:

1. Is OpenDOS subject to U.S. export controls, other than those affecting
the countries designated in the licence agreement? I live in Australia and
would like to be sure that importing OpenDOS is permitted.

2. There are two versions of the full OpenDOS distribution available: one
creates disk images and the other contains file archives. Are both
versions capable of installing OpenDOS to a hard disk which has a
pre-existing copy of MS-DOS on it, but without destroying any actual data
other than the the MS-DOS startup files themselves? I am planning to try
OpenDOS first on my portable computer (a Toshiba T5200) which uses a
speech synthesizer and screen access software. If it works reliably, I may
then test it on my pc, which uses both a speech synthesizer and a
refreshable braille display. Each of these devices requires several TSR
programmes to be executed, so any compatibility problems are likely to
become apparent on this system.

2. On this list, several people have discussed OpenDOS installation
problems which, in some cases, have reportedly resulted in loss of data on
the hard disk and even CMOS failures. How can such problems best be
avoided, and are they the result of bugs in the installation process?

3. Is OpenDOS compatible with the Qemm memory manager, and if so, which
versions? I am using version 6.02 on one computer, and version 7.53 on the
other.

I would be willing to report any problems that I encounter via this
mailing list, if appropriate.

Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,

Jason White.

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