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From:	"Michal H. Tyc" <mht AT bttr-software DOT de>
Organization:	BTTR Software
Date:	Thu, 27 Nov 2003 19:20:19 +0100
X-Mailer:	Arachne V1.73;GPL
To:	opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: several technical problems
MIME-Version:	1.0
Message-Id:	<E1APQnc-0004Lt-Hj@mailout.artfiles.de>
Reply-To:	opendos AT delorie DOT com

Hi Donald,

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 22:05:42 +1100 (EST), DONALD PEDDER wrote:

> I've never gotten around to setting up DR-DOS fully on this computer,

Could you tell us more about 'this computer' (CPU, mainboard, BIOS,
memory, add-on cards, etc.)?

> 1. I could never get taskmgr to work properly on this computer - that is,
> until I saw someone mention "taskmgr /s", which got it going (this was a
> new option since I'd used the previous version). However, I am still
> having a problem with it.

A bit strange, because if you don't have MULTI[TASKING]=ON in your 
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE line, TASKMGR can run _only_ as Task Switcher 
(so the /S option shouldn't make any difference).

What is the GREEN command in your AUTOEXEC? Some power saving TSR?
Maybe it causes some harmful interference with TASKMGR?

> I can get several sessions started, but if I try to swap sessions while
> one of them has the editor loaded, I get "exception 6", and the session
> crashes. The reason I use several sessions to start with is so that I can
> edit/reference several files at a time, so needless to say this problem
> means I still can't use taskmgr for what I want it for.

I remember I observed crashes when running Task Switcher (TASKMGR /S)
with EMM386 and CD redirector, and I remember also some other users
reporting similar troubles. Please try (1) with HIMEM.SYS instead of
EMM386; (2) with EMM386, but without NWCDEX.

> 2. I am using bitcom as my dial-up software. It has an option to drop back
> down into DOS, but several things that I try to do (like using the editor)
> tell me "insufficient memory", even though I have 64Mb of memory (and I
> ran this software okay when I only had a 386).

How much free conventional memory do you have? Could you redirect the
output of MEM /A to a file (MEM /A > MEM.LST) and post it to the list?

> 3. I have a problem which is isolated to the root directory on one
> partition. I notice that Windows has touched it (despite my efforts to
> keep it clean). It has a "recycled" directory in there, and I'm unable to
> clear it out with deltree (deltree says no such file exists, but it's
> there if I do a "dir /s"). This may or may not be relevant.
> Anyhow, when I want to use the editor in this directory I get "internal
> error 82". I also get it if a do a "type filename|more", however it works
> with just "type filename" (which is no good for multi-page files). Ditto
> if I try to re-direct. For a while I was able to get around the editor
> problem by deleting the .$$$ files, but that no longer works. I am able to
> edit my files if I move them to another directory. Any ideas on how to
> clear up this directory? (I'd rather not re-format if it can be avoided)

This sounds like orphanted LFN entries. DR-DOS kernel doesn't
understand long filenames and when you delete a file with long
filename under DR-DOS (or MS-DOS 6.x), the information about
the long filename remains (the LFN entries are designed in an
insane way to be invisible for old DOSes) and the directory isn't
empty and cannot be removed. The easiest way to correct this
problem is to run MS ScanDisk; DR-DOS CHKDSK refuses to work if
it encounters LFNs. You can also use a disk editor, but then you
must know exactly what you are doing.

Please tell us more about your system configuration.
There is at least a few experienced TASKMGR users on the list,
and I hope you'll finally get multitasking to work.

Regards,

Michal

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