I was hoping that having seen my web site that people will make contact to ask questions, answer questions, give alternative solutions and submit ideas of their own.
In anticipation of being completely overwhelmed with the response (I can dream can't I?) please follow the ABC rule .i.e. Accurate Brief and Concise. For example:
Question. "My Aunt Flossy got herself a computer. Well actually her son-in-law gave it to her. In fact she did try to give him something for it but he wouldn't take it so she went out and bought him a pair of socks instead. So I suppose she bought it really. In any case he got it going for her and she started writing a letter under son-in-law's guidance and saved it to disk. The very following day (or it could have been three days later) she switched on and did some more work on the letter (It was two days later, I remember now because it was the same day that I took the cat to the Vet to be neutered. You wouldn't forget something like that now would you? [Editor's note: The cat won't that's for sure.]). At the end she got confused between "save" and "delete" and guess which one she did. Such a shame as she had spent hours and hours writing to her brother in Australia that she had not seen for 48 years, all about her haemorrhoids operation. Is there any way to get the letter back? I would be ever so grateful as it's been her main topic of conversation for the last three weeks and I don't know about you but I get really fed up when people keep going on and on and on about things."
Or quite simply;
Question 1. Is there any way of recovering a deleted file?
Answer. While we are on the subject the answer is that it depends. Should it happen it is most important that you do not save anything until the file is recovered as the space on the hard drive has become available to be overwritten. With Win9.x look in the recycle bin. For DOS and Win3.x, deleted files can be recovered with the UNDELETE command from the DOS prompt. This command can be found in MS-DOS from version 5.0 to 6.22. Win9.x doesn't have it. It will work with Win9x however if it is copied from C:\DOS on a DOS =<6.22 system to the C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND folder of a Win9.x system. For details find a DOS manual or type "help undelete" (without the quotes) at the DOS prompt from any directory. This will work if the file was deleted using the DEL command. If it was done from within a word processor it may not. Without going in to any advanced disk recovery techniques which would require additional software and take far longer than re-writing the letter, the file is probably gone forever.
On an "after the horse has bolted level" we are forever being nagged to back-up our data. There is a good reason for this. It is excellent advice. At a lower level if you use an existing document as a template then the first thing to be done is "save as" and give it a new name. You will now have two identical copies with different names. Then alter the new one to your heart's content.
There I hope this answers the question, which nobody actually asked me!
Question 2. How do I install DOS and Windows 3.1?
Answer. To those of us that have done this many times it may seem obvious. However it can be very daunting for a novice. Without getting bogged down in the nitty gritty I shall try to give a very simple overview of the process. If you are trying to repair an existing installation which will not boot-up jump straight to step 5.
1. Prepared a system Disk by placing a floppy in the A: drive and typing FORMAT A: /S at the DOS C:\> prompt.
2. Start PC with the System disk. Floppy start-up has to be enabled (and usually is, in older PC's) in the BIOS.
3. FDISK to set up active partitions. Refer to a DOS manual if necessary.
4. FORMAT the C: drive as a system disk. That is, at the A:\> prompt, type FORMAT C: /S If you forget the /S switch do not worry (we all do it), just let it finish and then type SYS C: at the A:\> prompt.
5. Place the first DOS installation disk in the floppy drive and type SETUP From here on it should be quite straight forward, just follow the prompts on the screen.
6. When DOS is working OK, repeat the process with the first WINDOWS 3.1 installation disks. That is, type SETUP at the A:\> prompt and follow your nose.
If you are repairing rather than starting afresh and do not have a boot-up system disk then the first installation disk can be used instead.
Question 3. How do I run an old favorite on my new system?
Answer. Many older programs have troubles with newer hardware and or OS's. Some can be tweaked to a greater or lesser extent. If it worked well on your old 486 under DOS then keep the old machine (or buy another one, they seem to go for next to nothing these days) and run it on that.
Question 4. I am short on space, where do I put a second PC?
Answer. Get a data switch to share the keyboard, mouse and monitor. Together with the cables it should not cost much more than £20 ($30). The only extra space required now is for a base unit. A desktop unit (as most older PCs were) could go under the monitor with the newer tower unit where it would have gone anyway. If you also make a Y connector or buy an adaptor, the speakers can be wired into both PCs. No need for a switch.
Question 5. How do I access the internet with DOS or Win 3.1?
Answer. The simple answer is why bother? I assume you have a more up-to-date PC or you wouldn't be reading this. It can be done I know but it doesn't seem worth the effort to me.
Question 6. I have a very old program that ran on my 8086, 286, 386 etc but runs too fast to be of any use on my Pentium 90 (whatever)?
Answer. Notwithstanding the answer I gave to question 3 you could try a slowing down utility such as MOSLO. It may however just make it glitchy but is worth a try. I have also found that some programs do not like certain Video cards so swapping that may be a good idea if the graphics are bizarre (1 MB ISA cards are dirt cheap from on-line auctions).
Question 7. My old PC does not recognize the CD-ROM drive, what do I do?
Answer. Came across this article. Should be what you want. Follow this link. http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk/cdrom.htm
Question 8. My DOS program which printed with Windows 3.1 and DOS will not print with Windows XP even though it is the same printer which works fine with my new PC for everything else. How do I get it to print?
Answer. The clue here is
"DOS". Windows uses a printer manager which means that once the
printer is set up, any Windows application will print. With DOS each program had
to have its own printer support. Windows 3.1 also had a printer manager but it
is not compatible with the later versions of Windows. If your current
printer is a USB type then it is even more likely to be incompatible.
Possible options.
1. Find some DOS drivers.
2. Resurrect the old PC (or get another one) and run it under DOS or
Windows 3.1.
3. Depending on the program it may be possible to save the file in a
format that a program which runs under a later version of Windows would recognize
and print it from that. e.g. Word processor. Save as ASCII then import into your
normal Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP word processor, reformat to taste and print in
the normal way.
4. Windows 95 and 98 will run in DOS mode. It may be possible to run it in
DOS mode but if it works at all it may require re-booting rather than running in
a DOS box. ME although very similar to 98 will not re-boot into DOS mode. NT,
2000 and XP do not run DOS at all but simulates DOS which may not be good enough
for this problem.
5. Download "DOS Printer 1.72" from www.dosprn.com/DOSprn172.exe
works for me, an old DOS based word processor would not recognize my printer but
with this shareware program it now prints from Windows 98 SE. It did print all
sorts of strange characters as well as the text in the default settings but
after changing to HP PCL (As I have a HP 959C Printer) in the configuration
"Sequences" option it was fine.
Question 9
I'm trying to get my HP4300 to behave. I'm using GWBASIC in a Windows XP environment and have very few ASCII codes that seems to work - one is LPRINT CHR$(12), but very little else works.
I want to do 'condensed' 'double sized' and number of copies.
Any ideas????
Jackie
Many modern printers do not print in "text" mode but in "graphics" mode but if your printer is anything like my HP 959 then you can allow it to print from DOS (& therefore GWBASIC hopefully) when you install the software. If this is so then you will have to uninstall your printer and reinstall the software and look out for a message something like "Do you wish to print from DOS?" .
(Editor. Jackie wrote back to me with the answer herself. See below.)
Thanks for your reply. After digging....... and digging I found a couple of websites that gave me some information. From there I have been able to work it out. The GWBASIC codes are:-
L100 REM ********** PRINTER CODES
L110 GPESC$ = CHR$(27)
L120 GPBOLDON$ = GPESC$ + "(s3B"
L130 GPBOLDOFF$ = GPESC$ + "(s0B"
L140 GPCONDON$ = GPESC$ + "(s18H"
L150 GPUNDERON$ = GPESC$ + "&d1D"
L160 GPUNDEROFF$ = GPESC$ + "&d@"
L170 GPITALON$ = GPESC$ + "(s1S"
L180 GPITALOFF$ = GPESC$ + "(s0S"
L190 GPRESET$ = GPESC$ + "E"
L192 GP2PART$ = GPESC$ + "&l2X"
L194 GP1PART$ = GPESC$ + "&l1X"
This is a library file of my own - it shows Bold on and off, Underline on and off, Italic on and off, a general reset and number of copies. The L1 line numbers are for my use. If you get any enquiries try these out. The websites I used were:-
www.dragon-it.co.uk/links/hp_pcl_codes.htm
http://www.pcguru.plus.com
http://h10025.wwwl.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?product=58155&lc=es&cc=mx&dlc
The latter is a spanish website, but it gave me an idea of how to arrange the code.
Regards
Jackie
