From: pat@rwing.UUCP (Pat Myrto)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: HOW WILL DOS BE HANDLED UNDER SVR4.2 ??
Keywords: DOS VP/ix?? merge??
Date: 14 Sep 92 14:42:42 GMT
Organization: Totally Unorganized

In article <2AB41164.4BF1@telly.on.ca> evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) writes:
>In article <BuB4xs.FMr@gator.rn.com> larry@gator.rn.com (Larry Snyder) writes:
>>corey@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (william.c.brown) writes:
>
>>>	Do current UNIX systems, i.e. ESIX, DELL, etc... have good
>>>	support for DOS type program??? I suspect a dual boot
>>
>>Dell ships DOS Merge in their base product
>>
>>ESIX doesn't come with DOS Merge --
>  ...
>ESIX, Dell, SCO and many of the other R4s have full support for
>DOS-under-UNIX. Dell bundles it, ESIX and the others don't. SCO
>bundles it in Open Desktop but not in UNIX.
>  ...
>As I recall it, SCO Xenix, Interactive 3.2, Dell 3.2 and ESIX 3.2
>supported Interactive's VP/ix. SCO UNIX and all the R4s support Locus
>Merge 386. The current Interactive product, which is still 3.2,
>continues to support VP/ix.

I would be interested in the impressions of those who have had experience
with both VP/ix and DOS Merge 386.  Currently I am using Interactive,
which provides VP/ix, and aside from a few minor annoyances seems to
run just about anything except stuff that screws with the DMA (Fastback,
etc) or the timer chip (many games, or stuff that tries to play music
using the speaker). All the 'working' software that will run on a 286
based box runs OK on it (WordPerfect, Quattro, Paradox, etc) as long as
it can run within the DOS 640 space.  One can even set up a network card
(an Ethernet card in this case) and use VP/ix to attach to a Novell lan,
move stuff to/from the server, etc. to the UNIX filesystem.  In a
nutshell, its a handy kludge.  If one has a conventional serial port
(not a 'smart' multiport card with its own CPU), DOS based communications
programs like Procomm, etc even work.  Even the 'smart' card assigned
to the COM1 or COM2 ports might work if the comm software can be made
to use the INT 14h service calls, and the appropriate INT 14h replacement
stuff is loaded in VP/ix.  Downside on all this is that the redirector,
rundos, etc things that need to be loaded cuts into available MSDOS
memory rather severely, so real memory hoggish DOS apps may not have
enough RAM.  And, VP/ix comes with DOS 3.3, with some enhancements to
to make it happy in this environment.  Not sure whether DOS 5 would be
useable in this environment.

All in all, considering what it is accomplishing, it seems to me that
these DOS emulators do amazingly well.  What I really want to know is
if users of the Locus product, Merge 386, have had similar results.
Its signifigant, since because of the changes to Interactive, if I decide
to get SysV Rel4, it will probably end up being DELL.

Due to the heavy volume in this newsgroup, perhaps a reply by e-mail
(in addition to posting, if posting is deemed appropriate) would be a
good idea as its extremely difficult to not miss a postings.

Thanks...
-- 
pat@rwing.uucp                                  (Pat Myrto),  Seattle, WA
                      If all else fails, try:
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WISDOM:    "Travelling unarmed is like boating without a life jacket" 
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386