Skip to main content

What You Should Know

As a minimum, you should be familiar with computer connection and turn-on procedures. If you have a printer, you should know how to connect it your computer, set switches, and load paper and ribbons. You should also be familiar with your system's monitor type, keyboard, available memory, and storage subsystem. In particular, you should check the versions of DOS you are using. Many commands have been added in recent DOS releases. If you have an old version, such as 2.01, some commands may not be available for your use. However, with only a few exceptions, this blog describes the basic set of DOS commands available to most DOS versions beginning with DOS versions 2.01. Commands introduced in later versions of DOS are identified for you.

Finally, you should be familiar with your keyboard. If you are not fully familiar with your keyboard, read the descriptive information and compare it to your keyboard.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Filenames

It is important to understand DOS file naming conventions and their use. Here, filenames and some special filename "tools" called wild cards and literals are described. What is a File name?   Every program and data file is given a name to differentiate it from other programs and data files. A program is one or more computer instructions collected into a file. A data file is normally a collection of characters (or data) that make up a document, like a letter, or a database, like a collection of accounting transactions or customer records. Descriptive filenames are normally used. For example, if you create and save a letter to Mom, you might give it the filename MOM.LTR. A letter to Dad could be called DAD.LTR. A word processing program file might have the filename WP.COM. Examine these filenames a little closer. First, notice that each filename is meaningful. This is important if you want to know what is in a file by looking at its name. Obscure filenames are of little u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Path

The PATH command is used to provide access to files located in other directories or on other disks. The PATH command is usually entered as a line in an AUTOEXEC.BAT (or batch) file, which most often contains one or more DOS commands. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file is automatically executed upon system turn-on to run one or more desired programs without the need for user intervention. Other batch  files are executed upon command. When an AUTOEXEC.CAT file is used, each command contained in the file executes as it is encountered. The creation and use of batch files is described in Section 8. To illustrate the PATH command, assume you have a program named GATOR.COM that is located in a sub directory. You are not sure if it is cn disk C or disk A, so you want to search both disks and execute the command when found. To complicate matters, you are not sure if the program is in the SWAMP sub directory or the MUD sub directory. Here is where the PATH command comes to your rescue. To set up a search...
Post a Comment
Read more