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_______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of tm | | |_| Shareware VMiX 386 Version 2.64 |__| o | Professionals ----------------------- -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Copyright (c) 1985-1991 Commercial Software Associates Post Office Box 36 BBS (714) 720-1139 (24 Hrs.) Corona del Mar, California 92625 VOICE (714) 720-1214 (8-6pm PDT) _______________________________________________________________ | | | WHAT IS VMiX? | | ------------- | | | | VMiX is a multitasking and multiuser environment for | | IBM PC's and PS/2's (PC, XT, AT, PS/2) compatibles. | | | | Version 2.64 configures itself to your processor. If you | | have an 8088 or 8086, then your applications must share | | the up to 576 Kbytes available after VMiX loads in low | | memory. | | | | If you have an 80286, then VMiX can multitask in low | | conventional memory or it can task switch applications | | to extended memory. VMiX can not execute tasks in 286 | | extended memory. Swapped tasks can be swapped back | | automatically for a timeslice of the processing or they | | can remain suspended until reactivated by the user. | | | | If you have an 80386/486, VMiX will multitask in extend- | | ed memory. It will execute each task in virtual 8086 | | mode, with protected mode pagging, virtualized video and | | keyboard, mapping a new 640 Kbytes to each new task. | | With DOS 5.0 relocated to high memory, above the first | | megabyte, all 640Kb can be used by each application. | | | | Multitasking is supported at the console, in windows or | | full screen(s). All tasks at the console, at remote | | terminals, or at the console but executing at a remote | | VMiX host server can be concurrently active. Since the | | full console video display can be virtualized, several | | times, you can switch between screens (each with multi- | | windows). If you do not like windows at your console | | or flipping active screens, you can choose to use | | terminals or PC's attached to the COMM ports. | | | | The VMiX environment uses the best from DOS and UNIX | | in its implementation of the user control shell and | | multitasking. The user has a choice of 2 user interfa- | | ces: the VMiX shell, which can talk to the DOS shell | | (you get both sets of commands), or the VMiX pull-down | | menus interface which is a multi-threaded environment. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | Cont'd | | ------ | | | | Applications that do not write directly to the video, | | will display correctly at a terminal in all VMiX modes. | | Applications that write directly to the video, can be | | virtualized at the 386 console or at terminals only when | | using VMiX in 386 mode with ANSI terminal emulation. | | A remote console utility can be used in other modes to | | handle direct video writes. | | | | VMiX is compatible with DOS 3.1 through 5.00 | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | HOW TO INSTALL VMiX? | | -------------------- | | | | For more detailed information, see 'The Easy Way' and | | 'The Advanced Way' given below. | | | | | | VMiX is easy to install. Simply copy the executable | | files in the VMiX archive to your directory, include the | | install directory in your PATH, remove other extended | | memory managers from your CONFIG.SYS and execute the boot | | module VM_BOOT.EXE | | | | If VMiX fails to start correctly on your computer, you | | can use several start-up options. | | | | 'VM_BOOT 8086' will force real mode on 80286/386/486 PC's.| | | | 'VM_BOOT 286' will force 80286 VMiX mode on 80386/486 | | computers. | | | | 'VM_BOOT low' or VM_BOOT low 286' will inhibit relocation| | of portions of VMiX to extended memory. | | | | 'VM_BOOT ems=ffff' will inhibit VMiX from relocating to | | any upper memory block. | | | | Some EGA/VGA's will display no cursor or what appears to | | be a broken cursor when Shift-Tab is pressed to switch | | tasks. To correct this, start VMiX with the command line | | | | 'VM_BOOT egacur' | | | | Use of these options might allow VMiX to execute in your | | environment. | | | | REFER TO THE SECTION BELOW for common start-up problems. | | | | You can customize how VMiX starts-up by including other | | command arguments in the VM_BOOT command line, from DOS. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | RECOMMENDED CONFIG.SYS (file contents for DOS 5.0) | | ---------------------- | | | | SHELL = C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512 | | FCBS = 2,0 (Optional) | | STACKS = 9,192 (Do not set to 0,0) | | DOS = HIGH (Do not use the UMB option!) | | BUFFERS = 15 | | FILES = 20 (More than 20, if apps need it.) | | LASTDRIVE = H (Optional, set your last drive here) | | DEVICE = HIMEM.SYS | | DEVICE = MOUSE.SYS /2 (Your mouse driver, if any.) | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | HOW TO INSTALL MY APPLICATIONS? | | ------------------------------- | | | | If you can execute your applications from DOS, they | | are already installed for VMiX. VMiX does not use PIF | | or other types of application configuration files. | | | | Applications that write directly to the screen can | | coexist with other applications at the console, but they | | will not display properly at a COMM port terminal when | | running VMiX in non-386 computers. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | HOW MUCH MEMORY WILL REMAIN AFTER VMiX IS INSTALLED? | | ---------------------------------------------------- | | | | On a 640Kb memory 8088 PC or 80286 AT with DOS 5.0 and | | no low memory installed TSR's, there will remain 470Kb | | to 576Kb of memory for applications. VMiX can be told | | to fill memory above 640Kb with 96Kb of additional | | program space, in alphanumeric text modes on EGA/VGA | | equipped systems. On the 80386, each task gets it's own | | 640Kb from your extended memory pool. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | HOW DO I VALIDATE THAT VMIX IS WORKING CORRECTLY? | | ------------------------------------------------- | | | | To test VMiX, we recommend that you perform the two | | tests below: | | | | TEST 1: Validates that VMiX itself is working correctly. | | | | invoke VMiX as follows: (from the directory where you | | copied VM_BOOT.EXE ) | | | | VM_BOOT do /set | | | | and PRESS <ENTER> | | This will start 2 tasks: | | the root shell or main | | window, where the key- | | board will remain unless | | you press Shift-Tab, and | | a VMiX debugger task | | displaying information | | about the 'set' command. | | If all windows display activity, the TEST PASSED. | | From the root window type 'quit' and press <ENTER>| | to exit VMiX. | | | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | Cont'd | | ------ | | | | TEST 2: Validates that VMiX, your version of DOS, and | | your system's ROM BIOS, all get along fine. | | | | invoke VMiX as follows: (from the directory where you | | copied VM_BOOT.EXE ) | | | | VM_BOOT do dir c: /type c:\autoexec.bat | | | | and PRESS <ENTER> | | This will start 2 tasks: | | the root shell or main | | window, displaying your | | autoexec.bat file, where | | the keyboard will remain,| | and another task doing a | | directory. | | If all windows display activity, the TEST PASSED. | | From the root window type 'quit' and press <ENTER>| | to exit VMiX. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | WHAT IS AHEAD FOR VMiX? | | | | Virtual 386 DOS file buffers to avoid DOS file | | read/write conflicts with multiple file I/O. | | Compatibility with other extended memory software. | | A DPMI interface. | | A distributed file system. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT VMiX? | | -------------------------- | | | | VMiX is supported shareware. In the rapidly developing | | multitasking market, VMiX has undergone over 30 new | | releases in the last 6 years, each with new and enhanced | | features. | | | | VMiX is A COMMAND LINE MULTITASKER or you can make use | | of its pull-down menus shell. | | | | VMiX provides an easy to install and operate environment | | that can be used to multitask DOS on 8086 computers. It | | can also be used to task switch applications to extended | | memory on 80286 AT's. VMiX's native environment is the | | 80386, on those computers, use of extended memory and | | emulated expanded memory is automatic. | | | | VMiX allows 2 or more computers running VMiX to be linked | | as a distributed processing environment, where different | | client machines can execute programs in other servers. | | VMiX also provides remote modem access to any of your | | multiuser PC hosts. | | | | | If you can execute your applications from DOS, they are | | already installed for VMiX. VMiX does not use PIF or | | other types of application configuration files. | | | | | | APPLICATION SCREEN HANDLING | | | | do do -W 'terminal' | | -------------------------------------------- | | 8086 Mode Text Mode Text Mode Text Mode | | Graphics Mix Txt/Grphcs - | | BIOS Video BIOS Video BIOS Video | | - - ** Direct Video | | | | 286 Mode Text Mode Text Mode Text Mode | | Graphics Mix Txt/Grphcs - | | BIOS Video BIOS Video BIOS Video | | - - ** Direct Video | | | | 386 Mode Text Mode Text Mode Text Mode | | Graphics Mix Txt/Grphcs - | | BIOS Video BIOS Video BIOS Video | | Direct Video Direct Video Direct Video | | | | ** VMiX will handle programs executed at a terminal (COMM | | port) that do direct video screen writes only in 386 mode,| | in other modes you will need to use VMiX in conjunction | | with a program like 'Remote Console'tm (see below). | | | | The VMiX interface is layered, to protect the casual user | | who just wants to get maximum utility and does not need | | or wants to learn the full system. For the advanced user,| | VMiX provides an internal 'debug' shell, which can be | | coupled with a DOS debugger, as a concurrently executing | | VMiX task, to examine other live applications. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | THE EASY WAY TO START VMiX (With Pull-down Menus) | | -------------------------- | | | | C:\VMIX> PATH = C:\;C:\VMIX; (all your apps EXE paths here) | | | | C:\VMIX> VM_BOOT egacur/set re -x/set vi -s/set sys -c/vw | | | | | | Configuration explanation: | | | | Before you start VMiX, set your DOS path for all the antici- | | pated executables you wish to multitask. | | | | 'egacur' Optional, make sure the VMiX cursor displays OK| | | | 'set re -x' NO multiusers at your COMM ports, disables | | remote logins, so as not to interfere with | | what you already have connected at ports. | | | | If you want multiusers, delete this command. | | | | 'set vi -s' Display a status line, so you can determine the| | name of the foreground task (where the kbd is).| | | | 'set sys -c' Enable a software cursor, so you can see where | | you are, even if another tasks disables the | | hardware cursor. | | | | 'vw' Run the Pull-Down Menu shell, from where to | | start other VMiX DOS shells. With VW, you will| | usually start a new shell, from where to start | | your multitasking application (or you can | | launch your application directly). | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | THE ADVANCED WAY TO START VMiX (Command line multitasker) | | ------------------------------ | | | | C:\VMIX> PATH = C:\;C:\VMIX; (all your apps EXE paths here) | | | | C:\VMIX> VM_BOOT egacur/set vi -s | | | | | | Configuration explanation: | | | | Before you start VMiX, set your DOS path for all the antici- | | pated executables you wish to multitask. | | | | 'egacur' Optional, make sure the VMiX cursor displays OK| | 'set vi -s' Display a status line, so you can determine the| | name of the foreground task (where the kbd is).| | | | After VMiX start you would use the 'set remote -l????' and | | 'set terminal -t???? to configure logins via the COMM ports,| | if any. These commands could also be added to the start-up | | line above (See below). The defaults are COM1 (9600 Baud) | | for the remote and ANSI/VT-100 terminal emulation. | | | | To start multitasking applications, you will normally use | | the 'do [-W]' command or you can press Shift-Enter after a | | command, to start it multitasking. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | USING YOUR COMM PORTS for remote user logins | | --------------------- | | ----- if your printer, mouse, or modem is on COM1, | | then COM2 is available for user logins: | | (NOTE the lower case 'L', below) | | | | C> VM_BOOT set remote -l2 / (etc.) | | | | ----- if your printer, mouse, or modem is on COM2, | | then COM1 (VMiX default) is available for logins: | | | | NO COMMAND NEEDED | | | | ----- if you are using both COM1 and COM2, | | then set VMiX to COM3 to avoid interferance: | | (NOTE the lower case 'L', below) | | | | C> VM_BOOT set remote -l3 / (etc.) | | | | or, to globaly disable all login polling use: | | | | C> VM_BOOT set remote -x / (etc.) | | | | ----- if you are connecting at a baud rate other than | | 9600 baud (VMiX default), set the baud with: | | | | C> VM_BOOT set remote -l2/set baud -c2 2400/ (etc.) | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | QUICK START TO VMiX MULTITASKING | | | | The TECHREF.DOC manual is big and spread out, but it | | describes each VMiX command in more detail. | | | | Basically, these are the commands that you must master | | FIRST, to start using the multitasking features right- | | away. | | | | | | ? Pressing '?' will display a list of avail- | | able VMiX commands. Typing a VMiX command | | that requires additional parameters, will | | display usage information. Any command can | | be abbreviated to 2 or more characters. | | | | | | exec This command allows you to partition the | | use of your PC's memory between tasks. | | By default, on 8088 and 80286 computers, | | VMiX partitions each new DOS task into | | 224Kb chunks of available memory. On the | | 80386 the default partition size is 576Kb. | | | | To override the defaults, you might type: | | exec -m128 | | | | this sets the partition size to 128Kb. | | Any new program, after that, will only see | | a maximum of 128Kb available, until the next| | 'exec -m' reduces or expands the current | | limit. | | | | In 80386 processors, selecting a partition | | size smaller than the 576Kb default, will | | cause new tasks to use the parent's memory | | partition and will not be mapped to their | | own 640Kb, from the extended memory pool. | | | | | | do This command allows you to specify a new | | DOS task. 'do' is short for 'dosjob'. | | To execute BASIC in a window, you would | | type: | | do c:\basic | | | | The 'dosjob' command can be omited, if you | | press Shift-Enter, instead of just 'Enter' | | after the command. | | c:\basic (press Shift-Enter) | | | | 'do' is the basic VMiX command to start a | | new and separate process. A forward slash | | '/' must preceed any VMiX shell command | | given after the 'do'. The '/' must NOT be | | used, if the command is for DOS. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | Cont'd | | ------ | | | | do -W To execute BASIC and give it the full | | screen, you would type: | | do -W c:\basic | | | | The keyboard shortcut is to press Shift- | | Enter (with both Shift keys pressed, for | | full screen) instead of just 'Enter'. | | | | c:\basic (press Shift-Shift-Enter) | | | | On the 386/486 the -W switch virtualizes | | the video segment of the task, allowing it | | to be moved to and from the foreground | | without disturbing the display of other | | tasks. | | | | On 8088 or 286 systems you must specify a | | new video page or video mode to obtain | | a virtualized and separate console for the | | task: | | do -W / set video -p / filespec | | or, | | do -W / set video -m / filespec | | | | | | Shift-Enter This is equivalent to the 'do' command. | | You press Shift-Enter at the end of a | | command to multitask it in a new window. | | | | Shift-Shift-Enter This is equivalent to the 'do -W' | | command. You press Enter with both Shift | | keys held down at the end of a command to | | multitask it with a new full screen. | | | | Shift-TAB Once you have started several windows, or | | full screen tasks, you will need to move | | the keyboard and/or video display between | | them, so that input to each task can be | | safely directed to only that task. You | | move the keyboard and foreground display, | | in round-robin fasion by pressing the | | <SHIFT> and <TAB> keys simultaneously. | | Shift-Tab will also clear any defunct | | window partitions, when there is only one | | shell active. | | | | Some tasks disable the cursor blinking, so | | its difficult to determine which task is | | actively receiving input. In those cases, | | you should enable cursor emulation with: | | set system -c | | | | and/or enable the console status line with: | | set video -s | | | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | Cont'd | | ------ | | | | do /rshell To clone the VMiX command shell into a 2nd | | shell, you type: | | do /rshell or do -W /rshell | | | | The / tells VMiX this is not a command for | | DOS but for VMiX. VMiX will ask you for | | a login name. This is the name that the | | VMiX status line will display when this task| | is at the foreground for kbd input, type: | | su | | | | This is a reserved name for a VMiX operator | | with 'kill' and 'swap' process priviledges. | | | | do . To clone a DOS command shell as the 2nd | | window, you would type: | | do . | | or, | | . (and press Shift-Enter) | | | | To close the window, type from DOS: | | exit | | | | NOTE THAT THE VMiX SHELL PROMPT DIFFERS | | FROM THE DOS SHELL PROMPT IN THE SINGLE | | SPACE THAT FOLLOWS THE PROMPT. | | | | From the VMiX Shell | | a directory request would look like: | | C> dir | | From DOS it would look like: | | C>dir | | | | $$ In non-386 mode, you might find that some | | programs might crash or fail to execute | | correctly. To provide system protection, | | where changes effected by one task to the | | system interrupt table might interfere with | | the interrupts handlers expected by a second| | task, precede the filename and path with the| | characters '$$': | | $$[drive:][path]filename | | or, | | do $$[drive:][path]filename | | | | | | set The 'set' command gives you access to all | | the VMiX configuration options. | | To display a list of all the commands and | | arguments associated with the 'set' command | | enter 'set' from the keyboard. | | | | | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | Cont'd | | ------ | | | | NOW THAT YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO FORGET | | ALL ABOUT IT AND INSTEAD, USE THE VMiX PULL-DOWN MENUS | | BY TYPING, AFTER VMiX STARTS: | | | | C> c:\vmix\vw | | | | See the INSTRUCTIONS section below, for VW user | | information. | | | | VW requires your PATH to include the directory where | | the VMiX utilities reside. | | | | REMEMBER THAT ANY COMMAND YOU CAN GIVE FROM INSIDE VMiX | | CAN ALSO BE STATED IN THE VM_BOOT COMMAND LINE, EACH | | COMMAND SEPARATED BY A '/' | | | | Congratulations, you are now a certified VMiX SysOp. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | IMPORTANT NOTICE | | | | VMiX START-UP PROBLEMS: | | | | We have found that the following reasons are the most | | frequent causes of VMiX 386 failure. | | | | a) Cable connected to COM1 port which causes VMiX port | | test to hang during start-up. Recommend to test | | VMiX with serial cable disconnected during VM_BOOT | | process. Make a new cable as described below. | | | | b) The contents of your CONFIG.SYS specify a device | | driver that uses extended memory in conflict | | with VMiX in 386 mode. (for example, SMARTDRV.SYS, | | QEMM.SYS) | | | | c) Failure to reassign VMiX's default port for user | | logins, COM1, to another port number when it is | | already in use (modem, mouse, etc.). Recommend to | | start VMiX with a non-existent port for logins: | | (NOTE the lower case 'L', below) | | | | VM_BOOT set remote -l4 (ie., COM4) | | | | d) In 386 mode, VMiX incorrectly maps your ROM and | | high DOS memory usage. VMiX loads portions of | | itself to the first available area between C000 | | and F000. It is possible for VMiX to erroneously | | identify an area in use, as being free. In that | | case, VMiX will fail to boot. Force VMiX to use a | | known free area with the start-up command: | | | | VM_BOOT ems=D000 (ie., if D000 is free) | | or, | | VM_BOOT ems=FFFF (ie., do not use EMS) | | | | e) Using 'swap' with a previously loaded external | | program or TSR that uses extended memory, when VMiX | | is in 286 mode and it has not been told to reserve | | in-use extended memory at boot time: | | | | VM_BOOT exclude=500 | | | | If 500Kb are already in use. | | | | f) Using an ANSI.SYS driver that does not support | | discreet window scrolling, but instead, always | | scrolls the entire screen. Quarterdeck Office | | System supplied DVANSI.COM (for DESQview) works | | correctly with VMiX 386. | | | | g) Using VMiX with DOS 4.01 on some 386 computers | | will boot OK, but multitasking will be erratic | | or lock the system. Try the retail version of | | MSDOS 4.01 or switch to version 5.0, if possible. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | h) The following vendor's 386 computers are known | | to crash (incompatible) or not crash (compatible) | | VMiX during 386 protected mode start-up: | | | | (Some 386 BIOSes like Compaq's, Toshiba 5100 and | | Northgate 386 are currently having a problem with | | VMiX + DOS 4.01) The DOS 4.01 we have tested is the | | retail, Microsoft original, MSDOS 4.01. | | | | Incompatible Compatible | | ---------------- ------------------- | | CompuAdd 386 AST Premium 386 | | HP Vectra 386 AT&T 386 | | IBM PS/2 30 Cheetah cAT 386-20 | | Zenith 386 COMPAQ 386-25 | | COMPAQ 386-SX | | COMPAQ 486-33 | | COMPAQ Deskpro | | Dell 310 | | Everex 386-16 | | Everex Step 386-25 | | Gateway 2000 386-20 | | IBM PS/2 70-80 | | Micronics 386 | | Monolithic 386-16 | | Northgate 386 | | Olivetti 386-20 | | Tandy 5000 | | ZEOS 386 | |_______________________________________________________________| RELEASE NOTES * See the REVISION.LOG file for enhancements and bug fixes to this version. In Summary Version 2.64 is a new release and provides: 1. Added support for virtualized default directories. Each task now has its own default directory, independent of what others have. Previously only default drives were virtualized. 2. Added a (L)aunch application option to the VW.EXE utility to allow you to launch an application directly, instead of starting a shell for it first and then invoking the application. The application (L)aunch option resides in the (P)rograms menu. 3. Added support for DOS 5.0 and HIMEM.SYS. You can load DOS to high memory (along with its BUFFERS) using the dos=high and device=himem.sys commands in CONFIG.SYS. You can experiment with removing dos=high, and let VMiX use the high memory for itself or let DOS relocate there. Fixed a bug which hung the system on exit, when using DOS 5.0. 4. Added the LOADUP.EXE utility to allow user loading of TSRs to upper memory (386 mode required). TSR is visible only to process that started it, since each VMiX task is virtually mapped to a separate virtual first megabyte. This means that you can have different (or the same) TSRs active for each partition. VMiX is now compatible with XMS drivers, like HIMEM.SYS. However, VMiX will not work with other 80386 virtual memory managers, like QEMM.SYS or 386MAX.SYS and defaults to 8086 mode when detected. Since you can not use another extended memory manager when using VMiX, the LOADUP utility has been provided to move TSRs to upper memory. Since VMiX is not running at CONFIG.SYS time, there is still no way to do the same thing with device drivers, but we are working on it. LOADUP is not yet as smart as other LOADHI programs, The command syntax is: LOADUP [/help] [/segment=] [/size=] filespec We recommend that you do the first TSR load with /size=128 (number of 1Kb blocks) and reduce the size if LOADUP reports memory unavailable. For subsequent TSR loads, invoke LOADUP with /size=0, since the upper memory block has already being assigned, but not necessarily all used. New TSRs will look for unused memory within the upper memory block assigned in the first LOADUP. At the first LOADUP invocation, you want to specify a size equal to the largest contiguous space available above your video ROM area (depending on your HDisk controller and other installed adapters, this area size is usually between 64 and 128 kilobytes). If no size is given, LOADUP looks for 64 Kbytes in upper memory to load the TSR. The second, third, etc. time a TSR is loaded, you should specify a size of 0 (or if known, the actual size required by the TSR). If you know what you are doing, you may also specify the segment location (i.e., /segment=D000). If your TSRs requires less than 64 Kbytes, then 'LOADUP filespec' will work fine without any arguments. 5. Added the VT.EXE remote utility to serially link together two different VMiX hosts (115.2 Kbaud maximum). This will form the basis for a VMiX distributed system in a network of two or more VMiX systems. VT will start a remote session with the second computer via the COMM port currently specified by 'set remote -l ????' (you can determine the current setting with the 'examine status' command). You can then execute from host-1 any program on host-2. We will be adding mountable remote files systems soon. To set up a single remote session from host-1 connected to host-2 use the following: host-1 host-2 set remote -l1 set remote -l1 (COM1 for both) do vt.exe - (Request host-2 session) login - (host-2 asks for session name) (you are in) To set up dual links (one VT session on host-1 running on host-2, and another VT session on host-2 running on host-1 use the following: host-1 host-2 set remote -l1 set remote -l1 (COM1 for both) do vt.exe - (host-2 session) login - (session name) press Shift-Tab - (switch to Root) set remote -l2 set remote -l2 (COM2 for both) - do vt.exe (host-1 session) - login (enter name) press Shift-Tab - (return to VT) NOTE: To activate (and transmit to the remote host) the IBM function key equivalents (like Alt-X, PgUp, up-arrow, F3, etc.) you must toggle IBM emulation by pressing Ctrl-F. Then the application in the VT window will respond to the special keys (see Table below). You will need to press Ctrl-F again to disable IBM emulation, after the special keys are used so that the keyboard Shift key will act correctly (this is a side effect of assuming that you could be at a terminal with no IBM special keys to press). NOTE: If you have started a VT session and type 'set baud -c1 2400', you will be setting the remote computer send baud rate, you will need to press Shift-Tab and switch to a local session to perform the same command for your local computer, so that they both sync at the new baud rate. To quit VT.EXE press Alt-Z. This will terminate the VT program, but will not quit the remote session. You should 'quit' the remote session first (by typing 'quit'), before pressing Alt-Z. 6. Programs that make direct video writes are now supported at remote COMM port terminals (remote logins). All video memory accesses will be redirected to the COMM port and will not appear at the console. (Feature available only in 386 computers). 7. Added an alternate way to start NEW TASKS MULTITASKING. Pressing Shift-Enter or Shift-Shift-Enter, will start a new task, just as if you had typed 'dosjob'. The Shift-Enter is used, instead of just the Enter key, after typing a command. If both Shift toggles are pressed when the Enter key is hit, the new task will use the full screen. If only one Shift is held down, the task will start in a new window. If the command is for VMiX, like 'rshell', you must preceed it with a forward '/' (i.e., '/rshell'). DOS commands are always entered the same as in a DOS shell. 8. The graphic options of VMiX and the status line are now included in the shareware version. You need the graphics capability to multitask Windows 3.0 under VMiX. To start Windows 3.0, under VMiX 386, you should use the command do -W /set video -m18/win -r (you should remove HIMEM.SYS from your CONFIG.SYS file to force WINDOWS to run in real mode) This will set VGA graphics mode before invoking Windows in Real Mode, thus VMiX will setup extended memory for a virtualized graphics video area, instead of a smaller virtualized text area. The Shift-Tab hot key will swap to non-Windows tasks in any video mode, but upon return to Windows, the color palette will be changed, since the RAM DAC palette memory is not currently being saved during video mode changes. Added the 'set process -w????' command, where ???? is the number of idle input or output cycles before a process is put to sleep. If this parameter is set to 0, then all processes will always be timesliced. With programs that grab the keyboard, like Windows, this will allow the VMiX hot key Shift-Tab to be recognized, since there will always be a non-windows process awake to field the hot key. This command is only used with non-386 computers, since in the 386, the VMiX protected mode supervisor is always running to detect the hot key. 9. Added the 'set remote -i' command to allow the user to toggle ON/OFF the VMiX INT 14h interrupt driven serial port driver. To enable the port for fast, interrupt driven communications you must issue a 'set remote -i' followed by a 'set baud -c ????' command to open the port. When in fast COMM mode, 110 baud becomes 19.2 Kbaud, 150 baud becomes 38.4 Kbaud, and 600 baud becomes 115.2 Kbaud. To set 115.2 Kbaud you would use 'set baud -c1 600'. The 'set remote -a' command allows all COMM port to be polled simultaneously for user login requests. This command slows down the scheduler. The default and preferred method is 'set remote -l ????' (to poll a specific COMM port, at a time). This method offers less overhead. Also, other COMM port devices might be connected that could trigger fake logins during global polling (ie., modems, mice, or printers). Logins can be globally enabled/disabled with the 'set remote -x' command toggle. The default is logins enabled. The 'set remote -l' command controls the comm port where user logins are polled for (when 'set remote -a' is in effect and VMiX is polling all ports, this command has no effect). However, this command is always used to set the port that a VT session will use to connect to a remote VMiX host. The 'set remote -c' commands RELOCATES the operator console that the VM_BOOT program used during start-up to the remote channel specified. That means the old console device (where the initial task is always running) is disabled and relocated to the specified channel. You can use the 'assign process' command to move it back to the original console device (see TECHREF>DOC). Pressing <Ctrl><F>, followed by <Ctrl><Z> will also return the Root process back to the start-up console, but is not as clean as the 'assign' command. 10. On 8086 PCs or 286 ATs, if an EMS board is installed and an EMS manager is driver is present, VMiX can use EMS to reduce its low memory size by 32Kb. The 'EMS=????' command must be given at start-up, where ???? is the Hex Segment Address of the EMS area (i.e., VM_BOOT EMS=D000), 32Kb of contiguous space is required. On 386 ATs, VMiX automatically uses its own EMS emulator. 11. VMiX supports virtualized video in 386 mode. In 286 computers, you must start tasks on different video pages (see below). This eliminates bleed-through by applications that write directly to the screen. Tasks started with the 'dosjob -W' command, and all tasks started at a dumb terminal will execute with virtualized video segments, in 386 mode. The Shift-Tab hot key will bring a virtualized task's video to the foreground. VMiX now handles video mode swapping between graphics and text modes. The Shift-Tab hot-key will switch the console between tasks running in graphics modes and those running in text mode. The VW pull-down menus program (Process Menu) will allow new shells to be started in the video mode of your choice (and/or video page of choice in Text Mode). The same can be accomplished from the command line with: 'do -W /set video -m/rshell' (for mode select) or, 'do -W /set video -p/rshell' (for page select) Video mode switching will work in non-386 computers but the previous mode screen contents will not be saved. VW.EXE now asks for a video page or video mode when starting a new VMiX shell or DOS shell with FULL screen (use only page 0, when in 386 mode). It will also ask you if this is to be a REMOTE session and start a VT session if requested. VW will respond to the [Home] key by repainting the menu bar. On non- 386 computers, switching to tasks in different video pages or modes will sometimes not restore the VW menu bar on return to VW, so press [Home] to redisplay. 12. Channel 5 is now automatically assigned to LPT1 on boot-up. Try 'spawn -c5 type c:\autoexec.bat' to test LPT1. You could also test COM1 or COM2, for that matter, if you replace the 5, above, with a 1 or a 2. 13. Start-up Configuration Options The new command syntax is: VM_BOOT [8086] [286] [low] [high] [text] [ems=] [exclude=] [egacursor] [cgacursor] [ / [ command ] /... ] where (note abbreviated syntax), the '8086' option forces 8086 (real mode) operation on 80286/386/486 computers. the '286' option forces 80286 (real/protected mode) operation on 386/486 computers. The two commands above manually disable 80386 protected mode operations (useful for getting around compatibility problems, on certain computers). the 'lo' option inhibits the relocation of VMiX code/data to extended XMS memory. the 'hi' option forces the relocation of VMiX code/data to extended XMS memory, when using 8086 mode on a 80286/386/486. the 'text' option disables the loading of graphics fonts in 8086 mode to save usable memory. the 'ems=' option allows an EMS segment to be specified for VMiX own use. On 386 computers, this is not needed since VMiX automatically relocates data areas to its own EMS and XMS areas. However, VMiX could select the wrong EMS segment, after scanning for ROMs or RAM in upper memory, and crash. This option allows a safe upper memory segment to be manually selected (32Kb of unused size is required). (ems=ffff, disables VMiX own use of the upper memory EMS area.) the 'exc=' option allows the user to exclude a block of extended memory, starting after the first megabyte of conventional memory, by specifying a size in kilobytes to skip. This excluded area will not be touched by VMiX. The size specified is the number of 1Kb blocks to exclude. If VMiX detects a resident XMS memory manager like HIMEM.SYS, it will directly exclude memory that is already in use. the 'egacur' option corrects a video BIOS bug that fails to indicate that CGA cursor emulation is disabled. the 'cgacur' option corrects a video BIOS bug that fails to indicate that CGA cursor emulation is enabled. [ command ] any valid DOS or VMiX shell commands, separated by a '/' Note, some EGA/VGA's will display what appears to be a broken VMiX cursor when Shift-Tab is pressed to switch tasks. To correct this, start VMiX with the command line 'VM_BOOT egacur'. 14. The VW menu shell is NOW COMPLETE and greatly improved. We can now recommend VW for regular use. VW can be used to start other programs or to set VMiX options. VW is a multiple thread environment (like OS/2). 15. On systems with EGA/VGA, an additional 96Kb of DOS program space is now available (64Kb in monochrome mode). To toggle the additional program space ON/OFF, use the VMiX command 'set system -v'. The default is OFF, when VM_BOOT is executed. This option will allow large programs (566Kb maximum) to be executed with VMiX (the maximum without this option is about 470Kb). Even though VMiX uses extended memory in 286/386/486 ATs/PS2s, the user partition size is limited by the address space of DOS, which is now expandable to 736Kb. 16. I/O redirection is now fully implemented. Basically, if you start a process (with 'dosjob'), you can then use the utility DSTAT.EXE (use 'dstat -a' to see assigned channels only) and determine what channels are available to relocate your process to. Note that available channels are shown as belonging to process 0, the scheduler. You can also use 'assign' to create a new channel to a serial port (SRCSINK) or to a printer port (CHRSINK). Lastly, you use the 'assign process' syntax to assign a new channel to your executing process. The original channel of the process will remain available to restore the process back to its original I/O state (See TECHREF.DOC). Today VMiX is 100Kb of code and 40Kb of Kernel data. 75% Microsoft C and 25% MASM. VMiX is (C) Copyrighted 'try before you purchase software'. This gives us wide distribution for a low cost, thus keeping your purchase price also low. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you are ready to register your version, or require: pricing for support, programming interface documentation, the new full printed manual, the source code, site licensing, corporate pricing, or other information, please contact us. Enjoy exploring VMiX and thanks for supporting its development, ComSoft _______________________________________________________________ | | | SHIPPING LIST | | | | The VMiX 386 System consists of the 35 files described below. | | | | These files reside in the four self-extracting archives: | | | | VMIX???.EXE (Shareware distribution VERSION ???) | | VMIX386.EXE (Registered or Shareware, only for 386) | | Available from our BBS | | VMIXUTL.EXE (Registered Owners ONLY) | | FOR8086.EXE (Registered Owners ONLY) | | | | | | EXECUTABLE or OBJECT FILES | | | | - VM_BOOT.EXE - | | The VMiX start-up program. | | To start, type VM_BOOT from DOS's C> prompt and press | | <ENTER>. | | | | - DPATH.EXE - | | Utility executed by user to set the directory search PATH | | for data files (not usually needed, since VMiX now vir- | | tualizes the default directory of each task). | | | | Use DOS's 'PATH =' or 'SET PATH =' for executables. | | Use VMiX's 'DPATH =' or 'SET DPATH =' for data files. | | | | - DSTAT.EXE - | | Utility executed by user to view device and channel | | status. | | | | - LOADUP.EXE - | | Utility to load TSRs, from inside VMiX, to upper memory | | above 640Kb. | | | | - MONITOR.EXE - | | Debugging utility used to monitor process information, | | system memory and open files status. | | | | - OUTSIDE.EXE - | | DOS shell spawning utility for sysops running BBS | | software under VMiX. This utility can be used by a bbs | | caller to exit via the modem to a VMiX shell. | | The syntax is: | | outside.exe [-c ????] | | where ???? is the COMM port (default is COM1) | | | | - PS.EXE - | | Utility executed by user to view process status. | | | | - VT.EXE - | | Utility executed by user to start a remote session at a | | second, serialy connected, VMiX host. | | | | - VW.EXE - | | Utility executed by user to add a pull-down menus | | interface to the VMiX shell. | | | | - SYSGATE.OBJ - | | Link object file for accessing the VMiX API (Application | | Programming Interface). | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | SOURCE FILES DOCUMENTATION FILES | | | | DPATH.ASM DPATH.DOC | | LOADASM.ASM READ.ME | | SYSGATE.ASM VMiX.DOC (this file) | | VT.ASM REVISION.LOG (upgrade history) | | DSTAT.C TECHREF.DOC | | LOADUP.A | | LOADUP.C | | MONITOR.C | | OUTSIDE.C | | PS.C | | VW.C | | C_BIOS.H | | LOADUP.H | | $_CONFIG.H | | $_KERNEL.H | | $_MEM.H | | $_PROC.H | | IO_CHAN.H | | IO_IRP.H | | IO_OBJ.H | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | I N S T R U C T I O N S | | | | 1) BEFORE USING VMiX 386, you must copy | | the self-extracting archive from the | | Shipping Diskette to your system | | hard disk (or 1.2+ MBYTE floppy). | | | | NEVER use the Shipping Diskette to | | actually run VMiX 386. Use the | | copies that you have made from it | | and keep the Master Disk in a cool, | | secure place. | | | | STEP 1: Insert the Shipping Diskette in Drive A: | | | | STEP 2: Make a VMiX subdirectory in your hard disk. | | | | md \VMiX | | cd \VMiX | | | | | | STEP 3: Copy A:*.* to C:\VMiX | | | | STEP 4: Execute the archive to extract the files. | | | | STEP 5: Verify that the CONFIG.SYS file, in your | | boot directory, includes the following 2 | | lines and no DEVICE= lines that invoke an | | extended memory driver like 386MAX.SYS, | | QEMM.SYS, or SMARTDRV.SYS. | | | | BUFFERS = 15 (or more) | | FILES = 20 (or more) | | | | | | 2) TO EXECUTE THE VMiX 386 PROGRAM you | | will need MSDOS Version 3.10 or | | above, and 256Kb of memory. A color | | graphics card, VGA is recommended | | for the console display. | | | | If you have a Monochrome Adapter, | | VMiX will sense it. | | | | VMiX 386 does not need to operate in | | protected mode in all configurations. | | It will execute properly in PC's | | with 8088 processors. | | | | Start VMiX by typing: | | | | C> VM_BOOT <ENTER> | | | | After VMiX starts, typing a '?' will | | display all the available commands. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | TYPE: debug <ENTER> | | (note the prompt changes to - ) | | | | Next, try 'set' or 'exam' and VMiX | | VMiX will display how to complete | | the command. VMiX will prompt for | | most command line arguments, not | | included in the command line: | | | | TYPE: set video -m<ENTER> | | to see the video modes available, | | | | TYPE: set term -t<ENTER> | | to see the terminals supported. | | | | From the - prompt, type 'quit' to | | to return to the root shell. | | | | 3) TO START VMiX 386 WITH THE PULL-DOWN MENUS INTERFACE: | | | | Set the PATH for the VMiX utilities: | | | | C> PATH = C:\VMiX <ENTER> | | | | Start VMiX by typing: | | | | C> VM_BOOT VW <ENTER> | | | | When VMiX starts, the top screen line | | will display the available menus. | | Move to the desired menu by pressing | | right or left-arrow keys. Select a | | menu by pressing the down-arrow key, | | <ENTER>, or by typing the CAPITALIZED | | letter of the menu name. | | | | Select a menu option by first moving | | to the desired item with the down- | | arrow and press <ENTER> to execute | | the option. Exit from the VW utility | | or pull-down menu with the <Esc> key. | | | | Pull-down options that display an ->, | | indicate an additional pull-down, | | reachable by pressing <ENTER> or the | | right-arrow key. | | | | When using a NON VT-100 terminal to | | run VW.EXE, first use <Ctrl><F> to | | enable function key emulation, then | | <Ctrl><L> becomes right arrow, back- | | space becomes left-arrow, <Ctrl><J> | | and <Ctrl><K> will act as down and | | up-arrow. | |_______________________________________________________________| _______________________________________________________________ | | | Pressing the [Home] key, while in VW, | | will cause a repaint of the VW menu. | | | | | | MULTIUSER CABLING | | | | The RS232 cabling for COM1 and/or other user terminal/modem | | serial ports where you intend to have VMiX loggins should be | | constructed depending on whether the host PC will be connected| | to a dumb terminal or to another PC acting as a terminal. | | | | | | PIN PIN | | | | H 1 1 | | O | | S 2 -- - _ _ _ - -- 2 | | T -_ __ - - | | 3 __ _ - - - - _ __ 3 T | | S E | | e 4 4 R | | r M | | i --5 5 I | | a -| N | | l | --6 6 A | | | L | | P | 7 ------------------------- 7 | | o | Add the jumpers to | | r | --8 8 terminal side also, | | t -| if using a 2nd PC as | | --20 20 a terminal. | | | | | | | | | | See Part II, Using VMiX 386, for | | detailed instructions regarding the | | use of VMiX 386 commands and options. | |_______________________________________________________________| VMiX COMMAND LOOK-UP - QUICK REFERENCE |ROOT |DEBUG....................................| |LEVEL..|LEVEL..|LEVEL............................| | 0 | 1 | 2 | |_______._______._________________________________| | . . | |[debug]. . | | |set . | | . |baud | | . . -c " sets COMM port: chan, | | . . baud, parity, word, stop"| | . |dos | | . . -f " toggles DOS process file | | . . inherit ON/OFF" | | . . -n " sets DOS INT21 function | | . . maximum nesting level" | | . . -p " sets DOS current process | | . . PSP: nuPSP(seg)" | | . . -s " sets DOS virtual size: | | . . (4Kb blocks)" | | . |font | | . . -t " sets font type (0 - 3)" | | . |pool | | . . -a " adjusts program memory: | | . . MCB(seg), nusize(para)" | | . . -m " sets program partition | | . . size (0 - 1024Kb)" | | . . -o " sets program memory | | . . owner: MCB(seg), | | . . nuPSP(seg)" | | . |process | | . . -b " sets shell buffer size | | . . (0 - 127)" | | . . -e " toggles environment | | . . protection ON/OFF" | | . . -h " toggles hardware | | . . priviledge ON/OFF" | | . . -s " toggles system | | . . priviledge ON/OFF" | | . . -w " sets preemption I/O wait | | . . cycles" | | . |remote | | . . -a " toggles polling of all | | . . channels ON/OFF" | | . . -c " sets remote console | | . . channel" | | . . -i " toggles fast RS232 | | . . ON/OFF" | | . . -l " sets terminal login | | . . channel" | | . . -x " toggles terminal logins | | . . ON/OFF" | | . |system | | . . -c " toggles cursor emulation | | . . ON/OFF | | . . -d " sets duration of task | | . . slice: tickcnt - 1" | | . . -m " toggles operator | | . . messages ON/OFF" | | . . -s " toggles swapper ON/OFF | | . . -t " toggles scheduler ON/OFF | | . . -v " toggles maximum DOS size | | . . ON/OFF" | | . . -w " sets shutdown wait delay:| | . . seconds" | | . |terminal | | . . -t " sets terminal type (0-9) | | . |video | | . . -c " sets video bg/fg colors" | | . . -C " sets window bg/fg colors"| | . . -m " sets video mode (0 - 18)"| | . . -p " sets vide0 page (0 - 3)" | | . . -s " toggles status display | | . . ON/OFF" | | . . -w " sets window size: | | . . row0, col0, row1, col1" | | . . -W " auto partitions task | | . . windows (Shift-Tab moves | | . . kbd between windows)" | | |init | | . |comm | | . . -c " sets COMM port: chan, | | . . baud, parity, word, stop"| | . |print | | . . -p " inits parallel port:chan"| | |examine | | . |mcb | | . |memory | | . . " : seg[:offset] [= byte]" | | . |status | | |assign | | . " : process id, obj type, channel" | | . |gdt | | |deassign | | . " : channel" | | . |gdt | | . |memory | | |quit | |rshell | |remote | | -a " toggles global polling ON/OFF" | | -c " sets remote console channel" | | -i " toggles fast RS232 ON/OFF" | | -l " sets terminal login channel" | | -x " toggles terminal logins ON/OFF" | |swap | | " : process id" | |chprio | | " : process id, new priority" | |[exec] | | -a " adjusts program memory: MCB(seg), | | nusize(para)" | | -m " sets program partition size (0 - 1024Kb)"| | -o " sets program memory owner: MCB(seg), | | nuPSP(seg)" | | |path " utility displays/sets | | . program file search path"| | |dpath[.exe] " utility displays/sets | | . data file search path" | | . -v " sets verbose mode (default)" | | . -q " sets quiet mode" | | . -r " allows data read only" | | . -w " allows data read/write (default)"| | . -h " help" | | |dstat[.exe] " utility displays all | | . VMiX objects/channels" | | . -a " selects only assigned objects" | | . -r " selects only free objects" | | |loadup.[exe] " VMiX loadhi utility to | | . place TSRs above 640Kb" | | . [/seg=] " forces load to specified | | . segment" | | . [/size=] " specifies size for upper | | . memory block in Kbytes" | | . [/help] " displays help" | | . " : filespec" | | |monitor[.exe] " utility monitors process | | . or system: process id" | | . -f " monitors all open files" | | . -m " displays 1 megabyte memory map" | | . -p " displays VMiX memory pool info" | | . -r " monitors process registers and | | . system memory: process id" | | |ps[.exe] " utility displays all | | . processes status" | | |vt[.exe] " utility to login to a | | . remote VMiX host" | | |vw[.exe] " VMiX pull-down menus | | . utility" | | . -i " interactive keyboard mode" | | " : MSDOS command" | |dosjob | | " : MSDOS command or / VMiX command" | | [-W] " gives process the full screen: MSDOS | | command or / VMiX command" | |spawn | | -c " sets channel for STDIO and executes | | command line" | |kill | | " : process id" | |quit | |_________________________________________________| : indicates command parameters [ ] indicates optional VMiX TERMINAL - IBM FUNCTION KEY EMULATION _________________________________________________ | | | Press ^F (1 beep) PC Keyboard emulation ON | | Press ^F again (2 beeps) emulation OFF | | | | | | for press | | | | IBM PC KEY TERMINAL KEY | | | | [F1] 1 | | [F2] 2 | | [F3] 3 | | [F4] 4 | | [F5] 5 | | [F6] 6 | | [F7] 7 | | [F8] 8 | | [F9] 9 | | [F10] 10 | | | | <Ctrl>[Break] ^C | | <Ctrl>[NumLock] ^S | | <Ctrl>[F3] ~ | | [PgUp] + | | [PgDn] - | | [Ins] ^I | | [Del] ^D | | [End] ^E | | [UP] ^J see note| | [DOWN] ^K see note| | [LEFT] ^H see note| | [RIGHT] ^L see note| | [Home] [Home] | | <Alt> <Shift> | | | | | | | | NOTE: The <Ctrl> key symbol for the terminal | | keyboard has been abbreviated as ^ | | | | ^F (1 beep) enables the Keypad ARROWS to work | | directly, when in VT-100 terminal emulation. | |_________________________________________________|