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X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 1) WHAT IS X-DOS 1.0 DISK OPERATING SYSTEM X-DOS is a kernel of a DOS 3.3 compatible system. If you know a little bit about DOS, you may know that MS-DOS and PC-DOS have in the root directory of the bootable partition 2 files that must be the first ones named IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS or IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM for the IBM implementation. These two files constitute the kernel of your DOS. Any software uses the services of the kernel to access the disk, the keyboard, the screen (in some cases), the memory, to load and unload programs ... X-DOS has the same effect as these 2 files but everything is contained in one file only. Any application that is using the original MS-DOS kernel will work the same way if using X-DOS. X-DOS replaces thus the kernel files of MS-DOS or PC-DOS but no applications running on DOS will see the difference. X-DOS is not a replacement for the MS-DOS package. It only replaces the kernel, not the utilities. All the utilities will work under X-DOS with only a few exceptions. How compatible X-DOS is compared to the original MS-DOS or PC-DOS ?. The target for X-DOS was to be compatible with the DOS 3.3 standard. While designing specifications, it was found that some features of DOS 3.3 were mainly implemented for IBM, like the code page support. The code page support is not implemented in X-DOS. However, there is a hardwired US code page to please applications like MS-WORD which needs it. But you cannot load a code page table in X-DOS. X-DOS supports NOVELL network but does not support yet MS-NET calls. Since Microsoft never released specifications on the internal hooks of MS-NET within DOS, we had no way of implementing them. So the SHARE command of MS-DOS will not work with X-DOS. X-DOS does not support the IFS system available in MS-DOS. If you are using a CD-ROM drive, X-DOS will not be able to use it. FASTOPEN was not implemented since it is a dangerous command. However X-DOS supports a CACHE utility built-in. SUBST and JOIN of MS-DOS or PC-DOS cannot be used with X-DOS. If you wish to use those features with X-DOS you will need to run the external tools XSUBST and XJOIN that come along with X-DOS. The reason for this slight incompatibility is that we Page 1 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation were not sure how MSDOS did it. It seemed to us that the MS- DOS kernel was calling routines in the resident portions of these utilities. We preferred to write our own SUBST and JOIN commands instead of trying to be compatible with these MSDOS commands. We tried X-DOS 1.0 with a large variety of software and to name but a few, X-DOS is compatible with : WINDOWS 3.0 QUATTRO PRO DBASE IV LOTUS 1.2.3 VENTURA PUBLISHER SIDEKICK ... Page 2 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 2) THE X-DOS PRODUCT X-DOS comes in 2 versions : - The Shareware version - The Advanced version 2.1 The Shareware version. The Shareware version of X-DOS is the one you have right now. It can be downloaded from most major BBSs in the world. X-DOS is not a public domain program. You can try X-DOS for 21 days and decide yourself if it is useful for you or not. Take a look at the chapter on "How to use X-DOS" to know more about it. If after 21 days, you still wish to use X-DOS, you must register by sending US$50 to HBS Corp. The registration will give you support on X-DOS and you will receive our News Letter. See the Registration Form in the file REGISTER.FRM. We will appreciate it if users of X-DOS register. It will help us to improve X-DOS and come up with a complete Disk Operating System. 2.2 The Advanced version All the functions of the advanced version are implemented in the shareware version but the advanced version provides the complete source code of X-DOS. The advanced version comes with a 150 page manual describing all the X-DOS interrupts, the DOS data tables and explains how DOS functions from the boot process up to the activation of the command processor. Although X-DOS is different from MS-DOS in its architecture, all the features are implemented. The Advanced version of X-DOS is supplied on 4x360K diskettes. The kernel source code is 30,000 lines of compact assembly code. X-DOS Advanced is also supplied with all the source code for the other modules and commands available with X-DOS (Boot sector, Sys program, xsubst and xjoin commands ...) X-DOS comes with its batch and make file to generate the complete kernel. The Advanced version retails for US$200. If you are interested in the Advanced version and decide to buy it, you Page 3 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation do not need to register for the SHAREWARE version. See the ORDERAD.FRM to order the Advanced version of X-DOS. Page 4 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 3) HOW YOU CAN USE X-DOS X-DOS is a total replacement for the MS-DOS system files. So, if you install X-DOS on your machine to replace the system files supplied by MS-DOS, your applications will not feel the difference. You can take advantage of X-DOS in 3 ways : 3.1 By using the functions implemented in X-DOS that do not exist in MS-DOS such as : - The built-in Cache utility - The video accelerator - The access to disk partitions above 32 Mb - The utilization of extended or expanded memory to store Disk Buffers - The enhanced command line editing features ... 3.2 The second reason why you may want to use X-DOS is if you have to distribute self boot demos but do not wish to buy MS- DOS for every copy of shipped diskette. Since X-DOS can replace the system file of MS-DOS, you can develop your demo on your MS-DOS machine, then transfer it to a X-DOS bootable diskette and have X-DOS start your demo program instead of the command processor. See more about this in the following chapters. 3.3 If you decide to buy the Advanced version, you can modify the kernel of your DOS to fit your own needs. You can use the source code to understand more about all the undocumented features of DOS. X-DOS can help you to write safer and more efficient programs and let you know how DOS reacts to TSR's or how DOS optimizes the Disk File Read/Write operations. If you wish to write an embedded system to put on to your computer but do not wish a complete DOS, or do not wish to buy a license from Microsoft, you can use X-DOS instead. Page 5 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 4) A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SHAREWARE VERSION OF X-DOS The shareware version of X-DOS contains the following files - X-DOS.SYS : This is the kernel of X-DOS. It replaces the system files of MS-DOS : IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS. The X-DOS kernel comes in one system file instead of the two in MS-DOS. This makes it possible to make the boot process and the sysinit much simpler and smarter as you will see later. - XSYS.COM : This utility is the equivalent of the MS-DOS SYS.COM command. It transfers the X-DOS kernel to the destination drive and makes it bootable. - XSUBST.COM : This module replaces the SUBST.COM command from MS-DOS. The MS-DOS command SUBST could not work with X- DOS because it is too much dependent on the structure of the MS-DOS system files. So X-DOS comes with its own SUBST command. The format and functionalities are exactly the same as in MS-DOS. - XJOIN.COM : This command replaces the JOIN.COM command from MS-DOS. The reasons for that are as for SUBST above. Page 6 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 5) MAKE AN X-DOS BOOTABLE DISKETTE You need to remember first that X-DOS comes with its own boot record. You cannot use the boot record of MS-DOS to boot X- DOS. The MS-DOS boot record only knows its own system files. We supply a boot record that recognizes a partition where X- DOS is installed. First, have a diskette formatted with the MS-DOS utility FORMAT. The density of the diskette does not matter. It can be 360K to 1.44Mb , X-DOS recognizes them all. Then make sure that in your current working directory, you have a copy of the X-DOS.SYS module. Use the XSYS command with the following syntax: XSYS A: (or B:) This will copy the X-DOS.SYS file to the A: (or B:) drive and will update the boot record to recognize X-DOS. Now copy the command processor you are using with MS-DOS to the destination diskette. It will normally be COMMAND.COM but you may be running an alternative. If you are currently running MS-DOS 3.3, the internal version of X-DOS will match your command processor's version. If you are running another version of MS-DOS (3.2 or 4.x) you will first need to change the version number in X-DOS. To do this, put the statement VERSION=3.2 or VERSION=4.0 (depending on the DOS version you are using) in the CONFIG.SYS file on the drive where X-DOS will be installed. Remember that X-DOS is only compatible with MS-DOS 3.3. Some programs that are very much version sensitive will not work well with X-DOS if you change its version number (WINDOWS 3.0 for instance). The safest way is to get a copy of MS-DOS 3.3 and use its utilities. Now, try to reset your computer but leave the X-DOS diskette in the A: drive. After a few seconds, it should boot and you'll see the X-DOS copyright message and your prompt. If it does not work, try to repeat it once more and watch each step carefully. So now you have X-DOS running. You can access your hard disk and run your applications normally. Page 7 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 6) TRANSFER X-DOS TO A HARD DISK You can install X-DOS onto a hard disk previously formatted with MS-DOS 3.3. If you are currently using MS-DOS 4.0, make sure that your bootable partition is below 32 Mb. If your bootable partition is a DOS 4.0 partition above 32Mb, X-DOS will not boot correctly. Although X-DOS can access partitions above 32 Mb, it can only recognize SpeedStor and DiskManager partitions. You may be a little nervous about using X-DOS on your hard disk instead of the traditional MS-DOS kernel. Before you decide whether or not to do it, let us recall a few important points about X-DOS : - X-DOS supports all the DOS CONFIG.SYS statements. So your current CONFIG.SYS will not have to be changed to use X-DOS. - X-DOS supports all the MS-DOS utilities or supplies its own instead. The only exception made is for FASTOPEN and SHARE. If you have one of those in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, remove them from your batch file since X-DOS cannot use them. They may hang your machine. - X-DOS recognizes all partitions formatted by MS-DOS 3.3 and the ones made with SpeedStor or DiskManager. If you have an external disk driver in your CONFIG.SYS to access those partition(s), you should remove it. Otherwise, you may have duplicated partition declarations. - When you transfer X-DOS onto your hard disk, the MS-DOS System files are not deleted or moved. X-DOS can be loaded even if X-DOS.SYS is not the first file of the media. If you wish later to reinstall MS-DOS it will be very easy (see next paragraph). To install X-DOS on your hard disk drive, proceed this way : - First make an MS-DOS bootable diskette ... in case ! - From your X-DOS directory type XSYS C: - When the transfer is finished reboot your computer. The X-DOS prompt should appear and your command processor will display the prompt. To reinstall MS-DOS on your disk is simple. You simply have to run the MS-DOS SYS command from the C drive to refresh the MS-DOS boot record that recognizes the MS-DOS system files again. Then reboot your machine. Page 8 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation To make a demo diskette, make a bootable diskette with X-DOS on it. Then, using your favorite editor, create a file called CONFIG.SYS and type in the following statement : SHELL = MYDEMO.COM or SHELL = MYDEMO.EXE You may add parameters to the command line. They will be treated the same way as if typed from the keyboard. Batch files cannot be used at this level. Your demo needs to be an executable file. Page 9 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 7) X-DOS CONFIG.SYS STATEMENTS X-DOS fully supports the MS-DOS statements in the CONFIG.SYS. Most of the X-DOS CONFIG.SYS statements work like MS-DOS. We will comment on a few differences and important points to remember. 7.1 Disk Buffers The BUFFER statement can accept the /E and /A statement to relocate the buffers in extended or expanded memory. In MS- DOS 3.3 you can only declare buffers in conventional memory. X-DOS can put buffers in Extended memory or Expanded memory. However the X-DOS implementation is different from MS-DOS 4.x. MS-DOS 4.x can put buffers in expanded memory. It maintains special disk buffer descriptors to locate the disk buffer in expanded memory. X-DOS maintains 2 lists of disk buffers. The first one describes the buffers in conventional memory. The second one describes the buffers in expanded or extended memory. The format of both tables is the same, but they have different addresses and are not related to one another. X-DOS will leave at least 5 buffers in lower memory for fast access and buffer swapping. If you are running "Buffer Extender" software like the one available in the DESQVIEW environment, we suggest that you do not use this facility provided by X-DOS. 7.2 X-DOS Version The VERSION statement is convenient if you wish to change the X-DOS version number at boot time. Just type VERSION=3.2 to change X-DOS into a 3.2 DOS. By default, the X-DOS version number is set to 3.3. If you are using a MS-DOS 4.x command processor with X-DOS, you will need to change the version number to 4.0 or 4.01, otherwise the MS-DOS command processor will not load and the system will be left hanging. 7.3 The Cache X-DOS supports a CACHE statement. The cache program is part of X-DOS. SYSINIT initializes the cache module and determines what physical disk should be cached, how much memory should be used for the CACHE and where to get this memory. Page 10 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation The CACHE statement in the CONFIG.SYS file can have the following format : CACHE=/D0/M1024/X : Disk 0 , 1Mb in extended memory CACHE=/D1/M1024/A : Disk 1 , 1Mb in expanded memory CACHE=/D0/M64 : Disk 0 , 64K in conventional memory 7.4 The History The HISTORY statement tells X-DOS how much memory to keep for recalling command line data in the interrupt 21H service 0AH. It is a circular buffer where all input through the service 0AH is recorded. The format can be HISTORY=1024 to allocate 1024 bytes to the HISTORY buffer. The default is set to 256 bytes 7.5 The Fkey The FKEY statement tells X-DOS to perform, or not to perform, translation of the function key. With X-DOS and the FKEY statement on (the default) pressing the key F6 with the Shift pressed will result in a string ^SPF6 and a carriage return in the input buffer. That string can be processed later by some ALIAS program. You can disable this function by issuing the statement FKEY=OFF. The command line function keys in X-DOS are not compatible with DOS. Only the F3 repeat command was kept. X-DOS can use the arrow keys Up and Down to recall past commands that have been stored in the HISTORY buffer. The HOME and END key move to the beginning and to the end of the command line. 7.6 The Video Accelerator The VIDEO statement can be turned ON and then X-DOS will speed the output to the screen by desynchronising the cursor positioning and the video output. The default is OFF. Activate the video accelerator with the statement VIDEO=ON. 7.7 The ECHO The ECHO statement will output the line of the CONFIG.SYS being processed on the screen. This should help you to debug some problems at boot time if the system hangs before the COMMAND.COM is loaded. Put the command ECHO=ON to turn on this option and ECHO=OFF to turn it off. 7.8 The REM Page 11 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation Finally, X-DOS accepts the REM and : statement as in the batch files to disregard a line. 8 X-DOS SUMMARY OF INCOMPATIBILITIES This section gives you an idea of the things that work differently from MS-DOS. Some features have been enhanced but sometimes create incompatibilities. 8.1 Network X-DOS is incompatible with network programs like MS-NET. However NOVELL's NETWARE works fine. 8.2 Code Page X-DOS does not support function calls that change or load a code page into DOS. However there is a default code page (the US one) and applications can read it. 8.3 Disk structure Although X-DOS supports big partitions, we used a scheme similar to the one used by SpeedStor and DiskManager and not the one used by MS-DOS 4.x. 8.4 The DOS command line The X-DOS command line function 0AH has been greatly improved over the existing MS-DOS but the function keys have no function except for the F3 which is similar to DOS. All the other ones return a string that can be used for alias routines. 8.5 Disk Buffers Although X-DOS support disk buffers in Expanded memory, the scheme used is different than in MS-DOS 4.x. If you are running programs that are 'buffer extenders' like some of the DESQVIEW functions, we recommend that you do not use the options /E or /A when you configure the BUFFERS statement in CONFIG.SYS. 8.6 Installable File System The IFS is not supported in X-DOS. As a result you will not be able to run CD-ROM and similar devices. 8.7 MS-DOS Utilities Incompatibilities Page 12 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation SUBST, JOIN, ASSIGN of MS-DOS will not work with X-DOS. You normally should not need the ASSIGN command since it is obsolete now. But you may need the other two. We have provided them with X-DOS with the names XSUBST and XJOIN. 8.8 Program Incompatibilities Although we have done a very extensive beta testing on many different machines and by using a large amount of software, it may happen that some problems still occur when using X- DOS. We are aware of some problems which we are currently investigating : Under WINDOWS 3.0 from Microsoft, X-DOS hangs when WINDOWS tries to go to the DOS prompt when you are using the protected mode. X-DOS does not work with the GEOS Ensemble correctly if you are running it from a 386 computer. X-DOS does not run with DOUBLE DOS from Softlogic. The implementation of Double Dos is so dependent on the MS-DOS code that we could not change our code to make it work. DOUBLE DOS changes the code in MS-DOS that redispatch the INT 21H to each sub function, and replaces it by an INT F4H. For this they use a harwired address in MS-DOS which points somewhere else in X-DOS. 8.9 MS-DOS Interrupt Services not Implemented in X-DOS X-DOS is very compatible with major MS-DOS applications. There are however services that we have not implemented in X- DOS because of lack of information on them or because they seemed irrelevant for the compatibility with MS-DOS. Here is a list of those services : - INT 21H service 58H : GET/SET THE MEMORY ALLOCATION STRATEGY - INT 21H service 5CH : LOCK/UNLOCK FILE ACCESS - INT 21H service 5DH : SERVER FUNCTION CALLS - INT 21H service 6602H : SET GLOBAL CODE PAGE TABLE - INT 21H service 67H : SET HANDLE COUNT - INT 21H service 68H : COMMIT FILE, WRITE ALL BUFFERED DATA TO DISK Page 13 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 9 THE X-DOS FUTURE We will improve the current X-DOS version and correct all the bugs that we can find. Some problems of compatibility may be hard to reproduce because we cannot possibly try all types of computers and the software commercially available. It will depend on the X-DOS users to help us make X-DOS as compatible as possible by reporting to us problems or suggestions. X-DOS is a very new product and a complex one. We made the first version of X-DOS as good as we possibly could. A lot of things can be improved in X-DOS and we are aware of it. If the public has a positive attitude to X-DOS, and by registering can help us, we will improve X-DOS and in turn help the public. We are already investigating MS-DOS 5.0 and DR-DOS 5.0 and will match their specifications by mid 1991. We will then release a X-DOS 2.0 version. This version will also be available with source code for those who need it. Page 14 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 10 HOW TO CONTACT HBS CORP HBS is currently an Asian company but we have a branch office in the United States. If you wish to contact us to register and/or have questions or suggestions, you can mail to us in the United States, or Fax us in Asia. We will answer all questions and send our News Letter to all our registered users. HBS Corp (USA branch) C/O Mr Edwin J. Noonan 505 So. GRANT Denver, Colorado, 80209, USA HBS Corp (Asian Headquarters) 11F-10, No 87, Chung Hsiao East Road, Section 4 Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C Tel (886) 2 731-2330 Fax (886) 2 731-9893 Page 15 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 11 WARRANTY NOTICE 11.1 Copy Protection X-DOS is a shareware product. It is not public domain. You can use X-DOS for 21 days. After which you must register with HBS Corp. If you wish to continue to use X-DOS. Copies of X- DOS may be given to other parties as long as all the files are included. 11.2 Disclaimer HBS corp. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents or use of X-DOS and its manual, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. HBS Corp. reserves the right to make changes to its content, at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes. In no event shall HBS Corp. be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other peculiary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use X-DOS, even if HBS Corp. has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Page 16 X-DOS 1.0 Documentation 12 TRADEMARKS The following are registered trademarks of the listed companies: X-DOS HBS Corp MS-DOS Microsoft Corp MS-WORKS Microsoft Corp MASM Microsoft Corp MS-NET Microsoft Corp WINDOWS 3.0 Microsoft Corp PC-DOS IBM Corp Sidekick Borland International Corp QUATTRO PRO Borland International Corp TASM Borland International Corp NOVELL Netware NOVELL Corp VENTURA PUBLISHER XEROX Corporation DBASE IV ASHTON TATE Corp LOTUS 1.2.3 LOTUS DEVELOPMENT Corp DISK MANAGER Ontrack Computer System Inc. SPEEDSTOR Storage Dimensions NORTON UTILITIES Symantec Corp BRIEF Underware Inc RM-COBOL Micro Focus Corp DOUBLEDOS Softlogic Corp GEOWORKS GEOS Corp Page 17