I HAVE A DOS PROGRAM THAT I WOULD LIKE TO RUN ON A LAPTOP RUNNING ON XP.THE DOS PROGRAM WILL ONLY RUN ON WINDOWS 98,AT BEST. THIS PROGRAM IS USED TO COMMUNICATE WITH AN OLD PHONE SYSTEM (TELRAD).I TRIED TO USE AN EMULATOR CALLED DOSBOX BUT THE INFO FOR USE IS NOT EASY TO UNDERSTAND.(IT MIGHT BE EASIER TO UNDERSTAND IF I WERE A SOFTWARE PROGRAMER)ANY IDEAS?
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HOW TO RUN A DOS BASED PROGRAM ON WINDOWS XP
- Thread starter LAMA456
- Start date
tootiredtocare
Technical User
Unfortunately you have not explained how this program communicates to the old phone system. I'm guessing it does so via the parallel or serial port as DOS did not support USB
Have you tried booting into DOS from a virtual PC ? Have you thought about booting to a USB memory stick with DOS on it ?
Have you tried booting into DOS from a virtual PC ? Have you thought about booting to a USB memory stick with DOS on it ?
rclarke250
Technical User
I agree with Tired, you should use a bootable cd or thumb drive, that has dos and the program in question on it. Set up a bat file to start the program from the dos prompt, so you don't have to manually change directories, and start the program. Remember if you use a thumb drive, you will have to most likely partition the drive for use with a dos partition, FAT 16, not NTFS or FAT 32, and you are limited to a 2 GB partition size, so a CD which is only 700 MB is an easier way to set this up.
tootiredtocare
Technical User
Only problem with the CD suggestion is that if this program needs to write back, it won't be able to do so to a CD.
Another suggestion, and I know I'm going old, old, old, old school here, but, depending on the size of the app and since it's a DOS app, you could boot off a floppy disk.
Another suggestion, and I know I'm going old, old, old, old school here, but, depending on the size of the app and since it's a DOS app, you could boot off a floppy disk.
misseditbythatmuch
Technical User
I have been told, but have not tried first hand, that DOSBOX will work with IMAGEN/APPGEN / IVM app generator software, which maybe what you are using to program attributes to the Telrad.
I realize the supplied DOSBOX instructions are written with a technical audience in mind, as you stated in your post.
However, have you looked at some basic tutorials, like this;
In addition to the other suggestions, I do encourage you to try DOSBOX again once you look at some basic tutorials and give it another try.
I realize the supplied DOSBOX instructions are written with a technical audience in mind, as you stated in your post.
However, have you looked at some basic tutorials, like this;
In addition to the other suggestions, I do encourage you to try DOSBOX again once you look at some basic tutorials and give it another try.
- Thread starter
- #6
I'm a lifelong telephone tech and I keep around an old Win98 laptop for occasions like this. Still a lot of old equipment running that requires DOS to communicate and/or program.
Brian Cox
Georgia Telephone
Brian Cox
Georgia Telephone
- Status