Running FPD 2.6 on a modern PC 2

[Mike Lewis]

My client has several apps written in Foxpro 2.6 for DOS. They are gradually converting them to VFP, but some of them will have to run in FPD for another couple of years.

The client needs to replace their PCs with new machines, and they are worried that these old apps will no longer run. I've seen many posts and some FAQs in this forum about running Foxpro for Windows on fast processers (such as divide by zero errors), but nothing speficially about Foxpro for DOS.

Does anyone know of any specific problems they are likely to encounter?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[rob444]

There is the issue of running FPD full screen on windows XP.
But all the problems can be solved by the correct settings of the desktop link to those programs.
(screen tab -> select full screen;
screen tab -> fast ROM emulation selected
screen tab -> dynamic memory.. selected
memory tab -> conventional memory automatic
memory tab -> expanded memory none
memory tab -> extended memory none uses HMA selected
memory tab -> memory for MS DOS DPMI automatic

These settings make the running of FPD programs and the FPD IDE possible without problems (provided you applied the speedpatch.

FPD programs might absorb too much of the systems resources, look at tamedos to solve that.
Also there are enough solutions to have FPD programs print to modern usb deskjets etc.
Just do a search in this forum Mike.

Rob.

 

[rob444]

Mike, some more specific info on things I mentioned in the previous posting.

Patches:
In case you still need to do the recommended patches, one place to find both DZPatch (first choice) and Patch26 is

http://www.davesummers.net/foxprolinks.htm

TameDos:
I'm not seeing any difference running FP 2.0, FPD 2.5b or FPD 2.6a under SP2 compared to XP or XP SP1. In all cases they can "hang" unless you use TameDOS (

http://www.tamedos.com/)

or DOSIdle - free if you can find it.

USB printing:
I have found this PrintFile available as free download in the following link... working excellent.

http://www.lerup.com/printfile/

Read the readMe file provided with that. YOu can set the command line options.. to use that as an automatic print spooler. Any file put in the specified spooler directory will be picked up and printed by the PrintFile.
So what I did, is to check for a Variable in my programme and use the spooler if opted... example...

IF lUsePfile
myTxt = "C:\mySpoolDir\"+sys(3)+".txt"
REPORT FORM myReport NOEJECT TO FILE (myTxt)
ELSE
REPORT FORM myReport NOEJECT TO PRINT
ENDIF

PrintFile will print the text file and then delete it as well.

In the above example I setup the spooler to take the default as .txt.... while its default is .ps

You can manipulate all these suitably. You can even print in Landscape with two pages in a single A4.


THE ADVANTAGE IS THAT YOU CAN START USING USB PRINTERS AND 'WINDOWS PRINTERS' IN FOXPRO DOS.

 

[rob444]

Depending on the number of files being used it you might have to add a files=xxx statement to the config.nt file in order not to run out on filehandles...

You also might wanna have a look at these threads:

Thread182-238213

Thread182-229574

Thread182-223509

Thread182-227881

Thread182-197069

Thread182-220714

That's about all you could encounter on this subject...

Rob.

 

[alvechurchdata]

Thanks for the tips Rob. I'm nursing a couple of FP DOS systems until their users can find enough budget for a rewrite (4 years and still waiting<g>). They're both running OK but I've printed out all your posts and I'll see if I've missed any next time I'm on site.

Your advice would make a really good FAQ.

Geoff Franklin

http://www.alvechurchdata.co.uk

 

[Mike Lewis]

Rob,

Thanks a lot for those leads. I'll investigate them further today.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[rob444]

I've written a FAQ on the subject.

It is more complete than this thread.

faq182-6380

Rob.

 

[JLWG]

Hi Mike,

Just one additional note related to one of the FPD SETTINGS that rob444 outlined above:
screen tab -> select full screen.
A disadvantage of this is that you can't access any other apps. while in Full-Screen mode.

My 17" desktop screen is set at the normal 1024x768.
I prefer to use the FPD (Screen-tab) Usage : Window.
Then with FPD open, right-click on its top banner;
Select Properties
Select Font
Select 10x18

The size of the resulting window is decent and should satisfy most users, while also providing access to other applications.
OK?

 

[Mike Lewis]

JLWG,

Thanks for that tip. I recall running DOS apps in full-screen mode myself at one time. The inability to switch to other apps is not likely to be a disadvantage.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[rob444]

There is no inability to access other apps while running DOS apps in full screen mode.

When in full-screen mode use the key combination Crtl Esc and see, all your apps are available...

Rob.

 

[JLWG]

Hi Rob,

Thanks kilos ... a valuable hint.
Not to detract in any way - honestly - but the Crtl-Esc action minimizes FPD in the tool tray, removing it from view. Having FPD still visible in a window is an advantage while accessing relevant data in other Windows apps.

Cheers,

Jack in North Vancouver BC

 

[JLWG]

Hi again, Rob and Mike,

Oops, I notice that I omitted this 2nd half of my hint.
With FPD open in WINDOW mode (not full-screen)
Right-click on its top banner
Select Properties
Select Font
Select TT Lucida Console (instead of Raster Fonts)
Select any point-size from 5-to-72 to suit user screen size and preference.

Cheers,

Jack

 

[rob444]

If you want the foxpro app to appear as a window:

If you used the Ctrl-Esc keys (or the windows key on the keyboard) right mouse click on the foxpro link in the task bar select properties and select window instead of full screen...

Rob.

 

[ramani]

Mike,

I have not taken the pain to go thru the links provided. However, this could also help you..

1) WinMe - Setup to solve Too Many Files Open Error (note you cannot mention more than 225 files in the setting)
faq182-608

2) WinXP.. the config.nt at system32 directory or wild search for Config.nt from the users root directory to look into all sub directories. I have noticed sometimes, xp uses the config.nt at a specified users place as per the policy or user preference set. This will help to tweak the too many files error.

3) In some windows systems, printing from DOS gets delayed or does not eject the print out easily. There is a FAQ on this subject posted by me long time back. (Speeding up

Though I do have many clients refusing to upgrade and continuing to use the old DOS based application generated way back in early 1990s.. they all work so far without problem, else they would have upgraded.

4) The problem you could face at times, is the use of windows printers (when they buy new ones) and if the compressed printing etc.. such issues do crop up. But uers resort to buying the Epson type printers with front panel switches for changing the font or compressed or whatever.
In my case I did develop a printer setup utility using which all my printouts gets processed smmothly.

Look into
How to make Printer Outputs start quicker ? faq182-785
also.

Good to know I am not the only one servicing clients with DOS applications.



____________________________________________
ramani - (Subramanian.G)

http://winnersoft.coolfreepages.com/

 

[JLWG]

Hi Rob,

I wonder if you can help me with another concern re FPD under WinXP.
Oddly enough FPD runs flawlessly under WinXP on my laptop, but creates a serious system hangup after being open for hours along with a few other Office apps. like Outlook, Access, etc.

I get no error messages, but opening an additional app. takes well over a minute, then system even resists shutdown or restart.

It appears that my system resources gradully get sapped, but I can't gauge this.

System is ACER with 1G RAM.

Any ideas?

Jack

 

[JLWG]

Hi Rob,
Oops, I pressed SUBMIT prematurely above.
I had found this info below in your FAQ ... would this be your response?
Jack

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Problem 2:
The FPD DOS application seems to freeze or uses way too much system resources

Solution :
FP 2.0, FPD 2.5b or FPD 2.6a all run fine under XP SP2 (and XP and XP SP1) using TameDos or DOSIdle.

http://www.tamedos.com/

TameDos is the best solution for the problem
DOSIdle - (free)

http://www.softlookup.com/download.asp?ID=9198

DOSIdle slows down the CPU usage when a dos application is about idle, this does not stop the almost 99% cpu usage when the dos application isn't idle.

 

[rob444]

Hi JLWG,

Yes you've found the correct answer to your question in the FAQ

Rob.

 

[tilltek]

To toggle between windowed and full screen, isn't [Alt]+[Enter] the combination to use?
Works for me.
Ken F

 

[JLWG]

Hi Rob,

RE :

http://www.tamedos.com/

Many thanks. Installed TameDOS on 3 PC's under WinXP and so far so good. No memory/resource issues, systems run great.

Just a note : a pre-release version of TameDOS "Tame Version 5.1" seemed to be a bit unstable, so I uninstalled and replaced with version 5.

Hi Ken F,

Under TameDOS there is no sizing issue, as FoxProDOS will run similar to a Windows app. Sizing is accessible with mouse and corner-grabbing, plus upper-right corner option.

Jack

 

[cricket]

I notice increased problems above 512MB, for example on computers with 1GB memory. Is this my imagination?