This is a very interesting tip on how you can run any DOS program direct from your System Manager. At least I have been able to run even my most "memory hungry" programs. Even if I have a lots of TSR programs loaded, I have now 569,424 bytes of free memory in DOS promt.

YOU NEED FOLLOWING PROGRAM:

For this you need a great Japanese program called MAXDOS by MeW.

HOW TO INSTALL:

First of all I would like thank my friend Fong from Thailand. Fong introduced this program to me and he also explained how I should install it. Without Fong I have probably not been able to do a correct installation since the documentation is in Japanese- Thank You Very Much! However, MAXDOS is now available with English documentation- this thanks to Mr Toshiki Sasabe (Janbe) which has translated the Japanese document.

I would like to suggest that you first do a backup of everything in case something goes wrong. First you make a directory C:\TEMP. Then you copy over MAXDOS.COM to a directory C:\BIN (for example). You have to load the program before you start the System Manager and you can load it with following options as an example:

C:\BIN\MAXDOS -L -E25 -WC:\TEMP -AC:\BIN\ALERT.SND

-L to load maxdos to memory- TSR
-Ex where x is number of pages of EMM to use. If you only
use option -E without the number of pages specified, all your
EMM pages will be used. If you use EMM memory, you have
to add option -Ex.
-W followed by the swap file's temporary directory
-A follow by the complete directory and name of a sound file

Note: The option -A is not neccessary. But if you have it, your set alarms in the Application Manager will still start even if you are in a MaxDOS session. When you leave the System Manager, you can remove MAXDOS from the memory with: C:\BIN\MAXDOS -R
The swap file will take about 230KB of memory (without EMM installed). But you should put the swap file on the C drive. If you use MAXDOS with the swap file located on a flash card, the startup time for your program will be very long. You get the best performance if you are using a "double speed" Palmtop and have the swap file on the C drive.

HOW TO USE THIS:

When you now are in the System Manager, you can install any DOS program and run it without any memory problems. To install a DOS program which require MAXDOS (with other words- you can't usually run this program from the System Manager), you first install the program as any other DOS program and choose your icon:

But you don't press OK {F10}. Instead you add following line in front of the ordinary installation:

Press OK {F10}. You can now run your favorite DOS program from the System Manager even if it takes a lots of memory.

LET'S GO A STEP FURTHER:

It's time you get a DOS prompt with a lots of free memory! Install MAXDOS as follows (choose the buildin icon):

Please observe "&" in front of "DOS". This so you can go to DOS prompt when you press "D". Since the letter "D" is already taken by the buildin DOS prompt, you must place the "MAX-&DOS" icon in front of it the it:

So far so good! But now we are comming to the best part. Install HDM 2.1 DOS APPLICATION MANAGER by Harry Konstas, using MAXDOS- as described above. You will now be able to run as many DOS applications as you want without closing the System Manager!

You can even here go one step further. If you want to organize your programs, you can add "folders" (as in Microsoft Windows) like my Games folder in above picture. You do this by pressing {F2} Add and fill it in as follows:

I filled in the name of my "folder" as "&Games". Then I filled in the path + filename as "c:\hdm\dm.bat" (I start HDM with a batch file instead of DM.EXE- more about this in HDM.DOC). Then you fill in the Command tail and put a suitable name. In my case "c:\hdm\games.dat". Now you can start your "folder" from your "HDM Main Menu" and your .DAT file will be created in your HDM directory. Now you just add your applications as usual.
My Game "folder" looks like this:

I hope you will enjoy this way to run DOS applications using MAXDOS. Please be informed that I don't guarantee anything and will not be held responsible if you get any kind of problems with your Palmtop. But for your information, I have now used this system for a while and so far so good. If you have any problems or comments, please send me an e-mail.

My e-mail address:

Any questions, comments or so- please send me an e-mail!

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This page was last modified on Saturday, 08-Feb-97