DOS based accounting package on Windows XP

have you considered dual booting XP and Dos?

Hi DanCh99,

Thanks for the reply. I haven't considered dual booting at all to be honest.

Currently I have both computers on my desk and it is fine. The problem is that I recently purchased a new printer without realising that it doesn't support windows 95. So now to print from Apex I have 2 big and bulky laser printers in a pretty small office.

I was hoping that by having Apex running in XP, that I would be able to print from it to the new printer. If I was dual booting this wouldn't work.

KCTS,

Thanks for the info, I had a look for dBase in the registry, the programs list and the files on the laptop and I saw no mention of dBase so I assume that it is integrated as you suggest. I don't understand why I get the errors in that case.

The first error is something like "COMIX/1001 DOS error 4" if that helps at all.

-Frank

Dont forget that if you do plug in your new printer into your XP machine and network them, you'll have to map a LPT port to it.

I do belive the command is

net use //PCNAME/PRINTERNAME LTP1

though its early, and ive not had a coffee, so it could be wrong.

Remember that there is a Compatability mode in the properties of your shortcuts.  Create a shortcut to the batch file in the Windows XP PC and then run the compatability mode for the batch file as MS-DOS. See what happens then.  NT based PCs such as windows 2k and XP use the com ports and lpt ports slightly differently than native DOS PCs.  Hope that this helps!

First, the fix for Windows XP: There should be a file named CONFIG.NT within the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory.  Using NOTEPAD, and only NOTEPAD, you should find at the bottom, probably the last line of the file "files=40."  Change this to "files=101" (I always suggest using an odd number).  You can go higher, but doing so takes precious memory needed by the application.  Try running your program again and hopefully you should be good to go.  If not, I would then suggest looking at the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files located in the root directory (C:\) on the WIndows 95 machine.  Look for additional settings applicable to your accounting application. For example, if your program had been compiled in Clipper your would need to add SET CLIPPER=F101 to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  If you need/want to add additional settings note:

Windows 95      -> Windows XP
C:\CONFIG.SYS   -> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG.NT
C:\AUTOEXEC.SYS -> C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT

In regards to your new printer, and a problem you may have yet to realize you have, I assume that the interface used to connect to your PC is not a DB25 Parallel port (LPT1:).  If it is then you should be fine, if not then you will face the problem of Apex only understanding, probably, LPT1: or LPT2: but your printer is attached to an IP or USB port.  So, to deal with that issue, you need to complete the following steps:

1) Right click the printer under your Faxes and Printers listing, select Sharing, then chose to "Share this printer" giving it a short (8 characters or less) Share Name. (I will use NEWPRTR)  Failure to do this should result in System Error 66.
2) Get to a Command prompt and enter: NET USER  Make note of the first line and what follows "User accounts for " (I will use \\JEFF-DESK)
3) Still at the Command Prompt enter: NET USE LPT1: \\JEFF-DESK\NEWPRTR /PERSISTENT:YES

NOTE: The above is what a coffeeless djxtreme previously mentioned, but he ommited needing to first share your new printer (step 1), and the format of the NET USE was slightly off (step 3).

ALSO, if it does not "show," I have faced and won many times the same challenge you now face.  On no occasion was changing, tweaking, or otherwise having to deal or work with the compatability mode NONE of those times have I,

Should you be interested in the "why" of your DOS Error 4, the clue, and therefore answer, to the problem is within the error message you included in your second posting.  While your comment "...is something like..." makes me a little hesitant, I will assume and hope the "DOS error 4" part of it is correct.

Receiving this error message is quite common with DOS based DBase programs, and is easy to correct.  It might first help to highlight that in DBase, at least the earlier versions, each datafile consists of a .DBF file containing the main data records, possibly a secondary file  (cannot remember the extension) if you have memo type fields, and then one file for each index.  The extension on these files could be .NTX, .NSX, CDX, or several others. When adding to or updating a DBF file it is necessary to have ALL the index files open so they can be appropriately updated.  Later versions of DBase allowed multiple indexes to be stored in one file.  On top of all this even more files may be created, albeit temporarily, when performing maintenance on tables (i.e. PACK or MODI STRU).

Having written many accounting applications using DBase, starting with DBase II, I am confident you will find many index files. Given having 4-6 indexes per DBF is quite likely, one could have 6-8 physical files associated with each DBF, which all need to be open when adding or updating data. So, why am I boring you with this trivia? :)  When operating within DOS there is a setting to indicate the maximum number of open files.  XP sets this maximum to 40. DOS error 4 is defined as: Out Of File handles.  Below are the first Ten DOS Error codesEorrto 1

   01       Function number invalid
   02       File not found
   03       Path not found
   04       Too many open files
   05       Access denied
   06       Handle invalid
   07       Memory control blocks destroyed
   08       Insufficient memory
   09       Memory block address invalid
   10       Environment invalid

Further info can be found at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q74463/