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Hi Newbies! Congratulations!
You made the first important step in understanding SvarDOS. You found the
Quick instruction manual for SvarDOS!
Many of the reported commands also work in Windows and - with restrictions -
in Linux and Mac OS so that this manual also helps you to understand the
basics of all these OSes.
CHAPTER ONE:
Let's start:
You are at C:\ and have no idea what to do? Simply enter:
"ver" (help is "ver /h") and SvarDOS shows you the version number of the
Kernel and the Shell (command.com).
As a next try:
"dir" or "dir /p" or "dir /w" or "dir /?"
What happens? This command shows the content of the current "dir"ectory
(folder) where you actually are. Depending on which option you have chosen
you see it without sort order, page wise, in lines or you see the help to
this command which offers much more options. You can do this in each folder
where you are. The help should be available via:
"command /?" e.g. "dir /?" or in some cases
"command -h" or
"command --help"
for each executable ("*.exe") file so that it is not necessary to open the
manual for each command.
This was step 01.
As you started in C:\ you should see among others:
"kernel.sys",
"autoexec.bat",
"config.sys" and maybe
"command.com" (SvarDOS command.com is different to FreeDOS!).
The kernel is, what it's name says: the kernel. Without it, the OS will not
boot. You will hear about "autoexec.bat" and "config.sys" later.
"command.com" is a very important file. Inside it there are a lot of
commands that can be executed by simply typing the command's name. As they
are inside command.com you will not find external .exe files and it is
recommended to know the names of the important ones by heart.
As most of these commands also exist in Windows it is not a wasted time to
know the most important ones of them.
"dir" with its options is one of them. Other important commands inside
command.com are:
"cls", "cd", "copy", "del", "echo", "md", "path", "rd" "ren", "set",
"ver" and much more.
It makes really sense to keep at least the mentioned commands in mind as
Windows command line (yes, it still exists!) also uses them and Linux also
uses commands with other names that do in about the same job.
This was step 02.
Now type:
"cls" + ENTER
and you will see that it clears the screen.
Type:
"md TESTDIR" + ENTER and then
"dir" + ENTER
and you will see that a new "dir"ectory (folder) "TESTDIR" has been created.
You will see that a directory shows a sharp click
"<TESTDIR>" ("dir") as attachment or the name in square brackets like
"[TESTDIR]" ("dir /w") depending on which option you used.
Files show an extension with max 3 characters and - depending on the option
you have chosen at "dir" - the size and the creation date of the file. You
created your first folder!!!
Now type:
"cd TESTDIR" + ENTER
and you suddenly are in the folder
"C:\TESTDIR". Typing
"dir" shows you two symbols:
"." and "..".
"." means "current directory" whereas
".." means "there exist directories closer to C:\".
Means: with
"cd FOLDERXX" (FOLDERXX is your foldername) you come into the folder.
With:
"cd .." you come back one folder closer to C:\.
Within a folder you can create another folder, e.g. "SUBDIR1" by typing:
"md SUBDIR1" when you are inside "C:\TESTDIR".
With the
"cd SUBDIR1" you get in, with
"cd .." you get out. If you want to move back to "C:\" directly you can
enter:
"cd \" or "cd C:\".
This works with all existing directories and you can crossjump to other fol-
ders (e.g.: cd C:\SVARDOS\DOC").
You see that it is simple to move through the hard disk with a few commands!
This was step 03.
Well, such were the times before graphical user interfaces! But it still
works on modern systems, maybe the commands change a little.
OK, now we have created a folder:
"TESTDIR" and a subfolder:
"SUBDIR1"
inside. Nobody wants to give folders such a name. After one week nobody
remembers what it was good for. Please keep in mind that SvarDOS like all
other DOSes only supports 8.3 which means that the maximum length is 8 cha-
racters for the file name and 3 characters for ending, e.g. "filename.txt".
The ending says something what the file is good for.
File and folder names are unique in a directory. But you can use the same
filename with another ending, e.g.:
"filename.doc" in the same folder. They can also be used in another folder.
Folders must not be longer than 8 characters. As the folder names are non-
sense we want to delete the EMPTY folders again. Very simple: You go to the
subfolder that is most far away from:
"C:\" in this case:
"C:\TESTDIR\SUBDIR1", check if it is empty, (Which command? - correct:
"dir", more later), go back to:
"C:\TESTDIR" (Which command? - correct: "cd ..") and then
"rd SUBDIR1". Check if "TESTDIR" is empty and then go back to:
"C:\" and enter:
"rd TESTDIR". Your test directories have gone to NIRVANA!
In case that there were files inside one of the folders you have to delete or
move them first. Depending on if you want to delete ALL files
(dangerous!) or only a special file you can enter:
"del *.*" (*.* = wildcard = ALL!) or:
"del filename.ext".
You can also use:
"*.txt" for ALL text files or "blah*.*" for all files starting with "blah".
For deleting directories you have to move out of the EMPTY folder first,
otherwise you would cut the tree you are sitting on. So "del" is used for
deleting one or more files and "rd" for removing EMPTY directories.
This was step 04.
You want to keep the folders "TESTDIR" and "SUBDIR1" because important files
are inside but don't like the folder name? No problem, rename the folders so
that you can keep them in mind.
As you have deleted these folders at the end of step 04, you can now check if
you kept in mind how you created them. Eeehhmmm? You got it? If yes, goto:
"C:\" (Which command? - correct: cd \ or cd C:\) and enter:
"ren TESTDIR URGENT" then go to "C:\URGENT" (I am sure you now know the
command) and enter:
"ren SUBDIR1 CONTRACT". Now you should have the folders:
"C:\URGENT\CONTRACT" instead of "C:\TESTDIR\SUBDIR".
Let's create a file now. You can use the external SvarDOS command:
"sved" or another editor to do so.
SVED works very simple but a little different than modern editors like e.g.
Windows Notepad. Simply type: "sved", the UI opens, type the "ESC" button -
and you get a choice "Open file", "Save", "Save as..." Close file", "Change
EOL" (=end of line in DOS or Linux style) and "Quit".
You can also run "sved", type a text and save via "ESC".
Even for a Newbie it should simple to understand. But this can be done by
everyone.
Are we everyone? NO! We test "ECHO"! What will it do? I am sure you already
heard what happens if you enter:
"echo Hello World!" If not, check. Simply type it.
Now we do not send the result to the monitor but into a file.
"echo Hello World! > C:\URGENT\CONTRACT\world.txt".
You can put a second sentence inside by typing:
"echo I am fine! How are you? >> C:\URGENT\CONTRACT\world.txt."
">" adds the text in the first line.
">>" adds the text in a new line.
You created your first simple text file, guess, where you can find it? And
how to open it with the "sved" command? Of course, very simple. In Windows
you can open it by searching the file in a folder and doubleclicking on the
filename. The corresponding program opens automatically. In SvarDOS you do
nothing else, but vice-versa:
"sved C:\URGENT\CONTRACT\world.txt"
Means: You say: use program "sved" and open the file "world.txt" in this or
that folder.
If this should not work, type:
"C:\SVARDOS\sved C:\URGENT\CONTRACT\world.txt"
This was step 05.
With the command:
"copy" you can do exactly what the name says. Basic rule:
You copy a file from source to target, remember where world.txt is now.
"copy C:\URGENT\CONTRACT\world.txt C:\URGENT" and you have the document
twice. Instead of "world.txt" you can also use wildcards, e.g.:
"*.txt" or "world*.*" or "*.*".
Instead of copying you can MOVE files from one position to another one with
the EXTERNAL (not in command.com) command:
"move". Also, basic rule:
Move the file from source to target, e.g.:
"move C:\URGENT\CONTRACT\world.txt C:\URGENT\test2.txt
Please keep in mind that using "move" means that YOU CREATE NO COPY!
Fantastic! Do you want to know more about this great OS? Then do not miss the
second chapter of Newbie! Take a short break now!
This was step 06.
CHAPTER TWO:
You survived chapter one of the Newbies help? And you are still interested in
SvarDOS? Great!
Maybe you tried to execute some commands in Newbie01 and they did not work?
There appeared a message: command or filename not found? You are too stupid
why this happened? What did you make wrong? Nothing! Everything is correct!
The reason why this happens is very simple: Without certain commands that
will follow later, SvarDOS can only execute commands that are in your current
folder. For example, sved is at:
"C:\SVARDOS\" whereas you are at "C:\". SvarDOS looks at "C:\" and does not
find "sved.com". So it simply says: I do not know this command, I have no
idea where to find it.
To fix this and a lot of other things SvarDOS uses two files that are at
"C:\". They are named:
"config.sys" and "autoexec.bat".
The files are written in standard text format so that it is very simple to
modify them to your needs by using the (guess which command?):
"sved" command, e.g.:
"sved C:\config.sys" or sved "C:\autoexec.bat"
"config.sys" is the first file and loaded by the kernel.
By using it you can simply load drivers that are needed to enhance the
abilities of SvarDOS. For example you can install "himemx" and "emm386" (not
in SvarDOS!) which allow to use more than 640 KiB RAM, load the basic CD-ROM
driver, modify screen size (restricted), country settings, create a menu
where you can choose if you want to start with these or those drivers depen-
ding on your current needs. One important thing you should do in config.sys
is to load "command.com" and its ENVIRONMENT to be permanent which has a lot
of benefits. More about this in step 08.
This was step 07, one of the most important.
When "config.sys" is loaded the next important file, "command.com" will be
loaded (depending on the settings you made in config.sys, e.g.:
"SHELL=C:\command.com /E:512 /P=C:\autoexec.bat".
You can use others shells instead of command.com, but this one is delivered
with SvarCOM.
"/P" says which autoexec.bat SvarDOS should use to start. With
"/E" you can define the size of the ENVIRONMENT which is very helpful as
already mentioned on the top of this text.
"autoexec.bat" is a so called batch file. It is read and interpreted line
by line. So you can tell SvarDOS that it should change the country settings
and codepages, load a keyboard driver, a mouse driver, the second part of the
CD-ROM driver or start a special program / game / whatever automatically.
With the command:
"set" that is built in command.com you can create variables that fill up
the mentioned ENVIRONMENT, for example with:
"set path=C:\SVARDOS;C:\SVARDOS\NLS" (SVARDOS searches for a command like
"sved" at C:\SVARDOS and then C:\SVARDOS\NLS). It opens the first found
correct hit, all others are ignored. This may cause mistakes if you have
different files with the same name in these folders!). As the path command is
also an external command, the following version works too:
"path C:\SVARDOS;C:\SVARDOS\NLS" (no set and no =).
"set TEMP=C:\TEMP" (folder for temporary files,%%TEMP%% now means: C:\TEMP)
"set DOSDIR=C:\SVARDOS" (%%DOSDIR%% now means: C:\SVARDOS)
"set NLSPATH =%%DOSDIR%%\NLS" (%%NLSPATH%% now means: C:\SVARDOS\NLS)
"set TZ=UTC" (for timezone settings) or
"set LANG=DE" (for language settings) or
"set OS_VERSION=1.3" and so on.
To load them automatically to ENVIRONMENT, you can write the commands above
into autoexec.bat.
SvarDOS writes these settings into the ENVIRONMENT as variables and keeps
them as long as it is running. You can add other variables later, but please
do not use a name that already exists. The command:
"set" without options lists all existing variables,
"set variable=" deletes a variable, this is dangerous, see above!
Example (works in FreeDOS as batch file and command line, but in SvarDOS ONLY
as a batch file, not in command line!):
"echo The current version of SvarDOS is: %%OS_VERSION%%" .
shows:
"The current version of SvarDOS is 1.3" ."
There are more things that can be used by autoexec.bat, but this leads too
far for a basic introduction.
But now you know how you can modify your SvarDOS OS to work with it.
I hope I was able to help you with this basic information. Of course, I could
tell you much more, but this is only a first step into SvarDOS.
The last step 08 is done!
Thank you for reading!
Willi Spiegl