Category : Tutorials + Patches
Archive   : DOS3X-P1.ZIP
Filename : DOS3X-P1.DOC

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| Title: An Undocumented Switch which will allow you to Expand the |
| Size of the Default Environment Space for DOS 3.0 and 3.1 |
| |
| Author: Gee M. Wong |
| |
| Date: 07/25/85 |
| |
| |
| |
| There is an undocumented switch which may be used in both PC and MS DOS |
| version 3.x which will expand the default size of the environment. This |
| switch may be specified in your CONFIG.SYS using the following format: |
| |
| SHELL = [d:][\path]\COMMAND.COM [d:][\path] /p/e:## |
| |
| Where: |
| |
| [d:] is the drive where the command processor is |
| located on. If the command processor is located |
| on the boot drive, this field may be omitted. |
| |
| [\path] is the path to the subdirectory which contains |
| the command processor. If the command processor |
| is located on the root directory, this field may |
| be omitted. |
| |
| |
| COMMAND.COM is the name of the command processor. This is |
| the name of the command processor found in both |
| PC and MS DOS version 3.x . |
| |
| /p is a required switch to make sure that the new |
| COMMAND.COM with the expanded environment remains |
| resident in memory after DOS initialization. If |
| this switch is omitted then DOS will discard the |
| command processor after initialization, and leave |
| you hanging somewhere in the twilight zone. |
| |
| /e: is the undocummented switch which may be used to |
| expand the size of the default environment. |
| |
| ## is a decimal integer between 11 and 63. This number |
| represents the number of paragraphs to be allocated |
| for the environment. A paragraph is 16 bytes of |
| storage. |
| |
| |
| Once again, this feature is undocumented, and it is only available on PC |
| and MS DOS versions 3.0 and 3.1 . This feature may not be available on |
| future versions of DOS. So don't go crying to Microsoft if it does not |
| appear on the next DOS release. |
| |
| |
| Please, let me know if you encounter any problems. |
| |
| Gee M. Wong |
| You can reach me on the Invention Factory bulletin board (212)-431-1194. |
| |
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