DOS ain't dead - AUTOEXEC & CONFIG Spring Cleaning?

CluelessInSeattl

Seattle, USA,
21.03.2013, 14:32

AUTOEXEC & CONFIG Spring Cleaning? (Users)

I took a look at my old MS-DOS 6.21 AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files and realized that they are both haphazard patchworks that I can't begin to sort out.

These files go back to over a decade ago when I became disabled by chronic illness, lost my job and then my housing, so what I didn't end up tossing overboard I put into storage during a long stretch of homelessness.

I'm only now beginning to pick up where I left off with my MS-DOS project over ten years ago, and I can't recall what many of the lines in those files are supposed to do or why I ever put them in there in the first place.

Back then I was always experimenting and trying new tricks and didn't feel the need to put in comment lines to explain any changes I made.

So, since yesterday was the first day of spring, I'd like to try cleaning up my AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files.

If I were to post them here, is there anyone reading this who would be willing to take a look at them and offer advice on how to clean them up?

BTW, I can't figure out how to format code in my posts. The buttons on the side of Message window only seem to offer 5 choices:

bold
italic
link
image
upload

Am I supposed to manually insert an html marker or something like that?

---
Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
Running MS-DOS 6.21

Rugxulo

Usono,
21.03.2013, 17:29

@ CluelessInSeattl

AUTOEXEC & CONFIG Spring Cleaning?

Post reply

> If I were to post them here, is there anyone reading this who would be
> willing to take a look at them and offer advice on how to clean them up?

Advice is easy, but having such code working is another matter. ;-)
In other words, it's easier to look and suggest than actually test and make sure it's 100% foolproof first.

It'd almost just be easier to point you to a downloadable FreeDOS image. But I guess you have reasons for sticking with MS-DOS (which is fine and I don't disagree, just saying, I can't test MS-DOS proper these days, e.g. the CONFIG.SYS menu stuff is different syntax).

> BTW, I can't figure out how to format code in my posts. The buttons on the
> side of Message window only seem to offer 5 choices:
>
> Am I supposed to manually insert an html marker or something like that?

No, you should be able to use [ code ] and [ /code ] (without the spaces):

@echo off REM autoexec.bat echo. echo Hello, world! echo.