Today, you will learn the new features and how to access the DOS graphic shell.
If you have been using a lower version of DOS, you will be performing tasks already
familiar to you in a new way.
Let's get started.
Installing the latest version of DOS into your computer system requires different steps
for hard disk and diskette installation.
The new DOS is a completely automated installation process managed by a program called Select.
Your new DOS installed diskette automatically evokes this important utility.
Refer to your manual for complete details on how to install.
After you have completed the install process, you can begin to use the latest DOS version.
One of the new features that makes DOS easier to use is the DOS shell.
The DOS shell is nothing more than a graphic interface that has been added to give users
a simpler means to explore and use many of the new functions built into DOS.
In addition, there are some new options not found in earlier versions.
Another important new option allows you to format your hard disk without two or more
partitions.
The limit in earlier versions of DOS was 30 megabytes.
When you started your system in DOS 3.3 or lower, the first line that appeared was time
and date.
This feature is now done through the DOS shell.
Let's start with this familiar date and time function.
When the DOS shell appears on the screen, a display will allow you to select from the
choices of file system, change colors, or DOS utilities.
The time and date function is located in the DOS utilities option.
Select DOS utilities, then press enter, and a submenu of utilities will appear on the
screen.
Select the set date and time option to produce a window.
This secondary window is called a dialog box, and it is the standard method for submitting
commands in the latest DOS version.
The window will prompt you to type in the date.
Press enter, and another dialog box appears that prompts you for the correct time.
Press enter again, and the screen will go blank.
The message, press any key to continue, will appear in the upper left corner of your screen.
Press any key, and the screen will return to the DOS utilities options.
You might have noticed that only the appearance of the time and date function has changed.
Their purpose is still the same.
You must press the enter key after every command in DOS.
Learn to use the key as an automatic end to each command.
From now on, I will not tell you to press the enter key.
Should you not be required to use the enter key for any command, I will clearly indicate
it at the appropriate time.
Let's return to the main group option screen by pressing the escape key.
Help in the new version is a very useful function.
The F1 key is the help key, and is always available to assist you.
There are other keys available to you at different times, and they are always located at the
bottom of the screen.
At the bottom of this main group screen, you will only see two F keys, F10 for actions
and shift F9 for command prompt.
The F10 key will automatically move the selection cursor from the main group of menu choices
to the action bar located at the top of the screen.
The selection cursor is the extended highlight on a screen item in reverse video.
If you press F10 a few times, you will see the selection cursor switch from the main
group items to the action bar and back again.
Shift F9 will send you to the shell command prompt.
This prompt is useful because the shell does not refresh its screen while the prompt is
being used.
Return to the DOS shell by typing exit.
If you are an experienced user of an earlier version of DOS, you may want to switch to
the command prompt to do things that you are accustomed to until you are comfortable with
the graphic shell.
Now that you know how to move the selection cursor around the screen, I can show you how
to actually perform the selected operations.
Once something is selected, you only need to press the enter key, and DOS will perform
the action specified.
You can select any of the four items from the main group by using your up and down arrow
keys to highlight each one.
Press the escape key if you are only experimenting and do not wish to make any changes.
The final choice in the start program's main group is the DOS utilities.
You first saw this option when we entered the date and time.
When the main group or any subgroup of choices is visible on your screen, you can always
press F1 to display a help window containing information.
The help window will be applicable to the group item or action bar item that is highlighted
when you press F1.
If you activated some process that displays a dialog box, then pressing F1 brings up a
window containing helpful text for that process.
Let's try using the help function.
In DOS utilities, select format.
Then press the F1 key and read the help dialog.
Use the down page key to read all the dialog that is given.
As with all windows, this help window has its own additional set of special keystrokes.
Pressing the escape key will erase the help window itself, bringing you back to the process
that was activated.
While in DOS utilities, you can choose several options.
We'll choose the format option again so you can see how simple the process really is.
The format process is most often used when you first open a box of diskettes.
These diskettes are used to receive and store data.
Insert a diskette in drive A and press enter.
You will notice that while DOS is formatting your diskette, the screen shows what percentage
of your diskette has been formatted.
After this process is completed, you are prompted with the question volume label.
Let's type disk one for volume label.
This labels your diskette for further identification or you can choose to leave it blank by pressing
the enter key.
The latest DOS also assigns a unique serial number to each formatted diskette and writes
the number on the first sector of that diskette.
By now you've started to learn the fundamentals of DOS and you can see what it can do.
You've entered simple commands and prepared your disk to receive and store data.
Now I will discuss how to access your drive, directories, and files.
The latest DOS files system is your primary connection to DOS directories, DOS files,
and application programs.
Of course, your system will have different directories listed on the window on the left
side than those listed on my screen.
This screen is slightly more complex in its appearance than anything you've seen so far.
However, it is clear and organized.
This full screen window contains an action bar and a title bar located at the top and
all available F keys located at the bottom.
Just below the title bar is the action bar containing four primary actions.
When you select one of these actions, you can perform many operations by choosing commands
from the pull down menus that appear.
These pull down menus are accessed with your down arrow key.
Below the action bar are three other primary portions of the screen.
In this area you can specify the disk drive you want to work on, the group of files you
want to work with, and the individual names you want to access.
When the file system screen first appears, the drive you are currently in is automatically
selected.
Notice that the icon or symbol that represents the C drive is highlighted.
You can choose a different drive by using the right arrow key to highlight the appropriate
icon.
The number and letters of the drive icons will vary according to your system's hardware.
The areas below the drives are accessed by using the tab key on your keyboard.
Try using the tab key once to switch from the drive area below the action bar to the
directory tree of your screen.
This is located at the lower left portion of the screen and contains the directory structure
for the current selected disk drive.
Press the tab key again and the highlight will switch to the file area on the right
side of the screen highlighting the first file on the list.
By pressing the tab key two more times we will be back to the drive area.
Let's try scrolling through the directories in drive C and then choosing the DOS directory.
Use tab once and then the down arrow keys to select a different directory.
The right side of your screen will display the files located in that particular directory.
Notice that the current directory is highlighted only when the screen is focused in the directory
tree area.
A check mark appears beside the directory name you've chosen.
This mark will change whenever you select a different directory.
Select a file by pressing the space bar when the file name is highlighted.
Pressing the space bar once when the highlight is on a selected file will unselect it.
If you take a look at the right side of your screen you will see the small icons located
to the left of the file names.
When you choose one or more files icons are switched to reverse video to indicate that
those files have been selected.
Whether we select one or many files the next operations we ask DOS to execute will be performed
for each selected file.
There are two different types of file icons used by DOS.
A rectangular with one corner turned over is a data file.
An octagonal shaped icon marks a program or file that can be executed.
An executable program or command always has a.com or.exe extension while an executable
batch program has the extension.bat.
Many files with these three extensions are symbolized by the octagonal icon.
All other files are represented by the paper icon.
If you inadvertently press enter when selecting a file DOS will attempt to open or start it.
To stop DOS from doing this simply press the escape key.
Now that you know how to maneuver in the file system screen we can take a closer look at
the context behind its major area.
First, let's explore the information being displayed in the file area.
You use this area to see a listing of the files that are contained in a particular directory.
In the earlier version of DOS you used the dir command and the computer displayed a listing
of all the files with the information about each file, the file name, the file size, along
with the date and time of its creation or last update.
In the file area the same information is displayed except for the time.
You can display the time by suppressing the directory tree area.
To manage your display screen effectively you can select the options choice from the
action bar.
The pull down menu will display three choices.
The first choice display options enables you to specify a file name or to sort files by
name, date, size, extension or disk order.
Next the file option will cancel or request confirmation prompts and global file selection.
Both deleting and replacing can be dangerous activities.
When you select one of these two options in the file menu DOS will prompt you to confirm
the selected file to be deleted or replaced before completing the commands.
Our final selection is select across directories.
When activated you can easily issue commands which can act on files located in multiple
places.
You can move files located in different directories to one directory with a single move command.
This choice is a powerful and useful new feature.
Our final choice on the options menu is called show information.
When this is selected a display on the left side of your screen shows the entire current
system status.
This is a valuable tool when you want to learn more about how a particular disk is being
used.
You can quickly view available space on any drive.
Another improvement in the latest DOS is the arrange menu on the action bar.
Use this menu to make screen arrangement choices.
There are three selections to choose from.
The single file list displays the directory tree and file list for the current selected
drive.
The second choice is multiple file list which helps you compare the directory trees and
file lists on different drives.
The third choice is system file list which will list all of the file names on a selected
drive.
This also allows you to find files located on different drives.
With this special view of your files you may scroll continuously through all files on the
selected disk drive.
The files are all displayed according to the sorting order that is currently selected.
You can also use the system file list to identify files with identical names that may be located
in different directories.
The duplicate names will appear together.
Major file operations are performed by selecting the file option on the action bar.
Depending on the files that are selected when you activate this menu, some of the file operation
choices may be grayed on your color monitor or preceded with an asterisk on your monochrome
system indicating that they are currently unavailable.
Go to your root directory and highlight your auto exec bat file.
Press F10 to use file from the action bar and move to the view option.
Now you have your auto exec bat file on your screen.
Only one file may be selected for viewing at a time.
Moving files between drives and directories in a single operation is a powerful way to
reorganize your disk space.
To demonstrate the moving of files from one drive to another, I have created two files
called test one bat and test two bat.
The first thing I will do is split my screen in order to view both drives.
While at the action bar, I will choose arrange, multiple file list, and then press enter.
A view of the C directory tree and file list is seen twice.
Next, I tab down to the second line on the disk drive list and change this to D and press
enter.
The present view shows both the C and D drives listed.
Now I will use the tab key to reach the C drives file list and scroll down to the files
test one and test two.
Highlight the files you want to move and select them using the space bar.
Press F10 to go to the action bar and choose the options file.
Go to the move command and press enter.
A dialog box will show the files that have been selected to be moved and the second line
will show the destination.
Since the D drive is where we want to place these files, all I need to do is press enter.
The files will now move from the C drive to the D drive.
Making copies of files is a very common operation.
Copying can be used for a variety of purposes.
You can copy files across directories, make secondary copies, backup copies, multiple
or complete disc copies.
With whatever type of copy command you are going to perform, you should always have the
confirm on replace option set on to protect against accidentally overwriting files.
There are just a few more file operation commands that you should know.
Of course, many other commands exist, but you'll only need them in more advanced situations.
These are covered in your manual.
Dots become more familiar with deleting and renaming files.
In the earlier versions of DOS, this was often awkward to use.
Now with the latest version of DOS, you can select all the files you want to remove from
a directory with one command.
I'm going to delete the files I moved earlier in the D drive.
First, I'll use the tab key and go to the D drive and view the list.
Now I'll scroll down the file list to select the files to be deleted.
In this case, test one and test two.
Now I'll use F10 to go to the action bar and select file.
Finally, move down to the delete and press enter.
The dialog box will show up with the files I've selected.
By pressing enter, DOS will execute the command and the file will be erased.
Whenever you are deleting a directory, you must first delete all the files in that directory.
DOS will not allow you to delete a directory that contains files.
You can rename any file name without affecting the contents.
Select the files first before using any operation in file menu.
The final pull down menu in the file system is the exit menu.
You usually select the exit file system choice when you are done using all your files and
directories.
At this point, the file system screen will disappear and the start program screen will
reappear.
You can quickly get the same result by pressing the F3 key.
Press escape or select the resume file system choice if you reach this exit menu in error
or if you change your mind.
One unique DOS feature is that you can run your software application programs through
the file system.
The simplest way to approach this is through the batch files.
This is the easiest and fastest way to run your software through the new DOS.
If you don't have a batch file for your application, you must create one first before trying the
DOS exercise.
I have created a word processing batch file and called it ws5.bat.
Then press F10 for the action bar and select program.
Next I use the down arrow key to select the option add.
The dialog appears and the required data is typed in.
This title should help you remember what the program name is or what it does.
The command line tells the system which program to start and where to find it.
There is a format that must be followed when entering this line.
The drive letter must be specified where the program resides.
D D path is the change directory command.
Use the directory path to the program and the name of the file to start the application.
You use the marker F4 to separate the different parts of the program startup command.
When you use the batch files, use the same format except type the word call before the
batch file name.
F2 will save all your data.
The program will appear under the main group options.
Let's review some of the features of the latest version of DOS.
The new DOS is a completely automated installation process.
Entering and editing commands at the DOS prompt is as simple as typing the command itself.
Submitting commands requires that you first select an option from the menu system.
Then enter any data required in the dialog box.
The function keys are an easy one keystroke tool that makes DOS less time consuming.
You've learned how to access all the features of the new DOS from the initial start program
screen.
The latest DOS features and functions are available through the graphic interface, either
by keyboard controls or by mouse.
If you have a color monitor, you can change color combinations easily and quickly from
the main screen.
You can always press F1 for online help, which is information for the currently selected
screen item.
The primary DOS utility operations are available from the DOS utilities menu.
The DOS file system screen provides you with complete graphic access to files, directories
and drives.
The main group will display all the software application programs that you have installed
in one place.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Noreen Hart, and remember, look to Silicon Mountain for all your computer training needs.