Re: .SYS (device drivers) that are actually .EXEs?

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#839

From: Kaleb Keithley
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 1990 15:50

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In article <141@qmsseq.imagen.com> pipkins@imagen.com (Jeff Pipkins) writes:
>
>In MS-DOS versions < 3.0, the EXEC function call (EXE loader) was actually
>a part of COMMAND.COM.  Because COMMAND.COM is not loaded until after
>CONFIG.SYS is processed, device drivers could not be in .EXE format.
>(incidently, that is also why it's COMMAND.COM instead of COMMAND.EXE)

Wrong!  I just whipped out the M'soft Encyclopedia, and the EXEC function
call has been there all along.  Maybe you're thinking of that short lived
abortion known as DOS 1.0.

Not to mention, I remember playing with the SHELL option to CONFIG.SYS
back in the days of 2.0 and 2.1.  Really neat tricks like having the
machine boot right into Lotus, Dbase, or Wordstar.  Only drawback was,
don't try to quit the program; very unfriendly.

kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov            Jet Propeller Labs
Kaleb Keithley

"So that's what an invisible barrier looks like"

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!mars!kaleb
From: kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer
Subject: Re: .SYS (device drivers) that are actually .EXEs?
Message-ID: <4237@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Date: 3 Jul 90 15:50:03 GMT
References: <j8t1seef8@tmsoft.uucp> <141@qmsseq.imagen.com>
Sender: news@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov
Reply-To: kaleb@mars.UUCP (Kaleb Keithley)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
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