🚀 go-pugleaf

> Having just gotten a color monitor the my IBM-PC/XT, I've decided I
> don't like white characters on black background.  How can I have
> DOS set the color of my characters on a permanent basis (i.e., every
> time I turn the system on)?  I tried doing it in basic, but exiting
> basic resets the colors (it appears).
> 
> Thanks,
>    John Van Zandt
>    Loral Instrumentation

Use the ANSI.SYS driver that comes with PC-DOS.  (Add the line:

	DEVICE=ANSI.SYS
        
to your CONFIG.SYS file.)  This allows you to add a command to your 
AUTOEXEC.BAT file that does:

	COPY COLORS CON:
        
The COLORS file has a series of codes like:

	ESC[<colorcode>m
        
You can generate this file with either a good editor (as distinguished
from EDLIN) or writing a BASIC program to write the escape character to
the file.

In case you don't have the DOS Technical Reference manual (which used
to be contained within the DOS User's Guide until DOS 2.10), here is
the list of color codes.

	0		(normal)
        1		(bold)
        4		(underscore on monochrome, reverse video on color)
        5		blink
        7		reverse video
        8		invisible
        30		black foreground
        31		red foreground
        32		green foreground
        33		yellow "
        34		blue   "
        35 		magenta "
        36		cyan	"
        37		white   "
        40 - 47		same sequence except background colors