Configuring DOS and Windows sessions
In Chapter 3, ``Working in the SCO Merge environment'', you learned about the default operating environment that SCO Merge creates when you start a DOS or a Windows session. However, because SCO Merge is fully configurable, you can change the default environment as well as create additional environment configurations, which will enable you to run many different kinds of DOS and Windows sessions.
This chapter tells you how to make some common changes to DOS and Windows environments to better suit your needs. In particular, it describes how to configure sessions to use resources such as printers, modems, serial ports, and CD-ROMs; how to change the amount of memory available to you; and how to configure colors and window sizes for your desktop.
You can create multiple named configurations so that, for example, one set of devices is automatically available when you start DOS with one configuration and a different set of devices is available when you start DOS with another configuration.
If a resource you want to use is not described in this chapter, a system administrator may need to define it. See Chapter 5, ``SCO Merge resource administration'' for information. Also, refer to Chapter 6, ``Using SCO Merge from the command line'' for a description of the more obscure configuration features available.
Using Merge Setup to configure your environment
In a Desktop environment, you can
use the
Merge Setup utility
to configure
your environment.
If you are not working
in a Desktop environment, you can use UNIX commands to accomplish exactly the
same things. For information on the command-line
interface, see
Chapter 6, ``Using SCO Merge from the command line''.
To start the graphical utility, access the Merge utilities and invoke Merge Setup.
SCO Merge displays a list of configuration categories that you can select. The categories are:
The system administrator uses this category to set up or review the aspects of SCO Merge that apply to all SCO Merge users. Examples: Managing device definitions and editing shared DOS startup files. See Chapter 5, ``SCO Merge resource administration'' for information on how to use this configuration category.
You use this category to install and configure Microsoft Windows under SCO Merge. See Chapter 2, ``Installing Windows''.
You have at least two of these configurations: dos and win. These configurations detail all characteristics of the DOS or Windows sessions you use. Selecting one of the personal Merge session configurations and clicking on the OK button brings up the Personal Merge Session Configuration window. You can use this window to view or change the configuration.
You can also create new personal Merge session configurations that are different from the standard dos and win configurations. When you do, they appear on the list below dos and win. You can remove these configurations by using the Delete button.
To choose a category, select it by clicking on its name, and then click OK.
Personal Merge session configuration window
The personal Merge session configuration window allows you to examine and modify various characteristics of your DOS and Windows sessions.
This window has four views, which you can select by using buttons located across the top of the window:
You can configure the following items using the Options view:
Devices view
The Devices view lets you specify the hardware
configuration you want for a specific environment.
You can configure the following items using this view:
You can configure the following items using this view:
To run a DOS or a Windows session immediately with your configuration changes in effect, click on Start when you finish modifying the settings.
To save your changes for all future sessions started with this named configuration, click on Save.
To create a new named configuration, click on Save As and provide a name for your configuration. Legal names can contain the characters A to Z (either upper- or lowercase), the numbers 0 to 9, and the hyphen (-).
Doing this adds the following entry to the list of Merge Setup categories:
Personal Merge session configuration: your configuration name
The new named configuration also appears as one of the following:
By default, SCO Merge interprets the system-wide config.sys file and any config.sys file found on your personal drive when it runs. In addition, it executes the system-wide autoexec.bat startup file and any autoexec.bat file found on your personal drive.
You can specify that one or more of these files not be interpreted or run; you can also edit them or specify that SCO Merge use different or additional config.sys and autoexec.bat files.
If you are working in a Desktop environment follow these steps to change the default interpretation of config.sys or autoexec.bat:
Select Run System Wide, Run Personal, or Other to enable the execution of the corresponding autoexec and config.sys file.
The Other file is any file you specify in the corresponding text box. Use UNIX syntax and specify the full path name for the file (for example, /tmp/startup).
If multiple files are enabled, they are executed in the listed sequence--System Wide followed by Personal followed by Other.
Deselect the file to disable its execution.
You can click the Select File button to bring up the File Browser and then select the file name from a list. The file need not be named autoexec.bat or config.sys as long as it contains valid DOS commands.
If you are working in a non-Desktop environment, you use the autoexecglobal, autoexeclocal, autoexecprivate, configglobal, configlocal, and configprivate options with the mrgconfig command, as described in ``Setting mrgconfig options'' in Chapter 6.
Specifying Windows versions
Depending on which version of Windows you have installed, your
Windows configurations are designated appropriately in the
Windows area of the Personal Merge Session Configuration
window.
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these steps to view or change the Windows version setting:
If Windows 3.1 is selected, you can select configuration options that apply only to Windows 3.1. The following options can be set:
Configuring memory
Use procedures in this section to:
SCO Merge refers to the memory given to Windows as ``standard'' memory. Standard memory refers to the aggregate of 1MB of conventional DOS RAM, plus as many megabytes of extended memory as you want to add, up to 64MB.
In SCO Merge, standard memory is only available to your Windows session. By default, SCO Merge starts a Windows 3.1 session with 6MB of standard memory. The allowable range is from 1 to 15MB of memory in standard mode and from 1 to 32MB of memory in enhanced mode, although Windows or Windows applications may not start if you request too little memory.
For Windows 95, 16MB is used by default. You can specify a maximum of 64MB.
Memory is a finite resource. If you request more memory than is available, your session fails to start.
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these steps to allocate additional standard memory to Windows:
Using virtual memory in Windows 3.1
When you run Windows 3.1 in enhanced mode, you can take advantage of the virtual memory feature. This feature allows applications to use more memory than is actually available by paging (or swapping memory to a file on a hard disk drive). Using virtual memory can reduce performance, but some applications require it. It is required for all Win32s® applications.
To turn off virtual memory, deselect Virtual Memory.
You must also configure virtual memory in your Windows 3.1 session. Click on the 386 Enhanced icon in the Control Panel folder of the Main program group, and click on the Virtual Memory button. (This enables Windows 3.1 paging.)
Most of this has already been done for you. By default, when you start SCO Merge, it loads a special extended memory manager mrgxms.sys that provides access to the upper memory blocks. It also loads DOS into the high memory area. (The commands for doing this are built into the DOS images. To change this, you must make new DOS images. For information on making new DOS images, see ``Making new DOS images'' in Chapter 5.)
Since this provides an optimum amount of RAM for your programs, you will probably never need to change it. With DOS and all device drivers and TSRs loaded high, SCO Merge provides about 610K of conventional DOS memory for programs.
mrgxms.sys is the only extended memory manager that can be
used with SCO Merge.
Do not use himem.sys, xms.sys, or any other DOS extended memory
manager produced by other vendors.
SCO Merge simulates expanded memory by using standard
UNIX system virtual memory.
Memory is a finite resource.
If you request more memory than is available, your session fails to start.
When you attach expanded memory to your DOS environment, that memory becomes
unavailable to other system users or to other applications.
Do not request more memory than you
need, and if you do not need additional memory every
time you run DOS, do not change your default
configuration; request additional memory only for
those sessions in which you need it.
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these
steps to request additional EMS memory:
You can customize the drive letter assignments to access different
parts of your UNIX file system and assign drive letters to physical
and virtual DOS volumes.
A virtual DOS volume
is a UNIX file that is formatted as a DOS file system
and reserved
exclusively for DOS files.
You can also assign drive letters to CD-ROM drives for use under
DOS or Windows.
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these
steps to attach (or detach) a volume to a SCO Merge drive letter:
You will see a list of drive letters and file system volumes that are
currently attached to these drive letters.
You can configure new drive letters to access
parts of the UNIX file system, DOS file system, or CD-ROM drives.
Drives A, B and J are not configurable.
To attach a new drive, click on the Add button.
A drive properties window appears with defaults
selected for UNIX file system access. Select the drive letter you
want by clicking on the arrows next to the current drive letter
and change the properties as required. Click OK and
your new drive will appear in the list.
To detach a drive, select it from the list and click Detach.
You can also specify whether you want your DOS and Windows sessions
to always start at the root of your personal drive as opposed to
starting in your current UNIX working directory. See
``Specifying the initial drive''
for more information.
If you working in a non-Desktop environment, see
``Configuring DOS and Windows sessions from the
UNIX command line'' in
Chapter 6 for instructions
on how to configure drives from the UNIX command line.
The drive properties window contains different information
depending on the drive type you select:
In the Directory box, you need to specify the
UNIX directory that corresponds to the root of the drive. You can either
type in the full path name for the directory (using UNIX syntax)
or use the Browse
button to find it.
Use the
Personal Drive
check box to designate this
drive as your personal drive, which is the drive where your
personal autoexec.bat and config.sys files are located.
You can only have one drive designated as a personal drive. By default,
your personal drive is drive C.
Clicking on the Advanced options button displays
various file-mapping and record-locking options that
you can set for this drive. It is usually not necessary to change
the default settings, but you might want to be aware of
what they do in case you need to use them.
See
``File name mapping options'' and
``UNIX record locking options''
for more information.
From the list of available volumes, select the one you want
to attach to this drive. Native DOS volumes correspond to
actual physical DOS volumes on your hard disk. $HOME/vdrive.dsk
is a virtual DOS volume that has been preconfigured for each user.
If you choose this volume for the first time, you are prompted
to create the actual UNIX file where the DOS file system will
be stored.
See
``Physical and
virtual DOS drives'' in Chapter 5
for more information on both physical and
virtual DOS volumes, when to use them, how to attach them, and how to create
new virtual DOS volumes.
If you click on the Advanced button,
you can set
file access options
that allow you to share this DOS volume
with other DOS and Windows sessions.
You can set Exclusive and Read Only options to signify
the following types of access for sessions started with this
configuration:
The Device box contains a list of UNIX device names
that correspond to actual CD-ROM drives installed on your computer.
Choose the one you want to use.
If your CD-ROM device is not listed, choose Other.
A type-in box appears, and you can either type the
device name or use the Browse button to find it.
DOS and Windows 3.1 do not support arbitrary file names, while UNIX
and Windows 95 do. Consequently,
when any DOS or Windows 3.1 application accesses a file or
directory name that does not conform to DOS rules,
SCO Merge translates, or
maps, the name to a legal DOS name.
(See
``Accessing files with invalid DOS names''
in Chapter 3 for more information.)
SCO Merge provides three methods of file name mapping. Each
UNIX drive can be configured to use one of the three methods:
This method
uses a hash function to create DOS-style file names from the original
names. The resulting file name retains the three original initial characters.
For example, the UNIX name messagetoall might
become MES'17FG when this mapping is used.
The disadvantage of this method is that a unique mapping is not always possible,
and two different file names could
be mapped to the same DOS-style name. If this creates a problem,
use Old-Style Mapping.
Also, if your personal drive is configured to use a different mapping when
Windows 95 is installed, the mapping method is automatically
changed to Win95 Mapping.
This method creates the same file name mapping as Windows 95 does.
For example, file name messagetoall
might map to MESSAG~1.
The disadvantage of this mapping method is that
the mapping information is stored
on disk in hidden directories. For this reason, we do not recommend
using Win95 Mapping for drives other than your personal drive.
This method uses a hash function to create DOS-style
file names from the UNIX inode associated with the file. A unique
mapping is always created.
The disadvantage of this method is that the mapping changes if the file is copied
in such a way that the inode number is changed.
Regardless of the mapping method you choose, you can
enable the
Case Mapping
option for each UNIX drive. This option
is provided because DOS and Windows do not differentiate between
upper- and lowercase letters, while UNIX does. See
``Accessing files with uppercase names'' in Chapter 3 for
more information.
If the Case Mapping option is set to OFF for a particular drive,
no mapping will be performed on mixed- or uppercase file names on that
drive.
If Case Mapping option is set to ON for a particular drive,
mixed- or uppercase file names on that drive are mapped such that DOS and Windows can
differentiate among multiple
UNIX files with names that differ only in the case of the letters used.
Record locking is necessary when two users want to make simultaneous
updates to shared data files over a network and cannot coordinate their
access.
The application that performs file access in this case must support
shared updates. Many database applications,
including spreadsheets, allow such shared access.
Normally, when DOS and Windows users want to enable shared access
to their data, they
configure their applications appropriately and enable sharing at
the file system level. Under SCO Merge, UNIX record locking is also
required. By default, all UNIX drives that are not your personal
drive have UNIX locking turned on.
However, UNIX locking causes a decrease in the file system performance
when files are accessed over the network. Consequently,
if you are using remote files that do not need to be shared by
multiple users, you can turn UNIX locks off.
To set the UNIX locks on, select a drive for the portion of the UNIX
file system that requires sharing. When configuring properties
for this drive, click on the Advanced options button and
set the UNIX locking option.
When your DOS or Windows session starts, the initial drive and directory
are determined by the option Start on personal drive:
If there is no drive in your configuration that provides access to the
current UNIX directory, your session fails to start.
In the UNIX environment, the serial (COM) ports can be shared among
UNIX and DOS/Windows processes, but
only one process
(either UNIX or DOS) can access a particular serial port at one time.
If you plan to use a serial port in your DOS or Windows session,
the port must not otherwise be in use, (such as with a mouse, terminal
or modem),
and UNIX device permissions must set to make it accessible to the user.
If a terminal has been in use on the serial line you may have
to reconfigure the serial line.
For example, on OpenServer systems you use the
command to stop the serial line from being used for a terminal.
(You have to be logged in as root or become the super user
to use this command.)
To disable the login process on /dev/tty1a, for example,
you use the command:
"
The UNIX serial device must be readable and writeable by the
user that wants to attach the serial line. The easiest way
is to make sure the device is readable and writeable by everyone.
The
chmod(1)
command is used to set permissions of the device.
(You have to be logged in as root or become the super user
to use this command.)
For example, if you want to use
/dev/tty1a, type:
The UNIX device is used when attaching serial ports to DOS processes using the
virtual attachment method.
On Open Server systems, in addition you can use the
direct attachment method.
When you use direct attachment, DOS
controls the communications hardware directly instead of
making use of the UNIX device.
When you use virtual attachment,
SCO Merge
mediates the communication between DOS and the
communications hardware.
Virtual attachment is more reliable when the system is
heavily loaded, but it may be slower than direct attachment.
However, virtual attachment is the form that you should
try first when you are uncertain about the form of attachment.
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these
steps to attach a serial port:
In a non-Desktop environment, use the +a option to the
dos, win, or mrgconfig command as described in
``Configuring DOS and Windows sessions from the
UNIX command line'' in Chapter 6.
The reliability of data
transfer over an attached serial port
depends on many factors, including line quality,
transfer speed, and system load.
If you use serial ports to transfer files at speeds greater than 4800
baud, use an error-correcting protocol to perform the transfer.
Error-correcting protocols help ensure the integrity of data during transfer.
Install either kind of modem by following the manufacturer's
instructions for
connecting it to a serial port.
To use the modem, attach the appropriate
serial port to your DOS or Windows process, as described in
``Using serial ports''.
By default, SCO Merge directs all your DOS and Windows printing through
the UNIX print spooler called
doslp
.
This spooler is automatically configured to refer to your default
UNIX printer if one was available during SCO Merge installation.
To check whether doslp is configured, run the following
command from the UNIX prompt:
If spooler doslp is not available or if you want
to configure additional
UNIX spoolers for use with SCO Merge, see
``Printer administration'' in Chapter 5.
When alternate UNIX print spoolers are configured for
use with SCO Merge, you can attach them to your DOS printer ports.
This is only necessary for printing from DOS or Windows 3.1.
If you are using Windows 95, once the printer has been configured as
described in
``Printer administration'' in Chapter 5,
it automatically becomes available to
the Windows 95 Add Printer Wizard.
(See
``Setting up printers in Windows 95'' in Chapter 3.)
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these
steps to attach a UNIX print spooler to your DOS or Windows session:
If you are working in a non-Desktop environment, use
the lpt option to the mrgconfig command as
described in
``The mrgconfig command'' in
Chapter 6.
When a printer is directly attached to DOS or Windows,
it is controlled exclusively by that DOS or Windows session
and cannot be shared. Therefore, you should only request this
printer for the single session in which you actually need it.
If the printer you want to directly attach is the UNIX system printer,
you must first disable it for UNIX printing. See
``Disabling UNIX printing'' in
Chapter 5 for instructions on how
to do this.
Alternatively, you could connect another
printer to an available parallel port, if there is one,
and directly attach that printer.
Once the printer is available, follow these steps to directly
attach it to your DOS or Windows session when you
are working in a Desktop environment:
Ignore the timeout settings, since
these do not apply to directly attached printers.
If you are working in a non-Desktop environment, use
the lpt option to the mrgconfig command as
described in
``The mrgconfig command'' in
Chapter 6.
SCO Merge uses a special mouse driver that is identified in
the system-wide config.sys file.
Do not modify any config.sys files to specify a mouse driver
as you would on a conventional personal computer
running standard DOS.
When using Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, or Windows for Workgroups,
you should install a special SCO Merge
mouse driver for proper mouse operation. See
``Installing the DOS Merge mouse driver''
in Chapter 2 for instructions.
To access a CD-ROM drive from DOS or Windows
you need to configure your session to attach it using a particular drive
letter.
With DOS or Windows 3.1, you can only attach one CD-ROM drive to
each session.
With Windows 95, you can attach multiple CD-ROM drives.
If you installed Windows 95 from a CD, the CD-ROM drive you used is
automatically configured in all your standard Windows
configurations.
To configure a CD-ROM drive in the
Desktop environment, start the Merge Setup
utility and select the personal DOS or Windows configuration you want
to set up for CD-ROM use. Use the Drives & Filesystem
view to configure a new drive of type CD-ROM.
See
``Configuring drives''
for more information.
When you first access the CD-ROM drive, UNIX locks
the drive by disabling the eject button.
SCO Merge automatically unlocks the CD-ROM drive,
re-enabling the eject button, when 18 seconds elapse without any disk access.
(To change the CD-ROM release timeout value, follow instructions in
``Changing the CD-ROM timeout''.)
You can also eject the CD before the timeout expires. First,
you need to release the drive and then push the eject button on
the CD drive.
If you are working in a non-Desktop environment, or your DOS and
Windows sessions zoom to use the whole display, SCO Merge emulates the
standard VGA adapter and monitor. In this case, your session
will run in a 640x480 resolution with 16 colors available.
If you are working in the Desktop environment and your sessions
run in a separate window on the Desktop,
the number of colors available in your DOS or Windows session
depends on the number of colors available on your X server.
On a 16-color server, Windows has a very limited range of colors.
On a 256-color server (or on servers with 32K, 64K,
or 16M True Color modes), you have a much
more extensive range of colors.
On a 2-color server, Windows runs in black and white.
By default, the Desktop uses the colors available
to the X server and maps these colors to DOS and Windows colors
for each session (the Shared Colormap option).
However, these mappings are not exact and sometimes
result in strange colors in your DOS applications
or hard-to-see text in a DOS window.
Follow these steps to set the colors to be used in DOS and Windows
sessions on the Desktop:
If you select
Use Shared Colormap,
all available colors are
shared between the X applications and DOS or Windows applications
that are running in the SCO Merge window on the Desktop.
If you have a 256-color server, you can further request the level at which
colors are allocated to the DOS or Windows applications running in the
SCO Merge window. (You may want to limit the number of colors
used by SCO Merge if UNIX applications that run simultaneously
with Windows applications complain about the lack of available colors)
To limit the number of colors used by SCO Merge sessions, follow
these steps:
If you select
Use Private Colormap,
the privately installed colormap
is used, and all available colors are allocated to the DOS or Windows
application running in the SCO Merge window.
One side effect of using a private colormap is that every time the user
switches between a UNIX window and a DOS window, the entire screen flashes
as the colormaps are switched.
Also, if the colormaps are vastly different, the contents
of the currently non-active windows can become difficult to read
due to random foreground and background colors.
You can also choose your colormap while you're running a
DOS or a Windows session by using
the Options menu at the top of the SCO Merge window. See
``Controlling the SCO Merge window''
in Chapter 1 for information.
For Windows 3.1 sessions the window size is based
on the resolution of your server and is set to about 80 percent of your
display size, but not less than 600x400.
For Windows 95 sessions, the default size is 640x480.
Some applications expect 640x480 to be the minimum
resolution for the Windows environment.
If your window is the minimum 600x400 size, these
programs may yield peculiar results (clipping text,
strange displays, and so forth).
If this presents a problem, you can set your Windows window size to 640x480.
The X window loses a few pixels of its border, but this does no harm.
To change your window size for Windows 95, use the standard
Windows 95 method:
To change your window size under Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, or Windows
for Workgroups,
follow these steps:
If you choose Automatic, you need take no further steps.
If you choose Custom,
slide the Width and Height bars left
or right until the window size in pixels is correct.
(Clicking in the slider bar increments these values one
pixel at a time.)
You can also click on the Manual Resize
button and use the mouse or keyboard to drag the
resulting prototype window to the size you want.
When the window is the right size, click on OK.
Zooming a window causes it to expand so it fills your whole screen
when you're working in the Desktop environment.
When you run a DOS VGA (high-resolution)
graphics program, you must zoom the window. You also must zoom
if you are running Microsoft Windows from the Desktop without
first installing the Windows/X display driver.
By default, when your session switches into VGA graphics mode,
a message appears on
your screen telling you that you must zoom in order to continue.
At that point, use the
Window menu in your SCO Merge window and select the
Zoom option. (See
``Controlling the SCO Merge window''
in Chapter 1.)
If you want to avoid having to zoom the window manually, you can
set one of two options: Start Zoomed or Autozoom.
You can configure your environment so that it always zooms your window
to full screen when you start DOS or Windows.
To set the Start Zoomed feature, follow these steps:
You can configure your environment so that it zooms automatically
to full screen when your session switches into VGA graphics mode.
To set the automatic zoom feature, follow these steps:
Deselect Autozoom to disable autozooming.
You can also set the Autozoom option
while you're running a DOS or a Windows session by using
the Options menu at the top of the SCO Merge window. See
``Controlling the SCO Merge window''
in Chapter 1 for information.
The following advanced options are available when you're working
in the Desktop environment:
These options are described below.
If an X application currently has input focus and is running unacceptably
slow, one or more DOS or Windows sessions
running in the background may be consuming
too many system resources.
In this case, you can configure your sessions to temporarily suspend
when the input focus changes to make more
system resources available to the X application.
If you are working in a Desktop
environment, follow these steps:
To enable cutting and pasting from the Desktop, follow these steps:
Use the following options to configure advanced display features for
your DOS sessions:
These options are described below.
Follow these steps to
configure your DOS session for the font size you prefer:
Follow these steps to configure your DOS session to change the
graphics scaling:
SCO Merge automatically senses the capability of your display
and chooses an appropriate display mode.
When you install DOS applications, be sure to configure them for the
type of adapter you are using.
In the unlikely event that you need to run an application in a
less powerful display
than the one you are using, you can start your DOS session with an
alternate display mode type.
If you are working in a Desktop environment, follow these steps:
See
"Displays and
display adapters"
in Chapter 5
for more information on using alternate displays.
Follow these steps to configure the Show Menu or Unzoom key:
–
–
–
–
Setting expanded memory (EMS) for DOS
SCO Merge supports the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded
Memory Specification (EMS), so you can run any
DOS
applications that use expanded memory and
conform to this specification.
If you are working in a non-Desktop environment, see
``Using dos and win
commands with configuration options'' in Chapter 6 for
instructions
on how to do this from the UNIX command line.
Configuring drives
SCO Merge makes the UNIX file system, as well as any physical DOS
volumes that exist on your hard disk, available to your DOS or Windows
sessions. These file systems can be accessed through
drive letters as under real DOS or Windows.
See
``About drives and file systems''
in Chapter 3
for more information about the default drive configuration.
CAUTION:
If you inadvertently assign the same volume to two different
SCO Merge drive letters,
SCO Merge responds by protecting your files from corruption.
All files on the volume are made read-only, and you cannot create new files.
Using peripheral devices
Using serial ports
The SCO Merge DOS and Windows environments can use the
COM1 and COM2
serial
ports (equivalent to the UNIX devices
/dev/tty1a and /dev/tty2a on OpenServer systems, and
/dev/tty00t and /dev/tty01t on UnixWare systems).
SCO Merge does not support the COM3 and COM4 ports.
NOTE:
SCO Merge does not support all serial cards.
For restrictions on multiport serial cards, see
``Serial Port Administration'' in
Chapter 5.
disable /dev/tty1a".
chmod 666 /dev/tty1a
Note: When you attach a serial port to your DOS or Windows
environment, that port becomes unavailable to other
system users and applications.
For this reason, you should request a serial port for only the single
session in which you actually need it.
We recommended that you
do not make the
attachment of a serial port the default for your DOS
or Windows environment configuration.
Using a modem
You can use either an external modem
(one attached to a serial
port) or an internal modem (one that requires an
internally installed card) with SCO Merge.
If you have a choice, consider that external modems are
easier to troubleshoot should problems arise.
Using printers
You can perform printing functions in two ways:
Printing through the UNIX system spooler
lpstat -p doslp
NOTE:
The printer timeout does not apply when you use the DOS Merge
network printing driver in Windows 3.1 because the driver allows SCO Merge
to determine when print jobs start and stop.
We recommend that you use the DOS Merge network
printing driver for printing from Windows 3.1.
Directly attaching printers
Rarely, a DOS or a Windows application fails when attempting to print to
the system printer, usually with a message similar to
the following:
Printer not ready.
To print from such an application, you should attach a printer
directly to the DOS or Windows process rather than use the UNIX spooler
Using a mouse
If a mouse is configured on your system, it is automatically
available to your DOS and Windows sessions.
SCO Merge causes DOS and Windows to view any properly configured
mouse as though it were a Microsoft bus mouse.
When you install applications that need to know about
the type of mouse you use, always refer to it as a
Microsoft bus mouse.
Ejecting the CD from the drive
NOTE:
Depending on the display adapter you are using,
it may be possible to increase the resolution and the
number of colors available to DOS and Windows in full screen mode. See
``Using extended video modes''
in Chapter 5 for information.
Setting the size of a Windows window
In the Desktop environment, the SCO Merge Windows/X driver
automatically sets the
size of the Desktop window
in which your Windows session runs.
Start Zoomed
Advanced configuration options in the Desktop environment
Suspending DOS or Windows when another window is currently active
Cutting and pasting between the X Window system and Windows
With SCO Merge, you can move or copy text and certain bitmap graphics
among Windows and X applications on the Desktop.
By default, your Windows session starts with this
X Cut & Paste option turned off,
since it affects system performance and consumes extra resources.
You can also set the
X Cut & Paste option
while you're running a DOS or a Windows session by using
the Options menu at the top of the SCO Merge window. See
``Controlling the SCO Merge window''
in Chapter 1 for information.
Advanced display options for DOS sessions
Specifying DOS fonts
By default, SCO Merge automatically sets the size of the fonts used in the
DOS window if you are working in the Desktop environment.
This size is based on the resolution of
your X Window
server and is either 6x13 or 8x14.
You can also set your DOS fonts while you are running a DOS session by using
the Options menu at the top of the SCO Merge window. See
``Controlling the SCO Merge window''
in Chapter 1 for information.
Scaling DOS graphics
When you run a CGA or Hercules graphics application on the
Desktop, SCO Merge displays it in the DOS
window using a default 1:1 mapping.
You can enlarge the size of these graphics by choosing an alternate
scaling ratio.
Setting DOS display types
SCO Merge is compatible with VGA, CGA, Hercules, and
monochrome display modes.
Special Keys
The special Show Menu and Unzoom keys are both by default
<Shift><F12>.
You can redefine these keys if the current settings are not convenient
or conflicts with your application.
(The Show Menu key causes the menu to be shown if it is hidden
and unfocuses the mouse if it is focused to DOS.
The Unzoom key undoes the effect of Zoom.)