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As most people are aware, UltraMed is a DOS-based program. Almost nobody runs DOS anymore, which might seem to be a big problem. Not so! UltraMed can be very fast and reliable on a Windows machine; you just need to change a few settings. - Windows 3 ran on top of DOS and didn't run UltraMed very well
- Windows 95 and 98 essentially were DOS (for our purposes), but with a prettier face.
- Windows Millennium Edition was a mutant plague that should have been sterilized before it could escape to terrorize an unsuspecting world. (Think Lilo and Stitch without the happy ending.)
- Windows NT - which was born shortly after Windows 3 - was a totally new operating system, and ran DOS programs in a sort of emulation mode
- 2000 and XP are based on NT. If you're still using an older version, it's past time to upgrade. And if you do, please skip right over 2000.
- Vista/Longhorn - well, we'll see when it gets here, won't we?
DOS is an operating system - for our purposes, that simply means the main program, running all the time in the background, that lets programs run on your computer and use its resources - memory, hard disk, screen, printer, etc. (This is not intended as a technical discussion, so I'm not going to get any more precise than that.) Think of it as the attendant of a parking lot: DOS essentially "owned" the entire machine, and "rented" parts of it out to your cars - I mean programs. There was a limited amount of total space, and if things were loaded in the wrong order not everybody would fit. (I'm liking this analogy better and better the longer I use it! However, please remember it's only an analogy.)
Windows, on the other hand, runs DOS programs in "virtual" machines: a bit like a multi-story parking structure where each story has its own attendant. (Unlike real life, if the attendant goes home it's not free parking - the lot shuts down.)
In order to get everybody squeezed in just the way we wanted, DOS had a couple of files of settings that it read every time it started up, to tell it how to proceed. You could edit these files to customize your system. You may have heard of the infamous CONFIG.SYS (System Configuration) and AUTOEXEC.BAT (a BATch file - a list of commands, like a script - that AUTOmatically EXECutes when the computer starts up.) Windows has its own versions of these files, but instead of affecting the entire machine when you start up (the Registry does that), these settings apply when you start up a command prompt or run a DOS program.
Here's an example of my typical recommended CONFIG.SYS for a Windows 95/98 machine (just change the directory references, if necessary, to suit your machine):
device=c:\windows\himem.sys device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems dos=high,umb,auto files=250 buffers=40 shell=c:\windows\command.com /e:512 /p | The first three lines set up memory management, a topic which used to be very complicated and VERY important; since Windows 95 you're OK leaving the details up to Windows (which is basically what we're doing here.)
FILES - this is vital. DOS sets aside a small chunk of memory - called a "file handle" - to keep track of each file that a program opens. Since DOS originally ran on machines with very limited resources, the default number of file handles is 32. UltraMed's database consists of approximately 90 files... it doesn't need to have them all open at the same time, but you can see how 32 might be a problem.
BUFFERS - you could leave this out, but I've had slightly better results with more-than-minimal settings. You've got the memory.
SHELL - the whole point of this line is that "e:512" part. This sets aside extra space for environment variables, which we'll be setting in AUTOEXEC.BAT. |
And here's an example of my typical recommended AUTOEXEC.BAT:
set x=u: path=%path%;%x%\mutl; set temp=c:\temp set tmp=c:\temp lh doskey | X - Set this to the drive letter where the UltraMed and MUTL directories are located. If this is the main computer, X is probably your C drive; otherwise, I like to use drive U for the network drive (U for UltraMed, of course!) See elsewhere for how to map network drives.
PATH - this tells Windows where to look for programs and batch files. We're basically saying "Whatever the path was before, keep it - but add the MUTL directory to the end of it." MUTL is the directory where we keep the UltraMed batch files.
TEMP, TMP - this tells Windows and most standards-compliant programs to create their temporary files in one location so you can clean them up easily. Temporary files are like scratch paper for programs - they are meant to be deleted after use, but they tend to pile up and fill up your hard disk with garbage. This way, they're easy to find and delete. Make sure the TEMP directory exists, of course...
DOSKEY - lets you go back through your command history when you're working at the command prompt. You may go years without needing the command prompt, but if you ever do, DOSKEY will save you lots of time and aggravation. Just hit the up- and down-arrow keys to repeat the commands you've typed. |
Well, that's how we did it in the old days. In Windows XP or 2000, things are a little different. First of all, CONFIG.SYS is called CONFIG.NT now, and it looks a little different. Not to worry. - Click Start/Search/For Files or Folders
- Type CONFIG.NT, click Search.
- Once it's found them (there will be at least two, maybe three), right-click them and select Edit (or TextPad - you do have TextPad, right?)
- Go to the bottom and find the line that says FILES=40. Change it to FILES=250, and add a line just underneath that says BUFFERS=40.
- Save and exit, and do the same with the other copy
- The active one is in C:\Windows\System32
- The backup is in C:\Windows\Repair,
- There may be one in C:\Windows\i386, which will be compressed and unreadable. Don't edit that one.
Don't worry about memory management - it's taken care of. Don't worry about environment space - it's taken care of. Don't worry about DOSKEY - it's built-in now. We do, however, need to fix a few more things. - Let's create the TEMP directory - Click the "Start" button and select "Run..."
- Type cmd and press Enter.
- You should now have a black command-prompt window.
- Type cd \ and press Enter (that's a backslash - the one that's NOT on the same key as the question mark.) If you ever see an error that says something about "invalid switch", it means you used a regular slash instead of a backslash. It really does make a difference. Spelling counts.
- Your prompt should now look like this - C:\> If it doesn't, try again.
- Type md temp and press Enter
- Type dir temp and press Enter. As long as it doesn't say "File Not Found", you're good.
- Type exit and press Enter. Make up your mind, will you? (Stupid joke, but I like it.) This should close the command prompt.
- Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
- Click on the tab labeled "Computer Name"
- Make a note of the field that says "Full computer name", but disregard the period at the end.
- If the name is not meaningful (most off-the-shelf machines come with a random-looking string of characters for a name):
- Click the "Change..." button
- Type a meaningful name in the "Computer name:" field.
- Each computer must have a unique name, but things work best if they all have the same workgroup name (although it's not vital.)
- Click OK to save your changes and return to the ComputerName tab.
- Did I mention, "make a note"? Actually, I recommend putting it on a Post-It on the front of the machine. You'll want it later, and it's a pain to have to look it up each time.
- Click on the tab labeled "Advanced"
- Click on the button labeled "Error Reporting", and set it to "Disable error reporting", 'cause it's a big waste of time. Click OK.
- Click the button labeled "Environment Variables"
- At the top, under "User variables for...", you'll see "TEMP"
- Highlight it and click Edit.
- Change whatever is in the "Variable value" field to C:\TEMP
- Click OK
- Do the same for TMP, and then for both TEMP and TMP in the "System variables" section down below.
- In "System variables", find "Path"
- Highlight it and click Edit.
- IMPORTANT!!! Go to the very end of whatever is in the "Variable value" field. Do NOT delete anything! The easiest way to do this is just to hit the right-arrow key. If you think you've deleted anything, hit Cancel and go back to step 1. Do NOT click OK!
- The semi-colon is the separator between items. In case you've forgotten your typing classes,
- the semi-colon looks like a dot on top of a comma ( ; )
- a colon looks like two dots. ( : )
- Hold down the Shift key if you want a colon; if you want a semi-colon, don't. (I must have answered this a million times over the past ten years...)
- If the last character is a semi-colon, then skip the next step
- If there's no semicolon, add one.
- We're going to add "%X%\MUTL;" to the end of the path. That is, a percent sign, the letter X, another percent sign, a backslash, MUTL, and a semi-colon. Don't type the quotes.
- Click OK.
- In "System variables", click the New button.
- In the "Variable name" field, type the letter X
- In the "Variable value" field, type the drive letter where UltraMed is stored, then a colon. Examples: "C:" or "U:"
- Click OK
- Click OK to return to the Advanced tab.
- Click OK to close the System Properties dialog. If you changed the computer name, it's going to want to reboot the computer.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
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