Windows 7 forum: Opening DOS applications full-screen under Windows 7

You can actually install Windows XP into a virtual machine using free software, such as VirtualBox, running Windows XP as an application on Windows Vista. That is essentially what XPMode does, though it is a pre-built and customized virtual machine. Either way, it will provide the same functionality as Windows XP in that regard since it is, in fact, Windows XP.

Hope this helps,
John

Did you read this discussion? Sometimes a new member jumps into a discussion with a "SOLVED" and misses it.
Bob

Hello, I hope you won't mind me jumping in on this discussion. I have done a lot of searching for a solution to the problem of getting DOS to work in fullscreen on Windows 7. I have tried Windows XPMode but all I get is the same size window surrounded by black, the text is the same size as when it is not in fullscreen. (Which is not the behavior on a real XP machine.) I also tried VirtualBox with the same results. I am trying to run a proprietary DOS program in Windows 7. (I also tried DOSBOX but couldn't even configure it properly to run my program since the program runs from a network drive.)

If any one has a solution that really works or can instruct me on how to configure one of the above solutions to work, I would very very much appreciate it!

Thanks,
Nina

So far I can tentatively say that you have solved my problem! Thank you!
I started working in DOS fullscreen mode and it's great. (After a few minutes it reverted to a small screen but I just switched back to fullscreen and continued. I will have to keep an eye on how often that happens and if it starts to be a real pain.)

(P.S. My graphics driver is an Intel so the instructions given in your link were slightly off, Intel actually asked me if I want to overwrite the later version of the graphics card with the XP version, I said yes, and it installed fine.

Once again I would like to really thank you!
Nina

kasdp, why are you upgrading to Win7? I also use a DOS window for my PC-Write as the most time I (should) spend on my computer.

Sincerely, being in a similar situation, and having side-stepped Vista and your Alt-Enter agony (which I did not know until I saw your post), what carrot or stick is compelling you to upgrade to Win7?

I also do PowerPoint, but Microsoft priced me into using Impress on OpenOffice instead. (Works fine; saves PPT files.) Can't say the same for OpenOffice Writer, so I use my Office 2000 Word when that's needed. Once MS tells me I have to buy a new version of Office, I am going to move to OpenOffice and live with the limitations. OpenOffice is free, multi-platform, and is supported by Sun Microsystems. It also works on Linux, and given all the Mac people I deal with professionally, can't see that beng a PC/Linux person can be all that bad. Sea Monkey resurrected my aged Netscape email files, so I am finding a way that does not rely on Microsoft.

My Word 2000 clearly lacks current features, but nothing that I find I have to have. I use Word mostly to import various objects which Writer can't do. Have not tried Writer much, but if it is RTF compatible, I should do fine. I never used the PowerPoint that came with my Office98, and Microsoft left it out of the version of Office 2000 I have. However, Impress files, saved as PPT, play fine in the free Microsoft PPT player.

It's like AutoCAD. If you are doing 2D drawings, and don't have to worry about compatability, you can (at least I can) use Release 9 and draft circles around anyone using a later version. Release 9 fits on a 1.44MB floppy, with drivers. The program is so small that it simply screams on today's machines. In the past 20 years they have added things, but not made it better for it's main task: doing drawings.

There are companies who release new products to make them better. There are other companies that release new products to keep up revenues. I will admit that Quicken gets to shake me down for an upgrade avery 2 or 3 years, but that's less than $40, and they know that they are dead if they can't install on top of the old version. I just see Microsoft as losing touch with the base of their business, leaving it open for a competitor.

I would offer the observation that the fales-step of Vista ignoring the DOS window is being "corrected" by Win7. It amazes me that Microsoft can so mis-gauge their users, yet that very lack of understanding explains so much.

Just out of curiousity... why a DOS-based word processor? MS Word is practically a standard (with a few Corel or Lotus holdouts)... so why stick with that particular app?

Also, installing XP should not be an issue. As long as you can find the proper drivers for the hardware, you should be able to install XP with very little difficulty. Can you tell me specifically the problem you were having?

I have had Word for over a decade, and have never found it to be as productive as PC-Write, a 20yo DOS program. Word has many more features, but like a Swiss Army knife, it's not the best thing to eat with. I prefer to get the job done. It's productivity of getting the information into words, not the experience of the software.

Also, Word has the interface du jour. Things are changed to be different, not to make them more productive, only, at most, to add features that less then 10% of the users really need.

It would be interesting to see how fast a DOS program user can get a 1-page letter out, compared to someone using Word.

The only 20yo computer programs that I still use are PC-Write, and a few simple apps I wrote in Turbo Pascal. Otherwise, my apps are Win98SE vintage or newer. Do you think it is a studied choice... "Well, I think I will upgrade this, use, this and abandon this..." No, it is if there is a better product that lets me do my work better and faster.

That is the flaw in the wave after wave of "new" apps and OS's: they may make some minor technical improvement, and some things that can be sold as "gee whiz," but who actually uses those new bells and whistles. Who actually STARTS using a computer for a task because of them? These have to be weighed against (many more) those who are encumbered by the "new" features getting in the way.

As for the specific of the WP task, I have worked with Word out of necessity for a decade. Why have I not moved to it? Because it simply does not allow the quick SINGLE keystroke to features I use every few minutes. It's not that you cannot do these things in Word, you just can't:
a) split the screen at the current cursor position by pressing <F2>;
b) start a search with <F9>;
c) jump to the next occurrence with <+>;
d) do a single search/replace with <F10>;
e) insert a file with Ctrl-<F6>;
f) export a block of text to a file with Ctrl-<F3>;
to name a few.

Bill Wallace did a great job with the user interface and natural language aspects of PC-Write. No need to define indentations - the program recognizes them without any formatting at all.

Perhaps one of the biggest stupidities is that when I have to highlight a block of text in Word (and virtually all Win apps) I have to hold down the <Shift> key. In PC-Write I start the block text function, and then highlighting follows the cursor until I complete the function: I have twice the number of hands available to me!

Perhaps some of these can be defined as macros in Word, but how long will those work until a "new" version of Word decides to ignore or improperly implement those macro translations. I have old Excel spreadsheets with macros that did not translate into a later version. Funny thing though, if I do a spreadhseet with macros in 20yo QuattroPro, they come up in Excel just fine.

If your job is to play with computers, these are engaging and entertaining issues. Maybe that's your job, or your amusement. Some of us use computers as a tool to generate a work product, and need to reach that product as efficiently and reliably as possible.

Microsoft has made sure Notepad and Wordpad are no substitutes for a real WP. If you bothered to read the previous posts, you can see that a full WP program is needed, and Word is close but falls short of the older DOS programs it eclipsed.

Has there been any definitice word on whether XyWrite word processing program will run on Windows 7 as full screen?

I downloaded DOSBOX in Vista but it still won't go full screen when pressing ALT-Enter. Other function keys work but not this one. Any suggestions?

I've read the thread and checked with DOSBOX FAQ which as far as I can see does not mention this topic. All it says is:

Special Keys
From DOSBoxWiki
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Note: These are the default keybindings. They can be changed using the keymapper.

ALT-ENTER Switch to full-screen (and back).

Can't see anything about problems.