Jack Stein wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:
 JS> Roy J. Tellason wrote in a message to All:
 RJT> It appears,  from what I'm reading in this command
 RJT> reference,  that if I want to run a dos program from an OS/2
 RJT> command line,  all I need is something like 
 RJT>    command /c"doscommand"
 RJT> and that'll do it,  exiting back to the OS/2 command processor 
 RJT> when it's done. At least that's what it looks like it means.  
 RJT> Is this right?  
 JS> Yes, but you don't have to, as OS/2 will recognize a DOS app, 
 JS> spawn a DOS session, and run it for you without doing that.
So I gather from another reply to this,  and it comes as a surprise to me.  
But then I've only read through much of the online stuff and one of the two 
books I have sitting here,  and have lots more to plow through yet...   :-)
 JS> Keep in mind that the environment will not be what you expect, 
 JS> you probably won't have the command in your path, ansi.sys may 
 JS> not be loaded and such.
Good points.
 JS> The best ways to run DOS apps is from a DOS shell that has been 
 JS> configured they way you want it, with the boot-up file 
 JS> (auto-exec batch file you want) or from an ICON that has been 
 JS> configured for that app, or from a rexx script that runs the 
 JS> app from the objectid, which is the same as clicking on the 
 JS> icon for that object.  
 JS> You can also run a bat file from the OS/2 command line that 
 JS> sets up some of the environent you need for that DOS session.  
 JS> I don't recommend you try to run your BBS from an OS/2 session. 
 JS> Set up a DOS session with its own configuration and run it, and 
 JS> its apps from there.  If you want to kick off DOS apps from 
 JS> say, an OS/2 CRON scheduler, have the scheduler run a BAT file 
 JS> if you need special environments, and run the app from the BAT.
I was thinking that this might be the way to go,  at least initially.  
Install Warp on that new drive I have (still!) sitting here,  copy all of my 
apps and files and message areas over,  change the configs enough to deal 
with the different drive letters,  and run it that way while I play with 
getting the OS/2 side of things set up.
 JS> Alternatively, run a rexx batch that runs the app from its 
 JS> objectID as stated above.  
 JS> Running DOS sessions from an OS/2 session, particulary 
 JS> complicated ones such as a BBS requires a good understanding of 
 JS> what is going on, and not necessary anyway. The only reason I 
 JS> can see to do it is to use REXX as your script language.  There 
 JS> is almost no difference between an OS/2 cmd file, and a DOS BAT 
 JS> file, unless the OS/2 CMD file is a REXX script.
The only area where I'd have a problem is that I'm using DV now and there are 
times when I need to be able to spawn another process.  But that looks to be 
fairly easy to do under OS/2,  I just need to nail down the details of which 
method I'm going to use to do it...
 RJT> If so,  it'll make things a bit easier for me to get going here 
 RJT> under a completely OS/2 system before I find equivalents to all 
 RJT> of the stuff I'm using now... 
 JS> What specifically are you trying to accomplish?  It is likely a 
 JS> LOT easier than you think.  (using an objects ID to start a 
 JS> session is a little tricky for the beginner, that comes later, 
 JS> after you learn how things work and a little REXX.
While I've looked at some *.cmd files and they look just like *.bat files to 
me,  the little bit of REXX I've looked at is totally confusing,  at least at 
this point in time.  It seems to look somewhat like c,  which isn't a problem 
for me per se as I've worked with c before and probably won't have any hassle 
in dealing with it once I get things running smoothly and can spend a bit of 
time studying REXX.  As it is at this point,  though,  I've been reading all 
the _rest_ of the online info and the books I have here and so forth and 
trying to get a handle on the OS itself and not so much on another language.  
At least "not yet"...
What I do here on this machine mostly is this:
1.  I have Binkleyterm running in a non-swappable dv window for answering the 
phone,  and passing off to Maximus when it's a human caller.  I understand 
that there are differences in how that needs to be handled,  too.  I don't 
run any door programs or stuff like that where I'd have a problem,  though I 
wouldn't mind finding out how to handle such things as dos door programs,  
too.
2.  When I enter mail or get some in,  batch files spawn another DV window 
that kicks off a process that invokes PolyXArc --> PktSort --> Squish.  I 
have not heard of or seen an OS/2 version of PktSort so far,  the rest of it 
is covered.
3.  For my personal use in dealing with messages I run TimED in another 
window,  in 50-line mode (I figure the more text on the screen the better).  
I will probably be looking to switch to GoldEd before too much longer as 
TimED is unsupported and has a Y2K problem.
4.  For just about anything else I need to do on this machine (mostly stuff 
involving files) I invoke InspectA,  again in another DV window,  which in 
turn invokes LIST and assorted compression utilities,  as needed.  I'm not 
all that crazy about the OS/2 version of this program so far,  mostly because 
it doesn't have all of the utilities it's looking for (LISTOS2 for one),  but 
I sure am used to those keystrokes!
Item (1) up there is complicated further by the fact that I also run a 
gateway here,  using GIGO in the SQuish window to handle *.PKT  UUCP 
conversion, and FX-UUCICO to call out and deal with that.  I have an OS/2 
version of GIGO here,  haven't heard about or run across one for FX-UUCICO 
(yet?)...
That about sums it up,  I think.  There are a whole bunch of assorted other 
apps that I run here on a very occasional basis,  but I'm sure I won't have a 
problem in terms of dealing with them and if necessary finding replacements 
for them,  should it come down to that.
The bbs,  on the other hand,  *needs* to stay up.  I've considered starting 
out with Boot Manager defaulting to keeping my current setup going,  but that 
hardly seems worth it since I won't get to do anything with OS/2 on this 
machine if I've booted to DOS,  and I guess the next step is trying to map 
out in my own mind how I'd run this as a single "process" under OS/2 in a dos 
box. I remember reading somewhere that you can even run DV under OS/2 if you 
want to make the effort,  maybe I'll look for that text file and see what it 
says about how to do it...   
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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