dBase IV runs poorly on XP

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME was no
problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine with
a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using dBase
IV 2.0.

Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.

Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if I
exit the program.

I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties, including
compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of COMMAND.COM.
But nothing seems to help.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:SLdWe.2919$P34.1129@okepread07...
>I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME was
>no
> problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine
> with
> a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using
> dBase
> IV 2.0.
>
> Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
>
> Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if I
> exit the program.
>
> I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties, including
> compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of COMMAND.COM.
> But nothing seems to help.
>
>

I used to program in Clipper and dBase. I know you don't want to hear it but
it's time to join the rest of the world and learn some new tricks. If you
program for your own use only then it's up to you. If you program for
other's use then you are doing them a great disservice by sticking with
dBase. What happens to them when/if you retire or get out of the business?
Check out the preview beta of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL 2005.

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/

This tip may help with the slow printing:

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#fast_dos_print

Kerry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

XP, like Windows 2000/NT, does not use a real DOS. The CMD is a DOS
emulator and may not be suitable for all DOS applications. You may need to
convert the application to a Windows version.


"Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:SLdWe.2919$P34.1129@okepread07...
>I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME was
>no
> problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine
> with
> a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using
> dBase
> IV 2.0.
>
> Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
>
> Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if I
> exit the program.
>
> I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties, including
> compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of COMMAND.COM.
> But nothing seems to help.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

I've tried Visual Foxpro and spent some time with Visual Basic, but they
both seem to complex and to clumsey. Is there any third party dos emulators
that might work better? I'd probably have to go back to ME if and XP
solution can't be found.

"Yves Leclerc" <yleclercNOSPAM@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:e7ilmjfuFHA.2568@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> XP, like Windows 2000/NT, does not use a real DOS. The CMD is a DOS
> emulator and may not be suitable for all DOS applications. You may need
to
> convert the application to a Windows version.
>
>
> "Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:SLdWe.2919$P34.1129@okepread07...
> >I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME was
> >no
> > problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine
> > with
> > a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using
> > dBase
> > IV 2.0.
> >
> > Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
> >
> > Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if I
> > exit the program.
> >
> > I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties,
including
> > compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of
COMMAND.COM.
> > But nothing seems to help.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message
news:uaq1FsguFHA.2072@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> "Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:SLdWe.2919$P34.1129@okepread07...
> >I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME was
> >no
> > problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine
> > with
> > a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using
> > dBase
> > IV 2.0.
> >
> > Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
> >
> > Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if I
> > exit the program.
> >
> > I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties,
including
> > compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of
COMMAND.COM.
> > But nothing seems to help.
> >
> >
>
> I used to program in Clipper and dBase. I know you don't want to hear it
but
> it's time to join the rest of the world and learn some new tricks. If you
> program for your own use only then it's up to you. If you program for
> other's use then you are doing them a great disservice by sticking with
> dBase. What happens to them when/if you retire or get out of the business?
> Check out the preview beta of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL 2005.
>
> http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/
>
> This tip may help with the slow printing:
>
> http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#fast_dos_print
>
> Kerry
>
>
I appreciate your input Kerry, but it doesn't address the question. Obvously
XP can run the program, so why shouldn't it run it well, it certainly has no
problems with much more complicated tasks than executing a dos emulator.

As for "joining the rest of the world", I have spent more than $2000 on
development packages in the past 10 to 15 years, including Visual Basic,
Visual C++, and Visual Foxpro. But by comparison to dBase they are very
clumsey and complex, and in my business we simply don't need the additional
functionality they provide. Our most cost effective solution would be return
to 98 or ME. But it just seems like a shame to buy new computers and have to
wipe the disks and install an older OS. You might also do a search on any
engine sometime and see how much of "the rest of the world" is struggling
with the same issue.

And no, I don't or have any intention of developing for others.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:QphWe.2922$P34.2492@okepread07...
>
> "Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message
> news:uaq1FsguFHA.2072@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> "Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
>> news:SLdWe.2919$P34.1129@okepread07...
>> >I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME
>> >was
>> >no
>> > problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine
>> > with
>> > a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using
>> > dBase
>> > IV 2.0.
>> >
>> > Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
>> >
>> > Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if
>> > I
>> > exit the program.
>> >
>> > I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties,
> including
>> > compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of
> COMMAND.COM.
>> > But nothing seems to help.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> I used to program in Clipper and dBase. I know you don't want to hear it
> but
>> it's time to join the rest of the world and learn some new tricks. If you
>> program for your own use only then it's up to you. If you program for
>> other's use then you are doing them a great disservice by sticking with
>> dBase. What happens to them when/if you retire or get out of the
>> business?
>> Check out the preview beta of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL 2005.
>>
>> http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/
>>
>> This tip may help with the slow printing:
>>
>> http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#fast_dos_print
>>
>> Kerry
>>
>>
> I appreciate your input Kerry, but it doesn't address the question.
> Obvously
> XP can run the program, so why shouldn't it run it well, it certainly has
> no
> problems with much more complicated tasks than executing a dos emulator.
>
> As for "joining the rest of the world", I have spent more than $2000 on
> development packages in the past 10 to 15 years, including Visual Basic,
> Visual C++, and Visual Foxpro. But by comparison to dBase they are very
> clumsey and complex, and in my business we simply don't need the
> additional
> functionality they provide. Our most cost effective solution would be
> return
> to 98 or ME. But it just seems like a shame to buy new computers and have
> to
> wipe the disks and install an older OS. You might also do a search on any
> engine sometime and see how much of "the rest of the world" is struggling
> with the same issue.
>
> And no, I don't or have any intention of developing for others.
>

I feel your pain. I went through the same process about six years ago. I
eventually settled on Delphi which I've never been totally happy with. MS
Visual Studio 2005 combined with SQL 2005 is a very powerful and relatively
easy database development tool to use. You should take advantage of the free
preview program to at least try it. I'm considering moving to it. Have to
wait and see what the final product is like.

I still have the Clipper dBase compiler installed as I have one customer who
refuses to upgrade an application I wrote over fifteen years ago. That app
seems to run OK in XP. Have you tried compiling your dBase code with
Clipper? Did the printing tip help?

Kerry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message
news:uZqSBlhuFHA.2920@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> "Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:QphWe.2922$P34.2492@okepread07...
> >
> > "Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message
> > news:uaq1FsguFHA.2072@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> >> "Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
> >> news:SLdWe.2919$P34.1129@okepread07...
> >> >I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME
> >> >was
> >> >no
> >> > problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel
machine
> >> > with
> >> > a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am
using
> >> > dBase
> >> > IV 2.0.
> >> >
> >> > Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
> >> >
> >> > Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley
if
> >> > I
> >> > exit the program.
> >> >
> >> > I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties,
> > including
> >> > compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of
> > COMMAND.COM.
> >> > But nothing seems to help.
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >> I used to program in Clipper and dBase. I know you don't want to hear
it
> > but
> >> it's time to join the rest of the world and learn some new tricks. If
you
> >> program for your own use only then it's up to you. If you program for
> >> other's use then you are doing them a great disservice by sticking with
> >> dBase. What happens to them when/if you retire or get out of the
> >> business?
> >> Check out the preview beta of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL 2005.
> >>
> >> http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/
> >>
> >> This tip may help with the slow printing:
> >>
> >> http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#fast_dos_print
> >>
> >> Kerry
> >>
> >>
> > I appreciate your input Kerry, but it doesn't address the question.
> > Obvously
> > XP can run the program, so why shouldn't it run it well, it certainly
has
> > no
> > problems with much more complicated tasks than executing a dos emulator.
> >
> > As for "joining the rest of the world", I have spent more than $2000 on
> > development packages in the past 10 to 15 years, including Visual Basic,
> > Visual C++, and Visual Foxpro. But by comparison to dBase they are very
> > clumsey and complex, and in my business we simply don't need the
> > additional
> > functionality they provide. Our most cost effective solution would be
> > return
> > to 98 or ME. But it just seems like a shame to buy new computers and
have
> > to
> > wipe the disks and install an older OS. You might also do a search on
any
> > engine sometime and see how much of "the rest of the world" is
struggling
> > with the same issue.
> >
> > And no, I don't or have any intention of developing for others.
> >
>
> I feel your pain. I went through the same process about six years ago. I
> eventually settled on Delphi which I've never been totally happy with. MS
> Visual Studio 2005 combined with SQL 2005 is a very powerful and
relatively
> easy database development tool to use. You should take advantage of the
free
> preview program to at least try it. I'm considering moving to it. Have to
> wait and see what the final product is like.
>
> I still have the Clipper dBase compiler installed as I have one customer
who
> refuses to upgrade an application I wrote over fifteen years ago. That app
> seems to run OK in XP. Have you tried compiling your dBase code with
> Clipper? Did the printing tip help?
>
> Kerry
>
>
Yes, the printing tip did help. It sped things up to about 10 to 15 seconds.
Thanks.

Also I found that running dBase in full screen mode (not at all my
preference) solved the display problem. Hard to believe, considering it's
all
just ASCII. If I was directly addressing the screen display or the ports, it
would be easier to understand.

Hopefully it will be like the early Win days when we actually had to reboot
to run dos 6.
Then 95 came along and solved the problem. I just can't justify the cost of
changing developement enviroments, when they will also be obsolete someday
soon themselves, and I have no use for their added functions. Remember the
early Windows days when Microsoft always
touted that their software would always be upwardly compatible?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:WpiWe.2925$P34.2507@okepread07...
> Yes, the printing tip did help. It sped things up to about 10 to 15
> seconds.
> Thanks.
>

That's about the best I've been able to get as well. It depends on the
printer. Old Hp's seem to be the fastest at printing from a old DOS program.
If a customer is using old programs I try to nudge them towards a printer
that will work with a generic HP Laserjet II driver.

> Also I found that running dBase in full screen mode (not at all my
> preference) solved the display problem. Hard to believe, considering it's
> all
> just ASCII. If I was directly addressing the screen display or the ports,
> it
> would be easier to understand.
>

That could be why the Clipper app I was talking about seems OK. They always
run it full screen.

> Hopefully it will be like the early Win days when we actually had to
> reboot
> to run dos 6.
> Then 95 came along and solved the problem. I just can't justify the cost
> of
> changing developement enviroments, when they will also be obsolete someday
> soon themselves, and I have no use for their added functions. Remember the
> early Windows days when Microsoft always
> touted that their software would always be upwardly compatible?
>

I have found that programs I wrote that followed Microsoft's documented
API's still run, even programs written for DOS. Whenever I strayed from the
path all bets are off

Good luck with your quest. I eventually gave up.

Kerry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

I would really recommend you upgrade to something newer. you'll get a lot
more functionality and after a fairly short learning curve, it won't be any
harder than programming for DOS.

That said you might want to check out DOSbox.
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1
It's designed primarily to run older DOS games under different platforms,
but it might work well for what you're doing as well.

"Tom Frey" wrote:

> I have been coding in dBase since 1982. Upgrading to Win95, 98 and ME was no
> problem. But now that I have upgraded to XP on a 3.2 ghz Intel machine with
> a gig of ram, I am having two serious performance problems. I am using dBase
> IV 2.0.
>
> Keyboard input is slow and sporadic to display.
>
> Printing is delayed by up to a minute, but will execute immediatley if I
> exit the program.
>
> I have tried changing every aspet of the short cuts properties, including
> compatibily option, and executing it from CMD.EXE instead of COMMAND.COM.
> But nothing seems to help.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Kerry Brown" <kerry@kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> wrote in message
news:eVQq4QiuFHA.1252@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>
> "Tom Frey" <tomfrey2@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:WpiWe.2925$P34.2507@okepread07...
> > Yes, the printing tip did help. It sped things up to about 10 to 15
> > seconds.
> > Thanks.
> >
>
> That's about the best I've been able to get as well. It depends on the
> printer. Old Hp's seem to be the fastest at printing from a old DOS
program.
> If a customer is using old programs I try to nudge them towards a printer
> that will work with a generic HP Laserjet II driver.
>
> > Also I found that running dBase in full screen mode (not at all my
> > preference) solved the display problem. Hard to believe, considering
it's
> > all
> > just ASCII. If I was directly addressing the screen display or the
ports,
> > it
> > would be easier to understand.
> >
>
> That could be why the Clipper app I was talking about seems OK. They
always
> run it full screen.
>
> > Hopefully it will be like the early Win days when we actually had to
> > reboot
> > to run dos 6.
> > Then 95 came along and solved the problem. I just can't justify the cost
> > of
> > changing developement enviroments, when they will also be obsolete
someday
> > soon themselves, and I have no use for their added functions. Remember
the
> > early Windows days when Microsoft always
> > touted that their software would always be upwardly compatible?
> >
>
> I have found that programs I wrote that followed Microsoft's documented
> API's still run, even programs written for DOS. Whenever I strayed from
the
> path all bets are off
>
> Good luck with your quest. I eventually gave up.
>
> Kerry
>
>
Thanks again for your help Kerry, it has made a big difference indeed. I
actually timed the print delay, and came up with 15 exactly. I later change
to the XP print driver for Generic/Text and dropped it to 11 seconds. Still
what seems like an unnecessary delay, but livable. I never use fonts from
dBase anyway, and my HP Inkjet seems to like it just fine.