TITLE: OS/2 AND NOVELL DOS 7 COMPATIBILITY DOCUMENT ID: TID14917 DOCUMENT REVISION: 1 DATE: 25FEB94 ALERT STATUS: Yellow README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: Novell DOS 7 ABSTRACT: NA --------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE: Novell DOS 7 and OS/2 are compatible and will work well together. The compatibility of the full features of NOVELL DOS 7 will be covered in this document. OS/2 is a separate operating system and uses a separate shell to operate DOS applications. Many of the features in NOVELL DOS can be run under both operating systems; some will only work while booted under NOVELL DOS. Other features cannot be used because of conflicts with OS/2, and any use of these features should be with extreme caution. Definitions: DOS Shell The DOS shell provided with OS/2. This DOS Shell is not Novell DOS 7 specific; although, it will use the EXTERNAL commands in the DOS PATH. Virtual Disk This is the Virtual Disk Image feature of OS/2. This is not to be confused with a RAM disk. NOVELL DOS FEATURES DELWATCH DELWATCH will not operate in a DOS shell under OS/2 but will operate on a Virtual Disk. DELPURGE DELPURGE operates successfully in the DOS shell and on a Virtual Disk. DISKMAP DISKMAP operates successfully in the DOS shell and on a Virtual Disk. DISKOPT DISKOPT operates successfully in the DOS shell and on a Virtual Disk; however, it is not recommended that you run DISKOPT in a multitasking environment. DPMS DPMS will not operate in a DOS Shell or a Virtual Disk. PASSWORD PASSWORD shows incorrect version of operating system in an OS/2 environment. Novell DOS files and directories with passwords are not secure. NWCACHE NWCache can be used under either operating system but will not provide any benefit while booted under OS/2. OS/2 has its own cache, which makes NWCache unnecessary. This feature should not be used on a Virtual Disk. SCRIPT SCRIPT does not function in a DOS Shell or Virtual Disk. SECURITY If Security is enabled, OS/2 WILL NOT boot under any circumstances. Security should not be used. STACKER Extended partitions of the hard disk can be compressed with Stacker while booted under Novell DOS 7. These partitions can be read by OS/2 if Stacker for OS/2 is loaded in the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file. Applications on the compressed drive will be accessible while operating in either environment. The Virtual Disk will need the driver and the STACKER.LOG to access the drive. Novell recommends that you do not compress the boot drive, because it is very difficult to get both operating systems to recognize the partition. TASK MANAGER TASK MANAGER will not operate in a DOS shell under OS/2. OS/2 is a multitasking environment, so TASKMGR is unnecessary on the Virtual Disk. Task Manager will operate in the Task Switcher mode. UNDELETE UNDELETE will operate in a DOS shell under OS/2 and on a Virtual Disk. Novell recommends that UNDELETE should not be operated in a multitasking environment. XCOPY, XDIR Both XCOPY and XDIR function in a DOS shell and a Virtual Disk; however, caution should be used when copying or moving OS/2 files. They carry extended attributes that are not transferred by DOS. Copying or moving an OS/2 file without its extended attributes can result in lost functionality. INTERNAL COMMANDS These commands are taken over by the OS/2 environment, so they are no longer internal to Novell DOS. For more information on the internal commands for OS/2, Refer to your OS/2 documentation. VER VER shows OS/2 in the OS/2 DOS shell but will show Novell DOS 7 in Virtual Disk. EXTERNAL COMMANDS The following Novell DOS external commands work with certain exceptions: FORMAT In FORMAT all switches, with the exception of /S, function correctly. The /S switch will cause the system files to be copied; however, the disk will not be bootable. TREE TREE works fine in either environment but provides statistics in a different format than the OS/2 version. EDITOR EDITOR works fine in the DOS shell but has different features than EDLIN. MEM MEM works in DOS shell but provides statistics in a different format than the OS/2 Version. The /A /U switch will cause the session to hang because of an upper memory conflict. SYS SYS copies the system files for Novell DOS; however, the disk is not bootable. SYS does work in Virtual Disk but takes the files from the disk image rather than the hard disk. The following external commands are included with OS/2 and should be used when in the OS/2 environment: CHKDSK.COM, FORMAT.COM, MODE.COM, XCOPY.EXE, DISKCOPY.COM, DISKCOMP.COM, REPLACE.EXE, COMP.COM, MORE.COM, PRINT.COM, FIND.EXE, KEYB.COM, BACKUP.EXE, FDISK.COM, RECOVER.COM, LABEL.COM, TREE.COM, SORT.EXE, UNDELETE.COM, ATTRIB.EXE, RESTORE.EXE, MEM.EXE Other external commands have not been tested at this time. Refer to the OS/2 documentation for features that can be used in OS/2 to avoid these conflicts. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------