Running MS-DOS 20th Anniversary Edition (Bpg-Other) [Paperback]

Van Wolverton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2002 | Series: Bpg-Other

Get the book that set the standard for all other MS-DOS® books—now celebrating its 20th anniversary! RUNNING MS-DOS is the best-selling guide to the operating system that changed personal computing history. Featuring Van Wolverton’s down-to-earth style and eloquent explanations, this one-stop reference makes MS-DOS accessible for anyone looking to optimize PC performance. Whether you work in tech support or simply want to keep your classic PC in top form, Van shows you how to master MS-DOS with unparalleled clarity and expertise!

Discover how to put MS-DOS functions and commands to work:

• Tweak your system so that it runs more efficiently
• Take control of your disk drives and devices
• Create back-ups and rescue deleted work
• Retrieve files faster and manage memory
• Run legacy applications—including classic games
• Write your own batch files and smart commands!

Plus, check out the comprehensive “MS-DOS Command Reference” in the appendix—great for answers and examples on the spot!

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 20th Anniversary ed. edition (August 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735618127
• ISBN-13: 978-0735618121
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,058,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy Anniversary, August 13, 2002

By 

Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Running MS-DOS 20th Anniversary Edition (Bpg-Other) (Paperback)

14 years ago when I started in this industry DOS 3.2 was the Operating system I learned on and from there worked all the way up the Microsoft's final; release DOS 6.22. While I no longer used the OS I was impressed by the depth and diversity of this book.

Covering just over 600 pages, 400 of which breakdown the 6.22 operating system. Taking you from the DIR, COPY and PRINT commands to the TREE, XCOPY and DEL commands. You have navigation tips and tricks to help you along the way and overall every command seems to be covered.

Included in the learning and review process are screen shots so you can see what happens with the command. Finally the is 3 Appendices included, A is for overview of installation with DOS 3, 4 and 5.

B is for the 150 plus term glossary and C is the 160 page command reference including syntax and examples. While most people have moved on this book can be a handy reference for future needs.

4 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Proof that marketing can save bad products, November 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Running MS-DOS 20th Anniversary Edition (Bpg-Other) (Paperback)

Years ago, Billy Gates and his merry band of programmers hacked a CPM clone from Seattle Computer Systems into the first version of PC-DOS. Later on, they diverged from IBM (as they would again in the future) and came up with MS-DOS. We've been stuck with this abomination ever since.

It's now 2003, and the technically challenged marketing MBAs at Micro$oft have decided to publish yet another book on DOS. It's bad enough that DOS is sadly lacking in scripting capabilities (especially when compared to Unix shells like bash or cshell). For generations, engineers have had to jump through syntatic hoops just to do fairly pedestrian scripting tasks. To add insult to injury, Micro$oft has insisted on keeping DOS alive.

Perhaps they think that they'll be able to squeeze a few more bucks out of their old clunker; just like those people who own the rights to the Elvis songs.

I don't care what the marketing disinformation from M$ claims, no one uses DOS if they can avoid it. The salient question in this case is not "is this a good book?" The question is "why in god's name would you still want to publish such a book?"

You could be a complete nimrod and buy this book ... what do I care. It's your money.