"/p" may be necessary to process AUTOEXEC.BAT , eg.

SHELL=command.com /e:1024 /p

also, it's safer to use absolute paths:

SHELL=c:\command.com /e:1024 /p

Does DOS=HIGH,UMB not need to be after HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE in config.sys?

tjsnhgaming wrote on 2020-10-28, 14:38:

PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\PROGRAMS\MOUSE;C:\DOS;C:\PROGRAMS;C:\GAMES

I wasn't even aware that would work.

Shouldn't you use SET PATH= (or PATH=) in your autoexec.bat (or config.sys) instead?

Jorpho wrote on 2020-10-28, 16:12:

Shouldn't you use SET PATH= (or PATH=) in your autoexec.bat (or config.sys) instead?

That isn't required, just "PATH C:\SOMETHING" is enough.

I've optimized your config.sys and autoexec.bat. Hope it helps.

config.sys

1DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
2DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
3SWITCHES=/F
4DOS=HIGH,UMB
5FILES=40
6LASTDRIVE=Z
7STACKS=9,256
8SHELL=C:\command.com /e:1024 /p
9DEVICEHIGH=c:\drivers\vibra16\CTCM.EXE
10DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
11DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
12DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
13SET PROMPT=$p$g
14SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
15SET SOUND=c:\drivers\vibra16
16SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
17SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
18SET CTCM=c:\drivers\vibra16
19SET MOUSE=C:\PROGRAMS\MOUSE
20SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\PROGRAMS\MOUSE;C:\DOS;C:\PROGRAMS;C:\GAMES

autoexec.bat

1@ECHO OFF
2LH c:\drivers\vibra16\DIAGNOSE /S /W=C:\WINDOWS
3LH c:\drivers\vibra16\MIXERSET /P /Q
4LH c:\drivers\vibra16\CTCU.EXE /S /W=C:\WINDOWS
5LH C:\PROGRAMS\MOUSE\mouse.exe /Q
6LH C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:OPTICAL
7LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
8LH C:\WINDOWS\net start

Does using SET work from config.sys in all versions of DOS??

maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-10-28, 20:43:

Does using SET work from config.sys in all versions of DOS??

The MS-DOS Bible (covers up to v4) only shows it working in autoexec.bat. Que Using MS-DOS 6.2 Special Edition show it as valid. I don't have any books between the two so not sure when it became valid for config.sys, but it's reasonable to assume v5.0 or v6.0

Found it online. SET has been valid in config.sys since MS-DOS 6.0. Don't know about other versions of DOS.

cproell wrote on 2020-10-28, 19:48:

I've optimized your config.sys and autoexec.bat. Hope it helps.

Interesting tweaks, I wasn't aware some of those things could go in config.sys instead ... will try it out, thanks!

Edit : Doing it that way gives me about 20k less conventional memory. Odd.

Ok, that's odd. But I have some other optimizations:
- the ctcm/ctcu drivers for the soundcard can be removed, most games recognize the Soundblaster anyway. Windows also doesn't need them.
- setver can be replaced by fakever.com (can be found on the internet). It's smaller and doesn't have to be loaded in config.sys or autoexec.bat. You can load it before starting software which has problem with the high version number of DOS 6.x, and after use it can be unloaded. I use it with batch files to run such programs
- use ctmouse.exe instead of the mouse.exe. It's also smaller and does work with most mouses (and you can remove the set mouse=... in config.sys)
- \windows\net start - only needed if you use networking under Windows. If not, remove it
- Smartdrv also can be replaced with other disk-caching software, like lbacache.com which is smaller in memory use.
- himem.sys and emm386.exe can be replaced with the freedos versions (himemx.exe and jemm386.exe). They work great, but if you use Windows, I don't recommend them.

Another tip: Use different configurations, with DOS 6.22 you can create a menu within config.sys and use different configurations for windows, one for games (with most free memory), ... If you are interested, I can post one of my config.sys and autoexec.bat files 😀

CTCU is required for a PnP soundblaster in DOS. You can replace it with Unisound though

maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-10-29, 14:01:

CTCU is required for a PnP soundblaster in DOS. You can replace it with Unisound though

Weird, I also habe a SB Vibra16 and do not need these drivers. Just the BLASTER settings and the Mixerset/Diagnose commands to set the volume. Many of my games do work with this.

cproell wrote on 2020-10-29, 20:36:

Weird, I also habe a SB Vibra16 and do not need these drivers. Just the BLASTER settings and the Mixerset/Diagnose commands to set the volume. Many of my games do work with this.

I guess that sound card gets initialized by the BIOS.

With an ISAPNP-aware BIOS, there should be a setting like "PNP OS" in CMOS Setup.
YES = BIOS initializes bootable devices only
NO = BIOS initializes all devices

cproell wrote on 2020-10-29, 20:36:

maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-10-29, 14:01:

CTCU is required for a PnP soundblaster in DOS. You can replace it with Unisound though

Weird, I also habe a SB Vibra16 and do not need these drivers. Just the BLASTER settings and the Mixerset/Diagnose commands to set the volume. Many of my games do work with this.

The vibras aren't all pnp. Diagnose assigns resources to the pre-pnp software configured ones

cproell wrote on 2020-10-29, 20:36:

maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-10-29, 14:01:

CTCU is required for a PnP soundblaster in DOS. You can replace it with Unisound though

Weird, I also habe a SB Vibra16 and do not need these drivers. Just the BLASTER settings and the Mixerset/Diagnose commands to set the volume. Many of my games do work with this.

Max is right, without CTCU loaded almost none of my dos games have sound. Its one of the later *really* stripped down Vibra cards. (I wasn't willing to spend $50 on a sound card when putting the system together 😉 )

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks 😀 Creative created too many SoundBlaster cards, just look at this list: https://support.creative.com/kb/showarticle.aspx?sid=10846 No wonder why there is such a chaos 😉

So this CTCU thing is a mystery to me. In all of my PnP Sound Blasters (an SB16, a Vibra16 and a couple of AWE64s) I never needed to run CTCU every time.

I only need to run CTCM in AUTOEXEC to initialize the card. CTCU only had to be run once to initialize and store the settings.

Why do I see people claim that you must run CTCU on every boot? Could it be that if CTCM is loaded in CONFIG.SYS (instead of being run in AUTOEXEC.BAT), then you have to also run CTCU? Then why do people load CTCM in CONFIG.SYS? I understand it is required if you want to use the CDROM interface (since AUTOEXEC is too late to load CDROM drivers). But if you are not using the CDROM interfaces on your SB, it seems like the simplest setup is just to run CTCM (and on AWE, also AWEUTIL) in AUTOEXEC, to initialize the card (optionally MIXERSET to initialize the volume).

You do not even have to use CTCU, I usually just modify the CTCM.CFG file myself. An then just run CTCM.

Cyberdyne wrote on 2020-10-30, 11:18:

You do not even have to use CTCU, I usually just modify the CTCM.CFG file myself. An then just run CTCM.

this is correct. I can never remember which CTCx is which 🤣