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FoxPro 2.0 for DOS

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First post, by ed_davis

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1. Motherboard: don't know
2. Processor type and speed: AMD Athlon 64 1.99 GHz (from control panel, system)
3. Amount and type of RAM: 512MB
4. Video board w/ RAM amount and type: don't know
5. Sound board: don't know
6. Operating system: Windows XP Home, SP2
7. Game name (and version, if applicable): FoxPro for DOS, v2.0
8. Description of problem: Foxpro starts loading, but quits with a "not enough memory" error.
9. Reproducibility of problem: always
10. Sound mode used: default
11. Video mode (Software, OpenGL, Direct3D, or Glide, and resolution): default
12. Version of emulator: 0.72
13. Steps already attempted to solve the problem:

I have read the readme. I have searched the forums. I have searched on the wiki.

Here is what I have:

This is a runtime version of Foxpro that runs under DOS, and needs at least 4 megs of ram (according to the read.me - I'm not sure if this is extended or expanded).

The configuration under DOS, to get this to run seems to be pretty picky: Here are two versions that I know that work:

dos=umb,high
devicehigh=himem.sys
devicehigh=emm386.exe

and:

dos=umb,high
devicehigh=himem.sys /int15=4800

Again, this is under plain DOS - the one that you get if you just boot DOS instead of Win 98.

I've tried running it under a Windows 98 DOS prompt, with various settings for XMS/EMS memory (via the properties of the DOS prompt), but never got it to work.

I've tried running it under a Windows XP DOS prompt, with various settings for XMS/EMS memory (via the properties of the DOS prompt), but never got it to work.

So, I found out about DosBox, and decided to give it a try.

I have tried various settings of mem (4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 megs), and various settings of XMS/EMS (both true, both false, one false, the other true, and vice a versa), but so far no joy.

Based on what I've read on the forums, I thought of going the "boot a DOS image" route. So, I found a DOS 6.22 boot image on the internet and downloaded it.

I started DosBox. Then I typed boot c:\foo\dos622.img

And sure enough, it booted. To an a: drive. But I don't have access to any other drives.

1) How do I see the directory where I have FoxPro? I tried mounting c:\foxpro as c (where foxpro is) before booting the image, but after booting, all I have is an a: drive.

2) How do I get this image to use a different autoexec.bat and config.sys? Where do I place them, so that it will use them?

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 18, by wd

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1) How do I see the directory where I have FoxPro?

msdos only can ever see imgmounted drives, so if you want to go that
way you'll need some msdos installation on a .img file (there should be
some hints on the guides forum i think).
Reguar mounts are not visible from msdos, feel free to complain to
microsoft but i doubt they'll update their dos.

2) How do I get this image to use a different autoexec.bat and config.sys?

I'm not aware that you can select any different autoexec/config pair as
once msdos boots, it'll use the ones from the boot partition/disk.

Reply 2 of 18, by ed_davis

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msdos only can ever see imgmounted drives, so if you want to go that way you'll need some msdos installation on a .img file (the […]
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msdos only can ever see imgmounted drives, so if you want to go that
way you'll need some msdos installation on a .img file (there should be
some hints on the guides forum i think).
Reguar mounts are not visible from msdos, feel free to complain to
microsoft but i doubt they'll update their dos.

I don't understand. How do I boot MS-DOS under DosBox and still
be able to see my FoxPro application?

Ignore the above question. I found the guides message. I'll give that
a try, and come back when I get stuck 😀 But the following question
still remains valid - I think!

Do you think there is a possibility to get FoxPro to run under
DosBox without booting MS-DOS? Any idea what the magic settings
are, e.g., that correspond to the native MS-DOS settings:

dos=umb,high
devicehigh=himem.sys
devicehigh=emm386.exe

and:

dos=umb,high
devicehigh=himem.sys /int15=4800

Note: just plain "devicehigh=himem.sys" won't work - it has to
either have the int15 parameter or also load emm386.

Reply 3 of 18, by wd

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and still be able to see my FoxPro application?

Well you can copy that app on the image disk before booting it.

Do you think there is a possibility to get FoxPro to run under
DosBox without booting MS-DOS?

Don't know, not much you can do besides playing with the ems/xms
settings in dosbox.conf, or using loadfix.
2.0 seems to be a rather old foxpro version, do you have any newer
one accessible? Or maybe there's an upgrade for 2.0?

Reply 4 of 18, by DosFreak

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It looks like the program requires EXTENDED memory instead of XMS memory.

I want to say that when you load himem.sys (without the INT15 switch) and EMM386.exe then extended memory is provided and your program is happy.

When you load Himem.sys with the INT15 switch and allocate 4800 meg of Extended memory (Himem by default supplies the newer XMS memory) then your program is happy.

AFAIK, DosBox only supplies XMS memory. Don't think it supports INT15 (unless you boot MS-DOS in DosBox).

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Reply 5 of 18, by Qbix

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if you disable both xms and ems then you have extended memory (int 15)

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Reply 6 of 18, by DosFreak

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Mabye FoxPro requires a memory manager to be loaded?

I noticed that if I disabled XMS/EMS in dosbox.conf and then executed JEMMEX (Command: JEMMEX LOAD), then JEMM would actually load in DosBox.

JEMM Download: http://www.japheth.de/

JEMM is an EMM386 replacement.

I don't have FoxPro to test it out with.

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Reply 7 of 18, by wd

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Mabye FoxPro requires a memory manager to be loaded?

That's what ems/xms=true is for.
jemmex might of course check if another memory manager is present,
thus not work if you have ems or xms enabled in dosbox.

Reply 8 of 18, by ih8registrations

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Jemmex doesn't find a page frame in dosbox. I tried it for getting megaem going, unsuccessfully..

Reply 9 of 18, by wd

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Think the freedos emm386 (jemm386 is based on their sources)
worked for me, but don't remember if some parameter was needed.

Reply 10 of 18, by ed_davis

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Sorry for the very long delay in replying. Life happens
sometimes ...

I still have not been able to get Foxpro v2 to work in DosBox.
But I do have some more information:

To WD:

I do have a newer version of Foxpro (that runs well under XP),
but the foxpro application program that I need to run won't work
with it.

Here is the config.sys that works under plain DOS:

dos=umb,high
devicehigh=himem.sys
devicehigh=emm386.exe

When I run DosBox .72 with:

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

And run foxpro:

foxr +x

The DosBox window just goes away.

If I set xms=false, ems=false, and then run foxr +x, the same thing
happens, DosBox window just goes away.

If I set xms=true, and ems=false, the same thing happens.

However (!) if I set xms=false, and ems=true, I get the
following:

I get a message: No extended memory available, using real memory

and then the following screen:

FoxPro/LAN 2.0 EXE Support Library (X)
(c) 1989-1992 Microsoft Corporation
Worldwide Edition
(Demand Paging Enabled)

Dos Extension Technology Copyright 1988-1990,
ERGO Computing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

And then it crashes with "DOSBox DOS Emulator has encountered a
problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

More info:

AppName: dosbox.exe AppVer: 0.72.0.0 ModName: dosbox.exe
ModVer: 0.72.0.0 Offset: 0000a6f3

As suggested by DosFreak, I tried running DosBox with xms=false,
ems=false, and then loading jemmex: jemmex load

This also immediately closes the DosBox window.

Any ideas what to try next?

Thanks!

Reply 11 of 18, by MiniMax

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Tried playing with the core=... setting?

A more desperate attempt would be to try older versions of DOSBox.

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Reply 12 of 18, by ed_davis

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MiniMax wrote:

>Tried playing with the core=... setting?
>
>A more desperate attempt would be to try older versions of DOSBox.

Hmmm. This gave me the idea to try the latest CVS build that I
could find.

I downloaded dosbox_17.08.2008.exe and ran it, using xms=false,
ems=true.

Now Foxpro no longer crashes, but besides the "No extended memory
available, using real memory", after the signon screen, I get
"Insufficient memory.", which appears to be a Foxpro message.

Well, at least it doesn't crash.

But, just like 0.72, if I enable both xms and ems, or just enable
xms, when I run Foxpro, the DosBox window immediately closes.

Reply 13 of 18, by MiniMax

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Yup - latest CVS has some changes to the CPU emulation. Something about prefetch. Maybe changing to one of the new core-types will do even better?

Edit: See this thread:
Fifa International Soccer 1994, first fifa

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Reply 14 of 18, by Qbix

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xms=false +ems=true is indeed likely to result in no extended memory available as both the xms and the in15 pool are unavailable then.
Might be an interresting program to debug at one point then.

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Reply 15 of 18, by ed_davis

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Qbix wrote:

>xms=false +ems=true is indeed likely to result in no extended
>memory available as both the xms and the in15 pool are
>unavailable then.
>
>Might be an interresting program to debug at one point then.

It would be great if I could somehow get it to work. What is the
next step? Should I download the DOSBox debugger referenced
here?

http://rapidshare.com/files/52433778/DOSBox0. … 2-installer.exe

Or is there a later one I should try?

Reply 16 of 18, by swaaye

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What about trying MS Virtual PC, Bochs, or VirtualBox?

Reply 17 of 18, by ed_davis

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swaaye wrote:

>What about trying MS Virtual PC, Bochs, or VirtualBox?

I downloaded Virtual PC, and installed Windows 98 DOS (the same
thing my real machine that works runs).

I used the same autoexec.bat and config.sys that are on my real
machine, and used the same amount of memory that is on my real
machine.

Unfortunately, Foxpro crashes <sigh>.

There were some differences between the real and virtual machine,
that look like they may have something to do with the problem.
But I'm not sure how to reconcile them. Here they are, just in
case anyone has any ideas:

Booting message differences:

In the real machine:

Installed A20 handler number 1.

In the virtual machine

Installed A20 handler number 2.

mem message differences (under Memory Type):

In the real machine:

Reserved: 384k total 384k used 0k free

In the virtual machine

Reserved: 0k total 0k used 0k free

pmap (old Chris Dunford DOS mem-like utility) message differences
(under Expanded memory summary):

In the real machine:

Page frame segment: E000h

In the virtual machine

Page frame segment: D000h

I wonder if these differences are what is causing the problem?
Any ideas how I can make the two machines more alike?

Interestingly, both machines (the real and the virtual) have AMI
BIOS's - the real one dated 1996, and the virtual one dated 2006.

Reply 18 of 18, by swaaye

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could this be a Y2K problem? Kinda doubt it, but who knows....

It sure sounds like a very picky app. I'm not sure what to suggest other than an even more thorough emulator such as Bochs perhaps.