- From the Utilities menu, choose Create Launcher.
- Click on the Drives button in
the upper right. A list of all of your drives will appear.
- Click on the C: drive, or on the drive where the DOS program you want
to launch is located.
- Scroll through the list of directories
until you see the directory for the DOS program you want to launch and
double-click on it.
- Find the .EXE or .COM file that launches
the DOS application and click on it once to select it. (You can
also use .BAT files, but they might not work as reliably as .EXE or .COM
files).
- Click on the Use This File button. A DOS Launcher Settings
dialog box will appear.
- Scroll through the icon display and
click once on the icon you want to use for your launcher. In the
Launcher Name field, you can enter the name that you
want to appear below the icon.
- You can change the other settings to
suit your preferences or leave them at the default settings.
For more information about the other options,
see the New Deal User's Guide.
- Click on Use These Settings.
The icon for your new launcher will appear in the World or DOS
Room folder, depending on the setting you chose for Place
Launcher In:.
Launcher Problems
Most customers have no problems with launchers. However,
if your launcher "hangs" when
you double-click it, or the launcher doesn't allow you to
return to New Deal after you exit your DOS program,
try these suggestions to solve the problem.
Use LOADER.EXE
When you type NEWDEAL to start your New Deal software, you are
running a batch file, which is a collection of DOS commands
collected into one file. Depending on the directory you're in when you
start the batch file, DOS might get confused about where to look for parts
of the program when you try to use a launcher. Try running New Deal by
entering CD\NEWDEAL , then entering LOADER instead
of NEWDEAL .
If you're familiar with batch files, you
can edit NEWDEAL.BAT to run LOADER.EXE from the right directory.
Simply add the line
CD\NEWDEAL
right before the line
LOADER %1 %2%3 %4
.
Mouse Driver Problems
Sometimes modifying the settings for your
mouse solves launcher problems. Try these suggestions:
- Go into Preferences, click on the Mouse,
and select a different mouse driver. If you're using No Idea
or Nothing Else Works, try selecting the specific mouse
you have, or try using Microsoft-compatible Serial.
- If you're loading your mouse driver in
AUTOEXEC.BAT or in CONFIG.SYS, try using No Idea or Nothing
Else Works in New Deal. You can change your mouse setting in
Preferences.
- If you're loading your mouse driver in
either AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS, try loading the mouse driver
in the other file. To load MOUSE.COM in CONFIG.SYS, you'll
need to use the INSTALL command. As an example, your mouse driver
line might read:
INSTALL=C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM
See your DOS manual or mouse documentation
for more information.
- If you have a MOUSE.SYS driver for your
mouse, try installing MOUSE.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file instead
of using MOUSE.COM. See your DOS manual or mouse documentation
for more information.
- If you are using a Microsoft mouse driver,
try adding the /Y parameter to the command line.
- If you are loading the mouse driver into
high memory, try loading the mouse driver into conventional memory
instead.
- Instead of double-clicking on the
launcher icon, select a launcher by clicking on it once, then
press the Enter key.
Increase the Number of Handles
Launch Preferences and click on the Newdeal (or NewDOS or GEOS) button.
Increase the Number of Handles to 3000 or 3500.
Increase the Number of Files
In your CONFIG.SYS file, increase the number
of FILES to 100 or 150. This will use up some additional RAM,
but it might help launchers to run better.
Check for Conflicting TSRs
Make your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files
as clean as possible. REMark out each TSR and test the launchers.
If they work, un-REM each TSR in turn, testing the launchers after
each one, until you find the conflicting TSR. See your DOS manual
for more information on the REM command.
COMMAND.COM
Increase the size of your environment to 1 K byte by editing the
SHELL line in your CONFIG.SYS file. Change the /E: parameter to
read /E:1024. If you don't see a
SHELL line in your CONFIG.SYS file, add one that looks like this:
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /P /E:1024
Make sure there is a copy of COMMAND.COM
in the root directory of your C: drive.
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