A list of features in vDosPlus that do not exist in original vDos
Apart from having all features of original vDos, vDosPlus (formerly known as vDos-lfn) also has many useful and unique features which are not found in original vDos. While its initial focus is long filename (LFN) support, over time vDosPlus has become much more feature-rich than original vDos (such as enhanced keyboard, mouse and display support), and it is constantly being updated to add even more features and other improvements. Below is an incomplete list of notable features which only exist in vDosPlus but not in original vDos as of the latest build of vDosPlus.
Note: As of more recently (2022) I have been actively working on DOSBox-X, a cross-platform DOS emulator designed to be a complete DOS emulation package that supports both DOS applications and games. Please check it out also. Select the TrueType font (TTF) output to get the same feeling as in vDosPlus. Features such as LFN (long filename) and time synchronization can be enabled in DOSBox-X via config or menu options, and DOSBox-X has many more features not found in vDosPlus.
File system
- Support for Windows XP and the 4DOS 8.00 shell in addition to Windows Vista+ and improved version of original vDos' internal non-4DOS shell; Windows 2000 is also supported via a special version
- Direct support for Windows-style long filenames (LFN) and their corresponding short filenames (SFN)
- Support for DOS APIs that communicate with the Windows clipboard, notably copying/pasting text using 4DOS's built-in clipboard feature via the CLIP: device name
- Proper report of volume labels, serial numbers and free space of disk drives (and unready drives) in directory listings; the volume labels can be changed with the LABEL command, and the total/free space reported by INT21/AH=36 can also be controlled (via SPACELOW option)
- Direct support for Windows network (UNC) paths and special directories like "..." and "...." in vDosPlus command shells and external programs, also better support for external DOS command shells such as MS-DOS COMMAND.COM (see the Advanced Tips page for more information)
- You can change file attributes (e.g. via ATTRIB command) as well as file date/time (e.g. via TOUCH command); last-access date/time and creation date/time are supported in addition to last-write date/time
- You can let vDosPlus automatically USE all Windows drives in vDosPlus and set the current directory accordingly (USEDRVS = ON); you can also UNUSE specified drives in vDosPlus
- You can force run a program loaded inside vDosPlus as a DOS application when it contains Windows PE signature (WINRUN = OFF)
Keyboard and mouse
- Keyboard speed control (repeat delay and interval via KEYDELAY and KEYINTER options)
- Keyboard IRQ1/INT9 handling for running programs such as MS-DOS EDIT, QBASIC, Visual Basic and XyWrite
- Basic support for Ctrl+C/Ctrl+Break handling (will work with commands like DIR /P etc)
- The CapsLock, NumLock and ScrollLock key status can be toggled from the command line (e.g. using the KEYBD command) or from other applications (e.g. FoxPro)
- The Ctrl+Win+A (or Ctrl+A with WINKEY=OFF) shortcut can be used to copy all text in the vDosPlus screen to the Windows clipboard, and the Ctrl+Win+N (or Ctrl+N with WINKEY=OFF) shortcut can open text file for user notes named sysnotes.txt; Ctrl+Win+right mouse click (or Ctrl+right mouse click with WINKEY=OFF) will paste text from the Windows clipboard
- Left and right mouse buttons can be automatically converted into key presses such as the Enter and ESC keys (customizable via CLICKMOD option)
- Support for mouse wheel scrolling (will be converted to key presses like up and down arrows automatically, customizable via WHEELMOD option) and mouse mickey counts
- Hide the mouse pointer automatically when not in use (AUHIDEMS = ON)
Display
- Support for text blinking (with "BrightBG=No" in 4DOS.INI) and a blinking cursor with customizable blinking rate (see the Advanced Tips page for more information)
- Visual display for italicized and small text as well as superscripts and subscripts
- You can use actual bold, italic, and bold italic fonts for visual display (via BOLDFONT, BOITFONT and ITALFONT options)
- Direct display support for XyWrite (WP = XY) in addition to WordPerfect and WordStar
- Direct multi-monitor support for multiple-screen setups (SCREEN = n)
- Setting colors via DAC registers in text mode through BIOS is supported
- You can let commands such as DIR to display dates in different formats according to the country code set by the COUNTRY command
Window
- Customizable title string and icon for the vDosPlus window (via TITLE and ICON options)
- Support for border padding including color customization in text-mode vDosPlus screen (via PADDING option)
- You can change the transparency of the vDosPlus window (via TRANSWIN option); vDosPlus can also be automatically set as the topmost window (TOPWIN = ON)
- You can set different horizontal and vertical scaling factors for the graphical (VGA) mode
- You can increase or decrease the vDosPlus window size at the current location using the mouse wheel while holding the Ctrl key, or move the vDosPlus window by holding the Ctrl key and dragging the mouse anywhere in the window; they work in both text mode and graphical mode
- You can maximize (or restore) and close the text-mode vDosPlus screen directly from the system menu or icons (maximization allows the window to enter full-screen mode); you can also maximize and minimize vDosPlus at startup
- You can force close the vDosPlus window even when there are open file handles
- Both even and odd point sizes can be used in font size selection (via EVENSIZE option)
Config file handling
- Support for # as the comment marker (in addition to REM) and block comments (#[...]#) in the config file; the syntax "REM VDOSPLUS:setting" is also supported to enable the specified setting
- Warnings caused by incorrect settings in the config file can be bypassed at startup (CONFWARN=OFF)
- You can specify an alternative autoexec file from either the config file or from the command line
- You can specify an alternative config file from the command line (via the /cfg option)
- You can set config file options from the command line (via the /set option, which will override the settings in the config file and may also follow the /cfg option mentioned above)
- You can change almost all vDosPlus configuration options on the fly (or view current settings) from the DOS command line using the SETCFG command; color and port settings can be viewed or changed using the SETCOLOR and SETPORT commands respectively
- The actual autoexec file and config file specified and the directory where the vDosPlus executable is located are set in environment variables named VDOSP_AUTOEXEC, VDOSP_CONFIG and VDOSP_EXEDIR respectively
Other
- Sound support through the internal PC speaker beyond the ASCII 7 beep
- Support for Ctrl+Alt+? shortcuts in full-screen mode (SHORTCUT = ON)
- You can change the reported DOS version of vDosPlus (via DOSVER option)
- You can specify the output directory for temporary printing files (via TEMPDIR option), and for PCL/PS printing a locked PDF file won't prevent the printing of a new document
- You can let vDosPlus maintain its own local date and time different from the host system (SYNCTIME = OFF)
- Shutting down vDosPlus or putting vDosPlus into standby mode using the Advanced Power Management (APM) is supported
- The maximum XMS memory supported is 255MB instead of 63MB (default 16MB instad of 4MB) and XMS 3.0 is supported; EMSMAGIC.COM is included to fully support the LIM EMS 4.0 specification
- There are both online/offline installers and portable version for vDosPlus available
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