PFS First Choice (yes there are STILL some people who use it) andVista

First of all I'm wondering how many readers here have even heard of PFS
First Choice. For you kids who haven't, it's an ancient office suite
(word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation and
communications-as in computer-to-computer dialup!) that ran on MS-DOS
and the early versions of Windows. My first computer (8088 processor,
MS-DOS 3.3, two 5 1/4" floppy drives, no hard disk) came with it, and
I've been using it ever since. Don't ask why.

Anyway, I've moved up over the years to a MacBook Pro on which I'm
running Vista Business virtually via VMWare Fusion. When one of those
rare occasions when I need to fire up First Choice again comes along,
Vista has taken to giving me the dreaded "run-time error R6009-not
enough space for environment" message. I had this same issue in XP and
the standard Google-derived remedies (tweak the memory settings on the
MS-DOS executables) sufficed. The funny thing is that they also had in
Vista up until just now. No matter how I set the environment, XMS and
EMS memory values or the compatiblity mode, I still can't get First
Choice to run. I saw some suggestions for how to edit the config.nt
file in XP to deal with this (specifically to add a line specifying
command.com as the shell and allocating environment space to it), but
they don't help in Vista.

So, I'm stumped. I know Vista CAN run this program because it did for
about four months. I can't think of anything I've installed that could
have changed things to where I can't change them back. Anyone with any
suggestions? If anyone has run into this with ANY old DOS program, I
think hearing what you changed and how might help.

And I don't mean to add insult to injury to anyone, but I downloaded
DOSBox for Mac OS X this morning, and guess what? I can now use First
Choice without starting up the Vista VM if I absolutely have to. I hope
I don't, though. It worked better in Windows-when it DID work.

Your questions are not clear...

I sugest you use DOSBOX,
there is dosbox for windows too...



"None" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> First of all I'm wondering how many readers here have even heard of PFS
> First Choice. For you kids who haven't, it's an ancient office suite
> (word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation and communications-as
> in computer-to-computer dialup!) that ran on MS-DOS and the early versions
> of Windows. My first computer (8088 processor, MS-DOS 3.3, two 5 1/4"
> floppy drives, no hard disk) came with it, and I've been using it ever
> since. Don't ask why.
>
> Anyway, I've moved up over the years to a MacBook Pro on which I'm running
> Vista Business virtually via VMWare Fusion. When one of those rare
> occasions when I need to fire up First Choice again comes along, Vista has
> taken to giving me the dreaded "run-time error R6009-not enough space for
> environment" message. I had this same issue in XP and the standard
> Google-derived remedies (tweak the memory settings on the MS-DOS
> executables) sufficed. The funny thing is that they also had in Vista up
> until just now. No matter how I set the environment, XMS and EMS memory
> values or the compatiblity mode, I still can't get First Choice to run. I
> saw some suggestions for how to edit the config.nt file in XP to deal with
> this (specifically to add a line specifying command.com as the shell and
> allocating environment space to it), but they don't help in Vista.
>
> So, I'm stumped. I know Vista CAN run this program because it did for
> about four months. I can't think of anything I've installed that could
> have changed things to where I can't change them back. Anyone with any
> suggestions? If anyone has run into this with ANY old DOS program, I
> think hearing what you changed and how might help.
>
> And I don't mean to add insult to injury to anyone, but I downloaded
> DOSBox for Mac OS X this morning, and guess what? I can now use First
> Choice without starting up the Vista VM if I absolutely have to. I hope I
> don't, though. It worked better in Windows-when it DID work.

Thats what None is using now.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
"glsj.dw" <111@1111.11> wrote in message
news:47323684$...
> Your questions are not clear...
>
> I sugest you use DOSBOX,
> there is dosbox for windows too...
>
>
>
> "None" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
>> First of all I'm wondering how many readers here have even heard of PFS
>> First Choice. For you kids who haven't, it's an ancient office suite
>> (word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation and
>> communications-as in computer-to-computer dialup!) that ran on MS-DOS and
>> the early versions of Windows. My first computer (8088 processor, MS-DOS
>> 3.3, two 5 1/4" floppy drives, no hard disk) came with it, and I've been
>> using it ever since. Don't ask why.
>>
>> Anyway, I've moved up over the years to a MacBook Pro on which I'm
>> running Vista Business virtually via VMWare Fusion. When one of those
>> rare occasions when I need to fire up First Choice again comes along,
>> Vista has taken to giving me the dreaded "run-time error R6009-not enough
>> space for environment" message. I had this same issue in XP and the
>> standard Google-derived remedies (tweak the memory settings on the MS-DOS
>> executables) sufficed. The funny thing is that they also had in Vista up
>> until just now. No matter how I set the environment, XMS and EMS memory
>> values or the compatiblity mode, I still can't get First Choice to run.
>> I saw some suggestions for how to edit the config.nt file in XP to deal
>> with this (specifically to add a line specifying command.com as the shell
>> and allocating environment space to it), but they don't help in Vista.
>>
>> So, I'm stumped. I know Vista CAN run this program because it did for
>> about four months. I can't think of anything I've installed that could
>> have changed things to where I can't change them back. Anyone with any
>> suggestions? If anyone has run into this with ANY old DOS program, I
>> think hearing what you changed and how might help.
>>
>> And I don't mean to add insult to injury to anyone, but I downloaded
>> DOSBox for Mac OS X this morning, and guess what? I can now use First
>> Choice without starting up the Vista VM if I absolutely have to. I hope
>> I don't, though. It worked better in Windows-when it DID work.
>
>

glsj.dw wrote:
> Your questions are not clear.

Oh, sorry. I'll speak a bit more slowly. Is there anyone out there
who's had the runtime error R6009 problem with PFS FIrst Choice or
another DOS program in Vista and been able to fix it who can give me an
idea of how to?

There. Clear enough?

> I sugest (sic) you use DOSBox.
> (T)here is DOSBox for (W)indows too.

So I've heard. But before I throw in the towel on the operating system
software I paid for because it was supposed to be better, I'll wait a
bit to see if someone here has a solution first. Besides, DOSBox isn't
exactly a finished product. For instance, it doesn't support printing
as of yet.

Anyway, thanks for responding.

Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables >

Select the string: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe

Edit it to include: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /e:2048

OK yourself back to main screen and close Control Panel.

Reboot and First Choice should work.

--
Live strong and have a nice day, - "Nil carborundum illegitimi"!
Mac H E L P the planet - Don't I D L E ! ! !
Over 1600 Links at Http://MacArthur.Funknstyle.Com
Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur-ii/


"None" <> wrote in message
news:...
> glsj.dw wrote:
>> Your questions are not clear.
>
> Oh, sorry. I'll speak a bit more slowly. Is there anyone out there who's
> had the runtime error R6009 problem with PFS FIrst Choice or another DOS
> program in Vista and been able to fix it who can give me an idea of how
> to?
>
> There. Clear enough?
>
>> I sugest (sic) you use DOSBox.
>> (T)here is DOSBox for (W)indows too.
>
> So I've heard. But before I throw in the towel on the operating system
> software I paid for because it was supposed to be better, I'll wait a bit
> to see if someone here has a solution first. Besides, DOSBox isn't
> exactly a finished product. For instance, it doesn't support printing as
> of yet.
>
> Anyway, thanks for responding.
>

Sorry, None, I don't have PFS Choice, but I did dig up my 1990 version of
Professional Write.
I copied the contents of both floppy disks over, and it runs fine. Except
for printing to my USB printer...

And a 1991 version of Quattro Pro runs ok, at least for what little I tried.



"None" <> wrote in message
news:...
> glsj.dw wrote:
>> Your questions are not clear.
>
> Oh, sorry. I'll speak a bit more slowly. Is there anyone out there who's
> had the runtime error R6009 problem with PFS FIrst Choice or another DOS
> program in Vista and been able to fix it who can give me an idea of how
> to?
>
> There. Clear enough?
>
>> I sugest (sic) you use DOSBox.
>> (T)here is DOSBox for (W)indows too.
>
> So I've heard. But before I throw in the towel on the operating system
> software I paid for because it was supposed to be better, I'll wait a bit
> to see if someone here has a solution first. Besides, DOSBox isn't
> exactly a finished product. For instance, it doesn't support printing as
> of yet.
>
> Anyway, thanks for responding.
>

MacArthur wrote:
> Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables >
>
> Select the string: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
>
> Edit it to include: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /e:2048
>
> OK yourself back to main screen and close Control Panel.
>
> Reboot and First Choice should work.
>

Sorry, it didn't. I tried bumping it up all the way to 32768 (correct
me if I'm wrong, but I think that's still the maximum for the
environment size) and it didn't help. And yes, I DID reboot after each
change.

Bummer; your suggestion was Vista-specific and really looked promising.

Thanks anyway for taking a swing at it. Anyone else with an idea?

None,

Found this searching Google. May or may not help you but worth a try...

[[[[[ I had the same problem. I have PFS:First Choice version 3.0 and am
trying to run it on an XP system.
I kept getting the infamous R6009 run-time error.
I tweaked first1.exe memory settings and compatibility mode.
Memory
Conventional:
Total: Auto
Initial Env: 4096
EMS: 16384
EMS: 16384
DPMI: Auto

Compatibility Mode:
Windows 98
(all other boxes unchecked.
BUT I found that I also HAD to do the following:
cd c:\choice
set HOMEPATH=c:\
set PATH=
Then I was able to run first1.exe from the command line c: first1.exe]]]]


"None" <> wrote in message
news:eHzm9%...
> MacArthur wrote:
>> Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables
>> >
>>
>> Select the string: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
>>
>> Edit it to include: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /e:2048
>>
>> OK yourself back to main screen and close Control Panel.
>>
>> Reboot and First Choice should work.
>>
>
> Sorry, it didn't. I tried bumping it up all the way to 32768 (correct me
> if I'm wrong, but I think that's still the maximum for the environment
> size) and it didn't help. And yes, I DID reboot after each change.
>
> Bummer; your suggestion was Vista-specific and really looked promising.
>
> Thanks anyway for taking a swing at it. Anyone else with an idea?

User wrote:
> None,
>
> Found this searching Google. May or may not help you but worth a try...
>
Yeah, this is what you've got to do to get it running in XP. As I said
initially, I've already tried this in Vista with no luck. Thanks anyway.

Sorry it didn't work(

I was also a long time user of PFS FC.

Marvelous little package that was way ahead of its time with regard to
content, usability, and price.

I finally gave it up when I bought Office 2000, or maybe 97.

--
Live strong and have a nice day, - "Nil carborundum illegitimi"!
Mac H E L P the planet - Don't I D L E ! ! !
Over 1600 Links at Http://MacArthur.Funknstyle.Com
Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/macarthur-ii/


"None" <> wrote in message
news:eHzm9%...
> MacArthur wrote:
>> Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables
>> >
>>
>> Select the string: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
>>
>> Edit it to include: ComSpec=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /e:2048
>>
>> OK yourself back to main screen and close Control Panel.
>>
>> Reboot and First Choice should work.
>>
>
> Sorry, it didn't. I tried bumping it up all the way to 32768 (correct me
> if I'm wrong, but I think that's still the maximum for the environment
> size) and it didn't help. And yes, I DID reboot after each change.
>
> Bummer; your suggestion was Vista-specific and really looked promising.
>
> Thanks anyway for taking a swing at it. Anyone else with an idea?