WPDOS for 64-bit Windows: the DOSBoxWP Method
How to install it | How to use it |
Keyboard and macro features | Exchange
files and data | Printing options |
More about PCL printing
| Print directly to your printer | Open document in vDosWP | Advanced techniques | Set up Shell | Abbreviation
expander setup | Home page
The DOSBoxWP system runs WordPerfect for
DOS 5.1, 6.1, or 6.2 under any version of Windows 8, 10, or 11. If
you recently bought a new Windows computer, it uses 64-bit Windows
10 or Windows 11, and requires a system like this one (or the alternative vDosWP system) to run WordPerfect for
DOS.
Important: This page describes a new
(August 2021; updated June 2024) version of this system. The 2020 version
may be found here if you
still need it. I strongly urge you to backup or rename your
existing DOSBoxWP system if you have one, as the new one uses
different a new directory structure and updated files.
Also important: Your anti-malware software may flag the installer as dangerous; Avast and AVG are especially prone to this error. If you don't trust my software, don't use it! Don't waste your extremely valuable time telling me that Avast or AVG have flagged the installer as malware. If you are foolish enough to rely on Avast or AVG, do not ask me to help you sort out the problems that they cause.
Important note: If you downloaded this system between 1
December and 29 December 2021, then your version runs very slowly; this is
the result
of an error I made when updating it. To test whether your version has
this problem, start DOSBoxWP; use Ctrl+F1, Go to DOS; and enter the command
VER. If the version includes the date 2021.12.01, then download and run the
current installer to fix the problem. If the version includes any other
date, then you need not replace what you have.
If you have any 64-bit version of
Windows, you should use either the vDosWP system or this DOSBox-X-based
system You should use the DOSBoxWP system (and not the vDosWP
system). If you use WPDOS 5.1, and you need to use high-resolution
graphics for print preview or other graphics-based features, then you should use the DOSBoxWP system,
because, with WPDOS 5.1, the vDosWP system only supports VGA-style 640x480
graphics. (With WPDOS 6.x, the vDosWP system supports high-resolution
graphics, and there is no reason to prefer DOSBoxWP to vDosWP for WPDOS 6.x.
DOSBoxWP vs. vDosWP:
Both these systems make it possible to use all the features of
WordPerfect for DOS. I use and strongly recommend vDosWP, but you
should choose the one that suits you best. One crucial point:
vDosWP preserves all your existing settings without change;
these include format and language settings, environment settings,
custom spelling dictionaries, custom paper definitions, macros,
keyboard definitions, etc. The DOSBoxWP system tries to copy your
settings, macros, keyboard files, printer definitions, etc., from
your old WPDOS setup, but you will probably need to make
adjustments before DOSBoxWP will work entirely like your old
setup.
Again, the only reasons to prefer DOSBoxWP to
vDosWP are these: you use WPDOS 5.1 and need high-resolution graphics; or
you use a memory-resident abbreviation expander that works only with
DOSBoxWP, not vDosWP; or you use the Arabic or Hebrew versions of WPDOS 5.1,
which work only with DOSBoxWP.
vDosWP is faster than DOSBoxWP, and because
of the way I originally wrote the two systems, vDosWP is more
tightly integrated into Windows and lets you use your existing
WPDOS setup without change. But you can install both systems; they
won't conflict with each other. Also, vDosWP includes a Shell
Emulation feature which allows instant two-way transfers of
non-ASCII characters (Greek, Cyrillic, math/scientific, etc.)
between WPDOS and the Windows clipboard.
If you find this system useful, please visit this page.
Make sure you understand this basic
concept: This system uses the DOSBox-X
"emulator" software. When you run DOSBox-X, as it is set up in
this system, you will find that it seems to exist on a drive B:
that contains folders with WPDOS, utilities, and other software.
You will not find that drive B: in
your Windows system; instead, it is the same as the DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD
folder inside your own user folder. So, if your Windows user name
is "Roscoe" you will find a folder named something like C:\Users\roscoe\DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD
which contains the same files that you will see in DOSBox-X as
drive B:. If this seems incomprehensible,
download the system and experiment.
If you are a medical transcriptionist or court
reporter who uses abbreviation-expander
or dictionary software, use the feedback
page to tell me which program you use, and I will add
instructions for using it with this system.
Separate versions of this system are available for
Arabic or Hebrew WPDOS 5.1, as described on a separate page.
Note: This site provides a
similar system for the Macintosh
that runs under macOS 10.12 or later. The Windows version described on
this page may be installed on modern Linux systems through the wine software
that makes it possible for Linux to run Windows applications.
How to install the DOSBoxWP method
With this system, WordPerfect for DOS runs under 64-bit Windows
through the use of the DOSBox-X emulator, in a system created by
this site. This system makes it possible to use WPDOS 5.1, 6.1, or
6.2, with an option to use the WordPerfect Shell in order to
launch multiple WordPerfect Corp. programs and many other DOS
applications. You will need to provide some WordPerfect program
files from your existing system before you can use this new one.
Before you start: Make sure you
understand this crucial point: You must do exactly what I tell you
to do! No more, no less! Do not think you can do
something else instead! Do not think you can leave out
this or that step! Do not think you can make changes
that I do not explicitly tell you to make! Study this page as
carefully as if you were reading the instructions for disarming a
ticking bomb! You can't simply try steps that seem right to you,
or that you're certain I meant to explain even though I never
mention them. It doesn't matter how special you are as a person,
or how clever you are, or how unfoolable and skeptical you are! If
I don't explicitly tell you to do something, don't
do it!
Versions of this system have been downloaded and installed
correctly by hundreds of people in the past ten years. If it
doesn't work on your system, that is almost certainly because
you didn't follow the instructions. Don't waste your
extremely valuable time by writing to me to complain that it
doesn't work and asking me to think up some special suggestions
for fixing the problem. There is only one suggestion for
fixing the problem: Start over from the beginning, and follow
the instructions exactly.
Before you install: You will need a
copy of your WPDOS program files from your old computer! If you
have WPDOS 5.1, copy the entire WP51 folder from your old computer
to a USB drive or some other disk, or copy the whole folder to
your new computer. If you have WPDOS 6.2, copy
your entire COREL folder
(or your entire WP62 and WPC62DOS folders) to a USB drive
or some other disk, or copy the folder(s) to your new computer.
(Follow a similar procedure if you have WPDOS 6.1.)
If you copied to a USB drive, plug the USB drive into your new
computer, and make sure you can find it in Windows Explorer!
Then, download and run the DOSBoxWP-Setup.exe
installer. (If you use Webroot or Avira
Antivir as your antivirus software, you may be warned that the
file is infected. It is not infected, but if you don't trust my
software, then don't use my software. Please do not send me an
e-mail asking for advice; use a different word-processor
instead!) The installer will ask whether you want to
install support for WPDOS 5.1, and either 6.1 or 6.2. (You can
choose 5.1 and either 6.1 or 6.2 but not both 6.1 and
6.2.) It will prompt you for the location of your old WP files.
(Remember that you followed the instructions in the previous
paragraph and made copies of them.) It will then create desktop
shortcuts that you can use for launching this system. By default,
the system is in a folder named DOSBoxWP inside
your Windows user folder. (If your Windows user name is Roscoe,
you will find the DOSBoxWP folder inside your Roscoe
folder.)
At the end of the installation, you will be offered the option to launch DOSBoxWP. If the program does not start when you select this option, don't panic. Simply launch the program from its desktop or Start Menu shortcut, as described here:
Double-click on the desktop or Start Menu shortcut that the
installer crated, and start using WordPerfect. Print as you always
printed from WPDOS, by pressing Shift+F7. Do not try to add
a different printer to the ones that you see listed when you
press Shift+F7. You can switch among the printers listed, but don't
try to add a different printer from the ones listed.
I mean it! Don't do it! I know you're tempted to choose Select
after pressing Shift+F7, but no matter how tempted you are,
don't do it! Really!
Multi-user systems: If you originally installed
WPDOS in a multi-user system, where each user was assigned a startup switch
with the user's initials (e.g. /U=xyz), this
option is not needed in DOSBoxWP. DOSBoxWP should be installed separately
for each user, and each user can apply his or her own settings to his or her
own setup, without interfering with other users' setups.
Aesthetic
note: Older versions of DOSBoxWP used generic icons. If you still have an older version with generic desktop icons, you may want
to use, for your desktop icons, one of the two WP icons included in this archive file; the two images are
based on the original Windows icons for WPDOS 6.x and 5.x.
Download the archive file to your Windows desktop; double-click on
the archive to open it; and copy one or both icons to your DOSBoxWP
directory. (You may need to disable User Access Control
temporarily in order to do so.) Right-click on one or both of the
desktop shortcuts created by the installer (Wait! What
exactly does “right-click” mean?); choose
Properties, then, in the Program tab, use the “Change Icon”
button, and select one of the two icons. In this paragraph, the
WPDOS 6.x icon is on the left, the WPDOS 5.x icon on the right.
Windows 10/11 alert:
When you first launch the desktop shortcut under Windows 10/11,
you may see a notice saying “Windows has protected your
PC” by blocking this program from running. Click on “More info”;
then click on “Run anyway”; the message will not appear again when
you later launch the same shortcut.
Convenient ways to access files and folders:
- You may drop a WordPerfect file (created by version 5.x or
later) on the DOSBoxWPxx desktop icon, and the file will open in
WPDOS inside DOSBox-X. The folder that contains the file will be
the current directory in WPDOS.
- Alternatively, you may drop a Windows folder on to the
shortcut, and that folder will be the current directory in WPDOS
when WPDOS opens, but no file will open when DOSBox-X launches.
- If you have a number of directories that you want to be able
to open conveniently in WPDOS, make one or more copies of the
DOSBoxWP desktop icon. Give each shortcut a descriptive name
(for example “WP Documents”), and then right-click the shortcut,
choose Properties, go to the Shortcut tab, and edit the
“Target:” field in the following way: do not remove
the command line that is already in that field, but go to the
end of the command, add a space, and then type the full name of
the directory that you want WPDOS to use as its current
directory. If the directory name has spaces in it, enclose the
full name in quotation marks. (Remember: A shortcut
modified in this way will ignore any files dropped on it.)
- To assign a drive letter to any folder on your Windows system
while you are using WPDOS in DOSBox-X, run the macro NEWDRIVE. You will be prompted to
enter the full path of the folder in your Windows system; do not
enclose the path in quotation marks, even if it has spaces. If
you type the path correctly, a message will tell you which drive
letter has been “mapped” to it. This assignment will last only
until you exit DOSBox-X. To assign drive letters permanently,
see the advanced techniques below.
Troubleshooting:
- For a list of special keystrokes used by this system,
click the Z: icon at the upper left of the DOSBox-X window and
select Keyboard help...
- If your Windows system uses drive Z:, and you need to access
it from DOSBoxWP (which normally reserves drive letter Z: for
its own use), please contact me.
- Antivirus "false positives": Some
antivirus software will (mistakenly) refuse to let the DOSBoxWP
system run until you make an "exception" for it. If you can't
figure out how to do this, you will need to ask your antivirus
vendor for help. Do not waste your valuable time
asking me how to accomplish this for your specific antivirus
program, because I do not know the answer.
Frequently-asked questions:
Q. I'm a lot smarter than most
people who visit your site, and I have a lot of experience with
computers, so I was able to figure out that your instructions imply
that I should perform certain steps that you never explicitly
mention, and they imply that I should make changes to
the instructions that you never explicitly call for.
Anyway, I cleverly performed those steps and made the changes that
you clearly implied but never explicitly stated,
and now my DOSBoxWP setup doesn't work at all. Why did you do
this to me? Why did you imply that I should do
those things that caused so many problems? How dare you imply
such dangerous things?
A. You, and you alone, caused the
problems, because you insisted on performing steps and making
changes that I never told you to perform. My instructions don't imply
anything. They tell you exactly what you need to do - no more, no
less. Next time, please follow the instructions exactly.
Q. Your
instructions are all wrong! Your software is incompatible with my
system! You're careless and incompetent! You've wasted hours of my
time! Please sort out all the problems I am having with your
system, and do it now! This is all your fault! - [An hour
later.] Um, wait: I just realized that I mistyped a
command. But please tell me how to solve the problems I am still
having, because those problems are clearly your
fault entirely. - [Another hour later.] Um, wait again: I
seem to have misread one of your instructions. But please tell me
how to solve the problem I still have, because it is clearly your
fault and your mistake. - [Yet another hour later.]
Er, yes, wait again: I skipped over something that you said was
essential. Everything is working perfectly now. Never mind!
A. Thank you for
your input.
Q. I can't use
your system! My old copy of WordPerfect 5.1 had a menu bar at the
top of the window, with File, Edit, Search, etc. Your system
doesn't have that menu bar! It's worthless! And you have ruined my
life!
A. First take a deep
breath. Then, in WordPerfect, use Shift+F1, 2 - Display, 4 - Menu
Options, 8 - Menu Remains Visible, type Yes, then F7. Now, wasn't
that easy?
When you launch the DOSBoxWPxx desktop icon, WordPerfect opens in
a window on your desktop. You may use Alt+Enter to toggle between
windowed and full-screen mode. You can use Alt+Tab to toggle
between full-screen WPDOS and other applications, but WPDOS
returns to a window when you do. When you exit WPDOS, if a DOS
screen remains open in the same window, then enter the command exit to close it. (See a separate section of this page for
instructions on controlling whether or not DOSBox-X remains open
after you close WPDOS.)
When WordPerfect opens, its default directory when you press F5
will be the WordPerfect folder on drive B:\ (which is actually a
folder named DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD\WP51 or WP62
inside your user folder; see the paragraph on essential concepts
above). You may set any folder on your actual hard disk as the
default folder by using Shift+F1, Location of Files, Documents in
WPDOS. Alternatively, you can create a desktop shortcut in which
one of the command-line parameters is a folder; that folder will
be the default directory when WPDOS opens.
While WPDOS is running in this system, a program runs in the
background that handles printing, clipboard exchange, and a few
other features. You will see a WP icon in your taskbar tray while
the system is running.
For the best possible display: This
system starts up in a 43-line text window. If you prefer a
different screen in text mode, study the section below
on changing the default screen size for
DOSBox-X. For graphic mode, this system, as
distributed, uses VESA 1024x768 because that will fit most laptop
screens; but if you have a larger monitor, use Shift+F1, Display,
and change the graphic mode to VESA 1280x1024.)
Do not waste your valuable time trying to use Tame to change the way this system looks
on screen; Tame has absolutely no effect on DOSBox-X or any
program that runs inside it - it won't hurt except to the extent
that you waste time that you could have put to better use, but it
also won't help, because Tame does absolutely nothing that has
anything to do with DOSBox-X. Also, do not waste your valuable
time fussing with the “Compatibility” settings in any Windows
shortcut; those settings will have absolutely no effect on this
system. In fact, if I don't explicitly tell you do
something to modify this system, you almost certainly will
waste your time trying to do it, and will probably make the
system stop working.
Important and serious warning: If you choose a VESA
screen size in WPDOS that is larger than the pixel size of your
actual physical monitor, then DOSBox-X may crash without warning
if you switch to full-screen mode. Experiment with screen sizes
before you start working on important files!
If you work in full-screen mode and the display is stretched
horizontally, or imprecise in appearance, see a separate section
on troubleshooting full-screen mode.
To use a non-US-English keyboard: Open
the DOSBoxWP folder (by default, it is in your
user folder), and then open the WPfor64bit
folder inside it, and navigate to the folder named dosbox,
and use Windows Notepad or some other text editor to edit the file
ttfbase.conf. Near the foot of
the file, find the line that reads
keyboardlayout=auto and change
auto to the two-letter abbreviation of your local
keyboard layout (for example, uk or
de or fr).
This may not work, but it's worth trying.
To run your own WPDOS commands when WPDOS starts up:
Modify the desktop shortcut launches WPDOS, and add an /m-macroname switch to the command
line, just as you did when running WPDOS under earlier versions of
Windows.
To print from WPDOS, you absolutely,
positively must already have installed a printer in
Windows! Before you begin, try to print from a Windows
application, such as this web browser. If you cannot print
from a Windows application, you will not be able to print from
WPDOS! After you have set up a printer under Windows, and
only after you have set up a printer under Windows, then
start up WPDOS, and simply print as you normally do from
WordPerfect. You must restart WPDOS after installing a
printer! In WPDOS itself, you may change the default printer
selection from “PCL Driver for WPDOSBox (wpdos.org)” to the driver
whose name begins "PostScript" if you have a good reason for doing
so, but only if you know why you are doing it. Do not
look for the name of the printer that you actually use! Leave
the WPDOS printer driver exactly as it is!
If however, you want to select a Windows printer
every time you print from DOSBoxWP, change the Port in the printer
driver settings from LPT1: to LPT6:. (in WPDOS 5.1, you will need
to choose Other from the Port menu and type in LPT6; in WPDOS 6.x,
you will need to choose File in the Port menu and type in LPT6).
If you make this change, then, a few seconds after you give the
Print command in WPDOS, a list of installed printers will appear,
and you may select the one you want.
Remember: Do not change the name of any
printer driver and do not try to select your actual printer in
WPDOS! Just leave the system exactly as you found it! I
really mean it! Make sure you understand this! Look
into your heart! If you find an uncontrollable impulse to change
the name of the printer or use a different printer driver, then
stop now, and do not try to use this system!
Don't be clueless! Don't
be like Clueless Visitors No. 71, 83, 104, and 115, who wasted
endless time and effort recovering from the mess they made when
they insisted on installing a different printer driver from the
ones supplied with the system. (One of a series of Don't
be clueless! warnings presented by this site as a
public service.)
By default, the system uses the software packages GhostPCL and
Ghostscript to print to any Windows printer, but if your default
printer is a PCL or PostScript printer - and you really and truly
know that it is a PCL or PostScript printer - you can get
faster printing and more flexible options by customizing this
system to print directly to your PCL or PostScript printer. To
accomplish this, read and study the section
on advanced techniques below.
You should almost certainly use the default PCL printer driver in
DOSBoxWP. But if you normally use a Postscript printer in WPDOS,
or you require Postscript-compatible output, then use Shift+F7,
Select, and choose the printer driver whose name begins
"PostScript."
To create a PDF file from WPDOS, either
print to LPT3 from a PCL or PostScript driver; an
arbitrarily-named file will appear on the Windows desktop (but see below). Alternatively, use the PDFMAKER
macro. This creates a PDF file in the same folder with the
original file, with the file's original name and the extension
.PDF. If the document has no name, then an arbitrary name will be
used and the PDF will be written to your Windows desktop. By
default, the PDF file will open in your default Windows PDF
reader; to prevent this from happening, open the macro in WPDOS
(with Ctrl+F10, PDFMAKER, Edit), and change the PDFopen variable
near the top from 1 to 0 (zero). A similar
PDFPAGE macro creates a PDF of the current page only.
Specify PDF output location (added June 2024): By default, this
system writes arbitrarily-named PDF to the Windows desktop. However, a
DOSBoxWPPDFFolder.exe program, which runs
during installation or from the Start menu, allows you to specify a
different folder. The folder you specify will also be used for output from
the vDosWP system if you have that system installed.
Note: Under WPDOS 5.1, if you use the
default PCL printer driver, you may want to use an alternate PCLTOPDF
macro that chooses fonts for the PDF output that may be closer to
those used in your printer output. This alternate macro is not
needed under WPDOS 6.x, because the WPDOS 6.x PDFMAKER macro
automatically chooses the correct PDF-writing driver. (PCLTOPDF is
not available in Arabic or Hebrew versions of this system.)
Under WPDOS 6.x, the mouse is disabled by default (to
improve performance), but you can turn it on easily.
Use Shift+F1, Mouse, and change Type from "Microsoft Mouse
(serial)" to "Mouse driver (MOUSE.COM)". Other settings may also
work.
If the mouse doesn't appear after you enable the
mouse, or if you want to restrict the mouse pointer to the
WPDOS window, press Ctrl+Alt+F10 while the mouse
is in the WPDOS window. Press Ctrl+Alt+F10 again to release the
mouse from the WPDOS window. (See further
keyboard features below.)
To install soft fonts into WPDOS 6.x: Install
soft fonts into WPDOS 6.x exactly as you do in any WPDOS 6.x
system, with this exception: to avoid clutter, I have moved the
default soft font directories from the root directory of the
virtual hard disk to directories beneath the WP62
directory. So, before installing fonts from inside WPDOS, copy
your TrueType soft font files to
DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD\WP62\TTF (you may need to create
the TTF folder) and your PostScript Type 1 soft
font files to DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD\WP62\PSFONTS.
You may of course use any other directories you like, but you must
create those directories on the virtual hard disk and specify
their location correctly in Shift+F1/Location of Files. (Remember,
that the actual folder DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD\WP62
must be listed in the Location of Files menu in WPDOS simply as B:\WP62.)
512-character mode: WordPerfect's
512-character mode is supported by this system, but only if the
screen is set to 25 lines. See instructions elsewhere on this page
for setting the screen to 25 lines.
Euro symbol support: If you choose a
European keyboard setting (see above), the euro symbol should be
available as character 213. If you use a US keyboard layout, an
option lets you replace the C-cedilla character (128) with the
euro symbol. To enable this option, navigate to the
DOSBoxWP\DOSBox
folder, and use Windows Notepad or some other text
editor to edit the ttfbase.conf file,
and, in the [render] section,
replace euro = -1 with euro = 128
To restore non-working function keys,
read the advice on the relevant page for your Windows version, for
example for Windows 8
or Windows 10.
When DOSBoxWP is running, a few additional keyboard-based
functions are available:
- Alt+Enter: toggles between windowed and
full-screen mode
- Ctrl+Alt+F1: Toggle DOSBox-X menu line
- Ctrl+Alt+F4: pastes from the Windows
clipboard.
- Ctrl+Alt+F5: stops pasting from the Windows
clipboard in case you need to do so
- Ctrl+Alt+F10: captures mouse in the DOSBoxWP
screen; press again to release
- Ctrl+Alt+F11: Reduce TrueType font size
- Ctrl+Alt+F12: Increase TrueType font
size
And some special-purpose macros are available:
- CNV2DOCX: converts current document to DOCX
format (MS Word required)
- CNV2WORD: alternate method of converting to
DOCX format (MS Word required)
- COPY: copies blocked text to the Windows
clipboard
- EURO: types the euro symbol (possibly visible
only in WPDOS 6.x graphics mode)
- GETCLIPW: pastes from the Windows clipboard,
including WordPerfect characters (requires WordPerfect for
Windows; see below)
- HOSTCMD: prompts for a command to run in
Windows
- HOSTRUN: sample macro runs Windows Notepad
(edit for your own use)
- NEWDRIVE: assigns a DOSBox-X drive letter to
any Windows folder
- OPTIONS: empty macro; edit to use add any
startup commands you want
- PASTE: pastes from the Windows clipboard
- PDFMAKER: creates PDF from current document (must be
named)
- PCLTOPDF: creates PDF from current document
(must be named; alternate method)
- PDFPAGE: creates PDF of current page (document must
be named)
- PDFPSPG: creates PDF of current page (document must
be named; alternate method)
- VDOSOPEN: closes document, opens it in vDosWP
(if installed)
- WHICHPTR: identifies current Windows default
printer
Note: Under WPDOS 6.x, the PCLTOPDF and PDFMAKER
macros are identical, as are the PDFPAGE and PDFPSPAGE macros. Under WPDOS
5.1, PDFMAKER and PDFPSPG use a PostScript printer driver, and PCLTOPDF and
PDFPAGE use a PCL printer driver.
Copy and Paste macros. You can exchange
text between Windows and WordPerfect. Use the COPY macro to copy the selected
block in WPDOS to the Windows clipboard. Use the PASTE macro to copy the contents of
the Windows clipboard to WPDOS.
Alternatively, for pasting from the Windows clipboard only, try
Ctrl+Alt+F4; if you mistakenly paste a large block of text, you can stop the
paste-in-progress by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F5.
Paste WP Characters (math/science,
Greek, Cyrillic, etc.) from the Windows clipboard.
If, and only if, you have WordPerfect for Windows installed on
your system, you can use the GETCLIPW
macro to paste that text into WPDOS. If you are not trying to copy
non-standard characters, use the PASTE
macro or Ctrl+Alt+F4 instead.
Select text with Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys.
You can copy plain text from the screen to the Windows clipboard
by pressing a Ctrl+Alt+arrow key to move the cursor to one corner
of the rectangle that you want to copy; press Ctrl+Alt+Home to
start selecting; extend the selection with the Ctrl+Alt+arrow
keys; press Ctrl+Alt+End to stop selecting and send the text
inside the rectangle to the Windows clipboard.
Run a Windows command from WPDOS. Use
either of the three methods described below:
(1) Experiment
with Ctrl+F1, Go to DOS, and enter START
followed by the Windows command; you may need to use the full path
of the program. After experimenting with Ctrl+F1, Go to DOS, you
can use Ctrl+F1, DOS Command instead, or record the command in a
macro.
(2) In WPDOS (6.x
or 5.1), running in the DOSBoxWP system, run the macro HOSTCMD. You will be prompted for a
command to run in the host Windows system. For example, you might
run “C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla
Firefox\Firefox.exe” (no quotation marks ). If text is
blocked (selected) in the current WPDOS document when you run the
macro, the blocked text will be used as a command-line parameter
sent to the host system with the command that you entered when
prompted.
(3) A second
macro, HOSTRUN, does NOT
prompt you to enter a command, but instead runs a command that has
been written into the macro as a variable. As supplied, the macro
uses Windows Notepad, but of course you can edit the macros to run
any other application. Again, if text is blocked (selected) in
WPDOS, that text will be used as a command-line parameter added to
the command already in the variable.
This is a summary of printing options in DOSBoxWP. Further notes are
elsewhere on this page.
- LPT1: Prints to the default Windows printer by
creating a PDF in the background and sending it to the printer
- LPT2: Prints raw printer data to the default
Windows printer (works correctly only with a PCL or PostScript printer)
- LPT3: Writes a PDF on the Windows desktop
- LPT4: Creates a PDF and opens it in the default
PDF viewer
- LPT5: Prints raw printer data to a printer that
you select from a menu
- LPT6: Prints to any Windows printer; select the
printer from a menu
By default, this system uses a printing system in which the
standard fonts are the same as those in HP LaserJet printers. This
system allows you to use PCL “printer commands” embedded in your
documents, but it does not let you use any custom fonts or printer
“macros” stored in the printer itself. (However, it does let you
use downloadable LaserJet soft fonts, but you will need to figure
out for yourself how to install them.)
A note on Dark Courier: This system,
like current LaserJet models, includes two varieties of the
Courier typeface, one called Courier, the other called CourierPS.
This system uses a custom build of GhostPCL that replaces the
normal Courier font with the equivalent of HP's “Dark Courier.” If
you want to use the darker Courier, use the Courier font; this is
the equivalent of using the “Dark Courier” option in recent
LaserJets. If you want the normal Courier used on modern
LaserJets, use the CourierPS font.
Advanced options of this system let you redirect the printer
output from WordPerfect to your Windows printer, and bypassing
this system's advanced printer features.These options are similar
to the options that let you print directly to a PCL or PostScript
printer, but they also work with any printer supported
by a WordPerfect printer. You must have a WordPerfect driver for
your printer, but your printer can be connected to your computer
by any method (USB, network, etc.).
With these options you can use any printer driver you want,
and give the driver any name you like, but it must be a driver
that is compatible with your printer. To use this feature,
set the Port in your WP printer driver either to LPT2
or to B:\PRINTOUT\RAWPRINT.PRN
- and if you do not know how to do this, then you shouldn't be
trying it.
The DOSBoxWP system is less well integrated into Windows than the
vDosWP system, but, when used with WPDOS 5.1, DOSBoxWP has the
advantage that it can display high-resolution VESA graphics (up to
1280x1024), while (with WPDOS 5.1 only) vDosWP is limited to VGA-resolution graphics
(640x480).
If you are editing a document in DOSBoxWP, and you want
the speed and convenience of vDosWP, run the VDOSOPEN macro. The current
document will close, and, if you have vDosWP installed, the
document will open in vDosWP. You can then, in vDosWP, run a DBOXOPEN macro to open the macro
again in DOSBoxWP. (Of course, both systems must be installed
correctly for this to happen.)
Some serious warnings: You can make
many adjustments to the default DOSBoxWP system, but you need to
know what you are doing, or you are likely to waste a large amount
of paper when you try to print. You need to know how edit text
files and how to follow instructions exactly.
Add startup commands: If you want to
run programs or set environment variables or run any other
DOS-style command before WP starts up, edit the options.bat file in the
DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD folder. When running DOSBoxWP, this
file is B:\OPTIONS.BAT and you
may edit it in WordPerfect (but be sure to save it as a DOS Text
File). You may, if you want, create a SHUTDOWN.BAT
file in the same folder, and the commands in it will run after you
exit WPDOS.
Print directly to a PCL5 printer: If
you really and truly know that your default printer is a
PCL5 printer, you can print more quickly than you can with the
built-in GhostPCL system, and you can send to the printer any
special PCL codes that are embedded in a file and that will only
work correctly on real printer hardware. If you absolutely know
that your default printer is a PCL5 printer, you can install a
different PCL printer driver, but you must set the printer port
either as LPT2 or as the filename B:\PRINTOUT\OUTPUT.PCL - but
don't even try this if you don't really and truly know what you're
doing.
Print directly to a PostScript printer:
If you really and truly know that your default printer
is a PostScript printer, you can print more quickly than you can
with the built-in Ghostscript system, and you can print envelopes
and other non-standard page sizes that you cannot print (with this
system) through the Ghostscript system. If you absolutely know
that your default printer is a PostScript printer, you can install
any PostScript printer driver, but you must set the printer port
either to LPT2 or as the filename B:\PRINTOUT\WP64.PS - but
don't even try this if you don't really and truly know what you're
doing.
Further note for really
advanced users: If you really, and I mean really
and truly, know what you are doing, you can also install a
different PostScript driver for use with the PDFMAKER macro. Use Shift+F7,
Select, Copy, to create another copy of the custom PostScript
driver that you installed by following the instructions in the
note immediately above. (Note that the Copy command creates a new
PRS file.) Give the new copy a distinctive name that includes
“PDF” so you will recognize it later. Set the printer port in the
new copy as the filename
B:\PRINTOUT\WP64PDF.PS (type that very carefully).
Finally, edit the existing PDFMAKER.WPM
macro so that it selects the new printer driver instead of the one
supplied with this system. You will need to figure out for
yourself which part of the macro to edit, because this should only
be attempted by someone expert enough to understand what to do.
Attempt this only if you already know how to edit WPDOS macros!
Don't expect me to undo your mistakes!
Further note for spectacularly advanced users: You
may install PostScript soft fonts into a WPDOS printer driver,
using the exact same methods that you used on your old system. Or
you may copy your existing .PRS file (and the .ALL file into
which you installed the font information) into this system,
but you must also copy the PostScript fonts into a directory on
the virtual hard disk, and make certain that the WPDOS printer
driver points correctly to that directory. You must also study the
note two paragraphs above this about installing a different
PostScript printer driver. If you use the PDFMAKER.WPM macro, then you must
also install the fonts into the printer driver named in the macro,
or use your intelligence to figure out how to copy your existing
driver to a driver that you can use for the macro, following the
advice immediately above this. Attempt this only if you know
what you are doing, and are prepared to undo your mistakes!
Add Windows folders to your
DOSBox-X setup: You can access any
folder on your Windows system as a drive letter in DOSBox-X. Here
are two methods of adding drive letters visible to WPDOS that
correspond to folders on your Windows system.
(a) With the DOSBoxWP system closed and
not running, navigate to the DOSBoxWP\DOSBox
folder, and use Windows Notepad or some other text editor to edit
the ttfbase.conf file. Near
the foot of the file, add a line that will associate a drive
letter in DOSBox-X with a folder on your Windows system. Use
quotation marks if you identify a folder with a space in its name.
For example:
mount G C:\Temp\
mount H “C:\Users\Roscoe\Desktop\”
(The final backslash in each line is optional, provided that
another backslash also exists in the path, but I strongly
recommend that you include the final backslash.) This method can
be used with networked drives that have a drive letter in your
Windows system. After you finish editing, close and save the file
and start WP from your desktop shortcut.
(b) You may temporarily assign a new
drive letter by running the NEWDRIVE
macro in WPDOS. The drive-letter assignment will apply only until
you quit DOSBoxWP.
Change the default screen size
for DOSBox-X: By default, this system
opens in a special 43-line text mode. You can force the system to
open in traditional 25-line mode, or in a 50-line, 60-line, or
66-line mode, or, if you prefer, a mode with 132 columns and
43 lines or one with 132 columns and 60 lines.
To do this, exit WPDOS and shutdown the DOSBoxWP system;
navigate to the DOSBoxWP\DOSBox folder, and
use Windows Notepad or some other text editor to edit the ttfbase.conf file. Find the lines
that read:
## default screen is 43 lines; change by
uncommenting one line below
# 25lines
# 35lines
# 50lines
# 60lines
# 66lines
# 90x35
# 90x43
# 132x43
# 132x60
Remove the comment mark and space (# )
at the start of the line that shows the number of lines you want
to use. Save the file and restart the DOSBoxWP system. To return
to the 43-line default, edit the file again, and restore the
comment mark and space. (Your text font in WordPerfect must be set
to Auto-Select; if you specify a 25-line or some other specific
font in WPDOS, or if you use monochrome mode, then these lines in
the .conf file will have no
effect in WPDOS itself.)
Note: Even if the 90- or132-column modes
are not listed in the .prof
file for your version, you may use them with any recent version of
this system.
Run WPDOS in monochrome mode: You may
prefer to run WPDOS in monochrome mode, as on an ancient IBM PC.
If so, with the DOSBoxWP system closed and not running, navigate
to the DOSBoxWP\DOSBox folder, and use Windows
Notepad or some other text editor to edit the wpbase.conf file. Notice the line
that reads
# mode mono
Remove the “#” mark from the start
of the line and save the file.
"Capture" the mouse in the WPDOS window:
If you use a mouse in WPDOS, you may get better results if you allow
DOSBox-X to "capture" the mouse so that it will not move outside the
DOSBox-X window (unless you Alt+Tab to another program or the desktop). You
can use the keystroke Ctrl+Alt+F10 to capture
or release the mouse. The keystroke is a "toggle"; if the mouse is
not captured, the keystroke will capture it; if the mouse is
already captured, the keystroke will release it.
Alternatively, you can use the built-in CAPMOUSE command either from the
command line or in a batch file or the autoexec section of your
configuration file. Capture the mouse with the command:
CAPMOUSE /C
and release it with the command:
CAPMOUSE /R
Use the "start" command to run a Windows program.
The custom build of DOSBox-X used in this system includes a START
command, to be run from the DOSBox-X command prompt or from WPDOS
using Ctrl+F1, DOS Command. For example, to start Windows WordPad
from WPDOS, use Ctrl+F1, DOS Command, and enter start WordPad (of course, this or a
similar command may be recorded in a macro).
Use the supplied MuPDF PDF viewer. You
can run your default Windows PDF viewer from this system by
experimenting with the "start" command described immediately
above, or you can use the supplied open-source MuPDF
program found in the DOSBox-X
B:\UTIL folder.
Sound in WPDOS 6.x. You can play sound
clips in WPDOS 6.x. Use these options in the Ctrl+F7, Sound
Clip, Shift+F1, Sound Setup menu: Type: SoundBlaster. Under
Hardware Setup: Interrupt Request Level: IRQ5 (not the default 7).
Base Address: use the default 220. External Synthesis:
Experiment to see if you get better results with this box checked or
unchecked. (Sound should work correctly in the versions of this system
posted 16 February 2023 or later.)
If you use the installation option to install support for the WP
Office Shell, the installer will install the complete Office 3.1
software, made publicly available by Novell. (Feature added May 2024:
It will also install DrawPerfect 1.1 and PlanPerfect 5.1, which you can
ignore if you don't want them.) You may need to
set up your applications by hand in the same way you set them up
when you used the Shell on a real DOS computer.
If you want to run WPDOS in 43-line mode from the Shell, edit the
shell.conf file in the DOSBoxWP\DOSBox folder, and
find the line that reads:
lins =
25
Change the number to 43. You may want to experiment with other numbers.
If you need to use an abbreviation expander such as PRD+ or
Smartype with WPDOS 5.1, first set up the DOSBoxWP system so that
WPDOS 5.1 works correctly. You should have a copy of all the files
in the abbreviation expander setup that you used under Windows XP
or DOS, as described on this site's medical
transcriptionist page, with a batch file that launches your
expander software and WPDOS, again as described on that page. (Do
not save these files by burning them to a CD! They will not work
correctly! Use a USB drive to copy the files, or e-mail them to
yourself. Do not burn them to a CD!)
In Windows, open an Explorer window on the folder
DOSBoxWP\VirtualHD and create a folder with the same
name as the folder that contained your abbreviation expander
software on your old system (typically PPLUS2 or ST or some
similar name). Copy all the files from your old expander setup
into that folder.
The next step is very important. If you have a Windows Start
Menu, find the DOSBoxWP folder and launch DOSBoxWP PlainDOS; or go to the DOSBoxWP
folder and start the system by double-clicking the “DOSBoxWP-PlainDOS.exe”
file; do not use any of the commands with “51” or “62” in their
names. This command will open a 25-line version of DOSBox-X at the
DOSBox-X B:\ prompt. At the
prompt, enter CD PPLUS2 or CD ST or whatever CD command takes you
into your expander directory; then enter the name of the batch
file that you created that starts your expander and then starts WP
(the batch file may be named something PRDWP.BAT or STWP.BAT). You should be able to
use your expander as your normally do.