In the second of our three-part series on moving from a big system to a PC, it helps to know what to expect

By Tom Yager

To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, ``Windows don't get no respect.'' Microsoft Corp.'s megahit graphical environment is at once universally accepted and widely defamed. It's easy to mutter about its technical shortcomings--dependence on DOS, cooperative multitasking, poor memory protection--but if you want to do business, you can't avoid Windows. It's where all the best applications run.

If it irks you to lower yourself by using an environment used by tens of millions of ordinary computer users, take heart: It's possible, with some effort, to build a worthwhile working universe around a Windows system. A universe that includes everything you're used to: dozens of shell commands, TCP/IP, and electronic mail, even the X Window System. Strangely, I find my well-tuned Windows environment more functional and fun than the Unix systems I use. Blasphemy, I know, but true.

Configure for Success

Just as with last month's column on DOS, I suggest people have a healthy familiarity with Windows' foibles to avoid unpleasant surprises. The first such unappetizing fact is that Windows runs atop DOS. That means it inherits all the memory management problems and other weaknesses that make DOS so darned lovable. The best advice I can give here is, ``Keep your configuration simple.'' If you try to dress your PC up like a multiuser beast--loading it with multiport serial cards, network adapters, and disk and tape controllers--you're asking for trouble. All these extras can work fine under DOS and then fall apart on you when you launch Windows.

Configuring your machine properly in the first place is a good way to avoid performance and reliability issues. Most commercial Windows applications run splendidly in eight megabytes of RAM. If you have the means, bump it up to 12 or 16 megabytes. Windows does have virtual memory, but you must remember to ask Windows for it: a permanent, preallocated virtual memory file is not built during Windows installation. The default, a temporary dynamic virtual memory file, performs poorly by comparison.

If you're building a computer to run Windows, find out if the disk controller specifically supports Windows. Any disk controller that works under DOS will work with Windows. Performance suffers with some devices because Windows is forced to use the controller's BIOS ROM. Modern PCs copy this ROM into RAM to make it run faster, but it still runs in real mode. Windows runs in protected mode, so every disk access requires a switch to real mode and back. The result: less-than-stellar disk performance.

There are two possible solutions: use an AT-compatible hard-disk controller or buy a controller that comes with Windows protected-mode drivers. An AT-compatible controller, typified by the popular IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) standard, benefits from code inside Windows that talks directly to the controller, bypassing the BIOS. If you want SCSI, choosing a controller with Windows drivers will offer the same advantage. When Windows can talk directly to your controller, it is able to spend more time in the faster protected mode and transfer data 32 bits at a time.

Those disappointed by Windows' performance often formed their opinions by watching a system with an unaccelerated display adapter. Dumb frame-buffer VGA cards still exist, and you might be tempted by their bargain-basement price. But avoid them, because stepping up to an accelerated card (probably costing between $150 and $350) will give you many times a VGA card's performance. Windows is popular enough to have display hardware optimized to run it well. As with workstations, many commercial Windows applications expect to run at resolutions of 1,024-by-768 pixels or greaater. More than 8-bit color is rarely required, but if you're running graphical applications, you'll benefit from a display card that gives you 16 or 24 bits of color. Most Windows accelerators let you raise the color depth by running (even temporarily) at a lower resolution.

If you just bought your system, it may have come configured with Windows for Workgroups. You might upgrade to this Windows version if you have not already because it boosts disk performance and comes standard with slow (but handy) peer-to-peer local-area network software. Add a $69 Ethernet card, and you have a network. Basic e-mail and group scheduling software is included as well.

Getting Along

Like DOS, the standard Windows environment is pretty sparse. The desktop metaphor is provided by Program Manager, a Windows application. Here, executable programs are represented as icons. Unlike the Macintosh and most Unix desktop shells, files don't show up under Program Manager. Applications are collected into program groups, each group getting its own icon that expands into a window. There is only one level in the hierarchy: Program Manager's representation is flat below the first level and bears no relation to the structure of your file system.

Most large-system users find Program Manager all but useless. I find it helpful as a graphical reminder of which applications I've loaded onto my hard drive, but beyond that, it's often more hindrance than help. This problem is compounded by the fact that there's no standard command-line program launcher. You can't launch Windows programs from a DOS session window.

Fortunately, you have plenty of work arounds. There are command-line launchers available as shareware. I found a handful of them on the Walnut Creek (Walnut Creek, Calif.) ``CICA Shareware for Windows'' CD-ROM, along with a marvelous collection of other Windows goodies. Another approach is to replace Program Manager entirely. You can plug in any Windows graphical shell you like. Again, there are several shareware replacements. In the commercial domain, I've used Central Point's PC Tools for Windows, which includes a graphical shell that's considerably better than Program Manager. Norton Desktop for Windows is also generally well reviewed. As an aside, Hummingbird's Exceed X Windows server includes a lightweight but versatile pop-up menu shell replacement for Program Manager. You can use that shell even when you're not using the X Window System.

The more expedient solution is to employ an underused Program Manager feature: shortcut keys. You can configure every application icon with a shortcut key that launches its represented program. On my system, Control-Alt-D opens a DOS session window, Control-Alt-T starts a Telnet connection to my Unixware host, and Shift-Control-Alt-F runs Framemaker.

Contrary to some horror stories, Windows does have multitasking capabilities and can multitask acceptably. If you're a Unix person, you will miss transparent multitasking. But with Windows I can Zmodem a file into my PC at 19.2 Kbps in the background while I'm writing my book in Framemaker. There are combinations that don't work. A C++ compile, for example, usually leaves nothing of the CPU for other programs.

Build It Up

Like DOS, making Windows a homey hangout is a matter of choosing the right accessories. My main Windows system is a modest little box, but I have its software decked out nicely. I use Netmanage's Chameleon 4 to make my TCP/IP and NFS connections, and just before writing this column, I used Chameleon to get my Windows box on the Internet using Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). Once I got some modem glitches ironed out, I was surprised at how easy it was to get connected and how versatile the connection proved to be. The Windows Sockets (Winsock) standard lets Chameleon form a bed of TCP/IP services on which other applications, even shareware, can lie. NNTP (Network News transport protocol) news readers, Mosaic, Gopher, and other Internet tools all exist as native Windows programs; most are shareware.

I also run the MKS Toolkit for DOS on this system. Windows lets you pop up DOS emulators, each running either full screen or in a window. By the way, the procedure for making your DOS emulators run in windows isn't at all obvious. Run the PIF (Program Information File) editor, load the file dosprmpt.pif, and click on the radio button to change it from the default ``full screen'' to ``windowed.'' These DOS sessions can become just like local terminal sessions with the MKS Toolkit installed, giving you dozens of Unix-identical commands, including a Korn shell. I run it less to make my system feel like Unix than to have a good collection of tools at my disposal.

Hummingbird's Exceed gives me X Window System access to the Unix systems in my lab. It's fast, and it's satisfying to run native Windows and X applications side by side. The right way to do it, by the way, is to use a Windows PC and remote out to other systems. I have yet to see a Unix-based software or hardware DOS and Windows emulator that works right enough of the time. Exceed also has a virtual-screen capability that extends to Windows programs.

I don't quit there. Also stuffed into my PC is the Winfax Pro fax package, Video for Windows (motion video playback), the Borland C++ compiler, Visual Basic, Smartcom for Windows serial communications software, Photoshop, Framemaker...and these are just the pieces I use every day or nearly so.

True Like

Am I a Windows fan? I can't claim that. I want freedom from DOS, which Windows 95 promises to provide. I freely admit to being a huge fan of the thousands of applications, commercial and shareware, that run under Windows. I've been a user of practically every type of computer system, from Macs and Amigas to IBM 370 mainframes. In all that time, I've never seen elsewhere the variety of quality software that exists today for Windows. If you want what some other platform has to offer, it's easier to make the connection with Windows than anything else.

In the next column, I'll discuss making the move down to a PC from a developer's perspective.