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Versions of DOS below 3.3 will cause MarxMenu to use 3.5k of RAM where 3.3 DOS and above use no memory. 3.2 DOS is very buggy and should be replaced. 3.1 DOS isn't too bad for bugs but if you're using the BACKUP and RESTORE programs that came with it, you're in trouble. They don't work on large files. You'll find that out if you try to restore one of them.
MS-DOS 4.01 seems to be pretty clean provided you have the April '89 release or later. To determine if you do, check the file date on COMMAND.COM. Earlier versions of DOS 4.01 have SERIOUS BUGS. If you are running any DOS 4 earlier than April '89 you should upgrade immediately.
We are happy to announce that MarxMenu runs under DOS 5.0 with no problems or modifications. One feature implemented is the Idle Loop call which allows MarxMenu to conserve CPU power when it's not doing anything. This makes it work better under DesqView and Windows.
Speaking of Windows, MarxMenu is not a Windows program. It can however be used to start Windows programs and can be run under Windows. Windows however is an extremely unstable environment. If for some reason you're having trouble with MarxMenu and Windows, it's Windows fault. In spite of glowing reviews that magazine writers seem compelled to write, I recommend avoiding Windows unless you have a program that requires Windows to run.
DR-DOS or EZ-DOS are pretty good also. It is very compatible as long as you don't get too strange with it. We recommend version 3.4 or later. DR-DOS has a nasty COMSPEC bug in versions 5 and 6 when running a second COMMAND.COM shell started from a network drive.
4DOS is also pretty good but sometimes some of the advanced features in this product can cause it to behave differently than DOS. This requires extra care when writing your menus.
MarxMenu should work correctly on 386 multi-user operating systems such as Digital Research's Concurrent DOS 386 or SCO VPIX DOS emulators and PCMOS. Under these systems you will have to set the TASK environment variable if you are running MarxMenu in multiple tasks.
MarxMenu will not run correctly under DesqView 2.26. It will run under 2.25 or 3.21. So if you are running 2.26, it needs to be upgraded. MarxMenu contains several support functions for DesqView including DesqView API calls to control the DesqView environment.
Although we haven't tested MarxMenu in the OS/2 1.3 compatibility box, we have had good success with MarxMenu under OS/2 2.0. We have been able not only to run DOS programs but OS/2 programs as well. If set up right MarxMenu can spawn multiple tasks of both DOS and OS/2 applications.
If you are running under some weird DOS and are having problems, try it under "regular" DOS and see if it goes away. If it does, try to find out what it is about your weird DOS that makes it not work right. We are interested in being compatible with as many systems as possible. Let us know if you are having problems. But also, try to get your weird DOS vendors to clean up their act.
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