There are Three versions of Vim that can be used with MS-DOS machines:
| 16 bit version | Can be used on any MS-DOS system, only uses up to 640 Kbyte of memory. Also runs on OS/2. |
| 32 bit version | Requires 386 processor and a DPMI driver, uses all available memory. Supports long file names where available. |
| Win32 version | Requires Windows 95 or Windows NT, uses all available memory, supports long file names, etc. See vim_w32.html |
For the 32 bit version you may need a DPMI driver when running in MS-DOS. If you are running Windows or installed a clever memory manager it will probably run already. If you get the message "No DPMI" you need to install a DPMI driver. Such a driver is included with the executable. The latest version of "CWSDPMI.ZIP" can be obtained from: "ftp.neosoft.com:pub/users/s/sandmann".
Known problem: When using smartdrive (MS-DOS 6.x) with write-behind caching, it is possible that Vim will try to create a swap file on a read-only file system (e.g. write protected floppy). You will then be given the message "A serious disk error has occurred .., Retry (r)? " There is nothing you can do but unprotecting the floppy or switch off the computer. Even CTRL-ALT-DEL will not get you out of this. This is really a problem of smartdrive, not Vim. Smartdrive works fine otherwise. If this bothers you, don't use the write-behind caching.
Using backslashes in file names can be a problem. Vi halves the number of backslashes for some commands. Vim is a bit more tolerant, backslashes are not removed from a file name, ":e c:\foo\bar" works as expected. But when a backslash is used before a special character (space, comma, backslash, etc.) it is removed. Use slashes to avoid problems: ":e c:/foo/bar" works fine. Vim will replace the slashes with backslashes internally, to avoid problems with some MS-DOS programs.
The default output method for the screen is to use bios calls. This will work right away on most systems. You do not need ansi.sys. You can use ":mode" to set the current screen mode. See vim_ref9.html, section 20.3 :mode.
You can set the color used in five modes with nine termcap options. Which of the five modes is used for which action depends on the 'highlight' ('hl') option. See vim_ref8.html 'highlight'.
":set t_mr=^V^[\|xxm" start of invert mode ":set t_md=^V^[\|xxm" start of bold mode ":set t_me=^V^[\|xxm" back to normal textWhen you use 0, the color is reset to the one used when you started Vim. This is the default for t_me. The default for t_mr is black on grey, 0 + 112 = 112. The default for t_md is white on cyan, 15 + 48 = 63. The default for t_so is white on blue, 15 + 16 = 31. These colors where choosen, because the also look good when using an inverted display. But you can change them as you like.":set t_so=^V^[\|xxm" start of standout mode ":set t_se=^V^[\|xxm" back to normal text
":set t_us=^V^[\|xxm" start of underline mode ":set t_ue=^V^[\|xxm" back to normal text
":set t_ZH=^V^[\|xxm" start of italics mode ":set t_ZR=^V^[\|xxm" back to normal text
^V is CTRL-V ^[ is <Esc> xx must be replaced with a decimal code: The foreground color number and background color number added together:
COLOR FOREGROUND BACKGROUND black 0 0 blue 1 16 green 2 32 cyan 3 48 red 4 64 magenta 5 80 brown 6 96 lighgray 7 112 darkgray 8 lightblue 9 lightgreen 10 lighcyan 11 lightred 12 lighmagenta 13 yellow 14 white 15 blink 128
The termcap codes that are translated into bios calls are:
t_cl <Esc>|J clear screen
t_ce <Esc>|K clear to end of line
t_al <Esc>|L insert line
t_dl <Esc>|M delete line
t_cm <Esc>|{row};{col}H position cursor
t_cs <Esc>|{row};{row}r set scrolling region
t_.. <Esc>|attrm set character attribute
If you set these with the ":set" command, don't forget to put a backslash
before the '|', otherwise it will be recognized as the end of the command.
If you want to use another output method (e.g. when using a terminal on a COM port), set the terminal name to "pcansi". You can change the termcap options when needed (see chapter 20 of vim_ref9.html terminal_options). Note that the normal IBM ansi.sys does not support all the codes of the builtin pcansi terminal. If you use ansi.sys you will need to delete the termcap entries t_al and t_dl with ":set t_al= t_dl=". Otherwise the screen will not be updated correctly. It is better to use nansi.sys, nnansi.sys or the like instead of ansi.sys.
If you want to use Vim on a terminal connected to a COM: port, reset the 'bioskey' option. Otherwise the commands will be read from the PC keyboard. CTRL-C and CTRL-P may not work correctly with 'bioskey' reset.
If the "tx" (textmode) option is set (which is the default), Vim will accept a single <NL> or a <CR><NL> pair for end-of-line. When writing a file Vim will use <CR><NL>. Thus if you edit a file and write it, <NL> is replaced with <CR><NL>. If the "tx" option is not set the single <NL> will be used for end-of-line. A <CR> will be shown as ^M. You can use Vim to replace <NL> with <CR><NL> by reading in any mode and writing in text mode. You can use Vim to replace <CR><NL> with <NL> by reading in text mode and writing in non-text mode. 'textmode' is set automatically when 'textauto' is on (which is the default), so you don't really have to worry about what you are doing. 'textmode' 'textauto'
If you want to edit a script file or a binary file you should reset the 'textmode' and 'textauto' options before loading the file. Script files contain single <NL> characters which would be replaced with <CR><NL>. You can do this by starting Vim with the "-b" (binary) option.
You should set the environment variable "VIM" to the directory where the Vim documentation files are. If "VIM" is used but not defined, "HOME" is tried too.
The default help filename is "$VIM\vim_help.html". If the environment variable $VIM is not defined or the file is not found, the DOS search path is used to search for the file "vim_help.html". If you do not want to put "vim_help.html" in your search path, use the command ":set helpfile=pathname" to tell Vim where the help file is. 'helpfile'
The files "_vimrc" and "_exrc" are used instead of ".vimrc" and ".exrc". The files "$VIM\_vimrc" and "$VIM\_exrc" are used instead of "s:.vimrc" and "s:.exrc". To use the file "c:\_vimrc" use the command "set vim=c:".
The ":cd" command recognizes the drive specifier and changes the current drive. Use ":cd c:" to make drive C the active drive. Use ":cd d:\dos" to go to the directory "dos" in the root of drive D. :cd
Use CTRL-break instead of CTRL-C to interrupt searches. The CTRL-C is not detected until a key is read.
Use CTRL-arrow-left and CTRL-arrow-right instead of SHIFT-arrow-left and SHIFT-arrow-right. The arrow-up and arrow-down cannot be used with SHIFT or CTRL.
Temporary files (for filtering) are put in the current directory.
The default for the sh (shell) option is "command". If COMSPEC is defined it is used instead. External commands are started with "command /c <command_name>". Typing CTRL-Z starts a new command shell. Return to Vim with "exit".
MS-DOS allows for only one filename extention. Therefore, when appending an extension, in the original filename the '.' is replaced with a '_', the name is truncated to 8 characters and the new extention ".vim" or ".bak" is appended. Two examples: "test.c" becomes "test_c.bak", "ditiseen.tst" becomes "ditiseen.bak". The 'shortname' option is not available, because it would always be set.
The MS-DOS binary was compiled with Borland-C++ version 4.0, using makefile.bcc. Other compilers should also work. Use makefile.dos for Turbo-C 2.0. Use makefile.bcc for other Borland compilers, also Turbo-C++ 3.0 (with small changes). If you get all kinds of strange error messages when compiling, you have to add <CR> characters at the end of each line. This can be done with the addcr program: "make addcr". This will compile addcr.c to addcr.exe and execute the addcr.bat file. Sometimes this fails. Then execute the addcr.bat file from the DOS prompt.
The "spawno" library by Ralf Brown was used in order to free memory when Vim starts a shell or other external command. Only about 200 bytes are taken from conventional memory. When recompiling get the spawno library from Simtel, directory "msdos/c". It is called something like "spwno413.zip". Or remove the library from the makefile.
A swap file is used to store most of the text. You should be able to edit very large files. However, memory is used for undo and other things. If you delete a lot of text you can still run out of memory in the 16 bit version.
In the 16 bit version the line length is limited to about 32000 characters. When reading a file the lines are automatically split. But when editing a line in such a way that it becomes too long may give unexpected results.
If Vim gives an "Out of memory" warning you should stop editing. Result of further editing actions is unpredictable. Setting 'undolevels' to 0 saves some memory. Running the maze macros on a big maze is guaranteed to run out of memory, because each change is remembered for undo. In this case set 'undolevels' to a negative number. This will switch off undo completely. In the 32 bit version extended memory is be used to avoid these problems.