

              NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT

TITLE:              OS/2 AND NOVELL DOS 7 COMPATIBILITY
DOCUMENT ID:        014917
DOCUMENT REVISION:  A
DATE:               25FEB94
ALERT STATUS:       Yellow
INFORMATION TYPE:   Issue
README FOR:         NA

NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION:
Novell DOS 7

ABSTRACT:

This document discusses the use of Novell DOS 7 features with the
OS/2 operating system.

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DISCLAIMER
THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO
NOVELL.  NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY
THIS INFORMATION.  HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS
DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY.  NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT
OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION.
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ISSUE

     Novell DOS 7 and OS/2 are compatible and will work well
     together.  The compatibility of the full features of NOVELL
     DOS 7 will be covered in this document.  OS/2 is a separate
     operating system and uses a separate shell to operate DOS
     applications.  Many of the features in NOVELL DOS can be run
     under both operating systems; some will only work while
     booted under NOVELL DOS.  Other features cannot be used
     because of conflicts with OS/2, and any use of these
     features should be with extreme caution.

     Definitions:

     DOS Shell      The DOS shell provided with OS/2.  This DOS
                    Shell is not Novell DOS 7 specific; although,
                    it will use the EXTERNAL commands in the DOS
                    PATH.

     Virtual Disk   This is the Virtual Disk Image feature of
                    OS/2.   This is not to be confused with a RAM
                    disk.


     NOVELL DOS FEATURES

     DELWATCH       DELWATCH will not operate in a DOS shell
                    under OS/2 but will operate on a Virtual
                    Disk.

     DELPURGE       DELPURGE operates successfully in the DOS
                    shell and on a Virtual Disk.


     DISKMAP        DISKMAP operates successfully in the DOS
                    shell and on a Virtual Disk.

     DISKOPT        DISKOPT operates successfully in the DOS
                    shell and on a Virtual Disk; however, it is
                    not recommended that you run DISKOPT in a
                    multitasking environment.

     DPMS           DPMS will not operate in a DOS Shell or a
                    Virtual Disk.

     PASSWORD       PASSWORD shows incorrect version of operating
                    system in an OS/2 environment.  Novell DOS
                    files and directories with passwords are not
                    secure.

     NWCACHE        NWCache can be used under either operating
                    system but will not provide any benefit while
                    booted under OS/2.  OS/2 has its own cache,
                    which makes NWCache unnecessary.  This
                    feature should not be used on a Virtual Disk.

     SCRIPT         SCRIPT does not function in a DOS Shell or
                    Virtual Disk.

     SECURITY       If Security is enabled, OS/2 WILL NOT boot
                    under any circumstances.  Security should not
                    be used.

     STACKER        Extended partitions of the hard disk can be
                    compressed with Stacker while booted under
                    Novell DOS 7.  These partitions can be read
                    by OS/2 if Stacker for OS/2 is loaded in the
                    OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file.  Applications on the
                    compressed drive will be accessible while
                    operating in either environment.  The Virtual
                    Disk will need the driver and the STACKER.LOG
                    to access the drive.  Novell recommends that
                    you do not compress the boot drive, because
                    it is very difficult to get both operating
                    systems to recognize the partition.

     TASK MANAGER   TASK MANAGER will not operate in a DOS shell
                    under OS/2.  OS/2 is a multitasking
                    environment, so TASKMGR is unnecessary on the
                    Virtual Disk.  Task Manager will operate in
                    the Task Switcher mode.

     UNDELETE       UNDELETE will operate in a DOS shell under
                    OS/2 and on a Virtual Disk.  Novell
                    recommends that UNDELETE should not be
                    operated in a multitasking environment.

     XCOPY, XDIR    Both XCOPY and XDIR function in a DOS shell
                    and a Virtual Disk; however, caution should
                    be used when copying or moving OS/2 files. 
                    They carry extended attributes that are not
                    transferred by DOS.  Copying or moving an
                    OS/2 file without its extended attributes can
                    result in lost functionality.


     INTERNAL COMMANDS

     These commands are taken over by the OS/2 environment, so
     they are no longer internal to Novell DOS.   For more
     information on the internal commands for OS/2, Refer to your
     OS/2 documentation.

     VER       VER shows OS/2 in the OS/2 DOS shell but will show
               Novell DOS 7 in Virtual Disk.


     EXTERNAL COMMANDS

     The following Novell DOS external commands work with certain
     exceptions:

     FORMAT    In FORMAT all switches, with the exception of /S,
               function correctly.  The /S switch will cause the
               system files to be copied; however, the disk will
               not be bootable.

     TREE      TREE works fine in either environment but provides
               statistics in a different format than the OS/2
               version.

     EDITOR    EDITOR works fine in the DOS shell but has
               different features than EDLIN.

     MEM       MEM works in DOS shell but provides statistics in
               a different format than the OS/2 Version.  The /A
               /U switch will cause the session to hang because
               of an upper memory conflict.

     SYS       SYS copies the system files for Novell DOS;
               however, the disk is not bootable.  SYS does work
               in Virtual Disk but takes the files from the disk
               image rather than the hard disk.

     The following external commands are included with OS/2 and
     should be used when in the OS/2 environment:

     CHKDSK.COM, FORMAT.COM, MODE.COM, XCOPY.EXE, DISKCOPY.COM,
     DISKCOMP.COM, REPLACE.EXE, COMP.COM, MORE.COM, PRINT.COM,
     FIND.EXE, KEYB.COM, BACKUP.EXE, FDISK.COM, RECOVER.COM,
     LABEL.COM, TREE.COM, SORT.EXE, UNDELETE.COM, ATTRIB.EXE,
     RESTORE.EXE, MEM.EXE

     Other external commands have not been tested at this time. 
     Refer to the OS/2 documentation for features that can be
     used in OS/2 to avoid these conflicts.
