Win95Pak FAQ

An FAQ is a collection of Frequently Asked Questions concerning a topic.

This page is constantly under construction.

We've already had a number of questions, so here is the start of the Win95Pak FAQ:

1. Why did we create the Win95Pak?
   • "We created Win95Pak in response to customers who asked for ways to bring the richness of the UNIX command set to their Windows screens. The Win95Pak allows users to create a consistent environment across both UNIX and Windows systems." Jeff Moskow, President and CEO
     
     
2. Many commands seem to run faster when I'm using bash ("od /Win95Pak/ls.exe | sum" takes 50% longer when I'm using command.com), what am I doing wrong?
   • You aren't doing anything wrong. When we did that bash port, we made an effort to use in memory pipes whenever possible whereas command.com usually uses temporary disk storage for its pipes.
     
     
3. What version of Emacs is your port based on?
   • We based this port on Emacs 19.29
     
     
4. Does emacs support subprocesses under Windows95®?
   • Subprocesses are not supported.
     
     
5. Where are the icons?
   • These are UNIX utilities designed to work on Windows95 and WindowsNT®. As such there are no icons. Once installed you should set your path, then call them from your DOS prompt.
     
   • New feature, rtrcmd is now available. rtrcmd can be used in conjunction with the program manager and shortcuts to create icons and pull down access to the various Win95Pak utilities. You can pick it up now.
     
     
6. I can't install the Win95Pak am I doing something wrong?
   • We have found that Microsoft's InstallShield does not work with some versions of the Windows95 and WindowsNT, typically those provided to developers with the MSDN packages. It does not allow a complete installation of the Win95Pak.
     
   • You may still use the utilities by accessing them directly from the CD or by copying them from the bin directory to you hard drive.
     
   • We also now offer you these batch files as a work around to the InstallShield:
     • install_all.bat to install everything
     • install_emacs.bat to install only emacs
     • install_perl.bat to install only perl
     • install_doc.bat to install only the documentation
     • install_misc.bat to install everything but emacs, perl and the documentation
       
   • To install using the batch files you need to specify the name of the CD-ROM drive and the name and path of where you want the utilities installed. If your CD-ROM is drive D: and you want the Win95Pak to be placed in the RTR directory on drive C: you would issue the following command: install_all D: C:\RTR
     
     
7. What features are supported in the port of bash?
   • It supports most of the common features of bash. It does not support job control.
     
   • It does support "pound bang" processing. This will let you run scripts (perl - bash - gawk) without the need for the DOS extensions (.exe).
     
     
8. My WindowsNT installation seems to have failed, what do I do now?
   • You can copy the files from the /bin directly on the CD onto your disk.
     
     
9. When running Microsoft's Visual C++ , nmake tells me it can't find cl.exe, it worked before I installed the Win95Pak, what happened?
   • This is related to how you set your PATH environmental variable. Make sure you use backslashes. While bash can interpret both forward and back slashes, the nmake in Visual C++ can not.
     
     
10.   Are these 32 bit applications?
    • All the applications are 32 bit.
      
      
11.   Helpful hint on find
    • When using find if you use the iname option you'll be able to locate files regardless of the case of the filename.
      
      
12.   Does tar support read/write to scsi devices?
    • Tar currently supports read/write to files.
    • Support for scsi devices is planned for the next release
      
      
13.   When will your tar support 4mm DAT tape drives in WIN95?
    • The next release of the WIN95Pak is due third quarter of 1996.
      
      
14.   Can I use Win95Pak's bash as a total replacement for the DOS shell in Win95?     Specifically, can I launch Win95 apps from the bash command line?
    
    • Yes, you can run Win95 apps from the bash command line. Check out - Bash Implementation Notes for more information.
      
      
15.   I found the :split command for VIM, unfortunately I can't find out how to enter and use the split windows.
    
    • You can now find the documentation on the :split command in VIM Window Doc.
      
      
16.   Which WindowsNT platforms will the Win95Pak work on?
    • The Win95Pak was designed for the Intel WindowsNT. It is not available for the mips or alpha versions
      
      
17.   Which utility would I use to print off the contents of a directory that would only show those files larger than 250K printing the files name first? (September 5, 1996)
    
    • find c:/ -size +250K -printf '%p %8s\n'
      
      
18.   What revisions are the other utilities on the Win95Pak?
    • a2ps 4.3
    • ansi2knr 1.11.6
    • areacode 2.1RTR
    • GNU bash 1.14.5
    • GNU diff, diff3 2.7
    • dltd 1.1
    • GNU emacs 19.29
    • file 3.18
    • GNU File Utilities 3.12
    • GNU find 4.1
    • GNU awk (gawk) 2.15.6
    • gnuchess 4.0.pl 75
    • GNU grep 2.0
    • gzip/gunzip 1.2.4
    • less 2.90
    • perl 5.001m
    • rcs 5.7.0
    • samba 1.9
    • sed 2.05
    • GNU Shar Utilities 4.1.4
    • GNU Shell Utilities 1.11
    • GNU strings 2.5.2
    • GNU tar 1.11.6
    • GNU Text Utilities 1.13
    • timetool 1.0
    • vim 3.0
    • xvi 2.10
      
      
19.   When running bash I find that there is a long delay between hitting enter and seeing the name of the command in the title bar. Why? (September 11, 1996)
    
    
    • We have found that the directory Win95Pak is installed into, usually
      C:/Program Files/Rtr, needs to be sorted or this delay occurs.
      
      
    • Here is a simple procedure for sorting the directory if you have this problem.
      1. start up bash
      2. type cd C:/Progra~1
      3. type mv rtr foo
      4. type exit
      5. type \Progra~1\foo\bash
      6. type /Progra~1/foo/mkdir rtr
      7. type cd /Progra~1/foo
      8. type
         /Progra~1/foo/tar -cf - * |/Progra~1/foo/ tar -C /Progra~1/rtr -xvf -
      9. exit bash
      10. type \Progra~1\rtr\bash
      11. cd /Progra~1/rtr
      12. rm -rf /Progra~1/foo
          
          
    • If you installed to someplace other than \Program Files\Rtr then you will need to adjust the paths as needed. After doing this the response time should improve dramatically.
      
      
20.   Does the Win95Pak support long filenames? If so, is it VFAT *and* NTFS, or just VFAT? [11/27/96]
    
    • The Win95Pak does support long filenames.

     

21. When you set up your .bashrc file for Windows95 how do you set the $HOME variable?   [10/6/97]
    • You need to edit the .bashrc file to include the line"HOME=C:\foo\bar"

     

22.   I want to invoke bash for a DOS window but it doesn't come up right? What do I need to do?  [10/6/97]
    
    • On startup, bash will look for a .bashrc in $HOME if that is defined.  If you want to invoke bash from a DOS window you can set $HOME in the autoexec.bat.  For example you can setup an icon which brings up bash. Set the Cmd line to c:\rtr\bash.exe -rcfile c:/home/bashrc and set your working directory to c:\rtr.

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