China DOS Union

I just got here today because my computer had a problem. But I’ve always wanted to become an expert like you guys. The thing is, I’m a super computer newbie, and there are lots of things I don’t understand. You guys won’t just ignore me, right!!!! Please teach me!! Many thanks!!

1, When my computer starts up, pressing del brings up a screen. I guess that’s the so-called CMOS setup? Or is it BIOS setup?? Are these settings the same on every computer? My computer’s screen is not quite the same as a lot of other people’s~ A lot of the options and their positions are different. What’s going on? Is it because different motherboards have different screens?

2, I know that using a Win98 boot disk can get into DOS, but the MS-DOS under “Start” and “Programs” can also get in (it’s just a window that way), and you can also enter DOS when shutting down. Are all these DOS environments the same?

3, A lot of the DOS software on the forum turns out to be .exe files after downloading. How are these programs supposed to be used? Do I have to enter DOS first and then run them? Referring to question 2, which DOS should I enter?

I’ll just ask these questions first. I’ll have many more questions later. I hope all you experts and moderators can guide your little brother here. Many thanks!!!!

At the same time, I also have a suggestion. A lot of friends are actually like me and don’t understand these things. I hope when you experts answer, you can be a bit more detailed and teach super newbies like us step by step. On behalf of newbies everywhere, I bow and thank you all!!! Thanks again!!!! I’ll definitely help promote our website a lot!!!

For the first question: calling it BIOS setup or CMOS setup is fine, because in the early days BIOS and CMOS were separate, which is why the term CMOS setup exists. The settings on every computer are different, but overall they’re pretty similar.
For the second question: I know they’re not the same, but for a detailed explanation, you should ask wengier. He’s a DOS expert, and he can explain it very clearly.
For the third question: they can also be run in a DOS window.

The following is quoted from Dark-Destroy at 2003-5-3 22:28:37:
The second question: I know they are different, but for a detailed explanation, you should ask wengier. He is a DOS expert, and his explanation will be very clear.

Not at all. To put it simply, booting with an MS-DOS 7.1 (Win98) boot disk gives you pure MS-DOS 7.10. But if you exit from 98 by shutting down, that is actually a kind of application SHELL mode, not under pure DOS, but also not inside the application itself. It's just like how many other programs also provide a SHELL mode.

Some hardware operations are best done from a boot disk.