Tricks To Try When Software Won’t Work

Most software that runs on PCs will run on PCjrs, but you may find some software that needs "special handling" before it will operate. Some recent games and other programs, particularly those that make use of graphics, at first may seem to be incompatible with your PCjr, but don’t give up without first trying these methods. Many programs that appear to be incompatible, will in fact operate well on your PCjr with this "special handling."First of all, you need to know what a config.sys file is. This is the file that gives your PCjr instuctions when first starting up. When you have more than 128K on  your PCjr, you must have a config.sys file to use that expanded memory. So every memory expansion unit for PCjrs comes with instructions for setting up the right config.sys file for your unit. Check those instructions to remind you, if you’ve forgotten.To see what your current config.sys file says, put your DOS disk in drive A:, and at the A> prompt, type: TYPE CONFIG.SYS.To change your config.sys setting with your DOS disk in Drive A> type: COPY CON CONFIG.SYS. Then type in the lines you want to have in your config.sys file. At the end, type F6 or Fn6, then press Enter, and you will have a new config.sys file. Before you change your config.sys file, though, it’s best to make a copy of your old one in case you want to go back to it.Ok, lets get to the steps to follow if your normal methods won’t work with new software.....

IBM Expansion Units -- If you have expanded your PCjr with IBM sidecars, try using a config.sys setting: device=pcjrmem.com /c   This creates a video buffer of 96K and makes all graphics modes operable. Using this setting does, however, mean you will have about 128K less memory to run the software. Some software, especially when paging is involved, will run better with the /e setting. 

Other Expansion Units -- For other brands of memory expansion, use the config.sys setting that does the same as the IBM description above. (check your manual) Or Use jrconfig, which is available on jr Newsletter’s Jr Power Packs (Disks #52 and #65). This is easy to install and works well with all types of memory expansion units. Installation instructions are on the disks. 

With jrconfig use -t3 and either -v32 -v64 -v96, depending upon how demanding the software is. You may have to experiment a little.

Also, with large database or integrated software, it sometimes helpsto add FILES=20 to your config.sys file, no matter what type of memory expansion unit you are using.

NOTE ON DOS: If you are using DOS 2.1, it should be patched to fix a few of its bugs which can cause your computer to lock up. Patchesare on jr Newsletter’s Disk#40. Using DOS 3.21 or higher can solvesome problems, but takes more memory.

NOTE ON SPEED OF OPERATION: Software will run faster when it’s loadedinto "high memory" -- that is, above the 128K "lower memory". So, filling up low memory with a ramdisk, or large video buffer can speedslow running programs up considerably.

Try these methods before giving up on software you want to run on your PCjr. You’ll be surprised how often a little experimentation will work. Specific notes on which settings work best on specific software are included on the latest version of the PCjr Compatibility Disk, Disk #60 in the jr Newsletter Software Store.