pcjs/disks/pcx86/dos/ibm/3.20/README.md
2016-05-23 14:34:57 -07:00

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---
layout: page
title: PC-DOS 3.20
permalink: /disks/pcx86/dos/ibm/3.20/
redirect_from:
- /disks/pc/dos/ibm/3.20/
---
PC-DOS 3.20
---
PC-DOS 3.20 was first announced on March 18, 1986 and released later that year.
Directory listings of the two 360Kb distribution diskettes are provided below. This version of PC-DOS was also
available on one 720Kb diskette.
### Directory of PC-DOS 3.20 (Disk 1)
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
IBMBIO COM 16369 12-30-85 12:00p
IBMDOS COM 28477 12-30-85 12:00p
ANSI SYS 1651 12-30-85 12:00p
ASSIGN COM 1536 12-30-85 12:00p
ATTRIB EXE 8247 12-30-85 12:00p
BACKUP COM 6234 12-30-85 12:00p
BASIC COM 19298 2-21-86 12:00p
BASICA COM 36396 2-21-86 12:00p
CHKDSK COM 9832 12-30-85 12:00p
COMMAND COM 23791 12-30-85 12:00p
COMP COM 4184 12-30-85 12:00p
DISKCOMP COM 5792 12-30-85 12:00p
DISKCOPY COM 6266 4-11-86 12:39a
DRIVER SYS 1115 12-30-85 12:00p
EDLIN COM 7508 12-30-85 12:00p
FDISK COM 8173 12-30-85 12:00p
FIND EXE 6416 12-30-85 12:00p
FORMAT COM 11135 12-30-85 12:00p
GRAFTABL COM 1169 12-30-85 12:00p
GRAPHICS COM 3220 12-30-85 12:00p
JOIN EXE 8955 12-30-85 12:00p
KEYBFR COM 3295 3-07-86 12:00p
KEYBGR COM 3278 3-07-86 12:00p
KEYBIT COM 3060 12-30-85 12:00p
KEYBSP COM 3187 12-30-85 12:00p
KEYBUK COM 3036 12-30-85 12:00p
LABEL COM 2346 12-30-85 12:00p
MODE COM 6864 12-30-85 12:00p
MORE COM 295 12-30-85 12:00p
PRINT COM 8976 12-30-85 12:00p
RECOVER COM 4297 12-30-85 12:00p
REPLACE EXE 11650 12-30-85 12:00p
RESTORE COM 6012 12-30-85 12:00p
SELECT COM 3826 12-30-85 12:00p
SHARE EXE 8580 12-30-85 12:00p
SORT EXE 1911 12-30-85 12:00p
SUBST EXE 9911 12-30-85 12:00p
SYS COM 4620 12-30-85 12:00p
TREE COM 3357 12-30-85 12:00p
VDISK SYS 3307 12-30-85 12:00p
XCOPY EXE 11200 12-30-85 12:00p
41 File(s) 22528 bytes free
### Directory of PC-DOS 3.20 (Disk 2)
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
ART BAS 1879 12-30-85 12:00p
BALL BAS 1966 12-30-85 12:00p
BASIC PIF 369 12-30-85 12:00p
BASICA PIF 369 12-30-85 12:00p
CIRCLE BAS 1643 12-30-85 12:00p
COLORBAR BAS 1427 12-30-85 12:00p
COMM BAS 4254 12-30-85 12:00p
DEBUG COM 15799 12-30-85 12:00p
DONKEY BAS 3572 12-30-85 12:00p
EXE2BIN EXE 3063 12-30-85 12:00p
LINK EXE 39076 12-30-85 12:00p
MORTGAGE BAS 6178 12-30-85 12:00p
MUSIC BAS 8575 12-30-85 12:00p
MUSICA BAS 13431 12-30-85 12:00p
PIECHART BAS 2180 12-30-85 12:00p
SAMPLES BAS 2363 12-30-85 12:00p
SPACE BAS 1851 12-30-85 12:00p
VDISK LST 136315 12-30-85 12:00p
18 File(s) 107520 bytes free
---
From PC Magazine, July 1986, by Charles Petzold:
> ### DOS GETS BETTER--AND MORE EXPENSIVE, TOO
> #### DOS 3.2 adds new commands and a unique device driver and makes some minor changes.
> As usual with new PC-DOS versions, PC-DOS 3.2 has been released in conjunction with a new product (the PC
Convertible), but it can run on all previous members of the IBM PC family. PC-DOS 3.2 is available on either one
3-1/2 inch 720K-byte disk or two 5.25-inch 360K disks. These disks include everything in PC-DOS 3.1, plus three new
programs. At $95, PC-DOS 3.2 is the most expensive PC-DOS yet.
> The shining star of the new PC-DOS is XCOPY, a fast file-copy utility that combines features of COPY, BACKUP,
and RESTORE. XCOPY is fast because it reads as many files as possible into available memory and then writes them
out to the target. (COPY and BACKUP, on the other hand, have to continually alternate between the source and target
drives for each file they copy.)
> Like COPY, XCOPY has /V switch to verify all file writes. Like BACKUP, it has /M and /D switches to restrict copying
based on file modification of the file date. A /S flag lets XCOPY find files in nested subdirectories and create the
subdirectories on the target disk if they don't already exist. A /P switch prompts you with a "Y/N?" for each file,
and a /W switch lets you swap disks before XCOPY starts up.
> You can also use XCOPY as a backup utility. The advantage over BACKUP is that the copied files are directly usable.
On a Bernoulli Box attached to a PC, I XCOPYed over 1,200 files from one 10-megabyte cartridge to another in just under
15 minutes. The bonus, of course, is that the fi1es are unfragmented on the target cartridge. However, XCOPY's
usefulness for backing up hard disks is diminished by two problems: first, it does not recognize hidden files, which
are used by many copy-protection schemes, and second, it has no built-in provision for changing target disks when they
become full. (You can get around this second problem by using the /M switch and repeatedly running the same XCOPY
command for different target disks.)
> The second new program in PC-DOS 3.2 is REPLACE, yet another file copy utility. REPLACE can replace all copies
of a particular file (which may be located in various subdirectories of a hard disk) with a new version. Using a /A
switch adds the source files to the target without overwriting existing files. The manual recommends using REPLACE
after a SYS command when upgrading an existing machine to DOS 3.2.
> The third new program is DRIVER.SYS, a device driver that can be included in your CONFIG.SYS file. It lets you create
a new logical disk drive letter that references the same physical disk as an existing disk drive letter. This type of
thing happens automatically on a PC with only one disk drive: logical drive letters A and B both refer to the same
physical disk drive. DRIVER.SYS lets you do the same thing for another drive. This is most useful when installing the
external 720K-byte 3-inch disk in a PC, XT, or AT. By using DRIVER.SYS to give this disk drive a second drive letter,
you can XCOPY files from one 3-inch disk to another using the same physical drive.
> PC users who have been getting an "Out of environment space" message after executing a few too many SET commands
from batch files need no longer resort to patches or undocumented COMMAND.COM switches. If you specify COMMAND.COM
as a SHELL program in your CONFIG.SYS file, you can use the /E switch to specify your environment size up to 32K bytes.
Note that this is the same switch that worked (but was undocumented) in DOS 3.1, but the DOS 3.1 switch required a
16-byte paragraph environment size instead of bytes.
> Some smaller changes: FORMAT and DISKCOPY now support the 720K-byte 3.5-inch disk format (of course).
FORMAT 3.2 will not run unless you give it a drive letter parameter--an added barrier to accidently formating your
hard disk. ATTRIB 3.2 lets you manipulate the archive attribute of files as well as the read-only attribute.
> The elongated shape of the PC Convertible display may make printing graphics screens on the printer a problem.
You may want printed graphics to look the way they do on the Convertible display or as they would appear on a normal
display. The GRAPHICS 3.2 resident graphics screen print program lets you make this decision yourself.
> The disappointing aspects of PC-DOS 3.2 are its omissions. Although Microsoft has stated that future versions of
MS-DOS will support the Lotus/lntel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification, that support is not included with PC-DOS
3.2. ANSI.SYS 3.2 still does not support the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) in 43-line mode or for video pages other
than page 0. No changes at all have been made to ANSI.SYS.
> Although documentation for BASICA 3.2 did not reach the editorial offices of PC Magazine, some creative
DEBUGing and experimentation reveal five new BASICA commands. Three of these commands are EXTERR, LOCK, and UNLOCK,
corresponding to the extended error-handling and file-locking and unlocking functions of DOS 3.x. Another new BASICA
command is PCOPY, which lets you copy one video page to another.
> BASICA 3.2 also includes some support for the EGA, but this support is so minimal that it is likely to infuriate
BASIC users. The PALETTE command lets you manipulate the EGA palette registers so that you can map default colors to
other colors. This is particularly useful in medium-resolution mode because it means you're no longer stuck with the
same two sets of three colors.
> The PALETTE command is the extent of EGA support in BASICA 3.2. In fact, the SCREEN and PCOPY commands do not even
recognize the additonal video pages in the EGA's 80-column text mode. Support of the EGA graphics modes is nowhere to
be seen.
> PC-DOS 3.2 gives the PC user a couple of extra tools that would certainly be worth a $30 update charge.
Unfortunately, there is no update policy for DOS, so you'll be shelling out the full $95 for it. That's obviously too
much money. But for those who spend many hours at their PCs, keeping up with the latest DOS version comes with the
territory.