Re: What are ...EXE Files ???---Help Please!!!

[wsquires@lonestar.utsa.edu (William H. Squires)]

In article <01H9NPXXNHAA8XGWI2@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu> HOLTG@CTRVAX.VANDERBILT.EDU writes:
>My name is Gayle Holt,
>
>Could someone out there please explain what GS/OS Shell Applications are???
>Also, how do I use them???---I just recently downloaded UNZIP for the ][gs
>at GRIND.ISCA.UIOWA.EDU, de-BINSCIIed it, and the file is not a regular
>application.----When I go to icon info in the Finder, it tells me that this
>file is a GS/OS shell application...
>
>Thanks for any help!!!
>
>Gayle Holt
>internet:  holtg@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu

  EXE files are launchable only from the Orca or GNO shells; the Finder won't
touch 'em! The difference is that S16 files (GS/OS applications) have code
that insures that the code's environment is set up properly (starting the
tools, and all that), whereas an EXE doesn't have this startup code, as it
can (safely) assume the shell will set up, and manage it's own environment
variables and stuff! Thus, you can't just patch an EXE file to work from
the Finder, nor can you merely change the filetype (Under GS/OS 6.0 or later,
there's an NDA called "File Manager" that will let you do this). You can,
however, run both EXEs and S16s from the Orca shell; plus, it's desktop
text editor, although certainly not a full-fledged word-processor, is good
for creating, editing, and reading text files. It is possible, though not
probable, that the EXE file does, in fact, have startup code, and that the
develpoer of the code simply forgot to change the filetype before releasing
it. The shell will still run an EXE that has startup code, but the shell
will be restarted every time you do this bootable 3.5 you don't mind getting
zapped (make a copy of the system disk that come with Orca, and use this),
and don't turn on you hard drive (so that a system crash won't zap it). If
it works, you can then move it over to the HD!
  Hope this helps!


changing the filetype, but run it from a 3.5 you don't mind getting zapped,