Display Issues on Modern Computer

[galaGOlol]

Hi @shanecoughan and everybody else. First, Thank you for maintaining this project. I am using it on a modern laptop running FreeDOS 13 When I load FreeDOS on it's default setting (all the drivers &c) and run OpenGEM, it goes to a blank white screen, and stays till I power off the computer. However when I run in safe mode, it functions properly, except and here is the part that concerns me. Some characters do not display. Specifically the scrollbar characters and window buttons. (If you are interested I can post a screenshot) I did not see an issue about this, so I opened one.

• I am relatively new to DOS, and so I do not know the cause of this problem, and may need some guidelines for troubleshooting.
• The buttons show up for the print manager but not the file manager.
• OpenGEM operates in safe mode, but won't display anything but a white screen in regular mode.
• I am running an HP Pavilion x86_64 with FreeDOS. My mouse is USB but recognized by FreeDOS, so I assume my computer has a PS/2 emulator onboard.

Thanks for OpenGEM! If this question is irrelevant feel free to ignore it.

[cstrotm]

Hi galaGOlol,

about the missing buttons, this is a common issue with GEM and new users: GEM needs to run from the root of the drives directory, not from some sub-directory. If run from a sub-directory, it cannot find some of it's resources.

If you have installed GEM inside a sub-directory (say c:\gui\opengem), the best way to solve the issue is to use a tool like swsubst to map the directory to a free drive letter:

swsubst g: c:\gui\opengem

and then start GEM from drive G:

g:
cd \
gem.bat

As for the problem with drivers enabled: try to go through the startup process of FreeDOS with F8 and disable one or more driver each time to see which driver causes the issue.