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IBM PC DOS 3.20

PC DOS 3.20 was first announced on March 18, 1986 and released April 1986. Read the early PC Magazine Review below.

A Feature Summary, along with Directory Listings of the two 360Kb distribution diskettes, are provided below. This version of PC DOS was also available on one 720Kb Diskette.

IBM PC DOS 3.21

Most copies of IBM PC DOS you’ll find these days actually say “3.21” on the DOS diskette and “3.20” on the Supplemental Programs diskette. This is because shortly after 3.20 was released, a problem was discovered with IBM’s newest keyboard. The August 1986 issue of PC Magazine (“First Looks”, p.54) explains:

IBM Corp. released PC DOS 3.21 in the form of a patch to DOS 3.2. Some users get an error when cursor keys on the new IBM keyboard (with 12 function keys) won’t respond in BASICA edit mode. The patch fix is available free from dealers where users purchased DOS 3.2.

Even though the DOS diskette was labeled “3.21”, the operating system version was not actually modified; the system still reported itself as version 3.20. However, since BASIC and BASICA had been updated, their displayed versions were changed to “D3.21” and “A3.21”, respectively.

IBM apparently decided to slip a few other last-minute changes into the same release, as you can see from the file timestamps on the 360K diskette (the 720K diskette contains the original files). The additional modifications include:

DISKCOPY.COM
KEYBFR.COM
KEYBGR.COM

Changes to KEYBFR.COM and KEYGR.COM are not surprising, since IBM’s new 12-function-key keyboard would have likely affected those programs as well. However, the reasons for changing DISKCOPY.COM are unclear and we’re unaware of any public explanation from IBM.

[PCjs Machine "ibm5170-pcdos320"]

Waiting for machine "ibm5170-pcdos320" to load....

Feature Summary

New features:

720KB 3.5” floppy disk support
Hardware interrupt stack switching support
Master environment block size can be specified using COMMAND /E:size
FORMAT supports /T and /N to specify number of tracks and number of sectors

New external commands:

APPEND (MS-DOS)
REPLACE
XCOPY

New CONFIG.SYS commands:

DRIVPARM
STACK

New device drivers:

DRIVER.SYS
RAMDRIVE.SYS (MS-DOS)

New functions:

INT 21h functions 440Ch-440Fh, 64h
INT 2Fh multiplex functions 08h (IBMBIO/DRIVER.SYS), 13h (IBMBIO)
Device driver command codes 13h, 17h, 18h

Directory of PC DOS 3.20 (720K)

 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  12-30-85  12:00p
BASICA   COM     36396  12-30-85  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      6224  12-30-85  12:00p
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      3291  12-30-85  12:00p
KEYBGR   COM      3274  12-30-85  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
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
VENDOR-# DO1*        0   7-04-83
       60 file(s)     563032 bytes
                      135168 bytes free

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
VENDOR-# WT1*        0   7-04-83
       42 file(s)     318772 bytes
                       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
VENDOR-# WT1*        0   7-04-83
       19 file(s)     244310 bytes
                      107520 bytes free

PC Magazine Review

The following article appeared in PC Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 13, July 1986, p. 110.

DOS GETS BETTER–AND MORE EXPENSIVE, TOO

by Charles Petzold

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.

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