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System Commander 2.26
by Pete Cassetta, Alamo PC
Most operating systems make the rather arrogant assumption that they will
be the only one used on your computer. For this reason, it can be difficult
to use more than one OS on a single computer. DOS is probably the worst
operating system (OS) in this regard. It always installs to Drive C:, replacing
whatever OS you might have had there. Windows 95 is a little better; it
at least tries to cooperate with Windows NT, and gives you a (poorly documented)
way to boot into a previously installed version of DOS. OS/2 and Windows
NT are much more polite. They both provide capable and reasonably well
documented facilities for booting other OSes (OS/2 provides Boot Manager,
and Windows NT provides OS Loader).
System Commander, from V
Communications, is a utility program that helps you install and use
many different (incompatible) OSes on a single computer. It supports virtually
every version of DOS numbered 3.0 or later, Netware 2.0 and later, Windows
95, all versions of OS/2 and Windows NT, and a long list of Unix variants.
If you have a lot of hard disk drives, System Commander will let you install
up to 100 different OSes on a single computer, though on a typical single-drive
computer the limit is more like 48 OSes.
How System Commander Works
When you install System Commander, it replaces your hard disk's Master
Boot Record (MBR). The MBR holds a program that runs shortly after your
computer is turned on. Normally, this program just loads your OS. System
Commander's custom MBR instead displays a menu that lets you choose which
of the installed operating systems you want to boot.
System Commander is simple to install. Normally, you install DOS,
then System Commander, then additional OSes. System Commander knows all
the details about many different OSes. When it detects that a new OS has
been installed, it makes copies of all the hidden, system, and/or configuration
files needed by this OS, placing these copies in a subdirectory of your
choice.
Because System Commander replaces the MBR, it always gets control
of your computer before any OS. When you make an OS selection from the
System Commander menu, various files are copied from the storage subdirectory
to the locations where this OS expects to find them, then control is transferred
to the OS.
Apart from booting multiple OSes, System Commander provides a
number of other facilities. For one, it protects against viruses that install
themselves into the DOS boot sector. It also lets you password protect
your entire hard disk, or specific operating systems. Finally, it enables
you to set up multiple configurations for any of the installed OSes. Since
it copies files before booting the OS anyway, this feature just lets you
have multiple copies of configuration files (CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT,
etc.) and specify which ones get copied to the target location at boot
time.
A final feature that should be noted is automatic uninstallation.
This process restores the original MBR, so that the computer will boot
as it did before System Commander was installed. It does not remove System
Commander from your hard disk, but that is a simple matter of deleting
the files in the installation directory.
Documentation and Price
System Commander comes with a reasonably well-written manual. It contains
a good description of the product, including technical details about how
it works. There is also a very good chapter describing how to combine various
OSes and how you might want to arrange your hard disk based on your selection
of OSes. Although this chapter is lengthy, it lacks details on mixing OS/2
and Windows NT, and as a result left me with a few questions.
The documentation is not suitable for a computer novice, nor is
it complete enough to walk you through all the necessary considerations
involved in installing a new, unfamiliar OS. To use this product effectively,
you need to understand the fundamentals of hard disk partitioning, and
you should be as familiar as possible with all the various OSes you are
going to install.
I have seen System Commander in various mail order catalogs for
$65 to $70.
Conclusions
I currently use DOS 6.22 (with Windows for Workgroups 3.11), OS/2 Warp,
Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, and Windows NT 4.0 (Beta 2). It is quite possible
to install all these operating systems on a single Drive C, and switch
between them at boot time without using System Commander (see my sidebar
on using multiple OSes). So why use System Commander? Well, here are some
advantages:
-
Simplicity. The procedure for installing and switching between these
OSes isn't well documented, nor is it terribly convenient. With System
Commander, it's pretty straightforward to use all these OSes, and switching
between them is a simple matter of choosing from a menu that appears at
boot time.
-
Other OSes. While the OSes I mentioned above can be mixed, it is
more complex to also use Unix, Netware, and/or multiple versions of DOS
on your computer. In these situations, System Commander has a lot to offer.
-
Multiple Configurations. Most OSes offer inconvenient (or non-existent)
support for multiple configurations. System Commander can be a real help
here.
-
Passwords and Virus Protection. As mentioned previously, System
Commander will let you password protect certain OSes, and it guards against
DOS boot sector viruses.
The only downside of System Commander is that it slows the boot process
a bit. On my computer, a Pentium 90 laptop, with 24 MB of memory, a 1.3
GB hard drive, and five OSes installed, System Commander adds about 15
seconds to the boot process. I also feel the price is a little on the high
side (under $50 would make it an easier sell to someone as cheap as me).
System Commander works as advertised, and seems very reliable.
If you regularly use several different operating systems, it's certainly
worth a look.
V Communications can be reached at (408) 296-4224, or just visit
their Web site (http://www.v-com.com)