Is Command Line Really Obsolete?

DOS stands for Disk Operating System. When Windows became the standard PC operating system, many people were happy because they no longer had to learn and remember DOS command line procedures. While it is true that we no longer rely on DOS on the PC, there are certain DOS features that remain useful and are worth your consideration. (I can hear the MacIntosh users laughing).(On a OSX or later MacIntosh they should be found under Tiger). The latest versions of Windows have hidden DOS components, and it may be difficult for you to accomplish some of the examples here. This is especially true for Windows XP and now Vista. You now should know how to access the command line after complketing lesson 1.

For example, think about how you would do these in a Windows environment (or a Mac):

List files on a drive, folder, or subfolder, and send that list to:
- a file? (Dir > filelist.txt) sends your directory list to the file filelist.txt
- a printer? (Dir > lpt1) - will send directory list to your printer
Print your document to a printer that is not connected to your computer, and that does not have the application you used to create the file? Think about this one! Suppose you create a file that you want to print on a color laser printer. First you would add that printer to your list of drivers. Then you would format the document, with that printer selected. Once the document is complete, you would print that document to a file with the color laser printer as your output device. The file that is created would contain all of the necessary information for your document to be printed on a color laser printer of your choosing. The difference is that the file is not viewable. The filename usually has an file extension of .prn. You would then go to a location that has a compouter with that color printer, sit down and copy the file to the printer. You will not open the file, but simply copy trhe file to the printer. It will produce a fully formatted document with all of the features you created. If you have printer attached to your computer, try this on your own. Instead of simply printing the file as you usually do, try printing to a file, then copy the file to your printer. It should work!
Go to any computer that has that printer (above) and get a print of the file? (see above)

While there are other useful DOS procedures, these will give you something to think about. One other question. Since DOS is no longer the OS (operating system) on PC's, how do you find out what DOS commands are still available, and how to use them? Hint: there is probably a Command folder on your PC . Similarly, how do you find the Linux commans that are available on a Mac? View the content of that folder and see what files are present.On a PC, files that end with an extension of .exe or .bat are programs, which means they do something when you type the filename. There are also programs that are built into the system that do not have a filename. Some of these are md, dir, cd. You have already used these in lesson 1 (hopefully).