Gateway 2000 P5-100: Setting up Dosshell

There's one more item I'd like to save from the hard drive before I replace it. This is the SOUND directory that contains (I presume) the software for the installed SoundBlaster card. The contents are too large to save on one floppy, so I would find it easier to copy the contents onto 2 floppys using a DOS Shell interface.

DOS Shell includes common features seen in other file managers such as copying, moving and renaming files as well as the ability to "launch" applications with a double-click. The shell could be run by the command "DOSSHELL".  The shell was one of the first successful attempts to create a basic graphical user interface (GUI) type file manager in DOS.

From DOS 6.0 the DOS Shell was not included with the OS, but was added on a supplemental disk.

Looking at the contents of the disk, it's easy to overlook the SETUP command because the contents scroll by so fast. One easy method of viewing a page at a time, is to type dir /p at the command prompt.

To run SETUP, the command plus the drive and directory must be entered. In my case, I had to enter 

SETUP C:\DOS 

You'll be asked if all of the utilities should be installed or only selected components. I went through the list and only chose MS-DOS Shell. Once installed, navigating back to C: drive and into the DOS directory, the shell can be launched by entering dosshell.

Next, I'm using the dosshell to format some disks. This is easily acheived by clicking on Disk Utilities (located towards the bottom screen) and following the prompts.

Copying the SOUND directory, requires selecting the C: drive and then selecting the SOUND directory. A list of it's contents can be easily scrolled through.

From here, I selected the files I wanted to load on the first floppy. Then, going to FILE in the menu, I was able to choose COPY.