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| Calvin 2004-07-24, 3:55 am |
| i work at a small school and we have a computer lab setup that we use
to teach medical computing. we were running a program called medisoft
that was written in cobol on our old Windows 98 machines. we recently
upgraded to new computers with winxp. the problem is that the old
software will not run on these computers. the program terminates with
"main program load failure" what is the cause and what are the
possible solutions?
Mahalo,
Calvin Paxson
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| Robert Wagner 2004-07-24, 3:55 am |
| paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin) wrote:
>i work at a small school and we have a computer lab setup that we use
>to teach medical computing. we were running a program called medisoft
>that was written in cobol on our old Windows 98 machines. we recently
>upgraded to new computers with winxp. the problem is that the old
>software will not run on these computers. the program terminates with
>"main program load failure" what is the cause and what are the
>possible solutions?
Try this:
Open Start/Programs, find the program on the menu, right click, select
Properties, select the Compatibilty tab, check "Run in compatibility mode" and
select Win98.
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| Calvin 2004-07-26, 8:55 pm |
| > Open Start/Programs, find the program on the menu, right click, select
> Properties, select the Compatibilty tab, check "Run in compatibility mode" and
> select Win98.
Thanks for the reply. No luck with this. I also checked the settings
against the older pcs, everything matches up but it still wouldn't
run. I thought i was getting closer when i got it to say "invalid pif
file". I checked microsoft.com for "RM Cobol" but they only have 1
entry. I tried Liant.com but their support is mostly $$$ based. I'll
keep tryin'. Thanks!
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| Robert Wagner 2004-07-26, 8:55 pm |
| paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin) wrote:
and[color=darkred]
>
>Thanks for the reply. No luck with this. I also checked the settings
>against the older pcs, everything matches up but it still wouldn't
>run. I thought i was getting closer when i got it to say "invalid pif
>file". I checked microsoft.com for "RM Cobol" but they only have 1
>entry. I tried Liant.com but their support is mostly $$$ based. I'll
>keep tryin'. Thanks!
"Invalid pif file" means it didn't go into compatibility mode. Try searching
Microsoft for problems in that area.
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| Warren Simmons 2004-07-27, 3:55 am |
| Did you view the pif to see if there was something amiss?
Some (or perhasp all) pif's are like Dos Batch jobs, and
users do alter them at times.
Warren Simmons
Calvin wrote:
>
>Thanks for the reply. No luck with this. I also checked the settings
>against the older pcs, everything matches up but it still wouldn't
>run. I thought i was getting closer when i got it to say "invalid pif
>file". I checked microsoft.com for "RM Cobol" but they only have 1
>entry. I tried Liant.com but their support is mostly $$$ based. I'll
>keep tryin'. Thanks!
>
>
| |
| Tom Morrison 2004-07-27, 3:55 am |
| "Calvin" <paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:48aee437.0407261214.7d9e8d2c@posting.google.com...
mode" and[color=darkred]
>
> Thanks for the reply. No luck with this. I also checked the settings
> against the older pcs, everything matches up but it still wouldn't
> run. I thought i was getting closer when i got it to say "invalid pif
> file". I checked microsoft.com for "RM Cobol" but they only have 1
> entry. I tried Liant.com but their support is mostly $$$ based. I'll
> keep tryin'. Thanks!
Gee, Calvin, this is really not a Liant issue. I think you probably need to
keep working the compatibility angle, as you would have to do with any
program designed for older Windows systems. In fact, I wouldn't be too
surprised if you are actually using the DOS RM/COBOL. What is displayed
when you merely enter the command 'runcobol'?
| |
| Glenn Someone 2004-07-27, 3:55 am |
| Other than the compatibility issues, verify the kind of executable
this program is (DOS, Win32, etc). Changing from Win98 to WinXP is
like changing night and day. You are literally converting to a brand
new operating system, which means you need to be able to verify before
the change over that all your mission critical apps will work
properly.
If you have a DOS executable, there are options that can be undertaken
(post back!), but likely you'll have very little luck getting it to
run "straight-up" in Windows XP. Another question, do you have the
source to this program?
Please answer these questions and I can go from there on solutions.
On 23 Jul 2004 17:52:47 -0700, paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin)
wrote:
>i work at a small school and we have a computer lab setup that we use
>to teach medical computing. we were running a program called medisoft
>that was written in cobol on our old Windows 98 machines. we recently
>upgraded to new computers with winxp. the problem is that the old
>software will not run on these computers. the program terminates with
>"main program load failure" what is the cause and what are the
>possible solutions?
>
>Mahalo,
>
>Calvin Paxson
| |
| Tom Morrison 2004-07-27, 3:55 am |
| Calvin,
Another option would be to use Microsoft Virtual PC.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx
That way you can have both Windows 98 (running as a virtual PC inside XP)
and XP. $129 retail price, I think, and it is probably a lot less in the
educational sales channel.
There are other similar products, I think. I have used Virtual PC and know
it works.
Best regards,
Tom Morrison
Liant Software Corporation
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| Paulo Vieira 2004-07-27, 8:55 am |
| paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin) wrote in message news:<48aee437.0407231652.6c91e86f@posting.google.com>...
> i work at a small school and we have a computer lab setup that we use
> to teach medical computing. we were running a program called medisoft
> that was written in cobol on our old Windows 98 machines. we recently
> upgraded to new computers with winxp. the problem is that the old
> software will not run on these computers. the program terminates with
> "main program load failure" what is the cause and what are the
> possible solutions?
>
> Mahalo,
>
> Calvin Paxson
Just a hint:
Check if, on the old boxes, there is an environment variable
"RUNPATH".
This variable contains a list of directories where the runtime will
look for files (either programs, or data files). Without it you'r
limited to a single location.
regards
Paulo Vieira, Emporsoft
| |
| Richard 2004-07-27, 3:55 pm |
| paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin) wrote
> Thanks for the reply. No luck with this. I also checked the settings
> against the older pcs, everything matches up but it still wouldn't
> run. I thought i was getting closer when i got it to say "invalid pif
> file". I checked microsoft.com for "RM Cobol" but they only have 1
> entry. I tried Liant.com but their support is mostly $$$ based. I'll
> keep tryin'. Thanks!
Are you running as the 'admin' user ? If it was installed under admin
it may not be running under other users.
Solution: don't run XP. Use Linux and run it under DOSemu or, if it
is Windows executable, under WINE.
| |
| Jack Sleight 2004-07-27, 8:55 pm |
| I think Calvin has left the building.
Jack
pvieira@emporsoft.pt (Paulo Vieira) wrote in message news:<b5b8d7c7.0407270017.653f15f2@posting.google.com>...
> paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin) wrote in message news:<48aee437.0407231652.6c91e86f@posting.google.com>...
>
> Just a hint:
> Check if, on the old boxes, there is an environment variable
> "RUNPATH".
> This variable contains a list of directories where the runtime will
> look for files (either programs, or data files). Without it you'r
> limited to a single location.
>
> regards
> Paulo Vieira, Emporsoft
| |
| JerryMouse 2004-07-27, 8:55 pm |
| Calvin wrote:
> i work at a small school and we have a computer lab setup that we use
> to teach medical computing. we were running a program called medisoft
> that was written in cobol on our old Windows 98 machines. we recently
> upgraded to new computers with winxp. the problem is that the old
> software will not run on these computers. the program terminates with
> "main program load failure" what is the cause and what are the
> possible solutions?
This is obviously not a COBOL problem - it can be solved by visiting the
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
newsgroup on the msnews.microsoft.com news server.
| |
| JerryMouse 2004-07-27, 8:55 pm |
| Richard wrote:
> paxsonc001@hawaii.rr.com (Calvin) wrote
>
>
> Are you running as the 'admin' user ? If it was installed under admin
> it may not be running under other users.
>
> Solution: don't run XP. Use Linux and run it under DOSemu or, if it
> is Windows executable, under WINE.
Sorry, that's not an option. His school has a policy, an enlightened policy
I might add, of using Microsoft operating systems. They are training medical
technicians, not nerds.
| |
| Calvin 2004-07-28, 8:55 pm |
| My solution to this problem...
I used a win98 box to format a bunch of floppy's and make them
bootable. then i coppied the program onto the floppy's. all the
students have to do is insert their particular floppy b4 turning on
the pc. the pc's boot win98 off the floppy, and then autoexec runs
the program. works great! expecially as we will only be using this
program for a couple more months. Thank you all for your input!!
Incase your wondering the entire program is about .6 mb.
Thaks, Cal-
| |
| JerryMouse 2004-07-29, 3:55 pm |
| Calvin wrote:
> My solution to this problem...
>
> I used a win98 box to format a bunch of floppy's and make them
> bootable. then i coppied the program onto the floppy's. all the
> students have to do is insert their particular floppy b4 turning on
> the pc. the pc's boot win98 off the floppy, and then autoexec runs
> the program. works great! expecially as we will only be using this
> program for a couple more months. Thank you all for your input!!
> Incase your wondering the entire program is about .6 mb.
>
> Thaks, Cal-
Excellent circumvention. I love five-cent solutions to five-cent problems.
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| Tom Morrison 2004-07-29, 3:55 pm |
| > Excellent circumvention. I love five-cent solutions to five-cent problems.
I agree! Good work, Calvin!
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