Animation in DOS

As you should know, to view animation in DOS all you need to do is view it using the type command. EG type anim.txt.

But, if you're like me, you would have been wondering what the hell everyone was talking about since you've tried it and it doesn't work!

If that is the case, here is problem:

  1. The type command has to be able to use this thing called ansi.sys. And here is how you can use it.
  2. Add the following line to your config.sys file:
    device=c:\dos\ansi.sys
Voila! You can now view animation in DOS!

1 more thing. Sometimes, since UNIX uses a different newline thing, DOS users may need to change this to DOS format. I have a simple program to do this: reformat.zip .

  • This didn't help?? Try looking at this FAQ .

    NEW

    When you view the animations, they will most likely zip by super fast! I have a small program which should allow you to slow it down somewhat...

    HINTS

    Sometimes after viewing an animation, the screen will be at a different resolution. IE, the DOS screen will only have 40 or so columns instead of 80.

    Now, without the ansi.sys device, you could simply rectify this by typing in
    mode con cols=80. But that don't work no more!

    Here is what I found works. You have to do 2 things:

    1. Firstly, type prompt $e[=3l. This will reset the screen.
    2. Secondly, type prompt $p$g. This will set the prompt back.
    Not as good as the mode command but it works. I use ansi.sys to set the F11 and F12 keys to do this... it's a lot easier than typing it in or even making batch files. IE:

    prompt $e[0;133;"prompt $$e[=3l";13p --- F11 resets the screen.
    prompt $e[0;134;"prompt $$p$$g";13p --- F12 resets the prompt.

    Have you got a better way?? Please tell me it.

    The program above (Art Show) can be used to view the animations, and typing show -r will reset the screen when ANSI.SYS has been loaded.

    This page was updated on the 15th September, 1997
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