My first solution was to replace MS findramd.exe with a combination of [1] the vol command, which identifies the "TURBODSK" label of a tdsk.exe RAM drive, [2] dready.com, which tries drives and returns an error code to stop the loop, and [3] an editing tool called change.exe, through which redirected output of the vol command is massaged into a one-line batch file setting the environment variable for the RAM drive. dready.com is by Horst Schaeffer, and change.exe is by Bruce Guthrie of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Both are distributed as freeware.
However, a helpful correspondent pointed out that xmsdsk.exe is also freeware and likely more suitable for my purpose. I found this to be the case, because xmsdsk can be executed in autoexec.bat with no reference in config.sys, and it allows the assignment of a specific letter to the RAM disk as a command switch, i.e.:
xmsdsk 4096 z for a 4mb RAM drive Z.
There is a better way to do this, by allowing DOS to name the RAM disk and then using errorlevels to find it. Xmsdsk returns errorlevel 0 when it can't make a RAM disk, errorlevel 1 for drive A, 2 for drive B, 3 for C and so forth. I didn't quite know how to write the batch routine without using 26 lines of errorlevels, so I used the z drive designation instead. (Remember to include "lastdrive=z" in config.sys.)
My final version of this disk may be downloaded by clicking the red icon below. It is nothing more than a menu-enhanced collection of games and freeware for kids, but it runs well on all the machines I have tested it on and it includes a display with information about all the software I have used (software.bat).
Click the yellow icon for startup files only.
