The authors have combined a book about DOS 6.0 and a selection of software tools (included on a pair of disks). The book is divided into four parts. The first two are about PC hardware and DOS in general, the third is essentially a reference manual about DOS 6.0 commands, and the last part is in essence a reference manual for the included “power tools.” This combination makes for a rather imposing volume at almost 900 pages, but almost 300 pages are devoted to these reference manuals. Generally, I found the first two parts to be interesting and well written. “A manual is a manual is a manual” best describes the last two parts. The format is basically a short reference for each of the commands or software program. I did not find anything exceptionally good or bad here.

The first part (chapters 1 through 10) is about the basic hardware of a typical PC and its interaction with the operating system (DOS) and the basics of DOS itself. Chapter1 is about the basic hardware–operating system interaction, and chapter 2 traces the history of DOS through DOS 6.0. Both of these are readable and interesting. Chapter 3 begins a discussion of installing and using DOS 6.0. Chapters 4 through 7 are hardware- and DOS-specific. Chapter 4 is about the keyboard and a few other input devices, chapter 5 is about the screen, chapter 6 is about memory and the CPU (808x family), and chapter 7 is on disks (including RAM disks). Chapter 8 is about files as DOS views them and how to use the DOS file commands. Chapter 9 covers the basic disk management commands and what these commands are intended to do and why. Finally, chapter 10 covers printing from DOS. These chapters all contain a lot of general technical information about a PC’s hardware and how it works, and how DOS manages the hardware. All are written at a reasonable level and are worth reading, even if most of the material is familiar.

The second part (chapters 11 through 17) contains a number of DOS-specific advanced issues. Chapter 11 discusses what the config.sys and autoexec.bat files are for and presents options that the user can specify within these files, some of which are new to DOS 6.0. Chapter 12 covers device drivers, their purpose, the standard device drivers, and how to create, install, and use your own. Chapter 13 is about the DOS environment, the information that is loaded with a program to control its interaction with DOS. Part of the environment may be global, such as the PATH information, and part may be local to a particular program and may be established as part of a batch file. This chapter leads naturally into a chapter on batch files, batch file programming, and the new DOSKEY macros. Chapter 15 discusses debug--what it is, what it does, and how to use it. A little knowledge of assembler is useful for this chapter. Chapter16 is about communications--serial ports, parallel ports, and modems. This chapter contains a brief hardware and terminology overview and a brief introduction to SHARE. The final chapter in this section contains general advice based on the authors’ experiences using DOS.

The remainder of the book is a manual for DOS and for the Power Tools software included with the book. The command summary and manual for DOS are helpful. The software has proven to be useful to various users at different times. Whether any of these programs will prove to be useful to a particular user is an open question. I have only had an occasional use for any of them, but having the right tool at the right time can be a lifesaver. I will probably remove most of these programs from my hard drive (after I try them all several more times), since I will probably not need them often and they require a fair amount of space.

I found the book to be well written and usually easy to follow. The book is about an operating system and contains material that might prove somewhat difficult for beginners, but I like the book and think the authors did an excellent job of presenting these concepts. Whether it is the best on the market is an individual judgment, but I recommend it as well done and informative. It will probably be used as a reference and should be kept close at hand in case of emergency.