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                   Replacing DOS/4GW with PMODE/W in GoldED/386


     The standard  release of  GoldED/386 requires  the Rational Systems
     DOS/4GW DOS extender runtime  file DOS4GW.EXE. Many other  programs
     use the  same extender.  However there  is an  alternative extender
     which can be used with GoldED. The alternative extender replaces  a
     "stub"  in  GED386.EXE  and  eliminates  the requirement of the big
     DOS4GW.EXE  file  as  well  as  reducing  memory  requirements  and
     increases speed.

     The alternative DOS  extender is PMODE/W  by Charles Scheffold  and
     Thomas Pytel. At the time of writing, the latest version I know  of
     is version 1.16, distributed in the archive PMW116.ZIP (75k), dated
     april 18, 1995. By now there is probably already a newer version.

     If you want to replace DOS/4GW with PMODE/W, simply use the PMWBIND
     utility that comes with the PMODE/W archive, like this:

        PMWBIND /R GED386.EXE

     That's it!

     The PMODE/W manual recommends using the PMWSETUP program to  adjust
     some PMODE/W parameters in the new GED386.EXE, but in my very short
     test period it worked fine  without any adjustments, at least  in a
     DOS box under OS/2 Warp.

     So, if  PMODE/W is  so great,  why don't  I use  it in the standard
     release of GoldED/386? There are several reasons:

       1.  For use in commercial/shareware programs, they want USD  500.
           I can't afford that.

       2.  During the beta  test of GoldED 2.50  I tried to use  version
           1.12  of  PMODE/W,  but  it  turned  out  there were too many
           problems with it. I haven't checked if the newer versions are
           bett er.

     If you  do replace  DOS/4GW with  PMODE/W and  later experience odd
     problems, please don't report anything to me before you have  tried
     going  back  to  the  standard  release.  You can do that by simply
     running GoldED/386 like this:

     DOS4GW.EXE GED386 [whatever parameters, if any]

        Good luck with it!