Will lotus 123 load from a cd on windows 8
you have to create a batch file to run Lotus 1-2-3, and (so far as I can
tell) you have to run the program from your root drive, because the
program makes its calls TO the root drive. Here's the batch program you
create in Notepad or other plain-text editor:
cd\
cd\lotus
123.exe
cd\
exit
*
Delete the 'exit' if you want the window to stay open as a DOS window,
after you're done with the program. Save the file with a '.bat'
extension. (Note: unlike XP, you can close the window with your mouse,
afterwards.)
*
After creating that file, you have to right click on the file name,
select 'Properties (in Win8, Vista, XP) and do some more tweaking. The
Properties dialogue box SHOULD show the following tabs: General,
Shortcut, Options, Font, Layout, Colors, Compatibility. Each of these
needs editing.
GENERAL tab: select
Normal Window or even Maximized (though it won't actually maximize).
Also in Win8, click on Advanced, and 'Run as administrator'.
OPTIONS tab:
select Large cursor. You can always change it, but since the program
really won't run fullscreen, you'll want the cursor to be oversized,
since the window will be smaller and will shrink everything in it.
FONT tab:
this is what Windows uses to select the screen size, despite all the
other settings (which you also still need to set). In Win7, you have
three types of fonts to set. Click on the 'Bold' option, as that makes
the text easier to read.
For True Type 'Consolas'
font (which results in a more square window), pick a font size between
18 and 24. More than that will be bigger than your entire monitor
screen, when you actually run the program (looks are deceiving, you have
to test the results with trial and error).
For True Type Lucida Console
font, use the same 18-24 font size range, but the screen will be much
shallower and wider, so you can afford to decrease font size to 18-20.
28 is really too wide, on a widescreen monitor (1366x768 pixels). But
maybe you'll like it, or your monitor will accommodate that size. Mine
wouldn't.
For Raster fonts, 12 x 16 is the optimal
setting. ON some (i.e., Dell Ultrasharp) monitors, Raster fonts look
best. On my Toshiba 19L4200U TV monitor, the Lucida Consule setting is
clearest.
LAYOUT tab:
Pick a window size width no greater than 85, and height no greater than
38. Then test to see if it's too big. If yes, you'll also need to
decrease font size, as well as the Layout size, here. Experiment,
because you can't gauge the right mix of window and font size, just by
the diagrams in the dialogue box.
COLORS tab: Lotus 1-2-3 makes hardware
calls on the screen, so whatever you put in this tab, it will ignore.
But other DOS programs might 'obey' the colors you set here. If you
remember the old Norton Utilities days of setting Mode, etc., that's
what this is.
COMPATIBILITY tab: You can't set
resolution to override at 640x480. The setting is either ignored, or
your monitor will freak out. For Lotus 1-2-3, in Win 8 I didn't
need to turn on the 'compatibility mode'. It made no difference in the
results. (You don't need it in XP, either.)
* Finally, you have to find the program itself, then right-click
on the program name and edit its Properties. Here, that program is
123.exe, and it has to be in your root directory. (All the program files
Lotus will use, must be there; at least one wk1 file must be in C:\123
at startup. I'm sure this can be tweaked, but I'm using the default
Lotus program settings for a typical installation.)
