Do Not Start Programmer's WorkBench by Typing PWBED

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Programmer's Workbench for MS-DOS, versions 1.0 and 1.1

SUMMARY

You should not start the Programmer's WorkBench (PWB) by typing PWBED. This is incorrect. Type PWB to start the Programmer's WorkBench environment.

MORE INFORMATION

In the REAL MODE directory specified during setup, there will be two executables for the PWB, PWB.COM and PWBED.EXE. PWB.COM actually spawns PWBED.EXE. If you use PWBED to start the PWB, it will consume approximately 500K of memory. By executing a DOS SHELL from within the PWB and running CHKDSK, you will notice there is very little memory left.

When you invoke the PWB the correct way (by typing PWB), then shell- out and do a CHKDSK, you will see that the PWB has only consumed approximately 8K of available memory.

The PWB appears to work correctly if you invoke it with PWBED. However, since it is using so much memory, you will receive memory problems, such as "out of memory," "cannot compile," "cannot build," "program too big to fit in memory," and "could not execute C1.EXE." These are caused because there is not enough memory to spawn either NMAKE, the compiler, or the linker.