Menu
▾
▴
#157 "help" command freezes the system when freedos in Spanish is installed (except using xmgr xms memory dirver) in VirtualBox latest version
open
nobody
6
2025-08-12
2016-10-07
No
When installing FreeDos in spanish and using the "help" command it works well in English, but in spanish installation, the system freezes when using all memory drivers excep xmgr xms (the 3rd option when bootin).
When using the last option VirtualBox directly gives an error and the instance of the machine closes.
Can you reverify if this is still a problem in FreeDOS 1.2 RC1? You can download it here:
http://www.freedos.org/download/
I installed FreeDOS 1.2 RC1 on AQEMU (host OS: Ubuntu 16.10 amd64) in French and after the installation if I type help the system freezes. I was about to file a bug report about it, but then I saw this ticket and tested installing FreeDOS 1.2 RC1 in Spanish. The error described in the first post till occurs.
This looks like a serious bug.
Just wanted to bring to your attention that this still exists in FreeDOS 1.2 RC2 in French. When I installed RC2 in Turkish in AQEMU and typed help, I got an error message; the attached screenshot shows it.
Hello, I have the same problem when I install FreeDOS in french on an old AMD K6-2.
I tried to install it in english and the HELP command work so I am very disapointed.
So after some hours of research I have tried to make it look like the language is English only for the HELP command and ... it works !
I make a small batch file for that, it's only 3 lines of text :
I think this is a crap solution for resolve (temporaly) this problem but it's the only solution I have found.
Not sure what is causing this bug, but your workaround is good. I've also written this up as a blog post here:
http://freedos-project.blogspot.com/2017/01/workaround-for-help-bug.html
Maybe until this is fixed in code, we can do this workaround in the package?
I think I used that workaround as well when I found the bug.
I think it would be a good temporary solution for the problem.
The problem in Spanish is that the file does not exist:
c: \ fdos \ nls \ htmlhelp.es
Hi tizizi, hi Lorenzo,
at least Berki should know that all this help bugs have gone with the new htmlhelp.exe version.
Thanks, Bernd!
So could you please confirm, that the thread can be closed. Thx.
I tried with the latest test version of FreeDOS in French and the HELP command works perfectly. When I choose Spanish from the "Other installed languages" link no problem either. Indeed, Bernd has done great work!
Also, as a side note, Jerome has recently fixed the credits file of FreeDOS, Lorenzo's name is now in it: https://gitlab.com/FreeDOS/OS/fdcredit/-/commit/1c073bb81d7ac9a4e424000917c2c010b98022e9 :)
Hi Lorenzo,
I just checked your last post (2020-05-10):
c:\freedos\nls\htmlhelp.es does not work, but it is not necessary to execute it this way.
In the latest freedos test version, look for FDT24xx live CD https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/ you can install the most actual version and you will see, if you install it in spanish, it should work by typing "help" or "htmlhelp" now. Ifyou add one of the options "/F1 or /F2" you even get another colour scheme.
With "ambhelp" you can start it in ambformat. At the moment Jim did not decide which program (htmlhelp or amb) will stay, I personally prefer htmlhelp as it now supports UTF-8 for most latin codepages which makes it easier to create new files.
C:\freedos\nls\htmlhelp.es also exists now, so you can execute help /? and get spanish language response.
amb has no /? support.
Last edit: fritz.mueller 2024-09-25
@Jim: I think you can close this bug report as Bernd Böckmann solved the problems with htmlhelp. Overlong text in one line is always a problem, lets see what I can do some day with it.