Here is some information on MKS Toolkit you might be interested.

MKS Toolkit is a command interpreter that replaces or co-exists with the MS-DOS COMMAND.COM. MKS Toolkit is a replacement for DOS, such as SCO UNIX is. Instead, it offers a range of UNIX commands from a UNIX shell that is very similar (sic) to that of native UNIX.

MKS Toolkit is based on the KornShell, which basically takes the best features out of the most widely used UNIX shells, the Bourne shell and the C shell. You can run MKS Toolkit commands from the DOS prompt, but to really have a UNIX like environment, it is best to use the supplied KornShell (sh.exe). This allows access to the 140 or so commands from a most UNIX-like environment.

The KornShell's shell scripts are similar to MS-DOS batch files, though they can be much more ocmplex, including if..then and do..loop control flow structures. Apart from these commands, most of MKS Toolkit's commands are external from the shell.

MKS Toolkit does its best to emulate UNIX, though it is bound to the restrictions of the DOS (File Allocation Table) filesystem. DOS doesn't allow group and user permissions, so while the UNIX chmod command will work, it doesn't really do anything. However, the Toolkit is able to live with DOS easily, which protects your software investment. It is an ideal teaching environment because it is not as easy to damage (say from turning off the system without shutting down) then a UNIX system.

One of the most powerful features of MKS Toolkit is the init program. If you opt for this shell instead of COMMAND.COM or sh.exe, you can restrict access to the computer to those with a password and valid user account. Toolkit is most UNIX-like in this respect, storing passwords (in encrypted form) in /etc/passwd and running /etc/rc.ksh and /etc/inittab on boot time. [Did someone suspect I'd ever end up interested in directory services?]

The login procedures included with MKS Toolkit could be made more UNIX-like, but this is within reach of the reasonably competent programmer. A series of shell scripts and boot-file modifications that I have written enables a more user-friendly interface for creating users, as well as a login program that I have modelled on screen shots of SCO UNIX. (Instead of dumping you to the shell, my program checks for mail, your appointment calendar, and alerts you to these. It also displays the amount of space disk free and the Message of the Day, contained in/etc/motd). Each user (and presumably student) can be assigned an individual home directory where he or she can keep her files.

UNIX is becoming increasingly important in the computer industry. It is now a mature operating system, having been around since the early 1970s, though it is more a programmers environment rather than an end-user operating system. The next genreation of X Terminals, graphical user interfaces (such as OSF/Motif, based on Microsoft Windows Presentation Manager) will take UNIX well into the 1990s. I know my knowledge of UNIX will be a good asset in the future, and this is partially due to my experience with MKS Toolkit. [and all those copies of UnixWorld!]

If you would like me to photocopy some of the manual or show you the program, let me know.

Yours sincerely,

Luke Howard 1M

P.S. I'd be interested inseeing your dBASE III Plus databsae when you have finished it. I am on the verge of writing an invoicing program for my dad in dBASE and nay help would be appreciated.