please forgive:[Fwd: The case of the disappearing cursor: who remembers AccessDos?]

I'm putting this here because I know there are some old timers like me
on this list and I am thinking of one or two in particular who may be
able to assist.
please write to allan directly as this is sorrofully admitted to be an
off topic request.
Thanks!

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: The case of the disappearing cursor: who remembers AccessDos?
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 19:09:38 -0400
From: Alan Cantor <acantor@INTERLOG.COM>
Reply-To: "* EASI: Equal Access to Software &
Information"<EASI@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
To: EASI@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU

Hello EASI Colleagues,

I am accommodating an elderly woman with severe upper-body mobility
impairments. She has an eight-year-old PC running under DOS with a
14-inch
monochrome monitor. (There is no chance that she will upgrade.) I am
setting
up her system, and teaching her WordPerfect 5.1 and an accessible
greeting-card creation program. To use these applications, she needs
StickyKeys and other simple accessibility features. I have installed
AccessDOS
and set it up to load automatically when the PC boots. Everything works
fine.
Almost.

Here's the problem: When AccessDOS becomes resident in memory, the
cursor
disappears.

The cursor reappears after certain programs (e.g., WordPerfect,
Microsoft
Edit) are launched and are exited. I suppose these applications reset
the
cursor as they exit. But I can't reasonably ask my client, who is
absolute
computer novice, to perform this action.

Does anyone have ideas -- or remember -- of how to resolve the case of
the
disappearing cursor?

Here are some questions:

1. Are there (or were there) AccessDOS substitutes?

2. There existed utilities for modifying the brightness and geometry of
the
cursor. WordPerfect used to bundle one of these programs. Where can
these
programs be found?

3. As a last ditch effort, I might use macro software to send keystrokes
to
launch and exit one of the programs that fixes the cursor. Does anyone
remember how to do this kind of stuff? I seem to recall that doskey,
which is
part of command.com, could send keystrokes to the console, but Dos's
cryptic
help is of no help.

Alan

Alan Cantor
Cantor + Associates
Workplace Accommodation Consultants
acantor@interlog.com
www.interlog.com/~acantor

Received on Saturday, 26 August 2000 07:29:05 UTC