Heeeeelp...

[myztique]

Hi everyone

I am helping an old couple who are running a private estate agency, they are using Framework III and Rimo for their book keeping, however both these programs are DOS based. Framework seems to work fine on a PC running WinXP but the machine running Rimo ( Win98) is fast giving up, i tried to run the program on a WinXP machine but gave configuration errors which i didn't understand then i organized a PC, Formatted the disk as FAT32 then installed Win98 but got some path errors and could not find the .BAT file.

Not sure if any of you out there know Rimo or a possible workaround to get it running under XP or Win98. The problem seems to be with some configuration and i can't figure it out what and where to change, i went into the Advanced properties of the program tried all sort of things but didn't help.

Any feedback will be much appreciated...

The unfortunate is that i didn't make screen shots of the errors but will send a few on my next trial.

Thank you and looking forward to your inputs,

Desperate,

Myztique ( Switzerland )

[soybean]

If Rimo is software, can you post a link to a website with info on it?  My Google search on Rimo yields websites such as http://www.rimousa.com/.  So, what is the Rimo you're talking about? 

Framework III is apparently an office suite, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framework_%28office_suite%29. 

So, neither of the software you mentioned is accounting software, as far as I can tell.  I think we need more info from you about how they used a computer for their bookkeeping.

[myztique]

Hi Soybean

Thanks for your response, the Framework link from Wikipedia is correct but Rimo is extremely difficult to find links to. I believe the company must have closed down, the only links i could find to-date is this one http://www.rimo.ch/ and it is also not working. There is however i found this link http://www.wwimmo.ch/produkte which seems to be similar or an new version of this product. As far as i know the word "Buchhaltung" translated to english means Bookkeeping, of what i have seen from both these programs ,files are saved to floppy disks or printed directly. I must admit that i haven't used the programs in person but often sit with my client (who is 84 years old) who has been using these programs since the 80s. Again, perhaps it is a product once popular in Switzerland. As for Framework, i contacted them from the states and it was too expensive to get a new copy but they told me there are some FW3 to Word converters which i haven't looked into as Framework isn't that much a problem yet. If you have an FTP server where i can upload the files i could do that so you can get an idea of what i am talking about.

Regards,

Myztque

[truenorth]

I am going to go in a different direction with my suggestion if you don't mind. Observation = it is commendable and rather unique that people of the age you state are still involved (actually involved period) with computers. However given that they are: my recommendation is that they avail themselves of one of the many free accounting software programs available on-line. I think this would in the end involve less hassle than trying to get old software running again when apparently little or no resources for it exist. Seeing that you are so kindly assisting them you could download it and learn it yourself then help them to learn to use it.
  Toward that end i have researched on your behalf for some basic accounting free software and now provide a link that may be of interest and hopefully solve your problem.
http://www.isoftwarereviews.com/free-accounting-software-for-small-business/
truenorth 

[BC_Programmer]

One possibility is to run the program via Emulation/Virtualization; for example, if the program is a DOS application (which I would imagine it is) you could try DOSBox.

[soybean]

I must admit that i haven't used the programs in person but often sit with my client (who is 84 years old) who has been using these programs since the 80s.

I think they really need to convert to a newer software package such as the popular QuickBooks.  QuickBooks comes in several versions and I'm not sure which would best serve their needs.  Without knowing some details about the type of business they operate, I don't believe anyone in this forum could recommend a specific program.  And, even if you gave detailed explanation, this is not an accounting forum and I'm not aware of any member of this forum being from Switzerland, which may have some unique laws which apply to such a business. 

[Quantos]

Good catch soybean.

[myztique]

Hi all

Thanks to all of you for making suggestions, in response to BC_Programmer message i did try DOSBox already but it didn't work, i believe it is often used Dos based games and as of the link from Truenorth i will try and see if i will convince them to go this way but they are in a stage where they don't want to learn new things, they just want to keep to the old things they know best.

Again, thank you to all for your feedback.

Regards

[soybean]

Regarding a VM (virtual machine) software which would allow installing DOS, you might try VMWare Player.  I use it for Linux Ubuntu but have not tried installing DOS as a VM.  Here is a list of videos (from a Google search) on installing DOS in VMWare Player: http://www.google.com/search?q=install+dos+in+vmware+player&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=install+dos+in+vmware+player&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=6Ot&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=iv&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=rxL5TJ-PMKaNnAfqu824CQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=6&ved=0CEIQqwQwBQ&fp=69e602266151d141

My memory of using DOS and DOS-based programs has faded, but I believe, if you had DOS installed as VM in VMWare Player, you would then install Framework III via a DOS prompt (in your DOS VM), as you would is a real DOS environment. 

[myztique]

Thank you Soybean, i think i found a solution and it seems to work for now at-least. Anyway, all i had to do was replace the HDD of the new PC with that of the old one, at the beginning the PC could boot then freeze but then i remembered that i change the CPU setting from Normal to Compatible, after my bios tweak in worked fine so as Rimo. I am still not sure why it would not run on the new PC with the disk formatted similar to that of the old machine running the same OS?

Again, thank you for your inputs.

Greetings,