For some of us that come from many years in the OpenVMS DCL world and have been transplanted into the Windows or Linux/Unix worlds, we oftentimes miss some of the basic, standard command line oriented development tools of OpenVMS DCL -- SEARCH, DIFF, DIR, DELETE, TYPE, HELP, etc. -- with their unique collection of qualifiers (ie, switches). Those commands just seemed to flow out of our fingertips -- like muscle memory. We may have found the obtuse flexibility of the Linux/Unix style grep, diff, etc. to be hard to learn. Or we might have been frustrated in being unable to find some of the most frequently used functionality of OpenVMS DCL commands within Windows' MS-DOS and CMD prompt shells.
Such was my case.
I eventually decided on Accelr8 Open DCL Lite v2.21 as my main DCL shell running on Windows. Then later, that was augmented with Valentin's PC-DCL v4.07 (for a few, infrequent activities).
To follow my foray into the DCL world outside OpenVMS, click on the following Open DCL Lite (and PC-DCL) oriented links.
Alternatively, you might first review those links' summaries below, before clicking on any link that looks worthwhile.
The "Why I Use Open DCL Lite" page explains why I chose Accelr8's Open DCL Lite:
instead of various emulator / simulator / virtual machine solutions, especially those capable of supporting the VMS Hobbyist Program's ability to run OpenVMS, and
instead of other DCL implementations for Windows or Linux.
It is intended to serve as a gateway for someone like me that was transitioning out of a VMS workplace, needed an article explaining the various options and pointing them in the right direction, while putting a very high priority on very low cost solutions.
The "Why I Use Open DCL Lite" page provides links to a variety of the possible DCL shell solutions -- with a special focus on those that are free or low cost -- so you can decide if you would prefer a different approach than I took. The page also clarifies the use of a bunch of DCL terms.
This page contains 2 long lists of the Pros and Cons of using Accelr8 Open DCL Lite vs. alternatives of: a) OpenVMS DCL [the ultimate standard], and b) WinXP/Win7/Win10 CMD commands, and c) various 3rd-party utilities. I'd characterize it as a summary of my analysis with a medium level of detail. It should help you in evaluating if Accelr8 Open DCL Lite has sufficient facilities to satisfy your needs.
This page is a comparison of Michel Valentin's PC-DCL v4.07 with Accelr8 Open DCL Lite v2.21. It's a fairly detailed analysis of PC-DCL and provides examples of its peculiarities. It focuses on evaluating whether PC-DCL works better than Open DCL Lite, or if it can be used as an adjunct to Open DCL Lite.
Ultimately, I decided that Open DCL Lite is far superior to PC-DCL as a "day in and day out" DCL implementation for my purposes, so now I use this comparison article as a guide when sometimes using PC-DCL to provide some functionality which Open DCL Lite is missing (and when using DCL Lite to provide some functionality which PC-DCL is missing).
This is a short overview of how Accelr8 Open DCL Lite and Valentin's PC-DCL can coexist, yet use each other's native capabilities to overcome their respective shortcomings.
This is a fairly thorough step-by-step guide to get up and running with a very useful DCL Lite shell. It covers the locating, downloading, and installing of Accelr8's Open DCL Lite. And it concludes with some suggested configuration -- including some discussion of the jonesrh DCL Lite scripts ecosystem.
This page provides a free, downloadable, alternative Open DCL Lite icon which appears to contain the legible text "DCL Lite" and can be used to replace the icon provided with the Open DCL Lite distribution. Instructions are included for how it was created (in case you want to make some other alternative Open DCL Lite icon).
Hopefully, this portal's accompanying articles will save you some time in finding your own, low cost, DCL shell solution. It may help point you in the right direction if your requirements are more commercial / enterprise related, but it is primarily intended to help the person that needs a personal / hobbyist / educational oriented DCL command environment.