21 Jun
2001
21 Jun
'01
1:17 p.m.
On Thu, 21 Jun 2001, joe wrote:
That is probably 3.31. Do function 30h of int 21h and see if AH gets 1Fh.
I'm not familiar with 6.12
You should use one of the COMPAQ OEM releases of MS-DOS, NOT a generic,
nor a PC-DOS. In particular you want COMPAQ's version of MODE.COM
6.2x is the ONLY product that I know of in the history of MICROS~1, where
improved reliability (rather than bells and whistles) was the primary
design goal.
The 386 (even 386SX) models, with >4M of RAM can run Windoze95. To
install Windoze98, you need to add a 387 or 387SX chip.
But would you rather have something that works well?
But 3.5" (or 3") are much more resistant to abuse than
5.25" diskettes. (3.25" is only marginably more robust than 5.25")
Check the CMOS for whether it already has support for 1.4M. If so, then
it's just a matter of a little carpentry to fashion mounting
brackets. Even if the CMOS doesn't support 1.4M, the hardware does, so
it's fairly easy to hack the setup program.
I have a Compaq
Portable 386...
1)I am running dos 6.12, but I am thinking about re-installing with
DOS 4 or DOS 5.
FWIW They originally came with Compaq DOS 3.3. I'm
running that
and DR DOS something on mine. Or more
generally is it better to use a circa operating system or a modern
operating system (Assuming the machine will run both) ?
They'll run at
least MS-DOS 5. I don't know if I've tried anything
higher than that. 2) The machine
came with a 5 1/4" diskette drive, I am considering
replacing that with a 3 and a whatever" drive, or once again more
generally when one has an older machine is it good to upgrade the hardware
to make it more usefull.
Careful! Those are 1/3 height drives. It might not
be as easy to
install a 3 1/2" drive as you think. Personally, I'd leave the floppy drive
alone. It's more trouble than it's worth to replace it and you're not going
to gain much in capacity by going from 1.2 Mb to 1.44 Mb. One of the nice
things about the P IIIs is that they have a very extensive drive table in
the BIOS so you can install a LOT bigger hard drive.
If you are running DOS 3.3[0], then you can't easily exceed 32M per drive
letter. If you are running 3.31 or above, then you can go up to 500M.
>I suppose on my single machine no one cares
really, the "historical
>Police" will not appear at my doorstep.
IF you cut a hole in the case for easy mounting of a 3.5" drive, then that
will invoke somebody offering e-bay level of money for an unmodified
machine. (BTDT)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com