23 Oct
2004
23 Oct
'04
12:12 a.m.
A short update on my efforts ...
The Fujitsu-OnRack version did what was to be expected: it checks and
sees that there is no Fujitsu drive in the PC and stops :-)
Sorry to say that the version from Pete is for Western Digital drives
and shows the same behaviour :-(
I found a gfew manufacturer versions, but not for HP &%$#@!&
However, there is till hope at 2 fronts: the version Dave will dig up,
and there is one on auction at eBay (for just a few $$). If I will be
the lucky winner I will share the data on the disk with everybody that
is interested in a copy. It looks like this is an *original* OnTrack
version that works with drives of any manufacturer. It's version 7 ...
I'll report back later.
thanks for all the help,
- Henk, PA8PDP.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org
To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Sent: 22-10-2004 17:55
Subject: Re: access to BIOS of DECpc
Apologies, I didn't get a chance to look for my OnTrack Disk
Manager
software last night. I'll definitely dig it up this weekend...
Gooijen H wrote:
Hi all,
thanks for all the responses, I have some leads now.
Here is a report what I tried so far.
Searching the Internet, I found the setup files set320p and pwr320p
for
the DECpc 320P. Alas, the setup allows several items
to be
configured,
but the hard disk is not one of them!
Next, I found Ontrack DiskManager versions for IBM and for
Microscience,
but the IBM version stops because it does not detect a
hard disk of
their
brand. BTW, my 2.5" hard disk is from HP, type
C2965A.
The Microscience version allows 7 different types to be set, but up
till
now I did not get satisfactory results. I can get to
50 Mb, but
compared
to the original hard disk (40Mb) that is not much
gain, especially
when
you think that the C2965A is 420 Mb ...!
I also have the version from Western Digital, EZ-Drive (Data
Lifeguard)
but this version also stops because the disk is not
from WD.
Not yet tried is a version from Fujitsu, and the version I received
from
Pete (thanks Pete!).
I guess it's clear what I will be doing this weekend :-)
thanks for all the help and advice,
- Henk, PA8PDP.
--
--- Dave Woyciesjes
--- ICQ# 905818
22 Oct
22 Oct
6:57 p.m.
On Sat, 23 Oct 2004, Gooijen H wrote:
A short update on my efforts ...
The Fujitsu-OnRack version did what was to be expected: it checks and
sees that there is no Fujitsu drive in the PC and stops :-)
Sorry to say that the version from Pete is for Western Digital drives
and shows the same behaviour :-(
I found a gfew manufacturer versions, but not for HP &%$#@!&
However, there is till hope at 2 fronts: the version Dave will dig up,
and there is one on auction at eBay (for just a few $$). If I will be
the lucky winner I will share the data on the disk with everybody that
is interested in a copy. It looks like this is an *original* OnTrack
version that works with drives of any manufacturer. It's version 7 ...
I'll report back later.
Maybe this is a dumb suggestion, in which case I invite folks to throw
pies at me while I'm stripped down nekkid (note: I might like it), but
what about using a boot manager instead? Would it not accomplish the same
thing?
To that end, this looks promising:
http://www.masterbooter.com/main/news.php?lang=en
...or this one...
http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/13/4/13-4-14.shtml
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
23 Oct
23 Oct
5:44 a.m.
At 10:57 PM 10/22/2004, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
To that end, this looks promising:
http://www.masterbooter.com/main/news.php?lang=en
On its utility page, there is 'mrfloppy', a raw image of a
boot floppy to start the boot loader. Could be handy, could've
saved my bacon a week ago.
- John
P.S. What flavor pie?
25 Oct
25 Oct
10:57 a.m.
On Sat, 23 Oct 2004, John Foust wrote:
At 10:57 PM 10/22/2004, Vintage Computer Festival
wrote:
Lemon, please.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
To that end, this looks promising:
http://www.masterbooter.com/main/news.php?lang=en
On its utility page, there is 'mrfloppy', a raw image of a
boot floppy to start the boot loader. Could be handy, could've
saved my bacon a week ago.
- John
P.S. What flavor pie?
5:33 a.m.
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004, John Foust wrote:
At 02:57 PM 10/25/2004, Vintage Computer Festival
wrote:
Won't that sting? Or is that the point?
It's tastier.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
P.S. What
flavor pie?
Lemon, please. 
27 Oct
27 Oct
4:39 a.m.
Well I finally found the disk manager floppies I was thinking of...
Ontrack DiskManager v.2.4 dated 6/12/98 (mfg. for IBM)
Ontrack DiskManager v.? dated 1/8/99 (my note says something about Quantum?)
Western Digital EZ Drive v.8.01W dated 1995 - 1996
...of course, I don't have the e-mail address of who was looking for
them. Or maybe there's an appropriate FTP server to drop the files on?
I created images using RAWREAD on a windows PC. Sorry, it's all I have
at them moment...
--
--- Dave Woyciesjes
--- ICQ# 905818
23 Oct
23 Oct
6:18 a.m.
Rumor has it that Vintage Computer Festival may have mentioned these words:
On Sat, 23 Oct 2004, Gooijen H wrote:
If you're talking Lemon Meringue fresh outta the oven, I doubt you'd like
it (well, not for *long*, anyway! :-O )...
A short update on my efforts ...
The Fujitsu-OnRack version did what was to be expected: it checks and
sees that there is no Fujitsu drive in the PC and stops :-)
Sorry to say that the version from Pete is for Western Digital drives
and shows the same behaviour :-(
I found a gfew manufacturer versions, but not for HP &%$#@!&
However, there is till hope at 2 fronts: the version Dave will dig up,
and there is one on auction at eBay (for just a few $$). If I will be
the lucky winner I will share the data on the disk with everybody that
is interested in a copy. It looks like this is an *original* OnTrack
version that works with drives of any manufacturer. It's version 7 ...
I'll report back later.
Maybe this is a dumb suggestion, in which case I invite folks to throw
pies at me while I'm stripped down nekkid (note: I might like it), ... but
what about using a boot manager instead? Would it not accomplish the same
thing?
Noper, two totally different critters.
Boot managers just *replaces* the standard MBR with a customizable MBR so
you can boot multiple OSs. It has nothing to do WRT disk geometry or sizes.
Linux's Grub is a good example. (LILO can do it too, but it's a little less
forgiving of other operating systems.) Even Winders NT/2K/XP boot manager
can be twiddled enough to boot Linux, tho it's *not* easy to do. Individual
partitions are easily accessible from other OSs as the geometry is still
derived from the BIOS/HD itself.
OTOH, OnTrack (and others) actually "off-shift" the MBR and add a
"pre-loader" which adds a BIOS patch to give the BIOS the ability to
recognize larger HDs, or HDs with odd geometries. Then once it loads, the
off-shifted MBR is then called and the computer can boot normally. If this
BIOS patch is *not* loaded first, then the computer cannot accurately
recognize the HD geometry, partition sizes or locations, etc.
On the plus side, it's *very* handy every time an idiot PeeCee manufacturer
decides to hard-code YADAHDL (that's "Yet Another DumbAss Hard Drive
Limitation... ;-) -- First 32Meg, then 528 Meg, then 2Gig, then 8 Gig, then
80Gig, then 127Gig, and I'm sure there's others in between I've forgotten.
This code allows a computer with a 528-Meg BIOS limitation (or older
computer who's BIOS doesn't have customizable entries) to utilize larger HDs.
On the minus side - He who uses this software had better take care on
having a good backup plan in place that does not require this software! As
the geometry's been "jumbled" to make it work in that environment, if you
yank the drive & put it in another machine, the partitions won't be
recognized or anything. With OnTrack and some others, you *could* set up a
boot floppy with the special code so another machine (if booted from this
floppy) could read the partitions & whatnot, but guaranteed, as soon as you
need that floppy, you won't be able to find it... ;-)
Hope this helps,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
So what kinda pie do you want, Sellam? ;^>
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger | A new truth in advertising slogan
sysadmin, Iceberg Computers | for MicroSoft: "We're not the oxy...
zmerch(a)30below.com | ...in oxymoron!"
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GOOI＠oce.nl -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
vcf＠siconic.com -
woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net -
zmerch＠30below.com