9 Jan
2003
9 Jan
'03
11:18 a.m.
Remember that the Amstrad ppc640 is a PC XT clone with
double density
(not high density) floppy drives.
Knew that.
It should boot any old version of
DOS after about 3.3, so long as it's on the proper floppy.
I fear that a Win98SE boot floppy is expecting at least a little extended memory.
I've just created a PC DOS boot disk using a Ghost tool.
These
things can be tricky to find these days though.
Salvaged a bunch from another IT officer doing a clean out.
If you can still
download DR.DOS 7, I know that works, since I've used it on mine.
How did you make a 720 boot disk? Did you find a 720k image or did you make 1.44s, boot a
suffciently old PC and create a 720 using format /s?
Otherwise I'd be tempted to try FreeDOS.
Seems to only be an ISO CD image!
I'm in the same position,
though, I don't have any way of making low density 3.5 inch boot
disks
for PCs anymore (unless I get busy and put my old PC back together).
Surreal. I just tried to format a 720 in my new WinXP portable and the size wasn't
even a option. And when I did it through the GUI under 2000 the anti-virus scanner had a
fit. Finally had to format it using the CLI *and* I had to explicitly unmount it first to
get the anti-virus software to let go.
Thanks Jim,
Chris J.
9 Jan
9 Jan
5:08 p.m.
How did you make a 720 boot disk? Did you find a 720k
image or did
you make 1.44s, boot a suffciently old PC and create a 720 using
format /s?
Weird. You should be able to format a 720 in any 1.44 meg floppy
drive, if memory serves they were designed to be backward compatible
like that. My floppy drive on my PC dates back to my 286 days, so it's
old enough that I haven't had any problems. Don't know anything about
XP though, and don't care either. I'm a happy OS/X user. :)
As for what software to run on the thing... anything that does fast
screen updates is probably a bad idea, the supertwist screen is pretty
friggin slow. Also, anything that depends on color to look cool is
obviously a bad idea. I've run Norton Textra Writer on mine
successfully. Haven't mucked about much with more interesting things
like ip packet drivers and parallel port ethernet adapters, mostly
because I don't own any such adapters. I have this machine now mostly
because I lusted after them badly when they started to show up in the
computer catalogs of the day as they went on clearance for about $200.
Otherwise I'd be tempted to try FreeDOS.
Seems to only be an ISO CD image!
I'm in the same position,
though, I don't have any way of making low density 3.5 inch boot
disks
for PCs anymore (unless I get busy and put my old PC back together).
Surreal. I just tried to format a 720 in my new WinXP portable and
the size wasn't even a option. And when I did it through the GUI
under 2000 the anti-virus scanner had a fit. Finally had to format it
using the CLI *and* I had to explicitly unmount it first to get the
anti-virus software to let go.
10 Jan
10 Jan
4:09 a.m.
On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, Jim Strickland wrote:
XP did, indeed fuck with the FORMAT program. In 98, they stopped
supporting "/F:2", but retained the other ways of formatting a 720K. In
XP, they even dropped "/F:20"!!
BUT, you can still format a 720K in XP, by using "/T:80/N:9"
To repeat what I wrote on 10/24/2002 ("Rise and fall of FORMAT"):
1.00 had 160K (SS, 8 SPT)
1.25/ PC-DOS 1.10 added 320K (DS), with /1 option for FORMAT for doing SS
2.00 added 180K and 360K (9 SPT), with /8 option for FORMAT for doing 8
SPT
2.11 some manufacturers added support for 3.5", but it was specific to
each of their customized version of MS-DOS
3.00 added 1.2M, with /4 option for FORMAT for doing 360K (in 1.2M drive)
3.20 added 720K, with /T:80 /N:9 being used to specify 720K
3.30 added 1.4M, added /F:2 for 720K to be easier to remember
5.00? added /F:720 to be easier to remember.
Windoze 98 dropped /F:2
Windoze XP dropped /F:720. /F:x is still supported, but only for
x == 1.44. /T:x/N:y is still supported, and is the only way to format
anything other than 1.4M. T can be 40 or 80, N can be 8, 9, or 15
T and N are used for selecting from an internal menu; they can not be set
to other values like a true variable.
With it, you can still do:
/T:80 /N:9 720K
/T:80 /N:8 640K Hmmm! haven't seen that one since the Toshiba T300!
/T:40 /N:9 360K
/T:40 /N:8 320K
/T:80 /N:15 1.2M
You can NOT do /T:40 /N:15, (you must choose between supported formats.)
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
Surreal. I
just tried to format a 720 in my new WinXP portable and
the size wasn't even a option. And when I did it through the GUI
under 2000 the anti-virus scanner had a fit. Finally had to format it
using the CLI *and* I had to explicitly unmount it first to get the
anti-virus software to let go.
Weird. You should be able to format a 720 in any
1.44 meg floppy
drive, if memory serves they were designed to be backward compatible
like that. My floppy drive on my PC dates back to my 286 days, so it's
old enough that I haven't had any problems. Don't know anything about
XP though, and don't care either. I'm a happy OS/X user. :)
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3sdiarftt02＠sneakemail.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
jim＠calico.litterbox.com