MS_DOS 2.11 (Was: DOS disks? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

27 Oct 1998

Very interesting! I learn something new every day! But, was the
source available to the public? If not, it's not much different from NT 
now, which makes source available under an NDA.
...
 MS-DOS 2.11 was a very special version.  It was the one
where Microsoft 
explicitly supported OEM modifications.  Even the source code to IO.SYS 
was obtainable!  Each manufacturer that had something weird could make 
their mods to it.  For example: PC-DOS 3.20 was the first one to  support 
...
 720K floppies.  But LOTS of MS-DOS 2.11 variants
support 720Ks. (NOT  ALL 
...
 WITH THE SAME DISK FORMAT!!)  Or the manufacturer could
modify IO.SYS  so 
...
 that pressing Ctrl+Alt+Meta+CokeBottle switches to
power-saving  "suspend 
...
 mode", etc.

Accordingly, 2.11 was usually tied to a given manufacturer.  DG 2.11  was 
...
 not quite the same as Gavilan 2.11, etc.  Typically,
MODE.COM would be 
heavily customized, and frequently IO.SYS would have a few differences.  
For example, Gavilan 2.00, 2.10 or 2.11 all supported 3.5" disks, but 
only 2.11 worked right.  And 2.11K, 2.11L, etc. also supported double 
sided disks.

If you CAN, try to find a copy of that 2.11 for your machine; the one
modified by the hardware manufacturer to work with the weirdities of  your
...
 hardware.  If you choose to use one of the newer
versions of DOS (6.2x  is
...
 the most reliable for a couple of reasons), at least
keep a copy  available
...
 of the MODE.COM that was customized for your machine. 
You might need  to
...
 use SETVER, or disassemble and look for the code that
goes: 
MOV AH, 30h
INT 21h
CMP AX,   

Using the newer version of DOS MIGHT cut you off from some of the 
customizations, but hopefully MODE.COM may have most of the ones that  you 
...
 need, such as MODE LCD , etc.

--
Fred Cisin                      cisin(a)xenosoft.com
XenoSoft                        http://www.xenosoft.com
2210 Sixth St.                  (510) 644-9366
Berkeley, CA 94710-2219

On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, Ward Donald Griffiths III wrote:

> Cameron Kaiser wrote:
> > 
> > Weeeeeeeell, I landed a Data General One laptop. Normally I eschew 
MS-DOS
...
 > > based machines, simply because I'm a
racist pig etc., but this one  has an
...
 > > interesting notebook mode and a built-in
terminal program at  1200bps. Except
...
 > > that the screen is harder to read than James
Joyce, it seems like a  winner
...
 > > and it works great.
> > 
> > Question. Anyone know what version of DOS this uses? Does someone  have
any
...
 > > boot disks out there, or at least have the
system files available  for
...
 > > download? The drives are 3.5" DD,
right?
> 
> Came as I recall with MS-DOS 2.11, should use anything up to 6.22,
> though of course it's tricky building a 720k 6.22.system disk.  3.3
> is probably your best bet, although I think there were some hardware
> specific utilities on the original material that might come in rather
> handy.  Nice machine -- the only DOS laptop to tempt me prior to the
> Zenith SuperSports.
> -- 
> Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram@cnct.com> 
<http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
...

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