Tom's Guide | Tom's Hardware | Tom's Games
 |
 |
 |
hi
i have made a 98se boot disk (with norton ghost and fastlynx) im looking for some alternatives to get the file sizes smaller so i can fit more stuff (if possible).
any ideas thanksio.sys 218kb
scandisk.exe 141kb
command.com 92kb
fdisk.exe 63kb
format.com 49kb
oakcdrom.sys 41kb
himem.sys 33kb
mscdex.exe 25kb
config.sys 1kb
autoexec.bat 1kb
msdos.sys 1kb
ghost.exe 630kb
fx.exe 109kb
Depends on what you're trying to do. You do know you that once the system is booted up, you can remove the boot floppy and put in another disk. Sometimes it's prudent to have another copy of command.com on any additional disks as occasionally the system needs to 'look at it' again
One method used by M$ and others is to pack a bunch of files into a ZIP archive and then create a RAM drive to unpack them to
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne
0 
thanks
i did not know about that, i think i would still prefer to have one disk. I wanted a boot disk that would be the most useful for me.
at the moment this disk
*enables cdrom support
*able to fdisk and format harddrive
*able to scan for bad sectors
*able to ghost hardrive
*able to copy files from other machinesi would like to add another program, eg Edit.com but i only have 23kb left and this program is 68kb.
I might have a look a zipping those programs like you mentioned.
0
Well, you can replace the oakcdrom.sys driver with VIDE-CDD.SYS (only 11K, also uses less RAM).
There are smaller editors as well - otherwise - hey, there is only so much room on a floppy
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne
0
'Copy' is an internal DOS command - if you've booted to DOS, you can perform basic file copying - I gather FX.exe is FastLynx?
Instead of Ghost, there's the command line xxcopy
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne
0
yes fx.exe is fastlynx
thanks for the links
downloaded the tiny editor called "e"
only 7kb! and room to spare!
0
I'm glad that helped. I like the DOS Edit program, but there are alternatives
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne
0
I use VDE for my editor. Fast, with many great faetures.
44K after conversion and compression.
Try LZEXE or another exe packer on your progs. Smartdrv squeezes down 60+%.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
0
One can pack up most programs/drivers with pklite (one of the old pk tools that packs about like zip except they still are .exe and unzip when loaded into ram automatically), yet it does not work for programs with overlays, eg: ghost or edit );
0
thanks, tested those compression programmes.
intial compression results not too good.
However managed to save 29kb total.
Maybe im doing something wrong?program size plite lglz success
--------
fdisk 63 30 34 no
format 49 23 22 no
himem 33 12 11 pklite
mscdex 25 18 18 pklite
command 92 NA 44 no
io 218 NA NA NA
scandisk 141 NA NA NA
--------most programmes wouldnt run after compresion. some spewed hieroglyphics.
0
Using jboy's suggestion of addition disks is probably the best method of making a utility suite. I believe that you also can make a menuing system to span multiple floppies. There is only so much space on a floppy.
If you are more adventurous, you might also try using the 1680KB DMF format or the 1720KB MDF format for the floppies. The DMF format has been used by MS to distribute software, the MDF uses 82 tracks.
0
I'm not so sure you can boot reliably from a DMF diskette (if at all), but as a supplemental disk, that'd be an option. DOS6xx can't use that format unless a driver is loaded, but 9xDOS shouild be fine
Many (but I suppose not all) of the DOS executables are already 'packed' and "recompressing" with PKLite etc may actually *increase* the file size. Experiment, sure, but command.com I would leave alone (it really needs to be loaded before anything else runs) - some things just won't work ('overlay' EXE's)
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne
0
thanks for all suggestions. I have learnt a lot.
Decided to stick with 1.44mb format (just in case!) although the DMF2048 format looks promising.
Have changed cdrom driver to VIDE-CDD.SYS and compressed (with Pklite) to only 7kb, and mscdex to 18kb.
Which means i can squeeze in the 68kb ms edit program to keep the extra features.
But i would recommend the tiny editor e.com for those that want something very basic and user friendly.
0
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/msdos/compression/pklite/
http://www.amc.anl.gov/ANLSoftwareLibrary/PCShareware(notsupported)/compression/pklite/
0  |
 |
 |
This post is quite old and has been locked from receiving new replies. Please create a new posting instead.
| Ads by Google |
