I have what appears to be innovative softwares smartware office suite..on 5 1/4 floppies..

on a digital dec with a 1.2 floppy running win95.. scan disk lists no bad sectors and a 362 496 byte total..

if I boot in dos mode, dir lists files on all 12 disks..the system disk ( which is first) has several files one is install.exe one is smart.exe...the two exe on the floppy..when I cd to b:\> and type install.exe I get an error reading drive b

wondering
1 what dos should I run this on
2 what floppy will read the disks
do I need a 360 5 1/4 drive?
3 can I use a 8810 motherboard dx2-66 8meg ram 420 hd
to run it on.

I am guessing win95 with a 1.2 will read the list of files but not the exe. I am not a guru but gatta start somewhere.

can I provide additional information

is there a more appropriate place to post

thanks for any

These are DD disks and should read OK on your HD 1.2mb 5.25" drive

W95 runs under dos.

I would boot into dos before W95 loads.

Then DIR disk one to see if there is a .BAT file or similar, which may run the install process for you.

If not, CD to your 5.25" drive,
type INSTALL
press ENTER

Let us know how you get on.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.

It might be a good idea to 'write protect' those disks with a small piece of adhesive tape or paper label - reading from Win9x may change the disk structure slightly, which can play havoc with some older diskettes.

... and (of course) make some duplicates - either exact copies or disk images

'Error reading drive B:' could well be an indication that the disk is damaged - something like DOS scandisk 'might' be able to repair - otherwise...

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Thanks..yes had switched to dos via reboot to dos on the start menu..have now booted to dos befor win start and run scandisk on all 12..the first of which had 19 bad sectors includeing the install..pressed enter to FIXIT..the rest were error free..likely damaged the first playing with it..

It may work on win05 dos copy to hard drive but was wondering if pcdos was what it originally was installed on...have boot disks for a few version of pc dos..

have the umc8810 with 8meg ram and intel dx2-66 in the box and added 420 meg drive..

will have to use 3.5 floppy to install dos then swap for the 5 1/4 to install smart..so easier to decide on the dos first..any thoughts

write protect is a good idea..it's the notch on the side right..need to aquire some floppys to make a copy but want to try an install in the mean..

thanks again and for any

PC or M$ DOS - really shouldn't matter, but much may depend on the era the software is from

Write protect picture (about ¼ down the page)

While scandisk may have repaired any disk errors, that is no guarantee that the files themselves have not been damaged, especially executables (EXE, COM)

It's generally SOP to make duplicate disks & install from those - it may be possible to copy to the hard drive & install from there, but that depends on how the installation was designed

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Yes I see what you mean..I used pcdos6.3

the sys disk is repaired and seems to work

it ask several y/n questions.
full package
single/network etc
graphics has several choices the first is IBM and 100% compatables...I choose it as the others seemed unlikly for the headland vid card...tandy etc
also color/bw
to hd from..etc

next it ask for the comminications disk
this is where trouble starts...dvr
it copied two or three files and then hit the >DVR files
ie: from A:IBMSCNBW>DVR
to (string of code).dvr
then error no space to copy press any key
this for each of six or so then copy error press any key but nothing.

do I need a different machine?
I was guessing drivers?

Pretty much all of the advice rendered here could be qualified as 'general' - I don't claim any specifc knowledge of this particular software - but I doubt there is a need for any sort of 'driver' (that's more of a symptom of Windows) or if it's necessarily a hardware issue. You would need to select the appropriate display - back then, VGA was but one standard (and not that common) - other display options would be CGA or EGA, or even various monochromes

Seems like this is eighties software (and perhaps originally Linux based)?

There were no widely accepted programming standards or conventions for the (DOS) PC at that point in time - nevertheless, I would still tend to suspect some degree of file corruption on magnetic media as old as that.

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to be more clear the display screen options were
1 IBM color display adaptor-IBM 100% compatables
2 AT&T 6300
3 IBM pc-3270 with all ports addressable graphics
4 hercules monochrome graphics card
5 compaq
6 IBM portables
7 tandy-2000
8 IBM monocrome
9 IBM ega with standard rgb monitor
10 IBM ega with enhanced monitor
11 IBM ega monochrome
99 other/none

the dvr list is similar ie hercules,tandy referances which is why I guessed drivers and also dvr

not sure why error refers to no space to copy
instead of from A: to C: it was a string of code where C: would be
if it is the disks I am done
if it is the machine what do I need to find..
thanks you have been very helpfull, it is appreciated

Well, if 'IBM color display' doesn't work, then I would try EGA rgb or 'enhanced' (16 colours) or else see if there is an option for PGA or MCGA (more or less VGA, 256 colours)

Hercules & Tandy were types of monitors, which used a very different signal than do modern VGA/SVGA units - not so much software, as hardware - ie: the actual graphics card

It's hard to say exactly what is causing the error - the software may have been written to accommodate an older version of DOS, which may have treated certain operations a little differently than later versions.

If the installation is run from a BAT file, possibly it requires editing (work from copies though) - some of those older installations 'expected' a certain drive arrangement or directory structure - it's hard to be more specific

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Oh,,,post was in while I was typeing..yes it is 80's software and the disks are very old..they cost like 700 bucks new..I think innovative software had a dos office with a unix spreadsheet or something and was taken over by a mainframe database company which basically ended smart office with politics not unlike novell did around the same time..
as you say the error may be due to damage caused by age..I used some of the free space on the tutorial disk to save a text file and opened it..so I can write to it and open the file..maby I have very old expensive blank floppys to save text files to..not much finding an old machine unless it has software
again thanks for the response

happened again..sorry..yes enhanced 16 color may be worth it the headland card did 16 maby less..did not register 256 under win95 which is why I was useing it..thanks for the herc and tandy were monitors..

can try some other versions of dos but very old versions like pcdos3 may not work on the box? and vga monitor may not work?

directory structure sounds interesting..the error was no space to copy..it listed the file
from A:IBMSCNBW.DVR
to @#$%$%^^&&&*&^%@.dvr
error
anyway no way to really know if the file is damaged except to try copy to the hd on the other machine...if some do and some do not then although scandisk found no error the files that do not copy may be damaged..

there is no way to proceed with the install
there is no batch file exactly..there is an install exe and a smart exe...a smart.msg and three others related to the word processor and the printer

will play a little more..did not think I would get this far..thanks

Yes, it does sound like there is a file error - scandisk will repair logical errors on a disk, but sometimes data is lost or corrupted and that may well be the case here

Interestingly, the product seems to have survived & evolved

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yes I am giving in to the idea...thought fat16 may be considered but am at a loss...the error looks to me like corrupt files...was able to copy all files but two which are on the tutorial and database disks..

all is not lost in that I now have some free 5 1/4 floppys for the drives and learned a bit

yes seen the newer..think there are a couple of pages...will have a closer look out of curiosity.

thanks so much for the response it is much appreciated and I will bookmark the site for the next project.

Please bear in mind that when using scandisk, chkdisk and diskcopy, erors may be reported that are nothing to worry about, as they are on an unused part of the disc, rather than a file.

When copying it would be best to use copy (or xcopy? if directories are present).

I would try to read the floppys on various machines as a slower speed of access can sometimes read a suspect file.

Also if you have a monitor card, sometimes the software that comes with it, allows you to to emulate old monitors.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.

If the file is corrupt - and it certainly appears that way - it won't matter one metric hoot what you try to copy it with.

This particular error occurs during the installation process (or are you reading from a different post?)

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Jboy - I am sure you are correct when a file is truly corrupt.

However a read error, does not necessaritly mean the data itself is corrupt, and can be overcome if one is lucky. e.g. I have cleaned floppies before and then been able to access the data without failure.

Also, as advised above, certain copy procedures report on failures on the complete disc, rather than just the data. One is then misled into thinking the data itself is no good.

Regards - Mike

Good Luck - Keep us posted.

Jboy's advise regarding write protect stickers is sound and should be taken.

You stated CHKDSK advised disks were good, yet failed when attemting to install using drive B:

Have you consider tryingf to install using drive A:, as there may be a quirk in the install procedure cuaing the problem.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.

Thanks for the added response.

.with regard to drive b:..I removed the drive and put in another box as A: and found another 5 1/4 drive and tried also as A:.

.the error occures regardless what options I choose prior to the install asking for the communication disk..

I tried other disks and was prompted that it was the wrong disk....it does start to copy files...it lists the FROM A: correctly but the TO C:(FILE.dvr) is a string of code and the error is something like no room to copy then after three of these read error.

I also noticed that sometimes it added a question from the first disk.

ie..from a:(file.dvr) to #$%&*^%.dvrinstall to hd Y/N

there are a list of y/n questions on the system disk.. one is do you want to install to hd Y/n.. at the end it ask for the communication disk..and begins to copy files ..one may guess based on the answers to the questions

this is not consistant(at least not during a few original attempts) but suggests that the sys disk although it appears repaired and runs the setup... is maby left in ram and combineing with the second disk? or maby the first disk is repaired but not correctly.. thus file corruption...

Oh..occurs to me that I had the pcdos boot disks only.could not find others in the box..copy was that..maby I needed additional dos files on hd?.

I do not have the machine on to post exact errors as I had stored it for later.

My guess is still corruption..but may give another try....many thanks

Dear Beany - please bear in mind that software is often not forward compatible.

Sometimes it will not run at all, other times it will start but then fail.

There are various reasions for this.
e.g. too much memery
and/or a large hdd
and/or hdd *NOT* formatted to fat16.

The object here is to get up and running. Once this has been achieved, then one can move to one of todays pc's and os.

I would try installing an old pc such as a 486 first.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.
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