Tom's Guide | Tom's Hardware | Tom's Games
 |
 |
 |
Name: El-Trucha
Hello everyone!!!
Look, I have an old 386 that has DOS 3.? and Windows 3.1 an a 80 MB HDD.
I want to put in a 240 MB HDD and install Windows for Workgroups 3.1. But I don't know which DOS to use!!!
I have the upgrade version of DOS 6.22, and I need an older version, so I install that, then install Windows, and then install DOS 6.22...because 6.22 has some GUI's for some DOS programs to use in Windows...
Thanx for ur suggestions!!! ;)El-Trucha
For your 386 system, DOS 3.3x is the best version of DOS for Win3.x. But for a newer system, then it's a completely differnet story.
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0 
To my mind, MS-DOS622 is the best DOS for a FAT16 drive or legacy machine. On a 386, I would think that memory management would be a consideration as well. 622 is both feature rich, has the best help system and the best memory management of the old DOS's. I originally ran it on an 8MHz XT - really, DOS will pretty much run on anything.
El-Trucha (The Trout?), you have no idea how much memory is on this machine? That's just... sad.Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
0
Well, I bought it at the thrift store for $5, it came without manual...how am I supposed to know???
Thanx all for ur suggestions!!! ;)El-Trucha
0
Watch the screen as it starts maybe? Lots of info there, which I'd recommend any serious computer user to be aware of.
If you don't know your system specs, you won't know what you can install & run.
Also, syschk is good, along with DOS MSD
Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
0
Yes, the PC had 2048 KB (2 MB)
I'm goin outside now...when I come back, I will check the system specs for DOS 6.22...
Thanx all for ur suggestions!!! ;)El-Trucha
0
See - that was pretty easy.
Specs? It'll run on just about any PC.
I like 622, but from long familiarity, perhaps I'm biased. Lots of choices, anyways.
Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
0
To use your MS-DOS 6.22 Upgrade you need a version of DOS to be installed first.
Make a MS-DOS 3 Bootdisk from your 80MB Drive or download a Boot Image of MS-DOS 6.0 from my PowerLoad Bootdisk Project Page. (Read the page on how to re-create the disk)
While Windows 3.1 was written for use with MS-DOS 5.0 it will work with version 3.1 or higher, On a 386 with a minimum of 2MB of RAM for Enhanced Mode.
I would not however recommend using in with anything lower than DOS 5.0 But will recommend 6.22 with this harddrive size.
PowerLoad Home Page
Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you
0
6.22 would be the os of choice but windows on a 2Mb machine is not the best option. If you can upgrade your memory (memory chips installable...not soldered on) I'd be happy to send you 8 1Mb chips.
Skip
0
I just tried to install DOS 6.22 (not the upgrade version), but when I put in the HDD and boot, the BIOS doesn't recognize it...I went to SETUP (the BIOS) and the largest HDD was 100 and something MB...
This machine is too old...SkipCox; Ok!! thanx!! how much do u want for the chips??
Thanx all for the suggestions!!! ;)
El-Trucha
0
Take a look at Type 47 or some other 'User Installable" Type. You will need to enter Drive Parameters yourself however! Look on the Drive itself, they normally are marked with settings. This was common with 386 & 486 PC's - Not having a Auto Detect that is!
PowerLoad Home Page
Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you
0
Perhaps PC-DOS 2000 can also be a good choice for this machine, and even a better choice. Please see "Why choose PC-DOS 2000 over MS-DOS 6.22?" here:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/os/dos/psm952a.html
jboy,
"622 is both feature rich, has the best help system and the best memory management of the old DOS's."
The page above clearly says PC-DOS 2000 has a better memory management than MS-DOS 6.22, and it offers "full-screen online help with pull-down menus and full mouse support." Isn't it?
BTW: DOS7 as a updated full-screen help system from DOS6. DOS7 HELP is available from this link:
http://www.ipdown.com/dos/help.zip
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Yeah - no offense Wengier, just expressing my admittedly biased opinion. 622 is definitely better for me not just for its features, which I would say are superior to that of your first suggestion (3.3), but also because I'm very comfortable with it.
On a 386 with limited RAM, perhaps 622 or even 5 would fit the bill better - PCDOS may be be 'overkill' or may have a larger memory footprint etc - I don't know.
Perhaps the more elaborate help system alone is enough of a sell for a new user.
After having started out with 3.3, 622 seemed positively intuitive by comparison.
Like I said, plenty of options to select from.
Trucha - the machine is too old? I've installed 622 on machines far more ancient and doddering than a 386. As Mick mentions, HDD identification was a bit more work on those early models.
If there's no autodetect selection in CMOS, post or search the drive's make&model, shouldn't be difficult to track down the geometry.Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience
0
For your 386 system, DOS 3.3x is the best version of DOS for Win3.x.
No offense, but I wouldn't recommend Dos 3.3x to anyone. I wouldn't go any lower than dos 5.0. What on earth can you do with that version of dos? It's terrible!
0
DOS 3.3 seemed great when it was that latest version...
6.22 is the most up-to-date standard DOS which will support W3.x, and is able to exploit the bottom 1MB best. Having used it on several 368& 486 PCs with W3.11, it's the obvious choice.
0
Yes Wengier I would agree that PC-DOS 7.0 (aka 2000) is a better bet than MS-DOS 6.22 for a number of reasons. One being support for Laptop PCMCIA Card Slots.
However MS-DOS 6.22 is far more available than PC-DOS 2000 which while being a currant retail version, costs an arm and a leg to buy! MS-DOS 6.22 can be found for a few dollars!
PowerLoad Home Page
Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you
0
Rambler,
"6.22 is the most up-to-date standard DOS which will support W3.x, and is able to exploit the bottom 1MB best."
MS-DOS 6.22 should be one of the latest *old* version of DOS for use with older and smaller FAT16 drives and legacy machine (like jboy said in Response #2) along with PC-DOS 2000. But in general, MS-DOS 7.10 is the most up-to-date standard and installable version of MS-DOS with FAT32 & Large HD & Win3.x support. Although MS-DOS 7.10 is highly recommanded on newer systems, MS-DOS 7.10 works on 386 machines too. More information about MS-DOS 7.10:
http://www.ipdown.com/msdos71/index.htm
MS-DOS 7.10 full-screen help system is available at:
http://www.ipdown.com/dos/help.zip
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
PC DOS looks very impressive for sure, especially for laptops.
El-Trucha, should be smooth sailing now.
0
From your post
- Mick C;
I can just download it from.....Yes you can but Computing.Net does not support Pirite Software, so this post may be deleted!!
- All the rest;
The model of the 256 MB drive is "Hewlett Packard Quantum PoDrive LPS"...ohh, wait a sec!! there it says all of it!! cylinders, heads, sectors, precomp, and landing zone!!! how stupid I am...
Thanx all!!! ;)Read Post 10
You will need to enter Drive Parameters yourself however! Look on the Drive itself, they normally are marked with settings.
PowerLoad Home Page
Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you
0
<Wengier> But in general, MS-DOS 7.10 is the most up-to-date standard and installable version of MS-DOS
MS-DOS 7.10 Installable is not a standard version of DOS! It is the supplied DOS which unlays Windows 98/98se...While the package is good and well presented it is still only a complation DOS and was not produced by Microsoft for stand-alone use.
...Not that it matters much anyway! But the last Standard version of MS-DOS is still 6.22
PowerLoad Home Page
Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you
0
Well, the thing didn't say talking about illegal software, it said requesting...
And...I have used DOS 7.1 with Win31 for a long time...
Thanx all for ur suggestions!!! ;)
El-Trucha
0
Not my rules re illegal software! But that is why I did not talk about it in that way!!
I did not say MS-DOS 7.10 did not work ... Only that it is not a Standard Version.
I use it myself as it happens, and used WinDOS 7.10 with 3xStart patch before that. Which is all MS-DOS 7.10 really is. (with extras)Anyway I hope you have now solved your problems to your satisfaction not ours.
PowerLoad Home Page
Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you
0
El-Trucha,
Nothing...just send me a mailing address. I have the memory chips set aside for you.
Skip
0
Mick C;
What's the 3xStart patch???SkipCox;
Ok!! I will ask my mom if I can give u my address...THANX A LOT!!! ;)El-Trucha
0
El-Trucha,
3xStart is used for some versions of WinDOS (the special and incomplete versions of DOS that underlies Win9x) only, and has no use for installable and complete versions of MS-DOS 6.x/7.10. "Complete" means besides the normal DOS commands, everything is in the DOS installation package, such as the "standard" DOS utilities like MSD, MemMaker, DOSShell, DOS Help and so on.
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Ohh...ok!! I get it...
Hey! did u know that there was a DOS GUI/shell called WinDOS???El-Trucha
0
I know, but that's a different stuff, which I used very often in the past.
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Ahh,, the good old days!! Ok, one of my "tasks" in industrial training is to teach DOS. I also teach industrial programs that run exclusively in DOS. The company's IT are foreever chaging the PCs to the "latest" versions and I now run good ole 6.22 on 1.8Ghz P4 DELL PCs! Over the top huh..lol. What is fascinating is that it is no faster than running on my old 386 Tosh laptop!! The answer to the question is 6.22. This was the last standalone MS-DOS, and is indeed feature rich. Although 7.0 and 7.1 will work, they were never designed as Standalone. The only thing I have to be aware of with my sooper dooper PCs is the USB keyboards and mice! DOS is not a happy camper with those, especially when an industrial DOS program takes over and remaps the keyboard! Win3.1 and 3.11WFW runs beautifully on 6.22.
BTW, 7.0 is Win95, while 7.1 is for Win98. Finally, 6.22 supports up to 2Gb HD partitions, so a 240Mb HD is fine....;o)Safe Computing...;o)
0
pcfixinguy,
Your words are not very accurate. You can't just say WinDOS 7.0 is for 95, and WinDOS 7.1 is for 98. Win95B uses WinDOS 7.1 too. WinDOS7 is a very special and incomplete version of DOS, even VER says "Windows 9x", not "DOS".
In addition, for installable and complete MS-DOS 7.10, you can run all versions of Windows 3.x/4.x(9x) GUI from it, including 3.0,3.1,3.11,95,95A,95B,98,98SE, on top of MS-DOS 7.10. Please read the page for more information:
http://newdos.yginfo.net/msdos71/doskbe1.htm
Screenshots:
http://newdos.yginfo.net/msdos71/scrshot.htm
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Understood Wengier, but I did spell check before I posted so I know my words were very accurate...lol. However, what most people didn't even worry about was all the nuances of the "versions" of Win9x and really used them as Win9x and not DOS. It's only the poor bu**ers that had to continue with DOS in their work that had to "play" with it. What I should have clarified was that 7.0 was introduced with Win95 and 7.1 with Win98 although 7.1 was played with in the 95B, which merged into 98. I certainly know that 7.1 will runs the OS's you mentioned. On a completely different note, I just bought Serious Sam, and it's great!!...;o)
Safe Computing (Whatever your flavour of DOS!)...;o)
0
The so-called "WinDOS 8.0" in WinME is a pretty useless version of DOS in comparsion with MS-DOS 7.10, as Mick C and I said several times in this forum in the past.
pcfixinguy,
I know people use Win9x as Win9x and not "DOS". Thus a standalone, complete, and installable version of MS-DOS 7.10 with FAT32 & LFN and more support is necessary quite useful, especially for newer systems + larger HD (e.g. 100GB FAT32). Otherwise DOS could die on most systems. Have you installed the stondalone MS-DOS 7.10 from the installer before?
http://newdos.yginfo.net/msdos71/index.htm
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Wengier,
Because our curriculum points to all that is 6.22 we decided against using any of the versions beyond that. Especially as we teach how to use Backup, intereserver and interlink commands/programs along with ASCII coding etc.. What is interesting is that we actually still have not got any courses to teach anything to do with Windows™. As the industrial software programs migrate to Win platforms (very slowly) we simply teach the program itself and not the operating system, mainly due to the fact that the majority of students are already familiar with using Windows, or more accurately, how to use a mouse! What I find is that it is a hard concept for most students to learn to do things from a command prompt without hovering their hand over the mouse! What also is interesting in this age of software technology is that there are many programs out there which still cannot be run in a Win environment, such as PMagic, Ghost, Memtest, and so on. I wonder if Longhorn™ will change all that?Safe Computing...;o)
0
pcfixinguy,
DOS is also an important OS! For older systems, MS-DOS 6.x may be okay; but for newer systems, if people want to use DOS, then installing MS-DOS 7.10 or so is necessary. They can just install MS-DOS 7.10 from MS-DOS 7.10 Installer to use DOS, as some of them did for MS-DOS 6.x. Since a number of people think DOS is useless now, most of the existing DOS courses are pretty old, they and only point to older versions of DOS. That's a very sad fact I know. In order to keep DOS alive at the present time and future, we need to promote newer versions of DOS, so people won't say "DOS is so out of date" or similar. Windows, DOS, Unix/Linux are all useful OSes, and none of them is outdated!
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Yeah...ur right!!!
But who will convince Micro$oft to make new versions of DOS???
Another thing, DOS 7.1 doesn't have DOSSHELL...
El-Trucha
0
As we said before, that doesn't matter. If MS don't, THEN WE DO for them!
Unlike WinDOS7.x, the complete and installable version of MS-DOS 7.10 DOES have DOSSHELL, MEMMAKER and so on. They are located on the MS-DOS 7.10 Installation Disk 2 or MS-DOS 7.10 Installion CD! Please don't be confused about MS-DOS 7.10 Full Version with the so-called "WinDOS7" or something like that. I'm talking about MS-DOS 7.10 Full Version here, NOT WinDOS7. They are DIFFERENT. I don't recommend anyone to use WinDOS7.x, which is very special and incomplete (as I said above), but I do recommend MS-DOS 7.10 Full Version (with DOSSHELL and so on included)! Mick C knows about this too. He said he used WinDOS7.1 (with patches) from Win9x in the past, and then changed to the complete, standalone, and installable MS-DOS 7.10 when it came out. Have you tried MS-DOS 7.10 Full Version from this page:
http://www.ipdown.com/msdos71/index.htm
If you install MS-DOS 7.10 after MS-DOS 6.x, then MS-DOS 7.10 Installer even asks if you want dual-boot capacities. See this page for more info:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/classicwin3x/message/37
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Yeah...I wen t to that page, and it's the same as the one I had without DOSSHELL!!!
I suppose that because it came in 2 diskettes...El-Trucha
0
El-Trucha,
Yeah, I know. I suppose you installed that one without the files on the optional Disk 2 or so. DOSShell is always an optional component even if it's on the installation disks.
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
P.S. Below are the main yet optional components included on MS-DOS 7.10 Installation Disk 2:
MSD (Microsoft Diagnose)
VSAFE (Virus Moniter)
SCANDISK (Disk Scanner)
MEMMAKER (Memory Maker)
EDIT (DOS Editor)
QBASIC (QuickBasic for DOS)
DOSHELP (Full-screen MS-DOS Help)
CVT (FAT16 to FAT32 Converter)
ADOS (AccessDOS, usually will be installed to %dospath%\ADOS, yet can be started directly by ADOS command)
DOSSHELL (DOS Shell, usually will be installed to %dospath%\DOSSHELL, yet can be started directly by DOSSHELL command)
I believed you have used this one before, since you have run it with Win3.1x. So my Response #37 was mainly as an answer to pcfixinguy's reply about the standalone and complete version of DOS and DOS's future.
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Ooohhh...well, I didn't know u could install all those things from Disk 2!!! I tought Setup installed all that...
So I just go to A:\ on Disk 2 and type those comands???El-Trucha
0
El-Trucha,
Oh no no, not like that. DOS7 Setup does install all the files from Disk 2 automatically, *if* you select "Full Installation" (default) as the install type, and then you insert the Disk 2 (don't skip) when the installer asks you to do so (just like what DOS6 Setup does). Then DOS Shell will be installed automatically. After MS-DOS 7.10 is installed and restarted sucessfully, type "DOSSHELL" to start DOS Shell from DOS command line.
---------------
Long Live DOS!
0
Ohh...ok!! I will try it when I fix my machine with the stupid CD drive problem...
El-Trucha
0  |
 Searching for a file?
|
Newer versions of Fdisk a...
|
This post is quite old and has been locked from receiving new replies. Please create a new posting instead.
| Ads by Google |
