Folks, I have completed a fully working version of my windows-on-a-boot-diskette that I call Shards... Here are the specs.. DOS 7 with fat 32 compatibility. DOS prompt works. Comes 'preloaded' with y2k compliant file manager, calculator, notepad and task manager replacement. 424k free on the disk =) Add whatever you want... There's room! (how I did this is my little secret) System requirements are probably a 486 with at least 4 megs of RAM, possibly 6 megs, I haven't tested it on anything less than 16 megs so I am not positive. You need winimage to create the diskette... Get the image file for Shards here: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/michdaugh Enjoy! -Michael P.S. I have not included a lot of the apps that N1 mentioned above, simply because I don't feel they are necessary (even including calculator was a novelty). I do plan on adding things to it in the future, but it will just be gravy from here on out. Also I didn't include things like CD-ROM drivers and the like, but you may add those things to the disk at your leisure.

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Michael i only mentioned 4 programs, 2 of which are pretty much the same (multipad is a notepad that allows multiple text editing)...the only 1 that i mentioned that u did not include was paintbrush, multipad is basically a notepad...so when u say "I have not included a lot of the apps that N1 mentioned above"????? Necessity is Subjective!!! i could not tell any1 what they need or do not need as far as Apps are concerned...i could only include the Apps that i think may be of use to the End User... Michael u also say "how I did this is my little secret" ur beginning to sound like Bill Gates...in truth Micro$oft did all the work for us already, they even named it mini-windows...all we have done is made some people aware of this... "how I did this is my little secret"? maybe u should read Lightspeeds post again: "and when you are programming hidden source, like Microsoft, you are programming greed and pre-design obsolecence"!!! This is not a Competition! that is why i said in an earlier post that i doubt that i would offer my version as a downloadable file, instead i would write a HowTo file so that any1 can create a floppy version of win3x based on a simple Template...so if some1 takes my instruction & builds a version that knocks mine out of the box...More Power To Them!!! & hopefully they will not want to Hide their Source... Digitalfish, i would not suggest using Pkzip as ur compression utility...try & find a self extracting program such as EZSFX (that is the program i used) then u can open the archive to any drive u specify... N1...

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N1, Hehehe. No this isn't a competition.... I'm sorry you think that I am looking at this project like that.... However, often times it is easier to just work on something yourself rather than working with a team, as you get faster results.. Im going to quote you here: "but i thought that the point was to make a fully functional version of win3x that can run off of a singal floppy"... This is why I made my comment about not including some of the apps you mentioned. I am not trying make a full version of windows, I guess I assumed you wanted more from the installation than I did. Also to be perfectly honest, I scrapped the mini windows Idea and worked completely from a windows 3.1 installation using some notes I had previously gotten from a guy who made a project called killwindows. When I said it my little secret, it was not to be secretive but it was to start conversation about how it was done. If you ask, I will tell you. And yes I did do a lot of work. I programmed nothing on the project other than some batch files. But it did take a great deal of testing and trial and error to get it in the state that it's in now. Comparing me to Bill Gates is insulting, please stop. I think your blowing this thing way out porportion. There's nothing hidden in 'my source' as you put it. If you look at the disk, you will see how it is done. So in short, take your negative attitude and flush it... BTW, had you offered your disk for download, I would have downloaded it and checked it out. Although how tos have their place, a lot of times it's easier to take someone elses idea and improve it to your liking because you know you are starting from a working design. Again, please stop taking a negative stance on this project as this is not what the project was about. -Michael P.S. Sorry this reply is disjoint, I had no expected to be defending myself.

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i downloaded ur file, extracted it to a floppy using winimage & it will not run my 486dx 66mhz PC or my Pentium I 133mhz PC...the disk boots up, i type win when prompted & it extracts itself to the RAMdrive x:\, after this i get an error: "cannot find WIN386.exe needed to run 386 Enhanced mode; check to ensure the path is correct or reinstall windows" i tested it on my Pentium II 233mhz & it loaded windows to the RAMdrive with no errors... i tried it out 2 more times on my 486dx 66mhz & my Pentium I 133mhz & i get the same "WIN386.EXE needed" error... Michael calling it a secret is a funny way to start a conversation about how it was done!! in truth that does not make any sense at all!?. N1...

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It was a joke N1... Let it go.. Geez... What are the memory specs for your 133 and 486-66. I think it's bombing out before it can finish the extract due to memory problems.... I will try it out on other machines and see if I can get it to fail so I can find the common denominator. I have tested it on an AMD k6-2-533 with 128 megs, Cyrix PR-200 with 32 megs, An Intel Pentium 120 with 64 megs and they all worked... However it bombed on a AMD k6-2 450 with 64 megs.... This is very bad indeed.. No rhyme or reason.... except... maybe... I will report back when I know the answer. -Michael

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the 486dx & the 133mhz both have 32mb RAM... i tested it out again in the 133mhz & it installed to the RAMDrive then loaded windows...i then openned the DOSprompt & got the following error: Invalid command.com Enter correct name of Command Interpreter (eg, c:\command.com) i typed: x:\command.com & it didnt work i then typed: a:\command.com & it still didnt work the HD of the 133 is in a removable rack, so i removed the HD to see if ur windows floppy would work...it installed to the RAMDrive then loaded windows with no problems...the DOS prompt worked just fine... i tried it out again with the HD installed & got the same error as above when trying to run the DOSprompt... still cant get it to work on the 486dx... N1...

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N1, Ok thanks for the testing. I think it has something to do with an incorrect msdos.sys file on the diskette as well as an incorrect setting in the system.ini. I will post a corrected version this evening or tomorrow and then we will see what happens. Thanks, Michael

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Michael: I downloaded the disk from your website earlier today, and it worked fine for me on a 486. (with a hard drive.)

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Guys, looking at "Shards", it's just MW with a ramdisk, and in RAR's instead of PKSFX. Also, Michael, very good on the DOS window, but I get a command.com error, pointed to X:\,C:\,A:\, and a dir on my box w/ a copy of dos7.0. But, good effort!

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I am not sure why Shards wasn't working with some machines, but I think I have corrected the problem. If you like you can download the new 'version' from my briefcase. http://briefcase.yahoo.com/michdaugh I took N1's advice and added the very nice notepad replacement multipad. I also added some routines for saving system settings to the disk so you wouldn't loose them everytime you booted (I think I got this idea from Digital fish's MW). I think I fixed the problems some people were having with the DOS prompt (although I couldn't recreate it on any of my machines). Also the MSDOS.sys file was replaced, as it was pointing to some nonexistant files. There is still 368K free on the disk however... so feel free to add what you want... You can get another 42k free by deleting smartdrv.exe from the DOS directory as I haven't yet figured out how to get it to work under 3.1 . Anyways for those of you who try it, let me know if/when you have problems.... Thanks, Michael

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Michael, i tested out ur 1st version on an IBM PS/2 386 system with only 4mb RAM & i get an insufficient memory error... i will dload ur new version & test it out when i get the chance... N1...

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I am positive it won't work on only 4 megabytes.... It needs at least 6, if not 8.... I created a 4 meg RAM disk, but I really only need about 2.1-2.2 megabytes for the disk, so technically I could reduce it to a 2.2 meg ram disk and it will work on more systems.... I may have to do that with future revisions....

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