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Did windows 98 ever come out in a floppy disk format?I've been trying to buy Win98 in that form and as far as I can tell, it didn't.
I have a old Toshiba Satellite and I would like to install Win98 on it using floppy disks.
The 98SE CAB folder is around 130Mb, most CABs being 1.8Mb
If nothing else, common sense should dissuade you from this approach.
In your situation, copying those files via serial or LPT port cable to the hard drive would be considerably less expensive and time consuming
I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter
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According to microsoft you could order it on 3 1/2" disks using a coupon in their retail box. But that was the only way to get them. As jboy says, it's more practical to find a means of copying the necessary files to the hard drive and then doing the installation.
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According to microsoft you could order it on 3 1/2" disks using a coupon in their retail box.
thanks DAVEINCAPS and Jboy it was merely a notion.
I'll more than likely just use a zip drive and "send to" for the Win98 disk.
I do think that is nice that MS actually did release Win98 on floppies, I just haven't run across that floppy set for sale yet.
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There is a method using the cabSDK kit.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310618Just for grins I did it for 95B and wound up with 40 standard floppies. MS uses a tighter squeezer than Makecab.exe, it's called diamond32 but I've never seen it or a link to it. Win98 would be quite a bit bigger project compared to 95 and I've never attempted it because it would be much easier to do the laplink or parallel cable thing to copy the 1.7 meg cab files to a folder on the laptops's hard drive - this has been suggested to you already above, it's most definitely the fastest and easiest method.
It's even easier to use any DOS mode file splitter program to cut the same, too large, cab files in two so that they would then fit on two standard floppies and then just use DOS's copy file1+file2 file3.cab method to rejoin the Win98 1.760 meg cab files back together on the laptop's hard drive. There is NOTHING stopping you from doing this RIGHT NOW. You don't need gobs of floppies either as you can reuse them once a cab file has been successfully split, moved over, and rejoined on the target machine.
Otherwise you have to unzip all of 98's files, create a script to run makecab.exe in a manner that will create a set of all new layout.inf files and you still have to round up a big bunch of floppies (close to 100, using makecab compression).
Back when I did the makecab script for 95b, I didn't realize how easy it was to cut apart large files (http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit) or that they would go back together so easy (copy file1+file2 file3) - do copy /? to see the copy command's options. So, now that I know that there are easier and faster methods to achive the same results, I won't be developing a makecab script for win98 anytime soon. Get me Diamond32 though and I'll think about it.
There was no coupon in my 98se full retail box for a set of floppies, free or otherwise, anybody else? I've NEVER seen them for sale anywhere, so I'll suggest that Official MS Win98 on floppies were vaporware.
Lee
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All you require is a $2 crossover cable and some free software (and a working computer with a CD drive of course) - a zip drive seems like an unnecessary complication.
Another method is to slave the laptop drive to a desktop machine, but that requires an adapter and a degree of effort.
Presumably the Toshiba has a large enough hard drive to make the project feasible - there is a way to convert the CABs to floppies, but it's hardly a worthwhile endeavour
I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter
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Still be a waste of time
'vapourware'? Maybe - for the moment, we can term it 'andyware'
I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter
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Still be a waste of time
'vapourware'? Maybe - for the moment, we can term it 'andyware'!
Strictly a hobby Jboy good to read you are sharp as ever, I do have to say the direct cable connection makes alot of sense.
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Reading from the box of their first edition upgrade under 'system requirements':
"CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (3.5" high density disks are available for an additional charge--see coupon inside; CD-ROM contains items not available on 3.5" disks)"
The coupon itself is the last page of the 'Getting Started' manual that comes in the box with the cd. On it you can check whether you purchased the upgrade or full version cd so (I assume) you'll receive the correct floppies.
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The coupon itself is the last page of the 'Getting Started' manual that comes in the box with the cd. On it you can check whether you purchased the upgrade or full version cd so (I assume) you'll receive the correct floppies.
so floppies were available for Win98, but they were a sort of an after thought?
How cool is that? They were the the smaller install version of win98 correct? (16 bit?)
Did the coupon mention any native USB support?
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You couldn't go into CompUSA for example and buy 98 on floppies. You had to order it directly from microsoft after buying a retail version of 98 on cd.
Installation with the floppies would give exactly the same system as using the CD. It wasn't an abbreviated version. 98 had native USB support so that would be included with the floppies. Some newer motherboards would have updated USB drivers but the basic stuff came with 98.
I think where it said 'CD-ROM contains items not available on 3.5" disks' it meant it only had the OS files and not the TOOLS folder, CDSAMPLE folder, etc.
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That is correct DAVEINCAPS, I have a copy of the floppy edition, and it is 98FE (SE was never released as everybody had fully supported cd drives by this time I'm guessing) I've never tried to install from the files as Idownlaoded this copy of the net, I may do it just to say I've done it. But it is just the contents of the Win98 folder accross about 37 disk's I think. I can't quite remeber. Purchasing a copy wil be very difficult as not many people sent away for the floppy set.
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How to Make Windows98 Floppys from the CD
For instructions go to the URL below. http://www.btinternet.com/~robert.b...
Windows 98a full and 98a upgrade
\---Disk 0 (setup disk)
deltemp.com
dossetup.bin
extract.exe
FORMAT.COM only in win98a
intl.txt
OEMSETUP.BIN only in win98a
OEMSETUP.EXE only in win98a
save32.com
scandisk.exe
scandisk.pif
scanprog.exe
scanreg.exe
setup.exe
setup.txt
setup0.wav
setup1.wav
setup2.wav
smartdrv.exe
suback.bin
suhelper.bin
w98setup.bin
wb16off.exe
xmsmmgr.exe
+---Disk1
| DRIVER21.CAB
| mini.cab
|
+---Disk2
| BASE4.CAB
| BASE6.CAB
| CATALOG3.CAB
| chl99.cab
| DRIVER11.CAB
|
+---Disk3
| NET10.CAB
| WIN98_22.CAB
| WIN98_69.CAB
|(precopy2.cab different (both have identical times))
All other CAB's to floppies (1 Cab for 1 floppy) (61)
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I wonder how long the whole procedure would take?
Elapsed Time: 30 min & counting
Insert disk 25 of 80, press any key to continue...
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response #12 is a dead link - the updated one was included in my #5 (for what little that was worth - but thanks for playing)
Yeah, a cable transfer via LPT takes about 40 minutes or less - via 'andyware' I'd think easily twice that, not to mention the effort required to prepare & create the DMF diskettes, and push them in and out of the machines.
I had an ancient game on 20 (720K) floppies, took maybe half an hour to install
I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter
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Whoa! the big question is....
Is it worth it?I have an old Toshiba with 24mb ram, it had Win95 and worked good. I begged online for an upgrade CD. Well I installed it, said "no" to backup files in case I wanted to go back to 95.
I gained a quick launch bar and loss my sanity.... Oh so slooowwww! DON'T DO IT!Just my 2 cents..
Good luck!
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Windows98 certainly did come on floppies..
1st edition only, & on 38 of them, I bought
a brand new set of them 4 years ago on ebay
for $20.00 aussie dollars, & then backed them
up using winimage before even attempting to
use them...
All up the total size of all floppies was
roughly 62.5mb in size...
I'll scan some of them to show the label if
anyone's never seen a set before...
98se never came on floppy though...
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 mini bootable
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how do i get the file vne...
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