Installation, updates, general problem solving and assistance.
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Steven W
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2014-06-15 00:47 »

I've been thinking about this for a while. What would you guys replace and want on a Boot CD for 98, specifically 98 SE. I'm sure you know that such a boot CD could be used for for Win 95 (just don't enable large drive support for early versions) if you wanted.

I know MS updated Fdisk:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263044

And I believe that @ MDGx's site there's a file with a fixed Fdisk and Format.com:

http://www.mdgx.com/files/FDSKFRMT.EXE

That could be extracted for use.

Personally I plan on having UIDE.sys, HimemX.exe and perhaps UDVD2.sys for some generic drivers, after my experience here:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=390

A version of xcopy can be extremely useful and I would include w98iopat.exe from Tmee's site.

I'm not talking about Windows drivers, just what you'd put on a boot CD to get old versions of Windows up and going. Any thoughts?

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2014-06-15 02:24 »

What about legal issues? I mean serials etc.

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Steven W
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2014-06-15 02:39 »

Well, I wasn't necessarily thinking of redistribution. I'm also not talking of a full-install, just a boot disk/CD. No serial would be needed. There's plenty of sites where you can download boot disks and no one's ever done a thing about them. Really though, I more interested in what others do or would want on a CD. Just want to put together a decent one of my own. I'm also not talking something like the UBCD, just a simple boot disk with some drivers and small programs.

Thought occurred to me that CuteMouse would be nice when edit files in edit.com(already on most boot disks):

http://cutemouse.sourceforge.net/

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2014-06-16 11:48 »

Cute*... reminds me of CuteFTP. :grin:

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PROBLEMCHYLD
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2014-07-02 19:08 »

If you are really serious, we can make something happen :clap:

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Steven W
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2014-07-03 23:05 »

You, know the thing is, I don't think it would take much. Put together a few files and put up an ISO file somewhere. I'd like to find a replacement for Fdisk/Format that was graphical, worked properly, perhaps a bit faster than fdisk/format and was free and legal to use.

I've tried a GParted boot CD before and could NOT get FAT32 partition setup properly.

http://gparted.org/

I was really just looking for suggestions, but if you're serious about putting something together, then I'm in.

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Steven W
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2014-07-05 06:41 »

Let's talk about this stuff for a while.

I'm looking at a diskette image of the Windows 98 SE boot disk:


Here's the contents of it's autoexec.bat:

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
set EXPAND=YES
SET DIRCMD=/O:N
set LglDrv=27 * 26 Z 25 Y 24 X 23 W 22 V 21 U 20 T 19 S 18 R 17 Q 16 P 15
set LglDrv=%LglDrv% O 14 N 13 M 12 L 11 K 10 J 9 I 8 H 7 G 6 F 5 E 4 D 3 C
cls
call setramd.bat %LglDrv%
set temp=c:set tmp=c:path=%RAMD%:;a:;%CDROM%:copy command.com %RAMD%: > NUL
set comspec=%RAMD%:command.com
copy extract.exe %RAMD%: > NUL
copy readme.txt %RAMD%: > NUL

:ERROR
IF EXIST ebd.cab GOTO EXT
echo Please insert Windows 98 Startup Disk 2
echo.
pause
GOTO ERROR

:EXT
%RAMD%:extract /y /e /l %RAMD%: ebd.cab > NUL
echo The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive %RAMD%.
echo.

IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
IF "%config%"=="HELP" GOTO HELP
LH %ramd%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM%
echo.
GOTO QUIT

:HELP
cls
call help.bat
echo Your computer will now restart and the startup menu will appear.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
restart.com
GOTO QUIT

:QUIT
echo To get help, type HELP and press ENTER.
echo.
rem clean up environment variables
set CDROM=
set LglDrv=


Here's the contents of the config.sys:

Code: Select all

[menu]
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=HELP, View the Help file.
menudefault=CD,30
menucolor=7,0

[CD]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001

[NOCD]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off

[HELP]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off

[COMMON]
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048
lastdrive=z


Okay, some thoughts:

If going on a CD, the RAM Drive could be eliminated. The individual files from it could easily be put on the CD. Slight mods to the autoexec.bat and config.sys would be needed.

Adding the UIDE.sys from FreeDos would be trivial too. In config.sys add something like:

menuitem=UIDE, Start computer UIDE driver.

and

[UIDE]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=uide.sys /B /D:mscd001

Looking at the autoexec.bat:

Code: Select all

IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
IF "%config%"=="HELP" GOTO HELP
LH %ramd%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM%
echo.


You can see that if you have NOT chosen either the NOCD option or the HELP option, it's assumed that you've chosen the option with the build-in CDROM support. If adding an option to boot with the UIDE driver, something would have to be added. You can add a section for one of them, and if it wasn't chosen it would be assumed that the other would take effect. Since we're adding UIDE, let's just add that:

IF "%config%"=="UIDE" GOTO UIDE

and

:UIDE
cls
LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:D
GOTO QUIT

Of course I'm assuming that we're going to get rid of the RAM Drive, if not the line would be:

LH %ramd%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:D

As far as cutemouse goes, I wouldn't enable it automatically, as running it when actually using a 9x's setup can cause issues with the mouse not being recognized. Perhaps have something on screen using echo stating it can be started by typing "mouse" and explaining not to run it before starting 9x setup.

Thinking about himemx, again something I wouldn't automatically put in, but perhaps having it on the CD and perhaps we could create some txt files, that could be copied over to the hardrive through a BAT file.

Imagine the BAT giving you choices such as:

    Set up system with generic CDROM Drivers/ System has 1 GB of RAM or less
    Set up system with generic CDROM Drivers/ System has more than 1 GB of RAM
    Set up system with UIDE driver/ System has 1 GB of RAM or less
    Set up system with UIDE driver / System has 1 GB of RAM or More

Depending on the choice, the BAT would copy the correct files to the drive and rename them to autoexec.bat and config.sys. Perhaps echo a message stating that Windows Setup might mod the files and this may need done again, after first reboot, et cetra and if using Himemx, that you'll have to run the patch for io.sys.

Lots of stuff to think about. This is just right off the top of my head and I may have forgotten some things or some things may not be correct.

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2014-07-05 14:56 »

@Steven W,

WHO ALLOWED YOU TO POST THE CONFIG.SYS CONTENTS IN HERE?
DON'T YOU KNOW THAT THOSE ARE MY BYTES!!!?
I HAD THEM FIRST IN THE 1990s!!!

:evil: :evil: :evil:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I ORDER YOU TO DELETE THEM!
:mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol:

Sorry, couldn't resist! :oops:

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PROBLEMCHYLD
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2014-07-05 23:14 »

I think we should start with one feature at a time. The first thing we should add, is the USB option.

Code: Select all

[menu]
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=USB, Start computer with USB support.
menuitem=HELP, View the Help file.
menudefault=CD,30
menucolor=7,0

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Steven W
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2014-07-06 00:21 »

You have a particular USB Driver for DOS in mind?

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