[vox-tech] floppy madness
Mark K. Kim
vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:21:21 -0700 (PDT)
Interestingly, self-extracting zip files *will* unzip using a standard
unzip program. Unzip searches for the zip header, and unzips starting
from the header:
$ file wiz502xN.exe
wiz502xN.exe: MS-DOS executable (EXE), OS/2 or MS Windows
$ unzip wiz502xN.exe
Archive: wiz502xN.exe
Info-ZIP's graphical WiZ archiver, version 5.01, Windows 9x/NT exes ...
For the latest information about Zip, UnZip and WiZ, visit our web ...
ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/Info-ZIP.html
and our principal ftp distribution sites at
ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/ (code, non-encrypting ...
ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/infozip/ (encrypting binaries only)
Rock on.
inflating: Wiz.exe
inflating: WizDiff.exe
inflating: WizEditor.exe
inflating: WizUtils.dll
inflating: WizEdit.dll
inflating: WIZ.HLP
inflating: wiz.cnt
inflating: LICENSE
inflating: WHERE
inflating: README
inflating: sfx16.dat
inflating: sfx32.dat
inflating: HISTORY.502
$
Anyway, DOS is not Windows and Windows is not DOS. Windows does run on
top of DOS, but it overwrites most of DOS when it runs, like Loadlin runs
Linux on top of DOS but overwrites pretty much all of DOS. Writing
bootloaders is a pain in the arse, so Windows just runs on top of DOS to
make things easier. It's a Microsoft's shotcut to writing bootloaders.
DOS 7 (comes with Win95) and later has some extra features that DOS 6
doesn't, but only to support the booting and interfacing with Windows.
And as far as programs are concerned, DOS is just DOS, not Windows.
Also, if you just want to recognize big hard drives, you can use
open-source BIOSes:
http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/
I used that to make my old P166 (Gabriel) boot off of a CD and recognize a
big hard drive. It runs from the hard drive (somewhere near the MBR I
gather), so there's no mobo issues or anything. You just have to get the
code on the hard drive to run, and you can do that by making BIOS think
the hard drive is some small hard drive by setting the geometry manually.
You can also use a small hard drive as the master and boot off of that,
and set the slave hard drive to "none".
The installer runs from DOS, Windows, or Linux.
Sorry I didn't mention this earlier...!
-Mark
On Wed, 28 Apr 2004, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I made a bootable CD using the "DOS" that comes with Windows 95. It's
> the kind of DOS that says "Starting Windows 95" at boot time.
>
> I tried to run the executable that should upgrade the BIOS, but got the
> message:
>
> A:\> bios_6bx.exe
> This program must be run under Win32.
>
> Can someone tell me precisely what Windows 95 is? I was under the
> impression that the DOS that comes with Win95 *is* actually win32. It's
> the win32 kernel without graphics support. At least that was my
> understanding. Can someone explain what the relation is between Windows
> 95 and the "DOS" that comes with it?
>
>
> It looks like I'll have to use Ryan's idea of finding a Windows hard
> drive to swap into this computer. Bleah. This computer has dual
> processors. I hope that's not a problem....
>
> Pete
>
>
>
> On Tue 27 Apr 04, 10:43 PM, Mark K. Kim <lugod@cbreak.org> said:
> > Try burning the floppy image onto the CD, then boot off of the CD:
> >
> > http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/floppy_image_on_cd.htm
> >
> > You can make a floppy image with a simple `cp /dev/fd0 ./floppy.img` under
> > Linux.
> >
> > You should be able to eject the CD after DOS boots off of it if you need
> > the CD drive.
> >
> > -Mark
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 27 Apr 2004, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> >
> > > I bought an 80GB drive for an old dual PII motherboard (Gigabit
> > > GA-6BXD). Ultimate goal is to move a previous Linux installation which
> > > is currently on a failing drive onto the new drive.
> > >
> > > BIOS can't detect the new drive at all. It hangs on autodetection.
> > >
> > > Googling revealed that I need to update the BIOS of the motherboard to
> > > recognize drives greater than 64GB.
> > >
> > >
> > > I have win95 on a floppy. Goal is to boot win95 and run the executable
> > > that upgrades BIOS.
> > >
> > > The trouble is, BIOS won't boot off the floppy. It doesn't even
> > > recognize the floppy drive at boot.
> > >
> > > * I moved the floppy to another, newer, computer and it booted off
> > > the win95 floppy just fine.
> > >
> > > * Cabling is good. Switching the ribbon around, the drive light
> > > doesn't go off, which means I had it right the first time.
> > >
> > > * I set BIOS to boot off of "A" first.
> > >
> > > * BIOS floppy autodetect is set to "enabled".
> > >
> > > * It appears that the computer doesn't even *attempt* to read the
> > > floppy at boot.
> > >
> > > * When I boot Linux, I can mount the floppy with no problems. I just
> > > can't boot off it.
> > >
> > > * In Linux, I used dd to copy and create a new win95 floppy, just in
> > > case the problem is that the drive couldn't read the floppy made by
> > > another drive. Didn't work. But considering the computer doens't
> > > even make the attempt to read the floppy, I'm not surprised.
> > >
> > > I'm ready to get a new, smaller, drive. Before I do, any suggestions on
> > > what could be preventing booting off the win95 floppy?
> > >
> > > Pete
> > >
> > > PS- Gigabyte sucks. Their motherboards are decent, but their website
> > > crashes galeon and causes havoc and chaos with Opera. Completely
> > > non-functional.
>
> --
> Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. -- Albert Einstein
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Mark K. Kim
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