USB Support in MS-DOS 6.21?
Clueless in Seattle
I've installed MS-DOS 6.21 on it.
This laptop has a USB port.
I'm wondering if I could use the USB port to back up my files to a
flash drive? If so, I'd be grateful if one of you could point me to
instructions for using a USB flash drive with MS-DOS.
If MS-DOS 6.21 doesn't support USB drives, then I'd be grateful for a
recommendation of a free and legal DOS that does.
I'm getting along in years and have chronic health problems that
severely limit my ability get much done these days (due to my need to
nap and rest often). And my cognitive skills have been severely
hampered by both my illnesses and the meds I have to take for them, so
if I'm going to have to switch to a newer version of DOS, the more
closely it resembles my trusty old MS-DOS 6.21 the better.
Many thanks!
Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
Michael Reichenbach
This should work fine with MS-DOS 6.22, never had 6.21 but I guess there
is only a little changelog and it shouldn't matter. There is also
another great DOS called FreeDOS. Some things are better, some things
are worse. No ultimate DOS available. No DOS has native USB support.
About your USB question... Loading USB drivers in DOS is tricky and
experimental. It doesn't work with all hardware and you will need some
time to figure it out. All drivers are listed here
http://www.unet.univie.ac.at/~a0503736/php/drdoswiki/index.php?n=Main.USB
There was also a premade USB bootdisk oder bootcd (not legal because
redistributing the drivers is not allowed) but I can't remember the link
anymore.
If you BIOS support USB booting... More easy then getting USB drivers to
work after booting from internal harddisk, floppy or cd is (for me) to
boot DOS from USB. It works great, even with old MS-DOS 6.22. After
booting the USB device it's seen like a harddisk and you don't need to
load any drivers. With such a bootable USB you could backup whatever you
want. But USB booting doesn't work on all hardware also. If booting from
USB works then it's easyer then fighing with the DOS USB drivers.
The most easy way to create a DOS bootable USB is for example on Windows
XP with HP Drive Key (not limited to HP devices).
-mr
Herbert Kleebauer
> I just received a hand-me-down Toshiba Satellite 2545 XCDT laptop and
> I've installed MS-DOS 6.21 on it.
>
> This laptop has a USB port.
>
> I'm wondering if I could use the USB port to back up my files to a
> flash drive? If so, I'd be grateful if one of you could point me to
> instructions for using a USB flash drive with MS-DOS.
There is currently a longer thread about USB flash drives in DOS:
http://groups.google.com/group/de.comp.os.msdos/browse_thread/thread/90fd44b3c296a729#
> If MS-DOS 6.21 doesn't support USB drives, then I'd be grateful for a
> recommendation of a free and legal DOS that does.
If the processor is fast enough, I really would suggest to use Windows XP,
if not at least use Win98SE. If you start a command/cmd shell in full
screen modus, you probably will not even notice that you don't use DOS 6.
And it's real big advantage to have more command shells open at the same
time.
Doors
wrote:
Use the Dos 8.0 out of windows Me.
It has full xms memory as well as longfilename support built right in.
Saves lots of hassle.
--
Doors - Dont look at the future in a window.
Walk to a door - Open it, and go there.
Richard Bonner
> I just received a hand-me-down Toshiba Satellite 2545 XCDT laptop and
> I've installed MS-DOS 6.21 on it.
> This laptop has a USB port.
> I'm wondering if I could use the USB port to back up my files to a
> flash drive?
*** Yes. Be aware though, that flashdrives are not recommended for
long-term storage.
> If so, I'd be grateful if one of you could point me to
> instructions for using a USB flash drive with MS-DOS.
> If MS-DOS 6.21 doesn't support USB drives, then I'd be grateful for a
> recommendation of a free and legal DOS that does.
*** MS-DOS 6.21 does not support USB, but one can load drivers to
achieve the capability.
> I'm getting along in years and have chronic health problems that
> severely limit my ability get much done these days (due to my need to
> nap and rest often). And my cognitive skills have been severely
> hampered by both my illnesses and the meds I have to take for them, so
> if I'm going to have to switch to a newer version of DOS, the more
> closely it resembles my trusty old MS-DOS 6.21 the better.
> Will in Seattle
*** If you upgrade, I'd suggest DR or Free DOS. However, you'll still
have to load these drivers:
DI1000DD.sys
USBASPI.sys
Read up on the procedure at some of the "USB" links at:
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/Websites.html
If you are having trouble, post back here or feel free to e-mail me
personally.
________
To make things as easy as possible, buy a 2 GB or smaller flashdrive.
Be aware that despite the "Universal" in "USB", USB is far from universal.
Be sure that whatever flashdrive you buy can be exchanged in case it is
not recognised. Load the drivers and reboot. If the drive is recognised,
the next available drive letter will be assigned to it. Format that
drive. MS-DOS will only format in FAT 16, so nothing more than 2 GB will
be recognised, hence my suggestion to not buy one larger. At that point,
assign all your backups to various directories on the flashdrive.
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/
Richard Bonner
> This should work fine with MS-DOS 6.22, never had 6.21 but I guess there
> is only a little changelog and it shouldn't matter.
> -mr
*** As I recall, the difference was that drive compression was
reinstated after some legal wranglings.
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/
davisr
Just use FreeDOS <http://www.freedos.org/>. There is native USB and
CD-ROM support, also.
davisr
davisr
Richard Bonner
> Just use FreeDOS <http://www.freedos.org/> It has native USB support,
> and also CD-ROM/RW support.
*** Thanks for the update. I was not sure whether FreeDOS supported USB
directly or not.
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/
PS: Please don't top post.
Thanks
R.
Michael Reichenbach
There is no native USB support. Booting works just for like any other DOS.
jameshanley39
I did set it up once.
I more-or-less used instructions on www.bootdisk.com
this thread may help.. in retrospect it wasn't that bad! I was just
exploring the issues/problems!
it's about issues involved with getting USB in DOS with DUSE
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.computer/browse_frm/thread/d1e761d627685254/19924990841a65fb
newsgroup: alt.computer
subject: SOLVED: Duse - issues listed (usb drivers in dos)
date- oct 2007
It might help a bit if you had errors.. but I wouldn't use it as
instructions, it's just some issues with getting DUSE running.