Book source code, The Undocumented PC

[Trifle Menot]

I just got an old copy of The Undocumented PC (1994) and the disk was
still in the back cover. Whoa! I made an image of it:

http://www.4shared.com/file/l2ovk9Kxba/Undocumented_PC.html

I can open the .img and read it with vfdwin. I only tried a few files,
but it looks like everything is there.

[Mateusz Viste]

On Sat, 21 Jan 2017 19:48:29 +0000, Trifle Menot wrote:
> I just got an old copy of The Undocumented PC (1994) and the disk was

> still in the back cover. Whoa! I made an image of it: (...)

Thank you! I mirrored it on my gopher, along with the exact file listing
(I love how the files have been arranged on the floppy with the 2-bytes
files acting as pseudo-separators). I also made a ZIP containing the
actual files, so there's no need to fiddle with the disk image.

gopher://gopher.viste.fr/1/programming/PC/DOS/Undocumented%20PC

From the timestamp of the files I assume this is from the 1st edition of
the book, right?

Mateusz

[Trifle Menot]

On 21 Jan 2017 20:25:41 GMT, Mateusz Viste

<mateus...@localhost.localhost> wrote:

>From the timestamp of the files I assume this is from the 1st edition of
>the book, right?

Mine is copyright 1994, with a purple cover. It does not say anything
about edition on the cover, so if there is more than 1 edition, I guess
it must be the first.

[Steve]

Hi,

If it matters to anyone, I have both the first and second editions.

Regards,

Steve N.

[Trifle Menot]

On Sun, 22 Jan 2017 14:44:35 GMT, Bo...@Embarq.com (Steve) wrote:

> If it matters to anyone, I have both the first and second editions.

Do you have a disk for the 2nd edition? Can you image it and post a
download link?

[Steve]

Hi,

Yes I have the diskette, and it is still readable. I can ZIP up the files,
but I have not used a file sharing site for uploading. The last few I
tried for downloading objected to my older browser. If someone
wants to give me an e-mail address I could sent it to them. Or you
could suggest a less picky site to upload to.

Regards,

Steve N.

[Trifle Menot]

On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 17:05:21 GMT, Bo...@Embarq.com (Steve) wrote:

>>Do you have a disk for the 2nd edition? Can you image it and post a
>>download link?

> Yes I have the diskette, and it is still readable. I can ZIP up the files

A floppy image is best. On linux:

dd if=/dev/fd0 of=my.img

or with windows, use winimage, magiciso, etc.

If none of those are feasible for you, a .zip is better than nothing.

> If someone wants to give me an e-mail

Replace my email domain with gmail.com. The user name stays the same.

[Trifle Menot]

> X-Newsreader: IBM NewsReader/2 2.0

So you are running OS/2?

>A floppy image is best. On linux:
>
> dd if=/dev/fd0 of=my.img
>
>or with windows, use winimage, magiciso, etc.

There is probably some OS/2 trick to make an image from floppy but I
don't know what.

[Auric__]

I would guess that Steve could try the Win16 version of WinImage under
WinOS/2. Or perhaps Hobbes has a native imaging util somewhere.

There is probably a port of dd, although I don't remember where such a thing
would be.

--
We are all beasts. Some just have stronger leashes than others.

[Trifle Menot]

On Mon, 23 Jan 2017 20:25:15 -0000 (UTC), "Auric__"
<not.m...@email.address> wrote:

>> There is probably some OS/2 trick to make an image from floppy but I
>> don't know what.

>I would guess that Steve could try the Win16 version of WinImage under
>WinOS/2. Or perhaps Hobbes has a native imaging util somewhere.

>There is probably a port of dd, although I don't remember where such a thing
>would be.

Google says loaddskf / savedskf is the OS/2 solution for floppy image
copying.

[Steve]

Hi,

Auric__" <not.m...@email.address> writes:
>Trifle Menot wrote:
>
>>> X-Newsreader: IBM NewsReader/2 2.0
>>
>> So you are running OS/2?
>>

Yes, to read newgroups at least. Also various versions of Windows
and DOS.

>>
>>>A floppy image is best. On linux:
>>>
>>> dd if=/dev/fd0 of=my.img
>>>
>>>or with windows, use winimage, magiciso, etc.
>>
>>
>> There is probably some OS/2 trick to make an image from floppy but I
>> don't know what.
>
>I would guess that Steve could try the Win16 version of WinImage under
>WinOS/2. Or perhaps Hobbes has a native imaging util somewhere.
>
>There is probably a port of dd, although I don't remember where such a thing
>would be.

As mentioned in another posting, SaveDskF is at Hobbes as Loadpf.zip
and works with OS/2 and DOS. So I will try mailing that image later today.

Regards,

Steve N.

[Trifle Menot]

On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 14:03:27 GMT, Bo...@Embarq.com (Steve) wrote:

> As mentioned in another posting, SaveDskF is at Hobbes as Loadpf.zip
> and works with OS/2 and DOS. So I will try mailing that image later today.

Got it. At first, I was puzzled about the size. Then I thought, maybe
savedskf compressed it, in some weird IBM way.

So I went to Hobbes, and searched for Loadpf.zip. No result. Then, I
searched for savedskf, found loaddf.zip, and downloaded that.

Then I ran loaddskf to write your .dsk file back out to 1.44 MB floppy.
That worked.

Then I tried savedskf /n /a but it created a non standard file size,
1.474.601.

So then I tried savedskf /d /a and that created a normal file size of
1,474,560.

I uploaded it (2nd edition) to 4shared, and updated the 1st edition file
name, to make them sort in order alphabetically.

Here are both links.

http://www.4shared.com/file/l2ovk9Kxba/Undocumented_PC-1e.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/bt-1MSroce/Undocumented_PC-2e.html


Thanks Steve!


<rant on>

Once upon a time, when large computers ruled the land, I liked IBM.

But when the PC era began, IBM's proprietary, anti-competitive, big iron
corporate mentality never translated well to the consumer market.

When they introduced the proprietary PS/2 line, it was all downhill from
there. OS/2 was the final nail in the coffin.

If men could only see the future, just a little glimpse of it, how wise
they might be ...

<rant off>

[Auric__]

I couldn't find it on Hobbes, so I got it from IBM (ftp.boulder.ibm.com)...
and then immediately found it on Hobbes. Shrug.

--
You're welcome to the Hell of your choosing.

[rug...@gmail.com]

Hi,

On Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at 11:15:16 AM UTC-6, Trifle Menot wrote:

> On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 14:03:27 GMT, Bo...@Embarq.nospam (Steve) wrote:
>
> > As mentioned in another posting, SaveDskF is at Hobbes as Loadpf.zip
> > and works with OS/2 and DOS. So I will try mailing that image later today.
>

> Then I ran loaddskf to write your .dsk file back out to 1.44 MB floppy.
> That worked.
>

> So then I tried savedskf /d /a and that created a normal file size of
> 1,474,560.

FreeDOS DISKCOPY should read/write .IMG from floppy disk:

* http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/diskcopy.html
* http://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/base/diskcopy.htm

Or use Raread/Rawrite:

* http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/disk/raread/
* http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/disk/rawrite/

Or use FDIMAGE:

* http://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/i386/5.1-RELEASE/tools/

Or Plop's DISKIMG:

* https://www.plop.at/en/dostools.html

Or (for writing only) use this small (2 kb!) sfx:

https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/tools/sfx14436.zip

> <rant on>
>
> Once upon a time, when large computers ruled the land, I liked IBM.
>
> But when the PC era began, IBM's proprietary, anti-competitive, big iron
> corporate mentality never translated well to the consumer market.
>
> When they introduced the proprietary PS/2 line, it was all downhill from
> there. OS/2 was the final nail in the coffin.
>
> If men could only see the future, just a little glimpse of it, how wise
> they might be ...
>
> <rant off>

MS and IBM "divorced" circa 1991, so that didn't help. Win95-era programs
were not directly supported. From what I'm told, OS/2 just didn't have
enough drivers (not to mention networking, which AFAIK wasn't cheap).

Eventually IBM sold/spun off the desktop stuff to Lenovo. But they had
already, years before, recommended everyone switch to Java and Linux.

(Who knows. I'm probably misunderstanding, but it's certainly one big
mess. At least the IBM PC clones still live on, barely.)

[Rod Pemberton]

After I discovered John Fine's partcopy for DOS or Windows 98/SE, I
stopped using rawread/rawrite.

http://files.osdev.org/mirrors/geezer/johnfine/pcopy02.zip


Rod Pemberton

[Steve]

Trifle Menot <trifl...@protocol.invalid> writes:
>On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 14:03:27 GMT, Bo...@Embarq.com (Steve) wrote:
>
>> As mentioned in another posting, SaveDskF is at Hobbes as Loadpf.zip
>> and works with OS/2 and DOS. So I will try mailing that image later today.
>
>Got it. At first, I was puzzled about the size. Then I thought, maybe
>savedskf compressed it, in some weird IBM way.

Yup, compressed.

>So I went to Hobbes, and searched for Loadpf.zip. No result. Then, I
>searched for savedskf, found loaddf.zip, and downloaded that.

Bad eysight, clumbsy fingers...

>Then I ran loaddskf to write your .dsk file back out to 1.44 MB floppy.
>That worked.
>
>Then I tried savedskf /n /a but it created a non standard file size,
>1.474.601.
>
>So then I tried savedskf /d /a and that created a normal file size of
>1,474,560.
>
>I uploaded it (2nd edition) to 4shared, and updated the 1st edition file
>name, to make them sort in order alphabetically.
>
>Here are both links.
>
>http://www.4shared.com/file/l2ovk9Kxba/Undocumented_PC-1e.html
>
>http://www.4shared.com/file/bt-1MSroce/Undocumented_PC-2e.html
>
>
>Thanks Steve!

You are welcome.

Regards,

Steve N.

[Trifle Menot]

On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 23:04:05 -0500, Rod Pemberton
<NeedNotR...@xrsevnneqk.cem> wrote:


>After I discovered John Fine's partcopy for DOS or Windows 98/SE, I
>stopped using rawread/rawrite.

>http://files.osdev.org/mirrors/geezer/johnfine/pcopy02.zip

Looks dangerous for the simple task of making a floppy image. Here's
another utility I found (have not tried though).

http://www.brutman.com/PCjr/downloads/DskImage.zip

[Mathieu Kacou]

Hello please can somebody help me !
I'am looking for the source codes of the examples in the book " the undocumented pc by Frank Van Gilluwe"
I will be very happy.

I'm kacoumathieu on gmail