Adapting ASUS Z87 - Plus Motherboard to use a floppy drive

[hlewton]

You might want to step back and consider installing FreeDOS. If the older PC has a CDROM drive then perhaps a FREEDOS installation LiveCD will get this older hardware up and running.

There's a very active community that supports this free DOS substitute operating system, so getting up and running should be much easier than trying to install an original MS DOS OS from scratch, kind of like letting the baker worry about creating the birthday cake instead of heading to the store for flour, sugar, eggs, etc., assuming anyone can afford eggs these days.

I just clicked on the link you gave me. I have been there before but this time I looked and found a link to "Forums." I think I'll sign up and ask my above question there. Thanks for you help.

[hlewton]

Well that was a bust. Their forum is not set up like this one or any other I am familiar with. I did a couple searchs for what I wanted to know, though it listed hundreds of "Mailing Lists" results, not one of about 50 I glanced at mentioned anything close to what I searched for. So I'll keep my fingers crossed that my question can be answered here.

[PJ_in_FL]

Did you download one of their installation files?

The WIKI seems comprehensive. Were there installation questions that weren't answered in the WIKI?

[hlewton]

Did you download one of their installation files?

The WIKI seems comprehensive. Were there installation questions that weren't answered in the WIKI?

No I didn't download any file but I did read WIKI a couple days ago and I didn't find the answer to my question. Thanks a lot.

[PJ_in_FL]

Could you please restate the question you need answered?

[hlewton]

Here is my question but I don't think it is a good question anymore. If while in FreeDOS, could I access A: by typing that drive and hitting enter? Would FreeDOS give me the capability of reaching A: drive even though Windows File Explorer doesn't recognize it? BUT I think it is a moot point right now.

I believe I am giving up, at least until I get the other set of DOS installation disks I ordered and can try to once again access C: where DOS is installed. I have no idea when that may be either.

I just spent the last 2 to 3 hours trying everything with USB sticks including trying to follow a video on how to install FreeDOS. I got something similar to the BSOD in doing so. However, luckily the computer did reboot but it did destroy the USB stick I was trying to use to load FreeDOS.

When I get the next set of DOS installation disks and if I can get past the "Starting to load DOS" screen, the first thing I am going to do is create a sys disk to boot up from the A: Drive. Once I can get that far I can then access C: Drive where DOS has been installed.

[hlewton]

I am supposed to get those disks sometime Monday. I can report back then but I'm not holding my breathe that this will work. If not, I am finally stopping this DOS pursuit and donating the computer with it running Windows 10 Pro to a local charity.

[hlewton]

Right now I have 2 hard drives mounted in this computer. They are both WD 500 GB SATA HHDs and though they are physically slightly different in width, they both have the same model number, as far as I know. I cannot actually see the drive that has DOS on it because I can't run the device manager while in DOS. One is running Windows 10 and the other has DOS installed on it but I can't yet access it,as you know from the above posts. So if I give this computer away there is no reason to leave the hard drive with DOS on it in the computer. I believe I have the hardware wiring or connecting wires to enable me to hook both these SATA drives up at the same time. If I can do that, I would want to try to format the one that has DOS on it. If both hard drives are connected would the BIOS know which one is the C: drive it is supposed to boot up from? I ask because in the BIOS of this computer the drives are represented by icons. The hard drive's icon is a depiction of a hard drive so both drives would look the same. I set the boot sequence of the drives by clicking on the icons and dragging them into the correct boot alignment. Both drives would look the same so that is why I wonder if the Windows 10 drive would remain the C: drive. Does anyone know if it would?

[StuartR]

They are distinguished by which physical socket they are connected to

[hlewton]

They are distinguished by which physical socket they are connected to

Thank you.That is good to know. When trying to use DOS I only connected one at a time, switching only the drive end connection.

[Jay Freedman]

This morning, the current (free) newsletter from AskWoody includes an article about DOS emulators that run in Windows. Go to https://www.askwoody.com/newsletter/fre ... 10-and-11/ and read the article "Would you ever run an MS-DOS program in 64-bit Windows?"

The main part of the article is a description of vDOS and how to get it up and running.

[stuck]

This morning, the current (free) newsletter from AskWoody includes an article about DOS emulators that run in Windows...

Err, sorry, but no, that article is not in the version.

Ken

[hlewton]

This morning, the current (free) newsletter from AskWoody includes an article about DOS emulators that run in Windows...

Err, sorry, but no, that article is not in the version.

Ken

I get that news letter but I hadn't gotten around to looking at it yet. I just checked it out and see the article. I will read it. Thanks for the information.

[stuck]

As an aside, you might also want to look at my post here:
    https://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?p=304152

Ken

[hlewton]

As an aside, you might also want to look at my post here:
    https://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?p=304152

Ken

Thank you. I will definitely check it out.

[hlewton]

I finally managed to get DOS up and running. I immediately created 3 system disks for the A: drive. I have not tried to boot from them yet because I want to get my Lotus 123 and its worksheets loaded first. Been a long haul and I know I am going to have to locate a list of DOS commands because I remember very few of then

[hlewton]

Well of course my Lotus 3 1/2" diskettes stop their installation on the second disk. I am going to try to clean them to see if I can get it to load. I saw a tool kit made specifically to hold the disk and also an insert to the gear that turns it. I cannot find any on the WEB. Does anyone have a suggestion where I might be able to order one of those tools? Either that or it's the tedious task of using a Q-Tip and rotating the disk by hand and cleaning both sides that way.