-=> Quoting Roy J. Tellason to Leonard Erickson <=-

 RJT> Leonard Erickson wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:
 
 -=> Quoting Roy J. Tellason to Leonard Erickson <=-
 
 LE> I think it runs DR-DOS 7.05, which is DR-DOS 7.03 patched to 
 LE> support FAT-32, but it doersn't nessecarily support long filenames 
 LE> or some such. It's used by a number of companies on stuff like 
 LE> bootable CDs.
 
 LE> Hopefully, the new owners of DR-DOS will make the changes to the 
 LE> 7.03 code needed to make a 7.05 that isn't limited that way.

 RJT> New owners?  I think I missed something here,  again.  No surprise
 RJT> there.   

DR-DOS was from Digital Research originally. They sold it to Novell
which released it as Novell DOS. Calderas bought it from them as
"OpenDOS", and later changed it back to DR-DOS (possibly something to
due with their lawsuit against MS for having *deliberately* made Win
3.1 incompatible with earlier versions of DR-DOS amnd "bundling" Win 95
and 98 with DOS and claiming they *were* the OS[1])

More recently Caldera has sold it to some other outfit. I forget the name.

 LE> And when trashing old cases, I *always* salvage the LED and 
 LE> keylock assembly.

 RJT> As do I.
 
 LE> That way, if I *have* to, I can take an LED & cable with the right 
 LE> connector on the end and do a tiny bit of surgery to get an extra 
 LE> light if I need it.

 RJT> Not that I've needed such all that often.  And they seem to be into
 RJT> using different shapes of LED,  just to complicate things a bit.  And
 RJT> of course there are some cases where they stick all of them along with
 RJT> the buttons on some little board,  and then use a pretty non-standard
 RJT> connector to go to the MB.  More common in some of the proprietary
 RJT> low-profile boxes,  I guess.  One of the interesting bits I scrounged
 RJT> was out of a machine that I *think* was labeled Wester Digigal,  an
 RJT> XT-class box I think.  It had a little LCD display in there,  though I
 RJT> don't know what they did with it.  It's smaller than the other ones I
 RJT> have on hand,  and just might fit into a drive bay.  I have to rig a
 RJT> small board,  adapting its connector to the sort of ribbon cable
 RJT> connector that would go to a parallel port inside the machine.  This
 RJT> has some support under linux,  where I could display system load,  or
 RJT> whatever.  The only thing I haven't figured out yet is the extra
 RJT> 2-wire connector (both the same color),  I'm thinking it's for a
 RJT> backlight but have no idea what to feed it. 

Well, some cases had jumpers you could set to display the CPU speed,
and had them wired in with the turbo switch.

A PS/2 system I have hear displays POST codes on the LCD, as well as
some other stuff. and there's a driver available for displaying stuff
of your own on there. :-)

 LE> And the keylock switch assemblys can be handy too. I have plans to
 LE> make some "props" using some of this stuff.

 RJT> Dunno what I'd do with those,  I don't use the ones I have here.

I've got plans for a few props for use at SF cons and the like.
 
 LE> I wound up with three of the 20 meg units & cards. These used what
 LE> looked like a standard cassette tape with a notch in the middle of
 LE> the back.

 RJT> I actually have 2-3 tapes like that,  figured they were for data but
 RJT> in what I had no idea.  The ones I'm referring to above are way
 RJT> bigger,  though. 

When new, those "data" cassettes ran $20 each. And we found one brand
that failed after about 10 uses. Ick.

 LE> I've got a big box of the tapes too. The were nice because unlike 
 LE> the drives that used the floppy controller *these* would do 5 meg 
 LE> a *minute* on a 286 box!!

 RJT> Wow.  And they held 20M?  Sounds handy.

A later model, which I didn't get any of, but we upgraded some folks at
work to stored 60 meg.
 
 LE> A friend just didn't understand why I thought they were so much 
 LE> better than his Colorado drive until I finally got it thru to him
 LE> that I I could back up a 40 meg drive, using two tapes, and 
 LE> *verify* the backups in under an hour.

 RJT> I bought a Colorado 350 new,  and wasn't aware before I did of the
 RJT> annoying noise those make.  The ones for the bigger tapes aren't as
 RJT> bad,  I guess.  Nor was I aware of them taking as long as they did.  I
 RJT> got a total of 10 tapes at that time,  figuring that'd be good for 2
 RJT> backup sets,  and eventually it took more than 5 to do a full backup. 
 RJT> Eventually I stopped using it,  I don't remember exactly why.  It's
 RJT> currently installed in the linux box but I don't recall if it's even
 RJT> connected or not,  and I'm in no particular rush to do anything with
 RJT> it even though I've since acquired more tapes in that size. 

We used one of the 20 meg units that was "surplus" from work as a
backup for a friend's BBS for years. Gave it up when it got to the
point of needing three tapes.

One nice thing about these was that even if you did an "image" backup
you could restore individual files from the backup (but if the disk had
been fragmented, it'd take forever zipping back and forth thru the tape.

If her BBS stays up, nack will probably be a Jaz drive I'll loan her.
simply because that way there's no need for changing cartridges in the
middle of the night.

 LE> I've gort a similar unit that's external and was supposed to do 150
 LE> meg with the larger (almost the size of a paperback) tapes
 LE> cartridges. Never could get it to produce a backup that'd verify
 LE> ok.

 RJT> The bigger tapes I have sound like they'd fit that description.  I
 RJT> knew a guy who had an external unit that would take those,  but he had
 RJT> problems with it.  You still had to install a proprietary interface
 RJT> card to plug it in.  I guess that the makers assumed you'd have one
 RJT> drive and multiple cards or something.  I also have what appears to be
 RJT> an external case for a Colorado,  though I don't currently have a
 RJT> floppy card with the required connector on it. 

Yep, I had the drive and a card. I think the problem was that it
didn't like the cable I was using. 

 LE> I got the 4 gig (8 gig compressed) Travan 8GB drive and a coupe of 
 LE> tapes. Then somebody local offered a bunch of the tapes at $10 
 LE> each. So I now have about a dozen. the 24 gig drive takes standard
 LE> DAT cartridges, and I got 6 with it.
 
 LE> They are large enough to be *useful*.

 RJT> Yeah.  Particularly since I have linux software that will allow for
 RJT> backing up on one machine stuff that comes from all over a LAN.  That
 RJT> would only be worth my while to mess with if I got either something
 RJT> that was capable of storing a *lot* on one tape or some sort of a
 RJT> changer,  and I've never even seen one of those. 

There's software for both the  big tape drives for that. 

 LE> Probably. I also liked being able to have 7 (or 15 with newer
 LE> drives ) drives off of *one* cable.

 RJT> Yeah,  if you have a case that supports that many drives.  I have some
 RJT> big cases here,  and have thought that it might be nice if somebody
 RJT> would make an adapter kit that would allow mounting *two* small drives
 RJT> in a 5.25" bay.   

Mount them sideways. :-)

and for that matter, one guy I used to know ran a "public access Unix
site" in the mid 80s. He had the full 7 drives (full height 5.25"
onces!) on that system. They were sitting out on the tabletop. Made
cooling simple. :-)

 RJT> These are in their own cases already,  quite substantial ones at that.
 RJT> Almost as big as a compact desktop case.  I can see them sitting on
 RJT> the shelf across the room,  in a stack that's got a PS/1 at the bottom
 RJT> of it,  and that only sticks out about an inch on either side,  maybe
 RJT> a bit more.  Not that much difference front-to-back,  either. 
 
 LE> Ah. The "aircraft carrier" type cases. They were made that big 
 LE> primarily so you could set a compact Mac on top of them. When Apple
 LE> changed to a more conventional design for the computer, you started
 LE> getting ones that were a *lot* smaller.

 RJT> These might have been made for use with a mac?  Hmm.  Got up and
 RJT> looked,  they're Toshiba XM-5100A,  and each has a button (for eject?)
 RJT> and power, disc, and busy lights,  plus a headphone jack with a volume
 RJT> control.  As I recall they also had a pair of RCA jacks on the rear, 
 RJT> as well. 

Yep. Mac drives. I've got one of that type, though it has an Apple logo
on it. 

 LE> BTW, one of my old *modems* is almost that big!

 RJT> That's big,  for a modem.  Biggest ones I have are about the size of a
 RJT> C=1541 drive,  although in a much nicer case.  These are 9600 for
 RJT> 4-wire links,  and aren't "smart" in the usual sense,  though they
 RJT> have a separate serial port that goes to a board with a z80 on it to
 RJT> monitor the operatiosn of the rest of it.  Dunno what I'll ever do
 RJT> with those,  except maybe use the cases for something. 

This was a Telebit T2500. Nice modem for the time. It did 9600 (v.32)
and Telebit's PEP protocool which would do around 18000.

 LE> One slot for Compact Flash Cards & Microdrives.
 LE> One slot Smart Media
 LE> One slot for Memory Sticks, Secure Digital Cards & Multimedia cards
 
 LE> Mempory sticks are the slow ones at 621 kb/sec. The rest run over
 LE> 900.

 RJT> That's a lot of pretty specialized stuff,  that I'm not sure if I'll
 RJT> ever encounter or not...   Although it strikes me that it _would_ be
 RJT> handy to be able to deal with it if I ever encountered any of that
 RJT> stuff. 

Well, I don't know if I'll ever encounter anything other than the CF
stuff. On the other hand, it's a handy "just in case" gizmo.

 LE> Heck, if I can find the right sort of "baby AT" motherboard, a 
 LE> broken laptop that's broken the right way, or one of those 
 LE> "industrial controller" type boards I may be able build a nice
 LE> little "black box that will run a node just fine and have no moving
 LE> pasrts and not a lot of heat.

 RJT> Trouble with most laptops seems to be in the area of the parts that
 RJT> supply power to the rest of it,  from what I hear.  Regarding more
 RJT> "standardized" hardware and few moving parts,  you might do a web
 RJT> search on something called "Route66".  This was a box designed for
 RJT> automotive installation,  with one HD, a rather different power
 RJT> supply,  and interface through a keypad/LCD combo as I recall.  I
 RJT> think I have a magazine article around here someplace that talks about
 RJT> it,  if you can't find it. 

Automotive stuff tends to not be designed to be all that low power.
I've got a couple of 486 computers that used to be in State Police
vehicles. They actually have built-in CRTs!!

 LE> Then again, check the docs for the motherboards in your systems. A 
 LE> *lot* of "older" motherboards actually *have* USB support. The 
 LE> BIOS can enable it, and there's a header to plug a cable and 
 LE> connector into. The trouble is *finding* the right gizmo to plug 
 LE> into it.

 RJT> Exactly.  The gizmo seems to be in scarce supply,  if it's even out
 RJT> there.  I just looked,  and can't spot the connector in the linux box,
 RJT> though I thought that there was one in there.  Too many ribbon cables
 RJT> and such in the way.  I did spot a couple of other ones that I hadn't
 RJT> noticed before,  though,  labeled IR1 and IR2 (as well as being marked
 RJT> CON9 and CON10),  these are 4 pins,  single row.  I wonder what those
 RJT> are all about? 

The IR ones are likely for IR transcievers. Most laptops, a lot of
handhelds and even some things like printers can use those to talk to
the computer. Though usually at the cost of one of the serial ports.

 LE> Most just have one that plugs into the pins for the mouse port.

 RJT> Oh?  I had to get the gizmo for that,  when I switched from a serial
 RJT> to a PS2 style mouse.  The pin header was there,  on the MB,  but no
 RJT> other connector. 

Some have the USB pins (as well as the IR stuff) all on that same
"header" block.

Given that the connector at the motherboasrd end is pretty standard,
you could possibly find a connector for a different brand of MB and
move the pins around. 

 LE> And I've seen systems that didn't even have *that*. I surprised the
 LE> heck out of a few folks when I managed to dig up the connector for
 LE> their "ancient" computer so they could have a PS/2 mouse or add 
 LE> USB. (and the ones who "upgraded" to USB were the source of the 
 LE> mouse port hardware for the folks that had been living with a 
 LE> serial mouse).

 RJT> Interesting.  I was thinking about a trackball a while back,  but the
 RJT> only one the store I was in had in stock was USB.  It was also too
 RJT> small,  compared to some that I've seen. 

Well, for what it's worth, there's one brand where the only difference
between the serial port, PS/2 port and ADB (Mac) ones is the cable.
If I didn't have a trackball I like, I'd try modifying one of those.

Also, a lot of those USB mice & trackballs *do* have PS/2->USB adapters
included if you read the fine print on the package. 

I got a neat one for my laptop a while back. It's bult sort of like a
fat "trigger assembly" for a gun. Your index find goes in the trigger
guard which has a bump that extends down just far enough for your index
finger to stabilize it. the "left" button is inside the trigger guard.
The trackball is on top where your thumb can move it easily. and there
are a pair of buttons in front of it. The right one is the right mouse
button. the left if fort special functions that my laptop doesn't
recognize (it's prett ancient).

Oh yeah, this thing works in either hand. :-)

 LE> I've made a point of buying the extra gizmos for my systems even if
 LE> I didn't intend to use the ports at the time, simply because I
 LE> *might* want to later.

 RJT> Most of the stuff I got new came with all of that,  if the MB
 RJT> supported it. 

You'd be surprised how many systems *don't*.

I had someone I was able to install USB on just be swapping his mouse
"card back" for one that had mouse, 2 USB ports and an IRda connector
(I've only once found anything that'd plugg into the Irda connector and
work, drat). 

But that was because I had one of those handy.

 LE> It was occasionally very informative to see hardware ID just fine
 LE> and the drivers install and the nachine work just fine. That pretty
 LE> much pinnede down problems to Windows being messed up. In which
 LE> case we'd copy all the files on the user's drive to a directory on
 LE> the backup system, reformat his HDS, reinstall Windows, and then
 LE> after it was installed ok, copy hois old files back to a
 LE> subdirectory on his system. He'd still have to re-install all the
 LE> software, but the config files and data files were there. 

 RJT> I guess that supports the "re-install" I've heard about being so
 RJT> necessary so much of the time.  Have you ever heard of any particular
 RJT> causes for that sort of behavior?

The main causes seem to be adding hardware, changing hardware and
change programs.

A slightly less drastic step that sometiomes works is to boot into safe
mode open up the device manager and nuke all the entries for hardware
that's no longer in the system, as well as all the *multiple* entries
for hardware that *is* there. 

Then reboot and let it re-install all the hardware.

Windows does a *terrible* job of cleaning up when things are removed,
and often just leaves the checks for the hardware (and the associated
drivers) in the system confusing the heck out of things. 

 RJT> I know that what we have running
 RJT> here (one w98 box) seems to be pretty stable,  for the most part,  but
 RJT> mostly it's a bunch of games for the grandkids.  Very seldom will I
 RJT> fire up word to do a single-page document or something of that sort. 
 RJT> And some people seem to have to re-install fairly often,  from what I
 RJT> hear.  I've no clue as to exactly why that should be. 

Well, my main Windows box was pretty stable for several years. but
*something* (software) that I installed or upgraded in the last few
months has me rebooting every few days, and rendered my CD burner
incapable of burning a CD (makes lots of "coasters").

So I'm just going to put together a Win2k box, and then move all my
data over. and then reformat the HD and reinstall Windows and let it
serve as something that won't get messed with much.


--- FMailX 1.60