Re: [Freedos-user] Casio Algebra 2.0 can Freedos be installed?
Hello Bob, hello Eric, >> This is supposed to have a V30 processor and Rom-Dos. Haven't had time >> to check it out thoroughly yet. >> I should have asked if it can be installed by a clutz. >> Specs on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_Algebra_FX_Series Hi! Interesting question. This calculator has only 146 kB RAM and only 256 kB of the ROM is reprogrammable flash. Also, the display has very low resolution. You might be able to get some workable solution by starting from Rayer's ROM OS approach, but everything is very small in that calculator. So you probably have to be really experienced to get it to work. And you have very little space to add interesting files to work with, too. http://www.rayer.g6.cz/romos/romose.htm My guess is that the calculator does not have IBM-PC-compatible hardware or even an IBM-PC-compatible BIOS (even RayeR's ROMOS assumes there is such a thing). This will likely be one of the main problems in getting something like FreeDOS to work on the device. Certainly the calculator's CPU may be compatible with that used on machines that run DOS. But the rest of the hardware --- including the key input, screen output, and even serial communications (?) --- seems very different indeed. Meantime, without knowing more about its internal workings, it is hard for me to say more. Thank you! -- https://github.com/tkchia ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Casio Algebra 2.0 can Freedos be installed?
Hi! Interesting question. This calculator has only 146 kB RAM and only 256 kB of the ROM is reprogrammable flash. Also, the display has very low resolution. You might be able to get some workable solution by starting from Rayer's ROM OS approach, but everything is very small in that calculator. So you probably have to be really experienced to get it to work. And you have very little space to add interesting files to work with, too. http://www.rayer.g6.cz/romos/romose.htm Note that I have zero idea how you would actually write your custom DOS install into the flash of the calculator. The whole project sounds very challenging. Regards, Eric > This is supposed to have a V30 processor and Rom-Dos. Haven't had time > to check it out thoroughly yet. > > I should have asked if it can be installed by a clutz. > > Specs on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_Algebra_FX_Series ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Casio Algebra 2.0 can Freedos be installed?
This is supposed to have a V30 processor and Rom-Dos. Haven't had time to check it out thoroughly yet. I should have asked if it can be installed by a clutz. Specs on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_Algebra_FX_Series ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Microsoft 8086 Assembler
On Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 07:30:46PM -0500, Marv wrote: > I installed MASM before I realized there are a couple of assemblers listed > on the FreeDos software page. The Flat Assembler seems especially well > supported. Is anyone here familiar with FASM? MASM is probably overkill for > my purpose and like many other Microsoft products, their support for it is > mainly reference material for experienced programmers. You can try lightweight, freeware and simple NBASM: http://www.fysnet.net/newbasic.htm I bet it's more than enough -- regards, Zbigniew ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
Check the speed of the cf chip. If too fast for your machine, it might not work. If over 266x I have problems. Sandisk chips are high quality but they are internally marked as removable. Alot of programs are made to refuse to run on removables. Komputerbay cf chips are internally marked as fixed, a big advantage on computers. cheers DS On Mon, 21 Dec 2020 16:46:28 -0600 Jon Brase writes: > IDE <-> Compact Flash adapters seem to be popular for extending the > life > of old computing hardware, and I'm looking at replacing the magnetic > > disks on my old machines with CF. > > However, there seem to be issues with ensuring that the motherboard > <-> > adapter <-> CF card chain is all compatible. I presume that there > are > likely a fair number of people on this list that have already done > this. > Can anyone provide recommendations as far as manufacturers/devices > to > seek or avoid? > > Furthermore, I use Linux to administer my DOS machines (stuff like > file > transfers to the rest of the network), and on the older of the two, > the > Linux installation is quite swap-dependent. Obviously, the > write-lifetime limitations of flash memory are a concern here. Would > it > be best to just buy a bunch of small CF cards and replace them as > they > die, or to get a few over-large CF cards and rely on the card > firmware > to do write levelling, or to just hold on to magnetic storage until > I > can't find any more drives? > > Lastly, are there any good solutions for mounting multiple CF > adapters > at the front of a 5.25" drive bay? Most of the adapters I've found > that > seem to be meant for external mounting seem to either be meant to > fit in > a rear PCI slot or to fit a single adapter at the front of a 3.5" > bay, > but it seems like the dimensions are such that most adapters could > fit 2 > wide x 2 high in a 5.25" bay if there were any way to mount them. > > Jon Brase > > > > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > Sponsored by https://www.newser.com/?utm_source=part_medium=uol_campaign=rss_taglines_more Here's Another Reason to Hate 2020 http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5fe2216885fd72168494bst01duc1 The Man Behind Slim Jims Is Dead of COVID http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5fe22168a6f802168494bst01duc2 Country Sees First COVID Transmission in 8 Months http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5fe22168c706c2168494bst01duc3 ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
> I have a 486 Toshiba laptop and a 286 desktop. Both use CF cards as their > only storage, connected through cheap mechanical CF<->IDE adapters. It works > perfectly. > Which size (MB) this cards ? ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
On 22/12/2020 14:37, DosWorld via Freedos-user wrote: 2. Use last generation of motherboard for Pentium-1 (as minimum) with VIA Apollo chipset (designed for Pentium and Amd K6/K6-2) - only this chipset understand ATA100 native and allow connect CF via simple IDE-CF reductor I have a 486 Toshiba laptop and a 286 desktop. Both use CF cards as their only storage, connected through cheap mechanical CF<->IDE adapters. It works perfectly. Mateusz ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Microsoft 8086 Assembler
Any assembler included with FreeDOS will work perfectly for your use case. Personally between fasm and nasm I have a slight preference for nasm because it has clear and extensive documentation including examples on how to create 16-bit code for DOS: https://www.nasm.us/docs.php Il giorno mar 22 dic 2020 alle ore 01:31 Marv ha scritto: > The other day I decided to do some experimenting with the parallel port on > my FreeDos machine, so I built an adapter with 8 LEDs connected to the > output bits. It didn’t take too long to figure out how to turn the LEDs > on/off using QBASIC. > > But I wanted to get a little closer to machine level control over the > port. I decided to go with Microsoft’s MASM 6.11. Apparently, it was the > last version that ran on MS-DOS. I liked the fact that it came with a lot > of reference documentation. > > I did install it on my FreeDos 1.3 machine and get it working. I’ve been > able to turn the parallel port bits on and off, etc. > > I installed MASM before I realized there are a couple of assemblers listed > on the FreeDos software page. The Flat Assembler seems especially well > supported. Is anyone here familiar with FASM? MASM is probably overkill for > my purpose and like many other Microsoft products, their support for it is > mainly reference material for experienced programmers. > > > http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/fasm.html > > > > -- > It's all fun and games until someone divides by zero. > > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
>> 1. This is bad idea - use flash cards for swap or more modern os (like all >> windows). I had experience with 16 TF cards, which die after 1 year (rewrite >> limit). All 16 cards work in non-overloaded machines. >> Another point - try use SSD. Like PCIE in "PCIE to IDE" box (one year ago, i saw 8GB PCIE and this type of box on ali). I think, they less sensitive for rewriting. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
> Primary master: 512 MiB DOS partition, Win 95 above 512 MiB > Primary slave: possible 512 MiB DOS partition, Linux home and root above 512 > MiB, plus anything Unixy I feel like experimenting with. > Secondary master: 512 MiB FAT partition for Win 3/9x page files, Linux swap > above 512 MiB. > Secondary slave: CD-ROM > 1. This is bad idea - use flash cards for swap or more modern os (like all windows). I had experience with 16 TF cards, which die after 1 year (rewrite limit). All 16 cards work in non-overloaded machines. 2. Use last generation of motherboard for Pentium-1 (as minimum) with VIA Apollo chipset (designed for Pentium and Amd K6/K6-2) - only this chipset understand ATA100 native and allow connect CF via simple IDE-CF reductor (intel VX/HX - NO). As i understand, problem is - no support ATA100 in older IDE-controllers. In other case, you need use PCI-IDE cards or special modern ISA-IDE controllers (designed specially for use with CF). ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
Hi! If you say you have a 512 MB BIOS limit, your limit probably is 512 * 63 * 16 * 1024 bytes, in other words a limit in the number of "heads" (those do not relate to actual surfaces). Are you sure FreeDOS is affected when you use LBA? Note that the limit is only 504 * 1024 * 1024 bytes, so depending on how you count the 512 MB for the first partition, you might already be beyond the limit. And of course you could consider updating your BIOS to fix the "528 MB" problem, or install a MBR-installed workaround such as ontrack / ezdrive :-) I wonder if UHDD could help you, too, as long as the boot files are in the first 504 MB. You could get yourself a converter to connect SATA drives (SSD or mechanical) to your IDE computer: I think SATA will stay available for a long time and you can always use the first 504 (528) MB even without extra drivers or BIOS fixes. Typical SATA / IDE converter brands could be DeLock or Digitus, but be careful to get a converter in the right direction ;-) Or one which works in both directions, of course. All cheap. Regards, Eric ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
>Remember FAT16 partitions are limited to 2GiB in MS/PC-DOS. >So, drives are limited to 8GiB. The BIOS on this machine doesn't like partitions outside of the first 512 MiB of the disk, so DOS is limited to 512 MiB per disk (but I'm able to run Linux and Win95 beyond that point). ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] IDE <-> CF adapters
>Regarding your Linux: On a modern computer, you probably want >to use a RAM filesystem for temporary files. But you say you >need a lot of swap, so this is probably no option for you. I >can predict that if your swap is on CF, your Linux will be at >least as slow as it was with a harddisk ;-) My primary goal is to future-proof the machine (as I anticipate CF to be available further into the future than IDE magnetic storage), a secondary goal that is fulfilled by the small size of CF cards is to fit multiple drives into the machine (there's only one free drive bay, but three free IDE connectors). I figure on a layout like this: Primary master: 512 MiB DOS partition, Win 95 above 512 MiB Primary slave: possible 512 MiB DOS partition, Linux home and root above 512 MiB, plus anything Unixy I feel like experimenting with. Secondary master: 512 MiB FAT partition for Win 3/9x page files, Linux swap above 512 MiB. Secondary slave: CD-ROM The 512 MiB partitions at the beginning of each disk are due to limitations in the machine's BIOS, which Linux and Win95 don't seem to be affected by (except that when the BIOS first sees a disk, all partitions must reside within the first 512 MiB, or the BIOS will refuse to use the disk. If the partition table is changed later, everything works fine as long as DOS isn't in a partition that hours beyond 512 MiB). I figure I'll have a dedicated drive for swap in order to: a) Not have swap competing with file I/O for reads/writes to the same disk. b) Minimize filesystem damage if the swap device busts its write lifetime. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
