Re: [Freedos-user] Using HDMI monitor and USB keyboard/mouse on FreeDOS

[Eric Auer via Freedos-user]

Hi Bill,

Today I built an adapter that translates USB keyboard and mouse to PS/2 
signals.


https://docs.pikvm.org/pico_hid_bridge/

It works great!


Great to hear :-)

From another thread on another forum, here are some suggestions for VGA 
to HDMI converters:


 - the current best choice might be the OSSC (open source scan 
converter) device for somewhat above 100 Euro:


https://videogameperfection.com/products/open-source-scan-converter/

The OSSC converts SCART, component and VGA to DVI and HDMI, with some 
choices in scaling style (scanlines, rectangular pixels, etc.) and you 
can add audio from the OSSC audio jack input to your HDMI signal. See 
also https://www.retrorgb.com/ossc.html


 - "Foinnex VGA adapter cable" to convert VGA to HDMI up to 1080p, code 
X000PPZ323 and probably quite affordable


 - ATEN.com VC180 VGA and audio jack to HDMI converter with audio, up 
to 1080p, price unknown, but exists since at least 2014


 - the future https://oummg.com/ CRT Terminator which is an 8-bit ISA 
card which connects to your VGA card internally, via the feature 
connector, to add DVI-D output to it for further conversion, such as 
USB3HDCAP bridging mentioned below, planned to be available for around 
200 Euro


Projects and devices with a focus on old game consoles:

 - there is a DIY Raspberry Pi based project called RGBtoHDMI:

https://github.com/hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI

 - Ligawo scaler from SCART (with RGB), composite or S-VHS to HDMI, 
various models, below 100 Euro and it might be feasible or even easy to 
convert VGA to SCART-RGB?


 - XRGB mini Framemeister by Micomsoft with composite, JP21-SCART, RGB, 
HDMI, ... inputs, apparently. 300 Euro, specializes on retro looks with 
square pixels and scanlines and similar


You could also use another PC as a bridge:

 - any PCI or PCIe framegrabber with VGA input

 - StarTech USB3HDCAP video grabber for PC with USB3, inputs include 
DVI (see above), HDMI, component, composite 210 Euro


Regards, Eric





___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Using HDMI monitor and USB keyboard/mouse on FreeDOS

[Bill Gee via Freedos-user]

An update for the group -

Today I built an adapter that translates USB keyboard and mouse to PS/2 
signals.


https://docs.pikvm.org/pico_hid_bridge/

It works great!  I can get into BIOS setup with it.  CTL-ALT-DEL works. 
I cannot see any problems with response time.  Wolfenstein runs just fine.


I had to buy one PS2 cable and the logic level converter.  I already had 
a Pico, one PS/2 cable and the micro-USB to USB-A adapter.


Next to try is a different display adapter.

===
Bill Gee

On 1/25/24 06:40, Bill Gee via Freedos-user wrote:
This is probably more of a hardware question than a FreeDOS question. 
However, I think the people on this list are likely to have some 
experience with this kind of problem.


The upcoming change to Wayland in the Fedora world is going to force me 
to change out my PS/2 KVM switch for one that supports HDMI.  There are 
KVM switches which can accept either HDMI/USB or VGA/PS2, but they are 
VERY expensive, like well over $1k.  A KVM that is HDMI/USB only is 
under $200.


The only machine I have that cannot be easily converted to HDMI/USB is 
my FreeDOS system.  I found what I think might be a way to make it work, 
and I am interested in any experience you might have with this.


Display:  I currently have an old Permedia Labs VGA card (PCI bus) in 
the system.  I tried a $10 VGA-to-HDMI adapter, but found it works ONLY 
for 1920x1080 resolution.  It will not take 640x480.


The mainboard supports AGP display adapters.  I can get an AGP display 
adapter with a DVI-D output for reasonably cheap at eBay.  DVI-D to HDMI 
is an easy conversion.


Question - Will that work with the resolution modes that FreeDOS supports?

Keyboard and mouse:  I found a project which uses a Raspberry Pi Pico to 
convert USB keyboard and mouse to PS/2 keyboard and mouse.


https://github.com/No0ne/ps2x2pico

I already have a Pico and some suitable PS/2 cables.  The logic level 
converter is $5 at Sparkfun.  It is cheap, so I will give it a try.


Question - Has anyone else tried something like this?  Are there any 
other suggestions?


Thanks!



___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

[Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user]

> On Jan 30, 2024, at 8:01 AM, Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hi Jerome,
>  
> Perfect! Thanks for the pointer to that VSTR utility!
>  
> wOOdy

Your welcome

:-)

>  
> Von: Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user  > 
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 30. Januar 2024 13:38
> An: FreeDOS Users  >
> Cc: jer...@shidel.net 
> Betreff: Re: [Freedos-user] Date check
>  
> Hi,
> Sure. 
>  
> You can have date output the current date and save it in an environment 
> variable. 
> The test the return string against the known BAD value.
>  
> Something like…
>  
> set /e TODAY=date /d
> if “%TODAY%” == “Current date is TUE 01-30-2024” goto BadDate
> goto GoodDate
> :BadDate
> date
> time
> :GoodDate
> set TODAY=
>  
>  
> Or, if you want to get a little more fancy…
>  
> date /d | vstr /b /f “ “ 5- | set /p TODAY=
> if “%TODAY%” == “01-30-2024” goto BadDate
> (see above)
>  
> Or, even just check the year…
>  
> date /d | vstr /b /f - 3 | set /p YEAR=
> if “%YEAR%” == “2024” goto BadDate
> (see above)
>  
> Or, even better…
>  
> date /d | vstr /b /f - 3 | set /p YEAR=
> if NOT “%YEAR%” == “1980” goto GoodDate
> date
> time
> :GoodDate
> set YEAR=
>  
> ___
> 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

[Freedos-user] Walden for computer programmers

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

"""
If there's a "Walden" for computer programmers, it would be a 4:3
display running DOS where coding can be done without any modern day
annoying interruptions.
"""

From:
https://fernandomeyer.com/microblog/2023-12-03-111519076247101245/


___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

[Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user]

Hi Jerome,

Perfect! Thanks for the pointer to that VSTR utility!

wOOdy

Von: Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user 
Gesendet: Dienstag, 30. Januar 2024 13:38
An: FreeDOS Users 
Cc: jer...@shidel.net
Betreff: Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

Hi,
Sure.

You can have date output the current date and save it in an environment 
variable.
The test the return string against the known BAD value.

Something like…

set /e TODAY=date /d
if “%TODAY%” == “Current date is TUE 01-30-2024” goto BadDate
goto GoodDate
:BadDate
date
time
:GoodDate
set TODAY=


Or, if you want to get a little more fancy…

date /d | vstr /b /f “ “ 5- | set /p TODAY=
if “%TODAY%” == “01-30-2024” goto BadDate
(see above)

Or, even just check the year…

date /d | vstr /b /f - 3 | set /p YEAR=
if “%YEAR%” == “2024” goto BadDate
(see above)

Or, even better…

date /d | vstr /b /f - 3 | set /p YEAR=
if NOT “%YEAR%” == “1980” goto GoodDate
date
time
:GoodDate
set YEAR=

___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

[Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user]

Hi Omar,
Where do I get a SNTP connection on 120 offline Mini-PCs?
Sometimes , life isn’t as easy as we wish :)

wOOdy

Von: Omar Yabar via Freedos-user 
Gesendet: Dienstag, 30. Januar 2024 13:43
An: Discussion and general questions about FreeDOS. 

Cc: Omar Yabar 
Betreff: Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

In order to keep the date I use SNTP from the mTCP suite, need first setup a 
packet driver and put in fdauto.bat or fdnet.bat this line: c:\mTCP\sntp -set  
216.239.35.4 You need to set first your timezone in fdauto.bat: SET TZ=EST
Enviado desde Yahoo Mail para 
Android

___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

[Omar Yabar via Freedos-user]

In order to keep the date I use SNTP from the mTCP suite, need first setup a 
packet driver and put in fdauto.bat or fdnet.bat this line: c:\mTCP\sntp -set  
216.239.35.4 You need to set first your timezone in fdauto.bat: SET TZ=EST 

Enviado desde Yahoo Mail para Android 
 
  El mar., 30 de ene. de 2024 a la(s) 7:02 a. m., Jürgen Wondzinski via 
Freedos-user escribió:   Hi all,

I'm currently facing some users which seem to have a bad BIOS battery and 
therefor aren't using the current date. 
Those users aren't even noticing that wrong date on their printed invoices of 
that day...  

Is there a simple way to check from Autoexec/FDAUTO for the year of the date, 
and if lower than 2024 prompt for a correct setting?

Thanks!






___
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] Date check

[Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user]

Hi,

> On Jan 30, 2024, at 7:00 AM, Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm currently facing some users which seem to have a bad BIOS battery and 
> therefor aren't using the current date. 
> Those users aren't even noticing that wrong date on their printed invoices of 
> that day...  
> 
> Is there a simple way to check from Autoexec/FDAUTO for the year of the date, 
> and if lower than 2024 prompt for a correct setting?
> 
> Thanks!

Sure. 

You can have date output the current date and save it in an environment 
variable. 
The test the return string against the known BAD value.

Something like…

set /e TODAY=date /d
if “%TODAY%” == “Current date is TUE 01-30-2024” goto BadDate
goto GoodDate
:BadDate
date
time
:GoodDate
set TODAY=


Or, if you want to get a little more fancy…

date /d | vstr /b /f “ “ 5- | set /p TODAY=
if “%TODAY%” == “01-30-2024” goto BadDate
(see above)

Or, even just check the year…

date /d | vstr /b /f - 3 | set /p YEAR=
if “%YEAR%” == “2024” goto BadDate
(see above)

Or, even better…

date /d | vstr /b /f - 3 | set /p YEAR=
if NOT “%YEAR%” == “1980” goto GoodDate
date
time
:GoodDate
set YEAR=


Jerome

> 
> 
> 
> 
> ___
> 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] shutdown and USB Stick ?

[Eric Auer via Freedos-user]

Hi!


Does the Shutdown- Command merely provide for those »spinning down« delays to...


The idea is that it is better for mechanical harddisks to first
spin down and park heads before you switch off the power supply.

Spinning down may take a moment. Also, this gives the disk the
chance finish writes from the internal cache of the disk, if it
has one and it is enabled. The latter also is useful for SSD.

If you do have a software cache with delayed writes, such as
SMARTDRV or NWCACHE with the respective features activated,
it may also be useful to wait a moment after triggering the
cache flush, but actually:

Could somebody who HAS those caches TELL me whether this is
necessary? It could also be the case that the caches do the
complete flush in a blocking way anyway. So when I give them
a hint that they should flush, they might block all other DOS
activities until they are done with flushing? In that case,
no additional delay would be necessary.

Regards, Eric




___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Date check

[EdzUp via Freedos-user]

Hi,
  I think a more suitable way would be to check for the default date (1st
Jan 1980 iirc) and if it is that date request a new date :)

-Ed
EdzUp

On Tue, 30 Jan 2024, 12:00 Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user, <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm currently facing some users which seem to have a bad BIOS battery and
> therefor aren't using the current date.
> Those users aren't even noticing that wrong date on their printed invoices
> of that day...
>
> Is there a simple way to check from Autoexec/FDAUTO for the year of the
> date, and if lower than 2024 prompt for a correct setting?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ___
> 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

[Freedos-user] Date check

[Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user]

Hi all,

I'm currently facing some users which seem to have a bad BIOS battery and 
therefor aren't using the current date. 
Those users aren't even noticing that wrong date on their printed invoices of 
that day...  

Is there a simple way to check from Autoexec/FDAUTO for the year of the date, 
and if lower than 2024 prompt for a correct setting?

Thanks!






___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] One use case for FreeDos

[Thomas Cornelius Desi via Freedos-user]

The Captain_Blackbeard test editor actually has a couple of nifty ideas 
realized.

Ex.g. 
the company delivered the editor with helper programs: 

- a little program that generates a help file and a manual of the editor based 
on the key bindings you have chosen yourself. So those helpers are always 
corresponding to the real bindings.

- another super small »one task« program generates a neat list of my project 
directory contents. Writing a multi-chapter text, this comes in very handy for 
commenting my text-files.

my use of this: -> I find the  8.3 format of the file naming convention kind of 
difficult to name my files. Besides haveing my »system« to this, creating a 
text-file which lists acutal files and make comments there is a nice workaround 
to a larger writing project. Actually even better for me then using »comment« 
or »tag« functions like in the MacOs! (Easy print out and read it on paper, 
using colored pencils, yeah!)

- the line drawing capacities inside the editor. (Obsolete today…?)
Uses the extended ASCII semigraphic Box-drawing characters, also known as 
line-drawing characters in a clever way.

- chose the width of your cursor shape directly in the program’s options 

and more… great stuff and many brilliant ideas which work.

 

Looking at new text editors: Are we constantly re-inventing the wheel? 

Even the rather more recent »multi-cursor« feature was partly realized already 
in the 80ies
(select a colum block would print any character you hit in all those lines!)

Looking at a tablet and speaking of »distraction-free": Who possible can WORK 
texts with such a gimmick?




> On 29.01.2024, at 19:55, Jim Hall via Freedos-user 
>  wrote:
> 
>> 
>> and let’s mention »Captain Blackbeard« editor. Also great!
>> 
> 
> That's an editor I hadn't heard of (there were a million text editors
> in the DOS era) so I looked it up:
> http://www.edm2.com/index.php/Captain_Blackbeard
> 
> Very interesting programmer's editor.
> 



___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] shutdown and USB Stick ?

[Thomas Cornelius Desi via Freedos-user]

Great advice. Thanks. 
(So: Does the Shutdown- Command merely provide for those »spinning down« delays 
to make sure procedures have terminated?)


> On 29.01.2024, at 21:39, Michael Brutman via Freedos-user 
>  wrote:
> 
> FAT is finicky but FAT is not the issue here.
> 
> As long as the machine has sufficient time to complete its last writes and 
> you don't have any programs running using the disk, it should always be safe 
> to shut down - DOS doesn't buffer or delay writes unless you have some sort 
> of disk caching program running and if your disk cache is doing something 
> fancy it will have its own shutdown procedure.
> 
> Hard drives also have write caches and often run with write caching enabled.  
> The solution is the same - wait a few seconds for the last writes to be 
> flushed to the media.
> 
> And the same will apply to any other storage device, USB sticks included.  
> Make sure the system is quiet for a few seconds so the device can commit it's 
> writes.  Then shut down.
> 
>   
> 
> On Mon, Jan 29, 2024 at 10:22 AM Louis Santillan via Freedos-user 
>  > wrote:
>> FAT is always a finicky filesystem, especially if you're utilizing a caching 
>> or BIOS emulation for USB HDDs.  Are you using a caching program like 
>> lbacache, cdrcache, smartdrv, etc?
>> 
>> On Mon, Jan 29, 2024 at 7:11 AM Thomas Cornelius Desi via Freedos-user 
>> > > wrote:
>>> I boot FD from a USB Stick. 
>>> Can using »shutdown« command prevent that a bootable USB Stick with FD 
>>> becomes unusable? (Happened last week.)
>>> 
>>> add: is the shutdown command also working in the previous FD version? 
>>> (Which I am normally using. I never used the »shutdown«  command before. 
>>> Just switch off the computer )
>>> 
>>> 
>>> T.
>>> 
>>> ___
>>> 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
> ___
> 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