On 18 Nov 99 at 0:00, Mr. Dos wrote:
>>I recently got an old at computer that boots up to a screen with numbers
>>across the bottom. (I.E. 1-LOAD 2-SAVE 3-LPT) How do I get to the c:
>>prompt. Do I need special disks? Is this for programming language? Please
>>advise. DosMan.
This sounds like you might have an original IBM Personal Computer
(before the XT). I had one several years ago and if it did not find a
bootable floppy in the A: drive (not sure if it had or was able to
use a HD) it would load the BASIC interpreter from ROM and you were
presented with the screen you describe. Are there what appear to be 2
keyboard DIN plugs on the back of the machine? If so one is a
connector for a datacassette recorder (a la Commodore, Atari, et.
al.) and the other for the keyboard. To get the the DOS prompt you
will need a bootable floppy diskette inserted in the "A" drive. You
can identify this drive by the fact that the system "looks" for a
system disk there during boot (after the memory test/count) and the
LED on the front of the floppy drive will illuminate. Of course you
bootable floppy will have to be 5 1/4 inch/360k format as it is
almost certain that this machine will only have 1 or 2 of this type,
probably the old full height Tandon drives. I hope this helps.
Regards,
Dale Mentzer
I wish the buck stopped here. I could use a few.
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