DOS Requirements

[tombance]

Im going to build a DOS system used entirely for the old DOS games. Im basing it around a celeron 400 on a BX mobo and have a few questions.
Firstly, as far as I understand I will not require a CD-ROM for this system. All games run from floppy disk and so this will be my only peripheral. In terms of RAM, how much does DOS need? I can put anything in it ranging from about 32mb to 256, will 32 be enough for dos? Also, how much disk space will it take up. Considering that all games are run from their appropriate disks I should not need any storage space. I have a 250mb disk or a 512. I would prefer to use the smaller one if possible (its a lot quieter for my room) so would it suffice? Considering win98 only takes about 200mb bare i guess it will take up a lot less han this. Considering dos doesnt use a mouse, I wont need to have one plugged in right? And one last question... In dos do I need to install any drivers (e.g for the GF2 mx vid card and keyboard etc)?

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[Artanis]

Well...
Windows 95 needs 16 Megs RAM. The older Windows 3.1 needs less. I think DOS could run on 1 meg or something. Sice you cant go much lower than 32 anyway, use that.
Disk space, like hardly anything. Think of it... Games came in floppys. Like 4 or 5 for 1 game. So thats about 5 megs. So HD space wont be an issue. The 250 could be enough.
Last....
What do u want with a GF2 in a DOS computer? DOS games ddnt even have 16bit color. One of those old VGA cards is enough, to get the 256 color setting.

 

[tombance]

I have a PCI Sis6326, would that do it? also, i figured out that I cant have any less that 64mb of ram, o well Also, I think ill put in the 512hdd meg just in case. Thx for the info btw, Simon The Sorcerer coming up!

 

[tombance]

Ok, ive got all the stuff together, althpugh im having a few problems installing dos. Its v6.22 Plus enhanced Tools. However, if I try to boot from any of the floppy disks (it has 3 in total) it comes up with the message 'non-system disk or disk error,. However I can start it with a Windows 98 boot disk, if I type A: setup it tells me to restart my computer in order to install dos, but if I do this comes up with the same error message. What can i do. Do I need to format my HDD before I try to install DOS? Is there some setting in bios that I need to change?

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[HammerBot]

Hm. It appears that your floppies are damaged. Have you tried booting off those disks in another machine? Or have you tried booting any other floppy in your 'dos' machine.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[tombance]

Yep, i tried them in my main computer and they didnt work, although I didnt think there was anything wrong because I thought it might be my configuration. however, im pretty sure the disks work, because If I run setup from a floppy prompt (brought up using a win98 boot disk, which works by the way) it initialises and tells me to restart, obviously the file is there. Ill try getting another copy though, is it possible to still buy dos?

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[HammerBot]

I dont understand how you can be pretty sure that the disks work, when they have failed in two different machines. Or do you mean that you can access the files, but cant boot from the disks?

I dont think you can buy DOS anywhere anymore. But do you really need to boot of those disks? If you can see the files on the floppies, you use a Win98 boot disk, and then copy the files of the floppies. Kinda like doing a manual install.
All files just have to go into the DOS dir. And then you do a SYS C:, or something. Perhaps the other way around. Check the autoexec.bat file on the first floppy. It should give you a hint on the install procedure.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[tombance]

Well yes I can see the files and the one labeled setup will open if i open it, the disk just wont boot. I know there is a sys file, and an autoexe so ill read that. But one question, how do you copy something to your C: drive in DOS? and also, what file system needs to be used for dos, FAT16, FAT32 etc?

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[HammerBot]

Try 'Copy'

FAT16 is for small harddisks. FAT32 is large harddisks. Im not anymore where the limit for FAT16 goes. I suggest you use FAT32. It will give you more efficient usage of the drive since you can format it with a smaller cluster size.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[tombance]

No seriously, if I wanted to copy sys.com (for example) to my HDD, what would i write? Would it be 'C:\copysys.comtoc' im a noob to this

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[lhgpoobaa]

LOL. This thread is amusing.
DOS games.
Lets see.

32mb of RAM should do it, the biggest dos hog i ever saw took up maybe 20mb.
Video, 2mb PCI 2d graphics card, so you can get nice 16m colour. complete overkill really
HD space... a 2Gb drive will last you for ages.


<b>LHGPooBaa + Evil Hamster Sidekick: Serving Toms Hardware community for 2 years as of the 11th of November</b>

 

[upec]

You will also need a slow computer. A lot of DOS runs faster on a faster computer. Some game design for 486 will be too fast to be playable on a fast system.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Yes. Thats also a consideration... or the program Goslow or moslow.
I remember a few games that just didnt run at anything over 200mhz...
Others, like the classic privateer 2, just ran faster and faster the more Mhz you gave it. 166mhz was nice... 300 was rediculously fast.

<b>LHGPooBaa + Evil Hamster Sidekick: Serving Toms Hardware community for 2 years as of the 11th of November</b>

 

[tombance]

maybe I should underclock my Cyrix MII pr333 (250mhz) to 100mhz, would I then be able to run it without a heatsink lol?

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[upec]

Even you underclock the CPU I think you will still need a passive heatsink.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Hehehehe
I epoxy arctic silvered on a big socket 370 heatsink onto my Geforce2pro a while back. I can run it without a fan now. :lol:

<b>LHGPooBaa + Evil Hamster Sidekick: Serving Toms Hardware community for 2 years as of the 11th of November</b>

 

[UsHeR_564]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this but DOS 6.22 will not run on a FAT32 file system! I've run into this before. OSR2 Win95 was the first OS to use FAT32 and that came long after DOS 6.22 was written. Make sure that the drive is FAT16 instead of FAT32, or just use the small hard disk as FAT32 isn't supported on disks under 500MB or so.

Good Luck..................UsHeR_564

"You can run, but your punk ass will only die tired!"

 

[tombance]

Yeah I knew about that, If you read the screen when you enter fdisk (its about large disk support) it tells you that DOS only supports FAT16, Ive tried it but it still doesnt work. I think ill just give up on this its too hard.

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[tombance]

lol, I reckon someone should try to make a heatsink for the p4 or athlon that doesnt ned a fan, imagine trying to lift a massive block of copper onto your CPU.

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

 

[lhgpoobaa]

The problem i see with making a beastie for dos games is the extreemly wide speed range.
everything from XT rated games to 200mhz pentiums.
Additionally an original SB16 is a good soundcard to get, very compatible with a broad range of audio, even down to adlib sound in games.

<b>LHGPooBaa + Evil Hamster Sidekick: Serving Toms Hardware community for 2 years as of the 11th of November</b>