so I need to install DOS, windows 3.1, Print Shop Deluxe III, and a printer driver onto this Pentium II laptop.
-
I don't know if there's any software I could install that'd let me use the USB ports.
well, any software short of Win98. I'd love to have win98 on here, but HOW DO IT GET IT OVER THERE?
@foone alternatively use a large hard disk and just dump all the windows 98 install cd files into a directory on it. And then put it in the computer and run setup from dos -
so probably I copy over something that'll let me null-modem the serial to my main laptop
@foone back in the day we used norton commander in m/s mode to copy stuff via null modem. Not really fast but overnight you could whoop some megs.
-
so I need to install DOS, windows 3.1, Print Shop Deluxe III, and a printer driver onto this Pentium II laptop.
Difficulty: The system has a dead CD-ROM drive. It does have a floppy drive, however... but that's a lot to move via floppy.
It's a win98-era laptop. It has USB, serial, parallel, PS/2, dual PCMCIA slots, floppy, DVD (broken), and a docking connector.
So now my challenge is: How do I get this software onto the machine without having to slowly write something like 10 floppy disks?
@foone usb device on computer A that emulates a ps/2 keyboard for computer B, stream keystrokes to it to type all the files into a hex editor
-
@foone usb device on computer A that emulates a ps/2 keyboard for computer B, stream keystrokes to it to type all the files into a hex editor
@emily I have honestly considered it
-
I'll have to switch to one of my many other USB floppy drives.
SO FUN FACT: if you let this machine spin down the hard drive (which it'll do as soon as there's 5 minutes of no activity), it can't spin it back up!
-
SO FUN FACT: if you let this machine spin down the hard drive (which it'll do as soon as there's 5 minutes of no activity), it can't spin it back up!
so if you get delayed providing the requested Disk 2 of DOS 6.22 because your USB drive died, and it has to wait for over 5 minutes... the drive will spin down and not come back up.
so the installer will read the files off the drive and then completely fail to write them to the disk! and you have to start over again!
-
SO FUN FACT: if you let this machine spin down the hard drive (which it'll do as soon as there's 5 minutes of no activity), it can't spin it back up!
@foone that sounds awful!
-
so if you get delayed providing the requested Disk 2 of DOS 6.22 because your USB drive died, and it has to wait for over 5 minutes... the drive will spin down and not come back up.
so the installer will read the files off the drive and then completely fail to write them to the disk! and you have to start over again!
I fixed this setting in the BIOS but the CMOS battery is dead which means if you leave it powered off for more than like 30 seconds, it resets all the values and turns it back on for you
-
I fixed this setting in the BIOS but the CMOS battery is dead which means if you leave it powered off for more than like 30 seconds, it resets all the values and turns it back on for you
COMPUTERS ARE FUN
28 year old laptops even moreso -
so I need to install DOS, windows 3.1, Print Shop Deluxe III, and a printer driver onto this Pentium II laptop.
Difficulty: The system has a dead CD-ROM drive. It does have a floppy drive, however... but that's a lot to move via floppy.
It's a win98-era laptop. It has USB, serial, parallel, PS/2, dual PCMCIA slots, floppy, DVD (broken), and a docking connector.
So now my challenge is: How do I get this software onto the machine without having to slowly write something like 10 floppy disks?
@foone only ten disks? Tell me you've never installed Microsoft Office from floppies without telling me, etc

-
@foone only ten disks? Tell me you've never installed Microsoft Office from floppies without telling me, etc

@foone CDROMs were a *massive* advance for software installation
-
COMPUTERS ARE FUN
28 year old laptops even moreso@foone i read this post before the rest of the thread and was worried about your sanity for a second
-
@foone only ten disks? Tell me you've never installed Microsoft Office from floppies without telling me, etc

@kw217 I have been looking for a copy of that office installer, I'd love to do it, maybe on video?
I'm just annoyed with doing lots of disks because this laptop has a very slow floppy drive
-
SO FUN FACT: if you let this machine spin down the hard drive (which it'll do as soon as there's 5 minutes of no activity), it can't spin it back up!
@foone This machine: "Look what Claude has to do to achieve even a fraction of our power."
-
COMPUTERS ARE FUN
28 year old laptops even moreso@foone Kinda sounds like a 2 cups of coffee job
-
so I need to install DOS, windows 3.1, Print Shop Deluxe III, and a printer driver onto this Pentium II laptop.
Difficulty: The system has a dead CD-ROM drive. It does have a floppy drive, however... but that's a lot to move via floppy.
It's a win98-era laptop. It has USB, serial, parallel, PS/2, dual PCMCIA slots, floppy, DVD (broken), and a docking connector.
So now my challenge is: How do I get this software onto the machine without having to slowly write something like 10 floppy disks?
@foone have I got the product for you!

-
I fixed this setting in the BIOS but the CMOS battery is dead which means if you leave it powered off for more than like 30 seconds, it resets all the values and turns it back on for you
@foone I wonder if you could replace the CMOS with a pin-compatible flash memory chip. Unless it's one of those all-in-one things that have a built-in RTC.
-
@foone I wonder if you could replace the CMOS with a pin-compatible flash memory chip. Unless it's one of those all-in-one things that have a built-in RTC.
-
@n_dimension @foone Well, it's a laptop, so I'd argue that space is the biggest showstopper. That said, a teeny daughter board the size of the existing chip could work. Building it, though, is probably more effort than it's worth. Swapping a chip is one thing, designing a bespoke board and then populating it with rice-sized components is something else.
-
so I need to install DOS, windows 3.1, Print Shop Deluxe III, and a printer driver onto this Pentium II laptop.
Difficulty: The system has a dead CD-ROM drive. It does have a floppy drive, however... but that's a lot to move via floppy.
It's a win98-era laptop. It has USB, serial, parallel, PS/2, dual PCMCIA slots, floppy, DVD (broken), and a docking connector.
So now my challenge is: How do I get this software onto the machine without having to slowly write something like 10 floppy disks?
@foone Cursed idea: one of those adapters for the cassette player in '80s/'90s cars with them, except for a floppy drive.