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Need to get my cdrom drive to work in dos

This question isn't tex specific.

With my college schedule leaving me more bored than a 4 hour long Ben Stein marathon followed by a block of Cybil. After college, I need some vintage programs to help get my long lost interest back. Problem is, every time I boot up dos, it can't read my cd rom. And these problems are a real pain in the rump under windows. Besides, something ever happens to windows, I may need to use my cdrom in dos. Any help?
Setting up your computer correctly with mouse, memory, soundcard and CD Rom drivers was really a pain in the ... in MS-DOS. Sometimes you needed different startup configurations for different programs.
It's not easy to give you a general help, because this depends very much on your hardware and the memory demands of the programs you want to start.

Nowadays it's easier and much more comfortable to use Dos-Box (a powerful MS-DOS emulator) instead:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net
DOS user here.

Snag this:http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/file/qcdrom29.zip

and this:http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/file/shcdx33a.zip

Put the QCDROM.SYS driver in your CONFIG.SYS like this:

Code: Select all

DOS=SINGLE
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO
SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /E:1280 /L:160 /U:160 /P /F
SWITCHES=/F /E:48
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\UMBPCI.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\HIRAM.EXE
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF /NUMHANDLES=128
DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\QCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\AWE32\DRV\CSP.SYS /P:220
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\AWE32\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:7 D:1 H:7
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\AWE32\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\ZENO\ZENO174.EXE
BUFFERSHIGH=10,0
FILESHIGH=60
LASTDRIVEHIGH=D
FCBSHIGH=1,0
STACKSHIGH=0,0
ACCDATE=C- D-
SET PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\FASTVID
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
And the SHCDX33A .exe in your AUTOEXEC.BAT like this:

Code: Select all

@ECHO OFF
FASTVID XX1 16 D8000000
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SHCDX33A /D:MSCD001,D
C:\CTMOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE
MODE.COM CON RATE=32 DELAY=1
SET DIRCMD=/A/O:GEN/P/V
SET DOS32A=C:\D32A /NOWARN:9003
SET SOUND=C:\AWE32
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P300 E620 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
C:\AWE32\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\AWE32\AWEUTIL /S
C:\AWE32\MIXERSET /P /Q
Obviously make sure the lines are pointing to wherever you put the extracted files. DON'T FORGET TO USE SMALL PATH NAMES.

If you need more pointers on getting the mouse, sound and resources (also listed above) working do not hesitate to ask.

True DOS is always preferable to use if you can. It's 100% compatible (duh) and is infinitely faster than any DOS emu will ever be.
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i'm_melting_i'm_melting wrote:True DOS is always preferable to use if you can.
Actuallly...not!
Sure, it is faster and more compatible, BUT you have to make an extra MS-DOS installation on your hard disc (which is only possible on the primary drive), have to setup dual boot and restart your computer every time, you want to play a game or change the configuration.

With Dos-Box you can just start the games directly from XP without the hardware and memory hassle. Configurations could be changed very fast to apply to different needs. (DosBox even allows configurations, which are not possible in DOS, where memory is too limiting). You can emlulate all kinds of different hardware, which is hardly available on the real thing (Gravis Ultrasound, General Midi, MT-32). A crash of the game doesn't require rebooting and you can change to other programs while playing.

The compatibility is already very high and rising and speed is only a concern with slow computers (and "newer" DOS software)

So for me, DOSBox nowadasy is definitely the better choice!
Ever heard of batch files? Solves the config problem.

By the way, I said use true DOS if you have it (including sound and ps/2 mouse support). It's a pointless argument if you don't have the compatible hardware to begin with.

On another note, the Gravis and MPU-401 emulation in DOSbox is far from complete.
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i'm_melting_i'm_melting wrote:Ever heard of batch files? Solves the config problem.
I used batch files in the old days to automatically copy my madeup startup files (Config.sys & Autoexec.bat) for different configurations. (It has been a long time ago, but I guess I used three different standard configurations.)
But it was a hazzle to create them in the first place, you had to reboot every time and every once in the while you encountered a demo/game/program, which needed something "special".
(Did anyone remember the problem installing the CD-Version of the game "Reunion" with full soundblaster support? I only solved it by copying the whole game on the hard disc and removing CD-Rom drivers and MSCDEX in order to free needed memory. No such problems in DosBox!)
On another note, the Gravis and MPU-401 emulation in DOSbox is far from complete.
Sure, but especially the Gravis is very hard to get and very expensive nowadays.

I guess, this whole thing is a little bit a matter of taste. Nowadays, I don't want to miss the extra luxuries, that I get while running under a Windows environment.
Wintermute wrote:Sure, but especially the Gravis is very hard to get and very expensive nowadays.
I agree they are difficult to get hold of by and large (and you need a free ISA slot, not many of them on modern mainboards), but those that pop up on ebay now and again can go for rock bottom prices. I have both an Ultrasound Classic and an Ultrasound Extreme, both of which I got off ebay UK for 1p each (I was the only bidder).
Wintermute wrote:I guess, this whole thing is a little bit a matter of taste. Nowadays, I don't want to miss the extra luxuries, that I get while running under a Windows environment.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. It seems to be more a matter of which environment you prefer owing to each one's advantages/disadvanages so I too think it is a question of which you personally prefer.
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