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Thread: DOS, how many disks

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    Default DOS, how many disks

    anyone know how many 1.44MB disks came with the release of MS-DOS 6.22? was 6.22 released as a standalone full instillation or as an upgrade only?

    a quick search of ebay reveals alot of upgrade versions but few "full" versions and of these the number of disks seems to fluctuate

    i also assume installation is the same as any other OS. you put the disk in at bootup?

    the few copies of dos i've found don't seem to work for me i just get "not a system disk" when i try to install it so i'm looking for a real deal.

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    Full version was 3 disks. I am sure I can make you a copy if need be.

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    MS DOS 5, 6 and 6.2 had 3 disks each. I have original copies of the things, too.
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    Don't forget about the MS-DOS 6.22 Supplemental Disk that was released seperately...it adds a few more tweaks, options and programs to the OS.
    "I am a cipher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce."

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    I also recommend getting the Supplemental Disk. I'm not sure how this was released (it definitely didn't come with MS-DOS itself), but it has some very useful stuff on it, including DOSShell, which was a staple for DOS users for a long time before Windows came of age. I was always bitter that Microsoft took it out of the "standard" distribution.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gapporin View Post
    Don't forget about the MS-DOS 6.22 Supplemental Disk that was released seperately...it adds a few more tweaks, options and programs to the OS.
    Sonovabitch. I don't have that. I think I have it on a copy of 6.22 that I downloaded ages ago, but I don't have a physical copy. Agh!
    Quote Originally Posted by Edmond Dantes View Post
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    If you're referring to OLDDOS.EXE, that's available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135315 .

    (Apparently ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/olddos.exe is an alternate version with slightly different contents.)
    Last edited by J'orfeaux; 12-13-2009 at 11:22 PM.
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    Soviet is having trouble getting the DOS 6.22 disks to put on a bootable floppy. Anyone remember the trick for getting them to fit? I'm afraid it's been too long and I don't remember.

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    I wasn't aware there was any particular "trick". Some Microsoft software floppies do use the extra-large DMF format, but that is clearly not the case here.

    I notice that those archives do each contain a FILE_ID.DIZ, and it is possible that there is not enough space on a standard floppy for everything including FILE_ID.DIZ - in which case the only trick involved is to delete FILE_ID.DIZ before attempting to copy the files to a disk.

    Alternatively, it might be a better idea to get proper IMG images of the three disks rather than these archives. As it is, there's no elegant way of making the first disk bootable - you really need to start off with some kind of IMG from somewhere, even if you just delete all the visible files on the disk after writing the IMG.
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    I have a set of original MS-DOS 6.22 disks sitting around somewhere (can't seem to find them at the moment), and I'm almost positive the first disk was bootable... because when I set up my old Pentium, I would have used those disks to set the machine up from scratch. I certainly didn't have anything else to boot off that would have helped.

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    The point is that there is no way of simply copying files to a floppy disk that will make it bootable. Not only do certain files have to be in specific locations on the disk, but you need to write to the boot sector.

    In the DOS 6.22 days, this was done by formatting a disk using "format /s" (I think), or by using the "sys a:" command. Without a pre-existing copy of DOS 6.22, if you want a DOS 6.22 bootable floppy disk (which is presumably what you need to run SETUP on the first DOS 6.22 disk), you have to have an IMG, or something that will write an IMG.

    http://www.bootdisk.com seems to have a bunch of suitable ones - they're distributed as EXE files that will presumably write to the floppy directly. You can probably use one of those to boot and then insert disk 1 from the set that Flack linked to and run SETUP.
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    screw it just install Win 3.1 off the 80 floppies it came with! That puts DOS on there too
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jorpho View Post
    I notice that those archives do each contain a FILE_ID.DIZ, and it is possible that there is not enough space on a standard floppy for everything including FILE_ID.DIZ - in which case the only trick involved is to delete FILE_ID.DIZ before attempting to copy the files to a disk.

    Alternatively, it might be a better idea to get proper IMG images of the three disks rather than these archives. As it is, there's no elegant way of making the first disk bootable - you really need to start off with some kind of IMG from somewhere, even if you just delete all the visible files on the disk after writing the IMG.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ze_ro
    I have a set of original MS-DOS 6.22 disks sitting around somewhere (can't seem to find them at the moment), and I'm almost positive the first disk was bootable... because when I set up my old Pentium, I would have used those disks to set the machine up from scratch. I certainly didn't have anything else to boot off that would have helped.
    Correct on all counts. IIRC, The FILE_ID.DIZ is usually lists the release's groups information...similiar to how cracking groups today use .nfo files. Delete it with no consequence. But Jorpho is also correct in the fact that it is better to use .IMG files which will ensure that you have a 1:1 copy of the original MS-DOS disks. If you use a problem like WinImage to copy over to unpack/copy the .IMG file over to an empty floppy, it's painless. The .IMG files I have are bootable, as well.

    Alternately, there's an .iso floating around that has all of MS-DOS 6.22 on a single (albeit tiny) disc. As far as I know, it's handmade (I can't imagine Microsoft ever releasing MS-DOS 6.22 on CD), but it works just dandy. It's bootable as well, so if that workaround is better suited to your needs, than seek that out.
    "I am a cipher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce."

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arkhan View Post
    screw it just install Win 3.1 off the 80 floppies it came with! That puts DOS on there too
    That's Windows 95, dude, and even then it only came on 13 or 26 disks depending on the version. Windows 3.1 was six floppies and always required a completely separate version of DOS.
    Last edited by J'orfeaux; 12-14-2009 at 09:39 PM.
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    I have a copy of OS/2 Warp 3 on disk... there are 21 disks for the operating system, and there's another 14 disks worth of software included in the box... on top of all that, I have an extra copy of Printer Disk 3 for some reason, for a grand total of 36 disks.

    I honestly don't know why OS/2 had to be so damn big. I thought maybe it was IBM being stupid, but I have a copy of IBM's PC-DOS 6.1, and it's only 4 disks. They sure put enough books in the box though. I miss the days when companies used to include proper documentation.

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    You have to format the diskette as a system disk for it to work. Of course, without DOS already installed I am not sure how you could do that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jorpho View Post
    The point is that there is no way of simply copying files to a floppy disk that will make it bootable. Not only do certain files have to be in specific locations on the disk, but you need to write to the boot sector.

    In the DOS 6.22 days, this was done by formatting a disk using "format /s" (I think), or by using the "sys a:" command. Without a pre-existing copy of DOS 6.22, if you want a DOS 6.22 bootable floppy disk (which is presumably what you need to run SETUP on the first DOS 6.22 disk), you have to have an IMG, or something that will write an IMG.

    http://www.bootdisk.com seems to have a bunch of suitable ones - they're distributed as EXE files that will presumably write to the floppy directly. You can probably use one of those to boot and then insert disk 1 from the set that Flack linked to and run SETUP.
    got it installed, thanks everyone. used a file from the link jorpho provided to make a boot disk then used winimage and the files flack provided to install the 3 floppies of dos

    thanks again all

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    Additional note: RaWrite (or RaWriteWin) is a useful freeware alternative to Winimage. (That's one expensive shareware program.)
    "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)

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