Click here to get back home

WANTED: 486 or Pentium laptop to run DOS 6.22

 HomeNewsGroups | Search | About
 comp.sys.laptops    Post an article   get this group's latest topics as an RSS feed add this group's latest topics to your My MSN content add this group's latest topics to your My Yahoo content
Subject Author Date
WANTED: 486 or Pentium laptop to run DOS 6.22 Clueless in Seattle 07-11-2008
Posted by Clueless in Seattle on July 11, 2008, 11:29 am
Please log in for more thread options
I suppose even a 386 would do. I'm hoping someone in this group might
have an old machine that still works that they'd be willing to ship to
me.

I had two old Toshibas but they both died within months of each
other. And I got another Toshiba from FreeCycle.com last week, but it
reeks so strongly of cigarette smoke that I had to put it out on my
deck where it's still sitting today. I get sick these days from
exposure to cigarette smoke, car exhaust, perfume, etc. Even the
residue of of cigarette smoke makes me sick nowadays.

I'm told that newer laptops have trouble running old DOS software
because the newer laptops have too much memory or something like that.

I much prefer working with my old DOS text editor, and need a laptop
because I'm disabled by a circulation disorder that makes it very
difficult for me to sit up in a chair for more than a few minutes at a
time. So I need to be able to work lying down in bed, with my back
propped up on pillows.

All my software and text files are on floppies so I have no need of a
CD drive. All I need is a floppy drive.

I only want to run DOS 6.22 and DOSSHELL (from DOS 5.0 I think). And
a few DOS programs like a text editor, and a file manager. I *don't*
want to run Windows on it.

My old Toshibas had a feature that allowed me to turn them off, but
they kept all the running software active and the files opened even
when it was turned off. So that when I turned it on again, I found
myself right where I was working when I turned the computer off. Sort
of like turning off an electric typewriter with a half typed sheet of
paper in it. When you turn it back on, you can start typing right
where you left off.

Also, it would be nice if the keyboard had the CTRL and ALT keys in
more or less the same places as a standard PC keyboard, i.e. with the
CTRL keys at the outside edges of the row with the space bar, and the
ALT keys on either side of the space bar. But that's getting pretty
picky isn't it?

I could pay for shipping and a small fee for your trouble if you have
such a machine and would be willing to ship it to me.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"




Posted by Bill S. on July 11, 2008, 4:06 pm
Please log in for more thread options
I have a couple of Compaq LTE series that might fit the bill.
LTE5000 is a P75 with 10" 640x480 display, 24 Meg RAM, 810 Meg HD.
LTE5400 is a P150 with 11" 800x600 display, 48 Meg RAM, 1.3 Gig HD.
I had them set up to multi-boot DOS, Win31, Win98, so I know they are
happy in DOS. I'd have to dig for the hibernate utility if you really
want it, I think I still have it somewhere though I never used it, DOS
boots up pretty fast. I'm sure the batteries will need replaced if
you wanna go cordless, they weren't all that good when I retired them
to go Win2K. Both have the multibay, which lets you swap floppy,
CD-ROM, extra HD or extra battery. You will get floppy and CD-ROM
with either one, I have no other use for the extra drives. Not
quite freebies, but too cheap to bother with eBay. E-mail if you
think interested, want more details. rick at radiohospital dot com.

In article <bdc3bde3-e86d-45a2-8d11-f64fa8bab348
@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, spamless.in.seattle.redux@gmail.com
says...
> All my software and text files are on floppies so I have no need of a
> CD drive. All I need is a floppy drive.
>
> I only want to run DOS 6.22 and DOSSHELL (from DOS 5.0 I think). And
> a few DOS programs like a text editor, and a file manager. I *don't*
> want to run Windows on it.
>
> My old Toshibas had a feature that allowed me to turn them off, but
> they kept all the running software active and the files opened even
> when it was turned off. So that when I turned it on again, I found
> myself right where I was working when I turned the computer off. Sort
> of like turning off an electric typewriter with a half typed sheet of
> paper in it. When you turn it back on, you can start typing right
> where you left off.

Posted by Barry Watzman on July 12, 2008, 2:37 pm
Please log in for more thread options
I posted a recommended list of machines for people who want to run DOS
on here some time ago (months, but within the past year I think). My
recommendation is a Toshiba 330CDT or 335CDT. You could also use a
300/305, 310/315 or 320/325 model instead of 330/335 model (identical
machines, just a bit slower), but avoid machines with a CDS instead of
CDT suffix. It will have a CD and it would run Windows 98SE fine if you
ever want to do so, but will also run DOS just fine. You should be able
to find one on E-Bay for well under $50 (well under like maybe more like
$20 or $30 .... it will cost more to ship than to buy).

The best version of MS-DOS to use is version 7, which can only be
obtained by extracting it from Windows (the best version to extract if
from is Windows 98SE .... it will then support FAT32 and large hard
drives). To extract it, just use Windows (on any machine) to make a DOS
bootable floppy disk, that gives you the OS, then get all of the
utilities from C:\Windows\Command, and also from a few folders on the
Windows [preferably 98SE] CD that have the DOS utilities that are not
installed onto the hard drive by default.


Clueless in Seattle wrote:
> I suppose even a 386 would do. I'm hoping someone in this group might
> have an old machine that still works that they'd be willing to ship to
> me.
>
> I had two old Toshibas but they both died within months of each
> other. And I got another Toshiba from FreeCycle.com last week, but it
> reeks so strongly of cigarette smoke that I had to put it out on my
> deck where it's still sitting today. I get sick these days from
> exposure to cigarette smoke, car exhaust, perfume, etc. Even the
> residue of of cigarette smoke makes me sick nowadays.
>
> I'm told that newer laptops have trouble running old DOS software
> because the newer laptops have too much memory or something like that.
>
> I much prefer working with my old DOS text editor, and need a laptop
> because I'm disabled by a circulation disorder that makes it very
> difficult for me to sit up in a chair for more than a few minutes at a
> time. So I need to be able to work lying down in bed, with my back
> propped up on pillows.
>
> All my software and text files are on floppies so I have no need of a
> CD drive. All I need is a floppy drive.
>
> I only want to run DOS 6.22 and DOSSHELL (from DOS 5.0 I think). And
> a few DOS programs like a text editor, and a file manager. I *don't*
> want to run Windows on it.
>
> My old Toshibas had a feature that allowed me to turn them off, but
> they kept all the running software active and the files opened even
> when it was turned off. So that when I turned it on again, I found
> myself right where I was working when I turned the computer off. Sort
> of like turning off an electric typewriter with a half typed sheet of
> paper in it. When you turn it back on, you can start typing right
> where you left off.
>
> Also, it would be nice if the keyboard had the CTRL and ALT keys in
> more or less the same places as a standard PC keyboard, i.e. with the
> CTRL keys at the outside edges of the row with the space bar, and the
> ALT keys on either side of the space bar. But that's getting pretty
> picky isn't it?
>
> I could pay for shipping and a small fee for your trouble if you have
> such a machine and would be willing to ship it to me.
>
> Will in Seattle
> a.k.a. "Clueless"
>
>
>
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Posted by Richard Bonner on July 17, 2008, 4:50 pm
Please log in for more thread options
Barry Watzman (WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com) wrote:
> The best version of MS-DOS to use is version 7, which can only be
> obtained by extracting it from Windows (the best version to extract if
> from is Windows 98SE .... it will then support FAT32 and large hard
> drives).
(Snip)

*** I run DOS exclusively, having dumped Windoze in 1999. I would
recommend a newer version of DOS. DR (dee-are) or Free DOS would be my
favourites, with 4DOS as a primary or secondary shell.

Both support FAT 32 and large hard drives.

Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

Posted by BillW50 on July 18, 2008, 7:14 am
Please log in for more thread options
Richard Bonner typed on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:50:02 +0000 (UTC):
> Barry Watzman (WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com) wrote:
>> The best version of MS-DOS to use is version 7, which can only be
>> obtained by extracting it from Windows (the best version to extract
>> if from is Windows 98SE .... it will then support FAT32 and large
>> hard drives).
> (Snip)
>
> *** I run DOS exclusively, having dumped Windoze in 1999. I would
> recommend a newer version of DOS. DR (dee-are) or Free DOS would be my
> favourites, with 4DOS as a primary or secondary shell.
>
> Both support FAT 32 and large hard drives.
>
> Richard Bonner
> http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

I always liked changing the System.ini shell=explorer.exe to
shell=command.com. Thus you end up with no Windows GUI and a multitasking
DOS with FAT32 with long filename support. Although Windows support is still
there if you need it. As you can still run Windows programs if you wanted
too.

--
Bill
Gateway Celeron M 370 (1.5GHZ)
MX6124 (laptop) w/2GB
Windows XP Home SP2 (120GB HD)
Intel(r) 910GML (64MB shared)



Similar ThreadsPosted
Pentium 4 vs Pentium M for notebooks November 5, 2005, 11:20 pm
Pentium M and Pentium Centrino? March 6, 2005, 6:04 pm
processor help - pentium m or pentium 4 March 21, 2005, 3:29 am
LAPTOP WANTED! December 8, 2004, 6:59 pm
laptop wanted November 8, 2005, 1:23 am
Intel Pentium M Processor 730 (1.6Ghz) versus Intel Mobile Pentium 4 Processor 538 (3.2Ghz)?? March 9, 2006, 2:01 pm
Intel Pentium M Centrino faster than Intel Pentium 4 ? July 13, 2005, 12:05 am
Help wanted regarding buying laptop April 10, 2006, 7:45 am
Input wanted on buying criteria for laptop February 22, 2006, 12:00 pm
Help Wanted Dead Laptop Data Tranfer September 2, 2006, 1:10 am

Our other projects:

Art Dolls, Fairies and Mermaids - Sunnyfaces.net

Roy's Linux, Programming and Search Engines messages

1-Script XML SitemapXML Sitemap