Multibooter

Hi jaclaz, in general I agree with you, but there are some special situations where an SDHC card would be required to appear as a fixed drive. Special situations: Why make an SDHC card appear as fixed media under Win98?: - to run DCF (floppy disk imaging software) from an SDHC card - Norton Disk Doctor only checks the partition table of SDHC cards set to fixed; the partition table of removable media is skipped BUT: How can one make removable media appear as fixed under Win98? Around 1995-1997 the Jaz & Zip removable media drives came out, and they are very much comparable to the SDHC cards of today. They had a Windows driver called "Iomega Guest", used in most situations. But there was also an advanced driver set called "Iomega SCSI Utilities for DOS" v5.0, which would only run under MS-DOS. These SCSI Utilities allowed setting a SCSI Zip/Jaz drive to non-removable ("lock/unlock"), for special situations. Software then was sometimes programmed not to run from removable media/floppy disks, as a means of copy-protection. Software which would not run from or install-to removable media in 1997 included DCF, Alqalam Arabic/Farsi wordprocessor, WinFax Pro 4.1, Corel Draw 3.0 & 5.0E2, Gamma Unitype, OmniPage Pro, Statistica 4.0. When running EZ-Diskcopy Pro v3.30c from a Jaz drive, for example, the Jaz drive had to be set to non-removable, otherwise err msg: cannot run from diskette. At that time I used a Jaz disk in a similar way as people today who boot from a stick. If I remember right, I could install Windows 3.1 only onto a Zip drive if the drive was set to non-removable. Of all that software which would not work on removable media only DCF v5.3 is still in use by me today, it's the best software for creating images of floppy disks, I can run it from a full-sized DOS window in Win98, and even under WinXP! All my floppies are archived as .dcf files (BTW, WinImage v7.0 can also create .DCF image files even if it's not in Save as type -> All files -> enter file name as xxx.dcf, but I trust more the accuracy of .dcf files created by DCF ) I just made a test of DCF running in a Win98 full-size DOS window, with Dcf.exe on the internal (=fixed) HDD: - DCF could create a disk image file of a floppy disk, writing it to the SDHC card - DCF could read a disk image file from an SDHC card (also: from a 239GB partition of an ext.750GB HDD - DOS software!!) and create the corresponding floppy disk (e.g. a bootable Partition Magic floppy from a disk image) When I copied the \DCF\-directory to an SDHC card and repeated the test, but running from the SDHC card shown as removable media, DCF wrote a disk image file of the flpppy ok onto the SDHC card, but after clicking on Exit, the error msg Wifiusb [not responding] came up (I was connected at the same time to the Internet), and Win98 hung. So DCF cannot be run from a removable SDHC card, just as years ago it couldn't be run from a removable Zip drive. Formerly, setting an Iomega Jaz drive to fixed, then installing copy-protected software (which used bad sectors) onto it, then using a sector-by-sector copier like Iomega Copy Machine, was an easy way to make backup copies of some copy-protected software. What about SDHC cards/Nintendo DS-I? Another possible use of fixed-disk-SDHC cards, with current software, may be Norton Disk Doctor standalone: it does not check the partition table of removable media, only of fixed media. Under WinXP Norton Disk Doctor does check the partition table of single and multi-partition cards which are set to fixed with Hitachi Filter Driver.

Thanks for the link jaclaz. Your English translation at http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2411 is very instructive. Eventually I will check out the sometimes-working WinTricks Generic USB driver, it doesn't look like a big system update with its 3 driver files of the Lexar JumpDrive and comes with an uninstall.bat. Since this driver works with Lexar, it might also work with Corsair (dencorso!) and then with Lexar BootIt v1.07 info under http://www.lancelhoff.com/2008/05/01/multi...ive-in-windows/ download location: http://files.filefront.com/lexar+usb+forma...;/fileinfo.html I have not yet found a way to have an SDHC card reader or its card/partitions appear as a fixed drive under Win98; possibly one could set the removable media bit of the Lexar/Corsair under WinXP to fixed, so that when connected under Win98 the Lexar/Corsair appears as a fixed drive ( http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html in section "On flash drive only the first partition works") I have tried out BootIt under WinXP with SDHC card readers of about 5 different manufacturers, with different SD/SDHC cards, BootIt reported that the removable media bit was flipped, but then the card reader/card/partitions were displayed in My Computer under WinXp as Removable. I couldn't find a store which had Lexar SDHC card readers http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1171400668.html But it should also work with SDHC card readers: "Works fine for me, my 4gb SDHC is now shown as a fixed disc" http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=65675

Incompatibility between manufacturer-provided driver and nusb - nusb currently rejected The MSI StarReader mini II card reader http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=pr...mp;prod_no=1161 is currently my top choice as card reader. It comes with a Win98 driver, which indicates that the manufacturer cares about a small customer group like the Win98 community and that the device has been tested by the manufacturer under Win98. The Win98 driver which comes on the mini-CD can also be downloaded from http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=do...mp;prod_no=1161 (file creation date on CD: 19-Sep-06; of website download: 3-Feb-2007, otherwise identical files). The card reader costs less than $10 and comes with a very handy USB extension cord (not a connection cable), allowing you to connect the card reader even to USB ports which are physically positioned very close to each other, without blocking a 2nd port. The USB connection cable is so useful that I have put it into the Toolbox for SDHC cards. 1) Version conflict of driver files Unfortunately there is an incompatibility between the manufacturer-provided MSI driver and the generic nusb driver: Both drivers use driver files with the same name and location, but with different content. The following installed files are different, depending whether they are from nusb or from MSI: - \Inf\USBSTOR.INF - \Inf\USBNTMAP.INF - \System\Iosubsys\USBMPHLP.PDR - \System32\Drivers\USBSTOR.SYS The 2 .inf files are not problematic, they could be renamed as required, but the other 2 files are problematic: USBMPHLP.PDR: The Hex Viewer of BeyondCompare shows major differences between the 2 versions of USBMPHLP.PDR: the MSI-version shows "Special Build lyh728" and is dated 10-Sep-2003, while the nusb version shows "Microsoft Corporation" and is dated 12-Sep-2003. MSI must have had a reason to use this special build, especially since the MSI installer also installs optionally Adaptec ASPI v4.71.2.0 of 17-Jul-2002, what is unusual for card reader drivers. USBSTOR.SYS: The 2 versions of USBSTOR.SYS (nusb creation date: 17-Feb-2003, MSI creation date: 8-Jun-2000, both identical version info) have minor differences, maybe patches by Maximus Decim (why?) I have used the MSI card reader under either driver, both drivers seemed to work Ok up to now. But deviating from the manufacturer-provided driver may possibly cause problems in the future, problems currently irreversable since there is no nusb-removal tool; nusb currently sticks in your system like InCD or an Internet Explorer update. The version conflict could possibly be solved if the next release of nusb uses different filenames, e.g. nusbstor.sys, etc. 2) Installation problem If you install first nusb and then the MSI-driver, the MSI driver installation will NOT overwrite the existing nusb driver files (e.g. USBSTOR.INF, USBNTMAP.INF, USBSTOR.SYS, USBMPHLP.PDR), maybe because the nusb files have a newer file modification date than the MSI driver files. In effect, if you have already nusb installed, you cannot install the manufacturer-provided MSI-driver. If you reverse the installation sequence, installing first the MSI-driver and then nusb, nusb will overwrite several driver files of MSI (USBSTOR.INF, USBNTMAP.INF, USBMPHLP.PDR, USBSTOR.SYS) This means that it is not possible to use the MSI-driver if nusb is also on the system. Either the MSI-driver or nusb. 3) Conclusion: I will put nusb into the Toolbox after a future release has solved this driver conflict. I have removed nusb 3.3 from my own system since I want to use the manufacturer-provided driver for the MSI card reader. There are still SDHC card readers with manufacturer-provided Win98 drivers in the stores, and all my other USB Mass Storage devices are working fine with their manufacturer-provided Win98 drivers, even the recent Thermaltake eSATA-USB combo enclosure, which I have working fine with 750GB SATA & PATA HDDs on a 9-year-old laptop under Win98. The art of using Win98 today includes finding recent hardware with manufacturer-provided drivers. Nusb could be a tremdous tool for me, if it were changed from a driver for all USB Mass Storage devices to a driver for USB Mass Storage Devices which do not have their own Win98 driver. As further improvement of nusb I would suggest that a special nusb-removal tool should be written.

Hi dencorso, I had no success in getting ChipGenius v2.64 to run properly under Win98 on my old laptop: I started with OrangeWare v2.4.1, then I updated Win98SE in the following sequence: MSVBVM60.DLL 6.0.98.2, updated from 6.00.9782 with Unofficial Visual Basic 6.0 SP6 GDI32.DLL 4.10.0.2227, updated from 4.10.1998 with Unofficial Windows 98 SE GDI32.DLL + GDI.EXE 4.10.2227 Fix KERNEL32.DLL 4.10.0.2226. updated from 4.10.2222 with Copy2gb.exe from Unofficial Windows 98-98 SP1-98 SE 2-4 GB Files Errors OLEAUT32.DLL 2.40.4520.0, updated from 2.40.4518 with Unofficial OLE Update 2.40.4530 + OLEAUT32.DLL 2.40.4520 USER32.DLL 4.10.0.2233, updated from 4.10.2231 with Unofficial Windows 98 SE Animated Cursor (.ANI) + Icon Handling ADVAPI32.DLL 4.90.0.3000 , updated from 4.80.1675 with extracted file from WIN_10.CAB of WinME CD OLE32.DLL 4.71.3328.0, no update, DLLs were same version but still the same problem. Then I installed older OrangeWare v2.1 and v2.3, still the same problem. Finally I changed the screen fonts from Large fonts (125%) to Small fonts, this was a work-around for the display bug in ChipGenius, but still the same problem. This is what was displayed during and after all the changes: Device Name: PnP Device ID: VID = PID = (Invalid) Serial Number: (Invalid) Revision: (Information not returned) Device Type: Generic USB Host Controller - USB2.0 High-Speed Chip Vendor: (No match record) Chip Part-Number: (No match record) Product Vendor: (No match record) Product Model: Tools on Web: (N/A) The window "USB controller & device list" [Pick an item for details]: is BLANK. This is probably the cause of the problem, somehow ChipGenius under Win98 cannot see neither the USB 2.0 PCCard controller nor the built-in USB 1.1 controller of the laptop. Under WinXP however, on the same laptop, the window "USB controller & device list" displays the following 4 choices when the USB 2.0 PCCard is plugged in: Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller Intel® 82371 AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller So ChipGenius somehow doesn't work under Win98 with this old laptop, while it does work with your desktop.

I am looking for CardWizard for Windows 3.1 release 5.30.10 and for CardSoft for DOS release 5.30.10, both by SystemSoft. These are DOS 6 drivers for 32-bit CardBus card controllers in a laptop. They were the successors to CardWizard95, which was a DOS 6 driver for 16-bit PCMCIA card controllers used in laptops until 1997. With any of these drivers I would be able, under DOS 6, to use old SCSI devices with my CardBus laptop, via a 16-bit SCSI PCMCIA card.

Hi dencorso,I have a nearly-unmodified Win98SE. When I double-click on ChipGenius.exe under Win98, the window with all the text comes up ok, but no device & no information is displayed: PnP Device ID: VID = PID = (Invalid) (the same for Serial Number) Revision: (Information not returned) Chip Vendor: (No match record) (the same for Chip Part-Number & Product Vendor) The program should run under Win98, but it might need a dll or a newer version of a dll since it works with you. I installed VB6 SP6, same problem. Then .NET 1.1, same problem. Then .NET 2.0, same problem. The chip info is in chips.wdb, probably a MS Works Data Base. The program calls MSVBVM60.DLL, which I put into the same directory as ChipGenius.exe, same problem. On his website http://www.mydigits.cn/chipgenius.htm the author states Win98 compatibility, so it's probably just a tiny little thing. Would be nice to have another Win98-compatible tool in the toolbox.

Nintendo will release on Nov.1 its Nintendo DS-I, available in the rest of the world early 2009: - no GBA slot - SD slot (=built-in SD card reader) http://www.t3.com/news/nintendo-ds-i-confi...-in-2009?=36840 "They have ditched the GBA slot for an SD card one so people will download GBA titles from their online store which would be saved on the removable device. A smart move." http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?p=1038499 P.S.: Without a GBA slot, the add-on cards like R4-III DS, SuperCard & Co, will not fit into the new DS-I anymore. Nearly all Nintendo-DS games, about 2700 .nds files (=game images which run on these add-on cards) are currently available in the internet. So no more GBA slot, as an anti-piracy-measure? And new games released on SD cards, making use of the copy-protection capability of SD cards?

I guess this topic belongs more into the WinXP subforum, but it may possibly show an advantage of Win98 over WinXP. Just after startup WinXP tries to call out twice and is blocked by my Tiny Personal Firewall, with the msg: "tcpip kernel driver wants to contact IGMP.MCAST.NET (224.0.0.22)" There is no such call-out attempt under Win9x. Does somebody know more about this call-out attempt? I assume that one purpose of this calling-out is to synchronize the internal computer clock. But could it be that this calling-out also sets a flag that there is a functioning internet connection, so that some stuff in WinXP may later on call out/communicate? If so, this could be another reason for using Win98 for the Internet.

Thanks jaclaz.

Thanks jaclaz, I've put it on my list. I'll be trying out first Total Commander with the InstallExplorer plugin, also after the experiment regarding Opera's internet-shortcut-bug http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=804994 where Total Commander produced an error msg.

WinRAR v3.42 gives the same error msg & cannot extract either Thanks for the hint about InstallExplorer http://www.totalcmd.net/plugring/InstallExplorer.html I will try it out, seems to be interesting. I was always wondering how Kaspersky etc. was able to look into setup files. Maybe this is a useful tool for virus checking setup files where Kaspersky just gives a warning (e.g. Unknown format GhostInstalller)

Try the instructions by mdgx http://www.mdgx.com/add.htm#JAVA" Ignore "Warning: This is not a supported Operating System!" error message! Install requires Microsoft .Net Framework Redistributable (NFR) 1.1 or newer (free)! FIX: Run Java SE 6.0 install executable -> stop at "Welcome to Java" screen -> open Windows Explorer or File Manager -> browse to %windir%\TEMP [default is C:\WINDOWS\TEMP...] -> run .MSI installer!"

Hi CharlotteTheHarlot, I don't use any file managers. I use under Win98 only BeyondCompare for most most of my file operations, like deletes, it doesn't have the sluggish-file-delete-problem of Windows Explorer. BeyondCompare is very mature and only once did I encounter a bug, which has been fixed. To replicate your file-opening with the various file managers, I added a selection "Open with - Opera" to the right-click menu inside BeyondCompare (Tools - Options - "Open with"). When, inside BeyondCompare, I right-clicked then on an internet shortcut .url in \Windows\Desktop\ or on a .mht file, selecting "Open with - Opera" Opera opened the desired page (SUCCESS) and msgbox: NONE. This confirms your finding that the internet-shortcut-bug is probably a Windows Explorer bug. Opera does NOT have this bug unter WinXP. Maybe somebody with WinME can verify whether the internet-shortcut-bug exists under WinME also? If the error does not occur under WinME, then maybe a WinME-dll could help, rather than a registry patch???

Hey, me too. I used the MS Basic Compiler under CP/M quite a bit What CP/M computer did you have?

Hi ivanbuto,Why do you want to use v6 instead of v5? Sun is regularly maintaining their Win98/Me version v5 (update 15 on 9-Feb-08, update 16 on 28-May-08) just like their WinXP/Vista version v6 (last update 7 on 10-Jun-08). If you click on the Download button on their site http://java.com/en/ they even switch you automatically to their Win98/ME page (if you're accessing the site under Win98). If Sun takes so much effort in maintaining separate versions, then there must be a reason somewhere. I also had v6 installed under Win98, but then I changed back to v5, I was just afraid of surprises. A lot of software is using Java (Azureus, the charting applet of my online broker, the anonymizer JAP, SageTV software for the TV tuner card, even the Britannica/Brockhaus software). The worst case scenario would be if the Java applet hangs my system while I am in the middle of an online trade. Please let me know your reasons.

Here another last version for Win98: TextPad v4.73 [17-Jun-04], Shareware, still for sale, download location of US version: http://download.textpad.com/download/v47/txpeng473.exe General download page for US and localized versions, both v4.73 and v5.2.0 (not for Win9x): http://www.textpad.com/download/index.html Mature software, v5 is their Vista version, my preferred Notepad replacement.

The internet-shortcut-bug is still there in Opera v9.60 (under Win98SE US version). The work-around is to have Opera already loaded before double-clicking on the internet shortcut on the desktop. Opera has removed the URL-selection under Preferences-Advanced-Details, maybe the people at Opera were working to fix this bug? I have set Opera back as my default browser, since the work-around solves the problem, even though in an inconvenient way.Re colored icons: The grey icons actually help you focus on the content of the web page you're reading, instead of on the browser controls. When I weigh improved readability of the page content vs more visible browser controls, I would go for improved readability.

Hi dencorso,Thanks for the correction, it should read "with manufacturer-provided Win98 drivers". NUSB is a great generic driver for USB-sticks, SDHC card readers, external HDDs, external floppy drives and other USB mass storage devices, especially for devices which are not supported by their manufacturers under Win98. So most large-capacity USB-sticks on the horizon WILL most likely be able to run under Win98 with NUSB, even when "Windows 98" is not on the box anymore. I prefer however to use as much as possible manufacturer-provided drivers for mass storage devices, some stored data can be critical. When a manufacturer provides a driver for Win98, it (should) mean that the device has actually been tested by the manufacturer under Win98. NUSB has worked fine for me on unsupported devices, but don't forget the comment by Maximus Decim when you install NUSB: "Remember! You install it at own risk!" NUSB will be put into my listing "Toolbox for SDHC cards" http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=802886 It's possibly the most important tool there, I will list it after being more informed about the uninstall, NUSB makes a lot of system updates http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=802886 You are particularly knowledgeable about NUSB, your info would be greatly appreciated. Maybe some improvement in the readme.txt file, but which great programmer likes to document?If you want a single driver for all your USB mass storage devices NUSB is truly great and simple. But when you want to use NUSB only for those USB devices which don't have a Win98 driver, and for your other USB devices you want to keep on using the manufacturer-provided drivers, it may get complicated, esp. for USB devices where you have to specify the location of the manufacturer-provided driver during installation. Some manufacturer-provided drivers have special features, like the one for the BusLink USB floppy, which allows under Win98 the assignment of drive letter B: to the USB floppy. Then there are special drivers for USB combo eSata-USB enclosures, the MSI StarReader which can read SIM-cards and which updates the ASPI layer, etc. The automaticity of NUSB can be overcome by (temporarily) renaming \INF\Usbstor.inf and usbstor.PNF before installing a device with its own manufacturer-provided USB driver. Question: For the emtec card readers I want to use the manufacturer-provided driver, but that driver does not install an eject-utility in the system tray. How can I use the manufacturer-provided driver but have the emtec card reader included in the NUSB eject-utility in the system tray (i.e. use only the NUSB eject utility, but not the NUSB driver)?

I initially thought it was a security issue, but then msimg32.dll on the German WinME CD had the identical size and version info under Beyond Compare/Version Viewer, but differed substantially under Beyond Compare/Hex Viewer. So MS just localized the file content, not its version info. Possibly Maximus Decim may have picked up a file from a non-US version of WinME, or from a beta.

Hi Rick, You don't need a 2nd HDD for 2 or more instances of Win98, just use System Commander and install them to different partitions on the same HDD.

SlowDown is a classic, ftp://bretjohnson.us/programs/slodn310.zip the author's homepage http://bretjohnson.us/ has more DOS utilties.Here 3 DOS programs which I still use occasionally under Win98, in a full-sized DOS window, on a 700-MHz laptop: - DCF 5.3 (=Disk Copy Fast) for archiving old floppies as dcf images, which can later on be handled with Winimage under Win98. doesn't need to be slowed down. - VGA-Copy-pro 5.30, works fine with SlowDown, for reading/copying weak floppies (99 retries) - DiskDupe v4.07 for cleaning a floppy head with a special cleaning floppy, needs SlowDown

msimg32.dll from MDCU v3.05 works fine for Opera v9.60 under Win98SE, BUT: it is NOT the same as msimg32.dll in Win_12.CAB on the US WinME CD. Any idea why?? msimg32.dll on the German WinME CD also differs from the one on the US CD, but works fine with Opera v9.60 under US Win98SE. So I would guess that any language version of WinME msimg32.dll works fine with Opera v9.60 under any language Win98SE opsys.

hi galahs, Congratulations, your list is going to be a classic one, probably still of interest in 5 years or more. Here a suggestion: how about adding the release date of the last version? Here another addition to your list: Sisoft Sandra Professional ANSI 2004.SP2b (Win32 x86) v2004.10.9.133 [12-Aug-2004], was $$$, but apparently not for sale anymore.

PowerQuest PartitionMagic 8.01 The last version of PartitionMagic which runs under Win98 and which I can recommend is the one by PowerQuest; I prefer to stay away from Symantec. The last version by PowerQuest was v8.02 [25-Apr-03], but v8.01 build 1274 [14-Mar-03] is preferrable, no difference detected except for the introduction of the PowerQuest activation key. This supposition that only the PowerQuest activation key is the difference between v8.01 and v8.02 is in line with the statement from Symantec: "If you have version 8.01, there is no need to upgrade to 8.02. Version 8.02 was made obsolete by the acquisition of PowerQuest by Symantec" http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/power...62?OpenDocument I have not found a version history of PartitionMagic.. There is a bug fix ENPM801_H1.ZIP which has been removed from http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/power...62?OpenDocument with which you can update to v8.01 build 1312 of 28-Aug-03 The bug fix file is currently only available elsewhere with 2 sources, who knows for how long. The patches for the French and German versions of PartitionMagic 8.01, however, have not been removed from the Symantec site: ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/francais/pr.../FRPM801_H1.ZIP ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/deutsch/pro.../DEPM801_H1.ZIP PartitionMagic v8.01 is the best tool for converting WinXP partitions from NTFS to FAT32, so that you can access WinXP stuff under Win98. WinXP SP2 runs fine from the converted partition. Cleanup after the conversion is recommended (MS Error-Checking under WinXP gives no err msg; but under Win98 err msgs [long filename errors; NDD only: Invalid Disk Table in Boot Record] may be cleaned up ok with MS ScanDisk & Norton Disk Doctor under Win98)

In theory Internet Explorer v5.5 under Win98SE does NOT run with Flash Player v9, only with old Flash Player v8. Opera and Firefox work fine with v9.0.124.0About 6 months ago, when I tried out under Win98SE the Bytescout Movies Extractor Scout v3.02 demo http://bytescout.com/moviesextractorscout.html , the demo also installed somehow Adobe Flash Player ActiveX v9.0.115.0 as displayed by http://gemal.dk/browserspy/flash.html when I went there with IE 5.5 SP1. Any explanation why? After uninstalling the demo, Adobe Flash Player ActiveX v9.0.115.0 was still there. Is there a way to turn off Flash Cookies?