rloew

Actually they don't say there is a problem having more than 512 Entries, at least in this particular Article. They just assume that only 512 Entries are allocated, which obviously limits the number of files. I would not be surprised if many applications exist that would choke on more than 512 since all standard Formatters set 512 or less. It might be interesting to determine the absolute limit. it is easy for me to setup any limit I choose. You are not the only one who has reviewed his writing multiple times and missed the same typo every time. I have done it too. As more and more Authors self-publish, there is going to be less and less review. EDIT: The absolute limit appears to be 4096 Root Directory Entries. I have seen evidence that the Sector Offset into the Root Directory is limited to a Byte.

Modems don't normally care about Internet protocols. They deal with the underlying Ethernet Packets. A smart Router could translate transparently between IPv4 and IPv6 using advanced NAT Technology. If so, no new drivers would be needed as all communications between the Computer and the Router could be done in IPv4. URL Parsing may need to be Patched to handle numerical IPv6 Addresses.

Your reply doesn't match my question about your earlier statement. The BPB refers to Root Directory Entries not full Filenames. An entry can contain a Short File Name, or a Long File Name Component, or Volume Label. The maximum number of Files can be anywhere from 24 to 512 depending upon File Name Length with a 512 Entry Root Directory. Your original statement implied that the number of Root Directory "Entries" was limited to 255 (effectively one byte in the BPB). In my large Sector experiments with 32KB Sectors, I024 Root Directory Entries was the Minimum.

Whether the internal Sectors are 4K or 512B is not an issue here. It will only affect performance. 4K Logical Sectors would be a major issue, but are only used in USB Drives larger than 2TiB. Standard tools and software can be used without problems. Special tools are only needed if you want the Hard Drive to run faster.

The known issues are listed in the 1st section ("Symptoms") of KB120138. The "Applies To" section lists specifically Win 95 and Win 98FE as the OSes where those issues are said to happen. Using your link to KB120138, I am still not seeing a limit of 255 mentioned anywhere. It does say that on a Hard Disk you will be limited to less than 512 File Names if you use Long File Names.

If everything fits in 4.7GB or 8.4GB(DVD-DL) or 23GB (Blu-Ray), it is possible to created a LiveDVD/LiveBD that runs Windows 98 from a RAMDisk, but you need enough RAM for the Image plus the running system.

I solved that problem 4 years ago.

Having analyzed DOS 7 and Windows 98SE Code, it is safe to use 0x(F)FF0-0x(F)FF5. Windows allows 0x(F)FF6 but DOS does not. I did not find an issue with more than 255 Root Directory Entries in KB120138. In fact, it describes the norm of 512 Root Directory Entries used on Hard Disks. Although Floppy Disks typically use less than 255 entries, I don't think it is a limit there either. It would be a waste though, if it isn't a multiple of 16 (for 512 Byte Sectors). I have yet to find a limit below 65540 for the maximum number of directory entires, except for the total disk size as in the case of floppies.

Me too. From the looks of it, it seems its missing a couple functions in NTDLL.DLL. 1. The NSLOOKUP.EXE is linked to missing export NTDLL.DLL:sscanf 2. The WSHIP6.DLL is linked to missing export NTDLL.DLL:strlen If these two exports are the only problem then my DLLHOOK Program can remap them.

I think the problem may be more related to Interrupt latency than CPU usage. An APP would be required, but it may be sufficient to read the CMOS Clock rather than reaching out to a time server.

Heavy Internet usage oftens leads to missed Clock ticks. This will cause the System Clock to fall behind. Once started, Windows 9x does not reread the CMOS Clock.

It is part of the standard set of drivers provided by Microsoft. I'm sure I am not the only one who distributes applications that use it.

Why are you removing ASPI. It is needed to directly access CD/DVD Drives.

The bootable CD Images described in this thread are designed to be used with El Torito Floppy Emulation. No Emulation mode requires a custom bootstrap to load code. I have written some DDOs that use this mode.

1.92MB turned out to be a little too optimistic. I only succeeded in creating a 1.6MB Bootable Floppy and that was with 1K Sectors.

I have succeeded in booting the 1K Floppy with a 512B Bootstrap Sector without a DDO using a heavily modified IO.SYS. A DDO should allow using an unmodified TBPLUS IO.SYS. Using 4K Sectors, it may be possible to Format 1.92MB.

To read or Write a 1K Sector Disk only requires a TBPLUS IO.SYS with one small Mod and a tiny Startup Program. I have not yet succeeded in booting yet. A DDO probably will be required as the BIOS reports incorrect Geometry, and the BIOS is not correctly handling DMA wrap. A 512B Bootstrap Sector is needed to switch the Disk Controller as the BIOS will not read 1K Sectors during Boot. I made a custom Format by adding one 512B Sector to the nine 1K Sectors on Track 0 Head 0. This creates 2 separate #1 Sectors, one 512B and one 1K. The DDO will go into the Bootstrap Sector.

I have a working 1KB Sector Floppy Disk with only a few additional mods needed. As I expected the BIOS will not boot the Disk, but a slightly non-standard format may make it possible to boot, if I can solve an internal Disk Geometry problem.

A low level driver would be able to read and write 1K Sectors but I doubt that the BIOS would try Sector sizes other than 512B. None of my BIOSes would even handle the 4K Sectors of my USB 3TB Hard Drive. This would make the Disks unbootable without an alternate Device based DDO.

I would assume the 1280K is readable. The 1232K should also be readable if the track spacing is not modified. Assuming 512B Sectors, and readability, you should be able to boot from them.

You should read the thread that quote comes from, On Bootable CD's Floppy Emulation, and it's sister thread On Superfloppies and their Images, both in full, for a lot more of interesting information and references. It's worth the effort, believe me. Unfortunately those documents describe the formats of the partitions themselves, not the format of the internal tables used by IO.SYS.

The link you gave appears to be for a proprietary HP disk format, so anything goes. The 640KB PC Format was 512 Byte Sectors with 80/2/8 Geometry. 256 Byte Sectors cannot be supported without extensive modifications. I have patched DOS to handle up to 32KB Sectors, and Windows 9x to handle 4KB Sectors. Unmodified Windows 9x will read a 2KB/Sector FAT Partition if it is on a CD. The USB based 3TB Hard Drives use 4KB/Sector, to avoid the 32Bit Address Limt, so a minor Patch is needed to use them.

I haven't seen one. I have been reverse engineering the code to find the purpose of various fields and flags.

The easiest way is to create a 1.2MB or 1.44MB Bootable Floppy Disk, make an Image of it and burn a CD using the Floppy Image as a Boot Image. rloew, Great idea, thank you! I'll try that as soon as I get the chance. If I add (for example) WordStar to this floppy image, can I then launch WordStar from the same CD? --JorgeA Nearly anything that can run from a Floppy can be run from a CD. Windows and Disk Utilities are another story.

The easiest way is to create a 1.2MB or 1.44MB Bootable Floppy Disk, make an Image of it and burn a CD using the Floppy Image as a Boot Image.