MS-Dos

Recently we moved and I found an un-opened box of MS-DOS 5.0 upgrade. I don't even recall buying this, but it must have been just before the time Windows was released. Started me thinking.... Should I load this on an old 386?

Dale

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DAB over 10 years ago +3

It should work on the 386 and might work on 486 standard motherboards. I think version 5 was a fix just before they came out with MSDOS 6.0 to host Windows 3.1. Been a lot of years since then. DAB
clem57 over 10 years ago in reply to DAB +2

Would it be a blast to catalog how many modern machines can run MS/PC-DOS? I wonder a contest o f sorts. LOL Clem
COMPACT over 10 years ago in reply to DAB +2

The first modems I used were this speed and acoustically coupled to the telephone handpiece. This made it easier to get Australian regulatory approvals rather than direct attachment. To get Australian…

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DAB over 10 years ago

It should work on the 386 and might work on 486 standard motherboards.

I think version 5 was a fix just before they came out with MSDOS 6.0 to host Windows 3.1.

Been a lot of years since then.

DAB
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clem57 over 10 years ago in reply to DAB

Would it be a blast to catalog how many modern machines can run MS/PC-DOS? I wonder a contest of sorts.
LOL
Clem
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jack.chaney56 over 10 years ago in reply to clem57

Many cases for the new PCs and laptops is, you need to get an "outboard" 3 1/2" floppy drive to load the OS. Most of the releases for DOS were not on CD, and most of the new systems don't come with floppy drives. In fact, many of the newer devices are network based, and don't come with CDs either.
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dwinhold over 10 years ago in reply to jack.chaney56

The boxed DOS I have is on 5 1/4" floppy, luckily my 386 has a 5 1/4" drive.
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COMPACT over 10 years ago in reply to dwinhold

360K or 1.2M ?

The disks spin at different rates 300RPM and 360RPM.
Just remember that 360K disks may not read or write well in a 1.2M drive.
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jack.chaney56 over 10 years ago in reply to COMPACT

Oh, I almost forgot the dual format 1.2M 5 1/4 drives. If I recall, they didn't have trouble with reading, only with a write/read cycle. The reason was the voltage level for the head was decreased so the "spot" of data would be smaller.
Goes to another potential issue, which might just be urban legend. Data degradation on old magnetic media. Not sure the data image has held up over the decades since DOS 3.1.
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DAB over 10 years ago in reply to jack.chaney56

Interesting idea.

I may have to fire up one of my legacy systems to see how well the floppys work.

DAB
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COMPACT over 10 years ago in reply to DAB

Hi DAB!
I used to design floppy drive systems and my mentor used to service and align them properly.
It's amazing how many floppy disk drives weren't optimally aligned! (Hence the woes of unnecessary read errors).
Would anyone be interested is a series of fun articles about them?

It might come out in dribs and drabs due to my illness.

Compact
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DAB over 10 years ago in reply to COMPACT

Hi Monte,

I think such a series would be a nice trip down memory lane for some of the members, including me.
So don't overtax yourself, but I look forward to your posts. Get better soon.

DAB
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DAB over 10 years ago in reply to COMPACT

Hi Monte,

I think such a series would be a nice trip down memory lane for some of the members, including me.
So don't overtax yourself, but I look forward to your posts. Get better soon.

DAB
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