DOS System

[I am confused2]

ha ha I know, older then the hills but there are some of us still us DOS.

Now, my problem. I have equipment that must be maintaned by using DOS programs and there are NO Windows upgrade available.

As long as the equipment works, I am staying with it.

The main problem is that with the amount of programs I have, I have to use/run 67 differant laptop computers for all the old DOS programs because of the 2gb HD limit. DOS 6.22

I have tryed to use a bigger HD and then make several differant partitions but that did not work.

I would like to use one big HD with DOS and all the programs all in one partition.

Have reserached on the web and see several differant dos versions but no real explaination on if they are a stand alone O/S type.

I NEED HELP.

Thanks to all

 

[KSoD]

There is no way to get a bigger HDD with DOS. The file system that it uses is FAT12, very limited and very insecure and very limited in the amount of space it can recognize. Even FAT32, the last version of FAT before Microsoft switched to NTFS, is limited to only 137GB size and cant recognize files over 4GB.

Sorry to tell you but since you want to stick with DOS, you are going to have to stick to the limitations that it has. There is no way around it as that file system architecture cant go beyond what the limits are.

 

[I am confused2]

Thank you for the reply's. But I know that there has to be a way to get a DOS partition bigger then 2gb. even if it was only 4gb, I think I could get all my programs installed on the one.

I have heard that other people have done it, I am just trying to figure what DOS program they are using.

I have tryed using boxbox thru WIN on a 80gb partition, and some of the programs run okey, but most of the programs need to be installed in a true DOS in order to run.

 

[horndude]

it's a FAT 16 limitation

2GB max, but you can instead use multiple partitions on the same disk

 

[hikaricloud]

Only way I know of how to do this is creating a DOS Box.

Basic Setup and Installation of DosBox - DOSBoxWiki

 

[PP Mguire]

There is no way to get a bigger HDD with DOS. The file system that it uses is FAT12, very limited and very insecure and very limited in the amount of space it can recognize. Even FAT32, the last version of FAT before Microsoft switched to NTFS, is limited to only 137GB size and cant recognize files over 4GB.

Sorry to tell you but since you want to stick with DOS, you are going to have to stick to the limitations that it has. There is no way around it as that file system architecture cant go beyond what the limits are.

I think size support up to 137GB requires something special. I can only have a max partition size of 32GB in Windows 98se under FAT32.
Edit: You can't format a partition larger than 32GB under FAT32.

Only way I know of how to do this is creating a DOS Box.

Basic Setup and Installation of DosBox - DOSBoxWiki

I was going to suggest this. I love DOS <3

 

[KSoD]

Remeber, this is DOS 6.22 which doesnt even use FAT16 or FAT32. It uses FAT12, so the size limitation is only 2GB, it cant be extended to 4GB or more.

Yes my memory is a bit fuzzy when it comes to FAT32 and the likes. I do remember that it was something that was in XP SP2 that allowed for drive sizes to finally exceed the 137GB limit.

But that doesnt help the user here. He wants to stay in DOS 6.22 which is limited to FAT12. There is no way to force the drive size to be bigger as that is the maximum that File Allocation Table can handle. No there is no way to force FAT12 to go bigger. That is the limitation of that file system and it cant be bypassed in any way, shape or form.

 

[PP Mguire]

I know this, but we were suggesting why not use DOSBox?

 

[carnageX]

I know this, but we were suggesting why not use DOSBox?

I believe he stated that some of the software he needs to run requires to be in a true DOS environment. I've encountered stuff like this as well at my current job; some of the manufacturing machines require DOS (not even 6.22... they use a German version of DOS 4 :S). Some of the machines even require OS/2 Warp.

I have tryed using boxbox thru WIN on a 80gb partition, and some of the programs run okey, but most of the programs need to be installed in a true DOS in order to run.

 

[hikaricloud]

I believe he stated that some of the software he needs to run requires to be in a true DOS environment. I've encountered stuff like this as well at my current job; some of the manufacturing machines require DOS (not even 6.22... they use a German version of DOS 4 :S). Some of the machines even require OS/2 Warp.

The boxbox thing I was more confused about, since that's a javascript thing from what I can tell.

boxbox - javascript physics made easy

Wasn't sure if he had tried using the actual DOSBox software, hence why I mentioned it.