Gateway 2000 system disk (Dos 6.22 install)

[computebrute]

I found this disk while looking through my collections. This is a gateway 2000 system floppy. It includes an MSDOS 6.22 installation, and some cd-rom drivers. Notice the date 6-1-95.



Should we archive this?

[joymouse]

Yes.

Please upload it some how.

[computebrute]

I will do it. I'm just waiting for the FTP access application to be accepted!
Scrap that!

[mrpijey]

That floppy doesn't contain MS-DOS, it's a CD-ROM device driver floppy, that's all.

Read the floppy label. "Sanyo S1G 4X ATAPI CD-ROM drivers, version 1.3, Disk 1 of 1". Sure it may have a bootable MS-DOS 6.22 command.com, but that doesn't mean it has a MS-DOS installation. Only the very basic bootfiles which are all too common.

[mallard]

That floppy doesn't contain MS-DOS, it's a CD-ROM device driver floppy, that's all.

Read the floppy label. "Sanyo S1G 4X ATAPI CD-ROM drivers, version 1.3, Disk 1 of 1". Sure it may have a bootable MS-DOS 6.22 command.com, but that doesn't mean it has a MS-DOS installation. Only the very basic bootfiles which are all too common.

The label also says "Boot from this disk to install MS-DOS 6.22 or your CD-ROM drivers." (emphasis mine).

[mrpijey]

Yes. Since it's an OEM version it wouldn't be too hard to imagine that Gateway either had a custom CD with MS-DOS, Windows etc on it, or it's a custom floppy setup where you boot up and select what you want to install. I've seen this before where you boot up from a floppy to restore, install or update a system. Back then BIOSes didn't support ATAPI booting so you always had a boot floppy that initialised the CD-ROM drive, then continued to load stuff from a disc.

An original MS-DOS setup doesn't load CD-ROM drivers, nor do they come with any as CD-ROM ATAPI drivers always came on a separate disc for that particular drive. An original MS-DOS floppy wouldn't even fit any CD-ROM drivers in the first place. Back then there weren't even any generic CD-ROM drivers available as every manufacturer had their own system driver depending on how you connected the unit (IDE, SCSI, MS-Port etc) and where it was connected (motherboard, separate controller, sound card etc).

[Jensvde]

@computebrute: can you pm me a link (or share it here in public)? I would like to give it a try, it seems to be cool having an ms-dos 6.22 install only from one disk. Very handy when testing old computers...

[computebrute]

Yes people, I wish I could give a link, but my new computer does not have a floppy disk drive, and my old computer will melt, because it got so hot! I will need to borrow an external floppy drive and scan it in.

[Wheatley]

my old computer will melt

Keep in mind that different materials have different melting points, so if for some unlikely reason your computer was running at hundreds of degrees celsius the plastic in the case may melt, but the metals supporting it might not.

The motherboard isn't that easy to melt either, at most you may get burn marks under a direct flame, unless the flame is near thousand if not more degrees celsius, and even then only some traces and maybe heatsinks and if you are lucky silicone might melt unless you heat up a capacitor, in which case you could get an individual capacitor to blow up in addition of creating burn marks and maybe some trace meltage. The resin which the board is composed of may warp, crack and burn but not outright melt either.

But realistically, unless your system is damaged by involving external factors, such as house fires, there is no realistic scenario where the case or the components could to even the slightest extent melt. Components such as the cpu and motherboard usually have limits, which if exceeded will shut down the systems.

[Jensvde]

my old computer will melt

I think he just means his pc is too slow to use

[Wheatley]

I know. I was just trying to be funny in his use of terms

[Jensvde]

I know. I was just trying to be funny in his use of terms

Ok, I thought you really meant what you've said.

But since that's not the case, just forget what I've said

[computebrute]

Guys, here's the link to the .IMA file:

https://mega.co.nz/#!TdZCFApR!EQVB7gnAZ ... 2tBxOUxsvY

[HardwareExtreme]

MS-DOS from a single 1.44 MB disk? With Drivers? Wasn't the install of DOS 6.22 from 3 (Or 4 With advanced tools)? Anyways, that is cool because I have a full tower Gateway 2000.

[os2fan2]

DOS

You can copy the files to a directory on the CDROM. If you are adventourous, you can expand the files (and rename them), Don't forget IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS.

WINDOWS

setup /a will copy the files to a position on the cdrom, setup /n will make a small install that works with the floppy and the files in setup /a. Works best if the cdrom is a known letter, like S: