MS-DOS 6.2 on Netbook with no Serial Port

[KK4LQX]

Hello All,

I have a netbook that I finally got to accept MS-DOS 6.20 and have installed the Spectra RSS 06.00.05 onto and have run into the issue of the fact that I do not have a serial port on the netbook. I do have a USB to Serial adapter but that does not seem to be doing the trick on the DOS side.The RSS only shows the option for COM1 or COM2. Has anyone had any luck with this? If so feel free to share, semi-educated guesses are welcome too! Thanks in advance!

 

[K9WG]

I would guess that because you are running a pure DOS OS that unless there is a RS232 hardware port you can not use an USB adapter. DOS did not support USB.

 

[KK4LQX]

K9WG, if DOS doesn't support USB then how was I able to install DOS from a USB floppy drive and then copy the RSS from floppy to hdd. Thanks!

 

[mancow]

Does it have a PCMCIA card bus slot?

 

[KK4LQX]

Does it have a PCMCIA card bus slot?

No, unfortunatly it does not. The netbook i'm using is a Dell Inspiron mini 10 Model # PP19S

 

[kb2vxa]

That's how I fixed my USB adapter issues, with a COM port card.

 

[mancow]

Yep, me too and they are cheap on ebay.

 

[n5ims]

K9WG, if DOS doesn't support USB then how was I able to install DOS from a USB floppy drive and then copy the RSS from floppy to hdd. Thanks!

Some components (mainly mouse, keyboard and a few types of disks) are supported by the computer's BIOS to allow them to be used. This is to allow them to be available while the OS loads or even prior to that. This is why you were able to use the floppy drive. A USB serial port requires a driver to work and since no drivers are available for them running DOS, they're not useable under that environment.

 

[K9WG]

K9WG, if DOS doesn't support USB then how was I able to install DOS from a USB floppy drive and then copy the RSS from floppy to hdd. Thanks!

Did you install DOS from a Windows platform, or was the floppy bootable?

 

[mancow]

The problem is with USB drivers meant for DOS. That's the issue that stalls you out. You need to get DOS talking to an adapter and there just aren't any drivers for them.

 

[azboatbuilder]

DOS on notebook/netbook

kk4lqx ...I finally got to accept MS-DOS 6.20 ...

KC7CC here , i would like to run DOS on my ASUS netbooks and AAO netbooks
and TOSH 205d and 675d i have months trying to run REAL DOS on
these netbooks/notebooks ..
frustrated , i will try to re FLASH all these BIOS roms .
1) ASUS offers a BIOS for DOS , i have it , but the FLASH proceedure
is a problem . same with
2) AcerAspireOne Fn+ESC ( hold ) .. [ ON ] . [ON] .
3) TOSH C675d wont boot nor run anything , BIOS is LOCKED to W7
........ hook these netbooks to WIFI radios ( HongKong $20 types )
________________________________________________________________________
appreciate any help timebandit333 at gmail
........
KC7CC WIFI and PACKET ..... other hobby is building big steel boats

 

[Darth_vader]

There are drivers (SYS files) that enable USB drives to work under DOS. FreeDOS has some, but as far as I know, they only work with things like hard drives and memory cartridges (and yes, they do work under MeSsy-DO$.)

KK4LQX was able to boot from a USB floppy drive because it's supported in his machine's BIOS, which also obviously supports booting from (bootable) USB devices. Long drawn-out technical explanation short, the Shugart format commands/data stream used by the floppy drive itself are converted to USB-format packets in the computer's USB chipset through the BIOS, and back to data the floppy drive understands on that end, and vice-versa. PCs have been able to do that for years.