Ok, that's what I'm talking about:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachments/r … n98bootdisk.zip
The .exe inside the archive makes a Win98 boot diskette which includes the little program I mentioned - EPSDISK.EXE which is DOS and work best in Win98. Many years ago I used this program 100% successfully on Windows 98. But now is different...
Type "win98bootdisk" in Google.

Did someone take a look at the program so that I can get some more help?

plamy1969 wrote:

Did someone take a look at the program so that I can get some more help?

I downloaded it, but I've to do several other things right now, too (fixing SQ3 recordings, dumping a chip, family..)
If it is okay, I'll look at it early next week.

In the mean time, I can give you another tip. Perhaps this will help you even more:

You can also boot DOS from an USB pen drive.
It can either be a start-up floppy of DOS 6.x or FreeDOS Live CD.
Your real floppy is then accessible as B: drive (handled by the BIOS).

Two programs I know of are..
a) HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
b) Rufus

The HP thing creates a USB-based floppy. It will maybe ask for DOS files, but already has the boot sector.
Rufus can create a bootable pen drive from any type of bootable media.
Depending on this type, it either emulates a HDD or a CD-ROM when you boot from you pen drive.
So in theory, you could also use a Win98SE CD as a source for this.

Sorry, I'm not good at explaining such things.
Hope you figure it out.

Ok, look at the program when you can. Below I attached two files that EPSDISK.EXE should copy and write to the already formatted with EPSDISK diskette.
Following the instructions of EPSDISK Read me file you can easily see how to write at least one of these files to the diskette.
If you do it successfully, then you can use EPSDISK command (D)irectory,so if the (C)opy or (W)rite is done correctly, the (D)irectory command will show all the newly copied or written contents on the diskette. This will prove that everything is done properly.
http://www30.zippyshare.com/v/nuQiQUUx/file.html
http://www14.zippyshare.com/v/LDvyuytb/file.html

No problems. I'll have a look at it in 1-2 days. 😀

so this program is meant to format a floppy disk to ensoniq's proprietary format?

Duffman wrote:

so this program is meant to format a floppy disk to ensoniq's proprietary format?

Yes! And not only to format, also to copy Ensoniq images, to write Ensoniq files (music instruments), etc.
But all I could successfully do is format only, can't (C)opy and (W)rite. The other commands are not so important to me.
Long time ago when I used Windows 98 and XP, there was not problem. But now under this Win98bootdisk something goes wrong. EPSDISK.EXE can't see any Ensoniq file.

Maybe dosbox-x has better floppy disk support

lightmaster wrote:

Maybe dosbox-x has better floppy disk support

Maybe, but will dosbox-x recognize any other drive except floppy? If I run EPSDISK.EXE via dosbox-x, do you think the program will find the files I need to write to the diskette from any other drive/directory? If yes, what do I need to do in advance?

plamy1969 wrote:

If I run EPSDISK.EXE via dosbox-x, do you think the program will find the files I need to write to the diskette from any other drive/directory? If yes, what do I need to do in advance?

I am not clear on why you would think otherwise.

I could try to guess, but why don't you tell us more about exactly what you've already tried to do in DOSBox?

Jorpho wrote:

plamy1969 wrote:

If I run EPSDISK.EXE via dosbox-x, do you think the program will find the files I need to write to the diskette from any other drive/directory? If yes, what do I need to do in advance?

I am not clear on why you would think otherwise.

I could try to guess, but why don't you tell us more about exactly what you've already tried to do in DOSBox?

With my little experience I know that I can run EPSDISK.EXE in DOSBox by simply drag-and-drop the program to DOSBox. Then DOSBox runs EPSDISK.EXE showing all its commands as well. But to use the program to format, copy, write, etc. the diskette, I need to mount the floppy drive. If I do that, I lose EPSDISK.EXE with all its functions. I can't mount more than one drive at a time, so it's up to here. While running EPSDISK.EXE in DOSBox, I tried typing the .efe file location on my hard drive, but I get en error.
Anyway, instead on too many posts, anyone with experience can try do to what I need. I already uploaded EPSDISK.EXE and two files that I need to write to a diskette. So, if anyone does this with success, please share the way.

plamy1969 wrote:

Anyway, instead on too many posts, anyone with experience can try do to what I need. I already uploaded EPSDISK.EXE and two files that I need to write to a diskette. So, if anyone does this with success, please share the way.

I downloaded them, but my main PC is still broken.
That file is a self-extractor, so I can't open it easily on my tablet or my vintage Mac.
I'll see what I can do after weekend.

Edit: Plamy, do you have a card reader ?

The "win98bootdisk.exe" appears to be made using https://archive.org/details/tucows_222418_Floppy_Image. I have converted it back to an IMG and attached it here. It mounts fine in DOSBox using "imgmount".

plamy1969 wrote:

But to use the program to format, copy, write, etc. the diskette, I need to mount the floppy drive. If I do that, I lose EPSDISK.EXE with all its functions. I can't mount more than one drive at a time, so it's up to here.

What exactly do you mean? You can put EPSDISK.EXE in C:\whatever, and then type "mount a a:\" in DOSBox followed by "mount c c:\whatever". Then you keep both the floppy drive and EPSDISK.EXE. What's the problem?

Jorpho wrote:

The "win98bootdisk.exe" appears to be made using https://archive.org/details/tucows_222418_Floppy_Image. I have converted it back to an IMG and attached it here. It mounts fine in DOSBox using "imgmount".

plamy1969 wrote:

But to use the program to format, copy, write, etc. the diskette, I need to mount the floppy drive. If I do that, I lose EPSDISK.EXE with all its functions. I can't mount more than one drive at a time, so it's up to here.

What exactly do you mean? You can put EPSDISK.EXE in C:\whatever, and then type "mount a a:\" in DOSBox followed by "mount c c:\whatever". Then you keep both the floppy drive and EPSDISK.EXE. What's the problem?

What to do with win98bootdisk.img that you attached? Would you explain exactly step-by-step what you did, please? What do I have to type literally in DOSBox? And did you really try to copy and write the attached files to a diskette successfully?
Are you sure EPSDISK will work with mounted c: since my drives are NTSF formatted? If I read carefully, EPSDISK can't work with drives which are not FAT formatted.

Jorpho wrote:

The "win98bootdisk.exe" appears to be made using https://archive.org/details/tucows_222418_Floppy_Image. I have converted it back to an IMG and attached it here. It mounts fine in DOSBox using "imgmount".

Thank you, Jorpho!

plamy1969 wrote:

Are you sure EPSDISK will work with mounted c: since my drives are NTSF formatted? If I read carefully, EPSDISK can't work with drives which are not FAT formatted.

The filesystem is handled by the OS. In this case, it is DOS.
DOSBox uses an emulated DOS with a virtual filesystem (except if you do boot another DOS).
Real DOS can't read NTFS by default, only FAT. It is possible to add limited NTFS support with a special driver, though.

Jo22 wrote:

Edit: Plamy, do you have a card reader ?

?

Jo22 wrote:

Thank you, Jorpho! […]
Show full quote

Jorpho wrote:

The "win98bootdisk.exe" appears to be made using https://archive.org/details/tucows_222418_Floppy_Image. I have converted it back to an IMG and attached it here. It mounts fine in DOSBox using "imgmount".

Thank you, Jorpho!

plamy1969 wrote:

Are you sure EPSDISK will work with mounted c: since my drives are NTSF formatted? If I read carefully, EPSDISK can't work with drives which are not FAT formatted.

The filesystem is handled by the OS. In this case, it is DOS.
DOSBox uses an emulated DOS with a virtual filesystem (except if you do boot another DOS).
Real DOS can't read NTFS by default, only FAT. It is possible to add limited NTFS support with a special driver, though.

Jo22 wrote:

Edit: Plamy, do you have a card reader ?

?

Yes, I have a card reader, also usb stick. Do you think it's a good idea to format a card or an USB stick on FAT32, then to put epsdisk.exe and .gkh, .efe files on it, so that it can be recognized by DOSBox and EPSDISK.EXE for totally successful operation?

Quick update, I tried the program in DOSBox and it can't access my floppy drive on the raw sector level.
I tried both the /volume/nameofmedia path and the /dev/disk1 path. And I'm using the G3 build for OS X.
Mounting the floppy on the filesystem level via /volume/nameofmedia works fine, though.
I can see files on my diskette by using DOSBox's internal DIR command..

plamy1969 wrote:

Yes, I have a card reader, also usb stick.

Good. Do you also have a spare compact flash card ?

Jo22 wrote:

plamy1969 wrote:

Yes, I have a card reader, also usb stick.

Good. Do you also have a spare compact flash card ?

What do you call a compact flash card? Tell me your idea.

plamy1969 wrote:

What do you call a compact flash card? Tell me your idea.

I mean an ordinary CF card.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompactFlash

An SD card could also work instead, but I'm more familiar with CFs.