Jo22 wrote:

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

No, I have SD cards only.

plamy1969 wrote:

Jo22 wrote:

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.

No, I have SD cards only.

Oh well, okay. I guess that has to suffice then.
Of what size is the smallest one you have available to spare ? (sorry for the bad grammar)

Jo22 wrote:

plamy1969 wrote:

Jo22 wrote:

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.

No, I have SD cards only.

Oh well, okay. I guess that has to suffice then.
Of what size is the smallest one you have available to spare ? (sorry for the bad grammar)

2 or 4GB, need to see here...
Why don't you write your guide step-by-step to me, then I will try to get success too. Meanwhile, I still don't see a successful result from anyone.

Ok. I got all information I needed.

I created a bootable image for you.
It does contain your programs and appears as an USB-HDD during boot-up.
Your files will be on a "C" drive and your floppy drive will be free to use.

Plus, transfering files will be as easy as downloading files from a digital camera.
Just pop in the card and copy your files. Maximum capacity will be ~500MB.
Use SDFormatter to "fix" your card and get rid of the image data.

Steps to do..:

a) get Win32 Disk Imager
b) unzip this attachment
c) insert blank SD card, 512MB or larger
d) run Win32 Disk Imager
e) load the image
f) write image to your SD card

g) reboot your PC with the SD card inserted
h) select the card in the boot menu (requires pressing F8 on some PCs)
i) have fun! 😀

Thank you, Jo22! I will try your method and tomorrow will let you know what happened.
I found another SD card 8MB only which is more than enough, can I use it for the image you attached? Or must be more than 512MB?
And is there a difference if I use a USB memory stick instead on SD card? In the both cases, then the PC has to boot from USB.

Sorry, the card must be 512MB or bigger for this image.

This is because of the drive geometry I used. The image was based off of one of my CF cards I had installed in my retro PCs.
In theory, it should work with any type of physical media.

And because the image file doesn't contain any meta data, it should also be useable in emulators such as Bochs, PCem or Qemu.
Well, in theory at least. I haven't tested it with an USB pen drive, so it could be possible it goes nuts.
That's why I also mentioned SDFormatter before.

Normal flash cards can be accessed more directly by the computer (CF cards do have three modes, for example) and
are thus easier to fix (if the PC can't see it anymore, you can still use a digital camera for formatting).
Pen drives usually do have additional stuff like vendor IDs and other things that could be messed up.
That's also the reason why Win32 Disk Imager displays a warning message before writing.

Good luck! 😀

Edit: You're lucky! I had an old 8MB CF card floating around, so I created another image for you.

DId you try to copy the .gkh file or to write the .efe file to a newly formatted diskette with EPSDISK.EXE?
For example (T)ype - 1 (DD), then (F)ormat. Then (C)opy .gkh or (W)rite .efe?
If you really did it, then what do you get after (D)irectory command?

plamy1969 wrote:

DId you try to copy the .gkh file or to write the .efe file to a newly formatted diskette with EPSDISK.EXE?
For example (T)ype - 1 (DD), then (F)ormat. Then (C)opy .gkh or (W)rite .efe?
If you really did it, then what do you get after (D)irectory command?

Yes, I tried. Formatting was no problem, but required the tape trick.
(C) copy didn't work. Perhaps this was my fault. I'm not used to this program.
(W) rite did partially work. Accessing the A: drive was no problem, it even asked for the directory block and read it.
The real problem in both cases was reading the source files from C:. I don't know why. Perhaps I doesn't support FAT12 (also used by floppies) ?

Okay, I tried again. The program writed the bnks-and-fx.gkh file to the floppy when I renamed it to .img.
Unfortunatelly, this didn't solve the problem. The D) irectory then showed garbled content.
And it also auto-detected the other file when I did use wild cards (*.efe).
But sadly, writing this file to the floppy didn't work. Perhaps this was because of a broken .gkh file,
which normally has to be written to the floppy first.

I'm not completely sure, but I think the program itself works so far and my issues are caused by corrupted files.

So, no success...
Your screenshots are the same here when I tried with DOSBox, so no matter if DOSBox or boot .img - the result is one and the same.
EPSDISK.EXE works perfectly in Windows 98, that's why someone has created "win98bootdisk" with EPSDISK.EXE inside. But no any guide about how to use EPSDISK.EXE after the PC is booted in Win98 (as a Virtual RAM disk). In this case I maybe need to have a SD card FAT32 formatted, so that after Win98 boot it can be recognized as a C:\ with all the files which need to be copied or written to a diskette.
When I was with Windows 98/XP long time ago, I used EPSDISK without any problems - just typing the command and drag-n-drop the chosen files for the diskette...

Wait, Jo22, wait!!!
Directory at block must be 1 (DD) and to use a DD (double density) diskette, not HD!
Please, try it. If you don't have such a diskette, just use an HD (high density) diskette and put a scotch tape on the right hole.
Once Directory at block is 1, then (F)ormat it. And then try to (W)rite the .efe file or to (C)opy the .gkh file.
Generally, the .efe files are instruments, and the .gkh files are kind of an image files with instruments content inside.

Believe me, the problem is not a corrupted gkh or efe files, sure!

plamy1969 wrote:

EPSDISK.EXE works perfectly in Windows 98, that's why someone has created "win98bootdisk" with EPSDISK.EXE inside. But no any guide about how to use EPSDISK.EXE after the PC is booted in Win98 (as a Virtual RAM disk).

Let's be clear: when you boot off the disk created with "win98bootdisk", you are in DOS 7, not Windows 98.

Jorpho wrote:

plamy1969 wrote:

EPSDISK.EXE works perfectly in Windows 98, that's why someone has created "win98bootdisk" with EPSDISK.EXE inside. But no any guide about how to use EPSDISK.EXE after the PC is booted in Win98 (as a Virtual RAM disk).

Let's be clear: when you boot off the disk created with "win98bootdisk", you are in DOS 7, not Windows 98.

http://ensoniqsamplers.com/epsasr/033.html

Win98 Boot Disk with EPSDisk

Rubber Chicken Software has created a special Win98 BootDisk. This enables WinNT, 2000, and XP machines to boot up in Win98. Plus it includes special startup routines to make a "RAMDisk" and load and run the EPSDisk program from, so you can operate on your floppy disks easier.

Instructions for use

Download Win98 BootDisk
Unzip the single .exe file contained, and run it
Put a DS/HD floppy in your floppy drive, click the button on the dialog.
Read the readme.txt file on the newly written floppy.
Reboot your machine with the newly written floppy disk still in the drive.
This will boot up your machine in Win98, and create a RAMDisk (a Virtual Drive in memory). This is done because many WinXP drives are formatted in a way (NTFS) that Win98 cannot read or write to them, and since we are writing floppies, we have to run EPSDisk from another area besides the floppy.
The readme for EPSDisk, epsdisk.txt, will automatically start. Read this!
Close readme.txt, then type epsdisk and hit ENTER to start the EPSDisk program.

Before I open this topic here, I did exactly what is written. But it's written nowhere why EPSDISK.EXE can't work correctly by this way.
Any idea what is wrong? Please, try to do exactly what is written here and see if you can get success.
I put an .efe file in the same win98bootdisk, so that after booting EPSDISK.EXE can see the .efe file loaded into this RAMDisk (Virtual Drive). But somehow EPSDISK doesn't see it.

plamy1969 wrote:

Before I open this topic here, I did exactly what is written.

Why didn't you say so in the first place? You never linked to that page before.

It is extremely discouraging to offer suggestions when it turns out you've already tried them or already know more about them.

In any case, regardless of what those instructions say, that disk does not boot into "Windows 98".

Jorpho wrote:

Why didn't you say so in the first place? You never linked to that page before. […]
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plamy1969 wrote:

Before I open this topic here, I did exactly what is written.

Why didn't you say so in the first place? You never linked to that page before.

It is extremely discouraging to offer suggestions when it turns out you've already tried them or already know more about them.

In any case, regardless of what those instructions say, that disk does not boot into "Windows 98".

So, what do you suggest? Any successful method?

Jorpho wrote:

plamy1969 wrote:

EPSDISK.EXE works perfectly in Windows 98, that's why someone has created "win98bootdisk" with EPSDISK.EXE inside. But no any guide about how to use EPSDISK.EXE after the PC is booted in Win98 (as a Virtual RAM disk).

Let's be clear: when you boot off the disk created with "win98bootdisk", you are in DOS 7, not Windows 98.

I fully agree with you. The image I made for plamy does contain the core files of a pure DOS.
In theory, this should be even more compatible than that "win98bootdisk" (his program is from '93).
I should probably also note that I removed that XMS RAM disk from config.sys, even though it should be self-evident:
Files can now be transfered to the EPSdisk "hard drive" by a simple Drag'n'Drop.
So there's no need to use a virtual drive anymore, because "A:" is always free.

plamy1969 wrote:

Believe me, the problem is not a corrupted gkh or efe files, sure!

Okay, I try to. 😉 But perhaps these files were meant for a different version of that program ?
Or something went wrong with them when uploading/downloading them to/from the file hoster ?

plamy1969 wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

Why didn't you say so in the first place? You never linked to that page before. […]
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plamy1969 wrote:

Before I open this topic here, I did exactly what is written.

Why didn't you say so in the first place? You never linked to that page before.

It is extremely discouraging to offer suggestions when it turns out you've already tried them or already know more about them.

In any case, regardless of what those instructions say, that disk does not boot into "Windows 98".

So, what do you suggest? Any successful method?

I'm neither used to your program, nor a musican, so I can't give you a precise answer to this.
All I can do is to make that program run and make it able to access drive A: (which I did).

If you can spare your 8MB card for an experiment, it would be nice to give it a try.
When booted, DOS will greet you with a C:\> prompt and you can run epsdisk.
From that point, everything should be the same like running it from a "DOS box" window in Windows 98.

The only "problem" I could imagine is timing. Win98 does include a timer emulation, which could come in handy on a too fast machine.
That beeing said, you program ran fine on my Pentium 133 in pure DOS, so I don't think this is the case.

plamy1969 wrote:

Wait, Jo22, wait!!!
Directory at block must be 1 (DD) and to use a DD (double density) diskette, not HD!
Please, try it. If you don't have such a diskette, just use an HD (high density) diskette and put a scotch tape on the right hole.

Ok, I'll try next time. But I should say that I do have an aversion against that tape trick.
Even though it does work, it isn't reliable. Especially if you do mix HD/DD media and drives.
Sometimes a DD drive won't read a track witten by an HD drive, because there's spurious data left from an previous track written by a DD drive.
Sorry, the explanation is rather poor, but maybe you can understand what I mean.
If not, just think of foot steps inside tire marks left behind by a truck (figurative example).. 😁

I should probably also note that I removed that XMS RAM disk from config.sys, even though it should be self-evident:
Files can now be transfered to the EPSdisk "hard drive" by a simple Drag'n'Drop.
So there's no need to use a virtual drive anymore, because "A:" is always free.
Would you explain that with simpler words? Which "hard drive" do you mean? How to use Drag'n'Drop in your case?

I'm neither used to your program, nor a musican, so I can't give you a precise answer to this.
All I can do is to make that program run and make it able to access drive A: (which I did).
No need to be a musician, it's just a technical matter - if you can use successfully (F)ormat, (C)opy and (W)rite commands to diskette and then (D)irectory command shows properly the content of the diskette, then everything is successful. That's it.
I also made the program run and access A: with win98bootdisk BEFORE opening this topic here, that's all I can reach. Only (F)ormat command was successful, obviously because EPSDISK.EXE somehow can't access the files that need to be written to the diskette. That's exactly the general problem - HOW TO MAKE EPSDISK ACCESS THE FILES??? HOW TO PLACE OR CONFIGURE A DIRECTORY (WITH THE FILES TO BE WRITTEN) THAT WILL SURELY BE ACCESSED BY EPSDISK?

I should say that I do have an aversion against that tape trick.
Even though it does work, it isn't reliable. Especially if you do mix HD/DD media and drives.
Yes, I know that too. For example, my Roland music composer (sequencer) doesn't work with anything different than DD diskettes only (with one hole). But this surely works 100% with EPSDISK and ENSONIQ format. All the users around the world confirm that too.

Let me understand something here. Why can't you just:
1. Make a boot floppy using "win98bootdisk"
2. Put your .ghk or .efe file on a second floppy disk
3. Boot your computer using the "win98bootdisk"
4. Eject the "win98bootdisk" and put in the second floppy disk
5. Copy the files from the second floppy disk to the "drive K:" RAM drive created by "win98bootdisk"
6. Run EPSDISK from drive K:
Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

Which "hard drive" do you mean? How to use Drag'n'Drop in your case?

If I'm not mistaken, he means the bootable SD card, and that you can just copy whatever you want to the SD card.

5. Copy the files from the second floppy disk to the "drive K:" RAM drive created by "win98bootdisk"

This idea was in my mind in theory, but I just don't know how to copy the files to the K:
Maybe there is a DOS command for that, but since I don't have a knowledge about DOS at all, I don't know how to do that.
And do you think that once the files are copied from another diskette to K: (if it's possible), then they will be kept in the virtual RAM once I run EPSDISK?

plamy1969 wrote:

This idea was in my mind in theory, but I just don't know how to copy the files to the K:
Maybe there is a DOS command for that, but since I don't have a knowledge about DOS at all, I don't know how to do that.

Don't you think that would be an easy thing to do?

You type

1copy *.* k:\

The end.

And do you think that once the files are copied from another diskette to K: (if it's possible), then they will be kept in the virtual RAM once I run EPSDISK?

Yes. That is exactly how it works.

The only catch is that once you finish running EPSDISK, the computer might start asking you where to find COMMAND.COM . If so, just put the "win98bootdisk" back into the computer and type "A:\COMMAND.COM". Afterwards you can eject the disk again. (I think you can get around this by typing "copy command.com k:\" and then "set comspec=k:\command.com".)

[I edited this post a couple of times. I hope you didn't start reading before I finished.]