VOGONS


First post, by Exploit

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I am trying to get a virtual CD-ROM drive running in DR-DOS 3.41 in QEMU 7.0.0, but all attempts failed.
It works with the same Virtual Machine in MS-DOS 6.2 and FreeDOS 1.3 but not DR DOS 3.41.

The Problem seems to be that the CD-ROM driver and MSCDEX version 2.23 loads, but when i try to access the CD-ROM on Drive D: it fails
with the message:

Invalid drive specified

A CD-ROM ISO image file was inserted in the virtual CD-ROM drive.

Also UDVD2 gives the error message:

UDVD2, 3-05-2015. CD/DVD name is MSCD001
BAD Controller at I-O address C640h, Chip I.D. 80867010h.
CD0: IDE 0 Primary-master, QEMU DVD-ROM, PIO.

I tried several combinations of CD-ROM Drivers which where:
- UDVD2.SYS
- UIDE.SYS
- VIDE-CDD.SYS (proprietary Oak Technologies Universal IDE CD-ROM Driver)

and the DOS CD-ROM Extension:
- MSCDEX.EXE
- SHSUCDX.COM

But all have the same problem.

CONFIG.SYS with UDVD2 from FreeDOS 1.3
UDVD2 requires XMS memory, which DR DOS 3.41 lacks. Thus i loaded HimemEX from FreeDOS 1.3 for it:

...
REM HimemEX from FreeDOS 1.3 is required for UDVD2
DEVICE = C:\STUFF\HIMEMX\HIMEMX.EXE
DEVICE = C:\STUFF\UDVD2\UDVD2.SYS /D:MSCD001
...

CONFIG.SYS with UIDE.SYS

...
REM HimemEX is not needed with the /N3 switch. /N3 = no XMS memory required
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\HIMEMX\HIMEMX.EXE
DEVICE = C:\STUFF\UIDE\UIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /N1 /N3 /R15

REM I also tried the /A switch for alternate addressing:
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\UIDE\UIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /N1 /N3 /R15 /A

REM and the /E switch (makes the driver call the BIOS):
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\UIDE\UIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /N1 /N3 /R15 /E

REM and a combination of them:
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\UIDE\UIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /N1 /N3 /R15 /A /E
...

The comments where of course set and removed accordingly.

CONFIG.SYS with VIDE-CDD.SYS (proprietary Oak Technologies Universal IDE CD-ROM Driver)

...
REM /P:XXX sets the base address for the IDE drive. Available settings are 1F0, 170, 1E8, 168
REM If /P is not given, VIDE-CDD.SYS tries auto-detection.
REM /L:xx language code. For the screenshot and this board i used US.
DEVICE = C:\STUFF\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /L:US
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:1F0 /L:US
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:170 /L:US
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:1E8 /L:US
REM DEVICE = C:\STUFF\CDROM\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:168 /L:US
...

AUTOEXEC.BAT with MSCDEX.EXE

...
REM I did not use the /E parameter, thus extended memory was not required
C:\STUFF\MSCDEX\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:16 /L:D /V
...

AUTOEXEC.BAT with SHSUCDX.COM

...
REM /C = stay in low memory
C:\STUFF\SHUSCDX\SHUSCDX.COM /D:MSCD001 /L:D /C
...

Summary:
So i don't know why, but somehow DR-DOS 3.41 was never made to work with CD-ROM drives.
As i said before, the same virtual machine settings work with FreeDOS 1.3 and MS-DOS 6.2.
Does anyone know, what could be the problem with DR DOS 3.41?
Are these DOS incompatibilities?

I know that DR DOS 7.0 was shipped with its own NWCDEX DOS CD-ROM Extension but that is not available in DR DOS 3.41
and the problem seem to be right at the beginning when the CD-ROM drivers get loaded.

The reason why i want to use DR DOS 3.41 for this and not a later version or MS-DOS 6.2 or FreeDOS 1.3 is, that this was my first DOS in my childhood and i wanted to know how far i get with this version.

See screenshots for some of the combinations above.

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  • udvd2_with_shsucdx.png
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  • udvd2.png
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  • oak.png
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Last edited by Exploit on 2022-06-24, 11:44. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 13, by root42

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It might just simply be that DR DOS 3.41 doesn't support CD drives. It was released in 1989, which would suggest it might be possible. After all, MS DOS 3.1 could already run MSCDEX and support CD-ROMs, from what I read on Wikipedia. And that was a couple of years earlier! I would try NWCDEX nevertheless. It is supposed to be pretty good and light on the conventional RAM. Also you might want to check if there were different DR DOS 3.41 releases, maybe another one will work. Otherwise you can also try and jump ahead to DR DOS 5.0 just for testing purposes and see if that changes anything.

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Reply 2 of 13, by Yoghoo

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Tried it in VirtualBox and got the same problem with DR-DOS 3.41. Also used OAKCDROM.SYS but used MSCDEX.EXE version 2.25.

Don't know what the problem is but my guess is with the unsupported MSCDEX (or alternatives) calls. Needed to set the /L:D parameter for example. If not it would try to use A: as drive and make drive C: not accessible anymore etc.

DR-DOS 5.0 and 6.0 work correctly with these files and versions btw.

Reply 3 of 13, by Exploit

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Yoghoo wrote on 2022-06-24, 11:33:

Tried it in VirtualBox and got the same problem with DR-DOS 3.41. Also used OAKCDROM.SYS but used MSCDEX.EXE version 2.25.

Don't know what the problem is but my guess is with the unsupported MSCDEX (or alternatives) calls. Needed to set the /L:D parameter for example. If not it would try to use A: as drive and make drive C: not accessible anymore etc.

Thanks for testing with MSCDEX version 2.25 and on VirtualBox.
I don't think the problem is based on MSCDEX. If that were the case, SHSUCDX.COM (from FreeDOS) could have worked, but that doesn't work either.
I think the problem is right at the beginning when one of the CD-ROM drivers loads.
See the error message from UVDV2 above.

DR-DOS 5.0 and 6.0 work correctly with these files and versions btw.

Thanks for the information.

Reply 4 of 13, by Exploit

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root42 wrote on 2022-06-24, 11:31:

It might just simply be that DR DOS 3.41 doesn't support CD drives. It was released in 1989, which would suggest it might be possible. After all, MS DOS 3.1 could already run MSCDEX and support CD-ROMs, from what I read on Wikipedia.

As far as i know, MSCDEX does make use of the Microsoft networks interface in MS-DOS which was introduced in MS-DOS 3.1. Maybe DR DOS 3.41 doesn't support such an network interface?

And that was a couple of years earlier! I would try NWCDEX nevertheless.

But what should i do with the error message of UDVD2 earlier?

Also you might want to check if there were different DR DOS 3.41 releases, maybe another one will work.

Is it somehow possible to read version informations from the files DRBIOS.SYS and DRBDOS.SYS?

Reply 5 of 13, by root42

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Can you still try NWCDEX though? Just for kicks, and to confirm that 3.41 just can't do it?

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Reply 6 of 13, by root42

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Exploit wrote on 2022-06-24, 11:46:

And that was a couple of years earlier! I would try NWCDEX nevertheless.

But what should i do with the error message of UDVD2 earlier?

I don't think you need to use UDVD2... Just use one of the other CD drivers plus NWCDEX from e.g. DR DOS 7.

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Reply 7 of 13, by Exploit

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root42 wrote on 2022-06-24, 11:48:

Can you still try NWCDEX though? Just for kicks, and to confirm that 3.41 just can't do it?

Ok, i searched on my old Shareware CD-ROMs and found version 2.20 of NWCDEX.EXE and some other files in the ZIP file, like newer versions of CHKDSK.EXE and DPMS.EXE.

I tried it now in my DR DOS 3.41 VM and used the same parameters as with MSCDEX.EXE and it has the same error message. See the screenshot.

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Reply 8 of 13, by Exploit

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root42 wrote on 2022-06-24, 11:49:
Exploit wrote on 2022-06-24, 11:46:

And that was a couple of years earlier! I would try NWCDEX nevertheless.

But what should i do with the error message of UDVD2 earlier?

I don't think you need to use UDVD2... Just use one of the other CD drivers plus NWCDEX from e.g. DR DOS 7.

Okay, used the OAK CD-ROM driver again, but it's the same problem:

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Reply 10 of 13, by root42

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It's probably safe to say that DR-DOS 3.41 just doesn't work. Try DR DOS 5.0 and see if that helps. That is more in the era of CD-ROM anyway.

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Reply 11 of 13, by Exploit

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Found this interesting German text about NWCDEX.EXE
http://www.antonis.de/dos/dos-tuts/mpdostip/h … ml/nwdostip.htm

It says about NWCDEX.EXE:

NWCDEX.EXE    Speicheroptimierter (weil DPMS-nutzender) Ersatz für
Microsofts MSCDEX.EXE, siehe auch Kapitel II.3. und V.4.
Arbeitet auch mit DR DOS 5.0 und 6.0 (nicht aber mit 3.41).

Sloppy translation in English:

NWCDEX.EXE A memory optimized (DPMS using) replacement of Microsoft MSCDEX.EXE. See chapter II. 3. and V.4.
It does work with DR DOS 5.0 and 6.0 (but not with 3.41)

Maybe DR DOS 3.41 doesn't have that network interface, that MSCDEX.EXE or NWCDEX.EXE requires? That's at least the only explanation i have at the moment.

Reply 12 of 13, by root42

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That's very much probable. Hence my recommendation to go to DR DOS 5.0. I would assume you didn't use 3.41 with a CD ROM back in the day either. So not much nostalgia lost here. 😉

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Reply 13 of 13, by Exploit

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root42 wrote on 2022-06-24, 12:48:

That's very much probable. Hence my recommendation to go to DR DOS 5.0.

Never mind, by using a VM i can also copy larger amounts of files on the guest hd image by just mounting it on the host system. Another option is to just boot a live-cd of FreeDOS and copy the files from a second virtual CD-ROM on the DR DOS hd image when FreeDOS is running.

I would assume you didn't use 3.41 with a CD ROM back in the day either. So not much nostalgia lost here. 😉

That's true. At that time my family already had bought MS DOS 6.2 and i could play Rebel Assault, my first game shipped on CD-ROM. 😀