VOGONS


First post, by Cesora

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Hello I have been given a PC with has a CR-563-b connected to ct1740. This is earlier stuff then I have worked on before (grew up with Pentium 3s and 4s), but I can't get the CD drive detected in the bios. Is this normal when the drive is connected to the sound blaster?

Reply 1 of 17, by darry

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Cesora wrote on 2020-05-23, 01:31:

Hello I have been given a PC with has a CR-563-b connected to ct1740. This is earlier stuff then I have worked on before (grew up with Pentium 3s and 4s), but I can't get the CD drive detected in the bios. Is this normal when the drive is connected to the sound blaster?

Yes this is normal. This is NOT a an IDE drive, even if it has a 40-pin connector . The interface is a Matsushita (MKE)/Panasonic proprietary one . Never connect it to an IDE port .
You will need to use SBCD.SYS in your config.sys and load mscdex.exe as usual .

See here :
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Matsushita_MKE

Reply 2 of 17, by Cesora

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Hmm is there any advantage to this drive or should I just replace it with a faster standard ide?

The rest of the specs are a Pentium 1 200 with 32mb ram. Which os suits this best? The earliest os I have used is win95. Is it difficult to set up 3.1?

Reply 3 of 17, by darry

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Cesora wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:24:

Hmm is there any advantage to this drive or should I just replace it with a faster standard ide?

The rest of the specs are a Pentium 1 200 with 32mb ram. Which os suits this best? The earliest os I have used is win95. Is it difficult to set up 3.1?

Other than potential nostalgia for some people, I see no advantages (and I owned one when it was current, and kept it longer than was fashionable) .

-It's a slow 2X drive .
-It uses software polling and has high CPU usage .
-It is not reputed to be all that reliable .
-Bonus reason for selling it : it shares a common mechanism with certain old 3DO consoles, so it may actually have a resale value (if it works).

Pentium 1 200MHz is in Windows 9X territory, IMHO . Windows 3.1 is not hard to install, but I personally do not see the point of running it. Someone else will likely chime in with a different opinion .

I know I'm repeating myself, but do not plug an IDE CD-ROM into that sound card, it will not work and may damage something .

Reply 4 of 17, by Horun

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Great answer darry ! Yes Cesora, if a CDROM is connected to a sound card it will never show in the BIOS. Hope your drive works but being a 2X you will have read issues if you decide to burn your own data disks on a newer/faster cdrom/dvd rom with newer blank cdrom disks to transfer files. They changed the media color on the newer faster blank cd's so only those rated at max of 8x or 16x will read properly on older 1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, etc drives. Retail disks should not be a problem though IF from late 90's or earlier (based on my experience, not a hard rule).

If it were me I keep the old 2x CDROM as it is worth a lot (to someone who wants a very early CDROM for their system if it works) and Yes replace it with a IDE cdrom from say late 90's if you have one.

and a repeat:

Never connect it to an IDE port .(the 2x CDROM)
I know I'm repeating myself, but do not plug an IDE CD-ROM into that sound card, it will not work and may damage something .

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 17, by jakethompson1

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Hey Cesora,

Since I just posted on another CD-ROM question I thought it worth mentioning. Even if you get an IDE CD-ROM a Pentium 200 is right on the edge of where the BIOS may or may not have support for booting from CD-ROM. That sounds like the era of Award bioses. If you have BIOS version 4.51PG it should detect CD-ROMs. If you have 4.50PG it may not.

I'd go for DOS and Windows 3.x just for the learning experience. You should go for Windows For Workgroups 3.11 even if you aren't planning to connect it to a network. Realistically that's what people would have used if they had some reason they wanted to use 3.x on a faster system like this. If you get tired of it (or want to play Win9x games) just format and upgrade and it'll give some appreciation of what 'plug and play' is all about!

Reply 7 of 17, by Cesora

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Hi jack, I would be keen to give 3.1 a try! I have a 98se box that does almost everything I need but I'm interested in trying out older tech. I have another ide cd drive in storage which I will grab and install and hopefully the bios will detect it

Reply 8 of 17, by darry

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Cesora wrote on 2020-05-23, 04:00:

Hi jack, I would be keen to give 3.1 a try! I have a 98se box that does almost everything I need but I'm interested in trying out older tech. I have another ide cd drive in storage which I will grab and install and hopefully the bios will detect it

Whether BIOS detects it or not, it will still work. Either way, you just need an IDE CDROM driver loaded in config.sys .

Reply 9 of 17, by gdjacobs

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darry wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:34:

-Bonus reason for selling it : it shares a common mechanism with certain old 3DO consoles, so it may actually have a resale value (if it works).

Indeed, anyone with a Creative 3DO Blaster will require a -563 or -563b to play 3DO games under Windows 3.1.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 10 of 17, by aha2940

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gdjacobs wrote on 2020-05-23, 05:00:
darry wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:34:

-Bonus reason for selling it : it shares a common mechanism with certain old 3DO consoles, so it may actually have a resale value (if it works).

Indeed, anyone with a Creative 3DO Blaster will require a -563 or -563b to play 3DO games under Windows 3.1.

For me, that would be a reason to keep the drive.

Reply 11 of 17, by gdjacobs

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aha2940 wrote on 2020-05-23, 05:07:
gdjacobs wrote on 2020-05-23, 05:00:
darry wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:34:

-Bonus reason for selling it : it shares a common mechanism with certain old 3DO consoles, so it may actually have a resale value (if it works).

Indeed, anyone with a Creative 3DO Blaster will require a -563 or -563b to play 3DO games under Windows 3.1.

For me, that would be a reason to keep the drive.

Be aware that those cards are very rare and extremely expensive.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 12 of 17, by Anonymous Coward

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Horun wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:37:

They changed the media color on the newer faster blank cd's so only those rated at max of 8x or 16x will read properly on older 1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, etc drives. Retail disks should not be a problem though IF from late 90's or earlier (based on my experience, not a hard rule).

More importantly, I do not believe these old CR-563B drives support multi-session discs, so if you want try using CD-Rs with it, make sure that the disc only has one session on it and that the disc has been closed properly!

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
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Reply 13 of 17, by Cesora

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So are these drives rare or valuable? I can't imagine id ever find this 3do blaster as after a Google it seems very rare and expensive, so I may as well sell the drive. I haven't any nostalgia for it and from what guys have said it seems less practical then a generic ide CD drive

Reply 14 of 17, by Grzyb

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Cesora wrote on 2020-05-23, 06:17:

So are these drives rare or valuable? I can't imagine id ever find this 3do blaster as after a Google it seems very rare and expensive, so I may as well sell the drive. I haven't any nostalgia for it and from what guys have said it seems less practical then a generic ide CD drive

Not really rare, but not common, either.
Don't expect a fortune, but it's sure to bring you enough money to purchase something much more useful.

Żywotwór planetarny, jego gnijące błoto, jest świtem egzystencji, fazą wstępną, i wyłoni się z krwawych ciastomózgowych miedź miłująca...

Reply 15 of 17, by derSammler

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Horun wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:37:

Yes Cesora, if a CDROM is connected to a sound card it will never show in the BIOS.

That's not correct. Any ATAPI CD-ROM drive would show up in the BIOS if the BIOS is new enough to even be able to detect ATAPI devices (which is of no importance for a CD-ROM drive to work, btw) and the IDE channel is either primary or secondary. That can be on a sound card as well, as hardware-wise, the place where the IDE port sits makes no difference whatsoever.

Only CD-ROM drives with a proprietary interface will never ever show up in the BIOS.

Reply 16 of 17, by darry

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derSammler wrote on 2020-05-23, 08:08:
Horun wrote on 2020-05-23, 02:37:

Yes Cesora, if a CDROM is connected to a sound card it will never show in the BIOS.

That's not correct. Any ATAPI CD-ROM drive would show up in the BIOS if the BIOS is new enough to even be able to detect ATAPI devices (which is of no importance for a CD-ROM drive to work, btw) and the IDE channel is either primary or secondary. That can be on a sound card as well, as hardware-wise, the place where the IDE port sits makes no difference whatsoever.

Only CD-ROM drives with a proprietary interface will never ever show up in the BIOS.

That is true. Though on a Pentium board like OP's, a sound card's IDE interface would likely be a tertiary one (usually 2 IDE ports integrated on board), so it would not show up in the BIOS anyway .

Reply 17 of 17, by aha2940

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gdjacobs wrote on 2020-05-23, 05:09:
aha2940 wrote on 2020-05-23, 05:07:
gdjacobs wrote on 2020-05-23, 05:00:

Indeed, anyone with a Creative 3DO Blaster will require a -563 or -563b to play 3DO games under Windows 3.1.

For me, that would be a reason to keep the drive.

Be aware that those cards are very rare and extremely expensive.

Oh yes, I am aware of that, however I'd keep the drive just because of the curiosity factor, simply because I know it is one of the very few drives that work with an even rarer piece of hardware.