UPL Windows 95
Just a quick update.
I got windows 95 working. Once you accept that you have to double check every single action the UPL is installing (DOS vs Windows) i all starts to make more sense.
Once the upper memory was allocated and after setting some variables the UPL software could work.
Now i'm struggling with the B10 option. For some reason i cannot have 64K of program and 64K of data. Even though the memory should allow it.
everything less will work.
I'll keep on digging some more. After a good night sleep i might think on the next steps.
Rewriting the setups for win95 should not be rocket science....
btw: anybody got any tips on taking images from a win95 disk. After restoring the image on a new CF card i get the operating system missing error. My way of working works fine for DOS 6.22 but not for 95.
Cheers,
Bart
Just a quick update.
I got windows 95 working. Once you accept that you have to double check every single action the UPL is installing (DOS vs Windows) i all starts to make more sense.
Once the upper memory was allocated and after setting some variables the UPL software could work.
Now i'm struggling with the B10 option. For some reason i cannot have 64K of program and 64K of data. Even though the memory should allow it.
everything less will work.
I'll keep on digging some more. After a good night sleep i might think on the next steps.
Rewriting the setups for win95 should not be rocket science....
btw: anybody got any tips on taking images from a win95 disk. After restoring the image on a new CF card i get the operating system missing error. My way of working works fine for DOS 6.22 but not for 95.
Cheers,
Bart
I just got the network working. This opens a lot of possibilities in windows 95.
I am able to share the UPL folder and access it while the UPL software is running.
Running the B10 option full blast is out of the question now with all of the added windows components for network. But i'm still able to run it with 32K program and 32K data. I don't know much about BASIC but i guess that would still suffice for my needs.
Now the focus is on getting a working image of the CF Card that i can restore.
Cheers,
Bart
I tested a fresh windows 98 install and i ran very slow. Compared to that windows 95 is flying.
it works for my needs. But in order to experiment further and make new installers i need to be able to take images from the disks.
Installing windows 95 from 21 floppies is not something i wish to spend my time on...
Got the imaging under control.
Will start on converting the UPL setups and see how far i get before getting frustrated.
Update will follow.
Cheers,
Bart
I have used selfimage Download SelfImage - MajorGeeks to make disk images for both Windows and Linux for years. Its pretty simple and trouble free. For Windows you need to get everything on the disk since the booting can be complicated (on later versions). For a while I was supporting a Linux audio player using CF cards. I could take the bootable card insert it into the CF reader on a Windows PC and make a perfect bootable copy with little overhead. Also a saved image that could be shared. Same for a bootable Win 7 image. Much easier than systems that require booting into a special Linux build or what have you. For what you are doing I would make snapshots so when it self destructs, which it will, recovery is pretty quick.
I have used selfimage Download SelfImage - MajorGeeks to make disk images for both Windows and Linux for years. Its pretty simple and trouble free. For Windows you need to get everything on the disk since the booting can be complicated (on later versions). For a while I was supporting a Linux audio player using CF cards. I could take the bootable card insert it into the CF reader on a Windows PC and make a perfect bootable copy with little overhead. Also a saved image that could be shared. Same for a bootable Win 7 image. Much easier than systems that require booting into a special Linux build or what have you. For what you are doing I would make snapshots so when it self destructs, which it will, recovery is pretty quick.
I ended up using Paragon where i can save everything as virtual disks.
The key was inserting the startup disk and running "sys C:". That ended up restoring the MBR and got the machine booting again from the CF Card.
UPL Windows 95
Here is a update as well as a script i made to get the UPL software running on windows 95.
Installing windows 95 is quite straight forward and i won't discuss it here.
The key is getting enough upper memory. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but i think i'm close.
The base program needs 25K of Upper memory. Depending on the B10 configuration comes an additional 32 or 64K for the program and 32 or 64K for the data. This comes out in a total of 153K of upper memory. If the UPL_UI exe cannot get this memory available it will result in an Abnormal error and never run.
You can check the memory by running the mem command in a dos prompt.
In the following folder you can find the update files and script.
WINDOWS 95 Update - Google Drive
There you can find known working config.sys / autoexec.bat and system.in files.
If you run the UPLUPDATE.BAT script it will copy and overwrite them to the neccesary folders.
Due to incompatibility of the UPL scripts with windows 95 i have removed what is no longer needed (e.g. keyboard scripts) as this is now managed by windows 95. But more importantly the UPL.BAT and UPLSET.BAT as they would mess up the installation if left original. The update script will also overwrite these files. Additionally a nice shortcut is copied.
The flow goes like this:
Fresh win95
Install UPL disk1
Install UPL disk2
Run update script (copy the folder to a floppy and run the batch file from A:\ )
Reboot
It's very important that you do not reboot during the installation as this will make windows not bootable. The UPL installation will overwrite config.sys and autoexec.bat files assuming it's DOS.
Full information can be found here.
WINDOWS 95 - Google Drive
Backup images can be found here.
Image Backups - Google Drive
Keep in mind when restoring images that the MBR is going to be corrupt. It will not be bootable. Insert the startup disk and run "sys C:". This will restore the MBR and reboot the device.
Operation is very smooth and i'm able to run the UPL with B10 with 64Kb for program and 32K for data or vice versa. During the UPL operation the network is still working and the C-drive can be accessed if shared.
Quite happy with the result. Would recommend if your motherboard allows it.
Next step is getting bigger CF cards and installing VB6. :-D.
Cheers,
Bart
Here is a update as well as a script i made to get the UPL software running on windows 95.
Installing windows 95 is quite straight forward and i won't discuss it here.
The key is getting enough upper memory. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but i think i'm close.
The base program needs 25K of Upper memory. Depending on the B10 configuration comes an additional 32 or 64K for the program and 32 or 64K for the data. This comes out in a total of 153K of upper memory. If the UPL_UI exe cannot get this memory available it will result in an Abnormal error and never run.
You can check the memory by running the mem command in a dos prompt.
In the following folder you can find the update files and script.
WINDOWS 95 Update - Google Drive
There you can find known working config.sys / autoexec.bat and system.in files.
If you run the UPLUPDATE.BAT script it will copy and overwrite them to the neccesary folders.
Due to incompatibility of the UPL scripts with windows 95 i have removed what is no longer needed (e.g. keyboard scripts) as this is now managed by windows 95. But more importantly the UPL.BAT and UPLSET.BAT as they would mess up the installation if left original. The update script will also overwrite these files. Additionally a nice shortcut is copied.
The flow goes like this:
Fresh win95
Install UPL disk1
Install UPL disk2
Run update script (copy the folder to a floppy and run the batch file from A:\ )
Reboot
It's very important that you do not reboot during the installation as this will make windows not bootable. The UPL installation will overwrite config.sys and autoexec.bat files assuming it's DOS.
Full information can be found here.
WINDOWS 95 - Google Drive
Backup images can be found here.
Image Backups - Google Drive
Keep in mind when restoring images that the MBR is going to be corrupt. It will not be bootable. Insert the startup disk and run "sys C:". This will restore the MBR and reboot the device.
Operation is very smooth and i'm able to run the UPL with B10 with 64Kb for program and 32K for data or vice versa. During the UPL operation the network is still working and the C-drive can be accessed if shared.
Quite happy with the result. Would recommend if your motherboard allows it.
Next step is getting bigger CF cards and installing VB6. :-D.
Cheers,
Bart
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I have to come back to my statement. I revisited this and used other CF cards since i now know how to restore images. With a reputable one it does run smooth. The only problem is now my capacity. It is only 512mb and i need a bigger card so i can also put the win98 install disk on another partition.
I have ordered bigger cards and will try out the process on the Win98 installation. If needed i’ll update my update files.
Process should be fairly similar to windows 95 i guess.
Cheers Bart
. A desktop needs a shortcut!UPL Windows 98
After getting some decent Sandisk CF 4gb Cards (30MB/s - 200X) i decided to give Windows 98 a go again. I partioned the card into leaving half for the installation (C-drive) and the other to store the installation disc.
I struggled a bit on the network until i realized that the CNet driver is only for DOS since the official DAVICOM is not supported by DOS. However they started making a driver for 95 and 98. So after getting the correct driver i had network again and could share files.
The update flow is identical as for 95. I did take the system.ini of the new installation and added the "LocalLoadHigh=1" in the 386Enh section.
The set of files can be found here. Put everything on a floppy and run from A:\
Windows 98 Update - Google Drive
The only thing i encountered is that i had no enough upper memory to run B10 in mode 3 or 4. I then decided to alter the config.sys file and load the devices normal instead of high. This resulted in enough upper memory and the UPL can run as before. These updates are also reflected in the update folder above. Will have to evaluated if it has a negative effect.
Overall with a good CF card the operation is smooth although you have to be carefull with features like active desktop as you notice some hiccups here and there.
Images can be found here:
Images - Google Drive
Full folder with all information here:
WINDOWS 98SE - Google Drive
As suggested by electron-ic. I'll see if i can do a HDD speed benchmark over DOS/win95 and 98.
Cheers,
Bart
After getting some decent Sandisk CF 4gb Cards (30MB/s - 200X) i decided to give Windows 98 a go again. I partioned the card into leaving half for the installation (C-drive) and the other to store the installation disc.
I struggled a bit on the network until i realized that the CNet driver is only for DOS since the official DAVICOM is not supported by DOS. However they started making a driver for 95 and 98. So after getting the correct driver i had network again and could share files.
The update flow is identical as for 95. I did take the system.ini of the new installation and added the "LocalLoadHigh=1" in the 386Enh section.
The set of files can be found here. Put everything on a floppy and run from A:\
Windows 98 Update - Google Drive
The only thing i encountered is that i had no enough upper memory to run B10 in mode 3 or 4. I then decided to alter the config.sys file and load the devices normal instead of high. This resulted in enough upper memory and the UPL can run as before. These updates are also reflected in the update folder above. Will have to evaluated if it has a negative effect.
Overall with a good CF card the operation is smooth although you have to be carefull with features like active desktop as you notice some hiccups here and there.
Images can be found here:
Images - Google Drive
Full folder with all information here:
WINDOWS 98SE - Google Drive
As suggested by electron-ic. I'll see if i can do a HDD speed benchmark over DOS/win95 and 98.
Cheers,
Bart
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