griesel@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU (Curtis W. Griesel) (12/24/89)
In order to accomodate an add-on hard disk, I've
recently upgraded my 1984 Sperry PC from Sperry DOS 2.11
(licenced from MS of course) to MS DOS 3.3. Before the
upgrade, the system was able to remember the time and
date once it was set; with the new DOS, the system clock
forgets the time and date when I re-boot. I don't have
a clock option in any of the expansion slots, and the
worthless documentation that came with the machine doesn't
mention the system clock. My questions are:
1. How was my system, under Sperry DOS 2.11, able to keep
track of the time and date, even when turned off?
2. How can I get the system clock to keep track of the time
and date with MS DOS 3.3?
I suspect the old DOS was grabbing the date and time from
somewhere every time it booted up, and the new DOS isn't
doing this. I've never heard of this; how does it work?
--
Curtis W. Griesel, griesel@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu
Coordinator of Commputer Access
Microcomputer, Workstation and Network Center; U of Minnesota, Minneapolis
"Disability is not the problem, peoples' attitude toward the disabled is".poffen@molehill (Russ Poffenberger) (12/26/89)
In article <17903@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU> griesel@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu (Curtis W. Griesel) writes: >In order to accomodate an add-on hard disk, I've >recently upgraded my 1984 Sperry PC from Sperry DOS 2.11 >(licenced from MS of course) to MS DOS 3.3. Before the >upgrade, the system was able to remember the time and >date once it was set; with the new DOS, the system clock >forgets the time and date when I re-boot. I don't have >a clock option in any of the expansion slots, and the >worthless documentation that came with the machine doesn't >mention the system clock. My questions are: > >1. How was my system, under Sperry DOS 2.11, able to keep > track of the time and date, even when turned off? All AT class machines, and some non-AT class clones have a clock chip that is driven by a battery when the power is shut off. AT class machines have the registers to read the time and date at boot up in a certain place that DOS (3.0and up) can read to set the time. I suspect that your machine had a hack done to DOS 2.11 to support your specific machine. > >2. How can I get the system clock to keep track of the time > and date with MS DOS 3.3? You may have to get the technical info about the clock in your machine. Then write a simple 'C' or assembly program that reads the info and stuffs it into DOS. This is what the PC style utilities that come with expansion cards for the PC do. (ie six-pack, etc) If you can get ahold of one of these, maybe (just maybe) it would work, but I can't guarantee this, the Sperry machine may be one of a kind. Russ Poffenberger DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com Schlumberger Technologies UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen 1601 Technology Drive CIS: 72401,276 San Jose, Ca. 95110 (408)437-5254