barrett@meridn.enet.dec.com (Keith Barrett) (07/28/90)
I have a few questions concerning Bridgeboards, floppy drives, and
harddrives. These may be also be general PC/XT questions.
I currently have a 2000 with 2080 XT bridgeboard, IBM WD controller,
and a 5.25" ST drive connected to it. Since I have the 5.25" floppy
drive mounted in the bay, I currently have the HD running external;
housed in a plastic case with power and ribbon cables leading
into the 2000 through one of the removable plates. Since the system
runs as a tower and the computer and HD are "out of the way and
almost invisible", this works fine. However, Since I run with all
my IBM software already on the HD and hardly ever use the floppy
drive, I have been thinking about "switching" them and making the
floppy drive external instead. If I could disconnect it and connect
it at will - even better.
1) The bridgeboard does not boot if the 5.25" floppy drive is not
connected. Is there a way to remove this drive and still have
the bridgeboard boot and the HD function (preferably, but not
necessarily, with the device "letters" not being changed)? If
this ends up involving some sort of "fakeout" connector, what
would it look like? Are there PC/XT systems running with only
a HD?
2) Is there a way to "tell" MS-DOS not to bother checking for or
testing the floppy drive? It may help me disconnect it and it
would certainly be nice to have the XT bootup be quicker by
immediately going to the HD rather than "playing" around.
I have known a few others who would like to "tell" the bridgeboard
to ignore the 5.25" for similar reasons.
Thanks!!! Keith
P.S. Responses should be directed to me via EMAIL, as I cannot always access
USENET. Thanks!
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"I'm Bart Simpson - who the hell are you?"
Keith G. Barrett - Software Specialist Internet: barrett@meridn.enet.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corp. "DEC has it now" UUCP: decwrll!meridn.enet!barrett
// "Wait'll they get a load of me" - Joker
\X/ "The Amiga is really a picoVAX" "You won't get it!" - the Prisoner
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