robert@rabbit1.UUCP (Robert Oliver) (01/12/89)
I'm attempting to load SCO Xenix 2.2 and DOS 3.3 onto an actual IBM PC AT.
That's not a real problem (just a pain). The problem is that it contains
a non-standard (i.e., doesn't exactly match any BIOS defined type of) drive.
The drive is a Toshiba MK56. Using Disk Manager (DM) 3.01 (which had been
loaded onto the drive by the company that installed it years ago as a DOS-only
machine), I can configure both a regular DOS partition (which wastes disk
space because it uses the nearest BIOS parameters, and thus can't access
all the heads) and a special DM partition (that uses all the heads/tracks
in a cylinder). I can even load Xenix at this point and create a partition
for it under Xenix. However, things get a bit screwed up after this.
Mostly, I end up not being able to use the true DOS partition any more.
ONTRACK has recommended that I upgrade to version 3.6 of DM (though their
not sure it will fix my problem). I'm in the process.
Any help would be appreciated. In particular, does anyone know how many
sectors per track this MK56 should be configured as? The BIOS mode
sets it to 17, but DM has a tendency (sometimes) to set the DM/DOS partition
to 63 sectors per track. Does it depend on my controller?
Thanks in advance... please email replies. I will forward info. to anyone
who mails me saying that they have a similar problem.
--
Robert Oliver
Rabbit Software Corp. (215) 647-0440
7 Great Valley Parkway East ...!{cbmvax,cuuxb}!hutch!robert
Malvern, PA 19355 ...!psuvax!burdvax!hutch!robertdavidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) (01/13/89)
In article <770@rabbit1.UUCP> robert@rabbit1.UUCP (Robert Oliver) writes: | I'm attempting to load SCO Xenix 2.2 and DOS 3.3 onto an actual IBM PC AT. | That's not a real problem (just a pain). The problem is that it contains | a non-standard (i.e., doesn't exactly match any BIOS defined type of) drive. I'm running a setup like that. If you can live with 32MB partitions you can use BIGDISK for the DOS partition(s). Xenix should handle anything, I've changed disks and controllers about five times in the last year, and had no trouble. BIGDISK was sent to the comp.binaries.ibm.pc group (I think it may be defunct) and is available from SIMTEL20. I wrote it because the version of DM we were using showd best performance at 5:1 interleave, vs 3:1 without. BIGDISK doesn't use any TSR's except for formatting, and is no-fee software. If you feel up to reformatting your disk again I'll send you a copy. -- bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me