marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (06/01/90)
Man am I disappointed. I just got my Win 3 from Egghead last night for
my home PC. I eagerly ripped open my materials and started reading the
manual. One of the first things I noticed was that I needed 6-8 MBytes
of free disk space. I only have three left on my 42 MByte drive. I
can't find anything I want to purge. I could free up one or two by
deleting my old 2.11, but I'm afraid I may have problems with the new
version. It still wouldn't be enough anyway.
So now I need to get more disk storage for my Compaq 386/16 which has a
funky proprietary controller. Of course Compaq wants a fortune for
their non-standard drives. I'm looking at disabling the HD controller
and buying a new ESDI setup with a 150 MB drive, but we're talking over
$1200, which would really hurt. I also hate putting that much money in
this antique (I've had it three years now). I was hoping to get a 486/33
in a year or so. Crap!
*** News Flash *** I just talked to my Compaq dealer. He has some
spare 60 MB Compaq drives that have been collecting dust. He'll let me
have one (plus double headed cable) for $450. That'll give me 100 MB.
Ahhhhh, breathing room. $450 is a lot easier to swallow that $1200, and
I won't need a new controller. Won't be a nice fast ESDI though.
My story about my failed installation isn't over yet. I brought Win 3
in to work to install on my Dell 325 with its 322 MB drive (got room
there!). I started the install program and when it tried to copy
COMM.DRV, it got a read error. I retried several times, but to no
avail. I ran Norton Disk Doctor on it and it found several bad spots on
the first disk.
I've been reading all the wonderful stuff about Win 3 here in c.w.m and
have been really getting pumped. Now I've got it but can't install it.
Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!
I called Egghead (where I got it) and told them my story. They gave me
two options.
1) Put everything back in the original box, ship it to them. When they
get it, they send me a whole new setup.
2) Buy a new copy, they ship immediately (2-day), I ship my old stuff,
they refund me for the second copy.
I think they said they would refund my shipping charges.
This didn't really appeal to me, so I decided to call Microsoft. I
called (800)323-3577 and hit "4". The guy I talked to was very helpful
and understanding. He said it would take weeks to get my replacement
disks (full set) - just the disks - no need to send them anything. I
started to whine, so he sent me to talk to someone else. This lady was
also very helpful (I've found MS to be quite pleasant to deal with) and
said she could expedite it for me and that I would get my replacement
disks in 5 days. BUT. They were out of 5.25" disks. I said I had both
types on my Dell, so she could send me the 3.5" version. She didn't
know if I could copy the files from 3.5" to 5.25", but at least I'll get
my Dell up and running. Anyone know if I can?
I'll figure out something.
--
Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov
Senior Computer Engineer VOICE: (303)231-1014
Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393
Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy futuremarshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (06/01/90)
I've received several responses to my question about copying the 3.5" disks to 1.2 MB disks. Everyone said it should work - just do a 1 to 1 copy. Jeff Altman had another great idea. He suggested I take my disk down to my local software store and get them to copy over my bad disk. Great idea!!! I hope they'll do it since I got this stuff from Egghead. Maybe I'll buy something else while I'm there. Now I won't have to wait until next week to get up and running. Thanks all, Marshall -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Engineer VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future
abh0@GTE.COM (Andrew Hudson) (06/02/90)
There isn't any problem copying MSW installation floppies from 3.5" to 5.25". The 3.5 floppies are 770k which copy to quad density 5.25 with no problem. You might, however, have a problem doing the samewith a CD-ROM installation :-D. - Andrew Hudson abh0@gte.com
marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (06/05/90)
GOOD NEWS!!! As recommended, I took my bad Disk #1 to Walden Software Saturday. I bought a game so I wouldn't feel guilty about asking for favors. When I asked for a favor, the guy said, "It isn't anything illegal is it?" I said no, that I needed an new copy of disk #1. I showed him my bad disk and gave him a new HD floppy. He copied his disk to mine. No sweat. Thanks, Walden Software!!! So now I've spent about 8 hours installing Win 3 on my home and work PCs. I have almost every application ever published, so setting up the program manager took forever. I wish PM would leave the directory where I left it each time I added another application. All-in-all, the program is pretty neat. Major strides have been made. There's still a lot to do though. I've promised myself that I'm going to sit down and read the manual cover to cover. I'll give Win 3 my best shot for a few weeks. Then, I'll decide if I want my users to have it. I'll let ya'll know what I decide, and why, then. I sure wish that the offer to upgrade Word 5 to WinWord hadn't expired before Win 3 came out. Maybe if I whine long enough, they give me another chance. Now, where did I put that manual... -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Engineer VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future