[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Making a 3 1/2, 1.4Mb floppy my only floppy.

tims@infidel.lanl.gov (Tim Sullivan) (08/04/90)

I have a 2, 360K floppy, Leading Edge model D which has only 2 half
height bays for drives. I would like to upgrade to a system with a
hard drive and one 1.4Mb floppy. Questions:

1) The BIOS is a Phoenix BIOS that displays the message: Phoenix 8088
ROM BIOS version 3.00. Can someone tell me if this BIOS will support
1.4Mb floppies or tell me how to find out?

2) Given that the BIOS works with 1.44Mb floppies, I buy a controller
that can handle 1.4Mb floppies, and I buy DOS 3.3 or 4.0, I'm set,
right? :^) I can boot my machine from this floppy and everything
works? Or is there something else I should be aware of, like different
ways different controllers make older machines compatible with 1.4Mb?

I know that if I succeed I will have trouble with copy protected
software available only on 5 1/4" disk, but I have a machine available
that I can use to transfer non-copy protected software from 5 1/4 to 3
1/2 formats and don't use a lot of copy protected software in the
first place. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Tim Sullivan  (tims@infidel.lanl.gov)