DescentBB

So with a existing HDD running win 7, I need to know the procedure to hook up a 2nd hdd on the same comp. only running win 98se. I have a dos based cad package that won't run on win 7. With the older motherboards I would simply hook the 2nd hdd as a slave and if I remember right, pick which hdd at boot up. Now it looks like I just hook the 2nd hdd directly to the MB. Will I, at boot up still choose which hdd or do I have to go into win 7 first and choose the 2nd hdd? Techie where I bought the hdd wasn't sure how to do it so I figured I'd come here and get some pro advice.

Works pretty much the same way, go into bios, pick the drive you wish to boot from.

This DOS program you have, does it REQUIRE Windows 98SE, or is it something that could be run from DOSBOX, or perhaps Windows XP mode if it is a 16 bit windows application? I ask because there is a significant chance that Windows 98SE will not run well or even at all on any remotely modern PC.

Oh, and how big is the second hard drive he sold you, and how much did you pay for it?

New hdd is wd 250gb caviar blue sata. paid 79.00 + tax. Cad I have is Datacad 7, copy righted in 1995. All it has for system requirements is DOS 5.0 or higher, nothing about windows OS. Datacad will not run on the win 7 OS as architecture in not compatible. Would this "DOS box" make any difference? I have been running it on Win XP on another computor but have been getting some odd gliches tho on a third Comp with XP it seems to work OK. So if 98 is going to be a problem then I could use winxp pro that I have.

DOSBOX is an emulator for DOS that a lot of people use to run old games, but it can run pretty much any DOS program. I'd try it first before resorting to booting from the hard drive (since it is free), and after that that I'd use windows anytime upgrade if necessary to update to Windows 7 Professional which would let you use Windows XP mode as another alternative. Or you could even install your XP pro inside a virtualbox virtual machine (the poor mans XP mode) and try running your program from inside that. It is also possible to run windows 98 inside a virtual machine, but its still rather limited on support.

If it works inside any of those other options, take the hard drive back for a refund.

What does DOS box have that the inherent DOS command in Win. doesn't?

woodchip wrote:What does DOS box have that the inherent DOS command in Win. doesn't?

The windows command prompt is just a command line interface for windows. In other words, it's really windows running things - you just get them kicked off by typing instead of clicking. You can think of think of it as the newest, latest guts driving your programs.

DOSBox, on the other hand, emulates actual DOS. Thus, programs think it's the old, DOS guts driving them; so they play nicely, as long as they don't try to do something that DOSBox doesn't know how to emulate.

But will the DOSbox allow me to get by the win 7 architecture that is not allowing me to install the program?

Downloaded Dosbox on my win xp comp. First problem is when I get into the cad program it is only a tiny little window. How do I get that to full screen? Under the OS native it will automatically go to full screen.

Grendel wrote:RTFM

Looked at the link but not sure how it pertains to my questions.

http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Usage

-fullscreen
Starts DOSBox in fullscreen mode.

Well I tried playing with that -fullscreen command and didn't work. Then I found hitting alt/enter was much easier. However the cad proggy didn't fit right on my win xp pro comp screen and I still have issues with the program not transfer files into dwg format. Even erased and reinstalled the program. So I tried hooking the new hdd into newest comp. and find winxp pro stops installing with security message. so don't know if even winxp can handle the newest MB's and bios. So all in all may be cheaper just to use my 3rd oldest comp (at least 10 years old) and get a bigger monitor. At least there the cad program works ok.