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[The Fifth Horseman]

Hiya, folks.
Got some trouble with my "new" DOS gaming rig.

After going through the dismantling and subsequent reassembly - several times, in fact - then all neccesary maintenance of the components and additions: replacing the worn out CD-ROM drive, attaching the muffler mats to inside of the case and trimming them to fit (a job and a half by itself, IMO) etc - you know the drill - and finally the OS installation (DOS 7.1, booting from a freshly recorded boot floppy and then installing from CD - computer refused to boot from several copies of the CD) - I have two bloody irritating problems and a rather complex question I need answer to.

First, the COM-based mouse (Logitech 3-button on COM1) doesn't budge when running DOS. A Windoze installation on secondary HDD has no problem like that. I'm using the CuteMouse driver that was bundled in on the DOS install CD, and it detects the mouse all right - it just doesn't work.

+++EDIT: Went to backups of my old computer's HDD and dug out the Mouse.com from my A4tech mouse. That one works perfectly.

Second, it seems like something is screwed up with the keyboard layout the system is using - it doesn't register the number keys being presses and uses a QWERTZ layout instead of QWERTY. I guess I have probably set the wrong localisation setting during the install. As I am not too keen on having to reinstall the system again, I'd like to ask if there is - and if so, what is it - a way to fix that without reinstalling DOS?

Finally, the complex thing. Way back on my first machine (a DOS/Win3x machine nearly exactly 10 years ago) I had a boot menu for DOS which enabled me to select among several boot options - apart from a normal boot it had several other choices, that included starting with a minimum set of drivers (no mouse/CD/memory manager - that enabled me to play a particular himem-demanding game with both sound and music enabled), without extended memory manager and with the minimum driver set BUT with memory manager enabled.
Back then I have gotten the hang of how it worked enough to modify the settings for each option on my own, but I have no idea how to prepare something like that completely from scratch.
I'd be thankful if someone could tell me how it is done or point me to a guide on the subject.

Regards, Horseman.

[Gandalf]

I guess I have probably set the wrong localisation setting during the install. As I am not too keen on having to reinstall the system again, I'd like to ask if there is - and if so, what is it - a way to fix that without reinstalling DOS?

Open your config.sys in a text editor and look for a line like this:

Country=049,850,c:\dos\country.sys

This example uses German date/time format (country code = 049) and a corresponding keyboard layout (codepage = 850).

You didn't specify your location in your profile, but I guess it's Poland (as you are linking a polish website...)? If so, then use this line:

Country=048,852,c:\dos\country.sys

If you need another countrycode and/or codepage just let me know.

Edit:

Here is an addition if you want to use a non-standard keyboard layout:

Add this line to your autoexec.bat:

KEYB country,codepage,KEYBOARD.SYS

Use the same codepage number as above.
But: the countrycode is this time not numeric, but a two letter code (GR = Germany, US, PL, ...)

I would use:
KEYB GR,850,KEYBOARD.SYS
For Poland use:
KEYB PL,852,KEYBOARD.SYS

I had a boot menu for DOS which enabled me to select among several boot options (...)
Back then I have gotten the hang of how it worked enough to modify the settings for each option on my own, but I have no idea how to prepare something like that completely from scratch.

I've found an example on a German tech-site. Maybe this will help you reconstructing your old configuration:

config.sys

[MENU]
MENUITEM=WIN,Windows 98
MENUITEM=DOS,DOS 7.0
MENUITEM=NOEMS,DOS 7.0 (NOEMS)
MENUITEM=NONE, DOS 7.0 (without EMM386/Smartdrv)

MENUDEFAULT=WIN,0

[WIN]
DEVICE=c:\startdat\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB
Country=049,850,c:\startdat\country.sys

[DOS]
DEVICE=c:\startdat\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=c:\startdat\EMM386.EXE RAM 4096
DEVICEhigh=c:\startdat\ASPI8DOS.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
Country=049,850,c:\startdat\country.sys
DEVICEhigh=c:\startdat\ASPICD.SYS /D:MSCD000

[NOEMS]
DEVICE=c:\startdat\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
Device=c:\startdat\emm386.exe RAM NOEMS
DEVICEhigh=c:\startdat\ASPI8DOS.SYS
DOS=HIGH, UMB
Country=049,850,c:\startdat\country.sys
DEVICEhigh=c:\startdat\ASPICD.SYS /D:MSCD000

[NONE]
DEVICE=c:\startdat\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=c:\startdat\ASPI8DOS.SYS
Country=049,850,c:\startdat\country.sys
DEVICEhigh=c:\startdat\ASPICD.SYS /D:MSCD000

[COMMON]



Some hints regarding syntax:

MENUITEM=NAMETAG, description
MENUDEFAULT=NAMETAG, delay
MENUCOLOR=x,y
(x and y ranging between 0-15)

For every menuitem name tag used there must be a [NAMETAG] block

[COMMON] is a special tag and does what it says: it holds common commands and should not be left out if unused.




Here is a matching autoexec.bat. All name tags from the config.sys are repeated once more:


@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH c:\Windows;c:\Windows\COMMAND
SET TEMP=d:\temp
SET TMP=d:\temp
set dircmd= /p /ogn
del d:\temp\*.tmp
goto %config%


:WIN
LH c:\startdat\keyb gr,,c:\startdat\keyboard.sys
win
goto ende

OS
SET SOUND=c:\startdat
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
LH c:\startdat\DIAGNOSE /S
LH c:\startdat\MIXERSET /P /Q
lh c:\startdat\keyb gr,,c:\startdat\keyboard.sys
LH c:\startdat\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000 /M:16
LH c:\startdat\smartdrv a- 16384 /x /l
LH c:\startdat\mouse.com
goto ende

:noems
SET SOUND=c:\startdat
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
lh c:\startdat\keyb gr,,c:\startdat\keyboard.sys
LH c:\startdat\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000 /M:16
LH c:\startdat\smartdrv a- 16384 /x /l
LH c:\startdat\mouse.com
goto ende

:none
SET SOUND=c:\startdat
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
lh c:\startdat\keyb gr,,c:\startdat\keyboard.sys
LH c:\startdat\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000 /M:16
LH c:\startdat\mouse.com
goto ende

:ende


As I said before: this example was ripped off a website. You have to adjust pathnames and parameters according to your needs.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Thanks, man. You're a real lifesaver.