Jump to content

On Bootable CD's Floppy Emulation


rloew

Recommended Posts

Something has got lost in the movements forward and back of the posts between the two three topics.

[...]

This one(partly) remained on the "wrong" thread.

Thanks! Of course, the link is now changed. I'm working at it.

Now, you, of all people, should now better than using "friendly names" in giving links... :whistle:

Next time, please do it by post ID number. Of course, I reckon not even post IDs would hold, in this case, since I'm splitting posts. :ph34r:

[...]I managed to download it, now what do you propose to "un-sparse" it? :unsure:

Use BXIMAGE.EXE from Mtools for Bochs to create an all-zero file of the right size, then:

copy sparse.ima + zeroblock.ima /b /v

As I said before, should be a piece of cake. :D

Now, I'll concentrate in:

0x03: 1024*2*36 * 512 = 37,748,736

When we have it and test it OK, I can create the other two as well.

Just for the record, my images are created by hand, and I brush every single bit twice, before adding it. :)

It also means threre's ample space for things to go wrong, too, so always check them for correctness, please. :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I didn't Package my CD/DVD Utilities for sale as I had not seen any particular interest in their added features. People seemed happy with what they have.

A quick question/observation... that has the potential to make this get off topic AGAIN... :ph34r:

Do your/can your CD/DVD utilities work with Blu-Ray images/devices? I know Multibooter was having burn-quality issues during his tests, of course it is still unknown whether it was due to software, hardware, or media quality...

In the event it is software related, your solutions might end up being the only "quality" Blu-Ray burning application available for Windows 9x...

I only set up a Blu-Ray Drive recently so I have not added the necessary code for burning Blu-Ray disks.

My builder code does not currently support UDF as it was designed for Data rather than Video so that may be another issue if not just burning images.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't get it :(:

I didn't Package my CD/DVD Utilities for sale as I had not seen any particular interest in their added features. People seemed happy with what they have.

Sounds like an awful lot of work to avoid buying my tools.

Are the complete set of utilities (and instructions) to create such a .iso available or not?

Or are they available only for sale?

I guess that noone will ever be willing to buy your tools unless they know they do exist and what can be done with them. :angel

For the record, my original idea was that of using, just like we have now for 1.2, 1.44 and 2.88 Mb floppies a whole set of "increased size" floppies of "fixed size", like the mentioned here:

http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11096

Something along the lines of:

3840 
5760
8100
...
....
36 Mb

@dencorso

Your method, just like mine, tells me (if it was needed) that you are using a truncated image, and not a sparse one.

The (small) advantage of DCOPYNT is that you can avoid making the subtraction and just supply the geometry of the target image, 1024*2*36.

Another method would be using the dsfok package:

fsz full36Mb.img 37748736
dsfi full36Mb.img 0 0 Fd-36Img.IMA

The "full" image compresses in 7-zip to 6035 bytes.

Do you think, for the sake of saving 6035-708=5327 bytes of bandwidth, that using the truncated image is convenient? :whistle:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved DCopyNT! :wub:

I didn't know it. Thanks a lot! :thumbup

Yes, I agree the image is truncated, not sparse.

And, since I've created the full image, while testing DCopyNT, the image attachement is updated.

I was involved with too many tasks all at the same time, so I was unable, at first, to follow all the links you've provided.

Well, now I'm gonna grab some sleep. Tonight I'll probably add the required FAT-12 36 MiB image to this thread.

You rock! :yes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't get it :(:

I didn't Package my CD/DVD Utilities for sale as I had not seen any particular interest in their added features. People seemed happy with what they have.

I developed the utilities years ago.

This thread is 4 days old.

This is the first I have seen any interest beyond the standard bootable CD floppy emulation that can be handled with existing tools.

Sounds like an awful lot of work to avoid buying my tools.

Are the complete set of utilities (and instructions) to create such a .iso available or not?

Or are they available only for sale?

The utilities are complete. Some are already on my Website. I would need to write instructions for the rest.

I guess that noone will ever be willing to buy your tools unless they know they do exist and what can be done with them. :angel

Is there any interest in them, to justify packaging them?

Or are you just interested in a probably rather tedious workaround.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use both Nero 6.6 and UltraISO. I might be intersted if it gives me fine control to build unusual bootable .ISOs (as you said it does). I don't see how I can use a 36 MiB image with either Nero or UltraISO. However it'd be a bonus if it does run both on 9x/ME and XP, although a DOS only program would be welcome too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use both Nero 6.6 and UltraISO. I might be intersted if it gives me fine control to build unusual bootable .ISOs (as you said it does). I don't see how I can use a 36 MiB image with either Nero or UltraISO. However it'd be a bonus if it does run both on 9x/ME and XP, although a DOS only program would be welcome too.

Who said Nero supports non-standard bootable ISOs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who said Nero supports non-standard bootable ISOs?

Nobody, me included. I said I looked (after all I have both installed) and neither Nero 6.6 nor UltraISO 9.36 (the latest) do, AFAI can see. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who said Nero supports non-standard bootable ISOs?

Nobody, me included. I said I looked (after all I have both installed) and neither Nero 6.6 nor UltraISO 9.36 (the latest) do, AFAI can see. :D

I was referring to the "you" in "(as you said it does)" in your earlier post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see. While I do strive to be clear, some times ambiguity gets the best of me.

So, just to set things right, what I wrote was:

I might be intersted if it gives me fine control to build unusual bootable .ISOs (as you said it does).

My intention was that those "it"s should mean "your software utilities", not Nero nor UltraISO. But "it" is too vague.

Sorry, my bad. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see. While I do strive to be clear, some times ambiguity gets the best of me.

So, just to set things right, what I wrote was:

I might be intersted if it gives me fine control to build unusual bootable .ISOs (as you said it does).

My intention was that those "it"s should mean "your software utilities", not Nero nor UltraISO. But "it" is too vague.

Sorry, my bad. :(

The answer to your intended question is yes. My utilities allow you to specify the Emulation Type Code, including No Emulation, overriding the default based on the size of the Boot Image chosen. The only requirement is that the Boot Image be a multiple of 512 Bytes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there any interest in them, to justify packaging them?

Who knows? :unsure:

My remark was more a "generic" one, you have something in your closet, you may be willing to sell it, but until you don't take it out of the closet and put it on display on your desk, under a big "for sale" sign you have 100% possibilities (read as "certainty") that noone will ever buy it, or the other way round 0% probabilities of ever selling it.

Once you have it in plain view on the desk it is possible that someone is interested to it, you will have n% probabilities that someone will buy it, and no matter how little n will be it will always verify the n>=0 condition, with a chance of also verifying the n>0 one. :)

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is the appropriate FAT-12 36 MiB floppy image. Usually double-compression doesn't give good results, but this is an unusual file, so I gave it a shot, and it worked! :P

Strangely enough, the idea is not really-really new :whistle:

http://bootcd.narod.ru/images_e.htm

(though in those cases the .rar was inside the .zip, and you made it the other way round :))

@jaclaz: Now it's up to you... can you convince mkisofs to create a bootable .ISO from it?

I won't even try :w00t: , at least for the moment , I mean, let's go in steps, I would be happy enough to have it work with a 3840 Kb or 5760 Kb one ;)

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there any interest in them, to justify packaging them?

My remark was more a "generic" one, you have something in your closet, you may be willing to sell it, but until you don't take it out of the closet and put it on display on your desk, under a big "for sale" sign you have 100% possibilities (read as "certainty") that noone will ever buy it, or the other way round 0% probabilities of ever selling it.

Once you have it in plain view on the desk it is possible that someone is interested to it, you will have n% probabilities that someone will buy it, and no matter how little n will be it will always verify the n>=0 condition, with a chance of also verifying the n>0 one. :)

jaclaz

I could write a Program that turns the background to pink. Would it even be worth investing in a "for sale" sign considering that I have never seen anyone show an interest in a pink background. How do I know that N>X where X is the cost of the "for sale" sign.

I have over 1700 Programs. Putting them on my Desk would cause the Desk to collapse under the weight of the "for sale" signs.

The same would be true of my Website.

This thread is the only one I have seen indicating an interest in extended Bootable CD Floppy Emulation, so this is the only "desk" worth putting it on.

Incidentally:

Who knows? :unsure:

Doesn't help raise the value of N.

@dencorso: Your latest Image is not totally empty but it should work. I would have worded it differently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...