Chuck(G)
25k Member
Many IDE+floppy cards have a jumper to disable the floppy section.
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Adding an internal zip drive to a PC
- Thread starter Syntho
- Start date
I had to steal a soundcard from another system that had an IDE connector on it. I popped it in and the Zip drive is now accessible by the system. Gonna tinker with it and get it fully installed now, then order a new soundcard with an IDE port on it.
Alright, it's all working now. Only one small niggle: even with LASTDRIVE=E the zip drive takes over D and the CDROM becomes E. But that's only when I load the ASPI drivers in the config.sys file.
In my config.sys I've got something like (and you'll get the point):
LASTDRIVE=E
DEVICE=CDROMDRIVER.SYS /D
DEVICE=FIRSTASPIFILE.SYS
DEVICE=ASPIDISK.SYS /E
With just LASTDRIVE=E and the two ASPI file lines removed though, the Guest.exe file properly makes the Zip drive E: and my CDROM is on its appropriate D: letter.
Something peculiar is that MSCDEX finishes loading after the Zip drivers are loaded, then gives me the MS copyright line and says MSCD001 = Drive E, or whatever. So it's stealing it at the last minute.
In the end I'm most likely going to use the Guest file anyway since these Zip drivers take too long to load, and I won't use it too often. I'm just curious about the letter-stealing.
In my config.sys I've got something like (and you'll get the point):
LASTDRIVE=E
DEVICE=CDROMDRIVER.SYS /D
DEVICE=FIRSTASPIFILE.SYS
DEVICE=ASPIDISK.SYS /E
With just LASTDRIVE=E and the two ASPI file lines removed though, the Guest.exe file properly makes the Zip drive E: and my CDROM is on its appropriate D: letter.
Something peculiar is that MSCDEX finishes loading after the Zip drivers are loaded, then gives me the MS copyright line and says MSCD001 = Drive E, or whatever. So it's stealing it at the last minute.
In the end I'm most likely going to use the Guest file anyway since these Zip drivers take too long to load, and I won't use it too often. I'm just curious about the letter-stealing.
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Chuck(G)
25k Member
Thanks for the recommendation. I've discovered that the problem isn't MSCDEX. Once I take it out of the autoexec and config files and let the ASPIATAP and ASPIDISK files load, even with the /E on the ASPIDISK.SYS file it still takes over D: no matter what. Hmm. Maybe I don't have the correct versions of these files.
EDIT: Maybe this order of things just can't be overridden very easily? --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_letter_assignment
The autoexec stuff (where mscdex is) comes after the stuff in the config.sys file, so maybe that's what's going on. This isn't THAT big of a deal, I was just curious as to what was going on.
EDIT: Maybe this order of things just can't be overridden very easily? --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_letter_assignment
The autoexec stuff (where mscdex is) comes after the stuff in the config.sys file, so maybe that's what's going on. This isn't THAT big of a deal, I was just curious as to what was going on.
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maxtherabbit
Veteran Member
There is no way to control what drive letters ASPIDISK will assign. It simply takes the next available letter and that's that.
The CDROM device driver also has nothing to do with drive letter assignment at all. Drive letters are assigned to the CDROM only at the time MSCDEX is loaded
The CDROM device driver also has nothing to do with drive letter assignment at all. Drive letters are assigned to the CDROM only at the time MSCDEX is loaded
maxtherabbit
Veteran Member
It prints more information on the screen when the driver loads. I think it stands for "details" or something
Those are called switch arguments
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