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Getting a parallel ZIP 250 to work (DOS)

Jorg

Jorg

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Joined
Aug 31, 2003
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Switzerland
I'm trying to get a parallel ZIP 250 drive to work on my IBM XT 5160, 640K ram.

So far I have tried all combinations of MS-DOS 5.0 with Guest versions 4.01, 5.4 and 6.0.

I tried removing all drivers except the parallel ones from GUEST.INI. (tried driver 1 and 2 seperate).

I've added the port to the driver line (/PORT=278)

I can't get it to work, guest hangs on 'finding a drive letter for your zip drive....'

(yes, I set LASTDRIVE=G).

Now... don't tell me my machine is not IBM compatible....
 
Upgrade your processor

Upgrade your processor

The IBM 5150 has an 8086 (8088?) processor. GUEST.EXE requires at least a 286. To get the required 286 instructions on your machine, upgrade the processor to an NEC V-20 (for an 8088) or V-30 (for an 8086).
 
Re: Upgrade your processor

Re: Upgrade your processor

tvdog said:
The IBM 5150 has an 8086 (8088?) processor. GUEST.EXE requires at least a 286. To get the required 286 instructions on your machine, upgrade the processor to an NEC V-20 (for an 8088) or V-30 (for an 8086).
Click to expand...

Now thats cool, because yesterday I won ebay auction 8734811900 :D

thanks!

(yes, it is a 8088)
 
The V-20/30 does not understand '286 instructions. A V-40/50 does use 80186 instructions though, but still no '286 codez. I just upgraded my 5155 last week with a V-20 & an 8087 on a 640K mainboard.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
The V-20/30 does not understand '286 instructions. A V-40/50 does use 80186 instructions though, but still no '286 codez. I just upgraded my 5155 last week with a V-20 & an 8087 on a 640K mainboard.

--T
Click to expand...

Don't spoil my fun... I think you're right...
 
Terry Yager said:
Hey, that's even more fun. The V-20 can run CP/M in native mode.

--T
Click to expand...

Yes I know- although in this case, I wanted the 8087 (and it came with a V20).

Pff- I remember upgrading my Schneider PC512.. long long ago- I upgraded that with a V30 and replaced the crystal. That was when the machine was new, (1989?).

But yes, I guess I will replace the 8088 in the XT with the V20... I think I have CP/M somewhere.
 
Re: Getting a parallel ZIP 250 to work (DOS)

Ah now I did something simular in my XT with 640k RAM, but this was
using the Imation Superdisk Drive (120Mb). But I used a second
computer, which was a 386SX-16Mhz & a serial connection. From there I
could get a simple Networking program & access the drives from that.

Is that practical for you though - do you have a second machine. Only
trouble is if the Serial Port only runs so fast, the network drives are
somewhat slower (unless you have two computers with two really fast
serial connections.

Alternatively can you take your 286 program & rewrite it with 808x based
instructions - or is it too big?
 
Terry Yager said:
The V-20/30 does not understand '286 instructions. A V-40/50 does use 80186 instructions though, but still no '286 codez. I just upgraded my 5155 last week with a V-20 & an 8087 on a 640K mainboard.
Click to expand...
There are Tandy laptops with V-20 processors which will run Guest.exe, so although the V-20 doesn't have all the 286 instructions, it has enough for the Zip driver. I also know that Guest.exe will not work with an 8086. If it was a 100MB Zip drive, there is an alternate driver that works with 8088 and up, but with a 250MB drive, you are stuck with Iomega.
 
Lawrence,

Yes, I've seen the drives many times. I even had a ThinkPad 360PE that had one. I've only seen the 2.88 media a few times, and wouldn't have a clue where to buy any today. It's the notion that one might work in an XT that surprizes me.

--T
 
tvdog,

I have a few of the Tandy laptops here, a 1400HD, 1100FD, 1110HD, and even a CF-150 Business Partner, badged as Panasonic (which built the 1100-series for Tandy). They all run CP/M-80 very nicely.

--T
 
tvdog said:
There are Tandy laptops with V-20 processors which will run Guest.exe, so although the V-20 doesn't have all the 286 instructions, it has enough for the Zip driver. I also know that Guest.exe will not work with an 8086.
Click to expand...

That is interesting.. as said, I just won an auction for a 8087, with a V20 as bonus so I will be able to let you all know in a few days

If it was a 100MB Zip drive, there is an alternate driver that works with 8088 and up, but with a 250MB drive, you are stuck with Iomega.
Click to expand...

Yes, the palmzip driver. I tried that but indeed it only works for old ZIP 100's. I wrote the creator but there is no further development.
 
Re: Getting a parallel ZIP 250 to work (DOS)

CP/M User said:
Is that practical for you though - do you have a second machine.
Click to expand...

hehe.. hehehehehe hehe sorry I've got tears in my eyes. :D I hope my wife reads this. I have only about 5 running at the moment, the others I had to put in storage under domestic pressure :p

Accessing the storage is not the point though, I already attached the XT to my network- in fact its running a webserver. I just want to use the zip as storage for the webserver, without having to compromise the XT's original setup by putting in IDE disks or the like.
I would like to put some (limited) vintage software archive on it.
 
Jorg said:
tvdog said:
There are Tandy laptops with V-20 processors which will run Guest.exe, so although the V-20 doesn't have all the 286 instructions, it has enough for the Zip driver. I also know that Guest.exe will not work with an 8086.
Click to expand...

That is interesting.. as said, I just won an auction for a 8087, with a V20 as bonus so I will be able to let you all know in a few days

*UPDATE*

I can confirm, that on an IBM XT, even with NEC V20, it does NOT work. :(

It really faster though, I can really notice that, with the V20.

(anyone wants a 1982 AMD 8088 CPU?)


*UPDATE2*
Darn, Norton SI went from 1.0 (duh..) to 1.8 ?! What kind of V20 I have???

*UPDATE3*
Ok, 8087 in and working- happy now :)
Click to expand...
 
Hey guys, hope you don't mind be bringing back this old thread, but I finally managed to hack Guest 5.4 to provide Zip 250 support on an XT class machine, I have tested this and it works... However, it loads differently, and will need Config.sys...

Reminder: This will ONLY work for Printer port versions of the Zip 250, as that is the drive in question.

http://blackevilweredragon.spymac.com/zip250.zip

Put the IOMEGA folder on the root of C:, and if you have stuff and use your config.sys, copy the lines of my config.sys into yours, and put them at the top...

Enjoy!

See for yourself: http://blackevilweredragon.spymac.com/zip250.jpg

EDIT: Oh, and don't forget to load GUEST.EXE into Autoexec.bat! This assigns the actual drive letter...

EDIT2: The reason why it wouldn't load un-hacked? Well, easy. This is because guest.exe by default tries to load every driver, and see which one works.. Well, it so happens, that one of the sys files on an XT machine, can crash it. I unloaded ALL drivers, also bypassing guest.ini, and using config.sys instead, and load the one that is required for Parallel port use on a Zip 250 drive, and thus, you get a fully working guest system.. Some of the extra files in the IOMEGA folder are from the older 3.1 Guest, and are left overs that I forgot to delete.. you see, I had been racking my brain on this ALL day today, just to get 150MB extra storage..
 
Last edited:
Your definition of a hack is a little different than mine. The README file for the DOS drivers on a Zip 100 explicitly say to remove the extra device drivers that do not apply to your installation to get the drivers to load more quickly.

It's interesting to know that some of the drivers (and the autodetection they were attempting to do) are crashing machines, but I don't think this is a 'hack' in the true sense of the work. I was expecting to see a patch for the guest.exe program that fixed a bug, not a work-aound that is documented by the company.
 
mbbrutman said:
Your definition of a hack is a little different than mine. The README file for the DOS drivers on a Zip 100 explicitly say to remove the extra device drivers that do not apply to your installation to get the drivers to load more quickly.

It's interesting to know that some of the drivers (and the autodetection they were attempting to do) are crashing machines, but I don't think this is a 'hack' in the true sense of the work. I was expecting to see a patch for the guest.exe program that fixed a bug, not a work-aound that is documented by the company.
Click to expand...
As long as you guys have a working Zip driver, it doesn't really matter which terms I use.. I use the word "hack", as I went about not using guest.ini... I do not believe Iomega allows renaming guest.ini to other things to disable it on purpose.. If they do, then I'm wrong..

But you guys have a working all-set driver now, something that wasn't figured out until now, as to why it wouldn't go through...

EDIT: Sorry if I seem a tad cranky.. It's because I have been racking my brain on what was causing the problem, all day long... I'm quite tired and need my rest now, seeing an XT reboot a hundred times a day is boring..
 
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