3.5 Parallel Backpack Drivers

[redmagehat]

Hi all, I've recently gotten my hands on an IBM PCjr and I'm excited to dive in and start messing with it. I've found many utilities and other programs for it on the internet, but the one thing that's preventing me from moving forward is the lack of a driver for the Microsolutions 3.5 floppy external drive that I bought with it. It's a parallel port drive, so I'll need to use a driver in DOS 2.1, but I don't have it on a 5.25 floppy disk (it came on a CD.)

I'm wondering if any kind soul out there would be willing to snail mail me a 5.25 360k low density diskette with the proper driver on it so that I can get the external drive working. I'd be willing to mail back a blank 5.25 in return, with a little compensation for your time spent.

Help me get this little comp up and going!

 

[Maverick1978]

Don't forget to mod your PCjr's parallel port for bi-directional information. IIRC, that's a necessity for reading and writing to the Backback floppy.

Also, if you haven't already, don't forget to check out Mike's PCjr Page. It covers just about everything known in regards to PCjr systems.

 

[redmagehat]

Thanks for the website link; lots of great info there! I just signed up on their forums.

 

[redmagehat]

Bumping this thread; still looking for Backpack 1.44 DOS drivers on a 5.25 floppy.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Well, see, here's the problem: postage to Oagadougou is pretty expensive. (hint)

 

[redmagehat]

There we go, profile updated.

I'm more than willing to reimburse the postage costs as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think all I need is the correct "backpack.sys" driver file. I've got a DOS bootable disk all ready to go.

 

[modem7]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think all I need is the correct "backpack.sys" driver file.

Yes, that should be the case. It's all I need when I connect my Backpack model 014350 up to my IBM PC.

And my IBM PC has a 'standard' parallel port - the one on the IBM monochrome card (i.e. not any form of 'enhanced' parallel port).

If you get desperate, I can post you a boot floppy from Australia.

 

[mbbrutman]

Yes, that should be the case. It's all I need when I connect my Backpack model 014350 up to my IBM PC.

And my IBM PC has a 'standard' parallel port - the one on the IBM monochrome card (i.e. not any form of 'enhanced' parallel port).

If you get desperate, I can post you a boot floppy from Australia.

He's nearly a neighbor for me (compared to you) so I'll probably do the honors.

And yes, backpack.sys is all that is needed - I've tested and used it on my PCjr.


Mike

 

[redmagehat]

Thanks Mike; I appreciate it very much. I'll eventually build an old Pentium or something specifically for copying to different disk sizes, but I won't be able to do that for a little while.

I'll PM you my address.

 

[Micom 2000]

He's nearly a neighbor for me (compared to you) so I'll probably do the honors.

And yes, backpack.sys is all that is needed - I've tested and used it on my PCjr.


Mike

Sorry to intrude on this post. I have a Backpack 164700 which I bought some years ago mainly to use with my Dauphin DTR, but found it is also useful on many other computers without a cd-rom. This model also has a built-in audio card which allowed me to use it with other computer programs which didn't have an audio card. I've also found I can use it to play music cd's on any audio entertainment system with a line-in connection. I'm wondering if I might also able to use it on an IBMJr. I have one IBMJr with the JrCaptain sidecar and another one with the duplex Racore with the additional FDD, parallel connector, memory etc and other features. My fading memory can't recall what DOS version accepted the CD driver. This also brings up the question of whether the Parallel Zip drives could also be used on the PCjr.