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Book 8088 discovery and modification thread

Welcome to the forum @doomeyes .

I'd suggest changing the USB driver for the one mentioned in the first post of this thread by @Retroplayer .

- Alex

Thank you for the welcome and the suggestion.

I downloaded the USB driver as suggested (FreddyV DOS Driver for ISA USB v0.22). I tried three of them from the zip download, but I could not get any of them to work. Below is a screenshot of my config.sys. I tried each driver, and commented out the ones I did not want to load. The top one listed is the original USB driver.

Perhaps I am doing something wrong? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.


config.jpg
 
Thank you for the welcome and the suggestion.

I downloaded the USB driver as suggested (FreddyV DOS Driver for ISA USB v0.22). I tried three of them from the zip download, but I could not get any of them to work. Below is a screenshot of my config.sys. I tried each driver, and commented out the ones I did not want to load. The top one listed is the original USB driver.

Perhaps I am doing something wrong? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.


View attachment 1282902
I have this working on Book8088 and Pocket386. I believe you need to be using the CH375V86.SYS driver for 8086 CPU, but I don't have it on-hand to test. My config.sys setup is similar to yours, on both systems, except for the driver filename (and I'm using DEVICEHIGH; you should also be able to do this with UMBs). I also don't have spaces before/after the "=" if that matters.

FreddyV CH375 0.22 driver read.me says -

V88 : Optimized for 8088
V86 : Optimized for 8086 / 16Bit memory BUS
V16 : For the LoTech board in 16Bit Mode (Add 1 to the IP Port : @2C1 instead of @2C0)
286 : Optimized for V20/V30/286
 
I have this working on Book8088 and Pocket386. I believe you need to be using the CH375V86.SYS driver for 8086 CPU, but I don't have it on-hand to test. My config.sys setup is similar to yours, on both systems, except for the driver filename (and I'm using DEVICEHIGH; you should also be able to do this with UMBs). I also don't have spaces before/after the "=" if that matters.

FreddyV CH375 0.22 driver read.me says -

V88 : Optimized for 8088
V86 : Optimized for 8086 / 16Bit memory BUS
V16 : For the LoTech board in 16Bit Mode (Add 1 to the IP Port : @2C1 instead of @2C0)
286 : Optimized for V20/V30/286
Hi,

The 286 version is the best for NEC V20
 
I have this working on Book8088 and Pocket386. I believe you need to be using the CH375V86.SYS driver for 8086 CPU, but I don't have it on-hand to test. My config.sys setup is similar to yours, on both systems, except for the driver filename (and I'm using DEVICEHIGH; you should also be able to do this with UMBs). I also don't have spaces before/after the "=" if that matters.

FreddyV CH375 0.22 driver read.me says -

V88 : Optimized for 8088
V86 : Optimized for 8086 / 16Bit memory BUS
V16 : For the LoTech board in 16Bit Mode (Add 1 to the IP Port : @2C1 instead of @2C0)
286 : Optimized for V20/V30/286
Hello. I appreciate your suggestions. I tried them, and I tried every driver again, and none of them will load. Only the original driver included with the computer will load, but the USB drive always fails. Maybe there is something wrong with the USB drive.
 
Hi,

The 286 version is the best for NEC V20
I have this working on Book8088 and Pocket386. I believe you need to be using the CH375V86.SYS driver for 8086 CPU, but I don't have it on-hand to test. My config.sys setup is similar to yours, on both systems, except for the driver filename (and I'm using DEVICEHIGH; you should also be able to do this with UMBs). I also don't have spaces before/after the "=" if that matters.

FreddyV CH375 0.22 driver read.me says -

V88 : Optimized for 8088
V86 : Optimized for 8086 / 16Bit memory BUS
V16 : For the LoTech board in 16Bit Mode (Add 1 to the IP Port : @2C1 instead of @2C0)
286 : Optimized for V20/V30/286
I was able to get Freddy's ch375 driver to work by disabling turbo. Seems to be an issue when loading the driver. once booted at 4.77mhz it worked, I could then turn turbo back on. I think it's fn+4 to change the boot with turbo on.
 
I was able to get Freddy's ch375 driver to work by disabling turbo. Seems to be an issue when loading the driver. once booted at 4.77mhz it worked, I could then turn turbo back on. I think it's fn+4 to change the boot with turbo on.
Thank you for the suggestion. I turned off turbo, rebooted, and I still can't any of Freddy's drivers to load. I also tried the original driver again, and it loaded after a long wait, but again, it would not go to D: Would you mind typing out your config.sys line for the driver that you got to work? Thank you.
 
I purchased the Pocket8086. I have a 512mb, FAT formatted, USB drive, and I plugged it into my Pocket 8086. When I turn the computer on, it seems to recognize there is the USB drive there as drive D. However, after I type D: it always fails to go there, and I always get a "Not ready reading drive D" error message. I've tried several USB drives, and they all have the same result. Does anyone have suggestions? Thank you.
I was able to use their included driver even on my pocket 8086.... I burned a simple floppy image to an 8G usb stick and it worked flawless. I would say part of the issue is likely with your image/layout of the stick.
 
I was able to use their included driver even on my pocket 8086.... I burned a simple floppy image to an 8G usb stick and it worked flawless. I would say part of the issue is likely with your image/layout of the stick.
Thank you for your suggestion. Does it take a long time before your D: drive shows up? I am using an empty 512mb USB drive, and nothing I've tried works.
 
Thank you for your suggestion. Does it take a long time before your D: drive shows up? I am using an empty 512mb USB drive, and nothing I've tried works.
Hi,

What do you mean by empty ?
It need to be partitionned and formatted with a file system supported by the OS (FAT16)
 
Hi,

What do you mean by empty ?
It need to be partitionned and formatted with a file system supported by the OS (FAT16)
I just meant there was nothing on the drive. I didn't partition it because it's only a 512mb drive. But I did format it as FAT. Thanks.
 
Hi All,

Just wondering - Did anyone ever make a serial port adapter for the models which don't have a serial port?
All of the models I have, have serial and I have 2 book8088 v2s, a pocket 8086 and pocket 386... So not sure which model you mean.
 
I have a Pocket 8086, and upon boot up with my FAT16 formatted USB flash drive inserted, I get this screen. It hangs for a long time.

screen1.jpg

Then it finally gets to the C: prompt. I type d: and it hangs for a long time, and then I get this screen.

screen2.jpg

I cannot get any USB flash drive to work. I've tried several USB drives and all of the Freddy drivers, and it doesn't work. Thanks to all who replied here, but it still doesn't work. Any new suggestions? Thank you.
 
Hi, all I have a Book 8088 v1 with Sergey's official BIOS. The CGA creates some issues... often in textmode it doesn’t align with the screen, so I loose some 5mm on the left. And in the graphics mode I have quite a few distortions, sometimes games crash, Win30 looks pretty bad. I have the suspicion that either the CRTC or the CGA chip could be faulty, but has anyone a better idea? In case, would anyone know the exact model/type of the CGA chip, so that I could search for a replacement?
 
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