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Corona Data Systems PPC-400-22 operating system?

F

Fire-Flare

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2009
Messages
273
Location
Washington State
Did this machine come with just DOS installed on the hard drive or did Corona make their own tweaks?

If it was a custom drive image does anyone have a link to the installer?

If it was just DOS which version would be best? (The machine says 112K is available to DOS)
 
Corona Data Systems had their own OEM version of DOS 1.25 and DOS 2.x, but I believe these were mostly IBM PC hardware compatible, so any version of MS or PC DOS should operate.

If it really only has 128K of ram, then DOS 2.11 is probably as far as you want to go.

Yours has a hard drive? It seems a tad odd one would have a hard drive and only 128K.

There are several revisions of Corona Data Systems MS-DOS 1.25 floating out there, but I am not aware that their OEM of DOS 2.11 is out there.
 
Thanks. I'm not seeing a generic or Corona version of DOS 2.x at winworldpc.com, but they do have 2 Corona versions of 1.25.

I might use one of those seeing how little memory this machine has, but how do I tell which BIOS version is being used? Is there a command I can type that will tell me?
 
Generally, you can at least get a BIOS date by using DEBUG

debug
-df000:fff0
F000:FFF0 EA 5B E0 00 F0 30 32 2F-32 35 2F 39 33 F4 FC F4 .[...02/25/93...
-q
 
Fire-Flare said:
but how do I tell which BIOS version is being used? Is there a command I can type that will tell me?
Click to expand...
If you are referring to how the corona DOS 1.25 versions are labeled, "BIOS" refers to the revision of the IO.SYS file (the file OEMs had to make/revise themselves). Either should work with whatever ROM BIOS is installed.

But I'm not sure anyone has dumped the BIOS from one of these machines. If you dump it and upload it, Modem7 could add it to his site. Corona BIOSes could be interesting as they were among those that got in trouble for copying IBM code.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Here's what you got from Cordata

Basically, an OEM distribution of MS-DOS 2.0 and utilities. I suspect that more than one of the forum members actually has the disks.
Click to expand...

Can I call on the forum members to dump these? I obtained this system and would really like to show it off at VCFMW this year using the PC TUTOR disks.

SomeGuy said:
Corona BIOSes could be interesting as they were among those that got in trouble for copying IBM code.
Click to expand...

I will be sure to dump the BIOS and provide it once I receive the system.
 
SomeGuy said:
There are several revisions of Corona Data Systems MS-DOS 1.25 floating out there, but I am not aware that their OEM of DOS 2.11 is out there.
Click to expand...

The good news is that there is "personal hard disk" ascii strings in the image file for "Microsoft DOS 1.25 [Corona Data Systems OEM] (5.25)" on winworldpc.
The bad news is that that image is corrupted. The FAT shows a 320KB disk with 270KB filled, but there's only 170KB in the image. That disk needs redumping.

(Which blows, because I'm trying to resurrect the OP's Corona Data Systems PPC-400-22.)
 
I figured out that the image on winworldpc is the first 21 tracks of a 320K disk. I was able to reconstruct the image and half of its files, and put it here: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/drivers/...ystems OEM) (broken)/corona_reconstructed.320

When I boot from the disk, it appears to work but the keyboard is frozen, so this specific Corona MS-DOS 1.25 might be for a different model (especially since it boots with "Corona Extended Bios 1.03" which seems dodgy). The files themselves are here: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/drivers/... OEM) (broken)/corona_reconstructed_files.zip

EDIT: I found that the winworldpc copy of "MS-DOS 1.25 [Corona Data Systems OEM (BIOS 1.07)] (5.25-320k)" is completely valid and it boots the PPC-400-22. It's not entirely functional -- it feels like it was made for a different CDS system -- but it does indeed work.
 
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I'm trying to revive a Corona PPC-400k, but the power supply just clicks and cycles.

Do you have the pinouts for the power supply? I'd like to try to just replace it. I have no documentation, and no skills for trying to repair a switching power supply.
 
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