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Finally have something that looks like it will make a viable DOSbook!

Joined
Jul 24, 2022
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33
Today, I just took delivery on a refurbished Dell Latitude (C-series, I think), and after verifying basic functionality, I FDISK'd the hard drive into an approximation of my usual hard drive partitioning schema, and began the process of installing PC-DOS 2000 on it.

So far, it seems to like DOS and DOSSHELL, although it leaves large amounts of screen real estate unused.

Certainly more cooperative than my previous attempt.

:)
 
So far, it seems to like DOS and DOSSHELL, although it leaves large amounts of screen real estate unused.

I think there's an option buried in the BIOS somewhere controlling whether video modes other than native are scaled to fill the screen, if that's what you're referring to. There's an argument for having it off because 640x480 doesn't scale very cleanly to 1024x768.

Of course this is based on dim memories of laptops I gave to a rummage sale 15 years ago, so your mileage may vary.
 
I looked for one yesterday, buried somewhere in the 7 pages of setup, but didn't find anything.

Of course, the acid test is whether Xerox Ventura Publisher (DOS/GEM Edition) runs on it. If I remember right, I once returned a custom-built tower (drove it back to the custom builder, and dropped it off with the receptionist) because (in addition to other issues, like not supporting two physical floppy drives) it wouldn't run VPGem.
 
I looked for one yesterday, buried somewhere in the 7 pages of setup, but didn't find anything.

Googling around for the model I had (Latitude CPxJ, which was the Latitude version of the Inspiron 3800, which coincidentally I also owned) I'm seeing mentions of a Fn+F7 key combo to enable/disable screen zoom.

If it's specifically a CPxJ you have it should be "reasonably compatible" with DOS, other than the sound chip, pretty sure it's completely useless for anything less than Windows 9x. (Par for the course for PCI-based audio cards.) The video chipset in those machines is ATI Mach64-based, which has at least some DOS support.
 
It works. And even better, it sticks.

And as for scaling artifacts (which I already get on my built-from-mostly-junk-parts DOS/Linux tower, plugged into an LCD monitor), you don't know from scaling artifacts until you've tried to plug an IBM 3488 or 3489, or any third-party Twinax 5250-data-stream terminal that doesn't have an integral screen into an LCD monitor instead of a CRT. That's the reason why we still keep a few CRT monitors around the office.
 
And with a new set of floppy disks, generated from CD, on pristine media, I was able to do a completely successful PC-DOS 2000 installation. It is now, officially, a DOSbook. Now I just need to copy in the stuff that isn't on the install media.
 
Last night, I was able to replicate the C and D volumes from my tower (allowing for the fact that the tower has a ZIP drive but no PCMCIA slots, while the DOSbook has PCMCIA slots but no ZIP drive) onto my DOSbook, via INTERLNK. Tonight, I'll see if I can get the E volume (where most of my applications and data live) replicated, and THEN will come the moment of truth: will WordPerfect, Quattro, and especially Ventura work?
 
Which model exactly is it? The early CP and CPi models are infamous for having hinge issues. They are otherwise great systems though, I’ve got a CPi (with cracking hinge plastic unfortunately), a CS, and a C610, they run pretty well! Not quite ThinkPad quality but they’re solid and reliable. Whichever model it is though, get the CMOS battery out! They’re infamous for leaking and ruining the motherboards of all sorts of laptops, Latitudes included. My CS nearly fell dead due to it.
 
Not sure, but the hinge issues couldn't possibly be any worse than the hinge issues with 400-series Compaq Conturas. And this is refurbished, with a warranty, so I should think that if the CMOS battery hasn't already been taken care of, it would have self-destructed already.
 
They’ll say either on the lid or the bottom depending on the model. I’d still check that CMOS battery, “refurbished” often times just means inspected and cleaned, they may have completely overlooked the battery, and many haven’t or are just starting to leak. It doesn’t hurt to check and I strongly recommend doing so. They’re NiMH Varta packs that love to go bad. I could identify the model of laptop with a photo as well.
 
The early CP and CPi models are infamous for having hinge issues.

Funny, I thought the hinges were reasonably beefy on my CPxJ and Inspiron 3800, but then I tended to treat them kindly. The problem I *did* have was keyboards going bad. The Inspiron 3800 was infamous for it, I actually got *two* free replacements out of Dell because of the recall they issued. The first replacement was as bad as the original, died after about a year and a half, but the second one was still fine when I got rid of the machine around 2009.*

(* of course I was hardly using the computer after 2004 or so, so that may not mean much.)
 
CPx systems may not have the issue, the CP and CPi have a different design.
 
4833768F-9BB8-4FC7-9E9C-70DAB7DC5570.jpeg
4ED848E0-6153-487B-82B7-9DE9DF1BE16D.jpeg
4F41FF3D-5B12-46D3-8241-6C62113208B6.jpeg
Yeah, here’s what mine is doing. I tried to patch it up as you can see, but no luck. Real shame, they’re nice looking systems
4689E4B7-C26B-4D7A-90D4-AAA340A546A0.jpeg
The C610 was actually my first ever laptop - got one used in 2011! Or maybe 2012, don’t remember. Great system, I’ve still got mine, though the original motherboard died.
 
With the aforementioned Compaq Conturas, it was the internal metal hinge (either zinc-alloy or aluminum-alloy, from the looks of it) that was breaking At one point, I fabricated a substitute that was so loose, I had to add a chain to hold the screen at a usable angle. At another point, I was able to obtain replacement hinges on eBay.
 
The C610 was actually my first ever laptop - got one used in 2011! Or maybe 2012, don’t remember. Great system, I’ve still got mine, though the original motherboard died.

I didn’t bother trying to save one myself (I had a lot of opportunities for saving them from e-Waste) because in my opinion they were just so brutally outclassed by the D600. (I’m a total Pentium M fanboi, it’s the core that saved the company.) Although I will freely admit the construction quality of the D600 left some things to be desired.

(The early ones had this bogus design flaw that allowed the case to flex just enough it would crack the solder for a connector that went to a Bluetooth module under the palmrest. Dell kept having to come in and replace motherboards, so eventually the IT guys took my advice to just crack the case themselves, rip out the Bluetooth module, and throw it at the wall to shut up the connect/disconnect warnings. Didn’t matter, nobody used Bluetooth in 2003 anyway.) ;)
 
D series latitudes are fun too, they're different classes of systems in terms of age, so yeah back then the D600 would have looked pretty good! I've got a D610 actually, alright condition, but the yellowed 1024x768 screen leaves a lot to be desired though. I've gotta to an SXGA+ upgrade sometime soon, I love it otherwise.
 
To answer the question about model designation, here's the label from the bottom:
dosbook model.jpg
But more to the point, after over nine hours of squeezing the entire contents of the E: volume on my DOS tower through a LapLink cable,
Xerox Ventura Publisher runs, and runs nicely!
dosbook ventura.jpg

And so does DOSShell, but I knew that as soon as I got PC-DOS 2000 installed.
dosbook dosshell.jpg

The only thing that's a bit annoying is that if I'm in a GUI screen (either DOSShell or GEM) and I "suspend," when I power back up, about the top inch of the screen looks a bit funky.
 
Looks like a C610, nice! Check that CMOS battery, it’s right under the keyboard. Just unscrew the screws on the bottom and lift it up. It’s directly on the motherboard, so if it leaks, you’re doomed.
 
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Re: the suspend problem, I guess if you twisted my arm I'd venture that the C610 might be just a bit too new to rely on suspend working well under DOS. (Not that it ever really did, if we're brutally honest.) The 610 came out right in the middle of the transition from APM to ACPI for power management, and machines that rely on ACPI depend much more on the OS to help them out in restoring state. The 610 probably still has "enough" legacy APM support to work as well as it does, but I don't think Dell or anyone else was putting much QA into that anymore.
 
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