Re: WANTED: 486 or Pentium laptop to run DOS 6.22

I posted a recommended list of machines for people who want to run DOS on here some time ago (months, but within the past year I think). My recommendation is a Toshiba 330CDT or 335CDT. You could also use a 300/305, 310/315 or 320/325 model instead of 330/335 model (identical machines, just a bit slower), but avoid machines with a CDS instead of CDT suffix. It will have a CD and it would run Windows 98SE fine if you ever want to do so, but will also run DOS just fine. You should be able to find one on E-Bay for well under $50 (well under like maybe more like $20 or $30 .... it will cost more to ship than to buy).

The best version of MS-DOS to use is version 7, which can only be obtained by extracting it from Windows (the best version to extract if from is Windows 98SE .... it will then support FAT32 and large hard drives). To extract it, just use Windows (on any machine) to make a DOS bootable floppy disk, that gives you the OS, then get all of the utilities from C:\Windows\Command, and also from a few folders on the Windows [preferably 98SE] CD that have the DOS utilities that are not installed onto the hard drive by default.


Clueless in Seattle wrote:
I suppose even a 386 would do. I'm hoping someone in this group might
have an old machine that still works that they'd be willing to ship to
me.

I had two old Toshibas but they both died within months of each
other. And I got another Toshiba from FreeCycle.com last week, but it
reeks so strongly of cigarette smoke that I had to put it out on my
deck where it's still sitting today. I get sick these days from
exposure to cigarette smoke, car exhaust, perfume, etc. Even the
residue of of cigarette smoke makes me sick nowadays.

I'm told that newer laptops have trouble running old DOS software
because the newer laptops have too much memory or something like that.

I much prefer working with my old DOS text editor, and need a laptop
because I'm disabled by a circulation disorder that makes it very
difficult for me to sit up in a chair for more than a few minutes at a
time. So I need to be able to work lying down in bed, with my back
propped up on pillows.

All my software and text files are on floppies so I have no need of a
CD drive. All I need is a floppy drive.

I only want to run DOS 6.22 and DOSSHELL (from DOS 5.0 I think). And
a few DOS programs like a text editor, and a file manager. I *don't*
want to run Windows on it.

My old Toshibas had a feature that allowed me to turn them off, but
they kept all the running software active and the files opened even
when it was turned off. So that when I turned it on again, I found
myself right where I was working when I turned the computer off. Sort
of like turning off an electric typewriter with a half typed sheet of
paper in it. When you turn it back on, you can start typing right
where you left off.

Also, it would be nice if the keyboard had the CTRL and ALT keys in
more or less the same places as a standard PC keyboard, i.e. with the
CTRL keys at the outside edges of the row with the space bar, and the
ALT keys on either side of the space bar. But that's getting pretty
picky isn't it?

I could pay for shipping and a small fee for your trouble if you have
such a machine and would be willing to ship it to me.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"



** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
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