Greetings all--
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Gibbs <[log in to unmask]>
>On behalf of one of my students, "How can you get a SCSI CDROM to be
>available to be used in MSDOS so that I can re-install Windows 95?"


More details re: brand of CD and SCSI HAC (Host Adapter Card or chip type,
if built into mobo) would be handy, but the 'original' principle of "device
in config.sys/MSCDEX.EXE in autoexec.bat" will still apply here.

Your config.sys file will need to have a line like:
device [or devicehigh]=c:\[name of folder]\aspicd.sys /D:DMSCD01 /switches.
The folder name could be any number of things and is usually determined when
the SCSI software is installed. Aspicd.sys is the typical SCSI CD-ROM device
driver, /D:DMSCD01 is the 'name of the drive', and there are usually some
idiosyncratic switches at the end.

Your autoexec.bat file will need a line like:
lh c:\[name of folder where mscdex.exe is located\mscdex.exe  /D:DMSCD01
/L:[drive letter to be assigned] /M:12 (Buffers). MSCDEX.EXE = Microsoft CD
Extensions, /D: is the drive name to refer back to the config.sys device
association, /L: is the arbitrary assignment of a drive letter to the CD
drive, and I never have been clear about the buffers, but 12 is fairly
typical.

Whether these lines are in a hard disk-based boot sequence or one from a
floppy only matters to the extent that the computer needs enough path
information to locate the SCSI device driver(s), i.e., if you have a fairly
'raw' hard disk and want to start the install from a floppy, make sure the
SCSI device driver(s) and mscdex.exe are also on the floppy, along with
himem.sys and emm386.exe if you want to use the high memory area to load the
device and mscdex.

I'm at my home (IDE) machine now so I'm not sure if there are any ASPI4DOS
or ASPI8DOS files you need to be concerned with. I believe those are used
for SCSI hard disks, but, as I noted, I am not certain.

HTH

Paul A. Shippert           Library/Media Specialist
"   . . . and your wise men don't know how it feels
   to be thick as a brick."  Jethro Tull
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