Two easy ways to boot the Zoomer to DOS:
If you have a PCMCIA storage card, create a batch file named
C:\PENRIGHT.BAT. Do what you will in the batch file. (The standard
Zoomer boot sequence looks for this batch file and executies it before
loading GEOS.) I use this method to run the "File Transfer" program and
Stacker each time my Zoomer boots.
A second method is to copy A:\COMMAND.COM, A:\CONFIG.SYS, and
A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT to B:\. When these files exist on the internal
storage, the Zoomer will boot from B:\, rather than A:\. You can then
edit B:\AUTOEXEC.BAT to do your will. (Standard disclaimer: This
procedure is dangerous ... if your boot files on B:\ become mangled, then
you'll have to do a hard reset to recover.)
On another note, the Zoomer's serial port *IS* available to dos programs
.. it's just that the serial port isn't standard. "File Transfer" mode
invokes a dos program: A:\PCCOM. If someone would care to decompile that
program, we might be able to get some interesting details. (Come on
now, 80x assembler isn't all that complicated!)
Regards.
Garland
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A. Garland Wood (M.Ac., L.Ac.) Garland@bear.vnet.net
Traditional Acupuncture Durham, NC
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