How and where to use Driver files for ao486_20200814

[seastalker]

On my Mister SD card, I have ao486_20200814 in my _Computers folder. I also have \games\ao486 where I updated bios files of boot0.rom, boot1.rom and added the boot1_opensource.rom file.

In the same games/ao486 folder is my boot.vhd, msdos.vhd, Win95.vhd [as well as MS-DOS 6.22 VHD - 2GB.7z].

That ends the intuitiveness of the new ao486_20200814 setup for me.



So where do I put or what do I do with the github files in the 'drv' folder? The specific files in question are:

MISTERFB.DRV
MISTERFB.INF
misterfs.exe
modem9x.inf


I hope someone does a new video on this core. Is this now the new 'best' way to play Dos games by no longer needing to buy several generations of classic PCs (IBM 5100, Tandy, 386 486)? If so, this aspect of Mister should be shouted from the mountain tops.

Should the entire crew featured in LGR's "LGR - Choosing a Retro Gaming PC: What to Look For" video be re-interviewed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CgisEFObjA

[shimian]

MISTERFB.DRV and .INI are Windows drivers for the ET4000 BIOS provide the correct resolutions and color depths in Windows

misterfs.exe is a utility for DOS that will create a drive letter in DOS (e.g. D:\) that is mapped to games/ao486/shared to make it easier to copy data in and out of the VHD

modem9x.inf is a Null Modem driver for Windows 9x to enable PPP/Dialup internet to add networking into the OS connected directly to the MiSTer host network.

[Cebion]

You can a img floppy file with for example Winimage and copy these files in it.
After that mount them and copy them over to your dos system.

[seastalker]

Ah, got it now, thanks to all responses.

[Caldor]

Anyone know what the new file does?
sysctl.exe
It was added yesterday.

[remowilliams]

Anyone know what the new file does?
sysctl.exe
It was added yesterday.

I put a small non official table together around the sysctl utility. Parameter is hex, build your desired options from the bit fields.

Code: Select all

BIT    7    6    5    4    3    2    1    0
VAL    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0        - both caches enabled/90Mhz | 'sysctl 80'
VAR    EN   U    L2   L1   U    U   SPD  SPD

U          undefined
EN         [1] sysctl settings | [0] menu settings
L1/L2      [0] enable | [1] disable
SPD        [00] 90 | [01] 15 | [10] 30 | [11] 56

Thanks Rysha

[rhester72]

Does this mean we can now change CPU speed (reliably) on-the-fly? That would be fantastic for games like Wing Commander.

EDIT: That seems to be exactly what it means, but I haven't quite worked out yet what the difference is between 'core' and 'menu'. I can reliably change the speed on the fly with f.e. "sysctl 81" and "sysctl 80", but when I do, the menu options for CPU settings gray out and cannot be changed by menu until the core is reloaded (after the first time sysctl is run).

[remowilliams]

Bit 7 will toggle using sysctl settings or using OSD menu settings. i.e. issuing sysctrl 0 will return to using OSD menu settings.

[rhester72]

Brilliant, thanks!

Now WING1.BAT looks like:

Code: Select all

@echo off
sysctl 81
wc.exe
sysctl 0

and WING2.BAT looks like:

Code: Select all

@echo off
sysctl 82
wc2.exe
sysctl 0

[Caldor]

Oh, that is very useful So we can put together bat files for games. So far I have mainly been using DOS32A and HX DOS Extender to make games run, but I have not yet experimented with cache or mhz settings. Those two combined seem to solve the problems for most the games I have come across.

This will streamline things

What about MiSTerFS? Sorg mentioned a fix for zip files, but I guess it did not work or something because it has not been updated and the source code for it does not seem to have been updated either. I have been testing it with Windows by adding it to autoexec.bat for a Windows 95 boot. But nothing much can be done with it in Windows. If you enable a CD drive in any way, it seems to make all files disappear from the MiSTerFS folder. Daemon Tools has the nice option to be able to remove all drives and that also makes it obvious that without drives, no MiSTerFS and with drives there is. Have not tested if the same thing happens in DOS.

A bigger problem in Windows though, is that it sees it as a Network drive... or at least I think that is the issue. Launching a file from the drive will give you a "file not found" error. I can read text files by clicking them, not sure why, but otherwise Windows just cannot find the files. I thinking maybe there could be some registry fix for it, changing how Windows accesses files. Like maybe there needs to be " " around the commands and such. But I am guessing its more likely... well, either its MiSTerFS that just does not support Windows or Windows needs special drivers or something to support MiSTerFS. I guess its also possible that some memory thing has to do done to help Windows exclude the memory area that MiSTerFS uses?

[rhester72]

What about MiSTerFS? Sorg mentioned a fix for zip files, but I guess it did not work or something because it has not been updated and the source code for it does not seem to have been updated either. I have been testing it with Windows by adding it to autoexec.bat for a Windows 95 boot. But nothing much can be done with it in Windows. If you enable a CD drive in any way, it seems to make all files disappear from the MiSTerFS folder. Daemon Tools has the nice option to be able to remove all drives and that also makes it obvious that without drives, no MiSTerFS and with drives there is. Have not tested if the same thing happens in DOS.

The fix for this is an unreleased-but-committed patch to Main MiSTer.

[Caldor]

But commited? Hmmm... seems I should maybe try building it then.

[rhester72]

Attached.

[Caldor]

Attached.

Nice, thanks I am working late today, but now I will have a chance to have time to test it.

[IAmParadox]

A bigger problem in Windows though, is that it sees it as a Network drive... or at least I think that is the issue.

MisterFS is actually a slightly modified version of EtherDFS (Ethernet DOS File System), and, is a network shared folder, or, network drive, as you say. If configured, properly, you could actually put DOS system files in that folder, and use it as the Boot drive.

[ZigZag]

A bigger problem in Windows though, is that it sees it as a Network drive... or at least I think that is the issue.

MisterFS is actually a slightly modified version of EtherDFS (Ethernet DOS File System), and, is a network shared folder, or, network drive, as you say. If configured, properly, you could actually put DOS system files in that folder, and use it as the Boot drive.

That'd be an impressive feat since you'd need to load the "network drive" driver from the network itself before you could read the network to boot from it. Maybe you work for CERN, it reminds me of those time traveling paradoxes you read about....

[IAmParadox]

A bigger problem in Windows though, is that it sees it as a Network drive... or at least I think that is the issue.

MisterFS is actually a slightly modified version of EtherDFS (Ethernet DOS File System), and, is a network shared folder, or, network drive, as you say. If configured, properly, you could actually put DOS system files in that folder, and use it as the Boot drive.

That'd be an impressive feat since you'd need to load the "network drive" driver from the network itself before you could read the network to boot from it. Maybe you work for CERN, it reminds me of those time traveling paradoxes you read about....

You've never heard of Network booting? one example PXE boot. Also, it uses Ethernet frames, so, normal networking is not required, it works at a very low level. In fact, even if you have a computer without an ethernet card, you can use the parallel port to do it. In actuality, AO486 doesn't have an ethernet card... funny that.

[IAmParadox]

https://networkboot.org/fundamentals/#: ... rd%20drive.

This describes doing it, using an Ethernet card, but, there are other ways.

[ZigZag]

On ao486 you aren't going to be able to boot anything other than an HDD or Floppy image unless/until it receives support for such features. So you can't boot from a network drive in it's current state. If you want to include future features not yet implemented the possibilities are literally endless.

But i think everyone knows that, and I appreciate it is just nit picking and unnecessary. You were actually imparting quite an interesting general computing fact. My response was a little joke & the post was not meant to be taken seriously. It's the fault of a terrible personality disorder I suffer from. Apologies if it irritated you.

[bbond007]

I put a small non official table together around the sysctl utility. Parameter is hex, build your desired options from the bit fields.

Using your table, I made a modified sysctl utility for users who are not familiar with bit-wise operations or hex notation.

30mhz with both L2 and L1 cache disabled would be:

Code: Select all

sysctl sys 30mhz l2- l1- 

This would restore normal operation:

Code: Select all

sysctl menu

Valid options:

Code: Select all

menu (default)
sys or sysctl 
90 or 90Mhz (default)
56 or 56Mhz
30 or 30Mhz
15 or 15Mhz
L1+ (default)
L1-
L2+ (default)
L2-

Maybe someone will find this useful...

SYSCTL.zip

(7.68 KiB) Downloaded 202 times

[flynnsbit]

You rock bbond007!

[NML32]

Thank you bbond007. That is very helpful.