DOS 2.11 and Win1.01 in VMware - an unexpected challange
Having got to the point where I have a working VMware installation of DOS 2.11 (AT&T 6300 version) I appear to have reached an impasse.
I had a basic MS-DOS 2.11 (1983, upgraded to 1985) installed from floppies onto a 10MB HDD (pre-prepared courtesy of MS-DOS 3.33, because 2.11 could not format a VMware VMDK on its own). I also added KEYBUK from an Olivetti MS-DOS 2.11 floppy so that at least some of the keys on the keyboard are in the right place (you still have to use the #-key for | and \ characters - but that is because it is a modern keyboard). So far so good...
This reports the following start up text:
Of course, the problem now is that VMware emulates a PS/2 mouse, which did not exist in 1983-1985. So you cannot use any MS-Mouse (or other mouse) driver from that era. This means installing a later version of mouse driver, before Windows 1.01 can even be attempted. I tried all of the mice up to MS-Mouse 7 to no avail, even though these mice drivers are supposed to recognise a PS/2 mouse. I had some limited success by using a modern CuteMouse driver (v21.4), which worked well with the DOS Paint from MS-Mouse 6.24, but would not work with Windows 1.01. I also tried the already well-known trick of injecting the MOUSE.DRV file from a Windows 2.11 installation (for an Intel 80286 I think) into the Win1.01 installer and this still did not recognize the PS/2 mouse emulation (with or without the CTMouse in play). I haven't yet tried using a PS/2-compatible MOUSE.DRV from a 386 source or an 8086 source (is there one?) Or at least I don't think I have.
Interestingly, somnewhere along the way after having modified the VM to use CuteMouse, the startup text dropped the line "AT&T Personal Computer 6300 DOS Release 2.0" and now simply reads:
The implication of this is that something has modified the boot-strap loader (could it have been the MS-Mouse or Windows installation attempts?).
Anyway, the upshot of this is that I cannot find a mouse driver that recognises the VMware PS/2 mouse emulation, but still manages to present itself as a mouse driver usable by Windows 1.01 (i.e. can be substituted as the MOUSE.DRV file) - even though the CuteMouse will recognise it. and make the PS/2 mouse usuable under MS-DOS 2.11: because Paint for DOS uses it fine.
Open to any suggestions (other than "get-a-life").
I had a basic MS-DOS 2.11 (1983, upgraded to 1985) installed from floppies onto a 10MB HDD (pre-prepared courtesy of MS-DOS 3.33, because 2.11 could not format a VMware VMDK on its own). I also added KEYBUK from an Olivetti MS-DOS 2.11 floppy so that at least some of the keys on the keyboard are in the right place (you still have to use the #-key for | and \ characters - but that is because it is a modern keyboard). So far so good...
This reports the following start up text:
AT&T Personal Computer 6300 DOS Release 2.0 Copyright (c) 1984 by AT&T, all rights reserved Compatibility Software Copyright (c) 1984 by Phoenix Software Associates Ltd. Microsoft MS-DOS version 2.11 Copyright 1981,82,83 Microsoft Corp. Command v. 2.11
Of course, the problem now is that VMware emulates a PS/2 mouse, which did not exist in 1983-1985. So you cannot use any MS-Mouse (or other mouse) driver from that era. This means installing a later version of mouse driver, before Windows 1.01 can even be attempted. I tried all of the mice up to MS-Mouse 7 to no avail, even though these mice drivers are supposed to recognise a PS/2 mouse. I had some limited success by using a modern CuteMouse driver (v21.4), which worked well with the DOS Paint from MS-Mouse 6.24, but would not work with Windows 1.01. I also tried the already well-known trick of injecting the MOUSE.DRV file from a Windows 2.11 installation (for an Intel 80286 I think) into the Win1.01 installer and this still did not recognize the PS/2 mouse emulation (with or without the CTMouse in play). I haven't yet tried using a PS/2-compatible MOUSE.DRV from a 386 source or an 8086 source (is there one?) Or at least I don't think I have.
Interestingly, somnewhere along the way after having modified the VM to use CuteMouse, the startup text dropped the line "AT&T Personal Computer 6300 DOS Release 2.0" and now simply reads:
Compatibility Software Copyright (c) 1984 by Phoenix Software Associates Ltd. Microsoft MS-DOS version 2.11 Copyright 1981,82,83 Microsoft Corp. Command v. 2.11
The implication of this is that something has modified the boot-strap loader (could it have been the MS-Mouse or Windows installation attempts?).
Anyway, the upshot of this is that I cannot find a mouse driver that recognises the VMware PS/2 mouse emulation, but still manages to present itself as a mouse driver usable by Windows 1.01 (i.e. can be substituted as the MOUSE.DRV file) - even though the CuteMouse will recognise it. and make the PS/2 mouse usuable under MS-DOS 2.11: because Paint for DOS uses it fine.
Open to any suggestions (other than "get-a-life").
Comments
You may want to check your CONFIG.SYS just to see what is loading at bootup. Maybe try disabling one or the other to see which one fixes the mouse problem.
Get a life. (just kidding)
Anyways - that's a bit of a red herring. The real issue is: why can't an MS-DOS mouse driver that should see the PS/2 emulation not recognise it as a usable PS2 - especially since CTMouse can.
Alternatively does anyone know of a MOUSE.DRV file that is known to recognise the VMware PS2 emulation?
Either the MOUSE.DRV from Windows 2.03 should work, or the one from the Excel 2.0 runtime (Windows 2.01): https://winworldpc.com/download/BA888DD ... 04A6F17893
Keep in mind that you must replace the file on the setup disk and THEN install Windows 1.x. You can't change the mouse driver once Windows is already installed.
If either of those don't work then there is probably something badly mis-configured or broken in your VMWare.
One possibility that you might want to check - VMWare is NOT emulating an AT&T6300. For DOS 1.x, 2.x, 3.0 and 3.1, pedantically you should be using IBM Personal Computer DOS. For later DOS versions you can also use "vanilla" MS-DOS. There was no "vanilla" version prior to DOS 3.2 - they were all OEM.
Some of the early MS-DOS versions will not run in VWare or any other IBM PC compatible environment. Most of them will, in fact, boot and run but may have issues or incompatible tools.
Anyway, that might not be the problem, but something to check. Just try PC-DOS 2.x or vanilla MS-DOS 3.3.
Thanks for the driver - will try that later today.
Odd thing regarding the banner: I did a binary compare off all three system files (IO.SYS, IBM.SYS and COMMAND.COM) in both snapshots, the one with the banner and the one without. There was no difference. So, a real mystery! I've since rolled back the VM to having the banner, so maybe at some point (if I get really bored) I can single-step my way to losing the banner again.
Good point about the PC-DOS 2.X being the more appropriate baseline. I'm going to have to work a bit harder on getting my "Museum Curator" badge! Don't really know why I started sieving through all the OEM versions first: especially as I already knew about the fact that no two are the same pre-3.3. I guess it was because my first experience of DOS was 2.11 via an Olivetti M24 (more or less an AT&T by another mother) and the AT&T floppy I had appeared to be the more functional at first. But thus we are led to our bad choices. So I'll have a go with PC-DOS 2 as well.
Interesting point about modifying the floppy rather than the HD post-install. Hadn't even gone there in my thought-train. Shall try that too.
Yes - vanilla MS-DOS 3.3 with a PS/2 MS-Mouse works fine under VMware - that I had already established before my experiments with MS-DOS 2.11 (indeed it presented no challenge at all