Windows 98SE and USB Mass storage Support

[eightbit]

So, while I wait for my good old Gateway 2000 Pentium 120 to arrive I am starting to think of ways I can easily bring some downloaded DOS games to the machine. I have a CF to IDE Startech adapter that I was holding on to for use with the Amiga 2000 when my IDE 4 Zorro card arrives, but I can also use it with the old Gateway I am sure. I would just need to discover to max hard drive capacity of the motherboard and partition a CF card to the proper size (if it is larger) and that should work.

 

I also thought about adding a PCI usb card and getting USB support to the computer...which will really simplify things. I found this:

 

https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/USB-2/Card/5-Port-USB-20-PCI-Card~PCI420USB

 

Which claims to have Win98SE support....but I guess that is yet to be seen. I ordered one from amazon and it was like $17. If it doesn't work I can use it elsewhere so no loss.

 

Other than these options I'd be looking at floppy transferring (really don't want to go that route) or burning stuff on CD-RW and moving things to the old PC that way.

 

I would be interested to hear about how others are getting software to their old machines and if anyone has any experience with USB mass storage devices in Win98SE (and if you have used this particular card). Any advice is appreciated. I haven't used an old Win 98 computer since..well...the late 90's

[+nanochess]

It should work just fine. I don't remember at this time if you should download an universal USB mass storage driver, but I remember you should click dialogs everytime you insert a new memory.

[eightbit]

I found this driver with a quick search:

 

http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php

 

I guess I will be experimenting a bit

[David Baldwin]

I have drives for a USB card like that i have the same thing a 5 port USB PCI card and on the CD is a 3 MB drivers for windows

98 SE and ME and 2000 and MAC if you email me i can email you the drivers only 3 megabites in size

[eightbit]

Great! E Mail sent and thank you!

[David Baldwin]

cool

[+remowilliams]

I would be interested to hear about how others are getting software to their old machines and if anyone has any experience with USB mass storage devices in Win98SE

 

I have the mass storage USB drivers installed on Win98 and they work pretty well. As far as getting software over, well that's what the removable CF drive is for (or the front loading SSD bays above)

 

Mostly though I use good old 1GB networking, including for using ISO images stored out on the network.

 

 

[Osgeld]

windows 98 usb works pretty well, it can get a bit wonky with early usb2 cards but yea pretty much any pci card you slap in it is going to be newer than those days, and still have 98 support cause its probably the same chipset as it was 10 -15 years ago

 

the A-hole in the room is getting windows 95 support

 

PS: if your card has problems with 98 support I have one laying around I never use, and I know it works with 98

Edited July 30, 2017 by Osgeld

[eightbit]

windows 98 usb works pretty well, it can get a bit wonky with early usb2 cards but yea pretty much any pci card you slap in it is going to be newer than those days, and still have 98 support cause its probably the same chipset as it was 10 -15 years ago

 

the A-hole in the room is getting windows 95 support

 

PS: if your card has problems with 98 support I have one laying around I never use, and I know it works with 98

 

 

That's awesome. I'll let you know if the card gives me any problems, and thanks for the offer!

[JFD62780]

Well, I do believe I had some experience in the field; I simply repartitioned my 300GB portable USB hard drive from all-NTFS to 128GB FAT32 followed by NTFS. >

 

In Win98, the FAT32 partition worked like a charm, obviously, so that job served its purpose.

Edited July 31, 2017 by JFD62780

[TPA5]

I just bought a PCMCIA to USB adapter for my Toshiba Tecra 700 laptop. It's on the slow boat, so it should arrive in time for fall

 

In any case, I'm hoping it works well. Much easier to transfer things that way, instead of burning CD's or futzing with floppies.

[Sinphaltimus]

It's been far too long since I fired up the old W98se machine. Looking at it right now. Need a place to plug it all in but I'm pretty certain I had it on ethernet for file transfers. I still have many of my original CDs that work and last I recall I was installing several (a few years back). Man, why did I stop here? I'm going to have to get it up and running very soon. Now I'm in the mood to play Plane Crazy.

[eightbit]

 

PS: if your card has problems with 98 support I have one laying around I never use, and I know it works with 98

 

 

Well, not only does it not work but the computer doesn't even POST with this crappy card in. That said, it is going back to Amazon and PM sent

[Osgeld]

 

 

Well, not only does it not work but the computer doesn't even POST with this crappy card in. That said, it is going back to Amazon and PM sent

got it, replied

 

[eightbit]

Osgeld really came through for me with this. The card he sent me worked perfectly, thank you! I am amazed at how easy it was (with the right card) to get USB flash drives functional on this old machine with 98SE. Getting the driver on the "hard drive" was especially easy as the HDD has been replaced with an IDE to CF solution Thank you again Osgeld...I owe you one!

[Osgeld]

[eightbit]

Since I have received the excellent USB card from Osgeld I have been playing around with it to see what I can do. I already have it functional in Win 98SE (which was really easy).

Today I got USB flash drives working in true DOS mode today as I was sick and tired of copying stuff to the HDD to test (games mostly). This can serve a lot of other good purposes like creating a DOS boot floppy to recover or repair stuff when it does not boot:

http://hddguru.com/software/2006.02.09-USBASPI-MS-DOS-Driver/

You will also need:

https://www.hiren.info/download/dos-files/di1000dd.sys

And of course a USB card that works with the computer or onboard USB ports Put both files in C:\USBASPI and edit the config.sys with:

[MENU]

REM Define an item in the menu, first identifier and then what

REM is written in the menu

MENUITEM=DOS, DOS with USB Support

MENUITEM=WIN, Windows 98SE



REM For each menu item there can be defined a configuration

[DOS]

device=C:\USBASPI\USBASPI.SYS /w /v /e

device=C:\USBASPI\DI1000DD.SYS



[WIN]

Next edit the MSDOS.SYS and change the BootGUI to 0. This was necessary (at least for me) as without it choosing the DOS option would attempt to load the GUI and freeze due to conflicting windows and DOS usb drivers. Not a big deal. When you choose the Windows option it drops to a command prompt without the DOS USB driver loaded and you simply have to type "win" to load windows...just like the good old days

There are probably a million better ways to do this but it works for me. It has been a LONG time since I messed with config.sys and the like. If you use a better method, let me know!

Edited August 20, 2017 by eightbit