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large partitions and winos2

Started by doodad, 2009.05.05, 13:53:20

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doodad

how do I solve the problem of win31 programs croaking because larger partitions are read as either 0 or negative?

The Blue Warper

Hi doodad!

You could try 2GBfix, a small util you can find on hobbes:
http://hobbes2.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?sh=1&button=Search&key=2gbfix&stype=all&sort=type_name&dir=%2Fpub

The newer version is a further patched version to get some more DOS programs running.

I quote some info from the readme, in order you might get a clue whether this is what you're looking for.

==========================
/* Begin quote */

1. What is 2GBFIX and why would you want it?

2GBFIX is a workaround for a problem that occurs in DOS and WIN-OS/2
sessions under OS/2 (and possibly other OSes that provide virtual DOS
sessions) when you have disks or partitions that exceed 2 GB (2048 MB)
in size. Many DOS and Windows programs that check free and/or total
disk space cannot deal with disks over 2GB, partly because DOS itself
cannot deal with partitions bigger than this and partly because
calculation of bytes free is usually performed using 32-bit signed
integer arithmetic, where the maximum positive value equates to
approximately 2GB. The effects of this vary, but usually the affected
program thinks that the volume or partition has insufficient disk space
because the result of the calculation is either zero or negative.

2GBFIX works around this by patching the appropriate DOS calls so that
they never return more than 2GB of total or free space, which prevents
the program failing at the expense of the program not having a true
idea of the actual amount of disk space. For most practical purposes
this is not a problem.

/* End quote */
==========================

Hope this helps...

cyberspittle

Hi Doodad,

There use to be a technique in OS/2 Warp v3 where you could boot from A:\ and use real MS-DOS (for example). This would use a fixed disk size based on the VDK (?). Perhaps doing something like that and install real Windows 3.1 would be a workaround? I used to access my CD-ROM this way when it was not supported.