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PC Clinic Self-Boot™ How to Make DOS-based Diagnostics Self-Booting |
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PC Clinic Self-Boot™ How to Make DOS-based Diagnostics Self-Booting |
QUESTION: "Why isn't PC Clinic self-booting, and What do I do to make it self-booting?"
ANSWER:
We actually do have both a DOS version and a self-booting version of PC Clinic. We discontinued including the self-booting version on the PC Clinic disk so as to leave more room for the expanding DOS version. We have not maintained the self-booting version for reasons explained below, and because it is for legacy systems. However, it is available on special order for those who really feel that they need or want it. Here are som other considerations of note to you.
1. The DOS-based version is better than any self-boot version because it gives you all the facilities DOS offers at the same time it still provides the functionality of a Self-Boot version. The only reason people think self-boot is desireable is that it lets you test a system that does not have DOS resident on the drive (such as UNIX, OS2, or Windows NT. In reality, DOS is broadly available and there is no reason for NOT having it on site for testing. There are no tests on a self-booting disk that cannot also be run on under DOS. But there are many functions a DOS-based diagnostic can test that a self-boot version cannot perform. These include doing file I/O and testing devices that require drivers.
2. Easy to Make. If you want to make DOS-based diagnostics self-booting, you should SYS DOS 6.22 to the PC Clinic BACKUP (not the ORIGINAL master) disk. If you have a duplicator version of PC Clinic that makes original masters, you make the original master from it, and then us it to make a couple of backup copies. Then you copy DOS 622 to the backup using the SYS command under DOS. This gives you a self-booting DOS version of the program.
3. Use DOS 6.22. DOS 7.1 (comes with Windows 98) hogs too much space (because of the DRIVESPACE.BIN program), so it won't fit on the disk with our diags. DOS 6.22 will fit just fine.
4. Get DOS Free. DR DOS (optional) is free from Caldera software (http://www.caldera.com) - even the source code is free. So nobody needs to pay Microsoft for DOS anymore. You can use that, too and give it away "free" (see the license on their web site).
5. Memory Hog. Self-booting diags take more room in memory than DOS does, AND the diags have to initialize interrupt controllers and other devices just like DOS does, so why try to emulate or bypass DOS?
6. Counterfeit DOS. Without a "counterfeit" DOS emulator inside to handle files, the self-boot diags cannot access or test SCSI devices or CD ROMs or use them to read and write files. This means such diags must be seriously deficient in features in contrast to a DOS-based program (especially one) like PC Clinic. For example, a self-booter has NO massive on-line help like PC Clinic has.
7. File and Device I/O. In order to handle I/O devices like CD ROMs/SCSI, and to handle files, self-booting diags must emulate DOS and the free CDROM/SCSI drivers. That makes it a "COUNTERFEIT" DOS because only DOS is really DOS. I don't know anyone who feels comfortable with a counterfeit DOS emulator running his system - it opens the door to MANY compatibility problems and other errors induced by the cloning process, and in my opinion it is not to be trusted.
8. Runs under Windows. Unlike all the competitive DOS-based and self-boot diagnostics, PC Clinic DOES run under Windows, and there are many circumstances in which this is profoundly more convenient than being stuck with self-boot or running only under DOS. By simply adding the DOS boot files to the disk, PC Clinic is a seriously feature-rich suite of diagnostics, utilities, and educational modules (the big help system) that utterly eclipses competitive excuses for a diagnostic solution.
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