Any DOS whiz's here? (HP 200LX)

I'm currently using a "supported" SanDisk 256mb CF card in my PCMCIA CF adapter on my HP 1000CX (HP 200LX) and I'm not having much luck.

The HP recognizes the drive when I run fdisk100, but it says "inactive" and sees the entire 256mb instead of the FAT16 partition I created on my Windows XP machine via Paragon.

When I choose "cd a:" I get a message saying it's not ready to read.

If I format it on the HP, it shows up under Paragon on my Windows XP machine as unformatted space.

Any ideas what I could do to resolve this? The card should work in its full capacity, but even when I push the space down to under 32mb and 16mb it won't read the card. (as mentioned above, even fdisk100 recognizes the card without the partitions.)

I've heard that some cards require a driver (which I have, but no way to transfer it to the HP), but either way my card *should* be supported. Especially if I format it to under 32MB / 16MB.

Would appreciate any help.

Have you tried formatting the partition in dos? Dos will only be able to use the partition after it is formatted. A simple “format a:” (without quotes) should do the trick

Hey, thanks Ntware, I get the error "Format not supported on Drive A:
Format terminated."

Update:
Ran fdisk100 then tried format A: and it's now formatting.

Update 2:
It's done (phew, took forever and most of my batteries) and I'm able to enter drive A (the CF). Will try to move some programs over and see what happens.

Update 3:
The HP palmtop can read the card, but my Windows XP with CF reader built in cannot. Not even through Paragon. (Not even showing up)

Update 4:
Restarted my Windows XP tablet PC, Paragon now recognizes the drive fine. However, Windows Explorer is unable to access the card as it doesn't even appear.

Edited by HPC:Fan 2020-03-25 12:16 AM

I used to have that problem myself. And I had a Win XP machine. Not sure, but if I remember correctly I got around it by either booting my desktop to MSDos using a floppy and a DOS driver that came with my card reader or I booted into XP and formatted the CF card using Fat16 only. The problem, again I'm trying to remember, was the MBR was different on the desktop than it was on the 95LX.

My sure solution was to always Fdisk100 the CF card on the handheld first.

Hey guys, thank you both for your help. I've been able to solve it. I had to assign a drive letter manually, now able to move files between the two devices!

Installing programs now

Update:
Now how do I delete entire folders off of the C: drive? I've tried the rmdrive, delete and deltree commands to no success.

Edited by HPC:Fan 2020-03-25 2:34 AM

In general for DOS (I'm not a LX200 user), a directory has to be empty before running the "rmdir" (or "rd" command (unless you use the /s flag, ie "rmdir name /s".

For whatever reason, I found it more reassuring to just go to the directory, do a del *.* (after doing a dir command to see what files were there), then move up the directory tree (and for a small drive, it'd simply be the root directory, so cd . or cd .. ) then remove the directory.

Good luck!

Hey HM, the HP machine is a regular DOS 5.0 machine. Thanks for the help, I think I got it. (Gone from C: at least!)

Update:
Ok, most of the documentation I find online is for DOS 6.0 and up. So my apologies for requesting syntax help here. I'm trying to move a file from A: to A:\progs in DOS 5.0. I tried the move command, but it doesn't seem to be working. (Perhaps I'm writing the command wrong?) I'd also like to move an entire directory from C: to A:.

Another question, when installing a program how do I specify where I want it to be installed? I.e., if I type install.exe at the C: command prompt, it'll just install on C:. I'd like to for example install install.exe to A:\progs.

I really appreciate the help, as I'm finally getting this little handheld put together

Edited by HPC:Fan 2020-03-25 4:57 AM

I used to use a 3rd party DOS command called Killdir.exe. It would delete any directory and subdirectory and file within it.

As far as install.exe, I only used that to install memory resident programs on bootup by calling them from the config.sys file.

Try copying the program you want to install to the A: drive and install it from there without specifying a drive name. It should install to A: by default.

According to Wikipedia ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Move_(command) ) the MOVE command was only available on MS-DOS 6 and above. You can always copy the file and delete the original

Hey Rich, all files are being installed via A: but are still being automatically installed on C:. I'll definitely google for the program Killdir, sounds like a very useful app to have.

NTWare, that's what I was afraid of. I surely thought there was a move command for DOS 5.0 as well. I'll try to copy and delete the files.

are you talking about FAT or FAT16 or FAT32 formatting??

That would be Fat 16. The HP won't accept any larger types.

Can anyone recommend a file explorer for DOS 5.0? I've tried finding "Dos Shell" without any luck.

I seem to remember "Dos Navigator" as being pretty good - it worked on DOS 3.0 and above I believe. Several clones of the original Norton Commander - Volkov and Midnight Commanders.

You folks have a Corona shut-in jones-ing for a 200LX if only to keep me from killing myself out of boredom.

What's the deal with the word processing? I heard Word for DOS 5.5 runs slowly on the 200LX--can anybody confirm its practical use?

Secondly, how does one swap word documents with the desktop? I found a Word for DOS converter, but I'm uncertain if that converter can SAVE in Word for DOS. Does WFD do rtf? I'd rather convert than use rtf, if possible.

Much obliged for any veteran advice,
Jake