Serial Port Under DOS 5.0

[wa0gmh]

I need a DOS computer for several legacy programs that I need to run. I've loaded DOS 5.0 onto a Thinkpad 600X and can get everything to work except the serial port. I don't see anything in the Bios setup that relates to the serial port. What do I need to do to get the serial port to work? I've tried the Mode command, but it says that COM1: is not valid. Same for COM2:.

Thanks for any help. Fred

[BillP]

By default the serial port is disabled and can be turned on using the Thinkpad Configuration Utility for DOS. You can find it at http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/mobiles/, file 7hu601us.exe and 7hu601us.txt. The .exe is really just a zip file that self extracts when you follow the installation instructions.

The infra-red transceiver is enabled by default and may have an IRQ conflict with the serial port unless it is turned off first. Then enable the serial port.

Syntax:
PS2 IR DISABLE
PS2 SERIAL ON
PS2 ? IRQ (shows IRQ assignments)

[wa0gmh]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the reply. I downloaded the file and put it in a directory on my desktop (Windows 7). I then ran the program and it unpacked into 26 files (might have counted wrong). Windows said it didn't install properly, but when I check for an installed program, I don't see one. So I think it just unpacked the files into the subdirectory I made. I then burned the files onto a CD, put it in the CD drive on the Thinkpad and copied them to the C: drive of the Thinkpad that is running DOS 5.0. When I run PS2 IR Disable or any other PS2 command, I get an error message that says "A program started an invalid instruction without registering an invalid opcode exception handler".

Fred

[BillP]

I tried to run PS2 under MSDOS 5 and it does not work as you found out. It does run in MSDOS 6 and 6.22 if you can use those releases instead of MSDOS 5. I don't know of a way to set the serial port configuration in MSDOS 5.

[wa0gmh]

Thanks again. I'll load DOS 6.22. I think that will work with the programs I need to run.

Fred

[wa0gmh]

We were out of town, so I just got back to this. I loaded DOS 6.22 and it worked fine. My only problem was getting mode.com out of the .img file so I could set the port parameters.

Thanks for the help with this.

Fred