I believe you should be able to create dual boot, if you have open connection on your ribbon, and utilize win boot manager to select between them, not sure though. Man, it's been considerable time lapse from when I used Win95/98 regularly. Dad as PFS programs from back in the Tandy days, I believe it was Tandy 1000 that he first used it with. He has several thousand records he has indexed on PFS.
Software Publishing Corporation (PFS software)
I checked inside the desktop, and both HDDs are on the same ribbon. Similarly, both CD drives are on the same ribbon (tho a different one of course). I'm not sure what possibilities this leaves me with. But after installing the extra themes from the W98 install disc, and arranging the desktop nicely, I have fallen in love again with Windows 98. It's very fast for the offline apps it has, no need for Linux as a way of accessing documents for example. W98 opens them quickly enough. and no issues re: compatibility with another office app like Libre. The only thing I might do is try to install Windows on the secondary drive. It has no OS, and about 5.5 GB of files. That way, I have redundancy in case the original drive goes kerplunk. I could install the same programs and migrate over the files from drive one, and have everything on one much larger drive (30GB vs 5). But I'm not going to attempt even that unless I know exactly what I'm doing. W98 does not have Easy Transfer or any similar program. And since I can't hook up my external hard drive to it, I would have to save the 5.5 GB of files on CDs (7 would do it).
Anyway, for now, I'm content to leave things as they are. Since this machine has never online, it has no viruses or malware. It works fine. I can improve things by taking advantage of the other drive, but that's for another time. I thank everyone who has helped out here, especially snick. I'll be starting my own thread if and when I decide to install Windows on the secondary drive. Once again, thanks to all and see you around the forum.
Well, I decided to try something. I removed the original CD rom and switched the jumpers on the Iomega zip CD I had installed years ago. I made it the master, and put it on the first pin connector on the ribbon. I fired up my computer for the 50th time, and lo and behold, Puppy Linux booted! The original CD rom was the problem the whole time. It is now sitting on a shelf. just wanted to let folks know. I had pretty much given up, then lying in bed last night, I had this idea. I was shocked when it worked. Sometimes you just need to go one more mile...
Checking out PL now. I chose Wary Puppy, which is older and more likely to work on this old machine. I now have better options. I can keep W98 where it is, on the original HDD, and install PL if I want on the new drive. I can partition with Gparted. The possibilities are endless. What fun! I'll be up late tonight. Oh well, it's Friday. Actually, I'm retired, one day is pretty much like any other...
Yes, LF, and holidays sometimes catch you by surprise. You get the big ones of course, but then, you're listening to the weather forecast and the weatherperson says, "going into the holiday weekend..." and you're like, it's a holiday? Of yeah, Presidents Day. Gee, I'd be excited if I was working." kind of miss that...
I sure don't miss braving the elements and ***hole drivers first thing on a freezing Maine morning when any creature with sense would be fast asleep in its hole.
I was fortunate in that regard, worked for social service agencies and then State O' Maine, where mere inefficiency and incompetence were the only issues.
Just to complete my detour of this thread: I have succeeded in having a nice dual-boot of W98 and Puppy Linux. Actually, it's a triple-boot, as I have W98 on the original HDD, and two versions of Puppy Linux on the secondary (slave) drive. I could not get Windows to boot with the grub4dos bootloader installed on the slave drive. I installed it last night to the master (Windows) drive, taking a small risk that windows would not boot from there either, but it did boot, as well as both puppies on the other drive. Everything works fine. I now have a faster computer too, as I maxed out the ram at 384 MB. Picked up some virgin ram for 30.00. So W98 is faster, and the computer also has Linux on it, in case we ever decide to put it online. For those with older computers, consider Puppy Linux. It is absolutely loaded with everything you need, yet is one of the lightest Linuxes out there. Usually around 100MB, the iso fits on a CD. And the forum is great.
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