Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!dutrun!dutesta!knop
From: knop@dutesta.UUCP (Peter Knoppers)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: (Summary) Looking for AT setup program that loads from fileserver
Message-ID: <1072@dutesta.UUCP>
Date: 29 Jan 88 15:14:22 GMT
Reply-To: knop@dutesta.UUCP (Peter Knoppers)
Organization: Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering.
Lines: 81

I wrote:
>We have a Novell network of AT clones and PS/2 computers. Some of our
>AT clones are completely diskless and boot from the fileserver.
>
>My problem is that the setup program (on the diagnostic diskette) can
>not be run from the fileserver. This means that I have to temporarily
>add a floppy drive to alter the amount of RAM that the computer thinks
>it contains.

Thank you for your responses. Several solutions were pointed out to
me by 5 different respondents. All these responses came on the same
day. Since then (one week ago) nothing more has arrived in my mailbox,
so it is time to summarize.
----------------
Steve Arrants	 (...!uw-beaver!microsoft!stephena) 
wrote that at his site he has .BAT files that can change setup parms 
and other things. He did not explain how, but I (PK) discovered that
from the other responses.
----------------
John Levine	(ima!johnl)
put me on the right track, he wrote (slightly reformatted):
# On a PC-AT, PS/2, and PC XT, at least, the programs on the setup disk
# are normal DOS programs. That means that if you copy them to a 
# directory somewhere, cd to that directory, and type COMMAND to run 
# the fake command processor from the disk, you're running the setup 
# programs.
# 
# We run the XT and AT diagnostics, including setup, from a 3com server 
# this way all the time.
I never realised that "COMMAND" on the diagnostics diskette could be
different from the normal command processor. I (mistakenly) thought that
the diskette contained an abnormal DOS in the boot tracks. Evidently
the DOS is normal, but COMMAND.COM is not what is seems... This opens
a range of new ideas for boot and run diskettes that don't start with
an annoying "echo off" message on your screen (dos 3.30 cures this
problem in another way).
----------------
beldar@cup.portal.com    (sun!cup.portal.com!beldar)
wrote that he has a full screen and colorful program that manipulates
the information in the NV RAM of the AT.
Maybe he can post this program to comp.binaries.ibm.pc ?  The user
interface of the program on the diagnostics diskette can certainly be
improved :-).
----------------
Yuan Chang	{ihnp4,uunet,ucbvax,dcdwest}!sdcsvax!nosc!uhccux!yuan
wrote (slightly reformatted):
# 	Easiest way would be for you to get Award BIOS, and replace
# the BIOS in your AT with Award's.  Award includes the setup program
# in ROM, and can be called up instantly by a few keystrokes.  I think
# they shouldn't be more that $50 per set.  
This is interesting... my AT clone has an Award bios (at least it tells
me on power-on) but I would not know what combination of key strokes
pops-up the setup program. I wonder what other features are hidden in
this machine....
----------------
Niall  O Broin	{uunet,mcvax ..}!cernvax!hslrswi!obroin
wrote that the Ferranti AT clone comes with a setup program that runs
fine from a hard disk.
#                               I don't have the machine, but I think
# I can find the software. It's nicer than that provided with the IBM
# AT, as it gives a full screen display of the alterable parameters.
----------------

After reading John Levine's letter I created a directory ATDIAGS in our
Novell system and copied the entire contents of the diagnostics diskette
to it. In the directory where we keep most commands I created a batch
file (ATSETUP.BAT) that contains the following 3 lines
map q:=FS1/HD1:ATDIAGS
q:
command
To non-Novell wizards I will explain the magic of the three lines above.
The map command assigns a drive letter (in this case q) to a directory
on disk HD1 of fileserver FS1. The second line makes this directory the
current one. The third line starts the diagnostics.
And that is all! We can type atsetup and it works (automatic coldstart
afterwards, but that is reasonable).
-- 
Peter Knoppers, Delft Univ. of Technology
...!mcvax!dutrun!dutesta!knop
  or
knop@dutesta.UUCP