My DOS tools

Hi, I'm ChrisR3tro and when I find the time, I delve into ancient software development. This is a collection of tools I created for MS-DOS and compatible operating systems.

If you like my stuff, why not follow me on X, and if you are a developer, you are welcome to have a look at my source code.
Please let me know, if you find errors or just something that can be done in a better way. Thanks!

Quick links

(tools in this collection)

  1. CDBeQuiet!
  2. MCBscan

CDBeQuiet!

Description

CDBeQuiet! (aka CDBQ) is a tool for slowing down optical disk drives under a real DOS environment. This can be useful, if you have a relatively fast drive that can produce unwanted noise during operation (e.g. gaming :-p ). It allows you to set a desired speed by specifying a command-line parameter.

For info on system requirements, usage guide, change history, refer to README.TXT.

For a list of drives that are known to work, have a look at DRIVES.TXT.

IMPORTANT: Before making adjustments to disc speed, it is best to run a few tests (benchmarks). Usage without proper testing can lead to poor read performance, see readme.txt, section How to test the settings and which rate to choose?.

Acknowledgments & Special Thanks

The basic approach of this tool is derived from an assembler program by a guy called "Hackman". Thanks Hackman! :) For more info have a look at his page and especially his Introduction To Programming With ATA And ATAPI.

Downloads

Links

Back to top


MCBscan

Description

With MCBscan, you can list information about currently resident (loaded) programs (e.g. Terminate and Stay Resident programs known as "TSRs", or drivers). For that, it scans the so-called memory control blocks (MCBs) to determine, if a program or driver with a specific name is currently loaded. An exit code is provided based on the results of the search, making it easy to incorporate into batch scripts.

For example, you can use MCBscan before loading a network driver to check if it's already loaded. This prevents the driver from loading a second time, which is useful, because not all TSRs or drivers automatically check, if they are already active when they are started and some would even (undesirably) load as multiple instances.

Acknowledgments & Special Thanks

Downloads

Back to top