DOS C Prompt, Can USB port be used under straight DOS WIN 98

[Kruser]

My P-4 computer does not have a 9-pin serial port. USB and FIRE WIRE only. I have some older DOS only radio programming software that hooks to 9 pin serial, which my new computer does not have: it has USB and FireWire. If I boot the computer to the C: prompt from F8, say, using a WIN 95 or 98 program, and using a USB to serial cable, will any of the three USB ports show up as COM ports? I need to be a C:\ and have a USB to serial converter on COM 1 or COM 2. I will face your direction and bow deeply for any help before I go partitioning a hard drive and setting up a dual boot system.
:hotbounce

 

[Rik]

Unfortunately usb is not supported in dos mode at all. How ever, you can but pci serial i/o cards that have the connectors that u need and i dont think they are very expensive.

 

[Nodsu]

This is just wrong. You can use USB devices just fine under DOS as long as you have the drivers or BIOS support.

I am not sure if there are any USB serial adapters that have DOS drivers but a PCI or PCMCIA serial controller would work for sure.

 

[Rik]

Well i apologize if my info is incorrect but i have never seen any dos usb drivers. I only had usb1 on my old mobo so i got a usb2 pci card and the cd that came with it didnt have dos drivers either.

 

[DelJo63]

ms usb boot requirements

may be see at
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/usb-boot.mspx

a dos/FAT technique is described at
http://www.weethet.nl/english/hardware_bootfromusbstick.php

your BIOS will determine which if any support is possible.

 

[tdeg]

Can't you just boot Windows and run from a DOS prompt?

The drivers would be loaded at that point and you would still have your c:

Just go Start->Run and type in command

 

[Kruser]

I cannot use a dos box running under windows. Since XP is not built on the DOS platform like 95 and 98, it is horse of a different color on many of the old programs.

 

[Nodsu]

Maybe run a DOS emulator like DOSBox or a PC emulator like VMWare?