CompuServe Messages

OS/2 supports only SCSI CD-ROM drives. The CDU535 is not a SCSI drive; it uses a proprietary Sony bus interface. Sony has so far refused to write a driver for this interface, so at this point it will not work directly under OS/2. MSCDEX does not work under OS/2 in a DOS session, not because of the version (which is the message that MSCDEX writes when it doesn't load) but because it uses techniques which threaten system integrity in a multi-tasking environment which OS/2 will not allow. When its calls are refused, MSCDEX terminates with the wrong version error message. You *can* use your drive in a specific DOS session under OS/2. The drive will be accessible only from the VBM in which your driver software is running, but I have been able to operate both DOS applications and Windows applications (using WinOS2 instead of MS WIN.COM) in this way. You must create a DOS boot diskette with all the necessary items in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, tweak it until it works as a "Dos from Drive A" boot diskette, and then create a boot diskette image file. The process is described in the OS/2 2.0 Installation Guide, pages 97-104. This is a usable work-around, but is sufficiently limited that I sold my Sony drive and bought a Toshiba 3301 SCSI drive to replace it. I am much happier with the Toshiba. Paul