RE: ZIP Drive Improvements                              10/01/95

     I've  had  my ZIP drive almost a week and have  gotten  some 
interesting  inputs  and  ideas from some of  the  guys.  Special 
thanks to Ken Moses for a good article on his ZIP installation. 
     One  of  my problems was with the IOMega  ZIP  installation. 
Well  due  to Ken I do NOT need to go through all that  pain  and 
disappointments.  But I still want to leave my CD as an E:  drive 
the  same  letter.  What I found was simple and  logical  in  the 
autoexec.bat. My file looks somewhat like this:

@ECHO OFF
@PROMPT $P$G
@PATH C:\;C:\DOS;C:\MOUSE;C:\IOMEGA
LH C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:MSCD001 /E /K /L:E /M:42   <<<CD
LH C:\DOS\MODE com4:96,n,8,1,P
LH C:\DOS\DOSKEY /INSERT
LH C:\ZIPTOOLS\GUEST.EXE                                  <<<ZIP
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM /3
SET SCSI_DRIVER = C:\IOMEGA                               <<<ZIP
SET SCSI_UTILITY = C:\IOMEGA                              <<<ZIP
CD menu
menu

Notice  that  the  ZIP Guest program is activated  AFTER  the  CD 
command  line.   This is the key to  keeping my CD drive  E:.  NO 
modifications or additions need to be made to the config.sys.  NO 
more boot-up problems when the ZIP drive is not attached. 
     The next item that I'm going to make is an alternate  method 
of  getting  power  to my ZIP drive. This  is  VERY  VERY  simple 
(something IOMega should include in the ZIP drive kit)! I'm going 
to take one of my unused PC card slot covers and install a  2.5mm 
power  jack.  Wire the jack to the existing  floppy  drive  power 
cables 5VDC and RTN-GND. Or make a "Y" cable to insert between  a 
floppy  and  the PC power supply. Then make up a 2.5mm  to  2.5mm 
power cable to the ZIP drive. Simple and cheap. The parts can  be 
easily obtained from Radio Shack or Digi-Key.  
     This will allow me controlled power to the ZIP drive as  the 
ZIP drive  will ONLY be energized when the PC is on. I'll use the 
plug-in power supply with other PC's when I need to go portable. 
     PROBLEM,  I found a software conflict when the ZIP drive  is 
installed; my printer didn't work due to the DMP printer  spooler 
program was conflicting with the ZIP drive program. Even though I 
specifically  put the DMP program on LPT1 = printer and  the  ZIP 
drive is on LPT2 the ZIP program messes it all up. I wish the ZIP 
Guest  program had an uninstall mode i.e. /U command. So today  I 
created a DMP batch file and when I know I'll be printing I  will 
unplug the ZIP drive, reboot, and run the DMP batch. All works ok 
but cumbersome!
     With  the  SIMPLE ZIP-Guest installation and  the  alternate 
power  hook  up  the ZIP drive is a real good  item.  Someone  in 
IOMega  is NOT thinking or they are in to much of a rush to  mar-
ket! Now I'll keep my ZIP - if I can ever get my back ordered ZIP 
disks!      73, Kuby, N6JSX/9 Kuby Konsulting, Manitowoc, WI

