Haltech For those of us still running an E6k (DOS solution)
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,723
Likes: 1
From: Indianapolis
For those of us still running an E6k (DOS solution)
So any of us that are still running the old E6k have found that it can be kind of a pain to run in windows especially when trying to use the serial connection, so here is a solution i have came up with after messing with things.
When i first got the car, i had a laptop with two hard drives. One had windows, one had MS-DOS 7.0. This worked fine except changing out HDs all the time was a pain in the ***. That laptop died and i moved on to a newer one.
On the newer laptop, i ran XP and used a DOS emulator called DOSbox. http://www.dosbox.com/ Dosbox works very well for the most part. You can run the haltech software within a window so you can multi-task and do everything you could normally do. The cons to this is that DOSbox was slow, especially when logging. You can change the speed that the emulator runs, but the faster you run it, the higher the CPU usage goes and laptop batteries just don't last that long when running at 100%. Even at 100% dosbox was not nearly as fast as the old laptop with DOS 7.0
So last night i was messing around with the laptop and decided to do something different. There is a free version of DOS that is still being developed and used called FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org/ that i thought might be a good solution.
I didn't have anything of need on the laptop so i wiped it clean and repartitioned the HD using parted magic http://partedmagic.com/ to created a new FAT16 partition for free dos, a EXT3 and swap partition for Ubuntu and an NTFS partition for Windows. The FAT16 needs to be first in order for it to be bootable, the rest don't matter. I then installed FreeDOS from a cd that i burned from an ISO off their website. It was about as easy as an OS install could get. I then installed Ubuntu on its partition. Ubuntu automatically installed a bootloader that gives a menu when you start up that asks what OS you want to boot into. I couldn't find my windows CD, but i plan on adding that tonight.
When i boot into FreeDOS, i have the autoexec batch file to run the Haltech software. It runs great and its very fast! I can have my laptop go from off to connected to the Haltech in only a few seconds. This is very nice for making quick tuning changes. Even better than booting into windows for other tuning software. The other operating systems will be able to see this FAT16 volume, so i can copy maps and logs in and out.
I should also note that you don't need to wipe everything clean to do this on your laptop. You can use Parted Magic or any partition software to add a FAT volume to the beginning of the drive and then install FreeDOS to it. From there you just need a bootloader like GRUB or LILO to control which OS you want to load. The best of all, everything I've mentioned is free to download and use.
When i first got the car, i had a laptop with two hard drives. One had windows, one had MS-DOS 7.0. This worked fine except changing out HDs all the time was a pain in the ***. That laptop died and i moved on to a newer one.
On the newer laptop, i ran XP and used a DOS emulator called DOSbox. http://www.dosbox.com/ Dosbox works very well for the most part. You can run the haltech software within a window so you can multi-task and do everything you could normally do. The cons to this is that DOSbox was slow, especially when logging. You can change the speed that the emulator runs, but the faster you run it, the higher the CPU usage goes and laptop batteries just don't last that long when running at 100%. Even at 100% dosbox was not nearly as fast as the old laptop with DOS 7.0
So last night i was messing around with the laptop and decided to do something different. There is a free version of DOS that is still being developed and used called FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org/ that i thought might be a good solution.
I didn't have anything of need on the laptop so i wiped it clean and repartitioned the HD using parted magic http://partedmagic.com/ to created a new FAT16 partition for free dos, a EXT3 and swap partition for Ubuntu and an NTFS partition for Windows. The FAT16 needs to be first in order for it to be bootable, the rest don't matter. I then installed FreeDOS from a cd that i burned from an ISO off their website. It was about as easy as an OS install could get. I then installed Ubuntu on its partition. Ubuntu automatically installed a bootloader that gives a menu when you start up that asks what OS you want to boot into. I couldn't find my windows CD, but i plan on adding that tonight.
When i boot into FreeDOS, i have the autoexec batch file to run the Haltech software. It runs great and its very fast! I can have my laptop go from off to connected to the Haltech in only a few seconds. This is very nice for making quick tuning changes. Even better than booting into windows for other tuning software. The other operating systems will be able to see this FAT16 volume, so i can copy maps and logs in and out.
I should also note that you don't need to wipe everything clean to do this on your laptop. You can use Parted Magic or any partition software to add a FAT volume to the beginning of the drive and then install FreeDOS to it. From there you just need a bootloader like GRUB or LILO to control which OS you want to load. The best of all, everything I've mentioned is free to download and use.
So any of us that are still running the old E6k have found that it can be kind of a pain to run in windows especially when trying to use the serial connection, so here is a solution i have came up with after messing with things.
When i first got the car, i had a laptop with two hard drives. One had windows, one had MS-DOS 7.0. This worked fine except changing out HDs all the time was a pain in the ***. That laptop died and i moved on to a newer one.
On the newer laptop, i ran XP and used a DOS emulator called DOSbox. http://www.dosbox.com/ Dosbox works very well for the most part. You can run the haltech software within a window so you can multi-task and do everything you could normally do. The cons to this is that DOSbox was slow, especially when logging. You can change the speed that the emulator runs, but the faster you run it, the higher the CPU usage goes and laptop batteries just don't last that long when running at 100%. Even at 100% dosbox was not nearly as fast as the old laptop with DOS 7.0
So last night i was messing around with the laptop and decided to do something different. There is a free version of DOS that is still being developed and used called FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org/ that i thought might be a good solution.
I didn't have anything of need on the laptop so i wiped it clean and repartitioned the HD using parted magic http://partedmagic.com/ to created a new FAT16 partition for free dos, a EXT3 and swap partition for Ubuntu and an NTFS partition for Windows. The FAT16 needs to be first in order for it to be bootable, the rest don't matter. I then installed FreeDOS from a cd that i burned from an ISO off their website. It was about as easy as an OS install could get. I then installed Ubuntu on its partition. Ubuntu automatically installed a bootloader that gives a menu when you start up that asks what OS you want to boot into. I couldn't find my windows CD, but i plan on adding that tonight.
When i boot into FreeDOS, i have the autoexec batch file to run the Haltech software. It runs great and its very fast! I can have my laptop go from off to connected to the Haltech in only a few seconds. This is very nice for making quick tuning changes. Even better than booting into windows for other tuning software. The other operating systems will be able to see this FAT16 volume, so i can copy maps and logs in and out.
I should also note that you don't need to wipe everything clean to do this on your laptop. You can use Parted Magic or any partition software to add a FAT volume to the beginning of the drive and then install FreeDOS to it. From there you just need a bootloader like GRUB or LILO to control which OS you want to load. The best of all, everything I've mentioned is free to download and use.
When i first got the car, i had a laptop with two hard drives. One had windows, one had MS-DOS 7.0. This worked fine except changing out HDs all the time was a pain in the ***. That laptop died and i moved on to a newer one.
On the newer laptop, i ran XP and used a DOS emulator called DOSbox. http://www.dosbox.com/ Dosbox works very well for the most part. You can run the haltech software within a window so you can multi-task and do everything you could normally do. The cons to this is that DOSbox was slow, especially when logging. You can change the speed that the emulator runs, but the faster you run it, the higher the CPU usage goes and laptop batteries just don't last that long when running at 100%. Even at 100% dosbox was not nearly as fast as the old laptop with DOS 7.0
So last night i was messing around with the laptop and decided to do something different. There is a free version of DOS that is still being developed and used called FreeDOS http://www.freedos.org/ that i thought might be a good solution.
I didn't have anything of need on the laptop so i wiped it clean and repartitioned the HD using parted magic http://partedmagic.com/ to created a new FAT16 partition for free dos, a EXT3 and swap partition for Ubuntu and an NTFS partition for Windows. The FAT16 needs to be first in order for it to be bootable, the rest don't matter. I then installed FreeDOS from a cd that i burned from an ISO off their website. It was about as easy as an OS install could get. I then installed Ubuntu on its partition. Ubuntu automatically installed a bootloader that gives a menu when you start up that asks what OS you want to boot into. I couldn't find my windows CD, but i plan on adding that tonight.
When i boot into FreeDOS, i have the autoexec batch file to run the Haltech software. It runs great and its very fast! I can have my laptop go from off to connected to the Haltech in only a few seconds. This is very nice for making quick tuning changes. Even better than booting into windows for other tuning software. The other operating systems will be able to see this FAT16 volume, so i can copy maps and logs in and out.
I should also note that you don't need to wipe everything clean to do this on your laptop. You can use Parted Magic or any partition software to add a FAT volume to the beginning of the drive and then install FreeDOS to it. From there you just need a bootloader like GRUB or LILO to control which OS you want to load. The best of all, everything I've mentioned is free to download and use.
http://forums.haltech.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1817
DOS Box has been covered extensively and is being used by A LOT of people.
And here from this particular forum:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...DOSbox+haltech
I guess this last one should be stickied? no?
Good on you though, A+ for your efforts.
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,723
Likes: 1
From: Indianapolis
I've actually been using DosBox for about 3 years now and I've had my E6k for about 5. I'm not behind. The reason i created this thread is because i feel like FreeDOS is a much better solution than DOSBox. Its worth the time to set up.
Aight, i guess you're welcomed to exploit other options. DOSBox works fine for me, never had any trouble and im used to it. Simple.
i need a laptop my took a **** a few weeks ago when I asked a friend to rebbot my dell and he came back and told me the mother board was fried!!!! it wokred ok before just a bit slow...I wanted him to reboot it and install a DOS reader so I can tune my halteck
i just use a pos laptop that only has MS-DOS on it, and boots right into the haltech program. It boots fast and you dont have to shut it down before turning it off either, since its just DOS.
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FYI guys, Haltech in their April Newsletter have announced that they will no longer support "Legacy Products" for free. This includes everything made (including) prior to the E6K. So, any DOS operated system is now going to have a support fee.
So, yes, upgrading to E6X or the new Sport units would probably be advisable.
So, yes, upgrading to E6X or the new Sport units would probably be advisable.
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