    AST RESEARCH, INC.         TECHNICAL BULLETIN #0428B                 04-04-90

                       PREMIUM/286 AND 386 THIRD FLOPPY SUPPORT

    The following summarizes installation considerations for a third floppy device
    in AST Premium Computers:

    PREMIUM/286 HARDWARE CONSIDERATIONS

    PREMIUM/286 systems equipped with part number 202143-003 or 202143-004 system
    boards include embedded diskette drive controller circuitry that allows
    support for a third floppy device.  The third floppy is connected to the 34
    pin connector on the system board with an additional floppy drive controller
    cable (AST part number 220085-001).  The cable is attached to the third floppy
    device and the 34 pin connector J20 on the system board.

    PREMIUM/386 HARDWARE CONSIDERATIONS

    All PREMIUM/386 system boards are built with embedded third floppy diskette
    control circuitry.  The same cable (AST part number 220085-001) is required to
    install the third floppy device.  This cable connects to the P4 connector on
    the 386 system board.

    SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS

    Because the third floppy device is not directly recognized by the system BIOS,
    two device drivers, DRIVER.SYS and ASTDSK.DRV, must be inserted into the
    CONFIG.SYS file.

    DRIVER.SYS is provided with MS-DOS Version 3.3 Release 1.3 and ASTDSK.DRV is
    provided on the AST Utilities diskette shipped with all PREMIUM systems.

    DOS VERSIONS

    AST recommends and supports the use of AST MS-DOS Version 3.3 Release 1.3.
    For best results, users of earlier DOS versions should upgrade to Version 3.3
    Release 1.3.  Contact your local AST Service Center for additional
    information.

    INSTALLATION

    The AST Utilities Diskette provides menu-driven automatic installation of the
    third floppy device drivers into the CONFIG.SYS file.  The following are the
    configuration commands for each of the possible hardware combinations.

    The commands listed below are supported under DOS Version 3.2 and 3.3 unless
    otherwise noted:

    For 360 KB drive (5.25-inch diskettes)

        DEVICE=C:\DOS\ASTDSK.DRV 0
        DEVICE=C:\DOS\DRIVER.SYS /D:2 /F:0

    For 720 KB drive (3.5-inch diskettes)

        DEVICE=C:\DOS\ASTDSK.DRV 2
        DEVICE=C:\DOS\DRIVER.SYS /D:2 /F:2

    For 1.2 MB drive (5.25-inch diskettes)

        DEVICE=C:\DOS\ASTDSK.DRV 1
        DEVICE=C:\DOS\DRIVER.SYS /D:2 /F:1 /S:15

    For 1.44 MB drive (3.5-inch diskettes)

        DEVICE=C:\DOS\ASTDSK.DRV 3
        DEVICE=C:\DOS\DRIVER.SYS /D:2 /F:7 /S:18
        (use /F:3 for DOS 3.2)