www.qrp4fun.de Installation of the Sprat CD-ROM without floppy drive

Sprat Sometime user ask, how to install the first edition of the CD-ROM with the issues 1-100 on a PC or laptop without a floppy drive. There are two ways. Maybe there are more than this, but I have tested only these both with success.
 
First and easy way
 
Plug an USB floppy drive temporary on your computer with the floppy inside.
 
Second and interesting way
 
The main problem is to transfer the file setup.db from the floppy to the computer. Please ask a buddy who use a computer with a floppy drive to copy the setup.db on an USB memory stick or a CD-ROM or send you the named file via e-mail. If the file setup.db is on your computer so move it into a new path on your harddisk (for example c:\xxx). Start the setup.exe from the CD-ROM. You don't need the file from the floppy for the setup, only at the first start of the program.
 
The next steps are difficult to describe for me, because I don't know the English menue entries in the Windows system. But I try it.
 
Go to the Start button and click on Run. Then type
 
subst a: c:\xxx
 
in the area and press the enter key. Now the path c:\xxx is temporary the imaginary floppy drive A. You can check it for example with the Windows Explorer. There is now a drive A with the file setup.db in it.
 
Start the istallation program sprat.exe from your CD-ROM. The program pop up and ask you (only at the first start) to insert the floppy in drive A. Click on OK, because the floppy is already your path c:\xxx. Follow the instructions in the programm and finish the setup.
 
Go back to the Start button, click again on Run and type
 
subst a: /d
 
in the area and press the enter key. This command close the connection between the imaginary floppy drive A and the path c:\xxx. You can check it again with the Windows Explorer. The drive A is gone. At the end of these procedure you may delete the path c:\xxx with the setup.db file in it.