Hi Bernd,
> On Jan 16, 2025, at 6:44 AM, Bernd Böckmann via Freedos-devel
> <freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>> Am 16.01.2025 um 07:24 schrieb Jerome Shidel via Freedos-devel
>> <freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>:
>>
>> With recent builds of the OS Release Media, when the Installer partitions
>> the drive automatically, it should only create one large FAT32 partition.
>
> Jerome, are you sure?
I am absolutely positive that “I am not sure” it creates FAT32 instead of
FAT16. That was forever ago. :-)
However, I am sure it should only create one partition.
> I tested it with RC1 and different drive sizes. It created a FAT-16, 2000 MB
> max. This is also what I think is reasonable for maximum compatibility.
>
> This is from the installer:
> https://gitlab.com/FreeDOS/OS/FDI/-/blob/master/FDISETUP/SETUP/STAGE400.BAT?ref_type=heads#L13
>
> When does vinfo return 100? In its /? usage screen, only 101 and 102 are
> listed. I think the intention was to only create a single large FAT-32 when
> running as VM image?
Hmmm, Let me go look….
That portion of the installer contains…
vinfo /m
if errorlevel 102 goto NotDOSBox
if errorlevel 101 goto IsDOSBox
:NotDOSBox
set _FDPRI=/PRIO:2000
if errorlevel 100 set _FDPRI=/PRI:100,100
verrlvl 0
So, "vinfo /m” returns an ERRORLEVEL based on the CPU/Virtual Platform it
detects.
0 = 8086/88 or Nothing better was detected.
1 = 80186
2 = 80286
3 = 80386
4 = 80486
5 = 80586
6 = 80686 or Higher
101 = DOSBox
102 = QEMU
103 = VirtualBox
104 = VMware
200 = Generic Emulation (This test is Rarely Successful)
Like most V8Power Tools, ERRORLEVEL 100 is returned when an invalid command
line syntax is given to the tool. This cannot occur with the simple “vinfo /m”
because no other options are given on the command line. So, lazy me just wrote
that part of the installer as any ERRORLEVEL greater than or equal to 100 is a
Virtual Platform.
Continuing with the batch logic. If it is DOSBox, the hard drive is not
partitioned at all. This is because the installer is designed to use a Hybrid
Install inside DOSBox. The Hybrid install uses The DOSBox Kernel and everything
else comes from FreeDOS. This permits using all the great features provided by
the tools included with FreeDOS while still permitting direct access to the
host filesystem mounted by DOSBox. It works really well for doing development.
The only drawback is that disk and drive related utilities (like FDISK) will
not work.
So if it is not DOSBox, the drive may need partitioned. The “default” is to
create only one 2Gb FAT-16 partition. However, if the install is going into a
detected virtual machine, it should create a single FAT32 partition using the
entire drive.
Based on your tests, I wonder what type of hardware you were installing FreeDOS.
But, I agree. Generally, 2GB should be than enough for DOS. If it is not, then
manually creating it with a larger FAT32 partition before running the install
is not that difficult.
So, I guess the answer is … When a partition is created automatically, the
installer only creates one partition of either FAT16 or FAT32 based on the
installation target.
:-)
Jerome
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