This is very nice. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Dave
On 28 Dec 2004 at 22:26, 16BIT wrote: > > Hi friends, in a previous email, Bernd suggested that a short > explanation on how set up a DOS GRUB would be nice. > > I'm not a professional writer but I'm pleased to try and document what > I > understand for others in the form of a how-to. > > As far as boot managers go, setting up a DOS based GRUB is very easy. > I like that it doesn't need to write the MBR and it consists of only > two files: > > GRUB.EXE (the program file) > MENU.LST (the text configuration file) > > You can find the DOS GRUB at a FreeDOS mirror. Look for GRUB013.ZIP > > > The path I found it at was: > > ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/boot > > > The GRUB013.ZIP archive has path names stored in it. It also has some > long file names. Don't worry about this too much because the only > files you need out of this archive are the MENU.LST and GRUB.EXE plus > what ever documentation you want. > > You *need" to put menu.lst in C:\BOOT\GRUB, if you don't you will have > to specify where it is. > > For the purpose of this short how-to we will use the default directory > of C:\BOOT\GRUB > > Put GRUB.EXE and MENU.LST in this directory. > > This DOS based GRUB will not run with all FreeDOS kernels, for this > reason I use MS-DOS to run GRUB and from the GRUB menu I can boot > other operating systems such as FreeDOS and Linux. > > I recommend a menu system for MS-DOS config.sys as a seamless way to > run > GRUB. Below is a menu *template* you can use. Your configuration > will > vary, but you will probably want to use the exact grub command as > shown in the template. Also you can run GRUB from the command line or > batch file. However the config.sys install command works good. > > What you don't want to do is load devices before running GRUB because > GRUB likes a clean boot. If you find that MS DOS is installing devices > all on its own, write back and I'll tell you how to stop it. > > > ------------ > > [menu] > menuitem=grub, GRUB > menuitem=standard, MS-DOS > menudefault=grub > menucolor=7,0 > > > [grub] > INSTALL=C:\BOOT\GRUB\GRUB.EXE > > [standard] > DOS=HIGH > DOS=UMB > FILESHIGH=30 > BUFFERSHIGH=20 > LASTDRIVEHIGH=Z > FCBS=4,4 > DEVICE=C:\MSDOS\HIMEM.SYS > DEVICE=C:\MSDOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=B000-B7FF > DEVICEHIGH=C:\MSDOS\ANSI.SYS > ;DEVICEHIGH?=C:\BOOT\VIDE-CDD.SYS /D:SHSU-CDX > SHELL=C:\MSDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\MSDOS\ /E:1024 /P > > ---------------- > > Basically the idea is to run GRUB and then GRUB will look for MENU.LST > in the default location. GRUB doesn't require arguments. > > Below is a simple 'tutorial' menu.lst I put together to help you > create your specific menu. I've included some examples and comments. > > ---------------- > > color white/blue black/light-gray > default 0 > > # grub does almost all its counting starting at 0 > # in this menu.lst configuration FreeDOS is the default > # because it is first in the list > > timeout 25 > # boots the default menu item in 25 seconds, you may alter > # the time or comment out the timeout option > > title FreeDOS > root (hd0,0) > chainloader /freedos.bin > > # root (hd0,0) tells GRUB we are booting the first partition > # of the first hard disk > > # chainloader /freedos.bin tells grub to boot from > # a boot sector image file > # named freedos.bin on the root of the disk > > # this file is a 512 byte copy of the boot sector and can be made by > # running COPYBS.COM after SYSing the partition with FreeDOS > # > # you can also get the boot sector to a file with a sector editor, but > # COPYBS.COM is simple and fast. > > > # to avoid naming conflicts with MS-DOS I use the name FDCONFIG.SYS > # and the SHELL= statement points to a COMMAND.COM and AUTOEXEC.BAT > # file in the FreeDOS directory > > title Floppy > root (fd0) > chainloader +1 > > # the above menu item of course boots to the floppy disk > # we use the chainloader +1 when we want to boot from the bootsector > # rather than booting from a file > > title Linux > kernel (hd0,5)/boot/linux24 [text cut] > initrd (hd0,5)/dev/initrd > > # the above boots a linux kernel > > title Reboot Computer > reboot > > # of course this menu option will reboot the computer > > ---------------------- > > > Grub has ability to hide and unhide partitions, activate particular > partitions,even 'map' hard disks to make so you can boot off a slave > drive and etc. > > You can get detailed documentation on GRUB menu commands at the GRUB > homepage. > > http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/ > > I hope this makes things easy for others. If you have comments, note > errors or have questions please write back. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real > users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start > reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ > _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing > list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. 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