Hi Eric, > On May 23, 2020, at 9:02 PM, Eric Auer <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, > >> https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/news/2020/05/freedos-13-rc3-coming-soon--update-on-floppy-edition/ > > The page (by Jim and Aitor, it says) writes: > >> FreeDOS 1.3-RC3 coming soon + update on Floppy Edition >> >> Work on FreeDOS 1.3 has slowed since FreeDOS 1.3-RC2, but things are >> still moving forward. We have been tracking FreeDOS 1.3 packages on >> the FreeDOS wiki. Jerome has been doing most of the package work on >> this, and has also been working on updates to the FreeDOS 1.3 >> installer. We don't have the FreeDOS 1.3-RC3 ready yet, but wanted to >> share this extra update: >> >> Jerome is planning to add a special "Floppy Edition" of the FreeDOS >> 1.3 distribution, for those folks who run classic PC hardware that >> don't support CD-ROM media. Jerome shares these notes on the Floppy >> Edition: + Should run on any PC hardware that runs FreeDOS, maybe >> even 8086 (requires EGA though) + Requires 720k or higher capacity >> floppies (not enough capacity on 360k floppies to hold everything for >> the installer) + Only runs in ADV (advanced mode) or AUTO (automatic >> headless mode) and a few other things + Supports a preset install >> path from the command (for example, SETUP AUTO ADV C:\FREEDOS) + >> Skips installing programs not supported on your CPU (on a '286, this >> skips 386-only programs like CWSDPMI) + Don't forget to read the >> Readme file. Would you like to test the new Floppy Edition? Testers >> needed! You can find the test release of the new FreeDOS 1.3-RC3 >> Floppy Edition at our files archive on ibiblio. > > The last time when I had a 8086 at home was when a school gave away > some really old classroom computers. Which is what motivated me to > tinker on that tiny terminal somebody later made a BIOS extension > variant from :-) The thing was: Most of the computers did NOT have > EGA, that really was a luxury. They also tended to have only small > floppy drives. So if you really want to target such hardware, there > should be plain text mode support :-) And remember: XT are very slow.
The first PC compatible computer we had (4th computer we owned) was a Laser XT Turbo. It ran at 4/8mhz and shipped with a 360k, CGA, 640k and maybe 20mb hdd. Not long after, my Dad upgraded it to VGA, 1.2m, EMS board and 60mb hdd. I may someday add support to V8PT for CGA. But, not soon. I even wonder why I limit my ASM code to 8086, when the kernel won’t even work on one. I think the lowest anyone has had success booting the FreeDOS kernel was a 80186. On top of that, most drivers require 286 or better, and several are 386+. So, supporting less than 8086&EGA are a very low priority to me. > How far away are 360k disks from containing the installer, by the way? First... had serious issues trying to get FreeDOS to format a 360k. While it isn’t impossible to get the FE running off 360k, it would require some additional overhead. It would be easier to just make a personal 360k boot disk with fdisk, format and sys (most of the 360 gone). And put the rest on a separate 360k, or even easier to just copy the installer (and all diskettes) to a subdir and run it from there. > > Regards, Eric > > PS: https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/forum_entry.php?id=16677 says > HWiNFO 6.1.1 for DOS is available. Thanks RayeR, Vogons and author! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
