Hi Eric,
> So... SLICER is something like TAR? If you feel the need to compare it to something, then it is most like tar than anything else. But, only in in one aspect. It is more like an installer in another. > A tool to put many > small files in one large file and back, uncompressed? No. It also spans disks and eventually will support compression. >> installer detects its running in VirtualBox, passes the i686 tag > > You should rather use something like CPULEVEL which detects > the CPU compatibility, not the brand of the simulator…\ Like I said, it detects the CPU AND VM PLATFORM and responds accordingly. It detects 8086, 186, 286, 386, 486, 586, 686, VirtualBox, DOSBox, VMWare and other Virtual machines. So it can install the correct CPU level software on 8086, 186, 286 386, 486, 586 and 686. Then additionally under known supported Virtual Machines (like VMware and VirtualBox) it installs support for networking and the like. > A general problem with your 720 kB floppy: It is hard for > users to create an actual floppy from it. So depending on > how widespread 360 kB, 720 kB, 1.2 MB and 1.44 MB drives > are on older-than-386 hardware, you should provide disk > images for all sizes, for easier DISKCOPY or DD writing. I took that into consideration during the design and the RBE supports building additional floppy versions. However, It does not do so at present. Depending on feedback from users, that may change. > >> Sure. But, why can’t the user add what they need? > > If you use that reasoning: Why on earth write an entire > 8086 answer to TAR, with an entirely different archive > file format, not compatible to anything else, just to > automate something which YOU recommend to do manually? Where do I recommend doing an installation manually??? I only recommend the user be the one to decide what extra utilities to add the Floppy Edition Installation Diskette. That is if they want them. After all it is not a utility or recovery disk, it is an OS installer boot diskette. > And you are not seriously implying that there are 8086 CD-ROM > or text to speech drivers which would be crucially important > for your 720 kB 8086 installer floppy, are you? I’m am only saying… Beyond what is needed to do the installation, I do not assume I know what extra software the user may want to put on that diskette. > >> That is why there is a Boot Floppy for the CD installer. > >> The Floppy Edition is not meant to be used to boot then run >> a different installer. > > Hmm okay. I was not aware that the two are so much different > that neither is meant to be used in any way with the other. You could in theory, add drivers to the Floppy Edition diskette to support CD-ROM. Boot it. The run the installer on the LiveCD. Or, boot the LiveCD then insert the diskette and run the Floppy Edition installer. But why? They aren’t designed or intended to work with each other. It is possible that someday, the CD-ROM boot diskette goes away and just the Floppy Edition remains. The installed FreeDOS is comparable and systems that meet the minimum CPU level have the drivers installed. So, users who could not boot directly from CD could install from the Floppy addition then add any extra stuff they want from the CD-ROM. Then again maybe eventually, user demand will cause the Floppy Edition to boot with CD support. Or, the lack of demand cause the Floppy Edition to fade away and be dropped. > Does the boot floppy for the CD installer contain all the > drivers needed for CD / DVD / ISO access, fast access to > harddisks, caching etc.? It has more drivers for the CD and such. It also contains a copy of the main install media installer. > At the moment, it seems to be very much specialized for 8086, > containing barely any support for newer hardware. The Floppy Edition is NOT specialized for 8086. The Floppy Edition is limited to only require an 8086 and installed software can vary based on the CPU and hardware platform. Provisions have also been made for the level of Video Card support. Eventually, it may vary what is installed based on support for SuperVGA, VGA, EGA, MCGA, CGA, Hercules and etc. Then again, maybe not. It is rather difficult to swap a 286 for a 586 on a motherboard. But, swapping video cards is easy. > It is hard for users to change disk sizes themselves, as this > requires them to have at least 2 drives of suitable sizes, or > diskimage related tools for other operating systems. But users > who can handle such tools probably do not need floppy distros. I don’t disagree. However like I said, it all comes down to user feedback and demand. But for the initial version of the Floppy Edition, I choose what I think is the most common diskette type -- the 3.5”. The boot disk as a 720K. Because like you say, it is hard to move from one size floppy to another. The other diskettes as 1.44s, they are just a bunch of slicer archive files cut into 59k chunks ( more or less optimal to waste the least space over all different floppy diskette sizes). The user can redistributed those chunks to any size diskette by simply copying them to the desired size diskette. But, if demand is high enough, I see no reason not to include other size diskette images. :-) Jerome _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
