Re: [Freedos-user] PCI parlallel port card....

[Roger via Freedos-user]

Ebay.com is increasingly becoming a gamble.  Many are using the online
service(s) for making easy money, rather than selling a
legitimate product.  (eg. drug activity, other nefarious activities, ...)

Also, there's really no more Ebay.com customer phone support, likely with
Ebay.com simply relying upon Government for providing customer relief.
(Much like supposed corporations relying upon third party sold warranties,
rather than supplying the standard one year guarentee/warranty laws
require.)  Similar also occurring on Amazon.com, peopling using the
Amazon.com for selling products not fit for selling within local stores, at
retail cost versus the inflated price of good products.  (Also recently
reported via news media.)

Think when corporations allow such activity, they should no longer be
called a business.  Huge fan of Amazon.com, however they seem a little slow
sometimes.  With Ebay.com, good luck, as I think Ebay.com might be being
run entirely by AI, or explicitly by sellers.

Up until few a years ago, I had really good luck with getting working
products through Ebay.com, but once apparently phone customer service
ceased at Ebay.com, things might be getting far worse.

On Thu, Aug 1, 2024 at 9:47 PM Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

>
>
> > On Aug 1, 2024, at 8:12 PM, Roderick Klein via Freedos-user <
> freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> >
> > On 18-05-24 21:54, Roderick Klein wrote:
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> Are there any PCI cards that live at IO adress 378 so they are
> >> compatible with DOS ?
> >
> > I asked this a few months ago. Somebody pointed me at a PCI card of
> Startech. But this card is no lomger in stock.
> > Does anybody know PCI cards at IO address 378 you can still buy new in
> the US ?
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Roderick
>
> eBay is your friend.
>
> I just did a quick search for “pci parallel port” and had a bunch of cards
> from $4 and up. With a little effort you probably could find one that is
> new for about $10-$15. You may end up with a combo serial/parallel card.
> But, often those have jumpers to change or disable the ports used.
>
> About two weeks ago, I replaced the ailing CD in my PentiumPro machine.
> For $26 and free shipping, I got a brand new (bulk packaging) IDE DVD
> drive. Took 5 minutes to drop it in to the machine and it works great.
>
> :-)
>
> Jerome
>
>
>
>
> >
> >
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Re: [Freedos-user] Wordstar 7 archive

[Roger via Freedos-user]

I think, you would be crazy not to ask for an interview from a
programmer (or "WABits") from this era!


> On Thu, Aug 01, 2024 at 01:11:16PM -0500, Jim Hall via Freedos-user wrote:
>On Thu, Aug 1, 2024 at 9:51 AM Liam Proven via Freedos-user
> wrote:
>>
>> From Canadian SF novelist Robert J Sawyer. (I've met him and read
>> quite a few of his books. I like them.)
>>
>> He writes solely in WordStar so he's put together a freebie distro of
>> the final version.
>>
>> https://sfwriter.com/blog/?p=5806
>
>
>This is really interesting! I'd seen Sawyer's archived info about
>WordStar, but obviously this is new. (I'm writing an academic book
>about 'milestones in tech writing history' and I'm considering adding
>a chapter on WordStar. Sawyer's info will be good research. I may also
>email him for an interview about it.)
>
>
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Re: [Freedos-user] Lousy NTFS...

[Roger via Freedos-user]

Cannot really tell who's exactly at fault.  Closed source and proprietary
code.

We are not pushing blame around, just citing we don't have the problem.

On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 11:50 PM andrew fabbro via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 3:45 PM Michał Dec via Freedos-user <
> freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
>
>> I haven't because I've been using Linux since 2007. The enshittification
>> of Windows starting with Windows ME taught me very well that updates are
>> a humiliation ritual with this operating system. You sacrifice the
>> reliability of your machine for some participation trophy that says "ur
>> system is up2d8".
>>
>
> Linux users mistakenly blaming Microsoft is more of a meme now than actual
> CrowdStrike memes lol.
>
> This wasn't a Microsoft issue.  You might as well be raging about Intel or
> whoever made your network card.  If Adobe releases a Photoshop update and
> it trashes your files, is that Microsoft's fault?  If a new version of
> Helldivers 2 comes out and it roasts your save files, is that Microsoft's
> fault?  If a third party AV company releases a bad update, is that
> Microsoft's fault?  Because that's what happened.
>
> I've had to spend long hours cleaning up similar issues on Linux due to
> bad AV in my career.  In fact, now that I think about it, in my IT career
> I've spent a lot more time cleaning up AV issues on Linux systems than AV
> on Windows (because my employers have more Linux servers).
>
> If you want someone to blame other than CrowdStrike, you could potentially
> blame Europe.  It's their regulatory flex that forced Microsoft to open its
> APIs to third-party security vendors.  c.f.
> https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/22/windows_crowdstrike_kernel_eu/
>
> Now, a little more on topic...@*Jim Hall* here are some fun questions for
> the next patreon Q:
>
> 1. Does FreeDOS have any AV software options?
>
> 2. In the DOS era, I remember viruses being more like "diskette cooties"
> because you got them by trading floppies.  But I think you had to actually
> copy software (EXE/COM/etc.) to your PC and run it...or was there some kind
> of "you inserted the floppy, now you've got a virus" mechanism that hackers
> exploited?  I remember this clever virus
> , which worked by
> exploiting the DOSism that if you had both a .COM and an .EXE with the same
> name, the .COM file was executed.
>
> 3. In theory, aren't FreeDOS systems vulnerable to the same virii (sorry,
> high school Latin teacher) that infected MS-DOS?
>
> I really didn't realize there were so many viruses
>  for DOS, which
> would all have been floppy-transmitted.  Jim, I think a chat about viruses
> in the DOS days would be fascinating.
>
> --
> andrew fabbro
> and...@fabbro.org
>
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Re: [Freedos-user] Lousy NTFS...

[Roger via Freedos-user]

Me too, except since the downfall of Gates, about a decade ago or so, upon
the realization their statements of Linux being evil fell through, there
has been a steady influx of Windows developers into the world of open
source and Linux ever since.

Heard Southwest Airlines was the only airline working, still relying upon
Windows 3.0/3.1.

On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 6:44 PM Michał Dec via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> I haven't because I've been using Linux since 2007. The enshittification
> of Windows starting with Windows ME taught me very well that updates are
> a humiliation ritual with this operating system. You sacrifice the
> reliability of your machine for some participation trophy that says "ur
> system is up2d8".
>
> W dniu 25.07.2024 o 00:11, Dan Schmidt via Freedos-user pisze:
> > Maybe a bot off topic, but
> >
> > How many of you woke up to the CrowdStrike debacle Friday morning and,
> > after making minced oaths, solemnly proclaimed "If we still had Fat32
> > and BIOS, I could fix this with FreeDos in 20 seconds flat!"
> >
> >
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Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS wiki is temporary offline

[Roger via Freedos-user]

A hint, microsoft employees are mad, and they're trying to make a living!

On Thu, Jun 27, 2024 at 11:38 AM Jim Hall via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> I just realized that someone started spamming our wiki yesterday. So I've
> taken that down until I can clean it out and apply a patch.
>
> Great. Just when a bunch of people would be likely to visit the wiki to
> learn more about us.
>
>
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Re: [Freedos-user] DOG version 0.8.4b released

[Roger via Freedos-user]

"DOG is a DOS SHELL, or command interpreter. DOG works on most, if not all
flavors of DOG."

So, this is pun at DOS for being a dog? ;-)  This is found on the Github
page.

Think you meant to state, "DOG is a DOS shell or command interpreter. DOG
shell works on most, if not all flavors of DOS."

Added some minor grammar, or reading flow improvements, I think.

On Fri, Jun 21, 2024 at 8:07 PM Wolf Bergenheim via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> Hi all!
>
> After 22 years of being dormant I recently re-discovered the joy of DOS
> and my old DOG project.
>
> Today I'm proud to release version 0.8.4b together with a migration to
> github and a brand new website.
>
> You can find the new DOG Operating Guide at https://dog.zumppe.net/ and
> the github project is at https://github.com/susi/dog
>
> Please give it a spin, if you're curious, and if you find bugs or have
> feature requests, please report them in GitHub:
> https://github.com/susi/dog/issues
>
> ^..^
>
> Fixes/changes:
> ==
>
> DOG:
> - Fixed init + mkudata (for env and alias blocks).
> - Restored the old DOG prompt as the default when no PROMPT variable is
> set.
> - Now using Borland C++ 3.1 to build, and Make instead of the batch files
>   in previous versions.
> - HH utilizes HELP to display more thorough help texts, through the alias
> HHH.
>   The example DOG.DOG file sets up the alias:
>   al hhh %DOGDIR%\bin\help.com
> - Updated the IF syntax to be more versatile and to be similar with DO.
> - Implemented 44 and DO and IN and TI.
> - Fixed the Control-C implementation. Now it asks the user if they want to
>   abort the program.
> - Implemented a proper Critical Error handler.
> - Fixed environment initialization and management.
> - Default dog.dog is used to set up the basic environment, edit this to
> suit your needs.
>
> External commands:
> - CP: now takes more options: -i (interactive), -f (force)
> - VR: Fixed FreeDOS detection + print FD kernel string. Also added DOSbox
> detection.
> - LS: -w option to display a wide listing with no details -z to show human
> readable sizes.
> - RT: Is now built from the rm.c file in addition to RM.
>
> Utilities:
> - HELP - Expanded help to fully document all commands and DOG itself. The
> manual.txt is
> built with HELP.
> - GENERR - is a silly utility which returns the error code given as arg 1.
> Used in
>   testbat.dog to have predictable errorlevels.
> - TINT24 - test utility for testing the critical error handler.
>
> --Wolf
>
> --
>
>   |\_
>   | .\---.
>  /   ,__/
> /   /Wolf _
>
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Re: [Freedos-user] DOS Actively Used Scenarios

[Roger via Freedos-user]

I finished reading the "Why We Love FreeDOS" book a few nights ago.  A
really good read, and led myself to a similar conclusion, DOS/FreeDOS is a
really good platform for learning and implementing initial experimental
engineering for experimental or working hardware due to simplicity and bare
metal access.

With the low-boot times of older hardware, can imagine likely has a
constant foothold within certain areas.  Albeit, more so within the
private/civilian sector nowadays.

No wonder I had such a difficult time with DOS, DOS was a morphed
incarnation of CP/M.  Main difference, instead of a ready prompt, put the
user at the C:\ prompt.

I more so enjoy the Unix/Linux platform, all the software tends to co-exist
more peacefully than the intricate parts of DOS.  On the flip, DOS is
assembly, whereas Unix/Linux is primarily C programming language.
Unix/Linux, when using the command line, typing just flows far better than
typing DOS commands.

However, have an open mind and would likely spend some time in DOS/FreeDOS,
if I can find some purposeful use besides just using Word Perfect.  I
rarely ever waste time playing games.  You'll readily realize, if you find
me wasting time playing a DOS game, it'll likely be because I'm sitting in
a retirement home after having my computer/Internet confiscated, trying to
patiently await for my funeral.  And there's an idea, pretty sure prisons
likely allow prisoners to use DOS without Internet, for playing games...

Roger

On Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 8:23 PM Norby Droid via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> I love FreeDos and it s the only operating system on my opd msi computer
> running a quad core 2.66ghz cpu amd 4gb of ram.  My main use is just
> programming in PowerBasic or FreeBasic, and I may sometime try C thanks to
> the great videos Mr Hall has on youtube.  I do rarely play games, or play
> mp3 or midi files for some fun.  Personally I prefer to use an old computer
> running FreeDos than a new computer running Linux.  I am no pro programmer,
> but I do love to program and see what I can create.
>
> On Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 20:11 Eric Auer via Freedos-user <
> freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
>
>> Hi Jim!
>>
>> > My favorite example of someone running FreeDOS was years ago, probably
>> > around 2005. They built pinball machines, and FreeDOS ran the scoring
>> > system, lit the lights, and played sound effects from a sound bank...
>>
>> Maybe they used some type of lab control or GPIO type ISA or PCI card?
>>
>> > My favorite example before that was a nebulous one. Someone from NASA
>> > emailed me in the late 1990s to say they were using FreeDOS on some of
>> > their computers. They never provided details, so I don't know what it
>> > was doing - but how cool that NASA was using FreeDOS!?
>>
>> I remember somebody asking whether FreeDOS had contributions from people
>> from evil countries, because they wanted to use it to run some type of
>> in-flight entertainment system with some media player app for DOS :-)
>>
>> More recently, during a small demoscene event, I noticed that one of
>> the presented demos was a 256 byte demo running on FreeDOS. The boot
>> message was only visible for a moment, so I do not know what type of
>> virtual hardware that FreeDOS instance was running on.
>>
>> Cheers, Eric
>>
>>
>>
>>
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Re: [Freedos-user] DOS Actively Used Scenarios

[Roger via Freedos-user]

Just what I was looking for.  Thanks!

Roger

> On Sat, Jun 01, 2024 at 07:47:13AM +, Mercury Thirteen via Freedos-user 
> wrote:
>Actually, a book exists which is all about that question! :)
>
>Check out Why We Love FreeDOS available at https://freedos.org/books/
>
>Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/) secure email.
>
>On Saturday, June 1st, 2024 at 2:51 AM, Roger via Freedos-user 
>freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net wrote:
>
>> Would be really interesting to hear, how people continue actively using
>> DOS today, including their hardware/software environment. Of course, not
>> including testing environments, as these can get really exquisite! And,
>> I already realize one of the environments DOS is still used, for
>> engineering and bare-metal programming projects.
>>
>> More specifically, what Jim Hall uses for day to day tasks, whether he
>> entirely resorts to using DOS/FreeDOS for daily (office) tasks, or uses MS
>> Windows, Mac or Linux for office related tasks.
>>
>> Guessing, this would make a good video for the FreeDOS YouTube site.
>> Lots of video clips, but nothing really showing his daily
>> hardware/software environment, except for one recent photo of his
>> (powered-off) desktop.
>>
>> More so curious, does anybody use DOS/FreeDOS for daily office work?
>> We've all heard of one writer doing so.
>>
>> Roger
>>
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[Freedos-user] DOS Actively Used Scenarios

[Roger via Freedos-user]

Would be really interesting to hear, how people continue actively using
DOS today, including their hardware/software environment.  Of course, not
including testing environments, as these can get really exquisite!  And,
I already realize one of the environments DOS is still used, for
engineering and bare-metal programming projects.

More specifically, what Jim Hall uses for day to day tasks, whether he
entirely resorts to using DOS/FreeDOS for daily (office) tasks, or uses MS
Windows, Mac or Linux for office related tasks.

Guessing, this would make a good video for the FreeDOS YouTube site.
Lots of video clips, but nothing really showing his daily
hardware/software environment, except for one recent photo of his
(powered-off) desktop.

More so curious, does anybody use DOS/FreeDOS for daily office work?
We've all heard of one writer doing so.


Roger



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Re: [Freedos-user] the msdos 4.0 sources has some multitasking code

[Roger via Freedos-user]

>Microsoft is not willing to go to even the minimal effort of searching
>its own archives for the other versions to release them, but if someone
>else finds the code, it will permit the release under a permissive
> licence.

Excuse #1, there's no money being acquired for going over code for
releasing as open source.

Roger



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Re: [Freedos-user] documentation update

[Roger via Freedos-user]

>I have found that the best DosBox for this kind of thing is "DosBox-X".
>
>It supports applications better than the original DosBox.

Relooking over dosbox-x, yup, seems to have everything anybody might
need, including all of their wants such as networking.  Focused on other
things that really matter in life aside from games, similar to FreeDOS.

However, only offers RPMs/flatpack; and I find flatpacks a realy hassle.

Void Linux unfortunately only offers generic dosbox and dosbox-staging,
no dosbox-x.

Granted, I could probably easily build dosbox-x from source.

Roger



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Re: [Freedos-user] documentation update

[Roger via Freedos-user]

> On Fri, May 10, 2024 at 04:43:06PM +0100, Liam Proven via Freedos-user wrote:
>On Thu, 9 May 2024 at 22:20, Roger via Freedos-user
> wrote:
>
>> >They also have pre-compiled packages for Fedora and OpenSUSE.
>> >No manual compilation is needed for either of the 3 distros.
>>
>> Already know about these pre-package options for SystemD Linux
>> distributions.
>
>Whoa there.
>
>Fedora and the Red Hat family, yes: no choice but systemd. Ditto
>openSUSE. But dosemu2 also offers `.deb` packages and there are
>several non-systemd Debian-family distros, including Devuan, antiX and
>MX Linux.

I use none of those distribution, although I have tried Devuan and
antix, especially just prior to switching from Gentoo to Void Linux
several years ago for avoiding wasting time compiling packages.

>I also note:
>
>https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/hqm7z2/xdeb_a_simple_utility_to_convert_debian_packages/

Not a recommended official Void Linux practice, of using a utility (eg.
xdeb) for converting one distribution's pre-compiled packages to another
distribution's package, due to breaking compile-time dependencies and
run-time dependencies.  The other problem, most other pre-compiled
packages or tarballs improperly will install into /usr, rather than
using /usr/local for third party packages not native to the Linux
distribution being used.  This later is sort of being organized, and
most times not easily worked around due to files expecting /usr rather
than /usr/local. (eg.  libraries)

Nature of the beast here. :-/

Anyways, Word Perfect 6.2 is working using Dosbox Staging, albeit
without copy/paste, as I think the copy/paste function likely works for
Dosemu.  And, have dosbox auto starting with word perfect, using bash
alias:

alias wp='dosbox -conf /home/roger/dosbox/wp.conf'

Anyways, I'm way off-topic...



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Re: [Freedos-user] documentation update

[Roger via Freedos-user]

https://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/Main_Page
How do I install FreeDOS?
FreeDOS for everyone:
"We recommend using a PC emulator or virtual machine to install FreeDOS.
If you don't want to install, you can boot the LiveCD to try it out."

And

What do I need to run FreeDOS?
"If you are new to DOS, we recommend you use a PC emulator or Virtual
machine such as VirtualBox to install and boot FreeDOS. You can find PC
emulators for all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac.)"


Again, on the FreeDOS wiki page concerning installing FreeDOS, vague
instructions, "We recommend using a PC emulator or virtual machine to
install FreeDOS.", with the subsequent emulator and virtual machine
links leading to blank pages.

Based on Jim Hall's FreeDOS book, I suggest adding his apparently
preferred virtual machine qemu here, so users are not left hanging
researching multiple DOS emulators/virtual machines.  I think the
respective links for emulators and virtual machines on the FreeDOS Wiki
page were likely suppose to contain the data I recently wrote about
within the past Emails, concerning DOSEMU/DOSEMU2, Qemu, and Bochs.  As
well as including Qemu incantations for running on Linux and other O/S.
However, obviously documenting all  possible incantations for every O/S
becomes overwhelming!

The FreeDOS wiki oddly negates mentioning Qemu, referencing only
VirtualBox instead.

Shrugs... no big deal, just probably an area needing clarification for
others!

Roger


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Re: [Freedos-user] documentation update

[Roger via Freedos-user]

 slightly
differing between the two, with either Bochs or Qemu being adeqaute for
the Void Linux user base.  (eg. Even though an emulator is desired
versus virtualizer, users are satisfied with using Qemu... clearly
guessing work here!!!)

>> As they say, the more we keep something simple, the easier
>> and more readily we get things done.
>
>We could provide a disk image with pre-installed DOS.
>
>This would be convenient for users of virtual computers,
>because they do not need to worry about installing to
>actual disks when their disks are imaginary anyway :-)
>
>Regards, Eric

I have not tried any of the recent FreeDOS images/installers on REAL
hardware, and likely only tried/used FreeDOS 1.0 on real hardware
sometime ago.

I think what your trying to explain, providing something similar to a
FreeDOS LiveCD, where users can try then subsequently install FreeDOS.
My initial speculation hints this would be a lot of work, requiring
additional time for maintaining the additional complexity, with only
having an exquisite/small user base.  Likely only a desireable feature
for large demand operating systems.  I could be wrong here.

As I can recall from using Dosemu, maybe two decades ago, it was easy
and got the user up and running into the DOS enviroment within seconds.

3) The other hurdle, is getting a user's additional software (eg. DOS
Word Perfect) into their DOS operating easily.  From my research, there
are several lengthy hacks, but the far easiest is making an ISO file,
and adding the ISO image file as a CD-ROM drive via the
emulator/virtualizer software configuration.  (eg. mkisofs) Otherwise,
something like virtualizer's (VirtualBox) shared folder/dirs function
via networking (?) drivers.  Since DOS lacks TCP/IP, as previously
mentioned, this is where those additional hacks for providing shared
folders into the host operating system.


So long story short, some tweaks/modifications to the Qemu incantation
as previously mentioned will likely greatly aide FreeDOS users.  Then
likely some minimal explanation of the missing functions nowadays
virtualizers have, such as shared folders into the host file system, and
how to workaround by using an ISO file system.

My intent here, try/use/experience DOS Word Perfect, see if I'm missing
anything aside from using easy heavenly Linux command line, such as Word
Grinder.  I'll eventually be stepping back again, as I do every so
often, reusing other primitive operating systems such as VAX, CP/M,
Commodore, for fun of experiencing what headaches felt like long ago.

Thanks for taking your time reading a lengthy post.  Think those Linux
users happy with SystemD using Fedora/Ubuntu, will already have ready
access to DOSEMU/DOSEMU2 emulator, as for others, Qemu virtualizer is
good follow-up option. Bochs likely for scientific, source code,
disassembly research.

Roger



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[Freedos-user] documentation update

[Roger via Freedos-user]

MY EXPERIENCE INSTALLING FREEDOS Took a week or so trying to install a
DOS enviroment along with an install of Word Perfect, quickly
reading/scanning through all available Internet documentation as of
2024/05 date.

Some key bits of information were from Jim Hall's FreeDOS book,
detailing an install of FreeDOS using Qemu.  With the book very quickly
and vaguely stating to use an emulator, of the many available emulators
available. Nowdays, there's several types emulators/virtualizers, with
varying abilities and intend usage scenarios. 

Initially I tried Bochs, but found Bochs either cannot go full screen
using SDL2, or I just haven't found the magical incantation. (I could
not read the characters/font!) Later finding Bochs is moreso respected
as a de facto or standard scientific or reverse/understanding coding
tool.

More research showed DOSEMU out of date and not available on Void Linux
distribution here, and/or requiring other self compiled libraries, as
well as DOSEMU2 requiring additional self compiled libraries, with only
DOSBOX (intended for games) available on Void Linux.

After more research, found Jim Hall's book tends to sway towards
suggesting Qemu, a virtualizer rather than an Emulator.  I have and
currently use Virtualbox here, but wanted to remain to the de facto used
emulator for DOS environments.  Regardless, Qemu readily resizes to full
screen, so that I can finally see and read the font/characters.

LIKELY CHANGES/CLARIFICATIONS

How to install FreeDOS without the installer
https://www.freedos.org/books/get-started/14-manual-install/

1) Jim Hall's FreeDOS qemu incantation likely needs some minimal
updating, for those that desire to get-up and running quickly within a
DOS environment:

$ qemu-system-x86_64 -name FreeDOS -machine 
pc-i440fx-4.2,accel=kvm,usb=off,dump-guest-core=off -enable-kvm -cpu host -m 8 
-overcommit mem-lock=off -no-user-config -nodefaults -rtc 
base=utc,driftfix=slew -machine hpet=off -boot menu=on,strict=on -sandbox 
on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny -msg 
timestamp=on -drive format=raw,file=freedos-mine.img -drive 
format=raw,file=FD13FULL/FD13FULL.img -vga cirrus -usbdevice mouse -device sb16 
-device adlib -audio driver=alsa,id=snd0,out.dev=default -audiodev alsa,id=snd0 
-machine pcspk-audiodev=snd0

Hpet option needed updating, using -drive was necessary for averting
warning during start concerning raw format, sound options/arguments have
been renamed/reorganized with sound not known if working using ALSA, but
annoying PC speaker beep works!  Another note, likely using the USB full
image, rather than multiple floppies is far easier and more simplified.

I'm not sure if the other non-explained options/arguments are still
needed, or if additional options/arguments are required with the updated
Qemu environment, but so far FreeDOS boots and seems to work.

2) Book or documentation should probably lead or advise users, the best
(as of date) emulator or virtualizer per their intended use. (eg.
under-the-hood operations, likely use Bochs, while most others should
likely use Qemu?)

As they say, the more we keep something simple, the easier
and more readily we get things done.

Roger


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Re: [Freedos-user] Btrieve on FreeDOS

[Roger Tunnicliffe]

Thx for the reply Eric.

I have Btrieve5 running happily under MSDOS6.22 and DRDOS7.03
with VirtualBox. I think I remember in the past I had it running with
DOSEMU so it seemed strange that FreeDOS had a problem.

Cheers
Roger

On Sun, 2020-08-16 at 12:23 +0200, Eric Auer wrote:
> Hi Roger,
> 
> > I have install FreeDOS on VirtualBox to run an old application that
> > uses Btrieve5 as the file handler. Sadly, when JEMMEX is loaded I
> > get
> > an Exception 06
> 
> Have you tried dosemu2 (if Linux) or dosbox (Windows or Linux)
> instead? Which other memory drivers have you tried? You could
> try with only some HIMEM variant, including XMGR? Or do you
> actually need EMS or UMB for Btrieve? What is Btrieve?
> 
> According to https://sandpile.org/x86/except.htm exception 06
> would be "undefined opcode" which could be virtualbox failing
> to simulate some exotic CPU feature but more likely means your
> program execution accidentally jumped into some sort of void?
> 
> It could also be LOCK for opcodes which do not support LOCK, I
> think sometimes the BIOS has handlers to auto-ignore those.
> 
> Regards, Eric
> 
> 
> 
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[Freedos-user] Btrieve on FreeDOS

[Roger Tunnicliffe]

Very new to this so sorry if I am going about this the wrong way.

I have install FreeDOS on VirtualBox to run an old application that
uses Btrieve5 as the file handler. Sadly, when JEMMEX is loaded I get
an Exception 06

I have tried the other memory management modules but all with the same
result.

Is anyone able to offer a solution ?

Thx
Roger Tunnicliffe




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Re: [Freedos-user] Partitions freedos can boot from

[roger]

On Mon, 2007-04-23 at 23:43 -0400, Bonnie Dalzell wrote: 
 So i have still not determined wether freedos can boot from a
 logical partition using grub.

(All Primary Partitions)
/dev/hda1 LinuxSwap 364MB
/dev/hda2 Linux ReiserFS 30GB
/dev/hda3 FreeDOS Fat32 1GB

/etc/grub.conf
--- Begin of Snip ---
title=FreeDOS
map (hd0,0) (hd0,2)
map (hd0,2) (hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
makeactive
chainloader /fdosboot.img
boot
--- End of Snip ---


I thought only primary partitions were bootable.  And even then, some
bioses have a size limitation of what is considered a bootable
partition. (ie. 1024 Cylinder Limit)

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Re: [Freedos-user] Partitions freedos can boot from

[roger]

On Fri, 2007-04-27 at 19:40 +, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 The best tool I know of for manipulating and resizing
 partitions is GParted.  There is a GREAT LiveCD including
 GParted available at gparted.sourceforge.net.  The
 System Rescue CD also includes GParted:
 
 .sysresccd.org
 
 Mark Bailey

I also second Gparted (when looking at qt_parted and others).

I've had problems using the GParted provided livecd.

The next best bet with the latest Gparted and other parted libs is
SystemRescueCD (as you already noted).

(FYI: systemrescuecd is also based on the Gentoo system. :-)

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Re: [Freedos-user] Comments About FreeDOS Install

[roger]

A couple of more things.

I had a really tough time trying to find the wattcp.cfg file as the c:
\fdos\bin was the most unlikely place I would expect it.  Why not /etc?
grin

After setup and configuring the wattcp.cfg file, it forgets to insert a
nameserver.  And teh install will hang with the error No nameserver
configured  I hope nothing else had to be configured by the
installer.  :-/

Reason why I'm interested in Freedos, UniFlash.  I need a way to flash
my bios as I'm working on trying to get by default motherboard bios
replaced with LinuxBios.  Linux-MTD isn't giving me a good solution for
working with my flash parts yet.
 

On Thu, 2007-04-19 at 20:32 -0700, roger wrote:
 1) It would be nice to see the actual partition FreeDOS wants to install
 to.  Instead, all I can hope for is when the installation finishes, I'll
 still have linuxswap  linux installed on /dev/hda1  /dev/hda2.  Hda3
 is a FAT32 target for the FreeDOS install.
 
 2) How about an unattended install instead of having to press space or
 the any key all the time?
 
 3) I didn't know there were this many Open Source programs for DOS!  I
 might have elected for a small install.
 
 Enough DOS nastalagia for me today. ;-)
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Re: [Freedos-user] Comments About FreeDOS Install

[roger]

On Fri, 2007-04-20 at 11:17 +0200, Eric Auer wrote:
 Hi!
 
  1) It would be nice to see the actual partition FreeDOS wants to install
  to.  Instead, all I can hope for is when the installation finishes, I'll
  still have linuxswap  linux installed on /dev/hda1  /dev/hda2.  Hda3
  is a FAT32 target for the FreeDOS install.
 
 DOS cannot install to non-FAT partitions anyway... But one could
 display a part of a directory listing to reassure the user...?

Yes.  I did read the install the night before installing.  So from
there, I just installed it.  It's still scary though because it's a big
unknown as to which partition it really is using for the install.  Yes.
This is my vote for just to reassure the user that it's installing to
the 3rd partion on the harddrive with a size of 1,000MB.


 
  2) How about an unattended install instead of having to press space or
  the any key all the time?
 
 You have to do some selections anyway, but I agree it
 should not be all the time. Things should be automatic
 as soon as you are done with package selection, are they?

Yes.  Once the user taps the space key, install proceeds. I do like the
install as it's reminiscent of a RedHat install (although I've been
using Gentoo for the past years).  

It would be nice to make the package selection once at the beginning of
the install (similar to most linux distros) and then all the copy
process take over without having further package selection prompts.  I
usually just select the Default package selection *anyways* as it is
tedious going through and trying to select or deselect packages a o/s
has 20+ packages to install. 


  3) I didn't know there were this many Open Source programs for DOS!
  might have elected for a small install.
 
 You could have guessed from the download size ;-)

Thought it was just a lot of ReadMe.txt?  ;-)

I'm shocked.  Looks sweet. Great job!

 Eric
 
 
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Re: [Freedos-user] Comments About FreeDOS Install

[roger]

On Fri, 2007-04-20 at 11:21 +0200, Eric Auer wrote:
 Hi again... Well there should be an env variable
 pointing to wattcp.cfg, and the nameserver should
 be selected by dhcp. 

I selected a static instead of dhcp setup here.  So I should specify a
nameserver.  There were only prompts for everything else (ie.
ip,gateway,domainname).  Oh, and there was no hostname prompt.. although
not needed.


 But I agree that there should
 be a selection install everything which does not
 need networking or usb (you can still install
 those later) because that is a lot faster than
 having to config the network stuff and usb first.

shrugs I don't mind installing everything.  The more the merrier as
they say.  Besides, when helping a new person, it's time consuming to
hear they don't have xyz package installed.

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Re: [Freedos-user] Trouble navigating to and finding http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/HomePage!!!

[roger]

On Sun, 2007-04-01 at 10:40 -0500, Jim Hall wrote:
 Eric, I think you meant
 http://fd-doc.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?n=FdDocEn.FdInstall
 

The above page, have yet to read it fully.

I like the following url better though shrugs.
http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/HomePage

The site is also much easier to navigate. 

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Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS-1.0 Cdrom Images May Not Be Bootable

[roger]

On Sun, 2007-04-01 at 14:09 +0200, Eric Auer wrote:
 Hi Roger,
 
  To fix, I re-ran mkisofs on the iso file after mounting it.
  I've then posted instructions here:
  http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/BootDiskCreateCDROM
 
 Can you also provide information on how the re-compiled
 iso file differs from the original one? Then we can check
 why we did not get things right in the official isos.

I already did. :-)  I simply extracted the iso and re-ran mkisofs.

I strongly think it was one of the switches I used with mkisofs that
solved the problem.

The choice of command line switches was simply obtained from the
Isolinux/Syslinux documentation on it's usage.

I'm guessing the FreeDOS packager either left out or modified a switch
preventing the iso files from being bootable on some platforms.  Or, if
mkisofs actually reads any of the libs of the user's installed syslinux,
then I have sys-boot/syslinux-3.31 installed here.

 
 In addition, if that is not asking a bit too much, would
 you be interested to throw some updates in your iso and
 then help us to get an updated fdbase iso online with your
 changes and the updates? We would have to find a nice way
 to transfer such a big file, of course. I can give you
 detailled information about the suggested updates.

All I needed to do was update my firmware on my Sil 3112a PCI card.  Of
which, Silicon required running their updates from DOS.  Matter of fact,
they actually requested users to use FreeDOS and gave step by step
directions on their website!  Getting disgruntled and absolutely
refusing to install my troublesome floppy drive, I immediately resorted
to finally getting and learning how to use FreeDOS live cdrom.

Because it's DOS and have had my share of fun using DOS in school along
with BASIC  COBOL, I prefer sticking with Linux. :-)

I think it's a great tool for Corporations to use if they want to insist
on always using DOS for bios updates.
 
 Thanks ;-) Eric
 
 

Since I learn much from the Wiki Godesses, I noticed FreeDOS had an
empty one, I try to at least help document as much as I can with the
little free time I get. :-/  Currently, I'm keeping an eye on the
LinuxBios Project with Intel 440BX.  If I had more free time, I would be
more active with helping getting working bios builds for them, but I
spend a lot of time cooking with my odd diet. :-/  

I also have a feeling I might be needing the FreeDOS live cdrom for
burning the LinuxBios files if the LinuxBios flashrom scripts can unmask
by 440BX motherboard chips.  ... Another thought, I've got a couple of
DiskOnChips that have DOS tools for reading and writing partitions and
other data to them.  .

Just for kicks, I might yank out my Bios chip and play with my
DiskOnChips within FreeDOS for awhile today. :-)

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[Freedos-user] FreeDOS-1.0 Cdrom Images May Not Be Bootable

[roger]

I've tested FreeDOS-1.0 cdrom boot on my TYAN 1832DL with several CD/DVD
readers and the Full and Base images are not bootable on it.

However, qemu  my Dell Inspiron will boot them.

To fix, I re-ran mkisofs on the iso file after mounting it.  

I've then posted instructions here:

http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/BootDiskCreateCDROM

( Also provided futher info here:
http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/Customize )

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[Freedos-user] Trouble navigating to and finding http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/HomePage!!!

[roger]

Seems I have to click on several links from the http://www.freedos.org/
to find the following very beneficial website!

http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/HomePage

Is there a way to post this url on the freedos.org homesite making it
more obvious?
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