Re: [Freedos-user] boot floppy disk image too big for a disk
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de On 2017-03-24 03:46, Dennis Fenton wrote: > Read what I wrote. I burned the iso to a CD. I also downloaded the floppy img. It doesn't fit! > So my first interaction on this forum is from someone who treats me like a dummy. Perhaps another reason to say to Hell with FreeDOS. This is not possible. The FLOPPY.img contained in http://www.freedos.org/download/download/FD12FLOPPY.zip is exactly 1474560 bytes big, which is the size of a 1.44 MB floppy disk. If this image doesn't fit, no 1.44 MB image will fit on your floppy. In other words: the image is the right size and something else must be wrong. And there is no need to be rude. "Pilot error" is correct in this case, and is meant to make you think - maybe it is you after all who is wrong. To make it absolutely clear: I can confirm that this image WILL FIT on any 1.44 MB floppy drive. I cannot confirm if it will actually boot (I didn't test this... yet... or not that I recall at the moment) BUT it is the right size. Thus it must be you who is wrong with the "doesn't fit" statement. Even so, I understand very much that installing FreeDOS is not trivial since you need to account for so many different hardware cases. And it is very often just a driver that is missing; the original - long lost - driver from the driver disk supplied with the original hardware (IDE, SCSI, CDROM, ...) for DOS, OS/2 and Windows 3.1/NT 3.x... those were the days... Back then you would get the *then new* hardware with the driver on floppy. Trying to install FreeDOS now, about two decades later, makes it hard to get all the driver stuff (who preserves such things?) and configurations right (jumpers, C/H/S in the BIOS etc. - who preserves manuals and quick installation guides?). Good luck! I hope you will figure it out! (As I hope to find the time to make my 486 run FreeDOS eventually... I didn't find the time since after the New Years holidays...) Userbeitrag. The answer from Dennis is correct: > On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 9:32 PM, Dennis Fenton <dwf...@gmail.com> wrote: >> After some research I decided FreeDOS would be a good replacement for >> MS-DOS 6.22 on an old 486 I'm playing with. >> I downloaded and burned to CD the iso. I also downloaded the boot >> floppy disk image because the old 486 will not boot from the external >> SCSI CD drive. >> To my dismay I found that the boot disk image is too big to fit on a >> 1.44 floppy. > The ISO image isn't *intended* to fit on a floppy. It expects to be > installed on a CDROM. > > If you have a machine that *can't* boot form CD and must boot from > floppy, there's a boot floppy zip file you can extract to floppy to > boot from. That assumes the rest of the distribution will be on a CD > you can access from FreeDOS once you've booted from the floppy. See > the Boot Floppy option under "How to install FreeDOS 1.2 -+" > > See http://www.freedos.org/download/ > >> This makes me question the decision to switch. How in the world can an >> organization dedicated to promoting this better version of DOS get it >> wrong when it comes to the size of a disk image? >> Do you have a fix for this? > The problem is pilot error. Please read the applicable instructions > on the download page. > __ > Dennis -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (276:10/901) --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] HIMEMX.EXE
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de I tried to boot FreeDOS 1.2 on my 2005 PC, specs: * BIOS * Intel 945P chipset * Pentium D-950 (64-bit capable) * 2.5 GB DDR2 RAM * SATA in "Compatible Mode" as P-ATA: ** Primary IDE Master: IOMEGA ZIP 250 ** Primary IDE Slave: DVD-RW * PATA from additional controller chip ** TRANSCEND IDE FLASH MODULE It is the FD12CD.ISO image, booted from CD-R. I chose "Install" and used F8 to diagnose the problem. DEVICE=\FDSetup\BIN\HIMEMX.EXE stalls the system. It infinitely repeads: Invalid Opcode at 0FAE 1068 0046 0001 0002 0200 0183 4200 0001 Skipping HIMEMX.EXE lets me continue with installation. Just reporting... Userbeitrag. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] OT: US
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de On 2017-01-02 02:53, dmccunney wrote: > Take a variable out of the equation. Start with a fresh, new floppy > disk. Don't try to reuse an ancient one that may be failing due to > age. > > Floppies are still made and should be findable. Will do. Takes time. Userbeitrag. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] OT: USB fl
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de Hi! I was asked why I cannot put FreeDOS on a floppy. Here is the reason. I just tried another floppy disk that I found. It is original from before 1995, so it may be broken. I can try to check on my 486 once it is up and running, but for now this is what I get on Linux when I put the disk into the USB floppy drive. [14502.458855] usb 3-1.2: new full-speed USB device number 11 using ehci-pci [14502.592376] usb 3-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0409, idProduct=0040 [14502.592381] usb 3-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [14502.592385] usb 3-1.2: Product: NEC USB UF000x [14502.592387] usb 3-1.2: Manufacturer: NEC [14502.594614] usb-storage 3-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected [14502.594740] usb-storage 3-1.2:1.0: Quirks match for vid 0409 pid 0040: 1 [14502.594802] scsi host6: usb-storage 3-1.2:1.0 [14503.654640] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access NEC USB UF000x 1.60 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS [14503.666875] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 [14507.558821] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [14507.558827] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [14507.558831] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Add. Sense: Cannot read medium - unknown format [14507.622812] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is on [14507.622821] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 46 94 80 [14507.686775] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found [14507.686782] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through [14508.134833] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Read Capacity(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [14508.134842] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [14508.134847] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Add. Sense: Cannot read medium - unknown format [14508.390739] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk [14511.206876] EXT4-fs (sdc): unable to read superblock [14511.270868] EXT4-fs (sdc): unable to read superblock [14511.334865] EXT4-fs (sdc): unable to read superblock [14511.398905] FAT-fs (sdc): unable to read boot sector I don't really expect help here. It is just a message to get the understand for why I cannot load FreeDOS onto a floppy at this time. Happy 2017! Userbeitrag. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Preloa
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de Hello! On 2016-12-30 18:39, Rugxulo wrote: > > I cannot easily create a 3.5 inch boot floppy to use it in > > the 486-PC. > > Is the drive itself broken or you don't have a working floppy disk or ...? I tried old floppy disks in a USB FDD that I acquired, but it doesn't work. I don't know if the floppy drive or the floppies are broken. Anyway, I would prefer another solution: the HDD works in this more modern PC, so I really think that I should install it from USB or CD-ROM there and then transfer the HDD to the 486-PC. Thanks, userbeitrag. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Preloa
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de Jerome and Louis, thanks! >> 1) Does the installer check the hardware and make choices? If so, this >> would be totally wrong since I will be preloading it on a very different PC. > Yes a little. Only to compensate for the different quirks in the common vm platforms. > So, if you install to real hardware then stick the drive in the old machine, you will be fine. So, this means that my newer PC will make no difference? The PC I will install on, is a Pentium-D, has >2 GHz and >3GB RAM. This drive is actually an IDE flash drive that is connected directly to the mainboards ATA connector. It all is far more modern than the 486 PC with 50 MHz and 8 MB RAM. >> 2) Can I install something like the installation environment itself? > Yes. > > If you have a spare drive laying around, you can just copy the intire filesystem from one of the USB images to the root of that drive. Boot your old Dos, switch to drive D: and run setup.bat > > This is how the DOSBox install works. Albeit it detects DOSBox and customized the install process somewhat. Thanks. So my plan is now to make two partitions, one for FreeDOS and one for the unmodified installer that I will simply copy there. The second partition will eventually become a data+programs partition for games and such. Most likely I will eventually also install DR DOS, so I will create a third partition for later use. > 1) Does the installer check the hardware and make choices? If so, this > would be totally wrong since I will be preloading it on a very different PC. Yes a little. Only to compensate for the different quirks in the common vm platforms. So, if you install to real hardware then stick the drive in the old machine, you will be fine. > One other thing you can try with VirtualBox (and Bochs, and QEMU, > probably VMware Player) is use device pass through and install > directly to the drive there using the VM (VirtualBox calls it raw > access)[0][1]. The machine running the VM will likely be faster than > your 486 and so the install should be faster. The only issue could be > that FreeDOS FDISK detects LBA BIOS and put thats in boot sector > partition type but I believe the kernel should be correctly handle > that case and adjust its drive access routines accordingly when you > replace the drive back in your 486. I thought about that as well, but I really think that would be even worse than the other real PC I could use. I used direct access to physical drives and partitions, so I know the procedure. Anyway, thanks very much for your help! userbeitrag. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Preload an
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de Hi, fellow FreeDOS users! I need your help. I have an original Intel 80486 with 50 MHz that I want to try FreeDOS on. I still haven't found the time so far an my first attempt came to an early halt because I couldn't get an installation media to start on this machine. *) The 486-PC doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. *) The 486-PC doesn't have USB. *) I cannot easily create a 3.5 inch boot floppy to use it in the 486-PC. What I can do thou is plug the IDE HDD into another PC and pre-load FreeDOS there. Then, connecting the IDE HDD inside the 486-PC, FreeDOS should start. The Question: 1) Does the installer check the hardware and make choices? If so, this would be totally wrong since I will be preloading it on a very different PC. 2) Can I install something like the installation environment itself? 3) The outcome should be that it boots on the 486-PC and starts the installer from there, to create all necessary CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT entries and to select the software to be installed. The installer files may remain as capacity is not a factor on this HDD anyhow. Has this been done before? And how would I do it? Help highly appreciated! Thanks, userbeitrag. -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Instal
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de Hi Tom! As I understand it you cannot really make any use of initialized sound hardware in DOS except for a few -- very few -- programs that are aware of this very specific sound hardware. You may have noticed that /back in the old days/ every program/game had to be configured for the specific sound card in order to use it. Even within a family of sound cards there were incompatibilities. For example, games that ware written for Sound Blaster 1.0 (aka Game Blaster) und Sound Blaster 2.0 were not able to produce SoundBlaster sound on a more modern Sound Blaster Pro or Sound Blaster 16. The reason for this is very simple: there is no standardized sound API on DOS. So every sound card and driver created its own API and every application has to be written to support this very sound card (series). The only solution for /modern DOS/ would be to write an emulation for a well supported sound card for older programs and games. That would be, say, a SB16 emulation driver for AC97 and HD-Audio on-board sound cards. So every DOS program/game would see the well supported SB16 and -- if supported by this very program or game -- would be able to use it through the emulation. I think this is how DOSBox does support sound. If you do find a practical solution though -- I would be interested too! Cheers, userbeitrag On 2016-12-18 23:58, Thomas Mueller wrote: > Do such programs to init the sound hardware work with all sound hardware? > I have on-motherboard Intel high-definition audio and remember reading on this emailing list that it was not supported in any DOS. > > I get sound in FreeBSD and NetBSD. > > Tom -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Cannot
From: userbeit...@abwesend.de Hi! Isnt't FreeDOS dependant on 80286+? Not sure, but pure 8086 isn't very easy to handle these days. Did you try to boot without any device drivers at all? On original 8086 hardware you should try an old version of MS-DOS or DR DOS. That's what I would do. Good luck! userbeitrag -- The Command Line: Reinvented for Modern Developers Did the resurgence of CLI tooling catch you by surprise? Reconnect with the command line and become more productive. Learn the new .NET and ASP.NET CLI. Get your free copy! http://sdm.link/telerik ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user --- Internet Rex 2.29 * Origin: capcity2.synchro.net - 502/875-8938 (1:2320/105.99) --- * BgNet 1.0b12 = CCO * KY/US * 502/875-8938 * capcity2.synchro.net --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux ListGate 1.3 * Capitol City Online - Frankfort, KY - telnet://capitolcityonline.net -- Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
