Hi, These instructions explain how to install DOS 6.22 from floppy disks into a hard disk image using plex86. I thought I would post this in case it might be useful to someone else. 1) Compile plex86 according to the README distributed with the source code. 2) Create a hard disk image. This information comes from the bochs documentation. Size Cyl Heads Sectors/Track Sectors -------------------------------------- 10MB 306 4 17 20808 20MB 615 4 17 41820 30MB 615 6 17 62730 46MB 940 6 17 95880 62MB 940 8 17 127840 112MB 900 15 17 229500 126MB 256 16 63 258048 483MB 1024 15 63 967680 504MB 1024 16 63 1032192 Use the dd command to create the image: dd if=/dev/zero of=mydisk bs=512 count=Sectors where mydisk is the filename to contain the image, and Sectors is the sectors from the table above. So to create a 483MB disk image you would execute: dd if=/dev/zero of=486M.DOS bs=512 count=967680 3) Create a plex86 configuration file. Here is an example file that works for installing DOS 6.22 from floppys: #################################################################### # This is an example plex86 configuration file #################################################################### #################################################################### # Memory settings #################################################################### # number of megabytes for vm memory = 16 #################################################################### # Plugins #################################################################### plugin = ./plugins/bochs/plugin-bochs.so bochs-opt boot: a bochs-opt floppya: 1_44="/dev/fd0", status=inserted bochs-opt diskc: file="../483M.W98", cyl=940, heads=8, spt=17 bochs-opt cdromd: dev=/"dev/cdrom", status=inserted bochs-opt keyboard_serial_delay: 200 bochs-opt floppy_command_delay: 500 bochs-opt vga_update_interval: 300000 bochs-opt mouse: enabled=0 bochs-opt private_colormap: enabled=0 bochs-opt i440fxsupport: enabled=1 bochs-opt newharddrivesupport: enabled=1 bochs-opt ips: 1000000 bochs-opt time0: 938581955 bochs-init # Replay IO events from a previous run. For now this let's us # program the VGA adapter, without booting via the BIOS. plugin = ./plugins/misc/replay_io.so file=../misc/vga_io.log # The system BIOS load-rom file=../bios/BIOS-plex86-2000_0817a address=0xf0000 # The VGA BIOS load-rom file=../bios/VGABIOS-elpin-2.40 address=0xc0000 #################################################################### # Debugging settings #################################################################### # syntax for disassembly db_syntax = at&t #################################################################### # VM tweaks #################################################################### # Maximum depth that the scan-before-execute code will try # to recursively prescan code in the current code page, by # following intra-page branches. prescan_depth = 3 #prescan_depth = 1 #################################################################### # end of config file #################################################################### 4) Next, make sure that you have read/write access to your floppy device. You can do this either by running plex86 as root, or setting up proper permissions on the device. I just ran plex86 as root. You do not have to mount the floppy disk. 5) Make sure the floppy disk is not write protected. I found that if the boot disk is not writeable, plex86 won't boot the disk for some reason. 6) Load the kernel module by running the misc/load_module.sh script. 7) Put the DOS 6.22 boot disk in the floppy drive and type the following: cd user ./plex86 -f ../conf/myconfig where myconfig is the name of your configuration file. 8) Sit back and relax. This will take a while. On my Celeron 466, it took 1-2 hours to install. Next I'll try to install Windows 98. Mike
