Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS FDISK another partition problem
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 19:35:38 +0100, you wrote: Hi Gerry, >Yes, I've been testing it on XEONs and no problems as yet. Did you >notice any other glitches other than the this? No, I try some tricky DOS applications, got the same old result. Stable. >Out of interest, I think you said it would not boot? Can you explain the >exact steps you used to tell it you wanted to be able to boot? I assume >you were trying to actually boot the whole RAID5 array using the FreeDOS >boot sector, the MBR from FreeDOS and the FreeDOS system files, is this >correct? Again, should be FDISK problem, seems it can't write the MBR correctly (happen again today in other PII system!) Just a normal setup procedure after setting up the RAID-5: 1) FDISK, select maximize the partition and active 2) Reboot 3) format c: /s After reboot, only see the line cursor jumping around the screen in a certain pattern, delete the partition and try again, get the same result. Finally boot the Win98, FDISK and FreeDOS format, OK! >> The server will install 2003Server soon, just want to try FreeDOS. >Hmm, it might run faster on FreeDOS:) FreeDOS still don't have "killer application". Iif the server can be like Novell, provide connection by TCP/IP and run some heavy calculation job, FreeDOS surely will better than any Windows server, since DOS have no (or very little) overhead. >Yes, I think that's where a lot of people go wrong. Even the MCSE did this, amazing. >This could well be a limitation with MS-DOS. There were certainly >differences between MS-DOS 6.22 FDISK and the FDISK that ships with >Win95/98/ME (FAT32 and "large" drives), but none of them are as nice as >FreeDOS. So just lack a bit bugfix, FreeDOS can be use everywhere. I've tried PTS-DOS32, the UI is very nice, next step maybe it's time for FreeDOS to improve the UI. Rgds, Johnson. --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] re: screen reader
Hi Mike, as you ask for a screen reader (read screen contents out loud, using e.g. the soundcard), I assume that you are not interested in Braille display support for DOS? I think the easiest free screen reading method for you will be to use BLinux, which uses BrlTTY for general interfacing: BrlTTY can send text screen snippets to Braille displays, but it also supports voice output, e.g. with the free MBROLA system. You can navigate with the buttons on a Braille display or with your normal computer keyboard. The latter, in combination with voice output, should allow you to use a computer without any extra supporting hardware and without any extra software cost. Note that BLinux can only read text screen contents, while screen reader software e.g. for Windows ironically specializes to graphical browsers like MSIE and is on the other hand quite bad with text screens... The original distro is on http://leb.net/blinux/ but you have e.g. a BLinux version of or BLinux support in SuSE Linux (SuSE merged with Novell recently) and other better-known Linuxes. http://wwwcs.uni-paderborn.de/cs/heiss/blinux/index-en.html has a link collection about BrlTTY, Emaccspeak, MBROLA... I know that you asked on a FreeDOS mailing list: However, you can run DOS in a DOSEmu environment inside Linux to get the screen reader support. This would not work that well with plain DOS, as the screen reader is supposed to run at the same time as DOS, while DOS can normally only run one program at a time. Do not worry about hardware requirements - without a bloated graphical user interface, Linux can run quite okay on, say, a classic Pentium MMX with 16 megabytes or memory and a few hundred megabytes of disk space. Just for proof of concept, I once wrote a "screen reader" system for my LCD display for DOS. Actually the (20 by 4 character) LCD display is used to simulate a Braille display, and buttons connected to the display are used to navigate the window around in the 80 by 25 char sized actual screen space. Again, this shows that a DOS version of BrlTTY would be possible for simpler displays (no USB, no speech), but you specifically asked for speech. I also know that there are DOS versions of the MBROLA speech engine, and I once wrote a DOS program which translates text to speech engine commands. However, you can only run both my translator and MBROLA from the prompt, neither of the two can run in the background. So it would be quite pointless for you. Better use BLinux. Enjoy... :-). Eric > Hi I am a blind computer user. Does anyone know of a freeware software > package for dos. > This way speech could be obtained threw the sound card and a external > speech unit wouldn't be needed. --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] screen reader
Hi I am a blind computer user. Does anyone know of a freeware software package for dos. This way speech could be obtained threw the sound card and a external speech unit wouldn't be needed. Thanks Mike. PS incase you don't know what a screen reader is, it makes the computer speak the contance of the screen. X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 0530-1, 07/26/2005), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] VOL Command hangs HP Pavilion with EMM386
At 12:22 AM 7/28/2005 +, Mark Bailey wrote: Help! How do I start to debug this?!?! This is the same machine which has FDISK overwriting the partition table whenever it is run with EMM386. Exclude all high memory via X=A000-EFFF and add NOEMS option. Those two options only, unless your USB driver needs MEMCHECK (some do). Tells you whether you have an upper memory block conflict. So, try: EMM386 X=A000-EFFF NOEMS EMM386 X=A000-EFFF NOEMS MEMCHECK --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] VOL Command hangs HP Pavilion with EMM386
Hello all: OK, now that I've at least identified the FDISK problem, and solved the DIR divide by zero problem, I need to work on why FreeDOS doesn't boot and/or run stably on many computers. Fortunately, I have the Haunted HP Pavilion. I have a repeateable problem with the VOL command built into FreeCOM. Development kernel, development command.com, development sys.com. HIMEM.EXE and EMM386.EXE from emmx204.zip. Booting from USB floppy. (EDIT from Beta9SR1 CD :-)). config.sys: device=a:\himem.exe REM device=a:\emm38.exe x=test max=256M memcheck vds Boot HP Pavilion: [...] C: HD1, Pri[ 1], CHS= 0-1-1, start= 0 MB, size= 16MB WARNING: partition Pri:4 FS 06 has CHS=3584-0-1, not 1023-254-63 WARNING: partition Pri:4 FS 06 has CHS=3646-254-63, not 1023-354-63 WARNING: partition Pri:4 FS 06 is not LBA Please run FDISK to correct this - using LBA to access partition. start 3584-0-1, end 3646-254-63 D: HD1, Pri[ 4], CHS=3584-0-1, start=28113 MB, size=494 MB FreeDOS HIMEM64 4.11 [...] HIMEM - BIOS A20 method used A:\> vol c: Volume in drive C has no label Volume Serial Number is 2640-14E4 A:\> vol d: Volume in drive D has no label Volume Serial Number is 6D08-68B3 A:\> Change config.sys to: device=a:\himem.sys device=a:\emm386.exe x=test max=256M memcheck vds and reboot. [...] EMM386 2.04 [...] selected page frame e000 not available, searching automatically using PAGEFRAME e000: A:\> vol d: That's it...no output and no return. Repeat, removing MEMCHECK option from emm386. Still hangs. Remove x=test and add NOEMS. (config.sys now: device=a:\himem.exe device=a:\emm386.exe noems max=256M vds) Screen full of rapidly repeating garbage I can't read...looks like a register dump...the pattern looks like two lines but it scrolls by so fast I can't read it until I turn the power off. Add memcheck to device=a:\emm386 line. No change, rapidly scrolling garbage. Remove NOEMS. EMM386 2.04 [...] No other lines from EMM386. Boots normally, A:\> vol d: hangs. Help! How do I start to debug this?!?! This is the same machine which has FDISK overwriting the partition table whenever it is run with EMM386. Thanks. Mark Bailey --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS kicks some serious Ass!
Carl William Spitzer IV wrote: The only thing you need windows for is word I'd say that's an over-simplification, but best not to get into Windows vs Linux on here. I'm hoping to do some "head to head" comparisons in the coming months of Windows vs Linux, both client and server, and would like to know some good newsgroups or forums for Linux? I need feedback from guys who run big corporate deployments with chanage and configuration management, interop etc. There's a lot of guys into apache/php/perl and single user stuff, but no one seems to know anything about corporates, and none of the corporates I go into (quite a lot) are running Linux, even the Universities seem to be switching to Windoze:( -- Gerry Hickman (London UK) --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Is there a maximum partition size in the FreeDOS kernel?
On Fri, 2005-07-22 at 12:38, Arkady V.Belousov wrote: > Hi! > > 22-Июл-2005 10:18 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Carl William Spitzer IV) wrote to > FreeDOS : > > >> kn> What's the size limit on a partition for the FreeDOS kernel? > >> 2 Gb for FAT16 partition, 2 Tb for the FAT32 partition. But all > >> programs, which use only 32-bit arithmetics and use plain old DOS functions > >> (non-FAT32 aware) always will see "2 Gb free", even if there (on FAT32 > >> partition) is more free space. > CWI> In crashing this machine I found that the extended is limited to 8gig > > If BIOS doesn't present INT13 extension functions - then yes, FreeDOS > limited to 7.8 Gb. If those functions present in BIOS - then FreeDOS may > access all disk space. > > CWI> out of which you can carve up your logical partitions which share the > CWI> 2gig limit. > > Again: 2 Gb is a _FAT16_ limit. FAT32 limited to 2 _Tb_. > > Legacy windows / PCdos2000 is what I have for a legacy app of two. Tricky but do-able since I started with Suse 7.0 and kept copies of fstab . -- +-<<>>+ || || \ /|\ || |\ / |~~\ /~~\ /~~| //~~\| || \ / | \ || | X |__/||| |( `--.| ||__ | | \| \_/ / \ | \ \__/ \__| \\__/| || ++ --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS kicks some serious Ass!
On Thu, 2005-07-21 at 13:54, Gerry Hickman wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > Yeah, some people just don't like WindowsXP. It's hard to > > buy a new computer without it installed, though! > > This is true, and this is why Microsoft's dominance is perpetuated. The > big OEMs collude with Microsoft, and Joe Average ends up with no choice. > The EU tried to get an OEM deal, where they HAD to offer an alternative > to Windows, but that idea didn't get very far! > > I'm lucky to have Win2k on a big network and also at home, and plan to > "skip" Windows XP. I'll be evaluating Longhorn soon, but from what I've > seen so far, it's all gloss and no action! The only thing you need windows for is word but then there is OpenOffice soon to be 2.0. Until then with minor exceptions there is Suse.com. -- +-<<>>+ || || \ /|\ || |\ / |~~\ /~~\ /~~| //~~\| || \ / | \ || | X |__/||| |( `--.| ||__ | | \| \_/ / \ | \ \__/ \__| \\__/| || ++ --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FDISK MBR and FORMAT questions
On Mon, 2005-07-25 at 13:01, Bernd Blaauw > any valid MBR starts with AA55, so if no AA55, FDISK /MBR might be done > automatically. Am I correct, Eric? > Any 'dump MBR to file' programs available so we could verify what the > contents of MBR is on an empty (unpartitioned probably?) harddisk? You need a device copy program which allows direct access. I only know of one in linux called dd. IMHO it should be ported to Freedos also with dd_rescue for damaged disks. You can try it under knoppix.com or get a copy with book from Oreilly. Otherwise your stuck with payware AFAIK from Symmantec akd Norton Utilities. -- +-<<>>+ || || \ /|\ || |\ / |~~\ /~~\ /~~| //~~\| || \ / | \ || | X |__/||| |( `--.| ||__ | | \| \_/ / \ | \ \__/ \__| \\__/| || ++ --- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS FDISK another partition problem
Johnson Lam wrote: You're right. I'm just want to "TEST", to see if FreeDOS can work on Xeon server grade machine. It's works despite of few glitches. Yes, I've been testing it on XEONs and no problems as yet. Did you notice any other glitches other than the this? Out of interest, I think you said it would not boot? Can you explain the exact steps you used to tell it you wanted to be able to boot? I assume you were trying to actually boot the whole RAID5 array using the FreeDOS boot sector, the MBR from FreeDOS and the FreeDOS system files, is this correct? The server will install 2003Server soon, just want to try FreeDOS. Hmm, it might run faster on FreeDOS:) It's wise to "Mirror" the system only. It's fun to know our client put everything on the RAID, even the system. Yes, I think that's where a lot of people go wrong. 8Gb. Strangely, Dell latest BIOS's seem to be able to address large SCSI partitions without drivers, but I don't know how. Strange that FreeDOS can see the full size 140GB, but MS-DOS just 8GB This could well be a limitation with MS-DOS. There were certainly differences between MS-DOS 6.22 FDISK and the FDISK that ships with Win95/98/ME (FAT32 and "large" drives), but none of them are as nice as FreeDOS. -- Gerry Hickman (London UK) --- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Discover Easy Linux Migration Strategies from IBM. Find simple to follow Roadmaps, straightforward articles, informative Webcasts and more! Get everything you need to get up to speed, fast. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=7477&alloc_id=16492&op=click ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
