Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS 1.3 driver selection, configuration and packaging wish list
Hi, that sounds great! I was planning to try HX RT. Thanks for the update. On Mon 7. 6. 2021 at 3:39, Eric Auer wrote: > > Hi :-) > > I would like to refresh the discussion about 1.3 updates... > > *Part one, quick driver selection improvements* > > Questions about the next update of the 1.3 boot media, > has the following already been taken care of? Thanks! > > - provide XMGR as alternative for HIMEM at least in "full" >(it can have better compatibility than HIMEM or JEMMEX) > > - provide CTMOUSE 2.0 as alternative for 2.1 in "full" >(one uses BIOS, the other hardware I/O for PS/2 and >USB legacy support can be broken in one of the two) > > - move UIDE from "base" to "full"... >(UIDE is more for people who want tiny boot disks) > > - ...while moving UHDD from "bonus" to "base"! >(UHDD and UDVD2 together give best performance) > > - ...and moving LBACACHE from "base" to "full" >(CDRCACHE already is "full"-only, but see below!) > > The rationale for the latter is the following: If you want > to cache both harddisk/SSD and CD/DVD, you will either have > to load both LBACACHE and CDRCACHE, or have to load UHDD > before UDVD2. Because using UHDD allows sharing cache XMS > between harddisk and CD, that is the more modern method. > > Note that only UDVD2 uses UHDD cache. In every situation > where the ELTORITO driver is used, I recommend loading > CDRCACHE for ELTORITO. So the BOOT CONFIGURATION of the > installer should be able to use both: UHDD+UDVD2 in one > setting and ELTORITO+CDRCACHE in the other. Note how the > two styles differ in which part must be loaded first. > > See my 3 May 2021 mailS "Distro autoexec/config wishes" > which also discusses some other config issues. > > In case Lukas is reading this: You can also use CDRCACHE > with OAKCDROM, but let me know if that breaks your game > copy protection checks! Also note that some games need > to use XMS below the 16 MB boundary. Both XMS drivers > and some XMS-using drivers such as UHDD and RDISK have > command line options to keep "low" XMS free for games. > > Of course it would also be fine to have more drivers > in "base", but if only either UIDE or UHDD can be in > there, then it should be UHDD, not UIDE or LBACACHE. > > *Part two, slower package choice suggestions* > > Can we promote HX RT / HX GUI more? It runs Win32 apps. > If you are okay with the license, please include it. > > Can we promote XFDISK next to FDISK? "Upgrade" XFDISK > from "Bonus CD only" to "full" or even "base" for that. > > Can we add INFOPLUS (COMPINFO tends to crash) as "MSD"? > > Can we promote DOSZIP (and DN2?) as "DOSSHELL"? > Lukas' 2 June mail says DN2 is slower etc.? > > Can we promote DOS32A as cure for DOS4GW problems? > > Can we add the MPXPLAY media player, with AC97 and HDA > support, great to show off support for modern hardware! > > Please add FDSHIELD to "full" or even "base" again, > it is our resident (TSR) virus protection thingy :-) > > Please add RDISK next to SRDISK: While the latter > is resizeable, the former is very lightweight. > > In general, the Legacy CD is missing a number of things > compared to the Live CD (aka Full CD?) or the Full USB > medium. I would give all three the same set of packages > and make Lite USB less lite (at least 60 MB FAT16) but > you already know my issues with too small USB media. > > As people have to burn a CD anyway, Legacy need not be > Lite, but if you want to offer a Lite CD, you could > offer one with Legacy and one non-Legacy boot style: > The ISO would be small enough so you can offer both. > > I remember people have also missed RAREAD and RAWRITE. > Which other packages should be move to higher categories? > > Maybe ARJ and CABEXTRACT? Command and freecom probably > are not REALLY "less included" on various media? > > And why are LHA and UNRAR not included at all? > Any license problems I have overlooked? > > > http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.3/previews/1.3-rc4/report.html > > Thanks for looking into those :-) Regards, Eric > > > > PS: I would have included 386SWAT (debugger) and DPMIONE > (DPMI host for DOS extenders etc.) but those are closed > source: http://www.sudleyplace.com/download.htm Still > cool enough to mention in this mail ;-) > > PS: Does ANY of you know contexts where CTMOUSE 1.9.1 > works, while 2.1 would not, even when the mouse wheel > mode of 2.1 is not activated via command line option? > > > > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] command.com and long commands
Hi Jeremy. I just realized that the bug fix you have already committed is enough to unblock what I am doing. All I need to do is run “pdmake –n” to produce a batch file, and then I don’t need command.com to accept a long parameter. It would certainly be nice if it did, but it is not necessary. I was successfully able to rebuild my version of binutils 2.14a on Freedos+HX+doslfn with the freecom beta. This now provides me with a replacement Windows environment independent of Linux. Results so far are reasonable, I can produce a viable “as”, but the binaries are not identical and I need to do more thorough testing, and then perhaps hope that the difference is some unimportant uninitialized data or something. Also I need to see if I can build my GCC 3.2.3. Hopefully this is the end of Windows 10, because all I need to do is run Bochs under Linux instead of Win 10. BFN. Paul. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Clairifcation on USB drives.
> On Sun, Jun 6, 2021 at 10:51 PM joseph turco > wrote: > > i'm looking at installing freeDOS on an older (XP era) > > computer. [...] I read somewhere that USB drives are not read by > > the OS while it's already booted, but WILL read USB drives if it's > > inserted upon boot. Is this correct? My mahine from 2006 works like that. The USB drive gets assigned a drive letter by Freedos. There are no USB drivers loaded, it just looks like a disk. On Mon, 07 Jun 2021 05:26:09 +0200, dmccunney wrote: > The issue will be FreeDOS. [...] You would need a USB driver loaded > in CONFIG.SYS to access the USB drives from FreeDOS. [...] (It > didn't work to access USB ports on a machine where I multibooted > with FreeDOS as one of the OSes.). The first issue is probably the BIOS. It's odd that there is no useful (ie correct and relevant) information on this, just random stories that contradict each other. /Tomas ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Clairifcation on USB drives.
Hi Joseph, I cannot speak to freedos itself, I run MS Dos 7.1 exclusively on my p3 computer. Still, when I wish to use my external USB drive, it serves as my backup method, indeed I uncomment the dos USB driver I run in my config.sys file, turn of my machine, attach the drive, and power it on again. I prefer doing a cold boot, rather than a warm boot. The os then recognizes the USB drive as the next drive letter. For example, as I have two drives each split in half my USB drive begins as drive g. If this is confusing, just ask. best, Karen On Sat, 5 Jun 2021, joseph turco wrote: hello all, i'm looking at installing freeDOS on an older (XP era) computer. I'm sorry for my ignorance, but i'm trying to figure out usb support. I read somewhere that USB drives are not read by the OS while it's already booted, but WILL read USB drives if it's inserted upon boot. Is this correct? Many thanks ahead of time. I plan to get a floppy drive for the computer (found one for sale for 10 bucks) so that I won't rely on USB drives, but I need it to get QBASIC on the system. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] command.com and long commands
Resending – I think it didn’t get through ... Hi Jeremy. I just realized that the bug fix you have already committed is enough to unblock what I am doing. All I need to do is run “pdmake –n” to produce a batch file, and then I don’t need command.com to accept a long parameter. It would certainly be nice if it did, but it is not necessary. I was successfully able to rebuild my version of binutils 2.14a on Freedos+HX+doslfn with the freecom beta. This now provides me with a replacement Windows environment independent of Linux. Results so far are reasonable, I can produce a viable “as”, but the binaries are not identical and I need to do more thorough testing, and then perhaps hope that the difference is some unimportant uninitialized data or something. Also I need to see if I can build my GCC 3.2.3. Hopefully this is the end of Windows 10, because all I need to do is run Bochs under Linux instead of Win 10. BFN. Paul. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Clairifcation on USB drives.
On Sun, Jun 6, 2021 at 10:51 PM joseph turco wrote: > > i'm looking at installing freeDOS on an older (XP era) computer. I'm sorry > for my ignorance, but i'm trying to figure out usb support. I read somewhere > that USB drives are not read by the OS while it's already booted, but WILL > read USB drives if it's inserted upon boot. Is this correct? Many thanks > ahead of time. I plan to get a floppy drive for the computer (found one for > sale for 10 bucks) so that I won't rely on USB drives, but I need it to get > QBASIC on the system. The issue will be FreeDOS. USB did not exist when DOS was the dominant PC OS. FreeDOS attempts to be an open source clone of MSDOS, so it does not have support for stuff introduced after DOS was dead. You would need a USB driver loaded in CONFIG.SYS to access the USB drives from FreeDOS. There is an attempt to create that, but I'm not sure about the current status. (It didn't work to access USB ports on a machine where I multibooted with FreeDOS as one of the OSes.). My memory suggests it needed support for a USB function not in that driver. That was a few years ago, and things may have improved. __ Dennis ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Crynwr package contains PCNTPK.COM
Hello Louis, I don't get what the issue with PCNTPK.COM packet driver is? Per the amdpd.zip file at http://crynwr.com/drivers/00index.html , it is copyright Russell Nelson 1990 w/a GPLv1 license in 1990 and copyright AMD 1993 w/a pseudo Public Domain-ish license (PCNTPK.ASM). While not packaged the way we expect of GPL v2 or v3 code, I think the 1990 copyright and GPL v1 license would supersede AMD's, but IANAL. Russell Nelson wrote many of the drivers and/or skeletons in his collection. "PCNTPK claims 'confidential proprietary information of AMD' but also has GNU GPL v1 and public domain code - really not sure about the license here. This is confusing. The dates suggest it was originally GNU GPL or public domain, then AMD stamped their own 'confidential proprietary information of AMD' license on top of it." (http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/Releases/1.3/Packages) Thank you! -- https://gitlab.com/tkchia :: https://github.com/tkchia ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Clairifcation on USB drives.
hello all, i'm looking at installing freeDOS on an older (XP era) computer. I'm sorry for my ignorance, but i'm trying to figure out usb support. I read somewhere that USB drives are not read by the OS while it's already booted, but WILL read USB drives if it's inserted upon boot. Is this correct? Many thanks ahead of time. I plan to get a floppy drive for the computer (found one for sale for 10 bucks) so that I won't rely on USB drives, but I need it to get QBASIC on the system. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Test email (1pm US/Central on June 6)
Directions unclear: message stuck in ceiling fan. (It's fine.) On Sun, Jun 6, 2021 at 8:29 PM Jim Hall wrote: > > The SourceForge email list server seems to be down. Sending a test message to > see if this works. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] FreeDOS 1.3 driver selection, configuration and packaging wish list
Hi :-) I would like to refresh the discussion about 1.3 updates... *Part one, quick driver selection improvements* Questions about the next update of the 1.3 boot media, has the following already been taken care of? Thanks! - provide XMGR as alternative for HIMEM at least in "full" (it can have better compatibility than HIMEM or JEMMEX) - provide CTMOUSE 2.0 as alternative for 2.1 in "full" (one uses BIOS, the other hardware I/O for PS/2 and USB legacy support can be broken in one of the two) - move UIDE from "base" to "full"... (UIDE is more for people who want tiny boot disks) - ...while moving UHDD from "bonus" to "base"! (UHDD and UDVD2 together give best performance) - ...and moving LBACACHE from "base" to "full" (CDRCACHE already is "full"-only, but see below!) The rationale for the latter is the following: If you want to cache both harddisk/SSD and CD/DVD, you will either have to load both LBACACHE and CDRCACHE, or have to load UHDD before UDVD2. Because using UHDD allows sharing cache XMS between harddisk and CD, that is the more modern method. Note that only UDVD2 uses UHDD cache. In every situation where the ELTORITO driver is used, I recommend loading CDRCACHE for ELTORITO. So the BOOT CONFIGURATION of the installer should be able to use both: UHDD+UDVD2 in one setting and ELTORITO+CDRCACHE in the other. Note how the two styles differ in which part must be loaded first. See my 3 May 2021 mailS "Distro autoexec/config wishes" which also discusses some other config issues. In case Lukas is reading this: You can also use CDRCACHE with OAKCDROM, but let me know if that breaks your game copy protection checks! Also note that some games need to use XMS below the 16 MB boundary. Both XMS drivers and some XMS-using drivers such as UHDD and RDISK have command line options to keep "low" XMS free for games. Of course it would also be fine to have more drivers in "base", but if only either UIDE or UHDD can be in there, then it should be UHDD, not UIDE or LBACACHE. *Part two, slower package choice suggestions* Can we promote HX RT / HX GUI more? It runs Win32 apps. If you are okay with the license, please include it. Can we promote XFDISK next to FDISK? "Upgrade" XFDISK from "Bonus CD only" to "full" or even "base" for that. Can we add INFOPLUS (COMPINFO tends to crash) as "MSD"? Can we promote DOSZIP (and DN2?) as "DOSSHELL"? Lukas' 2 June mail says DN2 is slower etc.? Can we promote DOS32A as cure for DOS4GW problems? Can we add the MPXPLAY media player, with AC97 and HDA support, great to show off support for modern hardware! Please add FDSHIELD to "full" or even "base" again, it is our resident (TSR) virus protection thingy :-) Please add RDISK next to SRDISK: While the latter is resizeable, the former is very lightweight. In general, the Legacy CD is missing a number of things compared to the Live CD (aka Full CD?) or the Full USB medium. I would give all three the same set of packages and make Lite USB less lite (at least 60 MB FAT16) but you already know my issues with too small USB media. As people have to burn a CD anyway, Legacy need not be Lite, but if you want to offer a Lite CD, you could offer one with Legacy and one non-Legacy boot style: The ISO would be small enough so you can offer both. I remember people have also missed RAREAD and RAWRITE. Which other packages should be move to higher categories? Maybe ARJ and CABEXTRACT? Command and freecom probably are not REALLY "less included" on various media? And why are LHA and UNRAR not included at all? Any license problems I have overlooked? http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.3/previews/1.3-rc4/report.html Thanks for looking into those :-) Regards, Eric PS: I would have included 386SWAT (debugger) and DPMIONE (DPMI host for DOS extenders etc.) but those are closed source: http://www.sudleyplace.com/download.htm Still cool enough to mention in this mail ;-) PS: Does ANY of you know contexts where CTMOUSE 1.9.1 works, while 2.1 would not, even when the mouse wheel mode of 2.1 is not activated via command line option? ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Test email (1pm US/Central on June 6)
The SourceForge email list server seems to be down. Sending a test message to see if this works. ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
