Hi, to create a very simple FreeDOS bootable system, get the kernel from http://freedos.sourceforge.net/ (-32 version supports FAT32 as well, -16 version does not). The download will contain a version of FreeCOM command.com, too, and some simple examples for autoexec / config. It also has the SYS tool which you need to make a disk bootable.
Use those tools to create a bootable FreeDOS floppy. Your CD-writings software should be able to use an image of that floppy to create a simple bootable CD-ROM. After booting from that CD-ROM, the image will look like a normal floppy drive for DOS, but the rest of the CD-ROM will not be accessible unless you load CD-ROM drivers. No real problem - FreeDOS, FreeCOM and your BIOS images and flash tools should easily fit on the floppy, so access to the rest of the CD-ROM is not needed in that case. I think loading HIMEM and using DOS=HIGH would be useful. Loading EMM386 could cause problems with BIOS access, but the documentation of the flash tools should tell you about that. A small FreeDOS distro - one floppy - is FreeDOS ODIN. It comes as a disk image along with the DISKCOPY tool to copy the image to a disk (in DOS or Windows - as with SYS), but you can also use dd / ... to create a bootable disk from the image in Linux. In that point, ODIN is easier to use compared to normal "use SYS to make it bootable" FreeDOS installations. You can remove unneeded tools to get enough free space for the BIOS images and flash tools. Last but not least you can find some more complex sample configurations for "bigger installs" in http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~eric/stuff/soft/specials/freedos-config.txt Eric PS: To automate the BIOS update process, you could write some batch scripts. Depends on how much the computers differ among each other. If you have to take custom decisions for each computer, you better run the flash tool by hand after booting that FreeDOS floppy / CD-ROM. ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email sponsored by Black Hat Briefings & Training. Attend Black Hat Briefings & Training, Las Vegas July 24-29 - digital self defense, top technical experts, no vendor pitches, unmatched networking opportunities. Visit www.blackhat.com _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
