Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
2013/4/22 Felix Miata mrma...@earthlink.net also maybe influenced or caused by VE-300 emulation firmware when using it All tests were done with the disk OUT of the VE-300 case. -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
2013/4/22 Felix Miata mrma...@earthlink.net On 2013-04-22 02:07 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: ...2.5 drive enclosure from Zalman, the VE-300... Is there any USB3 support in FreeDOS??? All my external backup cases except my oldest one include eSATA support. eSATA is mostly all I ever use for external HDs. They're DOS bootable exactly as if an internal HD as long as the BIOS can enable them to be seen as a first HD at POST time, and their partitioning is BIOS compatible. I don't have USB 3.0 ports right here, but I'll try soon. There shouldn't be any problems, though. USB 3.0 is compatible with USB 2.0 and as long as the BIOS sees the disk, I don't think FreeDOS won't see the disk. I'll let you know when I try, probably this afternoon. -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
the lowest-order operating system has to be installed first, unless i'm missing something here... eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com eufdp...@yahoo.com -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
Hi Felix, I created two PRIMARY partitions: a 39GB one and a 1GB one. I marked the second partition as Active... Note that because your partition starts after the first 8 GB, no matter which geometry you use, the partition can only be reached with LBA. So FAT32 with LBA would be a good partition type. Unless you prefer FAT16 LBA of course, the size of 1 GB is suitable for both. The FAT32 variant has smaller clusters (better usage of the available space with many small files) but larger FAT tables (worse performance in particular with big files). Once you use LBA instead of CHS, geometry is ignored. I did all this using the tools provided in the FreeDOS CD. After partitioning and rebooting... In some tools, you may have to explicitly select LBA. installation of FreeDOS to the second partition. I must say the installer didn't like the partition I created, showed lots of errors and offered to recreate the partition (this happened every single time I did the installation, and that's at least 10 times...). I agreed with the installer's suggestion, the partition was recreated and... That does not sound good, more exact error messages may help. It can happen that DOS complains about geometry consistency, but as said, for LBA partitions geometry is irrelevant. DOS could still be complaining about your FIRST (non-boot, 39 GB) partition if that is also FAT. Because it extends beyond the first 8 GB, you should also mark it as LBA if DOS can see it. CHS: * 255 63 (mostly used with desktop system BIOS) I think 254 is also seen... CHS: * 240 63 (mostly used with laptop system BIOS, but often also Compaq desktops) MiB cyl: * 64 32 (required for maximum performance for 4k sector aka advanced format HDs) Why would 4k sector disks use any geometry at all? Geometries with powers of 2 sizes may be used for ZIP drives. Regards, Eric -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-22 12:36 (GMT-0700) Mark Brown composed: the lowest-order operating system has to be installed first, Though it tends to make desired results more likely and/or easier, it certainly need not. http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/install-doz-after.html -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-22 21:39 (GMT+0200) Eric Auer composed: MiB cyl: * 64 32 (required for maximum performance for 4k sector aka advanced format HDs) Why would 4k sector disks use any geometry at all? Disks don't use geometry. PC BIOS partition tables entries have multiple components. To conform to any of the somewhat inconsistent PC BIOS partition table standards, entries have both CHS components and LBA components. Partitioning tools are what use CHS for the purpose of reading and writing conforming table entries, and very significantly, choosing partition start sectors. http://fm.no-ip.com/SS/dfsPTedit.png CHS * 64 32 is about making sure partition starting points are aligned on 4k multiples for performance reasons. http://www.seagate.com/tech-insights/advanced-format-4k-sector-hard-drives-master-ti/ -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
Aleve Sicofante schreef op 22-4-2013 2:07: Thanks Jeremy and thanks to Felix too. I think at this point I should paint the whole picture, so you guys get a better idea. I bought a 2.5 drive enclosure from Zalman, the VE-300, that acts as two devices in one: it shows itself to the system as two devices: a hard disk drive AND an optical disk drive. The optical drive has in it what corresponds to an ISO that resides in a special directory of the FIRST partition in the hard disk. You choose which ISO with a clickwheel and an LCD menu on the Zalman enclosure. The fact that the Zalman VE-300 won't understand but the first partition for its optical drive emulation is the reason I can't use the first partition for FreeDOS. This setup will be my repairman companion and I want FreeDOS for those utilities that would otherwise need a floppy drive or are distributed only as DOS utilities. There should be FAT32 firmware for VE-300 available at the Zalman website. Default indeed is NTFS, to allow ISO files with a size of 4GB and above. Another option is the ISOSTICK hardware device, which only supports FAT32. the system won't boot if the installation wasn't made on the first or only partition (I tried both), no matter what I chose in the final screen. This might be the BIOS coming into play, expecting bootable partitions to start below 8GB or so. BTW: the installation procedure tells me I'm installing FreeDOS 1.0 all the time, not FreeDOS 1.1. I swear I burned the only image I downloaded from the FreeDOS website, and that's fd11src.iso. You might have switched languages where the translated files aren't kept up to date. My recommendation would be to either download UBCD ISO-file (which includes FreeDOS) or to install FreeDOS inside of Bochs emulator, then create an ISO where you boot the harddisk-image used for Bochs. I'm working on that last one right now (to avoid the entire installation procedure) for 16MB+ machines, though as usual distribution is a nightmare when you have to take care of providing sources as well for all programs. Improving the installers is a bit difficult, lots of software isn't maintained anymore or not up to date for current machines. If you want to see if FreeDOS boots properly, the manual barebones way is best (use FDISK, FDISK /MBR , FORMAT C: , SYS C: ). Installing FreeDOS programs afterwards should be possible when starting INSTALL.EXE while you're in the X:\FREEDOS directory. Post-installation configuration is done in POSTINST.BAT at C:\DOS -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-21 15:48 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: I have a single 40GB disk and I need its first partition for other purposes, so I want to install FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk (that's the last 1GB of the disk, BTW). The process seems to be the same as if chose the first partition, but when I'm finished, FreeDOS won't boot. It will boot indeed if I install it on the first partition. Regarding the boot method, I honestly don't know the differences between the boot methods presented at the end of the installation process. I've chosen between 1 and 2, with no results (I haven't tried 3 and 4). Is it possible to install FreeDOS on the second partition at all or is it mandatory to use the first partition? If it's possible, what do I have to do to make it boot? What boots when you turn it on depends on the content of the MBR. With generic DOS-compatible code in the first part of the MBR, what boots depends on a flag in the last part of the MBR containing the partition table. The bootable flag needs to be moved from the first partition's entry there to the second one's entry. Without other software, once you do that, the first partition will no longer be bootable unless the flag is moved back. To work around this several solutions are available involving either replacing the MBR code and/or installing a boot manager and/or reconfiguring one already present in a current installation to present a menu at boot time to choose what to boot. What you would then have is a multi-boot system, meaning a system with two, three or more operating systems installed and bootable. Any number of utilities, including FDISK, can quickly and simply move the bootable flag. Some call it make startable or make active or activate. More info: http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/partitioningindex.html -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
2013/4/21 Felix Miata mrma...@earthlink.net On 2013-04-21 15:48 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: I have a single 40GB disk and I need its first partition for other purposes, so I want to install FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk (that's the last 1GB of the disk, BTW). The process seems to be the same as if chose the first partition, but when I'm finished, FreeDOS won't boot. It will boot indeed if I install it on the first partition. Regarding the boot method, I honestly don't know the differences between the boot methods presented at the end of the installation process. I've chosen between 1 and 2, with no results (I haven't tried 3 and 4). Is it possible to install FreeDOS on the second partition at all or is it mandatory to use the first partition? If it's possible, what do I have to do to make it boot? What boots when you turn it on depends on the content of the MBR. With generic DOS-compatible code in the first part of the MBR, what boots depends on a flag in the last part of the MBR containing the partition table. The bootable flag needs to be moved from the first partition's entry there to the second one's entry. Without other software, once you do that, the first partition will no longer be bootable unless the flag is moved back. To work around this several solutions are available involving either replacing the MBR code and/or installing a boot manager and/or reconfiguring one already present in a current installation to present a menu at boot time to choose what to boot. What you would then have is a multi-boot system, meaning a system with two, three or more operating systems installed and bootable. Any number of utilities, including FDISK, can quickly and simply move the bootable flag. Some call it make startable or make active or activate. More info: http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/partitioningindex.html Thanks Felix, so it doesn't matter which choice I select in the last installation step? I'm referring to the last step you can see on this picture: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/freedos/nfs/project/f/fr/freedos/5/5b/Installhdd21.png. What choice from 1 to 5 should I select? My first partition is NOT a bootable OS partition, so I understand I should install some boot manager like grub or something like that? Thanks again. -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-21 17:48 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: Thanks Felix, so it doesn't matter which choice I select in the last installation step? I'm referring to the last step you can see on this picture: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/freedos/nfs/project/f/fr/freedos/5/5b/Installhdd21.png. What choice from 1 to 5 should I select? My first partition is NOT a bootable OS partition, so I understand I should install some boot manager like grub or something like that? Because the first isn't a bootable OS anyway, I would definitely choose #1, the simplest. If the OS that needs access to the first is old and unsophisticated, another solution might be needed for it to maintain access to it. -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
2013/4/21 Felix Miata mrma...@earthlink.net On 2013-04-21 17:48 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: Thanks Felix, so it doesn't matter which choice I select in the last installation step? I'm referring to the last step you can see on this picture: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/freedos/nfs/project/f/fr/freedos/5/5b/Installhdd21.png. What choice from 1 to 5 should I select? My first partition is NOT a bootable OS partition, so I understand I should install some boot manager like grub or something like that? Because the first isn't a bootable OS anyway, I would definitely choose #1, the simplest. If the OS that needs access to the first is old and unsophisticated, another solution might be needed for it to maintain access to it. OK, but even if I choose #1 I'll need a boot manager, right? GRUB will do? -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-21 18:19 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: Felix Miata composed: Because the first isn't a bootable OS anyway, I would definitely choose #1, the simplest. If the OS that needs access to the first is old and unsophisticated, another solution might be needed for it to maintain access to it. OK, but even if I choose #1 I'll need a boot manager, right? Wrong. With only one bootable OS installed, and only one HD in the system, there's no compelling reason to have any boot manager. GRUB will do? If you want one, sure. Syslinux is another option. And AiRBoot. And others. -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-21 19:32 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: Felix Miata composed: On 2013-04-21 18:19 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: Felix Miata composed: Because the first isn't a bootable OS anyway, I would definitely choose #1, the simplest. If the OS that needs access to the first is old and unsophisticated, another solution might be needed for it to maintain access to it. OK, but even if I choose #1 I'll need a boot manager, right? Wrong. With only one bootable OS installed, and only one HD in the system, there's no compelling reason to have any boot manager. Well, the definitely compelling reason is that the system simply will not boot. That's the whole reason I started this thread. It will boot fine if I install on the first partition, but not at all if I install in the second partition. No other differences involved. I wrote what I wrote based upon a context-based assumption. You asked in a FreeDOS forum, and spoke of a two partition HD, with no mention of any other HDs in the target system, and no basis on which to infer any particular experience level re partitioning, booting, multiple OS installations, etc. How was the partition you installed to created? Using what tool? Booted to what? If #2 was created as a logical, then either: 1-it needs to be deleted, a primary created in its place to conform to customary DOS assumptions, then FreeDOS reinstalled; or 2-a boot manager and/or non-standard MBR code is/are required, one option of which is the #2 selection on the screenshot you linked to previously GRUB will do? If you want one, sure. Syslinux is another option. And AiRBoot. And others. I'll try GRUB, since I'm an Ubuntu user and I'm already familiar with it. But I'm definitely curious about what would prevent the system from booting if only the second partition is used. Standard PC BIOS code can only boot a primary partition on a first HD. My personal preference is IBM Boot Manager (which needs a dedicated partition), with Grub Legacy next in preference, installed by booting a Knoppix that has Grub Legacy (I've not investigated to see if newer Knoppix releases have only Grub2 or include both). I would definitely not use Grub2 on a HD that has no bootable Linux installed. -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On Sun, Apr 21, 2013 at 1:32 PM, Aleve Sicofante asicofa...@gmail.comwrote: 2013/4/21 Felix Miata mrma...@earthlink.net On 2013-04-21 18:19 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: Felix Miata composed: Because the first isn't a bootable OS anyway, I would definitely choose #1, the simplest. If the OS that needs access to the first is old and unsophisticated, another solution might be needed for it to maintain access to it. OK, but even if I choose #1 I'll need a boot manager, right? Wrong. With only one bootable OS installed, and only one HD in the system, there's no compelling reason to have any boot manager. Well, the definitely compelling reason is that the system simply will not boot. That's the whole reason I started this thread. It will boot fine if I install on the first partition, but not at all if I install in the second partition. No other differences involved. GRUB will do? If you want one, sure. Syslinux is another option. And AiRBoot. And others. I'll try GRUB, since I'm an Ubuntu user and I'm already familiar with it. But I'm definitely curious about what would prevent the system from booting if only the second partition is used. There are two different issues here. 1) The hard drive's master boot record (MBR - 1st sector where the partition table resides) must have bootable code installed. If you later intend to boot an OS from the 1st partition then installing a boot manager is a good idea, otherwise you can use the default boot code. You may need to add that code, as depending on how you partitioned the drive it may or may not have been installed. Fdisk /MBR (check the help before blindly doing it though) can do this in FreeDOS or MSDOS. Alternately installing GRUB or SYSLINUX or whatever to the MBR will place its specific boot code there. For the standard boot code you will also need to ensure the 2nd partition (the one with FreeDOS) is marked active (other boot managers may call it make bootable or startable). From FDISK there is an option to indicate the active partition. 2) The default MBR will then load the boot code from the active partition [aka the volume boot code]. This is where the choices 1-5 come into play. You want to choose option 1 to install the FreeDOS boot code to the 2nd partition. Before running sys (here option 5 may be the better choice) make sure that you are running sys to correct partition. The kernel will treat the boot drive as C: Since you are familiar with GRUB, the simplest is to use it and have it chainload the kernel.sys. If you still have problems then I can setup a test computer and send you better instructions for running fdisk and sys, but the combination of those two should get you booting. Jeremy -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
2013/4/21 Kenneth J. Davis jere...@fdos.org There are two different issues here. 1) The hard drive's master boot record (MBR - 1st sector where the partition table resides) must have bootable code installed. If you later intend to boot an OS from the 1st partition then installing a boot manager is a good idea, otherwise you can use the default boot code. You may need to add that code, as depending on how you partitioned the drive it may or may not have been installed. Fdisk /MBR (check the help before blindly doing it though) can do this in FreeDOS or MSDOS. Alternately installing GRUB or SYSLINUX or whatever to the MBR will place its specific boot code there. For the standard boot code you will also need to ensure the 2nd partition (the one with FreeDOS) is marked active (other boot managers may call it make bootable or startable). From FDISK there is an option to indicate the active partition. 2) The default MBR will then load the boot code from the active partition [aka the volume boot code]. This is where the choices 1-5 come into play. You want to choose option 1 to install the FreeDOS boot code to the 2nd partition. Before running sys (here option 5 may be the better choice) make sure that you are running sys to correct partition. The kernel will treat the boot drive as C: Since you are familiar with GRUB, the simplest is to use it and have it chainload the kernel.sys. If you still have problems then I can setup a test computer and send you better instructions for running fdisk and sys, but the combination of those two should get you booting. Jeremy Thanks Jeremy and thanks to Felix too. I think at this point I should paint the whole picture, so you guys get a better idea. I bought a 2.5 drive enclosure from Zalman, the VE-300, that acts as two devices in one: it shows itself to the system as two devices: a hard disk drive AND an optical disk drive. The optical drive has in it what corresponds to an ISO that resides in a special directory of the FIRST partition in the hard disk. You choose which ISO with a clickwheel and an LCD menu on the Zalman enclosure. The fact that the Zalman VE-300 won't understand but the first partition for its optical drive emulation is the reason I can't use the first partition for FreeDOS. This setup will be my repairman companion and I want FreeDOS for those utilities that would otherwise need a floppy drive or are distributed only as DOS utilities. FreeDOS doesn't seem to understand very well USB, so for installation purposes I'm not using the Zalman enclosure, just the bare SATA drive and an ordinary SATA optical drive loaded with a FreeDOS CD. The HD is 40GB in size and it's been always the only disk in the system. I created two PRIMARY partitions: a 39GB one and a 1GB one. I marked the second partition as Active. I did all this using the tools provided in the FreeDOS CD. After partitioning and rebooting, I proceeded with the installation of FreeDOS to the second partition. I must say the installer didn't like the partition I created, showed lots of errors and offered to recreate the partition (this happened every single time I did the installation, and that's at least 10 times...). I agreed with the installer's suggestion, the partition was recreated and the process continued. At some point I could read Syntax error (white letters at the top left on an empty blue screen) during the installation. That happened, again, every single time I tried installing, but it didn't seem to affect the whole procedure. Another little issue is that the installer would hang if I didn't choose everything instead of base and util, but what the heck, it's just a few megabytes. After finishing, the system won't boot if the installation wasn't made on the first or only partition (I tried both), no matter what I chose in the final screen. Now it's quite possible that there's no MBR sector. The disk was completely wiped before its first use for this. However in my many tries, I confirmed the installation could be done to a single partition or to a first of two partitions. Wouldn't that have created an MBR sector? In my last try, I installed Ubuntu on the first partition and grub recognized FreeDOS on the second. Both would boot perfectly well from grub. After some thoughts, I decided that having Ubuntu on my repairman companion wouldn't hurt (Ubuntu is what I use daily and I know it well), so I'll be installing it again tomorrow, using three partitions: the first one for the ISOs the Zalman enclosure needs for acting as an optical drive, the second one for a minimal Ubuntu install and the third one for FreeDOS. That should take care of all my issues with booting, I guess. But after this experience I'd say there's definitely some room for improvement to be made to the FreeDOS installer, IMHO. BTW: the installation procedure tells me I'm installing FreeDOS 1.0 all the time, not FreeDOS 1.1. I swear I burned the only image I downloaded from the
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-22 02:07 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: ...2.5 drive enclosure from Zalman, the VE-300... Is there any USB3 support in FreeDOS??? All my external backup cases except my oldest one include eSATA support. eSATA is mostly all I ever use for external HDs. They're DOS bootable exactly as if an internal HD as long as the BIOS can enable them to be seen as a first HD at POST time, and their partitioning is BIOS compatible. -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Installing FreeDOS on the second partition of the disk
On 2013-04-22 02:07 (GMT+0200) Aleve Sicofante composed: I created two PRIMARY partitions: a 39GB one and a 1GB one. I marked the second partition as Active. I did all this using the tools provided in the FreeDOS CD. After partitioning and rebooting, I proceeded with the installation of FreeDOS to the second partition. I must say the installer didn't like the partition I created, showed lots of errors and offered to recreate the partition (this happened every single time I did the installation, and that's at least 10 times...). I agreed with the installer's suggestion, the partition was recreated and the process continued. At some point I could read Syntax error (white letters at the top left on an empty blue screen) during the installation. That happened, again, every single time I tried installing, but it didn't seem to affect the whole procedure. There could be a boot to boot partition geometry inconsistency impact described here, also maybe influenced or caused by VE-300 emulation firmware when using it. Common geometries are: CHS: * 255 63 (mostly used with desktop system BIOS) CHS: * 240 63 (mostly used with laptop system BIOS, but often also Compaq desktops) MiB cyl: * 64 32 (required for maximum performance for 4k sector aka advanced format HDs) I've never tried to put any portion of a bootable DOS partition above 8GB. I don't know if it's possible, and even if it is possible to place it more than 32G (or even 8G) from the front of a HD, it may require * 255 63 or * 240 63 partitioning geometry to reach it. -- The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive. Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- Precog is a next-generation analytics platform capable of advanced analytics on semi-structured data. The platform includes APIs for building apps and a phenomenal toolset for data science. Developers can use our toolset for easy data analysis visualization. Get a free account! http://www2.precog.com/precogplatform/slashdotnewsletter ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
