This is a re-post of a message sent back "in the times of trouble":
--- original message --- James Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [...] PuppyLinux (created for installation to Pendrive), or maybe > > DamnSmallLinux (live CD distro for lower-powered machines) should > > be smaller than that - that's with a gui included! (not sure if you > > need/want one). Oh, there are DEFINITELY smaller approaches. I only went with Mandrake because it's readily available (you can buy it online or at many bookstores), common enough to have good support (usergroups and online) and I happened to be dinking with MDK9.2 and curious what they considered a "minimal install." A GUI option is one of the things I want to play with, simply because X on a reasonably-sized monitor provides some VERY flexible sizing options. If I figure out all the kinks of DOS networking, printing and display, I'll happily leave the challenge of adapting it to REALLY small distros to others. 100MB is certainly do-able. 65 probably. Less might get REALLY (read: extensive modification away from any mainstream [can buy books on it] distribution) interesting. James, do you use any of those small distros? > > Both their install-to-HD routines are still in beta, but I think > > they're getting pretty stable. Don't know if the business card > > Linux distro has an install to HD feature, but that might be > > another option. In fact, to address Day's complaint that you can't turn off a Linux box in the middle of working, I'm perversely considering modifying LNX-BBC since it does some wonderful network and X configuration on a business-card sized CD. That way, he'll ONLY lose his DOS work if he does that! :) But for now, the "project" is stricly based on MDK, though the instructions will hopefully be more than enough for anybody with a bit of inclination. > > I'll look forward to that documentation. I've been wondering how > > to get DOSemu on the 'net. Once I got the RPM for MDK (it's not in the mainstream mdk repositories, but readily available off rpmfind.net) it was fairly easy (with a bit of RTFM). The steps are: 1. Launch DOSemu (I'm using v1.1.5.7 right now) 2. In another Linux console, and WHILE DOSEMU IS RUNNING on the other: brctl addbr br0 (creates a bridge interface) brctl addbr eth0 (adds eth0 to the bridge "hub", removes IP address from eth0) ifconfig br0 <ipaddress> netmask <netmask> (configure bridge interface with address previously assigned to eth0. this interface will act as the "hub" to the live network, and other logical interfaces plug into it.) route add -net 0.0.0.0 gw <default_gateway_ip> (fix routing to other nets) brctl addbr tap0 (adds tap0 [virtual] interface created by DOSemu on launch) At this point, eth0 (Linux) and tap0 (DOSemu) are connected to br0 (bridged) forming a logical "hub". The DOSemu packet driver is effectively running. Now it's up to the DOS apps. Admittedly, having played with Linux bridging before helped a lot here. But it can easily be scripted to happen automagically on startup. 3. Switch back to DOSemu console, and configure WATTCP.CFG as another IP address on same subnet as eth0. This obviously works best on a home network of some sort. If you're using PPP, I expect you can skip all the bridging nonsense and just route between tap0 and ppp, but haven't tried it yet. > > I suppose you know about this site: > > http://www.opus.co.tt/dave/indexall.htm ? You should be able to > > find a wealth of candidates for testing there. Thanks for the tip! I meandered around and found a nice WATTCP setup guide at: http://www.smashco.com/wattcp.asp , along with some nice packet driver-based apps. I downloaded lynx_386.zip and apps.zip. I am happy to report that -- with proper WATTCP.CFG configuration (as detailed at that site) -- THEY ALL WORK. I was able to ping to the outside world, and load a variety of web pages using Lynx. SUCCESS using packet driver-based DOS apps. DOSemu NETWORKS SUCCESSFULLY. I was able to test this as a non-root user as well, and IT WORKS. > > I've got WP 6.0 I could make available for testing purposes, if > > that would help. It would be nice to try, as I suspect WP is the Holy Grail of DOS apps. Can you provide a link? In the meantime, I am pleased to report yet more success. I visited: http://www.student.unimelb.edu.au/~denisa/ and downloaded VMODE11.ZIP, a very small ASM utility (793 bytes) that lets you set video modes. By launching DOSemu with the '-V' (VGA) option, I was able to set a variety of screen modes successfully, from 80x25 to 132x60. More interesting (and unexpected), I launched VEDIT40 and it happily returned to 80x25. By selecting the Video option in that program, it happily switched to a higher resolution. On exit, DOSemu returned to 132x60. Now, this hardly constitutes exhaustive testing, but DOSemu HANDLES VESA VIDEO MODES successfully. OK, I'm still cheating, launching DOSemu as root, but IT CAN BE DONE. There are workarounds for root as well which are reasonable for a single-user system, so IT'S UP TO YOU whether to run as root or a normal user. To add a twist, I tried connecting to the Linux box remotely using a Windows SSH client and running DOSemu as a normal (non-root) user. Much to my surprise, VEDIT40 happily ran at 132x43 resolution. It did NOT like the window being resized on the fly, so make sure you resize the terminal to the desired size BEFORE launching DOSemu, but otherwise it worked surprisingly well. The biggest problem was with the GUI (Windows in this case) intercepting keystrokes, so a simple GUI (icewm, fvwm) will ease use. A WELL WRITTEN DOS program adapts itself to the screen dimensions without making undue assumptions about the user's configuration or hardware. DOSemu ALLOWS NON-ROOT USERS TO USE LARGE SCREEN DISPLAYS EFFECTIVELY IF RUN UNDER A GUI, and with no modification of the DOS program (assuming it's well written). So, I think at this point it's fair to say that DOS+LINUX+a bit of effort may provide a means of using beloved DOS apps even with non-DOS friendly ISPs, or to ease the DOS-to-Linux learning curve. I can see where apps like WP for productivity, with Linux for printing and networking support might be quite useful. I really don't know what the low-end for a usable configuration will be, and I'm sure that'll vary a lot depending on the Linux distribution chosen. I'm quite pleased with these initial results. Printing (the bane of my Linux experience) and PPP remain as challenges. Graphics and DPMI etc. still need a look. Non-FreeDOS is probably important to the really cranky DOS bigots. Point me to some diskette images folks! Let me repeat: 1. DOSemu CAN network quite successfully for non-root users. 2. DOSemu CAN run program using VESA video modes on the PC display as root. 3. DOSemu CAN provide high screen resolutions to non-root users via a GUI. The usual caveats apply, and it all needs more testing but these things work! If you really love your DOS apps, but are stuck due to lack of ISP support, this might be a useable approach. LINUX IS DOS' FRIEND, NOT THE ENEMY. Many Linux users I know were DOS users (and right powerful ones at that). They read the same books. They learned a CLI the same way, and are drawn to it for many of the same reasons. They are NOT somehow a different class of people, nor anti-DOS bigots. DOSemu was written to run DOS apps under Linux by folks that apparently give quite a damn, and have been actively supporting it for going on 10 years (if not more -- I used it with a Complete Answering Machine DOS-based setup back in '93 or so). I think this ranks as one of the more successful and active DOS programming efforts in recent years. Rather than slighting Linux programmers, accusing them of "not invented here" mentality, I hope everyone will make more of an effort to actually appreciate the considerable support that IS being provided FREE whilst none of the "legitimate" firms seem to bother. - Bob
