freedos-user — FreeDOS general questions and other non-technical discussion

[Freedos-user] PDF documentation

[Jose S. <jas...@ma...>]

  Michael Brutman said:
 >  I feel bad shipping a 3MB PDF file on FreeDOS knowing
 > that  most people are not going to open it under FreeDOS.

  What are the present means to open a .PDF file
 under FreeDOS (or any DOS, BTW) ?

  Best regards

Re: [Freedos-user] Agena - a procedural programming language for DOS with some OOP

[<ts...@so...>]

Check the archives.  You'll see this isn't the           first time this 
topic has been mentioned.  Apparently, multiple folks really like this 
scripting language.

On 10/24/2024 11:51 AM, Alexander Walz via Freedos-user wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I would like to introduce you to a programming language called Agena.
>
> Agena can be used in scientific, educational, linguistic, graphical, 
> and many other applications, including scripting.
>
> The syntax resembles very simplified Algol 68 with elements taken from 
> Maple, Lua and SQL.
>
> You may download Agena, its sources and manual from
>
>     http://agena.sourceforge.net
>
> Agena binaries are available for DOS, OS/2, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux 
> and Solaris.
>
> Yours,
>
> Alex
>
> 
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

[Freedos-user] Agena - a procedural programming language for DOS with some OOP

[Alexander W. <al-...@t-...>]

 

Hello,
 
I would like to introduce you to a programming language called Agena.
 
Agena can be used in scientific, educational, linguistic, graphical, and 
many other applications, including scripting.
 
The syntax resembles very simplified Algol 68 with elements taken from 
Maple, Lua and SQL.
 
You may download Agena, its sources and manual from
 
    http://agena.sourceforge.net
 
Agena binaries are available for DOS, OS/2, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and 
Solaris.
 
Yours,
 
Alex

 



Re: [Freedos-user] New user

[the <mrm...@gm...>]

Fantastic thank you so much works perfect

On Thu, Oct 24, 2024, 11:35 AM Jim Hall via Freedos-user <
fre...@li...> wrote:

> *Another Edlin user! I like to write text in Edlin too, sometimes. *
>
> If you're using Edlin, note that Edlin will interpret special codes for
> you, using backslash.
>
> To protect the backslash, type it twice when entering text:
>
> C:\\DOSSOUND\\DOSSound.com
>
> Then it will get entered into the file as:
>
> C:\DOSSOUND\DOSSound.com
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 24, 2024, 5:26 AM the via Freedos-user <
> fre...@li...> wrote:
>
>> Hi all, new to freedos and trying figure it out myself following guides
>> and instructions but I hit a snag when adding lines to FDAuto.bat and FD
>> config.sys but it comes out messed up, I am typing in fdauto using Edlin
>> C:\DOSSOUND\DOSSound.com
>> but it turns to
>> C:EWOSSOUNDOSSOUND.COM
>> I know I must be doing something wrong but no idea what
>> Thanks in advance
>>
>> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>

Re: [Freedos-user] New user

[Jim H. <jh...@fr...>]

*Another Edlin user! I like to write text in Edlin too, sometimes. *

If you're using Edlin, note that Edlin will interpret special codes for
you, using backslash.

To protect the backslash, type it twice when entering text:

C:\\DOSSOUND\\DOSSound.com

Then it will get entered into the file as:

C:\DOSSOUND\DOSSound.com


On Thu, Oct 24, 2024, 5:26 AM the via Freedos-user <
fre...@li...> wrote:

> Hi all, new to freedos and trying figure it out myself following guides
> and instructions but I hit a snag when adding lines to FDAuto.bat and FD
> config.sys but it comes out messed up, I am typing in fdauto using Edlin
> C:\DOSSOUND\DOSSound.com
> but it turns to
> C:EWOSSOUNDOSSOUND.COM
> I know I must be doing something wrong but no idea what
> Thanks in advance
>
>

[Freedos-user] New user

[the <mrm...@gm...>]

Hi all, new to freedos and trying figure it out myself following guides and
instructions but I hit a snag when adding lines to FDAuto.bat and FD
config.sys but it comes out messed up, I am typing in fdauto using Edlin
C:\DOSSOUND\DOSSound.com
but it turns to
C:EWOSSOUNDOSSOUND.COM
I know I must be doing something wrong but no idea what
Thanks in advance

Re: [Freedos-user] A new mTCP is available ...

[Michael B. <mbb...@br...>]

I'd like to ensure that you get it for the next test releases, but yes, I'd
like to have some way to gauge interest too ...

Another potential discussion point is the PDF documentation - it's large.
Would shipping a text file that says "find the full documentation at this
location" be a problem?  I feel bad shipping a 3MB PDF file on FreeDOS
knowing that most people are not going to open it under FreeDOS.  (If they
are so bold I can even include the command line for the HTGET program to
fetch the PDF.)


-Mike


On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 5:59 PM Jerome Shidel via Freedos-user <
fre...@li...> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Oct 23, 2024, at 6:20 PM, Michael Brutman via Freedos-user <
> fre...@li...> wrote:
>
> Version 2024-10-20 is available.  It has a few bug fixes.  It also allows
> mTCP programs to operate at the same time NetDrive is active.  (If you know
> how packet drivers work, that is no small track.)
>
>
> :-) :-)
>
>
> Download links are here: https://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html
>
> That page is currently redirecting to a 40 year old PCjr with no hard
> drive that has been running over 700 hours.  Because that's what good
> testing looks like. :-)  The link above is the real, long term link though
> as sometimes the PCjr has to do other things.
>
>
> -Mike
>
>
> Like with previous releases, I assume you want us to hold off a bit before
> updating the FreeDOS packages.
>
> :-)
>
> Jerome
> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>

Re: [Freedos-user] A new mTCP is available ...

[<je...@sh...>]

Hi,

> On Oct 23, 2024, at 6:20 PM, Michael Brutman via Freedos-user <fre...@li...> wrote:
> 
> Version 2024-10-20 is available.  It has a few bug fixes.  It also allows mTCP programs to operate at the same time NetDrive is active.  (If you know how packet drivers work, that is no small track.)

:-) :-) 

> 
> Download links are here: https://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html <https://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html>
> 
> That page is currently redirecting to a 40 year old PCjr with no hard drive that has been running over 700 hours.  Because that's what good testing looks like. :-)  The link above is the real, long term link though as sometimes the PCjr has to do other things.
> 
> 
> -Mike

Like with previous releases, I assume you want us to hold off a bit before updating the FreeDOS packages. 

:-)

Jerome

[Freedos-user] A new mTCP is available ...

[Michael B. <mbb...@br...>]

Version 2024-10-20 is available.  It has a few bug fixes.  It also allows
mTCP programs to operate at the same time NetDrive is active.  (If you know
how packet drivers work, that is no small track.)

Download links are here: https://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP.html

That page is currently redirecting to a 40 year old PCjr with no hard drive
that has been running over 700 hours.  Because that's what good testing
looks like. :-)  The link above is the real, long term link though as
sometimes the PCjr has to do other things.


-Mike

Re: [Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[Jim H. <jh...@fr...>]

Eric Auer wrote:
> >
> > I agree that the monthly releases have many good updates.
> > For FreeDOS 1.4, we should finally add WfW 3.11 compatible
> > kernel and related tools (maybe share exe etc.?) as well.


Jerome Shidel wrote:
>
> Don’t know about WFW.
>
> Personally, I think 1.4 should have a newer kernel and FreeCOM. They
> both have had minor and major fixes since 1.3. Don’t know when either
> is coming. Plus, they will need a lot of testing before we can release
> a new OS version.


I don't use WfW, but I know others do, so a newer kernel with WfW
support would be a great addition. But it needs testing to make sure
adding WfW support didn't break compatibility somewhere else.

I haven't seen a recent announcement of Jeremy's kernel work. If
Jeremy sees this, maybe he could share an update on the new kernel.
(And share an announcement of where to try out the new in-progress
version so we can test it.)

Jim

Re: [Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[Jerome S. <je...@sh...>]

> On Oct 23, 2024, at 4:03 PM, Eric Auer via Freedos-user <fre...@li...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi!
> 
> I agree that the monthly releases have many good updates.
> For FreeDOS 1.4, we should finally add WfW 3.11 compatible
> kernel and related tools (maybe share exe etc.?) as well.
> 
> Regards, Eric

Don’t know about WFW.

Personally, I think 1.4 should have a newer kernel and FreeCOM. They both have had minor and major fixes since 1.3. Don’t know when either is coming. Plus, they will need a lot of testing before we can release a new OS version.


> 
>> I think this demonstrates that FreeDOS 1.3 is getting a bit old (2022)
>> and the monthly test releases have far outpaced it. For example, we
>> already dropped Seal and oZone in the monthly test releases; the test
>> releases have only had OpenGEM for some time.[1] We haven't added
>> PCGEOS yet, but I'd like to see how things go with shifting packages
>> between the LiveCD and BonusCD before we look at adding something
>> large like PCGEOS. Earlier test releases[2] added other critical
>> updates to packages. The package changes in T2410 were quite good, I'm
>> interested in testing the package changes in T2411. Basically, the
>> test release is *really good* and I think we should consider pushing
>> forward to turn a future monthly test release into a "FreeDOS 1.4."
>> [1]The report from the monthly test release:
>> https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/report.html
>> [2]The change log from the monthly test release:
>> https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/changes.log
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[Eric A. <e....@jp...>]

Hi!

I agree that the monthly releases have many good updates.
For FreeDOS 1.4, we should finally add WfW 3.11 compatible
kernel and related tools (maybe share exe etc.?) as well.

Regards, Eric

> I think this demonstrates that FreeDOS 1.3 is getting a bit old (2022)
> and the monthly test releases have far outpaced it. For example, we
> already dropped Seal and oZone in the monthly test releases; the test
> releases have only had OpenGEM for some time.[1] We haven't added
> PCGEOS yet, but I'd like to see how things go with shifting packages
> between the LiveCD and BonusCD before we look at adding something
> large like PCGEOS. Earlier test releases[2] added other critical
> updates to packages. The package changes in T2410 were quite good, I'm
> interested in testing the package changes in T2411. Basically, the
> test release is *really good* and I think we should consider pushing
> forward to turn a future monthly test release into a "FreeDOS 1.4."
> 
> 
> 
> [1]The report from the monthly test release:
> https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/report.html
> 
> [2]The change log from the monthly test release:
> https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/changes.log

Re: [Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[<je...@sh...>]

Hi Liam,

> On Oct 23, 2024, at 11:28 AM, Liam Proven via Freedos-user <fre...@li...> wrote:

> [..]

> "Installing FreeDOS with OpenGEM, SEAL and Ozone GUI"
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6iTNccgi4 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6iTNccgi4>

I watched his video. 

First, for whatever reason, his instance of QEMU was extremely slow. It was still very slow after using KVM in his QEMU startup command.

For example, his FULL install took 2.5 hours. For me, using VirtualBox on a 12 year old MacBook Pro the entire process takes about 5 minutes. 

> He also demonstrates PGME -- but, as I have reported here again
> recently, his mouse does not work correctly.

He actually ran PGME twice. 

The first time everything looked and worked correctly. 

The second time there was no visible mouse cursor. Well, maybe I saw it flicker a couple times up near the clock. 

There are a couple possible reasons for that. 

First, it is possible that either OZONE (which crashed on exit) or SEAL left the system in a semi-unstable state. 

Second, it could be the speed of his emulator is so slow there is insufficient time to draw the mouse cursor between screen updates. There have been a few improvements in PGME to greatly reduce that issue since FreeDOS 1.3. However, it still needs a little more work done to completely eliminate that on slow machines. Or, it is possible the mouse was no longer detectible. 

Unfortunately, he did not run PGME from the much faster laptop. 

I don’t know what you mean by “not working correctly”. 

Do you mean it was simply not visible like on his second run? 

Or, something else entirely?

Have you tried the latest version of PGME?

> 
> I suggest trying to get GEOS working and replacing GEM, Ozone and Seal.

I’ve talked with the developers of PC/GEOS Ensemble several times in the past. They said they do not want to have it be provided with FreeDOS until they feel that GEOS was “ready”.

When they feel the work they are doing to make it open source is ready, we can discuss including it with the release. In the mean time, we want to respect their wishes and not include any pre-ready version.

:-)

Jerome

Re: [Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[G.W. H. <fr...@ju...>]

Hi there,

On Wed, 23 Oct 2024, Jim Hall via Freedos-user wrote:

> ... the test release is *really good* and I think we should consider
> pushing forward to turn a future monthly test release into a
> "FreeDOS 1.4."

Looking forward to it. :)

-- 

73,
Ged.

Re: [Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[Jim H. <jh...@fr...>]

I think this demonstrates that FreeDOS 1.3 is getting a bit old (2022)
and the monthly test releases have far outpaced it. For example, we
already dropped Seal and oZone in the monthly test releases; the test
releases have only had OpenGEM for some time.[1] We haven't added
PCGEOS yet, but I'd like to see how things go with shifting packages
between the LiveCD and BonusCD before we look at adding something
large like PCGEOS. Earlier test releases[2] added other critical
updates to packages. The package changes in T2410 were quite good, I'm
interested in testing the package changes in T2411. Basically, the
test release is *really good* and I think we should consider pushing
forward to turn a future monthly test release into a "FreeDOS 1.4."



[1]The report from the monthly test release:
https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/report.html

[2]The change log from the monthly test release:
https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/test/changes.log


On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 10:29 AM Liam Proven via Freedos-user
<fre...@li...> wrote:
>
> "Installing FreeDOS with OpenGEM, SEAL and Ozone GUI"
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6iTNccgi4
>
> I am not a fan of videos and I only skimmed a few min of this.
>
> He demonstrates that Seal and Ozone are fairly broken and don't do
> much useful, which is my own opinion too. I nominate both for removal.
>
> He demonstrates that OpenGEM as shipped is broken. I've pointed this
> out here too. It's configured to run in the root directory of a drive.
>
> swsubst g: c:\opengem
>
> and then running it from G: works, as far as I can recall.
>
> He does find a fix, but I don't know how.
>
> He also demonstrates PGME -- but, as I have reported here again
> recently, his mouse does not work correctly.
>
> I suggest trying to get GEOS working and replacing GEM, Ozone and Seal.

[Freedos-user] Demo video on Youtube

[Liam P. <lp...@gm...>]

"Installing FreeDOS with OpenGEM, SEAL and Ozone GUI"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6iTNccgi4

I am ont a fan of videos and I only skimmed a few min of this.

He demonstrates that Seal and Ozone are fairly broken and don't do
much useful, which is my own opinion too. I nominate both for removal.

He demonstrates that OpenGEM as shipped is broken. I've pointed this
out here too. It's configured to run in the root directory of a drive.

swsubst g: c:\opengem

and then running it from G: works, as far as I can recall.

He does find a fix, but I don't know how.

He also demonstrates PGME -- but, as I have reported here again
recently, his mouse does not work correctly.

I suggest trying to get GEOS working and replacing GEM, Ozone and Seal.

-- 
Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lp...@ci... ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lp...@gm...
Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven
IoM: (+44) 7624 227612: UK: (+44) 7939-087884
Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[G.W. H. <fr...@ju...>]

Hi there,

On Mon, 21 Oct 2024, Liam Proven via Freedos-user wrote:
> On Sat, 19 Oct 2024 at 23:45, G.W. Haywood via Freedos-user wrote:
>>
>> ... DOS introduced the idea of packaged software to the world
>
> I'd argue that was CP/M in the previous decade (the 1970s). ...

You have a point, although I'd suggest that CP/M introduced it only to
a select few - not to the whole world. :)

-- 

73,
Ged.

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[Liam P. <lp...@gm...>]

On Sat, 19 Oct 2024 at 23:45, G.W. Haywood via Freedos-user
<fre...@li...> wrote:
>
> What would be the point?  DOS introduced the idea of packaged software
> to the world

I'd argue that was CP/M in the previous decade (the 1970s). I own
packaged CP/M software, bought used (I am old but not that old) but it
was off-the-shelf once.

> without that packaged software, DOS is more or less
> useless.

True!

>  Even if one day some version of DOS does run directly on ARM,
> none of the packaged software ever will.

This is true.

For fairness I should mention the closest thing to a non-x86 DOS:
Atari GEMDOS on the Atari ST family.

GEMDOS was a very basic single-user OS based on CP/M-68K and what
would later become DR-DOS. However it shipped without a command line
interpreter because the machines had the GEM GUI in ROM, and were
GUI-only.

There is a modern FOSS re-implementation, called EmuTOS.

https://emutos.sourceforge.io/

It's worth saying, though, that CP/M-68K was a bit of a commercial
flop, as were other non-8080 (or maybe more to the point non-Z80)
forms of CP/M (CP/M-86, CP/M-8000) -- because as you say no existing
apps worked.


-- 
Liam Proven ~ Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
Email: lp...@ci... ~ gMail/gTalk/FB: lp...@gm...
Twitter/LinkedIn: lproven ~ Skype: liamproven
IoM: (+44) 7624 227612: UK: (+44) 7939-087884
Czech [+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal]: (+420) 702-829-053

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[Louis S. <lps...@gm...>]

DM&P who make the Vortex86 CPUs, chipsets, SOMs, and some of the other
designs are Taiwanese.  PCBWay is Chinese but the weeCee designs are on
github.  If you have another way of printing the PCBs, you're not
restricted to PCBWay.  Over the last 15 years, there's been several
DM&P/Vortex86 based designs of small computers, thin clients, laptops.

https://www.vortex86.com/
https://shop.dmp.com.tw/INT/products-516
https://shop.dmp.com.tw/INT/products-517
https://shop.dmp.com.tw/INT/products-518
https://shop.dmp.com.tw/INT/products-519
https://github.com/rasteri/weeCee

On Sun, Oct 20, 2024 at 8:24 PM Roger via Freedos-user <
fre...@li...> wrote:

> > On Sun, Oct 20, 2024 at 02:19:51PM +0200, Eric Auer via Freedos-user
> wrote:
> >
> >Hi Michał,
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >>  > I'm still looking for an inexpensive X86 type SBC that can be used to
> >> build a dos only machine.
> >>
> >> I have one word for you - weeCee.
> >
> >This is interesting, sort of a DIY designed device:
> >
> >
> https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/weeCee___Tiny_DOS_Gaming_PC.html
> >
> >https://circuitmaker.com/Projects/Details/rasteri/weeCee
> >
>
> Yup.  I like it.  However, has a China origin.
>
> Also Firefox Internet browser failed rendering the cost of the sale
> price of the completed PCB, along with requiring a login for using the
> cart and purchasing.
>
> >> ...perhaps the smallest MSDOS gaming PC ever made that doesn't use
> emulation.
> >>
> >> It is based around an ICOP Vortex86 CPU module, which is a
> >> pentium-class x86-compatible embedded system-on-module that is
> >> intended for industrial control. However the module also works great
> >> for DOS gaming, as it includes a highly-compatible VGA graphics chip.
> >>
> >>
> >> To this I also added a Soundblaster Pro-compatible sound chip from
> >> Crystal Semiconductor, which is still available new-old-stock...
> >PCBWAY sells you either the empty circuit board or the
> >complete board. Similar to Raspberry Pi, no housing is
> >included, as you buy that separately.
> >
> >Are there other vendors offering complete weeCee sets?
> >
> >Best regards, Eric
>
> A quick Google search showed an Ebay.com seller, of Czech origin,
> selling a WeeCee for ~$400-440.
>
> ... expensive.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[Roger <rog...@gm...>]

> On Sun, Oct 20, 2024 at 02:19:51PM +0200, Eric Auer via Freedos-user wrote:
>
>Hi Michał,
>
>> Hi,
>> 
>>  > I'm still looking for an inexpensive X86 type SBC that can be used to
>> build a dos only machine.
>> 
>> I have one word for you - weeCee.
>
>This is interesting, sort of a DIY designed device:
>
>https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/weeCee___Tiny_DOS_Gaming_PC.html
>
>https://circuitmaker.com/Projects/Details/rasteri/weeCee
>

Yup.  I like it.  However, has a China origin.

Also Firefox Internet browser failed rendering the cost of the sale
price of the completed PCB, along with requiring a login for using the
cart and purchasing.

>> ...perhaps the smallest MSDOS gaming PC ever made that doesn't use emulation.
>> 
>> It is based around an ICOP Vortex86 CPU module, which is a
>> pentium-class x86-compatible embedded system-on-module that is
>> intended for industrial control. However the module also works great
>> for DOS gaming, as it includes a highly-compatible VGA graphics chip.
>> 
>> 
>> To this I also added a Soundblaster Pro-compatible sound chip from
>> Crystal Semiconductor, which is still available new-old-stock...
>PCBWAY sells you either the empty circuit board or the
>complete board. Similar to Raspberry Pi, no housing is
>included, as you buy that separately.
>
>Are there other vendors offering complete weeCee sets?
>
>Best regards, Eric

A quick Google search showed an Ebay.com seller, of Czech origin,
selling a WeeCee for ~$400-440.

... expensive.

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[Eric A. <e....@jp...>]

Hi Michał,

> Hi,
> 
>  > I'm still looking for an inexpensive X86 type SBC that can be used to 
> build a dos only machine.
> 
> I have one word for you - weeCee.

This is interesting, sort of a DIY designed device:

https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/weeCee___Tiny_DOS_Gaming_PC.html

https://circuitmaker.com/Projects/Details/rasteri/weeCee

> ...perhaps the smallest MSDOS gaming PC ever made that doesn't use emulation.
> 
> It is based around an ICOP Vortex86 CPU module, which is a
> pentium-class x86-compatible embedded system-on-module that is
> intended for industrial control. However the module also works great
> for DOS gaming, as it includes a highly-compatible VGA graphics chip.
> 
> 
> To this I also added a Soundblaster Pro-compatible sound chip from
> Crystal Semiconductor, which is still available new-old-stock...
PCBWAY sells you either the empty circuit board or the
complete board. Similar to Raspberry Pi, no housing is
included, as you buy that separately.

Are there other vendors offering complete weeCee sets?

Best regards, Eric

> Best regards,
> 
> Michał Dec

Re: [Freedos-user] Ré : Ré : Odd post-install problem

[Michael R. <mra...@al...>]

OK, so here's one thing that I did that didn't work and one thing that I 
did that did work.  Obviously, the first thing I did didn't.  I had a 
box laying around that had PATA drives in it which the old laptop used.  
Fortunately, I had a 2.5" to 3.5" PATA drive adapter.  I didn't want to 
mess with the drive that was already in that box so I pulled another one 
out that I had in my stores and attached it as primary master and the 
laptop drive (the target) as its slave.  It turns out the drive I pulled 
out already had FreeDOS 1.3 on it.  It booted just fine and both drives 
were seen properly, as reported by FDISK.  At the command line, I issued 
the command "FDISK 2 /MBR" to rewrite the laptop drive's MBR.  There was 
no complaint and the command seemed to execute properly.  Note that 
before this, the drive will boot FD 1.3 when told from the CD but not 
directly.  When put back in the laptop, this behavior did not change.  
It still would not boot directly but would from the CD.

Now to the thing that worked.  I put it back into the helper box with 
its original HD which had OS/2 on it. Again, the laptop drive was slave 
to the OS/2 master.  In an OS/2 command shell, I issued the command "lvm 
2 /newmbr".  Back into the laptop and it now works - boots directly into 
the laptop drive.  I'll leave it to the experts to say what was wrong 
(something I did perhaps) but I know what fixed it so I know what's right.

Anyway, thanks to all who helped.

-Rocky

On 10/14/2024 5:25 AM, John Vella via Freedos-user wrote:
> I had a lot of trouble installing FreeDOS onto an old laptop, and here 
> is how I got it to work.
>
> Do you have a Windows computer? I have only tested this using Windows, 
> but it should work on a Mac. I'm not sure about Linux, as I haven't 
> run any virtualization software on Linux before.
>
> I installed Oracle Virtualbox and created a virtual DOS machine. The 
> important part here is to create a VHD hard drive, so you can access 
> the files later.
>
> Once FreeDOS is installed on the virtual machine, connect the hard 
> drive you wish to use to your computer. I am making many assumptions 
> here, but you should be able to use a USB adapter,
>
> Format the drive to FAT32. At this point you should be able to get 
> your Virtualbox DOS machine to see the drive, (I am at work, and 
> cannot give you the exact commands, but if you're really stuck, I can 
> look it up later)
>
> From your virtual DOS machine format the drive, using the /S switch, 
> to transfer the system files.
>
> I did try and xcopy the contents of the C drive to the external drive 
> from the virtual DOS machine, but feel free to try "xcopy c:\*.* d:\ 
> /s /e" without the quotes, and assuming that your external drive is D:\
>
> If that doesn't work, exit the virtual machine, and find where the 
> virtual hard drive, (.vhd) is saved, and open it with 7-Zip.
>
> You can then drag the contents over to the external drive.
>
> This is how I managed to transfer the FreeDOS files to an external 
> hard drive, and once I'd plugged it into the laptop, it worked just fine.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Let us know how you get on, or if you need any further information.
>
> On Mon, 14 Oct 2024 at 10:59, G.W. Haywood via Freedos-user 
> <fre...@li...> wrote:
>
>     Hi there,
>
>     On Sun, 13 Oct 2024, Michael Rakijas via Freedos-user wrote:
>
>     > ... I changed back to the 1.4 GB cartridge ... FreeDOS would not
>     reinstall.
>     > ... Something really funky is afoot.
>
>     I'm not sure the conclusion there is warranted but I'll admit that I
>     haven't been carefully following the thread.
>
>     Be aware of the difference between a Master Boot Record (a disc which
>     has been partitioned) and a Volume Boot Record (a disc which has not).
>
>     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_sector#Partition_tables
>
>     If it were my drive I'd wipe it clean with a random Linux box using
>
>     dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<device_id>
>
>     and then format it with three 512MByte FAT16 partitions using whatever
>     formatting utililty was handy (obviously one of the partitions would
>     not be quite as big as 512MBytes).  During the formatting I'd tell it
>     I wanted a DOS MBR on there at sector 0.  If the formatting utility
>     can't write a DOS MBR then under DOS you can try something like
>
>     fdisk /mbr
>
>     or search online for other ways of writing a MBR.  The MBR is tiny
>     and it shouldn't take more than a fraction of a second to write it.
>
>     If this or the formatting utility say that sector 0 is bad you know
>     where the problem is.  I don't think I've ever seen a drive which had
>     any good sectors at all which had a bad sector 0, so I think that's
>     perhaps unlikely but it *is* possible.
>
>     Assuming this formatting went well enough I'd try installing FreeDOS
>     from a USB stick (because that's what I keep lying around, I never
>     bother with CDs any more) making sure that I use the defaults for
>     *everything* so that nobody could later suggest I've done anything
>     funky if I need to explain what I did.  I'd make copious notes about
>     what I did and what I saw in my lab book.  If you don't keep a lab
>     book now would be a good time to start.  I still have mine from the
>     late 1970s.  The first thing you write in there each time you open it
>     is preferably a horizontal ruled line followed by the date and time,
>     and what you plan to do in the following section.  Then *everything*
>     that you do and see.  Not just the bits that seem interesting.
>
>     If you don't get anywhere get back to us with all your notes. If it
>     seems like a lot of notes, scan them and put them on a file sharing
>     service somewhere for us.  The first thing we want to know that the
>     disc is good.  That at least shouldn't be too hard to establish.
>
>     -- 
>
>     73,
>     Ged.
>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Freedos-user mailing list
>     Fre...@li...
>     https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[G.W. H. <fr...@ju...>]

Hi there,

On Sat, 19 Oct 2024, Liam Proven via Freedos-user wrote:

> ... DOS is deeply tied to the x86-16 CPU model, with some x86-32
> extensions. It is not meaningfully possible to create anything
> usefully like DOS for an Arm chip.

What would be the point?  DOS introduced the idea of packaged software
to the world, and, without that packaged software, DOS is more or less
useless.  Even if one day some version of DOS does run directly on ARM,
none of the packaged software ever will.

-- 

73,
Ged.

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[Sabina Z. <sab...@ya...>]

‎Greetings,yes,some x86 SBCs allow to install standard ISA(&/or PCI) cards,generally those using backplanes,i have 3 such SBCs,for 1 of them I miss the backplane,& it has damaged plastic holders for SDRAM modules & CMOS battery is missing,i saved all 3 from scrapping,they r Rocky P258 & P247 or 248 or so brands,the latter I have 2 pcs of it,the damaged 1 could be released from my collection,if some1 feels to be able to fix those SDRAM slot holders,i can gift it,but U will have to pay for shipping(or visit me),they r P2 Slot 1 Machines,pure x86,integrated VGA,IDE,FDC,PS/2,COM,LPT,but U have to find a backplane elsewhere,or do it Yourself,not tested,as I cannot fix those memory slots,& it also has DoC slot.
If interested,reply.
Sent from my BlackBerry Passport.
With regards Sabina Zelená[=Green].
LIVE LONG & PROSPER,live & let live=DO NOT EAT,NOR WEAR ANIMALS,nor do not pay Their Murderers & oppressors,please.
Shalom/Peace/Shanti/Mier/Nyugalom.
...
  Original Message  
From: Mateusz Viste via Freedos-user.‎
Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2024 21:56.‎
To: Discussion and general questions about FreeDOS.
Cc: Mateusz Viste
Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

On 18/10/2024 21:43, ts...@so... wrote:
> Won't work.  Dos itself uses a *lot* of interrupt calls to do things. 
> The raspberry pies run processors that don't support interrupts. 
> Therefore, porting a stand-alone version of dos to the pie just won't work.

That's not really what I meant, and it wasn't also Eric's idea (which he 
clarified in the meantime). A RPi-looking-like-DOS would necessarily 
include emulation, obviously.

> I'm still looking 
> for an inexpensive X86 type SBC that can be used to build a dos only
> machine.  That would be awesome, but inexpensive doesn't seem to be a 
> buzzword when it comes to x86 compatible single board computers

I do not understand the need of such thing. A hardware-compatible PC has 
the advantage that it can be fitted with standard ISA cards and 
peripherals. That's not the case of an SBC, so what difference does it 
make that the system is emulated, if it behaves like the real thing? You 
could just as well use 86box on a RPi, paint the whole thing black and 
call it a "x86 SBC". For all practical purposes, it would be 
indistinguishable (ok, boot time would be somewhat longer).

Mateusz


_______________________________________________
Freedos-user mailing list
Fre...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] Dos on raspberry pi.

[Michał D. <mo...@gm...>]

Hi,

 > I'm still looking for an inexpensive X86 type SBC that can be used to 
build a dos only machine.

I have one word for you - weeCee.

Best regards,

Michał Dec

W dniu 19.10.2024 o 21:37, Mateusz Viste via Freedos-user pisze:
> On 18/10/2024 21:43, ts...@so... wrote:
>> Won't work.  Dos itself uses a *lot* of interrupt calls to do things. 
>> The raspberry pies run processors that don't support interrupts. 
>> Therefore, porting a stand-alone version of dos to the pie just won't 
>> work.
>
> That's not really what I meant, and it wasn't also Eric's idea (which 
> he clarified in the meantime). A RPi-looking-like-DOS would 
> necessarily include emulation, obviously.
>
>> I'm still looking for an inexpensive X86 type SBC that can be used to 
>> build a dos only machine.  That would be awesome, but inexpensive 
>> doesn't seem to be a buzzword when it comes to x86 compatible single 
>> board computers
>
> I do not understand the need of such thing. A hardware-compatible PC 
> has the advantage that it can be fitted with standard ISA cards and 
> peripherals. That's not the case of an SBC, so what difference does it 
> make that the system is emulated, if it behaves like the real thing? 
> You could just as well use 86box on a RPi, paint the whole thing black 
> and call it a "x86 SBC". For all practical purposes, it would be 
> indistinguishable (ok, boot time would be somewhat longer).
>
> Mateusz
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Fre...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user