Hi Bernd: Thanks for the reply.
This has been fun. :-) Mark > [EMAIL PROTECTED] schreef: > > > Yes, sorry. Alternatives are welcome, but I need to guarantee that a > bootsector is written in order to get a bootable system. Yes, you do need to write a boot sector. How about the following: If the Freedos installation is to a directory on another BIOS device (not C:), then ask: "Write boot sector to C: and set up multiboot (recommended) or write boot sector to device whatever?" C: should be the default of course. Almost all Linux installers have a similar issue: they write a boot loader to the MBR of the hard disk by default with autodetection of other operating systems. However, most have an option to write the boot loader to the root partition instead of the MBR to allow installation without trashing the MBR and still allow booting the kernel by chaining the boot loader. Obviously, the user then has to set up his boot loader manually. I'm using a boot loader called "GAG" to multiboot all of my computers. The laptop I'm using has FreeDOS, Windows XP, and Linux installed now with the GAG boot loader in the MBR. C: is the FreeDOS installation permanately on the laptop. It was MS-DOS last week... Anyone wanting to install FreeDOS on a second hard drive (a good solution for desktops) will have the same problem. Your multibooting setup is clever, but obviously makes using the installer to install on something like a USB stick annoyingly difficult. > Is it doable to simply unplug the harddisk? Disconnect POWER and/or IDE > cable. Possibly, but I really don't want to take this laptop apart. Easy enough on a desktop, but this is really seems a simple installer change...just do a "SYS" to a different device and DON'T go through all the multiboot logic. When you create a bootable floppy from the CD, you don't overwrite the boot sector on C:. This case is very similar to that...it's a different device. > > > > > Congratulations on getting USB stick bootable. How did you make it > visible as E: in DOS ? This is done automatically by the BIOS on at least two of my new computers. The USB stick gets a drive letter. One of the computers will only boot from it if it is a real floppy drive, the other offers the option to boot from USB Mass Storage. DOS doesn't know that it isn't a second hard drive. When it boots, DOS sees the USB stick as C:. No DOS USB drivers are required. > > > Any ideas on how to offer the SYS thing to the user? > I'm thinking about: > *if no previous OS, write bootsector anyway > *if previous OS, but target is C:\[freedosdirectory], then also write > bootsector > *if previous OS, and target not C:\ , ask where to write FreeDOS bootsector. I don't think this is quite right...just because C: doesn't contain a previous operating system (for instance, my shared partition between Linux and Windows XP) does NOT mean I want it trashed by the installer. Also, if you don't write a boot sector to the new partition/device, it won't be bootable. That's the other problem...since you write the boot sector to C:, the USB device (at E: in my case) IS NOT bootable when the installer finishes. If the user is installing to a BIOS device other than C:, maybe just ask where he wants the boot sector and startup files. > > Does your USB-drive become A: if you boot from it, or C: ? C:. > if 'C:', then configuration files are simple: just move the \KERNEL.SYS > and \FDCONFIG.SYS from C: to the USBdrive No, I can't let you trash C:, so I can't get the files from there. Which ones on the CD are copied? I can't currently use the installer at all...I have to use "SYS" and then manually copy everything from the CD. > > Bernd > > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IntelliVIEW -- Interactive Reporting Tool for open source databases. Create drag-&-drop reports. Save time by over 75%! Publish reports on the web. Export to DOC, XLS, RTF, etc. Download a FREE copy at http://www.intelliview.com/go/osdn_nl _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
