Hi Jim, *Installer*
the installer tries to do everything for you; the user should just be able to respond to prompts.
I basically wonder about something like a third choice, next to "auto-fdisk & auto-format" and "exit to DOS", which lets the user run FDISK interactively and then returns to the installer. For example Ubuntu used to have the choices, paraphrasing: "wipe whole disk and install Ubuntu", "arrange everything for a dual boot and preserve Windows" and "open interactive partitioner". Of course FreeDOS does NOT need to automatically do dual boot, as it would sometimes have to access non-FAT content for that. A third option beyond "wipe" and "abort" would already be nice.
If you want to do things manually, you can always exit the installer and run FDISK.
Yet how do I re-enter it to continue where I have exited it then?
To install non-destructively (for example, if you already did FDISK + FORMAT + SYS, and don't want the installer to run SYS again) you can run this:
SETUP ADV
...and that will give you the option to control the installation...
So it does not automatically detect which steps are not necessary, if I understand that correctly? If the user picks "exit to DOS" in the current installer to manually run FDISK and FORMAT as needed, and/or there already is a partition and/or FAT filesystem on the disk, it would be convenient to know that when you boot the install medium again, the installer would detect which steps have already been handled (by the user, a previous OS install or a previous run of the installer aborted half-way) and automatically skip those, or offer to skip them to preserve existing data. If the installer already has that ability, it could be advertised more :-) I only paused a few moments while watching the VCF stream. *VM image*
image for qemu. We should offer a pre-installed disk image.
Which format? IMG? QCOW? QCOW2? VMDK? DMG? VDI? VHDX?
If you ask me: IMG, because multiple VM brands support it.
I can do the "Plain DOS, plus sources" install on a 120MB image (zipped) and put that on Ibiblio too.
That could be a nice addition :-) *Downloads*
Note that there is no obvious link from
https://freedos.org/download/ to the used subdirectory
https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.3/official/
Do you mean the links to download the LiveCD, BonusCD, FullUSB, LiteUSB, LegacyCD, and Floppy Edition? Click the links on that page to download them.
What I would have liked would be two things: 1. Links to the specific "official" and "test" directories, instead of the global "files" directory and 2. Something which tells you how large your download will be, so people do not just blindly press all download buttons but make an informed choice on how much they want to download. Optionally, also mention the build date next to the version? For example, https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop has a button saying "Download 24.04 LTS" with the text "6GB" right next to it. So if I do not have a double-sided empty DVD or a large enough USB stick to create the install medium, I am able to immediately move on and search for smaller alternatives. Alas, Ubuntu fails to specify file sizes in their list of downloads on https://ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads as well. Only after selecting a mirror and a version, you will see them: https://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/ubuntu-iso/24.04/ which are: 2.6 GB live server, 5.7 GB desktop and 81 MB netboot file. So you can decide whether server is okay or whether you really have to fetch a large enough empty DVD or USB before installing. Note that, alas, nothing at all is offered any more for 32-bit PC. In short, Ubuntu IMMEDIATELY tells you HOW BIG their 1 primary download will be. It would be even better if FreeDOS were tp mention the download sizes for ALL SEVEN direct download links on https://freedos.org/download/ as well as providing an easy deep link to the 1.3/official/ and rolling test/ directories. *Kernel* Regarding the "outdated kernel" issue, it surprises me that http://kernel.fdos.org/ only has (2021-05-13?) kernel 2043 ZIPs at the moment, while https://github.com/FDOS/kernel/tree/master says there SHOULD also be downloads for newer compiles there. At least a 2023-12-02 build 2044 ZIP. Even better a 2045 one, as the history file suggests that we have already reached 2045: https://github.com/FDOS/kernel/blob/master/docs/history.txt Note that the current main.c says copyright 1995-2023, while version.h somehow still says REVISION_SEQ 43 for some reason? Either way, given that we HAVE a 386 enhanced mode compatible kernel which NEEDS testing, it would be really useful if one of the kernel people were to PACKAGE it, so Jerome can INCLUDE it in our monthly rolling release distro, so it GETS tested :-) Regards, Eric PS: Good to know that SLOWDOWN (and FDAPM) and TP7P5FIX are in there. Had overlooked that, as it has no "200" in it ;-) PPS: I do not suggest specific UEFI-BIOS-CSM projects. Anybody? _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
