I am trying to follow the instructions in "Using FreeDos" by Jim Hall, Chapter
1, “Installing FreeDOS”, "How to install FreeDOS on a Virtual Machine".
Jim's manual is dated 2018. The gist of these instructions is:
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I should submit two commands:
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qemu-img create freedos.img 200M
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qemu-system-i386 -m 16 -k en-us -rtc base=localtime -soundhw sb16, \
adlib -device cirrus-vga -hda freedos.img -cdrom FD12CD.iso -boot order=d
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I replaced FD12CD.iso with FD14LIVE.iso. Is this correct?
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Both versions of qemu-system-???? that I tried rejected "-soundhw" as an
invalid option. Have things changed since 2018? Do I still have to configure
sound hardware? If so, how?
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I retried the qemu-system-i386 command with the -soundhw option removed. This
time, the command worked and qemu came up, but I got the following warning:
WARNING: Image format was not specified for 'freedos.img' and probing guessed
raw. Automatically detecting the format is dangerous for raw images, write
operations on block 0 will be restricted. Specify the 'raw' format explicitly
to remove the restrictions.
I found a reference to a solution (for specifying ‘raw’ format on the web but
no actual solution can I find. How do I specify raw format on freedos.img?
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In any event, I successfully executed qemu-system-i386 without the -soundhw
option and ignoring the warning about formatting ‘raw’. Jim’s instructions on
what to do at this point are concise, “The FreeDOS 1.2 distribution is easy to
install, just follow the prompts.” Immediately following he includes a picture
of a DOS window:
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The window title is “FreeDOS 1.2 – Install”
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The window contents are:
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“Weare now ready to install FreeDOS1.2”
“Do you want to install now?”
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“Yes - Please install FreeDOS 1.2”
“No - Return to DOS
Note that we are effectively only given one option.
The window that I actually get after executing the gemu-img command and the
modified qemu-system-i386 command is titled "FreeDOS 1.4 Install" and it gives
me three options:
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Boot from system hardisk
If I select this, the command line just hangs.
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Install to hardisk
Ultimately gives me warning that I may overlay my OS. I select option "No -
return to DOS". I end up in a terminal window that says "Welcome to the FreeDOS
OS" followed by an "A:\>" prompt.
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Install using Floppy Edition .
Gives me window "FreeDOS 1.4 Installer CDFDI_x86".
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Tells me that if I proceed I may overlay my OS.
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I decline to proceed
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I get a C:\> prompt. dir shows two directories and several files. It says
"3.796.992 Bytes free". What is C:? Where did FreeDOS come up with 3,796,992+
bytes on my dual boot system?I sure can’t find it!
What should I do to adapt Jim’s instructions from 1988 to FreeDOS 1.4 and QEMU
8.2.2?
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