FreeDOS 1.0 Final (2006-08-11) Readme file Table of Contents: --------------------------------- I) How to view this document II) What to get, platform dependant III) How to boot up IV) Installation V) Post-installation disk/RAM layout and configuration files VI) Using FreeDOS VII) Updates and help --------------------------------- I - How to view this document This document is posted online and thus may incidentally not comply with the DOS specification of keeping line width below 80 characters. We recommend using a HTML viewer or the FreeDOS program PG, which supports line wrapping, found at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/file/pg/ --------------------------------- II - What to get, platform dependant The FreeDOS distribution is available in several ways. Users only wanting to use the kernel don't need to download the entire distribution. Owners of a computer older than 80386 often don't have a cdrom drive in their systems. FreeDOS 1.0 Final is offered for: Platform: what to download: --------------------------------------------------------------------- 8086/80186/80286 : - download ODIN (One Disk INstaller) odin.fdos.org 80386 or newer : - download the bootable freedos installer cdrom http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.0/fd??????.iso If you cannot boot from cdrom, please download bootdisk http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.0/fdos1440.img The bootdisk can access the FreeDOS cdrom or an ISO version of it placed on harddisk, (C:\FDBOOTCD.ISO), in order to continue the normal installation process. You may need to write the bootdisk image to a diskette using one of several available programs found at: http://www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/ (RAwrite downloadable from : http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/old/beta9sr1/rawrite.exe ) If the target diskette contains information, it will be erased when writing the image contents to the diskette. The .iso file (ISO9660 filesystem) can be written to a blank recordable medium [CD-R(W) or DVD+/-R(W)] using a cd writing program that can write a disk image. Most used is Ahead's Nero Burning Rom, and the Unix/Linux program CDrecord Make sure contents of the fd??????.iso file is stored on the written medium, not the file itself. In other words, you should see a file called autorun.inf and the directories called FREEDOS and ISOLINUX, and *not* a file with the extension ISO (example: FDBOOTCD.ISO). In Nero, you may select to burn the CD-ROM using an image file, not simply burining the ISO file onto the drive. --------------------------------- III - How to boot up Virtually all the computer systems that FreeDOS can be installed on allow booting from another medium than the harddisk. This is required for installing FreeDOS to your harddisk. Old computers support diskette booting, recent computers also support starting up from cdrom (the so called El Torito standard dating from 1995) If you cannot boot from cdrom or do not know how to set up your BIOS settings (most systems use DEL, ESC, F2 or F10 keys to access the BIOS) to allow booting from cdrom, please boot from diskette. If you are able to get your system to allow booting from cdrom, that's the easiest and best way of installing FreeDOS. Type "ENTER" at the BOOT: prompt and then you'll see FreeDOS starting. You should now see another menu. Select option 1 to load memory and cdrom drivers. the CDROM is accessed and then you can select what to do next (Install FreeDOS, Run FreeDOS, Create bootdisk), but more about that later. First the floppy explanation. For booting from diskette, insert the diskette to which you have written the contents of FDOS1440.IMG using WinImage or Rawrite for example. You should now see a boot menu with 2 options: *Select 1 (recommended) Boot FreeDOS and begin the installation process after locating the FreeDOS CD-ROM or ISO file (at C:\FDBOOTCD.ISO). *Select 2 (safe mode) Boot a bare FreeDOS bootdisk without any drivers loaded. Working with FreeDOS: -if the cdrom is found, you'll be presented with a series of menus to guide you through the installation process.. -if the cdrom is not found, you'll be presented with an error message (cdrom driver not loaded, cdrom not found). Installation through using the harddisk (an ISO file) is the fastest and most stable way of installing FreeDOS. As we allow dualbooting with popular operating systems, you might want to place the FreeDOS ISO on your harddisk first to experience a smooth installation process. see chapter IV - Installation for further info. --------------------------------- IV - Installation Regardless of which way you booted, installing FreeDOS is made up of several steps. If you want (or need) to change your disk layout (using a partitioning program) , you will need to reboot at least once in this process. These are the steps you need to follow: 1) Partition your harddisk (not recommended unless necessary!) 2) Create a filesystem (not recommended unless necessary!) 3) Install and configure FreeDOS core files and additional files. Step1: (not recommended unless necessary!) You can change your disk layout by using any partition program. most known ones are Fdisk ("program for Fixed Disks") and the Partition Magic product from the company Symantec (was PowerQuest Partition Magic). Other often used programs are FIPS (DOS, freeware) and PARTED (Linux, GPL). A program called NTFSRESIZE might also be usefull if your harddisk was partitioned as a single primary partition of the NTFS filesystem type. The options usually given to the user for partitioning consist of XFdisk (recommended), SPFdisk (recommended, but 386+ only), and Fdisk (MS-like interface, but has been known to have bugs). DOS *requires* a primary partition with the FAT filesystem that it recognizes as C:. Having a C: partition under your modern Windows system using NTFS is not suitable, as DOS won't recognize that partition, let alone assign a driveletter (C:) to it! KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING - ALTERING DISK PARTITION LAYOUT CAN CAUSE DATA LOSS FreeDOS provides its own version of FDISK, called FreeFdisk. Here's what you need to do (if using FreeFdisk): *Answer yes to the first question (do you want support for FAT32 (big disks?)) *Create some free (actually unpartitioned) disk space by making sure not all disk space is allocated. *Create a primary partition in the unallocated space, at least 20 MegaBytes (option 1, then option 1), though we recommend at least 40MB *Set it active (option 2 from the main menu) *Exit FDISK. You will probably have to reboot. Be sure to boot from the same boot device again (diskette/cdrom) The other Fdisk variants available have similar interfaces, and integrated help. Step2: (not recommended unless necessary) Once an (active primary) FAT partition exists, FreeDOS detects this and assigns a driveletter to it (starting with C: for the first FAT partition on the first physical harddisk). However it still allows to change disk layout by calling the supplied FDISK. and offers you to format the partition. If the partition was not yet formatted then FreeDOS auto-formats (after the user confirms) it. If it was formatted, we recommend not to format the partition again, as it may contain programs and data you wish to keep (creating the FAT [File Allocation Table] filesystem using the FORMAT program erases all previous contents) Step3: Once the active primary partition actually contains a filesystem, be it already present or just created through the FORMAT program, it will allow you to install FreeDOS using the installation program. The installation program is intuitive to use, though you should type in a pathname (C:\FDOS for example) instead of a drive/driveletter (C:). If you specify the latter, all files end up in the root of the drive, instead of its own directory. We recommend to opt for a destination directory on drive C:, to have the FreeDOS system files and the rest of the files on one single partition. Be aware that DOS numbers partitions in a different order than other operating systems. Also only FAT(12/16/32) filesystems are recognized and accessible through an assigned driveletter, not NTFS/HPFS/EXT2, etc.. If you choose to install to a drive other than C:, you may have to configure your boot manager manually to make it able to boot (sometimes involving hiding/switching partitions). All selected files are copied to the selected installation directory, the core components installed (kernel - c:\kernel.sys ; shell - c:\command.com) and several startup files are created. See following chapter for that. All is done now, you have installed FreeDOS to harddisk and can start using it. We recommend to reboot your system though for best use. Also remove any installation discs to make sure you boot from harddisk. If booting from harddisk fails, then a critical piece of program code called the 'boot sector' was not (properly) written to harddisk. In that case, boot from your installation disc, select a clean boot, and enter the following command (followed by pressing ENTER): A:\FREEDOS\SYS C: C: /BOOTONLY --------------------------------- V - Post-installation disk/RAM layout and configuration files This chapter references the layout of both files and memory layout, on diskette, cdrom and the harddisk installed...
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