Mail Archives: opendos/2002/02/19/00:36:50
On 2002-02-17, <ngnetzky AT excite DOT com> wrote:
> I have a very old laptop that currently has DR-DOS installed.
> I'm wondering if there is a way to install Freedos along side
> my current OS and have an dual-boot system? How would I go
> about doing this and what are the disadvantages in this setup?
This shouldnīt be a problem, but itīs always a good idea to have
a recent DR-DOS boot floppy at hands...
Make sure that the C:\DRDOS\ directory has a valid copy of the
DR-DOS COMMAND.COM; if not, copy the DR-DOS C:\COMMAND.COM file
into C:\DRDOS\COMMAND.COM.
Rename the DR-DOS CONFIG.SYS file into DCONFIG.SYS and the DR-DOS
AUTOEXEC.BAT file into AUTODOS7.BAT. Then edit the SHELL= line
in the DCONFIG.SYS file, so that it no longer refers to
AUTOEXEC.BAT but to AUTODOS7.BAT, e.g.
SHELL=c:\drdos\command.com c:\drdos\ /E:512 /P:autodos7.bat
Reboot the system and see if everything still works. DR-DOS
should be booted as usual, but will find the DCONFIG.SYS file
instead of searching for a CONFIG.SYS file. In the DCONFIG.SYS
file it will find the reference to the COMMAND.COM in the
C:\DRDOS\ directory, and continue with the AUTODOS7.BAT file
instead of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Now you need to install the DR-DOS LOADER utility. Copy the
LOADER.COM and BOOT.LST files from the C:\DRDOS\ into the
C:\ root directory, then run
LOADER BOOT.LST
at the root of drive C: This will install LOADER into the MBR
of this disk and a few other hidden system files into the root.
If Anti-Virus software pops up, allow LOADER to rewrite the MBR.
The next time you boot you should see the LOADER menu.
F1 will boot the OS in the boot sector (which still is DR-DOS
at the moment), and F2 will bypass the bootsector and directly
load the IBMBIO.COM file for DR-DOS (you can add more such files
to the configuration file BOOT.LST, if you want), just as if
LOADER would emulate a bootsector.
F1 boot isnīt very important for us any more, but try the F2
boot.
If this works, you can SYS your drive C: with another OS such
as FreeDOS (the FreeDOS install/setup program will do this),
and afterwards you can boot FreeDOS with F1 (as the bootsector
has been replaced by the FreeDOS bootsector which loads
the FreeDOS kernel) and DR-DOS with F2.
In case FreeDOS will change the MBR or change the active
partition entry (I donīt think so), you will boot right into
FreeDOS without LOADER. If this happens anywhere later
all you need to do is reinstall LOADER by issueing
LOADER BOOT.LST
at the C:\> prompt again.
By default, FreeDOS will use the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files, but I recommend to rename the FreeDOS CONFIG.SYS file
into FDCONFIG.SYS. Make sure that FreeDOS loads the FreeDOS
command shell and DR-DOS the DR-DOS command shell.
Everything should be set up for a dual boot now.
Good luck.
Matthias
PS. Whatīs your real name? We prefer real names in this forum.
--
<mailto:Matthias DOT Paul AT post DOT rwth-aachen DOT de>; <mailto:mpaul AT drdos DOT org>
http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs180/mpdokeng.html; http://mpaul.drdos.org
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