Mail Archives: opendos/2002/06/03/04:50:14
Thanks, Bob.
I bought a dual distribution, with RedHat 7.2 and Mandrake 8.0, electing
to install Mandrake because, after reading the installation booklet, it
was apparent that the Mandrake installation was less likely to cause
me grief. <G>
When installing this stuff, I too saw that there were two options for
installing LILO. However, putting LILO on the Linux partition either :
a) Did not prevent it supplanting the existing MBR, which otherwise
had Ontrack's DDO, as previously explained.
b) Didn't work at all (ie. normal DOS boot via the DDO).
I tried many times, and I can't recall all the details, but despite
indications
to the contrary, it was impossible to get a working LILO booter while
retaining the Ontrack DDO in the MBR.
Following Ben's posting, it became clear to me that it would only have
been possible to install LILO without supplanting the DDO, if I had
originally
chosen to use the non-standard Ontrack disk format, when I first installed
this hard drive.
Also, please note that installing LILO does not mean that I will "never,
never, ever want to use another OS". LILO will quite happily boot the
DOS boot sector, or the Linux boot thingie (image?), as selected from
it's boot menu.
In fact, I have some progress to report on the garbled LILO boot prompt
problem. Feeling a little more adventurous, I decided to change tactic.
Instead of trying to figure out what format the "/boot/message" file was
and then finding a tool with which to edit it, I deleted it and using
"jstar",
created a single line text file in it's place (with a parody of the M$
slogan
of a few years back). On rebooting, LILO seemed quite happy with it's
new text "/boot/message" file and displayed this along with the "boot:"
prompt. Much nicer!
I also took the opportunity, out of curiosity, to re-install the Ontrack
DDO (temporarily uninstalling LILO), to see how much conventional
memory was lost when the DDO was loaded. Answer? Well, it's 7K,
which is a little more than I had though, but not too onerous.
Joe.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: domanspc AT juno DOT com [SMTP:domanspc AT juno DOT com]
> Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 7:16 PM
> To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
> Subject: Re: DOS/Linux coexistence (was: [Club Dr-DOS]) #2
>
> I just installed Caldera Open Linux 2.3 and it gives you a choice of
> putting the linux loader in the MBR (if you are sure you will never,
> never, ever want to use another OS on your computer) or in the
> Linux partition if you want to use another OS at some time or another.
> This is for us diehard DOS fans and M$ WIN people who can not
> give up the addiction to Bill's rules. You also have the option of
> installing everything, a standard install, or pick your own packages if
> you are running short on disk space. Version 1.3 also had these
> options but the installation used XF86Setup and was not to user friendly.
> I am getting ready to install RedHat 7.2 and from the docs it looks like
> the install menu is pretty good.
>
> I recommend buying a book like "Red Hat Linux 7.2 Weekend Crash Course".
> They include 2 CD's with Red Hat Linux 7.2 Publisher's Edition, featuring
>
> GNOME and KDE, Linux Kernal 2.4.x, Apache, Samba, Netscape, and
> 30 manual sessions which are supposed to have you up and running in
> 15 hours. ISBN 0-7645-3642-7. If you go this route you have a hard
> copy of the manual to set up the install, and a large assortment of
> programs and games which, while admittedly someone else's idea of a good
> distribution, make it a rather painless first experience for the first
> time or
> frustrated person who has tried for weeks (months) to get it all up on his
>
> old but favorite machine. You'll need at least 800 MB on the hard drive
> for
> a minimum install and should have 2 GB if you want to do a full install
> and
> also have DOS or (UGH) M$ WINDOWS on it. The 2.4.x kernel has
> support for USB and someone is working on Firewire. It also covers most
> of the more popular manufacturers Video boards, Modems, and sound cards.
> However, it will not support any of the cheap trash that cost nothing
> because
> it requires some software from M$ WIN to run. There are several other
> good
> books out there and most cost only about $30/$40 US and include a very
> complete distribution. Be careful to get one that includes the new 2.4.x
> version
> of the kernel or you will have to spend some time getting the right
> drivers and
> optimizing your installation. I went through 7 installs with Caldera 1.3
> before
> I finally got the mouse and video set up right. the newer versions mostly
> have
> a search mode which checks out your computer for you and you don't have to
>
> do as much research on your video, sound card, modem, M/B, etc in case the
>
> setup program can not find it in it's data base and you have to install it
> manually
> by editing files.
>
> Of course a lot of the people on this list are just naturally gluttons for
> punishment
> and masochistic after years of using the old dinosaur DOS and making it do
> all
> of the things dear old uncle Bill and IBM said it couldn't do. You know
> the type.
> Most of us probably are one anyway.
>
> Those people should probably just go out on the net and find the various
> pieces
> of the GNU-Linux OS and download them to their old 486's with 8 MB of ram
> and a couple of 500MB Scuzzie drives. After they have them all loaded up
> on a
> Linux folder on one of the drives (about 1400 files to make sure you have
> all the
> programmers tools and libraries that you might ever need) they can start
> setting up
> the various partitions on the other drive and begin reading the man(ual)
> pages to
> find out what order to begin the Linux install. Of course most of the old
> DOS
> people can HACK just about anything and enjoy the feeling you get when you
> stop
> beating your head up against a brick wall.
>
> Hope you all have fun with your DOS/Linux computers.
>
> BOB "DOMAN" MOSS
>
> By the way, I almost forgot, but I have three 60 MB IBM SCUZZY drives and
> I
> need to figure out what resistor packs to pull off when I install them.
> They have
> three and there are also three on the controller card. These are old 50
> pin drives
> I got at a Computer Show and there is no documentation. I was figuring
> that I
> should just pull all of them except those on the controller. I also have
> to figure
> out how to set the four position dip switch for the drive numbers.
>
> Now if I can just figure out why my new/old K6BV3+/66 M/B won't recognize
>
> the keyboard, I can get on with my DOS world.
>
> ENJOY and remember to eat chocolate every day.
>
>
> On Thu, 30 May 2002 08:19:17 -0500 /dev/rob0 < i812 AT softhome DOT net
> <mailto:i812 AT softhome DOT net>> writes:
> > On Thu, May 30, 2002 at 07:01:46PM +1000, da Silva, Joe wrote:
> > > Loadlin.exe sounds like a great idea - I'll certainly look into
> > this option.
> >
> > I've never understood why it gets so little attention, even among
> > former
> > DOS users. I did eventually switch to LILO myself, but only because
> > I
> > wanted one esoteric LILO feature. Most users wouldn't care about
> > that
> > feature, and they could happily use DOS to manage their booting.
> >
> > > It will be nice not to lose the safety provided by good ol' DDO
> > (sure, it
> > > uses up a wee bit of conventional memory but, as I commented on
> >
> > Hmmm, if it's a DOS TSR, loadlin will eliminate it. I'm not sure
> > about
> > how it will work.
>
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