INSTALL MINI-HOWTO Jim Hall version 4.0.1 updated Apr 9 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. WHAT TO GET: The Beta4 distribution is being made available in two "flavors": The MINI distribution contains all the software you need to reproduce the functionality of MS-DOS. If you want to install the MINI distribution, you need to download these files: RAWRITE.EXE MINI.BIN BASE1.ZIP The FULL distribution Contains everything from MINI, plus compilers, editors. (At the time of this writing, the Source disk set was not ready so I did not distribute it. If you would like to obtain the source code for any FreeDOS package, please go to the site listed in the package's LSM file.) If you want to install the FULL distribution, you will need to download these files: RAWRITE.EXE FULL.BIN BASE1.ZIP LANG1.ZIP EDIT1.ZIP UTIL1.ZIP **Note that the Beta4 will release the FULL distribution as it becomes available. This is not how I normally release the distribution, but the Beta4 was already late. If you do not already have a copy of UNZIP, you will need to download that as well. 2. BEFORE YOU INSTALL: 2.1 STEP 1 - THE FLOPPY ZIP FILES (* see the variation, at the end) Once you have downloaded all the files you need, you must do a little "prep" work before you can install FreeDOS. All of those zip files that you grabbed are the "floppy zip files". They contain everything that will fit on one install floppy. So, start with the BASE1.ZIP file. Format a 1.44MB floppy, then unzip the BASE1.ZIP file to that floppy. This is what you do, let's assume that you downloaded the floppy zip files into C:\DNLOADS: A: UNZIP C:\DNLOADS\BASE1.ZIP Now everything that you need on the Base.1 install floppy is on that floppy disk. If you are installing the MINI distribution, then you are done with the install floppy zip files. If you are installing the FULL distribution, then you need to repeat the above steps for the other zip files that you downloaded. 2.2 STEP 2 - THE BOOT FLOPPY IMAGE The Beta4 distribution now lets you create an install boot floppy so you can boot from in order to install FreeDOS. The boot floppy image needs to be written to a pre-formatted 1.44MB floppy disk. Other boot floppy images for 360k and 720k will soon be made available. We need to use a program called RAWRITE to write these images to a floppy. To create the boot floppy for the MINI distribution: 1. Run RAWRITE - Follow the prompts 2. Tell the program to read from MINI.BIN and to write to A: To create the boot floppy for the FULL distribution: 1. Run RAWRITE - Follow the prompts. 2. Tell the program to read from FULL.BIN and to write to A: Notice that the procedure to create the boot floppy is essentially the same for the MINI and FULL distributions. The only thing that changes is the name of the image file name. **If you are using UNIX, you may instead use the 'dd' program to write the disk images. The standard way to do this is to load a formatted floppy in your drive, then type the following while logged in as 'root': dd if=MINI.BIN of=/dev/fd0 The inquisitive DOS user will notice that the contents of MINI.BIN and FULL.BIN are essentially the same. In future releases of the FreeDOS distribution, I will only require one image file, and there will be an install-time option to install either a MINI or a FULL distribution. 3. TO INSTALL FROM FLOPPY DISK: Now you are ready to install the FreeDOS distribution on your computer. If you have made all your floppies correctly, then you reboot your computer using the boot floppy that you made from either MINI.BIN or FULL.BIN. When your computer boots up (may take a minute or two, depending on the speed of your PC) you will be at a DOS prompt. At this point, you have the opportunity to run FDISK to create a DOS partition IF YOU DON'T ALREADY HAVE ONE. To run FDISK, you just type: FDISK Then follow the on-screen prompts. After you run FDISK, you will need to reboot; just boot off the install floppy again. IF YOU CREATED A NEW PARTITION for FreeDOS, you'll also need to format the partition before you can use it. To do that, just type: FORMAT C: /U You'll need to reboot after the FORMAT command. Don't forget to make the C: drive bootable. To do that, you type: SYS C: After that, just run the install program: INSTALL When the install program asks you where to install from, enter: A: You should probably install to C:\DOS or C:\FDOS - but that's up to you. During the installation, you will need to use the install floppies that you created from the zip disks. One final note: floppy disk access is still a little slow in this release. So, your install may take a lot longer than you might expect. Please budget for some additional time when installing your copy of FreeDOS. 4. TO INSTALL FROM THE HARD DISK I won't spend too much time on this, as I expect most people will opt to install from floppy disk. However, it is possible to install from your hard disk. If you are installing everything, and you already have a copy of DOS on your computer, then this is probably the option you want. Hard disk access under FreeDOS is a lot faster than floppy anyway. The only difference between installing from floppy disk and installing from the hard disk is when you create the install floppies from the different zip files. When you installed from floppy disks, you needed to unzip each floppy zip file onto a separate floppy disk. To install from the hard disk, you just unzip each floppy zip file INTO A SINGLE DIRECTORY ON YOUR HARD DISK. For example, you might do this (let's keep the assumption that you downloaded the install files to C:\DNLOADS): CD \ MKDIR FDBETA4 CD FDBETA4 UNZIP C:\DNLOADS\BASE1.ZIP For the MINI distribution, that's all you need to do. If you want to install the FULL distribution, you will also need to unzip all the other floppy zip files like LANG1.ZIP, EDIT1.ZIP, and UTIL1.ZIP. That's it. When the install program asks you where to install from, say C:\FDBETA4 (you can delete the C:\FDBETA4 directory after you are done installing FreeDOS - this was just a temporary directory.) Congratulations - you have now installed FreeDOS!