Faster - Smaller Boot Floppy!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by baldyeti

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by garyng

As a side note, what is the implication about licensing/copyright etc. ? Or are there any free DOS available on the net like some left overs from DRI ?

---

You do own a license for those WinME installations, don't you ? :wink:
Create a boot/install floppy from the CD, make some room for
loadlin.exe, invoke it from autoexec.bat, and be done.
Now if you've "lost" the cdrom, there's always http://www.bootdisk.com/.
I do not know whether their freedos/drdos disks have fat32 support,
though...

---

I see said the blind man! Just make a rescue disk for WINME and modify it to include loadlin. Also, since loadlin takes very little space on the diskette, my students don't need a separate data diskette anymore either!

Very nice!

Next year, I'm getting a new lab where every PC will boot from the CD - so no more boot disk. I'll set up one server for my students to log-in to where they can save their work - so no more data disk. However, I may still use this boot floppy method so I don't have to burn so many CDs!

OK, so I tried what you said. I made a WINME Startup Disk (rescue disk) and replaced the contents of autoexec.bat with

c:
cd \knoppix
loadlin vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz screen=1280x1024 BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix

which all fit on one line. I also got rid of all the sections in config.sys except [common] and voila, it booted from hda1 properly.

The only thing I don't like is all the rescue files on the disk. Which of these files can I get rid of? Also, it says WINME Startup Disk on the screen when it boots - can I get rid of that?

Thanx,

OK, this is what I'm going to try to do today:

*** A: Get KNOPPIX BOOT Disks Ready ***
Step A1:(if you have a linux box)
cdrecord knoppix.ISO and dd boot-en.IMG
or
Step A1:(if you DO NOT have a linux box)
burn knoppix.ISO with EasyCD Recorder and copy boot-en.img to a disk with rawrite

Step A2:
Find and download loadlin.exe from the NET to boot disk

*** B: Use above disks to setup any PC (including this one if its NOT a linux box) ***
Step B1:
Boot CD with boot disk, mount hda1, make it rw

Step B2:
mkdir /mnt/hda1/knoppix
cp /mnt/floppy/loadlin.exe /mnt/hda1/knoppix
cp /mnt/floppy/vmliunuz /mnt/hda1/knoppix
cp /mnt/floppy/miniroot.gz /mnt/hda1/knoppix
cp /mnt/cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX /mnt/hda1/knoppix

Step B3:
Use WIN95 to make bootable DOS disk and place autoexec.bat in it with the following lines (note, loadlin line is one line).
c:
cd \knoppix
loadlin vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz screen=1280x1024 BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix

*** C: How to boot PC from now on ***
Step C1:
Reboot without CD but with DOS system disk.

Quote:

---

The only thing I don't like is all the rescue files on the disk. Which of these files can I get rid of? Also, it says WINME Startup Disk on the screen when it boots - can I get rid of that?

---

Unless things have changed a lot for the DOS world, it needs only 3 files to function : IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM. All the rest are not needed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A. Jorge Garcia

The only thing I don't like is all the rescue files on the disk. Which of these files can I get rid of? Also, it says WINME Startup Disk on the screen when it boots - can I get rid of that?

---

FORMAT A: /S /U
That's the command to create a bootfloppy with just io.sys, msdos.sys, command.com, and ... (?)
You can also use the floppy formatter in windows and check "copy system files" checkbox (or something like that).

On my WIN box, format a: /s is no longer supported. So I either format it with system files or I create a rescue disk!

I tried formatting with system files from a WIN95 box and tried booting on a WIN98 machine. This did not work as the c: was not found. I think this is because it was missing io.sys and msdos.sys.

So, I tried formatting with system files from the WIN98 box and everything now works with only the following files on the DOS doot disk:

autoexec.bat
command.com
io.sys
msdos.sys
drvspace.bin

What is drvsapce.bin???

TIA,

drvspace.bin is a handle for reading volumes compressed with Drive Space, a disk compression utility which is found in DOS 5.01 or higher. Stupidly, it is a required file for DOS 7.0 or higher, it was optional with DOS 6.22.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A. Jorge Garcia

On my WIN box, format a: /s is no longer supported. So I either format it with system files or I create a rescue disk!

---

Expected that, since ME "doesn't" include real mode DOS.

Quote:

---

I tried formatting with system files from a WIN95 box and tried booting on a WIN98 machine. This did not work as the c: was not found. I think this is because it was missing io.sys and msdos.sys.

---

Unless it's Win95B or C it won't read FAT32 (wasn't invented yet). So probably that's your problem.

Quote:

---

So, I tried formatting with system files from the WIN98 box and everything now works with only the following files on the DOS doot disk:

autoexec.bat
command.com
io.sys
msdos.sys
drvspace.bin

---

Yup, seems correct to me :-)

Quote:

---

What is drvspace.bin???

---

This is the DriveSpace driver for MS-DOS. DriveSpace is an extended version (bigger disks, long filenames) of DoubleSpace, a disk compression program shamelessly ripped from Stacker by Microsoft somewhere in the mid '80s.

Do you think I can get rid of drvspace.bin, or is it required to boot the DOS disk for some reason?

BTW,
loadlin vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz screen=1280x1024 BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
did not work in both my labs at school (unsupported vert refresh rate?).

However,
loadlin vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
did work in both labs and at home. TADA!

Oh, one more question. vga=791 means what exactly? I'd like to know how to tweek that a bit. I'm sure the 7 sets something and the 9 something else, etc.

Again, many thanx to you all,

you may hit the command line cannot be longer than 128(160?) char limitation in DOS. I forget if that can be fixed by some config.sys setting.

as for vga=791, it is a mode that support 1024x768 at 24 bit(?) color, if memory serve. You may google for that term and it will show up somewhere what you can specify.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A. Jorge Garcia

Do you think I can get rid of drvspace.bin, or is it required to boot the DOS disk for some reason?

BTW,
loadlin vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz screen=1280x1024 BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
did not work in both my labs at school (unsupported vert refresh rate?).

However,
loadlin vmlinuz ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
did work in both labs and at home. TADA!

Oh, one more question. vga=791 means what exactly? I'd like to know how to tweek that a bit. I'm sure the 7 sets something and the 9 something else, etc.

Again, many thanx to you all,

---

Unfortunately, you can't dump the drvspace.bin file if you are using 32 bit DOS. In DOS 6.22 you could, like I said - stupid.

Here is a vga= list:

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
vga = 791

# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769