[mu PROGRESS] muLinux on machines with 2M?

From: Michele Andreoli (m.andreoli@tin.it)
Date: Sun Oct 29 2000 - 16:51:29 CET


Hi folks,

I restructured a little the DOSTOOLS.zip archive to manage installation
from DOS in lowmem machines. Other archives are absolutely unchanged,
i.e. you have to download only DOSTOOLS.zip.

Descriptions
-------------------

I simply added some new .bat scripts and two news DOS command

                fdformat.exe and rawrite2.exe

patched by Miguel Angel, to deal with 1722k disk format.
Now the stage of unpack the mulinux-version.tgz is demanded to a new
script: unpack.bat, so other scripts do not try to do the same,
with error.

So the "first stage" for a DOS installer is:

                c:> pkunzip DOSTOOLS.zip
                c:> unpack

The unpack command extract the ROOT.gz and the main archive.

A this point, it has three different methods:

1) boot.bat ( machines with no floppy drive at all)
2) makefi.bat (formerly makefd.bat): suggested for NT
3) maker.bat and lowmem.bat (make root): for lowmem machines

1) and 2) are identical to previous versions.
The really new scripts are "maker.bat" and "lowmem.bat".

The maker.bat (make root) does that:

        1) superformat a floppy disk to 1722k
        2) uncompress with gzip.exe the ROOT.gz
        3) raw-write it to the floppy.

We have now the ROOT floppy disk: this is muLinux in a floppy 1722k,
but in plain form, i.e. not compressed (it took about 1.6M).

If the user a this point will run "lowme.bat", loadlin will start
Linux and, after boot, the kernel will asks:

                "Please insert the ROOT floppy"

The user insert the previously made ROOT disk and the kernel will
mount the floppy as own root filesystem, using 0 RAM for the
filesystem itself.

Please, when the Dos-Installer blue screen appair, use "UMSDOS direct
installation", because "Floppy Installation" cannot work now: the
floppy disk is blocked-in as root filesystem! Do not extract the floppy!

Call for 386/4M beta-testers
-----------------------------

Please, download the new DOSTOOLS.zip and test for me if the
pair "maker.bat" and "lowmem.bat" works fine or not.

Michele

-- 
"I'd like to conclude with a positive statement, but I can't remember any.
Would two negative ones do?"			-- Woody Allen
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