Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004, Theo Perry wrote:

> I succeeded in booting BL3 from Freedos after a quite a lot of trial and
> error. <snip>

Sounds like maybe you were having a different sort of problem.  I've had
no trouble *booting* BL3 from Freedos, just with getting startx to
complete its loading and successully display the gui.

Here are the startup files for the menuing system that finally worked for
me to get startx executing properly.  Selecting "1" in the menu bypasses
the troublesome memory management stuff and allows "startx" to complete
successfully once booted to BL3.  I'll leave those inclined to use Freedos
(it is much more responsive in general on this old laptop than was M$DOS,
btw) to puzzle out the details by looking through Freedos documentation
and consulting help at the Freedos website (there is a menuing item
somewhere in the FAQ).  This refers to the Freedos 9 beta current as of
Jan. 2004, btw.  Text of Freedos startup files follows:

---------------START AUTOEXEC.BAT--------------------------------
@echo off
if '%config%'=='1' goto baslin3
if '%config%'=='2' goto Freedos
if '%config%'=='3' goto Freedos
goto end

:baslin3
cd \
cd baslin
echo Loading BL3
call boot.bat
echo Loading Linux failed! Check boot.bat contents
goto end

:Freedos
cls
set dircmd=/p/ogn
set dosdir=C:\FDOS
set path=C:\;C:\FDOS;C:\FDOS\bin;C:\DC;
IF EXIST C:\FDOS\bin\mouse.exe C:\FDOS\bin\mouse.exe
IF EXIST FDCD0001 C:\FDOS\bin\Shsucdx /D:FDCD0001
set lang=EN
set key=None
echo BootFiles: c:\config.sys, c:\autoexec.bat, C:\FDOS\BIN\command.com
echo type HELP to get support on commands and navigation
echo.
echo Welcome to FreeDOS
echo.
goto end

:end
------------------END AUTOEXEC.BAT-------------------------------

----------------BEGIN CONFIG.SYS------------------------------
;for help on commands, please see C:\FDOS\config.sys
!LASTDRIVE=Z
!BUFFERS=20
!FILES=40
MENU 1 - Load BL3
MENU 2 - Load FreeDOS and XMS-memory driver
MENU 3 - Load FreeDOS without drivers
MENUDEFAULT=1,10
1?SHELL=C:\FDOS\BIN\COMMAND.COM /P
2?DEVICE=C:\FDOS\BIN\FDXMS.SYS
2?DOS=HIGH
;1?DEVICE=C:\FDOS\bin\atapicdd.sys /D:FDCD0001
2?SHELL=C:\FDOS\BIN\CMDXSWP.COM /P=c:\autoexec.bat
3?SHELL=C:\FDOS\BIN\command.com /P=c:\autoexec.bat
---------------END CONFIG.SYS-----------------------------

James

PS In case you're wondering, no booting menu item 3 (Freedos without
drivers) did *not* result in a BL3 boot where I could successfully issue
startx.  Seemed like it should, and of course that's the first thing I
tried.  But startx would not complete and show the gui when booting BL3
after using this menu item.  Number 1, which I created myself, does allow
startx to complete successfully once booted into BL3 though.