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Re: Building a multiboot system!

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On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 00:59:57 -0000, dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com>  
wrote:

> "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> wrote in
> news:op.w8d19jz0o4et73@dell3100:
>
>> On Fri, 20 Dec 2013 07:16:43 -0000, Rod Pemberton wrote:
>>
>>> Some OSes won't boot if the boot code isn't in the lower tracks of
>>> the disk. IIRC, DOS is one of those.
>>
>> yes, IO.SYS needs to be in the 1st 2G. I think DOS requires a C drive,
>> but I may be wrong. (It doesn't have to be the 1st partition, but its
>> probably best that way)
>>
>
> Stanley's right.  DOS doesn't need to be the first partition, but because
> it uses CHS addressing there are restrictions on where it can be placed
> on the disk, so it's best to keep it close to the front.
>
> Remember, there is no such thing as a "C" drive until some OS boots.
> When DOS boots it by design will designate "C" to be the active partition
> on the first hard disk.  So DOS doesn't have to be the first partition on
> the disk, it just needs to be the active one.  That's one of the jobs of
> boot managers--they change, on the fly, which partition is active in the
> partition table.
>
> Regardless of whether it's first or not, if you have multiple primary FAT
> partitions you need to be careful.  There was a bug in DOS that could
> cause data corruption if multiple primary partitions were visible on the
> same disk.  It wasn't a problem if other partitions were logical (i.e.,
> non-primary), weren't visible (i.e., not FAT), or were on secondary hard
> disks, it was only if they were primaries and on the same disk.
>
> If you don't need direct access to hardware ports on the computer,
> another alternative to multibooting is virtualization (VirtualPC,
> VirtualBox, VMWare, et al).

You'll need sufficient RAM (>2G, IMO) for this to be feasible.

  My multiboot system has one DOS partition
> for DOS tasks that do need direct hardware access, but the rest of my DOS
> "systems" are virtual machines.  FWIW, I also run Win98 and Win2000 in
> VMs.  It wouldn't be possible to multiboot them because my hardware is
> too modern to have 98/2000 drivers, but VMs typically emulate older
> hardware so they work fine there.  (See www.goodells.net/virtualpc for
> more.)
>
> Dan
>


-- 
It's a money /life balance.

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Thread

Building a multiboot system! Patrick Rockwell <prockwell@thegrid.net> - 2013-12-18 20:25 -0800
  Re: Building a multiboot system! JJ <duh@nah.meh> - 2013-12-19 13:01 +0700
    Re: Building a multiboot system! Patrick Rockwell <prockwell@thegrid.net> - 2013-12-19 17:37 -0800
      Re: Building a multiboot system! "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnohavenotit.cnm> - 2013-12-20 02:16 -0500
        Re: Building a multiboot system! "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2013-12-20 11:30 +0000
          Re: Building a multiboot system! dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> - 2013-12-21 00:59 +0000
            Re: Building a multiboot system! "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2013-12-21 12:18 +0000
              Re: Building a multiboot system! "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2013-12-21 15:11 +0000
              Re: Building a multiboot system! "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnohavenotit.cnm> - 2013-12-21 17:35 -0500
                Re: Building a multiboot system! "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2013-12-21 23:33 +0000
            Re: Building a multiboot system! "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2013-12-21 14:47 +0000
        Re: Building a multiboot system! Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2013-12-22 15:31 -0500
  Re: Building a multiboot system! dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> - 2013-12-19 11:29 +0000
    Re: Building a multiboot system! Harry Potter <rose.joseph12@yahoo.com> - 2013-12-19 08:10 -0800
      Re: Building a multiboot system! Patrick Rockwell <prockwell@thegrid.net> - 2013-12-19 13:37 -0800
      Re: Building a multiboot system! dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> - 2013-12-20 06:22 +0000
        Re: Building a multiboot system! "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnohavenotit.cnm> - 2013-12-20 02:16 -0500
          Re: Building a multiboot system! "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2013-12-20 11:15 +0000
          Re: Building a multiboot system! dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> - 2013-12-21 00:56 +0000
            Re: Building a multiboot system! "Rod Pemberton" <dont_use_email@xnohavenotit.cnm> - 2013-12-21 01:51 -0500
              Re: Building a multiboot system! dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> - 2013-12-21 08:54 +0000
                Re: Building a multiboot system! "James Harris" <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2013-12-21 12:26 +0000
              Re: Building a multiboot system! Steph <pas.de.mail@serveur.invalid> - 2013-12-21 15:11 +0000
    Re: Building a multiboot system! Patrick Rockwell <prockwell@thegrid.net> - 2014-02-07 14:15 -0800
      Re: Building a multiboot system! dg1261 <dgREMOVE-THIS1261@cs.com> - 2014-02-08 09:41 +0000
  Re: Building a multiboot system! miepbart@gmail.com - 2014-08-17 00:02 -0700

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