Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

[Will Styles]

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:11 am, Justin Zygmont wrote:
> ok, i'm going to try with ALSA, some of the games
> that run improperly are:
> jill2,3, kiloblaster1,2,3, and most of my other dos
> games.  What usually happens is each time there is
> a sound effect, the game gets sluggish pausing for
> about 1/2 second, and the musical soundtrack
> doesn't play for any game.  I remember now with
> 1.1.4, this problem existed, but just not
> quite as badly.
>
hmm, i think i know what the problem is but i'd rather
not say what it is yet. could you please try the
following versions:

1.1.4.9 (or <=)
1.1.4.10
1.1.4.13 (or >=)

if you don't have time, please just try 1.1.4.9.
i don't think stas will be happy though.... :-)

-wst

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Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

[Justin Zygmont]

i'll try.  however when I managed to try again with 1.1.4, the problem was 
there, just not quite as bad.  So I don't know if it'll make much 
difference if it was like that all along.


On Mon, 30 Jun 2003, Will Styles wrote:

> On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:11 am, Justin Zygmont wrote:
> > ok, i'm going to try with ALSA, some of the games
> > that run improperly are:
> > jill2,3, kiloblaster1,2,3, and most of my other dos
> > games.  What usually happens is each time there is
> > a sound effect, the game gets sluggish pausing for
> > about 1/2 second, and the musical soundtrack
> > doesn't play for any game.  I remember now with
> > 1.1.4, this problem existed, but just not
> > quite as badly.
> >
> hmm, i think i know what the problem is but i'd rather
> not say what it is yet. could you please try the
> following versions:
> 
> 1.1.4.9 (or <=)
> 1.1.4.10
> 1.1.4.13 (or >=)
> 
> if you don't have time, please just try 1.1.4.9.
> i don't think stas will be happy though.... :-)
> 
> -wst
> 
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
> http://sbc.yahoo.com
> 

Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

[Will Styles]

hello.

--- Justin Zygmont <jzygmont@solarflow.dyndns.org> wrote:
> i'll try.  however when I managed to try again with 1.1.4, the problem was 
> there, just not quite as bad.  
well the patchset number is really critical here...

> So I don't know if it'll make much 
> difference if it was like that all along.
> 
i'm not concerned with persistent problems.
i'm more concerned about this: if the situation gets *drastically* worse from
1.1.4.9 to 1.1.4.10, i know what the problem is. so i am most interested in
these 2 revisions.
btw, out of curiousity, are you running this on pentium 2?

-wst

> 
> On Mon, 30 Jun 2003, Will Styles wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:11 am, Justin Zygmont wrote:
> > > ok, i'm going to try with ALSA, some of the games
> > > that run improperly are:
> > > jill2,3, kiloblaster1,2,3, and most of my other dos
> > > games.  What usually happens is each time there is
> > > a sound effect, the game gets sluggish pausing for
> > > about 1/2 second, and the musical soundtrack
> > > doesn't play for any game.  I remember now with
> > > 1.1.4, this problem existed, but just not
> > > quite as badly.
> > >
> > hmm, i think i know what the problem is but i'd rather
> > not say what it is yet. could you please try the
> > following versions:
> > 
> > 1.1.4.9 (or <=)
> > 1.1.4.10
> > 1.1.4.13 (or >=)
> > 
> > if you don't have time, please just try 1.1.4.9.
> > i don't think stas will be happy though.... :-)
> > 
> 

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Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

[Bart Oldeman]

On Tue, 1 Jul 2003, Will Styles wrote:

> --- Justin Zygmont <jzygmont@solarflow.dyndns.org> wrote:
> > i'll try.  however when I managed to try again with 1.1.4, the problem was 
> > there, just not quite as bad.  
> well the patchset number is really critical here...
> 
> > So I don't know if it'll make much 
> > difference if it was like that all along.
> > 
> i'm not concerned with persistent problems.
> i'm more concerned about this: if the situation gets *drastically* worse from
> 1.1.4.9 to 1.1.4.10, i know what the problem is. so i am most interested in
> these 2 revisions.

hmm what would be the problem in 1.1.4.10? I can see
+       - allow DSP commands in high speed mode (fixed problem with
+         Pinball Dreams 2)

@@ -754,7 +753,7 @@
   case 0x0C:           /* dsp write register */
                if (SB_dsp.dma_mode & HIGH_SPEED_DMA) {
                  S_printf("SB: Commands are not permitted in High-Speed DMA mode!\n");
-                 break;
+                 /* break; */
                }
                sb_dsp_write ( value );
                break;

Does this change make all the difference for you? Funny...

Bart

Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

[Justin Zygmont]

> btw, out of curiousity, are you running this on pentium 2?

umm, no, I know the speed of my PC leaves a lot to be desired, but I don't 
the sound problem i've noticed is related to that.  It's a P-200 128MB

Re: some problems (1.1.5 and 1.1.4)

[Justin Zygmont]

On Mon, 30 Jun 2003, Will Styles wrote:

> On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 07:11 am, Justin Zygmont wrote:
> > ok, i'm going to try with ALSA, some of the games
> > that run improperly are:
> > jill2,3, kiloblaster1,2,3, and most of my other dos
> > games.  What usually happens is each time there is
> > a sound effect, the game gets sluggish pausing for
> > about 1/2 second, and the musical soundtrack
> > doesn't play for any game.  I remember now with
> > 1.1.4, this problem existed, but just not
> > quite as badly.
> >
> hmm, i think i know what the problem is but i'd rather
> not say what it is yet. could you please try the
> following versions:
> 
> 1.1.4.9 (or <=)
> 1.1.4.10
> 1.1.4.13 (or >=)
> 
> if you don't have time, please just try 1.1.4.9.
> i don't think stas will be happy though.... :-)

Sorry for the delay in testing this, I just happened to be pressed for 
time lately.  I just tested 1.1.4.9 and found that there is some 
difference.  This may very well be the version where it got worse, and 
from an earlier message I wonder if DPMI is related to that now.  Some 
games would load that I couldn't get with 1.1.15 and vice versa, raptor for 
instance is DPMI and it wouldn't load in 1.1.4.9, I just got it once with 
sound disabled.  The sluggishness each time a sound effect plays is a bit 
worse with 1.1.15 as opposed to 1.1.4.9, but kilo2 and 3 still don't have any 
sound at all, and any game that does, never plays the musical sound track.  
Also there is a significant different in speed when enabling sound or not 
and it usually sounds distorted and broken up with all dosemu versions.  I 
guess implementing sound isn't easy, I hope this might give some clues, 
i'm suprised that no one else has noticed any problems, I wish I had some 
other computers to test it out on.

(unknown)

[Darryl Perry]

Does anybody have an hdimage file with MSDOS6.x
installed that I can use?  It dosen't matter what size
it is.

I'd make it myself, but I don't have a floppy drive on
my linux box.

-Regards,
Darryl

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Re: your mail

[Ged Haywood]

Hi there,

On Fri, 4 Jul 2003, Darryl Perry wrote:

> Does anybody have an hdimage file with MSDOS6.x
> installed that I can use?

Do be careful.  That sounds like abuse of copyright to me.

> I'd make it myself, but I don't have a floppy drive on my linux box.

Installing a floppy drive is a lot cheaper than defending a lawsuit...

73,
Ged.

Re: your mail

[Jim Hartley]

If he owns a legal copy of the product (he says he'd do it himself if he 
had a floppy drive on the machine), one would have to be nitpicking in 
the extreme to call this a violation. He COULD send his copy to someone 
who would build the hdimage and send it back to him, that would be 
legal, wouldn't it? (IANAL) Getting someone who owns an identical copy 
of the DOS to send him the image without all the bother really doesn't 
sound any worse.

In any case, who is going to bother about suing one individual over a 
copy of **DOS** in this day and age? Most people have forgotten what DOS 
is by now! If he was doing a few thousand copies it might be a problem, 
but I think this one is WAY, WAY under the radar.

Jim Hartley

Ged Haywood wrote:

>Hi there,
>
>On Fri, 4 Jul 2003, Darryl Perry wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Does anybody have an hdimage file with MSDOS6.x
>>installed that I can use?
>>    
>>
>
>Do be careful.  That sounds like abuse of copyright to me.
>
>  
>
>>I'd make it myself, but I don't have a floppy drive on my linux box.
>>    
>>
>
>Installing a floppy drive is a lot cheaper than defending a lawsuit...
>
>73,
>Ged.
>
>-
>To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-msdos" in
>the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
>More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
>  
>

Re: your mail

[Ged Haywood]

Hi there,

On Sat, 5 Jul 2003, Jim Hartley wrote:

> I think this one is WAY, WAY under the radar.

I'd agree if this weren't a public mailing list.

I'm more concerned with the reputation of the list.  If it earns a
reputation as a place for swapping pirate copies of software, that
might not be a Good Thing.

There has to be a way for the guy to get what he wants done without
broadcasting a technical infringement of a copyright owned by a ten
billion dollar potential adversary.

73,
Ged.

Re: your mail

[Jim Hartley]

DOS 7.10? I guess that's one of those "M$-hidden-under-Windoze-DOS" 
versions? It gets confusing, since M$ used 7.x for those, while there is 
also an IBM PC-DOS 7.0 which is a "real" DOS and that's the one I always 
think of when DOS 7 is mentioned. That one is my favorite, I still have 
copies around, especially in the form of quick-boot utility diskettes. I 
guess one reason I like it is because I got it LEGALLY for free - a 
reward for participating in the Beta test. (Then again, those who know 
me know I will go to great lengths to avoid using ANY Micro$quish products.)

Jim Hartley

Lyvim Xaphir wrote:

>I agree with Jim Hartley.  This is pretty much a nonissue.  Dos isn't
>even supported by M$ any more as far as I know, and I've never heard of
>any case where M$ has gone after an individual for such a thing in the
>past anyway.  Their only concern are large scale pirates selling on the
>black market or corporations doing *current* release software on a
>significant basis.  They pretty much leave the individuals alone.
>
>And I don't think anyone will ever mistake this place as a site for
>swapping of illegal software.  This isn't anywhere near that class and
>to suggest that it might be is kind of edging over into the pinhead
>arena.
>
>On another note, if I was going to share a copy of Dos it would be
>version 7.10 because of it's superior memory management and stability. 
>7.10 was partially a response in 98 to gamer's claims of
>incompatibilities in winblows with some of the more sophisticated Dos
>games like Elder Scrolls Arena, Duke Nukem 3d and others.  It was the
>last best version of Dos.
>
>
>On Sat, 2003-07-05 at 10:53, Ged Haywood wrote:
>  
>
>>Hi there,
>>
>>On Sat, 5 Jul 2003, Jim Hartley wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I think this one is WAY, WAY under the radar.
>>>      
>>>
>>I'd agree if this weren't a public mailing list.
>>
>>I'm more concerned with the reputation of the list.  If it earns a
>>reputation as a place for swapping pirate copies of software, that
>>might not be a Good Thing.
>>
>>There has to be a way for the guy to get what he wants done without
>>broadcasting a technical infringement of a copyright owned by a ten
>>billion dollar potential adversary.
>>
>>73,
>>Ged.
>>    
>>
>
>--LX
>
>  
>

Re: your mail

[Jochen Reinwand]

The latest and best MS-DOS is as far as I know the DOS included in Windoze 
98SE. The One from ME is much smaller and misses a lot of tools. Although it 
is really there, no matter what M$ says...

I once installed 98SE and stripped of all Windows parts. After a few very easy 
tricks (e.g. add/change some lines to/in msdos.sys) you have a really good 
MS-DOS. VFAT is really important with today's harddrives...

Perhaps it would be a good idea to build an MS-DOS distribution with that 
version. Don't get it wrong! I'm not talking about illegal copies. It should 
be possible to write scripts that extract the necessary files from a 98SE CD, 
build ZIPs out of them, make a boot cd using the ERD (Emergency Rescue Disk) 
and so on. So everyone owning a legal 98SE copy can make his/her own _legal_ 
MS-DOS distribution with the help of free tools and scripts.
Then it would be nice to provide additional support for free tools and djgpp. 
Everything on one cd and a real cool Unix compatible MS-DOS is ready ;-)

Anybody interested in such an distribution?

Jochen

On Sunday 06 July 2003 06:06, Jim Hartley wrote:
> DOS 7.10? I guess that's one of those "M$-hidden-under-Windoze-DOS"
> versions? It gets confusing, since M$ used 7.x for those, while there is
> also an IBM PC-DOS 7.0 which is a "real" DOS and that's the one I always
> think of when DOS 7 is mentioned. That one is my favorite, I still have
> copies around, especially in the form of quick-boot utility diskettes. I
> guess one reason I like it is because I got it LEGALLY for free - a
> reward for participating in the Beta test. (Then again, those who know
> me know I will go to great lengths to avoid using ANY Micro$quish
> products.)
>
> Jim Hartley

Re: your mail

[Ged Haywood]

Hi theere,

On Sun, 6 Jul 2003, Jochen Reinwand wrote:

> The latest and best MS-DOS is as far as I know the DOS included in Windoze 
> 98SE. The One from ME is much smaller and misses a lot of tools. Although it 
> is really there, no matter what M$ says...

I have an app for my business that's been running under DOS for about
20 years.  I'm (still) working on porting it to Linux because it's
getting close to the point where MSDOS6.22 won't be able to cope with
the size of disc partitions I'm going to need.  I've tried using the
W98 DOS to run this app, but it failed miserably every time and I
don't know why.  I haven't spent much time looking for the reasons but
it looks like the memory management - there are several versions of
EMM386.SYS and HIMEM.SYS with are supplied with the various flavours
of DOS and I haven't worked out what combinations are OK and what not.

Are you saying that the W98 DOS will allow me to use bigger discs?
If so then I'm very interested indeed.  My understanding is that even
with the W98 VFAT you can still only go up to about 8G, is that right?
It would be nice to know - although it's OK for my app, I'll be long
dead before we use that much for our product file... :(

> I once installed 98SE and stripped of all Windows parts. After a few very easy 
> tricks (e.g. add/change some lines to/in msdos.sys)

Tell us more!

> Perhaps it would be a good idea to build an MS-DOS distribution with that 
> version. Don't get it wrong! I'm not talking about illegal copies. [snip]
> 
> Anybody interested in such an distribution?

Very much so.  It could give me a breathing space I think I might need.

73,
Ged.

Re: your mail

[Jochen Reinwand]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 5288 bytes --]

Hi!

> I have an app for my business that's been running under DOS for about
> 20 years.  I'm (still) working on porting it to Linux because it's
> getting close to the point where MSDOS6.22 won't be able to cope with
> the size of disc partitions I'm going to need.  I've tried using the
> W98 DOS to run this app, but it failed miserably every time and I
> don't know why.  I haven't spent much time looking for the reasons but
> it looks like the memory management - there are several versions of
> EMM386.SYS and HIMEM.SYS with are supplied with the various flavours
> of DOS and I haven't worked out what combinations are OK and what not.

There are a few problems, when using a "Windows-DOS" like a normal MS-DOS. The 
first problem is MSDOS.SYS (see below). Another Problem that took me a long 
time to figure out were the new commands in CONFIG.SYS. E.g. you should 
normale use the following setting for "DOS":
DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO

HIGH and UMB are well known, but NOAUTO is VERY important. If it is not 
present, Windows/DOS will load drivers if you don't load them. So if no line 
like
device=C:\MSDOS\himem.sys
is present, himem.sys will be loaded automatically with the parameters Windows 
thinks are good for you!
Another example: A lot of old programs have problems, when emm386.exe is 
loaded. So you comment out the line in config.sys, reboot and... EMM386 is 
once again loaded and your program is still not working. So you should set 
NOAUTO and after disabling EMM386 in CONFIG.SYS it is _really_ disabled.

I found a lot of info about the boot process and other interesting things 
about "Windows-DOS". But a lot of it is in German and only on paper. So the 
information has to be digitized and translated. Or you can search for more 
info on the net. Btw: Has M$ really deleted all DOS info from there web 
pages? I found a lot of interesting stuff there...
Would be useful to include it in a distribution...

> Are you saying that the W98 DOS will allow me to use bigger discs?
> If so then I'm very interested indeed.  My understanding is that even
> with the W98 VFAT you can still only go up to about 8G, is that right?

No. The 8GB limit is a hardware/BIOS problem.
On my system:

# fdisk -l /dev/hde
(...)
/dev/hde7           639      5005  35077896    b  Win95 FAT32
(...)

35GB FAT32 formated and now problems under Windows, Linux or MS-DOS (7.x)!

> > I once installed 98SE and stripped of all Windows parts. After a few very
> > easy tricks (e.g. add/change some lines to/in msdos.sys)
>
> Tell us more!

MSDOS.SYS controls the start of Windows. You can even change it to an extend 
that Windows isn't loaded at all!
I changed for example:

In the [Paths] section:

;WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
;WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinDir=C:\MSDOS
WinBootDir=C:\MSDOS

If it is MS-DOS it should have it's own place ;-)

More important:

[Options]
BootMulti=1    ; Make it possible to start DOS
BootGUI=0      ; Don't start Windows, only MS-DOS. Now you don't need any 
               ; Windows files at all
Logo=0         ; Don't display this silly Windows logo!
AutoScan=1     ; Can't remember what that option is good for...

I attached a text I found about MSDOS.SYS. I don't know where...

> > Perhaps it would be a good idea to build an MS-DOS distribution with that
> > version. Don't get it wrong! I'm not talking about illegal copies. [snip]
> >
> > Anybody interested in such an distribution?
>
> Very much so.  It could give me a breathing space I think I might need.

I started this "project" a long time ago and made a GREAT mistake. I tried to 
build up a C:\MSDOS directory containing everything I found useful for a DOS 
distribution. Now I don't know where all these files came from. So it will 
get hard to figure it out again.
Another problem is that I have a German version of Windows. Even filenames 
differ between the different international version. I doubt that you will 
find files like allgem.txt and antwort.txt in an English version of 
Windows...

Nevertheless it would be possible to make this distribution. But there are a 
lot of things that have to be figured out. A basic problem: Do we use a 
Windows/DOS or a Linux/Unix system for extracting the files from Windows and 
for building the new system.
The following functions need further inspection:

What boot system to use? Booting from a Windows CD is possible, but building a 
new bootable CD is better. The ERD could be used.
If we only have Linux how can we build this ERD. The necessary file are 
installed with Windows in the directory EBD and should be somewhere in the 
CAB files on the Windows CD. Copy them to disk is easy, but how to do a "sys 
a:" from within Linux?
Or is it possible to extract the boot image from the Windows CD?

Can we access CAB files from within Linux at all? I have not searched for a 
tool by now...

The greatest problem: If you make a build system running under DOS or DOS 
compatible Windows: You can only use it, if you already have a DOS compatible 
system! Normally someone wants such a distribution builder, if he/she only 
has a Unix or DOS incompatible Windows system.
And don't forget: Linux is much more powerful in doing scripting tasks ;-)

Comments welcome. Especially if someone has an idea how all this could be done 
really easy...

Jochen

[-- Attachment #2: msdossys.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 5437 bytes --]

MSDOS.SYS: Special Startup Values

Windows 95 Setup creates a hidden, read-only system file named MSDOS.SYS in
the root of the computer's boot drive. This file contains important paths used
to locate other Windows files, including the Registry. MSDOS.SYS also supports
an [Options] section, which you can add to tailor the startup process.

The following example shows a typical file with default values:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Options]
BootGUI=1

[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most values in the [Options] section are Boolean  that is, the value can be 1
(enabled) or 0 (disabled). The following table describes entries in MSDOS.SYS,
using the typical default values.



MSDOS.SYS Values


Entry               Description


[Paths] section:

HostWinBootDrv=c    Defines the location of the boot drive root directory.
WinBootDir=         Defines the location of the necessary startup files. The
                    default is the directory specified during Setup;
                    for example, C:\WINDOWS.
WinDir=             Defines the location of the Windows 95 directory as
                    specified during Setup.

[Options] section:

BootDelay=n         Sets the initial startup delay to n seconds. The default
                    is 2. BootKeys=0 disables the delay. The only purpose of
                    the delay is to give the user sufficient time to press F8
                    after the Starting Windows message appears.
BootFailSafe=       Enables Safe Mode for system startup. The default is 0.
                    (This setting is enabled typically by equipment
                    manufacturers for installation.)
BootGUI=            Enables automatic graphical startup into Windows 95. The
                    default is 1.
BootKeys=           Enables the startup option keys (that is, F5, F6, and F8).
                    The default is 1. Setting this value to 0 overrides the
                    value of BootDelay=n and prevents any startup keys from
                    functioning. This setting allows system administrators to
                    configure more secure systems. (These startup keys are
                    described in Chapter 35, "General Troubleshooting.")
BootMenu=           Enables automatic display of the Windows 95 Startup menu,
                    so that the user must press F8 to see the menu. The
                    default is 0. Setting this value to 1 eliminates the need
                    to press F8 to see the menu.
BootMenuDefault=#   Sets the default menu item on the Windows Startup menu;
                    the default is 3 for a computer with no networking
                    components, and 4 for a networked computer.
BootMenuDelay=#     Sets the number of seconds to display the Windows Startup
                    menu before running the default menu item. The default is
                    30.
BootMulti=          Enables dual-boot capabilities. The default is 0. Setting
                    this value to 1 enables the ability to start MS-DOS by
                    pressing F4 or by pressing F8 to use the Windows Startup
                    menu.
BootWarn=           Enables the Safe Mode startup warning. The default is 1.
BootWin=            Enables Windows 95 as the default operating system.
                    Setting this value to 0 disables Windows 95 as the
                    default; this is useful only with MS-DOS version 5 or 6.x
                    on the computer. The default is 1.
DblSpace=           Enables automatic loading of DBLSPACE.BIN.
                    The default is 1.
DoubleBuffer=       Enables loading of a double-buffering driver for a SCSI
                    controller. The default is 0. Setting this value to 1
                    enables double-buffering, if required by the SCSI
                    controller.
DrvSpace=           Enables automatic loading of DRVSPACE.BIN.
                    The default is 1.
LoadTop=            Enables loading of COMMAND.COM or DRVSPACE.BIN at the top
                    of 640K memory. The default is 1. Set this value to 0 with
                    Novell® NetWare® or any software that makes assumptions
                    about what is used in specific memory areas.
Logo=               Enables display of the animated logo. The default is 1.
                    Setting this value to 0 also avoids hooking a variety of
                    interrupts that can create incompatibilities with certain
                    memory managers from other vendors.
Network=            Enables Safe Mode With Networking as a menu option. The
                    default is 1 for computers with networking installed. This
                    value should be 0 if network software components are not
                    installed.



Tip for Starting an Earlier Version of MS-DOS
If you installed Windows 95 in its own directory, the earlier version of
MS-DOS is preserved on your hard disk. If you set BootMulti=1 in the [Options]
section in the Windows 95 version of MSDOS.SYS, you can start the earlier
version of MS-DOS by pressing F4 when the Starting Windows message appears
during system startup.

Re: your mail

[Eemeli Kantola]

Jochen Reinwand wrote:

> AutoScan=1     ; Can't remember what that option is good for...

If I remember correctly, that is used by Windows only to automatically 
scan disks at startup after a system crash or something. Not needed for 
plain dos.

> Nevertheless it would be possible to make this distribution. But there are a 
> lot of things that have to be figured out. A basic problem: Do we use a 
> Windows/DOS or a Linux/Unix system for extracting the files from Windows and 
> for building the new system.
> The following functions need further inspection:
> 
> What boot system to use? Booting from a Windows CD is possible, but building a 
> new bootable CD is better. The ERD could be used.
> If we only have Linux how can we build this ERD. The necessary file are 
> installed with Windows in the directory EBD and should be somewhere in the 
> CAB files on the Windows CD. Copy them to disk is easy, but how to do a "sys 
> a:" from within Linux?

Well, I booted Dos 7 (from 98se) on my hard drive with Dosemu 1.1.5 as 
root and executed "sys c: a:". And the resulting boot disk works! You 
will need a working Dos installed, though. Or at least a boot floppy.

> Can we access CAB files from within Linux at all? I have not searched for a 
> tool by now...

You can extract cabs with extract.exe (from windir\command, or it can be 
found on the windows install cd, too). Seems to work perfectly with both 
Dosemu and Wine under Linux.


-Eemeli

Re: your mail

[Jochen Reinwand]

> > Nevertheless it would be possible to make this distribution. But there
> > are a lot of things that have to be figured out. A basic problem: Do we
> > use a Windows/DOS or a Linux/Unix system for extracting the files from
> > Windows and for building the new system.
> > The following functions need further inspection:
> >
> > What boot system to use? Booting from a Windows CD is possible, but
> > building a new bootable CD is better. The ERD could be used.
> > If we only have Linux how can we build this ERD. The necessary file are
> > installed with Windows in the directory EBD and should be somewhere in
> > the CAB files on the Windows CD. Copy them to disk is easy, but how to do
> > a "sys a:" from within Linux?
>
> Well, I booted Dos 7 (from 98se) on my hard drive with Dosemu 1.1.5 as
> root and executed "sys c: a:". And the resulting boot disk works! You
> will need a working Dos installed, though. Or at least a boot floppy.

Nice idea! Perhaps it is possible to execute MS-DOS "sys" with some tricks 
without installing a complete 98SE...
It would be nice to have small a Linux prog to do the same, but booting the 
Win98SE cd with dosemu would be a solution if this cannot be done.
Seems to be the only real problem I face in this project......

I believe I found it! On the win98se cd I found in tools/mtsutil/fat32ebd/ the 
MS-DOS tool that does exactly what I want to do without using "sys". Seems 
like image.dsk "formats" and "sys's" a floppy be simply doing a
cat image.dsk > /dev/fd0
I will reboot and test it after sending this mail ;-)

> > Can we access CAB files from within Linux at all? I have not searched for
> > a tool by now...
>
> You can extract cabs with extract.exe (from windir\command, or it can be
> found on the windows install cd, too). Seems to work perfectly with both
> Dosemu and Wine under Linux.

I found a really cool Linux tool called cabextract 
(http://www.kyz.uklinux.net/cabextract.php3). I can extract the complete 
Win98SE CABs from cd! But that's also the problem. I can only extract 
everything. I wrote an e-mail to the author requesting a possibility to 
specify the files to be extracted.

Jochen