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Why no MS-DOS?

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:48 am
by as702
The MS-DOS version of NwDsk is nowhere to be found on UBCD 5BETA. Was it removed for any particular reason?

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:51 am
by Icecube
MS-DOS is not free. It can't be distributed legally.

Therefore, Partition Magic lets you create 2 floppy disks. The first disk contains MS-DOS (which is included in the Windows operation system), while the second disk contains Parted Magic itself.

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 6:55 am
by as702
Interesting. I suppose Victor should remove MHDD46 and MHDD45 from the distribution if that is the case.

Thanks.

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:01 am
by Icecube
Doesn't it work with freedos instead of MS-DOS?
Platform:

· Intel Pentium or higher CPU
· 4 megabytes of RAM
· DR-DOS, MSDOS version 6.22 and higher
· Any boot device (USB, CDROM, FDD, HDD)
· A keyboard
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Har ... MHDD.shtml

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:01 am
by as702
Icecube wrote:Doesn't it work with freedos instead of MS-DOS?
It does, yes.

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:03 am
by as702
I've adjusted the image...

MHDD46 (w/FreeDOS)

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:47 am
by Victor Chew
@as702:
The MS-DOS version of NwDsk is nowhere to be found on UBCD 5BETA. Was it removed for any particular reason?
If I didn't remember wrongly, the MS-DOS version of NwDsk was never included with UBCD, but can be downloaded from Erwin's website. You guess it, it was due to possible licensing issues.

However, exceptions are made for apps that come packaged with their own boot disk eg. most of the HDD tools etc. Since these are freeware from companies, I am assuming they already have the proper licenses eg. for MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS etc.

I think I explained to as702 once why I prefer not to extract the EXE files from eg. IBM's DFT and run it under FreeDOS. The thought runs along the same line. I'd rather include the disk image verbatim within UBCD, even if it occupies more space and is less convenient in launching.

Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:14 am
by as702
Victor Chew wrote:If I didn't remember wrongly, the MS-DOS version of NwDsk was never included with UBCD, but can be downloaded from Erwin's website. You guess it, it was due to possible licensing issues.
In all probability, you're most likely correct (I'm not sure why I assumed it was in UBCD 4).
Victor Chew wrote:However, exceptions are made for apps that come packaged with their own boot disk eg. most of the HDD tools etc. Since these are freeware from companies, I am assuming they already have the proper licenses eg. for MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR-DOS etc.

I think I explained to as702 once why I prefer not to extract the EXE files from eg. IBM's DFT and run it under FreeDOS. The thought runs along the same line. I'd rather include the disk image verbatim within UBCD, even if it occupies more space and is less convenient in launching.
In principle, I agree. In this particular instance, both Icecube and I are unsure as to whether the author of MHDD is in possession of such a license by virtue of the fact that the software provided is freeware (hence why I knocked out the FreeDOS version). I have yet to contact the author so I cannot be sure.

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:57 am
by coin
If I didn't remember wrongly, the MS-DOS version of NwDsk was never included with UBCD, but can be downloaded from Erwin's website. You guess it, it was due to possible licensing issues.
Seems that there are a number of MS boot disk images/ISO's over at http://www.allbootdisks.com
One IMMENSELY useful boot disk image is the Dos6.22.img file at http://www.allbootdisks.com/downloads/D ... os6.22.img

Threw this into a selfmade 'fat16' directory for a revised UBCD411x remastering as follows:
1. fat16 structure as
/fat16
./dos622/
..........Dos6.22.img
..........(the full gamut of MS-DOS 6.22 install files beyond those on the image)
./utils/
.........sbminst.exe
.........sbtmgr.txt
.........cwsdpmi.exe
(these above three used for creating the Smart Boot Manager floppy-disk in native DOS for booting UBCD on much older PCs having older ATAx/IDE mboard controllers.....already deleted smrtboot section of /menus/filesys21.cfg)
.........pkz204g.exe and various other fat16 .EXE utilities
./windsk1/
./windsk2/
./windsk3/
./windsk4/
./windsk5/
./windsk6/
./windsk7/
windsk1 thru windsk7 contain the full diskette-set (non-images) of the old MS-Windows 3.1.
Had need of these on some old systems for Windows 9x Upgrade versions (Windows 95Up, Windows 98Up, WindowsME, ... etc)

2. Made the necessary adjustments to the UBCD /menu/bootdsk1.cfg entries at the end of the file:

Code: Select all

LABEL msdos622
        MENU LABEL MS-DOS 6.22 Boot Disk
	KERNEL memdisk
        APPEND initrd=/fat16/dos622/dos622.img
3. Remastered the UBCD, burned to CD-R, and end-result was that this set of MS-DOS and fat16 software works great!

Highly recommended!! :D

Multi-Disk Images Boot?

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:36 pm
by coin
Thanks to Icecube's (and others') pointers :) I can successfully create and use .igz files for booting in UBCD411..... thank you :!:

A lingering question from this last post is using multi-image bootdisks as either a set of .img files or else one .igz :?:

Edited my c:\ubcd-extract file for remastering using a directory structure of
\boot
\custom
...
\menus
  • bootdsk1.cfg
    bootdsk2.cfg
    bootdsk.cfg
    defaults.cfg
    ...
...
\oldms
  • wnt4d1.img
    wnt4d2.img
    wnt4d3.img
...
**** Note that the previous \fat16 was changed to \oldms for this modification and remastering. Should make some sense for all this! :)

My current c:\ubcd-extract\menus ..\bootdsk.cfg and ..\bootdsk2.cfg contents are
..\bootdsk.cfg

Code: Select all

MENU INCLUDE /menus/defaults.cfg
LABEL back
	MENU LABEL ..Go back to previous menu
	KERNEL menu.c32
	APPEND /menus/main.cfg
LABEL bootdsk1
	MENU LABEL Freeware and Open Source Software Boot Disks
	KERNEL menu.c32
	APPEND /menus/bootdsk1.cfg
LABEL bootdsk2
	MENU LABEL Non-Free Boot Disks
	KERNEL menu.c32
	APPEND /menus/bootdsk2.cfg
..\bootdsk2.cfg

Code: Select all

MENU INCLUDE /menus/defaults.cfg
LABEL back
     MENU LABEL ..Go back to previous menu
     KERNEL menu.c32
     APPEND /menus/bootdsk.cfg
LABEL msdos622
     MENU LABEL MS-DOS 6.22 Boot Disk
     KERNEL memdisk
     APPEND initrd=/oldms/dos622.igz
So how would I use the above setup to try booting up using the set of wnt4d# images?

Will a bootable multi-disk OS like this automatically read the second image or does a prompt for disk#2 appear?
If a prompt does appear requesting to insert the second floppy disk, would I simply be able to type in something like 'a:\wnt4d2' or maybe 'a:\oldms\wnt4d2' :?:
If the former capability exists of automatically reading multiple boot images, then could I create a zipped 'wnt4d.igz file as written in the section 'Question: How do I edit files with the .igz extension? How do I create my own .igz files?' at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/faq.html :?:
If this is possible, then of course I'd have to edit the c:\ubsd-extract/menu\bootdsk2.cfg file to something like

Code: Select all

LABEL msdos622
     MENU LABEL MS-DOS 6.22 Boot Disk
     KERNEL memdisk
     APPEND initrd=/oldms/dos622.igz
LABEL wnt4
     MENU LABEL MS-Windows NT 4.0 WS Boot Disks

     KERNEL memdisk
     APPEND initrd=/oldms/wnt4d.igz
Thanks much again for a reply here :)