Loading ReactOS from Floopy

[Lucio Diaz]

I am working in a Howto for installing ReactOS, so i
tried the diferent ways for instalating it, but in
recent builds there was no option to install the
Freeloader in a diskete (XP machine here) in the Real
Hardware instalation.

I tried downloading the binaries and copying them to
C:\ReactOS  , download the Freeloader image and
RAWwrite it in a diskete, but i could not get the
configuration screen (it worked for me, but maybe not
for others without configuration options)

Is there any way i could install the Freeloader image
and still have a "normal" configuration phase of
ReactOS.? This will help convince people to install
reactOS, not having to touch the Boot sector for a
ReactOS insatllation regardless the OS you have
installed would be great. I imagine something like
this:
--------------------------------------
1) Download the ReactOS binaries (8 Megs) from
sourceforge

2) Use Winzip to extract them to C:\ that way a Folder
called C:\ReactOS will be created with all the reactos
files(It must be a FAT32 partition).

3) Download the Program Rawwrite for windows and
extract it to any folder you wish.

4) Download the Freeloader Floopy Disk image and
extract it to any folder you wish.

5) Insert a new formated Floopy Disk and Execute
Rawwrite:

6) Select the image file from the folder you extracted
the Freeloader:

7) Press write, and wait till the program ends writing
the image to the Floopy.

8) Restart the computer booting from the Floopy Disk:
----------------------------------------

This is the option i would like as user. Copy the
program to a folder, and the use a Diskete to load it.
Usefull both in 95/98/NT/XP and Linux, with minimal
risks for people who fears burning their HD.


But the question, Can this be done?. I have downloaded
the source code but i am lost. Can someone help me
with this?


Thanks in advance,
Lucio Diaz.


	
	
		
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[Devin Smith]

Hi Lucio,

You actually don't need RAWRITE at all. Inside the freeldr directory is an
install directory. The program in here will install freeloader onto a
floppy. This is how I did it and how I boot ReactOS on my machine. I think
all you need to do is something like: "install a:fat" and it will be
installed.

Thanks,

Devin Smith

On Wed, 17 Nov 2004, Lucio Diaz wrote:

>   I am working in a Howto for installing ReactOS, so i
>  tried the diferent ways for instalating it, but in
>  recent builds there was no option to install the
>  Freeloader in a diskete (XP machine here) in the Real
>  Hardware instalation.
>
>  I tried downloading the binaries and copying them to
>  C:\ReactOS  , download the Freeloader image and
>  RAWwrite it in a diskete, but i could not get the
>  configuration screen (it worked for me, but maybe not
>  for others without configuration options)
>
>  Is there any way i could install the Freeloader image
>  and still have a "normal" configuration phase of
>  ReactOS.? This will help convince people to install
>  reactOS, not having to touch the Boot sector for a
>  ReactOS insatllation regardless the OS you have
>  installed would be great. I imagine something like
>  this:
>  --------------------------------------
>  1) Download the ReactOS binaries (8 Megs) from
>  sourceforge
>
>  2) Use Winzip to extract them to C:\ that way a Folder
>  called C:\ReactOS will be created with all the reactos
>  files(It must be a FAT32 partition).
>
>  3) Download the Program Rawwrite for windows and
>  extract it to any folder you wish.
>
>  4) Download the Freeloader Floopy Disk image and
>  extract it to any folder you wish.
>
>  5) Insert a new formated Floopy Disk and Execute
>  Rawwrite:
>
>  6) Select the image file from the folder you extracted
>  the Freeloader:
>
>  7) Press write, and wait till the program ends writing
>  the image to the Floopy.
>
>  8) Restart the computer booting from the Floopy Disk:
>  ----------------------------------------
>
>  This is the option i would like as user. Copy the
>  program to a folder, and the use a Diskete to load it.
>  Usefull both in 95/98/NT/XP and Linux, with minimal
>  risks for people who fears burning their HD.
>
>
>  But the question, Can this be done?. I have downloaded
>  the source code but i am lost. Can someone help me
>  with this?
>
>
>  Thanks in advance,
>  Lucio Diaz.
>
>
>
>
>
>  ______________________________________________
>  Renovamos el Correo Yahoo!: ¡100 MB GRATIS!
>  Nuevos servicios, más seguridad
>  http://correo.yahoo.es
>  _______________________________________________
>  Ros-dev mailing list
>  Ros-dev(a)reactos.com
>  http://reactos.com:8080/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev
>

[Bernd Blaauw]

Devin Smith schreef:

>  Hi Lucio,
>
> You actually don't need RAWRITE at all. Inside the freeldr directory is an
> install directory. The program in here will install freeloader onto a
> floppy. This is how I did it and how I boot ReactOS on my machine. I think
> all you need to do is something like: "install a:fat" and it will be
> installed.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Devin Smith
>   
>  
IIRC, ReactOS installer still has no option to install to BOTH the 
harddisk bootsector and the floppy disk.
Some kind of boot-time rescue disk..
Is FreeLDR using a protected-mode call to read freeldr.ini?
I remember using the FreeLDR floppy image with Memdisk (a Syslinux 
component, see http://syslinux.zytor.com )
Memdisk is perfect for loading a floppy, and FreeLDR booted, but could 
not read freeldr.ini as it was not on fd0,
but on a virtual diskette (image) on ramdisk.

Bernd

[Ge van Geldorp]

>   From: Bernd Blaauw
>
>  Is FreeLDR using a protected-mode call to read freeldr.ini?
>  I remember using the FreeLDR floppy image with Memdisk (a Syslinux 
>  component, see http://syslinux.zytor.com )
>  Memdisk is perfect for loading a floppy, and FreeLDR booted, 
>  but could 
>  not read freeldr.ini as it was not on fd0,
>  but on a virtual diskette (image) on ramdisk. 
Just about the first thing that FreeLdr does is switch to protected mode. To
read from disk(ette) it temporarily drops down to real mode and issues an
int 0x13.

Gé van Geldorp.

[Bernd Blaauw]

Ge van Geldorp schreef:

>  Just about the first thing that FreeLdr does is switch
> to protected mode. To
> read from disk(ette) it temporarily drops down to real mode and issues an
> int 0x13.
>   
>  
Is it possible to let it first read in freeldr.ini before switching to 
protected mode and doing everything else?

Bernd

[Ge van Geldorp]

>   From: Bernd Blaauw
>  
>  Ge van Geldorp schreef:
>  
> >  Just about the first thing that FreeLdr does is
> > switch to protected 
> > mode. To read from disk(ette) it temporarily drops down to real mode 
> > and issues an int 0x13. 
>  Is it possible to let it first read in freeldr.ini before 
>  switching to protected mode and doing everything else? 
Anything is possible if you have the source I guess.... It would be a rather
big change since the current filesystem code uses the memory manager. And
then there's the new Xbox code which is entered in protected mode (no real
mode there at all).

Gé van Geldorp.

[Bernd Blaauw]

Ge van Geldorp schreef:

>  Anything is possible if you have the source I guess....
> It would be a rather
> big change since the current filesystem code uses the memory manager. And
> then there's the new Xbox code which is entered in protected mode (no real
> mode there at all).
>   
>  
Sorry, I'm limited to DOS batchfile writing and a tiny bit of Java I 
learned at school..which proved I'm not cut out for being a programmer.
It was just a question, and perhaps a feature request.

Bernd

"Devin Smith" <dsmith(a)pe.net> wrote:

>   You actually don't need RAWRITE at all. Inside the
> freeldr directory is an
>  install directory. The program in here will install freeloader onto a
>  floppy. This is how I did it and how I boot ReactOS on my machine. I think
>  all you need to do is something like: "install a:fat" and it will be
>  installed. 
This install tool works only on Windows NT/2k/XP. You need rawrite to build
a boot floppy on Windows 9x/ME.


Regards,
Eric