chris@peregrine.peregrine.com (Chris Cole) (08/20/89)
Is it possible to install and run both MS-DOS and OS/2 on the same computer? I am trying to use devices (e.g., CD-ROMs and large removable disks) that have drivers for MS-DOS but not for OS/2. Can I do what I do with Xenix, have a non-DOS partition containing OS/2 that I make active with fdisk and reboot? Can I force OS/2 to recognize DOS drivers under the compatibility box? Please respond via email and I will post a summary.
wei@hpctdls.HP.COM (Bill Ives) (08/21/89)
As to using OS/2 and Dos on the same machine... First, the
compatibility box is not a true Dos box but a simulation of
Dos - it has no separate device drivers ( although DDs can
be bi-modal - meaning they can be written for both OS/2 and
the compatibility box ). To get Dos and OS/2 on the same
machine you can use the dual-boot option of OS/2 ( SDK 1.05 )
You might be able to get the multi-partition method to work
using FDISK - but I'm not sure about this as I have not tried
it. Hope this clears up some of your questions....
Bill Ives
HP CTDsharon@asylum.SF.CA.US (Sharon Fisher) (08/22/89)
In article <55045@peregrine.peregrine.com> chris@peregrine.peregrine.com (Chris Cole) writes: >Is it possible to install and run both MS-DOS and OS/2 on the same >computer? I am trying to use devices (e.g., CD-ROMs and large >removable disks) that have drivers for MS-DOS but not for OS/2. >Can I do what I do with Xenix, have a non-DOS partition containing >OS/2 that I make active with fdisk and reboot? Can I force OS/2 to >recognize DOS drivers under the compatibility box? As I recall, some versions of OS/2 allow you to have DOS, and some do not. IBM's doesn't, for example, while some third parties' versions do. -- "Goldfish are quiet, under the water. "Girls who keep goldfish are sometimes quite loud." -- The Jazz Butcher
abcscnge@csuna.csun.edu (Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl) (08/23/89)
Try MultiBoot. It was described/half-reviewed in Byte a few months back (July I think -- it was the issue with the Sun-3/80 and SparcStation 1 on the cover). Scott -- Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl UUCP: ...!sm.unisys.com!csun!csuna.csun.edu!abcscnge -- Beat me, Whip me, make me code in Ada -- Disclaimers? We don't need no stinking disclaimers!!!
alex@mks.UUCP (Alex White) (08/24/89)
In article <3486@asylum.SF.CA.US> sharon@asylum.UUCP (Sharon Fisher) writes: >In article <55045@peregrine.peregrine.com> chris@peregrine.peregrine.com (Chris Cole) writes: >>Is it possible to install and run both MS-DOS and OS/2 on the same >>computer? I am trying to use devices (e.g., CD-ROMs and large >As I recall, some versions of OS/2 allow you to have DOS, and some do >not. IBM's doesn't, for example, while some third parties' versions MS-DOS and OS/2 have no problem in co-existing on the same computer, indeed, the same partitions. If you bought the SDK, then release 1.05 specifically included dual-boot; i.e. it would boot, from the active partition, either dos or os/2. [SDK by the way, stands for software development kit; i.e. you paid microsoft lots of money and they shipped you manuals hot from the press and beta software, and windows, and presentation manager, and lan manager, and C compiler, and assembler, and then shipped it all again, and then again, and then again...] The next release of the SDK was 1.06. It was supposed to be IDENTICAL to the shipped release from IBM of OS/2 1.1. It gave the IBM logo and things; as I recall some things only differed from 1.05 in the copyright notice being IBM or Microsoft. This release did not offer dual-boot. The IBM installation program DELETED the dos system binaries from my hard disk. However, I did run on that system for many months where when I wanted os/2 I booted from disk; when I wanted dos I booted from floppy (just the ibmbio.com, ibmdos.com and config.sys files; my config.sys ran MKS init with the C: as the root drive and picked up init itself from the hard drive). So that release wasn't as easy to use, but both would run. The next release of the SDK was 1.1. This was supposed to be the same as the IBM 1.1, only the microsoft version of it. In other words, it was supposed to run on more hardware versions, and support more drivers, and have Microsoft copyrights. It also supported dual-boot, ie. a screen comes up at the beginning and you can request os2 or dos. [You can select a default, and a timeout, i.e. if nobody types anything for 30 seconds, then boot dos]. Dual boot works by the boot block booting the file dbmon.com which asks the questions. It then renames config.sys, command.com, autoexec.bat such that the currently booting system is named with those names. The alternate system would be renamed config.os2, command.os2 and autoexec.os2 if you were selecting dos, config.dos, command.dos and autoexec.dos if you were selecting os2. It then would boot either ibmbio/ibmdos or os2ldr files depending on the system. This dual-boot by the way worked fine with 1.06, i.e. the IBM version. There was a letter somewhere in the various versions pointing out that dual-boot was provided by microsoft, it was up to the individual OEM vendor whether or not to provide it; IBM had decided not to provide it. Alternatively, I have seen adds for a product called Multi-boot from BOLT systems: 1-301-656-7133, $49.95 I have only seen the adds and know nothing else about it. Alternatively again, I have no idea which at this point, but one of the mags that publishes source code sometime within the last year published code for a dual-boot.
t-davidw@microsoft.UUCP (David Weigant) (08/28/89)
In article <3486@asylum.SF.CA.US> sharon@asylum.UUCP (Sharon Fisher) writes: >In article <55045@peregrine.peregrine.com> chris@peregrine.peregrine.com (Chris Cole) writes: >>Is it possible to install and run both MS-DOS and OS/2 on the same >>computer? > >As I recall, some versions of OS/2 allow you to have DOS, and some do >not. IBM's doesn't, for example, while some third parties' versions >do. I have been running both OS/2 and DOS on the same machine for some time now with no problems. I have used MS version(s) 1.00 1.05 1.10 and IBM version(s) 1.00 1.10, and they all seem to be compatible with DOS. Some versions support dual boot and some do not. As far as I know the latest version of IBM OS/2 supports dual boot, but I don't use it, I find it more convenient to stick a DOS disk in drive A when I want "straight" DOS. As far as I know, all versions of OS/2 support the compatibility box. I have used it with the versions above with no problems. Later releases of OS/2 may or may not support it. <Opinion Mode On> After using OS/2 for a while, I don't think I could go back to DOS. All of the programs that I used under DOS work fine for me in the compatibility box, and with the release of WORD 5.0, I rarely have any desire to run anything under DOS. <Opinion Mode Off> I hope this information helps. All in all, I wouldn't worry about DOS compatibility with OS/2, because at worst case, you can always boot DOS from a floppy. David Weigant :disclaimer: I am organic, therefore I make mistakes.
rommel@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Kai-Uwe Rommel) (09/01/89)
I have written an dualboot (or should I say multiboot ?) program, that allows any AT (or 386) to have DOS, OS/2 and XENIX installed on a single harddisk and to choose at boot time which to run. DOS and OS/2 share a DOS type partition (<=32MB with DOS<=3.30 and OS/2 1.0 and any size with DOS>=3.31 and OS/2 1.1). After installing OS/2 and my dualboot, DOS can be installed as usual with SYS from a floppy as often as needed (that means, you can change your DOS version without reinstalling OS/2). The only disadvantage is, that OS2KRNL, IBMBIO.COM/IO.SYS and COMMAND.COM must be patched to look for CONFIG.OS2 and CONFIG.DOS and the right AUTOEXEC.* at boot time because I hated to rename files before a system is booted. I would distribute the multiboot as shareware for about $10. If there are any interests, let me know. Kai Uwe Rommel