rreid@csuchico.edu (Ralph Reid) (10/14/90)
I am currently running MS-DOS 3.3 on a 80386 33 MHz machine. I would like to add something like UNIX or XENIX to a separate partition on the 360MB hard disk. I would like to then be able to boot up on either MS-DOS or UNIX. How do I do it? Is there any software available which might allow this type of operation? Thanks. -- Ralph. SAAC member. ARS: N6BNO Compuserve: 72250.3521@compuserve.com email: rreid@ecst.csuchico.edu
shj@login.dkuug.dk (Stig Jacobsen) (10/16/90)
rreid@csuchico.edu (Ralph Reid) writes: >I am currently running MS-DOS 3.3 on a 80386 33 MHz machine. I would >like to add something like UNIX or XENIX to a separate partition on >the 360MB hard disk. I would like to then be able to boot up on >either MS-DOS or UNIX. How do I do it? Is there any software >available which might allow this type of operation? The software you need is included with MS-Dos :-) After you have installed Unix, you can use FDisk (under either Dos or Unix) to select between the partition to boot from (at the next boot). The best would be if one were asked at boot-time which partition that should be used for this boot, but .. Just one thing to be aware of: Since you are using Dos 3.30 (not 4.0), it is very important that your bootable Dos-partition is entirely contained within the first 65535 sectors (32meg) of the disk - otherwise you won't be able to boot Dos from the harddrive. I just learned the hard way... On a 120mb disk, I installed Unix on the first 90 mb and Dos 3.30 on the last 32 mb. All sorts of problems and I had to repartition the whole drive.. (This is why I have time for reading news - the other machine is busy restoring a backup ATM ;-). Note: All this doesn't apply to Dos 4.0x; it works fine even when not booted from the first 32mb - but my vpix didn't recognize the Dos 4.0 partition - lotsa fun... -- Stig Jacobsen shj@login.dkuug.dk
nvk@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Norman Kohn) (10/16/90)
In article <1990Oct14.095603.5272@ecst.csuchico.edu> rreid@csuchico.edu (Ralph Reid) writes: >I am currently running MS-DOS 3.3 on a 80386 33 MHz machine. I would >like to add something like UNIX or XENIX to a separate partition on >the 360MB hard disk. I would like to then be able to boot up on >either MS-DOS or UNIX. How do I do it? Is there any software >available which might allow this type of operation? Microport had this feature: you could type "dos" when the /unix prompt came up at boot time, and it would boot from a dos partition. This was presumably a feature of the partition-specific boot code in the unix partition, and I suppose that you could disassemble the uport boot code for a hint of how they did it... but, if you're into 386 assembler etc., it shouldn't be too hard to do it. You'd probably have to recognize the "dos" input, look back into the drive's partition table, and load and jump to the appropriate boot sector. A good day's work, I'd say. A good project for the public domain would be a "dummy" fdisk partition, consisting only of boot program, which when "booted" would ask which partition to boot, and then jump to it; after a timeout it could jump to a default partition. This would solve a lot of the "active partition" problems and should be a feasible and portable project. -- Norman Kohn | ...ddsw1!nvk Chicago, Il. | days/ans svc: (312) 650-6840 | eves: (312) 373-0564
tvf@cci632.UUCP (Tom Frauenhofer) (10/17/90)
I'm cross-posting this discussion to comp.os.minix, as they might have just the thing there: In article <1990Oct16.145551.15653@ddsw1.MCS.COM> nvk@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Norman Kohn) writes: >In article <1990Oct14.095603.5272@ecst.csuchico.edu> rreid@csuchico.edu (Ralph Reid) writes: >>the 360MB hard disk. I would like to then be able to boot up on >>either MS-DOS or UNIX. How do I do it? Is there any software > >Microport had this feature: you could type "dos" when the >/unix prompt came up at boot time, and it would boot from a >dos partition. > >A good project for the public domain would be a "dummy" >fdisk partition, consisting only of boot program, which when >"booted" would ask which partition to boot, and then jump to it; >after a timeout it could jump to a default partition. >This would solve a lot of the "active partition" problems >and should be a feasible and portable project. Earl Chew has written a bootstrap package called "Shoelace" that does just this. I build it under Minix and set it up so that it loads from my hard disk. You tell it the default partition you want, it shows you a list of the disk partitions, and you can select one. After 15 seconds it times out and goes to the default. It's pretty neat. It's available from the Minix archives on various machines, I forget which one I got it from. It's a pretty well thought out piece of software. I don't know if it can be built under anything other than Minix, but I wouldn't be surprised. -- Thomas V. Frauenhofer, WA2YYW ccicpg!cci632!tvf@uunet.uu.net tvf1477@ma.cs.rit.edu "Little cockroach on the wall/Don't you have no friends at all? Doesn't anybody love you?/God will love you! (SQUISH!)"
hv@uwasa.fi (Harri Valkama LAKE) (10/17/90)
In article <1990Oct16.145551.15653@ddsw1.MCS.COM> nvk@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Norman Kohn) writes: >In article <1990Oct14.095603.5272@ecst.csuchico.edu> rreid@csuchico.edu (Ralph Reid) writes: >>I am currently running MS-DOS 3.3 on a 80386 33 MHz machine. I would >>like to add something like UNIX or XENIX to a separate partition on >>the 360MB hard disk. I would like to then be able to boot up on >>either MS-DOS or UNIX. How do I do it? Is there any software >>available which might allow this type of operation? > >A good project for the public domain would be a "dummy" >fdisk partition, consisting only of boot program, which when >"booted" would ask which partition to boot, and then jump to it; >after a timeout it could jump to a default partition. >This would solve a lot of the "active partition" problems >and should be a feasible and portable project. It has been done already. Check mfdisk.zoo out. Available from (chyde.)uwasa.fi (128.214.12.3) at pc/source dir. -- == Harri Valkama, University of Vaasa, Finland ================================ P.O. Box 700, 65101 VAASA, Finland (tel:+358 61 248426 fax:+358 61 248465) hv@uwasa.fi hv@nic.funet.fi hkv@flame.uwasa.fi harri.valkama@wmac00.uwasa.fi Moderating at chyde.uwasa.fi (128.214.12.3) & nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)
tmh@prosun.first.gmd.de (Thomas Hoberg) (10/18/90)
You don't need a separate Partition just for the boot code. The space within the MBB is quite sufficient to stuff a boot menu program into. I got one on my machine: It will present me with a menu of all partitions on both drives connected to the primary controller, at boot up, and I can load any operating system from any partition by entering 1..8. I admit it's a tight fit and error messages are textually short (BEEP) but it works nicely. It comes with the AX operating system developed at the Berlin Technical University, but the source I should have somewhere (but not here), assembles with MASM or TASM. There is no installation utility, so you would have to patch in the correct partition table yourself, and then transfer it to the boot block. If there is sufficient interest (EMAIL please), I'll post the sources and maybe even add an installation utility.