hajime wrote:

Hi mates. I have Linux, and have downloaded Free DOS, in order to install it in other partition. But before doing so, since I re […]
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Hi mates.
I have Linux, and have downloaded Free DOS, in order to install it in other partition. But before doing so, since I remember practically nothing from when I was a little brat and used DRDOS, I want to ask something:
I have read that the way of making FreeDOS detect a CD drive is through config.sys, right?

1- Where can I usually find config.sys? (In which folder is it usually placed when you first install FreeDOS?

2- Which line of the config file should I change in order to make the CD drive work?

3- My drive is actually a CD-DVD drive. Would FreeDOS also work with it?

4- An example so you can advice me: If the CD drive is called "D:", and I wanted to copy the folder...let's say "D:/games/megadrive" to "C:/hajime/games/megadrive"... the command is 'copy', right? But... I have seen many URLs about DOS commands (the best of them, http://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/copy.htm ), where too many options of the 'copy' command appear, which made me crazy.
Could you tell me the most easy and direct way to do the operation I told before?

Thanks SO M-U-C-H!!!! 😉

I'm not familiar with FREE DOS but if it's anything like the original MS DOS I'll try to help:

config.sys is usually about drivers - linking to them so the system can find them. But then there's also autoexec.bat which is basically a batch file containing instructions that will be run right after boot up - and this often contains driver activation programs. You see, DOS drivers have to reside in memory and this works in a completely different way than Windows. Config.sys doesn't actually do this, but makes the drivers available by pointing to them (anyone correct me if I'm wrong) and in case of your DVD drive, it should contain a line like

DEVICE = C:\pathdriver\driver.SYS /D:MSCD000

The driver needs to be compatible with your dvd drive - drives used to come with disks with the appropriate drivers. Then, you need to load MSCDEX and point to the driver (reason for this: there may be more than one DVD/CD drive on your system). I'm not sure Freedos has MSCDEX but it should have something similar since certain programs search for it to see whether the CD drive is loaded. Something like:

c:\path\mscdex /d:mscd000 /L:F

L:F - F is the drive letter so you can put D there if you want your DVD drive to be D.

The copy command I'm a bit wary to comment on - different DOS versions interprate the copy command in different ways. Usually you can use "copy *.* /s" I believe to copy subtrees too but its been a long while since I had to use that command. In DOSBOX I always go to Windows to make such changes.

When copying complete directories, xcopy is probably a better solution...or something like a Norton Commander 😉

xcopy doesn't exist in all DOS versions though - I dunno about FreeDOS.

Hi dudes, thanks so much for your help, red avatar.
Gulikoza...nice idea. I already knew something about Norton Commander, but...how do you usually install programs in DOS? (At least, that one 😎 )

DOS programs are usually just a case of copy/paste - there's no drivers or register for the huge majority. Only for certain programs that make use thorough use of the system there's a few entries in config.sys.

Oooh, I see.
That's so cool...So I would just need to execute the .exe file, right?
And, do you know (for curiosity) why install isn't necessary?

By the way, I just read that another way of installing some programs is through Autoexec.bat. Could you tell me briefly how that needs to be done in general (with average programs that need that)

Thanks a lot, mate.
😉

hajime wrote:

Oooh, I see. That's so cool...So I would just need to execute the .exe file, right? And, do you know (for curiosity) why install […]
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Oooh, I see.
That's so cool...So I would just need to execute the .exe file, right?
And, do you know (for curiosity) why install isn't necessary?

By the way, I just read that another way of installing some programs is through Autoexec.bat. Could you tell me briefly how that needs to be done in general (with average programs that need that)

Thanks a lot, mate.
😉

First of all, autoexec.bat is NOT used for installing programs in general. It is *sometimes* used for programs that need a path set or other actions that need to be performed before you can run the program, but usually these are added to a batch file in the same folder of the game.

About the install - some games don't even have one, and let you set up your soundcard inside the game. But "install" for a lot of games just sets them up - the majority of games you'll find floating on the internet are pre-installed. Only for CD games or floppy games, an install is needed which is nearly always just copying files from the CD to your hard drive.

Ooooh I see. Now I think I understand.
I liked ur explanations mate, thanks!