-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 8
Creating a FDI based FreeDOS installer
(The easy way)
Starting with FDI Preview 17, creating a FDI based build environment for deploying a customized release of FreeDOS 1.2+ is very easy. These instructions are for a Macintosh using VirtualBox. However, the entire process can be ported without to much difficulty to other operating systems and virtual machine environments. The whole process takes under 10 minutes. You can follow these instructions or watch the Youtube video Building a FreeDOS 1.2+ Release.
Let's assume you already have downloaded and installed VirtualBox.
Now, head on over to http://up.lod.bz/FDI and download the latest Floppy image and at least one USB stick image. You will probably want both the 512mb and the 32mb images.
Extract all those zip files and move all of their files into the same directory. Something like FDIDEV.
Now, we will need two floppy images. So, copy the FDI.img floppy image to FLOPPY.img.
Start VirtualBox.
Create a new virtual machine:
- Call the new VM FreeDOS Builder
- Use existing virtual drive FDI-USB.img
- Select storage and the Controller: IDE
- Add a hard drive, as a fixed disk, with the name FreeDOS Builder, of type vmdk with a size of 2gb.
- Boot the virtual machine and let the FreeDOS install program start.
- Pick the English language
- Select Continue with the install
- FDI will ask if you want to partition drive D:, please do so. And then select reboot.
- Once the virtual machine restarts, FDI will once again prompt for your language.
- Pick the English language
- Now, do not continue. Exit to DOS.
- From the command line type fdidev and press RETURN
- Ignore the WARNING and press RETURN
- Type yes and press RETURN
- Wait a couple minutes for the FDI Build environment to be installed and configured.
- We are almost done. :-)
- Go into the virtual machines System settings and change the boot order. Make the Hard Disk first.
- Go back into the virtual machines Storage settings.
- Remove the FDI-USB image.
- Make the remaining hard drive IDE Primary Master
- Make the CD-ROM IDE Secondary Slave
- Add the 32mb (SLIM) USB image as IDE Primary Slave (Slim USB Image)
- Add the 512mb USB image as IDE Secondary Master (Big USB image)
- Make the Floppy Device 0 to use the FLOPPY.img image. (Normal Boot Floppy)
- Add a second floppy device using the FDI.img image. (El Torito CD Boot Floppy)
You now have a FDI based build environment that can reproduce the FreeDOS 1.2+ Floppy, Slim USB, USB and El Torito floppy images with any customizations you need. However, there is one more tweak you should make on a Macintosh. With VirtualBox closed, locate the virtual machine and rename the FreeDOS Builder-flat.vmdk file to use the img extension and edit it's reference in the FreeDOS Builder.vmdk settings file to use the renamed file. When the virtual machine is powered off, this will allow you to mount the virtual drive that contains all of the FreeDOS source packages by just double-clicking the img file.
Here comes the hard part.
- Boot your FDI Build virtual machine.
- Type mkfdi all off and press return.
- Wait a while.
- Wait a little more.
- Once completed, the virtual machine will shutdown.
- Except for the CD image your done
The image files in that FDIDEV directory you made have been updated.