Board.KolibriOS.org

Hi

I just discovered kolibri os and I am completely blown away...

I have an old machine with 4 giga hdd (very old actually) and I formatted in FAT 16, copied over kolibri.img, memdisk and run a "hacked for dos version of syslinux", as the creator calls it.

However, the config file cannot be recognized and every time I need to type in the command prompt "memdisk initrd=kolibri.img" for kolibri to start.

I get the message <<no DEFAULT or UI statement is found, or the configuration file is missing entirely,>>

I created a file named "syslinux.cfg" and downloaded the file called isolinux.bin. Placed them in root folder, as also placed them in /syslinux folder and in /isolinux (also renamed isolinux.bin to syslinux.bin and placed them in all possible ways/folders)

Nothing seams to work.

Anyone worked around this issue before ?

Thanks

Hi there,


I want to help you, but the message has nothing to do with KolibriOS. As you mentioned, it originates from that "hacked for dos version of syslinux".
I sometimes use syslinux on Linux, config file in the root directory works as expected.

Maybe try to reach syslinux developers.

Has nothing to do with Kolibri you say ?

Well, using the linuxsys is the ONLY way someone can load kolibri from a hdd that has no other OS installed.

I tried with GRUB, works, but you need a linux distro, or windows to install only grub.

With windows, kolibri loads from hdd, but you need windows.

Loading from floppy works, as also from flash drive, works too.

If you want to run kolibri from a DOS machine, then only the MeOSLoad way works.

The mtldr_install does NOT work even though it says it works in DOS.

Below statement can be found in the official install.txt



"DOS" must be removed from the above text. mtldr_install does not work in msdos.

Which leaves us with just 1 choice if you have NO OS whatsoever on the hdd. The syslinux option.

And of course the possibility to have an OS and delete it after you setup kolibri, but that won't count.

Well, your first post mentioned the issue of syslinux loader and its config file.
I didn't mean to be offensive in any way, it is just naturally and more productive to ask syslinux developers about syslinux.

Now it looks like you are trying to get KolibriOS the only OS installed on a HDD, what you haven't mentioned in the opening post at all.
Instructions in this readme file can be applied to HDDs too, not only USB drives.

Did you follow the directions you quoted?

I have never checked mtldr under DOS and can't confirm it does (not) work.
The method described in hd_load/usb_boot works, prebuilt HDD/USB image is here.

Hi

Thank you for your reply.

It worked. I was foolish enough to have something written wrongly in the syslinux.cfg file, and as a result, the syslinux was not even able to trace syslinux.cfg.

I have 2 more questions:

1. In my usb stick, besides the "kolibri.img", I have the folder "kolibrios" and thus all extras (such as dosbox, doom etc,) work fine. The links in the taskbar open the programs.

However, in the old computer, the HDD is formatted as fat 16 and thus the folder name cannot be "kolibrios".. but "kolibrio".

So the result is that when starting kolibri from HDD, (the one I managed to startup with syslinux), it doesn't run the extras (dosbox etc) !

Is there an option/way to make kolibri look in "kolibri" instead of "kolibrios" folder for the extras ?

Of course all programms still open/run manually, if I double click on each program through file browsing.

and 2nd question:

My hdd is currently splitted in 3 partitions /hd0/1 , /hd0/2 and /hd0/3

How do I mount those partitions in dosbox ?

I tried mount g /hd0/3 but doesn't work.
mount g /hd0(3) also doesn't work

I want to mount partition nr. 3 where I have some DOS games.

Thank you for your help, I appreciate.

Look at this post and below.
I didn't try it myself but it should be possible to specify any other directory instead of /hd0/1/kolibrios.


You didn't mention in which way it didn't work: any error message?
I described one known bug in DOSBox topic. If you faced another issue, please, report.

No, no error message. It mounts an empty drive with no files.

So how to I "change return code of sysfn70.5 for root dirs from 0 to 2 (as it was before r6868), DOSBox will 'dir' correctly." ??

It's for developers to fix this bug, not for you.
But you can try this kolibri.img. It has a workaround that I will not commit to the repository. DOSBox seems to 'dir' root dirs correctly, I hope nothing has been broken.

Hi and thank you for your help. I really appreciate.

DosBox browsing worked fine now with the image you sent me, thank you.

However, dosbox seams to be deadly slow. Is there a way to increase its speed? Is there a way to adjust the config file of dosbox in general?

Regarding the other problem that I have, concerning the "extras" folder. I change the link locations in taskbar configuration file but it still doesn't open the programs.

I believe, someone like you, a person with experience on this subject, should recompile a version of kolibri while changing the extra's folder from "kolibrios" to "kolibri". In that way, those who have formatted their hard drive as fat16, will be able to index the "extras" folder automatically.

The problem here is definetely that fat16 has a max length for naming folders.

DOSBox config file is in dosbox directory in /hd0/1/kolibrios/emul/dosbox. I don't use DOSBox and therefore I'm not familiar with options inside that file. There are some comments inside too, try to read them.

I have just tried to put kolibrios dir to FAT16 partition and run DOSBox via MENU and APP+, it worked. Try to copy kolibrios directory to FAT16 partition in KolibriOS. Maybe this is a limitation of DOS.

Our kolibri.img is formatted to FAT12 and has a directory named 'File Managers'.

You extracted the config file, that is so cool. I didn't expect that, in windows.. DosBox's config is attached to the executable, there is no actual config file.

I don't really know what you mean by "maybe this is a limitation of DOS". I have no DOS in the machine. KolibriOS runs via syslinux. The disk is partinioned through DOS though.

Yes I had noticed the "File Managers" folder standing there. Good point.

I see many people on this forum (young kids actually) complaining about not having a standard way to install kolibrios on HDD. Maybe I should create a thread, as I managed to install Kolibrios on a HDD, without any other OS, and with very very very easy and quick way.

I formatted my test partition via 'mkfs.vfat -F16' in Linux and then copied files via Linux too. Not sure if this matters though.

There are also some articles on installation on the wiki. You can choose between starting a new board thread, updating existing wiki page or fixing official documentation depending on available time and motivation.