Member Avatar for KF4SQB

This may not be the correct place for this question, but I can't find anywhere it really seems to fit, and this seems like the best place overall.

I have a system with WindowsXP and Slackware Linux dual-booted with lilo. I have a small partition on the HDD already formatted as FAT that I would like to install MS DOS 6.22 on and allow lilo to handle all three OS's. Is there any way I can do this without having to wipe everything else out? If I try to install DOS as everything is currently set up, the DOS setup program tells me that it needs to repartition the HDD (the FAT partition is not the first on the drive), and will go no further. Is there any way around this problem?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by DimaYasny
Member Avatar for apsivam

Why don't you try some virtualization software like VirtualBox to run MS DOS?

Member Avatar for jbennet

yeah, thats probably easiest

dos, windows nt and linux can coexist but DOS MUST be first on the first drive.

Member Avatar for KF4SQB

If I'm understanding correctly from the website linked to above, VirtualBox is a program that actually runs under Windows, or Linux, to allow another OS to be ran from within the "host" OS. If thats the case, it wouldn't do me any good at all. The main software I need to run under DOS needs complete control of the computer's serial port, and you can't get that control under any flavor of Windows. Hmm, sounds like I may need to dump everything and start over. Thanks for the idea!

Member Avatar for apsivam

Actually you can directly access serial port from DOS running under VirtualBox. Check their documentation.

Member Avatar for KF4SQB

This was a fairly new install anyway, so I just went ahead and dumped everything and started over (and loaded DOS first, like I should've done to begin with). Thanks for the ideas!

Member Avatar for DimaYasny

win95/98 have that access to the ports

Member Avatar for KF4SQB

win95/98 have that access to the ports

No, they don't. All flavors of Windows can, will, and do, at random and for no obvious reason, query the COM ports. Why, I have no idea. Maybe it thinks someone stole them while it wasn't looking?:icon_lol: Either way, if it queries the port when a program that requires absolute control of that port is using it, data corruption can, and often does, result. The main thing I use DOS for is software for programming Motorola two-way radios. It requires complete control of the computer's COM port while talking to the radio. There have been many, many Motorola radios corrupted when someone tried to program them with DOS-based software while in Windows. There are, yes, ways around this problem with Win95/98, but special steps have to be taken. Why go through the trouble, when I can just use "real" DOS and avoid the possibility?

Member Avatar for DimaYasny

I have mainly used those ports for HASP plugs (work perfectly under win95/98, need to be replaced for 2k/xp) and back in the 90s for running several routines on special LPT1 attached devices using TP7, the syntax was (if I remember correctly) Port[378]:=int
that worked under 95/98 as well

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