FreeDOS on PB 486DX2-66

 FreeDOS on PB 486DX2-66

I have been playing with DOS and Windows 3.1 and W9x on some of my Pentium class machines. I decided I wanted to try to setup FreeDOS on some real hardware. I had set up FreeDOS on a VM but this time I wanted to use a real box. I considered using one of the Pentiums or a P-II. I did a search on what equipment to use for FreeDOS and read some sites and watched a video on the newest version of FreeDOS, version 1.3. I decided on using this Packard Bell 486DX2-66.

This computer is my “backup 486”. I never use it but I keep it around in case my main 486, the Gateway 486DX2-66 goes bad. I had installed W95 on it. I took out the hard drive with W95 and put in another hard drive that was previously used with PC-DOS 6. I then proceeded to attempt an install of FreeDOS.

I downloaded the Legacy CD. This computer does not boot from CD so this Legacy CD comes with a floppy image to handle the boot and then start the installation. I initially burned the CD iso to a CDRW but it did not read in the CD-ROM drive so I re-burned the iso to a regular CD-ROM. I also did not have a program to write a floppy image file on my Windows 10 machine. So I downloaded a trial version of a program that could write the floppy image. After I got the floppy image on the boot floppy I put it in the floppy drive and I put the LegacyCD in the CD drive and rebooted the machine. 

FreeDOS booted up from the floppy and found the CD and assigned it to drive D:  Then it started the installation program and started by asking me my language. Then it asked me for my keyboard and a few other questions and then it started copying files from the CD. It got quite a ways into the installation but then reported an error about not being able to copy a file and offered to either reboot or drop to DOS. I chose to reboot. That started the process all over again. I chose to not save any previous files and started over. It removed all the previous files and started copying files from the CD again. I am waiting to see if I get the same error message again.

It got close to 50% through and I got the same error message. The message was unable to install “archiver\bz2” package. This time I chose No and dropped to DOS. I removed the floppy and rebooted. No operating system. So, the installation has failed. I guess I’ll have to try again with another iso file.

Can I use this floppy to fix the MBR and put FreeDOS on the hard drive? Or do I need to download the floppy only version?

I rebooted off the floppy and aborted the install and dropped to DOS. I then ran FDISK and removed the old partition which was formatted in FAT16 and created a new FAT32 partition. Then I went back to DOS and formatted the C: drive. I then restarted the installation and chose NO for preserving the existing OS and then chose to install the basic DOS only, no additional packages. The install is still running and is 90% through. Maybe this will work.

That worked! The installation finished and I dropped back to DOS and then removed the floppy and rebooted. This time the FreeDOS boot menu came up and FreeDOS booted and left me at the DOS prompt. I now have FreeDOS installed. But I don’t have the full installation of packages. I can use the package installer for that later. FreeDOS is like a “distro” and can install packages from a repository. This is better than the old MS-DOS that required a bunch of floppies to install programs. But this machine does not have networking hardware so I may need to use the iso files and burn CD’s to get at the available packages.

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4-10-22

I burned the Bonus CD and used FDIMPLES to install some programs, including networking software, even though I only have a dial-up modem and no ethernet card. I ran across a blog where they described how to connect to the LAN using the serial port and a Windows XP computer. This emulates an Ethernet card.

I spent quite a bit of time getting it to work and almost gave up. But I did finally get it working properly. I started by setting up a direct cable connection on the XP computer using the serial port and a laplink cable. I used the XP control panel and allowed a Guest to connect to the XP computer and share the LAN connection. I set it up to use a static address range on the XP machine consisting of only two addresses, one for the incoming connection and one for the server connection on the XP machine. This worked.

Next, I had to install a packet driver to emulate an ethernet connection. I found that I had two pieces of software on the FreeDOS computer that would work for this purpose. One was named EPPPD.EXE and one was named LSPPP.EXE I started with the EPPPD program.

First I make sure the XP server is on and ready to receive a connection on the serial/laplink cable. Then I entered the commands on the DOS command line to start the packet driver.

epppd com2 115200 local

Epppd then made the connection to the XP machine and reported back that the packet driver was loaded at vector 0x60. On the XP machine I could see that the connection was active.

I tried using mTCP to run a DHCP command but it failed. I could see the packet driver but I could not understand how to connect to the LAN or Internet. I tried the Arachne browser but it would not connect. Eventually I realized that I needed to setup the configuration for IP addresses of my internet Gateway and DNS. I did manage to use Arachne to setup these addresses. But it still would not connect to an internet location.

I did some more reading and realized I needed to update the Wattcp.cfg file. This file is used by many TCP programs to get the internet configuration. So, I need not only the packet driver but also a config file.

I read up on using the LSppp program. It is similar to the epppd program but is the default packet driver for serial connections for FreeDOS so I decided to try it.

I formulated a command for LSppp and entered it at the command line

lsppp /l /n:2 /B:115200 /S:172.16.0.141 /N:209.18.47.61,209.18.47.62 /V:60

/l = local, no dialing

/n:2 = com2

/B: = baud

/S: = suggest the IP address

/N: = nameserver(s)

/V: = vector address

After running this I got a report of a successful connection. Also, the program created a file named IP-UP.BAT that can be used to set the environment variables for the system.

IP-UP.BAT

set myip=172.16.0.141

set remip=172.16.0.140

set netmask=255.255.0.0

set peermru=1500

set dns1=172.16.0.150

I ran the bat file and that set the environment variables. Then I manually edited the Wattcp.cfg file and added these same variables.

After this I tried Arachne again and this time it connected! I could reach the internet!

So, I figured out how to both load the ethernet emulator packet driver and update the config files used by the TCP/IP software programs. But Arachne is a GUI based browser and it is very slow. I need to get a text browser working I have tried Links but so far I have not been successful. I will try Lynx next.

I was successful with mTCP’s PING and FTP. I also edited the MTCPCFG.TXT file that is being used by mTCP programs for the TCP/IP configuration. It is working. And it is fast enough when in text only.

Now I am going back to FDIMPLES and installing some more network programs to see if I can get more to work, especially a text based browser like Lynx.

I was able to get Dillo to work. But Lynx is like Links and needs a lot of setup. I will work through it later. I may end up using DOSLynx instead. But we’ll wait and see.

I downloaded the latest DOSLynx on my Win7 FTP Server and then used mTCP FTP to copy the files onto the FreeDOS machine. I put the zip files into C:\NET\DOSLYNX and then unzipped them. I read the docs and then setup the config file. I then launched DOSLynx and it started up. But when I tried to go to www.google.com it came back with an error saying it couldn’t find a packet driver.

The XP machine showed there was still a connection. I tried using mTCP PING. It failed. Somehow we lost the connection. I shut down and rebooted the FreeDOS machine. Then I entered the LSppp configuration again at the command line and then ran the ip-up.bat.

Now I tried DOSLynx again. It works! I can now reach the internet and browse to websites. I had success with DOSLynx before on my 286 so I figured it would work. It is easier for me to setup than Lynx or Links. But I will keep trying with those other browsers. For now, DOSLynx will be my text browser.

I had considered taking the ISA Ethernet card out of my KLH 286-12 machine and installing it in this PB 486DX2-66. The results I was getting with ethernet and internet were not quite what I wanted for this 486. But after I got DOSLynx installed and running in 32-bit Protected Mode I am more than satisfied with using the serial port ethernet emulator. DOSLYNXS.EXE runs very well on this machine using the serial port. I will go ahead and keep this setup and keep the ISA Ethernet card setup in the KLH-286, at least for now.

I also considered setting up Laplink cables for both machines and not worrying about ethernet connections. But the mTCP FTP software is more than adequate for transfering files over the serial port set up with the LSPPP ethernet emulator. I think I will save the Laplink cables for use on other machines. My plan for this machine is to replace the Dell P-III running Win98SE in the corner behind my desk chair. I will have both the KLH-286 and this PB-486 set up as DOS only machines - the KLH-286 running DR-DOS and this PB-486 machine running FreeDOS.

Now, off to move things around in that corner and setup the cables, etc.

I moved the PB486 to the shelf above the monitor and reorganized the RLH-286 on the desk under the monitor. I removed the printer cables and switch. I also connected the modem directly to the KLH-286 25-pin serial port. I tested the KLH-286 internet connection and made sure it was working. Then I shut it down and worked on the cable connection from the PB-486 to the Windows7 serial port. 

After I made the serial cable connections between the two computers I tried looking through control panel on the Win7 machine to set up an incoming connection. I couldn’t see anything that would work the same way as it did on XP. So, I started up the XP Virtual PC and set up the serial modem connection using XP, following the same procedure I used before on the other XP machine. After I got the incoming connection set up on the XP Virtual PC (on the Win7 machine) I ran the LSPPP.BAT file on the PB-486 FreeDOS machine. It worked! I was able to connect to the internet thru the Virtual PC XP machine. I tested DOSLynx and downloaded a couple of files. It all works.

One of the files I downloaded is a program called COSTA. It is a GUI for DOS, similar to a simple desktop in Linux like JWM but without a menu. I guess it is more similar to Windows 3. It is actually a fairly usable system and the best DOS GUI I have tried so far. I may decide to keep it. I set up two launchers, one to launch the DOSLynx browser and one for the DOS Navigator file manager. It all works.