Release info for 0.0.2

About public releases

What is a public release

FreeDOS-32 is in an alpha state. This means that most functionality is not fully implemented and there could be bugs which can corrupt your data. However we have started to make releases in order to let people try FreeDOS-32.

When some important development goal is reached, we package a public release. It includes a binary package, in form of floppy disk image, and a source package, a snapshot of the source files used to build the binary image.

Since public releases are generated from time to time, they are not supposed to include the last features. If you want to test the latest development version, then check out the up-to-date source files from CVS and compile them using DJGPP.

How to download

You can download the latest FreeDOS-32 release through our project page on Sourceforge.net. Select the package you want to download (e.g. fd32-image), then select the file of that package you want (e.g. fd32002b.zip) and finally choose a mirror to start to download the file from the Sourceforge.net download server.

Binary package

Floppy disk image

To let you test FD32 in the shortest time possible, a binary distribution is available as 1440 KiB floppy image. You can use this image directly with an emulator, such as Bochs, or write it into a floppy you can use for booting your system under FD32.

Floppy images are currently available in form of zip compressed archive, named fd32XYZb.zip, where XYZ is the version number (meaning X.Y.Z), containing the actual image file (a file with img extension) and informational text files.

The floppy image contains:
- GNU GRUB, the boot loader chosen for FD32 (in order to directly run FD32 on boot)
- A GRUB menu file, containing entries for starting FreeDOS or FreeDOS-32
- The FreeDOS kernel and shell, so you can try to start FD32 through X.EXE from real mode
- gofd32.bat, a batch file for starting FD32 + shell from 16 bit FreeDOS, by using X.EXE
- fd32, a directory with the FD32 kernel and drivers
- tests, a directory with some programs you can try to run under FD32
- GPL.txt, containing the GNU General Public License, the license used for distributing FD32
- README.txt, containing informations on the release
- WHATSNEW.txt, listing what's new in this release.

Please read the README.txt file before you try the release. Be sure you agree with its terms.

Writing the floppy image on a real floppy

First, please make sure the image file you are going to use is 1,474,560 bytes (i.e. 1440 KiB) long.

To write the floppy image on a floppy disk under DOS/Windows, use the rawrite program. Run rawrite without parameters from the DOS prompt, then select fd32.img as source image and type in the floppy drive letter (very likely, a). You may also want to use RawWrite for Windows, which has an intuitive graphical interface.

To write the floppy image on a floppy disk under GNU/Linux, type with caution:
dd if=fd32.img of=/dev/fd0 (or any other floppy drive you want).

How to test

Just put the floppy in the drive, and turn the computer on. Then select an option from the boot menu and enjoy!

You can boot FreeDOS-32 with the command.com replacement by Centroid Corp. (see the tests CVS module) directly, or you can boot FreeDOS and then use the gofd32 batch file to start FD32 from the regular real mode DOS. When you type exit from the FD32 command prompt, if you booted FD32 the system is halted, while if you booted FreeDOS you return to it.

Warning: Due to possible bugs in FD32, if you have important data on your hard disk you may want to disable the IDE controller in the BIOS.

Reporting bugs

After trying the release and playing with it, please go to our SourceForge project page, and start to fill bug reports (if you have not a SourceForge.net account, please write your e-mail address too). You can also use the developers' mailing list (but you must be subscribed to it in order to post and receive messages).

Please check the README.txt file to learn if your problem is already known. If you really want to help the project, feel free to have a look at some reported bug, to investigate it, and to try to fix it... Please ask in the mailing list before starting to hack, because we can have some useful informations.

Source package

What about the source packages?

For each release, a source distribution is available. The source code in the source distribution is the same used to build the binary distribution, and it's usually a snapshot of the CVS repository at the date of the release.

As for the binary distribution, sources are available as a zip compressed archive, named fd32XYZs.zip, where XYZ is the version number (meaning X.Y.Z). The archive contains the source code for the FD32 kernel, FD32 portable drivers and the OSLib version used to build the release. Hence, the source package contains all the source code ready to be compiled to build the system.

Please remember that OSLib is a stand-alone project (on which FreeDOS-32 is based), and has its own project page, web site and CVS repository. The OSLib's source code included in the FD32 source release is usually a snapshot of the part of the OSLib's CVS repository we need at the date of the release.

To learn how to compile FD32 from scratch on a DOS-compatible operating system (such as DOS or Windows) have a look at this how-to.