Someone asked me today about how I install FreeDOS on QEMU, and how I
get sound to work. So here goes:
You need to start with a virtual disk. I usually use 500 MB. If you
use qcow2 format, QEMU won't complain later about the disk image:
$ qemu-img create -f qcow2 fd.qcow2 500M
To install, I just boot with the LiveCD and the virtual disk. Make
sure to add the option to always boot from CD:
$ qemu-system-i386 -enable-kvm -hda fd.qcow2 -cdrom T2510LIVE.iso -boot order=d
And that's the installation. When I run FreeDOS in QEMU, I usually
apply some limits like 32 MB memory, and make sure the clock is set to
the system time. I also add a few other options to apply a fix when
using the keyboard in TurboC. For the sound, I set up an audio device
that uses PulseAudio ("pa") called "snd" .. and then I refer to "snd"
to set up the PC speaker, SoundBlaster16, and Adlib emulation.
I also load both the LiveCD and the BonusCD at the same time. That
way, I don't have to "swap" them during run-time. I do it by using IDE
bus 0 and 1, which can each have two devices attached with unit 0 or
1.
$ qemu-system-i386 -enable-kvm -m 32 -rtc base=localtime -audiodev
pa,id=snd -machine pcspk-audiodev=snd -device sb16,audiodev=snd
-device adlib,audiodev=snd -global i8042.kbd-throttle=on -drive
bus=0,unit=0,media=disk,file=fd.qcow2 -drive
bus=0,unit=1,media=disk,file=$HOME/virtualmachines/files.qcow2 -drive
bus=1,unit=0,media=cdrom,file=T2510LIVE.iso -drive
bus=1,unit=1,media=cdrom,file=T2510BNS.iso
If you read that carefully, I have two virtual hard disks (fd.qcow2
where I installed FreeDOS, and files.qcow2 where I keep my files) on
bus 0, and two CD-ROM drives on bus 1. I might get slightly better
performance if the two hard disks are on separate buses, but I never
do big copies between the two hard disks, so I don't think it matters
much.
Here's an extra thing I do: I write my own FDAUTO.BAT file:
C:\>ren fdauto.bat fdauto.000
...and make this new FDAUTO.BAT:
@ECHO OFF
PATH C:\freedos\bin
set DIRCMD=/Y /O:GNE
set TZ=UTC
set LANG=EN
set NLSPATH=C:\freedos\nls
set TEMP=C:\freedos\temp
set TMP=%TEMP%
if %CONFIG% == 5 goto END
LH fdapm APMDOS
alias shutdown=fdapm poweroff
alias reboot=fdapm warmboot
:END
I don't need to use the CD-ROM drive all the time, and I don't use the
mouse in DOS, so my FDAUTO.BAT doesn't need to be very long. And it
boots almost instantly.
To install packages using FDIMPLES, just run CDROM.BAT to load CD-ROM
support, then run FDIMPLES to install packages from the LiveCD.
To install packages from the BonusCD, you need to tell FDIMPLES where
to find the BonusCD. The first hard drive is C, the second hard drive
is D, the first CD-ROM (LiveCD) is E, and the second CD-ROM (BonusCD)
is F. So run this to install packages from the BonusCD:
FDIMPLES F:
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