Releases/Beta9

The FreeDOS Beta 9 distribution was released on 28 September 2004.

Codename

Unlike previous iterations in the FreeDOS Beta distributions, this version did not have a codename. The FreeDOS Beta 9 RC1 (release candidate 1) was the last distribution to use a codename.

History

This Wayback snapshot shows a news item dated "2004-09-29 05:43" that says "Bernd Blaauw has posted the FreeDOS Beta9 (Final)."

That news item was pulled from the Sourceforge news servers (we used their news posting service) and I'm pretty sure that their servers were GMT. I would have written that in US/Central, 6 hours ahead, so just shy of midnight on 28 Sep 2004. Assume 28 Sept is more correct, since that date shows up elsewhere on the Internet.

Release candidates

• FreeDOS Beta 9 RC1
• FreeDOS Beta 9 RC2
• FreeDOS Beta 9 RC3
• FreeDOS Beta 9 RC4
• FreeDOS Beta 9 RC5

Service releases

• FreeDOS Beta 9 SR1
• FreeDOS Beta 9 SR2

Release notes

FreeDOS beta9-final (2004-09-28)

Readme file

Table of Contents:
---------------------------------

I)    How to view this document
II)   What to get, platform dependant
III)  How to boot up
IV)   Installation
V)    Post-installation disk/RAM layout and configuration files
VI)   Using FreeDOS
VII)  Updates and help

---------------------------------

I      - How to view this document

This document is posted online and thus may incidentally not comply with the
DOS specification of keeping line width below 80 characters. We recommend
using a HTML viewer or the FreeDOS program PG, which supports line wrapping,
found at www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/file/pg/

---------------------------------

II     - What to get, platform dependant

The FreeDOS distribution is available in several ways. Users only wanting to
use the kernel don't need to download the entire distribution. Owners of a
computer older than 80386 often don't have a cdrom drive in their systems.
FreeDOS Beta9 Release Candidate #5 is offered for:

Platform:            what to download:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
8086/80186/80286 : - download diskette distribution if available
fdos.org/ripcord/beta9-final/disksets
- alternative #1: download ODIN (One Disk INstaller)
odin.fdos.org/odin7x86.zip
- alternative #2: download zipfile and split onto disks:
fdos.org/ripcord/beta9-final/binfiles.zip
- alternative #3: get FreeDOS install disk
fdos.org/ripcord/beta9-final/fdos1440.img

80386 or newer   : - download the bootable freedos cdrom
fdos.org/ripcord/beta9-final/fdbootcd.iso

We recommend to boot from the cdrom as our cdrom driver is
still in experimental stage (atapicdd.sys , ALPHA status)

if you cannot boot from cdrom, please download bootdisk
fdos.org/ripcord/beta9-final/fdos1440.img

replace our cdrom driver with the vendor-supplied one if
desired. < e.g www.opus.co.tt/dave/indexall.htm >

You may need to write the bootdisk image to a diskette using one of several
available programs found at: www.fdos.org/ripcord/rawrite/
(RAwrite downloadable from : fdos.org/ripcord/beta9-final/rawrite.exe )
If the target diskette contains information, it will be erased when writing
the image contents to the diskette.

The .iso file (ISO9660 filesystem) can be written to a blank recordable medium
<CD-R(W) or DVD+/-R(W)> using a cd writing program that can write a disk image.
Most used is Ahead's Nero Burning Rom, and the Unix/Linux program CDrecord
Make sure contents of the fdbootcd.iso file is stored on the written medium,
not the file itself. In other words, you should see a file called autorun.inf
and the directories called FREEDOS and ISOLINUX.

---------------------------------

III    - How to boot up

..