"Updating" an old version of DSL, which way to go?

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[Benny]

The other day looked to my side & saw that old HP laptop that lacks a HDD & remembered the 64MB MuVo MP3 pendrive that holds DSL (old) & thought that a good span of time had past already since my last involvement with DSL or that laptop..., so here I'm.

The HP is working OK AWA the pendrive & the DSL inside. Is there something new in "browsers" within the last DSL released? Java is so widely used in websites that it has become something like a standard, so it should be included in recent releases (I already read about the vulnerabilities --it should be fixed or widely substituted by something else) but for the time been we've to stick to it if we want certain things within owr reach.

As said above, I've this old HP laptop without a HDD but otherwise booting from the pendrive. I would like to know the safest way to update my years-old DSL to a newer, more capable version. Is it wise to start the process from the beginning or inserting certain newer files would be enough?

Note: The said pendrive is just 64MB but I've a 128MB sdcard at hand & a usb adapter for it so if my java requirement is calling for the installation of a new, bigger browser that card might be the way to go. Need help on this!

Thanks for any info around this!

[uki]

I would just go with the new version, save your data first and start fresh.

Regards

[Benny]

I've tried to enable apt several times & also used the 'make image' in floppy tool but it always returns with a #404 error. I can't be sure but I suspect that, since I'm using an old DSL version, the url addrs. are no longer valid.

If the above is correct, can I make appropriate changes in a config file to correct this? What  about issuing the command right from the shell? In this case I need the right command from someone that knows how to do it...

It also has become a problem when I try to mount a floppy if the system encounters a problem in the disk it shows me a "clock" icon for > 15 mins, the device cannot be unmounted or the file manager stop responding for that period of time. Can I edit a 'pre-established' period of time somewhere to shorten this time period?

Thanks for any comment on these issues!

PS. I've been  trying to make a freedos floppy disk from DSL but the process has failed me a couple of times already! For some reason the image is already saved but can't be moved to the floppy: do I've to use the floppy tool for this or can I just move the image to the floppy drive from the file manager? Can I download the file directly to the floppy? Guess that I need to mount the floppy first but I'm not completely sure...

[CNK]

Apt won't work anymore with DSL, the new Debian packages aren't compatible with DSL. To use the Boot Floppy Tool or MyDSL, you need to set the new URLs. In the more modern DSLs, you can go to "Apps>Net>Download Mirror Selector" in the DSL menu. If this wasn't in your version, there was also a file you could edit but I forgot its name, look in the old forums.

Regarding the endless floppy access, when an OS does this to me (I can't think of a PC OS that doesn't) and I can't kill the process trying to access the disk, I just take out the disk. Perhaps it's a risk, but I've seen inside floppy drives and I doubt it can harm the disk. Not quite as sure about the drive, but I figure it's OK. Now if you've written or changed something on the disk though, there is a risk of corrupting it if you can't unmount it afterwards, not sure if this applies to your situation.

Now as for writing floppy images to disk. simply place the image somewhere, it should have the ".img" extension. Now put in your floppy to be written, remembering not to mount it, and in a terminal do the command "dd if=<image file> of=/dev/fd0" where "<image file>" is the path of your desired disk image. This will also work for the DSL boot floppy if you grab the image manually from the web.

[Benny]

Thanks for replying, CNK!

I'm sorry it took me so long to read your post & I'm not sure I'm going to have time to look at the old forum today but I will.

In relation to the disk thing I've bitter memories. In my first pc I remember I distroyed a valuable disk by taking it out of the drive before the led was off. So, I refrained myself of doing it again.

I'm going to try to re-make the freedos disk again, this time without mounting it first & from the console. But, I'm curious about something: why it shouldn't be mounted? I'm sorry, there're 2 questions: should I first format the diskette FAT16? Is it BIOS dependent?

Thanks for any help you or somebody else can give around these things!

[ms_tux]

 
Hi Benny!
I've been poking around trying to use "newbie-ease"...
I'm sure by now you've solved the FreeDOS image thing.
It was never answered here, sooooo...
 
try:

sudo dd count=2880 bs=512 if=freedos.img of=/dev/fd0

or from a ROOT terminal try:

dd count=2880 bs=512 if=freedos.img of=/dev/fd0

hope this is helpful.