Clueless user needs help

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Clueless user needs help
started by: sonickidhbk

Posted by sonickidhbk on July 09 2006,05:57

Okay, I have my pride, but I'll admit when I'm defeated, and that's right now. The file I downloaded was dsl.3.0.1.iso, and I can't get it to boot how I want. I'm kinda hapless when it comes to code and stuff so I really need some help.

Here's an example of what comes up when I start my computer with the CD in:

Caldera DR-DOS Using DPMS DOS Protected Mode Services, Then it tells me stuff about my cache size, then gives me a list of the following current options:

/MLX Program is loaded into conventional memory and XMS memory using DPMS.
/BL = 16 Lookahead buffer is in conventional memory, size is in KB
/LEND=ON Lend memory to other applications
/DELAY=OFF write delay is disabled, caching is write through.

Then it gives me the [DR-DOS] A:/> command prompt. When I type in the above options, nothing happens.

Please help me and tell me how to boot the disk properly.

Posted by kerry on July 09 2006,06:05

You've got to set the bios to boot from the cd first.

Posted by sonickidhbk on July 09 2006,07:24

Could you elaborate on how to do that please? I'm a little dumb when it comes to bios stuff...

Posted by humpty on July 09 2006,08:10

when you re-boot, you can hold down a special key.
on some PCs it's [DEL] on others it could be [F1] or [F2],
whatever. Then the PC should go into a 'bios' menu where you can select some options. One of them is called something like 'First Boot Device', and you set that to boot from 'CD rom'. Then press [ESC] until ti asks you to 'save current settings', you press 'yes', and then it re-boots again. Only this time you don't hold down any key and it tries to boot from CD rom.

Posted by sonickidhbk on July 09 2006,08:25

Okay, I tried that, but it still puts me at the command promt with all the same stuff.

Did I not download something, or do something wrong? The only thing I donwloaded was the dsl.3.0.1.iso file...

Posted by kerry on July 09 2006,11:45

If it's set to boot from the cd, than it could be the cd it self. did you burn it as a image at 4x on a cdr? it won't work if you just copied it to the cd.

Posted by sonickidhbk on July 09 2006,12:23

Yeah, burned it as a bootable CD at 4x on a blank CD-R. Is there anything I can type at the command prompt to make it work?

Posted by sonickidhbk on July 09 2006,12:47

*UPDATE

Okay, I finally got DSL to work, now could someone please tell me how to access my hard drive and all my files from it, if its even possible.

Keep in mind that I'm very new to this and so you might have to dumb things down for me please, and explain them clearly.

I appreciate it.

Posted by kerry on July 09 2006,13:11

make sure you read dillo(the app that pops up).

first you have to mount the drive use the mount tool in the right corner,it should be on fd0(floppy) click on that till you see the drive you want to mount(hda?). click where it says unmount to mount(should turn green).

then click on the emelfm icon(file manager) and goto /mnt which is where the drive files are kept, you should see your drive.

if you want a graphical browser(like in windows) you can click on the myDSL icon>apps> look for rox.dsl.info>click on that then on download(that installs it). then to activate right click the desk top>mydsl>rox

Posted by mikshaw on July 09 2006,15:53

A note about your original problem:

Caldera DR-DOS is not a part of DSL. It looks like you created a bootable CD using the burn software's "bootable CD" feature. DSL ISOs include their own boot sector, so simply burning as a disk image should be sufficient.

Posted by sonickidhbk on July 09 2006,18:20

Okay, thank you for all of your help.