[ct-user] Adding "real" DOS to a WindowsXP Computer

[Mark Bailey]

Good day, everyone:

I am working on an update to my detailed procedure to add
DOS (FreeDOS or MSDOS) to almost any WindowsXP computer
without changing the WindowsXP installation.

All of my computers (even this work laptop) dual
boot WindowsXP and DOS.

The process is to very slightly shrink the WindowsXP
disk "partition", freeing up some space, creating a
new "partition" for DOS, and installing DOS and a
tiny program called a boot loader.  The tools you
need to do this are available FREE and are used to
install Linux also.

(GParted is a totally free program which is a lot
like an old commercial program called "Partition
Magic" but has the advantage of actually working
on new NTSF-type partitions).

The process is a bit lengthy the first time, but
only takes me about ten minutes to do now that I've
been through it a few times.  :-)  The Windows
installation is unchanged and I never notice
that 500 MBytes of disk space is used for DOS.

I would like a few volunteers to help me improve
the new version of my procedure for doing this.

There is an older version of the procedure at
http://www.k1ea.com/hints/fdinst091.pdf

if you want to see what is involved.  I suggest
using the newest version of the GParted LiveCD
though (gparted.sourceforge.net), so if you want
to try this, e-mail me and I'll send you an updated
procedure.

73,

Mark, KD4D (aka "some W4... :-) )