1. Installation Methods

The XOSL install utility is a plain DOS application. It is, however, not recommended to execute it in an MS-DOS prompt window from Windows 9x, basically because it may not be able to detect the hardware correctly (e.g. the mouse). To install XOSL, simply restart in the MS-DOS mode.

If you do not have MS-DOS or Windows 9x installed on your machine, you can download a FreeDOS bootable floppy image (fdxosl-ow116.img) or a Freedos bootable CD/DVD image (fdcdxosl-ow116.iso) with the XOSL installer included.

For more information on FreeDOS see http://www.freedos.org

1.1 Create a bootable floppy

Download the FreeDOS bootable floppy image fdxosl-ow116.img. This floppy image includes the XOSL installer.

Write the image file to a floppy using a raw write utility (e.g dd).

1.2 Create a bootable CD/DVD

Download the FreeDOS bootable CD/DVD image fdcdxosl-ow116.iso. This CD/DVD image includes the XOSL installer.

Write the image file to a CD/DVD using a CD/DVD burning utility capable of burning iso images.

1.3 Creating your own bootable DOS floppy or CD/DVD

In case you don't want to make use of the Freedos bootable floppy or CD/DVD image with the XOSL installer included but prefer to create a bootable DOS floppy or CD/DVD by yourself download the XOSL installer xosl-ow116.zip.

Extract the zip archive and add the XOSL installer files to your bootable media.

During install the XOSL installer will create a number of backup files. These backup files impose the following requirements on bootable media:

Boot floppy
Make sure there is enough free space available (at least 30KB) for the backup files, otherwiswe XOSL installation will fail.

Bootable CD/DVD
Make sure that either a ramdrive or a (non-hidden) partition on the PC hard drive is available.
Executing the XOSL installer directly from CD/DVD will fail.
To install XOSL the installer files first have to be copied to a ramdrive or a hard drive partition. Execute the XOSL installer from the ramdrive or the hard drive partition. This to enable the XOSL installer to write backup files to disk.
Please note that a ramdrive is volatile, hence when rebooting the PC all files stored on the ramdrive will be lost. In case you want to have the backup files available after rebooting the PC you'll first have to save the backup files to a persistent storage device (e.g. the PC's hard drive).

1.4 Bootable USB drive

Currently the XOSL installer does not support installation from a bootable USB drive onto the PC's harddisk. When executed from a bootable USB drive the XOSL bootmanager will be installed on the USB drive and not on the PC's harddisk.

Next: Starting Install