Searching for an Operating System

[OS-Bones]

I'm looking for an Operating System that will only use up under 10mb and has the ability to format without backing up files and de-partition hard-drives.
I need one to fix up an old computer with, and run on the computer.
The computer is an old IBM PS/2 model 50 with just the standard equipment, a black and white monitor and no mouse.

[proxy]

it's called "DOS", or really any other OS could fit that description, even a linux floppy might fit the bill, but a DOS boot disk with fdisk/format should work.

BTW, this is an OS development board, not a search your toy OS board.

[OS-Bones]

it's called "DOS", or really any other OS could fit that description, even a linux floppy might fit the bill, but a DOS boot disk with fdisk/format should work.

BTW, this is an OS development board, not a search your toy OS board.

I'm using MS-Dos 6 and it won't let me format without backing up and I think the f-disk is defective, it worked once, but now it just says I have no fixed disk.

[proxy]

you can format without backing up, i've done it in DOS 6. This is a thread unrelated to OS dev and I suggest to moderators that it get's locked or deleted.

proxy

[OS-Bones]

you can format without backing up, i've done it in DOS 6. This is a thread unrelated to OS dev and I suggest to moderators that it get's locked or deleted.

proxy

Look Proxy it might say I'm a n00b but I've been on this Forum for over a year now, and this part of the forum as always offered Operating System AID so I suggest you just back off a bit, and if no-one helps that's fine I'll just try some other board.

[Curufir]

http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/

That's a Linux based recovery floppy. I prefer this one over tomsrtbt, but you might think differently (Google is your friend if you do). All the tools required for partitioning are available (cfdisk /dev/hda is most likely what you're looking for ).

Hope that helps.

[Solar]

http://www.ranish.com/part/ offers a tool that - installed on a DOS boot disk - should fit all your formatting / partitioning needs in a comfortable yet detailed way.

The only things it cannot do is loss-less shrinking of partitions, and BSD-style slices.

[bubach]

FreeDOS?

[DennisCGc]

FreeDOS?

Pretty good idea, actually
Why don't get he himself freedos ?
It has fdisk, format and it runs in real mode, which means that it works on an IBM PS/2 computer

[OS-Bones]

Thanks for the help.
I'll try some of these options and then reply with whether they worked or not.
Till then keep replying with help!

[OS-Bones]

Curufir I downloaded RIP-2.9-1440.bin
Is this the file you were talking about?

Remember:it has to be able to fit on a Floppy disk.

[Curufir]

Curufir I downloaded RIP-2.9-1440.bin
Is this the file you were talking about?

Remember:it has to be able to fit on a Floppy disk.

Yup, that's the one as far as I remember.

Whack it on a 1.44 floppy (WinImage, Partcopy, Rawrite...choose your poison) and boot off the floppy.

[OS-Bones]

its too big retry/browse/cancel?

[Curufir]

Ahh.

For some reason the 10mb requirement just never entered my consciousness and RIP loads everything onto a ramdisk (Just checked and it uses around 16mb ). I'm assuming here you had no problems getting it on the disk, because it definitely goes on a 1.44Mb floppy (I've just done it).

Right now I'd advise the FreeDOS option the others have suggested.

However if you enjoy playing around you could try http://nuieee.fe.up.pt/~ee97034/la/asmutils.html which is a v v v small linux with a footprint of around 4mb (I like keeping this one around because the whole userland is assembly apps ). Got no idea if it would work on your machine though.

[OS-Bones]

are there any other options available?

I'm going to give both a try but I'm still looking for other options.