Last update 13 June 2001

Step 1a I installed the OS/2 boot manager at the start of free space, next I added logical partitions 5, 6, 7 and then 8-9 as one large partition. I then deleted logical partiton # 6. Finally I made primary partition # 3. This way, OS/2 recognized primary partition 1 as C:, the future logical FAT16 partiton # 5 as D: and its own residence logical partion # 7 as E:. Furthermore, space was allocated for the future Linux boot partition (logical # 6; provisionally deleted in order to get the drive letters OK) and the future Linux logical partitions # in the place of the temporary F:-partition (8-9).

Step 1b Installation of OS/2 to drive E: (HPFS) proved easy then, only until the system was to be rebooted before reading floppy # 7. It proved impossible at all to boot ANY system from the harddisk in the Digital. Perhaps due to built-in disk translation only fit for Libretto BIOSses? In a flash I thought it could be wise to try to install OS/2 also on drive D: (FAT16). So I did.

Step 1c Using the OS/2 floppies "Installation" and "1", I activated the boot manager to at least boot OS/2 and C:. Next I reinstalled the harddisk back into the Libretto, switched power on, crossed my fingers and YES! it booted OS/2. That is, it booted a temporary installation Workplace, with nothing more than a Library, an almost bare System folder and the autostarting Installation program. However, it did feature an OS/2 prompt, which came in handy much later.

Step 2a Using a 500 Mb Digital harddisk which became obsolete because my employers Windows 95 had already been transplanted to the Libretto, I installed OS/2 incl. Win-OS/2 on a (logical) D: partition, and a temporary version of Windows 95 including Winzip and DCC on a C: partition.

Step 2b Then I used Winzip to pack the complete OS/2 installation together into one ZIP file. I relayed it through a parallel cable to the Windows drive on the Libretto, and used Winzip there to unpack it to drive D: (remember, that is a FAT16 drive accessible to WinZip). I hoped that, once I got OS/2 running, I could copy it completely to E: (remember, that is a HPFS drive, only accessible through OS/2).

Step 2c I then used a DOS harddisk tool (PCTools or Norton Utilities; you can also use Debug) to restore the 8.3 FAT16 file names for EA DATA . SF and WP ROOT. SF (which were changed to EADATA~1.SF and WPROOT~1.SF by WinZIp). Under Windows 95 (or DOS 7) the relevant drives must be "LOCK"ed in order to enable direct disk access for those tools (as Windows 95/DOS7 worries about long file names).

From hindsight, I now know that EA DATA.SF and WP ROOT.SF cannot be transferred just like that, as they are dependent on disk geometry. I was also lucky that there was already a boot sector in drive D: left over from attempt # 1. But this is a way to get to the start of it all, an OS/2 prompt...

Well, this proved to be the right trick. Yet one small thing is needed for this: a working OS/2 prompt, in order to install the Maintenance system.....but I had an OS/2 prompt left over from attempts # 1 and # 2. Below a way is described to get such a prompt (in fact, the critical thing is the OS/2 boot sector.)

• (Just a guess) After having obtained an OS/2 prompt like after step 3a in attempt # 1, one might do the following: (1) set all installation options in the installation program, (2) close down the installation program, (3) open an OS/2 prompt, set the environment variable SOURCEPATH=xxx, where xxx is the path to a directory structure cf. attempt # 3, and start OS2\INSTALL\INSTALL.EXE (and cross your fingers).

   

• (Standard trick performed by other people) Use an 21/2 to 31/2 IDE connector to plug your Libretto harddisk into your desktop computer. These connectors are easily obtained from electronics stores (at least, in the Netherlands). Hardware installation might prove troublesome, as you can only install a bare OS/2 system with VGA support and no sound. Many hardware driver packs are floppy-oriented and might need some thinking-over and tinkering before being amenable to installation. But as your desktop probably has a floppy, you can use that to make floppy images which can be copied through a parallel or serial cable to the Libretto. I often used Windows on the Libretto to copy floppies to the Libretto harddisk on a commonly accessible partition.

 

• (Tried out by me on my Digital. I see no reason why it shouldn't work on a Libretto) If you are afraid you will lose your guarantee when you take the harddisk out of the Libretto, you can use the following trick (which I did on my old Digital, but should work flawlessly IF YOU ARE VERY CAREFUL AND EXACT - if you are not, it may be helpful if you know & realize in full what you are doing!). What is described here is a way to get an OS/2 prompt on the Libretto without taking the harddisk out; using Windows 95 or higher may make the job a little easier, but it is definitely not needed. You do need another computer for this which is running OS/2 (optionally also Windows '95 or '98); it is very desirable to have a (RedHat) Linux installation CD, in particular its FDISK, in order to make the partitions. Once you got an OS/2 prompt, you can use a CID install to set up a maintenance system and finally use that to install OS/2 in full.

1. Use RedHat Linux 5.2 FDISK program to make the desired partitioning scheme (as Windows FDISK may screw up the master boot record, Windows FORMAT may screw up the boot sector entries and OS/2 is fuzzy regarding proper master boot record entries). You need at least three partitions: One (primary) to hold the CID install structure + optional fixpaks (about 100 Mb) and optionally Windows (add another 100 Mb then), one for a maintenance installation of OS/2 (might be a logical partition; at least 30 Mb), and another one where OS/2 is to be installed finally. If you want your final OS/2 installed in an extended (logical) partition, you need another primary partition, just for the first round; below it will be referred to as the "final" partition, too. Be sure that all OS/2 partitions are within the 1024 cylinder limit. You might need to reserve an empty primary partition slot in the MBR for the OS/2 boot manager (at least temporarily). Format the maintenance and final OS/2 partition as FAT16
2. Install the CID directory structure from your other computer. It had best be put on a FAT16 partition for the time being. Optionally install Windows 95 or 98 (whatever you like) on that partition on the Libretto; do not use FAT32. Be sure to add Winzip to it then.
3. Then either:

   Use your other OS/2 computer to make a single boot floppy using BOOTOS2 (BOOTOS2.ZIP) including LXLITE (lxlt131.zip).

   or:

   More or less like my attempt# 2, setup up a bare OS/2 system on any computer where Windows 95 is also running. Use WinZip to pack the whole of OS/2 (including system and hidden files and all subdirectories and pathnames) to a ZIP-file. You might create the ZIP file on a floppies (WinZip prompts for the next floppies automatically) or Iomega Zip-floppies.

4. Use DOS or Windows 95 DEBUG to create a file from the OS/2 boot sector on that other computer. Type: (Mind you, in the lines below, everything after <Enter> (which means: hit the Enter key) is a comment and must not be typed in) :

Debug <Enter>

L cs:100 $ 00 1 <Enter> where $ is the number of the OS/2 partition. 0=A, 1=B etc.

r cx <Enter>

200 <Enter>

n os2boot.br <Enter>

w <Enter>

q <Enter>

Now you have a file on disk called OS2BOOT.BR, size 512 bytes, containing the boot sector of the OS/2 partition.

5. Either: Copy all files on the BOOTOS2 boot floppy to the final OS/2 partition. Be sure to copy the file OS2BOOT, too (you might need to reset its system & hidden attributes first: ATTRIB -s -h a:OS2BOOT, and set them afterwards: Attrib +h +s [Drive]:OS2BOOT). EA DATA. SF does not need to be copied!

   Then be sure to edit the CONFIG.SYS copied from the BOOTOS2 boot disk and change all references to drive A: to your final OS/2 drive.

   Also change the line "BASEDEV=IBMFLPY1.ADD" to "BASEDEV=IBMFLPY1.ADD /A:0 /i" to instruct OS/2 to ignore the floppy drive altogether.

   If you are smart, copy KEYBOARD.DCP from your other OS/2 computer. Then you will be able to use the keyboard normally instead of searching for the ":" and "\" keys!

   Also copy some other useful files to the OS2 & OS2\DLL directories, like FDISK, etc.

   Finally, copy the file OS2BOOT.BR to this partition.

   or: Get the ZIP-file onto the Libretto someway, a good place would be the Windows 95 partition. Also copy the file OS2BOOT.BR to that place.

   Use Winzip to unpack it all to the final OS/2 partition on the Libretto ("restore all pathnames"). Your OS/2 system is fully present now, but can't be booted yet.

   Use a text editor to change the drive letters in ALL the OS/2 CONFIG.* files you can find on the final OS/2 partition to the proper drive letter on the Libretto (remember, after unZipping these drive letters refer to the other computer!). Check out OS2\BOOT and other subdirs too!

6. And now comes the trick: how to cook a proper OS/2 boot sector. You will need DOS or Windows 95 DEBUG for this. The problem is that we need both the jump instruction and the boot routine from the OS2BOOT.BR (the boot sector from the other computer). However, between these is info on the disk layout and absolute sectors which still refers to the other computer. We have to combine the two boot records using DEBUG. Mind you, in the lines below, everything after <Enter> (which means: hit the Enter key) is a comment and must not be typed in:

Debug <Enter>

L cs:100 # 00 1 <Enter> (load first (=boot) sector; # refers to the final OS/2 partition number, 0=A, 1=B, etc)

m cs:0103 011d cs:0303 <Enter> (save the final OS/2 partition info (media/sectors/heads etc) in memory)

n os2boot.br <Enter> (OS/2 boot sector file)

r cx <Enter> (read only first 512 bytes of the file)

200 <Enter> (Debug echoes a colon; 200 hex = 512 decimal)

L <Enter> (Load the OS/2 boot sector which originated from the other computer)

m cs:0303 031d cs:0103 <Enter> (Fudge sector/media/heads/absolute sector stuff of final partition in)

w cs:100 # 00 1 <Enter> (write it back to disk - # is again partition number)

q <Enter>

Now you have a complete OS/2 partition, ready for being booted.

7. Using Linux or DOS or Windows FDISK, you can make this the active partition. Do so. OS/2 will be able to boot now.

If you installed a bare OS/2 system using WinZip, OS/2 will probably complain that it cannot find the Workplace and will then open an OS/2 prompt in a window.

• (To avoid this, boot just an OS/2 command prompt: as soon as the white rectangle appears in the upper left, hit <Alt><F1> and choose <C> from the menu.)
• (If OS/2 is installed on a partition with the same drive letter as on the other computer, you may be lucky! - you might have an almost fully functional OS/2! But I would nevertheless proceed as outlined below.)

OS/2 will then be able to boot, using an older configuration. That is the reason that you had to change drive letters in all CONFIG.* files you could find on the final OS/2 partition!

8. You now have an OS/2 prompt which you can use to install:

• OS/2 boot manager (start FDISK)
• A maintenance system on the maintenance partition using the CID-directory structure.

After having setup the maintenance system, you can use a CID install to get OS/2 up and running on the final partition (overwriting the one transferred from the other computer); if needed on a HPFS partition!

If you do not have Linux (i.e. its FDISK) OS/2's FDISK may complain and only allow you to delete all other partitions other than the final partition (where FDISK was started from). I guess that does not harm, as Windows can be very easily reinstalled (Windows recognizes the PCMCIA floppy drive). Once all offending partitions are deleted, you can proceed in the same FDISK session to set up the final partitioning scheme.