OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Setup & Installation

Tested three systems with ArcaOS ('98, '01, '07), one of them worked

(1/4) > >>

voidstar:
I recently got ArcaOS.   Here are some notes of three systems that I tried it on while trying to find some hardware that would work with it:


***********************************************************
I tried a Gateway Solo Pentium III with 288MB RAM (system from about 1998)

  EDIT: Got this working by taking the install from the Precision M60 and mirroring it over to another 2.5" drive for this Gateway system (i.e. Gateway Solo hardware works with ArcaOS, only issue is the system can't boot from a DVD).

  I can use CD-ROM to boot GPARTED,  [ confirm CD-ROM is working ]

  but I can't use DVD-R disc to boot ArcaOS    [ drive on the side is labeled "DVD" etched in the plastic, so not a CD-ROM drive-only issue ]

  Can't get USB boot working (BIOS only offers ATAPI Removeable media, perhaps it means the PCMCIA card slot?)

  The system has 2x USB slots on the side - I also tried an external USB-DVD drive to boot ArcaOS, but that didn't work either. 
     Perhaps I need the docking station, and the side-mounted USB are strictly only for keyboard and mouse?  (1.1 stuff?)


***********************************************************
I tried a Dell Precision M60 (circa 2002, Pentium M, 1GB RAM)
  Boot GPARTED CD, deleted ALL partitions  (80GB old PATA drive)
  System has F12 Boot Menu, selected USB Device
  Booted ArcaOS from USB 2GB thumbdrive
  Made 20GB Startable partition (JFS)
  ArcaOS install went to 100%   [ system beeped at 3% and 47%, not sure why ]
  Reboot worked, ArcaOS loaded from HDD (and audio worked!)
  Haven't tested networking yet - but excited to be able to try some OS/2 again!

*********************************************************
I tried a Shuttle XPS with Pentium E2180 CPU with 4GB RAM, 1TB SATA SSD  (circa 2007 system)
  [ the Shuttle XPS is some integrated IPS heatsink thing for the CPU, small motherboard - think a bit
    smaller or more narrow than ATX; motherboard also has floppy disk (1x), PATA/IDE, and 2x SATA ]

  Set drive to Large in the BIOS

  Booted GPARTED, deleted ALL partitions.  Saved that (F2).

  Couldn't boot USB (tried two different 2GB thumbsticks). 
    BIOS only has boot options for USB-FDD, USB-CDROM, USB-ZIP
    none of these USB-XXX options allowed me USB boot (tried both front and rear ports)

  Booted ArcaOS from a DVD+R media disc, was able to complete the install !
    but then ArcaOS doesn't start from hard drive  :(

  EDIT: Got this working by using "System | Boot Menu | Install/Update" to install the AIRBoot to the system partition.

  Tried 110GB JFS partition (install went to 100%, but after reboot got nada - just blinking cursor)
  Tried 110GB HPFS partition (it said format complete, but then install copy sat at 0% for over 30min)

  [ I tried 110GB just to keep it under 128GB partition ...  I also tried a smaller 8GB partition, same result  ]


-------------------------------

Is it possible to make a CD-ROM install of ArcaOS ?  (sorry brand new here - didn't search yet )

Amazon has some cheap CompactFlash to PCMCIA adapters, maybe I'll see if one of those works as an ATAPI removeable disk on the Pentium III system?


Dave Yeo:
Hi voldstar, welcome. I wonder if you have a good DVD and the ISO correctly written? Your first PIII should have got further with the DVD boot. Even the USB DVD should have worked.
You can't have a 110 GB HPFS partition, it's limited to 64GB (in practice closer to 60GB and chkdsk takes forever), the JFS install should have worked. Almost sounds like something went wrong with the partitioning. Without seeing the install logs it's hard to say. Perhaps boot to the maintenance desktop from the DVD and run diskutil.
Can't do a CDRom install, the ISO is just too big.

Doug Bissett:

--- Quote ---I tried a Gateway Solo Pentium III with 288MB RAM (system from about 1998)
  I can use CD-ROM to boot GPARTED,  [ confirm CD-ROM is working ]
  but I can't use DVD-R disc to boot ArcaOS    [ drive on the side is labeled "DVD" etched in the plastic, so not a CD-ROM drive-only issue ]
  Can't get USB boot working (BIOS only offers ATAPI Removeable media, perhaps it means the PCMCIA card slot?)
  The system has 2x USB slots on the side - I also tried an external USB-DVD drive to boot ArcaOS, but that didn't work either
--- End quote ---

That machine should work (I seem to recall that Gateway did not make very good machines, so it may not), but will be pretty much useless (not enough memory). If the drive really is a DVD drive, it should boot, IF the machine is smart enough to do it. My similar vintage IBM ThinkPad A22e (with 256 MB memory, and DVD RW drive) installs ArcaOS, with no trouble. A few years ago, I tried to run the current Firefox (probably around version 20, at that time). It took 20 minutes to get to a blank home page. Forget PCMCIA, it is far more trouble than it is worth. ATAPI removeable probably means CD, or DVD. USB should also work, but it seems that the machine is not smart enough to boot from USB. You need to determine if the drive really is a DVD drive, and that it works properly.


--- Quote ---I tried a Dell Precision M60 (circa 2001/2002)
  Boot GPARTED CD, deleted ALL partitions  (80GB old PATA drive)
  System has F12 Boot Menu, selected USB Device
  Booted ArcaOS from USB 2GB thumbdrive
  Made 20GB Startable partition (JFS)
  ArcaOS install went to 100%   [ system beeped at 3% and 47%, not sure why ]
  Reboot worked, ArcaOS loaded from HDD (and audio worked!)
  Haven't tested networking yet - but excited to be able to try some OS/2 again!
--- End quote ---

This sounds like a candidate. First thing: put the GPARTED CD out of reach. It is okay to prove that you can boot from a CD, but DO NOT EVER use anything other than the tools in ArcaOS to partition disk drives that will be used with ArcaOS.

The beeps are part of the original OS/2 installer. Ignore them.


--- Quote ---I tried a Shuttle XPS with Pentium E2180 CPU with 4GB RAM, 1TB SATA SSD  (circa 2007 system)
  [ the Shuttle XPS is some integrated IPS heatsink thing for the CPU, small motherboard - think a bit
    smaller or more narrow than ATX; motherboard also has floppy disk (1x), PATA/IDE, and 2x SATA ]
--- End quote ---

I don't know anything about that machine. I suspect it is one of those things that need some special handling (or it just doesn't work).

For now, Learn on the DELL. You probably should do some serious reading at: https://www.arcanoae.com/wiki/, and ask more questions.


--- Quote ---Is it possible to make a CD-ROM install of ArcaOS ?  (sorry brand new here - didn't search yet )
--- End quote ---

It should be possible, but you had better know what you are doing if you want to try it. I suggest forgetting that approach.

voidstar:

--- Quote from: Dave Yeo on February 28, 2023, 05:16:25 am ---I wonder if you have a good DVD and the ISO correctly written? Your first PIII should have got further with the DVD boot. Even the USB DVD should have worked.
You can't have a 110 GB HPFS partition, it's limited to 64GB (in practice closer to 60GB and chkdsk takes forever), the JFS install should have worked. Almost sounds like something went wrong with the partitioning. Without seeing the install logs it's hard to say. Perhaps boot to the maintenance desktop from the DVD and run diskutil.
Can't do a CDRom install, the ISO is just too big.

--- End quote ---

Regarding the Gateway PIII system:

- I just tried using a factory fresh media of Windows 7 32-bit and also Windows 98, and those didn't boot either.  Is there some difference with DVD-ROM drives? IIRC, DVD-R is older than DVD+R, so the media I've been using is DVD-R (although, 10+ year old media at that).   But again, I'm having issues with "factory fresh" so looks like the hardware is having issue.

- I've been using Puppy Linux on that PIII system.  I tried getting Firefox to work, but gave up -- I recall reading somewhere that Firefox really needs 512+ MB.   PuppyLinux runs decently well and has quite a bit of features, networking worked out of the box, and then download Palemoon for web browsing on 256MB.

EDIT: update notes about the memory...
- I have 2x memory chips, each one has a sticker on it saying 256MB.  However, it actually says "256MB SYNC", so I'm thinking it's actually a "256MB kit" where each one is 128MB.   In any case, if I remove both memory chips, the system still boots up indicating 32MB - so it has some "hidden" internal memory somewhere.  As noted it was booting to 288MB (256 + 32).   The actual memory chips are 8x hynix HY57V561620BT-H (4x on each side).   I'm not sure how to decode hynix part numbers.   If I insert only one chip (tried both of them, individually) it boots with 128+32MB (160MB).  memtest says each chip is fine.

- In my old notes, somehow I concluded the 2x USB ports that system has on the side are only USB 1.1.  I'm not sure how I would have determined that.  The Solo 9300 manual doesn't clarify.

- Attached below is an image of the DVD-ROM from that PIII (Gateway Solo Pro 9300).    Despite it saying DVD-ROM, I've only been able to boot CD media from it.   Puppy Linux is about 388MB, and GPARTED as mentioned fits on a CD.
EDIT:  No room atm for a 300KB image attachment - but sticker says 11X/24X CD and 1.8X/4X DVD.   But also says "DVD-ROM"

- to recap, my issue on the PIII system isn't yet ArcaOS related -- I just that I can't get that system to boot from DVD or USB yet.  It does have a built in 3.5" disk drive, which I've booted MinuetOS from that.

- I have the original power supply unit, so I wouldn't think it is a power issue to the DVD drive.  Can't recall if DVD and CD use the same laser?


Bummer, would be nice to confirm if ArcaOS would otherwise work on this.   I'll have to wait till I can find a different swapable DVD drive to try.   OR, find a CD (or disk, lol) install of ArcaOS.    Meanwhile, PuppyLinux goes on this one.

voidstar:

--- Quote from: Doug Bissett on February 28, 2023, 05:31:11 am ---
--- Quote ---This sounds like a candidate. First thing: put the GPARTED CD out of reach. It is okay to prove that you can boot from a CD, but DO NOT EVER use anything other than the tools in ArcaOS to partition disk drives that will be used with ArcaOS.

--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---

Well - I fought with installing ArcaOS for quite a while on that Dell Precision M60.  ArcaOS would boot, then it would say I have to "fix" the partition on the drive -- but then that would fail, saying it couldn't fix it.     Don't have a photo, so I forget the exact wording.    The only way I could get it to go was to blast away all existing partitions using a GPARTED boot CD (it previously had Windows7 installed on the drive -- probably partitioned to use the entire drive since it's only an 80GB).  The stock ArcaOS installer wasn't giving me options to delete any existing partitions.

Indeed, I didn't use GPARTED to define any other new partitions - just left it entirely non-partitioned.  Then after that, the ArcaOS boot DVD let me use the drive (and define new startable partition).

NOTE: This is the same ArcaOS boot DVD that I was trying in the Solo laptop PIII system mentioned earlier.  So it suggest to me the media is ok.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

Go to full version