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

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

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voidstar:
Separate reply regarding the Shuttle XPC system that I was trying also, just in case someone tries similar in the future:

Shuttle Inc XPC systems are pretty obscure - can't find any specific manuals online (the one I got was at Fry's Electronics years ago).
The motherboard is labeled FD30V10 but the system itself is SD30V10

Only reference I can find is a set of 32-bit and 64-bit drivers from Windows XP on up to Windows 10:
https://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/shuttle/laptops-desktops/sd30v10/12902

That least gives clue to some of the chipset parts:
Intel 82801G
Intel 945G
Marvell Yukon ethernet


The only reason I keep it is because it's one of the last systems I have still with IDE (PATA 40-pin) and 3.5" 34-pin disk drive support.

It also only supports 4GB.  I tried upgrading it to 8GB a couple of times, just wouldn't go (it's a compact case with only 2 memory slots, but it just won't accept >2GB memory sticks -- or at least I couldn't find any compatibles ones, so 2x2GB is it).  Sad since the E2180 is a 64-bit processor.  But I figured with only 4GB max, it might be a good candidate to try ArcaOS 32-bit on.

And ArcaOS did install - it's just that after the final reboot, then the hard drive wouldn't boot ArcaOS (just sits at a blinking cursor).  It's a 1TB SATA SSD.  The install only worked after setting the drive to "Large" in the BIOS.   But moot anyway, the OS installs but drive won't boot.  I tried both an 8GB JFS partition and also 110GB partition.


I don't have any actual PATA/IDE drives at the moment - I'll seek one out, see if that makes a difference (would like to verify the IDE stuff is working anyway).

As another option -- shouldn't it be possible to install ArcaOS to a 2GB USB thumbstick?  So boot from the DVD, set the thumbstick as the install target?  Might try that this weekend.

Dave Yeo:
Seems the XPC should work, it would be interesting to see the testlog from the system.
Boot the install DVD, at the beginning of the install drop into the maintenance desktop, open a cmd prompt and do "testlog generic" without the quotes, copy the testlog from Z:\var\temp (IIRC, it says where it is) to a USB stick.
As for installing to a USB stick, the USB drivers only load late during the boot, so no way for the kernel to read the USB stick to boot. It is why the installer creates a ramdisk to run OS/2 from for the install.

Doug Bissett:
What Dave said...

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.[/quote]

The "fix" thing indicates that you have not properly partitioned the drive. READ the appropriate information at the Arca Noae wiki (link posted earlier). You do need to create properly aligned partitions (done by using MiniLVM). There are tools (based on DFSEE) to handle various disk problems.

Dave Yeo:
Gparted should be fine for wiping the beginning of the disk. In CHS mode, it can almost partition in an OS/2 friendly way.

Rich Walsh:

--- Quote from: voidstar on February 28, 2023, 04:00:39 am ---  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)

--- End quote ---

I wrote a lot of the USB boot stuff ("AOSBoot"), so let me offer some insights...

AOSBoot will only work on machines that support USB Mass Storage (USB-MSD). Ideally, the USB stick will just be listed as another hard drive - there usually isn't an explicit USB-MSD option.  Some BIOSs in that transitional period didn't provide full mass-storage support but could navigate a partition table then boot the partition in the first slot as a large floppy. In this case, you'd select the "USB Removable"  option (e.g. "USB-ZIP").

No effort was made to support unpartitioned media (i.e. "large floppy" mode) because any system that was too old to provide USB-MSD probably wouldn't perform very well (or at all in the case of a browser). Still, I think it _may_ be possible if you have a 2gb stick (I can't test this myself because I burned up all my 2gb's years ago). Let me know if you're insterested.


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

--- End quote ---

Did you install to a primary partition or to a logical? If a logical, OS/2 will not boot to it without the help of a compatible boot manager, i.e. "AirBoot".  Even if you used a primary and called it 'C:' there are still good reasons to install it. Since it replaces the boot-sector code with its own, you should get _something_ at startup if the disk is functional.  Assuming its menu appears, you should see your partition(s) listed - if not the partitioning has problems. Finally, what happens when you boot your AOS partition? Blinking cursor, error message from AIrBoot, or success?

To add AirBoot, boot from the DVD to the installer, then select the System Management button in the lower right. On the next screen, under 'Disk' select 'MiniLVM' (I'm working from memory here). When that opens, select System->BootMenu->Install/Update. Finally, shut down, reboot, hope...

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