OS/2 Booting with Bootman

[_AP]

Hi.  I successfully installed OS/2 Warp 4.52 (14.086) on my Thinkpad T42p.

I had some issues at first but resolved then with the Scitech video driver.  I tried to figure out my boot situation from other posts here, but was getting a bit overwhelmed.  I was hoping someone might be able to offer advice for my particular case.

I partitioned the drive into 3 primary partitions. Windows, OS/2, and BeOS.  Then I made 4 logical partitions for Haiku, and other projects that I hadn't gotten to.  I installed OS/2 to partition 2, and it was working up until I installed the BeOS Bootman.  Boot Manager installs into the MBR, and boots the partition.  I'm assuming OS/2 boot manager also installs to the MBR, because I was unable to use the BeOS boot manager to boot the OS/2 partition.  No errors occur, it just appears to be in bootable.

Is there an advanced way to install OS/2 to not use the MBR?  I want to use BeOS as I already know it can boot my other partitions.

Some options I think I have:

Can I use some boot manager like Lilo installed into a different partition to boot OS/2? (I can use this for other OS's.

Can OS/2 be booted from a PCMCIA to CF card that I have in the Thinkpad?  I'm unable to see it from OS/2 and don't know if there is a driver I need.

Is there a way to install the OS/2 booter directly into the OS/2 partition, and if so, how would I do that?

I appreciate any help to my long winded question. :-)

[Dave Yeo]

OS/2 needs to know which drive it is booted from. The standard way is to install BootManager in a small primary partition using LVM. You could chain boot it from your Bootman, I've done similar with Grub, or use it to boot all OS's. The newer way is to install AirBoot into the MBR, which would break your Bootman.
Understand that OS/2 is picky about the partition layout, it has to be CHS partitioned (unless using the latest ArcaOS) and the way for OS/2 to co-exist with other operating systems is that all partitioning has to be done with OS/2 tools, LVM with Warp 4.52. during this process BootManager can be installed and the OS's can be added. Afterwards you can use the other operating system tools to change partition type, format etc
If you don't want to start over, DFSee, dfsee.com might be able to save you by fixing the CHS values to how OS/2 likes them, shrinking a partition so have room for BootManager and IIRC, installing BootManager. Unluckily I don't think dfsee supports the BEOS file system so you would have to shrink the Windows partition and you still need a primary for BootManager.
Also a good idea to have a FAT32 partition for sharing data between the operating systems, FAT32 support has to be added to OS/2 after install, or use a FAT partition, which means for OS/2 8.3 name limits.
No you can't boot OS/2 from a CF card unless the hardware presents as an IDE drive.

BTW, Lenovo has (had?) a SNAP build for T42's, at least those with an ATI video display, also a sound driver. Don't know the URL as it has been a long time since I installed it to my T42. You can also use the Uniaud sound driver and the SNAP you have does work besides DPMS support.
Edit: feel free to ask more questions

[_AP]

Thanks.  I was able to get the video drivers all set with the snap driver.

I don't want to use OS/2 boot manager, as the BeOS boot manager can already boot everything else in any other file system.  I couldn't find a way to have a different partition for the booting of OS/2.  I may be able to make that work if I add that booting partition with bootman.

I think this computer does show the CF card as an ide drive in its PCMCIA adapter, but so far I can't see the drive in OS/2.  Only Windows.  I may be missing a driver, but I feel like it should exists since my computer is officially supported by OS2, unless they neglected that.

Can grub be installed into the root of a partition?  I can't mess with MBR for BeOS sake.

Thanks for the tip on shared drive.  I often do that where possible, but usually I use FTP.

[Dave Yeo]

Both BootManager and Airboot can boot any file system as long as you use OS/2 tools for setting things up. I use Airboot to boot everything om my MBR drives, including BeOS and Linux. I used to use BootManager but it can't handle drives over 500GB or so. While BootManager needs a primary partition (as small as you can make it works), Airboot installs in the MBR
IIRC, if OS/2 is installed on a primary and is given the C: drive letter, you can get by without a bootmanager. I guess that is why OS/2 was working fine until you installed Bootman which likely wiped out the LVM info that OS/2 needs on the MBR. I have always installed OS/2 on an extended partition and never as C:
I don't have experience with PCMIA but likely the drivers install too late in the boot process to use for booting.
Grub can be installed in an EBR rather then the MBR, it's how I install it so I can chain load it.

As I said, it should be possible to install BootManager in a small primary, OS/2 in an extended partition and use Bootman to boot to BootManager which then loads OS/2. With a zero timeout you wouldn't even notice it.

[_AP]

I don't really know what LVM does to MBR, are you saying I should install BeOS bootman first, then install OS/2, with its boot manager being in a smal primary partition, and then BeOS bootman can boot that partition which points to OS/2 partition?

Do I have to pay attention to any installable vs star table with the two OS2 partitions?

[Dave Yeo]

I'm not totally sure what LVM does with the MBR as well. Generally LVM stashes some data in the MBR/EBR about drive letters, newer OS/2 lets you assign any drive letter you want to a partition, whereas older (Warp 4 or earlier) just assigned drive letters under the same rules as DOS. It also allows JFS volumes to span partitions.
Yes, I think that installing Bootman first, then BootManager in a small primary. OS/2 can be installed anywhere on the size of HD you likely have with the T42 and will install to an extended partition fine.
I don't know anything about Bootman and whether it respects reserved space in the MBR so guess you will have to test.

[_AP]

Wow.  Thanks.  I tested it out in a virtual machine (install takes a while with physical CD).  I used BeOS to make a BeOS partition, OS/2 Boot manager partition (drive setup had this option), and a HPFS/NTFS partition.  This does not format it.  I actually couldn't format as HPFS or OS/2 Boot manager.

Then I installed BeOS, and it's boot manager.

Then I installed OS/2.  I setup the one partition as C.  I couldn't set up one as "startable" and one as "installable".  I would like to know that process even though I may not need it now.

At this point OS/2 was booting, and seemed to have messed up the BeOS bootman in the MBR.  However after reinstalling BeOS, and it's bootman, it was able to boot OS/2.  It didn't seem like I needed the separate OS/2 boot partition.  I can tell better about the process for those who may need it after I install on the Thinkpad.

[Dave Yeo]

Good, I'm somewhat surprised that OS/2 was happy with using BeOS to partition, OS/2 is picky and it is usually recommended to use OS/2 to do all the partitioning.
I've never actually installed OS/2 4.5.2, with OS/2 3 or 4 you use fdisk and can set the partitions startable or installable. I'd assume it would be similar but using LVM. eCs and ArcaOS have updated disk managers and installers. Also bootable JFS so no need for HPFS.

[_AP]

I'm running into some issues with Windows XP and OS/2.  They aren't playing nice.  Neither one seems to want to install to anything other than C:

How can I install OS/2 Warp 4.52 to D:  I can set D: to startable, but not installable I'm LVM.

I have
16GB Windows XP
8GB OS/2
40GB BeOS
    Logical
32GB Haiku
20GB Slackware

If I install OS/2 first, on C:, Windows XP will only install to C:, and I can't change the drive letter during installation.  So I would like to install OS/2 to D:, if I can't install XP to D:.

[Dave Yeo]

Can you hide the XP volume from OS/2? Otherwise I think you will have to install boot manager before you can make D: installable

[Remy]

I'm running into some issues with Windows XP and OS/2.  They aren't playing nice.  Neither one seems to want to install to anything other than C:

How can I install OS/2 Warp 4.52 to D:  I can set D: to startable, but not installable I'm LVM.

I have
16GB Windows XP
8GB OS/2
40GB BeOS
    Logical
32GB Haiku
20GB Slackware

If I install OS/2 first, on C:, Windows XP will only install to C:, and I can't change the drive letter during installation.  So I would like to install OS/2 to D:, if I can't install XP to D:.

Hum!

What was your latest boot partition via your boot manager ?
If it was C:, try to change it one time to D: and only after try to install OS/2 from the DVD.

I had something like you using airboot with already defined partitions and resolved it changing selected partition under airboot first.

[_AP]

Hmm.  I didn't think to change the drive letter in XP first.  I think it's not simple as registry issues can happen.  I'll go that route and let you know how it goes.

The BeOS boot manager just boots based on partition number.  I'm
Not sure what the OS/2 boot manager does.  When the windows boot manager is active just booting XP, it's just the default setup with the first partition being C:, until OS/2 interferes.  I think if I can successfully get XP booting with D:, I should be all set.

[Alex Taylor]

What's the problem with installing both OS/2 and XP to C:? They both use their own drive letter logic and neither one should know (or care) what drive letter the other thinks it has.

[_AP]

I seem to be unable to do so.  I also can not have XP as a non C: drive it seems.  What's the exact process I should follow?  I can't find it anywhere online.

Edit:  I just found out you can manually create a volume/lvm in LVM.  If I select the CD or any other volume, I can "Create Volume" and set it to be able to be made bootable.  Then I could select the partition for OS2.  After that I can change the drive letters the way I want, with the XP partition hidden.  I'm not sure why I was missing this and why it only had this issue when I got Windows XP involved.

Edit 2:  I remember now.  I had formatted with BeOS the OS2 partition type as OS2 boot manager, or as some other non windows partition.  I did this because my first failure had Windows XP install boot files into C, and Windows system files into "D" which was my planned OS2 partition.  I did this to prevent Windows from seeing it during install.

OS2 not seeing the partition as something it could use, didn't create the LVM compatibility volume for it.  I didn't know until now how to manually create.

I'll let you all know how it went.

[_AP]

OK maybe I need more help.  After the install of OS/2, Windows XP now sees that drive as C:, and sees its own drive as D:, and is unable to boot.  How can I change letter for Windows XP

Edit:  I would just test, but the OS/2 boot situation is messed up.  I don't want to reinstall.  Can I fix the MBR for os2 without reinstall?