Installation Guide

This guide covers different ways to install and run bootOS.

Installation Methods

Option 1: QEMU Emulator (Recommended)

QEMU is the easiest way to run bootOS.

macOS:

brew install nasm qemu

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt-get install nasm qemu-system-x86

Windows:

1. Download NASM from www.nasm.us
2. Download QEMU from www.qemu.org
3. Add both to your PATH

Option 2: VirtualBox

VirtualBox works well with bootOS:

1. Install VirtualBox from virtualbox.org
2. Create a new VM with these settings:
   • Type: Other
   • Version: DOS
   • Memory: 4 MB (minimum)
   • No hard disk
3. Attach os.img as a floppy disk

Option 3: Real Hardware

For the authentic experience on real hardware:

Linux/macOS:

# Write to a real floppy disk
dd if=os.img of=/dev/fd0

# Or create a bootable disk image
dd if=/dev/zero of=oszero.img count=719 bs=512
cat os.img oszero.img > osbase.img

Disk size counts:

• 360K: 719 blocks
• 720K: 1439 blocks
• 1.44M: 2879 blocks

Windows: Use a tool like Rufus or rawrite to write the image to a floppy disk.

Creating Disk Images

360K Image

dd if=/dev/zero of=oszero.img count=719 bs=512
cat os.img oszero.img > os360k.img

720K Image

dd if=/dev/zero of=oszero.img count=1439 bs=512
cat os.img oszero.img > os720k.img

1.44M Image

dd if=/dev/zero of=oszero.img count=2879 bs=512
cat os.img oszero.img > os1440k.img

Verifying Installation

After installation, boot the system and verify:

1. You see the bootOS prompt: $
2. Run ver command - should display "bootOS"
3. Run format to initialize the filesystem
4. Run dir - should show an empty directory

Supported Disk Sizes

bootOS works with any floppy disk size starting at 180K:

• 360K (Double-Sided Double-Density)
• 720K (Double-Sided Quad-Density)
• 1.2M (High-Density 5.25")
• 1.44M (High-Density 3.5")

Note: bootOS only uses the first two sectors and then the first sector of each following track, so larger disks will have wasted space.

Next Steps

• Building from Source
• Quick Start Guide
• Commands Reference