My FreeDOS playground.

Usage

Install Packer.

NB FreeDOS/DOS is not a multi-task system, so it does not really have a ssh/telnet server which could be used by packer. so when you build this, packer will never succeed, but you will be able to create the disk image.

qemu-kvm usage

Install qemu-kvm:

apt-get install -y qemu-kvm
apt-get install -y sysfsutils
systool -m kvm_intel -v

Type make build-libvirt.

When the VM shutdowns, save the disk image:

mv output-freedos-1.2-libvirt/packer-freedos-1.2-libvirt freedos-1.2-libvirt.img.orig
cp freedos-1.2-libvirt.img{.orig,}

Then manually kill qemu.

Then manually start the VM:

qemu-system-i386 \
    -name freedos-1.2 \
    -machine type=pc,accel=kvm \
    -m 32 \
    -smp 1 \
    -display sdl \
    -serial telnet:127.0.0.1:4444,server,nowait \
    -net nic,model=pcnet \
    -net user \
    -drive file=freedos-1.2-libvirt.img,if=ide,format=qcow2 \
    -boot c

Try some commands:

ver
mem /c
mem /full
c:\mtcp\htget -o rmenu-17.zip http://www.bttr-software.de/products/jhoffmann/rmenu-17.zip
unzip -l rmenu-17.zip
rem "help" will not really work when used from the serial port.
help

Console redirection to the Serial port

You can partially redirect the screen/keyboard to the serial port:

ctty com1

BUT bear in mind that the serial port will be bypassed when the application (e.g. edit, fdisk, etc.) directly writes to the screen.

Then, on the host, use telnet to access it:

telnet localhost 4444

You can use the following command to redirect back to the console:

ctty con

Packer boot_command

As FreeDOS does not have any way to be pre-seeded, this environment has to answer all the installer questions through the packer boot_command interface. This is quite fragile, so be aware when you change anything. The following table describes the current steps and corresponding answers.

step	boot_command
select Install to harddisk and wait for boot	i<enter><wait10>
answer What is your preferred language? with English	<enter><wait>
answer Do you want to proceed? with Yes - Continue with the installation	<enter><wait>
answer Do you want to partition your drive? with Yes - Partition drive C:	<up><enter><wait>
answer Do you want to use large disk (FAT32) support (Y/N)?	Y<enter><wait>
select 1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive	1<enter><wait>
select 1. Create Primary DOS Partition	1<enter><wait>
answer Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition and make the partition active (Y/N)?	Y<enter><wait>
select Press Esc to continue	<esc><wait>
select Press Esc to exit FDISK	<esc><wait>
select Press Esc to exit FDISK	<esc><wait>
answer Do you want to reboot now? with Yes - Please reboot now	<enter><wait>
wait for reboot to finish	<wait10>
select Install to harddisk and wait for boot to finish	i<enter><wait10>
answer What is your preferred language? with English	<enter><wait>
answer Do you want to proceed? with Yes - Continue with the installation	<enter><wait>
answer Do you want to format your drive? with Yes - Please erase and format drive C:	<up><enter><wait>
wait for the format to finish	<wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10>
answer Please select your keyboard layout with default US English (Default)	<enter><wait>
answer What FreeDOS packages do you want to install? with default Full installation	<enter><wait>
answer Do you want to install now? with Yes - Please install FreeDOS 1.2	<up><enter><wait>
wait for the install to finish	<wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10>
wait for the install to finish	<wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10><wait10>
answer Do you want to reboot now? with Yes - Please reboot now	<enter><wait>
wait for reboot to finish	<wait10>
select Boot from harddisk and wait for boot	h<enter><wait10>
shutdown	shutdown<enter><wait>

Reference

• http://freedos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Networking_FreeDOS_complete
• http://wiki.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/VirtualBox
• http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/
• http://www.easydos.com/ctty.html
• http://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/command/ctty.htm