From: clsnowyowl@gmail.com   
      
   On Sunday, February 5, 2023 at 2:57:51 PM UTC-6, vjp...@at.biost   
   ategist.dot.dot.com wrote:   
   > I have a laptop with no OS.. well I messed it up   
   >   
   > I tried to reformat with GParted, but it was supsiciously fast. Formatting   
   > should take forever, right? I'm going to try bootable DOS ISO. Some   
   > mentioned EasyBCD but it does seem proprietary, and GParted terminal has a   
   > pretty complete BASH. But then I am thinkig to format FAT16 initially.   
   >   
   > It had w7 but moving the partition messed it up and notheing else will load   
      
   Win 7 (numerous versions) or x86 and 64 bit compatible, depending on what   
   version   
   you use. The partition table is setup according to the system processor's core   
   memory   
   (which is either a 32 bit or a 64 bit configuration, depending upon what the   
   processor   
   and co-processor can handle and its spec.'s, etc...). I will say if the   
   systems are more than   
   15-20 years old (at this time), they are probably 32 bit (if they date back to   
   the 90's, then   
   you're dealing with FAT 16 and FAT 32 [which are usually prior versions of   
   windows that   
   you can still technically get, but are outmoded now- and not Microsoft   
   supported...]...)   
      
   Then the hard drive (and hardware) type have to match up to the processor, as   
   well as the   
   RAM, the other components, etc... compatibility is key there.   
   >   
   > I decided I want to put XP on it, because w7 doesn't like to be moved   
   >   
   > I am trying to replicate an old set up (2007 AOpen desktop - won't be able to   
   > access) where I used GParted and GRUB to triple boot MSDOS 6.22, XP and   
   > QUantian (Knoppix/Debian)   
   >   
   > Laptop and OSes are all old, probably as old as my old set up.   
   >   
   > Seems one major issue is IDE Legacy vs UEFI, and MBT vs GPT.   
   > Apparently old DOS wants to be the first sector.   
   >   
      
   That may be the default setting, but it does not have to be-- things are set   
   up according   
   to bootability, then boot order of the drives, and where on the drive you want   
   to start   
   writing-- all in accordance with the capability of the system. I recently did   
   a clean reinstall   
   of win7 PRO on a new 2 TB micro SATA HDD for a consumer. I used a USB drive to   
   do it.   
   It had the needed information on there to start the process of loading it   
   without the boot   
   information. All I had to do was go into "command prompt" mode. The system   
   found the   
   setup files I needed in the proper subdirectory to begin the process of   
   loading win 7 Pro   
   (32 bit version) onto the new massive hard drive. I used some MS-DOS commands   
   to   
   get to where I needed to be, but it allowed me to access the files without   
   using DOS after   
   that.   
      
   By the way, DOS 6.11 was the first DOS program in the 1980's, but it had flaws   
   and some   
   revisions, by 1987, DOS 6.22 was what became the most common version of   
   software.   
   DOS was the abbreviation that stood for direct operating system. Sorry for the   
   history   
   lesson. It is good to know these origins of windows, as the first versions of   
   Windows were   
   what I referred to as "behind the scenes DOS commands all at once with pretty   
   picture,   
   graphics, and mouse clicks-- done with each command." That was what made   
   windows   
   really powerful. Some people remember others saying that the operating system   
   was   
   "borrowed from Apple" as there was a version the Macintosh had for their   
   machines in   
   their "System" program- prior to the hard drive coming out. This Microsoft   
   "windows"   
   version was used for IBM PC, compatible, and clone machines.   
      
   These systems really started the way we do computing today. They still follow   
   the same   
   basic principles when doing software installation, or doing firmware upgrade,   
   software   
   fixes, or installing drivers, etc... only exception is that you do not have to   
   know the port   
   settings, drive settings, and the IRQ requests so much any more.   
      
   Hope this helps out.   
      
   Good luck.   
      
   Charles Lucas   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)