
                                   User Guide
                  Copyright (c) 1997 - 2000 Vijai K. Amarnath
                              All rights reserved.

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Index
~~~~~
[1] Fine tuning your system
[2] Creating multiple primary partitions
[3] Installing multiple copies of an OS
[4] Installing LILO properly
[5] Before installing WinNT

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[1] Fine tuning your system
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After installing OSL2000, Change the booting sequence in your BIOS to "C,A".
This will speedup the boot process and OSL2000 lets you boot from a floppy
when required. This also prevents booting from a floppy accidentally.

In the boot menu, reduce the timer delay to zero. This disables the timer and
the boot menu pops up instantaneously.

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[2] Creating multiple primary FAT partitions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  [ Note: This approach is a bit tedious. If you can lay your hands on a   ]
  [ good partition manager like Partition Magic, Ranish, etc. try using    ]
  [ that. I use fdisk with Norton's DiskEdit. Simply the best combination. ]

This is required, if you want to install a combination of DOS,Win95/98/NT or
multiple copies of any of these. Partitioning is an intricate process, and
should be handled with care. And don't say you weren't warned ;-)

Make a boot floppy (with format.com, fdisk.exe, and osl2000.exe)
Install OSL2000 from floppy. And reboot.
In the boot menu options, turn partition hiding OFF.
(Cos, we have to manually hide/unhide certain partitions.)
If you already have any primary FAT partitions hide them now (press <F8> key).
Now put the boot floppy in & choose Drive A: in the boot menu.

Run fdisk and create the first primary partition.
Reboot your system & in the boot menu hide the partition.
Now put the boot floppy in & choose Drive A: in the boot menu.

Run fdisk again and creating the second primary partition.
Reboot your system & in the boot menu hide the partition.
Now put the boot floppy in & choose Drive A: in the boot menu.

Create more partitions, if required.

Reboot your system and in the boot menu turn partition hiding is ON.
Now put the boot floppy in & choose Drive A: in the boot menu.
Format all the partitions that we created now with the boot option.
        (Example: "FORMAT X: /S")
        (Warning: Please do not format the wrong partitions.)
        (Note:    The '/S' option is to make the partition bootable.)

Reboot the system. You now have multiple (bootable) primary partitions.

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[3] Installing multiple copies of an OS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us say, you want to install 2 copies of Win98 and you have a 4GB harddisk.

(Please refer topic [2] for creating multiple primary partitions.)

Create a 1GB primary FAT partition (for Win98 1st copy).
Create another 1GB primary FAT partition (for Win98 2nd copy).
Create a 2GB extended partition (logical drive) for storing common data.

Since you have multiple primary FATs, make sure partition hiding is ON.

Now, boot from the first partition and install the 1st copy of Win98.
Next, boot from the second partition and install the 2nd copy.

You now have 2 copies of Win98 in your system.
Happy booting.

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[4] Installing LILO properly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have linux, install LILO in the linux partition's boot sector
(superblock). You can safely ignore the warning that says you won't be able to
boot linux. Cos, once you install OSL2000 you'll be able to boot into linux.
To install LILO in the linux partition, follow these steps:

 1. Modify your '/etc/lilo.conf' file to point to your linux partition.
        (Change the 'boot=/dev/hda' to point to you linux partition.)
 
 2. Now run lilo by typing lilo (you should be the 'root' to do this).
        (it should then say '*Added linux').

 3. Now restart your system and install OSL2000.

For example, my '/etc/lilo.conf' looks like this:

---start-of-file------------

boot=/dev/hdb3               <--- This is the line you have to modify.
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.5-15
	label=linux
	root=/dev/hdb3       <--- Modify the first line to point to this
	read-only                 device (this device is your actual linux
                                  boot partition).
---end-of-file--------------

Also, remove the 'prompt' & 'timeout=nn' lines. This will speed up boot.

Note: you can always boot linux with a floppy when required (very rare).

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[5] Before installing WinNT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're installing WinNT, create a separate FAT partition and format it.
WinNT will later convert this into a NTFS partition. Now, install OSL2000
and reboot your system. When the boot menu appears, hide ALL other partitions
EXCEPT the one in which you're going to install NT. Now, put the NT's boot
floppy in the floppy drive and choose "Drive A:" to begin installation.

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                            ^..^ Happy Booting ^..^

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