Re: The fifth partition

[machinegun_messiah_(_at_)_bigfoot_(_dot_)_com]

> > This is about the i386 platform.
> > 
> > My main op.sys. is Os/2 and I use it's fdisk to partition
> > my hard drives. It's fdisk will only accept max four (4)
> > partitions per hard drive, primary and extended together.
> > (DOS legacy?)
>   
> No, yes, maybe.  There are only 4 primary partitions slots
> available in the MBR (master boot record) on a disk.

Oki, got it.

> > But OpenBSD can use 16 partitions on one HD, at least some
> > textfile at one of the OpenBSD ftp mirrors told me.
>   
> These are OpenBSD partitions, all the OpenBSD partitions are
> located inside the *one* primary MBR type partition.

So OpenBSD requires one of those precious partitions.
I think I got that one too.

> > My question is: can I use Os/2's fdisk to create four partitions
> > and leave some space left for OpenBSD use, all this on one HD,
> > i.e. boot five op.sys from my first hard drive?
>   
> Five OSs from one drive will be a challenge (What are you booting?!?!)

My current plan is to boot Win95, OpenBSD and three (3) Os/2's.

> To do this, you will certainly need something nice like bootcommander,
> or something else, likely commercial.  I'm not sure if os-bs will
> handle more than 4 partitions...

I use Docsboot+, it boots everything I have tried.
I recommend it, check www.docsware.com for more info,
BTW, I don't sell it, I'm just a satiesfied customer.

> > Os/2's fdisk yelled quite loudly about my previous v2.1
> > OpenBSD installation all the time. That installation had
> > a whole hard drive, but Os/2's fdisk said that that disk's
> > partition table was corrupt.
>   
> In v2.1, chances are that the partition table was corrupt, as
> the CHS and LBA numbers would rarely have matched up...

Does that appy to SCSI too? I don't use IDE drives.

> > Maybe I'm hoping for too much.
>   
> With 5 OSs, maybe.  If you do get it working, please let us know what
> you used.  Also, a backup (a complete backup) would definitely be in
> order before you experiment.

Well, I think I have to downgrade my plans to only
2 Os/2 boots, sigh. Well, I think I can live with it ;-)
(And no, I'm refuse to boot Os/2 from D: or an extended
 partition, it messes up those f**king drive letters)


Jasse Jansson // Authorized Stealth Oracle
/*
- C Is God's programming language!
- No, that's wrong. It's the language that God need to speak
  when he is trying to communicate with Un*x programmers.
- Ehh, why should God want to communicate to Un*x programmers?
  They usually admire d(a)emons, so they aren't Gods business.
- Yeah, but the occational cuss and stuff is still communication.
*/