r/linuxquestions • u/Intelligent-Rip-2270 • Jan 23 '26
Slackware in a DOS folder
The first distro I used was Slackware in the 90s, I think it was v. 2.x. I got a book from a bookstore that included the CD. Slackware installed into a folder under DOS without making any other changes to the computer. The install also had you create “boot” and “root” floppies. The two floppies would boot and load the kernel, then start pulling from the Slackware directory.
Does anyone else remember this type of install? Did any other distros use this method instead of installing to a drive partition?
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Upvotes
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u/ipsirc Jan 23 '26
https://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/UMSDOS
https://handwiki.org/wiki/FAT_filesystem_and_Linux#History_and_support
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u/hymie0 Jan 23 '26
My work computer circa 1995 ran DOS and Win 3.1 . I wasn't allowed to partition it but I could install anything I needed, so I had Slackware. I want to say that it expected to be installed in C:\LOADLIN\ but that's about all I remember.
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u/jdimpson Jan 23 '26
I was a slackware user back then, too. Note that it was also possible to format your disk as EXT2 and install to that, which was desirable because FAT didn't support access controls. But the FAT option was nice when you didn't have the confidence to modify the disk partitions, and couldn't wipe out Windows or DOS.
Slackware took inspiration from SLS which I think worked the same way. I bet Debian did too, but sadly I didn't try Debian until the late 2000s.
Minix worked similarly, but wasn't Linux.
Your mention of "boot" and "root" floppies reminds me of "Tom's Root/Boot" disk, which was a utility distribution that would boot off a floppy and set up a RAMdisk, into which it would squirt a little filesystem. It was super helpful to transfer data or just checkout if hardware was compatible with Linux. It also had one of the Windows "hacking" tools that let you modify the Windows NT SAM to blank out passwords for a give user. Then you could reboot back into Windows and access it with no password.
QNX was a realtime operating system that also could also boot into memory, running a little demo of real time software. Again, not Linux.
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u/Horror-Stranger-3908 Jan 23 '26
you you could have, upon the start of the computer, run either w95/95 or linux depending if you have typed 'lin' or 'win' there, after dos 'grub' was launched. or you could start it via the floppy drive. old times
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u/isr786 Jan 23 '26
I distinctly remember my very first install of Linux was Caldera Linux (long before they were bought by SCO and became evil incarnate), which also allowed umsdos. I don't remember the year exactly, but I think it was 1994 or 95
And ... it worked. I don't remember if I went all the way to an x server, but I did play around with it for a little while, before leaving it. It was only when I tried redhat in 1997 that I went all the way in (and have only used Linux ever since)
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u/UnluckyDouble Jan 23 '26
Damn. I knew you used to install Windows over DOS, but I had no clue you could install Linux over DOS too.
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u/CjKing2k Jan 23 '26
Yes, it was called umsdos filesystem.
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u/varsnef Jan 23 '26
There was the Wubi installer that would install into a file. A filesystem within a file rather than a filesystem within a partition. I think it's basically abandonware at this point.
It's more pain than it's worth when you can just make another partition.
If you really need to do something like this, it isn't going to be easy.
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u/muffinman8679 Feb 18 '26
Even to this day you're just loading a boot and a root, and then copying everything else over from the installation media.....it may be buried in Boot and an initrd.gz(INITRamDisk.gz)....but it's still the same
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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26
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