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A pre-build floppy disk image would be great, so I could run it on my IBM PS/1 from a floppy.
by Aldipower 4mo ago
A pre-build floppy disk image would be great, so I could run it on my IBM PS/1 from a floppy.
- valleyer 4mo agoThere seems to be an 8 meg image here: https://github.com/luke8086/gentleos32/releases/download/2026-06-07/gentleos32-disk.img https://github.com/luke8086/gentleos32/releases/download/202...
- ginko 4mo agoSomeone prepare a set of floppy disk images so you can get the proper installation experience.
- RobotToaster 4mo agoIncluding the mandatory corruption on the last one.
- Aldipower 4mo agoThis is a hdd image, I guess.
- luke8086 4mo agoFor PS/1 you'll need the 16-bit version from https://github.com/luke8086/gentleos https://github.com/luke8086/gentleos. A floppy image is provided in releases. Note you only need to copy the first 64KB, the rest is just padding for emulators.
- Aldipower 4mo agoAh, even though the 386SX-25 is 32bit in my PS/1? Will try it eventually.
- gunapologist99 4mo agoYes, the CPU is full 32-bits, but the bus in a 386 SX is only 16 bit. Those PS/1's are such a cool piece of computing history! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I386#80386SX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I386#80386SX
- wtallis 4mo agoThe data bus was only 16 bits wide, but that doesn't really have much impact on OS compatibility; it just means that transferring a 32-bit value to or from memory takes two bus clock cycles instead of one. The address bus is only 24 bits wide, but that only affects physical memory address space; it still uses 32-bit pointers and a 32-bit virtual address space.
- luke8086 4mo agoOh sorry, a quick google check told me PS/1 had 286. 386SX itself should be supported, the monochrome Toshiba on the photo has 386SX/20 with 10MB RAM.
- Aldipower 4mo agoAnyway, I tried the 16bit version, and it works like a charm!! Thank you. Here's a video of the boot, I've just made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fSsTa8Oc48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fSsTa8Oc48 Although, the floppy light does not turn off. Not sure, if this a problem with the OS or my hardware.
- Aldipower 4mo agoOk, I built the floppy image now. dd'ed it on a floppy and powered my IBM PS/1 up. Despite some nasty sounds of the HDD bearings that went away after 30 seconds, the floppy does not boot on this machine. Just a black screen. 386SX-25 2MB RAM. Maybe 2MB RAM too less, but I thought at least something will happen. :-)
- luke8086 4mo agoEven on 2MB, you should be able to at least see GRUB, which would tell you that it can't load the kernel. Does it go blank before that? This could mean an issue with either GRUB or the floppy.
- Aldipower 4mo agoYes, it goes blank before GRUB and after 2MB count-up. I ruled out a defective floppy too. I suspect GRUB?
- luke8086 4mo agoYep, possibly. In case you have DOS installed on the hard drive, you can also use GRUB4DOS [1] - just put gentleos.elf on C:\, run grub.exe, then `kernel /gentleos.elf`. You may first need to comment out any upper memory managers from config.sys. A bit of an academic exercise since the kernel still won't fit into memory. Btw. feel free to reach out to me on my profile email. I'll be busy with work for the rest of the week, but later I may look for some workarounds to get it running on 2 megs. [1] https://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos/
- sillywalk 4mo agoI'm curious what model of PS/1? My first PC was a PS/1 model 2011, with a 286@10Mhz. Also, there's an emulator for PS/1 machines at https://www.ibmulator.org/ https://www.ibmulator.org/