A triple-boot system with GRUB: Debian GNU/Linux "Lenny", FreeDOS 1.0, and Win

[ Thanks to steve hill for this link. ]

"I also wanted to test out the current state of FreeDOS (a GNU GPL-licensed operating system that emulates parts of MS-DOS 3.3 and MS-DOS 6.0). I did try installing ReactOS 0.3.7 instead of Windows on one of the systems, but I ran into installation problems I couldn't work around (a topic for a later column, perhaps), owing no doubt to the immaturity of the ("alpha") software. Homebuilt computers for Christmas

"Many years ago, before there was GRUB, Linux was usually loaded by LILO. Although LILO worked just fine as a "LInux LOader", it wasn't much of a "GRand Unified Bootloader", and so creating a dual-boot Linux/Windows system was not so easy. I did it at the time using a DOS/Windows program called LOADLIN.EXE that started the boot-loading process for Linux from the DOS/Windows environment on the computer. That was using Windows 3.1, in about 2000, more or less at the same time I started using Linux myself. I set up a shared computer for my children then, and although they were still essentially using Windows games and applications, I wanted to introduce them to the GNU/Linux programs that I was learning as well."

Complete Story

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