[Technical tips] Make the FreeDOS bootable USB flash drive

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This article explains how to make Free DOS bootable USB flash drive.

FreeDOS is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License terms. FreeDOS (formerly Free-DOS and PD-DOS) is a free operating system for IBM PC-compatible computers. It intends to provide a complete MS-DOS-compatible environment for running legacy software and supporting embedded systems.

Creating a bootable DOS USB in Windows

Rufus (The Reliable USB Formatting Utility, with Source) is a free and open-source portable application for Microsoft Windows that can format and create bootable USB flash drives or Live USBs.

Download Rufus from https://rufus.ie/en/
Rufus doesn’t need to be installed. You can run the program as an administrator after the download is complete.
Rufus installs FreeDOS directly from its repository and not further downloads are required.

Run Rufus in Windows

Rufus settings:

Device: select the USB flash drive
Boot selection: FreeDOS
Partition scheme: MBR
Target system: BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)
Click START

OS-independent Alternative

Another option for installing FreeDOS onto a USB stick comes in the form of UNetbootin. It is available for all conventional operating systems.

UNetbootin (Universal Netboot Installer) is a cross-platform utility that can create live USB systems, load various system utilities, or install different Linux distributions and other operating systems without a CD.

Download UNetbootin from https://unetbootin.github.io/.
FreeDOS download is not necessary as Unetbootin distributions can independently download and install the program.
A FAT32 formatted USB Drive is needed for the installation.

Note: To format USB in Ubuntu, you can use the following command

Use
```
ls /dev/[sh]d*
```
to check the USB drive device /dev/sdb
Formatting the USB drive to FAT32 will erase all of its data:
```
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdb1
```

Creating a DOS USB Bootable with UNetbootin

Use the drop-down menu to find the various operating systems in the Distribution section.
Select FreeDOS from the list and choose the USB device to be formatted. Confirm with OK. If your USB does not appear in the menu, make sure the drive is mounted.
FreeDOS is downloaded, extracted, and installed.
The FreeDOS bootable on USB is finished.

Result

Use the EB-336x to boot using the FreeDOS USB.

References:

UNetbootin: https://unetbootin.github.io/
UNetbootin Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNetbootin
Rufus: https://rufus.ie/en/
Rufus Wiki: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus
FreeDOS wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeDOS

For more info and sample request, please write to info@icop.com.tw, call your nearest ICOP Branch, or contact our Worldwide Official Distributor.