Linux alternative to FreeDOS?
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Sometimes we use FreeDOS to create a bootable USB stick or image that can be inserted and will run BIOS updates, configure IPMI, change BIOS settings etc.
Basically throw FreeDOS on a stick and copy some utilities and make a AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Insert it into a server and reboot.
Is there a super-simple fast booting linux distro that would be suitable for this kind of job?
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I feel kind of stupid because I just now realized that you don't need a live linux distro for this. You could actually install any distro and install directly to a USB stick. Set it up to auto-login and run a script at start up.
So any distro would work. A small one would of course have less overhead.
Maybe Alpine linux would be a good fit. I haven't used it as is though. Just know it has a small footprint, uses busybox which is a favorite for embedded systems and Alpine is also popular for container use.
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@Pete-S said in Linux alternative to FreeDOS?:
Basically throw FreeDOS on a stick and copy some utilities and make a AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Insert it into a server and reboot.
Is there a super-simple fast booting linux distro that would be suitable for this kind of job?Not really. I use a bootable Ubuntu USB for lots of things, but anything that requires DOS is going to continue to require DOS and won't work from Linux. So maintaining DOS for those purposes will still be required.
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@Pete-S said in Linux alternative to FreeDOS?:
You could actually install any distro and install directly to a USB stick. Set it up to auto-login and run a script at start up.
As long as whatever tool you need will run under Linux.
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@Pete-S said in Linux alternative to FreeDOS?:
Maybe Alpine linux would be a good fit. I haven't used it as is though. Just know it has a small footprint, uses busybox which is a favorite for embedded systems and Alpine is also popular for container use.
Ubuntu fits on a stick and is well known. I'd just stick to that because it is easy and has loads of tools.
