reMarkaDOS-Freedos-on-reMarkable

FreeDOS setup, ready for the reMarkable tablet, with CDROM support to mount own ISO image, and run old DOS software via BOCHS emulation.

FreeDOS is under the GNU General Public License

I don't want to read, give me an installer!

A script is available: it checks if Toltec repository is present, download needed software, register your app on oxide, and offers a way to test the setup. You will have a running copy of FreeDOS on reMarkable out of the box.

Before proceeding: you MUST know what Toltec repository is about, not just install it. By installing oxide launcher you are going to modify the way your reMarkable works. Make sure you know what you are doing. If you already use both of them, just ignore this warning.

ssh to your reMarkable and type or paste the following:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davidegat/reMarkaDOS-Freedos-on-reMarkable/main/installrmd.sh; bash ./installrmd.sh

Don't forget to refresh your apps in oxide after installation (top left corner on your oxide UI). To install DOS software on your reMarkable, follow instructions at the end.

Requirements:

reMarkable (1 or 2)

SSH access to the reMarkable (help screen on the tablet, copyright notice, scroll down to find IP and password)

Toltec repositories installed (instructions @ Toltec-dev website)

Oxide launcher, simple scripting language, yaft (yet another finger terminal): opkg install oxide simple yaft

HOWTO

You MUST know what Toltec repository is about. Oxide launcher will to modify the way your reMarkable works. If you already use both of them, just ignore this warning.

Learn about how to config BOCHS emulator, to be able to adjust bochsrc config file for further use (mounting ISO images).

SSH to your reMarkable, and install BOCHS emulator: opkg install bochs, remember to install also the oxide, yaft and simple package if you haven't done it yet.

Unpack the zip file into a folder on your pc (for example "remarkados") and scp it to your reMarkable

On reMarkable: via SSH, move your files into a folder (for example "remarkados"), test from this folder if it works via terminal with bochs -q -unlock -f bochsrc. BOCHS and FreeDOS should start, if it happens, reboot your tablet and proceede with the next steps.

Copy to reMarkable both the dos.sh and startdos.sh by scp it to /home/root folder, make them executable via SSH with chmod +x *.sh and register your app within oxide by running rot apps call registerApplication 'QVariantMap:{"name": "FreeDOS", "bin": "/home/root/dos.sh"}'

Once done, refresh your apps in oxide from your tablet (top left corner of oxide UI), the FreeDOS icon should now appear on oxide.

On your tablet, tap the FreeDOS icon to run BOCHS and FreeDOS directly from reMarkable

Use it as you like, you can now transfer regular iso images.

Need more space?

Ssh to your reMarkable, and rename your c.img file mv c.img c-old.img

Run bximage, a menu appears: choose "3. Resize hard disk image", when asked for source image: c-old.img, new image: c.img, input the new size (say.. 500mb)

Launch FreeDOS (better from terminal, ssh to your reMarkable and type: ./startdos.sh)

In FreeDOS, run the good old fdisk: fdisk

Follow the menu, add a second partition to the disk, activate it, and quit.

Restart your reMarkable, and run FreeDOS again, format your new partition. Now you have extra space on a second disk. Delete the c-old.img image from reMarkable terminal (not from FreeDOS!) rm -rf c-old.img or keep it as a backup if something doesn't work.

I need help with fdisk and format

After running fdisk on your FreeDOS, a menu activates:

1. Create DOS partitions on the fixed disk. Using this option, you can create more than one logical drive on one physical fixed disk.
2. Change an existing partition on the fixed disk.
3. Delete an existing partition on the fixed disk.
4. Display current partition information.

Type 1, enter, and follow the instructions to create a new partition.
fdisk will give the new partition a drive letter (example "d:"), after the partition is made, exit fdisk and reboot reMarkable.
Boot FreeDOS again, and format the new partition with format d: (change drive letter accordingly).

Install DOS software on your reMarkable

To install new software, put software files into a folder in your pc, make an ISO image out of it (on linux: mkisofs -0 image.iso folder/, there are specific apps for Windows too), scp it to your reMarkable in the correct folder (in the example "remarkados")

On your reMarkable: edit the bochsrc file to mount ISO image: nano bochsrc (bochsrc in the zip file will help you understand how, remember to change the image name and path accordingly), it will be recognized as a CDROM drive. Check bochsrc options for more details.

Run FreeDOS from terminal or reMarkable, access the drive, and copy your software to the FreeDOS box with the DOS 'xcopy' command (for example: xcopy d:\FOLDER\ c:\FOLDER /a).