If you backup your entire DOS disk (over Novell, tape, etc.), it it 100% reversible. Just use DOS fdisk to re-create your DOS partition, then re-install your original software.
If you don't do this, then you can give the space back to DOS you had given to Linux; however, it will appear as a separate logical disk, eg. D:. The non-destructive utility fips used to shrink the DOS partition will not expand it; however there may be other utilities that would.
The idea is to generate a bootable floppy disk that supports NFS mount, then use that to obtain Linux from a CD-ROM mounted on andrew.triumf.ca.
Get the file net.gz. You might have to select the Mosaic option "Load to Local Disk" to prevent Mosaic
trying to display this as a document. Alternatively, these files may be obtained with ftp from ftp://andrew.triumf.ca/pub/linux.
Get the file tty144.gz. These files are compressed with Gzip. Get the file
rawrite.exe
Decompress the disk images tty144 and net using gzip. Use rawrite to copy them onto two blank 1.44Mb floppy disks.
Linux uses a Unix-style filesystem, so it is necessary to create a non-DOS partition for it. This may be done destructively using DOS fdisk, or non-destructively using fips.
Get the file fips.exe. Defragment your DOS disk using DOS defrag or use dog.exe. Then use fips to split the DOS partition. DOS will use the first partition, and Linux the rest. Allow at least 40Mb for Linux, or 80Mb if you will run X11. The DOS partition may be mounted from Linux, subject to the DOS restrictions on file attributes, filename length, case, etc.. Linux can also mount remote volumes via NFS, so it may be feasible to keep some files elsewhere.
Boot the net floppy disk. Follow the directions and insert the tty144 rootdisk. Login as root.
Run the command fdisk drive, where drive is the Linux name of the drive you wish to use. Drives are named /dev/hda (first IDE drive), /dev/hdb (second IDE drive), /dev/sda (first SCSI drive), etc.
Using fdisk, delete the second partition created by fips. Create a new partition for the Linux swapfile. Linux uses virtual memory, so processes can use (RAM+swapfile) of memory. 30Mb total is probably adequate for most purposes. It is possible to create a regular file as a swapfile later. Use fdisk to set the type of this partition to Linux swap. Create another partition for Linux data using the rest of the available space.
If you have 4Mb or less, you will need to create a swapfile at this time. If you created a swap partition /dev/hda3 of 10336 blocks, use the command mkswap -c /dev/hda3 10336 to prepare the swap space. Then use swapon /dev/hda3 to enable it
Installing the software is almost automatic. Use the command setup. In general, you should go through the commands in the following order:
You will be given a chance to create a bootable floppy disk, and also to install LILO (the Linux Loader) on your hard drive. LILO allows you to selectively boot DOS or a Linux kernel, optionally timing out to one or the other. If you rebuild the kernel, it is a good idea to have LILO able to boot the old version too, in case of error.
Reboot the computer. Uses LILO to boot the Linux system. Login as the privileged user root. You should now use the command passwd to change the privileged password. Use the command adduser to add new users to the system
During setup you will have installed a driver appropriate to your hardware. However, it won't work out of the box, because you haven't set up an Xconfig file. This is located in /usr/X11/lib/X11. There are example files and some documentation in /usr/X11/lib/X11/etc, eg. VideoModes.doc The reason this configuration is manual is that it must be done for your monitor, not just your graphics card, in order to get an optimal display. Basic VGA modes should work, but it is usually possible to get much better performance. The display modes may be tuned to suit your individial preferences; for example I run 1200x900 pixels with a 100MHz dot clock and a 67Hz refresh rate. Different monitors have different allowable refresh rates, scan frequencies, bandwidth, etc. See also man Xconfig.
Once you have an Xconfig file, the command startx will start the X system. The command openwin will start the Sun openwindows window manager. The hotkeys CtrlAlt+ and CtrlAlt- will cycle between the different video modes you have set up in Xconfig. Typically you would have some standard VGA modes that work together with higher-resolution modes under test. The hotkey CtrlAltF1 (or CtrlAltF2, etc.) will take you to a virtual console (non-X). From the virtual console, the hotkey AltF7 will take you back to the X11 screen.