MetaKern boot menu alpha release!

Eric Auer <[email protected]> Sat, 2 Nov 2002 18:56:19 +0100 (MET)
Newsgroups gmane.os.freedos.devel
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hi folks,
I am proud to release the first alpha version of MetaKern, my new
boot menu. Check it out at:

http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~eric/stuff/soft/specials/

Usage:
(you can change the steps if you know what you are doing)
1. install MS or DR DOS on your drive, in my example C:
2. use UNDELETE syssave boot d:\msdos.bot
   to save a copy of the bootsector to d:
3. install FreeDOS, using SYS c: d:\freedos.bot both
   leaving a copy of the bootsector at d:
4. ren kernel.sys fdkernel.sys
5. copy /b metakern.sys + d:\freedos.bot + d:\msdos.bot c:\kernel.sys

Now you have replaced your kernel by the boot menu. It will detect the
type of the two appended boot sectors and display appropriate menu items.
It will patch all FreeDOS type boot sectors by replacing the
"KERNEL  SYS" string by a "FDKERNELSYS" one.
If you have used C: to install MetaKern, it will also display menu items
for all primary partitions that are neither the current one nor extended
ones (untested!).

When you boot using MetaKern, you will see up to 5 items with numbers in
the range 1..6 - type a key corresponding to a non-empty line in the menu
and the corresponding type of boot will be kicked off :-).

Wolf, feel free to beautify the menu and add other stuff, thanks.
The current code is 1k in size (+ 2 bootsectors will be 2k "kernel.sys").
You need to adjust the "times" at the end if you change the size.
The menu items have FIXED numbers. 1/2 mean 1st/2nd boot sector, and
3..6 means partition table entry 1..4. Much easier to code that way, and
easy enough for the user, I think.

Cheers, Eric

PS: Would be nice to have feedback on whether everything works. And I
still do not know how to set SHELL to have FDAUTO.BAT... Take care, this
may render your DOS unbootable until you SYS it again if something goes wrong.