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.