Visual BASIC 1.0 is a great compiler for GUI apps on DOS.(However,the EXEs take up quite a bit of memory.) In fact,our FDSHELL was compiled in Visual BASIC 1.0. Perhaps implementing a Visual BASIC installer,keeping the installer as a single EXE? (Advanced options can be shown by typing "Install /A" or something of the liking.As to Rugluxio,I was trying to Install FreeDOS from my flash drive because my Lil' HP (I think that laptop is becoming a celibrity at this point lol) has no DVD ports.
On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 11:51 AM, Eric Auer <e.a...@jpberlin.de> wrote: > > Hi Jerome, > > basically the "is the newest DOS already installed" check > has to wait for the target selection. Plus it should not > be necessary to use black magic* for this: I would prefer > if the installer only checks if a DOS with LSM & package > manager data structures is installed or not. Then other > aspects of how new which package is can be handled by the > package manager itself anyway. > > Regarding the partition check: I agree that automatic is > too dangerous. This is exactly why I suggest that even a > menu option to start FDISK or FORMAT should NOT be visible > by default. It should ONLY be visible after making sure > that the target disk does not contain any partitions yet. > > In all other cases, I suggest to leave the installer and > give the user full choice of what to do next - the user > could start FDISK or FORMAT manually, or the user (which > would be a better choice IMHO) could use GPARTED of Linux > or the partition manager of Windows to non-destructively > add a FAT32 partition for DOS without damaging others :-) > > > The Default "Quick and Friendly” version will NOT offer a list > > of drive targets. However, it may make it into the advanced mode > > at some point. > > You could make C:\FDOS the default and still make the field > editable, to avoid having too many easy/advanced differences. > > Cheers, Eric > > PS: Checking for already installed DOS is mostly to avoid > boot loops when the user forgets to remove the CD after a > DOS install and reboot and even then the user may want to > re-run the installer if they have forgotten some packages. > > > Let’s take the rare Multi-Boot scenario. Using Grub, Lilo or other boot > loader: > > > > BIOS drive 0x80, has windows ntfs and an extended linux, swap and fat 32 > partition. > > BIOS drive 0x81, has freedos and extended fat 32 partition. > > > > FreeDOS will assign the drives like this: > > > > BIOS 0x80, ??, ??, ?? and D: > > BIOS 0x81, C: and E: > > > > Drive C: is on 0x81 and is perfectly fine. So, drive 0x81 partition 0 > needs > > formatted for dos. But, this all goes away if you just ask DOS, hey is > C: formatted. > > Some kernel experts may want to comment on this :-) > > > No target folder’s will be offered in the “Quick and Easy” version. > > You would still have to tell the user what happens... > > > The architecture of the new installer won’t care what scheme of > > package management is used by the Release. > > Then you miss many advantages of our package managers. > > > The “Quick and Easy” version will not offer types of backups or > > id it should overwrite the old files. It will simple move the > > conflicting FDOS directory to FDOS????.OLD. > > Acceptable, I guess... > > > The “Advanced” mode will offer renaming, zipping or overwritten. > > [and it] > > > Provides more detailed options and a different color scheme. > > As mentioned, I think you could keep everything in 1 > mode: The difference would only be that the user can > decide whether to accept a default and hit the "next" > button or rather "advancedly" modify settings first. > > As you already explain, advanced just means modifying > more settings. I would prefer if all possible settings > are always visible, but the user at the same time is > informed that they can stick to the defaults often :-) > > For example with a Linux installer, you would have a > choice in which country you are first. Then later, a > menu would show which time zone and keyboard layout > are active, but for most users, this will just be an > information screen. Very few would use the opportunity > to MODIFY the time zone and keyboard layout. Still, it > is nice that they CAN do it, without extra screens :-) > > > However, restricting V8PT to use no TSRs, RAM or DISK Storage and > > still run as little utilities to extend batch files, doing multiple > things on the > > same screen is not a viable option. I have thought of ways around this > > problem. However, they either require some sort of storage or break > > the vchoice, vecho… utility extension metaphor. > > To be honest, BAT is not a sufficiently powerful language > to make user friendly menu systems. With some extra tools > it is enough for the occasional "are you sure" pop-up etc. > > Cheers, Eric > > *such as having magic files specific to your distro version. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-devel mailing list > Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel >
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