Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi guys, Having resident data will reduce issues with needing SET /P which has limitations (e.g. using pipes, which in most DOS command.com variants need temp files on a writeable drive) and is not in the classic MS DOS version of command.com (in case somebody tries to use your batch files to

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 4:44 PM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: > >> On Oct 4, 2015, at 10:02 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: >> >> It was nice of whomever wrote FreeCOM to include that Windows NT command >> interpreter function. Presumably Stefan Kaiser (who

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 2:08 AM, Joe Forster/STA wrote: > > Also, while executing config.sys (_not_ autoexec.bat yet), the (master) > environment variable block is not pointed to anywhere. I've unable to finish > another DOS program that would record the boot drive into an

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 5, 2015, at 8:14 PM, Eric Auer wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, > > combining 20 tools of 1-2 kilobytes each into one tool of 10 kB > sounds like a good plan and using "residency" sounds even better: > Yes and maybe there will be an edition that does that at some point.

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 6, 2015, at 12:12 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > Hi, > > Sometimes doing the "needful" exceeds the "requested". Jim has a vision of > what he wants, basically a batch file based simplified install. You (Jerome) > have created some very useful utilities for

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 6, 2015, at 8:55 AM, Eric Auer wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, for clarification: I was referring to > the specific case where your tools are used as a > part of the install process of FreeDOS :-) I know, I was just using an easy to state example. :) > > In your given

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 6, 2015, at 5:41 PM, Rugxulo wrote: > > Hi, > >> On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 4:44 PM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. >> wrote: >> >>> On Oct 4, 2015, at 10:02 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: >>> >>> It was nice of whomever wrote FreeCOM to

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi Jerome, for clarification: I was referring to the specific case where your tools are used as a part of the install process of FreeDOS :-) In your given "pick a file and unzip" example, it would be possible to do alternative tricks like: VASK-PRO /F *.zip "Pick a file to unzip" "unzip $F"

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, Sometimes doing the "needful" exceeds the "requested". Jim has a vision of what he wants, basically a batch file based simplified install. You (Jerome) have created some very useful utilities for managing the screen and such. My thought was basically to incorporate your V8 tools as a part of

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi guys, set /p is a Windows NT feature of CMD.EXE. It was not available in MS-DOS or Windows 9x. And even in Windows XP, it doesn't support capturing the output of a command. A small test batch: --- test.bat --- @echo off set X= echo Y | set /p X= echo %X% --- outputs: --- ECHO is off. ---

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 4, 2015, at 10:02 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > Hi, > > set /p is a Windows NT feature of CMD.EXE. It was not available in MS-DOS or > Windows 9x. Ok, I knew it is in a Windows DOS somewhere. Didn’t really pay much attention to which one. > > I even double

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi Jerome, combining 20 tools of 1-2 kilobytes each into one tool of 10 kB sounds like a good plan and using "residency" sounds even better: Outside the floppy world, each of your tools will use at least 4 kB because sizes get rounded up to full, often large, clusters. Also, having some sort

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

If the Int 21h handler is available, you can use INT 21 AX=3305. DL is returned with an integer indicating the boot drive (1=A:, etc.). This works for MS-DOS 4.0 and later. Given that FreeDOS aims for DOS 6+ compatibility so that functionality should be there. -T On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 3:05 AM

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> Also, while executing config.sys (_not_ autoexec.bat yet), the > (master) environment variable block is not pointed to anywhere. I've > unable to finish another DOS program that would record the boot drive > into an environment variable so that PATH can later be set in > autoexec.bat to

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, set /p is a Windows NT feature of CMD.EXE. It was not available in MS-DOS or Windows 9x. I even double checked on my Win98 VM and my Win ME VM before I wrote this. (Don’t ask why I have those. Just don’t). I get “Syntax Error” in both Windows 98 and Windows ME. It was nice of whomever

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 3, 2015, at 10:41 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > Hi, > > What if you implemented V8 tools in a customized version of FreeCOM that > starts the setup process? I sorry, but I think I am failing to understand what you are trying to achieve. The standard FreeCom

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, What if you implemented V8 tools in a customized version of FreeCOM that starts the setup process? The other option is to locate the master environment and write what you need there. > On Oct 2, 2015, at 6:44 PM, Jerome Shidel wrote: > > > On Oct 2, 2015, at 6:26 PM,

[Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Well, best guess. I’m 70% done with the installer. Just need to port the backup creation code, the system files transfer stuff and example package/zip installer portion. But, the readme on using it for the OS release is mostly done. https://github.com/shidel/FDI/blob/master/README.md

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hey, Couldn't you use 4DOS as the command shell during the installation process? On Oct 2, 2015 1:18 PM, "Jerome E. Shidel Jr." wrote: > Well, best guess. I’m 70% done with the installer. > > Just need to port the backup creation code, the system files transfer > stuff and

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 2, 2015, at 6:26 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > Hey, > > Couldn't you use 4DOS as the command shell during the installation process? > Unfortunately, no. Some of the things that need to be done require I/O redirection (pipes and such) and using the output of

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 1, 2015, at 5:46 AM, Eric Auer wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, thanks for your work on your installer :-) Welcome. :^) > >> 1) boots from floppy or floppy image (like boot CD) >> >> (Note: if user manually lauches installer, skip 2 and goto 3) >> >> 2) Detects if

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

I missed a ")" in my sentence.Oh well. :) On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 12:45 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU < jcharbonnea...@cpsge.org> wrote: > 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.

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

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

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

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

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Oct 1, 2015, at 11:51 AM, Eric Auer 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

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi Jerome, thanks for your work on your installer :-) > 1) boots from floppy or floppy image (like boot CD) > > (Note: if user manually lauches installer, skip 2 and goto 3) > > 2) Detects if latest FreeDOS version is installed (actual test not > written) If it is the latest version, returns

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 9:44 AM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: > > Does anyone think the installer needs to support install from Multiple > Floppies only. If it's easy to add, sure, go ahead. > I could build it into the installer, but if only 0.01% would want it. I don’t

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

"From" the flash drive.I burn the FreeDOS installation image to it,and it boots.Again,as I said,it hits an error.Jerome said it was fixed in the new installer. On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 11:20 AM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: > > > On Sep 30, 2015, at 2:04 PM, Rugxulo

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Sep 30, 2015, at 2:46 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU > wrote: > > "From" the flash drive.I burn the FreeDOS installation image to it,and it > boots.Again,as I said,it hits an error.Jerome said it was fixed in the new > installer. Should work with new one. As long as

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Sep 30, 2015, at 3:40 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > For option 2, all you would need to do is execute a FreeDOS version function > call. I don’t have the spec in front of me, however in the case of MS-DOS, > and INT 21H/3306H and INT 21/30 returns the DOS version

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

For option 2, all you would need to do is execute a FreeDOS version function call. I don’t have the spec in front of me, however in the case of MS-DOS, and INT 21H/3306H and INT 21/30 returns the DOS version number. Int 21/30 can be altered by SETVER, but INT 21/3306 should return BL as the

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 1:46 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU wrote: > > "From" the flash drive.I burn the FreeDOS installation image to it,and it > boots.Again,as I said,it hits an error.Jerome said it was fixed in the new > installer. I'm probably misunderstanding you.

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Hi, On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 2:40 PM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > For option 2, all you would need to do is execute a FreeDOS version function > call. > I don’t have the spec in front of me, however in the case of MS-DOS, and INT > 21H/3306H > and INT 21/30 returns the DOS

[Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Did a little more restructuring. So now, the setup files make a little more sense now for future updates to the installer. So far this is what happens: 1) boots from floppy or floppy image (like bottle CD) (Note: if user manually lauches installer, skip 2 and goto 3)

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Sep 30, 2015, at 10:32 AM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: > > Did a little more restructuring. So now, the setup files make a little more > sense now for future updates to the installer. > > So far this is what happens: > > 1) boots from floppy or floppy image

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

At present the installer, SETUP.BAT should support installing from: Boot from floppy/CD, with CD installer. Install from any directory as long as V8Power Tools are present. (I’ll probably modify it, to adapt and use V8PT that will ship with the installer automatically.)

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

I only use floppies to boot inoperable computers into DOS.I tried installing FreeDOS from a flash drive,using RUFUS.Didn't work.Again,we should add USB support so people could install the OS from flash drives and such. On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 10:44 AM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr.

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Sep 30, 2015, at 12:39 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU > wrote: > > To specify,it would boot into the INSTALLER,but the OS wouldn't install.It > would try to scan for the installation DVD,therefore hitting an infinite > choice loop. That shouldn’t be a problem with the

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Nice.This will make it easier to modify the installer like a puzzle. Now,for my other point.Should we support USB?I noticed that the older installer doesn't support installing the OS to an external HD. On Mon, Sep 28, 2015 at 8:20 AM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: > After

[Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

After discussing “Advanced” mode a little with Jim, I will be adding additional functionality into the FreeDOS 1.2 installer batch file. Starting of with a complete restructure of how it structured in the file system. Instead of a single do it all installer batch file, it will now be broken

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

Well, before starting this major structural redesign of the FreeDOS Installer it was at about 50% complete. At present, most of functionality has been ported over. (Except, the backup generator) However, I figure it is now at approximately 30% complete. Please don’t confuse FDI’s progress

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2

> On Sep 28, 2015, at 12:32 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU > wrote: > > Nice.This will make it easier to modify the installer like a puzzle. :) > > Now,for my other point.Should we support USB?I noticed that the older > installer doesn't support installing the OS to an

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 18, 2015, at 3:54 PM, Jim Hall wrote: > >>> On Sep 16, 2015, at 11:53 AM, Antony Gordon wrote: >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I think the best solution would probably be two setup programs. A quick >>> setup like Jim wants and then a more advanced setup

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

On Fri, Sep 18, 2015 at 8:43 AM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > So we boot the live CD with a message to the effect of, "Welcome to the live > environment! Type "install" to install FreeDOS on your system." and then the > user can type install (or install /a or advanced mode)

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Hi Mateusz and Michael, the installer should NOT try to be more clever or automatic than we can SAFELY make that. I disagree with Mateusz about the "simply give me a button to destroy my harddisk contents and put DOS on it" because that is too destructive. Default should be to ADD DOS to an

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Hi! > Disc boots: > > Offers to install or quit. What happens if you select "install"? > (note: if DOS is already installed, setup does no “launch”. > The installer does this specifically for the disc to be used for recovery and > whatnot. > What makes a better recovery disc than a live

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Also, what if the user has a partition which is utilized by another OS but isn't crucial? (Linux swap comes to mind.) Yes, they can easily set it back up again if they trash it with their FreeDOS installing, but in a perfect world the installer would check the partition signatures to see if

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 18, 2015, at 4:08 AM, Eric Auer wrote: > > > Hi Mateusz and Michael, > > the installer should NOT try to be more clever or automatic > than we can SAFELY make that. I disagree with Mateusz about > the "simply give me a button to destroy my harddisk contents > and

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 18, 2015, at 9:47 AM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > > Also, what if the user has a partition which is utilized by another OS > but isn't crucial? (Linux swap comes to mind.) Yes, they can easily set > it back up again if they trash it with their FreeDOS

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 18, 2015, at 9:43 AM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > > So we boot the live CD with a message to the effect of, "Welcome to the live > environment! Type "install" to install FreeDOS on your system." and then the > user can type install (or install /a or advanced

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

I think this is a late thing, sorry for that. Op 16 sep. 2015 11:17 schreef "Jerome Shidel" : > > > On Sep 15, 2015, at 9:27 PM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > >> Could we just give the user the option? > > > I could. But, Jim wants super simple. So, I

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

I agree with antony.Two installers,which can be downloaded,or something,to setup FDOS 1.2.Some users need an advanced setup.Some users willjust use the easy installer.So,perhaps two different installers would be a great idea.I mean,I prefer advanced installations,so I have more power/control over

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

There could be a secret (e.g. not listed anywhere on the installer screens) key or key combination (F8 or shift-F8 perhaps?) which plops the user into /Advanced Mode/ (put on sunglasses and rev engine here) which would allow all the extra choices, but wouldn't clutter the interface for average

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 17, 2015, at 2:45 PM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > > There could be a secret (e.g. not listed anywhere on the installer screens) > key or key combination (F8 or shift-F8 perhaps?) which plops the user into > Advanced Mode (put on sunglasses and rev engine here)

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Alright,because I haven't programmed anythig for the FD 1.2 distro yet,and I'm on the development team. On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 6:23 PM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: > > > On Sep 17, 2015, at 5:45 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU < > jcharbonnea...@cpsge.org> wrote: > > > > YES!PLEASE!I

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

YES!PLEASE!I think we found ourselves a solution.Oh,and is there anything to be programmed?I haven't been ale to add anything yet... On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 2:45 PM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > There could be a secret (e.g. not listed anywhere on the installer > screens)

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 17, 2015, at 5:45 PM, JAYDEN CHARBONNEAU > wrote: > > YES!PLEASE!I think we found ourselves a solution. Only, if Jim gives the OK. > Oh,and is there anything to be programmed?I haven't been ale to add anything > yet… I can’t think of anything at present.

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Perfect! A command line switch is efficient and effective. On 9/17/2015 6:12 PM, Jerome E. Shidel Jr. wrote: >> On Sep 17, 2015, at 2:45 PM, Mercury Thirteen >> wrote: >> >> There could be a secret (e.g. not listed anywhere on the installer screens) >> key or key

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

As far as I'm concerned, I agree with Jim on that one. Creating a super-power installer is pointless - it will take months to release (if it happens at all), while what I personally need is just an intro screen that warns me about all my disk going to be flushed, some 'OK' button so I give it

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 15, 2015, at 9:27 PM, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > > Could we just give the user the option? I could. But, Jim wants super simple. So, I guess I will have to see if he wants it to ask or not. But, I am really thinking purge the FDOS dir and install new

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Hi, Unlike MS-DOS proper, FreeDOS comes with custom configuration files to optimize for different things, I have my personal opinion on this, but I digress. Given that the user may have modified the configuration files and there is no easy way to merge the changes of a vanilla FreeDOS config to a

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Hi guys, Unlike MS-DOS proper, FreeDOS comes with custom configuration files to optimize for different things, I have my personal opinion on this, but I digress. Given that the user may have modified the configuration files and there is no easy way to merge the changes of a vanilla FreeDOS

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

I prefer as many advanced options as possible.I keep a backup of my ENTIRE network in FreeDOS (I'm funny like that,I guess.FreeDOS can't be affected by windows viruses.).So if data were to be erased,I would have a mental breakdown (In a sarcastic sense.).So,yeah. On Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 9:39 AM,

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Hi, I think the best solution would probably be two setup programs. A quick setup like Jim wants and then a more advanced setup that provides all the advanced tools, disk image creation that more technical users would want. Simple version is the batch file, advanced version is C (or some other

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 16, 2015, at 10:38 AM, Eric Auer wrote: > > > Hi, plenty of interesting discussion points in this thread and in the > metados thread (combining both topics as they are both about distros). > > * I agree with Joe that DOS should not overwrite anything by default, >

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 16, 2015, at 7:58 AM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > Hi, > > Unlike MS-DOS proper, FreeDOS comes with custom configuration files to > optimize for different things, I have my personal opinion on this, but I > digress. Given that the user may have modified the

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Hi! >> * for the same reason, there could be an option to just RENAME the >> old DOS directory instead of moving the contents into a zip file, >> as suggested by Mercury. > > And if there is already an FDOS.OLD? :-) As with your ZIP solution: In that case, rename to another name, such as

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 16, 2015, at 11:53 AM, Antony Gordon wrote: > > Hi, > > I think the best solution would probably be two setup programs. A quick setup > like Jim wants and then a more advanced setup that provides all the advanced > tools, disk image creation that more technical

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

> On Sep 16, 2015, at 6:44 PM, Eric Auer wrote: > > > Hi! > >>> * for the same reason, there could be an option to just RENAME the >>> old DOS directory instead of moving the contents into a zip file, >>> as suggested by Mercury. >> >> And if there is already an

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

BTW, thank you all for your comments on this topic. I do appreciate EACH and EVERY one of them. Also, I hope I do not upset any of you with my slightly odd sense of humor. -- Monitor Your Dynamic Infrastructure at Any

Re: [Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

Could we just give the user the option? Also, you could call the backup FDOS folder /fdos.old/ a'la Windows and its /windows.old/ directory. At least that way some folks would know what it's for when they see it again months down the road. On 9/15/2015 8:53 PM, Jerome Shidel wrote: The

[Freedos-devel] FDI 1.2 Questions?

The installer is going well and is about 50% done. But, I have two questions. Situation: User is doing an upgrade install from FD1.1. FDI already prompts to backup. Then will backup config files and the c:\FDOS directory. 1) should FDI purge the c:\fdos directory before it installs the new