Hi Liam,
> On Oct 1, 2024, at 5:59 AM, Liam Proven via Freedos-devel > <freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > [..] > Maybe some context would make my position clearer. > > I want to make a live bootable USB with FreeDOS and a few word > processors and other writer's tools, such as an outliner, maybe a > spreadsheet, as a distraction-free writing tool. > > I want to put a friendly menu launcher on the front end. It will > launch those apps and nothing else. > > I evaluated various shells in the FreeDOS optional-components CD for this. > > I found most lacking, either being incomplete or non-functional or > other failings. > > The one notable exception is PGME, which goes the other direction. > * It's built in as standard. > * It has _more_ features than I want or need. > * It does stuff I don't want. I don't need colours, special effects, > animation, fonts, etc. I just want a program menu. Plain old VGA text > mode would be fine because anything too old for VGA is so old it's an > antique. 16 colours are plenty for a menu. Frankly, 2 are enough. PGME has a crazy level of customization support. It could be configured to appear with a very simplified layout, no effects, two colors and a completely different way of interacting with menu options. But, such a “theme” would deviate widely from the current ones provided. There is very detailed documentation provided on how it is done. However, it is not an easy task and has a steep learning curve. Based on what you want to do and the appearance you want, I don’t think PGME is a good fit for you needs. It’s kind-of like using a Bulldozer to plant flowers in your garden. Extreme overkill for what is wanted. I think a better solution is to utilize V8Power Tools. It is what makes the FreeDOS installer work. Below is a MENU.BAT file that I think would serve you much better. I used color and such. But, that is easy enough to change. It is setup to run FreeDOS Edit, FED and VIM. Then when you are finished, Exit to DOS, Reboot or ShutDown. The paths and programs are setup for FreeDOS T2410. Go ahead and give it a try. I think it is fairly straight forward on how you can add, change or remove things from the V8Powered Menu. However, there are a couple switches that may be confusing. If you want to use it and have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them. :-) Jerome ( Note: The lines that have “vreadkey” are simply there to purge any text from the input buffer. Also, you can view help for the individual commands using /? from the command line.) ———— MENU.BAT ———— @echo off :MainMenu vreadkey /p /n /d 0 vcls /g /f Gray /b Blue vframe /f Black /b Gray /h 15 /w 40 /c shadow vecho vecho /f DarkGray " Distraction Free Writer" vline hidden vecho vecho " Quit" vecho vecho " FreeDOS Edit" vecho " VIM" vecho " FED" vchoice /f White /b Green /d 2 if errorlevel 4 goto Option4 if errorlevel 3 goto Option3 if errorlevel 2 goto Option2 :Option1 vreadkey /p /n /d 0 vcls /g /f Gray /b Blue vframe /f Yellow /b Red /h 9 /w 30 /c shadow vecho vecho " Exit to DOS" vecho " Shutdown" vecho " Reboot" vecho vecho " Back to main menu" vchoice /f Red /B gray /d 4 if errorlevel 4 goto MainMenu if errorlevel 3 goto Reboot if errorlevel 2 goto Shutdown goto End :Shutdown vcls /g /a 0x07 FreeDOS\Bin\fdapm shutdown goto End :Reboot vcls /g /a 0x07 FreeDOS\bin\fdapm coldboot goto End :Option2 FreeDOS\bin\edit goto MainMenu :Option3 Apps\fed\fed.exe goto MainMenu :Option4 Apps\vim\vim.exe goto MainMenu :End vcls /g /f Gray /b Black
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