Hello NG,

in the past I customized the path to the application
(default: dosapps) folder by editing UBCD.BAT in the bin folder
of the dosubcd.igz/fdubcd.img image of version 3.40.
Just to sepaerate some apps from the default apps and have
them in a diffrent folder.
And added the cusomized image as a new image, changing
the filename...

In the new dosubcd.igz/fdubcd.img image (version 3.42)
see viewtopic.php?t=1422
of UBCD 5.xx I can't find a batchfile wich does the same (setting
this "dosapps" directory) for the new fdubcd.img...

Does anybody know how to customize this path in the
new version 3.42 or is this hard-coded? If so - why?

Thomas

The FreeDOS image for UBCD 5b operates somewhat differently than from previous versions; nothing is "hard-coded" as you put it, but the coding is a little less transparent and more granular due to the complexity of tasks and post-processing required (a lot of which are dependent on the path of the dosapps location).

For future releases I may introduce a global variable to allow users to easily change the default location(s).

For now, if you wish to change the source path, you need to look in ubcd.bat and runapp.bat (found in /bin/utilz.cab). I can't offer you a more definitive solution.

Specifically, what is it you're trying to do?

[quote="as702"]For future releases I may introduce a global variable to allow users to easily change the default location(s).[/quote]

This would be very helpful to customize a default fdubcd.img

[quote="as702"]For now, if you wish to change the source path, you need to look in ubcd.bat and runapp.bat (found in /bin/utilz.cab). I can't offer you a more definitive solution.[/quote]

Yes that was exactly what I'm looking for. But still have a
problem with v3.42 and ubcd 4.1.1 (see below)

[quote="as702"]Specifically, what is it you're trying to do?[/quote]

I just want to sepearate "my" apps from the dosapps directory of
ubcd which are included...

I created two additional subdirs. "usr_app" for 'my' dos apps
and "usr_img" for my customized boot images. This gives me more
overview of my selfmade images and customized apps and the
"default" tools and image dirs will be untouched.

To boot my apps in "usr_app"\newapp I needed to customize
a fdubcd.img. So I changed in "UTILZ.CAB\bin\runapp.bat" as
you described above in the line 21 from
L21: set _appsrc=%cddrv%\ubcd\dosapps\%_apparc%
to
L21: set _appsrc=%cddrv%\ubcd\usr_app\%_apparc%
and copied this customized fdubcd.img to my "usr_img" dir.
Finally I made the changes as described in the ubcd docs to
boot my apps or my images...
ex:

directory is:
%UBCD-Root%\usr_app\ntfs4dos

in custom.cfg I added
LABEL ntfs4dos
MENU LABEL DOS Tools with NTFS4DOS (usr dir)
KERNEL memdisk
APPEND initrd=/usr_img/fdubcd_usr.img ubcdcmd=ntfs4dos

Are you the maintainer/developer of these "fdxxxxx.igz/.img" images?
If so, I can only find the dosubcd.igz/fdubcd.img ver 3.42 but not
the other updated boot-images. Do you have a link to all of the
images?

And I still got an error with the new dosubcd.igz/fdubcd.img (3.42)
if I use this with UBCD 4.1.1. After booting the new "original" image
(nothing is customized) I get the following error:

---snip---
[...]
UNPACK: Extracting "A:\level3\AUTORUN3.CAB"
UBCD: Updating configuration in "Q:\etc\global.set"
UBCD: Error!!! version incompatible (upgrade to 4.1.1 or above)

Q:\>_
---snap---
Do you know what's the problem and how to fix it?
btw: It _is_ the version 4.1.1

Another final question ;-) : Where is the best place to change
the drive-letter for the ramdrive and where can I change the
first letter for the first dvd-/cd-rom drive?
Would be useful to know in which *.CAB\*.bat file you are setting
this params.

Thomas

no particular order...


For UBCD, yes.


The original version(s) are readily available from Erwin Veerman's site (simply type NwDsk into google and you should find it). However, they are now somewhat outdated and not fully feature-ready as they exist today (see the change log for a detailed list of changes made).

I've contacted Erwin on a number of occasions but he seems to have gone dark so I decided to help Victor maintain a more modern build.


For the next release, I'll include a global environment setting in /etc/autoset.bat which you can use/edit to append an additional path(s) for custom dosapps.

e.g.



The latest release of R1.28 does work with 4.1.1. The reason you're receiving this error suggests your \menus\defaults.cfg file from your ISO has been altered. It should read:



The image automatically determines which version it is that you're using based off the information in this file. Check the contents and tell me what it says.


If you're using 4.1.1, it won't matter (it's designed to work only with UBCD 5b). If you are using 5b, can you be a little more specific (what error messages are you recieving??).





\etc\autoset.bat


\etc\global.set



Assuming the image boots, there's nothing wrong with you using a custom folder for your image provided your isolinux is configured correctly (which it appears to be).

Fine. Thank you very much for your work.
I have some additional questions about cutomizing dosubcd.igz
Both dosubcd.igz/fdubcd.img v 3.40/3.42

First: How can I disable the upcoming Menu of UBCD 4.1.1 (5.x.x)
at the end of the boot process in _silent_ mode of the
dosubcd.igz/fdubcd.img (3.40/3.42) images? And how to set
a timeout and/or a default choose (launch/system/help/browse)?
I would prefer to have a complete _silent_ boot.

Second: How can I change the default behavior of the LFN Tools
to enable it by default at the boot process? In global.set is a
var LFN_INSTALL=1 but the default behavior is without (disbled)
LFN support.





But it would be good to have the possibility to select the installed
apps. Usally I don't need all apps and it would be concise to have
only the preferred apps in the ubcd menu... Perhaps an additional
textfile where all the installed apps/dirs are listed...



Strange. ;-)
That was the problem. I changed the text in the head. And tried to change
some colors... Now it works. But IMHO I think it's not good to determine
the version of ubcd in this way...

btw: I would like to customize the colors. Do you know an overview
of the possible colors? Is there a table or something similar?
For example I would prefer a bright white text in the menu and/or
borders...



Now it works fine for me. I changed additional the path in
%FDUBCD-ROOT%\level3\autoron.CAB\bin\ubcd.bat



OK, And what is the VAR in batch-files and autorun.bat of the first cdrom?
I tried %CD1% but it doesn't work for me. I found the var %UBCDDRV% (v3.40)
and additional %CDDRV% (v3.42). Are the var %UBCDDRV% available at boot
time (autoexec.bat)?

Thomas

I'll implement this feature in the next release; you should then be able to set the values in global.set (e.g. UBCD_TI etc)


in global.set, add the following:



see this post:
viewtopic.php?t=1422&start=29



I am aware of this. It will be taken care of in the next update.


see the file "wbat.ini" in bin/utils.cab. Fairly straight forward.


If you're using 4.1.1, %UBCDDRV% or %CDDRV%.
For v5b, %CDDRV% only

(-:

That sounds good.



Oh, it doesn't work for me and I think you missunderstood me?
I would like to _ENABLE_ the DOSLFN by default.
At the moment the DOSLFN TSR loads, but in a "disabled" state.
It enables the DOSLFN only if I start VC by the DOSUBCD Menu
which is called by UBCD.BAT



Ok, I will have a look to that topic today.


I am aware of this. It will be taken care of in the next update.




I mean the colors of the UBCD 4.1.1 menu (default grey on blue) not
the PupUp Menu which is called by ubcd.bat. I think in cdshell are commands
like "set textColor=color[+white on blue]". Which means bright white on blue.
But I think it must be changed in the defaults.cfg file. For example:

should set _bright_ white color, shouldn't it? For me it looks like...
But how do I set _bright_ white color to the text? Something like:

doesn't work for me and I didn't find a tip how to set the TEXT color.




Are you sure?
For me it looks there is only the Var %UBCDDRV% available in both versions?
I would like to add a line like this:

at the end of to the autostart.bat to add the %cdrom%\bin path
where are some apps/tools of me located; list.com, fv.com, etc.
But it doesn't work - why? I got a path like:

The CD-Rom drive letter isn't set. Why?
it should be:


Thomas

You can find it in the /doc/menu.txt file of the syslinux archive or at http://syslinux.zytor.com/menu.php.

I worked something out and if somebody would like
to use bright-white color for the text try to add
the two lines under the configuration in "menus\defaults.cfg"
Beware of touching the title line!!!


If anybody knows how to enable a bright white color for
the selection. Any hint would be fine :-)


Thank you - this was very helpful...

Thomas

I think that you can change the tittle of the menu for ubcd. I am not completely sure (did not test it myself), but you can try it and test it in a virtual machine.

I wouldn't (NwDsk R1.28 relies on this information to determine the version number). For the next release this will be adjusted to rely on a separate INI file so you can then do to it as you please.

(-:


ubcd.bat contains the line:

Simply remove it if you wish (it was instated due to program compatibility).


For NwDsk R1.28, %CDDRV% is used only in UBCD5.


Why? The path you're looking to declare doesn't exist.

I added a subdir %ROOT%\bin to the cd with a lot of tools, like
list, dd, zip, unzip, xfdisk 0.9.2, etc.

But when the image starts up and the autoexec.bat is starting
the vars %UBCDDRV% and/or %CDDRV% doesn't exist or empty...
So I introduced two new vars in all the AUTOEXEC.BATs of
my customized images...

Thomas