UBCD V5.0b5 is now available as a torrent download.

Compared to b4, there have been some pretty major changes, so certain things may not work correctly yet. This is more like a sync point for the developers.

Some of the major changes are:

- Directory layout restructuring
- UBCD FreeDOS V1.32 (with support for "ubcd.ini" config file)
- Parted Magic V3.0 (USB support broken, xfprot doesn't work yet)

Other changes include:

- Usual version updates of various apps
- Added SeaTools for DOS (GUI version), EASEUS Partition Manager, DISKINFO, KEYDisk, DiskSpy, Fujitsu UDMA utility, Fujitsu Change Definition Utility, Fujitsu Erase Utility.
- Improvements to ubcd2iso and ubcd2usb.

Note: I have decided to post each new release in a new thread to keep the discussion specific to that release. Think it's better than having one super long thread.

Good work. Downloading now...

(-:

Edit: Finished downloading. The "permission denied" error you see whilst booting FreeDOS will be remedied by the next NwDsk release. I have also sped-up execution speed so you will no longer see a significant delay between finding the *.INI file and launching to menu.

I'll endeavour to push the update out this week.

_________________
"If you think things can't get any worse it's probably because you lack sufficient imagination."

Okay, here's a few things I've come across so far...

1) /ubcd/dosapps/UBCD.INI
Change

to

(notice the quotes). If you're ever sending parameters to the .exe file, always ensure field 2 is given in quotes. To avoid confusion, it may be wise to invoke quotation marks on all items in field 2 to further remind users.

Change..

to

Always ensure the target binary is declared in field 2; RUNAPP.BAT needs this parameter to find the corresponding archive. The STARTUP.BAT file in the said archive will launch regardless.

Also, modify the header so it reads...

NwDsk can calculate the remaining variables (in NwDsk R1.33 FINAL you should be able to delete "MenuType" also).

You might also consider tab-formatting UBCD.INI so to allow users to easily read/navigate the file.

2)Update the FreeDOS image
R1.33B beta (UBCD 5.0b5 only)

This addresses the issues I outlined in my earlier post.

_________________
"If you think things can't get any worse it's probably because you lack sufficient imagination."

Done!



Done! I also change it for ata24, ata245 and chgdef. Also corrected the desc in UBCD.INI (should be AIDA16, not AIDA15).



I left the "version" value in because the folks who suggested working on a UBCD customizer app might want to use it to determine the UBCD version. They emailed me earlier about this, and I told them I will include a "version.txt" in the "ubcd" subdir, but since ubcd.ini is now available, I thought might as well use that.



I know this one will come up. Sorry to disappoint you, but I like it this way. I am I am weird, but I am wired to like things compact. You should see some of the C code I write!



In the process of downloading...

Change /ubcd/boot/cputres to /ubcd/boot/cpustres.
Work around for people who don't want to remaster the iso but want to test it anyway:
Press [TAB] when you are at the menu items of the CPU submenu (CPUstress, CPUburn-in, CPUinfo, Mersenne prime test, StressCPU2 or Help) and delete the s in the commandline so it looks like cputres.

Delete /ubcd/boot/antivir/isolinux.cfg and /ubcd/boot/antivirus/welcome.msg:
You only can see that you can choose to boot from the hard drive (not very usefull or to boot antivir, so it is better to include the launch option straight in others.cfg

If you want to keep it like it is now, change some // to / in the isolinux.cfg file.

Change /ubcd/boot/offline/isolinux.cfg (some references to /offline instead of /ubcd/boot/offline/) to:


Change /ubcd/menus/main.cfg to:


You have to add reboot.c32 from the syslinux package to /syslinux and /isolinux.
The MENU SEPARATOR will display a blank line that gets skipped when navigating trough the menu. It makes it easier to separate the UBCD part of the local boot and reboot option.

Just so we're clear, I'll have NwDsk configured to read only the following settings...




Each to their own. For the record, it looks a bloody mess. q-:


I wouldn't dwell too much on this. R1.33 FINAL is shaping up quite nicely. I've further managed to speed up *.INI parsing by assigning the fetched values as parameters instead of environmental variables...

R1.32 (elegant, but slow as AIDS...)
n iterations, where n=number of entries


R1.33b
5 iterations


R1.33FINAL
1 iteration


I've had to modify RUNAPP.BAT (which I've now decided to name RUNA.BAT), but it's much faster using this approach.

_________________
"If you think things can't get any worse it's probably because you lack sufficient imagination."

I agree, TABs instead of spaces would be nice.

Also some comments inside UBCD.INI which explains what each column does, would be nice.

What does column 3? Why is it sometimes -$$ and sometimes -$?
@ as702 can you describe what each column means?

Non sequitur definition:

In fact, all it does is pass a parameter to the main UBCD launch menu. "-$" tells the application to pause (press any key to continue) before returning to the main menu. "-$$" simply tells it to not return to the menu and exit to the command prompt (useful if the application in question is command-line driven). "-" will immediately default back to our menu.

(-:

Agreed. As you can see from NwDsk R1.32, I began typing out a README.TXT file attempting to explain all that crap (I got bored with it and haven't had much time of late to finish it entirely).

I should also post a tutorial for users which should help explain all the various nuances. In the meantime, I'll quickly attempt a wheelbarrow explanation of how the *.INI file works...

Example:


This is how the header should look...

"Signature" is used as a search parameter by NwDsk in order to locate the file (the advantage being you can place or name the *.INI file to anywhere or anything you desire). This should NEVER be edited/removed.

"Version" is pretty self-explanatory.

Beneath the header is where we list ALL our dosapps which, in turn, are used to dynamically generate our batch files, help commands and WBAT interface.

Lines given in parenthesis denote the category in which our dosapp is stored within our menu...



Field 1 declares the name of the archive (minus extension) or directory of our dosapp. In this example, the name of our app is "fjdt". On the CD, this should exist as one of the following...



"<PATH>" can be anything you like. In our case, it is "/ubcd/dosapps/".


Field 2 donates the command to be run (by default, this should contain the target binary found within the corresponding dosapp archive/directory). This field also accepts parameters for the target binary in question (for example, "fjdt.exe /?").

This field is quite important since NwDsk uses this target binary to not only luanch the application, but to also discern the correct archive to unpack/directory to follow should an instance arise where duplicate archives/directories are discovered.

Field 3 I've explained.

Field 4 simply denotes the dosapp title.

_________________
"If you think things can't get any worse it's probably because you lack sufficient imagination."

@Icecube:

Thanks! I am implemented all your suggestions.

Hi,

I'm still really new to all this but, wanted to say thanks for all the hard work. Just downloaded and installed UBCD V5.0b5 on a 1Gb flash drive. Works perfectly to boot a toshiba satellite l355-s7812 with the core 2 duo processor (t5550 1.83 GHz) Haven't tried t on the desktop (asus) yet.

Had a little trouble with the 4.11 version on the flash drive but, as this is the newest version it's better anyway.

Posted a link in "resources & links" for a site with lots of pendrive apps. that may be integrated or used to customize.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks and keep up the good work.

....gristle

@ Victor
Can you show the webpage for UBCD50 with all the applications that are included. Provide a link. Do you have listed the applications that are included in Parted Magic?

I have update xfprot and clamav. I also added some checks and information about how to update the definition files.
See: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5691#5691.

It would be nice if someone would test it. It doesn't require that you burn a new CD. If you already burned the UBCD50B5 iso to a CD you can test it by ust placing those files on your hard drive. See the link above for more information.

I am glad that it finally out of the door .


To all people who have an USB keyboard: Can you test the cpustress image?

deadlite couldn't use its wireless keyboard, I like to know if an USB keyboard works or not. If nobody helps, I probably can't fix it.

See the first post from me on this topic to know which programs to test and how you have to start them (wrong folder name in UBCD50beta5).

More info about the cpustress image: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1476.

I don't have one yet!

Normally, I will update the list when I am ready to release.

But it is probably a good idea to have one for UBCD50 so that you guys can vet through it.

Will work on it and post the link when it is ready.

I downloaded it, looks like it works but it still has DBAN 1.0.7. I would love it if dban-beta.2007042900 would be added to the UBCD. Because now I need a CD with the DBAN beta to wipe disks and the UBCD for everything else. The problem is DBAN 1.0.7 does not support most recent computers, on my Asrock 939SLI32 mainboard it's insanely slow (2MB/s or so), on my MSI AMD 690G board no disks are detected at all. DBAN beta solves this, and according to the author it's "production quality, but it never got tagged.".

Btw keep up the great work, I use the UBCD quite often.

Have you worked on this already or not? Look also at the beef drape version of Parted Magic, it contains a lot more programs than Parted Magic 3.0.

I have convinced Patrick Verner (Parted Magic) to include an isolinux option (I did have to write it myself ) which makes it possible to use the same entries for booting from a cd or from usb so that we need only one entry for Parted Magic in main.cfg.

See: http://partedmagic.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=236

You have to replace livecd with liveall in the isolinux.cfg file of Parted Magic:


If you set the keymap command to set your keyboard layout for Parted Magic(Press TAB at the bootmenu of Parted Magic, press F2 to see the possibilities), test the Failsafe Settings entry and see if you have chosen the right keyboard layout.

If it works correctly, boot in one of the graphical modes and test with which test you have to complete the setxkbmap command (most of the time it will be something similar to the extension of the domain names of your country: e.g.: be for Belgium, fr for France, uk for the United Kingdom).

For me this is:


Post the information here for your keyboard layout so I can pass it to the Parted Magic forum or post it there yourself.
Post it at: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1580
Or at: http://partedmagic.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=213
Currently only 2 keyboard layouts are supported (be and se).
If you want that you can use your keyboard normally in Parted Magic, test it so that it can be included in Parted Magic 3.1.

Suspected release date of Parted Magic 3.1 will be within 3 weeks from now.

The beefdrapes of Parted Magic can be found at: http://partedmagic.com/beef_drapes/

Parted Magic 3.1 Release Candidate 1 is out:
http://partedmagic.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=243&sid=587b558f3cc9f577b142ebf2aa372b51

@W3ird_N3rd:

dban-beta.2007042900 seems good. I have replaced V1.07 in UBCD V5.0b6.

Thanks!

Hi Victor,

If you have not already looked at it then you might also want to include SecureErase from:

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

This tool uses the drives own secure overwrite commands to delete data from the drive itself, including a Secure Erase option.

This utility has been updated to v4.0 on 20th Sepember 2008. The latest readme is here:

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/HDDEraseReadMe.txt

Kind Regards

Simon

Menu looking for powmx423 but you spelled the image powermax.

I forgot to mention -- I did eventually sit down to test this, and was unable to use the image with the bog-standard Acer wired USB keyboard that came free with this computer. So it's definitely a wider problem than just wireless. (Which SHOULD be basically indistinguishable from wired USB keyboards on an "input-device" level, so that makes sense.)

I was unable to find a set of kernel options that made it work, tho I admit I didn't try very hard.