Customisation nightmares :(

[johnnysmooth]

Hi there,

I'm new to ubcd and the whole customisation process. I've read many really informative posts but have not found clear answers to a couple of basic questions that arose when trying to add a filemanager and an HD identify program to the cd. Would anyone be able to help a newbie?

1. What is a good file manager I can use?

2. Do I really need to use boot images, or can I just use .exe's? If the latter, how can I make these automatically load from the cd? (I tried using exe's but for some reason the cd only dropped me down to the dos prompt but did not execute the accompanying batch file I wrote to launch the program.)

3. How do I change the .scn file to reflect my customisations? I have seen info on how to do this, but it was not clear what to do if working with exe's. (Do I have to specify the exact path to the image/exe? What would such an instruction look like?)

I'd be really grateful for the benefit of someone's expertise!

Thanks

[Victor Chew]

1. What is a good file manager I can use?

Type "vc" at the DOS prompt.

2. Do I really need to use boot images, or can I just use .exe's? If the latter, how can I make these automatically load from the cd? (I tried using exe's but for some reason the cd only dropped me down to the dos prompt but did not execute the accompanying batch file I wrote to launch the program.)

To run EXEs (note, they have to be DOS EXEs, not the Win32 EXEs), create a subdirectory under "dosapps", put your EXE there, then create a "startup.bat" file using one of the existing ones as template. There are two types of startup.bat. The first simply "cd" to the desired directory and run the EXE. The second xcopies the necessary files to the RAM drive before running the EXE.

You can typically get away with the former, 'cos the latter is typically used only for apps that need to write to the underlying media.

3. How do I change the .scn file to reflect my customisations? I have seen info on how to do this, but it was not clear what to do if working with exe's. (Do I have to specify the exact path to the image/exe? What would such an instruction look like?)

Again, check out one of the existing examples. In general, it should look something like:

Code: Select all

if ($lastKey == key[f1]); then set method = "memdisk"; then set image = "fdubcd"; then set target = "myapp"; then script launch.scn

where "myapp" is the name of the subdirectory you have created under "dosapps". The FreeDOS boot disk will automatically launch "\dosapps\myapp\startup.bat".

[johnnysmooth]

Hi again,

Thanks for your clear and informative response - I got the dos app in question booting nicely!!

Having tried VC and NTFS I was wondering whether there was any other dos based file manager that would a) read NTFS, and b) allow one to copy files to a FAT formatted USB stick (NTFS reader does not allow this). What I would like is to be able to retrieve music and the like from a corrupted Windows installation.

Out of curiosity, if I wanted to put an app as an image on ubcd (say upgrade Seatools to the current version) do I: download the current version and write a startup.bat file (and where should it 'cd' to?). Do I then burn both as one image, place in the image folder and then modify the .scn (trying my lucj with the three different image-loaders?

Many thanks for all your help!

[Victor Chew]

Try booting FreeDOS, then enable USB/LFN/NTFS support. If you are able to mount both your USB memory stick and your NTFS partition, and you can just copy the files over using one of the file managers in DOSAPPS eg. VC, DBROWSE (known to support LFN) etc.

[johnnysmooth]

Hi again,

By 'enabling', do you mean that there is a command for loading the requisite (generic usb) drivers built into fdos? I've checked some other fdos sites and there seems to be a problem getting usb devices (whether flash, hd or cd) to be recognised and usable. What they suggest is downloading usbaspi.sys and other files and integrating them into config.sys.

http://fd-doc.sourceforge.net/faq/cgi-b ... rivers/219

In the context of ubcd, this would mean altering the fdos image - is this what you had in mind?

Thanks in advance.

[Victor Chew]

Try enabling the "ASPIUSB" module when booting FreeDOS.

It is probably best to hit the "Config" button and make sure the USB hub config matches your hardware.

I was able to mount my SanDisk Cruzer memory stick without any problem.