-------Since the following parts involve frequent disk operations, it is best to copy them to the hard disk first----------
Step 3: Compression.
This part is what requires the most skill. As mentioned earlier, EBD.CAB on the DOS system disk that comes with Win98 is an archive. By using compression and packaging, the size of the software is reduced, allowing a floppy disk with limited space to store more things. For example, WINZIP and WINRAR, which we commonly use (the DOS equivalents are PKZIP and RAR), are software of this type. However, be careful not to pack too much software into EBD.CAB; a huge archive will make your floppy boot process unbearable.
The compression we are talking about here is not just packaging, because most of what is on a boot disk is standalone programs, so what is more important is compression of drivers and executable files. Software inside an archive has to be extracted before it can be used, which is not suitable for this type of file. The compression method for this kind of file is: after compressing it, the compression software adds a piece of runnable self-extracting code to it. When run, this self-extracting code decompresses the file again in memory and runs it directly. This is the same principle as some viruses. In fact, in the early days there once appeared a virus that would “do good deeds” and could compress the size of various executable files. Now do you understand? Because hard disks are now large and cheap, this kind of software is not so familiar to new users anymore. Below we introduce several compression programs under DOS.
1、SYSPACK specializes in compressing various driver (.SYS) files. Its usage is very simple, for example:
syspack himem.sys can compress himem.sys, and its usage remains unchanged after compression
Below are some SYS files compressed by SYSPACK and their sizes; the VICE_CDD.SYS above was compressed with it
ASPI4DOS.SYS 10,022
ASPI8U2.SYS 27,991
2、UPX version 1.23, specializes in compressing various EXE files. This is currently the software with the strongest compression ability. It has quite a few parameters
Usage examples: UPX -9 SCANDISK.EXE compresses SCANDISK.EXE with the highest compression ratio
UPX D SCANDISK.EXE restores SCANDISK.EXE compressed by UPX
Below are some EXE files compressed by UPX and their sizes. UPX can also compress WIN9X EXE files
EXTRACT.EXE 49,743
SCANDISK.EXE 120,323
LOW.EXE 29,491 hard disk low-level format tool
PCT.EXE 33,475 SOFTSCAPE PCTOOLS
3、DIET1.41 Can compress EXE, COM and other files, and can also compress data files.
DIET's compression ratio for EXE files is not high, but it can compress some EXE files in special formats, such as EMM386.EXE and SMARTDRV.EXE. These two programs cannot run after being compressed by other software; only DIET can do it. And the compression ratio is quite high: EMM386 can be compressed from 120K to 50K, and the 45K SMARTDRV is only 15K after compression.
4、DIET1.41 and PKLITE2.1
These two programs can compress EXE and COM files. PKLITE can also compress WINDOWS3.X application software. Because the compression ratio is not high, they are generally only used to compress COM files. Under normal circumstances, DIET's compression ratio is a bit higher than the latter.
5、COM2EXE
Convert COM files into EXE format, and then you can use high-compression software such as UPX to compress them and obtain a smaller size. I used it to convert several COM files from Sanming Technology into EXE files and then compressed them with UPX.
6、UNP4.12
This software is used to decompress software compressed by DIET, PKLITE, PACKEXE, LZEXE, etc. Because quite a few programs are already compressed when distributed, for example SCANDISK on the boot disk has already been compressed by PKLITE, so you must first use UNP to decompress it before using UPX to compress it. There is also a decompression program called X_tract, which is not as famous as UNP, and its decompression capability is even slightly stronger than UNP.
Not all files can be compressed, and even less can all software still run correctly after compression, so make backups before compressing.
Step 4: Unpack and repack, adding third-party utility software.
The EBD.CAB archive should first be extracted, and the software inside taken out for processing, but this archive should be kept on the boot disk, because some software cannot run after being compressed and must be placed inside the archive to achieve the effect of reducing size.
After SCANDISK is compressed by UPX, putting it into the archive again will no longer compress it further, so software like this should be taken out. The size of the archive will then be reduced a lot. FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM, and EDIT.COM cannot run after being compressed with DIET or UPX and the like, so FDISK.EXE, which originally was not in the archive, should instead be placed inside the archive. You can also compress third-party software into EDB.CAB.
Software for repacking can use CAB2001, WINCAB and the like. There is also a MAKECAB under DOS, but I have not used it.
For third-party software, it is best to choose third-party software that is small in size and powerful in features, such as SOFTSCAPE PCTOOLS, which imitates PCTOOLS, the hard disk low-level formatting program LOWFORMAT, FREEDOS's CTMOUSE mouse driver, etc. Sanming Technology's hard disk diagnostic tools, etc., can then be compressed using the methods introduced above to reduce their size.
If you want to make a Chinese DOS disk, then in terms of choosing a Chinese character support system, PDOS95, CCDOS97, UCDOS98 and the like are not the best choices, because their Chinese fonts, input method and other files are relatively large. If you only want to display Chinese characters and use Pinyin input, the Pocket Dragon Chinese character support system, which is only 80K, is the first choice. If you want better display results, can use Pinyin, Wubi and other input methods, and also add DOS prompt message Chinese-localization functionality, then Tianhui 3.1 Pocket Edition plus Kingsoft 5.1 Pinyin and Wubi input methods is the first choice. After compression they use 300K in total, and even with DOS display message dynamic Chinese-localization functionality added, it is only around 450K.
Of course, you also need to make some changes to the configuration files config.sys and autoexec.bat. For this aspect, please refer to other materials.
All right, by following the above methods, you will definitely be able to build an ultra-powerful boot disk according to your own ideas. When your super boot disk is successfully built, then congratulations, you no longer belong among the newbies.
The software mentioned in the article will be packaged and put on my website.
Step 3: Compression.
This part is what requires the most skill. As mentioned earlier, EBD.CAB on the DOS system disk that comes with Win98 is an archive. By using compression and packaging, the size of the software is reduced, allowing a floppy disk with limited space to store more things. For example, WINZIP and WINRAR, which we commonly use (the DOS equivalents are PKZIP and RAR), are software of this type. However, be careful not to pack too much software into EBD.CAB; a huge archive will make your floppy boot process unbearable.
The compression we are talking about here is not just packaging, because most of what is on a boot disk is standalone programs, so what is more important is compression of drivers and executable files. Software inside an archive has to be extracted before it can be used, which is not suitable for this type of file. The compression method for this kind of file is: after compressing it, the compression software adds a piece of runnable self-extracting code to it. When run, this self-extracting code decompresses the file again in memory and runs it directly. This is the same principle as some viruses. In fact, in the early days there once appeared a virus that would “do good deeds” and could compress the size of various executable files. Now do you understand? Because hard disks are now large and cheap, this kind of software is not so familiar to new users anymore. Below we introduce several compression programs under DOS.
1、SYSPACK specializes in compressing various driver (.SYS) files. Its usage is very simple, for example:
syspack himem.sys can compress himem.sys, and its usage remains unchanged after compression
Below are some SYS files compressed by SYSPACK and their sizes; the VICE_CDD.SYS above was compressed with it
ASPI4DOS.SYS 10,022
ASPI8U2.SYS 27,991
2、UPX version 1.23, specializes in compressing various EXE files. This is currently the software with the strongest compression ability. It has quite a few parameters
Usage examples: UPX -9 SCANDISK.EXE compresses SCANDISK.EXE with the highest compression ratio
UPX D SCANDISK.EXE restores SCANDISK.EXE compressed by UPX
Below are some EXE files compressed by UPX and their sizes. UPX can also compress WIN9X EXE files
EXTRACT.EXE 49,743
SCANDISK.EXE 120,323
LOW.EXE 29,491 hard disk low-level format tool
PCT.EXE 33,475 SOFTSCAPE PCTOOLS
3、DIET1.41 Can compress EXE, COM and other files, and can also compress data files.
DIET's compression ratio for EXE files is not high, but it can compress some EXE files in special formats, such as EMM386.EXE and SMARTDRV.EXE. These two programs cannot run after being compressed by other software; only DIET can do it. And the compression ratio is quite high: EMM386 can be compressed from 120K to 50K, and the 45K SMARTDRV is only 15K after compression.
4、DIET1.41 and PKLITE2.1
These two programs can compress EXE and COM files. PKLITE can also compress WINDOWS3.X application software. Because the compression ratio is not high, they are generally only used to compress COM files. Under normal circumstances, DIET's compression ratio is a bit higher than the latter.
5、COM2EXE
Convert COM files into EXE format, and then you can use high-compression software such as UPX to compress them and obtain a smaller size. I used it to convert several COM files from Sanming Technology into EXE files and then compressed them with UPX.
6、UNP4.12
This software is used to decompress software compressed by DIET, PKLITE, PACKEXE, LZEXE, etc. Because quite a few programs are already compressed when distributed, for example SCANDISK on the boot disk has already been compressed by PKLITE, so you must first use UNP to decompress it before using UPX to compress it. There is also a decompression program called X_tract, which is not as famous as UNP, and its decompression capability is even slightly stronger than UNP.
Not all files can be compressed, and even less can all software still run correctly after compression, so make backups before compressing.
Step 4: Unpack and repack, adding third-party utility software.
The EBD.CAB archive should first be extracted, and the software inside taken out for processing, but this archive should be kept on the boot disk, because some software cannot run after being compressed and must be placed inside the archive to achieve the effect of reducing size.
After SCANDISK is compressed by UPX, putting it into the archive again will no longer compress it further, so software like this should be taken out. The size of the archive will then be reduced a lot. FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM, and EDIT.COM cannot run after being compressed with DIET or UPX and the like, so FDISK.EXE, which originally was not in the archive, should instead be placed inside the archive. You can also compress third-party software into EDB.CAB.
Software for repacking can use CAB2001, WINCAB and the like. There is also a MAKECAB under DOS, but I have not used it.
For third-party software, it is best to choose third-party software that is small in size and powerful in features, such as SOFTSCAPE PCTOOLS, which imitates PCTOOLS, the hard disk low-level formatting program LOWFORMAT, FREEDOS's CTMOUSE mouse driver, etc. Sanming Technology's hard disk diagnostic tools, etc., can then be compressed using the methods introduced above to reduce their size.
If you want to make a Chinese DOS disk, then in terms of choosing a Chinese character support system, PDOS95, CCDOS97, UCDOS98 and the like are not the best choices, because their Chinese fonts, input method and other files are relatively large. If you only want to display Chinese characters and use Pinyin input, the Pocket Dragon Chinese character support system, which is only 80K, is the first choice. If you want better display results, can use Pinyin, Wubi and other input methods, and also add DOS prompt message Chinese-localization functionality, then Tianhui 3.1 Pocket Edition plus Kingsoft 5.1 Pinyin and Wubi input methods is the first choice. After compression they use 300K in total, and even with DOS display message dynamic Chinese-localization functionality added, it is only around 450K.
Of course, you also need to make some changes to the configuration files config.sys and autoexec.bat. For this aspect, please refer to other materials.
All right, by following the above methods, you will definitely be able to build an ultra-powerful boot disk according to your own ideas. When your super boot disk is successfully built, then congratulations, you no longer belong among the newbies.
The software mentioned in the article will be packaged and put on my website.
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我的网盘
firststep.qjwm.com
fsmys.ys168.com
ssmys.ys168.com
www.brsbox.com/fsmys
www.brsbox.com/ssmys
www.brsbox.com/ccdos
http://hzmys.blog.163.com/
我的网盘
firststep.qjwm.com
fsmys.ys168.com
ssmys.ys168.com
www.brsbox.com/fsmys
www.brsbox.com/ssmys
www.brsbox.com/ccdos
