China DOS Union

I am touched by the author's tireless spirit.
I add points again to express thanks.

But regarding the problem of the example effect,
I don't know if I didn't make it clear.
Although it has a lot to do with the quality of the image,
it's more about typesetting and art work.
As long as there are good ideas and concepts,
even a binary image can show a very good effect.

The main problem with your effect is that the background is too prominent,
robbing the foreground.
It is suggested to change to a background with a relatively single tone.

The color matching of the menu and prompt text also seems random.
It is suggested that in color selection, the menu is brighter than the prompt,
and the selected one is brighter than the unselected one (or inverse color is also okay).

And the table lines under the main menu are suggested to be changed to Chinese full-width table lines,
without a discontinuous feeling.

You can refer to the interfaces of other excellent boot CDs on the Internet.

Also, I want to know whether the two characters at the lower right corner of the image are with the background image or added by the program later,
are these your LOGO?

If the example is well done,
few people will特意 change the style of the boot interface,
after all, there are many lazy people,
and this is also equivalent to advertising for your software.

Finally, two expectations are put forward.

It would be great if hot zones are supported (menu without text, menu text displayed on the background image)
It would be even greater if Chinese display can directly use the existing Chinese system
It would be super great if it can customize the boot interface like Easyboot

[ Last edited by qzwqzw on 2007-7-6 at 08:46 AM ]

There should still be some areas that can be improved.
During the test process, I don't know how to handle when single-choice and multiple-choice are together?
Why is that.new file 0 bytes?
Is it still corresponding to autoexec.bat?
Also, the two characters "Jian Ye" in the lower right corner seem to be your name? Is the support not good? Or else changing to a more beautiful LOGO is also acceptable.
Because the Chinese characters during startup were tested several times and didn't come out, and the above several problems were encountered, so I'm asking here. Thanks in advance.

[ Last edited by minchengan on 2007-7-6 at 12:22 PM ]

Wow, it's really powerful, but the background is indeed a bit too flashy.....

The background did take some effort, but the example mainly shows the functions of the startup interface and the plasticity of text color and position. The characteristic of the program is to provide users with maximum flexibility so that they can show their own style.
Single selection and multiple selection cannot be in one menu.
It still corresponds to autoexec.bat.
What is the.new file?
Is it not acceptable to add a LOGO in the lower right corner of the image?

Originally posted by yaya at 2007-7-6 15:27:
The background is indeed a bit ...

This is how Microsoft views this issue:
MS's disk boot interface has always been simple. Even though NTLDR can display colorful Chinese characters and support ANSI codes, it has not deliberately promoted it. Moreover, the OS installation interface also pays attention to aesthetics but is restrained: it only divides into left and right blocks, with installation instructions on the left and graphic backgrounds or text introductions with background colors on the right. Therefore, it is suggested:
1. Separate text and graphics into blocks;
2. Display relationship between text and graphics:
1) Display text with graphics as the background (like the current state)
2) Clear a block in the graphics and display text on a settable background color (this might be clearer)

Of course, this is just one person's opinion.

If not selecting 'transparent', the characters have a background color. If no image is loaded, the background is a single color.

I found a strange phenomenon, for some reason: In real mode, when the image names are binshan.gif or bs.gif or txz.gif, loading the first driver device himem.sys in config.sys causes an error and the system freezes. At this time, configp.mnu has not been loaded yet. However, when the image names are b2.gif or 123.gif, it is normal.

Background and Text Display Issues
---------------------------------
Suggest adding a function to not display interface text
All text is drawn on the background by the user themselves
Only the background image is switched when switching menus
This not only bypasses the problems of layout and art design
But also avoids the trouble of Chinese and English display
Then you can consider supporting the hot area function after preloading the mouse driver in advance

However, in this case
The selected and unselected states of menu items become difficult to display
Because the position and size of the user-defined menu cannot be predicted
Although a separate area can be set aside to display the selection of menu items
The previously mentioned text-image block division can be used as a similar description
The style of the left menu and right display in the Windows installation interface can be referenced

But this kind of display is likely to be too unfamiliar
And deviate too far from the traditional boot style
So it is恐怕 difficult to be accepted

[ Last edited by qzwqzw on 2007-7-6 at 05:44 PM ]

Originally posted by yaya at 2007-7-6 16:58:
If you don't select 'transparent', the characters have a background color. If you don't load an image, the background is a single color.

For characters displayed under the control of your own program, as long as you write both the foreground and background of the character at the same time, you can have multiple background colors.

Originally posted by yaya at 2007-7-6 16:58:
I found a strange phenomenon, I don't know why: In real mode, when the image name is binshan.gif or bs.gif or txz.gif, loading the first driver device himem.sys in config.sys causes an error and the computer freezes. At this time, configp.mnu has not been loaded yet. However, when the image name is b2.gif or 123.gif, it is normal.

I don't know the reason for the freeze. However, the file names seem to have some characteristics:
binshan.gif or bs.gif or txz.gif ——The file base names are characters
b2.gif or 123.gif————————The file base names are hexadecimal numbers
In addition, I think the image file names can be fixed names.

I am extremely in admiration for the great expert like YAYA,

I'm a bit late, such a high-level thing has finally come out, I just found out,

You're right, this is no longer CONFIGP.MNU, it really should be called XXXXBOOT,
Great expert, I pay another bow to you.................

[ Last edited by hulongzhuo on 2007-10-9 at 05:48 PM ]

YAYA, when are you going to upgrade CONFIGS.SYS too?
I'm really anxious waiting, such a practical function, it's so cool...

Add points. Add points. Add points..............

[ Last edited by hulongzhuo on 2007-10-9 at 05:49 PM ]

I don't know there are DOS driver options in the menu and also tool options like PartitionMagic, how to write autoexec.bat.
The key is that there are no examples for autoexec.bat, so I don't know how to write it.

For example, the partial contents of the original config.sys and autoexec.bat are as follows:
-----------------------------

submenu=msdos, MS-DOS 7.1 >>>
menuitem=gghost, GGhost
menuitem=ghost, Ghost v8.3 (normal)
menuitem=pm805, PartitionMagic Pro server 8.05
menuitem=diskgen, Disk Genius (CHS)
menuitem=cdrom, Ghost with PATA/SATA CD-ROM Support
menudefault=gghost,5
menucolor=15,1

[msdos]
menuitem=msdos1,MS-DOS 7.1 [ ]
menuitem=msdos2,MS-DOS 7.1 [himem ]
menuitem=msdos3,MS-DOS 7.1 [himem + umbpci]
menudefault=msdos3,5
menucolor=15,1

[msdos1]

[msdos2]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
include m1

[msdos3]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=umbpci.sys
include m1

[gghost]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
include m1

[ghost]

[pm805]

[diskgen]

[cdrom]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
devicehigh=qcdrom.sys /d:patacd01
devicehigh=gcdrom.sys /d:satacd01 /c0
devicehigh=gcdrom.sys /d:satacd02 /c1
devicehigh=gcdrom.sys /d:satacd03 /c2
include m1

-----------------------------
@echo off
cls
if "%config%"=="msdos1" goto msdos1
if "%config%"=="msdos2" goto msdos2
if "%config%"=="msdos3" goto msdos2
if "%config%"=="ghost" goto ghost
if "%config%"=="pm805" goto pm805
if "%config%"=="diskgen" goto diskgen
if "%config%"=="pqdi" goto pqdi
if "%config%"=="pqboot" goto pqboot
if "%config%"=="cdrom" goto cdrom

:ghost

:pm805

:diskgen

:pqboot

:cdrom

The environment variable returned for autoexec.bat is not %config%, and it needs to be set in the configuration block. If the conditions are mutually exclusive, only 1 variable can be set; otherwise, several variables can be set more. For example, set abcd=1 in block 1, set abcd=2 in block 3....

Judge in autoexec.bat
if "%abcd%"=="1" goto msdos1
if "%abcd%"=="2" goto msdos2

Originally posted by yaya at 2007-7-30 10:57:
To return the environment variable of autoexec.bat, it's not %config%, you need to set it in the configuration block. If the conditions are mutually exclusive, you can set only 1 variable; otherwise, you can set several variables. For example, set abcd=1 in block 1, and set se... in block 3...

Thanks, I'll try it now. I originally didn't know how to use environment variables in autoexec.

Thanks for providing, I just need this