China DOS Union

Originally posted by baoxin1968 at 2005-11-3 23:27:
Thanks! I've already downloaded it. Do I put it at the beginning of config:
DEVICE=xshz.COM to call it?

No!
You need WRAPPER.SYS to load the Chinese glyphs, and BOOTCON.SYS to make the menu. See the screenshot and attachment example in post #27 and the usage explanation in post #40.
The program for loading Chinese glyphs has to be made with the generator. Refer to the generator for "programs that display Chinese without using a Chinese character support system" (452 bytes)(http://www.cn-dos.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=17591&fpage=1).
For program design examples, refer to post #41.

To display characters (including Chinese) in CONFIG.SYS, you need tools to help, generally ECHO.SYS (single-purpose, troublesome to use), CONFIX.SYS (more functions, more convenient); for making menus, use BOOTCON.SYS or the system's built-in menu function.

I'll upload BT version 3.2

Today I was flipping through an old magazine, Electronics & Computer, issue 2 of 1996, and saw a multi-boot menu. I think it should help us solve the Chinese menu problem, so I'm excerpting part of it now (with some changes):

device=c:\windows\himem.sys
dos=high
[MENU]
menuitem=WIN98,Windows 98
menuitem=DOS71,DOS 7.10
menucolor=15,0
menudefault=WIN98,6
[WIN98]
...
[DOS71]
...

There's nothing especially unusual about this menu itself, but note that there are two lines before [MENU]. That's the key. Because what I usually see is [MENU] appearing on line 1, and that makes a major difference -- this means:

device=himem.sys
device=wrapper.sys vgaHZfnt.com
dos=high,umb
[MENU]
menuitem=WIN98,Windows 98 Simplified Chinese edition
menuitem=DOS71,DOS 7.10 English edition
menucolor=15,0
menudefault=WIN98,6
[WIN98]
...
[DOS71]
...

A Chinese multi-boot menu like this should be possible -- there is no need to rely on the menu driver program device=bootcon.sys, which means the boot disk can save dozens of KB of space again!

Hahahaha!!!!
Sharing with everyone!

Your method doesn't work! I tried it, and what it displays is garbled text.

Originally posted by baoxin1968 at 2005-11-7 11:51:
Your method doesn't work! I tried it, and what it displays is garbled text.

Note: For any Chinese displayed with VTHZ technology, the internal encoding must match the replacement-character pattern.
In this version, the replacement splits each Chinese character into two extended ASCII characters, located in the left and right half-glyph areas starting at C0h and 80h respectively, so the new Chinese internal encoding must be a combination of C0h+n and 80h+n (n = the sequence number of a non-repeated Chinese character), and can no longer keep the original Chinese internal encoding! Otherwise it will definitely be garbled!

The Chinese replacement rules in the next version will be simplified, to make merging glyphs and text more convenient!
Referencehttp://www.cn-dos.net/forum/viewthread.php?tid=17591&pid=104148&page=2&sid=blhb0Q#pid104148

[ Last edited by 本是 on 2005-11-7 at 12:26 ]

Unless the execution order of CONFIG.SYS is that it does not execute the statements before first and absolutely has to execute the section first, this method should be workable! I hope this worst possibility of "having to execute the section first" is not true!!!

I've already done the test.
The execution order of config.sys is: first execute [menu] and display the menu; then execute the content before [menu]; then execute the content of the selected menu; finally execute the content of [common].
For example: device=himem.sys
device=wrapper.sys vgaHZfnt.com
[MENU]
......
At startup it first displays a garbled menu. Only after selecting the menu does it execute wrapper.sys, and only then is the menu converted to Chinese.