China DOS Union

WinGrub is a graphical interface written based on Grub For Dos without points. Its main functions are:

1. Run under Win9X/Win2K systems
2. Provide a graphical interface for modifying the grub configuration file
3. Provide the function of configuration templates
4. Install grub in the Windows environment
5. Support SplashImage, allowing users to easily select the boot logo

Download address: http://www.windrv.net/release/WINGRUB_001_1.EXE

Hard work!

Downloaded, good, but I'm just running it under win4lin now. This isn't a real Windows environment, so there are some issues.

Also, can pure DOS be supported too? Actually, it's okay if DOS isn't supported. After all, everyone usually uses Windows.

Also, I saw that WINGRUB can modify the savedefault option. Let me explain about the savedefault option.

The savedefault option saves information in the stage2 file, not in menu.lst. So when boot/grub/stage2 takes over control, savedefault works, but when grub.exe or GRLDR takes over control, savedefault doesn't work.

savedefault is written to the second sector of stage2 during the running process. That is, the physical location of stage2 is known. However, GRUB.exe and GRLDR are non-located and dynamically variable. The program doesn't know the physical locations of GRUB.EXE and GRLDR, so it can't savedefault.

I just found such a problem:

My hard drive has two primary partitions. The first is NTFS, the second is FAT. I copied GRLDR into the NTFS, and put /boot/grub into FAT. Then I copied bootgrub to MBR, and reboot. After rebooting, I can enter the >grub interface. Then I typed

root (hd0,1)
setup (hd0)
reboot

But after this reboot, the screen keeps printing GRUB characters and can't enter the system

However, if the first partition is FAT and I repeat the above operations, the system can work normally.

Brother Budian, have you encountered the same problem?

The following is a quote from Budian's post on 2004-5-3 18:30:26:
Hard work!

I downloaded it, it's good, but I'm only running it under win4lin now. This is not a real Windows environment, so there are some problems.

Also, can pure DOS be supported? Actually, it doesn't matter if DOS isn't supported, after all, everyone usually uses Windows.

Also, I saw that WINGRUB can modify the savedefault option. Regarding the savedefault option, let me explain.

The savedefault option saves information in the stage2 file, not in menu.lst. So, when boot/grub/stage2 takes over control, savedefault works, but when grub.exe or GRLDR takes over control, savedefault doesn't work.

savedefault is written to the second sector of stage2 during the running process. That is to say, the physical location of stage2 is known. However, GRUB.exe and GRLDR are non - positioned and dynamically variable. The program doesn't know the physical locations of GRUB.EXE and GRLDR, so it can't do savedefault.

We test WINGRUB and report bugs for it here first.

And would Tinybit and others have a try on it and give some advice?

When Tinybit and bean123 agree and find it ready, we can post
an official release to sourceforge.net.

If Tinybit agrees and opens an account at sourceforge.net,
would bean123 grant admin rights to Tinybit so that Tinybit can also
administer the project at sourceforge.net.

You two can now work together for the project.

I leave it to you both now.

Tinybit and bean123 can discuss directly about the design of the homepage of the project at sourceforge in preparation for the official release at sourceforge.

As I have said, the official homepage of GRUB For DOS should remain at Wengier's site.

The GRUB For DOS & WINGRUB project at sourceforge.net is a child project for GRUB For DOS. The project homepage there at first can be simply a pointer page, giving one pointer to the homepage of GRUB For DOS and another pointer to a webpage of WINGRUB at windrv.net

bean123 can ask annie to design the webpages for the homepage of the project at sourceforge.net and the official webpage of WINGRUB at windrv.net

We have designed a logo for WINGRUB, that is with some yellow stars crowning the original GNU GRUB logo.

Tinybit could put up a logo for his GRUB For DOS at the homepage of the project at sourceforge.net as well.

I rarely use NT systems, so I don't know such problems.

But if there are such problems, they should have nothing to do with the patches of GRUB for DOS. They should be bugs of GNU GRUB. The program that finds STAGE2 from MBR is from GNU, and the setup installed to MBR is also from GNU. I didn't make any changes. I basically only modified the map function.

Please clarify the specific content that needs to be translated. You just provided a Chinese question, and if you want to translate it, it is "May I ask, what is the main use of GRUB? Is it just to boot a bootable CD that BIOS does not support booting from CD?"

gmy: That's not the purpose of GRUB at all, but the main purpose of BCDL. There are many introductions to GRUB in this forum, just take a look.

Why didn't I see the WINDRV post when I last replied to bean123? It suddenly popped up today?

Sorry, replying now:

We test WINGRUB and report bugs for it here first.

And would Tinybit and others have a try on it and give some advice?

I think there's no need to worry, everyone will definitely test it. But it needs a process, after all, this has just started. Many people have asked me to make something similar to WINGRUB, but I haven't replied because I'm not good at this. Fortunately, Brother BEAN made it, and it's done well, I very much support it. But I haven't officially started testing yet, mainly because I'm busy with other things and don't have time.

When Tinybit and bean123 agree and find it ready, we can post an official release to sourceforge.net.

Don't wait for me, Brother bean, decide for yourself. What I want is a free body. Since the day I was in poor health, I didn't want to manage the project anymore. Mainly because I'm afraid. That time I had a fear of the end of life (I'm not really afraid of death, but my things haven't been done yet, which is the most concerned). Now although there's no life danger, I really want to get out of project management. Thank you, Brother bean, for letting me really get out of this project.

If Tinybit agrees and opens an account at sourceforge.net, would bean123 grant admin rights to Tinybit so that Tinybit can also administer the project at sourceforge.net.

I registered at sf a few years ago, the name is tinybit. However, I haven't started any projects on sf yet. As just said, don't include me in the management team.

You two can now work together for the project.

I leave it to you both now.

Tinybit and bean123 can discuss directly about the design of the homepage of the project at sourceforge in preparation for the official release at sourceforge.

As I have said, the official homepage of GRUB For DOS should remain at Wengier's site.

The GRUB For DOS & WINGRUB project at sourceforge.net is a child project for GRUB For DOS. The project homepage there at first can be simply a pointer page, giving one pointer to the homepage of GRUB For DOS and another pointer to a webpage of WINGRUB at windrv.net

bean123 can ask annie to design the webpages for the homepage of the project at sourceforge.net and the official webpage of WINGRUB at windrv.net

We have designed a logo for WINGRUB, that is with some yellow stars crowning the original GNU GRUB logo.

Tinybit could put up a logo for his GRUB For DOS at the homepage of the project at sourceforge.net as well.

Agree with the above. But I lack artistic cells and can't innovate in this aspect. Moreover, I think that in the future, grub for dos and WinGRUB will be one project (since it's GPL), it seems that one LOGO is enough. This LOGO can be designed by Brother Bean.

I will only provide patches for the official version in the future, and the official version will be released by bean. The Linux kernel has patches made by Alan Cox and others, and I think this is good. It can quickly release patches without affecting the release of the official version. Brother bean can go to ipdown.com/grub4dos/ to download the patches. If this webpage disappears in the future, I will provide the patches by EMAIL.

Does the Splashimage command of WinGrub need to be changed to (HDX,Y)/X.XPM.GZ; Does Grub recognize c:\XX\YY\XXX.XPM.GZ?

It's a very good thing. Let's give it a try. Thanks for bean123's efforts.

In GRUB, you must use file expressions like (hd?,?)/...../...../file.ext. You cannot use the expression methods of Windows or Linux.

Moreover, the filenames in GRUB are case-sensitive. Generally, the short filenames on FAT12/16/32 partitions are all represented in lowercase in GRUB, and uppercase is not allowed.

The so-called short filename refers to the old DOS - format filename, which has at most 12 characters (8 bytes for the base name, one decimal point, and 3 bytes for the extension). Such short filenames are all represented in lowercase under GRUB.

My machine (windows2K) uses a DOS image file to boot. During the boot process, there is a "find --set-..." and it takes a long time. I wonder if I can make winGrub boot faster.

find --setroot is to search for menu.lst in your hard drive, sometimes it takes a relatively long time. The solutions are:
1. Use stage2 to start. After entering the GRUB interface, type the following commands:
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
reboot
(hd0,0) is the partition where your GRUB directory is located, and it must contain at least three files: stage1, stage2, and fat_stage1_5. (This is assuming your (hd0,0) is a FAT partition. If it is an NTFS partition, ntfs_stage1_5 is needed. If you don't understand, you can copy all stage1_5.) After restarting, the system boots to stage2. Since it contains the location information of menu.lst (in the same directory as stage2), this step of searching is avoided.
This method has a drawback (actually, it's a drawback of GNU GRUB), that is, after you set up, the location of stage2 cannot be changed (for example, you can't defrag!), otherwise, the system will die because it can't find the boot file when starting.
2. Modify the preset menu in GRLDR
The search process of findroot is implemented in the preset menu. Therefore, you can set the location of menu.lst in the preset menu to avoid the search step. However, to be able to modify the preset menu in GRLDR, it needs a special configuration file during compilation. I have packaged some in the WinGRUB package (with the 128 word), you can try it.
When modifying, first make the following configuration: ((hd0,0) should be modified according to your actual situation.)
configfile (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst
Then use "Write Preset Menu" to write it into the GRLDR file.