bootAble
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Highlights
3. Installation
3.1 BootAble files
3.2 Other files and applications
4. Syntax
5. Using bootAble
6. Debugging
6.1 Test runs
6.2 Errors generated by the
script
6.3 Check config.sys file
7. Contact information
8. Thanks
Known Problems/Limitations
Version History
1. Introduction
BootAble is an OS/2/eCS script to create a maintenance partition or a
bootable CD. This partition/CD supports enough facilities to fully
manage and recover your system.
Personally I use it on the CD-RWs I burn my system backups to.
Recovering/reinstalling my system just takes booting-off this CD,
optionally managing and formatting volumes and unzipping the backup-zip
files that are also on the CD.
2. Highlights
A few highlights of the script:
- Can be used to create bootable CDs and maintenance partitions
(and thus can be seen as a replacement of bootOS2);
- Both floppy-emulation and no-floppy-emulation boot methods
supported;
- Easy configuration via configuration files (almost everything is
configurable);
- Interactive build of configuration files;
- WPS (VGA and gengradd) or command-line boot;
- Support for FAT, FAT32, HPFS, HPFS386, NTFS, JFS, CDFS, UDF, and
LVM;
- Support for IDE, SCSI, USB, Mouse, Serial port, and Parallel port;
- Support for Unicode;
- Support for REXX;
- Support for basic TCP/IP networking, including DHCP;
- Support for NETBIOS and NETBIOS over TCP/IP protocols;
- Support for PEER networking;
- Support for Roman Stangl's CD Boot Menu;
- Use of DANI or default drivers;
- Use of JJSCDROM or default drivers;
- Support for RSJ or cdrecord/mkisofs (both original and '2'
versions supported);
- Small disk footprint; less than 5MB for the command-line version;
- Can make use of LXLITE to make disk footprint even less;
- And much, much more...
Default settings for file system and driver support are mostly
retrieved from the current system (in case of SCSI, you will need to
tell bootAble the drivers to use). Adapting these defaults is
done by creating a configuration file with the necessary settings.
3. Installation
The simplest way to install bootAble is is to copy all files from
the bootAble archive to directory on the PATH or a specific directory
(if you use a specific directory, just make sure you run bootAble from
that location).
To locate files, bootAble first looks at the specified location (or
current directory if no path is given), if the specified file is
not found, bootAble searches the paths as specified in the SEARCHPATH setting. By
default the SEARCHPATH
is made up of \os2\boot
on
the boot drive, followed by the LIBPATH,
PATH, DPATH, HELP, BOOKSHELF, \psfonts, and \psfonts\pfm on the boot
drive. Note: When specifying
files
with wildcards, the SEARCHPATH
is not searched.
3.1. bootAble Files
3.1.1 Main
Files |
bootAble.cmd |
The script to create a bootAble
CD or
maintenance partition |
PATH |
bootAble.ico |
Icon file
|
- |
bootAble.cfg |
Defaults for configuration
options/variables |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.html |
These instructions |
- |
bootAble.lvmgui.ico
|
Icon file for the "lvmgui"
command
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.lvmrefresh.ico
|
Icon file for the "Refresh
removable media" command |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.Src |
System ini template (WPS) |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.Urc |
User ini template (WPS) |
SEARCHPATH |
3.1.2 Configuration
Files |
bootAble.4os2 |
Configuration file for
adding the 4OS/2 command shell environment |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.acrobat |
Configuration file for
adding Acrobat
Reader v3
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.arcview
|
Configuration file for adding
the eCS archive viewer
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.ba2k
|
Configuration file for adding
BackAgain/2000 (contributed by Doug Bissett) |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.ba2kRC |
User ini settings for
BackAgain/2000
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.dfsee
|
Configuration file for adding
dfsee
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.dfseeRC
|
User ini settings for
dfsee
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.doip
|
Configuration file for adding
DOIP (contributed by Doug Bissett)
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.dragtext
|
Configuration file for adding
DragText v3.8 (contributed by Rich Walsh)
|
SEARCHPATH
|
bootAble.dragtextRC |
User ini settings for DragText
v3.8 (contributed by Rich Walsh) |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.emxrt |
Configuration file for
adding the EMX
runtime (contributed by Christoph Brendes) |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.extra
|
Configuration file for
adding some extra
OS/2 utilities |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.firefox
|
Configuration file for adding
Firefox (adaptations by Doug Bissett)
|
SEARCHPATH
|
bootAble.firewall
|
Configuration file for adding
TCP/IP 4.1+ firewall support (contributed by Doug Bissett) |
SEARCHPATH
|
bootAble.injoy
|
Configuration file for adding
Injoy (contributed by Rich Walsh & Doug Bissett) |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.java131
|
Configuration file for adding
Java131 support (contributed by Doug Bissett)
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.mozilla
|
Configuration file for adding
Mozilla
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.norman |
Configuration file for
adding Norman Anti Virus support (contributed by Doug Bissett) |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.normanRC
|
User ini settings for
Norman Anti Virus support
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.pmdll |
Configuration file for
adding PMdll, a tool to report DLL dependencies of executables |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.pmview |
Configuration file for adding PMView |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.pmviewRC |
User ini settings for
PMView
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.spf
|
Configuration file for adding
SPF, a look-alike IBM mainframe editor (contibuted by Mario Guzman)
|
SEARCHPATH
|
bootAble.unimaint
|
Configuration file for adding
unimaint (contributed by Mario Guzman)
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.usbres
|
Configuration file for
adding the USB resource tool
|
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.wps |
Configuration file for adding
WPS
support |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.xwp
|
Configuration file for
adding XWorkplace support
|
SEARCHPATH
|
bootAble.wxpRC |
User ini settings for
XWorkplace support |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.xwp_<LANG>
|
Configuration files for
XWorkplace NLS versions, currently German (DE) and Spanish (ES, partially) are provided
|
SEARCHPATH
|
3.1.3
Sample
Configuration files
Files |
bootAble.maintenance |
Sample configuration file for
creating a
maintenance partition |
SEARCHPATH |
bootAble.testCD |
Sample configuration file for testing the
burning of a CD |
SEARCHPATH
|
3.2. Other files and applications
3.2.1
Required
files |
OS/2 Warp or eCS
|
The base OS and files.
|
Installed |
IBM/eComStation |
3.2.2
Required
files when creating bootAble CDs |
CD Recorder Software |
Either cdrecord+mkisofs or RSJ can be used. |
Installed |
Hobbes/RSJ |
3.2.3
Required
file when creating bootAble CDs using the 'no floppy emulation' method |
Veit
Kannegieser's no floppy emulation boot |
When creating a no floppy
emulation boot method, you'll need to have the base
memdisk files.
Note: This version of
bootAble has been tested with the 01/11/2005 release of the memdisk
tool, currently to be found in the packages directory on Veit Kannegieser's
homepage (arj archives) or on my website (zip files).
Note: Make sure all
relevant subdirectories with the memdisk files are included on your
searchpath. For instance:
ADDTOSEARCHPATH='P:\UTILS\MemDisk\exe;P:\UTILS\MemDisk\boot;',
'P:\UTILS\MemDisk\bin;P:\UTILS\MemDisk\bin\en;'
(assuming english messages).
|
SEARCHPATH
|
Veit Kannegieser/
zip-files
|
tar, loaddll, and untar
|
In case you enable unicode or
hpfs386 support, or decide
to add files to the boot image instead of the CD, you'll
furthermore need the tar
command and Veit Kannegieser's loaddll
and untar. |
SEARCHPATH
|
Veit Kannegieser/
zip-files
Hobbes |
3.2.4
Required
file when creating bootAble CDs using the 'floppy emulation' method |
Virtual floppy |
Either vfdisk or super virtual disk can be
used.
A virtual floppy disk of 2.88MB should be inserted. |
Installed |
Hobbes/BMT-Micro |
daniboot.flt |
Required file for enabling CD-Boot. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
savedskf.exe |
Command to create a floppy-disk image file. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
3.2.5
Optional
Files (device drivers) |
daniatap.flt or daniatapi.flt
|
Enhanced ATAPI driver developed by Daniela
Engert. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
danin512.flt or n512dasd.flt
|
Non-512 bytes/sector removable media support
driver. Either Daniela Engert's or Alexander Terekhov's driver can be
used. When both drivers are present, Daniela's is used. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
danis506.add
|
Enhanced IDE driver developed by Daniela Engert. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
ibmrscsi.flt
|
Removable SCSI devices geometry filter driver. |
SEARCHPATH |
eComStation |
jjscdrom.dmd
|
Enhanced CDROM driver developed by Takayuki
'January June' Suwa. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
3.2.6
Optional
Files (file systems) |
FAT32
|
Fat32 files system driver developed by Henk
Kelder (now further developed by OS/2
Netl@bs).
|
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes/Netl@bs
|
HPFS386
|
HPFS386 file system driver (Warp server). |
SEARCHPATH |
IBM |
NTFS |
NTFS file system driver (eCS 1.1)
|
SEARCHPATH |
eComStation |
Ramdisk |
Ramdisk support files ramdisk.exe and
ramdisk.ifs
(Required for a WPS enabled CD
when not using the MEMDISK
option). |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
3.2.7
Optional
Files (programs and other files) |
LXLITE |
Compresses files (.exe, .dll,
.fon,
etc.) before writing, thus saving extra space. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
Roman Stangl's CDBoot menu |
Adds a boot menu to a bootable CD.
Note: When using RSJ, make sure to specify explicitly
where the cdboot command can be found with the CDBOOTMENUFILE option! |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
3.2.8
Optional
Files (other files) |
bos2rexx.exe |
Required file when adding REXX support to a
command-line boot. This file can be found in the bootOS2 package. |
SEARCHPATH |
Hobbes |
keyboard.dcp/viotbl.dcp |
Smaller keyboard.dcp
and viotbl.dcp files to
save
extra space on the boot image, can be found on disk 2 of the
WARP 4 installation disks.If you want to use these, simply
copy them to a directory on the SEARCHPATH
before the original
(e.g., the current directory). You'll need to rename vtbl850.dcp
to viotbl.dcp as well. |
SEARCHPATH |
IBM |
SIO2K Patch
|
Patch file for the problem where
on reboot you get a trap in the UART or SIO driver when using the SIO2K
driver. This patch simply prevents the trapping function to be
called at reboot. This patch is provided with eCS 1.1. The
author, Veit Kannegieser (thank you), has however made it available for
everyone interested. A zip-file can be downloaded from my website
(you only need the unbhsio.sys file from the archive).
|
SEARCHPATH |
eComStation/zip-file
|
4. Syntax
The command syntax is as follows:
bootAble [/v <verbose>] [<configuration
file>|/@<configuration-list-file>...]
The optional arguments are the verbosity level and one or more
configuration files. These configuration files are used to
override the defaults as specified in
the file bootAble.cfg.
The special form /@configuration-list-file causes the content of the
configuration list file to be used to list additional configuration
files. E.g. if the file myCfg.lst contains the lines
bootAble.emxrt
bootAble.4os2
bootAble.extra
The command
bootAble
/v 67 bootAble.myCfg /@myCfg.lst bootAble.wps
would have exactly the same result as
bootAble
/v 67 bootAble.myCfg bootAble.emxrt bootAble.4os2 bootAble.extra
bootAble.wps
Notes:
- Configuration files as well as
configuration list files are searched for on the SEARCHPATH (by default
os2\boot on the boot
drive
followed by LIBPATH, PATH, DPATH, HELP, and BOOKSHELF, \psfonts, and \psfonts\pfm on the boot
drive);
- As a general rule you should specify your bootAble.myCfg as first
configuration file on the command-line. This to make sure your
settings will be used instead of the (global) defaults in
the following configuration files;
- You
only need to specify configuration options/variables in your own
configuration files which override the
defaults!
5. Using bootAble
After installing bootAble and its required files (see section
3, Installation), you are ready to use it. Using bootAble is
simple and basically comprises of only two steps:
- Determine which configuration files you are going to use (see section
3.1.2, Configuration files for a description of the provided
configuration files);
- Run bootAble with the configuration files you require (see section 4, Syntax).
This is basically all there is to it, and depending on your
configuration specifics, you should now have a working bootAble CD or
maintenace partition! If you want to learn more about the various
configuration options, please look through the various supplied
configuration files, especially the default settings file bootAble.cfg. If things don't
work out and the script generates errors, please have a look at section
6: Debugging for some debugging info and
tips.
Notes:
- For a first time, I suggest to run bootAble
without any parameters. You will be asked to supply the answer to
various questions (e.g., if you want to create a bootAble CD or
maintenance partitition, add WPS support, etc.). Although the provided
default answers should work in most cases, please read carefully before
answering. The answers to the question can optionally be saved to a
configuration file for later use. All other settings are derived from
your system (e.g., your config.sys)
by default;
- When using the script with RSJ, please make sure you either have
a CD-R(W) attached before you run bootAble, or let the script do this
for you (just answer yes when asked, or specify RSJATTACHCD in your bootAble.myCfg);
- When using mkisofs/cdrecord, please remember to supply mkisofs
with the correct image file to be used for booting (the -b option to mkisofs). For
normal floppy emulation booting, this is the OSBOOT.IMG in
the root of the CD, for MEMDISK
bootAble CDs, this is the CDLOADER.BIN
in the BOOTIMGS directory
(don't forget the -no-emul-boot
option in this case!). Remember that mkisofs is case sensitive so
use the correct case when specifying filenames. bootAble can also
create a script which does all this for you (just answer yes when
asked, or specify CDRECORDBURNCMD
in your bootAble.myCfg). Though the default values for the mkisofs and
cdrecord executables and options should work in most cases, you may
need to tweak them (CDRECORDMKISOFSEXE,
CDRECORDMKISOFSOPTIONS,
CDRECORDEXE, and CDRECORDEXEOPTIONS);
- I strongly suggest to use CD-RWs when testing the creation of
bootAble CDs; you are probably going to run bootAble many times before
you get things the way you want. I know CD-Rs are dirt cheap, but
please give the environment a break and what would you do with tons of
coasters? (yeah, you can microwave them for great effects but that
becomes boring after a while...);
6. Debugging
6.1 Test runs
As creating a bootAble CD (or maintenance partition) usually involves
some trial and error, it is best you try things out before ruining your
next CD-R with a useless installation. Of course, using a CD-RW
already stops this waste, but I suggest to even go further and first
make a few test runs on your harddisk. To do this, simply include
(a modified version of) bootAble.testCD
on the command-line. E.g., bootAble
/v 67 bootAble.wps bootAble.myCfg bootAble.testCD.
6.2 Errors generated
by the script
Allthough I have tried to make the script run perfectly in all
situations, it is likely your first try of the script will fail with
some error. To help find the cause, the script knows various
debug levels (VERBOSE
setting or /v
command-line option). The following debug levels are currently
supported:
Bit Value |
Generated Output |
1 |
Progress messages |
2 |
Files copied & Files parsed |
4 |
Config file parsing |
8
|
INI rc file parsing
|
64 |
Error output of external commands |
128 |
All external command output |
The debug level is specified as a bitmask, this means you have to add
the various bitvalues to get the script to output a combination of
debug information. A few examples:
- To get progress messages and error output of external commands,
specify VERBOSE=65
(64+1), this is the default;
- To get progress messages only, specify VERBOSE=1;
- For progress messages and a list of files copied, use VERBOSE=3 (2+1);
- To also get error output of extrernal commands, use VERBOSE=67 (64+2+1);
- For configuration file parsing information (use with care;
creates lots of output), add 4 to your VERBOSE setting;
- To get all output, use VERBOSE=207
(or 255 to be on the safe side for when I add verbose levels ;-) ).
For your first runs I suggest to set your debug level to 67 as this
usually gives a good indication of the cause in case of error.
The bootAble script uses
the REXX interpreter to process the various lines in the
configuration files. This means that whenever there is a (syntax) error
in a configuration file, bootAble will fail with a REXX error. Locating
the source of this error, however, is not always a straight
forward matter as relevant information is usually missing. To
help debug these errors, specify debug level 4; this shows you all
processed configuration file lines and this should give you the exact
location of the error. As this generates lots of output, I suggest you do not
specify this by default.
Note: the VERBOSE setting in a
configuration file only becomes active after the corresponding
configuration file has been read. Especially if you are having
configuration file problems, it may be advisable to specify the
verbosity level with the /v
command-line option (e.g., bootAble
/V 71 bootAble.wps bootAble.myCfg bootAble.testCD).
6.3 Check config.sys file
If all goes well and the script finished without any error messages,
check the created config.sys
file. The config,sys can be found on the boot image, which is
created on your virtual drive. If, however, you are using the TWODISKBOOT option, the virtual
drive will contain a the second boot image and does not contain your config.sys anymore. To
still check the created file you can do two things: either use the COPYCONFIGSYS to place a copy
of config.sys in the root of the CD (or in the directory where the CD
is created), or use PAUSEBEFOREBOOTIMAGE
to interrupt the creation process and make a manual copy of the file.
If you are not happy with the resulting config.sys, add/remove options
in your bootAble.myCfg.
Once you have verified the correctness of the config.sys you are ready
to create a real bootAble CDs (or maintenance partition) and test its
working.
7. Contact information
Hayo Baan: mailto:hrbaan at xs4all.nl,
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hrbaan
IBM: http://www.ibm.com
eComStation: http://www.ecomstation.com
RSJ: http://www.rsj.de
Hobbes: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu
BMT-Micro: http://www.bmtmicro.com
8. Thanks
Thanks go to Allan Dermody for providing CD_BOOT.FLT and
the first insight into creating bootable CDs;
Thanks also go to Alfredo Fernández Díaz for providing
lots of feedback and for writing an
excellent
article on how to create a bootable CD in OS2Voice,
July 2000;
Thanks go to Veit Kannegieser for all his work, especially the no
floppy boot support;
More thanks go to Daniela Engert for writing the DANI suite of device
drivers and filters;
Many thanks go to Simon Wright who helped me get my DHCP and DDNS
server up and running;
Thank you Doug Bissett and Rich Walsh for all your comments,
suggestions,
contributions, and beta testing.
Finally big thanks also go to all you people testing and commenting
the script; because of you I kept working on it ;-)
Known Problems/Limitations
Mozilla/Firefox
Mozilla and Firefox will probably not run in a system with less than
512MB internal memory unless you enable swapping to a harddisk (see MEMMAN and SWAPPATH settings).
BackAgain/2000
Recreating the catalog file with the GUI version of
BackAgain/2000
(e.g., when restoring a backup) may give problems. To circumvent this,
either have (a copy of) the original BA/2000 directory available, or
make use of the BAIICR.EXE
command-line utility (recommended method anyway).
Version History
v4.2.3 (28/11/2005)
- Adapted bootAble to the latest (1/11/2005) version of Veit
Kannegieser's memdisk utility (thank you Michael Lueck)
Note: you must upgrade to
the latest version of the memdisk
software, please also note that this version now places files in
subdirectories. This probably means you have to alter your searchpath
in your bootAble.myCfg.
For instance:
- ADDTOSEARCHPATH='P:\UTILS\MemDisk\exe;P:\UTILS\MemDisk\boot;',
'P:\UTILS\MemDisk\bin;P:\UTILS\MemDisk\bin\en;'
(assuming english messages)
- ADDTOSEARCHPATH='P:\UTILS\MemDisk_loaddll;P:\UTILS\MemDisk_untar;'
(location of untar and loaddll files, optional)
- Doug Bissett updated ConfigMaker to support new memdisk layout.
- Doug Bissett updated support for Norman Anti Virus, now version
5.8 is supported (bootAble.norman,
bootAble.normanRC);
- Doug Bissett updated bootAble.arcview to also support the new 2.x
version (bootAble.arcview).
Important note to bootAble 4.1
users of bootAble.arcview: The typo that was corrected in version
4.2 could have caused some of the archiving utilities (e.g., tar.exe) to become bzipped or gzipped. Simply
replace these files with a correct version.
v4.2 (09/10/2005)
- Added identification of the corresponding unicode keyboard for
the GR129 keyboard (thank you Hanno Sedlmayr);
- Corrected a typo in bootAble.arcview;
- If copying a file fails for some unexpected reason (e.g., zero
length files that can't be copied for some people), bootAble will now
ask you if it should abort or if the error can be ignored.
v4.1 (18/08/2005)
- New configuration file for adding the Java 131 support (bootAble.java131, contributed
by Doug Bissett);
- One is now asked for the location of the pmdll executable
if it was not found on the SEARCHPATH
(bootAble.pmdll, thank you
Doug Bissett);
- Norman virus scanner support now has some additional scanning
icons added to the WPS (bootAble.norman
by Doug Bissett);
- New configuration file for adding the eCS archive viewer (bootAble.arcview, thanks for
the tip Keith Marjerison);
- Under certain conditions PEER may not require the WPS (doesn't
work for me though). Replaced the error when enabling PEER without WPS
suport with a warning;
- An error is now generated when one attempts to create a
non-MEMDISK bootAble CD when PEER is enabled;
- Corrected bug where the MUGLIB
directory did not get copied when creating a PEER MEMDISK bootAble CD
with NETWORKINGDESTINATION='IMG';
- Corrected error in bootAble.firefox
and bootAble.mozilla
where specifying the image as destination for the files (APPDESTINATION_<FIREFOX|MOZILLA>='IMG')
did not work;
- Corrected error in bootAble.firefox
where APPSRC_MOZILLA was
referenced instead of APPSRC_FIREFOX;
- Added note to indicate mozilla and firefox probably won't run in
system with less than 512MB internal memory unless swapping to a HD is
enabled;
- Removed the APM
setting from bootAble.wps
as the default value is already determined appropriately from the config.sys;
- When creating a MEMDISK bootAble CD with RSJ with the CDBOOTMENU
option enabled, one could get an error indicating that both RSJCDBOOTEXE and CDBOOTMENUFILE pointed to the
same file, even though CDBOOTMENUFILE
is not even used in this case. This has been corrected.
v4.0 (08/05/2005)
- The newer Mozilla and Firefox releases should work again (thanks
Doug Bissett for fixing this);
- Added PEER
support (PEER,
thank you very much Hermann Ulrichskoetter for pointing me in the right
direction);
Note: PEER support can only be installed on a MEMDISK bootAble CD or a
maintenance partition and requires WPS support.
- Completely reworked networking directory structure to match the
OS/2 original structure;
- Improved autodetection of TCP/IP settings (TCPIPHOSTADDRESS, TCPIPHOSTNAME, TCPIPGATEWAYADDRESS, TCPIPDOMAINNAME, TCPIPDNSADDRESS);
- Improved determination of network card driver. In case
multiple are found, the user is asked which one to use (NETWORKCARDFILE);
- Now correctly identifying the FASTNIC network card (thanks Alan
Beagley);
- You can now independently specify the destination (either the
boot image or the CD) of the files in the IBMCOM directory (IBMCOMDESTINATION);
- The network messaging drivers are now loaded when possible (only
on a MEMDISK bootAble CD with IBMCOMDESTINATION='IMG'
or a maintenance partition);
- Renamed EXTRATCPIPFILES
variable to EXTRATCPIPMPTNPROTOCOLFILES
for clarity;
- You can now simply add to the value of variables by using the
directives _ADDBEFORE_<variable> and _ADDAFTER_<variable>.
Previously you had to use the fairly complex varValue('<variable>')
construction, now this can be done much simpler in (almost) all cases
(just make sure to include the correct delimiter).
See the diverse bootAble configuration files for examples;
- Added an option to control full window drag on a bootAble WPS
system (WPSFULLWINDOWDRAG);
- Added newview.dll
to the list of dlls to include (thank you Doug Bissett);
- Doug Bissett contributed TCP/IP 4.1+ firewall support (bootAble.firewall);
- Added a REXX exit called just before the cleanup (REXXEXIT_CLEANUP);
- Added identification of the corresponding unicode keyboard for
the US103 keyboard (thank you Alan Beagley);
- Added setting to pause bootAble just after successfully
completing
the build (PAUSEBEFOREEXIT,
default is not to pause);
- Added directive to the EXTRADIRECTORY
settings to ignore file not
found errors (EXTRADIRECTORYIGNORENOTFOUND.n);
- Adapted bootAble.pmview
to ignore files not found in the dragdrop
directory (thank you Hanno
Sedlmayr for pointing this out);
- The bootAble configuration file for Back Again/2000 should also
work for the server version and has hence been renamed to bootAble.ba2k;
Note: Please remove the files bootAble.ba2kws and bootAble.ba2kwsRC
if you still have them.
- Adapted bootAble.ba2k
to now also copy the registration info for version 4 (only works on a
maintenance
partition or a MEMDISK
bootAble CD, thank you Doug Bissett);
- Improved control over if and how the WarpCenter is to be started (WPSWCAUTOSTART, WPSWCSTARTUP);
- Corrected minor bug where the WarpCenter would always be shadowed
in the startup folder;
- Corrected bug when EXTRADIRECTORYDESTINATION.n was set to 'IMG';
- Corrected problem where the /etc
directory would not always end-up pointing to the correct location
(thank you Hermann Ulrichskoetter).
v3.7 (20/03/2005)
- Added known
problems/limitations section in
the documentation(problems with the latest versions of mozilla and
firefox and a note on BackAgain/2000);
- Mario Guzman contributed bootAble.unimaint
and bootAble.spf;
- Updated bootAble.ba2wks;
additional directories copied and it now automatically adds the
required (IDE) tape drive drivers (thanks Mario Guzman);
- Added tmscsiw.add
to the list of valid SCSI drivers;
- Now determining TCP/IP level automatically (TCPIP431);
- The EPM-file default.bmp
not part of standard eCS 1.2 distribution anymore and is made optional
(thanks Chris Brendes);
- The pmvdrop.dll
file is not part of the later PMView versions and is made optional
(thanks Doug Bissett);
- Corrected bootAble.mozilla
(you would receive a file not found error if you had already specified EXTRADLLFILES);
- Adapted bootAble.firefox,
the gcc and libc libraries are now also
placed in the default directory;
- Fixed a problem with building a memdisk bootAble CD with HPFS386
support;
- Fixed problem with copying files to directories with spaces;
- Corrected reference to section in bootAble.cfg the file
destinations are set ("DESTINATION
configuration options");
- Corrected error messages from the xcopy command;
- Fixed problem with setting multiline variables (e.g., EXTRACONFIGSYS).
v3.6 (02/01/2005)
- Created a .wpi version of bootAble (thank you Doug Bissett);
- Added Doug Bissett's config maker program (included in the .wpi
version of bootAble);
Config Maker helps you to,
even more, easily create bootAble CDs /Maintenance Partitions.
- Added a generic networking question, if you set this to NO, no further networking
questions are asked (NETWORKING);
- Settings of TCPIP, NETBIOS, and NETBIOSTCPIP are now determined
automatically based on contents of the config.sys file;
- Adoptations for minimal eCS 1.2 installation;
- pmwsock.dll is now
included by default when TCP/IP support is enabled;
- Doug Bissett adopted bootAble.injoy;
it now supports both v2.3 and v3 (bootAble.injoy)
Note: Please remove the file bootAble.injoy3
if you still have it.
- Doug Bissett adopted bootAble.norman;
the automatic tasks are not included anymore (bootAble.norman);
- Now working: automatically checking HPFS filesystems (HPFSAUTOCHECK) in combination
with a memdisk boot;
- Fixed the option to turn-on the process kill feature of the
WarpCenter (WPSWCKILLFEATURE).
v3.5 (02/11/2004)
- Changes to accomodate the latest version (18/10/2004) of Veit
Kannegieser's memdisk;
Note: You must use this
latest version (zip file)
as the previous versions will not work anymore.
- You can now have the WarpCenter start from the startup folder
instead of using the AUTOSTART
feature (WPSWCAUTOSTART,
uses the AUTOSTART
feature by default);
- Added option to turn-on the process kill feature of the
WarpCenter (WPSWCKILLFEATURE,
enabled by default);
- Added bootAble.injoy3
for adding injoy 3.0 support, contibuted by Doug Bisset;
- Adepted bootAble.usbres
to accomodate for eCS 1.2 changed location of files (thanks, Doug
Bisset);
- Adepted bootAble.mozilla
to place gcc and libc libraries into the OS2\DLL directory.
v3.4 (11/10/2004)
- You can now specify whether to add classic Rexx or Object REXX,
regardless of the currently installed version (OBJECTREXX);
Note: For command-line boot, only classic REXX is supported.
- Added option to specify default action if file to write results
of asked questions to already exists (WRITEASKEDTOFILEALREADYEXISTS);
- Fixed eCS 1.2 cdrom driver problem (eCS 1.2 uses IBMCDROM.DMD instead of OS2CDROM.DMD, thank you Doug
Bissett);
- Fixed eCS 1.2 UK keyboard layout problem (added detection of UK166 keyboard layout, thank
you Mark Ellen);
- Added lsimpt.add to
list of recognised scsi drivers (thank you Mark Ellen);
- Adapted bootAble.mozilla
to cater for versions using libc05.dll
instead of libc04.dll,
enabling later versions of mozilla (e.g., 1.7);
- libuni.dll
now gets added to non-wps systems als well when installing unicode
support (required for FAT32 for instance);
- Restructured bootAble.cmd and added short descriptive
comments for all (internal) functions.
v3.3 (05/06/2004)
- Greatly simplified (I hope) the use of the script; bootAble now
asks for values of settings that can not be
determined automatically. These
values can optionally be written to a configuration file for later use
(i.e., this is an automated way of creating a bootAble.myCfg);
- SCSI support now determined automatically when specifying SCSI=-1 (the default);
- Rich Walsh contributed bootAble.dragtext
for adding dragtext v3.8 support;
- Rich Walsh & Doug Bissett contributed bootAble.injoy for adding injoy
support;
- Doug Bissett contributed bootAble.doip
for adding DOIP support;
- Added Mozilla support (bootAble.mozilla,
thank you Rich Walsh for providing the essential detail);
- Doug Bisset adapted bootAble.firefox
for adding firefox;
- Added extra check for the VIRTUALDRIVE
setting (should point to a 2.88MB FAT drive);
- You can now configure the ini entries SYSDLLS LOADONETIME and LOADPERPROCESS (SYSDLLS_LOADONETIME, SYSDLLS_LOADPERPROCESS, see bootAble.dragtext for an
example);
- On top of normal text files (EXTRACREATEFILES),
you can now create binary ini files as well (EXTRAINIFILES settings), see bootAble.dragtext for an
example;
- APPROOT_<app> renamed to APPSRC_<app> in application
configuration files;
- Added options to defaultIfNotSet
function to enable asking the user for the value if an empty or
no default value was provided. This is used for example in the bootAble.4os2, bootAble.acrobat, and bootAble.dfsee configuration
files to ask the user for the location of the executables if they
couldn't be found on the default locations;
- Applications now get added to the \PROGRAMS directory on the
destination media instead of \OS2\APPS
(e.g., acrobat reader now goes to \PROGRAMS\ACROBAT
by default instead of \OS2\APPS\ACROBAT).
This default destanation root can be altered by setting APPDEST_ROOTDEFAULT (globally
initialised to \PROGRAMS);
- EXTRACONFIGSYS
setting now empty by default (i.e., not changing the display to 80x50
anymore);
- Added setting ADDTOSEARCHPATH
to simply add entries to the (beginning of) SEARCHPATH;
- The SEARCHPATH is
now verified; illegal and double entries are removed;
- You can now seperately specify the location of the WPS help and
font files (WPSHELPDESTINATION,
WPSFONTSDESTINATION);
- Added option to include LAN or dial-up only TCPIP support (TCPIPLAN, contributed by Rich
Walsh);
- Added option to use lean or standard TCPIP driver files (TCPIPLEAN, contributed by Rich
Walsh);
- Added option to use KEE or standard TCPIP driver files (TCPIPKEE, contributed by Rich
Walsh);
- Added option to allow for adding extra TCPIP driver files (EXTRATCPIPFILES, contributed by
Rich Walsh);
- You can now specify the font size of WPS command-line windows (WPSSHELLFONTSIZE);
- Incorporated true type font and unicode font support into main
script (WPSTTFSUPPORT and WPSUNIFONTSUPPORT);
- Added ability to specify additional font files (WPSEXTRAFONTFILES and WPSEXTRAPFMFONTFILES);
- The font files from PSFONTS
are now copied to the PSFONTS
directory instead of OS2\DLL.
The PFM files are now
included as well;
- Removed bootAble.font
configuration file from distribution;
- Renamed UNICP to UNICODEPAGE and this should now
only be the codepage number;
- Added ability to add additional unicode code pages (UNIEXTRACODEPAGES);
- Added option to create an ISO image only (CDRECORDCREATEISOONLY);
- Added -quiet to
mkisofs and -silent -n to
cdrecord command line options by default to suppress (most of) their
normal output;
- Renamed CREATECLONECDDRIVE
to CREATECLONECDMAINTENANCEDRIVE
for clarity;
- The CD recorder device to use with mkisofs/cdrecord is now
determined automatically (CDRECORDEXEOPTIONS,
CDRECORDDEVICENR);
- ASPI support can now be added without having to add SCSI support
as well;
- The progress message when cleaning a directory is now displayed
with verbosity level 1 instead of 2 to better inform users (cleaning-up
a directory can take a long time...);
- Added locale.dll
when WPS support is enabled (thanks, Rich Walsh);
- The config.sys
lines now always stripped, this solves the rare problem where the
environment did not contain all settings (thanks, Rich Walsh);
- When updating ini files, string values did not receive the
terminating null character, this is now corrected (thanks, Rich Walsh);
- cloneCD command now correctly sets TCPIPDHCP and TCPIPDHCPUPDATEHOST;
- Upon an error, the script now waits for a keypress before
actually exiting;
- Picture Viewer program only added if it exists on the system
(apparently not all systems included it);
- Norman Anti Virus and Back Again require basic TCPIP support,
this is now specified (bootAble.norman,
bootAble.ba2kws);
- Object REXX now correctly supported (added missing libraries and
files);
- Corrected bug where parsing of %% constructs was not always
done correctly;
- Corrected file not found error for apm.sys on some systems;
- Corrected bug where bootAble
tried to create a tar-file of a non-existing directory when setting a
destination to 'IMG'
without adding the option (e.g., REXXDESTINATION='IMG'
with REXX='NO' and all
the other destinations set to 'CD');
- Corrected LIBPATH, PATH, and DPATH settings; removed
duplicate entries of S:\OS2[\dll];
- Corrected bug where not all EXTRACREATEFILES
got created.
v3.2 (27/03/2004)
- Added option for allowing access to >16MB early in boot
process, a recent kernel is required for this to work (EARLYMEMINIT);
- The WPS and the WPS Application files can now also reside on the
image (WPSDESTINATION, WPSAPPSDESTINATION);
Note: Requires EARLYMEMINIT='YES'
(done automatically).
- Renamed lvmrefresh.cmd
and lvmrefresh.ico to lvmrfrsh.* to comply to 8.3
naming convention;
- Doug Bissett contributed configuration files for adding Back
Again 2000 support (bootAble.ba2kws
and bootAble.ba2kwsRC);
- Renamed bootAble.ttf
to bootAble.font to
prevent interpretation of the file as a true type font by the OS/2/eCS
GUI;
- VERBOSE is now 65
by default (i.e., progress messages and error output of external
commands);
- Added ability to automatically burn the CD (AUTOBURNCD, RSJATTACHCD, ERASECD, CDRECORDERASEOPTION);
- Improved defaults value determination for CDROMDRIVE and WRITERDRIVE (see bootAble.cfg
for the new defaults);
- The values of EXTRACONFIGSYS,
STARTUPCMD and EXTRACREATEFILECONTENT.n are
parsed for $$ and %% constructs before they are
written to file. This means that variables/functions are
determined at the moment their final value is known (i.e., after
processing all configuration files), see bootAble.norman for example
usage;
- Added note on location of bootAble.myCfg on the command-line
(i.e., it should generally be the first configuration file on the
command-line, see also Syntax section);
- Corrected default setting for USBCDROM and USBSTORAGE;
- Corrected option finding for ATAPI basedev (if you used daniatapi
and had both the daniatap.flt
and daniatapi.flt files
on the system, bootAble could fail to pick up the options);
- Corrected paths to cdloader.bin
in burnCD.cmd;
- burnCD.cmd now burns
the CD without having to create an iso image file first;
- Removed unnecessary options to mkisofs and cdrecord commands;
- Enhanced bootAble.wps
so that it does not override previous settings for display resolution
etc.;
- Corrected startup directory of the dfsee and norman anti virus
objects;
- The SWAPPATH line
is not aded to the config.sys
file anymore when swapping is not enabled (e.g., on a boot CD using the
floppy emulation boot method);
- Added check for existence of required (non standard) executables;
- Corrected a syntax error in bootAble.norman
(sorry Doug...);
- At boot, the \OS2
directory on the MEMDISK/RAMDISK now only gets
created when necessary;
- Unicode keyboard setting should now always default to the correct
keyboard layout based on the KEYB
setting (UNIKEYB);
- Spelling corrections in documentation.
v3.1a (10/03/2004)
- Corrected unicode keyboard setting for german (GR) keyboard layout, now de.kbl file is used (thank you
Veit Kannegieser);
- Corrected syntax error in script (noticeable when using object
rexx or the hpfs386 file system, thanks again, Veit Kannegieser).
v3.1 (09/03/2004)
- IMPORTANT: Renamed ADDITIONALCFG
to EXTRACONFIGSYS for
consistency, check your own configuration files for the use of ADDITIONALCFG settings and
change these to EXTRACONFIGSYS;
- bootAble now determines defaults for almost all settings from
the config.sys file,
meaning your bootAble.myCfg
can now almost be empty except where your
bootAble CD (or maintenance partition) should differ from the running
system, or where you need to specify your SCSI card(s) (see bootAble.cfg
and bootAble.myCfg for
details);
- You can now specify to include more files on the boot image
instead of the CD. Due to space constraints, this is probably only
useful when using the memdisk boot CD method (OS2APPSDESTINATION, REXXDESTINATION, NETWORKINGDESTINATION, EXTRAFILESDESTINATION, EXTRADLLFILESDESTINATION, EXTRADEVICEDESTINATION, EXTRADIRECTORYDESTINATION.x, EXTRACREATEFILEDESTINATION.x);
- Added option to create a cloneCD command to clone a CD to a
maintenance partition using exactly the same options as were used for
creating the bootAble CD (CREATECLONDECD
and CREATECLONECDDRIVE, CREATECLONECDVERBOSE, CREATECLONECDRAMDISK, CREATECLONECDREMOVEROFLAG, CREATECLONECDDIRECTORY);
Note: due to FAT filename constraints, the cloneCD command always gets
created on the CD.
- When using cdrecord, added an option to create a burnCD command
(Doug Bissett, thanks for the hints) which can be used to create and
write an iso image of the bootAble CD (CDRECORDBURNCMD and other
options, see section Using
cdrecord+mkisofs instead of RSJ of this document for more info);
- Added ability to add a ramdisk to a memdisk bootAble CD. If
added, the ramdisk (instead of the memdisk) is used for the temp
directory, desktop, etc. The advantage is that the ramdisk is an
HPFS-like drive and not a FAT drive, allowing for long file names etc.
To support this feature, a new setting has been introduced to specify
the drive letter of the memdisk (MEMDISKDRIVE);
- Added ability to specify a list-file at all locations where a
list of files is expected. The content of this file is then
inserted in the file list (see syntax
section of this document for an example);
- Instead of a fixed size, you can now also specify the minimum
amount of free space on the memdisk boot image by prefixing the MEMDISKSIZE string with a +
sign.The default is now to leave approximately 2MB of free space (5MB
in
case of a WPS system
without RAMDISK);
- Added PSFONTS
directory on the boot drive to the SEARCHPATH by default;
- Now cleaning-up unnecessary files on the memdisk boot image
(e.g., the tar files), the freed-up space
is taken into
account when determining the MEMDISKSIZE;
- Doug Bissett enhanced bootAble.norman,
the log file is now automatically erased after viewing to save space;
- Doug Bissett contributed bootAble.dfsee
to add dfsee to your maintenance partition/bootAble CD;
- Added bootAble logo to no floppy emulation boot;
- When creating a maintenance partition with FORMATMAINTENANCE not
set, the user is now asked to format the partition;
- Added option to set the DHCP server timeout (TCPIPDHCPTIMEOUT);
- Added fdiskpm.exe for non-lvm WPS systems;
- Added objects for FDiskPM/LVM in the setup folder;
- Added icons to LVM and Refresh Removable Media objects;
- Added verbose level 8 to show INI rc file parsing;
- When using the EXTRADIRECTORYADDTOPATHS
setting, directories are now only added once to the specified path(s);
- A temp directory is now also created on a maintenance partition
and not only when a ramdisk or memdisk was loaded;
- Added ability to insert the result of a piece of rexx code within
ini files ($$@<rexx-code>$$,
see bootAble.pmdll
and bootAblefor.usbres
for examples);
- Introduced new function to determine the destination drive,
mostly for use within ini file
definitions (destinationDrive,
see bootAble.pmdll
and bootAblefor.usbres
for examples);
- Added more config.sys
information retrieval functions (configSysContains,
configSysCount, configSysOptions);
- Added option to enable the removal of the Read Only flag when
copying files (REMOVEROFLAG);
- The savedskf.exe
command does not need to be in the path anymore, you can now specify
its location via the SAVEDSKFEXE
setting;
- HPFS386 files are now found via the searchpath as well;
- Enhanced bootAble.emxrt
and bootAble.acrobat,
by default they should now be able to correctly find the application
root in almost all cases;
- Corrected bootAble.4os2
(4os2.ini got created in
the wrong directory);
- Progress messages now more consistently (and correctly) indicate
the destination (e.g., Boot Image, CD, or Maintenance Partition);
- Rewrote some of the sections in this document to clarify things
better (I hope);
- Moved unicode.sys
before all IFS drivers
(where it should be...).
v3.0a (23/02/2004)
- Corrected bugs in bootAble.norman,
thank you Doug Bissett! (bootAble.norman
and bootAble.normanRC);
- Corrections to documentation on small keyboard.dcp, added note on
smaller viotbl.dcp;
- No more ea stripping in internal sCopyFile function anymore,
saves a little processing time.
v3.0 (22/02/2004)
- Added support for the no floppy emulation boot (memdisk) by Veit
Kannegieser.Not only does this allow bootAble to operate in many
more situations, but booting will be slightly faster and the 2.88
floppy disk space restriction is lifted allowing for many more
configurations to be booted from CD;
- Added configuration files for PMdll and USB resource utilities (bootAble.pmdll and bootAble.usbres);
- Added preliminary True Type and UniFont support (bootAble.ttf);
- Changed way ini RC files get processed, you
can now override previous entries (set the corresponding EXTRAxxxxINIRCFILEUPDATE.x to 'YES').
Furthermore. the EXTRAUSERINI
and EXTRASYSINI settings
are processed last and can be used to override any entry (see bootAble.myCfg for examples);
- Ini RC files should now only contain the body of a makeini file
(i.e., the "<application>" "<key>" <value> triplet,
see bootAble.Urc etc. for
details);
- Added low-level syntax checking on ini RC files;
- Added configuration option for adding OS2SCSI.DMD driver (SCSIDMD, enabled by default if
you're adding SCSI support);
- Added configuration option for copying the config.sys of the boot image to
the root of the CD (COPYCONFIGSYS,
disabled by default);
- Added function to retreive values from the config.sys file (getFromConfigSys);
- Added configuration option to specify the name of the config.sys file to use in
getFromConfigSys, globally initialised to the config.sys in the root of your
boot drive (CONFIGSYSFILE);
- More variables now automaitcally get the correct defaults based
on the host system (e.g., RESERVEDRIVELETTER,
CDROMDRIVE, VIRTUALDRIVE, SHELLPROMPT, COUNTRY, CODEPAGE, KEYBOARD, UNICODE, UNILANG, UNICP, LVM);
- The SEARCHPATH
variable is now globally
initialised to the value of os2\boot
on the boot drive, LIBPATH,
PATH, DPATH, HELP, and BOOKSHELF, greatly reducing the
need for specifying full file paths in the configuration files (just
make sure the correct files are first on the SEARCHPATH!);
- Removed the SMALLKEYBOARDDCP
option.If you now want to use a different keyboard.dcp (or viotbl.dcp for that matter)
file, simply make
sure it is located somewhere on the SEARCHPATH before the original;
- Disabled USB support by default (USBxxx);
- Added ini RC file option to allow inclusion of a line if an
option is not set (%%!<optionname>%%)
- Applications now get installed into \OS2\APPS instead of root
directory (bootAble.acrobat,
etc.);
- Adopted 4os2 support and made it independent of the WPS setting (icon and inf file
always copied), furthermore allowed for a destination directory to be
set (bootAble.4os2);
- Added section on debugging to this document;
- You can now use the /v
command-line argument to specify the value of VERBOSE from the command-line
(usage: bootAble [/v
<verbose>]
[<config file>...]);
- You can now download the SIO2K Patch file
from my website (kindly
provided by the author, Veit Kannegieser);
- Improved PMView support (2.x and 3.x supported), now copying only
required files and,
thanks to Alfredo Fernández Díaz, also added pmvddrop support (bootAble.pmview);
- The RESERVEDRIVELETTER
option is now allowed to be empty;
- Swapping is now enabled when booting from a maintenance partition
or a MEMDISK enabled boot;
- Files are now copied to the destination slighly faster (i.e., not
always via temp anymore);
- Corrected bug where you couldn't copy extra files to the root of
a CD when using cdrecord
or testing;
- Corrected initial font settings of WPS (now correctly using
warpsans);
- Adaptations for the latest newview versions (newview.exe is required);
- Renamed bootAble.PMVrc
and bootAble.Xrc to bootAble.pmviewRC and bootAble.xwpRC;
- Removed progress message about ignoring already created
directories.
v2.19 (25/01/2004)
- Added configuration file for PMView (bootAble.pmview and bootAble.PMVrc);
- Changed application configuration files so that you can now
simply specify paths (e.g., the application root) in your bootAble.myCfg without having
to change the application configuration file itself (see the files bootAble.myCfg, bootAble.4os2, bootAble.acrobat, etc., for
examples);
- Improved setting application root of some of the applications,
these now make use of entries in the ini files (see bootAble.pmview and
bootAble.xwp for examples);
- Path/file specifications can now have double backslahes, the
script does not fail on this anymore;
- Added function defaultIfNotSet
to set a variable to a default value if not already set;
- Added function getFromIni
to return the text porting of an ini entry (stripping off the trailing
0 delimiter);
- Added a verbosity level to help debug syntax errors in
configuration files (VERBOSE);
- Changed behaviour of the VERBOSE
setting, it is now a binary mask so you have more control over the
output;
- Added global initialisation of OSBOOTDRIVE with sysBootDrive();
- Added global initialisation for EXTRADEVICE, EXTRABASEDEV, etc.
settings, no need to default these anymore in your own configuration
files;
- Added option for PROTECTONLY
setting (default is 'YES');
- Added missing option for specifying the use of the DANI DASD
driver instead of the IBM version (DANIDASD),
Note: only to be used on non-lvm systems!;
- Added sample pmview configuration file (bootAble.pmview);
- Corrected bug with multipe extra ini rc files (only the first rc
file got included);
- Corrected reference to boot image (osboot.img) in the cdrecord
section of this document.
v2.18 (23/12/2003)
- Thanks to Alfredo Fernández Díaz, I've now finally
added XWorkplace support (see bootAble.xwp
and bootAble.Xrc files).
XWorkplace can be altered to support additional languages, currently
German and Spanish (partial support) are included (see bootAble.xwp_DE and bootAble.xwp_ES for details);
- Added ability to enter hexadecimal values in the INI RC files
(precede unquoted hexadecimal string by 0x);
- Added ability to specify additional user en system INI RC files (EXTRAUSERINIRCFILES and EXTRASYSINIRCFILES);
- Added advanced option for specifying AUTOSTART directive;
- Added option to add EXIT
statement to created startup.cmd
file (STARTUPCMDEXIT, on
by default);
- Added option to update DHCP server with hostname (TCPIPDHCPUPDATEHOST, off by
default);
- Changed defeult behaviour of 4OS2 command shell icons to open a
new window (bootAble.4os2);
- Device driver DOS.SYS
now added (actually a required file).
v2.17a (21/12/2003)
- Minor corections to bootable.norman
configuration file by Doug Bissett.
v2.17 (19/12/2003)
- Support for NTFS version 1.07 (added ntfschk.exe and changed file
locations);
- Correction for Newview (ibmhmgr.dll
and newview.inf added if
found);
- Updated bootable.norman
configuration file made by Doug Bissett;
- Settings which typically reside in multiple configuration files
(like EXTRADIRECTORIES, EXTRAFILES, etc.) now show the
use of varValue in bootAble.cfg to ease adaptation
in home made configuration files;
- Changed default for formatting the maintenance partition to NO to
prevent accidental data loss if the wrong choises have been made (FORMATMAINTENANCE);
- Progress message for creating extra files only shown when
actually creating extra files.
v2.16 (09/07/2003)
- Added SIO and SIO2K serial port driver support (SIOSERIALPORT, SIO2KSERIALPORT, disabled by
default);
- Added ability to specify content of files to be placed on the CD (EXTRACREATEFILES,
EXTRACREATEFILEDIRECTORY.n, EXTRACREATEFILENAME.n,
EXTRACREATEFILECONTENT.n), see bootAble.4os2 for an example;
- Added NTFS support (NTFS,
disabled by default);
- Added sample configuration file for adding the 4OS/2 command
shell environment (bootAble.4os2);
- The PPZIP device is not enabled by default anymore;
- Minor eCS 1.1 adjustments (file locations have changed).
v2.15 (16/03/2003)
- Corrected fdisk.exe
into fdisk.com when
creating a non LVM system;
- The parallel port driver (print01.sys)
and aspi driver (os2aspi.dmd)
are basedevs, not devices;
- The EPM-file actions.lst
is no longer a required file when adding WPS applications;
- Corrected bug where the BOOTFLTFILE
was included even when creating a maintenance partition.
v2.14 (12/01/2003)
- Added ability to create startup.cmd
file (STARTUPCMD);
- Added sample configuration file for adding Norman Anti Virus
support (bootAble.norman, contributed by Doug Bissett);
- Changed the all-files selector '*.*' into '*' (which is more
correct);
- Corrected comments for the EXTRADEVICE
settings (were incorrectly referring to basedevs).
v2.13 (15/11/2002)
- Added ability to recurse directories when specifying extra
directories (EXTRADIRECTORYRECURSE.n), see bootAble.acrobat
for an example;
- Corrected path handling when HPFS386 support was enabled.
v2.12 (20/10/2002)
- Added NETBIOS and NETBIOS over TCP/IP protocol support (NETBIOS
and NETBIOSTCPIP, disabled by default);
Note: Only the protocols themselves are supported, PEER
functionality, for instance, is not provided.
- Added option to clean-out cdrecord image directory (pointed to by
WRITERDRIVE)
prior to adding bootable files and directories (CDRECORDCLEANDIR,
disabled by default);
- Added option to support latest IBM Atapi driver which doesn't
need IBMIDECD.FLT anymore (LATESTATAPI, disabled by
default);
- Made many changes to TCP/IP support:
- Added ARP.EXE by default,
- Added INETWAIT.EXE to the TCP/IP initialisation,
- Corrected TCP/IP initialisation when using DHCP,
- Now using AFLEAN.SYS and SOCKETS.SYS
instead
of AFINETK.SYS and SOCKETSK.SYS,
- AFOS2.SYS has been removed (was not required for basic
TCP/IP),
- Improved DHCP support; nameserver can now also be specified by
the server dynamically (requires RAMDISK support on a
bootAble
CD),
- DHCP Client Monitor gets added when DHCP is enabled (WPS),
- Improved TCP/IP version 4.31 support; the 4.31 DHCP client
required some additional DLLs, these will now be added when TCP/IP 4.31
is specified (TCPIP431, default).
- Additional DEVICE drivers can now be specified similar to how
extra BASEDEV drivers were specified (EXTRADEVICE, EXTRADEVICEFILE.n,EXTRADEVICEOPTIONS.n).
- You can now specify multi-level directory structures without
having to create the higher level directories first (EXTRADIRECTORY.n),
you can now also specify the BOOKSHELF as path (EXTRADIRECTORYADDTOPATH.n);
- You can now comment-out lines in the configuration files and
ini-file template with ';' as well;
- Corrected bug with ASPI support;
- Options of CDROM and ASPI support are now respected;
- Added sample configuration file for adding EMX runtime (bootAble.emxrt,
contributed by Christoph Brendes)
- Improved parsing of ini-file templates: using '$$' as
variable and '%%' as option delimeters, furthermore all
configuration variables and options can now be used;
- Removed second setting of displaytype and help-path when WPS
support was enabled;
- Rewrote installation instructions and merged with obtaining
required files section.
v2.11 (30/09/2002)
- Added DHCP support (TCPIPDHCP);
- Fixed bug in bootAble.extra (missing quotes);
- Fixed bug in handling of extra directories, sometimes ',1' was
added to the directory name.
v2.10 (29/09/2002)
- You can now specify a search path (SEARCHPATH) where
files will be searched for in addition to the location specified (by
default this is set to the DPATH). This allows for adding
components to a bootable CD/maintenance partition which have not (yet)
been installed on your system (or reside in a completely different
location from the deafult); just add the files to a directory on the
specified path!;
- Added support for HPFS386 file system (HPFS386);
- Added support for parallel port ZIP drive (PPZIP);
- Added support for using lxlite when copying files,
freeing extra space! (LXLITE);
- Added option for using the small keyboard.dcp file from
the Warp 4 boot disks, saving yet again quite some space! (SMALLKEYBOARDDCP);
Note: This keyboard.dcp most likely only supports
a
very limited set of keyboard layouts...
- You can now specify additional ini file lines using the format of
the makeini command (EXTRAUSERINI, EXTRASYSINI);
- Added configuration variable for specifying the command shell
prompt (SHELLPROMPT);
- Added configuration variables for specifying the names of the
boot images (BOOTIMAGENAME.1 and BOOTIMAGENAME.2);
Note: When using AudioCDCreator, the name of the first image
should be OSBOOT.IMG (now default).
- Added advanced configuration variables for specifying the number
of threads (advanced, THREADS, now 1024 by default), FAT
cache
options (advanced, FATCACHEOPTIONS, now 1MB by default),
swapping parameters (advanced, MEMMAN and SWAPPATH);
- Renamed all *DLLS option variables to *DLLFILES
for consistency;
Note: If you have created your own configuration files, make
sure to reflect this change!
- Added ability to specify additional directory structure and the
extra files to go into these directories, including the ability to add
these directories to a path (EXTRADIRECTORY.n, EXTRADIRECTORYFILES.n,
EXTRADIRECTORYADDTOPATHS.n);
- Files can now contain spaces (just make sure they are within
double-quotes!);
- Fixed bug where extra basedev files where not copied at all;
- Added main option name of new options in the version history
(starting from version 2.0), to ease finding them;
- Corrected typo in Alfredo Fernandez Diaz's name in the
documentation (Thanks section in this file);
- rxqueue.exe is now added by default when REXX support is
enabled;
- wpstkmri.dll is now an optional file as well (only for
scroll mouse?);
- When TCP/IP and REXX support are both enabled with WPS, either
the file rxsock.infor the file rxsocket.inf is
added
(seems the file got renamed with later Warp installations);
- The maxtransmits directive has been removed from the protocol.ini
file (network support), it is not supported on all network cards (and
not required either);
- Added sample configuration file bootAble.testCD for
testing the creation of a bootAble CD. Instead of writing the results
to
a CD-R(W), the results are written to a temp directory;
- Added sample configuration file bootAble.acrobat for
adding acrobat reader to your system, also shows the use of the new EXTRADIRECTORY
and EXTRA*INI configuration variables.
v2.9 (24/09/2002)
- Added support for Roman Stangl's CD Boot Menu (CDBOOTMENU);
Note: When using RSJ, make sure that Roman Stangl's cdboot
command is not located on the PATH!
- Added comments to clarify the use of configuration files (you
only need to specify the configuration options/variables which override
the defaults in bootAble.cfg!);
- Added comments for when files are required (Obtaining required
and optional files section in this file);
- Added reference to help for the country and keyboard definition
configuration variables;
- UNICODELANGDIR not required anymore (some installations
did not even have one!);
- Added icon (based on default CD icon), anyone a better idea?;
- Improved error checking for required files; created new function searchPath
to be used in configuration files instead of the standard sysSearchPath.
v2.8 (23/09/2002)
- Corrected typos in required files for REXX TCP/IP support.
v2.7 (22/09/2002)
- Added basic TCP/IP networking support (TCPIP).
Note: For most TCP/IP commands to work, WPS support is
required.
v2.6 (17/09/2002)
- Added REXX support (REXX);
Note: In order for REXX to work when booting to a
command-line (even when WPS support is enabled), you will need to have bos2rexx.exe
(from the BootOS2 package) located somewhere on your DPATH.
- Added support for non 512 bytes/sector removable media (NON512DASD);
- Added support for removable SCSI media geometry filter (REMOVABLESCSI);
- Added "Refresh removable media" object when LVM support is
enabled (WPS);
- Help support is now installed as part of the command-line apps,
not only when WPS support is installed;
- Corrected a bug introduced in version 2.5 where setting
configuration variables to an empty string did not override the default
(which could be non-empty);
- Corrected a bug with autochecking HPFS partitions (now it works
:-).
v2.5 (13/09/2002)
- Added html documentation;
- fdisk.exe is now included if LVM support is disabled;
- Added harderr.exe to support error handling, autofail=yes
is now specified as well;
- Added bootAble.extra sample configuration file for
adding some extra applications;
- Added label.com and tedit.hlp by default;
- Language dll files only added when WPS support is enabled;
- chkdsk.sys is now included;
- Added configuration option for adding help files (WPS only, EXTRAHELPFILES);
- Improved handling of ide cd when not using the DANI drivers (ibmidecd.flt
is now added as well);
- Added cachef32.exe and f32stat.exe when FAT32
support is enabled;
- Added configuration options for autochecking HPFS and JFS file
systems (HPFSAUTOCHECK, JFSAUTOCHECK);
- pstat.exe is now only added with WPS support (doesn't
work when not running WPS).
v2.4 (04/09/2002)
- Renamed script to bootAble (pronounce boot able) as bootIT
happened to be a trademark of TeraByte
Unlimited;
- Removed unnecessary files and adopted for non eCS Warp systems.
v2.3 (02/09/2002)
- Corrected a very annoying bug where the script would fail under
the standard OS/2 command processor cmd.exe (it worked under
4OS/2);
- Added verbosity level 3 where also errors from external commands
are shown (9 shows all output).
v2.2 (01/09/2002)
- Corrected additional bug regarding cleanup when creating a
directory failed;
- The bootdrive is now determined by sysBootDrive by
default (somehow this function is missing from the rexx
documentation...);
- Renamed options for the FAT32 file system from FAT to FAT32.
v2.1 (01/09/2002)
- Corrected a bug where output would always be verbose and no
cleanup was performed.
v2.0 (01/09/2002)
- Renamed script to bootIT as it is now able to create a
maintenance partition as well;
- Added WPS support (VGA and GENGRADD, WPS);
- Added APM support (APM);
- Added UDF support (UDF);
- The command-line option can now specify multiple configuration
files and these are now used to override the defaults in bootIT.cfg;
- Added ability to enable SCSI support before IDE (SCSIBEFOREIDE);
- Added ability to specify any number of SCSI cards. Note:
The SCSI option has been changed into a number to support
this!;
- Added option to use DANI drivers instead of the default drivers
(the default is still to use the DANI drivers, DANIIDE, DANIATAPI);
- Adapted the script to handle both daniatapi.flt and daniatap.flt
versions of the DANI ATAPI driver.
- Added option to use JJSCDROM instead of default cdrom driver (the
default is not to use JJSCDROM, JJSCDROM)
- Added the ability to add extra basedevs (EXTRABASEDEV);
- Made sure that files copied to the FAT boot image follow the 8.3
file naming restrictions.
v1.4 (23/08/2002)
- Files now are copied without extended attributes to the boot
image;
- Added command-line option for the specification of the
configuration file;
- Corrected error in option name in bootCD.cfg for fallback driver
(wasn't renamed);
- USB printer device now defaults to LPTn instead of $USBPRT;
- Added parallel port (printer) support;
- Added serial port support;
- Added mouse support;
- Improved the way of to specificy which shell to use, now it is
possible to specify PROTSHELL and OS2_SHELL
independantly (advanced options);
- Improved VERBOSE, you can now specify the message level;
- Added genral instructions for using this script;
- Added instructions for using this script with cdrecord/mkisofs;
- Added ability to split boot image over two disks providing even
more room for device drivers and other things;
- Other general improvements.
v1.3 (22/08/2002)
- Added USB support;
- Fixed bug with SHELLFILE variable not being respected;
- Renamed option IDECD to ATAPI (more correct);
- Renamed option HDDFALLBACK to DASDFALLBACK
(more correct);
- Now possible to specify options for IFS and BASEDEV
lines (advanced options);
- Added comment why there is no autocheck for file systems;
- Better option handling, not case sensitive anymore and only first
letter is required (e.g., specifying "Y" or "yes"
works now);
- Cache sizes for HPFS and JFS file systems now 1024KB by default;
- Added VERBOSE option, with this set to "YES"
all command output is shown;
- Added option to pause the script right before writing the boot
image to CD. You can use this to check and or correct the content of
the
boot image on the virtual drive before it is actually written.
v1.2 (20/08/2002)
- Now a REXX script;
- Added configuration options
- CONFIG.SYS is now created automatically by the script
and
respects set options;
- Added notes concerning choices of virtual floppy software;
- Added contact information.
v1.1 (21/02/2002)
- Now using daniboot.flt instead of cdboot.flt.
v1.0 (16/02/2002)
- Original version for creating a bootable CD with support for most
file systems and LVM.