Let's talk about this stuff for a while.
I'm looking at a diskette image of the Windows 98 SE boot disk:
Here's the contents of it's autoexec.bat:
Code: Select all
@ECHO OFF
set EXPAND=YES
SET DIRCMD=/O:N
set LglDrv=27 * 26 Z 25 Y 24 X 23 W 22 V 21 U 20 T 19 S 18 R 17 Q 16 P 15
set LglDrv=%LglDrv% O 14 N 13 M 12 L 11 K 10 J 9 I 8 H 7 G 6 F 5 E 4 D 3 C
cls
call setramd.bat %LglDrv%
set temp=c:set tmp=c:path=%RAMD%:;a:;%CDROM%:copy command.com %RAMD%: > NUL
set comspec=%RAMD%:command.com
copy extract.exe %RAMD%: > NUL
copy readme.txt %RAMD%: > NUL
:ERROR
IF EXIST ebd.cab GOTO EXT
echo Please insert Windows 98 Startup Disk 2
echo.
pause
GOTO ERROR
:EXT
%RAMD%:extract /y /e /l %RAMD%: ebd.cab > NUL
echo The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive %RAMD%.
echo.
IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
IF "%config%"=="HELP" GOTO HELP
LH %ramd%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM%
echo.
GOTO QUIT
:HELP
cls
call help.bat
echo Your computer will now restart and the startup menu will appear.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo.
restart.com
GOTO QUIT
:QUIT
echo To get help, type HELP and press ENTER.
echo.
rem clean up environment variables
set CDROM=
set LglDrv=
Here's the contents of the config.sys:
Code: Select all
[menu]
menuitem=CD, Start computer with CD-ROM support.
menuitem=NOCD, Start computer without CD-ROM support.
menuitem=HELP, View the Help file.
menudefault=CD,30
menucolor=7,0
[CD]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001
[NOCD]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
[HELP]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
[COMMON]
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256
devicehigh=ramdrive.sys /E 2048
lastdrive=z
Okay, some thoughts:
If going on a CD, the RAM Drive could be eliminated. The individual files from it could easily be put on the CD. Slight mods to the autoexec.bat and config.sys would be needed.
Adding the UIDE.sys from FreeDos would be trivial too. In config.sys add something like:
menuitem=UIDE, Start computer UIDE driver.
and
[UIDE]
device=himem.sys /testmem:off
device=uide.sys /B /D:mscd001
Looking at the autoexec.bat:
Code: Select all
IF "%config%"=="NOCD" GOTO QUIT
IF "%config%"=="HELP" GOTO HELP
LH %ramd%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:%CDROM%
echo.
You can see that if you have NOT chosen either the NOCD option or the HELP option, it's assumed that you've chosen the option with the build-in CDROM support. If adding an option to boot with the UIDE driver, something would have to be added. You can add a section for one of them, and if it wasn't chosen it would be assumed that the other would take effect. Since we're adding UIDE, let's just add that:
IF "%config%"=="UIDE" GOTO UIDE
and
:UIDE
cls
LH MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:D
GOTO QUIT
Of course I'm assuming that we're going to get rid of the RAM Drive, if not the line would be:
LH %ramd%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:D
As far as cutemouse goes, I wouldn't enable it automatically, as running it when actually using a 9x's setup can cause issues with the mouse not being recognized. Perhaps have something on screen using echo stating it can be started by typing "mouse" and explaining not to run it before starting 9x setup.
Thinking about himemx, again something I wouldn't automatically put in, but perhaps having it on the CD and perhaps we could create some txt files, that could be copied over to the hardrive through a BAT file.
Imagine the BAT giving you choices such as:
Set up system with generic CDROM Drivers/ System has 1 GB of RAM or less
Set up system with generic CDROM Drivers/ System has more than 1 GB of RAM
Set up system with UIDE driver/ System has 1 GB of RAM or less
Set up system with UIDE driver / System has 1 GB of RAM or More
Depending on the choice, the BAT would copy the correct files to the drive and rename them to autoexec.bat and config.sys. Perhaps echo a message stating that Windows Setup might mod the files and this may need done again, after first reboot, et cetra and if using Himemx, that you'll have to run the patch for io.sys.
Lots of stuff to think about. This is just right off the top of my head and I may have forgotten some things or some things may not be correct.