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BOOT.DOC
BOOT.SYS(tm) - Version 1.27
Use boot-up menus to select your MS-DOS system configuration
_______
____|__ | (R)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | |---------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
Written by Hans Salvisberg
BOOT.SYS - 2 - Version 1.27
Copyright Notice
BOOT.SYS(tm) and the accompanying programs and documentation are
Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 Hans Salvisberg
All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................... 3
About ASP .................................................. 4
ASP Ombudsman Information .................................. 5
License Agreement .......................................... 5
Registration ............................................... 7
Installation ............................................... 10
Quick Start .............................................. 11
Level 1: One Menu ........................................ 12
BOOT.SYS Command Line Parameters ......................... 16
Level 2: Several Independent Menus Following Each Other .. 17
Level 3: Nested Menus .................................... 19
BOOT.SYS Extensions ...................................... 26
BOOT.EDIT ............................................. 26
BOOT.OPTION FREE ...................................... 27
BOOT.OPTION BOOTASSIST ................................ 27
BOOT.OPTION EXTMON for Laptops ........................ 28
BOOT.OPTION COLOR ..................................... 30
BOOT.COM Command Line Parameters ......................... 30
PAUSE.SYS, a Debugging Aid ............................... 32
Closing Remark ........................................... 33
Answers to Common Questions ................................ 34
Revision History ........................................... 38
BOOT.SYS - 3 - Version 1.27
Introduction
BOOT.SYS makes it possible to display one or more menus at
boot-up time and to have different parts of CONFIG.SYS and/or
AUTOEXEC.BAT executed depending on which menu options are chosen.
Many people need different versions of CONFIG.SYS depending on
what application they are going to run. In the past you had to
either rename or edit your start-up files and reboot to get a
different setup. Now this process has become much easier and
safer by using BOOT.SYS.
BOOT.SYS was written for IBM-compatible Personal Computers run-
ning under MS-DOS or PC-DOS 2.11, 3.xx, and 4.0x.
The following features make BOOT.SYS a must-have for every
sophisticated PC installation:
* easy installation, detailed examples for every level of
sophistication
* up to nine options per menu (one line per option) and a
freely definable prompt area at the top of the screen
* up to 25 consecutive menus, each defining a different aspect
of your system configuration
* up to 25 levels of nested menus (submenus), simplifying a
systematic approach to systems configuration
* only one version of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT; no copy-
ing/renaming of files and no rebooting
* select menu options by pressing the corresponding digit key
or by moving an arrow
* user-definable timeout and default option for each menu
* switch to an external monitor on boot-up for some laptop
computers
* edit individual CONFIG.SYS lines on the fly while booting up
* insert comments into CONFIG.SYS without generating error mes-
sages
* uses less than 200 bytes of resident DOS memory
* do a warm or a cold boot from the DOS command line or from a
batch file; change Alt-Ctrl-Del to do a cold boot or disable
it altogether
* includes PAUSE.SYS for debugging complex CONFIG.SYS set-ups
BOOT.SYS - 4 - Version 1.27
Acknowledgments
BOOT.SYS(tm) was developed using Borland's Turbo C(R), Turbo
Assembler(R), and Turbo Debugger(R). The documentation was writ-
ten with Lotus Manuscript(R).
Many thanks to Michael J. Mefford of PC Magazine who has provided
valuable information about modifying CONFIG.SYS on the fly.
Many thanks to the members of the ASP; their help and advice have
been invaluable for getting BOOT.SYS to you.
Trademarks
BOOT.SYS is a trademark of Hans Salvisberg.
Compaq is a trademark of Compaq Computer Corporation. IBM, PC-DOS
and PC are trademarks of IBM Corporation. MS-DOS and MS Windows
are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. 386^MAX is a trademark
of Qualitas, Inc. DESQview and QEMM are trademarks of Quarterdeck
Office Systems. Other product names mentioned in this documenta-
tion may be trademarks of these or other companies.
Association of Shareware Professionals and the ASP logo are
trademarks of the Association of Shareware Professionals.
About ASP
ASP, the Association of Shareware Professionals(R), was formed in
April 1987 to strengthen the future of shareware (user supported
software) as an alternative to commercial software. Its members,
all of whom are programmers who subscribe to a code of ethics or
are non-programmers sincerely interested in the advancement of
shareware, are committed to the concept of shareware as a method
of marketing.
The ASP has adopted general standards that all ASP authors have
agreed to follow, some of which are:
Support standards:
All ASP members' shareware products must provide support (in-
cluded in the purchase price) for a minimum of three months
from the date of registration.
Any money sent to an author to register an unsupported prod-
uct shall be promptly returned with an explanation that the
product in question is no longer supported.
Known incompatibilities with other software or hardware and
major or unusual program limitations are noted in the docu-
mentation that comes with the shareware (evaluation) program.
BOOT.SYS - 5 - Version 1.27
'no crippling' standard:
The principle behind shareware is "try before you buy." ASP
believes that users have a right to try a fully functioning
shareware program in their regular computing environment.
Accordingly, ASP authors agree that:
- The executable files (and/or items linked in with execut-
ables) in the shareware and registered versions will
essentially be the same.
- All the program's features will be fully documented.
- Registration encouragement procedures which in the judg-
ment of the Board are either unreasonable or unprofes-
sional are not allowed.
Miscellaneous standards:
The program has been thoroughly tested by the author and
should not be harmful to other files or hardware if used
properly.
Any discussion of the shareware concept and of registration
requirements is done in a professional and positive manner.
If you are interested in ASP and in Shareware issues, you are
invited to come to the SHAREWARE forum on CompuServe, where many
shareware authors meet regularly. Do not be surprised if you get
to the IBMJR forum, because that forum is currently being shared
between IBMJR and ASP.
ASP Ombudsman Information
This program is produced by a member of the Association of Share-
ware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the share-
ware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but
does not provide technical support for members' products. Please
write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006,
U.S.A. or send a message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman
70007,3536
License Agreement
BY INSTALLING BOOT.SYS ON YOUR SYSTEM YOU INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT
TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO
THEM YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THIS PROGRAM.
BOOT.SYS AND THE ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMS AND DOCUMENTATION (LATER
ON COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS BOOT.SYS) ARE DISTRIBUTED AS IS.
HANS SALVISBERG (THE AUTHOR) MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT
BOOT.SYS - 6 - Version 1.27
TO THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS,
OR ANY OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF
THE USE OF OR THE INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM, EVEN IF THE
AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR
FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
BOOT.SYS is a copyrighted work protected by Swiss, U.S., and
international copyright law. It is not free, freeware, or in the
public domain. It is distributed as Shareware, which means that
you may try it out at no cost for three weeks; if you determine
that it fits your needs and you wish to use it regularly you must
register. If you choose not to pay the registration fee, you must
stop using BOOT.SYS after the initial trial period and remove it
from your computer, but you may still keep copies of it and pass
them on to others as outlined below.
You may give individual copies of the unregistered version of
BOOT.SYS to your friends and associates for evaluation purposes
as described above. You must include all the files (described in
the READ.ME file) that make up BOOT.SYS without any modifica-
tions, preferably in the original self-extracting LHarc archive
file. You may upload BOOT.SYS to the public section of a public
BBS, but you may not place it in any user group or commercial
library or distribute it for a fee or in any way sell copies of
it without express written permission from the Author.
Under no circumstances may an unregistered version of BOOT.SYS be
used in a commercial (business, corporate, government, educa-
tional, or other institutional) environment except for the pur-
pose of evaluation on a single computer.
You may not modify or dis-assemble BOOT.SYS, nor distribute any
modified or dis-assembled versions of BOOT.SYS. BOOT.SYS may not
be included with any other product for any reason whatsoever
without written permission from the Author.
You may install your registered copy of BOOT.SYS on more than one
computer at a time ONLY if no more than one of these computers is
usually running at the same time. You may make as many backup
copies of BOOT.SYS as you need for your personal backup purposes.
You may NOT give, sell, or otherwise transfer copies of the reg-
istered version of BOOT.SYS to any other person for any reason.
If you register, your copy of BOOT.SYS will have a unique
registration number and display your name and address. Your reg-
istration including that information will be transferable to any
future shareware versions of BOOT.SYS, which will then be
considered a registered version.
No version of BOOT.SYS may be rented or leased.
BOOT.SYS - 7 - Version 1.27
Any use or distribution of BOOT.SYS, which violates this license
agreement, will be considered a copyright violation, and prose-
cuted to the full extent of the law.
U.S. Government RESTRICTED RIGHTS: Use, duplication, or disclo-
sure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in
subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and
Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013.
Registration
BOOT.SYS is not free! You may try it out at no charge for an
initial trial period to determine if it fits your needs. If you
want to continue to use BOOT.SYS after the initial trial period
you must register. This method of software distribution is known
as Shareware.
The registration fee for a single copy of BOOT.SYS is SFR 70.-
(exchange rate US$ to Swiss Francs is about $0.76 = SFR 1.- (Oc-
tober 1990)). Payment of this fee entitles you to:
* A disk with the current version of BOOT.SYS
* A printed and bound manual
* A special utility program that lets you transfer your license
to any later shareware versions of BOOT.SYS that you may
obtain from any shareware source (getting an upgrade from the
author requires new registration).
* Free support (by electronic mail or by mail) for the first 90
days after payment, consisting of answering questions and
fixing any reproducible program error(s) that interfere(s)
with the intended use of the program as outlined in this
documentation. The author may choose not to fix problems
related to a special hardware and/or software configuration
and will then arrange for a refund of the registration fee,
if the problem is reported within 90 days of payment. The
author makes no other warranties, expressed or implied, and
this warranty is expressly limited to the cost of the regis-
tration fee.
* BOOT.SYS is publicly supported on CompuServe in the DOS Uti-
lities section of the IBMSYS forum. A free CompuServe Intro-
Pak, which includes a $15.00 usage credit, is available to
registered BOOT.SYS users who do not yet subscribe to
CompuServe. CompuServe will open the door for a whole new
world of information, services, and interesting people. Com-
puServe is also the best place to obtain technical support
for products from Hans Salvisberg (and many other developers
and vendors). The CompuServe IntroPak (a $39.95 value) is
provided to registered BOOT.SYS users compliments of Compu-
BOOT.SYS - 8 - Version 1.27
Serve, Inc., and Hans Salvisberg. This offer is dependent on
its continued availability from CompuServe, Inc.
For your information: Current CompuServe rates are $12.50 per
connect hour plus communications surcharges (e.g., $0.30/hour
in the U.S.A., $9.50/hour in Switzerland and the United King-
dom, varying rates in other countries).
BOOT.SYS must be registered before it is used in a commercial
(business, corporate, government, educational, or other institu-
tional) environment.
The following per-unit prices apply for registration of one or
more copies of BOOT.SYS on the same order form:
1 SFR 70.-
2 - 4 SFR 60.-
5 - 9 SFR 50.-
10 - 24 SFR 45.-
25 - 49 SFR 40.-
50 - 99 SFR 35.-
100 - 249 SFR 30.-
250 - 499 SFR 25.-
500 or more negotiable
THESE PRICES INCLUDE ONE MASTER DISKETTE AND ONE PRINTED MANUAL
PER ORDER. The licensee is responsible for duplicating the
diskette and documentation as needed, and for ensuring that the
registered number of installed copies is not exceeded. Additional
manuals are available for a nominal fee. Under this schedule
SUPPORT IS PROVIDED TO ONE DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
LICENSEE ONLY.
You have three choices for registering:
- With the author in Switzerland: All payment must be done in
Swiss Francs. The easiest way to do this is by credit card.
You authorize us to charge your card for the amount due in
SFR and the credit card company will automatically convert to
your currency using the current exchange rate. We cannot
guarantee a fixed exchange rate or a certain date for the
conversion to take place, but based on our experience the
exchange rates do not vary quickly.
Alternatively you may send us a postal money order in Swiss
Francs (your local post office does the currency conversion).
- With Public software Library in the U.S.A. (single-PC
licenses only!): PsL is authorized to sell pre-registered
single-PC versions of BOOT.SYS at $39 + $4 s&h. They take
credit card orders on a toll-free phone number or written
orders accompanied by a check or credit card information.
- For site licenses: Other modes of payment including payment
in US$ or other currency can be negotiated - please contact
the author.
BOOT.SYS - 9 - Version 1.27
Note: All prices are subject to change without notice.
The accompanying file REGISTER.FRM includes registration forms
for the first two options. If this file is missing or if you have
any questions, please contact the author:
Hans Salvisberg, Froeschmattstr. 40, CH-3018 Berne, SWITZERLAND
CompuServe: 73237,3556
Internet: salvis@ahorn.iam.unibe.ch
or 73237.3556@compuserve.com
BOOT.SYS - 10 - Version 1.27
Installation
BOOT.SYS can be used on three different levels:
- one menu only
- several menus in sequence
- nested menus
It is probably a good idea to start experimenting with BOOT.SYS
on the easiest level and to build up from there. This is also how
the installation instructions will be presented here. Alterna-
tively, if you already have (up to nine) pairs of AUTOEXEC.BAT
and CONFIG.SYS files, you can use the procedure outlined in the
Quick Start chapter to get BOOT.SYS working right away.
Please keep in mind that heavily editing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEX-
EC.BAT may lead to your PC not coming up in the usual configura-
tion or even locking up at boot-up time. Therefore it is
recommended that you first create a bootable diskette by
following these steps (at the DOS prompt):
1. Insert a new diskette in drive a: and FORMAT a: /S
2. COPY c:\COMMAND.COM a:
3. COPY c:\CONFIG.SYS a:
4. COPY c:\AUTOEXEC.BAT a:
5. Edit a:AUTOEXEC.BAT and a:CONFIG.SYS and make sure that all
file names (including the external DOS commands) include the
drive name of your boot disk (here assumed to be c: ).
6. Boot from this diskette to see if everything is ok; check if
you can start your editor as usual.
Many of the features of BOOT.SYS will be presented by examples.
In each chapter there is a simple example to start with and some
more interesting ones to give you an idea of what BOOT.SYS can
do. The upper-case portions should be copied exactly (case does
not matter), the lower-case ones may be different for your sys-
tem.
Example:
DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS
The ANSI.SYS device driver that comes with DOS is often located
in the directory \dos on drive c: ; if this is not the case on
your system then you should change the drive and/or path accord-
ingly.
The first example on each level will use DOS features only, so it
should work on every system running under MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Usu-
ally there is a CONFIG.SYS file (CO) and an AUTOEXEC.BAT file
(AU) for each example.
All text in curly braces (like {a comment}) is comment.
BOOT.SYS - 11 - Version 1.27
Quick Start
If you already have (up to nine) pairs of different CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, you can start using BOOT.SYS right away
by following these instructions:
1. Create a new master CONFIG.SYS like this:
CO DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.1 first configuration {any name}
{entire contents of CONFIG.SYS for the first configura-
tion}
DEVICE=BOOT.2 second configuration {any name}
{entire contents of CONFIG.SYS for the second configura-
tion}
{etc.}
DEVICE=BOOT.END
2. Create a new master AUTOEXEC.BAT like this (make sure that
there are no label conflicts between different sections):
AU c:\bin\BOOT >NUL:
IF ERRORLEVEL 9 GOTO config9 {Be sure to always test
IF ERRORLEVEL 8 GOTO config8 ERRORLEVELs in descend-
... ing order and immedi-
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO config1 ately after BOOT.COM!}
ECHO BOOT.SYS is not loaded!
GOTO done
:config1
{entire contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT for the first configu-
ration}
GOTO done
:config2
{entire contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT for the second configu-
ration}
{etc.}
:done
3. Press Alt-Ctrl-Del to reboot and watch BOOT.SYS in
action.(1)
The real power of BOOT.SYS, which comes into play when you use
more than one or even nested menus, is not used here, but this
set-up may be sufficient for many users' needs. The next chapters
will explain how and why to create more sophisticated set-ups.
--------------------
1 If you see messages like 'Unrecognized command' from CON-
FIG.SYS, please refer to the chapter Answers to Common Questions.
BOOT.SYS - 12 - Version 1.27
Level 1: One Menu
For many users one menu is all they will ever need. It gives you
the equivalent of choosing between up to nine different sets of
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Ex Choose between one of the [SCREEN]
1.1(1) following configurations:
- no RAM disk
- 64K RAM disk
- 128K RAM disk
If there's a RAM disk, copy
COMMAND.COM to it and make
DOS reload the command pro-
cessor from there.
CO.11 BUFFERS=32
FILES=20
{any other of the usual commands that should apply to all
the configurations; this goes for all the examples}
DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS {optional command line parameters}
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP Select one of the following choices by
DEVICE=TOP pressing the corresponding digit key, or by
DEVICE=TOP moving the arrow with the Cursor-Up, Cursor-
DEVICE=TOP Down, Home and End keys and pressing Enter
DEVICE=TOP (or Cursor-Right):
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no RAM disk
DEVICE=BOOT.2 64K RAM disk
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=64 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=BOOT.3 128K RAM disk
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=128 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=BOOT.END
{any other of the usual commands that should apply to all
the configurations; this goes for all the examples}
AU.11 c:\bin\BOOT
IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO VDISK {Be sure to always test
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO VDISK ERRORLEVELs in descending
--------------------
1 The screen shots are deliberately reproduced in a small scale.
They are intended to provide a view of the general screen layout
only; for the text please refer to the corresponding CONFIG.SYS
listing. In the Shareware version they are omitted.
BOOT.SYS - 13 - Version 1.27
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NO_VDISK order and immediately
ECHO BOOT.SYS is not loaded! after BOOT.COM!}
GOTO DONE
:VDISK
COPY c:\COMMAND.COM d: >NUL:
SET COMSPEC=d:\COMMAND.COM
GOTO DONE
:NO_VDISK
ECHO Sorry, there is no RAM disk
GOTO DONE
:DONE
PATH c:\dos;c:\bin
The part of CONFIG.SYS that is controlled by BOOT.SYS starts with
the BOOT.SYS line and ends with the BOOT.END line. Between these
two lines you define both the menu to be displayed and the com-
mands to be executed.
The text to the right of TOP is displayed at the top of the menu
screen. You may use most of the characters of the PC character
set (including the box and foreign characters). Unfortunately DOS
converts all lower-case characters in the range of 'a' to 'z' to
upper case; a work-around to this problem is presented in the
next example. There is no upper limit to the number of TOP lines,
as long as they fit on the screen, along with all the options;
TOP may be omitted altogether and BOOT.SYS will display a default
text.
The BOOT.1 line introduces the first menu option. All text to the
right of BOOT.1 is displayed as the option text. Between BOOT.1
and BOOT.2 there may be zero or more of the usual CONFIG.SYS
commands (all kinds, not just DEVICE= ). These commands will be
executed if the user selects option 1 and will be bypassed
silently if he/she selects another option.
There may be up to nine options each beginning with a correspond-
ing BOOT.n line. The options must be numbered consecutively from
1 up to 9.
You may insert empty lines wherever you like, and you may insert
comments between BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END like this:
DEVICE=REM any comment
So much for the first BOOT menu; even if you think you know
enough already you should read on up to the end of the next
section.
BOOT.SYS - 14 - Version 1.27
Very often different commands must be executed in AUTOEXEC.BAT
depending on which boot-up configuration is selected. It is even
possible that all your configurations use the same CONFIG.SYS
commands and differ only in the contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT (see
example 1.2). This can be done with BOOT.SYS because a very small
part of it stays resident and the companion program BOOT.COM can
be used to retrieve the user's choice any time later on.
BOOT.COM sets the DOS ERRORLEVEL code to the number of the chosen
option; it also writes that information to standard output which
can be redirected to the null device. If BOOT.SYS was not
installed or there was some kind of error, then the ERRORLEVEL
code is set to 0. Be sure to always test for ERRORLEVEL values in
descending order, because DOS does a 'greater or equal' compari-
son, not an 'equal' comparison!
Based on the ERRORLEVEL different parts of AUTOEXEC.BAT can be
executed as illustrated in the above example. Instead of execut-
ing different parts of the same AUTOEXEC.BAT you could branch to
different batch files, as shown in the next example.
Ex 1.2 On a certain LAN you may want [SCREEN]
to choose between the follow-
ing options:
- no network support
- XNS protocol
- TCP/IP protocol
Display the menu white on
blue, use both upper-case and
lower-case letters, and rear-
range the menu on the screen.
CO.12 DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS /CX1f /L18 /U^
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP ^What kind of network support do you need?
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=BOOT.1 none
DEVICE=BOOT.2 ^X^N^S
DEVICE=BOOT.3 ^T^C^P/^I^P
DEVICE=BOOT.END
AU.12 ECHO OFF
CLS
c:\bin\BOOT >NUL: {>NUL: hides BOOT.COM's
IF ERRORLEVEL 3 c:\autotcp output}
BOOT.SYS - 15 - Version 1.27
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 c:\autoxns
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NO_NET
ECHO BOOT.SYS is not loaded!
:NO_NET
PATH c:\dos;c:\bin
The command line parameters will cause BOOT.SYS to use the /Color
1f (heX) and to put 18 spaces to the /Left of the option numbers;
to indent the TOP text just insert spaces in these lines.
BOOT.SYS will translate the characters in the range of 'a' to 'z'
to lower-case; only those preceded by a '^' character (or any
other you specify) will be left /Upper-case.
This LAN does not need any drivers in CONFIG.SYS, so all the
options are empty. If the user selects either XNS or TCP/IP then
AUTOEXEC.BAT branches to autoxns.bat or autotcp.bat respectively,
which will load the necessary drivers; note that when execution
is transferred to another batch file (without the CALL statement
introduced in DOS 3.30) the rest of AUTOEXEC.BAT is not executed.
This example has demonstrated how to control the appearance of
the menus by using additional empty TOP lines, indenting the text
on the TOP lines, and using the /Left switch. There is also a
/Spacing switch which indicates the spacing between the menu
options; the default is 2, acceptable values are 1, 2, etc., as
long as all the menu options fit on the screen. - For the sake of
brevity the remaining examples are not optimized for good looks,
and the /Uppercase switch will be omitted, too.
Ex 1.3 Choose
- whether you want a RAM disk, and
- whether you need ANSI.SYS.
If the user does not press any key within 5 seconds then
take the default of RAM disk and no ANSI.SYS.
CO.13 DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS /D2 /T5
DEVICE=TOP Select your system configuration
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no RAM disk, no ANSI.SYS (all RAM above DOS
available)
DEVICE=BOOT.2 64K RAM disk, no ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=64 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=BOOT.3 no RAM disk, ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.4 64K RAM disk and ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=64 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.END
BOOT.SYS - 16 - Version 1.27
The command line parameters will cause BOOT.SYS to /Timeout after
5 seconds and continue the boot process using the /Default option
#2. Other command line parameters will be introduced in the next
section.
This example proves that one menu is not enough when you need to
make more than one independent decision. Just imagine you would
also like to specify whether to load your keyboard macro program
or not: this would take another four options! Example 2.1 will
show a better solution.
BOOT.SYS Command Line Parameters
Most of the command line parameters of BOOT.SYS have already been
introduced informally and they are explained in detail in this
chapter.(1)
/CXhh Color to be used for the menu, usually specified by two
/Cn hexadecimal digits hh ; if you prefer you may use the
decimal equivalent n instead. The values for hh can be
taken from the following table (the background gives the
first and the foreground the second digit):
color background foreground
normal bright
black 0? ?0 ?8
blue 1? ?1 ?9
green 2? ?2 ?A
cyan 3? ?3 ?B
red 4? ?4 ?C
magenta 5? ?5 ?D
brown 6? ?6 ?E
white 7? ?7 ?F
For monochrome systems use one of the following values:
02 =normal, 2F =high intensity, 70 =reverse video (hexa-
decimal).
Default value: /CX2F (bright white on green)
/Dd Default option: the arrow will point to that option and
if there is a timeout specified then that option will be
chosen.
Default value: /D1
/Ln Number of positions to indent the option numbers from
the left edge of the screen.
Default value: /L5
--------------------
1 You may use '-' instead of '/' as the switch character.
BOOT.SYS - 17 - Version 1.27
/P Display the menu identifier in the lower right corner of
the screen. This may be useful for setting up complex
menu systems and it is explained in example 3.1.
The displayed identifier is the 'menu_selector' parame-
ter you give to BOOT.COM to retrieve the choice for the
current menu.
/Sn Spacing between the option lines.
Default value: /S2 (double-spaced)
/Tn Timeout: If the user does not press any key within n
/T-n seconds (or n clock ticks for /T-n , 18.2 ticks per
second), then execution continues with the default
option. Pressing any key within the specified time dis-
ables the timeout.
/T0 is legal; BOOT.SYS will check if there is a key code
waiting in the keyboard buffer and continue immediately
if the buffer is empty. Most BIOSes accept key presses
right after the initial beep.
/T No timeout; this is the default.
/Uc Shift character: All characters preceded by c will be
displayed upper-case, all others lower-case. This
applies to the letters 'a' to 'z' on the TOP and BOOT.n
lines. To display a c on the screen, write cc .
There is no default value for c ; /U^ or /U~ are good
choices.
/U All characters 'a' to 'z' will be upper-case. This is
the default.
Level 2: Several Independent Menus Following Each Other
Example 1.3 proved that there are situations where you need more
than one menu: whenever you have to make several independent
decisions.
Ex 2.1 Choose
- whether you want a RAM disk, and
- whether you need ANSI.SYS.
If the user does not press any key within 5 seconds then
take the defaults of RAM disk and no ANSI.SYS.
[SCREEN] [SCREEN]
BOOT.SYS - 18 - Version 1.27
CO.21 DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS /T5
DEVICE=BOOT.A /D2
DEVICE=TOP Do you need a RAM disk?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no
DEVICE=BOOT.2 yes, 64K RAM disk
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=64 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1
DEVICE=TOP Do you need ANSI.SYS?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no
DEVICE=BOOT.2 yes, ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.Z {this line is optional, omit it!}
DEVICE=BOOT.END
AU.21 ECHO OFF
CLS
c:\bin\BOOT A >NUL: {note the 'A'!}
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO VDISK {Be sure to always test
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NO_VDISK ERRORLEVELs in descending
ECHO BOOT.SYS is not loaded! order and immediately
GOTO DONE after BOOT.COM!}
:VDISK
COPY c:\COMMAND.COM d: >NUL:
SET COMSPEC=d:\COMMAND.COM
GOTO DONE
:NO_VDISK
ECHO Sorry, there is no RAM disk
GOTO DONE
:DONE
PATH c:\dos;c:\bin
The first menu is introduced by the BOOT.A line, the second by
BOOT.B , etc., up to BOOT.Y , giving a maximum of 25 menus. The
BOOT.Z line is optional and should be omitted here for better
error checking; it's use will become clear with example 3.1.
The command line parameter /T sets a timeout value of 5 seconds
for all menus. Alternately, command line parameters may be speci-
fied on the BOOT.A , etc., lines, and apply only to that menu,
such as /D in this example. Actually both can be combined: The
parameters on the BOOT.SYS line set the defaults and these can be
changed for specific menus.
If you use more than one menu you must tell BOOT.COM which one
you mean by giving the corresponding letter. BOOT.COM without any
command line parameters displays the choices for all menus.
BOOT.SYS - 19 - Version 1.27
Sometimes the order of loading of different device drivers may be
important. Thus it is possible that a device driver must be
loaded between two menus. This can be done with the following
extension:
CO.22 DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS /T5
DEVICE=BOOT.A /D2
DEVICE=TOP Do you need a RAM disk?
DEVICE=BOOT.0
{device drivers}
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no
DEVICE=BOOT.2 yes, 64K RAM disk
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=64 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=BOOT.0
{device drivers}
DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1
DEVICE=TOP Do you need ANSI.SYS?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no
DEVICE=BOOT.2 yes, ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.END
In each menu the first option may be preceeded and/or the last
option followed by BOOT.0 ; any device drivers (or other com-
mands) listed under this 'option' are always loaded/executed when
this menu is displayed at all.
Note: It is easiest to picture BOOT.SYS as 'executing' the com-
mands under the first BOOT.0 , followed by menu A and the com-
mands under the second BOOT.0 , and finally 'executing' menu B .
In fact this is not correct! DOS begins by executing the commands
up to and including BOOT.SYS . At this point BOOT.SYS takes over
and processes all menus down to BOOT.END . Processing a menu
means that the user selects one of the options, and BOOT.SYS
wipes out the menu definition lines and the command lines of the
other options. When BOOT.SYS has processed the last menu, DOS
comes in again and executes the commands that BOOT.SYS has not
wiped out, including the ones after BOOT.END .
Level 3: Nested Menus
For a sophisticated system configuration it may be desirable to
have nested menus. This leads to a logical extension of level 2:
within any option you can embed an entire sequence of submenus.
Example 3.1 may not be a very good one, but 3.2 will show how
this can be used in real life.
[SCREEN] [SCREEN]
BOOT.SYS - 20 - Version 1.27
[SCREEN] [SCREEN]
CO.31 DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS /T5 /P
DEVICE=BOOT.A /D2 {A}
DEVICE=TOP Do you need a RAM disk?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no
DEVICE=BOOT.2 yes, RAM disk
{a}
DEVICE=BOOT.A /T {A2A}
DEVICE=TOP What size RAM disk do you need?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 64K
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=64 sector=512 dir=64
DEVICE=BOOT.2 128K
DEVICE=c:\dos\VDISK.SYS size=128 sector=512 dir=64
{b}
DEVICE=BOOT.B {A2B}
DEVICE=TOP Do you want COMMAND.COM to be
DEVICE=TOP copied to the RAM disk?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 yes
DEVICE=BOOT.2 no
{c}
DEVICE=BOOT.Z
{d}
DEVICE=BOOT.B /D1 {B}
DEVICE=TOP Do you need ANSI.SYS?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 no
DEVICE=BOOT.2 yes, ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=c:\dos\ANSI.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.END
AU.31 ECHO OFF
CLS
c:\bin\BOOT A >NUL: {note the 'A'!}
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO VDISK_1
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NO_VDISK
ECHO BOOT.SYS is not loaded!
GOTO DONE
:VDISK_1
c:\bin\BOOT A2B >NUL: {note the 'A2B'!}
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO DONE
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO VDISK_2
GOTO DONE
:VDISK_2
COPY c:\COMMAND.COM d: >NUL:
SET COMSPEC=d:\COMMAND.COM
GOTO DONE
:NO_VDISK
ECHO Sorry, there is no RAM disk
GOTO DONE
BOOT.SYS - 21 - Version 1.27
:DONE
PATH c:\dos;c:\bin
The command line switch /P ( /Path) enables the display of the
menu identifiers in the lower right corner of each menu. These
are the same strings that are shown as comments in the CONFIG.SYS
listing and used as parameters to BOOT.COM in AUTOEXEC.BAT.(1)
If the user selects option 1 (no RAM disk) in menu {A} then
everything will be as in example 2.1, but if option 2 is
selected, a submenu(2) to specify the size of the RAM disk will
be presented as well as another submenu to specify whether COM-
MAND.COM should be copied to the RAM disk.
Let us now examine more closely what happens when the user
selects option 2 (keeping in mind what was said at the end of the
Level 2 chapter):
First any commands at {a} are executed. Then menu {A2A} is dis-
played with no timeout, so the user must make a selection before
the execution continues. At {b} there could be a BOOT.0 line and
the associated commands would be executed whenever the user
selects option 2 in menu {A}. Then menu {A2B} is processed and
the only result is that the choice is saved. At {c} again there
could be a BOOT.0 line (like {b}). Any further commands at {d}
are executed (like {a}), and finally processing continues with
menu {B}.
The role of the BOOT.Z line should now become clear: every
sequence of menus (starting with BOOT.A , BOOT.B , etc.) is ter-
minated with a BOOT.Z . For the top level menu sequence BOOT.Z is
not required because BOOT.END takes its place, and BOOT.SYS can
do better checking of nesting errors if you omit BOOT.Z .
--------------------
1 The menu identifier describes how you got to the current menu:
if it says 'A2B', that means that
- you have chosen option 2 on the first first-level menu ('A')
- this option has at least two submenus, and you have already
made your choice on the first submenu (the 'A2A' menu)
- you are now looking at the second submenu ('A2B').
'A2A' and 'A2B' are menus at level 2, and the level number is
displayed along with the menu identifier.
2 The contents of option 2 are indented to illustrate the submenu
relationship.
Note: If your editor replaces series of spaces with tabs, then
columns may not align properly on the screen.
BOOT.SYS - 22 - Version 1.27
In AUTOEXEC.BAT BOOT.COM retrieves the choice in menu {A2B}. How-
ever, you must first make sure that the user did indeed choose
option 2 in menu {A} before asking for the choice in {A2B}. If
the choice in {A} other than 2 then there is no value for {A2B}
and BOOT.COM displays an error message.
You can also call BOOT.COM without any command line parameters
and it will display a list of all the menus processed and the
corresponding choices.
Theoretically there is no limit to the nesting level, but
BOOT.SYS cannot display (and remember the choices of) more than
25 menus, so you cannot go deeper than 25.
Although BOOT.SYS cannot display more than 25 menus per run (most
users probably would not put up with more than 5 menus anyway),
the number of menus in the entire menu tree may be much larger
than that. DOS enforces some upper limit on the size of CON-
FIG.SYS, probably 64K Bytes.
The final example shows parts of [SCREEN]
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT for
my personal system configuration.
[SCREEN] [SCREEN]
CO.32 break=off
buffers=32
country=041,437,c:\dos\country.sys
files=20
lastdrive=H
stacks=9,128
DEVICE=C:\BOOT\BOOT.SYS /L18 /U^ /CX2F
DEVICE=BOOT.A /T0 /CX4F /D1
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP ^Select any special boot-up options:
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=BOOT.1 >>> ^N^O^N^E <<<
DEVICE=BOOT.2 ^U^N^I^F^O^R^M - ^Access alien diskettes
device=c:\ut\uniform\uniform.sys at+ dr96=0
DEVICE=BOOT.3 ansi.sys
device=c:\dos\ansi.sys
DEVICE=BOOT.4 ^Insert an additional device driver
DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT {see the next section}
DEVICE=DUMMY FILLER DUMMY FILLER DUMMY FILLER
DEVICE=BOOT.5 ^Alt-^Ctrl-^Del = cold boot
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION BOOTASSIST {see the next section}
BOOT.SYS - 23 - Version 1.27
DEVICE=BOOT.B /T5
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP ^Select operating environment:
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=BOOT.1 ^M^S-^D^O^S with 1^M^B disk cache
device=c:\386max\386max.sys ext=1384
device=c:\386max\386load.sys prog=c:\dos\cache.exe 1024 ON
/EXT /Q
device=c:\386max\386load.sys size=4216
prog=c:\dos\vdisk.sys 360 512 64 /E:8
shell=c:\command.com /p /e:300
DEVICE=BOOT.2 ^M^S-^D^O^S without a disk cache
device=c:\386max\386max.sys ext=360
device=c:\386max\386load.sys size=4216
prog=c:\dos\vdisk.sys 360 512 64 /E:8
shell=c:\command.com /p /e:300
DEVICE=BOOT.3 ^D^E^S^Qview
DEVICE=BOOT.A /T5 /D2
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=TOP ^Select ^D^E^S^Qview configuration:
DEVICE=TOP (size of 1st window, others 12k^B less)
DEVICE=TOP
DEVICE=BOOT.1 ^Standard: 535^K^B free
device=c:\dv\qemm\qemm.sys extmem=360
device=c:\dos\vdisk.sys 360 512 64 /E:8
DEVICE=BOOT.2 ^Extended: 546^K^B free
device=c:\dv\qemm\qemm.sys extmem=360 ram rom
device=c:\dos\vdisk.sys 360 512 64 /E:8
DEVICE=BOOT.3 ^Huge: 639^K^B free (no graphics!)
DEVICE=REM use LOADHI NOEGA
device=c:\dv\qemm\qemm.sys extmem=360 ram rom
include=A000-B7FF
device=c:\dos\vdisk.sys 360 512 64 /E:8
DEVICE=BOOT.Z
shell = c:\command.com /p /e:300
DEVICE=BOOT.4 ^Windows 386
device=c:\ut\win386\smartdrv.sys 1024
device=c:\dos\vdisk.sys 360 512 64 /E:8
shell=c:\command.com /p /e:300
DEVICE=BOOT.5 ^Turbo ^Debugger 386 and ^M^S-^D^O^S
device=c:\tc\td\tdh386.sys
shell=c:\command.com /p /e:300
DEVICE=BOOT.6 plain ^D^O^S
device=boot.option free {see the next section}
DEVICE=REM Note: BOOT.COM will return ERRORLEVEL 0
DEVICE=BOOT.END
BOOT.SYS - 24 - Version 1.27
AU.32 path c:\dos;c:\bin;c:\ut;c:\wp\lm
C:\BOOT\BOOT A >NUL: {see the next section}
if errorlevel 5 if not errorlevel 6 c:\boot\boot
bootassist cold >nul:
C:\BOOT\BOOT B >NUL:
if errorlevel 5 set C386=TD {Be sure to always test
if errorlevel 5 goto boot_b ERRORLEVELs in descending
if errorlevel 4 set WIN=Y order and immediately
if errorlevel 4 set C386=NONE after BOOT.COM!}
if errorlevel 4 goto boot_b
if errorlevel 3 goto boot_b3
if errorlevel 1 set C386=MAX
if errorlevel 1 goto boot_b
goto plain_dos
:boot_b3
set C386=QEMM
set DV=Y
C:\BOOT\BOOT B3A >NUL:
if errorlevel 4 set C386=MAX
if errorlevel 4 goto boot_b
if errorlevel 3 c:\dv\qemm\loadhi c:\dv\qemm\noega
:boot_b
if .%C386% == .MAX c:\386max\386load size=1052 envname
prog=c:\dos\plus\kbext
if .%C386% == .TD c:\dos\plus\kbext
if .%C386% == .NONE c:\dos\plus\kbext
if .%C386% == .QEMM c:\dv\qemm\loadhi c:\dos\plus\kbext
quikkey 24
if .%WIN% == .Y goto no_ced
if .%DV% == .Y goto no_ced
if .%C386% == .MAX c:\386max\386load size=9892 envname
prog=c:\ut\ced
-b500,200,300,128,128,128
-fc:\ut\ced.cfg
if .%C386% == .TD c:\ut\ced -b500,200,300,128,128,128
-fc:\ut\ced.cfg
if .%C386% == .QEMM c:\dv\qemm\loadhi c:\ut\ced
-b500,200,300,128,128,128
-fc:\ut\ced.cfg
:no_ced
@echo off
if .%WIN% == .Y cd c:\ut\win386
if .%WIN% == .Y win386
if .%DV% == .Y cd c:\dv
if .%DV% == .Y dv
:plain_dos
The first menu is for 'special needs': it has a timeout of 0 and
defaults to an empty option. Whenever I want to read non-DOS
diskettes or use ANSI.SYS I press a key immediately after the two
beeps at boot-up (usually the space bar). This gives me the 'spe-
cial needs' menu, which appears in red to distinguish it from the
BOOT.SYS - 25 - Version 1.27
other menus that are green. You also might put in here device
drivers for your scanner, your CD-ROM drive, or any other devices
that you do not use frequently.
The boot.edit and boot.option lines will be explained in the next
section.
The second menu (which is usually the first to be displayed) lets
me choose the operating environment I am going to use:
- MS-DOS with disk cache
- MS-DOS without disk cache (more EMS memory)
- DESQview 386
- Windows 386
- Turbo Debugger with 386 support.
Depending on which operating environment I selected, one of four
mutually exclusive 386 control programs are used, and all of them
have to be loaded from CONFIG.SYS, so prior to BOOT.SYS I needed
at least 4 different versions of CONFIG.SYS. Some of the 386
control programs let me load other device drivers and TSRs into
'high DOS memory' above the 640K, so AUTOEXEC.BAT is affected as
well. This menu could also be used to select other command pro-
cessors like *nix-like shells or other replacements for COM-
MAND.COM.
When I select DESQview I get a submenu that lets me choose
between three different QEMM set-ups; each option gives different
amounts of memory available, along with other advantages and dis-
advantages (e.g., if I do not want to use any graphics programs,
an additional 96K bytes of memory can be made available for each
window).
BOOT.SYS - 26 - Version 1.27
BOOT.SYS Extensions
This chapter explains extensions to BOOT.SYS that go beyond the
menu system.
BOOT.EDIT
You can edit individual lines on the fly while booting up by
including the following lines in CONFIG.SYS (between the BOOT.SYS
and BOOT.END lines):
DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT
{any standard CONFIG.SYS command}
[SCREEN]
When the menu option containing
these lines is selected, BOOT.SYS
displays a screen with a box that
lets you edit the text to the right
of the equal sign. The keyword to
the left of the equal sign
( DEVICE , FILES , etc.) and the
equal sign are required and cannot
be edited.
All the usual editing keys are supported; a summary will be
displayed on the screen. There is one restriction: the length of
the line cannot be increased!(1)
When you press <Enter>, your edits are saved and execution con-
tinues. To ignore this line and continue, press <Esc> instead.
You may put some explanatory text to the right of BOOT.EDIT and
BOOT.SYS will display your text instead of the standard message
explaining the edit keys. If you need more than one line you can
use as many BOOT.EDIT lines as you like - it works exactly like
DEVICE=TOP . Example:
--------------------
1 There are several ways to get around this limitation:
- Insert spaces into the line, e.g. between the name of the
device driver and the parameters (DOS discards any spaces to
the left or immediately to the right of the equal sign, and
most text editors do not save spaces at the end of the line).
- Insert dummy text that you can erase while editing the line.
- Insert normal spaces at the end of the line followed by a
single 'hard space'; this is the character with the ASCII
value 255, and it can usually be entered by holding down the
Alt key, entering 255 on the numeric keypad, and releasing
the Alt key.
Some of these options may not work with all versions of DOS.
BOOT.SYS - 27 - Version 1.27
DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT You may experiment with different
DEVICE=BOOT.EDIT BUFFERS=n values (<Esc> = ignore):
BUFFERS=020
BOOT.OPTION FREE
If the line
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION FREE
is part of at least one of the options that the user selects,
then BOOT.SYS will not stay resident as a device driver.(1) This
lets you create a bare-bones DOS option for checking out TSR
conflicts and the like.
If BOOT.SYS does not stay resident, BOOT.COM has no way to tell
you what options were chosen - it does not even know that
BOOT.SYS has done its work! In that case it displays an error
message indicating that BOOT.SYS is not loaded and return an
ERRORLEVEL code of 0, which you can use to avoid loading TSRs in
AUTOEXEC.BAT.
An example of this option is part of the last sample configura-
tion above.
BOOT.OPTION BOOTASSIST
There exist system configurations and software packages that make
your system crash when you hit the Alt-Ctrl-Del key combination.
BOOTASSIST lets you modify the behavior of Alt-Ctrl-Del, and it
may be of help in your particular situation. To set it up
requires two steps; the first is to include the line
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION BOOTASSIST
somewhere between BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END.(2) Executing this line
increases the resident size of BOOT.SYS by a few bytes but does
not change anything else. The second step is to activate BOOTASS-
IST by executing one of the following commands from the DOS
prompt or in a batch file (possibly AUTOEXEC.BAT):
--------------------
1 There may be versions of DOS with which this does not work. Any
reports are appreciated!
2 You can put it wherever a normal CONFIG.SYS command is accept-
able, either as part of an option, or between BOOT.Z and BOOT.END
to have it available all the time.
BOOT.SYS - 28 - Version 1.27
BOOT BOOTASSIST WARM
BOOT BOOTASSIST COLD
BOOT BOOTASSIST INHIBIT
Each of these commands does to Alt-Ctrl-Del what its parameter
implies: WARM is just the normal boot process, COLD is like
turning the power off and back on, and INHIBIT disables Alt-Ctrl-
Del. If you are having problems with Alt-Ctrl-Del, one of these
command may help, but there's no guarantee! Your chances are best
if you load all your resident utilities before activating BOOT-
ASSIST.(1)
The remainder of this section is a technical explanation of how
BOOTASSIST works. The resident part is a keyboard interrupt (09h)
handler, which is inserted at the head of the handler chain by
one of the commands above.(2) Being the first in the chain it can
usually perform the required action which may or may not work
with your set-up. If you want to load another resident utility
program that hooks up to the same interrupt, you can unhook the
BOOTASSIST handler by issuing the command
BOOT BOOTASSIST OFF
and put it back at the head of the chain after loading the TSR.
If the INT 09h vector does not point to the BOOTASSIST handler,
it cannot be unhooked anymore and you get an error message indi-
cating that another program has grabbed the vector, including the
new address.
If BOOTASSIST does not work properly and turning it OFF does not
generate an error message, then BOOTASSIST cannot solve your par-
ticular configuration problem.
BOOT.OPTION EXTMON for Laptops
When you use BOOT.SYS with a laptop computer and you have an
external monitor attached, then BOOT.SYS will usually come up on
the internal monitor. This is a minor inconvenience which is
addressed by EXTMON: EXTMON switches to the external monitor.
However, because there are no standards for this function among
--------------------
1 If you use one of the KEYBxx keyboard drivers to get a non-U.S.
keyboard layout (national language support), you must activate
BOOTASSIST after KEYBxx.
2 Warning: SideKick insists on being the first in the chain and
thus defeats this scheme.
BOOT.SYS - 29 - Version 1.27
the different laptop manufacturers (and sometimes not even within
a product line), it has to be implemented separately for each
system.
At the time of this writing support is implemented for Compaq
portable and laptop computers only. Support for other computers
may be added in the future if there is interest and the relevant
information is available.
The syntax for EXTMON is
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION EXTMON <type>
where <type> is machine-specific and can be taken from the fol-
lowing table:
Manufacturer <type> Computer Models
Compaq COMPAQ all Compaq portables and lap-
tops
There are two ways of handling EXTMON, depending on how smart
your computer is: If it is smart, it will not try to switch to an
external monitor when there is none. In that case you can use the
following lines in CONFIG.SYS, which will make BOOT.SYS use the
right monitor everytime:
DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.A {optional}
DEVICE=TOP ...
DEVICE=BOOT.0
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION EXTMON <type> {<type> as above}
DEVICE=BOOT.1 ...
...
DEVICE=BOOT.END
If your computer cannot tell whether an external monitor is
attached or not, you must use a different set-up:
DEVICE=c:\bin\BOOT.SYS
DEVICE=BOOT.A /D1 /T10
DEVICE=TOP Which monitor do you want to use?
DEVICE=BOOT.1 Internal
DEVICE=BOOT.2 External
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION EXTMON <type> {<type> as above}
BOOT.SYS - 30 - Version 1.27
DEVICE=BOOT.B
DEVICE=TOP ... {this is your menu}
DEVICE=BOOT.1 ...
...
DEVICE=BOOT.END
This will display an additional menu at the very beginning where
you can select the monitor to use. After a /Timeout of 10 seconds
BOOT.SYS will select the /Default 1, the internal screen. Press-
ing the '2' key within that time causes it to switch to the
external monitor for the next menu. This can be done even without
seeing the menu A, and menu B will be displayed right where you
want to see it.
Warning: We strongly advise you to use a bootable diskette to try
out the EXTMON function! If the switch does not work properly,
your internal screen may go blank, and you will have no way of
editing the CONFIG.SYS file of the disk you used to boot up!
BOOT.OPTION COLOR
Some people prefer more colorful screens to the white on black
used by DOS. This option lets you specify any color (with the
same numbers as for the /C switch on the BOOT.SYS command line),
which will be used immediately after the BOOT.SYS menu.(1) How-
ever, some device drivers use their own colors, and there is
nothing that BOOT.SYS could do to change that. Example:
DEVICE=BOOT.OPTION COLOR X1F {bright white on blue}
BOOT.COM Command Line Parameters
The syntax of BOOT.COM is
BOOT <parm>
where <parm> is one of the following:
HELP
Display a summary of this list.
--------------------
1 A value of 0 can be used to change the color to black on black,
effectively hiding the messages generated from CONFIG.SYS.
Executing CLS from AUTOEXEC.BAT or from the command line restores
the default color. Warning: This is not recommended, because in
case of a problem you will not be able to see any error messages,
and you may have to boot from a diskette and change the color to
find out what the problem is.
BOOT.SYS - 31 - Version 1.27
VERSION
Display whether this is a registered or a Shareware evalu-
ation version, including short registration information for
the latter.
WARM
Do a warm boot (like Alt-Ctrl-Del).
COLD
Do a cold boot (like turning the power switch off and on).
WARM and COLD accept an optional switch ( /O ) for compatibility
with very /Old BIOS versions.
BOOTASSIST <p>
See the chapter on BOOTASSIST.
no parameter
BOOT.COM will display something similar to the following
example:
The user selected the following menu choices:
A1
B3
B3A1
This would mean that when you booted up your PC, you selected
option 1 on the first menu (menu A) and option 3 on the sec-
ond menu (menu B); that option apparently has a submenu
(menu B3A) and you selected option 1.
If there is only one menu, then BOOT.COM will also set the
ERRORLEVEL (see below).
<menu_selector>(1)
This form is used for retrieving the user's choices (usually
in AUTOEXEC.BAT) after CONFIG.SYS has been processed. The
menu selector is the string of letters and digits that
uniquely identifies a menu.(2) Expanding on the example
above, BOOT b would display 3 and set the DOS ERRORLEVEL(3)
to 3, and BOOT b3a would display/return 1. Of course you must
always start testing with the top level, and only when you
know that BOOT b returns 3, you can ask for BOOT b3a .
--------------------
1 If there is only one menu, then the <menu_selector> is
optional.
2 If you specify /P on the BOOT.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS the menu
selector (and the nesting level) is displayed in the lower right
corner of each menu.
3 Be sure to always test ERRORLEVELs in descending order and
immediately after the call to BOOT.COM!
BOOT.SYS - 32 - Version 1.27
If BOOT.SYS is not installed or did not stay resident,
BOOT.COM displays an error message and returns an ERRORLEVEL
of 0.
PAUSE.SYS, a Debugging Aid
You may have some very sophisticated set-ups by now, and if a
certain configuration does not work right it can be quite chal-
lenging to find the problem, especially because the messages from
the various drivers scroll by very quickly on fast machines.
PAUSE.SYS provides various functions in CONFIG.SYS that may be
helpful; the primary function is similar to what the PAUSE com-
mand does in a batch file:
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS any text you like
will display the text and wait for you to press any key to
continue. The text is always translated to lower case; to get an
upper case character, preceed the character with a caret ( ^ ),
and to display a caret, write two carets.
PAUSE.SYS accepts some command line switches that change its
behavior:
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS /C {clear the screen}
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS /P {do a PrintScreen}
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS /O any text {output only, no wait}
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS /Exxx {ESC sequence}
All of these options suppress the wait for a key. The last option
is intended to send escape sequences to ANSI.SYS or a replacement
with similar capabilities; the following lines would change the
screen color to bright white on blue and clear the screen, pro-
vided that ANSI.SYS is already loaded:
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS /E[1;37;44m
DEVICE=c:\bin\PAUSE.SYS /E[2^J {upper case J}
To get a summary of the functions of PAUSE.SYS, just
TYPE PAUSE.SYS
from the DOS prompt.
BOOT.SYS - 33 - Version 1.27
Closing Remark
By now you have versions of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT that are
much more sophisticated than usual. Unfortunately there is a
growing trend in the software industry to provide automated
installation programs that read and update your system configura-
tion files, and this leads to some problems:
- There are installation programs that will boldly overwrite
your configuration files or make other undesirable changes.
- Others will try to make sense of the current contents and
then change to whatever their programs preferences are; they
will certainly not be able to handle CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEX-
EC.BAT correctly when BOOT.SYS is installed.
- A third category of installation programs will examine the
contents of CONFIG.SYS and abort the installation if they
find something offensive. The prime examples are
MS Windows 386 and MS Windows 3.0, which refuse to install if
they find a mention of another 386 control program in CON-
FIG.SYS.
- In a class all by itself it Quarterdeck's QEMM 5.0, which
comes with an installation program called OPTIMIZE that will
change your CONFIG.SYS and reboot several times to find a
good system configuration. OPTIMIZE obviously cannot handle
your sophisticated CONFIG.SYS and it will probably end up in
a 'crash loop', making it necessary to boot from a floppy
disk to recover.(1)
There are two possible cures to this situation: The first is to
keep a duplicate of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on hand, so you
can examine the changes and integrate them at the proper places.
In fact, keeping current backups is always a good idea!
The second cure is to patch IBMBIO.COM and COMMAND.COM to use
other names for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Warning: This is not
for the faint of heart! If you feel somewhat uncomfortable doing
this, then please do not even try! The procedure is deliberately
not explained here, because if you do not have any experience
with patching files, you should not make your first steps in this
field with your system files.(2) - Now to the advantage of this
patch: You will never have to worry about automated installation
programs anymore, because these will assume that you do not have
--------------------
1 For information on how to run OPTIMIZE, please look at "Answers
to Common Question, How can I run...".
2 A second word of warning: If you patch your system files and
make a bootable diskette, the diskette will get copies of your
patched system files, so you must use the new names for CON-
FIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on the diskette as well.
BOOT.SYS - 34 - Version 1.27
either CONFIG.SYS nor AUTOEXEC.BAT, they will usually create
these files, and you can go back and look calmly at how the
system should be set up for the program in question and make any
necessary changes yourself.
Answers to Common Questions
Can I use all characters to create boot-up menus?
Yes, to create menus you may use any of the characters of the PC
character set (including the box and foreign characters) except
for NUL, HT, BS, LF, CR, and Ctrl-Z. The BEL character (Ctrl-G)
sounds the bell and displays a space.
I can't get the columns to align properly...
If your editor converts multiple spaces to tabs then the text on
the screen may not align properly. Your best bet is to set the
editor so that it will not compress spaces to tabs. - However,
everything should be fine if the tabs are on every 8th column
(standard for DOS) and there are no (or a multiple of 8) spaces
to the left of TOP or BOOT.n .
Why do I get error messages like 'Unrecognized command' from CON-
FIG.SYS?
With versions of DOS prior to 4.00, commands that have fewer than
three characters to the right of the equal sign cannot be wiped
out cleanly, and DOS will give an error message similar to 'Un-
recognized command'.
This can usually be fixed by appending ' x' to the command in
question; thus 'LASTDRIVE=F' would become 'LASTDRIVE=F x' and
'BREAK=ON' would become 'BREAK=ON x'. Commands with numbers like
'FILES=20' accept leading zeros, like 'FILES=020'. I do not know
how universal these work-arounds are - you will have to experi-
ment if they work with your version of DOS.
My choice is not recognized in AUTOEXEC.BAT...
Make sure that all of your IF ERRORLEVEL tests start with the
highest values first.
BOOT.SYS - 35 - Version 1.27
I get an error message from BOOT.SYS...
If BOOT.SYS finds an error in your CONFIG.SYS file, it tries to
display a useful error message and aborts. Aborting implies wip-
ing out all the commands between BOOT.SYS and BOOT.END . BOOT.COM
then returns an ERRORLEVEL code of 0 and displays an error
message, too.
Possible problem with BREAK=ON
If you use the BREAK=ON command in your CONFIG.SYS file you
should make sure that BREAK really is enabled by entering BREAK
at the DOS prompt. If BREAK is off, try moving the BREAK=ON com-
mand below the BOOT.END line.
To avoid this problem altogether you can enable BREAK later in
AUTOEXEC.BAT with the command BREAK ON .
BOOT.SYS doesn't work right with XMAEM.SYS in PC-DOS 4.0x...
PC-DOS 4.0x and probably later versions process the XMAEM.SYS
driver in a special way: it is loaded before any other part of
CONFIG.SYS is processed. Unfortunately this makes it impossible
for BOOT.SYS to control that driver because XMAEM.SYS is already
installed when BOOT.SYS runs.
A work-around to this problem is to rename XMAEM.SYS to some
other name (like XMAEMX.SYS ) and to use that name in the DEVICE=
command. Load the renamed driver early in your CONFIG.SYS, defi-
nitely before XMA2EMS.SYS .
Will BOOT.SYS get along with automated installation programs that
modify CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT?
The answer is no! Please read the chapter "Closing remark" in the
Installation section for more information.
BOOT.SYS - 36 - Version 1.27
How can I run the QEMM 5.0 installation utility (OPTIMIZE) with
BOOT.SYS?
To run OPTIMIZE do the following:
- Rename your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to something
else.
- Create new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and include
only those commands that you wish to use for your new QEMM
configuration (don't include BOOT.SYS!).
- Run OPTIMIZE.
- Merge the new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT into the old ver-
sions as your new QEMM option.
If you patched IBMBIO.COM and COMMAND.COM to use different names
for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, then you must undo those patches
or restore the original files, because OPTIMIZE will use the
standard file names.
I have a certain configuration where Alt-Ctrl-Del crashes the
system and forces me to hit the big red switch. Can BOOT.SYS
help?
Yes, BOOT.SYS may be able to help. Follow the directions in the
BOOTASSIST chapter of the installation section. If this does not
help you may still be able to re-boot from the command line (see
BOOT.COM Command Line Parameters).
The MS Windows 386 and Windows 3.0 installation programs (and
maybe others as well) complain that I have a 386 memory manager
installed...
The installation programs examine the contents of CONFIG.SYS and
when they find a mention of 386^MAX, QEMM, or similar programs
they complain (Windows 386 even refuses to install), because Win-
dows does its own 386 memory management and cannot coexist with
another 386 control program at present. The consequences of this
for you as a user of BOOT.SYS are very minor: you will need a
BOOT.SYS menu item specifically designated for Windows, where no
other memory manager is loaded.
The quickest way to get Windows installed is to rename CONFIG.SYS
to something else - the installation program will run without
problems, even with one of the offensive programs loaded. It will
create a new CONFIG.SYS containing all the commands that you will
want to list under the BOOT.SYS Windows option of your real CON-
FIG.SYS file. Look at configuration 32 for an example.
Please consult the chapter "Closing remark" in the installation
section for some general information concerning automated instal-
lation programs.
BOOT.SYS - 37 - Version 1.27
What can I do if BOOTASSIST does not work?
Try turning BOOTASSIST OFF; if this is successful then BOOTASSIST
will not work with your configuration and nothing can be done
about it. If you get an error message, please refer to the BOOT-
ASSIST chapter of the installation section.
BOOT.COM says that BOOT.SYS is not installed...
If BOOT.SYS is installed, there can be two reasons for this error
message:
- BOOT.SYS and BOOT.COM are different versions - please check
the version number that each displays.
- You are using BOOT.OPTION FREE, and BOOT.SYS did not stay
resident; consequently BOOT.COM has no way of finding it now.
The only purpose of BOOT.OPTION FREE is to define a boot
option that will start DOS without any resident programs
(like booting from the original DOS distribution disk), e.g.
for experimenting with TSR conflicts, and it should not be
used under normal circumstances.
BOOT.SYS - 38 - Version 1.27
Revision History
0.95 Beta release
0.96 Fixed /v in BOOT.COM
Fixed invalid parm error
1.00 First public release
1.01 Allow '-' along with '/' for command line switches
1.10 Documentation update, mention of ASP
1.20 Fixed minor bug that disabled /Timeout under some very
special timing circumstances.
Added /Spacing to BOOT.SYS.
Individual CONFIG.SYS lines can now be edited on the fly
while booting up.
New parameters to BOOT.COM:
- "HELP", "/H", "/?", "?" to get a short command summary
- "VERSION" to get version information
- "WARM" and "COLD" to re-boot from the command line or
from a batch file; "/O" switch for compatibility with
old BIOSes
New feature to make Alt-Ctrl-Del perform a cold boot, a
warm boot, or no boot (BOOTASSIST).
Option to keep BOOT.SYS from installing its tiny resident
part to get a minimal plain-DOS setup (may not work with
all DOS versions).
New international support channel on CompuServe.
Free CompuServe IntroPak for registered users.
New retail distribution channel in the U.S.A. through PsL.
1.21 Fixed bug that caused BOOT.SYS to hang when it was called
from the first line of CONFIG.SYS and running under DOS
4.xx.
Added new chapter "Quick Start" (Thanks, F.P.).
Added Home/End key support to the BOOT.SYS menus.
1.22 Fixed bug that caused BOOT.SYS to ignore the first switch
on the BOOT.A etc. lines under DOS 4.xx.
1.25 Documentation update.
New BOOT.OPTION EXTMON (Compaq: ok, Toshiba: needs test-
ing) (Thanks, B.F.).
New BOOT.OPTION COLOR.
New PAUSE.SYS utility.
Fixed several minor bugs.
1.26 Fixed a bug where BOOT.COM was reporting the wrong version
(Thanks, S.G.).
BOOT.SYS - 39 - Version 1.27
1.27 Fixed a bug in PAUSE.SYS (Thanks E.R.).
Minor documentation update.
If /T0 is specified and no key is pressed, then the menu
does not flash on and off.
If no key is pressed the Shareware screen is never dis-
played; this allows unattended boot-up without the risk of
waiting for a key to acknowledge the screen.
Several other internal tune-ups.
FILE2547.TXT
Disk No: 2547
Disk Title: BOOT.SYS
PC-SIG Version: S1
Program Title: BOOT.SYS
Author Version: 1.27
Author Registration: $39.00
Special Requirements: None.
If you currently edit your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files then reboot
to change your system configuration, you're doing work that BOOT.SYS
should be doing. BOOT.SYS makes it possible to display one or more
menus at boot-up time and to execute different parts of your CONFIG.SYS
and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT files depending on which options are chosen from a
configuration menu.
You might need different drivers or memory configurations in your
CONFIG.SYS depending on what application you're going to run. In the
past you had to either rename or edit your start-up files and reboot to
get a different setup. Now this process has become much easier and
safer by using BOOT.SYS.
The following features make BOOT.SYS a must-have for every sophisticated
PC installation:
~ Easy installation, detailed examples for every level of
sophistication.
~ Up to nine options per menu (one line per option) and a freely
definable prompt area at the top of the screen.
~ Up to 25 consecutive menus, each defining a different aspect of your
system configuration.
~ Up to 25 levels of nested menus (submenus), simplifying a systematic
approach to systems configuration.
~ Only one version of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT; no copying/renaming
of files and no rebooting.
~ User-definable timeout and default option for each menu.
~ Edit individual CONFIG.SYS lines on the fly while booting up.
~ The ability to insert comments into CONFIG.SYS without generating
error messages.
~ Uses Less than 200 bytes of resident DOS memory.
~ Warm or cold boot features from the DOS command line or from a batch
file.
~ Includes PAUSE.SYS for debugging complex CONFIG.SYS set-ups.
PC-SIG
1030D East Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989-1991 PC-SIG, Inc.
LICENSE.DOC
BOOT.SYS LICENSE.DOC Version 1.27
BOOT.SYS(tm) and the accompanying programs and documentation are
Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 Hans Salvisberg
All rights reserved
License Agreement
BY INSTALLING BOOT.SYS ON YOUR SYSTEM YOU INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT
TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO
THEM YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THIS PROGRAM.
BOOT.SYS AND THE ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMS AND DOCUMENTATION (LATER
ON COLLECTIVELY REFERRED TO AS BOOT.SYS) ARE DISTRIBUTED AS IS.
HANS SALVISBERG (THE AUTHOR) MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT
TO THIS SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS,
OR ANY OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF
THE USE OF OR THE INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM, EVEN IF THE
AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR
FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
BOOT.SYS is a copyrighted work protected by Swiss, U.S., and
international copyright law. It is not free, freeware, or in the
public domain. It is distributed as Shareware, which means that
you may try it out at no cost for three weeks; if you determine
that it fits your needs and you wish to use it regularly you must
register. If you choose not to pay the registration fee, you must
stop using BOOT.SYS after the initial trial period and remove it
from your computer, but you may still keep copies of it and pass
them on to others as outlined below.
You may give individual copies of the unregistered version of
BOOT.SYS to your friends and associates for evaluation purposes
as described above. You must include all the files (described in
the READ.ME file) that make up BOOT.SYS without any modifica-
tions, preferably in the original self-extracting LHarc archive
file. You may upload BOOT.SYS to the public section of a public
BBS, but you may not place it in any user group or commercial
library or distribute it for a fee or in any way sell copies of
it without express written permission from the Author.
Under no circumstances may an unregistered version of BOOT.SYS be
used in a commercial (business, corporate, government, educa-
tional, or other institutional) environment except for the pur-
pose of evaluation on a single computer.
You may not modify or dis-assemble BOOT.SYS, nor distribute any
modified or dis-assembled versions of BOOT.SYS. BOOT.SYS may not
be included with any other product for any reason whatsoever
without written permission from the Author.
You may install your registered copy of BOOT.SYS on more than one
computer at a time ONLY if no more than one of these computers is
usually running at the same time. You may make as many backup
copies of BOOT.SYS as you need for your personal backup purposes.
You may NOT give, sell, or otherwise transfer copies of the reg-
istered version of BOOT.SYS to any other person for any reason.
If you register, your copy of BOOT.SYS will have a unique
registration number and display your name and address. Your reg-
istration including that information will be transferable to any
future shareware versions of BOOT.SYS, which will then be
considered a registered version.
No version of BOOT.SYS may be rented or leased.
Any use or distribution of BOOT.SYS, which violates this license
agreement, will be considered a copyright violation, and prose-
cuted to the full extent of the law.
U.S. Government RESTRICTED RIGHTS: Use, duplication, or disclo-
sure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in
subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and
Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013.
Registration
BOOT.SYS is not free! You may try it out at no charge for an
initial trial period to determine if it fits your needs. If you
want to continue to use BOOT.SYS after the initial trial period
you must register. This method of software distribution is known
as Shareware.
The registration fee for a single copy of BOOT.SYS is SFR 70.-
(exchange rate US$ to Swiss Francs is about $0.76 = SFR 1.- (Oc-
tober 1990)). Payment of this fee entitles you to:
* A disk with the current version of BOOT.SYS
* A printed and bound manual
* A special utility program that lets you transfer your license
to any later shareware versions of BOOT.SYS that you may
obtain from any shareware source (getting an upgrade from the
author requires new registration).
* Free support (by electronic mail or by mail) for the first 90
days after payment, consisting of answering questions and
fixing any reproducible program error(s) that interfere(s)
with the intended use of the program as outlined in this
documentation. The author may choose not to fix problems
related to a special hardware and/or software configuration
and will then arrange for a refund of the registration fee,
if the problem is reported within 90 days of payment. The
author makes no other warranties, expressed or implied, and
this warranty is expressly limited to the cost of the regis-
tration fee.
* BOOT.SYS is publicly supported on CompuServe in the DOS Uti-
lities section of the IBMSYS forum. A free CompuServe Intro-
Pak, which includes a $15.00 usage credit, is available to
registered BOOT.SYS users who do not yet subscribe to
CompuServe. CompuServe will open the door for a whole new
world of information, services, and interesting people. Com-
puServe is also the best place to obtain technical support
for products from Hans Salvisberg (and many other developers
and vendors). The CompuServe IntroPak (a $39.95 value) is
provided to registered BOOT.SYS users compliments of Compu-
Serve, Inc., and Hans Salvisberg. This offer is dependent on
its continued availability from CompuServe, Inc.
For your information: Current CompuServe rates are $12.50 per
connect hour plus communications surcharges (e.g., $0.30/hour
in the U.S.A., $9.50/hour in Switzerland and the United King-
dom, varying rates in other countries).
BOOT.SYS must be registered before it is used in a commercial
(business, corporate, government, educational, or other institu-
tional) environment.
The following per-unit prices apply for registration of one or
more copies of BOOT.SYS on the same order form:
1 SFR 70.-
2 - 4 SFR 60.-
5 - 9 SFR 50.-
10 - 24 SFR 45.-
25 - 49 SFR 40.-
50 - 99 SFR 35.-
100 - 249 SFR 30.-
250 - 499 SFR 25.-
500 or more negotiable
THESE PRICES INCLUDE ONE MASTER DISKETTE AND ONE PRINTED MANUAL
PER ORDER. The licensee is responsible for duplicating the
diskette and documentation as needed, and for ensuring that the
registered number of installed copies is not exceeded. Additional
manuals are available for a nominal fee. Under this schedule
SUPPORT IS PROVIDED TO ONE DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
LICENSEE ONLY.
You have three choices for registering:
- With the author in Switzerland: All payment must be done in
Swiss Francs. The easiest way to do this is by credit card.
You authorize us to charge your card for the amount due in
SFR and the credit card company will automatically convert to
your currency using the current exchange rate. We cannot
guarantee a fixed exchange rate or a certain date for the
conversion to take place, but based on our experience the
exchange rates do not vary quickly.
Alternatively you may send us a postal money order in Swiss
Francs (your local post office does the currency conversion).
- With Public software Library in the U.S.A. (single-PC
licenses only!): PsL is authorized to sell pre-registered
single-PC versions of BOOT.SYS at $39 + $4 s&h. They take
credit card orders on a toll-free phone number or written
orders accompanied by a check or credit card information.
- For site licenses: Other modes of payment including payment
in US$ or other currency can be negotiated - please contact
the author.
Note: All prices are subject to change without notice.
The accompanying file REGISTER.FRM includes registration forms
for the first two options. If this file is missing or if you have
any questions, please contact the author:
Hans Salvisberg, Froeschmattstr. 40, CH-3018 Berne, SWITZERLAND
CompuServe: 73237,3556
Internet: salvis@ahorn.iam.unibe.ch
or 73237.3556@compuserve.com
SYSOP.DOC
BOOT.SYS SYSOP.DOC Version 1.27
BOOT.SYS(tm) and the accompanying programs and documentation are
Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 Hans Salvisberg
All rights reserved
This file provides information for bulletin board sysops on the
distribution of BOOT.SYS via BBS systems.
Uploads of the shareware/unregistered version of BOOT.SYS are
explicitely permitted. Obviously the registered version may not
be posted on a BBS (for a quick check run "boot /v"). Also
shareware/unregistered versions do not contain more than one
executable!
Please note that you must obtain written permission before
placing BOOT.SYS into a user group or commercial library that
distributes disks/programs for a fee. See the file VENDOR.DOC for
details. This restriction does not affect your permission to
place BOOT.SYS on the BBS as long as you are not charging a fee
(other than the usual user fees for general use of the board) for
its distribution.
If you have any questions about BOOT.SYS please contact me:
Hans Salvisberg, Froeschmattstr. 40, CH-3018 Berne, SWITZERLAND
CompuServe: 73237,3556
Internet: salvis@ahorn.iam.unibe.ch
or 73237.3556@compuserve.com
If you like you may use any/all of the following information for
describing BOOT.SYS to your users:
Program: BOOT.SYS 1.27: use boot-up menus to select your system configuration
Version: 1.27 (10/12/90)
Registration fee: $39 (or SFR 70.-)
BBS filename: BOOT127.EXE (LHarc sfx preferred)
User support: current disk, printed and bound manual;
email (CompuServe [73237,3556], Internet) and mail support;
registration transferable to ALL future shareware versions
Keywords:
BOOT.SYS BOOT CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT CONFIG REBOOT MENU SHAREWARE ASP
Description:
BOOT.SYS makes it possible to display one or more menus at
boot-up time and to have different parts of CONFIG.SYS and/or
AUTOEXEC.BAT executed, depending on which menu option(s) are
chosen. No more editing/renaming your start-up files and
rebooting. Up to 9 options per menu, up to 25 consecutive
and/or nested menus. Easy installation, detailed examples for
every level of sophistication.
Author:
Hans Salvisberg, Froeschmattstr. 40, CH-3018 Berne, SWITZERLAND
Member of the Association of Shareware Professionals(R) (ASP)
CompuServe: 73237,3556 Internet: salvis@ahorn.iam.unibe.ch
VISA/MC/AmEx accepted; all prices in Swiss Francs - or
contact PsL in the U.S. at 713-524-6394, FAX 713-524-6398
VENDOR.DOC
BOOT.SYS VENDOR.DOC Version 1.27
BOOT.SYS(tm) and the accompanying programs and documentation are
Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 Hans Salvisberg
All rights reserved
This file provides information for disk vendors; any person or
organisation distributing software on disks (or through any other
medium, including electronic file transfer) for a fee will be
considered a disk vendor in this context. This explicitely
includes commercial and non-profit user group libraries.
I would be pleased to work with you because you are an important
part of the shareware distribution system. However I require that
you obtain written permission from me before starting to distri-
bute BOOT.SYS. Together with the permission you will get the
current version of BOOT.SYS and I will try to keep you up-to-date
if new versions are released.
To obtain this permission please send me a copy of your standard
written materials (catalogs/flyers) which clearly explain the
shareware concept, the need for users to register the products
they use, and the fact that the price of your disks is a copying
fee only and does not constitute payment for the product. If you
carry both shareware and public domain software/freeware then
your materials must make a clear distinction between these two
categories. Only if these basic concepts are explicitely stated
in your written materials will I be confident that your customers
are fully informed about what they are paying for.
If you are an Approved Vendor of the Association of Shareware
Professionals(R) (ASP) you have my permission to start distri-
buting BOOT.SYS immediately. However I still require getting a
notification within four weeks stating the following:
- the fact that you are an Associate Member of the Association
of Shareware Professionals
- the date you started distributing BOOT.SYS
- the version of BOOT.SYS you are distributing and where you
got it from
If you send me a copy of your catalog, which includes BOOT.SYS,
I will automatically send you the next new version as soon as it
becomes available.
Please refer to the file SYSOP.DOC for a suggested wording for a
catalog entry.
I strongly recommend that you consider becoming an ASP approved
vendor if you have not already done so. The ASP vendor program
reduces the workload for both authors and vendors, and helps give
customers confidence that reasonable standards are met in the
distribution of shareware products. For more information on the
ASP vendor program, contact the ASP at:
Association of Shareware Professionals
Vendor Certification Committee
P.O. Box 5786
Bellevue, WA 98006
U. S. A.
The right to withhold or withdraw permission to distribute
BOOT.SYS from anyone at any time for any reason is explicitely
reserved.
I realize that this policy creates additional paperwork for both
you and me, but I believe that this is necessary to protect the
unsuspecting buyers from unscrupulous individuals and ensure the
continued growth of the shareware market, and I am looking
forward to hearing from you.
Hans Salvisberg, Froeschmattstr. 40, CH-3018 Berne, SWITZERLAND
CompuServe: 73237,3556
Internet: salvis@ahorn.iam.unibe.ch
or 73237.3556@compuserve.com
P.S. A short text describing BOOT.SYS can be found at the end of
the file SYSOP.DOC.
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #2547
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
BOOT127 EXE 70708 10-12-90 1:27a
BOOT COM 14122 10-12-90 1:27a
BOOT DOC 91945 10-12-90 1:27a
BOOT SYS 20334 10-12-90 1:27a
LICENSE DOC 10735 10-12-90 1:27a
PAUSE SYS 1817 10-12-90 1:27a
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