Zodiac Super OZ/MEDIADEPOT.ISO/FILES/16/COLRBOOT.ZIP/COLRBOOT.DOC

Text File | 1994-10-29 | 22KB | 465 lines

           ┌───┐      JIM TUCKER ■ SOFTWARE
         ┌─┴─┐ ├──┐   4/635 Brighton Road
         │  ┌┴─┴┐ │   Seacliff
         └──┤   ├─┘   South AUSTRALIA 5051
            └───┘     ═════════════════════════════════════════════════

                      Phone [phone]
                      [e-mail]
                      JIM TUCKER 3:800/805           29 October 1994


       ■ Copyright (c) 1994 JIM TUCKER. All rights reserved

       THIS IS a complete unrestricted version of COLOR BOOT. You may
       use it and distribute it freely without restriction provided no
       charge is made and no changes are made to the program or this
       documentation. You may distribute disks with COLOR BOOT screens.
       You may also bundle this program with any software you sell
       provided you supply all files unchanged (including the source
       code). You must also mention that it is supplied as a separate
       program and requires separate (optional) registration.

       | By default COLRBOOT displays an "UNREGISTERED" message. This
       | can be DISABLED WITHOUT REGISTRATION. See the end of this
       | document for information and incentives.

       The manifest of files supplied is included in the README file.
       The usual disclaimers apply.

       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-
       ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-

       COLRBOOT.COM is a DOS utility which lets you to write a color
       message on a non-system diskette. Your message will display when
       a user tries to boot from the disk.

       Disks can be distributed with the simple message: "Boot Me" and
       explicit directions can be displayed on the screen or a complete
       ASCII color screen can be displayed. Optionally, the target disk
       can be set to boot directly from a hard disk with no display.

       For a quick demonstration:

          ■ COPY the files on this disk to your hard disk
          ■ Insert a *blank formatted* Non-System disk in Drive A
          ■ Enter COLRBOOT COLRDEMO.BIN A:
          ■ Now "boot" from the Drive A disk

       | IMPORTANT NOTE: COLRBOOT WILL TARGET ONLY DRIVES A OR B. IT WILL
       | NOT WRITE TO A HARD DISK OR A DISKETTE WHICH CONTAINS THE DOS
       | SYSTEM FILES IBMBIO.COM or IO.SYS.

       For a quick preview of the COLOR BOOT screens run the batch file
       V.BAT. If you want to see the filenames displayed enter V /F.

       This manual is in FOUR sections.

         Section One:   How to copy a color screen on to a target disk.
         Section Two:   How to include your text in the boot display.
         Section Three: Describes several switch options.
         Section Four:  Miscellaneous and incentives.

       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-
       SECTION ONE:
       MAKING A SIMPLE COLOR BOOT DISK
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-

       The full syntax for COLOR BOOT is:

         COLRBOOT [filename|nofile|autoboot|blank] [textfile|grid] [d:]
                  [/pnn] [/cnn] [/tnn] [/r] [/f]

       If you are not familiar with this sort of thing do not fret, this
       manual will take you through all the steps and options. We will
       start with three simple options which is all you need to know to
       make your first COLRBOOT disk.

       ■ OPTION 1: COLRBOOT
                   ~~~~~~~~
       If no filename is specified COLRBOOT will display a help screen.
       Simple.

       ■ OPTION 2: COLRBOOT FILENAME.BIN
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       If no target drive is specified COLRBOOT will simply display the
       file and the following prompt:

           Boot from hard disk (Y/N)?
           Non-System disk. Replace and
           press any key when ready

       The three-line prompt you see is internal to the boot sector and
       NOT part of the file.  What you see is what will display when
       the disk is "booted."  This option provides a convenient way to
       view the screen files supplied with COLRBOOT. (Hint: Use V.BAT to
       cycle through the screens provided).

       ■ OPTION 3: COLRBOOT FILENAME.BIN A: (or B:)
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       Specifying a "target drive" creates a COLOR BOOT disk. COLOR BOOT
       will write the file to the target disk and create a new boot
       sector. When the disk is "booted" it will display the file and
       the prompt "Boot from hard disk (Y/N)?".

       Drive B is also a valid target drive. This means that if you have
       two floppy drives, you can make COLOR BOOT disks of different
       sizes.

       The target diskette may be any standard DOS size: 5¼- inch 360K
       or 1.2M or 3½-inch 720K or 1.44M.

       And that's all you need to know to begin making disks which
       display a colorful messages when trying to boot off a
       non-system disk.

       V.BAT is a simple batch file which displays all of the ".BIN"
       files in the current directory.

       Remember, if you do not specify a target drive the output goes to
       the screen. As soon as you specify a drive (A: or B:) you make a
       COLOR BOOT disk.

       TWO MORE SIMPLE OPTIONS
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       ■ COLRBOOT NOFILE A:
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       You enter the word "NOFILE" instead of a filename. The boot
       sector on the target disk is modified but no data is written to
       the disk. Only the prompt(s) will display. You can use this
       safely on Non-System disks which contain data as only the boot
       sector is modified.

       ■ COLRBOOT AUTOBOOT A:
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       You enter the word "AUTOBOOT" instead of a filename. The boot
       sector is modified but no data is written to the disk. You can
       use this safely on disks which contain data as only the boot
       sector is modified. The target disk will automatically boot from
       the hard disk with no prompt if a hard disk is detected. If there
       is no hard disk the user will be prompted to replace the disk.
       This is similar to other BOOT2C utilities.

       In summary: COLRBOOT NOFILE will display the "Boot from hard
       disk?" question. COLRBOOT AUTOBOOT will skip the question if the
       user has a hard disk.

       THE COLOR FILE

       The color file must be a screen binary file, exactly 4000 bytes.
       It may be named anything. I use ".BIN" here for clarity. The file
       may be created with an ANSI editor and saved using a screen save
       utility. COLOR BOOT will not load the file unless it is precisely
       4000 bytes. (See LAUGHING DOG below for more information).

       The actual color message should occupy lines 1-21 only. The boot
       prompt, internal to COLRBOOT, defaults to LINE 22 and is 30
       characters wide. This can be changed (see below).

       FORMAT INFORMATION

       The color screen is written to the last eight sectors (4K) of the
       target disk. On a disk with 4K available space these sectors are
       usually free, however if the disk has been filled and files have
       been deleted a current file may still occupy this space.

       When DOS formats a disk it writes bytes F6 hex to the data
       sectors. COLORBOOT checks for this and will warn you if the target
       sector is not F6F6.  The following message will be displayed:

         "WARNING! Message sector may contain data. Continue (Y/N)?"

       Since the DOS "delete" or "erase" commands simply mark files
       as being available for reuse (and do not wipe out the contents
       of files), it is possible that the boot sector contains old
       or invalid data.  COLORBOOT displays a warning message just in
       case you want to reinspect the disk's contents.

       If the disk contains no files you can continue safely. You will
       also get this message from a diskette which has no files but
       contains a COLRBOOT message.

       WRITING TO COLRBOOT DISKS

       Your boot message will remain on the disk until DOS subsequently
       writes over it. As the message is at the "very end" of the disk
       this will happen only if the disk is entirely filled. In this
       case nothing except the prompts will display. COLRBOOT will not
       display the "binary color file"

       IMPORTANT NOTE: The DOS FORMAT command with no parameters (such
       as /U) does not write F6 hex bytes to a disk. It simply clears
       the File Allocation Table (FAT) and directory and leaves the data
       on the disk so that UNFORMAT can restore it. If you see a warning
       that the sector may contain data but you have no files you may
       safely ignore the warning.

       Do not use a so-called "pre-formatted" disk without first
       formatting them using DOS. Pre-formatted disks contain nothing
       useful in the boot sector. If you try to boot from some I
       have examined you do not get a message... just a locked up
       computer. This may make no difference when the disk is used for
       data but if the disk is accidently left in Drive A the PC will
       halt at the next boot. This can be disconcerting.

       Whether you use COLOR BOOT or not, for safety's sake never use a
       pre-formatted disk without doing an unconditional format using
       the /U option. For example: FORMAT A: /U

       You cannot use the DOS "sys" command to copy DOS system files and
       COMMAND.COM onto a COLRBOOT disk.  This is because the boot
       sector which searches for IO.SYS or IBMBIO.COM file is modified.

       Finally, do NOT use a public domain or shareware FORMAT program.
       Most of them get it wrong. Not all PCs look for a disk in drive A
       when booted. Some BIOS ROMs can be set to boot from Drive C.

       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-
       SECTION TWO:
       ADDING TEXT TO A COLOR SCREEN
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-

       In the following examples I have not specified a target drive.
       Simply include it to write to the disk or leave it out to preview
       what you are doing. All filenames may be preceded by a path.

       If a text filename is specified on the command line the text will
       OVERLAY the color image. This important option lets you add your
       own message to any of the color screens supplied.

       The "boot" screen can consist of any of the screens supplied plus
       your text, or you can use the whole screen for your text. You may
       also substitute the COLOR BOOT prompt for your own.

       To include text the name of the color image file must be
       specified first, followed by the name of the text file, Thus:
       COLRBOOT COLRFILE.BIN YOURFILE.TXT creates a boot disk containing
       both the color ".BIN" file and your text overlayed on the image.

       The text file can be any ASCII file written with a vanilla word
       processor. The text is written OVER the image. All characters on
       a line, including spaces, will overwrite the underlying image. It
       helps here if you use a text editor which will display end of
       line codes (return). All spaces before the return write over the
       screen.

       The underscore character (ASCII 95) can be used in the text file
       to indicate a blank in a line but leave the underlying image
       undisturbed. You can therefore use the underscore to position
       text across the screen and still keep the underlying color screen
       intact. Example:

       _____________________________ This is my text over here
       The color screen remains here

       The text file must not exceed 2000 bytes. Lines after 25 will be
       ignored and may be used for comment. Note that lines 22, 23 and
       24 are the default for the boot prompt. Do not write to these
       lines left of Column 30. Your message will be bombed by the
       prompt unless you use the /P switch.

       WRITING TEXT ONLY

       If you would like a message displayed but no color file specify
       BLANK as the color filename. Thus: COLRBOOT BLANK MYFILE.TXT
       places your text file on a blank background. (You may choose the
       color for your text, see below).

       BLANK is an option recognized by COLRBOOT; it is not a filename.
       The word simply tells COLRBOOT to use a blank screen. This is NOT
       the same as NOFILE which writes nothing to the disk except the
       boot sector. If you want nothing use NOFILE. If you want nothing
       with text use BLANK then the name of your text file.

       WHERE TO PUT TEXT

       You may calculate where to put your text over a color screen
       using the built in grid. It is easier to see it than describe it.
       Use "GRID" as the dummy filename: COLRBOOT COLRFILE.BIN GRID
       (with no drive specified).

       This will show you where to position your characters in the text
       file so they do not overwrite portions of the color screen.
       You may use the Print Screen key to print the image and the grid
       before writing your text file.

       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-
       SECTION THREE:
       COMMAND LINE SWITCHES
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-

       COLRBOOT has several switches which you may key on the command
       line when making a COLOR BOOT disk. Here is a summary:

         /Pnn      Postions the prompt on the screen
         /Cnn      Specifies color for text messages
         /M[ono]   Displays color file in mono
         /Tnn      Specifies delay for message display
         /R        See registration incentives below

       THE PROMPT POSITION /Pnn

       When you display a screen file the internal prompt message is
       located on Line 22. This is part of the boot sector, not your
       screen image. You can change the position in the boot sector with
       the switch /Pnn where nn is the line number you want the prompt
       to appear.

       For example, if you have a small display you may not want the
       prompt at the bottom of the screen. Valid lines are 1 to 25. If
       you specify any other line number (0 or 26 for instance) the
       prompt will be off the screen and will not display. You must
       therefore supply your own in the ".BIN" file or ".TXT" file. An
       example: "COLRBOOT COLRFILE.BIN /P10" will display the prompt on
       the 10th line.

       COLORFUL TEXT /Cnn

       You may specify a color for your text. The switch is /Cnn where
       nn is the color's HEX number. Valid colors are 1-FF. If you
       cannot remember (who does) or do not know the color numbers
       simply enter COLRBOOT /C? (or simply /C). Your screen will
       display the numbers. You may also display the grid with a color
       attribute. For example: "COLRBOOT COLRFILE.BIN TEXTFILE /C=1E"
       will display text in yellow on a blue background.

       MONO DISPLAY /M or /MONO

       If you are distributing COLOR BOOT disks check how your display
       shows in mono (on some notebooks for instance). There is a switch
       for this: /MONO. This will display your screen as it would appear
       to a mono user.

       The /MONO switch may be abbreviated to /M. Enter COLRBOOT /C/M to
       display the color chart in mono. The /MONO switch does NOT store
       your screen on the target disk in mono mode. It is stored as
       color but will display mono on a mono PC.

       If you specify BLANK for the color file and a color option for
       text the whole screen will be changed to the text color. For
       example: COLRBOOT BLANK FILE.TXT /C1E /P0. This example positions
       the prompt off the screen (/P0) so you may supply your own prompt
       in FILE.TXT to display in the chosen color.

       THE TIME DELAY /Tnn

       You may specify a time that the color image will display before
       the boot prompt appears and the user has the option of pressing a
       key. The switch is /Tnn where nn is the number of seconds. The
       default is zero. The maximum is 60 seconds (one minute). If this
       is exceeded you will be told. An example: COLRBOOT FILE.BIN A:
       /T10 will cause the display to freeze for 10 seconds before the
       prompt appears on the screen.

       MORE ABOUT THE COMMAND LINE

       The COLOR BOOT command line accepts filenames, switches and the
       target drive in any order. Just so long as the color file is
       specified before the text file.

          This works: COLRBOOT COLRFILE /P10 TEXTFILE /C0E A:
        So does this: COLRBOOT A: /P10/C0E COLRFILE TEXTFILE

       For a finale we provide these. Do not specify a drive and the
       result will display on the screen.

         COLRBOOT STARCITY.BIN VIRUSES.TXT
         COLRBOOT ADELAIDE.BIN ADELAIDE.TXT /P19/C1E

       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-
       SECTION FOUR:
       THE LAUGHING DOG - AN EXCELLENT COLOR SCREEN EDITOR
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-

       The standard PC screen is composed of 25x80 characters (2000).
       Each character has a color "attribute" which is stored in memory
       with the character. The attribute sets the foreground and
       background colors as well as foreground brightness and a blinking
       attribute. This means there are exactly 4000 bytes.

       COLRBOOT simply writes the 4000 bytes to memory. It does no
       conversion such as ANSI.SYS which translates ESC "commands" into
       colors and cursor positions.

       The public domain is littered with ANSI graphic displays which
       you can convert into prompts. However, COLRBOOT does not
       recognize an ANSI file and you must edit it and convert it to
       binary. One of the best editors we have seen is the curiously
       named LAUGHING DOG available as LDOG*.ZIP from many shareware
       distributors and bulletin boards. (Currently LDOG114.ZIP).

       This is the BEST program for using with COLOR BOOT and all round
       screen editing. It allows you to capture screens and turn them
       into ".BIN" files, ANSI files and even self-displaying ".COM"
       files. As well, it can provide a screen as source code in several
       programming languages including BASIC, ASM, C, and PASCAL. Truly
       excellent.

       COLOR BOOT users may request an UNREGISTERED copy of LDOG along
       with ANSI graphics in LDOG format and tips on how to use LDOG
       with COLOR BOOT.

       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-
       REGISTRATION         * IMPORTANT INFORMATION *
       INCENTIVES
       ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────-

  **   | Whether you register COLRBOOT or not is entirely up to you. By
  **   | default the boot sector you make displays an UNREGISTERED
  **   | message. However, you may disable this at any time by simply
  **   | keying an /R switch on the command line when you create a
  **   | COLRBOOT disk.

  **   | COLRBOOT FILE.BIN A: /R    The /R switch disables the
  **   |                            "UNREGISTERED" display

       For registration please send US$10 currency (the address is at
       the top of this file). The price includes world wide air mail.

       All questions are welcomed. Use smail, phone or Internet. You do
       not have to be a registered user.

       WHEN YOU register COLOR BOOT you will receive the latest version
       and extra color screens. You will also receive for evaluation
       several other unique programs I have developed over the past few
       years.

       ■ FLASHPRINT is possibly the best DOS printer driver in the world
         (I can honestly say I haven't seen anything that comes close).
         It lets you COMPLETELY control any printer from ANY program. It
         includes downloadable fonts for LQ printers which you can
         change from within a document using any word processor. You can
         have thousands of printer commands to do virtually anything
         your printer can do. You can customise it very easily (the
         driver table is an incredibly easy-to-understand text file).
         Truly comprehensive and easy printer control.

       ■ KWIKPRINT is an easy-to-use command line replacement similar to
         COPY FILENAME PRN -- but with all the things COPY won't do.
         Multiple filenames, number of copies, formfeeds, screen bar
         showing print in progress. And a hot switch for immediate abort
         which stops the printer dead! Included are a couple of other
         useful printer utitilies (a hotkey which does a form feed, for
         example).

       ■ KWIKPOPS uses some of the same code as COLRBOOT to make instant
         popup TSR screens. You can make a popup from a plain text file
         in less than 30 seconds. Or use color ".BIN" screens. The
         package includes a simple but excellent screen grabber and
         viewer. The screen grabber allows you to capture any ASCII
         screen to use as a COLRBOOT display.

       ■ As well there's a grab bag of useful hotkey utilities, an easy-
         to-use PRN2DISK program, programs to convert screen image files
         to ASM, C or PASCAL data source code and more...

       Please ask if you would like the latest "shareware" version of
       LDOG. This is supplied as a courtesy and requires separate
       payment to the author.

       *** END OF FILE ***