Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 14:16:11 PDT From: pcm AT iWarp DOT intel DOT com (Phil Miller) To: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu Subject: multi-config utilities [was: Which EMM emulator runs go32] After posting a message earlier today, I've received several requests for information about multiple configuration utilities. Though this topic is not exactly germane to the discussion of gcc compiler setup and bug reporting, my guess is that there are many people who will find this information useful. All of these programs support (in one of several different ways) the ability to boot [MS-]DOS with one of several configurations, selected either immediately prior to or during the process of rebooting. For example, many readers of this newsletter will find it useful to boot with emm386 for general computing (running Windows, 1-2-3, etc.) and to boot without emm386 for the purpose of running gcc or emacs. There seem to be two primary approaches to the multi-config scheme: the first (and my favorite, for no particularly valid reason) is to have one pair of autoexec/config files and directives within the files which selectively include configuration options from within the two files. The other major approach is to have a collection (a database in the more sophisticated programs) of autoexec/config pairs, with the user selecting the pair s/he wants. Either approach seems valid to me and there is probably no rational reason to prefer one to the other. Development of this type of program is apparently a very popular theme among PD software authors. Here are several programs listed at the Simtel20/Oakland archive site. With the exception of the two programs noted below, I know nothing beyond this brief description about any of the following programs: Directory PD1: ASKSYS.ZIP B 2176 910807 PcTch Jrnl's multboot w/timeout for DOS & OS/2 AUTOCN2G.ZIP B 137055 920511 Reboot with up to 50 different AUTOEXEC/CONFIG BOOT142.ZIP B 84480 910730 Multiple CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT with DOS 5.0 BOOTANY.ZIP B 35908 910122 Allows booting from any partition on hard disk BOOTEX10.ZIP B 1859 920421 System reboot examples, with C & ASM src BOOTMA33.ZIP B 147766 920708 Multiple boot configuration utility CAM262.ZIP B 112951 920319 Config/Autoexec Manager v2.62 CONED28.ZIP B 70616 920518 CONfig EDitor, boot multiple configurations CONFIG10.ARC B 15514 890315 Use multiple CONFIG.SYS files at will DBOOT11.ZIP B 33296 911224 Reboot with different CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT FASTS101.ZIP B 73744 910126 Edit/select AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS on bootup MNUBT222.ZIP B 18289 920624 Select conf. from menu in config.sys w/booting MULTC21E.ZIP B 5083 910814 Choose multiple configuration files on bootup OPSYS204.ZIP B 65399 920330 Boot up to 100 different system configurations REBOOT13.ARC B 11647 881204 Switch CONFIG.SYS and auto reboot RECFG32.ZIP B 60627 900505 Select up to 20 AUTOEXEC/CONFIG.SYS on bootup RECON23.ZIP B 93905 900424 Manage various AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS RECONFIG.ARC B 15488 870222 Use multiple CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files RESET.ARC B 2709 870417 Reboot from different configs/autos RESET11.ARC B 3256 880911 Reboot using different AUTO/CONFIGs RESTART2.ZIP B 13551 900803 Select different autoexec/config's on reboot SELECT.ZIP B 9152 910109 Select from multiple AUTOEXEC files on boot-up SYSCFG30.ZIP B 112632 910428 Maintains multiple AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS SYSGN132.ARC B 30191 891211 Configuration utility(autoexec.bat/config.sys) Of these many programs, the only one I have used is multc21e.zip (aka multicnf). Multicnf includes a tiny device driver which interactively selects the config.sys configuration and a companion program which selects the autoexec.bat configuration. It allows three configurations, selected by pressing one of CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT during the boot process. One of the three is selected by default after a user-selectable timeout interval. Multicnf works very well; I chose a different solution because I needed more boot configurations, but I was not otherwise dissatisfied with multicnf. Another program which I find useful with my current configuration is iaca101.zip, which allows you to pass information from the config.sys file to the autoexec.bat file. Here is the author's info about iaca101: From: PEPRBV AT CFAAMP DOT HARVARD DOT EDU (Bob Babcock) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.archives Subject: IACA101.ZIP - Pass information from CONFIG.SYS to AUTOEXEC Summary: Reposted by Keith Petersen Message-ID: <3538 DOT w8sdz AT Vela DOT ACS DOT Oakland DOT Edu> Date: 1 May 92 11:29:45 GMT Lines: 16 I have uploaded to SIMTEL20: pd1: IACA101.ZIP Pass information from CONFIG.SYS to AUTOEXEC IACA101.ZIP contains a device driver which stores a string in the Inter-Application Communication Area and then exits without consuming any memory. A program running in AUTOEXEC takes this string and assigns it to an environment variable. Then standard IF tests can be used to control flow. I use this so that I don't need multiple AUTOEXEC files to go with my multiple CONFIG.SYS files. Copyrighted but no limits on non-commercial distribution. Bob Babcock PEPRBV AT cfaamp DOT harvard DOT edu PEPRBV AT CFAAMP DOT BITNET Good luck, Phil Miller pcm AT ssd DOT intel DOT com