Thursday 30 April 2015

Get the day of the week from grub4dos

The next E2B 1.67 Beta c will include the grub4dos batch file dow.g4b

dow.g4b takes 3 parameters:   year    month    day-of-month
and returns the grub4dos variable dow which is a number from 0-6 (0-Sunday, 1-Monday, etc.).
This means you can call it to test what day of the week it is.
For instance, you can call dow.g4b like this:

call /%grub%/dow.g4b   %@date:~0,4%    %@date:~5,2%   %@date:~8,2% 

and test dow like this:

# only allow use at weekends
if not "%dow%"=="0" if not "%dow%"=="6" halt

# don't allow at weekends, just shutdown!
if "%dow%"=="0" halt
if "%dow%"=="6" halt

Tuesday 28 April 2015

E2B 1.67 Beta available

As well as recognising $HOME$ in .txt and .mnu files, E2B now will replace $NAME$ with the filename of the .txt or .mnu file.

This means that a .mnu file can contain $NAME$ and all you have to do is make sure the .mnu file has exactly the same filename as the ISO that it uses.

e.g. before we had this type of .mnu which we had to edit, in order to use a different ISO file.

Puppy_Precise_USB_HDD_Persistence.mnu
================================
iftitle [if exist $HOME$/precise-5.4.3.iso] Puppy Precise 5.4.3\n Puppy with persistence (save on reboot/shutdown)
set ISO=$HOME$/precise-5.4.3.iso
if "%E2BDEV%"=="" set E2BDEV=hd0 && pause E2BDEV forced to hd0!
partnew (%E2BDEV%,3) 0x00 %ISO%
map %ISO% (0xff) 
map --hook 
root (0xff) 
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd psavemark=1 fix=fsck 
initrd /initrd.gz 

It can now be re-written as:

precise-5.4.3.mnu
=============
iftitle [if exist $HOME$/$NAME$.iso] Puppy Precise ($NAME$)\n Puppy with persistence (save on reboot/shutdown)
set ISO=$HOME$/$NAME$.iso
if "%E2BDEV%"=="" set E2BDEV=hd0 && pause E2BDEV forced to hd0!
partnew (%E2BDEV%,3) 0x00 %ISO%
map %ISO% (0xff) 
map --hook 
root (0xff) 
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbhd psavemark=1 fix=fsck 
initrd /initrd.gz


As long as the filename of the .mnu is identical to the filename of the .ISO file, you do not have to edit the contents of the .mnu file to use it on different ISOs - just copy it and change it's filename.

Monday 27 April 2015

E2B v1.66 released

Basically same as v.1.65 with + a few Spanish/German tweaks and the E2B_Editor.exe added.

Sunday 26 April 2015

E2B_Editor update (v1.0.53-v1.065)

More changes - I can't stop tinkering!
  • If you tick 'Other E2B options -  AUTONUM'  then the display now reflects the changes in the menu (i.e. numbers are removed from the menu)
  • Can now click on CENTREHD and bdwidth fields to auto-increment/cycle the values
  • v1.0.58 - mouse tooltip displays RGB value under cursor
  • v1.0.61 - CTRL+Z Undo added + help button
  • v1.0.65 - file + extension show in menu items (no file extension if EXTOFF=1)

Saturday 25 April 2015

E2Bed now reads and writes UTF-8 .cfg files

                                               Checkout the accent over the Ú  in  MENÚ PRINCIPAL.
  • ANSI language sets supported (not Chinese/Japanese/Persian glyphs)
  • %@DATE% and %@TIME% now interpreted by E2Bed
  • Improved parsing of color commands
  • standard (console) color now supported
  • (config file path) - click on text to edit the .cfg file in Notepad
  • (image file path) - click on text to launch the file (view\edit) - depends on Windows file association for .bmp on your system
v1.0.50
  • Extra dropdown list options added

Note that the grub4dos password will never be ticked after  loading a .cfg file (even if it has a password set or reset in it). Before saving the .cfg file you must tick the 'No grub4dos password' checkbox each time if you want that option.
Also note that the AUTONUM=0 will be ticked if your .cfg file contains any type of AUTONUM setting (it assumes you have set AUTONUM=0 even if it was set to something else!).

Tuesday 21 April 2015

New E2B_Editor version available


Latest beta version now does not need the OCX file.
Can load any .cfg file or .bmp file.
Keep checking for the latest version!

OneDrive download area
Google Drive download area


Monday 20 April 2015

Easy2Boot Menu Editor

If you are feeling adventurous, try the new E2B Menu editor (written in VB6).
A Beta version can be found in the E2B Alternate Download pages.
Note: the first version required COMDLG32.OCX control - there is a separate ZIP file to install and register this. Subsequent versions don't require the OCX.





























Thursday 16 April 2015

The Cheryl's Birthday problem and others


The 'Cheryl's Birthday' maths test for the top 15/16 year olds in Singapore - can you solve it?

Here is a link to the problem that's taken the world by storm and a video on how to solve it.

For the 'What colour hat am I wearing' puzzle - click here.

Two students arrange to meet - both thought they had arrived at the correct time, but one was 29 minutes late - how come? Click here.

Want some more? Click here.




E2B v.1.65 and MPI Tool Kit 0.048 released

E2B v1.65 2015-04-16
  • New background
  • set CENTREHD=1 will now auto-centre menu headings. 
  • Menu hotkeys changed in all STRINGS.txt files
  • AUTOMENU feature added - can now press first letter of a menu entry to select it, 
  • Current language displayed in footer HELPTEXT (can be changed in MyE2B.cfg). 
  • grub4dos letters, e.g. p for password entry and c and e now only work if SHIFT is pressed at same time. 
  • Small speed improvement in counting Windows ISOs. 
  • New version of hotkey utility (thanks chenall!). 
  • New version of grub4dos 0.4.6a.
See previous blog posts for details.

The new MPI Tool Kit now centres the heading and payload description in the CSM menu and the \menu.lst is re-organised to help you make modifications more easily. It also now has hotkeys for F7/F9/F10 and first-letter menu hotkeys too. New grub4dos 0.4.6a is used too.

If you want your own background and menu for the CSM menu, just use the CUSTOM folder in the download to add any new or replacement files.