Using bootAble

Introduction: What Is bootAble?

bootAble is an REXX script to create a bootable CD/DVD or a maintenance partition for OS/2 and eCS:

• Prompt-driven script, enabling you to configure everything to your tastes and needs
• Can save results to a configuration file, eliminating need to respond to prompts for the next CD/DVD or partition

CD/DVD or partition has sufficient facilities to:

• Manage your system
• Recover your system

Highlights and capability:

• Interactive (prompt-driven) build of configuration files
• Floppy-emulation and no-floppy-emulation boot methods
• Boot to the Workplace Shell (WPS) or the commandline
• Support for FAT, FAT32, HPFS, HPFS386, NTFS, JFS, CDFS, UDF and LVM
• Support for IDE, SCSI, USB, mouse, serial and parallel ports
• Support for REXX and Object REXX
• Support for TCP/IP networking and DHCP
• Support for NETBIOS, NETBIOS over TCP/IP and Peer
• Support for several, native OS/2 (eCS) programs:
• 4OS/2 command shell
• Acrobat Reader, version 3
• Back Again/2000
• Dfsee
• DOIP
• DragText, version 3.8
• eCS Archive Viewer
• EMX runtime
• Extra OS/2 utilities
• Firefox
• Injoy, versions 2.3 and 3.0 (firewall not included)
• Java 1.31
• Mozilla
• Norman Anti Virus
• PMdll
• PMView
• SPF (a look-alike IBM mainframe editor)
• TCP/IP 4.1 + firewall
• Unimaint
• USB resource tool
• XWorkplace

Downloading bootAble and Associated Files

Go to http://www.xs4all.nl/~hrbaan/ and view the documentation. Then, download the appropriate files:

• Latest bootAble distribution (now at version 4.3):
• Zip file; or:
• Wpi file
• SIO2K patch, if desired (patch for UART or SIO driver trap)
• Memdisk files, if desired (support for no floppy emulation boot method)
• Other files or distributions, if desired

Recommend unzipping each of the above into separate folders:

• Easier to update your bootAble system as different parts of the distribution are separately changed
• Use the "ADDTOSEARCHPATH" variable to inform bootAble where to find these separate folders (the script will prompt you for this)
• See example of folder layout, immediately below

  C:\bootAble\ (unzip the bootAble distribution here)

  • Archives\
  • bootAble\ (store the bootAble zip file here)
  • bos2rexx\ (store the bootos2 zip file here)
  • Memdisk\ (store the Memdisk zip file here)
  • Unicode_and_HPFS386\ (store the loaddll, tar and untar zip files here)
  • bos2rexx\ (unzip the bootos2 zip file here)
  • Memdisk\ (unzip the Memdisk zip file here)
  • Unicode_and_HPFS386\ (unzip the loaddll, tar and untar zip files here)

Creating a bootAble CD/DVD or Maintenance Partition

Two (2) basic ways to run bootAble:

1. First time run:
• Using a new bootAble distribution
• Creating a new bootAble configuration file:
• A configuration file is your saved responses to the prompts
• Therefore, you do not have to respond to prompts the next time you run bootAble
• Instead, run it with your configuration file as a parameter
• File can contain other desirable things, such as commands to copy personalized programs, scripts and the like to the CD/DVD or partition
• Question: why create more than one (1) configuration file; Answer: to boot your system up differently, perhaps as a hedge against future system configuration problems:
• Boot to WPS with Object REXX, networking and Peer
• Boot to WPS with Object REXX, no networking or Peer
• Boot to a commandline with Object REXX
• Boot to a commandline without Object REXX
2. Using an existing bootAble configuration file:
• Place updated programs on the CD/DVD or partition
• Place updated drivers there
• Configuration file manually modified to add more functionality

First time run:

• Open a commandline in the folder where you unzipped the bootAble distribution
• Type and enter "bootAble.cmd" (without the quotes)
• "bootAble.cmd" calls the configuration file, "bootAble.cfg", which in turn prompts you for how you want to set up your CD/DVD or partition
• Respond to the prompts (usually requiring "Y" for "Yes", or "N" for "No")
• Possibly save results into a new configuration file
• A small number of responses will not be saved to the configuration file:
• Therefore, will have to respond to those prompts again, when you run using the configuration file
• You can fix that by manually editing the configuration file and placing your desired responses in it
• Use your configuration file as a guide for the proper command syntax

Using an existing configuration file:

• Open a commandline in the folder where you unzipped the bootAble distribution
• Type and enter a command to run bootAble with a configuration file. The syntax is:
bootAble.cmd [/v < verbose >] [< configuration file >|/@< configuration-list-file > ...]
• The optional arguments are the verbosity level and one or more configuration files
• The verbosity levels are for error checking and debugging; they are as follows:
• 1 = Progress messages
• 2 = Files copied and files parsed
• 4 = Config file parsing
• 8 = INI rc file parsing
• 64 = Error output of external commands
• 128 = All external command output
• Add the numbers together to combine levels (example: 195 = progress messages, files copied and files parsed, error output of external commands and all external command output)
• The configuration files override the defaults specified in "bootAble.cfg"
• The special form, /@configuration-list-file, results in the content of a configuration list file to be used to list additional configuration files

  If the file, "bootAble.wpslst1", contains the lines:

       bootAble.ba2k
       bootAble.mozilla
       bootAble.norman
           

  Then, the command:

       bootAble.cmd /v 67 bootAble_WPS.Mycfg /@bootAble.wpslst1
           

  Produces the same results as the command:

       bootAble.cmd /v 67 bootAble_WPS.Mycfg bootAble.ba2k bootAble.mozilla bootAble.norman
           

Testing Your CD/DVD or Partition

Of critical importance is that you thoroughly test each CD, DVD or partition. The following are some questions and concerns.

1. Does the CD/DVD or partition boot up fully and without errors?
2. If you have disk autocheck support, does chkdsk work properly and clear errors from a dirty shutdown?
3. If you have WPS support:
   • Does the mouse work?
   • Do you have access to every program?
   • Does any program partially, or fully, open off screen? If so, can use use keyboard sequences to fix it?
   • Can you use keyboard sequences to operate program menu choices?
4. If you have commandline boot:
   • Can you open and run each commandline program?
   • Can you use keyboard sequences to operate program menu choices (Back Again/2000 crash recovery utility is a good example to test)?
5. If you have a system crash recovery program:
   • Can you operate it fully and completely to recover
   • Test recovering a non bootable partition or disk:
   • If something goes wrong, you can restore it later, using your normally booted system
   • Of course, you have previously tested your capability to do that from your fully up system

My experiences with Back Again/2000:

• Commandline crash recovery program, baiicr.exe:
• Executed from Back Again crash recovery diskettes:
• Balked when restoring the desktop files:
• Stopped with an error
• Shutting it down was the only recourse available
• Computer Data Strategies (CDS), now Intradyn, could not provide a solution
• My workaround:
• Excluded the desktop directory from my Back Again system backups
• Used Sentry (a GammaTech product) to make generation backups of the desktop (you can also use UniMaint)
• Restored the boot partition as a two (2) step process, using Back Again backups and the separately created desktop backups
• Had a REXX script (and a separate OS/2 commandline batch file) to help automate the process
• Run under the bootAble CD system:
• Balked when restoring my booting partition
• It successfully restored a non-booting partition
• Why?? Unknown!!
• WPS program, baii.exe (Back Again/2000, version 3), executed from a bootAble CD/DVD:
• Program requires the back up file to be listed in the Back Again catalog library before it can be used for a restore
• Normally, Back Again will allow you to retrieve a back up not listed in the catalog:
• Search for the desired file, using the file browse facility
• Select the file; Back Again will then list it in the catalog
• From there you can select it to partially or fully restore
• Problem is that Back Again writes the information to the "catalogs" directory of the Back Again installation on your hard drive (I think!!)
• Therefore, you need the Back Again system already residing in its usual place, on your hard drive, before you can restore your files, or system
• If Back Again exists there, the program will then run from the bootAble CD
• The bootAble configuration file for Back Again now as an attempted fix for the above (do not know if it is of any help):
• Back Again logs are included on the CD/DVD or partition
• Catalogs are included
• Back Again sets are included
• I've been told Back Again/2000, version 4, requests user registration information, when run from the bootAble CD/DVD??

Summary and Conclusions

bootAble is a powerful tool, enabling you to easily:

• Perform system maintenance
• Recover from system crashes
• Perform partial restores

The setup is easy and flexible:

• Prompt-driven script
• Configure everything to your tastes and needs
• Support for several native OS/2 (eCS) programs

You should thoroughly test each CD, DVD or partition soon after creation.

Acknowledgements

Hayo Baan:

• bootAble is a first class and well documented product
• Dedication to product quality and response to customer issues is first rate

Doug Bissett:

• Developed configMaker tool to ease creation of the config files and command-line parameters (as included in the .wpi package)
• Developed configuration files for several supported programs, including Back Again/2000 and Norman Anti Virus

Sandy Shapiro:

• Lent use of his laptop for this demonstration
• Tested this everything beforehand
• Lent his knowledge and experience to everything

SCOUG

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.