Using DOS and 98 at once, can I toggle at boot time with a keypress?

bombboyer · 04-05-2003, 02:44 PM

Here's my dilemma: I like Win98 because of Winamp/plugins, some auto-sync software I have, as well as networking support. Unfortunatly, the boot time kills me. I want to go to DOS, but I don't want to give up my networking and file-syncing.

I'd like to use MPXPlay most of the time for playing songs, but I'd like to have Windows for maintenance.

Is there anyway I could install 98 set it to boot into DOS normally, but boot Windows if I held a certain button during boot?

Remember that I'm using a numeric keypad and a character LCD.

bh76 · 04-05-2003, 09:17 PM

If you have Tweakui, open it up, then goto the startup tab. Uncheck "Start GUI Automatically".
(If you don't have Tweakui, then you'd need to edit msdos.sys and change bootgui=1 to bootgui=0)

Once this is done, the computer will boot into Dos by default. Windows can then be launched by typing "win".
One way to automate this process would be to edit the autoexec.bat and add the following lines to the end:

CHOICE /N /C:12 /T:1,5 Boot Into Windows? [1-No, 2-Yes]
IF ERRORLEVEL == 1 GOTO END
WIN
:END

In this example the choices are 1&2, the default choice is 1 with a timeout of 5 seconds

This should get you started. It won't display anything on the lcd. For that you'd need to use a third party program, like LCDPrint.

bombboyer · 04-06-2003, 01:21 PM

How could I make it call LCDprint every second while it's waiting? Kind of like a countdown:

5 seconds remaining
4 " "
3 " "

etc...

and then at any time I could enter 1 or 2 and enter, just so i know when I have to press it.

I can handle working LCDprint, but I need help with the batch file.

jol · 04-06-2003, 03:05 PM

I would have a floppy with autoexec.bat that has "win" in the end, so it would boot dos w/o the floppy, and windows with it in

bh76 · 04-06-2003, 04:03 PM

You could try something like this:

ECHO Boot Into Windows? [1-No, 2-Yes]
REM Add lcdprint here
CHOICE /N /C:012 /T:0,1 (5)
IF ERRORLEVEL == 3 GOTO WIN
IF ERRORLEVEL == 2 GOTO DOS
REM Add lcdprint here
CHOICE /N /C:012 /T:0,1 (4)
IF ERRORLEVEL == 3 GOTO WIN
IF ERRORLEVEL == 2 GOTO DOS
REM Add lcdprint here
CHOICE /N /C:012 /T:0,1 (3)
IF ERRORLEVEL == 3 GOTO WIN
IF ERRORLEVEL == 2 GOTO DOS
REM Add lcdprint here
CHOICE /N /C:012 /T:0,1 (2)
IF ERRORLEVEL == 3 GOTO WIN
IF ERRORLEVEL == 2 GOTO DOS
REM Add lcdprint here
CHOICE /N /C:12 /T:1,1 (1)
IF NOT ERRORLEVEL == 2 GOTO DOS
:WIN
REM Add lcdprint here
WIN
GOTO END
:DOS
REM Add lcdprint here
:END

It's kind of repetitive but it should work. I don't know of any way to get "choice" to handle the enter key, though.

MikeHunt79 · 04-07-2003, 07:17 AM

i simply have a file called "1.bat" that simply contains the line:

win

So i only have to hit 1 and enter if i want 98.

prerunnerv6 · 04-07-2003, 09:41 AM

Like Mikehunt said, a batch file would work.

Note: I believe that MPXPLAY uses "1.bat" for the soundblaster card. So you would have to give it another number.

If you don't have the "Tweak" program and you want to edit the msdos.sys file, remember you may have to use the "attrib" command to get to it.

I believe it's "attrib msdos.sys -h -r -s" .

I use mpxplay so that's what I remember having to do.

AVGeek · 04-08-2003, 12:13 AM

When I was using MPXPlay, there were no preassigned batch files. I had 1.bat and 2.bat, with 1.bat running MPXPlay without preloading ID3 Tags (quick boot time), and 2.bat scanning and loading all songs into the default playlist (this is how I handled song updates). I also ran Win98 in DOS mode, and used 0.bat to enter the Windows GUI for networking and file maintenance, as I only used a numeric keypad in the truck.

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