Random logo.sys?

[Pelle]

Ok, maybe I'm too stupid to find it myself, but is there a program to put into autoexec.bat or Autostart that will select a random bootup-logo for Win95 from a list of images?

Thanks & Ciao, Pelle

[motub]

Hi, Pelle... got kind of an answer, and a suggestion.

1st off, I guess you know that logo.sys is not read from config.sys or autoexec.bat... I think the setting (which is only "on" or "off") is in msdos.sys, if not io.sys. Which means that the logo would be read and displayed long before any change could be read in autoexec.bat.

What you could do is run a batch file at shutdown which would save a different .bmp file as logo.sys, so that it would be a new one at your next boot... I don't know enough about batch files to tell you how to do so off the cuff (without research), but it doesn't seem too hard, in theory...

To that end, I'm going to move this thread over to the General Hardware forum, which is a more likely venue for you to find a more complete answer, if one exists.

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Holly

[Pelle]

Well, the idea was that during booting the logo for the next bootup would be prepared.

I don't know too much about batch-files myself, but I guess i will hack in some c to write my own program.

Oh, and sorry for using the wrong forum. I only read Soap Box and Matrox Hardware, so I put the question where i thought i would be less wrong

[HollyBerri]

no, pelle, it's fine...

I wonder 2 things...

1) why does it make a difference if the logo for the next boot is prepared during the current boot, or during shutdown of that same session?

2) why would you write a batch file in C? Pretty much all that would be involved is a DOS instruction copying filename "path:\filename.bmp" to "C:\logo.sys" with the parameter that tells the copy command to overwrite without prompting... I'll grant, that it might be another couple lines... making logo.sys not read-only (which I think it is), then doing the copy/rename, then making logo.sys read-only again. The only thing that seems a bit complex, and which I don't know about, is how to define a list, and choose an item from it... but I'd think that it's doable under DOS... are you using some other OS??

--------------------
Holly
(yes, the same one )

[Jorden]

He'd need a Random Access file, and I don't think that's possible under DOS. Even wonder if it's possible in C.

Doing it in DOS gives you a way to big a file anyway, for inside the Random Access file should be either links to where all the pics are stored, or the pics themselves.

No help here

Jorden.

[Pelle]

1) Well, I don't know how to automate something during shutdown, but if i put it into the autoexec, it just happens, and i don't have to run the programm every time i shut down.

2) i wrote a little program in c that just takes the name of the list-file as a paramter, chooses one file randomly and copies it over logo.sys. I don't know anything about batch-files, but i'm not too bad in c, so i just wrote it, and it looks like this:

[ten minutes later]
The source just looks crappy when quoting it here, the layout is gone, etc.

But in case you're interested, i can link to it or the .exe ...


[This message has been edited by Pelle (edited 21 November 1999).]

[HollyBerri]

Well, I'm impressed... Does it work well?

I use a custom logo.sys (as well as logow.sys and logos.sys), which I like a lot... but I could make a few more for myself and impress my friends... are you willing to share it?

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Holly

[Pelle]

Hi Jorden,

Random-Access has always been possible in C, AFAIK When opening the file, you just add a "+" to the mode, like "r+" for read plus write, or "r+b" for binary files

But why would I need that? I just do a binary copy from file A to B ... i have a 2000-char-buffer, fill it from A, flush it to B, and again, until the file is through:

do
{
i=fread (buf, sizeof(char), 2000, f);
fwrite(buf, sizeof(char), i, g);

} while (i==2000);

[Pelle]

Sure Holly,

I'll put it somewhere on my <a href="http://www.pelle.myokay.net">homepage</a>.

It doesn't do much, though, but copying around the files to logo.sys, but i've tested it for several reboots now, and it works

You have to make a file that lists all your logos with the complete path, each file a line, no empty, and the original logo.sys must neither be hidden, nor read only, nor system. This logolist is passed as a parameter, and voila. Try it in the dos-box, and if it works, put in the autoexec.bat


[This message has been edited by Pelle (edited 21 November 1999).]

[Wombat]

I'd thought about writing a program like that for a while. I was also thinking it would be cool to weight the selector so that my favorite startup would show up about half the time, with the other half being a "surprise".

Then I went to Linux, and don't care much about .sys files anymore

-Wombat


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K6-2/350@400, 503+ rev 1.2a, 128MB PC100 RAM, Millenium G200, RH6.1 w/ 2.2.12-20, Win98, and too many classes

[Pelle]

If it wasn't for gaming, i would have switched to Linux myself. But i've got a Linux-server running at home that does masquerading, proxy, dns and samba, and an old Linux-distribution (Suse 5.?) residing on another partition in personal computer.

Regarding the program:logo.exe must go in Autostart, not in autoexec.bat, since it is a NT-character-mode executable that won't run from DOS.

[HollyBerri]

Thanks, Pelle.... but what's Autostart???

-------------
Holly

[Jorden]

It's the startup program for Windows NT, hon.
So you won't be able to do anything with it

Jorden

[Pelle]

I don't know how it's called in English / Dutch; but it's there under 95/98/NT. It's under Start -> Programs; a group where you can put programs that are supposed to start after the system has loaded.

I could link a DOS-version for autoexec.bat as well, but you won't have support for long filenames then. Please don't ask me why, but I just tried it, and it won't find the images.

[Jorden]

That's called the StartUp Folder
Or in Dutch Opstarten

Jorden.