OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Applications

Accelerated Installs

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Wendy Krieger:
The current project is Accelerated Installs.

The idea is to reduce the time from a clean install of the OS to full working order.  While one can use something like Ghost or pre-installed zip files, I desired to have a fair bit of flexibility in this.  A lot of this is cross-platform, the ideas from one source copied to another.  Some of this stuff dates back to 1992.

The bulk of programs are either copied pre-installed, or pre-registered.  This means, for example, inserting the registry keys in before installing the program.  PMView, Larsen CMD, File Commander/2 work like that.  Strategically placing parts of the INI file work for GSView, Smartsuite 1.73.  4OS2, EFComm and OS2CMD already have their reg keys in the install.

Lotus Smartsuite 1,73

The slipstream was successful, so it installs on one run.  There is a version 1.60 + update on the eCS 1.0 disk.

Graham Utilities. 2.10

This involves a service pack, but the install can be streamlined somewhat.  The idea is to modify the eCS 1.0 install version to handle this without having to reboot.

TinyEdit and QEdit. 

These look for supplemental files in a hard-coded directory or the current directory.  Without the hard-code, T and T2 will try to open Thelp in the current directory.  Reconfigured to use c:\use\thelp.  Likewise Q dos and os2 look for spell-check in a hard-code directory.

Cmd2exe and Bat2com

These are variously OS/2 and DOS programs that produce a loader for programs, so that you don't have to modify config.sys or autoexec,bat and keep the program off-path.  Bat2com from Foley Hitec "Turbobat", which seems to work under HPFS.  (the pc-mag one doesn't). 

4OS2, Tcmdos2, Pmview, filejet, jetcmd, volkov commander, boxer, and lucide all work under this.  jetcmd and filejet can have their environment variables set in the loader.  boxer is DOS, OS/2, TKO and EZ versions.  FC/2 can be off-path, as long as you load it from an on-path file (eg fcw),

There is a Windows proggie of this name (Jim Lawless, 'com2exe'), but it allows includes of other files on top of just a batch compiler.

Martin Iturbide:
Hi Wendy. Welcome to the forum.

What are you using to slipstream software to the eCS installer? We used to have UpdCD. Are you using it?, by hand? or created something else?

Regards

Neil Waldhauer:
All of Blonde Guy computers have their software installed in this way. I wrote Suntan Special to do the job. I have over 700 objects I can install.

http://www.blondeguy.com/suntan6.html

Dave Yeo:
For a loader, I just use a cmd file to set all the environment variables, usually a minimum of PATH and BEGINLIBPATH and maybe LIBPATHSTRICT as well as any other needed ones with things like compilers needing quite a few environment variables. Then you can put the cmd files in the PATH, create a program object or remember where they are.

Wendy Krieger:
Most of the installs are handled by rexx scripts or batch files after the files are copied.

Service packs are integrated if the install consists of loose files.  Nothing is done to packages, either pack2 or wpi. 

There is some 'copy over' stuff.  For example, \os2\mdos\basica.com is copied over with a functional one.  Qbasic.exe is updated to the final IBM release of this.  The ones in 5.02 and the update are later than the OS/2 one, which is the first of the non-linked versions.

When you modify the DOS path from c:\os2;c:\os2\mdos;... to c:\os2\mdos;c:\os2;  you can install the DOS E Editor in there and use it under OS/2.  As with OS/2 PPC, you can have rexx.exe in there.  The 7.00 version does not like OS/2, but the 7.01 (2000) version is quite fine under OS/2.

For a DOS/OS2 history see http://www.os2fan2.com/files/pcdos.pdf

os2fan2.com is my website.  The two big files there (polygloss and metgloss), are maintained in a markup language that is written in REXX.

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