Re: Useful Utility (OT)

[J R FOX jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

--- Harry Binswanger  wrote:

> Maybe I have to copy my \Xy4 directory into the .ISO
> before I burn it, so I
> can then access it (on the R: drive, it says). But
> none of this makes any
> sense to me: it is already accessing the CD drive:
> that's how the thing
> boots in the first place. Also, I don't know how to
> add things to the .ISO
> before I burn it. Any ideas?

[And was it Michael Norman (?) who replied]:

> I'm out of my league here, Harry, but I'm guessing >
that some essential DOS files are missing from the >
version of DOS used on the
> boot CD. I don't think the author(s) intended the
> kind of environment that would allow applications
> to run, though there are small executables on the
> disk. Perhaps the cognoscenti will weigh-in here.

> Yes. It must in order to boot. I never would have
> thought to copy XY into the .ISO but why not
> experiment? I'm happy to be able to see the
> hard drive from DOS.

Disclaimer: I'm *not* one of the cognoscenti you were
searching for, merely a rote tinkerer. I can tell you
that on the few occasions I attempted to modify the
iso for the DFSEE boot CD, in order to add diagnostic
utils., LIST, etc. to it, I ended up killing the
patient. From this, I deduce that an ISO is a special
beast. I think you need a special tool to modify it,
prior to burning. On the OS/2 | eCS platform, there
is something called ISOFS (FS standing for File
System), which would have to be loaded at bootup, that
I think can handle such chores. On the Win platform,
I am aware of standalone shareware such as ISOBUSTER
that is supposed to cover this . . . along with
features allowing you to recover as much as possible
from a damaged CD or DVD. Perhaps there is even
something along these lines that is free ? (Try some
keyword searches at Softpedia, MajorGeeks, Tucows, et
al.)

[Whoever was using Bart PE, I would welcome some
reports on what you are doing with it, and how hard it
is to use. I was under the impresssion that you
needed an XP installation to create Bart, and that
more than a little assembly was required.]


Jordan