[syslinux] menu.c32 background problem

[Ady Ady]

> On 8/5/17, Ady Ady via Syslinux <syslinux at zytor.com> wrote:
> 
> > Since you are using only 2 menu entries, would you consider the
> > possibility of using the msg file(s) and the boot prompt, while
> > avoiding the use of (vesa)menu.c32 for this particular project? If you
> > do, there is room for improvements.
> >
> >
> 
> Thanks for the info.
> Yes, I previously did not have a menu, for Puppy Linux and Quicky. It
 

I know; that's why I asked.

> 
> As I mentioned in the first post, there is a different problem when
> using vesamenu.c32, a blinking cursor to left of the menu.
> 


FWIW, I see less of these issues when using vesamenu.c32 and 'MENU 
RESOLUTION 1024 768' in UEFI mode, but, as I mentioned before, the 
specific UEFI implementation can affect the resulting behavior.

At:
 www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Menu 

you can find directives that change the "layout" and color(s) of the 
(elements of the) menu (among others), and you could have an entry with 
the only purpose of showing a (single color) help text.

Just a basic example of things that could be done, that you would add 
to your current syslinux.cfg:

 ### start ###

### Your current syslinux.cfg goes at this point,
###  or append the following "menu begin - end" to yours.

MENU BEGIN HelpText
# Potential Alternative: (MENU) INCLUDE directive
# Potential Alternative: CONFIG directive

TIMEOUT 0
MENU CLEAR
MENU RESOLUTION 1024 768
MENU ROWS 6
MENU HELPMSGROW 10

# Change the color of the "help text":
# MENU COLOR help ansi foreground background shadow

LABEL Main
# Alternative: MENU EXIT
# Alternative: MENU GOTO
# Using paths has pros and cons.
COM32 vesamenu.c32
# Or: COM32 menu.c32
APPEND syslinux.cfg
TEXT HELP
Go to the main menu.
ENDTEXT

LABEL help
MENU LABEL Help Text
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Help text ...
... which can span multiple lines
Although there is still a way to display generic help before the menu, 
the first entry could be generic help, or e.g.:

acpi=off     Default on for PCs >2001, may give boot/shutdown probs.    
   
qfix=nox     Commandline only, do not start X (graphical desktop),      
   
qfix=fsck    do filesystem check,                                       
   
qfix=bak     system rollback, see Quirky Snapshot Manager, Filesystem 
menu.
ENDTEXT
COM32 vesamenu.c32
# Or: COM32 menu.c32
APPEND syslinux.cfg

LABEL help2
MENU LABEL Options specific for Quirky
TEXT HELP
Here you type in another set of boot options.
Or whichever kind of info.
ENDTEXT
COM32 vesamenu.c32
# Or: COM32 menu.c32
APPEND syslinux.cfg

LABEL help3
MENU LABEL Help 3
TEXT HELP
The amount of rows in each help screen depends on the menu "layout" 
options.
ENDTEXT
COM32 vesamenu.c32
# Or: COM32 menu.c32
APPEND syslinux.cfg

LABEL help4
MENU LABEL Help for EasyLinux
TEXT HELP
Options specific for EasyLinux
ENDTEXT
COM32 vesamenu.c32
# Or: COM32 menu.c32
APPEND syslinux.cfg

MENU END


 ### end ###

This is just a basic sample of things that could be done.

Unfortunately, the behavior under UEFI is not consistent, and 
development is 
lacking.

Regards,
Ady.