[syslinux] Comboot Menu

[Murali Krishnan Ganapathy]

Thanks for your reply. Here is my first attempt at a file format for 
describing the menu.

------ FILE BEGINS -----
# Comment lines
menus      5 # I am declaring 5 menus numbered 0,1,2,3,4
menusize 10 # All of them have atmost 10 items
startmenu 1  # The main menu is menu number 1 (is this needed? or should 
I just assume menu 0)

[menu0]
item="This is choice 1"
status="This is displayed in status line for choice 1"
action="RUN: linux"
#
item="This is choice 2"
status="Status line for choice 2"
action="SUBMENU: 1"
#
item="This is choice 3"
status="Status line for choice 3"
action="SUBMENU: 2"
#
item="This is choice 4"
status="Status line for choice 4"
action="EXIT: "

[menu1]
item="This is choice 1 for menu 1"
status="Status line for choice 1 for menu 1"
action="RUN: linux arg1=value1"
item="This is choice 2 for menu 1"
status="Status line for choice 2 for menu 1"
action="RUN: linux arg1=value2"

[menu2]
item="This is choice 1 for menu 2"
status="Status line for choice 1 for menu 2"
action="RUN: linux arg2=value1"
item="This is choice 2 for menu 2"
status="Status line for choice 2 for menu 2"
action="RUN: linux arg2=value2"

----- FILE ENDS -----

Basically the first segment declares metadata.

Then there is one section for each menu. The contents of the "item"'s 
are displayed as the menu.
The status entry for the current selection is displayed in the status 
line. Finally if the item is selected,
then the action entry comes into play. The action string must start with 
one of the words
RUN,SUBMENU or EXIT.

If it starts with RUN:, then the image specified (by what follows the 
:)  is executed.
If it starts with EXIT:, then the menu exits and the parent menu continues
    (if first menu then program exits to boot: prompt)
If it starts with SUBMENU: then it must be followed by a number. The 
menu whose
   number is specified is displayed as a submenu.

Any comments?

- Murali

P.S: I don't think I will have the time to take this to completion. Any 
volunteers on finishing this?
I will be able to work on this a few more days at least.

H. Peter Anvin wrote:

>H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>  
>
>>No, that would trash your stack!  Instead you need to do (DS+1000h):0 as
>>the beginning.
>>
>>Instead you probably would want to do
>>
>>Let's try that again using actual OpenWatcom syntax:
>>    
>>