[syslinux] maximum resolution

[Nazo]

On 1/12/06, Murali Krishnan Ganapathy <gmurali at cs.uchicago.edu> wrote:
> Nazo wrote:
> > On 1/12/06, Murali Krishnan Ganapathy <gmurali at cs.uchicago.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> Nazo wrote:
> >>
> >>> On 1/12/06, Murali Krishnan Ganapathy <gmurali at cs.uchicago.edu> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Nazo wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> On 1/11/06, Geert Stappers <stappers at stappers.nl> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> On Wed, Jan 11, 2006 at 06:20:02PM -0500, Andrey Vul wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> in isolinux, what's the maximimum text resolution (how many characters
> >>>>>>> per screen)?
> >>>>>>> i need to expand the f2 file and i don't know if the limit's been reached
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>> I never knew ISOLinux does switch text resolution. Neither didn't known
> >>>>>> that it can have different resolutions on different screens.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Geert Stappers
> >>>>>> (missing the context of the original question)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>> SYSLINUX mailing list
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> >>>>>> Unsubscribe or set options at:
> >>>>>> http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
> >>>>>> Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>> Andrey is asking due to the fact that it can use images.
> >>>>> Unfortunately, Syslinux is unable to change resolutions as you
> >>>>> suspected.  In fact, what it actually does is use the default
> >>>>> 640x480x4 that is set by the VGA bios (so don't go setting it to EGA
> >>>>> or you may get troubles.)  The easiest solution for when you run out
> >>>>> of room on the F2 page is to make an F3 page.  Of course, you can
> >>>>> always create a module (I'm thinking complex menu would be a start)
> >>>>> and you could maybe do a bit using that, and, you can also boot
> >>>>> another bootloader like lilo (which seems to be able to support VESA,
> >>>>> though I don't really know how it does it since the only times I use
> >>>>> lilo are when an installer sets it up for me.)
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> I wonder if something like this can be done?
> >>>>
> >>>> Extend the syntax of "F1 filename" to "F1 prog arg1 arg2 ....". If the
> >>>> user hits F1, then prog is launched with specified arguments. Ofcourse
> >>>> when only one word appears after F1 we default to current
> >>>> interpretation. We assume that "prog" is a well behaved program, i.e.
> >>>> either it does not switch text modes (preferred) or if it does switches
> >>>> back when control goes back to syslinux. If this is done, then one can
> >>>> write a small comboot code which displays the contents of a text file
> >>>> and allows the user to scroll through the text file.
> >>>>
> >>>> Extending this analogy even further, it might be cool to be able to
> >>>> assign shortcut keys to certain commands. But given the size constraints
> >>>> I dont know if it is a good idea. This might be possible if we had a
> >>>> comboot version of the current CLI. This way those who want to add
> >>>> features can just add it to the comboot and use their CLI.
> >>>>
> >>>> - Murali
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> SYSLINUX mailing list
> >>>> Submissions to SYSLINUX at zytor.com
> >>>> Unsubscribe or set options at:
> >>>> http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
> >>>> Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> Well, the usual argument is that these things can be done easily
> >>> enough with the menu systems.  As for more extended help, the argument
> >>> is that the only sure-fire proper way to do that would be to write a
> >>> COM32 module.
> >>>
> >>> You know, it strikes me that this sort of problem crops up rather
> >>> often.  I can't help but wonder if there isn't some way that someone
> >>> with more programming knowledge could come up with a sort of generic
> >>> COM32 help module that can parse some external file (I'm thinking it'd
> >>> be nicest if it didn't have to be xxxlinux.cfg since that means the
> >>> module will only work in the latest versions.)  Such a system would be
> >>> easy enough that those of us with less programming abilities can even
> >>> do it.  I'm kind of thinking something along the lines of a program
> >>> like less, or maybe even just more (funny how less is more, but, more
> >>> is less.)  d-:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >> Yes. It is better for the menu system to support these features and let
> >> syslinux stick to what it does best.
> >>
> >> The complex menu supports context sensitive help (as long as each help
> >> screen is limited to a page). Currently the major shortcoming of the
> >> complex menu is that one needs to know some C programming to use these
> >> features. Eliminating that requirement is a long term goal, but for the
> >> short term I am working on a python script which reads a ".menu" file
> >> and generates the C program for you. It currently supports intricate
> >> menu systems, user authentication (and permissions on menu entries),
> >> checkboxes and context sensitive help. Eventually most things which can
> >> be done using a C program which is not dynamic in nature (eg. selecting
> >> a checkbox makes an invisible menu visible) should be do-able using just
> >> the .menu file. Hopefully this should satisfy the needs of most
> >> potential users of a menu system.
> >>
> >> - Murali
> >>
> >>
> > Wow, that does sound handy.  Now you've got my hopes up.  d-:  I hope
> > that you'll give us an announcement in the mailing list whenever you
> > come up with that.
> >
> > BTW, I forgot to say, but, back on answering the poster's questions, I
> > should point out that the simple menu (menu.c32) does do shortcut keys
> > (at least, for selecting the item.)  I personally recommend to
> > everyone that I can that they at least try the simple menu because
> > it's so easy to integrate and will work on some quite old versions of
> > syslinux (actually, even the ones that don't support the menu commands
> > in the configuration will just spit out warnings of unknown lines but
> > they still go on despite that if I recall correctly.  At least, I
> > think that's what happened once when I tried menu.c32 on a really old
> > version.)
> >
> >
> Just finished the python script and it should appear with the next
> pre-release. Hope this increases the number of users of the complex menu.
>
> - Murali
>
Well, the number probably just went up by one at least.  d-: