Does anybody know what config/autoexec settings I should use to get MyMenu going on this core? The one I have on an old hdd from flynnsbit hangs when "swapping".
I also thought about using the Simple Dos Launcher posted above, but I think there might be a problem because it seems you need to choose the right startup file per game during install, and that would be quite a task when dealing with a big collection.
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
I use the simple launcher. Yes you have to select the startup file but the launcher is also very basic so not suited for massive collections. I have maybe 50-60 games on it so it is manageable.
What I do is setup the launcher on my PC first, so incremental updates are very quick.
If you want to speed it up you can edit the install .bat file to make it choose the first exe file it finds.
akeley wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 6:20 amDoes anybody know what config/autoexec settings I should use to get MyMenu going on this core? The one I have on an old hdd from flynnsbit hangs when "swapping".
I also thought about using the Simple Dos Launcher posted above, but I think there might be a problem because it seems you need to choose the right startup file per game during install, and that would be quite a task when dealing with a big collection.
https://github.com/jsmolina/simple-menu-dos-launcher
Last script creates one run.bat after asking.
I tried doing it automatically, but it failed half of the time
Well, that's the thing, there are 4000 games in my 81-89 collection, which is meant for public release, so it'd be nigh on impossible to try all of them to set the right startup file. The Tandy pack is much smaller but it'd still be a bit of a job.
I've just realized I haven't tried the MyMenu version posted in this thread nor the DOSLFN. Maybe I should do that. Bbond007 mentions he has Mymenu working on PC/XT so I guess it's possible.
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
It's kind of slow even on AO486, and insists on drawing way too much attention to itself. "Look at me!" it says, "I'm a really cool menu system!" And it keeps beating you on the head about how wonderful it is with all these glitzy effects that take extra time.
End users, however, are typically not interested in the menu system, they're interested in the games.
Maybe Access would suit your needs? It's simple and fast, and if you need more than 400 game profiles, you should be able to nest the menu structure. It will require you to pick the game's executable, manually, though.
Malor wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:20 amIt's kind of slow even on AO486, and insists on drawing way too much attention to itself. "Look at me!" it says, "I'm a really cool menu system!" And it keeps beating you on the head about how wonderful it is with all these glitzy effects that take extra time.
End users, however, are typically not interested in the menu system, they're interested in the games.
I have more recently redone all of the drawing primitives in assembler.
So depending on how old of an exe you were running, it may not have included that...
I'm sorry you don't like the "glitzy effects", but they are easily disabled.
[MyMenu.INI]
Code: Select all
#ENBLE/DISABLE CURSOR COLOR CYCLE. DEFAULT=T
DOCURSORFX=F
MyMenu.INI
#ENBLE/DISABLE EXIT ANIMATION. DEFAULT=T
DOEXITFX=F
#MAIN PREVIEW WINDOW FOR README
DOINFOPOPUP=F
#--> 300 SECONDS (5 MINUTES) 0 = DISABLED <--
SCREENSAVER=0Thanks mate, I had a look at it after your initial release post, but indeed the manual sorting is a big obstacle.
@bbond007 / flynnsbit: so, do I need to do anything special to make Mymenu work?
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
I don't want to take anything away from the other tools suggested. They are great for getting to a games list and launching said games.
Basics, if not using DOSLFN set that flag to false (F), or set it to true if you are (T). The rest are just directories, you can nest the directories like "Categories/years/genres" Thats the basics, if you don't have autorun.bat or autolaunch enabled in the mymenu.ini then it is just going to open the directory when you select it. Then that list will be filtered to the dos extensions that you have handlers setup for in the mymenu.ini.
Don't want a file to show up, don't expose that extension in the mymenu.ini. Select the EXE, BAT, COM that launches the game. If you want to do things before or after the game launches then you need a BAT that can perform that. The point is this can be stupid simple, or fancy pantsy. Up to you.
Then load it the exe like "MYMENU C:\GAMES" and it will default to showing that directory. F2 changes directories and shows the quick menu shortcuts to directories you specified in mymenu.ini. You should be able to look through the options in the mymenu.ini to customize it however you want. Different extensions with different launchers for those, utilities menu, colors, screensavers, whatever. add the mymenu path to the PATH statement in AUTOEXEC.
I would say swapping is a work in progress on the PCXT core and specifically when Tandy graphics are involved. you shouldn't have to worry about that if you are on AO486, a real system, or PCXT CGA only. If you do care about Tandy graphics then just ping me offline and I can share my WIP VHD build for PCXT that could be a spring board for you.
If you have a setup that is better, I think the community would greatly appreciate a public release somewhere. Far too many people build things for themselves and then call it done without sharing the how/what/when/thats cool stuff with everyone.
Another video just for fun PCXT and changing colors to whatever you want...
AO486 with simple menu, short foldernames for games and 2000+ games in the list.
I agree, it's just in my case use it'd be too much work to apply them properly. I use Norton Commander as default in my collection, because it's my personal, nostalgia driven preference. But, I do realize a lot of people would rather use a nice frontend with LFN enabled, so if I can find one I could get going without too much hassle, I can make a separate image with that very quickly (I have all the files ready & sorted after all).
I'm also considering using TDL again, seeing as the core is now much speedier, but even so the bigger games can still take quite some time to unpack (although only once).
Thanks for the tips, I was just mostly concerned about autoexec / config.sys, whether I need some special trickery there. As it is, I just unpacked and dropped the MyMmenu directly from the github repo onto my current vhds, which have absolutely barebones startup files. Atm I get stuck at "Loading", perhaps because my .ini looks dodgy in the NC's editor?
Overall, I have only a rudimentary understanding of DOS-fu, image creation, etc... Sorting out even simple things out can take me forever and a lot of asking for help on forums - time I'd much rather spent doing what I enjoy most -researching and sorting out games. For that reason, it'd be probably best if I just had a peek at how things are done on your vhd, if you don't mind.
I definitely wouldn't call it better, just different. The Play It By Year collections concentrate on including all available games, old school interfaces, and most importantly the chrono-gaming aspect, so are sorted by-year (though can easily be converted into A-Z style). But, unlike in your packs, the games are mostly untested (though from reputable sources), not configured and the whole thing not curated. Much more of a niche stuff, but some people seem to enjoy them - though it's of course nothing comparable to the blockbuster scale of the 300 pack and your other productions 
I'm not on discord/twitter or other social media, so they're not widely publicised, but I always post updates on this forum (and sometimes AtariAge), for PC/XT in this thread. The collections can be easily found on archive.org via "play it by year" (need quotes) + Amiga/MSDOS/tandy search.
CRT SCR$ Project - building a collection of high-quality photos of CRT displays
CRT ART Books - retro-gaming books with authentic CRT photos
akeley wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 7:29 amAs it is, I just unpacked and dropped the MyMmenu directly from the github repo onto my current vhds, which have absolutely barebones startup files. Atm I get stuck at "Loading", perhaps because my .ini looks dodgy in the NC's editor?
That EXE in the repo is pretty old and definitely does not have any XT specific fixes (like for keyboard) or optimizations... I'll push an update to that when I get a chance...
Did you ever get a chance to post an updated version? I'm curious to try the latest for my new Book8088 
My last comment was "Fix artifact when no mouse driver is present". Version "$09E0". I'm still interested in the menu but I've just been busy on other things...
That Book8088 thing is very cool, and I wish I had one. But I think on Book8088 you might want to consider not using long filename driver. Slow loading and uses a lot of RAM.
So you'll be limited to the 11 character directory name hack. Essentially "_" becomes space and the "." for the extension is ignored. Janky I know but you can get creative 
additionally you can create a "README.ANS" or "README.TXT" with the full info.
The swapping works pretty well on my ESP32 VGA thing running the FabGL DOS emulator which is somewhat similar to the capabilities of the Book8088. The swapping hangs issue seems to be with Tandy/PCjr GFX. So you probably won't encounter that..
You can add this to your "autorun.bat" (first line) to totally unload the MyMenu, but you need to remember to load it again, but obviously it will loose its context.
Code: Select all
REM !STOP
load game..
MYMENU.EXE C:\GAMES