Ideas For Yet Another Boot Disc Options

[ldotsfan]

Got the idea from one of Heimdall's post when Frosty's file manager was used to load CASH.

The design goals I have in mind:

1. Small download like Frosty's xbox rescue disc.
2. UnleashX based. As opposed to EvoX. Gets lxhdm's PrepareHD and built-in file manager.
3. Loads PBL Metoo like Frosty's to bypass virtual eeprom protection/shadowC.
4. CASH 1.1 like capabilities : Krayzie's Ndure 1.1.1 , allows a chipped xbox to be softmodded and upgrade for older/other softmods to Krayzie's Ndure.
5. Xbpartitioner 1.1 for hdd upgrade over 256Gb.

Boot disc = Frosty's PBL rescue capabilities + lxhdm's softmod hdd upgrade capability + CASH's Krayzie's Ndure package. A all-in-one solution.

This post has been edited by ldotsfan: May 31 2009, 03:32 AM

[Heimdall]

I've already got something similar hacked together (that's how I knew the Frosty's + Cash to upgrade SID 4.5 would work!) - based on Frosty's PBL, UnleashX front end, currently launches native CASH, AID and Slayers (no lxhdm at the moment), and I'm working my way through a more integrated menu, but it's stalled completely due to pressures of work. Trouble is, it's 4.2GB (most of that is AID)...... There's a pile of duplication that could be removed to bring that down (e.g. three copies of stock C), but that would require hacking about with the native CASH, AID and Slayers menus - possible, but time consuming. Problem is, I still need to get a Raincoat flasher on there, and Kingroach.

My design goals were broadly the same, but with some added things:
- choice of installing Krayzie or Kingroach as the upgraded softmod, and adding back in the two options missing from the Kingroach menu (bs06 and rt06, as I recall)
- menu options for installing all the NKP11 .bin variants (fan.bin, LED.bin, video.bin), maybe also using NKPatcher Runtime Config. Really only interested in the video.bin options, but I thought I may as well include the others.
- TSOP flashing utilities for all chips including Winbond, with only the newer BIOSes (also putting working config files for X2.5035 and iND-BIOS.5003 in the right places). Scripted to install the dash in the right place before the TSOP flash.
- Install different dashboards on the two flavours of softmod (to automate the response to the endless "how do I make XBMC my dashboard" questions!). I'd thought about doing this by installing all dashboards, then using the XBMC shortcut to point to the selected dash, so switching dashboards could be included as an option on the final user menu.
- move/rename all copies of eeprom.bin from places where it would interfere with proper operation of virtual eeprom

I'd thought of doing it in the same way you did lxhdm - a recipe for self-build, plus a custom config.xml.

Edit: I'd also planned on changing a bit of the CASH functionality, so it didn't automatically erase the E partition, but simply copied the dash files across, so that gamesaves etc. were retained.

This post has been edited by Heimdall: May 31 2009, 11:33 AM

[ldotsfan]

Have deliberately left out the dash change feature in AID/CASH to reduce the size as a small download is one of the design goals. In fact, intend to leave out stock msdash since Krayzie's Ndure has a minimum install option - but have to test that out to see if that will work without any msdash files in place at all. Raincoat/EvoX as a tsop flasher and a limited choice of bios files (X2.5035, IND-BIOS.5003) is a desirable feature to include in and it won't violate the size goal. So I might adapt your idea

As for Krayzie's Ndure vs Kingroach's Ndure, the existing UnleashX based installation script in Krayzie's make it easier to work with than Kingroach's Ndure, though I briefly looked at Ndure Toolset...

Of course you already have a working prototype while mine is still an idea in my mind

[ldotsfan]

I've already got something similar hacked together (that's how I knew the Frosty's + Cash to upgrade SID 4.5 would work!) - based on Frosty's PBL, UnleashX front end, currently launches native CASH, AID and Slayers (no lxhdm at the moment), and I'm working my way through a more integrated menu

Could you share your trade secret: How did you get the 3 discs' contents to work together? One config.xml, full paths to the individual default.xbe of each disc in separate folders in the unleashX menu?

I'm trying to avoid rewriting the evox.ini of CASH into unleashX equivalent...

[Heimdall]

Yes, that's sort of how I did it. From memory (I'm at work at the moment).....

- Unpack Frosty's into a directory, unpack CASH into another one.
- Move the CASH folders (not the root files) into the root of the Frosty's directory.
- Create a directory \CashRoot\ in the Frosty's directory, move the CASH root files there.
- Create a directory \FrostysRoot\, and copy the Frosty's root files there.
- Delete evox.ini and root.xbe from Frosty's root (NB not \FrostysRoot\), then put a clean Unleashx.xbe into Frosty's root, and rename it root.xbe.
- Create a config.xml in Frosty's root to launch D:\CashRoot\default.xbe and D:\FrostysRoot\default.xbe, plus whatever else you want - mine currently has a link to d:\Applications\XBPArtitioner\ and a standard UnleashX menu as well, while I work on the full version.
- I also copied disk.bin, default.suo and default.tbn into Frosty's root from \CashRoot\.
- **do the path substitution changes in \FrostysRoot\evox.ini and \CASHRoot\evox.ini** (See next paragraph)
- Make the whole thing into an iso with Qwix (obviously!)

I thought that the advantages of this method rather than putting all of CASH in a \CASH\ directory were that it retains avoids any path length issues (not sure there would have been any, but it avoided that potential complexity), and it retains the absolute locations of all files. However, from memory (haven't looked at it for a couple of months) I had to replace the relative paths in CASH and Frosty's evox.ini to make them absolute paths - global search and replace "\ for "d:\ because it isn't running from the root of D any more - but I can't remember if that was just an interim paranoid step....

I then did the same for Slayers and AID, but didn't have time to do any serious testing other than confirming that the menu would launch. The only directory conflict was \Skin - AID and CASH both use it, but with different contents, so no issue.

My plan was to get all three working with minimal changes (like the relative - absolute path changes), then gradually extract the functionality I wanted directly into the UnleashX front end, but leave native CASH, Slayers and AID there. Essentially I wanted an UnleashX version of CASH that had far fewer choices, so there was less explaining to do - the same sort of logic that Krayzie applied to his softmod installer, to make it almost completely idiot-proof.

[ldotsfan]

- Unpack Frosty's into a directory, unpack CASH into another one.
- Move the CASH folders (not the root files) into the root of the Frosty's directory.
- Create a directory \CashRoot\ in the Frosty's directory, move the CASH root files there.
- Create a directory \FrostysRoot\, and copy the Frosty's root files there.
- Delete evox.ini and root.xbe from Frosty's root (NB not \FrostysRoot\), then put a clean Unleashx.xbe into Frosty's root, and rename it root.xbe.
- Create a config.xml in Frosty's root to launch D:\CashRoot\default.xbe and D:\FrostysRoot\default.xbe, plus whatever else you want - mine currently has a link to d:\Applications\XBPArtitioner\ and a standard UnleashX menu as well, while I work on the full version.

Brilliant! If I understand you: the evox default.xbe and evox.ini for CASH and Frosty's stay in the their respective Root folders while the rest of the folders from CASH and Frosty's are on the root of the xiso? The replacement of root.xbe is to let unleashX piggyback on PBL of Frosty's - like what lxhdm did?

I'll need to add in PrepareHD , the Format C,E,X,Y,Z and ConfigMagic in the UnleashX menu to get the lxhdm functionalities

- I also copied disk.bin, default.suo and default.tbn into Frosty's root from \CashRoot\.

Is this for aesthetics or there's functionality behind?

I had to replace the relative paths in CASH and Frosty's evox.ini to make them absolute paths - global search and replace "\ for "d:\ because it isn't running from the root of D any more - but I can't remember if that was just an interim paranoid step....

Relative paths...right.

This post has been edited by ldotsfan: Jun 2 2009, 03:12 PM

[Heimdall]

Brilliant! If I understand you: the evox default.xbe and evox.ini for CASH and Frosty's stay in the their respective Root folders while the rest of the folders from CASH and Frosty's are on the root of the xiso? The replacement of root.xbe is to let unleashX piggyback on PBL of Frosty's - like what lxhdm did?

Correct.

Is this for aesthetics or there's functionality behind?

. Both Slayers and CASH Evox use disk.bin when it formats drives, and I wasn't sure whether it looked for it in the directory evox was running from, or the root of the boot drive (another relative/absolute path issue - ConfigSector "\disk.bin" is the line) - so I decided to put it in both! I have no idea what the two default files do, but applied the same logic - belt and braces. I'd planned on polishing out this sort of duplication later - this first incarnation was just a quick and dirty hack.

I really can't remember if I needed the relative - absolute path changes, or if evox reads \directory\file to implictly mean from the root (like DOS) or from the current working directory (like linux?). I won't be anywhere near my Xboxes or home PC for a few days to check, but I think my logic was that it can't hurt to make the paths absolute, and it avoided me having to exhaustively check every option in the transplanted CASH / Slayers / AID.

Edit: And of course, you spotted my deliberate mistake earlier. To run native Frosty's you launch d:\FrostysRoot\root.xbe, not default.xbe. If you launch d:\FrostysRoot\default.xbe it reloads PBL, which then reloads your initial menu from d:\default.xbe, because that's how the PBL BIOS is configured.......

This post has been edited by Heimdall: Jun 2 2009, 03:38 PM

[Heimdall]

Sorry, missed the edit, and I'm not being very structured about this! My initial plan was to simply "port" CASH options 1, 5B or 5C (depending on where you are in the world), then option 5D, directly into UnleashX as a single item, but only reformatting C, not E - a really simple, one-click "fix my softmod" button" regardless of the user's initial softmod. I was then going to do the same for Kingroach, then add all of the other stuff from my previous post - starting with deleting / renaming all copies of eeprom.bin, to avoid the boot / runtime eeprom mismatch that leaves people with a black screen.

....but all the while leaving the links into the original boot disc menus for any functionality I hadn't bothered to port forwards!

This post has been edited by Heimdall: Jun 2 2009, 03:58 PM

[Heimdall]

I keep remembering bits of my original thought processes! The other reason I was fiddling with absolute paths wasn't just for legacy rescue disc operation, but also because I'm fairly certain that to do some of the things I had planned I'd need to copy UnleashX and a set of config files into a temporary location on E, run it from E, then use config switching to provide state retention, with "Press A to continue" to continue batch execution on return from e.g. Evox, or xman954's eeprom dumper - exactly the same way that Krayzie's installer does it between reboots. Trouble is the rescue files would still be on D:\, hence the need for absolute paths in the new config.

Now, I can't remember exactly why I thought I'd need to do that, but I think it was to replicate the eeprom backup and the copying of stock C files into shadow C for the Kingroach installation option. If it comes back to me I'll let you know!

[ldotsfan]

Now, I can't remember exactly why I thought I'd need to do that, but I think it was to replicate the eeprom backup and the copying of stock C files into shadow C for the Kingroach installation option. If it comes back to me I'll let you know!

Thanks. I won't be needing Kingroach's in my disc and will be using ConfigMagic for manual eeprom backup if needed. I'll leave it to EvoX eeprom backup in Krayzie's installer in the CASH portion to do it as part of the softmod install.

[bc54]

hi, i just noticed your thread about creating a unleashx based installer/recovery disc. about a couple of weeks ago, i made myself a similar kind of disc. it is an unleashx dash that can install/update/remove a softmod, install/remove dashboards, install/remove apps, install/remove emulators, and install/remove XDSL.

it can also do backups of eeprom and hard drive parttitions, flash the bios, and help with hard drive upgrades.
i can post the contents of the config.xml if you are interested.

thanks.

[ldotsfan]

i can post the contents of the config.xml if you are interested.

Yes, please, at pastebins? Thanks.

[bc54]

okay, i recently saw your idea about using pbl/frosty's so a shadowc could be disabled, and incorporated that into it as an "EMERGENCY MODE". as of now my plan is like this: boot to an evolutionx dash, with three options (normal=D:\root.xbe; EMERGENCY=D:\pbl.xbe; Evox Settings).
the idea is that in normal mode, you can't mess up your shadowc, because you never load a different bios.
now on to the real deal, i call it XMU - Xbox Management Utility:
EDIT: okay, it won't fit so here is a link to it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7e82d9e...04e75f6e8ebb871

i have tested this mostly, but i couldn't test anything with the F and G drive, but all the E stuff worked.
also, i have to give credit where it is due, i "borrowed" the zip archives from aid, and plugged them into my disc.
and, about the apps, as you can see i split them up into three categories - important (chimp, configmagic, xboxpartitioner, evox), useful, and extra (homebrew games, other fun stuff). other than that, it is just like a mashup of aid and cash, and now frosty's kind of, i guess.


This post has been edited by bc54: Jun 6 2009, 03:10 AM

[ldotsfan]

okay, i recently saw your idea about using pbl/frosty's so a shadowc could be disabled, and incorporated that into it as an "EMERGENCY MODE". as of now my plan is like this: boot to an evolutionx dash, with three options (normal=D:\root.xbe; EMERGENCY=D:\pbl.xbe; Evox Settings).
the idea is that in normal mode, you can't mess up your shadowc, because you never load a different bios.
now on to the real deal, i call it XMU - Xbox Management Utility:
EDIT: okay, it won't fit so here is a link to it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=7e82d9e...04e75f6e8ebb871

i have tested this mostly, but i couldn't test anything with the F and G drive, but all the E stuff worked.
also, i have to give credit where it is due, i "borrowed" the zip archives from aid, and plugged them into my disc.
and, about the apps, as you can see i split them up into three categories - important (chimp, configmagic, xboxpartitioner, evox), useful, and extra (homebrew games, other fun stuff). other than that, it is just like a mashup of aid and cash, and now frosty's kind of, i guess.

Good work Based on the menu contents, your boot disc does what I wanted and most of what Heimdall wanted as well.

I see that you have incorporated lxhdm's error 5 hotswapping/PrepareHD into the config.xml as well with a mini-howto in the menu.

Looking forward to the completed product.

This post has been edited by ldotsfan: Jun 6 2009, 03:59 AM

[bc54]

i am mostly done with this, i just want to test f and G drive stuff, and softmod on a chipped box. but, once i am finished, i don't know how to get it out there, aka put it at the usual places.
any way, your free to change the config.xml as you wish. glad i could help.