Even this en route…Vinil Menon's blog

How easy it is to assume that the user would’ve standard command window configuration? As seen in the screen-shot above, I ran a tool from Windows DDK (the tool ironically is called LooksGood) and it changed my cmd window color scheme to what it assumed looks good

This used to be a common problem when implementing TSRs in the days of  yore. And, one normally took care to store the original forecolor and backcolor of the user’s DOS screen.

I wonder how many of the new programmers who are now using ConsoleColor and Console.ForeColor might have even heard of TSRs let aside building one.

Anyway, this slipped as part of a tool built by Microsoft is the other irony But to do justice to the developer, it is just a tool to assist in development of a printer driver. And, the intended audience is also quite limited. After all, how many people in this world would run a tool to compare the output of a Raster Image Processor (RIP) to a known good source? Unless of course you are implementing an XPS printer! ( http://blogs.msdn.com/xps/archive/2006/06/02/614795.aspx)

If you are looking at customizing your cmd window, try the following two links…

Stupid Command Prompt Tricks

Using Consolas as the Windows Console Font

Well, there could have been occasions when one would have wanted to point to one’s dorsal side as an answer to such an inviting question as the blog title. But I doubt it has ever been expressed such in newsprint.

And so there I was a couple of minutes ago reading about the pathetic state of broadband in India, and up pops this news article…in no less a publication than the Economic times, that had me rolling on the floor with more than just visions of a smart home. Hope it makes your day too…

From “Smart homes may become a reality soon“

BSNL is currently working on two technologies. One that will offer speeds of 100 mbps and the other that will allow at least 500 mbps. The 100 mbps project will allow users to make his/her entire house a local area network on which all gadgets like TV, refrigerator, washing machine, micro-wave, gizzard, water filter or the lock at the main door and the gate will be connected. All these can be controlled remotely through a wireless gadget like the cell phone or any other handheld devices.

I find it quite intriguing a possibility to expect body organs especially digestive ones to get IP addresses and to be communicating with refrigerators or microwave ovens over 100 mbit network about how raw the turkey gizzard was (no pun intended) or how there seems to be traffic congestion since some days (again no pun intended.) Anyway, if that’s what the country’s topmost telecom company execs or financial newspapers wants us to believe, who’s to attempt stemming the tide. But come to think of it, your gizzard would now be able to ensure that your run from your car to your pot to stem or at least to release the tide wouldn’t have to be so fraught with risk, because they are connected by 100 mbit broadband, courtesy your friendly neighbourhood telecom company.

I do understand the situation the bosses @ telecom companies could be in. More so, if there seems to be competition even at the wrong end of food chain (no pun intended.)

How does one go about writing a boot loader ? Well, for starters, one needs the right kind of setup, given the fact that writing boot loader’s can easily screw things up. So it is better to work with them in a sandbox.

Here’s my setup

1. Microsoft Virtual PC (or any such emulator)

2. FreeDOS (Download the iso image. I used the base image.)

3. NASM DOS 32 bit binaries

4. ISO Recorder by Alex Feinman

and of course, instructions on how to go about building a boot loader from Hello World Boot Loader.

Here’s what I did:

1. Extract NASM to a folder, and build an ISO of the extracted folder using ISORecorder.

2. Using VPC 2007, build a virtual machine for OS "Other."

3. Build a Virtual Floppy in VPC 2007 as the instructions in the guide assume a floppy.

4. Boot the virtual machine using the freedos iso and install freedos.

5. Now, mount the NASM iso in the machine and copy NASM to a folder, say C:\NASM, and add C:\NASM\ to the PATH.

Now, you are ready to follow the guide.

I will continue my adventures with boot-loaders in the next few posts.