E2B v1.A0a Beta available!

Since the last version was 1.99, the next version will be 1.A0.

So the first Beta is called v1.A0a

This version has a new Beta version of grub4dos (not yet officially released) to which the developer yaya has kindly added some new features.

We can now ask grub4dos to center the menu entries and the menu help text automatically.

Here are some screenshots:

Centered menu entries using orator_caps.uni.gz font file.

Large font + centered menu entries

Large font + centered menu entries + offset menu

The v1.A0b Beta [Edit] is available for download as a .zip file from the Alternate Download Areas.

The three new themes above have been added into the \_ISO\docs\MyThemes folder, so you can use the 'Change Themes' menu from PimpMyDrive to test them (currently these themes are number 7, 10 and 11 in the list of themes).

In the Themes, F1 has been removed because it does not fit on the screen if you use a large font.
The F7, F8, F9 and F10 menu items have been removed and replaced by global hotkeys.
Also, Ctrl+F8 will reload E2B.

You can remove the menu border, menu headings and footer text and the menu help text too if you wish by editing the .cfg file. See the comments inside each .cfg file for details.

Changes in v1.A0a Beta are:

• New grub4dos supporting centering of menu entries and menu help text (new setmenu command).
• Small bug fix to remove extra space after menu entries.
• SHORT_HL variable can be used to set the highlighted menu entry to only highlight the menu text and not the whole menu line. The background will only be visible if you specify a non-0 (non-black) background colour for 'highlight'.
• If FONT variable path contains ".f24" then 24-high fonts will be used. 
• UPDATE_E2B_DRIVE.cmd now checks in case user has renamed some .mnu files (e.g. ZZSubmenuAll.mnu).
• E2B_Editor.exe now uses 24-bit colour values for the heading and footer colours
• 3 new Themes added to demonstrate centered text menus

Stamping on the menu headings

If you have a different wallpaper for each menu (or just the same wallpaper file), then you can embed the menu heading into the wallpaper and suppress the default E2B text headings. This means you can have a stylish menu heading or even different icons for menu headings.

The heading in this menu is a 'stamp'.

I added a 24-colour .bmp HeadingUtils file and a .mnu file:

\_ISO\UTILITIES\$$$$UtilHeading.mnu

# load wallpaper

splashimage /_ISO/e2b/grub/background.bmp.gz

# stamp heading onto wallpaper (0x80 = transparent background)

splashimage --offset=0x80=300=0 /_ISO/HeadingUtils.bmp

If you add a similar file to each menu folder (including the MAINMENU folder), you can change the wallpaper at any time and there is no need to edit the background for each menu.

e.g. place the wallpaper and Heading bitmaps in a separate folder (\_ISO\wallpaper).

The 'transparent' colour value is taken from the bottom-left pixel of the 'stamp'. Any pixels of that same RGB value will not be written onto the wallpaper.

The headings and footer can be hidden by setting their position in MyE2B.cfg to be just below the visible screen area (set HEADPOS=4700 and set HBTM=4700 for 800x600 and normal font size or use 2500 if using a large font).

The .mnu file should begin with $$$$ because it must be added to the dynamic menu first before any other menu entries or payload files are enumerated and added to the menu.

See http://www.easy2boot.com/configuring-e2b/multiple-backgrounds/