
The E2B Menu Editor (E2B_Editor.exe or 'E2Bed')
- First, copy an uncompressed 800x600 (or 1024x768) pixel .bmp or .jpg wallpaper file onto your E2B USB drive in or under the \_ISO folder (e.g. \_ISO\Special_800x600.bmp)
- Always run E2B_Editor.exe directly from the \_ISO folder on the E2B USB drive.
- If you don't have a .cfg file, load the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file directly from the E2B USB drive.
- Note: E2B_Editor.exe does not display animations or display stamps with transparency, or the correct E2B version number or the correct value of some other special variables (e.g. %SIZE_HD1%).
- The E2B menus will display the filename extensions unless Other E2B options - No file extensions in menus (EXTOFF=1) is ticked.
- To design a 1024x768 sized menu, load a 1024x768 .bmp or .jpg first. Use 'set GMODE=1024' in the MyE2B.cfg file.
- You can also use the editor to design the CSM Menu for .imgPTN files (save file as \MyCSM.cfg).
E2B_Editor requirements
- A Windows system
- Display/Monitor size - a 1152 x 768 pixels or larger monitor is required (if the vertical height is less than 900 pixels - e.g. 768, then E2Bed will use a borderless version of the GUI). 1024x768 will (just\almost) fit and E2Bed will be usable, small notebooks with 800x600 displays are not suitable to run the editor GUI!
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For the wallpaper graphics file, you will need a 800x600 or 1024x768 24-bit .bmp bitmap file or a non-progressive .jpg file - the editor cannot use compressed .gz files!. Some .jpg progressive format wallpapers can be found here (note: Load into MS Paint and re-save as non-progressive .jpg).
Tip: 800x600 (4:3) is best - because not all systems support 1024x768, e.g. most early netbooks.
Copy the wallpaper file to the E2B USB drive \_ISO folder (or any sub-folder). You can use the \_ISO\Sample_MyBackground.jpg file provided. - E2B_Editor must be run from a writeable drive because it creates temporary files on the same drive.
- E2B_Editor should be run from the \_ISO folder on the E2B USB drive - otherwise you will not get the Language and Keyboard boxes populated correctly. The .cfg, .bmp, .jpg and \_ISO\e2b\grub folders should not be marked as 'System' or 'Hidden', so that the Editor can find them on the USB drive.
- E2Bed will accept either ASCII or UTF-8 .cfg files and will create UTF-8 .cfg files.
- Confuration files may only work with the the latest version of E2B\grub4dos.
If testing E2B using QEMU or VBOX+VMUB, quit E2B_Editor.exe first, because the VM may make the files on the USB drive inaccessible which will cause E2Bed to display an error.
E2Bed does not support Chinese/Japanese/Persian glyphs - you must edit the .cfg file afterwards using a text editor if you want non-ASCII characters to be saved in the .cfg file for the Main menu heading or footer text.If you have a low-res display (e.g. 1024x768) ensure your Windows Display DPI setting is set to the Normal setting (96 DPI), otherwise it may not fit on the display and the menu will be out of proportion.
Using the E2B_Editor (E2Bed)
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Select a .cfg file (e.g. Sample_MyE2B.cfg or MyE2B.cfg, or \Sample_MyCSM.cfg if accessing a .imgPTN image on the USB drive).
Normally, you will have aready made a \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file by copying the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file - however, if you do not have a .cfg file, just select the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file and a new file will be written when saved (either as New_MyE2B.cfg, or MyE2B.cfg if one does not already exist).
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Select a wallpaper background .bmp or .jpg file (if not specified in the MyE2B.cfg file)
N.B. THE FILE SHOULD BE LOADED DIRECTLY FROM THE E2B USB DRIVE (otherwise the path in the MyE2B.cfg file will be wrong when you save it!)
Wallpaper files
E2Bed cannot load a compressed .bmp file.
Controls
CENTREHD = 1 will cause all menu headings to be centred over each menu.
Note: E2B will set the X value of HEADPOS to 00 if CENTREHD is set, so use a HEADPOS of YY00.
Language listbox - highlight the language that you want E2B to be displayed in (languages folders must be present on the same drive as E2Bed)
- Backup the old .cfg file into a MyE2B.bak file
- Overwrite the old .cfg file with the new values (or make a new file)
- Copy all lines that occur after the line containing '-- ADVANCED MENU SETTINGS ---' to the .cfg file. If the special line does not exist, you will be warned.
- Open the updated .cfg file in Notepad for you to view and edit if required.
Notes
Draw a menu box with the mouse
24-bit colours (e.g. FF00FF)
Background colour for highlight menu entry
Note: E2Bed does NOT display a background highlight colour. It always uses a transparent background.
Centre the menu entries
# centre the menu entries inside the menu area (and centre help text under menu) - requires grub4dos 0.4.6a 2018-07 or later
setmenu --middle-align
Tip: Set the menu width as wide as possible, so that longer menu entries are not cut off.
You may also want to set the 'Other E2B Options' - set AUTONUM=0 and add a grub4dos command to turn off the menu pointer (arrow symbol):
setmenu --triangle-off
See the \_ISO\Sample_MyE2B.cfg file for more details of the configuration settings possible.
All the HEADING, FOOTER and menu help text can be removed by setting the row position to be past the last line of the menu - e.g. 4700.
set tophelp=47
set HEADPOS=4700
set HBTM=4700
4-digit colours - HCOLOUR and FCOLOUR (e.g. 0103)
Tip: If you want some text hidden (e.g. menu help text), then you can use one of the following methods:
- Use a rectangle in your bitmap background that is the same colour as your text, so that the text cannot be seen against that area of the background.
- or -- Specify the start position for that text to be outside of the display area - e.g. setting tophelp=37 for a 800x600 bitmap, will place the menu help text off-screen.
[b=blink, I=Intensity, B=background colour, F=Foreground colour]
4-digit positions - HEADPOS and HBTM (e.g. 3201)
Advanced Menu Settings
E2B Options (pwd, EXTOFF, AUTONUM, etc.)
Updating display of date and time
Displaying File Extensions in the Menus (EXTOFF)
Form control
Compress the wallpaper bitmap
Note that even though E2B will automatically decompress gzip and LZMA-encoded files, the E2B_Editor can only work with uncompressed files.
Testing
- STAMPS must be in .bmp or .jpg format (note that the E2B stamp "\_ISO\e2b\grub\E2BPlate.bmp" is NOT in .bmp format and so it will not be displayed in the Editor).
- The editor does not display the correct E2B version or display the correct value of some grub4dos variables.
- The x-position of the menu heading may also not be quite correct if centred.
- The editor only displays left-aligned or centred menu entries.
Using the E2B_Editor without needing a USB drive
Test different .cfg files (multiple Themes/Skins)
See the \_ISO\docs\mythemes folder and read the ReadMe.txt file for instructions.
This allows you to easily test many different configurations without needing to reboot each time.
Copy the $Default E2B Menu.cfg file to the \_ISO folder and name it as MyE2B.cfg.
Then add the $Change_Theme.mnu file to the Main Menu which will allow you to choose any .cfg file.
You can add more .cfg files to the \_ISO\docs\mythemes folder or edit the .mnu file to get .cfg files from a different folder.
Note: PimpMyDrive.cmd will add the Change_Theme mnu file and set up blank MyE2B.cfg for you.
If you have a large enough MyE2B.cfg file, you can simply copy different .cfg files into any menu folder (e.g. \_ISO\MAINMENU) and then select them from the menu. E2B will replace the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file with the contents of the selected .cfg file and reload the E2B menu so you can change the 'theme'.
Multiple wallpapers
You can have a different background for each (or any) of the menus - see here for details.
Configuring the CSM menu (for .imgPTN files)
Use E2B_Editor.exe to configure a \MyCSM.cfg file to change your .imgPTN menu.
- Use \_ISO\SWITCH_E2B.exe or the E2B boot menu to select a recently-made .imgPTN file
- Once the .imgPTN file has been 'switched-in' you should see a new partition on the E2B USB drive which contains an \e2b folder (there will be no \_ISO folder).
- Copy your 800x600 or 1024x768 .bmp or .jpg wallpaper file to the \e2b folder.
- Run E2B_Editor.exe (either from the Easy2Boot download folder or from the MPI Tool Kit folder or from a previously copied version).
- Load the \Sample_MyCSM.cfg file from the E2B USB drive (or the \MyCSM.cfg file if there is one).
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Set the Menu and Menu Border parameters, load a new background image from the \e2b folder, set the language and keyboard type.
IMPORTANT: The HEADING field should be cleared of all characters.
Only some of the Options will work in the CSM menu - Click on 'Save .cfg file' - ensure the file is saved or renamed to \MyCSM.cfg (not MyE2B.cfg)
- Boot from the USB drive and check the Menu looks OK
Now to ensure all .imgPTN files will use your new theme...
- Copy the MyCSM.cfg file to the MPI Tool Kit's .\CUSTOM folder so that it will be used for all future .imgPTN files. Check the set HEADING= line is blank (or delete it) - otherwise all your .imgPTN files will have the same menu heading!
- The wallpaper file should also be copied to the .\CUSTOM\e2b folder so that it will be copied to the \e2b folder in the final .imgPTN file.
See also here for details about changing the CSM menu.
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