How could I make a alternative boot?

I have a Commodore emulator that would work well with different over scan parameters to startx, is there a way of writing a config file and putting it somewhere that would first change the over-scan, then run the emulator, but it I reset the bios it will revert to the normal GUI over-scan?

just got the hang of sudo nano in command line, that is my level of experience.

thanks

config.txt is only read at boot, so you'll need to change it, then reboot before the settings take place.

I made a couple of little bash-scripts last night to make this easier, but all the rebooting corrupted my filesysytem so I lost my changes! I'll try to reproduce it for you again this evening.

I made a couple of little bash-scripts last night to make this easier, but all the rebooting corrupted my filesysytem so I lost my changes! I'll try to reproduce it for you again this evening.

Thank you AndrewS

Its so I can initiate an emulator that needs plenty of overscan but of course it would then be a nightmare to re configure it to normal for startx.

Okay...

copy config.txt to two other files

Code: Select all

sudo cp /boot/config.txt /boot/config_normal.txt
sudo cp /boot/config.txt /boot/config_emu.txt

and edit the two files to suit - one with your 'normal' overscan and the other with your emulator overscan

Create /usr/local/bin/runemu containing this code

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#!/bin/bash
if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]
then
  echo "This tool must be run as root"
  exit 1
fi
cp /boot/config_emu.txt /boot/config.txt
touch /boot/run_emu
sync
reboot

and make it executable

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sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/local/runemu

Add this code to /etc/rc.local (just before the final "return 0"

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if [ -f /boot/run_emu ]; then
    cp /boot/config_normal.txt /boot/config.txt
    rm /boot/run_emu
    sync
fi

Now when you run "sudo runemu" it'll switch to the emulator overscan settings and reboot, and the very next time you reboot after that, it'll be back to your normal overscan settings

THANK YOU

Andrew you have played a blinder, also I understand what code you included so its a win win.

I will put it in the Pi tonight, and play with the emulator overscan settings.

Glad to hear that you got it working okay, and that you actually understand what it's doing - I deliberately kept it simple
Now you've got your scripting-toes wet if you're feeling adventurous maybe you could try extending this system to also auto-run the emulator viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7192 and then auto-reboot after quitting the emulator?
(you'd probably need some kind of secondary 'marker file')

Thanks again Andrew I have put this into the I and it works perfectly, in fact when I runemu the pi will indeed reboot, if I reboot in the normal way it always just hangs and I re power it, something that does not bother me.

You should be a mod or something, Kudos

Hi since upgrading to Wheezy Beta, this script does not work as well, it executes runemu okay and reboots in the eum overscan settings, however it never changes back.

what code should I use to make a 'runnormal' command that will manually return the rebooted pi to normal overscan settings- this is fine for me.

all sorted, I made another runemu file but called runnorm, and then made it pull the _normal.txt file.

happy days!