Re: [Suggestion] LILO-like direct menu item access && scripting

[Marc-Jano Knopp]

On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 at 21:48 (+0000), Marco Gerards wrote:
> Marc-Jano Knopp <address@hidden> writes:
> > On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 at 17:33 (+0000), Marco Gerards wrote:
[...]

I see that the whole problem is a misunderstanding about what we
mean by LILO menu mode - I'm sorry if I explained it too ambiguously
and I will hereby not just clarify, but simplify this issue *a lot*:


In GRUB, one should be able to move the selection bar absolutely
to a specific menu item by means of hotkeys (or "hotstrings").

I propose to have the single-letter command 's' (I hope it's not
bound yet) for choosing a specific menu item by hotkey.

Usage:

  1. Hit 's'
  2. Hit hotkey of wanted menu item (e.g. 'l' for Linux)

  The wanted menu item is now selected (not executed).

If one wants to use "hotstrings" to select a specific menu item,
step 2 needs pressing [Return] after entering the string.

That's all!

Now *that* should be easy to code (for a GRUB developer :-).


[...]
> >> But it would be nice, IMHO, if it was clear which entry has which
> >> hotkey.  Perhaps the title can be followed by the key in some
> >> different color or so?
> >
> > Hmm... I think the other way round would be nicer, as that's the
> > usual way to do it (and everything is naturally aligned nicely then).
> > (I think in LILO menus the order is the same, i.e. first letters, then
> > name of the menu item).
> 
> The other way around?  Can you describe that please?

Suggested way:

  menuitemtitle1 hotkey1
  menuitemtitle2 hotkey2
  menuitemtitle3 hotkey3

My (and LILO's (and Carlito's)) way:

  hotkey1 menuitemtitle1
  hotkey2 menuitemtitle2
  hotkey3 menuitemtitle3

I guess a run-time-interpreted format string for menu item formatting
would be best.


[...]
> It seems you really are looking for reasons to install windows, no?

Definitely not! :-)


Best regards

  Marc-Jano