need autorun disk help please

[seraph00]

Hello, I'm working on a project to get a set of CD's put together(I would use DVD's but I don't have and can't afford a DVD burner as of yet). The project is a collection of all my old floppy and similar medium PC games all onto an autorun CD. I have found a few good freeware programs for writing basic autorun files so far. At the moment, i'm making some decent progress on getting them done. I'm even including a copy of DosBox and similar files for making a good ease of use when the CD set is done.

My first question;

I have a handful of pdf format game manuals, and i'd like to include them, along with their walkthroughs on the CD's. I'm looking for assistance with figuring out a way to get a free(or open-source) .pdf reader on the disk, that will allow a set of configuration instructions. That way, anyone who like to try out the disk, can load the .pdf reader, and have the reader automaticly know where on the disk to look for the game manual files, and have the reader also load up all of the files in a predetermined folder on the CD, so a user can just browse through any manual they like, whenever they like, and be able to do so fairly easily.

Second question;

Is there any way to make and/or put onto the CD a set of configuration files that will direct programs on the CD how to behave? What I mean, as example, is a stored configuration file, that would set a few default options for an emulator(i.e. like DosBox), including the location of the stored game files. That way I just have to, for example, load DosBox, and it will automaticly load up to the correct directory that the game files are in.

Third question;

In the case of DOS or similar games, is there any sort of software that will make bootable CD's, that will include the necessary files to boot up a system, but instead of booting to Windows, have the computer boot off of the CD to a pre-configured GUI of some sort that would allow a basic menu to choose through Emulators to use and the games to run from them, without having to load Windows or install anything? I've read that it is possible to run the entire Linux OS from a CD(like Knoppix), so i'm curious if there is a way to setup a DOS and/or Windows CD so that it can do something similar. That way I can just boot from my CD, and without needing to load Windows and all its resource hogging systems, be able to just directly go into the games part of the disk. The idea being, that whenever i'm done playing, I can just restart my computer without the CD in the drive and go into Windows normally. This might be a bit of a stretch to make happen, but I am curious if it is possible, and if so, how?

Fourth and final question;

Is it possible to make a page that loads from an auto-run CD that will load in HTML in a web browser? Then after that, be able to browse through the CD much like looking at different "links" on a website? This would seem to me to be quite an efficient way to load information for a user to look at and read through. As example, a user can put the disk in, then an HTML page auto runs in their web browser, allowing them to easily access installation instructions, configuration instructions, and troubleshooting information. This would also be nice, since a lot of game walkthroughs online are simply in text file format. It would save having to load a new instance of notepad for each and every different game walthough you'd want to look at.


I'd appreciate any help anyone is willing to give on getting this project done that i'm working on. Feel free to email me anytime, or reply to this post, or to instant message me if you'd like to offer, tips, hints, advice or instructions on how to go about any of these things. Thanks for your time.

[snafu099]

Yes there is a program called Barts Pe builder that is free that will create a bootable cd/dvd with a working xp envioment. You can add other files and folders and there are many plug ins available.

As I read it, the intent is to create an alternative boot-disc for xp systems.
It may take some reading and trial and error but I think it should do what you want

http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/#faq