different button for exit and quit?(Solved sort of, new problem)

[Bender]

is there a way in MaLa to have a separate button for exiting things in Mala and quitting Mala?

If not I'd like to request this feature

I know how to run MaLa and I occasionally accidentally quit out when I'm just tiring to get back to the main menu of my MaLa Tree
so I'm worried someone else using it might have the same problem

[loadman]

In Gui- mala exit you can disable that function

That way only using mouse can quit mala

[Bender]

I'll try that

thanks again!

[Bender]

if I do that I can't quit without seeing the mouse menu
is there a cleaner way to quit without using the exit button?

[SGT]

Alt-F4 Quits Mala.  If you use this, you may or may not want to choose a different key for Info (default is Alt).

[Bender]

ok were getting closer

thats two buttons

I need to get it down to one so I can program my mini pac to shut it down with a button press, or can you do two keystrokes to one button?

[SGT]

I was thinking the mini-pac could send a shifted combination from one button. 

[Bender]

how would that work exactly?

[SGT]

how would that work exactly?

I don't have a mini pac so I cannot tell you how to program it.  Perhaps you should PM Andy, and ask him how to program one button to produce an Alt-F4.  Its not like you are trying to send two different keystrokes since Alt is like a shift key.

[Bender]

SGT

you are a genius!
the mini-pac has a macro function so I set that up to ALT and F4 and Bingo! separate quit button woohooo!
thanks for the input!

[loadman]

SGT

you are a genius!

I agree   

[Bender]

so I have a new problem, or the same problem really, ALt-F4 doesn't execute the shutdown it just brings me back to windows
I want Mala to function in a shell so when I quit it shuts down the computer

so I think I'm back to needing a separate button to quit/shutdown

[SGT]

You have already configured Windows so that Mala is your shell instead of explorer.exe?

[Bender]

SGT,

not yet

I was going to wait till I have everything set up, that may be a while yet
when I do that when I ALT-F4 will it shut down?

I'm not really a PC person, so I'm kinda learning as I go
thank for your help and patience

Bender

[TheShanMan]

Pretty sure it will not - you'll just end up with no shell at all.

[SGT]

Does Mala's option to shutdown on exit not work?

[Bender]

It works if I have the Mala exit in GUI turned on and use the exit key (what I'm trying to avoid)
but if I uncheck that and use alt-F4 it just exits to windows

[SGT]

Perhaps you could set up a hotkey to run shutdown.exe from within Mala.  Controller>Keyboard>External Applications

Not sure if that would cause Mala problems or not by shutting down with Mala still running.


Another possible option
Mala has a way to run an app on exit.  This app will run on Alt-F4 as I just tested it on a dummy batch file.  Perhaps a batch file to run shutdown.exe -s would work?

[TheShanMan]

Mala should be fine with shutting down the system without closing mala first - I used to use the PC's power button to shut down and it worked fine (maybe that's a better alternative? I run wires from the PC's power button header to an arcade button on the top of my cab, effectively externalizing my PC's power button).

[Bender]

Mala should be fine with shutting down the system without closing mala first - I used to use the PC's power button to shut down and it worked fine (maybe that's a better alternative? I run wires from the PC's power button header to an arcade button on the top of my cab, effectively externalizing my PC's power button).

that was my thinking as a last resort
I'm sure I'm wrong but, It seem like it would damage something doing that all the time

Perhaps you could set up a hotkey to run shutdown.exe from within Mala.  Controller>Keyboard>External Applications

Not sure if that would cause Mala problems or not by shutting down with Mala still running.


Another possible option
Mala has a way to run an app on exit.  This app will run on Alt-F4 as I just tested it on a dummy batch file.  Perhaps a batch file to run shutdown.exe -s would work?

I saw something like that in the mala exit menu, it had a shutdown.exe option already there and I tried that and still alt-F4 just exited to windows

could you explain how to create a batch fie for shutdown.exe?

[SGT]

I saw something like that in the mala exit menu, it had a shutdown.exe option already there and I tried that and still alt-F4 just exited to windows

could you explain how to create a batch fie for shutdown.exe?

I'm not talking about the shutdown option already there.  Below all that is an option to run an app on exit.  The app specificed DOES run on an Alt-F4.  You could try putting shutdown.exe -s there.  I'm not sure if Mala passes the parameter -s when executing this function.

If it doesn't you could create a text file with the contents simply shutdown.exe -s. Make sure the file name has an extension of either bat or cmd.  For example, a file named shutdown.cmd that has the contents of shutdown.exe -s.  This file may should go in the Mala folder or if not, make sure you specify the path to where shutdown.cmd is located.

[TheShanMan]

Mala should be fine with shutting down the system without closing mala first - I used to use the PC's power button to shut down and it worked fine (maybe that's a better alternative? I run wires from the PC's power button header to an arcade button on the top of my cab, effectively externalizing my PC's power button).

that was my thinking as a last resort
I'm sure I'm wrong but, It seem like it would damage something doing that all the time

No, because it performs a standard windows shutdown, assuming it's configured that way. I think most typically are nowadays. I have to hold the button down for 4 seconds for it to do a hard power off.

Now that mala supports standby mode, I use my mame exit button as a standby button when in mala, which is GREAT for quick startup. You might consider that too. It just uses standard mala options, nothing special (added in 1.05). I now only use the power on/off button to turn the cab on, and if I want to do a full shutdown for some reason (rare).

[system01]

Mala should be fine with shutting down the system without closing mala first - I used to use the PC's power button to shut down and it worked fine (maybe that's a better alternative? I run wires from the PC's power button header to an arcade button on the top of my cab, effectively externalizing my PC's power button).

that was my thinking as a last resort
I'm sure I'm wrong but, It seem like it would damage something doing that all the time

No, because it performs a standard windows shutdown, assuming it's configured that way. I think most typically are nowadays. I have to hold the button down for 4 seconds for it to do a hard power off.

Now that mala supports standby mode, I use my mame exit button as a standby button when in mala, which is GREAT for quick startup. You might consider that too. It just uses standard mala options, nothing special (added in 1.05). I now only use the power on/off button to turn the cab on, and if I want to do a full shutdown for some reason (rare).

You beat me to it Shan,

All you do is cut the wires off your PC power button and hook them up to an NO pushbutton.  Tap it once to turn everything on, tap it again to turn everything off.  Hook your PSU up to a SmartStrip - everythings down - even better.

YOU NEED ATX EQUIPMENT FOR THIS!  AT does not send the shutdown command.

Just my 2c...

[Bender]

I'm working on a bartop that uses a laptop, the link to that thread is here

I'm not sure I'll be able to hack the button on the laptop or how that changes anything (as opposed to a regular PC except I will need it to shut fully down every time I shut it off)

I really appreciate all your input as I said I'm not that knowledgeable on how PC's work so all your input is really informative
thank you all so much

Bender

[system01]

Oooh, ummm, yeah... a little tougher then for a hardware hack.

[Neverending Project]

Perhaps you could set up a hotkey to run shutdown.exe from within Mala.  Controller>Keyboard>External Applications

Not sure if that would cause Mala problems or not by shutting down with Mala still running.


Another possible option
Mala has a way to run an app on exit.  This app will run on Alt-F4 as I just tested it on a dummy batch file.  Perhaps a batch file to run shutdown.exe -s would work?

I saw something like that in the mala exit menu, it had a shutdown.exe option already there and I tried that and still alt-F4 just exited to windows

could you explain how to create a batch fie for shutdown.exe?

I'm not a windows guy either, nor am I a Mala expert - but can't you assign a button press to the shutdown option in Mala? Skip the Alt-F4, and have the button just run shutdown... it will end Mala as it shuts down.

If that won't work, then create a batch file like this:
* create a text file and call it shutit.bat (OK, you can call it whatever you want.bat)
* the text file contains "shutdown -s"
* Assign a button to run this batch file from Mala. It *should* end Mala and shut down the PC.

If Mala won't shut down with the "shutdown" command, you can add a -f which should force it to close. Not sure what that would do to whatever memory hasn't been flushed, or anything.