MediCat History:
I run a PC repair service out of my home called ReSET Computers. As a seasoned PC Technician (A+ Certified by
CompTIA) in the field for 16 years, I could never find a software toolbox that could fit my personal needs.... Until I found
YUMI, which allowed me to customize my own. That got me making multiboot USB sticks, and all was great. However, some older hardware (and picky computers) wouldn't boot from them, rendering them useless. Even the F-key boot menu wouldn't work. Sometimes the BIOS just doesn't support bootable USB sticks for whatever reason, even when set to Legacy Boot in the BIOS settings. So I made a bootable DVD variety, for those finicky computers that refuse to (or can't) boot from USB. So I created a bootable ISO called MediCat DVD in early 2012. I kept working on it and kept it updated whenever I needed to, but never thought about releasing it. The first public release wasn't until February 2nd, 2014. I had a stable home and job so I figured, 'why not?'.
The Project Objective:
My overall goal of this project is to continue where Hiren's Boot CD/DVD left off in 2012; Provide a simplified menu system that's completely overloaded with useful PC tools, be easy to navigate, and remain aesthetically pleasing to technicians. I wanted something elegant, but not too distracting. I didn't want it to come across as too technical-looking, or confusing. So I did what I could to spruce things up, within the constraints of SYSLINUX.
ISO Testing:
I periodically test my ISOs in Virtualbox and VMware, whenever I make enough drastic changes in
PowerISO UltraISO. (PowerISO 6.0 is now bundled with adware by Conduit Ltd. called "Search Protect". For this reason alone, I can no longer promote or support the use of PowerISO) I also test out the USB and DVD versions across different hardware in my home, to make sure it works across as many hardware configs as possible. All the artwork was generated by myself from scratch in Photoshop (Yes, I have borrowed and re-purposed the Nyan Cat), and all menus have been completely re-written to function as I needed them to. Constant testing to make sure the boot paths are correct takes a large part of my time, but is always necessary.