2MF SHELL ver 1.1 README FILE ----------------------------- 2MFSHELL ver 1.1 is intended for use with Ciriaco Garcia de Celis's 2M and 2MF ver 3.0 diskette formatting utilities - it provides a simple graphical shell for using these programs. It doesn't replace 2M and 2MF; it just makes it easier to use them. 2M must be loaded into memory (memory-resident) before you can use either 2MF or 2MFSHELL. =========================================================================== IMPORTANT NOTICE: I make my 2MF SHELL program available as freeware. I accept no liability whatsoever for any damage or harm caused by the use/misuse of this program and supply it without any warranty, express or implied, of its fitness for ANY purpose - it is supplied as is. Before using 2M.COM, 2MF.EXE or 2MSHELL.EXE, please READ ALL OF THE ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION! PLEASE SCAN ALL AND ANY SOFTWARE YOU DOWNLOAD, OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRE, FOR THE PRESENCE OF VIRUSSES! I do apologise for any spelling and/or other errors in this text file and in my program - I have been writing these late at night :) =========================================================================== Legal stuff aside, I have used my program under both DOS and Windows, and haven't found any serious or dangerous bugs - still, I advise caution when using ANY program that formats diskettes! The rule is "there is ALWAYS one more bug". My program is FREEWARE - since Ciriaco Garcia de Celis made his program available at no cost, it would hardly be fair if I charged for my shell program. Besides, I wrote it for two reasons only: (1) I'm lazy and don't like the DOS command-line, (2) for the FUN of it ;) Be warned that it's not much of a program - because I am not a professional programmer. AND I don't intend to provide any support for it whatsoever (although, maybe just for the FUN of it... :)) USING 2MFSHELL ============== 1. Under DOS ------------ Simply type "2MFSHELL" at the DOS prompt (without the quotes). 2. Under Windows ---------------- Add the 2MFSHELL.PIF to one of your Program Manager groups and use the supplied icon (2MFSHELL.ICO). Simple, huh? The 2MF option switches are explained in Ciriaco Garcia de Celis's documentation. My program's on-line help (very limited) is largely plagiarised from his documentation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some points to note: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since the 2MF default is for making fast, safe disks, 2MFSHELL loads with the /F option checked. You can clear it by clicking on the "Clear" command button. You can override any options/ commands by editing the text window directly. In fact, you can type almost any legal command in the text window and it will be executed - it will simply be shelled to DOS. The "Dir list" and "Check disk" options in 2MFSHELL do exactly what they say they do - "Dir list" activates for DOS DIR command for the selected drive; "Check disk" activates the DOS CHKDSK command for the selected drive. The /V option for automatic sequencing of diskette volume labels is a useful feature for batch formatting operations. In 2MFSHELL, a dialog will appear with "001" already highlighted in the text window - typing anything will replace the highlighted text; hitting the "home" key on your keyboard will place the text cursor in front of the "001" highlight. If you don't select a diskette density option, Mr de Celis's 2MF program will attempt to auto-detect diskette density (at least, it did on my computer). The rest is pretty self-explanatory (I hope :)). Just play around - you can always hit "escape" to exit or cancel before doing anything stupid. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 2M ver 3.0 beta release was very kindly supplied to me by Mr de Celis and I used it to update version 1 of my shell program. Once again, thanks to Ciriaco Garcia de Celis for a powerful and useful utility. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2MFSHELL.EXE was written with Microsoft Visual Basic for DOS. MS-DOS, Windows 3.1 and Visual Basic for DOS are copyrighted to Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Nuff zed! Have fun. Grant Botes (INTERNET: grantb@iaccess.za) 25 February 1995