Gold Medal Software 3/Gold Medal Software - Volume 3 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso/utils1/fl150.arj/FASTLOAD.DOC

Text File | 1993-08-17 | 17KB | 374 lines

              Fast Load - Version 1.50
    Copyright 1993 Omega Point, Inc. All rights reserved
        and Copyright 1991-2 Microsystems Software, Inc.


───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
            WHAT IS FAST LOAD ?
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────


 Fast Load (FL.EXE) is a unique productivity tool which makes maximum
 use of available EMS or XMS on your computer to provide instant
 Execution Loading of .EXE, .COM, and .OVL type files.  Additionally,
 it can cache DAT, BAT and other data files. Since Fast Load provides
 user control over which files are kept in the EMS/XMS memory it
 enhances the disk i/o even if you use disk cache programs.

 Simply put FL.EXE in your autoexec.bat file and a list of the executable,
 data or bat files in an FL.DAT file (same subdirectory as FL.EXE) or
 on the command line.  Any time that DOS (or any of your applications)
 attempts to load these programs, they will be loaded from EMS or XMS
 instead. The UNREGISTERED version is limited to a maximum of 7 files.
 The REGISTERED version ($39) is limited only by your available EMS/XMS.



                 Advantages of Fast Load vs. RAM Disk
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

1. The file sizes on the RAM disk are rounded up to cluster size
   (typically 1-2K), thus wasting on average of 1/2 cluster per file or
   more for lots of small files.

   Fast Load packs files tightly one after the other wasting no XMS/EMS
   memory. It also preprocesses the EXE header and relocation table which
   reduces the size even more (you'll find space taken is often smaller
   than the EXE file size - use /C (calculate) option to display this
   info).

2. In order to vary the number of programs stored on RAM disks, you
   need to edit config.sys and change obscure command line arguments for
   the device driver.  That requires calculation of exe file sizes that
   one needs.  Otherwise you have to allocate lots of spare space, which
   will often leave lots of unused RAM.

   With Fast Load, you just place program names into the FL.DAT file, all
   size calculation is done by Fast Load. Adding a few more programs on
   one time basis can be done on the FL command line via the /P switch,
   without even editing FL.DAT.

3. Many applications use the directory (drive) they were executed from
   to find associated data files. This requires copying of such files to
   RAM disk and back before your machine gets turned off, which can be
   unsafe in case of a system crash.

   Fast Load simulates execution from the original drive and path, thus
   the applications can properly locate their data files.

4. With RAM disk the exec processing is done by DOS which searches RAM
   drive directories, FAT, clusters, calls device driver, processes EXE
   information,...etc.

   Fast Load keeps all files in contiguous memory blocks and does no
   directory searches (it uses fast hash-lookup). By eliminating two
   layers of processing (DOS and RAM driver) as well as by preprocessing
   EXE relocation info (at Fast Load load time) the execution is much
   quicker than from RAM disk.

5. The Resident Size of Fast Load is 5K which is half or less than a
   typical RAM Disk driver would take.

6. Fast Load can be unloaded at any time to release XMS/EMS and the 5K
   used by the TSR. RAM drivers require reboot to release memory.



        Advantages of Fast Load vs DISK Cache
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

1. Disk cache uses sector granularity (1/2K per sector). This wastes
   XMS/EMS memory similarly to cluster granularity with RAM disks.

2. Disk cache has to flush its RAM buffers as the new disk i/o occurs,
   thus a large file copy will remove all previous content of the cache.
   With Fast Load you decide which files are kept in the RAM and these
   files are read from the disk only once, at load time. With regular
   disk cache, the same files may be reloaded from the disk many times
   since the cache driver cannot predict as well as you can which files
   you need more often.

3. Disk CACHE drivers add another layer of processing (cache
   management) compared to RAM disks, thus they are three layers of
   processing less efficient than Fast Load.

4. Disk CACHE drivers are much bigger than even RAM Disk drivers due to
   complexity and large tables of fast cache management, thus much more
   resident memory (or UMB's) is taken by cache drivers than by Fast Load.

5. The cache drivers are often loaded as device drivers, thus they
   can't be unloaded (to release cache memory) without rebooting.

6. Disk CACHE drivers access hard disk at low level to fill/flush
   cache.  This can easily destroy ALL hard disk data in case of any
   errors, bugs, conflicts, lockups in the cache drivers, and other
   applications.

   Fast Load is perfectly safe for the hard disk since it accesses disk
   only at load time, using high level DOS and read only access of the
   executable files.  Thus it can't do any harm in any system state.



───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
         REGISTRATION, PRICING & OPERATION
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────


 Files in the Fast Load package
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

    FL.EXE       - Fast Load Executable Program
    FL.DAT       - Example file containing Fast-Loadable files
    REGFL.EXE    - Program to Register and Unlock FL.EXE for more than
                   7 executable files. CALL Omega Point at [phone]
           $39 MasterCARD, VISA, AMEX accepted. After registering,
                   you may use this for re-register of any Updates etc.
    MTRAP.COM    - Speeds up Mouse Resetting (see below)
    LWATCH.EXE   - LOGs EXEC calls to a file LWATCH.DAT (in current dir) to
                   allow analysis of Most Frequently EXECuted programs.
                   Normally loaded only for testing unless you are the Pay-
                   Per-View type of person.
    SETFL.COM    - Use in Batch files to turn on/off Fastload as follows:
                   (SETFL +  or  SETFL -)
    FL.VER       - FL.EXE Revision History File
    MM.COM       - Display Resident Memory Map or MM X for EMS/XMS usage
    FASTLOAD.DOC - This file



 REGISTRATION
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 Fast Load (FL.EXE) is NOT a public domain program.  It is copyright
 (c) 1993 by Omega Point, Inc. All rights reserved.

 This software and accompanying documentation are protected by
 United States and international copyright and/or patent law.

 You are granted a limited license to use this software for evaluation
 purposes for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days.  If you intend to
 continue using this software after this period, please register your
 copy by calling Omega Point and obtaining an Unlock Code.

 After you have used FL for this reasonable evaluation period, you should
 either discontinue use of the program or purchase a licensed copy from
 Omega Point.  Your support is important and greatly appreciated. With it,
 shareware authors are encouraged to design and distribute new products.
 Without it, a great deal of high quality, low cost software will cease to
 be available.


 SUPPORT & REGISTRATION may be obtained from:
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

    Omega Point, Inc.
    25 Birch Road
    Framingham, MA 01701

        TEL [phone]  Sales, Registration
            [phone]  Technical support
        FAX [phone]
        BBS [phone]  1200/2400 N-8-1
        BBS [phone]  9600 HST-Dual

 Please leave any support BBS questions to username: RATKO TOMIC


 PRICING (per order basis)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 1      Copy     $ 39
 2-9    Copies   $ 29
 10-19  Copies   $ 25
 20+    Copies   $ 19
 Site License    $ 2500 (single company no re-distribution)



 WHY PAY AT ALL?
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

   *  The registered program is not limited to 7 Programs in FL.DAT
      You may have up to 250 files FastLoaded!!!
   *  You get technical support through mail or E-mail (on our BBS)
   *  Notification of updates and new versions
   *  Notification of new products
   *  Your input and ideas help shape future products
   *  You help to keep software prices down by supporting a
      distribution method which doesn't depend on expensive
      advertising campaigns.
   *  "Beg" Message is replaced with your Registration Data.
   *  /Q Quiet (no signon screen) will operate

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────


 Trial use (shareware evaluation version) warranty:

 The Shareware evaluation (trial use) version is provided as is.
 Omega Point makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied,
 including without limitation, any warranties of merchantability
 and/or fitness for a particular purpose.



 UPGRADING
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 Just copy the new FL.EXE from this archive to your operating directory and
 run you existing REGFL.exe and hit <F-10>  It will re-register the updated
 copy.



 OPERATION
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 You may unload FL.EXE (if loaded last) with a /U command-line option
 and it will release the associated memory.  FL itself takes only 3.9K
 of main memory and may be Loaded in High Memory (UMB's) with your
 memory manager.  FL will NOT load protected mode programs, such as
 WINDOWS, however, it will load real mode mode programs from within
 Windows in Enhanced Mode.  Since FL.EXE never writes to disk, it CANNOT
 interfere with FAT etc.  It operates only on EXEC and related calls to
 DOS. Other options for XMS, EMS and STATUS are listed on the FL signon
 screen.  FL will safely operate on ALL Networks as well.

 Using any text editor (yes, even EDLIN or COPY CON, create a file
 called FL.DAT in the same directory as the FL.EXE file.
 P.S. Don't forget the .com, .dat or .exe etc. file extensions

 For Example, if you are a Norton Commander Type ...

 C:\COMMAND.COM
 D:\NC\NC.EXE
 D:\NC\*.HLP
 D:\NC\NCMAIN.EXE
 REM This is a Comment line
 ; This is a Comment Line as well
 C:\UTIL\PKUNZIP.EXE

   ...more files than 7 if a registered copy...

 Note: You do not need to specify the full path if the file is in the DOS path,
       however, it will make loading of FL quicker if we don't need to go
       hunting for them. Additionally, if the full path is specified, you need
       not include the file in your PATH= statement.

 Note: You may not include programs that require SETVER device driver support.

 Note: When FL is Loading High (HMB's) it needs about 30K during initialization
       and will then shrink to 5K.  You may need to play with the order of
       High Loading to satisfy this requirement.

 Note: FL may be used in conjunction with Disk-Cache Programs. Why would you?

 Run FL /C  to check to file and list the EMS/XMS requirements without going
 resident and then run FL without any options once you are satisfied.

 THEN... Execute a program that is in the FL.DAT file and feel the difference!


 Execution-Path-Management (EPM) has been added in the 1.10 Release.  When you
 type a program (included in FL.DAT) by name or load it from a batch file, FL
 will NOT allow DOS to scan the disk directory & path prior to execution of any
 program that is referenced in the FL.DAT file.  This really saves a bunch of
 wasted time.  If you have a single executable file in the FL.dat that exists
 in many of your directories, and need it to report the current directory name
 to the application, add a /k for Keyboard after the .EXE or .COM that should
 not have its path managed.  You can also globally disable this feature with
 a /k  on the FL execution line. You should rarely need this option.

 If Scroll Lock is ON, Fast-Load if resident is temporarily disabled.  This
 will let you try new program revs of Fast-Loaded Programs or easily benchmark
 the benefits of FastLoading specific programs. The SETFL.COM program allows
 you to set/reset the Scroll-lock in batch files.


 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS (switches)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 The following switches apply globally when present on command line.
 In FL.DAT they apply only to the file on the same line (multiple
 files only if wild-cards used).

 /B  Disable BAT file monitoring (for program names)
 /K  Disable keyboard monitoring (for program names)
 /D  Disable data-access to files (only exec calls handled, not
     open/read/write).
 /T  Allow create/truncate/delete
 /W  Allow writes to files (only the writes within initial file size)
 /A  Allow file attribute check
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 /Y mm-dd-yyyy   or  /Y mm-dd-yyyy,Cnt

 This option (after an entry in FL.DAT) enables the trap for DOS
 get_date calls which fakes the system date for this application. The
 date is in US format (month 1-12, day 1-31, year 1980-2099). Optional
 argument Cnt (0..255) specifies how many get_date DOS calls to trap.
 Value 0 specifies trap active for all calls until the program exits
 (this is the default value for /Y).

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 /NW  No waiting for keys on errors during loading
 /NS  No Scroll-Lock watched (Scroll-Lock normally disables Fast-Load)
 /NV  Disables video speedup module (default is enabled except when
      ANSI.SYS or CGA were detected). The video module adds 560 bytes
      to TSR size.
 /V   Enable video speedup even when ANSI.SYS is present (but not CGA).
 /R   Reset Fast Load - closes all files opened by the Fast Load. It
      informs user how many files were closed. (This should not
      normally be necessary.)
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────


 /I  Displays more info about the files handled by FL. The STATUS
     column uses the following codes for each file:

                 d         Data access allowed on this file
                  k        File recognized from keyboard input
                   b       File recognized from BAT file access
            t      Allow delete/truncate/create
                     w     Allow writes to files
                      a    Allow attribute check
               y   Date trap is active for this program
                        o  File is open (the number after o is the
                            open count for this file). /R clears these.

                  ***       The first 3 fields are stars if file was
       cancelled due to write/delete/change size operations. User
       should remove such files from FL.DAT.





 What the heck is MTRAP.COM ??
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 We found that once we were EXECing at lightning speed that many MENU
 programs like Norton Commander and Norton Editor didn't seem to speed
 up as much as you would expect them to.  Low and behold... they issue
 a Mouse Hardware Reset Call when they re-load each time.  MTRAP.COM
 is a 100 byte TSR that is loaded AFTER you load MOUSE.COM and it
 converts all Hardware Reset calls to Software Reset calls with respect
 to the mouse thus saving a 1 second delay. We have not seen any programs
 that really need the Hardware Reset but just in case, MTRAP will sense
 the state of the Shift Keys or Scroll Lock and if either are present,
 will not intercept the Reset Call.  Our Gift to You...


 Notes to Microsystems Software, Inc (MSI) owners of FASTLOAD
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 MSI has sold the FASTLOAD Product to its author Ratko V. Tomic at Omega
 Point.  MSI has retained the right to Upgrade existing MSI customers -FREE
 to the latest revisions offered by Omega Point and your existing UNLOCK code
 will work correctly with the current revisions.  MSI also retained the right
 to sell individual & site licenses to its customer base in conjunction with
 the CaLANdar product line.  Individual Licenses should be purchased directly
 from Omega Point at the numbers listed above.  MSI can be contacted at (508)
 879-9000.