PsL Monthly 1996 May/psl-monthly-shareware-cdrom-vol4-no5.iso/readme

Text File | 1996-04-02 | 13KB | 303 lines

                              PsL Monthly CD

> To view this file, use the PgUp and PgDn and cursor keys.
> When done, press ESC to exit this file.
> Then PSL_SHRD will run. That is the program that lets you browse
> through the descriptions of the programs on this CD.
> Next time, you can just run PSL_SHRD to skip seeing this file.

> PSL_SHRD is a DOS-based program. To access the CD from Windows,
> run PSL_SHRW.EXE by using File-Run from Program Manager's menu bar.
> PSL_DB.EXE will let you search the database of ALL programs on ALL
> CDs, in addition to browsing the descriptions for the current month.
> Run SETUP.BAT from the DOS prompt before running the Windows version.
> Run COPYFILE.BAT to copy a file from the DOS command line.

Welcome to the Vol.4, Num.5 of the PsL Monthly CD-ROM. This month's CD
contains over 900 (over 400MB) of new programs received by PsL in the
last 30 days. In addition, this month's CD includes over 200MB of files
from PsL's Communications library for DOS and Windows.

See DIRECTRY.TXT for a list and description of the directories on
this CD.


PAST CD's SECTIONS-OF-THE-MONTH:

Each time a section of PsL's library is featured on the Monthly CD, we
start with what was on the CD the last time the section was featured
and add all the new and updated programs which have come along in the
subsequent months.

Following is a list of the sections from the most recent CDs. By
getting all of these CDs, you would have every program/file in PsL's
collection. Programs for both DOS and Windows are included in each
group.

Vol. Num.
 4    5    Communications & Networking
 4    4    Education
 4    3    Words & Graphics (word processing, drawing program,
                  clip art, desktop publishing, spelling/grammar
                  checkers, hypertext, fonts, printer utilities,
                  and more.)
 4    2    Home Apps for DOS
 4    1    Utilities for DOS & Windows and All OS/2 Programs
 3   12    Home Apps for Windows
 3   11    Business (accounting, finance, general business,
                  time managers, general business, database,
                  spreadsheet, mailing list managers, and more.)
 3   10    Games and Sounds & Music for DOS
 3    9    Games and Sounds & Music for Windows
 3    8    Programming (assembler, Basic, C, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal,
                  Modula, Visual Basic, general tools, and more.)
 3    7    Communications & Network (comm programs and utilities,
                  BBS systems, programs for FAX cards, pagers, etc.,
                  plus networking pgms.)


FUTURE CD's:

Following is the schedule for the section-of-the-month for coming CDs.
Because the number of programs in each section continues to grow each
month, it may be necessary to split up one or more of the following
sections onto separate months' CDs. If this is important to you, check
before ordering.

Vol. Num.
 4   06    Programming
 4   07    Games & Sounds & Music for Windows
 4   08    Games & Sounds & Music for DOS


1. License & Warranty:

See PSL_SHRD's or PSL_SHRW's HELP menu to read the CD-ROM usage
license and warranty.


2. File Format:

All programs are in ZIP format. Some programs have installation
programs which must be run after using PsL's programs to un-ZIP the
files to your hard disk. After un-ZIPping a program, look for README
and *.DOC text files, as well as for INSTALL.* and SETUP.* programs,
for information about installing and using the individual programs.


3. Directory Structure of CD:

See the file DIRECTRY.TXT in the root directory of the CD.


4. The \SCREENS Directory

The Screens directory contains screen shots of some programs on this
CD. The screen shots can only be viewed by the Windows program
PSL_SHRW, not the DOS program PSL_SHRD.


5. RUNTIMES

The RUNTIMES directory contains run-time files required by some other
programs.


6. Problems

All the programs on this CD have been tested and should run. If you
have difficulties, write or call PsL's Tech Support department. Most
difficulties can be cleared up over the phone in a couple of minutes.
There is normally no waiting to talk to a technician.

In over two years of producing the Monthly CD, we have NEVER found
a single problem caused by a "bad CD copy". If you cannot get a CD
to work on your machine, please try it on another machine if possible.
Otherwise, please read the following Q&A's. If none of this works for
you, return the CD and we will check it and replace it if necessary.


(1.) "My machine locks up or reboots when I try to install a program."

You have one of the small percentage of systems with a CD-ROM driver
that is incompatible with PKUNZIP. To get around that problem, we have
placed a public domain unzip program on the CD. To invoke it with the
DOS-based program, run it using the syntax: "PSL_SHRD /U" (without the
quotes). In the Windows based program, select UNZIP in the window that
appears after pushing the Install button.

In Windows, you can also elect to use WinZip to dearchive files.

(2.) "PKUNZIP tells me to insert another disk when I try to unzip the
      file from the CD."

The programmer used a PKZIP flag that he shouldn't have when zipping
the program. To get around this, copy the ZIP file from the CD to your
hard disk and use PKUNZIP to unzip it to the same directory on your
hard disk as the ZIP file.

(3.) "There are no files on the CD."
     "There are no files in one of the directories."
     "I get an error trying to copy a file from the CD."

We have only had a few such complaints, but in all cases, there was
nothing wrong with the CD. Some of the users who made the complaints
were able to read the CDs without error on other machines or even when
trying later on the same machine.

We suspect that the problem is with dust or dirt in the drive or, more
specifically, on the laser lens, or on the CD-ROM disc itself. If you
do not have a CD lens cleaner, get one from your dealer. Also inspect
the non-printed side of the CD for dust or debris.

One caller took the CD out, wiped it off, put it back in, and it
worked. Maybe it was dirty or maybe just re-seating it helped.

(4.) "When I install from the Windows access program, it tells me
      FILE NOT FOUND."

Some combination of flukes in Windows/DOS cause some systems not to be
able to find PKUNZIP.EXE on the CD-ROM drive. The solution is to copy
PKUNZIP.EXE into your WINDOWS directory on your hard disk.


SOUND BLASTER PRO OWNERS:

On the January 1995 CD-ROM, we went over 600MB on the CD for the first
time and a couple of people with Sound Blaster Pro cards and CD drives
were unable to get a directory on the CD.

If you have a Sound Blaster Pro and have this problem on a future
CD-ROM, ask Creative Labs for a new CD-ROM driver.


7. Frequently Asked Questions:

(1.) "Why don't you install the programs on the CD ready to run
      instead of in ZIP format?"

There are many reasons:

 - Many programs try to write back to the directory that they
   are installed in, which cannot be done on a CD.

 - Many programmers require that their programs be distributed
   in archived format.

 - Some installation programs configure the software to the system
   they are installed on, so that a program installed on our system
   may not work on yours.

 - Because we add a section of PsL's disk-based library to the CD each
   month, there is not room to have all the programs dearchived.

 - For use of the CDs on BBSs, files must be in archive format.

Distributing the programs in archive format makes for a much neater
package, making programs easier to find. Dearchiving a program to hard
disk only takes a few seconds and by using a temporary directory, you
can easily delete the files when done.

(2.) "Are the same programs repeated on each month's CD?"

No. The \DOS, \WIN, and \OS2 directories contain only the new programs
received by PsL during the last 30 days. In addition, we put a
different section of our disk-based library on each month's CD. These
sections do repeat every eigth months, but they are updated for the
thousands of new files received during the previous eight months.

(3.) "I'm not interested in the section of PsL being added to the CD this
      month. Why should I have to pay for a CD with a section I don't want
      in order to get the lower subscription price?"

For the same reason that a magazine purchased from a newsstand costs
twice as much as the same issue if you subscribe. The reason for the
lower price in a subscription is that you agree to take every issue.

In addition, focusing on the old programs, which we decided to add to
the CD as a free bonus, is ignoring the purpose of the CD.

The PsL Monthly CD was conceived (and priced) as a way to get the many
hundreds of new programs received at PsL each month out to the public
in an economical way.

The first CD was released in July 1993 with about 350 programs on it
and sold out in two weeks. We did not start adding sections of our
library to the CD until December 1993. By that time, the number of new
programs on each month's CD doubled to an average of over 700.

Even though it meant a back-breaking amount of work to get the
additional 2000 to 3000+ files onto the CD each month, we did not
raise the price of the CD a penny. Yet some people who had happily
paid $19.95 to get the 700 or so new programs each month, suddenly
focused only on the programs on the files that they did NOT want - a
particular section of our disk-based library.

That may be because for retail sales purposes, WE have had to
emphasize the library section on the cover of the CD, even though that
is not the purpose of the CD.

Please remember that there is no other source to get so many new
programs on such a timely basis for such a low price. If you do not
have a need for a particular section of our disk-based library, just
ignore it and focus on the new programs on the CD. You only have to
use/enjoy a few programs, clip art files, sound files, etc., per month
out of the 1000+ new programs each month to more than offset the cost
of the CD compared to disk fees and download fees.

(4.) "After the PSL_NEWS program installs a file, the program sometimes
      has to be installed again from those files. Why can't it just be
      installed once directly from the CD-ROM?"

Some shareware authors have custom installation programs which create
directories, put files in specific directories, configure the program
to the user's specific hardware, etc. We cannot have multiple INSTALL
programs in the same directory and it would be cumbersome to have a
separate directory for each program, so we are forced to archive such
programs, resulting in their having to be dearchived from the CD-ROM
before they can be installed with the author's installation program.

8. Contacting PsL

Your comments and suggestions are appreciated. We are striving to make
this the ideal CD for sysops and vendors, as well as for individual
and users. We will implement every possibly suggestion which will
still allow us to produce the CD in a timely manner and which will not
degrade the CD is some other way.

If you are a programmer and want your program distributed on this CD,
simply send it on disk to the address below or if it is a Windows
program, upload it to our forum on Compuserve (GO PSLWIN).

                         Public (software) Library
                               P.O.Box 35705
                          Houston, TX 77235-5705

                           Voice:    713-524-6394
                           FAX:      [phone]
                           CompuServe: 74777,3465

Now press ESC and the PSL_SHRD.EXE program will run. (NOTE: If at
all possible, you should run the Windows access program instead.
It gives access to the full PsL database of ALL CD's and has many
search options not available in the DOS version. To run the Windows
program, press ESC now, then press CTRL-BREAK, then run SETUP and
follow the instructions.)

Once the program is running, you can press F1 for more instructions,
although the use of the program should be pretty obvious and simple.

In brief, you select a category, read about programs, and press I to
install one. The installation will leave you at the DOS prompt, ready
to read the documentation files and run the program.

PsL's installation simply un-ZIPs the files onto your hard disk.
Some programs may require you to perform a further installation.
After the files are put on your hard disk. Look for files like INSTALL
or files with README in the name or with extensions of .DOC or .TXT.
These files can be read with the VIEW program from the CD. If your CD
is drive D:, for example, type D:\VIEW READ.ME (assuming you are in
the installed program's drive and directory).

If you need assistance, call PsL's Tech Support at 713-524-6394.