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Software Vault: The Gold Collection
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Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
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pcv05n09.zip
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SYSWIT.ZIP
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SYSWITCH.TXT
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1992-01-17
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*** SySwitch 2.05 ***
SySwitch is designed to make it easy to switch
between up to five alternative SYSTEM.INI file
configurations. You might, for instance, have
alternative SYSTEM.X files for use with different
screen drivers or different Windows shells.
SYSWITCH.EXE and SYSWITCH.TXT should both be placed
in your WINDOWS directory.
Before you can put SySwitch to use, you'll
have to create the alternative SYSTEM.INI files that
you'll use with it, copying your current SYSTEM.INI
to them, making the changes that you want, and
then giving them names like
SYSTEM.800 for a version of SYSTEM.INI that
uses an 800x600 video driver, or SYSTEM.NDW
for a version that uses Norton Desktop as the
Windows shell.
Next, run SYSWITCH.EXE and select the Configure
option on its file menu. Select the alternative
driver that you want to change on the drop down
list box (all five alternatives will read
"Default" the first time you run SySwitch.
Then use the edit boxes below to enter a name for
your alternative configuration, and to designate
the name of the SYSTEM.INI alternative that it
should use.
For instance, you might name one alternative:
Norton Desktop, 800x600x16 display
and identify SYSTEM.NOR as the configuration file.
SYSTEM.NOR would be a copy of your standard SYSTEM.INI
file in which you'd changed
SHELL=PROGRMAN.EXE
to
SHELL=NDW.EXE
and
DISPLAY.DRV=VGA.DRV
to
DISPLAY.DRV=VGA800.DRV.
You should create these alternative files prior to
attempting to use them with SySwitch.
Once you've made your changes on the File Configure
screen, click OK to save them (SySwitch saves
its own configuration information in a file
called SYSWITCH.INI in your Windows directory)
or Cancel to abandon the changes.
When you press restart, SySwitch deletes SYSTEM.BAK,
renames SYSTEM.INI SYSTEM.BAK, copies
the specified configuration file to SYSTEM.INI,
and then restarts Windows.
In addition, per the suggestion of Costas Kitsos,
SySwitch accepts command line parameters. Thus,
you can create a Program Manager or Norton
Desktop icon for it that automatically restarts
Windows using the system file specified on the
icon's command line. For instance, if you
launched SySwitch with the command line:
SYSWITCH.EXE SYSTEM.102
It would look for the file System.102 in your
Windows directory and use it to restart Windows.
The file specified on the command line must be in
your Windows directory, SySwitch will not look
elsewhere for it even if you specify another
directory.
Whether you use a command line parameter or select
from the list of alternative configuration files,
the configuration file that SySwitch uses to restart
Windows must be a valid SYSTEM.INI-type file, or
Windows will not run. SySwitch does some testing
to ensure that the specified file exists. However,
it is undoubtedly possible to fool
SySwitch into attempting to restart Windows with a
non-existent or invalid configuration file. If
this happens, and you are unable to start Windows,
copy SYSTEM.BAK to SYSTEM.INI to restore your
previous configuration.
Many of the routines used here were borrowed from
other applications available on the MSBASIC forum.
Specifically, the CopyFile routine was described in
the VBTIPS.TXT file, the 3-D framing routines are
variations of one used by the VBTIPS reader,
and the RestartProc routine is detailed in the
MOREAPI.MAK file. Sincere thanks to the authors of
each routine.
Paul Bonner
Senior Editor
PC/Computing
Compuserve ID: 76000,13
MCI Mail: PBONNER
==============================================
SySwitch 2.0 Version History
==============================================
2.01 Changes
Configure listbox & Lalal option buttons linked
Configure edit box text selected when they get focus
Windows directory caption bug fixed
==============================================
2.02 Changes
Fixed operation of Cancel button on Config screen
Added Instructions menu item and form
==============================================
2.03 Changes
Config unload bug fixed
Uses GETWINDIR rather than GETDOSENVIRONMENT function
Added Print command to Instructions form
Add ability to scroll Instructions from keyboard
Added ability to launch with command line parameter.
Added status-line Help text to Configure screen.
==============================================
2.04 Changes
Fixed bug introduced in 2.03 that prevented changes to
the System file specification from being saved.
==============================================
2.05 Changes
Added Initial screen to amaze and amuse during
loading process.
==============================================