** Please read these notes carefully: I wrote them for
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@AUTO Runner 2.0
@AUTO Runner 2.0
This application will load and execute all of the AUTO_EXEC files it finds on a disk (up to a sixteen file limit). If you use AUTO_EXEC utilities on your boot disk, this is helpful after any situation where a
@load "rboot",8,1
command was used, or after the use of
@rboot
from geoWizard or geoDebugger. (See WARNINGS for when
@not
to use AUTO Runner.)
AUTO Runner works with Geos 64 2.0 and Geos 128 2.0 in both 40 and 80 column modes.
AUTO Runner has been tested with 1541, 1571 and RAM 1571 drives. There's no reason it shouldn't work with other drives, but I don't have access to them for testing.
Let me be frank: some users have had problems with AUTO Runner v1.0. I probably wouldn't be releasing v2.0 at all if I didn't know that there are people out there who need it and are waiting for it. This is a fairly simple program that performs a straightforward function.
@BUT PLEASE
read the WARNINGS section of these docs!
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@Disk Search Order
AUTO Runner will search up to three disk drives looking for AUTO_EXEC files to run. The search order concept may be a bit tricky to understand, so read this carefully.
First, AUTO Runner will search the
drive from which it was run
@IF
it finds any AUTO_EXEC files, it will load and execute them and then quit.
@IF
doesn't
find any AUTO_EXEC files,
@THEN:
It will search the
other active drive
(if there is one!)
@IF
it finds any AUTO_EXEC files, it will load and execute them and then quit.
@IF
doesn't
find any AUTO_EXEC files,
@THEN:
It will search
drive C
(if there is one!)
@IF
it finds any AUTO_EXEC files, it will load and execute them and then quit.
@IF
doesn't
find any AUTO_EXEC files, it will quit.
Why did I write it this way? So that after an
@rboot
from geoWizard or geoDebugger I could just stick my boot disk in drive C and run AUTO Runner. As long as there are no AUTO_EXEC files on drives A and B, I get my standard setup back with very little fuss. On the other hand, when I'm running a "non-standard" (for my system) AUTO_EXEC configuration, I can put the AE files involved on any drive and recover them using AUTO Runner.
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@WARNINGS
AUTO Runner will
ignore
the CONFIGURE and 128 CONFIGURE files. This is because running CONFIGURE will clear an REU (hardly productive - we're trying to SAVE clicks here!) If for some arcane reason you should
rename
a CONFIGURE file, you will fool AUTO Runner, and it will execute the file. This
@will
clear an REU and you
@will
lose any files that were in it.
Don't rename CONFIGURE files
Your system will lock/crash if AUTO Runner tries to load and execute geoWizard (or GEOWIZMOVE, I think) when geoWizard is already active. AUTO Runner simply executes the AUTO_EXEC files it finds; it does
check to see what may already be running. Thus, if geoWizard is active, AUTO Runner will try to activate it "over top of itself." As Jim says in his docs: "There's no reason to do this anyways." But if you've got geoWizard or GEOWIZMOVE on one of your disks and don't understand the search order concept, you may do this accidentally.
The thing most likely to mess you up is misunderstanding the search order. Re-read that section of these notes. This search order thing was a lot easier to program than it is to explain. Remember:
A. As soon as AUTO Runner finds a disk with AUTO_EXEC files, it will abort the search, run them and quit. It
@won't
look at any other drives after it finds AUTO_EXEC files.
B. Drives will be searched in this order:
1. The drive AUTO Runner was run from. (Highlighted on the DeskTop when you double-clicked. Either
2. The other active drive. (Either
, whichever
wasn't
searched first.)
3. Drive
I recommend that you
@don't
run AUTO Runner from within the DUAL TOP environment. While it
work, the disk search algorithm gets confused if run from drive C. Also, DUAL TOP 1.5 itself is an AUTO_EXEC file, and I don't know the effects of running it "over top of itself." There is no problem with DUAL TOP if AUTO Runner is run from the DeskTop.
Actually, you're going to have to experiment with your system and the AUTO_EXEC files that you use. Programs that do unusual things with Geos (see geoWizard and DUAL TOP notes above; SuperBox is probably another) will likely give you trouble if you try to re-run them. OpenDrive_B will crash the system if it's on drive C and run with AUTO Runner. QWIKSTASH might overwrite the contents of a drive. Who knows what can happen? With so many programmers taking Geos to its limits, there
be incompatabilities.
All I can say is that AUTO Runner meets my personal needs (which is why I wrote it). I've done my best to make it work for you, too, but I can't make any guarantees. PLEASE experiment using backup disks and learn AUTO Runner's strengths and weaknesses on your system with your files BEFORE you trust it to work in real life.
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I think that I ought to note that geoWizard (to which I have referred fairly extensively) is copyright 1990 by Jim Collette.
ecause o
Thanks to a bunch of Q-Linkers who encouraged this concept and were free with their criticism of v1.0. V2.0 is significantly better because of you!
AUTO Runner is shareware: a lot of people say they want and like this program. Five bucks would prove it to me quite nicely!
Irv Cobb
909 Main St.
Union Grove, WI 53182
******************
@One who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty."
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