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1
min-mem
Version 2.11
User's Guide
NOTE:
Version 2.11 includes two new program files, min-meme.exe and
min-memx.exe, which load TSRs into expanded memory and extended
memory, respectively. As discussed in the min-mem user's guide,
the min-mem.exe program swaps TSRs to your disk. To load TSRs
into expanded or extended memory, follow the directions in the
user's guide, but substitute one of these new programs for min-
mem.exe.
2
Copyright This min-mem documentation and the software are
copyrighted with all rights reserved. Under the copyright laws,
neither the documentation nor the software may be copied,
photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic
medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without the
prior written consent of Biologic, except in the manner described
in this manual. The unregistered version of min-mem and
accompanying documentation may be freely copied and distributed.
Copyright (C) Biologic 1989-1991.
All rights reserved. First edition printed 1989. Printed in the
United States.
Software License Notice Your license agreement with Biologic,
which is included with the product, specifies the permitted and
prohibited uses of the product. Any unauthorized duplication or
use of min-mem in whole or in part, in print, or in any other
storage and retrieval system is forbidden.
Licenses and Trademarks PC Tools is a registered trademark of
Central Point Software, Inc. Metro is a registered trademark of
Lotus Corporation. PC-DOS is a registered trademark of
International Business Machines, Inc. SideKick is a registered
trademark of Borland International, Inc. Homebase is a
registered trademark of Brown Bag Software Inc. min-mem is a
registered trademark of Biologic.
Biologic
POB 1267
Manassas, VA
22110
USA
703-368-2949
3
Contents
License Agreement and Disclaimer of Warranty 5
Introduction 6
Condensed Instructions 8
Installation 9
Using min-mem 11
Command Reference 12
Error Messages 15
Notes 16
Site License 17
Your Turn 18
4
5
License Agreement and Disclaimer of Warranty
License agreement
Disclaimer of warranty
License agreement The terms of this license agreement apply to
you and to any subsequent licensee of this min-mem software.
Biologic retains the ownership of this copy of min-mem software.
This copy is licensed to you for use under the following
conditions.
You may use the min-mem software on any compatible computer,
provided the min-mem software is used on only one computer
and by one user at a time.
You may not provide use of the software in a computer
service business, network, timesharing, multiple CPU or
multiple user arrangement to users who are not individually
licensed by Biologic, except that you may designate any
employee to use such products on a one employee per license
basis.
You may not disassemble or decompile the min-mem software.
Disclaimer of warranty Biologic excludes any and all implied
warranties, including warranties of merchantability and fitness
for a particular purpose. Biologic does not make any warranty of
representation, either express or implied, with respect to this
software program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or
fitness for a particular purpose. Biologic shall not have any
liability for special, incidental, or consequential damages
arising out of or resulting from the use of this program.
6
Introduction
Description
Overview
Highlights
Requirements
Contents of the min-mem disk
Description min-mem frees up memory for large programs by
swapping memory resident programs (TSRs) to your disk--giving you
instant access to up to 24 popup programs such as SideKick, PC
Tools, and Lotus Metro while using only 15K of memory.
Overview A memory resident program, as its name implies, is
installed in memory and remains there until your PC is turned off
or rebooted. Popup programs, such as SideKick, are memory
resident and can be "popped up" instantly and used while running
any other program. A disadvantage of installing a popup program
is that it must occupy a significant portion of conventional
memory that becomes unavailable to other applications.
min-mem provides a solution to this problem by individually
loading each of your popup programs and writing a memory image of
the popup to your disk. The memory used by the popup is then
released back to the operating system. The min-mem program
itself remains resident and uses 15K of memory.
min-mem acts like any other popup program. When you press the
min-mem key combination, min-mem displays a list of your popups
and allows you to select one by moving the highlight bar and
pressing Enter or by pressing a single key. A section of your
memory is saved to disk, and the selected popup is loaded in its
place. Pressing the popup's hotkey will activate the program as
usual.
When you exit the popup and min-mem, the section of memory that
was saved to your disk is restored, and you'll return to your
original program.
Highlights
min-mem can be popped up at any time, within any
application, to load and run a TSR program.
All of your TSRs are displayed in a menu and can be selected
with a highlight bar or a single keystroke.
Does not required setting aside memory for the largest TSR
like similar programs.
Compatible with all TSRs.
7
Uses only 15K of memory. Frees all memory used by TSRs.
Eliminates conflicts between TSRs and between applications
and TSRs. Enables any TSR to pop up within a graphics
program.
Requirements
IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System (PC-DOS) or
Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) version 2.0 or
greater.
Fixed disk or network disk. Disk free space must be equal
to or greater than the amount of total memory used by your
popup programs.
Contents of the min-mem disk The following files are included
in the root directory of the distribution disk.
min-mem.exe
min-meme.exe
min-memx.exe
read.me
There may also be a \freeware directory which contains
unregistered versions of our other software products.
8
Condensed Instructions
The following instructions briefly describe the installation and
use of min-mem. If you are a knowledgeable computer user, you
should be able to get min-mem working by following these steps.
More detailed information can be found in the sections,
"Installation", "Using min-mem", and "Command Reference".
1. Copy the file, min-mem.exe, to the directory that has your
utility programs.
2. Create a text file which lists your popup programs and the
parameters needed to load them. Be sure to include a path
for each TSR and its file name extension. For example, the
following would load SideKick and PC Tools.
\sk\sk.com
\pctools\pcshell.exe /r
3. Run the min-mem program and use the /f parameter to specify
the text file which lists your TSRs. For example, if the
file you created in step 2 is called min-mem.txt, enter the
command1
min-mem /fmin-mem.txt
4. To use min-mem, press the Ctrl and Alt keys simultaneously
and follow the directions on the screen.
____________________
1The file name specified with the /f parameter can include a
path.
9
Installation
Copying min-mem
Configuring min-mem
Copying min-mem The file, min-mem.exe, should be copied to the
directory on your hard disk you use for utility programs. You
should have a command in your autoexec.bat file which includes
this directory in your path so that your utility programs,
including min-mem, can be executed from any directory on your
hard drive.2 The following installation procedure assumes you
have a directory named \util in the root directory of drive C.
1. Insert the distribution disk in drive A.
2. Type [copy a:min-mem.exe c:\util] (don't type the brackets).
Configuring min-mem Before running the min-mem program, you
must create a file which lists the popup programs you want min-
mem to load. The file should be a standard DOS text file and can
be created using the DOS edlin program or any other editor or
word processor. You can also create the file by copying from the
console device as shown in the example below.
Each line in the file should list the name of a TSR, including
its path and file name extension, and the parameters, if any, you
normally use to load the TSR. The following procedure will
create a file, named min-mem.txt, that will load Sidekick and PC
Tools.3
1. Type [copy con \util\min-mem.txt] and press Enter (don't
type the brackets).
2. Type [\sk\sk.com] and press Enter.
3. Type [\pctools\pcshell.exe /r] and press Enter.
4. Press the F6 function key and Enter.
Some TSRs, such as Homebase (Brown Bag Software), consist of a
group of programs that are loaded separately. To instruct min-
mem to load several files together in memory, enclosed them with
braces in the file specified by the /f parameter. For example,
____________________
2Read about the path command in your DOS manual.
3This examples assumes ctr-alt.exe is in the directory
\util, SideKick is in the directory \sk, and PC Tools is in the
directory \pctools. If this is not the case on your system,
substitute the correct directory names in this example.
10
the following lines would load SideKick and Homebase.4
{
\homebase\hbkernel.com k=128 8 @ c12
\homebase\hbasync.com
\homebase\hbvsi.com 35k
\homebase\hb.exe z -k
}
\sk\sk.com
Normally, the min-mem menu will list the filename of each TSR it
has loaded. If you would like min-mem to list another name for a
TSR, indicate this by adding a line with the format
/name newname
where newname is the name of up to 12 characters to be displayed
on the min-mem menu. This line and the line (or lines) which load
the TSR should be enclosed by braces. The following example
would load SideKick and display "sidekick" on the menu.
{
\sk\sk.com
/name sidekick
}
____________________
4In order to install Homebase correctly, make "\homebase"
the current directory before executing the min-mem command.
11
Using min-mem
The min-mem command
Popping up min-mem
The min-mem command After you've created the file that lists
your TSRs you can execute the min-mem command. Use the /f
parameter to specify the name of the file which lists your TSRs
as shown in the example below.
min-mem /f\util\min-mem.txt
If, after executing this command, the message
Bad command or file name
is displayed, DOS was unable to find min-mem.exe. The directory
which contains min-mem.exe must be in DOS PATH. If you received
the message
min-mem : error C0006: can't open program name list
then min-mem was unable to find the file you entered on the min-
mem command line. Be sure the file name you entered includes the
correct file name extension and path. In other words, for the
example above the file, min-mem.txt, must be in the directory
\util.
Popping up min-mem Press the Ctrl and Alt keys simultaneously
to pop up min-mem.5 min-mem will display the names of your TSRs
and allow you to select one by either moving a highlight bar and
pressing Enter or pressing the letter next its name. After min-
mem loads the selected TSR into memory, it can be activated by
pressing its hotkey, and will work just as if it had been
resident in memory.
When you exit the TSR, you can press Esc to return to the min-mem
menu, where you can select another TSR or press Esc to exit.
____________________
5Use the Ctrl key on the left if your keyboard has two Ctrl
keys.
12
Command Reference
Format
Parameters
Format The format of the min-mem command is
min-mem [parameters]
where
[parameters]
specifies the min-mem parameters described in the following
section.
Parameters The following parameters can appear in the min-mem
command. The /f parameter, as described in the section "Using
min-mem", specifies the TSRs to be loaded and is required. The
other parameters are provide to increase flexibility only and are
not required. It is not necessary that you know how to use them.
/?
Display help.
/dd:path
Drive/path for paging file. This parameter specifies the
location of the paging file, min-mem0.dat, that min-mem
uses to store a memory image of your TSRs. If you omit this
parameter, the paging file is placed in the root directory
of the default drive. For example, this parameter places
the paging file in the root directory of drive D, [/dd:].
If you need to put the file in a directory other than the
root, you can specify a path also. For example,
[/dd:\private\].
/fname
Program name list. This parameter specifies the name of the
text file which lists the TSRs min-mem should load. Each
TSR should be listed on a separate line. Include a path and
a file name extension. Read the sections "Installation" and
"Using min-mem" for more information on the /f parameter.
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/hscancode
Alternate hotkey. Use this parameter to change the hotkey
that pops up min-mem. scancode specifies the scan code of
the key, in combination with the Alt key, that will pop up
min-mem. For example, the Alt-Left Shift hotkey would be
specified by [/h42].
Scan codes for the IBM PC keyboard can be obtained in any
hardware reference manual; a few are listed below.
Key Scan Code
Left Shift 42
Right Shift 54
Space 57
Esc 1
/q
Quick install. This causes min-mem to bypass its normal
initialization procedure of loading each TSR and writing a
memory image of it to disk, by using an image file that was
created previously. The image file, min-mem0.dat, must be
located in the root directory of the default drive6 and must
have been created by a previous invocation of the min-mem
command that did not include the /q parameter. It is also
necessary that, when using /q, min-mem be loaded in exactly
the same place in memory as when /q was not used.
This option is most useful when min-mem is executed by
autoexec.bat. This ensures that it will be consistently
placed in the same memory location unless your config.sys or
autoexec.bat files are altered. To do this successfully,
add the min-mem command, without the /q parameter, to your
autoexec.bat file and reboot. After min-mem has been
installed and the image file created, add the /q parameter
to the min-mem command line in your autoexec.bat file and
reboot again.
/r
Restore screen after loading TSR. After loading a TSR,
instead of displaying the message "Program loaded", min-mem
will restore the screen as it appeared before min-mem was
popped up. This is useful when running a TSR, such as an
envelope printing program, that reads characters from the
screen. Remember to press the hotkey after loading the TSR
and to press Esc after exiting the TSR to return to the min-
mem menu.
____________________
6Unless another drive and/or directory is specified with the
/d parameter.
14
/v
Don't change video mode. This parameter causes min-mem to
never change the video mode of the display. Normally, when
popping up in a graphics screen, min-mem changes the display
to text mode and then restores the original graphics mode
when exiting. Although unlikely, if min-mem is incompatible
with a program that uses a graphics mode, you can avoid
problems by using this parameter. Although the min-mem menu
or messages will not be displayed, min-mem will work the
same as usual--you just have to remember which letter loads
a particular TSR and to press Esc twice after exiting the
TSR.
15
Error Messages
already installed min-mem is already installed.
can't install The min-mem program is not compatible with your
computer system.
can't open program name list The file name specified with the
/f parameter does not exist. If you specified a path, verify
that the file is in that directory. If you did not specify a
path, the file must be in the current directory.
min-mem0.dat file not found The image file, min-mem0.dat, does
not exist in the root directory of the default drive or in the
drive and/or directory you specified with the /d parameter.
invalid parameter At least one of the parameters on the command
line is invalid. Read the section, "Command Reference".
no programs were loaded min-mem was unable to load any of the
programs specified in the program name list or none of them are
TSRs.
not enough disk space There is not enough disk space to save a
memory image of each TSR. You must increase the free disk space
on your disk or reduce the number of TSRs loaded by min-mem.
program did not stay resident The program loaded by min-mem did
not stay resident in memory and cannot be reloaded from the min-
mem menu. If the program is a TSR, then you may have omitted a
parameter which causes the program to stay resident. For
example, PC Tools requires the /r parameter to be installed as a
TSR. Read the section "Installation".
program not found At least one of the programs listed in the
file specified by the /f parameter was not found. Be sure that
the path you specified for each program is correct and that each
file has a file name extension. Read the sections
"Installation", "Using min-mem", and "Command Reference" for more
information on the /f parameter.
16
Notes
When min-mem is popped up on a screen in graphics mode,
garbage characters may be displayed around the min-mem
window. This is normal. The original graphics screen will
be restored when you exit min-mem.
17
Site License
min-mem can be licensed on a per location basis which allows a
company to use it on a network or use multiple copies of min-mem
without purchasing them individually. Pricing is dependent on
the number of copies and is very reasonable. Please contact
Biologic for further information.
18
Your Turn
We value you opinions. Please let us know what you like and
dislike about the min-mem program and documentation. We're
dedicated to developing the most innovative and useful software
available--and selling it at reasonable prices. Your support
helps make this possible.
Please send all comments and suggestions to
Biologic
P.O. Box 1267
Manassas, VA 22110
USA
THANK YOU.
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