ARM Club 3/TheARMClub_PDCD3.iso/hensa/pc/armedit_1/Docs/QuickStart

Text File | 1997-12-06 | 8KB | 171 lines

File        : QuickStart
Date        : 07-Dec-97
Author      : © A.Thoukydides, 1997
Description : A quick introduction to installing and using the ARMEdit suite.


INTRODUCTION

This file explains how to get the ARMEdit suite up and running quickly. More
experienced users may prefer to read the other documentation files for
greater control over how the software is installed and configured.

It is assumed that you know how to use the mouse and windows environment on
your RISC OS computer. If this is not the case then please read the Welcome
guide which came with your computer before continuing.


PREPARATION

The ARMEdit suite requires either a version of the PC front-end software 1.87
or above, or any version of Acorn's software emulator. Better performance
will be obtained if PCPro (!PC version 2.00 or higher) is used. The version
number is displayed in the Info window from the icon-bar icon. See the
Docs.Contacts file for details of obtaining upgrades.

The rest of this file assumes that a PC card (Risc PC second processor or
podule) is being used.

The !ARMEdit front-end also requires copies of the Acorn Toolbox modules.
These are already present in RISC OS 3.6 and above, but must be placed in the
!System directory on older machines. See the Docs.Contacts file for details
of where to obtain them.


INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE

The first step, unless it has already been performed, is to copy the
"!ARMEdit" application to the computer's hard disc. A good choice of location
is to use the same directory as used for the PC front-end software. If the
software was distributed compressed then it must also be decompressed before
use.

Start the front-end by double-clicking SELECT on the "!ARMEdit" icon in a
directory viewer. If the software has not previously been configured then the
installer window will automatically open. Interactive help is fully
supported; use Acorn's !Help application to obtain information about the item
under the mouse pointer. This may be started by clicking on the HELP icon at
the bottom of the installer window.

Follow the prompts to configure the main options. Click CONTINUE to advance
to the next stage after making any changes required. The following values
will be requested:

    Application paths   The path for the PC card front-end software and
                        configuration tool are required. These are used when
                        the multiple configurations option is used. If the
                        PC front-end has been "seen" by the filer then these
                        fields should already be correctly filled, otherwise
                        simply drag their icons over the "drop icons" to set
                        the correct paths.

    DOS partition path  The path for the PC partition. This will normally be
                        an image file called DriveC. If a direct SCSI device
                        is being used then specify the RISC OS path of the
                        root directory, e.g. "SCSI::4.$".

At this stage the configuration will be stored for later use, and a prompt is
displayed to allow either a standard or custom installation of files into the
DOS partition. Unless you know what you are doing it is advisable to click
CONTINUE to automatically perform a standard installation.

After a brief pause a window should be opened stating that the installation
has been successfully completed. At this point all the features of the
ARMEdit suite should be available for use.

Read the Docs.FrontEnd file for details of how to change the configuration or
install other components.


MODIFYING CONFIGURATION FILES

The CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files in the PC partition require
modification to inform DOS about ARMEdit. These files may be edited using a
RISC OS editor, such as !Zap or !Edit, or from a DOS or Windows editor.

Load the C:\CONFIG.SYS file (CONFIG/SYS from the top level directory of your
PC partition) into your chosen editor, and add this line to the end:

    DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\3RDPARTY\ARMEDIT\ARMEDIT.SYS -long -write ADFS::4.$

If you are not using Windows 95 then omit the "-long" keyword. The final path
"ADFS::4.$" should be changed if you main harddisc is not an ADFS one. When
finished, save and close the file. See the Docs.Device file for more details
of the available options.

Next load the C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file (AUTOEXEC/BAT from the PC partition) into
the same editor. You should find a line that begins with "PATH=". Append
";C:\DRIVERS\3RDPARTY\ARMEDIT" to the end of that line. Save and close the
file when finished.


STARTING THE PC CARD

If the standard installation process described above has been completed then
ARMEdit should be ready for use.

Firstly ensure that the "!ARMEdit" icon (a grey PC with an !Edit style pen
over the top) is shown on the iconbar at the bottom of the screen. If it is
not presend then double-click SELECT on the "!ARMEdit" icon in a directory
viewer.

Click MENU over the "!ARMEdit" icon on the iconbar to display the main menu.
Select the "PC card" option to start the PC front-end. This will use the
current configuration. However, ARMEdit allows multiple configurations to be
defined; these will be listed on the sub-menu.


COMMAND LINE UTILITIES

ARMEdit includes several command line utilities for use from DOS. If you are
not at a DOS prompt then obtain one, e.g. from Windows double-click on the
MS-DOS Prompt icon.

Type "OSCLI /?". This should display limited help about the OSCLI command.
The other utilities supplied as part of the ARMEdit suite also display help
information if "/?" is used.

As indicated by the displayed help, the OSCLI command allows RISC OS
*commands to be executed. Try typing "OSCLI CAT" to display the contents of
the current RISC OS directory. Experiment with other commands and the
different command line switches. However, be careful - do not try starting
another application (such as BASIC) without using the "/T" switch. Failure to
do this is likely to crash the computer.

The other command line utilities are:

    ARMEDIT     This command allows DOS text files to be edited using a
                RISC OS editor such as !Zap or !StrongEd.

    GETFILE     This is similar to the utility of the same name supplied with
                Acorn's software emulator, allowing RISC OS files to be
                copied to DOS.

    PUTFILE     This is similar to the utility of the same name supplied with
                Acorn's software emulator, allowing DOS files to be copied to
                RISC OS.

Read the corresponding documentation file for details of how to use these
commands. Alternatively try running them with "/?" added to the end of the
command line to obtain a description of their parameters.


DEVICE DRIVER

If it has been installed correctly, the ARMEDIT.SYS device driver should be
loaded, and one or more extra drive letters will be available. On a system
with only a single hard disc partition the first drive letter used by the
device driver would be D:. Try looking at the contents of each of the drives
in turn; one should show files from a RISC OS hard disc.

The device driver only allows the files to be read. Any modifications made
from the PC are stored in memory; they do not affect the original files. To
copy changes back to RISC OS it is necessary to use the PUTFILE command.


OTHER FEATURES

This guide has only skimmed the surface of the ARMEdit suite. For more
details read the relevant sections of the documentation, e.g. Docs.FrontEnd
for an explanation of the other features offered by the front-end, or
Docs.Module for more technical details about the ARMEdit module itself.