Commodore Free 5/Commodore_Free_Issue_05_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.dirmaster

Text File | 2007-01-01 | 13.2 KB | 427 lines

uDirMaster v1.0a/Style
by The Wiz

Introduction In the 21st century much
of the Commodore 64 as been ported
over to the MS-DOS and Windows world.
Disks are represented in single files
using D64, D71, D81 formats, among
others. One could boot up a C64
emulator, load a directory editor or
file copier, and edit these disk
representations or move/copy files
between them. But, unfortunately, the
Commodore 64 has many drawbacks that
don't exist in the Windows world.
Wouldn't it be easier to manage your
disk collection in a windowed
environment?

Of course, DirMaster is not the first
Windows-based GUI tool for CBM disk
image manipulation. But we feel it
stands among the very best, pushing
the capabilities again into the future
with features like: full D64, D71, and
D81 support! integrated with Explorer
via file associations/icons open
literally *hundreds* of images at the
same time fully working drag and drop
between disk images: copy or move a
file from one image to another copy
between different image formats (e.g.
d64 to d81)

move/reorder files on the same disk by
dragging them drag and drop classic
'separator' entries onto your disk
image drag files from Explorer onto
disk images to import user friendly
BAM view with track/sector view/edit;
BAM view fully supports standard
error-track extensions all the usual
directory editing capabilities... most
functions activated by keyboard
equivalents, including file reordering
and filename editing a multi-level
undo capability working just fine
under WINE for Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris
freaks As a first version, DirMaster
already surpasses... as a tool we aim
to fully improve according to user
feedback, the limits are oblivious.

Installation Install DirMaster using
the setup.exe; after installation you
can locate a DirMaster shortcut on
your desktop or in your your
"..\Program Files\Style\DirMaster"
directory. An updated, improved CBM
font file is also included in the
installation and placed in your system
fonts folder. File associations will
be made automagically, mapping all
.d64, .d71, .d81, and .seq files to

DirMaster. Making a new disk...
Functionality: New Disks To create new
blank disks (either D64, D71, or D81)
use the sub menu: "Disk->New".
Keyboard equivalents are 6, 7, and 8
respectively. The new disk function
only open a new disk image inside
DirMaster itself - at this point the
image has not been saved to disk.

Functionality: Open/Save To open
existing disk images, use the
"Disk->Open" menu item. Alternatively,
drag and drop disk images from your
file manager onto the DirMaster
window. You can drag and drop multiple
images of any type (D64, D71, D81) to
open them all at once. You should be
able to have literally several hundred
disk images opened at once, although
memory usage will rise accordingly.
Finally, double clicking a disk image
in your file manager should open that
image in a new instance of DirMaster.

As soon as you make any change to a
disk image, the image window title bar
will update with an asterisk to
indicate an edited but unsaved image.
You can save the image using either
the "Disk- >Save" or "Disk->Save As"
menu items.

Functionality: Directory Editing
Directory editing operates as a
WYSIWYG mode, allowing you to type in
a full range of CBM characters
including special graphics symbols,
although most unprintable control
codes (such as color codes) wont
actually alter the displayed the
directory (i.e. actual colors and
cursor movements). Use of the cursor
keys (up/down) allows selection of
different files in the directory
listing.

The right-click menu over the
directory display... Most operations
regarding manipulation of single files
can be found under the main "File"
menu. To edit a filename, select
"File->Rename" or simply press 'e' to
enter edit mode for the currently
selected file. In the edit mode,
cursor keys (left/right) allow
selection of individual characters.
The 'insert' key toggles character
over-strike or insert modes, and the
cursor updates to reflect the current
mode. The filename can be left or
right aligned (using the 'l' and 'r'
keys), centered ('c'), and expanded
('x', which pads the current filename
with spaces out to 16 characters).
While in edit mode, 'backspace' and
'delete' keys also operate as you
would expect.

Aside from filename editing, the file
type may be altered using the sub menu
"File->File Type"; valid types being
PRG (also set with the 'p' key), SEQ
('s'), USR ('u'), REL ('r'), DEL ('d')
and CBM. Finally, files can be locked
(the '<' key) and splatted ('*') and
the file size can be altered or
auto-sized (DirMaster will trace the
file links and set the filesize to the
actual size, if different).

File positions can also be altered by
using the mouse to drag and drop file
entries above or below other files.
For keyboard fans, files can also be
moved by holding the shift key down on
the file you wish to select, and then
using the cursor up/down keys to move
that file.

An entire file entry can be deleted by
using the "File- >Remove" menu item or
by hitting 'delete'. Note: DirMaster
will reset the BAM to reflect the
deleted file entry, but it leaves the
actual sector data intact! To wipe all
free blocks on the disk, use the
"Disk->Fill Free Sectors" item. Disk
related data including disk name and
disk id can also be edited by using
the "Edit->Rename Disk" and
"Edit->Edit Disk ID" menu items
respectively.

Please note that almost all functions
related to file and disk editing, as
well as exporting files, can also be
accessed by clicking the right mouse
button over a file entry.

Functionality: File
copy/move/import/export With
DirMaster, copying and moving files
between disk images is as easy as
dragging and dropping the file between
any two opened images. You may
copy/move files between different
image types, like from a D64 to a D81.
When a file is copied, the file is
written to the destination disk using
a standard sector interleave and the
destination BAM is updated
accordingly. When a file is moved,
after the copy is written to the
destination as described earlier, the
source disk is updated as if the file
had been deleted: directory entry is
removed, BAM is updated, but file data
remains intact.

To export a file from a disk image to
the host file system, use the
"File->Export" menu item. When
exporting a PRG file, the exported
copy retains the two-byte load
address. When exporting a SEQ file,
the exported copy will be written
using a PETSCII character set unless
the "Convert to ASCII" checkbox in the
file save dialog is checked, in which
case, obviously, the file is
translated into a standard DOS ASCII
format.

Importing a file, oddly enough, can
be accomplished with the
"File->Import" menu item. When
importing a text file, check the
"Convert to PETSCII" checkbox to
perform an ASCII to PETSCII
translation. Finally, files can be
dragged from your file manager and
dropped onto an open disk image in
DirMaster. This accomplishes the same
outcome as importing.

Functionality:
Undo
 DirMaster keeps track of multiple
undo points for each open disk image.
Use 'CTRL+z' to invoke the undo
function (or invoke it using the
"Edit->Undo" menu item). Since undo
tracks changes on a per image basis,
be aware than invoking undo
immediately after a file move, for
example, will only roll back the
change to the current disk image. To
fully reverse the move operation, you
would invoke undo once each on both
the source and destination images.

BAM Editor from a .d64...
Functionality: BAM Editor The
DirMaster BAM editor can be invoked
using the "View->BAM Editor" menu
item. You may open one BAM editor per
disk image, and you may have multiple
BAM editors open at the same time. To
avoid confusion, check the title bar
of the BAM editor window - it will
reflect the same filename as the disk
image it corresponds with.
Furthermore, the BAM editor displays
the actual disk image name and id at
the top of the window.

The BAM editor displays a track/sector
map where green represents unallocated
sectors and red represents allocated
sectors. Sector errors, if this option
is enabled (see
"Disk->Extensions->Sector Errors"),
will be displayed as an overlayed
number corresponding to the CBM error
code (e.g. 23 for checksum error). The
BAM editor will look slightly
different for each different image
type, varying by both the number of
tracks (represented as rows) and
sectors (represented by tracks).
Otherwise all BAM editor operations
work identically across image types.
In the BAM editor, right clicking will
ordinarily toggle the status of the
sector in the BAM between allocated
and unallocated. The exception to this
is when the Sector Errors option is
turned on.

Then, right clicking brings up a
context menu that allows you to toggle
an individual sector as well as allow
you to set a disk error (one of 20,
21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29) on the
selected sector. Note: Disk images
with sector error information can have
two possible formats: one in which
error is represented as a byte whose
value corresponds to the actual error
number (e.g. 23) and one in which the
error is represented by some other
format specific code value. DirMaster
will support reading of either
version. To write disk images in the
former mode, turn on the
"Disk->Extensions->Write Error
Numbers" feature. To write disk images
in the latter mode, turn that feature
off.

The BAM editor may also be invoked by
using the "Edit BAM" icon in the
toolbar immediately below the main
menu.

Functionality: Sector Editor To invoke
the sector editor, simply click a BAM
entry (a green or red disk
corresponding with a given track/row
and sector/column). A sector editor
opens up, which like the BAM editor
will reflect the disk image file name
in it's title bar. The operation of
the sector editor is
fairlystraightforwardd... use the
cursor keys to navigate and select
individual bytes; then change the
value or the byte. Editing can be done
on either the left hand side hex
representation (which accepts valid
hex input) or on the right hand side
PETSCII representation, which allows
any PETSCII value.

Note: changes are taken immediately -
there is no "save" option in the
sector editor. However you may use the
undo function to rollback multiple
consecutive changes.

Press the 'j' key (or 'Alt-Down') to
follow the current sector's 'next
track/sector' link, if it is valid;
'Ctrl- Right'/'Page Up' and
'Ctrl-Left'/'Page Down' increment and
decrement the sector; 'Ctrl-Down' and
'Ctrl-Up' increment and decrement the
track; 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' will
move to the previous or next sector;
finally, 'Alt-Left' and 'Alt-Right'
will swap the cursor between the
current hex and PETSCII byte.

CBM Tool... Functionality: CBM Tool
The CBM Tool, invoked using
"View->Show CBM Tool", displays an
entire set of CBM characters. Use the
CBM tool when editing a filename, disk
name, disk id, or sector to
insert/over-strike characters: while
editing, click a character in the CBM
tool and this has the same effect as
if you typed it using the keyboard.

The CBM Tool may also be toggled
on/off by using the "Show/Hide CBM
Tool" icon in the toolbar immediately
below the main menu. Functionality:
Separator Tool The Separator Tool,
invoked using "View->Show Separator
Tool", provides a collection of common
directory file names which provide the
typical 'separator' style directory
entries that became so ubiquitous
among scene releases. While the
Separator Tool is open, you may drag
entries from it onto disk images to
place separators in the directory. You
may also edit entries on the Separator
Tool by right clicking the mouse over
any entry. You can move entries up and
down to reorder the list; you can edit
individual entries in place, you can
delete entries, and you can add new
entries. All changes you make will be
saved for the next time you use
DirMaster. The right-click menu over
the Separator Tool... The Separator
Tool may also be toggled on/off by
using the "Show/Hide Separator Tool"
icon in the toolbar immediately below
the main menu.

Functionality: Miscellaneous SEQ files
can be viewed by selecting a SEQ file
and pressing the 'v' key, by selecting
the "File->View File" menu item, or by
invoking the same item from the right
click context menu. On most windows
including disk images, SEQ files, and
the sector editor, the CBM character
set case can be toggled using
"View->Toggle Case" or by clicking the
"Toggle Case" icon in the toolbar
immediately below the main menu. While
selecting a file on a disk image,
press the 'j' key or select the "Jump
to Sector" item in the right click
context menu to immediately open the
sector editor and jump to the first
sector of the selected file.

Extensions menu... Extended track disk
images can be loaded and saved when
the "Disk->Extensions->Extended
Tracks" feature is enabled. With
extended tracks, a D64 image with
tracks 36 to 40 can be manipulated and
saved. However, other than direct
sector and BAM editing, the extra
tracks are not currently supported
when copying/writing files.

Credits and Contact DirMaster was
coded by The Wiz/Style with testing by
the entire Style crew. Please find
contact information on the About panel
inside the app, or leave us feedback
We would greatly value your input as
to future versions of this tool - let
us know what you want!

http://www.style64.org/index.php?cid=r
ele.dirmaster

Tried to email the website in order
to be able to print this information
but received no reply

...end...