PsL Monthly 1995 April/pslmonthlyvol3-4utilitiesapril1995.iso/readme

Text File | 1995-03-07 | 13KB | 308 lines

                              PsL Monthly CD

> To view this file, use the PgUp and PgDn and cursor keys.
> When done, press ESC to exit this file.
> Then PSL_SHRD will run. That is the program that accesses the CD.
> Next time, you can just run PSL_SHRD to skip seeing this file.

> PSL_SHRD is a DOS-based program. To access the CD from Windows,
> run PSL_SHRW.EXE by using File-Run from Program Manager's menu bar.
> Run SETUP.BAT from the DOS prompt before running the Windows version.
> Run COPYFILE.BAT to copy a file from the DOS command line.

Welcome to the PsL April 1995 CD. This month's CD contains over 1100
new programs received by PsL in the last 30 days. In addition, this
month's CD includes over 4000 files from our Windows and DOS sections
in Utilities plus -ALL- categories for OS/2.


PAST CD's SECTIONS-OF-THE-MONTH:

Each time a section of PsL's library is featured on the Monthly CD, we
start with what was on the CD the last time the section was featured
and add all the new and updated programs which have come along in the
subsequent months.

Following is a list of the sections from the most recent CDs. By getting
all of these CDs, you would have every program/file in PsL's collection.
Programs for both DOS and Windows are included in each group.

Vol. Num.
 3    3    Home Applications
 3    2    Business (accounting, finance, general business, time managers,
                  general business, database, spreadsheet, mailing list
                  managers, and more.)
 3    1    Games (arcade, adventure, board games, card games, casino games,
                  sports games, puzzles, word games, and more.)
 2   12    Programming (assembler, Basic, C, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, Modula,
                  Visual Basic, general tools, and more.)
 2   11    Words & Graphics (word processing, drawing program, clip art,
                  desktop publishing, spelling/grammar checkers, hypertext,
                  fonts, printer utilities, and more.)
 2    9    Education (reading, writing, math, science, languages, and more.)
 2    8    Communications & Network (comm programs and utilities, BBS systems,
                  programs for FAX cards, pagers, etc., plus networking pgms.)


FUTURE CD's:

Following is the schedule for the section-of-the-month for coming CDs:
(The current CD is Vol.3, Num.4 and features Utilities & all OS/2 files.

Vol. Num.
 3    5    Words & Graphics
 3    6    Education
 3    7    Communications
 3    8    Programming
 3    9    Games
 3   10    Business


1. License & Warranty:

Run PSL_SHRD's start-up screens or PSL_SHRW's HELP menu to read the CD-ROM
usage license and warranty.


2. File Format:

All programs are in ZIP format. All of the new ZIPs have FILE_ID.DIZ
files for easier BBS use; however, some older files in the Section of
the Month do not have FILE_ID.DIZ files.

Some programs have installation programs which must be run after using
PsL's programs to un-ZIP the files to your hard disk. After un-ZIPping
a program, look for README and *.DOC text files, as well as for
INSTALL.* and SETUP.* programs, for information about installing and
using the individual programs.


3. Directory Structure of CD:

See the file DIRECTRY.TXT in the root directory of the CD.


4. FILES.BBS files:

For BBS use, we have added FILES.BBS files listing the contents of each ZIP
file directory. We have been told a dozen different formats to use, but the
format we used was the one most common to the various formats mentioned:

FILENAME.EXT --SIZE--  --DATE--  Description----------------------------------
^1                21^  ^24     | description continued.-----------------------
                               ^32

The FILES.BBS files are in the directory FILESBBS.
You can generate custom FILES.BBS files by running PSL_SHRW (in the PSL_NEWS
directory) and looking in the Files menu. (Requires Windows.)

See READ.ME in the FILESBBS directory for more information.


5. The \SCREENS Directory

The Screens directory contains screen shots of some programs on this CD.
The screen shots can only be viewed by the Windows program PSL_SHRW, not the
DOS program PSL_SHRD.


6. RUNTIMES

The RUNTIMES directory contains run-time files required by some other
programs.


7. Problems

All the programs on this CD have been tested and should run. If you have
difficulties, write or call PsL's Tech Support department. Most difficulties
can be cleared up over the phone in a couple of minutes. There is normally no
waiting to talk to a technician.

(1.) "My machine locks up or reboots when I try to install a program
      using the PSL_NEWS program."

You have one of the small percentage of systems with a CD-ROM driver that is
incompatible with PKUNZIP. To get around that problem, we have placed a public
domain unzip program on the CD. To invoke it with the DOS-based program,
run it using the syntax: "PSL_SHRD /U" (without the quotes). In the Windows
based program, select UNZIP in the window that appears after pushing the
Install button.

We have recently heard from a couple of people who "upgraded" to DOS 6.2
only to find that our Windows access program would not work any more. Because
the program is written in a "high-level" language (Visual Basic), there is
nothing we can do on that level to either cause such a problem or to solve
it. All we have been able to suggest is booting up with a floppy that has
an earlier version of DOS on it when you want to access the CD. We know this
is not a very satisfactory solution, but we did not write the operating
system, Windows, nor Visual Basic.

(2.) "PKUNZIP tells me to insert another disk when I try to unzip the
      file from the CD."

The programmer used a PKZIP flag that he shouldn't have when zipping
the program. To get around this, copy the ZIP file from the CD to your
hard disk and use PKUNZIP to unzip it to the same directory on your
hard disk as the ZIP file.

(3.) "There are no files on the CD."
     "There are no files in one of the directories."
     "I get an error trying to copy a file from the CD."

We have only had a few such complaints, but in all cases, there was nothing
wrong with the CD. Some of the users who made the complaints were able to
read the CDs without error on other machines or even when trying later on
the same machine.

We suspect that the problem is with dust or dirt in the drive or, more
specifically, on the laser lens, or on the CD-ROM disc itself. If you do not
have a CD lens cleaner, get one from your dealer. Also inspect the non-printed
side of the CD for dust or debris.

One caller took the CD out, wiped it off, put it back in, and it worked.
Maybe it was dirty or maybe just re-seating it helped.

(4.) "When I install from the Windows access program, it tells me
      FILE NOT FOUND."

Some combination of flukes in Windows/DOS cause some systems not to be
able to find PKUNZIP.EXE on the CD-ROM drive. The solution is to copy
PKUNZIP.EXE into your WINDOWS directory on your hard disk.


SOUND BLASTER PRO OWNERS:

On the January 1995 CD-ROM, we went over 600MB on the CD for the first
time and some people with Sound Blaster Pro cards and CD drives were
unable to get a directory on the CD.

If you have a Sound Blaster Pro and have this problem on a future
CD-ROM, ask Creative Labs for a new CD-ROM driver.


8. Frequently Asked Questions:

(1.) "Why don't you install the programs on the CD ready to run instead of in
      ZIP format?"

There are many reasons:
 - Many programs try to write back to the directory that they
   are installed in, which cannot be done on a CD.

 - Many programmers require that their programs be distributed
   in archived format.

 - Some installation programs configure the software to the system they
   are installed on, so that a program installed on our system may not
   work on yours.

 - Because we add a section of PsL's disk-based library to the CD each
   month, there is not room to have all the programs dearchived.

 - For use of the CDs on BB