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Monster Media 1996 #15
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Monster Media Number 15 (Monster Media)(July 1996).ISO
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pcbmas14.zip
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PCBMASTE.NEW
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1996-05-22
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May 21, 96 Version 1.4
- i took the "newer than 30 days files" (* mark into column 33) feature
out from the allfiles generator. I regret to tell while that was a very
nice feature into the piece of software, it leaded to so many problems
i had to disable it. Meantime i finally solved the bug of the scrambled
output int area 1 of the file list. Despite to this, i introduced a
lot of bells and whistles that will make you forget the "newer than
30 days" feature rapidly.
- during final compilation i left a flag counter commented out into the
source. PCBmaster outputted the 1st area as area #0 with 0 files and 0
bytes. Fixed.
- changed the configuration files format. It uses non case sensitive keywords
now and this is *error-proof*. See the included samples for details.
- PCBMaster can now output the summary of file directories to either a Ascii
or a PCB Color coded bulletin. The colors into the PCB Out bulletin are
user-customizable.
- PCBmaster can now include Public Upload directory into the output master
file list. This feature can be turned off and on by enabling its relative
keyword (PublicUpload) into config file. If one Upload directory field
is blank in PCBSetup it will be skipped and the software will loop to
the next instruction.
- Reduced the amount of memory required by taking out unused variables and
constants and introducing Pointers to dinamically allocate and
deallocate the various elements during process. As an example, the
allocation of a directory name required 256 bytes while now it requires
4 bytes only. PCBMaster should now require no more than 100-120Kb RAM.
- When running under Multitaskers such as OS/2 or Desqview, it now
takes up timeslices and releases them when it not needed. Useful for
processing very huge conferences.
- PCBMaster now reads data from CNAMES.@@@ instead of DIR.LST - this is more
user friendly! And i'll be able to implement a multioutput configuration
file (more than one master file list at once) much more easily for future
releases.
- Included PCBTOT.EXE - this cool utility will read any number of conferences
you specify and will make one ascii and one pcb colour-coded bulletin
which shows the total number of files on your system! It runs at light
speed and is able to read data from CNAMES.@@@ as well.
- Included PCBHEAD.EXE - this cool utility will read any number of conferences
you specify and will make one colorized header per each file directory
which shows the total number of files and bytes being there!
The header will be included on top of the file directory as a
PCBoard %FILESPEC directive (Ex. C:\PCB\GEN\DIR1.HEA). It will leave
any other include file, any other canned screen and any !ppe directive
at its own place. You may choose the header type same way than you do
with PCBMaster.
It runs at light speed and is able to read data from CNAMES.@@@ as well.
There are a couple of recommendations:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
PCBHead always needs to rewrite the directory files from scratch. Therefore
**YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVICED TO MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR DIRECTORIES DESCRIPTION
FILES** prior to run it for the very first time. Although i massively tested
it on my system, on more than one machine under two different OSs, and though
i provided it with intelligent routines which halt it and save the old
directories files automatically in case of errors there can be the
eventuality of failure on somebody else's machine. Remember, the
software is provided as is!
Don't, i repeat don't use extensions for your directory descriptions files!!!
(e.g. C:\PCB\GEN\DIR1 = correct C:\PCB\GEN\DIR1.BBS = wrong). As of now
the software is not extension-aware and file extensions might confuse it.
This might lead to garbage on your disks (such as lost clusters or cross
linked files), and unpredictable results on file systems supporting
long file names (such as hpfs or ntfs).
Though i optimized it as best as possible, the software does extensive
file I/O operations, many more than PCBMaster and PCBTot. Therefore an
adequate amount of cache memory is adviced.
- I made a DOS DPMI version of all programs: they use optimized instructions,
need at least a 286 to run and can use up to 16Mb of RAM. These are
available for registered users only.
Currently working on:
- RIP Graphics support for output bulletins.
- starting to implement filefind (response to requests to Allfix in Fidonet
Echoes) and Tic forwarding capabilities. This is a rather serious task,
though.
- making PCBHead extension-aware.
- definable coulours for headers generated by PCBHead.
April 28, 96 Version 1.3
- A new header type as been added. Here it is:
╒═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
│▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀ Central Park Communications ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀│
│▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀ Area 1 ■ BBS List ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀│
│▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀ Files.: 9 Bytes.: 899,280 ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀│
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
File Name Size Date File Description 04-23-96 at 23:41
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
I don't like it very much however. If you want it set header type to
7 into cfg files.
- with header type 4, the kbytes count was divided by 1000. Fixed.
- when you change header type and if the first line of input dir is not
a standard file-name, then the 1st line will be included twice. This
bug is very hard to track. Meantime just relaunch the software and
the problem is going to disappear (Murphy law?).
- the plethora of functions and loops i've been added slows down the
software. Therefore, i have let it allocate a 8 kb RAM buffer for each
dirfile being processed. The speed has being returned as fast. This
buffer is static whatsoever: if you have very huge dirfiles (like 200kb
or more) and the speed is slow, please let me know so i will make it
dynamic (like an environment variable and so on).
- during generations of allfiles list PCBMast will show files newer
than 30 days in this manner:
DONATEB3.RAR 6562 07-19-95 A PPE to nag the callers to support your BBS
DOSCAN10.ZIP 3955 03-11-96 *DOSCAN.PPE V.1.0 - A very simple and dirty
utility to get your Fido or QWK mail scanner
to scan new messages automatically as a user
enter a message, either by writing on line
or by posting a QWK reply packets. It suits
well with all mailers and tossers and it is
multiline aware. Freeware for you by FidoNet
2:332/611.0!
A * will be written at column 33 as per each file newr than 30 days.
Currently working on:
---------------------
- extension of my QuickParse algorythm - it will become a real and
complete library of lightning speed functions and procedures,
specially optimized for PCBoard random access files handling. That will
allow me developing of powerful PCB 3rd party applications in
no time flat. I'm also putting my eye on Delphi Pascal v.2
and i'm evaluating some OS/2 compiler just to be ready to
port these 3rd party apps. to upcoming PCBoard Genesis for
Win32s and OS/2. I'm thinking to donate my PCB QuickParse
library to public domain when it'll be ready, as well.
- an improved configuration file format, with keywords to choose.
It will be much more error-free.
- Custom headers creation by end-users.
- Colorized Headers output routines for file directories are over and
are in the final beta stage. For speed reason as well as for
a-hard-to-find and unexplainable bug which gives troubles to master
file list formatting, i had to group them into a separate executable.
The processing speed is very high when run alone. It will be included
into the next release as a bonus for PCBMaster registered users.
- capabilities to include %FILESPEC external files into the
output master list, stripping the ATX Codes (easy, thanks to
QuickParse <g>). The code will be smart enough to skip headers
created by the header output program.
- ability to process more than one dir.lst at once. This is as as easy,
just needs one more loop into the software.
- due to a too lightly written piece of code into a library, i think
there will be mistakes in determining new files when we'll reach
the end of this century. Currently working it out.
April 18, 96 Version 1.2
- it is just version 1.1a with some cosmetic bugs fixed, 1 more header
added (they are 6 now, see DOCS for details) and ready for distribution.
April 17, 96 Version 1.1a
- this is a bugfix release. A wrong typo repeated the initial screen
unregistered delay for any directory being processed. Arghh! Me
stupid! Unfortunately i realized it only when it had been
distributed already. It is fixed, just a brief delay at startup
in unregistered mode. It plays Hitchkok theme, amusing.. :-)
- i finished the QuickParse algorythm so that now @X codes are being
stripped in no time flat. It is entirely done in Assembly.
- when using header type 1 the list wouldn't be properly formatted.
The last file in file list was put twice (at beginning and end).
Fixed.
- 1 more header type has been added. Under a friend's suggestion, i
included a traditional looking header. No IBM-PC characters as the others
Set header type to 5 in configuration files:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Central Park Communications
Area 1 - Modem Utilities
1,455kb in 20 files
File Name Size Date Description of File Contents
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
when using this header type, no ASCII>127 characters are written anywhere.
I'm rather willing to think this old style sucks but then i must be
diplomatic with people <g>;
- the program would not strip out ! lines (directive to include a PPE into
the dirfile. I only realized it now :-) Fixed. The code is also smart
enough
- as stated on docs i have so many ideas in my mind. So i begun to wrote
routines to extend this program's capabilities. The first one will write
coloured headers for the users to see when browsing through bbs file
directories and writes automatically the path to that header into the
directory file using pcboard directive %filename.est - the header style
is the same than the one used for file list - it just contains PCBoard
@Xcodes. I finished already writing it and it is inside the code but at
the moment it's disabled and i don't hurry to enable it. This procedure
is very critical and i want to make sure it working 100%, without
damaging one's whole file base. Up to now no problem on my BBS but i
want to optimize its speed with a couple of ASM procedures as well.
I'm also thinking of giving the opportunity to write Download counters
(facoltative because this will drop the speed very much).
April 16, 96 Version 1.1
- totally rewrote the i/o routines in Assembly language. The processing
speed is now 100% faster. I still use Pascal functions for calculation
purposes.
- added the ability to choose between 4 different file directories headers
types.
- though the code is pretty fast, it falls down when it has to strip
the PCBoard @X colour codes. I'm implementing a very fast algorythm
called QuickParse to work it out.
March 19, 96 Version 1.0
- 1st official release
- added new files list generation capabilities
- the code is slow and unreliable anyway
January 16, 96 Version 0.1
- the very first release is ready - never went out
November 1995
- begun to wrote the code form scratch