Monster Media 1993 #2/Image.iso/sound2/dmpc151.zip/DMPC.DOC

Text File | 1993-07-19 | 6KB | 134 lines

                     Dual Module Player Companion
                             Version 1.51
                      (C) 1993 Psychic Psoftware


This program is CARDWARE/SMILEWARE, that is, you may distribute it freely as
long as you don't charge any fee for it and if you want to continue using it,
please send me a postcard of your hometown (or a letter with a picture of your
hometown included).  If you have any comments (gripes?) about this product,
email me at [e-mail] (I may even fix some things!).


DMPC was written as a front end for the Dual Module Player ((C) 1992, 1993 Otto
Chrons).  DMPC was originally coded just before I had to write an examination,
so don't expect miracles (not big ones anyway).  It was designed to be small and
fast rather than big and flashy.  Hopefully this will make using the
command-line driven DMP (An excellent product!) easier to use.  Now that I have
added the swapper, DMPC is bigger (but still not that flashy).


Legal stuff: If this program does anything that is antisocial to your computer,
             hey, shit happens.... and I'm not responsible.


Features: - Supports all (correct me if I'm wrong) the formats that DMP supports,
            ie. MOD, STM, AMF, S3M and 669.
          - Reads the directory much faster than ModPlay v2.19b ((C) Mark Cox).
          - Reads up to 500 music files in any directory.
          - Reads/plays music files from inside ARJ and LHA archives.
          - Mouse support.
          - Play a list of files sequentially or in random order.
          - You can use DMP or PMP (and almost any other player... but who would
            want to use anything but the best?)
          - Selection window accomodates 43/50 line mode.
          - Load/Save tagged selection.


Keys: Up and down scroll through the list of music files.
      ENTER will play the file you are currently on OR changes the directory
            if you selected a directory.
      SPACE will tag/untag a file.
          T tags all.
          U untags all.
          D delete current file.
          P plays all tagged files in order or if there are no tagged files, it
            will act like ENTER.
          R does the same as P except that it specifies random selection.
          S Save current tagged selection to file.
          L Load a tag selection from file (clears previous tagged selection).

      To move faster up and down the list you can use PG UP/PG DN or HOME/END.
      P and R specify -l so that the mods don't loop.  When your tagged
      selection includes archived files, DMPC will de-archive and play them
      one at a time (for disk space reasons) randomly or sequentially.  If DMPC
      is controlling the selection play then pressing N in DMP will not take
      you to the next file in the selection (for obvious reasons) but if you
      press ESC it will play the next file.  Press ESC twice in fast succession
      if you want to quit a DMPC controlled selection (and I mean fast!).

      If you have a mouse, moving the mouse up and down will do the same as the
      up and down arrow keys.  The left button emulates P and the right button
      emulates SPACE.


DMPC has a config file (DMPC.CFG) for the command-line switches that you would
use when loading DMP.  The format of the config is pretty easy to understand,
it's just two lines, the first with the DMP switches on it, the second with the
name of the player you want DMPC to use (eg. DMP.EXE).  If the selected player
isn't found in the path, the program will abort.


DMPC will search the path for ARJ.EXE, LHA.EXE, DMP.EXE and DMPC.CFG, if it
can't find DMPC.CFG in the path or current directory it will take -p42 -c6
(PC SPEAKER!! <--- Yech!) as default.  If ARJ.EXE cannot be found in the path,
DMPC will not search ARJ files for music files (similarly for LHA.EXE).  When a
file occurs decompressed and in archives, only the decompressed file is shown in
the list of available music.


Limitations: If you don't have EMS or XMS (preferably EMS) on your machine
             (something I would find hard to believe on a 386!), DMPC will crawl
             when you try to play anything 'cause it will be swapping to disk.

       Now stop reading this dumb DOC and go and play some music! *8)


Revision history:

    1.51 : Fixed a nasty bug that deleted non-archived files once played.

     1.5 : ARJ/LHA support added.  EMS/XMS/Disk swapper added.  Directory
           changing (for all the people who love their subdirectories) has been
           added.  STM files are now read in (but I only was able to test it on
           converted MOD files).  Use DMP or PMP according to your needs.
           43/50 line mode is used when detected.  Load/Save tag selections.
           Fixed some small bugs (some of which were bigger once I opened the
           hood to have a look at what was causing the problem).

     1.4 : Mouse support!

     1.3 : Support for 669, AMF and S3M added, sequential tagging, delete
           function.

     1.2 : Fixed a few bugs in previous releases.

     1.1 : Added HOME/END, PAGE UP/DOWN, elementary tagging, multiple play with
           or without random selection.

     1.0 : Original release.


Thanks to:

   Otto Chrons for writing DMP/PMP (ask him about DSMI).
   Robert Jung for the tech info about ARJ files in UNARJ230.EXE
   Thomas Wagner for his PD swapout routine.
   Thayne Breetzke for his advice and positive criticism.
   Bryan Kilian for helping me get DMPC from just an idea into such a popular
    program.
   Rory Freeman for various helpful routines.
   All the people who have responded so positively (and negatively?) to DMPC!


Todo:

   Add ZIP support (if asked for and if someone can give me (or point me to)
    a readable detailed description of the ZIP file format and its headers).
   Make this DOC more readable. (Anyone going to volunteer?)


   If you can think of anything else you want to see in future releases, just
   pop me some email at the address mentioned above.