Welcome to the February CD-ROM from ASP! News items for this month: First, this is the issue where Author and Publisher Members who have not renewed their memberships for 1995 are listed. You can find the list of author and company names in the file DROPAUTH.LST - located in the root directory of this disc _and_ in the \BBSVEND directory. The files that were on the CD-ROM disc by these authors have been removed, and they are listed as part of the monthly DROPS.TXT list in the \BBSVEND directory. Reminder - the DROPS.TXT file shows files that have either been removed at the request of the author (likely due to an update or new release) as well as the files by authors who have not renewed. As usual, it would be best to try to find out why these files have been dropped and update your libraries, file listings and catalogs appropriately. In the "friendly reminder" category, don't forget the ongoing Annual Meeting if you're not active on CompuServe. Revised proposal texts and ballots will be mailed soon... NOTE - Once again, the ASPBBS.EXE utility has been updated. The bug that caused file descriptions to be off by one space should now be fixed. SORRY! ڿ USING THE ASP BBS UTILITY PROGRAM To start the ASP BBS Utility Program, which creates listings of the files that are available on the CD-ROM, type GOBBS and press ENTER. This will start up the BBS Utility package. From that point, simply follow the prompts in the program itself and it will guide you through the steps necessary to create listings of the files on this CD-ROM disc, in almost any format that you need or can imagine. As usual, there's a *.BBS file in each directory. PLEASE BE SURE TO NOTE that if you have saved an old configuration file from the previous CD-ROM software, the new BBS Utility program can read in the default information and use it to create your file listings. If you have written your own customized software to process file listings, then I will apologize in advance, because that software WILL NOT WORK with this CD-ROM disc. Contact me and I'll give you the file format specifications so you can correct your software. ALSO NOTE - if the default settings worked for you before, there's a time- saving bonus for you. In the \BBSVEND directory, you'll find: PCBLNG.ZIP Long-format listings for each file area (*.BBS) PCBLNG-D.ZIP Long-format listings of CHANGED/NEW FILES (*.BBS) PCBSHR.ZIP Single-line listings for each file area (*.BBS) PCBSHR-D.ZIP Single-line listings of CHANGED/NEW FILES (*.BBS) ڿ USING THE ASP BROWSER UTILITY For simply viewing and copying files, run the GOBROWSE batch file, which will start the ASP CD-ROM Browser program. Each display in the program has a built-in help facility - pressing F1 (in some cases you may have to press F1 then ENTER if the help screen doesn't pop up) will bring up detailed help on using the ASP CD-ROM Browser. Briefly - The UP and DOWN ARROW keys move back and forth between the file categories. The LEFT and RIGHT ARROW KEYS move back and forth between the products listed in each category. F3 will start a search for a word or phrase in the filename or description fields of any product, displaying matches one at a time. F4 starts the file copy routine (from ANY file display screen) to copy the current file to another disk, drive or directory. F5 turns ON or OFF (default is OFF) the ability to display only those files that have CHANGED since the LAST CD-ROM disc. If you have this turned OFF, then each new/updated file will have a "NEW/UPDATED SINCE LAST CD!" label on the display screen. F10 exits the program, and F6 allows you to set colors and options. ڿ ABOUT THE DROPS.TXT FILE: On this month's CD, in the \BBSVEND directory, you'll find a file named DROPS.TXT which lists all products that have been removed from the CD-ROM since last month's issue. Some of these are because the author has resigned from the ASP, others are due to updates where a newer version of the program can be found on the CD-ROM disc, and a few others are products that the author is no longer supporting. PLEASE CHECK YOUR LIBRARIES, DOWNLOAD LISTS AND CATALOGS FOR THESE PRODUCTS and be sure that you either get the latest update from this CD-ROM disc or contact the author for details on why the product is no longer being offered. Until you can confirm the reason for the product being dropped, it might be best to simply remove them from your catalogs, file lists or libraries if they're listed in the DROPS.TXT file. ALSO - be sure to check the DROPAUTH.LST file (found both in the root of the CD-ROM disc and the \BBSVEND directory) for those ASP Author and Publisher Members who have not renewed their memberships for 1995. ڿ IN CONCLUSION: I hope that the CD-ROM meets all your needs. If you have comments, gripes, suggestions, or problems with the software, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!! so that I can try to make it right/better in the next version. Contact me with any comments at: FIRST PREFERENCE: CompuServe - Rich Harper [76670,110] INTERNET - rgharper@mail.msen.com SECOND PREFERENCE: FAX to +616-832-3328 US MAIL to ASP PRESIDENT 777 S ROTH STREET NORFOLK 4 REED CITY MI 49677 LAST PREFERENCE: Telephone +616-832-3328. ڿ