@database 681c7380-0 @master HeddleyCreation @$VER: 1.0 @remark Created with Heddley v1.1 (c) Edd Dumbill 1994 @node "Main" "No title" @{fg shine}T H E I N C R E D I B L E D M S - I N T E R F A C E@{fg text} @{fg fill}(C) S ren Holbech 1996@{fg text} @{fg fill}Version 1.0@{fg text} @{"Distribution" link "DISTRIBUTION" 0} - Boring legal stuff @{"Introduction" link "INTRODUCTION" 0} - What is this? @{"Freeware" link "FREEWARE" 0} - Read me NOW @{"Requirements" link "REQUIREMENTS" 0} - Do YOU own a A4060T with 32 MB RAM? @{"Installation" link "INSTALLATION" 0} - The complex part @{"Usage" link "USAGE" 0} - For the thick-headed @{"Help!!!" link "HELP" 0} - "I've got a problem" @{"Author" link "Author" 0} - everything you never wanted to know about me @endnode @node "Author" "Author" AUTHOR: I'm a dedicated Amiga programmer and if you have any constructive comments, wants to swap programming information, just wants to drop me a line or IF YOU GOT ANY CLUE WHY BLITZ BASIC 2 WONT CLOSE DOWN MY WINDOWS WHEN I CREATE AN EXECUTABLE please feel free to mail me: S ren Holbech Jeppe rsvej 22 8600 Silkeborg DENMARK Amiga Rulez... @endnode @node "DISTRIBUTION" "DISTRIBUTION" DISTRIBUTION: This program is Freeware. This means that you may copy it as often as you like, to anyone you like (or dislike). But it also means that you must not change any part of the program or this Amigaguide, or copy the program to anyone without copying all of the files at the same go. The files are: DMS-Interface DMS-Interface.info DMS-Interface.guide DMS-Interface.guide.info Furthermore you must not gain profit on this product, so you can not demand more than a small copy-fee and the price of a disk for this program. You may freely upload this to any BBS or Web-site and you may include it on any CD you like. If you want to use this as a frontend for a commercial CD you must mail me one of the CD's, and if you wan't to include it on a magazine-coverdisk please send me a copy of the magazine (This does not apply to Amiga Format since I'm allready a subscriber for this mag). I'm also not giving up copyright on this product so you really ought to follow the guidelines above. By the way: I'm not responsible for any damage which might occur to your beloved Amiga or your self from use or abuse of this program. @endnode @node "FREEWARE" "FREEWARE" FREEWARE: The reason why I wrote this little program was in conjunction with a letter I wrote to Amiga Format. I don't know if this letter will ever get published, but here it is: Dear AF This is an attempt to raise a debate around a favourite subject of mine: Cashing-in-ware. Cashing...what? you might ask; cashing -in-ware is my word for a large percentage of the products that are released into the shareware realms. I won't mention names (I'm a nice guy) but some programs are clearly not worth the shareware fee. Who would pay 10-15 for GUIs for programs like DMS, lha/lzx/zip-archivers and the Format-command? No one, thats who! Anyone with a minimal knowledge of the dos.library System() routine, a copy of Blitz2 (or AmigaE) and ability to move a mouse can load up GadToolsBox or MUI-Builder and do the trick in a couple of hours. (I've done so and the proof (on the enclosed disk) you can put on your CD or throw into your trashcan). This is not too bad, but when these programmers "cripple" their demo-versions they are damaging the support for all the good shareware out there. When you buy a new CD-ROM a lot of the programs on it are "crippled", mostly with the famous "annoying requester", and when you wade through the programs it becomes natural to wait for ten seconds before you can check out the program on offer. Thus you really don't notice the requesters anymore. This has led to programmers using even more cunning tricks to help people decide to register: Special trialperiod, max number of entries or the disabling of save-/print-functions. This has brought forward a attitude in me (and those of my frends that utilises PD-software) which results in whenever I encounter a new piece of PD I check if it is shareware and if it is I scan the documentation for the words "demo" and "limitation". Then I decide if I can live with these limitations and if I can't I don't even try the program out. This is a loss for the good pieces of shareware, cause when I look through my CD collection for an account manager I usually end up with 20-30 different kinds. It's easy to select cause all that is "crippled" I don't look at and later on decide that the remaining 2 isn't worth the disk they're on. Now imagine that a really fine peace of shareware which is better than my Personal Finance Manager coverdisk was between the programs I didn't look at, then I would be at a loss because for 15 I could have gotten hold of a good program, the programmer would be at a loss because he won't receive 15 and the Amiga market would be at a loss cause the programmer gives up programming and becomes a bricklayer instead. All of this because a lot of clever programmers have decided to release "crippled" versions of programs which no one will spend more than 15 minutes with. My plea to these shaeware programmers is: Before you decide to demand 10-30 for your new program, consider this: Would you pay this kind of money for the program yourself? Are there better alternatives out allready which cost half the price you're demanding? (And especially for games: You can buy Powermonger, Sleepwalker etc. for less than 8 if you shop around. Do you think anybody would pay 20 for another version of Pacman meets Space Invaders?). I say: When programs such as MCP, ChaosPro, LaTeX, etc. is freeware a lot of other programs should be too. Death to caching-in-ware! PS. I'm a shareware AND freeware programmer myself. You guessed it: The proof is in fact this program. But as this is really not a program I like to develop you can be assured that I will not be expanding it. I know that some features are missing (like the .DIZ-thingies) but everything which is included in the FD-version of DMS is here. I know it would be cool to have an Arexx-port or make it into a commodity but why waste time? As time of writing I've deleted my source (to make room for others, more exciting, projects) so if you've discovered a real nasty bug... too bad, it WON'T be corrected. Have fun... @endnode @node "HELP" "HELP" HELP: Well if you clicked here I guess you have one of six problems: What does NOVAL etc. mean? - I'm not the one to ask, read the DMS-manual. See @{"Usage" link "USAGE" 0}. I want to read/write a device which is not in the list? - Edit the tooltypes. See @{"Installation" link "INSTALLATION" 0}. My DMS-executable is located in Q:images/aga/ not C:? - Well, you're weird but the DMS-Interface even caters for your kind of people: Edit the tooltypes. See @{"Installation" link "INSTALLATION" 0}. DMS-interface just "beeps" the screen and nothing happens? - DMS-Interface couldn't find your DMS-executable where you specified it in the tooltypes. Check the location from Shell/CLI. The program won't resppond to my tooltypes-settings? - Check that: - Your icon is called DMS-Interface and not PuppiesInc - The tooltypes isn't surrounded with ""'s I lose memory, everything crashes, my Amiga ran away etc.? - Too bad. See @{"Freeware" link "FREEWARE" 0}. @endnode @node "INSTALLATION" "INSTALLATION" INSTALLATION: This program is very hard to install, and even harder to configure! If you don't know a rocket-engineer who will help you, you might as well give up...or follow these terrible complex instructions: - Drag the DMS-Interface icon to the drawer where you like it to be - Drag the .guide file to the drawer where you like IT to be. If you survived the above procedure, maybe you're brave enough to configure the software... - Click once on the DMS-Interface icon and select Icons/Information... from the menu. - Click on a tooltype and edit it using the string-gadget - Repeat the step above as often as you like - Click "Save" Well done! @endnode @node "INTRODUCTION" "INTRODUCTION" INTRODUCTION: What you're dealing with here is a program which is just what the name of the program hint at: A interface for the Disk-Masher (or DMS for short). You've probably seen one before and you'll be wondering why on earth you should use this feeble effort instead of your HandyDMS, DMS-Face etc. Well, I don't know why, except because this is Freeware and you'll might find it more suited to your way of working. Otherwise read the @{"Freeware" link "FREEWARE" 0} section. @endnode @node "REQUIREMENTS" "REQUIREMENTS" REQUIREMENTS: Since I am not a very rich person and my friends aren't either this program have only been tested on one kind of machine: A1200, 50 mHz 030, 4 MB FastRAM and a hardrive I suspect that this program will run on any kickstart 2.04+ machine with about 512 kb RAM. I you find out that DMS-Interface doesn't work on your shiny new A4000 or bulky old A1000 then... tough luck. Read @{"Freeware" link "FREEWARE" 0} for more details. @endnode @node "USAGE" "USAGE" USAGE: Well, if you're reading this I haven't really succeeded, have I? You see it's really simple, the window is split into three parts. The top part is where you decide on which filename which contains/ is to contain the DMS-archive, and the optional text which is to be displayed prior to unpacking the archive. "Password" and "device" ought to be pretty self-explanatory. In the middle part you decide on packmethod and starting & ending tracks to compress. Since this is not a guide to DMS but this interface, please consult the DMS-manual (available at aminet at: util/arc/dms111.run) for the meaning of the other options. Finally at the bottom part of the window you click on the action which is to be executed by the interface using the set parameters. If you still don't get it, then what can I do but suggest you go out and buy yourself one of these crappy IBM-compatibles. @endnode