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DOSamatic - Release 2.04 User Guide, Reference, and License Agreement Copyright (c) 1985 by Marin Pacific Software All Rights Reserved October 15, 1985 Your License Agreement DOSamatic is the sole property of Marin Pacific Software Company. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive license to test and evaluate DOSamatic on a trial basis, and to make copies for other users to do so. You may not: o Remove copyright and other notices from the program and/or the documentation which are placed there by Marin Pacific Software Company. o Re-sell the program for any charge or "disk fee" o Make any representations on behalf of Marin Pacific Software. Marin Pacific Software Company makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the suitability of DOSamatic for any particular purpose. You must determine that yourself. In addition, you should understand that using a program of this type on an IBM PC or compatible has inherent risks and that you may inadvertently damage or destroy valuable programs or data. Marin Pacific Software expressly declines to assume liability for any use of this program by you, and your use of DOSamatic constitutes your agreement to hold us blameless. If you regularly use DOSamatic, you should register your trial copy by sending a check or money order for $39.00 to: Marin Pacific Software Company 1001 Bridgeway, Suite 514 Sausalito, CA 94965 Please enclose your name and address, any serial number which may appear on your trial copy, and any comments you may have. Marin Pacific will send you the latest version of DOSamatic ( we are improving it all the time ) and the DOSamatic user guide. In addition, when other users register copies with your serial number, we will send you a check for 10 % of the amount they send us, if it is no less than $39.00. Registered users may upgrade to new versions of DOSamatic at any time for a small charge required to cover diskette, handling and postage. (currently $5.00 ). Multiple-use site licenses for corporations are available at significant discounts from single copy prices, and customization is possible for high-volume purchasers. DOSamatic User Guide October 15, 1985 Page 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction....................................... 3 2. System Requirements................................ 4 3. The Program Disk................................... 4 4. Getting Started.................................... 5 5. Defaults........................................... 5 6. The Basic Panels................................... 5 The Information Panel............................ 5 The Drive Selection Panel........................ 6 The Directory Selection Panel.................... 6 The File Selection Panel......................... 7 Comparison with DOS commands..................... 7 7. Panel Commands..................................... 8 Special Keys..................................... 8 The Cursor keys............................. 8 The [ENTER] key............................. 8 The [ESCAPE] key............................ 8 The [INSERT] key............................ 8 The [DELETE] key............................ 9 The [F1] = [HELP] key....................... 9 The [F2] = [REFRESH] key.................... 9 The [F40] = [SWITCH] key.................... 9 Main Menu........................................ 10 Screen Colors............................... 10 Executing DOS Commands...................... 10 Exiting DOSamatic........................... 10 Using a File Mask........................... 10 Setting the Hot Key......................... 10 Searching for a File........................ 10 Show/Hide Date/Time/Size.................... 10 Show Normal/Hidden Files.................... 11 Sorting the File Display.................... 11 Sound On/Off................................ 11 Suppressing Flicker/Snow.................... 11 Labeling a Volume........................... 11 File Menu........................................ 12 Attributes.................................. 12 Browsing ASCII Files........................ 12 Browsing Binary Files....................... 12 Using Your Debug Program.................... 12 Using Your Edit Program..................... 12 Executing a BAT, COM, or EXE file........... 12 Printing a File............................. 12 Renaming a File............................. 12 8. Quick Reference.................................... 13 Table of Keystrokes.............................. 13 How to End DOSamatic............................. 13 9. Using the Multi-Tasking Feature.................... 14 How to Use It.................................... 14 Technical Details................................ 15 Compatible Software.............................. 15 Cautions......................................... 17 Encouragements................................... 17 1. Introduction DOSamatic is a powerful tool that helps you get the most out of your IBM Personal Computer or compatible. It combines a point and press user interface with a powerful multi-tasking facility allowing you to run several programs at the same time. DOSamatic is not copy-protected. You are encouraged to give copies to your friends for their use. If you find the program useful you should send a check for $39.00 payable to : Marin Pacific Software 1001 Bridgeway, Suite 514 Sausalito, CA 94965 If there is a serial number on the program, please include it along with your name and mailing address. We will register you as a DOSamatic user, and send you the latest version of the program, along with the latest user guide. Please send us any suggestions you may have for enhancements or improvements in DOSamatic. Besides being a nice thing to do, registering brings you several benefits. When another user registers a copy with your serial number, we'll send you a check for 10 percent of the amount they send us. We'll also keep you on our mailing list so that we can send you other products we develop for your examination at no cost. Even if you decide not to register, please do not attempt to delete the copyright and order information messages. We don't copy protect any of our packages, and we depend upon you to respect our efforts. Corporate Users Note: Site licenses for multiple copies are available at reasonable terms. 2. System Requirements DOSamatic will run on the IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT, 3270PC, and most compatibles including the Compaqs and the Data General DG/1. Minimum requirements are : 128 KB of memory ( although up to 640 KB is useful for running multiple tasks ). PC DOS 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, or MS-DOS 2.11. ( Version 2.04 now will support DOS up thru version 3.1 - early releases may not work properly on some machines ) One diskette drive. Either a color or a monochrome monitor with 80 column display. Note that DOSamatic determines how much memory you actually have, the number of disk drives ( including hard disks and RAM disks ) available, and the type of monitor you are using. 3. The Program Disk If you receive DOSamatic from Marin Pacific Software or from a friend, there should be three files on the diskette : DOSAMATC.COM - The DOSamatic Program DOSAMATC.DOC - This manual in ASCII text format. DOSAMATC.HLP - File containing HELP screens used by DOSamatic. If you receive your program disk from us, there may be other files on the disk to help you install DOSamatic. Just use the DOS TYPE command to display the contents of the file named READ.ME to find out what is on your program disk. Unlike many copy-protected programs, the DOSamatic program disk may be freely copied. You can move the program, help and manual files onto another floppy, or a hard disk. See the section on starting DOSamatic for more details. NOTE: It is your responsibility to make backup copies of the program disk we send you. Never use your program disk without making such a backup copy. 4. Getting Started Starting DOSamatic is easy. Simply place the program diskette in the current default disk drive ( not necessary for hard disk users ), type "DOSAMATC", and press [ENTER]. DOSamatic will display the Marin Pacific Software logo screen, and then the license agreement under which you may use the program. Please do not try to alter the program to suppress these messages. Finally, pressing any key will make DOSamatic display its main screen with the Information, Drive Selection, Directory Selection, and File Selection Panels. 5.Defaults DOSamatic lets you specify a number of default settings at startup using the DOS SET environment command. These are: SET COMSPEC=filename Command processor to use for executing DOS commands, e.g. C:\COMMAND.COM SET DSD=filename Debug program to use, e.g. C:\DOS\DEBUG.COM SET DSE=filename Edit program to use, e.g. C:\EDLIN.COM SET DSH=filename Help file to use, e.g. C:\DOSAMATC.HLP SET DSV=monitor monitor=MONO for no color, =COLOR+ for non-IBM Color Graphics boards Issue these commands before starting DOSamatic. 6. The Basic Panels The Information Panel After starting DOSamatic, you will see a full screen display - the main DOSamatic screen. The screen consists of an Information Panel at the top which shows you: o The default disk drive, the volume label of the drive, and the current directory for that drive, o Disk space information including total KB ( kilobytes ) on the diskette, the KB available ( free ), the available KB as a percent of the total, and the number of files displayed along with the KB of space they occupy, o Total RAM ( random access memory ) on your PC, and the RAM available for running additional programs, o The version of DOS you are using, o The current date and time. o The number of tasks ( programs ) you are currently running, including DOSamatic, and o The status of the keyboard shift keys ( top right corner ). Press the Scroll Lock key several times to see how this feature works. Below the Information Panel are the three Selection Screens. The Drive Selection Panel In the panel labelled "Drives" is a list of the available drive letters on your system. Use the cursor keys to move the large reverse video cursor bar onto a drive letter, and then press [ENTER]. The selected drive letter will become the DOS default drive, and the Information, Directory, Selection, and File Selection Panels will be refreshed to show information about the drive you have selected. If you change the diskette in a drive, then you will need to select that drive again to read the new diskette. The Directory Selection Panel The panel labelled "Directories" shows you a list of all the directories on your diskette which are accessible from the directory that is currently active. To view a different directory, place the cursor bar on the desired directory and press [ENTER]. Note the two special directory entries, <root> and <parent>, which enable you to jump directly to the root directory, or back one step in the current directory chain. If there are too many directories to fit in the window, then the window will scroll up and down as you move the cursor keys off the ends. When the cursor bar is in the Directory Selection Panel, pressing [INSERT] creates a new directory, and DOSamatic will prompt you for its name and extension. Press [ESCAPE] if you change your mind about creating the new directory. Pressing [DELETE] when the cursor bar is placed on a directory name will remove that directory ( DOSamatic asks you to verify that you really want to do that ). The File Selection Panel The panel labelled "Files" shows you a list of all the files in the current directory on the default disk. Placing the cursor bar on a file name and pressing [ENTER] opens a pull-down menu at the right side of the screen from which you may select operations to be performed on the file. If there are too many files to fit in the window, then the window will scroll up and down as you move the cursor keys off the ends. When the cursor bar is in the File Selection Panel, pressing [INSERT] creates a new file, and DOSamatic will prompt you for its name and extension. Press [ESCAPE] if you change your mind about creating the new file. Pressing [DELETE] when the cursor bar is placed on a file name will erase that file ( DOSamatic does check to make sure you want to do that ). If the file has special attributes, you may need to activate the Attribute Selection Panel and make changes before attempting to erase the file. Comparison with DOS Commands Note that the Directory and File Selection Panels show you the same information that the DOS DIR command would, except that all the files in the current directory are available for your viewing. The Information Panel gives you the same information that the DOS CD, CHKDSK, DATE, TIME, VOL, and VER commands would. The use of the [INSERT] and [DELETE] keys replaces use of the DOS MKDIR, RMDIR, and ERASE commands. 7. Panel Commands Special Keys By using only a few keys, plus pull-down menus, DOSamatic lets you perform complex functions without the need to memorize complex keystroke sequences. These are: The Cursor Keys These keys let you move the cursor bar within and between windows. On the IBM PC keyboard they are arranged as: [HOME] [UP ] [PAGE UP ] [LEFT] [ ] [RIGHT ] [END ] [DOWN] [PAGE DOWN] Within any active panel, the [HOME], [UP], [PAGE UP], [END], [DOWN], and [PAGE DOWN] keys work as you would expect to move the cursor bar within the panel. For the Drive, Directory, and File Selection Panels, [LEFT] and [RIGHT] move the bar between panels, but have no effect for other panels. When you are prompted for input lines, [LEFT] and [RIGHT] work as you would expect, [HOME] moves you to the beginning of the input line, [END] moves you to the end, and [CTRL]+[END] will delete all characters from the current position to the end of the input line. The [ENTER] key This key is used to select a drive, directory, file, or panel option, or to signal the end of an input line. Think of it as the Activator key. The [ESCAPE] key This key functions as a Deactivator key which lets you jump from the current panel to a previous one. It lets you shift between the Main Menu Panel and the Drive, Directory, and File Selection Panels. The [INSERT] key This key is used in two ways. First, it can be used to create new files or make new directories if you press it while the cursor bar is in the Files or Directories panel. Second, it is used when providing responses to program questions to decide whether characters are overwritten or inserted. The [DELETE] key This key is used to erase files or remove directories. Simply place the cursor bar on the object to be deleted and press [DELETE]. DOSamatic will make sure that this is what you want to do. The [F1] = [HELP] key Will cause a context-sensitive help screen explaining what your current options are to be displayed. See the section on Defaults for an explanation of how to tell DOSamatic where on your system the help file is located. The [F2] = [REFRESH] key This key will refresh the display screen if it ever gets damaged. This feature may be removed in future versions of DOSamatic as the program becomes more resistant to problems caused by sub-tasks. The [F40] = [SWITCH] key This default "hot key" lets you jump from one active task to another. You may reset it to another key combination. If no subtasks are active, [F40] has no effect. The Main Menu Panel If the cursor bar is in the Drive Selection, Directory Selection, or File Selection panels, pressing [ESCAPE] activates the Main Menu Panel. This pull-down menu lets you execute a number of system functions. Move the cursor bar to one of the functions and press [ENTER] to activate it. Pressing [ESCAPE] will return you to the panel you were in before you activated the Main Menu Panel. The Main Menu Panel functions are : Turn Color On/Off Lets you switch color on and off. Monochrome monitors with graphics adapters usually look best with color off. See the section on Defaults. DOS Commands Pressing this key lets you issue any legal DOS command as long as sufficient memory is available. You are prompted for the command at the bottom of the screen. Exit Use this selection to end DOSamatic and return to DOS. You can't do this if any sub-tasks are still running. Filemask Upon selecting this option, you are prompted for a file mask, and DOSamatic will then display only those files matching the mask. For example, entering *.COM will result in the display of only those files with extension of COM. Set Hot Key If you select this item, DOSamatic displays the current "hot key" used to jump among programs and asks you to press the key(s) you wish to use instead. Search Selecting this item you are prompted for a filename and extension, and DOSamatic will search all directories on the default drive for that file. Using *.EXE, for example, DOSamatic will find all files with an extension of EXE. Show Date/Time This selection switches the display of file date, time, and KB occupied on and off. Show Hidden Files This item switches on and off the display of files with the special DOS attributes of SYSTEM and/or HIDDEN. For example, the files IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM are system and hidden files present on the DOS system disk. You will need to have DOSamatic re-read the current drive before you will see any change in the displayed list of files. Sort Selecting this item opens a sort pull-down menu in which you specify the sort key, and the order ( ascending or descending ). The file display changes when you leave the Main Menu Panel. Sound On/Off Switches on and off the use of sound cues with DOSamatic. Suppress Flicker For IBM Color Graphics Adaptors, writing directly to the screen memory in alphanumeric mode causes "snow". To prevent this the video is shut off momentarily, causing display flicker. Many other adapters do not have this problem, and display flicker is reduced by selecting this item. See the Defaults section. Volume Label Selecting this option allows you to create or change an 11-character volume label for the diskette in the default drive. The File Menu Panel Pressing [ENTER] when the cursor bar is in the File Selection Panel opens the File Menu Panel pull-down menu. This menu shows you a number of actions which you can perform upon the selected file when you press the [ENTER] key. You can return to the File Selection Panel at any time by pressing [ESCAPE]. The following functions can be performed on the selected file: Attributes Selecting this item will open the Attributes Panel, which displays the files attributes and lets you modify them if desired. For example, you can hide files or make them read-only. Browse ASCII Displays the contents of the selected file, assuming that it is in ASCII text format. Browse Binary Provides both an ASCII and a hexadecimal display of file contents for files in non-text format. Copy Copies the selected file to another file. Debug Activates the debugger program you specified to debug the selected file. See the section on Defaults. Edit Activates the editor program you specified to edit the selected file. See the section on Defaults. Execute The most powerful capability of DOSamatic, allows you to execute any other program in available memory. The selected file must have an extension of BAT, COM, or EXE. BAT files receive all available memory, but COM or EXE files can be restricted to run in a portion of memory. You are prompted for the amount of memory in KB to be used. You are also asked if this is a graphics program, which requires additional storage for a screen buffer. Once your selected program starts, you can jump immediately back to DOSamatic by pressing the current hot key. If you have memory left, you can start other programs ( up to 7 additional programs ) and switch among them using the [SWITCH] key. Print Prints the selected file to LPT1:. Use this for small files for which you want a quick copy. Rename Lets you rename the selected file. 8. Quick Reference to DOSamatic Active Panel Key Action Drive Selection [ENTER] Select Drive [ESCAPE] Activate Main Menu [LEFT] Go to File Selection Panel [RIGHT] Go to Directory Selection Panel Directory Selection [DELETE] Remove selected directory [ENTER] Select Directory [ESCAPE] Activate Main Menu [INSERT] Make a new directory [LEFT] Go to Drive Selection Panel [RIGHT] Go to File Selection Panel File Selection [DELETE] Erase selected file [ENTER] Activate File Menu Panel [ESCAPE] Activate Main Menu [INSERT] Create a new file [LEFT] Go to Directory Selection Panel [RIGHT] Go to Drive Selection Panel Main Menu [ENTER] Perform indicated action [ESCAPE] Deactivate Main Menu Panel File Menu [ENTER] Perform indicated action [ESCAPE] Return to File Selection Panel Sort Selection [ENTER] Use indicated sort criteria [ESCAPE] Return to Main Menu Panel Attribute Menu [ENTER] Make indicated attribute change [ESCAPE] Return to File Menu Panel ** ALL PANELS ** [F1] Help ( context sensitive ). [F2] Refresh Screen [F40] Jump to another task if one is active. Another key can be substituted for [F40]. In all panels the cursor keys not mentioned above will move the cursor bar up and down within the panel. Ending DOSamatic Press the [ESCAPE] key until the Main Menu Panel is displayed, place the cursor bar on EXIT, and press [ENTER]. 9. Using the Multi-Tasking Feature One of the most useful capabilities of DOSamatic is the ability to run from 1 to 7 other programs simultaneously, switching between them by pressing a single "hot key". How to Use It Previously, you learned how to execute programs from DOSamatic by placing the cursor bar on the program name, pressing [ENTER] to activate the File Menu, and then placing the cursor on the EXECUTE option and pressing [ENTER] again. DOSamatic asks you for any required parameters, and then requests the amount of memory in which you wish the program to run. If the available memory is 322 KB, say, you might wish to have your program use 128 KB. DOSamatic will then ask if your program displays graphics on the video screen. If you reply by typing [Y], DOSamatic reserves an additional 16 KB of memory to preserve the graphics screen when you start switching among programs. Otherwise, DOSamatic reserves 4 KB of memory for your program screen. After your program starts, you can return to DOSamatic at any time by pressing [F40], i.e. pressing the [ALT] key and the [F10] key simultaneously. This key combination was selected because very few programs actually use it for anything ( although there are some ), and because it is easy to hit with the left hand on the standard keyboard. You can now switch at will between DOSamatic and your other program simply by pressing [F40] = [ALT] + [F10]. If you did not use all the available memory for your program, you can load additional programs from DOSamatic as you did before, and use the hot key to switch among them all. The Task field at the top of the display tracks how many programs you have running. Note that you can reset the [SWITCH] key to a combination other than [F40]. NOTE: DOSamatic does not perform true multi-tasking - instead it keeps a number of application programs in memory and SUSPENDS execution of all but the current active program. We are beginning to work on a communications utility which will allow background upload and download of files using XMODEM, but it will be some time before this capability is available. Technical Details DOSamatic performs its task switching by intercepting program calls to the BIOS and DOS keyboard handlers. It is always checking for the hot key, and when pressed goes into action. DOSamatic also monitors some of the BIOS video monitor calls, since the BIOS does not preserve all video information. Finally, DOSamatic intercepts calls to the DOS memory control functions to limit program requests for memory. Programs that bypass the keyboard services and manipulate the hardware directly will not let you jump back to DOSamatic. However, pop-up applications like Sidekick (tm) and SuperKey (tm) can be installed successfully before you start DOSamatic and can be used during your DOSamatic session. Certain programs manipulate PC hardware directly, so DOSamatic has no way of knowing what they are doing. This is especially true of graphics. See the notes on Lotus 123 (tm) and SuperCalc 3 (tm). Compatible Software The following programs have been tested by various users with DOSamatic and have behaved in a reasonable manner. If there is a comment, it reflects any incompatibilities which may arise. No comments are made when there is no known compatibility problem. Program Vendor Comments BASIC IBM/Microsoft BASIC is not re-entrant so you cannot run more than one copy at a time. CrossTalk MicroStuf DOS 2.x, 3.X IBM/Microsoft When loading a secondary copy of the command processor COMMAND.COM, it must be given all remaining memory. If you are loading this, load it last. DEBUG IBM/Microsoft Displaywrite 2 IBM DW 2 reserves all available memory when it loads. It apparently does not use the DOS function call to check available memory. DOSamatic Marin Pacific You can run one or more copies of DOSamatic as tasks, but don't try to run any sub-tasks from the copies without changing the hot key. EDLIN IBM/Microsoft Lotus 123 Lotus DC Lotus works well. It manipulates video hardware directly, so the cursor often blinks in the wrong place, although this stops as soon as you hit any keystroke. If you jump when a graph is displayed you get a mess, press any key in Lotus to recover. MultiMate MultiMate Corp. [F40] sometimes has a meaning - change the hot key or press [ESCAPE] after switching back into MultiMate if there is a problem. Norton Utilities Peter Norton PC-Talk III Headlands Press Note that while you will be online if you jump out of PC-TALK, you can not have an upload/download continue while you work on something else at the current time. SIM3278 SIMWARE SuperCalc 3 Sorcim/IUS The border color on color monitors and the graphics colors are not preserved, although you can switch while a graph is displayed. SuperKey Borland Int'l Start it before DOSamatic. Symphony Lotus DC Turbo Pascal Borland Int'l Change the hot key from the default setting as it is interpreted as a Quit instruction. Volkswriter Lifetree Word Microsoft Word is a graphics program, at least if you have the Color Graphics Adapter. Wordstar MicroPro Int'l Helpful Hints DOSamatic can help you do lots of interesting things, especially when used with other programs. Some of the useful ways to use it are: o Use it to clean up your diskettes by checking directories, browsing files to see what is in them, and deleting unneeded files with the [DELETE] key. o Use the Search command to look for files on a hard disk when you can't remember what directory they are in. Search is also useful to check for duplicate files in different directories. o Use it with application programs as a smart "front end". DOSamatic provides directory switching and other features for programs lacking these conveniences. o DOSamatic enhances the value of SuperKey, a Borland International product, which has a "cut and paste" capability. You can use SuperKey in combination with DOSamatic to cut financial data Cautions There are problems whenever you try to implement multi-tasking on a machine that is not really designed for it. These occur mainly because DOSamatic has no control over the programs you execute. Two things you must absolutely avoid, however, are : o Never attempt to run COMMAND.COM ( the DOS command processor ) in less than the total remaining memory. The system will hang in an unrecoverable error. So if you are going to run a number of programs as tasks, including a second copy of DOS, start all the others before you start up COMMAND.COM, and give COMMAND.COM all the remaining memory. o Be extremely careful when you end a program. Always end programs in the reverse of the order in which you start them. If you start A, B, and C in that order, you must end them in the order C, B, A. Failing to do this will generally lead to an unrecoverable error and the big red switch. In addition, DOSamatic can start programs which read the keyboard hardware directly, like XYwrite and Leading Edge Word Processor, but you won't be able to jump out of them with the hot key. Encouragements We can't possibly test all the programs which you might want to run as DOSamatic tasks. Most programs will run just fine, however, and we would be pleased to hear of your experiences. Just drop us a note at our mailing address and we'll make sure to include any interesting comments which you may have in future editions of this manual.