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ERRATA.536
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1993-09-18
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*******************************
* *
* CMFiler -- Version 5.36d *
* *
*******************************
The following features have been added or improved since the printing of
the CMFiler Version 5.35 User's Manual:
New Floppy Diskette Copier:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A built-in diskette copier is now accessible with the command Shift-K
(for disKopy). Double- and high-density 5.25" and 3.5" floppies are
recognized. User specifies hard drive to store master diskette image on,
drive to make copies on, number of copies to make and whether each track
should be verified as it is written. Number of copies left to go is
displayed after each successful copy.
New Floppy Diskette Formatter:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floppy diskettes may now be formatted without leaving CMFiler. The
command is Shift-M (forMat). Double- and high-density 3.5" and 5.25"
formats are recognized. If an existing format is detected, CMFiler
requests confirmation to proceed. Diskettes cannot be "unformatted"
after this command is used, so be certain the disk contains no valuable
files before using. All data sectors are overwritten with the format
"fill" character hex F6, so, unlike the FORMAT.COM of MS-DOS 5 and later,
the CMFiler formatter is good for obliterating sensitive data on the
diskette.
This formatter is also called during operation of the floppy filler, if
needed, so unformatted diskettes may now be used for filling.
New Cross-Drive File Move:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previous versions would perform the "move file" command (Shift-C) only if
the source and target directories were on the same disk, and would
otherwise default to copying the source files to the target. If users
wanted to accomplish a file move across drives, it had to be done in two
steps: copy the files, then delete them. In Version 5.36a, the command
Shift-C works as a cross-drive move, with the additional step of
requiring confirmation of the user's desire to hard-delete the source
files as the final step of the move.
Support for VGA 25/43/50-Line Display:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If your VGA monitor is set up in one of the standard display
configurations, CMFiler will recognize it and permit on-the-fly changes
to 25-, 43- or 50-line display through the Shift-O user Options screen,
last line. The selection is recorded as the default for the next
execution of CMFiler. You can also force your VGA into a specific
display with one of the explicit command line arguments @V25, @V43 or
@V50.
Expanded Support for Laptop Displays:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are two classes of laptop computers for which CMFiler has not
previously provided adequate support because of their unconventional
(compared to desktops) displays with respect to the high-intensity bit of
the color attribute. The high-intensity bit is the way a monitor gives
you bright white on blue instead of normal white, for example, or bright
yellow instead of brown. The high-intensity bit is crucial to many of
CMFiler's displays.
The first class of these unconventional laptops, of which some Epsons and
Packard-Bells are members, do not respond to or show little effect of the
high-intensity bit. For this case we have devised an alternative color
attribute set, invoked by E (for Epson, the first of these laptops we
contended with) on the next-to-last lline of the Shift-O user Options
menu, or @E on the command line.
The second class responds in inverted sense to the high-intensity bit,
and it is found in Tandy black-and-white LCDs and some color LCDs. For
this case we have added a switch to the Shift-O Options menu above the
monitor type selection.
If you have a laptop that is not giving you an easily readable display,
try various combinations of color sets and positions of the "high-
intensity inverted" switch. If none of these works, please contact
NoVaSoft with the symptoms.
Choice of Sort Algorithm:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The user may pick between "bubblesort" and "quicksort" sorting
algorithms, depending on which proves faster in actual use. The original
bubblesort was replaced with quicksort in Ver 5.35a based on a
theoretical gain in sort time , but quicksort's performance has proved
too variable and is in many cases slower than bubblesort. For this
reason, bubblesort was put back in as an alternative sort method. You
may toggle between the two by pressing A in the Ctrl-O Order mode screen.
Quicksort works particularly well in a large directory where the natural
DOS order is nearly the same as the order in which files are being sorted
by CMFiler. One way to reestablish a particular order to a large
subdirectory is to move all the files. Just create a new directory in
the same level as the directory to be reordered, tag and move all the
files to the new directory, delete the old one and rename the new to the
old name. This has the effect of reconstructing the directory table in
the order in which the files are moved.
New Floppy-filling Function:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A new function has been added to fill target floppies in A or B drive
from a source hard disk directory. Floppies need not be formatted nor
completely empty. The function is "smart", in that it looks first to see
if any files tagged for filling from the source directory already exist
on the floppy, updates them only if needed, and then adds files as
tightly as they will fit, untagging files in the source as they are
successfully copied.
CMFiler -- Errata 1-2
Put the first floppy to be filled in A or B, and set up this drive as the
target. Set up the directory with the files to copy as the source, tag
all the files to be used as "fill", and press Shift-I. CMFiler first
asks how much space you want to reserve for growth on each floppy disk,
and then proceeds with filling the first. After each floppy disk is
filled, you may either keep going or escape. You may even suspend the
operation and, as long as you don't disturb any tags on the source
directory, then resume it where you left off.
New Method of Clearing Slack Space During Copy:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The old method of ensuring no sensitive or classified information was
inadvertently carried into the "slack space" of the last sector written
during file copy operations was to clear the DOS input/output buffers
before writing. The location of this buffer structure varies somewhat
among operating systems. CMFiler's ability to find it in networks was
not fully reliable, and DR DOS reacts very badly to this technique.
The new method for clearing the last-sector slack space is system-
independent, uses standard functions only, and actually results in
shorter file copying times. It is always invoked, and the I/O buffer
clearing switch in the Shift-O menu has been redefined as a "wipe-file"
switch below.
Wipe-File Feature:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A wipe-file option has been added which causes all of the data in any
file being deleted or overwritten during a copy or move to be completely
obliterated before the DOS file delete service is invoked. It is not a
widely recognized fact that the DOS delete service simply changes the
first character in the filename in the directory listing, and resets the
File Allocation Table entries for the clusters previously used by the
file, but otherwise leaves the clusters containing the actual data alone.
Thus, a disk showing no files may actually have a wealth of data, if one
is smart and patient enough to read each cluster and figure out how they
fit together. This option may be exercised with the switch on line 3 of
the Shift-O user Options menu.
Individual Configuration on Networks:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Different users on a network may specify their own .CFG configuration
file through a parameter passed in the environment. The parameter is
called CF-CFG, and should include the complete file specification. For
example, if C:\PROGRAMS is the network common area for programs, and
CMFiler is in this directory as CF.COM and CF.OVY, and U is a user's
logical drive, and the directory SETTINGS is where that user keeps
miscellaneous program configuration data, the batch file:
SET CF-CFG=U:\SETTINGS\CF.CFG
C:\PROGRAMS\CF
will run CMFiler from the common program area, and tell CMFiler to look
on U:\SETTINGS for CF.CFG. (The file CF.CFG is created if it is not
already there.)
CMFiler -- Errata 1-3
Miscellaneous:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. The trash can is renamed ~TRASH~ to put it at the end of the
alphabetical directory list. Also, files are no longer redated when they
are placed in the ~TRASH~ directory, to better preserve their original
identity; however, since the file date/time stamp was previously used to
identify how long the file had been in the trash, CF can no longer
discriminate "fresh" from "day-old" trash, and now has to throw it all
away during purge. Also, RAMDrives of <10M are now treated like floppies
with respect to file trashing (i.e., files are always hard-deleted).
2. The directory size limit has been increased from 1200 to 2400 files,
if sufficient memory is available. The size limit in the tree mode has
been increased from 505 to 1700 directories.
3. In the editor, the Home and End keys now produce the following
sequential effect: go to beginning/end of line, top/bottom of page,
beginning/end of file.
4. Shift-R (Refresh panel from disk) is added for main module, and
reconfigured from Alt-R in tree.
5. The file lists in ZIP, ARJ, LZH, ARC and EXE self-extracting files
may now be seen just by putting the cursor on the file and pressing
Enter. This facility sees the filenames even when compressed files of
different types are packed into a single file. The limit on the number
of filenames be displayed is effectively removed. A second press of
Enter views the raw file itself.
6. The file date/time facility is expanded to allow mass date/time
setting of tagged files.
7. CMFiler protects antivirus signature/integrity data files. The
default name assumed for the Stiller Research Integrity Master's
integrity data files is updated to the name ZZ##.IM from )(.ID,
consistent with Integrity Master's default naming convention in version
1.24a and later. It may be changed with the command Alt-I (for "IDname
change").
8. The date/time stamp of each subdirectory has been added to the
directory listing information, and, since directories now have an
appearance more like files, a highlighted "bullet" has been added to the
left of each directory in the list as a visual cue.
9. The file mask blinks whenever it is set to a string other than *.*,
as a visual cue that the displayed contents of the directory are not
necessarily all the files that exist.
10. The operators Ctrl-U/L/I have been added to the editor. Ctrl-U
forces any alphabetic character to upper case, Ctrl-L forces to lower
case, and Ctrl-I inverts -- upper for lower and vice versa.
11. A menu has been added to the print spooler. When you print a file
with the command L, a menu allows you optionally to add a form feed at
the end of the printing, add a left margin pad of 5 or 10 blanks, send
the file to parallel printer 1 or 2, and add a header to the printout
showing file name and date/time stamp.
CMFiler -- Errata 1-4
12. The capacity of the notes facility has been extended from being
useable in directories of up to only 600 files to directories of up to
1200 files.
13. The wild cards ? and * have been added to the G and Alt-G "go to"
functions in the main module, and the wild card ? has been added to the
"find text" functions in the editor and tree modules.
14. In the main module, the file name display and the Goto algorithm are
now the same (name, then extension) for all sort modes (including those
that sort on extension first).
15. The "New drive" prompt now includes a list of all the valid drives.
16. An option is added to the Shift-O menu to specify the European
convention for dates (dd-mm-yy), and the command Ctrl-K has been added to
adjust cursor height, which is now a savable configuration parameter.
17. Exiting via Esc restores all drives to the directories that were
current when CF was started. Exiting via Alt-Q leaves the current
directories as-set.
18. When soft-deleting files to ~TRASH~, the date/time stamp is no
longer changed to the date/time of the delete, in order to maintain the
full identity of the file. However, purging the ~TRASH~ directory
results in hard-deleting the entire contents.
CMFiler -- Errata 1-5