Garbo/Garbo.cdr/pc/ts/0news_ts

Text File | 1992-04-02 | 19.7 KB | 378 lines

University of Vaasa, Finland, Sun IPX sparcstation, node number
128.214.87.1 (garbo.uwasa.fi) has a large collection of PD and
shareware programs which are available by anonymous ftp (file
transfer program) or mail server.  This /pc/ts/0news-ts text
contains news about the programs in the /pc/ts directory (in reverse
order).
...................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous ftp archives 128.214.87.1
School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland
Internet: [e-mail] Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun
...................................................................

Sat 28-Mar-92: I have updated my TODAY.EXE.  It is a utility that
shows your files that have been created today (have their date stamp
today). It optionally shows your files that have been created nn
days back (exactly nn days, or since, as you choose) also traversing
(optionally) all the subdirectories. There was a directory mask
error kindly reported to me by [e-mail]
(Christopher Landers). Thanks, user feedback is welcome and useful.
TODAY now correctly handles masks like TODAY . and TODAY D: also
when used from another drive like C:. TODAY.EXE is part of my
consequently updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutld19.zip package.

Sat 28-Mar-92: Updated my collection of QEdit editor macros and
utilities. It is now garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsqed15.zip. I added the
rot13.qma macro to rotate and unrotate a block of text.  Rot13
rotation is often used as an elementary encryption technique for
public but somehow sensitive texts.

Sat 28-Mar-92: I have updated my third filter collection making it
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfltc13.zip by adding ROT13.EXE which rotates
ascii text by 13 positions. This is often used as an elementary
encryption technique for public but somehow sensitive texts.
ROT13.EXE works both ways because the method is transitive.  It
rotates unrotated text and unrotates rotated text. My version of
ROT13.EXE is "clever" in the sense that it can detect redirection,
and thus if you don't direct any input to it, it will give you the
instructions.

Sat 21-Mar-92: Updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/vaasa2.inf which gives
some history of the University of Vaasa.

Sat 21-Mar-92: Updated TOUCH.EXE for altering the date stamps of
files. The month can now be also given as a three letters. Thus
examples of acceptable dates include 21-3-92 21-Mar-92 21/03/1992
21.3.92 today oldate and /fReferenceFile. This file is part of the
thus updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutlb20.zip utility collection.

Sat 21-Mar-92: I have updated my CMOS.EXE program which displays
information from your battery backupped CMOS memory.
 - Made the CMOS clock display continuous.
 - Omitted the weekday information because it has turned out to be
   volatile.
 - Added the display of whether a math coprocessor is installed
   according to the CMOS configuration information.
I have consequently released an updated version of my fifth utility
collection. It is now garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle17.zip.

Sat 21-Mar-92: I have updated my collection of useful batch files
and tricks making it garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat34.zip.
 - Added EXE2ZIP for converting self-extracting archives into
   zippped archives. Requires that you have PKZIP.EXE and dive R:
   available. I have ramdisk on drive R:, and if you do not you have
   to either customize the batch or use a suitable drive
   substitution like SUBST R: C:\
 - Updated REZIP.BAT which removes authenticity -AV labels for
   zippped archives. (Such a batch is useful, since PKWare's
   authenticity code was broken and some BBSes put in their own -AV
   labels). If errors are reported by pkzip, the user is asked for
   whether s/he wants to go on nevertheless.
 - Added a WILD.BAT to perform wildcarded operations with commands
   which ordinarily do not allow wildcards. Example of WILD.BAT
   usage: WILD *.txt type. The idea for my own version comes a from
   a note in a Finnish computer journal (Mikro PC, March 1992, Aimo
   Matikainen).

Sat 21-Mar-92: I have updated my collection of puns, and it is now
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspun11.zip.

Mon 16-Mar-92: I am often asked for information about Finland,
Vaasa, University of Vaasa, our faculty, and even about myself.  I
have updated garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/vaasa.inf which contains such
information.  The said file is also included in the new tsfaq27.zip
release of my Frequently Asked Questions which I just announced.

Sun 15-Mar-92: I have updated the collection of my Frequently Asked
Questions for UseNet news newcomers, FTP users, MsDos shareware and
PD program users, and Turbo Pascal programmers. It is available as
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq27.zip.
   I have added two new files UPLOAD.INF and UPTEXT.INF which give
information on how to upload to garbo.uwasa.fi MsDos archives, and
how to write the upload announcement.
   There is one new item in the Turbo Pascal section (storing and
restoring the screen).
   I have updated the VAASA.INF file giving information about
Finland, Vaasa, University of Vaasa, our faculty, and yours truly.
   I have made some updating of a few of the old items.

Mon 2-Mar-92: The modern PCs have a battery backupped CMOS memory
which includes the backed-up clock to store the date and the time,
and configuration information. This battery usually lasts for
several years, but eventually it will loose power. The current
(pardon the pun) state of the battery can be checked by programming
since as long as the battery is giving power is a certain bit in
CMOS memory is on, and if the battery looses power the bit will be
off. I have written a program CMOSALAR.EXE to read this bit. If the
battery bit is off, an alarm will be sounded. One option is to put
it in your autoexec.bat where it will act as a sentinel for you.
   Another similar program added is CMOS.EXE which displays
information from your battery backupped CMOS memory. A color video
adapter, and at least an AT PC is required.
   CMOSALAR.EXE and CMOS.EXE are part of my hence updated fifth
utility collection garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle16.zip. The other
three programs in the package are
 MSPLIT.EXE      Split Unix elm email messages, for UseNet users
 PESTIKID.EXE    Keep your computer to yourself, lock keyboard
 TDEL.EXE        Timo's safe recursive delete for files & dirs
PESTIKID.EXE has a small, invisible correction.  The other two have
not been changed.

Sat 22-Feb-92: I have updated my collection of useful batch files
making it garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat33.zip:
 - Added PROMPT.TXT tips on prompt usages with ansi.
 - Added REPLY.BAT to demonstrate how batch files can after all
   accept input without any auxiliary programs (like the common
   ask.exe). This is not a widely know trick, although I cannot
   claim true originality. It utilizes environment variables, and is
   somewhat awkward, but shows that it can be done.
Get this package even if you do not need the specific batches. There
is much to learn from them about MsDos and batch usages. Many
Frequently Asked MsDos Questions (FAQs) are implicitly answered by
looking at these files. The sometimes spurned MsDos batches are much
more powerful and flexible than usually believed. But you have to
know how to get the best mileage out of them.

Mon 17-Feb-92: I have updated the collection of my Frequently Asked
Questions for UseNet news newcomers, FTP users, MsDos shareware and
PD program users, and Turbo Pascal programmers. It is available as
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq26.zip. I have updated some of the items
and added two items to the Turbo Pascal section.
   If you find this collection interesting, there is more, mostly
garbo.uwasa.fi MsDos archive site related material in
/pc/pd2/post*.txt files (* = 01,...,07 currently).

Sun 9-Feb-92: If you happened to like 75890 Feb 4 23:23
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat32.zip there is an interesting
enhancement by [e-mail] to UNPACK.BAT for unpacking,
viewing, or testing any archive type (.arc, .zip, .zoo etc).
 Enhancements:
 1. The first parameter can be an option
 2. The extensions are allowed (look into the trick, I have never
    seen it elsewhere)
 3. Any amount of environment is allowed (Yes, today I debugged this
    part)
 4. Wildcards allowed! unpack /v *
Ilya's version is available in the garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/pd2/post07.txt
garbo feedback and information file.

Sat 8-Feb-92: I have updated my Turbo Pascal units collection to be
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2740.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2750.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2755.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2760.zip
This time I have introduced (parent) environment related routines in
a new TSUNTENV.TPU unit
  ENVSIZFN Get the size of the parent environment
  ENVUSEFN Get the current use of the parent environment
  ENVADDFN Get the starting segment address of the parent environment
  SETENV   Set a parent environment variable (as MsDos SET var=value)
  SHOWENV  Write the parent environment table on stdout (for testing)
Setting a parent environment varaible from within a Turbo Pascal
program can be considered reasonably advanced programming I guess,
and I cannot be absolutely sure that I got it right. But here goes
anyway. The key to the task is obtaining the starting address of the
parent environment, and knowing that the format of the parent
environment table in memory is
      name=value1<nul>name=value2<nul>...name=valueN<nul><nul>.
PC Magazine Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 425-427 has useful code which can be
adapted to find out the relevant segment address. Should you look at
that article, the crucial variable to get at in there is EnvSeg. The
rest then follows. What a delightfully complicated challenge.
   Oh yes, since I know that some users will be asking for the
source code. I am happy to share this reference, and make my .TPU
collection publicly available, but I have chosen not to distribute
by source codes.
   In fact I have not added the unit to the tspas2740.zip TP 4.0
version TPUs, but I have updated it nevertheless to avoid confusion
with the version numbers.

Tue 4-Feb-92: I have again updated my collection of useful batch
files. It is now garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat32.zip. Some of the
batches do not allow wildcards in file names given to them as
parameters. There was a clever for-loop trick in the PC Magazine Vol
11 No 1 on page 364 to check whether the file name is wildcarded.
Even if innovative the PC Magazine's solution uses unnecessarily an
environment variable for the cheking. But the article got me
thinking that I should find a better solution and put in a check for
wildcards to warn the user in those of my bacthes which do not allow
wildcards. Consequently I have updated the following batches in my
collection:
 ARC2ZIP.BAT     Single .arc to .zip with comment
 REZIP.BAT       Remove zip authenticity labels
 UNPACK.BAT      Unpack-test-view any archivetype
 ZOO2ZIPH.BAT    Single .zoo to .zip on harddisk

Sat 1-Feb-92: I have updated my average speed & time calculator
JOG.EXE. A user (Hamish Whittal [e-mail]) suggested that
the one kilometer intervalling option is insufficient. I have
consequently extended the usage to be
 JOG DistanceKm Time [ComparisonDistance] [/i[IntervalMeters]]
                 include Interval schedule -+
The jog program is part of me hence updated package
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsjog13.zip.

Thu 30-Jan-92: I have updated to garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfltc12.zip.
It is a futher collection of my filters that you can customize
yourself. The filter DETAB.EXE for filtering tabs now has the
following enhancements:
- A new optional keep switch (/k) to make the date/time stamp of the
  destination file the same as that of the source text file.
- To allow the source text file and the destination file be the
  same. In other words the programs can now make the conversion
  without forcing you to produce new files with names different from
  the original.
- The programs first test whether the source file is a proper text
  file with MsDos #13#10 eolns, no special characters (#0..#6, #8,
  #11, #14..#25, #28..#31), and no lines exceeding 254 characters in
  length. If not the conversion will not be attempted.

Thu 30-Jan-92: I have updated to garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfltb15.zip.
It is a collection of filters that you can customize yourself. The
filter FILTXT.EXE for text files and FILBIN.EXE for binary files now
have the following enhancements:
- A new optional keep switch (/k) to make the date/time stamp of the
  destination file the same as that of the source text file.
- To allow the source text file and the destination file be the
  same. In other words the programs can now make the conversion
  without forcing you to produce new files with names different from
  the original.
- The programs first test whether the source file is a proper text
  file with MsDos #13#10 eolns, no special characters (#0..#6, #8,
  #11, #14..#25, #28..#31), and no lines exceeding 254 characters in
  length. If not the conversion will not be attempted. This
  naturally goes for FILTXT.EXE only.

Wed 29-Jan-92: I have updated to garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfilt19.zip.
It is a collection of filters for text files. Among others it
includes programs for converting text files from 8-bit ascii to
7-bit ascii with Scandinavian conventions. The programs are
TOASC.EXE and TOASCI.EXE. There is also a Scandinavian conversion
TOIBM.EXE from 7-bit ascii to 8-bit ascii. The fourth update is
LOGFILT.EXE to filter noise from telecommunication log files. These
programs have now the following enhancements:
- A new optional keep switch (/k) to make the date/time stamp of the
  destination file the same as that of the source text file.
- To allow the source text file and the destination file be the
  same. In other words the programs can now make the conversion
  without forcing you to produce new files with names different from
  the original.
- The programs first test whether the source file is a proper text
  file with MsDos #13#10 eolns, no special characters (#0..#6, #8,
  #11, #14..#25, #28..#31), and no lines exceeding 254 characters in
  length. If not the conversion will not be attempted.
Some examples of the current usages:
 TOASC MyText.txt /k                     (ä -> }, ö -> |, etc)
 TOASC MyText.txt conv.txt
 TOASC MyText con /m

Sat 25-Jan-92: I have updated my collection of useful batch files.
It is now garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat31.zip and contains 49 batch
files. It adds
- boot.bat for convenient selective booting from alternative
  configurations. It is often believed that complicated programs are
  needed for booting with alternative configurations. The boot.bat
  batch shows that this need not be the case at all.
- path.txt to explain how to easily circumvent the 127 character
  limit on the path length.
- showtime.bat to show both the date and the time without the hassle
  of beating enter to death.
- mve.bat to move file(s) to another directory.

Sun 19-Jan-92: I have updated my collection of TSR (Terminate and
Stay Resident) programs to be garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tstsr12.zip. I
have added a noboot.exe which turns off the Alt-Ctrl-Del warm boot.
I know that there must be other similar facilities around, perhaps
even much better. Here my point is not only to make one more
available to our downloaders, but I wanted to look at this
reasonably advanced Turbo Pascal programming problem myself. Quite a
plateful.  The program has to replace the old keyboard interrupt
handler to intercept the keystrokes already at the keyboard port,
chain the old keyboard interrupt, check the keyboard buffer status,
assure that the program is not yet loaded to avoid a second copy in
memory, make the program resident in memory, assure a sufficient but
non-bloated stack, etc, etc. I can just hope I got all of it right.
   If you use this, or any other TSR utilities for that matter, you
are well advised to get garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/memutil/tsrcom33.zip (or
whichever version number is current) memory management tools by
Turbo Power Software.

Sat 18-Jan-92: I have updated my PESTIKID.EXE program which locks
the keyboard (unless the user knows the code to unlock it). The
following features have been added:
- The alt-ctrl-del combination is inactivated for the time the
  program is running.  Thus the pesty user cannot beat PESTIKID.EXE
  by the simple alt-ctrl-del warm boot. The user either has to know
  the unlock code or reset your PC physically.
- There is an optional message that is flashed to the screen if any
  other key is pressed except the unlock code. The message is
  invoked by a new /w (warning word) switch.  You can choose the
  word yourself, or if you just use /w, "Hands off" will be flashed
  as the default.  The flash is given in LightRed on Blue. The
  screen is restored to blank Black after the flash.
- The cursor can be turned off for the duration of the program.  The
  new /c switch is for turning the cursor off.
- Improved a bit the error messages if incorrect parameters are
  given in the program call
PESTIKID.EXE is a part of my consequently updated fifth utility
collection garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsutle15.zip. The other two
programs in the package are
 MSPLIT.EXE Split Unix elm email messages
 TDEL.EXE   Timo's safe recursive delete
but they have not been changed.

Mon 6-Jan-92: I have updated my Turbo Pascal units collection to be
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2640.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2650.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2655.zip
 garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2660.zip
by transferring the following routines from TSUNTH.TPU unit to a new
TSUNTJ.TPU unit
  COPYFILE Copy a file from within a Turbo Pascal program
  OPENEDFN Is an assigned textfile still open or not
  ISDIRFN  Is a name a directory or not
  PIPEDIFN Is the standard input from redirection
  PIPEDNFN Is the standard output redirected to nul
  PIPEDOFN Is the standard output redirected
by adding the following routines to TSUNTJ.TPU
  INTRADDR Show the memory address to which the interrupt points
  INTRLOCA Show the memory address where the interrupt is located
and by adding the following routines to TSUNTH.TPU
  ISMOUSFN A simple true/true false test of mouse available
  MOUSTAFN Status (type byte) of the mouse hardware and driver
My thanks are due to Duncan Murdoch in particular who first noted a
potential error in the early version of my mouse functions.
   The first of the sets garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tspa2640.zip contains
a compatibility unit TSUNT45.TPU for Turbo Pascal 4.0. It adds
routines that the later versions have, but which are missing in
version 4.0. I have added
  GetVerify Get the status of the MsDos write verify flag
  SetVerify Set the status of the MsDos write verify flag
  GetCBreak Get the state of Ctr-Break checking in DOS
  SetCBreak Set state of Ctr-Break checking in DOS

Sun 5-Jan-92: I have updated the collection of my Frequently Asked
Questions for UseNet news newcomers, FTP users, MsDos shareware and
PD program users, and Turbo Pascal programmers. It is available as
garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsfaq25.zip.  The collection is already so
large that I have only added one new item (it concerns the columns
width of news postings). I have also updated and rewritten some of
the items.
   Especially if you are new to comp.binaries.ibm.pc.archives,
news.newusers.questions, and/or comp.lang.pascal I trust that you
will benefit from this collection.
   If you find this collection interesting, there is more, mostly
garbo.uwasa.fi MsDos archive site related material in
/pc/pd2/post##.txt files (## = 01,...,06 currently).

Wed 1-Jan-92: Updated my collection of QEdit editor macros and
utilities to be garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsqed14.zip.  This is a minor
update that corrects a bug in the DATE.QMA macro for inserting the
date with the month given as letters instead of numbers.  The macro
confused the month and the day number for certain dates.

Wed 1-Jan-92: The 1991's garbo.uwasa.fi news concerning the files in
the /pc/ts directory (the directory of Timo Salmi's packages) has
been moved to 0news91.ts.