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││ P O P U P ││ ││ Version 1.13 ││ ││ ││ By ││ ││ ││ RC Software Copyright (c) 1991, 92 RC Software Table of Contents Legalities Introduction 1 Hardware and Software Requirements 3 Installation 4 Loading PopUp into Memory 5 Using PopUp 6 Memory and Disk Considerations 7 Command-line Options 9 Command-line Option Summary 14 Sample Option Configurations 15 General Configuration Tips 17 Limitations 18 Utilities 19 Hotkey PopItUp Glossary 21 Legalities Shareware PopUp is distributed using the Shareware method of marketing quality software products at reasonable prices. The Shareware concept allows you to use PopUp for upto 30 days to ascertain it's usefulness to you, after which you are expected to either become a registered user, or discontinue use of the software. Hopefully, you will find that PopUp is a worthwhile investment, and you decide to become a registered user by sending $29.00 (N.Y. residents please add $1.81 for sales tax) to: RC Software 38-150 Old Route 9W New Windsor, N.Y. 12553 As a registered user, you will receive: o The right to continue using PopUp, o The latest version of PopUp, o A nicely printed user manual, o A free upgrade to the next version of PopUp when it becomes available, and o Technical support via Compuserve (72320,2356) and America Online (RussC2). When you send in your registration fee, please indicate which size diskette (3.5-inch or 5.25-inch) you would like. Please feel free to distribute copies of PopUp, as long as they are complete and unmodified, and you don't charge a duplication fee any greater than $4.00. If you distribute PopUp as part of a program which you sell, you must register each copy of PopUp prior to distribution. Volume discounts and site licenses are available. Copyright Notice This software and accompanying documentation are copyright (c) 1991, 92 by RC Software. All rights are reserved. Liability Limitation RC Software does not assume any liability for the use of PopUp beyond the original purchase price of the software. In no event will RC Software be liable to you for additional damages, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use this program, even if RC Software has been advised of the possibility of such damages. By using this software, you agree to the terms of this section. If you do not agree, you should immediately cease to use PopUp, and return the entire PopUp package for a refund. License Agreement You are hereby granted a limited license to evaluate PopUp for a period not to exceed 30 days. Please refer to the section "Shareware", above. Trademarks All RC Software products are trademarks or registered trademarks of RC Software. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Reporting Problems If you encounter any problems with PopUp which you think might be a bug, please report it to us at the address above, or send us a message on Compuserve or America Online. Introduction What Is PopUp? PopUp is a memory-resident program that allows you to make any normal DOS program memory-resident, and therefore accessible at anytime regardless of the program you are currently using. You can even make DOS itself memory-resident and popup DOS anytime you want. Once PopUp is loaded into memory, by default it is invoked with <Alt>-<Gray +> (the plus sign on the numeric keypad). This can be changed using the -H command-line option. PopUp's Capabilities PopUp can provide large amounts of free memory when popped up, thereby allowing you to run large programs from within PopUp. Also, using command options, you can turn any program into a TSR (a memory-resident program)! See Command-line Options and Configuration Tips for more on how to do this. PopUp's main features include: o it can make any normal program a TSR. If you want to make Procomm RAM-resident, go ahead! o it only uses 6K of conventional memory, regardless of the amount of memory you ask it to make available for running programs! o it can popup over any text-mode screen; 25-line (the usual setting for most people), 43-line (EGA), and 50-line (VGA) display modes are supported. o it can use just about any type of media to store itself; EMS memory, XMS memory, RAM-disk, or hard disk. o it can free large amounts of memory even when all of your memory is currently being used. PopUp can free much more memory than typical DOS shells. o it can act as a DOS shell for programs that lack one of their own. o using command-line options, you can load multiple copies of PopUp, each with a different hotkey. This allows you to have multiple programs ready to popup. How PopUp Works PopUp works by storing the contents of the memory your current program is using to XMS (extended memory), EMS (expanded memory), a RAM-disk installed in any type of memory, or a hard disk. The ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 1 memory it frees is then available for you to load and run just about any program you would like, including DOS. When you are done running the "popped up" program, PopUp reverses it's steps and restores your original program. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 2 Hardware and Software Requirements PopUp's hardware requirements are: a. IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or 100% compatible machine. b. A hard disk. c. Optional: extended memory (XMS), or expanded memory (EMS 3.2 or greater), or a RAM-disk installed in any type of memory. PopUp's software requirement is: a. DOS 3.0 or greater. As you have no doubt noticed, PopUp is not very particular about your machine configuration. The main requirement is that there is some media which PopUp can use to store itself, hence hardware requirement b. above. If you have XMS memory, EMS memory, or a RAM-disk in any type of memory, PopUp can take full advantage of these, and you will be rewarded with exceptionally fast operation of PopUp. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 3 Installation Installation of PopUp is extremely simple. a. Place the PopUp distribution diskette in your floppy drive, type "INSTALL", and press [Return]. b. Select the drive letter of the drive you would like to install PopUp on. Note that a hard disk is required. c. Enter a directory name where PopUp's files should be copied, or just press [Return] to use the default directory name of d:\POPUP, where d: is the drive you selected in step b. The INSTALL program will now create the indicated directory and copy all the files from the distribution diskette to your hard disk. INSTALL will make the PopUp drive and directory the current default. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 4 Loading PopUp into Memory To load PopUp into memory, first make sure that the default drive and directory are where PopUp resides. Then load PopUp using the following command: POPUP [command options] Typically, you will use a set of commands such as in this example: POPUP -CC:\PATH\PROGNAME.EXE -M450 -PC:\ -HA:P This example tells PopUp to run the program PROGNAME.EXE when it pops up (which resides on the C: drive in the directory PATH), make 450K of memory available for running PROGNAME.EXE, to store itself in the root directory of drive C: if there is insufficient XMS and/or EMS memory to do so, and to popup using the hotkey <Alt>-<P>. Alternatively, you might choose to load PopUp to simply provide a DOS shell (make DOS memory-resident). You could use a command such as this to do so: POPUP -M100 -PC:\ -HAC:D This tells PopUp to make 100K of memory available when it is popped up, to store itself in the root directory of drive C: if there is insufficient XMS and/or EMS memory to do so, and to popup using the hotkey <Alt>-<Ctrl>-<D>. Note that the absence of the -C command is what tells PopUp to make DOS memory-resident. See "Command Options" for a more complete description of the available options. These options are very important to understand since they are the key to getting the most out of PopUp. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 5 Using PopUp Once loaded, to invoke PopUp simply press <Alt>-<Gray +> (the plus sign on the numeric keypad). If you used the -H command option to change the hotkey, use the hotkey you specified. If you didn't use a -C command option when you loaded PopUp you will go directly to the DOS prompt (in effect, you have made DOS memory-resident). When you have finished running programs from the DOS prompt, type "exit" to return to your original program. If you did use a -C command option when you loaded PopUp, the program you named will be immediately executed when PopUp pops-up. In fact, you won't actually see PopUp at all. When you are done with the "PopUp" program, exit it as you normally would and you will immediately return to your original program. There are some practical limitations to what you can run as a "PopUp" program. You must not specify a program that is already a TSR (such as Sidekick) with the -C command option. Furthermore, if you make DOS memory-resident with PopUp, and you load a RAM- resident program at the DOS prompt, you must unload that RAM- resident program before you use "exit" to return to your original program. PopUp assumes that it will be able to recover all of the memory that the "PopUp" program used. If a RAM-resident program is left in memory when you attempt to return to your original program, your PC will almost definitely lockup. The other main limitation is how much memory is available when PopUp is invoked. By default, PopUp will give you 30K of available RAM to run the "PopUp" program in. This is really only enough memory to run some simple DOS commands; most programs require more memory. You may increase this amount by using the -M parameter described below. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 6 Memory and Disk Considerations There are five intertwined issues that relate to PopUp's memory and disk usage: o what type of medium will be used to store most of PopUp; XMS memory, EMS memory, or disk (RAM-disk or a physical hard disk), o the data transfer speed of that medium, o the available space on that medium, o using 1 or 2 files to store PopUp, and o how much RAM you would like PopUp to free when it's popped- up. Storage Medium By default, if sufficient space is detected, PopUp will allocate space for itself in the following order: XMS, EMS, and disk (which includes RAM-disks). This behavior can be modified using the -E, -O, and -X command options. The -P command option allows you to select which disk and the directory path (RAM-disks included) to use if the file(s) will be stored on a disk. Storage Medium Speed In order of fastest to slowest data transfer "speed", the various mediums rank as follows: XMS, EMS, RAM-disk, disk. XMS, EMS, and RAM-disks are all very fast as compared to a hard disk, but there is a noticeable difference between XMS and EMS. If you have the option, always use XMS for PopUp storage. Available Medium Space What PopUp considers sufficient space for itself can vary. If PopUp will be using two files (the default setting), sufficient space will be about twice the amount of RAM PopUp will free (30K by default), plus the amount of RAM PopUp needs to run in (approx. twice the size of POPUP.EXE). If you use one storage file (using the -1 parameter), this number shrinks to just the amount of RAM PopUp will free plus the RAM PopUp needs to run in. Note that using a single storage file is only valid for XMS or disk (including RAM-disks). PopUp will let you know if there isn't enough space for the file(s). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 7 Using One Storage File or Two As indicated above, one consideration for choosing to use one storage file instead of two is that of media space. The other consideration is that of popup/popdown speed. Using two files is noticeably faster than using one. However, the amount of RAM you set PopUp to free, the media type, and the amount of the media which is available will determine just what the speed penalty of using one file is. If all else fails, try using one file (using the -1 option). If it's too slow for your liking, go back to using two. Again, note that using a single file is only valid for XMS or disk (including RAM-disks). How Much RAM PopUp Will Free As indicated in the section on the -M option, you may increase the amount of RAM PopUp will free as you see fit, upto the available RAM when PopUp is first loaded (minus the RAM PopUp needs to run itself in). Keeping the memory size small presents no particular problem, except that you won't be able to run very large programs from within PopUp. However, when increasing the memory size, remember that the storage file(s) that are written to the media will be larger, thereby taking up more space. Also, the time it takes for PopUp to popup and popdown will increase. On the other hand, if you're trying to make a particular program memory-resident, you'll have to tell PopUp to free at least enough memory for the program to run in. If you have plenty of XMS, EMS, a large RAM-disk, or a very fast hard disk with plenty of free space, or you just aren't too concerned with a little longer popup/popdown time, by all means increase the memory that PopUp will free. To maximize the amount of RAM that can be made available, load PopUp before other memory-resident programs (like Sidekick). Remember, when popped-up, at most PopUp will only be able to free as much memory as was available when PopUp was loaded. The only stipulation is that you must load it AFTER all drivers, especially LAN and MOUSE drivers. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 8 Command-line Options Command-line options are parameters that follow PopUp when you load it into memory. These options allow you to tell PopUp what you want it to do. -1 Syntax: -1 This command tells PopUp to use a single storage file instead of two. There are some advantages and disadvantages to doing this. If you setup PopUp to store itself to a hard disk, using one file will cut PopUp's disk space requirements in half, but it will take quite a bit longer for PopUp to popup (and popdown). However, if PopUp will be swapping to fast XMS or a RAM-disk, the 50% cut in memory requirement is a very welcome compromise since the performance degradation will be slight. Note that the -1 command increases PopUp's conventional memory size by 4K (to 10K). This parameter does not have any effect when swapping to EMS. See the section "Memory and Disk Considerations". -4 Syntax: -4 PopUp will normally only popup over 25-line text mode screens. However, using this command-line option allows PopUp to also popup over 43-line (EGA) and 50-line (VGA) text mode screens. -A Syntax: -A When PopUp uses a hard disk as it's storage medium, it normally creates it's storage files as hidden files. If you would prefer to have these storage files written to disk as normal "archive" files, use this command option. Just be sure not to delete these files while PopUp is loaded in memory! -C Syntax: -C<drive/path/program name> Example: -CC:\NORTON\NE.COM -C"C:\HELLO.BAT JOHN" By default, PopUp will make DOS memory-resident (you will see the DOS prompt when it is popped-up). This command option allows you to specify a particular program to be executed automatically when you invoke PopUp. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 9 You may specify any .EXE, .COM, or .BAT file. The first example above would load and run the program NE.COM, which is in the directory \NORTON. Note that you must give the full path and filename of the program, including the extension. The second example shows how to enter the name of a program that requires command-line parameters of it's own. Simply enclose the entire command within double quotes. In this example, the batch file HELLO.BAT will be executed with a command-line parameter of JOHN. Caution: never specify a RAM-resident program with the -C option. If you do, your PC will lockup as soon as you press the hotkey. -D Syntax: -D Normally, PopUp doesn't load a second copy of COMMAND.COM under which to execute a program you may have specified with the -C parameter, unless you have specified a batch file. If you happen to know that the program you have specified with the -C command requires it's own copy of COMMAND.COM to execute properly, use this parameter. -E Syntax: -E PopUp's normal order of preference for storage file space is XMS, then EMS, and finally disk (RAM-disk or normal). This command tells PopUp NOT to use EMS to store itself, even if you have enough EMS RAM to do so. You might want to do this if you have another program which needs most or all of your EMS RAM. If you use this command, PopUp will only use XMS memory or disk to store itself. See -X to disable use of XMS memory. -H Syntax: -H<A/C/L/R/N>:<char/#number> Example: -HA:Z -HACL:#84 PopUp's default hotkey is <Alt>-<Gray +> (the plus sign on the numeric keypad). This command option allows you to set the hotkey that PopUp will use. The characters between the -H and the colon indicate the shift key(s) to be used: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 10 A = Alt key C = Ctrl key L = Left Shift key R = Right Shift key N = None You may use any combination of the first four shift key identifiers that you like, and you may specify them in any order. The no shift key ('N') identifier is a special case. Be very careful when using it, since it results in a single-key hotkey (the hotkey will consist entirely of the key you specify after the colon; see below). The 'N' should not be mixed with any of the other shift key identifiers. The character (or number) following the colon indicates the character key you will use in combination with the shift key sequence. You may express the character in two ways; enter the character directly, as in the first example, or enter a '#' followed by the ASCII value for the character, as in the second example. In the first example the hotkey is <Alt>-<Z>, while the second example shows the hotkey as <Alt>-<Ctrl>-<LeftShift>- <T>. -L Syntax: -L When you press a hotkey, PopUp normally clears the screen before popping up. If you would prefer that the screen not be cleared, use this command option. -M Syntax: -M<RAM in K> Example: -M200 By default, PopUp will free 30K when popped up. This command allows you to set the amount of RAM (in K) that PopUp will make available when you pop it up. The example above would tell PopUp to make 200K (approx.) available when you pop it up. Obviously, this means you can run larger programs from PopUp. It is very important that you use this command when you use the -C command. You must tell PopUp how much memory the program specified in the -C command will need. Note that PopUp cannot free more RAM than is available at the time it is loaded (not popped-up). If you specify a number larger than the RAM available at load-time, PopUp will adjust the number downward to make as much RAM available as possible. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 11 -N Syntax: -N When PopUp is popping up or down, it normally displays a one line message at the bottom of your screen telling you that it is "swapping" itself. This is done so that if PopUp takes more than a brief moment to popup or popdown, you have an indicator that it is doing something. This command option allows you to disable this message if you find it annoying. Note that if PopUp determines that the popping-up and popping-down processes will occur quickly enough, it will disable the "swapping" message itself. -O Syntax: -O As mentioned above, PopUp's normal preference for storage space is XMS, then EMS, and finally disk. This command option tells PopUp to use EMS over XMS for the storage file(s), if sufficient EMS is available. In effect, this command changes the order of preference to EMS, XMS, then disk. -P Syntax: -P<drive/path> Example: -PD:\ This command option allows you to specify the path where PopUp will store itself, if it doesn't find enough XMS or EMS memory to do so (or you've disabled use of XMS and/or EMS). You must specify a drive and directory, but no filename. If PopUp determines that it must use a disk for storage space, and you haven't specified where the file(s) should be placed, PopUp will put the file(s) in the same directory as the PopUp program file (POPUP.EXE). (See Memory and Disk Considerations, above). -S Syntax: -S<name> Example: -SPROGNAME By default, PopUp's signature is "PopUp". This command allows you to set the signature for a particular loading of PopUp. The only time you need to specify a new signature is if you are going to make the same program memory-resident (via the -C command) more than once. Each time you load the program, after the first, you must specify a unique 1 to 8 character signature. The signature must follow the same rules as for a DOS-legal filename. This also applies if you are going to install multiple "DOS shells" (no -C command). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 12 Note that if you specify a signature upon loading of PopUp, the correct signature must be specified on the command-line to unload the same installation of PopUp. The signature is used to locate a particular copy of PopUp in memory. -U Syntax: -U This command unloads PopUp from memory (and deletes the swap files, or releases any allocated XMS or EMS memory) if it is possible. If other RAM-resident programs have been loaded after PopUp, it won't be possible. That is a limitation of DOS. If you specified a command to execute upon popup (-C command), you must also specify it when unloading PopUp. However, if you specified a signature (-S command), include that command instead. -X Syntax: -X As mentioned above, PopUp's normal order of preference for storage space is XMS, then EMS, and finally disk. This command option tells PopUp not to use XMS memory for storage, even if sufficient XMS memory is available. -? Syntax: -? This command option causes PopUp to display a brief listing of the available command options. PopUp will not load into memory if this command is used. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 13 Command-line Option Summary Option Syntax Definition -1 -1 Use 1 storage file instead of 2. -4 -4 Enables 43/50-line display support. -A -A Create storage file(s) as "archive" files. -C -C<drive/path/ Automatically execute the specified program name> program upon popup. -D -D Load a second copy of DOS before executing a program specified with the -C parameter. -E -E Disable use of EMS for storage file(s). -H -H<A/C/L/R>: Change PopUp's <char/#> hotkey. -L Disable clearing of the screen upon popping up. -M -M<RAM in K> Set how much RAM PopUp will make available when popped-up. Default is 30K. -N -N Disable swapping message. -O -O Make EMS preferred over XMS for storage file(s). -P -P<drive/path> Set the path where PopUp should store itself. -S -S<name> Change PopUp's signature. -U -U Unload PopUp, if possible. -X -X Disable use of XMS for storage file(s). -? -? Displays brief command option list. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 14 Sample Option Configurations Below are some hypothetical PopUp usage situations and possible PopUp option configurations to address them. When you determine the best option sequence for a particular use of PopUp, you will probably want to put the PopUp load command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 1. Given: a PC with 640K of memory and a hard disk (C:), you would like to have PopUp provide you with the capability to access DOS and use any DOS commands from within any program. Answer: DOS commands generally don't require large amounts of memory in which to run. The main exceptions are CHKDSK, DISKCOPY and XCOPY, which work best with lots of free memory. Assuming you can do without these commands, try loading PopUp with this command: POPUP -m40 -pc:\ This tells PopUp to provide 40K of free memory, and to place the storage files in the root directory on drive C if PopUp doesn't find enough XMS or EMS for storage (which it won't in this example). 2. Given: a 286, 386, or 486 PC with 2MB of RAM and a hard disk, you would like to make Professional Write (a word processor) memory-resident. Answer: The first thing you need to do is establish how your extended memory (the 2nd megabyte of memory) will be accessed; as XMS, EMS, or a RAM-disk. If your PC uses the Chips and Technologies chip set (check your users manual), or a similar chip set, then it very likely came with a utility to setup that portion of memory as EMS. Alternatively, you could use a XMS driver called HIMEM.SYS to make your extended memory accessible as XMS. HIMEM.SYS can be downloaded from Compuserve and many other bulletin board systems. Finally, DOS 3.3 includes a device driver called VDISK.SYS that you can use to establish a RAM-disk in extended memory. When deciding which method to use, remember that XMS is fastest, then EMS, then RAM-disks, although they're all pretty fast. The following commands would suit each situation best: XMS: POPUP -m450 -cc:\pwrite\pw.com -hac:p -1 -n ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 15 These command options tell PopUp to free 450K of memory when popped up, execute pw.com upon popup, popup when <Alt>-<Ctrl>-<P> is pressed, use one swap file, and to disable the "Swapping..." message during popping up and popping down. EMS: POPUP -m450 -cc:\pwrite\pw.com -hac:p -n The only difference between this list of command options for EMS and the ones for XMS is that the -1 option is not available when using EMS. RAM-Disk: POPUP -m450 -cc:\pwrite\pw.com -hac:p -n -pd:\ These command options are very similar to the ones for EMS, except that the path for the RAM-disk (drive D: in this example) has been specified as the media for the storage files. 3. Given: a PC of any type, which is connected to a Novell Netware LAN, and you use cc:Mail (an electronic mail program for LANs). You like to use the TSR version of the cc:Mail program for it's convenience, but after you load the network drivers and cc:Mail, you don't have enough free memory to run your database or word processing programs. What do you do? Answer: Use PopUp to make the normal (non-TSR) version of the cc:Mail program memory resident. Not only will it only use 6K of conventional memory (compared to 70K- 100K for the TSR version), but the normal version is more feature-rich! Somewhere in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file you probably have some statements such as: IPX NET3 These commands load the drivers that allow you to use the LAN. When you add a line to make cc:Mail memory- resident with PopUp, make sure you add it AFTER the LAN driver statements. You might also have a LAN driver called NETBIOS in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Make sure this command also appears before you load PopUp to make cc:Mail resident. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 16 General Configuration Tips 1. Never load PopUp after Sidekick, Sidekick Plus, or Sidekick 2.0. Although PopUp contains some special code to deal with being loaded after Sidekick, it is nevertheless inadvisable to do so. 2. If PopUp will be storing itself in XMS, EMS, or on a RAM-disk, use the -N command. 3. Under any of the following conditions try the -1 command: - the storage file will be stored in XMS, - less than 350K will be freed by PopUp and the storage file will be stored on a RAM-disk, or - less than 100K will be freed by PopUp and the storage file will be stored on a hard disk. 4. If you have a 386 or 486-based PC, purchase and use an expanded memory manager such as QEMM from Quarterdeck. A memory manager such as QEMM can provide XMS and EMS from the same pool of memory, thereby allowing all programs to use their preferred type of memory. 5. If you will be loading multiple copies of PopUp into memory (to make different programs memory resident, usually), don't forget to give each copy of PopUp a different hotkey using the -H command option. 6. If you will be loading multiple copies of PopUp to run the same program (or just DOS), make sure you give the second and subsequent copies unique signatures using the -S command option. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 17 Limitations Since PopUp must interact with your system at a very low level, and given the variety of software available, there is always a small chance that PopUp will not work from within a particular application due to the manner in which the application was written. If PopUp detects one of these situations, it will beep (and possibly display an error window) and refuse to popup. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 18 Utilities Hotkey Hotkey is a very simple utility to help you with setting up the -H command option. If you decide to use the "#ASCII Value" option for specifying the second portion of the hotkey, Hotkey can provide you with the ASCII value for the key you want to use. To use Hotkey, simply enter "HOTKEY" at the DOS prompt and press [Return]. Hotkey will display some instructions. Now press the key you want the ASCII value for, and it will be displayed in a small window. If you would like the ASCII value for another key, press [Return] to repeat the process. Otherwise, press [ESC] to exit back to DOS. PopItUp Normally, the only way to get PopUp to popup is for you to press it's hotkey on the keyboard (<Alt>-<Gray +> by default). However, the ability to have a program or batch file make PopUp popup is useful too. Most RAM-resident programs have no way to accomplish this feat. Not so with PopUp! Once you have a copy of PopUp loaded in memory, simply run PopItUp, and PopUp will popup. If you specified a program for PopUp to run upon popping up (using the -C command option), use a command option of the program name (without the drive, directory, and file extension) with PopItUp. If you gave PopUp a new signature (using the -S command option), use the signature instead. See the example below. If you are having a little difficulty thinking of where you might want to use such a feature, consider this example: Suppose you use a communications program which has the capability of integrating an external word processor. Let's assume you want to use Professional Write. Typically, the way you integrate two programs like this is to specify what program the communications program should run when you select "Word Processor" from a menu. For Professional Write you would have it run PW.COM. Most likely, the communications program will only be able to give you 300K or less of memory in which to run your external word processor. Unfortunately, Professional Write requires at least 440K to run. What do you do? Make Professional Write memory-resident with PopUp, that's what! Then have the communications program run POPITUP.EXE instead of PW.COM when you select "Word Processor", causing Professional Write to popup. POPITUP will run in just 8K of memory! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 19 Specifically, you would want a command similar to the following in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to make Professional Write memory-resident: POPUP -CC:\PW\PW.COM -M450 You would tell your communications program to run: POPITUP PW If you need to have the communications program pass some command- line parameter(s) to Professional Write, such as the name of an existing file you want to edit, you would simply tack them on the end of the PopItUp command: POPITUP PW FILE.TXT Note: If you have loaded a copy of PopUp into memory without using a -C command (so PopUp will function as a DOS shell), and you want to have PopItUp make it popup and run a particular program immediately, run PopItUp like this (continuing with the Professional Write theme): POPITUP - C:\PW\PW.COM The hyphen is used to tell PopItUp that you didn't load the resident copy of PopUp with a -C or -S command option. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 20 Glossary EMS Expanded Memory Specification. This type of memory can be used in PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible computers. Memory outside of the upto 1MB of conventional memory is switched in and out of a selected memory region (the "page frame") between the 640K and 1MB memory boundaries. The EMS specification provides a standard programming interface for the manipulation of these memory pages. Hotkey A TSR or Swapping TSR is "popped-up" using a Hotkey. A Hotkey is usually a combination of a shift-type key (Alt, Ctrl, LeftShift, RightShift) and a normal letter, number, or symbol key. For example, by default PopUp's Hotkey is <Alt>- <Gray +> (the plus sign on the numeric keypad). Swapping TSR A swapping TSR is a RAM-resident program which only occupies a small region of memory when not active. Upon activation, the TSR copies the region of memory it needs for it's own use to a storage media, and then copies itself into that now vacant memory. Upon exit from the swapping TSR, the events are reversed and the original program is restored to exactly the point at which it was interrupted. PopUp is an example of a Swapping TSR. See TSR below. TSR Terminate-and-Stay-Resident program. A TSR is a RAM-resident program that may be used at any time, regardless of the current application you might be using. A TSR occupies a certain amount of memory at all times. XMS eXtended Memory Specification. This type of memory can be used in PC's based on '286, '386, and '486 processors. Extended memory is the region of memory above the 1MB boundary which can only be directly addressed in the protected mode offered by these processors. The XMS specification provides a standard manner in which to allocate and deallocate extended memory, thereby eliminating conflicts between XMS-compliant programs. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────- PopUp User's Guide 21