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- POWERKIT II (PKII.MOD) Documentation
-
-
- May 1989
- Version 1.24
-
-
- Copyright 1987-89 by John H. Brooks.
- All rights reserved.
- Permission is granted to distribute copies
- of this documentation, and unaltered
- copies of the full POWERKIT II package.
-
-
- DISCLAIMER: This software is sold "as is." No warranty is given, either
- express or implied, that any specific POWERKIT feature will work on any
- particular machine. The manufacturer will not be liable for any damage
- caused by the use of POWERKIT.
-
- The names of hardware and software products, and companies mentioned in
- this document are trademarks or service marks of the respective companies.
-
- To users registered prior to December 22, 1988, POWERKIT II is a $5 upgrade.
-
- FORWARD: Welcome, I'll be brief. I'm asking you to please pay for POWERKIT
- II if you use it. At $19.95 (for the entire POWERKIT II package), I be-
- lieve the price is fair. Give POWERKIT II a good workout, then remit to:
-
- CENTRAL DATA SERVICES
- 1641 WINONA COURT
- DENVER, CO 80204
- (303) 595-4218
-
- SUPPORT FOR POWERKIT: Since there are so many different video cards,
- versions of PC/MS-DOS, flavors of the BIOS ROM, hardware configurations,
- all calling themselves "PC (or AT) compatible," the "non-guarantee" above
- is regrettable but necessary. Obviously, you won't buy POWERKIT if it
- doesn't work on your machine, but if you could spare a few moments to let
- me know what would not work, and what kind of machine you have, I'll do my
- best to get POWERKIT to work on your machine. As many registered users of
- POWERKIT have already discovered, I intend to have POWERKIT be one of the
- best supported SHAREWARE (or commercial, for that matter) programs in the
- business. SEE PAGE 11 FOR INFORMATION ON POWERKIT II'S ONLINE SUPPORT.
-
- INTRODUCTION: PKII.MOD is small, about 2100 bytes of it stay in memory. If each
- of PKII.MOD's tasks were to be done by separate "COM" programs, many
- thousands of bytes would be used. Almost all of PKII.MOD's operations
- may be controlled from the command line (the DOS prompt or a line in
- AUTOEXEC.BAT), with a keyboard "hot" key, or from a pop-up "1-2-3"
- style menu, even while you are inside another program. Many can be
- disabled, if your favorite utility program does the same thing. After
- all, PKII.MOD uses very little memory.
-
- Page 2
-
-
- You will like the way PKII.MOD handles your keyboard. A key, when
- pressed, starts to repeat after a waiting period whose length you set,
- accelerates smoothly at a rate you set to a top speed you set, and when
- released, "stops on a dime." Keystrokes also may be made to repeat
- very slowly, or to repeat not at all. PKII.MOD's AutoPilot lets you
- teach your machine how to do a repetitive task, while you sit back and
- relax. If that's not enough, add an extra large keystroke buffer and
- an ability to view what's in it, a way to route printer output to your
- screen, an escape hatch from programs that falter, a screen blanker, a
- floppy disk motor early shut-off, a way to protect your machine from
- prying eyes and mischievous fingers (even at bootup), a few other
- things, and there's HOOK.
-
- HOOK is unique. HOOK will open up many of those programs that won't
- let your "can't live without" pop-up utilities pop up. HOOK will do
- other things too (see /K)eyboard redefine, and KEYPAD 5, H, page 8).
-
- LESS EXPERIENCED PC USERS: Don't be put off by the wealth of more or less
- technical data which follows. You already know how to get PKII.MOD
- working, and almost everything else you need to know is at your finger-
- tips, by pressing ALT-/. Also, if you press KEYPAD 5, then the F1 key,
- a help screen, independent of the menus, will pop up.
-
- COMMANDING PKII.MOD: Most PKII.MOD parameters may be set by including them
- after the "PKII.MOD" when you call it, and several MUST be set from
- there. For example, typing:
-
- LOAD C:\PKII\PKII.MOD/M15/W5/d2/f110/e68
-
- will set the floppy disk motor to shut off after 1.5 seconds (15
- tenths), the wait before repeating a keystroke to 1/2 second (5
- tenths), the display to switch off after 2 minutes (if no keys have
- been pressed during that time), the keystroke repeat speed to a maximum
- of 110 keystrokes per second, and sets the default drive, where
- PKII.MOD looks for COMMAND.COM when it "shells" out of a program, to
- "D" (68 is the decimal ASCII code for "D"). The commands may be
- entered in any order, in lower or UPPER case. The C:\PKII\ means you
- have stored PKII.MOD on Drive C:, in directory PKII. The commands may
- be entered in any order, in lower or UPPER case.
-
- The following commands can be given ONLY from the command line.
-
- /An, n = 0 to 9 (or thereabouts) tells PKII.MOD the number of phony
- keystrokes to insert between each "real" keystroke. This is a means to
- curb repeating key overshoot in especially recalcitrant programs.
-
- /Rn, n = 0 to 9 (or more) tells PKII.MOD the number of times to "lie"
- to an application about the status of the keystroke buffer. Its
- purpose is the same as /An above. See page 8 for further details.
-
- Page 3
-
- /Cn, n = 0 or 1 toggles CAPS/SHIFT LOCK (see KEYPAD 5, C, page 9) When
- ON, and when CAPS is ON too, pressing a SHIFT key will NOT produce a
- lower case letter.
-
- /En, n = 65 to 90 (these are the ASCII codes for A-Z), sets the drive,
- floppy, "ram", or hard, where PKII.MOD looks for COMMAND.COM when it
- exits an application program and allows you to load and run another
- program, format a disk, etc. COMMAND.COM must be in the "root" dir.
-
- /M)otor off after 1 to 255 tenths seconds. This command has nothing
- to do with speeding up floppy disk input or output, it merely allows
- the computer to turn off the floppy disk drive motor after so many
- tenths of a second. I included this command in PKII.MOD to let you get
- back to work more quickly after a disk access (the keyboard sometimes
- won't work while the drive motor is on). Also, it is not always safe
- to remove a disk from the drive while the motor is on (stray magnetic
- fields produced by the motor could garble the data on your disk). If
- you tell PKII.MOD nothing about motor shutoff, PKII.MOD will set it to
- one second. /M0 makes PKII.MOD ignore motor shut off.
-
- /Nn, N = 0 or 1, forces shell to DOS to use current active display page
- (n = 0), or change to a new display page (n = 1). Also see page 10.
-
- /On, n = 0 to 25 (1 = top of screen), sets the line on which the cursor
- will appear after PKII.MOD completes its initialization. The default
- is line 25. If you don't like that "CURSOR VANISH?" message, set /O25
- (or any other setting) to make it go away. /O0 clears the screen and
- puts the cursor at the top of the screen.
-
- /K)eyboard redefine, from its name, you might think is a replacement
- for ANSI.SYS. It is NOT, it is a supplement to ANSI.SYS and the other
- similar keyboard redefinition programs. For the technically inclined,
- ANSI.SYS redefines the keyboard by replacing the (extended) ASCII code
- generated by one key, with the extended ASCII code generated by a dif-
- ferent key. However, some programs don't even bother to look at ASCII
- codes, so /K)eyboard redefine (used with HOOK, see page 9) works by
- replacing the "scan" code generated by one key with the scan code of a
- different key.
-
- From here on the going gets kind of tough for awhile, so I'll go slow-
- ly. There is a type of program let's call a KIM, a Keyboard Interrupt
- Monopolizer. If you own SIDEKICK, or a similar program, and you tried
- to call it up by pressing CTRL-ALT (or some other HOT key) while in-
- side another program, and it either wouldn't pop up or your machine
- froze, that program you were inside was a KIM. KIM's have other prob-
- lems, too. The older KIM's have no way of recognizing the larger key-
- boards that come with many of the newer PC compatibles, except for the
- keys corresponding to the old 83 key "standard PC keyboard." This
- means you can't use that nice separate cursor keypad while working
-
- Page 4
-
- within the KIM, for example. PKII.MOD's /K)eyboard redefine, in
- conjunction with the HOOK command could help you with that problem.
- /K)eyboard redefine takes two forms. One, you can put pairs of scan
- codes on the "PKII.MOD" command line; a "/" then the decimal scan code
- you wish to redefine, followed by "/" plus the decimal scan code you
- wish it to be, repeating this for each key to be redefined. For
- example, what you see below makes the keyboards of TANDY 1000's or
- 2000's work just fine inside most KIM's:
-
- /K41/72/43/75/74/80/78/77/88/71/89/41/90/43/85/78/83/74/87/28/86/83/84/70
- ^ NOTE: no slash needed for first number
-
- Obviously, you need to know something about scan codes to do this,
- which leads to the second way /K can be used. Putting /K on the
- "PKII.MOD" command line, followed by nothing at all, or followed by
- another PKII.MOD command (like /k/h, for example) causes PKII.MOD to
- help you find the scan codes. First, the machine will start its normal
- boot-up procedure. When it loads PKII.MOD, a beep will occur, and the
- display will read:
-
- Press key to be changed, ESC to quit:
-
- /k
-
- Press a key, and its scan code (in decimal) will appear behind the /k,
- you will hear another beep, and the display will show:
-
- Press key to change to:
-
- /kXX
-
- The XX above represents the scan code of the first key pressed. Press
- a second key; its scan code will appear as /kXX/YY. Another beep, and
- the "Press key to be changed, ESC to quit:" prompt will reappear. In
- this way you can tell PKII.MOD which keys you want redefined. For
- example, to get that long line of redefined scan codes shown above (on
- a TANDY 1000), do the following (keypad means the numeric keypad):
-
- PRESS THEN PRESS ACTION
- up arrow keypad 8 fixes up arrow key
- down arrow keypad 2 fixes down arrow key
- left arrow keypad 4 fixes left arrow key
- right arrow keypad 6 fixes right arrow key
- HOME keypad 7 fixes HOME key
- F11 up arrow makes F11 print ` and ~
- F12 left arrow makes F12 print \ and |
- INSERT right arrow changes INSERT to grey +
- DELETE down arrow changes DELETE to grey -
- keypad ENTER ENTER fixes keypad ENTER
- keypad . DELETE changes keypad . to DELETE
- BREAK HOLD fixes CTRL-BREAK
- ESC saves scan codes and exits
- (inside a KIM, keypad 0 will probably act like INSERT)
-
- Page 5
-
- In general, for any extended keyboard, you can use the first five
- sequences above for the ARROW and HOME keys, and in addition:
-
- PRESS THEN PRESS ACTION
- END keypad 1 fixes END key
- PG UP keypad 9 fixes PG UP key
- PG DN keypad 3 fixes PG DN key
- INSERT keypad 0 fixes INSERT key
- DELETE keypad . fixes DELETE key
- ESC exits
-
- PKII.MOD has enough room for 15 redefined keys. After all this, the
- line on the display starting with /k will show the necessary scan codes
- to put on the "PK" command line before you next run the KIM; but there
- is no need to reboot the computer now, just write down the /k line for
- future reference. PKII.MOD has saved these codes, and after you do
- just one more thing, you can load the KIM and have your keyboard work
- properly. That final task is to activate HOOK while the CAPS key is
- turned ON. HOOK is activated by KEYPAD 5, H. See page 8 for a
- complete discussion of HOOK. Turning on HOOK with CAPS ON tells
- PKII.MOD to feed the new scan codes to the KIM.
-
- /L)ock machine at bootup, like /K above, takes two forms. Putting /L
- on the line with no parameters will show the (decimal) scan codes of
- the keys you press, until you press ESC, to use in a password that will
- have to be entered before the machine will continue booting up. Using
- parameters with /L will define the password. For example:
-
- /l30/48/46/32
- ^ NOTE: no slash needed for first number
-
- will define the password "ABCD". The password may contain up to eight
- keystrokes. This password will protect only against children or casual
- meddling. However, on a machine with a hard disk, and with some addit-
- ional hardware/software changes, this password could provide one more
- "layer" of protection for "sensitive" data. BE SURE to put ECHO OFF in
- your AUTOEXEC.BAT file when using this feature.
-
- /Sn, n = 18 to 255 is a speedup factor. It does this by stretching the
- time between memory refreshes in your machine. It works on IBM PC's
- and AT's, and a few clones that are SO COMPATIBLE, they even use the
- same refresh interval. Modern memory chips no longer need to be re-
- freshed as often as the IBM machines do it. /S255 should work on any
- machine whose memory chips have been manufactured in the last five
- years. If not, lower the n in /Sn, until it does work. The speedup is
- 5% on 4.77 Mhz machines (PC's), up to 20% on some 12 Mhz AT clones.
-
- /Tn enables an algorithm that blanks HERCULES brand display adaptors.
- If you have an Hercules "compatible" adaptor, it probably can be
- blanked without invoking this command.
-
- Page 6
-
-
- /T1 -- Tests for an Hercules adaptor. If present, enables blanking.
- /T2 -- Activates Hercules blanking without testing first.
-
- /Vn, n = 91 to 255, is the number of timer ticks your machine makes in
- 5 seconds. The default is 91.
-
- /Xn adjusts the time it takes repeating keystrokes to get up to top
- speed, (a speed you can set according to your own taste, see KEYPAD 5,
- F page 7).
-
- /X0 -- Repeating keystrokes start out at top speed.
- /X1 -- Repeating keystrokes accelerate smoothly, but quickly, to their
- top speed.
- /X2 -- Repeating keystrokes accelerate rather more slowly than with
- the /X1 setting. This is the default setting.
-
- /Y0 turns off PKII.MOD's Scroll Lock key handler (see page 9).
-
- /Z1 -- Turns on the much louder "system beep" and turns off PKII.MOD's.
-
- OTHER COMMANDS that may be put on the "PKII" command line are:
-
- /D)isplay off
- /F)ast repeat
- /H)ook
- /P)rinter output to screen, 0 (off) or 1 (on).
- /W)ait before repeating
-
- NOTES: To redefine PKII.MOD's hot key, use the utility NEWHOTKY.COM
- (see NEWHOTKY.DOC for an explanation of the simple procedure). Note
- also that when HOOK is placed on the command line, and you wish it to
- be used with /K)eyboard redefine, make sure the CAPS key is ON while
- your machine is booting up.
-
- COMMANDS ACCESSED BY PRESSING AND RELEASING KEYPAD 5: What follows are
- descriptions of the PKII.MOD commands accessed from the keyboard.
- First, the "5" key on the numeric keypad (SHIFT KEYPAD 5 when NUM LOCK
- is "on") must be pressed, RELEASED, then the indicated COMMAND key
- pressed and released. If the command needs more input (numbers or
- letters), enter them when you hear a beep. Press ENTER when finished.
- If you press KEYPAD 5 by accident, press it AGAIN to cancel.
-
- KEYPAD 5, ESC: Many times can bring you back to the DOS prompt from a hung or
- crashed program. When KEYPAD 5, ESC does succeed, when you have pre-
- cious unsaved data on a ramdisk for example, PKII.MOD will have earned
- its keep. If KEYPAD 5, ESC doesn't work, and if PKII.MOD's scroll lock
- key handler is active (see page 9), press SCROLL LOCK (HOLD on some
- machines), then ESC. If you hear a "beep" when you press KEYPAD 5 or
- SCROLL LOCK, it's almost certain you will escape from your trouble.
-
- NOTE: A few programs have their own escape routines. If they exist,
- they are invoked by either CTRL-BREAK or CTRL-C (usually).
-
- Page 7
-
- KEYPAD 5, W: At the beep, entering a number from 1 to 60, followed by ENTER,
- will set the delay before keystrokes begin to repeat to that many
- tenths of a second. Enter zero if you wish to go back to your old,
- sluggish keyboard. But then, PKII.MOD tasks associated with KEYPAD 5
- W, F, S, A, and R will no longer work.
-
- KEYPAD 5, F: At the beep, entering a number from 5 to 255, followed by ENTER,
- will set the maximum speed a keystroke repeats to that many repeti-
- tions per second, give or take 2 reps./second. The actual repetition
- rate will be determined by how fast the application program can handle
- keystrokes (ANSI.SYS slows the repeat rate, for example). Enter zero
- and the keyboard will work like an old-fashioned typewriter keyboard
- (no auto-repeat, a more comfortable mode for those with disabilities).
-
- NOTE 1: Use KEYPAD 5, S (see below) for 1 rep./sec, or slower.
-
- NOTE 2: Some repeat speeds are smoother than others. This is deter-
- mined by the tick rate of the system clock. For most PC compatibles,
- 5, 10, 19, 37, 55, 74, 92, 110 reps./sec. are the smoothest. Also,
- adding 2 or 3 lies/rep. (KEYPAD 5, B, 2 or 3) smooths things out.
-
- KEYPAD 5, S: At the beep, entering a number from 1 to 255, followed by ENTER,
- will repeat a keystroke (or a sequence of keystrokes) every that many
- seconds. This is used mainly with AutoPilot (KEYPAD 5, A below).
-
- KEYPAD 5, A: Activates AutoPilot. At the beep, enter a keystroke. The key-
- stroke may represent a MACRO thousands of bytes long, but it doesn't
- matter, the keystroke (or MACRO) will repeat until you touch another
- key.
-
- NOTE: Because of the peculiar nature of the programs we have dubbed
- KIM's (page 3, or see KEYPAD 5, H, page 8), there are actually two
- AutoPilot routines. Therefore, an AutoPilot sequence that has been
- defined outside a KIM won't work inside a KIM, and vice versa. Use
- KEYPAD 5, A, with CAPS turned ON, to destroy saved keystrokes before
- "hooking" and entering a KIM, or before leaving a KIM. PRESSING and
- RELEASING the CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT keys will count as ONE of the six-
- teen permitted keystrokes while inside a KIM, while these key presses
- DON'T count against the sixteen when outside a KIM.
-
- I am certain that AutoPilot will be used in ways I could never dream
- of. If you must dump your "KEY" program to load a large application,
- AutoPilot will be there to restore some of its function by using Auto-
- Pilot together with the at least rudimentary MACRO capability most
- application programs now have. A single PG DN keystroke can be set to
- repeat at a comfortable pace, to let you read a document in your word
- processor without touching the keyboard. To snoop through the BIOS ROM
- using DEBUG's UNASSEMBLE command, set the keystrokes to U, and RIGHT
- SHIFT-ENTER. When something interesting appears, press RIGHT SHIFT,
- examine it more closely, then continue snooping with KEYPAD 5, A.
- Suppose you would like to eliminate an entire column of a table in one
- of your applications. You know the application has a very slick method
- of doing this, but you can remember only how to eliminate one line of
-
- Page 8
-
- the column at a time. You can go to the user's manual, or it might be
- quicker to go to AutoPilot, enter the single line commands, plus a DOWN
- ARROW keystroke.
-
- KEYPAD 5, R: At the beep, enter A or B. This sets the "plan" to use to inhib-
- it repeating key overshoot, when inside certain programs. Plan "A"
- inserts unusable "null" keystrokes between each "real" keystroke. How-
- ever, some programs are just too smart for their own good and discard
- these null keystrokes before they can fill its buffer and prevent "run-
- on". Hence the need for Plan "B". Plan "B" tells the program a
- "little white lie", but it's "for its own good". It sends a "no key-
- stroke in buffer" report back to the program, several times, before
- sending the "true" message. You can use these two plans together. If
- CAPS = ON when choosing a plan, the values for the other plan will not
- be erased. After entering A or B (after the second beep), enter the
- number of null keystrokes (or fibs) to insert between each "real"
- keystroke, then press ENTER.
-
- You may never use this command. The majority of programs use the
- keystroke buffer supported by the BIOS (delineated by the two words at
- 40h:80h). PKII.MOD sees to it that, while a key is repeating, this
- buffer never contains more than one keystroke. Hence, overshoot is
- impossible.
-
- However, KIM's (see page 3 or below) and some non-KIM's maintain their
- own keystroke buffers and couldn't care less that your cursor keeps
- moving after you release it. Experiment with combinations of KEYPAD 5,
- F (repeat speed) and KEYPAD 5, R, A, B, and n. Overshoot may not be
- eliminated, but is almost always reduced. For example, setting KEYPAD
- 5, F to 92 and KEYPAD 5, R to "A,3" eliminates overshoot in QuickBASIC
- 3.0, a non-KIM which, nevertheless, keeps its own 8 key-stroke buffer.
- Setting KEYPAD 5, F to 37 and KEYPAD 5, R to "A,5" only reduces over-
- shoot in QuickBASIC 2.0, a KIM which must be "hooked" (see below), and
- which keeps a 16 keystroke buffer. BRIEF (v2.01) works fine with
- PKII.MOD's default setting (2 fibs, 0 nulls), but on slower machines,
- your cursor will move faster using 1 null, 0 fibs.
-
- NOTE: Some programs object mightily to the null keystrokes Plan A uses
- to control overshoot. PC-Write (and LIST), for example, sounds like a
- moonstruck cricket when nulls are set to greater than zero. These
- plans may also be used to make repeats look smoother. LOTUS 1-2-3 has
- the WORST overshoot problem I've ever seen (44 extra repeats). It
- "chokes" on Plan A, but Plan B, with "fibs" set to 5, fixes things
- right up.
-
- KEYPAD 5, H: The HOOK command is designed to outwit those application programs
- I call Keyboard Interrupt Monopolizers, or KIM's for short. You prob-
- ably have a KIM in your library. It's a program such that after you
- load it, your favorite pop-up utilities won't work until you exit it.
- Activate HOOK just before you load the KIM. If you hear a beep when
- the KIM starts to execute, then HOOK probably has intercepted the pro-
- gram successfully and your pop-ups (including PKII.MOD) should work.
- Deactivate HOOK after you leave the KIM by entering KEYPAD 5, H again.
- No beep this time.
-
- Page 9
-
- FOR ADVANCED USERS: If CAPS LOCK is ON when you invoke HOOK, the KIM
- will be fed SCAN CODES determined from the table developed from data
- entered with the /K)eyboard redefine command. See page 3 for a dis-
- cussion of this command. This solves most of the problems many KIM's
- have with keyboards possessing more than the standard 83 "PC" keys.
- Some keyboards omit either the "make" or "break" signal when the lights
- (called LED's) in the CAPS or NUM LOCK keys are turned off or on.
- These keys will still have to be pressed four times to put them through
- a complete cycle (while inside a KIM).
-
- SAD NOTE 1: No "keyboard macro" program (these programs usually have
- "KEY" somewhere in their name) that I am aware of will work inside a
- KIM, even a "hooked" KIM. AutoPilot produces a (repeating) keyboard
- macro and that is why two separate AutoPilot routines were necessary.
-
- SAD NOTE 2: PKII.MOD will not "hook" some KIM's. These are KIM's that
- do not use DOS services to attach themselves to interrupts. Also,
- hooking a non-KIM will sometimes hang the machine.
-
- QuickBASIC APPLICATIONS: Programs compiled with any QuickBASIC
- compiler, and which use the ON KEY command, must be "hooked" before
- pop-up utilities will work properly.
-
- KEYPAD 5, V: Opens (and closes) a view-port into the keystroke buffer. Your
- most used applications probably have become so familiar to you, you
- know long beforehand what comes next and what you want to do about it.
- However, distractions occur and you can "lose your place" while typing
- "blind" into the keystroke buffer. At these times a view-port is use-
- ful. The view-port expands and contracts according to how many unused
- keystrokes are left in the buffer. Reenter the command to close the
- view-port.
-
- KEYPAD 5, L: Lets you blank the screen and lock up the keyboard. After
- pressing KEYPAD 5, L, the screen will blank (if you haven't disabled
- blanking). At the beep, just press ENTER if you want no password pro-
- tection, or enter up to a four keystroke password, then press ENTER.
- To get your machine back, PRESS and RELEASE the RIGHT SHIFT key and
- reenter the password. Incidentally, your machine will go on computing
- while locked, if no keyboard input is needed.
-
- KEYPAD 5, D: At the beep, entering a number from 1 to 60, followed by ENTER,
- sets the display to turn off after one to sixty minutes of keyboard
- inactivity. KEYPAD 5, D, 0 disables screen blanking. Blanking is im-
- portant for monochrome displays, to preserve their phosphor coatings.
- PKII.MOD's default setting is screen blanking DISABLED. See page 5,
- /Tn, for instructions on enabling Hercules brand MGA card blanking.
-
- KEYPAD 5, C: Toggles a feature that, when ON (beep), and when CAPS is ON too,
- pressing a SHIFT key will NOT produce a lower case letter.
-
- KEYPAD 5, Y: Toggles PKII.MOD's SCROLL LOCK key handler on/off. PKII.MOD turns
- the Scroll Lock key into what (I think) it should have been all along.
- Pressing the key will freeze a scrolling display until you press SCROLL
- LOCK again, allowing you to examine its contents at your leisure (now
-
- Page 10
-
- that's much easier than CTRL-NUM LOCK, isn't it?). A beep will tell
- you when the display has been frozen, and beeps will greet your every
- key press, until you press SCROLL LOCK again. Toggle it OFF, when a
- program has its own designs on the SCROLL LOCK key (but then, you
- cannot take advantage of what is mentioned in the NOTES below).
-
- SCROLL LOCK NOTES: Pressing SCROLL LOCK, then ESC, is probably a surer
- way of escaping from a lockup, than KEYPAD 5, ESC.
-
- Pressing SCROLL LOCK, then F1, "warm boots" your machine (you must set
- the /w1 option for KYBD.BUF, in CONFIG.SYS, first). This is mainly for
- Tandy 1000 users, or for users of other machines whose warm boot rou-
- tines are SLOW. However, if your machine lacks a clock/calendar chip,
- you too might wish to use it, as it preserves the time and date. Also,
- this warm boot takes a much shorter path, so is likely to work when
- CTRL-ALT-DEL does not.
-
- KEYPAD 5, P: Directs output normally destined for the printer, to the screen.
- This is handy when no printer is available and you must use a program
- that demands a printer be attached (when you are using a PC compatible
- laptop away from the office, for instance). It also lets you preview
- the formatting of a document without wasting a lot of time and paper,
- if you don't have a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editor.
- Pressing KEYPAD 5, P a second time turns off this feature.
-
- NOTE: I always boot up with /P1 on the "PKII.MOD" command line, because
- it's easy to activate Print Screen inadvertently, with no printer
- online.
-
- KEYPAD 5, E: Exits an application program, and puts you at the DOS prompt.
- There, you can perhaps do some little thing that you forgot to do be-
- fore you entered the application (like format a new disk if the disk
- you are using is full, and the application wants to write more data).
- To return to the application, type "exit" at a DOS prompt. If you have
- a graphics adaptor (CGA, EGA, etc.), PKII.MOD exits to a different dis-
- play page, so as not to mess up your screen. With a single page adap-
- tor (MDA), there is no choice, sorry. However, a less confusing dis-
- play will result if you place the cursor at the bottom of the screen
- prior to exiting to DOS. See also the switch, /N on page 3.
-
- PKII.MOD has to find COMMAND.COM in order to do this little trick, and
- it is not very smart, it looks for COMMAND.COM only in a "root" direc-
- tory (the directory you are in when you type "B:", say, at the DOS
- prompt). The default is the "root" directory on drive "A", but you can
- change this drive at bootup with the "/E" switch (see page 3).
-
- CAUTION: Don't shell to DOS at the DOS prompt (doesn't make sense), and
- especially, NOT at bootup.
-
- CONFLICTS WITH OTHER PROGRAMS: Other times when PKII.MOD and other TSR's or
- application programs don't work well together occur because the other
- program is trying to do some of the same things PKII.MOD is doing, such
- things as enlarging the keystroke buffer, blanking the screen, or
- speeding up the cursor. When this happens, disable the contested
- function, either in PKII.MOD or in the other program (in the case of
- ANSI.MOD's extended keystroke buffer, simply don't enable it). Finally,
- you must change PKII.MOD's HOT key if it means something to the other
- program.
-
- Page 11
-
- ONLINE SUPPORT FOR POWERKIT II: If you have a modem, you can get prompt answers
- to your questions by contacting me on Dr. File Finder's Black Bag (tm)
- BBS. The phone number is: (901) 753-0213. You need not be a register-
- ed user to ask me a question or two. The easy way to register POWERKIT
- II is right online, with your VISA or Master Card.
-
- That's it, you're on your own. Enjoy POWERKIT II and please don't forget to
- send $19.95 (this price is for the entire POWERKIT II package, not
- just PKII.MOD).
-
-
- CENTRAL DATA SERVICES
- 1641 WINONA COURT
- DENVER, CO 80204
- (303) 595-4218
-
-
-
-