ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.tar/ftp.whtech.com/Geneve/mdos/80column_funnelweb/44review.txt

Text File | 2006-10-19 | 16KB | 297 lines

                  THE NEW FUNNELWEB v4.40
                 described by Charles Good
                    Lima Ohio User Group

     Accompanying the mailing in mid August 1991 of this
newsletter are disks containing the first release of
FUNNELWEB V4.4.  ANY INDIVIDUAL OR ANY USER GROUP that does
not receive this mailing can obtain these files from us by
sending two DSDD disks (everything unarchived), OR two DSSD
disks (files partially archived), OR four SSSD disks (files
partially archived) and a paid return mailer to P.O. Box
647, Venedocia OH 45894.

     Although some releases of v4.40 have the date  May 31/
91, debuged v4.40 files were not actually available until
early August.  This version contains the new enhancements
demonstrated by me at the May 18 Lima MUG Conference, plus a
lot more! 80 column users will particularly benefit from
some of these new features.  As stated by Harry Brashear in
the June 1991 issue of Micropendium, the existence of 80
column Funnelweb really justifies the purchase of an 80
column card for the 99/4A.  In his letters to me, Tony
McGovern suggests that this may NOT be the final Funnrelweb
update.  At some future date he hopes to completely rewrite
the Funnelweb text/program editor.

     Mainly because of new extensive doc files, v4.40 will
no longer fit on one DSDD disk unless it is partially
archived.  The system files (both 40 and 80 column) occupy
709 disk sectors and the docs fill another 874 sectors.
Thus our initial distribution with this newsletter is
partially archived.  Enough files are left unarchived to let
you immediately try out the major features of v4.40,
including the 40 column EDITOR and DISK REVIEW.  Archiver is
on disk and can be booted from Funnelweb to unpack the rest
of the files.  Unpacking can be done, and Funnelweb v4.40
can be used on a system with only SSSD drives.  We are
including supplementary files, not part of the official
Funnelweb v4.4 package, as space permits.  These
supplementary files include DSKU v4.2, DM1000, and foreign
language character sets.

     Upgrading from earlier Funnelweb versions is easy.  You
can use your old SYSCON file to quickly configure v4.40.
Load your old SYSCON into v4.40's Configure program and then
press BACK and "install" the configuration into v4.40's LOAD
and FW files.  You cannot safely use your old user lists
(older versions of files UL and D1) directly with the new
version.  However, the v4.40 -READ-ME file gives easy and
explicit directions for transferring data from your old UL
and D1 files to the v4.40 UL and D1 user lists.
     ----------

     THE NEW FEATURES ADDED SINCE v4.31

     --SUPPORT FOR DSKU FILE COMMENTS: Many TI user groups
use DSKU file comments to annotate their software libraries.
Now these comments can be copied and (in 80 comumn DISK
REVIEW) viewed and edited on screen.  Normal file by file
disk copying does not transfer DSKU file comments to the
destination disk.  Until now, the only way to copy these
comments has been to use John Birdwell's DSKU program, or to
use a whole disk file copier.  Now Funnelweb will copy these
comments when files are copied from within Funnelweb's 40
and 80 column DISK REVIEW.  Tagging files and then asking
for an action (ctrl/A) from DISK REVIEW now has a new option
N(otes).  First you C(opy) all the tagged files to the
destination disk by pressing "C".  Then pressing "N" will
transfer all DSKU file comments from the source disk to the
destination disk.  This is a two step process.

     From 80 column DISK REVIEW you can also directly read
these DSKU file comments on screen, and you can also edit
them or create new comments where none existed.  You can't
read or create file comments directly from the 40 column
DISK REVIEW, but you can use DISK REVIEW 40's sector editing
capabilities to read/edit/create such file comments.  Very
specific instructions on how to do this are included in the
40 column DISK REVIEW documentation.

     An example of DSKU file comments can be seen at the end
of this article describing each of the separate Funnelweb
v4.40 files.

     --MULTIPLE USER LISTS SIMULTANEOUSLY ACCESSABLE AND
DISPLAYED ON SCREEN:   The supplementay user lists, each
listing accessable from Funnelweb's central menus as USER
LIST or DISK UTILS have been available in earlier releases
of funnelweb.  They are nice because the files called from
these lists can have a file name of up to 10 characters and
a path name of almost any any length, and the files can and
can reside in multiple drives hard drives or ramdisks.
These user lists are great for booting software from hard
disks or from multiple drive systems that have "resident"
disks sitting all the time in specific drives (the poor
man's hard drive).  Each USER LIST can have up to 8 programs
that RUN with the press of one key.

     There is nothing new in the above paragraph.  What is
new is the ability to display up to three (40 column
systems) or six (80 column systems) user lists on screen
sumultaneously when USER LIST is selected from Funnelweb's
central menu.  This display can also be obtained on power up
if you CONFIGURE Funnelweb to immediately boot its USER
LIST.  You can then move the cursor with the arrow keys over
to the program you want to boot and press <enter> to run the
program.  Thats right folks, a simultaneous display of up to
24 (in 40 columns) or 48 (in 80 columns) program names
instantly bootable from any drive.

    What you do is create separate user lists from within
CONFIGURE using Funnelweb v4.40's UL file as a template and
then save each user list to the Funnelweb boot or TIW drive
(as designated from within CONFIGURE) with a file name other
than UL (such as UM, UN, etc).  Then take Funnelweb v4.40's
ML (or ML80) file, rename it UL, and place it on the
Funnelweb boot drive.  When you select USER LIST from the
TIW Funnelweb central menu, ML or ML80 reads all the user
lists and displays all their file names on screen!

   --ENHANCED 80 COLUMN SHOW DIRECTORY:  80 column users
already know about the ability to store multiple large text
files in memory for rapid viewing with 80 column DISK
REVIEW.  Now you can do almost the same thing from within
the 80 column text/program editor.  From within Show
Directory you can V(iew) a second text file while the text
file you are editing remains in memory.  The V(iew)ed file
is displayed as one 80 column page of text at a time.  This
is not new to v4.40.

    What is new is that up to 24 screens of text from one or
from several V(iew)ed files CAN BE STORED IN MEMORY for
almost instant access without further disk activity.  I have
a 44 sector TI Writer help file that takes up only 8
screens.  I can store other text files in the remaining 16
screens of the Show Directory V(iew) text storage buffer.
Once I load my help file into memory, I can rapidly switch
back and forth between the text editor and show directory
display buffers for viewing purposes.  From the edit buffer
I can press SD, V(iew) my help file without bothering to
boot a disk directory, go back to the text I am editing, and
then later instantly bring up my help file again as needed.

     No, you can't rapidly exchange text between the 80
column edit and SD buffers without first saving your edit
buffer text to disk.  And no, this extra text V(iew) storage
buffer is not available to 40 column users.  Some of the
extra VDP memory associated with 80 column cards is used to
store the V(iew)ed text, and this memory does not exist on
99/4A systems without an 80 column card.  40 column users
can still V(iew) text from Show Directory one screen at a
time, but there is no memory buffer for the V(iew)ed text.

     --COMBINATION 40/80 COLUMN EDITOR:  There are times
when 80 column users would benefit from a 40 column editor,
for example when preparing documents designed to be
displayed on a 40 column screen.  The new 80 column
text/program editor can be switched back and forth between a
40 and 80 column display.  Of course you need an 80 column
card to get an 80 column display.  40 column only users
still have a separate 40 column only editor.  The 40/80
column editor is combined with an 80 column only Show
Directory screen with all the new V(iew) enhancements
described above.
   --IMPROVED ERROR HANDLING:
     Funnelweb v4.40 should now be compatible with grom
library devices such as O.P.A.'s gizmo, the Mechatronic gram
card, and an enhanced gramulator.
     When loading DF80 software, Funnelweb will now display
the names of any unresolved REFs or duplicate DEFs that are
encountered.

     --ACCELERATING CURSOR: The flashing cursor autorepeats
and also accelerates as a single key is held down.  This
acceleration is new.

     --ASSEMBLY "PROGRAM" FILE MAKE FROM SCRIPT LOAD:  A
greatly enhanced Script Loader (file SL), when called from
LOADERS option of Funnelweb's central menu, can assemble a
linked group of DF80 object code files into runable assembly
PROGRAM FILES.  Extensive documentation describing the use
of SL tells how.  Tony Mcgovern says this feature has been
used extensively by him in the creation of Funnelweb v4.40.
The new Script Load should be useful to those creating very
large assembly programs from a series of separate DF80
object files as is often done in the development of c99
software.  If you have any long groups of DF80 files that
take forever to load (such as early versions of the games
TENNIS and ARCTURUS) you might try running them through
Script Load to convert them to quick loading EA PROGRAM
files.

     --ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAM SERVICES:  Funnelweb loads
some special assembly language callable routines (with EQU
>xxxx).    These routines can be used by programmers who
create source code that is designed to run from the
Funnelweb environment.  Many of these routines have been
available in earlier versions of Funnelweb.  They are now
fully documented and available to the programming "public".
Some of these routines include:
     DSRLNK, that is compatible with multiple RS232 cards.
     KSCANA, an enhanced KSCAN.
     DELSPR, shuts off the sprite list for quick return to
text mode.
     VMBWD, a VMBW that saves space by ignoring nuls in a
fixed length data value.
     VMBRD, the VPD read version of VMBWD.
     VFILL, fills a block of VDP RAM with a single byte
value.
     VSTRW, writes a string to VDP.
     CURSOR, an enhanced cursor routine.
     DSRREN, a direct DSR reentry from saved values.
     SETGRD, sets GROM address so that module library
banking is supported.
     CFILE#, sets the number of open files, as in CALL FILES
     RDDEV, builds a PAB in VDP.
     .NF
.NA
----------
Below are disk directories showing the unarchived set of
Funnelweb v4.40 files on two DSDD disks, complete with DSKU
file comments describing each file.


Diskname FWB4*4     Total Sectors 1438 Free Sectors 562  Date May31/91 Files 46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Sector
Filename   File Type Size FDR  Start End Pro Comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AR         PGM 8066    33 001F 01DA 01F9 No  ARCHIVER v3.03
AS         PGM 8192    33 0002 0022 0041 No  ASSEMBLER, part 1
AT         PGM 5432    23 0003 0042 0057 No  ASSEMBLER, part 2
C1         PGM 1024     5 0020 01FA 01FD No  Text editor character set.
C2         PGM 1024     5 0004 0058 005B No  Program editor character set.
C99PFI;O   D/F   80     2 0010 00F1 00F1 No  Used with c99
CF         PGM 8192    33 0005 005C 007B No  CONFIGURE, part 1
CG         PGM 6220    26 0006 007C 0094 No  CONFIGURE, part 2
CHARA1     PGM 1024     5 02C7 02C8 02CB No  Character set for DSKU.
CP         PGM  587     4 0011 00F2 00F4 No  Boots c99 & neatly returns to FW
CT8K/O     D/F   80    17 0012 00F5 0104 No  Boots FW from menu of supercart
D1         PGM  542     4 0007 0095 0097 No  DISK UTILS user list
DR         PGM 8192    33 0021 01FE 021D No  40 column DISK REVIEW, part 1
DR80       PGM 9984    40 0018 0127 014D No  80 column DISK REVIEW, part 1
DR81       PGM 8400    34 0019 014E 016E No  80 column DISK REVIEW, part 2
DS         PGM 7706    32 021E 021F 023D No  40 column DISK REVIEW, part 2
DU         PGM 8192    33 02CC 02CD 02EC Yes DSKU v4.2, part 1
DV         PGM 8192    33 02ED 02EE 030D Yes DSKU v4.2, part 2
DW         PGM 7424    30 030E 030F 032B Yes DSKU v4.2, part 3
EA         PGM 1860     9 023E 023F 0246 No  Required to boot any EA files.
ED         PGM 8192    33 0247 0248 0267 No  40 column EDITOR, part 1
ED80       PGM 8192    33 001C 01A3 01C2 No  80 column EDITOR, part 1
ED81       PGM 5028    21 001D 01C3 01D6 No  80 column EDITOR, part 2
EE         PGM 4152    18 0268 0269 0279 No  40 column EDITOR, part 2
FO         PGM 8192    33 0008 0098 00B7 No  FORMATTER, part 1
FOREIGNARC I/F  128    12 0362 0363 036D No  Archived foreign character sets
FP         PGM 3620    16 0009 00B8 00C6 No  FORMATTER, part 2
FSAVE      D/F   80     7 0013 0105 010A No  SAVE utility to create EA PROGRAMs
FW         PGM 8152    33 027A 027B 029A No  The main FUNNELWEB program, from EA
LDFW       D/F   80    10 0014 010B 0113 No  Boots FW from Minimem or EA module
LH         PGM 3836    16 0015 0114 0122 No  LINE HUNTER assembly code utility
LL         PGM 2064    10 000A 00C7 00CF No  LOW LOADER, needed to boot LL files
LOAD       PGM 7873    32 029B 029C 02BA No  Main FUNNELWEB program, from XB
MG         PGM 8192    33 032C 032D 034C No  DM1000, part 1
MH         PGM 4978    21 034D 034E 0361 No  DM1000, part 2
ML         PGM  526     4 000B 00D0 00D2 No  40 column MULTI LIST user list.
ML80       PGM  542     4 001E 01D7 01D9 No  80 column MULTI LIST user list
QD         PGM 2622    12 02BB 02BC 02C6 No  QUICK DIRECTORY, part 1
QF         PGM 2544    11 000C 00D3 00DC No  QUICK DIRECTORY, part 2
SCRIPT     D/V   80     4 0016 0123 0125 No  Sample SL script file.
SL         PGM 3002    13 000D 00DD 00E8 No  Needed to boot SL series of files.
SYSCON     PGM 1214     6 000E 00E9 00ED No  System configuration data, forCF/CG
UL         PGM  542     4 000F 00EE 00F0 No  central menu USER LIST template
XB4THLD    PGM  203     2 0017 0126 0126 No  Boots TI FORTH from XB user list.


Diskname FWB4*4     Total Sectors 1438 Free Sectors 561  Date May31/91 Files 15
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Sector
Filename   File Type Size FDR  Start End Pro Comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-READ-ME   D/V   80    53 000F 034A 037D No  It really is important to READFIRST
FOREIGNDOC D/V   80     3 0010 037E 037F No  Foreign language character sets doc
FWDOC/DR40 D/V   80    77 0002 0022 006D No  40 column DISK REVIEW doc, part 1
FWDOC/DR41 D/V   80    75 0003 006E 00B7 No  40 column DISK REVIEW, part 2
FWDOC/DR80 D/V   80    99 000A 01BE 021F No  80 column DISK REVIEW doc, part 1
FWDOC/DR81 D/V   80    51 000B 0220 0251 No  80 column DISK REVIEW doc, part 2
FWDOC/DR82 D/V   80    99 000C 0252 02B3 No  80 column DISK REVIEW doc, part 3
FWDOC/EASM D/V   80    40 0006 0105 012B No  PROGRAM EDITOR doc
FWDOC/EDAV D/V   80    57 000D 02B4 02EB No  80 column TEXT EDITOR doc
FWDOC/LOAD D/V   80    48 0004 00B8 00E6 No  How to boot Funnelweb. XB list doc.
FWDOC/PSRV D/V   80    95 000E 02EC 0349 No  Newly available assembly calls doc
FWDOC/REPT D/V   80    60 0007 012C 0166 No  Bug report doc
FWDOC/SCLL D/V   80    51 0008 0167 0198 No  SL, LL, UL, and ML doc.
FWDOC/TIWR D/V   80    31 0005 00E7 0104 No  TEXT EDITOR doc, both 40&80 columns
FWDOC/UTIL D/V   80    38 0009 0199 01BD No  CF CP FSAVE LDFW UL LH CT8K/O doc
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