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Amigaguide Document
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1996-04-07
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18KB
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300 lines
@database CatchDisk.guide
@remark $VER: CatchDisk.guide 1.20 (26.4.94)
Alessandro Sala
@node Main "CatchDisk: User Guide"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CatchDisk version 1.20 26-Apr-1994
Copyright
1994 By Alessandro Sala
dedicated to Cristina
Requires AmigaOS v2.04 ( Kickstart v37 ) or later
and WBStart-Handler v1.4 or later (by Stefan Becker)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
- @{"Legal info " link legal}
- @{"The distribution archive" link archive}
- Introduction
@{"What is CatchDisk ? " link whatis}
@{"Installation " link install}
- @{"Configuration and usage " link usage}
- @{"Terminating CatchDisk " link term}
- @{"Contact Addresses " link contact}
- @{"Revision history " link history}
******************************************************************
PLEASE NOTE: My E-Mail address has changed. My new address is:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Alessandro Sala |
| |
| tser1500@cdc8g5.cdc.polimi.it |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
@endnode
@node legal "Legal info"
------------
Disclaimer
------------
This program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranty
of fitness for a particular purpose. Though every care has been taken to
make this program system-friendly and bugs-free, the entire risk as to the
results, reliability and performance of this program is assumed by you.
------------------
Copyright notice
------------------
This program is "FreeWare": it can be freely copied and distributed for
non-commercial purposes, provided that no file is added to or removed from the
distribution archive and no charge, beside a nominal fee, is requested.
Fred Fish is, of course, explicitly allowed to put this program on his
great disk library and/or on his CD-ROMs.
Nevertheless the program remains COPYRIGHT of the Author: you cannot
patch, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the program, the documentation and
every other file found in the distribution archive except where explicitly
allowed.
Compressing in executable form is allowed for personal use but not
for distribution. The only two allowed forms of distribution are the original
lharc'ed archive or a uncompresssed form of it.
Furthermore you cannot embed the program in any other software without
the written permission of the author.
@endnode
@node archive "The distribution archive"
------------------------------------
Contents of the distribution archive
------------------------------------
CatchDisk : The main program
CatchDisk.info : Related '.info' file with pre-set tooltypes
Italiano
Leggimi : General information in italian language
Documentazione
CatchDisk.doc : Italian documentation in ASCII format
CatchDisk.guide : Italian documentation in AmigaGuide format
Installa : Installation program in italian language (see Leggimi)
English
Readme : General information in English language
Documentation
CatchDisk.doc : English documentation in ASCII format
CatchDisk.guide : English documentation in AmigaGuide format
Install : Installation program in English language (see Readme)
Deutsch ( translations by Jan-Claas Dirks )
Liesmich : General information in German language
Dokumentation
CatchDisk.dok : German documentation in ASCII format
CatchDisk.guide : German documentation in AmigaGuide format
Install : Installation program in German language (see Readme)
Catalogs
CatchDisk.ct : Empty translation file
italiano
CatchDisk.catalog : Italian language support file
deutsch
CatchDisk.catalog : German language support file (by Jan-Claas Dirks)
Various '.info' files
@endnode
@node whatis "Introduction"
What is CatchDisk ?
------------------
CatchDisk is a simple commodity: its purpose is to detect when a new disk
is inserted in any drive and check if it is properly formatted: if not,
CatchDisk executes the Format program with the drive, in which the disk was
inserted, already selected. The user has only to choose the format options and
start or abort the operation. Besides, from v1.20 CatchDisk can recognize
various non-DOS disks and ignore them, or run a user-chosen program when they
are inserted. For more info and other features, read on.
IMPORTANT
---------
To use CatchDisk you must have the WBStart-Handler in you L: directory. You
NEED VERSION 1.4 OR LATER of the handler. WBStart-Handler is a freely
distributable software by Stefan Becker: you can find it as 'WBStart1_4.lha'
in many FTP sites or from PD distributors. Please note that the version
required is at least v1.4, because previous versions had problems when dealing
with null locks.
@endnode
@node install "Introduction"
Installation
------------
To install CatchDisk, if you have the 'Installer' utility from Commodore (see
@{"'Readme'" link "/Readme/main"}), you can simply double-click the 'Install' icon found in the 'English'
drawer.
Differently, you can simply copy CatchDisk in some drawer, typically
your SYS:WBStartup drawer. If you have OS 2.1 or later and you want to
take advantage of localization, you must also copy the 'catalogs' drawer, found
in the CatchDisk distribution archive, into the same drawer as CatchDisk, or
you can copy the 'CatchDisk.catalog' file ( found in the 'catalogs/<language>/'
drawer ) into your 'LOCALE:catalogs/<language>/' drawer.
If your language is not currently available, you can fill in the empty
translation file found in the catalogs drawer ( catalogs/CatchDisk.ct ) and
send it to me by E-Mail ( see the @{"Contact Addresses" link contact} section ). I will
create a new '<your-language>/CatchDisk.catalog' file and E-Mail it to you as
soon as possible, and the next version of CatchDisk will support one more
language. You can also translate the documentation files and send them to me
for inclusion in the distribution of CatchDisk.
You must also have WBStart-Handler in you L: directory for CatchDisk to work
(see @{"'What is CatchDisk'" link whatis 14}.)
@endnode
@node usage "Configuration and usage"
To start CatchDisk simply double-click its icon or type 'run CatchDisk' from
a CLI. To have it activated on every bootstrap, place it in your SYS:WBStartup
drawer with the 'DONOTWAIT' tooltype, or insert 'run CatchDisk' in your
S:user-startup file.
CatchDisk recognizes the following ToolTypes or CLI arguments:
CX_PRIORITY=<pri> : The priority of CatchDisk in the commodities
network.
Default value = 0. Range = -128 to 127
DEVICE<n>=<drive> : It describes a group of alternative drives
for a single physical drive.
The digit <n> identifies the group of
alternative drives, and can range from 0
to 9.
The <drive> parameter is the name of a
drive followed by ':', and you can list
any number of drives, without in-between
spaces.
Example:
'DEVICE0=DF0:PC0:'
tells CatchDisk that for a disk to be
considered properly formatted, it must be
readable accessing the drive as 'DF0:' or
as 'PC0:'.
If neither can read the disk, CatchDisk
will try to identify it from the first
4 bytes of track 0 (they are the 4
characters you can see under the Workbench
icon for the disk, after the DFx:). If
the disk is recognized, an action will be
taken, according to the @{"REQUESTER" link usage 111} and
@{"ID<x>" link usage 74} tooltypes, otherwise, according to
the @{"REQUESTER" link usage 111} tooltype, the @{"format program" link usage 68}
will be run on the first drive in the list
(in this example it will be DF0:).
If you specify instead:
'DEVICE0=PC0:DF0:'
if the disk in unreadable or not recognized
it will be formatted as 'PC0:'.
If one or more of the specified drives is not
mounted, it will be simply ignored.
BREAK_WARN : When CatchDisk @{"terminates" link term} because of a
^C signal, it displays a requester
informing you of the event only if BREAK_WARN
is set.
RESCAN=<secs> : Forces CatchDisk to perform a new scan of all
devices every <secs> seconds. This allows
CatchDisk to detect the mounting of a device
that doesn't issue the 'diskinserted' message
(e.g. fake disks created with FMS).
Default value = 0 (no rescan).
FORMATTER=<path&file> : Allows to specify a format program
different from 'SYS:System/Format' which
is the default. You must specify the complete
path/filename.
ID<x>=<id>[,<name>[,<path&file>]] :
Describes a non-DOS disk format.
The digit <x> can range from 0 to 9: lower
numbers are checked first.
<id> is a four-character identifier which
must match the first 4 bytes of
track 0 of a disk to identify it.
There are two special characters:
$ : Matches only a numeric digit (0-9)
or a '$'.
? : Matches any character.
So, for example, Qb$$ matches any Quarterback
disk (Qb01, Qb02 etc.).
<name> is a text that will be used to tell
the user what kind of disk CatchDisk has
identified. It will also be used as the label
for the middle gadget of the requester (see
below). If it is not given, the disk will
be always ignored, regardless of the
@{"REQUESTER" link usage 111} tooltype.
<file&path> is the path and filename of the
program to run when CatchDisk identifies
this disk format. This is the default
action which CatchDisk takes if @{"REQUESTER" link usage 111}
is NOID or NEVER. If <file&path> is not
given it defaults to the @{"format program" link usage 68}.
You can find some examples in CatchDisk's
icon.
REQUESTER=<when> : Where <when> is NEVER, ID, NOID or ALWAYS.
When CatchDisk detects a non-DOS disk, it can
take a default action or it can open a
requester asking the user what action
to take.
For unreadable/unrecognized disks the
actions are 'Ignore' or 'Format', with the
default being 'Format'.
For recognized disks the actions are 'Ignore'
'Format' or 'run the user-program', as set
in the respective @{"ID<x>" link usage 74}
tooltype. The default is to run the
user-program.
If <when>=NEVER, CatchDisk always proceeds
without asking the user, and takes the
default action (see above).
If <when>=ID, CatchDisk opens the requester
only for identified disks, otherwise it
takes the default action.
If <when>=NOID, CatchDisk opens the
requester only for unreadable/unrecognized
disks, otherwise it takes the default action.
If <when>=ALWAYS, CatchDisk always opens the
requester.
Once CatchDisk is active you can use the Commodities Exchange program to
control its activities.
@endnode
@node term "Terminating CatchDisk"
As a commodity, CatchDisk can be terminated in three ways:
a) Run CatchDisk a second time.
b) Use the Commodities Exchange program.
c) Send CatchDisk a 'control-C' signal (see also @{"BREAK_WARN" link usage 54}):
c.1) If you started CatchDisk from workbench (or WBStartup drawer) use a
task control utility such as TaskX by Steve Tibbet.
c.2) If you started CatchDisk from a CLI (or user-startup) do the following:
1) Open a CLI
2) Issue the 'STATUS' command and note the process number of CatchDisk
3) Issue 'BREAK <n> C' where <n> is the process number noted above
@endnode
@node contact "Contact Addresses"
Criticism and suggestions
-------------------------
I hope you will find CatchDisk useful, and if you have any criticism,
suggestions, bug report, ideas for enhancements in possible future versions,
or if you have problems using CatchDisk and need help, you can write ( in
Italian or English ) to the following address:
Alessandro Sala
Via A. Grandi, 16
20014 Nerviano (MI)
Italy
If you have E-Mail capability you can also contact me at the following
Internet (new) address (at least until the end of July, 1994):
tser1500@cdc8g5.cdc.polimi.it
@endnode
@node history "Revision history"
**********************************************************************************
History
**********************************************************************************
------------
Version 1.20
------------
- Removed several bugs when more than one PCx: device is mounted (duplicated
format requests, format requests when removing a disk etc.). Problems in
detecting NDOS disks when a PCx: device is mounted should now be solved.
- Added the ability to identify non-DOS disks (suggested by Jan-Claas
Dirks too) and take user-defined actions.
- Added optional requesters before any action is taken.
- Added the ability to run a user-defined format program.
- Added German language support (thanks to Jan-Claas Dirks).
------------
Version 1.10
------------
- When you re-enable CatchDisk, after having disabled it using 'Exchange',
it now performs a new scan of the various devices to see if there is any
new disk to be formatted.
- Added the 'RESCAN=<secs>' tooltype which forces CatchDisk to perform a
new scan of all devices every <secs> seconds, in order to detect the
mounting of devices that don't issue a 'diskinserted' message, such as
FMS fake disks (reported by Frank Schliefer).
------------
Version 1.00
------------
First release.
@endnode
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