Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection/BS1 part 45.zip/BS1 part 45/Wacky Wabbits (1990)(Kiddieware)[cr VSN][a].7z/Wacky Wabbits (1990)(Kiddieware)[cr VSN][a].adf/Release-Notes

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        Quarterback V4.2 Release Notes

             August 22, 1990

Thank you for purchasing Quarterback.  We have put a lot of effort into
making Quarterback as reliable as possible.  We have made some changes to
Quarterback since the manual was printed, and we noticed a few things
which are not clearly explained in the manual.  We suggest that you print
these notes and keep a copy with your Quarterback manual.

If you call us for support, please have your serial number and version
number ready.  The serial number is on the Quarterback master diskette
label.  The version number appears in the title bar of the Quarterback
window.  Be sure to send us your postage-paid warranty card.  It costs
you only a few seconds of your time, but we are much more receptive to
your call if your name is already in our computer.  Our business hours
are 8:30AM to 5:00PM Mountain time.

NOTE: We jumped from version 2.3 to version 4.0, skipping version 3.0,
because an illegal, pirated copy of Quarterback with a version number of
3.0 has been passed around on several pirate bulletin boards. To
eliminate possible confusion, we have chosen to skip version 3.0
altogether.  Be aware that we did not release nor do we support any
version of Quarterback with a version number between 2.3 and 4.0.

*************************************************************************

SUMMARY OF V4.2 CHANGES

We added support for the Applied Engineering High Density (1.52MB) floppy
drive.  This drives works as a regular drive if referred to as DF0-3, and
as a high-capacity drive if referred to as DF4-7.  Note, as usual with
Quarterback, if you are using two drives for backup or restore, they
must have the same storage capacity.  You cannot use one high-density
drive with one normal-density drive.

SUMMARY OF V4.1 CHANGES

We made several changes to the Restore Options in response to user
requests.  There are no other changes.

1.  Restore Only Files Which Already Exist - This option was deleted.

2.  Restore Empty Subdirectories - This option was added in place of the
deleted option listed above.  This new option permits you to force
Quarterback to restore empty subdirectories.  Note that this option can
have unexpected results and should be set to NO unless you are performing
a full restore.

3.  Overwrite Existing Files - We added a new choice to this option: ASK.
This option tells Quarterback what to do if Quarterback finds that a
file which it is about to restore already exists.  If you specify YES,
Quarterback overwrites existing files without asking. If you specify NO,
Quarterback does NOT overwrite an existing file.  But if you specify ASK,
Quarterback pauses to ask you whether or not you wish to overwrite the
existing file and then proceeds according to your direction.

4.  Restore Full Subdirectory Structure - The wording of this option was
changed to "Restore Original Subdirectory Path".  The function remains
the same is defined under V4.0.

*************************************************************************

SUMMARY OF V4.0 CHANGES

Feature changes:
    - Available hard disk volumes displayed for easy selection
    - Visual progress bar (fuel gauge) added to volume status boxes
    - Print Catalog added to menu
    - Volume/device name of hard disk appended to archive/restoration
      report filename
    - "SLOW" backup mode added to Backup Options
    - Restore Full Subdirectory Structure option changed in function
    - Volume number added to archive/restoration reports
    - Volume number added to QB backup volume disk ID
    - Beeps/flashes at end of each backup volume
    - Included/excluded status of directory shown on catalog
    - Wrong volume error messages expanded for restore
    - Backup volume "test" mode added
    - Archive/restoration report uses line count, not form feed
    - File count display increased to 5 digits (99,999), volume
      count to increased 3 digits (999).
    - Opens its own hires screen, setting colors to old Workbench colors.
    - Backup Full Subdirectory Structure option deleted.
    - Use of "backup volume" changed to "backup disk".

Bug fixes:
    - No longer leaves read locks on subdirectories
    - No longer causes Amiga crash after Quarterback exit
    - No longer crashes on loading second disk when alternate
      catalog is split across two disks

*************************************************************************

The following paragraphs explain these changes and new features in
greater detail.

1.  Available hard disk volumes displayed for easy selection -
Quarterback now displays a list of all available hard disk volumes
(partitions) on your Amiga.  You do not need to remember the name of
your hard disk drive(s) or partitions.  Quarterback no longer requires
you to type the name of the volume you wish to backup or restore.  Simply
click on the name of the hard disk volume you wish to backup files from
or restore files to.

When you click on the name of the hard disk volume you wish to use,
Quarterback displays that volume name inside a box near the center of
the screen. You can change the contents of this box to the name of any
valid AmigaDos file storage device, if you wish, in order to backup from
or restore to a different device not listed by Quarterback.  For example,
if you wish to restore files to RAM:, you would erase the device name in
the center box and enter RAM:.

If you wish to backup files from or restore files to a particular
subdirectory on any AmigaDOS volume, you can add the desired path to the
displayed volume name.  Simply click inside the gadget and type in the
desired subdirectory path.

Note: In building its list of available hard disk partitions (volumes),
Quarterback lists only those devices having a file storage capacity
greater than that of a floppy disk (800KB).  If it cannot find at least
two such partitions (volumes), it lists nothing.  If it finds only one
such device, it automatically copies that name to the center box and
lists nothing.

2.  Visual progress bar added to volume status boxes - Quarterback now
provides a visual indication of its progress in filling backup diskettes.
A graphical bar in each of the volume status boxes on the backup/restore
status window provides a visual indication of the percentage of
completion of a backup diskette (volume) during backup or restore.

3.  Print Catalog added to Menu - Quarterback now allows you to print the
Quarterback catalog whenever there is a catalog loaded.  You no longer
need to perform an actual backup or restore operation in order to obtain
a list of files.  This means that if you perform a backup or restore
operation and fail to ask for the archive report or restoration report,
you can still obtain the report by starting a restore operation, loading
the catalog from the first backup volume, and then printing the catalog.
You can then cancel the restore operation, if you really don't want to
restore any files.  This menu option prints the entire catalog, whether
the files are selected for backup/restore or not.  Note: this report is
only printed; there is no option to send the report to disk, in this
case.

This a useful way to document the organization of a hard disk partition
without doing the actual backup.  Just start Quarterback, specify
"backup", select the hard disk volume (partition), and when Quarterback
has built the catalog, select "Print Catalog" from the Project Menu.
After the catalog has been printed, you can cancel the backup, if all you
really wanted was to document the files in that partition.

4.  Volume/device name of hard disk appended to archive/restoration
report filename - Some Quarterback users have complained that Quarterback
used the same archive report name for each backup, even for different
hard disk drives or different partitions on the same drive.  When these
reports were sent to disk, each new archive report overwrote the old
archive report.  To get around this problem, Quarterback users with
multiple partitions have been forced to change the name of the report
before backing up each partition to avoid overwriting the archive report
of the other partition.

To solve this problem, Quarterback now appends the name of the device
being backed up or restored to the report name when reports are sent to
disk.  You can still force these reports to be stored on the device:path
of your choice by entering the desired device:path (with no file name) as
the report name.  If you DO NOT assign your own name to the report,
Quarterback now uses the standard name ARCHIVE REPORT or RESTORATION
REPORT with the addition of the name of the device and path being backed
up or restored.  Note that the characters colon (":") and slash ("/") are
NOT valid in AmigaDOS file names.  Quarterback replaces these characters
with "-" in appending the device and path to the report name.

If you assign your own unique file name to the report, Quarterback uses
that name and DOES NOT append the name of the device and path.  This gives
you the flexibility to call the report anything you wish without
interference from Quarterback.  However, you will find that archive
reports for different partitions will be given the same name, creating
the problem described above.

5.  "SLOW" Backup option - Some Quarterback users, especially A2000
owners using certain DMA hard disk controllers and the Micron 2MB memory
board, have experienced mysterious crashes related to the high DMA load
which Quarterback places on the Amiga during backup.  In response to this
problem, we have added a "SLOW" backup mode option which limits
Quarterback to a single data buffer.  The effect of this option is to
limit the data throughput, and to prevent simultaneous hard-disk and
floppy input/output.  If you experience unusual, random Quarterback
crashes, you may wish to try this "SLOW" mode.

6.  Restore Full Subdirectory Structure - This Restore option feature has
been changed.  In previous versions, this feature was used to force
Quarterback to restore the entire directory tree structure (but not
necessarily all files) to a hard disk.  This was designed for those cases
where the hard disk was freshly-formatted, but not all files contained on
the backup volumes were to be restored to the hard disk.  However, some
Quarterback users misunderstood the intent of the option, and few users
seemed to use it as it was intended.  So we changed it!

This revised option now allows you to restore files to a formatted hard
disk (or any other AmigaDOS device, for that matter) without restoring
the subdirectory path associated with the files.  If you set this option
to "YES", Quarterback restores the full subdirectory path originally
associated with each file as it restores each file.   In this case
Quarterback creates all required subdirectories, if they do not already
exist on the device to which the files are being restored.  If you plan
to restore all files to a hard disk which has been freshly-formatted, you
should set this option to "YES".  "YES" is the normal setting for this
option.

If you set this option to "NO", all restored files are stored directly
into the hard disk volume and optional subdirectory path specified at the
start of the restore.  This means that ALL restored files are restored
into the same directory, no matter what directory they came from
originally.  This can create file name conflicts as the files are
restored, if you happen to restore files having identical names which
originally came from different directories.  However, this option can be
especially useful if you wish to restore one or more files into a
subdirectory other than the one in which they were stored when they were
originally backed up.  Set this option to "NO" only if you are sure about
what you are doing, because you may end up with a really big mess if you
use it unwisely.  DO NOT SET THIS OPTION TO "NO" FOR A FULL RESTORE!

7.  Volume number added to archive/restoration reports - The Quarterback
backup volume on which a file STARTS has been added to the archive and
restoration reports.  This makes it possible to identify from the report
which files are affected by a bad disk during restore.

8.  Volume number added to QB backup volume disk ID - The Quarterback
backup volume number has been made a part of the 4-character disk ID
which appears as the first 4 bytes of the first block of each backup
volume.  This makes it possible to determine the volume number of any
Quarterback backup volume from Workbench, since it appears on the
Workbench screen whenever the volume is inserted into a disk drive.  The
Quarterback backup volume ID consists of "QB" followed by a 2-digit
volume number.  For example, the fifth volume of a backup set would
appear on the Workbench screen as:

    QB05

9.  Beeps/flashes at end of each backup volume - Quarterback has always
beeped during backup when it was unable to proceed because it was waiting
for a new backup volume to be loaded.  However, now it beeps whenever it
finishes writing a backup volume to let you know it is time to change
volumes, even if there is another volume already loaded in the alternate
drive.  This alerts you to the need to change volumes BEFORE Quarterback
comes to a complete halt waiting for your action.

10.  Included/excluded status of directory shown on catalog - Quarterback
now indicates on the catalog display whether or not a given subdirectory
contains files or other subdirectories which are marked as included.  If
a subdirectory contains included files or one or more subdirectories
containing included files, the name of the subdirectory is colored as
"included", the same as for files.  If the subdirectory contains no files
or other subdirectories marked as included, the name of the subdirectory
is colored as "excluded", the same as for files.  With this change, the
color of a subdirectory name indicates whether or not that subdirectory
is to be included or excluded from the backup or restore, just as the
color of a file name indicates whether or not it is included or excluded
from the backup or restore.  Note that a subdirectory is marked as
included if ANY file or lower subdirectory is included in the backup or
restore operation.

11.  Wrong volume error messages expanded for restore - During a restore
operation, Quarterback tells the user which backup volume to load next.
If the user loads a volume which Quarterback cannot identify or which is
not the volume Quarterback wants, it displays a requester in the center
of the screen containing an error message to explain to the user what is
wrong.  Some users have been confused by these error messages.  We have
expanded and improved the error messages in an attempt to reduce the
confusion.

When the user loads a backup volume during a restore, Quarterback
examines the first 14 bytes of data on the volume looking for three
things: a Quarterback identification, a sequence number, and a date/time
stamp.  The unique Quarterback identification is a 2-byte ASCII sequence
"QB".  Only backup volumes produced by Quarterback have this code.
AmigaDos volumes, for example, have a completely different code.  The
sequence number is a binary value ranging from 1 to 255 corresponding to
the volume number in the backup sequence.  The date/time stamp is an
8-byte binary value identifying the date and time that the backup was
performe.  This value uniquely identifies all volumes of a given backup
set.  This last test prevents volumes from different backup sets from
getting intermixed during a restore (with disasterous results!).

There is now a different error message associated with each of these
tests.  If the volume does not have the "QB" identification code, you
might see:

    Volume in drive DF0 is not a Quarterback
    backup volume.  Load correct volume and
    PROCEED, or SKIP to bypass, or CANCEL

If you see this messages, you have probably loaded a volume which was not
used for a backup.  If you are certain that this disk WAS used for a
Quarterback backup, then it is likely that a virus has corrupted the
volume.  In this case the volume cannot be used by Quarterback to restore
files.  Note: if this error appears for the first disk of the backup set,
you may be able to use the LAST disk of the backup set instead.  See the
Quarterback User's Guide for more information.

If the volume has a valid Quarterback ID, but does not have the sequence
number requested by Quarterback, you might see:

    Volume 2 in drive DF0 is not the volume
    needed next.  Please remove it and
    PROCEED, or SKIP to bypass, or CANCEL

If you see this message and you are sure that the volume you loaded was
the correct volume (based on the handwritten label on the volume) then it
is possible that the volumes were mixed up during the backup.  The volume
number displayed in the error message is the actual sequence number of
that volume as read from the volume by Quarterback.  You may wish to
relabel the volume with this number.  Then try one or more different
volumes from the backup set to see if Quarterback can find the right
volume.  If not, it will display the volume number so you can verify that
the label matches the content.  Note that you can quickly find the volume
number of any Quarterback volume from the Workbench screen, as described
in item 7 above.

If the volume has a valid Quarterback ID and has the correct sequence
number, but its date/time stamp DOES NOT match the date/time stamp of the
first volume of the backup set, you might see:

    Backup volume in drive DF0 has a different
    backup date/time stamp.  It does not belong
    to the backup set you are restoring.

This indicates that you have probably intermixed two or more sets of
backup volumes.  Quarterback will not restore files from a volume having
a date/time stamp which does not match the first volume.

12.  Backup volume "test" mode added - A new "test" mode has been added
to the Restore Options window which allows you to test Quarterback backup
volumes for errors without actually restoring any files.  We highly
recommend that you use this test mode to verify your backup diskettes
BEFORE you do something drastic to your hard disk, such as reformat it!

To use this feature, select RESTORE mode, and follow the steps for a FULL
restore (do not exclude any files).  When you reach the Restore Options
window, set the option "Read Backup Volumes, Don't Restore Files" to
"YES".  This forces Quarterback to go through the steps of restoring your
files without actually writing anything to your hard disk.  Quarterback
asks you to load each backup volume, in sequence.  Quarterback then
attempts to read the data from each backup volume, but DOES NOT restore
the data to your hard disk.  The effect of this is to test the
readability of each backup volume, thereby providing some measure of
confidence that the backup volumes will be usable if you need to restore
files from them in the future.

Warning - if this option is set to "YES" no files are restored to your
hard disk!  If you really want your files to be restored, this option
MUST be set to "NO".

13.  Archive/restoration report uses line count, not form feed -
Quarterback now uses the page size parameter from Preferences to count
blank lines at the end of a report page.  In previous versions,
Quarterback used the form feed character to advance the printer to the
end of the current page.  Unfortunately, the form feed character did not
always produce the expected results, especially if the printer page size
was set to a value different from the Preferences page size.

14.  File count display increased to 5 digits (99,999), volume count to
increased 3 digits (999) - Quarterback has always been able to count more
than 9,999 files and/or 99 backup volumes.  However, the actual file and
volume counts displayed on the screen have been limited to 4 digits and 3
digits, respectively.  Some Quarterback users now have very large hard
disk partitions where such arbitrary restrictions are noticeable.  So
we have increased the file count display to 5 digits (99,999 files) and
the volume count to 3 digits (999 volumes).

15.  To provide better functionality under Workbench 2.0, Quarterback now
opens its own high-resolution screen, setting the screen colors to the
old Workbench colors.  New Workbench colors caused some data displayed by
Quarterback to be unreadable.

16.  The backup option "Backup Full Subdirectory Structure" has been
eliminated.  It became unnecessary with the change in functionality of
"Restore Full Subdirectory Structure".  See item 6 above.

17.  References to "Backup volume" have been changed to "backup disk", to
reduce confusion between the hard disk volume being backed up or restored
and the "floppy disk volumes" to which the files are copied.


*************************************************************************


NON-ENGLISH VERSIONS NOW AVAILABLE

DTM Werbung und EDV GmbH is the official distributor of the German
language version of Quarterback.  For further information, contact:

    Andreas Hoffmann
    DTM Werbung und EDV GmbH
    Poststrabe 25
    6200 Wiesbaden-Bierstadt
    Federal Republic of Germany

Karlberg & Karlberg AB is the official distributor of the Swedish
language version of Quarterback.  For further information, contact:

    Claes Nilsson
    Karlberg & Karlberg
    Flädie Kyrkväg
    237 00 Bjärred
    Sweden


GOOD LUCK!

Here's hoping that you never need to use Quarterback to restore your hard
disk.  And thank's for your support!

George and Betty Chamberlain
Central Coast Software
[phone]
[phone] FAX