Super PC 26/Super PC 26 (Shareware).iso/executor/docs/readme.1st

Text File | 1994-03-22 | 17.1 KB | 422 lines

HOW TO INSTALL

This demo has three parts to it:

        exctr12a.zip    -- Base Executor files
        exctr12b.zip    -- Some games and a demo
        exctr12c.zip    -- More demos

You only need to install the first file to see Executor run, although
if you can easily install the other two, you'll see more of what Executor
can do.

To install you should only need to do this:

    C:\wherever> move *.zip \
    C:\wherever> cd \
    C:\> unzip exctr12a.zip
    C:\> unzip exctr12b.zip
    C:\> unzip exctr12c.zip

  IMPORTANT:
    If you are using disk caching you should set it to only do read caches.
    Write caches can result in the ".hfv" files being corrupted if Executor
    dies unexpectedly.  (NOTE: if you forget to turn off your write cache,
    you may have to reinstall the ".hfv" files after Executor crashes).

  IMPORTANT:
    Make sure the directory "EXECUTOR" is located at the root of of
    your hard disk drive.  Executor automatically looks  for the file
    "\EXECUTOR\EXSYSTEM.HFV", so if you don't have the "EXECUTOR"
    directory at the root of your hard drive, Executor will not run.

There is a small handful of environment variables that can change
things like this requirement; they are documented in the Executor/DOS
manual that you get when you purchase Executor/DOS.


RESTRICTIONS

This DEMO copy of Executor/DOS 1.2 is fully functional with two
exceptions.  You can only run this demo copy for ten minutes at a
time, and even if you have a SCSI adapter or CD-ROM drive, you
still can't access Macintosh formatted SCSI drives, Powerbooks or
CD-ROMs.

This demo version does not keep track how many times you've run
it.  Since you can easily copy a Macintosh formatted floppy or two
before the ten minute time limit is up, you can trivially get much
use out of this software without sending us any money.  If you're
a hacker, you'll find it easy to disable the time limit as well.
The point is the creation of this program was a non-trivial
enterprise.  Strict clean-room techniques were used to reverse
engineer the internals of the Macintosh ROMs.  We need money to
grow.  In fact, even if you don't quite find the utility that you'd
like from this current version, you might want to consider purchasing
it anyway to take advantage of our update policy when Executor/DOS
2.0 comes out and to make your voice heard in support of what we're
doing.



NO DOCUMENTATION WITH DEMO VERSION

Executor/DOS is easy enough to install and use that you really
don't need to read the documentation.  However, if you are going
to be using Executor a lot, there are short-cuts and fine points
that you should be aware of, and for this we recommend you read
our documentation.



NO TECHNICAL SUPPORT WITH DEMO VERSION

Executor/DOS only costs $99.  At this low price, we can't afford to
provide technical support to people who have not purchased the product.
If you think Executor is for you, but you are having trouble with this
DEMO version, you can try asking questions on various bulletin boards,
or wait for a new DEMO version to come out.



EXECUTOR/DOS 1.2 vs EXECUTOR/PC 2.0

Executor/DOS 1.2 has several limitations:

    Some programs run; many do not.

    Cut and Paste is not supported between multiple
       invocations of Executor under Windows or OS/2

    No Color
    No Sound
    No Printing
    No Serial Port Support
    No System 7 Support
    No INITs or CDEVs
    No AppleTalk
    No International Customization

Our goal for Executor/PC 2.0 is to get rid of as many of those
limitations as possible.  Right now E/PC 2.0 is scheduled for
release in July and it should run much more software, support cut
and paste between multiple Executor invocations and Windows programs,
support color, sound, printing and serial port access and have
*some* System 7 support.  There will definitely not be support for
INITs, CDEVs, AppleTalk or International Customization in E/PC 2.0.

All the 2.0 specifications are subject to change.



HOW TO ORDER

We accept Visa and Mastercard, Purchase Orders from large institutions
and personal checks sent by mail (we will not send our product
until your check clears).  The easiest way to order is by FAXing
([phone]) us a request along with your credit card information.
Shipping via UPS ground is free within the United States, so just
let us know:

        Number of Copies of Executor/DOS 1.2 (@ $99)
        Name as it appears on the Credit Card
        Credit Card Number
        Expiration Date
        Your Name
        Address you want it shipped to
        Phone Number
        FAX Number (optional)
        e-mail address (optional)

You can also order by phone [phone]), but please DO NOT
send credit card information via e-mail.

[NOTE: 1.2 costs $99 and 2.0 costs $249,
       but an upgrade from  1.2 to 2.0 costs only $59]



HOW TO GET STARTED COPYING MACINTOSH FORMATTED FLOPPIES

Executor/DOS can only read High Density (1.4Mb) formatted floppies.
Most older Macintosh applications were distributed on 800K floppies
which can't be used with Executor, so MAKE SURE you use 1.4Mb
Macintosh formatted floppies with Executor/DOS.  Executor/DOS 1.2
doesn't format floppies for you; you'll have to do that on a
Macintosh, for now.

The key to copying Macintosh formatted floppies is the "Desk
Accessory" called HFS_XFer.  Desk accessories are little programs
that piggyback off other programs to do their work.  It's like the
old Vermont joke (beware, provincial humor does not always translate
well) "You can't get there from here (pause) you have to go someplace
else, first".  The upshot is that you must run a program, almost
any program, in order to find and use "HFS_XFer".  I usually start
up the "Mines" program.  Once Mines is started, and the initial
"OK" box is clicked, you can find "HFS_XFer" under the Apple menu
at the far left of the menu bar.

It is important to note that you have three different areas that
you can copy to/from.  In addition to Macintosh formatted floppies,
you can copy Macintosh files to your hard disk, either as DOS files,
or as Macintosh files within a single DOS file which represents a
Macintosh "volume".  The fully-enabled version of Executor/DOS 1.2
also allows you to copy to/from Mac formatted SCSI drives (if you
have a SCSI adapter) and copy from Mac formatted CD ROMs if you
have a CD ROM drive.

When you copy Mac files as DOS files, they are broken up in two
halves.  One half will have the original name of the file, the
other will have a "%" prepended to the original name.  The file
with the original name represents the "data fork" of the Macintosh
file, and that's where data that can be used in both Macintosh and
DOS environments resides.  The other half, the one with the "%"
prepended is the "resource fork" and it contains information that
only makes sense in the Macintosh environment.

Using the DOS filesystem to represent Macintosh files is very
awkward.  In fact, if the names contain funny characters, you might
get an "I/O error".  The alternative is to store files within a
single "Macintosh Volume".  This demo version of Executor comes
with a 5 Mb Mac Volume.  It should be sufficient to allow you to
explore Executor.  While Executor is working within a Macintosh
volume, files can have upper and lower case names with lengths up
to 31 characters, but your DOS programs can't see the individual
files.  More about what's going on is in the documentation included
when you purchase Executor/DOS 1.2.



RUNNING PROGRAMS DIRECTLY OFF FLOPPIES

Running programs directly off floppies is incredibly slow.  You will
find it much quicker to use HFS_XFer to copy a program from a floppy
into one of your ".hfv" files and then run the program directly out
of the ".hfv" file.



DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Executor/DOS 1.2 and Executor/DOS 1.1

The primary difference is that Executor/DOS runs robustly on more PCs
than before.  E/D 1.1 would "hang" until the reset button was pushed
on many different PC configurations (although not on the ones we did
our testing on).  This new release fixes that problem.

In addition, we've renamed our Macintosh Hierchical Filesystem Volumes
so that they all end in ".hcf" and we've split them up a bit so that
instead of having one big ".zip" file, we now have three smaller ones
so that all three can fit on two 1.4 Mb floppies.

We've also included a file "executor.bat" which will run Executor over
and over for you.  Just put it somewhere that's in your path and you
won't even have to worry about adding "\executor" to your path.

If you purchased Executor/DOS 1.1, we'll be sending you Executor/DOS
1.2 free of charge.  If you purchased Executor/DOS 1.0 we can send
you the upgrade for $7.50.  All people who purchased upgrades from
E/D 1.0 to E/D 1.1 will receive a free upgrade to E/D 1.2.



DIFFERENCES BETWEEN Executor/DOS 1.1 and Executor/DOS 1.0

The primary difference between Executor/DOS 1.1 and Executor/DOS
1.0 is that E/D 1.1 can run under Windows 3.1 and OS/2 2.1.  In
addition, Macintosh formatted CD-ROMs can now be accessed via
Executor.  Internally there have been many improvements and a few
programs that would not run under Executor/DOS 1.0 should now run,
but in general it's the same program.  Most of the big additions
will not be available until Executor/PC 2.0 is release.  Although
Executor now runs under Windows, We'll be renaming the product to
Executor/PC once we have full inter-application clipboard support.

Executor/DOS 1.0 would restart itself after you quit an application.
However, that feature sometimes didn't work, and with Executor
running under Windows, that feature was more annoying than it was
useful.

If you purchased Executor/DOS 1.0, we will send you Executor/DOS
1.1 for $7.50 to cover the cost of the disks, packaging, postage
and handling.  Send a FAX to [phone] with a request and
your credit card information (Name as it appears on the card, Credit
Card Number and Expiration date), or call us to order the 1.1
update.  You must have filled out and sent in your registration
card to be eligible for the "almost-free" update.



UNIXISMS LEFT IN EXECUTOR

Executor was developed originally under UNIX.  A few "UNIXisms"
have remained in Executor; they will be gone in 2.0.  Sometimes
you will see "/" used where "\" would normally be used in DOS.  In
addition, switches are introduced with a leading "-" instead of
"/".  We apologize for this annoyance.



USE WITH WINDOWS

Executor/DOS 1.2 will run under Windows 3.1.

You can make a double-clickable icon for Executor by using the
Program Manager in Windows:

        Choose "New..." from the Program Manager "File" menu

        Click the "Program Item" radio button

        Click "OK"

        Enter "Executor" in the Description field

        Enter "c:\executor\executor" in the Command Line field

        Enter "c:\executor" in the Working Directory field

        Add a Shortcut Key if you wish

        Click on "Change Icon...

        Click on "OK" when the error message comes up

        Find, Select and Click OK on an Icon you like

        Click on "OK" to leave "Program Item Properties"

Remember, Executor is it's own windowing system.  It does not need
Windows to be effective, although the only way you can run two Mac
programs at once it to do so under Windows.  Once you have one copy
of Executor running under Windows, you can use "Left_Alternate-Tab"
and "Right_Alternate-Enter" to hot-key back and forth between
different programs and screen modes.



USE WITH OS/2

Executor/DOS 1.2 works with OS/2 2.11, but not with previous versions.
To get E/D 1.2 to run you'll need to adjust use these settings:

    DPMI_DOS_API ENABLED
    DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT 8
    EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT 0
    XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT 0



USE WITH NT

Currently, Executor/DOS 1.2 does not run under Windows NT.  This should
change soon, I believe.



IF EXECUTOR RUNS SLOWLY

Executor needs about 4 Mb of memory to work efficiently.  If it
does not have enough physical memory, it will make do by writing
infrequently used parts of itself to your hard disk and only "paging"
them in when they're actually used.  However, DOS systems can have
their memory artificialY eaten up in too many ways to describe
here.  If think Executor is running slowly, you might want to have
a DOS guru check to make sure that it's not being memory starved.



CREDITS

Executor is a product of ARDI (Abacus Research and Development,
Inc.).  The majority of Executor proper was designed and implemented
by Clifford T. Matthews.  The synthetic CPU and DOS port were done
by Mathew Hostetter.  Executor was originally written under X-Windows,
then ported to NEXTSTEP and finally ported to DOS using DJGPP, a
port of the Free Software Foundation's gcc compiler done by DJ
Delorie.  The file "EXECUTOR.EXE" is actually a modified version of
DJ's "GO32" DOS extender, the source to which is freely available,
from us (for the cost of a floppy plus postage).

More information about the Free Software Foundation and DJGPP is
included in our documentation.



GOALS

ARDI's goal is to provide compatibility with the majority of Macintosh
programs and the majority of System 7 on almost all 32 bit computer
systems.  Executor is exceedingly portable.  In addition to
Executor/NEXTSTEP which has been on sale in various forms since
December, 1991, Executor/DOS began shipping in October 1993 and we
already have Executor/X-Windows running in house.  We hope to
release Executor/X-Windows for a variety of processors in the first
quarter of 1994, and to release Executor 2.0 for DOS, Windows,
OS/2, NEXTSTEP and X-Windows during the second quarter of quarter
of 1994.  We also anticipate supporting Windows NT, but have not
yet worked it into our timeline.



WHAT YOU CAN DO

The biggest thing that ARDI needs now is exposure.  From that will
come both revenue and investment funds.  If you like what you see
and you can afford to buy a copy, please do so.  If are impressed,
but you don't yet have a use for Executor (because it doesn't
support color, or because your favorite program doesn't work), help
spread the news.

If you have any contacts in the following areas, you can help us
greatly by passing your Executor enthusiasm on to:

                    The Press   We need more mentions of Executor in
                                the trade press, and eventually in the
                                popular press, as well.

              Bulletin Boards   Upload the latest Executor/DOS Demo
                                where appropriate.

   Macintosh Software Authors   Get them to see what Executor can do now,
                                and give them a copy of the Executor/DEMO if
                                they have access to a PC and a copy of
                                README.ISV if they don't.  With PCs, they
                                can potentially multiply their potential
                                customer base by a factor of five, but even
                                if they have a Windows version too, Executor
                                promises to deliver the UNIX workstation
                                market and hopefully the advanced home video
                                game/entertainment system as well (see below)

       PC Clone Manufacturers   Tell them that you wish you could have
                                paid an additional $25 when you bought
                                your machine and got substantial Mac
                                emulation.  We're already talking to one
                                of the top 10 ... a single bundling deal
                                will assure us of sufficient revenues to
                                get Executor/DOS 2.0 out the door quickly.

The Educational Establishment   Executor/DOS 1.2 is extremely handy to some
                                Professors, Instructors and Teachers.
                                Under 1.2, Courseware is much more likely to
                                run than big-ticket applications, because
                                courseware is usually developed using the same
                                documentation (Inside Macintosh) that we
                                used to write Executor.  Big-ticket
                                applications are more likely to "color outside
                                the lines"

          Sega, Nintento, 3DO   If you know someone who works at any of these
                                companies, let 'em know about us.  The
                                processors that will be used in the next
                                generation of video games will be more than
                                adequate to do Macintosh emulation.  We'd
                                like to have the software ready when they
                                have the hardware ready.

Thanks!

Clifford T. Matthews    [e-mail]
Founder                 [phone] Phone
ARDI                    [phone] FAX