home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3
/
Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso
/
gts
/
feature
/
no-tears.pd
/
no-tears.pd
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-03-18
|
5KB
|
91 lines
---------------------------------
RUNNING PD SOFTWARE WITHOUT TEARS
---------------------------------
(EDITOR'S NOTE:
This June 1987 issue article gave some hints on how to get PD programs to
run. The earlier Fish disks, in particular, may have no icons to click and
require knowing how to reach the CLI and figuring out what to type there,
either to run a program or to find out what is on the disk. Later Fish
disks do have icons, and the Amicus series also has icons throughout for
easier operation. Documentation on the disks has steadily improved.)
FIGURING OUT PD
Ordering a "public domain" disk can deliver frustration. Some such
disks don't include much in the way of documentation. Here are some hints on
how to run such software.
First, and especially if you have a single drive, find out the name of
the disk, so you can address it by disk name, rather than drive name. This
is mandatory on one-drive systems that run programs from the CLI. When you
put a disk in the drive, its disk icon appears on the Workbench screen. The
title below the icon is its name.
Second, open the disk's main window to see if you got lucky and
obtained a disk whose programs run from icons. Yes? Then double-click them
to see what happens. No? Go to the CLI.
Three, if you're a beginner, going to the CLI is a mysterious bit of
advice. The CLI (command line interface or interpreter) is where AmigaDOS
commands can be entered and run. Open the Workbench window, double-click the
Preferences icon, and therein click the CLI ON, then click the word SAVE at
the right of the screen. Then reboot the system. When Workbench is opening,
just after the copyright notice appears, hold down the CTRL and D keys
together, and the system breaks to the CLI, where you will see a prompt:
1>
It is here you can enter AmigaDOS commands that may or may not make the
PD disk program work.
Four, let's say you have a disk named PD:. If you have two drives, put
Workbench in one, PD: in the other, type
LIST PD: (and press Return)
If you have one drive, put Workbench in it, type
LIST PD: (and press Return)
and then respond to the requester box by putting PD: in the drive. AmigaDOS
will respond with a list of files and directories on the disk. If you have a
printer you can get a listing of these on paper with the command
LIST > PRT: PD:
If you can find any README files or files ending with the characters
.doc, .txt or anything else suggestive of a text file, try to read them by
typing
TYPE PD:filename (where "filename" stands for the name of file)
Holding down the right mouse button stops the scroll until the button is
released. You can also see ASCII files by typing:
ED PD:filename (and press Return)
To use ED you need a bit of knowledge about cursor movements. Use the down
arrow key to read down it. Exit it by pressing the ESC key, the letter Q and
Return. You may also scroll up and down entire screens with CTRL U and
CTRL D.
The LISTed files may show the characters "dir" as part of their
identification. This means programs or text files, usually associated with a
single topic, are grouped within a directory, which is equivalent to a
drawer on the Workbench screen. To list contents of a directory named "tom,"
type
LIST PD:tom (and press return)
Herein you may find more documentation files (READMEs and the like) and you
may find the actual program you're seeking. You may even find directories
within directories.
To read a file named "help" within the "tom" directory on a disk named
"PD:", you'd have to type
TYPE PD:tom/help (and press Return)
When you locate the file you may find it runs just by typing
RUN PD:filename (and pressing Return)
It might run by simply typing its name:
PD:filename
If it's buried within a series of drawers, it can be a frustrating
experience to get it just right, but AmigaDOS insists on precision in such
matters. The key is to put a colon after the disk name and separate each
name of the pathway with a slash. Example: You've found a program called
"the_last_program_you'll_ever_need" within a directory called
"importantprograms," which is itself part of a disk labeled "DE_PROFUNDIS:".
To see what is involved here, you would type:
run de_profundis:importantprograms/the_last_program_you'll_ever_need
It can get confusing.
Those lines between the words just serve to integrate the names into a
single, unbroken filename the Amiga recognizes. If someone has named a
program with two or more sets of characters, as in READ ME,
then you must enclose the entire name within quotes, as in
LIST "PD:READ ME"
Beyond that, experiment. The field of PD is marked by different styles,
slopware, lack of documentation, and presumption. It is presumed you know
what you're doing.
We at JUMPDISK hope that now you do.
END OF TEXT