BBS 1

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ BBS 1 / BBS#1.iso / for-dos / cdisk701.arj / README.1ST < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-05-20 | 13.7 KB | 290 lines

WELCOME TO CATDISK V7.01 If you received this release on a floppy disk, please make a copy of the original, put the original in a safe place and work from the copy. BBS sysops should post the distribution files as CDISK700.EXE and CDSK700D.EXE (feel free to convert the files to whatever archive format you desire and rename appropriately). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS 1. Registration procedures 2. Extracting The CATDISK Program Files And Documentation. 3. * IMPORTANT: Upgrading Your Catalog Files To This Version. 4. Saving Your Configuration If You Were Using CATDISK v3.61 or Later. 5. If You Are Missing Any Documentation Files. 6. CATDISK PLUS Update. 7. Printing Documentation. 8. If You've Experienced Misaligned Fields On Printed Reports. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. REGISTRATION PROCEDURES If you wish to register your copy of CATDISK, please use the registration form provided and also see the section of the user manual entitled "Support And Upgrades." For convenience, you may use your VISA credit card to register with us. If registering this way, you may do so by voice at (519) 570-3523, via our online support system, The Shareware Connection at (519) 570-4132, or right on the registration form, which you may send by FAX at (519) 884-4887, or by mail. If paying by check or money order, please be sure that it is drawn on a Canadian or US bank (we can handle either, whichever is most convenient to you). If you are a member of CompuServe, you may also register this program online. Just enter "GO SWREG" from any menu prompt and follow the instructions that follow. Our program ID is #688. Please note that the registration fee when using CompuServe is $32 instead of the normal $29. This is required due to the fact that CompuServe charges a 15% fee for their services. Even with the increased registration fee, our portion only amounts to $27.20. This option also does not allow flexibility in allowing you to determine which upgrade path (if any) that you wish to use in obtaining future CATDISK upgrades... it only covers the base registration (although you may obtain all future upgrades from CompuServe). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. EXTRACTING THE CATDISK PROGRAM FILES AND DOCUMENTATION As CATDISK has evolved during its development, it has grown in size and all of the programs and documentation no longer fit on a low density floppy disk. The program files are provided in a self-extracting LHA archive file called CATPROGS.EXE, the utility files are contained in CATUTILS.EXE and the documentation files are contained in CATDOCS.EXE. We also distribute a DPMI-compliant version of CATDISK offering much higher capacities than the standard version of CATDISK in a self-extracting archive file called either "CDSK700D.EXE" or "CD700D.EXE", depending on the location from which you obtain the archive file. If you received CATDISK on disk from us, you already have the master archives unpacked to the correct disks. If not, unpack the master archive, CDISK700, to a blank disk. All files should fit on the disk. We will refer to this as the CATDISK distribution disk. The files from the DPMI-compliant disk go on a separate disk. If you are running on low density 360K 5.25" floppy disks, do the following: 1) Put the CATDISK distribution disk in drive B: 2) Put a blank, formatted disk in drive A: 3) Log onto Drive A: 4) Type "B:CATPROGS" <Enter> (without the quotes, of course). 5) The program files will be uncompressed to the blank disk in drive A: 6) Remove that diskette and label it "CATDISK PROGRAM FILES." 7) Insert another blank diskette and type "B:CATUTILS" <Enter>. 8) The utility files will be uncompressed to the blank disk in drive A: 8) Remove that diskette and label it "CATDISK UTILITY FILES." 9) Insert another blank diskette and type "B:CATDOCS" <Enter>. 10) The documentation files will be decompressed to the blank disk in A: 11) Copy the files README.1ST and WHATS.NEW to the disk in A: 12) Remove that diskette and label it "CATDISK DOCUMENTATION FILES." If you also have the file containing the DPMI version of CATDISK 13) Insert a blank diskette in drive A: and run the DPMI self-extracting archive containing the program files for the DPMI version of CATDISK from the B: drive (we distribute it under a filename "CDSK700D.EXE" for all BBS systems with the exception of CompuServe, where we use "CD700D.EXE"). 14) The DPMI version of CATDISK and its accompanying files will be decompressed to the blank disk in A: 15) Remove that diskette and label it "CATDISK - DPMI VERSION". -------------------------- If you are running on low density 720K 3.5" floppy disks, do the following: 1) Put the CATDISK distribution disk in drive B: 2) Put a blank, formatted disk in drive A: 3) Log onto Drive A: 4) Type "B:CATPROGS" <Enter> (without the quotes, of course). 5) The program files will be uncompressed to the blank disk in A: 6) Type "B:CATUTILS" <Enter>. 7) The utility files will be incompressed to the blank disk in A: 8) Remove the diskette and label it "CATDISK PROGRAM FILES & UTILITIES." 9) Insert another blank disk and enter the command "B:CATDOCS" <Enter>. 10) The documentation files will be decompressed to the blank disk in A: 11) Copy the files README.1ST and WHATS.NEW to the disk in A: 12) Remove the diskette and label it "CATDISK DOCUMENTATION." If you also have the file containing the DPMI version of CATDISK 10) Insert a blank diskette in drive A: and run the DPMI self-extracting archive containing the program files for the DPMI version of CATDISK from the B: drive (we distribute it under a filename "CDSK700D.EXE" or "CD700D.EXE"). 11) The DPMI version of CATDISK and its accompanying files will be decompressed to the blank disk in A: 12) Remove that diskette and label it "CATDISK - DPMI VERSION". -------------------------- NOTES: High density disks (1.2Mb, 1.44Mb and 2.88Mb) should have enough capacity to accept all of the files. Simply execute CATPROGS.EXE, CATUTILS.EXE, CATDOCS.EXE and the self-extracting archive containing the DPMI-compliant version of CATDISK from a master disk containing all three (or four) archives. After you have run each self-extracting archive, delete it, as it is no longer needed. Depending on whether or not there has been any program growth in later versions, you may need to run the archive containing the DPMI-compliant version of CATDISK from another drive. Currently, this is the case for those using 1.2Mb floppies, although once extracted, the files may be copied to the disk containing the other files. If you are running on floppies only, you will definitely NOT need the increased capacity contained in the DPMI-compliant version of CATDISK. Use the regular version of CATDISK, as it runs faster than the DPMI version. If you are running CATDISK from a hard disk, you will need to copy the files from the DPMI compliant version of CATDISK to the directory in which the other files and utilities are stored in order to use CDISKCFG.EXE to configure the various options. When configuring CATDISK via the CDISKCFG utility using low density floppy disks (i.e. 360K or 720K), start CDISKCFG from the program disk after inserting it in the work drive. CDISKCFG will load and then search CATDISK.EXE for the master configuration information. It will then search for the other program files and utilities (CATDISKD.EXE (if you have it), CATLOOK.EXE, CATMGR.EXE and DISKFILL.EXE). If CDISKCFG cannot find a particular file due to it being on another disk, it will prompt you for that disk and give you a second chance to find it. You may then proceed with setting up CATDISK for operation as described in the user manual. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. IMPORTANT: UPGRADING YOUR CATALOG FILES TO THIS VERSION. Prior To V2.10 -------------- Some of the critical information stored in current release of CATDISK are not present in early releases. You will need to delete all .DTA and .SUM files created by these early releases and start from scratch. If You Were Using CATDISK V2.10 to V6.37 ---------------------------------------- This release of CATDISK supports file comments of 43 characters in length and disk comments in the summary report of 40 characters in length. You do *NOT* have to purge your old catalog files and start over... just run the program CDISKCVT.EXE on each catalog file that you have, select the appropriate conversion option as outlined in the program and any changes that are necessary to convert your files to the new format will be made. The syntax of this command is: CDISKCVT catalog_name - where catalog_name is the name of the catalog file to be converted. (do NOT include the filename extension of .DTA on the command line) If You Were Using CATDISK V7.00 or Later ---------------------------------------- Your current catalog files are fully compatible with this release... you do NOT need to convert them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. RECALLING YOUR PREVIOUS CONFIGURATION IF USED CATDISK V3.61 OR LATER Before copying the new program files to your work disk, you might want to rename the executable file from the previous installation (CATDISK.COM or CATDISK.EXE) to another name. The new configuration utility, CDISKCFG.EXE now has the ability to read the configuration information from the release that you were using for easy installation into this release. This can save you some time in setting the program up for your preferences, particularly if you've customized all the screen colors. When you run CDISKCFG, hit <F8> and follow the prompts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. IF YOU ARE MISSING ANY DOCUMENTATION FILES Due to the nature of BBS distribution, it is possible that you may have received a copy of this program that may be missing one or more of the documentation files. If this is the case, and you have a modem on your computer, you may give our support BBS, The Shareware Connection a call to obtain documentation files for the current release. The number to call is (519) 570-3523 When you have signed on and have arrived at the main menu, enter "F 2", which is the directory in which all of CATDISK's documentation files are stored individually. These files are accessible to anyone calling into the system. Download the pertinent files to your situation and you'll be all set. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. CATDISK PLUS UPDATE Due to the popularity that CATDISK has achieved, and the resulting workload in keeping up with correspondence, the development of CATDISK PLUS has been significantly delayed. Work is progressing, albeit slowly, as we adapt to the increased workload. Additionally, as development progresses, new ideas pop up that are too good to pass up, both on the shareware version of CATDISK, as well as in CATDISK PLUS. Recently, we have been receiving pre-paid orders for CATDISK PLUS from a fair number of individuals and corporations. Unfortunately, these orders cannot be processed before the product is ready. Before ordering CATDISK PLUS, please check with us either by voice at (519) 570-3523, or on our bulletin board system, The Shareware Connection at (519) 570-4132 for information on CATDISK PLUS's availability. At the time that this package was created, we cannot commit to any release date. Thank you for your patience. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. PRINTING DOCUMENTATION To print this README.1ST file, the revision history, the CATDISK user manual, or any of the registration forms, run the program PRINTDOC.EXE, contained in the self-extracting documentation file. This is a menu driven program that is capable of printing the longer files, such as the user manual in a two-sided format (i.e. on both sides of the page). The documentation files and PRINTDOC.EXE must be in the same directory. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. IF YOU'VE EXPERIENCED MISALIGNED FIELDS ON PRINTED REPORTS Some disk labelling programs have an annoying habit of placing null characters at the end of a volume label. While this is not a fatal problem, it can have a nasty effect on the printed reports that CATDISK produces by causing misalignment of some of the fields. The program CLEANCAT.EXE has been provided to correct this problem in catalog files that have been created with V3.50 to 4.10, or those that have been converted by the above mentioned CDISKCVT.EXE utility. If you have noticed your printed reports appearing in this strange manner, CLEANCAT can help you. This program will simply change all the null characters to spaces, which will appear correctly on your printer. The syntax for CLEANCAT is: CLEANCAT catalog_name - where catalog_name is the name of the catalog file to be "cleaned up." (do NOT include the filename extension of .DTA or .SUM on the command line) If you created your catalog files with a release after V4.10, the corrective procedures have been built right into the program, therefore this procedure will not be necessary.