Welcome to Budget Software's DISK SPOOL II. This program guides you in installing DISK SPOOL II on your system. The menu items are accessed by pressing Alt-x, where 'x' is the highlited letter of the menu. For example, the "Configure" menu is pulled down by Alt-C. Or, if you have a mouse, you can click on menu items to select them.
After filling out the items in the "Configure" menu, press Alt-I to bring down the "Go" menu option. Then press Enter. That's all you have to do, then you are ready to use DISK SPOOL II.
Please note that there are several advanced as well as "fine-tune" features that are not presented in this installation program. When you get time, be sure to read the SP2.DOC and the SP2NEW.DOC files (you can view them from within this install program by taking the "View" menu option); and also, take the time to run SP2CFG ... the program that allows you to make these additional configurations. To run SP2CFG, just key in SP2CFG SP2.COM. :
Applications
DISK SPOOL II is a useful utility in conjuction with virtually any application. Certain ones, such as Windows 3.x or AutoCad, require special configurations. Take the "Applications" menu option to obtain information about such applications. (
Lastly
Be sure to view the latest enhancements by taking the the "View
New DOC" menu sequence. &
Press ESC to close this help window.
THelpTopic
System
About
This menu option tells you which version of DISK SPOOL II you are installing.
THelpTopic
System
Exit
This option exits out of this install program.
THelpTopic
Configuration
Printers
This option provides you with displays for indicating which ports have printers attached.
THelpTopic
Configuration
Directories
This option provides you with a display for indicating where you wish DISK SPOOL II files to reside on your computer.
THelpTopic
Configuration
Options
This option provides you with a display for indicating various installation options.
THelpTopic
Install
Review
Taking this option allows you to review your installation options
THelpTopic
Install
Taking this option will initiate the installation process according to the way your selections in the Configuration menu.
THelpTopic
Install
Everything
This option installs all of the program files onto your hard drive.
** CAUTION **
This option is for advanced users who wish to configure DISK SPOOL II using SP2CFG, according to the indications found in the User's Guide.
This options disregards all options you may have taken in the Configure menu with respect to printer ports, spool file directory, configuration options, etc. The only Configure option not ignored is the one indicating the program directory.
THelpTopic
View
Main DOC
Taking this option will provide you with a display of the main documentation file supplied on in your installation diskette. O
The information contained in this document is also found in the User's Guide.
THelpTopic
View
New DOC
This option displays a document describing new features not contained in View
Main DOC or the User's Manual. r
It is important that you read or print this document if you want to be able to take advantage of these features.
THelpTopic
Configure Printers
Indicate the ports where printers are attached. %
You may do so in any of three ways: "
- Use the arrow keys to position S
the cursor over the desired port,
and press the space bar to toggle
the 'X'.
- Press Alt along with the highlited )
letter of the port you wish to toggle.
- Click your mouse while the cursor
is in the desired location.
THelpTopic
Configure COM Protocol
Indicate the settings that match those of your printer/plotter.
Regarding the Handshaking selection: Most printers / plotters that are attached to a COM port can be configured to either hardware, or software (Xon/Xoff) handshaking. If you have the choice, choose the hardware method, since it is simpler and thus more reliable.
THelpTopic
Configure Directories
In this display you designate various directories that are of significance to DISK SPOOL II, the meanings of which are as follows:
Program Files F
This is the directory where the installation program will place the program files. Note that this is the directory where you will always initiate DISK SPOOL II. For example, if you wanted to initiate DISK SPOOL II from within your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and assuming this directory was c:\ds2, then you would include the line:
c:\ds2\sp2
The files written to this directory are: )
SP2.COM -> main program-TSR version
or
SP2.DRV -> main program-DRV version '
SP2CFG.COM -> configuration program.
This program can be used to change any of the installation options after you have installed DISK SPOOL II. It can also be used to make various fine-tune adjustments. Refer to the User's Guide for a complete description of this program. <
SP2PRT.COM -> a lightning-fast DOS file printing program. -
SP2.HLP -> context-sensitive HELP file.
Spool Files ;
This is the directory where your spool files will reside.
The "Monitor" feature
If any of your applications are able to send their printed output to a disk file (as can Window 3.0, for instance), then you can take advantage of the "Monitor" feature of DISK SPOOL II. With this feature, you are able to indicate two directories that DISK SPOOL II will continuously monitor. Here is how it works: If any file appears in the directory, and if it matches the designated "skeleton", then it will be automatically enqueued for background printing.
This feature is particularly powerful in that applications send their data to files much more quickly than they do to a printer port ... even faster than DISK SPOOL II can do when it intercepts the printer output and re-routes it to disk.
Furthermore, many graphics-oriented packages, such as AutoCad, send their printer/plotter output in such a manner as to make it impossible for a spooler product to intercept and re-route to disk. Using the Monitor feature, therefore, overcomes this situation. >
Monitor #1 directory, "skelton", and printout destination
Any file that appears in this directory, and that matches the "skeleton" will be automatically enqueued by DISK SPOOL II for background printing. <
For example, let's say that you are configured as follows: ]
Directory............ c:\c1
Skeleton............. *.plt
Printout destination. com1
Then, if your application created any file of the form *.plt into directory c:\c1 DISK SPOOL II would enqueue it for back- ground printing to com1.
Note that enabling this Monitor feature does not conflict with the normal spooling process. In other words, you can still print data in the usual manner, and DISK SPOOL II will spool it. It's just that if any file appears in one of the Monitor directories, it too will be spooled.
THelpTopic
Print
Main DOC
Use this option to print the main documentation file. Note that the information contained in this file can also be found in the User's Guide. #
Instead of printing this long document from within this install program, you ought to proceed with the installation, load DISK SPOOL II into memory, and then take advantage of it's main feature: the ability to print in the background so that you are free to continue work on your computer.
THelpTopic
Print
New DOC
This option prints the document describing new features not contained in View
Main DOC or in the User's Manual. r
It is important that you view or print this document if you want to be able to take advantage of these features.
THelpTopic
Configure Options
Each of the Configure Options is described in this HELP topic. Note: for more complete explanations, refer to the User's Guide, and to the SP2NEW.DOC file. t
(.txt)