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PMCAT A Disk File Cataloging Program by Patrick Michaud Version 4.0 23 January, 1989 Copyright 1987 by William C. Scott PmCat A Disk File Catalog by Patrick Michaud Copyright 1987 by William C. Scott PmCat is designed to make it easy for you to keep track of the files and programs on your floppy disks and hard drive(s). Some of the features of PmCat include: * Read contents of archived files on disk * "Mask" filespec to include and/or exclude files * Delete individual files from catalog * Find Free Space on cataloged diskettes * Assign a DRIVE:\PATHNAME to be a VOLUME * Read subdirectories and labels, too * Comment each file with up to 80 characters * "Rubber-stamp" for comments for duplicate files * Sort catalog by filename, ext, size, path or date * Supports "*" and "?" searches for files and comments * User configurable printer formatting * Automatic update of catalog when disks are reread. * User customizing of color, catalog name, ASCII filename * Writes volume label to diskette (optionally) * Create ASCII disk file with user-assigned name * Handles multiple catalogs of various names Minimum System Requirements: IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible, 256K RAM, one floppy disk drive. Hard drives and subdirectories are supported. DISCLAIMER: By using this product, the user agrees that neither William C. Scott nor Patrick R. Michaud may be held liable for any damages, direct or consequential, that might arise from the use or misuse of PmCat. INSTALLING PMCAT: No special steps need be taken. PmCat contains defaults that may be altered by the user once within the program. The data files will default to the directory from which PmCat is run, as will the PMCAT.DEF file, containing the user specified defaults. (The defaults will be explained in detail under the appropriate heading later in the docs) Copyright Notice - PmCat, copyright 1987,1988,1989 by William C. Scott PmCat is NOT public domain software. You may use, copy and distribute it freely, but you MAY NOT RESELL PmCat. A modest fee for copying may be charged, not to exceed $3.00 exclusive of the cost of disk, mailer and postage. Page 2 USING PMCAT: The following pages will explain first, how to get going from the standpoint of "How do I ....?" and later from an explanation of each of the various menu commands. We wrote the docs in the manner we have in the hope they could be really "useful". (I personally hate searching documentation for the *only* spot a particular item is mentioned). If our feedback indicates a majority of users dislike this format, it will be changed to a more 'normal' sort of format in the next release. Please, do let us know. How Do I ... ? Begin Using PmCat - Enter 'pmc4-250' at the DOS prompt. A titlescreen will be displayed. Follow those instructions. You may prefer to rename your copy of PmCatxx.exe (where 'xx' is the version number) to PMCAT.exe. This is done at the DOS command line prompt so, A>ren pmcatxx.exe pmcat.exe <ENTER> Set the Filename for My Data - after the title screen, you will see a small window. If you want to use the filename of catalog.cat, press <ENTER>. If you want to enter a filename of your own, just type it in, and press <ENTER>. Put my catalog data on a different drive or directory- When you enter your filename, enter the full pathname. For example, if you want a file called "disk.dat" on drive C in subdirectory "junk" ... enter "C:\junk\disk.dat" <ENTER> Read a DIRECTORY TREE as though it were a VOLUME - At the point in updating the catalog when you are prompted for a drive designator (usually A, B, etc.) you may enter an asterisk (*) instead. This will permit you to enter a FULL PATHNAME that will be treated as a VOLUME. Make sure you include the drive letter and the DOS path to the directory from which you wish to read files. For example, to read all the files on in the MISC directory, on DRIVE 'C' enter the following: C:\MISC <ENTER> All of the files and subdirectories below (within) the MISC directory will be cataloged as belonging to a volume named "C:\MISC". NOTE: Only 12 total characters are allowed for this function. You may have to rename a directory or two if they have 'descriptive' names and you wish to begin below the first level. E.g., "C:\PMCAT\ACCNT" (14 chars) would be too long, but "C:\PMCAT\ACC" (12 chars) would be OK. Page 3 Make my filename the `automatic' (default) one - When the catalog has been read (or not, according to what you do), go to the <S>et Defaults option of the menu on the first screen you see with a menu area at the bottom. Select <F> from the next manu and enter the full path (if you want it that way) and press enter. Immediately press <W>rite Defaults to save the setting to disk. Press <ESC> to return to the first menu. Read the files from a diskette or hard drive - At the first menu, press pdate. Place the diskette you wish to catalog in the drive. Then enter the the source drive letter. If you are going to read diskettes in drive A, enter 'A' (no quotes), likewise for B,C or others. If you enter a drive letter for a non-existent drive it will cause an error. When you are through adding files to the catalog, press <ESC> to return to the first menu. Label a diskette - when you pdate by adding a volume PmCat will read the disk and determine if a label exists on the diskette. You may enter your own or PmCat will label it automatically as DISK% where % is the next number not already used...DISK1, DISK2, etc. Save my catalog to disk - at the first menu, or the second (which we haven't reached yet), select <W>rite catalog. It is recommended you do this right after adding files. Change catalogs - by using the <R>ead catalog option of the first menu, you can load or create a different file from the one you have been working with. Look at files I want to know about - select <V>iew from the first menu and it will move you to the second menu and open a window containing the filenames and extensions. If you have the Auto-Sort option set to 'ON' a sort will take place when you move from the first to second menu. This sort does files in alphabetic order of filenames. Auto-Sort may be turned off in the <S>et defaults area. Use the PgUp/PgDn, up/down arrows and Home/End keys to move through the displayed files. Find a specific file/volume/free space - from the second menu select <F>ind, then <F>, <C> or <S>... search <F>ilenames, <C>omments or free <S>pace. Then enter the keyword, string or size you wish. Wildcards searches are allowed for filename searches. (See note on searching) Page 4 Find another file/volume matching the same search pattern - select <N> at the second menu and the next one will be shown. Find the file size, date and other particulars - select from the second menu. This will open an Info Window with the statistics about the file, as well as a Comments window Enter comments about a particular file - select <C> from the second menu. If the windows are not open, this option will open both the Info Window and the Comments Window and place the cursor in the Comments Window. Type in your information and press <ENTER>. Once you have made changes such as adding or deleting comments, use the <W>rite catalog option to save it to disk. NOTHING IS SAVED on disk until you do this, or exit PmCat. Delete a FILE from a catalog file - at the SECOND menu select <E>rase and the file will be marked >>DELETED<<. This change is not permanent until you write the existing catalog to disk, even though the file will no longer be shown in the window. Delete a VOLUME from a catalog file - chose <D> from the FIRST menu. A window displaying all volumes will be opened. Move the bar selector to the one you wish to delete and press <D>. You will have to confirm that decision with a 'Y' or 'N' before going on. (<ESC> will allow you to abort the process) Find out what volumes are contained in my catalog file - from the SECOND menu, chose <V> and an overlay window will open with the list of volume names. Press <ESC> to back up one level. See the files in a specific directory or volume - place the bar cursor on the Volume or directory name, press <D> from the SECOND menu. The Info Window will tell you if the name under the bar is a file or directory. Volumes and directory entries both show <DIR> as their size. See what directories are in my file - first perform a sort on size by selecting <S> from the SECOND menu and <A> for ascending order. This will get the volumes and directories in alphabetical order at the head of the listing which is being dis- played in the filename display window. Get a printed listing of my catalog - select from the SECOND menu. Make sure your printer is ready and press `Y' to continue. Page 5 Create an ASCII file of my files - after selecting from the SECOND menu a window offers you the option of printing to disk (as the ASCII file) or to the printer. You are also given the opportunity to name the ASCII file to whatever you wish (any valid DOS filename) or to accept the default filename (which is the name of the present catalog..without extension...with the extension ".LST" added.) Print only the files from a particular disk (volume) - from the SECOND menu, select <V> then place the selector bar on the volume you want, press <D> and then press . The rest of the printing is the same as above. Change the default settings for my formatted printing - select <S> from the FIRST menu, then select . This will open a window showing the current settings. Printing for a particular field will begin at Start Column and continue for `Size' spaces. If fields overlap, a warn- ing occurs. If you ignore it, printing will follow your entry. The default field widths may be decreased but attempts to make them wider will cause them to be truncated at the default width. Normal and condensed modes on 10" and 15" printers can be used (width up to 255 characters). Use the archive reading feature - This may be turned ON or OFF at the <S>et Defaults menu. When Arc-Read is ON the files contained within the first level of an archive will be cataloged in PmCat. Archives contained within archives will not be read. Once in PmCat the files with an extension of '.arc' may be viewed as though they are a directory, using the <D> command of the SECOND menu. (they are also displayed in the first level window just as contents of other directories are. If you did not read a disk with Arc-Read ON, and try to see the contents later, a message will appear in the menu area. Page 6 Use the "masking" feature - In the <S>et defaults menu, use the <M>ask command to open a window. This window will contain the list of 'filespecs' that will determine which files will be read and/or excluded when you catalog or update a disk. Note that the and the <E> keys while in this window will toggle the Include/Exclude lists as active or inactive by placing a small double arrowhead on the headings. To alter the list(s), just place the cursor bar on the filespec you wish to change, press <ENTER> and type in the new filespec. If you wish to change your mind, just press <ENTER> (without entering anything), or if you have typed a few characters press <ESC> and the old filespec will be retained. These filespecs and active/ inactive status will be saved along with other settings if you <W>rite defaults at the previous menu. Pressing <C> when the cursor is on a filename will clear that name. Set a new DEF (default) file - At the <S>et Defaults menu, select the <D>ef-file option. Type in the filename you want and press enter. When you save the current program config- uration it will be saved in the new default file. NOTE: An extension of .DEF will automatically be added to the filename you type in, so don't include an extension. This feature will be useful if you have different mask, screen color combinations or print configurations you might like to use at different times. Page 7 AT THE FIRST MENU (options) S - set defaults: Change colors, default catalog name/path, titlescreen on/off, Auto-Sort on/off, etc. Titlescreen - the title screen may be toggled on and off by pressing "T". This allows you to bypass the opening messages with Serial # display. Auto-Sort - the automatic sorting feature may be toggled on and off by pressing "S". "OFF" disables sorting when passing from the first screen to the second. Archive-read - the ability to read archived files is toggled on/off by pressing <A>. Mask-set - pressing <M> will open the window for access to the filemasking information. Selecting <E> will toggle the list of Exclude filemasks, will toggle the list of Include filemasks. If you have both turned on, the Include takes precedence. I.e., you may Exclude all files with a "*.bat" name under the Exclude list, but Include any "autoexec.bat" files under the Include list. Default Filename - the location and name of the default data file may be set by pressing "F" and enter- ing your default path and filename.ext. NOTE: If you are using Drive B for a data file, then here is an example... B:\MYDATA.CAT ...this will cause PmCat to look in the root directory of the disk in Drive B, for a data file named "MYDATA.CAT", and use it for information. Colors - the colors of the display may be customized according to your taste by choosing "C". Notice that as you press the UP and DOWN arrows, the label to the left of the color bar changes, showing what item will be changed. The line pointer, which is moved by using the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys, points to the present color, which you can change. The small window shows how your colors will look. When you exit by using <ESC> the colors are set and will show when the program is resumed. Print settings - this is where you format your output to the printer. Place the selector bar on the item you wish to alter and press <ENTER>. The item will be marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate it will be an active part of your printing process. Clear an item by placing the bar on the item and pressing <C>. When you are satisfied with your settings, press "W" to write the new default settings to disk. These will be read in each time you run PmCat or when you select the "R" option of this sub-menu. YOUR SETTINGS WILL BE ONLY FOR THAT SESSION UNLESS YOU <W>RITE THEM TO DISK! Page 8 U - Update catalog: Read diskettes into catalog. Respond to the prompt with the appropriate drive letter. W - Write catalog: Writes catalog, which is held in memory, to disk. NOTHING IS PERMANENT UNTIL YOU DO THIS. R - Read catalog: Read an existing catalog from disk. This doesn't have to be the same one you read upon startup. V - View catalog: Takes you to the section of PmCat where you can browse through the files, enter comments and print hardcopy. D - Delete volume: Allows you to delete a volume from PmCat. This change is not permanent till you WRITE the altered catalog to disk. AT THE SECOND MENU (options) <ESC> - always moves you back to the previous step, eventually to the exit prompt. Home - takes you to the top of the files in the window (#1) End - takes you to the bottom of the files in the window (#??) PgUp - brings up the next 12 files to the window PgDn - brings up the previous 12 files to the window Up/Dn Arrows - move the selector bar up or down. Going past the first or last entry takes you to the previous or next page. W - write catalog: Performs same function as the <W> in the D - Display Directory: If the item under the selector bar is a <DIR>, a listing of those files in that directory is made available through the window. Contents of archived files are displayed if it was read with the Arc-read ON. I - Info Window: Opens the Info Window and Comments Window. The Info Window shows the path, size, date, and filename of the file under the selector bar. Pressing "I" again will close both the Info and Comments windows. Page 9 C - Comments Window: Pressing "C" will place the cursor in the Comment window and enable commenting of the file under the selector bar. If the Comments Window was not open when "C" was pressed, the Info Window AND the Comment Window will be opened. After entering your comments, press <ENTER> and they will be saved. THEY ARE NOT PERMANENTLY SAVED TILL YOU "WRITE" THE CATALOG TO DISK. Press <ESC> to abort. E - Erase/delete file: Removes the selected file from your catalog. F - Find: You will be prompted in the Menu Area at the bottom of the screen about whether you wish to search through filenames or comments. Choose `F' or `C', whichever is appropriate. Then enter your key (word, phrase, or character sequence) to find. PmCat will find and display the first one in the file...to go to the next match, press `N'. (see note on searching) N - Next Find: finds the next occurrence of the specified search string S - Sort: sorts files on filename, extension, date, size or path, in ascending or descending order. P - Print: If you include comments, it will require two lines per file, otherwise, one. The files that will be printed depend on where you are in your browsing. If you are at the "Top" window, all files in PmCat will be printed. If you have selected a particular volume, then only that volume will be printed. Likewise, if you have selected a subdirectory, the files in that subdirectory will be printed. I.e., whatever can be viewed with PgUp/PgDN or Up/Dn arrow will be printed. The output will be sent to an ASCII disk file by selecting <D> to confirm print start. V - Volume List: gives a display through the window of the volumes that are registered in the current catalog. Buffer -> comment : These two menu items make up a simple Buffer <- comment : cut and paste function for the comments portion of the display. You can type the comments for a file once and then copy it to other occurrences of that file that might be found in the current catalog. Using the left arrow will copy comments to a buffer(scratchpad). Place the bar cursor on the file you want the information copied to and press the right arrow. The information remains in the buffer until you replace it with something else or leave the program. This feature enables "rubber-stamping" of a file's comments. Page 10 NOTES, HINTS AND TIPS: Print formatting Each data field will begin at the row "Start-Column" on your printer and continue for "Width" spaces. Make sure a field does not overlap the next field's "Start-column" location. If you pick a size for COMMENTS which is less than the actual NUMBER OF CHARACTERS in the COMMENTS field, it will be continued on the next line WITH NO OTHER DATA. Other fields, if too short for the data to fit on one line, will be truncated (chopped off). You may specify up to 255 lines/page for page length (60 is the default). Allow 3 lines for the header (page number, column titles, separator bar). By setting up your printer for condensed print, 8 lines/inch (instead of 6) and judiciously select- ing and formatting the items to print, you can make disk sleeve inserts conveniently. Distribution under the "Shareware" concept is encouraged. Unless you have written permission from William C. Scott, please do not upload any version of PmCat to Compuserve (IMBSYS sig), GEnie, or The Source. These are our primary distribution points. We ask your cooperation in keeping them a place to obtain the latest PUBLIC release of PmCat. ( Registrants always receive the latest WORKING version ... sometimes the changes are not significant enough to warrant another public release) Searching The search acts only on those items focused on by the present window. If you are at the first level window, a search will cover all volumes, directories, subdirectories and filenames if you search <F>ilenames, or comments associated with any of the filenames, directories, subdirectories and volumes if you select <C>omments (after selecting <F>ind ). A quirk in the program is that you can do an "instring search" (for example, look for "asi" in the word Basic) by simply typing in "asi" at the keyword prompt, IF you are searching Comments. If you are searching <F>ilenames, you must use "*asi*" ... note the leading and trailing asterisks, in order to accomp- lish the same thing. The double quotes I used here are not to be used in entering the keyword or character string, of course...simply type in the characters you want to look for, and augment them with the `*' or `?' wildcards...but wild- cards are valid ONLY when searching filenames. Just in case you aren't familiar with "wildcards", an entry of a phrase string to look for, like, " ?asic " will look for all five letter filenames beginning with any valid character and having "asic" as the last four characters. An entry of " ?asi* " will look for any occurrence of filenames containing "asi" as the second, third and fourth characters. The decision not to incorporate wildcards in the comments searches was one of those arbitrary decisions any programmer makes. It slowed the search to an unacceptable speed...so it was decided to compromise with the "instring" type of search only. Page 11 Sorting The sorted display is TEMPORARY! It is retained only as long as you remain in the area of the PmCat where you view the files. The sorted display is created as an index which is held in memory. It cannot be saved to disk at this time. This is another of those "compromises" we had make ... hope it isn't too much of a problem for you. Drive error If you pick a non-existent drive to read from, PmCat will handle it gracefully. If you fail to close the drive door or place a disk in the selected drive, you will see the familiar DOS message asking Abort, Retry, Ignore? ... in a window. Simply place a disk in the drive and close the drive door and press [R] ... PmCat will recover. If you choose <A>bort, you will exit to DOS. Blinking text and boxes If you find the boxes and text on the main screen, windows or menu are blinking, and you don't want them to, go to the Set Defaults option and set the pointer to the corresponding BACKGROUND color ON THE LEFT HALF OF THE COLOR BAR. Any of the 16 colors may be chosen for text, but the background allows only the 8 base colors. The other 8 blocks (the right half) will produce the same color background, but the text and box borders will blink. Some like to use this option to make the Select Text (in the selector bar) blink. Page 12 About Our Marketing Process We chose this method of distribution out of financial prudence. Had we elected to spend the many thousands of dollars in advertising, printing and fancy packaging that a "normal" marketing approach requires, the price of a program like PmCat would be surely be well over $30.00 and likely never be looked at by many. Please don't be put off by the fact you may have obtained a free copy of PmCat. It is in every sense a "commercial" product. It was primarily authored by Patrick Michaud who will be receiving his PhD in Computer Science in the summer of 1989. Patrick is among the 'creme de la creme' of young programmers ... he isn't just "muddling through". He also has another fine program in work and the method we use to market it will be largely determined by the success of PmCat through shareware channels. Please realize that PmCat didn't just "happen". We have spent a great deal of money for compilers, language tools and hardware that is specifically dedicated to the develop- ment of PmCat, not to even begin thinking about the many hours of sitting at the keyboard, tearing out hair trying to figure out why the obviously simple, isn't! We must, at the very least, recover our investment so that we can continue to develop programs of this quality. By our distributing PmCat under the shareware concept, you can obtain a copy of it for free or at minimal cost through BBS's, user groups, etc. If there is something about it you perceive as a flaw, please do let us know. That is the only way we can improve our products to your satisfaction. Based on the assumption you have a fair quantity of diskettes (or even a hard drive) containing programs/ files you would like to keep track of, you have a need for and have to this point not found *quite* what you want in a disk cataloger. I sincerely hope PmCat can fill this need for you. If it does, please take the time to sit back and consider whether or not it is worth the $10 or $15 we ask you to send for registration. There are now two levels of registration for PmCat. The $10 fee establishes you as a registered user, receive a copy of the latest distribution version of PmCat, a copy configured for maximum memory (but necessarily without the DOS shell function and ensures you will be notified of significant updates to PmCat and offered a copy of those updates for a nominal fee. That fee is currently $4. For $15.00 you will receive a copy of the very latest version on 5.25 inch floppy disk. This will include multiple copies of PmCat with the different configurations that might be necessary to more nearly fit your needs exactly. You will also have the option of obtaining additional configurations for a very modest fee as noted on the order form. Page 13 If you wish to register PmCat and receive the benefits of doing so: the additional configurations with full registra- tion, entry on our mailing list and a sales receipt, please send check or Money Order to the address below: William C. Scott #22 Cary Annex Coalgate, OK 74538 We keep a customer file with the registered owner and his/her serial number. That serial number stays with that owner through any and all updates and revisions of PmCat. IN ORDER TO ENSURE YOU CAN FULLY EXAMINE THE POTENTIAL OF PMCAT, THIS SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTION VERSION HAD TO BE RESTRICTED TO ONLY 250K OF MEMORY TO BE USED TO HOLD THE CATALOG. This was necessary because of the DOS shell option which this newest version of PmCat has implemented. If we create PmCat with the compiler requesting 640K of memory, none would be left for the DOS shell option which requires about 30-40K or so of RAM. By restricting the amount of memory PmCat requests from DOS when loaded it ensures that option will be functional on the vast majority of configurations. Conversely, to create the maximum size catalog in memory, you might prefer to forego the DOS shell option in order to obtain the maximum storage space. Too, we can't predict how many memory resident programs a given user might be using and so the amount of available memory on a given system is an unknown factor for us. IF YOU DECIDE PMCAT WILL FIT YOUR NEEDS, WHEN YOU REGISTER, WE WILL SEND YOU A DISK WITH 5 CONFIGURATIONS; 200K, 300K, 375K, 450K AND NO RESTRICTION...AND NO DOS shell (in that one). You can choose from among those for the one that best suits you. or... IF YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT/NEED FOR A CATALOG SIZE (about 120 bytes per file with comments is used by PmCat...less 80 bytes per file if no comments are used) OR DESIRE TO HAVE SOME OR ALL OF THE DEFAULT SETTINGS DIFFERENT, WE WILL PLEASED TO CUSTOM CONFIGURE A COPY FOR YOU FOR A MODEST $5.00 CHARGE (including the cost of the extra diskette IF required). Page 14 Figuring your Configuring The options listed below are parameters that you might find more convenient to have set to your own values. If you decide to register PmCat fully and wish to opt for a custom configuration of memory, or other parameters, please include this list with the appropriate settings checked off. We will configure one extra copy (in addition to the 5 you will receive anyway), with these settings, for the same $5 fee of recompiling to give you the memory you wish. YES NO '+' indicates default setting Auto-Sort +___ ___ Titlescreen +___ ___ Achive read +___ ___ Exclude mask ___ +___ ( defaults are blank ) 1.__________.____ 2.__________.____ 3.__________.____ 4.__________.____ 5.__________.____ 6.__________.____ ( 9 options ) 7.__________.____ 8.__________.____ 9.__________.____ Include mask ___ +___ ( *.com, *.exe, *.txt, *.doc, *.arc ) 1.__________.____ 2.__________.____ 3.__________.____ 4.__________.____ 5.__________.____ 6.__________.____ ( 9 options ) 7._________._____ 8.__________.____ 9.__________.____ Catalog name _______________._______ ( CATALOG.CAT ) .DEF file _______________._______ ( PMCAT.DEF ) Colors: Screen text _________(white) Screen background _________(black) Window text _________(lightgreen) Window background _________(blue) Select text (bar) _________(lightgray) Select background _________(red) Menu text _________(lightgreen) Menu background _________(cyan) Menu highlights _________(yellow) Background Options : Black,Blue,Green,Cyan,Red,Magenta,Brown,Light Gray Text Options : Black,Blue,Green,Cyan,Red,Magenta,Brown,Light Gray, Dark Gray,Light Blue,Light Green,Light Cyan,Light Red, Light Magenta,Yellow,White PLEASE CONSIDER CAREFULLY before you request a modified version. Try the color settings and other defaults in your own system to be sure they are exactly what you want and won't tire of. Of course ".DEF" files can be easily created to hold your values, too. To avoid possible confusion on our end as to who wants what, please put your name and address on this form. Name: _________________________________ Addr: _________________________________ THANKS! Page 15 IMPORTANT DETAIL: We have noted an apparent incompatibilty which is not the fault of PmCat's code, but may, in certain instances cause your system to lock, requiring a cold reboot. The incompatibilty seems to lie with either the Borland Turbo Pascal 'EXEC' command or DOS itself or both. If one attempts to SHELL to DOS using the Turbo Pascal 'EXEC' command and DOS' 'PRINT' is resident in memory, the problem occurs. For this reason, we WON'T compile a version of PmCat configured for BOTH maximum memory allocation AND a DOS SHELL option. (The two are mutually exclusive, anyway) Any version of PmCat (or any other program using the EXEC procedure) that requests more memory than DOS says is available will be prone to this problem. The only way to ensure you have no problem is NOT RUN PRINT before using PmCat, or ensure you have adequate system memory to accomodate the program's request OR don't use the <O>s option in PmCat if you have run PRINT. We also noted this problem when attempting to use NewSweep from within the <O>s shell command. If you use NewSweep, make sure you have about 50-60k free in the shell before executing it. Other programs might cause similar problems. Please let us know if and when you run across any other such incompatibilities. Under other circumstances, when one tries to shell to DOS and there is inadequate memory, the operation is simply not permitted. No problems. This may all sound confusing to some users, but fear not. You can gracefully use any configuration you wish of PmCat without danger as long as you don't run PRINT before using PmCat...and even then, things are fine unless you forget and attempt to SHELL after having run PRINT. So, you see, armed with this knowledge, you will almost have to be trying to lock up your system...<grin> SDN #WCS022789 PmCat REGISTRATION Form Version 4.0 Check or money order payable to: William C. Scott #22 Cary Annex Coalgate, OK 74538 DATE:______________ NAME:______________________________________________ ADDR:______________________________________________ CITY:_______________________________________ STATE:____ZIP:_________ Version # of PmCat you currently have:__________ (or month\yr on titlescreen) ID# of current copy of PmCat you have: __________________ Where did you obtain PmCat?______________________________________________ (This helps us to know where to place future versions, first) Full registration (5 copies sent) ___ @ ($15.00) __________ Simple registration ___ @ ($10.00) __________ Extra configurations ___ @ ($5.00) __________ Update to latest version (Previously registered users only- ___ @ ($5.00) __________ new copy with same ID# and benefits) SUB-TOTAL __________ Shipping (outside of U.S.A. only) ($4.00) __________ _________________________________________________________ TOTAL __________