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Shareware Overload Trio 2
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Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO
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XDISK.NEW
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1995-02-15
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212 lines
╒═══════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ xDISK │
│ Release 3.60.0 │
│ │
│ (C) Copyright 1989-1993 FM de Monasterio │
│ All Rights Reserved │
│ Licensed Material │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════╛
║ ║╔═╗╔═╣╔═╗╠═ ╔═╗
║ ║║ ║║ ║╔═╣║ ╠═╝
╚═╝╠═╝╚═╝╚═╝╚═╝╚═╝
Revision 3.60: *EMS Frame-Free Disk/DOS Prompt Loading*
-------------
The driver XDISK.SYS and its control program XDISK.EXE now require an Expanded
Memory manager fully compatible with the LIM EMS 4.0, which is the EMS version
supported by all current memory managers. xDISK does not require any longer an
EMS page frame, thus avoiding the need to dedicate a whole 64 KB of memory for
the frame (see xDISK.DOC). Page-frame based, LIM EMS-3.2+ or EMS-4 compatible
xDISK versions are still available under special ordering.
Previous problems in loading or unloading the xDISK driver from the DOS prompt
(command line) have been fixed. XDISK.SYS can now be loaded via XDISK.EXE (/LX
switch) with MS-DOS versions 3 through 6 as well as compatible OEM releases of
DOS. DOS-prompt loading remains incompatible with DR-DOS 5+.
Revision 3.50: *MS-DOS 6.00*
-------------
The driver XDISK.SYS and its control program XDISK.EXE are compatible with MS-
DOS 6.00 (revision A).
The self-installation in the upper memory area by XDISK.SYS is now implemented
automatically either via a DOS-based memory allocation, if MS-DOS 5.00 or 6.00
is configured to control UMB allocation (e.g., command 'dos=umb' in CONFIG.SYS
file, and the drivers HIMEM.SYS and 386EMM.EXE installed), or via an XMS-based
UMB allocation simply by specifying switch /H[n].
Due to the manner in which the MS-DOS 5+ command 'DEVICEHIGH' modifies the DOS
memory chain during the implementation of the commands in the CONFIG.SYS file,
self-loading into a UMB via switch /H is not possible if 'DEVICEHIGH' has been
specified in *any* command line prior to that of XDISK (see xDISK.DOC).
Revision 3.40: *Data-Safe resizing/386MAX error fix*
-------------
An error in the memory manager 386MAX.SYS (Qualitas), version 6.00 and 6.01,
returns incorrect results when a DOS function is called to determine whether
MS-/PC-DOS 5 is linked to the upper memory. The error, which is now avoided,
voids selfloading into upper memory when using prior xDISK releases.
The various switch options are now defined by two-letter combinations rather
than single letters, so as to provide more correlation between abbreviations
and functions of the switches, and room for future expansion; when possible,
a new abbreviation contains the old letter, such as /DB instead of /B, etc.
Switch /DX (old switch /X) now provides data-safe maximum shrinkage (DX-) or
data-safe expansion by a factor of 2 (DX+), as well as the ability to shrink
or expand the disk by a specified number of kilobytes (DX±n) preserving disk
contents. A new <Data> display is now available in the Help/Usage panel via
key <F3> to provide the current status of drive parameters. The size of the
conventional or upper memory used by the driver has been reduced by a factor
of 2 to less than 1.5 KB. Also, the mouse driver state is now saved prior to
the Help/Usage display, and then restored, if sufficient RAM is available.
Revision 3.32: *MS-DOS/DR-DOS/386 BIOSes error fixes*
-------------
An error in MS-DOS 5 (revisions A and B) and IBM PC-DOS 5 (revision A) hangs
the machine if a DOS function is called to create a temporary file in a root
directory that is full, i.e. all the entries are allocated. Revision 3.31 of
xDISK called this function when implementing switch X-. Revision 3.32 uses a
different function to avoid the error, in case the root directory of the RAM
disk is full. In addition, the user is now warned if the directory is full.
An incorrect DOS version could be obtained in previous xDISK releases for MS
DOS 5 revision B, and DR-DOS 5 and 6 due to some atypical values returned by
these operating systems if the new get version function introduced in MS-DOS
5.0 is called; these system bugs are avoided in xDISK 3.32.
There is an error in the LOADHIGH command of MS-DOS 5 (revision A and B) and
PC-DOS 5 (revision A) that results in an erroneous drive identification when
using this command to load XDISK.EXE either in upper or lower memory, except
when the RAM-disk itself is the default drive. Avoid such loading, which is
not needed for this utility.
This release also makes the driver fully compliant with the MS-DOS 5.0 block
device requirements and fixes a few small driver errors. The display of the
activity icon (switch V) is now implemented in the current video page rather
than video page 0 only. Due to user requests, the service to write protect/
unprotect the RAM-disk is now mediated by switch W±. Switch R± is now used
to implement a resize protect/unprotect service.
Changes were also made to avoid a bug in AMI 386 BIOS and in AST Premier 386
BIOS, which can crash the system when changing cursor size.
STACKER users: This compression utility cannot handle the current format of
xDISK, returning missing sector errors. With prior xDISK releases, a system
crash could sometimes happen after collapsing a RAM-disk if STACKER (version
2.0) was also installed to compress another disk; thanks to the help of M.E.
Callahan, xDISK is now able to bypass the incompatibility and avoid a system
crash.
Revision 3.31: *Resizing with Data Preservation/Error Fixes*
-------------
Enhanced switch /Bn, where <n> is the size of the disk in kbytes. The current
size of the disk can now be decreased by <n> kbytes (or the nearest higher 16
kb multiple) when <n> is a negative number (e.g., /B-32 reduces the disk size
by 32 kb, and so does /B-20). If the drive parameters allow so, disk contents
are preserved; else, the disk is reformatted, and its contents are destroyed.
Switch /B-n requires EMS 4 and MS-DOS (or compatible) 3.0 or higher.
Added switch /X+ and /X- to provide a limited resizing implemented as long as
the disk contents are preserved and disk input/output operations remain error
free. Switch /X- shrinks the disk free-space to zero or less than 16 kbytes,
if possible, while switch /X+ expands the disk to the maximum size that still
preserves error-free access to the disk contents. This option requires EMS 4
and MS-DOS (or compatible) 3.1 or higher.
Corrected an apparently innocuous memory error upon completion of the service
to unload a command-line loaded driver (XDISK.EXE). Corrected another memory
pointer error during UMB driver installation under DOS 5 (XDISK.SYS). Changed
driver code so that a more informative message is displayed when DOS attempts
to access a collapsed RAM-disk. Also changed code for a faster adjustment of
disk size when the requested size is larger than the available one. Modified
boot sector for full compatibility with MS-DOS 5.0. Fixed error in XDISK.EXE
that resulted in a garbled Status/Usage display when the screen was in a text
mode and a page other than page 0.
Revision 3.30: *Feedback/Directory Listing*
-------------
Visual and audio feedback during password-access checking are not the default
condition any longer. They must now be selected by the switches /FV and /FA,
respectively, and can be disabled via switch /F-. Added automatic encryption
of the password. Due to the requests of a number of users, added audio feed-
back during DOS access to the RAM-disk via switch /A± (the old gate switch /A
is now switch /G±). Added directory listing service to the Status/Usage panel
via key <F3>. Modified the Status/Usage/Help panels for better legibility and
faster Mouse support.
Revision 3.20: *MS-DOS 5.00*
-------------
Due to changes in undocumented data structures in MS-DOS 5.0, the command-line
loading of xDISK is temporarily restricted to DOS versions 2.x through 4.x, as
its process of character-device loading can produce memory allocation problems
in DOS 5.0. The loading of the driver via the CONFIG.SYS file is not affected.
The self-installation of XDISK.SYS in the upper memory area is now implemented
through either a DOS-based memory allocation (switch /H[n]!), if MS-DOS 5.0 is
configured to control UMB allocation (e.g. command 'DOS=UMB' in the CONFIG.SYS
file, and the drivers HIMEM.SYS and 386EMM.EXE installed), or an XMS-based UMB
allocation (switch /H[n]), as in the case of revision 3.00 and 3.10. Note the
addition of '!' to switch /H[n] in the former case. A problem during command-
line loading of xDISK under buggy versions of IBM-PC DOS 4.00 has been solved.
An error in the memory address of the resident driver shown in the Help/Status
panel has been corrected.
Revision 3.10: *DOS Command-line Loading*
-------------
It is now possible to load XDISK.SYS from the DOS command line (as opposed to
during booting via CONFIG.SYS) via XDISK.EXE; this allows the installation of
xDISK drives without having to edit CONFIG.SYS and to reboot the CPU. Switch
/L is now used in XDISK.EXE to denote command-line loading of the driver; the
high-memory loading of the driver (that was mediated by switch /L in revision
3.00) is now mediated by switch /H. A command-line loaded xDISK drive can be
uninstalled with switch /U. Introduced the 486 release of xDISK. Added switch
/K to avoid display of installation banner.
Revision 3.00: *386 Release/UMB Selfloading*
-------------
Increased performance by improving the optimization of mathematical routines.
Introduced the 386 release of xDISK, developed through Revisions 2.60 to 2.97.
(The 386 release operates faster than the 286 one by a factor of about 1.5 or
so; however, note that xDISK input/output times remain primarily dependent on
the performance of the expanded memory system.)
Also introduced the option of self-installation in upper conventional memory,
i.e., above the 640-kb limit of DOS, but below the 1-Mb limit of conventional
memory, if an extended-memory manager compatible with XMS 2.0 is also present
and a free upper-memory block of 2 kb is available; this preserves the amount
of conventional memory available for DOS use. Unlike the high-memory loading
provided by some (386) memory managers, XDISK.SYS self-loading in high memory
only requires a free block of the size of the resident, and not of the entire
driver. See XDISK.DOC for details on high-memory loading.
The user can specify a lower high-memory limit above which the driver should
try load itself (if a block is available above such a limit), to avoid upper-
memory areas having slow access times. (The utility TIMEM.EXE can be used to
measure conventional memory access times.)
-----------------
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Trademarked names are the property of the respective owners │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Earlier Revisions news removed
[END]