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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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blnks415.zip
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BLANKS.NEW
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1993-12-01
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146 lines
╒══════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ BLANKs │
│ Revision 4.15.0 │
│ │
│ Copyright (C) 1988-1993 FM de Monasterio │
│ Licensed Material. All Rights Reserved │
╘══════════════════════════════════════════╛
║ ║╔═╗╔═╣╔═╗╠═ ╔═╗
║ ║║ ║║ ║╔═╣║ ╠═╝
╚═╝╠═╝╚═╝╚═╝╚═╝╚═╝
Revision 4.15: *MS-DOS 6.2 fix*
-------------
Corrected revision-4.14 problem in parking disk of some machines with MS-DOS
version 6.20; minor changes were also made to the help text display.
Revision 4.14: *Keyboard access/QEMM386 error fix*
-------------
Added code to defeat spurious resident code signatures preserved, under some
conditions, by QEMM386.SYS (version 6.x) in high memory upon rebooting; such
signatures could void the installation of the resident. Interrupt 11h is now
used for an installation check interface.
Added new switch /RK to avoid screen unblanking lockout by applications that
do not share keyboard data with residents chained to the keyboard interrupt;
it may not work with all ill-behaved applications and may even conflict with
some of them--use cautiously and sparingly. Fixed minor errors in the mouse-
awareness service, and in the text help display; HERCULES video adapters are
now identified as 'HGC' in the status display. Old switches /A and /A2 have
been changed to /V1 and /V2, respectively, and other switches now have a two
letter designator to satisfy renaming requests from several major site users
(no more renaming for a while, please!). Added switch /DF± to enable/disable
a brief speaker click whenever disk parking is attempted. Fixed error in the
display of disk parking status. (The resident size remains under 1 KB.)
Revision 4.13: *DOS-6 compatible/Dual video support/WINDOWS awareness*
-------------
The program is compatible with version 6.0 of MS-DOS and PC-DOS. BLANKs 4.13
supports systems with a dual video subsystem configuration (e.g., VGA color/
HERCULES monochrome). Each video subsystem can be reconfigured separately by
the user via switches /A (primary or active subsystem) and /A2 (secondary or
inactive subsystem).
The resident now monitors the DOS Multiplex interrupt for the initialization
and exit broadcast of WINDOWS: BLANKs becomes inactive if WINDOWS 3 enhanced
or standard mode is ready to begin, and becomes active when WINDOWS ends and
standard DOS operations are resumed.
Switch letters have been changed to satisfy a large number of user requests;
make sure corresponding batch file commands reflect these changes. The role
of the password for video unblanking has been expanded to avoid unauthorized
changes: [1] If a password has been specified (via switch /PW? or /PWx), the
new switch /C± enables or disables a password checking before any command is
implemented, except for switch /?. [2] If a password has been specified and
the password checking on unblanking has been enabled (via switch /PW+), such
a password is checked before a new password can be selected, irrespective of
the status of switch /C.
Mouse services have been modified to ensure the mouse driver is Microsoft or
Logitech compatible. Errors capable of disabling the resident mouse handler
under some circumstances have been fixed. Mouse awareness can now be enabled
also after BLANKs has become resident, for such cases where the mouse driver
is installed just before a given application is launched (see BLANKS.DOC for
usage limitations). Also fixed was a bug in the display routines, affecting
VRAM-type VESA video cards.
Handicapped-user access has been facilitated in the displays for interactive
password selection (switch /PW?), where the mouse can be used to specify the
characters, and hotkey selection (switch /K?), where a simultaneous pressing
of several shifting keys and <Enter> is no longer needed.
A conflict between switch /E and the SHELL switch /MSG (undocumented for MS-
and PC-DOS 5), if DOS were loaded in the HMA, has been fixed for MS- and PC-
DOS 5 and 6.
Revision 4.12: *MS-DOS/DR-DOS/386 BIOSes/386MAX error fixes*
-------------
An incorrect DOS version could be obtained in prior BLANKs revisions 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 now avoided.
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 BLANKs releases.
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. The mouse driver
state is now saved prior to the Status/Usage/Help display and then restored,
if sufficient RAM is available.
Revision 4.11: *Bug Fix*
-------------
A problem was encountered in some non-IBM video systems with version 4.10 when
a zero-minute timed blanking interval was requested, which resulted in a video
/keyboard loop conflict. Version-4.10 users should upgrade even if a conflict
was not experienced. The parking of the hard disk(s) after screen blanking (if
timed blanking is enabled) is now implemented at 1.3-minute intervals to avoid
interfering with idle autosaving to the disk by foreground applications (which
is usually available in non-fractional intervals). Also fixed error triggered
by HMA-loading of MS-DOS upon switch /E. Added INSTALL.EXE utility.
Revision 4.10: *Mouse Blanking/Monitoring*
-------------
Reflecting differences in mouse programming, two methods are now available for
monitoring mouse activity compatible with the Microsoft/Logitech standard: (1)
calls to the interrupt 33h (Mouse), via switch /MI±, required for some (mostly
older) graphics-based applications, and (2) calls to the mouse handler defined
by the foreground application, via switch /MH±. If mouse handler monitoring is
enabled (/MH+), manual blanking of the screen can also be obtained by clicking
a user-defined mouse button when the mouse pointer is at a user-defined corner
of the screen (switch /MB<b>@<c>, where <b> is L [left], R [right] or B [both]
button, and <c> is L [left] or R [right] top screen corner). The new defaults
for the mouse are /MBR@L /MH+ /MI- if no mouse switch is specified. Parking of
the hard disks is implemented at each expiration of the selected time interval
(if timed blanking is enabled) to restore the parking after idle autosaving to
the disk by the foreground application, and to account for disk head drifting.
Mouse activity can now unblanks the screen if a pasword-mediated unblanking is
not enabled. Timer counts in the Status/Usage panel are now given in seconds.
The resident size remains under 1 kilobyte of memory.
Revision 4.00: *MS-DOS 5.0 compatible*
-------------
Modified the upper-memory self-loading service of switch H, and the global DOS
enviroment service of switch E to be compatible with MS-DOS 5.0. Prior BLANKs
Revisions executed under DOS 5 are (1) unable to self-load in the upper memory
when UMB allocation is controlled by DOS (DOS=UMB), instead of an XMS manager,
and (2) unable to create a variable in the global DOS environment when DOS 5.0
is installed in the HMA, instead of low conventional memory. Added option of a
low-memory marker during upper memory self-loading. Other minor modifications
introduced for DOS 5.0 compatibility.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Trademarked names are the property of the respective owners │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Earlier notices removed
[End]