add directory Linux-0.96
This commit is contained in:
441
Linux-0.96/INSTALL/autocn/WHATSNEW
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441
Linux-0.96/INSTALL/autocn/WHATSNEW
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@@ -0,0 +1,441 @@
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Version 2.0g
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I still had complaints about people seeing Echo Off in the Autoexec
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Bat file, so now if you have a DOS higher than 3.2, it will start
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with @Echo off.
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If you are using DOS 5.0, A DOS=HIGH,NOUMB line will be appended to
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the bottom of the Autoexec.bat file, and you will have to put a
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DOS=LOW (and/ or a DOS=UMB) in the configurations you need them in.
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Menu.Ctl will control the flags.
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If you are using DRDOS, Menu.Ctl will now work with it as well as
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MSDOS.
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I've changed the way I load configurations, so you will be able to
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run AutoCon with less memory, and there is no longer a 6K or 2K
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limit on the Autoexec and Config fields.
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Each configuration now has the names of the files that the field is
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written to. (I've had several requests for this one.)
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The help screen colors are now installable.
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The MENU.CTL interface has been rewritten to show up more distinctly
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when booting. I had several complaints that it was easy to miss.
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It will now put up some distinctive boxex, and show up in color if
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you have a color monitor. The colors are installable from AutoCon.
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Each configuration now has the names of the files that the field is written
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to. (I've had several requests for this one.)
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You can tell AutoCon not to restore the screen on exit (eliminates the
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need for AutoConx.exe.
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Version 2.0e (mainly bug fix)
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In Single mode if the Enviornment name wasn't set (AltE in the
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editor) AutoCon could get the wrong cache 'Flush' information. This
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is fixed, but I highly reccommend setting the Autocon Environment
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variable if you are using Single mode.
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If an external editor were being used, and the Autocon or Config
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field size got too large, the AutoCon.Dat file could get messed up -
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fixed.
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Several people have complained that 4K and 2K is not large enough
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for the Autoexec and Config fields, so I'm pushing the size up to 6K
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and 4K. Please note that this adds 4K/configuration to AutoCon's
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memory requirements.
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There are two extra EXE files on the BBS. AutoCons.exe will still
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use 4K and 2K for those needing the smaller memory requirements.
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AutoConx.exe will not restore the screen when it exits. Try this if
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you lose the cursor or the screen blanks out when you exit (I've had
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two complaints about this).
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Version 2.0d (bug fix)
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If AutoCon followed an "ECHO OFF" and a "CLS" statement in a batch
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file, the screen could get slightly messed up - fixed.
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Version 2.0c (bug fix)
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The user modified colors were getting lost if a reboot was performed
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from the command line - fixed.
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Version 2.0b (bug fix)
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MENU.CTL had a problem with the name of the eighth configuration,
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which is now fixed. It also had a tendency to leave menu choice 2
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in the hi-lite mode, also fixed.
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Several people complained about seeing the Errorlevel statements in
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the AUTOEXEC.BAT during the boot process. AUTOEXEC.BAT files will
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now start with ECHO OFF as the first statement if you choose the
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MENU.CTL option.
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Version 2.0 would allow you to choose more than the eight default
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configurations. This is no longer allowed.
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Version 2.0 had a problem writing the AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the Menu
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mode if the Autoexec fields didn't end in a Carriage Return. This
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is now fixed.
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Version 2.0
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I'm jumping the version number from 1.4 to 2.0 for this release.
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The reason is that AutoCon's capability has changed so much in this
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release that I think it warrants a Major revision number change.
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The major change is the inclusion of two new files. These are
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MENU.CTL and MENUNUM.COM. Menu.Ctl is a device driver that can
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disable commands in the CONFIG.SYS file. MenuNum.Com is a file that
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will ask the portion of Menu.Ctl that stays resident which
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configuration was chosen, and set the DOS ERRORLEVEL to that number.
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This allows setting up menu choices in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to
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match the choice made from the CONFIG.SYS file. Together these two
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files allow you to choose a system configuration from a menu of
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configurations during the boot process itself.
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AutoCon will handle all of the interface details to these two
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commands for you, and allow you to return to a "Normal" system
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configuration in just a couple of keystrokes. This will allow you
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to run programs like "Optimize" from Quarterdeck.
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There is a pull-down menu system available on the main screen. Each
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item on the menu has a context sensitive help entry. This should
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make it very easy to get AutoCon up and running the first time, and
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allow you to look up those commands you can't remember the
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keystrokes for.
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There are two new command line options. If you enter
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AutoCon /<return>
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on the command line, a window of your configurations will pop up
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asking you to choose which configuration you wish to use to reboot
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the system. This is equivalent to the "AutoCon <configuraion name>,
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except that AutoCon lets you choose the name from a pick list.
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The second new command is
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AutoCon /@<configuration name>
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where <configuration name> is the name shown on the main screen for
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each configuration. If the name matches the configuration that was
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used for the boot process, the DOS errorlevel will be set to 1. It
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will be set to 0 otherwise. For this function to work correctly,
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you need to boot up with Menu.Ctl, or assure that each Autoexec
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field has the correct name assigned with a SET command. See the new
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"Put Name in Environment" editor function defined below.
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The internal editor has a few new capabilities. In order to access
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most them you will have to edit your keystrokes (using the F6 key).
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The block operations are no longer constrained to full lines. The
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default keys for reformating were removed. You may reassign them.
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"Search Function" (default assigned to ^Q^F) allows you to search
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the text for a specified string of text. The string is active for
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the entire AutoCon session, and will be the same across records.
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"Search/Replace Function" (default assigned to ^Q^A) allows you to
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search the text for a specified string of text, and relpace it
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with another string of text. You will be asked to confirm the
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replacement.
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"Repeat Search Function" (default assigned to ^L) This will
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repeat the last Search, or Search/Replace that was performed. The
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informations is retained during the AutoCon session, and will be
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the same across records.
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"Install Editor Keys" (default assigned to F6) allows you to
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change the editor keys during an edit session.
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"Put Name in Environment" (default assigned to AltE) will put a
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SET command in your edit field. This will guarantee that the
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configuration you are editing has its name placed correctly in the
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environment. AutoCon will use this name for various command line
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functions.
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"Change (Text - AltF6, Block - AltF7, Control Char - AltF8)
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Attribute" will allow you to change the keys that call up the
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editor color installation windows.
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"View Last Dos Screen" (default assigned to AltV) allows you to
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see the DOS screen as it was when AutoCOn was started. Could be
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useful if the reason your changing a configuration is shown there.
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By March 1, 1991 I will have a support BBS in place operating 24
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hours a day. The number will be (916) 623 4455.
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Version 1.4
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One of the WhatsNews has to do with me, I am now a member of the ASP
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(Association of ShareWare Professionals). The rest of the WhatsNews
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all concern changes (and additions) to the program.
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You now have the option to use the built in editor to edit the
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Autoexec and Config fields, or to install an external editor to do
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the job. <CtrlF6> will pop up a window for you to enter an external
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editor's file name. The Path will be checked for the entered file
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name, and if found, it will be used to edit the Autoexec and Config
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fields in the future. For more info, see the "Installing External
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Editor" section of AUTOCON.DOC.
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From the command line, typing <AUTOCON /=> will check the Autoexec
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and Config fields of the current configuration record against the
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file contents of the current Configuration files (usually
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C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and C:\CONFIG.SYS). The results of the comparison
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will be shown on the screen. SPECIAL NOTE! - the configuration will
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need to have been saved with the 1.4 version of AUTOCON.
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From the command line, typing <AUTOCON /*> will update the Autoexec
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and Config fields of the current configuration record from the file
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contents of the current Configuration files (usually C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
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and C:\CONFIG.SYS). You might want to be a little careful with this
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one.
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The internal editor has a few new capabilities. In order to access
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them, you will probably have to edit your keystrokes (using the <F6>
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key). The new commands are "Split Line", "Cut the marked block",
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and "Paste the last Cut block". These commands will be a little
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more convenient than the current "Write marked block" and "Read
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marked block" file commands.
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"Split Line" (default assigned to <CtrlN> key) splits the current
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line at the cursor, leaving the cursor where it is, and moving the
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rest of the line down to the next line.
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"Cut the marked block" (default assigned to <CtrlK> <U> key
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combination) will put the current marked block into a text buffer.
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"Paste the last Cut block" (default assigned to <CtrlK> <P> key
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combination) will paste the contents of the cut buffer to the
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current cursor location. This command can be used to move the
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data in the same record, or across records. After a cUt, the data
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will stay in the buffer until a new cUt is performed, or AUTOCON
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is exited.
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Formerly the editor only recognized a ' ' (space) as a word mark
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(for <CtrlF>, <CtrlA>, <CtrlRarw>, etc.). This has been enhanced
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to also recognize the following characters as word marks :
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'/', ';', and '='.
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Line length was increased to 254 for those long path names (and
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any other long lines needed). This necessitated removing the
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word-wrap capability while editing the Autoexec and Config
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fields (I don't think this will be a hardship, you probably don't
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want to word-wrap the lines in your Autoexec and Config files
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anyway). Word-wrap is still used in the Notes field, but please
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don't enter a line longer than 127 characters in there.
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A couple of functions were also added to the Interactive Mode.
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<AltC> will pop-up a pick list of the current configuration
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records, and allow you to select one. The contents of the
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Autoexec and Config fields of the selected configuration record
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will be copied to the current configuration record. Be careful
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with this one, there is NO "Undo" command. You can always
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use ESC to get out of the pick list without doing a copy.
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<AltV> will now show the Dos screen as it was when Autocon was
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started.
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<Alt=> will check the Autoexec and Config fields of the current
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configuration record against the contents of the current
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configuration files (C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and C:\CONFIG.SYS, unless you
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have changed them with <F8> or <F9> keys). SPECIAL NOTE! - the
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configuration will need to have been saved with the 1.4 version of
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AUTOCON.
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All of the color changes now show up instantly (you previously had
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to wait till the next time Autocon was executed to see some of the
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color changes).
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ESC is no longer accepted as a "Yes" answer (there were a lot of
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complaints on this one). A "Yes" answer now requires a <Y> or
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<Enter> key (accept default).
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There are a few cosmetic changes on the screens (all in response to
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comments by users). I won't take the space to list each one.
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There are a couple more entrys on the help screen, and (I hope) the
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entries are arranged in a little more logical fashion.
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UltraVision : Autocon is now UltraVision "Aware". Autocon will
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detect if UltraVision is installed and active. If it is, Autocon
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will use UltraVision to switch modes, and restore screens (in other
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words, Autocon won't mess up your screen).
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Windows Problems : After spending a very unproductive day on the
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phone with Microsoft, I decided to add another boot type option to
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Autocon. Several people use Autocon to reconfigure in and out of
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Windows. When Windows is running in 386 enhanced mode, a software
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boot (usually) doesn't work. Microsoft's recommendation : "Never
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reboot while running Windows". They say that this may trash hard
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disks and worse (I'm not sure what could be "worse" than trashing a
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hard disk). I don't know about you, but I've had to reboot out of
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Windows several times. I know it's probably not a good idea, but
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there are times it should be quite safe (and times when it is forced
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upon us). Anyway, they say that is no way they are aware of to
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ensure that a software reboot will work.
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Therefore :
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You may now select (N)one as an alternate boot type (using the
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<F5> key). If you select (N)one, Autocon will now reconfigure the
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files, but will not attempt a reboot. Now you may run Autocon
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under Windows, and after the system files are reconfigured, you
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can hit the dreaded CtrlAltDel key combination.
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By the way, I'm not much of an artist, so if someone (out of the
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goodness of their hearts) designs a nice Icon for Autocon, I would
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appreciate them sending me a copy.
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A potentially nasty bug was squashed. Since I never received a
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complaint on this one, I assume that I was the only one "bit". If
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your current configuration record was the last one, and you deleted
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it, Autocon tried to find it again the next time it was started.
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This could lead to bizarre behavior (a messed up pointer for those
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technical people). If the current record number is larger than the
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max record number, it will now be adjusted (with appropriate warning
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message). It will still be pointing to the wrong record, but it
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will behave in a known fashion.
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______________________________________________________________________
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Version 1.3a
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There are a few bug fixes, and a couple of enhancements in this
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version. If you used F2 to save changes in the previous versions,
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when you hit ESC to exit it would issue a warning that the changes
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were about to be lost, this has been corrected.
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AUTOCON will now attempt to detect and restore the EGA/VGA (45/50)
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small character mode upon exit.
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After updating the configuration with 1.3a, when AUTOCON is started
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in the interactive mode, it will default to the configuration used
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in the last update.
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On the command line if you type <AUTOCON /?> the name of the current
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configuration will be displayed (Note: you must have saved a
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configuration with V1.3a first).
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If you are in the full screen entry mode, hitting <F7> will update
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the Autoexec and Config fields in the current record from the
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current AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. This saves going into
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each of the two fields and doing a <F5> <^KR> <AltX>.
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From the command line, typing AUTOCON followed by a / and the name
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of a configuration (e.g. <AUTOCON /NoTSRs>) will cause that
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configuration to have it's Autoexec and Config fields updated from
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the current AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files.
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There was a bug in V1.3 that caused AUTOCON to have a problem with
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reading files that were not terminated with ^Z. If you got an
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"Edit Buffer Full" message when you tried to edit a field that you
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know wasn't too big, then you were bitten by this bug. This is
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fixed in 1.3a.
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If you were in one of the fields and issued an <^KW> (block save)
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and didn't have a marked block, you were not given an error message
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in previous versions. This is fixed in 1.3a.
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The help screen displayed in a color change window was the one for
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changing the editor keystrokes. This is fixed in 1.3a.
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______________________________________________________________________
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Version 1.3
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There are several changes in this version. If you have added
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several extra configurations that you no longer need, the <CtrlF3>
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key will delete the current configuration (you can't delete record
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one, nor can you go below five records).
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You can change the keystrokes used by the built in editor. Hitting
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the <F6> key in the main menu will pop up a key editor which will
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||||
allow changing the actions of all of the control keys used in the
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editor.
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You can change the colors used by AUTOCON. Hitting the <Alt> key in
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combination with the function keys will allow customization of most
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of the colors. The use of each key is detailed in the pop-up help.
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The DAT file format for 1.3 is quite different than the one for 1.2.
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The white space has been eliminated, and as a consequence it is
|
||||
significantly smaller (mine are about 1/4 the previous size). The
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||||
first time you run 1.3 it will change the format, and the DAT file
|
||||
will no longer be compatible with 1.2. You may want to make a copy
|
||||
of AUTOCON.DAT (just to be on the safe side) before running 1.3.
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||||
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______________________________________________________________________
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Version 1.2d keeps current file attributes
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A request was made to update the Autoexec and Config files, but to
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||||
not change their current attributes (system, read only, hidden,
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||||
etc.). Therefore AUTOCON now reads the current file attributes of
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Autoexec.Bat and Config.Sys before updating them, and restores the
|
||||
attributes after the update.
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______________________________________________________________________
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||||
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Version 1.2c adds a boot type select.
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Some computers have trouble with the warm boot that AUTOCON was
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||||
originally configured with. These seem to mainly be machines with
|
||||
large hard disks, and a large hard disk manager. The <F5> key now
|
||||
allows you to change the boot type from warm to cold to get around
|
||||
this problem.
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||||
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______________________________________________________________________
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Version 1.2a is a bug fix.
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||||
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||||
AUTOCON didn't recognize more than three configurations from the
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||||
command line.
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||||
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||||
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||||
Version 1.2 is a bug fix.
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||||
When you attempted to read in your old configuration files to the
|
||||
AUTOEXEC and CONFIG fields, it always defaulted to C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
|
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an C:\CONFIG.SYS no matter what files you had selected. The read
|
||||
file option now works correctly.
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||||
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||||
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||||
______________________________________________________________________
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||||
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||||
Version 1.1 charges are as follows.
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1. AUTOCON now does a Reboot when a reconfiguration is done from the
|
||||
command line.
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||||
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||||
2. AUTOCON now handles up to 50 configurations (originally only 5).
|
||||
|
||||
3. You can now read any file into an AUTOEXEC or CONFIG edit field
|
||||
(allows you to use your old configurations).
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||||
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||||
4. The On-line Help has been updated/enhanced.
|
||||
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||||
5. The Doc file has been enhanced (left out a few things the first
|
||||
time).
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||||
|
||||
6. Allows you the choice of a Reboot when reconfiguring in the data
|
||||
entry mode.
|
||||
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||||
7. Hopefully a better choice of colors on an LCD screen. If you have
|
||||
an LCD, you need to have your mode set to BW80 (2).
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user