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