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PC-SIG Diskette Library (Disk #1727)
[PCjs Machine "ibm5170"]
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Information about “FREE PACK”
FREE PACK is a collection of six utilities which make any DOS user's
life easier. Full screens, prompts and pop-up help screens make these
utilities valuable additions to your utility library.
~ COMPARE -- Compares two files and shows exactly what the differences
are.
~ COPYF -- Saves processing time by copying only files which have been
changed or are not on the target disk. If files won't fit on disk, it
prompts you for another disk.
~ FP -- Optional menu to run FREE PACK utilities. Displays descriptions
of each utility. Great when using FREE PACK for the first time!
~ MENU -- Handy, easy-to-use hard disk menu program. Password
protection.
~ SHELL -- Beats the DOS DIR command by a mile! Displays file listings.
Options to tag files for delete, copy, move, print, rename, view or
execution.
~ VIEW -- Displays ASCII text files to your screen. Options to scroll
through text by line or by page.
~ WHERE-IS -- Searches all directories to find requested files. Can
redirect to printer.
FILE1727.TXT
Disk No: 1727
Disk Title: Free Pack
PC-SIG Version: S1
Program Title: FreePack
Author Version: 1.0
Author Registration: $39.00
Special Requirements: None.
FREE PACK is a collection of six utilities which make any DOS user's
life easier. Full screens, prompts and pop-up help screens make these
utilities valuable additions to your utility library.
Utilities included are:
COMPARE: Compares two files and shows exactly what the differences are.
COPYF: Saves processing time by copying only files which have been
changed or are not on the target disk. If files won't fit on disk
prompts you for another disk.
FP: Optional menu to run FREE PACK utilities. Displays descriptions of
each utility. Great when using FREE PACK for the first time!
MENU: Handy, easy to use hard disk menu program. Password protection.
SHELL: Beats the DOS DIR command by a mile! Displays file listings.
Options to tag files for delete, copy, move, print, rename, view or even
execution.
VIEW: Displays ASCII text files to your screen. Options to scroll
through text by line or by page.
WHERE-IS: Searches all directories to find requested files. Can
redirect to printer.
Thank You! Please return both on disk and in hard copy form to:
Shareware Magazine, att: Kisti Park, 1030D East Duane Ave.,
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
PC-SIG
1030D East Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989 PC-SIG, Inc.
FP.DOC
Free Pack
UTILITIES THAT INCLUDE:
** Menu program
** Shell - a hard disk manager program
** Compare - compares two files
** CopyFile - intelligent file copier
** View - views ASCII text files
** Where-Is - finds a file(s) on your disk
(C)Copyright 1989
Stilwell Software Products
All Rights Reserved
REQUIREMENTS: FreePack requires an IBM PC
or compatible; 256K of RAM and can be used
with either a color monitor or a monochrome
monitor. A hard disk is recommended. DOS 2.0
or later is required. FreePack is not copied
protected. Any PC printer will work.
Features include:
Menu Master - an easy to use menuing
program that will allow you to set up menus for
switching directories and starting your
application programs. You can just point to the
name of the program you want to start (e.g.,
Lotus 1-2-3), and press ENTER. Menu Master
will change directories and start the program for
you.
SeeShell - a DOS shell that will do
everything that the DOS command DIR will do -
but will do it faster, and will give you a great
deal more. When you type SHELL you will get a
sorted listing of the directory. You will be told
how much of the disk you are using, how much
is available, how many files are in this current
directory, and how much space they are using.
You can select one of eight procedures you can
perform on any listing in the directory. You can
copy, delete, execute, move, print, rename, view
or change directories.
Compare - Compares two files, byte by byte
CopyFile - An intelligent file copier.
Copies only the files that are either not on the
target disk (or directory), or that have been
changed since they were last copied.
View - Views an ASCII text file.
Where-Is - Searches each directory in your
disk for a specific file. You can also use wild
card symbols like the "*" and the "?". You can
redirect output to either a file or your printer.
FreePack
(C)Copyright 1989
Stilwell Software Products
All Rights Reserved
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
(602) 820-4952
**** CONTENTS ****
User Supported Software . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
FreePack Specifications . . . . . . . . . 6
Files on the Diskette: . . . . . . . . . . 6
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Introduction to FreePack . . . . . . . . . 10
Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Copy File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
FreePack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Menu Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
See Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Where-Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Disclaimer of Warranty . . . . . . . . . . 30
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Other Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
USER SUPPORTED SOFTWARE
FreePack is a "user supported" program.
What is meant by that is, FreePack is available
to anyone who wants to use it at a no cost (if
you get the program from Stilwell Software
Products we charge $10 to cover the cost of
postage and handling). This method of
distributing computer software allows you to try
the program without having to pay for it in
advance. It also allows you to freely share the
program with other users without the fear of
prosecution by the owner of the program.
If you find FreePack of use you are asked
to send a contribution of $39 to its author:
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
(602) 820-4952
By sending a contribution you will become a
register owner of FreePack. You will received a
printed copy of the manual and will be eligible
for support from us. You will also receive the
current version of the program (the registered
version of FreePack does not have the message
at the end of the program requesting that you
make a contribution).
By contributing you will also be supporting
a means of software development that will give
you quality software at a greatly reduced price.
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You may receive a copy of FreePack by one
of three methods. First, you can send a $39
contribution to Stilwell Software Products and
we will mail you a diskette, which will contain
the program, and the printed manual. We accept
checks, money orders, and VISA and Master Card
(please include your account number, your name
as it appears on the card, and the expiration
date).
The second way is for you to send $10 to
Stilwell Software Products. We will send you a
diskette with the program, and the document-
ation on the diskette. You will not receive the
printed manual, nor will you be eligible for our
support. You may use the software and make a
contribution later if you wish. Once you mail
the $39 contribution to Stilwell Software
Products, we will send you the printed manual,
the current version of the program, and you will
be eligible for support. The third way is to get
a copy of the program from your local IBM-PC
User's Group. You can use the program and
later make a contribution if you wish. We will
then send you all the items listed above.
You are always free to make copies of
FreePack and to share them with others. You
are not permitted to sell FreePack nor can you
include it with any product you are distributing.
You may not modify FreePack in any way.
Regardless of how you get the program, if
you find FreePack useful, your contribution will
be greatly appreciated.
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INTRODUCTION
The programs in FreePack are designed to
assist you in working with the many files on
your disk. Although FreePack's real advantage
will be seen on a hard disk, you may use the
program with floppy diskettes as well. As the
number of files on your hard disk increase, the
job of managing those files becomes more
difficult. FreePack will make that job easier for
you.
The programs that make up FreePack can
be run in either stand-alone mode or from the
FreePack menu. You start FreePack by typing
FP. You will then see a menu with six options
on it. You can select any of the six programs
to run and FreePack will start that program for
you. If you would rather, you can start the
program directly, and not use the FreePack menu
at all.
FreePack is made up of six different
programs. Those programs are:
Compare. This option will compare two
files character by character to see if the two
files differ. While the files are being compared,
the two files will be displayed in the two
windows on the screen. When a difference is
found, the two characters that are different will
be highlighted.
CopyFile. This program copies a file(s)
from one disk or directory to another disk or
directory. If works much like the DOS copy
command except that only files that need to be
copied will be copied. That is, if a current
version of the file already exists on the target
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disk, time will not be wasted by copying that
file again. This makes it very convenient to do
backups of a given directory. For example, if
you are working in your spreadsheet directory,
the following command will copy all the
spreadsheets from your current directory that
have changed to the A drive.
copyf *.wk1 a:
Menu Master. The Menu Master program
will allow you to create "menus" that will make
it easier to start your various application
programs. You might create a menu to start all
the programs that you usually use. You then
just highlight the program you want to start.
You do not have to worry about changing
directories, or remembering the name that is
used to start the application.
SeeShell. This program is the one that I
use the most. I never use the DOS "dir"
command anymore because SeeShell is faster and
gives me so much more. After typing SEESHELL
you will see a sorted display on your screen of
all the files in the current directory (you can
also start SeeShell for another directory or drive
- e.g., SHELL A: will give you a directory of
your A drive). At this point you can page up or
page down to find the file you are looking for.
You can perform various action on any of the
files listed. You can; copy, delete, execute,
move, print, rename, or view. If the listing on
the screen is actually a subdirectory, you can
move to that directory. You can also move up
one level in the directory by pressing the Ctrl-
PgUp key combination. This is a very fast way
of moving around on your hard disk. Most shell
programs have to read the entire hard disk to
get all the file names. That process wastes a
great deal of time since you usually do not need
to deal with every file on your disk. SeeShell
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offers the best of both worlds. You can easily
move around the hard disk and it is very fast.
View. The view program will allow you to
view any DOS ASCII text file. This program
also works very fast since it only needs to load
one screen of information at a time (most text
editors will load the entire file before it will
allow you to move about in the file). Most of
the help screens in FreePack call View to load
the help file.
Where-Is. Have you ever been convinced
that you created a file, but could not find in
anywhere on your hard disk? If you answered
yes to this question then you need Where-Is.
This program will search all directories on your
disk looking for a file. You can use wild card
characters (e.g., the "*" and the "?"), as well.
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FREEPACK SPECIFICATIONS
FreePack requires an IBM-PC, or compatible and
the following;
(1) 256KB RAM, and DOS 2.0 or later.
(2) Either monochrome or color monitor.
(3) At least one double-sided disk drive
(you can use more diskette drives or a
hard disk).
FILES ON THE DISKETTE:
FP.EXE - This is the FreePack
program. This program will
allow you to start all the
other programs from a
menu. This program is not
required since all the other
programs will run by
themselves, it just makes
everything a bit easier.
MENU.EXE - This is the program that
will start Menu Master.
MENU-EDT.EXE - This is the program that
will allow you to actually
create or modify a menu for
Menu Master.
MENU1.HLP - This is the first help file
for Menu Master.
MENU2.HLP - This is the second help file
for Menu Master.
VIEW.EXE - The View program.
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COMPARE.EXE - The Compare program.
COPYF.EXE - The CopyFile program.
SHELL.EXE - The SeeShell program.
SHELL.HLP - The help file for the
SeeShell program.
WHERE-IS.EXE - The Where-Is program.
INSTALL.EXE - The installation program.
This file will not be copied
to your hard disk during the
installation process since
you will not need to use it
again. Leave it on your
diskette though, in case you
have to reinstall FreePack,
or install FreePack on
another PC some day.
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GETTING STARTED
FreePack comes with an installation
program. After starting your computer, put the
FreePack diskette in your A drive and type the
following:
A:INSTALL
The installation program will start and
display the opening menu. Press the ENTER key
to see the first screen. This screen will ask you
to enter the name of the floppy drive that has
the FreePack program diskette in it (this will
usually be your A drive). Type in the letter of
your floppy drive and press ENTER.
You will then be asked for the name of the
hard drive you want to install FreePack on.
This will usually be your C drive, but it can be
any valid drive on your system. Type in the
letter of your hard drive and press ENTER.
The next screen will ask you the directory
in which you want to install the FreePack
programs. Most people will put these programs
in a directory called UTIL (for utility). You can
put the programs in any directory that you like
(you might want to put them in a directory
called FreePack). If the directory does not
already exist, the installation program will create
that directory for you. Type the name of the
directory to copy the FreePack programs to and
press ENTER.
Next you are told to put the FreePack
diskette in your floppy drive and press the
ENTER key. The installation program will now
copy the files from the FreePack diskette to the
desired directory on your hard disk.
-8-
After the programs are all copied to your
hard disk, you will be asked if you would like
for the installation program to modify your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The installation program
will add your FreePack directory to your path
command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file if given
permission. This is very helpful since you will
then be able to start any of the FreePack
programs without having to reference the drive
and directory they are in. If you do not already
have a AUTOEXEC.BAT file, the installation
program will create one for you if you request
this option. If you have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file
but not a path command, the installation program
will add a path command to your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you already have a path
command, the installation program will append
the FreePack directory to the end of the path
command.
A message will be displayed to tell you
when the installation process is completed. If
you selected to have the path command added to
your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you will need to
reboot your machine before the path command
will become effective.
Most of the programs in FreePack need to
have access to your COMMAND.COM file. This
file is loaded when your computer starts. If you
have a hard disk, your COMMAND.COM file will
be in the root directory of your C drive. If,
however, you boot off of a floppy diskette and
then remove that diskette and replace it with a
diskette that does not have the COMMAND.COM
on it, most of the FreePack programs will not
run. You will be given a error message when
the program starts if it is unable to find the
COMMAND.COM file. To correct this situation,
reboot your machine and leave the
COMMAND.COM available to FreePack.
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INTRODUCTION TO FreePack
FreePack is a collection of separate utility
programs to help you manage your computer's
files. You can run any of the programs by
themselves, or you can use the actual FreePack
program to assist you.
To start the FreePack program, type the
letters FP. The FreePack screen will be
displayed. There are six options on the left side
of the screen (Compare, Copyf, Menu, SeeShell,
View, and Where-Is). You can select any of the
six programs by moving the highlight bar either
up or down with the corresponding arrow key.
On the right side of the screen is a brief
description of the highlighted program.
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C O M P A R E
USAGE: This program will compare two files
one character at a time. While the files are
being compared, the two files will be displayed
in the two windows on the screen. When a
difference is found, the two characters that are
different will be highlighted.
COMMAND FORMAT:
COMPARE <filename 1> <filename 2>
Filename 1 and filename 2 are the names of
the files to be compared. If you omit either one
of these, the COMPARE program will prompt you
for their names.
DESCRIPTION: Start Compare with the above
command format. After the two files are located
on your disk, the Compare program will begin to
examine them. The program will stop any time a
character from one file fails to match the
character from the other file.
The program will highlight the difference
when a difference between the two files is
found. At that point, you will be given three
options. You can (1) continue with the
comparison with the next byte by pressing the
ENTER key, (2) request that the process be
suspended until the end of the current line by
pressing the PgDn key, or (3) request that the
process be terminated at this point by pressing
the ESC key.
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C O P Y F I L E
USAGE: This program copies a file (or group of
files) from one disk (or directory) to another.
COMMAND FORMAT:
COPYF <file(s) to be copied> <target>
Enter the name of the file, or files to be
copied. You can include the two wild card
characters (the *, and the ?) in the filename to
be copied. For example:
COPYF *.LTR A:
will copy files with the extension of LTR to
your A drive.
The target parameter can include the drive
name and directory if you desire.
DESCRIPTION: This program will provide you
with a convenient way of copying files.
CopyFile works very much like the DOS copy
command except for the following: (1) You are
provided with a display of the number of files to
be copied and the amount of space needed, (2) if
all the files will not fit on the target diskette,
you will be prompted to insert another diskette
into your floppy drive when the first one is full,
(3) only files that have been changed, or are not
on the target disk will be copied.
REMARKS: CopyFile is a great way of making a
quick backup of your working files from a
specific directory. For example, if you have just
completed working with your spreadsheet and
changed perhaps five of the 25 spreadsheet files
you have in that directory. If your spreadsheet
uses the extension "WK1" for its spreadsheet
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files, you could use the following command to
copy only those five files that you have changed
to your A drive.
COPYF *.WK1 A:
The above command will copy only the five
files that have changed rather than taking the
time to copy all twenty-five files to your A
drive backup diskette.
As with most of the programs in FreePack,
CopyFile needs to have access to your
COMMAND.COM file. This file is loaded when
your computer starts. If you have a hard disk,
your COMMAND.COM file will be in the root
directory of your C drive, and CopyFile will
have access to it. If, however, you boot off of
a floppy diskette and then remove that diskette
and replace it with a diskette that does not have
the COMMAND.COM on it, CopyFile will not run.
You will be given a error message when the
program starts if it is unable to find the
COMMAND.COM file. To correct this situation,
reboot your machine and leave the
COMMAND.COM available to CopyFile.
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F R E E P A C K
USAGE: The FreePack program ties together all
of the other programs in this package. All of
the other programs can be run as stand-alones,
or they can be run from the FreePack menu.
COMMAND FORMAT: FP
DESCRIPTION: You start FreePack by typing
FP. You will then see a menu with six options
on it. You can select any of the six programs
to run and FreePack will start that program for
you. If you would rather, you can start the
program directly, and not use the FreePack menu
at all. On the right side of the FreePack screen
is a brief description of the option that you
have highlighted. You can highlight a different
option by moving the highlight bar either up or
down with the arrow keys.
On the bottom of the screen is the
"command line". This command line will have
the command that will start the program. You
can add to the command line any parameter that
is needed to start the program. For example, if
the View program was highlighted, the word
VIEW would appear in the command line. You
could then type the name of the file you wanted
to view, and press ENTER. FreePack will load
the View program and pass to it the file you
wanted to view. When you have completed your
work with the View program, you will be
returned to FreePack. You can then select
another option, or press the ESC key to quit
FreePack.
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REMARKS: FreePack needs to have access to
your COMMAND.COM file. This file is loaded
when your computer starts. If you have a hard
disk, your COMMAND.COM file will be in the
root directory of your C drive, and FreePack
will have access to it. If, however, you boot off
of a floppy diskette and then remove that
diskette and replace it with a diskette that does
not have the COMMAND.COM on it, FreePack
will not run. You will be given a error message
when the program starts if it is unable to find
the COMMAND.COM file. To correct this
situation, reboot your machine and leave the
COMMAND.COM available to FreePack.
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M E N U M A S T E R
USAGE: Menu Master is an easy to use menuing
program that will allow you to set up menus for
switching directories and starting your
application programs. You can just point to the
name of the program you want to start (e.g.,
Lotus 1-2-3), and press ENTER. Menu Master
will change directories and start the program for
you.
COMMAND FORMAT: MENU
No other parameters are needed for this
program.
DESCRIPTION: This program will provide you
with a convenient way of starting your
application programs.
Edit menu items. The first time you use
Menu Master you must inform Menu Master of
the applications you want to use, and their
locations. After starting Menu Master, press the
F2 key to edit the menu items. This screen will
allow you to add, change or delete any item that
appears in the menu. There is help available on
this screen by pressing the F1 key.
You will be asked for four pieces of
information for each menu item. The "Menu
Title" will be the name that appears on the Main
Menu.
The "Drive and Directory" will be the drive
and directory on which the program file is
found. The "File Name" is name of the
executable file. This would be the text that you
would type if you were to start the program
from the DOS prompt.
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The last item is an optional Password. If a
menu item has a password, you will not be
allowed to change anything about that menu item
until you have correctly entered the password.
You will NOT have to enter the password when
you select the item from the Main Menu - you
only enter it to change something about the
menu item.
Although some menu programs limit the
access of any item that has a password, Menu
Master is designed more as a single user system.
We designed Menu Master to make it easy to use
the computer, not to keep someone from using it
(not that there may not be reasons for needing
to keep people out of some areas of your
computer - it is just that we choose not to go
into that market). The password is used only to
keep an unknowing user from accidentally
changing the menu. You might want to, for
example, set up a menu for a new user in your
office. You might choose to use passwords to
keep that person from changing the menu while
they were playing around with the program.
It is not necessary to enter items on every
line. You may want to group similar applications
together on the same page. For example, you
might want to have all your word processing
applications on a page together, and all your
utilities on a page together. You might create a
Main Menu that would look something like this:
1. W O R D P R O C E S S I N G
2. Word Perfect
3. Word Star
4. Word
Page two might look like the following:
17. U T I L I T I E S
18. SeeShell
19. Where-is
20. Compare
21. Norton's Utility
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Page three might be your spreadsheets:
33. S P R E A D S H E E T S
34. Excel
35. 1-2-3
36. FreeCalc
Enter the applications that you will use the
most frequently on the first page (the first 16
items), since this will save you from having to
page down to get to the desired application.
When you have completed creating the
menu, press the F10 key. This will save the
menu file (the file will be saved as MENU.MNU).
If you choose not to save the menu, press the
ESC key.
When you save a Menu, the MENU.MNU file
will be saved in the current directory. When
starting the Menu Master, the program will first
check the current directory for the MENU.MNU
file, and then search the path. The advantage
to this is that you can have several menus set
up on different parts of your disk. When you
move to one area, you can start Menu Master,
and it will use the MENU.MNU from that
directory. In another directory, it would use the
MENU.MNU file from that directory. If you
decide to have just one MENU.MNU (most people
will just have one), you should move that file to
the directory that has the rest of the FreePack
programs in them (and be certain that directory
is in your path).
Selecting an application. Use the Up and
Down arrows to move the selection bar. The
PgUp and PgDn will move the selection bar up
or down one page respectfully. Press the ENTER
key once the desired item is highlighted.
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You can press the F9 key from the Main
Menu to exit to DOS, and leave Menu Master
running.
The F1 key will provide you the help
screen. The ESC key will terminate Menu
Master.
REMARKS: For some large applications, you may
not have enough memory to load your application
from within Menu Master. If you find this to be
the case, and if you started Menu Master from
within the FreePack program, try running Menu
Master as a stand-alone program (exit FreePack
and type MENU).
As with most of the programs in FreePack,
Menu Master needs to have access to your
COMMAND.COM file. This file is loaded when
your computer starts. If you have a hard disk,
your COMMAND.COM file will be in the root
directory of your C drive, and Menu Master will
have access to it. If, however, you boot off of
a floppy diskette and then remove that diskette
and replace it with a diskette that does not have
the COMMAND.COM on it, Menu Master will not
run. You will be given a error message when
the program starts if it is unable to find the
COMMAND.COM file. To correct this situation,
reboot your machine and leave the
COMMAND.COM available to Menu Master.
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S E E S H E L L
USAGE: SeeShell is a replacement for the DOS
"dir" command. SeeShell is faster and gives you
the power to do a great deal more. SeeShell
creates a sorted directory. You can page up or
page down to find the file you are looking for,
and then perform various action on any of the
files listed. You can; copy, delete, execute,
move, print, rename, or view. If the listing on
the screen is actually a subdirectory, you can
move to that directory. You can also move up
one level in the directory by pressing the Ctrl-
PgUp key combination. This is a very fast way
of moving around on your hard disk.
COMMAND FORMAT:
SHELL <target drive and/or directory>
If you type SHELL without any parameters,
SeeShell will provide you a sorted listing of the
current directory. If you include a drive and/or
a directory name, SeeShell will give you a listing
for the requested directory.
You can include the two wild card
characters (the * and the ?) so that only certain
files will be selected. For example, the
following command will display only files with
the extension of EXE from the current directory:
SHELL *.EXE
DESCRIPTION: This program will provide you
with a convenient way of visually seeing what is
on your disk. Once you see the listing of the
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files on the disk, SeeShell offers a very easy
way of managing these files. SeeShell will allow
you to mark as many files as you like for
whatever action you like. For example, in
reviewing a directory you might notice 3 files
that need to be deleted, 2 that needed to be
copied to a floppy, and 1 that you would like to
print out. You can enter a "1" next to the name
of the files you want to copy, a "2" next to the
names of the files that need delete, and a "5"
next to the file to be printed.
Press ENTER after you have marked the
files and SeeShell will perform the desired
action.
If you start SeeShell using one of the wild
card characters (the * or ?), you can cause
SeeShell to display all files by pressing the
ALT_Z.
SeeShell supports the following actions on
any of the files on the display: copy, delete,
execute a program, move, print an ASCII text
file, rename a file, view an ASCII text file.
You can mark all files for any of the
actions 1 - 7 (copy through viewing a file) by
holding down the ALT key and pressing the
number that corresponds to the desired action.
For example, ALT-2 will mark all files to be
deleted. If after marking the files, you decide
that you do not want to perform that action, the
ALT and the number key will toggle off that
action. For example, ALT-2 will mark all files
to be deleted. Pressing ALT-2 again will remove
the "2" from each file so they will not be
deleted.
If you select to delete a file, SeeShell will
prompt you prior to actually deleting the file to
verify that you do indeed want to delete that
file. You can press the ALT-A key combination
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to tell SeeShell that you want ALL marked files
deleted without SeeShell verifying each file.
When you select a group of files to be
copied or moved, SeeShell will prompt you for
the name of the file on the new target
drive/directory, and the name of the target
drive/directory. After entering the target
drive/directory once, you can press the ALT-A
key combination to have SeeShell copy each file
using its original name to the target drive
without prompting you for the name of the
target drive/directory. If you select to use the
ALT-A option, you will not be given a chance to
avoid copying a file that already exists in the
target drive/directory.
If during the copy process, the target disk
does not have enough room to hold the next file,
SeeShell will prompt you to insert a new disk
(or to press ESC cancel the copying of this file).
You can also move to a subdirectory (they
are marked on the screen as "<DIR>"), put typing
an "8" next to the name of the subdirectory.
You can easily select another drive to be
displayed by holding down the ALT key and the
letter that corresponds to the desired drive. For
example, ALT-D will create a display of drive D.
You can add a subdirectory to the current
directory by pressing the ALT-M (for Make a
subdirectory). Likewise, ALT-R will Remove a
directory (the directory must be empty).
Function of the keys:
F1: Help key
ESC: Quit
1: Select a file to be copied
2: Select a file to be deleted
3: Select a file to be executed
4: Select a file to be moved
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5: Select a file to be printed to
your default printer
6: Select a file to be renamed
7: Select a file to be viewed (must
be an ASCII text file)
8: Move down one level to this
subdirectory (you can move up
one level with the Ctrl-Page-Up
keys)
ENTER: You can mark as many files as
you want with the numbers 1 - 8.
When you press the ENTER key,
your desired action will be
performed.
Right: Right key will highlight the next
file in this directory
Left: Left key will highlight the
previous file in this directory
Up: Up key will move you to the line
above the current one
Down: Down key will move you to the
next line
Page-Up: Display previous screen of file
names for this directory (if there
is one)
Page-Down: Display next screen of file names
for this directory (if there is
one)
Home: Highlight the first file on this
screen
End: Highlight the last file on this
screen
Ctrl-Home: Highlight the first file in this
directory
Ctrl-End: Highlight the last file in this
directory
Ctrl-PgUp: Move up one directory level
(unless currently at the root
directory). You can move down
one level by marking the
subdirectory with an "8".
Alt-M: Make a directory
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Alt-R: Remove current directory and
move up one level.
Alt + drive: Used to display file information
about a different drive.
Alt-Z: Used to change the program from
displaying just selected files (e.g.,
when you start SeeShell with a
command like SHELL *.EXE), to
displaying all files in the
directory.
Alt-1: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be copied. If you press
ALT-1 again all files will that
have been marked to be copied
will be "unmarked".
Alt-2: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be deleted. If you press
ALT-2 again all files will that
have been marked to be deleted
will be "unmarked".
Alt-3: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be executed. If you
press ALT-3 again all files will
that have been marked to be
executed will be "unmarked".
Alt-4: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be moved. If you press
ALT-4 again all files will that
have been marked to be moved
will be "unmarked".
Alt-5: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be printed. If you press
ALT-5 again all files will that
have been marked to be printed
will be "unmarked".
Alt-6: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be renamed. If you press
ALT-6 again all files will that
have been marked to be printed
will be "unmarked".
Alt-7: Mark all files in this directory as
files to be viewed. If you press
ALT-7 again all files will that
have been marked to be viewed
will be "unmarked".
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REMARKS: SeeShell will not display hidden files
or read-only files. SeeShell supports drives A
through G.
If you start SeeShell with a command like:
SHELL *.EXE
you will only see files with the extension of
EXE. This will remain true as you move around
to other directories. If you want to see all files
(not just those with the EXE extension), quit
SeeShell and restart it without the *.EXE
parameter.
As with most of the programs in FreePack,
SeeShell needs to have access to your
COMMAND.COM file. This file is loaded when
your computer starts. If you have a hard disk,
your COMMAND.COM file will be in the root
directory of your C drive, and SeeShell will have
access to it. If, however, you boot off of a
floppy diskette and then remove that diskette
and replace it with a diskette that does not have
the COMMAND.COM on it, SeeShell will not run.
You will be given a error message when the
program starts if it is unable to find the
COMMAND.COM file. To correct this situation,
reboot your machine and leave the
COMMAND.COM available to SeeShell.
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V I E W
USAGE: This options displays an ASCII text file
on your screen. Once displayed, you can roll
through the document one line, or one page, at
a time.
COMMAND FORMAT: VIEW <file to be viewed>
DESCRIPTION: You start VIEW by typing VIEW
and the name of the file you want to display.
For example:
VIEW MYDOC.TXT
The first line of each file displayed will
say:
********* B E G I N N I N G *********
and the last line will say:
********* E N D *********
If a line of text is too long, the VIEW
program will display the greater-than symbol
(">") at the end of the line. This will tell you
that there is more on that line. You can scroll
the screen to the right by pressing the right
arrow key. The screen will be scrolled 20
characters to the right. On the left margin of
the screen you will see the less-than symbol
("<"). This will tell you that there is text to
the left of the margin.
Function of the keys:
F1: Help
ESC: Quit
PgUp: Move up one page
PgDn: Move down one page
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Up arrow: Move up one line
Down arrow: Move down one line
Left arrow: Scroll the screen to the right 20
characters (used to see a long
line).
Right arrow: Scroll the screen to the left 20
characters (used to see a long
line).
Ctrl-Left: Return to the far left margin
Ctrl-Home: Move to the beginning of the
document.
REMARKS: If the file you are viewing is not an
ASCII text file, you may see a screen full of
graphic characters.
-27-
W H E R E - I S
USAGE: This option will search all directories
on a drive to find matching files.
COMMAND FORMAT:
WHERE-IS <files to be found>
DESCRIPTION: You start Where-Is by typing the
command followed by the file you want to find.
You can use the wild card characters (the ? and
*) in your search request. For example, you
would type the following to find a specific file
called WP.EXE:
WHERE-IS WP.EXE
Where-Is would search all the directories on the
current drive to find the WP.EXE file. Where-Is
will display the name of each directory that has
the matched file(s), the name of the file, the
file size, and the last date the file was updated.
Where-Is will also display the number of files in
each directory that match the search request and
their total size (this information is useful when
you are using a wild card in your search, e.g.,
WHERE-IS *.EXE). Once Where-Is has completed
its task, it will inform you the number of files
that matched the search request, and their total
size.
Where-Is also supports DOS redirection.
You can redirect the output of the search to
either your printer or a file. You can send the
search results to your printer by the following
command:
WHERE-IS *.* > PRN
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If you wanted the results to go to a file named
TEXT.OUT, use the following command:
WHERE-IS *.* > TEXT.OUT
You can search all directories in the
current drive for any BUDGET89 file with the
following command:
WHERE-IS BUDGET89.*
When you use the *.* for the search
parameter, you will get a list of all files on your
disk.
REMARKS: You can specify a drive other than
the default by inserting the drive name and a
colon prior to the search parameter. For
example:
WHERE-IS D:*.EXE
Do not put a slash after the colon.
-29-
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
FreePack and the documentation are
distributed "AS IS" and without warranties as to
performance. Any statements by the author do
not constitute warranties and shall not be relied
on by the user in deciding whether to purchase
the product.
FreePack is distributed without any express
or implied warranties whatsoever. Because of
the diversity of conditions and hardware under
which this program may be used, no warranty of
fitness for a particular purpose is offered. The
user is advised to test the program thoroughly
before relying on it. Any liability of the author
will be limited exclusively to product replace-
ment.
All business application software is inher-
ently complex. You are cautioned to verify the
result of your work.
If you have any questions, or comments,
please write to:
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
(602) 820-4952
-30-
**** INDEX ****
< . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Autoexec.bat
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
COMMAND.COM . . . . . . . . 9, 13, 15, 19, 25
Compare
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
COPYF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 20
CopyFile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Edit menu items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
FP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
FreePack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 14
Hidden files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Introduction
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Make directory
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Menu Master
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Read-only files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Remove directory
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
See Shell
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
SHELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
User supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
View
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Warranty
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Where-Is
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
-31-
OTHER PRODUCTS
Stilwell Software Products also has written
a several other shareware programs in the
"FREE" series. The other programs include a
flat-file database (FreeFile), a word processor
(FreeWord), and a spreadsheet (FreeCalc).
REQUIREMENTS: FreeFile, FreeWord, and
FreeCalc require a PC or compatible; 256K of
RAM and can be used with either a color
monitor (colors can be selected), or a
monochrome monitor. DOS 2.0 or later is
required. The software is not copied protected.
Any PC printer will work.
Features from the FreeWord (a word processor)
include: moving, copying and deleting of blocks;
display of directories; search and replace; page
breaks displayed on the screen; automatic
reformatting of the document; forced paged
breaks; background printing; print multiple
copies; left and right justification; typewriter
mode; spelling checker (when the registration fee
is paid - $49); movement of the cursor by
character, word, line, screen, or page.
Features for the FreeCalc (a spreadsheet)
program include: 250 rows by 50 columns; column
widths of 0 to 70 characters; text can be
centered, left or right justified; display of 0 to 6
decimal places; macros (to save keystrokes); print
spreadsheet to disk; export spreadsheet to other
programs; load ASCII text files; supports the
Intel 8087 and 80287 math coprocessors; up to 15
significant digits; word processing mode; move,
copy, delete or insert column(s) or row(s); audit
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program (when the registration fee of $47.50 is
paid).
Features for the FreeFile (a flat database)
program include: Each database can have up to
2 billion records; up to 10 indexes per database;
records can be 1000 characters long; each record
can have 100 fields; fields can be up to 65
characters; all 100 fields can be sorted for
printing; computed fields (similar to formulas in
spreadsheets); fields can be defined as date fields
and then used by computed fields as part of a
formula (e.g., TODAY - date rented); up to 25
comparisons can be made when printing a report
(e.g., Due date > 05/01/86); data can be easily
exported for use by other programs; a utility to
rebuild the index in case they every get damaged
(you receive this when the registration fee of
$45 is paid).
-33- **********************
* INVOICE *
**********************
Send payments to:
Stilwell Software Products
1336 East Krista Way
Tempe, AZ 85284
(602) 820-4952
DATE Invoice #89247
*********************************************
PRICE
FreePack a package of utilities
to ease the operation of your
PC $39.00
FreeWord a word processor,
SSP's SPELL, a spelling checker,
and documentation $49.00
FreeFile a database and
documentation $45.00
FREECALC an electronic
spreadsheet, The FreeCalc Auditor,
and documentation $47.50
Arizona Sales Tax
(Arizona residents Only) ________
Shipping and handling $5.00
TOTAL $ ________
*********************************************
You may keep this invoice for your records
GO.TXT
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ <<<< Disk #1727 FREEPACK >>>> ║
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ To start program, type: FP ║
║ ║
║ To print documentation, type: COPY FP.DOC PRN ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #1727
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
FP EXE 31879 8-01-89 6:59p
READ ME 1846 8-08-89 5:40p
MENU EXE 29867 7-28-89 7:22p
MENU2 HLP 2582 7-16-89 9:01a
MENU1 HLP 983 7-16-89 9:01a
VIEW EXE 22509 8-20-89 10:19a
COMPARE EXE 22253 8-04-89 4:21p
COPYF EXE 29553 8-03-89 6:49p
SHELL EXE 63359 8-25-89 11:30a
MENU-EDT EXE 33361 7-25-89 8:37p
WHERE-IS EXE 20767 7-24-89 7:26p
INSTALL EXE 29193 7-22-89 5:56p
SHELL HLP 4406 8-02-89 6:23p
FP DOC 51053 8-08-89 6:46p
GO BAT 38 1-01-80 1:37a
GO TXT 540 1-01-80 4:31a
FILE1727 TXT 3627 12-22-89 3:41p
17 file(s) 347816 bytes
7168 bytes free