source: trunk/README@ 1119

Last change on this file since 1119 was 1094, checked in by Gregg Young, 17 years ago

Updated .def files, readme, history etc for 3.12 release

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1 ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
2 ³ F(ile) M(anager)/2 is free software from Mark Kimes ³
3 ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄŽ
4 ³ READ.ME file -- read before installing ³
5 ³ See end of document for contact info ³
6 ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
7
8FM/2 3.12 Fixes a bug introduced in 3.11 (trap when viewing
9multiple files from an archive at the same time). It also adds
10Open Default, Open Settings and via an accel key ctrl + l Open
11Multimedia (using FM2play.exe) to the archive viewer. FM/2 now
12uses the system TMP/TEMP directory for it temporary files and
13cleans up after a crash on the next restart. FM/2 creates a
14subdirectory of the pattern $FM2*.*. The settings notebook can
15now be closed using esc, F3 or enter; the last 2 save any
16changes that have been made. You can now select which environment
17variables to show when using show the environment in the drive
18tree. Just add or remove from the list on the "Tree" page of
19the notebook. It defaults initially to the current list. You can
20now save/append either a full pathname or just a filename or a
21list of either to the clipboard. We have changed the wording
22in the menus to make this easier to find. We fixed a few other
23minor issues see the history for more details.
24
25FM/2 3.11 adds the option of having delete move the objects
26to the Xworkplace trashcan. Undelete will open the trashcan
27so you can restore deleted files. The only short coming is you
28will need to rescan in order to see the restored file.
29We also added a reserved state which allows you to return
30FM/2 to the state it was in on start up (the shut down state).
31We have improved the filtering of file names that contain
32multiple periods and fixed FM/2's failure to always follow
33the details settings from the setup notebook. The primary
34task achieved for this release was the addition of fortify
35support which allowed us to fix a handful of memory usage
36related bugs. We fixed a few other minor issues see the
37history for more details.
38
39Fm/2 3.10 adds the ability to set the command line length
40to correspond to the command shell you are using. We have
41moved some menu items to submenus to reduce menu clutter
42while adding "unhide" to reveal previously hidden items and
43adding a settings notebook submenu to allow selection of the
44page you wish to visit. We have updated the look of several
45dialogs and containers including adding the ability to remember
46size location and presentation parameters. We have reworked
47the save state on close so it will save the different states
48of multiple directory containers and in greater detail. This
49state can also be restored at anytime during a session by
50selecting it from the "States" drop down. We have provided better
51progress indicators to update the progress of long operations.
52We now provide both the SYM & MAP files in a separate warpin
53package. This will allow interested individuals the tools needed
54to assist with analysing any problem that may occur. This
55package is not needed to run FM/2. As always this update
56provides some performance enhancements and defect fixes.
57
58FM/2 3.09 adds "mailto:" so you can configure the ability to
59double click an email address in the new viewer and have it
60open a new email using that address. The viewer page in the
61settings notebook was split into 2 pages to facilitate the
62change. Additionally, We fixed some defects and enhanced
63performance in some areas such as commandline quoting.
64
65FM/2 3.08 has had changes to its file filtering logic.
66It now searches for the last extension if a mask like *.zip
67is used. This change was made to over come the problem with
68associations failing on files with multiple ".". You can
69also seach for a complete string within the file names by
70using the pattern *stuff* (stuff can't contain an * or ?).
71If "stuff" contains an * or ? the old method of searching
72(character by character)is used.Large (>4GiB) file support
73has been added.
74
75FM/2 3.07 had changes made to its ini file structure.
76These changes mean that the ini file is not backward
77compatible. Please backup you FM3.INI file before installing
78so you can revert to an earlier version without losing some
79of your customizations. Please note you need to leave a copy
80of the fm3.ini file in the install directory in order to keep your
81customizations in 3.07. The temp file fm3.!!! will not update
82the new ini as it is only used when fm2 is running.
83
84File Manager/2 (FM/2) starting with version 3.6 is being
85built with OpenWatcom. Changing compilers can introduce
86unexpected problem so you may want to backup your current
87install, or at minimum have a working copy of the FM/2
88version 3.5.9 warpin available for reinstall if problems arise.
89To backup your current install simple zip up your install
90directory with its subdirectories or copy them to a different
91location.To restore simply copy the old FM/2 back to the
92its original location. Remember you can't use the new FM/2
93to do this since if it is running some files will be locked
94and won't be replaced. If you didn't backup and need to go
95back just install the 3.5.9 warpin package over the new
96install. It will warn you that the install is newer but just
97tell it to install anyway. The warpin install process is
98designed to save all your customizations. Don't delete the
99new install if you don't have a backup since this will result
100in the loss of any custom changes you have made. If you need
101to delete it to get the reinstall to work. Backup up the new
102install and then copy the *.bmp, *.tls, *.dat, *.cmd & *.ini
103files back to the install directory after the reinstall.
104Don't copy the *.str files as they are version specific.
105If you have problems be sure to report it (See Support
106at the end of this file).
107
108File Manager/2 (FM/2) is a free OS/2(Warp)/eCS Presentation
109Manager 32-bit file/directory/archive maintenance utility
110(a sort of super-Drives object, something midway between the
111Drives objects and a more traditional file manager) with plenty
112of bells, whistles and utilities, drag and drop, context menus,
113toolbars, bubble help and accelerator keys. If you know how
114to use OS/2, you already know how to use most of FM/2. You
115can easily glean the rest from the extensive online help,
116including tutorials.
117
118This document explains how to install FM/2, including
119upgrading from previous versions. It explains command line
120syntaxes (parameters in a program object) and how to get the
121program(s) running. The online help tells you how to
122actually use FM/2. I'll try to keep this brief.
123
124This program is free software; you can redistribute it
125and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
126License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
127version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
128version.
129
130This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
131useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
132warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
133PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
134details.
135
136You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
137License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
138Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
139Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
140
141
142FM/2 3.x installation instructions:
143==================================
144
145Pre-requisite:
146 WarpIN 0.9.20 or higher must be installed.
147
148Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 ZIP file distribution
149---------------------------------------------------------
150
1511. Unpack the FM2*.ZIP archive in a private directory (for
152example, C:\TMP). (UNZIP.EXE works nicely to unpack the
153file.) Two WPI files, FM2.WPI and FM2UTILS.WPI will be
154unzipped.
155
1562. Follow the instructions for installing from WPI file(s)
157below.
158
159
160Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 WPI file distribution
161---------------------------------------------------------
162
1631. Open the WPS folder containing the WPI file(s).
164
1652. Double click on FM2.WPI. Since WarpIN associates itself
166with WPI files this will start WarpIN with FM2.WPI as the
167parameter.
168
1693, You may then install FM/2 to a directory of your choice
170and, if FM2UTILS.WPI is present, install FM/2 Utilities to
171a directory of your choice.
172
173NOTE: If you double click on FM2UTILS.WPI instead of
174FM2.WPI, you will only be able to install the FM/2
175Utilities. It is recommended that, even if you only want to
176install FM/2 Utilities, that you do so using FM2.WPI.
177
178
179Moving FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
180----------------------------------
181
1821. Copy your existing installation directory to the new
183location.
184
1852. If you have added your own icons to any of the FM/2
186folders, then you should move them elsewhere temporarily.
187
1883. Follow the instructions for de-installing below.
189
1904. Re-install the package using the installation
191instructions above. This will update the WarpIN database and
192reset your icons to the new locations.
193
1945. Move the icons you saved in step #2, back into the FM/2
195folders if you wish.
196
197
198De-installing FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
199-----------------------------------------
200
2011. Run Warpin without parameters.
202
2032. Right click on a package you want to de-install and
204select "de-install all packages".
205
2063. Click on OK in the "De-install Packages" window that
207appears.
208
209
210
211=================
212First-time notes:
213=================
214
215Starting FM/2 -- how it works, customizing parameters:
216
217If you start File Manager/2 (filename FM3.EXE) with no
218parameters, it opens the Drive Tree window but no directory
219windows (unless the "Save state of dir windows" toggle is
220checked -- see online help).
221
222File Manager/2 optionally accepts names of directories in
223the parameters field of its program object; it'll open a
224directory window for each one. Hint: If you often do
225different specific things with FM/2, you might set up a WPS
226object customized to start up ideally for each activity. For
227example, if you wanted to maintain your BBS areas, you might
228have one object with parameters like: "D:\BBSDIR
229D:\BBSDIR\MAILIN D:\BBSDIR\MAILOUT", and if you also like to
230use FM/2 to set icons on files, you might have another
231object with parameters like: "E:\MYICONS D:\NEWFILES". The
232State quicklist can also be used for this within FM/2 itself
233-- see online help.
234
235You can exclude drives in the parameters by prefacing the
236drive letter with "/", and there can be more than one drive
237letter behind the "/" (i.e. "/BH" to exclude both drives B:
238and H:). Hint: Many people like to use /B to exclude
239"phantom" drive B: if they have a single-floppy system.
240Similarly, you can cause drives NOT to be prescanned by the
241Drive Tree by prefacing the drive letter with ";", drives
242NOT to load icons for objects by prefacing the drive letter
243with ",", drives NOT to load subjects for objects by
244prefacing the drive letter with "`" and drives NOT to load
245longnames for objects by prefacing the drive letter with
246"'". This can be handy if you have a very slow drive like a
247CD-ROM or Zip drive. FM/2 Lite recognizes these switches,
248too. See also the Drive Flags dialog in FM/2.
249
250If you place the plus sign "+" (alone, separated from
251anything else by spaces) in the parameters, FM/2 will log,
252to FM2.LOG, delete, rename, move and copy operations that
253are performed by drag-and-drop or with the menus. FM/2 Lite
254recognizes this switch, too.
255
256The parameter "-" (alone, separated from anything else by
257spaces) causes FM/2 to ignore, not load or save, the
258previous state of directory windows (see the "Save state of
259dir windows" toggle under Config Menu->Toggles in the online
260help) for that invocation.
261
262You can specify the name of an alternate INI file with
263"-<inifilename>" -- for example: "-C:\FM2\MYINI.INI".
264
265You can also specify the INI file location with the
266environment variable FM2INI -- for example:
267 SET FM2INI=C:\FM2\MYINI.INI.
268
269
270------------------------------
271How to get started using FM/2:
272-----------------------------
273Please read the following sections in the online help when
274you start FM/2 for the first time: "How to use FM/2's Help,"
275"Terminology" and "General Help," then "Hints." A peek at
276the labelled "Window Layouts" pictures would probably be a
277good idea, too. The rest you can browse as you get time/feel
278the need; for instance, if you want to know what a toggle
279does, read the help under Settings notebook for that page
280(each Settings notebook page has its own Help button).
281
282If you prefer hard copy help, print this file, run FM/2,
283press F1, click the "Print" button at the bottom (IBM View)
284or top (Newview)of the help window that appears and then print
285both the "Contents" and "All sections" (keep an eye on the printer,
286after page 100 of "All sections" as the Help Manager will
287begin printing its own help then -- you may want to abort
288printing at that point). Advanced and/or curious users may
289also want to print FM3TOOLS.DAT and ARCHIVER.BB2. Be sure
290you have plenty of paper and ink handy -- the package is
291well documented. You'll probably also want a three-ring
292binder and hole punch to get it bound, as staples aren't
293going through that puppy. You can, of course, print only the
294sections that are of particular interest to you.
295
296Additional documentation:
297------------------------
298 FM3.HLP: FM/2's online help file.
299
300Look in the FM/2 Docs subfolder of the File Manager/2 folder
301for easy access to all documentation.
302
303
304Bonus programs:
305==============
306
307You'll note the extra objects that the Install program
308creates in the FM/2 Tools subfolder of the File Manager/2
309folder. FM/2 is modular, so that you can get directly to
310some of its components without running the entire ball of
311wax. This may allow you to enhance the behavior of some of
312your other applications in the WPS tradition. You don't
313_have_ to keep these around, of course -- FM/2 itself
314contains all their functionality.
315
316ARCHIVE VIEWER/2: Intended for drag-and-drop operation (or
317WPS association) with WPS objects or other applications.
318Drag an archive onto it, drop it, get an archive listing
319box. FM/2's installation program sets up some associations
320between archive files and this program by file extension.
321AV/2 will try to display whatever you give it as
322sensibly as it can. Filename AV2.EXE.
323
324EA VIEWER: Drag a file system object onto it and it'll show
325you the object's extended attributes. Filename EAS.EXE.
326
327INI VIEWER: Drag an .INI file onto it and it'll show you its
328contents. Filename INI.EXE.
329
330BOOKSHELF VIEWER: Shows all .INF files in a listbox and lets
331you pick the one(s) you want to view. If you give any
332command line argument, the .HLP files on the HELP path will
333be shown instead (the Helpfile Viewer object calls
334VIEWINFS.EXE with "dummy" for an argument, for example).
335Filename VIEWINFS.EXE.
336
337PROCESS KILLER: Lets you kill off renegade processes. An
338English version of PSTAT.EXE must be on your PATH. Filename
339KILLPROC.EXE.
340
341UNDELETER: Lets you undelete files (via interface with
342UNDELETE.COM). Drag a file system object onto it and it'll
343let you undelete files for that drive. Filename UNDEL.EXE.
344
345VISUAL TREE: Opens a Drive Tree window (like the WPS Drives
346object with more horsepower). Filename VTREE.EXE.
347
348VISUAL DIRECTORY: Opens a Directory Container window; drag a
349file system object onto it and this will open its directory
350(like a WPS directory Folder with more horsepower). Filename
351VDIR.EXE.
352
353COLLECTOR: Opens a Collector window. Filename VCOLLECT.EXE.
354Two other objects, "See all files" and "Seek and scan" are
355created which call up the Collector and go directly to
356dialogs for the appropriate purpose.
357
358GLOBAL VIEWER: Opens a global view of a drive or drives.
359Filename GLOBAL.EXE.
360
361DATABAR: Opens a databar showing some system information.
362Filename DATABAR.EXE.
363
364DIRSIZE: Shows where drive usage is concentrated. Filename
365DIRSIZE.EXE.
366
367FM/2 LITE: A simplified interface for "dummies." Filename
368FM4.EXE.
369
370FM/2's install creates FM2.CMD, AV2.CMD, VDIR.CMD,
371VTREE.CMD, VCOLLECT.CMD, UNDEL.CMD, KILLPROC.CMD, INI.CMD,
372EAS.CMD, DIRSIZE.CMD, VIEWINFS.CMD and VIEWHELP.CMD files
373for you in a directory "utils" off the install directory.
374You should add this directory to your PATH= statement in
375CONFIG.SYS (type HELP PATH at a command line for more info).
376If you prefer, FM/2's INSTALL builds a SETENV.CMD in the
377FM/2 directory which you can call to set the PATH for FM/2
378in any given session without modifying CONFIG.SYS.
379
380
381Troubleshooting:
382===============
383
384FM/2 seems much slower than previous versions.
385The Find Buffer in FM/2 has been reworked to make it user
386settable in more place and significantly enlarge it. This
387significantly increases the loading speed for large directories
388However, most users will need to reset the buffer by going
389to the settings notebook scanning page and setting FindBuf.
390The new default for clean installs is 10240. We recommend you
391change to this setting (or higher) unless you have very limited
392hardware (less than 32 meg of memory original Pentium or earlier).
393
394If FM/2 won't run, the probable culprit is CONFIG.SYS. Your
395LIBPATH statement should contain a ".;" entry. If yours
396doesn't, add it. It's standard for an OS/2 installation, but
397some buggy install programs knock it out because they
398translate entries to their full pathname before rewriting
399(so ".;" gets translated to whatever the current directory
400is for the buggy install program). What this ".;" entry does
401is allow a program to find and use .DLL files in the
402program's current directory -- obviously something you want
403programs to be able to do, otherwise you'd have to put every
404application's .DLLs into directories already on the LIBPATH,
405or add the directories of all applications to the LIBPATH, a
406rather huge pain in the, uh, neck.
407
408If things in FM/2 are suddenly acting strange after an
409upgrade, first check the integrity of the install using
410using WarpIN. If it shows a problem rerun the install
411package. If that fails try installing to a new directory
412or backup your existing directory so you can save any changes
413you made to the template files then uninstall and reinstall.
414Once you have FM/2 working migrate the *.ini, *.dat, *.tls,
415*.bb2 and *.cmd from your old install/backup to recover your
416custom settings
417
418If the "FM/2 Online Help" object in the "FM/2 Docs"
419subfolder won't work properly, you've got a version of
420VIEW.EXE that won't directly display help (.HLP) files. Use
421SEEHELP.EXE from the FM/2 Utilities package to get around
422this problem (or upgrade your version of OS/2).
423
424Don't drag files over Netscape -- it will lock up if files
425(not WPS objects; there's a subtle difference) are dragged
426over it.
427
428If you get a popup dialog that needs to be reported to the
429maintainer, you can either take a screen shot or you can
430capture the information from STDERR with:
431
432 FM3 2>STDERR.LOG
433
434This technique works for all the FM/2, FM/2 Lite and all the
435standalone applets.
436
437If you are having trouble with Drag and Drop operations, try
438the + command line switch described above. The content of
439FM2.LOG may be helpful.
440
441
442Known problems/shortcomings:
443===========================
444
445- FM/2 does not properly report sizes of some files with
446long name resident on Win95/NT drives.
447
448- File List Container fails to fill after drive change
449SYS0039 error.
450
451- Tree switching on Focus/Directory Change appears to be
452slower than expected.
453
454- Access to LS120 and FAT32 drives may be slower than expected
455
456- Icon display in Directory Container does not always match
457WPS icons
458
459- Spurious WPS Objects Handles may be created during some
460operations
461
462- Trying to run Global.exe from the command line in 4OS2
463(perhaps other shells) results in the execution of 4OS2's "Global"
464command. Global.exe can be run by placing it in quotes or
465prefixing it with *. See 4OS2's documentation for more information.
466
467- As with any OS/2 program significant changes (such as our
468change to OpenWatcom) will result in the incompatibility of
469older (VAC) exes with new dlls and vice versa. Attempting to run
470OpenWatcom exes with a VAC dll loaded in memory or in your
471libpath ahead of the new version will result in a SYS3175 in
472popuplog.os2. The reverse gives a SYS2070. If you experience these
473problems search your libpath for fm3dll.dll and remove or rename
474it. Your libpath should have "." (without the quotes) as your
475first entry to minimize the likelihood of this problem. FM/2's
476installer does not add the FM/2 directory to the libpath.
477
478- See http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2/report/1 for a complete list of
479currently active bugs
480
481
482
483About FM/2:
484==========
485
486FM/2 was originally written by:
487
488 Mark Kimes
489 <hectorplasmic@worldnet.att.net>
490
491He has kindly allowed me to take over maintenance and
492support of FM/2 and to release the program under the GNU GPL
493license. I'm sure he would appreciate a Thank You note for
494his generosity.
495
496Support:
497=======
498
499There is a Yahoo group devoted to fm/2 at:
500
501 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fm2user/
502
503You will find lots of friendly folks ready to help.
504
505FM/2 is moving to Netlabs (thanks Adrian).
506
507Check it out at
508
509 http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2
510
511Not everything is in place yet, but this is the place to
512enter defect tickets and enhancement requests (username netlabs,
513password guest; please include a valid email so we can contact you
514if we need more information). Eventually, the mailing list and the
515file archives will all move to the Netlabs server where you can
516find the source code.
517
518You can reach us directly at:
519
520 Steven H. Levine
521 steve53@earthlink.net
522
523 or
524
525 Gregg Young
526 ygk@qwest.net
527
528We also monitor the comp.os.os2.apps newsgroup and several
529others in the comp.os.os2.* hierarchy.
530
531Thanks and enjoy.
532
533$Id: README 1094 2008-07-22 01:15:41Z gyoung $
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