source: trunk/README@ 1900

Last change on this file since 1900 was 1881, checked in by Gregg Young, 10 years ago

History, Readme and versioning files for 3.24 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 See end of document for contact info ³
5 ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
6
7FM/2 3.24 includes a major performance enhancement by moving almost all the file
8scanning onto a background thread leaving the user interface accessible during
9scans. The only negative side effect of this is that expand all runs slower. However,
10I am not sure why anyone would use this regularly on large drives (except me of
11course to get it working with the scanning changes). This release should also be
12much more stable as we identified several areas (apparently little used) where
13reproducible traps occurred. We also eliminated a major potential cause of
14random hard to reproduce traps and hangs when we re-did the scanning code. Some
15tree container cosmetic issues have been fixed including removal of occasional
16blank lines and double enters; fixing CD/DVD drives so they always change icon
17and if needed display name on eject; improved the consistency of the "make top"
18code and fixed it so the container updates on renaming a directory. We also
19fixed the failure to generate multiple real objects (broken in 3.23 my bad),
20some issues with the direct edit code and fix the directory container compare
21select code. See the history for more details.
22
23FM/2 3.23 provides several enhancements. Implemented creation of a JAVA executable
24object from a jar file. Select a jar file and "Real object" from the "Create
25object" sub-menu. You will be prompted to select the JAVA exe you wish to use.
26Your choice will be recorded for use in the future. You will then be prompted
27to select an icon for the object. Once the object is created you will be prompted
28to restart the desktop. I highly recommend you do so. If you don't the object icon
29will be lost if you open the object in settings view. Additionally, I have
30experienced WPS hangs forcing a reboot when accessing the desktop or trashcan
31context menu following the icon loss described above. I have not had any problem
32if I restarted the desktop. We have added menu toggles for confirm delete and the
33drag & drop dialog options. Newview now handles selecting and utilizing email
34addresses and URLs much better and more completely (https is supported) than
35in previous versions. The EA editor now checks for EAs marked as critical and
36report this to the user.
37
38We have also fixed multiple defects including eliminating redundant error messages
39from unlock and read only checking code and now only trying to unlock exes or dlls.
40Fixed a string handling problem with the extract directory and a trap that sometimes
41occurred when closing or starting a rescan while scanning was in progress. Limited
42auto open of help to the first time the quick settings configuration page is open
43each session. Finally we stopped using FM2Play to open multimedia files. The
44problem was caused by the fact that mmioMP3 would report it could handle most
45any thing (exes for example). This lead to FM2Play trying to play them. I have
46fixed and updated mmioMP3 and it should be available on Hobbes by the time you
47read this. See the history file for more details. Please let us know if you find
48a defect.
49
50FM/2 3.22 provides enhancements to compare directories, seek and scan and the
51archive viewer. It fixes the check for readonly files on delete to work in all
52cases. It fixes some problems with the installer. We have also fixed a number
53of cosmetic issues and several traps. We no longer load FM/2 in high memory as
54we determined that was causing some of the traps. We tried to improve the speed
55of drive scans and the responsiveness of the UI during long seek and scans.
56See the history file for more details. Please let us know if you find a defect.
57
58FM/2 3.21 has a few enhancement which we hope you will find useful. Since eCS
59includes unlock.exe I have added unlock file to the file (directory container
60context) menu so you can easily unlock a dll or exe file. Delete, copy and move
61operations will open a dialog which allow you to unlock files as part of these
62operations. An icon is included if you wish to add unlock to a toolbar button.
63(See the help file for the unlock id and instruction on adding a button).
64Search for duplicate files now sorts results by filename. Updated the help file
65adding information on FM/2 as a WPS replacement. Enhance compare directories to
66allow inclusion of subdirectories or use of a list file on opening and fixed
67a list file load failure. Added a warning dialog for a delete, copy or move
68operation which replaces/deletes a read only file. Finally,the "target
69directory" is now a drop target for move/copy or conditionally to change the target.
70See the history file for more details. Please let us know if you find a defect.
71
72FM/2 3.20 mainly addresses things that were annoying me. The only new item
73is a new date type for ARCHIVER.BB2 which allows for the viewing of .tar.gz
74archives directly using Tar 1.15 or higher. You will need to either replace
75your ARCHIVER.BB2 with ARCHIVER.TMP from the package or replace/add Entry #10
76(tar.gz) from the .TMP file to your existing ARCHIVER.BB2. We don't do this
77automatically to avoid breaking any custom changes you may have made. We updated
78some of the help information, fixed several rare traps and little things like
79the failure to create a list file if it didn't already exist. See the history
80file for more details. Please let us know if you find a defect.
81
82FM/2 3.19.1 This is a bug fix release. Most of these have existed for a
83very long time but were only discovered recently. Included is a fixed
84FM/2 utilities wpi file. None of the utilities have been updated. The
85fix allows you to install the utilities without having to install FM/2.
86See the history file for more details. Please let us know if you find
87a defect.
88
89FM/2 3.19 I am dedicating this release of FM/2 to the memory of my
90parents Ralph and Helen Young both of whom passed away earlier this
91year. It has been over a year since the last release. The FM/2 team has
92been busy with a lot of other projects. This release mostly fixes bugs.
93
94The major change is that this version uses high memory to
95load much of FM/2's code, data and resources. If your version of OS/2
96(Warp 4 pre about Fixpack 13 or Warp 3 pre about Fixpack 37) doesn't
97support high memory please contact me and I will provide a low memory
98version. If anyone contacts me, I will plan on both a high and low
99memory version (or a way to convert one to the other) for future
100releases.
101
102You can now open a directory container from an item in the collector and
103the EA editor now has a file open option. We also made some improvements
104to FM/2's handling of containers holding large numbers of files
105(greater than 64k). Please see the history file for more details.
106
107FM/2 3.18 This release removes high memory support at least for now.
108Changes made to the openwatcom compiler which adds large file support to the
109open file functions created a problem since DosOpenL doesn't work correctly
110with high memory. This change also fixes the paste failure in VIO windows
111when copying from FM/2.
112
113We have provided an archiver description for use with unzip ver 6. It is contained
114in ARCHIVER.TMP. The installer copies the description to ARCHIVER.BB2 (last entry).
115If you plan on using ver 6 as your default unzip you will need to activate this
116description. The instructions follow:
117
118- This archiver definition assumes that UNZIP v6
119 a) is named UNZIP.EXE
120 b) is on the PATH
121 c) precedes all other UNZIP.EXE versions on the PATH.
122 If any of these are not true, then either correct the problem listed above or:
123 1) Select the UNZIP v6 definition. (See below.)
124 2) Click on the "Edit" button
125 3) Modify all instances of UNZIP.EXE to include a full path for UNZIP.EXE v6.
126 4) Click on "OK", then "Close" and then "Yes" to exit and save your changes.
127 5) Restart FM/2
128
129- FM/2 will not use this entry unless
130 a) It is the only UNZIP definition; or
131 b) You select it manually; or
132 c) You move UNZIP v6 ahead of all the UNZIP's in the list of archivers.
133 In order to move UNZIP v6 ahead of the other UNZIP's:
134 1) Select the UNZIP v6 definition. (See below.)
135 2) Click on the "Up" button until the UNZIP v6 entry precedes all other
136 UNZIP definitions.(If you have never modified ARCHIVER.BB2 it will
137 need to be moved to the very top)
138 3) Click on "Close" and then "Yes" to exit and save your changes
139 4) Restart FM/2
140
141- Selecting the UNZIP v6 definition:
142 1) Start FM/2
143 2) Select the "Config" menu
144 3) Select the "Edit" submenu
145 4) Select the "Edit an archiver..." menu item
146 5) In the dialog that appears scroll the list, if necessary, and select
147 the UNZIP v6 definition
148
149We have made changes to the open files logic to correct some odd issues
150caused by MMPM when ogg, flac and/or mpg IOProcs are installed. MPGs are now
151recognized as media and zero byte files trigger a dialog offering to open
152them in the text editor. We now pass .wpi files to the WPS if no association
153is set for them. If you see FM/2 attempt to open non-media files as a media file
154or fails to open a media file recognized as such by OS/2 as media, let us know.
155
156We reworked the user commands. Doing so makes COMMANDS.DAT obsolete with the
157commands moving to FM3INI.INI. We did this to eliminate toolbar entry failures
158caused by reordering the commands. It also keeps the hotkey the same following
159a reorder and allows the user to select the hotkey they wish to use. The first
160time you run 3.18, it will copy the commands information from COMMANDS.DAT to
161the INI. COMMANDS.DAT isn't deleted or changed so you can revert to an earlier
162version without losing old commands. However, any commands you add or change
163with this version will not be seen by older versions.
164
165You can use Ctrl-click to select state or commonly used directory quicklist entries
166or walk dialog user list entries without activating them. This is handy for deleting
167entries without changing the window's state.Compare directories has been rework to
168enhance its speed, allow for quick cancel and provide the option of AND'ed
169selection (CTRL click). AND'ed selection selects from currently selected entries
170as opposed to all entries. See the help file for more information. We have fixed
171some rare traps and hangs and a few annoying bugs like the failure of the append
172checkbox in the list file dialog to append. Please see the history file for a more
173complete list of changes.
174
175FM/2 3.17: This release provides for loading FM/2 partially in high memory
176since this won't work on older systems (pre fixpack 13?) or you might have
177other reasons not to use it we provide a low memory version also. Some high
178loaded programs hang in the exit handler (i.e. don't close). We didn't
179experience this problem but if you do install the low memory version (3.17.0).
180The high memory version is 3.17.1.
181
182This release makes changes that should speed the scanning and
183container filling in FM/2. We have added some visual clues to let you know
184FM/2 is still working. The LED in the lower right hand corner now blinks
185while long operations are in progress or you can open the thread note
186window (click on the LED) for even more detailed information about an
187operation in progress. We also added a better "scanning" message.
188
189We have updated the look and functionality of the drivebar. It now has the
190drive letters superimposed over the drive icons allowing for larger icons.
191We have add a refresh removable media and rescan button to the beginning
192of the bar to make it a more complete replacement for the tree container
193in FM/2 lite. You can also show the file system type or drive label next
194to the drive letter in the tree container. See the Tree settings notebook
195page to try this option.
196
197The INI viewer option on the utilities menu now lets you choose to open
198the user INI, system INI or FM2's INI. We now allow LONGNAMES to be
199displayed for FAT & LAN drives and we delete .LONGNAME EA if it becomes
200the filename on a copy or move. In addition to these we fixed 2 rare crashes
201and a hang associated with SMP. We also fixed a handful of interface problems.
202See the history file for more information.
203
204FM/2 3.16: This release makes changes that should allow FM/2 to be
205translated into different languages. It also adds date and number
206formatting based on the system locale settings. We now need to find
207some individuals who are interested in doing the translations.
208Currently, double bit character sets are not supported in FM/2.
209
210We have also fixed multiple minor annoyances such as improving
211detection of text verses binary files when opening viewers and
212filtering/(de)select mask now works for archives with pathnames.
213We added the ability to turn error/alert beeps on and off in the
214settings notebook (General page) and changes to the details switches
215in compare directories are now saved. See the history for more details.
216
217FM/2 3.15: This release turns on some new features by default
218don't panic they can all be turned off if you don't like them.
219The first is recursive scanning on start up. This slows the initial
220scan a bit but speeds expansion of the tree later. It is on for
221local hard drives and can be turned on for other drive types. The
222second new feature is an automatic rescan of the drive tree on
223eject of removable media keeping the tree container more current.
224Both of these features can be turn on or off on the scanning page
225of the notebook. The third new feature actually turns write verify
226off on a per drive basis. This is to address the fact that many
227USB removables fail or worse (hangs/traps) when write verify is on.
228We turn it off by default for removables other than standard floppies.
229If you want it on/off for a given drive edit that drive's drive flags
230accordingly. The global write verify selector is unchanged and the
231drive flags have no effect if it is off.
232
233We have some additional new items we hope you will find useful. We
234have added the ability to have the extract commands create a
235subdirectory based on the archive file name for the extraction target.
236Seek and Scan has been added to the drives and directories context
237menu and when selected from there will add the drive or directory as
238the root for the search. We also added refresh removable media so
239you can scan for newly inserted drives from the tree container
240We did some additional work on the main menus like adding Databar
241to the utilities menu and we now gray out items that are unavailable
242or inappropriate and un-grayed some items that were inappropriately
243turned off. We reorganized the internal editor menus as well.
244
245We made changes to the archiver code so that archivers that don't
246have specific start/end list strings will work (i.e. TAR.EXE). We
247have included the commands for .tar .tar.gz and .tar.bz in archiver.tmp
248(gzip.exe and/or bzip.exe must be in the path) These only work with tar 1.15
249or higher. We included a separate entry for TAR 1.10 but versions of TAR prior
250to 1.15 don't work for tar.gz/bz2 files. You can either replace archiver.bb2
251with the archiver.tmp or if you have made changes to archiver.bb2 you can cut
252and paste the new archiver definitions into an appropriate position in your
253existing archiver.bb2
254
255Numerous fixes to minor interface appearance and behavior issues are also include.
256We have added exceptq support to make it easier to track down defects. We
257also eliminated the cause of three rare traps including one associated with
258deleting directories. See the history file for more details.
259
260FM/2 3.14: This release updates many of the icons and bitmaps
261used in FM/2. In addition, more updates have been made to the
262toolbars to activate the new toolbars follow the instruction for
263using CFGMGR in the section about version 3.13. One other change
264may require some user intervention. Inadvertently the expected
265name of the filters data file was change in version 3.12 from
266filters.dat to filter.dat. We have corrected this, however, this
267means your filters may be spread across 2 different files or may
268seem to have disappeared. If they have disappeared go to the FM/2
269directory and rename the file filter.dat to filters.dat. This should
270restore your saved filters. If you find you have both filter.dat and
271filters.dat use a text editor to add the contents of filter.dat
272to filters.dat.
273
274This release also contains some menu changes with unformatted drives
275using the "drives" context menu, the elimination of more than one
276default on some submenus and menu items such as "format" being
277disabled for network drives and enabled for removables. Some of the
278changes should make FM/2 more responsive (Let us know if you notice
279a difference). We have also included some bug fixes.
280
281FM/2 3.13: Many of the changes in this release are related to
282the toolbars. A new feature is that the current toolbar, along
283with the current Target directory, are now saved and restored
284with states. Toolbar code and documentation has been improved, new
285toolbar button bitmaps have been added and bugs have been fixed.
286
287The installation of FM/2 will not replace existing user
288customization files like the toolbar files. So, if this is not
289your first installation of FM/2, some of these improvements will
290not be available because of the old, pre v3.13 toolbar files. It
291is therefore recommended that you run the following:
292
293 CFGMGR /INSTALL /DEFAULTS /TOOLBARSONLY /UNATTENDED
294
295CFGMGR is a REXX program located in the FM/2 installation directory.
296If run as given above it will copy your existing toolbar files into
297a "User_config_backup" subdirectory and then install FM/2 default
298toolbar files. If you have done some customizations of FM/2 toolbars
299you can use a text editor and/or file comparison utility like GFC
300to "merge" your changes, now found in the backup subdirectory,
301with the default files now found in the FM/2 directory. If you want
302more control over the operation of CFGMGR, then leave off the
303/UNATTENDED parameter. Without the /UNATTENDED parameter CFGMGR
304will ask your permission before replacing each file.
305
306The delete = move to trash can is off by default (turn it on on the
307General settings notebook page). FM/2 now checks for adequate disk
308space to avoid data loss.
309
310We also fixed some additional bugs and provide some performance
311enhancements. If you have had trouble with "broken pipe" errors
312copying to a Netdrive samba drive let me know if it now works
313better. I have built in some retries for this error but can't test
314it since I don't see the problem. Also please report back to us anytime
315you see the Debug error report to author box with as much detail about
316what you were doing as possible. Thanks
317
318FM/2 3.12 Fixes a bug introduced in 3.11 (trap when viewing
319multiple files from an archive at the same time). It also adds
320Open Default, Open Settings and via an accel key ctrl + l Open
321Multimedia (using FM2play.exe) to the archive viewer. FM/2 now
322uses the system TMP/TEMP directory for it temporary files and
323cleans up after a crash on the next restart. FM/2 creates a
324subdirectory of the pattern $FM2*.*. The settings notebook can
325now be closed using Esc, F3 or Enter; the last 2 save any
326changes that have been made. You can now select which environment
327variables to show when using show the environment in the drive
328tree. Just add or remove from the list on the "Tree" page of
329the notebook. It defaults initially to the current list. You can
330now save/append either a full pathname or just a filename or a
331list of either to the clipboard. We have changed the wording
332in the menus to make this easier to find. We fixed a few other
333minor issues see the history for more details.
334
335FM/2 3.11 adds the option of having delete move the objects
336to the Xworkplace trashcan. Undelete will open the trashcan
337so you can restore deleted files. The only short coming is you
338will need to rescan in order to see the restored file.
339We also added a reserved state which allows you to return
340FM/2 to the state it was in on start up (the shut down state).
341We have improved the filtering of file names that contain
342multiple periods and fixed FM/2's failure to always follow
343the details settings from the setup notebook. The primary
344task achieved for this release was the addition of fortify
345support which allowed us to fix a handful of memory usage
346related bugs. We fixed a few other minor issues see the
347history for more details.
348
349Fm/2 3.10 adds the ability to set the command line length
350to correspond to the command shell you are using. We have
351moved some menu items to submenus to reduce menu clutter
352while adding "unhide" to reveal previously hidden items and
353adding a settings notebook submenu to allow selection of the
354page you wish to visit. We have updated the look of several
355dialogs and containers including adding the ability to remember
356size location and presentation parameters. We have reworked
357the save state on close so it will save the different states
358of multiple directory containers and in greater detail. This
359state can also be restored at anytime during a session by
360selecting it from the "States" drop down. We have provided better
361progress indicators to update the progress of long operations.
362We now provide both the SYM & MAP files in a separate WarpIN
363package. This will allow interested individuals the tools needed
364to assist with analyzing any problem that may occur. This
365package is not needed to run FM/2. As always this update
366provides some performance enhancements and defect fixes.
367
368FM/2 3.09 adds "mailto:" so you can configure the ability to
369double click an email address in the new viewer and have it
370open a new email using that address. The viewer page in the
371settings notebook was split into 2 pages to facilitate the
372change. Additionally, We fixed some defects and enhanced
373performance in some areas such as commandline quoting.
374
375FM/2 3.08 has had changes to its file filtering logic.
376It now searches for the last extension if a mask like *.zip
377is used. This change was made to over come the problem with
378associations failing on files with multiple ".". You can
379also search for a complete string within the file names by
380using the pattern *stuff* (stuff can't contain an * or ?).
381If "stuff" contains an * or ? the old method of searching
382(character by character)is used.Large (>4GiB) file support
383has been added.
384
385FM/2 3.07 had changes made to its INI file structure.
386These changes mean that the INI file is not backward
387compatible. Please backup you FM3.INI file before installing
388so you can revert to an earlier version without losing some
389of your customizations. Please note you need to leave a copy
390of the fm3.ini file in the install directory in order to keep your
391customizations in 3.07. The temp file fm3.!!! will not update
392the new INI as it is only used when FM/2 is running.
393
394File Manager/2 (FM/2) starting with version 3.6 is being
395built with OpenWatcom. Changing compilers can introduce
396unexpected problem so you may want to backup your current
397install, or at minimum have a working copy of the FM/2
398version 3.5.9 WarpIN package available for reinstall if problems arise.
399To backup your current install simple zip up your install
400directory with its subdirectories or copy them to a different
401location.To restore simply copy the old FM/2 back to the
402its original location. Remember you can't use the new FM/2
403to do this since if it is running some files will be locked
404and won't be replaced. If you didn't backup and need to go
405back just install the 3.5.9 WarpIN package over the new
406install. It will warn you that the install is newer but just
407tell it to install anyway. The WarpIN install process is
408designed to save all your customizations. Don't delete the
409new install if you don't have a backup since this will result
410in the loss of any custom changes you have made. If you need
411to delete it to get the reinstall to work. Backup up the new
412install and then copy the *.bmp, *.tls, *.dat, *.cmd & *.ini
413files back to the install directory after the reinstall.
414Don't copy the *.str files as they are version specific.
415If you have problems be sure to report it (See Support
416at the end of this file).
417
418File Manager/2 (FM/2) is a free OS/2(Warp)/eCS Presentation
419Manager 32-bit file/directory/archive maintenance utility
420(a sort of super-Drives object, something midway between the
421Drives objects and a more traditional file manager) with plenty
422of bells, whistles and utilities, drag and drop, context menus,
423toolbars, bubble help and accelerator keys. If you know how
424to use OS/2, you already know how to use most of FM/2. You
425can easily glean the rest from the extensive online help,
426including tutorials.
427
428This document explains how to install FM/2, including
429upgrading from previous versions. It explains command line
430syntaxes (parameters in a program object) and how to get the
431program(s) running. The online help tells you how to
432actually use FM/2. I'll try to keep this brief.
433
434This program is free software; you can redistribute it
435and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
436License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
437version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
438version.
439
440This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
441useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
442warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
443PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
444details.
445
446You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
447License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
448Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
449Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
450
451
452FM/2 3.x installation instructions:
453==================================
454
455Pre-requisite:
456 WarpIN 0.9.20 or higher must be installed.
457
458Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 ZIP file distribution
459---------------------------------------------------------
460
4611. Unpack the FM2*.ZIP archive in a private directory (for
462example, C:\TMP). (UNZIP.EXE works nicely to unpack the
463file.) Two WPI files, FM2.WPI and FM2UTILS.WPI will be
464unzipped.
465
4662. Follow the instructions for installing from WPI file(s)
467below.
468
469
470Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 WPI file distribution
471---------------------------------------------------------
472
4731. Open the WPS folder containing the WPI file(s).
474
4752. Double click on FM2.WPI. Since WarpIN associates itself
476with WPI files this will start WarpIN with FM2.WPI as the
477parameter.
478
4793, You may then install FM/2 to a directory of your choice
480and, if FM2UTILS.WPI is present, install FM/2 Utilities to
481a directory of your choice.
482
483NOTE: If you double click on FM2UTILS.WPI instead of
484FM2.WPI, you will only be able to install the FM/2
485Utilities. It is recommended that, even if you only want to
486install FM/2 Utilities, that you do so using FM2.WPI.
487
488
489Moving FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
490----------------------------------
491
4921. Copy your existing installation directory to the new
493location.
494
4952. If you have added your own icons to any of the FM/2
496folders, then you should move them elsewhere temporarily.
497
4983. Follow the instructions for de-installing below.
499
5004. Re-install the package using the installation
501instructions above. This will update the WarpIN database and
502reset your icons to the new locations.
503
5045. Move the icons you saved in step #2, back into the FM/2
505folders if you wish.
506
507
508De-installing FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
509-----------------------------------------
510
5111. Run WarpIN without parameters.
512
5132. Right click on a package you want to de-install and
514select "de-install all packages".
515
5163. Click on OK in the "De-install Packages" window that
517appears.
518
519
520=================
521First-time notes:
522=================
523
524Starting FM/2 -- how it works, customizing parameters:
525
526If you start File Manager/2 (filename FM3.EXE) with no
527parameters, it opens the Drive Tree window but no directory
528windows (unless the "Save state of dir windows" toggle is
529checked -- see online help).
530
531File Manager/2 optionally accepts names of directories in
532the parameters field of its program object; it'll open a
533directory window for each one. Hint: If you often do
534different specific things with FM/2, you might set up a WPS
535object customized to start up ideally for each activity. For
536example, if you wanted to maintain your BBS areas, you might
537have one object with parameters like: "D:\BBSDIR
538D:\BBSDIR\MAILIN D:\BBSDIR\MAILOUT", and if you also like to
539use FM/2 to set icons on files, you might have another
540object with parameters like: "E:\MYICONS D:\NEWFILES". The
541State quicklist can also be used for this within FM/2 itself
542-- see online help.
543
544You can exclude drives in the parameters by prefacing the
545drive letter with "/", and there can be more than one drive
546letter behind the "/" (i.e. "/BH" to exclude both drives B:
547and H:). Hint: Many people like to use /B to exclude
548"phantom" drive B: if they have a single-floppy system.
549Similarly, you can cause drives NOT to be prescanned by the
550Drive Tree by prefacing the drive letter with ";", drives
551NOT to load icons for objects by prefacing the drive letter
552with ",", drives NOT to load subjects for objects by
553prefacing the drive letter with "`" and drives NOT to load
554longnames for objects by prefacing the drive letter with
555"'". This can be handy if you have a very slow drive like a
556CD-ROM or Zip drive. FM/2 Lite recognizes these switches,
557too. See also the Drive Flags dialog in FM/2.
558
559If you place the plus sign "+" (alone, separated from
560anything else by spaces) in the parameters, FM/2 will log,
561to FM2.LOG, delete, rename, move and copy operations that
562are performed by drag-and-drop or with the menus. FM/2 Lite
563recognizes this switch, too.
564
565The parameter "-" (alone, separated from anything else by
566spaces) causes FM/2 to ignore, not load or save, the
567previous state of directory windows (see the "Save state of
568dir windows" toggle under Config Menu->Toggles in the online
569help) for that invocation.
570
571You can specify the name of an alternate INI file with
572"-<inifilename>" -- for example: "-C:\FM2\MYINI.INI".
573
574You can also specify the INI file location with the
575environment variable FM2INI -- for example:
576 SET FM2INI=C:\FM2\MYINI.INI.
577
578
579------------------------------
580How to get started using FM/2:
581-----------------------------
582Please read the following sections in the online help when
583you start FM/2 for the first time: "How to use FM/2's Help,"
584"Terminology" and "General Help," then "Hints." A peek at
585the labeled "Window Layouts" pictures would probably be a
586good idea, too. The rest you can browse as you get time/feel
587the need; for instance, if you want to know what a toggle
588does, read the help under Settings notebook for that page
589(each Settings notebook page has its own Help button).
590
591If you prefer hard copy help, print this file, run FM/2,
592press F1, click the "Print" button at the bottom (IBM View)
593or top (Newview)of the help window that appears and then print
594both the "Contents" and "All sections" (keep an eye on the printer,
595after page 100 of "All sections" as the Help Manager will
596begin printing its own help then -- you may want to abort
597printing at that point). Advanced and/or curious users may
598also want to print FM3TOOLS.DAT and ARCHIVER.BB2. Be sure
599you have plenty of paper and ink handy -- the package is
600well documented. You'll probably also want a three-ring
601binder and hole punch to get it bound, as staples aren't
602going through that puppy. You can, of course, print only the
603sections that are of particular interest to you.
604
605Additional documentation:
606------------------------
607 FM3.HLP: FM/2's online help file.
608
609Look in the FM/2 Docs subfolder of the File Manager/2 folder
610for easy access to all documentation.
611
612
613Bonus programs:
614==============
615
616You'll note the extra objects that the Install program
617creates in the FM/2 Tools subfolder of the File Manager/2
618folder. FM/2 is modular, so that you can get directly to
619some of its components without running the entire ball of
620wax. This may allow you to enhance the behavior of some of
621your other applications in the WPS tradition. You don't
622_have_ to keep these around, of course -- FM/2 itself
623contains all their functionality.
624
625ARCHIVE VIEWER/2: Intended for drag-and-drop operation (or
626WPS association) with WPS objects or other applications.
627Drag an archive onto it, drop it, get an archive listing
628box. FM/2's installation program sets up some associations
629between archive files and this program by file extension.
630AV/2 will try to display whatever you give it as
631sensibly as it can. Filename AV2.EXE.
632
633EA VIEWER: Drag a file system object onto it and it'll show
634you the object's extended attributes. Filename EAS.EXE.
635
636INI VIEWER: Drag an .INI file onto it and it'll show you its
637contents. Filename INI.EXE.
638
639BOOKSHELF VIEWER: Shows all .INF files in a listbox and lets
640you pick the one(s) you want to view. If you give any
641command line argument, the .HLP files on the HELP path will
642be shown instead (the Helpfile Viewer object calls
643VIEWINFS.EXE with "dummy" for an argument, for example).
644Filename VIEWINFS.EXE.
645
646PROCESS KILLER: Lets you kill off renegade processes. An
647English version of PSTAT.EXE must be on your PATH. Filename
648KILLPROC.EXE.
649
650UNDELETE: Lets you undelete files (via interface with
651UNDELETE.COM). Drag a file system object onto it and it'll
652let you undelete files for that drive. Filename UNDEL.EXE.
653
654VISUAL TREE: Opens a Drive Tree window (like the WPS Drives
655object with more horsepower). Filename VTREE.EXE.
656
657VISUAL DIRECTORY: Opens a Directory Container window; drag a
658file system object onto it and this will open its directory
659(like a WPS directory Folder with more horsepower). Filename
660VDIR.EXE.
661
662COLLECTOR: Opens a Collector window. Filename VCOLLECT.EXE.
663Two other objects, "See all files" and "Seek and scan" are
664created which call up the Collector and go directly to
665dialogs for the appropriate purpose.
666
667GLOBAL VIEWER: Opens a global view of a drive or drives.
668Filename GLOBAL.EXE.
669
670DATABAR: Opens a databar showing some system information.
671Filename DATABAR.EXE.
672
673DIRSIZE: Shows where drive usage is concentrated. Filename
674DIRSIZE.EXE.
675
676FM/2 LITE: A simplified interface for "dummies." Filename
677FM4.EXE.
678
679FM/2's install creates FM2.CMD, AV2.CMD, VDIR.CMD,
680VTREE.CMD, VCOLLECT.CMD, UNDEL.CMD, KILLPROC.CMD, INI.CMD,
681EAS.CMD, DIRSIZE.CMD, VIEWINFS.CMD and VIEWHELP.CMD files
682for you in a directory "utils" off the install directory.
683You should add this directory to your PATH= statement in
684CONFIG.SYS (type HELP PATH at a command line for more info).
685If you prefer, FM/2's INSTALL builds a SETENV.CMD in the
686FM/2 directory which you can call to set the PATH for FM/2
687in any given session without modifying CONFIG.SYS.
688
689
690Troubleshooting:
691===============
692
693If FM/2 won't run, the probable culprit is CONFIG.SYS. Your
694LIBPATH statement should contain a ".;" entry. If yours
695doesn't, add it. It's standard for an OS/2 installation, but
696some buggy install programs knock it out because they
697translate entries to their full pathname before rewriting
698(so ".;" gets translated to whatever the current directory
699is for the buggy install program). What this ".;" entry does
700is allow a program to find and use .DLL files in the
701program's current directory -- obviously something you want
702programs to be able to do, otherwise you'd have to put every
703application's .DLLs into directories already on the LIBPATH,
704or add the directories of all applications to the LIBPATH, a
705rather huge pain in the, uh, neck.
706
707If things in FM/2 are suddenly acting strange after an
708upgrade, first check the integrity of the install using
709using WarpIN. If it shows a problem rerun the install
710package. If that fails try uninstalling with WarpIN and reinstalling.
711Backup your existing directory so you can save any changes
712you made to the template files then uninstall and reinstall.
713Once you have FM/2 working migrate the *.ini, *.dat, *.tls,
714*.bb2 and *.cmd from your old install/backup to recover your
715custom settings
716
717If the "FM/2 Online Help" object in the "FM/2 Docs"
718subfolder won't work properly, you've got a version of
719VIEW.EXE that won't directly display help (.HLP) files. Use
720SEEHELP.EXE from the FM/2 Utilities package to get around
721this problem (or upgrade your version of OS/2).
722
723Don't drag files over Netscape -- it will lock up if files
724(not WPS objects; there's a subtle difference) are dragged
725over it.
726
727If you get a popup dialog that needs to be reported to the
728maintainer, you can either take a screen shot or you can
729capture the information from STDERR with:
730
731 FM3 2>STDERR.LOG
732
733This technique works for FM/2, FM/2 Lite and all the
734standalone applets.
735
736If you are having trouble with Drag and Drop operations, try
737the + command line switch described above. The content of
738FM2.LOG may be helpful.
739
740
741Known problems/shortcomings:
742===========================
743
744- See the section of this name in the FM/2 help file (FM3.hlp).
745It is installed to the same directory as FM/2.
746
747- See http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2/report/1 for a complete list of
748currently active bugs
749
750
751About FM/2:
752==========
753
754FM/2 was originally written by:
755
756 Mark Kimes
757 <hectorplasmic@worldnet.att.net>
758
759He has kindly allowed me to take over maintenance and
760support of FM/2 and to release the program under the GNU GPL
761license. I'm sure he would appreciate a Thank You note for
762his generosity.
763
764
765Support:
766=======
767
768There is a Yahoo group devoted to fm/2 at:
769
770 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fm2user/
771
772 This group is now closed but it still contains some useful information
773
774There is a new mailing list at:
775
776 fm2-user@netlabs.org
777
778 To subscribe send an email to:
779
780 fm2-user-subscribe@netlabs.org
781
782 The subject and body can be empty.
783
784 This group is mirrored on Gmane at:
785
786 http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.org.netlabs.fm2.user
787
788You will find lots of friendly folks ready to help.
789
790FM/2 has moved to Netlabs (thanks Adrian).
791
792Check it out at
793
794 http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2
795
796To create a ticket reporting a defect or requesting an enhancement.
797You must be logged into TRAC. Please login with your Netlabs login id.
798If you do not have a login id, you can request one at
799http://www.netlabs.org/en/site/member/member.xml.
800If you have troubles acquiring a Netlabs login id send an e-mail to
801Netlabs Community Mailing List <community@netlabs.org>.
802
803You can also browse the source at this site.
804
805To obtain the source from the SVN use something like the following to check out the trunk
806
807 mkdir fm2_workspace
808 cd fm2_workspace
809 svn checkout http://svn.netlabs.org/repos/fm2/trunk trunk
810
811If you wish commit access please contact us directly.
812
813You can reach us directly at:
814
815 Steven H. Levine
816 steve53@earthlink.net
817
818 or
819
820 Gregg Young
821 ygk@qwest.net
822
823We also monitor the comp.os.os2.apps newsgroup, several
824others in the comp.os.os2.* hierarchy and other groups where
825release announcements are made.
826
827Thanks and enjoy.
828
829$Id: README 1881 2015-10-12 18:32:22Z gyoung $
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