source: trunk/README@ 827

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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 3.07 has had changes made to its ini file structure.
9These changes mean that the ini file is not backward
10compatible. Please backup you FM3.INI file before installing
11so you can revert to an earlier version without losing some
12of your customizations. Please note you need to leave a copy
13of the fm3.ini file in the install directory in order to keep your
14customizations in 3.07. The temp file fm3.!!! will not update
15the new ini as it is only used when fm2 is running.
16
17File Manager/2 (FM/2) starting with version 3.6 is being
18built with OpenWatcom. Changing compilers can introduce
19unexpected problem so you may want to backup your current
20install, or at minimum have a working copy of the FM/2
21version 3.5.9 warpin available for reinstall if problems arise.
22To backup your current install simple zip up your install
23directory with its subdirectories or copy them to a different
24location.To restore simply copy the old FM/2 back to the
25its original location. Remember you can't use the new FM/2
26to do this since if it is running some files will be locked
27and won't be replaced. If you didn't backup and need to go
28back just install the 3.5.9 warpin package over the new
29install. It will warn you that the install is newer but just
30tell it to install anyway. The warpin install process is
31designed to save all your customizations. Don't delete the
32new install if you don't have a backup since this will result
33in the loss of any custom changes you have made. If you need
34to delete it to get the reinstall to work. Backup up the new
35install and then copy the *.bmp, *.tls, *.dat, *.cmd & *.ini
36files back to the install directory after the reinstall.
37Don't copy the *.str files as they are version specific.
38If you have problems be sure to report it (See Support
39at the end of this file).
40
41File Manager/2 (FM/2) is a free OS/2(Warp)/eCS Presentation
42Manager 32-bit file/directory/archive maintenance utility
43(a sort of super-Drives object, something midway between the
44Drives objects and a more traditional file manager) with plenty
45of bells, whistles and utilities, drag and drop, context menus,
46toolbars, bubble help and accelerator keys. If you know how
47to use OS/2, you already know how to use most of FM/2. You
48can easily glean the rest from the extensive online help,
49including tutorials.
50
51This document explains how to install FM/2, including
52upgrading from previous versions. It explains command line
53syntaxes (parameters in a program object) and how to get the
54program(s) running. The online help tells you how to
55actually use FM/2. I'll try to keep this brief.
56
57This program is free software; you can redistribute it
58and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
59License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
60version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
61version.
62
63This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
64useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
65warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
66PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
67details.
68
69You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
70License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
71Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
72Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
73
74
75FM/2 3.x installation instructions:
76==================================
77
78Pre-requisite:
79 WarpIN 0.9.20 or higher must be installed.
80
81Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 ZIP file distribution
82---------------------------------------------------------
83
841. Unpack the FM2*.ZIP archive in a private directory (for
85example, C:\TMP). (UNZIP.EXE works nicely to unpack the
86file.) Two WPI files, FM2.WPI and FM2UTILS.WPI will be
87unzipped.
88
892. Follow the instructions for installing from WPI file(s)
90below.
91
92
93Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 WPI file distribution
94---------------------------------------------------------
95
961. Open the WPS folder containing the WPI file(s).
97
982. Double click on FM2.WPI. Since WarpIN associates itself
99with WPI files this will start WarpIN with FM2.WPI as the
100parameter.
101
1023, You may then install FM/2 to a directory of your choice
103and, if FM2UTILS.WPI is present, install FM/2 Utilities to
104a directory of your choice.
105
106NOTE: If you double click on FM2UTILS.WPI instead of
107FM2.WPI, you will only be able to install the FM/2
108Utilities. It is recommended that, even if you only want to
109install FM/2 Utilities, that you do so using FM2.WPI.
110
111
112Moving FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
113----------------------------------
114
1151. Copy your existing installation directory to the new
116location.
117
1182. If you have added your own icons to any of the FM/2
119folders, then you should move them elsewhere temporarily.
120
1213. Follow the instructions for de-installing below.
122
1234. Re-install the package using the installation
124instructions above. This will update the WarpIN database and
125reset your icons to the new locations.
126
1275. Move the icons you saved in step #2, back into the FM/2
128folders if you wish.
129
130
131De-installing FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
132-----------------------------------------
133
1341. Run Warpin without parameters.
135
1362. Right click on a package you want to de-install and
137select "de-install all packages".
138
1393. Click on OK in the "De-install Packages" window that
140appears.
141
142
143
144=================
145First-time notes:
146=================
147
148Starting FM/2 -- how it works, customizing parameters:
149
150If you start File Manager/2 (filename FM3.EXE) with no
151parameters, it opens the Drive Tree window but no directory
152windows (unless the "Save state of dir windows" toggle is
153checked -- see online help).
154
155File Manager/2 optionally accepts names of directories in
156the parameters field of its program object; it'll open a
157directory window for each one. Hint: If you often do
158different specific things with FM/2, you might set up a WPS
159object customized to start up ideally for each activity. For
160example, if you wanted to maintain your BBS areas, you might
161have one object with parameters like: "D:\BBSDIR
162D:\BBSDIR\MAILIN D:\BBSDIR\MAILOUT", and if you also like to
163use FM/2 to set icons on files, you might have another
164object with parameters like: "E:\MYICONS D:\NEWFILES". The
165State quicklist can also be used for this within FM/2 itself
166-- see online help.
167
168You can exclude drives in the parameters by prefacing the
169drive letter with "/", and there can be more than one drive
170letter behind the "/" (i.e. "/BH" to exclude both drives B:
171and H:). Hint: Many people like to use /B to exclude
172"phantom" drive B: if they have a single-floppy system.
173Similarly, you can cause drives NOT to be prescanned by the
174Drive Tree by prefacing the drive letter with ";", drives
175NOT to load icons for objects by prefacing the drive letter
176with ",", drives NOT to load subjects for objects by
177prefacing the drive letter with "`" and drives NOT to load
178longnames for objects by prefacing the drive letter with
179"'". This can be handy if you have a very slow drive like a
180CD-ROM or Zip drive. FM/2 Lite recognizes these switches,
181too. See also the Drive Flags dialog in FM/2.
182
183If you place the plus sign "+" (alone, separated from
184anything else by spaces) in the parameters, FM/2 will log,
185to FM2.LOG, delete, rename, move and copy operations that
186are performed by drag-and-drop or with the menus. FM/2 Lite
187recognizes this switch, too.
188
189The parameter "-" (alone, separated from anything else by
190spaces) causes FM/2 to ignore, not load or save, the
191previous state of directory windows (see the "Save state of
192dir windows" toggle under Config Menu->Toggles in the online
193help) for that invocation.
194
195You can specify the name of an alternate INI file with
196"-<inifilename>" -- for example: "-C:\FM2\MYINI.INI".
197
198You can also specify the INI file location with the
199environment variable FM2INI -- for example:
200 SET FM2INI=C:\FM2\MYINI.INI.
201
202
203------------------------------
204How to get started using FM/2:
205-----------------------------
206Please read the following sections in the online help when
207you start FM/2 for the first time: "How to use FM/2's Help,"
208"Terminology" and "General Help," then "Hints." A peek at
209the labelled "Window Layouts" pictures would probably be a
210good idea, too. The rest you can browse as you get time/feel
211the need; for instance, if you want to know what a toggle
212does, read the help under Settings notebook for that page
213(each Settings notebook page has its own Help button).
214
215If you prefer hard copy help, print this file, run FM/2,
216press F1, click the "Print" button at the bottom (IBM View)
217or top (Newview)of the help window that appears and then print
218both the "Contents" and "All sections" (keep an eye on the printer,
219after page 100 of "All sections" as the Help Manager will
220begin printing its own help then -- you may want to abort
221printing at that point). Advanced and/or curious users may
222also want to print FM3TOOLS.DAT and ARCHIVER.BB2. Be sure
223you have plenty of paper and ink handy -- the package is
224well documented. You'll probably also want a three-ring
225binder and hole punch to get it bound, as staples aren't
226going through that puppy. You can, of course, print only the
227sections that are of particular interest to you.
228
229Additional documentation:
230------------------------
231 FM3.HLP: FM/2's online help file.
232
233Look in the FM/2 Docs subfolder of the File Manager/2 folder
234for easy access to all documentation.
235
236
237Bonus programs:
238==============
239
240You'll note the extra objects that the Install program
241creates in the FM/2 Tools subfolder of the File Manager/2
242folder. FM/2 is modular, so that you can get directly to
243some of its components without running the entire ball of
244wax. This may allow you to enhance the behavior of some of
245your other applications in the WPS tradition. You don't
246_have_ to keep these around, of course -- FM/2 itself
247contains all their functionality.
248
249ARCHIVE VIEWER/2: Intended for drag-and-drop operation (or
250WPS association) with WPS objects or other applications.
251Drag an archive onto it, drop it, get an archive listing
252box. FM/2's installation program sets up some associations
253between archive files and this program by file extension.
254AV/2 will try to display whatever you give it as
255sensibly as it can. Filename AV2.EXE.
256
257EA VIEWER: Drag a file system object onto it and it'll show
258you the object's extended attributes. Filename EAS.EXE.
259
260INI VIEWER: Drag an .INI file onto it and it'll show you its
261contents. Filename INI.EXE.
262
263BOOKSHELF VIEWER: Shows all .INF files in a listbox and lets
264you pick the one(s) you want to view. If you give any
265command line argument, the .HLP files on the HELP path will
266be shown instead (the Helpfile Viewer object calls
267VIEWINFS.EXE with "dummy" for an argument, for example).
268Filename VIEWINFS.EXE.
269
270PROCESS KILLER: Lets you kill off renegade processes. An
271English version of PSTAT.EXE must be on your PATH. Filename
272KILLPROC.EXE.
273
274UNDELETER: Lets you undelete files (via interface with
275UNDELETE.COM). Drag a file system object onto it and it'll
276let you undelete files for that drive. Filename UNDEL.EXE.
277
278VISUAL TREE: Opens a Drive Tree window (like the WPS Drives
279object with more horsepower). Filename VTREE.EXE.
280
281VISUAL DIRECTORY: Opens a Directory Container window; drag a
282file system object onto it and this will open its directory
283(like a WPS directory Folder with more horsepower). Filename
284VDIR.EXE.
285
286COLLECTOR: Opens a Collector window. Filename VCOLLECT.EXE.
287Two other objects, "See all files" and "Seek and scan" are
288created which call up the Collector and go directly to
289dialogs for the appropriate purpose.
290
291GLOBAL VIEWER: Opens a global view of a drive or drives.
292Filename GLOBAL.EXE.
293
294DATABAR: Opens a databar showing some system information.
295Filename DATABAR.EXE.
296
297DIRSIZE: Shows where drive usage is concentrated. Filename
298DIRSIZE.EXE.
299
300FM/2 LITE: A simplified interface for "dummies." Filename
301FM4.EXE.
302
303FM/2's install creates FM2.CMD, AV2.CMD, VDIR.CMD,
304VTREE.CMD, VCOLLECT.CMD, UNDEL.CMD, KILLPROC.CMD, INI.CMD,
305EAS.CMD, DIRSIZE.CMD, VIEWINFS.CMD and VIEWHELP.CMD files
306for you in a directory "utils" off the install directory.
307You should add this directory to your PATH= statement in
308CONFIG.SYS (type HELP PATH at a command line for more info).
309If you prefer, FM/2's INSTALL builds a SETENV.CMD in the
310FM/2 directory which you can call to set the PATH for FM/2
311in any given session without modifying CONFIG.SYS.
312
313
314Troubleshooting:
315===============
316
317FM/2 seems much slower than previous versions.
318The Find Buffer in FM/2 has been reworked to make it user
319settable in more place and significantly enlarge it. This
320significantly increases the loading speed for large directories
321However, most users will need to reset the buffer by going
322to the settings notebook scanning page and setting FindBuf.
323The new default for clean installs is 10240. We recommend you
324change to this setting (or higher) unless you have very limited
325hardware (less than 32 meg of memory original Pentium or earlier).
326
327If FM/2 won't run, the probable culprit is CONFIG.SYS. Your
328LIBPATH statement should contain a ".;" entry. If yours
329doesn't, add it. It's standard for an OS/2 installation, but
330some buggy install programs knock it out because they
331translate entries to their full pathname before rewriting
332(so ".;" gets translated to whatever the current directory
333is for the buggy install program). What this ".;" entry does
334is allow a program to find and use .DLL files in the
335program's current directory -- obviously something you want
336programs to be able to do, otherwise you'd have to put every
337application's .DLLs into directories already on the LIBPATH,
338or add the directories of all applications to the LIBPATH, a
339rather huge pain in the, uh, neck.
340
341If things in FM/2 are suddenly acting strange after an
342upgrade, first check the integrity of the install using
343using WarpIN. If it shows a problem rerun the install
344package. If that fails try installing to a new directory
345or backup your existing directory so you can save any changes
346you made to the template files then uninstall and reinstall.
347Once you have FM/2 working migrate the *.ini, *.dat, *.tls,
348*.bb2 and *.cmd from your old install/backup to recover your
349custom settings
350
351If the "FM/2 Online Help" object in the "FM/2 Docs"
352subfolder won't work properly, you've got a version of
353VIEW.EXE that won't directly display help (.HLP) files. Use
354SEEHELP.EXE from the FM/2 Utilities package to get around
355this problem (or upgrade your version of OS/2).
356
357Don't drag files over Netscape -- it will lock up if files
358(not WPS objects; there's a subtle difference) are dragged
359over it.
360
361If you get a popup dialog that needs to be reported to the
362maintainer, you can either take a screen shot or you can
363capture the information from STDERR with:
364
365 FM3 2>STDERR.LOG
366
367This technique works for all the FM/2, FM/2 Lite and all the
368standalone applets.
369
370If you are having trouble with Drag and Drop operations, try
371the + command line switch described above. The content of
372FM2.LOG may be helpful.
373
374
375Known problems/shortcomings:
376===========================
377
378- FM/2 does not properly report sizes of some files with
379long name resident on Win95/NT drives.
380
381- File List Container fails to fill after drive change
382SYS0039 error.
383
384- Tree switching on Focus/Directory Change appears to be
385slower than expected.
386
387- Access to LS120 and FAT32 drives may be slower than expected
388
389- Icon display in Directory Container does not always match
390WPS icons
391
392- Spurious WPS Objects Handles may be created during some
393operations
394
395- Trying to run Global.exe from the command line in 4OS2
396(perhaps other shells) results in the execution of 4OS2's "Global"
397command. Global.exe can be run by placing it in quotes or
398prefixing it with *. See 4OS2's documentation for more information.
399
400- As with any OS/2 program significant changes (such as our
401change to OpenWatcom) will result in the incompatibility of
402older (VAC) exes with new dlls and vice versa. Attempting to run
403OpenWatcom exes with a VAC dll loaded in memory or in your
404libpath ahead of the new version will result in a SYS3175 in
405popuplog.os2. The reverse gives a SYS2070. If you experience these
406problems search your libpath for fm3dll.dll and remove or rename
407it. Your libpath should have "." (without the quotes) as your
408first entry to minimize the likelihood of this problem. FM/2's
409installer does not add the FM/2 directory to the libpath.
410
411- See http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2/report/1 for a complete list of
412currently active bugs
413
414
415
416About FM/2:
417==========
418
419FM/2 was originally written by:
420
421 Mark Kimes
422 <hectorplasmic@worldnet.att.net>
423
424He has kindly allowed me to take over maintenance and
425support of FM/2 and to release the program under the GNU GPL
426license. I'm sure he would appreciate a Thank You note for
427his generosity.
428
429Support:
430=======
431
432There is a Yahoo group devoted to fm/2 at:
433
434 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fm2user/
435
436You will find lots of friendly folks ready to help.
437
438FM/2 is moving to Netlabs (thanks Adrian).
439
440Check it out at
441
442 http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2
443
444Not everything is in place yet, but this is the place to
445enter defect tickets and enhancement requests (username netlabs,
446password guest; please include a valid email so we can contact you
447if we need more information). Eventually, the mailing list and the
448file archives will all move to the Netlabs server where you can
449find the source code.
450
451You can reach us directly at:
452
453 Steven H. Levine
454 steve53@earthlink.net
455
456 or
457
458 Gregg Young
459 ygk@qwest.net
460
461We also monitor the comp.os.os2.apps newsgroup and several
462others in the comp.os.os2.* hierarchy.
463
464Thanks and enjoy.
465
466$Id: README 811 2007-08-26 21:35:41Z gyoung $
467
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