source: trunk/README@ 1036

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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 3.10 adds the ability to set the command line length
9to correspond to the command shell you are using. We have
10moved some menu items to submenus to reduce menu clutter
11while adding "unhide" to reveal previously hidden items and
12adding a settings notebook submenu to allow selection of the
13page you wish to visit. We have updated the look of several
14dialogs and containers including adding the ability to remember
15size location and presentation parameters. We have reworked
16the the save state on close so it will save the different
17states of multiple directory containers and in greater detail.
18This state can also be restore at anytime during a session by
19selecting it from the "States" drop down. We have provided better
20progress indicators to update the progress of long operations.
21We now provide both the SYM & MAP files in a separate warpin
22package. This will allow interested individuals the tools needed
23to assist with analysing any problem that may occur. This
24package is not needed to run FM/2. As always this update
25provides some performance enhancements and defect fixes.
26
27FM/2 3.09 adds "mailto:" so you can configure the ability to
28double click an email address in the new viewer and have it
29open a new email using that address. The viewer page in the
30settings notebook was split into 2 pages to facilitate the
31change. Additionally, We fixed some defects and enhance
32performance in some areas such as commandline quoting.
33
34FM/2 3.08 has had changes to its file filtering logic.
35It now searches for the last extension if a mask like *.zip
36is used. This change was made to over come the problem with
37associations failing on files with multiple ".". You can
38also seach for a complete string within the file names by
39using the pattern *stuff* (stuff can't contain an * or ?).
40If "stuff" contains an * or ? the old method of searching
41(character by character)is used.Large (>4GiB) file support
42has been added.
43
44FM/2 3.07 had changes made to its ini file structure.
45These changes mean that the ini file is not backward
46compatible. Please backup you FM3.INI file before installing
47so you can revert to an earlier version without losing some
48of your customizations. Please note you need to leave a copy
49of the fm3.ini file in the install directory in order to keep your
50customizations in 3.07. The temp file fm3.!!! will not update
51the new ini as it is only used when fm2 is running.
52
53File Manager/2 (FM/2) starting with version 3.6 is being
54built with OpenWatcom. Changing compilers can introduce
55unexpected problem so you may want to backup your current
56install, or at minimum have a working copy of the FM/2
57version 3.5.9 warpin available for reinstall if problems arise.
58To backup your current install simple zip up your install
59directory with its subdirectories or copy them to a different
60location.To restore simply copy the old FM/2 back to the
61its original location. Remember you can't use the new FM/2
62to do this since if it is running some files will be locked
63and won't be replaced. If you didn't backup and need to go
64back just install the 3.5.9 warpin package over the new
65install. It will warn you that the install is newer but just
66tell it to install anyway. The warpin install process is
67designed to save all your customizations. Don't delete the
68new install if you don't have a backup since this will result
69in the loss of any custom changes you have made. If you need
70to delete it to get the reinstall to work. Backup up the new
71install and then copy the *.bmp, *.tls, *.dat, *.cmd & *.ini
72files back to the install directory after the reinstall.
73Don't copy the *.str files as they are version specific.
74If you have problems be sure to report it (See Support
75at the end of this file).
76
77File Manager/2 (FM/2) is a free OS/2(Warp)/eCS Presentation
78Manager 32-bit file/directory/archive maintenance utility
79(a sort of super-Drives object, something midway between the
80Drives objects and a more traditional file manager) with plenty
81of bells, whistles and utilities, drag and drop, context menus,
82toolbars, bubble help and accelerator keys. If you know how
83to use OS/2, you already know how to use most of FM/2. You
84can easily glean the rest from the extensive online help,
85including tutorials.
86
87This document explains how to install FM/2, including
88upgrading from previous versions. It explains command line
89syntaxes (parameters in a program object) and how to get the
90program(s) running. The online help tells you how to
91actually use FM/2. I'll try to keep this brief.
92
93This program is free software; you can redistribute it
94and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
95License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
96version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
97version.
98
99This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
100useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
101warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
102PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
103details.
104
105You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
106License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
107Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
108Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
109
110
111FM/2 3.x installation instructions:
112==================================
113
114Pre-requisite:
115 WarpIN 0.9.20 or higher must be installed.
116
117Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 ZIP file distribution
118---------------------------------------------------------
119
1201. Unpack the FM2*.ZIP archive in a private directory (for
121example, C:\TMP). (UNZIP.EXE works nicely to unpack the
122file.) Two WPI files, FM2.WPI and FM2UTILS.WPI will be
123unzipped.
124
1252. Follow the instructions for installing from WPI file(s)
126below.
127
128
129Install (or re-install) from a FM/2 WPI file distribution
130---------------------------------------------------------
131
1321. Open the WPS folder containing the WPI file(s).
133
1342. Double click on FM2.WPI. Since WarpIN associates itself
135with WPI files this will start WarpIN with FM2.WPI as the
136parameter.
137
1383, You may then install FM/2 to a directory of your choice
139and, if FM2UTILS.WPI is present, install FM/2 Utilities to
140a directory of your choice.
141
142NOTE: If you double click on FM2UTILS.WPI instead of
143FM2.WPI, you will only be able to install the FM/2
144Utilities. It is recommended that, even if you only want to
145install FM/2 Utilities, that you do so using FM2.WPI.
146
147
148Moving FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
149----------------------------------
150
1511. Copy your existing installation directory to the new
152location.
153
1542. If you have added your own icons to any of the FM/2
155folders, then you should move them elsewhere temporarily.
156
1573. Follow the instructions for de-installing below.
158
1594. Re-install the package using the installation
160instructions above. This will update the WarpIN database and
161reset your icons to the new locations.
162
1635. Move the icons you saved in step #2, back into the FM/2
164folders if you wish.
165
166
167De-installing FM/2 and/or FM/2 Utilities:
168-----------------------------------------
169
1701. Run Warpin without parameters.
171
1722. Right click on a package you want to de-install and
173select "de-install all packages".
174
1753. Click on OK in the "De-install Packages" window that
176appears.
177
178
179
180=================
181First-time notes:
182=================
183
184Starting FM/2 -- how it works, customizing parameters:
185
186If you start File Manager/2 (filename FM3.EXE) with no
187parameters, it opens the Drive Tree window but no directory
188windows (unless the "Save state of dir windows" toggle is
189checked -- see online help).
190
191File Manager/2 optionally accepts names of directories in
192the parameters field of its program object; it'll open a
193directory window for each one. Hint: If you often do
194different specific things with FM/2, you might set up a WPS
195object customized to start up ideally for each activity. For
196example, if you wanted to maintain your BBS areas, you might
197have one object with parameters like: "D:\BBSDIR
198D:\BBSDIR\MAILIN D:\BBSDIR\MAILOUT", and if you also like to
199use FM/2 to set icons on files, you might have another
200object with parameters like: "E:\MYICONS D:\NEWFILES". The
201State quicklist can also be used for this within FM/2 itself
202-- see online help.
203
204You can exclude drives in the parameters by prefacing the
205drive letter with "/", and there can be more than one drive
206letter behind the "/" (i.e. "/BH" to exclude both drives B:
207and H:). Hint: Many people like to use /B to exclude
208"phantom" drive B: if they have a single-floppy system.
209Similarly, you can cause drives NOT to be prescanned by the
210Drive Tree by prefacing the drive letter with ";", drives
211NOT to load icons for objects by prefacing the drive letter
212with ",", drives NOT to load subjects for objects by
213prefacing the drive letter with "`" and drives NOT to load
214longnames for objects by prefacing the drive letter with
215"'". This can be handy if you have a very slow drive like a
216CD-ROM or Zip drive. FM/2 Lite recognizes these switches,
217too. See also the Drive Flags dialog in FM/2.
218
219If you place the plus sign "+" (alone, separated from
220anything else by spaces) in the parameters, FM/2 will log,
221to FM2.LOG, delete, rename, move and copy operations that
222are performed by drag-and-drop or with the menus. FM/2 Lite
223recognizes this switch, too.
224
225The parameter "-" (alone, separated from anything else by
226spaces) causes FM/2 to ignore, not load or save, the
227previous state of directory windows (see the "Save state of
228dir windows" toggle under Config Menu->Toggles in the online
229help) for that invocation.
230
231You can specify the name of an alternate INI file with
232"-<inifilename>" -- for example: "-C:\FM2\MYINI.INI".
233
234You can also specify the INI file location with the
235environment variable FM2INI -- for example:
236 SET FM2INI=C:\FM2\MYINI.INI.
237
238
239------------------------------
240How to get started using FM/2:
241-----------------------------
242Please read the following sections in the online help when
243you start FM/2 for the first time: "How to use FM/2's Help,"
244"Terminology" and "General Help," then "Hints." A peek at
245the labelled "Window Layouts" pictures would probably be a
246good idea, too. The rest you can browse as you get time/feel
247the need; for instance, if you want to know what a toggle
248does, read the help under Settings notebook for that page
249(each Settings notebook page has its own Help button).
250
251If you prefer hard copy help, print this file, run FM/2,
252press F1, click the "Print" button at the bottom (IBM View)
253or top (Newview)of the help window that appears and then print
254both the "Contents" and "All sections" (keep an eye on the printer,
255after page 100 of "All sections" as the Help Manager will
256begin printing its own help then -- you may want to abort
257printing at that point). Advanced and/or curious users may
258also want to print FM3TOOLS.DAT and ARCHIVER.BB2. Be sure
259you have plenty of paper and ink handy -- the package is
260well documented. You'll probably also want a three-ring
261binder and hole punch to get it bound, as staples aren't
262going through that puppy. You can, of course, print only the
263sections that are of particular interest to you.
264
265Additional documentation:
266------------------------
267 FM3.HLP: FM/2's online help file.
268
269Look in the FM/2 Docs subfolder of the File Manager/2 folder
270for easy access to all documentation.
271
272
273Bonus programs:
274==============
275
276You'll note the extra objects that the Install program
277creates in the FM/2 Tools subfolder of the File Manager/2
278folder. FM/2 is modular, so that you can get directly to
279some of its components without running the entire ball of
280wax. This may allow you to enhance the behavior of some of
281your other applications in the WPS tradition. You don't
282_have_ to keep these around, of course -- FM/2 itself
283contains all their functionality.
284
285ARCHIVE VIEWER/2: Intended for drag-and-drop operation (or
286WPS association) with WPS objects or other applications.
287Drag an archive onto it, drop it, get an archive listing
288box. FM/2's installation program sets up some associations
289between archive files and this program by file extension.
290AV/2 will try to display whatever you give it as
291sensibly as it can. Filename AV2.EXE.
292
293EA VIEWER: Drag a file system object onto it and it'll show
294you the object's extended attributes. Filename EAS.EXE.
295
296INI VIEWER: Drag an .INI file onto it and it'll show you its
297contents. Filename INI.EXE.
298
299BOOKSHELF VIEWER: Shows all .INF files in a listbox and lets
300you pick the one(s) you want to view. If you give any
301command line argument, the .HLP files on the HELP path will
302be shown instead (the Helpfile Viewer object calls
303VIEWINFS.EXE with "dummy" for an argument, for example).
304Filename VIEWINFS.EXE.
305
306PROCESS KILLER: Lets you kill off renegade processes. An
307English version of PSTAT.EXE must be on your PATH. Filename
308KILLPROC.EXE.
309
310UNDELETER: Lets you undelete files (via interface with
311UNDELETE.COM). Drag a file system object onto it and it'll
312let you undelete files for that drive. Filename UNDEL.EXE.
313
314VISUAL TREE: Opens a Drive Tree window (like the WPS Drives
315object with more horsepower). Filename VTREE.EXE.
316
317VISUAL DIRECTORY: Opens a Directory Container window; drag a
318file system object onto it and this will open its directory
319(like a WPS directory Folder with more horsepower). Filename
320VDIR.EXE.
321
322COLLECTOR: Opens a Collector window. Filename VCOLLECT.EXE.
323Two other objects, "See all files" and "Seek and scan" are
324created which call up the Collector and go directly to
325dialogs for the appropriate purpose.
326
327GLOBAL VIEWER: Opens a global view of a drive or drives.
328Filename GLOBAL.EXE.
329
330DATABAR: Opens a databar showing some system information.
331Filename DATABAR.EXE.
332
333DIRSIZE: Shows where drive usage is concentrated. Filename
334DIRSIZE.EXE.
335
336FM/2 LITE: A simplified interface for "dummies." Filename
337FM4.EXE.
338
339FM/2's install creates FM2.CMD, AV2.CMD, VDIR.CMD,
340VTREE.CMD, VCOLLECT.CMD, UNDEL.CMD, KILLPROC.CMD, INI.CMD,
341EAS.CMD, DIRSIZE.CMD, VIEWINFS.CMD and VIEWHELP.CMD files
342for you in a directory "utils" off the install directory.
343You should add this directory to your PATH= statement in
344CONFIG.SYS (type HELP PATH at a command line for more info).
345If you prefer, FM/2's INSTALL builds a SETENV.CMD in the
346FM/2 directory which you can call to set the PATH for FM/2
347in any given session without modifying CONFIG.SYS.
348
349
350Troubleshooting:
351===============
352
353FM/2 seems much slower than previous versions.
354The Find Buffer in FM/2 has been reworked to make it user
355settable in more place and significantly enlarge it. This
356significantly increases the loading speed for large directories
357However, most users will need to reset the buffer by going
358to the settings notebook scanning page and setting FindBuf.
359The new default for clean installs is 10240. We recommend you
360change to this setting (or higher) unless you have very limited
361hardware (less than 32 meg of memory original Pentium or earlier).
362
363If FM/2 won't run, the probable culprit is CONFIG.SYS. Your
364LIBPATH statement should contain a ".;" entry. If yours
365doesn't, add it. It's standard for an OS/2 installation, but
366some buggy install programs knock it out because they
367translate entries to their full pathname before rewriting
368(so ".;" gets translated to whatever the current directory
369is for the buggy install program). What this ".;" entry does
370is allow a program to find and use .DLL files in the
371program's current directory -- obviously something you want
372programs to be able to do, otherwise you'd have to put every
373application's .DLLs into directories already on the LIBPATH,
374or add the directories of all applications to the LIBPATH, a
375rather huge pain in the, uh, neck.
376
377If things in FM/2 are suddenly acting strange after an
378upgrade, first check the integrity of the install using
379using WarpIN. If it shows a problem rerun the install
380package. If that fails try installing to a new directory
381or backup your existing directory so you can save any changes
382you made to the template files then uninstall and reinstall.
383Once you have FM/2 working migrate the *.ini, *.dat, *.tls,
384*.bb2 and *.cmd from your old install/backup to recover your
385custom settings
386
387If the "FM/2 Online Help" object in the "FM/2 Docs"
388subfolder won't work properly, you've got a version of
389VIEW.EXE that won't directly display help (.HLP) files. Use
390SEEHELP.EXE from the FM/2 Utilities package to get around
391this problem (or upgrade your version of OS/2).
392
393Don't drag files over Netscape -- it will lock up if files
394(not WPS objects; there's a subtle difference) are dragged
395over it.
396
397If you get a popup dialog that needs to be reported to the
398maintainer, you can either take a screen shot or you can
399capture the information from STDERR with:
400
401 FM3 2>STDERR.LOG
402
403This technique works for all the FM/2, FM/2 Lite and all the
404standalone applets.
405
406If you are having trouble with Drag and Drop operations, try
407the + command line switch described above. The content of
408FM2.LOG may be helpful.
409
410
411Known problems/shortcomings:
412===========================
413
414- FM/2 does not properly report sizes of some files with
415long name resident on Win95/NT drives.
416
417- File List Container fails to fill after drive change
418SYS0039 error.
419
420- Tree switching on Focus/Directory Change appears to be
421slower than expected.
422
423- Access to LS120 and FAT32 drives may be slower than expected
424
425- Icon display in Directory Container does not always match
426WPS icons
427
428- Spurious WPS Objects Handles may be created during some
429operations
430
431- Trying to run Global.exe from the command line in 4OS2
432(perhaps other shells) results in the execution of 4OS2's "Global"
433command. Global.exe can be run by placing it in quotes or
434prefixing it with *. See 4OS2's documentation for more information.
435
436- As with any OS/2 program significant changes (such as our
437change to OpenWatcom) will result in the incompatibility of
438older (VAC) exes with new dlls and vice versa. Attempting to run
439OpenWatcom exes with a VAC dll loaded in memory or in your
440libpath ahead of the new version will result in a SYS3175 in
441popuplog.os2. The reverse gives a SYS2070. If you experience these
442problems search your libpath for fm3dll.dll and remove or rename
443it. Your libpath should have "." (without the quotes) as your
444first entry to minimize the likelihood of this problem. FM/2's
445installer does not add the FM/2 directory to the libpath.
446
447- See http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2/report/1 for a complete list of
448currently active bugs
449
450
451
452About FM/2:
453==========
454
455FM/2 was originally written by:
456
457 Mark Kimes
458 <hectorplasmic@worldnet.att.net>
459
460He has kindly allowed me to take over maintenance and
461support of FM/2 and to release the program under the GNU GPL
462license. I'm sure he would appreciate a Thank You note for
463his generosity.
464
465Support:
466=======
467
468There is a Yahoo group devoted to fm/2 at:
469
470 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fm2user/
471
472You will find lots of friendly folks ready to help.
473
474FM/2 is moving to Netlabs (thanks Adrian).
475
476Check it out at
477
478 http://svn.netlabs.org/fm2
479
480Not everything is in place yet, but this is the place to
481enter defect tickets and enhancement requests (username netlabs,
482password guest; please include a valid email so we can contact you
483if we need more information). Eventually, the mailing list and the
484file archives will all move to the Netlabs server where you can
485find the source code.
486
487You can reach us directly at:
488
489 Steven H. Levine
490 steve53@earthlink.net
491
492 or
493
494 Gregg Young
495 ygk@qwest.net
496
497We also monitor the comp.os.os2.apps newsgroup and several
498others in the comp.os.os2.* hierarchy.
499
500Thanks and enjoy.
501
502$Id: README 996 2008-03-02 23:26:33Z gyoung $
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