**************************************************************************** * I'll make this documentation short n' sweet so you can either start * * using these utilities immediately or delete them without further effort. * **************************************************************************** -=> NOTICE! All these programs were written for the CLI only! <=- Three of these programs (do, setup, shutdown) are quick n' dirty (tm) programs I wrote to make my life easier: DO : presents a small menu of up to 8 CLI commands for the user to select SETUP : looks in 'S:Setup' and executes the commands it finds there depending on what directory you are currently in SHUTDOWN : same as 'SETUP', but looks in 'S:Shutdown' I've always found that actual examples are much more useful than tons o' prose, so this is what my 'S:Setup' file looks like: -------------------------------- S:Setup ----------------------------------- HD:Assembly echo "Remember to do a 'shutdown' when you're done!" assign lib: HD:Lattice/lib STOP HD:Games/NetHack assign NetHack: "" do < * 'run nethack' 'dir save' 'dir levels' 'delete levels/bones.??' 'delete levels/bones.#?' assign NetHack: STOP HD:Games/Tetrix assign Tetrix: "" Tetrix assign Tetrix: STOP HD:Lattice echo "Remember to do a 'shutdown' when you're done!" assign lc: hd:compilers assign lib: lib assign include: include assign quad: vdk: rez > NIL: blink lc lc1 lc2 STOP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The corresponding 'S:Shutdown' file looks like so: ------------------------------ S:Shutdown ---------------------------------- HD:Assembly assign lib: STOP HD:Lattice assign lc: assign lib: assign include: assign quad: rez > NIL: -r blink lc lc1 lc2 STOP --------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK, so what does it all actually mean? Well, you've probably already picked out the directory names (HD:Assembly, HD:Lattice, etc.). What 'Setup' and 'Shutdown' do is find which directory you are currently CD'd to, and then search for that directory in either 'S:Setup' or 'S:Shutdown'. If it is found, the two programs then begin executing the commands after that directory name line, until the 'STOP' keyword is reached. Since I have a bunch o' programs on my hard drive that require custom ASSIGN's before they can run, I decided that - instead of keeping an executable 'setup' file in each directory - it would be nice to keep them all in one place. 'S:Setup' and 'S:Shutdown' do that. If you have a hard drive, these programs might help you. They might even be of use on a two- drive system. In the 'S:Setup' file, I have an example using 'DO'. Notice that all commands with spaces in them are enclosed by SINGLE quotes. I made it single quotes so that you can use double quotes around whatever needs them, i.e., 'dir "saved games"', or 'run "program with spaces"'. The ' < *' is to insure that 'DO' gets its input from the CLI. Please include ' < *' whenever running 'DO' from within 'S:Setup' or 'S:Shutdown', or any time that (after running) it prints 'Do #' over and over and over again without stopping. That's your cue to put ' < *' before the commands (after re-booting). So much for the quick programs. 'DiskSearch' is a disk searching utility. From CLI, type: DiskSearch df?: ($value | filename) [start] [end]\n"); 'df?:' refers to 'DF0:' or 'DF1:' or 'DF2:', etc. DiskSearch will only work with standard Amiga 3 1/2" drives, and probably not with FFS disks. '$value' is a hexadecimal value. Sorry - no string searching. DiskX already does that, and the primary reason I wrote this program is that DiskX won't (currently) search for hexadecimal values, or do pattern searching. Yes, you can use wildcards in your '$value's. I use the '*' to replace any SINGLE character. Yeah, maybe I should've used '?', but I might fix that next version (if enough interest is generated). For example, "$8*4e" will match $08(any value)4e, and "$1a**ff" will match $1a(any value)(any value)ff. DiskSearch will return in what block and at what hex value it found $value. Instead of searching for a value, you can simply dump whatever's on blocks [start] to [end] by using a filename instead of a hex value. Note that DiskSearch parses the command line really stupid-like, so anything that doesn't start with a '$' is a filename. Again, sorry. You can then do whatever you like with the file produced. If, for example, a file is "hidden" on a disk, you can find where it starts and where it ends (using DiskX perhaps, or searching for a $3f3/$3f2 pattern) and then use DiskSearch to dump those blocks to a file that you can fiddle with to your heart's content. [start] and [end] are optional, although if you want an [end], you HAVE TO also supply a [start]. These are the blocks that the program will search in/dump to a file. Default values are [0] and [1759], the limits of normal 3 1/2" Amiga disks. Note this program will not work with any other type of disk drive, 5 1/4" or hard or otherwise. Real limited, but if people want an expanded version, I'll try to make it more "worldly." The usefulness of DiskSearch is only limited by your imagination. I used it (and originally wrote it for) looking in a disk-based game (no helpful filenames to DIR) for where it decrements the number of lives you had (a SUBQ.W #1,
command) and eliminating it. The process went really fast with the '*' wildcarding. =========================================================================== That should do it. If you have any comments/questions/suggestions/ flames/etc., I can be reached at any of the following addresses: Arthur Johnson Jr. -=> {uiucuxc, hoptoad, petsd}!peora!rtmvax!bilver!alj -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=> alj@bilver.UUCP -=> PLink: DUNG -=> GEnie: A.JOHNSONJR - or - Arthur Johnson Jr. 225 Montego Bay Court Merritt Island, FL 32953 (407) 277-0548 P.S. I apologize for the state of this documentation. Usually I manage to be a little more explanatory and clear, but for some reason it's harder to tell people what a real simple program does than for a long and involved one. Strange but true. P.S.S. Now that I have these programs out o' my hair, look for ShowFont version 3.3 in the next couple of weeks with bug fixes and new features.