Stick V5 on your Hard Drive???

   Please note. I am not setting myself up as some sort of expert on either
   Hard Drives (I got mine only this year) or install programs. But what
   follows may go some way towards steering newer users away from the
   pitfalls I have discovered to MY cost.

   I sent for the OctaMED V5 demo disk (like many others I expect) & 
   subsequently sent £22 quid for the full blown dubrie.

   It arrived today! So, a quick look at the docs etc. what else? A 
   hard-drive Install program, how thoughtful! - but how useful?
   Well it's pretty good I think, but It doesn't suit me, nor I suspect
   a lot of other hard disk users.

   For one thing, It tries to place everything on DH0: ,fine if one
   partition suits you. But everyone that I know prefers to have two or
   three, - keeping DH0: (usually a small bootable partition containing
   WORKBENCH & not much else) as free from unnecessary writes as possible.
          
   For example, I update a text file recording every change I make &
   every file I add to WORKBENCH.

   In my (small) experience, HDInstall programs write all sorts of stuff 
   just about everywhere & vary widely as to how well the user is informed 
   of the process. This means hunting down changes after the installation 
   (fun huh?) & you're bound to miss something. Sometimes, months later you 
   can come across unexpected dross eg.-"GAME.SCORES? whats that doing there?"


  What can you do? If the program is in code, you can run a `monitor' type 
  progy in the background (SnoopDOS or Xoper come to mind) which can record 
  SYS activity for you. ie:- tasks launched, using what libraries etc etc). 
  Fortunatly for us, the OctaMED install program is a script file (english), 
  - just use a text display program to read it & decide for yourself if you 
  want to use it. If you decide not, you can note whats happening to assist 
  in your personalised installation.

  For a quick-check/trouble-shoot type approach, it's easy
  to perform a `dummy run'. Here's how, -

        1. write protect DH0: ie:- from CLI or by selecting EXECUTE COMMAND
           from the WORKBENCH menu and enter-
                     
                         <LOCK DH0: ON>   without the <> brackets.

           -for DH0: you may substitute dh1: , WORKBENCH: or whatever you 
           call it. SYS will respond with-  DH0: LOCKED. If it doesn't, 
           check your syntax & have another go.

        2. Run the Install program. A window will open; first asking and
           then informing you of what it proposes/Intends to do, you can 
           respond with what you like; it wont make any difference since 
           nothing will be written anywhere. Scrolling text will inform you 
           of what is being attempted followed by a `failure' report.

        3. When you see the message declaring that INSTALLATION is COMPLETE
           - it isn't, but it HAS finished.

  Of course, you could edit the Install script so that it puts everything in
  dh1:, dh2: or where ever, but perhaps Teijo & Ray wouldn't like this? I 
  dare say it would be O.K. so long as you deleted your modified script 
  afterward. - Well ?

  Hand on heart, I didn't do this. Instead I chose to perform a personalised 
  manual install. This isn't the work-up that it sounds, it took about 5 
  minutes, & I do NOT work fast.
              
  The main programs OctaMED & OctaMEDPlayer with Docs etc. can be copied over
  to your custom drawer in your chosen partition.
  
  After that you should compare the contents of the directories common to 
  both the OctaMED floppy & your HD Workbench. Chances are you'll have most 
  of the supporting files in place already (especially if you have an earlier 
  version on disk). However, I did notice that many of these files are NOT
  Identical. For example, The libraries on the floppy being larger than
  those on WB.3 -are these from WB.2 ? or special enhanced versions perhaps?
  So far I have not overwritten the original WB ones whatever the case.

  Lastly, to further minimise changing key areas of WorkBench there is always 
  the user-startup script to fall back on (S dir). For example, upon loading,
  OctaMED looks for MEDpaths (in S dir). You can keep MEDpaths anywhere you 
  want, but it makes sense to keep most of these supporting files together 
  with the main program(s) ie:- a custom drawer in dh1:MUSIC/OctaMED perhaps.
  In this example add the following line to the user-startup script-
                           
                                      <ASSIGN MEDPaths: dh1:MUSIC/OctaMED>

  (OctaMED being a sub-directory of MUSIC -NOT the OctaMED program!)

  with the filepath redirected in this way, many changes can be grouped
  together in the same piece of script! Commodore got that right I think.

  So much for the install prog. As for OctaMED V5, well, I shall be keeping my 
  old version alongside on disk for a little while longer yet.

  I hope this may be of some assistance to fellow MED users.

                                       ATB
                                             Rudi Samborski
                                                            PORTSMOUTH HANTS





RBF's answer to Rudi and all other MUG members with a Hard Drive:

Yes Rudi, you are quite correct in your assumption that the HD_Install
script is certain not suit everybody.
We did it in it's simplest form to make it easy for new users.
However, it is quite easy to alter the script to suit your own
personal requirements and needs.
For this reason we have now added a note at the beginning of install,
telling the customer that they are welcome to edit the script to suit
their own setup, (DH0: to DH1: etc etc).

Your comment about keeping a copy of the old V4 is certainly a fair
statement, it would not be very wise to expect to be able to make
full use of the abilities of V5 immediately.

                                                   Sandy.   (RBF Software)


   MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG MUG