******************************************************************** * * * BENCHMASTER v1.1 * * Design (c) Simon Evans 1992 * * * ******************************************************************** BENCHMASTER MUST NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT THE EXTRAS DISK GENERAL HELP FILE This file is stored in the help directory of the main disk and is called "General.hlp". It has been crunched using PowerPacker. THE EXTRAS DISK This disk must be distributed with BenchMaster. It contains all the individual documentation for each program on the main disk. It also contains a number of other useful utils. COPYRIGHT NOTICE The design of this disk is copyright Simon Evans 1992, but can (of course) be distributed freely. However, each program has its own copyright notice, and some are shareware etc. It should be noted that if you find these programs useful, you should pay the price stated to the author of each program. Money should not be send to me, be you can contact me about the design of BenchMaster, comments, or just about anything (See contact address), as long as it is legal. HISTORY BenchMaster was born from my Utility Disk Workmate. Originally to be a new version of Workmate (v2), I so radically changed it, that there were really only a few things it shared with its earlier versions, so I renamed it BenchMaster as not to confuse with versions, or names. WorkMate grew from a few excellant utilities, and worked via a front end menu system. It contained a pretty good system setup, but because it ran from DOS, it did not Multitask properly. However, it was fast running, unlike workbench. The problem I faced with BenchMaster was to combine the 2, to produce a truly awsome system. WORKBENCH REPLACEMENTS There are so many workbench replacements available at the moment in the public domain, some which are better than others. The ones I have seen are WindowsBench, JazzBench, WorkStation, and SpeedBench. The two good ones are WindowsBench, and JazzBench. They both have there good points, and there bad. I have tried to combine these into one replacement. REQUIREMENTS: An Amiga with at Least 1Meg RAM Should work on Kickstart 2.04 FEATURES * BenchMaster can read Noral AmigaDOS disks, or MSDOS disks (using MultiDOS), and can copy between the two using SID. It can also format both PC and Amiga disks, and convert IFF to PCX files. * Fully configured Recoverable Ram Drive (RRD:) and normal RAM: * Configurable menu system, "Shortcut" * Improved front end, with new font, gadgets, requestorsnice icons, and zoom windows * Fast Mouse Pointer and screen blanker (DMouse) * Fully featured text editor (configurable) DME, includes block editing, printing, justification, backup etc. * The largest selection (I think) of useful utilities available on a workbench replacement * Improved shell, with ARP commands, Shortcuts, and script files. * All original WB features supported (Or replaced with better progs) * Onboard Help for general use (This file!), for Dme, and for Shell * Support for nearly all types of files eg. NT, MED, ascii, IFF etc. * Quick loading fonts (fontcacheX) COMPATABILITY FOR 2.x OWNERS I don't have Kickstart 2.04, so I cant test it personally, but nearly all programs of this disk should work with 2.04. The icons, and positioning will also probably be wrong too. Just reposition them! To swap the colours round, use remap info on the extras disk. If there are any other imcompatabilities with programs, write to me, and I might change it. To be honest with you though, BenchMaster was really written many for WB 1.3 users. They're the ones that need the upgrade! 0.5 MEG OWNERS What, there are still some about? Upgrade now! Well, soory guys, but this is 1MEG only. CRUNCHERS BenchMaster was crunched using PowerPacker 3.0b, and Imploder v4. Large executables were crunched with imploder, and smaller files, libs, devices, fonts, and ascii files were crunched with powerpacker. If you want to you use these librarys on another workbench, you will have to put pploadseg into your startup-sequence. The executables crunched with both powerpacker and imploder need the powerpacker.library and explode.library, respectivly. ACCESSING PROGRAMS Hands up all those sick of flicking through windows of icons, and typing commands through Shell or Cli? Yep, quite a few! Well not only does BenchMaster include all these options on Bootup, but it also includes the "Shortcut" menu system. With this, you can access alot of the programs on the disks with out even opening a window, or gadget. Not everything can be accessed, but it does save time. The noral icon methods, and Shell are still fully supported of course. In fact the shell is more advanced than the normal shell (see THE SHELL). ShortCut can also be used on your own disks for menus, as it runs via a setup ascii file in the s/ directory explained later. PROGRAMS INCLUDED ON BENCHMASTER I think I can safly say it has more programs on it than any other system. Firstly lets go through the utilites on the Shortcut menu: SID v1.06 This the heart of nearly all workbench replacements. It is the best file handler available to date, and can perform nearly any DOS command with out even touching the keyboard. What makes it a cut above others like DiskMaster is that it is configurable to your own needs. This means that I have tailored it for use with BenchMaster, making it 100% more powerful Dmouse v1.06 If there is one thing that anoys more than anything, its a slow mouse! This is great mouse accellerator/blanker, this removes one of the most annoying things about workbench! I also have Dmouse 1.25, but I found it more bugged than 1.06! Zoomwindows Used in the startup-sequence to give you that zoom effect on windows (nice!) Can be toggled on or off Arq Superb stuff! Lovely animated reqestors, 3D looking, and works with 1.3 and 2.04! Setkey Ever wanted to make your own keymaps? Well with this, you can do it with ease. Great for when compiling a disk! Preferences This is a replacement Preferences proggy by the well known Jonathan Potter. It is far smaller than the origonal in size and does exactly the same thing! Icon Master Hands Up all those people who have tried designing icons with the origonal workbench jobby? Find it a bit tough? This is replacement program that is really easy to use, and has loads of features. All the icons used in BenchMaster were designed using it. Reset Resets the amiga! Read Ascii This uses the program PPmore 1.8, and it can read an ascii file, crunched or not. It will bring up an arp requestor, with which you can select a file, so there's no typing to be done (again) View iff This uses the PPShow 1.2 command, and works in the same way, but with this you can view iff format pictures. Again it puts up an arp requestor. IFF2PCX Cunning little proggy I picked up, that converts IFF Amiga files, to PC PCX format. When used with MultiDos, you can convert IFF images straight to a PC MS-DOS disk - Easylife! Found in the PCUtils directory. Show anim This uses the PPanim command, and shows dpaint iff format anims, crunched or not crunched. Play Module This load up the program multi_player. It can load up just about any type of music module around, including crunched ones. Print File This uses the PPType command. It enables you to print a crunched or non-crunched acsii file, but unlike PPMore's print function, it reformats the text to the paper size, with page numbering etc. Format/Copy Disk I have include what I consider to be the best formatter/copier available at the moment, Super Duper. Disk Edit Ever wanted to hack about in someone elses work? Well with zap you can! Zap is a nice small Disk editor, that is simple to use. WARNING: DO NOT EDIT A PIECE OF PD SOFTWARE AND DISTRIBUTE IT. NOT ONLY WILL IT PROBABLY MAKE THE SOFTWARE CRASH, BUT IT IS ALSO INCREDABLY LAME - DON'T DO IT! Archive I have included the popular achiver, Lharca on this disk. It has an easy to use interface, and is pretty fast! Install This is a small replacement for the origonal, that works with intuition (Very Handy!) Ripper This is the best ripper around at the moment, Multi-ripper. You can rip music, and graphics from games, and demos with this, by loading it up after playing what you want to rip. Also with demos in DOS format, you can load them up and then hunt for a module. It even recognises decrunch headers! Virus Checker I have included the latest version available at the moment (Although by the time others get this disk it will probably be out of date at the rate this comes out). The good thing about this is that not only does it kill more viri than any other killer avaiable, but it is quite small (unlike MVK) and hang around in WorkBench so you can do something else at the same time. PowerPacker This is the essential cruncher! With this you can crunch a command or data file. Executables will still execute, and if you use say PPmore, you can view a crunched data ascii file! Packer Patch 1.4 This little patch on the system lets all your utilities load up crunched datafiles (EG DPaint etc.) Text Edit After using many text editors, I decided to go for Matt Dillons DME. So what separates it from the rest? Well, its so flexible with its command language that you can tailor it for your own needs, and its also quite small. I first came across this program on WindowsBench and saw how Mike Doodson has set out his menus (Hi there!). Yes, very nice, and now I have improved them further, so DME is now even more kick but! For more info on DME (Apart from the docs on the extras disk, press help when loaded, for explanation of all the menu options. Other utils not shown on the menus: sys:c/noclick Hate the click noise on your drive? Use this and it disappears! Already intalled on bootup sys:c/openlook This is used in the startup-sequence, and replaces the normal gadgets with a new gadget set. Will not work with wb 2.x sys:c/pploadseg So you want to crunch librarys with powerpacker eh? Well now you can! (used in startup-sequence) sys:c/size Want to resize that DOS window? Use this then (PAL only). sys:c/selector Nice little front end menu system this! Used with execute in the startup sequence to selector WB systems. sys:utils/fixsaddam This is an extra to the Virus_checker program that can partially fix damage done by the saddam virus sys:system/fontcachex This this file puts a patch on the system so that you don't have to wait for fonts to load up when asked to list them! sys:pcutils/pcformat This Cli command makes it possible to format PC disks in a 3.5 or 5.14 inch drive. Uses the file s/PCformat.spc to configure it. sys:pcutils/ PCFormat can MS-DOS disks 3.5 or 5.14, check out the shell for more details. sys:c/cmd_player This will command multi_player to do what you want. Now you can program multi_player! sys:c/filter Turns filter on and off (better sound quality) DISK STRUCTURE Its pretty simple to work out where every thing is, but here's a quick run down and explanation: "c" Directory - this contains all the normal DOS "Commands", plus a few new ones like zoomwindows. The normal DOS commands are there, and have been replaced with the ARP versions, needing the ARP Library (in the LIBS directory) to use. They are smaller in size and some have new options. "s" Directory - this contains all the "Startup files" for use with BenchMaster. They are nearly all ascii format files, which can be edited for your own use using dme. Startup-sequence - normal type of startup-sequence used on all disks .edrc - This is the configuration file for DME. Without it, DME is pretty useless. Shell-Startup - My shell startup file contains many aliases for commands (explained later) Shortcut.setup - This file is the configuration of the menus at the top of the screen. Without a setup file, shortcut is useless. Selector.programs - Ascii file used by Selector to select programs. SID.config - This is the magic behind SID. You can confure just about anything to do with SID. This config includes the configuration for messydos, and rrd. Use_DF0_FOR_MSDOS_1.3 - a script file used by the selector command to carry on the startup-sequence after selection. Use_DF0_FOR_MSDOS_2.0 - see above Use_DF1_FOR_MSDOS_1.3 - see above Use_DF1_FOR_MSDOS_2.0 - see above Use_No_Drives_1.3 - see above Use_No_Drives_2.0 - see above PcFormat.spc - A configuration file for PCFormat. It can be cofigured to actually make your own format of disk! MakeWB.script - Script file to make a stand alone WB, with out having to type any commands (See Shell) "LIBS" directory - contains librarys needed for proggys to run: ARP.library - this is needed for commands, requestors, and shell diskfont.library - needed for use with system fonts. explode.library - need to decrunched files crunched with imploder. icon.library - needed in conjuction with workbench ilbm.library - needed for IFF2PCX info.library - needed to display info on icons ___ ___ / \ | | | mathieeedoubbas.library | Three very common librarys used in | mathieeedoubtrans.library |--lots of bits of software, especially | mathtrans.library | fractal generators. | | \___ ___/ Powerpacker.library - needed for PPutils. Req.library - Seems quite a few proggys use this library, including Multi_Player, and IFF2PCX "L" directory - contains many handlers: ASH - replacemant Shell handler, for use with arp library. Disk-Validator - Obvious dmouse-handler - needed for use with Dmouse MultiDosfilesystem - Handler for MSDOS disks (MultiDos) Newcon-handler - handles sizes and names of shell and cli windows Null-handler - odd bod really. Needed to execute files in DME Port-handler Pipe-handler Ram-handler "DEVS" directory - contains essential "devices" mountlist - contains list of all avaible mountable devices multidos.device - the MultiDos device, so the amiga can read MSDOS format disks. parrallel.device - needed for the parallel port (printers) printer.device - need so you can use your printer ramdisk.device - replacment ram device for rrd: and ram: serial.device - Needed for serial inputing devices system.configuration - what all you prefs are saved to off of the DEVS directory: Keymaps/ - different keyboard maps Printers/ - file so that your amiga will recognize to exact type of printer you are using. "Fonts" directory - contains system fonts siesta, and system. System.font is the font used of startup. "help" directory - contains help files for BenchMaster and DME "General.hlp", and "DME.hlp" Directories -DISK, SYSTEM, FILE, and UTILS correspond to the names of the menus on Shortcut. They contain all the main progs. In case your wondering why -DISK is not called DISK, it is because the info file would be called DISK.info, the same as the main disk icon! THE SHELL The BenchMaster shell is there on bootup. It contains a full set of ARP replacment c directory commands, plus a few extras. All the original command names and syntax can be used, but there all also shortcuts available (done via alias in the shell-setup), and a couple of script files to perform boring tasks. Firstly here are the shortened versions of commands: Command Short For: Function ------- ---------- -------- Help ppmore help/shell.hlp Opens up PPmore and loads in the shell.hlp file New Newshell Opens another shell window End EndCli Closes shell Cls Echo (jargon) Clears screen Clear " " " " del Delete Deletes file ren rename Rename file md Makedir MakesDirectory mc Memclear Clears up memory tp Type Type ascii to screen wt wait (secs) Wait for x seconds ex Execute Execute file res Resident Make Command Resident df0 CD df0: Changes directory to df0: df1 CD df1: Changes directory to df1: sys CD sys: Changes directory to sys: ram CD ram: Changes directory to RAM: rrd CD rrd: Changes directory to RRD: mc0 CD mc0: Changes directory to ms0: (Only if mounted) mc1 CD mc1: Changes directory to ms1: (Only if mounted) resize size 0 185 575 255 Resize the shell window to the size used on bootup. formatdf0 Formats drive df0: formatdf1 " " df1: formatmc0 Formats drive mc0 in MS-DOS format formatmc1 " " mc1 " " " MakeWB Execute s/makewb.script Easily make a WB disk. GREETINGS + THANKS GO TO: Mike Doodson - Hi there! Hope you like this. Keep writing! Next time I'll be quicker! PAD - Well I finally finished it. I had to leave Systematic because I just want to write stuff. Keep swapping! MSL - When are you going to get some new stuff? Kemoc - Havn't seen you for a while. Hows London? You didn't even see Workmate (I think), but I hope you like this! NOTE TO THE WRITERS OF THE PROGRAMS INCLUDED: Firstly, many thanks for making the Amiga world far more exiting. Keep on writing this brilliant stuff AND TO THE FOLLOWING COOOOL PD LIBRARIES: NBS - Brilliant service, unmatched, keep it up! 17bit - Nice prices, and reliable! Amiganuts - Great software, although a bit pricy! CONTACT ADDRESS To contact me, write to: Simon Evans, 6 Mountbatten Close, Broadfield, Crawley, West Sussex RH11 9PE ENGLAND Only legal stuff, contacts and swappers welcome, no bug reports on individual programs, suggestion for improvment, and new programs welcomed. Simon, May 1992 KNOWN BUGS None Known! FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS/PRODUCTS * More functions on DME * Version Updates * Better Shell * Bug fixes (Bugs, what Bugs?!) * New Proggys * Utility disks (?) UPDATE SECTION V1.0 March 1992 First version V1.1 May 1992 Altered the mountlist slightly (More logical) Added resize command to shell Removed Dcopy, PowerBoot, and Imploder v4 due to lack of space. Now on Extras Disk Altered startup-sequence in hope of removing bug (Still dont know, as bug dosn't happen on mine!) Add new shell commands Changed from MessyDos to the new MultiDos, including a number of PCUtils Now uses Selector program Added Req and ilbm libraries Replaced Intuitracker and MEDPlayer with Multi_Player New version of Super_Duper More Shell commands More features for DME (See DME.hlp) # END OF FILE