============================================================================== [ THE KAY*FOG RBBS | CPM-CC08.ART | posted 01/18/86 | 214 lines 12k ] The CP/M Connection Originally published in by Computer Currents Ted Silveira 2550 9th Street (copyright and all rights reserved) Berkeley, CA 94710 July 30, 1985 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? On May 7, Computer Currents printed a letter from Richard Kervick, who was asking for help with his five-year-old Superbrain CP/M computer. I didn't think he'd have much luck, but within a few weeks, Kervick not only got what he needed but turned up half a dozen other Superbrain owners he'd never known about. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. (Lost Tribe Discovered! No Contact With Civilization Since Dark Ages!) And now I'm curious. If you read most magazines and newspapers, the world seems to have converted to IBM and Apple, but what happened to all those CP/M machines people used to use? Are they still chugging along as before, or are they propping up bookshelves? If you're using a CP/M computer that's no longer being manufactured or one that's four years old or older (pre-IBM PC, in other words), write and tell me your story. Who made your computer, how old is it, and what's its history? What do you do with it, and how good a job does it do? What trials have you faced to keep it running? What plans do you have for it in the future? (If you really feel like an orphan, enclose a stamped, self- addressed envelope, and by way of thanks, I'll try to put you in touch with others who have the same computer.) Now back to work . . . If you've been following these articles for the past few months and have uncovered a reliable source for public domain software, your disks should be starting to fill up. You may not have reached the breakdown stage, but perhaps you're starting to worry. "Where are those files? How am I ever going to keep track of this stuff?" I guarantee things will get worse, so here are some programs to keep track of your files. [CATALOG PROGRAMS] Catalog programs build you a master catalog, a list of all your files and disks. You'll probably get a shock the first time you run one of these programs--I discovered that I had 800 files (over 1000, now). But as long as you keep the catalog up to date, you can quickly find out what disks any file is on and what files are on any disk. These programs work best if you have a hard disk so that you can search the catalog at any time without having to swap disks. I don't have a hard disk, so I put my catalog program and master catalog on my utility disk (the catalog itself runs about 30K). That's a little inconvenient but not too much so. The two public domain cataloging programs--MCAT45 and YANC23--both work in the same basic way. Both require that you number each disk by putting a special file on it, one whose filename begins with a hyphen (-) and whose filetype is a number from 000-999 (-DISK.101 or -DBASE.237, for example). Both programs read the number of each disk and the directory of files on it, and then build a file called MAST.CAT, which lists all your files, in alphabetical order, together with the number of the disk each file is on. In MAST.CAT, a file will be listed once for each disk that it's on; if you have WS.COM on three different disks, WS.COM will have three entries in MAST.CAT. [MCAT45] (Master CATalog version 4.5), by the prolific Irv Hoff, is actually a set of programs. MCAT45.COM catalogs the disks, reading the disk number and file names and building the MAST.CAT file. After cataloging each disk, it gives you the option of going on to another disk or exiting the program. XCAT42.COM reads the MAST.CAT file and builds a cross-reference file, which consolidates multiple entries so that each file is only listed once, followed by the numbers of every disk it's on. XCAT42.COM can send this cross-reference file either to the printer or to a disk file, MAST.LST. With MCAT45.COM and XCAT42.COM, you'll use a third program, CAT2.COM. With CAT2.COM, you can quickly search MAST.CAT to find a particular file or the contents of a particular disk. You can use wildcards when searching with CAT2.COM so that the command [CAT2 M*.COM] will locate MDM740.COM, MEX112.COM, and MCAT45.COM, while [CAT2 *.* *.103] will show you all the files on disk 103. [YANC23] (Yet ANother Catalog program, version 2.3), by Paul Sittler, has all the functions MCAT45 does, plus a few more, combined in a single, menu-driven program--YANC23.COM. From its menu, you can catalog a disk, send any output to your printer, search for any file in the catalog (with wildcards), list the contents of any disk in the catalog, see the directory of a disk in one of your disk drives, put a number on a previously unnumbered disk, and create a new (empty) MAST.CAT file. After each function, YANC23 takes you back to the menu, and like MCAT45, it lets you process a whole series of disks without having to exit the program. Both of these programs work well, and they make a classic software confrontation--the integrated, menu-driven YANC23 versus the modular, command-driven MCAT45. YANC23 is easier for a novice to use because it has a menu and doesn't require the user to decide which of several programs to use, as MCAT45 does. It's also more convenient in some ways, since it allows you to start a new catalog and label a disk without leaving the program, things MCAT45 requires you to do separately. This last function, labeling a disk, is a great convenience, since I occasionally forget to label one or accidentally erase the label. If I try to catalog an unlabeled disk with MCAT45, it refuses, forcing me either to exit and label the disk or to put the disk aside to be labeled and cataloged later. On the other hand, MCAT45 is smaller--a total of 16K for MCAT45, XCAT42, and CAT2, versus 34K for YANC23. It's also noticeably faster, for two reasons. First, the MCAT45 programs were written in assembly language, so they run faster than YANC23, which was written in the C language. Second, once you know how to use MCAT45, you can do things more quickly because you don't have to go through a menu after every step. Also MCAT45 requires no installation. YANC23, however, requires an accompanying terminal parameter file to adapt it to your terminal type. YANC23 comes with parameter files that will suit many terminals, but a complete novice might need some help setting up a such a file for a special terminal. After starting with MCAT and then switching to YANC, I'm now switching back to MCAT45, just because it runs faster (cataloging disks is tedious) and takes up less space on my disk. If you opt for YANC23 instead, you can still use XCAT42 and CAT2--all the MCAT45 programs can read YANC23's MAST.CAT file, though YANC23 seems to choke on a MAST.CAT written by MCAT45. Usage Note: I reserve disk numbers 000-099 for back-up disks so I can tell from a glance at the catalog whether I've backed-up a particular file or not. [LIBRARY PROGRAMS] Library programs are not, as you might expect from the name, another kind of cataloging program, but they can help you keep track of your files. Library programs allow you to build and maintain library files, which have the special filetype LBR. The LBR file consists of several smaller files that have been grouped together so that they appear to be a single larger file. The library file MCAT45.LBR, for example, might contain the files MCAT45.COM, MCAT45.DOC, MCAT45.SET, XCAT42.COM, and XCAT42.DOC. You usually save a little space by combining files into a library, but your most important gain is that you can easily keep related files together. For example, I keep back-up copies of the source files for several communications programs that I use. I have no problem keeping the files I need for COMM725 together because they all have similar names-- COMM725A.ASM, COMM725B.ASM, COMM725C.ASM, and COMM725D.ASM. But the files I need for MODEM903 all have unrelated names--MODEM903.ASM, +8251.ASM, CONSOLE.ASM, DEFF.ASM, FILES.ASM, FINISH,ASM, MAIN.ASM, SENDRECV.ASM, START.ASM, and TERM.ASM. If I had these files mixed in with others on a disk, I'd waste a lot of time just trying to remember which files I needed for MODEM903. However, since I have them grouped together in MODEM903.LBR, I can just copy them from the library to my work disk and get started--I know I have all the files I need. The disadvantage of grouping files into a library is that you can't do much with them once they're there. You can't edit a text file that's in a library, though you can view it. You can run a program that's in a library, but the process is awkward, requiring an extra program called LRUN.COM, and slow. In all, libraries work best for storing backups and other files you don't use very often. To build and work with LBR files, you can use either the combination of LU310 and LSWEEP13 or the single program NULU11. LU310 (Library Utility version 3.10)--by Gary Novosielski, the originator of LBR files--lets you create library files, extract member files from the library, and add, delete, or rename individual members. Its command style makes it awkward to use, so you'll probably want to use LSWEEP13 also. LSWEEP13 (Library SWEEP version 1.3) looks and works like NSWP and SWEEP, the well-known file-handling programs, except that you log into and "sweep" a LBR file instead of a whole disk. It's much easier to use than LU310 for working with LBR files, but it can't create the files as LU310 can, so many people use the two as a set. NULU11 (NU Library Utility version 1.1), by Martin Murray, combines the functions of LU310 and LSWEEP13 and adds a few more, all in less space than LU310 alone (NULU11 = 16K, LU310 = 20K, LSWEEP13 = 16K). It's also easier to use and faster than either of the other two, which should make it an easy choice, except that rumors of bugs surface now and then, as they often do with new programs. I use NULU11 a lot, I love it, and I've never seen it do anything the least bit odd or mishandle a file in any way. The only reported bug that Martin Murray, the author, has been able to document won't affect most people and is easily avoided in any case; it's described in the file NULU-NUS.001. LATE NOTES: Recently, two new files, NULU12 and NSWP208, have appeared on the bulletin boards as updates of NULU11 and NSWP207 respectively. Normally, I'd be the first to grab updated versions of two favorite programs, but now the word is that these are not updates by the original authors (Martin Murray and Dave Rand). I suggest you lay off these two for a while and stick to the old versions. Also, Eric Gans has now released WINDEX20, an update of WINDEX12, the WordStar indexing program I described a few issues ago. Unlike WINDEX12, WINDEX20 allows you to index both words and phrases by marking them in the text, as well as by entering them from the keyboard or from a file. That removes my only major criticism of this program and makes it easily the best of the public domain indexers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ted Silveira is a freelance writer and contributing editor to several computer-oriented publications. He appreciates suggestions or feedback and can be reached through the KAY*FOG RBBS (415)285-2687 and CompuServe (72135,1447) or by mail to 2756 Mattison Lane, Santa Cruz, CA 95065. ------------------------- End of CPM-CC08.ART Text ------------------------- 