cpmlist@AMSAA.ARPA (info-cpm-request) (12/25/86)
Fellow CP/Mers - In keeping with my periodically announced policy (copy sent
upon request) of posting announcements of new commercial products that are of
general interest to the CP/M community, here is a description of a software
product from Plu*Perfect Systems that adds to CP/M the ability to switch back
and forth between two active tasks without losing the current status of
either. This feature is one that I have come to dearly love as a regular user
of the UNIX operating system. Quite often, I find that while involved with
one task I need information from another. For example, when answering
correspondence I frequently need to refer to the message to which I am
responding. If I know from the start that I will need to do that, I use the
two-window mode of our message program; but if I find out too late, it is
extremely handy to be able to suspend the editor job and go back and read the
message. Other scenarios are more likely for the CP/M environment, but the
one just given was the first to come to mind. The new product, known as
"BackGrounder ii", also provides a print spooler and a number of additional
functions that appear to be quite useful.
A demonstration version is available from the SIMTEL20 archives in file:
PD:<CPM.BKGROUNDER>BGIIDEMO.LBR
It includes all BGii features, but is restricted to drive A: and lacks the
spooler and other utilities. Patches for WordStar 3.0 and 3.3 that redraw the
screen in response to a control-backslash are also provided so that the user
can see the text he is editing after he returns to a suspended editor task.
However, these patches do not require the BackGrounder product, and appear to
be generally useful (I tried the one for WS 3.3, and it worked fine on a
TurboDOS computer without BGii). The files in the demo library have been
compressed using the CRUNCH utility (which, by the way is rather impressive in
its ability to achieve compression factors in excess of two-to-one). A copy
of the uncruncher is included in the library, but it did not operate properly
on the TurboDOS system on which I tried it. Fortunately, the fix was
available from the archives: File:
PD:<CPM.SQUSQ>CRUNCH23.LBR
contains a complete CRUNCH package including the cruncher, uncruncher,
documentation and a note describing how to patch the cruncher and uncruncher
so that they will work correctly under TurboDOS.
Before attempting to use the demonstration software, users are urged to
read the following files from the library:
-CRUNCH.NOT for uncrunching instructions
BGIIDEMO.DOC for summary of features and files
DINSTALL.PRN for detailed installation steps
The complete BGii system, with printed and indexed user's manual, can be
obtained from Plu*Perfect Systems, Box 1494, Idyllwild CA 92349. The price
is:
$75 + 6% in California + $3 shipping.
Other sources are listed in the documentation.
The following information has been provided by the vendor, and I have no
personal experience with the product. Additional information can be requested
from the author at the following address:
bridger@rand-unix.arpa
Persons submitting such inquiries are invited to send copies of their corres-
pondence to info-cpm if the subject matter is of general interest. Purely
personal matters should be discussed privately.
Dave Towson <info-cpm-request@amsaa.arpa>
info-cpm list maintainer
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BackGrounder ii
MAJOR FEATURES
TASK SWITCHING
On user command, switch between two active programs, each with full
memory.
BACKGROUND COMMANDS
Run built-in BackGrounder ii commands from within an active program,
as well as at CP/M prompt:
bg calc cls cut date dir echo era feed find forms
flip go get help jot jump keys list ndr note ocp
paste peek poke printr ren reset save screen shift
spool swap time type user whl whlq
Supports ZCPR3 syntax: DU:filename.typ, named-directory, multiple-command
line.
BACKGROUND LIST SPOOLING AND PRINTING
Redirect list output to file. Print files from a queue while running
programs.
CUT-AND-PASTE
Transfer screen region to notepad, another program, or printer (requires
screendriver).
KEYBOARD MACROS
Pre-defined, on-the-fly, and record-keystroke capability, both global
and program-specific. Load and save macros within a program.
EXTENSIBLE COMMANDS
Add customized, user-coded assembly-language foreground and background
commands.
REQUIREMENTS
NECESSARY
Z80 or equivalent CPU, standard CP/M 2.2 BDOS, or ZRDOS v. 1.1, 1.2, 1.3,
or 1.7.
RECOMMENDED
Ram-disk or hard-disk.
DESIRABLE
Video-mapped memory, or terminal with transmit-character or transmit-
region function.
MEMORY AND DISK SPACE
Standard system: 2.75K memory + 2K of CCP space.
ZCPR3 system: 0.25K memory + 2K of CCP space, if RCP and IOP are
reclaimed.
100K swap file.
COMPATIBILITY
Runs all CP/M 2.2 programs that adhere to CP/M addressing standards,
subject to above memory limit.
Supports all ZCPR3 external environment buffers, including task-specific
shells.
Unspooling may drop keyboard characters if the BIOS lacks a type-ahead
buffer.
PERFORMANCE
BGii uses a pre-allocated disk file as virtual memory for overlays and
task-switching buffers. Ram-disks work best, and tuned hard-disks are also
effective. On floppy-disk systems, BGii can be used well as an extended
command processor for one task; however, task-switching is too slow to be
used as a regular floppy feature.
Representative 58-60K tpa swap times:
SB180 6 Mhz ram disk < 1 sec
Kaypro 10 4 Mhz Advent ram disk < 2 secs
Kaypro 10 4 Mhz Turborom, hard disk, 1K sectors 4 secs
Kaypro 2 5 Mhz Turborom, DSDD 1K floppy ~20 secs
SCREEN-RELATED FEATURES
BGii uses optional terminal-specific screendrivers to save and restore
the working screen and to implement cut-and-paste, notepad, and screen-dump
commands. Screendrivers are available for Kaypro '83, Kaypro '84, and
Heath/Zenith 19 computers/terminals. ASM source code and documentation for
these drivers permits modification for other terminals that have a transmit-
character or transmit-region function.
If no screendriver is installed, BGii can send a user-defined macro
to the running program to cause it to redraw the screen, if it has that
capability. Patches to add this feature to WordStar v 3.0 and 3.3 are
included.
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