stu@voodoo.boeing.com (Stuart Liddle) (06/21/91)
Well, I got my upgrade to PCTools on Tuesday and have been playing with it for a couple of days now. I decided to install it at the same time as the DOS 5.0 upgrade (DOS first, then PCT7). I was impressed by the install program with its graphical representation of how much memory it would need for each of the various modules. I liked the look of the shell when I brought it up. But, as I began to play with it some strange things began to happen. 1) First thing I wanted to do was to install my applications in the new application menu. This was great, they now have the ability to list programs under a group level on the main application menu. So I set up my groups: games, word processing, screen savers, utility functions, etc. Now I wanted to see how they handled the running of a program (word processing) by clicking on the associated .DOC file. Well, the printed documentation is a bit shaky here. Nowhere does it tell you about having to include the keyword "<path>" or "<file>" on the "Execute path" line when adding/editing the application entry. My friend "stumbled" on this one while looking at the on-line documentation. 2) I have a 65MB drive that I partitioned into two logical drives, C: has 42M and D: has 23M. The next thing I found out was that if PCShell is logged into drive C: and you try to run an application that is on drive D: you may or may not be able to bring that application up. Anyway, PCShell seems to be really picky about how this is done. I got most of the stuff to work most of the time as long as I didn't put in any "keystrokes" for it to run when the application starts. 3) Now that I have been running it for a while, I cannot get the "Directory Maintenance" (DM) program to run from within PCShell (from the "DISK" menu) anymore. I can run it OK from DOS. I can even run it by clicking on DM.EXE on the file list from inside the shell. But, I can't run it from the menu item on the "DISK" functions menu. It starts but, then it says it "Can't find the tree" or something like that and goes back into the shell. 4) Why does running PCTOOLS at the dos prompt come up with a different .CFG file for the shell than when I run PCSHELL at the dos prompt???? I should give some info on my machine. It's a 386sx clone, internal 2400bps modem, MS mouse, DOS 5.0, QEMM386 (v5.0, *not* the latest ver, I know.), 65MB hard disk (described above). If anybody else is having "funny" problems with their new PCTools v7.0, please share it with me and others on the net. Thanks,
matelgar@nmsu.edu (Marek Telgarsky) (06/24/91)
In article <1436@voodoo.UUCP> stu@voodoo.boeing.com (Stuart Liddle) writes: <LOTS DELETED> > But, as I began to play with it some strange things > began to happen. Shit!.. If PCTools 7.0 has THAT many "quirks" .. why the hell buy it? Marek /***********************************************************************/ main() { /* matelgar@dante.nmsu.edu */ printf("Hello World!\n"); }
akm@getafix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) (06/24/91)
In article <1436@voodoo.UUCP> stu@voodoo.boeing.com (Stuart Liddle) writes: >4) Why does running PCTOOLS at the dos prompt come up with a different .CFG >file for the shell than when I run PCSHELL at the dos prompt???? I *think* I figured out the answer to that one. If you type "PCTOOLS" at the pronmpt, it uses one configuration file, and if you type "PCSHELL", it uses another. there is a batch file called pctools in the PCTOOLS directory, which you might want to take a look at. I find this extremely frustrating as I have different things in different configuration files, and I want them to be the same... >If anybody else is having "funny" problems with their new PCTools v7.0, please >share it with me and others on the net. > >Thanks, Sure... At this point, I am not sure that I am real happy about having PC Tools... a) The mouse in the graphics mode is screwy. I find that the graphics version of the mouse is very slow (i.e. the arrow pointer). So I've switched to using the non-graphics mouse even though I am in graphics mode. b) selecting with the mouse is slow. There is a significant time lag between clicking on an object (say a file name) and the file getting highlighted. c) The shell is not compatible with the windows file manager or with the DOS 5.0 shell. For example, if you click on the first file in a list, hold SHIFT down, and click on , say the 5th, this only selects the first and the 5th, not the files in between. d) The mouse speed keeps varying. I keep having to run PCCONFIG to fix this problem. When I do run PCConfig, the problem goes away immediately: i don't even have to mess with the mouse speed. What happens is that the mouse comes up slow (irritating), so I run PC config, and the mouse speed is back up to 100%. I am using a logitech mmouse with the latest driver (5.00). e) In windows (etc), you can click in the scroll bar to do do a page down. In PCSHELL, clicking in the scroll bar positions the thumb to that place, and the file list correspondingly. This is confusing because if you have a long file list, you might miss files without knowing baout them. f) PC Cache does now allow you to specify the minimum size of the cache when windows is running. There is a /win switch to tell it to downsize when windows comes up, but nothing to tell it what the size should be. Also, when windows quits, the cached writes are disabled, and they do not get re-enabled when windows quits. Sounds like that should be possible, considering that the cache comes back up the the right size. My overall impression is that Central point has put the user interface together somewhat sloppily. The package is trying to do too much, I think, and not very cleanly. THere are 8 manuals. (Might be more scattered around my apartment, but 8 in front of me right now...) The installation takes care of most things, but uses up 7.8 megs for the complete system. There is a list of files and what they are supposed to do, but a) the list if organized according to function, not alphabetically. THis is okay if you are an expert and know every function, but confusing if all you want to know is what a file does. I wanted to delete files for functions I don't plan to use, and the list was not adequate to that task. I think I will give this a couple more days, then post a review... My feeling is that windows users might be better served by the new version of Norton's utilitys. kartik -- Anant Kartik Mithal akm@cs.uoregon.edu Network Manager, (503)346-4408 (msgs) Department of Computer Science, (503)346-3989 (direct) University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1202
snuggs@quack.sac.ca.us (Snugglupagus) (06/24/91)
stu@voodoo.boeing.com (Stuart Liddle) writes: >Well, I got my upgrade to PCTools on Tuesday and have been playing with >it for a couple of days now. I decided to install it at the same time >as the DOS 5.0 upgrade (DOS first, then PCT7). I was impressed by the >install program with its graphical representation of how much memory it >would need for each of the various modules. I liked the look of the shell >when I brought it up. But, as I began to play with it some strange things >began to happen. i also installed dos 5.0 and pctools 7.0 at the same time but have had NO problems with it that weren't directly related to my computer. (see below) >1) First thing I wanted to do was to install my applications in the new >application menu. This was great, they now have the ability to list >programs under a group level on the main application menu. So I set up my >groups: games, word processing, screen savers, utility functions, etc. Now >I wanted to see how they handled the running of a program (word processing) >by clicking on the associated .DOC file. Well, the printed documentation >is a bit shaky here. Nowhere does it tell you about having to include the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >keyword "<path>" or "<file>" on the "Execute path" line when adding/editing >the application entry. My friend "stumbled" on this one while looking >at the on-line documentation. try page 50 of the "dos shell" manual. anyway, you do not have to include keywords in order to run a program. all you need to do is tell it the path and executable filename. see page 47 for more details. >2) I have a 65MB drive that I partitioned into two logical drives, C: has >42M and D: has 23M. The next thing I found out was that if PCShell is >logged into drive C: and you try to run an application that is on drive D: >you may or may not be able to bring that application up. Anyway, PCShell >seems to be really picky about how this is done. I got most of the stuff >to work most of the time as long as I didn't put in any "keystrokes" for it >to run when the application starts. again, no problems here. in fact, i used pcshell to run crosstalk, the program i'm in now. read the manual again. >3) Now that I have been running it for a while, I cannot get the "Directory >Maintenance" (DM) program to run from within PCShell (from the "DISK" menu) >anymore. I can run it OK from DOS. I can even run it by clicking on DM.EXE >on the file list from inside the shell. But, I can't run it from the menu >item on the "DISK" functions menu. It starts but, then it says it "Can't >find the tree" or something like that and goes back into the shell. it sounds like you might have a major problem with either your disk or pctools. try running diskfix to make sure that it's not your drive and then re-install pctools. are you sure that you completed the configuration process? the first time i installed it, my computer crashed (i'm having memory problems) and had to reboot. unfortunately, i also had to re-install pctools since it wouldn't work properly. >4) Why does running PCTOOLS at the dos prompt come up with a different .CFG >file for the shell than when I run PCSHELL at the dos prompt???? pcshell has its own internal configuration. use pcconfig (run at the dos prompt) to set the configuration (colors and stuff) for the other programs. (like diskfix, si, dm, cpav, etc.) >I should give some info on my machine. It's a 386sx clone, internal 2400bps >modem, MS mouse, DOS 5.0, QEMM386 (v5.0, *not* the latest ver, I know.), 65MB >hard disk (described above). i have a 286/10 clone, external modem (what does THAT have to do with anything?), logitech series 9 mouse, msdos 5.0 (beta), 20 mb hard disk, and a 40 mb hard disk. (partitioned into 31 mb and 9 mb - i use the 9 mb partition to run pctools) i also have only 640k of ram. if this machine can run pctools without problems, yours should too. >If anybody else is having "funny" problems with their new PCTools v7.0, please >share it with me and others on the net. again, i have had no problems whatsoever with this program. in my opinion, it's the best program i've ever bought for less than $100. (except for borland c++ - now THAT'S a program!) >Thanks, you're welcome. snugglupagus -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "I tell myself this can't go on | Send email/flames/beer to: Very much longer | billj@uop.edu But when I put the last brick in the wall | or: bjackson@madvax.uop.edu Another brick falls" - Deborah A. Gibson | or: snuggs@quack.sac.ca.us =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
endter@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Bill Endter RCU/DEC) (06/25/91)
In article <1991Jun24.003652.23968@cs.uoregon.edu>, akm@getafix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) writes: |> a) The mouse in the graphics mode is screwy. I find that the |> graphics version of the mouse is very slow (i.e. the arrow pointer). |> So I've switched to using the non-graphics mouse even though I am in |> graphics mode. |> |> d) The mouse speed keeps varying. I keep having to run PCCONFIG |> to fix this problem. When I do run PCConfig, the problem goes away |> immediately: i don't even have to mess with the mouse speed. What |> happens is that the mouse comes up slow (irritating), so I run PC |> config, and the mouse speed is back up to 100%. I am using a logitech |> mmouse with the latest driver (5.00). I have also has problems with the mouse being very slow. I have noticed it when I run PCSHELL from MS Windows. The mouse cursor will also hang up in PCSHELL if I select the File menu and drag the mouse down the list. It works fine if I use the non graphics cursor. I also have found the speed can be reset by running PCCONFIG. I am using the Logitek mouse driver V5.01, MS-DOS V5.0 and MS-Windows V3.0. I left a message on the Central Point bulletin board, but so far no answer. Bill