Category : Utilities for DOS and Windows Machines
Archive : AUTOCONG.ZIP
Filename : WHATSNEW
I still had complaints about people seeing Echo Off in the Autoexec
Bat file, so now if you have a DOS higher than 3.2, it will start
with @Echo off.
If you are using DOS 5.0, A DOS=HIGH,NOUMB line will be appended to
the bottom of the Autoexec.bat file, and you will have to put a
DOS=LOW (and/ or a DOS=UMB) in the configurations you need them in.
Menu.Ctl will control the flags.
If you are using DRDOS, Menu.Ctl will now work with it as well as
MSDOS.
I've changed the way I load configurations, so you will be able to
run AutoCon with less memory, and there is no longer a 6K or 2K
limit on the Autoexec and Config fields.
Each configuration now has the names of the files that the field is
written to. (I've had several requests for this one.)
The help screen colors are now installable.
The MENU.CTL interface has been rewritten to show up more distinctly
when booting. I had several complaints that it was easy to miss.
It will now put up some distinctive boxex, and show up in color if
you have a color monitor. The colors are installable from AutoCon.
Each configuration now has the names of the files that the field is written
to. (I've had several requests for this one.)
You can tell AutoCon not to restore the screen on exit (eliminates the
need for AutoConx.exe.
Version 2.0e (mainly bug fix)
In Single mode if the Enviornment name wasn't set (AltE in the
editor) AutoCon could get the wrong cache 'Flush' information. This
is fixed, but I highly reccommend setting the Autocon Environment
variable if you are using Single mode.
If an external editor were being used, and the Autocon or Config
field size got too large, the AutoCon.Dat file could get messed up -
fixed.
Several people have complained that 4K and 2K is not large enough
for the Autoexec and Config fields, so I'm pushing the size up to 6K
and 4K. Please note that this adds 4K/configuration to AutoCon's
memory requirements.
There are two extra EXE files on the BBS. AutoCons.exe will still
use 4K and 2K for those needing the smaller memory requirements.
AutoConx.exe will not restore the screen when it exits. Try this if
you lose the cursor or the screen blanks out when you exit (I've had
two complaints about this).
Version 2.0d (bug fix)
If AutoCon followed an "ECHO OFF" and a "CLS" statement in a batch
file, the screen could get slightly messed up - fixed.
Version 2.0c (bug fix)
The user modified colors were getting lost if a reboot was performed
from the command line - fixed.
Version 2.0b (bug fix)
MENU.CTL had a problem with the name of the eighth configuration,
which is now fixed. It also had a tendency to leave menu choice 2
in the hi-lite mode, also fixed.
Several people complained about seeing the Errorlevel statements in
the AUTOEXEC.BAT during the boot process. AUTOEXEC.BAT files will
now start with ECHO OFF as the first statement if you choose the
MENU.CTL option.
Version 2.0 would allow you to choose more than the eight default
configurations. This is no longer allowed.
Version 2.0 had a problem writing the AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the Menu
mode if the Autoexec fields didn't end in a Carriage Return. This
is now fixed.
Version 2.0
I'm jumping the version number from 1.4 to 2.0 for this release.
The reason is that AutoCon's capability has changed so much in this
release that I think it warrants a Major revision number change.
The major change is the inclusion of two new files. These are
MENU.CTL and MENUNUM.COM. Menu.Ctl is a device driver that can
disable commands in the CONFIG.SYS file. MenuNum.Com is a file that
will ask the portion of Menu.Ctl that stays resident which
configuration was chosen, and set the DOS ERRORLEVEL to that number.
This allows setting up menu choices in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to
match the choice made from the CONFIG.SYS file. Together these two
files allow you to choose a system configuration from a menu of
configurations during the boot process itself.
AutoCon will handle all of the interface details to these two
commands for you, and allow you to return to a "Normal" system
configuration in just a couple of keystrokes. This will allow you
to run programs like "Optimize" from Quarterdeck.
There is a pull-down menu system available on the main screen. Each
item on the menu has a context sensitive help entry. This should
make it very easy to get AutoCon up and running the first time, and
allow you to look up those commands you can't remember the
keystrokes for.
There are two new command line options. If you enter
AutoCon /
on the command line, a window of your configurations will pop up
asking you to choose which configuration you wish to use to reboot
the system. This is equivalent to the "AutoCon
except that AutoCon lets you choose the name from a pick list.
The second new command is
AutoCon /@
where
each configuration. If the name matches the configuration that was
used for the boot process, the DOS errorlevel will be set to 1. It
will be set to 0 otherwise. For this function to work correctly,
you need to boot up with Menu.Ctl, or assure that each Autoexec
field has the correct name assigned with a SET command. See the new
"Put Name in Environment" editor function defined below.
The internal editor has a few new capabilities. In order to access
most them you will have to edit your keystrokes (using the F6 key).
The block operations are no longer constrained to full lines. The
default keys for reformating were removed. You may reassign them.
"Search Function" (default assigned to ^Q^F) allows you to search
the text for a specified string of text. The string is active for
the entire AutoCon session, and will be the same across records.
"Search/Replace Function" (default assigned to ^Q^A) allows you to
search the text for a specified string of text, and relpace it
with another string of text. You will be asked to confirm the
replacement.
"Repeat Search Function" (default assigned to ^L) This will
repeat the last Search, or Search/Replace that was performed. The
informations is retained during the AutoCon session, and will be
the same across records.
"Install Editor Keys" (default assigned to F6) allows you to
change the editor keys during an edit session.
"Put Name in Environment" (default assigned to AltE) will put a
SET command in your edit field. This will guarantee that the
configuration you are editing has its name placed correctly in the
environment. AutoCon will use this name for various command line
functions.
"Change (Text - AltF6, Block - AltF7, Control Char - AltF8)
Attribute" will allow you to change the keys that call up the
editor color installation windows.
"View Last Dos Screen" (default assigned to AltV) allows you to
see the DOS screen as it was when AutoCOn was started. Could be
useful if the reason your changing a configuration is shown there.
By March 1, 1991 I will have a support BBS in place operating 24
hours a day. The number will be (916) 623 4455.
Version 1.4
One of the WhatsNews has to do with me, I am now a member of the ASP
(Association of ShareWare Professionals). The rest of the WhatsNews
all concern changes (and additions) to the program.
You now have the option to use the built in editor to edit the
Autoexec and Config fields, or to install an external editor to do
the job.
editor's file name. The Path will be checked for the entered file
name, and if found, it will be used to edit the Autoexec and Config
fields in the future. For more info, see the "Installing External
Editor" section of AUTOCON.DOC.
From the command line, typing
and Config fields of the current configuration record against the
file contents of the current Configuration files (usually
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and C:\CONFIG.SYS). The results of the comparison
will be shown on the screen. SPECIAL NOTE! - the configuration will
need to have been saved with the 1.4 version of AUTOCON.
From the command line, typing
and Config fields of the current configuration record from the file
contents of the current Configuration files (usually C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
and C:\CONFIG.SYS). You might want to be a little careful with this
one.
The internal editor has a few new capabilities. In order to access
them, you will probably have to edit your keystrokes (using the
key). The new commands are "Split Line", "Cut the marked block",
and "Paste the last Cut block". These commands will be a little
more convenient than the current "Write marked block" and "Read
marked block" file commands.
"Split Line" (default assigned to
line at the cursor, leaving the cursor where it is, and moving the
rest of the line down to the next line.
"Cut the marked block" (default assigned to
combination) will put the current marked block into a text buffer.
"Paste the last Cut block" (default assigned to
key
combination) will paste the contents of the cut buffer to the
current cursor location. This command can be used to move the
data in the same record, or across records. After a cUt, the data
will stay in the buffer until a new cUt is performed, or AUTOCON
is exited.
Formerly the editor only recognized a ' ' (space) as a word mark
(for
to also recognize the following characters as word marks :
'/', ';', and '='.
Line length was increased to 254 for those long path names (and
any other long lines needed). This necessitated removing the
word-wrap capability while editing the Autoexec and Config
fields (I don't think this will be a hardship, you probably don't
want to word-wrap the lines in your Autoexec and Config files
anyway). Word-wrap is still used in the Notes field, but please
don't enter a line longer than 127 characters in there.
A couple of functions were also added to the Interactive Mode.
records, and allow you to select one. The contents of the
Autoexec and Config fields of the selected configuration record
will be copied to the current configuration record. Be careful
with this one, there is NO "Undo" command. You can always
use ESC to get out of the pick list without doing a copy.
started.
configuration record against the contents of the current
configuration files (C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and C:\CONFIG.SYS, unless you
have changed them with
configuration will need to have been saved with the 1.4 version of
AUTOCON.
All of the color changes now show up instantly (you previously had
to wait till the next time Autocon was executed to see some of the
color changes).
ESC is no longer accepted as a "Yes" answer (there were a lot of
complaints on this one). A "Yes" answer now requires a
There are a few cosmetic changes on the screens (all in response to
comments by users). I won't take the space to list each one.
There are a couple more entrys on the help screen, and (I hope) the
entries are arranged in a little more logical fashion.
UltraVision : Autocon is now UltraVision "Aware". Autocon will
detect if UltraVision is installed and active. If it is, Autocon
will use UltraVision to switch modes, and restore screens (in other
words, Autocon won't mess up your screen).
Windows Problems : After spending a very unproductive day on the
phone with Microsoft, I decided to add another boot type option to
Autocon. Several people use Autocon to reconfigure in and out of
Windows. When Windows is running in 386 enhanced mode, a software
boot (usually) doesn't work. Microsoft's recommendation : "Never
reboot while running Windows". They say that this may trash hard
disks and worse (I'm not sure what could be "worse" than trashing a
hard disk). I don't know about you, but I've had to reboot out of
Windows several times. I know it's probably not a good idea, but
there are times it should be quite safe (and times when it is forced
upon us). Anyway, they say that is no way they are aware of to
ensure that a software reboot will work.
Therefore :
You may now select (N)one as an alternate boot type (using the
files, but will not attempt a reboot. Now you may run Autocon
under Windows, and after the system files are reconfigured, you
can hit the dreaded CtrlAltDel key combination.
By the way, I'm not much of an artist, so if someone (out of the
goodness of their hearts) designs a nice Icon for Autocon, I would
appreciate them sending me a copy.
A potentially nasty bug was squashed. Since I never received a
complaint on this one, I assume that I was the only one "bit". If
your current configuration record was the last one, and you deleted
it, Autocon tried to find it again the next time it was started.
This could lead to bizarre behavior (a messed up pointer for those
technical people). If the current record number is larger than the
max record number, it will now be adjusted (with appropriate warning
message). It will still be pointing to the wrong record, but it
will behave in a known fashion.
______________________________________________________________________
Version 1.3a
There are a few bug fixes, and a couple of enhancements in this
version. If you used F2 to save changes in the previous versions,
when you hit ESC to exit it would issue a warning that the changes
were about to be lost, this has been corrected.
AUTOCON will now attempt to detect and restore the EGA/VGA (45/50)
small character mode upon exit.
After updating the configuration with 1.3a, when AUTOCON is started
in the interactive mode, it will default to the configuration used
in the last update.
On the command line if you type
configuration will be displayed (Note: you must have saved a
configuration with V1.3a first).
If you are in the full screen entry mode, hitting
the Autoexec and Config fields in the current record from the
current AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. This saves going into
each of the two fields and doing a
From the command line, typing AUTOCON followed by a / and the name
of a configuration (e.g.
configuration to have it's Autoexec and Config fields updated from
the current AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files.
There was a bug in V1.3 that caused AUTOCON to have a problem with
reading files that were not terminated with ^Z. If you got an
"Edit Buffer Full" message when you tried to edit a field that you
know wasn't too big, then you were bitten by this bug. This is
fixed in 1.3a.
If you were in one of the fields and issued an <^KW> (block save)
and didn't have a marked block, you were not given an error message
in previous versions. This is fixed in 1.3a.
The help screen displayed in a color change window was the one for
changing the editor keystrokes. This is fixed in 1.3a.
______________________________________________________________________
Version 1.3
There are several changes in this version. If you have added
several extra configurations that you no longer need, the
key will delete the current configuration (you can't delete record
one, nor can you go below five records).
You can change the keystrokes used by the built in editor. Hitting
the
allow changing the actions of all of the control keys used in the
editor.
You can change the colors used by AUTOCON. Hitting the
combination with the function keys will allow customization of most
of the colors. The use of each key is detailed in the pop-up help.
The DAT file format for 1.3 is quite different than the one for 1.2.
The white space has been eliminated, and as a consequence it is
significantly smaller (mine are about 1/4 the previous size). The
first time you run 1.3 it will change the format, and the DAT file
will no longer be compatible with 1.2. You may want to make a copy
of AUTOCON.DAT (just to be on the safe side) before running 1.3.
______________________________________________________________________
Version 1.2d keeps current file attributes
A request was made to update the Autoexec and Config files, but to
not change their current attributes (system, read only, hidden,
etc.). Therefore AUTOCON now reads the current file attributes of
Autoexec.Bat and Config.Sys before updating them, and restores the
attributes after the update.
______________________________________________________________________
Version 1.2c adds a boot type select.
Some computers have trouble with the warm boot that AUTOCON was
originally configured with. These seem to mainly be machines with
large hard disks, and a large hard disk manager. The
allows you to change the boot type from warm to cold to get around
this problem.
______________________________________________________________________
Version 1.2a is a bug fix.
AUTOCON didn't recognize more than three configurations from the
command line.
Version 1.2 is a bug fix.
When you attempted to read in your old configuration files to the
AUTOEXEC and CONFIG fields, it always defaulted to C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
an C:\CONFIG.SYS no matter what files you had selected. The read
file option now works correctly.
______________________________________________________________________
Version 1.1 charges are as follows.
1. AUTOCON now does a Reboot when a reconfiguration is done from the
command line.
2. AUTOCON now handles up to 50 configurations (originally only 5).
3. You can now read any file into an AUTOEXEC or CONFIG edit field
(allows you to use your old configurations).
4. The On-line Help has been updated/enhanced.
5. The Doc file has been enhanced (left out a few things the first
time).
6. Allows you the choice of a Reboot when reconfiguring in the data
entry mode.
7. Hopefully a better choice of colors on an LCD screen. If you have
an LCD, you need to have your mode set to BW80 (2).
Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!
This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.
But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/