SPMPT (The Smart Prompt) Version 1.0
A User Supported Program
Copyright 1990 by Charles III
All Rights Reserved

SPMPT is a memory resident program (TSR) that requires 2.5k memory and augments
information that DOS can provide in your prompt. Five particular information
items are available to be added to the prompt; read on for more information.
DOS version 3.0 or later is required.

This is an example of how you would issue the prompt command to take advantage
of all of the services that SPMPT provides. The five characters: !, m, @, *,
and # each have special meaning and will be replaced by SPMPT as indicated in
the documentation that follows. These five characters are not immutable; they
can be changed to any other set of five characters. Information on how to make
such changes is provided in the NOTES section below.

Example prompt (as issued in my autoexec.bat file):

prompt ! m [email protected] *# $p$g

The "!" up front is a character that is replaced by the ninth character from
my AUTOEXEC.BAT file which is of the form "rem auto?...". Where the the "?"
here substitutes for the ninth character and is one of the digits from 1 to
9 depending upon the particular AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS combination of nine
possible that the machine booted up with. Here is the batch file that I use
to switch from one of the nine to any other one. (I call it NS.BAT--new
system--and it is used it by typing a digit from 1 to 9 on the command line.
Of cource, the files auto1, auto2, ... and cfig1, cfig2, ... must be created
first).

echo off
c:
cd \
if exist auto1 goto a2
ren autoexec.bat auto1
ren config.sys cfig1
goto newauto
:a2
if exist auto2 goto a3
ren autoexec.bat auto2
ren config.sys cfig2
goto newauto
:a3
if exist auto3 goto a4
ren autoexec.bat auto3
ren config.sys cfig3
goto newauto
:a4
if exist auto4 goto a5
ren autoexec.bat auto4
ren config.sys cfig4
goto newauto
:a5
if exist auto5 goto a6
ren autoexec.bat auto5
ren config.sys cfig5
goto newauto
:a6
if exist auto6 goto a7
ren autoexec.bat auto6
ren config.sys cfig6
goto newauto
:a7
if exist auto7 goto a8
ren autoexec.bat auto7
ren config.sys cfig7
goto newauto
:a8
if exist auto8 goto a9
ren autoexec.bat auto8
ren config.sys cfig8
goto newauto
:a9
if exist auto9 goto newauto
ren autoexec.bat auto9
ren config.sys cfig9
:newauto
ren auto%1 autoexec.bat
ren cfig%1 config.sys
boot

The program BOOT.COM is just to do an automatic warm boot at the end. A
very simple program; here is its disassembly:

MOV AX,0040
MOV DS,AX
MOV WORD PTR [0072],1234
JMP FFFF:0000

Don't place the "!" in the prompt if you don't wish to use this feature.
Here is the prompt again

prompt ! m [email protected] *# $p$g

Placing an "m" in the prompt causes SPMPT to replace it with the amount of
free memory as a decimal number which is the number of kilobytes of memory
available to load programs. It is the same memory value as is reported by
the CHKDSK program. (It only reports kilobytes if you initialize it to do
so; see the NOTES below.)

Here is an example of the DOS prompt as it looks after I have shelled out
of the TAPCIS program which I use to interface with CompuServe.

1 113k 6:17p TAPCIS1 C:\COM\TAP>

The first 1 means that I am using the first AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS pair
(due to the 1 replacing the "!"), I have 113k bytes of free memory (due to
113k replacing the "m"), the time has been displayed as 6 hours, whereas if
SPMPT were not loaded it would have displayed as 18. The "@" character has
been replaced by the "p" (if it were "am" it would have been "a"). The
asterisk, "*", has been replaced by the program that I shelled out of. The
"#" has been replaced by the shell "level" or the number of COMMAND.COM
shells that have been loaded into memory (1 not including initial one loaded
by the system [DOS] itself). Other than these special characters which are
filtered by SPMPT all other characters in the PROMPT command are passed
through to DOS and act normally (e.g., the "$t$h$h$h$h$h$h" string in the
prompt above).

As indicated above this is a copyrighted program. No restrictions apply
to its copying or use by any individual or organization; however, it may
not be sold or included with any item(s) sold. Furthermore, modifications
to either the executable file SPMPT.COM, or this documentation SPMPT.DOC
are prohibited. Other files and/or documentation may accompany the program
and documentation when it is distributed.

For this software and documentation the author makes no warranty neither
expressed nor implied. Nor does he assume responsibility for any problems
or damages that may be incurred due to its use. If you run into any
difficulties while using SPMPT then STOP USING IT. I shall continue to
make improvements to the program in the future including bug fixes, so it
is important that users provide information to me that will help augment
the program and eliminate problems caused by undesirable interaction with
other types of software. If you would like to support the continued
development of SPMPT then a contribution of $15--or any amount--would be
greatly appreciated. If you will send at least $15 for registration I
will send you the commented assembly language source code for SPMPT. If
you wish to have the source please indicate that in your letter (or Email,
etc.). Also indicate diskette type: 5 1/4 or 3 1/2. Alternatively,
I will send the source code via CompuServe's Email in an .ARC or .ZIP file.

A friend has reported to me that the program conflicts with the DOS BACKUP
and RESTORE programs; however, I have never experienced difficulties with
these programs on any of the machines on which I have used SPMPT. I have
noticed that the name of the LOTUS program is not reported properly in a
shell of that program's version 2. Reports of any other problems would be
appreciated. The author may be reached at

Charles Lazo III
P. O. Box 452
Hohenwald, TN 38462
(615) 796-2640

CompuServe User ID 72210,17

NOTES:

SPMPT.COM has the ability to change the characters it uses to position the
information it places in the prompt. By default the characters are these:

! m @ * #

To change the am/pm symbol from "@" to "^", for example, enter the command:

SPMPT @=^

Normally (with a fresh SPMPT.COM just after assembly) SPMPT will replace an
"m" in the prompt with the amount of free memory in bytes. If you wish to
have SPMPT display the amount of free memory in kilobytes using "k" or "K"
after the kilobyte number, then enter

SPMPT m=mk

or

SPMPT m=mK

respectively.

SPMPT was distributed to a few friends and acquaintances in the past under
the name 12HRS (because it converts DOS's 24 hour format to 12 format).
This is its first incarnation as a widely distributed program. Some changes
made to SPMPT versus 12HRS allow it to work with both 4DOS and DOS 4.0.