/* * File: lcmd.txt * Created: September 07, 1998. * By: Leif-Erik Larsen * Updated: July 28, 1999. */ About The Larsen Commander, version 0.98.1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Larsen Commander is a GUI File Manager with built in command line and scrollable console monitor. It has a default look and feel that is designed with inspiration from the grand old Norton Commander for DOS and the great File Commander for OS/2. Larsen Commander is shareware. In other words you can use it freely only for a limited period of time which is suggested not to exceed three months. If you use Larsen Commander regularly for a longer period than this you should really consider registering the product so that further development of it can take place. You can freely distribute Larsen Commander as long as you don't change it or sell it and as long as this readme file is contained in the distribution together with the program. Larsen Commander requires OS/2 Warp 3 or higher. It is compiled for usage on 80486 processors, or higher. It was developed and built using Borland C/C++ 2.0 for OS/2 and IBM Visual Age C++ 3.0 for OS/2. For the most part I developed it in my spare time and when sitting on the train when pending to and from my work. Initially the development machine was an IBM Thinkpad 701c, which was a 486-50MHz with 12MByte RAM. In early 1998 I bought a new IBM Thinkpad 560E which is a Pentium 166MHz with 48MByte RAM. All this means that great parts of the Larsen Commander has been developed and tested on relative slow computers and therefore should perform very well on relatively weak machines. However, now I am using an IBM ThinkPad 600. This machine is even faster, Pentium II 266MHz, but the OS/2 drivers of its video card performs relatively poorly. On power machines the Larsen Commander is flying... Some facts ~~~~~~~~~~ * Nice, attractive and highly customizable look and feel. * The program actually works very well, and it is quick too. * Powerful and user friendly at the same time. * Built in GUI Console and Command Line Prompt with History. * You can SET environment variables directly in the shell. * Support for Drag & Drop to and from the OS/2 Workplace Shell. * Preserves the Command and Directory History between sessions. * Scrollable console monitor, with various search and navigation capabilities. * File Columns are no wider than the widest item of the respective Column. * Built on optimized C++ library that ensures low memory usage and speed. * Built in command line commands: PUSHD, POPD, R, SET, TAG, WHICH, +++ * All built in commands takes the well known "/?" and "-?" arguments. * Human editable resource file for GUI and language dependent texts. * Built in command to show statistic summary of directory trees. * All built in commands can be disabled on a per-command basis. * Auto filename completion (ala 4OS2) when pressing CTRL+TAB. * User menu for easy launching of frequently used programs. * Almost all commands are accessable by keyboard shortcuts. * Easy creation of Program and Shadow Objects on Desktop. * Smart dynamic filename search by pressing ALT+letter. * Platform independent human editable INI-file. * Full support for volumes larger than 4GB. * Directory Cache with smart CD command. * Built in Extended Attribute Viewer. * User customizable shortcut keys. * Extended selection capabilities. * Support for long filenames. * User customizable toolbar. * User customizable menues. * Smart Program Launching. * Toolbar bubble help. * Command aliases. Some of the additional features that are soon to be added ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Built in text file editor and viewer. * Support for ZIP-files and other archive formats (ARJ, LZH, ZOO, JAR). * File undelete, using OS/2's DELDIR facility. * Association editor. * Tree view mode. * Windows 95/98/NT version. How to register Larsen Commander ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is no way to register Larsen Commander until it reaches version 1.0. In the mean time you can freely use the temporary freeware beta releases. Larsen Commander mailing list ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can join the Larsen Commander mailing list simply by sending a message to "majordomo@bmtmicro.com" and put "subscribe lc-list yourid@your.domain" in the body of the message. To get off, just replace "subscribe" with "unsubscribe". To post a message to the list, use the e-mail address "lc-list@bmtmicro.com". Additional Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Please read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file LCMDFAQ.TXT for more information before starting to use the Larsen Commander program on your system. Known bugs and problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. The Command Line Entry Field must have a font which is not too large. If the font is too large then the Entry Field will have some problems with horizontal scrolling, at least on OS/2 Warp 4. This is not a bug of Larsen Commander but of the Multiline Entry Field (WC_MLE) of OS/2. TIPS: You can use the Font Palette Object of the OS/2 WPS and drop any font you like on the Command Line Entry Field of Larsen Commander. 2. If the current directory contains a huge number of files it can happen that the scroll bar of the corresponding file panel doesn't work properly. However, this is just a cosmetic bug. The reason is that OS/2 has scrollbars that uses 16 bit integers to calculate the thumb position and scroll range. I need to write code that "emulate" 32 or more bits. 3. Some programs uses the VIO subset of OS/2 in such a way that they can not be run as a child process in the console monitor of Larsen Commander. You can execute such programs by pressing ALT+ENTER rather than just ENTER. This will ensure that the program is run in a new session, completely independent from Larsen Commander. This is a common and well known problem not only to Larsen Commander but also to other GUI shells, such as Take Command/2 and the SHELL facility of the OS/2 EPM Editor. Anyway, you can always press CTRL+C to break the current child program should it operate in an unaccessible way. To make Larsen Commander automatically run the program in a new session, regardless if you execute it with ALT+ENTER or just ENTER, just add the program name to the list of TTY-apps in the options dialog (Options->Commands->TTY-Apps). 4. Some of the menu commands in Larsen Commander depends on external programs on your system. For instance, when you choose to edit a text file from within Larsen Commander, by default the OS/2 standard text editor program E.EXE will be launched. However, you can easily choose another program module if you like (probably you will). Just open the options menu and select the "Programs..." menu item. Then, just choose the desired program module and parameter list of each optional program. A few of the default programs are shareware programs that you might not have installed on you system. For instance, when you choose the menu command for comparing the content of two text files, Larsen Commander will (by default) try to launch the PM-Diff shareware program. I am working with internal versions of some of those menu commands. Stay tuned! Contackting the author ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Direct E-Mail..........: leifel@online.no Home Page of the Author: http://home.sol.no/~leilarse/index.html Phone, private.........: +47 64873223 Phone, work............: +47 22801544 Snail Mail.............: Leif-Erik Larsen Asenvegen 32b 1400 Ski Norway Getting the latest version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can always find the latest version of Larsen Commander at the Larsen Commander Home Page at http://home.sol.no/~leilarse/lcmd/index.html I will always upload the latest public updates of Larsen Commander to that URL first. Then I will upload it to some various other sites in addition. Warranty ~~~~~~~~ Use of this software for any purpose whatsoever constitutes your unqualified acceptance of the following statements. The author makes no warranty or representation that the software will be error free. The author disclaims any warranties, either express or implied, including but not limited to any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. The user agrees to take full responsibility for the selection of and any use whatsoever made of the software. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF ANY POSSIBILITY OR LIKELIHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES. Have fun!