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- INTRODUCTION TO
-
- THE SHAREWARE VERSIONS OF
-
- PAL
-
- the Personal Appointment Locator for SideKick
-
- and
-
- PALARM/PALSET
-
-
-
-
-
- Copyright 1986 by PAL Software NY
-
- All rights reserved
-
- PAL Software NY
- Suite 12B
- 110 Greene St.
- New York, New York 10012
- Voice: (212) 334-9172
- BBS: (212) 334-9171
-
-
-
-
-
-
- PAL, PALARM and PALSET are trademarks of PAL Software NY
-
- SideKick is a trademark of Borland International
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Table of Contents
-
- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
-
- Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- HARD DISK SYSTEMS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- FLOPPY DISK SYSTEMS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- INSTALLING PALARM: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- USING PALSET: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
- CUSTOMIZATION: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
-
- Menu Operation of PAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
-
- Command Line and Batch Operation of PAL . . . . . . . . 7
-
- Help Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
-
- Report Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
- REPORT MODE SYNTAX: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
- DATE CONTROL: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
- TOGGLE SWITCHES: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
- FILE HANDLING: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
- EXAMPLES: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
- SPECIAL MEMOS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
-
- Search Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
- SEARCH MODE SYNTAX: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
- SEARCH MODE PARAMETERS: . . . . . . . . . . . 11
-
- Reminders and Auto-Repeat Appointments . . . . . . . . . 12
- REMINDERS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
- AUTO-REPEAT APPOINTMENTS: . . . . . . . . . . 12
-
- Garbage Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
-
- Multiple Appointment Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
-
- Cloning New Versions of PAL to Your Specifications . . . 14
- COLOR: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- FILE HANDLING: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- PRINTER: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
- COMMAND LINE ACTION: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- CREATING NEW COM FILES: . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- RESTORING DISTRIBUTION DEFAULTS: . . . . . . . 15
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Alarms: Using PALARM and PALSET . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- KILLING AND SNOOZING: . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- CHANGING SNOOZE PERIODS: . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- CHANGING SOUND LEVEL: . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- CHANGING TIME AND DATE DISPLAY: . . . . . . . 16
- EDITING ALARMS WITH PALSET: . . . . . . . . . 17
- REMOVING PALARM: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
- CUSTOMIZING THE HOT KEY: . . . . . . . . . . . 18
- SCAN CODE TABLE: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
-
- Infinite Alarms with SideKick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
- CREATING ALARMS WITH SK: . . . . . . . . . . . 20
- ADVANCE ALARMS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
- RUN PAL TO UPDATE ALARMS! . . . . . . . . . . 21
- MANUAL SETTING VS. AUTOMATIC SETTING: . . . . 21
- SHAREWARE LIMITATION: . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
-
- TSR Wars; Multitasking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
-
- Support (Both Ways) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
- FOR YOU: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
- FROM YOU: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
-
- Commercial PAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
-
- Legal Stuff: Warranties and Limitations . . . . . . . . 25
-
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-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 4 --
-
-
- Introduction
-
- PAL is a utility for IBM-PC and compatible owners who
- use SideKick. PAL enhances SideKick's appointment calendar
- feature. If you would like a quick demonstration of some of
- PAL's features, then run the batch file PALDEMO.BAT. The
- version of PAL described in this introduction is 1.5.
-
- PALARM is a resident alarm which is usable on IBM-PC's
- and compatibles, regardless whether you use SideKick or PAL.
- The version of PALARM described in this introduction is 1.1.
-
- PALSET is PALARM's non-resident companion which is used
- to edit alarms and set PALARM's various features. The
- version of PALSET described in this introduction is 1.1.
-
- The shareware versions described in this documentation
- have all the same features as the commercial versions, but
- with one important distinction. The full implementation of
- the ability to set infinite alarms with SideKick has been
- limited in time. Until the end of June, 1987, the shareware
- versions will operate identically to the commercial versions,
- so that you can determine whether you like the full alarm
- feature enough to purchase the commercial version. After
- June, 1987, the shareware versions will no longer automati-
- cally interpret alarms set with SideKick, and your only
- method of setting alarms will be the manual method with
- PALSET. We hope that this extended demonstration period will
- encourage you to purchase the commercial versions.
-
- This introduction should be sufficient to get you well
- on your way to exploiting all that PAL and PALARM can do for
- you. PAL also has online help, which is available to you by
- choosing the help selection from PAL's opening menu, or you
- can bypass the opening menu by typing "PAL HELP" at the DOS
- command line. Online help for PALARM and PALSET is available
- from the opening menu of PALSET.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 5 --
-
-
- Installation
-
- HARD DISK SYSTEMS:
-
- To use PAL in a hard disk system, copy the following
- files to a single subdirectory which resides in your PATH (if
- you aren't familiar with paths, check your DOS documenta-
- tion):
-
- PAL.COM
- PAL15.000
- PAL15.001
- PAL15.HLP
-
- The PAL15.HLP file is optional and is necessary only if you
- want online help. Invoke PAL by issuing the command "PAL"
- from the DOS command line. So long as you have properly set
- your PATH, it will not matter what your current directory is
- when you invoke PAL.
-
- FLOPPY DISK SYSTEMS:
-
- To use PAL in a floppy disk system, copy the four PAL
- files mentioned above to a single disk, preferably the one on
- which you keep your SideKick appointment file. If you're
- short on space, you may want to delete the PAL15.HLP file,
- but doing so will disable the online help feature. Make sure
- that the disk containing PAL is in the current drive, or else
- that you have set your DOS PATH to look in that drive.
- Invoke PAL by issuing the command "PAL" from the DOS command
- line.
-
- INSTALLING PALARM:
-
- To use PALARM, simply type the program name at the
- command line and hit the carriage return. PALARM then
- installs itself and remains resident in memory. You will not
- have any further need of "PALARM.COM" until the next time you
- boot. PALARM must be installed prior to the time that
- SideKick installs itself, so if you intend to use it regular-
- ly, place the PALARM command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file prior
- to the SK command. PALARM will cause your computer to pop up
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 6 --
-
-
- with a visual and audible alarm which you have set with
- either PALSET or SideKick.
-
- USING PALSET:
-
- To use PALSET, you must COPY both PALSET.COM and
- PALSET.000 into a single subdirectory which resides in your
- PATH. PALSET, like PALARM, is called from the command line
- without additional parameters. PALSET will not operate
- unless PALARM is already loaded.
-
- CUSTOMIZATION:
-
- You may customize many of the features of PAL and
- PALARM. These customization features are described in
- greater detail later in this documentation.
-
- To customize PAL, select "CLONE" from the main menu, or
- invoke "PAL CLONE" from the command line.
-
- To customize PALARM, invoke PALSET, then select "IN-
- STALL" from the main menu.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 7 --
-
-
- Menu Operation of PAL
-
- PAL is distributed so that if you invoke the program
- without any additional command line parameters, it will
- present you with a menu to choose from its various opera-
- tions. To select an operation, hit the alphabetic or numeric
- key which is associated with the operation you desire to
- activate. No carriage return is required.
-
-
- Command Line and Batch Operation of PAL
-
- Alternatively, you may invoke any of PAL's operations
- directly from the DOS command line by adding parameters after
- the program name. Command line operation is especially
- useful for batch files.
-
- Command line operation is explained in detail below
- under the headings of "Report Mode" and "Search Mode".
-
-
- Help Online
-
- You can invoke online help from the beginning menu, or
- directly from the command line with "PAL HELP". To select a
- subject for help, hit the alphabetic key which is associated
- with the subject which you wish to review. No carriage
- return is required.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 8 --
-
-
- Report Mode
-
- REPORT MODE SYNTAX:
-
- Syntax for the Report Mode is:
-
- PAL [@mm/dd/yyyy] n[ACFP] [FILENAME]
-
- The only required entries on the command line are the program
- name and "n", where "n" is the number of days you would like
- the report to encompass. The remaining parameters are
- optional. Do not type in the brackets; they are set forth
- above only to indicate that the items are optional.
-
- DATE CONTROL:
-
- The first optional parameter is to set the start date of
- the report at other than your present system date. For
- instance, "PAL @1/1/87 7" will give you appointments for the
- first week in 1987. If you use the "@" by itself without a
- following date, then PAL will assume you mean "@1/1/85"; this
- is useful if you want a shorthand method to begin a Report or
- Search from a very early date.
-
- TOGGLE SWITCHES:
-
- The second group of optional parameters ("ACFP") are
- toggle switches. They must be specified immediately follow-
- ing "n", without intervening spaces. They stand for:
-
- * disabling the "A"larm updating function,
-
- * "C"olor toggle,
-
- * send report to "F"ile, and
-
- * send report to "P"rinter.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 9 --
-
-
- FILE HANDLING:
-
- The last optional parameter permits you to specify the
- complete name, including drive and path if needed, of the
- file you desire to search. If you do not specify the
- filename, then PAL will use its default assumptions for the
- name and location of the file. You may freely change those
- assumptions (among others) with PAL's cloning procedure.
-
- PAL makes its own assumptions as to the name and
- location of your appointment file. On distribution, PAL
- assumes that the name of the file to examine is "APPOINT.APP"
- and looks for it first in the current directory from which
- PAL was invoked. If PAL does not find APPOINT.APP in the
- current directory it looks for it in "C:\SK" and then in
- "C:\". If PAL's assumptions as to the name and location of
- your appointment file are incorrect, then you may either
- change PAL's assumptions with the clone feature, change the
- name and location of your appointment file in order to match
- PAL's assumptions, or else fully specify the name and
- location each time you invoke PAL. You will probably find
- the cloning option to be the most effective choice.
-
- EXAMPLES:
-
- As an example of Report Mode, to see all your appoint-
- ments for the next week, issue the command "PAL 7". A very
- common use for PAL is to insert such a command as the last
- line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, so that your coming appoint-
- ments greet you when your computer finishes booting in the
- morning.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 10 --
-
-
- SPECIAL MEMOS:
-
- In Report Mode, PAL will interpret some of your memos as
- having special meaning and will provide you with extra-
- special results when those memos are encountered. They are:
-
- * Reminders: Memos containing "!"
-
- * Alarms: Memos containing "@"
-
- * Auto-Repeat: Memos containing "[" or "]"
-
- See below for a further explanation of these special memos.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 11 --
-
-
- Search Mode
-
- SEARCH MODE SYNTAX:
-
- Syntax for the Search Mode is:
-
- PAL [@mm/dd/yyyy] $[ACFP] SEARCHTERM [FILENAME]
-
- The required parameters in Search Mode are the program's
- name, followed by the "$" character (think $earch), followed
- by the term that you want PAL to search for; the term must be
- a single word or part of a word, without intervening spaces.
-
- SEARCH MODE PARAMETERS:
-
- The optional parameters are identical to those permitted
- in Report Mode. The "A" switch for disabling alarms is not
- significant in Search Mode, since PAL will not update alarms
- when you are operating in Search Mode. Alarms, reminders and
- auto-repeat appointments will not be treated specially in
- Search Mode, for Search Mode is restricted to the single,
- simple function of conducting a search through your file.
-
- For instance, if you issue the command "PAL $ den", then
- PAL will show you all upcoming appointments which contain the
- characters "den", such as "Dentist appointment" or "lunch
- with Denise".
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 12 --
-
-
- Reminders and Auto-Repeat Appointments
-
- Special features of PAL include the ability to maintain
- a reminder list and automatically repeating appointments.
-
- REMINDERS:
-
- If you want to maintain a reminder list, then enter an
- appointment with SideKick and insert an exclamation point
- ("!") anywhere in the memo. If the day passes and the memo
- is still there, then PAL will remind you of that memo in a
- special section of its report.
-
- AUTO-REPEAT APPOINTMENTS:
-
- If you want to have an appointment come up periodically
- on a monthly or annual basis, then insert the left bracket
- ("[") for an annual auto-repeat appointment or a right
- bracket ("]") for a monthly auto-repeat appointment. You'll
- never forget that birthday again!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 13 --
-
-
- Garbage Collection
-
- If you'd like to delete all your old appointments, then
- invoke the delete function with "PAL DELETE". This will get
- rid of all your out of date appointments except for reminders
- ("!") and auto-repeat appointments ("[" or "]"). Optionally,
- you may instruct PAL to get rid of the old reminders as well.
- This function will also get rid of some useless records in
- your appointment file which SideKick tends to leave there
- even after you delete them with SideKick; if all you want to
- do is collect and dispose of the garbage but leave your old
- visible appointments intact, then use the command "PAL
- PURGE".
-
-
- Multiple Appointment Files
-
- If you keep more than one appointment file and would
- like to view them together to check on conflicts or common
- free time, then copy them together (using the "/b" parame-
- ter), and view the combined file with PAL. For instance, if
- Dick uses DICK.APP and Jane uses JANE.APP, then use the
- following command to combine the files into TOTAL.APP:
-
- COPY DICK.APP + JANE.APP TOTAL.APP /b
-
- Then use PAL on the combined file:
-
- PAL 7 TOTAL.APP
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 14 --
-
-
- Cloning New Versions of PAL to Your Specifications
-
- If you want to teach PAL the name of the appointment
- file it should use and where to find it, or you want to
- change any of the assumptions that PAL makes, then use the
- CLONE procedure.
-
- Enter the CLONE procedure from the main menu or from the
- DOS command line with the command "PAL CLONE".
-
- COLOR:
-
- There are many changes you can make with the CLONE
- procedure, which you can discover through exploring. For
- instance, you can turn PAL's color on or off permanently for
- color monitors instead of using the "C" toggle on the command
- line. Once you set color on or off with the CLONE procedure,
- using the "C" toggle will cause PAL to temporarily switch to
- the opposite state.
-
- FILE HANDLING:
-
- You can change the name that PAL assumes for the
- appointment file that you wish to search, and you can tell
- PAL what directories to look in for the appointment file.
- You can also change the name of the file that PAL writes to
- when you use the "F" switch in Report Mode or Search Mode.
-
- PRINTER:
-
- You can specify special printer codes to send to your
- printer before and after a report. You can change the number
- of lines printed per page or provide for continuous printing.
- You may wish to combine a number of printer changes to
- provide for printing in very compressed type (if your printer
- allows it) so that a long report could fit on a single
- printed page.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 15 --
-
-
- COMMAND LINE ACTION:
-
- You can even tell PAL an action that you would like it
- to take every time it is called without additional command
- line parameters. The distribution version of PAL automati-
- cally calls up the opening menu if all you type at the
- command line is "PAL". Instead of summoning the opening menu
- with the simple "PAL" command, you can instruct PAL to take
- any other action that would have been permitted from the
- command line. For instance, if you commonly use PAL to send
- a 90 day report to your printer, you can tell PAL that the
- assumed command will be "PAL 90p"; thereafter, every time you
- invoke PAL without additional parameters, it will produce a
- 90-day report. You can always override the assumed command
- with explicit command line parameters.
-
- CREATING NEW COM FILES:
-
- When you have finished making changes to PAL's assump-
- tions, you can then have PAL produce a new .COM file. Unless
- you specify otherwise, the name of the first new .COM file
- created from the distribution version will be PAL15.COM. The
- assumed name for subsequent cloned versions will be whatever
- name you selected for the .COM file from which you are
- presently cloning. You may find it useful to clone a series
- of .COM files with different names, each one containing
- different assumptions.
-
- RESTORING DISTRIBUTION DEFAULTS:
-
- If after cloning new versions of PAL, you would like a
- simple method of restoring the original assumptions contained
- within the distribution version of PAL, simply issue the
- command "PAL RESTORE" from the DOS prompt.
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 16 --
-
-
- Alarms: Using PALARM and PALSET
-
- PALARM allows your computer to maintain up to 10 alarms
- at any time. When the moment comes for the alarm, PALARM
- will pop up over your current application and will present
- you with both a visual and an audible alarm (the visual alarm
- will not pop up over a graphics application).
-
- KILLING AND SNOOZING:
-
- You kill the alarm by hitting the carriage return key.
- If you fail to kill the alarm within a specified period, then
- PALARM will automatically silence the alarm, snooze for a
- period, then pop up again later. You can intentionally force
- PALARM to snooze by hitting any key other than the carriage
- return. If PALARM is snoozing, you will hear a soft tick
- sound approximately once per second.
-
- CHANGING SNOOZE PERIODS:
-
- As distributed, the alarm will display for 10 seconds
- and will snooze for 1 minute. With PALSET, you can change
- the time for display to between 1 and 60 seconds, and the
- snooze time to between 1 minute and 24 hours. This change
- can be made by entering the Install function from PALSET's
- main menu.
-
- CHANGING SOUND LEVEL:
-
- An additional control you have over the alarm is the
- ability to specify the type of sound you hear when the alarm
- goes off. You can change the sound to OFF, LOW, NORMAL or
- HIGH. The distribution version of PALARM has the sound set
- to LOW.
-
- CHANGING TIME AND DATE DISPLAY:
-
- When you first install PALARM, you will see the date and
- time at the upper right hand corner of your display. If you
- prefer not to have the clock and date display, then enter
- PALSET and turn either or both off temporarily with the
- toggle options on the opening menu, or turn either or both
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 17 --
-
-
- off permanently by entering the installation option on
- PALSET's opening menu.
-
- EDITING ALARMS WITH PALSET:
-
- Editing alarms is accomplished by entering the "Alarms
- Menu". You can add alarms, edit them, delete specific
- alarms, purge old alarms, or clear the entire alarm sequence.
- When you exit the Alarms menu and get back to the opening
- PALSET menu, you should "S"ave your changes to the data file
- if you want the information remembered the next time you boot
- up. If you fail to "S"ave the information, then your changes
- will be remembered only for your current computing session.
- If, prior to saving the current changes, you would like to
- restore the information which was last saved to disk, then
- use the "L"oad option from PALSET's main menu.
-
- While you are editing, the information currently in
- memory will automatically be stored to disk when you kill an
- alarm. Therefore, if an alarm pops up in the middle of an
- editing session and you're not sure that you want the current
- changes to overwrite your existing data, then instead of
- killing the alarm, force it to snooze. When you are certain
- that your editing changes are correct, you can then kill the
- alarm the next time it pops up.
-
- REMOVING PALARM:
-
- To remove PALARM from memory, first satisfy yourself
- that no other application is currently running (You are at
- the DOS command line) and that no other programs reside in
- memory after PALARM (e.g., you either did not load SideKick,
- or, having done so, have already removed SideKick from
- memory). Then, if you still wish to remove PALARM, hit the
- ALT key, then (still holding the ALT key) press the LEFT
- SHIFT key. PALARM will then permit you the final choice of
- answering "Y" or "N" to the question whether you wish to
- proceed in killing the program.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 18 --
-
-
- CUSTOMIZING THE HOT KEY:
-
- If you find that the ALT/LEFT-SHIFT combination con-
- flicts with key combinations used by other resident programs,
- you may patch PALARM for the appropriate scan code of your
- choice. For this, you must be familiar with DEBUG. Use
- debug to search through PALARM.COM for the character sequence
- "SCAN". The byte immediately thereafter will contain the
- scan code of the key to be used in conjunction with the ALT
- key. The distribution version of PALARM will show the byte
- "2A", signifying the LEFT-SHIFT key. A table of scan codes
- follows this paragraph. Edit that single byte to contain the
- scan code of your choice, then write the file back to the
- disk and quit DEBUG. PALARM's ability to dismount from
- memory will then function with your new scan code combina-
- tion. Be careful with this, for the initial response that
- PALARM gives when loaded will still say that ALT/LEFT-SHIFT
- will allow removal from memory, even though you have changed
- it to another key combination.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 19 --
-
-
- SCAN CODE TABLE:
-
- Following is a table of keys and their associated scan
- codes which should be entered with DEBUG to produce an ALT
- combination:
-
- Key Code Key Code Key Code Key Code
- A 1E B 30 C 2E D 20
- E 12 F 21 G 22 H 23
- I 17 J 24 K 25 L 26
- M 32 N 31 O 18 P 19
- Q 10 R 13 S 1F T 14
- U 16 V 2F W 11 X 2D
- Y 15 Z 2C ESC 01 1/! 78
- 2/@ 79 3/# 7A 4/$ 7B 5/% 7C
- 6/^ 7D 7/& 7E 8/* 7F 9/( 80
- 0/) 81 -/_ 82 =/+ 83 BS 0E
- TAB 0F [/{ 1A ]/} 1B CR 1D
- CTRL 1D ;/: 27 '/" 28 `/~ 29
- LSHT 2A RSHT 36 \/| 2B ,/< 33
- ./> 34 //? 35 */PT 37 SPC 20
- CAPS 3A NUM 45 SCRL 46 F1 68
- F2 69 F3 6A F4 6B F5 6C
- F6 6D F7 6E F8 6F F9 70
- F10 71 HOME 47 END 4F PGUP 49
- PGDN 51 UP 48 DOWN 50 RGHT 4D
- LEFT 4B INS 52 DEL 53 5* 4C
-
- * This refers to the 5 on the numeric keypad only.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 20 --
-
-
- Infinite Alarms with SideKick
-
- You now have the capability of having a virtually
- unlimited number of alarms set within your computer. The
- combination of SideKick, PAL and PALARM permits you to enter
- an alarm with SideKick, then read it with PAL, then nudge you
- with PALARM. You can enter as many alarms as you like,
- limited only by your disk space.
-
- CREATING ALARMS WITH SK:
-
- To create an alarm with SideKick, all you need to do is
- make sure that the memo that you enter has the "@" character
- included. Think of the "@" character as the word "at". The
- alarms will sound on the day and time that you have specified
- with SideKick. The title line in SideKick's entry pad will
- be interpreted as 7:30 a.m.
-
- ADVANCE ALARMS:
-
- You may optionally set the alarm to pop up in advance of
- SideKick's time slot, so that you are no longer entirely
- bound by SideKick's half hour straightjacket. In order to
- request an advance alarm, all you need to do is immediately
- follow the "@" character with a number from 1 to 240. Be
- sure not to use any intervening spaces, or else PAL will fail
- to interpret the memo as requesting an advance notice alarm.
- Whatever number you enter following the "@" will result in
- advance notice of that number of minutes.
-
- For instance, the following are valid alarm memos:
-
- Bill Cosby show on now @
- @20 Haircut appt. uptown
- @@@@@@ WAKE UP @@@@@@@
- Flight to London @ 180
-
- Please note that last example carefully. It will definitely
- pop up at the time slot in which it was entered, but you
- won't get 3 hours advance notice, since there is a space
- intervening between the "@" and the "180".
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 21 --
-
-
- RUN PAL TO UPDATE ALARMS!
-
- Last important note: The alarms which you have entered
- with SideKick don't get interpreted by PALARM automatically.
- You need to run PAL in Report Mode to do that. Periodically
- running PAL to ask for a report will make sure that your
- alarms are updated regularly. If you run PAL in your
- AUTOEXEC.BAT file every morning when you boot up, then you're
- likely to do just fine. Since PALARM has only a 10 alarm
- capacity, if you set more than 10 alarms during a day, you'll
- have to run PAL more frequently than once daily.
-
- MANUAL SETTING VS. AUTOMATIC SETTING:
-
- In addition to the automatic setting of alarms with the
- SK/PAL/PALARM combination, you may manually set an alarm with
- PALSET. See the discussion of PALSET above. If you are
- setting alarms through both the manual and the automatic
- method, be aware that the automatic method will take prece-
- dence in the event of a space conflict. That is, given the
- maximum of 10 alarms in memory at a time, there may come a
- situation where you have a full register of 10 alarms, with
- the 10th having been set by PALSET. Suppose that the next
- time PAL examines your appointment file it finds 10 alarms
- which are earlier in time than the one you had manually set
- with PALSET; that manually created alarm will have to be
- bumped out of memory in order to make room for the 10 earlier
- automatic alarms. Once bumped out of memory, the manually
- entered alarm will be lost unless you enter it once again
- manually, since there is no physical record of that alarm
- anymore. On the other hand, if SK/PAL enters 10 alarms
- automatically, and you then enter an earlier alarm manually
- with PALSET, the automatic alarm which must be bumped out of
- the register will still be in your SideKick appointment file
- and will be loaded in the future the next time PAL finds
- sufficient room in the register.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 22 --
-
-
- SHAREWARE LIMITATION:
-
- The ability to have infinite alarms set with SideKick
- has been limited in this shareware version. After June,
- 1987, this feature will no longer operate. We hope that this
- extended demonstration period will encourage you to purchase
- the commercial versions from us. See the section below
- entitled "Commercial PAL" for ordering information.
-
-
-
- TSR Wars; Multitasking
-
- Resident programs are often referred to as TSR's, after
- the DOS programmer's function that permits a program to
- Terminate but Stay Resident. As more and more resident
- programs vie for memory, processor time and control, it is
- inevitable that skirmishes may result, sometimes resulting in
- total system lockup which can only be remedied by turning the
- system off and then back on again.
-
- PALARM has been tested in many system configurations and
- has been found to coexist peacefully in the vast majority of
- situations. If, for any reason, you find that the introduc-
- tion of PALARM as a resident program in your system causes
- any problems, then first try to rearrange the order in which
- your TSR's are loaded. In most cases, you will find that
- loading PALARM early on in the sequence should solve your
- problem. You should also make sure that SideKick is your
- last-loaded resident program. If you still have a problem,
- you might want to try toggling the "Desqview" option de-
- scribed in the next paragraph. Lastly, for advanced users,
- PAL, PALARM and PALSET communicate through user interrupts 6F
- and 7F; if you find that these interrupts conflict with
- other programs, just call us and we'll give you a method for
- getting around the conflict.
-
- Multitasking software, such as DoubleDos, Windows,
- Desqview, TopView, Windows and TaskView are essentially TSR's
- which spawn several application programs as child processes.
- PALARM is a mini-multitasker itself, because it steals a
- little bit of processor time to keep track of when alarms
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 23 --
-
-
- must be sounded. The only multi-tasking system with which
- PALARM has been extensively tested is Desqview, and you must
- make a special adjustment in order for the two to work
- together. If you fail to make this adjustment, then you will
- experience system lockups. With PALARM loaded, call up
- PALSET and hit "I" to enter installation mode. Answer "Y" to
- PALSET's prompt asking whether you want to change anything,
- then continue responding to PALSET's prompts until it asks
- you about the Desqview option. Answer "Y" in order to turn
- the Desqview option on, then allow PALSET to proceed to
- install the new version. The change you have made to the
- Desqview toggle will not take effect until the next time you
- load PALARM, but any other changes you have made in the
- install procedure will take effect immediately.
-
- If you have any problems running PALARM, we want to hear
- about it. If we don't know about it, we can't fix it.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 24 --
-
-
- Support (Both Ways)
-
- FOR YOU:
-
- Remember that both PAL and PALSET have online help.
- Either can be accessed from the program's opening menu.
- PAL's online help can also be reached by using the command
- "PAL HELP" from the command line.
-
- For support, comments and questions, we are available by
- voice at (212) 334-9172 or on our Bulletin Board System at
- (212) 334-9171. You may also write to us at the address on
- the title page of this introduction, or communicate by modem
- by means of Compuserve (ID #70475,1071). On Compuserve, you
- can either use EMAIL or flag us down on the Borland SIG (GO
- BORAPP) or the IBM Software SIG (GO IBMSW).
-
- FROM YOU:
-
- These programs are not intended to be free. They are
- presented for your review on a consignment basis. They are
- "shareware", which means that if you find them of use, you
- are obliged to pay for them. We suggest a shareware contri-
- bution of $25 for PAL and $15 for PALARM/PALSET, or $30 for
- the combination.
-
- Registration is simple. Just enter the "HELP" function
- of PAL from the main menu or from the command line. Select
- the "Registration" section, and you're on your way.
-
- Commercial PAL
-
- The shareware versions of PAL and PALARM/PALSET which
- you are sampling essentially identical to the commercial
- versions, with one major exception. The ability to have an
- infinite number of alarms set with SideKick is limited in
- time. After June, 1987, that feature will no longer operate.
-
- We encourage you to order the commercial versions from
- us, which will always have the infinite alarm feature. And
- who knows what other goodies might be implemented by the time
- you get around to ordering?
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 25 --
-
-
-
- To order the commercial versions, just enter PAL's
- online help function and enter the "Registration" section.
- Print out the order form and send in your check for $49.95.
- Or if you prefer using your credit card, call our toll free
- numbers at 800-541-0900 throughout the United States, except
- in California where the number is 800-334-3030. You may also
- call our voice line at 212-334-9172 to place a C.O.D. order.
-
-
-
- Legal Stuff: Warranties and Limitations
-
- Our lawyer says we have to write this stuff here. It
- just so happens that the author of PAL and the sole proprie-
- tor of PAL Software NY is a lawyer.
-
- PAL, PALARM and PALSET (the "Licensed Programs") are the
- exclusive property of PAL Software NY (the "Licensor"). You
- are granted a limited license to try the Licensed Programs
- for a reasonable period of time for you to determine whether
- they are useful for you. If you find them of use, please pay
- for them. We suggest a contribution of $25 for PAL and $15
- for PALARM/PALSET, or $30 for the combination.
-
- You are granted permission to freely distribute the
- Licensed Programs in their original form, without alteration,
- so long as this documentation is distributed along with the
- Licensed Programs. We suggest that you distribute in the
- original ARChived format. No person may charge any monies
- for the distribution of the Licensed Programs except a
- reasonable fee for media and shipping costs. No person may
- distribute the Licensed Programs in connection with the sale
- or distribution of any other product for profit, whether or
- not a separate charge is made for the Licensed Programs.
-
- The Licensor represents that many users have enjoyed
- using PAL and certainly hopes that you will, too. However,
- the Licensor DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE LICENSED PROGRAMS ARE
- FIT FOR ANY PARTICULAR USE OR ARE MERCHANTABLE. THE LICENSED
- PROGRAMS ARE NOT WARRANTED TO BE FREE OF BUGS, NOR ARE THEY
- PROVIDED WITH ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
-
-
-
-
-
- Intro to PAL and PALARM/PALSET -- 26 --
-
-
- IMPLIED. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE
- LICENSED PROGRAMS ARE SUITABLE FOR YOU. IN NO EVENT SHALL
- THE LICENSOR, ITS OWNERS OR AGENTS BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR
- INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR LOST DATA OR
- PROFITS TO ANY PERSON OR ENTITY THAT MAY ARISE OUT OF THE
- USE OF THE LICENSED PROGRAMS, EVEN IF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
- DAMAGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE LICENSOR.
-
-
-