Note: This document describes the release version 1.0 of INIT-Kit. The demonstration version does not support all of the features given, but is left for the user to see what options are available throughout the package.
Installation
To install INIT-Kit, simply drop the INIT-Kit file into your System Folder.
Note: Do not change the name of INIT-Kit, as it is specially named to load before all other INITs. If you change the name, you pretty well ruin the whole purpose of the program!
Once you have copied the file into your System Folder, you need to define the kits that you will use day to day. I have about 5 kits defined on my machine; you may have more or less. You can have up to 10 kits defined (0-9) at any given time. Each kit can hold up to 75 items.
Note: If you have more than 75 INITs/cdevs/RDEVs in your System Folder, please contact me. I think this is a realistic limit for almost all users.
INIT-Kit functions as a dual program. It is a Control Panel accessory to allow you to define and edit kits. It is also an INIT that constructs the kits and makes sure all the right stuff gets done at boot time. INIT-Kit does not take up any memory, since it is only active at boot time. Once it is finished at boot time, it releases all buffers and resources that it is using.
Using INIT-Kit from the Control Panel
To begin defining your kits, open the Control Panel and click on the INIT-Kit icon. It should be directly below the General icon, since it is named to come before any other accessories. Once you click on the icon, you will be given asked to register your personal copy of INIT-Kit. This only happens once, so don't get too annoyed. Hey, we gotta be honest, alright?
Note: If you are wondering what in the world the icon is, it is a picture of a Mac peeking out of a box (yup, that's the mouse draped over the box on the right hand side.) Why did I draw it that way? Who cares! I'm not an artist, ok?
You will see a main scrollable area with big numbers 0-9 (you can see three at a time without scrolling.) This list shows the actual kits you have, and displays the name beside each kit number. You get to define the name that gives an overall representation of the kit. What a deal!! You can either use the mouse to select kits, or use the arrow keys of your keyboard to scroll through the list.
Below the large scrollable list of kits is a smaller scroll area. This box shows the contents of the currently highlighted kit. As you click on different kits in the kit list, this list will change to reflect the contents of that kit.
You also have two buttons, Define and About, that do exactly what they sound like they do. Define (the magnifying glass icon) will define the kit that is currently highlighted, and About (the balloon icon) will give you the low down on who wrote this silly package.
There is also a pop-up menu that gives many functions: printing a kit chart, printing a summary chart, resetting your startup documents, scan for viruses, show startup dialog, show startup icon, and INIT-Kit On/Off. Choosing Print Kit Chart from the pop-up will give you a nice printout showing each chart and contents on a single page that you can hang by your machine to remember what is in each kit. The summary chart will give you a summary of all startup documents in your system folder and how much memory that startup document has requested from the system at boot time (as told by the ‘sysz’ resource for you technical types).
Another option available from the pop-up is Reset Startup Documents. This function will go through the System Folder and make sure that any INIT/cdev/RDEV that should be loaded at boot time is properly setup to do so. Why do you need this feature? Because if you get mad one day and throw out INIT-Kit without resetting the INITs, your Mac will only load the last kit that was used for the rest of your natural life. Read the technical part of this document for a broader explanation.
Another section of the pop-up menu lets you choose simple defaults for INIT-Kit. The first is Scan for viruses. With this feature checked, INIT-Kit will scan every startup document you have chosen in the current kit for viruses before it is allowed to load at boot time. There is a small time penalty if you choose the Scan feature, since INIT-Kit has to physically examine each file at boot time.
Note: INIT-Kit will check for the known viruses in any file that is about to be loaded from a kit. It does not check your entire drive, but only the startup documents that are in your System Folder.
The Show Dialog at startup option will automatically load the INIT-Kit dialog at boot time so you can choose a kit, Pick individual items, or turn all startup documents on or off. The Show Icon at startup option will default whether an icon should be shown on the lower portion of your screen at boot time.
The final menu item, INIT-Kit On/Off will allow you to enable or disable INIT-Kit. If you disable INIT-Kit, INIT-Kit will make a quick run through your system folder and make sure all startup documents have been reset so they will properly load the next time you boot.
Ok, you're now ready to define a kit. You can now (a) choose a kit in the kit list, then click the Define (magnifying glass) icon or (b) double-click a kit in the kit list. You will now be given a dialog that shows all the available INITs/cdevs/RDEVs that you have in the left scrollable box, and all the items currently in this kit in the right scrollable box. The name of the kit is given in the editable text box, and can be changed to anything you like.
To add an item from the available list to the kit list, simply double click the item and it will be moved to the kit. To add multiple items, hold the shift key down to choose multiple contiguous items, or the command key to choose multiple discontiguous items. Once multiple items are chosen, click the arrow icon pointing to the kit item list, and all items will be moved. Removing items from a kit is just as easy. Either double-click the item in the kit to remove it, or hold the shift and/or command key to choose multiple items before clicking the arrow button to move the items back to the available list.
Once you have completed defining your click, click the Save button to save the kit to disk. Once you have defined a kit, there is no need to mess with it anymore. If you want to remove items from the kit, you can simply click the item in the items list from the main window and choose Clear from the Edit menu to clear the item out. However, if you need to add any new items you will need to click the Define button once again.
Finally, INIT-Kit will remember one kit that is known as the default kit. Once you figure out which kit you use the most, hold down the shift key and double-click the kit in the kit list to make it the default kit. You can recognize the default kit by looking for the large check-mark beside one of the kits. This kit will automatically be loaded at boot time unless you choose a different kit by keyboard at boot time (explained in the next section.)
Using INIT-Kit at Boot Time
As mentioned earlier, usually at boot time INIT-Kit will load the default kit which you defined from the Control Panel. You can override INIT-Kit during boot time by holding down a numeric key 0-9 to choose which kit you want. Hold the key down as soon as you see the Welcome to Macintosh screen, and keep it held until you see the INIT-Kit icon displayed with the kit number you have chosen. At this point, INIT-Kit knows what you want and you can release the key.
But wait!! There's more!! Not only can you choose a kit at boot time, you can do all sorts of stuff. By holding down the space bar at boot time (or holding down the mouse button), you will be given the INIT-Kit boot configuration dialog. From this screen, you can actually look at the kits you have defined at see what each kit contains. You can also define the default kit by double-clicking the kit in the kit list. You can alternately highlight a kit and click the Load Kit button to load that kit.
Note: Just because you default a kit at boot time doesn't mean that kit has to be loaded. You can default a kit, then highlight another kit to load during the boot. The next time the machine is started, the default kit will be loaded!
With this dialog, you also have the option to force all startup documents to be loaded, or no startup documents to be loaded. This does not affect any kits, its just a nice quick way to control your startup documents. Finally, you have the option to choose startup files on the fly by clicking the Pick Now button. Pick Now will give you a list of all the startup files available. Simply double-click each item you want loaded. Each chosen item will be displayed with a check mark. When your ready to continue, either click the Ok button to load the items, or the Cancel button to return to the boot dialog. This feature is great if you need a kit "defined" on the fly, but don't need it kept permanently.
The Technical Side of Things
You may be wondering about the technical side of INIT-Kit, and about what actually takes place at boot time. This section will go into detail on how INIT-Kit works, and what types of documents it affects. You can skip this section, as it will not hamper your use of INIT-Kit.
What is a valid startup document? Well, INIT-Kit views any file of type "cdev", "RDEV", or "INIT" as being a possible startup document. This includes Control Panel, Chooser, and Startup document files. Any files of this type that contain an "INIT" resource will be treated by INIT-Kit as an actual startup document, since these are the only files that will be loaded during the boot process by the system mechanism more commonly known as "INIT-31". The system will execute all INIT resources contained directly in the System file, and then execute an INIT numbered 31. This INIT will look through the System Folder for the above named file types, and if any contain INIT resources, these will be loaded and executed.
INIT-Kit is specially named to be the first INIT executed by INIT-31. When this takes place, INIT-Kit will look at the list of user items in the selected kit (by either default, by choosing a kit in the startup dialog, or by holding down a numeric key for a kit) and will go through the System Folder disabling all files not included in the user list. While moving through the System Folder, INIT-Kit also make sure all items contained in the kit are active, and will check each file for known viruses (if elected). INIT-Kit disables files by changing the first character of the file type to a lower-case "x". This is a method used by other popular INIT packages. By changing the character, the system will no longer recognize the file as being a valid startup document, and will not execute any INIT contained in the file.
When INIT-Kit has moved through the entire System Folder, it will release all memory it has allocated for processing, then allow INIT-31 to process the remaining (and now configured) startup documents. INIT-Kit does not keep any resident code in memory, and so does not affect the amount of memory used by the system.
As for virus checking, INIT-Kit will recognize and report the following strains of viruses: nVIR (all strains), Hpat, INIT-29, Scores, and the latest WDEF. INIT-Kit will automatically remove the WDEF virus, but will only report other viruses. This is because INIT-Kit only scans startup documents for viruses, and not the entire drive. The possibilty of removing a virus completely by cleaning startup documents alone is slim, and a virus removal program is more applicable to repairing all infected files. INIT-Kit will allow the user to override any startup document containing suspicious resources if desired.
INIT-Kit Questions & Answers
This section answers some commonly asked questions about INIT-Kit:
Q: When I hold down the space bar or number keys while my machine is booting, INIT-Kit never recognizes them. Why?
A: On the Macintosh Plus and 512KE machines, the keyboard is not recognized until certain drivers are loaded by the system. To make sure your key presses are recognized, wait until you see the "Welcome to Macintosh" dialog, or your startup screen, before holding down a key. On all later Macintoshes, the keyboard is recognized almost instantly after power-on, and you can hold down the keys at any time.
Q: Is there any way I can speed up the INIT-Kit booting process?
A: For INIT-Kit to properly configure startup documents, it must look at every file in your System Folder. The more files in your System Folder, the longer it takes INIT-Kit to process each file. If you can remove temporary or unused files from the System Folder, you will increase the speed of INIT-Kit. Also, scanning for viruses almost doubles the processing time, so you may want to disable scanning except for once every day or so.
Q: I temporarily removed INIT-Kit from my System Folder, and now my startup documents won't load. Why?
A: INIT-Kit uses a technique (described in detail under Technical Information) to determine which files should be loaded and which should be disabled. If INIT-Kit has disabled the file, and you remove INIT-KIt from your drive, the Macintosh will not be able to recognize the file as a valid startup document. To correct this situation, choose the Reset INIT option from the INIT-Kit cdev popup menu before removing INIT-Kit. This will reset all startup documents so the system can recognize them (you should also use this option when moving disabled files from one drive to another.)
Installation Reminders
If you are currently using an INIT utility, such as Aask™ (CE Software) or INIT-Picker™ (?), make sure you remove it from your System Folder before installating and using INIT-Kit.
Questions, Comments, and Ordering
INIT-Kit is now available for purchase from Outhouse Software for $19.95. This cost entitles the user to one free future upgrade to the software (of the users choice), and product mailings for upcoming products or enhancements. You may contact Outhouse Software at the following address:
Outhouse Software
P.O. Box 1122
Durant, Oklahoma 74702
(405) 924-9481
CIS: 71760, 215
AOL: Outhouse1
Please bear with us as we gather our resources for this release. Presently, we can only accept check or money orders for purchases.
