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- Tame Upgrade History
-
- Version 2.61
-
- The /KeySwitch option was modified to be more effective in many cases. I
- now recommend that some programs be run using /KeySwitch, even when running
- in a supported multi-tasker. It also has a side affect that quickly throws
- away the opening screen of some programs.
-
- Negative values for Tame arguments were being misinterpreted. This was
- evident in the TAMETUNE.BAT file which specifies /MAX:-1. The problem has
- been corrected.
-
- Version 2.60
-
- Slow screen writing was sometimes reported. This has been addressed (and
- hopefully cured) with a new option which will turn Tame off for a brief
- period after each key press or I/O (these tend to imply that the program is
- working hard). The amount of time to keep Tame off after a key press or an
- I/O may be adjusted separately using the /BOOST option. The default boost
- is two clock ticks (0.11 second) for each.
-
- You may now turn off Tame for a specified amount of time. This is done with
- /OFF:time where time is measured in PC clock ticks (0.055 seconds, or 18.2
- ticks per second). The maximum is 32,767 ticks, which corresponds to about
- 30 minutes. Note that Tame will automatically turn back on after as a key
- is pressed.
-
- Tame may now read its parameters from a file. This is done by specifying
- /@filename on the command line. Also, Tame may dump its parameters to a
- file. This combination provides a good way to save and later restore Tame
- parameters. For example, the following lines will run 123 with a specific
- Tame parameter, and then restore them after it is done.
-
- TAME /WriteOptions >c:\hold123.tmp
- TAME /FREQ 64
- 123
- TAME /@c:\hold123.tmp
-
- Tame sometimes detected Double Dos on a system running Novell Netware and
- Windows. This has been corrected.
-
- TAME-ANL is now included in the Tame zip.
-
- Version 2.54
-
- Running a command with "TAME-RES cmdline" was sometimes acting wierd. This
- has been fixed.
-
- Version 2.53
-
- Command line processing was enhanced to no longer require cryptic syntax.
- Now, /FREQ:10,5 is the same as /FREQ 10 5 and /FREQ 10,5. Also, the command
- line may now contain @file, where the actual command line comes from that
- file.
-
- Version 2.51
-
- Some default parameters with version 2.5 were not computed correctly. For
- example, /FREQ would default to /FREQ:0,0 and /FGONLY would default to
- /FGONLY:0. This is clearly incorrect, and the problem has been corrected.
-
- Version 2.5
-
- Tame will now help many DESQview-aware (and Topview-aware) programs become
- aware of Windows and other environments. A new /DVAWARE option has been
- added to do this. If the only programs being run are DESQview-aware then
- parameter-based tameing may not be needed. In this case, specify the
- following options for best results:
-
- /NoKeyIdle /NoKeyPoll /NoTimePoll /DVAware
-
- The following programs have been tested using this option:
-
- PCBOARD, Pro-Yam
-
- Version 2.44
-
- A problem with /Geiger on systems with the ATI video card was corrected.
-
- Version 2.43
-
- Tame uses another method to detect Omniview.
-
- The /Clone option may now save the tasker along with other Tame options. If
- the tasker is to be saved, then the /tasker option must be specified on the
- /Clone line, and must be before the /Clone option
- (e.g. Tame /Omniview /Clone:tame-ov)
-
- Version 2.42
-
- Tame is now effective with the StupenDOS shell, and will probably help other
- programs that poll the keyboard the same way StupenDOS does.
-
- The first parameter of the /Geiger option may now be specified in units of
- "clock ticks" between geiger ticks. This is done using a negative value.
-
- Version 2.41
-
- Tame will now automatically detect Omniview.
-
- Tame Geiger counter was fixed so that the defaults are appropriate on fast
- 80486 based machines.
-
- The /Geiger option will now be Tamed to use almost no CPU whenever TAME-RES
- is loaded and Tame is properly tuned. This is because the Geiger counter
- now polls the keyboard many times between ticks.
-
- When /Geiger:0 is specified, it will tick each time this task gets a time
- slice. This requires TAME-RES be loaded to work effectively.
-
- A new batch file, GEIGER.BAT is included. It will run the geiger counter as
- fast as possible and fully tamed.
-
- Version 2.4
-
- Windows support, and a new /WINdows switch were added. Tame can be
- effective with communications programs, and other programs that are not
- affected by the "Idle" box in the Windows PIF setup. Many thanks to Wim
- Morrison for supplying the information I needed in order to tame Windows.
-
- TAME-RES can now be provided a command line to run. It will tame the
- command line and not load Tame as a resident program. This means you may no
- longer need batch files to start up your program in a DESQview/Windows
- task. See the docs for restrictions on this way of running Tame.
-
- The /CLONE option has been enhanced to optionally specify the name of the
- command to run automatically when the cloned .COM is run.
-
- Version 2.31
-
- /Geiger defaults were not determined properly with FAST machines. this has
- been corrected. Also, the default Geiger defaults are more accurately
- indicated.
-
- Version 2.3
-
- Support was added for OmniView, VM/386, and TopView compatible
- multi-taskers. New options were added to specify which multitasker is in
- use in case Tame cannot correctly determine which it is.
-
- New /NoKeyPoll option allows keyboard polls to be ignored. This allows
- switching to be based only on the date poll.
-
- The Tame status report now indicates how many times Tame forced the task to
- run only in the foreground.
-
- New metering options that I may not document.
- /Idle_METER will list how much time the CPU is idle.
- /Task_Switch_Meter will count task switches per second.
-
- Compatibility problem with Taming Prodoor 3.1 in DESQview was solved.
-
- The /FGOnly option now has a synonym /NoBackGround due to nomenclature
- changes in DESQview. Also, /NoFGOnly has a synonym of /BackGround.
-
- /KeyIdle is no longer the default key-idle option.
-
- Version 2.2
-
- This version has many new options, making Tame even more effective at
- reducing Multi-tasking overhead.
-
- New -FGonly:N option forces the task to not run (at all) in the background
- during the periods that it is polling the keyboard. An optional "N" numeric
- argument allows activating this only after N successive forced task
- switches. This works only in DESQview, and is not recommended for all
- applications. However, when it may be used, it is extremely effective. See
- the DOC file for more details.
-
- The -KeyIdle option now allows specifying the poll threshold to use after an
- idle interrupt is detected. With version 2.0 and 2.1, /KeyIdle defaulted to
- being on with a fixed threshold of 0. The default now has /KeyIdle off, and
- if turned on, its default value is 2.
-
- New -Frequency:n,m option may be used in place of -MAX, and will switch
- tasks only if that many polls come in one timer tick (18.2 ticks per
- second). This requires individual tuning, but it gives Tame the best
- indicator of how much the task is really working. A nominal value for "n"
- is suggested by Tame if you specify /Frequency with no value.
-
- New -CLONE:filename option will make a new TAME-RES with the current
- parameters as its defaults. Must be run as the only Tame option on the
- command line. This feature is available only to registered users.
-
- Some general cleanup of DESQview handling was done based on information in
- the DESQview API manual
-
- Tame now uses DESQview to make sure DOS is not busy. This is more effective
- than the previously used method when using DESQview.
-
- An incompatibility with the DX shareware utility was corrected. The problem
- may have affected other programs.
-
- Version 2.1
-
- A problem with Tame locking up some machines has been fixed.
-
- New -INT15 option added to use version 2.0 INT15 handling
-
- Registered users may now easily register new releases of Tame.
-
- Version 2.0
-
- Tame is now a TSR, and it uses less than 1K of memory.
-
- The function of the previous -Key_Idle option has been removed. A new
- option has been added with the same name, but a completely different
- meaning.
-
- The following options are no longer supported:
-
- 1 -CALLS
-
- 2 -DESQVIEW
-
- 3 -IDLE
-
- 4 -POLL
-
- The following options have been added:
-
- 1 -GETALL
-
- 2 -HALTSWITCH
-
- 3 -OFF
-
- 4 -ON
-
- 5 -SERIAL
-
- 6 -STATUS
-
- 7 -UNINSTALL
-
- The following options have been renamed
-
- 1 -KEY is now -KEYSWITCH
-
- 2 -TIME is now -TIMEPOLL
-
- 3 -TOTALS is now -STATUS
-