ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/UTILITY/SYSTEM/FASTL114.ZIP/FASTLOAD.DOC

Text File | 1991-11-28 | 11.2 KB | 262 lines

    Fast Load  version 1.14    (Patent Pending)  Author: Ratko V. Tomic

    Registration, Pricing & Operation Information


    Manifest

    FASTLOAD.DOC   - This file
    FL.EXE         - Fast Load Executable
    REGFL.EXE      - Program to Register and Unlock FL.EXE for more than
                     4 executable files. CALL MSI at 508-879-9000  $25
                     MasterCARD, VISA, AMEX accepted.  After registering,
                     you may use this for re-register of any Updates etc.
    MTRAP.COM      - Speeds up Mouse Resetting (see
    LWATCH.EXE     - LOGs EXEC calls to a file LWATCH.DAT (in current dir) to
                     allow analysis of Most Frequently EXECuted programs.
                     Normally loaded only for testing unless you are the Pay-
                     Per-View type of person.
    FL.VER         - FL.EXE Revision History File
    MM.COM         - Display Resident Memory Map or MM X for EMS/XMS useage


 Upgrading
 ________________________

 Just copy the new FL.EXE from this archive to your operating directory and
 run you existing REGFL.exe and hit <F-10>  It will re-register the updated
 copy.


 Registration
 _________________________

 Fast Load (FL.EXE) is NOT a public domain program.  It is copyright
 (c) 1991 by Microsystems Software, Inc. (MSI)   All rights reserved.

 This software and accompanying documentation are protected by United States
 and international copyright and/or patent law.

 You are granted a limited license to use this software for evaluation
 purposes for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days.  If you intend to
 continue using this software after this period, you MUST register your
 copy by paying MSI and obtaining an Unlock Code.

 After you have used FL for this reasonable evaluation period, you should
 either discontinue use of the program or purchase a licensed copy from
 MSI.  Your support is important and greatly appreciated. With it,
 shareware authors are encouraged to design and distribute new products.
 Without it, a great deal of high quality, low cost software will cease to
 be available.


 Why pay at all?
 --------------------------------------------------------------
   *  The registered program is not limited to 4 Programs in FL.DAT
   *  You get unlimited support through mail or E-mail (on our BBS)
   *  Notification of updates and new versions
   *  Notification of new products
   *  Your input and ideas help shape future products
   *  You help to keep software prices down by supporting a
      distribution method which doesn't depend on expensive
      advertising campaigns.
   *  "Beg" Message is replaced with your Registration Data.
   *  /Q Quiet (no signon screen) will operate

  =========================================================================


 Trial use (shareware evaluation version) warranty:

 The Shareware evaluation (trial use) version is provided as is.  MSI
 makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including without
 limitation, any warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a
 particular purpose.


 Support & Registration may be obtained from:

      Microsystems Software, Inc.
      600 Worcester Road
      Framingham, MA 01701

      Voice [phone]
        FAX [phone]
        BBS [phone]  1200/2400 N-8-1
        BBS [phone]  9600 HST-Dual

      MSI is available through FIDO-Net 1:322-327 (24-hour FREQ available)
      Please leave any support questions to username=RATKO TOMIC


 Pricing (per order basis)
 ___________________

 1      Copy     $ 25
 2-10   Copies   $ 20
 10-100 Copies   $ 15
 100+   Copies   $ 12
 Site License    $ 2500 (single company no re-distribution)



 Operation
 ____________________

 How many times do you think you load Command.COM and other programs in
 a day?  Consider the following:

 Fast Load (FL.EXE) is a very unique productivity tool which makes maximum
 use of available EMS or XMS on your computer to provide instant Execution
 Loading of .EXE, .COM, and .OVL type files.  Unlike Ram Disks,  you do not
 need to have any drive assignments etc. for associated data files. There is
 additionally no "Cluster-Size" loss as attributable to RAM Disks.  Simply
 put FL.EXE in your autoexec.bat file with a list of the executable files in
 an FL.DAT file (same subdirectory) or on the command line.  Any time that
 DOS attempts to load these programs, they will be loaded form EMS or XMS
 instead. The Unregistered Version is limited to a maximum of 4 executable
 programs. The registed version is limited only by your available EMS or XMS.

 You may unload FL.EXE (if loaded last) with a /U command-line option and it
 will release the associated memory.  FL itself takes only 3.9K of main memory
 and may be Loaded in High Memory (UMB's) with your memory manager.  FL will
 NOT load protected mode programs, such as WINDOWS, however, it will load real
 mode mode programs from within Windows in Enhanced Mode.  Since FL.EXE never
 writes to disk, it CANNOT  interfere with FAT etc.  It operates only on EXEC
 related calls to DOS. Other options for XMS, EMS and STATUS are listed on the
 FL signon screen.  FL will safely operate on ALL Networks as well.

 Using any text editor (yes, even EDLIN or COPY CON, create a file called
 FL.DAT in the same directory as the FL.EXE file.
 P.S.> Don't forget the .com & .exe extensions

 For Example, if you are a Norton Commander Type ...

 C:\COMMAND.COM
 D:\NC\NC.EXE
 D:\NC\NCMAIN.EXE
 REM This is a Comment line
 ; This is a Comment Line as well
 C:\UTIL\PKUNZIP.EXE
 ...more files if registerd copy...

 Note: You do not need to specify the full path if the file is in the DOS path,
       however, it will make loading of FL quicker if we don't need to go
       hunting for them.

 Note: You may not include programs that require SETVER device driver support.

 Note: FL may be used in conjunction with Disk-Cache Programs.

 Run FL /C  to check to file and list the EMS/XMS requirements without going
 resident and then run FL without any options once you are satistified.

 THEN... Execute a program that is in the FL.DAT file and feel the difference!


 Execution-Path-Management (EPM) has been added in the 1.10 Release.  When you
 type a program (included in FL.DAT) by name or load it from a batch file, FL
 will NOT allow DOS to scan the disk directory & path prior to execution of any
 program that is referenced in the FL.DAT file.  This really saves a bunch of
 wasted time.  If you have a single executable file in the FL.dat that exists
 in many of your directories, and need it to report the current directory name
 to the application, add a /k for Keyboard or /s for Search after the .EXE or
 .COM that should not have its path managed.  You can also globally disable
 this feature with a /k or /s on the FL execution line. You should rarely need
 this set of options.

 If Scroll Lock is ON, Fast-Load if resident is temporarily disabled.  This
 will let you try new program revs of Fast-Loaded Programs or easily benchmark
 the benefits of FastLoading specific programs.



 What the heck is MTRAP.COM ??

 We found that once we were EXECing at lightning speed that many MENU programs
 like Norton Commander and Norton Editor didn't seem to speed up as much as
 you would expect them to.  Low and behold... they issue a Mouse Hardware
 Reset Call when they re-load each time.  MTRAP.COM is a 100 byte TSR that is
 loaded AFTER you load MOUSE.COM and it converts all Hardware Reset cals to
 Software Reset calls with respect to the mouse thus saving a 1 second delay.
 We have not seen any programs that really need the Hardware Reset but just in
 case, MTRAP will sense the state of the Shift Keys or Scroll Lock and if
 either are present, will not intercept the Reset Call.  Our Gift to You...




                 Advantages of Fast Load vs. RAM Disk
                 ____________________________________

1. The file sizes on the RAM disk are rounded up to cluster size (typically
1-2K), thus wasting on average of 1/2 cluster per file or more for lots of
small files.

Fast Load packs files tightly one after the other wasting no XMS/EMS memory. It
also preprocesses the EXE header and relocation table which reduces the size
even more (you'll find space taken is often smaller than the EXE file size -
use /C option to display this info).

2. In order to vary the number of programs stored on RAM disks, you need to
edit config.sys and change obscure command line arguments for the device
driver.  That requires calculation of exe file sizes that one needs.  Otherwise
you have to allocate lots of spare space, which will often leave lots of unused
RAM.

With Fast Load, you just place program names into the FL.DAT file, all size
calculation is done by Fast Load. Adding a few more programs on one time basis
can be done on the FL command line via the /P switch, without even editing
FL.DAT.

3. Many applications use the directory (drive) they were executed from to find
associated data files. This requires copying of such files to RAM disk and back
before your machine gets turned off, which can be unsafe in case of a system
crash.

Fast Load simulates execution from the original drive and path, thus the
applications can properly locate their data files.

4. With RAM disk the exec processing is done by DOS which searches RAM drive
directores, FAT, clusters, calls device driver, processes EXE
information,...etc.

Fast Load keeps all files in contiguous memory blocks and does no directory
searches (it uses fast hash-lookup). By eliminating two layers of processing
(DOS and RAM driver) as well as by preprocessing EXE relocation info (at Fast
Load load time) the excution is much quicker than from RAM disk.

5. The Resident Size of Fast Load is 4K which is half or less than a typical
RAM Disk driver would take.

6. Fast Load can be unloaded at any time to release XMS/EMS and the 3K used by
the TSR. RAM drivers require reboot to release memory.



                  Advantages of Fast Load vs DISK Cache
                  _____________________________________

1. Disk cache uses sector granularity (1/2K per sector). This wastes space
similarily to cluster granularity with RAM disks.

2. Disk CACHE drivers add another layer of processing (cache managment)
compared to RAM disks, thus they are three layers of processing less efficient
than Fast Load.

3. Disk CACHE drivers are much bigger than even RAM Disk drivers due to
complexity and large tables of fast cache management, thus much more resident
memory (or UMB's) is taken by cache drivers than by Fast Load.

4. The cache drivers are often loaded as device drivers, thus they can't be
unloaded (to release cache memory) without rebooting.

5. Disk CACHE drivers access hard disk at low level to fill/flush cache.  This
can easily destroy ALL hard disk data in case of any errors, bugs, conflicts,
lockups in the cache drivers, and other applications.

Fast Load is perfectly safe for the hard disk since it accesses disk only at
load time, using high level DOS and read only access of the executable files.
Thus it can't do any harm in any system state.