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- The Authors of Masquerade BBS present:
-
-
- DV 2 WIN
- Version 0v05
- 14/8/91
-
- Ian Harris
-
- Masquerade HQ 3:620/251@FidoNet
-
-
-
- Released to the PUBLIC DOMAIN, and may be freely
- distributed, if all conditions are adhered to as outlined in
- this document, and no file in this package is removed or
- modified in any way.
-
-
-
- 1. Introduction
-
-
- There are lots of programs around that actually know about
- DesqView. They even 'give time away' to other tasks; that
- is, they tell DesqView 'Hey, I'm not doing anything, give
- the time that would normally be allocated to MY task, to
- some other task.' This means, running these DV aware
- programs will consume less CPU time, and other tasks will
- run faster.
-
- Wouldn't it be great if these programs knew about Windows
- 3.0, and could give time away to Windows! Unfortunately,
- they don't. Of course there is the 'Detect idle time' in the
- PIF editor, but that really doesn't make a vast difference.
-
- There is a TSR program around which does a good job and
- forcing applications to give time away to multitaskers
- (including Windows 3.0, although it doesn't specifically
- recognise Windows 3.0) if the application is repeatedly
- polling for a keypress, etc. This works well, in most
- cases. I wanted to use this program with the popular BBS
- mailer, 'FrontDoor'. If I ran this TSR normally with
- FrontDoor, great! Time was given away, and all was good in
- the world. The only problem was that mail sessions went
- somewhat badly, with very very low transmission rates. If I
- ran this TSR with an option to not force a task switch if
- the application is accessing the serial port, the result was
- almost no speed improvement in other tasks! (since all
- FrontDoor is doing when it isn't doing anything else is
- checking for keypresses, and checking the serial port).
-
- 2. This Package
-
-
- Enter the DV2WIN package. DV2WIN.EXE is a TSR that fools
- programs into thinking they are running under DesqView.
- Then it traps calls to DesqView to give away time,
- and gives time away to Windows 3.0, instead.
-
-
- 3. Setting up
-
-
- Setting them up is simplicity itself. Just insure that the
- DV2WIN.EXE program is run in the task that you wish it to take
- effect. I put my copy in the batch file which runs the BBS.
-
-
- 4. Does it work?
-
-
- In my particular system, with FrontDoor running in one task,
- and then running another simple DOS task, in which I run
- Norton's SI, usually I come up with a result of 10.0. With
- Dv2Win.com in my RUNBBS.BAT (ie they are loaded before
- FrontDoor starts up) - SI comes up with a result of 16.1!
-
- Aside from that, everything is noticeably faster, and things
- only slow down when a mail session actually starts.
- This is exactly as we would want, since FrontDoor, and no
- other program, decides exactly when it wants to give away
- time. The program in this package simply show FrontDoor and other
- applications that know about DesqView *how* to do give away time
- to Windows.
-
-
- 5. Disclaimer
-
-
- This program works extremely well on my system. If it
- doesn't work on yours, let me know exactly what you're trying
- to do, and I will probably get back to you. Other than the
- fact that if you let me know what the problem is, I *might*
- come up with a solution, this package comes with no warranty
- whatsoever. None. Not a sausage.
-
-
- 6. Usage
-
-
- If you continue to use this program, and recognise the
- improvement in performance it makes, you are required to
- adhere to the following conditions. Your use of this package
- constitutes agreement to these conditions:
-
- 1) Distribute this package and proclaim its great usefulness
- 2) Send me a post-card, netmail message, smoke signal, or
- morse-code simply telling me who you are and where you come
- from. That way I can keep track of who has the package and
- find out the best way of letting people know about future
- releases.
-
- Sounds like a fair deal to me.
-
-
- 7. Masquerade
-
-
- Masquerade is a fully functional BBS package, developed for
- easy integration with FidoNet compatible networks. If your
- BBS is the same everytime you log on, or got to read a
- message, consider a package with TRUE 100% flexibility.
-
- There is nothing that is not sysop - definable. Masquerade
- is based on a script language, that has many powerful but
- easy to use commands. It comes with several pre-written scripts
- that show the power of the 'language' - these scripts
- simulate two popular BBS packages, as well as a mail only
- editor front end, that you will instantly recognise.
-
- Furthermore, Masquerade uses less disk space for messages
- than any other package (run-time compression is being
- developed at this very moment). The main BBS program,
- Masqrade.exe can run in as little as *** 85k *** of RAM.
- Excellent for multitasking! But remember, Masquerade is far
- more powerful than other similar programs, despite the fact
- it uses such little memory.
-
- The package includes a FAST! FidoNet compatible mail
- processor. All programs in the package are all zone and
- point aware. None of this fake-net business (although it can
- be used for talking to point-dumb software).
-
- ANSI and AVATAR are fully supported, including real, live
- ANSI and AVATAR windows *over the modem* !
-
- Masquerade is in the last stages of Beta testing - and we
- need more experienced Sysops to help test such a high power
- package. If you are interested, CRASH mail Masquerade HQ,
- 3:620/251 (FidoNet), with information about your system, and
- I will get back to you in due course. Masquerade HQ is
- available for continuous mail 24 hrs.
-
- Regards to all,
- - Ian Harris -
- 14/8/91
-
- Snail Mail:
-
- Ian Harris
- Po Box 1616,
- Woden, 2606,
- ACT, Australia.
-