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- CONFIG
- Original C version by Mike Klein, Pascal adaptation by Jim Strasma
- Novell API unit by Mike McCall
- Version 2.18 As of 10/23/92
-
- CONFIG determines and displays the hardware configuration of
- the computer in which it is run, and optionally SETs the follow-
- ing DOS environment variables based on the results of its tests:
-
- NETADDR = Network address of your PC
- PSTAT = Physical station of your PC on that network
- (When saved as a DOS environment variable,
- this value is trimmed to maximum of 8 low-order
- hexadecimal digits, so it can be used as a DOS
- filename. However, when displayed or saved to disk,
- all digits except leading zeroes are preserved.)
- STATION = logical connection of your PC on current primary server.
- SOCKET = logical socket number of current process
- (not stored in DOS environment)
- NAME = Novell user's login name
- FULLNAM = Novell user's full name (not stored in DOS environment)
- OS_VERSION = Version of DOS
- format: V#[#].@@
- where # is the 1 or 2 digit major version number
- and @@ is the 2 digit minor version number
- e.g. V3.21, V5.00 or V20.00 (the latter by OS/2 V2.0)
- CPU = Central Processing Unit type
- 808x, 286, or 386 (486 is listed as 386)
- CLASS = PC or AT (all 286's & above are AT)
- FPU = Floating Point Unit
- T or F
- CONV = K (Kilobytes) of conventional DOS RAM
- 0 - 640
- FREE = K (Kilobytes) of " " " available for use
- 0 - 640
- EXP = Expanded memory
- T or F
- EXT = Extended memory
- T or F
- Note: Memory managers often lie about this;
- for example claiming to have no extended RAM
- because they reserved it all to emulate expanded RAM.
- F here doesn't mean the PC has no extended RAM,
- but rather that none is currently available.
- MOUSE = Mouse pointing device
- T or F
- MODE = Video Mode
- COLOR or MONO
- VIDEO = Video display adapter
- MDA, HERC, CGA, EGA, PGA or VGA
-
- CONFIG displays the message "SYSTEM CONFIGURATION" and its
- own version number, followed by the apparent values of the above
- variables in the current machine.
-
- If CONFIG is called with the parameter /E (i.e. CONFIG /E),
- DOS environment variables will be set to the values shown and nothing
- will be displayed.
-
- If CONFIG is called with the parameter /F, the effect will be
- the same as /E plus the values will be written to a DOS text file.
- If a path is specified after /F (e.g. CONFIG /F Y:\SHARED\), the
- data will be written to that drive and directory. Otherwise,
- it will be written to the root directory of the current drive.
- The file name will be: CNFIGyym.TXT, where yy is the current year,
- and m the current month. To fit the month into only one space,
- A=10, B=11 and C=12. (Thus CNFIG92A.TXT is created in October, '92.)
-
- The data saved to disk is only the contents, not the names of the
- DOS environment variables set by CONFIG, in comma-delimited format.
- (Each data element is surrounded by quotation marks, and separated from
- its successor element by a comma; each record ends with a carriage return.)
- This format may be imported directly into other programs, such as
- Borland's Paradox.
-
- When called with /F, two additional values are saved:
-
- D[D] = Current day of the month (1-31)
- H[H]:MM = Current hour (00-23) and minute (00-59)
-
- Both are obtained from the file server if possible, but can also be
- obtained from DOS.
-
- When called with /F, some data values are shortened:
-
- OS_VERSION omits the leading "V".
- CPU is limited to one character: 2, 3, 8, or N
- CLASS is omitted
- MODE is limited to one character: C or M
- VIDEO is limited to one character: M, H, C, E, P, or V
- NETADDR, PSTAT, NAME & FULLNAME are stored empty ("") if not present
- STATION is omitted
- SOCKET is omitted
-
- If the value of NAME is GUEST or LAB, it is stored to file as only G or L
- respectively, and the value of FULLNAM is not stored at all. This is useful at
- WIU, where many users of some servers are anonymous users of shared accounts.
-
- (This is one example of a WIU-specific optimization. See the source code
- for others, such as REMs that can be removed to add SOCKET to the DOS
- environment.)
-
- If CONFIG is called without any command line parameters, its
- information is displayed on screnn but not saved to either disk or RAM.
-
- Each of the three options is useful, in different ways:
- 1 Calling CONFIG alone gives a quick review of the setup of the PC,
- a weak but free substitute for such products as CheckIt.
-
- 2 Calling CONFIG with /E allows programs to prevent access by PCs
- unable to use them politely. For example, the newest release of
- Paradox requires an AT class computer. This is testable as follows:
- IF (%CLASS%=='PC') GOTO SORRY
- where :SORRY is the label of an ECHO that tells where to find a
- computer set up for the new Paradox before exiting without
- attempting to run it on the current PC. This makes a network seem
- more reliable to clients, by forestalling attempts to run programs
- on incompatible hardware.
-
- 3 Calling CONFIG with /F as part of each powerup or login sequence
- tracks usage of a computer or server, again as a weak but free
- substitute for commercial programs like NetHQ.
-
- Possible (but arguable) future change:
- Only logging changed records to save disk space. If implemented,
- the file name would no longer need to change monthly, but the file would
- no longer track the date and time of each login
-
- Likely change:
- Logging total RAM instead of DOS and free DOS RAM to disk.
- (Problem is getting an accurate value for combined total of EMS & Extended
- RAM, when programs like QEMM may report all of RAM for both separately.)