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- PC-CTRL (c) VER 1.0
- written by Jeffrey Ellis
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-
-
- PC-CTRL (c) is a utility designed to handle some of
- the most common needs of PC users. It is written
- entirely in Turbo Pascal tm. This is the first
- release of PC-CTRL (c) with the expectation of
- upgrades at periodic intervals.
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- TABLE OF CONTENTS
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- ADD ............................ 2
- ALARM ............................ 2
- BEEP ............................ 2
- BORDER ............................ 2
- CAP ............................ 3
- CURSOR ............................ 3
- DR ............................ 3
- MEM ............................ 3
- NUM ............................ 3
- SWP ............................ 4
- SWS ............................ 4
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- Page 2
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- >>> ADD <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL ADD. The ADD function simply
- returns the addresses of up to two parallel and two
- serial ports. There are no other parameters used
- with this function. It's most useful role is to
- check the addresses of the parallel or serial ports
- before switching them with the SWP or SWS function
- so the original boot addresses are known.
-
-
-
- >>> ALARM <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL ALARM. The ALARM function
- sounds a series of beeps on your PC's speaker until
- any key is pressed. It can be used in a long batch
- file to call you back to your PC when it has
- finished running. It can also be used in the
- middle of a batch file and execution will resume
- after the key-press which ends ALARM.
-
-
-
- >>> BEEP <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL BEEP [n]. The BEEP function
- sounds one or more beeps on your PC's speaker. It
- accepts an additional parameter of the number of
- beeps you wish to sound. As with ALARM it may be
- used anywhere in a batch file to alert you to an
- important incident occurring in the execution of
- the file or to prompt a novice user for input.
-
-
-
- >>> BORDER <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL BORDER [n]. Since the ANSI.SYS
- device driver included with DOS sets the screen
- color but not the border color I decided to limit
- this function to setting the border color. The [n]
- parameter should be a number between 0 and 15. If
- no [n] parameter is entered the border color
- defaults to black. BORDER will resist changes but
- other programs can reset the border color and it
- will not be reset to your choice upon exit.
-
- 0 .. Black 8 .. Dark Gray
- 1 .. Blue 9 .. Light Blue
- 2 .. Green 10 .. Light Green
- 3 .. Cyan 11 .. Light Cyan
- 4 .. Red 12 .. Light Red
- 5 .. Magenta 13 .. Light Magenta
- 6 .. Brown 14 .. Yellow
- 7 .. Light Gray 15 .. White
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- Page 3
-
- >>> CAP <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL CAP [on/off]. Without the
- [on/off] parameter specified this command returns
- the current state of the CapsLock key with
- additional instructions. To change the state of the
- CapsLock key one additional parameter specifying
- whether you want the CapLock key on or off is
- required. It changes the state of the key but
- does not affect the LED on your keyboard if it is
- equipped with one. In this way it can be used to
- make the state of the key agree with the light on
- the key. May be used in a batch file to
- automatically reset the state of the key after
- exiting from a poorly behaved program which resets
- the state of the key and doesn't bother to change
- it back upon exiting.
-
-
-
- >>> CURSOR <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL CURSOR [n]. CURSOR resets the
- size of the displayed cursor. The number used in
- "n" should be between 0 and 8 for color monitors
- and between 0 and 14 for monochrome monitors.
- An argument of 0 with either monitor will make the
- cursor invisible. 8 and 14 are full block cursors
- with color and monochrome monitors respectively.
- As with BORDER other programs can reset the
- cursor size (i.e. the SideKick note pad ) and it is
- not returned to the selected size upon exit from
- those programs.
-
-
-
- >>> DR <<<
-
- Invoked as DR [d]. [d] is any valid drive letter.
- If no drive is specified in the [d] parameter
- information is returned for the default drive. DR
- returns information about three aspects of the
- selected drive. Total disk space, space currently
- in use, and space available.
-
-
-
- >>> MEM <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL MEM. MEM returns the total of
- installed memory and the amount currently available
- for your use. There are no additional parameters.
- DOS and any memory resident software use and keep
- memory which is then unavailable to other programs.
- MEM will let you see if there is sufficient memory
- remaining to run a particular software program.
-
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- Page 4
-
-
- >>> NUM <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL NUM [on/off]. Serves the same
- function as the CAP command. (see CAP above).
-
-
-
- >>> SWP <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL SWP. No additional parameters.
- SWP checks first to see if there are two parallel
- ports installed and if so, switches the addresses.
- The port that was LPT1: at boot time becomes LPT2:
- and vice versa. Effective when using two printers
- and a word processing program that cannot be
- configured to address anything other than LPT1:. A
- dot matrix printer can be attached to parallel port
- 1 and a letter quality printer to port 2 and output
- sent to either one by SWaPing addresses as needed.
-
-
-
- >>> SWS <<<
-
- Invoked as PC-CTRL SWS. Exactly the same as SWP
- except it is used for swapping addresses of serial
- ports.
-
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- PC-CTRL (c) was written by
-
- Jeffrey Ellis
- 7910 E. 134th Terr.
- Grandview, MO 64030
-
-
- It is my hope this software will be of use to you
- on a regular basis. At this time it is being
- offered for use free of charge but is not being
- placed in the public domain. As such it is
- requested that it not be disassembled or modified
- in any way without the permission of the author.
-
- Any bugs found or suggestions for improvements will
- be greatly appreciated and will be acted upon as
- soon as possible after receiving notification.