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RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -1- 15th April 1992 RECON v6.10 (C) Copyright 1990-1992, Peter Ogden CONTENTS -------- Caution.........................................................2 Note to users of previous versions..............................2 Limit of liability..............................................2 Purpose.........................................................2 License information.............................................3 Files included in the RECON suite...............................4 Compatibility...................................................5 Setting up......................................................5 Installing user options in RECON................................8 Running RECON..................................................12 Sequence of events.............................................14 Companion programs.............................................15 ACTIVE......................................................15 BTIME.......................................................15 CHKBOOT.....................................................15 Trouble-shooting...............................................16 RECON.CFG corruption........................................16 Erratic mouse flashing......................................16 Error - insufficient memory for editor......................17 Error - unable to load editor...............................17 Error - unable to create temporary file.....................17 Error - unable to create RECON.TMP..........................17 Error - unable to open RECON.CFG............................17 Error - null #Name encountered..............................17 Error - un-named config file in RECON.CFG...................18 About RECON....................................................18 Acknowledgements...............................................18 RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -2- **************************** CAUTION **************************** Users of Delayed Write disk caches should read this document thoroughly before using RECON. If RECON is not set up correctly there is a slight possibility of damage to data on you hard disk. ***************************************************************** NOTE TO USERS OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS REBOOT (last version 5.10) has had a name change to RECON for two reasons. The major reason is due to the built in command of the same name in 4DOS v4.00. This has caused problems for those people using 4DOS that are unaware that the built in commands of 4DOS can be disabled. The other reason is that there are several other programs called REBOOT being distributed by other people, and I feel RECON is a cut above those! LIMIT OF LIABILITY RECON is distributed as-is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied. The author will assume no liability for damages either from the direct use of this product or as a consequence of the use of this product. Further, the author reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of the author to notify any person or organisation of such revision or changes. PURPOSE As application programs become larger and more complex, conflicts between programs become more and more common. Some programs simply require a larger amount of memory than is normally available. The simple solution is to reboot the computer with a different (non conflicting, or low memory use) configuration. The RECON suite of programs have been written to perform this task, and to preserve the users environment as much as possible across these reboots, and with special handling for 4DOS. RECON can reboot the computer with a new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT (and any other CONFIG files the user wishes updated) selected from a list of choices (maximum of 128 configurations allowed). Delayed write (also called staged write) disk caches are catered for. For users of 4DOS 3.0 and above, the command RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -3- history list can be written to a file before booting (if you don't use 4DOS currently, you should try it). The various configurations are kept in a single file (RECON.CFG). Note: 4DOS is a shareware replacement (by J.P. Software) for the MS/PC-DOS COMMAND.COM. It enhances the existing commands, adds more than 40 new commands, scrollable command history, and heaps more. If you work with DOS at the command line or write complex batch files, you should be using it! 4DOS is available on good BBS's all over the world. LICENSE INFORMATION RECON is the copyrighted property of Peter Ogden. You are granted a limited license to use, copy, and distribute the RECON suite of programs provided the following conditions are met: A. Copying and distribution fees may not exceed fifteen (15) Australian dollars. B. RECON may only be distributed in its original, unmodified state. This software is distributed under the user supported software concept. Though RECON is copyrighted, you are encouraged to copy and distribute this program to others. If you like this product and find it useful, a registration fee of twenty (20) Australian dollars is required for continued use. A twelve month instant update plan is available (new versions mailed to you as soon as they are complete) for an additional AUD$ 25.00. Site licenses are available at a reduced rate (contact the author). The user supported software concept (also known as "shareware") is an attempt to provide quality software at low cost. Both the user and author benefit from this plan. The user will benefit by being able to "test drive" software thoroughly before purchasing it. The author benefits by being able to enter the commercial software market while avoiding the high cost of commercial distribution. This concept helps many independent authors and small companies that would otherwise be discouraged from developing and promoting their ideas. It can only work with your support. If you obtain a user supported program from a friend and you are still using it after a few weeks, then it is obviously worth something to you, and a contribution should be sent. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -4- For further information and registration, please send correspondence to: Peter Ogden C/- ESB Consultancy, P.O. Box 2259, Boulder, Western Australia, 6432 or Fax: +61-90-93-2220 or, for information, bug reports, or suggestions (not registration) Netmail at 3:690/643.5 (FidoNet). The latest version of RECON and 4DDBU are available for free download from ESB Consultancy's BBS: Algorithms Anonymous (24 Hours) on +61-90-93-3145. FILES INCLUDED IN THE RECON SUITE ACTIVE.EXE Program that reports the active (current) configuration. BTIME.EXE Program that adds or updates the Date/Time line in RECON.CFG. In combination with CHKBOOT, allows conditional processing in the AUTOEXEC.BAT (see also CHKBOOT.EXE). CHKBOOT.EXE Program that reads the Date/Time line from RECON.CFG, compares it to the current Date, and returns a DOS error level depending on a supplied condition. EXAMPLE1.CFG An example config file (simple). EXAMPLE2.CFG An example config file (peer to peer network). EXAMPLE3.CFG An example config file (complex). RECON.DOC This document. RECON.EXE The main RECON program. REGISTER.FRM Registration form. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -5- COMPATIBILITY RECON should run on any IBM PC, PC/XT, AT, 386, 486 or close compatible with at least 128K RAM (512K for editing functions), single floppy disk drive, monochrome or colour display, MS/PC-DOS version 3.0 or later, with or without a mouse. Screen writes are direct to video RAM (or if DESQview present, via a shadow buffer) for reasonable speed of display. SETTING UP First, a file (named RECON.CFG) containing all your different configurations must be created (or one of the included examples modified to suit) using a standard ASCII text editor, either from within RECON or manually. The general form of this file is: #Name = Config 1 { } { Lines to be written to the CONFIG.SYS } { } --- { } { Lines to be written to the AUTOEXEC.BAT } { } {--- } {#FPath = ... } (optional, can be { Lines to be written another config file } repeated as many { } times as required). #Name = Config 2 { } { etc... } { } The RECON.CFG starts with the name given to this configuration (which MUST be unique). It is followed by the CONFIG.SYS lines (as you would normally have them in DOS's CONFIG.SYS), followed by a divider line (consisting of, at least, 3 dashes '-'), followed by the AUTOEXEC.BAT lines (also exactly as you have them in DOS's AUTOEXEC.BAT). Optionally, you may have other text based configuration files (e.g. 4DOS.INI) included after other divider line(s) (see FPath command below). RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -6- RECON.CFG and RECON.EXE should be in directories that are in the PATH or you will always have to change to that directory before calling RECON. Where possible, RECON allows comments to be included in the RECON.CFG. To include a full line comment, the character in column one of the line must be a semicolon (;) (see sample RECON.CFG's). Any comments entered after the divider (on the same line) are also ignored. Blank lines may also be included in RECON.CFG (not written to the configuration files). All commands for RECON begin with a '#' symbol (except the active configuration as noted below), must begin in column 1, are followed by space, an '=' symbol and another space. e.g., #Name = QEMM 6.02 The command may be in any mixture of upper or lower case (i.e. #NAME = , #Name = , #name = , are all equivalent). The current, active configuration is marked by the use of an asterisk (*) instead of the hatch symbol (#) as the first character of a RECON special command. All the commands related to the active configuration must begin with an asterisk (*) (see example RECON.CFG's). RECON currently has nine special commands: #Name This is the only command that must be in the RECON.CFG file. This indicates the beginning of a configuration and the name to use in the pop up pick list. The maximum length of the name is 60 characters (any characters after this are ignored). Any characters may be used in a name except the slash (/) character (which could be confused with a command line option). #Descr (Optional). Allows a single line description to be given for each configuration (maximum of 80 characters). This line is displayed at the bottom of the screen as you scroll through the pick list. The first 40 characters are written to the 4DOS DESCRIPT.ION file if it exists. #Flush (Optional). This is the command line you would type to flush the delayed write (also called staged write) disk cache. If more than a single line command is required to flush the cache, a batch file may be named. If you use 4DOS, this line can be a compound command (maximum of 255 characters). RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -7- This line actually causes RECON to EXEC another copy of the command processor, so in fact, you could get RECON to perform almost any function before booting. ***************************** NOTE ****************************** If you use a delayed write disk cache, you MUST include the #Flush line in every configuration that loads the cache, as without it, the configuration may not be written to the disk completely before the PC is rebooted. If this occurs, there is a chance that the file allocation table (FAT) could be damaged, possibly rendering the data on the disk unreadable. See example configuration files for examples of how to set up PC-CACHE v6/7 , HYPERDISK and SMARTDRV v4. ***************************************************************** #Hist (Optional). This command line gives the full path and filename of the command history file to store the command history for this configuration. This allows multiple (separate) command histories to be kept for unique configurations. If no #Hist line is included, no attempt is made to save the command history. Currently, only 4DOS command history is handled. #Date (Optional, added by BTIME) This line is ignored by RECON. The Date and Time are added to RECON.CFG by BTIME, and tested by CHKBOOT. ACTIVE also reads this line and will display the time and date of the last boot if a valid time and date are found. The time and date should not be manually entered (format is important). #Defs, (Optional, added by Install option) These lines contain #Defs2 all the customisation information (colours, defaults etc.) that the user selects with the Install option. This line should not be manually edited. #Reg (Optional, added by Install/Register option) This line holds the registration information for registered users. This line should not be manually edited. #FPath (Optional for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, required for any additional config files). This line must be the first line in any configuration file. It allows the user to override RECON's default of writing the configurations to the root directory on the boot drive, and informs RECON of where to write additional configurations (other than CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT). See example RECON.CFG's for an example of how this is used. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -8- RECON creates the CONFIG.SYS by reading from the line immediately after the chosen #Name command (ignoring comment lines and blank lines) up to (but not including) the divider line. The AUTOEXEC.BAT is likewise created by reading from the line immediately after the divider to the next divider line, #Name command or the end of file (always ignoring blank lines and comments). Other configuration files included in RECON.CFG are created in a similar manner to AUTOEXEC.BAT, but the name of the file is obtained from a #FPath command. The #Descr, #Flush and #Hist lines can be placed anywhere between one #Name line and the next. All modifications to the configurations should be made to RECON.CFG (not directly to the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files). The wrong flush command may be used if you change the type of disk cache in the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT directly. If you must modify or create a new CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT directly, be sure to update the copy in RECON.CFG, AND be sure that the special command lines start with asterisks (*) rather than hatches (#) where necessary. RECON makes use of temporary files to perform many of its functions. As writing files can be slow, RECON can be forced to write it's temporary files to a specified drive. RECON makes use of one of several environment variables. The first environment variable RECON looks for is RECONTMP. For example, if you have a RAM drive which is set up as D: SET RECONTMP=D:\ If the environment variable RECONTMP does not exist or the directory pointed to by RECONTMP does not exist, RECON will then check for the environment variable TEMP. If the environment variable TEMP does not exist or the directory point to by TEMP does not exist, it will attempt to use the current directory. If this directory cannot be used (e.g. if you are on a network drive that you have no write privileges to), RECON will use the root directory of the drive that contains the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. INSTALLING USER OPTIONS IN RECON Once the RECON.CFG file is set up, you may install the user options for RECON. This can be done by running RECON and then pressing: Alt-I (or clicking on Install on the help line) RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -9- This will then show you a screen offering several sections you may change. The options available include: setting the colours used, entering registration information, set the disk that the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT are to be written to, mouse operation, toggle use of special reset code for the DEC PCSA LAN cards on or off, whether to default to a cold boot rather than a warm boot, main screen setup (display of help and registration line and wallpaper optios), set the filename of the editor to use when modifying the configuration file, and whether to beep when writing of files is complete. This information gets written to the RECON.CFG file. Press F1 for a help screen giving a short explanation of each function key in the installation screen. To enter registration information, press F2, or click on the F2 icon with the left button (or right button if set to left handed operation). This will present an input window with two input fields. Press F1 to enter your name or company name (be sure to enter the name with the same spelling as that given on the registration form) and either press <Enter> when complete or <Down-Arrow> to go directly to the registration number field. Press F2 to enter the registration number, followed by <Enter> or if you have made a mistake in the name, <Up-Arrow> will take you back to the name field. Once you have entered the information correctly, press <Enter> once more, or click on OK. The registration information will then be checked for validity. If the information entered is incorrect, an error message will be displayed and you will be asked to re-enter the information. If it is correct, you will be returned to the main installation screen and your name and registration details should be displayed. F3 allows you to choose the default drive to have the configurations written to. The #FPath command if used in the RECON.CFG file allows you to override this, by specifying a full path and filename. The main screen colours can be modified by pressing F4. This will present a full screen that will allow you to change all the colours used on the picklist screen. In the top right hand corner a small simulation of the pick list is displayed, showing what the colours will look like. If you press one of the function keys to set the colours used in warning or message windows, a simulation of these types of windows will be displayed. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -10- To set a colour, press the function key that matches the colour you wish to change, and then press the up and down arrow to change the background colours, or the left and right arrows to change the foreground colours. Wallpaper colours can be changed in a similar manner to the other colours except for one important difference: the special colour black on black selects a multicolour wallpaper background. Colour selections selected for RECON will also be used for ACTIVE. If you use Digital Equipment Corporations PCSA LAN with DEC network cards, special reset code is required. Pressing F5 will toggle whether this code is used or not. F6 pops up the mouse setup window. This allows you to customise the way the mouse behaves: Pressing F1 toggles the Fast Reset code on or off. Fast reset speeds up the initialisation of RECON. Fast reset is an option because some applications leave the mouse in an unstable state that requires a full reset. If the mouse does not appear, or does not work correctly, turn this option off. F2 allows you to set the repeat delay (the time in milliseconds between repetitions when the mouse button is held). The default value for this is 200 mS. If you make this too short, double clicks will result if you cannot press the button fast enough, or if you set this too long, the repeat rate for scrolling may be too slow. F3 allows you to step through four options for the mouse cursor. The options are: Hidden - the cursor starts up hidden until the mouse is moved and will re-hide if not used for a period of time; Blinking - the mouse cursor is on and flashing and will hide after a period of disuse; Non-blinking - the mouse is a normal solid cursor that will not remove itself; Off - the mouse is completely disabled. If you have trouble with the mouse flashing erratically (some mouse drivers have trouble with this function), or disappearing while in use, set the mouse to Non-blinking, or if you do not wish to use the mouse, to off. F4 allows you to swap the left and right button functions. Normally the left button is the accept key (normally equivalent to the <Enter> key on the keyboard), and the right button the abort key (equivalent to <Esc>). If you are left handed, and wish to use the mouse, you may swap the function RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -11- of these buttons (beware, the mouse button function is swapped immediately F4 is toggled). F7 toggles whether a cold boot or warm boot is performed. Some machines with special devices may require a cold boot to successfully reboot. The default is warm as this results in a faster reset cycle. F8 pops up the main screen setup window. This allows you to change the main screen layout: F1 allows REGISTERED users to turn off the top line on the picklist screen showing registration information. Some businesses like to display the registration status after paying for the right, others would rather not have the line displayed at all. The unregistered copies will always display this top line as a subtle (?!) reminder that the user has not paid their registration. F2 toggles the alt key help line off or on for the picklist screen. If you turn this line off, the mouse cannot be used to select these functions, and the description line moves down to the bottom line. F3 toggles the background wallpaper on or off. Function keys F4 and F5 have no effect if background wallpaper is turned off. F4 allows you to set the wallpaper message. This can be any displayable characters up to 80 characters in length. An interesting background can be made up from the extended characters 219, 178, 177, 176 (Hold the ALT key down and type the three digit number on the number pad and release the ALT key). F5 allows you to change the number of characters each subsequent line is offset from the last. F9 toggles beeping at completion. This allows an audible indicator of when RECON has completed writing its files. Choose from None (no beeping), Always (always beeps at completion), or Down Only (only beep if using the /D switch). F10 allows you to configure RECON to use your favourite editor rather than DOS's EDLIN. The editor filename entry can be entered in one of three ways. If the editor can be found via the DOS PATH, only the file name of the program is required (e.g. EDLIN). If the editor to use is not in the path, then the full path, filename and extension may be entered (e.g. C:\SYS\EDLIN.COM). RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -12- Thirdly, you may enter a 4DOS alias. This last method requires the command processor to be loaded (using up some extra memory) and masks any errors that have occurred. Wherever possible the most reliable way of enabling the editor option is to give the full path. Most editors should be able to load in the memory available, though an error message will be displayed if there is insufficient memory to load. Pressing Escape (or the right mouse button) at any time before pressing Enter (or the left mouse button) to accept the setting will abort the configuration without making any changes. The mouse is fully functional throughout the configuration program, with the left button being the 'accept' key (equivalent to the 'ENTER' key on the keyboard) and the right button the 'abort' key (equivalent to the 'ESCAPE' key). RUNNING RECON RECON can be run in two ways:- RECON or RECON Name If RECON is typed without specifying a name, a pick list will appear on screen of the configurations defined in RECON.CFG. If a name is given, the corresponding configuration is immediately written and the computer rebooted. The pick list allows the user to scroll through the configuration names using the arrow keys (if more than 15 configurations exist, there is a 15 line window, and an elevator bar will appear). If a mouse driver is loaded, a configuration can be chosen by pointing to the required configuration and clicking the left button once to select, and again to execute. Alternately, pressing the first letter of the required configuration will move the cursor bar to the next configuration that begins with this letter. When the highlight is on the required configuration, pressing Enter will start the write/boot sequence. Pressing Escape, or the right mouse button, or the left mouse button while on the Close Button (top left of pick list border) any time before pressing Enter, or the left mouse button, will abort without writing anything and without booting the computer. While in the pick list, six hot keys are available to edit the configurations (listed on the bottom line of the screen if the help line is enabled). Three hot keys add new configurations: RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -13- Alt-A: Add new configuration. Allows user to add new configuration by defining from scratch. Alt-C: Copy the highlighted configuration and modify. Allows the user to take a copy of an existing configuration and modify it to suit. Alt-G: Grab existing configuration and modify. Allows user to take the existing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and create a REBOOT.CFG entry from them. This entry is without #Flush, #Desc commands etc, the user should add these. Alt-E allows you to Edit an existing configuration. Alt-D allows deletion of an existing configuration. Alt-M allows the configurations to be moved, allowing the user to sort the entries. The RECON command can also be followed by any of the following eight switches: /H and /? (Help) both give a short description of RECON and the switches available. /N (No boot) informs RECON to write the configuration files without booting, allowing you to boot with this different configuration at a later time. This option should be used with caution, subsequent use of RECON will use the updated configurations cache flushing command and history updates, which may not be consistent with the active items. See also /D. /C (Cold Boot) forces a cold boot regardless of the installed setting. /W (Warm Boot) forces a warm boot regardless of the installed setting. /R (Return to Directory) will return you to your current directory after the configuration change. This is performed by temporarily appending three lines: Drive Name, CD Directory Name, RECON /A XXXX (where XXXX is the chosen configuration) which changes to the appropriate drive and directory and finally updates AUTOEXEC.BAT to remove these lines. /A (Autoexec only) is a special command that only writes the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The main use for this switch is by /R. /D (Down) causes RECON to write the selected configuration, updating AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (if necessary), updates RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -14- the History file, and flushes the cache in readiness for shutting off the computer (putting it down). Note: the cache is not flushed if the /N or /A switches are used. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS RECON will perform the following sequence of events once the configuration has been selected and the Enter key is pressed (or if the configuration is given on the command line): 1. RECON.CFG is scanned for the chosen configuration. 2. If /A (Autoexec Only) is NOT given on the command line the CONFIG.SYS is written. 3. The AUTOEXEC.BAT is written. 4. If /R is given on the command line then three lines are added to the AUTOEXEC.BAT (Drive, CD Current Directory, RECON /A XXXX where XXXX is the chosen configuration). 5. Any other configurations included in RECON.CFG (after CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT) are written. 6. Active markers are updated in RECON.CFG (*'s replace #'s for active config). 7. If /N (no boot) is NOT given on the command line, the following are performed: 8. If a #Hist line is found in this configuration, the 4DOS history is saved to the file name listed and duplicates are removed. 9. If a #Flush line is found in this configuration, the disk cache is flushed using this command. 10. If /D (Down) is NOT given on the command line, the following are performed: 11. If DEC PCSA LAN resetting required (enabled in installation), the LAN card is reset. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -15- 12. If /W is given on the command line, a Warm boot is performed, if /C is given on the command line, a Cold boot is performed, otherwise the PC is booted using the default booting method selected with the installation option. COMPANION PROGRAMS Three companion programs should be included in this package: ACTIVE: This is a program that reports the active configuration, and various system information. It shows the operating system in use, and the configuration name as listed in RECON.CFG. Any description line included in RECON.CFG for this configuration is displayed on the bottom line of the screen. An errorlevel is returned dependent on the key pressed to exit the program. The errorlevel returned is ascii value of the uppercase of the key (Y = y = errorlevel 89). BTIME: This small program reads the current time and date from DOS and writes it to the first line of RECON.CFG. This should only be run from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, as its function is to indicate the approximate time and date the computer was last booted. CHKBOOT should be called before BTIME updates the time in RECON.CFG. If the computer requires a program to be run to set the DOS time, then BTIME should be run some time after the timer program. Type "BTIME /?" (without the quotes) for a short explanation of how to use BTIME. CHKBOOT: This program compares the current time and date against the time and date set by BTIME in the RECON.CFG file and returns an errorlevel dependent on conditions supplied on the command line. CHKBOOT has five switches to control the comparison of time and date: /F (default) returns an errorlevel of 1 (true) if this is the First boot of the day, or an errorlevel of 0 (false) if not. This switch may be omitted from the command line. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -16- /A:HH:MM returns true if the current time is After (greater than or equal to) the time given as HH:MM. /B:HH:MM returns true if the current time is Before (less than) the time given as HH:MM. /D:DDD returns true if the current day is DDD (i.e. Mon, Tue, etc.), AND it is the first boot of the day. Can be used for once a week bootup procedures. /M:NN returns true if the current day of the month is NN (i.e. 1 for the first of the month, 30 for the 30th of the month, etc.), AND it is the first boot of the day. Can be used for once a month bootup procedures. If an error occurs, then an errorlevel of 255 will be returned. See the example RECON.CFG's for typical usage of BTIME and CHKBOOT. Type "CHKBOOT /?" (without the quotes) for a short explanation of how to use CHKBOOT. TROUBLE-SHOOTING RECON.CFG corruption: If you are having trouble with RECON corrupting its RECON.CFG file, there is a good chance you are using a disk cache that delays writing to the disk. If so, there MUST be a #FLUSH command in the RECON.CFG file that will flush or disable the cache. If you are using a delayed write disk cache, and you have a #FLUSH line, check that the cache program is either in the PATH, or the full filename and path of the cache flush command is given (an error should be displayed if the file cannot be found, but may flash by so quickly that it is not noticed). See the example #FLUSH commands in the example configurations. Erratic mouse flashing: Some mouse drivers are unable to react fast enough to flash the mouse cursor on and off while still being active. The Logitech mouse driver version 5.01 is known to cause some trouble in this regard. Turn the mouse option to Non-Blinking or Off if problems do occur. You may have to exit from RECON and restart. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -17- Error - insufficient memory for editor: RECON remains resident in memory while the editor is called. If this error occurs, remove as many memory resident programs as possible to free up sufficient memory for RECON and your favourite editor. Error - unable to load editor: This error message is not the same as the last. If this error occurs, it is probably because the editor has not been correctly specified in the installation. Where possible, the full path and file name should be supplied for RECON to find the editor. Error - unable to create temporary file: This error message should only occur if there was a write error while attempting to create it's temporary files. This could be caused either by hardware problems, or a file already exists with the same name (this is very unlikely as DOS's create unique file is used to create temporary files). Error - unable to create RECON.TMP: When using the editing functions, RECON attempts to create a file called RECON.TMP (a temporary file that is merged back into RECON.CFG when you finish editing). If this error occurs, check to see that there is not another file of this name in the directory pointed to by one of the environment variables RECON makes use of (RECONTMP or TEMP), or if no environment variable exists, the root directory of the drive containing AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. Error - unable to open RECON.CFG: This error message may occur if the RECON.CFG file is not in a directory specified by the DOS PATH. Another possibility is that the RECON.CFG file has been marked Read Only. RECON requires read/write access to update RECON.CFG, remove the Read Only attribute (ATTRIB -R RECON.CFG). Error - null #Name encountered: This may occur if you manually edit the RECON.CFG file and enter a #Name = line without actually specifying a name. The #Name is required for each configuration, and each must be unique. At this point in time, RECON will not detect duplicate names and display both in the pick list, though only the first configuration will be written if either of the configurations is chosen. RECON v6.10 User Manual Page -18- Error - un-named config file in RECON.CFG: This error will occur if you include extra (i.e. other than CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT) configurations in your RECON.CFG and forget to include the #FPath command to tell RECON where to place this configuration file. Add the #FPath command to the first line of the additional configuration file (immediately after the divider line). This may also occur if you add an extra (unnecessary) divider line after the AUTOEXEC.BAT configuration section - remove the extra divider line. RECON may report other error messages, though those not covered here should not occur unless some sort of hardware related problem occurs (bad sectors on the hard disk, etc.). If an error occurs that is not covered here that is not immediately obvious, and you do not believe should have occurred, please send me a copy of your RECON.CFG file, along with a note explaining the conditions under which the error can be duplicated, to the address noted above or via Fidonet Netmail to 3:690/643.5. ABOUT RECON For those that are interested, the RECON suite was written using Turbo Pascal 6.0 (no matter what anyone else says, this is the best version yet!) and Turbo Assembler 2.0, with assistance from Turbo Debugger and Turbo Profiler. The unit libraries were written by Glenn Crouch and Peter Ogden. The author would like to thank Glenn Crouch, Graham Clark and Jason Cowie (beta tester extraordinaire) for their patience and thoroughness in beta testing RECON and its associated programs. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4DOS is a registered trademark of J.P. Software. MS-DOS is copyright by Microsoft. PC-DOS is copyright by IBM. PC-Cache is copyright by Central Point Software Inc. Hyperdisk is copyright by Roger Cross. QEMM and DESQview are copyright by Quarterdeck Office Systems. DEC and DEC PCSA are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. LZEXE is copyright by Fabrice Bellard. PKLite is copyright by PKWare. Turbo Pascal, Turbo Assembler, Turbo Debugger and Turbo Profiler are copyright by Borland International. ---***---