This file contains 3 sections about CDP which were formerly separate files, in an effort to simplify the CDP package. 04/23/91 I have removed part of the chronological history of fixes and revisions from this file because I consider it a distraction from the fact that CDP has been almost bug free in the past; and the revisions were made primarily to add or enhance features and documentation. Those new features that allow or require action on the part of the user are retained in this section. SECTION I History and Revisions --------------------- CDP was originally distributed through regular retail stores in July, 1987, under the name of Directory Assistance (DA), advertised in magazines such as PC WORLD, sold in stores such as Fry's, reviewed (favorably) in PC Magazine (June 28,1988, p. 46). The current CDP is vastly better! It was always a better product than its competition, but the distribution was poorly planned. The product as released was weakened by suppression of features deemed too sophisticated for targeted users, and inclusion of features with what marketers call "sizzle", even though they had no proper place in CDP. CDP is better than its competition. We invite comparisons. The shareware version, CDPSW, was first put on a BBS in March, 1990. Features and Fixes since Shareware Release ------------------------------------------ 03/19/90 See file ENHANCED.CDP. SECTION II CDP Features & Performance -------------------------- CDP is the ONLY program, period, which can have two copies of itself simultaneously installed as TSRs. If you have two hard disks (physical or logical), you may have a copy of CDP logged to each of the disks. And if you have enough EMS for swapping both copies, the two combined use only 18K of your PC's 640K DOS memory and pop up instantly at any time! They may also swap to disk if you haven't enough EMS. Or run just one copy and use only 9K! Overall, CDP is more than just a file or disk management program. It can be considered to be a shell, also. But it is perhaps the best single program available for examining the contents of the files on a disk. It possesses the most admirable features of the most popular FM (file manager) and search programs I know of), and is faster than most of them. 1. CDP is up to 80% faster and can find strings in binary files, which the most popular search program cannot do. 2. On a typical disk that I use (33 Mb, approx. 2100 files) the most popular FM will not run in 141 KB. It will run in 165 Kb. CDP will run in 175 KB, and after you run it, you can then run the other FM with CDP resident!! In that amount of memory, the other FM cannot shell to ANY program, even very small ones like MAPMEM or CHKDSK. CDP can shell to any reasonably sized program (including the FM!). CDP is a fine program just for viewing files. It scrolls faster than most programs dedicated to the purpose. With its ability easily and quickly to mark files according to values found in them, and then page through them with a single keystroke (alt-N - go to NEXT MARKED), one can examine the contents of a disk more smoothly than any other product I know of, regardless of size, cost, or extravagant memory use. And CDP can do it all when popped up over a great space-wasting word processor that can't even show you a useable directory listing. Things In Which CDP Is Unique ------------------------------ Foremost, of course, is the fact that CDP is the only disk and file manager program that runs as a TSR using as little as 9KB of memory! It is the only disk manager that swaps the bulk of its code to either LIM-EMS or a hard disk, depending on your system. You can run it underneath WordStar, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, etc., in spite of the huge size of those programs. Because it is a TSR, it is the only file manager that can pop up over such programs instantly to let you examine your disk without leaving the program (even if they can shell out to DOS, such programs do not generally leave enough space to run a conventional FM. I commonly run 2 copies of CDP simultaneously with ProComm. I can search a local copy of a BBS directory (having downloaded it) much faster than the BBS can, without shelling out to DOS. I can also examine files and directories easily without ever leaving ProComm. ProComm never knows the difference! 1. Can compare not only entire directories, but entire directory trees. 2. It is the only program that will compare files either on contents or by date and time only. 3. Alone among shells that I know of, it runs a program just as it would run from the command line. 4. It is the only program that I know of that, when shelling, can alter directory residence to accommodate the program being run. 5. It is the only file manager in which window sizes are adjustable. 6. It is the only file manager which can search for strings in files and produce a report on them. Moreover, the file can be saved on disk. 7. It is the only program that will sort by disk location. This is often useful, believe it or not. 8. It is the only program which allows you to "point and shoot" to change your directory residence (^D). 9. It is the only one which comes up "instantly". 10. It is the only one which can (effectively) run in less than 160 KB. (It requires only 9 KB when resident). 11. It is the only one which can be called up when in the middle of editing. 12. It loads faster originally (1st time) than any other FM, although some others approach it. 13. It moves entire directories almost instantly. 14. It can toggle marked files and display "only marked" files. It can display "not matched" files. This gives it a Boolean file specification capability which is unique. (Note: The most popular searcher can do this and also 6. above. But it is not a full-fledged file manager, and CDP is much faster.) 15. CDP has more functions than any other FM, and most may be invoked by a single "mnemonic" keystroke. That is faster than a mouse or a menu. Few FMs approach CDP in ease of use. 16. CDP is the only FM program that can view a "Hex" file in Ascii. 17. CDP is the only FM program that can search for strings in either a hex or an Ascii file. 18. CDP is the only FM program that has a TRUE restartable backup capability (via the Archive option). 19. Although CDP has no editing capability of its own, it is the only FM program that can instantly put you into the Editor of your choice with a SINGLE keystroke from its own viewing function. 20. CDP is the only program that can produce a neatly formatted listing by directory of all files on a disk, almost instantaneously (LIST function). 21. CDP is the only FM that can search files and "mark" the "find"s in a manner suitable for immediate contextual examination of the finds. 22. CDP is a fortiori the only FM that can then page thru the marked files with a single keystroke (Alt-N -- go to NEXT MARKED). 23. CDP allows you to copy or move files by "point and shoot". I might add that CDP is also the smoothest program of all the FMs for viewing a file. Also, if one is dealing with multiple directories and often returning to or referencing the same one, the CDP F4 key still works to remember the directory path one was in before (indefinitely), and it can be called up by rtshift-rtshift at almost any time. This is often very useful. Perhaps the single most impressive thing about CDP is its ability to run using only 9K of memory. It really catches the eye if you run MAPMEM & it shows SideKick using 60-110 KB, PCO using 140K, a leading search program using 180K, and at the bottom, another FM using 165 KB. CDP is very "compatible". It will even run with several notoriously "incompatible" "desktop" TSRs and shells. In some cases, CDP MUST be run either BEFORE or AFTER the other program; the other way round won't work. We cannot name those programs here lest we offend the large companies that produce them. Performance Tests ----------------- The hell with it! Results of tests of CDP compared with the two premier sellers in File Management & File Searching were presented here. CDP was up to 6 times faster in things like directory movement and file deletion, and not slower in anything. It searched almost twice as fast, and searches binary files as well as text. Not to mention, it can be popped up over active programs, and not just from the command line. SECTION III Problems One May Encounter With CDP ----------------------------------- The most likely problems are: Bad Or Invisible Cursor ----------------------- If your machine has a "shaded-grey" monitor or is a laptop with a blue, red, etc. screen, use CDP .... Y on the command line in the case that the cursor or other stuff might not be visible Disk ---- Over 2800 files or 200 dirs on a logical disk cannot be handled. !! That is no longer true. See above for how to handle > 2800.!! CDP cannot be brought up on a Network disk, nor log to one. It will work on RAM disks (VDISK, etc.). If you use DRIVER.SYS for a floppy that has a letter higher than C:, CDP thinks it is a hard disk. It will reject the unit if a good floppy is not in it. These problems do not apply to 99%+ of users. CDP simply will not work on such disks (DRIVER disk is OK as long as a diskette is in it.) But it WILL WORK CORRECTLY on all other disks on the system. Over 132 MB on a LOGICAL disk cannot be handled. Nor can disks that have sector sizes of > 2048 bytes. These 2 limits are equivalent. OS -- To start with the most recent thing, CDP will run with DR DOS 5.0. Formerly, it refused to because it did not recognize DR DOS. There is some experience with DR DOS & no adverse reports. CDP will not run in OS/2, even in the DOS compatibility box. Nor do I intend to attempt to make it do so. We do not like OS/2. Apparently, MicroSoft now concurs in this opinion. (04/23/91) DOS 4.0 shell may hang (but I have trouble installing the DOS shell correctly -- I could not get it to work properly, even with CDP not present.) Plain DOS 4.0 works just fine, however. BUT you should not use it with FASTOPEN running or directories in EMS. DOS may foul up in that case (CDP won't; disks will be correct -- but DOS tables in EMS may not be updated, so you should do frequent CHKDSKs). No such problems exist with DOS 3.x or 2.x. Nor is there any problem without FASTOPEN and/or EMS-resident directories. In PC Computing Magazine, Nov., 1989, p.253, an article devotes quite a bit of space to warnings about FASTOPEN under DOS 4 (IBM or MicroSoft). Seems it is a potential disk-destroyer. "still has problems with certain programs like Paradox, SideKick Plus, Javelin, and DESQview." Use of Disk Optimizers by Bridgeway, Golden Bow, Mace, and Norton may destroy your disk. DOS often reports the amount of free disk space incorrectly when a TSR deletes files. This does NOT indicate a harmful situation. DOS simply does not always adjust its free space total until it performs some file actions itself. The disk itself is correct and DOS's internal tables are up to date. CDP is not the only program that encounters this quirk. Use of CHKDSK clears this up. Frequent use of CHKDSK is advised anyway, on all systems. In DOS 4, use a LIM-EMS Driver and disk-cache program to speed up your hard disk if possible. Or you can use VDISK or RAMDRIVE to make a ram disk in your expanded or extended memory. CDP can use either LIM-EMS or ANY RELIABLE RAM DISK as a swapping area. If you have qualms about any particular OS or Shell, you may proceed cautiously with CDP as follows: CDP 3 ;will swap to EMS if present, but not to disk Then try the VIEW function on some large files. This will not write on any disk. When that works, modify a large file toward the end of the disk so that you have 2 slightly different files. Because problems will happen only past the 32MB mark on a disk, use CDP's Sort by location to pick a large file that is located past the 32MB mark, if possible (I can't tell you just how large the cluster number must be, because that depends on the disk's format). Do a COMPARE of the 2 files with the CURRENT option. (A COMPARE of single file with another by CURRENT does not bother to log results to disk). Next, get yourself a 1.2 MB floppy and XCOPY (on the EXPORT menu) some entire trees to a floppy. If all that works, you're pretty safe doing anything else at all. Windows, DESQview, QEMM ----------------------- I have never tried CDP in MS Windows. I am told it doesn't run in Windows. I have run it in DESQview 386 as a non-resident program and in their Big DOS window as a resident program. DESQview will hang your system if you load DESQview after CDP. And it IS Desqview that hangs. CDP is also reported to run quite well with 4DOS. We do not really give a fig for Windows. It is much too slow and ungainly for the work we do. And we believe the same is true for potential CDP users. So, DO NOT TRY CDP in WINDOWS. If you should do so, DOS might lose track of files. CDP keeps the disk in perfect shape, regardless of OS or shell that is used. But CHKDSK or DOS functions in Windows might overwrite a correct disk because of incorrect internal tables. CHKDSK might or might not be able to straighten things out. Never do a CHKDSK /f as a first try in such a case. CHKDSK might mess things up. You might try CDP in DESQview - cautiously. Remember, if you do not use ctrl-Q or one of the switching functions (eXecute, etc.), CDP never needs to go resident. Let DESQview do the switching & swapping - that is what it is for. CDP will still be the best file manager and disk examination program you can find. CDP can be made resident in DESQview' Big DOS window. But do not try to pop it up outside that window. One note about QEMM 386, which has nothing to do with CDP. QEMM's installation and Quarterdeck's Manifest program advise you to use their BUFFERS function to put buffers in high memory. When I tried this, with 3 different disk caches, my disk I-O was at least twice as slow and as much as three times as slow!! The big kids aren't necessarily the smartest. I endorse QEMM, but not the BUFFERS function nor the advice to use it. Removing CDP From Memory ------------------------ A complaint was made that CDP does not always remove itself from memory when alt-R is done. The fact is that it cannot always remove itself safely. If another program is in memory (TSR or command-line level) that has taken over a BIOS interrupt used by CDP, then the system would crash. Many other TSRs do remove themselves at any time, often crashing the system. Sometimes CDP may not remove itself until after 2 attempts. This may occur if a TSR further down in memory is removed without performing any DOS commands before attempting to remove CDP. In that case DOS has not yet rearranged the pointers in memory to reflect the removal of the other program. Usually, CDP detects such removal before DOS does (provided that removal was done correctly by the other program). But sometimes it may not. A similar situation may also occur in which CDP will not immediately become active after its hot key is struck. Usually, simply striking ENTER will cause CDP to come up on the screen. Final Words ----------- I don't want to frighten you with the above. There are absolutely no problems that I know of on a plain DOS 2.x, 3.x, or 4.x system that is not running something like Windows, DESQview, or the DOS 4.0 shell or FASTOPEN. There is NO problem with OS/2 -- CDP just refuses to run! Just remember -- the official advice is: Use CDP on DOS 4.xx -- but not with the DOS Shell or FASTOPEN! Be extremely cautious about trying it under Windows! DESQview is an unknown! But CDP should work OK if not made resident. CDP actually behaves better than any of the better known, widely- distributed disk managers and search programs that I have seen, TSR or not.