Browser Notes

Submitted by Gaelyne on Mon, 06/30/2008 - 02:22.


Browser Update Notes

Browser Update Dated: 07 January 1996

The latest update of Browser is dated internally as 07 January, 1996

Here's your opportunity to see a program work in progress! Updates of Browser are available here for those who wish to use the beta version. No warranties, guarantees etc. These updates will be posted periodically.

For those who have never used Browser, I highly recommend you download browser2.sfx and read the documentation for it. This page only deals with the updates since that release.

These notes will be appended to with each new update. All CURRENT changes will be noted at the END of this file.

ALL options subject to change without notice.


Index for the update notes:


Early Sept
Mid Sept
Sept 24th
Sept 25th

Oct 2nd
Oct 13th
Oct 22nd
Oct 26th

Nov 27th
Dec 11th
Jan 7th
Feb 24th

Skip this and grab the files
Early Sept Notes

  • Hot keys. When the highlight bar is over a file and you know what it
    is, pressing the appropriate key will get you started reading (or running)
    it. The keys are:
    A - Ascii
P - Petascii
B - BASIC
N - ANSI
D - DAT
K - PKT
R - Run  (only for C128 Prg files)

  • Scratching & Renaming. When the highlight bar is over a file, you can change the filename or scratch it.

    Shifted "R" for Renaming

    Shifted "S" for Scratching

    Scratching gives no warning. (Well you have to hit the shift key so that should be enough warning).

    The index files (described later) are also scratched or renamed, if they exist.

  • Index files. Browser will prompt to save an index file for any of the file types which it can read. The index saves the file type, screen size, etc. These index files consist of the filename with the first character changed to a "%" symbol. These files are USR files and don't appear in the Browser files window. Since it relates to the T&S information for the file, if you move a file to another disk or directory, forget about copying the index file for it.
  • The (W)rite command. This brings up a window with options which relate to saving a file to disk. Any of the options can be toggled by using the key relating to each option. 
Device: # (2-16)  Disk drive or Printer
Write:            DAT/ Packet/ Petascii/ Ascii
Disk or Printer   Either
Existing files    Append/ Ask/ Replace
Remainder or all  Either
eCho to screen    Yes/No

The Write as Packet option is not currently functional. You can't save a Pet (or any "non" .Dat file) as a DAT file. The Write option appears when viewing an ANSI, but it doesn't work.

NOTE: There is a *minor* bug in saving DAT to DAT files with
all drives other than a RamLink. It saves to other drives ok, but the
private/public flag tends to get mis-set.

  • "Remainder" lets you save from the current page you're viewing. If you use this and have eCho to screen toggled as "Yes", you can use the stop key to stop the saving of text at any stage. This lets you save portions of a long file as smaller individual files. (I use it to grab stuff from the FAQ files).
  • DAT/PKT files do not let you save "Remainder" in this manner - but you can save the FAQ files (or any message) as a Pet or ASCII file then use this method to retrieve what you need from it.
  • File naming. You can name a .DAT file that you save anything you like, it doesn't even have to end in ".dat".

    Hint: We often rename the messages.dat file to something else before reading it with Browser, then save/append messages we want to answer to "messages.dat" so we can load QWKRR when finished reading the mail packet.

  • Listing a BASIC file will no longer crash the system. You can also write a BASIC file to disk as a text file.
  • Depending on the size of the .DAT file and what's at the end, Browser sometimes displays and "extra" message at the end which looks nasty on the screen. It's not a bug just the way the DAT file ends.

Mid Sept Notes

  • This version is "intelligent" in that it will attempt to determine what type of file is being read (ASCII, PET, .DAT, ANSI, PKT and BASIC). For the most part it gets it right, but if not, its "guess" can be ignored by pressing the appropriate key for the format required.
  • Each time you open a new directory Browser will search for a control.dat file, and if found it will display the users name at the top of the screen. This is mainly an indicator that a control.dat exists. If it does exist, when you read .DAT type files you will be given the option to use the control.dat or not. Selecting NO will give the fastest method of reading the file, but only the area NUMBERS will be used. Selecting YES will show the area NAMES, plus it will also highlight any messages to or from the user.
  • Each area name is only "read" once. The speed difference is then negligible. Ramlink users will never notice the speed difference anyway.
  • C128 BASIC files can still be RUN from Browser (highlight the file, and press "r"), but it will no longer even attempt to run C64 BASIC programs. This is generally a good thing since most C64 programs will crash the computer - However, there are some programs, such as CMD's FCopy and MCopy that will run in both C64/128 modes. Unfortunately, Browser will often "see" these as C64 BASIC files and won't attempt to run them..If this is the case, the easiest solution is to load the program (in C128 mode) as you normally would, then re-save the file back to disk. This causes the load address to be reset and Browser will then "see" them as C128 run-able programs. (They can still be Loaded/Run from 64 mode as normal).
  • Pressing the SHIFT "i" key will display information found in the control.dat file, if a control.dat is in the directory.

Sept 24th Notes

  • Browser has new character sets! After a lot of work... Gaelyne has put together a collection of over 30 character sets for use with Browser - all with the correct C= Graphics. And... she's also updated the same character sets using full ASCII graphics too. The fullset character sets can be used in Desterm too, instead of the des.ibmfullset file. For those of you into FTPing, other Desterm compatible character sets (for each terminal emulation type) can be found at videocam.net.au in the cbm/desterm directory.
  • Fidonet users can get these from 221b Baker Street BBS. 1:366/221, but the filenames begin with a "des" so users know they are for use with Desterm.

The files and their descriptions:

  • browchrs.sfx on 221B Baker Street BBS=cbmchrs.sfx
    - Browser cbm graphic character sets
  • desful.sfx=fullset.sfx
    - Desterm ibmfullset character sets. Can also be used with Browser.
  • desibm.sfx=ibmset.sfx - Desterm ibmset character sets
  • desami.sfx=amiset.sfx - Desterm amigaset character sets
  • descbm.sfx=cbmset.sfx - Desterm cbmset character sets
  • descg.sfx=cbmcgset.sfx - Desterm cbmcgset character sets
  • desvt52.sfx=vt52set.sfx - Desterm vt52set character sets
  • desvt102.sfx=vt102set.sfx - Desterm vt102set character sets

Sept 25th Notes

DELETE any old indexes!! (those made with a version of browser
dated 24rd Sept, or before). They are not compatible with later updates
and WILL cause problems!

(Sorry - but you'll appreciate the new indexes).

  • Browser has a new look. It uses an internal Pet ASCII set allowing you to see disk directories and BASIC file listings with the correct CBM graphic characters. The internal pet character set has a few graphic characters altered to get the windows right - if these are "noticeable" (displaying where you wouldn't expect them), please let us know.
  • The internal IBM-ASCII set has been maintained from the previous versions for reading .DAT and ANSI files.
  • CTRL-0 (zero) and CTRL-1 toggles between the two internal character sets. You can use this while viewing files.
  • If you have 64K VDC, you can load up to 8 additional character sets which are accessible to you with the CTRL and number keys 2-9.
  • If you only have 16K VDC, other sets can be loaded and used, but they will be lost if one of the internal ones are accessed through the CTRL 0 and 1 keys.
  • Avoid the actual loading of character sets while reading text, do this beforehand.
  • Under the "Display defaults" window, there is a new option for charset usage. The choices are "PET, ASCII, AUTO and User". AUTO will automatically choose between the internal character sets when you view files (ie, the ASCII set is used for ASCII type files, and the PET set is used for PETascii text files or when listing a BASIC file). Pet always uses the pet set, ASCII always uses the ASCII set, and the User set will use what you load, if none are loaded it defaults to the internal ASCII set.
  • The Options menu can now be accessed from within files, and it allows you to change colours and how the text is viewed (CR,LF, LF+CR, TAB, etc).
  • It bears repeating... Delete any old indexes! - They are not compatible with this update and WILL cause problems.
  • When you save an INDEX for a file the colour, screen size, LFs, CR, TAB, etc information is saved in the index. This makes it possible to have several different "default" settings for Browser, depending on your needs/desires. If there is no index file, the last used colours and other settings are used.

Oct 2nd Notes

  • Screen sizing can now be changed while reading files.
  • Border colours are now correctly updated when changed while reading a file.
  • The colour selection menu is now in colour :-)
  • Character sets can now be loaded while reading files, but to prevent crashing you must ensure that you are back on the same drive and directory when you exit the character set menu that you were when you entered it.
  • To/From/Subj lines are now displayed with the user selected character set, rather than the internal ASCII set.

Oct 13th Notes

  • Browser will now load and run C64 programs. This doesn't work with some versions of RAMLink (even if trying to load a program from another disk device). Both Rod and I have Ramlinks, and this works just great on his system, but not on mine. Feedback on this would be welcome. Don't forget to switch your monitor to 40 col mode.
  • If a colon (":") appears in the first 11 characters of a .DAT file, anything after the colon is colourised. Currently, it's the same colour as quoted text, but this may change in the future. This serves a couple different purposes: first, it makes it easier to read Internet style replies where a colon has been used as a quote symbol. Second, it helps to make the Internet style headers on messages look a little better.

Oct 22nd Notes

  • The problem with Browser not loading and running 64 mode programs from certain Ramlink's has been solved. It's new drawback is that it resets the Ramlink to it's default partition/directory, so if what you want to load is on the Ramlink in a different partition from your default, it doesn't work. It works fine for loading C64 files from any other device, however.

Oct 26th Notes

  • Fixed file identifier problem. It now recognises CAM-MAIL QWK packets as a .DAT file.
  • Fixed control.dat problem. It now displays the conference names when reading QWK packets from Cam-mail.

Nov 27th Notes

  • Fixed bug with printing via parallel cable
  • Fixed bug with writing files to disk

Dec 11th Notes

Browser is still unreliable when used with non-JiffyDOS 1581's.

  • Browser now auto-detects the type of file (Pet, ASCII, DAT, PKT, etc) and displays it as detected instead of showing the additional menu. If the file does not display correctly, exit the file, then when the cursor is over the filename, press the key corresponding to the way you wish to view the file. IE, if it's an ASCII text file, press the letter "a".

Jan 7th Notes

  • Fixed a bug that caused crashing with .DAT files padded with nulls (ASCII#0).
  • Minor changes to user interface and updated menu bar options.
  • To see the auto-detected filetype hold your keypress and the filetype will be displayed on the menu bar.

Feb 24th Notes

  • A sample PKT file has been added to the Browser support FTP directory so you can view a Fidonet PKT with Browser. Since many users had no way of acquiring this type of file, I thought providing one would be a good idea. The file is named PKTSAMPL.SFX and is available via FTP from videocam.net.au in the /pub/cbm/browser directory. You can also download it from this web site. See the Files section.

NOTE!

If you do have any problems or run into anything interesting, please let us know about it. When you do, for our information and reference, please note the date shown when you quit the program.

Files

Note: Press the letter -d- over these links to receive the files.

Browser Beta:

Browser Character Sets:

Desterm Character Sets:

  • fullset.sfx - (Same as above) Desterm ibmfullset character sets. Can also be used with Browser.
  • ibmset.sfx - Desterm ibmset character sets
  • amiset.sfx - Desterm amigaset character sets
  • cbmset.sfx - Desterm cbmset character sets
  • cbmcgset.sfx - Desterm cbmcgset character sets
  • vt52set.sfx - Desterm vt52set character sets
  • vt102set.sfx - Desterm vt102set character sets
  • pktsampl.sfx - Sample Fidonet PKT file
  • FTP to videocam.net.au for these files. Browser and compatible character sets are in the /cbm/browser directory, and the Desterm character sets are in the /cbm/desterm directory.