README.TXT - Full Documentation of MaxDIR. FASTREAD.TXT - Quick Read Documentation of MaxDIR. HISTORY.TXT - History of Revisions to MaxDIR. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MaxDIR v2.29 [Documentation - DI.EXE] (C)1995-2005 MSH Softworks ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ This utility has always been and always will be FREEWARE ] --> Type DI /? for a list of command-switches. Use README.TXT for help. <-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- PC Recommended Min. Requirements: 80386-sx16, 512K Ram, Dos 5.0, any Drive. PC Bare Minimum Requirements: 80386-sx16, 128K Ram, Dos 3.0, any Drive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- OS Requirements to use this program: ( + means "And Higher") ( * means "Not Tested") One of the following: Windows XP (Home or Professional) Windows 95/98/ME DOS 7.0+ (Command Prompt). Windows 2000 (Command Prompt, all versions). Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 3+) (Command Prompt, Workstation and Server) *Windows NT 3.51 (Latest Service Packs) MSDOS 2.1 thru MSDOS 6.22+, or PCDOS 5+, or PTS-DOS v5+, or DR-DOS. OS/2 2.1 thru OS/2 3.0+. (DOS Sessions). Mac DOS Window and/or Mac "Orange PC" Session. Not tested past OS7.5. *UNIX DOS Session. *Any other OS that supports DOS Emulation. (OPTIONAL: Network Drives must be through a mapped drive letter) Netware v2.0 thru Netware v6+ Windows 3.11 Network Windows XP/2000 Network in Active Directory/Domains/ or Workgroup modes. Windows NT4 Network ... *Windows NT 3.51 Network Windows 95/98/ME Network Lantastic v6.0+ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOREWARD: MaxDIR is a DOS DIR command alternative/replacement, presenting a directory of files in a much nicer format using much less screen-space. MaxDIR makes use of sorting, columns, and COLOR in order to assist the user in a multitude of tasks, which include dealing with the brain clutter that occurs when listing files in the current, or any directory. Definition of Scroll: What the screen does while you are trying to read it. INSTALLATION: Simply copy the MaxDIR files into your OS directory, or any place else that is specified in your AUTOEXEC.BAT's PATH= statement. Also, you can rename it to anything you wish, such as D.EXE, which is how I use it. IMPORTANT!: All of the files MUST be in the same directory for MaxDIR to work properly! NOTE: For Windows NT/2000, you should extract all files to the C:\WINNT directory. NOTE: For Windows95/98/ME/XP, you should extract all files to the C:\WINDOWS directory. NOTE: For DOS, you should extract all files to the C:\DOS (or SYSTEM) directory. You must make sure the directory is in the set PATH= statement. ABOUT THE FILES: DI.EXE :This is MaxDIR. Type DI to get a directory! CFG.EXE :This is MaxDIR Config. This program lets you make up to 25 custom config files for MaxDIR to use. The documentation is built in to the help system. Press F1 to find out how to use it. MAXDIR.CFG :This is the default configuration file. You may create up to 25 different .CFG files to use with MaxDIR. Now, whenever you type DI (or what you renamed it to) at a DOS prompt, you'll receive a colorful listing on your screen of all the files in your current directory. There are also a variety of command-switches to aide you in your quest for maximum performance, ie: More info, meaningful at a glance, ordered to your taste, etc.. (Tip: Keep this document file handy. You may want to read it again when you have a question about something you find or don't understand.) About MaxDIR: MaxDIR shows a colorful Directory Listing of files, alphabetized into Four Columns across the screen. By default, it shows Filenames and Extensions, colorized by Extension. It shows FileSizes, Drive Usage, True Drive Usage (Actual drive clusters used, in bytes), Total Drive Size, Total Drive Space Used, Percentage of Drive Used Up, and its Volume Label. Optionally, it will show more/less drive information, which is described in detail in MaxDIR OPTIONS. As of version 2.23, MaxDIR can also show you a quick list of the available drives at the top of the directory listing. Files are always Colorized by Extension. Here's the DEFAULT break-down: EXE - Light Cyan - Executables. (Programs) COM - Light Green - Commands. (Assembly Programs) BAT INI PIF CFG INF - Light Red - Batch, Config, & Win Setup Files. DOC PDF HTM SHT MSG - White - Documents, HTML, and Message Files. TXT RTF ANS ASC SC - White - Text, ANSI, ASCII, and Script Files. WRI HLP SCR LOG ERR - White - Write, Help, Script, & LOG Files. DBF DB MDB LCK XLS - Blue - Database/Control and Spreadsheet Files. ASM CPP PAS BAS C - Green - Program Source Code. SYS OVR OVL DAT - Green - Overlays, Drivers/TSR's, & Data Files. BMP PCX TAR TIF IFF - Cyan - Graphics Files. IMG PCD PIC PCT PSP - Cyan - Graphics Files. GIF JPG MOV AVI MPG - Cyan - Graphics Files & Motion Video. FLI FLC FLT TGA - Cyan - Graphics Files & Motion Video. ZIP ARJ ARC LHA RAR - Red - Archived / Compressed Files. DRV 386 DLL GRP VXD - Brown - Win Drivers, Groups, & Link Libraries. MOD MID WAV VOC CMF - Light Blue - Music & Sound Files. S3M STM IT XM MP3 - Light Blue - Music & Sound Files. - Light Magenta - Sub-Directories. All Others - Light Grey - All other non-standard and/or unknowns. NOTE: More default extension colors will be added in future versions. MaxDIR OPTIONS: You may change the way MaxDIR shows files by using Command-Switches. For example, by typing DI /F MaxDIR will Alphabetize files by Filename instead of by File Extension. Here are the available command-switches: By default, MaxDIR shows files alpha by file extension, ordered up/down. /e - Sort Files by Extension. (Default) /f - Sort Files by Filename. /t - Sort Files by Date/Time. /s - Sort Files by Size. /n - Disable Sorting. /w - Show Files Ordered Up-Down. (Default) /l - Show Files Ordered Left-to-Right. /a - Show Hidden/System files. /d - Show Directories ONLY. /# - Number of Columns (1,2,4,6) (Default: 4) /c - No Color. (Output can Redirect) /j - Show Colors in ANSI format. (Output can Redirect) /u - Show Files in ALL-Uppercase. /v - Disable Show Available Drives. /p - Disable Pause at full screen. /o - Use BIOS Video Addressing. /i - Include DIR clusters in 'Bytes Consumed'. /x - Show eXtra Drive Information. /b - Show MaxDIR Location, Build ID, and DOS Version Info. /z - Disable custom configuration. (Use Default Settings.) /zfilename - Use custom configuration CFG file. (Don't add .CFG) You can use more than one switch, in any order. The path to sort must be the last thing on the command line. EXAMPLES: di -Will show files in current dir, alpha by extension. di /? -Will show Command Line Switches and info about MaxDIR. di /s -Will show files sorted from smallest to largest. di /f /u /l ms*.* -Will show files in current dir starting with MS, alpha by filename, in all uppercase, ordered left-to-right. di /u e:\dos -Will show files under the Dos dir on drive E, alpha by extension, in all uppercase. di /d /x -Will show directories under current dir, along with extra info about the drive. di /n /p -Will show files, unsorted, with no pausing when the screen fills up. di /a -Will show ALL files(including hidden and system files), with hidden dirs at the end of the dir list, and all hidden files at the end of the files list, with their first characters in lower case. di /v -Will show files in current dir, alpha by extension, without showing available drives. di /zfilename -Will use the custom configuration file: filename.cfg Remember: Don't add the .CFG in the command. di \ -Will show the current drive's Root directory, alpha by extension. di /2 -Will show files in current dir, alpha by extension, in 2 columns (which shows dates and times) di /c > file.txt -Will list files in current dir, sending output to File.txt. (no color) di /j > file.txt -Will list files in current dir, sending output to File.txt. (using ANSI color codes.) di /c > lpt2 -Will list files in current dir, sending output to printer on LPT2 TIP: When outputting to another device, be sure to use the /p option to disable PAUSE. Otherwise, you'll have to keep pressing a key until the output is completed. NOTE: Even though the /n option specifies No Sorting, all directories will still be pushed to the front of the listing, but they will not be sorted. NOTE2: The /a option always pushes hidden/system files to the end of the list. Hidden/System files are denoted by a lowercase first letter of the Filename and Extension. AUTO-PAUSE: MaxDIR pauses after each screenful of information, and is smart enough to detect screen modes. It has been tested in 25, 43, and 50 line modes, and should work correctly, regardless of what video card you use, in any other mode. It will work only in a text mode, in either Mono, B/W, 2, 4, 8, or 16 colors. It will automatically pause at the right time, and if it gets an error while detecting your video mode, it will bypass pausing altogether. FILESIZE FORMAT: MaxDIR shows filesizes up to 9,999,999 bytes, without truncating. Files which are longer will be shown (For example, 15,437,121) truncated as 15.437M Of course, due to space limitations in the way file lists are diplayed, all commas are left out of the file-sizes. MORE ON "BYTES CONSUMED": (FAT16) (Windows 95[A] is not exempt.) MaxDIR calculates "Bytes Consumed" using a simple method. First, to under- stand what it means, here is a brief explanation: All disk drives store information in "Clusters" on a disk. A "Cluster" is a set of sequential "Sectors" which are usually 512 bytes in length (except on CD-ROMs). The cluster size is always determined by the size of the disk. The reason for this is somewhat complex, but it boils down to the ineffeciency of DOS making use of very large drives... When DOS stores a file onto a disk, it allocates (uses) an entire cluster, even if the file is 1 byte in length! Many newer computers have large drives and subsequently have a cluster size of 32,768 bytes... One file, say 200 bytes or even 1 byte, will consume 32,768 bytes of drive space. If a file is 32,769 bytes in length, it will consume 2 clusters or 65,536 bytes! MaxDIR looks at all of the files in your current DIR, calculates the consumed bytes for each one by using simple division, and then adds up the total you see at the bottom. Also included are the directories which you have in your current DIR, since they are counted as files(except "." and ".." which are reference points). Type DI /X to see your current drive's cluster size, and what determines it. (ie: [Bytes Per Sector] * [Sectors Per Cluster] = Bytes Per Cluster.) Please read LIMITATIONS, below, to find out about Bytes Consumed on drives not supported by DOS, such as FAT32 and NTFS/HPFS, etc. EXTRA DRIVE INFO: (The /X Option): With the /X option, MaxDIR will show your drives' bytes-per-sector, sectors-per-cluster, bytes-per-cluster, total clusters, available clusters, and clusters used. Also, it shows the Disk (NOT DRIVE!) DOS Identifier Byte and what it means (ie: A 1.2 Megabyte 5.25" Floppy DRIVE can support 160K, 180K, 320K, 360K, and 1.20MB DISKS). MaxDIR tells you the size of the DISK in the floppy drive, not the floppy drive's size. Most of the other information this option provides is only useful for people who wish to know how efficiently their drive(s) do file-keeping (cluster size). NOTE: MaxDIR tells you a network DISK TYPE by way of the DOS Identifier Byte, the same way as a local drive. This may not be accurate on some networks, depending on the specific client/server interface. LIMITATIONS: (problems explained /possible solutions) MaxDIR has a limit of 2,400 files in any given Directory. If, for some strange reason, you have more than 1,800 files in the same directory, MaxDIR will only show the first 2,400. Due to the strange nature of CD-Roms, MaxDIR may be in error when it shows file consumption and disc size. Some DOS CDRom drivers seem to put incorrect information into the computer's bios, causing it to show the wrong disc size. Also, some CD's report incorrect disc sizes anyway... To be honest, I can never tell which, or it could be that I was absent on the day they decided to add a couple of bytes to the BIOS cluster table..? At any rate, MaxDIR will correctly report filesizes and total bytes used, but may be in error showing consumption and total disc size on some CD-Roms. If/when MaxDIR detects an error in those, it will print [CDROM?] preceding the percentage-full. This means you should check for a later CD-Rom driver. If it is a networked drive, then you may want to check into a network software patch/update. (v2.22+ UPDATE) WINDOWS NT4: If you are in a non-"8.3" compliant (LFN) directory, WinNT will revert to the 8.3 version of the DIR upon exiting any 16 bit DOS application. There is no workaround for this problem. However, there is a program available at http://maddogsw.com/cmdutils that, when run, will bring you back to the LFN version of the DIR. The program is called FIXP.EXE, and is a 32bit WinNT program. (Fixp.exe Length: 32K bytes) Be advised that the FIXP.EXE program should not be run in the root of a drive, ie: C:\ or D:\. Doing this will close the DOS box with an error. NOTE: MaxDIR is not able to show drive Size and actual bytes Consumed on drives that are not either FAT12 or FAT16. DOS (and true DOS emulators) only work with FAT12/16 drives. Windows95/98 and WindowsNT can run on FAT32 and NTFS (respectively), which use different and incompatable types of File Allocation. MaxDIR will work on Windows 95/98/NT/2K, but their DOS emulators report incorrect Sector and Cluster information to keep DOS programs running correctly on larger hard drives (DOS only supports HD's under 2GB in size.), thus the Bytes Consumed and total drive sizes will be incorrect. All other information will be correct, and MaxDIR will run as it was intended. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEST-BED: MaxDIR has been successfully tested under the following: MSDOS 2.1 thru MSDOS 6.22, PCDOS 5.0+, Windows9x/NT/2K/XP, Tandy 1000HX, Compaq Laptops, and in DOS sessions on the following: OS/2 2.1, OS/2 3.0(Warp), IBM System/36, Macintosh, Macintosh "Orange PC", and UNIX. Testing recently (2003) went well under PTS-DOS and FreeDOS. It has been tested on everything I could get my hands on, with no problems. I was also fairly surprised to see it run flawlessly on an ancient IBM System/36 workstation. MaxDIR has been thoroughly tested while running attached to the following Network environments: LANtastic v6.0/v7.0, LANtastic "Dedicated Server", NETware v3.11 thru NETware v5.1, Windows Network, Windows95/98 and WindowsNT/ 2K Networking, AppleTalk, and EtherTalk. The only descrepancy I was able to find was the fact that NETware drives sometimes report as CD-Roms(Under LANtastic) when using the DI /X option, but it still performs as expected. MaxDIR also works perfectly on SCSI, IDE/EIDE/ATA drives, and RAID (all levels) controlled drives on computers as well as networked drives. BUG FIXES: If you are a regular user of MaxDIR, and you have the displeasure of discovering a bug, you are strongly urged to e-mail a brief description to the site address (don't forget the dash[-] in c-shore! otherwise it will go to an ISP in Connecticut).. I might work 'till to wee hours in the morning to fix it, and I will personally e-mail the fixed version to you so that you'll be the first to have it. I will also post the fix on the net at: www.c-shore.com/maxdir REGISTRATION: (MaxDIR is FREE, but there are a couple of benefits.) Registering MaxDIR will add you to the new releases list. This list is PRIVATE and is not disclosed to ANYONE WHATSOEVER. The only thing you will get with registration is an occasional e-mail with the latest version of MaxDIR attached, as soon as it is finished. To register, send a brief e-mail with your e-mail address, your City, State/Province/County, Country, your current version of MaxDIR, Your PC Type and OS(Your Computer's Operating System [MSDOS 6.22 or Win98?] ), and any comments that you would like to say about MaxDIR. Example: (send to e-mail address listed on the site) johndoe@anyisp.net.au Sydney, Australia MaxDIR v2.21 Home-Made PC [MSDOS 6.22] {.OR...} MAC [MacOS 8.0, OrangePC, PCDOS 5.0], etc. Comments: This program is ok. Please inform me when a new version is out. --> This means you'll be e-mailed the latest version immediately. <-- --> Since... the latest version (for now) is MaxDIR v2.29 <-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL VERSIONS OF MAXDIR ARE VIRUS SCANNED BEFORE RELEASE VIA THE INTERNET. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>--- This is THE END of the Documentation! ---<<< I hope you find this a useful utility! Several Beta-Testers reported sudden allergic reactions to the DOS DIR command after getting used to MaxDIR. ;) -MSH Softworks -Michael S. Hooper THIS PROGRAM IS FREEWARE! COPY IT, DISTRIBUTE IT, GIVE IT AWAY, MASS PRODUCE IT, BUT DO NOT SELL IT! IT IS FREE TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE. If you have any suggestions or comments concerning this program, feel free to send it to the email address listed on c-shore.com SINCE THIS PROGRAM IS FREE TO EVERYONE: Please upload/copy MaxDIR in it's original state, with the three (3) files in which it was intended: DI.EXE, README.TXT, and FILE_ID.DIZ. Use the file you originally downloaded unless you are sure your system is virus-free. Just keep them together and untampered with, so everyone who receives it will have the opportunity to judge for themselves whether or not it is useful for their purposes. Thank you! LEGAL MUMBOJUMBO: As for legalities... MaxDIR has been tested on many different systems with no problems or complications, But...for the lawyers, if ever one should need a new BMW: MSH Softworks will accept no liability for data loss, file or directory corruption, program failure, system failure, or any problems that are judged and/or assumed as being caused by the use of MaxDIR. Due to the diversity of computers and operating systems in use, MaxDIR comes without warranty neither expressed nor implied. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------