"PC-DITTO SHORTCUT."

Tired of having to go through a thousand steps before you enter
PC emulation mode with pc-ditto? Well here is something you can
do to make "cloning" a whole lot quicker. 

Usually when using pc-ditto you have to go through the following
steps: 

-Insert pc-ditto disk in drive A; 
-Turn on ST; 
-Open disk icon; 
-Scroll to PC-DITTO.PRG; 
-Double click on the program; 
-When pc-ditto has loaded, remove disk from drive A; 
-Insert DOS disk in drive A; 
-Hit return. 

There, that's 8 steps. Would you like to reduce all that disk
swapping and searching and clicking to only 3 simple steps?
Thought so. Well, read on...! 

What you will create is a disk that can be read by both the ST
and IBM. On it will be the IBM DOS, and also pc-ditto. In an
AUTO folder will be a file that automatically loads the program
of your choice as soon as you turn on your ST. The program you
will choose, of course, will be pc-ditto. And since IBM DOS is
also on the disk, when pc-ditto has loaded and asks you to
"Please Insert DOS into Drive A and Hit Return," you won't have
to insert a new disk, you'll just hit RETURN to enter the PC
world. 

First, format a PC disk while in pc-ditto, installing DOS at the
same time. To do this just type "format B:/S". (This installs
DOS on the disk immediately after formatting.) Now reboot the
ST. Copy PC_DITTO.PRG, and either PC_DITTO1.RSC (if you have a
color monitor) or PC_DITTO2.RSC (for monochrome monitor owners)
onto your new PC-DOS disk. Now open this disk so it appears on
the ST's desktop. Go to the FILE menu with the mouse and select
NEW FOLDER. Call this folder AUTO and hit the RETURN key. Open
this folder. Now copy the public domain program STARTGEM.PRG
into the AUTO folder. This wonderful program autoboots GEM
programs and is part of this month's ST-Informer disk. With your
favorite word processor ASCII mode...!) make a file that
contains the words, "A:\PC_DITTO.PRG" (without the quotes, and
followed by a carriage return) and save this file as ASCII (Word
Processor mode off) under the name  "STARTGEM.INF" Now place
this file  on the PC disk you have been working on, but NOT in
the auto folder. 

OK, let's see how it works. Turn off your ST. Place your new
super deluxe PC_DITTO disk in drive A. Turn on the machine. In a
minute you will see that pc-ditto has loaded and the screen is
asking you to insert the DOS disk and hit return. But DOS is
also on this disk so all you have to do is hit return..! Our
eight annoying steps have been reduced to only 3: Insert disk,
Turn on machine, Hit return. Not bad, eh?  

You can actually take this one step further. If you have a
double sided drive there will be plenty of room for another PC
application on this super deluxe pc-ditto/PC DOS disk you have
created. Just put the PC program on the disk and create an
autoexec.bat file (consult your pc-dos manual if you don't know
what this is). This program of yours will now load automatically
as soon as you hit RETURN to enter the PC world. I have one disk
like this set up to connect me directly with my Manufacturer's
Hanover bank-at-home system, and it works beautifully. 

It takes a little work and a little time to set up the disk to
do all of these things, but believe me, it is worth it. Good
luck...!