Device-Masher System Version 2.03 DOCUMENTATION Chapter Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. ..............................Bulletin Board Information 2. ..............................Copyrights & Evaluation notice 3. ..............................News in dms 1. ................................DMS.DEVICE 2. ................................SFXDMS 3. ................................UNDMS 4. ................................DMSWB 5. ................................FMS 4. ..............................DMS COMMANDS 1. ................................READ 2. ................................WRITE 3. ................................REPACK 4. ................................VIEW 5. ................................TEST 6. ................................TEXT 7. ................................VIEWDIZ 8. ................................SFX 5. ..............................DMS OPTIONS 1. ................................FROM 2. ................................TO 3. ................................TEXT 4. ................................DIZTEXT 5. ................................CMODE 6. ................................LOW 7. ................................HIGH 8. ................................NOVAL 9. ................................NOZERO 10. ................................ENCRYPT 11. ................................DECRYPT 12. ................................NOTEXT 13. ................................NOPAUSE 14. ................................PC 15. ................................HD 16. ................................RETRY 17. ................................DEVFIX 6. ..............................FMS COMMANDS 1. ................................MAKESFX 2. ................................A (Add) 3. ................................E (Extract) 4. ................................V (View) 5. ................................L (List) 6. ................................TEST 7. ..............................FMS Limitations. 8. ..............................General Information 9. ..............................Credits 10. ..............................Register Information 11. ..............................BBS support BUGS&UPDATE REPORT is included seperately in the UPDATE.DOC ... Chapter 1. ---------- FOR BBS OWNERS ... Only for users of /X 2.x/3.x or clones Included with this archive you can find a new DMS checker utility made to support the new standards, Highdensity files, etc... (REWRITTEN LAYOUT ,MORE INFORMATIVE, AND FASTER!!!! V1.32) IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU USE THE "DMSTEST" PROGRAM, AS THE WELLKNOWN "MAPUS" DESTROYS THE HEADERINFO(PARTLY), AND WILL IN NEAR FUTURE RESULT IN DMS SHOWING INCORRECT INFORMATION AND COULD UNPACK YOUR FILE INCORRECTLY. OR THE DEVELOPER OF "Mapus" COULD MAKE AN UPDATE, WHICH FOLLOWS THE RESTRICTIONS TOLD/SHOWN IN THE "DEVELOPER" SECTION. Chapter 2. ---------- COPYRIGHTS AND EVALUATION NOTICE Device Master System(DMS) is a Copyrighted material. DMS is copyrighted by ParCon Software and is available as shareware. DMS is freely distributable provided the following rules: 1. No charge excepting reasonable media costs may be charged. 2. The program and documentation may not be modified in any way. 3. The program package have all the files, as described in the CONTENTS.DOC . ParCon Software will be in no way liable for damages, incidental or consequential, arising from the use or misuse of The Device-Masher, or for any claim by any other party. Use this program at your own risk. No warranty is given either expressed or implied. Terms of registration are subject to change without notice. This version of DMS is released as shareware, and is limited for some options. A full version is available to registered users. The registered version features: A new version of DMS which can pack disks %40 faster. And got special options related to the DMS.DEVICE, which makes them run at high-speed, like a normal diskdrive. A full version of DMS WINDOW which is %40 faster in packing, compared to previous DMSWIN versions. Other utilities made by ParCon Software. Opon registering ParCon software sent you the lastest updated version and the following update for free. If you want us to send additional updated versions, or new programs made by us, you must add $5 to the registration fee, for each package extra you want to receive. The extra $5 for additional updates is because of postal fees. READ THE "REGISTER.ME" DOCUMENTATION FOR MORE INFORMATION ON REGISTER Chapter 3. ---------- NEWS IN DMS . ------------- Following is an explanation of new features since dms v2.x. 3.1. DMSDEVICE --------- The device driver which can be found in the DEVS: directory on this disk is for the mounting of a virtual drive. But not as you normally would expect. Unlike FFx: FMx: , DMS-DEVICE is for mounting DMS files, and accessing files included in the archive without having to extract it. So the main difference between FMx/FFx and our DMx: device, is that FMS.device and FFx.device takes up 901120 bytes pr. disk, And DMS.device only uses the same space which your DMS file does. 3.2. SFXDMS ------ SFXDMS is a part of DMS, which gives you the option of creating executable DMS files, which can be extracted without the need of the DMS program. The executable file will only occupy memory for the main program. Data will be loaded in one track at a time, and depacked. The new option in DMS for this, is SFX. Read more about this later in this documentation. ADVANTAGE: *SIMPLE PATCH FILES WHICH WILL UNPACK WITHOUT NEED OF DMS. 3.3. UNdms ----- UNdms can only unpack DMS files. The main reason for making this tool is for those who need to include DMS archives on their disk. But because of the minimizing of the filesize, boottracks will not be tested for viruses nor shown. UNdms works with all the supplied options as in the FULL DMS. but unlike DMS, UNdms will not use verification of data written to disk as default. you must use the "VERIFY" option for verification. ADVANTAGES: *MORE SPACE ON THE DISKS WHERE DMS, IS A PART OF THE TOOLS WHICH IS NEEDED TO EXTRACT PATCHES ETC. *SIMPLY MORE SPACE ON YOUR MODEM-DISK, IF YOU ARE A DISK USER 3.4. DMSWB ----- DMSWB is a Workbench based version of DMS. It works just like DMS but is iconbased. DMSWB has more advantages, such as being multitasking, so you can write a DMS file, while you're viewing the information about it, or you can compress a disk using another drive. Because DMSWB can do 4 commands at a time, you have 4 information outputs on the right side of the DMSWB window. DMSWB has been tested on, Kickstart 1.3 / 2.x / 3.x . You can use either reqtools.library or asl.library, for filerequests. Included on the disk are both asl.library and reqtools.library, just rename the needed reqtoolsXX.library for use on your kickstart version, to reqtools.library. Note, DMSWB is limited in speed and some operations, so register and get a full version. Read the REGISTER.ME file for more information. 3.5. File-Masher System (FMS) ------------------------ FMS is a part of DMS, which allows the user to pack files and include those files to the DMS file. DMS and FMS, a 2-in-one file packing utility. FMS is file compressor for data and/or executable not unlike files. DMS shows that it can compete with LhA in file packing, and combining both diskimages and files in one single archive, this makes it even more powerful. FMS will detect DMS images(tracks) and tell you if found, and vice versa when unpacking tracks. When packing whole directories, FMS is very simple to use for this. Specify directory for packing, and the directory + subdirectories will be packed without having to do anything, but specifying the directory. Chapter 4. ---------- DMS COMMANDS ------------ The following subchapters explain the commands in dms, each command explained, will be shown with an example. All options which work with the command is explained closer in chapter 5 . Commands that operates with a device, work default on device DF0:, using the options FROM / TO can redirect reading or writing from another device. 4.1. READ ---- This command will read and compress a disk. The basic usage for this command is: DMS Read file[.DMS] [FROM Dev:] [PC] [HD] [TEXT filetext] [DIZTEXT filetext] [CMODE mode] [LOW lowtrack] [HIGH hightrack] [ENCRYPT password] [NOVAL] [NOZERO] [RETRY value] [DEVFIX] Where file[.DMS] - is the output file which will contain the archived disk. The output file can be either a previously written FMS file, or you can append tracks to an existing DMS archive. READ EXAMPLES ------------- DMS READ myfile - compress a disk inserted in DF0: and save the data as MYFILE.dms. DMS READ myfile FROM df1: TEXT mytext LOW 0 HIGH 79 - compress a disk inserted in DF1: and save the compressed data as MYFILE.dms, include a text called MYTEXT and read tracks 0 to 79. DMS READ myfile FROM PC1: PC HD LOW 0 HIGH 79 CMODE NONE - compress a PC disk inserted in PC1: and save the data as MYFILE.dms, read tracks 0 to 79, and do not compress the data. 4.2. WRITE ----- This command will write an archive to a device. The basic usage for this command is: DMS Write file[.DMS],,, [PC] [HD] [TO Dev:] [LOW lowtrack] [HIGH hightrack] [DECRYPT password] [NOVAL] [NOVERIFY] [NOTEXT] [NOPAUSE] [RETRY value] Where - file[.DMS] can be an DMS archive. Multiply files can be written at one time. WRITE EXAMPLES -------------- DMS WRITE myfile - decompress myfile.dms to a disk in DF0: DMS WRITE myfile TO df1: NOVERIFY NOTEXT - decompress myfile.dms to a disk in DF1: , do not verify the datas written, ignore text files added to this archive and leave out printing of the boottrack. DMS WRITE myfile TO pc1: PC DECRYPT ParCon_Software - decompress myfile.dms to a disk in PC1: , write data in PC disk format, and decrypt the archive with the password Parcon_Software. 4.3. REPACK ------ This command will repack a previously compressed archive. The basic usage for this command is: DMS Repack file[.DMS] [TO file] [LOW lowtrack] [HIGH hightrack] [CMODE mode] [NOTEXT] REPACK EXAMPLES --------------- DMS REPACK stuff LOW 20 HIGH 40 CMODE none - Will extract tracks 20 through 40 from the archive stuff.DMS , recompress them using no compression and store the results in the file TEMP.DMS . DMS REPACK old TO new - Will recompress the archive old.DMS using the default compression mode and store the results in the file new.DMS 4.4. VIEW ---- View information in archive. You can view information about the archive and the computer it was compressed on. The basic usage for this command is: DMS View file[.DMS] [FULL] EXAMPLE OUTPUT OF A DMS FILE ---------------------------- File: myfile.DMS Size: 823928 Created: Thu Apr 07 10:33:03 1994 Lowtrack in Archive: 00 Hightrack in Archive: 79 Packed Bytes: 802486 UnPacked Bytes: 901120 Kickstart Version used : 39.106 AGA Machine Used: AMIGA Machine CPU: 68020 CPU Coprocessor: 68881 Time to Create Archive: 1 mins. 1 secs. Version Number of Creator: 2.03 Version Needed to Extract: 1.11 Disktype of Archive: AMIGA OS 1.0 OFS Compression Mode Used: HEAVY2 General Info: NOZERO Info Header CRC: 3A65 When the option FULL is added, dms will after the information header show you the compression rates on tracks in the archive. Track Plength Ulength Cmode USUM HCRC DCRC Cflag ----- ------- ------- ------ ---- ---- ---- ----- 0 11264 11264 NOCOMP 026A 58CF 42A7 0 4.5. TEST ---- Test integrity of archive. DMS makes a basic CRC check of the archive. DMS will not report errors which is case of bad compression. The basic usage for this command is: DMS Test file[.DMS] 4.6. TEXT ---- Show the text header which is added to a archive. DMS will show the first text information added to the archive. The basic usage for this command is: DMS Text file[.DMS] 4.7. VIEWDIZ ------- This command will read a archive and search for a file_id.diz textfile which maybe have been added and show the file_id.diz found. The basic usage for this command is: DMS viewdiz file[.DMS] [SAVE filename] - If the SAVE option have been added, you can choose a filename for the file_id.diz found in the archive, and it will be saved for future use. 4.8. SFX --- This command will change a dms archive to be self-extracting. meaning, the dms archive can be executed and will unpack itself to a device specified after the .SFX name, or Device DF0: is none specified. The self-extracting dms file works just like when writing with the WRITE command. All option are selectable after the .SFX filename. The DMS filesize will only be 17K larger, when the executable hunk is added to the .DMS file, which is not much. so if you need the .DMS file and the DMS program together on one disk, you can simply make the DMS file executable and put it on the disk. The SFX file may look like it needs a lot of memory to be executed, but it will only allocate around 150K. The DMS DATA, will be loaded into memory when needed. So don't let yourself get scared when you have an executable file of 850K. The basic usage for this command is: DMS sfx file[.DMS] - destination file will be named file.SFX . Chapter 5. ---------- DMS OPTIONS ----------- All options explained here, are meant to be written after the command identifier. 5.1. FROM Dev: -------------- Will read the disk from a different device. The default device is DF0: (internal drive). Reading of HIGH-DENSITY DISKS needs the HD option added after the command. Reading of PC DOS DISKS need the PC option added after the command. You may choose any device when the following specifications match. ADOS DISK: 80 tracks, 2 sides, 11 sectors/track, 512 bytes per sector. [Usually DF0:, DF1:, DF2:, DF3:, RAD:, FM0:, FF0:, etc.] ADOS HIGH-DENSITY DISK: 80 tracks, 2 sides, 22 sectors/track, 512 bytes per sector. [Usually DF0:, DF1:, DF2:, DF3: ] Cross-Dos mounted devices. PC DOS DISK: 80 tracks, 2 sides, 9 sectors/track, 512 bytes per sector. [Usually PC0:, PC1:, PC2:, PC3: ] PC DOS HIGH-DENSITY DISK: 80 tracks, 2 sides, 18 sectors/track, 512 bytes per sector. [Usually PC0:, PC1:, PC2:, PC3: ] 5.2. TO Dev: ------------ Will write the output to device Dev: (the default is drive DF0:) The device must follow the same rules as in the READ command. 5.3. TEXT filetext ------------------ Causes DMS to read in the file 'filetext' and add it to the archive. When the archive is extracted the text will be displayed before writing the disk. This is useful for identifying disks or giving other information about the archive. 5.4. DIZTEXT myfileid --------------------- Will add 'myfileid' to the dms image as a FILE_ID.DIZ. 5.5. CMODE mode --------------- Chooses the compression mode used. Mode is either NONE, HEAVY1, HEAVY2 or BEST The default mode is BEST Available modes are: NONE - No Compression is performed (Straight Read). HEAVY1 - Heavy compression, good speed/compression ratio. HEAVY2 - Best available compression. Only available with >1meg ram. BEST - Chooses Best compression method for available memory. 5.6. LOW lowtrack ----------------- Specifies the starting track to read from. The default is track 0. Lowtrack must be a value from 0 to 79. 5.7. HIGH hightrack ------------------- Specifies the ending track to stop at. The default is track 79. Hightrack must be a value from 0 to 79. 5.8. NOVAL ---------- Stops DMS from inhibiting the disk validator when reading the disk. 5.9. NOZERO ----------- Normally DMS will read the AmigaDOS bitmap from the disk and archive only sectors which are being used. If the disk is a non-filing system disk or has a bad bitmap, DMS will automatically archive the whole disk. In EXTREME cases DMS will make a wrong assumption about the type of disk it is archiving. NOZERO will cause DMS to archive the whole disk totally ignoring the disk bitmap. Generally you will rarely if ever have to use this option. 5.10. ENCRYPT password ---------------------- Causes DMS to encrypt the input from the disk using the password supplied. 'password' is any alphanumeric word you desire. Examples: Joe, Fred, ABC1234, ONLY-FOR-ME, etc. 5.11. DECRYPT password ---------------------- Causes DMS to decrypt the archive with the password 'password'. This is only used if the archive was previously encrypted. 'password' must be the EXACT same one used when encrypting the file otherwise the archive will not be processed correctly. 5.12. NOTEXT ------------ Causes DMS to ignore any text to be displayed from the archive. Displaying of boottracks will also be ingored. 5.13. NOPAUSE ------------- Stops DMS from pausing after displaying any text from the archive. 5.14. PC -------- Will threat disk in the specified device, as a PC DOS disk. 5.15. HD -------- Will read disk in the specified device as a HIGH-DENSITY disk. This option works for both Amiga and PC disks. 5.16. DEVFIX ------------ Will read the disk in the device specified, and save datas in a way which makes the DMS.DEVICE read datas much faster. 5.17. RETRY value ----------------- DMS default retry to read datas from a device only once. and when writing with verify, it will retry 3 times. You can select different number of retries. Value must be within the range of 0 to 65535 . Chapter 6. ---------- FMS COMMANDS ------------ 6.1. MAKESFX ------- Makes a FMS archive self-extracting, meaning that DMS is not needed for extracting the files in the FMS archive. The basic usage for this command is: DMS MAKESFX archive[.FMS] 6.2. A (Add) ------- Compress file and store into archive. With this option you can store files into an archive or you can store files to a previous DMS file. NOTE: to add files to an existing DMS file, add the .DMS extension to the filename. The basic usage for this command is: DMS A archive[.FMS][.DMS] filename filename,,,, 6.3. E (extract) ----------- Extract files from archive. You can select a destination for the files. When extracting, dms will search both for DMS and FMS files. The basic usage for this command is: DMS E archive[.FMS][.DMS] [DESTINATION PATH] 6.4. V (View) -------- View files in archive. Displaying contents of a compressed archive will show most important information on the contents and full directory structure. The basic usage for this command is: DMS V archive[.FMS][.DMS] 6.5. L (List) -------- List files in archive. Displaying contents of a compressed archive will show most important information on the contents and filename without paths. The basic usage for this command is: DMS L archive[.FMS][.DMS] 6.6. TEST ---- Testing integrity of a FMS file. Add the extension(.FMS) to the archive name. The basic usage for this command is: DMS TEST archive.FMS Chapter 7. ---------- In the Evaluation version, you have limited access to the FMS option. 1: files larger than 66 kilobytes cannot be packed with the evaluation version. 2: You will be able to pack only one directory at a time, if this directory contains subdirectories, FMS will skip this subdirectory. Chapter 8. ---------- General Information ------------------- The story. DMS was originally written by SDS software and first release was made in 1991. Shortly after the release of DMS, WARP was quickly replaced by DMS, because of its advantage in compression and speed. Since DMS version v1.11, users have not seen any updates from SDS software. Registered users which got their v1.11 never got anything else. From different sources, We were told, that SDS software never replied to bug reports nor updates. We find that SDS software was ignoring all mail because the programmer didn't want to continue his work, or simply started working on another platform. We at ParCon software saw our chance to make DMS more powerful and make the nessesary changes which were needed to keep up with the operating systems made for Amiga, and try to pleeze those people who tried to notify SDS about problems with dms. In 1993, DMS v1.51 was released through a source which was quite famous and working in group which was known for releasing powerful products. This early release version was made to test users ability to change from using the old dms v1.11 and upgrade to the new v1.51 . Soon after followed the v1.53 still released through this source. DMS got well received by the users all over the world, and We decided to follow up on the development of dms, and created the company "ParCon software" . We rewrote most routines in DMS, except for the compression algorithms which is very complex and efficient, and made dms perform better on disks which were unrecognized since the release of Kickstart 2.x. Several changes in DMS have made it possible for the user to compress different kinds of devices, such as highdensity and pc disks. Registered users of the old dms v1.11, will once again have to register to get their updated version. As DMS v1.11 and DMS v2.x got only one thing in common, that is the compability of compressing and decompressing of DMS images. We have not ripped dms from the authors, they gave up in 1991. The Device-Masher System is made very similar to the old dms v1.11 because users have a hard time changing from one program to another, if the old one still works fine. And those who wished to use the new version had no problems installing their dms v2.x in their regular scripts, etc. The register fee you must pay is because we feel, that all the work and effort we have put in development of this updated/rewritten dms have taken us a lot of time. Commercial products are often much more expensive. So we urge you to register your dms, so we can continue the work, with our registered users in mind, so We feel that all our work hasn't been for nothing . Other Products. ParCon Software is also developing a few other products . If you have ideas for programs you would like see written, contact us at the address shown in chapter 10. . Chapter 9. ---------- Credits ------- MACIEJ MARZEC, Doing the endless testing of DMS, Supply of new ideas for improvements of DMS. PETER NIELSEN, Making the new ANSI layout for DMSTEST v1.32 KENNETH PERTO, Testing the PC functions in DMS... NICHOLAS CLARKE, (Co-writer of ParCon programs) Making the WINDOW INTERFACE for DMSWB ... ERIK LØVENDAHL SØRENSEN, (SAFE HEX INTERNATIONAL) For supply of needed material to make the virus checker, in DMS v2.x ERNEST OTTE, Informing us about the UNRELEASED MEMORY when exiting DMSWB. Chapter 10. ----------- Register information. --------------------- You can register your version of the Device-Masher System by filling out the registration text included with the package. It costs Dkr 200, to register DMS. Send only CASH or International Money Order(From your postoffice) And by being a registered user, you will receive the latest updates of Device-Masher System(DMS), and other utilities made by Parcon. Register form and suggestions/bug reports can be sent to: ParCon software. v. Michael Pendec Islandsh0jparken 5, st.th. DK-2990 NIVAA DENMARK We have received several letters, concerning registration. Often asked, were "Can I pay in Danish Kr", We want you to send the fee in Danish Kr, and if its impossible for you to do, then go to your local postoffice, and send us a International money order, shipped by the postoffice. If you decide to include cash in your letter, include ONLY DANISH Kr 200, Or US DOLLARS $30. We will NOT ship DMS out on "C.O.D [Cash On Delivery]" nor payment after receiving DMS. There is only ONE WAY to get DMS, include money with your register form, or use the International Money order, made at your local postoffice. Chapter 11. ----------- You can reach us on this bbs, leave mail for : Michael Pendec I do not, at this time, have a FIDO-NET MAIL ADDRESS, so a reply to your mail is not possible, but all requests, bugreports will be looked into. FIDONET: Perto's AssholeBBS +45-86720273 16k8 DUAL 2.xGb 2:230/815 Perto's AssholeBBS +45-86720274 14k4 HST 2.xGb 2:230/816 Perto's AssholeBBS +45-86293910 14k4 V32b 2.xGb 2:230/817 Perto's AssholeBBS +45-87370010 64k0 ISDN 2.xGb 2:230/1815