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TBONES07                                                January 20, 1990
Copyright (C) 1990, 1991 by Robert Curtis Davis
All Rights Reserved

TBONES requires DOS Version 2 or later.

README file
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ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION:
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        TBONESxx.ZIP - Skeletal ASM code to help make your TSRs.

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What is TBONES?
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	TBONES is a set of skeletal Assembly Language programs to help
you learn about and then to aid in the writing of your own DOS Terminate-
but-Stay-Resident (TSR) programs. The ASM programs in the TBONES package
are set up so you can relatively easily drop in the .ASM routine you want
to run when your TSR triggers.

        TSR programs typically are activated when you press a "Hot Key"
combination on the keyboard.

        TSRBONES is the flagship program of the TBONES package. It is the
safest, most robust, and most astute TSR in the package at avoiding problems
with DOS's non-reentrancy and with intruding upon time-critical CPU tasks. A
TSR beginner should use only the TSRBONES program.

        TSRINT and TSRKEY, on the other hand, do NOTHING to prevent you from
getting in trouble by writing your own TSR routine so that it interrupts and
re-enters DOS code at unsafe times. TSRINT and TSRKEY are raw skeletal TSRs,
and you should know a good bit about making a good TSR before you use them as
the starting point in the design of your program. At the outset, you would do
well to use only TSRBONES.

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I'm impatient -- How do I "run" TBONES?
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DISCLAIMER:
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        T-BONES is currently under development and this is a preliminary
version. This software is not warranted to be suitable for any purpose and
the author will not be held responsible for any damages arising directly or 
indirectly from its use. By the act of using this software, the user agrees 
to these conditions.

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        Type TSRBONES at the prompt. A message announcing the installation
of the sample TSR will appear on the screen. The "Hot Key" is:

			Cntrl-Alt-B

Anytime you press the Control key and the ALT key simultaneously and then
hold them down while the B key is pressed, you trigger the TSR into action.
For this sample TSR, the action routine you trigger is an unsophisticated
"dummy" routine which simply rings the console bell. The whole idea behind
TBONES is that you will add to this "dummy" routine or replace it with a
routine that does something significantly more dazzling than ring a bell.

	Type TSRBONES again at the prompt and the TSR will announce that
it is *already* installed and it will not bother to install itself again.

	Try triggering the TSR bell in all kinds of situations. The TSR
is smart enough (or, so the theory goes) to determine when it should
trigger, and when it should refrain from triggering to avoid conflict with
other activities being managed by the CPU. 

	In testing TSRBONES I have done things like initiating
a desktop publishing program and then immediately hitting the Hot Key and
holding it down throughout the program's initialization, noticing the
times when TSRBONES thinks it is safe to trigger, as indicated by the bell
in the "dummy" routine. I have not been able to break TSRBONES or hang my
system. If you succeed in breaking or hanging something, please tell me how
you did it so I can improve future versions.

        For example, TSRBONES will not trigger the bell while a Print Screen
operation is underway, nor while a time-critical disk operation is active, 
nor when you have tried to do a DIR A: with the floppy A: drive door open
and the CPU is wanting to know whether you wish to Abort, Retry, or Fail?
 
        I have found that a major part of the challenge in writing a good
TSR lies in having it stay out of DOS's way in spite of when the user might
hit the Hot Key.

        The TSRs in TBONES have been tested on machines running MSDOS Versions
2.0, 3.3, and 4.01, as well as PCDOS 3.2. They have been used with complete
success with 4DOS3.01a. I would appreciate feedback on how they behave
under DOS v.1.0 (they are supposed to give a polite message that they
require DOS v.2+ and then bail out without trying to installing). I also
would appreciate additional feedback on how they behave under DOS v.2.1+.

	I have tried fairly hard to "break" TSRBONES (i.e., to make it
hang my machine or damage something) and have not yet done so. Certainly
that is no guarantee that problems will not arise on your machine. If
you do manage to break TSRBONES, please tell me the relevant facts about
how you did it so I can improve future releases.

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How much does TBONES cost?
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        I presently ask only that you send me (preferably by E-mail) a free
copy of any generally-useful TSR that you develop using TBONES. That way, I
am paid in useful software only if TBONES itself proves genuinely useful to
you.

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        GOOD LUCK!
	Bob Davis (sonny@trantor.harris-atd.com)

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