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# Installation, Disclaimer and Infos

ATTENTION !!
EMail temporarily changed to msiegris@student.uni-kl.de
!! All users who EMailed to the old address, please re-mail ! Sorry for any inconvenience !
ONE MORE THING:
Install has changed. No useless install-program that perhaps works or perhaps not (we got strange reports :-(). PCOpus is released as one ZIP file containing all needed files, including all DLLs in one directory now.

Important tips:
Be sure to install all DLLs correctly, you will read this some times from here on.

Distribution and disclaimer This program is released as limited shareware now. PCOpus will not load any button from the config-file in the shareware version. Everything else is completely functional. The price for PCOpus is 50 DM or the equivalent amount in any other currency. Updates will be available via Internet, preferably the homepage.
For questions and comments you can EMail to:
msiegris@student.uni-kl.de
Homepage is located at:
HTTP://GALWAY.INFORMATIK.UNI-KL.DE/STAFF/MANDOLA/Opus.html

If you decide to become a registered user, please send the above given amount of money (cash or cheque) to:

            NTS
            Am Kleinwald 33
            D 76863 Herxheim
            GERMANY
            HTTP://WWW.NTS.DE

You will receive the latest version registered to you.
As usual there is no warranty for anything.
Please state clearly if you need the full-install (will be shipped on 2 discs, takes longer) or if you only need the .EXE (faster, if possible by EMail), an example configuration, English and German Languagefiles and the latest documentation.
If you installed the evaluation version already, the .EXE is enough.

A short back-look:
In the good old Amiga times everybody had his own Directory-Opus configuration. And though everybody knew exactly how to use Directory-Opus, there were great problems when using the Directory Opus of a friend. (Where is your 'Copy'-button again ??)
What I want to say is this: PCOpus is programmed to be a special program for everybody. Configure it as you like. Make the program personally for YOU.

WARNING !!!
PCOpus is a tool of great danger to the unexperienced. If you say delete, PCOpus deletes, for example. Well, this is exactly what it should do, anyway. Of course the user is asked if the files should really be deleted, but afterwards they are gone. It is also just a click and your Windows directory is moved somewhere else. This COULD lead to problems :-) So please take care.
Beware you Visual Basic 4 users. It may be possible that VB4 will not work anymore after PCOpus has been installed. This is due to the new VB5 DLLs PCOpus uses. Don't blame me, blame Micros*ft !

Some little notes:
As we have encountered PCOpus relies on the existence of a file '_DEFAULT.PIF'. I don't know why, but everytime PCOpus launches a .BAT file, the settings of this '_DEFAULT.PIF' are used. I have added my '_DEFAULT.PIF' to your convenience. If you need it, copy it into your Windows directory.
PCOpus is not configured to run on 8Bit screens. If you want to run it in 8Bit you will have to redefine most of the colors. Anyway, you can just select '8Bit' from the predefined colorsets.
PCOpus is written in Visual Basic. This means that you need a fast computer to work with it. The faster the better, of course. Anyway, we are trying to implement the time-critical routines in C. The 'Compare' function is already finished. Currently we are trying to implement the Quicksort and Archive-handling. These are the most time consuming functions.

Installation: If you are reading this, the installation must already be finished. Hope it was self-explaining.
Since PCOpus is written in Visual Basic it needs some DLLs installed. The DLLs needed are just some standard DLLs. Most of them should already be in your Windows directory. Please check the filetime before copying them over. I suggest copying only the DLLs to the Windows directory that are not already present ...
Take care that no VB programs are running, als usual exit anything before installing. Most problems come from incorrectly installed DLLs !!
Files that belong to PCOpus directly:

    English.OLF		:Languagefile english
    ExampGer.REQ		:Example requester german
    Example.req		:Example requester english
    German.OLF		:Languagefile german
    OPUS.EXE		:Main program
    PCOPGER.DOC		:German documentation
    PCOpus.cfg		:Configuration file
    PCOpus.dll		:Library for PCOpus
    PCOPUS.DOC		:English documentation
    _DEFAULT.pif		:Windows default PIF file (may be put into your Windows directory)
    Some .DLLs		:Needed DLLs. May be put to your Windows\System directory

You may run PCOpus from the directory you extracted the archive to. If you want to deinstall PCOpus completely, simply delete this directory.

Starting PCOpus: Well, just select PCOpus in your Startmenu.
To work properly, PCOpus needs some paths adjusted. If you do not enter the paths, PCOpus will complain, but not more. PCOpus can be launched with a special configuration file by dragging the configuration file over the PCOpus executable and releasing the button (drag and drop).

Known Bugs:
Very few indeed :-)
Well, one to be more exact, and this one is not my fault !
There is also a slight possibility that PCOpus does not redraw its window correctly on resizing. This seems to be a bug in VB or Windows. Just change the size of the PCOpus window again, PCOpus will redraw its window correctly then. Problems may exits when using the Plus!Pack with the option checked that redraws the window when resizing.
Another problem is a FAT32 problem. The Windows API gives back the wrong values, drives always have 2Gigs. When I have time, I will look through the API once more !

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