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                              Altie Documentation 
                                          
                           Last updated on: 10-19-86 
               
               
               
              ALTIE  is Copyright 1986  D  & D  Software,  as  an 
              unpublished work.  
               
              On October 19, 1986 this package  has been released 
              into public domain under the shareware concept. You 
              may use this package and distribute it to others in 
              whole only. D & D Software is asking for a donation 
              of $10 per package to cover our development costs. 
               
               
              What is ALTIE? 
               
              ALTIE is and alternate command processor for TRSDOS 
              6.2.x. ALTIE permits the creation of a totally menu 
              driven system  within  the TRSDOS environment, with 
              up to  36 possible menus.   Commands not  contained 
              within a menu may also be issued via a special key, 
              all without disabling ALTIE. 
               
               
              How to install ALTIE? 
               
              To install ALTIE,  place the  DOS diskette that you 
              would like to install ALTIE  on in drive 0 (or your 
              harddisk logical  drive 0), and insert the supplied 
              diskette  or  the  diskette  containing  the  Altie 
              package in a free floppy drive. Now type: 
               
                                    DO INSTALL 
               
              to transfer the package to your system. 
               
              Before ALTIE will "come to life"  you will have  to 
              define the file you wish to use as the command set. 
              This is done with ALTEDIT, a BASIC utility supplied 
              on the distribution diskette; to run it type: 
               
                                 BASIC ALTEDIT 
               
              ALTEDIT will ask you  for a  single character  file 
              descriptor, this  may be a  letter or a number  but 
              never a special character.  Next you  may give your 
              menu a title. 
              COMMANDx/DAT, where "x" is the file descriptor,  is 
              created and placed on your  disk.  This is the file 
              that will contain  the commands  for menu  "x", and 
              may only be modified using ALTEDIT. 
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
               
                                   Altie Manual 
                                   Page #: 2 
               
               
              Now that you are in ALTEDIT  you will  see a screen 
              with a single command's description and its content 
              displayed.  Above it is  a brief description of the 
              commands used to edit your file.   
              You scroll through the file  with  the up  and down 
              arrow keys.   
              Keying <F1> will allow you to enter as well as edit 
              the current description on screen. 
              To save the  file and exit  to  DOS press <SHIFT> & 
              <CLEAR>.  
              Since all editing is done in memory you may abort a 
              session by  keying <F3> and you are returned to the 
              version that was loaded from disk. 
               
              There  are  a few  additional  special  features of 
              ALTIE. 
              Since  you are always returned to  the ALTIE screen 
              after  a  command  completes  execution,  which may 
              destroy  valuable  information   displayed  on  the 
              screen, there is a way to pause the screen. This is 
              done by preceding your  DOS  command  with a  comma 
              (,).  Now you must  key  <ENTER>  to return to  the 
              menu. 
              This is  usefull  for commands  that display a disk 
              directory, i.e. 
               
                              ,CAT :0   or    ,DIR:0 
               
              You may  also  add parameters to a  command  before 
              execution  is  attempted  by  leading  it   with  a 
              question mark (?), i.e. 
               
                                      ?BASIC 
               
              which will then wait for a filename to be added. 
               
               
              Activating ALTIE 
               
              Now that you have created  your command menu  it is 
              time to activate it. From TRSDOS Ready type: 
               
                                   ALTMENU x 
               
              where "x" is  the command set (descriptor) you have 
              defined and wish to invoke.  
              You are now in ALTIE and are viewing your own menu. 
              You may change from within ALTIE to another menu by 
              reissuing the ALTMENU command.     
              Choosing a  descriptor  that  does not  exist  will 
              return you to DOS ready, a way to disable ALTIE. 
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
               
                                   Altie Manual 
                                   Page #: 3 
               
               
               
              ALTIE as a turn-key operation 
               
              You my  have ALTIE active every  time you boot  the 
              diskette by SYSGENing it.  
              This is done by selecting your desired menu, keying 
              <F3> and typing: 
               
                                      SYSGEN 
               
              Now ALTIE will be there every time you boot up that 
              diskette. 
               
              To  remove ALTIE from a turn-key disk key <F3>  and 
              type: 
               
                                  SYSGEN (NO) 
               
               
              As an expample we have  provided you  with a sample 
              menu  on  your  distribution  diskette.    You  may 
              activate it, after installing ALTIE, by typing: 
               
                                   ALTMENU E 
               
              This  will  provide  you with added  information as 
              well  as  suggested  uses  of  ALTIE.  View it  via 
              ALTEDIT before creating your own. 
               
               
              In case of trouble: 
               
              If  you  are  installing ALTIE  in  a non  standard 
              configuration  there are a few things  to remember. 
              Altie must be copied  into  a valid  backup copy of 
              SYS13/SYS, to do this type: 
               
                   COPY ALTIE/CMD SYS13/SYS.LSIDOS:n (CLONE=NO) 
               
              If  you get  ERROR 07H  after installing  ALTIE you 
              have  not followed the  procedure outlined and must 
              start  again with a new copy  of SYS13/SYS from the 
              original TRSDOS 6.2 diskette. 
              ALTIE  may  only  be activated  by its  own ALTMENU 
              command and  not via the TRSDOS 6.2 IEP  command (* 
              <ENTER>). 
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
               
               
                                   Altie Manual 
                                   Page #: 4 
               
               
              If  you have any questions regarding ALTIE that are 
              not covered in this manual, call or write: 
               
                              DDS  Technical Support 
                                   P.O. Box 380 
                          Prospect Heights, IL 60070-380 
               
                               modem (312) 541-4617 
               
               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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