>>> This is the English version of agSI. If you want the German version,
    you should get it from where you got this in the file agsiXXXd.zip!




                                            SSSSS   III
                                           S     S   I
                                           S         I
                                           S         I
                          AAAA A   GGGG G   SSSSS    I
                         A    AA  G    GG        S   I
                         A     A  G     G        S   I
                         A    AA  G    GG  S     S   I
                          AAAA A   GGGG G   SSSSS   III
                                        G
                         GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

                                  SystemInfo


                             English Version 1.1.0


                      Copyright (c) 1994-95 Andreas Grgel


                                  Brief Guide
                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~

    >>> PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE FILE!
    >>> IT IS RECOMMENDED TO ALSO READ THE ONLINE HELP BECAUSE YOU CAN
        OFTEN FIND MORE DETAILED INFORMATION THERE.



    WHAT IS agSI?
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    agSI is a system information tool running under DOS which gives dozens
    of items of information about hardware/system, operating system, memory,
    software, and drives, for example
     - processor (incl. Pentium specific things), BIOS, BIOS extensions,
       PCI, CMOS RAM, interrupt vectors
     - interfaces, graphics and sound cards, IRQ assignments
     - operating system version, system file tables, country settings,
       Windows modules (e.g. VxDs); now with additional "Windows Services"
     - DOS memory usage, EMS,XMS,DPMI etc.
     - mouse driver, many installed resident programs and operating system
       services and extensions (almost 100)
     - logical drives (A: to Z:) with many details, including directory
       tree, table of contents for CDs, and CD-ROM benchmark
     - connected hard disks, including benchmark and IDE drive detection
     - disk cache and online compressor

     - optional continuous updating of the information in the current window
       (where sensible)
     - some actions can be done (e.g. change date/time, disk cache settings)
     - memory dump window to browse through your systems (real-mode) memory
     - also offers formatting floppy disks - with higher capacity
     - option to print to COM1-4, LPT1-3, or a file
     - runs of course under several operating systems and versions, like
       MS-DOS, Novell DOS, PTS-DOS, a DOS session under Windows or
       OS/2 since version 2.

    I must admit that many of what agSI shows will be of no interest to
    average users, but useful for users with interest in internal stuff.


    IMPORTANT NOTES
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    The faultless working of agSI can, especially because several
    undocumented things are used, not be guaranteed, for there are many
    different system configurations possible.
    Should agSI crash on your system, try to localize the reason for
    the error, and notify my about it, for I cannot adapt agSI if you
    don't.


    I (THE AUTHOR) DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITIES OF ANY KIND!
    Not for the suitability of the program for any particular purpose,
    nor in particular for damage which may result from the use of the
    program or its documentation.

    By using this software, the user agrees to these conditions.

    Use agSI at your own risk.


    All trademarks belong to their respective owners.


    SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Minimum:
     - an "IBM-compatible" computer with 80286 processor or better
     - MS-DOS from version 3.3 or so, or compatible
     - ca. 500 KB free DOS memory
     - runs also from floppy disk (but slow due to overlay use)

    Recommended:
     - 80386 processor or better
       [better said: at least a 486; in what times do we live?!?]
     - Mouse
     - sufficient XMS memory and/or cache to load the overlay part of
       the program
     - on hard disk, ca. 650-750k are needed


    SHAREWARE
    ~~~~~~~~~
    agSI is distributed as SHAREWARE, i.e. you have to keep to the
    following rules:

    You may:
     - give the shareware version to anybody (taking only a fee for
       handling); this has to be done completely and unmodified
       (recommendedly the original ZIP archive files)
     - upload it to any BBS or software server, or put it on a CD-ROM
       (here also: completely); if the latter, it would be kind of you
       to inform me so I can keep track about how far agSI is spreading
     - use (test) it for a period of 21 days; if you want to use agSI
       after this period, you must register with the author, paying a
       small amount of money.

    You may NOT:
     - pass the full version, i.e. a registration code, to anyone, any way
     - use a single license on more than one computers, unless you make
       sure that only one at a time can be used.

    agSI is no "crippleware", i.e. there are no limitations to the
    shareware version; you are just being reminded about that by a window
    at startup and a blinking title line.
    Further information about registering can be found at the end of this
    file.


    PACKAGE CONTENTS AND INSTALLATION
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    agSI is distributed in ZIP archives, with the name AGSIxxxD.ZIP for
    the German and AGSIxxxE.ZIP for the English version; xxx means the
    version number. (Exception: you ordered agSI on a diskette from me.)

    As you are reading this file, you already have the files in an
    unpacked state; you should have the following files:

        AGSI.EXE     - the program file
        AGSI.OVR     - overlay program file
        AGSI.HLP     - file for the online help
        AGSIWINS.EXE - the "agSI Windows Services" - starts agSI from Windows
                       and offers some more information about Windows
        AGSI.PIF     - PIF file for running agSI under Windows
        README.TXT   - this file
        ORDERFRM.TXT - order form for registration
        FILE_ID.DIZ  - short abstract file for BBS use
        FDREAD.COM   - TSR to allow DOS to read high-capacity floppies
                       (taken from the FDFORMAT 1.8 package by C.H.
                        Hochsttter, available as FDF18.ZIP from, e.g.,
                        SimTel in msdos/diskutil)
    Any other file you may find in your archive has been added by someone
    else; for instance, I do not distribute an AGSI.INI file.

    (The first two files are needed for agSI to run; strongly recommended
    is the help file.)

    You may place the files in a directory of your choice (but all in
    the same); during execution, the file AGSI.INI will be created which
    contains several settings; including the registration code - so don't
    pass it to someone else (without editing)!


    START FROM THE COMMAND LINE
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    The command line of agSI has the following syntax:

      [d:\path]AGSI[.EXE] {[/|-]Option}

    with:
      d:\path   is where agSI is located
      Option    is one of the followin options (optionally with a
                preceding slash (/) or dash (-)):

                ?   and
                H   shows a brief help text
                I   disables usage of bright background colors
                U   disables continuous updating of the info windows
                R   Real mode only, don't use the few protected mode calls
                    agSI can make to gather a little more information
                D   runs agSI in debug mode: the amount of free heap
                    memory is displayed in the lower right corner
                DX  "eXtra Debug" displays what's done at startup (use this
                    if agSI hangs before the main screen comes up)

    The options I and U may also be set in the Options dialog in the main
    menu; these and other settings are stored in the AGSI.INI file,
    further information about which you may find in the online help.


    USING THE PROGRAM
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    agSI presents itself in a, as I think, nice look in DOS text mode
    (with mouse support). On the left side is the menu, from which you
    may select items the usual way; sub-menus are shown with a little
    triangle to the right. If a menu item is to show an information page,
    there are different options:
    Press the Space key to open the info window, but leave the (main)
    keyboard control at the menu;
    press Tab to open the info window AND activate it;
    for the Enter key, you may select which of the above functions
    (default: like Space) it should do in the Options dialog (in the main
    menu).
    Pressing Esc brings you back one menu level.
    This all works of course also with the mouse; simply click. (There
    is no need to explicitly activate the info window when using the mouse,
    of course.)

    The Info Window:
    Depending on the type of the displayed information, you may scroll
    the contents of the info window just up/down, or you may highlight
    each line seperately; for this you may use the cursor keys (including
    PgUp/PgDn, Home/End, etc.), but the up/down and home/end keys only when
    the window is active (see above), as they are used for the menu
    otherwise.
    Of course you may use the mouse here, too.
    For the lines in the info window that are marked with a triangle to
    the right you may get more, detailed information by pressing Enter (if
    the window is active) or Ctrl-Enter (mouse: double click).
    If there's a !! in the first column, you can perform some action corres-
    ponding to the line (change a setting, or execute a command); in most
    cases, a dialog window will be opened.

    With the key combination Alt-X you can leave agSI at any time.
    (Exception: inside the help system; when a dialog is active; if a
     sub-info-window is active.)

    The following actions may be performed with the mouse by clicking the
    status line (the bottom-most line), or by pressing the corresponding
    key:

    F1 - Help:   With this you get a help page for the current context.

                 If the highlighted menu item is the same that is displayed
                 in the info window, you get a help page (or a certain
                 position inside a help page) for the currently-highlighted
                 line of the info window; otherwise, you get a page for the
                 menu item.

    F2 - Print:  This opens a dialog window in which you may choose what
                 to print to where with which options and highlighting.

    F7 - previous page:  jumps to the previous information page
                 (considering the order of the menu).

    F8 - next page:  jumps to the next page.

    Alt-U - Update:  This key performs two actions: first, the current
                 info window will be updated immediately; second, any
                 further automatical countinuous updating of this window
                 will be suppressed (until you select a new window).

                 Continuous updating may be controlled globally in the
                 Options dialog.

    Also, the status line sometimes displays some short hints.


    IN THE HELP SYSTEM you may get help about using the help system by
    pressing F1 a second time, review the previous topic with Alt-F1,
    get to the alphabetical index with Shift-F1, and close the help window
    with Esc.

    To jump to a cross reference, first highlight the desired cross
    reference using the cursor keys (the help window will be scrolled if
    necessary), or a single click with the mouse. To jump to the connected
    topic, press Space or Enter, or click again.



    For further information, please see the online help.



    ATTENTION: Like in any "proper" program, there is something hidden
               to be discovered in agSI...



    KNOWN BUGS
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    - (generally:) Some items may cause agSI to hang up or crash the
      system under certain conditions.
    - Selecting [Update] (or pressing Alt-U) in a page where (if enabled)
      protected mode calls are used (DPMI, Windows VxDs) causes a system
      crash! (I haven't found the reason for this yet; Windows: DOS-box is
      closed; however, both continuous updating or reselecting worked fine...)
    - Windows: (using agSI\WinServ) If you don't have Win32s installed and
      select OS|Windows version and flags, a Windows error box saying
      "File Error: W32SYS.DLL not found" pops up (at least in WfW 3.11);
      you have to set the focus back to the agSI DOS window again (click
      its title bar). This is kinda strange coz Windows should in this
      case only return an error code to the program calling the
      LoadLibrary function. Does anyone know more about this?
    - On a beta tester's system, when selecting Media Information for
      a floppy disk drive, agSI crashed with an Invalid Opcode exception
      under Novell DOS (but not on my system).
    - And again Novell DOS: Obviously NWCDEX does not return an error code
      when attempting to read a sector from an Audio CD; hence there may be
      erroneous values or a runtime error 202 (happened in the Benchmark)
      in this case in some of the CD info pages.
    - A user reported a crash when Netware 3.11 ODI drivers were loaded.
    - Under OS/2, the Speed info list (menu Hardware/System) sometimes
      led to a run-time error 200 or 207.
    - On my new system (with 16550A-compatible IO chip), the serial
      mouse is disturbed when the serial ports are tested: handling
      becomes strange, and other programs could not use the mouse
      because the driver doesn't detect it anymore (?) until the next
      cold boot. If anyone knows more about this, please tell me.
      (This problem is not specific to agSI, also MSD causes it.)
    - agSI crashed under some conditions under the Russian PTS-DOS
      when selecting the DOS-memory list, and others.
    - Some colour highlightings of the help system may look bad in
      monochrome modes.


    REVISION HISTORY
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    (more details can be found in the online help)

    1.1.0 (April 25, 1995)
    ======================
     - ! Windows program "agSI\WinServ" which starts agSI under Windows
       and offers some additional information about parts of Windows!
     - list installed PCI devices
     - memory dump window to browse through the first MB of your memory
     - CD-ROM Primary Volume Descriptor
     - CD-ROM benchmark (transfer rate and access timing)
     - Protected Mode functions (using DPMI): DPMI info, Windows VxDs.
       IMPORTANT: Switch it off in Options dialog or with command line switch
       /R in case of system crash (o.k. with Novell DOS or Windows 3.11)
       MORE IMPORTANT: Don't select [Update]! -- see above (Bugs)
     - Command line switch /DX shows what's done at startup (useful if agSI
       hangs before the main screen comes up)
     - World Wide Web page for agSI!
     - Floppy disk orders outside Europe additional US$4/DM5 fee
     - minor things: SoundBlaster IRQ and Mixer (may be changed); more IDE
       info; CPU detection improved; DRAM refresh interval; printing to auto-
       matically numbered files; directory tree sorted; can empty Windows
       clipboard; help page with questions and answers

    1.0.1 (Jan 24, 1995):
    =====================
      - Added IDE drive info.
      - CMOS list for Award BIOS.
      - Corrected some bugs.
      (See online help for details)

    1.0.0 (Dec 18, 1994):
    =====================
      first public release version.


    REGISTRATION
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    As you know, agSI is distributed as shareware. The registration fee
    is US-$ 15 or DM 20 for a single license; you will then recieve a
    registration code (which consists of eight letters) which you enter
    along with your name in the Register dialog (in the main menu).
    Normally, no disks will be sent; but if you want it that way, that's
    possible, of course (price: US-$ 4 / DM 5 per disk; plus an
    additional $4/DM 5 for postage&packing if outside of Europe).
    As payment you may either mail me a cheque (or cash), or you order -
    inside of Germany only! - by C.O.D., which adds a DM 5 fee.
    You may also let me inform you about new "major" upgrades (by letter
    or - preferably - e-mail accessible from the Internet).

    Please use the order form in ORDERFRM.TXT which you may print and mail
    to me, or (C.O.D. delivery) e-mail to me.


    CONTACTING THE AUTHOR AND SOURCE OF NEW VERSIONS
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    My address:

         Andreas Grgel
         Gildenstr. 4
         D-74074 Heilbronn
         Germany

    Internet e-mail:

         ag@studbox.uni-stuttgart.de
    and  groegeas@cip.mathematik.uni-stuttgart.de

    Anyway, if you encounter any problem with agSI - as it is partially
    programmed very close to the hardware, this is pretty likely (I can't
    test hundreds of systems and configurations - or anything you don't
    like, tell me; only this way agSI can be more and more improved.
    If too much in agSI doesn't work on your system, you may even postpone
    registration if you think it's not worth the money now.

    New versions of agSI are available at the following places:
    (usually in the files agsiXXXd.zip (German version) and agsiXXXe.zip
     (english version))

    - NEW! Now in the World Wide Web: info about agSI, download of the
      latest versions:
      http://www.mathematik.uni-stuttgart.de/CIP-WWW/Studierende/groegeas
      Note: This page is still under construction; any suggestions welcome...

    - on Simtel in the /msdos/sysinfo directory, *the* FTP server for
      DOS, which has many mirror sites, primarily oak.oakland.edu/SimTel.
      See msdos/filedocs/download.inf there for a list of official mirror
      sites, or ask your Internet access provider about the nearest (see
      also next item).
      (SimTel is also available on CD-ROM.)

    - Simtel mirror of the on the FTP server of the University of Stuttgart
        ftp.uni-stuttgart.de
      in the directory
        /pub/systems/pc/simtel/sysinfo

    - Compuserve: in the library of the Benchmarks and Standards forum
      (GO BENCHMARK)

    - (German version only:) from the PD/shareware vendor
        Computer Solutions Software GmbH
        Postfach 1180
        D-85567 Grafing
        Tel. 08092/5018, Fax 31727, BBS 84099; Btx *CSL#
      as CSL Number 10021

    - Maybe on some BBSs around the globe ;-) -- this is, however, out
      of my reach, so ask the SysOp for a ne version if you discover
      an old one...

    - If you have no access to new versions the above-mentioned way, you
      can have me inform you about new major upgrades (see the order form
      ORDERFRM.TXT), and I can send you new versions then.


    Have fun with agSI!

                                                        Andreas Grgel



                                 (The End)
