textfiles/apple/DOCUMENTATION/prosel

               PROSEL (PROgram SELector) - version 2.8
 
    PROSEL is a program selector for hard disk and 800k disk users
 of ProDOS.  It is the fastest and most reliable selector available.
 (It should be noted that the package contains a number of programs
 that can be used on ordinary floppies, and which alone are worth
 the price of the package.  Some people have been known to use PROSEL
 on a floppy, but I don't really recommend it - but it works great
 in a large RAM disk.  The package now has an alternative selector
 that is entirely memory resident, and is better than anything else
 of this nature I have seen, intended for use by the floppy-bound.
 In addition, many of the other major programs in the package are
 perfectly usable on floppy, and are among the best programs in
 their class.)
 
    What is a program selector?  When you type BYE from BASIC.SYSTEM
 (1.1 and later) or when you quit from most applications (such as
 Appleworks, the FILER, and Merlin-pro) you see a message asking you
 to specify a prefix and then the pathname of the next application
 you want to run.  This is called the "quit code" and it is a part
 of the ProDOS kernel, it is not really done by the Application
 program.  This typing of prefixes and pathnames gets very tiresome
 after a while.  What a program selector does is to replace this
 quit code with a much more sophisticated list of the applications
 you use.  It is like a menu, but one that is easily modified and
 that has other capabilities.
 
    For example, PROSEL will allow you to specify other basic
 programs to run when you enter BASIC, instead of STARTUP.  It can
 also be instructed to display all the SYS type files in any given
 directory and allow you to select one of these.
 
    PROSEL automatically sorts your list of applications, and allows
 you to use any title you want for display on the screen.
 
    PROSEL recognizes the Apple mouse, but you do not need that.
 It also supports all ProDOS compatible clocks.  Although primarily
 written for the //e and //c, it can be used on a ][+.
 
    PROSEL is fully compatible with the Videx Ultraterm, and you can
 even instruct PROSEL to switch to the Apple 80 column card before
 running a particular application, for those applications that cannot
 use the Ultraterm.  (More and more, this ability is becoming essential
 for profitable use of the Ultraterm.)
 
    PROSEL does not disturb auxiliary memory and leaves /RAM volumes
 intact.  PROSEL is unprotected and directly bootable from hard disk
 or Unidisk, or can be run from a large /RAM disk, and any combination
 of these.
 
    The PROSEL disk also includes a fast (three times faster than
 BACKUP //) full volume backup facility.  Besides the use of this as
 a hard disk backup, it provides the simplest and fastest way to
 load programs and data files into a RAM volume, and to save changes
 in them when a session is done.
 
    There is also a disk copy program that will copy most 800k disks
 in one pass if you have a RAMWORKS or MULTIRAM card.  (The Apple
 "slinky" with 1MB is also supported, but less conveniently.)
 
    There is also a program CAT DOCTOR that is a batch filing utility
 also containing a directory sorter that really works.  This file
 copier will retain the create dates of your files as well as the
 modification dates.  No more meaningless file dates.  It can also
 be told to copy only those files that have changed in relation to
 the same files on the destination directory, etc.  It can also sort
 directories alphabetically or by file type or modification or
 creation date, or the order can be completely selected by hand,
 simply by moving file names using the arrow keys.
 
    There is a program BLOCK WARDEN which is a block editing (zap)
 facility that can follow files, search for data in a file or
 anywhere on the disk.  (Yes, it finds data that is across block
 boundaries and ascii data that differs only in "case".)  It can
 dump block data to a printer.  It will disassemble block data,
 capturing calls to the MLI and showing ascii equivalents, 40 lines
 per page.  (There is a separate Ultraterm 48x80 version with 80
 lines per page.)  The disassembly can also follow files.  The program
 also has the capability of analyzing the disk to give you a list of
 all the "index blocks" for difficult directory repair jobs.
 
    There is a program FIND.FILE that will find any file in a volume
 no matter what directory it is in.  When found, the program can be run
 if it is a SYS or BASIC program, or dumped in hex/ascii, or "typed".
 You can also continue searching for files of the same name.
 FIND.FILE supports partial file names via a wild card.
 
    There are utilities that let you run a DOS 3.3 program from
 PROSEL and to put a DOS 3.3 "partition" on a Unidisk.  [These may
 be incompatible with some hard/software - no guarantees here.]
 
    There is a tree structured cataloger that shows the entire
 directory structure of your disk volume, including options showing
 which blocks belong to particular files or which files occupy
 particular blocks.
 
    There is a hard disk or Unidisk "compactor" called BEACH COMBER,
 to make file access more efficient.  There is a directory repair
 program MISTER FIXIT.
 
    If you do not have a hard disk, but have the Checkmate
 Technology Multiram card or the Applied Engineering Ramworks card,
 these may be profitably used as a hard disk emulator, as far as
 PROSEL is concerned.  That is, you can put PROSEL on the /RAM
 volume for these cards and use it almost as conveniently as if it
 were on hard disk.
 
    In short, this is a disk completely full of useful utilities
 besides the "title" program PROSEL.  Indeed, I had to put the
 documentation files on the back of the disk.  (There is a program
 that sends it to your printer.)
 
    I wrote PROSEL for my own use with the Sider hard disk and I
 have found that it makes life with ProDOS so simple that I wince
 when I have to go back to some DOS 3.3 program.  That now seems
 primitive.  As the author of many machine language programs, most
 notably the Merlin assembler, I need the best method of passing
 conveniently, reliably and quickly between various applications.
 PROSEL is the only program that fits these needs.
 
    There are other program selectors around which have had a much
 greater exposure.  I have gotten a lot of mail from former users of
 some of these programs that have found PROSEL to be much more
 convenient, reliable and versatile.
 
    The PROSEL package is supplied on a two-sided 5-1/4 inch
 floppy and you must run an installation program.  (I also supply
 the package fully installed on a Unidisk with a 1/4 DOS 3.3
 partition.  Specify if you want this version.  They are identical
 when it comes to installing on other disks.
 
    PROSEL is shareware and is mostly contained in several files
 in DL1.  Most of these files are not usable unless you send in
 the requested licencing fee of $40, which will bring you the full
 system.  The fee will be refunded if you are not totally satisfied.
 Updates for present users can be obtained for a handling fee of $5
 if you prefer that to downloading revision files.  The fee should
 be sent to:
 
 Glen E. Bredon
 521 State Road
 Princeton, NJ 08540
 
 [Note added Aug 2, 1986:  Henceforth payment must be in advance.
 Purchase orders will not be accepted.]