PShell

******** P - SHELL RELEASE 2.01 ******** CONTENTS: (i) Shareware information and terms of use. (ii) Installation of P-Shell. (iii) Command supported by P-Shell. (iv) P-Shell Auto - Lookup. (v) General notes from the author. (vi) Version History. (vii) Help ****************** IF YOU DON'T READ MUCH ELSE, READ THIS *********************** ********************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************* NEW EMAIL ADDRESS wilbur@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk - I read this daily. 106077.3544@compuserve.com - once a month? CIS Website: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/awilbur/ CIS SWREG Code: 13030 ($18) ********************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************* Please note that I *think* that all of the commands will work on the Psion 3c including the RS (Run Standard) command (which now supports FILES and SOUND) SHAREWARE INFO and TERMS of USE Please note that you use this software at your own risk completely. It comes with no warranty AT ALL and is completely unsupported by Psion PLC. Improper use will result in the loss of data (Such as responding YES to a DEL *.* prompt when you meant to respond NO). The author or Psion PLC shall not be liable for any loss of data or damage arising from the use of this software. I have done my best to ensure that this program will not corrupt files or delete the wrong files, but as stated above I or Psion PLC will not accept any responsibility for such a loss. Any substantial bugs which are reported to the address below are gratefully recieved (this also applies to improvements you would like to see). P - SHELL is shareware, which means that if you continue to use it you are required to register with myself. By registering you will get an 'unlock' code to get rid of the nag screens which appear at the start and the end of your P-Shell session. You will also receive future versions FREE and I will also provide technical support where I can. By registering you may also suggest improvements which you'd like to see, although I do reserve the right to not include your suggestions. There are currently two ways to register: 1) Use Compuserve's SWREG, number 13030. This actually works out as 10.40UKP so it's about the same as snail mail postal charges and bank charges, etc. It's also quicker! *** OR THE SLOW WAY *** 1. Send 10 UK pounds money order or cheque. OR 2. 10 UK pounds in cash. OR 3. The equivalent of 12 UK pounds in your own local currency. OR 4. A non-UK pounds cheque to the equivalent of 14 UK pounds. The additional charges incurred by the last two payment methods are to cover currency exchange charges. After sending me payment, I will provide you with a code which will unlock the NAG screens. This means that all the little annoying pauses will be removed, which in tern makes P-Shell much friendlier to use. Send your chosen payment method to; Mr. A. Wilbur, 13, Warminster Road, Westbury, Wilts. BA13 3PA. UK. Email 106077.3544@Compuserve.Com or wilbur@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk (preferred) Until you register at the start of every P - Shell session, you will have a SMALL pause until you are able to use the Psion - Shell, and likewise you will also have periodic reminders throughout your operations using P - Shell, but this *IS* the full version of P-Shell, and has *NO* features disabled at all. INSTALLATION Files Included: Readme.Txt - This readme File P-Shell.Opa - Main P-Shell File Place this file in the \APP directory on any drive. P-Calc.Opo - The optional mini calculator P-Hex.Opo - Optional P-Shell Hex. Editor Place this file in a \P-Shell directory on the same drive as the MAIN P-Shell.Opa P-Auto.Bat - Auto Configuration File Place this file in a \P-Shell directory on the same drive as the MAIN P-Shell.Opa P-Shell.Dbf - List of Auto - Lookup Commands for P-Shell Place this file in a \P-Shell directory on the same drive as the MAIN P-Shell.Opa P-Shell.Rsc - Help resource file. Place this file in a \P-Shell directory on the same drive as the MAIN P-Shell.Opa Whichever drive you choose to install P-Shell on, if you want to use some of the features which make P-Shell so useful, you must also install the accompaning files (ie. P-Hex.Opo, P-Calc.Opo, P-Shell.Dbf, P-Shell.Rsc, P-Auto.Bat) in a \P-Shell\ directory, on the SAME drive as the main P-Shell.Opa. Eg. P-Shell.Opa in LOC::A:\APP and the others in LOC::A:\P-SHELL Use Psion-I on the system screen to install a program, type P-SHELL, and then press enter. The P-Shell icon should then appear. Position the cursor on the icon, and press enter. COMMAND REFERENCE Please note the following conventions for use during a P-Shell session. LOC:: - Specifies a LOCal drive, such as A: B: or M: ROM:: - Specifies the Psion ROM. REM:: - Specifies a REMote drive When specifing commands which contain a reference to the Psion's ROM do *NOT* use R: (to represent ROM:: - you can change onto the Psion's ROM quickly by typing R:) in your file specification, instead use ROM::, otherwise you will generate an error message. 1. DIR - Displays a directory listing Switches :s - subdir. listing :w - wide format :p - pause between pages Eg. DIR *.opl :w:p Dir can now display files which match a specified size spec. or attribute spec. Eg. For size spec:- DIR *.* >=100 or DIR >=100 or DIR <1000 or DIR <=200 Eg. For Attributes:- DIR =rm (displays only files which have the r & m flag set) DIR =rmsh Also, to display only files in a directory, enter the filespec prefixed by a minus (-) sign. Eg. DIR -*.bat DIR -*.* Note: Directories are now displayed first, followed by files. Also, the format of DIR :S now follows the convention of DIR rather than TREE **** PLEASE READ THE ONLINE HELP FOR A MORE COMPLETE DESCRIPTION **** 2. CLS - Clear the screen No switches 3. CD - Change current directory No switches Subformats cd.. (parent) cd\xxx or cd\ (to root) cd \xxx cd. - Displays current directory. cd Opl 4. ATTRIB - Change file attributes Switches (+/-)rshm Eg. syntax - attrib clock.opl +r+s+m - attrib clock.opl -r+s-h - attrib clock.opl -m - attrib *.* -m Note: r = Read only s = System (won't appear on system screen) h = Hide file m = Modifiable + = Add Attribute - = Subtract Attribute 6. TREE - Display's a listing of a branch much like the TREE function in MS-DOS Switches :F Default is to display directories only, but by adding :F forces P - SHELL to display files as well. Press any key to pause a screen or escape a few times to stop tree listing 7. TIME - Sets the system clock No switches 8. DATE - Sets the system date No switches 9. COPY - Copies a file or files from A to B Eg. COPY \ \OPL - will copy \*.* to \OPL\ COPY \*.TXT \WRD\ - will copy \*.TXT to \WRD\ COPY \OPL \ - will copy \OPL\*.* to \ COPY OPL TEMP - will copy OPL\*.* to TEMP\ COPY M:\OPL A:\TEMP - will copy M:\OPL\*.* to A:\TEMP\ Overwrite warnings will be shown. 10. MOVE - Moves a file or files from A to B. The same syntax is used as for COPY. The only difference in this command is that files are DELeted after they have been copied. If there is an error in copying the file(s) to their new destination, this error will be reported, and the file will not be moved. Overwrite warnings will be shown. 11. RD - Removes a directory previously created with MD. Cannot remove a non empty directory. Eg. - RD \TEMP RD TEMP RD \TEMP\SYS 12. MD - Creates a directory as specified. If preceeded by a backslash ie. "\" it will attempt to create a sub-directory in the root directory "\". Eg.- MD \TEMP - make dir. TEMP in the root directory MD TEMP- make dir. TEMP in the current directory MD LOC::M:\TEMP - make dir. on LOC::M:\ TEMP 13. DEL - Deletes files as specified. Eg. DEL *.* will delete all files in a directory, providing they are not marked read only, etc. You will be prompted for confirmation on typing DEL *.* Eg. DEL *.TXT - will attempt to delete all .TXT file in the current directory. DEL \*.* - will attempt to delete all file in the root directory. DEL can (like DIR) delete files matching a specified size or attribute specification. Eg. DEL *.OPL <1000 Eg. DEL *.* =m **** PLEASE READ THE ONLINE HELP FOR A MORE COMPLETE DESCRIPTION **** 14. P - SHELL has the facility of 15 command line memories, ie. it can remember the 15 previously entered commands. Use the UP and DOWN keys to scroll through the memories. 16. The Psion key and Right will move editing to the end of a line. 17. The Psion key and Left will move editing to the start of a line. 18. The Psion key and Delete will ZAP anything left of the cursor. 19. SHIFT and ENTER will scroll through matching entries in P-Shell.Dbf. ALSO Psion and I switched overwrite/insert on and off. 20. EXIT - Will end your P - SHELL session. 21. SYSINFO - Will display information about the current machine, and also a specified drive. No switches supported Eg. SYSINFO (to get info about LOC::A:\ LOC::B:\ and LOC::M:\) Eg. SYSINFO REM::C:\ (to get info about REMote drive C:\) 22. REN - Will attempt to rename A to B. If B already exists an error will be reported. FULL support for wildcards. Also can be used to rename a directory! 23. Note - This program supports devices connected to the LOCAL node, ie. LOC::M:\ and ROM:: In order to change drives you must type the drive name followed by a colon. Eg. A: or B: or C: (for the 3-Link pod or ranger disks) or M: or ROM:: or R: or REMote drives Eg. REM::C:\ REM::D:\ REM::A:\ I have not tested any of the above commands on any drive other than M: (the internal disk) and R: (ROM), as I don't own a SSD. 24. FIND - Find a file on the current drive Eg. FIND *.OPL OR FIND - to display a dialog where you can choose to look for a file spec, or look for files containing certain text. 25. BATT - Shows Battery information. 26. HELP - Shows Help pages or specified help page. 27. REGISTER- Shows registering information. 28. REORDER - Alpabetically reorder the specified Data File. Eg. REORDER P-Shell.Dbf Eg. REORDER *.* 29. LIST - Display the current contents of the P-Shell.Dbf auto lookup file. (if it is currently open) 30. TYPE - Type the contents of the specified file. Eg. TYPE Readme.Txt 31. ADD - Add an entry to the P-Shell.Dbf File. (ie. the auto - lookup database file). Any new entries will then be inserted onto the P-Shell command line if a match is found (See below for more on the auto lookup file). 32. CONFIG - Configures P-Shell, by loading P-Shell.Cfg into the Data Base Editor, so you can easily edit your preferences. 33. HEX - Loads the specified file into P-Hex.Opo providing you have specified the location in P-Shell.Cfg (the config. file). If you haven't, type CONFIG at the command prompt to edit the config. file. 34. EDITAUTO - Loads the P-Shell.Dbf into the built in Database program for editing of the auto-lookup commands. 35. VER - Shows current P-Shell Version and my EMAIL address. 36. PROCESS or PROCESS <spec> - Without a specification will List all processes otherwise will list any processes matching the spec. Eg. PROCESS - all PROCESS SYS* - only processes matching with SYS* 37. DIAL <x> - Dial the specified phone number Eg. DIAL 00000 123456 38. KILL <x> - Will kill the named process. Eg. KILL WORD.$08 39. RESUME <x> -Bring the process named <x> to the foreground. Eg. RESUME WORD.$08 RESUME TIME.$06 40. DELTREE <x> Delete the branch of a diskdrive <x>. This will work on LOCal or REMote drives. Eg. DELTREE \Temp Typing the above will attempt to delete all the files and subdirectories within \Temp. 41. ZAP <x> This command is not dissimilar to DELTREE, but the difference is that it does not attempt to delete sub-directories. It is useful for removing the contents of directory and the named directory all in one go. Obviously, if a directory contains a sub-directory an error will be raised. 42. CALC Load the Mini-Calculator. This only takes up another 1.5K of SSD space, and may often be useful for performing those 'on the spot' calculations. To enter a calculation, press the appropriate key on the psion keyboard. The keypress will be simulated on the screen (ie. the key will depress). The key value will then appear in the calculator window. Press enter to evaluate an expression. If you wish to use the answer to an expression as the basis of a new expression, when the answer is displayed (eg. =10 where an '=' sign specifies an answer) press the symbol to append the the end of the answer and the equals sign will be removed, with the previous answer at the start of the line. 43. LINKON Switch the 3-Link on (where available) 44. LINKOFF Switch the 3-Link off (where available) 45. FCOMP <x> Compare the contents of the current directory with another specified directory. 46. FVIEW <x> View an example of a specified font(s). Supports wildcards. 47. PLAY <x> Play the WVE file specified. Does NOT support wildcards. 48. VIEW <x> View the PIC file specified. Supports wildcards. 49. FTYPE <x> Find a files origin. Supports wildcards. 50. COMPRESS <x>Compress the specified database file. Supports wildcards. 51. RS Run a Standard Built in APP, Eg. WORD, DATA, Etc. 52. FILES Display information about open files or your Psion. 53. ASCII Display an ASCII extended character table. Also can be accessed by Psion - A Use the cursor to navigate. Also Psion & left/right/up/down move the cursor position to the corners. Pressing a key will also move the cursor to the position of that key in the ASCII window. 54. BATCH FILES This is a new feature in version 1.70 of P-Shell. Batch files allow the user to execute repeated commands, just by executing one file. All of the commands specified above, can be used in batch files, as well as two new commands, ECHO and PAUSE. ECHO <x> Will display <x> to the screen. PAUSE Will prompt the user to press a key. As well as these two new commands, there are a number of special SET commands which may also be used. SET CACHE=<x> This command is used to set the default value of the P-Shell cache (in bytes). This command will only take effect on the initialisation of P-Shell. It will have no effect if implemented in any file, other than P-AUTO.BAT SET FONT=<x> A font between 1 and 13 SET INSERT=ON or OFF SET LINK=ON or OFF SET FSELECT=ON or OFF. This is new in 1.70. It allows the user to choose a file to pass to an OPA or APP, when trying to execute one of these files. Without it the user will not be prompted to select a file by default. SET PATH=<x> This is a new feature in 1.70. It allows the user to set 5 paths (each must be sparated by a semi-colon (;)) which will be searched when trying to execute a file, if the file does not exist in the current directory. Eg. SET PATH=LOC::M:\APP;M:\OPO;A:\APP\;LOC::B:\OPO\ SET ECHO=ON or OFF. New in 1.70. Allows the user to choose whether commands are displayed to the screen, before they are executed. Only works in BATCH FILES. SET STARTUP=<x> The startup location of P-Shell. 55. Run OPA's, OPO's, APP's and BAT's New in P-Shell 1.60 and above is the ability to run all of these different file types. To run a file, just type its name (with or without its extension), and the file will run. If the file is an OPA or APP it is also possible to pass a filename to OPEN or CREATE in the end executable. If the file which is passed in the second arguement does not already exist it is assumed that the file is to be created. Of course this will only be effective if the end executable actually supports this feature. Eg. To run DRAW28 and open LOC::M:\PIC\ICON.PIC. type the following at the command prompt; DRAW28 M:\PIC\ICON.PIC If the file does NOT exist, the file will be created in DRAW28. A NEW feature in version 1.70 are Batch files. These allow the user to store lists of commands to execute one after another, in one file. To run a batch file, again just type it's name. Eg. To run BACKUP.BAT in LOC::M:\ type; BACKUP or BACKUP.BAT If the executable you wish to run does not exist in the current directory, then the path specified in your P-AUTO.BAT file is searched for the executable. If it is NOT found, an error is reported. Applications which support the passing of parameters can also be run using the path searching mechanism, again just by typing the name of the APP/OPA followed by the file to OPEN/CREATE. 56. AUTO DIRECTORY CHANGING P-Shell 1.70 now supports Auto Directory Changing. This means that you can change into a subdirectory, by just typing its name. Eg. when in LOC::M:\ to change into LOC::M:\APP\ just type the following; APP Your path will now be set to LOC::M:\APP\ 57. SUPPORT FOR A FORWARD SLASH P-Shell is now able to use a forward slash (/) as well as a backslash when entering a filespec. Eg. CD/APP is the same as CD\APP or CD \APP\ or CD /APP\ *** BUT *** In order to implement this, the syntax of DIR and TREE has changed. To specify switches for these two command the switch initiator is now a colon (:) Eg. DIR :W (for wide) or DIR :W:P (wide and pause) or DIR :S (sub) TREE :F (display files) 58. FONT or FONT <x> This command is not new but I kept forgetting to include it in the readme & help file! Sorry. You can choose which font is used within P-Shell. Orriginally you could only have two fonts, but now there is provision for 13, where x is a number between 1 and 13 59. SOUND Will allow you to alter the Psion's sound settings. Type SOUND at the command prompt. 60. PRINTER Will allow you to alter the Psion's printer settings 61. BACK Will send P-Shell to the background. Use CTRL and P to bring P-Shell back to the foreground 62. [] Will evaluate the expression in square brackets and print the result to the screen. 63. ENV Will display misc. environment information. 64. OFF <x> Will switch the Psion off/off for <x> seconds. 65. DEVLIST Will display a list of all connected devices, and information about them. 66. LABEL <x> Will display the volume label of the specified drive (if <x> is given) otherwise will display the label of the current drive. 67. SIZE <x> Will display the total size of the specified drive (if <x> is given) otherwise will display the size of the current drive. 68. FREE <x> Will display the free space on the specified drive (if <x> is given) otherwise will display the free space on the current drive. 69. Auto Editing of Files If a filename is entered at the command prompt, and it's extension is recognised, then it will be loaded into the respective internal APP. Eg. If README.WRD is entered at the command prompt, and the file README.WRD exists in the current directory, it will be loaded into WORD. If the extension is not recognised it will be loaded into a plain text editor by defualt. 70. PRINT<X> Where <X> is F/S/P for File/Serial/Parallel Enter PRINTF <filename> to print <filename> to another file Enter PRINTS <filename> to print <filename> to a serial device Enter PRINTP <filename> to print <filename> to a par'll device Where PRINTF is specified, you will be promted to enter the output name (ie the file to print TO) Please note that more descriptive command syntax can be found in the online help for most of the above commands. I have now written so many commands that it is just not sensible to duplicate the full syntax in two files. It takes ages! :-) USING P-SHELL AUTO-LOOKUP In order to save you time when you are navigating through directories on your Psion, I have included that I feel adds a substantial Extra above other similar Command Shell programs available for the Psion. This feature, allows the user to customise the quick entry of commands supported by P-Shell. For example, if you frequently want to change into a directory on your Psion, called LOC::M\OPL\SYSTEM\CLOCKFNC, that's quite a lot to type in, so in order to simplify this use P-Shell's ADD function in the following manner; Don't type the < and >, they are just showing you what to type. <ADD CD LOC::M\OPL\SYSTEM\CLOCKFNC> Next Reorder the P-Shell Data Base file (P-Shell.Dbf) <REORDER M:\DAT\P-Shell.Dbf> Now type in <CD LO>, and providing you don't have another entry starting <CD LO> in the data base P-Shell will automatically add the rest of the line onto the command prompt for you. If you didn't want to use the automatically inserted line, just carry on typing, and anything to the right of the cursor (providing you don't have insert swiched on) will be over-written. If you just wan't to scroll through entries use SHIFT and ENTER on the command line, and P-Shell will scroll through matching entries in the auto - lookup data base. GENERAL NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR P-Shell was written entirely by myself, and has take a considerable amount of my time up over the last few months. Originally, I wrote P-Shell about a year ago (or at least a crude version with support for only a few commands). Since then I have considerably improved the interface and overall functionality of the program, via the use of the excellent PSIONICS file, kindly written and made publically available by Clive Feather. This is my first major outing in OPL so please be patient with any updates that will be forthcoming. As mentioned at the start of this document, I have tested it quite substantially, but I am sure there will be things that need small adjustments making here and there. The main reason for this is that I don't own a SSD at the present time, and so any testing regarding commands on the A and B drives will be initally done by you the user. I would strongly suggest you attempt to copy a few files onto a temporary directory on drive A or B and try out some of the commands on these backup files first, before letting yourself loose on important files. Please feel free to contact me via Email or Snail-Mail at the above addresses, with any problems you may be having, and also any command suggestions etc. Anyway, all the best with using P-Shell! NOTE:: Since I wrote the above I have had confirmation that P-Shell works on SSD's VERSION HISTORY Version 0.95 (Beta) - Originally sent to Steve Litchfield - Not released as it wasn't finished. Version 1.00 - Released 11/08/1996 Version 1.10 - Released 26/08/1996 Added VER command Added REMote drive support Added Psion-Like help screens Altered MEM command Altered Installation method, ie all files in 1 dir. Fixed Tree bug when running on emulator. Version 1.20 - Released 27/08/96 Added registration code entry system Added Overwrite warnings for COPY and MOVE Fixed Minor bugs Version 1.30 - Released 28/08/96 Fixed some bugs eg. REMote drive access Inserted code for auto-install of remote link (where possible) Altered VER command (again) Altered SYSINFO command so that info can be found for a specified drive (including REMotes) Version 1.40 - Added CALC (mini-calculator) Added DIAL (phone number dialing) Added KILL (process killer) Added extra syntax for PROCESS Altered VER command (yet again) Fixed bug in registering system Version 1.50 - Fixed bug for DIR on ROM:: Fixed (very) minor VER bug Added RESUME to bring a process to the foreground Added DELTREE to delete a branch of a directory (Ie. remove all files and dirs within sub-dir) Added ZAP to delete a files in a specified dir, and then remove the dir (if it doesn't contain any sub-dirs.) Version 1.51 - A minor update. No new commands added. Fixed bug with application launching Slightly altered MEM command. Version 1.60 - Added PLAY command - to play wve's Added VIEW command - to view pic's Added FCOMP command - to compare the contents of 2 dirs. Added COMPRESS command - to compress data files. Added FTYPE command - to get a files origin. Added FVIEW command - to view an example of a specified font example. Slightly altered the MEM command (again!) Added 3-Link checking on startup Added LINKON command - to switch link on Added LINKOFF command - to switch link off Version 1.70 - Added FILES command to display open files on the Psion Added ECHO Added PAUSE Added ASCII command to view ASCII table. Added RS command to run a built in APP, Eg. WORD, DATA Improved DIR command: Now *A LOT* faster. Fixed a few bugs. Version 1.71 - Fixed small bugs in VIEW. Altered TYPE command. Now slightly improved Version 1.72 - Improved external OPA and APP running to include the correct directory and extension, as specified in the APP..ENDA clause in OPL Version 1.80 - Improved FIND command to search for files and files containing certain text. Improved FONT command so that any internal font can be selected as the default font, likewise updated the SET FONT command for P-Auto.BAT. Improved ASCII command so that Psion & left/right/up and down, move to corners of screen. Also pressing a key moves the cursor to the position of that char. in the ASCII window. Added the provision for full screen height in the PC emulator. Improved the REN command so that directories can be renamed without moving/deleting/re-creating them. Also added support for FULL wildcards with REN Sorted out a problem with the HELP file causing P-Shell to crash. Added my new EMAIL address (wilbur@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk) Changed NAG screen. Other misc. things... :-)))) Version 1.90 Not really released, as ver. 2.00 was quite a major update, so I decided to give it a new overall version number! Version 2.00 Lot's of new stuff here: PRINTF/PRINTS/PRINTP - Print to File/Serial/Parallel PRINTER - Change printer settings BACK or * - Send to the background (CTRL P to bring to foreground) PROCESS improved SYSINFO improved ENV to display environment info. Auto editing for built in APP's introduced. *MASSIVE* improvements to DIR and DIR :S so that files can be displayed which match sizes/attributes Also directories are displayed first, then files. If you don't want to display directories, then prefix the spec. with a minus sign (-) OFF to switch the Psion of for a specified time DEVLIST to display a list of connected devices and misc info about them. LABEL to display volume labels of drives. SIZE to display capacity of a drive. FREE to display free space on a drive. Version 2.01 Minor fix to OFF HELP & ASSISTANCE I greatly appreciated the assistance of Phil Spencer with all BETA testing and also for assisting me with the Registration Code Entry system, plus his many suggestions. *MANY* thanks to Eberhard Rompf for his many command suggestions, and testing. Thanks to Clive Feather for making his Psionics file available. Also Steve Litchfield for his review, and suggestions.