[<<]Message[>>]    [<<]Author[>>]    [<<]Subject[>>]    [<<]Thread[>>]

Number   :  400
Date     :  2001-07-15
Author   :  james sadler
Subject  :  Re: Check My Batch File
Size(KB) :  6



--- Kan Yabumoto  wrote:
> Jack,
> 
> OK, so much diversion for the batch file display
> issue which was
> not the central issue for your problem.
> 
> The issue is the way XXCOPY opens up the progress
> bar using an
> additional pop-up window. The short answer to you
> is to add the
> /PB0 switch to your /CLONE. As I expressed my
> self-doubt in the
> new design where /CLONE now has /PB as its
> components which may
> not have been the best idea after all.
> 
> (I need more feedback on this issue. Should we
> remove /PB from
> the /CLONE? I'm sure if we retract this feature in
> the upcoming
> release as a correction of this mess, I'm sure the
> user community
> would accept that.)
> 
> Let me explain my view on the DOS Box in Win9x and
> how we should
> deal with it. I happen to use a big 21 inch monitor
> with 1600 x
> 1200 resolution (which is further enlarged by a
> virtual screen
> feature of Matrox driver that my desktop is 1600 x
> 2048 dots).
> On the screen, I have ten or so windows at any given
> moment
> --- several DOS Box windows are open where I use my
> old DOS-based
> text editor --- without which my text editing
> productivity would
> go way down. In a sense, I'm trapped with this old
> DOS-based
> editor just as many old-timers are). Anyway, in my
> opinion,
> the full-view DOS Box (the mode you like to use
> using the
> Alt-Enter key) was originally designed as a special
> mode to
> support legacy DOS program which has to control the
> VGA screen
> in direct access mode. It is my understanding that
> even if
> the screen is directly accessed by the application,
> as long as
> the screen access is done in one of the standard
> text mode
> (80 x 25, 80 x 43, 80 x 50), the DOS Box need not be
> in
> the exclusive access mode. I further believe the
> exclusive
> mode (full screen mode) is primarily designed for a
> video game
> (or some exotic DOS application with heavy graphics
> use)
> where the display adapter must be exclusively
> controlled.
> 
> Now, XXCOPY being a relatively generic console
> program as far
> as the screen output is concerned (and also for most
> other
> purposes), there is little reason to run it under
> exclusive
> screen mode. As a matter of fact, being used to the
> way
> my screen works with multiple DOS Boxes on the
> screen most
> of the time, I even forgot to test the full-screen
> display
> mode. I'm sure that the application will run
> somewhat
> faster in the exclusive screen mode. But, in
> today's
> typical PC environment, I don't seem any practical
> advantage
> in using the full-screen mode. In DOS Box shared
> mode
> (the one Jack referred to as the small screen), you
> can choose
> the fonts and the screen dimension (the number of
> lines).
> I almost always use the largest size permitted (80 x
> 50)
> with my favorite font (Lucida Console). At least it
> allows you multi-tasking in a normal way that while
> a
> DOS Box is busy running a big XXCOPY backup job,
> other thing
> will be running at the same time --- no reason for
> you to
> stare at the screen while a big XXCOPY backup job is
> taking
> place. Put it in the background and browse the net
> while
> XXCOPY is doing its thing.
> 
> If you run XXCOPY or its batch file from a the Start
> menu.
> I suggest that you create an icon for a command
> prompt
> and using the property sheet for the icon, you
> should
> customize the DOS Box so that the size, fonts and
> other
> behaviors will be best suited for your preference.
> And make the Icon within reach all the time --- I
> usually
> place the ion near the edge of the Desktop so that
> it's
> visible most of the time (Oh, better yet, you can
> put in
> the quick-launch tray at the bottom in Win98).
> 
>
----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Having said how I would use the DOS Box, I have yet
> to address
> your problem. Since the progress bar is useless
> when the
> DOS Box to which XXCOPY's parent window belongs is
> in full-
> screen mode as how Jack (and many other users prefer
> to) uses
> XXCOPY, it is best if XXCOPY can detect the screen
> condition
> and behaves accordingly. It should make the
> progress bar
> window in minimized mode at least so that the screen
> mode
> change does not take place. Also, as I ran the
> background
> XXCOPY batch file as I'm composing this this email,
> I am
> repeatedly annoyed that the screen focus is taken
> away
> by the newly opened progress bar window. It is
> great when
> the DOS Box has the screen focus and it will hand
> over
> the screen (and keyboard input) focus to the
> Progress Bar
> window. But, if the XXCOPY DOS Box window is
> already in
> background operation, grabbing the input focus to
> the
> progress bar is a bad behavior and problematic. 
> These
> issues have never been examined when we designed the
> new /PB feature.
> 
> So, for now, Jack, use /PB0 with the /CLONE swich.
> But, for all those who love the new /PB feature, let
> me
> work on this further to make it better.
> 
> (Boy, a busy day. This XXCOPY discussion group sucks
> all
> of my energy today).
> 
> Kan Yabumoto
> 
>
========================================================================
> 
> Although I may be a bit off topic, your remarks
about dos interested me. The reason for windows
existance is that the numerous drivers did not have to
be contained within each program over and over again.
But now we have huge, cheap hard drives and people
could really write self contained programs that even
contained their own dos. I see no reason why someone
could not build a machine that booted directly to an
individual self contained program. The power of a
modern PC built in that way would be a thing of
beauty.
While operating in a dos environment it should
be easy to find a way to compare directories using
xxcopy and simply have a function like file compare to
spit out the names of files that either are not backed
up or are backed up but not in synch.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/



This message if part of XXCOPY's message Archive.
The archive contains all the messages posted at Yahoo!Groups: XXCOPY.