/*
* File: lcmd.txt
* Created: September 07, 1998.
* By: Leif-Erik Larsen
* Updated: March 22, 2000.
*/
About The Larsen Commander, version 1.1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larsen Commander is a powerful GUI File Manager and Command Processor that
has a look and feel like the classic Norton Commander. The most notable
difference is that the Larsen Commander is pure GUI. Still it has a built
in command line and a scrollable console monitor.
Larsen Commander is shareware. In other words you can use it freely only
for a limited period of time which is suggested not to exceed three
months. If you use Larsen Commander regularly for a longer period then
you should really consider registering the product so that further
development of it can take place.
You can freely distribute Larsen Commander as long as you don't change it
or sell it and as long as this readme file is contained in the distribution
together with the program.
Larsen Commander requires OS/2 Warp 3 or higher. It is compiled for
usage on 80486 processors, or higher. It was developed and built using
IBM Visual Age C++ 3.65 and 4.01 for OS/2. Great parts of the
Larsen Commander has been developed and tested on relative slow
computers and therefore performs very well even on relatively
weak machines.
On power machines the Larsen Commander is flying...
Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
To install the product you can follow these steps:
1. Unzip the distribution archive file in the directory of where
you want to install the program.
2. Run the script LCMDINST.CMD that is part of the distribution.
This will create a Larsen Commander folder on your desktop.
This is all.
Upgrade from version 1.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To upgrade from Larsen Commander version 1.0 to version 1.1 you can
follow these steps:
1. Backup all the 1.0 files, including the INI-file, in case you will
experience problems with version 1.1 and you will need to revert to
it version 1.0 while waiting for a fix.
2. Unzip the 1.1 distribution archive in the same directory as of where
Larsen Commander 1.0 is installed.
3. Run Larsen Commander. You don't have to execute the LCMDINST.CMD script,
unless you want to recreate the Larsen Commander folder on your desktop.
Features
~~~~~~~~
With Larsen Commander you can easily and safely perform all the traditional
file management operations, such as file copy, -move, -rename, -delete,
-edit and -view. In addition you have a large number of additional and
powerful features. Here you have a brief list of just some of them:
* Nice, attractive and highly customizable look and feel.
* The program actually works very well, and it is quick too.
* Powerful and user friendly at the same time.
* Built in GUI Console and Command Line with History.
* Scrollable console monitor, with various search and navigation capabilities.
* Graphical bytes-per-second monitor in file Copy/Move progress window.
* Support for Drag & Drop operations to and from the OS/2 Workplace Shell.
* Optional fancy menues with icons.
* Built in command to show statistic summary of directory trees.
* Automatic filename shortening when copy file from HPFS to FAT, and the
long filename is automatically restored when file is copied back to HPFS.
* Filename completion (ala 4OS2) when pressing CTRL+TAB.
* All commands are accessable by keyboard shortcuts.
* You can run multiple commands at once in the command line.
* Amazing multithreading capabilities: You don't have to wait for child
programs to finish before you can continue using Larsen Commander.
* Easy creation of Program and Shadow Objects on Desktop.
* Smart dynamic filename search by pressing ALT+letter.
* Directory Cache with smart CD command.
* Command aliases.
* User customizable shortcut keys.
* Built on optimized C++ library that ensures low memory usage and high speed.
* File Columns are no wider than the widest item of the respective Column.
* Clone current program instance with all the current state and settings.
* Built in command line commands: ALIAS, CD, CLS, EXIT, FINDDUP, HELP, HIST,
INFO, POPD, PUSHD, REP, SET, TAG, UNTAG, WHICH, +++
* All built in commands takes the well known "/?" and "-?" arguments.
* Human editable resource file for language dependent texts and GUI resources.
* Platform independent human editable INI-file.
* User customizable toolbar.
* User customizable menues.
* Smart Program Launching.
* Snappy bubble help with dynamic keyboard shortcut mnemonics.
* Use specific INI-file with command line argument "-iniFile".
* All scrollbars are 32 bits so scrolling huge lists are supported.
* The .LONGNAME EA is automatically removed when renaming a file.
* Preserves the Command and Directory History between sessions.
* All built in commands can be disabled on a per-command basis.
* User menu for easy launching of frequently used programs.
* You can SET environment variables directly in the shell, and they will
automatically be inherited by programs that you start from the command
line of Larsen Commander.
* Full support for volumes larger than 4GB.
* Built in Extended Attribute Viewer.
* User customizable icon resources.
* Extended selection-, filter- and sorting- capabilities.
* Full support for long filenames.
Some of the additional features that are soon to be added
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Built in text file editor and viewer.
* Support for ZIP-files and other archive formats (ARJ, LZH, ZOO, JAR).
* File undelete, using OS/2's DELDIR facility.
* Association editor.
* Tree view mode.
* Windows 95/98/NT/2000 version.
How to register Larsen Commander
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can register Larsen Commander online at the following sites:
BMT Micro, USA: http://www.bmtmicro.com
BTSoftware BV, The Netherlands: http://www.btsoftware.com
Mensys BV, The Netherlands: http://www.mensys.nl
Berggreen Service, Denmark: http://www.berggreen.dk
For more information, see the Larsen Commander registration page at
http://home.sol.no/~leilarse/lcmd/register.html
The register fee for Larsen Commander version 1.1 is $39 US.
This includes a free upgrade to all new versions up to, but not including
version 2.0.
Larsen Commander mailing list
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can join the Larsen Commander mailing list simply by sending a message
to "majordomo@bmtmicro.com" and put "subscribe lc-list XXX" in the body of
the message, where XXX is your Internet mail address. To get off, just
replace "subscribe" with "unsubscribe". To post a message to the list,
use the e-mail address "lc-list@bmtmicro.com".
Additional Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Please read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file LCMDFAQ.HTM for
more information before starting to use the Larsen Commander program
on your system.
Known bugs and problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Some programs uses the VIO subset of OS/2 in such a way that they can not
be run as a child process in the console monitor of Larsen Commander.
You can execute such programs by pressing ALT+ENTER rather than just
ENTER. This will ensure that the program is run in a new session,
completely independent from Larsen Commander.
This is a common and well known problem not only to Larsen Commander
but also to other GUI shells, such as Take Command/2 and the SHELL
facility of the OS/2 EPM Editor.
Anyway, you can always press CTRL+C to break the current child program
should it operate in an unaccessible way.
To make Larsen Commander automatically run the program in a new session,
regardless if you execute it with ALT+ENTER or just ENTER, just add
the program name to the list of TTY-apps in the options
dialog (Options->Jump To->Commands->TTY-Apps).
2. Some of the menu commands in Larsen Commander depends on external
programs on your system. For instance, when you choose to edit a text
file from within Larsen Commander, by default the OS/2 standard text
editor program E.EXE will be launched. However, you can easily choose
another program module if you like (probably you will). Just open the
options menu and select "Programs...". Then, just type in the desired
program module name and parameter list of each program category.
A few of the default programs are shareware programs that you might
not have installed on you system. For instance, when you choose the
menu command for comparing the content of two text files, Larsen Commander
will (by default) try to launch the PM-Diff shareware program.
I am working on internal versions of some of those menu commands.
Stay tuned!
Contackting the author
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Direct E-mail.....: leifel@online.no
Homepage..........: http://home.sol.no/~leilarse/index.html
Phone, private....: +47 64873223
Phone, work.......: +47 22801544
Snail mail........: Leif-Erik Larsen
Asenvegen 32b
1400 Ski
Norway
Getting the latest version
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can always find the latest version of Larsen Commander at the
Larsen Commander Home Page at
http://home.sol.no/~leilarse/lcmd/index.html
I will always upload the latest public updates of Larsen Commander to
that URL first. Then I will upload it to some various other sites in
addition.
Warranty
~~~~~~~~
Use of this software for any purpose whatsoever constitutes your
unqualified acceptance of the following statements.
The author makes no warranty or representation that the software will
be error free. The author disclaims any warranties, either express or
implied, including but not limited to any implied warranty of
merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
The user agrees to take full responsibility for the selection of and any
use whatsoever made of the software.
IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
(INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS,
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR THE LIKE) ARISING
OUT OF THE USE OF, INTERRUPTION IN THE USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF ANY POSSIBILITY OR
LIKELIHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Have fun!