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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.]