* -*- outline -*-

		 Zselx v1.0 - (c) 1996 Russell Marks

	   A (5k) file manager for Z80-based CP/M machines.


* License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at
your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

[The GNU GPL is in the file `COPYING'.]


* About zselx

Zselx lets you pick files from a certain drive/user and do one of
these things:

- copy or move them to another drive/user;
- delete them;
- view them.

Like cpmtris, zselx works as is on VT52s (PCW and +3) and ZCN boxes,
works with VT100s with `zselx 1', and is patchable for other machines
and terminals. (It uses the same patch area layout, so you can use a
cpmtris patch with zselx.)

It's a conversion of my original Unix version, modified to use
internal cp/mv/rm/more-like `commands'. Unix zselx is free too (public
domain in fact, as writing it on Unix was considerably simpler) and
available on request.

Zselx was inspired by a useful little program for MS-DOS called `co'.
Zselx is essentially a clone of `co', with certain details modified to
suit CP/M.

* User numbers

The term `user' in this file means `user area' or `user number'. If
you don't know what that means, check your CP/M manual. They're a
little bit like directories on other OS's. For those people without a
CP/M manual, here's the definition from the CP/M 2.2 manual:

"user number: Number assigned to files in the disk directory so that
different users need only deal with their own files and have their own
directories, even though they are all working from the same disk. In
CP/M, files can be divided into 16 user groups."

On a single-user system, then, they can be used rather like
directories. They're numbered from 0 to 15, with 0 the default user.
You can use the `user n' command to switch to user n. Drive/user
specifications are far from standard, and different forms are used by
different programs, among them (for, say, drive B: user 4) 4/B:, 4B:,
and B4:. Zselx uses the last one, as that seems to be the most
popular.


* Using zselx

Running zselx gives you a list of files in a given drive/user.
(Normally the current drive/user - see `Command-Line Options' below
for how to use another drive/user.) You can then choose files to
copy/move/delete/view, etc. The keys are:

[Below, ^x means control-x. Many operations can be obtained with more
than one key, and each key is listed. Where I say `the files', I'm
referring to the tagged (selected) files. If none are tagged, the
currently-pointed-to file is used. I also list keys used in the Unix
version which aren't supported in this CP/M version.]

Esc x q		quit
h k ^p ^e	move cursor up
l j ^n ^x	move cursor down
0 <		go to top of file list
$ G >		go to end of file list
^b ^u ^r	move cursor back a page
^f ^v ^c	move cursor forward a page
c 1		copy the files to a given drive/user
d 2		delete the files, prompting for confirmation
m 3		move the files to a given drive/user
a 4		untag all files
v		view the files (press Esc/q/x to exit file view)
f		not supported (edit the files)
o 6		not supported (run a given command on the files)
n 7		sort file list by name
e 8		sort file list by extension
s 9		sort file list by size
t		not supported (sort file list by `time' (date))
+ =		tag file at cursor
-		untag file at cursor
Space		toggle tagged status of file at cursor
~		not supported (tag files ending in `~')

In short, it supports both vi and Emacs keys (and the wordstar-style
^E and ^X), and if you have cursor keys, they'll probably work (unless
you're using a VT100, I'm afraid).

When specifying drive/user to copy/move to, you can use any of the
forms a:, 0:, or a0:. If you don't give a drive/user, i.e. you just
press return, then no copy/move is performed.

Some notes on the way the copy, move, etc. commands work:

- copy/move test for copying to the same drive/user, and don't
copy/move if this is the case.

- move works by copying then deleting, even if you're only moving a
file from one user to another on the same drive. This means that, if
you're moving a file between users on the same drive, you temporarily
need enough room for two copies of any file you want to move. There's
no such problem when moving between different drives.

[Note to hackers: Why do I implement file move this way when it would
be quicker to just change the user number in the disk's directory?
Well, because it's more portable. CP/M emulators translating native
directories on the fly (like Michael Bischoff's excellent `cpm'
emulator for Linux) can't possibly handle this kind of thing. Also,
ZCN doesn't have much of a BIOS, so it wouldn't have worked on that.]

- view is designed only for text files. It strips the high bit (for
wordstar files), then displays control codes in ^x form, so don't
count on the control codes necessarily meaning anything in binary
files. A more serious problem with using it to display binary files is
that it treats ^Z as EOF; so, as I say, it only really works for text
files.


* Command-Line Options

In Unix terms, the synopsis (usage) is `zselx [termtype] [du:]'.

If `du:' is specified, it must be a drive/user spec. to use instead of
the current drive/user.

Currently, on some CP/M-like systems, you may not be able to use the
`u:'-type form for the `du:' arg (i.e. just the user number) unless
you explicitly specify `termtype'. If you run into this problem, just
specify the drive too, using the `du:' form.

If `termtype' is specified, it must be a single digit corresponding to
a terminal type.

To explain this `terminal type' stuff: It's traditional for
full-screen CP/M programs to either include a configuration program,
or (more usually) document patches which need to be made to support
different terminals. Zselx does have a patch area (100h-17fh), but
also has built-in support for a few terminals. These are:

Type	Terminal
0	as defined in patch area
1	VT100
2	VT52 (PCW, +3, etc.) - this is the default
3	ZCN (this is auto-detected)
4	VC404

The idea behind being able to specify terminal type when you run zselx
is that it's more convenient if you sometimes use your machine via a
terminal or terminal emulator. With most programs you have to devise
some method of patching them when you want to use something other than
the default configuration. With zselx, if (for example) I'm using my
ZCN box via kermit on my Linux box - not uncommon - then it's just a
matter of using `zselx 1'.

See the source (zselx.z) for details of the patch area.


* Bugs

The screen-redrawing code is pretty much pessimal. :-( In particular,
scrolling is done `by hand', rather than using any insert/delete line
capability the terminal might have. This can really hurt on a slow
serial link.

Doesn't yet support `co' option 5, `mark blank'.


* Acknowledgements

The original `co' utility.

Hawkwind's "Warrior on the Edge of Time" and "Hall of the Mountain
Grill" albums. I listened to them constantly while hacking up zselx.
Well, one at a time of course, so not *really* constantly, but... :-)


* Contacting the Author

No email address at the moment I'm afraid. :-(

Postal address:
		Russell Marks,
		3 Rapley Close,
		Camberley,
		Surrey,
		GU15 4ER,
		United Kingdom.

If you insist on abbreviating my name, please use "R. J. Marks".
