335 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
335 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
TURBO HELP UTILITY
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------------------
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This file explains how to use THELP.COM. THELP is a
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memory-resident utility that provides online help for Turbo
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Pascal and Turbo C. If you are using Turbo Debugger, for
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example, you can load THELP, then run the debugger and get
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online help for Pascal or C while you are debugging.
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Table of Contents
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-----------------
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1. Starting THELP
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2. Command-line Options Summary
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3. Detailed Explanation of Keys Used When THELP is Active
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4. Detailed Explanation of Command line Options
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1. Starting THELP
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------------------
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Load THELP at the DOS command line simply by typing THELP.
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Make sure the Turbo help file (TURBO.HLP for Turbo Pascal,
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TCHELP.TCH for TURBO C) is in the current directory or use the /F
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command line option described below.
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Memory Usage - THELP requires about 8K bytes (+ 32K swap file);
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40K with no swapping.
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Default hotkey - The default hotkey is Numeric-Keypad-5 (scan
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code 4ch, shift state 00h).
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Paste speed - The default pasting speed is FAST. You'll have
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to experiment if it pastes too quickly for your
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editor. Note that you should turn off autoindent
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in the integrated environment before using the
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paste feature (Ctrl-Q I toggles autoindent).
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If you are using SideKick Plus or SideKick 1.x, make sure you
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load THELP before you load SideKick.
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2. Command-line Options Summary
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-------------------------------
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USAGE: THELP [options]
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Here is a summary of the command line options. If you use more
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than one option, they must be separated by spaces.
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/B Use BIOS for video
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/C#xx Select color: #=color number, xx=hex color value
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/Dname Full path for disk swapping (implies /S1)
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/Fname Full path and filename of help file
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/H,/?,? Display this help screen
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/Kxxyy Change hotkey: xx=shift state(hex),
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yy=scan code(hex)
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/Lxx Force number of rows on screen: xx=25,43,50
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/M+,/M- Display help text: on monochrome screen(+),
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on default screen(-)
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/Px Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast
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/R Send options to resident THELP
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/Sx Default Swapping Mode: 1=Use Disk, 2=Use EMS,
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3=No Swapping
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/U Remove THELP from memory
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/W Write Options to THELP.COM and exit
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3. Detailed Explanation of Keys Used When THELP is Active
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---------------------------------------------------------
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Arrow keys: Move the highlight from item to item within the
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current help screen.
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PgUp/PgDn: Move from screen to screen if additional screens
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are available.
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ENTER: Select help entry for the item highlighted in the
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current help screen.
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ESC: End Help.
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F1: Help Index. F1 from any help screen brings up
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the Help Index.
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ALT-F1: Displays in reverse order the last 20 screens you
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have reviewed.
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CTL-F1: Bring up help screen for THELP's hot keys.
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F key: Select new help file. 'F' or 'f' brings up a
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window that allows you to change help files on
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the fly. Type in the complete path name of the
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new help file, and it will be read into memory
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and initialized to the help index of the new file.
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If the new file does not exist, or is in an
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invalid format, THELP will beep twice, and return
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you to the original file.
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J key: Jump to specified help page number. 'J' or 'j'
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brings up a window that allows you to jump to any
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particular page (9999 max) in the help file. The
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only editing key permitted in this window is
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BackSpace. ESC aborts, CR (or four digits)
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completes.
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K key: Search help file for specified keyword. 'K' or 'k'
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brings up a window in which you can enter a
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keyword (40 characters max), and have THELP search
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the help file for a match. If there is no matching
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keyword in the current help file, THELP will beep
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twice and return you to the original help screen.
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I key: Paste highlighted keyword into application. 'I' or
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'i' inserts the current highlighted keyword into
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the keyboard buffer, and immediately pops down.
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P key: Paste entire help screen into application. 'P' or
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'p' inserts the entire current help page (as it
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appears in the help window) into the current
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application, and then immediately pops down.
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Pasting can be interrupted with ^C or ^Break.
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S Key: Save help screen to disk file (THELP.SAV). 'S' or
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's' from any help screen saves the current help
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page to the disk file THELP.SAV, in the current
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directory. If the file already exists, the new
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help information is appended to the end.
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<Hotkey Combo>
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Pressing the hotkey combination when using THELP
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on a second monitor ends this session of the
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resident help, but leaves the current help screen
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on the monochrome monitor.
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4. Detailed Explanation of Command-line Options
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------------------------------------------------
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/B -- Use BIOS for video
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This option forces THELP to use Interrupt 10h BIOS video calls
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for all writing to/reading from the video display. Normally, THELP
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will write directly to video RAM. Note that the use of this
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option negates the effect of the /M switch described below; the
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alternate monitor may not be used if /B is in effect. This option
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is enabled with '/B+', and disabled with '/B-' (enable is the
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default).
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/C#xx Select color: #=color number, xx=hex color value
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There are eight possible colors, described as follows:
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1 = Color Normal Text
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2 = Monochrome Normal Text
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3 = Color Possible reference pages; top/bottom description line
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4 = Monochrome Possible reference pages; top/bottom description line
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5 = Color Border Color
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6 = Monochrome Border Color
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7 = Color Current Reference Selection
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8 = Monochrome Current Reference Selection
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Any or all of these eight colors may be specified on the command
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line.
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The color numbers for a standard IBM-compatible Color Display are
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as follows:
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First Digit (Background) Second Digit (Foreground)
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0 -- Black 0 -- Black
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1 -- Blue 1 -- Blue
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2 -- Green 2 -- Green
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3 -- Cyan 3 -- Cyan
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4 -- Red 4 -- Red
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5 -- Magenta 5 -- Magenta
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6 -- Brown 6 -- Brown
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7 -- Grey 7 -- Grey
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8 -- Intense Black
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ORing the color value with 9 -- Intense Blue
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Hex 80 produces a blinking A -- Intense Green
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color unless blinking has been B -- Intense Cyan
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disabled. C -- Intense Red
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D -- Intense Magenta
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E -- Intense Brown (Yellow)
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F -- Intense Grey (White)
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On Monochrome monitors, the attribute values can differ widely,
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so some experimentation would be needed. Note that the monochrome
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attributes are used in only two cases; when the current video
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mode is 7, or when force mono is used (see the /M option)
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/Dname -- Full path for disk swapping (implies /S1)
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This option is used to override where THELP will place its swap
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files when swapping to disk. A full path should be specified,
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but a trailing '\' is not necessary. If no /D option is
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specified, under DOS 3.x swap files are placed in the directory
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where THELP.COM resides. Under DOS 2.x, swap files are placed by
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default in C:\.
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Using this option also sets the flag that forces disk swapping
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instead of checking first for EMS.
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/Fname -- Full path and filename of help file
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The name that follows the /F option should be the full
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drive/directory pathname of the help file to use; e.g.,
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THELP /FC:\TP\TURBO.HLP
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THELP /FC:\TURBOC\TCHELP.TCH
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By default, THELP looks for the help file on the logged drive and
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directory.
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/H,/?,? -- Display help screen
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This option displays a summary of THELP's command-line options
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/Kxxyy -- Change hotkey: xx=shift state, yy=scan code
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Virtually any shift state/scan code combination may be selected.
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A quick summary of some common shift-states and scan codes
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follows:
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Shift States (may be OR'ed together)
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right shift 01h
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left shift 02h
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control 04h
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alt 08h
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Scan Codes
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A --- 1eh N --- 31h 0 --- 0bh F1 --- 3bh
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B --- 30h O --- 18h 1 --- 02h F2 --- 3ch
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C --- 2eh P --- 19h 2 --- 03h F3 --- 3dh
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D --- 20h Q --- 10h 3 --- 04h F4 --- 3eh
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E --- 12h R --- 13h 4 --- 05h F5 --- 3fh
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F --- 21h S --- 1fh 5 --- 06h F6 --- 40h
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G --- 22h T --- 14h 6 --- 07h F7 --- 41h
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H --- 23h U --- 16h 7 --- 08h F8 --- 42h
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I --- 17h V --- 2fh 8 --- 09h F9 --- 43h
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J --- 24h W --- 11h 9 --- 0ah F10 --- 44h
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K --- 25h X --- 2dh
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L --- 26h Y --- 15h
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M --- 32h Z --- 2ch
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Enhanced Keyboards only (may not work with all computers,
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keyboards)
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F11 --- 57h
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F12 --- 58h
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/Lxx -- Force number of rows on screen: xx=25,43,50
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Some video adapters do not correctly store the number of video
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rows on the screen in the BIOS data location specified for the
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IBM-PC. This option forces THELP to use the given value, rather
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than the number the BIOS reports.
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/M+,/M- -- Display help text: on monochrome screen(+),
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on default screen(-)
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For users with dual-monitor systems, this option may be used to
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instruct THELP to bring up its display on the monochrome monitor,
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rather than on the color monitor. This option is enabled with
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'/M+', and disabled with '/M-' (enable is the default). Note that
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/M is incompatible with /B (see above).
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/Px -- Pasting speed: 0=slow, 1=medium, 2=fast
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Some editors do not accept characters pasted into the keyboard
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buffer as fast as THELP can put them there. By setting an
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appropriate paste speed, virtually all possible configurations of
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editors may be used. FAST speed pastes as many characters as will
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fit on every timer tick; MEDIUM pastes up to four characters per
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tick; and SLOW pastes a single character into the buffer ONLY
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when the buffer is empty.
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/R -- Send options to resident THELP
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The /R option is used to pass parameters (like new colors, or new
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hotkeys) to the resident portion of THELP. All THELP command line
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options may be sent to the resident portion except for the
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swapping mode, which cannot be modified once THELP has been
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initialized.
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In combination with these options, you can create a batch file
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that changes THELP's configuration as you change editors; i.e.:
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THELP /M /P0 /FC:\TP\TURBO.HLP /R
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Use mono monitor, slow pasting, and the Turbo Pascal help
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file. Options are not saved to disk.
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THELP /P2 /FC:\TC\TCHELP.TCH /R
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Use default monitor, fast pasting, and the Turbo C help file.
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Options are not saved to disk.
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/Sx -- Default Swapping Mode: 1=Use Disk, 2=Use EMS,
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3=No Swapping
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If no '/S' parameter is used, THELP first tests to see if
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Expanded Memory is available in the system. If so, and if enough
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memory can be allocated, swapping is done to EMS. If EMS is not
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available, disk swapping is used. See the /D parameter for
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information on where the swap file will be written if disk
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swapping is used.
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/U -- Remove THELP from memory
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This option is used to remove THELP from memory. If other TSRs
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have been loaded after THELP, make sure to remove them before
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removing THELP.
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/W -- Write Options to THELP.COM and exit
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The /W parameter is used to create a new version of THELP that
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uses the options you desire as a default. All options, including
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/S (but not /R) may be specified and made 'permanent'.
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