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PCShare Help Contents##contents

Welcome to PC-Share for MS-DOS on-line help. All help within PC-Share is organised in this manner. Text pertaining to a particular topic is listed in the main help window as per this text. Any help text which does not fit into a single window can be scrolled using the PgUp, PdDn keys. 
Topics of reference or further interested are listed in the popup menu to the right of this window. To vist one of these topics press the F2 key, then using the mouse or arrow keys select the required topic. A single mouse click, or press of the ENTER key will make the selections. Press F1 at any time to return here. 

As an example, the following topics of interest are selectable from here:

Overview%%main_overview


Version 3.1 Features%%pcshare_features


PC-Share Product Range%%pcshare_products

Development Kit%%development_kits

Commands%%commands

Procedures%%procedures
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PC-Share Overview##main_overview

PC-Share is a package of utilities designed to allow another computer system to utilise the peripherals and operating system of a PC for it's own use. This is accomplished through a single hardware port by means of a predefined message protocol. Device drivers and file managers written for the host computer intended to interact with PC-Share are normally used to implement this protocol thus providing a transparent interface layer between host computer 
and PC. 

PC-Share is available ready to run for use with an Intel 8255 PIO chip or the standard LPT parallel port and development kits%%development_kits are available for producing versions with an alternative hardware interface. 

When first started, the title screen is displayed followed by a clear screen and the word 'Ready.' displayed. The system is now ready to communicate with the host computer. Textual and graphical data sent to the PC is displayed on screen, whilst keypresses entered into the PC's keyboard is sent to the host machine for processing.

PC-Share's main menu%%main_menu is activated by pressing the Alt-F10 keys. From this menu system settings and configurations may be entered or altered. The menu also provides a number of utilities such as Copy/Paste and File Import/Export functions.

PC-Share product range and host computer support%%pcshare_products
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Product Range & Support##pcshare_products

The following PC-Share applications and support is available:


PCShare V3.1 for MS-DOS.

PCShare for DOS will run on any 80x86 based PC under MS-DOS V3 or greater.It gives host 
computer access to screen, shared hard disk, VGA graphics, MS-DOS file transfer, COM and LPT port usage and access to the Real Time Clock (RTC). 

PCShare V3.1 for Windows 3.1, 95 and NT

PCShare for Windows will run on any 80286 or better PC running Windows 3.1, 3.11, Windows '95 or Windows NT. It offers all the capabilities of the DOS version plus the ability to launch multiple display windows for multi-tasking host computer OS's, full Windows clipboard access both through Copy/Paste and direct file transfer along with full configurable PC-keyboard.


Development kit%%development_kits

Available for both DOS and Windows releases, allows a new PCShare application to be built utilising a different hardware interface. 

OS9 File Manager and Device Driver Support

A full driver set is available for OS9 Level 1 utilising the Motorola 6821 PIA chip. Source code for the relevent OS9 drivers is also available for alternative hardware and other platform development.

Host Computer Driver Development

The full interface document (necessary for driver development) is available from my website, along with supporting documentation and a full user manual to assist in device driver development for any computer platform. Downloading of the OS9 driver source may be useful as a reference point. 

The PC-Share project is an ongoing venture. For access to support documentation and the 
latest upgrades and releases contact:

http://www.jons-pc.demon.co.uk/pcshare1.htm

or email to

 jrb@jons-pc.demon.co.uk

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Development Kit##development_kits

The PC-Share development kits allows a new PC-Share application to be built utilising a different hardware architecture. In order to use the development kit you must have access to a Borland C compiler V3.0 or better.

The process of creating a new hardware interface involves writing a C module capable of performing byte wide IO to your designated interface and linking it with the rest of the PCShare package shipped as a C library file. To this end the development kit includes source code to the Intel 8255 PIO driver and details on how to go about writing the new driver.

Full details of obtaining and using the development kit are available at: 

http://www.jons-pc.demon.co.uk/pcshare1.htm
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PC-Share for DOS v3.1##pcshare_features

PC-Share for DOS provides the following functionality for a host computer:

Shared Hard Disk:%%hard_disk

The host computer can store files in it's own format onto the PC's hard disk.

MS-DOS File Access:%%msdos_files

The host computer can read and write MS-DOS format files. It can also access all attached DOS devices (LPT1, COM1 etc.)

Text and Graphics%%text_and_graphics

The host computer can display text and perform graphics operations on the PC's monitor.

Terminal Emulation:%%terminal_emulation

PC-Share supports two terminal emulators - DEC VT100 and Dragon/OS9 GO51 which can be selected by the host computer.

Keyboard Mapping:%%keyboard_maps

The protocol allows the use of the PC's keyboard with the host computer with re-programmable keyboard layout. Alternativly, 
the host's own keyboard may be used if preferred.

Real Time Clock:
The PC's Real Time Clock(RTC) can be read by the host computer.

Command Shell Forking:

The host computer can fork a DOS command shell from it's own operating system.

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PC-Share Main Menu##main_menu

The Main Menu (activated by pressing Alt-F10) provides the facilities for configuring and setting up the systemwide default options for PC-Share.

The Main Menu provides the following options:

File%%file_menu - controls MS-DOS file export/import and capture from the host..

Edit%%edit_menu - provides copy and paste functions for the host machine.

Config%%config_menu - Setup for hardware port, system colours and fonts etc.

Help - activates this help dialog.

Quit - Exits the program.
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Config Menu##config_menu

The Config Menu provides options for configuring the system hardware, setting default screen colours and setting up the PC's keyboard for use with the host computer:

Settings%%settings_menu - sets the hardware characteristics of PC-Share.

Keyboard Map%%keyboard_maps - defines the default mapping of the PC's keyboard for the host computer.

Colours%%screen_colours - sets the default display foreground and background colours.

Save Config - saves current system settings to disk. These are written to the PCShare configuration file PCSHARE3.CFG in your PC-Share directory. Next time the application is stared, these settings will be used.
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Settings Menu##settings_menu

The Settings Menu is obtained by selecting `Settings' from the Config Menu on the PC-Share Main menu. When invoked, the settings dialog box is displayed:

The first item in the dialog box configures the PC-Share hardware.%%hardware_settings

Enter into the IO Port Base box the hardware address of the parallel port connecting to the host computer.

The next two items configure the host computer's hard disk(s)%%hard_disk to be 
implemented by PC-Share.

Enter into the Hard Disks box the number of hard disks to be supported by PC-Share. Up to 10 hard disks for the host computer may be implemented.

Enter into the HD Sector Size box the size of a disk sector expected by the host computer.

The PCShare Directory box%%config_dir contains the path where the applications stores it's working files.

The Terminal Emulation%%terminal_emulation opens up a menu to select which default terminal emulation you required - DEC VT100, OS9/GO51 or None.

Clicking on OK saves the entered information into PC-Share's configuration file. Clicking on Cancel discards the changes made.

Normally these settings are entered when the PC-Share package is first setup and will not require changing during normal operation.
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Hardware Settings##hardware_settings

PC-Share's hardware settings primarily consist of setting the IO Port Base address. This defines where in the PC's address map PC-Share can find the parallel port you have connected your host computer to. Typically, the physical hardware address is set via jumpers or dip switches on your IO card. 

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Pseudo Hard Disk##hard_disk

PC-Share provides the ability to store data on a PC's hard drive in a host computer's native format. This `pseudo' hard disk is implemented by the host computer passed it's track/sector information direct to PC-Share which then translates the information into a position within an MS-DOS file. Up to 10 of these hard disks may be supported by PC-Share, however the actual number implemented at any one time is defined by the `Hard Disks' count in the Settings dialog box. Each hard disk file is held in your PC-Share working directory%%config_dir as HDISKn.BIN where n is the disk identifier from 0 to 9.

PC-Share also needs to know the size of a disk sector on the disk - consult the host 
computer's documentation for this information - as an example PC's use 512 bytes/sector where as the OS9 system utilises 256 bytes/sector.

In order to configure the hard disk on the host computer, you will normally be required to enter the size of the disk in terms of  Number of Tracks and Sectors Per Track. The device driver for your host computer must then translate this information into Logical Sector Numbers (LSNs) to be passed to PC-Share. An LSN is calculated as follows:

  LSN = Track No. * Sectors Per Track + Sector Number - 1

This assumes Track numbers start from 0 and Sector Numbers from 1. The host computer 
must provide this translation from it's track & sector information.

PC-Share does not have any knowledge of Track/Sector information. When entering 
configuration information into your host computer, you should just ensure that the total space you require is met.

As an example, for a 512 byte/sector, 40MB hard drive you could enter:

Total Tracks: 320
Sectors/Track: 256
Bytes/Sector: 512 

320 * 256 * 512 = 40MB

or

Total Tracks: 160
Sectors/Track: 512
Bytes/Sector: 512

160 * 512 * 512 = 40MB

or any combination allowable by your host computer.

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Configuration Directory##config_dir

PC-Share's configuration directory as entered through the Settings Menu%%settings_menu defines where it can locate all the working files. Typically this is the same place as the PC-Share executable. 

PC-Share stores it's configuration file (PCSHARE3.CFG) in this directory, which holds:

The Hardware Port IO Address%%hardware_settings
Pseudo Hard Disk Information%%hard_disk
Default Terminal Emulation%%terminal_emulation
Default Screen Colours%%screen_colours
Default Keyboard Mappings%%keyboard_maps

The Pseudo Hard Disks named HDISK0.BIN through to HDISK9.BIN are also held in this 
directory.
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Terminal Emulation##terminal_emulation

Traditionally, computer's may be attached to a video terminal of which they had no direct control of the terminal's hardware - often termed a `dumb' terminal setup. In order to control the display of these terminals, the host computer would issue a set control characters, typically referred to as `escape sequences' to perform cursor positioning, text highlighting etc.

PC-Share offers two in-built terminal emulators which process these escape sequences for the PC's screen.

DEC VT100 implements a sub-set of the most widely used emulation sequences implemented 
by many commercial terminals.

Dragon/OS9 GO51 implements the sequences used to control the screen display when in 
GO51 video mode under OS9 Level 1 on the Dragon 64 computer.

All terminal emulation, apart from basic operations (like Carriage Return, Line Feed etc.) may be disabled if required by selecting `None' from the option list.

The Default Terminal Emulation may be set on the Settings Menu, this determines the 
emulation used whenever the package is first executed.

The emulation used may also be changed by the host computer, however this only takes effect for the current session unless the 'Save Config' option of the Config menu is used to save the changes.
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Screen Colours##screen_colours

Screen colours (the background and text colour) can be configured from PC-Share in two ways:

Through the Colours Menu of the Config Menu. When selected, a sub-menu is displayed for Foreground or Background colour. Either will display a further menu listing the colour choices with the current setting highlighted. Any colours entered remain for the current session only unless the Save Config option of the Config Menu is used, in which case they will be used as the default for the next session.

The host computer may also change the foreground and background colours, these changes can also be saved as the defaults in an identical fashion.
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Keyboard Maps##keyboard_maps

The PC's keyboard may be used with PC-Share, and certain control keys can be 
programmed to return special codes to the host computer. Typically, this will be to mimic certain keyboard codes the host computer's own keyboard may generate (eg. the arrow keys) or to provide shortcut keys to generate a sequence which on the host's keyboard may involve multiple or combined keypresses (eg. the function keys, or PgUp, PgDn etc.). The keyboard may also be re-programmed to mimic another keyboard type which the host's own keyboard may not be capable of - eg. a DEC VT terminal. 

The keyboard map is entered from PC-Share's Config Menu by selecting Keyboard Map. From here, a sub-menu is displayed. Choose the Define Keymap from this menu.

The configurable keys are shown in the scrollable listbox. Each key may be assigned up to four 8-bit codes to be transferred when that key is pressed. Different sequences may be entered depending on if the shift or control key is held down at the time. A value of 0 indicates the key has not been re-programmed and will result in either no sequence being sent to the host computer (as in the case of function keys) or the `normal' value of the key. For example, the `Backspace' key will, by default send a code of 8 if pressed.

To view the settings for a given key, scroll to the required key and click on it using the mouse, or press the ENTER key. The values are displayed for all 3 key combinations. To change these values simply click or press ENTER again on the key. You will be required to enter a value in all the keyboard definition boxes, pressing the ENTER key between each one. When the entry is complete, a dialog box is displayed and you may resume displaying further keyboard definitions.

Keyboard map settings entered here only remain valid for the current session. To save them for use in the future use the Save Keymap option from the Keyboard Map menu. The settings can be reloaded in future by using the Load Keymap option.

Alternatively, to make the current settings the default for future sessions, goto the Save Config option of the Config Menu.
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File Menu##file_menu

The File Menu of an active window controls the transfer of data to and from the screen/keyboard into disk files. There are 3 options to this menu:

Import Text: Allows the transferal of an MS-DOS text file into the screen. When activated, a File dialog box will open requesting the name of the file to import. Text read from that file will then be passed to the host computer as if it had been typed in from the keyboard.

Export Text: Allows the transferal of a highlighted area of text%%text_selection on the screen to be copied into an MS-DOS file. When activated, a File dialog box will open requesting the name of the file for export. The contents of the highlight area will then be written to the file.

Capture: Allows the capture of outgoing text to be saved into an MS-DOS file. When 
activated, a File dialog box will open requesting the name of the capture file. Subsequently, all text (and any terminal emulator escape sequences) will be written to the file. In order to complete file capture, select the menu item again. 
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Edit Menu##edit_menu

The Edit menu allows the copying and pasting of areas of text currently displayed on screen. This is achieved through the use of a local 'clipboard' which text can be copied to and then later retrieved.

Copy: The current text selection%%text_selection on the window is copied as ASCII text to the clipboard. The selected area is unchanged.

Paste: Any text on the clipboard which is recognized as ASCII text is sent to the host computer as if it had been typed in at the keyboard. A maximum of 64Kbytes can be pasted at any one time.

Select All: The entire text contents of the screen is highlighted as the current text selection.

Mark: This option allows the keyboard to be used for selecting text instead of the mouse. See the Text Selection%%text_selection topic for details of this option.
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Text Selection##text_selection

Any region of text on the screen may be selected using the mouse or keyboard. The entire screen can quickly be selected using the Select All function of the Edit menu. This text selection may then be copied to the local clipboard and later pasted to the host computer as if it had been re-typed on the keyboard. It may also be exported to a disk file using the File Export option from the File Menu.

Mouse selection is achieved by clicking and holding the left mouse button down and dragging the cursor to the end of the desired region. Once completed, release the mouse button. The area of selection will remain highlighted.

Keyboard selection is achieved using the Mark option from the Edit Menu. To begin selection, activate the Mark menu. The main menu will then clear. Using the arrow keys move the block cursor to the start of the block to be selected. Press the ENTER key. Again using the arrow keys, proceed to highlight the required selection. When done, press ENTER again.

Text selections will be cleared whenever any new text is output by the host computer.
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Text and Graphics Support##text_and_graphics

When the package is first started, PC-Share will display all text received by the host computer using the default screen colours. These may subsequently be altered by the user or host computer. This holds true whilst the PC is in text mode.

The host computer must put PC-Share into graphics mode to perform any graphical operations. The modes and colours available will depend on your graphics card, at best VGA 16-colour mode. When in graphics mode:

Text is displayed white on black.

The Main Menu, mouse and terminal emulation is disabled.

The host computer can initiate a number of graphics operations such as line draw, circle and individual points. Only the host computer can select text or graphics mode.

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MS-DOS File Access##msdos_files

A large part of the PC-Share message interface is in support of MS-DOS file and device access. The host computer may open any file or device which can be seen from the DOS command prompt for reading and writing. This includes hard disks, floppy disk, printers, serial ports and network drives. Device drivers written for the host computer will normally make the 
distinction between the host machine's own files and MS-DOS files as transparent as possible.

Files/devices may be read from or written to in binary (raw data) or text modes with full error reporting. Up to 64Kbytes of data may be transferred to/from the PC/host computer in one data stream. 

As well as general file access, PC-Share also provides a number of additional file operations, including file delete, change directory, make directory and directory reading capabilities. 

PC-Share also includes support for accessing the serial (COM) ports asyncronously using special dedicated software to allow full access to communications type (ie. modems) devices. 
The ports can also be configured under control of the host.
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Commands##commands

Config Menu (Main Menu)%%config_menu
File Menu (Main Menu)%%file_menu
Edit Menu (Main Menu)%%edit_menu
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Procedures##procedures

Hardware Settings%%settings_menu
Configuration Directory%%config_dir
Terminal Emulation%%terminal_emulation
Screen Colours%%screen_colours
Keyboard Maps%%keyboard_maps
Text Selection%%text_selection
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