Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1993 16:17:24 -0800 From: david_ryeburn@sfu.ca (David Ryeburn) Subject: System 7 Emergency disks using ShortFinder Recently Brian Gaeke posted an application called ShortFinder 1.0 (posted as util/short-finder-10.hqx). It can be used to launch or terminate processes. This includes the possibility of quitting the Finder if there is a (normal) Finder and it is running, or starting it if it is not running. ShortFinder uses about one-seventh the disk space of a regular System 7 Finder, and runs in far less RAM. This report shows how ShortFinder can be used as a Finder substitute on a high-density floppy disk to make a System 7 emergency disk. -------------------------------------------------- One can use ShortFinder without changing its name, creator, or type in addition to or in place of the regular Finder. It is obvious how to use it, and why one might want to use it, in addition to a regular Finder on a hard disk. It can also be used unmodified in place of a Finder on a floppy startup disk. To do this the System file and the ShortFinder application should be placed loose on the floppy disk, not inside a System Folder. Begin with a copy of the System 7.0 or 7.0.1 Disk Tools disk. Extract the System file from the System Folder. Trash the remainder of the System Folder including the folder itself. Place a copy of ShortFinder next to the System file. You will then have over 300K of room left on your high density floppy disk for useful applications and other items. The boot blocks on the startup disk should be changed so that the first ASCII entry of "Finder" is replaced by "ShortFinder 1.0" (and the hex entry immediately preceding this should be changed from "06" to "0F" since "ShortFinder 1.0" has fifteen letters instead of six) but the second entry of "Finder" in the boot blocks should be left unaltered. The result will be that if such a disk is used as a startup disk, the ShortFinder program will open up automatically as a Finder normally would, and then it will allow you to open whatever other application or applications you may have on the disk, use them, and eventually quit them. When you are finished using the floppy startup disk, Shut Down and Restart choices are available >From within the ShortFinder application. (When using ShortFinder without a real Finder, do not make the mistake of quitting or terminating ShortFinder itself, since if you do, the only thing left for you will be the hardware Reset button.) I will call this way of using an unaltered copy of ShortFinder as a Finder substitute without a System Folder METHOD 1. METHOD 1 works well, but without a System Folder one cannot use Extensions. There is another way to use ShortFinder in place of a Finder, which I will call METHOD 2. Again begin with a copy of the Disk Tools disk. Trash the Finder inside the System Folder and in its place put a copy of ShortFinder. Change its name from "ShortFinder 1.0" to "Finder" and its creator and type from "sFdr" and "APPL" to "MACS" and "FNDR". My disk includes an Extensions folder containing Gatekeeper Aid 1.2.7 and the Disinfectant 3.1 INIT. Outside the System Folder it includes Disk First Aid 7.1, a copy of TeachText 7.0, a READ ME file containing information similar to that in this report, and a copy of ShortFinder Docs (Word 5.0), documentation in Word 5.0 format which accompanied ShortFinder 1.0 when I downloaded it and which the author of ShortFinder wants always to accompany it. Other extensions, and Control Panels containing INIT code, can be placed (as is done on my disk) inside an Extensions folder inside the System Folder, or inside a Control Panels folder inside the System Folder, or loose inside the System Folder. Such Extensions will load at startup, and the INIT code in such Control Panels will load, but the Control Panels themselves will not be accessible for altering their settings from whatever they were when first placed on the disk. METHOD 1 is much like what Norton Utilities does with their emergency disk; they put "Norton Utils" in place of the first "Finder" entry in the boot blocks, and prefix it by the hex entry "0C" since "Norton Utils" has twelve letters. They too leave the second "Finder" entry as it is. Norton Utils opens up automatically at startup, and when one finally quits it, since no Finder is present one is offered the choices Shut Down and Restart. The advantage in using ShortFinder under METHOD 1 rather than doing (with whatever useful application you wish to have on your emergency startup disk) exactly what the Norton Utilities emergency disk does with Norton Utils is that with ShortFinder one can open any or all of several applications on the startup disk (if there is room), rather than automatically open up just one application. The Silverlining PGM disk does it all a different way. There La Cie has their own small Finder substitute inside a System Folder (like METHOD 2) but their Finder opens automatically into a ReadMe file outside the System Folder which in turn has a Transfer menu on which one can open (one at a time) other applications on the startup disk outside the System Folder. On the Silverlining PGM disk these applications are Silverlining and Disk First Aid. Other applications (limited only by available disk space and your courage) can be added or substituted. Extensions and Control Panels can also be added, as in METHOD 2. One advantage in using ShortFinder under METHOD 2 rather than using La Cie's Finder substitute and ReadMe file is that with ShortFinder again one can run more than one of the applications on the startup disk at a time. A second advantage is that the software being used is relatively inexpensive shareware rather than the excellent but expensive software from La Cie. Finally, when one licenses Silverlining from La Cie permission is not explicitly given to use their Finder substitute and Read Me file for any purposes other than as expected on their PGM disk. Not having upgraded to System 7.1 yet, I have not used either METHOD 1 or METHOD 2 with a System 7.1 System file and ShortFinder. I would appreciate hearing how they both work, if someone tries them. The address of the author of ShortFinder is: Brian Gaeke The Dimensional Gate Co. 201 The Alameda Middletown, OH 45044-4805 USA GEnie E-mail: BRG Internet e-mail: brg@cerf.net I am not associated with him, except as a satisfied user of his ShortFinder application. April 19, 1993 David Ryeburn Internet e-mail: david_ryeburn@sfu.ca