The L.A Fox Developer Newsletter

April 1994

Books and Toys (Con't from page 6)

6. Allows you to place lines of text which will display your company name, any pertinent lines of text, and the name of the software being installed.

7. It should allow multiple disk fromats (360 K,

sion, such as ZIP or ARC.

easy to use. (Then again, how many commercial packages can do this?)

started by just typing “INSTALL” or an equivalent command.

While there are a number of other important criteria, I thought that if I could just find one that met the above, I’d be doing good.

Some of the programs I downloaded were INST

InstallatIon Software (INST3O.ZIP), Generic Install

Program (GIPV3OI .ZIP), The Finishing Touch

(FINISH2O.ZIP), Install-Pro (IPRO2O.ZIP), Program Installer Professional v4.5 (Pl45.ZIP),

Proinstaller vl.05 (PRO.ZIP), Installer 1.2

(INSTLRI2.ZIP), and Doughboy Install

(DOUGH2O.ZIP). Here’s what I found out:

Generic Install Program (GIPV3O1 ZIP) - This one isn’t bad if you don’t mind the absence of a compression utility. It takes you through the building of an installation disk in easy-to-follow steps. (Fl is always available for help.) It handles all four disk formats, has a facility for marking which files get copied to the installation disk, and will make the default installation directory. However, there is no compression utility (so you could end up with a lot of disks to duplicate), no allowance for alternative directories, and no mechanism for changing the CONFIG and AUTOEXEC files. The program is easy to use and the resultant installation program does have a fairly professional look to it.

INST Installation Software (INST3O.ZIP) - While the end result is not as professional looking, this program offers a few more options. You’re allowed to change the CONFIG and AUTOEXEC files, add lines of text, and display your company logo (if it’s in a .PCX format). This program is a bit unusual in

that it’s one of the few I’ve seen that allow you to upgrade existing applications. You can also specify video adapters, base memory, and free disk space. It also supports self-extracting files, such as those generated by IhArc, although none are included in the program.

Install-Pro (IPRO2O9.ZIP) - This is one of the better installation programs if you like to work from install “scripts”. However, be prepared for a learning curve.

PICK OF THE LITTER

First Impression (IMPRES25.ZIP) - As the name implies, program installation routines are the very first impression the end-user has of your software. Not only did this one meet or surpass my expectations, it even looked better than some of the commercial programs I’ve seen. Outstanding documentation, options, and ease of use make this program a pleasure to use.

Program Installer Professional (PI45.ZIP) - This is another great piece of work. While not as intuitive as First Impression, it still offers an intuitive interface enabling you to make short work of making your master disks. Automatic file compression (lhArc) is a unique feature of this software.

MOST INTERESTING

Doughboy Install (DOUG H20.ZIP) - Of the ten programs I downloaded, this was the only one that addressed the Windows platform exclusively. The program was about as automatic as you can get. Some of the options include being able to use bitmaps, import icons, etc. The only drawback that was obvious was that CONFIG and AUTOEXEC files were not configurable.

Closing Note

As mentioned above, all of these files were downloaded from Chips+ Connection in Newport Beach. Of the many BBS’s I belong to, this one has consistently high quality programs. Registration is a snap and membership is free.

(Con't, page 8)

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