[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Howard Schwartz) wrote:
> In connection with a Unix-like ``man'' help command for Dos, I would like
> to recommend a freeware program called pcman10.zip, which you can get
> at Simtel in the textutils directory.
>
> I have used it happily for years.
>
> It is actually an improvement on the unix man command. It displays
> info. on a program, a list of entries that match keywords, an option
> to edit an information page, and set of menus to browse the system
> by category for programs you want info on. That is, if you enter
> ``man'' alone you get a parent menu with enteries (that you define)
> like ``textutils'' ``browsers'' etc. Navigate the menu till you
> see the program or description you are looking for, and press <ENTER>.
> That brings up its info. page.
>
I believe this is a very interesting program, bringing in some interactivity
to the "static" type of documentation.
Naturally I went to Simtel to find it. Saw the "improvements" there. I believe
this new version of site is
a kind of a "pre-alpha release" because, at least their search engine doesn't
work well... At least I could not find "pcman10". Tried with "pcman" too and
no luck. Did they decide to "shrink" the DOS archive?
To my disapointment there is another search engine namely Lycos ftpsearch,
once a very good one (a kind of an "Archie") who has totally changed lately.
Did not have much time to investigate this matter though.
As for Linux, from time to time I seem to miss a kind of interactive help
tool. Info seems to be such a tool, but it is not widely used. Those who use
Gnome know about "gnome-help-browser" which is a viewer for all sorts of
documentation formats. KDE also has a tool like this, but some sort of
"winhelp" (maybe "linuxhelp"} is yet to come.
Cristian Burneci
