Booming or Fuming? Are You Alive? Or Are You Fading Away?!

[Norman L. DeForest]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004, guard wrote:
[snip]

But there are also significant numbers of SysAdmins
around the world that use only the Completely FREE
Advanced Library and our other FREE tools to help
avoid fuming. And they also enjoy great success!

Many of the most frequent "Syntax Ditches" are
bridged in the Advanced Library. For example:

Determining the current OS and ServicePack

I know my OS. Since I wouldn't know one ServicePack from another if one
ran up to me an bit me on the leg, I wouldn't know what to do with the
information if I had it.

Renaming a file to the current date/time

Set ekkodate=YYYYMMDD
wet ekkotime=HOMI
for %%f in ( foo*.txt ) do ekko ren "%%f" "$d_$t_%%f"$, >>fooyou.bat
call fooyou.bat
del fooyou.bat

To get EKKO.COM, see:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/Tips.html#Tip011

Or, using 4DOS, a one-liner typed at the command-line would do the job
(long line may warp with your newsreader):

for %f in ( foo*.txt ) do ren "%f" "%_year%@right[2,0%_month]%@right[2,0%_day]_%@right[2,0%_hour]%@right[2,0%_minute]_%f

Overcoming problems with delayed expansion

My landlord had that problem with the furnace pipes in the building.

[snip]^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's not cross-platform.

The Morris worm was cross-platform.

Writing a program that will compile correctly for a Linux box, a Windows
NT box, a Windows 95 box, a PC-DOS 3.3 machine, a Seiko running MP/M-86,
a Macintosh, a Texas Instruments Professional Computer and a VIC-20, now
*that* would really be cross-platform. (OK, you can leave out the VIC-20.)

[snip]

Most, but not all, SysAdmins would like to learn more about
automating repetitive tasks through scripting. But having
the time to actually learn is not a given. A great many
are also wearing many other hats, given the responsibility
for System Administration, without being given the tools,
time and training to do the job. And, finally, there are
a great many other skills necessary for good System
Administration, besides coding scripts.

.... starting with knowing how to pick the right free Linux or Un*x distro.

The working environment that is typical for the extremely
limited group of active posters and answerers to a worldwide
Internet Newsgroup is NOT AT ALL SIMILAR to the daily
trials experienced by those who read the group but never

If *anyone* else's environment is even remotely similar to mine
then I offer them my sincerest condolences.

ask anything for fear of being publicly humiliated if
they didn't "Google" properly before asking their question.

I try to be helpful by offering the links here:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/Antispam.html#NOMEXU

[snip]

What makes shell scripting the platform of choice
is it's pervasiveness. The simple truth that a
well-documented cross-platform shell script will
run on ANY NT-based system, right out of the box,
is a very powerful reason for solving problems
this way.

That's not cross-platform. (See above.)

And, if your solution is for NT systems only then it may be
appropriate for alt.msdos.batch.nt but not for alt.msdos.batch
(but I think you have been told this before).

This is similar to the fact that most web sites are
written to be optimally viewed with Internet Explorer.

Mine is optimized for lynx. My protest pages that I replace my
home page with from time to time are *pessimized* for graphical
browsers. A sample[1]:

I'm Sorry, this page requires a NOFRAMES capable browser.

Download Lynx Here!

There are better browsing platforms, but none that is
present on so many different systems. An extension
to IE that provides additional functionality is often
more likely to be used rather than changing an entire
organization to a new browser.

Extensions? Do you mean like CoolWebSearch or some other trojan or
browser hijacker of the week? Without the permission of the user?
Additional functionality includes redirecting the browser to porn sites,
stealing user passwords and email addresses from the user's computer and
relaying spam for porn and mortgage merchants half a continent away.

Anyone still using IE is either ignorant of the risks, extremely stupid,
or suffers from rules made by others who are ignorant or extremely stupid.

(Being ignorant is not bad. Insisting on remaining so after rejecting
clues that would cure that ignorance *is*.)

The Command Library builds on the existing software
base (Cmd.exe and it's associated utilities) and the
prevailing knowledge base (basic batch file skills)
without requiring new tools or new skill sets. Code
that is written using the library is self-documenting
and easily maintained, even by those with limited
knowledge and/or time.

With our Sure Foundation, we are, one by one, replacing
the need for a toolbox full of small .exe utilities with
A SINGLE .cmd FILE that provides the same features in a
CONSISTENT format.

How is it better than 4DOS?

[snip]

400+ command-line resources using ONLY native NT commands!
(http://TheSystemGuard.com/defaut.asp#MasterCommandList

But I don't use NT. If I did, I would be in alt.msdos.batch.nt
and not in alt.msdos.batch. Why post this to alt.msdos.batch?
(I believe you have been asked this before.)

[1] My protest pages are linked to on my home page. See sig. They
are designed to be hostile for graphical browser users the same
way that badly-designed sites are hostile for text browser users.

 

[Todd Vargo]

..

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004, guard wrote:
[snip]

But there are also significant numbers of SysAdmins
around the world that use only the Completely FREE
Advanced Library and our other FREE tools to help
avoid fuming. And they also enjoy great success!

Many of the most frequent "Syntax Ditches" are
bridged in the Advanced Library. For example:

Determining the current OS and ServicePack

I know my OS. Since I wouldn't know one ServicePack from another if one
ran up to me an bit me on the leg, I wouldn't know what to do with the
information if I had it.

No, but SysAdmins would.

[snip]

How is it better than 4DOS?

Is 4DOS a small utility?

[snip]

400+ command-line resources using ONLY native NT commands!
(http://TheSystemGuard.com/defaut.asp#MasterCommandList

But I don't use NT.

That's a no brainer - Just don't download it.

If I did, I would be in alt.msdos.batch.nt
and not in alt.msdos.batch. Why post this to alt.msdos.batch?
(I believe you have been asked this before.)

Becasue there are NT/2K/XP/K3 readers that do read and post to
alt.msdos.batch. If you don't want to see these posts any more, why not set
your superior newsreaders to filter them. You don't actually read Timo's
entire FAQ posts every two weeks, do you?

 

[Al Dunbar [MS-MVP]]

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004, guard wrote:
[snip]

But there are also significant numbers of SysAdmins
around the world that use only the Completely FREE
Advanced Library and our other FREE tools to help
avoid fuming. And they also enjoy great success!

Great! Let's hear from some of them!


Quote your sources for these statistics, please. Most of the ones I know
that might seem to otherwise fall into this category would be as turned off
by either the klunkiness of style of your offerings, your attitude, or both
than they already are by CMD itself. I would like you to demonstrate that
someone with a strong enough desire to become an effective admin scripter
could do so using your products *without* learning much of the underlying
CMD platform. And where will they be when they actually at some time have to
do some actual batch coding when your library is not available for some
reason.


So, what's the big deal with that? Should people be interested in getting
advice only from those with the same working environment? I am afraid there
are not enough in mine for me to have learned what I do know only from them.

If *anyone* else's environment is even remotely similar to mine
then I offer them my sincerest condolences.
LOL...

Yes, there are some people who seem to occasionally go a bit overboard with
the sarcasm. But suggesting people google in those cases where that would
have been their best choice is only offering them appropriate assistance.
Sometimes I do tell people not what they think they want to hear, but what I
think might help them.

Then there are those who profess to know "the one true way" and whose
self-assumed high level of knowledge somehow makes it not only acceptable,
but reasonable, to insult EVERYONE NOT USING HIS PRODUCT. Come back down
among us you cheeky ******* (expletive deleted).


Cross-platform or not, it certainly is a good thing to have scripts written
generally enough that they are not machine, user, or even windows-version
specific. That's the kind I often write, and, like many others, I do so
without your products. I would like to see such a one written using
systemguard by someone who is otherwise incable of doing so with straight
batch.

That's not cross-platform. (See above.)

And, if your solution is for NT systems only then it may be
appropriate for alt.msdos.batch.nt but not for alt.msdos.batch
(but I think you have been told this before).

Good luck getting through the thick skull.


Crap. There is no programming platform of any type, any where, that cannot
be obfuscated by those without some kind of rudimentary grounding in the
principles.

Reminds me a bit of the saying about having one's eggs all in one basket.

/Al

 

[Norman L. DeForest]

.

Is 4DOS a small utility?

4DOS is a (now free, formerly shareware) complete replacement for
COMMAND.COM with many more features. It also runs on Windoes NT but to
take advantage of all of the features of Windows NT, 4NT (shareware) from
the same people who created 4DOS is an even more powerful choice.

An example of the power of 4DOS: Find all files on the hard drive with an
'x' or 'z' in the name that were created between October 12 and October 16
this year between midnight and six o'clock in the morning that have a size
between 36KB and 42KB. That's a one-liner in 4DOS:

c:\>dir /s /[d10-12-2004,10-16-2004] /[t00:00,06:00] /[s36K,42K] *[xz]*.*

Even the CLS command is enhanced:

c:\>cls bright white on blue

It gets a mention on my web site and is Tip Number One on my Computer
Hints, Tips and Utilities page:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/Tips.html#Tip001
as well as having a small page dedicated to it:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/4d.html

[snip]

400+ command-line resources using ONLY native NT commands!
(http://TheSystemGuard.com/defaut.asp#MasterCommandList

But I don't use NT.

That's a no brainer - Just don't download it.

If I did, I would be in alt.msdos.batch.nt
and not in alt.msdos.batch. Why post this to alt.msdos.batch?
(I believe you have been asked this before.)

Becasue there are NT/2K/XP/K3 readers that do read and post to
alt.msdos.batch. [...]

There are probably a lot of NT users who read and post to the
alt.fan.pratchett newsgroup as well. That would still not make
it appropriate for you to post there.

It's just that I have seen a lot of people asking Windows NT-specific
questions here and someone invariably points them to alt.msdos.batch.nt
as being the appropriate venue for their posts. Since your posts are also
Windows NT-specific, I'm wondering why you think you rate special
privileges.

[...] If you don't want to see these posts any more, why not set
your superior newsreaders to filter them. You don't actually read Timo's
entire FAQ posts every two weeks, do you?

Please tell me how to set Pine 3.95 to filter anything.


Norman "still boggling at the idea of a computer
professional who has never heard of 4DOS" De Forest

 

[John Thompson]

["Followup-To:" header set to comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc.]

.

Is 4DOS a small utility?

4DOS is a replacement for the DOS command shell: command.com
There is also a version for NT/Win2k/XP called 4NT that replaces cmd.exe

4DOS/4NT support all the commands in the original command shell, and many,
many more. I've found it to be very useful for any serious command line
work and scripts.

Check it out at http://www.jpsoft.com

 

[Todd Vargo]

Norman,

[snip]

Is 4DOS a small utility?

4DOS is a (now free, formerly shareware)

snip...

DUH, I know what 4DOS is, silly. My response was in line with the quoted
text above which makes no inference to being better than 4DOS. IMO, you are
taking Guard's posts a bit too personally.

Since your posts are also
Windows NT-specific, I'm wondering why you think you rate special
privileges.

I most certainly do not originate Windows NT-specific discussions in
alt.msdos.batch. Obviously, you can not differentiate between Guard and
myself and you obviously are not treating this crosspost as a crosspost
either.

[...] If you don't want to see these posts any more, why not set
your superior newsreaders to filter them. You don't actually read Timo's
entire FAQ posts every two weeks, do you?

Please tell me how to set Pine 3.95 to filter anything.

Sorry, these groups are not intended for newsclient assistance. Please have
the common sense to not ask for off-topic instructions in the same
discussion you are topicality policing.