
                               The DOS Controller
                              --------------------

          DC is an optimized version of The Norton Commander, in that it's
        faster and uses less RAM. Since I wrote DC for my own needs, this
        documentation is none too thorough, but if you have some experience
        of NC you will encounter no problems - all commands, bar one or two
        exceptions, remain the same.
          The Mail, Link and quick View facilities found in NC have been left
        out of DC, as I've never had any use for them. On the other hand, some
        things have been much enhanced. The internal editor, for example, can
        now be used for more than fiddling with your autoexec.bat. - Also, the
        coding errors I've found in NC have not been implemented in DC.

        Some important differences between NC and DC:

           DC uses considerably less RAM:

                Semi-resident:          DC : about  5k(!)
                                        NC : about 13k(?)

                Fully resident:         DC : about  49k(!)
                                        NC : about 174k(??)

                Add 3 or 4k to these figures for the command interpreter.

                  DC lets you shift from semi- to fully resident status
                from a menu, while NC demands that you launch another
                program altogether. Moreover, the reduced code in DC
                means that the program, when not fully resident, will
                return from DOS more quickly.

           Everything runs faster in DC.

           The View feature, too, has been removed, since the internal
            editor can now handle files as big as your free memory will
            allow - typically  over 500k. Instead, as in DOS, F3 now
            activates the History command. Thus F3+Return will repeat
            the last command, just as it will in DOS.

           The DC editor supports block commands (press Alt).

           Directory trees are alphabetically arranged, so that you can
            find your way around more easily.

           DC asks you for confirmation only once when deleting several
            files. Delete can also work recursively, but will then ask you
            to confirm the operation one more time.

           Link, Mail and quick View are not found in DC.

          DC supports a mouse as long as the following functions under
          Microsoft mouse interrupt 33h are available:

          00h,01h,02h,08h,0Ah,0Ch,0Fh

        Also, function 21h is called when Quick mouse reset is chosen,
        - which it shouldn't be, unless it has an effect.

          DC was coded in 100% assembly language for maximum speed and re-
        liability and minimal RAM use. Thus, the program is not infested
        with BASIC, C or other such toy stuff.

          The chance of DC.COM carrying a virus is negligible, as the
        program checks its own size and code on startup. Note: this
        also means that the executable will not run if compressed.

                                                                Sren Kragh
