Collection of Education/collectionofeducationcarat1997.iso/COMPUSCI/ADQ20.ZIP/ADQ.DOC

Text File | 1992-03-26 | 21KB | 442 lines

                      ADVANCED DOS QUIZ DOCUMENTATION


1.  What is Advanced DOS Quiz?
2.  Running Advanced DOS Quiz
3.  Advanced DOS Quiz Questions
4.  Registration Info

                         WHAT IS ADVANCED DOS QUIZ?


     If you thought that DOS Quiz was hard, just give Advanced DOS Quiz (ADQ) a
try!  If you thought that DOS Quiz was easy, then try out the questions in ADQ
and see your 100% score turn into a 50% score!

     Like DOS Quiz, ADQ is quick and easy way to use.  It can be used to test
anyone on their knowledge of very advanced DOS commands.  ADQ is completely
taken on a DOS computer, and is completely self-contained.  It takes the user
through a series of 20 questions, asking the user to perform unusual, difficult,
or arcane tasks in DOS.  Unlike DOS Quiz, all 20 questions in ADQ are
categorized as Advanced.

     At the end of ADQ, a score screen is displayed, which shows a listing of
all of the questions asked, what the main concept of each question was, and
whether the user answered the question correctly or not.  The number and
percentage correct of the all questions asked is also displayed.  The user is
given the chance to save a scoresheet to a file or to a printer.

     ADQ is probably too advanced to be use as a test in an office environment,
though if a position requires a high degree of DOS skill, this may be just the
ticket.  Otherwise, ADQ should be used as a test of your total DOS knowledge,
and as a tutor for some of DOS's more obscure commands.  As with DOS Quiz, ADQ
supports many different syntactical uses of each command and may teach you new
ways of doing old things.

     However, it does not cover all switches of all commands.  There are, after
all, only 20 questions.  So if a particular command piques your interest, see
your DOS manual or on-line help (DOS 5.0 and above) for more on that command.


                          RUNNING ADVANCED DOS QUIZ

     Running ADQ is really quite simple - all you need to do is type ADQ at the
DOS prompt and away you go.  The program is completely self-contained, so no
outside files are needed.  The program is small, so it will run on nearly any
DOS machine.

     As with DOS Quiz, ADQ works with either a color or monochrome monitor.
ADQ will try to use color first and will jump down to monochrome if color is
not available.  Monochrome monitors that emulate color monitors (such as b/w
VGA) will work fine in color mode.  The use of color in the program has been
kept to a minimum to allow usage on a wide range of computers.  If ADQ does
not choose the monochrome mode and you wish to force it into monochrome mode,
or you do not care for ADQ's color scheme, type "adq /m" at the DOS prompt.
Note that on color systems, /m will only work if your video adapter can
emulate monocrome (for example, most CGA cards cannot).

     Note: As of Version 1.1, ADQ detects if you are using EGA 43-line mode or
VGA 50-line mode before starting up.  Though DOSQUIZ uses 25-line mode, the
line mode you started ADQ in will be reset when you leave.

     After typing in ADQ, an intro screen will appear.  After pressing any key
as requested, the user will be prompted for his or her name and Social Security
Number.  This is for score-sheet identification purposes.  The user is asked to
verify his or her entry.  An instruction screen will then appear.  After reading
the instructions and pressing any key, the quiz begins.

     After finishing 20 questions, the score screen will appear.  Three
function keys are active here.  F1 will print a scoresheet out on a parallel
printer in port LPT1.  F2 will prompt you for a filename to save a score-
sheet to (with the user's input name as the default filename).  If the filename
given exists, you will be given a chance to change your choice.  F3 quits the
score screen and the user will be asked if the quiz is to be taken again.  This
is a Yes or No question.  If Yes, the screen will go back to the Name/SSN
screen.  If No, then ADQ will return control to DOS.

     If you press F1 and the printer is not ready to print for some reason, ADQ
will alert you to the problem and ask you to try again.  Note that on many
systems, if the printer is attached properly but turned off, no error will be
detected.

     If you do not know the answer to a question, you can either guess or just
press ENTER to skip answering.  ADQ will mark the question as being incorrectly
answered and move on.

                         ADVANCED DOS QUIZ QUESTIONS

     The following is a listing of all questions asked in ADQ, and their correct
responses.  Note that though the "correct" answers are all presented here in
uppercase, all variations of upper and lower case are valid, as in DOS.  Note
also that though they are not listed as valid responses, spaces are not required
before switches.  For example, CHKDSK/V is the same as CHKDSK /V.  No spaces are
required, either, when redirection is used, though not all of these responses
are listed.  The following two commands are the same: DEBUG<TEST.SCR and
DEBUG < TEST.SCR.  ADQ recognizes all such combinations.


1.  Transfer system files to a diskette

The user will be asked to type a command that will transfer the system files
from the current hard disk to the diskette in drive A.  Though not mentioned in
the Quiz, these files are the hidden files IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS and
COMMAND.COM.  This command is usually used to create a bootable diskette after
a diskette has been formatted.  As of DOS Version 5.0, the system files do not
have to be contiguous files and they do not have to be at the front of the
diskette physically.  Previous versions, however, do have these requirements.
This may require you to delete files from the diskette before SYS will work
properly.  The valid answers are:

     SYS A:    SYS C: A:      SYS \ A:       SYS C:\ A:


2.  Use CHKDSK to show all files on drive, plus memory

The user will be asked to type the command that will show all files on the
current drive, report disk usage, and report memory usage.  CHKDSK is an
extremely useful command for checking the integrity of their hard drives and
diskettes.  For many pre-DOS 5.0 users, it is also the only way to find out
how much memory is available.  The valid responses are:

     CHKDSK /V      CHKDSK /V C:   CHKDSK /V C:\       CHKDSK C: /V
     CHKDSK C:\ /V  CHKDSK /V \    CHKDSK \ /V

If a \ is given as part of any command, the CHKDSK command will print "File not
found" at the end of the listing - ADQ will, too.


3.  Use ECHO to dial a phone number with a modem

The user will be told to assume that there is a modem installed as COM1.  The
user will be told to use the ECHO command and the Hayes-compatible AT command-
set to dial the number 555-1212.  This method of communicating with your modem
is a quick and easy way to create an autodialer.  Placed in a batch file with
branches for different command line input, the number of phone numbers you
could autodial with commands such as this are almost unlimited.  The valid
answers are:

     ECHO ATDT5551212 > COM1       ECHO ATDT 5551212 > COM1
     ECHO ATDT5551212 > COM1:      ECHO ATDT 5551212 > COM1:

In addition, the ATDP command may be used in place of ATDT, for use with pulse-
dialing.  Also, a dash (-) may be placed in between the 555 and the 1212.


4.  Delete all two-character files with wildcards

The user will be placed in the C:\QUIZ directory and be asked to use a DOS
command and wildcards to delete all files that have a two-letter filename.  This
is probably one of the easier questions in ADQ.  Understanding DOS's use of
wildcards is required learning if you want to become a DOS poweruser.  These
little charracters can do in one command what could take literally hundreds
of commands typed in on the command line.  Valid responses are:

     DEL ??         DEL .\??       DEL ..\QUIZ\??      DEL \QUIZ\??

In addition, the ERASE command may replace the DEL command.


5.  Use LABEL or VOL to show volume label

The user