These two are basically the same programs. They will enable you to create a menu for each of your disks from which you can load the desired program with a keypress. The 128 version has some added features which I will describe later, but apart from that both versions are roughly equal. So I will describe the 64 version first:
When you want to place a menu on a disk you do like this: First load and run the menu program from the disk drive that you will use to place the new menu on a disk (the program will always use the last drive accessed). Note that if the start of BASIC address has been moved for some reason, the menu program will refuse to run. As the disk menu is an ML program it must be executed in the correct address space to work. You will now see an almost empty menu. Now insert the disk to receive the menu, select DEFINE to create a new menu. In case you have done a mistake, you will be prompted to confirm your command. After that, you will be reminded of your choices on the top of the screen, and the first PRG file in the directory will be displayed. You have the following choices:
(R)un.
This will load the program into the BASIC area and then run when it is chosen from the main menu. Use on all program that is run with a RUN statement.
(B)oot.
This will load the program into the address space specified in the file, similar to LOAD"prog.",8,1. Then a BASIC SYS will be executed to the address on which the program was loaded. On the 128 a BOOT command will be used, on the 64 version this statement is simulated by the menu program.
(S)kip.
You might not want all programs in the directory to appear on the menu, so use this key if that is the case.
Use (D)ivider.
Using this key you may leave a menu entry empty to improve the logical appearance of your menu.
When you have been through all programs in the directory, the menu program will save itself to the disk under the name "!" menu. This name is selected because if you use a disk sorting utility, the menu program will (almost) always become first in the directory. The you can just load the menu by LOAD "!",8, and then RUN (on the 128 it's even shorter: rU"! then RETURN). If a menu is already present, it will automatically be scratched. Make sure that the disk don't contain any file with the name "!", as it will be erased. now you will be back at the menu itself which will now be filled with the names of your programs. If you have included more programs than the 36 that will fit on the menu, press SPACE to reveal a new page. The number of pages available is limited only by memory space, so it would in theory be possible to create a menu containing well over 2000 programs! Since most Commodore disk drives can hold only 144 files, you will never be able to fill more than four pages, but the 1581 can hold twice the number of files, so eight pages would be possible. Now, just press the appropriate key to run the desired program. If you have chosen BOOT on a program you can in most cases run the menu again with RUN without having to reload. Nice if you want to install several utilities at once. The first entry of the first page will always be the menu program itself, so if you want to examine another disk (with a menu) then insert the disk and press the zero key to run the menu on the new disk.
You can at any time define a new menu, there is no need to load a separate menu creator utility; it is incorporated into the menu itself. So, if you want to create a menu on a new disk, just load the menu from any of your disks, insert the new disk, and press choose CREATE. Practical or what?
128 DISK MENU ADDED FEATURES:
The 128 version will adjust itself automatically according to the current active screen, 40 or 80 columns. But the greatest advantage is that it can load and run (but not boot) 64 mode programs. If you want to run a 64 program from the 128 menu, choose to BOOT instead of RUN when you create your menu. Then, 128 Disk Menu will look at the load address of the program when it's loaded, and then decide whether it's a 64 or 128 program. If the start address is lower than 2816, it is assumed that it's a 64 program. Due to the 128's memory usage, you will probably never see a program that BOOTs into an address lower than 2816 (the cassette/boot buffer). The reason why I have elected to use BOOT instead of RUN to select 64 mode programs is that 128 mode BASIC programs often for some unknown reason have a load address even lower than 64 mode programs.
There are three extremely uses for this feature:
1) You can use the fast 1571 to load your 64 programs. This will be especially useful for games and other long programs. The menu program can handle files of up to 249 blocks in size.
2) It will be very easy to use double sided mode when you store your 64 programs, and thereby using the disk space more effectively.
3) One third practical use I have discovered is together with utility programs. All computer users have a collection of utilities they use at a more or less regular basis, and us 128 users are no exception. This includes disk copiers, disk sector editors, sprite designers etc. But I myself think it's very annoying when some run in 128 mode, and others run in 64 mode. But with 128 Disk Menu you can keep them all on one disk, and your computer will select mode for you! You can even further automate the selection by making the disk menu autobooting.
