{**************************************************************************}
{                                                                          }
{    Calmira shell for Microsoft Windows(TM) 3.1                          }
{    Source Release 2.1                                                    }
{    Copyright (C) 1997-1998 Li-Hsin Huang                                 }
{                                                                          }
{    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  }
{    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by  }
{    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or     }
{    (at your option) any later version.                                   }
{                                                                          }
{    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,       }
{    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of        }
{    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the         }
{    GNU General Public License for more details.                          }
{                                                                          }
{    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License     }
{    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software           }
{    Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.             }
{                                                                          }
{**************************************************************************}


Calmira is a Windows 95 user interface for Windows 3.1.  It's a fully
integrated environment for managing your files and programs, and
is designed to run smoothly on 386 and 486 computers.

Calmira includes:

o  An icon based explorer to manage files in free floating windows
o  Support for 4DOS file descriptions in place of long filenames
o  Desktop and file based shortcuts to any object or URL
o  Explorer tree that lets you navigate faster through disks
o  Taskbar with versatile Start Menu, nested to any level
o  Wastepaper bin to store deleted files and folders
o  Hundreds of easily accessible options and settings
o  80 page on-line manual containing all the help you'll need

Version 2.1 contains an integrated taskbar, further improvements
to the user interface, and several bug fixes.

Once you get used to the new look and feel of your Windows 3.1,
you'll never want to turn back...


System requirements
-------------------

o  386 processor or higher
o  Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11
o  At least 4 megabytes (MB) of memory
o  A VGA monitor or better
o  A mouse


Installation
------------

Full installation instructions are contained in the help file.
For a quick start, unzip the main ZIP file you received into a
directory on your hard disk, and run CALMIRA.EXE.


Contacts
--------

Post  : Li-Hsin Huang
        59 Bromefield
        Stanmore
        Middlesex HA7 1AG
        England, UK

Email : lhh@tribbles.demon.co.uk
Web   : www.tribbles.demon.co.uk/calmira/



Last minute information
=======================


OPEN batch command
------------------

The newer Open.bat replaces both Start and Folder commands.  It
requires the supplied DIREXIST.EXE utility to detect the existence
of a directory.

To use Open, copy OPEN.BAT and DIREXIST.EXE into a directory on the
MS-DOS path.  Type Open /? for details.  You can use it to open
folders, programs or documents, and it will determine the most
sensible choice.

DIREXIST.EXE returns an errorlevel of 1 if the directory parameter
exists.  All root directories are considered to exist, even if the
drive is invalid.  The Turbo Pascal source code is included.


Ampersand in captions
---------------------

To show "&" in a Start Menu caption, enter "&&" instead, otherwise
the space after the "&" is treated as a keyboard mnemonic.  For the
same reason, there is a problem with Calmira's message boxes, which 
display filenames containing the & character incorrectly as an 
underscore.


Progress bar colour
-------------------

The progress bar background should be always be set to "silver" or 
"btnface", even though there is an option to change it.  This is
because the new Win95-style gauge does not paint its background
colour properly.


Deleting folders from Explorer tree
-----------------------------------

This feature has been removed from Calmira 2.1 because of instability.


Installation programs and the Start Menu
----------------------------------------

Some setup programs query Program Manager for information about current
program groups and items, but Calmira does not return information about 
the Start Menu to other programs.  If you receive an error message 
saying that there is an incompatible Program Manager replacement, you 
need to turn off the option that lets install programs modify the menu.


Directories with extensions
---------------------------

The latest beta version of Calmira 2.1 seemed to have problems opening 
folders with extensions, on some computers.  It is not known whether the 
full release has the same behaviour, but if the cause of the problem is
found, then a solution or program update will be available on the web site.


URL prefixes
------------

If you prefer, you can include "www." and "ftp." in the URLPrefixes
string so that you can open a web page more easily.  Most browsers
allow you to omit the protocol indicator.


Start menu columns
------------------

The help file states that start menu columns must contain an equal
number of items.  If you want to break up a menu into columns which
do not divide the items exactly, you can create dummy menu items
to fill out the space.  

The trick is to make use of the "*n" column dividers within the
columns themselves!  This allows you to create unique items with 
blank captions -- you can use "*1", "*2"..."*9" and Calmira will
chop off the asterisks and digits.  Finally, set the icon to <none>.


How to hide the bin
-------------------

Set its caption to an empty string, and restart Calmira.


"Deleting" files directly to the bin
------------------------------------

In case you missed the note in the help file, this feature currently
works from icon windows, and not the Find Files dialog.


Shell reversal
--------------

In the Shutdown dialog, you can double click on the computer icon
instead of pressing OK.  This will patch SYSTEM.INI to switch shells
between Program Manager and Calmira, and then carry out the shutdown
command you selected.


RTF help source problem
-----------------------

When re-compiling the help file, you may receive "Non-scrolling
region defined after scrolling region" warnings.  This does not
seem to affect the integrity of the help file.

