Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!linus!mbunix!jcmorris
From: jcmorris@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Joseph C. Morris)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: WARNING for MASM 5.1 runme install program
Message-ID: <29495@linus.UUCP>
Date: 18 Apr 88 23:01:42 GMT
References: <25@necbsd.NEC.COM>
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Reply-To: jcmorris@mbunix (Morris)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA.
Lines: 41
Keywords: MASM, Microsoft

In article <25@necbsd.NEC.COM> gay@necbsd.NEC.COM (John Gay) writes:
>[report of a hidden directory named DELETED with some of his files in
>it, and corrupted LIB.EXE and MAKE.EXE]

For what it's worth, I didn't have any problems with errors of that type.
I've installed the 5.1 code on both a verrrry old PC-1 and an AT (both
true-blue).

>  What ever happened to the simple installation program copy a:*.* c: ???

Easy.  People wanted to make use of the directory structure to segregate
various files, and to permit complex customization of the code.  Look
at the distribution of Microsoft C as an example.   (And yes, I've got
problems with their installation programs...look at the kludge they put
on Fortran v4 as a bad example.  I squawked this to Microsoft and was told
that each product line writes its own installation program.  It shows.)
The MASM 5.1 package gives you a choice of DOS or OS/2 versions, as well
as the Microsoft Editor.  You can pick and choose what you want from the
files on the disk without knowing anything about COPYFILE syntax or how 
to run the LIB program.

Also, for many products the intended audience is not as computer-savvy
as the USENET community.  The installation procedures (when they work)
allow a user to install them without requiring a Computer Science degree.

-----

I did have one problem, though, with the MASM 5.1 distribution.  My policy
is to ALWAYS start an install with a DISKCOPY duplication of all the 
disks which come with the install, then doing the installation using the
dupes.  I couldn't read the OS/2 CODEVIEW disk, getting GENERAL FAILURE as
the symptom.  Turns out that the disk is a  1.2 mbyte floppy which my old
PC 360K drives can't handle.  There is no marking on the disk to indicate
that it isn't a 360k diskette.

Microsoft claims that there should have been a cover letter with the upgrade
shipment (5.0 to 5.1) but it wasn't in the package.  The letter is supposed
to tell you about the 1.2 meg disk.  The usoft tech support people seem
to blame me for not knowing that of course any OS/2 programs should be
on a 1.2 mbyte floppy, and didn't bother to try to answer my observation
that the IBM doesn't even market a 1.2 mbyte drive for the PS/2 boxes...