                                                     Tilburg, October 8, 1997
Hello, dear PM 1.2 user.

This patchfile should ONLY be used with the partition manager (PM) 1.2 which 
has the following characterisitics:

        PE.EXE  filesize = 645059 
                filedate = 11-06-97, 12:23h

    IF YOU USE IT ON ANOTHER VERSION, IT WILL not WORK!

The makers of the PM forgot to distinguish the old release (which does not 
support the FAT-32) from a new release. Anyway, the OLD partition manager had 
the filedata: 

        PE.EXE  filesize = 618187 bytes,
                filedate = 21-05-97, 12:01h

          Ŀ
            REPEAT: DO N-O-T USE THIS PATCHFILE ON THE OLD PE.EXE  
          

You are now (re)reading the REREADME file that was accompanying this package 
of software. The goal of this package was to change the language of the user-
interface of the PTS Partition Manager version 1.2 (PM12). 

I have hex-dumped the file, located all messages, put them in a separate file,
changed it into A86 assembly language format, added some code, and suddenly 
there was the patch-file.

I have already made three patchfiles. One each for the three biggest languages 
in the world: Hollands, Deutsch and English (MKH, MKD and MKE).

I have tried all versions and on my machines no problems were encountered. 
This, however does not mean there are none to be expected. Please study the 
GNU document, and use this software at your own risk and for your own 
conveniance. 

You can reach me via E-mail: aklasse@tip.nl


How to use.

Simple. Just take your working disk of the PM out of your deskdrawer and stick 
it in the A:-drive. Change directory on your hard disk to the directory where 
you store the scrap-files. Now copy the file PE.EXE from the A: drive to this 
directory on your HDD: 

        COPY A:\PM.EXE

Insert the floppy disk with the language specific patchfile in the A: drive 
and copy this file to the same directory: 

        COPY A:MK?.COM

Now you're ready to go. Just take your pick from the three language specific 
COM files and run it. Let's suppose you want to make a German version. This 
sounds stupid, but is not. We'll see later why.
First make a backup-copy with:

        COPY PE.EXE PED.EXE

Then run the patchfile with the command:

        MKD

The program starts, prints some messages, and asks for a confirmation. You 
have to press Ctrl-K to continue. Any OTHER key will abort the program. 
If you succeeded, you are asked to press the Alt-A and lastly the Ctrl-T key. 

These keys are not quite "any keys", so you cannot run this patchfile by 
mistake or coincidence. You have in fact given three very specific signs that 
you really want to run the software and as such are prepared to take your 
chance. 

After some seconds, the new PE.EXE file is done. When all is fine, the new 
PE.EXE file should be exactly the same as the file PED.EXE. I advise all users 
to check this with the command:

        FC PE.EXE PED.EXE

Your HDD will start making some noise, but it should find no mismatches. The 
program should reply with "Files match". If it does, we have both worked with 
the same version of PM 1.2 ;-). 

Now it is much more safe to run your language specific patch! This is done in 
the same way as I explained above. Have fun.


Making improvements.

If your are to make your own language specific patchfile, commence as follows:

 - Get an ASCII editor such as Norton Editor or PC Write,

 - Change the sourcefiles. When doing so, keep your fingers from the actual
   ASM sourcecode, but stay with the messages.
   Each message has a unique and for the assembler completely unnecessary 
   label. 
                          KEEP THESE LABELS IN PLACE!

   The labels are there so that you can debug the changes you made.
   When making changes, make sure that you ONLY edit the texts between the
   quotes (i.e. between a pair of single (') or a pair of double (") quotes).

 - Assemble the source with a copy of A86, preferably release 4.02 or later,
   using the commandline:

                A86  MKx.A86 +L35

   in which the "x" is a code to identify your own version of this file.

 - Compare the listing file generated by A86 with the one which is supplied 
   with this package. The labesl should match.

That's all there's to it!


Buy, buy,

Jan Verhoeven
NL-5012 GH  272
aklasse@tip.nl

