The Inkutils are a suite of eleven DOS,
4DOS and Windows 9x/ME DOS utilities.

The current version of Inkutils is 1.53, which was released on the15^th of February 1999.
To download Inkutils v1.53 (255K), click here

I've added another small utility to Inkutils that's meant for use in batch files. It returns via an ERRORLEVEL whether a given drive supports long filenames at that time. In the Inkutils tradition, it's been given the condensed name of LFNA (Long File Names Available :). It's 4096 bytes in size and available here. It will be packaged up with Inkutils 1.54 that will be along shortly.

Introducing the Inkutils

DESCRIPTION EDITOR (DEDIT)
A full-screen 4DOS, NDOS and TakeCommand file description editor.

• Windows 95, 98 and Windows 2000 long filename support.
• DEDIT can even use the long filenames to describe the short filenames, so that they're still visible under plain DOS!
• Unique import feature. DEDIT can import files such as BBS lists and extract the descriptions.
• Can handle up to 8,000 files per directory and a description file of any size (available DOS memory permitting).
• Automatically locates 4DOS.INI and uses the relevant configuration information in it.
• Fully supports JP Software's specification for description files, including extra information tagged onto the end of descriptions and description files containing long filenames.
• Mouse support
• It's very fast!
• And much more....

CACHE CONTROL (CC)
A control panel for the SmartDrive (or compatible) disk cache.

• Allows cache settings to be changed using a point-and-click interface.
• Real-time update of all statistics, including bytes waiting to be written to disk.
• DoubleSpace and DriveSpace compressed drive aware.
• Mouse support
• Works with SmartDrive or any disk cache that is compatible with it.

EVALUATE EXPRESSION (EE)
A flexible calculator than can be used three ways.

• Can be used as a command line calculator, a desktop calculator or a TSR pop-up calculator.
• The TSR automatically loads into EMS (expanded) memory, using approximately 1½ K of DOS memory.
• Ability to grab numbers from the screen (within a text editor, for example).
• Ability to send numbers back to an editor or the command line via the keyboard, thus reducing the chance of mis-typing a result of a calculation.
• Ideal for programmers, as it automatically shows the result in hexadecimal and binary also.
• Uses 4DOS's KSTACK, if available, to reduce the DOS memory footprint.

DELETE DIRECTORY (DD)
Allows a directory, and its contents, to be deleted.

• Displays information on the directory (such as total number of files, their sizes, creation date, etc.) before prompting the user to delete or empty it.
• Windows 95, 98 and Windows 2000 long filename support.
• FAT32 support to correctly display free disk space of more than 2 Gb.
• Option to empty the directory, rather than delete it completely. This can be useful for emptying out "TEMP" directories.
• DD can optionally move the files, rather than deleting them, to the parent of the directory being deleted. This can be very useful when you have a number of directories whose contents you want to put in once place.
• Directories can be marked as protected, which prevents DD from deleting them until they are unprotected again.
• Displays how much actual disk space has been released for each directory that is deleted.
• Mouse support.

CRITICAL ERROR (CE)
Replaces the standard "Retry, Ignore, Fail or Abort" message with a popup window that gives much more information on the error that has occurred.

• Displays a pop-up window, rather than displaying an ugly message, when a critical error occurs.
• Loads almost entirely into EMS (expanded) memory, using less than 900 bytes of DOS memory.
• Compatible (as with all the Inkutils) with 4DOS, NDOS and Windows 3.x and 95 DOS boxes.
• Useful error information is displayed, with a recommendation for correcting the error.
• Two TSR versions - small and normal. The small version displays a minimal error window.

TEXT MODE (TM)
Allows various text modes (including any VESA text mode that your video card supports) to be selected.

• TM can automatically select the largest text mode that your video card can display, including any VESA text modes that your video card may support.
• Select standard 25, 28, 43 and 50 lines modes or a VESA text mode of your choice.
• Display a list of VESA text modes that your card supports.
• Also allows the keyboard repeat rates to be set.
• Ideal for use in AUTOEXEC.BAT files at startup.

LIST EXECUTABLES (LE)
Displays the executable files (EXE, COM, BAT and, if you're using 4DOS or NDOS, BTM)
in the current or specified directory.

• Display only executables in a directory - no more searching through long directory listings to find the program to run!
• Windows 95, 98 and and Windows 2000 long filename support.
• Displays files which have a 4DOS executable extension for them.
• Automatically supports 4DOS file-extension colours
• Fast file display .

MAKE & CHANGE DIRECTORY (MCD)
Performs the DOS commands MD and CD in one go.

• MCD can also create multiple directories in one go. MCD \one\two\three will create the directories \ONE, \one\TWO and \one\two\THREE
• Windows 95, 98 and Windows 2000 long filename support.
• Changes the current default drive if necessary, if the new directory is on a different drive.
• Optionally protect the created directory, so that DELETE DIRECTORY cannot delete it..

FAST MOUSE (FM)
Reduces the time taken for a program to reset the mouse. FM can reduce the time taken for some programs to start up by transparently converting all slow hardware mouse resets to fast software resets.

• Speeds up the loading of some programs which reset the mouse upon startup.
• Dramatically speeds up the 4DOS on-line help.
• Uses only 560 bytes of DOS memory.

DIVIDE BY ZERO (DZ)
Intercepts any "Divide overflow" errors. If you are having such problems, then DZ will display the name of the program that has created the error and allows you to continue the program, rather than automatically terminating it (which is the default behaviour of DOS).

INKUTILS PRESENT (IP)
Provides a quick and easy way to see at once which TSR programs from the Inkutils are currently resident in memory.

INKUTILS - The Inkutils User Guide
A menu style user guide covering each Inkutil with full instructions and examples.

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This page was last modified on the 10th of February, 2001