Date   : Sat, 25 Aug 1984 20:19:00 MDT (Sat)
From   : Keith Petersen <W8SDZ@Simtel20.ARPA>
Subject: MESSAGE makes self-printing .COM files

Al Jewer has just released MESSAGE, a short program that many readers
will find very useful if you have ever wished that you could easily
create a .COM file to print a message to the user.

This program is intended to make it easier to create message files
for RCPM and other CP/M systems. 

For instance, if you upgrade a utility on your system, you would want 
to tell the users to use the new file instead of the old one, 
for instance:
               TYPESQ no longer needed - use TYPE instead.

You can copy MESSAGE.COM with your text editor, (renaming it 
appropriately), insert your text (terminated with a $), and rename 
it to what you want. It can then be run DIRECTLY without assembly 
or loading!! 

The trick is that the program was written so that the machine instructions 
would all be ASCII characters. This means that when you edit the 
MESSAGE.COM file, the first line of 'funny' characters that you see
are actually the program to type the message!

When you edit this file, make SURE you use 'NON-DOCUMENT' mode, or 
the machine code on the first line of the file could get destroyed.
Do not alter the characters in the first line - they MUST be left
as they are. Start your message on the SECOND line of the screen, and
be sure to end it with a dollar-sign ($). 

Other uses: RCPM Wallchart, system information files, etc.....

Here's a list of the files available on SIMTEL20:

Filename                       Type     Bytes   Sectors     CRC

Directory MICRO:<CPM.RCPM>
MESSAGE.ASM.1                  ASCII     2700   22 =  16H  B283H
MESSAGE.COM.1                  COM        256    2 =   2H  9358H
MESSAGE.DOC.1                  ASCII     1228   10 =   AH  5EA9H

--Keith