MacMorse v1.4

About MacMorse
MacMorse is designed to help you learn Morse code and improve your receiving speed.  It has several  ways that it sends letters and punctuation to you.  These will all be discussed in the following paragraphs.  MacMorse is being distributed as shareware.  Try it for 30 days.  If you like and want to keep it please send $15.00 to 

Doug Havenhill
Dynamics and Control
7143 West Sunnyside Drive
Peoria, AZ 85345

The $15.00 registration entitles you to upgrade MacMorse for no additional fee when new versions are released.

You are free to make copies and distribute MacMorse provided that 
1)  No modifications are made to it.
2)  This file About MacMorse is distributed with it
No commercial use of MacMorse is allowed without  written permission from the author.

System Requirements
MacMorse requires System 6.0.7 later.

Bug Reports and Suggestions
Whether or not you intend to keep MacMorse, I would appreciate any hearing about any bugs or improvements you might want . You can send your comments to the address given above or leave mail for me on America Online.  My user name is DougH1A.

Standard Menus
The file, edit, font, style, and size menus are standard and perform the same as all other Macintosh applications.  All files are stored as a text file.  MacMorse parameter settings are saved with the file.  MacMorse will open any text file.


Options Menu
The options menu allow you to 
1)  Set the sending speed, sending spacing and volume and tone of the sound
2)  Temporarily suspend sending
3)  Select what MacMorse will send to you


Parameters...
Selecting Parameters... brings up a modeless dialog window like the one shown below.
                       
                 



The  controls operate the same as the controls in the Alarm Clock desk Accessory.  Speed sets the Morse code sending speed over the range of 4 to 30 words per minute.  Volume adjusts the volume from 1 to 7 ( 1 to 7 have the same meaning as they do in the control panel).  

NOTE: MacMorse sets the volume while it is running.  When you quit the application or switch to another application using Multifinder, the volume setting of the control panel is restored.

The tone control sets the tone of the sound.

Selecting Custom Spacing activates the Spacing control, as shown below.

             



Custom spacing allows you to send individual characters at higher speeds and space them at a lower speed.  In the custom spacing mode the speed control sets the character speed and the spacing control sets the space between characters.  This allows you to get used to the sound of characters at high speed while still being able to copy at a slower speed.

Stop Sending/Send
Selecting stop sending will cause MacMorse to stop putting characters into the sound buffer and once the buffer is empty sending will cease.  Selecting send will cause MacMorse to resume sending characters.

Send Keyboard
Selecting Send Keyboard erases whatever is on the screen and begins sending whatever you type.  There are many keys on the keyboard which have no equivalent Morse code characters; MacMorse ignores these characters if they are typed.  Typing ahead is allowed (in fact encouraged), however, you will notice some degradation in the character display once the sound buffer is full.  ( I haven't been able to get it to skip any letters, but I also can't type too fast.)

Send Text File...
Selecting Send Text File... does exactly the same thing as selecting the Open command from the File menu.  It opens a text file and begins to send the characters in the file.

Send Random Characters
Selecting Send Random Characters causes MacMorse to erase whatever is on the screen and to begin generating and sending a continuous stream of ramdom characters from A-Z.  These characters are displayed on the screen.  The characters displayed will nearly always be somewhat ahead of what has been sent by MacMorse.  All these characters are entered in a sound buffer.


Send Code Groups
Selecting Send Code Groups causes MacMorse to erase whatever is on the screen and to begin generating and sending random characters in groups of five.  As with send random characters, the characters displayed will be ahead of the ones sent.

Windows
The windows menu allows you to switch between multiple windows.  The settings of the parameters stays with the window, so for instance, you could have a 5 word per minute window and a 13 word per minute window.   MacMorse sends the contents of whatever window is active.  When switching between windows there is a delay, because MacMorse must empty the sound buffer before proceeding to the next window's data.

The Disclaimer
In no event will Doug Havenhill or Dynamics and Control be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from any defect in the software or its documentation even if advised of the possibility of such damages.  Doug Havenhill and Dynamics and Control will have no liability for any programs or data stored in or used with MacMorse, including the costs for recovering the data or programs.

Revision History
MacMorse 1.1 original release
MacMorse 1.2
  - The program now checks to make sure System 6.07 or higher is installed
  - Added a preferences resource so MacMorse will start up with the same settings as it had when
    it was quit.  It also now applies the most recent settings to documents opened after the settings have
   been made.
MacMorse 1.3
  - Added custom spacing option.
  - Fixed bug that caused crash when MacMorse was switched to the background under Multifinder.
MacMorse 1.4
  - Added System 7 help balloons.
  - Changed the parameters controls to allow entry of parameters using text edit.
  - Changed the icon to allow for easier dragging when selected
  - Rewrote MacMorse in C++ (was in object Pascal).
  - Fixed bug that didn't update parameters window when document was selected by clicking
  - Now saves the parameter settings in the document
  - Changed the sound manager calls to send a sine wave.  This gives a more pleasing sound but the 
     volume is a bit low.  Let me know if you like it or not.