Zippy, the Talking Head, version 2.0 by Chuck Shotton. 7-11-89
=================================================================
Zippy is a program, similar to the infamous Talking Moose DA. Zippy hangs
out in the background of your Mac, waiting to enlighten you with his random
words of wisdom. Zippy should run on all Macs with 128k ROMs and sufficient
memory, and has been tested on Mac Plus, Mac SE, and Mac II computers.

Zippy 2.0 is shareware. If you like this version, please send $5 to the author at the
address below. If Zippy doesn't do much for you, please pass him on to someone 
who will give him a happy home.

New Features in Version 2.0
===========================
This is Zippy's second incarnation (version 2.0). To really use the old
version, you had to be pretty good with ResEdit. This version adds features
that allow anyone to edit all of Zippy's parameters without ResEdit.

New features include:

Enhanced Color Support
----------------------
This version of Zippy fixes many of the problems associated with using
him on a Mac that supports color. Zippy now replaces the color background
correctly when he goes away. Also, support has been added for color
face pictures.

NOTE: Zippy uses a rather lazy approach to handling color compatibility.
When the program starts, the default color palette being used for the Mac
desktop is copied. As long as the color settings remain untouched, Zippy
is happy. If you change the color settings while Zippy is running (from
16 to 256 colors, for example), the effect is usually a spectacular crash
of the video card. Moral of the story, don't change colors on Zippy.

Phrase and Settings Editors
---------------------------
Version 2.0 adds two dialogs for modifying Zippy's voice and vocabulary.
You can add up to 64 new phrases to Zippy, configure the sound of his 
voice, and choose to use color or black and white face pictures.

Running Zippy
=============
Using this program is EXTREMELY simple. Just double-click the file and 
sit back. Zippy is designed to run in the background with Multifinder, 
you MUST be running Multifinder to use Zippy (you can run Zippy without 
Multifinder, but it's pretty boring). In addition, Zippy speaks using the 
Macintalk speech synthesis driver. This file MUST be in your System Folder.

Zippy needs to live on the same disk as the System Folder (not necessarily
in the same folder, just the same disk). If not, the Macintalk routines 
can't locate the Macintalk driver.

Once he is running, just click the Multifinder icon in the upper right corner
of the screen, or select another program's window to move him out of the way.

To stop Zippy, make it the active application and then select "Quit" from the
Zippy menu.

Using the Edit Settings Dialog
------------------------------
Under the Zippy menu, there are two new options in version 2.0. The first
menu choice, "Edit Settings", is used to adjust how long Zippy sleeps,
how his voice sounds, and whether or not to use color. The "Seconds to
Sleep" field specifies how long Zippy will be inactive before he wakes up
with some random words of wisdom. 

The "Speech Pitch" field adjusts the pitch of Zippy's voice. Recommended
values range from 65 to 250. The higher the number, the higher the pitch.

The "Speech Rate" affects how fast Zippy speaks. The suggested range is
similar to Speech Pitch and the higher the number, the faster Zippy speaks.

Using the Phrase Editor
-----------------------
The original Zippy was a real pain to use if you weren't comfortable with
ResEdit. The Phrase Editor, available by choosing the "Edit Phrases" menu
option, allows you to modify or enter new phrases. This dialog has a field
for editing phrases, and several buttons across the bottom that are used
to select or delete phrases. Use the "Next" and "Previous" buttons to
browse through the current phrases. To remove a phrase, click the "Delete"
button. 

The "New" button adds a new, blank phrase and allows you to edit it.
Be careful not to leave any empty phrases laying around, as Zippy can
choke on them. To hear how your new (or any) phrase sounds, click the
"Say It!" button, and Zippy will speak using the current speech settings.
Click the "Done" button when you are finished editing phrases.

Color PICTures
--------------
Zippy 2.0 can display color pictures as well as black and white. Check the
"Use Color PICTures" box and restart Zippy to see his face in living color.
Remember, you MUST quit Zippy and re-run him to have this option take 
effect.

Modifying Zippy
===============
Zippy is designed to be totally user-configurable. If you are creative with 
ResEdit, you can make Zippy look like a moose (or anything else), say whatever
you want, and wake up whenever you say. There are 2 resource types that can
be modified to change how Zippy acts. The PICT resources numbered 200-299
define Zippy's B&W face (you can have fewer or more faces...more later), while
PICT resources 300-399 define the color versions of the same (or different)
faces. The STR resources define severalinteger constants that affect how 
Zippy operates.

STR Resources
==============
These resources are ASCII representations of integers. They define
constants that change the operation of Zippy as follows:

#128 "Num of PICTs"
-------------------
	This number represents the number of PICTs used for Zippy's random faces.
This number must be 1 less than the actual count. So, if you have 10 pictures
for Zippy's faces, set this STR resource to 9.

#130 "PICT Height" and #131 "PICT Width"
----------------------------------------
	These STRs define the height and width of Zippy's face pictures in pixels.

#132 "Left Offset" and #133 "Top Offset"
----------------------------------------
	These two STRs define where Zippy will show up on the screen. They define 
the top-left corner of where his face pictures will be drawn.


PICT Resources
==============
You can change Zippy's appearances completely by altering the PICT resources 
that are displayed for his face. You can have as few or as many faces as you 
want. Create new faces using a tool such as MacPaint (color PICTs work 
too), copy them to the Scrapbook, and paste them into Zippy using ResEdit. 
There are a few IMPORTANT things that must be done after the pictures are 
pasted into the PICT resources in Zippy. The resource IDs of the PICTs that 
make up Zippy's faces must be numbered sequentially, starting at 200. So if you 
have 6 pictures, the PICT IDs must be 200-205. 

Zippy works best if all of his face pictures are identical in size. It is 
important for performance reasons that STR resources #130 and #131 be set to 
the exact width and height of the PICTs. If the sizes are off, you may hear 
clicks and pops while Zippy is speaking.

More Info
=========
Zippy was written using LS Pascal, but should port easily to other versions of
Pascal (He was originally developed in MPW Pascal). Source code is available 
for $8. Please send any comments or requests to:

Chuck Shotton
c/o BIAP Systems
P.O. Box 580622
Houston, TX 77258-0622

BIAP's BBS is available 24 hours a day at (713) 480-7422. Or, you can contact
the BBS via FidoNet at address 1:106/260.


Other BIAP products:
====================
MacPhone
--------
This is an AppleTalk telephone. It supports multiple zones and all Macs. It
allows two users on Appletalk to carry on a conversation. Supports Multifinder
and operates as a message service in the background.

HyperComm
---------
HyperComm is a collection of HyperCard XCMDs that allow HyperCard stacks to
communicate over the Mac's serial ports. It supports baud rates from 300 to 
19.2k, send, receive, and serial port configuration.

PopUpMenus
----------
A XFCN for HyperCard that provides PopUp menus for stacks. This is one of the 
few PopUp XCMDs that works with large screen Macs.

Bugglings
---------
Be the master of your own universe! This program is based on the May '89
Computer Recreations column in Scientific American, and simulates life in
a test tube.

Source code is available for all of these products. Contact BIAP for more info.
