home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
World of Video
/
World of Video.iso
/
gfxprograms
/
boards
/
retina
/
rblanke2.lha
/
RBlankers
/
RCurves.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-07-12
|
13KB
|
318 lines
RCurves Manual
------------
NAME
----
SYS:WBStartup/RCurves
SYNOPSIS
--------
RShapes |
RCurves CX_POPKEY=<HotKey>
CX_POPUP=<YES | NO>
BLANKKEY=<HotKey>
TIMEOUT=<1 - 3600>
CLIENTTIMEOUT=<1 - 60>
LINES=<10 - 300>
SPEED=<1 - 10>
This software is FREEWARE. It may be freely distributed for non-commercial use.
All rights are reserved by the author.
DESCRIPTION
-----------
RCurves is a screen blanker with two levels of protection, the
first of which is an animation of a rotating curved set of
lines. If the CPU is to busy, RCurves will default to disabling the
screen altogether, preventing the animation from burning into the
screen.
REQUIREMENTS
------------
AmigaDOS 2.04 or better and a Retina graphics card.
Version 2.2 of the Retina software. 1.4 should still
work but is no longer tested.
68030/040 and 68881/2.
PURPOSE
-------
RCurves/RShapes is a screenblanker.
A screen blanker's goal is to blank (disable) the screen output
in order to prevent burning images into the monitor's phosphor, but
just to disabling the screen is boring. Instead, RCurves displays a
configurable collection of moving lines to amuse you and to remind
you that the computer is still running.
STARTING
--------
RCurves is a Commodity, so it only runs under WB 2.04 and higher.
Just drop it in your WBStartup drawer so that it will load
automatically upon boot-up. Just copy RCurves and RCurves.info to
SYS:WBStartup (or drag its icon to the WBStartup drawer). It also
requires the Retina hardware and will not run if you don't have it.
To start RCurves without rebooting, just double-click on its icon.
If the Tool Types haven't been changed, a window will be displayed.
This is the "option panel" of RCurves. To see it blank the screen,
click on the "Blank" button. To remove the option panel, click on
the "Hide" button.
You can also start RCurves from the CLI, just use the form:
RUN >NIL: <NIL: RCurves {arguments}
The arguments for CLI-Start are exactly the same as the
ToolTypes, (See below)
ARGUMENTS
---------
RCurves supports the standard Tool Type entries for commodities.
To set them, click on the RCurves icon and select "Information" from
the Icons menu. (Please refer to your AmigaDOS Manual for more
information on commodities and Tool Types.)
SUPPORTED TOOL TYPES:
---------------------
DONOTWAIT When started from WBStartup, this lets WB
know that it shouldn't wait for RCurves to
finish. This tool type should >always< be
present.
STARTPRI=<n> This sets RCurves' priority to "n". "n"
should be a number between -120 and 120.
When started from WBStartup, this value
determines RCurves priority in the
commodities list. It should be a negative
number (i.e., low priority) so that all
other commodities have a chance to modify
the input stream before RCurves sees it.
CX_POPKEY=<HotKey> This sets the key sequence that will open
RCurves' option panel. Please see below for
HotKey definitions. Defaults to "shift
alt s".
CX_POPUP=<YES | NO> If this is set to "NO" RCurves will start
silently. If it is set to anything else,
RCurves will open its option panel when it
starts.
BLANKKEY=<HotKey> This defines the key sequence that will
instantly blank the screen. Please see
below for HotKey definitions. The default
blanking key is "lamiga s".
TIMEOUT=<1 - 3600> This sets the amount of time over which no
input events may occur in order for the
screen to blank.
CLIENTTIMEOUT=<1 - 6> This sets the maximum time RCurves will try
to draw the animation. If RCurves can't
update the animation at least this often,
it will disable the screen. This keeps
the lines from burning into the monitor,
and it also keeps RCurves from wasting CPU
time when another program needs it.
LINES=<10 - 300> The number of lines in the curve..
SPEED=<1-10> The speed (10 is fastest) of the curve's
movement.
NOTE: ToolTypes are case-sensitive, so make sure your
capitalization matches that shown above.
DEFAULT TOOL TYPES
------------------
When installed, RCurves has the following Tool Types:
DONOTWAIT # Tell WB to not wait for RCurves to finish.
CX_POPUP=YES # Display the window when starting
STARTPRI=-120 # Sets a low CX priority for starting
HOT KEYS
--------
Refer to your AmigaDOS Manual ("The Extras Programs/The Commodities
Drawer") to get a valid list of the available hot keys, the following
may be obsolete with a new Commodities.library version:
SYNOPSIS: [<qualifier> [<qualifier>...]] <key>
Qualifier keywords (Press and hold one or more qualifier)
alt either Alt key
ralt right Alt key
lalt left Alt key
shift either Shift key
rshift right Shift key
lshift left Shift key
capslock Caps Lock key
rcommand right Amiga key
lcommand left Amiga key
control Control key
numericpad Enables the use of a key on the numeric
keypad
rbutton Click (and hold) the right mouse button
midbutton Click (and hold) the middle mouse button
(only avail for mice with three buttons.)
leftbutton Click (and hold) the left mouse button
newprefs Preferences changed
diskremoved Disk removed
diskinserted Disk inserted
Keys (to be pressed and released, only ONE Key can be chosen)
a..z, 0..9, etc. Normal keys
f1 .. f10 Function keys
up down left right Cursor keys
help Help key
del Delete key
return Return key
enter Enter key (MUST be combined with
'numericpad'!)
backspace Backspace key
esc Escape key
space Space key
comma Comma key
upstroke Upstroke key
Examples:
lalt ralt enter
ramiga f10
alt x
lalt numericpad enter
NOTE: Choose your hotkeys carefully. Commodities can change the
way standard keys operate, and if you assign "a" to blank the
screen, then the screen will blank every time you push it - even
when you're trying to type.
If you try to use an illegal hot key combination, RCurves will not
start, but will display an error message, instead. Some examples
of illegal hot keys are:
lalt a b # Two keys specified
leftbutton # No key specified
control lcommand rcommand # Reboots the system (oops!)
EDIT WINDOW
-----------
Some RCurves settings can be changed while RCurves is executing. To
change the settings, open the RCurves option window by pressing the
CX_POPKEY sequence you defined. Changes made in the option window
will not be saved.
When the option panel opens, you will see some gadgets and a
scrollable list of display modes.
TIMER: The value for the timeout of the blanker.
After this time (in seconds) the blanker
will display the animation. TIMER may have a
value between between 1 and 3600.
CLIENT TIMEOUT: The time RCurves gives the animation
routines to update the screen. If the
animation routines exceed this limit, the
screen will be blacked out to prevent
burn-ins.
SPEED: The maximum pixels per frame the lines will
move.
LINES: The number of lines.
HIDE: (click or press 'h') Closes the option
window, without stopping RCurves.
BLANK: (click or press 'b') Immediately blanks
the screen.
QUIT: (click or press 'q') Quit.
COMMODITIES EXCHANGE
--------------------
With the Exchange tool, you can temporarly disable or permanently
kill RCurves and other commodities. Please refer to the AmigaDOS Manual
(Section AmigaDOS Reference and Workbench Programs) for further
information on Exchange.
COMMON PROBLEMS
---------------
1) You are running a C-Compiler or a raytracer. RCurves blanks but
doesn't show the lines, or the lines only appear erraticly.
If the CPU usage is high, RCurves will simply blank the screen.
This keeps RCurves from degrading the speed of other processes, and
it prevents the animation from burning the monitor by getting stuck
in one place too long.
Another time this can occur is when you're using all the Retina's
video memory for other screens. If this happens, RCurves will
first try to open a low resolution screen instead of the normal
high res one. If >that< fails, RCurves will resort to simply
blanking the screen.
2) RCurves blanks the screen, but the lines are all lo-res and chunky
looking. (whine whine)
See the previous note. If RCurves can't open a high res screen, it
tries to open a low-res one. If that fails, it just blacks out
the screen.
3) When a disk is inserted, RCurves "unblanks". This is normal.
Disk-replacement is detected as an input event. As all input
events disable the blanker, this one does as well.
4) RCurves displays the window though the Tool Type CX_POPUP is set to
'NO'.
This happens when RCurves is started but another copy is already
running.
CREDITS
-------
Much of the code style and technique of this blanker was inspired
by the PD blanker ASwarmIII by Jake Rose. He did a good job
showing me how it's done.
HISTORY
-------
2.6: Rebuilt under sas 6.51. Also, fixed a glitch in the NewBroker
structure which could cause a enforcer hit inside the commodities
library.
AUTHOR
------
Michael Heinz
William Henry Apts, #OAK-123
Malvern, PA 19355
(610)-651-5361