home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Gold Medal Software 3
/
Gold Medal Software - Volume 3 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso
/
children
/
niklas13.arj
/
NIKLAS.E
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-11-21
|
5KB
|
115 lines
This is the English documentation for "niklas.exe". Eine deutsche
Bedienungsanleitung finden Sie in der Datei "Niklas.d", die ebenfalls
vorliegen soll.
INTRODUCTION
This program is designed to amuse a one-year-old for at least a few
minutes. Your child gets to "work at the computer" just like his or
her mother or father, and then lets the parent do the same - that's the
theory, anyway. It worked for me - maybe it'll work for others.
The program requires a VGA or better graphics card (which is VGA-
compatible) and is significantly more interesting with a color monitor.
It doesn't require (or use) any other special hardware or software. It
has been tested with various versions of MSDOS (3.3 or newer) and DRDOS
(6.0 or newer) and has worked with all of them. It also runs in a DOS
box under Windows 3.1.
WHAT IT DOES
When your child presses a key, the program draws one of several various
shapes (polygons, stars and ellipses) in a random size at a random
position on the screen using a randomly selected color. It also plays a
simple sequence of tones as the shape is drawn. There are a couple of
"surprise" keys which draw filled shapes and play a short song, as well
as a "clear screen" key and an "exit" key. That's all, but it seems to
be plenty for a one-year-old. (When your child has the various keys and
their functions figured out, start looking for a new program - he or
she is going to be bored with this one very soon!)
HOW TO USE IT
Start the program by typing its name, with or without the ".EXE" on the
end, at the DOS command line. You will see a screen containing only a
mouse cursor. The following functions are available:
Key Name Function
Esc Exit Ends the program
0 Clear Clears the screen
1 (numeric) Surprise #1 Draws a filled ellipse and plays music
n (see below) Surprise #2 Draws a filled hexagon and plays music
Space bar Palette Changes a color in the palette
All others Draw Draws an unfilled figure and plays a
short sequence of tones
The program as it comes its called "niklas.exe", my son's name being
Niklas. You can rename the program to your child's name. This also
changes the key for "Surprise #2" to the first letter of the name. Think
about the length of your child's arms before you rename the program: My
son couldn't reach the row with "Q", "W" etc. when he started playing
with the PC. (This is why the "Exit" key is "Escape".)
CULTURAL NOTE
As I live in Germany, and my wife is the source of the songs that are
played, both are German children's songs. "Suprise #1" (the one with the
ellipse) plays the song "Alle meine Entchen" ("All my little ducks").
"Surprise #2" (the filled hexagon) plays "Hänschen klein" ("Little
Hans").
A BRIEF HISTORY
This program was developed to satisfy my (at the time 1-year-old) son,
who saw me using the PC and wanted to do the same. Rather than say "No"
all the time, I wrote him his own program. It amused him for almost a
year; he's two now and has pretty much outgrown it.
This version is the fourth, and the first that is being released to all
comers. The first two versions had some minor problems with some keys
and some mice, which have all been solved as far as I know. The third
version didn't read its own name, but was stable - it was tested on
five or six different PCs.
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE
This package consists of three files. They are:
Niklas.e The documentation in English. (This file.)
Niklas.d The documentation in German.
Niklas.exe The executable program.
If any of the files are missing, you have received an incomplete
package, which shouldn't happen.
LEGAL STUFF
This program is freeware. That means that you can use, copy it and
generally do with it as you please as long as you observe the following
(painless) restrictions:
(1) You may not accept payment in any form for this program
or its documentation. It is FREEware - I don't earn
anything for it and you shouldn't either.
(2) You may not alter the program or its documentation in
any way except for renaming the program as described
above.
If you have any problems with the program, or any suggestions for
improvements, or (I'm especially keen on these - as I said, my son is
bored with this program) suggestions for the NEXT program (the one for
two- and three-year-olds), I can be reached at Compuserve 100016,2355.
There is a Windows version which has been not quite finished for months
now. The more messages I get saying "Finish it, I want it" the more
likely it is that I'll actually do it...
T. Little
Munich, 20. November 1993