Ham Radio 2000 #2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Ham Radio 2000 #2 / Ham Radio 2000 - Volume 2.iso / HAMV2 / FAX_SSTV / EZSSTV / CONFIG.TXT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-06-18 | 11.5 KB | 419 lines

Configuration File ------------------ Many characteristics of Pasokon TV operation are controlled by the contents of a file called PKTV.CFG (or EZSSTV.CFG). Many people will never have to look at this file because the most commonly changed characteristics - such as printer type and interrupt for the SSTV interface - can be set from the graphical user interface. To change the more obscure options, edit PKTV.CFG (or EZSSTV.CFG) with your favorite text editor. General rules: 1. Blank lines and comment lines, beginning with "*", are ignored. When removing an option you just might want to put an "*" in front of it instead of deleting the line in case you might want to put it back in someday. 2. Commands can be in either upper or lower case. Keywords are shown in upper case in the examples so they stand out more. Variable parts are shown in lower case. Optional parts are shown in { }. 3. There is no way to split a command across multiple lines. Some of the examples show long commands on more than one line but you must enter the entire command on a single line. Most commands are the same for both Pasokon TV Classic and EZ SSTV. The few differences are noted. In alphabetical order: AD_AFTER n -------- Not used in this version. AUTO_SAVE_DIR path (not available in EZ SSTV) ------------- Directory used by the functions in the Auto Save control panel. The INSTALL program creates the line: AUTO_SAVE_DIR C:\AUTOSAVE which should be fine for most people. This directory is created automatically when needed. AUTO_XMIT n --------- This means gather and transmit an image once every n seconds. This was added for a remote surveillance applications but it could have many other uses. Perhaps an FSTV to SSTV gateway??? For example, if n was 120, the system would automatically repeat this sequence every two minutes: * Perform the actions in the DIGITIZE command (see description below). * Transmit the image. Usually, the DIGITIZE command is used to grab an image from a framegrabber but it could be used to run any other external program which produces an image. See also: COM_PORT. CALL call ---- Generated automatically with your amateur radio call sign entered during installation. CHECKSUM n -------- Created by INSTALL program. Don't change or remove it. COM_PORT n [ addr irq ] ( EZ SSTV Only ) -------- Any of the serial ports, COM1 through COM4 may be specified but there is a restriction for machines with more than two serial ports or an internal modem. The serial port for the SSTV interface can not share an interrupt with another device. For example, if you had a serial mouse on COM1, you could not use COM3 for the SSTV interface if it uses the same interrupt. The standard serial port I/O addresses and interrupts are listed below: Standard Standard Serial Port I/O Address Interrupt (IRQ) ----------- ----------- --------------- COM1 3F8 4 COM2 2F8 3 COM3 3E8 4 COM4 2E8 3 In most cases, you can use the short form of the COM_PORT command with just the serial port number. Example: COM_PORT 2 In this case, the standard I/O address and IRQ, from the table above, will be used. COM3 and COM4 ports will generally use the standard I/O address as shown above, but the IRQ will often be changed to avoid a conflict with COM1 or COM2. In this case, the longer form must be used. For example: COM_PORT 3 3E8 10 Further discussion can be found in IOADDR.TXT and IRQ.TXT. COM_PORT n ( Pasokon TV Classic ) -------- This is used only in conjunction with the AUTO_XMIT command. When this is specified, the automatic transmission sequence can be paused by activating the DCD line of the specified COM port. DIGITIZE -------- This contains a sequence of actions to perform for the Digitize item in the File menu or the Camera icon in the paint tool box. It is also used with the AUTO_XMIT command. Normally this is used to grab an image from a framegrabber with 3 actions: 1. Run an external program which captures a video signal and stores it into a temporary file. 2. Read that image file. 3. Delete the temporary image file. This is essentially the same as the RUN_MENU items except it uses fixed item in the File menu rather than a user defined item in the Run menu. Read RUN.TXT for an in depth description. EXPERIMENT ---------- Used for various experiments by the author. No telling what will happen if you use this. FAST_16M -------- There are a couple different ways to display 16 million color images on the screen. Normally, the slower, standard method is used. With some models of VGA displays, but not all, it is possible to use another faster method by specifying this option. See VGAINFO.TXT for more details. FREE_RUN n -------- This corresponds to the "Free Run" item in the Setup menu. Normally you'd use the menu and not have to manually edit this. GMODE mode ----- Force a particular graphics display mode instead of using automatic detection of the best one available. See VGAINFO.TXT for more detailed description. HEADER_MESSAGE "message" -------------- Many of the SSTV transmission modes use an 8 or 16 line gray scale header at the top of the image. You can specify a message up to 25 characters to be used for the modes which have a 16 line header. The quotation marks (") are important. Example: HEADER_MESSAGE "John - Chelmsford, MA" IMAGES n ------ This specifies the number of thumbnail images along the bottom of the screen. If you don't have much memory you might want to use a smaller value to reduce the amount of image swapping in and out of memory. The default is 5 (good for a machine with 8 megabytes) and the maximum is 10. Normally you'd set this from the Setup menu. INIT_DIR path -------- This is the initial directory for the file selector. Suppose you kept your favorite images in a directory called IMAGES, you could add this item to the configuration file: INIT_DIR C:\IMAGES The first time you used the file selector, it would be set to c:\images instead of the directory where the software is installed (typically c:\pktv3). IO_ADDR n ( Pasokon TV Classic Only ) ------- The Input/Output base address for the Pasokon TV Classic interface. This can be set from the graphical user interface so setting this manually will be rare. More details are in IOADDR.TXT. IRQ n ( Pasokon TV Classic Only ) --- This is the interrupt number used by the Pasokon TV Classic interface. This can be set from the Setup menu. A detailed explanation can be found on the Help menu or in the file IRQ.TXT. JPEG_QUALITY n (JPEG not in EZ SSTV) ------------ JPEG allows you to specify a trade-off between file size and image quality. This corresponds to one of the options in the File menu. NAME "name" ---- This is filled in by the INSTALL program. NO_IRQ_WARN ( Pasokon TV Classic Only ) ----------- Pasokon TV tries - not always successfully - to determine whether the specified IRQ level is in use by another device. There was one reported case where Pasokon TV complained about a conflict on every IRQ level even though there was not a conflict. This command suppresses the warning message. NO_PAUSE_CLOCK -------------- Pasokon TV stops the software time-of-day clock while transmitting and receiving because the timer interrupts can disrupt the SSTV timing. This does not affect the hardware clock. The time will be correct when the machine is rebooted. Add the "NO_PAUSE_CLOCK" option to the PKTV.CFG file and the clock will not be affected. This is fine in most cases but there is a chance that it will interfere with the SSTV timing. Using this would definitely mess up EZ SSTV operation. NO_12C_VIS ---------- The VIS code for Robot 12 second color is all zeros. Sometimes a steady carrier will be misinterpreted as the beginning of a 12 second color picture. Detection of this one code can be disabled with the NO_12C_VIS option. You can still receive this mode by selecting it manually. OPEN file ---- When Pasokon TV starts up, it will read this file into memory. Example: OPEN MUGSHOT.TIF PRINTER_GAMMA n ------------- This controls the mapping of image brightness to dot density on the printer. This is normally set from the Setup menu. PRINTER_PORT n ------------ Printer port number. Normally set from the Setup menu. PRINTER_TYPE n ------------ n is an internal code for one of the supported printer types. Pick a printer description from the Setup menu instead of editing this line manually. RECV_IDLE n --------- The system will automatically start Receive mode after n seconds of user inactivity. This would be handy for public systems at museums, club stations, etc. Just put "TV" at the end of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and Pasokon TV will start automatically when the system is started up. If no one uses the keyboard or mouse for the specified amount of time, the system will automatically go into receive mode. RECV_UNDO --------- When you click on the "Recv" button or press Enter to start receive mode, the current image is not normally saved before being cleared. In other words, you can't use the Undo menu item or the Escape key to get it back. Adding the RECV_UNDO command will cause the current image to be saved when the receive mode is started so you can use the Undo function. This takes time and may cause excessive disk activity on systems without a lot of memory. RUN_MENU ....... -------- Pasokon TV has a "Run" menu with user-defined commands that can read/write image files and run external programs. This is a very involved topic which has its on description in the RUN.TXT file. SAVE_HALF_SIZE (not available in EZ SSTV) -------------- This corresponds to the "320 x 240" option in the File menu. Normally you would not manually edit this. SERIAL_NUM ( Pasokon TV Classic Only ) ---------- Interface serial number. SLOW_CPU -------- This reduces the image sampling rate for the S1, S3, M1, and M3 modes which are the most demanding. Image detail will suffer a little so this is a last resort. Read TOOSLOW.TXT for more information. SSTV_MODE n --------- This is the initial SSTV mode selected when the program starts up. The number, n, is an undocumented internal code that may vary between versions so this would not normally be added by manual editing. Follow these steps to set the default start up mode: 1. Run PKTV. 2. Select the desired mode. 3. Pick "SSTV Mode" from the "Setup" menu. 4. Pick the button marked "Default". SYNC_SQUELCH ------------ This corresponds to the Sync Squelch item in the Setup menu. TGA_32K n (TGA not available in EZ SSTV) ------- When n is 0, .TGA files are saved in 16M colors. When n is 1, .TGA files are saved in 32k colors. This makes files about 2/3 the size. Default if command missing: 16M colors. Normally you'd change this from the File menu.