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Precision Software Appli…tions Silver Collection 1
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Precision Software Applications Silver Collection Volume One (PSM) (1993).iso
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ozmosis.exe
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OSMOSIS.DOC
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1991-11-24
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Osmosis
Version 1.11
Copyright 1991 By
Randy Rasa
18215 Troost
Olathe, KS 66062
What Is It? ___________
Osmosis, also known as "Treasure Trove", is a solitaire card game
that requires skillful play and a good portion of luck, but rewards
as an enjoyable and addictive diversion. When played with actual
cards, it requires a lot of dealing and shuffling, but this
computer version makes the game simple and fast.
Program Requirements ____________________
Osmosis requires 256K of memory, EGA or higher graphics capability,
and a Microsoft-compatible mouse. If you are not sure you have the
right hardware, just run the program. If there's a problem, the
program will let you know.
In addition to the program file (OSMOSIS.EXE), the game requires
that the card definition files (CARDS.CD1 and CARDS.CD2) be in the
current directory. These files contain the bit-maps for each
cardface in the deck.
Using The Mouse _______________
The mouse pointer will appear as a white arrow with black edges.
In general, the left button is used to select the object being
pointed to (a card or an on-screen button).
If you have a three-button mouse, the middle button will blank the
screen. This can also be accomplished by pressing the left and
right buttons simultaneously.
How To Play ___________
Osmosis uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the
game the deck is shuffled, then four piles of four cards each are
dealt at the left. The piles form the reserve, and the top card of
each is available for play.
One card is dealt to the right of the first reserve, forming the
first foundation. As the other cards of the same rank become
Osmosis Documentation Page 2
available, they may be played in a column below the first
foundation, forming the other three foundations.
Cards are dealt from the deck three at a time, with only the top
card available for play to the foundations.
Foundations are built in suit, regardless of order. On the first
foundation, any card of the same suit may built as soon as it
becomes available. On each lower foundation, a card may be built
only if a card of the same rank has been built on the foundation
above it.
For example, if the first foundation card is a three of hearts,
then any heart can be played on the first foundation as soon as it
becomes available, say, for illustration, the seven and nine. Now
suppose the second foundation is the three of clubs. If the seven
or nine of clubs become available, they can be played on the second
foundation, but no other club can be played until the corresponding
heart has been built.
When all cards have been dealt from the deck, you may redeal as
often as you like, until either the game is won (by moving all
cards to the foundations) or lost (no more moves can be made.
When the "peek" option is enabled, the reserves will be spread out
so that all of their cards can be seen. This allows you to spot
any potential blocks before beginning the game. The situation to
look out for is two cards of the same rank in the same reserve
pile, especially is the lower card is of the first foundation suit.
If this is the case then the game is hopeless, at least as far as
winning, though you can still play it and perhaps even reach a
respectable score.
Note: to deal cards from the deck, simply click on the card back.
When the deck is exhausted, click it again to gather the cards back
up in preparation for a redeal.
Buttons _______
Along the right side of the screen are a number of "buttons", which
may be selected by pointing and clicking with the mouse. The
buttons are:
Options: This button brings up the options menu, which you can
use to set your preferences for the following:
Sound: Select "Off" to disable the beeps, clicks, and various
other noises the program makes. Select "On" to enable the
sounds.
Peek: When this is set "On" the reserve piles will be spread
out so that all cards can be seen, thus helping you spot
and perhaps avoid blocks.
Osmosis Documentation Page 3
Session Statistics: When this option is set to "On", the
program will keep track of your statistics (games played,
games won, change in average score) throughout the game
and then display them when you quit. (Note: During play,
you can also display the session statistics by clicking on
the score box.)
Darken Filled Foundations: When this option is set to "On", a
filled foundation will be "darkened", otherwise, if it is
set "Off", the foundation will be overwritten by the word
"COMPLETE". Either way, the purpose is to show that all
necessary cards have been moved to that foundation. Which
method you want to use is up to you.
Move Alert: When this option is turned on, the program will
alert you to any available moves by displaying a message
above the deck saying "Move Possible". Note that this is
only an information message -- you are not required to
make a move when one is available. The lay of the cards
in the reserve piles may make some available moves ill-
advised; use your own judgement.
Background Color: Click on the up-arrow and down-arrow to
step through the available background colors, until you
find one that suits your tastes.
Card Back: Click on the card back to bring up a dialog box
which will show you all the available card backs and allow
you to choose one.
Once you've set things to your liking, you may click on the
"OK" button to save your preferences to disk, or on the
"Cancel" button to exit the Options menu without changing
anything.
Help: This button will bring up several pages of help screens,
which you can view by clicking on the "Next" or "Prev"
buttons to move from page to page. When you are finished
reading the help, click on the "Done" button to exit.
New Game: This button will end the current game, update your
statistics, and start a new game. Note that the stats will
only be updated if you have a score greater than one. This
allows you to evaluate the layout of the cards and, if you
don't like what you see, to begin a new game without having
it count against you.
Quit: Click on this button to exit the program. If you have a
score greater than one, your statistics will be updated and
displayed briefly before returning you to DOS. Another way
to exit the game is to press the "Abort" key (F10). If you
press F10 (and select the "Exit This Program" option in the
pop-up dialog box or press F10 again), the program will quit
Osmosis Documentation Page 4
to DOS without saving the data file (and thus not giving you
a low score if you have to quit the program in the middle of
a game). Of course you realize this is cheating, don't you?
Command-Line Options ____________________
/LCD -- This option may improve the screen display on monochrome
LCD displays. This option simply changes a few color
combinations to improve contrast on LCDs.
/Rxxxxxx -- This option is used to convert a shareware version of
the program to a registered version. Refer to "A Note
To Registered Users" at the end of this document for
more information.
/SW -- This option is used to convert a registered version to a
shareware version.
filename.ext -- This option is for alternate data files (see
discussion below).
Statistics __________
Osmosis keeps track of the score (the number of cards you've played
to the foundations), the total number of games you've played, the
number of games you've won (expressed as both a number and a
percentage), and your average score. At the end of each game, the
statistics are written to disk, either in the default OSMOSIS.DAT
or in the data file specified on the command line. The data file
also contains the preferences you set in the options menu.
To specify a data file on the command line, start up Osmosis with
the following syntax:
OSMOSIS filename.ext
This allows several different people to use the same copy of
Osmosis on the same machine, yet keep separate statistics for each
person. For example, suppose three people (Tom, Dick, and Harry)
played the game at various times on the same machine. They could
each easily keep personalized data files, containing their scores
and preferences. Tom would use his data file by typing:
OSMOSIS TOM.DAT
Likewise, Dick and Harry could have data files called DICK.DAT and
HARRY.DAT. Note that the "DAT" extension could be "SCR" or "HGH",
or whatever, as long as it is three letters or less.
Osmosis Documentation Page 5
Legalese ________
Osmosis is shareware. As such, you can play it, copy it, and give
it away as you wish. In fact, you are encouraged to distribute the
program to friends, family, and strangers alike. This includes
distribution via electronic bulletin board systems (BBS), user's
groups, and disk-distribution services. All that I ask is that the
program remain unaltered, and be distributed in an archive
consisting of:
OSMOSIS.EXE ............. the program
OSMOSIS.DOC ............. documentation
CARDS.CD1 ............... card definition file #1
CARDS.CD2 ............... card definition file #2
Registration ____________
Osmosis is shareware. If you enjoy the game, please support it.
There are three registration packages available:
1. Basic Registration ................................... $5.00
This minimum registration will get you the latest registered
(no shareware "beg" message) version of Osmosis on a diskette
of your choice, along with a registration code good for all
future updates.
2. Package Deal #1 ..................................... $10.00
This package consists of the latest registered version of
Osmosis, plus shareware versions of my other programs, along
with a menu program to tie them all together. Note that all
of the additional programs are unregistered versions (with
shareware "beg" screens). You will also receive a
registration code good for all future updates of Osmosis.
3. Package Deal #2 ..................................... $15.00
This package consists of the latest registered versions of
Osmosis, plus registered versions of my other programs, along
with a menu program to tie them all together. Note that all
of the additional programs are fully registered versions (no
shareware "beg" screens). You will also receive registration
codes good for all future updates of Osmosis and the programs
included with your registration.
Basic registration is available on a 5.25", 360K disk or on a
3.50", 720K disk. The package deals are available on two 360K
disks (with the programs ZIPped (with the PKZIP compression
program) to pack as much as possible onto each disk), one 720K disk
(ZIPped), or one 5.25", 1.2M disk. If you do not have access to
PKZIP, you'll need to order the package deals on a 1.2M disk.
Osmosis Documentation Page 6
No matter what option you choose, you'll be getting a lot of
quality software for just a little dough. Please consider
registering.
The programs that you will get with the package deals are:
Midnight Oil: An EGA solitaire card game, otherwise known as La
Belle Lucie and Three Shuffles and a Draw. In this game the
deck is dealt into seventeen fans of three cards each. Cards
are moved from the fans to four foundations, which are then
built up in suit from Ace to King. Midnight Oil is one of
the best solitaires, affording great opportunity for skillful
play. The game keeps statistics in a disk file, and has a
special auto mode that makes the game especially easy to
play.
Monte Carlo: An EGA-based solitaire card game in which you try
to remove pairs of cards from a 5 x 5 matrix. This easy-to-
play game offers hours of relaxing fun. It keeps statistics
in much the same way as Osmosis, has selectable card designs,
and a "hint" button that makes the game especially easy to
learn.
Calculation: This EGA-based solitaire card game is a real brain-
teaser in which you build up four foundations, each in a
different sequence. It requires skill and logical thinking
to win, but on-screen assistance makes learning and playing
the game a snap. It keeps a statistic file like Osmosis and
has selectable card designs.
Idiot's Delight: An EGA version of "Aces Up", a simple but
addictive game of luck and skill. This is one of those games
that leave you saying "just one more game" time after time
after time. As in my other EGA games, it keeps a statistic
file and offers selectable card backs.
Royal Cotillion: This is a two-deck EGA solitaire in which you
must build up eight foundations in suit by twos. It offers
good opportunity for skillful play, a pleasing layout, and
hours of engrossing fun. It keeps a statistics file, has
selectable card backs, and a time-saving auto mode.
Concentration: An EGA graphics version of the classic memory-
stretching solitaire. It keeps a statistics file, features
selectable card backs, and offers a unique multi-player mode.
You can print the registration form from the initial shareware
screen. Simply select the "Print Registration Form" button, then
select a destination, either to a printer or a file. If you elect
to send the form to a printer, make sure it is on-line and ready.
The form should print on any standard 80-column printer. If you
want to save the form to a file, the file "OSMOSIS.FRM" will be
created in the current directory. You can then print out the
Osmosis Documentation Page 7
registration form by entering the following command from the DOS
prompt (with your printer connected and ready):
COPY OSMOSIS.FRM PRN
Then just fill out the form and send it, along with cash, check or
money order, to:
Randy Rasa
18215 Troost
Olathe, KS 66062
Revision History ________________
1.00 01-03-91 First Public Release.
1.01 01-11-90 Added "Session Statistics" option.
Cosmetic changes.
1.02 02-15-91 More Cosmetic changes.
1.03 03-12-91 Added registration procedure.
1.04 03-23-91 Modified registration procedure.
1.05 04-23-91 Added option to print registration form.
Changed card definition filenames to CARDS.CD*.
1.06 05-17-91 Fixed problem with equipment test.
1.07 06-27-91 Added Abort (F10) feature.
The program now exits to DOS after running the
registration procedure, and the program date and
time are set correctly.
1.08 07-31-91 Added /LCD command-line switch.
Added /M command-line switch.
Darken foundations as they're filled.
1.09 09-02-91 Rewrote mouse initialization routine.
Removed /M command-line switch.
1.10 10-28-91 Overwrite completed foundation with "COMPLETE"
instead of darkening it.
Added dialog box to select card back.
Improved parsing of command-line arguments.
Modified the "abort" sequence so that pressing F10
once will bring up the abort dialog box, and
pressing F10 again will exit the program.
1.11 11-24-91 Added "Darken Filled Foundations" option to allow
the user to select whether a completed foundation
is darkened or overwritten by the word "COMPLETE".
Added "Move Alert" option.
When "peeking" is disabled, cards in reserve piles
now display slightly spread, so the number of
cards in the pile can be seen.
Increased number of available card backs to seven.
Osmosis Documentation Page 8
A Note To Registered Users __________________________
The registration procedure allows previously-registered users to
update to the new registered version of the program by entering a
special 'registration code' that was included as part of your
order. Run the shareware version of the program with the "/R"
command-line switch, followed by the registration code, like this:
OSMOSIS /Rxxxxxx
You would, of course use the proper registration code in place of
the "xxxxxx". Note also that there should be no space between the
"R" and the registration code. After running the program with /R
switch and the proper code, you'll have a brand-spanking new
registered version of the program. What this essentially amounts
to is unlimited, free updates with each registration.
The registration procedure comes with the following limitations:
1. The name your EXE file must be OSMOSIS.EXE.
2. You cannot perform the registration procedure on a compressed
version (ie: an EXE file processed with PKLite, Diet, or
LZEXE). The EXE file may be compressed after the
registration procedure, but not before.
3. Please do not distribute registered versions of the program.
4. Since the registration procedure is a new feature, there are
a number of people who have registered earlier versions that
won't be able to take advantage of it just yet. But if you
send me a self-addressed stamped envelope, I'll be happy to
send you the registration code.
Note: You can also change the program back to the shareware version
by using the "/SW" command-line switch. This function is
subject to the same limitations as with the registration
procedure (ie: the program must be properly named and
uncompressed). Please use this option to "un-register" the
program if you wish to pass it along to anyone. Also, please
include all of the files listed under the "Legalese" section
of this document. Thanks.