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1989-08-04
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/// Opus Installation ///
/////////////////////////////
If you read nothing else, please read this document
completely!
Opus requires a one-megabyte ST. In addition, GDOS or G+Plus,
printer drivers, and fonts are needed to use the charting
facility, meaning you already possess a GDOS application, such as
Easy-Draw, Publisher ST, Microsoft Write, or WordUp, among others.
If GDOS isn't installed, you will be able to use the spreadsheet
but unable to chart; to print charts from Opus, the GDOS files
must be available in the directory specified in ASSIGN.SYS. These
files include the screen and printer fonts, the printer driver,
and the META.SYS file. Suggested setups for various disk drive
configurations follow.
A. 1 double-sided drive
1. Boot Disk
AUTO folder: GDOS.PRG
ASSIGN.SYS (taken from other application)
GDOS screen fonts
GDOS printer fonts, printer driver
META.SYS
2. Opus disk- all files except screen fonts must reside
in the same directory!
GDOS screen fonts
OPUS.PRG
OPUSMONO.RSC and/or OPUSCOLR.RSC
OPUS.CNF
PRINTER.INF (you may rename EPSON.INF or
DESKJET.INF to PRINTER.INF, provided you are
using an Epson-compatible or Hewlett Packard
Deskjet printer)
OPUS.WID (printer font widths file- more on this
later)
The general procedure for running Opus would be:
1. boot with disk 1,
2. load Opus from disk 2,
3. use disk 1 whenever you want to print a chart
from within Opus.
Other disks may be used to store files, as they will
obviously have more space.
B. 2 floppy drives
1. Drive A: Contents of A.1 above
2. Drive B: Contents of A.2 above, WITHOUT the screen
fonts
3. Work Disk: Place in drive B:. Leave disk A with all
the GDOS files in place for printing charts.
March 12, 1989 Opus Installation
C. Hard drive
1. Place the contents of A.2, LESS the screen fonts,
wherever you see fit.
For all configurations, please remember to have your "PATH=" line
in ASSIGN.SYS point to the drive and directory containing the GDOS
files. This line should be the first line of ASSIGN.SYS and has
the form PATH=A:\GEMSYS if GDOS files are located in a GEMSYS
folder on drive A:.
Also remember you can print charts from OutChart.
Now that you have your disks set up, you need to follow the
following two-step procedure to create the file OPUS.WID, which
provides a table of GDOS printer font widths so that Opus may
provide truly accurate screen displays of charts. Make sure you
first boot with GDOS or G+Plus present!
Step 1: Running "The Assigner"
In order to provide screen displays that are
representative of the final printer output, Opus
requires you to have a 1:1 correspondence between screen
and printer fonts. Some programs, most notably
Publisher ST, specify screen fonts without corresponding
printer fonts (and vice versa) in the ASSIGN.SYS file,
the file which tells GDOS which fonts and device drivers
are available. Since it's a lot easier to modify an
existing ASSIGN file than create one from scratch, I've
written "The Assigner," a program that takes an existing
ASSIGN file and creates a new one that adheres to this
(I think) good rule. So go ahead and run ASSIGNER.PRG,
following the prompts, to create your new ASSIGN file.
If you have G+Plus, you can create a file "OPUS.SYS" and
install Opus as an application. If you have Atari's
GDOS, you will have to delete the original ASSIGN.SYS
and rename the new one to ASSIGN.SYS, and then reboot
your computer so the new ASSIGN file will take effect.
One other thing: Opus requires ASCII characters 32-126
to be present in all fonts used, since these are the
characters you can access from the standard keyboard.
Some fonts don't contain all of these characters, such
as the Publisher ST "Bullets" and "Drury Lane Caps"
fonts, and trying to print characters that don't exist
can crash the system. Should the Assigner encounter
these two fonts, it will not include them in the ASSIGN
file it creates.
Step 2: Running FONTWID.PRG
This program shares name and purpose with the Publisher
ST program and is needed because GDOS screen and printer
fonts can have very different character widths. In
general, screen fonts are wider than printer fonts, and
this becomes really significant if you want to create
text centered in a box. If you base the box dimensions
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March 12, 1989 Opus Installation
on the screen font widths, the box will be too large on
the printer.
Before running FONTWID, make sure the new ASSIGN file is
in effect, either by loading it from G+Plus or rebooting
the system with Atari GDOS. FONTWID will load the
printer driver and printer fonts, and create a file
called OPUS.WID. Make sure OPUS.WID is in the same
directory as OPUS.PRG, which will be the case provided
you ran FONTWID from this directory. You will then be
ready to run Opus.
FONTWID will also tell you how much free RAM you will
need to print charts from within Opus. To see that you
in fact have this much free RAM while in Opus, before
entering any data into the worksheet, select
"Statistics" from the worksheet "Options" menu item, and
compare the amount of memory given under "System Memory"
with that reported by FONTWID. If you don't have enough
free RAM, you will have to remove desk accessories or
memory-hungry AUTO folder programs (like RAMdisks) or
remove some fonts from your ASSIGN file, and repeat the
process just described.
Finally, FONTWID will produce an error message should it
load a printer font that doesn't at least contain ASCII
characters 32-126. The Assigner accounts for the
Publisher ST fonts that fail this test, but there may be
others. Should you encounter one, you will have to
remove it from your ASSIGN.SYS file (I personally
haven't seen any others).
Whew! No one said GDOS was easy to work with, but I think the
Assigner and FONTWID automate the process of installing Opus to
the extent that it's reasonably painless. If you run Opus and it
tells you "screen and printer fonts don't match- charting
disallowed" or something similar, double-check your installation
and try again. If all else fails, leave me E-Mail on GEnie or
Compuserve, or check the Opus section in Category 2 of the GEnie
ST message base.
For those of you that have delved into the mystery of ASSIGN files
and GDOS, let me mention a couple of things. There's no problem
with using a single ASSIGN file for medium and high resolution.
The Assigner will first fix up medium and high rez fonts, then fix
up the printer and medium rez fonts, and finally go back and fix
up the medium and high rez fonts, so that there's a "1:1:1"
correspondence between all three font groups. Only a single
OPUS.WID file is needed here; separate OPUS.WID files are needed
if you're using two different printers or ASSIGN files where you
want different printer fonts for different projects. Finally, let
me note that the Assigner assumes a couple of things. First, fonts
must conform to the standard file name format: two characters
serving as a font identifier (such as "SS" for Swiss) followed by
a two-digit size indicator. Second, the printer driver must be
listed as device 21 (i.e. 21 printer.sys or 21 hpdsk150.sys, for
example). Opus also requires the printer driver to be listed as
device 21. The line "31 meta.sys" *absolutely must* be present in
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March 12, 1989 Opus Installation
the ASSIGN file, else you will be unable to print charts or save
them as metafiles (this shouldn't be a problem, as all ASSIGN
files I've seen include this line).
Using PRINTDEF.PRG
If you have an Epson-compatible printer or a Deskjet, rename
EPSON.INF or DESKJET.INF to PRINTER.INF and store it in your Opus
directory. If not, you will have to run PRINTDEF.PRG to create a
PRINTER.INF file. This file contains the control codes for various
text effects, such as bold, underlined, condensed, etc. This means
you'll have to dig up your printer manual, look up the codes, and
input them into the PRINTDEF dialog. Be sure to use the decimal
codes, and separate them by spaces. Opus uses PRINTER.INF to print
worksheets, and PRINTER.INF has nothing at all to do with chart
printing.
Remember, if you have any problems installing Opus, leave me a
note in any of the following places:
1. Opus Topic in Category 2 of GEnie ST message base
2. GEnie E-Mail (send to D.S.HARRISON)
3. Compuserve (ID 72277,2315)
Good luck, and I hope you enjoy my program!
Doug Harrison
3/8/89
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