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- ACC Selector
- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
- Written by David Heiland
-
- Introduction
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- This is a small program that is to reside in the AUTO folder of
- a disk which contains multiple desk accessories. It allows the
- user to choose which 6 desk accessories to be loaded when
- booting. It also has many other features that help the user
- configure the environment he wishes, ie. key click on/off;
- response time of the keyboard; the boot drive, etc.
-
- The Program
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- Copy the program ACC_SELC.PRG to the AUTO folder of a disk, and
- the files DESKTOP.INF, MEDIUM.INF and HIGH.INF to the root
- directory of the same disk. Booting up with this disk then
- confronts you with a screen displaying all the desk accessories
- in the root directory. You can manouevre the cursor arrows with
- the cursor keys, and highlight an accessory by pressing SPACE.
- All the accessories that are inversed, are loaded (providing not
- more than six are selected).
-
- The program also has the option to boot in different
- resolutions. This can be a very useful feature when you wish a
- low resolution desktop to appear when loading games/demos and
- medium resolution when using serious applications like
- wordprocessors, etc. This can be done by pressing the function
- keys 1 to 3. If you have a colour monitor/TV, you can not boot
- in high resolution, and vice versa.
-
- The black bar at the bottom of the screen, allows you to select
- many options so as you can configure your own environment in
- which you wish to use your ST.
-
- F4 - Set date: allows the user to reset the date on the ST.
- F5 - Boot drive: this changes the boot drive of your ST to one
- of you choice. It becomes active only after reset.
- F6 - Key click: the key click can very often be annoying, so
- with this option, you can turn it off.
- F7 - Response: this changes the delay and repeat response of
- your keyboard.
-
- Another menu bar can be invoked by holding down either of the
- shift keys. They should be held down while selecting the options
- on display.
-
- F1 - Write verify: this option increases the speed of your
- drive slightly by removing the need to verify after each
- disk write.
- F2 - Seek rate: this can be set so as to increase or decrease
- the seek time between sectors.
- F3 - ALT-HELP patch: many a time have I pressed ALT-HELP
- accidentally and had to wait ages for my ST to realise
- that I don't want a screen dump; this disables the dump.
- F4 - Change hz: changes the speed at which your ST runs from
- 50-60 hz.
- F5 - Date mode: this can be set to either the English or
- American standard of date notation.
- F6 - Error bell: disables the annoying bell that sounds every
- time you click where you shouldn't.
-
- Along with these options, another useful one is found by
- pressing F10, which tells you the drives you have connected.
-
- To exit from the program and continue booting, either select
- one the the three resolution keys (F1 - F3) or press RETURN. To
- exit without any accessories loaded, press ESCAPE.
-
- When booting in different resolutions, this program hides the
- other two desktop files from normal view, so they can not be seen
- in the directory. This is just to make sure they are not deleted
- over and also makes the root directory look less cluttered. The
- DESKTOP.INF file should always be seen and can be overwritten
- with you own desktop file if required, but make sure it is in the
- same resolution as the old desktop file.
-
- If you do not wish to load this program when booting, press the
- CONTROL key, and the ST will bypass this program and give you a
- message along those lines.
-
- Should you already have the program ACCESSORY among your
- collection, this supports it. ACCESSORY redirects the default
- path for accessories to be loaded, to a subdirectory called
- 'ACCS'. Nice, as it cleans up the look of your disk. You can
- choose what accessories you wish to boot from this subdirectory
- as this program automatically recognises if there is a
- subdirectory. Other programs also increase the number of desk
- accessories you can load into memory at once - so I didn't
- bother to put a limitation on how many you can load.
-
- Stuff
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- This program was written in GFA Basic 3.5 (easily the best!).
- The source of this program can be obtained (fully documented)
- from me for a mere £2 if you send me a disk (address below). Any
- queries about anything will also be answered. I, as the author,
- give permission for this to be spread like wildfire. Yup, this
- is Public Domain. Thanks ST Format for including it on your
- Cover Disk. Have fun. Byee.
-
-
- David Heiland
- 41 Military Road
- Sandgate
- Folkestone
- Kent
- CT20 3BH
- ENGLAND.
-