This is the demo-version of the instruction manual for TopDesk. The final version may have some modifications.
TopDesk
W. Knupe, V. Goehrke, H. J. Ciprina, R. Bonse
We congratulate you on the purchase of this software. The programs on this disk have all been carefully beta-tested by a number of Geos Users. However, should errors occur or something remain unclear, then please contact the address at the bottom of this page.
Quincy Softworks
9479 E. Whitmore Ave.
Hughson, CA 95326-9745
Quincy Softworks is the exclusive US distributor for TopDesk.
TopDesk is the property of GUC in Germany.
GEOS - USER - CLUB
disk; this provides some means of rearrangin
Table of contents:
Introduction page 3
1. Requirements page 3
2. Getting TopDesk Up and Running page 3
2.1 Installation page 3
2.2 Implementation of InstallDriveD page 4
2.3 Implementation of Auto-Swapping page 5
2.4 Implementation of RamDeskTop page 5
3. Folders (sub-files) page 6
4. Windows page 7 - 8
5. Drive Configurations page 9
6. Menus page 10
7. The Keyboard page 11
8. Error Codes page 11
9. Installing Printer & Input Drivers page 12
10. Oddities and Anomalies page 13
n Germany.
GEOS - USER - CLUB
re-namer programs as an auto-exec file on your boot disk. See the separate docs for more on this.
You can have up to four windows open at a time. Each window could either belong to a d
Introduction
TopDesk is a complete replacement for the original DeskTop. It is used the same as the old DeskTop. For this reason we have not gone into great detail concerning the use of TopDesk, but have mainly explained the differences to the old DeskTop. You should learn and familiarize yourself with GEOS and the original GEOS DeskTop before attempting to use TopDesk.
READ these instructions completely, before installing TopDesk in your System and trying it out!!!
DO NOT PLAY AROUND, EXPLORE, ETC!!! Get everything set-up first and correctly, then have fun!!!
1. Requirements
TopDesk works together with all present configurations and C64/C128 peripherals. As with the present DeskTop, a RAM Expansion Unit (REU) is recommended for fullest and fastest use of TopDesk. Please note that this program was written in Europe, where dates are written as dd.mm.yy in stead of mm/dd/yy and time is written in military (24 hour) format.
2. Getting TopDesk Up and Running
There are four main steps to installing and setting-up TopDesk:
Installation
Implementation of InstallDriveD
Implementation of Auto-Swapping
Implementation of RamDeskTop
Some users may not need all options.
2.1 Installation
To enable you to work successfully with TopDesk, the program must be first be installed as follows, after you have booted GEOS with your old DeskTop:
1. Insert the TopDesk disk into your drive and open the disk in the usual Geos fashion, i.e. with a single click on the drive icon.
2. Double click the "TopDesk" program icon to open it. The program now searches for the Geos serial number and installs itself. After this procedure is finished the TopDesk "screen" will appear. 3. Open the drive, on which the copy of the TopDesk disk is situated (A or B) by clicking the appropriate drive-symbol. A window with the file icons will appear. At this point, only the window with your original TopDesk disk should be open.
4. Single-click the "TopDesk" icon and select "rename" in the "File" pulldown-menu, or you can also use the key combination C= M. GEOS 128 users should rename the file as "128 DESKTOP"; C64 users should rename it as "DESK TOP". (During the following passages where the word TopDesk appears, the renamed file is meant.)
5. Double click on the newly renamed file. This is very important!!
(NOTE: The above 5 steps MUST be done with your original TopDesk disk; at this point you should now "write protect" this disk.)
6. 64 USERS TAKE NOTE: Before you copy the TopDesk file onto your' System Disk please make a note of the following: A number of the Geos 64 V2.0 disks were sold with a small program bug, which would enable TopDesk to override the Geos copy-protection program for the Geos System Disk. This could lead to a problem; in that you would no longer be able to boot GEOS. To avoid this, and only if you are a C64, Geos 64 V2.0 user, use the accompanying program "SaveSystem" on the main TopDesk Disk. Start the program with a double-click and follow the instructions that appear on the screen.
7. Now you can copy the TopDesk program onto your Boot Disk. Please read the passage on how to copy programs in a TopDesk environment, later in these instructions.
uctions.
hese instructions.
use FoldFlag to relink the folders which los
2.2 Implementation of InstallDriveD
After installing the TopDesk program, InstallDriveD can also be copied directly onto your Boot Disk if you plan on using a fourth drive. InstallDriveD must appears AFTER the CONFIGURE file.
NOTE: During this initial set-up routine, please close all windows except your Boot Disk after you have placed the renamed TopDesk and, if desired, InstallDriveD, onto it. This will make the rest of the set-up much easier and reduce the risk of making mistakes.
InstallDriveD can only install a true drive as drive D and it must have the drive address 11 !
InstallDriveD is a small program, which is used to install your 4th drive. Basically this program works very much like CONFIGURE, but for the fourth drive only. For this reason it can only be used providing that four drives are in use, three of which have first been installed via the main CONFIGURE program. At least one of the three drives must be a RAM-Disk; otherwise it will not be possible to use four drives with your system.
Copy InstallDriveD onto your Boot Disk and make sure it is placed AFTER CONFIGURE. This is an auto-exec file, just like CONFIGURE, and like that program you must run it first to select the proper drive set-up. Do this by double-clicking the file icon and selecting the proper drive type. Then select "save configuration" so that your fourth drive will be installed each time you boot GEOS.
Occasionally people find that they can not use dip switches to change drive numbers. This is the case in the 128D for example. In my system, which includes a 128D, I prefer to boot from my 1581 drive, which has to be "dip-switched" as drive 9, since the 1571 in the 128D is always drive 8. So to boot GEOS, I have a short basic program which "soft-wires" the two drives, changing 8 to 11 and 9 to 8. My CONFIGURE and InstallDriveD are set so that: A = 1581, B = RAM1581, C = RAM1581, D = 1571. Here is the short program which I use:
64 USERS TAKE NOTE: Before you copy the TopDesk file onto your' System Disk please make a note of the following: A number of the Geos 64 V2.0 disks were sold with a small program bug, which would enable TopDesk to override the
2.3 Implementation of Auto-Swapping
Applications can NOT be started from drives C or D without this option selected.
If you wish this option to be active when you boot GEOS, select it now, while your open window is the boot disk. You can turn this function on and off as you please.
The four swap methods are:
1) If you open an application is in drive C or D, that drive will be swapped with drive A.
2) If you open a data file from drive C or D, the same thing occurs as long as the parent application is on the same drive.
3) If you open a data file on drive C or D, and the parent application is on drive A or B, then the drive which the data file is on will be swapped with the drive which the application is NOT on. For example, I clicked on a GeoWrite data file in drive D, but GeoWrite was in my RAM1581 in drive B. Without auto-swap, I would have gotten an error message. With auto-swap, drive D was switched with drive A, and now the file could access drive B.
4) Should a document be on drive C and application be on drive D (or vice versa) both will be swapped with drives A and B.
Auto-swapping only effects the running of programs. Copying files from any drive to any other drive is always available.
2.4 Implementation of RamDeskTop
If you do not have an REU, or if for some reason you have not CONFIGURED a RAM-Disk, skip this section.
RamDeskTop uses the DMA MoveData area of your REU, as well as a especially created disk file, to save and later rebuild the TopDesk screen when you return from an application. Without RamDeskTop selected, you must reopen each drive and reformat your windows each time you return to TopDesk from an application. Selection of RamDeskTop makes using TopDesk faster and more enjoyable.
Using RamDeskTop means, of course, that DMA MoveData is disabled; so far I haven't noticed any speed loss anywhere. (NOTE: if you open your CONFIGURE program after doing this, you may see where the DMA MoveData window is still dark and the Ram Reboot window is empty. I am told by my friend Jim Collette, one of CONFIGURE's authors, that this is because the windows in some copies of CONFIGURE are reversed.)
Remember, you should still have only your Boot Disk window open. To install RamDeskTop, select the "special" menu and find "RamDeskTop". Select it and the following happens:
a) This menu item becomes inverted.
b) A file is created on your RamDisk. It is still called "DESK TOP" (C64) or "128 DESKTOP", but the icons have changed to a box with the word RAM in it. These is NOT the full blown DeskTop, but a short routine which loads the TopDesk from the DMA MoveData area of the REU. Always keep your original renamed copy of "DESK TOP" or "128 DESKTOP" on your Boot Disk. Do NOT copy this RAM version to any disks.
To turn off RamDeskTop, select it again. The contents of the DMA MoveData memory-area will no longer be used for TopDesk and the system will look for the ACTUAL file called "DESK TOP" or "128 DESKTOP". It is important that you have this on a real disk in drive A or B.
ur Boot Disk. Please read the passage on how to copy programs in a TopDesk environment, later in these instructions.
w, click on the title-bar. A movable frame w
. Sub-files (Folders)
With TopDesk you now have a first, i.e. the possibility, to use Sub-files. Use of folders can make organizing and working with files easier than ever before. For example, you could have one folder with all of your games, another with your GeoPublish applications, another with your favorite fonts. Then, when you want to copy the files from one disk to another, you just copy the folder.
You can use up to 63 folders on any disk, and these can be nested, i.e., they can be placed inside each other.
To open a folder, double-click on it as you would a regular GEOS file. If you simply double click, the folder will replace the parent folder/disk in the current window. If you double-click and continue to hold the mouse button down, then the folder will be opened with a new window.
When you close a folder, the parent folder/disk will once again become current; if you click and hold on the close icon, the entire parent disk will be closed.
Folders can be treated like regular files with two exceptions:
1) You can not duplicate a folder;
2) You can not copy a folder to a disk which already has that same folder name; i.e. "overwrite" a folder. You can, however, copy the contents of a folder to the same named folder on another disk, which is really what you want to do anyway.
3.1. The Border Block
The Border block has been eliminated. The authors felt it was no longer necessary or feasible with TopDesk. If you have disks with Border files on them, they will appear in the main directory with TopDesk.
As a result of this, TopDesk no longer has to concern itself whether a disk is GEOS or non-GEOS format. In fact, it formats disks in non-GEOS format, so that if you ever go back to using DeskTop you may occasionally have a the notice going up telling you that the disk is non-GEOS ("Do you wish to convert it?") even though you have been using TopDesk and GEOS. This DOES NOT hurt anything either way!!!
FIGURE program after doing this, you may see whe
5. Window Technique
Topdesk has a clear advantage over the old DeskTop, in that it is possible to open and use four windows. Each window is allocated to a disk (drive) complete with it's own directories. Each disk can be identified by it's name, this means that each disk must be allocated a different name, including all RamDisks. If, for instance, you configure two RAM 1541's, two RAM 1571's or two RAM 1581's are set up, one of the two RAM-disks must be renamed, to enable you to work with them at all.
You can have up to four windows open at a time. Each window could either belong to a different disk, or could be from the same disk, or could be folders. The windows are also important and necessary, when copying files from one disk to another, or from one folder to another. The windows are completely variable in both position and size. They show the contents of each actual disk (drive) complete with all of the necessary directories and information concerned.
4.1. Window Structure
At the top of the window is its "name". First is the drive in letter form, then the disk name, and then, if you are in a folder, the folder name. So if you were in a folder nested 5 deep, the window "name" might look like this:
This means that I am looking at a folder called "gender" which is in a folder called "food", which is in "gerbilfiles", which is in "folder2",which is in "myfirstfolder", which is on a disk in drive A called "Mydisk". NOTE: Not all of these files have to be opened (in windows). In fact, they couldn't be! Only the last one needs to be open, since it is the one you are working with.
At the bottom of each window is the memory used and available; you can view this in either bytes or blocks. In the upper left corner of window is the "Close" icon. Directly below the "Close" is a "fuel gauge", which designate the amount of free memory-space remaining on the disk. In the lower right corner is the "resizing" icon. In the upper right corner is a box which toggles the current window between full size and its current size. Just to the left of the above mentioned box is a box which places the current window in the background and selects the next one in line.
4.2. Copying Files
Open a window for your source and target disk or folder. You may then select a single file or multiple files from your source disk, and carry the ghost icon over to the window of the target disk. Click once, and the copying begins.
Copying from a disk to a folder on the same disk, or between two folders on the same disk, is actually a "move", removing the file from disk/folder and placing it into its new folder.
4.3. Activating the Windows
To activate a window, you just click anywhere within the window. The window is then fetched to the foreground. The respective disk-drive is now active. An active window can be recognized by checking the title-bar at the top of the window: a non-active title-bar appears white.; an active one has lines in it, unless the window is very small.
4.4. Moving Windows
To move a window, click on the title-bar. A movable frame will appear which follows the mouse pointer across the screen. Click again when the frame is where you want it.
4.5. Altering the size of the Window
Click the re-sizing icon, located at the bottom right corner of the window. This will allow you to make the window any size possible. Click again when the frame is the size you want it.
ght corner of the window. This will allow you to mak
4.6. Enlarging the window to its' maximum size
Click the icon in the top right hand corner, the window is expanded to the biggest size possible. Click again to return it to its original position and size.
4.7. Move the window to the back
The icon next to the enlarging-icon is used to move the window behind the other windows. The next window is activated.
4.8. Horizontal Window Scrolling
The contents of each window can be scrolled horizontally. To do this the scroll-arrow at the bottom edge of the window has to be activated with a mouse-click. You can also use the left and right cursor keys.
4.9. Vertical Window Scrolling
If you click on the up or down arrows then the contents of the window will be scrolled (4 Icons or 4 text lines) downwards or upwards. If the mouse button is held down, then 4 icon rows ( 16 icons or 16 lines) will be scrolled through. You can also use the up or down cursor keys. Note that if you have a window which shows 2 rows (8 icons) and the whole disk/folder only has, for instance, 14 icons, then clicking and HOLDING will have no result. Use just a quick click in this case.
4.10. Closing the Windows
First select the window. Then click the icon to close it. If you are in a folder, clicking quickly will close just the folder and bring up the previous disk/folder. Clicking and holding the mouse button will close the folder and the entire disk.
bilfiles/food/gender
This means that I am looking at a folder called "gender" which is in a fo
. Drive Configuration
5.1. Three/Four Drives and REU
With TopDesk you now have the possibility of using 4 drives, however, the 4th drive must first be installed (see InstallDriveD). This will then be displayed, as with the old DeskTop, on the right hand side of the TopDesk screen.
It is possible to open a window by means of a a simple single-click on any drive symbol, in which the contents of the appropriate disk will then be displayed. The following keys; F1, F3, F5 and F7 also activate a drive window, i.e: A, B, C or D. Up to 4 windows can be activated for each drive.
To swap drives, single-click one of the drives and hold down the mouse button, then move the inverted icon over to the drive you wish to swap it with and click again.
It is possible for all of the TopDesk functions to be carried out from all drives, without the drives having to be swapped first, as with the old system. For example; now it is possible to copy files directly from drive C to drive D. The problems only start when you try and start a program from drive C/D, as already noted.
se just a quick click in this case.
4.10. Closing the Windows
First select the window. Then click the icon to close it. If you are in a folder, clicki
6. The Menus
6.1. geos -- Same as original DeskTop except that Input and Printer Drivers are selected thru different means (See Section 10.1).
6.2. file
6.2.1. open -- Opens selected file; Opens selected folder; Installs selected Input or Printer Driver.
6.2.2. duplicate -- Same as DeskTop; a folder can NOT be duplicated.
6.2.3. rename -- Same as DeskTop
6.2.4. info -- Same as DeskTop
6.2.5. print -- Same as DeskTop
6.2.6. delete -- Erases selected file; erases a selected folder and ALL files and folders within that folder; USE THIS WITH CAUTION!! Unlike DeskTop, you can NOT recover items from the "Trash Can"!!
6.2.7. presort -- Places selected file(s) at the beginning of the disk; this provides some means of rearranging multiple files on a disk. This command must not be used on a Geos BootDisk!
6.3. view -- View by Icon, Name, Date, Size or File-type.
6.3.1. In Blocks / in KBytes -- The method of showing the free disk space and file size to be viewed: blocks or KBytes.
6.3.2 Small Display -- Used mainly with icons, it halves their horizontal width in 80 column mode, allowing you to view more icons in smaller windows.
6.4. disk -- rename, erase, format, copy, and validate are all the same as in DeskTop. Note that when you select format, a dialogue box appears which allows you to select the drive which contains the disk you wish to format.
6.5. windows
6.5.1. place -- all of the windows installed on the screen will be altered in size and position enabling an optimal positioning on the screen to be obtained. The active window will then automatically be made as large as possible.
6.5.2. close all -- all windows are closed down at once.
6.5.3. select contents -- selects all files on active disk. The counter at the top of the screen (left of date) shows how many icons are currently selected.
6.5.4. select certain files -- selects 16 files beginning with first file in window.
6.6. special
6.6.1. New folder -- makes a new folder on the disk or within an already opened folder.
6.6.2. Basic -- allows you to exit TopDesk and return to Basic. To return to TopDesk from basic you only need to press the "RESTORE" key or enter "SYS 49152" with GEOS 64, or with "BANK 1: SYS 49152" for GEOS 128.
6.6.3. RamDeskTop -- as discussed previously.
6.6.4. reset -- Makes sure each drive has the same disk as the window shows. Erases all windows for which the disk is different or the drive is empty.
6.6.5. Automatic drive swapping -- as discussed previously.
sk as the window s
7. The keyboard
Almost every shortcut-key which is supported by DeskTop is also supported by TopDesk. These keys are displayed on the menus and so are not repeated here.
F1,F3,F5,F7: open drives A, B, C and D
C= F1,C= F3,C= F5,C= F7: inverts drive A, B, C and D and places inverted ghost icon on cursor.
C= B: moves the active window to the back, and activates the next
window in line.
C= <- (arrow key to the left of key 1): closes active window
C= 1 through C= 0: Selects files, 1 to 10, in the active window.
The cursor keys scroll the contents of the window in the respective directions.
7.1. Multi-File
As with the normal Desktop if the (C=) "commodore key" is depressed under TopDesk the Multi-File-Function is activated. This means that when inverting files, by holding down the commodore key an endless number of files and folders can be inverted. The number of inverted files is shown in a small window, at the top, near the list of Geos menus.
The Multi-File-function allows the same functions to be carried out, as with the normal Desktop : i.e. Info show, copy, rename, and erase.
8. Error-codes
In addition to the normal error messages, TopDesk has some new ones:
8.1 Error-report: "Buffer full during loading / $0b"
a) When using the "Presort" function this could appear if the directory is very large (more than about. 130 entries) and a RAM-Expansion is not in use.
b) When viewing in text mode (View by Names, Size, Type or Date) this could appear due to too little RAM-space.
8.2 Error report: "Name already present"
You have either attempted to name a folder with a name already in use, or you have attempted to copy a folder onto a disk where the name is already present. In both cases the drive will stop working and the error report will appear.
This report appears when a file is copied on to a disk, and a file or folder with the same name is already present on the disk. In this case you must either erase the file or rename it. Please note that when erasing a file, the complete contents of the file including all folders will be erased.
8.3 Error-report: "A Program-start is not possible from drive C or D"
You have attempted to start a program from drive C or D. For this reason a program start is only possible from drive A or B.
It will be possible to start the program by activating the menu-option "automatic swap".
8.4 Error report: "this program only functions with GEOS 64"
You have attempted to start a program under GEOS 128 that only works in conjunction with GEOS 64.
8.5 Error report: "DeskTop not present on RAM-Disk A and/or B!"
The system is searching for the DeskTop on drive A and B. Therefore, TopDesk checks, before a program is started, if A and B are RAM-Disks, and, if so, whether a DeskTop-file is present; otherwise it would not be possible to exit the program.
OS boot disk is on a 1581 disk, so the final line of my basic program runs GEOS from drive 8. When GEOS finishes booting, I end up with TopDesk as follows: Drive 8 = 1581
9. Changing the Input- and Printer drivers
As you more than likely have already noticed the option to change the input- and printer drivers is missing in the Menu "Geos" . This can now be carried out under TopDesk much more efficiently. The relevant file is now installed with a double-click.
If you do not have an input driver installed, and therefore have no mouse control, the following steps can be taken:
1) C= + (F1, F3, F5, F7) to open the drive which has the input driver on it.
2) C= + (1 - 0) to select the file which is the driver you need. You can scroll the files with the cursor arrows.
3) C= + z installs Input driver
own the commodore key an endless number of files and folders can be inverted. The number of
10. Oddities and Anomalies
The following are comments and ideas I have had in the process of testing the English version of TopDesk and editing this manual:
Occasionally, when one window is closed, the picture of the printer in the lower left corner pops thru if there is a window over it. This is no big deal and selecting that window or doing a reset or just about anything will clear it up.
When I first time I booted TopDesk, after I had set everything up, my input driver was not activated properly. I have no idea why, but I moved the input driver around on the boot disk, or maybe did something else, and it began to work fine and has been no problem at all since then.
If you use a "batch copier" of some kind during boot-up, the folders and files must be copied as separate files; ie, you can not just copy the folders and expect the other files to follow as you can once you are in TopDesk. Also, your files which are in folders on the source disk will appear outside those folders on the target disk, and your folders on the target disk will be empty. These are NOT errors. It is just that batch copiers do not know how to handle the folder file format. To solve this second matter, I have written FoldFlag. It is an auto-exec file which should go on your boot disk AFTER your batch-copier auto exec program. It "relinks" the files on the target disk with the proper folders. Please note that it is okay to NOT copy all files within a folder, but if you copy a file which is in a folder, you MUST copy the folder as well or there might be a system crash.
If you use a batch copier at any other time while in TopDesk, you will have the same problem. In this case however, you would have to manually put the files back into the folders. FoldFlag will not work any time except during boot-up. However, by using folders wisely, you really shouldn't need to use batch copiers after booting up.
If you wish to create folders on your boot disk, it appears safest to place all the files you want on your boot disk, then create your folders on the boot disk and put those files into it. In other words, do not create a bunch of folders on another disk and then transfer them onto the boot disk. I am guessing on this. All I know for sure is that when I created folders in the RAM1581 and then transferred them to the Boot Disk, the next time I booted the printer driver didn't work right. I went back and created all of the folders on the boot disk itself, and everything was fine from then on. This could have been just a coincidence. Again, like the input driver problem, I have not had any recurrence of this.
I have a 128D (which means I have a 1571 hard-switched to be drive 8 all the time), a 1581, and a 2-meg REU. When I boot GEOS, I run short basic program which soft-switches the 1571 to drive 11 and the 1581 to drive 8. My GEOS boot disk is on a 1581 disk, so the final line of my basic program runs GEOS from drive 8. When GEOS finishes booting, I end up with TopDesk as follows: Drive 8 = 1581
Drive 9 = Ram1581
Drive 10 = Ram1571 (So I don't have to screw with changing the name because of two Ram1581s.)
Drive 11 = 1571
During boot-up, I use batch-copier to copy numerous files to the Ram1581, then I use FoldFlag to relink the folders which lost their link during the booting.
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