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Scope Disk #060 (199x)(Scope PD)(US)[WB].zip
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Scope Disk #060 (199x)(Scope PD)(US)[WB].adf
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Noah
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Part6
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1989-03-04
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479 lines
Well, obviously we've come pretty far, but of course there just MAY be a
few things left up in the air. Like, for instance, we haven't used Ram yet!
*
Let's stop for a minute and make ourselves a checklist just to see
where we are in our personal little computer evolution:
- First we gawked at the screen and wondered if we'd ever figure out ANY
of this shit! If you didn't then you're not a True Beginner and you
can't join the club.
- We settled down, read (?) the manual (??), and started double-clicking
everything in sight.
- We got better at moving files around with the mouse, and at one point
swore we'd never touch the keyboard again unless we had to.
- We finally got the modem and Online!, brought it home, set it up, opened
up the manual and were crushed when we realized it was full of that CLI
garbage!
- We close the Online! manual and pull out the DOS books we'd been
avoiding. Once we get the gist with the pathnames and such we actually
start getting a little excited about using "authentic computer
language", as referred to "icon-shuffling". We open the Online! manual
back up and breath a sigh of relief..we can read it!
- We make our first call to a BBS, thus taking our first tiny, faltering
step into the New Age.
- We download just oodles of files. We save them faithfully on our neat,
organized archive disks just like that nice Mr. BenchMaster said to do.
- We become proficient at setting up and using our CustomBenches; we've
incorporated the basic gang, Mackie, Xicon, Conman, Select, PrefCh and
FaccII into the Amiga scheme of things.
- We finally recaptured the talisman in FaeryTale, FINALLY kicked the bad-
ass Black Knight off his throne in Dark Castle (and WHAT was our reward?)
bought some snazy software like Dpaint, faithfully read the manual and
did every tutorial and let's face it: We're feelin' pretty good
about the whole thing, aren't we?
*
I certainly was. Especially about that megabyte of Ram, wow, sure was
nice havin' that big ol' megger of Ram around. Yep, just about the only
thing I didn't know was what I was supposed to do with it!
*
I quickly found out.
*
Df1 died.
*
It was a lovely service. We all said a few words, and I put an old copy
of Silent Service in its slot just before they closed the tiny casket.
*
The guy at the shop said the heads had come un-aligned and it was history.
One drive?? Yuck! Requester City!! The answer is to load up Ram with a
bunch of the stuff you normally need off the Bench and then "CD Ram:".
Everything in the l directory, the libs directory and about half of
the c directory should just about do it, together with any special-
purpose tools you might need. If you've got the meg then you've got
plenty of room to spare, so put this in your st-seq. Or better yet, in one
of your Select files in the s dir (called RamBench?):
MakeDir Ram:c ;makes a "c" directory in Ram.
MakeDir Ram:l ;makes l dir in Ram
MakeDir Ram:libs ;makes libs dir in Ram
Copy c/Assign Ram:c
Copy c/CD Ram:c
Copy c/Copy Ram:c
Copy c/Delete Ram:c
Copy c/Dir Ram:c
Copy c/e Ram:c
Copy c/Echo Ram:c
Copy c/Ed Ram:c
Copy c/Else Ram:c
Copy c/EndIf Ram:c
Copy c/Execute Ram:c
Copy c/f Ram:c
Copy c/If Ram:c
Copy c/MakeDir Ram:c
Copy c/Path Ram:c
Copy c/Run Ram:c
Copy c/Type Ram:c
Copy df0:l Ram:l all quiet ;copies l dir to Ram:l
Copy df0:libs Ram:libs all quiet ;copies libs dir to Ram:libs
Copy Utilities/DU-VI Ram: ;Copy your DU and any other special
tools you might need. Copy the .info
files too if you want the icons.
Assign c: Ram:c
Assign l: Ram:l
Assign libs: Ram:libs
Path Ram:c Ram:l Ram:libs
You should defintely have AddBuffers or FaccII running at the beginning of
your st-seq so that when a command, like Copy, is repeated, the computer
doesn't have to access the disk again and again for it, it'll read it out of
memory.
The Workbench directories will still be in the path, remember, but only
available when the Workbench disk is in the drive.
You'll run into snags here and there when you've got things Assigned to
directories on other devices, but hey, that's just part of what keeps it
all so dang interesting. That's why I moved the l and libs dirs over
to Ram also, to help keep the snags at a minimum. You also might want to
put the s dir in Ram but I've leaving it out for this tutorial. We're
writing files to s and as soon as it's Assigned to Ram that means we're
writing files to Ram, which means adios when the Amiga's turned off.
This still isn't quite good enough, though. Remember, we're without df1
here. Having all those juicy commands and libs and stuff in Ram is nice,
but we need to BE somewhere, i.e. a CLI window, to use it. We can't just
type "CD Ram:" somewhere in the startup sequence because it just doesn't
work that way. Do this:
- put all the above garbage into your st-seq and save.
- type "Ed s/cddf0". In the new file, type "CD df0:" and save.
- type "Ed s/cdram". In the new file, type "CD Ram:" and save.
- type "f g", or "Ed s/startup-sequence". Right before the EndCLI type
NewCLI from s/cdram con:0/336/318/064/CD-RAM
NewCLI from s/cddf0 con:321/336/318/064/CD-DF0
If you're using non-Interlace mode, use: 0/155/319/045/CD-RAM
322/155/318/045/CD-DF0
Re-boot this puppy and see what happens. Hopefully everything will go
as planned. You'll see less memory available at the top of the screen as Ram
has now got a bellyfull of goodies If you type "CD" in the left CLI window
you should get a "Ram:" back and in the right window the name of the disk
currently in df0. Fun, huh? Now you need a small scriptfile in s in case
you need to get the memory back to run some big graphics thing or whatever.
Type "Ed s/dr" (for Delete Ram). In the Ed box type
Assign c: df0:c
Assign l: df0:l
Assign libs: df0:libs
Delete Ram:#? all quiet
Echo "That's it, Boss!"
That last line, of course, MUST be in the scriptfile just as it is. Save the
rascal and the next time you need the memory back, type "f dr" and there it
is. You can also have a script file to reload all that stuff back in, of
course. If you can handle Ed yet, just take that whole block of Copies and
Assigns in the St-seq and WriteBlock that sucker to the s directory. Call
it "lr" for Load Ram.
Next, presuming you have FaccII running, you'll want a scriptfile to give
you back both the Ram and what FaccII's hogging. Use the same file as above,
add "Fac -q" and call it as "m", for Memory.
Devs would be next if you have the space. If you never screw around
with graphics stuff, especially hi-res pics and animations, you'll
ALWAYS have plenty of room in Ram.
If you ARE into graphics, then at times you may be scratching for every
byte possible and wondering why they can't have a simple UN-LoadWB command.
I'll discuss memory recoverage next.
*
If you've done all the above, then congratulations: you are now CD-Ram,
another evolutionary step along the way.
AND you saved the price of a new disk drive!
*
Memory recovery:
The absolute most memory you can get is to rename or delete the st-seq
and re-boot. At that point you're seeing what the computer sees as it tries
to find "startup-sequence" in the s dir. If you want to run your st-seq
step-by-step, this is the way to do it. Just type in each line of the
st-seq one by one. If there's a snag you haven't been able to unravel,
you'll find it now.
To find out how much memory you're using, and have free, type Info. You
can go through your st-seq step-by-step and Info after every entry and
actually chart how much memory each command is using, if any. It's also fun
to Runback PM (off Extras) and Sysmon (off FaccII) at the start of the
st-seq.
You don't need to rename or delete the st-seq to be here in this bare-
bones environment; you can make this one of your Select files, this one
reading "NewCLI" and that's all. You'll be in a proper DOS window with a
LITTLE more memory being used than the first way.
Your file "mm" (for MaxMem) would read something like this:
Echo "Please remove disk from df1" ;gives you back a few more bytes
Echo "Close all windows" ;lotsa graphic bytes in windows
Echo "Mackie -q?"
Echo "Path reset?"
Assign c: df0:c
Assign l: df0:l
Assign libs: df0:libs
Delete Ram:#? all quiet
Fac -q ;turns off FaccII
Blitzfonts -r ;turns off Blitzfonts
run c/Flusher ;off a BBS, gives you a couple of
bytes back sometimes.
Break 1 ;doesn't hurt anything, might help
Break 2
Break 3
Break 4
Break 5
Break 6
Break 7
Break 8
Lace ;non-Interlace uses fewer bytes
A couple of mentions: We have (in theory, anyway) that "m" file for the
deleting Ram and quitting FaccII, so we could "f s/m" in place of those five
lines, but it's better just to write it out..not only for the computer's
sake but for glancing back over it in the future.
You might have noticed we didn't quit Mackie. This is because Mackie
won't restart from a script file, it has to be entered "live", so I just ask
at the top if I want it quit. If the situation's that desparate I won't
mind a little typing at that point.
We also don't want to reset the paths unless we really have to. I
probably shouldn't even have told you about it but you would have dug it up
somewhere and ended up going through a whole string of silly problems. It's
an absolutely last-ditch effort, right after taking the disk out of df1 and
having to listen to that terrible clicking. I mean, you get something like
800 bytes back or something.
Speaking of removing df1's disk, a program might actually need the extra
bytes you get back, but once the program's loaded you can re-insert the
disk. DPaint in hi-res is a good example.
The drive just sitting there diskless also uses up memory, which is one of
the reasons you never quite get near that 1,000,000 mark. One game,
Destroyer, actually needs you to disconnect the drive to play it on a 512
machine. Rude, huh?
Probably the most need you'll have for big memory is the hi-res pic. You
have to remember that when it comes to graphics you don't get that whole meg
of Ram, and what you do have gets used up quickly. You definitely want
every window closed. And you have more memory available if you run DPaint
straight from a tool icon rather than from a script file. If you normally
like running DPaint from a file, you can always have two icons, the tool one
named something like "MaxPaint.info" and the project/Xicon one named
"DPaint.info". You'd rename the actual program "MaxPaint" so the tool icon
would run it, then use the name "MaxPaint" in the Xicon file.
*
I haven't mentioned printers, by the way, because there's really not a
heck of a lot to say about them. If you're into graphics printing then
you'll be getting a graphics printer, best you can afford. I find the
printed version of a good pic disappinting so I said to heck with it 'til
I get a color laser-jet printer. I like the 25% cotton bond paper although
it's a little expensive unless you buy it in the 500 box. The Memorex
#3202-0130 is the cream of the crop, great stuff if you're into paper.
If you want to copy every file name on the Workbench to the printer, type
"Dir > par opt a". If you want all of df1's filenames copied to the printer
type "dir > par df1: opt a". I've found better results using "par" (for
parallel port) instead of "prt", which the books seem to like.
*
I told you before that if you bought Dark Castle I'd tell you where the
Secret Passageway is...and this will be the FIRST time the BenchMaster has
let one of the Great Secrets be told...but told it shall be, as reward for
your excellent accomplishment of doing this whole damn tutorial. Ready?
Boot up the game, Beginner level. Enter door #3. Scoot up the ropes to
that top-left platform. See the EDGE of the ledge up to your right? Ah ha!
Jump up to it and you end up on the rope, probably being bitten by a rat.
The trick is to get as close, and I mean as Close, to the wall as possible,
turn around and THEN jump up to the ledge. Wow! You might, of course, want
a little Shield or Fireball here as I believe we're expecting a visit from
an old friend just about now...
The reason we're in Beginner mode is because, as you MAY know, when you
get to the higher levels you bonk your head when you walk into a wall.
You can do it in all three levels, it's just much easier at Beginner. It's
a very light finger action, obviously, that's needed, but you'll get it.
I've found that if I jump up on the rope, climb to the top then jump back
off, the spot that it leaves me in gives me the best chance to scoot right
up to the wall and stop. There are two okay spots; with his face dead flush
against the wall and one pixel over to the right. A game glitch? Hey, who
knows, right? I've found lots of "strange" things in the better games and
don't have any idea if they're glitches or not. Go back and forth between
Shield 3 and 4 and it keeps giving you points/lives. BUT only if you kill
all the bats in #4 first! (you only have to do it once). It doesn't do
that between any other screens, far as I know.
In Barbarian, it's the same kind of thing. That first screen with the
toothy rock? Run to the left and you can Jump up onto the wall, bypassing
the scimitar guy; only wall you can do that with. Isn't the winning picture
at the end just fabulous? God Knows how many pictures I've got around and
one of the best is on a disk you have to go through THAT to see!
What's that? You haven't seen it yet? Oh...sorry!
*
Odds 'n Ends:
- The reason I like ProWrite is because you can actually take IFF pics and
load them onto a page. A feature that few, if any, of the competition can
offer. It also just works damn well, except for it not saving in text
correctly. I have to admit I've never called their technical support group;
you never can tell, there might be an answer.
- If a disk doesn't copy with MarauderII in the standard mode make sure to
try some of the other options. FaeryTale and Firepower both need Verbatim
mode, and Barbarian needs Verbatim and Index. It removed the purchase
guarantee from Silent Service and Deluxe PaintII.
- When you Delete a file it doesn't really delete the material, it just
erases it's file allocation markers. That's why DiskDoctor or a BBS
prog called UnDelete work; try it and see. You can actually erase
everything on a disk, make a regular copy of it with MarauderII and STILL
DiskDoctor the files off the copies disk! They're only gone for good if
you write over them or format the disk. That's why a formatted disk writes
so smooth and a completely deleted disk scratches all over the place.
- I looked over a couple of fonts to use with NewFont, agreeing that a
computer font shouldn't have all those little serifs that the Topaz
font does; those unnecessary "cute" parts of the letters. The trouble
is that the Alternate keys weren't the same and everybody, especially the
printer, got very mixed up. What I did was just haul out Fed off the
Basic/Extras disk and slice up the default font. A good computer
lesson: First I try the topaz 11, the only topaz in the fonts/topaz
directory, but it's too big for the DU boxes (everything uses the new
font, not just the CLI), so I'm going through the disks trying to dig
up a smaller topaz, having the feeling that somewhere I'd seen one, but
to no avail. But surprise of surprises, if you make Fed the first thing
you use after booting up, it has both topaz 8 and topaz 9 listed. Use
the computer a bit, pop open Fed and the topaz 8 & 9 are gone! Yes, just
another one of Amazing Computer Things that keeps it all so interesting.
So I first used the 9, then the 8 and the 8 works perfectly. I'm
including it with this tutorial just to save you some hassle.
- If some new program you're trying pops up a requester saying something
like "Can't find Babble font..", load up a font (pick one) in the Fed and
Save it as "Babble". You can't just rename the .font file, you have to
have Fed make one for you as you Save the font.
- Actually, I have seen one other program that mentioned NoFastMem, the
original version of Snapshot (22,288). If you run it without NoFastMem
first is comes back with a "Stack Overflow" requester and then it's off to
Guruland. The new version has fixed this; I mentioned it in case you run
into something like it in the future.
- If you want to use a different icon for Ram, do this: Take your cool
disk icon (change it to a disk type with IconLab if you have to) and copy it
to a disk on df1, named "disk.info". Pop out the disk then re-insert it.
You should see the Ram icon. Open the window, get it configured just where
you want it and Snapshot the sucker. Copy it to some personal dirctory such
as MyFiles and name it "Ramicon.info". In your st-seq, BEFORE "LoadWb", put
in the command "Copy Myfiles/Ramicon.info Ram:disk.info". That copies it to
Ram and renames it disk.info. After the LoadWb, "Delete Ram:disk.info".
After the LoadWB command the icon is set, so that' why you can then delete
it, just to keep things tidy.
*
- Other BBS programs I like:
ShoWiz - displays pics in fun ways
Slideshow - ditto
LMV - poor man's animation program, but fun
ShowAnim - the next step after LMV
Friends - cute hack
Suck - ditto
Target - ditto
VacBench - ditto
BenchQuake - a classic, right up there with Melt
RainBench - ditto
Dissolve - nice pic displayer
Sand - I don't know why I like this little fella so much
Startle - Honorable Mention for hack of the year
Trails - your pointer's broken!
WaveBench - another good hack
Icefont - definitely font of the year, for paint & processor
AreaCode - gives you location of area code
Keylock - locks up your keyboard and mouse until you type in your secret
word. I (just for fun) protect my nude pics with it
FM - File allocation map, shows where the bytes are on the disk. No real
practical use for us but fun to pretend
IFF2PCS - Makes a puzzle out of your IFF pics..certainly different.
Tetrix - I mentioned this before. Extremely addictive
JamesGames - Three simple games but very well done
EVO - a graphics program of how the skull has evolved over the ages
Earth - shows Earth orbiting on any axis, x, y and z
*
The next-to-last stage of the journey is "CD dh0:", or CD'ing from your
hard drive. Yes, you want 30 megs if you can affort it; you'll find out
quick hard drives aren't cheap for the Amiga, just 'cause there aren't
many people making them.
In a sense, there's not a lot that can be said about them. They're just
another device, like Ram or the disk drives. You CD from dh0 so there's no
noisy disk access, which is certainly nice. Faster too, as you might
imagine. There's no doubt they're great..just not as "necessary" as most
hard drive owners would have you believe. Remember, we're just talking
storage here, not memory. Memory is what you need for the big graphics,
storage is just that, storage.
*
In another sense, of course, they're fabulous.
*
The only thing I want to say about them is forget all that "partitioning"
business you'll hear about. Just call it dh0 and be done with it. What you
loose in speed is more than made up for by the ease, convenience and fun of
just having it be one of the gang.
*
And the final stage of our evolution would then be to go back to
"CD Ram:", this time with an additional device on tap.
Some two hundred thousand bytes of commands immediately accessible out of
Ram, thirty million bytes of storage, a million bytes of memory, modem,
printer, receiver, plexitable, bench...
THAT, my friend, is a computer. Use it.
*
And that does it. Whew! Quite the little journey, from that first night
when you sat and stared at the screen and wondered just what the hell WAS
going on! Well, now you've got a better idea.
Glad to be a part of it.
** The BenchMaster **