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-
- =============================================
- N F A H A R D D R I V E B O O T M E N U
- =============================================
-
- (FreakBoot v2.0)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- F*ck knows why you'd ever want to use this, but Pex/QuI says it's the
- coolest thing since my fridge, Deck the Ripper/NFA insists on seeing it
- after claiming my previous setup (FreakBoot v1.0) was "very tidy", and I
- AM just a LITTLE bit proud of it myself, so...
-
- What does it do?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Well, it wastes loads of RAM, looks very pretty, and allows you to
- quickly and easily boot your system into a number of configurations, oh
- and it plays Soundtracker Mods and samples too...
-
- What are you on about?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- FreakBoot v2.0 is basically a menu that was written for my A1200 with
- 2Mb CHIP and 4Mb FAST Ram, there were occasions where I would want to
- boot with a certain configuration, like straight into a game instead of
- going through Workbench all the time, or maybe I'd want to boot PPaint
- with the maximum amount of CHIP ram and all the PC drivers mounted, get
- the idea?
-
- The original idea came from Video/iNDi (although he doesn't know it), I
- was at his house watching him on his PC, and he had this little menu
- come up - just a few lines of text on the screen, pick 1 to 4 and all
- that, nothing brilliant - and at the time I dismissed it as necessary
- only on the (koff koff) PC, as he ONLY (!) had 4Mb of RAM and, PCs being
- so shite and all, needed to use varying setups for certain things.
-
- HOWEVER!! Murphys law of computers number 4872 states that "The faster a
- machine gets, the more impatient the user will become when waiting for
- something to load", and would you bloody believe it? It's True!
-
- How do I Install it?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- NOTE!!! Before you do ANYTHING you should copy your Startup-sequence to
- a safe place just in case you're not as handy with the Shell as you
- should be!
-
- FB2 simply executes a script file depending on your menu choice, you
- make a copy of your original HD startup-sequence (call it Full.boot or
- something) and create a new one thus:
-
- Assign ENV: Ram:
- Run >Nil: C:FreakBoot
- Endcli >Nil:
-
- You also need a config file, and it's best to get this sorted before you
- rename your startup-sequence. Basically it consists of plain ASCII text
- lines comprising your menu text and the name of the script file to be
- executed, seperated by a "|" character. Blank likes in this file must
- be represented with the " | " string (space-"|"-space) otherwise you'll
- get a funky error and the menu will quit.
-
- A typical configuration may look something like this:
-
- Full AGA Workbench|Full.boot
- Mini Workbench|Mini.boot
- Non-AGA Shell|Shell.boot
- |
- AMOS v1.35|AMOS.boot
- AMOS Professional v1.00|AMOSPro.boot
- AMOS Professional Compiler|Compiler.boot
- |
- PPaint 2.1|PPaint.boot
- Kickstart 1.3|Kick13.boot
- |
- Pinball Illusions 5 Minute Demo|Pinball.boot
-
- This file must be saved in your assigned S: directory and should be
- called "NFA_Boot.config", when you run the program it will search for
- this file and strip it down into a presentable menu.
-
- You can give the filenames an optional path if you want, but remember
- that you will NOT be CD'd to that directory. The "Execute" command
- automatically searched the S: dir first so if your filenames don't have
- a path (like those above) then it'll hunt here for them.
-
- Obviously you need the Execute command in your C: dir, and also the Run
- command unless (in Kickstart 2.0 and greater) it's in ROM already as a
- resident command.
- Did you say Music?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Yup, FB2 will check the S: directory for a Soundtracker module called
- "Boot.mod" and will load and play it if it's there. This module must
- not be Powerpacked, nor must it use any fancy timing tricks, because
- AMOS doesn't like such things, so if you ripped that funky mod from the
- end of the Limbo "H.T.K.H" demo, sorry but it won't work!
-
- FB2 will now play mono 8SVX samples, if you save one in your S: dir
- with the filename "Boot.sam" it will be played, if you save it as file
- "Boot.loop" then it will (surprise!) loop, make sure it sounds okay
- before you use it! Note that samples take precedence over modules, if
- you have both a sample AND a mod saved then only the sample will play.
-
- For your information, the biggest sample I've played so far was "Meet
- the Flintstones", and a CHIP-Stuffing 1.24Mb it was too!
-
- Any Limitations?
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Hmmm, well the program was actually produced for NFA and so it says NFA
- all over it, and it was written by Freak so it has the Freak "Smiley" in
- the corner. I don't mind if non-NFA people use it, and I might change a
- few bits in the future to make it more configurable, but then again I
- may not, let me know if you want anything doing!
-
- As I said before it also wastes RAM, although I'm sure the Amiga's OS is
- efficient enough to return the RAM to you as quickly as you can quit the
- program. Don't forget that I use it on a 6Mb A1200 so I have plenty of
- RAM in which to run it AND a hee-uge module without worrying about
- fragmented memory, it may not be the same for you!
-
- In this Archive:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Boot.mod A nice module
- FreakBoot Program to go in C:
- FB2.doc This doc file
- NFA_Boot.config Config file to go in S:
- NFA-PD.pic A nice Manga Advert
-
- FreakBootv2.0/NFA_Boot was written in AMOS Professional although the
- source is completely 1.35 compatible, no machine code was used but I did
- crash my pooter a couple of times getting the parallax effect working,
- serves me right for "Loke"ing where I'm not wanted I suppose...
-
- Greets and Messys:
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Deck the Ripper/NFA - Here it is, stick it on your HD for
- your punters to have a look at!
-
- Pex/Quantum Inc. - Thanks for your help on "C=64 Rev",
- even though I'm still knackered!
-
- Gentry/iNDi - "But if we paint it Yellow," argued
- Thomas, "It won't be the SAME".
-
- Phil!94/Neø - Flibj... Flobj... Floft...
-
- History:
- ~~~~~~~~
- v2.0 - Original Re-Write from v1.0
-
- v2.1 (15.11.94) - Pex decides that the logo on the slower
- bitplane should be made smaller to give a
- more 3D effect, I agreed, plus tiny Palette
- change done as well, slower plane is now
- a bit darker
-
- Cursor Key control added, you can now use
- c/up & c/down to move and return to select.
-
- v2.2 (15.11.94) - Added sample playing as an option to mods.
-
- v2.3 (20.11.94) - Fixed a bug in the sample-replay routine
- that threw a wobbler on hee-uge samples!
-
- v2.4 (29.11.94) - Joystick control added for lazy b*st*rds,
- use up, down and fire to select.
-
- v2.41 (02.12.94) - Toby Ted added, just wait a minute!
-
- v2.42 (23.12.94) - Now the Escape key actually DOES some-
- thing! It will call the Exec ColdReBoot()
- function so you can boot from floppy disk
- more easily.
-