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- The AVT program offers a variety of startup options that may be utilized
- either from the WorkBench or the CLI.
-
- Before we get to these, we should point out one of the programs
- contained in the tools drawer:
-
- NextScreen
-
- This is an EXTERMELY useful program to have running in your system while
- using the AVT system - or any other software, for that matter. It changes
- the function of the Left-Amiga-M key such that the NEXT screen is brought
- to the rear, instead of the active screen. This is very important in the
- AVT system, because there may be as many as 3 screens active just from
- the AVT program itself... then there's the workbench, and what if you
- have a graphics screen up? Trust us - you NEED this utility!
-
- To use it, under 1.2, you'll also need the program 'runback', also in
- the tools drawer. Put them both in your c: directory, and place this line
- in your startup-sequence file:
-
- runback c:nextscreen
-
- To use it under 1.3, just place the nextscreen program in your
- c: directory, and put this line in your startup-sequence:
-
- run >nil: nextscreen
-
- Now, on to the program options:
-
- You can always get a list of these options when you are in the CLI mode
- by typing:
- HAM ? <cr>
- Which produces this list:
-
-
- program options: []=option <>=required
- ham [path <sstv:raw/path>] [ipath <SSTV:iff/path>] [fpath <FAX:iff/path>]
- [mem <1-16>] [version] [4meg] [chip] [?] [trim <value>] [ypo <height>]
-
- Option format for WorkBench tooltypes use:
-
- PARMS=[chip]|[4meg]|[version]
- PATH=path:to/save/sstv/files/in
- IPATH=path:to/save/SSTV_HAM/iff/files/in
- FPATH=path:to/save/FAX_hi-res/iff/files/in
- TRIM=value ( -255 -> +255 )
- MEM=value ( 1 -> 16 )
- YPO=value ( 200 -> 240 )
-
- The notation used for the CLI options ( [], <> ) is defined as follows:
- a term surrounded by the square brackets is an option, plain and simple.
- You can use it or not, as you see fit according to your needs. The
- [version] term is an example of this.
-
- A term surrounded by the angle brackets MUST be included. In this version
- of the program, only terms that go along with options are absolutely
- required. For instance, the term [mem] is an option - but if you look at
- the list of options printed by the program, you will see that it isn't
- written that way - it's written: " [mem <1-16>] ", which means this:
-
- You can type "mem" or not, as you choose. But if you DO choose to type
- mem, you MUST supply a number from 1 to 16 to go along with it.
-
- In the future, if there is a required parameter, it will be in the
- option list as " <option> " without and square brackets surrounding
- it.
-
-
-
-
- Here are the details on the specific options available:
-
- CLI: [path <sstv:raw/path>]
- WB: PATH=sstv:raw/path
-
- If you type:
-
- ham path piclib <cr>
-
- The program will look for "raw" sstv files in a directory called
- "piclib" - and it will expect to find that directory in the
- current directory. If you type:
-
- ham path df1:piclib <cr>
-
- It will expect to find the "piclib" directory on the DF1: drive.
-
-
-
-
- CLI: [ipath <SSTV:iff/path>]
- WB: IPATH=SSTV:iff/path
-
- If you type:
-
- ham ipath ifflib <cr>
-
- The program will save "IFF" sstv files in a directory called
- "ifflib" - and it will expect to find that directory in the
- current directory. If you type:
-
- ham path df1:ifflib <cr>
-
- It will expect to find the "ifflib" directory on the DF1: drive.
-
-
-
- CLI: [fpath <FAX:iff/path>]
- WB: FPATH=FAX:iff/path
-
- If you type:
-
- ham ipath ifflib <cr>
-
- The program will save "IFF" facsimile files in a directory called
- "ifflib" - and it will expect to find that directory in the
- current directory. If you type:
-
- ham path df1:ifflib <cr>
-
- It will expect to find the "ifflib" directory on the DF1: drive.
-
-
- CLI: [mem <1-16>]
- WB: MEM=1
-
- If you type:
-
- ham mem 2 <cr>
-
- The program will attempt to allocate memory for TWO full function
- SSTV image memories. If there is not enough memory, you will only
- get one; likewise, if you typed:
-
- ham mem 16 <cr>
-
- and there was not enough memory for 16 image buffers, you would only
- get as many as there was memory for. It takes 192k per image
- buffer - so for all sixteen, you need just over 3 megabytes of memory
- on top of what the program itself requires.
-
-
- CLI: [version]
- WB: PARMS=version
-
- This option acts differently in the CLI than it does in the WB
- startup. In the CLI, if you include this in the command line, the
- program will print the verison number and then immediately terminate.
-
- If the version keyword is used in the ToolTypes in the ICON for
- the WB startup, the program will print the version in the small
- window it opens on the WB and then start normally.
-
- Use this option when writing us in reference to any aspect of the
- system's performance - we need it to understand the situation
- fully.
-
- CLI: 4meg
- WB: PARMS=4meg
-
- This option is to be used ONLY if you have a 4 mhz crystal in the
- AVT interface. You should NOT have such a crystal; production versions
- of the AVT are all shipped with a 4.194304 Mhz crystal installed.
-
- This option was required during development for technical reasons,
- and remains for the same reasons. This is not for use by the
- normal user - only for those in the Beta test program.
-
- CLI: [chip}
- WB: PARMS=chip
-
- This option MUST be used by those who have Amiga 500's or 2000's
- with only 1 megabyte of RAM. This option enables special screen
- managment routines within the AVT software, without which many
- of the SSTV and FAX modes will not function properly.
-
- The specific problem that the "chip" option was developed to address
- is that of DMA contention between the Amiga's screen display
- hardware and the CPU in a machine that has no memory that is
- devoted to the CPU only (this is called "fast" memory in Amiga
- terms). During receive situations, when the program is invoked with
- the chip option, A "ghost" screen that is a black and white screen
- is brought to the front. This is not a HAM (Hold-and modify) screen,
- but a standard Amiga color register-based screen. These special
- screen manipulations ensure that the CPU has full access to the
- system's memeory, and so has enough "horsepower" to handle the
- data that is coming in at an extremely high rate of speed from
- the receive interface.
-
- CLI: [trim <value>]
- WB: TRIM=value
-
- This option is also a development option; it "tunes" the receive
- interface parameters by writing data to the PALS on the AVT
- interface board. This has the effect of shifting the grey levels
- (or in the case of Robot color, the tint).
-
- The default from either the CLI or the WB is 27, and this is also
- in the ICON as supplied by us. If you experiment with this option
- (Is there any doubt?) Remember to set it back to 27 when you are
- done.
-
- It's a very fine tune control - you won't see a lot of difference
- per step. The available range is about -1000 to 1000.
-
- CLI: [ypo <height>]
- WB: YPO=height
-
- This option controls the severity of the overscan screen; This is
- also a development option. The default, from both CLI and WB,
- is 240, which is a "severe" overscan screen in vertical terms;
- You can set the screen all the way back to 200, though you will miss
- much of the image on many hi-res SSTV images. We don't recommend
- playing with this one, in general.
-
-
-
- A final note on the WorkBench PARMS command:
-
- You may have noticed that there are a number of terms you
- can use with the PARMS= tooltype. You can use one or more of
- these terms by typing a vertical bar (found at the upper right
- of your keyboard) between them:
-
- PARMS=version|chip|4meg
-
- Take a look in the supplied ICON is you'd like to see an example
- of this.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-