Magnum One/Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso/d12/v9n21.arc/PRISM.ASC

Text File | 1990-11-17 | 45KB | 1,198 lines

; This is the help text for PRISM.EXE, the shareware version
; PRISM, a VGA Palette editing program, by David Gerrold
!WIDTH 64
!WRAP
!SCROLLING
!TOPIC 1 HELP ON HELP
!INDEX 1
HOW TO USE PRISM'S BUILT-IN HELP SYSTEM
!LINE
!LINE
Use the cursor keys to move the menu bar to any item
you want help with, then press the <F1> key.
A help window will pop up with information about that item.
Help is available for every menu and submenu option.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit from any help screen, press <ESC>
or click the right mouse button.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
THE HELP INDEX
!LINE
!LINE
To get to the Help Index, press <F1> from any help screen, or
press <F1> twice from any point in the program.  This will display
a list of all of PRISM's help topics.
!LINE
!LINE
To access any topic from the Help Index, click on the desired item
with the mouse.  Or, you can use the <UP ARROW> and <DOWN ARROW>
keys to move
the highlighted menu bar up or down to the desired item,
and then press <ENTER>.
PRISM's help system will immediately
display information about the desired topic.
!LINE
!LINE
You can exit any help screen by pressing <ESC> or by clicking the right
mouse button.
!TOPIC 2 Editing With The Cursor Keys
EDITING WITH THE CURSOR KEYS
!LINE
!LINE
You can use either the mouse or the cursor keypad to access any menu
function or any palette editing function.  If you do not have a mouse
installed on your computer, two of the options on the menus will be
blanked out.
!LINE
!LINE
The keypad on your keyboard has two distinct modes:  Num-Lock ON
and Num-Lock OFF.
With the Num-Lock ON, the keypad is a number pad.
With the Num-Lock OFF, the keypad is a cursor keypad.
PRISM uses the cursor keypad for selecting items from the menu and
the number keypad for editing the VGA palette.
!LINE
!LINE
You can switch back and forth between menu mode and palette-editing
mode by pressing the <NUM-LOCK> key.
You can also access the non-active
mode at any time by pressing either <SHIFT> key while simultaneously
pressing the desired keypad key.
!LINE
!LINE
If your keyboard has both a cursor keypad and a number keypad, PRISM
will respond to the cursor keypad for menu selection and the number
keypad for palette editing.  You will have to set <NUM LOCK> off.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
MENU MODE:  SELECTING AN OPTION
!LINE
!LINE
On the cursor keypad, use the <RIGHT ARROW> key to move the highlighted
bar to the right and the <LEFT ARROW> key to move it to the left.  Press
<ENTER> to select a menu item.
!LINE
!LINE
If a submenu appears, use the <UP ARROW> and <DOWN ARROW> keys to select an
item on the submenu.  Press <ENTER> to select.
!LINE
!LINE
You can also select any menu option by pressing the highlighted
character in that item's name.
When a submenu is activated, you can select any submenu
option by pressing the highlighted character of its name.  For
example, press <H>elp/<K>eypad to read this help file.
!LINE
!LINE
To cancel any menu operation, press <ESC>.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
EITHER MODE:  SELECTING A COLOR
!LINE
!LINE
Use <CTRL-LEFT ARROW> or <CTRL-RIGHT ARROW> to select an active color.
(Hold the <CTRL> key down while you press either the <LEFT ARROW> or the
<RIGHT ARROW> key.)  The outline box at the top of the screen will move
to the left or the right to highlight a color square.  The large rectangle
of color in the center of the screen will
change to show the color currently selected for editing.
!LINE
!LINE
You can also press the <CTRL-HOME KEY> to move the color selector from top
row to the bottom, or from the bottom row back to the top.  You can use the
<CTRL>-shifted keys with either the cursor keypad or the number keypad.  They
will work with both keypads.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PALETTE MODE:  EDITING A COLOR
!LINE
!LINE
At the bottom of the screen, you will see five horizontal bars, each with
a distinctive marker, representing the currently active levels of the
five qualities of each color:  Saturation, Red, Green, Blue,
and Intensity.
!LINE
!LINE
To select a quality to change,
press the (number keypad)<UP ARROW> or <DOWN ARROW>.
The selector on the left side of the frame will move to show the
currently active slider bar.
!LINE
!LINE
Now press (number pad)<LEFT ARROW> or (number pad)<RIGHT ARROW> to adjust
the level of that quality
up or down.  If the sound effects are on, you will hear a rising or
falling musical tone.
!LINE
!LINE
Experiment with changing all five qualities of a specific color and you'll
easily understand what each one does.  Red, Green, and Blue adjust the level
of each primary color component in the currently active attribute.
Saturation adjusts the level of white mixed into the
currently active attribute.  Intensity adjusts the level of black mixed into
the currently active attribute.
!TOPIC 3 Editing With The Mouse
EDITING WITH THE MOUSE
!LINE
!LINE
If you have a mouse installed on your computer, PRISM will sense its
presence and activate the mouse controls.  You can still use the cursor
and number keypads for menu selection and palette editing, but you will
also be able to use the mouse.
!LINE
!LINE
To use the mouse, simply move it until the mouse cursor is at the
desired point on the screen, then press the left mouse button.
This is called "clicking the mouse."  Clicking the mouse when the
cursor is on a "hot spot" will trigger the function linked to that
spot.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
USING THE MENUS
!LINE
!LINE
Click the mouse on any menu option to trigger that item.  Some
of the options on the main menu will activate submenus.
Clicking the mouse on a submenu option will trigger that item.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
SELECTING A COLOR FOR EDITING
!LINE
!LINE
To select a color for editing, simply click the mouse on one of
the sixteen attribute squares across the top of the screen.  The
color selector frame will immediately move to outline the
selected color, and the large block in the middle of the screen
will change to show that the selected attribute has become
the currently active attribute.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
CHANGING A COLOR VALUE:  CLICKING THE MOUSE
!LINE
!LINE
At the bottom of the screen, you will see five horizontal bars, each with
a distinctive marker, representing the currently active levels of the
five qualities of each color:  Saturation, Red, Green, Blue,
and Intensity.
!LINE
!LINE
If you click the mouse on any of the slider bars at the bottom of
the screen, the value of that slider will be changed to the exact
point where the mouse was clicked and the value of the color will
change to the new value of the slider.  The color change will be
immediately reflected onscreen.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
CHANGING A COLOR VALUE:  DRAGGING THE MOUSE
!LINE
!LINE
Clicking the mouse on a slider and moving it while you hold the
left button down is called "dragging the mouse."  You can drag
the mouse along any slider bar to change its value and alter
the level of that color value.  The color change will be immediately
reflected onscreen.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON IS AN UNDO BUTTON
!LINE
!LINE
Pressing the right mouse button will cancel any pending operation.
If a submenu is active, the right mouse button will erase it.
If no operation is pending, or if no submenu is active,
then the last palette change will be undone.
The onscreen palette will dissolve back to the previously active set of
colors.
!TOPIC 4 About the VGA
ABOUT THE VIDEO GRAPHIC ARRAY
!LINE
!LINE
VGA stands for Video Graphics Array.  The VGA has become the
standard for video graphics on computers using the MS-DOS
operating system.  A VGA monitor can display 262,144 different
colors;  16 colors at a time in text mode, or 256 colors in
graphics mode.
!LINE
!LINE
Unfortunately, most MS-DOS programs that run in text mode still
limit the user to the original 16 colors of the primitive CGA
(Color Graphics Adapter).  The PRISM utility now makes it possible
for users to reset the 16 colors of text mode to any of 262,144
different shades.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
!LINE
!LINE
The first color display available for machines using MS-DOS was the
CGA (Color Graphics Adapter).  It was capable of 16 colors only;  graphics
mode was limited to 4 colors in a blocky 200-line resolution.
!LINE
!LINE
The CGA addressed the text mode screen as 25 lines of 80 columns each.  It
stored its information in two arrays of 2000 characters.  One array held the
text written to the screen;  the other array held the color attributes.
The CGA used a single byte to store the text foreground attribute, the
text background attribute, and whether or not the character on screen was
blinking.  This allowed 16 foreground colors and 8 background colors.  The
CGA colors were uniformly bright and garish and often difficult to look at
for extended periods of work.
!LINE
!LINE
The CGA display was eventually replaced by the EGA (Extended Graphics Adapter)
display.  The EGA display put more lines of information on the screen, allowing
sharper characters in text mode and more colors in graphics mode.  The
EGA display could generate 256 different colors in a
low-resolution graphics mode.
While the EGA was still limited to 16 colors in text mode,
those 16 colors could be selected from a palette of 64 possible
colors -- if you had the right software.
!LINE
!LINE
The EGA did not store its color attributes in the same manner as the CGA.
Where the CGA stored all its color information in one byte, the EGA uses
that byte as a pointer to any of 256 different registers;  each register stores
a different color value.  The first 64 of
those registers can be used for text mode colors.  UltraVision
(from Personics Corporation) uses this capability of
the EGA to allow the user to design new color palettes.
While the 64 colors available in the EGA were a significant improvement
over the 16 hues of the CGA, they still fall short of what is ultimately
possible with the VGA.
!LINE
!LINE
The VGA (Video Graphics Array) uses the EGA registers as pointers to an even
larger array of colors.  Graphics mode on the VGA has more lines of
video information and can display 256 colors out of a palette of 262,144.
Text mode remains limited to 16 colors, but they can be selected from the
same palette of 262,144 shades -- if you have the right software.
!LINE
!LINE
The expansion of possible shades is a result of the way each video card
stores a color value.  The CGA card uses only 4 bits of a byte to hold
a specific color value and is capable of only 16 separate values.  The
same byte in the EGA
points to a register that stores a color value in 6 bits, allowing
only 64 different color values.
But the VGA byte points to a register consisting of
3 separate bytes, assigning 6 bits to each primary color.
This works out to
64 levels of red, 64 levels of green, and 64 levels of blue, allowing
262,144 different combinations.  (64 * 64 * 64 = 262,144)
!LINE
!LINE
In text mode, you are still limited to 16 colors;  but using PRISM,
you can mix those colors to any shade you desire.  Colors are
generated by mixing different proportions of the three primary
colors of light:  red, green, and blue.  When each color is at its
maximum, the result is white.  When each color is at its minimum, the
result is black.  The closer together that all three color values are,
the more the resultant shade is muted, as if gray has been added.
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM allows you to experiment without penalty.  You can always use the Undo
command to reverse an undesireable change;  or you can use the Reset command
to return to the palette of colors running on your system before booting
PRISM.
!TOPIC 5 About This Program
ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM requires DOS 3.X, a VGA-compatible display,
and at least 256K of memory.  It was written in Turbo Pascal 5.5
and compressed with LZEXE, Version 0.91.
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM started out as a weekend project in
Turbo Pascal 5.5.  Very quickly, it became a test bed for
learning Object Oriented Programming and learning how to implement
various functions of TurboPower Software's Object Professional library.
Additionally, it became an opportunity to test out several other
techniques, including dissolves and fades in text mode.
!LINE
!LINE
WHY PRISM?
!LINE
!LINE
The standard color display on an MS-DOS computer is made up of 8 basic
colors:  black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown, and light gray;  plus
8 brighter shades of the same colors:  dark gray, light blue, light green,
light cyan, light red, light magenta, yellow, and white.  These shades
are very clear and very distinct colors.  Unfortunately, they are also quite
garish and can be unpleasant to look at for long periods of time.
!LINE
!LINE
Using a black background and DOS's standard colors is like writing in neon.
Using any other color background and DOS's standard colors is like working
in Toon Town.  Trying to use a white or gray background is like staring into
a light bulb.
!LINE
!LINE
The VGA monitor is capable of 262,144 different shades of color;  PRISM makes
that entire palette of color available to your 16 text mode attributes.  You
will quickly discover that muting down DOS's garish colors makes for a much
more attractive and readable display.  It will allow you to design specific
palettes for specific programs, letting you personalize your electronic
work space.
!LINE
!LINE
Besides being fun,
PRISM should also help your productivity, because it will reduce the
user-fatigue caused by staring into DOS's garish color attributes.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM IS ULTRAVISION COMPATIBLE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM will detect which EGA registers are currently in use and, if the
palette is edited, will change those values to point to any VGA colors
you select.  PRISM will detect the presence of UltraVision, an
EGA display enhancer, whether it is active or not, and will use any EGA
registers that UltraVision has previously selected.
!LINE
!LINE
If you want to
use UltraVision for its screen fonts, run UltraVision before you run
PRISM;  then use PRISM to load the desired palette.  If you run UltraVision
after you run PRISM you will probably lose all or part of your PRISM-loaded
palette.
!TOPIC 6 Using This Program
USING THIS PROGRAM
!LINE
!LINE
Type "PRISM" and press <ENTER> and you will automatically enter the PRISM
palette editor.  You are in the PRISM palette editor now.  The PRISM
palette editor will allow you to edit an existing VGA palette or design
a new one.
!LINE
!LINE
If you simply want to load a VGA palette without entering the PRISM editor,
just type "PRISM <palette name>" and press <ENTER>.  If there is an existing
palette file by that name in the same subdirectory as PRISM, the program
will automatically load it.  You will see the existing VGA palette dissolve
into the new VGA palette.  The rate of this dissolve can be set by selecting
the Options/Dissolve commands from the main menu.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM REMEMBERS THE EXISTING DOS SCREEN
!LINE
!LINE
When PRISM boots up, it stores the existing DOS screen in memory.  Even
if you are running your system in 36, 43, or 50 line mode, PRISM will
store the entire screen.  PRISM will fade out the existing DOS screen,
reset the computer to a 25 line mode, and fade in its palette editing
screen.
!LINE
!LINE
Wnen PRISM exits, it fades out, resets the system to its previous mode,
and restores the text screen that was active before the program was
booted.  PRISM then fades this screen in with the palette of colors
selected by the user.  This will be the new active palette in text mode.
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM only saves and restores text mode screens;  it is not graphic-mode
compatible and will not save or restore a graphic screen.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
INSTALLING PRISM IN A SUBDIRECTORY
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM is smart enough to find itself on your hard disk, no matter where
you install it.  If you wish, you can install it in a subdirectory of
your most commonly used utilities.
Or, if you wish, you can install it in its
own subdirectory.
!LINE
!LINE
If you install PRISM in its own subdirectory,
you do not have to add this subdirectory
to your PATH statement.
Instead, create the following batch file as "P.BAT":
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
    @ECHO OFF
    C:\<Prism subdirectory name>\PRISM %1
    ECHO.
!WRAP
!LINE
!LINE
Install "P.BAT" in a subdirectory that is listed in your PATH command.
You can now run PRISM from any subdirectory of your hard disk, simply by
typing "P" and pressing <ENTER>.  If you want PRISM to automatically load
a palette, type "P <palette name>" and press <ENTER>.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
USING DIFFERENT PALETTES WITH DIFFERENT PROGRAMS
!LINE
!LINE
You may wish to create distinctly different color sets for the various
applications you use on your computer.  You can use batch files to load
a PRISM palette and then load the application.  For example, if you use
Quattro Pro, you might create a batch file called QP.BAT:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
    @ECHO OFF
    C:\<Prism subdirectory name>\PRISM Quattro.Pal
    C:\QPRO\Q %1
    C:\<Prism subdirectory name>\PRISM Dos.Pal
    ECHO.
!WRAP
!LINE
Then, whenever you enter "QP <Quattro file name>" the batch file
will first load the palette you have designed for use with Quattro Pro,
then it will load Quattro Pro and the spreadsheet file you wish to work on.
The program will run normally, only now you will have a more attractive
color display to look at.  When you exit the program, QP.BAT
will automatically reload the palette you have designed for use
with the DOS command line.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM CANNOT MAINTAIN A PALETTE DURING MODE CHANGES
!LINE
!LINE
When MS-DOS changes from one mode to another, it resets
all color registers.  You will lose your selected palette every time you
change to another mode.
!LINE
!LINE
To return to text mode, enter the command:  "MODE CO80" and then press
<ENTER>.  To reload a palette, enter:  "PRISM <palette name>" and press
<ENTER>.  PRISM will reload the palette automatically.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM WILL NOT WORK IN A MULTITASKING ENVIRONMENT
!LINE
!LINE
Some users have reported weird effects while trying to run PRISM under
DESQview or Windows 3.0.  These multitasking environments attempt to
maintain graphics and color integrity within each window.  As a result,
they are likely to conflict with PRISM, possibly resulting in unpredictable
results and system crashes.
!TOPIC 7 References
REFERENCES
!LINE
!LINE
If you wish to learn more about the VGA display adapter for
MS-DOS computers, you should pick up:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
     EGA/VGA, A Programmer's Reference Guide
     by Bradley Dyck Kliewer
     ISBN 0-07-035089-2 ($32.95)
     published by McGraw Hill
     1221 Avenue of the Americas
     New York, NY  10020
!LINE
!LINE
    Programmer's Guide to the EGA/VGA
    by George Sutty and Steve Blair
    (includes a disk)
    ISBN 0-13-729039-X
    published by Brady Books
    Simon and Schuster
    One Gulf and Western Plaza
    New York, NY 10023
!WRAP
!LINE
!LINE
Both of these volumes provided valuable information necessary to the
writing of PRISM.
!TOPIC 8 Copyright
!NOWRAP
!LINE
PRISM, v1.0
a VGA palette editor, written by David Gerrold
!LINE
This version is copyright (c) 1990 to Ziff Communications Co.
!WRAP
!TOPIC 9 Setting the Default Options
HOW TO SET THE DEFAULT OPTIONS
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM allows you to toggle its sound effects on or off, set the reaction
speed of the mouse, and to choose the speed of the dissolve rate.
!LINE
!LINE
Select Options from the main menu and the option submenu will appear,
showing the current state of each of the resettable defaults.  Selecting
any of the submenu items will change the default, cycling it to the next
highest choice in its cycle or toggling it back to zero.  Selecting the same
item again will continue to cycle it through all its possible settings.
!LINE
!LINE
Sound effects can be toggled on or off.  The mouse speed can be set
to Slow, Normal, Fast, and Zoom.  The dissolve rate can be set to
0, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36.  These values set the number of
separate color steps in a dissolve.
!LINE
!LINE
The Options submenu has one important difference from the rest of PRISM's
submenus.  It does not automatically erase when an item is selected.
Choosing an item on the Options submenu will change the state of the item,
but will leave the submenu displayed.
!LINE
!LINE
To erase the Options submenu, press <ESC> or click the right mouse button.
You can also click the mouse on another item on the main menu to pop up that
item's submenu.  Or you can use the cursor keypad <LEFT ARROW> and <RIGHT
ARROW> keys to pop up the submenu of the adjacent main menu item.
!TOPIC 10 Sound Effects
BEEP!  BOOP!  CRASH!  BANG!
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM provides several distinct sound effects to let you know that an
action has occurred.  Key clicks will be heard whenever a color is
selected for editing, and whenever an operation has been selected or
concluded.  This is why the first mouse-click on a color will produce
an audible key-click, but not the second.
!LINE
!LINE
Clicking on any of the sliders will trigger a musical beep.  Dragging a
slider will produce a rising or falling musical tone.  Opening or closing
a help window will also produce an accompanying sound effect.
!LINE
!LINE
If you find the sound effects distracting you can turn them off.
Simply select the Options/Sound Effects command.  The current state
of the sound effects is always displayed as part of the Sound Effects
submenu option.  It will change
every time you select it, cycling back and forth between ON and OFF.
!LINE
!LINE
Whenever you change the sound effects toggle, the new state of
the sound effects becomes immediately active, and the default
setting for the program is automatically updated.  The next
time you use PRISM, the sound effects will be at the
new setting.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit the Options submenu, press <ESC> or click the right mouse button.
Or you can click the mouse on another item on the main menu to pop up that
item's submenu.  Or you can use the cursor keypad <LEFT ARROW> and <RIGHT
ARROW> keys to pop up the submenu of the adjacent main menu item.
!TOPIC 11 Mouse Speed
CHANGING THE MOUSE SPEED
!LINE
!LINE
When you move the mouse across your desk, the mouse cursor moves
in response.  Some people like to have the mouse cursor very
responsive, moving a great distance in response to a very small
movement;  this makes for a very "fast" mouse.  Other users
prefer to have the mouse be less responsive to their hand movements,
so that they can be more precise.
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM allows you to set the response rate of the mouse to your own
preference.  There are four speeds:  Slow, Normal, Fast, and Zoom!
Normal is the default speed;  but you may find Fast to be more to your
liking.  Slow and Zoom are included in case your mouse/computer
combination is too fast or too slow for PRISM.
!LINE
!LINE
To change the speed of the mouse, simply select the Options/Mouse Speed
command from the menu.
The current speed of the mouse is always displayed as part of the
Mouse Speed submenu option.  It will change every time you select this
item, cycling from Slow to Normal to Fast to Zoom! and then back to Slow
again.
!LINE
!LINE
Whenever you change the speed of the mouse, the new setting
becomes immediately active, and the default
setting for the program is automatically updated.  The next
time you use PRISM, the speed of the mouse will reflect the
new setting.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit the Options submenu, press <ESC> or click the right mouse button.
Or you can click the mouse on another item on the main menu to pop up that
item's submenu.  Or you can use the cursor keypad <LEFT ARROW> and <RIGHT
ARROW> keys to pop up the submenu of the adjacent main menu item.
!TOPIC 12 Dissolve Rate
DISSOLVING FROM ONE COLOR TO ANOTHER
!LINE
!LINE
As you have no doubt noticed already, PRISM doesn't simply change
color palettes;  it dissolves from one set of colors to the next.
This is done by
computing the difference between the two palettes and the number
of steps it will take to change the values in one palette into
the values in the other.  Then the values necessary for a single step are
added (or subtracted) to the VGA registers.  This is repeated
for as many steps as
it takes to complete the dissolve.
!LINE
!LINE
You can change the time it takes to dissolve from one color to
another by increasing or decreasing the number of steps.  The
default number of steps is 18.  This is just about the right
speed for a machine using a 386SX processor running at 16mhz.
If you are running this program on faster or slower machines
may wish to increase or decrease the rate of the dissolve to
match the speed of their machine.
!LINE
!LINE
Increasing the number to 30 or 36 will noticeably slow the rate
of the dissolve.  Decreasing it to 12 or 6 will significantly
speed up the rate.  You should experiment to see which suits your
own preference.
!LINE
!LINE
If you would
prefer not to have the program dissolve from one palette to the next, you
should set the number of steps to 0, and the program will
click directly to the new palette every time a change is
requested.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
CHANGING THE DISSOLVE RATE
!LINE
!LINE
To change the speed of the dissolve,
simply select the Options/Dissolve Rate
command from the menu.
The current number of steps in a dissolve is always displayed
as part of the Dissolve Rate submenu option.
It will change every time you select this
item, cycling from 0 to 36, 6 steps at a time, then back to 0 again.
!LINE
!LINE
Whenever you change the dissolve rate,
the new setting
becomes immediately active, and the default
setting for the program is automatically updated.  The next
time you use PRISM, the rate of the dissolve will reflect the
new setting.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit the Options submenu, press <ESC> or click the right mouse button.
Or you can click the mouse on another item on the main menu to pop up that
item's submenu.  Or you can use the cursor keypad <LEFT ARROW> and <RIGHT
ARROW> keys to pop up the submenu of the adjacent main menu item.
!TOPIC 13 Palette Controls
PALETTE CONTROLS
!LINE
!LINE
Selecting the Palette item from the main menu will pop up a submenu
with five options.  These options will allow you to:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
  Undo a previous change.
  Swap two colors.
  Restore the original system palette.
  Randomly generate a new palette.
  Duplicate one color on top of another.
!WRAP
!LINE
Each item on the Palette submenu can be selected by pressing the
highlighted character in its name.  Each of these options also has
a shortcut key which allows you to activate any Palette option without
using the menu.
!LINE
!LINE
For instance, you can Restore the original system palette
by selecting Palette/Reset or by pressing <CTRL-R>.  (Hold the <CTRL> key
down and press <R> at the same time.)  For your convenience, each shortcut
key is displayed as part of the submenu item.
!TOPIC 14 Undo Last Change
OOPS!  I DON'T LIKE THAT COLOR!
!LINE
!LINE
Fortunately, PRISM has an easy Undo command.
You can undo an operation several different ways:
!LINE
!NOWRAP
  1)  you can select Palette/Undo from the main menu.
          (the menu won't work when an operation is pending)
  2)  you can click the right mouse button.
  3)  you can press <ESC>.
  4)  you can press <CTRL-U>.
          (Press <CTRL> and <U> simultaneously)
!WRAP
!LINE
!LINE
Whenever you initiate an Undo operation,
the last color change will be undone.  PRISM stores the last 16 changes
in memory, so you can undo as many as 16 different palettes.  If you keep
clicking the Undo button, you will continue to cycle through all of the
palettes stored in memory.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
THE UNDO BUTTON IS ALSO A CANCEL BUTTON
!LINE
!LINE
If there is an operation pending and you decide not to initiate that
operation, you can click the right mouse button, or press <ESC>,
or press <CTRL-U>,
to cancel the pending operation.  The "operation pending" messages
will disappear and the screen will return to its normal appearance.
!TOPIC 15 Swap Two Colors
HOW TO SWAP TWO COLORS
!LINE
!LINE
DOS accesses its colors according to number.  Black = 0, Blue = 1,
Green = 2, and so on.  PRISM displays the currently active DOS colors
across the top of the screen, like so:
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!LINE
!NOWRAP
      0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7
      8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
!WRAP
!LINE
You can assign any color you want to any position.
It may happen, while designing a palette,
that you will want to assign a specific color to a specific position.
For example, you may want to put an already existing
dark blue color in position 0, so you can use it as the
background for your palette.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
SWAPPING WITH THE MOUSE
!LINE
!LINE
1)  Click on the color you want to swap.  The outline box should move to that
color and the large block in the center of the screen will change to show
that color is now the currently active color.
!LINE
!LINE
2)  Now click on the large Currently Active Color block in the center of
the screen.  The color of the outline box will change and you will get two
"operation pending" messages, one on either side of the Currently Active
Color block.  (To abort the operation at this point, press <ESC> or click
the right mouse button.)
!LINE
!LINE
3)  Release the left mouse button and click the mouse on the target color
square.  You must release the left button before you click the mouse
on the target, otherwise you will not swap the two colors;  you
will duplicate the first color on top of the second.  Don't panic.  If
you make a mistake, just press <ESC> or
click the right mouse button to undo the error.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
SWAPPING WITH THE KEYBOARD
!LINE
!LINE
1)  Use the <CTRL-LEFT ARROW> or <CTRL-RIGHT ARROW> key to move the
outline box to the color you want to swap.  The large block in the center
of the screen will show the Currently Active Color.
!LINE
!LINE
2)  Now select the Palette/Swap
command from the menu.  Or type <CTRL-S>, which will produce the same
result.  Immediately, the outline box will change color, and you will
get two "operation pending" messages, one on either side of the Currently
Active Color block.
!LINE
!LINE
3)  Use the <CTRL-LEFT ARROW> or <CTRL-RIGHT ARROW> key to move the
outline box to the target color square.
!LINE
!LINE
4)  Select the Palette/Swap command from the menu.  Or type <CTRL-S>.
The two colors will be instantly swapped and the screen will return to
its normal appearance;  the "operation pending" messages will disappear.
If you want to undo the operation, just click the right mouse button or
press <ESC>.
!TOPIC 16 Restoring the Original Palette
RESTORING THE ORIGINAL PALETTE
!LINE
!LINE
When PRISM begins operation, the first thing it does is store a copy of
the color palette currently active on your system.  You can restore this
palette at any time while the program is running.  If you exit the program
without restoring the original palette, the palette you see on screen when
you exit will be the palette you will see when you return to the DOS command
line.
!LINE
!LINE
You can reset the original palette three different ways:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
  1)  Select the Palette/Reset command from the main menu.
  2)  Press <CTRL-R>.  (Hold the <CTRL> key down and press <R>.)
  3)  Click both mouse buttons simultaneously.
!WRAP
!LINE
Performing any of these three actions will immediately restore the palette
that was active when the program was first booted up.  If the Dissolve Rate
is anything but 0, the new colors will dissolve in.
!TOPIC 17 Randomly Generate A New Palette
RANDOMLY GENERATE A NEW PALETTE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM has
!LINE
!LINE
There are three ways to generate a random palette:
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!LINE
!NOWRAP
  1)  Select the Palette/New command from the main menu.
  2)  Press <CTRL-N>.  (Hold the <CTRL> key down and press <N>.)
  3)  Double-click the mouse (two rapid clicks of the left mouse
      button) on the large Currently Active Color Block in the
      center of the screen.
!WRAP
!LINE
Performing any of these three actions will immediately created a new
palette of randomly generated colors.  If the Dissolve Rate is anything
but 0, the new colors will dissolve in.
!LINE
!LINE
If you decide you don't like the randomly generated palette, click the
right mouse button, or press <ESC>, to Undo.  The previous palette will
be immediately restored.
!TOPIC 18 Duplicate A Color
DUPLICATE A COLOR
!LINE
!LINE
When designing a color palette, you may find it useful to duplicate
a color and then alter its Saturation or Intensity value to create a
lighter or darker shade of the same color.
You can duplicate any color you want in any position.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
DUPLICATING WITH THE MOUSE
!LINE
!LINE
1)  Click on the color you want to duplicate.
The outline box should move to that
color and the large block in the center of the screen will change to show
that color is now the currently active color.
!LINE
!LINE
2)  Now click on the large Currently Active Color block in the center of
the screen.  The color of the outline box will change and you will get two
"operation pending" messages, one on either side of the Currently Active
Color block.  (To abort the operation at this point, press <ESC> or click
the right mouse button.)
!LINE
!LINE
3)  Drag the mouse to the target color.  (Hold the left button down
while you move the mouse to the target color square.)  You must release
the left mouse button on the target square to duplicate the color.
If you want to undo the duplication, just press <ESC> or
click the right mouse button, and the previous set of colors will be
restored.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
DUPLICATING WITH THE KEYBOARD
!LINE
!LINE
1)  Use the <CTRL-LEFT ARROW> or <CTRL-RIGHT ARROW> key to move the
outline box to the color you want to swap.  The large block in the center
of the screen will show the Currently Active Color.
!LINE
!LINE
2)  Now select the Palette/Duplicate
command from the menu.  Or type <CTRL-D>, which will produce the same
result.  Immediately, the outline box will change color, and you will
get two "operation pending" messages, one on either side of the Currently
Active Color block.
!LINE
!LINE
3)  Use the <CTRL-LEFT ARROW> or <CTRL-RIGHT ARROW> key to move the
outline box to the target color square.
!LINE
!LINE
4)  Select the Palette/Duplicate command from the menu.  Or type <CTRL-D>.
The color of the first square will be instantly mapped onto the second
square.  The screen will return to its normal appearance and the
"operation pending" messages will disappear.
If you want to undo the operation, just click the right mouse button or
press <ESC>.
!TOPIC 19 Loading A Palette From Disk
LOADING A PALETTE FROM DISK
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM comes with several predefined palettes.
Feel free to redefine, rename, or even delete these
palettes.  They are provided as suggestions or places
to start.
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!LINE
A PRISM palette will always be exactly 51 bytes long, and the file name
will always have a .PAL extension.
!LINE
!LINE
There are two ways to load a PRISM palette file;  you can load a palette
to your system without running the PRISM palette editor, or you can load
a palette for editing.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
LOADING A PALETTE WITHOUT EDITING
!LINE
!LINE
From the DOS command line, enter:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
     PRISM <palette file name>
!WRAP
!LINE
Then press <ENTER>.  (You don't need to type the .PAL extension.  PRISM
will add the extension to the file name before it scans the disk.)
If PRISM finds a valid palette file with that name, it will automatically
load it and make it the active system palette.  If PRISM cannot find a
valid palette file, it will write a simple error message to the computer
screen.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
LOADING A PALETTE FOR EDITING
!LINE
!LINE
From the DOS command line, enter:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
     PRISM
!WRAP
!LINE
Then press <ENTER>.  If no palette file name has been specified, PRISM
will automatically enter palette editing mode.  You can now load a palette
for editing.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
USING THE MOUSE
!LINE
!LINE
To edit a previously
saved palette, select the Load item from the main menu.  A pick-list of
palette files will appear on screen.  Click the mouse on a palette name
and the highlight bar will move immediately to that item.  Click the mouse
on the highlighted item and the palette will be loaded.  The pick-list
window will disappear and the new palette will dissolve into place.  (If
the Dissolve Rate is set to 0, the new palette will click into place.)  You
may now edit this palette.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
USING THE ARROW KEYS
!LINE
!LINE
Select the Load item from the main menu.  A pick-list of palette files
will appear on screen.  You can use the cursor pad arrow keys to move
the highlighted bar right and left, up and down, to select a palette to
edit.  Once you have chosen a palette, press <ENTER> and it will be loaded
for editing.  Unless the Dissolve Rate has been set to 0, it will dissolve
into place.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
USING THE KEYBOARD:  THE SMART LIST
!LINE
!LINE
Select the Load item from the main menu.  A pick-list of
palette files will appear on screen.  Type the first letter of the palette
you wish to load and the highlighted bar will move to the first item on the
list that starts with that letter.  Type the second letter of the palette
name and the highlighted bar will move to the first item on the list that
starts with the two letters you have typed.  You can continue typing the
letters of the palette name until the highlighted bar reaches the palette
file name you wish.  If you type the whole name, the highlighted bar will
stay on the item.
!LINE
!LINE
You can also move to any item on the pick-list by typing its first letter
repeatedly.  If it is not the first item on the list that starts with that
letter, the highlighted bar will move through the list of items that start
with that letter until it reaches the desired item.  If you continue to
press the same key, it will continue through the list until it reaches the
last item that starts with that letter, then it will return to the first
item in the pick-list that starts with the same letter.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
ABORTING THE LOAD OPERATION
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!LINE
If you decide not to load a previously stored palette, just press <Esc> or
click the right mouse button.  The pick-list window will erase itself from
the screen and you will return to editing mode.
!TOPIC 20 Saving A Palette To Disk
SAVING A PALETTE TO DISK
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!LINE
After you have designed a color palette that you like, you will want to
save it to disk for future use.  Simply select the Save option from the
main menu.  (Click on <Save> with the mouse, or move the menu bar with
the cursor keys and press <ENTER>, or just press <S>.)
!LINE
!LINE
If you have previously loaded or saved a palette, PRISM will remember
its name.  PRISM will open a dialog box to ask you
if you want to save this palette under the same name.  Enter <Yes> or <No>.
If you enter <No>, PRISM will ask you for a new name for this palette.
If you enter <Yes>, PRISM will look to see if the palette already exists
on disk.  If it doesn't exist on disk, PRISM will save the file and post
a confirmation message.  If it does, PRISM will ask you if you want to
overwrite the existing file on the disk.  PRISM always checks to see if
you really want to overwrite a previously stored palette.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
SAVING A PALETTE AFTER YOU HAVE EXITED PRISM
!LINE
!LINE
Sometimes you may wish to see what a palette looks on your system before
you save it.  You can exit PRISM, leaving the new palette active, and run
your program to see what it looks like.  If you like the result, boot up
PRISM again and select the <Save> option from the main menu.  Save the
palette as you normally would.  PRISM always boots up displaying the palette
currently active on the system, and you can save that palette for future use
if you have not already done so.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM WILL NOT OVERWRITE FILES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE READ-ONLY
!LINE
!LINE
If you wish to protect a palette file from accidental or casual changes,
you can make it a read-only file.  (Check your DOS manual, or use
one of the many shareware utilities available.)  A read-only file is a
locked file;  it can
be read from, but it cannot be written to.
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM can load a palette from a file that has been made read-only, but
it will not write the palette back to the same file.  If you make changes
in the palette, you will have to save it under a new name;  or you will
have to "unlock" the file, making it a read-write file again, before you
can save the changes.
!LINE
!LINE
!LINE
PRISM WILL NOT ACCEPT FILE NAMES THAT ARE ACTIVE DEVICES
!LINE
!LINE
You cannot save a palette to a file named CON or AUX or LST or any other
name that is currently in use as a device driver.  PRISM will check to see
if you are attempting to write to a driver and will disallow the file
name.  (Attempting to write a palette file to a device instead of to
a disk file will produce no useful result and may possibly hang up your
machine.)
!TOPIC 21 Quitting Prism
ENDING THE PROGRAM
!LINE
!LINE
Select Quit/Yes on the main menu to exit PRISM.
If you accidentally select Quit, but
do not wish to exit, you can abort the operation by pressing <ESC> or clicking
the right mouse button.  You can also select the No option on the menu to
return to the program.
!LINE
!LINE
Exiting the program will return you to the DOS command line.
The normal behavior of PRISM is to fade out the screen to the
currently active background color, then fade back in to the DOS
screen that was active before the program was booted.
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!LINE
The speed of the fade can be reset using the
Options/Dissolve command from the main menu.
!TOPIC 22 Yes, Exit
!NOINDEX
YES, I WANT TO EXIT
!LINE
!LINE
As a safety feature, to prevent the user from
exiting the program by accidentally selecting the <Quit> option,
PRISM requires two separate keystrokes or mouse-clicks to quit.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit PRISM, select the Quit/Yes option from the menu.  You can
do this by pressing <Q> and <Y> or by clicking on <Quit> and <Yes>.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit this screen, press <ESC> or click the right mouse button.
!LINE
!LINE
To exit the program from this screen, press <ESC> and <ENTER>.
!TOPIC 23 No, Resume
!NOINDEX
NO, I DON'T WANT TO QUIT
!LINE
!LINE
As a safety feature, to prevent the user from
exiting the program by accidentally selecting the <Quit> option,
PRISM requires two separate keystrokes or mouse-clicks to quit.
!LINE
!LINE
To return to the program from the <Quit> submenu, press <ESC> or
click the right mouse button.  Or use the (cursor keypad) <UP ARROW> or
<DOWN ARROW> keys to move the highlighted menu bar to <No> and press
<ENTER>.
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!LINE
To exit this screen, press <ESC>.  To return to the program from
this screen, press <ESC> and <ENTER>.
!TOPIC 24 Bugs
BUG REPORTS
!LINE
!LINE
This program has been extensively tested.  All known bugs have
been found and fumigated.  But even Murphy's Law doesn't work
all the time.  If you find that PRISM doesn't work as described
on your system, or if it develops some weird behavioral quirk,
please write to:
!LINE
!LINE
!NOWRAP
     David Gerrold/PRISM BUG REPORT
     9420 Reseda Blvd. #804
     Northridge, CA  91324-2932.
!WRAP
!LINE
!LINE
Please describe what kind of hardware you're running, what's in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file, what's in your CONFIG.SYS file, what TSR's (if any) were
in memory, and exactly
what the circumstances were when the bug occurred.  If you can
get the bug to repeat itself consistently, please describe
exactly what you are doing, STEP BY STEP, to get the bug to occur.
!LINE
!LINE
If I can duplicate the bug, I'll find it and fix it.
!TOPIC 25 DESQview and Windows 3.0 compatibility
PRISM WILL NOT WORK IN A MULTITASKING ENVIRONMENT
!LINE
!LINE
Some users have reported weird effects while trying to run PRISM under
DESQview or Windows 3.0.  These multitasking environments attempt to
maintain graphics and color integrity within each window.  As a result,
they are likely to conflict with PRISM, possibly resulting in unpredictable
results and system crashes.