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ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 I. INTRODUCTION Thanks for trying ELF-BOOT!, a powerful new startup utility for the ATARI ST, from Elfin Magic Software. While there are many startup utilities for the ST which go in your auto folder, this is the only one that provides a familiar GEM-like interface, complete with mouse pointer, dialog boxes, one click functions, and even a file select window! If you decide not to install ELF-BOOT, because you think your current startup utility is probably just as good, you're really missing out! Try it... I guarantee you'll like it! Finally, I must mention that the user interface is so instinctive, that you may be tempted to lay the docs aside. READ THESE DOCS! Otherwise, you'll never get optimum use out of the system. ***** Important Note on DEMO version! ***** If the your main program file is called "ELFBOOTD.PRG", this is a demonstration copy of the program, but don't worry... It contains every single feature that the "registered" version contains. However, a commercial message about shareware has been added to the code. Which brings us to an important point. This program IS a shareware offering. In actual use you will find it to be a very complete and thoroughly planned application, with features you would expect to find in a commercial offering. If you agree and find ELF-BOOT to be a valuable asset to your system, you'll want to register your ownership by sending $15 to: Randy Constan c/o Elfin Magic Software 23 Brook Place, E. Islip, NY 11730 In return, You'll receive a copy of the registered version in the mail, along with printed documentation (if you request), full support for any problems you encounter, and access to updates and revisions at a substantial discount. In fact, it is possible that by the time you register, more features will have been added! The demo version contains a 40 second commercial message, which will appear only 1 out of 4 times the program is used. It is a simple reminder that a lot of time and effort went into this product, and shareware authors gotta eat too! ******** DISCLAIMER ******** Although I (and several 'beta' testers) have beaten the program to death forcing every conceivable error, I must hereby state that I nor the Elfin Magic company assume any responsibility for lost time or data resulting from the use or misuse of ELF-BOOT. The user assumes responsibility for backing up his system to prevent such disasters. I can only affirm that to the best of my knowledge, the program will perform as stated in the docs, and at the time of distribution contained no 'viruses' of any kind. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR SUPPORTING SHAREWARE AUTHORS! Page 1 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 FILES: Before proceeding, be sure you have all the following files in your ELFBOOT package: ELFBOOT.PRG Main program (or ELFBOOTD.PRG for demo version) . ELFHELP.PRG Utility to assist in preparing special batch files. STARTGEM.PR A public domain program run utility. RAMDISK.PRG ATARI's public domain reset proof ramdisk. RDSET.TTP A freeware utility from Elfin Magic to set the default drive and size of the ramdisk. DESKTOP.L Some default desktop.inf files for each resolution DESKTOP.M DESKTOP.H ELFBOOT.DOC The file you're reading. README.DOC May contain last minute changes. Check it out! ELF-BOOT: What it does... ELF-BOOT normally resides in the AUTO folder of your hard disk. It can also be re-run from the desktop at any time. For maximum utility, it also requires that the file "STARTGEM.PR" (notice the missing "G") be placed in the AUTO folder, after ELF-BOOT has been added. When it runs, ELF-BOOT will allow you to: 1) Load, and modify up to 50 desktop.inf files. Desktop colors, printer configuration, keyboard repeat, delay, bell silence and key click can all be controlled, as well the option to confirm copies & deletes, and turn disk write verify on or off. 2) Automatically select a default desktop file based on the current monitor (color or mono), so that your system can boot up properly with no manual intervention. 3) Install an option called 'AUTOCOLOR' which keeps your selected desktop colors in place when the system completes it's startup. This feature also prevents other applications from changing your colors, unless you want them to. 4) Completely eliminate the need for the ATARI control panel desk accessory, freeing up 2 valuable 'slots' for other accessories. 5) Enable or disable programs in your AUTO folder. 6) Easily change the order in which programs in your AUTO folder will run. 7) Activate any one of up to 50 ASSIGN.SYS files for use with GDOS, or prevent any from becoming active. 8) Enable and disable Desk accessories. 9) Automatically transfer any number of files from up to 50 user defined lists, from any drive (and path) to an active ramdisk. 10) Cause your ST to run any of 50 preset programs without having to double click them from the desktop. As of the time of this writing though, THIS OPTION IS UN-USABLE WITH TOS 1.4. Hopefully, this will soon change. page 2 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 11) Create and or activate up to 50 macro files, which can perform all the above functions, in one mouse click! 12) View and/or modify the system time and date, for those without a real time clock. Best of all, even though the program runs in an AUTO folder, It provides an active mouse, dialog and alert boxes, multiple fonts, button click functions, and even displays a file select window with scrolling arrows! No, I have not discovered some hidden feature in the ATARI to make this possible. Rather, I wrote my own 'mini-GEM' in 100% assembly code. Because of the familiar environment, you'll find that in most cases, just guessing what to do will give you the expected result. But again.... read _ALL_ the documentation! ********************************************** II. PREPARATION: 1) DESKTOP.INF FILES ELF-BOOT can be used with or without desktop.inf files. But unless you're a rare breed that likes ATARI's default lo res. desktop, these files are important. The first thing you should do is prepare at least one "default" desktop file for each of the 3 normal ATARI resolutions. Since many users don't have both color and mono monitors, a sample DESKTOP file for each res. is provided on the ELF-BOOT disk, so you can accomplish this step even if you have only one monitor. If you have a color monitor, prepare your own desktop.inf file in medium resolution, with the desired colors, window/icon placement, and installed applications you desire. If you do not currently use a ramdisk, setup an icon for one now. To do this, just select any disk icon, and select "INSTALL DISK" from the desktop menu. Then, specify an unused drive identifier from D: thru P: at the prompt. Finally, place the new icon in a convenient location on the desktop. Set up your colors using ATARI's CONTROL.ACC for now. See your ATARI manual for details. When you've saved the file using the 'SAVE DESKTOP' option, rename the file "DESKTOP.M". Then, close all your windows and switch to LO res with the set preferences option from the desktop. When you're satisfied with your LO res setup, again save the file, and RENAME it to DESKTOP.L. If you have a monochrome monitor, follow the same procedure, this time renaming the file "DESKTOP.H". Finally, switch to the resolution you use most often, set up your screen, and do one final DESKTOP save, without renaming the file. If you have only one monitor, copy the default(s) for the files you can't make yourself, from the ELF-BOOT files provided. When ELF-BOOT starts up, it looks for a file called DESKTOP.INF. If it finds one, it will analyze it to make sure it's usable for the current monitor type. If not, it will look for the default "DESKTOP.M" or "DESKTOP.H" depending on the monitor you're using. Providing the program finds a usable desktop file, it will allow the user a chance to exit the program immediately, and will automatically copy the file to a new DESKTOP.INF file if necessary, when the program exits. page 3 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 You may also create up to 48 more (total 50) desktop files, for all your applications. It's quite handy to have the desktop appear with the proper windows open and colors set in accordance with the work you intend to do. Again though, for a bare minimum, you should have at least 1 file on hand file for each resolution you use, and it's a good idea to use the extender of the filename to indicate the resolution it is intended for. Beyond this, there are only three simple rules: 1) Each file must begin with 'DESK' (eg: DESKWP.HI or DESKDRAW.L) 2) All files must be in the root directory of your boot drive. 3) Any non DESKTOP.INF file whose name starts with "DESK" must be removed from the root directory. 2. AUTO PROGRAMS: ELF-BOOT provides full control over the files in your AUTO folder. This includes both re-ordering the files, and enable/disable capability. It accomplishes this by COPYING and DELETING files,and RENAMING file extenders from .PRG to .PR and vis-versa. So, to maximize the power of this feature, you should copy every conceivable AUTO program you ever use into your auto folder, renaming ones you normally don't use to have a .PR extender. This way, the program can find them all, and give you full control. If you're an experienced ATARI user, you know that the order of execution of your AUTO folder programs is important. For this and other reasons, this is a very good time to rebuild your auto folder from scratch. The ST will then both execute the files in the order in which you store them and, contain no 'hidden' deleted entries. To accomplish this, start by backing up your AUTO folder completely, and then empty the contents of the AUTO folder, by deleting all its' files. Then, one by one, begin placing files back into the AUTO folder. Remember that AUTO programs are executed in the order you place them in the folder, not the order they appear on the screen! When you rebuild your empty AUTO folder, I'd suggest the following order: 1) Your hard disk boot program if required, 2) The ATARI reset proof RAMDISK.PRG provided in the ELFBOOT package (even if you sometimes use other RAMDISKS). The ramdisk is currently setup to be drive G:, and has a 'default' size of under 64K. If drive G: is currently used by one of your hard drive partitions, copy the file anyway (so it will be in the proper place in the auto folder), but rename the file RAMDISK.PR for now. Later, we'll see how to easily change the default configuration of the ramdisk, with the RDSET.TTP utility provided. By the way, if you normally use another ramdisk product that can function in the AUTO folder, you can obviously use yours instead. But if you normally use a ramdisk that can't run as an AUTO folder, place the ATARI ramdisk in the AUTO folder anyway! You'll see why later.... trust me! page 4 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 3) PINHEAD, if you have it (v.1.8 or higher only), by Charles F. Johnson. Actually, I've gotten away with placing this utility _BEFORE_ the ramdisk, but save such experimentation for later. Also, rename the program to simply PINHEAD.PRG. 4) your real-time clock program if you have one, 5) FOLDERXXX.PRG (I HOPE you use have this!) 6) Any other programs that you use ALL the time, 7) this program (ELF-BOOT). If you're installing the demo version, rename it to "ELFBOOT.PRG". 8) all other AUTO programs that you sometimes need active, and sometimes don't (GDOS for example). 9) the file "STARTGEM.PR" provided in the ELF-BOOT package. The reason for the suggested renaming by the way, is this: ELFBOOT is capable of storing entire system file setups in macros, and these macros save actual filenames as part of their data. By getting into the habit of using 'generic' names for your programs, you can avoid having to 'rebuild' these macros every time you change program revisions. For example, the ELFBOOTD.PRG file was renamed ELFBOOT.PRG in the above setup. In this way, when you install your registered copy, you can simply copy it over and keep the same name. Again, if this sounds confusing, don't worry about it too much. It will all become clearer as you become familiar with the way ELFBOOT handles files. Remember to rename all the programs you normally don't use so they have a .PR extender. Of course, if you're an experienced user, your AUTO files are probably already ordered fairly well. In that case, just add the ramdisk, ELFBOOT.PRG and STARTGEM.PR (in that order) to your ramdisk. ELFBOOT will allow you to re-order these files anyway, it's just easier if only a few files are out of place. Finally, I'll say this one more time: be sure your auto folder is backed up! 3. ASSIGN.SYS files Create a folder in the root directory (of your boot drive) called "ASSIGN". in this folder, you may place up to 50 assign.sys files, with any names that seem logical to you. (eg: WORDPROC.BW or EASYDRAW.COL) if you already have an ASSIGN.SYS file in your root directory, you can keep it there as long as a copy (with whatever name you choose) exists in the ASSIGN folder. If you don't use ASSIGN files, just create the folder for now, with no entries. 4. DESK ACCESSORY FILES Copy all the desk accessory files you own (that are known to be bug free!) into the root directory of your boot drive. Even the ones you seldom use, as long as there's not more than 50 of them. Disable all but 6 of them (or less) by renaming them so their extender is ".AC" instead of "ACC". For now, disable the ATARI CONTROL.ACC as well. Once you've used it to create your default DESKTOP files, and begin using ELF-BOOT, You may never need it again, and this frees up 2 slots!!! page 5 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 5. RAMDISK TRANSFER ELF-BOOT can (very!) quickly transfer a group of files to a ramdisk! This is very handy if you have an ongoing project in which you normally spend time moving the same files into your ramdisk every time you boot. However, in order for ELF-BOOT to accomplish this, the RAMDISK program must have been previously run. This is why I recommend keeping ATARI's reset proof RAMDISK in your AUTO folder. It is easily sized or even disabled at boot time with a single keystroke. However, If you use a DESK.ACC type ramdisk, you can still make great use of this feature, since ELF-BOOT can be re-run from the desktop at any time. For now, just Create a folder in your root directory, and call it "TRANSFER". Later, we'll see how the supplied support program "ELFHELP.PRG" may be used to quickly create up to 50 'batch' files for use with this feature. 6. STARTGEM If you're using any version of TOS but 1.4, create a folder in your root directory called STARTGEM. The public domain program STARTGEM.PRG (renamed .PR in your ELFBOOT package) is capable of automatically running any program on bootup, just by placing the programs' full path and filename in a text file called STARTGEM.INF. In the STARTGEM folder you just created, you can store up to 50 such text files, with names of your choosing. ELFBOOT will automatically take care of copying the one you select, and enabling/disabling STARTGEM.PRG as needed. (This is why it's current filename ends in ".PR" instead of ".PRG"). Later, we'll see how the supplied ELFHELP.PRG can assist you in accurately creating these text files, without errors or hassle. 7. MACROS! Create one more folder in your root directory called "ELFMACRO". No need to fill it with anything, ELFBOOT handles all the processing here. Later, we'll see how almost everything ELFBOOT does for you can be saved in a macro file, for a totally customized setup every time you use your ST! III. PROGRAM USE: OK... now comes the fun part! For the first time, run ELF-BOOT from the desktop, even though it's in the auto folder. This way, if there's anything wrong with the program file, or if there's any incompatibility with some other program that's resident in memory (TSRs), you'll find out with a harmless crash to the desktop. When you run the program, the startup screen will appear, followed by an alert box. If the DESKTOP.INF file was present (or alternately, if either DESKTOP.H or DESKTOP.M is all that's available), the dialog box will offer 3 choices. You have 10 seconds to choose, or option 2 (EXIT with AUTOCOLOR) will be selected by default. For now, click the mouse on choice 3: USE ELF-BOOT!. If no DESKTOP file was found, you will see a different dialog box reminding you to select one before exiting. In this case, click on EXIT (upper right corner of screen), page 6 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 followed by clicking on EXIT WITHOUT AUTOCOLOR in the next dialog box. Then, retrace your steps and see where you went wrong. Remember, in the demo version, 1 out of 4 exits will display, a 40 second commercial. When you select the 'USE' option, you'll see the entire ELF-BOOT work screen. To the left, there are displays for the Time, Date, printer configuration, keyboard configuration, Disk parameters (Confirm copies, deletes, and disk verify), buttons for keyboard click and bell, and in the lower left, color control. The parameters displayed are all taken from the 'current' desktop file (or from the system itself if no desktop file exists). Here is a brief synopsis of how these work: Printer: Just like the ATARI control panel. Set each parameter by clicking the appropriate box. These parameters may be changed at any time, whether the program is run from an AUTO folder at boot time, or later from the desktop. Disk: For the confirm deletes/copies buttons to be toggled, a desktop file must exist. But even so, these parameters can only be changed in the system when the program is run from the AUTO folder at boot time. Write verify for disk operations however can be turned off or on at any time. But note that this item will always default to active (verify on) since I believe it shouldn't be disabled without user intervention. Time/Date: These displays update automatically every 2 seconds. To change the time or date, just click on the appropriate box and type your new entry. The program parses date and time strings fairly intelligently, and all the following are legal entries: Time: 03:22:10 AM, 3:23, 3:24P, 03:23 PM DATE: 05/01/91, 5/01/91, 5/1/91 Press escape if desired to clear the string and start again, just as in a normal GEM dialog box. Other than that, the backspace is your only active editing key. Hit RETURN, ENTER, or click the mouse to complete your entry. The new date or time will be installed in the system and displayed. If the program can't make sense out of your entry, the original time or date will re-appear. Keyboard: The keyboard click and delay rate may be varied to within the same limits that the ATARI CONTROL.ACC allows. Simply click on the up or down arrows for the desired parameter. Feel free to press any key and hold it to check the results of your change. To the right, the keyclick and console bell sound may be enabled or disabled. Keep them both enabled for now (highlighted), since they are used to aid the unfamiliar user of ELF-BOOT. For example, anytime you click the mouse in an inactive area, or when certain errors occur that the program wants to draw attention to, the console bell will ring in addition to any status messages present. Color: This is a big feature if your using a color monitor! Click on any color box from 0 to F (representing 1 - 16 in GEM order), and you'll see the color change, both in the screen display, and in the color box to the right. Note that even though the program is running in medium res. (on a color monitor), all 16 colors can be viewed in this special color box!. This will allow you to alter all the colors of a LO res page 7 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 desktop.inf file without even being in lo res! To alter any color, select the color number (0-F), then click the left or right arrows in the RED, GREEN, or BLUE box. The numerical color value, as well as the color itself will show up in the color box. If you're in monochrome, colors 0 and 1 will only allow two settings (BLACK on WHITE, or WHITE on Black). The other colors may be edited normally. A very important feature of the color control is this: You can select any resolution desktop file (we'll see how to do this later), and the program will make visual sense out of the colors! That is, from a color monitor, You can load in a HI or LO res desktop, and edit the colors perfectly, While the screen display accurately shows what the colors will look like in the resolution of the chosen desktop. You'll have to experiment with this later to see what I mean. Also, should you accidently edit the colors in such a way that the screen becomes difficult to read, clicking the color box itself will temporarily install a preset color palette. This will not effect the color box or the color data itself. Any additional editing, or clicking the color box again will toggle the actual desk colors back to the screen. The more you need to use this, the more you'll like it! Status Box: In the status box on the lower right, the default message shows the current free ram, as well as the type of desktop file currently in memory. Actually, the 'Free RAM' message indicates the amount of memory that ELFBOOT has available for copying files, etc, rather than the total ram available. For most disk operations, this status box will also display information showing the various stages of the selected process, or will provide instructions as to your next logical action. If during a disk operation, you hear the console bell and all activity seems to stop, check the status box to see how to proceed. FILE OPERATIONS: In the center of the screen there are 8 boxes with associated file select operations. Each is designed to accomplish it's goal in as few mouse clicks as possible. All items make use of the file select window to the right, in one way or another. When a file function box is clicked, the associated directory will be displayed in the window. If more than 12 items are in the directory, the right sidebar will become shaded, as an indicator. In this case, you can use the UP and DOWN arrows at the upper right and lower left of the window, to scroll the display. If no items are present, the status box will reflect this, and the menu box you selected will clear. Also, regarding the UP and DOWN arrows, holding the mouse button down will allow continuous scrolling. When the window can be scrolled no further, the console bell will ring. The status box will also reflect the number of items found. To select a file from a directory, just click on it (double click has no meaning in ELF-BOOT). The Top window bar will also display the name of the selected directory! Note that ELFBOOT will automatically choose the 'MACRO SELECT' box and display the 'ELFMACRO' directory, IF there are macros present. Since no macros have been created yet, the system will instead default to the 'SELECT DESKTOP.INF' option. This should be the case now, and a page 8 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 directory of your desktop files should already be present in the window. We'll skip this option for now though, and explore all the menu boxes from top to bottom. 1. Auto Program Enable: Clicking this item causes all entries in your AUTO folder with either a .PR or .PRG extender to be shown. To rename (enable) a .PR file, just click on it. To disable a .PRG file, again just click on it. It's that simple! Each time you click on a file, the status box will show the result, and the directory will be refreshed. Incidentally, you never have to worry about the enabled or disabled status of STARTGEM.PRx. ELF-BOOT will take care of that automatically as necessary. NOTE: By default, the files in the window are sorted by length of extender. That is, .PRG files will show up on top of .PR files. However, the order of execution within each group is correctly displayed. Sometimes though, it is annoying while enabling or disabling files to see files 'jumping' to and from the .PRG group. So, you may turn off this sort function at any time by clicking the 'FILE SORT' box at the lower right corner of the screen. After altering this box, clicking the selected menu box again will produce a 'raw' directory listing. This may or may not be to your liking, you decide. 2. Auto program sequence: Clicking here displays only the items in your AUTO folder with a .PRG extender. The directory shows accurately the order in which the programs run during bootup. (this is true regardless of the SORT option, since all files here have the same extender length). To change this sequence, click on one file, then another. ELF-BOOT will attempt to copy both programs to memory, delete them both from the disk, and rewrite them in reverse order. If you click the same file twice, the operation will abort, and you'll have to start over (this is also a simple way to get out if you change your mind!). By the way, it doesn't matter which file you select first. As you select files, the status box will show the result of each step. This operation goes surprisingly fast from a hard disk, even with large files (MUCH faster than doing the same thing from the desktop!). After each pair of files has been swapped, a fresh directory will be displayed to verify the new sequence. By repeating the process with different files, you can very quickly re-sequence your entire AUTO folder. NOTE: This is the only operation in ELF-BOOT that deletes primary files! It is very heavily error trapped, and hopefully you'll never see half the dialog boxes and instructions that come up if problems arise. It is highly unlikely, but if the program encounters a situation where files have been deleted and can't be re-written, it will warn you and abort the operation. This is why it is important to backup your entire AUTO folder, as suggested earlier. page 9 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 3. ASSIGN SYS File select: Clicking here will cause the program to see if there is an ASSIGN.SYS file already in the root directory. If so, it will ask you with an alert box if you want to delete it. If you answer no, the operation will abort. Answering yes however will delete the file, and display a directory of the ASSIGN folder you set up earlier. If you want, click on one of the displayed files (if you have them), and it will be copied to the root directory with the name 'ASSIGN.SYS'. If you don't want an active ASSIGN.SYS file, simply don't select any files after the delete occurs. 4. DESKTOP.INF file select: This option will display all files in the root directory that start with "DESK...". Clicking any one of them will cause it to load into memory. Before acting on the data though, the program analyzes the file to see if it was intended for the current monitor. If not, it warns you of the discrepancy, and asks if you want to cancel your selection, or install it anyway. You can install ANY desktop into the program, regardless of resolution, (it's just a warning). Also, any desktop changes (obviously including your selecting a new one) causes ELF-BOOT to automatically save the current file as "DESKTOP.INF" when you exit the program, unless the resolution of that file is wrong. In that case, no such automatic save will take place. This can be overridden, as we'll see next. For now though, especially if you're using a color monitor, experiment by loading files for each resolution. You'll see that the system handles colors form any desktop file in a logical and friendly way. When the selected desktop file is loaded, all the data within that file (Excluding GEM window and icon data) is immediately installed into your system, and displayed in the PRINTER, DISK, KEYBOARD, and COLOR displays. Any modifications you make to these boxes will instantly change the file data, as well as the ST itself. Again, these changes are not really permanent, since ELF-BOOT normally saves this file as DESKTOP.INF (a filename that is constantly overwritten). But the changes CAN be saved permanently, as we'll see next. 4.1 DESKTOP.INF file save. It isn't included in the 8 menu functions we're discussing, since it's a "SAVE" rather then a "SELECT" or "LOAD" function. However, it does seem logical to discuss it here. Skip down to the bottom of the screen, and you'll see a SAVE DESKTOP select button. Assuming a desktop file is installed in the program (either automatically on startup, or manually with the previous menu function), you can control whether, and HOW it is saved by clicking here. Assuming the file is in memory, you'll be able select: 1- SAVE NOW 2- SAVE WHEN PROGRAM EXITS 3- CANCEL (DON'T SAVE AT ALL) These options are self explanatory, except that option 2 (save when program exits) will force it to be saved as DESKTOP.INF (the default condition). The current filename is also displayed. Option 3 prevents saving on exit, in case you're just browsing through your desktop files. page 10 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 If you choose option 1 to SAVE now however, you'll be given 3 additional choices: 1- SAVE with current filename 2- Save as 'DESKTOP.INF' 3- Enter a new filename. The current filename is of course also displayed. Picking option 1 or 2 will save the file immediately. Saving with the current filename means that any change you made to the system parameters is permanently saved. Again, this illustrates how ELF-BOOT eliminates the need for the ATARI CONTROL accessory. Saving as DESKTOP.INF instead just causes the normally automatic save on exit to occur now instead of later, and the original file is not altered. If option 3 is selected, another dialog box will appear, allowing you to enter a new file name. Don't enter any drive specifiers or path names here! Just a (max 12 char.) filename. The save will always go to the root directory. Entering a blank line will abort the operation in case you change your mind. The same text editing rules for time/date entry also apply here. Just remember that the name you choose must start with "DESK..." if you want it to be selectable from ELF-BOOT. 5. Desk Accessory enable: This works just like AUTO program enable/disable! Click here, and all root directory files ending with .AC or .ACC will be displayed. Clicking on one will either enable or disable it, and an appropriate status message will be posted. The same rules of the FILE SORT box discussed earlier also apply here. Also, remember that only the first 6 accessories will load into the system, and some files like CONTROL.ACC (which you'll probably never use again) and SNAPSHOT.ACC take up 2 accessory slots! You must keep track of this yourself. 6. Ramdisk Transfer: Clicking here will display any text files you'll prepare later with the ELFHELP.PRG program. You don't have these set up yet, but here's how it will work when you do. Selecting one of the 'transfer' files will cause the program to copy all the files specified within that file to the active RAMDISK. It's kind of a 'batch' copy command! Of course, thorough checking is done to make sure the ramdisk specified by your file extender is active, and keep track of at least 7 other problems that could arise, such as a file being too big for the ramdisk. Watch the status window! With each file, the progress is posted. Also, if you hear a bell, direct your attention to the status box. Probably, a file could not be copied, either due to insufficient memory space (unlikely), or not enough RAMDISK space. If this happens, the program will ask for a single key response to either C (continue and try next file) or A (abort the transfer operation). Surprisingly, this utility will copy about 300K of files in less than 5 seconds! When the transfer is complete, the status box will reflect the number of files successfully copied. This is a good time to briefly mention the basic operation of the ATARI ramdisk. If the ramdisk as supplied (drive G:) is in conflict with one of your hard disk partitions, just keep this procedure in mind page 11 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 for later, and leave the file in it's disabled (.PR) form for now. I didn't include ATARI's docs here, since I found them confusing and long winded. Actually, it's very simple. As long as you have a desktop icon setup to access the ramdisk, all you have to do is turn your machine on, and take one of the following actions as soon as the screen turns white: a) press '0' to deactivate the ramdisk entirely. b) do nothing, and the RAMDISK will configure itself to 48K c) press a key, from 1 to 9 depending on how many 64K blocks you want the RAMDISK to be. If you need more than 576K, use the alpha keys a to z. This allows up to 2048K. Also note that pressing any key but '0' forces a reboot, since the RAMDISK is configured above the screen and needs to shift memory around quite a bit. This is why it should be one of the first programs in the AUTO folder. If you use PINHEAD v1.8 or higher, you might even get away with placing PINHEAD before the ramdisk. I've had some crashes doing this, but feel free to experiment using the AUTO FILE SEQUENCE functions. On more important thing: The ATARI ramdisk is RESET proof! This is perfect for programmers like me that crash the system many times during program development. Give it a try. If you don't like it, ELF-BOOT may be run again from the desktop, so that you can use the transfer function with a desk ACCESSORY based ramdisk. 7. Run Program. Clicking this box will first test to see if a STARTGEM.INF file is present in your root directory. If so, it will warn you and ask if you want to delete it. You'll normally never see this warning, since ELF-BOOT normally deletes this file anyway, as soon as you select the USE PROGRAM option when you begin a session. It only serves to warn you if you mistakenly use the option twice. Now again, I'm going to describe how this works, even though you have no STARTGEM files set up yet. We'll see how to do this with the ELFHELP.PRG later. Assuming there were STARTGEM files present, clicking on one of them causes it to be copied to a newly created 'STARTGEM.INF' file. It will also enable the STARTGEM.PRG in your auto folder. The result is that later, when the desktop appears, that program will run automatically! STARTGEM unfortunately does not currently run with TOS 1.4. 8. Macro Select. No macros are present now, but if they were, this menu item would be selected for you automatically when you run ELF-BOOT. A directory of files in the ELFMACRO folder is displayed. Clicking one will cause ALL the options of this program which you previously saved in a macro, to be set up automatically. In addition, a macro contains a user specified exit condition. This means that when processing is complete, the macro can either return to or exit from the ELF-BOOT program environment. When you click on a macro file, It's like watching ELF-BOOT run itself at high speed. All the menu items will select themselves, and set up their options according to your macro specification! However, all non- fatal error checking is bypassed. page 12 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 Instead, a MACRO ERROR STATISTICS box (example below) will be displayed after the macro is processed. PROCESS NAME FILE REQUESTS FILES COMPLETE --------------------------------------------------- AUTO PRGS: 8 8 ASSIGN FILE: 1 1 DESKTOP.INF: --- PROCESS FAILURE --- ACCESSORIES: 6 6 TRANSFER: 4 3 * STARTGEM: 0 0 In this example, 8 AUTO programs specified in the users' macro have been activated and are now ".PRG". All others have been deactivated. An ASSIGN file has been specified and copied as well. The DESKTOP.INF function failed however. Perhaps the file specified in this macro was intended for a mono monitor, while the user is currently in color mode. Six requested desk ACCESSORIES have also been enabled, while all others have been disabled. The TRANSFER function was able to copy only 3 out of the 4 files specified by the user, so this discrepancy is flagged by a '*' character. No program has been specified to run under STARTGEM, and so "0"s are displayed. In the event such errors occur, any exit condition specified by the user is cancelled, and the next mouse click will return the USER to ELF-BOOT. If you so desire, you can try to manually retry the failed operation. In normal (or "manual") mode, the error messages are much more extensive, and will provide full details on the nature of the problem. If no errors occurred, and the user specified an exit condition when the macro was created, ELF-BOOT will post a final 'good-bye' message, and exit. 9.1 MACRO RECORD. While TRANSFER and STARTGEM files must be prepared outside the ELF-BOOT environment with the ELFHELP.PRG, this is not the case with macros. All you have to do is set up your system the way you want it for a given application, and click the RECORD button. Again, the system will scan all the menu items, this time recording all your selections. For each, the status window reflects the users choices, but these messages normally are too fast to actually read. ELF-BOOT will then prompt you to select an exit condition for the macro. Basically, You'll either exit the program when the macro is used, or simply return to the ELF-BOOT environment. The normal exit condition is EXIT WITH AUTOCOLOR, as this option replaces the color functions of the ATARI CONTROL panel. Note again that this choice does NOT cause the exit to occur now. Rather, it specifies what will occur when the macro is actually used. After this selection, a directory of macro files is displayed, and ELF- BOOT will prompt you for a filename. Pressing return with no entry aborts the process, while an actual filename entry will cause a save. On problem that can arise when creating several macros in succession, is that you must remember to specifically select every menu item that you want changed. For example, if you create a macro that (among other things) runs a program, and then proceed to create another macro that should NOT run a program, you must remember to select the RUN PROGRAM box, even though you don't intend to select anything. page 13 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 In other words, selecting the box automatically clears the 'macro memory' of the last selection. This is also true of ramdisk TRANSFERs, ASSIGN file selections, and DESKTOP file choices. So, when preparing multiple macros, make sure to select ALL menu items, including the ones for which you don't pick a file. Another problem that arises when recording multiple macros is that the system is unaware that you really don't want any actions to occur, and that you're only preparing to do a macro save. So, to suspend all file saving while setting up for a macro, click the FILE PROTECT box at the bottom of the screen so that is highlighted. From here on, all ASSIGN, PROGRAM RUN, TRANSFER, and automatic DESKTOP saves are suspended, until the file protect box is turned off. With FILE PROTECT on, file selection causes the associated file (or multiple files in the case of TRANSFERs) to be loaded, so that basic error checking can occur. However, instead of proceeding to copy the file(s) as usual, the message "Selection Noted, No action Taken" will appear in the status window. Selecting the FILE PROTECT option before making any macros will also help to eliminate some of the "OVERWRITE (YES/NO) and "DELETE (YES/NO)" messages, that can be very distracting. Incidentally, the FILE PROTECT box has NO effect when actually EXECUTING (selecting) a macro. I.V. MISCELLANEOUS functions: About Program. If you click the box in the upper right hand corner of the screen a short commercial message for ELF-BOOT will appear. Click the mouse anywhere to escape this message. Note that the Demo and Registered copies of the program contain different information. If you have a registered copy of ELF-BOOT, be sure to check this out! V. EXIT OPTIONS: 1. Exit on Startup As we saw earlier, when ELF-BOOT starts up, you have the choice of exiting immediately, or using the program. The default is to exit with AUTOCOLOR enabled, and this option will occur after 10 seconds if the user does not intervene. We'll discuss AUTOCOLOR more in a moment. For now, the important thing to realize is that exiting at this point will allow you to enter the ST environment with the same conditions that existed last time you turned your machine on. That is: a. All auto programs and accessories will be the same. b. ASSIGN files last activated will still be active c. The last used desktop.inf file will remain active, unless you've switched monitors. In that case, the default files DESKTOP.H or DESKTOP.M will be used as required. d. Any program set to run under STARTGEM will run again, since ELFBOOT does not disable this unless 'USE ELFBOOT' was selected. page 14 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 Note: Under the current version, ramdisk transfers will not occur automatically when the EXIT option is chosen. 2. Manual Exit: When you click the EXIT box at the upper right of the screen, 3 options will appear: option 1: exit without autocolor Normally, you'll rarely use this box, since AUTOCOLOR, once installed, can be turned off and on again at will. It is used primarily when You have found that for some reason, Autocolor is absolutely incompatible with a program you intend to run (I have found none so far). Also, an exit without AUTOCOLOR will restore whatever colors were in place BEFORE the program was run. So, if you exit with option 1 when the program is run from an AUTO folder during bootup, Your Desktop colors will never be installed (Unless you re-enable the ATARI CONTROL.ACC). option 3: coldstart We'll come back to option 2 in a second. Exit option 3 will cause a re-boot. This is an full coldstart, and is much more thorough than pressing your RESET button. Some possible uses are: 1. When you've re-sequenced your AUTO folder programs, and now want to reboot with the new configuration. 2. When you want to disable the ATARI ramdisk completely, with a '0' key-press. 3. When a program (any program) causes a severe system crash, and the desktop is behaving strangely. Earlier versions of PINHEAD sometimes caused this to occur. A coldstart is the next best thing to powering down for 10 seconds, and can solve many problems that the RESET button alone can't cure. NOTE: While we're on the subject of RESET, note that exiting from ELFBOOT with the RESET button is not recommended. In order to do the simulation of a GEM mouse and event manager, many system changes are made which will never be restored properly if RESET is pressed. option 2. Autocolor Exit: So what the heck is AUTOCOLOR anyway? Autocolor is a very powerful feature of ELF-BOOT that goes beyond the ATARI control panel in keeping your selected colors in place. Autocolor is a small piece of program code (less than 1 k) that stays in memory after the program ends. It can be installed only once, but enabled and disabled at will. Normally it is installed when the program is run from the AUTO folder (but this does not have to be the case). When ELF-BOOT starts up, as long as a usable DESKTOP file is found, the program will exit WITH autocolor installed (or enabled) after 10 seconds on user inactivity. page 15 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 AUTOCOLOR... How it works: When autocolor is initiated, the program will exit with the selected desktop colors still active. It steals the primary vertical blank vector from the system, and monitors the video hardware and screen 60 times a second waiting for the desktop to appear. At this point, it installs itself properly in the system vertical blank queue, intercepts the mouse data from the keyboard, and restores the primary vertical blank vector to it's original state. What it does: ALRIGHT...ENOUGH TECH TALK! With AUTOCOLOR installed, you'll see your selected colors appear when the desktop appears. From there on, ANY program that attempts to change the screen colors will fail to do so! This is especially useful when you use a lot of programs that seem to insist that the programmers choice of colors is superior to the ones the user selected. Enabling/disabling Autocolor: Well that's all fine and well, but what happens when you run a program that needs to control the colors. A drawing program like DEGAS ELITE would be crippled without such control. In fact, Some parts of DEGAS ELITE will fight the AUTOCOLOR program so hard, that sometimes, after much screen-flickering battle, the program may actually crash! So, we need a way to easily enable or disable AUTOCOLOR, to really make it useful. I thought a lot about this, and decided that the old approach of pressing ALT - SHIFT- CTRL plus a key has been over used. My chances of coming up with a new combination that no one else has used are pretty bleak, and you'd probably forget the key combination anyway. So, here's what I did. If you want to disable AUTOCOLOR, press the RIGHT mouse button, and move the mouse to the left, _QUICKLY_, while still holding the button down! Just a quick left 'swish'. Slowly won't do it! Once you do that, The current colors will still remain, but any program that wants to change them will be able to (including the old ATARI control panel if you want!). To re-enable AUTOCOLOR, press the RIGHT mouse button again, and this time move quickly to the RIGHT. The desk colors will come back immediately. This sounds awkward, but believe me, it becomes quite instinctive. You'll find that most of the time you discover the need to enable or disable AUTOCOLOR, your hand will already be on the mouse! In addition, You'll be hard pressed to find a program that really does anything destructive in response to quick mouse movements with the right button pushed. And, programs that do use the right button, never require any movements fast enough to trigger AUTOCOLOR. By the way, remembering the on-off direction is easy; just think: "RIGHT ON!!" Whenever you re-run ELF-BOOT, it first checks the system to see if autocolor has been installed. If so, it disables it (but doesn't remove it!). If you then exit the program and choose AUTOCOLOR exit, it senses that AUTOCOLOR is already resident, and simply re-enables it, rather than waste memory installing it again. This is why you will normally ALWAYS exit WITH autocolor. The one exception may be monochrome only users, since most mono programs accept the default 'black text over white background' format. Also, if while re-running ELF-BOOT you decide to change the screen colors (either manually, or by loading a new page 16 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 desktop file), the new palette will be installed into AUTOCOLOR automatically when you exit. This is in fact the only way to change the AUTOCOLOR palette. Incidentally, AUTOCOLOR is smart enough to keep your colors consistent and logical, even if you change resolutions from the desktop, or load in the wrong desktop file! VI. ELF-BOOT SUPPORT UTILITIES ( "booties" ) 1. RDSET.TTP To set up the ATARI ramdisk to a different default size or drive ID, copy the RDSET.TTP file and the RAMDISK.PRG file to the same directory. Also, make sure the ramdisk filename is exactly as described above. Run the RDSET program, and you'll be prompted for an input. RDSET requires a single alphabetic character, and a single number, with no spaces in between. The letter can be any drive specifier from 'D' through 'P'. The number can be '0' thru '9', and this sets the default number of 64K blocks that the ramdisk will configure to if no keypress occurs at boot time. For example, the RAMDISK, as received, was setup using RDSET by entering the parameter "G1". This corresponds to a G: drive, that by default is only 64K. The program will notify you of any problems that occur. If all goes well, it will rename your old file to "RAMDISK.BAK", and prepare a new "RAMDISK.PRG" file with the new setup. You can re-configure the RAMDISK as often as you like. I recommend the 64K setup, since this amount of ram is of little consequence, even if I don't use the ramdisk and forget to disable it. Copy the new file back to your AUTO folder, and Be careful not to end up with 2 files (.PR and .PRG)! 2. ELFHELP.PRG Both TRANSFER and STARTGEM files are basically text files that contain full path(s) to an existing file. The only difference in fact between TRANSFER and STARTGEM files is that the latter may only contain a single path string rather than a multiple list. For ST users used to zipping through folders with mouse clicks, it is quite difficult sometimes to remember the full path of a program. For example, my terminal program " FLASH" requires a path sting like this to make a GEMSTART file: D:\TELECOM\FLASH\FLASH.PRG I couldn't expect the user to remember strings like this from within ELF-BOOT, and adding code to make the file select window into a full replica of the GEM file selector box was in my opinion, too much effort for too little gain. The solution was to provide a separate program which could be run from the desktop, and so provide the user with a real GEM file selector box, or allow him to use whatever file selector replacement he is used to. the ELFHELP.PRG does just that. Preparing STARTGEM files. ELFHELP.PRG is run from the desktop, and should normally reside in the root directory of your boot disk. It will first ask you whether you want to create a STARTGEM file, TRANSFER file, or EXIT the program. If you choose STARTGEM, a familiar file selector box will appear. Use it to find the program you want ELF-BOOT to be able to run from it's page 17 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 'RUN PROGRAM' option. Click on the desired file, followed by the OK button. (Clicking the CANCEL button will return you to the start of the program). Note that the program file you choose may be imbedded in any combination of drive partitions and folders you choose. At this point, ELFHELP will store the selected path/file name in a text file in the STARTGEM folder. the name of the file will be the filename you selected, with a ".RUN" extender. If you try to run ELFHELP from anything other than your boot drive, it will not be able to find the STARTGEM folder you prepared earlier. In that case, the file will be saved to the current directory. In either case, when the save is complete, the program will return to the initial dialog box and prompt you for what to do next. When preparing STARTGEM files, be careful not to mistakenly select a non program file. Programs on the ST all have an extender of ".TOS", "TTP", ".APP", or ".PRG". Note also that the text files produced do not have to be named the way ELFHELP names them. You can rename them to anything you want, so long as they stay in the STARTGEM folder. Preparing TRANSFER files. Selecting TRANSFER at the start of the ELFHELP program will again allow file picks via the GEM item selector box. Use this option to create LISTS of files that ELFBOOT will use in it's RAMDISK TRANSFER function. It works like this: 1) Use the file selector to pick files you want to be transfered. 2) After each file pick, you'll be asked if you want to add more. 3) Selecting CANCEL from the item selector will simply return you to the above message, and will list the files picked so far. 4) When you're done selecting files, you'll be prompted for a filename to save under, using the same file selector box. If the program can't find the TRANSFER folder, the file will be saved in the root directory. 5) With TRANSFER files, remember that the extender must match your RAMDISK specifier (Ex: MYTRANS.G = transfer to drive 'G:'). VII. ADVANCED USER NOTES: These are just some tips I've discovered, that make using ELFBOOT a little more logical. First, as mentioned earlier, try to get into the habit of using generic filenames for programs, accessories, and any other files that ELFBOOT must handle. This is especially true if you use macros and transfer files a great deal. When new versions of a program get installed into your system, keeping the name consistent will avert the need for rebuilding MACRO, TRANSFER, and STARTGEM files. It is also important to note that as text files, MACRO, STARTGEM, and TRANSFER files can all be hand edited with a text editor, or word processor capable of saving in straight ASCII format. While the contents of the latter two files is probably obvious by now, the macro files need a little more attention. page 18 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 Here is a typical macro text file: #auto: PINHEAD.PRG RAMDISK.PRG SUPCLKRD.PRG FOLDER200.PRG ELFBOOT.PRG #assign: #desktop: DESKWP.M #accessories: CALC.ACC MEMFILE.ACC PRINTDIR.ACC CALENDER.ACC #transfer: #startgem: WWRITER.RUN #exit: 2 Pretty straightforward really. For each macro category, an entry must exist even when no file is specified, as is the case with the "#assign:" directive above. If files are specified for the "#transfer:" or "#startgem:" directives, the files must be the text files prepared by ELFHELP. In other words, if you try to hand edit one of these, don't specify FLASH.PRG (example) for a startgem file. Rather, specify the name of a filename, in your STARTGEM folder, that contains the full path to the FLASH program, in ASCII form. If all this sound confusing, then don't worry about it. The information is just here to aid the advanced user. Directly editing macro files may yeild some time savings over building a new file from ELFBOOT. A good example is when a complex macro needs only its' DESKTOP file changed, to accomodate a mono or color monitor. The final digit in the file specifies the exit condition for the macro. 0 means return to program when done, and '1' and '2' refer to exiting WITHOUT or WITH autocolor, respectively. As you become familiar with the system, you'll ultimately think of many ways in which the program could be made even more powerful. Several ideas have come to my mind already. (Not bad for a version 1 though ehh?). Please feel free to send comments and suggestions either by mail, via COMPUSERVE (EMAIL only to 73637,317), GEnie (ATARI roundtable, or GE Mail address: R.CONSTAN),or THE NEST, which is the official BBS of the Long Island Atari User Group. Their number is 516-234-4943. Let me state however that what I'm most interested in is enhancements to make the program more useful, rather then just longer! (I'll never make it play music or draw pictures for example). Also, I'd like to know of any and all incompatibilities with other programs you discover. Unfortunately, I did not find out until the very last minute that STARTGEM does not work with TOS 1.4. I will try to find a way around this as soon as possible, and again Registered users will find out via direct mailing, whenever new ELF-BOOT versions or information becomes available. So finally, one last time: If you like the program, please register. And, if you're part of a user group, take $5 off the registration fee (per unit!) when you order 5 or more copies at a time. This is my way of saying Thanks for not pirating. page 19 ELF-BOOT! by Randy Constan, Elfin Magic Software (c)1991 Before ELF-BOOT could be written, it was necessary to create a few special code modules to simulate the GEM interface. Some of these may be of interest to other developers. While I havn't finalized a licencing fee for these modules, I can say that they will be very reasonable provided that proper credit is given in the docs of the resulting products. Here are some of the more interesting source codes available: AUXMOUSE.S This module creates a completely stand alone mouse cursor, that exactly duplicates the GEM mouse function. It installs cleanly in the VBI, and may be removed at any time. It may be passed a list of rectangles, and will return the Rectangle number and button data in response to a mouse click. The rectangle list may be changed at any time, to allow for secondary graphic inputs, such as simulated alert boxes. Because of it's independence, it can run equally from an AUTO.PRG, or under GEM. It also provides for the possibility of changing the cursor form, with standard mouse data, mouse mask, and hotspot data. All 3 standard resolutions are supported. FONT6X6 This is a standalone utility for printing 6x6 system fonts, but only ascii codes from 1 to 127 are included. You pass it position and color data, and a pointer to a standard (zero terminated) string. Options are included to control both foreground and background color, as well as X-RAY or BLOCKED mode. Again, this runs with or without GEM surfaces, in all 3 resolutions. DRAWFILL.S This is actually a high performance graphic package which was originally intended for an ST version of SUPER 3D PLOTTER (something only 8 bitters would remember). Anyway, It can draw lines, draw filled or unfilled boxes (with borders), and fill convex polygons with any number of sides. Line clipping is also built in, allowing the user to specify points anywhere in a + or - 32K range. The fill commands allow 16 dithered patterns in monochrome and med res., as well as the standard 16 colors of lo rez. As a line engine, it exceeds 1000 lines/second in random line draw tests. ALERT.S Actually, this code is somewhat imbedded in the ELF-BOOT code, but I can extract it if someone is interested. It allows all the alert box actions in ELF-BOOT, and could easily be modified to allow a default RETURN keypress button. It's much less cumbersome than the GEM alert box, and allows much more variation in size, text size, and text color. Of course, the 6x6 font code is needed if the alert boxes are to contain the small system font. I would also like to hear from other developers, so that we can work together to insure that ELF-BOOT gets along well with, and maybe even enhances other applications. There are many startup utilities out there. ELF-BOOT, though it's macros, may for the first time allow the user to select any startup program or desktop replacement, at boot time! For example, the ramdisk transfer can be used to copy files not only to a ramdisk, but to any active drive. By carefully combining this utility with the other setup function, a macro could be created to setup for NEO-DESK(TM), HOTWIRE(TM), or a host of other packages. The program is very open ended, and I am open to changes to make ELF-BOOT support other products. Finally, I wish to thank Steven Stubbs and John Aalto of the Long Island ATARI user group. You have these relentless beta testers to thank for beating the program bug free, and gently forcing me to add many important features to ELF-BOOT. Enjoy the program! page 20