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E G A C O L O R I N G B O O K (tm) REFERENCE MANUAL Shareware Version 2.2 K I N D E R W A R E (tm) Educational Software Kinderware, Inc. P. O. Box 1068 North Bend, OH 45052-1068 (513) 941-7295 This manual and the EGA COLORING BOOK program are Copyright (C) 1990,1991 by Kinderware, Inc. All rights reserved EGA COLORING BOOK and KINDERWARE are trademarks of Kinderware, Inc. COPYRIGHT The EGA Coloring Book program and manual are (C) Copyright 1990,1991 by Kinderware, Inc. Portions (C) 1982-1990 Microsoft Corporation. Portions (C) 1988-1990 Genus Microprogramming, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY THE EGA COLORING BOOK SOFTWARE IS SUPPLIED AS IS. KINDERWARE, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS PROGRAM, REFERENCE MANUAL OR DOCUMENTATION INCLUDING THEIR QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL KINDERWARE, INC. BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, REFERENCE MANUAL OR DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF KINDERWARE, INC. IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN PARTICULAR, KINDERWARE, INC. IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY COSTS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THOSE INCURRED AS A RESULT OF LOST PROFITS OR REVENUE, LOSS OF USE OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS, LOSS OF DATA, THE COST OF A SUBSTITUTE PROGRAM, CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES OR FOR OTHER SIMILAR COSTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL KINDERWARE, INC.'S LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Ohio and shall inure to the benefit of Kinderware, Inc. and any successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction located in HAMILTON county, OHIO. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts. Kinderware, Inc. reserves the right to update the contents of the EGA Coloring Book program and its associated documentation at its discretion and without the consent of or any obligation to any licensed users. LICENSE for Shareware version EGA Coloring Book is NOT public domain or free software. This version of EGA Coloring Book is distributed as "SHAREWARE". EGA Coloring Book is Copyright (C) 1990, 1991 by Kinderware, Inc. All rights reserved. Kinderware, Inc. permits the copying and transfer of the SHAREWARE VERSION of EGA Coloring Book to others, under the following conditions: 1. No fee shall be charged for copies of any portion of the EGA Coloring Book program, its documentation or other information contained on the EGA Coloring Book diskette(s). A charge for the copying service and media is allowed as long as this charge does not exceed $10.00. 2. The recipient receives an unmodified copy of all the EGA Coloring Book files, INCLUDING THIS DOCUMENT. 2 3. Any copy of EGA COLORING BOOK transferred to another may contain only the twelve files listed here: ECB.EXE, ECB.DOC, ECBFONT.000, ECBTP22S.GXL, ECBCOLOR.DAT, ECBPAL.GXL, ECBIMAGE.GXL, ECBSETUP.DAT, ECBPREVU.CBK, ECBPREVU.CDT, ECBPREVU.GXL, ECBORDER.FRM. Additional files which are supplied to registered users may not be transferred to others without the written consent of Kinderware, Inc. 4. You may not disassemble or decompile the EGA Coloring Book files or in any fashion attempt to reverse engineer the program. 5. EGA Coloring Book may NOT be copied in the following European countries: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Any requests for copies of this program in these countries should be referred to: Play and Learn, GmbH. Contact: Monica Zentner Am Kornberg 65 Phone: +49 4183 3882 D-2112 Jesteburg, Germany Fax: +49 4183 5886 Any copy of EGA Coloring Book sold or copied in such a manner as to violate the above conditions shall be subject to a royalty fee of $100.00 for each violation. Kinderware, Inc. encourages the copying and transfer of the SHAREWARE version of EGA Coloring Book to others so that it may be evaluated by as many interested users as possible. After a reasonable evaluation period, it is expected that the users either register their copy of the program or discontinue using it. REGISTRATION INFORMATION The cost of user registration is $20.00. This registration fee provides you with the following benefits: 1. You will receive the commercial version of EGA Coloring Book and you will be licensed to operate the EGA Coloring Book program on one computer and by one user at a time. You will also receive a printed manual. The commercial version of EGA Coloring Book has the ability to load your own PCX files directly! This capability gives our registered users an extra THANK YOU for supporting the work we are doing here at Kinderware, Inc. 2. It provides you with two coloring book files containing ten pictures each for a total of twenty pictures. 3. It allows you to purchase additional coloring book files. 4. It will put you on the mailing list to receive information about additional coloring books and EGA Coloring Book updates when they become available. Mailings will also inform you when other programs from Kinderware, Inc. are released. 5. It will provide you with the ability to report problems and receive assistance from Kinderware, Inc. Site licenses are available. Please contact Kinderware, Inc. for information and prices. 3 We encourage you to support the "Shareware" method of software distribution by becoming a registered user. Registration is inexpensive and provides the many benefits described above. An order form is provided in the file ECBORDER.FRM. VISA and MASTERCARD payments are accepted. You can phone or FAX your order for faster service. Our telephone number is: 1-513-941-7295. NOTE: If you reside in the Netherlands please contact the following company for ordering information: Visiria Uitgeversmaatschappij te Lopik H. de Manpark 4 3411 ZP Lopik Telephone: 03485-2982 Telefax: 03485-3775 This company publishes Dutch language versions of Kinderware programs. TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Kinderware, EGA Coloring Book and Word Gallery are trademarks of Kinderware, Inc. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM, XT, AT and PC-DOS are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT EGA COLORING BOOK will run on most IBM or compatible computers with EGA or VGA graphics capability (the display adapter must have 128K or more of video memory), at least 512K of RAM (at least 416,000 bytes of free RAM after DOS and all TSR programs are loaded), PC-DOS or MS-DOS 2.1 or greater and one disk drive. A hard disk and a Microsoft compatible mouse are optional. INTRODUCTION EGA COLORING BOOK (ECB) is a computer coloring book. It allows children to use over 500 colors and patterns to color full screen pictures. Children, age 3 and up, will enjoy bringing the pictures to life with color. ECB teaches eye-hand coordination and encourages artistic expression. ECB is very easy to use. We have been told by registered users that ECB is one of the few programs that their 3 year old children can actually use alone. Registered users also report that the only problem their kids have is getting the parents and grandparents to stop using ECB. This version (v2.1) is much easier for children to use since most of the common commands have picture icons which can be easily identified. EGA Coloring Book is a great program to use to introduce the computer to children. They will have so much fun, they won't even realize that they are learning basic computer skills. ECB runs in the EGA high resolution (640 x 350) 16 color mode to provide beautifully detailed pictures and hundreds of vivid colors (produced by mixing the 16 screen colors). We are confident that EGA Coloring Book will provide many happy hours of entertainment for the entire family. 4 WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 2.0 Version 2.0 has added many new features and enhancements. The following list will summarize the additions. 1 The cursor is shaped like a crayon and is colored to match the currently selected color. 2 Faster color palette display and erasure. 3 Menu selections are indicated by picture icons. Picture selections are made from small versions of the pictures. This feature makes it very easy for young children to use ECB. 4 Up to five artists can save their own creations for later use. They can even select a picture icon for themselves to make selecting the current user very easy. 5 Extensive error handling has been added. 6 Colored pictures can be saved as PCX files for use with other programs, such as jigsaw puzzle programs, etc. 7 Pictures can now be printed on both black and white and color printers in two different formats. Most popular printers are supported. 8 The commercial version can import PCX files directly so you can use your own pictures with ECB. 9 An easy mode has been added for young children which removes some of the harder commands. 10 The standard commercial version now includes twenty pictures! 11 Two additional coloring books are available to add to the fun. 12 All selected settings such as palette mode, easy mode and printer configuration are automatically stored between sessions. 13 A printed manual is provided to registered users. We need your support to continue to add features like these to our programs. Please become a registered user. Be sure to write any questions or suggestions you might have on the back of your order form so that we can continue to improve the program in the ways that you want most. Problems corrected in version 2.1 The Epson color printer drivers supplied with version 2.0 did not properly select the color of the ribbon. Version 2.1 corrects this problem. Changes in version 2.2 The 24 pin printer drivers did not advance the paper the proper amount between lines. Version 2.2 corrects this problem. An additional printer driver was added for the IBM Color Jetprinter. INSTALLATION AND GETTING STARTED Before attempting to use the EGA COLORING BOOK program, please make a backup copy of the EGA COLORING BOOK diskette(s). Consult your DOS manual for instructions on performing this procedure. The EGA COLORING BOOK program will write information to disk files during operation. Therefore, be sure to keep a backup copy of the original disk(s). If your system includes a mouse input device, then the mouse driver must be installed before the EGA COLORING BOOK program is run. Consult your mouse user's guide for instructions on loading the mouse driver. 5 The EGA Coloring Book files are described below: ECB.EXE The EGA COLORING BOOK program. ECB.DOC This document. ECBFONT.000 Graphics text font. ECBCOLOR.DAT Palette data. ECBPAL.GXL Palette images ECBIMAGE.GXL Graphic images ECBSETUP.DAT Contains user setup information. ECBORDER.FRM Order form. ECBPREVU.CBK Coloring book file. ECBPREVU.CDT Coloring data file. ECBPREVU.GXL Picture preview pages. ECBTP22S.GXL Title page. The EGA COLORING BOOK program will write to the coloring data files to save data that describes how you last colored the picture. The program will also write to the ECBSETUP.DAT file. Since the program writes to these files, the disks must not be write protected when running the program. Installation on 5.25" 360K diskettes ==================================== EGA Coloring Book will require two 5.25" 360K diskettes. The files should be organized on the two diskettes in the following manner: PROGRAM DISK (1) COLORING BOOK DISK (2) ---------------- ----------------------- ECB.EXE ECBPREVU.CBK ECB.DOC ECBPREVU.CDT ECBFONT.000 ECBPREVU.GXL ECBCOLOR.DAT ECBPAL.GXL ECBSETUP.DAT ECBIMAGE.GXL ECBTP22S.GXL ECBORDER.FRM If you have two 5.25" disk drives, then put the PROGRAM DISK into drive A, the COLORING BOOK DISK into drive B and set the default drive to A:. When the program is run, if it cannot find the coloring book file, then you will be asked if you want to enter a new path. If you answer yes then you will be able to enter the path of the coloring book file, which is B:. Refer to the NEW BOOK command for information about selecting the coloring book file path. If you have a single 5.25" disk drive, then put the PROGRAM DISK into drive A and set the default drive to A:. When the program begins running it will not be able to find the coloring book file, and you will be asked if you want to enter a new path. At this point, remove the PROGRAM DISK from drive A and insert the COLORING BOOK DISK into drive A. If you answer no to the question, then ECB will look for the coloring book file again. Answering yes will show you the path ECB is using to find the coloring book file, and allow you to change it if necessary. The path should be A:. Refer to the NEW BOOK command for information about selecting the coloring book file path. 6 Installation on 5.25" 1.2M, 3.5" 720K, 3.5" 1.44M diskettes and Hard Disks ========================================================================== These disk formats are large enough to hold the entire set of EGA Coloring Book program and data files. To install ECB on these disk(ette) types, simply copy all files to a single directory on the disk(ette). STARTING THE PROGRAM To run the program, set the default disk:\directory to the disk and directory that contain the ECB PROGRAM files. Type "ECB" (do not type the quote characters), and press the <ENTER> key. After the program is loaded, a title page will appear. When you are ready to begin the program, press any key. USING THE KEYBOARD MOUSE SIMULATOR If your computer system does not include a mouse input device then it will be necessary for you to read this section. If you have a mouse then you can skip this section. This section describes how to use the KEYBOARD MOUSE SIMULATOR to imitate real mouse input. It does not describe how that input affects the EGA COLORING BOOK program. Please refer to the USING EGA COLORING BOOK section for that information. If EGA COLORING BOOK does not detect the presence of a mouse driver, then it will use the KEYBOARD MOUSE SIMULATOR. All mouse functions needed by the program are provided by the simulator. MOVING THE MOUSE CURSOR <up arrow> - move up. Remember that use of <down arrow> - move down. these keys on the <left arrow> - move left. numeric keypad will <right arrow> - move right. require <Num Lock> <Home> - move up and left. to be turned off. <PgUp> - move up and right. <PgDn> - move down and right. <End> - move down and left. Pressing these keys alone will cause the mouse cursor to move a distance which corresponds to the current mouse movement increment (this will be explained in a moment). If the <SHIFT> key is held and these keys are pressed, then the mouse cursor will move one pixel in the selected direction. In addition, if the <SHIFT> key is held and the <5> key on the numeric keypad is pressed, the mouse cursor will jump to the center of the screen. The speed of mouse cursor movement is controlled by the current mouse movement increment. Currently two speeds are provided. If the "+" key is pressed, then the increment will be large and the mouse cursor can be moved quickly. If the "-" key is pressed, then the increment will be somewhat smaller causing the mouse cursor to move more slowly. Typically, the user will toggle between the two speeds depending on how far the mouse cursor must be moved. Remember to use the <SHIFT> key if small adjustments to the mouse cursor position are required. 7 PRESSING THE MOUSE BUTTONS The simulator imitates a two button mouse. To click the left mouse button, press the <Ins> key, the <ENTER> key or the <SPACEBAR>. To click the right mouse button, press the <Del> key. USING EGA COLORING BOOK EGA COLORING BOOK is very easy to use. Before we get into the details, here are some general comments about the mouse cursor. 1. The mouse cursor is shaped like a crayon and the color of the crayon will indicate the currently selected color. 2. While you are moving around the screen, you will notice that the crayon will change depending on the current screen location. It changes so that it will always point toward the nearest corner of the screen. This allows you to easily point to any screen location. 3. The crayon's hotspot is at the very tip of its point. The hotspot is the actual screen position you are clicking on when you press the left mouse button. 4. At some points in the program, the crayon will be restricted to a portion of the screen. 5. The phrase "Click the left mouse button on the command target ..." means to move the crayon so that the hotspot is over the command target on the screen and then press and release the left mouse button. After starting the program and pressing a key at the title screen prompt, EGA COLORING BOOK will ask you to enter your name. Please see the description of the name command for more information. After selecting a name, the program will look for the coloring book files. If none of the coloring book files are found, then a window will appear asking you to enter the DOS path where the coloring book files can be found. If you are running from a floppy diskette, then you may swap diskettes at this point. Please see the description of the NEW PATH command for more information. Once the coloring book files have been found, the program will display the list of coloring books available. You may then select the coloring book desired. Note that the shareware version only has one coloring book. Please see the description of the NEW BOOK command for more information. After the coloring book has been selected, the program will display a list of pictures that are available. You may then select the desired picture. Please see the description of the PICTURE command for more information. When you have selected a picture, the screen will clear and the picture will be displayed. If this picture has been previously colored, the program will use the coloring data (stored in the coloring book file) to recolor the picture. When the recoloring step has been completed, the command entry area (referred to as the CEA for the remainder of this document) will be displayed over the left side of the picture. 8 THE COMMAND ENTRY AREA (CEA) The CEA is a rectangular shaped box. The lower four fifths of this area is dedicated to displaying the active color palette. The top portion contains command targets. The available commands are described below. MOVING THE COMMAND ENTRY AREA 1. In the upper right corner of the command entry area is a command target that has arrows pointing left and right. Clicking the left mouse button on this command target will move the CEA to the opposite side of the screen. This is useful to move the CEA out of the way when coloring. Pressing the <F10> key is a keyboard shortcut for this command. 2. Clicking the right mouse button at any time will toggle the display of the CEA. If the CEA is currently displayed, pressing the right mouse button will remove it from the screen. If the CEA is not currently displayed, pressing the right mouse button will put it back on the screen. This is useful to completely remove the CEA when coloring areas that extend behind the CEA or when you want to view your finished picture. Pressing the <F9> key is a keyboard shortcut for this command. SELECTING THE ACTIVE COLOR PALETTE Just above the display of the active color palette in the CEA are five command targets that contain colors made of various combinations of black and white. These command targets select the active color palette. When the program begins running, the default active color palette corresponds to the second command target from the left. Clicking on these command targets will change the active color palette and display the new set of colors available in the bottom of the CEA. The keys <F1> through <F5> are shortcuts for selecting the active color palette. The <F1> key corresponds to the leftmost command target and the <F5> key corresponds to the rightmost command target. Note that the "solid" colors appear in all five color palettes. You will need to experiment with these command targets until you become familiar with the colors available in each palette. SELECTING THE ACTIVE CRAYON COLOR Clicking the left mouse button on the desired color in the active color palette will make that color the active crayon color. The active crayon color is indicated by a white outline around the selected color's box in the active color palette display. The color of the crayon (mouse cursor) will also change to indicate the currently selected color. COLORING THE PICTURE Once you have selected the desired color, you can then "color" an area of the picture. To color an area, simply move the crayon to point at the desired area and click the left mouse button. You may color over an area that has already been colored. If the crayon is pointing at the outline of an area (the black lines making up the picture) when the left button is clicked, then you will hear the error beep and no coloring will be done. Each time you color an area the "color command" is added to the list in memory. Eventually, this list may become full if you color a lot of areas that have already been colored. Please see the description of the RECOLOR command for information about this situation. 9 ENTERING AND EDITING TEXT STRINGS When it is necessary for you to enter or edit a text string, the following special editing keys may be used: <Home> Go to the beginning of the string <End> Go to the end of the string <Del> Delete the character at the text cursor <BACKSPACE> Delete the character to the left of the text cursor <Ins> Toggles the insert state <left arrow> Move the text cursor one character to the left <right arrow> Move the text cursor one character to the right <ENTER> Enter the string and return <Esc> Cancel changes made to the string and return EASY MODE ECB may be placed into an EASY MODE. This mode will be useful for young children. When in this mode, a few of the harder commands will not be available. The commands that are not available are: SAVE AS PCX, PRINT, PICTURE/NEW BOOK, PICTURE/PCX and PICTURE/PREVIEW. NOTE: The command PICTURE/PCX is not available in the SHAREWARE version and the command PICTURE/PREVIEW is not available in the commercial version. To put ECB into easy mode hold the <CTRL> key and press the <E> key on the keyboard. You will hear a series of tones which signal the mode change. To take ECB out of easy mode, press the same key (<CTRL>-<E>). Note that this selection may only be made when you are at the top command level (you are not entering menu commands). OOPS As you color the picture, EGA COLORING BOOK remembers how you have colored it. It keeps a list of "color commands" in memory. Clicking the left mouse button on the OOPS command target will undo the last color command. This is useful if you accidentally color an area that was previously colored. Clicking on the OOPS command target will restore the area to its previous color. You may use the OOPS command any number of times in a row. It will always undo the last color command on the list and then remove that command from the list. If the list is empty, then you will hear the error beep and no action will be performed. NOTE: If the CEA is on the screen when the OOPS command is requested it will be removed before the color of the area is restored. After the color of the area is restored, the CEA will then be displayed again. There are two shortcuts for the OOPS command. If you have a three button mouse, clicking the middle button at any time has the same effect as clicking the left mouse button on the OOPS command target. Also, pressing the <O> key is the keyboard shortcut for this command. You may use these two shortcuts for the OOPS command even if the CEA is currently not on the screen. 10 MENU Clicking the left mouse button on the MENU command target will cause the CEA to be replaced with eight new command targets. The use of these command targets is explained below. Pressing the <M> key is the keyboard shortcut for this command. You may use the keyboard shortcut to invoke the MENU command even if the CEA is currently not on the screen. The MENU command may be cancelled by pressing the <ESC> key or by clicking the left mouse button at a screen location that is not part of the CEA. ERASE Click the left mouse button on the ERASE command target if you want to erase the colors from your picture. You may also invoke the ERASE command by pressing the <E> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the ERASE command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the ERASE command. When this command is selected, you will be asked "Do you really want to erase the picture?". If you want to continue with the erasure then click the left mouse button on the YES command target. Click the left mouse button on the NO command target to abort the erase command. The keys <Y> and <N> may be used to indicate a yes or no response. RECOLOR Click the left mouse button on the RECOLOR command target when you would like the picture to be erased and recolored. You may also invoke the RECOLOR command by pressing the <R> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the RECOLOR command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the RECOLOR command. This command was included for two reasons. The first reason is that during the recoloring, redundant color data is removed from the "color command" list. The other reason is that young children like to watch the "computer" color the picture. The program may automatically execute this command if the color command list becomes too large to fit in memory. This should only happen if you color a lot of areas that have already been colored. If this should happen, the program will put a message on the screen before it begins the "recoloring process". The message will ask you to press a key when ready. After you press a key, the program will begin the "recoloring process". The only problem caused by recoloring is that the OOPS command will no longer restore an area's previous color (the area will be colored white). This is because the RECOLOR command has determined that the previous coloring of an area was redundant and has removed it from the "color command" list. The OOPS command will operate properly for any new "color commands" added to the list after the recoloring process has completed. PICTURE Click the left mouse button on the PICTURE command target when you would like to select a new picture. You may also invoke the PICTURE command by pressing the key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the PICTURE command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the 11 PICTURE command. When you select the PICTURE command the CEA will change to provide command targets that are needed to select a new picture. At the top of the CEA there will be 4 command targets and the bottom portion will provide up to 4 picture selection command targets. These picture selection command targets will contain a small version of the picture they represent. The picture selection command targets may be selected by pressing the function key that corresponds to the desired picture (<F1-F4>) or by clicking on the desired picture selection command target. The UP and DOWN command targets may be used to scroll through the pictures that are available in the correctly selected coloring book. The UP and DOWN command targets may be selected by pressing the or <D> keys respectively or by clicking on them. NEW BOOK You can select another coloring book by pressing the <N> key or by clicking on the NEW BOOK command target. After you have selected the New Book command, ECB will search for coloring book files. If no coloring book files can be found, then a window will open which will allow you to specify the path of the coloring book files. This allows you to have coloring book files in other directories or on other disk drives. In fact, you may even swap disks while this window is on the screen and therefore run from a single floppy disk drive. See the description below of the NEW PATH command to learn how to change the path that ECB uses when searching for the coloring book files. If ECB finds one or more coloring book files then the CEA will change to provide command targets that are needed to select a new coloring book. At the top of the CEA there will be three command targets and the bottom portion will provide up to four coloring book selection command targets. These coloring book selection command targets will contain a small picture and some text describing the coloring book they represent. The coloring book selection command targets may be selected by pressing the function key that corresponds to the desired coloring book <F1-F4> or by clicking on the desired coloring book selection command target. The UP and DOWN command targets may be used to scroll through the coloring books that are available in the current coloring book path that you have selected. The UP and DOWN command targets may be selected by pressing the or <D> keys respectively or by clicking on them. After a coloring book has been selected, ECB will open the book and return to the picture selection version of the CEA. See the description of the picture command above. NEW PATH You may change the path that ECB uses to search for coloring book files by selecting the New Path command target. To select the New Path command, press the <N> key or click on the NEW PATH command target. When the NEW PATH command is selected, a window will open which will allow you to specify the path of the coloring book files. This allows you to have coloring book files in other directories or on other disk drives. In fact, you may even swap disks while this window is on the screen and therefore run from a single floppy disk drive. To change the path that ECB will use to look for coloring book files, press the key or click the PATH command target. You may then edit the path. See the section on entering and editing text strings for more information. When the path is entered to your liking, press the <O> key or click the OK command target and ECB will begin searching for the coloring book files. If none are found, then a window will open asking you if you want to enter a new path. 12 If the path you have specified is a floppy disk drive and you did not have the correct diskette inserted, then insert the proper diskette and press the <N> key or click the NO command target. ECB will then attempt to find the coloring book file(s) again. Pressing the <Y> key or clicking the YES command target will return to the window that allows you to edit the path. While the path entry window is open you may press the <ESC> key to exit the program. This provides a way to exit the program if no coloring book files can be found. PCX & CBK (Available in the commercial version only) These two commands allow you to change the type of pictures that you want ECB to use. If you are using standard ECB coloring book pictures, then the PCX command will be available. Pressing the key or clicking on the PCX command target will cause ECB to use PCX picture files. Picture selection will operate in a similar fashion, except that icons for the pictures will not be provided to help choose the desired picture. The picture selection targets will simply display the name of the PCX picture file. Also, the NEW BOOK command will not be available. The NEW BOOK command will be replaced with the NEW PATH command target. The NEW PATH command will operate in the same manner as the NEW PATH command in the book selection menu, except you will be specifying the path ECB should use to search for PCX picture files. Refer to the description of the PICTURE and NEW PATH commands for more information. If you are using PCX picture files, then the CBK command will be available. Pressing the <C> key or clicking on the CBK command target will cause ECB to use the standard coloring book files. When the CBK command is invoked, ECB will search for *.CBK files and then display the book selection menu. Refer to the description of the NEW BOOK command for more information. The picture files that you attempt to load should have the following characteristics: 1 They should be 640 pixels wide by 350 pixels high. If the picture is larger than this, then only a portion of the picture will be seen. If the picture is smaller than this, then the full screen will not be filled and colors may bleed from one area to another when the picture is colored. 2 The pictures may be saved in either monochrome or 16 color mode. Pictures that are saved in a 4 or 256 color mode will not be compatible. 3 The background of the picture must be white (color 1 for monochrome, color 15 for the color mode) and the outlines of the areas must be black (color 0 for both modes). These color selections are very important for proper operation. The coloring data for pictures that you load in this fashion will be saved in files with the same name but with the extension .CDx. The x will be replaced with the current user number. The number 1 will be used for the first person in the list of names, the number 2 for the second and so on. The .CDx files will be written in the same directory that contains the .PCX file that was loaded. 13 PREVIEW (Available in the Shareware version only) Click the left mouse button on the PREVIEW command target to view the picture icons which represent the pictures in the commercial version and additional picture packages that can be purchased. You may also invoke the PREVIEW command by pressing the key on the keyboard. The Beginner and Intermediate coloring books (20 pictures total) accompany the commercial version of ECB. The coloring books Kids At Play (10 pictures) and The Alphabet (20 pictures) can be purchased in addition to the commercial version. When this command is invoked a series of three pages of picture icons will be displayed. After a page is displayed, you can press any key or mouse button to advance to the next page. When all three pages have been displayed, the program will return to the picture selection menu. MODE Click the left mouse button on the MODE command target if you want to change the mode of the CEA display. You may also invoke the MODE command by pressing the <M> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the MODE command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the MODE command. When this command is selected, you will be asked "Should the palette disappear after a color selection?". If you would like the CEA to disappear after each color selection then click the left mouse button on the YES command target. If you do not want the CEA to disappear after a color selection then click the left mouse button on the NO command target. The keys <Y> and <N> may be used to indicate a yes or no response. If you select the YES command target, then the CEA will be removed from the display each time you select a new color to use. When in this mode, either the right mouse button or the <F9> key must be used to restore the CEA to the screen in order to make a new color selection. NAME Click the left mouse button on the NAME command target if you want to specify the name of the user. You may also invoke the NAME command by pressing the <N> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the NAME command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the NAME command. When the NAME command is selected, the CEA will change to provide the command targets needed to specify the name of the user. You can select from 5 different users. Each of the 5 users will have their own colored versions of the pictures saved. You may make your selection by pressing the function key (<F1>-<F5>) that corresponds to the desired user or by clicking the desired user's command target with the left mouse button. The names of the 5 users may be customized by holding the <Shift> key and pressing the function key that corresponds to the desired user (<F1>-<F5>) or by clicking on the command target with the right mouse button. You may then edit the name. See the section on entering and editing text strings for more information. When you are finished editing the name press the <ENTER> key. After the <ENTER> key has been pressed, the CEA will change to provide the command targets needed to select a small picture icon that will be associated with the user whose name is being edited. This icon will be 14 displayed with the user's name in the name selection command target. There are ten picture icons from which to choose. You may make your selection by pressing the function key (<F1>-<F10>) that corresponds to the desired picture icon's command target. Upon selection of the desired icon the program will automatically return to the name selection menu. SAVE AS PCX Click the left mouse button on the SAVE AS PCX command target if you want to save the current picture as a disk file in PCX format. You may also invoke the SAVE AS PCX command by pressing the <S> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the SAVE AS PCX command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the SAVE AS PCX command. The picture will be saved in full color with palette information. This file may then be used with other programs that accept PCX files as input, such as jigsaw puzzle programs or PC paintbrush. When you select the Save as PCX command, a window will open which allows you to specify the path and filename. ECB will suggest a filename, but if you press the <F> key or click on the file command target you may edit the path and filename. See the section on entering and editing text strings for more information. When the filename has been entered to your liking, press the <O> key or click the OK command target to begin writing the file. If you decide not to save the picture to a PCX file, then press the <C> key or click the cancel command target. Before ECB begins writing the file it will check to see if a file with the same path and name already exists. If so ECB will open a window to let you know that a file with the same name exists and ask you if the file should be overwritten. If you press the <Y> key or click the Yes command target, then the old file will be erased and the new file written. If you press the <N> key or click the No command target then you will be able to edit the path/filename and try again. NOTE: If the current picture was loaded directly from a PCX file instead of from a coloring book, then be very careful not to overwrite the original file. PRINT Click the left mouse button on the PRINT command target when you would like to print the current picture. You may also invoke the PRINT command by pressing the <T> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the PRINT command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the PRINT command. You may print the picture in black and white or in color. When printed in black and white, only the outlines of the areas are printed (even if the picture is colored on the screen). These black and white pictures may then be colored with real crayons the old fashioned way. If your printer is capable and supported, then you may print the pictures in color. When you select the PRINT command, a window will open to allow you to select the printing options. The options are described below. PRINTER This option will allow you to specify which printer driver ECB should use. You may either press the key or click the printer command target to change the specified printer driver. The following list will give you an 15 idea of which printer driver to use for some of the popular printers. If your printer is not listed, then try one of the printers that your printer emulates. It will not hurt your printer if you select the wrong driver, but you may get unrecognizable output. Driver Printers -------------------- ------------------------------------ Epson 9 Pin B&W Epson MX, FX, LX Epson EX without color option IBM Proprinter, IBM graphics printer Epson 9 Pin Color Epson EX with color option, JX Epson 24 Pin B&W Epson LQ series black and white Epson 24 Pin Color Epson LQ series color IDS 9 Pin B&W IDS 560 Paper Tiger IDS 9 Pin Color IDS Prism Okidata 9 Pin B&W Okidata Microline 92 & 93 Special drivers are available for the following printers: IBM Color Jetprinter, IBM Proprinter X24,XL24, HPLaserJet and the HPPaintJet. TO This option allows you to specify where you want the printer output to be sent. You may either press the <T> key or click the TO command target to select the output port to use. This option may be set to LPT1, LPT2, LPT3 or FILE. If FILE is selected, then the printer output will be sent to the disk file specified by the File option which will be discussed next. FILE If the TO option is set to FILE, then this option allows you to specify the path and the filename. Printer output will be sent to this disk file. ECB will suggest a filename, but if you press the <F> key or click on the FILE command target you may edit the path\filename. See the section on entering and editing text strings for more information. Before ECB begins writing the file it will check to see if a file with the same path and name already exists. If so, ECB will open a window to let you know that the file already exists and ask you if the file should be overwritten. If you press the <Y> key or click on the Yes command target, then the old file will be erased and the new file written. If you press the <N> key or click on the No command target, then you will be able to edit the path\filename and try again. This option allows you to print to a disk file and send to the file to the printer at a later time. You can send this file to a printer by using the DOS copy command. Simply type: COPY [filename] LPT1 /B Replace [filename] with the name of your file. You may need to change the LPT1 if your printer is connected to different parallel port. Since this file contains graphic data, it could very easily contain a control-Z character which is the end of file marker for DOS. Therefore the /B option must be used with the copy command. Consult your DOS manual for more information on the copy command. ORIENTATION This option allows you to specify the orientation of the picture on the paper. You may either press the <R> key or click the orientation command target to change the setting. This option may be set to Portrait or 16 Landscape. The Portrait setting will print the picture oriented just like normal text and use approximately one half of an 8 1/2 x 11 page. The Landscape setting will print the picture sideways and use the entire 8 1/2 x 11 page. Try both to see which one you prefer. COLOR This option allows you to specify if a color picture should be printed. You may either press the <L> key or click the color command target to change the setting. This option may be set to Yes or No. You may change the setting to Yes only if you have selected a printer driver that supports color. After you have set all the options to your liking, then press the <O> key or check the OK command target to start the printing. At any time if you decide not to print the picture, then press the <C> key or click the cancel command target. Once the printing has started, the print status box will appear giving you a percent complete display. If you want to abort the print at any time while ECB is printing, press the <ESC> key. The <ESC> key is only looked for at the end of each line of printing. So it may take some time before your <ESC> keypress takes effect. Printing may be slow depending on the speed of your computer and your driver selection (color takes much longer). Please be patient. QUIT Click the left mouse button on the QUIT command target if you want to quit the program. You may also invoke the QUIT command by pressing the <Q> key on the keyboard. Using the keyboard shortcut for this command will only work when the QUIT command target is on the screen. In other words, you must invoke the MENU command prior to requesting the QUIT command. When this command is selected, you will be asked "Do you really want to quit?". If you want to exit the program and return to DOS then click the left mouse button on the YES command target. Click the left mouse button on the NO command target to abort the QUIT command. The keys <Y> and <N> may be used to indicate a yes or no response. NOTE: When you exit the program, setup data will be written to the file ECBSETUP.DAT. If you are running from a single 5.25" 360K diskette drive, then you will be asked to put the diskette containing this file into the drive. This file is located on the Program Diskette. SUMMARY All of us at Kinderware hope you and your children enjoy EGA Coloring Book. We thank you for evaluating the program and we hope to add your name to the growing list of registered users. 17 WORD GALLERY We would like to make you aware of another children's educational program developed here at Kinderware. This program is also distributed as Shareware. WORD GALLERY provides a set of colorful word-object flashcards. These flashcards are used to play a variety of games. Your children will enjoy watching the screen fill with color as they use WORD GALLERY. Version 2.0 of WORD GALLERY was released in August of 1990. It consists of five separate games: Flashcards - either word first or picture first Matching - match the picture with the word or the word with the picture Missing letters - supply the missing letter Spelling - spell the complete word Word guess - similar to hangman, but you can have picture hints Many options can be selected such as keeping score, timed responses, difficulty, case of the letters and music. The program plays a familiar children's song after a number of responses have been entered. The Shareware version has 50 word/picture flashcards, and the commercial version comes with 100 more to make the total 150. A utility is provided that allows you to select which words should be used. This lets you tailor the program to your child's ability. If you register EGA COLORING BOOK and WORD GALLERY together, you pay only $14.00 for WORD GALLERY instead of the usual $17.50. If you would like a copy of the Shareware version of WORD GALLERY, then include an additional $1.00 (to cover materials and shipping only) with your ECB order. 18