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1992-08-09
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HAMLAB PLUS 2.0.8
USER'S MANUAL
(c) Copyright 1990-1992 J. E. Hanway
All rights reserved.
IN THIS DOCUMENT:
SETUP
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
INSTALLATION
CONFIGURATION
ADDING NEW FILTERS AND EXPORTERS
QUICK START
USER INTERFACE REFERENCE
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
WORKBENCH TOOLTYPES
THE MAIN WINDOW
THE ABOUT WINDOW
THE CONFIGURATION WINDOW
THE COLOR CONTROL WINDOW
THE OUTPUT MODE WINDOW
THE AREXX CONSOLE
AREXX FUNCTION KEYS
THE HAMLAB PLUS PIPELINE AND CACHES
SETUP
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
HAMLAB PLUS runs on any Amiga, under either release 1.3 or 2.0 of the
Amiga operating system. At least 1 meg of RAM is required.
For full functionality, HAMLAB PLUS requires EITHER
AmigaOS Release 2
OR
AmigaOS 1.3 and the ARP library.
If you have neither the ARP library nor Release 2, you can still run
HAMLAB PLUS, with two limitations:
It will only have a poor excuse for a file requester.
HAMLAB 1.x input filters cannot be used.
In any case, only the ARP library itself (LIBS:arp.library) is
used. The ARP commands in C: do not need to be installed. ARP
is not required for operation under AmigaOS Release 2.
In order to use HAMLAB 1.x input filters, HAMLAB PLUS requires the
AmigaDOS PIPE: device. Different versions of PIPE: are supplied with
1.3 and 2.0. If you encounter problems, check your DEVS:mountlist
file to make sure that the correct version is used. The 1.3 PIPE:
entry should reference "l:pipe-handler" while the 2.0 entry should
reference "l:queue-handler"
NOTE: You must have mathtrans.library in your LIBS: directory.
INSTALLATION
Installing a working copy of HAMLAB PLUS on your disk:
1. Decide where you'd like to install HAMLAB PLUS, creating
a new drawer if necessary.
2. Copy the following from the original HAMLAB PLUS disk to the drawer
that you chose in the last step. (Just drag icons in the Workbench,
or use the CLI.)
The "HamLabPlus" program.
The "HamLab.config" file. (*)
The "Filters" drawer. (This contains filters and exporters.)
The "Curves" drawer. (This contains color response curves.)
(*) If you intend to run HAMLAB PLUS only from the Workbench,
just place the HamLab.config icon in the same drawer as the
program. Otherwise, move it to either the S: or the DEVS:
directory.
3. (optional) Copy the following, if you wish:
The "Documentation" drawer.
The "Rexx" drawer. (This contains example AREXX scripts.
To use them, they must be copied to the directory where
REXX: is assigned.)
4. Run the HAMLAB PLUS copy you just made. A "HamLab Config Problem"
requester may be displayed. If so, just click the "Ok" button
until the main window appears.
5. Click the "Configuration..." button to open the Config window.
6. In the "Filter Path" line, enter the full path name of the
filters drawer.
7. Drag the Config window to the upper left corner of the screen.
This will prevent it from opening every time you run the program.
8. Click the "Save All" button. This will display a file requester
with the name of your default config file filled in. Confirm the
save.
9. Close the main window to exit the program.
10.Run HAMLAB PLUS again. This time the "Config Problem" requester
should not appear. If it does, double check the "Filter Path"
entry and make sure that the config file is being saved in the
correct directory.
Installing other files:
ARP library
The ARP library is not used if you are running AmigaOS Release 2.
If you are running AmigaOS 1.3 and don't have ARP, copy
arp.library from the libs directory of the HAMLAB PLUS disk to
the LIBS: directory of your boot disk. If you obtained HAMLAB
PLUS as a demo version from a source of freely distributable
software, look there for ARP version 1.3.
PIPE: device
The PIPE: device is supplied as a standard part of both 1.3 and 2.0.
So unless you've explicitly taken it out of your system, you already
have it. If you need to replace it, you'll have to go back to
your original AmigaDOS disks to get the correct entry for
DEVS:mountlist, plus the proper handler file for the L: directory.
For 1.3, the handler is named "pipe-handler" and for 2.0 it is named
"queue-handler".
Finally, somewhere in your s:startup-sequence or user-startup, you
should have a "mount PIPE:" command.
CONFIGURATION
When HAMLAB PLUS is run, it loads its configuration information from
a "config file." The config file is named "HamLab.config" and
HAMLAB PLUS will look for it in the following places, in order:
the current directory
S:
DEVS:
The config file contains the following types of information:
Directory names where HAMLAB PLUS creates or looks for files
(filter programs and temporary files, for example)
Information about filter and exporter programs that are
installed.
Positions for all HAMLAB PLUS windows, and/or whether they
should open when the program is started.
How much memory and/or disk space HAMLAB PLUS can use.
Initial selections for all settings (resolution, size,
dithering, etc.).
When first installing HAMLAB PLUS, the most important things to get
configured correctly are the filters. Without them, HAMLAB PLUS
is unable to read any images. Once you have followed the installation
instructions, the config file will be updated so that filters will be
found in the correct directory and will be known to HAMLAB PLUS.
Later, you'll probably want to tailor its memory and disk usage to
your system. See the section on caches for more information.
The config file is a text file that can be customized with a text
editor, but editing it by hand isn't required. The easiest way to
create or update a config file is to run HAMLAB PLUS, set everything
up the way you like it, and select either "Save" or "Save All" in the
configuration window.
"Save" saves only settings that correspond to different types of
images (resolution, dithering, etc.). For example, you may have one
group of settings for hi-res images, and another for low-res ones.
"Save All" saves all settings (except cropping, which is always reset
for each picture) and is suitable for creating or updating your master
HamLab.config file.
Of course, you can create config files by hand that have any number of
settings in them. See the separate document "cmd-ref.doc" for more
details on the config file format.
ADDING NEW FILTERS AND EXPORTERS
From time to time new filters and exports may be released for HAMLAB
PLUS. In order to use a new filter, you must first update the
HamLab.config file so that HAMLAB PLUS knows about it. Perform the
following steps to do so:
1. Copy the new filter to the HamLab filters directory. (If you
followed the standard installation, the filters directory should
be a drawer named "Filters")
2. Run HAMLAB PLUS and bring up the Configuration window.
3. Select "Scan Filters." This will test every program in the
filters directory to see if it is a filter or exporter and, if
it is, what its characteristics are.
4. When the scanning process completes, move the config window to
the upper left corner of the screen (to prevent its position
from being saved) and select "Save All."
QUICK START
HAMLAB PLUS can be started from the CLI or by double-clicking its
Workbench icon. The six large buttons at the bottom of the main
window control the major functions of HAMLAB PLUS.
OPEN an image to begin working on it. This will attempt to identify
it, and read enough of it to determine its size. Once opened, you can
adjust HAMLAB PLUS's settings and execute one or more of the three
main functions as follows.
EXPORT reads the image, converts it to 24 bits, crops, scales, and
color corrects it, then saves it in a 24-bit format. Hitting the
EXPORT button displays a list of formats that can be exported.
DISPLAY reads the image, converts it to 24 bits, crops, scales, color
corrects it, then reduces it