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- STOOP Manual
- Version 1.05
-
-
- Hardware required
-
- Atari Falcon with 4Mb RAM and a VGA or SVGA display is recommended,
- but it can be used with an RGB monitor (the screen resolution needed
- for Stoop is a minimum 640 x 480 by 16 colours).
-
- Contents
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- Setting Up Stoop
- Boards
- Editing a Board
- Changing Boards
- Deleting a board
- Using Font Folders With NVDI 3
- Buttons
- Setting Up A Button
- Showing A Button's Configuration
- Deleting a Button
- Merging & Removing Files from Buttons
- Copying Buttons
- Swapping Buttons
- Using a Button
- Last Configuration
- Passing Parameters to Auto-Booting Programs
- Setting Up Stoop for Passing Parameters
- Text Window Keyboard Commands
- Environment Options
- Problems With Passing Parameters
- Groups
- Using a Group
- Deleting a Group
- The File Selector
- Copying Folders & Files
- Moving Folders & Files
- Deleting Folders & Files
- Renaming Folders & Files
- Creating Folders
- Re-Ordering the AUTO Folder
- Hiding Files from Stoop
- Main Controls
- GO & EXIT
- Auto-Booting Programs
- Option Controls
- FSEL
- DELETE
- SAVE
- CLEAR
- CONFIG
- SYSTEM Dialogue
- INITIAL Dialogue
- START UP Dialogue
- COLOURS Dialogue
- Manual Start Up Configurations
-
-
- Introduction
-
- Stoop is a boot manager for the Atari Falcon. It has its own graphical
- interface and uses the mouse for most operations though it does make some
- use of the keyboard.
-
- Stoop can :
-
- ≡ Be used to determine which AUTO programs, accessories, CPX
- modules and NEWDESK.INF files should be active when starting
- up or re-booting. ≡ Control other types of file (e.g. GDOS
- ASSIGN.SYS files) to a maximum of 20 different types.
-
- ≡ Display up to 512 file names in each of 20 boards. These
- boards have to be paged to view all of the file names, but
- paging buttons will only appear when they are necessary.
-
- ≡ Either change the extension of a file name to make it
- active/inactive, e.g. ACX is changed to ACC and vice versa,
- (the file may be also moved to another folder at the same
- time) this can be done for a maximum of 254 files per file
- type. Or a single file can copied and renamed to a specific
- name, e.g. C:\AUTO\STOOP\GENERAL.INF may become NEWDESK.INF.
-
- ≡ Make groups of files which may be selected or de-selected by a
- single button press, to a maximum of 50 files per board per
- group, and since there is a maximum of 20 boards a maximum of
- 1000 files can be assigned per group.
-
- ≡ Control the screen resolution of the desktop that appears
- after booting, including starting up in ST compatible screens,
- without having to use a specific NEWDESK.INF file.
-
- ≡ Change the application the desktop runs after boot-up.
-
- ≡ Store often used start-up configurations on buttons, to a
- maximum of 27.
-
- ≡ Copy, delete and move folders and files, and also rename
- files, using its own file selector.
-
- ≡ Re-order the contents of the AUTO folder.
-
- ≡ Hide files from itself so that they cannot be
- selected/de-selected for boot-up by error. Up to 50 files can
- be hidden.
-
- ≡ Be easily configured while running from the AUTO folder.
-
- ≡ Pass parameters to applications that are to be auto-booted.
-
- ≡ Be booted in any resolution on a RGB or VGA monitor.
-
- ≡ Display folders instead of files in a board, this is primarily
- for moving folders of fonts in and out of NVDI 3's font
- directories, which means that you can choose which fonts to
- use at boot up more easily by selecting a family or group of
- fonts with a single mouse click.
-
- ≡ Protect your system with a password.
-
- ≡ Now wait for a set period and then, if not used, it will set
- up a default configuration and exit.
-
- ≡ Swap preset buttons around.
-
- ≡ Copy preset buttons.
-
- ≡ Show an unlimited number of files and folders in the
- fileselector in a single directory, it is now only limited by
- available memory.
-
- ≡ Merge and remove file names with/from preset configurations.
-
- ≡ Change the speaker volume and balance.
-
- ≡ Turn off the keyclick and the system bell sounds.
-
- ≡ Change the colours used by Stoop.
-
- ≡ Select an auto-booting program for a one-off configuration
- more easily.
-
- Also in version 1.05, I have endeavoured to erradicate all the bugs,
- these were mostly minor, but I have had to rewrite the memory handling
- routines so that large configurations can be used.
-
- Getting Started
-
- Installing Stoop
-
- Run the INSTALL program, make sure that the STOOP and LAUNCH program
- files are in the same directory as INSTALL before starting.
- INSTALL will modify any STOOP.CFG it finds, backup this file first (e.g.
- copy it to another directory) and it will place STOOP at the start of the
- AUTO folder or copy it into the same position as the earlier version of
- Stoop if you have one.
-
- When running at boot up, Stoop has a problem with NVDI. Please make
- sure that the STOOP program runs before NVDI.
-
-
- Setting Up Stoop
-
- To start up Stoop after installation, you can either re-boot or run it
- from the Desktop.
-
- When you have started Stoop up you should see a screen divided into
- three main areas; the largest area is the boards where all of the
- files will be displayed, to the right of it is the control panel
- containing various buttons with a board labelled GROUPS and at the
- bottom of the screen are 27 buttons which can be used to store preset
- start up configurations.
-
-
- Boards
-
- The first step should be to arrange the boards to display the required
- files. Each board shows the files which match one of two extensions
- (e.g. PRG and PRX) that exist in one folder or root directory.
-
- There are 5 boards which you can re-configure, each one can have 4
- different faces. Each board can be displayed as either one long board
- or two short ones.
-
- When you first run Stoop there may not be a STOOP.CFG file present
- which contains the configuration information for Stoop, hence Stoop
- will use it's default configuration. The first two boards should show
- the program files in the AUTO folder and the accessories on the root
- directory of your boot drive.
-
- These boards may be altered to show different types of file (different
- file extensions) and/or the files in different folders or drives.
-
- To alter a board, click on the BOARD button (right hand side of
- screen) and then click on the board you want to change. A dialogue
- should pop up which displays the current details of that particular
- board:-
-
- TITLE
- The name of the board which is to be displayed just above the top of
- the board.
-
- SOURCE PATH
- The folder or drive which will hold the files or folders to be shown
- on the board.
-
- DESTINATION PATH
- The folder or drive which the file or files or folders will be copied
- to (this MUST be given even if it is the same as the SOURCE PATH). If
- folders are to be displayed on the board, the destination path MUST be
- (i) different to the source path and (ii) outside of the source
- directory, i.e. it must NOT be in the source directory OR be a
- subdirectory of the source directory.
-
- DESTINATION FILE
- The name that will be given to a single file once it has been copied.
- If this box contains any text then only one file may be selected on
- the board at any one time, otherwise any number (zero to all) of files
- can be selected. If the board is set to use folders, this will be
- empty.
-
- LIVE & DEAD EXTS
- These are the file extensions of the files that will be shown on the
- board. The 'live' extension is the one that active files have (e.g.
- PRG or ACC) while the 'dead' extension is the one that inactive files
- will be given which usually terminates with an 'X' (e.g. PRX or ACX).
- If the board is set to use folders, these sections will be empty.
-
- FILES/FOLDERS button
- This button will toggle between FILES and FOLDERS. When FILES is
- displayed, the board will show a list of files from the source
- directory and when FOLDERS is shown, the board will show a list of the
- folders from the source directory. The folders in BOTH of the paths
- (source and destination) will be displayed on the board, the names of
- folders in the source will be highlighted to show that they are
- active, and the names of folders in the destination will NOT be
- selected. Any folders that are highlighted on the board will be moved
- to the source directory when Stoop sets up the configuration, and any
- folders that are not highlighted are moved to the destination
- directory.
-
- SHORT/LONG button
- This button will toggle between showing SHORT and LONG on it's
- surface. When it shows LONG, one long board will appear at the chosen
- position and it will display up to 34 file names, and when it shows
- SHORT there will be 2 short boards displayed showing up to 16 file
- names each.
-
- OK and CANCEL
- These have their usual meanings, they both let the user quit the
- dialogue but OK confirms any changes and CANCEL ignores them. Most of
- the above is straight forward, but the use of the DESTINATION FILE
- needs explaining. Some programs use INF (or similar) files to hold
- data about the program's start up settings, e.g. the Desktop is one
- such program and it uses NEWDESK.INF. If you want to start up these
- programs with different settings, depending upon your needs, the INF
- file has to be replaced with another version. For Stoop to do this
- automatically for you it needs the name of the INF file, this is what
- DESTINATION FILE should hold.
-
- Example #1.
-
- Suppose the dialogue holds the following data :-
-
- TITLE = NEWDESK
- SOURCE PATH = C:\AUTO\STOOP
- DESTINATION PATH = C:\
- DESTINATION FILE = NEWDESK.INF
- LIVE EXT = INF
- DEAD EXT = INX
- first button = FILES
- second button = SHORT
-
- This allows a user to have different set-ups for the Desktop. Any
- files contained in C:\AUTO\STOOP (but not any folders within it) that
- have INF or INX extensions will be displayed upon the board, INF files
- will be highlighted and INX files will not.
-
- The SHORT button means that two short boards will be shown in the
- chosen column, the other board may appear above or below the board you
- are setting up.
-
- Suppose that the folder C:\AUTO\STOOP contains these three files:-
-
- GENERAL.INX
- DTP.INX
- SBLASTER.INF
-
- Their names will appear on the board without their extensions, only
- SBLASTER is highlighted as it's extension is 'live' (it has INF for
- it's extension).
-
- Selecting GENERAL on the board will highlight it and un-highlight
- SBLASTER. Clicking on the GO button will cause GENERAL.INF to be
- copied to drive C and named NEWDESK.INF (the previous NEWDESK file is
- first deleted).
-
- Example #2.
-
- Suppose the boxes hold the following data :-
-
- TITLE = ACCESSORIES
- SOURCE PATH = C:\
- DESTINATION PATH = C:\
- DESTINATION FILE =
- LIVE EXT = ACC
- DEAD EXT = ACX
- first button = FILES
- second button = LONG
-
- This allows a user to change the accessories loaded at boot up. Note
- that DESTINATION FILE should contain no text.
-
- With this information, Stoop will show all the files in the root
- directory of drive C which have either ACC or ACX extensions on the
- board. Files with 'live' extenders (ACC) will be highlighted while
- files with 'dead' extensions will not. Clicking on a 'dead' file will
- make it live without changing the status of any other file and
- clicking on a 'live' file will make it 'dead'.
-
- Clicking on GO will cause all files to be renamed according to their
- status on the board, highlighted names become 'live' (they are given
- the ACC extension) and all of the others are 'killed' (given ACX
- extenders).
-
- Note that although TOS 4 only allows a maximum of 6 accessories to be
- loaded at any one time, Stoop will not stop you from selecting more
- than 6 accessories.
-
- If the SOURCE and DESTINATION PATH's were different in the above
- example, the files would be re-named and they would be copied to the
- DESTINATION PATH, but please note that any existing files in the
- DESTINATION PATH would be unaffected. Hence avoid using different
- SOURCE and DESTINATION PATH's when multiple files are to be made
- 'live' (i.e. DESTINATION FILE is undefined) as any files copied there
- by Stoop during a previous boot up will still be there.
-
- The FILES button means that the board will only display the names of
- folders.
-
- The LONG button means that one long board will be shown in the chosen
- column.
-
-
- Editing A Board
-
- Now that you now what the boards can do, how do you change them to do
- what you want?
-
- There are basically two types of boxes which contain text on this
- dialogue,
-
- (i) Boxes which can be edited manually by placing the cursor in it
- and adding characters from the keyboard.
-
- (ii) Boxes which you click on and this brings up the file selector.
- This type is used to hold file paths and names which are
- selected via the file selector.
-
- TITLE
- If the text cursor is not in the Title box you can (i) click the mouse
- on it, (ii) press TAB or (iii) press the up or down arrow keys to move
- it into the box. You can then type the new name, BACKSPACE will delete
- back one character and ESC will clear all of the text. Do not press
- RETURN or ENTER unless you want to exit the dialogue and confirm the
- changes (this is equivalent to clicking on the OK button).
-
- SOURCE PATH
- Click the mouse on the text area of this box, the file selector will
- appear and you can choose the path you require.
-
- DESTINATION PATH
- Use the same procedure as for the SOURCE PATH.
-
- DESTINATION FILE
- Use the same procedure for the Title text box.
-
- LIVE EXT
- Use the same procedure for the Title text box.
-
- DEAD EXT
- Use the same procedure for the Title text box.
-
- FILES/FOLDERS
- Click on this to toggle it's setting.
-
- SHORT/LONG
- Click on this to toggle it's setting.
-
-
- Changing Boards
-
- There are 20 boards, but only five to ten can be shown at any one
- time, to show the others click anywhere on the board with your RIGHT
- mouse button, this will cycle through the boards for that position.
-
- Each column has four boards. If the board in a column is a long board
- the other three are hidden below it and 3 clicks will top each of
- these boards in turn, a fourth click will show the first board again.
- If the column has two short boards, then 2 of the four boards are
- already in view and each of the short boards has only one other board
- under it, hence 1 click on a short board will top the board underneath
- and another click will then return to the initial board.
-
-
- Deleting A Board
-
- Click on the DELETE button on the control panel, then click on the
- board and everything for that board will be returned to the default
- settings.
-
-
- Using Font Folders With NVDI 3
-
- NVDI 3 can use fonts files which are held in folders within the
- directory or directories specified in the NVDI.INF file. This makes it
- possible to group fonts into families and select or deselect the group
- in one operation instead of having to find and alter each fint file.
- You may choose to group your fonts in a different scheme, e.g. body
- fonts, display fonts and symbol fonts, however NVDI does not provide a
- simple way of doing this. Stoop can help you control your fonts,
- either selecting individual font files or folders containing font
- files. The following shows how to use Stoop to control folders.
-
- Suppose your Speedo fonts are held in folders in C:\GEMSYS\SPEEDO, to
- set up a board the following data should be used to set up a board :-
-
- TITLE = SPEEDO
- SOURCE PATH = C:\GEMSYS\HIDE.SPD
- DESTINATION PATH = C:\GEMSYS\SPEEDO
- DESTINATION FILE =
- LIVE EXT =
- DEAD EXT =
- first button = FOLDERS
- second button = LONG
-
- The FOLDERS button means that the board will only display the names of
- folders.
-
- This allows a user to change the Speedo fonts to be used by NVDI 3. In
- this example, the source path must be the same as a font path set in
- NVDI 3 INF file (i.e. FONTPATH = C:\GEMSYS\SPEEDO\).
-
- Initially, with this information, Stoop will show all the folders in
- the GEMSYS\SPEEDO directory, which can have any file name extension,
- on the board. Folders in this directory will be highlighted. Stoop
- will also show all of the folders in the GEMSYS\HIDE.SPD directory,
- but these will not be highlighted.
-
- Once the board is displayed, the folders can be selected or deselected
- and after clicking on GO, the folders will be moved to their
- appropriate positions. If folders are selected they will be moved to
- SPEEDO folder and if they are unhighlighted they will be moved to the
- HIDE.SPD folder.
-
- The destination directory, in this example C:\GEMSYS\HIDE.SPD, should
- be outside of the source folder AND it must be in the SAME PARTITION,
- if it is not things may be go wrong. If you are using two boards with
- folders, DO NOT use the same destination folder as any extensions
- (.TTF, .DOC, etc.) are not used to tell them apart, so they will get
- mixed up and appear in both boards which will cause problems.
-
-
- Buttons
-
- At the bottom of the screen are three rows of nine buttons, all of
- these buttons can have a particular set-up assigned to them. There are
- only nine buttons per row because of the font size and number of
- characters (8) used for the legend on each key, if it were smaller it
- would not look as good. Twenty-seven set-ups should be enough for
- everyone but if they are not please write or email.
-
- To select them you can either click the mouse on them or you can use a
- function key. The top row can be accessed by pressing just the
- function key (F1-F9), the middle row needs the Control key to be
- pressed while the function key is being pressed (CTRL F1-CTRL F9) and
- the bottom row needs the Alternate to be pressed while the function
- key is pressed (ALT F1-ALT F9). To make things a little easier to
- remember (there are no prompts about which modifier key to use,
- Control or Alternate), the Control key is physically above the
- Alternate key on the keyboard and the screen buttons which use the
- Control key (middle row) are physically above the buttons which use
- the Alternate key (bottom row).
-
- For users who would like to use the F10 function key, this is now
- possible, but additional buttons are not available, instead pressing
- F10 is the same as pressing Control F1 and Control F10 gives the same
- result as pressing Alternate F1. Alternate F10 has alias and produces
- no result. This enables those users, who have set up the 10 function
- buttons on the Desktop to call programs, to use the same function
- buttons in Stoop to autoboot the same programs.
-
-
- Setting Up A Button
-
- Once you have set up the boards, you can begin assigning combinations
- of files, a screen resolution and a auto-booting program to one of the
- buttons at the bottom of the screen.
- There are two ways of doing this. If you want to set up only a single
- button, follow the following instructions.
-
- 1. Select all of the files on the boards that you want to be
- active for a particular task (do not forget that the hidden
- panels may have selected files (use the CLEAR button to
- de-select all files).
-
- 2. Choose your resolution, if you want to use a Falcon screen
- mode first choose the number of colours required by clicking
- on one of the five buttons labelled 2,4,16,256 and TC (top
- left of control panel), then adjust the number of horizontal
- pixels (640 or 320) and the vertical resolution (480 or 240
- pixels) by clicking on the 2 buttons just below the colour
- resolution buttons.
-
- 3. Click on the BUTTON button (right side of control panel).
- Click on the button you want to assign the current set up to,
- a dialogue will appear.
-
- LEGEND
- Here you can enter two lines of text which will appear on the button,
- example DTP and 2 could be used to denote a DTP set up in 2 colours
- (monochrome). Use the mouse, TAB or the arrow keys to move to the
- second line.
-
- AUTO BOOT
- Clicking on this text box will bring up the file selector, you can
- then choose the program you want to run when the Desktop starts up..
-
- OK and CANCEL have their usual meanings.
-
- The same editing keys used for the BOARD dialogue are also used with
- this dialogue.
-
- If you want to set up several buttons, you can repeat the previous
- instructions for each button or you can click on the BUTTON button
- first and then click on the SET UP button which then appears. You then
- set up the files you want by selecting them on the boards and then you
- click on the preset button you want to use, the dialogue for setting
- the title, etc., of the button will then appear. You can repeat this
- as often as you like, but when you finish you can click on SET UP or
- BUTTON to stop.
-
-
- Showing A Button's Configuration
-
- To show which files make up the configuration of a button, click with
- the RIGHT button on the button.
-
- If you want to change the parameters of a button sent to the Launch
- program, click on the button while holding down the Alternate key.
- This will also show the files belonging to that button.
-
-
- Deleting a Button
-
- Click on the DELETE button (lower right of control panel) and then
- click on the button to be deleted.
-
- If you want to make a lot of deletions, click on BUTTON and then on
- DELETE. Every button you click on, from now until you click on BUTTON
- or DELETE again, will be wiped - so BECAREFUL.
-
-
- Merging & Removing Files from Buttons
-
- Files can be added or removed from a button very easily. Click on
- BUTTON, then select either MERGE to add files or REMOVE to delete them
- from the button(s). Any highlighted file on the boards should been
- deselected. Choose the files you want added or removed and then select
- the button(s) that you want changed (this can be done either order or
- even mixed up). Finally, choose the MERGE or REMOVE button (which ever
- you have already selected) and the changes will be made.
-
-
- Copying Buttons
-
- If you want to make a configuration for a button which is very similar
- to another one already set up, you can copy it in two ways. You can
- show the configuration already set up by clicking on it's button with
- the RIGHT mouse button, then you can make the changes to it and assign
- the new configuration to another button.
-
- The other way is to click on BUTTON and then on COPY. Then you should
- click on COPY to deselect it and then make the changes as normal, this
- method also copies everything which makes setting up the same
- configuration for different screen resolutions easier.
-
- If you are going to make several copies, make each copy and then use
- the SET UP button to make the changes to each one, this means that
- BUTTON will not have to be reselected for each button.
-
-
- Swapping Buttons
-
- Buttons can be rearranged so that you can reorder or group together
- similar set ups. Click on BUTTON and then on SWAP. Then simply click
- on the two buttons you want to swap. To stop, click on BUTTON or SWAP.
-
-
- Using a Button
-
- Once a preset button has been set up, a single mouse click is all that
- is needed to use it. When this happens, Stoop displays the
- configuration belonging to the button and then changes the files
- (selected files are made active, un-selected are made inactive), it
- then changes NEWDESK.INF so that the correct screen resolution will be
- used and that the auto boot program (if there is one) is automatically
- run when the Desktop starts up.
-
- The preset configurations can also be activated by using the function
- keys,
- F1..F9 will select one of the top row buttons,
- Control F1..F9 will select a middle row button and
- Alternate F1..F9 will select a bottom row button.
-
- In addition, F10 is aliased with Control F1, hence pressing F10 is the
- same as pressing Control F1, and pressing Control F10 is equivalent to
- pressing Alternate F1. Alternate F10 does not have an alias.
-
-
- Last Configuration
-
- When Stoop starts up, it will attempt to find the previous
- configuration used and indicate the preset button it belongs with a
- red rim around the button. When you press another preset button, the
- red outline will be transferred to it.
-
-
- Passing Parameters to Auto-Booting Programs
-
- Stoop can now pass parameters to auto-booting programs, though this is
- not reliable as it should be because of bugs in TOS 4 or Lattice C
- which do not allow the path for a drive or partition to be set.
- Environment strings can also be set at the same time.
-
- To pass parameters to a program another program is needed, in this
- case Launcher.prg, which is run instead of the required program and
- then calls the program that you want to use. Launcher has to load in
- details, prepared by Stoop, which contain the program's name and the
- other data such as the filename(s) to be passed and the environment
- strings to be set.
-
-
- Setting Up Stoop for Passing Parameters
-
- The parameters are attached to the preset buttons so that when
- you select a preset configuration to be set up the parameters will be
- set up as well.
-
- To set up for passing parameters, set up a button for normal
- operation, see the section 'Button', but after you have given the
- button a name select the LAUNCH button on the dialogue. A new
- dialogue will appear which has two windows, called tail and
- environment.
-
- These windows can be have text entered into them in two ways, you
- can type directly into them or you can use the file selector to
- either insert the text from a file or the full name of the file in the
- window. Whatever you choose, the new text will appear at the cursor
- position.
-
- The tail window should contain the parameters to be passed to
- the program you want to use, this includes filenames or command
- line parameters.
-
- To enter text into either window using the file selector.
-
- First move the cursor to the line where you want the text to
- appear (see below for keyboard commands), then call the file selector
- with the FSEL button, select the file you want and press OK. Another
- dialogue now appears, this gives you three choices; INSERT, PUT NAME
- or ABORT.
-
- INSERT
- Choosing this button will put the text contained in the file into your
- window. (WARNING - only try this with small files of about 10k
- length).
-
- PUT NAME
- This will put the file name, including it's full path, in the window.
-
- ABORT
- Allows you to abort making changes to the text in the window.
-
- Example, if the program for which you are setting the button up is
- Gemview, you can put the names of picture files you want Gemview
- to automatically load and display when you auto-boot it. (Use the
- FSEL button and PUT NAME to enter the picture files, you can only do
- this one at a time.)
-
-
- Text Window Keyboard Commands
-
- The four cursor keys move the cursor as normal (left, right, up or
- down one space).
-
- Holding a SHIFT key down with either of the left and right cursor keys
- to move the cursor to the start or end of the current line
- respectively.
-
- Holding a SHIFT key down with either of the up and down cursor keys
- will page the text up or down respectively.
-
- RETURN will add a new line below the current line the cursor is on.
- If the cursor is in the middle of the line, the text will be split
- between the lines.
-
- DELETE will delete the character the cursor is covering. If the
- cursor is at the end of the line, this line and the one below will be
- joined, (any characters over the maximum character line length will
- be left on the next line).
-
- BACKSPACE will delete the character in front of the cursor. If the
- cursor is at the start of the line, this line and the one above will
- be joined, (any characters over the maximum character line length will
- be left on the line).
-
- TAB will change the window the cursor is in (this may also be done
- with a click of the mouse on the required window).
-
- CTRL - Y (hold the Control key down, press Y key before letting go
- of Control) will delete the current line. (BUG - the first line cannot
- be deleted in this way, to get around this put the cursor on the
- first character and press return to move the line to the next row and
- then delete, or just use the Backspace and Delete keys to remove
- individual characters.)
-
- CTRL - U (hold the Control key down, press U key before letting go
- of Control) will put the last line to be deleted by CTRL - Y at
- the current position of the cursor.
-
- These commands are fairly basic, but they are not intended to be
- used with large amounts of text.
-
- NB. The maximum line length is 125 characters, if this is too small,
- please let me know.
-
-
- Environment Options
-
- Just below the Environment window are two recessed displays clicking
- on the first of these will present options which can increase the
- usefulness of environment strings. These options will appear on a
- pop-up window in the middle of the screen, they are :-
-
- SEND TO PROGRAM ONLY
- This is the default setting, the contents of the environment
- window are sent to the launcher program which then sets them up for
- the program it will launch.
-
- SEND TO FILE ONLY
- The environment window contents are sent to a file, the name of the
- file can be chosen using the file selector by clicking on the second
- recessed display.
-
- This will allow users of MultiTos to edit a MINT or GEM configuration
- file before launching MultiTos. Other programs which have an editable
- configuration file may also benefit from this option.
-
- If this is popular, I will add the ability to edit more than one file.
-
- IGNORE ENVIRONMENT
- The contents of the environment window are not used in any way.
-
-
- Problems With Passing Parameters
-
- For some reason unknown to me, I cannot set the current path on a
- drive. This is a bug in either TOS 4.04 or in Lattice C 5.60. Please
- let me know if this is a known bug - and if a fix is possible.
-
- This only causes problems with a few programs which I believe look
- for their .RSC and .INF files in the current directory for their
- current drive. The only program that I found that does this is
- Papyrus and to get around it put the .RSC and .INF files it looks
- for in the root directory of drive C (or A if you do not have a
- harddrive).
-
- *** WARNING ***
-
- While Stoop does and display files containing odd characters in their
- names, it cannot assign them properly to a button or group. However
- these file names cause BIG problems if you try to hide them from Stoop
- (see section on the file selector later on).
-
-
- Groups
-
- A set of files can be assigned to a Group, this allows you to set up
- groups of common files this makes setting up preset buttons quicker
- but is more useful for when you want start up your Falcon in a one-off
- configuration.
-
- Example, the files UISIII(.PRG) in the AUTO folder could be grouped
- with CALL_UIS(.ACC) and assigned to a group called UIS, when UIS is
- clicked on both of these files will be selected.
- To set up a group :-
-
- 1. Select the files on the boards you want assign to the group, all
- other files must be inactive.
-
- 2. Click on the GROUP button (right side of control panel) and then
- click on the GROUP board, a simple dialogue will appear.
-
- 3. Type in the name to be given to the group. Then exit. The name
- will appear in alphabetical order on the GROUP board.
-
- To de-select all the files assigned to a group, simply click with the
- Right button on the name in the GROUP board.
-
-
- Deleting A Group
-
- Click on the DELETE button, then click on the group name on the GROUP
- board to be deleted.
-
- *** WARNING ***
- While Stoop does and display files containing odd characters in their
- names, it cannot assign them properly to a button or group. However
- these file names cause BIG problems if you try to hide them from Stoop
- (see section on the file selector later on).
-
-
- The File Selector
-
- The file selector is divided into several main parts; the PATH and
- FILE text boxes which can be manually edited, the file & folder
- display area, the drive buttons, the file utility buttons and the OK &
- CANCEL buttons.
-
- The file selector offers some of the extended facilities offered by
- enhanced GEM file selectors, namely it can COPY, DELETE, MOVE and
- RENAME files and folders, it can also create folders. Also, there are
- two Stoop specific functions it can carry out, it can re-order the
- AUTO folder and it can hide files from Stoop so that they cannot be
- displayed on the boards, but the file selector can still show them (so
- that you can un-hide them).
-
- To select a file, just click on it and do this again to de-select it
- or select another file.
-
- To enter a folder, just click on it. To select a folder, hold down the
- SHIFT key on the keyboard as you click on it.
-
- To select multiple files and folders, hold down a SHIFT key as you
- click on each one. There is NO lasso function using the mouse (I will
- put one in soon).
-
- Copying Folders & Files
-
- 1. Choose the files and folders you want to copy.
- 2. Click on the COPY button.
- 3. Select the folder or drive to copy them to.
- 4. Press RETURN or click on OK.
-
- Files cannot be copied on top of themselves, if you try this all copy
- operations are ignored.
-
- Moving Folders & Files
-
- 1. Choose the files and folders you want to move.
- 2. Click on the MOVE button.
- 3. Select the folder or drive to move them to.
- 4. Press RETURN or click on OK.
-
- Files cannot be moved on top of themselves, if you try this all move
- operations are ignored.
-
- Deleting Folders & Files
-
- 1. Choose the files and folders you want to delete.
- 2. Click on the DELETE button.
-
- Renaming Folders & Files
-
- 1. Select the file or folder to be renamed, it's name should appear in
- the FILENAME text box.
- 2. Click on the RENAME button.
- 3. Edit the name in FILENAME to the new name.
- 4. Click on the RENAME button or press RETURN or click on OK.
-
- Creating Folders
-
- 1. Type in the name of the new folder in the FILENAME text box.
- 2. Click on the FOLDER button.
-
- Re-Ordering the AUTO Folder
-
- 1. Click on the REORDER button, the file selector should now display
- the contents of the AUTO folder on the boot drive.
- 2. Click on the file you want to move.
- 3. Click on the position you want it to be moved to.
- 4. Repeat these actions as many times as you require.
- 5. Click on the REORDER button or press RETURN or click on OK, the
- files will then be re-ordered.
-
- Note : folders in the AUTO folder cannot be re-ordered.
-
- Hiding Files from Stoop
-
- 1. Select the file to be hidden from Stoop.
- 2. Click on the HIDE button.
-
- The hidden file will still be visible on the file selector but it's
- name will be in grey rather than black. If the hidden file was visible
- on a board before you hid it, it will disappear from there when you
- exit the file selector.
-
- The details of the hidden files have to be added to Stoop's INF file,
- so remember to SAVE after hiding a file.
-
- *** WARNING ***
- Do not hide files which contain odd characters, while Stoop can
- display the names of such files it has problems with them and CAN
- cause STOOP.CFG to crash Stoop. Try renaming the offending file.
-
-
- Main Controls
-
-
- GO & EXIT Buttons
-
- GO
- This causes the Stoop to change all selected files on the boards to be
- made active and all un-selected files to become inactive, copies
- required files to folders and then changes the NEWDESK.INF file so
- that the Desktop will start up in the selected resolution and boot the
- current AUTO BOOT program.
-
- Stoop the& exits, the AUTO folder programs are run, the accessories
- are loaded and then the Desktop appears.
-
- GO is provided so that you can make and use a start-up configuration
- without having to assign it to a button, or make a small change to an
- existing configuration (e.g. change the number of colours or
- resolution), see the information below.
-
- EXIT
- Clicking on this causes Stoop to exit without making a single change
- to files or NEWDESK.INF.
-
-
- Auto-Booting Programs
-
- Clicking on the AUTO BOOT window (just above the Stoop logo) will
- bring up a dialogue for selecting the program for the Desktop to run
- after the computer has finished booting. This is only useful for
- configurations which you do not want to assign to a preset button.
-
- The dialogue can contain a list of up to sixty program names, these
- names can be easily selected and passed back to the AUTO BOOT window
- by clicking on one and choosing OK. This program will only be passed
- back to Desktop for running if the GO button is used to exit Stoop.
-
- ADD
- This brings up the fileselector and allows you to add another name to
- the program list.
-
- REMOVE
- This will delete the name which has been highlighted.
-
- MERGE
- This will search the preset button configurations and add any new
- program names found to the program list.
-
- FSEL
- This brings up the file selector, the program list dialogue will exit
- if OK on the file selector is used, any file name chosen will be
- passed immediately to the AUTO BOOT window.
-
- NONE
- This exits the dialogue and clears the AUTO BOOT window.
-
- CANCEL
- Exits the dialogue and leaves the AUTO BOOT window unchanged, though
- any changes made to the program list are retained.
-
-
- Option Controls
-
- The six buttons near the bottom of the control panel make Stoop a bit
- easier to use.
-
- FSEL
- Brings up the file selector.
-
- DELETE
- Used to wipe buttons, boards and groups. Simply click on the DELETE
- button and then on the button, board or group to be wiped. Remember to
- SAVE the changes afterwards!
-
- SAVE
- Saves all the data Stoop needs to remember your requirements.
-
- CLEAR
- De-selects all files on all boards.
-
- CONFIG
- This button allows to change the configuration of Stoop and your
- Falcon. When you click on it, a dialogue will appear which is in two
- parts separated by a groove. On the right are four buttons, SYSTEM,
- START UP, COLOURS and QUIT, and on the left is a dialogue. When you
- first click on CONFIG the dialogue will be the 'System Controls'
- dialogue, and the SYSTEM button on the right will be depressed. If you
- click on START UP or COLOURS the dialogue will change.
-
- SYSTEM Dialogue
-
- The first three controls are self-explanatory, you can turn on or
- off the following;
-
- (i) the CPU cache (leave it on, as it accelerates your Falcon,
- especially if the code has been written to take advantage
- of it),
-
- (ii) the system bell, this makes the high pitched ping when you
- an error occurs (such as clicking the mouse on another
- part of the screen when a dialogue is shown), and
-
- (iii) the key clicks, this is the sound made by your Falcon when
- a key is pressed.
-
- The Sound Level slider controls the volume of the sound from your
- internal speaker or from the stereo output at the back of the
- machine. To change it, the slider can be dragged (to the left to
- increase volume) or the mouse can be click on the position you
- want the slider to move to and the buttons on either end can be
- used for fine adjustment.
-
- The Sound Balance is only useful if you have stereo speakers
- attached to your Falcon, it controls the relative volumes of the
- left and right speakers.
-
- Both of these controls make a sound as you use them, this enables
- you to judge what you are setting.
-
- The UNDO button will remove the adjustments you have made, however
- once the dialogue is exited the adjustments are not remembered and
- subsequently cannot be undone by this button.
-
-
- INITIAL Dialogue
-
- This dialogue allows you to choose what resolution settings and
- what Autoboot program to be displayed at start up.
-
- Screen Resolution
-
- You can select which number of colours, width or height of the
- screen. When you click on any of these buttons a popup will appear
- with all of the possible settings, the current setting is
- highlighted. Click on the option you want and the change will be
- made, if you want to exit the popup without making a change you
- can (i) click anywhere on the screen except on the list or (ii)
- you can click on the highlighted item in the list.
-
- The NEWDESK option in the list allows you use the screen
- resolution set up for the Desktop at the previous boot up.
-
- Autoboot
-
- The Autoboot program can be set in three different way, again a
- popup is used to make the choice easier. NONE means that the entry
- in AUTOBOOT at boot up will be empty, NEWDESK means that the
- autoboot program from the last configuration set up will be used
- and DEFAULT will allow you to show the same autoboot program each
- time you use Stoop, this requires the Default to be set.
-
- Clicking on the small window next to Default will bring up the
- Choose Autoboot Program dialogue, from this point you can select a
- program from the list.
-
- START UP Dialogue
-
- This allows you to decide how Stoop does (or does not) start up
- during boot up. It is split into two sections.
-
- A. Bypassing Stoop
-
- In the top section of the dialogue you can decide if
-
- (i) Stoop is bypassed if the specified keys are held down
- (select BYPASS).
-
- (ii) Stoop only runs if the specified keys are held down
- (select CALL).
-
- (iii) Stoop only runs during a cold boot (select COLDBOOT).
-
- The row of buttons below BYPASS, CALL and COLDBOOT specify the
- keys you want to use.
-
- CTRL = Control key, L-SH = Left Shift key, R-SH = Right Shift key,
- ALT = Alternate key and CAPS = Caps Lock.
-
- These keys need to be held down when the Stoop message first
- appears on the screen or immediately after (if your STOOP.CFG is
- large, you will have more time to press the required key or keys).
- Caps Lock is the exception, you will only need to press and
- release this once at any time during the initial boot up stages.
-
- If you specify more than one key, then all of these keys need to
- be pressed together to have any effect.
-
- Please note, the Caps Lock is not turned off by Stoop, so all
- keyboard entries will be in upper case if you use it and do not
- cancel it's action afterwards.
-
- B. Access to Stoop
-
- In the bottom section of the dialogue, you decide if access is
- given by
-
- (i) entering a password to access Stoop,
-
- (ii) having Stoop wait a set period for you to use it and if
- nothing happens it will set up a default configuration and
- exit, or
-
- (iii) neither of these.
-
- Only one of these options is viable at any one time.
-
- To set the password, click on CHANGE PASSWORD, if you already have
- a password set up you will be asked for it before you can replace
- it. The password will be not be displayed but an asterisk will be
- used to show each character as it is entered, it may be edited by
- using Backspace or wiped by using Esc. The new password has to be
- entered twice, press return after each one.
-
- To make Stoop ask for the password when it starts up, click on
- PASSWORD to depress it. You will have to save these changes for
- them to take effect next time you run Stoop.
-
- To make Stoop do a time-out when it starts up, click on TIMEOUT.
- To set the time you want Stoop to wait, edit the Time delay, it
- can have a value ranging from 0 to 999 and the unit of measurement
- can be seconds (s), minutes (m) or hours (h). You do not have to
- leave a space between the number and the unit.
-
- To select the default configuration you can simply press the key
- that you require. Please note that F10 is aliased with Control F1,
- i.e. pressing F10 is the same as pressing Control F1, and Control
- F10 is equivalent to Alternate F1, but Alternate F10 has no alias.
-
- If you choose zero for the time delay value, Stoop will
- automatically set up the default configuration and exit. If you
- want to change the way Stoop starts up at a later date, you will
- have to run Stoop from the Desktop (minimum resolution 640 x 480
- by 16 colours).
-
-
- COLOURS Dialogue
-
- The colours used by Stoop can be changed in this dialogue, this
- has no effect on the colours used by the Desktop. Simply click on
- the colour you wish to change and then adjust the RGB sliders.
-
- The UNDO button offers two levels of undo, if you have made
- changes to the colours, the first click on this button will remove
- the changes. The second click will offer you the choice of
- reverting back to the original Stoop colours, a third click will
- revert back to the colours you have just selected if you make the
- wrong choice at this point.
-
-
- INITIAL
-
- Clicking on this button causes all the files on all the boards to be
- changed to their initial setting (active or inactive) when Stoop was
- first started up.
-
-
- Manual Start Up Configurations
-
- Sometimes you may want to use a particular start up configuration just
- once, and as it does need to be used again assigning it to a preset
- button is a waste of time. This is what to do instead :-
-
- 1. Set up the files on the boards as you want them (I often show the
- contents of a preset (by using the right mouse button), which has
- the nearest configuration to what I require, to give a position to
- start from).
-
- 2. If you want to auto-boot a program, click on the AUTO BOOT text
- box (near the bottom of the control panel), this will bring up the
- file selector. Select the file you want and exit.
-
- 3. Click on GO.
-
- Example.
-
- How to change the resolution of a preset configuration from 16 to 256
- colours.
-
- 1. Show the contents of the preset by clicking the right mouse button
- on the preset button.
-
- 2. Now click on the preset button. (The SHOW button will pop up.)
-
- 3. Make the change by clicking on the 256 button.
-
- At this point you have three options, you can:-
-
- (i) use the BUTTON button to re-assign the new configuration to
- the old preset button,
-
- (ii) use the BUTTON button to assign the new configuration to
- another preset button and
-
- (iii) press GO, which will use the current set-up without saving it
- so that it might be used again.