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1996-05-26
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I N T E R A C T I V E
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Copyright (c) 1994 Mike Laszko
COLOR COMMANDER INTERACTIVE SHAREWARE SOFTWARE LICENSE
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This version of Color Commander Interactive is NOT public domain
or free software, but is being distributed as "SHAREWARE" for
EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY. Your use of this software indicates
your agreement to the terms and conditions of this License.
USAGE RESTRICTIONS
──────────────────
The author and Data Management Systems grants a limited license to
individuals to use this shareware software for a 30-day evaluation
period on a private, non-commercial basis, for the express purpose
of determining whether Color Commander Interactive is suitable for
their needs. At the end of this 30-day evaluation period, the
individual must register the program or discontinue use.
You may freely distribute the ShareWare version of Color Commander
Interactive and are encouraged to do so provided it is in its
original, unmodified form.
This software and documentation is protected under the United States
Copyright Laws and International Treaty Provisions. Your support of
Shareware is appreciated.
LIABILITY WAIVER
────────────────
COLOR COMMANDER INTERACTIVE IS LICENSED "AS-IS." THE AUTHOR OR HIS
AGENTS MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT
TO THIS PROGRAM, ITS QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR
FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR
HIS AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS FOR LOST PROFITS OR ANY DAMAGE,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL
OR OTHER DAMAGE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION
OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR
EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO CASE SHALL THE AUTHOR OR HIS
AGENTS' LIABILITY EXCEED THE LICENSE FEES PAID FOR THE RIGHT TO USE
THE LICENSED SOFTWARE.
-1-
Color Commander Interactive is a DOS "TEXT" mode VGA/SVGA utility.
It is not intended for use under windows or any other graphical
user interface (GUI). It was written and tested on an SVGA system.
Use of Color Commander Interactive on a MONOCHROME, EGA or other
NON VGA/SVGA compatible system is not supported.
What is Color Commander Interactive?
Color Commander Interactive is a terminate and stay resident (TSR)
TEXT mode (non-graphics) utility that will enable you to change
any or all of the 16 DOS colors to any one of 262,144 colors from
within your favorite program. Color Commander Interactive accesses
the VGA DAC registers directly, bypassing normal color selecting
conventions.
Color Commander Interactive will allow you to edit existing palettes
or create new ones. You can save the new palettes to disk as a .PAL
file which can be loaded into Color Commander Interactive later on,
or as a .COM file (REGISTERED version only) which when called will
set the VGA palette directly, without having to run Color Commander
Interactive first. The .COM file can be called from the DOS prompt
or from a batch file.
Choosing softer, less glaring colors for your VGA palette will
reduce eye strain and create a more aesthetically pleasing
computing environment.
Color Commander Interactive should never permanently change or
damage your VGA hardware. It simply temporarily reprograms the
color registers in your VGA card. When your system is rebooted
DOS sets the color registers in your VGA adapter to the DOS default
colors.
Text mode color under DOS:
Under DOS each of the 16 colors that are available to your programs
are assigned a number of 0-15. Color 0 is black, color 1 is blue,
color 15 is white etc. When a program is running under DOS and it
wants to display a color, say blue for example, it selects color 1.
If you change blue to orange using Color Commander Interactive and
then run your program again, when it selects blue this time, it will
display orange instead. Your program never knows it is not displaying
blue because you have changed blue to orange at the hardware level.
Every instance of blue now becomes orange.
-2-
A graphics program like MS Windows will reset the VGA palette when
it is run. If a custom palette is active at this time it will be
reset. When the graphics program exits to DOS it sets the palette to
the DOS default colors. Some text mode (non-graphics) programs also
reset the VGA palette. These programs will also reset your custom
palette and set DOS default colors when they exit. When you run any
of these types of programs you can re-establish your custom palette
(If you have saved it as a COM file) by typing its name at the DOS
command line or by creating a batch file, or start up Color Commander
Interactive and load the palette using the F4 function key.
Most text mode programs do not reset the color palette when they
run so your custom palette will not be zapped. For example the
Norton Commander is a well behaved program that does not reset
the palette on entry or exit. A custom palette should work just
fine for this program.
COLOR COMMANDER INTERACTIVE:
───────────────────────────
To run Color Commander Interactive, type:
CCI <enter>
Color Commander Interactive will load into memory and you will
see the following text:
Color Commander Interactive loaded. Press Alt-LeftShift-Z to activate.
Pressing the Alternate, LeftShift and Z key at the same time will
bring up the Color Commander Interactive pop-up window and a
blinking pointer. You can move the pointer around the screen
using the cursor keys. If the pointer gets too close to the pop-up
window the pop-up will move to the other side of the screen. Pressing
the escape key when the pop-up is active will quit Color Commander
Interactive until you call it again with the Alt-LeftShift-Z key
combination.
To remove Color Commander Interactive from memory press ALT-U.
You will hear a <ping-pong> tone to indicate that Color
Commander was removed successfully. A low tone instead means
Color Commander Interactive could not safely be removed from
memory. This usually means that you have loaded other TSR's
after Color Commander Interactive. The other TSR's will have
to be removed first.
Always load and unload Color Commander Interactive from the DOS
command line. Do NOT load or unload it from within a DOS shell or
while escaped to DOS from within another program.
-3-
The Pointer :
─────────────
Color Commander Interactive reads the foreground or background
color attribute of the character that the pointer points at.
Pressing the TAB key toggles between foreground and background
color. When the word 'foreground' is displayed in the pop-up the
foreground color will be changed when you press any of the RGB keys.
When the word 'background' is displayed in the pop-up the background
color will be changed when you press any of the RGB keys.
RGB Keys:
────────
These are the keys you use to change the RED/GREEN/BLUE component
of the color at the pointer.
'Q','W','E' - Increase RED/GREEN/BLUE color component.
'A','S','D' - Decrease RED/GREEN/BLUE color component.
Pressing the <ESC> key while in a window will abort the function
and return you to the pop-up. Pressing the <ESC> key while in the
pop-up will return you to your program. If in doubt hit <ESC>.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
DEFINITIONS
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
PALETTE : The 16 colors that DOS and your programs use.
DEFAULT PALETTE : The DOS default colors that are active when your
computer first boots up. Color Commander Interactive
knows what the default DOS colors are so you can
reset the palette to default at any time.
ACTIVE PALETTE : The palette that is displayed at the top part of
the screen while in Color Commander Interactive.
CURRENT PALETTE : The palette that was active when Color Commander
Interactive was run. The current palette is saved
internally by Color Commander Interactive at start
up.
CUSTOM PALETTE : A palette that you create using Color Commander
Interactive.
LOAD : When you load a palette using <F4> it becomes the
ACTIVE palette. You can return to the CURRENT
palette by pressing the <F6> function key or the
DEFAULT palette by pressing <F7>.
SAVE : When you save a palette using <F2>,<F3> the active
palette is saved.
-4-
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KEY FUNCTIONS
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
<F1> Help - display summary of commands. Press any key
to return to Color Commander Interactive.
<F2> Save palette to disk as path\filename.pal. Can
be loaded from disk later and becomes the ACTIVE
palette. Press <ESC> or <RETURN> to cancel.
<F3> Save palette to disk as path\filename.com.
Cannot be loaded into Color Commander Interactive,
but can be executed from the DOS command line.
Use this feature to save custom palettes that can
be called from batch files. Press <ESC> or <RETURN>
to cancel.
For example if you create a custom palette for use
with the Norton Commander called NCPAL.COM and a DOS
default palette called DEFAULT.COM., the batch file
might look like this:
@ECHO OFF rem Don't echo
NCPAL rem Set the custom palette colors
NC rem Call the norton commander
DEFAULT rem reset colors to DOS defaults
<F4> Load a palette from disk. (.PAL). Press <ESC> or
<RETURN> to cancel.
<F5> Reset the color at the pointer to the CURRENT
palette color.
<F6> Reset all palette colors (0-15) to the CURRENT
palette colors. The CURRENT palette becomes the
ACTIVE palette.
<F7> Reset all palette colors (0-15) to the DOS DEFAULT
colors. The DEFAULT palette becomes the ACTIVE
palette.
<F8> Convert the ACTIVE palette to shades of gray.
ALT<U> Unload Color Commander Interactive from memory.
-5-
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
SPECIAL KEYS
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
LEFT-ARROW - Move cursor left.
RIGHT-ARROW - Move cursor right.
UP-ARROW - Move cursor up.
DN-ARROW - Move cursor down.
TAB - Toggle between foreground and background color.
ESC - Exit a window or exit Color Commander
Interactive.
PLUS(+) - Intensity, increases all 3 color values.
MINUS(-) - Intensity, Decreases all 3 color values.
Q - Increase RED color value.
A - Decrease RED color value.
W - Increase GREEN color value.
S - Decrease GREEN color value.
E - Increase BLUE color value.
D - Decrease BLUE color value.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KEY LAYOUT - RGB Keys:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Increase RED───┐ ┌───Increase GREEN
│ │ ┌──Increase BLUE
Toggle foreground/background──TAB Q W E
A S D
Decrease RED───┘ │ └──Decrease BLUE
└───Decrease GREEN
-6-
Using Color Commander Interactive:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Load Color Commander Interactive from the DOS command line, then
run the program you wish to make a custom palette for. While in
your program press Alt-LeftShift-Z and the pop-up window will
appear. Move the pointer around the screen until it points at the
color (foreground or background) you wish to change. Use the RGB
keys to change the color. You can reset a color you have changed
by pointing to it and pressing the F5 function key. Or reset
all colors you have changed by pressing the F6 function key.
You may want to start with a gray palette and add just a few
colors at a time. Pressing function key F8 converts the active
palette to shades of gray with intensity values equal to that
of the color palette. Pressing F6 reverts back to the previously
active color palette.
To save a custom palette to disk press F2 and type in the
palette file name to save. The palette will be saved to disk in
the current directory as filename.pal. Pressing F3 (REGISTERED
users only) will save the palette as filename.com.
To load a palette file from disk press F4. You must be in
the directory that contains the palette files or you will get an
error message 'Unable to open filename.pal'.
NORTON UTILITIES:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The Norton Utilities turn off the blink bit and use foreground
colors for background colors. The Color Commander Interactive
pointer will not blink in this program. The window border
characters get a little scrambled also. I have tested many TSR's
with The Norton Utilities and they all have scrambled window borders.
Reason unknown? However, Color Commander Interactive works just
fine inside of The Norton Utilities and you can create a custom
palette for this program if you wish to.
UTILITIES AND PALETTE FILES:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
I have included several PAL and COM files to give you a better idea
of what you can do with Color Commander Interactive. DEFAULT.COM is
the DOS standard (default) color palette. These are the colors that
DOS sets when your system boots up.
Also included is a small utility called SHOPAL.EXE. It will show you
the colors of the active palette from the DOS command line.
-7-
NOTE:
────
When creating a custom palette for a program it may be best to start
out with a gray palette (F8 - Convert2Gray). Add one or two colors
at a time. Too much color is confusing. You will be surprised at how
good many programs look with a lot of grays and just a few colors.
REGISTERED VERSION:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The registered version of Color Commander Interactive allows you to
save palette files as .COM executables. also included are two
utilities that allow you to save and restore the current palette
from the DOS command line or a batch file. Plus.... many custom
palette files.
OTHER PROGRAMS:
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Color Commander (CCMDR.ZIP) - A non TSR version of Color Commander
interactive. Resident palettes, pick-lists, pop-up windows, ASCII
chart, color chart and more!
CCMDR-I.ZIP contains COLOR COMMANDER and COLOR COMMANDER INTERACTIVE.
You can now register both programs for $25.00. See file REG.TXT for
details.
Author: Mike Laszko
Modem : 1-619-728-7307
Fax : 1-619-728-0264
Mail : Data Management Systems
P.O. Box 2828
Fallbrook, Ca. 92088-2828
The current version of Color Commander and Color Commander
Interactive are available for download from:
THE FILE BANK BBS
1-619-728-7307
1200-115,200 baud
USR 28.8 HST DS v.34
Note from the author:
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. I can be reached
on the File Bank BBS. Thank you for trying Color Commander
Interactive.
-8-