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The Guru 2.0 User Manual
Aug 19, 1991
Preface
=======
The programs and files in this distribution are freely distributable, but
are also copyright (c) Nico François. They may be freely distributed as long
as no more than a nominal fee is charged to cover time and copying costs.
No commercial usage is permitted without written permission from the
author. Everything in this distribution must be kept together, in original
unmodified form.
The above is generally known as freeware.
The Guru is distributed with a PRELIMINARY version of reqtools.library.
If it is installed in Libs: it uses this library for its requesters.
ReqTools is Copyright © 1991 Nico François. The included version may
only be distributed as part of the The Guru package.
The complete and final version of the ReqTools package (including
autodocs and includes) will be released at a later date.
If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you find
any bugs, please let me know.
Write to the following address:
Nico François
Corbielaan 13
B-3060 Bertem
BELGIUM
The Guru 2.0 requires AmigaOS Release 2 (Kickstart/Workbench 2.0) to run.
Contents
========
1. Introduction
2. The Guru
3. GuruSettings
4. GuruEd
1. Introduction
===============
Aha, another useful utility by Nico I hear you cry. Naaaaah ! I really
felt like programming something completely and utterly useless :^) So I
present : The Guru. A program to bring the Guru back into Kickstart 2.0, for
those who will miss it :-)
To see what the program does you should stop reading now (well not this
very instant :^) and run the 'TheGuru' program (just double-click its icon).
Nothing will happen. Don't worry, this is normal, stop reading now and resume
when you know what the program does.
...
The package consists of three different programs, the guru itself, a
settings program and a phrase editor. 'TheGuru' is the main program and the
two other programs require it to be running to function properly. Once it is
started The Guru will wait for a set period of time before appearing and
speaking a humorous (?) phrase. If you're into jokes so corny they become
funny you'll love this program, if not you'll have to find some other way to
have a good laugh with your Amiga (maybe by running A-Max :-). The settings
program can then be run to e.g. change all the different speech settings and
the time delay. Finally, the GuruEd program is used to add/remove phrases
from The Guru's phrase lists, so if you don't like what The Guru has to say
you have the possibility to add your own drivel.
2. The Guru
===========
This is the main program, double-click its icon to start it, or enter
'TheGuru' in the Shell. If you really like this program you can even put
this command in your startup-sequence (before the EndCLI of course). The
program can also be dragged into the WbStartup drawer.
To quit The Guru run the program again. You can also quit it using the
GuruSettings program (using the 'Remove Guru...' button).
When the program is started it will try to read two files:
'TheGuru.settings' and 'TheGuru2.phrases'. It will first try to read these
in the current directory. If it can't find them the S: directory will be
searched. The 'TheGuru2.phrases' file is a must, when 'TheGuru.settings'
isn't found the default settings are used (normal speech settings and
a 120 seconds delay).
NOTE: - The Guru requires the translator.library and the narrator.device. It
works fine if you boot from a standard WorkBench 1.2 (or higher) disk.
3. GuruSettings
===============
The GuruSettings program is mainly used to change to speech settings of
The Guru. You can change the volume (0 - 64), the rate (40 - 400 words/min.),
the pitch (65 - 320), the sex (male or female) and the mode (human speech or
robotic speech). You can also change the time delay between two apparitions
of The Guru (1 - 799 sec.) and you can quit The Guru.
I suppose most gadgets explain themselves. Use the 'Restore' button to
load the settings from disk and the 'Save...' button to save them to disk so
The Guru will use them the next time you run it. The 'Guru Paused' checkbox
is used to switch The Guru temporarily off and to turn him back on. You will
get to hear what The Guru thinks about this :^D
4. GuruEd
=========
This is the phrase editor. With this program you can display all phrases
in the three available lists, speak them, change them, delete them and add new
ones.
The three possible lists are : 'Timer' the phrases The Guru uses when he
appears, 'Turn On' the praise you get to hear when you turn The Guru back on
and 'Turn Off' the abuse you get to swallow when you turn him off.
Again, most gadgets explain themselves. The 'Clear' button clears the
string gadgets and moves you to the end of the list, the 'Change...' button
makes the changes you made in the string gadget permanent (if you don't use
this the changes will be lost when you move to another phrase). The 'Speak'
button will only work when The Guru is not already busy speaking.
The 'Add' button will probably not be used very often, because there is a
very quick and easy way to enter new phrases without using the mouse. First
use the 'Clear' button to clear the string gadget and to move to the end of
the list. The string gadget will be automatically activated, so enter your
phrase. When you then press Enter The Guru will speak the phrase and a
requester will appear asking you if you want to add this phrase, you can
answer this requester by using Left Amiga V (yes) or Left Amiga B (no), or
if you have reqtools.library installed by simply typing a Y or a N. So if
you are not pleased with the phrase yet and you want to edit it some more
press Left Amiga B (or N). If you want to add it to the current list press
Left Amiga V (or Y), the phrase will be added and you will get an empty string
gadget to enter another phrase.
The Guru will always speak the phrase when you press Enter in the string
gadget (if it is not busy speaking). This is very useful when you are editing
phrases, once you are pleased with it you can use the 'Change...' button to
make the changes permanent.
NOTE: - Watch out with the 'Add' button so you don't add a phrase in the list
when it is already there, you must use the 'Change...' button after
editing a phrase.
- Don't think too quickly I can't write English when you read the
phrases in the supplied lists :^) It is sometimes necessary to play
around with the spelling of a word because the 'trenslaiter' is not
perfect.
- Version 2.0 of The Guru now even allows you to edit the phonemes, but
be careful. Pressing enter when you are editing the normal english
phrase will change the phonemes phrase without warning, even if you
have made changes to it before!
Use the 'Display' cycle gadget to switch between English/Phonemes.
I hope you enjoy this program !
PROGRAM HISTORY:
*****************************************************************************
VERSION 1.0
First release.
*****************************************************************************
VERSION 1.1
Optimized release! All three programs rewritten in C (version 1.0
programs were written in Modula-2). As a result the programs are
smaller than half their previous size! Need I say that I will never
program in Modula-2 again :^D Nothing beats C :-)
Programs detach from the CLI. No need to 'Run' them anymore.
*****************************************************************************
VERSION 2.0
Rewritten for Kickstart 2.0. Much nicer 3D-look interface.
The file holding the phrases is now an ASCII file, so it can be
edited with any editor. This is very useful if you want to
merge phrase lists together. There is only on big thing you musn't
forget: you have to change the number of phrases in the file by hand.
It is now possible to edit the phonemes of a translated phrase.
The Guru uses reqtools.library (if it is available) for its requesters.
Fixed small bug, version 1.1 didn't speak from both left and right
speakers. Fixed, speech comes from both speakers just as it should.
All three programs now contain embedded version strings for use with
Workbench 2.0 'Version' command.
Windows will always open in visible portion of the screen.
The Guru 2.0 will follow you everywhere :^) Its tiny window will open
on the frontmost public screen instead of always on the Workbench.
*****************************************************************************
The Guru 2.0 written by Nico François (Yes, Nico is my first name :-),
thanks to 'Talking Moose' on the Mac for the inspiration,
Martin Brown for his collection of phrases,
extra special thanks to Peter Verhoye for drawing the guru.
(c) 1991 Nico François
//
Thanks to \X/ Amiga for being the best computer ever !