home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
PC Format 26
/
Disk26.iso
/
KEYB.ZIP
/
PCKEYBRD.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-07-28
|
8KB
|
163 lines
PC KEYBOARD (c)1993
-------------------
by Toby Gordon-Smith
System Requirements
-------------------
PC Keyboard requires a 286 or higher cpu, a Microsoft(R) compatible mouse,
a VGA display and approximately 400k of ram free.
Files Required To Run PC Keyboard
---------------------------------
There are 6 files required to run PC Keyboard :-
EGAVGA.BGI - The graphics driver.
FINGER.SPR - The finger sprite that appears on play-back of a recording.
PCKEYBRD.PAL - This file contains the vga palette information.
PCKEYBRD.EXE - The executable file.
POINTER.SPR - The mouse pointer sprite.
TRIP.CHR - The font file.
There are 2 other files that should accompany PC Keyboard :-
PCKEYBRD.DOC - The file your reading now.
DEMO.REC - This is a demo file of tunes to be loaded in to PC Keyboard.
About PC Keyboard
-----------------
PC Keyboard is a keyboard drawn on the screen in Hi-res vga, and is
played by clicking with the mouse on the key the mouse pointer is currently
over. The keyboard is three octaves, octaves 3-5, sound is played through
the PC internal speaker. PC Keyboard is all mouse driven and uses 3D buttons.
PC Keyboard features record, continue record, play-back, continue play-back,
the speed and direction of play-back can be altered, recordings can be saved
and loaded, Function keys as well as the mouse can be used to activate these
features. There is also online help available by clicking on the help button,
or pressing F2. Suggestions on how to improve PC Keyboard would be gratefully
received. I am interested in adding soundblaster/adlib support, so if anyone
has any information on programming for these cards I would be delighted to
hear from them.
Answering Questions In PC Keyboard
---------------------------------
If you are asked a yes/no question you can either answer by clicking on
"YES" or "NO", or by pressing "y", or "n".
Program features in detail
--------------------------
Quitting
-------
To quit click on the 'QUIT' button, and you will be asked if you want to
quit. If you answered yes and have not saved your last recording you will be
asked if you want to save it before Quitting, if you answer "yes" you will
be able to save your recording and the program will end. If you answer "no"
the program will end immediately. If you wish to exit immediately without
going through all the questions you can exit by pressing the key F1, but if
your recording is not saved it will be lost as the program stops instantly.
HELP
----
Online help is available by clicking on HELP or by pressing F2. The help
screen gives a very brief description of how to use all the features with
both mouse and keys.
SAVING
------
Select the saving menu by clicking on SAVE or pressing F4. You will be
prompted for a filename, no longer than 8 characters, a ".", and 3
characters. Files can only be saved in the same directory as PC Keyboard
if they are the maximum length as defined as above, to be saved in another
directory the full path and filename must be less than 12 characters. If you
enter a filename, and press return and the file already exists then you are
asked if you wish to overwrite the file. If you enter a filename that
contains more than 8 characters before the "." then the file is saved under
the first 8 characters without a 3 character extension. You can not save a
file with a space in the filename, as dos does not allow filenames to
contain spaces.
LOADING
-------
Select the loading menu by clicking on LOAD or pressing F3. If you have
not saved your last recording you will be asked if you wish to do so. After
that you will be prompted for a file name, no longer than 8 characters, a
".", and 3 characters. Files can only be loaded from the same directory as
PC Keyboard if they are the maximum length as defined as above, to be loaded
from another directory the full path and filename must be less than 12
characters. If you enter a filename, press enter, and the filename
disappears and you are still prompted for a filename, the name or path you
gave does not exist.
Recording Tunes
---------------
PC Keyboard can record upto approximately 12 minutes of what is played on
the on the 3 octave Keyboard from the start of recording. To start recording
from the beginning of the recording memory, deleting the last recording, by
clicking on RECORD with the left mouse button, or pressing F8. To continue
recording from the end of the last recording, of the place last marked to
continue recording from (see "Playing back recordings") click on RECORD with
the right mouse button, or press F9, this will delete any recording past that
place. To stop recording click on STOP with either mouse button, or press F10.
Playing Back Recordings
-----------------------
The recording currently in memory can be played back from the beginning by
clicking on PLAY with the left mouse button, or pressing F5. To continue
play-back from the last place play-back was stopped click on PLAY with the
right mouse button, there is no keyboard equivalent of this. To stop
play-back and set the end of the recording a the place to continue recording
from, click on STOP with the left mouse button, or press F6. To stop
play-back and set that place in the recording to continue recording from,
click on STOP with the right mouse button or press F7.
Altering The Speed Of Play-back
------------------------------
The speed of play-back can be altered before the recording is played back
or while it is playing back. The play-back speed can be set to 11 speeds
between 0.5 (╜ the speed of the recording) and 2 (twice the speed of the
recording), by clicking on a point along the bar under "speed of play-back"
, or by using ",", and "." to decrease and increase the speed respectively.
Direction Of Play-back
---------------------
The direction of play-back can only be changed while a recording is not
playing back. When you start PC Keyboard the direction is set to forwards.
The direction can be changed by clicking on the two buttons with double
arrows, or by pressing "d" which toggles between forwards and backwards.
If the button with "<<" on is depressed recordings will be played backwards.
If the button with ">>" on is depressed recordings will be played forwards.
How To Register PC Keyboard
---------------------------
PC Keyboard is shareware so if you like this program please register. The
registration fee is a minimum of £5, please send more if you think the
program is worth it. For this you will receive a registered version of the
latest version of PC Keyboard, and a copy of anything I am currently working
on if it is in a complete enough state.
Please sent payment in cash or cheque.
Make cheques payable to T.J. Gordon-Smith.
Please sent your registration fee to:-
c\o K.M. SMITH
2 Saffron close
Littleport
Nr Ely
Cambs
Please give a copy of this program to anyone you think would be interested
in it.
Disclaimer
---------
The author assumes no responsibility for any damage or loss caused by the
use of this program. The user of this program does so at their own risk.
All the registered trademarks used herein are registered to
whoever it is that owns them. This notification is given in lieu
of any specific list of trademarks and their owners, which would
not be as inclusive.