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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Using PRISM as a Pop-Up 3. Automatic Color Progression Through the Spectrum 4. Increasing and Decreasing Different Color Components 5. Other On-Screen Features 6. Non-Resident Features 7. Color Codes 8. Pre-setting Colors in Batch Files 9. Saving Memory When PRISM is Memory Resident 10. Quick-Start (Installing PRISM) 11. Removing PRISM from Memory 12. Screen Blanking Programs (Screen-Savers) 13. System Requirements 14. Trademark Acknowledgements Copyright August, 1990 by Aspire Software Red Oak, Texas All Rights Reserved 1. INTRODUCTION PRISM is a text mode VGA color control program. (Most non-game programs operate in text mode.) It is designed to add color to your 'black and white' applications and variety to your 'color' programs. Applications operating in 'black and white' use two to four 'colors' whose palette consists of white, gray, dark gray and black. Though this is very functional, it is not appealing. 'Color' applications are much more pleasing to use, and usually utilize from two to six colors. But there are severe limitations even in applications offering different color options and color combinations. Generally, only 16 colors with 64 possible color combinations are available in text mode. This is because only 16 colors can be displayed simultaneously. Of those, only eight colors can appear as background colors. And while 64 combinations may seem like a lot, only a handful are pleasing to the eye. Actually, 16 colors on any one screen is more than can be used effectively. The real limitation is that, even if colors CAN be selected in an application, they normally can only be selected from the 'standard' palette, consisting of the 16 'standard' colors. However, your VGA monitor and adapter are capable of displaying many, many more colors. In fact, using PRISM, you can change any on-screen color to any one of 262,000 other colors! If you have a VGA monitor and adapter, PRISM WILL GIVE YOU ACCESS TO 262,000 COLOR OPTIONS. And colors selected with PRISM are effective not only while PRISM is operating, but continue in effect in any text mode application you can run! Even if your application sets the video mode to black and white, PRISM will give you the color options you want! Now all your text-mode color AND black-and-white applications can be set on fire with bright fluorescent colors, or toned-down with tone-on-tone pastels! 2. USING PRISM AS A POP-UP Because so many colors are available, and because text mode operations allow the display of only 16 colors at once, only the color options in effect can be displayed. So YOU are responsible for displaying the colors! But it is easy, because with PRISM you can display and change colors on-the-fly, WHILE YOU ARE RUNNING YOUR APPLICATIONS. Changing colors on-the-fly is one of PRISM's fortes. In fact, there is no guessing about how colors will appear in your applications or how they will blend together, because YOUR APPLICATION is used to display PRISM's color options! This is done by 'popping-up' PRISM's Color Window on top of your programs. How does PRISM pop-up over your programs? PRISM is a 'memory resident' program (TSR - Terminate, Stay Resident). It is 'loaded' before your other applications are run. This way, it is available to change colors ANYTIME you want. To load PRISM as memory resident, type 'PRISM /R' at the DOS prompt of the drive/directory where the program files reside. (See Quick Start towards the end of the manual for more help.) At anytime after PRISM is loaded, press <Alt +> (hold the 'Alt' key down and press the gray '+' key) to pop-up PRISM over your other applications or the DOS prompt screen. A window will appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Inside the win- dow, PRISM will display all colors appearing on the current screen. This can vary from one to 16 colors. Now it gets interesting. Use the arrow keys to select a color 'swatch'. Then press <F7> to toggle to 'CHANGE this color'. Now the arrow keys have different functions. Up and down arrows cause the color swatch to lighten or darken (and all like colors appearing on the screen). Left and right arrow keys cause the color swatch to proceed through the color spectrum. Held down long enough, either the left or right key will carry you through the entire spectrum again and again. (PRISM distinguishes between left and right by traveling through the spectrum in opposite directions.) Should your selected color swatch be white, black or a gray, the left and right keys will have little or no effect. So in these cases, let's add some color first. If the color is white, press the down arrow to reduce its intensity to a dark gray or black. Then, in any case, press and hold down the letter 'B'. Voila! 'B' is for blue!. Now try the left and right arrow keys! If you have not done so yet, you may want to 'install' PRISM using the Quick Start section of this manual. Afterwards you may want to use 'SAMPLE.EXE' to make a screen 'backdrop' for experi- menting with PRISM. Sample is a short program included on your PRISM disk or diskette. Calling Sample will paint a number of different 'standard' colors on the screen which you can modify using PRISM as a pop-up. Just type SAMPLE at the drive/directory where 'SAMPLE.EXE' resides, then press <Enter>. If PRISM is not yet loaded as memory resident, load it now. Press <Alt +> to pop it up. Then have at it! 3. AUTOMATIC COLOR PROGRESSION THROUGH THE SPECTRUM If you want, PRISM will automatically move the selected color swatch through the spectrum by pressing <F8>. To speed up the progression, press <F10>. Use <F9> to slow it down. To stop the progression, press <F8> again. Here is another feature. Select a color (or create one using 'R' (red), 'G' (green), or 'B' (blue). Then press <F8> to start the automatic color progression. Use <F10> to speed it up so that the color is changing rapidly. (This will dramatize the fea- ture.) NOW, use the up and down arrow keys. The color swatch's intensity will increase and decrease as its color is changing. 4. INCREASING AND DECREASING DIFFERENT COLOR COMPONENTS (Increasing and decreasing Red, Green and Blue color values) You now know how to move around very quickly in PRISM. When you reach (or pass) a color you want, press <F8> to stop the progres- sion. Then, fine tune your choice with the arrow keys and the letters 'R, G & B'. These increase the Red, Green and Blue color values. To decrease any one of these values, simply hold down <Alt> and press 'R, G or B'. 5. OTHER ON-SCREEN FEATURES Other on-screen features are fairly self-explanatory. Below is a key code covering several of the above features and several others, too: * <Enter> - SAVE color changes made and exit from PRISM. * <Esc> - Exit from PRISM WITHOUT retaining any color changes made. ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ │ │ │ │ │ F1 │ Help │ F6 │ Set the color │ │ │ │ swatch to brown │──────│ │──────│ │ │ │ │ Toggle between 'SELECT │ F2 │ Move the Color │ F7 │ color swatch and 'CHANGE │ │ Window │ │ selected color' │──────│ │──────│ │ │ Set colors to the │ │ Toggle on/off automatic │ F3 │ standard colors │ F8 │ progression through the │ │ │ │ color spectrum │──────│ │──────│ │ │ Set colors to those │ │ Slow-down auto- │ F4 │ in effect when PRISM │ F9 │ progression through │ │ was popped-up │ │ the color spectrum │──────│ │──────│ │ │ Set the color swatch │ │ Speed-up auto- │ F5 │ to gray │ F10 │ progression │ │ │ │ └──────┘ └──────┘ For quick on-screen help, press <F1> when PRISM is popped-up. 6. NON-RESIDENT FEATURES As you find pleasing color combinations, write down the eight digit codes appearing in PRISM's Color Window. (Don't bother with those that are followed by an 'S'. These are 'standard' colors that don't need to be remembered.) These color codes may be used in batch files to set colors automatically. Besides operating as a 'pop-up' (memory resident), PRISM can be given command codes to set pre-determined colors, and to reset the colors (and color mapping) to the 'standard' colors. For cursory guidance on PRISM command codes, type 'PRISM' at the drive/directory prompt where the PRISM.EXE file is located. Af- ter offering to print the Mini-Manual and the PRISM Registration Form, the various command code options will be displayed. The non-resident features are each exercised using command line codes with the call to PRISM such as: C:\>prism scm (then press <Enter>) Whether PRISM is currently memory resident or not, the non- resident features work the same. 7. COLOR CODES When operating PRISM in its popped-up mode, an eight-digit number code appears towards the bottom of the Color Window. This code has a specific meaning. The eight numbers should be viewed as four pairs of two numbers each. Each pair of numbers can range from 0 to 63, representing: Pair One: The color register number. Pair Two: The Red color value. Pair Three: The Green color value. Pair Four: The Blue color value. An 'S' may follow the code. When it does, this signifies that, for the displayed color register, the red, green and blue color values are 'standard'. For that particular color register, the value is the same as when you first turned-on your computer. Color codes can help you understand PRISM's progression through the color spectrum and other aspects about color control. But the best use of color codes is in pre-setting colors using batch files. Here are some interesting colors and color combinations: Group 1 Group 2 -------------------- --------------------- Salmon 634343 Sand Dollar 434540 Dusky Blue 153037 Sooty Green 002324 Sooty Black 001522 Yellow Ivory 636251 Dark Salmon 513131 Dark Teal 114540 Burnt Orange 552723 Group 3 Group 4 -------------------- --------------------- Dark Burgundy 240401 Forest Green 012111 Tan Salmon 634134 Tan 594632 Orange-Red 621821 Dark Green 153400 Reddish-Brown 351717 Clean Green 073409 Dusty Aqua 043635 Warm Ivory 464638 8. PRE-SETTING COLORS IN BATCH FILES To prepare for using batch files, and to give you an appreciation of the non-resident use of PRISM, type the following at the drive/directory where PRISM resides: (This example assumes PRISM resides on Drive C, Directory 'PRISM'.) C:\PRISM>prism 00635012 (then press <Enter>) Now let's try: C:\PRISM>prism 07636363 00006300 (then press <Enter>) Ready to reset the colors?: C:\PRISM>prism /sc (then press <Enter>) By using these commands in '.BAT' (batch) files, you can pre-set the colors before starting your applications and reset them to the 'standard' colors when done. Batch files are ASCII-based files whose file names end in the extension '.BAT'. The file name, exclusive of the extension, can be typed at the drive/directory where the file resides, with the result that the commands included IN the file will be performed. For instance, using edlin, or any text file editor, you can create a file named 'TRYIT.BAT' that contains these lines: echo off C:\PRISM\prism sc C:\PRISM\prism 07316356 00003428 dir pause C:\PRISM\prism sc Assuming this file is in the root directory of Drive C, you can 'run' it by typing: C:\tryit (then press <Enter>) The screen colors will first be reset to 'standard', then changed to a tone-on-tone sea-green, then the DOS command, 'dir' will display a directory. The pause command will temporarily stop the batch file commands from proceeding. Press a key to continue and the last command, 'prism /sc' will reset the colors to 'standard'. If you had used an application call to one of your applications (such as 'q' for Quattro Pro) and removed 'dir' and 'pause', rather than a directory listing, Quattro Pro would have operated with its light gray and black colors changed to two shades of sea green. To use batch files properly, first use PRISM as a pop-up. Ex- periment with colors until you find a combination of colors you really like. (This takes a little developed skill in some cases.) Then, with PRISM in the 'SELECT Color Swatch' mode, move the swatch frame from color to color. Write down the code for each swatch whose code is not followed by an 'S'. ('S' codes represent 'standard' colors which don't need to be set.) Finally, create a batch file similar to the above example, but insert YOUR color codes. (Though a call with two to four color codes are most common, PRISM can handle 13 series of such codes. 13 is a DOS command-line limitation.) Then remove 'dir' and 'pause' and insert the application call for your program. 9. SAVING MEMORY WHEN PRISM IS MEMORY RESIDENT PRISM uses approximately 90K of your random access memory when running in its normal Resident mode (the /R command code). This can be reduced to 6K by running it using the Resident Swapping mode (the /RS command code). In the swapping mode, all PRISM features are fully functional, but pop-up time increases slightly. Also, the swapping mode will require about 200K of disk space in the drive/directory where the PRISM.EXE file resides. 10. QUICK-START (Installing PRISM) PRISM does not use an installation program. Though its functions cover quite a bit of territory, the program files are not very large. In fact, you only need the 'PRISM.EXE' file to operate PRISM. However, the 'REGISTER.FRM' and 'MANUAL.DOC' files that accompany PRISM are important. Another executable file called 'SAMPLE.EXE' is also included for use in providing a screen backdrop for experimenting with PRISM. PRISM may be run from any disk or hard drive. However, it will start faster from a hard drive. You can start PRISM with the PRISM program files in the default drive/directory or it can be started the pathname (the path where the program files reside with the program name). For instance, if PRISM resides on the 'A' drive, you can start it from the 'C' drive: C:\>a:prism /r. Also, IF THE '/RS' COMMAND OPTION FOR MEMORY SWAPPING IS USED, THE 'PRISM.EXE' FILE SHOULD BE LOCATED ON A HARD DRIVE! It will operate fine on a floppy or diskette drive, but it will pop-up very slowly! To 'install' PRISM, simply copy the file(s) to a hard drive. We believe in good housekeeping, so we recommend you first make a directory for PRISM and change to that directory. For example: C:\>md prism (then press <Enter>) (makes the directory) C:\>cd prism (then press <Enter>) (changes to the directory) Now copy the files. For example, insert the PRISM program disk or diskette in Drive A (any appropriate drive is fine). Assuming the 'A' drive is used and you are copying to 'C' Drive, type 'copy a:*.* c:': C:\PRISM>copy a:*.* c: That's it! You are done! Now, to get started, type 'PRISM'. This will not load PRISM memory resident, but will give you directions to proceed. NOTE: To disable the preamble, 'Do you want to print a Regis- tration Form?', that appears whenever PRISM is started, you must register PRISM. Your new copy will exclude this feature. If you register by phone, you may call technical support and we will give you over-the-phone instructions for disabling the registration offer message. 11. REMOVING PRISM FROM MEMORY To UNload PRISM when it is memory-resident, pop it up and then press <Alt F10>. BE CAREFUL: PRISM checks to see if it is safe to remove itself from memory without disturbing other applications. If PRISM thinks it is not safe, it will display a message, then continue in memory. HOWEVER, some applications are 'ill-behaved'. In such cases PRISM will unload itself and the underlying application may continue to run properly. But after exiting from the underlying application, your computer can 'crash'. While this is not dangerous to your compu- ter, it can result in lost data and is always frustrating! This is easily avoided, though. Simply unload PRISM only when at a DOS prompt (such as C:\>). Or don't unload it at all! Another reason for not unloading PRISM while running another application is that the memory freed-up is not usually usable by other programs until they are terminated and re-loaded them- selves. So, little is gained by unloading 'PRISM' while running other applications. Should you have trouble unloading PRISM at the DOS prompt, it may be due to another memory resident program loaded after PRISM was loaded. This sort of problem is inherent in TSR's. Remember, it is safest to unload PRISM when popped-up at the DOS prompt. 13. SCREEN BLANKING PROGRAMS (Screen-Savers) Programs that 'blank' the video screen after a pre-set period of time are sometimes called screen-savers. The idea is that, by making the screen blank when a workstation is left unattended, the display is not allowed to 'burn' a permanent image on the screen. When using PRISM, should you change the color Black to another color, that color may fill the screen if a screen-saver 'blanks' the screen. Whether it does or not depends on the method the screen-saver uses to 'blank' the screen. 12. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Currently, PRISM operates only with text mode programs. Also, because of certain limitations of CGA and EGA systems, PRISM requires VGA or PGC monitors and adapters. MS- or PC-DOS 3.1 or later versions are recommended. 14. TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Quattro is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. ___________________________________ We hope you enjoy using PRISM as much as we enjoyed writing it! PLEASE REGISTER!