Shareware Super Platinum 8/Shareware Super Platinum 8.iso/mac/PROGTOOL/SOUNDFX6.ZIP;1/CDBEEP.DOC

Text File | 1992-06-06 | 7.2 KB | 138 lines

               ____________________________
              |                   |
              |      CBEEP - DBEEP        |
              | Replace BEEP With a Flash! |
              |____________________________|

                Copyright (C)  1991
                  >>-Swift-Ware->

                   Version  1.2
                    April 1991

                I.    Installation and Use

    The primary programs in this package are CBEEP.COM and DBEEP.COM.
    They  will usually be referred to without their  .COM  extensions
    for  convenience.  DBEEP is first used to produce a  new  renamed
    version  of any program which has the beep replaced by    a  flash.
    Then  CBEEP is loaded into the computer's memory.  CBEEP  is  the
    program which actually makes the flash when called upon to do  so
    by  the  debeeped program.  Finally the debeeped version  of  the
    program  is loaded and run.  After some initial preparation,  the
    use  of the debeeped version of a program can be made  completely
    automatic and transparent to the user.

              DBEEP

    This  will start execution of the debeeping program.  DBEEP  will
    display  a  menu  where <F1> may be pressed  to  display  a  help
    screen,  <F2> may be pressed to start the debeeping process,  and
    <F3>  may be pressed to install CBEEP in the computer.    For  now,
    let's wait a bit before installing CBEEP and go on to create  the
    debeeped  version  of the program.  Press <F2> and  you  will  be
    prompted to enter the name of the program to be debeeped.  In our
    example,  the program was NOISY.EXE in subdirectory  PROGRAMS  on
    Drive C:, so enter

          C:\PROGRAMS\NOISY.EXE

          You will be prompted for the name of the
    new  (debeeped) version of the program which you want to  create.
           It is very important to use the same extension
    but the name should be different from the original name.  In  our
    case  we might select the name NOTNOISY.EXE as our  new  program.
    After  you  enter  the new program name,  DBEEP  will  begin  the
    debeeping  process. You will see from the display on  the  screen
    that the process has begun and the display will indicate when the
    debeeping  process  has finished; this may take a minute  or  so.
    After DBEEP has finished, you may  press <F3> to "launch"  CBEEP.
    This places into the computer's memory the program which produces
    the  flash when called upon to do so by the debeeped  version  of
    the  program.  As part of the process of installing or    launching
    CBEEP,    the  CBEEP  menu  will    be  displayed  which  will  allow
    selecting  the size and duration of the flash.    Press the  number
    keys  as  indicated to select your  preferred  choice.     Finally,
    after completing the creation of the debeeped program (which  you
    have  given  a new name) and installing CBEEP, you are    ready  to
    exit from DBEEP which may be done by pressing the <Esc> key.  You
    will now be back at the DOS prompt and may run your new  debeeped
    version of the program by entering its new name.  In our example,
    merely enter NOTNOISY.    That's all there is to it.

    In  some cases, you may see the message "NO BEEPERS  FOUND"  even
    though you know that the program produces beeps.  In most  cases,
    this  will  not cause a problem and the beeps  will  properly  be
    intercepted  and  replaced by flashes.    A further  discussion  of
    this will be found in the section for Advanced Topics.
           A shortcut which can be used if you  remember  the
    number    of  the menu item you used to select the flash    size  and
    duration is to skip the use of DBEEP and just enter CBEEP /n from
    the  DOS  command  line, where for "n" you enter  the  menu  item
    selection.   For example, to get a large, 1/2 sec.  flash,  enter
    CBEEP /2.

    CBEEP.COM is a terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program which is
    called by the debeeped program.  DBEEP.COM searches the  original
    user's    program and replaces all code which generates beeps  with
    code  which generates a software interrupt.   Normally    interrupt
    60H  is  used,    but  CHGINT.COM may be    used  to  select  another
    interrupt if 60H causes interference with other users of the same
    interrupt. CBEEP, DBEEP, and CHGINT should be placed in the  same
    subdirectory, and CHGINT run.  That will display a menu  allowing
    selection  of an alternate interrupt number in the range  60H  to
    66H.  You should be very careful about using interrupt 67H as  it
    is used for LIM EMS (an Expanded Memory manager) in all  versions
    of  DOS beginning with DOS 2.0 although only officially  reserved
    by DOS in DOS 4.0 and above.

    Beeps can be generated in several ways.  The best-behaved  method
    is to use DOS' BIOS services to send a BEL (character code 7)  to
    the  screen.  An alternate method is directly to  manipulate  the
    hardware  which controls the speaker.  This is done by using  the

    OUT  instruction to change the two low order bits of port 61H  to
    turn  the  speaker on and off.    DBEEP looks for  the  code  which
    generates  such  instructions  and replaces it    with  a  software
    interrupt (using either the default interrupt number of 60H or an
    alternate  interrupt  number  selected via  CHGINT),  padding  as
    needed    with NOPs. A reasonableness check of surrounding data  is
    made  in order to distinguish code from data prior  to    replacing
    the  beep codes.  This technique for handling direct port  writes
    was suggested by Dave Fallen's SILENCER program code.

    In some cases the message "NO BEEPERS FOUND" is produced by DBEEP
    even  though the code being debeeped is known to  produce  beeps.
    This is generally caused by code which does not write directly to
    hardware ports but merely uses DOS or BIOS services to produce    a
    beep by sending the BEL character to the screen.  The  interrupts
    used  by these services are trapped by CBEEP and thus  the  beeps
    are  properly  converted  into flashes even  though  no  code  is
    modified by DBEEP.  The message "NO BEEPERS FOUND" thus indicates
    that  no  code    replacement was necessary rather  than    that  the
    program being debeeped doesn't have any beep-producing code.

    There are a few known limitations to this procedure.   Compressed
    executable  code will not generally allow the instructions to  be
    properly identified.  If the compression technique which has been
    used  is known, it may be possible to uncompress the code,  apply
    the  debeeping    program  to the uncompressed  version,    and  then
    recompress  the  debeeped version.  Microsoft  Windows    code  may
    cause  problems.   Programs  which have been  compressed  can  be
    identified  (along  with the compression technique used)  by  the
    utility   CHK4COMP.EXE.   Many    commercial  programs  have   been
    compressed by Microsoft's EXEPACK; these may be unpacked by using
    UPACKEXE.EXE.    As  of this writing, CHK4COMP could  be  obtained
    from  CompuServe IBMSYS in CKH4.ZIP; UPACKEXE was also    available
    from CompuServe IBMSYS in LZEX91.ZIP.

                 V.  Disclaimer

    The  software and documentation in this packare are provided  "As
    Is"  without  warranty  of any kind.   >>-Swift-Ware->  does  not
    warrant,  guarantee,  or make any representations  regarding  the
    use, or the results of use, of this software.  All risk taken  in
    the use of this software is assumed by you, the user, and not  by
    >>-Swift-Ware->,  nor  by  any person  or  organization  who  may
    distribute this product.