@{" Introduction " link Introduction} What can I do with FastView?
@{" Feature List " link Features} What features does FastView have?
@{" Requirements " link Requirements} Will it run on my system?
@{" Installation " link Install} How do I install FastView?
@{" Registration " link Registration} How should I register FastView?
@{" Usage from the Shell " link UsageCLI} How do I use FastView from the Shell?
@{" Usage from Workbench " link UsageWB} How do I use FastView from Workbench?
@{" Keyboard control " link Keyboard} How to control FastView with the keyboard.
@{" Configuring FastView " link Config} Creating a config-file for FastView.
@{" Common problems " link Problems} Common questions and their answers.
@{" Future " link Future} What the future will bring...
@{" Known bugs " link Bugs} Things I should know...
@{" How to reach me " link About} How can I reach the author?
@{" Acknowledgements " link Ack} Who does the author want to thank?
@{" History " link History} What's new in this version?
@endnode
@node Introduction "FastView: Introduction"
FastView is a program which shows IFF, GIF, BMP, PCX and JPEG (*)
pictures on your screen. Of course many programs exist for this
task, but this one is special because it is very fast and was
designed with both OCS/ECS and AGA users in mind. For example:
FastView can show HAM8 and IFF 24-bit pictures on OCS/ECS machines
in HAM which was one of the things I missed in all the other
viewing programs I've seen.
This is also the ideal viewer when you've got large collections
of pictures which need to be sorted out. FastView allows you to
delete pictures while viewing them and you can even define your
own command to for example copy a picture to your RAM disk at
the touch of a button.
(*) JPEG pictures are shown using the Tower JPEG Codec Class by
Christoph Feck.
@{b}COPYRIGHT NOTICE@{ub}
FastView software and documentation are Copyright (C) 1995 by John
Hendrikx. All rights reserved.
The JPEG codec is Copyright (C) 1994 Christoph Feck,
TowerSystems. All Rights Reserved. It is based in part on the
work of the Independent JPEG Group.
@{b}DISCLAIMER@{ub}
FastView has proven to be stable in everyday use. @{"The author" link About}
is not responsible for any loss of data, damages to software or
hardware that may result directly or indirectly from the use of this
program. The author reserves the right to make changes to the
software or documentation without notice.
The JPEG codec is provided "AS-IS" and subject to change without
prior notice; no warranties are made. All use is at your own risk.
No liability or responsibility is assumed.
@{b}PREFACE@{ub}
This program is shareware, it is *not* public domain. This means
that if you use this program longer than a period of two weeks
you'll have to send @{"The author" link About} 20 DM, HFL 20, 10 UK Pounds
or 15 US Dollars to become a registered user. See @{"Registration" link Registration} for more
details.
None of the files of the FastView package may be modified or left
out without permission of the author. Crunching or archiving is
allowed only if none of the FastView files get modified by it.
FastView may be distributed freely in public domain collections
such as Fred Fish's Amiga Library. You may charge a fee to
recover distribution costs. The fee for diskette distribution
may not be more than the cost to obtain a public domain diskette
from Fred Fish.
@endnode
@node Features "FastView: Features"
- FastView can display most types of IFF ILBM, GIF, PCX, JPEG and BMP
pictures. Pictures which normally can't directly be displayed on
your Amiga will be converted to HAM or optionally to a Gray-scale
picture.
- AmigaDOS patterns (wildcards) fully supported.
- Runs from the @{"Shell" link UsageCLI} and @{"Workbench" link UsageWB}.
- FastView can optionally @{"dither" link Dither} your pictures to improve their quality.
- If multiple pictures were selected FastView will optionally load
and decode the next picture(s) while you're still viewing the first
one. The number of pictures which FastView can pre-load and decode is
only limited by available memory (this also works with Virtual memory
programs like VMM and GigaMem).
- Optional (down) @{"scaling" link Scale} of pictures to fit screen. This works for
all types of pictures, but it may produce ugly results when applied
to HAM pictures.
- On OCS/ECS machines FastView tries to recognize pictures with a
Black & White palette and will display these in a normal mode instead
of using HAM.
- FastView has the ability to pick an ideal set of colors for pictures
rendered to HAM6 or HAM8. It can store these colors in the picture's
comment so they can be used next time you view the same picture to get
very high quality pictures (especially when used in conjunction with the
@{"DITHER" link Dither} option).
- Fast conversion to HAM/HAM8.
- FastView can save your pictures as IFF files (press 'S' while viewing
a picture).
- Uses its own BestModeID code which tries to pick the best mode for
each picture. The behaviour of this function can be fully controlled
using the @{"SCREENMODE" link ScreenMode} option.
- Can be used for a simple slideshow.
- @{"Keyboard" link Keyboard} can be used to scroll picture (or the mouse of course).
- Programmed in highly optimized Assembler (less than 25K in size!).
@endnode
@node Requirements "FastView: System requirements"
FastView should run on any Amiga system with at least 512K RAM
and Kickstart 2.04 or higher.
FastView is Kickstart 3.0 compatible and aware. It will use some
V39 functions when available.
Should you have any trouble running FastView on your machine, please
@{"contact me" link About} with the full specifications of your machine,
that is Kickstart version, model, expansion boards etc... Don't
forget to mention which version of FastView you were using at the
time.
@endnode
@node Registration "Registration: How to register FastView"
This program is shareware, it is *not* public domain. This means
that if you use this program longer than a period of two weeks
you'll have to send @{"The author" link About} 20 DM, HFL 20, 10 UK Pounds
or 15 US Dollars to become a registered user.
Please only send cash, eurocheques or postal money orders.
When sending cash only use bank-notes (no coins!) and put it
between two blank pieces of paper to avoid it from being detected
on the way. This is probably the easiest and cheapest way.
Eurocheques and postal money orders should be in Dutch Guilders
(HFL) only, since otherwise I won't be able to cash them without
paying a considerable fee to the bank (and that is the last thing
we'd want).
You can send the registration fee to the following address:
Until 31 April 1996:
John Hendrikx
Figarostraat 36
3208 PD Spijkenisse
The Netherlands
After 31 April 1996:
John Hendrikx
Maasboulevard 74
3207 RC Spijkenisse
The Netherlands
@endnode
@node About "FastView: About the author and the program"
FastView has been created using the Devpac Assembler and CygnusED
on an Amiga 2000 with a 68030/22 and 7 MB of memory. The source
code (in 100% Assembler) for FastView is now over 150K in size.
If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you find
any bugs, please let me know.
When sending in bug reports, please state exactly under what
circumstances the bug occurred, what equipment was used and what
happened. If possible also try to give me enough information to
reproduce the bug (like the picture file which caused the bug).
It is very difficult to find bugs when you don't know exactly
what happened. Don't forget to mention which version of FastView
you were using at the time.
Write to one of the following addresses:
UUCP : john.hendrikx@grafix.xs4all.nl
Fido : 2:286/407.8
AmigaNet : 39:153/201.8
NLA Net : 14:101/200.8
Snail Mail until 31 April 1996:
John Hendrikx
Figarostraat 36
3208 PD Spijkenisse
The Netherlands
Snail Mail after 31 April 1996:
John Hendrikx
Maasboulevard 74
3207 RC Spijkenisse
The Netherlands
I will also try to put the latest available version of FastView on
the following BBS (this may change without further notice):
Grafix Attack (Kees Huizer, Vlaardingen)
Tel. +31104745816 (MT 14K4)
+31104741062 (ZyXEL 19K2)
+31104744682 (Tron 28K8)
Fido Node 2:286/407
AmyNet 39:153/201
NLA Node 14:101/200
@endnode
@node UsageWB "FastView: Usage from Workbench"
There are 3 ways to use FastView from the Workbench:
1) Simply double-click on the FastView icon and it will come up with a
File requester which allows you to select the pictures you want to
view. You may select multiple pictures by holding down shift during
selection. If you don't select any pictures then FastView will
assume you want to view the entire dir.
2) You can view pictures by using extended selection: Select the
FastView icon and select, while holding down the shift key, the
pictures you want to view. Double-click (while still holding down
shift) on the last picture you want to view to start FastView.
3) You may use FastView as the Default Tool for your pictures. To set
the Default Tool to FastView for a picture, simply select the
picture's icon and choose Information from the Icons menu in Workbench.
Set the Default Tool field to 'FastView' (make sure it is located in
your search path!) and save this setting. Now you can simply
double-click on the picture to view it with FastView. Selecting
multiple pictures is also possible, as long as the last picture
you've selected has the Default Tool set to FastView.
The FastView icon can have several Tool Types which control the
way FastView operates. Most of these Tool Types work similar
compared with their Shell counterparts. Here are the available
Tool Types which also are available in the Shell plus a short
description:
@{"COMMAND" link Command} The command FastView will execute when the Tab key is pressed
@{"DITHER" link Dither} Uses dithering to increase the picture quality
@{"FORCEAGA" link ForceAGA} Makes FastView think you have AGA (handy for Retina)
@{"INFO" link Info} Line with name and size of the picture at top of screen
@{"LEAVEMEM" link LeaveMem} The number of kilobytes of memory FastView should leave free
@{"MAKECOMMENT" link MakeComment} Creates a special comment to enhance picture quality
@{"NOLACE" link NoLace} Avoids interlaced screens
@{"POINTER" link Pointer} Pointer won't be blanked when picture is complete
@{"PUBSCREEN" link PubScreen} Specifies on which Public Screen file requesters appear
@{"ROM" link Rom} Uses WritePixelLine8() in ROM for graphics card support
@{"SCALE" link Scale} Scales the picture down to fit it on the screen
@{"SCREENMODE" link ScreenMode} Allows accurate control of what screen modes to use
@{"SLOWSWITCH" link SlowSwitch} Smoother transitions for slideshows
@{"USECHIP" link UseChip} Allows FastView to use Chip RAM for pre-loading pictures
@{"WAITFORPIC" link WaitForPic} Waits until a picture is fully decoded
There is also one Workbench specific Tool Type:
DEFAULTDIR
This Tool Type allows you to set the directory which FastView will
list in the File Requester when you start FastView by simply
double-clicking on it (Method 1, see above).
@endnode
@node UsageCLI "FastView: Usage from the Shell"
There is nothing to it really. Just start it from the Shell or install
it in your favourite directory utility.
The command line looks like this:
@{"FILES/M" link Files},@{"DITHER/S" link Dither},@{"NOLACE/S" link NoLace},@{"SCALE/S" link Scale},@{"DELAY/K/N" link Delay},@{"INFO/S" link Info},@{"WAITFORPIC/S" link WaitForPic},
@{"ROM/S" link Rom},@{"MAKECOMMENT/S" link MakeComment},@{"POINTER/S" link Pointer},@{"DEBUG/S" link Debug},@{"SM=SCREENMODE/K" link ScreenMode},
@{"LEAVEMEM/K/N" link LeaveMem},@{"USECHIP/S" link UseChip},@{"PUBSCREEN/K" link PubScreen},@{"FORCEAGA/S" link ForceAGA},@{"GRAY=GREY/S" link Gray},
@{"COMMAND/K" link Command},@{"SLOWSWITCH/S" link SlowSwitch}
(.txt)