Amiga Collections: MegaDisc/MegaDisc 08 (1988)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)[WB].zip/MegaDisc 08 (1988)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)[WB].adf/ARTICLES/Hints&Tips

Text File | 1988-05-28 | 15KB | 254 lines

         HINTS & TIPS - PLEASE SEND IN YOUR HINTS & TIPS SO WE CAN SPREAD
                        THEM AROUND.


         RESUSCITATE YOUR REALLY DEAD DISKS
 Colin Tringham (see the "BasicRules" article this issue) reports a way to
 revive even those disks which you can't format. Using the Mirror Hack
 Pack NIBBLE mode, copy any disk onto the dud. Having done that, format
 (initialise) your disk and in 3 out of 5 cases, according to Colin,
 you'll have a usable disk again. [To INITIALISE a disk, ie, make it
 recognisable to AmigaDOS, whether it be corrupt or new, click on the disk
 icon once to highlight it, then select INITIALISE from the Workbench
 menus, after which you'll be told what to do.]

         CHEAP PAPER
 If you get through a lot of paper, in routine listings or whatever, it
 might be worth your while to get a TELEX roll from your local stationer.
 They come in plain and telex-logo variety, so get the plain, and of course
 your printer will have to be friction-feed, and you'll have to contrive
 some sort of stand since it's a roll. Likewise, if you run a thermal
 printer such as an Okimate 20, you can always get FAX paper, again much
 cheaper than getting 100 A4 sheets for $12 or whatever.


         MULTIPLE UTILITIES IN ONE
 Just as there has been a proliferation of DIRECTORY UTIIITY programs (such
 as Diskman, DUIII, etc - see previous Megadisc), so too numerous
 MULTI-UTES have been surfacing. I speak of DMOUSE by Matt Dillon, and
 MACHII in particular. Both of these programs are usually run in your
 startup-sequence, and give the following capabilities -
  ClickToFront: ie, click anywhere on a window and it comes to the front
  "SunMouse":   as your pointer passes over a window it becomes active
  InvisiblePointer: becomes invisible after a specified time of no use
  PopCLI:       a 2-key combination pops up a CLI anytime, anywhere
  MouseAccelerator: you can speed up your mouse to ram through window frames
  Macros:       assignable to function keys in the case of MachII
 and so on.
        I used MachII for a while but found that it did strange things with
 some programs, particularly regarding windows coming to the front, and
 generally speaking, while a good idea, didn't add to my sense of security
 and increased the rate of Gurus. DMOUSE, however, like all Matt Dillon's
 programs (CSH, A CLI shell; DME, a text editor, etc), is tightly written
 in assembler and is well thought out when it comes to error trapping. On
 the other hand (I write this later), even DMOUSE seems to be upset
 occasionally by some unknown background process. I've reverted to POPCLI,
 the original and the best for popping up a CLI when you want it, as well
 as blanking your screen after a period of neglect. I've seen another PD
 contender called QMOUSE as a multiple-utility program, but can't judge.
 Can anyone clarify all this, and make recommendations?

         RECOVERABLE RAM DISKS
 So far we've had ASDG's RRD, and VDK (on Megadisc6), and WorkBench 1.3 has
 a similar one called CARD: . What VDK has over the other two is the
 fact that its size is dynamic, meaning that it becomes as big as it needs
 to be, and no bigger. The other two figure in the Mountlist in your DEVS
 directory, and have LOWCYL and HIGHCYL entries, meaning fixed number of
 cylinders, so that the size of the RAM disk is fixed. Worth thinking about
 if you're conserving memory. A500/2000 users will be interested in the
 existence of a public domain program called FIXVDK, which does that  -
 sometimes on those machines, after a warm boot the recoverable ram disk
 wasn't recoverable. Curses and gnashing of teeth! Find it on Amigan #16.
 Have a look at the article "1.3_System" this issue for more information
 on RRDs, and it's worth noting that the 1.3 Kickstart will allow you to
 warm-boot from the RRD which comes with 1.3 - very useful, since it's so
 fast; and it can be used with all kinds of hard disks as a way to rapidly
 assign control to them without inserting disks.

         ICPUG TIP FOR SUPERBASE
 To create keyboard shortcuts for ANY menu options that don't have them, or
 to change or remove those that do, use the program ADD2 on Fish 73. Get a
 CLI going (via Popcli or a command requestor) and put FISH 73 into df1:  .
 Enter      > df1:add/add2 Superbase: 2 4 G
 and you'll find that DUPLICATE on the RECORD menu has acquired an AMIGA-G
 key option. By replacing the "G" with -kill  you can remove any key
 shortcuts that are already present.  The "2" and "4" options above mean
 the 2nd menu strip, 4th item. Have a look at Fish 73 if this would be
 useful to you.

         ATTACHING ICONS TO ICON-LESS FILES
 This is no arcane mystery. An icon only exists for a file called, say,
 MYDOC because there is a file called MYDOC.info in the same directory. So
 if the file is a PROJECT (ie, the result of a program, such as a document
 from a Word Processor), all you have to do is find another project icon
 somewhere, and copy it to the directory containing your icon-less project.
 Then RENAME the imported  ".info" file to MYDOC.info. When you next open
 the drawer containing MYDOC, it will have an icon and you'll be able to
 see it on WorkBench. The same goes for other kinds of icons - TOOL (ie,
 program), DRAWER (ie, directory), DISK and TRASHCAN.
 The only thing to watch out for is making the icon do what you want it to
 do when you double-click it. Say you used ED the text editor to create a
 file MYDOC, and did what's recommended above by copying the icon file of a
 Notepad Note icon and renaming it MYDOC.info. Now that icon is set up to
 look for the program NOTEPAD in the SYS:UTILITIES drawer, whereas you want
 your file to be shown using PRINTEXT off Megadisc, which you've copied
 into the C directory of your disk, where all good commands should live.
 What you have to do is this (this is only for PROJECT type icons):
  * click once on your new MYDOC icon to "select" it
  * select INFO from the PROJECT menu of your WorkBench
  * up comes a screen describing your icon - click in the DEFAULT TOOL box,
    press R-AMIGA and X together to remove any entries there (which will be
    SYS:UTILITIES/NOTEPAD if you used a Notepad Note icon)
  * now type in   SYS:C/PRINTEXT   (or just :c/printext if you simply want
    to refer to the C directory of the disk your icon is on)
  * click on SAVE in the bottom left corner of the screen, and the new info
    will be recorded in the icon file itself.
        Now when you double-click on your new icon it will look for the
 PRINTEXT text-showing utility in the C directory to show your text file on
 screen. If you're interested in finding out more about icons, see the
 articles called USING_ICONS on MD1 & 2, or alternatively, get our ICON
 THEME disk, which collects all sorts of info and utilities about icons.

         A FEW BUGS REPORTED BY USERS
 Publisher 1000 seems to have a few problems with the A2000, particularly
 with the SAVE and PRINT functions; and it's said to look for a dongle, and
 doesn't find it...ok on the A1000, however. Devlin, who told us about
 this, says that neither Imagineering nor the US producers knew anything
 about these problems. Likewise Shakespeare (a DTP product) is said to be
 pretty shaky, particularly when it comes to printing (its namesake never
 had such a problem). And Professional Page V1.1 in recent tests does
 various odd things - it's possible to knock out whole blocks of text while
 editing with the Backspace key; Gurus do occur from time to time handling
 demanding operations such as moving large boxes around

         BIT BLITZER & GPTERM
 The Bit Blitzer modem came with factory settings including CARRIER ON on
 Dip Switch 6, which I found got in the way of the Viatel Comms prog GPTERM
 (reviewed in MD7), which is set up to recognise when the CARRIER signal is
 actually on, rather more logical. Having done that, no problem. Speaking
 of Comms, it seems that the ZMODEM protocol (see COMMPROTOCOLS on MD6 for
 more info on this topic) is fast becoming a standard, since it can send
 multiple files, will maintain the names of files sent and is fast. Both
 ONLINE2.0 and GPTERM(next update) use this protocol. The best buy in
 modems at the moment is the MAESTRO 2400ZXR, a fully intelligent modem
 supporting all baud rates up to 2400/2400 (including 1200/75 for Viatel)
 at about $399 at MICRO-EDUCATIONAL Tel: [phone]. DiskWorks also
 sells the SUPRA modem, also 2400 baud for $299, stating that it's not
 Telecom approved. Contact them on [phone].

         SOME TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
        Some people who have just bought Amigas have contacted us,
 wondering about a few things which are not obvious until you've been using
 the machine for a while. Such as:
        * "Workbench disk" - this is often referred to in manuals and
 explanations, and simply means a disk which can be booted up, which has
 the bare minimum in terms of libraries and devices for the disk to perform
 all the normal functions such as disk-copying, formatting, etc. Also
 referred to as a "boot" disk or "system" disk. Once you've booted with a
 particular disk, however, that is the specific one required for that
 session, and no other will do, even if it's got all the necessary stuff on
 it. Your program disk, say DPAINTII, is a Workbench disk, although it's
 only got on it what's necessary for it to be able to run DPAINTII.

         USING THE CLI COMMAND "RENAME"
 If you use the CLI much, and you should if you want your Amiga to zoom,
 it's worth avoiding excessive typing. So use the RENAME command to rename
 some of the often-used CLI commands. For example, "execute" can be renamed
 to "x", "binddrivers" to "bd" and so on. Worth keeping a little list
 beside you until you memorise the changes. Another way of cutting down on
 typing is by using a CLI SHELL (such as WorkBench 1.3 will have) - the
 benefits are having a "history" facility: ie, the up & down arrow keys
 will recall previous commands which you can edit and re-use. Such Shells
 include CONMAN on FISH disk #133, Matt Dillon's CSH on FISH DISK # 107
 and a couple of other commercial ones, such as MetaComCo's SHELL. Saves a
 lot of time and trouble.

         DE BUGGER!
 Apparently not documented anywhere - during a GURU, if you press DELETE on
 a remote terminal connected to the serial port at 9600 baud, you'll drop
 right into the ROM debugger.

         CHEAP PRINTER STAND
 Saw this in a magazine somewhere and it works - to store your tractor-feed
 paper for feeding into the printer, a neat solution is to get one of those
 in/out plastic trays from your stationer for about $6. Turn it upside down
 with the open end towards the back of your printer and it fits quarto page
 sizes very neatly, leaving printed pages to fall to the floor.

          DESKTOP PUBLISHING HINTS
 * While using  PROFESSIONAL PAGE, you can get speedier text editing if you
 choose "Black & White" from the Preferences menu, simply because the
 screen can be refreshed more easily with fewer bitplanes.
 * If you produce POSTSCRIPT files from capable DTP programs such as
 Professional Page, Pagesetter (with Laserscript) or Excellence!, it is
 possible to save them to disk as Postscript files without going directly
 to the printer (which you won't do anyway unless you're lucky enough to
 have a Postscript laser printer sitting by your desk). Then you can take
 them on disk, or send them via modem to a DTP bureau and get them sent to
 a Postscript laser or even a Linotronic for very high resolution output.
 Note that Postscript files are computer-independent, so you can send your
 file via modem to any IBM or Mac which is connected to a modem and a laser
 printer.

          POSTSCRIPT/LINOTRONICS/BITMAPS
 Ross Kellaway has been sending Postscript pages from Professional Page 1.1
 to a DTP bureau in Surry Hills, Sydney (McQuade's) and returns somewhat
 chastened from his experience. It seems that the Linotronic really takes
 its time when printing "Bit-mapped" graphics, ie like a digitised pic, to
 the point where the Linotronic is grinding away for a long time. And at 80
 cents per minute of Linotronic time, more than we make, it gets expensive.
 If you want to send off your Postscript files to a DTP bureau with a
 Linotronic Typesetter, make sure that the bureau has the latest Raster
 Image Processor if your document has graphics. Most current RIPs owned by
 bureaus don't, and printing of images is very slow, if it happens at all.
 Meanwhile it seems that if you use 1.3 Preferences along with the 1.3
 printer drivers you can get graphic output of very high quality, colour
 and black/white. For those interested, the latest "Amigan Apprentice &
 Journeyman" mag (see MD6 & 7) goes into the Epson X & Q drivers in great
 depth. And even better, look at Jim Bolf's "Print.Manual" article this
 issue to get the full low-down by someone who's spent months experimenting
 with 24-pin dot matrix printers.
 Speaking of printers - George Vokalek sends me a letter created with
 AmigaTeX and a HP Deskjet printer. The printing is fabulous, and as good
 as laser printer output to my eye, so worth thinking about if you want
 very clean print for your letters and documents.

          NOTEPAD NEEDS INSECTICIDE
 Never liked the program (GIZMOZ has a much better MEMOPAD utility) but
 people will continue to call it in their icons (see above for how), so you
 double-click a harmless-looking icon and the machine goes into spasms as
 it looks for Notepad, then Notepad looks for fonts, etc. Trouble is, if
 you've got a big bunch of fonts in the FONTS: directory of your disk
 (especially a hard disk), Notepad goes ga-ga and dies. So if you just want
 to display text, change the icon info as described above to something like
 PRINTEXT or MORE (on you Extras disk) or LESS as used on the MD catalogue.

         ERRATIC STATIC
 I don't think I've ever had any real problem in this regard, but it is
 often reported to be a worry in computer environments. James Lawrence, a
 friendly electrical engineer, recommends care, particularly if you are
 given to shuffling across synthetic carpets in rubber-soled shoes, whereby
 you become electric, man. Before laying hands on your machine, touch
 something hard and cold, such as the metal windowframe, to ground
 yourself. And avoid attaching disk drives and things while the machine is
 on, and generally realise that you're sometimes like a moving electric
 motor.  Would anyone like to advise on this problem in detail?

          CHEAP MAXI-MONITOR
  Colin Tringham tells the tale of his 20" monitor - he found a sale of
 Arcade games machines, noted that they used large RGB monitors and bought
 one and hooked it up with a power supply and an amplifier to his Amiga.
 Just the thing for presentations. Call around for possible sales.

           FFS HARD DISK PROBLEMS
  Reported from a couple of people using the Gamma release of the Fast
 File System on their hard disks - it bombs if you fill a partition with
 more than about 12 Megabytes, so better to wait until the official release
 before you go reformatting, backing up, etc.

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