Amiga Collections: MegaDisc/MegaDisc 27 (1992-03)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].zip/MegaDisc 27 (1992-03)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].adf/Tutes_&_CLI/MightyMouse/MightyMouse

Text File | 1992-03-30 | 16KB | 336 lines

       A Beginner's Guide To MightyMouse (v1.05 by R.Stouder).

  by Doug Groat.


  NOTE - I am using MightyMouse as the catalyst in this 'tutorial',
  as I use the program myself. It is small in size (5,728 bytes), so it
  will fit onto a standard WorkBench disk without problems. It requires
  no other files to enable it to work. The configuration program does
  not have to be on the same disk as MightyMouse, and as it is quite
  large at 43,400 bytes, can be safely left on its own. Much of the
  information below can be used by all Amiga users, but is aimed
  specifically at those who are only just beginning to experiment with
  their set-ups. I hope those people especially, find it useful.
                                     Doug.


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   Prelude.....

   So you've decided that you're tired of having to move your mouse halfway
  across the table to get the pointer from one side of the monitor screen to
  the other. And you would be happier if the pointer went into hiding when
  it wasn't being used. And of course, having to click in each window to
  activate them is a real pain, right?

  O.K. well read on, because I might just be able to help you get all of
  the above. And MORE!!!

  All you will need is:

  A copy of your WorkBench disk.

  FishDisk Number 527.

  About half an hour.

  What do you mean you haven't got FishDisk Number 527? Don't you keep
  up with the Public Domain releases available from the MEGADISC
  library?  Oh Dear.  You will have to do better than that.  Send a
  request into MEGADISC, right now! Yes, don't forget the money.

  Dum de dum, de dum dum dum.

  See, I told you they would send it back quickly!


  Getting to it.....

  Alright, now. You've already made your copy of WorkBench, haven't you?
  Why not? You had a couple of days to get it done. You're not quite
  sure how? Alright, I'll explain it again. First off, get out one of
  those blank disks that you have. Now to use the DiskCopy function
  from WorkBench the blank disk must be Formatted. I am assuming you have an
  external disk drive. You do. Good gear. Insert the blank disk into DF1:,
  that's right, the external drive. The disk icon will appear on your
  monitor and under it - DF1:BAD. No, it doesn't mean that it is radical or
  it is really cool. It really means that at the moment it is useless to the
  system. Click on the disk icon, then press down on the right mouse button
  and at holding it down, move the pointer to the top left of the screen to
  the menus. The second item in the middle menu is the one we want -
  Initialize. Move the pointer down a bit, so that Initialize
  changes colour, then release the mouse button. A requester will appear in
  the top left corner of the screen. It will ask you to -

  Insert the Disk to be Initialized in DF1:

  Well we both know it is already in there, so just click on Okay. Next,
  another requester will appear, asking if it is O.K. to initialise the
  disk in DF1:. We did ask to initialise it in the first place, so just
  click on Okay again. The requester will disappear, and in its place a
  window will apear, telling you what is happening to the disk in DF1:.
  This process only takes a couple of minutes, so don't you wander off
  anywhere. Just be patient, and stop that fidgeting, will you? No,
  don't take the disk out until the little window closes. Now the word
  under the disk icon says - Empty. Good, everything is as it should be.
  Move the pointer up to the WorkBench disk icon, click on it and hold
  the left mouse button down. Carefully move the pointer down - yes it
  is supposed to drag the WorkBench icon - over the Empty disk icon.
  Now another requester will appear, asking you to -

  Put WorkBench1.3
  (FROM disk) in drive DF0:
  Put Empty
  (TO disk) in drive DF1:

  Well, there already there, so click on Continue. The requester will be
  replaced by that little window again, keeping you informed of just
  what is happening. When it disappears and the disk drives are silent,
  you should now see two disk icons the same - except that one reads -
  copy of WorkBench1.3. We will have to rename this disk, so click on
  its disk icon, then using the right mouse button to get to the menus,
  go to the menu on the left and highlight - Rename. Release the mouse
  button and a thin window will appear mid-screen with the words -

  copy of WorkBench1.3

  Use the delete key to get the cursor (yes, the little orange square is
  the cursor) over the W in WorkBench. Then press Return. What do you
  mean it is now called  orkBench1.3! Go and put the W back, please.
  Now, put away the original WorkBench disk in a safe place.


  Now the Real Work.....

  Re-boot your computer using the new Workbench disk and insert Fish 527
  into DF1:. Open up Fish 527 by clicking on its disk icon. Then open
  up the MightyMouse drawer icon. Click on ReadMe, and do just that.
  Yes, read the document file. It's surprising how much useful stuff
  can be found in those things. Alright, you've read the docs, and you
  have some idea of what you have to do, right? It is time to get to
  some serious work. Close up MightyMouse drawer and the window for the
  FishDisk. Click on the WorkBench disk icon to open it up. Click on the
  Shell icon. If you've never used a Shell before, don't worry about it,
  it's really not as hard as you think. Type in this -

  copy df1:mightymouse/mightymouse c:mightymouse

  then press Return. I'll explain this to you. What you're asking your
  AMIGA to do is load the copy program, go to the MightyMouse directory
  located in DF1:, (the disk name isn't required) and copy the file
  called MightyMouse to the C directory in your Boot-up Disk and call it
  MightyMouse. At first, that may seem pretty complicated, but if you
  read it a couple of times it should become quite clear. In a few
  seconds the prompt will return, and if you have no naughty messages
  like file not found or something else, then MightyMouse has been
  copied successfully to the C directory of your WorkBench disk. If you
  want to check whether MightyMouse has, in fact been copied over, you
  can then try this, open up the Shell window as big as you can get it.
  Then type this line in -

  dir c

  Press Return. What you are doing is asking for a listing of the
  contents of the C directory. Have a look through all the files, and
  on the list on the right hand side you will see - mightymouse.

  To get MightyMouse to work each and every time you load WorkBench, you
  will have to edit the startup-sequence. This is the file that tells
  the computer what programs and files to load in so you can operate.
  To do this requires using the Editor program that comes supplied on
  the WorkBench disk. To get it to load, type in this line -

  ed s:startup-sequence

  Press return. Now, to explain what that line means. You are asking
  for the Editor program to load, and to load into the Editor the file
  startup-sequence that is in the S directory. A large window will
  appear with these lines in it -

  Addbuffers df0: 10
  c:SetPatch >NIL: ;patch system functions
  cd c:
  echo "A500/A2000 Workbench disk.  Release 1.3 version 34.20*N"
  Sys:System/FastMemFirst ; move C00000 memory to last in list
  BindDrivers
  SetClock load ;load system time from real time clock (A1000 owners
        ;should replace the SetClock load with Date
  FF >NIL: -0 ;speed up Text
  resident CLI L:Shell-Seg SYSTEM pure add; activate Shell
  resident c:Execute pure
  mount newcon:
  ;
  failat 11
  run execute s:StartupII ;This lets resident be used for rest of script
  wait >NIL: 5 mins ;wait for StartupII to complete (will signal when done)
  ;
  SYS:System/SetMap usa1 ;Activate the ()/* on keypad
  path ram: c: sys:utilities sys:system s: sys:prefs add ;set pathfor WB
  LoadWB delay  ;wait for inhibit to end before continuing
  endcli >NIL:

  No, Doris, I'm going to explain what each line means. Everybody else
  wants to get on with it, O.K.> [Ed: You can find such startup-sequences
  explained in detail on previous Megadiscs - check out the MEGADEX index
  this issue.] Let's continue. See the line that says

  BindDrivers

  Fine. Move the cursor down, using the cursor keys (yes, Doris, the keys
  with the little arrows on them), then move to the space to the right
  of the s. Good. Now press Return. Now, you should have a blank line
  with the cursor at the beginning of the line. Type in -

  mightymouse

  but  DON'T  press Return. Press the ESC key, and an asterisk will
  appear at the bottom left of the screen. Type in -

  x

  then press Return. You will get a brief message saying - writing to
  s:startup-sequence, and the Editor window will disappear. If you want
  to double check that the startup-sequence has been modified, type into
  the Shell window -

  type s:startup-sequence

  and press Return. The startup-sequence will then be presented for you
  to look at. Hey, look, that's what I typed in. This Editing business
  isn't so hard after all. Now it's time to re-boot to see if it will
  work. I'm confident, are you? You should be!


  IT WORKS.....

  Of course it does. Will you look at that pointer move. Zooooom. Hey
  look there's a little clock in the top right hand corner of the screen.
  Hang on, the pointer's disappeared. Oops, you forgot about the mouse
  blanking, didn't you. See all you have to do is move the mouse just
  a bit and the pointer returns. Yep, you only have to move the mouse
  about three inches to cover all of the screen with the pointer.

  I don't believe it! What do you mean you think the pointer moves too
  fast? What's wrong with the position of the clock? Okay, okay!! Type
  this line into the Shell window -

  df1:mightymouse/mightyconfig

  and press Return. We are going to load the configuration program to
  set MightyMouse the way you want. The reason we didn't copy it over
  to WorkBench is because it is such a big file (43,400 bytes), and also
  once you have MightyMouse set up just right you will probably never
  need to load up MightyConfig ever again. No, Doris, we won't be
  getting rid of it at all. We will keep it, maybe putting the FishDisk
  away with the original WorkBench disk. That way if you ever want to
  make a change, you can still load up MightyConfig, make your changes,
  then put the disk away for safe keeping again.

  Anyway, back to work. On screen now you will see the configuration
  screen for MightyMouse. Study it for a few minutes before you make any
  changes. Lets start by slowing the mouse down a bit, first. Move the
  pointer over to the right side of the screen to the right of the words
  Mouse Threshold. You'll see two small triangles (these are called
  gadgets) for up and down. Click on the up gadget till you get the
  number next to it to 15. Moving the mouse you will see straight away
  that the speed has changed. If you press the right mouse button and
  hold it down, up in the menu bar at the top of the screen, there are
  two menu selections. Move to the right hand one - Help. Move the
  pointer down and highlight the item - Acceleration/Threshold. Release
  the mouse button and a small window will open up in the middle of the
  screen. This Help window will give you information on how the mouse
  acceleration and threshold work together. You can move the Help window
  down the screen a bit by positioning the pointer in the title bar and
  pressing and holding the left mouse button to 'grab' the window, then
  move the window down a bit, so you can still get to the gadgets. Click
  on these up and down gadgets for Acceleration and Threshold until you
  finally settle on a mouse speed that you are happy with.

  What will we change next? The clock? Alright. Let's change the position
  of the clock. Click in the box next to Clock Window X. There is now an
  orange cursor positioned over the first figure in the box. Type in 0
  and use the DEL key to remove the other numbers. Press Return. Hey,
  the clock has moved to the other side of the screen. Let's move it to
  the bottom of the screen as well. Click inside the box next to Clock
  Window Y, delete all the numbers there, and type in 246, and press
  Return. Bingo! Now let's change the clock colours. Click in the box
  for Foreground Colour, and let's change that to a 2. Press Return once
  more, then go to Background Colour and change that to 3, then press
  Return. Now you have an orange clock with black writing sitting
  quietly in the bottom left corner of the screen. Yes, the Hot-Keys
  so seem rather confusing at the moment, don't they? What about we set
  up just one, and delete the others? Okay, move the pointer down to the
  Delete gadget, and click on it to highlight it. Click in the top box
  directly below the word Key. The first entry has now disappeared. Now
  the next one could be very useful, don't you think? It would be very
  easy to open a new Shell window by just pressing two keys. Let's keep
  that one, alright. Remember, if you want to change it later you can.
  Bypass that entry, and move down to the next box. Click in it, and
  then all the other boxes until all you have left is the one for the
  NewShell. I take it you are happy with the other settings now?
  Well then, let's save the configuration, shall we?

  Press and hold down the right mouse button to activate the menus, then
  move the pointer up to the Project menu, move down to highlight the
  Save item, then release the mouse button. Your disk drive will be
  active for a few moments and then your MightyMouse configuration will
  be saved to a file in the S directory. Alright we'll check to make
  sure! Type into the Shell window -

  dir s:

  and press Return. A listing will be shown of all the files contained
  in the S directory, and look, there it is - MightyMouse.config.
  All that is left to do now is, click on the Close gadget in the top
  left corner of MightyConfig, close up the Shell window, remove your
  new WorkBench disk and write protect it (move the slider up so that
  you can see through the hole).

  Then re-boot and check out your accomplishments.


  The End.....

  Well now, that wasn't quite as painful as you thought perhaps it would
  be. What have you learned in this little exercise? Let's look -

  You've used the Shell several times, successfully.

  You've copied a file from another disk, successfully.

  You've edited your startup-sequence, successfully.

  You've configured MightyMouse to your satisfaction, successfully.

  You've had a little bit of fun doing it all. (I hope).

   A couple of things to remember, before I sign off - ALWAYS work on backup
  disks, NEVER the originals. Don't be put off if something just won't work
  the way you want the first time - persevere, have another go at it. Try
  and put a bit of fun into what you are doing. But most important of all -
  enjoy yourself.

  If there is enough response, I might do another "Beginner's Guide" to
  something else in the near future.

                   Catch You,
                                             Doug.....

  P.S. Remember you can get a heap of great Public Domain programs, at
  a very reasonable cost, from the MEGADISC Library. Look in the drawer
  marked PD_UPDATE in this issue.
                                 D.G.

  P.P.S. Apologies to all the Dorises out there!


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