Basicly, 1.01 has been tighten a lot (roughly 4000 bytes). That’s it.
I. Distribution
Preferences DA is being distributed by the “shareware” method. You may give out as many copies of it to your friends, upload as many copies to BBSes and/or timesharing services, etc. as you like. As a matter of fact, you are encouraged to do so. However, it would also be appreciated if you pass this file along with it.
However, if you yourself find it useful and wish to keep it, please send a registration fee of $5 to the author. If you are already a registered owner of Control Panel Plus, you do not need to re-register. Your previous registration will be extended to Preferences DA.
Please send your $5 to:
Raymond Lau
100-04 70 Ave.
Forest Hills, NY 11375
Attention: Preferences
As a registered owner, in the future, as bugs (almost all software have some) are corrected, you are encourage to obtain an upadated copy from the source where you’ve obtained this copy. If this proves impossible, you may also send the author a disk with your name and address. You never need to re-register.
If you find any bugs, have any suggestions, feel free to write the author or send email via Delphi to RAYMONDLAU. (Also, if you happen to know a solution to a bug, that would be much appreciated.)
II. Introduction
Preferences DA is a DA which combines all the features of the “old” Control Panel from Apple distributed with pre 3.0 System files, of the “new” Control Panel from Apple distributed with 3.x System files. Additionally, Preferences includes some features not found in either versions. Soon, Apple may release an expandable Control Panel, but this is only a rumor. Anyway, what about for now? Well, now you see the purpose of Preferences.
Some features which Preferences provide but are in neither Control Panel are:
Setting a date for the alarm clock to ring.
Setting the preferred startup disk.
More flexible control over the RAM cache (for new 128K ROMs only).
About Control Panel Plus…I found the control manager way too slow and ugly, so I re-made it with a picture instead. I strongly appologize to previous registrants for the lengthy period of time it took to write Preferences. As a student by profession, education takes priority...
III. Operation
III.i. Installing
To install Preferences, use Apple’s Font/DA Mover, Quick and Dirty Utilities’ DA Installer Plus, or a similar program to install it into your System file for permanent installation. If you wish to install it temporarily, Preferences DA has been tested and works with quite a few DA shells.
III.ii Opening
Once installed, select Preferences from the Apple or equivalent menu to open (or run if you prefer) it. With some shells, Preferences will be opened automatically for you during installation.
If Preferences does not open, or if it opens and closes, a fatal error has occurred. This is usually the result of a bad file.
III.iii Functions
Most of the functions are self-explanatory. However, some of them need clarification.
Desktop Pattern: Initially, the edit box (the one with an enlarged image) will show the current desktop pattern. When you click on a black dot, it will turn white. And when you click on a white dot, it’ll turn black. You can see the results of your editing in the miniature view of the desktop right under the edit box. If you click on the miniature view, the pattern shown there will become your new desktop pattern and will also be saved onto the current System file. If your startup disk is locked, it won’t be saved. Above the miniature view is a horizontal strip divided into three regions by arrows. Clicking past the arrows will show the next pattern in the default list of patterns. You can then edit and/or save that pattern as described. If at any point, you wish to revert to the previous pattern, just close Preferences or click on the area between the arrows.
Speaker Volume (0-7): The only not so obvious thing here is that if you click on the box with the number, it will beep at the current volume.
RAM Cache (32K-75% of available RAM in varrying increments): Here it is important to note that the increments are smaller towards the lower end and greater towards the upper. It is recommended that you reboot after changing the cache size.
***IMPORTANT NOTE***: Cache settings and cache on/off are only effective with the 128K (aka new) ROMs.
Time/Date/Alarm Time/Alarm Date: Click on the hr,min,sec or mn,dy,yr buttons in the respective rectangles to set that unit. You will see the current setting copied from the upper “current” box to the lower “setting” box. Click on the up/down arrows to set the time/date to what you want. (Note, if you hold down command and then click, it will increase/decrease by units of 10) Once you have the time/date you want, click on the setting box. It will be cleared and your new setting will be copied to the setting box. If you wish to retain the old setting, just click on the current box.
For alarm date, if you click on the default date button, it will set the alarm date to the default date, which is today if the alarm time is after the current time, or tomorrow if it’s after. clicking on the On button toggles the alarm on/off.
***NOTE***: It will NOT let you set the alarm to ring before the current time. If you attempt to do so, it will adjust the date to the default date.
Preferred Startup Disk: If you have two disks inserted when you turn on your Mac, it will boot from the drive you specify.
AppleTalk connected: Only catch here is that I do not know if it works since I don’t have AppleTalk. So if it doesn’t, please tell me by mail or on Delphi.
(I would appreciate it even more if some person knowledgeable on AppleTalk told me how to make it work...)
IV. Closing Remarks
Well, that’s about it. For those of you who use Preferences and register, I commend you. Keep in mind that I am open to any comments whatsoever (but let’s not get ridiculous)… Feel free to write with suggestions, bug reports, fixes, etc.
