Archive Magazine 1996/ARCHIVE_96.iso/text/hints/volume_09/issue_02

Text File | 1995-10-03 | 8KB | 206 lines

Hints and Tips
9.2
Alt(ernative) characters Ö (Thanks to John Woodgate and Jim Nottingham
for stretching my list of special characters in 9.1 p17.)
9.2
I missed out several accented characters out, so here is the full list I
can now create:
9.2
  alt-[  ß ┴ Θ ╔ φ ═ ≤ ╙ · ┌ ² ▌
9.2
  alt-]  α └ Φ ╚ ∞ ╠ ≥ ╥ ∙ ┘
9.2
  alt-;  Σ ─ δ ╦ ∩ ╧ ÷ ╓ ⁿ ▄
9.2
  alt-É  Γ ┬ Ω ╩ ε ╬ ⌠ ╘ √ █ é ü å à
9.2
  alt-,  π ├ ± ╤ ⌡ ╒
9.2
  alt-.  σ ┼
9.2
  alt-/  τ ╟
9.2
To get the accented wæs and yæs for use in Welsh and Spanish, I had to
go back to using Trinity as Plantin does not have them.
9.2
Ed.
9.2
ArcTFS, from Texcellence, was written to run under Arthur on the old
A310 machine, so it will not run from a hard disc. If you happen to have
an old copy, it can be given a new lease of life by a simple brute force
kludge.
9.2
Copy the program to RAM disc and drag it into Edit. Create the following
two extra lines and save the modified program to the RAM disc.
9.2
81 *DISC 0
9.2
82 *MOUNT
9.2
Using Edit, create a simple !Boot file:
9.2
| !Boot file for TFS
9.2
IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
9.2
and a simple !Run file,
9.2
| !Run file for TFS.
9.2
| Alter WimpSlot as required.
9.2
WimpSlot -min 1100K
9.2
IconSprites<Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
9.2
Run <Obey$Dir>.TFS
9.2
Save all three files to the RAM disc.
9.2
Either create a new icon sprite with the name !tfs and save it under the
name !Sprites, or rename an old one and save that.
9.2
On the hard disc, create a new directory called !TFS and drag the four
files to it. Donæt worry if the new icon does not appear; it will, the
next time you switch on. Finally, format a disc using 800Kb (D) option.
9.2
The program can be started by double clicking on the !TFS icon, and the
first thing it will do is to look at drive 0. If it finds your blank
disc or one of your old data files, it will run without any problems.
All the data files must be saved on 800Kb (D) format discs.
9.2
Les May, Rochdale.
9.2
Cleaning HP cartridges (A last ditch measure) Ö Most articles I have
read on the subject of refilling mention that it is not possible to
refill the big HP cartridge because it is manufactured under reduced air
pressure.
9.2
This is not true; all you have to do is find an ink provider who sells
the right equipment (there are at least two in Germany, so there should
be some in the UK, too).
9.2
The trick is simply to blow 5 cm3 of air with a syringe (external
diameter of the needle provided with my refill set is 1.25 mm) through
the hole in the middle of the cartridgeæs cover (in the centre of the
light grey plastic circle) and then plug up the cartridge (I prefer to
use a piece of adhesive tape to cover the hole in the rear right hand
corner which, in a new cartridge, is closed with a little grey plastic
ball pressed into it.)
9.2
After the hole has been covered, both the syringe and the adhesive tape
across the ventilation opening in the bottom of the cartridge can be
removed, and there should be no leakage at all.
9.2
I find it far easier to refill the big cartridges than the smaller ones
which have a sponge inside. Because you can see through them, and
because you simply fill an empty container through a hole, a refill is
completed very quickly Ö I timed the last one I did for a colleague and,
altogether, it took me about 2╜ mins.
9.2
Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany
9.2
Coloured card Ö I found a source of cheap, coloured card that is fully
inkjet compatible. It is from Staples, called Adagio, weighs in at 160
gsm and is available in about half a dozen colours. 500 sheets cost
ú7.39 inc VAT. Another tip is to ignore Canonæs warning that paper over
100 gsm wonæt work in the BJ200 Ö this card works quite happily, as long
as you remember to set the feed selector to manual (the front position).
9.2
Nigel Caplan, Leeds.
9.2
ÉDeadæ mouse button? Ö If the select button on your mouse wonæt work
with, for example, the Éformatæ button on the floppy disc format window,
first check that you havenæt got Édrag delayæ and Édrag start distanceæ
in the Émouseæ part of !Configure set to zero. It took me a long time to
find that one!
9.2
Stuart Bell, Horsham.
9.2
Hard slash Ö Paul mentioned the splitting of things like É4/5æ across
the end of a line. This seems to be a Publisher Éfeatureæ. One possible
solution is to use the | character (shift-\) for the divider and
italicise it, as: 4|5. This acts as a Éhard slashæ Ö not elegant Ö but
it works Ö except that not all fonts change the vertical line into a
diagonal when italicised. (In Plantin light italic, the | is straight,
as you can see! The one above is a cheat using Trinity. Ed.)
9.2
Jim Nottingham, York.
9.2
Resetting the System beep Ö Lots of programs do horrible things to the
System beep, from changing the tempo to switching it off altogether. One
way to get it back easily is a one line Basic program, affixed to the
Pinboard.
9.2
As my computer stands in a rather noisy room, I load a module öGunshotò
in my Boot sequence to make sure I hear it Ö especially the Alarm Ö even
if I am, at the time, in another part of the room.
9.2
10 OSCLI (öChannelVoice 1 ò+öGunshotò):SYS
öSound_Configureò,0,0,100;SOUND 1,&17F,&4700,1
9.2
The last numbers determine the pitch of the sound Ö you can find the
details in the BBC Basic Guide.
9.2
Instead of öGunshotò, you can use any voice name the computer knows,
including the dull öWaveSynth-Beepò. The built-in voices will need a
different pitch setting though Ö experiment!
9.2
Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany.
9.2
Risc PC monitors and power saving Ö Have you bought a Risc PC with a
modern monitor (with power saving options), and does the monitor refuse
to switch off if you activate the RISC OS 3.5 screen saver? If so, you
should take a look at your monitoræs definition file which is hidden in
!Boot.Resources.Configure.Monitors.
9.2
One of the first lines in this textfile reads DPMS_state:x, where x (a
number between 0 and 3) defines the behaviour of the monitor.
9.2
0 Ö use just the standard screen blanker
9.2
1 Ö switch the monitor to standby mode
9.2
2 Ö interrupt all signals to the monitor
9.2
3 Ö turn off the monitor completely
9.2
The number you prefer can simply be typed into the file in any text
editor Ö there is no need to use the likes of !MakeModes.
9.2
Of course, if you use one of the many screen-savers on the market, you
can still continue to do so. My personal settings are: Out-to-Lunchæs
fish tank to come on after four minutes, the RISCáOS 3.5 saver (with
DPMS_state:2) after 15 minutes.
9.2
Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany.
9.2
Snippet and PC486 Ö Snippetæs screen grabbing facility seems to stop
working when the !PC486 software is run. This is, however, only a
question of choosing the right hot keys. <Tab-left-alt>, for instance,
works perfectly even in single tasking mode, as does <capslock-left-
alt>.
9.2
Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany.
9.2
SyQuests in RiscáPCs Ö A warning to all RiscáPC owners with a 3╜ö
SyQuest in the top right drive position. I have my machine with such a
configuration and a fairly long SCSI lead. An extra connector sits on
top of the SyQuest. It stopped working with what the system said was a
fatal hardware error. I tried to eject the cartridge to find out what
was wrong. The eject lever wouldnæt release to its full extent. The lid
which I had just replaced was pressing the connector of the cable on to
the SyQuest and preventing movement. Rerouting the cable fixed the
problem.
9.2
Chris Walker, Norwich.
9.2
Switching !PC486 to single tasking mode Ö This is one of those bits of
information in the manual that are very easily overlooked. If you want
to change !PC486 to single tasking mode (even if the window is currently
frozen), a double click somewhere on the window is enough Ö there is no
need to go through the iconbar menu. A single click will unfreeze a
window without leaving the multitasking mode.
9.2
Jochen Konietzko, K÷ln, Germany.