Archive Magazine 1997/ARCHIVE_97.iso/text/hints/vol_04/issue_10

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 19KB | 486 lines

Hints and Tips
4.10
Å   *Count command Ö In Archive 4.6 p8 the hint about *Count, is only
partly right. The *Count command only counts data. This means that
directories indeed donæt contribute, but also that only the amount of
data in a file is counted. However, all files must be an integer
multiple of the block-size (1k for D and E format), and for short files
this makes a huge difference. My 46Mb hard disc has about 8Mb difference
between space used from *Free and from *Count for these reasons!
4.10
One implication of this is that when you archive a large number of small
files with !Spark you can save much more disc space than you might
expect. One thing I would suggest for hard disc users is to copy the
directory tree using *Copy :4.$ :0 T R, and then archive it, which will
compress it down to almost nothing. Think of all the time you spend
setting up the directory structure; this may be more important than
losing files, most of which you will (should?), after all, have on
floppies. As an added bonus this also gives you the location of all
applications, as these are just directories. If (perish the thought) you
have a disc crash, you can just drag the tree out of the archive and
onto a new hard disc.  Stephen Burke, Liverpool.
4.10
Å   DataLoad problems? Ö The PRM says that if a DataLoad message isnæt
acknowledged, the sending task should delete <Wimp$Scrap> and give an
error. However, I think this is wrong. You arenæt guaranteed that the
scrap file used is, in fact, <Wimp$Scrap>. One case where this must
happen is with an application which can both load and save files of the
same type at the same time; it must not use <Wimp$Scrap> for both, or it
might get very confused! However, there might be other reasons. I
therefore think you should remember the name of the file you saved, and
delete that Ö you get told that it wasnæt a secure file, so this should
be safe.  Stephen Burke, Liverpool.
4.10
Å   Hard Drive problems Ö BEWARE!!! If you have a fairly old computer Ö a
310 or a 440 or even a vintage 410/1 or if you are working in a dusty
environment and you are putting in a new hard drive, check/replace the
fan filter. Why? Well, drive suppliers tell us that on more than one
occasion they have had a computer where the fan filter was blocked up
with dust, the customer has installed a new drive and not changed the
filter and, as a result of the lack of airflow, the drive has suffered a
fatal head crash. So, you have been warned. (Fan filters should be
available öfrom your local Acorn dealerò or they can be bought from
N.C.S. as part of an öAnnual Service Kitò Ö including a new pair of
batteries Ö priced ú3.)
4.10
Å   How long is a line? Ö While editing an old program which I was
converting from the BBC Master to run on the Archimedes, I came across
some features of Basic line lengths which may be of interest. The
program was originally written for the BBC-B with the longest possible
lines to save space.
4.10
On Page 16 of the ÉBasic User Guideæ issue 1 dated 1988, it says ÉA line
of Basic can contain up to 238 characters...æ but on page 386 it says
that ÉAs in a Basic program, the length of a line is limited (by the
Basic Editor) to 251 characters..æ. This implies that the system has two
different ideas of what the maximum line length should be, instead of
one. Unfortunately, the one it uses seems to depend on what you are
doing.
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My module ARMBasicEdit (version 1 21 August 87) allows the insertion of
many more than 238 characters in a line. I can get up to 369 before
there is a warning bell, but then neither <Escape> nor <Return> nor SAVE
work until there are only the 251 characters left. Programs containing
lines of length between 239 and 251 apparently run without problems.
However, if you try editing the lines with Basic loaded, just using the
Copy key, you find that there is a warning bell after 239 characters,
(excluding the line number), not after 251.
4.10
Programs with lines longer than 239 characters can be converted to ASCII
using *SPOOL. However, when you attempt to read them back into a Basic
program using *EXEC, the lines are truncated to 239, so that the program
no longer runs. There is a warning bell but the *EXEC process does not
stop, so not allowing me to find which lines are at fault. I find this
very frustrating. The file Btest, on the monthly disc, is an example of
such a program. The file ÉCHECK240æ is a small program which reads a
file made using *SPOOL which cannot be successfully read back using
*EXEC. It lists the line numbers which are too long, allowing me to edit
them with the Basic Editor.
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CHAINöBtestò to see that it runs. Then try
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*SPOOL TEMP
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LIST
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*SPOOL
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*EXEC TEMP
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CHAIN öCHECK240ò
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and reply öTEMPò at the prompt. Kate Crennell, Didcot.
4.10
Å   Printer drivers Ö Further to recent tips about altering the PrData
file within the printer driver, you can also alter the title of your
preferred driver and make it the default driver on loading. For example,
the amendments to !PrinterDM in Archive 4.8 could be made to read öStar
LC24-10ò by altering the line before the line öprinter number:2ò. The
default loading is achieved by amending the line öprinter:01ò to
öprinter:02ò. This line is found towards the end of the data file
immediately before the line ölocation:1ò. Note that the printer number
must be padded out with a zero (0). Pressing <select> after loading the
driver will confirm if your amendments have been correctly made.  Ted
Lacey, Southampton.
4.10
Å   Printing A5 on an A4 printer Ö If you ask the manufacturers, they say
it is not possible to put A5 paper through either the Qume (300 d.p.i.)
or the Canon (600 d.p.i.) Laser Directs Ö or the LBP4æs for that matter
Ö but it is possible. All you need is a pile of A5 sheets of scrap paper
sellotaped up into a solid block about ╜ö thick (or ╛ò thick for the
Canons). You put them at the back of the A4 paper tray and put the A5
paper, sideways, of course, at the front. The paper usually goes through
OK but does occasionally stick. All you have to be careful of, presum
ably, is that you donæt print on the lower half of the (A4) paper that
is not actually there. Having said that, I have been using A5 paper on
Qumeæs, Canons and Mac Laserwriters for years and have occasionally left
the öA5ò tray in when printing A4 without any obvious damage to the
printers.
4.10
We can now get hold of spare paper trays for Qume (ú66) and Canon LBP4
(ú57) and Canon LBP8 (ú54)
4.10
(A possible alternative to the paper is a block of wood the same size
and thickness but I havenæt actually tried it.)
4.10
Å   Psychedelic sound-to-light Ö Whilst playing a Tracker module, it is
possible to obtain some interesting effects on your monitor by typing
the following Basic command:
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SYS öOS_UpdateMEMCò,768,1792
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The screen can be returned to normal with either a MODE command or with:
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SYS öOS_UpdateMEMCò,1536,1792
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Rob Swain, Kent
4.10
Å   Render Bender on SCSI hard disc drives revisited Ö In Archive 3.11 p6,
Neil Berry explains how to use Render Bender on SCSI hard disc drives
but leaves us with the problem of how to use *KILLADFS. This can be
achieved by changing all references made to SWI ADFS_Drives (&40242) to
SWI SCSI_Drives (&403C6). i.e.
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In the ÉRenderæ Basic listing: change the SWI &40242 to &403C6 in line
15810
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In ÉAnirouteæ Basic listing: change the SWI &40242 to &403C6 in line
6670
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Atle Mjelde Bσrdholt, Norway
4.10
Å   Running one application inside another Ö The comment in Archive 4.9
page 6 seems to need some amplification. As explained on page 11 of the
May/June 1991 issue of öThe Archimedeanò from Computer Concepts, if you
want to run one application from inside the !Run file of another, you
should first enter the command
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*Desktop Run <sibling task name>
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and then repeat the *Wimpslot command from earlier in the !Run file to
ensure that there is enough memory available for the main application
before you run it.
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Thus, for example, to make Impression automatically load a printer
driver whenever it is run you should edit the !Impress.!Run file by
inserting two extra lines immediately before the last so that the last
three lines read:
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Desktop Run [...path...].!PrinterXX
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Wimpslot Ömin xxxK Ömax xxxK
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Run ö<Impression$Dir>.!RunImageò %*0
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The xxxK in the Wimpslot command should be exactly the same as used
earlier in the !Run file Ö the precise amount of memory needed will vary
from one version of Impression to another. Hugh Eagle, Horsham.
4.10
Å   Sound improvements Ö A much improved sound, which is also more
controllable, can be obtained using the standard colour monitor supplied
with the Archimedes. A 3.5mm jack (Archimedes) to phono (monitor) cable
is required, and the speaker on the Archimedes should be turned off
using *SPEAKER OFF.  Sean Kelly, London
4.10
Å   Sound voice changes Ö Among the (many) things that annoy me are those
professional programmers who alter your Sound Voice for their games
which otherwise claim to be öRISC-OS Compatibleò. They return you to the
desktop with their Sound Modules set up as ChannelVoice 1. Not everyone
likes the WaveSynth-Beep as default voice, and as for some of the sound
modules or digitised Voice Modules which are then sounded when an error
occurs, YUK!
4.10
It is quite a simple matter to find out what ChannelVoice the user has
set up and the program could very easily, before exiting to the desktop,
restore it using the following code which is available for all program
mers to use, professional or amateur (please!).
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REM Find the Useræs ChannelVoice 1
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SYS öSound_AttachVoiceò,1,0 to ,user_voice%
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REM Because ChannelVoice 1 now equal to 0, reset
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SYS öSound_AttachVoiceò,1,user_voice%
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REM Rest of program, Wimp Interface, whatever
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*ChannelVoice 1 Totally Fantastic Voice
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REM Program at end, restore user voice
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SYSöSound_AttachVoiceò,1,user_voice%
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David Shepherdson
4.10
Å   Toolkit Plus update Ö Claresæ Toolkit Plus usually produces a ÉBad
disc addressæ error when you try to edit E format floppy discs. This can
be rectified by performing the following:
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1   RMLoad the Toolkit Plus module.
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2   Type: *Modules <return> and take note of the Épositionæ address of the
Toolkit Plus module.
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3   Use *WFIND &EF060240 <return> and ignore the first occurrence (i.e.
press <ctrl-tab> to go on to the next occurrence).
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4   Locate the instruction seventeen lines down which reads BCC xxxxx.
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5   Select Éword modeæ and zero this instruction.
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You should now be able to edit E format discs.
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S Edwards, Wordsley
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Å   Toolkit Plus with SCSI Ö Claresæ Toolkit Plus provides a disc sector
editor, which refused to work on my SCSI hard disc. A modified Toolkit
Plus may be produced by using !Edit on the Toolkit Plus module to
replace all occurrences of ÉADFSæ with ÉSCSIæ before saving the module
with a new name e.g. SCSITools.
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A drawback is that the modified version will not cope with ADFS
floppies. Changing the module name (e.g. from ÉToolkit+æ to ÉSCSIToolsæ)
using !Edit allows the modified and original modules to be present at
the same time, and changing the disc edit command names allows both ADFS
and SCSI discs to be edited Ö for instance, !Edit could be used to
replace ÉAEDITæ in Toolkit+ with ÉWEDITæ in SCSITools.
4.10
Sean Kelly, London
4.10
Impression HintsáandáTips
4.10
Å   Abbreviations Ö I use abbreviations quite a lot such as öimpò for
Impression and just örò for Archimedes but I often want to say, for
example öá...using DrawPlus (Careware 13)...ò and although öcaò and öCaò
are both set up to expand to öCarewareò, using ö(caò doesnæt work. There
is no easy way round it as far as I know Ö you just have to put ö(caò
into the abbreviations dictionary to expand to ö(Carewareò.
4.10
Å   Bullets Ö Weæve mentioned that <ctrl-shift-H> produces a bullet but
since <backspace> (immediately below <F12> and above <\>) produces the
same ASCII code as <ctrl-H>, you will find that <shift-backspace>
produces a bullet. Touch typists may well find it somewhat more natural
than <ctrl-shift-H>.
4.10
Å   Creating tables Ö The release notes issued with Impression II describe
the new features of version 2.12 but they do less than justice to one of
those features, namely the capacity to create tables. It is possible to
vary the width of individual columns and individual rows in a table as
well as the thickness of the vertical and horizontal lines which form
the table.
4.10
In addition, the many editing facilities of Impression can be used to
modify text which has been entered into the table so that the style and
size of the characters in any öcellò of the table can be varied as
desired.
4.10
Moreover, in the manner usual with Impression II, another frame can be
superimposed on any selected part of the table with the effect that
lines of the table can be covered and will ödisappearò permitting text
of any size and nature to be introduced and adjusted to appear to be a
part of the structure of the table.
4.10
In addition to text, any of the superimposed frames can be made graphics
frames permitting illustrations to be introduced. You can use left hand
tabulation in the some columns, right hand tabulation in others and
decimal point tabulation in others.
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Practical matters: First construct the empty table. Then determine which
cells will be visible in the completed table and enter text into those
cells, Finally, superimpose other frames as required. Proceeding in this
order prevents interference with tabulation.
4.10
The usual procedure will be to construct a table of this kind within a
frame of its own so that it can be moved as a whole to any desired
position within the document of which it will form a part. Therefore, on
completion of the table, the various frames of which it is composed
should be Grouped so that the table occupies a single frame. George
Foot, Oxted.ááA
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Oak
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From 4.9 page 12
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Lindis International
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From 4.8 page 16
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Computer Concepts
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New artwork
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Coming direct to you, hopefully!
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If not, use old one.
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Computer Concepts
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New artwork
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Coming direct to you, hopefully!
4.10
If not, use old one.
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4.10
Graphics Galore on the Cheap!
4.10
Tord Eriksson
4.10
Reading with amazement about the latest version of Ventura Publisher Mac
that costs a cool ú695 (exclusive VAT!) and so-called Ébudgetæ DTP
programs for IBMs weighing in at ú70 to ú160, I wonder if we Archimedes
users really know how fortunate we are when it comes to good, cheap
software.
4.10
The öbudgetò DTP programs for IBMs canæt even word-process Ö you have to
use a separate editor, just as you have to do if you do some DTP with
!Draw....
4.10
Of course, the latest version of Ventura Publisher Mac can print fonts
in 23╜ size instead of just 23 or 24 point size Ö a revolution no doubt
but one that almost all DTP and word-processors for our Archimedes
machines manage easily!
4.10
Archimedes Ö no master of colours!
4.10
There is a difference between modern IBMs and Mac IIæs that puts all
Acorn computers at a disadvantage, even if it was once hailed as an
advance over said computers: Colours!
4.10
In terms of colour, both Mac II computers and IBMs with VGA are better
than Archimedes and the sky is the limit as there are hundreds of
graphics cards that can be bought that improve things further Ö 24-bit
colours are available.
4.10
RISC-OS has an upper limit of 8 bits per pixel, 256 colours Ö 24 bits
per pixel gives 16,777,216 different colours, quite a lot more!.
4.10
For the Archimedes range, the limitations are built-in, through RISC-OS
and the fixed hardware. (There are some improvements possible with
hardware add-ons, but nothing major).
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Serious DTP is black & white!
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Fortunately, colour printers are very rare in everyday printing, mainly
due to the fact that such printers are very costly and/or requires
skilled staff to attend to them.
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So, for practical purposes, DTP will continue to be a mainly black &
white affair, maybe with some colour thrown in for good measure on
covers etc.
4.10
The woes of illustrating....
4.10
Being a former technical illustrator, I am painfully aware of the amount
of work needed to set text in a circular fashion as on a coin or an
official seal or make the logo on a fluttering flag look like the real
thing. Hours and hours of work, or in the case of the flag, take a photo
of the real thing and trace that with tracing paper....
4.10
If the logo is new, you canæt print it first on a flag, so you try to
make do with crinkling a piece of paper upon which you put your text or
logo and take a photo of that....
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All this is now of the past, as long as your logo or text can be
transformed into a !Draw file.
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First Ö !FontFX
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Let us try an example: There used to be an oil company around this part
of the world called Caltex. Let us say we are going to do a drawing with
a flag fluttering with that name on it.
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First we have the text, set in Pembroke:
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To make it more interesting letæs add a shadow, with the shadow in the
north-east, and make the text itself a black outline filled with a light
grey and behind it, the dark grey shadow:
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Both these operations are very easy to do with !FontFX as you just click
on the buttons needed, no previous know-how needed!
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To make this flutter we have to use a couple of other utilities:
!DrawPlus (or !Draw) and DrawBender.
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Warped universe
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A normal picture is plotted in our brain according to the angle we watch
the picture from: If we fly above a square field the corners are right
angle corners (a so-called birdæs-eye view) and if we stand just outside
the field the angles get very odd indeed Ö their sum is still 360,
though!
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If a square is wrapped around a cylinder things get much more compli
cated, especially when seen at an angle Ö an illustratoræs nightmare!
Not even all CAD programs seems to be able to solve it correctly....
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Secondly Ö make a mould!
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DrawBender manipulates !Draw files by plotting them inside each other:
Any text that is going to be manipulated has to be in !Draw format. The
coordinate system öinsideò a square is still square but inside a circle
it takes on the characteristics of a text printed on a balloon like
this:
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The first (the circle) is called the mould and the second (the square
inside a frame) is called the object.
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Due to the way DrawBender works, a real circle couldnæt be used Ö it had
to be substituted it with a 32-sided polygon and it had to be flipped
over because paths have to be clockwise to work as moulds in DrawBender
whereas !Draw and !DrawPlus draw counter-clockwise Ö itæs all very well
explained in the DrawBender manual!
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Wonderful results!
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Taking the text, we put it on rectangular background, to make the
outline of the flag as the outline of the mould doesnæt show up on the
finished result:
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This is now our object! A öflapping flagò is our mould:
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Conclusion
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As the end result shows the effect is quite stunning. This amount of
manipulation is available to IBM users of course Ö I could recommend
Express Publisher (ú159.95) as the ölow-costò alternative!
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For Archimedes users the cost is just ú21, including two manuals and
lots of sample files (available from Ian Copestake Software).ááA
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