Archive Magazine 1997/ARCHIVE_97.iso/text/hints/vol_05/issue_03

Text File | 1995-02-16 | 12KB | 262 lines

Hints and Tips
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Å   AMX mouse Ö To replace the Archimedes mouse with an AMX mouse from a
BBC computer, all that is necessary is to change the plug on the AMX
mouse for a miniature 9 pin DIN plug. The correct plug can be obtained
from Maplin Electronics (0702Ö554161). It is stock number JX19V (price
82p +p&p). Cut the original 20 way IDC connector off the mouse cable and
then solder the wires onto the new plug. The pins are very close
together, so a fair amount of care is required. It is easiest to start
with the middle pins and work outwards. I found that the plastic housing
supplied with the plug was just too wide to fit into my A3000 but it can
easily be cut smaller with a sharp knife.
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Paul Marshall, Loughborough.
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(Has anyone got the connections to do the same sort of thing but with a
BBC Trackerball? Ed)
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Å   Cops and Plague Planet Ö I should like to pass on the following advice
received from Alpine.
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Both Cops and Plague Planet re-configure the character set used to their
own. If you have a copy of Alpine Softwareæs ALPS (Adventure Language
Programming System) this contains a copy of the default Archimedes
character set e.g. $.!ALPS. Resources.defaultchr.
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Copy this file to the appropriate games directory (e.g.
$.COPS.defaultchr), and add the following line at the very end of the
appropriate !Run file (e.g. for Cops):
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Print <Cops$Dir>.defaultchr
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This will then automatically reset the computer to the default system
font upon returning to the Desktop.      Rob Brown, Tadworth
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Å   Corruption and Jinxter Ö I have recently transferred a number of the
earlier Magnetic Scrolls adventure games from floppy to hard disc and
have encountered certain problems with their usage of the Shared C
Library !System module.
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Fish! does not use the Shared C Library at all. Both The Guild of
Thieves and The Pawn came with version 3.50 of the Shared C Library and
they function with more recent versions without any difficulty. However,
my copies of Corruption (version 1.12) and Jinxter (version 1.30) came
with version 1.01 of the Shared C Library and they will not function at
all with any of the more recent versions.
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What I wanted to achieve was an easy means of starting either program
straight from the Desktop and automatically loading the öoldò version of
the Shared C Library. After some trial and error I have found one way
round this by modifying the !Run files for both applications.
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Firstly, version 1.01 of the Shared C Library needs to be copied to a
suitable directory within the !System application on the hard disc (e.g.
$.!System.oldModules.CLib_v101).
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Unfortunately the command RMEnsure will not only check for a particular
version of a module but it will also accept more recent versions. In the
!Run file I have therefore used this command to check whether a
subsequent version (e.g. 1.02) of the Shared C Library is already loaded
and, if not, the most up to date version is loaded from the !System
application. The command RMKill is then used to delete this module
before loading the öoldò version 1.01 of the Shared C Library. Finally,
after exiting the program, the öoldò Shared C Library is deleted, the
latest version (currently 3.75) is re-loaded, and the !Run file finally
returns control direct to the Desktop.
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| !Run file for Corruption
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| (or Jinxter Ö change references from öCorruptionò to öJinxterò)
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| (requires Shared C library version 1.01 dated 13-Jun-88)
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|
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IconSprites <Obey$Dir>.!Sprites
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WimpSlot -min 512K -max 512K
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|
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Set Corruption$CLibLoaded 1
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RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 1.02 Set Corruption$CLibLoaded 0
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If Corruption$CLibLoaded=0 then If ö<System$Path>ò = öò then Error
System resources cannot be found
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If Corruption$CLibLoaded=0 then RMLoad System:Modules.Clib
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RMKill SharedCLibrary
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RMLoad System:oldModules.CLib_v101 .Clib
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RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 1.01 Error You need SharedCLibrary
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version 1.01 ONLY
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Unset Corruption$CLibLoaded
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|
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Set Corruption$Dir <Obey$Dir>
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Run <Corruption$Dir>.Corruption.f1 <Corruption$Dir>.Corruption.f2
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|
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|
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RMKill SharedCLibrary
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RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 3.75 RMLoad System:Modules.Clib
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RMEnsure SharedCLibrary 3.75 Error You need SharedCLibrary
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version 3.75 or later
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Desktop
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WARNING Ö any other programs active within the Desktop should be closed
down and any files saved before starting either Corruption or Jinxter Ö
especially those programs which use the Shared C Library! Perhaps
another reader can find a way round this?
5.3
Rob Brown, Tadworth
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Å   Elite Ö When you start Archimedes Elite, it prompts you to enter a
word from the manual, as an anti-piracy precaution. When it says ötype
the word exactly as shownò it means the input is case sensitive. You
have to remember to take the Caps Lock off. This falls into the category
of öobvious to most peopleò but hopefully this hint will save somebody
the frustrating quarter of an hour which I spent trying to get the thing
to work when it first arrived.
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People who are used to the 8 bit version of the game should watch out
for little things which have changed. For example, furs are now illicit
cargo in the same way that narcotics and firearms are. You are told this
in the manual but you have to look for it pretty carefully!
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Neil Hoggarth, WinchesterááA
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Impression Hintsá&áTips
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Å   Position holding Ö My repeated plea for a way of holding the current
position in a document when you expand and contract the window has been
answered! A box of four Archive mugs is winging its way to Bob Potter of
Bath. He gave me the basic idea which I have amplified slightly.
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Basically, as Bob pointed out, when you expand and contract the window,
Impression returns to the position that was current when the window was
small. (Surely, CC, this isnæt very sensible, is it? You are more likely
to change the current position when working in the full size window. Why
not change it whenever you move about within the document?) Anyway,
given that this is how it works at present, all you have to do to
maintain your position is, as soon as you have shrunk the window, press
<cursor-left> (and then <cursor-right> if you want to) so that the
current position will be displayed and remembered within the small
window. The only slight disadvantage with this is that if the small
window is very small, you will find the cursor near to the top of the
window when you expand it, not near the middle. Thanks, Bob!ááA
5.3


The Engineer Speaks
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Ray Maidstone
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Å   Hard drive mounts Ö Several customers have had cause to ship their
Archimedi to me for repair, and a hardware problem has come to light.
Some of you have purchased hard drives that have been mounted on thin
aluminium brackets. These rather flimsy brackets easily distort under
small amounts of G stress and, unfortunately, a few harddrives have gone
to the great hard disc graveyard in the sky. Aluminium was used by the
Airforce because of its tensile properties, and should (due to this very
fact) not be used to anchor a hard drive. These small brackets deform
under stress and leave the drive öflappingò about.
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Another comment about brackets Ö a lot of them are fine for their
supporting properties but not very good when it comes to air circula
tion. This can be improved by either punching some 3/8ö holes in the
sides, or by buying a pair of Paulæs new nifty side brackets at ú4 a
pair. We have had a few instances of over-heating causing premature
decease of drives, particularly with back planes full of podules and a
partly blocked filter. It is possible that, by reducing the bracket
size, this could have been avoided.
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Å   *Shut and *bye Ö The last word! I have not, at any time in my
comments, stated that the suggestions I have made are law, I have merely
offered the result of my findings to those who hadnæt a clue of what was
going on. There are a few small, old drives that need both, but most
only need one command to park. The removables, however, most certainly
do not park, and only the operating lever finally parks the heads. These
findings came about from observations of partially dismantled units
operating under standard command use.
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Å   LBP4 laser printers Ö I have been asked about switch on/off procedures
for these, and I reckon that, to minimise öspikesò, the order should
be... when switching on, either do so all together or the printer last,
and turning off, either do it all altogether or switch off the printer
first.
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Å   Cooling Ö Following the success of quietening the fans on Archimedes,
external hard drives have now been added to the list, and no heat
problems have arisen (mainly because of 14 months of actual proving
before releasing). Whilst assessing the quietening for these drives, it
was surprising to find just how mechanically noisy some makes of fan
were, as nearly 50% of the noise from the unit was being conducted
through the chassis assembly.
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I have also been asked öIf I donæt like Acornæs cooling method, what
would I like instead?ò My reply is that, in my opinion, the current fan
with or without a quietener (that never lets the fan speed drop below
75%) is not quite enough in the real world. Particularly if the filter
is on the inside, hardly anyone appears to pay much attention to keeping
the filter clean. Therefore, I have found a rather nice miniature fan
(currently being used by Morley in their external hard drives) that,
when introduced into the opposite side of the case to the present
arrangement, and being set to push air out of the case as the other
sucks it in, really gets some cooling done.
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A cautionary note about airflow is not to stand external floppy and hard
drive units too close to the sides of the Archimedes, or soft surfaces
under the A3000, as öwhat goes in must come outò and I have seen several
instances of hot machines being caused by the proximity of external
surfaces. The A3000 has a power supply that runs quite hot and, being
encased in fireproof cardboard, (on the earlier machines, anyway) made
things even more heated. I am using the miniature fan, aimed at the end
of the P.S.U., to assist temperature differences in this rather enclosed
environment. If anyone is interested in more details, let me know. This
small fan gives off very little sound and certainly improves longevity.
The lack of space inside the A3000 generally adds to the poor cooling in
the P.S.U. and any air movement is better than none.
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I made the comment above about fan quieteners not slowing the fan more
than 75% because, in the course of my development, I also tried systems
that reduced the fan speed to 40%, and also did one trial where I
stopped it all together for the first quarter hour, as no heat would
build up until after this. The fan would then thermostatically cut in
and then run in a varied way subject to temperature requirements. These
were all dropped due to the fact that, as the Archimedes box is not at
all aerodynamic, once the temperature began to build up, certain items
within it started to experience particularly large temperature rises
i.e. hard drive, P.S.U. and floppy drive. The final unit chosen simply
took the fan below the noise of air flare speed and, together with the
chassis decoupling grommets, removed so much noise that only the sound
of the hard drive rang in the ears. I would caution people against using
controllers that slow the fan excessively.
5.3
Å   IDE cabling Ö I notice that IDE drive cables have been quoted as long
as 20ö. I have it on very good authority that in some cases, even 12ò is
pushing it. This is because IDE signals tend to be far more easily
corrupted than those on SCSI lines. So please be warned and keep them as
short as possible.ááA
5.3