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1985-11-19
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What is Picture Moniter ?
Pic-Mon is simply a picture converter with a twist (if you don't
know what a picture converter is or why you may need one then read the
section that follows), the twist is that instead of loading Pic-Mon
everytime you need to convert a picture, you simply (assuming that
Pic-Mon is installed, see below) follow the normal procedures you
would go through to load a picture of the correct format, select the
picture file you want to load and Pic-Mon will spring into life and
give you several options, including what to convert the file to.
What is a picture converter ?
If you have ever used an art package then you may be aware of the
vast array of picture formats used by different art packages (the
different formats are distinguished by the different file extensions
they use, the file exstension is the three letters that follow the
decimal point in a filename).
The fact that there are so many picture formats can cause
problems, especially if the art package you are using cannot load a
picture you want to, or perhaps the art package can load the picture
format you want, but the picture has be drawn in high resolution and
you are using the art package in low res. This is where picture
converters come in, they simply allow you to load in just about any
picture of any format or resolution and then save the picture in the
file format you want.
As mentioned above to use Pic-Mon you don't need to leave the art
package and then load Pic-Mon to convert a picture, the details of how
this is done are given later in this document.
How to install Pic-Mon.
To install Pic-Mon you simply have to double-click on PICMON.PRG
from the desktop and assuming there is enough memory you should be
greeted with the message "PICMON V1 installed." then number after the
"V" is the version of Pic-Mon you have, information on the different
versions appears later in this document.
Alternatively you can place PICMON.PRG in an AUTO folder and have
it install itself every time you boot up your computer.
How to use Pic-Mon.
The following steps shows how to use Pic_mon to load a picture you
normally cannot load, whether it is because the picture is in a format
not catered for in your art pakcage or because it was drawn in a
different screen resolution:
1/ Install Pic-Mon, as described above.
2/ Go through life as normal until you need to load a picture
into the art package.
3/ Follow the normal loading sequence, until it comes to
selecting the file to load.
4/ Select the picture you want to load, that is the picture
you normally can't load.
5/ All going well, and assumming the file you wish to load is
one of those compatable with Pic-Mon (see next section), you should
be presented with a screen giving you several options.
6/ Select the option to convert the picture to a file format
that your art package uses, et voila the picture has be converted
to the correct file format and resolution.
Some art packages check the file exstension of the file you select
to load and if it finds that it (as in the picture format) is one it
cannot handle then it refuses to load it (the picture, that is), in
such cases when you follow step 4, instead of the selection screen a
message similer to "Picture File Not Correct Format" will appear.
If you find the above situation occurs, it will if you try Pic-Mon
with STOS, don't panic, simply follow the above steps to step 4, and
then continue as follows:
4/ Enter a filename of a file that does not exist, but with
the exstension of a picture format compatable with the program.
eg. if loading a picture "fred.pc1" into STOS I would tell STOS
to load "fred.pi1" (STOS can load "pi1" pictures, but not "pc1"
pictures.)
5/ Pic-Mon will then appear with a message telling you the
file dosen't exist and you will be given the choice of entering a
new name, press 'Y' and type-in the actual filename of the file
you want to load, with the correct exstension. eg. In the above
example I would type-in "fred.pc1".
The rest of the proccess is as shown in step 5 in the first set of
instruction.
So what Picture Formats can I load ?
With Version 1 (see next section) the pictues with file
exstensions as follow can be convert by Pic-Mon:
PI1,PI2,PI3 ---> Degas picture files, the numbers
tell you the resolution the pictures
were drawn in (1=Low,2=Medium,
3=High).
NEO ---> Neochrome picture files.
PC1,PC2,PC3 ---> Degas Elite picture files, the numbers
have the same meaning as above.
What does this version stuff mean ?
When you first install Pic-Mon a message appears, and the version
you have is the number after the "V". This number simply means how
many revisons of the program there has been, eg Version 1 is the first
program and no revisions have been made. The revisions made could be
bug repairs or extra exstensions to the program, for example more
picture files may be used then an earlier version etc.
At the moment there are only Version 1 & 1.1 avaliable (16/10/1992), but
further updates will be avaliable, that is assuming I get enough
encourgement to do so.
How do I encourgae you to write more updates ?
Pic-Mon is currently Public Domain, this means you can copy it and
give it to your friends, as long as this document goes with it and no
charge is made for the actual program, the cost of the disk is a
different matter. So one way of encouraging me is by giveing this
program to everyone and anyone you know, even they they don't have a
computer.
The best encouragement I could get are loads of letters in the
post telling me whether you find Pic-Mon usefull or not, what computer
set up you have, what programs you have succesfully used Pic-Mon with,
bug reports, ideas for future development, perhaps even a small bit of
cash etc., All things going well this could end up on the ST Format
cover disk, if it does and I only get 1 or 2 letters then it would be
obvious, due to the large number of readers of ST Format, that this is
obviously an unuseful utilty.
Send your letters of encouragement/discouragement to:
Craig Salter(Pic-Mon),
Woodside Cottage,
Wickham Lane,
London.
SE2 ONS.
Bug reports.
The following is a list of bugs I know of for Pic-Mon, and they
will hopefully be fixed in future versions:
Version 1:
* Try loading a picture as Degas Elite into NEOchrome Master,
it dosen't work.
* With Pic-Mon installed you will not be able to copy picture
files using Desktop or anything similar.
* If using Pic-Mon with Deluxe Paint the system appears to
hang-up when a picture file is opened, this is because Dpaint
changes the keyboard vectors, so Pic-Mon waits for a keypress
it will never get.
Version 1.1:
* If Pic-Mon is run after the TSR (terminate-stay-residant)
program Mortimer, then opening a picture file from the
desktop will result in a crash, this happens with TOS 1.00
anyway.
* Oh dear, on some versions of TOS when you have shown
a picture from desktop(see below), it crashes. (Chears to Ian
for that)
Version Changes.
The following is a list of changes made to Picmon in each version:
Version 1.1:
* Picmon now only comes into action only when a program is
being run, this means you now CAN copy picture files from
desktop.
* If a picture is double-clicked on from the desktop, as if
it was a text/program file, and then SHOW is selected from
the resulting alert box then the picture is displayed on
the screen, after being converted to the current screen
resolution. NB If PRINT is selected from the alert box,
then this acts as if Pic-Mon isn't active, in otherwords
the picture file is sent to the printer as if it was a
text file, resulting in garbage being printed.
Version 1.2:
* Hopefully the picture display from desktop bug has been
fixed, if any bombs appear after showing/printing a
picture, please let me know.
* If as with version 1.1 a picture is opened from desktop
then the picture can now also be printed, funnly enough by
selecting PRINT from the box that appears. The default
settings are for a 9-pin epson compatable printer
(Well it works on Star LC-10), to change the printer settings,
simply double-click on the file PICMON.INF (make sure Pic-Mon
has been installed first), and select SHOW. A menu will appear
giving various options for changing the printer type, port etc.
Pressing X will take you back to the desktop with the new
settings installed, pressing S will save the changes to disk
and the new settings will be the default settings when ever
you load Pic-Mon.
NB The two printer types on offer, other than Epson compatable
probably arn't for the printers they say their for, (the
description of the OS routine _Prtblk seens to vary from book
to book), if your not sure what printer type to use than try
each in turn until a descent print is obtained.
(Thanks must also be given to Alan)
NB(No. 2) A print-out can be stopped in mid flow (oo-er) by
pressing ALTERNATE and the HELP key at the same time.
NB(The 3rd) A print-out can also be stopped by:
1/ Turning your computer off.
2/ Reseting your computer.
3/ Throwing a large hammer at your computer.
4/ Throwing a large hammer at your printer.
5/ Throwing 2 large hammers at both your computer
and your printer.
6/ Print out a black screen (creates the most noise)
at 3:00 am and let one of your neighbours/fellow
house occupants throw a sizeable hammer at your
computer, your printer and, most probable, at you.
Possible Future Exspansion
The following is a list of features I am considering putting into
later version of Pic-Mon:
* More picture formats that can be converted using Pic-Mon.
* A nice graphical interface with the user, will take time and
memory, so maybe not.
* Making Pic-Mon reset proof.
* Allow file templetes, giving Pic-Mon details of currently
un-compatable picture formats.
* The use of hot-keys to disable and enable Pic-Mon.
* Greater compatabilty with different TOS versions, well we
can all dream can't we.
* I am also considering either writing another utility, or
intergrating with Pic-Mon, called Text-Mon, to allow converting
between different file formats from text packages.