OS/2 Shareware BBS: 8 Other/08-Other.zip/wrpradio.zip/WRPRADIO.HLP

OS/2 Help File | 1997-08-08 | 13KB | 284 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Description ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

WarpRadio ver. 1.0 - Freeware. This program is an OS/2 (Warp 3.0 and later) PM
application that controls the RadioActive FM Radio card which was sold through
various mail order companies in 1994 by Novex Industries.

As far as I know, RadioActive is not sold anymore. It came with DOS and Windows
software which work under OS/2 DOS and Win-OS2 sessions. Since I prefer running
native OS/2 programs, I decided, as an exercise, to write my own program for
this card and publish it for free (donations gladly accepted). There is
probably nobody in this world that would pay for the time I spent on this
project anyway! I purchased this card in 1994, so it took me three years to
finish this project. Obviously, I did not work on it continuously for that
long. If you own this card and run OS/2, I would like to know what you think of
it. This program has been tested out by me and found to work properly. Some
station table edit functions need to be added and if there are enough users, I
will add them in. So send me e-mail if you use this program.

The features of WarpRadio are:

      Set volume (off, low, medium and high) for speakers attached to the
      RadioActive card. If you have the radio card connected to the Line-In of
      a SoundBlaster 16 card, then you can control the volume (32 levels)
      directly without having to use a mixer program.

      Software scanning for stations. 30 stations can be saved to a table and
      10 stations can be programmed to buttons.

      Fine tuning of stations, to a certain degree.

      All settings are saved and preserved for the next time you use WarpRadio.

      WarpRadio only uses a DLL file and installation does not require a reboot
      of your system.

 Select INDEX to see more help.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. How to use WarpRadio ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Background

The RadioActive card I/O memory is located from 316 to 31Fhex (or 336 to
33Fhex) and also uses an interrupt for scanning of stations. The RadioActive
card can be operated without this interrupt. I do not have the interrupt
enabled on my card because I do not have one available on my computer.
WarpRadio therefore does not use an interrupt. Also, the I/O is only written
to, no I/O read takes place for status feedback. As a matter of fact, the I/O
read connection to the card is not connected at all. Scanning for stations is
simulated with software. I have not taken the time to find out how the FM
frequency (88.0MHz to 108.0Mhz) is set on this card, however, I know the
registers it accesses to change stations. WarpRadio will simply scan through
all the possible combinations and if a station is detected, you simply stop the
scanning and record the data. There are three registers with possible values
ranging from 0 to 255. WarpRadio simply cycles through all the combinations at
a rate of one every half second. At that rate, it would take 97 days to go
through all combinations! WarpRadio allows you to preset these three registers
so you can find stations a little faster. Once you have found stations, you can
save the data and preset the memory button for station selection. If you figure
out the frequency versus register contents, let me know and I will change
WarpRadio so scanning can take place by frequency value rather than random
order. I have so far identified three stations: 90.1MHz is 0 0 255, 97.9MHz is
1 2 228 and 104.3MHz is 0 1 246. They are listed in the initial station table
so you can use this data to start finding other stations. See the section on
Installation about the format for the station table.

Using WarpRadio

Note:  When first run, WarpRadio will not write to any I/O memory location.
This allows for configuration of the radio card. If you reconfigure the
hardware (or want to see how WarpRadio looks like), delete the WRPRADIO.CFG
file before you run WarpRadio. WarpRadio obviously does write to I/O when the
volume gets changed, any of the 10 channels are left-clicked on or when START
is pressed in the scan window.

Run the program and select Settings - Configuration to select the I/O memory
location. Then you can check the volume. If you have the speakers connected to
the radio card, you have four possible volume settings, off, low, medium and
high (this is all the RadioActive card supports). Set it to low. If you have
the radio card connected to the line-in of a SoundBlaster 16 card, then you
will have 32 volume levels. Set it to a level such that you can hear the radio
background noise. Now select SCAN and press START. The program will start
writing data to the radio card at a rate of approximately half a second. If you
hear a station get clearer, then press STOP. Enter the name and frequency in
the fields and press SAVE. You must have at least the name field filled-in for
SAVE to be enabled. You can edit the stations with the proper name and
frequency at a later time. The three data fields can also be direct edited to
start scanning at a certain value, or use RECALL to select an existing station
and start scanning from there. Scanning can be started and stopped anytime.

Once you have a station programmed, go to the main window and right-click on
one of the memory channel buttons. This will bring up the station table and you
can click on SELECT to preset the station to the memory button. The station
name will appear on the memory button. Left-clicking on the memory button will
select the preset station.

Fine tunning of stations can be achieved to a certain degree with the + and -
buttons to the right of the station display. If you end up adjusting a certain
station all the time, then reprogram it using SCAN.

Once WarpRadio has been configured, it will retain the last settings used and
if you run WarpRadio again, all settings are restored. This means the station
and volume are set to whatever they were when WarpRadio was last closed.

If you change the RadioActive card jumpers or are unsure about I/O memory
selection, then delete the WRPRADIO.CFG file before you run WarpRadio. This
will prevent he program from writing to the wrong I/O memory. A new
WRPRADIO.CFG file will be created as you select the proper I/O memory settings.

The Station Table DELETE has not been enabled. Use a text editor to make
changes to station names and frequencies. See the section on Installation for
file formats. If there is enough users out there and interest exists, then I
will further enhance this program, so let me know!

The volume setting is only changed when the slider is let go. The spin-tracking
event has not been programmed.

As a last note: WarpRadio does not have to be running continuously once you
have a station selected. You can exit the program, however, if you want to
change the volume or station, then you need WarpRadio to do it. When WarpRadio
is idle or minimized, no I/O is accessed.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Menu Description ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Describes all menu items available for this program.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.1. Settings - Configuration ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Configure the I/O memory address (316h default, or 336h) of the RadioActive
card.

If your radio card is connected to the Line-In connector of a SoundBlaster 16
card (220h default, 240h, 260h, or 280h), then you can set WarpRadio to control
the volume through the SB16 Line-In volume directly. Click on the check box and
select the base SB16 address.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.2. Settings - Scan ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Opens the scanning window to start the scanning operation. This window can also
be accessed through the SCAN button on the radio window.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.3. Settings - Exit ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Exit WarpRadio. All settings and stations will be saved.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.4. HELP - General Help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Displays this help file (WRPRADIO.HLP).


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3.5. HELP - About ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Product information.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Installation ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Note:  REXX must be installed on your system for this program to work. Also
TESTCFG.SYS must be called out in the CONFIG.SYS file. TESTCFG.SYS is part of
Warp 3.0 and later and you should check your CONFIG.SYS for a line like:
DEVICE=D:\OS2\BOOT\TESTCFG.SYS where D is your bootable OS/2 drive. If this
driver is not installed you will get the following errors when writing to the
radio card:

Error =  20 if I/O write (DosDevIOCtl) is unsuccessful.

Error =  21 if DOSOpen was unsuccessful.

The error code rc = will then list the particular error of the faulty
operation. You can find the listing in the Control Program Guide and Reference
of VisualAge C++.

Also, CONFIG.SYS must contain the line IOPL=YES for WarpRadio to work. A
default installation of Warp 3.0 or later will have this set properly.

To install WarpRadio, unzip all files into the same directory. You can create a
shadow of the WRPRADIO.EXE object in a folder of your choice or the desktop for
easy access. To start the program, double-click on the WRPRADIO.EXE object.
Installing this program on your system does not change any of the INI or
CONFIG.SYS files.

The following files belong to this program and are absolutely necessary to run
the game:

       WRPRADIO.EXE        The executable main program.

       WRPRADIO.HLP        This help file.

       WRPRADIO.TBL        Station table. This file is a text file and you
                           could edit it with any text editor. The format for
                           this file is in this order: station name, frequency,
                           data 3, data 2, data 1 and channel number. All items
                           start with a space, including the station name. The
                           data values must be in the range of 0 to 255. The
                           channel numbers range from 1 to 10 and associate the
                           stations to the memory channel buttons. A dash is
                           used if a station is not assigned to a channel. A
                           default table with three stations is created the
                           first time you run WarpRadio.

       WRPRADIO.CFG        Configuration file, containing radio card I/O
                           address, volume, last station used, SoundBlaster
                           Base I/O address and SoundBlaster Enable in this
                           order. This is a text file and can be edited with
                           any text editor. All I/O addresses are in decimal,
                           volume may be 0, 1, 2, or 3 for RadioActive volume
                           levels, or 0 - 248 for SoundBlaster volume (if
                           SoundBlaster Enable is 1). The last station used is
                           a channel number 1-10 and the SoundBlaster Enable is
                           0 for disable, 1 for enable. All items are seperated
                           by a space with the first item starting with a
                           leading space. A default configuration file is
                           created when WarpRadio is first started. Delete this
                           file if you reconfigured the RadioActive card to
                           prevent writing to the wrong port address.

       IORXFUNC.DLL        Dynamic Link Library to access radio card.

       VPBevel.DLL         Bevel used for WarpRadio display. This is part of
                           the VPExtras package. Thanks to Dion Gillard for
                           creating and releasing these objects for free!

       VPOBJ.DLL           Dynamic Link Library required for VPBevel.DLL

       HISTORY.TXT         History of changes to the program.

       README.1ST          Program description and installation instructions.

 I do recommend that WarpRadio be closed whenever you run an installation
 program. Some installation programs might use the TESTCFG.SYS driver to sniff
 out hardware and you could get errors when two programs are trying to access
 this driver.

 To remove this program from your system, close the program, delete all your
 WRPRADIO objects or shadows from your desktop or folders and delete all the
 files listed above.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. The Legal Stuff ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This program is freeware. You may use it for free, however I retain the
copyright to the code. If you use this program, I would like to know, so send
me e-mail.

This program accesses I/O memory and should not be run if you don't have the
RadioActive card. It has been extensively tested and found to work with the
RadioActive card. However, the author of this program will not be held
responsible for any damage WarpRadio may cause by proper or improper use.

This program may be distributed electronically as long as all files are kept
together.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Support ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Send any comments and suggestions to the following e-mail address:

  [e-mail]

or visit my home page, "The Warped Code Cellar" at

  http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/aschw

for other information and applications for OS/2.

This program is also available at the following sites:

Internet:

  http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/aschw
  http://hobbes.nmsu.edu
  http://www.os2ss.com

Compuserve:

  GO OS2USER, Library 16, Fun & Games
  GO OSBVEN, Library 1, OS/2 Shareware
  GO STARDO, Library 7, OS/2 Misc