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Text File | 1993-04-03 | 15.2 KB | 396 lines

7Plus for the Archimedes : Version 1.00 ======================================= Introduction ------------ Hip Hip Hooray!! Throw away that tired old PC emulator and install 7Plus for the Archimedes instead. Its been a long time coming but the Archimedes now has a native version of 7Plus, all be it in command line form. For those of you who already use 7Plus under the PC Emulator this program should not be too much of a culture shock. For those who don't use the PC emulator or the command line I apologize for releasing this program with no nice'n'easy desktop front end, but once this conversion is proven in the field then I shall devote more time to the desktop version. Theory behind the conversion ---------------------------- When I started porting 7Plus across to the Archimedes it soon became apparent that much of 7Plus' internal workings were dependant on the PC concept of file name extensions (similar to RISC OS file types). ie-: EXAMPLE.DOC Where 'EXAMPLE' is the filename and 'DOC' is the file name extension. In this case a DOCument for a word processor. This would be the equivalent to the Archimedes file type TEXT (&FFF) or similar. So in order to keep as much of the original 7Plus source code untouched I have wrapped it in cotton wool by translating RISC OS file names and types into DOS format and back again. The upshot of all this is that we only have a command line version of the program. This should be easy to keep up to date and in line with the PC version and it also has a command line syntax almost exactly the same. This also means WE understand what PC owners are going on about when they ask for a re-send of 'EXAMPLE.P06' for example. If you have not read the 7Plus manual written by Axel DG1BBQ then it would be advisable to do so now. This is kept in the Archive '7+ 4 PC' and is called '7PLUS_E/DOC'. The manual covers the operation of all the versions of 7Plus across all the platforms except for RISC OS machines. The rest of this file gives a quick guide as to the structure of 7Plus under RISC OS and how to use it. How 7Plus organises its work files. ----------------------------------- In order to keep the command line as close to the PC format as possible all 7Plus 'work' files are kept in one place. This is the '!7+_Work' directory with the open brief case icon. Double clicking on this will cause the directory to open revealing a couple of 7Plus files called '!Spock' and '!Spocky'. The directory structure of the '!7+_Work' directory is shown here. !7+_Work--------| |----!Sprites22 |----!Sprites |----!Boot |----!Run | |----Work----| |-----!Spock (7+ 'file') |-----!Spocky (7+ 'file') |-----Spock (decoded sprite file) |-----JPEG----| |-----Spocky (JPG decoded PC) (file stamped ) (with DOS type ) Any successfully decoded Archimedes files are also put in this directory. If the file was originally from a PC or other machine the file is put in a newly created Sub-directory whose name is the files file extension. Sounds complicated but hopefully all will be made clear in the following examples. Decoding Examples. ------------------ This is a small example to show you how to decode the 7Plus file '!Spock' into its normal Archimedes sprite form. Press the 'F12' to get to the * command line prompt and then type the following *7Plus Spock and then press 'Return' 7Plus will now display its banner and proceed to decode the '!Spock' 7Plus file. You may have noticed that to decode we did not type in '!Spock' but 'Spock'. When decoding you do not use the first '!' in the file name. Once the decoding has finished press 'Return' to go back to the desktop. If you have opened the '!7+_Work' directory ( called the work directory from now on ) you will now find a successfully decoded sprite file called 'Spock'. The '!Spock' 7Plus file is now redundant and can be deleted. You have now successfully decoded a 7Plus file that was created on the Archimedes. Now how about a file that was created on a PC. Press 'F12' again and type *7Plus Spocky When it has finished press 'Return' to get back to the desktop. You will now find a new directory in the work directory called 'JPG'. Inside you will find a file called 'Spocky' with a file type of DOS. This file would have had the full name of 'SPOCKY.JPG' on a PC. I have implemented PC file names in this manner instead of the more usual 'SPOCKY/JPG' so that no truncation of the name occurs. The '!Spocky' 7Plus file is now redundant and could be deleted. To view 'Spocky' you will need the application !changeFSI (comes with RISC OS 3.1) or !Translator ( a shareware program ) and djpeg. The nitty gritty of the !7Plus files ------------------------------------ Yep you've guessed it '!Spock' was not a file at all but another fancy 'file' directory as inspired by !Impression. The structure of '!Spock' is shown here. !Spock---| |---!Run |---!Sprites |---!Sprites22 |---!Help |---7ix-----| | |---7ix (data type) | |---7mf-----| | |---7mf (data type) | |---cor-----| | |---cor (text type) | |---c01 (text type) | |--- ...... | |---err-----|---err (text type) | |---e01 (text type) | |--- ...... | |---p0_-----|---p01 (text type) | |---p02 (text type) | |---p03 (text type) | |--- ...... upto p0f | |---p1_-----|---p10 | |--- ...... upto p1f | |... upto pf_ Double clicking on '!Spock' will open the file to reveal a number of files and directories. The '!Run' and '!Sprites' are the normal run of the mill stuff and can be ignored. The !Help file is slightly special and to find out why just double click on it and read. Why the complicated directory structure?..... --------------------------------------------- 7Plus produces many different file name extensions on the PC which can cause problems when exceeding the 77 file limit on ADFS. The file extensions, to recap, are-: 7PL A file encoded into 7Plus format and has only one part ( 1 of 1) P01 A file encoded into 7Plus format and is the first part of many ERR A file generated while decoding a set of corrupted 7Plus files. COR A file generated to correct the errors listed by the ERR file. 7MF A file generated while decoding. This is a partly decoded file and is kept to speed up the process of decoding when a COR file is received. 7IX A file that is related to the 7MF file. When downloading 7Plus files from a BBS it is possible to download more than one 'COR' file. In this case the 'COR' files will be named 'COR' for the first file and then the sequence C01,C02..C4C will be used. (ie a maximum of 77 'COR' files). The same also applies to the 'ERR' files. You will almost certainly receive more than one error file when you have encoded and distributed some 7Plus files. All the above file name extensions are kept in sub-directories of the same name for each file that you are de/encoding. Have another look at the '!Spocky' directory structure. The only exception to this rule is the parts files ('P01'..etc). These are kept in directories of names described as follows. The files 'P01' to 'P0F' are kept in the sub-directory 'P0_', similarly the files 'P30' to 'P3F' are kept in the sub-directory 'P3_' . This enables the Archimedes to support 255 parts for 7Plus files ( over the top I know ) and still keep within the 77 file limit of the ADFS filing system. Remember if only one part of one is created it will have a file name of '7PL' and will be in a directory of that name. Encoding files. --------------- We are now going to re-encode the 'Spock' file so first you must delete the 7Plus 'file' called '!Spock'. This is necessary so there is no confusion as to what has been achieved. Encoding is quite tricky because the file to be encoded has to be specified by a full path name. To make this easier move the file 'Spock' into the root directory of the floppy. The simple format of the encode command is -: *7Plus <full path name> assuming 'Spock' is in the root directory of the floppy the command would be *7Plus ADFS::0.$.Spock Quite a mouthful. It can be made easier by using a Currently Selected Directory ( CSD ) setter written by many PD authors. (A good one is !Menon). This will allow the command to be simplified to just -: *7plus Spock Assuming you have now successfully encoded the file you will find '!Spock' the 7Plus file has returned. Double clicking on this will reveal the usual assortment of '!Run's etc and a directory called 'p0_'. Looking in this directory will reveal the parts files 'p01' and onwards. These are the files that you send out on the packet network. All the other sub-directories such as 'COR','ERR','7MF' etc are created as and when necessary. Decoding files in the real world. --------------------------------- The decoding examples earlier were a piece of cake as the parts files had already been 'downloaded' for you. For the successful operation of 7Plus under RISC OS it is essential that all the parts files and 'COR's etc are in the right place. To aid this the following procedure is best followed. Download all the 7plus files off the BBS into a spool file including any 'COR' files. Now we use the auto extract facility of 7Plus to sort and extract the 7Plus files from the spool file. The format of this command is -: *7Plus <full spool file path name> -x The spool file has to be named in full again unless the CSD is set correctly. The -x option makes 7Plus scan the spool file for 7Plus files and auto extract them and in the process create any necessary directories. This operation can be carried out as many times as necessary to get all the right files off the BBS. Assuming you have just downloaded some files that make up an original file called 'EXAMPLE' you will find in the work directory a new 7Plus 'file' called '!EXAMPLE'. You are now able to decode the same way as shown earlier ie -: *7Plus Example 7Plus will inform you if any of the parts are missing. You will also be informed if errors exist in the downloaded parts. In this case an 'ERR' file will be created. Put the appropriate packet headers onto this file and send it back to the originator of the 'EXAMPLE' file. You will eventually receive back a 'COR' file. To correct the '7MF'(the partially decoded file ) created so far you use the command -: *7Plus Example.cor Hopefully you will now have a new file that you can play, run, view etc. Coping with ERR files. ---------------------- When you send out a load of 7Plus files it is inevitable that you are going to receive some 'ERR' files. To this end it is probably worth joining most of the 'ERR' files ('err', 'e01' to 'e4c') together into a large 'ERR' and creating one 'COR' file to be sent out as a bulletin. The command to join all the 'ERR' files into one is -: *7Plus <file name>.err -j To create the 'COR' file we now call 7Plus with the following-: *7Plus <file name>.err <full path name of original source file> For example with 'Spock' earlier it would be *7Plus Spock.err ADFS::0.$.Spock The full pathname has to be given for the original 'Spock' file. This is slightly different from the PC version where a search path is given instead. This short! file has given the very basics of 7Plus which is far more flexible and has more options than have been given here. If you still haven't read Axels 7Plus manual then I really do suggest that you do to get the best out of 7Plus. Multitasking 7Plus ------------------ It is possible to multitask 7Plus by using the frontend module supplied by Acorn with the Desktop C and Assembler. A much cheaper way of getting this module is to send off to RISC developments for the disk for Risc User Volume 5 issue 10. The 7Plus application will then run and will sit on the icon bar. It is still command line based but will multitask. Another method is to use the task window provided by Edit (or launched by the Task manager menu on Risc OS 3 ). There is the extra option -CR on 7Plus that you must use to force all printed output of 7Plus to have a carriage return. The screen looks a mess otherwise. eg -: *7Plus Spock -CR There is a slight problem I have noticed when running 7Plus under the front end module in that it sometimes fails to correct the '7MF' properly. This appears not to be fatal, just a case of the front end module forgetting what it was doing. If this occurs just run it from the command line like everybody else. This may also occur under the Task window although I have not noticed this myself. What can 7Plus under Risc OS do? -------------------------------- 7Plus on the Archimedes supports all the features that are expected of V2.02 on the PC. That is to say-: 1) Will intelligently extract 7Plus files from a spool file (essential to the correct operation of 7Plus under Risc OS ) 2) Supports file types and time stamps regardless of original source operating system 3) Supports multiple error and correction files of upto 77 each 4) Supports splitting of files in upto 255 parts What doesn't 7Plus do under Risc OS? ------------------------------------ 1) It doesn't support the 'FLS' file for BBSs 2) You can only use DOS characters in your filenames when encoding 3) Doesn't support the use of the .x file extension 4) Doesn't autokill redundant files ( -k option not supported ) 5) Does not support filename from DOSFS such as 'EXAMPLE/DOC'. This is thrown out as it has a non-DOS compatible character ( the '/' ). This is potentially useful so it may be incorporated later. 6) Is not able to encode the following filenames -: '7ix' or '7IX' '7pl' or '7PL' 'p01' or 'P01' 'err' or 'ERR' 'cor' or 'COR' 'c01' to 'cff' or 'C01' to 'CFF' although it will encode them if they are only part of a filename ie. will encode '7ixexamp' will encode '7plsource' will encode 'correct' etc etc...... Things to do in the future -------------------------- 1) Tidy up the source code 2) Speed 7Plus up. Due to the number of file name conversions taking place within 7Plus the speed of an ARM2 machine is about the same as that of a 386 25Mhz PC. In one of my earlier versions of 7Plus when no name translation was taking place the ARM2 was about 30% faster. 3) Write a multitasking frontend for it. This will probably be in the form of a filer type window. ie. dragging from the 7Plus window to a normal filer window will decode the file and dragging a file from a filer window to the 7Plus window encodes it. 4) Any suggestions? TTFN de John Ingram G1CWL @ GB7SUT.#29.GBR.EU