CD-X 1/cdx_01.iso/shareuti/gdesk/main.dat/GORDESK2.DOC

Text File | 1994-09-23 | 72.5 KB | 1,610 lines

                             The Gorin Desktop

                                Version 2.1x


                  Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994 Neil Gorin



                             An NGS Production

               A Printed Manual is supplied on registration


The Shareware Concept

Shareware is THE best way to try new software, but only if you're
honest and register if you like the results.

Think of it like this: If you buy a commercial package, you have
relatively little idea of how the software will perform, until you
get it home to your PC. If you then decide you don't like the
software or that it doesn't do what you want, tough - there's nothing
you can do. With Shareware distribution, you get to try a complete,
fully working, version of the program for a couple of weeks. If you
then find the program to be of no use to you, simply scrub the disk
and forget about it - you've only lost the cost of the disk - in most
cases about £3.

If, however, you find that you like the software and that it works
for you, you should register. Registration provides you with a
diskette containing the latest version of the software, and often
some other perks. If you don't register your Shareware, it's not only
equivalent to using a pirated copy of a commercial application but
may discourage the author from developing the software further.


Registration Information

For your registration fee of £24.95 sterling, you will receive the
following:

1: The right to legally use The Gorin Desktop and it's accessories on
one machine at any one time. You may make multiple installations
provided only one copy is in use at a time, to enable you to use the
desktop on your laptop. If you foresee the use of this software on
more than one PC concurrently, you must buy additional copies -
telephone for discounts.

2: A receipt showing that you have paid and registered. Useful for
proving that the software is legal.

3: One or more disks with the latest version of the desktop plus some
extra files. All disks will be labelled "REGISTERED VERSION". Please
remember to state your disk size.

4: An A4 manual produced using a leading DTP package and bound with a
plastic grip. The manual contains the text herein combined with some
other useful information and screen shots to illustrate points in the
text.

5: One years notice of major updates. You may upgrade your copy at
any time by returning your original disks with the upgrade notice. A
nominal processing fee is charged for each upgrade, unless it fixes a
bug that is detrimental to your use of the software.

6: Technical Support. Unlimited postal, telephone or BBS support.
Telephone support is at your expense.

7: A copy of the NGS Newsletter.

You have a 14 day period to evaluate The Gorin Desktop, to see if it
suits your needs. If it does, you MUST register - not registering is
equivalent to using a pirated commercial program, and is unethical,
if not illegal!

Compare your use of this Shareware version with a Test Drive in a new
car. If you decided that you liked the car, you would have to pay the
price on the windscreen, for which you would get your very own with
the latest specification and a few extras, such as servicing and anti
rust thrown in. Shareware is the same, you test drive the software,
then if you like it you MUST pay, for which you receive the items
detailed above. You would never dream of keeping a car that you
hadn't paid for, would you?

DISCOUNT: You may deduct the cover price of any single PC magazine
containing a full review of this software, provided you enclose the
relevant page - not a photocopy - and the part of the cover
containing the price, up to a maximum of £3.50 Sterling. This does
not include publications or catalogues from Shareware Libraries, but
does include publications such as The Shareware Magazine.

NON UK ORDERS: If you live outside the UK, an additional postage
charge may be necessary. Please see REGISTER.DOC. Alternatively,
payment may be made with TWO NEW, SEALED, CANON BC01 (BJ10EX) INK
CARTRIDGES the UK value of which is about £30, and are quite light
weight and therefore easy to send.

This service enables you to register without the need to change
currencies which is often a costly and difficult procedure.

A registration form for NGS products can be found in the file
REGISTER.DOC. If you are unable to print a copy of this form, please
telephone for a copy.


Introduction

Building on the successful formula of graphical user interfaces, The
Gorin Desktop v2.1 provides the latest, easiest and fastest graphical
environment for all classes of PC.

The desktop includes many features designed to make your time using
the PC fun, productive and less time consuming. For this reason, the
desktop uses a Graphical User Interface, with Windows, Icons, Mice
and Push Buttons, more reminiscent of the Unix GUI' s than Microsoft
Windows. However, unlike many GUI's you still use your existing
applications, without the need to re-learn (or buy) any additional
software - the whole idea behind The Gorin Desktop is that anything
you use now can be run from the desktop, virtually without exceptions!


System Requirements

The Gorin Desktop v2.1 requires a fairly low powered machine in these
days of multi-megabyte software. As long as you've got a hard disk,
and at least a fast 8086 (286 recommended) you should not have any
problems. A mouse is a useful addition, and your display must be VGA
or better. Whether you've got a monochrome or colour monitor is
irrelevant - the Desktop looks good on both! If you are using a slow
286 or 8086 XT machine please read the section entitled "Running The
Gorin Desktop 2.1 on an XT".


The Desktop GUI

The GUI (Graphical User Interface) operates in a very similar manner
to other GUI's such as Windows and OS/2. A number of simple
components make up the GUI, each of which will be mentioned
frequently and are as follows:

MOUSE POINTER: The mouse pointer is essential to operating the GUI,
and is used to select Words, Buttons and Icons on the screen - you
should select these using the left mouse button. If you do not have a
mouse, you can still use the software by moving th e pointer using
the cursor keys and using the space bar to select items. If you are
using the cursor keys, you can adjust the distance that the pointer
moves by using the Plus and Minus keys on your keyboard. Unless
stated otherwise, all references to th e mouse apply equally to those
users using the keyboard.

PUSH BUTTONS: These are on-screen buttons which appear to pop out of
the screen, then push back in when you place the pointer over then
and click. They are commonly used to select options from the screen,
and may be quickly selected by pressing the first letter which
appears on the button, for example if you are offered a choice of a
"Yes" or "No" button, you could select "Yes" simply by pressing "Y".

CHECK BOX: A small box which contains an "X" symbol if the option it
relates to is selected, and is blank if not. You can change the
setting of a Check Box by clicking on the box with the pointer.

SCROLL BAR: A scroll bar provides two arrows and a solid bar between
them. Using the scroll bar, you can simply scroll the region inside
the window to see more information.

ICONS: These are small pictures on push buttons, and are selected in
the same way. Icons are used within The Gorin Desktop to represent
programs, and are also seen on the button bar. An icon editor is
provided to allow you to make you own designs, and th e desktop can
automatically import icons designed for the Microsoft Windows system.

WINDOWS: A window is an area on-screen, which has a title, and
sometimes a Close Box. The time and date is always displayed on the
title bar of the main window.

CLOSE BOX: These are found to the far right of most windows, and are
simply small push buttons with the word CLOSE printed on them. By
selecting the Close box, the window will be removed from the screen.
Pressing ESCAPE is equivalent to selecting any clo se box, with the
exception of the main one in the top right hand corner of the
display. To quickly exit The Gorin Desktop and return to the DOS
prompt, press CTRL & F10.

DIALOGUE BOX: A small window which appears on screen, allows you to
make a selection, and then disappears. You should select the
appropriate response to the question asked, by pressing the
appropriate button.

ON-LINE HELP: When using the Desktop, you can press F1 (or select the
help icon) at any time to view a help screen.


Installation

The Gorin Desktop comes on one or more floppy diskettes, and all you
have to do is insert the first one into the drive and type GO. First
an information file will be displayed - when you have read this,
press ESCAPE to start the installation program, Setup.

Setup provides you with a set of self-explanatory icons which you can
select to view a run down of system information, get information
about the program, or adjust the system clock. To start the
installation process, press the button with the caption "Install".

A large dialogue box will appear, which will ask a selection of
questions in turn to find out where you want The Gorin Desktop
installed. Firstly, you will be asked to select the drive from those
provided, and you will then be shown the default directory. If the
directory is unsuitable, press "Edit" and type a different directory
name. Press "Ok" when you are happy with your choice.

A second dialogue box will be shown, this time giving you a choice of
installing only specific parts of the Desktop. If you have sufficient
room, you might as well install the complete set of programs, but if
you want to select the particular modules you really need, they are
as follows:

Install Main Program: The main program files must be installed for
the Desktop to work.

Install Wallpaper: A number of colourful wallpaper files are supplied
with The Gorin Desktop, but as each takes up a considerable amount of
disk space, they are a luxury if you disk space is limited.

Install Icon Converter: The icon converter provides the ability to
convert icons from the Desktop format into a format recognized by
Microsoft Windows. If you do not have Windows, there is little point
in installing this option. Note that the Desktop can still import
Windows icons without this feature.

Install GMOD Music System: Gmod allows you to play the popular
Commodore Amiga MOD music files on a PC. It really needs a
Soundblaster or compatible card to do the tunes justice, but can also
produce varied results (depending on your processor speed and s
peaker quality) using the internal PC speaker, provided you have a
286 or better machine. A couple of music files are supplied for you
to listen to.

Install Screen Savers: Unless you have very little disk space, it is
recommended that you install the screen savers supplied with the
Desktop. The screen savers take effect when your PC is left running
the Desktop, and display various patterns or moving m essages on
screen to prevent damage to your monitor. See the Screen Savers
section, further into this document.

Press the "Go!" button to install the software. You will be told of
each component as it is installed.

Now the magic begins... after a short pause, the screen will clear,
and the second part of the Setupl program will be run. Every drive
and directory on your PC (excluding floppy drives, but including CD
ROM and removable hard disks) will be searched for a n extensive list
of programs, which will automatically be added to your desktop.

At last, with the system fully installed, you will be returned to the
DOS prompt.


Introducing the Desktop

To start the Desktop, type \DESKTOP and press enter. The first time
you run the Desktop, there will be a little extra whirring of the
disk, as the Desktop has to get some information about your PC, but
soon the screen will clear and the Desktop appear.

The Gorin Desktop divides the screen into three basic areas of
activity. At the top of the screen is the title bar, this tells you
that you are running "The Gorin Desktop" and also gives you the
current date and time. A button to the far right allows you to Close
the Desktop and return to DOS.

Below this is the main window. In here the Desktop displays, upon a
sheet of wallpaper, the icons for your programs, and also any other
parts of the program such as the icon editor and file viewer.

At the bottom of the screen is a bar chart showing the percentage of
free space on the current disk drive, and the button bar, from which
the Desktop is controlled. The button bar is split into four distinct
regions, the first five icons are for access to other parts of the
program, the next four are for positioning and editing program
entries, then come the two configuration icons and finally the help
icon - to the far right.


Running a program from the Desktop

When you start the Desktop, a selection of program groups are
displayed. To run a program, you simply click on the icon for the
appropriate group, then click on the icon for the program - try this
now...

Click on the Applications Packages icon, you should see some of the
programs which Setup found for you earlier on. (If you don't see any
and are presented with an instruction box - press "Ok", then press
ESCAPE, or select the CLOSE box, and select a differ ent group).
Select one of your programs, click on the icon, and within seconds
you will be running the program in question - no messy DOS commands
or awkward keystrokes - simply point and click! Quit from your
program, and the Desktop will reappear ready to take your next
command.

All programs can be run in this way from the Desktop, and you can set
options to allow the Desktop to ask for floppy disks, or to prevent
the Desktop restarting after a program has run. Most importantly,
provided you are using DOS 3.3 or later, the Deskto p does not take a
single byte of memory away from your programs. You can also run
programs using the Filer, described elsewhere in this document.


Adding a program to the Desktop

No matter how many programs Setup found on your hard disk, there are
almost certainly other ones which have not been found. Luckily adding
programs to The Gorin Desktop v2.1 is simplicity itself, as we are
about to find out.

First of all, select the program group where you want the program to
be found. If a box appears telling you that the group is empty,
simply press "Ok". Now select the "Add" icon from the icon bar.

The main window will change to allow you to enter information about
the program. You'll even find detailed instructions if you don't have
this manual handy next time you need to add a program!

Press the "Select Icon" button. A large dialogue box will appear,
filled with icons, press the "More..." button until you see an icon
you like, and click on it.

Press the "Enter Legend" button, and type the name of the program.
Two lines are provided for this.

Now press the "Commands..." button. A large file selection dialogue
box will appear, from where you can easily select the program in
question, simply follow these four instructions:

1: Select the drive. If you cannot see the drive upon which the
program can be found, use the scroll bar to slide the drives up or
down. Click on the drive to select it.

2: Select the directory by clicking on the various directories shown
until you are in the correct directory. Use the ".." symbol to move
up one level in the directory, and the "\" symbol to return to the
root directory.

3: Scroll the file list until you can see the program and select it.

4: Press the "Ok" button, and the Desktop will store your selection.

If you select a Windows program using this method, the Desktop will
ask you if you want Windows to be run automatically whenever the
program is selected, it is normally sensible to select "Yes". Note
that it is possible to manually enter upto to four line s of DOS
commands rather than selecting a file using the dialogue box - simply
press the "Manual" button at the bottom of the file selection box.

If your program needs a floppy disk, or CD ROM, click on the "Request
Disk" checkbox and type the name of the disk required. Similarly, if
you don't want the Desktop to restart after your program has been
run, ensure that you de-select the "Return to Desk top" check box.

Now simply press "Ok - Add this entry", and you will find a shiny new
icon ready for you to run! It really is that simple!


Editing a program entry

If you move the program from one directory to another, get bored with
the icon, or for some other reason want to change some part of the
entry, simply select the "Edit" icon from the icon bar, and click on
the program in question. A similar screen to the "add" screen will be
displayed, from where you can change any aspect of the program entry.
Make your changes, and press "Ok - Keep Changes" to update the
Desktop.


Deleting a program entry

When you no longer need a program entry on the Desktop, it makes
sense to remove it. Luckily, the Desktop allows you to do this with
ease.

Click on the "Remove" icon from the icon bar, and then click on the
program you want to delete. You will be asked if you want to delete
the icon, and then again to confirm this. If you reply "Yes" to both
questions, the program entry will be removed from the Desktop.

NOTE: Only the program entry is removed, the icon is still left in
the Desktop directory so that you can use it with another program,
and your program files are not deleted.


Adding/Editing a program group

You may feel that you need more than the standard six program groups,
so you'll be pleased to know that you can easily add upto 18 extra
groups quickly and easily. You can only add groups to the front
"Select program group" window, so make sure that it is on screen
before you try to add...

Press the "Add" icon on the icon bar. A small dialogue box will
appear asking you to confirm that you want to add a new program
group.

If you answer "Yes", you will be asked to type the name of the new
group, and then be asked to select an icon. You new group will then
be added to the Desktop, and can be used just like any of the
standard program groups. To edit a program group, select the "Edit"
icon and click on the group in question. You will be shown a dialogue
box from where you can change the icon and group legend, and finally
press "Ok" to confirm the changes.


Deleting a program group

You may not need all the program groups, for instance if you do not
have a Modem there is little point in keeping the Remote Operations
group. Deleting a program group is identical to deleting a program
entry, but you must first delete all the program ent ries within the
group as, for safety, only empty groups can be deleted.


Moving an icon or program group

Sometimes the order in which the icons are displayed is less than
ideal. If this happens, you can rearrange individual icons using the
"Move" icon on the icon bar. Click on the "Move" icon, then select
the icon you want to move. Now select the icon whic h is in the
position you want the selected icon to move into. The icons will
reshuffle, and the screen will be re drawn.


The Options Panel

The Gorin Desktop stores all it's configuration information in a file
called GUI.INI. Although you can modify this file using a text
editor, most options are available from the Options Panel, easily
selected from the "Options" icon on the icon bar.

Each option is required for a specific part of the Desktop, and with
little effort you can easily customise the Desktop to suit your
working environment and PC. You can even adjust the background colour
to match your walls!

Use "Cache Fill": If you have a disk cache, a slow hard disk and find
that the icons appear jerkily on screen, enabling this option will
make Desktop take longer to load, but will enable the icons to appear
smoothly - as they are already in the disk cache.

Modem Installed: Check this box if you have an auto dial Modem, and
want the Desktop Dialler to dial through it. Suitable modems must
support a 300BPS transfer mode (which most do). If you check this
box, ensure that you select either Port 1 or Port 2 to indicate which
COM port the modem is plugged into.

Dial: This string is sent to the modem to make it dial a number. Most
modems accept ATDT to tone dial or ATDP to pulse dial.

Carousel: The time shown (in seconds) is the minimum length of time
of inactivity after which the screen saver will be run. If you don't
ever want to run the screen saver, uncheck the Enabled box.

Change Paper: This button allows you to cycle through the wallpaper
files installed on your hard disk. You can also set this to "Random
Selection" where a different paper is shown each time, or "None" in
which case no paper is shown (this is best on XT ma chines for
speed).

Background: Adjust the background colour by mixing the Red, Green and
Blue paints. There are a total of over 250,000 possible combinations
- so you should be able to find one to suit you! If you cannot find
anything suitable, press Reset to Default to re store the standard
background. Press "Ok" when you're happy.

Labels: The labels dialogue provides two buttons from which you can
choose a suitable foreground and background colour for the labels
displayed underneath icons on the Desktop. Press "Ok" when you've
selected a suitable combination.

More: Pressing this button leads you to a further option dialogue
from where you can adjust the speed of scroll boxes, and also select
two more unusual options:

Icons push into screen: If you prefer the icons to be static, uncheck
this option.

Check files on startup: With this option disabled, the Desktop may
load faster on XT machines, although the system can be less stable if
a file is deleted. If Check files on startup is disabled, the disk
space bar is not displayed.

Scroll Delay: With a 386 or better machine, you may find that the
file and directory lists in the Filer (and similar dialogues) scroll
too fast. If they do, adjust the delay until a comfortable scroll
speed is found.

286 Users: Most 286 machines perform best with a ZERO scroll delay.

XT Users: Although on some XT machines the ZERO scroll speed will be
acceptable, on most systems, reduce the value past zero to get to the
XT setting, which uses a cruder scroll system - which flickers more,
but scrolls quicker.

Press "Ok" to close the Options panel and save changes to the GUI.INI
file. All changes will take place immediately, except Use "Cache
Fill" and Check files on startup, which will take effect when the
Desktop is restarted.


Adjusting the system clock

It is often necessary, particularly with older generations of PC
systems, to regularly reset the system date and time. Although DOS
provides the simple DATE and TIME commands, they are not very user
friendly. You can now simply use the ``Clock'' icon from the icon
bar. To adjust the system settings, use the selector buttons above
and below the date and time. Simply press ``Ok'' when you are
finished.


The Address Book (Incorporating Telephone Dialler)

The address book is based on the traditional card index and provides
fields to record Name, Address, Telephone and Fax numbers and Notes.
You may also search your Address Book for quick access to records, or
jump to a particular section by using the letter buttons - in a
similar way to using the tabs on a card index. The ability to print
individual addresses is also provided, and you can automatically dial
telephone numbers if you have a suitable Modem installed in your PC.

How to...

Add a record: Press the + button and enter the text of the new record
into the fields provided. The record will be saved automatically.

Edit a record: Ensure that the record is on screen, and either press
Edit (to edit all the fields in turn) or click on a particular piece
of text.

Delete a record: Display the record and press '-'.

View the next or previous record: Use the '<' or '>' keys.
Alternatively, use the character buttons (A..Z) to quickly jump to
the first record where the surname begins with the selected letter.
If a button is disabled, no records exist with appropriate surnames.

Search for a record: Press Search and type a search key.

Search again with the same key: Simply press Search followed by Enter.

Print a record: Display the record and press Print.

Dial a number: Display the relevant record and press Dial. You must
have previously let the Desktop know you have a modem installed (via
the Options dialogue) to enable dialling.

The Address Book can store 500 entries, and will automatically
upgrade any Dialler (the minature address book supplied with earlier
versions) files.

If you also have Gorin's Organiser on your PC, the two programs can
share one database. Simply place the following command in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

SET GORINDESKTOP=C:\ORGANISE\

Replacing C:\ORGANISE with the directory where your Organiser's
"DATA" files are stored. This command MUST end with a backslash
character, as shown above. For example, to share the same database
between the Desktop and Organiser for Windows's primary user, use
C:\ORGWIN\USER1\


Calculator

The calculator provides the four basic functions, Add, Subtract,
Multiply and Divide, and uses the standard mathematical symbols,
rather than their computer equivalents, to represent the functions.

A total of 11 digits may be displayed, with accuracy calculated to 12
decimal places. The calculator takes instructions in sequence for
simplicity and ease of use.

A backspace "<" key is provided to correct any mistakes you make. To
reset the calculator to zero, press either the "C" button or the
calculator's display.


Filer

The filer provides the ability to select, run, rename, copy, move,
delete and view files without having to issue DOS commands. The
dialogue box is similar to the one displayed when adding a program to
a group, and may be navigated in the same way. Assumi ng you have
selected a file, you can:

Run it... If the file is an EXE, COM or BAT file, you can easily run
it by clicking on the RUN! button. If the program requires Microsoft
Windows, you are given the option of running starting Windows with
the program running - meaning that you should be able to run
virtually any type of program from the filer. If the program doesn't
require windows, you may add any command line options as appropriate.

Rename it... You will be asked for the new name for the file.

Copy it... All you have to type is the path into which you want to
copy the file.

Move it... Just like copying a file, but the original will be
deleted.

Delete it... Asks you to confirm that you really want to remove the
file, then erases it from your hard disk.

View it... The File Viewer will be started with your selected file.
The buttons are greyed out when a file is not selected, or if an
inappropriate file is selected - for example if you select a TXT
file, the "Run!" button will be unavailable, as you cannot run a text
file.

If you are not running a program, you can close the Filer by
selecting either the "Cancel" button or pressing the close box.


File Viewer

Using the file viewer, you can quickly and easily view most plain
text files - such as README files supplied with software, or
documentation for other products. Select the file viewer by choosing
a file from the Filer, and pressing "View".

The file viewer will now appear with the file displayed. You may
scroll forwards and backwards through the file by using the scroll
bar to the right of the window, or jump directly to the top or bottom
of the text simply by pressing either "Top" or "End". You can page
through the text using the "Up" and "Down" page control buttons.

WARNING: Some VGA adaptors not 100% compatible with IBM VGA cause
screen corruption when you attempt to scroll the file viewer's
window. If this happens to you, please ensure that you do not have
any "Video BIOS Shadowing" programs installed. If the problem
persists, you should avoid using the scroll bar and stick to the
Up, Down, Top & End buttons instead.

If you need a paper copy of the file, simply press the print button
and answer "Yes" when asked if you are sure that you want to print
the file. To return to the Desktop, close the window using the close
box (or press Escape).


Icon Editor

If you are not a good artist, you need never use the icon editor.
Many icons are supplied with The Gorin Desktop, and as the Desktop
can automatically convert Microsoft Windows icons, you may find every
one you need. However, if you have an unusual progra m, or simply
want to make the Desktop feel more personalised, creating your own
icons is the ideal way!

To select the icon editor, click on the "Icons" Icon from the icon
bar. A grid will appear, with a palette of colours below it, a large
block of colour to the right which shows your current colour, and an
icon on the top right displays the icon as it would be seen on your
Desktop.

Three buttons allow you to "Save" and "Load" icons, and also to clear
the screen to start a fresh icon. The editor responds in a similar
way to many graphics packages, in that you click on the colour in the
palette, then drag the mouse with the left button held down to draw,
or the right mouse button as a rubber. If you don't have a mouse,
simply use the cursor keys and space bar as you would with other
Desktop actions.

A further three push buttons to the left of the drawing grid
determine the brush size, the current value of which is displayed
under the box depicting the current colour.

Once you have created your icon, select "Save", and type a name (Text
only, up to 8 characters) appropriate to that icon, and press return.
If a dialogue informs you that the file already exists, select
"Cancel" and type a different name. The file will be saved, and the
file name placed beneath the small icon on the right of the screen.

To load an icon, select "Load" and select an icon from the resulting
dialogue, or click on CLOSE to abort the load. Note that the icons
supplied with The Gorin Desktop are sorted into alphabetical order,
but that your new icons will be saved after these ( i.e. after Z).
This is due to the way DOS arranges its filing system, and not a bug
within the Desktop. To return to the Desktop click on the CLOSE box.


Importing Windows Icons

If you have any icons designed for Microsoft Windows that you would
like to use with The Gorin Desktop, simply copy them into the Desktop
directory. The next time you run the Desktop, you will be asked if
you wish to convert the Windows icons and if you se lect "OK", the
icons will be converted to the Desktop format, and the Windows
versions deleted. A large amount of Windows icons are available in
the Public Domain. Many of the icons supplied with the Desktop were
originally PD Windows icons.

Please note that the colour palette used within The Gorin Desktop
differs very slightly to that used under Windows, specifically that
the light-grey colour is remapped as the background within NGS
products. You may, therefore, find that some converted icon s require
slight retouching, using the Icon Editor. Note that icons drawn under
version 1.xx of The Gorin Desktop may look slightly different where
brown was used - in the Desktop (and recent versions of Gorin's
Organiser) the brown colour has been replaced with a dark yellow to
make imported Windows icons and wallpaper files look correct.

A supplementary utility DESK2WIN allows conversion in the opposite
direction, from The Gorin Desktop to Windows. To use DESK2WIN, at the
DOS prompt type DESK2WIN and follow the instructions provided.


Paint

The Paint module, selected from the "Paint" icon on the icon bar, is
a simple bitmap drawing package exclusively for editing and creating
.GGF (Gorin's Graphic Format) wallpaper files. Although you can use
the keyboard, a mouse is required if you are to dr aw anything but
straight lines!

As with the icon editor, you select your paint colour from the
palette, after which it is displayed in the enlarged area to the
right. The brush may be any size from a single pixel (size zero) for
tiny modifications, up to a large block brush, size nine. S elect the
appropriate size (0-9) using the selectors near the "Load/Save"
buttons.

To paint, simply drag the cursor across the drawing area while
holding down the left button (or tapping the space bar).

To save your creation, press "Save Image". If you are editing an
image which you have previously loaded from disk, you will be asked
to confirm that you wish to save it under the same name. If your
picture is new, or you selected "No" in the previous situa tion, you
will be asked to enter a file name. This may be up to eight
characters, Paint will automatically add the .GGF extension when you
press Enter.

To load an existing image, press "Load Image" and select the file you
require and press "Ok".

At any time, you can blank the picture by pressing "New Image", or
may close Paint with the CLOSE box.


Screen Saver Carousel

The screen saver system under The Gorin Desktop allows for an
unlimited number of different screen saver programs to be used.
Programs which are suitable as screen savers generally have the
following characteristics:

                1: They have a moving image on screen.
                2: They run without user intervention.
                3: They are easily stopped by pressing a key
                   (or possibly the mouse button)

The carousel system can use any program (EXE or COM file) or run a
batch file, ideally to start an animation of some form. To add a
program to the carousel, simply copy the program file and any support
files (such as overlays or screen drivers) into the SAVERS directory
within the main Desktop directory.


Screen Savers

Two screen savers are provided as standard with Desktop 2.1, and if
you have selected to install them during the setup process, will
already be found in the SAVERS directory. The first of these,
CLOCK.EXE, provides an on screen clock which moves slowly ab out the
screen. The other saver, SCROLL.EXE, shows a message slowly drifting
across the screen with pulsating colours. You can put your own
message here, if you wish, by creating a file called SCROLL.INI in
the SAVERS directory - the file should contain your message on the
first line only. Scroll will shorten the message if it is too long.


Floppy Formatter

Formatting Floppy Disks can be a complex and time consuming business.
There are so many different formatting options in recent DOS
versions, and often the commands are complex or not at all clear. By
using the Floppy Formatter, you can simply select the required format
and options by selecting check boxes with the mouse.

Firstly, select which drive (A: or B:) you wish to format. Now select
the format required, different disks require formatting to differing
capacities, according to the chart below:

   Disk Size       Markings        Format to       Notes

   5.25"           None or LD      360k            Any DOS version
   5.25"           HD, 1200        1.2Mb           Needs DOS 3.0 or later
   3.5"            None or 1MB     720k            Requires DOS 3.3 or later
   3.5"            HD, 2nd hole    1.44Mb          Requires DOS 3.3 or later
   3.5"            QD, 4MB         2.88Mb          Requires DOS 5.0 or later


Select any options as follows:

   Option         Notes

   Safe           For reformatting old disks.  Needs DOS 5.0 or later
   Quick          For reformatting old disks quickly.  Needs DOS 5.0 or later
   System         Use to make a disk bootable
   Label          Place a disk label on the disk

If you require an unconditional format (for new disks) make sure that
both the Safe and Quick options are unchecked. Press Start Format to
begin formatting. The options you selected will be remembered between
sessions should you need to format the same t ype of disk again.


Desktop Terminal

With Desktop Terminal and a Modem, you can connect your computer to
the outside world, ready to receive information and advice from
hundreds of on-line services nationwide.

It is assumed that you have already installed your modem and
connected it as described in the product's manual.

Start Desktop Terminal by selecting it's icon from within the
Desktop. The screen will clear showing a title bar, a few control
buttons and a large black window in the centre of the screen.

To save your money on phone bills, all data received from the modem
is saved on disk into the file "TERMINAL.TXT" - you can then view
this to reread information using the File Viewer within the Desktop.
Unless this is the first time you have used the termi nal, you will
be asked if you want to overwrite the file. If you reply "No", all
new data will be saved at the end of the Terminal file, although be
warned - it is quite easy to generate 50k or more of data each time
you use the modem!

First of all, you must select the Modem Settings button. A dialogue
box will be displayed from which you can configure Desktop Terminal
to suit your Modem. The settings are as follows:

End Session on "NO CARRIER": Many Modems produce the message NO
CARRIER when you drop the telephone line. By selecting this option,
Desktop Terminal is often able to sense that you are no longer using
the modem, and return the mouse pointer onto your screen. If you find
that Terminal disconnects you before you intended, disable this
option. Note that with this option disabled, you must press the END
key on your keyboard to drop the line and return the mouse pointer.

Port 1/Port 2: Your Modem will be connected to a serial port on your
computer. Check to see which number is printed above the port into
which the lead plugs - if your modem is internal (i.e. it plugs into
the expansion slots INSIDE your PC) you will have to refer to the
guide which came with the Modem.

Dial: Unless the manual supplied with your modem recommends
otherwise, you should enter ATDT to tone dial or ATDP to pulse dial.

Speed: If you do not know which speed your Modem runs at, a symbol
beginning V may be shown on the manual or within the documentation
supplied with the modem. The following table indicates the
recommended speed setting under Desktop Terminal for using with
appropriate V speeds:

                   V21          300BPS
                   V22          1200BPS
                   V22bis       2400BPS
                   V32          9600BPS
                   V32Bis       9600BPS

Parity and Data Type: These must be set according to the service you
are connecting to. Most services indicate which settings they require
in the form 8N1 or 7E1, the first number relating to the data type,
and the central letter being the parity (N=None, E=Even, O=Odd). The
final number refers to the number of stop bits, which for most
services will be fine at the default 1. If, however, you find a
service which requires a differing number of stop bits, you must
manually change the setting in the DESKTERM.INI file using a text
editor.

When you have adjusted all the necessary options, select "Ok".

To make a call, you must select the Dialling Directory. The Dialling
Directory is identical in operation to the Dialler facility provided
within earlier releases of the Desktop. You may either type a
telephone number in directly and press Go, or "Select" one from
those already installed. To add or delete a number, use the
"Add" and "Delete" buttons.

When you select "GO!" the modem will dial the number and attempt to
connect you to the on-line service. Once you are connected follow the
on-screen prompts given out by the service. To hang up the phone,
press the END key on your keyboard.


Bulletin Board Systems

A Bulletin Board, or BBS, is at it's simplest a computer and modem
connected to a phone line and set to receive incoming calls. Once
connected to a typical BBS you are invited to enter your name, and
then a password. The first time you connect to a BBS, you are often
asked other information (such as your home address and telephone
number) in case any queries arise.

BBS's are typically operated by software companies or computer
enthusiasts in their spare time. The operator of a BBS is normally
called the Systems Operator, or SYSOP for short.

Many BBS systems have areas from where you can send and receive
electronic mail to other users of the system, or even throughout many
systems covering Europe and the US! The type of people who use BBS's
are usually quite knowledgeable about computer's and most are
friendly and willing to answer any questions you have. Most BBS's
allow you to send messages to ALL, for a general announcement or a
query, and it is often a good idea to send complimentary messages to
the SYSOP from time to time - indeed many S ysops welcome comments on
the systems and often have a special message area for that purpose.

The other popular function of BBS systems are extensive file areas,
from where you can upload and download files of any type. Many BBS's
have CD ROM players enabling the sysop to offer hundreds of megabytes
of Shareware and PD software for download. Unfo rtunately the Desktop
Terminal does not allow downloading of files, being designed mainly
for messaging use.


BBS Systems for you to try

The Shareware Support BBS (on 0442 891109 or 890807) is the support
board for Nildram Software products, and also carries the latest
versions of many Shareware products, including the NGS range,
available for free download to anyone who dials in. The BBS is
connected with a large number of other BBS systems, allowing you to
send messages to people up and down the country, and therefore has a
huge message section covering about 200 categories - with hundreds of
new messages daily. An extensive file area wi th almost every type of
file imaginable is available on-line, a small yearly fee must be paid
before you can access any areas except the support areas, though.
Your sysop is Adrian Mardlin, author of the Flexibak Plus backup
program and proprietor of Nildram Software.

The Software Source (and Computer Shopper) BBS (on 0892 661149 or
667090 or 667091) is run by The Public Domain and Shareware Library,
one of the oldest and best shareware libraries in the UK. 0892 is the
dialling code for Tunbridge Wells, and is charged at normal call
rates. The BBS carries a large selection of files available for free
download, and has a lively message section - mainly regarding the
Shareware services provided by PDSL. A special file area is available
where users may freely download ve rsions of Alchemy Mindworks,
Moraffware and other American authors which PDSL manages in the UK.
Also available is an extensive file area containing every disk in the
PDSL library (in compressed form) - an annual charge is required for
use of this area th ough. Your sysop is Neil Blaber.

The UK edition of Computer Shopper includes a long list of adverts
for BBS systems in it's small advertisements section.


Modem Glossary

BBS: Bulletin Board System - the service which you can connect your
PC to via a telephone line.
SYSOP: SYStem OPerator - the person who looks after the BBS.
UPLOAD: Transmitting a file from your computer to a BBS.
DOWNLOAD: Receiving a file from a BBS.
CD ROM: Identical in appearance to a music CD, a CD ROM contains on
average about 600Mb of programs, and are often used on BBS's to
provide a large number of files to download.
PD: Public Domain Software - a form of software which is completely
free to use.
SHAREWARE: Software which you may try free of charge, but must pay
for if you continue to use it.
ON-LINE: Your PC is on line when you are connected to a remote
computer or BBS.


PCX Converter

The Gorin Desktop comes with a special utility, PCX Converter
installed as an icon in your Utilities group, which can be used to
convert pictures in the popular PCX format for use as Wallpaper and
Icon files.

You should select the type of conversion you require, after which you
will be asked to choose the PCX file to manipulate from a dialogue
box.

The picture will load and display (note that images larger than 64k
take considerably longer to display).

You will then be asked if you wish to convert colours. If the picture
was originally a Windows Bitmap file, or was created using a Windows
paint package such as Paintbrush, and the colours look incorrect,
select "Yes". Otherwise select "No".

Grabbing a PCX file as wallpaper: If you have selected this option,
you should move the outline on screen using the mouse (or cursor
keys) until the image you wish to use is contained in the outline,
then press the left button (or space bar) to save the im age. Press
the right mouse button (or Q) to abort.

Grabbing an icon: Select an area using the same method as above, then
enter a suitable file name for the icon (without extension). Press
the right mouse button (or Q) when you are finished.

Shrinking a PCX file to Wallpaper size: The image will automatically
resize and save. If you attempt to shrink a file which is already
smaller than the Wallpaper size (471x276) bizarre results may occur.

To return to the Desktop, select "Return to Desktop" or the CLOSE
box.

NOTES: The routines used to import PCX files pose a few restrictions.
Images must have no more than 16 colours and version 3.0 or later PCX
format must be used. The screen resolution also limits the size of an
image - unfortunately images larger than 640x480 cannot be displayed
in their entirety.

Large amounts of PCX files are available as either PD or Shareware,
and other formats such as BMP and GIF may be converted to PCX using
conversion programs, a number of which are available in the Shareware
marketplace. Please respect the copyright restrict ions placed on
some graphics files, and register any software you use.


GMOD Amiga MOD player

GMOD is a music player for people with a sound blaster compatible
card, although the music may be played through the PC speaker, but
the quality is not as good. It plays files called modules which
consist of 31 sampled instruments and a four channel music track.
Each module contains patterns of 64 notes in size. There can be many
patterns that create an overall module. Each sample's frequency may
be changed to give it a different sound or pitch on 3 different
scales. These instruments may have been lengthen ed or shortened
before being placed in to the module to give another varying effect,
so if you are using the Instrument Keyboard Player (see later) you
may hear some strange side effects.

This type of music originated on the Commodore AMIGA computer as
Sound Tracker modules but quite recently moved over to the IBM PC and
compatibles because, although they did not have dedicated music
chips, they had the processing power to manipulate this m usic
through the PC speaker and eventually the SoundBlaster and
compatibles. Nowadays, they are used regularly on the PC, especially
in demos.

As an example of this type of music, a few special MOD files are
installed with The Gorin Desktop, written by a talented computer
musician, Paul Hardwick.

Quick Start Guide:

        o  Execute the program GMOD.EXE (via Desktop or the DOS prompt).
        o  Choose your output device (SB or Spkr).
        o  Select the "Rate" of play (defaults to 386).
        o  Choose the directory and module you wish to play via
           the File selector.
        o  Click "Play" or "IKP".
        o  Quit from the filer display only by either clicking on the
           "Quit" button or closing the filer

Note: The program MUST be run from the DESKTOP directory.

Features:

Before playing you are presented with a choice of output device and
also the rate at which the module is played through that device. The
higher the rate, the better quality the playback.

These may be selected from the file selector window.

        o  "SB" or "SP"  chooses the output device, Soundblaster or Speaker.
        o  "Rate" chooses the Rate setting menu - select a suitable
           setting for your PC.

When playing a module, the screen is split in to several definite
areas. The very top part of the screen tells you which module is
playing and its actual name.

Below this, contains the main display of the 4 channels. Each bar
shows which channel is playing. Each can be turned on and off or the
loudness changed.

To the left of this is the menu box, and below the percentage bar
showing how much of the module has been played. Finally, below this,
we see the instruments that are in the module. Not all of these
instruments will have names, and not all the names have instruments!
I.e. some of the bars contain an instrument and some do not. It is
trial and error to discover which c ontain instruments, as some
module authors include messages in these areas, see the accompanying
modules for an example of what I mean.

Playing Modules:

Whilst playing a module, the following options are available:

        o Increase/Decrease the volume of each channel by clicking
          the "<" and ">" to the right of that particular channel.

        o Individual channels can also be turned on and off via the "On" &
          "Off" buttons to the left of the "<" and ">" mentioned above.

        o Move quickly forward and backwards through the module by clicking
          the ">>" and "<<" below the STOP button to the left of the channels
          display.

        o Help, by clicking the "Help" button to the left of the main channel
          display.

        o Stop the module any time by clicking "Stop".

        o Select the in-built Instrument Keyboard Player (IKP) by clicking
          the "IKP" button.

The Instrument Keyboard Player:

This is a very basic sample player that allows you to play the
instruments in the module via the keyboard. It was not designed to
produce pure music notes, indeed, you may notice with some
instruments, it will sound slightly "odd".

On entering the player, the module will stop playing. You will now be
able to select any of the instruments by clicking on the push buttons
at the bottom of the display. When you have found one, click OK and
start using the keyboard as a piano keyboard. W hen you have had
enough, press escape and choose another instrument, or click Xit to
quit and return to the module exactly where you left off.

NOTE: If you enter the IKP directly, you will hear the start of the
module playing. If the music carries on someway in to the Instrument
Player, then simply enter the IKP when the module is playing.


Keyboard Layout for the Instrument Keyboard Player:

Upper Keyboard

      2     3           5     6     7           9      0           =     DEL
    [C#2] [D#2]       [F#2] [G#2] [A#3]       [C#3]  [D#3]       [F#3]  [G#3]

   Q     W     E     R     T     Y     U     I     O     P     [     ]
 [C-2] [D-2] [E-2] [F-2] [G-2] [A-3] [B-3] [C-3] [D-3] [E-3] [F-3] [G-3]


Lower Keyboard

              S     D           G     H     J           L     ;
            [C#1] [D#1]       [F#1] [G#1] [A#2]       [C#2] [D#2]

           Z     X     C     V     B     N     M     ,     .     /
         [C-1] [D-1] [E-1] [F-1] [G-1] [A-2] [B-2] [C-2] [D-2] [E-2]


Where C-2 can be split:

        C -  note value
        2  - Scale        [ 1 - Lower   2 - Middle   3 - Upper ]


Quitting the program:

You must quit from the file selection dialogue, you cannot quit while
a module is playing. You must first "Stop" the module playing (quit
the sequencer if you are in that) before you quit.

Limitations:

These are in built limitations:

o This program can only handle modules with 31 instruments, generally
most recent modules are created in this format, rather than the older
format of 15 instruments.

o Because of 640k memory restrictions, and memory usage of this
program modules larger than 390k will not work. The program has been
tested with a 396k module and worked with no errors.

o You cannot run GMOD if you have the scroll delay set to XT within
the Options Panel of the main Desktop.

See the trouble shooting section regarding problems with GMOD.


Technical Matters

The Gorin Desktop relies on three batch files to manage the system,
one RUNGUI.BAT is used to run the Desktop. Another, DESKTOP.BAT, will
be found in the root directory of your hard disk, and should be
either left there or copied into another directory wit hin your path.
A third file, EXITGUI.BAT, is called when you exit the Desktop and
return to DOS. As a default, this file clears the screen and runs a
program supplied with the Desktop, called DISKSTAT, which reports on
the size of your hard disk, memory fr ee, DOS version and processor.
You may modify EXITGUI.BAT, if you wish.

If you asked the SETUP program to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file in
order that the Desktop starts automatically, you will find the last
three lines of your AUTOEXEC file are identical to those in the
DESKTOP.BAT file. You should still keep the DESKTOP.BAT f ile,
however, as it is necessary to restart the Desktop after you have
returned to the DOS prompt.

Under DOS 3.3 and later, the Desktop does not take any memory away
from your programs (i.e. they have as much memory as if you were
running them from the DOS prompt). However, due to the lack of a CALL
command in DOS 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 (and also versions of DR DOS prior to
v5.0), programs run from the Desktop will have between 2k and 6k less
memory available to them than the same program would have run from
the DOS prompt. Maybe you should now upgrade your DOS version!

Two environment variables are recognised by The Gorin Desktop,
MULTIGROUPS - which if you have the statement SET MULTIGROUPS=FALSE
in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, will disable multiple program groups, and
only show icons in the Applications group. The other en vironment
variable, GORINDESKTOP, allows users of Gorin's Organiser to share
telephone dialler lists between the two programs, which results in
the DIAL.INI file in the Organiser's directory being ignored, and the
desktop's one used instead, or vice-versa. The format of this
command is SET GORINDESKTOP=C:\DESKTOP\ (trailing backslash is
necessary). The path indicates where the Address Book file is to be
stored. Note that if you wish to share the Address Book between
Desktop and the Windows version of Organiser, it is necessary to
point the parameter at the windows file, for example SET
GORINDESKTOP=C:\ORGWIN\USER1\ in most cases.


Running The Gorin Desktop v2.1 on an XT

Inevitably, as with any graphics based program, The Gorin Desktop is
slowed when running on an XT machine (that is any machine with an
8088, 8086 or V20/V30 processor). There are, however, a few special
tricks available to make sure that Desktop suffers m inimal slow down
when running on such a machine.

Firstly, although very pleasant to view, Wallpaper takes a long time
to display on many XT-class systems - often resulting in a long pause
when you select a program group, or drastically increased loading
time. With XT class machines, it is recommended th at Wallpaper is
not used.

Often, it is possible to speed up the loading of The Gorin Desktop,
simply by unchecking the "Check files exist on startup" option in the
"Other..." section of the Options Panel. The downside of this,
though, is that if a file essential to the Desktop is accidentally
deleted the Desktop may then become unstable.

Some systems with particularly slow graphics adapters may work better
with the "Icons push into screen" setting disabled, although this is
often a matter of personal taste.

You may find that the Filer (and similar dialogue boxes) scroll too
slowly. If this happens, set the Scroll Delay in the "Other..."
section of the Options Panel to the special XT setting by reducing
the value below zero. Outside the Desktop, there are a few additional
checks you can make to ensure that maximum performance is gained.
Firstly, you should make sure that all the Desktop files are stored
on disk in the one place, as sometimes DOS decides to split files up
over many different parts of the disk - this causes a significant
slowdown in the loading of the Desktop, but can easily be checked:

        Change to the Desktop directory and type CHKDSK *.*

This command (supplied with all versions of DOS) will display some
information about your disk, and then tell you which files are
fragmented, or split up over different parts of the disk. Unless the
message "All specified file(s) are contiguous" is seen, you should
really run a disk defragmentation program over your hard disk. The
loading of the Desktop will be slowed considerably if the file
GUI.EXE has more than 1 non-contiguous blocks.

If you have additional memory, known as EXPANDED (or EMS) memory, you
may be able to install a disk cache (such as Smart Drive - again
supplied with recent versions of MS DOS). A disk cache works by
buffering the data between the hard disk and computer's memory, and
although is unlikely to improve the loading speed of the Desktop,
will improve the performance of other features such as the file
viewer and if you use a wallpaper backdrop.


Compatibility

The Gorin Desktop 2.1 (or a previous version) has been successfully
run, by either myself or by existing registered users, on equipment
using the following software or hardware:

Operating Systems: MS/IBM DOS versions 3.30 to 6.30 Digital Research
DOS v5.0 and v6.0. Novell DOS 7. Although untested, the program should
work with DOS 3.0 or later.

Caches: Microsoft Smartdrive versions 3.x and later. Hyperdisk. PC
Kwik. Fast.

Processors: All Intel 80x86 and compatibles (including AMD devices).
I have also heard from users running Desktop/Organiser on PC
emulators connected to Acorn and Atari systems.

System Utilities: Quarterdeck QEMM386, Superstor, Stacker,
Doublespace, DriveSpace.

Incompatibilities known at time of release: Early versions of
GMOUSE.SYS/COM (Genius Mouse Driver). Microsoft Mouse Driver previous
to v6.26. In both these cases, simply using a recent version if the
Microsoft Mouse Driver fixes the problem. Printers connected to ports
other than LPT1 can only print if redirection of PRN to set using the
MODE command (described in your DOS Manual).

Please report any incompatibilities and bugs using the Bug Report
Form contained in the file BUG.DOC.


Credits

The Gorin Desktop:

Neil Gorin: Produced Glass for VGA, and later The Gorin Desktop,
which in turn flourished into the latest Gorin Desktop v2.1 release.
Program testers: Philip Gorin, Allan Murray.

GMOD:

Paul Askew: Designed and produced the GMOD program.
Mark Cox: Wrote original module player for the PC, and provided the module
playing routines.
Paul Hardwick: Created the MOD files supplied with the program.
Program testers: Paul Brindley, John Aitken, Mike Gledhill, Lu Richardson,
Lawrence Etchells, Paul Hardwick.

Additional Turbo Pascal routines:

Scarborough Digital: Provided Windows icon import routines and "large" PCX
import system.
MDR Utils: Provided "small" fast PCX import system.


Trouble shooting

When using the file viewer, the screen corrupts when I select the
scroll bar. Why? Some VGA cards which are not 100% compatible with
the IBM VGA standard cause this problem. Avoid using the scroll bar,
and use the Up and Down buttons instead.

I have two floppy drives, A: and B:, but the file selectors only
allow me to access drive A:. What can I do? At the DOS prompt, change
to your DESKTOP directory and delete the file DRIVES.INI. You will
then be able to access drive B:.

Why doesn't the file selector display drive A (or B) in the drives
list, even though I have edited the DRIVES.INI file? You must insert
the floppy disk into drive A (or B) before you select the Filer or
try to add or edit a program entry. You should then see the disk and
it's size displayed clearly in the list.

When using a file selector, I get the message "Insert diskette for
drive X:" appearing on screen, but I haven't got that drive, what
should I do? At the DOS prompt, change to your DESKTOP directory, and
edit the file DRIVES.INI using an editor. This file should contain a
string of letters corresponding to all the "real" drives on your PC.
For example if you have drives A:, C:, D: and network drives L: & M:
this file should read ACDLM only.

After using a file selector, I get a message telling me that the
Desktop cannot reopen a virtual memory file, and asking me if I want
to quit to DOS. If I don't quit to DOS, will the Desktop still work?
Yes - but the screen area which was behind the file selector will not
be re drawn until you change windows. Otherwise, you shouldn't have
any problems. This message is generated if you accidentally delete a
particular temporary file, and is most likely to occur on
Multi-tasking or Multi-user systems.

My mouse pointer doesn't appear on the Desktop, although it works OK
in the Setup, Disk Formatter and other programs. Your mouse driver is
not completely compatible with VGA modes. If you edit the file
GUI.INI, found in your DESKTOP directory, and change the line MOUSE
CURSOR: DRIVER to MOUSE CURSOR: SOFTWARE the cursor used in the other
programs will work, although it ma y perform jerkily under the Filer.
This problem is common on earlier Amstrad 2000 machines.

The Desktop takes a long time to load on my XT, and selecting a
program group causes a long pause. Any way to speed things up? Go to
the Options panel and set Wallpaper to NONE. If you still find the
software slow, select the "Other..." section of the Options panel,
and uncheck the box marked "Check files on startup", this will enable
the Desktop to load quicker, but as the Deskto p op does not check
all the files required exist, errors are more likely to occur. If you
have expanded memory, you could try installing a disk cache (Contact
your local computer store). Alternatively, if you have a fast hard
disk, and a copy of the progra m UNLZEXE, you could use this on the
GUI.EXE file, thus removing the decompression time.

When I select PRINT from the File Viewer, I don't get anything
printed on my printer, or I get rubbish, why is this? There could be
a number of reasons. Firstly the printer must be connected to the DOS
port PRN, often marked LPT1: on the back of the PC. If it is not, you
must redirect the printer to the PRN port using the MODE command (See
your DOS manual). If your print er is a Postscript printer, you must
use a interpreter to convert text into postscript codes - ask your
dealer, or contact your favourite PD library.

How can I make a Windows program run directly from the Desktop? I
just get the message "This program requires Microsoft Windows",
although I have Windows installed on my PC. You simply have to make
sure that you answer YES when asked if you want to load Windows for
the program. You will be asked this when you first select the file
when adding the program.

I am entering commands to run a program using the Manual option.
However, I cannot fit the entire command onto one line, what should I
do? Type as much of the command on one line as you can, then press
ENTER to start the next. Before you type any more, enter the plus
character "+". Now continue as if you were still on the previous
line. Desktop will automatically remove the "+" and join the l ines
together at run time.

I am trying to select a file through the file selector, but keep
getting the dialogue box saying "Reinsert disk into drive". I am
looking at my hard disk. You appear to have a hard disk fault. Try
using the DOS CHKDSK /F command. If this doesn't fix it, consult a
knowledgeable friend or your local computer store.

Sometimes one of the icons for a program disappears temporarily, and
a question mark appears. Later when I look again, the icon has
returned. What's going on? If the Desktop gets a read error whilst
trying to load an icon, it substitutes the question mark icon
instead. It is possible that you have a slight fault on the exact
piece of disk where that icon is stored. Alternatively, if you are
running on a network, the network may be busy. If you are using disk
compression software, try running the Check and Repair (or similar)
utility which was supplied with it. If this happens a lot on various
icons, your hard disk could be about to fail - make sure you take a
bac kup!

Why does the system status only say I have less than 640k of memory
available? I've got over 1Mb on my machine. The system status only
reports the amount of free DOS memory, that it the figure seen at the
bottom of the CHKDSK display. Your additional memory is configured as
Extended or Expanded, and is not available to standard DOS programs.

Why does the system status and file selectors say I have got a C:
drive and a G: (or H:) drive but nothing in-between? You are probably
running MS DOS 6 or another disk compression program. Drive G: is the
real drive which contains the huge compressed drive C:. Ignore the
reading for drive G:.

Some of my programs do not look the same when run from or after I
have used the Desktop. Why is this? I am using a Mono-VGA monitor.
This is because Desktop switches your monitor to give shades of grey
rather than black and white. To make your programs look as they did
before, enter the commands for each program manually, and make the
first command MODE MONO - this will switch your disp lay back to
black and white.

The windows in the file selectors scroll too fast on my 386 or 486
machine. Select the Options panel and the section "Other...".
Increase the value under SCROLL DELAY (MS) until a suitable scrolling
speed is seen. For users of 286 machines, this value should be zero.

The windows in the file selectors scroll too slow on my XT machine.
Select the Options panel and the section "Other...". Make sure that
the Scroll Delay is set to zero. If the windows still scroll too
slowly, set the scroll delay to "XT" by trying to reduce the delay
past zero - the file selectors may then flicker slightl y more than
before, but should scroll faster. Note: You cannot run GMOD if you
have the delay set to XT.

The icons flicker when I press them. Select the Options panel and the
section "Other...". Now check the box "Icons don't depress", this
will prevent the icons from pressing into the screen.

What do I need to back up? If you do not want to back up the whole of
your Desktop installation, you only need back up files with the
extension .INI or .NFO. If you need to restore the backup, simply
reinstall the Desktop, and copy these files back to restore your
configuration.

Why do some of my converted Windows icons look wrong? The icons have
probably been grabbed or saved in a 256 or high colour mode. Try
saving them in a 16 colour mode (using the standard VGA driver
supplied with Windows).

I had to make some space on my Hard Disk to install The Gorin
Desktop, but now I find that it won't run. Why is this? The Desktop
must have a minimum of 200k free space available before it will
start. Make sure that you have enough space, and that any
write-protect software is disabled before starting the Desktop.

I have got a mouse installed, but the Desktop displays the keyboard
logo, and wont let me use the mouse. Why? Make sure that you have
installed a mouse driver for your mouse, usually called MOUSE.COM or
MOUSE.SYS. If it is a three-button switchable mouse, ensure that it
is switched to Microsoft or two button mode. If you are using a
Microsoft Mouse Driver, you mus t use version 6.22 or later.

I've moved my copy of Desktop from one drive onto a different one.
Now Desktop won't restart after I run my programs. What can I do?
From the Desktop, select the Options panel then press OK. This will
reinitialize the Desktop.

Why can't I use all the Format options in the Formatter? Some options
require special disk drives to operate. Also, options such as Safe
and Quick format are only available under DOS 5.0 and above.

GMOD Problems

Why wont the GMOD MOD Player work through my Adlib or compatible
sound card? The Adlib card does not contain a sampled sound channel,
being intended purely for synthesized music generation. You must have
a Soundblaster or compatible card to hear the MOD player, otherwise
use your internal PC speaker.

GMOD hangs my machine when I try to scroll the file lists, why? This
happens if the Scroll Delay within the Other section of the Desktop's
Options Panel is set to XT. GMOD is not designed to work on XT's, and
really needs a 286. If you must use GMOD on your XT, either: a) Set
the Scroll Delay to ZERO. or b) Move the GMOD.EXE file (and a copies
of the files SCROLLBT.VGA and DRIVES.INI) to a different directory,
and update the icon on the Desktop accordingly.

When I use GMOD, I just hear a lot of crackling. How can I fix this?
The MOD player really needs a 286 or better processor to run
effectively. If you have such a system, check that the internal
speaker in your PC is connected correctly, if this doesn't help, try
fitting a larger, possibly external, speaker.

The music only played through one speaker on my Sound Blaster Pro.
Have you used software that utilizes the SB Pros stereo effect prior
to using this program? If you have, then you will have to COLD BOOT
your computer before the sound is produced through both speakers.

I was greeted with the message: "This is not a module. Or there were
problems loading." This means either i) There was something wrong
with loading the module or ii) The module contained 15 instruments.
Click CLOSE and try again, if it still does not work delete this
module as it will not work with this program.

I was greeted with the message: "Out of Memory" The module was too
big for the program to cope with, you may try and free up more memory
by deleting some TSRs, but if this still does not work, then you may
not use the module again. Generally you will find that a module of
390k is the largest acceptable by the program. The program seems to
be really slow - even on my 486-66dx2! Some versions of some 386
expanded memory managers (such as certain versions of EMM386 and
QEMM) slow down GMOD. For full speed, try disabling these managers.

Where can I get more of these modules? Modules are available from a
number of sources, e.g.

   o Shareware/PD libraries.
   o Bulletin Board Systems.
   o CD-Rom Disks.
   o Friends Amiga Computers.


Problems known at time of release

As this version of The Gorin Desktop 2.1 was released, all known bugs
were removed. However, it is inevitable that in such a large program
(the main Desktop alone consists of over 300k of source code) some
bugs will ultimately surface. If you experience a bug, please write
giving as much detail as possible about when, where and how the
problem occurred - this may well help remove the bug from the
program. However, there are a few known problems, which although they
may seem like bugs are actually unavoid able:

In the file viewer, occasionally when you scroll through a file the
top line displayed on screen will have a few dots running along the
top of it - infact the very bottom of a few decenders on the previous
(now scrolled off the screen) line. Also, some VGA cards are
incompatible with the hardware scrolling method used resulting in
screen corruption. In this case, avoid using the scroll bar and use
the Up/Down buttons instead. No other parts of the desktop are
effected.

If you do not have a drive A:, or don't have a drive B: and have
either deleted the DRIVES.INI file or edited it to show that you do
have an offending drive, you may get a message requesting that you
insert a disk - which will corrupt the display whenever the Filer or
a similar file selector is used. The simple way around this is to
ensure that the DRIVES.INI file contains only the drives you actually
have fitted to your system, for example if you only have a hard disk,
drive C:, and a network drive, for example J:, your DRIVES.INI file
should simply read CJ, the C being the very first character in the
file.


Copyright Information

Glass for VGA (All versions) is Copyright 1991, 1992 Neil Gorin.

The Gorin Desktop (includingthis and all previous versions) is
Copyright 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 Neil Gorin. Compiled Portions
Copyright 1992 Mark D Rafn, used under license. Compiled Portions
Copyright 1992 Scarborough Digital, used under license.

PCX Converter, Floppy Formatter, System Status, Desktop Terminal and
all other utilities supplied with all versions 1.x and 2.x of The
Gorin Desktop are Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994 Neil Gorin.

Gorin's Organiser (All versions) is Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994 Neil
Gorin. Gorin's Organiser for Windows is Copyright 1994 Neil Gorin.

GMOD is Copyright 1993 Paul Askew.

The Gorin Desktop v2.1 - End of documentation