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Crawly Crypt Collection 1
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makefast.txt
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1990-01-26
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MAKEFAST.PRG by Ken Badertscher
Copyright 1989, Atari Corp.
NEW TOS FEATURE!
================
One of the new features of Rainbow TOS is the ability to set a program
for "fastload." This is accomplished by setting a bit in the program
file which tells TOS that the program can be loaded without having all
of memory cleared for it. Setting programs for fastload is most useful
on machines like Mega 4's with a lot of memory. Clearing 4 megabytes of
memory can take a significant amount of time - a program set for
"fastload" can start up to a second faster. That may not sound like
much, but when you're running a program which runs other programs (in, for
example, a programming environment) saving a second on each program load
can add up. And it makes your ST feel much faster when everything is
loaded seemingly instantaneously.
Wot's a fastloadbit?
====================
Now, we could have told everyone which bit was the fastload bit and
watched everyone whip out their handy sector editors and flip that bit
in each of their programs - but we're not that sadistic. MAKEFAST is a
program which will set the fastload bit on any program. It is one in a
series of what I like to call "AlertWare," that is, a program which
does everything via the simplest AES call that exists: form_alert().
It is sort of a pain to wade through all those alert boxes, but it's
quick and dirty to program, and it gets the job done. You do have an
alternative with my AlertWare, though - I try to make things run from
command lines as well as from the desktop.
From the desktop...
===================
When you run MAKEFAST from the desktop, it presents you with
(surprise!) an alert box. The first one asks you if you want to
Continue or Quit. If you bravely select Continue, you are then
presented with an alert which asks you which function you want to
perform: MakeFast (set a program's fastload bit), MakeSlow (clear a
program's fastload bit), or Check (see if a program is set for
fastload). Make a selection, and use the file selector which appears
to select the program to check. Don't worry if you make a mistake and
select a Spectrum picture instead of a program - MakeFast won't do
anything with files that aren't executable. It will let you know if
you selected a file which was not an executable program. Also, if you
try to MakeFast a program which is already set for fastload (or
MakeSlow one which is not set for fastload), MakeFast will leave the
program alone and tell you that there was no change. After the function
is complete, you're back to the "Continue/Quit" alert box.
On a command line
=================
When installed as a TOS Takes Parameters application, or run from a
command line shell, MAKEFAST can be used to manipulate more than one
file at a time. From a command line shell, type:
makefast -h
to get a message describing the usage. Long after you've lost this
doc file, you'll still be able to use makefast -h to remind you how to
run makefast.
Note that if you are using makefast as a TTP application, you don't have
to type "makefast" at the beginning of the command line - the desktop
fills in that part of the command for you.
To set the fastload bit in file1, file2, and file3, use the command:
makefast file1 file2 file3
To clear the fastload bit in filea and fileb, use the -Slow option:
makefast -s filea fileb
To check the fastload bit in all files in a directory, use the -Check option:
makefast -c *.*
If any of the files are not executable, MAKEFAST will inform you of that fact.
Note that filename wildcards will NOT be expanded if you are running makefast
from the Desktop TTP dialog. If you are using the TTP dialog, you must
type out all the filenames to check.
Why MakeSlow?
=============
Fastloading works because almost all programs don't require that all of
memory be set to zeros when they start up. What Rainbow TOS does when
it sees a file with the fastload bit set is it only clears as much
memory as the program needs cleared. The rest of memory is left alone.
The operative word here, though, is "almost." Some programs insist on
having all of memory cleared for them, among them is Microsoft Write.
Don't try to MakeFast Microsoft Write, because it won't work correctly.
Also, using MakeFast on desk accessories yields mixed results. BE VERY
CAREFUL when using MakeFast to speed up desk accessory loading. If you
run into a problem, you can always use MakeSlow to clear the offending
program's fastload bit.
!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> If you use MakeFast to set the fastload bit on <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> any program, DO NOT EXPECT THE PROGRAM TO LOAD <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> ANY FASTER IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A RELEASE VERSION <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> OF RAINBOW TOS. Other versions of TOS do NOT <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> know about the fastload bit, so setting the bit <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> will have NO EFFECT. <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT> <IMPORTANT!
!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!