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The Incredible Mock-Gem Auto Booter Mouse Boot V3.D (C)1991 SRL-systems Written By Scott R. Lemmon -->Newdesk Compatible<-- -->STe and Mega STe Compatible<-- <<< Share Ware >>> Documentation Yes, believe it or not an ST autoboot program that looks and works like a real GEM program. That's right, no more plunking around the keyboard like an (ugh) IBM trying to remember what ATL+TAB+CTRL+HELP does, or some bizarre use of the mouse as arrow keys - an honest to God mouse pointer!!! In addition, every function is mouse driven and available from within the program via dialog boxes and buttons (no more construction sets to worry about) - all for under 20k of non-resident code. PART I - "Well, what the hell does it do anyway?" Mouse Boot is a Accessory, Auto-boot, Desktop, and Assign.sys file manager. It will switch accessories and auto-boot programs on or off, copy Desktop.inf and Assign.sys to the root directory of the boot drive, or even allow you to set-up two user defined file types to be copied to any active drive. Additionally, Mouse Boot will hold up to 20 presets of the most commonly used file combinations allowing you to quickly select them upon boot-up. Except where a name or path must be entered, all of this can be done without touching the keyboard! How it does it... Mouse Boot works by renaming all inactive files to *.??X (CONTROL.ACX for example) thus preventing them from loading. Mouse Boot also copies various types of files such as desktop.inf, assign.sys, etc. from a directory where they are stored to their proper destination directory renaming them in the process. This is very similar to the way most other auto-boot programs work. Mouse Boot goes a step farther, however; it lets you do all of this via a mouse and dialog boxes. Oddly enough, it's the real ST mouse pointer that Mouse Boot uses - programs like Atari's Mouse Accelerator or DC stick will work with Mouse Boot (though they have to be run before it). Basically Mouse Boot gets GEM working on a low level - that includes the mouse and most all of the VDI graphic drawing routines. All of the dialog boxes and buttons in Mouse Boot are Pseudo-GEM creations made up entirely of VDI calls. The entire program is written in C and does not use even one assembly language routine (I don't know if that's good or not, but it's true)! Most of the configuration is done automatically and the rest (namely setting up the presets) can be done from within the program - no need for a separate construction set. and, of course, as I said before - All With A Mouse!!! Part II - "Allright So what do I have to do Anyway?" Step 1 - you should have a folder containing these files... MOUSEBT3.PRG -- Mouse Boot Version II WELCOME.PRG -- Welcome screen loader MOUSEPIC.PI1 -- Sample Color Welcome Screen MOUSEPIC.PI3 -- Sample Monochrome Screen MOUSEBT.DOC -- You're reading it NEW Stuff for version 2.1 READ.ME -- List of new features for V3.D SINGSONG.PRG -- PD Quartet Player code (do not run) And you may or may not have... SONG.SET -- Sample Quartet voice set Anything.4V -- Sample Quartet songs (however many I can manage) (The sample Quartet songs may not be in some MOUSEBT.LZH files because they take up so much room, if you don't have any try looking for some to download on many BBS's. - Note: registered owners of Mouse boot will get some good ones on their disk <hint>) Step 2 - First put MOUSEBT2.PRG in your AUTO folder, and then create a new folder named MOUSEBT also inside of the AUTO folder. If you want to load a welcome screen upon booting place WELCOME.PRG directly before the MOUSEBT2.PRG program and a .P?1 or .P?3 (Degas format) picture file in the MOUSEBT folder; this is optional, however. For best results the two pro- grams should be as near to the first programs in the AUTO folder as possible - after all, renaming a program won't prevent it from loading if it has loaded allready. Mouse Boot 3.d now has a built-in AUTO folder reorderer to help you do this (see the READ.ME file for directions). Mouse Boot will work without the MOUSEBT folder but you will only be able to switch Accessories or AUTO programs on or off. If this is all you want to do just leave the folder out. Step 3 - put any Desktop.inf or Assign.sys files you want to choose between (up to 18 of each) in the MOUSEBT folder renaming them to something like LOWDESK.INF for desktops or FONTSET1.SYS for Assign.sys Files. Mouse Boot will Rename inactive Desktop or Gdos files to .INX or .SYX respectively and copy the active file to the root directory of your boot drive giving it its proper name. NOTE: if you are running Mouse Boot on a system with TOS 2.0 or greater Mouse Boot will name the desktop NEWDESK.INF instead of DESKTOP.INF Step 4 - Re-boot the Computer. If everything went ok, the Mouse Boot Program should load and display the selector screen (the welcome screen should display first if you decided to use it - just press the left mouse button). If you do nothing within 10 seconds, Loading will continue normally - the right mouse button will also exit the program. The left mouse button, However, will stop the time-out feature and allow you to make changes. PART III - "Great, so now what?" Once loaded, Mouse Boot should display all of the accessories auto-boots, and desktop files currently available. The active ones will be shown in inverse. To change any of them simply point and click - or drag the mouse pointer (yes I said *Mouse Pointer*) to change a bunch at a time. Try clicking on the DESKTOP title - the column will now switch to show all available GODS ASSIGN.SYS files you installed in the MOUSEBT folder (if you installed any). Click on it again to show any custom file types present (read how to set up custom file types in section XI.) Click on the title yet again to toggle back to showing desktops. The title bar will only show file types that are available; if no files of a certain type exist in the MOUSEBT folder that type will be skipped over. You can turn on as many Auto-boots and Desk Accessories as you like, though the computer will only load six accessories at a time. Meanwhile, only one DESKTOP.INF, ASSIGN.SYS file, or custom file type can be on at a time ( but they all can be off ). After you get things the way you like, take a look at the bottom of the screen, what's that you see? Could it be? Why, yes it's Buttons - Buttons in the Auto Folder Imagine that! of course, this minor feat of wonderment can only be accomplished because we have a ** MOUSE **. Part IV - "Allright monkey boy, So what do these buttons do" I'm glad you asked, after all - I went to a lot of trouble to write the button routines as they are not really GEM buttons, (Well I never said I got Dialog boxes working). But all of this should really be of no concern to you - just me and my frazzled compiler. Well, let me un- tangent myself and get back to the subject. The first button labeled "CHANGE" will cause the modified files to be renamed or copied as the case may be (if run from the desktop, you will also be given the option of re-booting to install the changes). The second button "CANCEL" will exit making no changes (the right mouse button also does this). The next two buttons have to do with presets and we'll get to them latter. finally the last button "REVERT" will change the highlighted files back to the way they were when the program booted. Boy, I bet you all are thinking "Gee, It's now so easy to change these files there's no need to make this poor programmer do presets!" (Yeah Right!) Which brings us to... PART V. - "Presets did I hear you say?" Yes, I said presets. When Mouse Boot first loads it looks for a file named PRESET.DAT in the MOUSEBT folder; if it can't find one all of the presets will be empty and named "Unused". To store a preset simply set up the screen the way you want and click the "EDIT" button. A mock-GEM dialog box will appear with five options shown in buttons at the bottom. To store your preset, first click on the STORE button followed by the preset you wish to store it into (one of the twenty buttons above the STORE button). if the preset was formerly empty you will also be asked to enter a new name for that preset. That brings us to "RENAME", which allows you to change the name of any of the presets. To rename a preset simply click on the "RENAME" button and then click on the preset you wish to rename. Another dialog box will pop up asking you to type the new name (one of the few times you need really touch the keyboard!) - if you press ENTER without typing anything, no change will be made. Otherwise, the name you type will become the new name for the preset IN MEMORY. "What-da-ya mean 'IN MEMORY' " Ah, yes... You may have noticed after you stored your first preset or renamed a preset that the mouse pointer all of the sudden has a little 'S' under it. This means that the presets have been modified and need to be saved if the modifications are to be written to the PRESET.DAT file. That's what the SAVE button's for. After you get all of the Presets the way you want them, remember to save them before leaving the program (unless you want to cancel your changes ). After you save a preset file Mouse Boot will display the presets the next time you boot allowing you to select one. The last button in the STORE dialog, CANCEL, does nothing more than return you to the selector screen. "Didn't you forget one - how about Mass?" No, just saving the most confusing for last, Mass performs a mass merge or mass extract on a selected group of presets. If, for example, you add a file to your AUTO folder after setting all of your presets up, it could take some time to add this new file to all of the presets you want to use it with. This is where Mass comes in - first select the mass button; a blank selector screen will appear with a message at the bottom asking you to choose a file to mass merge or extract. As soon as you choose a file another mock-dialog box will appear asking you to choose which presets to add or extract the file from - highlight all that apply and then click on the button at the bottom of the dialog. "Gee Mr. Wizard - how do know if I added or extracted the file?" Well it depends, if the file you selected was already in the preset it will be extracted; otherwise the file will be added to the preset. At any rate, like with STORE and NAME none of the changes are permanent until you click on the save button. PART VI. - "So, how do I use these wonderful preset files I made." Simple, click on the PRESET button at the bottom of the selector screen - this will bring up another mock-GEM dialog box with the twenty preset buttons listed plus the buttons SHOW and CANCEL at the bottom. To do a preset simply click on the preset you want to use. CANCEL does the same thing as before, while clicking on SHOW followed by a preset button will cause that preset to be displayed on the selector screen. This can be used to examine a preset or to edit and copy presets when used in conjunction with the EDIT and STORE buttons. PART VII. - preset limits A maximum of 40 files - 6 of which can be Accessories - can be held in each preset at a time. More than six Accessories is pointless of course, and 40 should be all the files you reasonably need ( it's actually a convention I adopted from one of those other nameless autoboot utilities and is kind of arbitrary). Only the active files are stored in the PRESET.DAT file, all other files will be set to inactive. To add files to the list, use the SHOW button, add the files, STORE it back to the preset, and then SAVE; or if you want to add a file to a number of presets at once use the MASS button then SAVE. PART VIII. - hide (and not go seek) Some Files (especially autoboot files) you may want to always remain active - for example, the Mouse Boot program itself or a TOS patch program. Since Mouse Boot uses standard GEMDOS routines to rename files, any file set to read-only status will not be changed. To take advantage of this, Mouse Boot won't show any autoboot or accessory files that are set to read-only status - allowing you to effectively hide these files from Mouse Boot. It's a good idea to do this for all of the files you want to stay on permanently; you can always set them back to READ/WRITE status if you want to. (Note: when reordering AUTO programs, all files including ones set to read only will be shown so that they can be reordered as well - see the READ.ME file for more details) PART IX. - Default Selections Presets one and two (that's the one in the upper left hand corner and the one directly under it) have a special function. When Mouse Boot first loads it starts a ten second countdown timer; if the timer runs out or if the space bar is pressed, Mouse Boot will set the files to the first preset if you are using a color monitor or the second preset if you are using a monochrome monitor. This allows you to have a default setup for for each monitor type - if you have only one type of monitor you can use the other preset for anything you want. Pressing the left mouse button will abort this time-out feature, and the right mouse button will exit without making any changes. PART X. - Editing tips and tricks. Because of the way the user interface of Mouse Boot is set up, presets can easily be copied and edited. To copy from one preset to another, for example, first click on PRESET then on SHOW and choose the preset you want to copy. The preset will now be shown on the selector screen (you can edit it here if you wish). Next click on EDIT then STORE followed by the preset you wish to be the destination. Many presets may have only slight differences between them; so doing this can save a great deal of time. PART XI. - Custom File types. In addition to desktop.inf and assign.sys files, there are other types of files it can be useful to switch between. Because of this, Mouse Boot supports two user-defined file types. These can be any type of file - a startgem.inf file or a DTP configuration file for example. To make a user-defined file type first copy the files into the MOUSEBT directory renaming them with a descriptive file name and the extension .1CF for custom type one or .2CF for custom type two (for example a STARTGEM.INF file to auto-boot NEODESK may look like NEOLOAD.1CF or NEOLOAD.2CF). Mouse Boot will rename the inactive files to .1CX or .2CX respectively. As with desktops and assign.sys files you can have up to 18 of each file type. Next, re-boot the computer and when Mouse Boot loads and the selector screen is shown, click on the Mouse Boot title bar at the top-center of the selector screen - this will bring up a dialog box with three buttons. click the first button on the left to set the name and path for custom file type one, the middle button for type two, or the last button to cancel and return to the selector screen. If you select button one or two you will then be asked to enter a name for the custom file type. Enter any descriptive eight letter name - this is the name that will appear in the file type title bar in the upper right hand corner of the selector screen (like Desktop and -GDOS-): this is not a filename but just a way for the user to tell what each type is for. Once you enter a name you then will be asked to enter the path to which the custom file type will be written (i.e. copied form the MOUSEBT folder to this destination); this must be a valid path plus a file name (C:\STARTGEM.INF would be an example path for a startgem file) - after you enter a path you will be returned to the selector screen. After setting a name and path click on EDIT and then SAVE to save the new paths to the PRESET.DAT file. The next time you boot these paths will automatically be loaded along with any presets you may have defined. NOTE: As a default, custom type one will initially be defined for use by STARTGEM.INF files on drive C. Use it as an example of how to set up a custom file type of your own. To use the a custom file type, simply click on the title bar in the upper right hand corner of the screen until it shows the name and the files of the file type you defined (it will only do this if there are any files of that type to show). Then click on the particular file you want to use. Remember, if you store a preset, any highlighted file type - including custom types - will be stored in that preset. PART XII. - So I Lied. There is actually one keystroke to remember in the program. It's not really necessary but it can be useful - pressing the '*' key on the keypad before loading will cause the program to bypass very quickly. I tried to get the right mouse button to do this, but it wouldn't respond before I initialized the mouse - Oh well, I guess you can't have everything. PART XIII. - "What about the welcome screen?" The Mouse Boot program itself does not have a welcome screen - but I decided to add a simple picture loader named WELCOME.PRG (ok, I admit it was just an excuse to do a nice little title screen for Mouse Boot ). Put it just before Mouse Boot in your AUTO folder - It's a separate program that will work with or without Mouse Boot. Next Place any Degas picture (compressed or uncompressed - P?1 for color or P?3 for monochrome) in the MOUSEBT folder, The Welcome screen program will search for and load a random screen from the folder and display it for ten seconds (there is a sample picture included - MOUSEPIC.PI1); 4 channel Degas color cycling will also be supported. The '*' key bypasses the welcome screen and the left mouse button will cause Mouse Boot to load if it follows in the Auto folder. The right mouse button will not only quit the welcome screen but bypass Mouse Boot as well. The two programs work together, though because they are separate you can use Mouse Boot to turn the welcome screen on or off - just like any other autoboot program. NEW and IMPROVED! - check out the READ.ME file for the new welcome screen features. PART XIV. - "What about Autorunning GEM programs?" Depending on your version of TOS, there are several ways to set Mouse Boot up to autorun a GEM program. The easiest way is if you have TOS 1.4 or greater - Simply set up a seperate desktop file for each program you want to autorun (in TOS 1.4 and up autorunning a program is a built-in feature and is saved as part of the DESKTOP.INF file) then select that desktop via Mouse Boot. If you have an earlier version of TOS you will have to use a program like STARTGEM or HEADSTART to autorun a GEM program (both, I believe, are Shareware). STARTGEM, for example, saves a configuration file named STARTGEM.INF containing the path of the program to autorun - this then can be set up as a custom file type in Mouse Boot (see section XI.) and used to select between several different STARTGEM.INF files. Well, That should give you an Idea of how to use Mouse Boot - Just try it, it's mostly self-explanatory and very easy to use. So, all things being what they are, this is the end of Mouse Boot documentation. PART XVI. - Quick Reference Of Mouse Boot Commands Left Button - enter selector or select button/file Right Button - Exit Program with no changes (only in selector screen) '*' key ----- Bypass Program SPACE BAR ---- Within the 1st 10 seconds will select default preset (Color or Mono). Allowing Mouse Boot to time-out will also do this. File type title bar -- Switch between Desktops GDOS and custom file types. - Mock GEM Buttons - Mouse Boot title bar -- Set up Custom file type configuration BUTTON #1 ------ define custom type one BUTTON #2 ------ define custom type two CANCEL --------- return to selector screen note: buttons one and two will show the current name given to that custom file type. CHANGE - - - - - - Rename/Copy files if modified (with option to reboot if run from the desktop) CANCEL - - - - - - Exit with no changes PRESET - - - - - - Enter preset dialog Presets ------- Do Preset Chosen SHOW ------- Display preset to Selector Screen CANCEL ------- Return to Selector Screen EDIT - - - - - - - Enter EDIT dialog box RENAME --------- Rename a Preset MASS ----------- Mass merge or extract a file from certain presets. STORE --------- Store current set-up to Preset SAVE --------- Save Presets in PRESET.DAT file CANCEL --------- Return to Selector Screen REVERT - - - - - - Revert to Boot up settings < SHARE-WARE NOTICE > All of the Mouse Boot programs are released as SHARE-WARE and may be distributed freely as long as all the related Programs and files are kept together and are not modified in any way. If you like this program and want to see more software from SRL systems (as well as future updates of Mouse Boot) please send $15.00 to... SRL systems c\o Scott R. Lemmon 2121 Gillis st. Palatka FL 32177 If you have any question or comments about this program write to the above address or call (904) 328-0748. < DISCLAIMER > Since Mouse Boot uses standard GEM file commands and never deletes a file (unless copying over an old DESKTOP.INF or ASSIGN.SYS file with a new one), There is little chance that Mouse Boot could do any harm to to your system or files. However, in an overly litigious society one can never be too careful - so here it goes. SRL systems (namely Scott R. Lemmon) does not warrant that any of the Mouse Boot Programs or related Programs will be free from error or will meet specific requirements of the user. The Programs are provided on a solely "AS IS" basis. In no event shall SRL systems or Scott R. Lemmon be liable for any damages resulting from, or relating to the use of the Programs. - THE FUTURE - This is the first application for the ATARI ST from SRL systems. Hopefully more will follow in the future. Additionally, enhancements are planned for Mouse Boot - feel free to suggest any.