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1989-12-25
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10KB
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208 lines
ASSASSIN.SYS
Version 1.0
By Michael F. Ellis
Release Date 10/15/89
Copywrite 1989 Michael Ellis
Note: ASSASSIN.SYS is a SHAREWARE program. That is, if you
find that you benefit from its use, you are expected to purchase a
registered version. Upon registering, you will receive the latest
version of ASSASSIN.SYS and an illustrated ASSASSIN.SYS
manual. In addition, you will be notified of any updates to the
program. To register your copy (and avoid the annoying
reminders at the beginning of the public version) simply send
twenty U.S. dollars ($20.00) to:
Michael F. Ellis:ASSASSIN.SYS
3315 S.E. 15th Avenue
Cape Coral, FL 33904
Support: If you find bugs, have questions, or have a few
suggestions on what might be added, you may write to the above
address or simply leave a note on GEnie. My GEnie address is
MIKE-ELLIS. I generally check messages about three times a
week, so please allow time for response.
--Documentation--
Are you afraid of GDOS? Do you find that when you
purchase a program that uses GDOS, you use only the fonts that
came with the program? If so, the reason probably boils down to
the ASSIGN.SYS file. Many people find it either too difficult or too
much trouble to customize the ASSIGN file. If, for example, you
are drawing a picture on DEGAS Elite and decide that a nice
Dutch style title would fit perfectly, are you willing to go through
the trouble of modifying the ASSIGN file just to add three words?
Probably not. It is for this reason that I created ASSASSIN.SYS.
There comes a time when a person gets tired of the same old
fonts and the hassle involved with adding and replacing them.
With ASSASSIN.SYS, you never have to worry about editing
another ASSIGN file, ASSASSIN will do it all for you.
Timeworks Desktop Publisher and WordUp are two popular
GDOS programs. Suppose you would like to use Timework's
'Drury Lane Caps' font on WordUp. Normally you would have to
copy the printer and screen fonts for Drury Lane into the GDOS
folder of WordUp. Next you would have to find a strictly ASCII
editor and load in the ASSIGN.SYS file on the WordUp disk. You
would then have to add the names of all the fonts you just copied
into the GDOS folder... if you can remember them that is. Sounds
like a lot of trouble, huh? In the next few paragraphs I will
describe how to use ASSASSIN.SYS so that you may avoid this
situation.
--Using ASSASSIN.SYS--
Before loading ASSASSIN.SYS, be sure the files
ASSN_CLR.RSC (for color) and ASSN_MON.RSC
(monochrome) are be located in the same directory as
ASSASSIN.PRG. To load ASSASSIN.SYS, simply double click on
ASSASSIN.PRG on the desktop. The program will then load and
you will see the Shareware introduction followed by the About...
dialog. Click on OK or hit RETURN to proceed.
To start, move the mouse pointer to "READ DISK". These
words should then be highlighted (become black). Click the
mouse button to select "READ DISK". Next you will be asked to
pick the directory containing the fonts you want to work with. If
you need to insert a fonts disk you may, as ASSASSIN.SYS will
not make further use of its resource files. Once you have located
the directory containing you fonts (via the fileselector), click on OK
(do not specify a file name, just a path). If there were fonts in the
directory, the drive will spin for a moment as it loads in
information about each font. After the drive stops, you will find a
list of font file names and a description of the corresponding fonts.
Now that you have the fonts in front of you, you get to
determine how to read their file names. A typical font name is
divided into 4 major parts, although we are concerned only with
two. The WordUp font name for the color Swiss 8 point font is
"ATSS08CG.FNT". The size of a font is almost always denoted
by two digits in the middle of the file. The type of font is usually
denoted by the two letters on the end on the file name, in this case
"CG" tell us it is a color font. ASSASSIN will tell you what type it
is, in this case "Swiss" will appear in the "Font Description" column
on ASSASSIN's screen. Another example might be the WordUp
font "ATSS24EP.FNT". From the file name, we know that it is a
24 point font, but what is the "EP" for? The "EP" stands for
"Epson", thus telling us that this is a printer font. Not all printer
fonts are labeled "EP" just as not all printers are Epsons. If you
own an ATARI SLM804 the printer font will have a different pair
of letters on the end. It is very important that you be able to
decipher screen and printer fonts, for they are not the same.
We are now ready to select some fonts. First, decide what
type of font you are selecting. If the font is a low resolution font,
click on the "Low Res." button at the top of the screen. Next
move the arrow to that font and click once to select it (it will turn
black) and a second time to confirm your selection (the process is
similar to, but not exactly like a double click). If the "Load Fonts"
button at the top left corner is selected (black), the font you clicked
on will be loaded into memory (provided you have enough RAM)
and copied for you later on. After choosing a font in this manner,
a double arrow will point to the font. Should you later decide that
you do not want this font or made an error in determining what
type it is, click and confirm it as you did before and it will be
deselected (and removed from RAM if "Load Fonts" was on").
More than likely, you will want to be able to print in the same
style font as you are using on screen. In order to do this, GDOS
requires that each screen font (commonly identified by a "CG" or
"HI" in the file name) have a corresponding printer font (commonly
denoted by an "EP", "HP", etc. in the file name). To select a
printer font, move the arrow to the "Printer" button at the top of
the screen. Next, move the arrow to the printer version of the
font, and click once to select and again to confirm. The file will
be loaded into RAM if the "Load Fonts" button is on.
If there are more fonts on the disk than will fit on on
ASSASSIN screen, you may move to the next screen by clicking
on the "Next" button, or back to the previous screen by clicking the
"Prev" button. If you have selected all of the fonts you want from
the current disk, but would also like to use some from another
disk, you may click on "Read Disk" are repeat the selection
process as many times as necessary.
Once you have selected the appropriate Low, Medium, High,
and printer fonts, click on "Write ASSIGN.SYS". The program will
ask you to locate a printer driver. These are usually found in the
same folder as the fonts and are necessary if any of the fonts are
to be printed. If you do not want to print any of the fonts, you
may click on "CANCEL" and continue. After loading the printer
driver, you will be asked to select the destination path. Simply use
the fileselector to find the directory you want your fonts in. If you
used the "Load Fonts" button at the upper left, all fonts that were
loaded into RAM will be placed in the destination folder, thus
saving you the trouble of copying the fonts yourself. If the
"Overwrite" button at the upper right hand corner of the screen is
selecter (black), ASSASSIN.SYS will not copy over any fonts with
the same name during the write process. Finally, a custom
ASSIGN.SYS file containing all of the fonts you selected will be
written to the root directory. You have now installed the fonts you
wanted!
--A Step by Step Example--
Here's the scenario: I have a copy of WordUp and a copy of
DEGAS Elite. I want to install my WordUp fonts on my DEGAS
Elite disk.
Here's the method:
1) Load ASSASSIN.PRG
2) Click on "Read Disk"
3) Insert the WordUp disk and select the GDOS directory
4) Click on the "Load Fonts" button
5) Click on the "Med. Res." button
6) Click once to select and again to confirm all files that have a
"CG" in them.
7) Click on