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The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso
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BLINK30.DOC
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1990-12-09
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BLINK Utilities v3.0
Blink, Palette Switcher, BlinkSet, BlinkMgr
Copyright (c)1990 by Bill Aycock
The Blink Utilities give you quick, easy control over the palettes used in
your ST. Rather than using the Control Panel accessory and setting your screen
colors one by one, Blink and Palette Switcher let you install an entire custom
palette with the click of a mouse. What's more, each uses less than half the
memory taken up by the Control Panel. Both Blink and Palette Switcher come
with a set of palettes already installed, but in case you want to create your
own custom palettes, the BlinkSet accessory and BlinkMgr will let you do so.
Blink, BlinkSet, and Palette Switcher will run as either programs or desk
accessories by simply renaming the files. They will work in any resolution on
any ST. The BlinkMgr Librarian runs as a program in either medium or high
resolution.
Blink...
BLINK is a small desk accessory that performs many of the functions of
Atari's Control Panel, yet uses less than half the memory. It allows you to
install one of eight predefined custom color palettes, and set the key repeat
rate and delay, the cursor blink rate, and the double-click speed. If you
wish, Blink can set any of these values automatically when you boot your ST,
and it can install a different custom palette depending on your ST's current
resolution.
Palette Switcher...
For most folks, the eight palettes Blink lets you choose are plenty. More
than enough, in fact. However, there are those who actually need (or want)
even more! Palette Switcher was designed for these chosen few. PS allows you
to choose between 32 custom palettes with the click of a mouse. As with Blink,
PS can install a specific palette at boot time depending on your ST's current
resolution.
BlinkSet...
BlinkSet, used in conjunction with the Control Panel desk accessory, allows
you to set up groups of eight custom palettes. These groups are saved in a
separate palette file, and can be installed in Blink or Palette Switcher with
the use of BlinkMgr.
BlinkMgr...
Install your custom palettes into Blink or Palette Switcher with BlinkMgr,
the Palette Librarian. You can specify a default palette for each resolution,
and values for the mouse, keyboard response, and cursor blink that will be
installed automatically when you boot up your ST. Using BlinkMgr you can
extract or install palettes and boot information into Blink or PS, and manage
your palettes in small 8-palette .PAL files or large 32-palette libraries.
BlinkMgr can also read BLINK.DAT palette files created by versions of BlinkSet
prior to v1.2.
==============================================
USING BLINK...
Either select Blink from the Desk menu or double-click its icon to run it as
a program. If you've specified any values to be installed automatically, they
are set at this time (more on that later). If for some reason you don't want
these values installed, hold down the Control key as Blink loads; this will
override the defaults. (To do this if you have Blink installed as a desk
accessory, hold down the Control key as soon as you see the ST's desktop
appear (or a little before); when disk activity ends, you can release the key.
If you run Blink as a program, just hold down Control when you double-click on
the file and release it when you see the dialog box.)
When the dialog box appears, Blink is ready for use.
NOTE: Due to the way the ST initializes accessories, you will not be able to
load a new palette at boot time if you install the Atari Control Panel along
with Blink; the Control Panel settings take precedence over Blink's. Also, on
some systems you won't be able to install a new double click speed at boot
time. Both of these settings will still work fine from the Blink dialog.
Setting Mouse, Keyboard, and Cursor Parameters
The left side of the Blink dialog contains four pairs of small boxes which
allow you to set the mouse's double-click speed, the key repeat rate, the
repeat delay, and the speed at which the text cursor blinks. For each of
these, the box on the left shows the current value of the setting and the
default value when your ST is booted. The box on the right lets you enter a
new setting, and shows what values are acceptable. Enter a new value in the
space provided, or leave the field blank and the current setting won't be
changed.
The first pair of boxes controls the mouse's double-click speed. The value
here can range from zero to four. Normally three, you can set this to a lower
number if you'd like your ST to allow more time for a double click.
The next two pairs of boxes let you adjust your keyboard's auto-repeat
response. Whenever you press a key there's a small delay, then the key starts
repeating. You can adjust the "key repeat RATE" value to change the speed at
which a keypress is repeated. The default value of two produces a rate most
people find comfortable; if you change this to one, each keypress will repeat
twice as fast (great for moving around the screen quickly). Higher values make
the keys repeat proportionally slower. (Settings between one and 21 are
possible, but I can't believe anyone would care to suffer through a value
greater than three!) The "key repeat DELAY" value indicates the amount of time
you wait before a key starts to repeat. Normally this is set to 15, for a
delay of a quarter second. If you'd prefer a longer delay, specify a larger
value here; for the key repeat to start sooner, use a smaller number.
The lowest pair of boxes controls the cursor blink rate. The value shown
represents the number of 'ticks' before the cursor turns on or off, each tick
being roughly 1/60th of a second. The smaller the value, the faster the blink.
The normal rate is 30, meaning the cursor toggles on or off every half-second
or so; with a rate of 10, the cursor blinks three times as fast. If you prefer
a steady cursor that doesn't flash at all, enter the value 999 as the new
rate. (NOTE: When you enter 999 in this field, the cursor will stop flashing
but the blink rate will not be changed; it is simply ignored. The "is now"
value will display the current blink rate setting _even if blinking is
disabled_. To enable a flashing cursor after it has been disabled, simply
enter the desired blink rate.)
Selecting a Color Palette
The large box on the right of the screen lets you install a new color
palette on your ST. Atari's Control Panel lets you adjust every color on your
screen, but it can take awhile to set up all 16 colors (even if you can
remember the right numbers for each color!). Rather than go through all this
every time you want to change colors, use BlinkSet to save an entire palette -
you'll be able to install all 16 colors with a click of the mouse!
This Color Box contains ten radio buttons. The top two buttons are special:
the first, marked "DO NOT CHANGE", tells Blink you do not want to change the
current color selection. Underneath that is a button labelled "RESET TO STD",
which tells Blink to install the standard red/green palette for your ST's
current screen resolution. (The "DO NOT CHANGE" button is automatically
selected when you enter Blink.)
An alternate color palette can be loaded by selecting one of the other eight
buttons in this box. Each button has a short descriptive label, usually
listing either the program the palette was designed for or the major
background and foreground colors in the palette. The default set of palettes
includes one marked "Reverse Hi-Rez", which sets up a monochrome screen for
white letters on a black background.
NOTE: All of the default palettes are readable in any resolution, but be
careful with any custom palettes you create. If you save the standard low-rez
palette and install it when you're in medium rez, you'll end up with bright
yellow letters on a white background - very hard to read! The same thing will
happen if you install the default medium-rez palette while in low rez. If