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The SCHIZO Accessory === ====== ========= version 1.1 July 1, 1987 copyright 1987 by John Ogawa This document and the program that it describes may be freely copied and distributed in their original form only. No part of this document or the program that it describes may be used in any commercial program or sold without written permission from the author. This program is shareware. If you use it and like it, please send me a donation of $10-15 or whatever you think the program is worth. Please see the last section of this document for more information and how to get sources. And now, here we go! 0.0 Changes for this release ----------------------------- This release (1.1) has fixed several anoying bugs in the original version. I have also added monochrome support and made it easier for hard disk owners to use. But first the bug fixes. The most anoying bug in the first version was its tendency to bomb when in low resolution. I didn't catch that bug because Schizo didn't do anything in low resolution anyway, so I never tested it. Now, Schizo will let you boot in low resolution or go to it from medium resolution with nary a complaint. For more information on this, see section 1.3. Two other bugs in the first version had to do with the time functions. Apparently, version 1.0 was not setting the TOS clock's date at all. TOS time was set, but not the date. Since Schizo depends on the (more accurate and less volatile) keyboard clock for its idea of the time, this bug only became apparent in strange file stamps. This bug was fixed, and time stamps are now the same as the IKBD time. The other bug was that time setting (from the Set Time dialog) went wild if the date was either the 30th or the 31st. This has been fixed also. Schizo now runs in high resolution as well as medium resolution. The same (full) functions are available for both resolutions, and you are allowed to set the screen colors in low resolution. See section 1.3 for more on this. Finally, Schizo will now look on the drive that it was run from to update the time stamp. Previously it always looked to drive A. This was a problem for hard drive users who booted from something other than drive A. Please see the Warnings section for an important warning in this vein. That is all the changes for version 1.1. Keep the feedback and help coming! 1.0 General Description ------------------------ The Schizo Desk Accessory is a program that combines the functions of many small programs that are floating around in the public domain. With it you have dynamic control of such internal variables as disk verify, screen color, keyclick, etc. It was designed to be a replacement and extension to the Atari supplied Control Panel Desk Accessory. 1.1 Features ------------- Below is a list of features. Variables that can be set are followed by their possible settings (the default setting is in CAPS). Variable setting ================ - disk verify (OFF/on) - keyclick (off/ON) - bell (off/ON) - disk seek rate (2/3/6/12 ms. 3 is default) - screen colors (blue fore, black text, and white back is default for med rez. black text and white back is default for high rez) - double click speed (0-4. 1 is default) Display ======= - largest chunk of free RAM - IKBD clock's date Functions ========= - set time/date for TOS and IKBD - automatic prompting for time/date on first boot, set from IKBD clock on later boots - flush rs232 buffers - coldboot - install printer - set rs232 parameters 1.2 Installation and Usage --------------------------- To install Schizo on your system simply copy the SCHIZO.ACC file to the top directory of the disk you will boot from. Upon a warm or cold boot the accessory will be loaded into memory. To use the program go to the Desk menu and click on the Schizo Accessory entry. You will then be put into the main dialog and ready to go! 1.3 Schizo in Different Resolutions ------------------------------------ This version (1.1) of Schizo runs in all three resolutions. The old release tended to bomb in low resolution, a hindrance to running games! Since it is impossible to fit Schizo's dialogs on a low resolution screen, I have taken the easy way out. If Schizo is run in low resolution you will only be allowed to set the screen colors. The normal three choices from the "full" version are available: Black/Blue/White, White/Green/Black, and Amber/Red/Black. These choices are abbreviated in the alert box that comes up after selecting the accessory from the desktop. If Schizo is run in low resolution from hard-coldboot (turning the machine off and then on) the default values for the system variables are set. The automatic time setting is also bypassed (you can't get the time setting dialog on the screen!). If anyone can come up with a solution for running in low resolution, let me know! High resolution is a cheerier prospect. As far as I know, the program should run fine in high resolution now. I can't say for sure since I don't have a monochrome monitor (anyone got an old one that they want to give me? :-)). The only difference from running in medium resolution should be the screen color choices. Since there are only two (usable) combinations possible, that is how many are allowed (suprise!). The third choice (the middle one) is not selectable. Otherwise, running in high resolution should be the same as running in medium resolution. If there are any problems related to this, please(!) let me know. 1.4 The Rest of This Thing --------------------------- The remainder of this document will describe each of the dialogs available in the Desk Accessory. I've also included random notes on the usefulness of each of the functions. The dialogs are MAIN, SET TIME, and SET PORTS. The dialog sections are further divided into the individual functions available in each dialog and what they do. The final section contains information about sources and an address to contact me at. 2.0 The NAIN Dialog -------------------- This is the first thing you will see after selecting the desk accessory from the desktop. Most of the functions are available from here. The functions are contained in red boxes for ease of use. The name of each function is at the top of each box. I'll start from the top row and work my way down, row by row, left to right in my descriptions. 2.1 Free RAM Display --------------------- This box shows the largest chunk of contiguous memory available to user programs. It is NOT the total amount of free RAM available. It is more indicative of how much room any single program will have than a total RAM figure. 2.2 IKBD Date and Time ----------------------- This box contains the Intelligent Keyboard's idea of the current date and time. Since Schizo sets both the TOS clock and the IKBD clock at the same time, this is the same as the TOS time and date. 2.3 Set Disk Verify -------------------- This function lets you set the disk verify on or off. The default is off. Setting this to off speeds up disk accesses by roughly half. Theoretically this makes disk usage a bit less dependable. I have NEVER had any problems with the verify off. 2.4 Set the Disk Head Seek Rate -------------------------------- By using this function you can change the time for the disk read/write head to move (seek) to a new track. The default is 3 milliseconds. Setting the seek rate to 2 ms gives somewhat faster disk accesses, but may make awful bumping sounds. I use it at the fast speed only for special situations. Setting the seek rate to 6 or 12 ms gives more dependable disk accesses. I have used it with the slow rates to try and salvage files from disks that had trouble reading. The awful vibrating noises that come from the slow rates are harmless. :-) 2.5 Set the Bell ----------------- This function simply turns the ST's bell (Control-G) on or off. The default is on. These days I turn it off when using the Michtron BBS (why does that happen guys?). 2.6 Set the Keyclick --------------------- This function simply turns the keyclick on or off. The default is on. Somehow the keyboard seems even mushier to me when this is turned off! 2.7 Set Screen Colors ---------------------- This function allows you to set the screen colors to one of three combinations in medium resolution and to one of two combinations in high resoultion. On the buttons the first color is the text color, the second color is the foreground color, and the last color is the background color. The default color combination is black text, blue foreground, and white background for medium resolution, and black text and white background for high resolution. I use the white/green/black screen as my normal screen. It saves my eyes and the CRT. I use the amber/red/black screen for word processing (a la MicroEmacs 3.8f). The black/blue/white screen seems to be a standard. 2.8 Set Double Click Speed --------------------------- This function sets the maximum amount of time between clicks from the left mouse button for a double click to be registered. 0 allows slow double clicks, while 4 means FAST double clicks. The default is 1. 2.9 The Other Box ------------------ This box gives you access to the other dialogs and the rest of the functions. The Coldboot button gives you a coldboot. The memory will be completely reset, and any RAM disks that might have been in there will be lost. Use with care! Clicking on the Set Time button gets you into the SET TIME dialog. For details about this dialog see the next section (3). The Flush button causes the rs232 input and output buffers to be emptied. Any data in these buffers will be lost. Use this when your telecomm program freezes up. Finally, the Set Ports button gets you into the SET PORTS dialog. For details about this dialog see section 4. 2.10 The Schizo Box -------------------- This box is the administrative box for the desk accessory. Clicking on the Accept button will get you back to the desktop and set the current values from the dialog into the system variables. You can also get out of the dialog with the same results by hitting <RETURN>. The Read Me box displays the copyright notice for the program. Please read this over before you use Schizo. 3.0 The SET TIME Dialog ------------------------ This dialog allows you to set the TOS and IKBD clocks with the current date and time. Before I get into how to use this dialog, let me briefly describe Schizo's time handling. When you first turn on your ST the TOS and IKBD clocks are not set to the correct date and time. Schizo sees this and brings up the Set Time dialog before you get to the desktop. Schizo looks for the last time you set the date and time (stored in the SCHIZO.ACC file descriptor on the boot disk) and sets the dialog to this as a default value. You can either set the new date or click on Cancel to leave the clocks alone. Note that if you set the date, the SCHIZO.ACC file will be updated and both clocks will be set. After this you go to the desktop. If you do a warm boot (pressing the Reset button) the time handling is different. The TOS clock is zeroed in a warm boot, but the IKBD clock is left alone. So if Schizo sees that the IKBD clock has an acceptable date it sets the TOS clock to the IKBD clock's date and time. You don't get bothered. Now, how to use this dialog. When the dialog comes up it should have the IKBD's idea of the date as the default. You set the minutes (in increments of 5) by clicking on the closest value to the real time. Then click on either AM or PM and set the hour (from 12 to 11). That takes care of time. The date setting is a little hairier. First set the day of the month (from 1 to 31). Click on the ones digit first. If there is no tens digit, and none is selected for the default you are done with setting the day, you don't need to select one of the tens digits. If one of the tens digits is selected and you don't need it, click on 0. Otherwise click on the appropriate tens digit. That was the hard part. Now click on the appropriate month and year and you are done. To set the TOS and IKBD clocks to the time you've chosen and update the file descriptor for the SCHIZO.ACC file on the boot drive, click on the OK button. If you chicken out, click on the Cancel button and the clocks will be left alone. Both buttons put you back into the MAIN dialog (or the desktop if you are setting the time for the first time). 4.0 The SET PORTS Dialog ------------------------- This dialog lets you specify the ST's idea of what your printer is like and configure the rs232 port. To configure the printer chose the appropriate options from the Install Printer box. These options are the same as the options on the Install Printer part of the Atari Control Panel desk accessory. Type is the type of printer, dot matrix or daisy wheel. Color is whether the printer is a regular black ribbon printer or a color printer. Pixels is the number of dots across a page your printer can handle. Atari printers have 1280 and Epson printers have 960. Mode is the quality of print, draft or near-letter-quality/letter-quality. Port is which port the ST will send printer data to, the parallel port (printer port) or the serial port (modem port). Fianlly, Paper is what kind or paper you are using, fan fold paper (feed) or single sheets. The rs232 configure box lets you set communications parameters for the serial port. These options are generally self explanatory. Bits/Ch is the number of bits per data character. Parity is the parity of the data. Flow is the type of flow control, xon/xoff, rts/cts or none. Stops is the number of stop bits per character. Finally, the baud rate is the number of bits per second that are transferred. When you have finished setting things the way you want them to be, click on the Go To Main Menu button and you will be returned to the MAIN dialog and your settings will be entered. 5.0 Miscellanious Notes and Warnings ------------------------------------- I don't know of any bugs in this program, but there are a few warnings that you should heed when using it. First, I make no guarantee or promises about the usefulness or correctness of this program. You must use it at your own risk. I am not liable for any damage that results from use of this program. Now the warnings. It is not a good idea to use the rs232 configuration functions of this program at the same time you are using the rs232 configuration functions of another program (e.g. Uniterm). Programs usually do not check to see what the current settings are, they assume that they are what they had set them to be. If you have a funny time/date set and enter the SET TIME dialog it may look funny. This is because the program is trying to select a button that is not there, and is selecting something that is not supposed to be selected. Any date from Jan 1, 1987 to Dec 31, 1995 should be fine. Along these lines, remember that Schizo updates the file descriptor for the SCHIZO.ACC file on the boot drive EVERY TIME YOU USE THE SET TIME DIALOG AND EXIT WITH OK. This means that the disk in the boot drive MUST have a SCHIZO.ACC file present. Otherwise the prorgam might crash. Speaking of dates, there is no built in checking of the date that you enter. Thus you could enter Feb 31 if you wanted to. The computer will just translate that to its correct value. Finally, this program may or may not work with the new ROMs. By its very nature this program depends on variables in the OS that may change with the new release. Rest assured that I will have a new version out when I get my upgrade though! :-) That's about all I can think of. Please send any bugs, problems, gripes, ideas, etc. to me. My address is in the last section. 6.0 Finally . . . ------------------ Ok, here we go. The last section. This is where all the important stuff is. :-) First, let me say again that this is a shareware program. If you use it and like it please send a donation of $10-15 or whatever you think the program is worth to me at the address below. I spent a lot of time on this program. I would like to keep on writing software, and one of the incentives is definitely getting money for your work. However, if you are very poor, don't sweat it. :-) I am trying to support this program. So when I hear about bugs I will do my best to fix them. I will still do my best to listen to people's wants and needs for any later releases. Still left to come are full usage in low resolution (don't hold your breath on this one! :-)), more control over default settings, and SmartWatch reading on boot. Feel free to contact me at any of the places/addresses below. I love getting mail! Sources will be available from me only. I debated quite a while about this, and decided that I would like to keep some amount of control over the sources. The sources will not be freely copyable, and you must register with me to get them (I am slightly paranoid :-)). If you send me a disk and a mailer I will send you the sources. This program was developed using Mark Williams C v2.0.1 and the source code is in that dialect of C. I have no idea how portable between compilers it is. It shouldn't be too hard to understand the code. I couldn't have written this program without the help of David DeGeorege, who gave me a wonderful program to read RSC files and convert them into C code. Finally, I'd like to dedicate this program to a whole lot of people who have either written some very nice software or have been very helpful and knowledgeable. Some of these people are: Simon Poole, J. Bammi, Ravi S., Rich Sansom, Jinfu C., and Paul Huntington. There are many more. Keep up the good work! Keep the ST alive! And I'm still in love with Darlah! :-))) (big grin) Addendum -------- How to reach me. This is now a little more complicated since I have lost my USENET account and Sysware has closed. You can still reach me at: GEnie: TUSHIE BBS's: ST-SDACE (619)284-3821 ST-MIDI Connection (619)452-7535 Computer Boulevard (619)589-0565 Since I will be moving to Minnesota in August for graduate school, you will only be able to reach me at the BBS's until the first of August. I will be reachable on GEnie all the time though, and *hopefully* I will be able to get a USENET reachable account on the U of M's VAX. Please send donations and source requests (remember the disk and mailer for sources!) to: John Ogawa 1028 W. Lewis Dr. San Diego, CA 92103 That's all for round two! Wait for round three! :-) tush July 1, 1987