Randomizer is an INIT that copies a random file from a folder to a file that is used for something. Randomizer does nothing else. I use it to randomize startupscreens and that is what is configured for initially. Randomizer can be reconfigured using ResEdit. There is no Control Panel interface for it because it’s free and I’m lazy. Two good excuses in my book.
Randomizer will not run if either the Shift or Caps Lock keys are down when booting. If the Option key is down when Randomizer runs, it will toggle the display window on and off. The display window shows the names of the file(s) copied.
Randomizer can live in either the Extensions folder or the System Folder. I prefer to leave it in the System Folder so that it runs last (or nearly last). If it is to live in the Extensions folder then it will have to be reconfigured. To place it in the System Folder, open the System Folder and place Randomizer in it.
To configure Randomizer, you will need ResEdit, which is Apple’s resource editing program. If you don’t know what resources are then you probably shouldn’t be trying to reconfigure Randomizer because it only gets worse from here.
In Randomizer is a STR# resource with the path name of sets of folders and files. These are what Randomizer uses to determine what file to copy over and what folder to pick a random file from. Initially it is set to “StartupScreen” and “:Screens” only.
Here are some other possibilities:
If Randomizer is to live in the Extensions folder it should use “::StartupScreen” and “::Screens” where the :: means to look in the parent folder.
If you want to randomize startup sounds with SoundMaster use “StartupSound” and “:Sounds”.
If you want to randomize startup sounds in System 7, you can use “:Startup Items:StartupSound” and “:Sounds” where the folder Sounds contains System 7 sound resources.
You can also specify things as complete paths instead of the partial paths I have been using. A complete path starts with your disk name, like “MyDisk:Data:Sounds” or somesuch. This way you can keep things out of the System Folder but it must be changed when you switch disks around.
Secret Tips
Randomizer uses a naming convention to do some tricky things if you are copying a series of files. It’s original purpose was to synchronize startup sounds with the startup screen, but that’s kind of fallen by the wayside these days. The trick is to name files the same in the different folders. For example, if Randomizer is configured for both screens and sounds, when the file Batman is used from the screens folder, the file Batman also gets used from the sounds folder. In this scenario though, if some screen Bob were chosen and there was no Bob sound, it could randomly pick the Batman sound. If you didn’t want this, you could name both the screen and the sound Batman.Only and they would only be used together. Fabian Ramiréz of SuperMac used this feature with great results in the old days.
There is a LAYO resource in Randomizer which contains some option settings you can change. Simply open Randomizer with ResEdit and open the LAYO resource. The first two items are the top left of the small display window. After these are a couple of boolean buttons which control whether the window shows (toggled by the option key) and whether Randomizer will pick files randomly or sequentially. If in random mode, when the Pick Files Sequentially button is off, Randomizer picks any old file but won’t pick the same file twice. In sequential mode, Randomizer will pick the next file alphabetically in order to equalize the use of each file since random mode seems to pick some files more often than others, although that isn’t statistically true in the long run.
