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Text File | 1992-10-01 | 21.7 KB | 526 lines

Files Explained --------------- In this section I plan to explain the use of,where to find them and how to use them to their full potential. I'm sorry I cannot explain every single file,but it would take me about 3 or 4 disks of text and I don't know about every file,just the basics to get me by.If there is a file you wish to know more about,but I haven't covered it,just tell me which one and I'll try to cover that as best I can. Here We Go: First Directories - What is a Directory? ----------------- -------------------- A Directory (or DIR as it's sometimes known) is the backbone of all disks. Without Directories your disk wouldn't load.Usually an Amiga DOS disk has these Directories (Amiga DOS is the Computer Language any standard Amiga recognises): C (A Command Directory), Devs (The Devices Directory), Libs (The Library Directory), L (The Handlers Directory), Fonts (Where Letters of different Styles & Sizes are stored), S (Where the disk all starts from) Prefs (The Preferences Directory - Where you can sort out your own personal settings for the Printer,Clock,Fonts,WB Pattern and more), System (This Directory contains files very useful to your Amiga System's operation). Most files are found in a Directory,although some files are found outside Directories,most are commonly in a Directory. Like a letter is found in an Envelope. IMPORTANT - ALWAYS MAKE A COPY OF THE WORKBENCH DISK & WORK WITH THAT ********* ********************************************************* How do I know what files are on my disk? ---------------------------------------- Once this disk has loaded,open the System drawer,you will be presented with a few icons,open the CLI Icon and type the word list,dir or info and the Amiga looks in the Command Directory for the commands.Then the Amiga will list all the files on the disk,if you are fortunate to have an External Drive or 2! Then type list df1: or list df2: depending on which drive you have the disk in. It is very important you put the ":" after the df1 or df2, or the commands won't work. If you type info you will get this: Unit Size Used Free Full Errs Status Name ------------------------------------------------------- DF0 879k 1723 35 98% 0 Read/Write Workbench2.0 What does that mean? -------------------- Well Df0 means Disk Floppy 0 which roughly translated means DF0 is the disk drive within your Amiga. DF1 is the 1st External Drive,DF2 is the 2nd External Drive and so on. All Amiga Disk Drives can store 880k of information, 1000 Bytes = 1k. Your Amiga has 1 Meg of Memory (In standard form), 1 Meg = 1000k - which as you can imagine can read and store a lot of information! The Full description means that 98% of the disk is used & only 2% of the disk is available. Errs means that there are so many errors on this disk,in this case there are no errors on the disk. The Status description states what the disk is capable of,in this case the disk can be Read and Written to. If you don't understand the words Icons,Drawers,Close Gadget and more,read the Windows Document,where they are explained better. I had to remove some of the programs which you will find on your WorkBench Disk to make room for these Documents & The example Pictures. A few files explained: --------------------- Copy - This command is used in the CLI window when you wish to transfer ---- files from disk to disk and transferring files from directory to directory. Example: ------- Copy Workbench2.0: c/list to Other Disk: c Execute - Again with the CLI.Some programs need to be executed to work. ------- Example: ------- Execute Workbench2.0: Program Install - CLI Again. Used to install a WB2 "Code" onto your chosen disk. ------- Example: ------- DF0:Install or DF1 or DF2 LoadWB - This command is used in the Start Up of your Workbench Disk and ------ most disks which use a Workbench screen on that disk.When your Workbench Screen loads up,a large CLI screen appears (Nearly Full Screen Size),but you won't see it. Why? Well,after the LoadWB has run,there is a command named EndCli which removes the CLI window so your Workbench screen is displayed.This is permanently in the WB2 ROM and the command doesn't need to be installed in your C directory,therefore saving disk space. Rename - CLI Again. With this command you can give a file a different name ------ to it's original. Example: ------- rename present filename new filename Just the name changes,the contents of the file remains the same. Delete - CLI again! Used to delete files or programs which you don't need. ------ Example: ------- delete file or program type - Can be used on both the CLI and in your Start Up.Used in the Start ---- Up Sequence as follows: type text,document,message (or whatever you called it) In the CLI type the words - type (whatever it's called) The screen of text will rush past quickly, press the spacebar and this will pause the text moving.To start the text scrolling again, press the backspace key (Above the Return or Enter Key). Wait - This is used in the Start Up. ---- Example: ------- Type text wait 5 These 2 parts of the Start Up tell the Amiga to type out the text file and then to wait for 5 Seconds. The above mentioned files can be found in the C directory,now to the Devs Directory. Keymaps (Dir) - The keymap which is installed here will then operate the ------------- Amigas keyboard.For example,if you install the gb keymap (on the Amiga Extras Disk) in your Keymaps directory in the Devs Directory and your Keyboard will type exactly what it says it says on the keys. Example: ------- copy Extras: Devs/Keymaps/gb to Workbench2.0: Devs/Keymaps Printers (Dir) - This determines the set up of your Printer.Most Printers -------------- are of the Parallel kind (plugs into your Parallel Port on the back of your Amiga),some Serial Printers are still used,but with superior Text & Graphics Printout's by the Parallel Printers,more people are going for the Parallel types. For your Printer to work you must have a Printer Driver installed in your Printers (Dir) which suits your own Printer. Many Printer Drivers are on the Extras disk.To see if a suitable driver is on this disk,follow these steps: 1. Open your CLI window. 2. type - list Extras: devs/printers 3. You will be asked for the Extras disk 4. Insert the Extras disk and all the Printer Drivers should be shown. Now you will want to transfer the suitable driver to your Workbench disk. Replace the Workbench disk,open CLI and type this: copy Extras: devs/printers/driver name to Workbench2.0: devs/printers System Configuration - Generally this is how your Workbench Screen looks -------------------- like.The Pointer Colour & Shape and the Colour of your Workbench Screen.If you've seen a neat pointer or smart Screen Colour you can copy them to your Workdisk (as long as the disk you are copying from is in Amiga DOS). Here's how: For this example,let's call the disk Disk A. 1. Open the CLI 2. type - copy Disk A: devs/system configuration to Workbench2.0: devs/ system configuration Prefs - This is where you set your own Personal Preferences - The Colour ----- of your Workbench Screen,The Colour of The Mouse Pointer,The Work bench Pattern (WB Pattern),The Printer Set Up (Assuming you've copied the neccesary Printer Driver from the Extras disk) & more. When you've set your own settings,just save the settings and the Amiga will store these automatically. System ------ AddMoniter - This is a tool that lets you notify the Amiga that a Monitor other than the Standard RGB - Style monitor has been added to the system. Bindmoniter - Tell the Amiga of different display modes other than just the standard mode it has in ROM. Setmap - This is a command which tells the Amiga to find the keymap within the Devs Directory. The Keymap is the Map of the Keyboard. The Amiga will set itself to which keymap is chosen. Utilities --------- Exchange - This lets you monitor & control the Commodoties Exchange programs stored in the Tools/Commodoties drawer on your Extras 2.0 Disk. Trashcan - This is where you can "dump" projects which you no longer need ---------- or store them for future reference. WBStartUp --------- Although you would think this is where the Workbench starts from,it doesn't. The Amiga system begins from a file called the Start Up Sequence,that file is to be found within the S Directory. The S.U.S tells the Program how to load.Within this is a command called WBStartUp add,which basically means to add the Programs contained within the WBStartUp Drawer.If the WBStartUp Drawer is empty,it will just carry on to the rest of the Sequence. There are many Public Domain Programs that you can put in this Drawer,such as ARQ (The Program used on this disk),PointerX and Virus Checker,to name just 3. With these programs,simply "Drag" the ICON from the disk you are copying from and "Drop" the ICON over the WBStartUp Drawer on your Work - Bench Disk and the program is now installed. Simple as that! For details of "Dragging" & "Dropping" ICONS,read the WINDOWS section. Fonts Section: ------------- Everybody who purchased a 500+ or 600 will have 3 standard disks issued with their Amiga,namely,Workbench2.04,Extras Disk and Fonts Disk. The Fonts disk contains many Letters of different shapes & sizes (known as Fonts). Workbench2.04 has the Topaz Style Font,Size 8+9 permanently stored in it's memory,so every time you load the disk these 2 Fonts will load automatically onto your disk.The smaller the number,the smaller the font. How do I know what Fonts are on the Fonts Disk? ---------------------------------------------- Users of the Amigas Drive only: ------------------------------ Open the CLI Window of your Workbench disk (Within the System Drawer) and type the following: dir AmigaFonts2.0:Fonts This will list all the Fonts available within that directory. Make a note of the Fonts that interest you,take the disk out & put the Worbench disk back in. Delete all the Icons + Files you don't need,to make space for the fonts. If you require more Fonts on your Workbench disk,you will have to copy the Font(s) from your Fonts Disk. Here's how to do it: ------------------- If you have just the Amiga's Disk Drive: --------------------------------------- Open up the CLI and type: copy AmigaFonts2.0:Fonts/name of font(s)/size to Workbench2.04:Fonts copy AmigaFonts2.0:Fonts/name of font(s).font to Workbench2.04:Fonts That's the technical way,now I'll explain that in English! Example: ******* copy AmigaFonts2.0:Fonts/diamond/12 to Workbench2.04:Fonts copy AmigaFonts2.0:Fonts/diamond.font to Workbench2.04:Fonts This command tells the Amiga to look at the Amiga Fonts Disk,then look in the Fonts directory & then to find the Font you have chosen and copy the chosen font(s) to the Fonts directory of the Workbench2.04 disk. Don't forget to copy the"font name.font" file as the display and workings of the font won't function without it. There will be a bit of disk swapping,don't worry,just follow instructions. How do I know what the Font looks like? -------------------------------------- Once you have copied as many Fonts to your Workbench disk as possible, you need to view them so you know which Fonts you are going to keep and which Fonts you won't be needing. First load your Workbench disk up & then open the Prefs drawer - this directory enables you to give your Amiga your own Personal Touch. Within this drawer you can set your Printer,Clock,Pointer Colour,Workbench Pattern,Screen Colour,Font and much more. The file we will be using for this exercise will be Font. Assuming you have copied the fonts over to your Workbench disk,Double-Click on the Font Icon. This will open a Window showing the available fonts in the Workbench Fonts directory.Press your left mouse button on the Up + Down Arrows in the centre of the Window,this will "Scroll" or move the Font selection UP or Down.When you wish to view a particular Font,click once on the Font name and size and the Font Style will be displayed in a box to the right.If you wish to use that font on your Workbench disk,click on save and that Font style + size will be used by your Workbench disk always. EXPERIMENT! ********** Change the Text + Field Font Style,Size & Colour how they appeal to you most don't forget to save the changes or they won't be displayed. Leave the disk Write Enabled (Hole covered) so you can write the changes to the disk. I like Fonts on another disk & I want them! ------------------------------------------ Quite a few Public Domain Utility Disks have some pretty neat fonts on them which are not on the Amiga Fonts Disk,here is how to transfer them to your Workbench disk: First load your Workbench disk up,when the disk has fully loaded and the Disk Drive light has gone out,remove the disk. Put in the disk which contains the Fonts you want.Make a note of the Disk Name and remove that disk and put the Workench2.04 disk back in. Open the CLI and type the following: dir name of other disk:Fonts Disk Swapping again! This will show all the Fonts in the directory of the other disk.Then use the copying fonts method as explained above,but change the name of the Amiga Fonts Disk to the name of the disk containing the fonts you want. I want to copy some Fonts,but I have no space. --------------------------------------------- Put your Workbench Disk in,open the CLI and type: dir Workbench2.04:Fonts Make a note of all the Fonts you don't intend to use (Including the name of font.font files) and then type: delete Workbench2.04:Fonts/name of font delete Workbench2.04:Fonts/name of font.font In other words! Example: ------- delete Workbench2.04:Fonts/diamond delete Workbench2.04:Fonts/diamond.font Keep doing this until you have removed all the fonts you don't need. Setting the Printer Up ********************** To get your Printer up & running,follow these steps: Open the Printer Icon (Within the Prefs Drawer) and a large box appears showing various adjustments you can make for your Printer. Firstly I'll explain the options & how to use them. Printer Port: With this gadget you can change the Printer to Parallel or to ------------ Serial type. Paper Type: With this gadget you can change the type of the Paper to Fanfold ---------- or Single. Fanfold being Paper on a roll or continuos sheets, Single being Single Sheets of Paper. Paper Size: With this gadget you can tell the Workbench Disk which Style of ---------- Paper you are using. Pitch: This refers to the number of Characters printed in 1 inch of text. ----- The higher the number,the smaller the space between Characters. Print Spacing: You can choose between either 6LPI or 8LPI. LPI means Lines ------------- Per Inch.If you choose 8LPI,the lines will be much closer together than 6LPI. Print Quality: With this gadget you can choose between Draft or Letter ------------- Quality. Draft being a faster output to your Printer than Letter,but Letter being a better quality printout. The 3 Boxes in the corner represent the length of the Printout (in lines) onto Paper,the Margins (Space in Characters) from the edge. I've set my Printer Up,but it either Prints out rubbish or not at all. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 Times out of 10 when these problems occur,you normally don't have the correct Printer Driver Installed for your Printer. A driver sends a type of code from your Workdisk to your Printer,telling your Printer the correct set up for it to work properly. How do I install the correct Printer Driver? ------------------------------------------- For this exercise you will need a copy of your Workbench disk and the Extras Disk which came with your Workbench & Fonts Disks. First load your Workbench disk and Open the CLI,once loaded,type this: dir Extras2.0:Devs/Printers Insert the Extras disk and all the Printer Drivers on the Extras disk will be shown.Make a note of the Driver which matches your Printer and put your Workbench disk back in and type the following in the CLI Window: copy Extras2.0:Devs/printers/name of driver to Workbench2.0:Devs/printers For this example we'll use the EpsonQ Driver,so it will read: copy Extras2.0:Devs/printers/EpsonQ to Workbench2.0:Devs/printers WB Pattern: ---------- This is one of those programs where you can just experiment and get some beautiful results. Don't forget to save the changes. Printer GFX: Use this to set the Graphics Printout (Pictures). *********** Colour Correct: This tries to match the Colours on your TV/Monitor to the -------------- Colours on your Printout. Colour Printers Only. Smoothing: When Printing Diagonal Lines,the lines sometimes appear jagged, --------- this smoothes them out. Left Offset/No.Inches: Like setting Margins for pictures.This is described --------------------- in Tenths of an Inch. Center Picture: When used,the Printed Picture is centred horizontally on -------------- the page. Dithering: This refers to the Printing of dots of various Colours.Enables ********* you to produce Printouts which appear to have more colours than the 4 Ink Colours which are usually available on a Colour Printer. Will mix standard printer colours to get more detailed shades of Colours. When this Icon is opened,a Window appears showing various Dithering options - They Are: Ordered - This is teh standard type of Dithering. Halftone - The strength of Colours are formed by altering the size & density of the dots.This feature works best on High Density Printers - Greater than 150 Dots Per Inch. Floyd Steinberg - This creates a dot pattern that maximizes the detail of the Image. As the Printouts are of more detail,the time of Printing may be considerably slower. Scaling: This refers to changing the size of an Image. This will be deter- ******* mined by the Limits setting. The Image (Both Width & Height) will be Scaled to the nearest multiple,so the Image doesn't appear to be Stretched. The available options are: Fraction - Pixels are Enlarged or Reduced at random.Select this option if you are Printing Pictures with lots of shading. Integer - Every Pixel on the Screen is guaranteed to appear as an even number of Dots on the Printout. Perfect for Printing Thin Vertical & Horizontal Lines such as a grid. Image: Positive produces a Picture as shown as on the Screen, Negative ----- produces a Negative Image like a Photograph. Aspect: When set to Horizontal,the Image is printed as on the Screen. ------ When set to Vertical,the Image is Printede sideways along the right hand side of the paper. Shade: These options let you select what Colours to Print. ***** The available options are: Black & White - Colours are Printed in Black Or White. The Black Or White Printout by the THRESHOLD value (See Below). Dithering has no effect on this. Grey Scale1 - Colours are Printed in various shades of Grey. Color - Colours are Printed just as on the Screen. Colour Printers Only. Grey Scale2 - This supports a maximum of 4 Shades of Grey & is used for Printing Pictures designed using the A2024 Monitor. Threshold: The Threshold Value determines which Colours on the Screen are --------- Printed as White & which are Printed as Black. When the setting for IMAGE is Positive and the Threshold Value is low,only the Darkest Colour on the Screen is Printed as Black, all the other Colours are Printed as White. Increasing the Value of the Threshold causes more Colours to be Printed as Black. If you change the IMAGE setting to Negative,Black & White will be reversed.This will mean that a Low Threshold Value will now cause the Darkest Colour on the Screen to be Printed as White. Width/Height: These Gadgets limit the Width & Height of the Printed Picture. ------------ The value is determined in Tenths of an Inch. Density: Lower the Density,faster the image will print out. Higher the ------- Density,the Printout Quality is Higher,but it takes longer for the Image to be Printed.