********************************************************************* */\* *| And here it (he?) is: |* *| |* *| J A M E S , THE DESKTOP-BUTLER version 1.0 |* *| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ |* *| |* *| programmed by Pascal Fellerich. |* *\___________________________________________________________________/* ********************************************************************* IMPORTANT INFORMATION! ======================= 1. Please read *carefully* the following doc... 2. Since nobody is perfect, it is perfectly possible that there is still a bug in James. Please contact me if you happen to find one! Hints and good ideas are also welcome... 3. What's more: I'm still searching for bootsector viruses and other executable boot's - not in order to spread the viruses, but only to 'teach' James. The more bootsectors James knows, the less you will get the message 'unknown executable bootsector'. 4. If you use James regularly (I hope so!!), then please send $10 to the following address: Pascal Fellerich 45, rue des Gents L-3482 Dudelange (Luxembourg) By the way, if you add a disk to your contribution, I'll put the latest version of James on the disk. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What is James?? ================ James is more than an improved Control Panel: James is the ultimate 'desktop-butler'. It makes the daily work with the ST easier. You can now adjust the keyboard parameters, ship your harddisk, write-protect any drive, detect and destroy viruses and a lot more without having to boot numerous accessories! Why James? =========== Because it's not too large in spite of it's multiple built-in functions. Because it doesn't take long to boot it from disk. Because it doesn't load any other files (No more *.RSC, *.INF, *.DAT, *.OVL files!). Because it replaces several AUTO-folder programs & other accessories. And because every ST-user should have his personal comp.. eh, butler. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 'Main Menu:' ================= * Free RAM: Displays the amount of free memory still available. * Clock/Date: Allows you to change the date & time. Click once on the date/time display and you can edit the displayed date (ESC deletes!). Enter the date as YY/MM/DD HH/MM, not DD/MM/YY... - press RETURN or ENTER to terminate your entry. * Click: Click on the little box - a checkmark [ ] will (dis)appear. (Checkmark present = keyboard click on. That's how most of the functions of James work) * Bell: stop the unharmonic bell sound of the soundchip. * Other KBD: If you click on the text (not on the button) you will get a fileselector-box. Select a *.KBD-file to change your keyboard layout. After you have done that you can switch to the new keyboard layout you've just loaded (and back, of course). If an error occured during loading, e.g. file not found (TOS Error #33) then the switching will be disabled. * Repeat: Keyboard-repeat on/off. * Repeat-Speed: Set the repeat-speed according to your taste. This option works exactly as in the Control Panel. * Repeat-Delay: Should be clear. If not try out! * Double Click: This value determines how fast GEM reacts on a mouse-click. The littler the value the slower GEM will react. * ExtKey: Get special ASCII's using a standard keyboard. If you want to type characters like , you could load another keyboard layout containing these char's. But there's a more comfortable way to do it: first step - type the main character, e.g. . Second step - hold down the CONTROL-key and press <'> (use shift if necessary!). You'll get your <> without messing around with ASCII codes. -- Possible characters: with "'": | | |E|a|e|i|o|u| | |||||||| | with Backspace: | |!|?|A|I|O|a|c|i|o|r| with "~": | ||||||||||| |A|N|O|a|n|o| | ||||||| | with ",": | |C|c| with ".": | ||| |A|a| | ||| | with "-": | |:|L|Y| with "/": | |||| |O|c|o|u| | ||||| | with "`": | |A|a|e|i|o|u| with "^": | ||||||| |a|e|i|o|u| | |||||| | with ":" | | |A|O|U|a|e|i|o|u|y| with "_": | ||||||||||| |+|<|=|>|a|o| | ||||||| | * Snapshot: ALT-HELP saves the current screen on disk using the DEGAS-format. (The pic's are always saved to 'A:\HCOPY_??.PI?', and note that disk errors won't be reported!) * Fast Mouse: A dynamic mouse-speeder, MAC-like. * Dark: If switched on, the screen display will be shut off in ?? minutes. This screensaver works with any other program without causing troubles! * VBL-Simul.: => Vertical BLank-Simulation. If the screen is shut off by a screensaver, the video chip doesn't generate vertical blank interrupts. Some programs having subroutines in the 'VBL-slot' are dependent on this interrupt source, and if you have switched on the VBLsim option, James will 'simulate' this interrupt so that nobody realizes that the screen has been shut off. If you haven't understood this: doesn't matter, have it switched on. * Invers: (Only monochrome) - Try out! * 50/60 Hz: (only colour mode) - this option replaces 'inverse' if you work in midres. Replaces 'ChangeHertz.PRG'. * Vector Control: James will constantly check some important system pointers. This is very useful to detect viruses that need these system pointers for their operation. You'll be warned if there's been an illegal change. * Blitter: Control the bitblt chip! Useful if you want to switch on/off the blitter chip when working with another program. Note: the desktop doesn't recognize the changed blitter status - it will be reset to the desktop's default... sorry. * Save Settings: Save current setup to disk. The file JAMES.ACC must be accessible in the boot device - don't forget to put your boot disk in the right drive, otherwise James will grumble... * 'PRN & AUX' and 'Disk': Invokes the other dialog boxes: The PRN & AUX Menu: ==================== * There isn't much to say about it because this dialog box works exactly like the famous Control Panel. However, note that all changes will be cancelled by 'ABORT' and validated by 'OK'. By the way: if you use TOS 1.4, the baud rate will be displayed correctly even if you change it with another program. The Disk Menu: =============== * Test Bootsector: Examines a disk to see if it isn't infected by one of the known viruses. If you are in doubt, use a good virus-killer program to check it out. * Control Bootsector: Supervises permanently the bootsector of any disk. If you insert an infected disk James will warn you if there's something special in the bootsector. That's the ultimate protection against bootsector viruses. * Verify: Supresses the verify that TOS performs after having written something to (floppy)disk. With verify off, you will have the write speed increased by up to 100% - but use only good disks! (This is not a fastload option!) * Writeprotect: A condom for the ST. Any program that uses the standard OS-routines for disk write operations will 'see' a write-protected disk. But sometimes you'll need to switch off this write protection when you get the 'Critical Error Handler': do it by pressing --. (And don't forget to re-enable the write protection afterwards!) * Harddisk Ship: A harddisk-user should 'park' his 'noise generator' before switching it off. That avoids data losses due to uncontrolled head landings. Miscellaneous: =============== * Of course there's also a keyboard-reset: try to get a 'warm' reset, and to get a 'cold' one. After a cold-reset, the computer will be in the same state as if you had turned it off. You might need this if you want to get rid of a reset-resistant program! * ExtKey can be switched on or off by pressing --. * During system startup, James may ask the current time/date if you haven't a MEGA-ST compatible real-time clock or if your keyboard-clock has not yet been set to the right date. * About these *.KBD files: They can be edited with any standard keyboard-layout-editor as MKKBD, KSLAYOUT or ASCII_ED (the latter is german pubdom.) Internal stuff: ================ * James uses the XBRA-protocol. The xb_identifier is 'JAM1'. * James doesn't work in Lowres. Due to GEM-AES it isn't possible to switch back from mid to lowres. You'll see bombs. Sorry. * The VBL-Simulator uses the MFP timer-A. If this timer isn't available at available at the moment James switches off the screen, James puts an alert message on the screen. However, you can be sure that the timer A is available for other programs during normal video chip activity. _____________________________________________________________________ 1989 by Pascal Fellerich