========================================================================= (C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== ************ Topic 6 Wed Apr 22, 1992 R.GLOVER3 [Rob] at 20:44 EDT Sub: DMJ Software A topic to discuss the incredible programs from DMJ-Soft, written by my good friend, Damien M. Jones. DMJ-GIF 3.0 is but one of his many accomplishments. 201 message(s) total. ************ ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 1 Tue Jul 13, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 02:27 EDT If not Optic Lab, maybe OptoLab? Need to buy a Falcon! :D My email friend Klaus out in Denmark wrote up Jukebox for me, and he has a stock ST. Couldn't even mess with the DMA stuff he uses in the program, and it's a nice piece of work. (Obviuosly the program has made it into public distribution. :) ) Just call me Mr. Idea. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 2 Tue Jul 13, 1993 STEVE-J [Steve @ NLS] at 06:18 EDT L.W.BENJAMIN - How about RASTRLAB.PRG? ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 3 Tue Jul 13, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:15 EDT Jonathan: I never said I believed his 4000:1 ratios. What I've seen are the 80:1 and 100:1 types. Papers are fine, but code is especially appreciated. If you can get them for me (I don't have time to look--not that desparate yet!) I'd appreciate it. No problem with running under X (I assume you mean X-Windows?) if it's in C. Much as I dislike C, at least I can use it. Graphics Gems I-III are on my shopping list. As for the any-angle rotation, I'd already figured that out. The shearing algorithm sounds interesting, but I have a trick or two in mind that will make the transformation algorithm _fly_. Really fast. With anti-aliasing, without holes. (You can still get the holes if you want, but it won't look as nice!) It will also have the virtue of being _correct_ on 90 degree angles--I've noticed some programs, when you use the any-angle rotate at 90 degrees, don't get it exactly right. I don't like that, so I won't write it that way. Thanks for the tip, though. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 4 Tue Jul 13, 1993 J.KRZYSZTOW [JEFFREY] at 19:23 EDT Damien, Today (Tuesday, July 13, 1993) I received View II in the mail. I like it a lot. I read in the flier that the was a desk accessory version. Is this true? Is there anyway for you to emulate DCShower's protocol so I can use View II from within UIS_III? And lastly, would it be possible to use the left and right buttons to scroll instead of moving the mouse. At least a way to configure which method to use. Jeffrey ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 5 Tue Jul 13, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 20:57 EDT DMJ > I've also got a LaserJet 4 in the other room (not mine) that I can get to >when I need it. That 600dpi makes a big difference. DMJ GIF 4 will print >images at 600dpi, of course. ;-) I take this to mean that DMJ GIF 4 (or whatever it's final name will be) will be able to print directly to the HP LJ4 printer? --Lou T.-- Written: Tuesday, July 13, 1993 06:51 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 6 Tue Jul 13, 1993 VANDENHEUVEL at 23:26 EDT Damien why don't you buy an Adspeed? ICD is having a summer sale and they're only $99. Also is anyone going to post how they like View II (or has anyone gotten it yet?)..I want to buy it but with no demo and no reviews I'd like to hear at least 1 or 2 testimonials. --Dirk-- ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 7 Tue Jul 13, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 23:55 EDT Just won't listen to the rest of the world will ya? :D That's ok, I'm the same way. Email me your address and I'll photocopy off the paper for ya. The fractal compressino demos are large... They wouldn't fit in a GEnie letter if I tried to email it in to you. :( Of course, it seems like we disagree on every piece of programming theory that exists, so maybe it's better this way. :) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 8 Wed Jul 14, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 00:07 EDT Jeffrey: I'm not sure which flier you read, but let me clarify. There is not currently an accessory form of View II. This is one of the things that will be added in 2.1, which is currently under development. Owners of View II will receive the 2.1 update free of charge. My apologies if there was some confusion on this. As for tying View II into UIS III, well, that's another matter. I do not have UIS III or any information on tying into it. If I had this information, I'd look into the possibility. Lastly, using the left and right buttons for scrolling would be simple to implement, except the left and right mouse buttons are already used for other functions in View II. This will be even more apparent in 2.1, where the help screen (called up by the left mouse button) is actually a menu, where items can be selected with the mouse. I suspect you asked for this for one of two reasons. Either 1, you're used to the way another program works, or 2, the mouse scroll is a bit too fast for you. If it's reason #1, well... see the above paragraph. If it's reason #2, I'll be adding a third, slower speed in 2.1 that will make it a little easier to control. Lou: Yes, DMJ GIF 4 will print directly to a HP LaserJet 4. It will also print directly to dot-matrix printers and PostScript printers, in both mono and (if the printer supports it) color. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 9 Wed Jul 14, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 00:30 EDT Jonathan: Yes, it's true we seem to disagree on just about everything when it comes to programming. Anyone reading the E-mail we've been sending each other for the past two weeks might think we came from two different planets. Fortunately we share good taste in SF/Fantasy authors. If the fractal compression demos won't fit in an E-mail message (and _please_ don't send that uuencoded stuff! Real binary files _please_! ;-) then just put them on a disk and drop it in Snail Mail. Vandenheuvel: I don't buy an AdSpeed because I'm saving my pennies for bigger things (you know, a bird!) The lack of a demo View II has been discussed in this topic; it's a $20 program. I can let you have a demo version for $25. As for testimonials, well, I get lots of *E-mail* about it. Those of you who have said wonderful things about View II to me through E-mail are _more_ than welcome to direct your flattery to this open forum. Seriously, the more people who buy View II, the faster I can get my Falcon. The sooner I get my Falcon, the easier it will be to write programs for it... -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 10 Wed Jul 14, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 02:17 EDT Dirk, I ordered View II, but at this time, I did not receive it yet. Maybe in the next week or so when I get it, I will post my comments on it. I have heard many good things about DMJ's work, so I am sure I will be pleased. But I will let you know, when I know :) DMJ, Thanks for the printer info. It is impressive. --Lou T.-- Written: Wednesday, July 14, 1993 01:32 a.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 11 Wed Jul 14, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 07:02 EDT DMJ, I agree "Fovea" doesn't roll off the lips but thats why people will notice it.:-) Either that or they'll tell their dealer it was the one with the odd name.:-) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 12 Wed Jul 14, 1993 ATARIAUSTRIA [J.Widi] at 08:20 EDT Damien, my vote is for 'Raster Lab', although I still like my 'Raster Man' idea. Maybe I should start writing graphics software and use it myself :-) -Johannes ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 13 Wed Jul 14, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 19:38 EDT $99? Heck, I'd almost buy an AdSpeed for that! :) (I'm a Fast Tech fan to the core.) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 14 Wed Jul 14, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 19:52 EDT *** Long Post *** This message is broken into two sections. 1- VIEW II on my TT030, and 2- VIEW II on my STE. Funny how timing works. Yesterday there is a request for a review of View II and today I get it in the mail. Well I installed it and these are my comments.... __VIEW II on the TT030__ I was looking for a good program that I can install to view pics on my TT030. The many programs that I had used on my STE for this purpose would not work well on the TT (mainly because I use TT medium 99% of the time). Then there was the announcement of View II which allowed me to view pics (among other things) without having to change resolutions manually and such... And View II does just that. I had no trouble at all viewing ST Low res and ST Med resolutions pictures on my TT in TT Medium resolution. It is quick and easy. Plus I am able to do more than just view a picture, such as view the contents of a LZH or ARC just by clicking on it, and at that time I can uncompress it as well. I can click on a sound file (AVR, SPL, or SAM) and listen to that as well. It will set the rate by itself or ask you to choose a sampling rate. I can click twice on an animation file (SEQ & DLT) and enjoy that as well. All this from the TT medium resolution. In fact, the couple of SEQ files I tested worked better with VIEW II than they did when using other players on the TT! And of course it allows you to view text as well with some handy functions that goes along with it. Now, this is really my only real big problem with VIEW II and using it in TT Med resolution. For some odd reason, it displays the text in ST Med resolution!! This is fine on a native ST or STE, but it is horrible on the TT. I would much rather have VIEW II display the text in its native TT medium resolution. (DMJ- is it possible to disable this text feature, since I rather not have it on my TT like this?) My next problem is viewing ST High resolution pictures in TT Med resolution. It shows them alright, but for some reason they are all inverse! (black is white and white is black). Unless I am doing something wrong? On the subject of picture files, I realize that Spectrum pictures offer a challenge on a 32MHz machine. It does show them, but not as correct as I would like. There is another program called VIEW ST/TT (I believe it is here on GEnie), this program seems to handle Spectrum pictures better using the TT Low Res mode. My last problem that I have encountered with using VIEW II in TT Med resolution is that it seems to mess up at least one of my desktop colors after viewing a picture. I see that color #6 on my TT med res desktop turns to black after viewing a pic. This is simply remedied by calling the control panel, but I rather not have to do that. **PLEASE NOTE** I realize that this product was developed on a ST. I realize that DMJ does not have a TT to test it on, otherwise I am sure that all the above little problems would not be there. I am also sure that DMJ will do his best to solve them as well. But, the reason I got this package was for my TT. __VIEW II on the STE__ Okay, I explained my experiences on the TT with VIEW II. You may ask what about the ST or STE? Okay, I tested it out on my STE, running NeoDesk 3.03 on it. The results on the STE are magnificent! Truly incredible. I am able to view any picture (PI1, PI2, PI3, PC1, PC2, PC3, TNY, TN1, TN2, TN3, NEO, DOO, ART, SPU, SPC, SPS) on the STE without any trouble. I viewed ST high pictures in ST med resolution and the inverse problem was not there as it was on the TT. It showed Spectrum pictures beautifully. And when I used my monochrome monitor, it did a great job dithering color pictures for it. The text viewer in ST Med med res of course showed the text in ST Med resolution, but it is far better reading in ST MED Rez on the STE than it is on the TT (becaues the TT more or less emulates ST med resolution, the STE, you have the real thing). And of course with I switch to my monochrome monitor, it showed the text in its native ST High res. There really are NO "bugs" in it when using it on my STE. Though when running it under NeoDesk, I do have a couple minor little things. One is that you install VIEW II outside of NeoDesk, no problem there. But when viewing pictures, I still get the NeoDesk corner clock. I know that NeoDesk 3.03 allows you turn this off for installed applications, but since VIEW II is installed in a different way, that option is not there. Two, is that to exit out of VIEW II, I have to press the ESC key only to get a message that I have to hit another key to return to NeoDesk. Both of these are not real biggies. In fact, it was only up until last year that NeoDesk allowed you to turn off the clock automatically when viewing pics & installed applications. So in conclusion, I will say that View II is a great utility and very much worth the low, low price for it. There are many other features that I did not even mention here (ie printing files). It is packed full of stuff. I am slightly disappointed with my results on the TT, but I am confident that in time, those will be worked out. There you have it :) --Lou T.-- Written: Wednesday, July 14, 1993 07:44 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 15 Wed Jul 14, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 20:06 EDT DMJ, I can't send you binary files in email from the Internet. :) To send binary I'd have to upload it via GEnie, and I'm broke. But, then, messages are limited to 50K or so, so that rules out anything large. Actully, the Internet and Unix RT both have a policy of putting up files people request... And my floppy drive is broken any how. :( -- Just forget the whole thing. :) You are too busy as it is to branch into any NEW areas of programming! ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 16 Wed Jul 14, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 21:45 EDT Another View II customer here! I can second Lou's STE review and whole heartedly recommend it! My only annoyance is my corner clock (Informer) when you scroll the text backwards in the text viewer the corner clock gets imprinted all down teh screen. What I would prefer are keyboard or mouse equivalents to "page" through (fowards and backwards) a text file _without_ scrolling each line by line. One other suggestion: When clicking on a pic file to view, it would be nice if an addtional click or double click would return to the desktop instead of requiring a key press. Looking forward to additional modules! (IMG viewer!) (Very nice installation program!) -Tom ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 17 Wed Jul 14, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:57 EDT Lou: Thanks for your honest test of View II. As you stated, I do not have a TT. I did the best I could with the limited resources I had. I'm glad that, for the most part, it worked well. Now let's get to the nitty gritty of your problems. Displaying text in ST Medium res: it does this on the Falcon, too. While working on View II, I wanted to provide a fast text display, even for those people (like _myself_) not fortunate enough to have Warp 9. To make writing the custom text routine simpler, I restricted it to ST Medium and ST High resolution. I'll look into taking care of this for View 2.1, but I _cannot_ guarantee this feature will be there. Maybe 2.2? As for viewing ST High resolution pictures in TT Medium res, that's supposed to work. It's possible, however, that I'm not setting the colors correctly for ST High res; the TT's resolution here actually allows _any_ two colors, not just black and white, so that's probably what's not working. I _will_ try to fix this for 2.1. View II is not supposed to mess up your desktop colors at all. I'll look into it. What's wrong with the Spectrum display on the TT? The program is supposed to be using 256-color TT Low res to do the display. If you could describe the symptoms (are the colors messed up?) it would help me isolate the problem. View II & NeoDesk: For technical reasons, installing View II inside NeoDesk gets complicated. If you want to know more, say so. NeoDesk's corner clock can't be automatically turned off for the reasons you describe, however, I'll look into seeing if I can't turn the clock off myself for 2.1. (I never use the corner clock; that's what watches are for. ;-) When you exit from View II, you will indeed see a message telling you to press a key. This is because View II is a TOS program, and you have your preferences set to pause after TOS apps. If you change this so you only get a pause for an error (or not at all) you won't see this. This is how my NeoDesk is set, so naturally it didn't occur to me to mention this in the manual. I can't *quite* think of everything. ;-) View 2.1 will run as a GEM program, rather than a TOS program. This will let me do some really neat things, and was necessary for MultiTOS compatibility. This will completely eliminate the need to worry about the "Pause after TOS apps" in NeoDesk. I'm dedicated to making View II a simple, user-friendly program that does its job well. I use the program daily, and wish I had something equally good on my PC. One last thing, Lou. Other than bug fixes (which I _always_ try to take care of) what else would you like to see in View 2.1? No promises, of course, but if it's possible, I'm always willing to listen. -dmj P.S. Any who may have tried to call my new support BBS at (817) 582-0672 will have found that it doesn't answer. My apologies for the delay, but I've found the Major BBS isn't very easy to set up. It will be online by tomorrow morning. Thanks for your patience. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 18 Wed Jul 14, 1993 AEO.5 [Ed Krimen] at 22:33 EDT >problem with VIEW II and using it in TT Med resolution. For some odd >reason, it displays the text in ST Med resolution!! This is fine on a >native ST or STE, but it is horrible on the TT. I would much rather >have VIEW II display the text in its native TT medium resolution. >(DMJ- is it possible to disable this text feature, since I rather not >have it on my TT like this?) Or what about some kind of configuration to allow the user to choose which resolution? I'd like ST high, if not TT medium. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 19 Wed Jul 14, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 23:12 EDT Tom: I cannot fix the Informer corner clock. I also have reports that this program causes other problems with View II, although it depends on your system. A _well-behaved_ corner clock would make sure the GEM menu bar is present before trying to display the clock. As for the paging through without scrolling, I'll look into it. How does 2.2 sound? The reason the mouseclick does not work for pictures is that some of the custom display routines (_especially_ Spectrum) block out mouse input. This is one of the items on the 2.1 revision list. View 2.1 will also include enhancements to make it _much_ easier for other programmers to write View II modules (and for users to install them). As a matter of fact, there are so many things that will be added, I've had to rewrite the manual. Remember that buying View II now entitles you to upgrade to 2.1 when it becomes available FOR FREE. -dmj P.S. Thanks for the compliments on the installation program. 2.1's is even nicer. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 20 Wed Jul 14, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:22 EDT Lou, Zeitgeist is a corner clock that turns itself off with a key combo at any time. I've been using it fora long time, mainly because of the problem of the clock bleeding through graphics. Try it out; it's here on GEnie. And thanks for the great review of Damien's superb software. Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 21 Thu Jul 15, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 00:09 EDT I would take issue with the statement that a "well-behaved" corner clock would only display when a GEM menu bar is present. I appreciate the fact that my HotWire corner clock displays in TOS programs, too. But then, you can have it automatically shut off for any program (and it also has a hot key toggle), so I don't anticipate any problems with View II. :^) __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 22 Thu Jul 15, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 01:15 EDT If I _promise_ not to lose the information again, will someone tell me who to order View II from? Thanks... - Mick ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 23 Thu Jul 15, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 01:48 EDT DMJ, Hi! VIEW II is a great product and really do recommend it. It works flawlessly on my STE, like I had mentioned in my previous message. Even if you look past some of the things I mentioned about the TT, it is still nice to have on the TT because I can still view many ST Low & Med pictures, view ARCs & LZHs (and extract them), listen to sound files, etc... without having to change resolutions at all, or going into another program to view/listen to them. All can be done from the desktop! If I can display the text in TT Med or at lest ST High when viewing, I would be very happy with version 2.1 (but I guess I can wait for 2.2 if necessary ;) As for viewing ST High pics on the TT, yeah I think all you have to do is reverse the colors that are being used for it, in order to resolve the inverse colors. As for messing up the desktop colors, as far as I can tell so far, it only messes up one of the 16 colors I have set in TT Med resolution (color slot 6). As for spectrum pictures, yeah... the colors are all wrong. The image appears to be there, but palette is not correct. Thanks for the reminder concerning NeoDesk's pause after a TOS program. I will adjust that. I have no doubt that the items mentioned above on the TT will be resolved in future versions. But I would like to emphasize to everyone that may be reading this, that VIEW II does _not_ have these symptoms on the ST/STE. It is as smooth as glass. And I am not sure if I mentioned that even spectrum pics looked good with my monochrome monitor on my STE. It dithers it so you can see any color picture it supports on a monochrome monitor. And at the same time, you can view any ST high pic on the color monitor. Just double click on it from the desktop. Al, Thanks. Actually I am a happy Zeitgeist user myself. But I use it on my TT and never had the reason to use with NeoDesk since it had one already built in, but your suggestion is excellent, I will try it on the STE with VIEW II. Tom, Yeah I forgot to mention the nice installation program. It is always nice when you are allowed to use the file selector in order to set your paths. --Lou T.-- Written: Thursday, July 15, 1993 00:44 a.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 24 Thu Jul 15, 1993 DHAMM [DAVE HAMM] at 02:05 EDT Eye Candy ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 25 Thu Jul 15, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:37 EDT Lou, NeoDesk doesn't actually have a clock built in. It's the Neo DA that has one built in. Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 26 Thu Jul 15, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 09:18 EDT DMJ- thanks for the reply and the explanations. I intend to stick with INFORMER for now, I'm kinda hooked on it for another reason, I love the Disk access (ID/read/write) indicator that replces the clock during disk activity. So I'll have to put up with the imprints in reverse scrolls. Yes, please do consider a full screen paging mode in a future rev. It would solve 99% of my problem. -Tom ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 27 Thu Jul 15, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 18:51 EDT DMJ, 600 dpi, of course. :( Oh well, I guess I might feel good for those with the hardware to support it. I got VIEW II yesterday! Smart Install seems okay since it took care of the "really nasty" details for me. I'd kinda have liked to have it ask for the locations (via fileselector) of the ARC and LZH utilities. Also, does it put VIEW_CFG.PRG on the hard drive ? If it does, I couldn't figure out where. (yeah, I was rushed for time - gotta install it before going to dinner and all! ) It was neat that it found my desktop files in the C:\AUTO\SUPERBOOT\ directory. I also just realized that this is the first time I've booted up with it in the system. Gotta go make sure it got in. Yeah, it's there. I guess I'm too used to the DCSHOWER installation method. VIEW II is obviously installed into the system differently. The slower mouse scroll of v2.1 sounds great! I'd also like to see something like the Hex Dump that you could put into DCSHOWER as the "last resort" display mode. The only reason for this is that it comes up with a static screen instead of a scrolling mess. I've never seen a SEQ animation load so fast! All this may sound like complaining, but I like VIEW II alot! It's so well integrated, I can hardly tell it's there, except when I need it. :) Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 28 Thu Jul 15, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:22 EDT The Tree BBS (the support BBS for my software) is now online at (817) 582- 0672, up to 14400 baud, 24 hours a day. This board is mostly intended for those people who do not have access to GEnie. The information here, in this topic, will be just as current as those on my BBS. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 29 Thu Jul 15, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:07 EDT Terry: Okay, let me rephrase: a "well-behaved" corner clock would allow an _option_ to display only when the GEM menu bar is present, _or_ to automatically shut off for certain programs, _or_ to shut it off with a hot key. Hmmmm. Mick: Just send $20 to It's All Relative, 2233 Keeven Lane, Florissant, MO 63031. Lou: I will have my Falcon before View 2.1 is finished. After I get used to TT medium res (which won't take long, as I like VGA on my PC) I may be tempted to force the text viewer to use the best resolution available on the machine. This would be TT med res, ST high res, or ST med res. I want to move the programs towards more resolution- independent techniques. I've been told the Spectrum display on the TT doesn't work right. Sheesh, I wish I didn't have to write PC programs as well as ST programs... otherwise I could probably knock this stuff out by the end of next week. Tom: I don't want you to stop using Informer just because of a little display glitch. Its usefulness outweighs this. If it helps, there is an _undocumented_ feature in the text viewer--press TAB to completely redraw the screen. Damn, wish I'd remembered that yesterday. I put it in there while testing the program, and forgot to take it out. Lee: Currently DMJ GIF 4's laser output only does 300dpi, as when I wrote it (a month ago, when I had a spare day) I only had 300dpi capability. Like I said, though, I have access to a 600dpi printer, so that capability will be there. Incidentally, printing a 600dpi page as pure graphics involves about three megabytes of data; I hope you use _some_ kind of printer accelerator or it will take forever to move out the data. View 2.1's Smart Install will ask for the location of the archive programs--or I may have it do an intelligent search and find them _for_ you. How does that sound? Installation does not include copying VIEW_CFG to the hard drive. Since you wouldn't normally run this program too often, I didn't force it to be copied. Version 2.1 will give you this option. The installation routine looks for DESKTOP.INF-type files in the first folder inside the AUTO folder. Usually this is something like "DESKMGR" or "SUPRBOOT" or whatever. View II does not install the same way as DC Shower. With the method I use, the programs do not use memory if they're not actually running. The 2.1 text viewer will properly handle line-wrap for non-standard files, so you won't get that awful scrolling mess. I'm also thinking about including a "can't display this file" module for certain file types--like RSC, BIN, O, stuff like that. Opinions on the usefulness of this feature would be appreciated. You've never seen a .SEQ load so fast? Hmmm. View II loads the entire animation in one lump, then decompresses it from memory. Other programs, for some strange reason, load one frame, decompress it, load another frame, decompress it... and so on. I have one wonderful animation that is over 900 frames. Loading with a certain animator program takes ten minutes... with View II, it's about half that. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 30 Thu Jul 15, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 21:24 EDT Al, Yes, that is true, that it is the NeoDesk ACC that has the clock in it, but I always considered the ACC as part of the NeoDesk package. Even the clock's status can be set by saving your NeoDesk's desktop settings. --Lou T.-- Written: Thursday, July 15, 1993 07:50 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 31 Thu Jul 15, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 22:18 EDT DMJ, And let me just add again that the SEQ player in View II is the best SEQ player I have seen on the TT. Normally I would convert them into FLM files to be seen on my TT. I do not have to do that anymore with View II. Hey, there is an idea for a future version, adding FLM animation file support. --Lou T.-- Written: Thursday, July 15, 1993 09:47 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 32 Thu Jul 15, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:22 EDT Laser shmaser - will I be able to print to my DeskJet 500? :^) __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 33 Thu Jul 15, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 23:59 EDT I like that! Undocumented features. I'll give it a try! -Tom ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 34 Fri Jul 16, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 00:57 EDT Lou, The Neo ACC has always acted flaky in my setup. In particular, I could never get the keyboard repeat rate right. So I use CPXes, which I like a lot,, along with Z-geist. Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 35 Fri Jul 16, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 01:06 EDT Lou: Funny you should mention .FLM animations. It was already on my list. Terry: Sorry if I forgot to mention your DJ500. Yes, you'll be able to print to it. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 36 Fri Jul 16, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 01:20 EDT Tom: Usually I try to keep the undocumented features to a minimum. (This means, rather than take them out, I add to the docs. ;-) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 37 Fri Jul 16, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 03:26 EDT I think .FLM is going to be replaced by the .VDO format soon? May have the abbreviation wrong but I'm pretty sure thats what Lexicor stated. You may want to just wait and see. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 38 Fri Jul 16, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:44 EDT DMJ, I'd rather Smart Install asked where ARC and LZH are as on my first hard drive I use small partitions and both of them happen to be on drive H. On a system with really big drives (as a musician might have for instance) the search could take quite a while. Either way on VIEW_CFG "installation". Just mentioning that it isn't done by Smart Install in the manual would be enough. I just needed VIEW_CFG right after installation and couldn't find it. BTW, on the WARP 9 connection. I read what your manual says very carefully and I figured out that I needed to add a line to my Warp 9 v3.75 .DAT file. Others might not figure this out. It should be moot for me in a week or so as John E. of CodeHead is supposed to be at the Blue Ridge Atarifest, and so will I. I'll just ask him if the Warp 9 update is available. The "can't display" feature would be okay - with an optional HEX dump button for us programmer types. :) That way when you get a "foreign" file you can see right off what's going on. (Not a problem with VIEW II, but this would show up a GIF 97A vs GIF ??x type problem pretty quickly). I for one appreciate how crowded a schedule can be. We await VIEW II 2.1 with great anticipation, but with the understanding that you're trying to make a living too. Now don't go and (I'll assume you're single) fall in love or anything - that'd really screw up your schedule! Take Care, Lee B. "Don't fall in Love, It'll stick to your face!" - source forgotten P.S. Will SoundLab v1.1 allow me to save .WAV files directly ? With View II being able to play sounds directly, I want to "change over" to a format that contains the speed information and I know a few people with SB cards on "that other" platform so I thought .WAV would be a good choice. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 39 Fri Jul 16, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:23 EDT Joey: Whether .FLM is going to be replaced or not doesn't really concern me. Supporting a format that is already used does. Incidentally, .FLM wasn't the only animation format I was looking into adding. Lee: How about having the Smart Install ask you whether you know where the ARC programs (that is, ARC, LZH, ZIP, and ZOO) are, or if you want it to find them? Done right, a search can be done _quickly_. Sorry for not mentioning that VIEW_CFG is not copied when the rest of the system is installed. I'm not too happy with the manual as it is, which was one of the reasons for making a completely new one for 2.1. With regards to Warp 9, VIEW_CFG is supposed to _automatically_ add the appropriate line to your WARP9.DAT file. Let me know if it didn't. The latest version of Warp 9 that I know of is 3.75, and this still demonstrates the bug I uncovered. When I informed CodeHead of the bug, they told me they'd fix it, so I presume the new version of Warp 9 (the Falcon version) won't have this problem. An "optional" hex dump. Okay, I'll change the "can't-display" module into a hex-display module (in 2.2! Sheesh! :) Unfortunately, how do you tell the difference between a text file and a binary file? Yes, I'm still single... but the only friendly things around here are the snakes, and they're just not warm enough. Sound Lab 1.1 will allow you to save .WAV files directly. You can either name your file with a .WAV extender or set the default save format (in the "More Prefs" dialog) to .WAV. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 40 Sat Jul 17, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 00:01 EDT DMJ- It's refreshing to see your enthusiasm! Don't lose it! -Tom ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 41 Sat Jul 17, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 03:56 EDT DMJ, OK!:-) Whats Sound Lab by the way? I've been meaning to ask but keep forgetting. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 42 Sat Jul 17, 1993 A.WATSON6 [Anthony] at 13:48 EDT Damien, Well, if we're talking about supporting animation formats, how about supporting some of those IBM formats? (.DL, .GL, etc..) Anthony Watson ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 43 Sat Jul 17, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 15:09 EDT Sent in my order for View II yesterday. Can't wait to finally replace DC Shower. And of course when I get it, I'll share my views on it with everyone. - Mick ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 44 Sat Jul 17, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:39 EDT Yes, .DL and .GL support would be GREAT! I get those files all the time through ErosNet, but can't do a thing with them. :^( __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 45 Sat Jul 17, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:06 EDT Nice job on the background pics, Damien. I'll definitely have to adjust the colors on the med res version to suit my tastes, but the mono version looks great as-is. If you get bored and want to check out some _really_ nice med res background pics, download TREE_TN2.ZIP. It contains four pics I converted from GIF using STipple (a _great_ program for that purpose). Some of the better med res pics I've seen. I also have some excellent background pics for Aladdin (don't know the filename) and Transverter (W9_TRNSV.ZIP). Well, actually, I have dozens of other background pics in the library, but these are especially worth noting. Back to the topic at hand, will Image Lab (or whatever) convert to med res? I always wanted to see what DMJ GIF could do going to med res with averaged scaling and its excellent dithering. __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 46 Sat Jul 17, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 22:13 EDT Forget FLM! Add .fli, .dj, .gl, MPEG, and all the real animation formats. :) Yet another item on my 'Gee, it'd be need to write' list that I can pass off onto DMJ. :) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 47 Sat Jul 17, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 23:52 EDT Joey: - What's Sound Lab, by the way? Sound Lab is a digital sample editor. It allows a lot of effects, as well as cut, copy, insert, and overlay. You can use an ST Replay or DigiSound cartridge to record, and the program handles any speed from 5kHz to 30kHz. Sound Lab's edit functions are _fast_. It also features a more advanced version of DMJ GIF 3's interface, and it's almost impossible to crash. You can load and save .SPL, .AVR, and even PC .WAV files, as well as some other formats. You can play through ST or STe hardware. It runs in mono or color. It's also Shareware, just $20, and registration gets you a printed manual, registered version of the program (which doesn't pester you to register), a disk's worth of samples, and source code for using digitized sound in your own GFA BASIC, C, or assembly programs. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 48 Sun Jul 18, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 00:30 EDT Anthony: If you know where I can find _specs_ for those IBM formats, I'll see what I can do. Be warned, however, that most PC animations are going to be in 256 colors--which means either you use a TT or a Falcon to display them. (Converting animations to 16 colors on the fly is _not_ practical!) Mick: I welcome all honest views on my programs. Constructive criticism is one of the best ways to improve any product. Of course, I'm happy that you're buying it! Terry: Thanks for the compliments on the background pics. Please feel free to modify the colors to suit your tastes. If I have time, I'll look for the other background pictures you mentioned. DMJ GIF 4 (whatever it ends up being called) will convert to medium res. As a matter of fact, you'll be able to do so in several different methods... color frequency, color space, grey scale, external palettes... with your choice of ordered dithers (4 levels), halftone dithers (16 levels), or dispersed dithers (3 types). More could, of course, be added as the need/desire arises. Jonathan: You just _love_ heaping up things for me to do, don't you? :-) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 49 Sun Jul 18, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 03:02 EDT DMJ, Sound Lab sounds cool!:-) On the 16 color animation wouldn't it be possible to convert the 256 color animation to a 16 color animation first? Maybe a create a ghost animation or something just as would convert a single image. Basically chain convert each frame and resave it.:-) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 50 Sun Jul 18, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 09:42 EDT Damien, Having Smart Install ask about ARCtypical programs (pun intended!) or search for them is good. The new manual sounds good. On WARP9.DAT I'm not sure if smart install added the line to it for VIEW II or not. I may have outsmarted myself on that one as I added it before running Smart Install.. I think. Okay "Optional" HEX dump for "can't display" in v2.2. . On telling the difference between a text file and a binary file. Hmmmm, maybe check the ratio of ASCII values in the 32-128 range over those outside that range. In a binary file that ratio would be a lot closer to 50% than in a text file ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 51 Sun Jul 18, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 11:03 EDT Joey: Yes, it would be _possible_ to convert a 256-color animation to 16 colors before animating. What I said was that it isn't _practical_. Let's say it takes, oh, 15 seconds to convert one frame. If your animation is 200 frames (which isn't too long!) that's going to take almost _an_hour_ to convert! Hardly practical if all you want to do is display the animation. Lee: If you edited your WARP9.DAT file before running VIEW_CFG, the Smart Install is smart enough to see that it's already edited. DC Shower had an advantage over View II in recognizing file types. Since each viewer module for DC Shower is a TSR, it's always in memory--always available. View II _acts_ like it's always in memory, but it isn't. Changing programs frequently hampers the efficiency of the package. Currently, View II tells file types by their extension, so it's important that you not use odd extensions for your files if you want them displayed correctly. Simple observation of DC Shower has already been done. Thanks for the suggestion, though. Did you think my routines for playing sound from GFA wouldn't work? Sound Lab is _written_ in GFA... I had to get outside help for the _C_ routines. All: After reading the DSP book I bought a few weeks ago, it looks like digital filtering (with FIR filters) can use a variant of Sound Lab's echo routine. This means a fast filter routine already exists... and the IIR filter routine will also be very fast. Now I just wish I had time to work on Sound Lab 2. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 52 Sun Jul 18, 1993 AEO.5 [Ed Krimen] at 12:35 EDT >Well, if we're talking about supporting animation formats, how about >supporting some of those IBM formats? (.DL, .GL, etc..) Yes! I second that. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 53 Sun Jul 18, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 12:54 EDT Damien, That's funny about VIEW II using the file extension to identify the file. When I stopped using DC SHOWER I installed another file viewer application to run from the TOS 2.06 desktop when .TXT files are double clicked on. So that I could use VIEW II more (and not have to remove the definition from the desktop, yeah, I know - LAZY) I started renaming .TXT files to .TXX and VIEW II would then pick them up instead of the installed application picking them up. So, uh, Damien, what's a .TXX file ? Perhaps when you don't recognize a file extension you can ask if the user wants to display it in [A]scii, [H]ex, or whatever. Some files have distinctive identifiers in the first few bytes of the file. Detailed analysis is left as an exercise for the reader. I must say that you've done an excellent job with VIEW II. I just hope that our expectations of how much time you have aren't too unrealistic. I don't know what you were doing in Germany, but what you're doing here in the states seems much more like a _real_ job. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 54 Sun Jul 18, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 15:31 EDT Lee: What I was doing in Germany wasn't a whole hell of a lot. My job consisted of showing up, unlocking the door, sitting down for a few hours, then getting up, locking the door, and going home. I actually got *paid* for this. My current job requires me to write Windoze software. Yes, I'd classify this as a real job; writing anything for Windoze, especially in C, is _work_. Writing GFA & assembly code on the ST is child's play compared to that. (No offense intended to anyone who feels ST programming is also work. Everything is relative.) Whenever you double-click on a file, the text viewer loads first. Before displaying it, though, it checks the file extension to see if another module is available to handle that type of file. If so, that module is run; otherwise, the file is assumed to be a text file. In other words, _every_ extension is treated as a text file except those _explicitly_ listed for another module. Since .TXT and .TXX aren't listed for another module, they are assumed to be text files. Asking the user if they want to display a file in hex _every_time_ an extension is unrecognized (which is EVERY text file) would be very annoying. Some files do indeed have distinctive identifiers in the first few bytes. Some don't. For those individuals who have files with bizarre extensions, I recommend using a program like What Is to determine the file type, then renaming it with a correct extension. Many programs (besides View II) don't react well when files don't have the proper extension. I'll be trying to make View 2.1 handle module selection a little better, but it will still be based on file extender. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 55 Sun Jul 18, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 18:37 EDT Damien, Now I'm looking forward to DMJ GIF 4.0 all the more... Support for going to med res will be great! __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 56 Mon Jul 19, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 03:29 EDT DMJ, That would only be an hour once though, after that you'd have the animation in 16 colors for your own use. The next time it would be a run and play sort of deal. I agree it wouldn't be practical just for viewing but if you intended to use some parts of the animation later or needed to convert a 256 color animation to a 16 color rez, it might come in handy. On another note, I'd be interested in running other animation formats in 256 color modes. Come to think of it there really isn't a lot of support for animation file formats. Maybe .SEQ and .FLM, can't really think of any other player/converters I've seen? ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 57 Mon Jul 19, 1993 ATARIAUSTRIA [J.Widi] at 07:14 EDT Damien, Jim Kent, the creator of the .FLI and .FLC file format, explained it in detail in the March 93 issue of 'Dr.Dobb's Journal', including some sample code as well. There must be Terabytes of .FLI files in the public domain :-) -Johannes ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 58 Mon Jul 19, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:33 EDT Joey: What you want, then, is a _separate_ converter program--256 color animations to 16 colors. This could be developed by anyone who knew the animation formats, since it's external to the entire viewing package. I'll tack it onto the L O N G list of things to do. This means you won't see it for a while. Johannes: Thanks for the reference. It so happens .FLI & .FLC were two I was looking to add, as I have a nice CD chock-full of these. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 59 Mon Jul 19, 1993 GRMEYER [Gordon/Sysop] at 23:32 EDT DMJ - When I read the View II press release I ass/u/med it wouldn't convert a low-res animation for play back on a high resolution monitor. After reading the last several messages, I'm not so sure I was correct. :-) Did you find that doing a 16 color -> 2 color conversion was reasonable? In other words, will View II allow me to view .SEQ's on my SM124? Gordon ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 60 Tue Jul 20, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:54 EDT DMJ, Okay, the default file module is the text module. How about a HEX mode for the text module ? Don't ask if the user wants HEX, just add a command to allow it. That way when (insert speculation warning here) you get a GIX file and VIEW II puts garbage on the screen you can switch to HEX mode and immediately see that it's a GIF93x file. On the other hand I was looking for an elegant solution for the "blast it to the screen" mode for unknown files. Oh well. I agree that the file extender should be the determinant at this time. Sorry for all the "confusion". J.Widi, I've got the "VGA Spectrum" CD-ROM and it has about 100 .FLI files on it. There are also a lot of .GL files - whatever they are. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 62 Tue Jul 20, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:27 EDT Gordon: Nope, View II will not convert low res animations to mono. It doesn't convert ANY animations, as it's too time consuming. If I had time, I'd write a converter program... but I don't have time right now. Lee B.: A "HEX" mode in the text module would increase its size by probably 50%. It involves building in a *completely* new viewer--the whole reason I split View II into separate modules in the first place. Remember 2.1 will completely fix that "scrolling" problem--you'll just get a screen full of garbage, but it _won't_ scroll until you want it to. All: I mentioned this a while ago. How about the name "Tachyon" for DMJ GIF 4? I had heard a rumor this name was already in use, but I have reason to believe it's baseless. For those who aren't up on their theoretical physics, a tachyon is a particle that moves _faster_ than the speed of light; its top speed is infinite. I rather like that idea... -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 63 Tue Jul 20, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 21:49 EDT Damien, "Tachyon" is being used by Evan Langlois for a new terminal program he's working on (though he'll likely never finish it). __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 64 Wed Jul 21, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 03:40 EDT DMJ, don't mean to be picky but if it moves faster then light how could we see it.:-) Too bad it's supposedly being used though as it's a good name. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 65 Wed Jul 21, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:55 EDT Terry: How can I get hold of Evan Langlois? Joey: You don't have to see it run, you just have to see what it produces when it's finished. ;-) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 66 Wed Jul 21, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:17 EDT Damien, Evan doesn't have a GEnie account, but if you'd like, I can act as a go- between. I'll forward any mail from you to him and from him to you. Or, if you'd prefer, I can give him your voice number and tell him you'd like to talk to him. __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 67 Thu Jul 22, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 02:10 EDT DMJ - I like the concept and if I was still on the ST it would be great. However, on the Falcon it lets you read text files but will not return you to the high rez screen so each time I use ViewII I have to reboot after. Kind of a pain. Or I have to change video modes before using the viewer. So, I am using ViewII to look at graphics and listen to sounds (goes back to high rez no prob) and Viewer 3D to read text files. A little clumsey, but not as bad as having to re-boot. Sorry you can't have a bird to play with right away, it would help. Anyway, a good overall program. I will have to read through the manual again to see how to remove it. For now I just stuck in in another partitin to kind of disable it. (:{ Grouch ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 68 Thu Jul 22, 1993 REALM [Joey] at 02:45 EDT DMJ, :-) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 69 Thu Jul 22, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 03:08 EDT How about calling DMJ GIF 4 "BitMapper", or has this been suggested already? ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 70 Thu Jul 22, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:49 EDT Grouch: As soon as I get my hands on a bird I'll be able to knock out these problems. I was able to borrow one for two days a few months ago, and this was how I got it mostly working. As a matter of fact, when I was finished, it was *completely* working, but the Falcon didn't have MultiTOS, and it probably had TOS 4.02 or something. After re-examining the text blitting code in View II, it appears that displaying text in, say, TT medium resolution (for TTs and Falcons) will actually be relatively simple--so you'll be able to have 16-color text (if anyone wants to make text files using that!) _and_ a tall screen. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 71 Fri Jul 23, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 00:55 EDT DMJ, >After re-examining the text blitting code in View II, it appears that >displaying text in, say, TT medium resolution (for TTs and Falcons) will >actually be relatively simple-- Sounds GREAT! --Lou T.-- Written: Thursday, July 22, 1993 11:55 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 72 Fri Jul 23, 1993 GREG at 02:43 EDT DMJ: Don't forget to add AVI to your list of things to do. I got a 125 Meg animation that I would love to see on the Falcon as it runs rather slowly on my PC. Did you check out the MO_FLOOD.GIF I uploaded here showing the extent of the flooding here in Missouri. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 73 Fri Jul 23, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:14 EDT DMJ, I believe the .TX2 format used by GEnie Lamp Magazine can use four color text in ST Medium... Greg, MO_FLOOD was very nice, but the flooding apparently isn't. Best wishes on the rebuilding process! ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 74 Fri Jul 23, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:16 EDT Greg: It's hard to believe how bad things are in Missouri (and everywhere else, for that matter). On the news here a few days ago they showed a satellite photo of the St. Louis area from 1989... the rivers were thin pencil lines. Then they showed the same shot from two weeks ago... the rivers were thick, ugly welts. Unbelievable. I looked at your photo. You say the water has risen four feet since you took it? That would put the water over the eaves of that house. As for AVI format, if you know where the docs are (and if you can stick that animation on an MO disk so I can look at it) it would help a great deal. Lee B: Even if TX2 can use four colors, support for it will not appear in View 2.1. TX2 requires a few fancy tricks I'd rather not mess with right now. Plain- vanilla ASCII, with VT52 escape sequences, is enough. (Incidentally, most text viewers don't support VT52 color very well. View II's support for it will be improved.) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 75 Fri Jul 23, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 20:22 EDT Converting on the fly may not be reasonable, but what about non-real time conversion from a 256 color format to a dithered/whatever 16 color format? (Say, converting MPEG to FLM... :D ) -- Isn't .AVI the 'controlling' part of an animation for some software package, and .FLI is the resulting rendered animation? My stinking memory that I ordered was wrong, so I'm still stuck... Once I get my RAM though... Oh oh... :) I wish I could autopass more often. By the time I get the end of the messages, everything I want to say is already said, so I look silly. Ah well. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 76 Sat Jul 24, 1993 GREG at 00:31 EDT JROY18: AVI is the Microsoft Video for Windows format. 8s ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 77 Sat Jul 24, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 14:27 EDT I believe he (as was I) confusing AVI with AVS, which is basically a SEQ file synced with a SPL using an AVS control file, I believe. (Don't you just love all these abbreviations? :) __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 78 Sat Jul 24, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 15:05 EDT Jonathan: As I believe I mentioned, it would be possible to convert 256-color animations to 16-color animations in a separate program, and save the 16-color animation for later use. Unfortunately I do not have enough _time_ to write such a program, nor do I expect to have that time soon! -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 80 Sat Jul 24, 1993 AEO.5 [Ed Krimen] at 19:17 EDT >As for AVI format, if you know where the docs are (and if you can >stick that animation on an MO disk so I can look at it) it would help >a great deal. The Video for Windows manual might have this information. The thing is, VfW costs $200. >Isn't .AVI the 'controlling' part of an animation for some software >package, and .FLI is the resulting rendered animation? You're thinking of Chronos' .ANM files. .AVI is Audio Video Interleave for Video for Windows. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 81 Sat Jul 24, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:31 EDT Ed: Thanks for the info on Video for Windows. I have Microsoft's Developer Network CD #4, so I have all the latest information on that score. The only problem is _finding_ the information you need... ;-) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 82 Sun Jul 25, 1993 J.KRZYSZTOW [JEFFREY] at 15:37 EDT dmj Would it be possible to use a different key to automatically print a text file? The ALTERNATE key is used by NeoDesk to allow the user to go into view mode instead of running the file (in the case of a BATCH file) and if I don't let go of the ALTERNATE key fast enough, it starts to print the batch file instead of viewing it. Maybe require the ALTERNATE and SHIFT keys? Jeffrey ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 83 Sun Jul 25, 1993 AEO.5 [Ed Krimen] at 18:33 EDT >I believe he (as was I) confusing AVI with AVS, which is basically a SEQ file >synced with a SPL using an AVS control file, I believe. (Don't you just love >all these abbreviations? :) Actually, AVS is also a modified version of the AVI files, that plays digitized video back at full-screen, instead of the 320x240 screen that AVI files do. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 84 Sun Jul 25, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 22:20 EDT Jeffrey: Anything is _possible_. How about, if you're holding down the ALTERNATE key, the text viewer _asks_ if you want to print the whole file? -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 85 Sun Jul 25, 1993 GRMEYER [Gordon/Sysop] at 23:24 EDT Actually, AVS is an ST program by Jim Kent. STart published it many years ago. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 86 Sun Jul 25, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 23:43 EDT DMJ - With support such as you promise for a mere $20.00 I will have to find another nick/name. Can't Grouch about your service. (:{ ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 87 Mon Jul 26, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:50 EDT Grouch: I do my best. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 88 Tue Jul 27, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 04:12 EDT Well, I got View II in the mail today, and immediately installed it on my system. First impressions.... I like it! Hey Mikey! I found the installation program very nice, and easy to use and understand. I hope this recent trend in installation programs for these types of programs continue, especially if they all have the nice option to uninstall the software if need be. Showing pictures seems to work great, especially not having to drop down to 8Mhz on my MSTE to view Spectrum pics from the desktop! On the text veiwer, let me put my vote in on using the mouse buttons to scroll text instead of using mouse movement. I find that using the buttons is more intuitive (or maybe I'm just used to it since most other text viewers do it that way). Haven't really had a chance to check into the SEQ and sound 'viewers' since I don't have any of those on this tiny little HD of mine. I did check out the files on the View II disk and found the SEQ to load nice and quick, and the sound file was _very_ clear (and sooooo cute). :-) My only real problem is in exiting from the text viewer using the right mouse button. Since that button is also used to call up HotWire, upon exiting the viewer I am presented with a 'HOTWIRE not found' dialog box. If I click the OK button in it, I remain at the desktop but the drive windows act screwy (ala opening folders doesn't update the window, etc). This is usually fixed by right-clicking again to enter HotWire, then exiting back to the desktop. Irritating, to say the least. All in all, it appears to be a very nice package, and it will definitely replace DC Shower on my system, but until the text viewing is changed, I will probably just stick with MaxiFile for that. Heck, I'm rarely at the desktop anyway thanks to the Codeheads. Any plans on hooking into UIS III such as DC Shower did? I believe they (A&D) are very open about how to do this. Better yet, hook into Little Green Selector! - Mick ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 89 Tue Jul 27, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:58 EDT Mick: Thanks for your comments on View II. The configuration is currently being _improved_. This means it will be smarter and even easier to use. I'm still undecided on using the mouse buttons for scrolling. Granted, it's what you're most used to, but then you'd have to push both buttons to exit... something I deliberately wanted to avoid. As for not exiting with the right mouse button, well, the 2.1 viewer allows you to select options from the Help screen (like an on-screen menu). One of these items is "Quit". This is _another_ reason not to change the scrolling-- the left mouse button is used in this case to bring up that help screen. How about if I added a third, much slower scroll speed? Would this help? The sound included on the View II disk was digitized by a friend of mine before I left Germany. He has one of his other daughter, which is just as cute. If you have a problem with exiting the text viewer with the right mouse button, you can always use ESC, UNDO, or Q... they shouldn't give you any problems with HotWire. You can also use the CTRL and ALT keys to scroll, in case you don't want to use the mouse at all. Currently there are no plans to hook into UIS III or the Little Green Selector. After 2.1 is available, I'll look into it; 2.1 will allow you to display files with an _accessory_, which should make linking into fileselectors a bit easier. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 90 Wed Jul 28, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 02:01 EDT dmj - I guess I'll just have to get used to rolling the mouse or using the Control and Alternate keys for now. Exiting a text file with the keyboard isn't really a problem I guess since I only have to do it once each time a view a file, but to me (for whatever it's worth) it would be more logical to make the HELP key call up the options screen, and have the left mouse button EXIT. How many times would someone need to see the help menu before they memorize it anyway? I guess I just like to keep my hand on the mouse when doing text viewing. (I'm a poet!) A slower scroll speed wouldn't really be necessary (for me at least). Another thing I noticed (am I picky, or what!) is that in medium res, the screen only advances 22 lines when you move to the next 'page' of text with the SPACE bar. Sometimes that makes it a little difficult to find where you left off. I like the way Aladdin allows you to have the last line you read move to the first line on the next screen. This isn't a biggie though really. An accessory to display files will come in _very_ handy in GEM programs! In fact, that's how DC Shower worked until it got hooked into UIS. I sure hope I don't sound like a whiny-baby.... - Mick ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 91 Wed Jul 28, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:52 EDT DMJ, Rodger on the TX2 format. Sorry for the long delay. Blue Ridge Atarifest this weekend and flaky phone lines ever since. Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 92 Wed Jul 28, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:10 EDT More complete feature list for View II: Description: View II replaces the desktop's Show/Print/Cancel file displayer with a much more powerful and flexible program, able to display text, pictures, animations, sounds, and archive files. Installation: o Uses NO MEMORY when installed on a hard drive. o Uses 48K when installed on a RAM disk (one included). o "Smart Install" sets up View II to make best use of your system. o Flexible options allow you to customize the program. o "Remove" allows you to de-install the program. o Works with STs, STes, Mega STes, TTs, and Falcon030s (not MultiTOS yet). o Works with Gribnif's NeoDesk 3. Text Viewer: o Bi-directional two-speed mouse scrolling. o Fast text search--case insensitive. o Top & Bottom of file options. o Print screen or file. o Help screen included. Picture Viewer: o Sixteen different formats. o Display STe color on STs. o Color cycling supported. o Display mono pictures in color, or color pictures in mono (two mono dither modes available). o Sync-Fix for displaying Spectrum pictures on out-of-sync computers. o Display Spectrum pictures on Mega STes--speed switched to 8MHz automatically. o Display Spectrum pictures on a TT or Falcon030. Animation Viewer: o Display .DLT and .SEQ animations. o Up to 60 frames per second animation (with enough memory). o If there isn't enough memory to load the animation, it's played from disk. o Adjustable speed. o Frame advance & rewind. o Ping-pong mode plays animations forwards and backwards. o Reverse play at ANY time. o Help screen included. Digitized Sound Viewer: o Output sound on ST, STe, or Falcon030 hardware. o Plays sounds from 5kHz to 50kHz (30kHz ST). o Plays five different sample formats, including PC .WAV files! o Help screen included. Archive Viewer: o Display ARC and LZH files (ZIP and ZOO coming soon). o Contents listed on a scrollable screen. o Extract any or all files into the current folder, or create a new one for the extracted files. (Archive programs required for extraction.) o Help screen included. This is by no means an exhaustive list. It's very likely I missed some, since there are so many, but it does cover the main points. Version 2.1 is currently in development, which will add almost as many new things as are listed here. Buying View II now will get you version 2.1 (when it's available) for FREE! To buy View II, send $20 to It's All Relative, 2233 Keeven Lane, Florissant, MO 63031. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 93 Wed Jul 28, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:47 EDT Mick: The HELP key _does_ bring up the options screen for 2.1. The options screen and the help screen are one and the same. As I mentioned, you will be able to select "EXIT" from this screen. This also allows almost complete mouse control for most of the options (including print). The slower scroll speed would be very easy to bypass... just move the mouse farther. The text scroll moves exactly 22 because that's 1/3 of a normal 66-line page. I suppose I _could_ allow the user to adjust this... to choose a number from, say, 20 to 25. Would this be valuable to anyone? The accessory will be very tricky, but I think I know how to do it. With good GEM programming practices, even. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 94 Thu Jul 29, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:06 EDT If anyone was wondering just _where_ their registered copies were, I've just spent the day going through a pile of mail that's been stacked up here for a few weeks. I've been terribly busy lately, and I apologize for the delay. Sound Lab registrations were mailed today, and DMJ GIF registations will be mailed tomorrow. Thank you for your patience. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 95 Fri Jul 30, 1993 R.DEAN3 [GUNNER] at 10:03 EDT Damien; Just got my Veiw II the other day and am pretty much pleased with the program. SEQ and SPC files in color are great. The SPC in Mono looks a little shabby, but a lot better than an error message :) I did have a question... What version should I have received? The version I got was 2.02 dated May 2, 93. The read me file is truncated, so I didin't get past the part where you request we drop you a line with our serial numbers. That is the next problem, instead of showing a serial number, "Show Info" shows the disk label "VIEW_II". Anyway, so far View II looks great, looking forward to the added file support in future version... Gunner ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 96 Fri Jul 30, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:36 EDT Gunner: If you think Spectrum in mono looks a little shabby, try it with the F-S dither instead. Holding down the ALT key while double-clicking a picture will force View II to use this slower method, or you can select it as the default with the config program. Consult your manual for further details. The current version is 2.02. If your README file is truncated, it sounds like something happened to the disk. If anyone else has received truncated README files, I'd be interested in hearing it. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 97 Fri Jul 30, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 23:54 EDT Damien, Looking forward to the SoundLab upgrade I ordered recently. I just got MultiTOS from "The Computer Studio" in Asheville North Carolina for around $47. I'm still experimenting with it, but so far on the 16Mhz MSTE it seems fast enough for what it's doing. I'm content to play with it as I would any new operating system. It's unfortunate that UIS III doesn't work with it, or Warp 9 or MultiDESK or some other things. (sigh) I just hope it does well enough for some developers to support upgrades for it. So far it's a fun toy. I did figure out how to use LPR.APP (You rename it to LPR.GTP, double click on it and give it a file name for background printing). The documentation you get with MTOS is pitiful. I'm looking forward to reading the archives of the GEnie MTOS area to find out how it _really_ works. :) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 98 Sat Jul 31, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 00:14 EDT Yeah, AVS is what I was thinking of. :) DMJ, Yes, you did (256 to 16 color animation), but I had already typed my reply, and let it stand. (That's why I commented I should call more often. Your message I'm replying to, for example, is 6 days old. I only autopass once a week. :( Ed, I'll never confuse an ST format with an IBM format... A little tiny bit of credit please? :) DMJ, About mouses and scrolling... Let the user choose between what button/exit config they want. (One is up, one down, both exits. One is down, right is exit. Etc.) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 99 Sat Jul 31, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 13:07 EDT Soundlab 111 locks up my Falcon as soon as you press PLAY. Even the included example.avs does this. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 100 Sat Jul 31, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 13:39 EDT Jonathan: One of my long-standing gripes with a lot of programs is that they're too powerful for their own good. Sometimes you have to draw the line and say, "That's not useful enough to trouble the user with." The point is, it's great to have a lot of options. What's not great is giving the user so many options they spend _forever_ configuring the program. That's one thing I dislike about some of these programs--it takes so long to figure out how you like things. The View 2.1 configuration program is a lot more modular than the original one- -this makes finding the option you want a lot easier. Still, I don't want to have _too_ many options--I don't want people to feel so overwhelmed by the program that they just give up. I'll think about allowing the buttons to be user-defined. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 101 Sat Jul 31, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 15:07 EDT David: When I was able to borrow a Falcon to get View II working on it, I had the machine for a grand total of _two_days_. As a matter of fact, I didn't even have the Falcon; it was Tom Hayslett who had it on loan, and he graciously put up with me for two days. In short, I didn't have time to get Sound Lab working on the Falcon. The current version does some naughty things like writing directly to the hardware, and this is a real no-no when it comes to making programs work on the Falcon. What I'm surprised about is that you got as far as you did. Every other time I've tried it, the program dies just after the title screen. What screen mode were you using, and what sort of AUTO programs did you have installed? Everyone: I mentioned a while back that I was interested in the name "Tachyon" for DMJ GIF 4... Terry then told me Evan Langlois was already using the name for a telecommunications program. I've just finished talking with Evan, and he said since his program will probably never be finished, I could use the name. Therefore, the name for DMJ GIF 4 will be Tachyon. Thanks for all the suggestions for names--there were some good ones in there. I had already done some work on graphics and such with the name "Tachyon" before finding out the name might be in use, and I'm glad that work has not been wasted. (Unless someone finds _another_ reason why I can't use the name.) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 102 Sat Jul 31, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 17:27 EDT I was running SoundLab 1.11 on a Falcon with TOS 4.04 in ST High Compatibility mode. All the color modes I've tried mess up Soundlab's opening screens pretty bad. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 103 Sun Aug 01, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 01:45 EDT DMJ, I like TACHYON, go with it! --Lou T.-- Written: Sunday, August 01, 1993 01:04 a.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 104 Sun Aug 01, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 04:19 EDT dmj - Today I show View II to a friend of mine, and he said that he would probably buy it _if_ it supports IMG viewing. He does alot of hand scanning and has tons of IMG's. If it would work like DC Shower (with scaling the image to screen res) he's be thrilled! I wouldn't mind it myself either. - Mick P.S. I found that if I use the right mouse button to exit from viewing a text file, if I hold it down until a desktop window gets drawn, the HotWire! alert doesn't pop up. Could changing the position of the lines in the NEWDESK.INF for these two programs help even more? ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 105 Sun Aug 01, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 14:07 EDT Mick: One of the things I hope to add to View II (possibly in 2.1, but no promises!) is a resolution-independent format viewer. This would cover formats like IMG (color or mono), GIF, Prism Paint, and so on. This needs to be in a separate viewer because resolution-independent formats present unique problems for viewing. I will consider adding an "auto-scaling" option to this extra viewer, but my original plan was to allow the user to scroll around the image if it was larger than the screen. Would this be better? If your friend does not want View II without IMG viewing (which I can understand) then tell him to wait until it has it. I wouldn't want him to buy something he has no use for. Of course, there's still all the other file formats it views... As for changing your NEWDESK.INF, do so at your own risk. Repositioning the View II line may cause you to be unable to view files or even prevent you from running programs. F-mail me a copy of your NEWDESK.INF and I'll look at it. I don't own or use HotWire!, so I can't recommend anything until I look at the file. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 106 Sun Aug 01, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 17:00 EDT I would prefer the _option_ of auto-scale or scrolling. Most of the time I prefer having the image fit to the screen (with even scaling, of course!), but sometimes it's preferable to scroll. As for HotWire, if you hold down the RMB very long, it will ignore it. This was done to allow you to use desktop operations in inactive windows. Changing the order of your NEWDESK.INF file will have no effect on this feature. Of course, if you have MaxiFile to go along with HotWire, I can't imagine why you'd ever even want to be at the desktop. :^) __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 107 Sun Aug 01, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 17:30 EDT I'll second the request for viewing of color IMG's. Only because I've been using MAND_ALL recently which makes gorgeous 256 color Mandelbrot set fractals but only saves them out in .IMG format. TruePaint, by the way, imports those .IMG's with no problem. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 108 Sun Aug 01, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 18:48 EDT David: When I say .IMG, I mean monochrome _and_ color. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 109 Mon Aug 02, 1993 J.KRZYSZTOW [JEFFREY] at 00:28 EDT dmj, Having it ask it fine, but I would prefer a way to change the key to whatever suits me at the moment 8)! Jeffrey ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 110 Mon Aug 02, 1993 GREG at 00:50 EDT Thanks goes out to everyone who stopped by at the MIST show this weekend to check out View II. It sure was nice to see a large enthusiastic crowd of Atari users. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 111 Mon Aug 02, 1993 ATARIAUSTRIA [J.Widi] at 03:58 EDT dmj, I use a German utility called GUCK for viewing text files. It uses the left and right mouse button for scrolling, pressing _both_ keys exits the program. I've always found this a very convenient configuration. -Johannes ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 112 Mon Aug 02, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:33 EDT Damien, While at the Blue Ridge Atarifest I bought MultiTOS at The Computer Studio (S.WINICK here on GEnie) for less than $50. I'm using it on my MegaSTE. You might consider purchasing it _before_ you get your Falcon so that you can do testing under MultiTOS. It'll be slow on your 8Mhz machine, but it should work. I'm still finding out what works and what doesn't under MultiTOS, but considering how complicated multitasking is, it works surprisingly well. Even if the desktop (newdesk for TOS 2.06) crashes you can usually recover from it. It comes with abysmal docs, but the developer's package (when, if) it becomes available is supposed to cover _everything_. I D/Ld the 3rd and 4th archives of the MTOS area and I'm trying to make time to read them now. Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 113 Tue Aug 03, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 00:11 EDT Lee: Hopefully I'll be able to get a Falcon soon after I have enough time to seriously do View 2.1. Or let me put it another way: by the time I have enough money to get MultiTOS, I'll have enough money for a Falcon. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 115 Thu Aug 05, 1993 D.TANG2 [Des] at 00:52 EDT I'd like my dealer to get some copies of View II. Is it available from a big distributor like Pacific Software Supply? (I'm in Canada) Or should I get my dealer to call It's All Relative? des ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 116 Sun Aug 08, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 12:13 EDT Everyone: [Semi-long post warning.] This morning, while looking over some of the plans for Tachyon, Sound Lab 2, and other programs, I've come to an important realization. The interface system I've developed over the past two years is going to cause a lot of problems. I'd already decided to rewrite it all so it was 100% GEM. This is necessary to allow for MultiTOS (and, I presume, Geneva) compatibility, and because these newer programs need to operate in windows--and although I _could_ write my own custom windowing code (it's not too hard) I'd just as soon not. I'm also much more familiar with GEM now, and despite my earlier misgivings about it, working with Windows on the PC has given me a whole new perspective-- I appreciate GEM a lot more. There are basically two aspects to the interface I've developed. One of these aspects is the cosmetic aspect--the 3D buttons and dialogs, pretty displays, and so on. Much of this is now available in the newer AES, and Geneva provides this for STs as well. The other aspect is the interaction; for an example of this, try typing a number in any dialog in Sound Lab; notice that, as soon as you move the mouse, sliders and preview boxes are redrawn to reflect the change. This also covers the overall dialog design, although the design isn't exactly part of the coding. Here's where I have some problems. I can get the interaction part converted very easily; as a matter of fact, I have already done so, and it works well. Converting the visual aspect, though, will be a lot of work. I've received a lot of comments on how good my interface looks. I appreciate that; I spent a lot of time developing it. I _like_ it; I think it looks a lot better, even in monochrome, than corresponding GEM screens. But I'm facing a lot of work reproducing that look in legal GEM (VDI) fashion while keeping it reasonably fast. (This means it has to be in assembly, since doing the VDI from GFA won't be fast enough.) What I need to know from you, the users, is whether it will be worth the effort. Do you like the interface enough that I shouldn't abandon it (which is basically what I'll be doing)? I don't make decisions like this lightly, or arbitrarily; I would appreciate your input on this. Another question I must ask refers specifically to Tachyon. The original interface design called for a whoppingly humoungous options dialog that had every option under the sun. The problem is, this sort of dialog is incredibly intimidating to the novice user, and I don't want that. To make matters worse, there are more options that I need to add, and that isn't going to help the intimidation factor at all. So I need to redesign the interface; not in itself the problem, since I've learned a lot about interface design since I wrote DMJ GIF 3. (Most of it the hard way. ) My query for you, the users, is what approach to converting pictures you'd like to see. Currently, DMJ GIF 3 operates as a "batch" converter. You tell it what files to convert, specify any options you want for those conversions, then start it going. Then you go see a movie, eat a large dinner, raise a few kids, and travel around the world, and your pictures are converted. For a slow program, batch processing is necessary, so you can set it running unsupervised. Tachyon, however, is fast, eliminating some of the need for a batch converter. While batch mode is still very convenient if you have large numbers of pictures, it's not so convenient if you only have one or two pictures to convert. STyle is an excellent example of the interactive tool. You load an image into a window, then apply each modification one at a time, seeing the results right away. (I expect Tachyon to be faster than STyle, though.) So, for Tachyon, should I stick with the batch method (which all DMJ GIF users are familiar with) or switch to the interactive method (which is easier to learn for users new to the program)? Or, better yet, try for some combination of the two? Trying for a combination will probably be very difficult. Well, that's all for this morning's Aladdin pass. I would appreciate _any_ comments you may have on either of these subjects. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 117 Sun Aug 08, 1993 R.DEAN3 [GUNNER] at 13:40 EDT DMJ; Read the manual??? What a unique concept! I just tried out the F-S Dither and it is a lot better. Gunner ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 118 Sun Aug 08, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 19:12 EDT DMJ - On the subject of menus with lots of options; how about an initial screen with just a few options for the novice user, but buttons that will provide access to ever more intimidating screens? You know, someting like a choice at the bottom of the initial configuration screen. p.s. how are you getting along with a View II that is Falcon high rez compatable? No pressure, just wondering . ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 119 Sun Aug 08, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:52 EDT Gunner: After looking at the fast dithering code in the picture viewer for View II, I think I might be able to make it (and the slow dither) a bit faster. I think I can improve the fast dither patterns to be more like a real half-tone dither; this will improve the appearance quite a bit. Now all I have to do is have enough time to _get_ to it. Where does all my time go? *Sigh* -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 120 Sun Aug 08, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 22:12 EDT Speed willing, I would prefer interactive to batch. What I _don't_ want is a series of prompts everytime I want to convert a pic, ala PhotoChrome. I want to set up all my options on one screen and then load and convert my pic, or load the pic and then run the conversion. As for the rest of the interface, I say go with a straight GEM interface and forget trying to duplicate your old DMJ interface within the confines of GEM. That was a nice interface, to be sure, but I'm confident you can do an excellent interface using regular GEM gadgets. Diamond Edge is the best example I know of of a GEM interface that is not only extremely friendly to the user, but it also looks GREAT. Both STipple and STyle are also fine examples of good GEM interfaces, though not in the same league as Diamond Edge. __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 121 Sun Aug 08, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 22:49 EDT Damien, Do it in GEM, please. If you can keep the nifty features, that's great. But it does need to be a GEM app all the way. Geneva will be bringing a lot of users who have not appreciated what an updated GEM can do back to the fold, and you need to be in that vanguard. Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 122 Sun Aug 08, 1993 M.POCHE [Mick] at 23:58 EDT dmj - Regarding the custom interface of your previous programs, and whether to switch to a full GEM implementation, I say stick with GEM. It may not be as visually appealing, but it is a nice standard and pretty straight forward and if someone wants 3D buttons and such they can just buy MTOS or Geneva. I'm definitely not knocking the look and feel of your interface, as a matter of fact, it's the first thing people seem to comment (positively) on when they see the programs that use it. I especially like the HELP feature in SoundLab. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, while a pretty interface is attractive, I don't want to see it being the main focus of your programming time. The normal look of GEM is good enough for me. I'd prefer to have your time (which I know you have little of) and hard work applied to the heart of the program itself. About the batch conversions; while I think that batch conversion can be handy at times, I know that personally I rarely have more than two or three images at a time that I need/want to convert to another format. If the conversion process only takes a couple of minutes per picture, I see no real _need_ for a batch option. Perhaps you could in some way take advantage of MTOS and Geneva's drag-n-drop feature? For example, set up Tachyon for TGA to GIF conversion, then drag several TGA files over to Tachyon's window for a batch conversion? Would this even be possible without MTOS or Geneva? Just some of my thoughts.... - Mick (Future Tachyon owner) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 123 Mon Aug 09, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:24 EDT DMJ, What Terry May said. :) MultiTOS and Geneva compatability will be a real PLUS of going "all GEM". ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 124 Mon Aug 09, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:20 EDT Grouch: - How are you getting along with a View II that is Falcon high rez - compatable? I'm moving View II towards less and less resolution-dependence. When you say Falcon high rez, what exactly are you referring to? 800x600? 1152x864? 1280x960? In any case, with 2.1 I think the text, sound, and archive viewers will handle any resolution. The picture and animation viewers are another story, although I'm working on that. - You know, something like a choice at the - bottom of the initial configuration screen. I'm not sure how that option applies. I'm trying to get away from a modal program design to a more flexible modeless interface. This isn't easy. And one thing that's _very_ annoying is having to flip through three or four options screen to get to the one you want, even if you know _exactly_ where the option you want is. With Tachyon this becomes a real problem, as setting one option can affect all the other options you've selected. This was one of the reasons I started with the huge dialog, as some seemingly simple settings (like, image rotation) change scaling factors, which change dither settings. If everything is on one screen, you can see all the changes as they happen, rather than having them surprise you. I think I forgot where I was going with this message. Oh yes. The ideal would be to present the options in such a way that _every_ user is an expert, i.e. nothing is confusing. By categorizing options and placing them in sub- dialogs, this is more realizable; the current plans lump all the dithering options together, all the palette options, and so on. I'm also looking at some design techniques that will permit several dialogs to be open at once, so that changes affecting options in different categories can still be seen. If I do this, the user would, of course, be able to save the layout of the dialogs and such so they don't have to arrange the screen more than once. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 125 Mon Aug 09, 1993 M.HILL13 [Mike] at 20:28 EDT DMJ, I prefer a GEM interface myself. Im also looking at getting Geneva too, so it would be great if it took advantage of that. Mike ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 126 Mon Aug 09, 1993 GRMEYER [Gordon/Sysop] at 20:54 EDT DMJ - While I do admire your custom interface, I am very much in favor of you going to a standard GEM implementation, including the standard 'look and feel'. Gordon ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 127 Mon Aug 09, 1993 VANDENHEUVEL at 21:49 EDT Damien, I've been a "lurking" fan of your software for awhile and even though I don't use either Soundlab or DMJ GIF that much anymore (those two tasks being taken over more by Sound Merlin and PhotoChrome these days) I think what makes them good is the programming and options, not the look. As long as you don't make it look TOO generic I think GEM should be fine and I wouldn't worry unduly about the change in the "look" of your programs as long as their utility stays intact. And if Tachyon will run on my Adspeed equipped STE without giving me strange lines in my display (PhotoChrome does..thank goodness for two machines..) you'll definitely be getting my money when it comes out... --Dirk-- ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 128 Mon Aug 09, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:57 EDT Terry: I too dislike PhotoChrome's repetitive questions. I wasn't even contemplating such a system. I definitely had in mind a more random-access approach. I've seen Diamond Edge. Not bad, as far as interfaces go. Something about didn't seem to spark my enthusiasm, but that's _just_ the interface. The rest of it looked (and worked) terrific. Mick: My time is definitely limited. This is why I posed the question in the first place. Not having to worry about the custom interface actually helps A LOT. Glad you liked the HELP in Sound Lab. The help for Tachyon, Sound Lab 2, and other "big" projects will be even better, and this time it will be just as 100% GEM as the interface. With Tachyon's vast array of file displaying capabilities, I see no problem with linking it to View II. This will allow you to have EVERY picture displayed through Tachyon, or to have the View II picture viewer handle the formats it knows, and let Tachyon do everything else. Drag and drop is just another side-effect of linking in to View II. MTOS drag-and-drop shouldn't be a problem, either. Everyone: I had thought the discussion over interfaces would be a little less one-sided in favor of GEM, but I can't say I'm disappointed. I'm already planning some very sophisticated interface techniques (100% GEM, of course) which will allow the user an incredible amount of flexibility. I really don't want to say too much about them at this point, it's a bit too early, but when I can get something together to send to beta testers, I'll see if the ideas work as well as I hope. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 129 Tue Aug 10, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 03:09 EDT Hmmmm........ I am a very visual person, so I am a sucker for great interfaces. But do what is best for the whole Atari computing community. --Lou T.-- Written: Tuesday, August 10, 1993 01:49 a.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 130 Tue Aug 10, 1993 S.DEITZ [Steve] at 05:22 EDT Damien, You used the term "resolution dependence" and said would try to move away from that. I just installed ScreenBlaster on my Falcon and VIEW II is a no go (or woud that be 'no show') in the extended resolutions :( ----STEVE---- ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 131 Tue Aug 10, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:36 EDT DMJ, What you've said about the new All singing, all dancing, Uh, I mean, all-GEM :) Interface sounds great. Do you have a feel for what's needed to make VIEW II MultiTOS happy ? (Yeah I know, a Falcon and time to work on it ) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 132 Tue Aug 10, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:10 EDT Dirk: Rest assured that, even in 100% GEM, my programs will not look so ordinary as most. I'm already looking at some unusual--but great--ways of working in a windowed interface. I think you'll like the results. Tachyon shouldn't have any problems with your AdSpeed STE, as long as I can switch the processor back to 8MHz for Spectrum-style displays. (PhotoChrome isn't exactly a Spectrum display, but the technique is still the same.) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 133 Tue Aug 10, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:43 EDT Steve: Yes, View II is currently rather resolution-dependent. This is ONE of the things that will be taken care of in 2.1, for everything except the pictures and animations. Those two will be worked on, although I cannot guarantee their appearance in 2.1. One thing I'd like to point out is that I started View II about this time _last_year_. It took so long for a number of reasons, although the bulk of the programs has been essentially unchanged for four months. Most of what I know about assembly language programming comes from my work on View II. I know a lot more now than when I first started writing the viewer programs. Back then, resolution independence was a scary thought. Now it's a reachable goal. Koloth: - (Yeah I know, a Falcon and time to work on it) If you knew, why did you ask? Seriously, that's what it will take, and probably not too much more. That minor detail--the Falcon--I hope to have taken care of within a few weeks. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 134 Wed Aug 11, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:38 EDT Damien, Aw c'mon! We want it done _NOW_. May your Falcon030 purchase be quick and painless. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 135 Wed Aug 11, 1993 OUTRIDER [Terry] at 23:29 EDT Damien, That's interesting that you didn't care for Diamond Edge's interface. As I said, I believe it's the best GEM interface I've seen. It not only looks great, but everything is well laid out, and virtually every command has a hot key equivalent (which is important!). As Pee Wee Herman once said, different strokes for different folks. ;^) I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with GEM. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you beat Diamond Edge (in my eyes). __ /erry .\\ay ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 136 Sat Aug 14, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou @Machine] at 15:57 EDT On the subject of interfaces... What about an interface like the one in Home Accounts2. It seems to combine GEM with some fancy graphics and such... Perhaps this would not serve the purpose because it may not be 100% GEM? It does offer some interesting visuals as for interfaces go. --Lou T.-- Written: Saturday, August 14, 1993 02:13 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 137 Sun Aug 15, 1993 R.NELSON48 [Grouch (:{] at 01:00 EDT DMJ - By High rez falcon screen I refer to the stock 256 color 80 column mode. I am glad to hear that View II 2.1 will now do text files in even higher resolutions. The sound and picture options already worked well for me, it was reading text files that would hang me up and cause me to re-boot. Now, the question is, how do we get 2.1? =-= Grouch (:{ =-= ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 139 Sun Aug 15, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 15:03 EDT Grouch: You just have to wait until I can finish 2.1. Apart from my current PC project, which has a deadline of August 23, View 2.1 is the #1 project at the moment. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 140 Sun Aug 22, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 04:07 EDT It's been 22 days since my last autopass, so I'll just reply as I read along. :) -- Powerful programs don't always have to be difficult. Just set up intelligent defaults, and users won't have to reconfigure most of the items. The trick is 'reconfigure'. If the defaults are exactly what they like, the program has no configuration time regardless of how powerful it is. :) --- Go for a combination of batch and interactive. That's what I would do. :) -- Hey, the PC deadline is tommorow. :) Any news? ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 141 Sun Aug 22, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 08:32 EDT Jonathan, What's "the PC deadline" ? ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 142 Sun Aug 22, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 14:46 EDT Damien's deadline for his "big PC project". :) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 143 Tue Aug 24, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:32 EDT All: I've just been informed that the View II disks I sold at the HACE show were incorrectly mastered. If you bought View II at HACE and can't figure out why the programs don't work, _please_ send the disk back to me or to Greg Kopchak. Here are the addresses: Damien M. Jones Greg Kopchak Route 1, Box 168 2233 Keeven Lane Milford, TX 76670 Florissant, MO 63031 I don't remember if I posted here about the show (it's pretty bad when you can't even remember the messages you're writing!) but I enjoyed the day. I had to leave a bit early to make it back to Milford before falling asleep; I woke up at 3:30 AM Saturday morning for the drive down to Houston. (That's the LAST time I try THAT. Next time I'll drive down the night before...) Hopefully I wasn't too cranky with anyone on Saturday. I particularly enjoyed talking with Dave Munsie and Keith Gerdes, plus a few faces to go with names I've seen online here. (Amazing! There are really PEOPLE behind these GEnie addresses!) I'll have to make a habit out of going to shows... -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 150 Fri Aug 27, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 09:34 EDT Damien= Will anybody have your software at the Glendale show? Will you be attending the show. I was reading St Applications the other day and saw an ad for another software program I'd love to order from England but can't deal with St Clubs inability to accept US cash or checks or Mastercard or Visa ,then I find out View II is made by DMJ in twe US. What a small world. What else do you make? Bob S ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 153 Wed Sep 08, 1993 GREG at 01:10 EDT Got good news today. damien Jones will be able to join us at the It's All Relative booth at Glendale. Looking forward to an exciting show! ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 158 Tue Sep 21, 1993 GREG at 22:45 EDT Thanks to everyone who stopped by the It's All Relative booth at Glendale to check out View II. It's nice getting a chance to meet the online community live. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 160 Fri Sep 24, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:53 EDT -- Notice ---------------------------------------------------------- Effective immediately, It's All Relative will be handling registrations for Sound Lab 1.11. If you wish to register Sound Lab (which is available in the libraries here, file #29518) just send $20 to: It's All Relative 2233 Keeven Lane Florissant, MO 63031 Registration will get you a printed manual, a two-disk set with the complete registered program, plenty of samples, and source code for using digitized sound in your own programs (GFA, C, or assembly). It will also get you low- cost upgrades when they become available. -------------------------------------------------------------------- All registrations that may be waiting here on my desk will be mailed out by tomorrow; if you have been waiting for your copy, it is on the way. I am doing this so I can spend more time programming and less time copying disks. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 161 Fri Sep 24, 1993 GREG at 23:20 EDT We're excited about handling Sound Lab. Got some exciting new things in the works for it too. It's All Relative ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 162 Sat Sep 25, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 09:28 EDT The association of DMJ and IAR, sounds like a win-win combination. Congratulations to all involved! Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 163 Thu Oct 28, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:07 EDT Be sure to check out the Spin Dry EOS module. It should be approved for download soon. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 164 Thu Oct 28, 1993 GREG at 23:49 EDT TIRED of SOGGY screen savers? Check out SPIN_DRY.ZIP in the libraries here to keep your screen as fresh as all outdoors! DMJ: Just downloaded the program and tried it. Nice effect. Ran well on a Falcon with SM124 monochrome. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 165 Fri Oct 29, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 02:24 EDT Too bad, SPIN DRY doesn't seem to like any 16 or 256 color 80 columns modes. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 166 Fri Oct 29, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:13 EDT Damien, I just checked off Spin Dry EOS in my Aladdin download screen. Thanks! Is this an indication of things to come ? What do you see the Atari (computer) market doing in this headlong rush to Christmas, now that Haloween is upon us ? Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 167 Fri Oct 29, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:07 EDT David: I was not able to verify the operation of Spin Dry in 256 color modes, and the only 16-color mode I have is ST Low res (as I do not have a Falcon yet). Greg Kopchak tells me he has no problems running Spin Dry in any video mode he tried on his Falcon. The usual questions on AUTO programs and system configuration can be inserted here... one more thing: does it work as a program? Try renaming SPIN_DRY.EXT to SPIN_DRY.PRG and see if that works. Lee: I don't know if Spin Dry is an indication of things to come; hopefully what's coming will be even better. As for my opinions on the Atari market, I prefer to keep them to myself at this time. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 168 Fri Oct 29, 1993 GREG at 22:15 EDT DMJ: I tested SPIN_DRY as a PRG on the Falcon. I don't have Warp 9. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 169 Sat Oct 30, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 00:15 EDT Greg: Whoops, I forgot about that tiny detail. The thing is, though, the code is the same... when you run Spin Dry as a program, it simply calls the screen save routine directly, instead of letting Warp 9 kick it in. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 170 Sat Oct 30, 1993 FAIRWEATHER [David] at 02:15 EDT I haven't tried Spin Dry as a program. But Warp 9 refuses to load it in any Falcon modes except ST compatible modes offering up the alert box that says the module doesn't run in this resolution. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 171 Sat Oct 30, 1993 J.WILSON103 [J_Dub] at 07:48 EDT Damien, I sent my check the other day for View II. J_Dub ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 172 Sat Oct 30, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 09:33 EDT Damien, I don't blame you for reserving judgement on the Atari market. We're all in a wait-and-see mode. Gee, when weren't we in such a mode ? I prefer the Atari over the PC because I have to deal with the low level command line interface stuff at work every day and with the Atari you can do as little or as much of that as you want. The Atari's just easier to use, and products like VIEW II make it easier! Take care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 173 Sat Oct 30, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 11:34 EDT David: That's precisely what I needed to know; it points the finger rather directly at a mistake in the EOS header. I've fixed the problem and uploaded a fixed version; it should be available soon. J_Dub: Thanks. You sent it to the It's All Relative address, right? Lee: Wait-and-see is a good way to put it. I have to deal with PCs every day, too; I have the unparalleled joy of writing programs for Windows. I used to think GEM was bad; Windows is ten times worse. It's like Microsoft looked at a windowed operating system and said, "How can we make this impossible for both the user and programmer to do anything with?" Then they proceeded to do just that. Whoops, looks like somebody mentioned PC... gotta be careful about doing that near me, Lee. Normally I spout off for quite a bit longer than that... I'm glad you find that View II makes your Atari easier to use. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 174 Sat Oct 30, 1993 MUSE [Tomas] at 15:19 EDT Damien, Hey! Spin Dry is a worthy addition to my rather complete collection of EOS modules. It has an Eidsvoogian quality to it. I found the same problems on the Falcon as others have reported. I'll check out the next upload. I'd like to see some 'configure' options implemented. What's next? ===Tomas=== ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 175 Sat Oct 30, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 17:47 EDT Tomas: Eidsvoogian quality? Hmmm... I thought it was ill-omened, myself. What's next depends on how much time I want to divert from "serious" work. Configure options... well, let's see. Maybe a direction selection, or random... speed of rotation (or random)... or totally random rotations. In all honesty, I was playing around on Wednesday with the rotation algorithm, seeing if I could get it to go at a decent speed, and when I got it finished I thought I'd stick it in an EOS module. I really don't like GEM programming in assembly, which is why I didn't mess with configuration options. Maybe I'll do a new version in a couple of weeks with those items in it. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 176 Sat Oct 30, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 21:03 EDT How about determining is enough memory is available to "store" the various rotations as they're created and then "page" through them at high speed. SHould work for ST resoulutions. -Tom McComb {8:22 pm} Saturday, October 30, 1993 ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 177 Sat Oct 30, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:31 EDT Tom: Yes, it would work... at 32K per screen. That's an *awful* lot of memory for a screen saver to consume--and I don't think I can get away with allocating memory in the screen saver unless I use the EOSTIMER.ACC... something I didn't want to do. There's also the generation time required to set up those screens. In monochrome, on an 8MHz ST (like the one I have), it takes seven seconds to redraw the screen... if I were to do just 8 screens (which is 250K), that'd take almost a minute to create the screens before any effect took place. The redrawing of the screen is slow, not by design, but because real rotation is hard to do; the routine doesn't sacrifice _anything_ to make it work in an EOS module, it just takes a while! (And seven seconds is FAST compared to what it could be...) -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 178 Sat Oct 30, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 21:45 EDT Damien, You are right on target. Windows seems to have been intentionally made into a half-completed OS. I created launchers (via Dropper ... have you ever seen this little dreamboat for Windows?) for the 100 reporters and editors I am responsible for, and try to make sure they never have to get into the Program Manager. On a more topical note, I downloaded your EOS module and found that it didn't like running in 1024X768 256-color mode. Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 179 Sat Oct 30, 1993 J.WILSON103 [J_Dub] at 22:14 EDT >J_Dub: > >Thanks. You sent it to the It's All Relative address, right? Yes I did, somewhere in Missouri (can not remember at the moment), but I had it written down and that is where I sent it. Thanks. J_Dub ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 181 Sat Oct 30, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 22:41 EDT DMJ- some further thoughts: '32k/screen', I agree except that if the memory isn't being used, why not? ;-) 'generation time... almost a minute' - my thinking was that the operation would be the same as it is now... 7 seconds between screens- UNTIL all screens have been generated- THEN switch to a page flipping display. Anyway, it was just an idea. -Tom McComb ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 182 Sun Oct 31, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 08:12 EST Damien, If VIEW II didn't make the Atari easier to use it wouldn't have been called "The Most Useful Utility Ever Written" by ST Format Magazine and given an STF rating of 83. Sorry, I didn't mean to mention that Putrid Computer (PC) from 'BM. If I was working for a different project at work than I am I might have to program for the PC too. Oh, but for the hand of fate... Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 183 Sun Oct 31, 1993 J.ROY18 [Jonathan] at 09:17 EST It wouldn't take a minute to do anything, just draw each screen after you finish it... When you've finished 10 screens, or whatever, start 'em spining. :) ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 184 Sun Oct 31, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 11:48 EST Al: When you say Spin Dry doesn't like 1024x768x256, how does it "not like it"? Crash? Refuse to load? Garbled screen? If Warp 9 said it wouldn't run in that resolution, make sure you have 1.01... otherwise, are you using a Falcon or something with a graphics card? Tom: Yeah, like the idiot I am, I started spouting off without thinking. Keep in mind, though, that 8 screens makes for a pretty grainy rotation; 16 would be better, requiring only 500K. But that'd take two minutes of slow animating before you'd see any fast stuff; most people wouldn't watch Spin Dry for that long, just to see the speed. And the memory allocation problems still exist. Not a bad idea, though. Lee: Yeah, I read that review; somebody thoughtfully sent me a copy. Hopefully it will help boost sales in the UK. You're forgiven for mentioning Piece o' Crud machines. I shouldn't complain, though... it puts food on my plate. Jonathan: See my reply to Tom. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 185 Sun Oct 31, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:11 EST One of the pleasantries of my career is that at the office, I am away from my Ataris, while still writing an dprogramming and all that, so the pleasure of returning to the ST and TT after work is always fresh. Al Damien, I tried the later Spin Dry, too. It does rotate the screen, slowly, but the screen looks like Vaseline had been applied in a heavy layer, blurry and mooshed. I ran it as a PRG, since right now I am running my new Crazy Dots card and haven't yet tried to configure the latest W9 (if, indeed, it will work alongside NVDI, which I doubt). Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 186 Sun Oct 31, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 23:34 EST Al: Ah, you're using a Crazy Dots card. Spin Dry doesn't work with graphics cards unless they use the bitplane format of the ST. I don't think Crazy Dots works that way. If I had a simple way of checking for CD, I might be tempted to try a fix... the basic rule of thumb is, if Warp 9 won't work, neither will Spin Dry. The only exception to this is that Spin Dry works in true color and under MTOS, but as a program. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 187 Mon Nov 01, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:41 EST Damien, Hey, we appreciate your sacrifice at the altar of Bill Gates for the sake of supporting your _real_ work on the Atari. You might want to contact Chris Oates (C.OATES2) as he is a programmer ('BM or Mac, I forget) and he has a Crazy Dots card in his MegaSTE. He wrote an article for me on it a few months ago. :) He may know how to detect it. Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 188 Wed Nov 03, 1993 J.WILSON103 [J_Dub] at 21:48 EST Damien, Received my copy of View II today...thanks to you and Kopchak in Florissant. For those who do not have this...this is a hell of an assembly of utilities! Get it NOW!!! J_Dub ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 189 Thu Nov 04, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:19 EST J_Dub: Thanks... we do try. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 190 Fri Nov 05, 1993 GRMEYER [Gordon/Sysop] at 22:14 EST Belated thanks for SpinDry! It is very eye-catching, I'm always pleased when Moving Pictures selects it for installation. :-) Gordon ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 191 Sat Nov 06, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 13:05 EST Gordon, you're most welcome. If I had time, I'd write more EOS modules, but I'm trying to cook up some other wonderful software... -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 192 Thu Nov 11, 1993 F.ZIMMERMAN3 at 05:38 EST Damien, I am interested in your View II program. However, I already have a number of other programs installed for some of the "show" functions. I'm using Ascii-Viewer for Doc, Txt and Readme files; I'm using Guck.ttp to display IMG and Degas pics; double-clicking INF files loads them automatically into Tempus 2, and double-clicking RSC files loads them into Dr. Bob's Resource Viewing utility(I've for- gotten the name of it right now). Oh yes, double clicking GIF files loads them into MGIF, a very interesting monochrome GIF viewer which does some neat tricks with the screen to display color as shades of gray. (And of course, ARC & LZH files go to Arcshell, and ZIP to STZIP). Now with all THAT, do I need View II, and what extra will it offer that I don't already have? My second question is: Does View II install itself into the NEWDESK.INF file, or does it use another routine, something like DC SHOWER which installed itself into the system from the Auto-folder? The reason I ask this is because I already have my NEWDESK.INF file stretched to it's limits, and adding a whole pile of lines to view other files by "installed application" would undoubtedly break the INF file by making it too large. Thanks in advance for any info you can offer. -Frank. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 193 Thu Nov 11, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 20:35 EST Frank, Thanks for your interest. To summarize, you have file viewers for the following types of files: - DOC, TXT, README (ASCII-View) - IMG, PI?, PC? (GUCK.TTP) - INF (Tempus 2) - RSC (Something you can't remember the name of ;-) - GIF (MGIF) - ARC, LZH (ArcShell) - ZIP (ST Zip) That's a pretty impressive list. Most people I know wouldn't use the Install Application feature quite so much. Here's what View II offers, above and beyond what you have listed: - NEOchrome, Tiny, and Spectrum pictures. -> Color pictures in mono, including Spectrum. -> Sync-Fix for displaying Spectrum pics on out-of-sync STs. -> Spectrum pics at 50Hz or 60Hz. -> Automatic Mega STe slowdown to 8MHz for Spectrum pics. - Digitized sample player. -> ST, STe, or Falcon sound output. -> AVR, SPL, SND, and even PC WAV formats. - Animation viewer. -> Up to 60 frames per second, with enough RAM. -> With less RAM, 20 fps is common. -> With almost no RAM, animations are played from disk. -> DLT and SEQ animations supported. - Archive viewer [quickly] displays listings without using the archiver, but uses the archiver to extract files. - Text viewer accepts ALL file types not covered by other programs, not just a few extenders. - Your own installed applications take precedence over View II. - Comes with a RAM disk that will copy files onto itself at bootup. (You don't have to use it.) - Installs itself with a "Smart Install". View II installs itself in your DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF, but uses only ONE line (maybe thirty bytes) so you don't have to worry about it nuking your size limit. There are lots of little features in the file viewers themselves that make doing what you want very simple. If you have any more questions, please ask. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 194 Thu Nov 18, 1993 P.BULLOCK2 [PETER] at 15:19 EST Damien, Does View II work on the TT? Peter ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 195 Thu Nov 18, 1993 R.DEAN3 [GUNNER] at 23:01 EST DMJ: What happened to the View II upgrade that was scheduled for September? Gunner ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 196 Sat Nov 20, 1993 GREG at 01:15 EST DMJ, as usual, has gotten carried away with features. View-II is late, but will be worth the wait as the longer DMJ takes the more you will 'get when it's ready to go. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 197 Sun Nov 21, 1993 F.ZIMMERMAN3 at 08:44 EST dmj, Thanks for the info on View II. I am pleased to hear that it only takes up one entry in the Newdesk.INF file. My next question is this: Suppose that I would like most of the features of View II, but would like to keep another program installed to view (for example) IMG pictures. I assume that all I would have to do is make sure that the IMG viewer I wanted was installed to be read before the View II entry in the Newdesk.inf file. Is that correct? -Frank. ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 198 Sun Nov 21, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 12:05 EST Frank, Yes, BEFORE the entry means, actually, BELOW it in the NEWDESK order. The file is read from the bottom up. (!) Al ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 199 Mon Nov 22, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 19:07 EST Grouch, (Reply to a message in the Warp 9 topic) View II's update is proceeding. There will be a (large) number of new features, improved compatibility with graphics boards and resolution extenders (read "ScreenBlaster"), and generally even more friendly than it already is. I cannot say exactly when it will be ready, as there are just too many variables to make an educated guess. Regarding CD-ROM... it's probably best that I not say anything right now. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 200 Mon Nov 22, 1993 DMJ [dmj] at 21:22 EST Peter, Yes, View II works on the TT. Gunner, The upgrade was delayed. It is still in progress, and will add new features and support for more file formats. Greg, - DMJ, as usual, has gotten carried away with features. Features? I only added about thirty... not that many. I didn't get carried away... I got dragged away, kicking and screaming. Frank, Actually, when View II installs itself it makes sure it is the last program checked. _Any_ applications you have installed, whether you install them before or after you install View II, will take precedence over View II. So if you have an .IMG viewer you like to use, go ahead and install it; View II has already done the work of making sure it's the last thing checked. -dmj ------------ Category 2, Topic 6 Message 201 Tue Nov 23, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:15 EST Grouch, et al, There is reason for the ST owner to hold hope in their hearts for CD- ROM drivers as there are those in the community who have beta tested same in recent months. It _can_ be done. Take Care, Lee B. ------------