HICKORY v1.0, USER MANUAL ------------------------- ****** This product is SHAREWARE ****** 1 SHAREWARE All files in this archive, are protected by copyright. The author does however, reserve full copyright of Hickory. The archive may be distributed freely, so long as all the files are distributed together in a single archive. The original archive is a ZIP compatible file, but you may rearchive to your own favourite format if required before redistributing. Anyone using the product should register with the author. The shareware concept can only work if users support shareware authors by registering their copies. Without sufficient registrations, shareware authors for the Atari computers will turn to other platforms that have a larger user base. Registering will help keep the Atari shareware scene alive. We all have a living to make and a family to feed, and this forms part of my income to do just that, so please do register today if you use this product. 2 NOT ANOTHER DESKCLOCK ACCESSORY? Well, firstly it seemed like a simple enough place to start some AES coding for myself. Secondly, of all the Deskclock accessories around, I've never really seen a decent one that I'd have permanently installed onto my harddisk. 3 DISCLAIMER The program is believed by myself to be problem free, but I cannot account for every hardware/software configuration that it may be used on. Hence I must therefore include this disclaimer. Any damage which may result, either directly or indirectly, from using this product cannot be foreseen by the author, and the author therefore cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever. You use this product at your own risk. 4 FILES IN ARCHIVE HICKORY.TXT - this file HICKORY.ACC - desk accessory executable HICKORY.RSC - resource file 5 INSTALLATION a) Copy the ACC and RSC files to the root of your boot drive. (If you boot from floppy then this will (most probably) be drive A: else If you boot from hard-disk, this will probably be C:) b) Reboot your computer (press the little button on the back!) c) When the ST boots, you will find another entry under the 'Desk' menu called 'Hickory'. Selecting this will make the clock appear on the right hand side of the screen. 6 USERS GUIDE 6.1 MOVING AND RESIZING To move or resize the clock, first make sure that the window is topped by selecting it, then click once on the clock face. A mover bar, and resize gadget will appear allowing resizing and moving of the clock. Note that the window close gadget will remove the clock from the desktop. To bring it back, select the 'Hickory' option from the 'Desk' menu. 6.2 SETTING THE ALARM To set the alarm, make sure the window is topped, then double-click on the clock face. A dialogue box will appear. Select the 'Set-up' option, then the 'Set Alarm' option for the dialogue box to set and enable the alarm. 6.3 SETTING THE TIME AND DATE To change the time and date settings, proceed as 2.2.2, but select the 'Set Clock' option (rather than the Set Alarm option). A dialogue box will appear allowing you to change the current date and time. 7 COMPATIBILITY AND BUGS This accessory was written on an Atari 1040-ST, with Tos 1.2. I have not had access to other models of Atari hardware or other revisions of TOS to check for compatibility problems. If you experience anything unexpected, or detect a bug, please let me know via the problem report form. 8 FEATURES IN FUTURE RELEASES I hope to release further versions of this accessory. Some of the ideas I have for incorporation are as follows: a) Multiple alarms with date as well as time. b) The ability to define a message to appear when the alarm is triggered. (e.g: "Coronation Street in 5 minutes - power off", or "Pick the kids up from school" ) c) The ability to designate the launch of other programs at designated times/dates (a bit like the Unix CRON utility). d) All the above user configurations option saved to disk automatically on defining, so that they are maintained and still active when you next power up your system. e) To have the clock automatically reappear after having launched a GEM program. Currently, , the AES sends a AC_CLOSE mesage to all accessories when you double-click a program for execution. It's a bit annoying having to manually open the accessory every time. There must be a way around this... If anybody has any thoughts on the above, or has ideas of features that they themselves would like to see implemented, then let me know. If enough people suggest something, I just might implement it! 9 REGISTERING The archive includes an ASCII file REGISTER.TXT. This includes all the information for you to supply when registering (together with your fee). Please take the trouble to fill it in. It's this kind of feedback that gets you future shareware products of some use to you. 10 PROBLEM REPORTING The archive includes the ASCII file REPORT.TXT for problem reporting. Please fill it in as comprehensively as you can. I can only solve problems if I have ALL the information to hand that I need. Note though that I cannot guarantee to solve all problems, although I will obviously do what I can. 10 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR Several methods available. Firstly using good old Royal Mail. This is probably the best bet, but you can try your luck on either Saxon BBS (Brighton based on 0273-??????) or Fortress BBS (), or one of the BBS-NETs that supply these boards. S.J.Morley 27/SEPT/93