TITLE Uberbench 1.0: The Definitive GUI System for the Amiga Computer AUTHOR W.G. Bailey 10200 Brown Ridge Morehead, KY 40351 United States Tel.: 1-606-780-0583 eMail: gregb@connectup.com IRC: strauss_ LEGAL INFORMATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This software is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will the author be liable for direct, indirect, incidental or consequen- tial damages or data loss resulting from the use or application of this software. The en- tire risk as to the results and performance of this software is assumed by the user. Furthermore, the contents of the archive cannot be altered in any way, although the archive itself can be transmitted electronically via BBS systems or the Internet. Any inclusion in PD collections is prohibited without the consent of the author, and the contents of this archive may not be transmitted via any Microsoft network. By installing this software, the end user is assumed to have entered into a tacit agreement with the author of this software to abide by those rules stipulated above. DESCRIPTION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UberBench is full-featured and professional GUI system for the Amiga, featuring icons, seamless backdrops, and boot pictures. Uberbench is the ONLY Amiga GUI package that has been created that can make your Amiga look as good as the Macin- tosh or PC running Windows 95! No other GUI system available compares! INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As many Amiga users have expressed a dislike for the Amiga's current GUI, as well as other solutions that are currently available, such as MagicWb and NewIcons, I decided to create my own GUi system for the Amiga. I have, over the course of a few years, attempted to create a series of icons, boot pictures ,backdrops, and palettes that adhere to industry standards: Icons, for instance, are close to the same size on other platforms (32X32 pixels), the color palette is varied, and the backdrops are seamless and of professional quality. You can preview UberBench by double clicking on the "Workbench.IFF" or "WorkBench.IFF2" icons in the Uberbench root directory. The se- lected picture will then be loaded and displayed on your system using MultiView. The name for this project -- as many of you have no doubt gathered -- is a pun on Nietzsche's famous Ubermensch or "Overman." As I enjoy reading and studying phi- losophy texts, I thought it would be fun to name the project after the famous philosopher's ideal for the future of humanity. :-) RELEASE NOTES AND AVAILABILITY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please keep in mind that this is a preliminary release; I am sure that some of the icons could use improvement, and I am continually upgrading UberBench so that it will remain the best GUI solution that it possibly can be. If you use XBench and would like to see further development, please support it. I have decided to release this version of the software under the concept of Share- ware; end users are obligated to send either $20.00 U.S. dollars in payment if Uber- Bench is used for more than a trial period of 30 days. If you can't afford to send the shareware fee, I would appreciate some sort of a gift as payment: You could send, for instance, computer hardware or software (particularly software that you have created), books on philosophy or political philosophy, or music CDs. The address to send your contribution to is listed at the beginning of this text. No matter if you love or hate UberBench, I would appreciate getting some mail from you regarding the program. My e-mail address is listed at the beginning of this text. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any Amiga that is capable of displaying 32 colors at high-resolution is required to run UberBench. This can be an AGA Amiga, such as the A1200 or A4000, or an Amiga equipped with a graphics card. Uberbench is usable on an A1200 with expansion memory, although an accelerator is always to be desired for optimum performance. NOTE: I have noticed that on some A1200 machines running a 800X600 display, that the Alice chip can get overheated and cause the Amiga's display to get trashed after a few hour's use. An easy solution to this problem is to buy a 1" microcomputer fan, con- nect it to the A1200's diskdrive for power, and place it directly over the Alice chip. The pinouts for the power connection are as follows: disk drive power connector------> [ - - - - ] ^ ^ connect 1" fan to the two leads at the right ----------------^ FEATURES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o Industry standard icon sizes (32X32 pixels) o Varied and colorful color palette in 32 colors o Professional look and feel o Consistent and contemporary GUI design o Twenty seamless backdrop images, which form a small part of another project I have completed (Black Seam seamless textures for Lightwave and Imagine). Be sure to check out the shareware version of Black Seam textures! o A complete set of Amiga system and appplication icons. o Ten boot pictures for use with Syspic or your favorite boot picture utility. INSTALLATION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uberbench uses a program called NoFillNoDraw which allow the use of border- less icons. You will need this program installed in order to use the borderless icons in- cluded with UberBench. The latest version of MCP (Master Control Program) has this feature built-in, so you can also use this program if you wish. To install UberBench, simply copy the icons over to your Amiga's boot drive. A 800X600 Workbench display is recommended for the best quality, although lower reso- lutions will also work. Be sure to set your Workbench Screenmode preferences to the appropriate resolution (800X600 Super72: Super-High res Laced if your monitor sup- ports it), and the proper color depth, which is 32 colors. In the C: directory of the ar- chive is the proper IFF palette for use with UberBench. I have also included a small pro- gram called shovecolors which can be used to set the palette for Workbench in startup (this program is not my own work and is the copyright of the author). Simply copy the files in the UberBench C: directory to your C: directory and add the following line to your user-startup: shovecolors c:UberBenchPalette.32 Also included is a preferences file for TxSetPalette - an excellent utility for setting the Amiga's Workbench palette. It is contained in the prefs/env-archive/ directory and will be read automatically when TxSetPalette is run. FONTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are interested in reproducing the look of the UberBench.IFF graphic, it is necessary that you use the XHelvetica font size 13 for the Workbench icon text and the Workbench screen text. This font works well with an 800X600 display, and although it is not included in this archive due to copyright reasons, I suggest that you use it if at all possible. Also, if you want to use the light blue backdrop image - as displayed in the UberBench.IFF image- instead of the other backdrops supplied with the archive, it can be found in the backdrops directory under the filename "Workbench_Backdrop." A white *window* backdrop is also provided under the filename "Window_Backdrop." I have included another font called "Chicago" which can be used with Uberbench. This font is actually easier to read than XHelvetica; it's also free! BACKDROP IMAGES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a number of seamless backdrop images that are included with Uber- Bench. These reside in the "Startup/Backdrops/Seamless" drawer and should be used if a more sophisticated Workbench backdrop is desired. The backdrop images are 4-16 colors and should work well with displays of 32-256 colors. More of the seamless back- drops will be available at a later date. Single color backdrop images can be found in the "Startup/Backdrops/Single_color" directory. You can view the seamless backdrops by simply entering the "Startup/Backdrops/Seamless" directory and clicking on the icon. The selected boot picture will be loaded using MultiView. Boot images are also included! These should be used with Syspic or other picture viewers that allow the use of a picture during startup. Boot images can be found in the "Startup/BootPics" directory. These are scaled down version of some of my own art work. You can view them by simply entering the "Startup/Bootpics" directory and clicking on the icon. The selected boot picture will be loaded using MultiView. RECOMMENDED UTILITIES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I recommend the use of CGWbPattern (or Cybergraphics Workbench Pattern) for use with the supplied backdrop images. This program allows the use of seamless tex- tures without interfering with the Workbench palette. Both of these tools will make UberBench much more enjoyable. Other shareware and freeware utilities that I recommend include: TXSetPalette - Handy utility for setting Workbench palettes CGWBPattern - Replacement for WBPattern POSTSCRIPT NOTES --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I did send a preliminary release version of UberBench to VISCorp to see if they might be interested in using it for the next-generation Amiga. They didn't express any interest at all, neglecting to even contact me by phone. It seems that VISCorp is under the same aesthetic spell as Commodore; they are probably planning on making the machine as ugly as possible so no one will buy it. It amazes me that every company that has owned to the Amiga has neglected to improve the look of the GUI; Commodore seemed to think that AGA machines would do well with ugly four-color icons and 320X200 resolution, and every company since then has been convinced that the GUI is of secondary importance. These "professionals" should take a look around: EVERY platform except the Amiga has a professional GUI; aesthetics matter, and the Amiga deserves to look as good as it possibly can. I can only hope that VISCorp will make a smart business decision and improve the Amiga's GUI. It is certainly long overdue.