17 Bit Software 3: The Continuation/17-Bit_The_Continuation_Disc.iso/amigan/amigan 15/pd1

Text File | 1994-01-27 | 5.8 KB | 96 lines

          ~PD CORNER~              We offer PD Disk 15 this issue, a collection
   ~A Collection of the Best~      of old and new utilities which perform most
 ~From Public Domain Software~     useful functions. Several break new ground:
 by Jim Cooper and Bruce Drake     IFF2Ps (it converts IFF graphics into Post-
                                   Script image files as halftones), and a new,
swift way to copy a complete ramdisk image to disk and back again (DOSKwik) in
one gulp. Several reviews by Amigan contributors are integrated into the column
in this issue.
LLL
  Obtain PD Disk 15 from PO Box 411, Hatteras, N.C., 27943. We'll ship within 24
  hours of receipt of order. Send $6 U.S. in North America; $7 U.S.if overseas.
  Overseas shipment by airmail; in North America, by First Class mail. Make pay-
  ments out to@The Amigans.@Personal checks accepted from all of North America.<
LLL
~IFF2Ps:~Shareware which converts IFF files created by DPAINT and other Amigan
programs to PostScript image files for halftone printing on laser printers. The
program supports IFF files in high, interlace, and HAM modes.

~MR~or Menu Runner, a menu bar clock, dynamic free memory reporter, and program
execution utility all rolled into one. Shareware by J.L. White.

~ClickToFront:~If you work with many small windows, handy: A double click into
any window instantly brings it to the front; no more hunting for the back/front
gadgets. If you work with full-sized windows, it can be a pain in the behind. It
runs in the background from CLI or a startup-script.

~DOSKwik:~[Notes by Josh Rovero and Dick Barnes] Swiftly takes a snapshot of an
entire ramdisk or survivable ramdisk in one gulp--and will write it back to ram-
disk in another. Displays a list of files as it works. The docs say you can make
backups with DISKCOPY (files aren't in DOS format), but this often fails. Even
so, no problem. Save the image of ramdisk on two disks--one as a backup. Make
your image on@unformatted@disks, which DOS reports as NOT A DOS DISK. Should you
use formatted disks, you can easily wreck the saved ramdisk image (or crash), as
DOS can report such disks okay. To reuse a disk holding a DOSKWIK image, simply
run the program again. It overwrites its own images. You need a minimum of two
drives to use it (image disk in drive 1) in a boot sequence. It uses 0, 1, 2, 3
instead of df0: through df3: (and wipes disks out if you forget and use dfN:).
No support for hard disks in this version. It'll copy and restore files larger
than disk capacity (over 900K per floppy) by asking for a second disk.<

~NewCon:~A handy little utility to provide 'keyclick' audible feedback (if you
have your speakers hooked up)  Also has a screen blanking function (who doesn't,
anymore?). Shareware by Bob Crow.

~MoreRows:~An oldie, but reliably increases the number of rows and columns visi-
ble on screen--with most programs. Works well with AEDIT and CLI; Amiga Basic
and some other programs don't recognize the extra screen room. With it, you can
obtain full 80-column screens@and@borders--or extra screen rows should you want
some. After you run it, you must save to Preferences.

~ScreenSizer:~Provides for extra rows and columns of text in a CLI window and
includes source. by Thad Floryan

~SuperView:~The best picture viewer so far?  You decide. It will show almost@all
current picture types on Amiga--including Overscan, the first frame from an ANIM
file, and even AmigaBASIC .ACBM pictures! By David Grothe.

~RunBack:~A revision of RUNBACKGROUND by Rob Peck. Runs any utility in the back-
ground, separated from the CLI window where it started. Doesn't clutter a screen
with CLIs which can't be closed. Not needed with programs written to run in the
background, but many useful utilities aren't. Authors of revision unknown.<

~APL.UTIL:~A series of utilities for those who use Spencer APL on Amiga. Pro-
vides basic utility functions. By Amigan John Koch.

 ~DOWNLOAD IN HASTE~  ~KEEP~is for those who like to read a whole slew of messa-
 ~REPENT AT LEISURE~   ges posted on the nets. The idea is avoid reading them on
        by             line and instead to dump downloads into a disk file or a
  ~Chris Larcombe~     buffer. Then you peruse them at leisure after disconnect,
                       when you needn't mortgage your soul to the phone company.
"Done that since I was a 300 baud toddler", you sneer? Well, OK, but KEEP makes
thrifty habits easy. With KEEP, you walk through a file of downloaded messages
singly, marking items you want to keep with a mouse click. At file's end, KEEP
writes out another file, holding only the files you chose. You may specify any
desination file or device. As a safeguard, the original file is held, intact.<

~KEEP~seeks message headers in the original files. When it starts, it presents a
menu of popular networks (Genie, BBS-PC etc.). Select one to set the appropriate
header automatically. If the net you prefer is not on the menu, type its header
into a string gadget requester. Power users: KEEP works with oversized screens.<

~File handling:~KEEP understands us humans: you may back up through the file to
change an earlier decision. Disk read errors are handled with elegance (save the
"keep me" messages tagged so far, then exit). If you encounter a write error on
disk, your ".kpt" file is switched into ramdisk--all is@not@lost. At any time,
you may ABORT the current file (save nothing) or SKIP the balance of it (save
flagged items of interest to this point).

~Limitations:~These are few. Individual lines within a message must be no longer
than 120 characters, delimited by CR and/or LF. The maximum number of messages
in one file is 2,000.

~I recommend KEEP~as the simplest way to cull the fat message files which clut-
ter my disks. With 2.5 megs of RAM, I download to my virtual drive; KEEP fairly
flies through the file under these circumstances. Author: Tim Grantham.<