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| Text File | 1995-01-17 | 6.1 KB | 90 lines | [ttro/ttxt] |
- • R E S T A R T
- a handy desk accessory
- by Panic Hardware
-
- • Restart 1.1 is a very handy desk accessory, but it didn't start out that way. Actually, it started out
- as a prank that we here at Panic Hardware were going to play on a good friend of ours, still a
- Mac novice after a year with his Performa 475.
- Ty and Chris were playing on John's (the friend) computer, trying to bring his 154 megs of doc-
- uments under control. John still hasn't mastered the alias, or the Documents folder, so there
- were no fewer than 10 copies of any one document, in various stages of progress.
- We thought it would be funny (and we were right) if we put an alias of • Shut Down in his
- Startup Items folder*. After trying this and laughing ourselves silly, we thought it would be
- even funnier to put a restart command in his Shutdown Items folder. There were only two
- problems with this. A) John only has System 7.1P6, which didn't include a Shutdown Items
- folder. B) There was no restart command.
- As a compromise, we decided to write the restart command and put it in his Startup Items folder.
- This proved to be even funnier than having it in the Shutdown Items, because John couldn't
- even begin to use his computer, let alone shut it down!
- Then we realized that this command, imaginatively called • Restart, would be a useful thing to
- have on our desktop or in the Apple menu, or both. So we kept a copy each for ourselves. Then
- we thought that there might be other people out there (like you, obviously) who might like the
- same thing.
- So we decided to market it as shareware, for the low, low price of only five dollars! (Five dollars,
- you may say, for one lousy desktop command? Well, yes, when you think of all the people who
- regularly edit their System and Finder files. Trust me, you can screw up your menu commands
- like that, (*snap*) and then what would you do?)
- And here you are.
-
- So do us a favor and send the five bucks, unless • Restart actually does save your butt, in which
- case you should send $10. Only kidding. Here's the address.
-
- Panic Hardware
- 1705 West Cowing Drive
- Muncie, IN 47304-2330
-
- Somewhere on your check, mention that it's for • Restart ("•" optional) because we take turns
- writing software and need to know how to split up the money. For instance, Chris'll get most
- of the dough from • Restart since he wrote most of the code and drew all the icons. Ty only
- figured out which code to write. Oh, and he suggested making the icon blue. Blue! He's got a
- Powerbook 520! He can't get color icons anyway! Pff! Blue…
-
- To use • Restart, simpy make an alias of it (if you want it on your desktop as well) and throw it in
- the System folder. Your Mac will automatically put it in the Apple menu for you, as though you
- didn't know where the Apple Menu Items folder was…
- The alias can be renamed whatever you want (like "Panic Button" - we'd be flattered) so feel free.
-
- Speaking of feeling free, feel free to pass this along to a friend. Just make sure you include
- everything in the Panic Hardware folder (including the folder itself!) and don't charge for it.
- (We did all the work, why should you get paid?) The best way to pass it along to a friend is to
- copy the whole folder to their computer, and then put an alias of • Restart in their Startup
- Items folder, but don't say we told you so!
-
- C O M I N G A T T R A C T I O N S
-
- Coming soon from Panic Hardware:
-
- • The Excel Business Manager - This is a handy little utility that will have Excel practically
- running your business for you by automatically keeping track of everything you do. $20.
-
- • Panic Buttons - A little icon bar that contains not only • Restart, but a whole slew of other
- menu functions that will be accessible as DA's independent of the finder. $15.
-
- • Power Panic Buttons - Same as Panic Buttons, but as a plug in for the Powerbook Control
- Strip. $10.
-
- • And much, much more!
-
- (* It should be noted that the original "• Shut Down in the Startup" idea came from David Pogue
- and Joseph Schorr's mega-tome, Macworld Mac & Power Mac Secrets, 2nd Ed.)
-
- V E R S I O N H I S T O R Y
-
- 0.5 (15 Jan, 1995) - Wrote the darn thing, called •Restart (no space between "•" and "Restart") in
- John's basement, tinkering until 4:30 a.m. just to get it to work.
-
- 1.0 (15 Jan, 1995) - Tinkered some more, drew the icons, all gray but essentially the same. Ty
- suggests blue but is shot down because a) he hasn't got a color Mac, and b) we
- were going for the recessed switch look. Chris stays up until 6:30 writing the
- •Restart read me. Also contemplates installing •Restart in both Ty's Startup and
- Shutdown Items folders, but thinks better of it. Instead, wakes Ty the following
- morning by waving a life-sized cardboard cutout of Captain Picard over Ty's bed
- and yelling "You are late for bridge duty! You are late for bridge duty!"
-
- 1.1 (17 Jan, 1995) - Chris tinkered a lot more, made the recessed part of the icon blue (Ty was
- appeased) and took out the call to the FinderShutdown routine, cutting restart
- time. Rewrote the Read Me file, renamed the whole thing • Restart (with a
- space) to actually put it before • Shut Down in the Apple menu. Called it done,
- for now. New version to accompany Panic Buttons, most likely, though what
- difference does it really make? Best to get it now, in case Panic Buttons doesn't
- work right until 1997 after we've rewritten everything to work with System 8…
