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Text File | 1995-07-14 | 46KB | 1,213 lines

STOOP Manual Version 1.05 Hardware required Atari Falcon with 4Mb RAM and a VGA or SVGA display is recommended, but it can be used with an RGB monitor (the screen resolution needed for Stoop is a minimum 640 x 480 by 16 colours). Contents Introduction Getting Started Setting Up Stoop Boards Editing a Board Changing Boards Deleting a board Using Font Folders With NVDI 3 Buttons Setting Up A Button Showing A Button's Configuration Deleting a Button Merging & Removing Files from Buttons Copying Buttons Swapping Buttons Using a Button Last Configuration Passing Parameters to Auto-Booting Programs Setting Up Stoop for Passing Parameters Text Window Keyboard Commands Environment Options Problems With Passing Parameters Groups Using a Group Deleting a Group The File Selector Copying Folders & Files Moving Folders & Files Deleting Folders & Files Renaming Folders & Files Creating Folders Re-Ordering the AUTO Folder Hiding Files from Stoop Main Controls GO & EXIT Auto-Booting Programs Option Controls FSEL DELETE SAVE CLEAR CONFIG SYSTEM Dialogue INITIAL Dialogue START UP Dialogue COLOURS Dialogue Manual Start Up Configurations Introduction Stoop is a boot manager for the Atari Falcon. It has its own graphical interface and uses the mouse for most operations though it does make some use of the keyboard. Stoop can : ≡ Be used to determine which AUTO programs, accessories, CPX modules and NEWDESK.INF files should be active when starting up or re-booting. ≡ Control other types of file (e.g. GDOS ASSIGN.SYS files) to a maximum of 20 different types. ≡ Display up to 512 file names in each of 20 boards. These boards have to be paged to view all of the file names, but paging buttons will only appear when they are necessary. ≡ Either change the extension of a file name to make it active/inactive, e.g. ACX is changed to ACC and vice versa, (the file may be also moved to another folder at the same time) this can be done for a maximum of 254 files per file type. Or a single file can copied and renamed to a specific name, e.g. C:\AUTO\STOOP\GENERAL.INF may become NEWDESK.INF. ≡ Make groups of files which may be selected or de-selected by a single button press, to a maximum of 50 files per board per group, and since there is a maximum of 20 boards a maximum of 1000 files can be assigned per group. ≡ Control the screen resolution of the desktop that appears after booting, including starting up in ST compatible screens, without having to use a specific NEWDESK.INF file. ≡ Change the application the desktop runs after boot-up. ≡ Store often used start-up configurations on buttons, to a maximum of 27. ≡ Copy, delete and move folders and files, and also rename files, using its own file selector. ≡ Re-order the contents of the AUTO folder. ≡ Hide files from itself so that they cannot be selected/de-selected for boot-up by error. Up to 50 files can be hidden. ≡ Be easily configured while running from the AUTO folder. ≡ Pass parameters to applications that are to be auto-booted. ≡ Be booted in any resolution on a RGB or VGA monitor. ≡ Display folders instead of files in a board, this is primarily for moving folders of fonts in and out of NVDI 3's font directories, which means that you can choose which fonts to use at boot up more easily by selecting a family or group of fonts with a single mouse click. ≡ Protect your system with a password. ≡ Now wait for a set period and then, if not used, it will set up a default configuration and exit. ≡ Swap preset buttons around. ≡ Copy preset buttons. ≡ Show an unlimited number of files and folders in the fileselector in a single directory, it is now only limited by available memory. ≡ Merge and remove file names with/from preset configurations. ≡ Change the speaker volume and balance. ≡ Turn off the keyclick and the system bell sounds. ≡ Change the colours used by Stoop. ≡ Select an auto-booting program for a one-off configuration more easily. Also in version 1.05, I have endeavoured to erradicate all the bugs, these were mostly minor, but I have had to rewrite the memory handling routines so that large configurations can be used. Getting Started Installing Stoop Run the INSTALL program, make sure that the STOOP and LAUNCH program files are in the same directory as INSTALL before starting. INSTALL will modify any STOOP.CFG it finds, backup this file first (e.g. copy it to another directory) and it will place STOOP at the start of the AUTO folder or copy it into the same position as the earlier version of Stoop if you have one. When running at boot up, Stoop has a problem with NVDI. Please make sure that the STOOP program runs before NVDI. Setting Up Stoop To start up Stoop after installation, you can either re-boot or run it from the Desktop. When you have started Stoop up you should see a screen divided into three main areas; the largest area is the boards where all of the files will be displayed, to the right of it is the control panel containing various buttons with a board labelled GROUPS and at the bottom of the screen are 27 buttons which can be used to store preset start up configurations. Boards The first step should be to arrange the boards to display the required files. Each board shows the files which match one of two extensions (e.g. PRG and PRX) that exist in one folder or root directory. There are 5 boards which you can re-configure, each one can have 4 different faces. Each board can be displayed as either one long board or two short ones. When you first run Stoop there may not be a STOOP.CFG file present which contains the configuration information for Stoop, hence Stoop will use it's default configuration. The first two boards should show the program files in the AUTO folder and the accessories on the root directory of your boot drive. These boards may be altered to show different types of file (different file extensions) and/or the files in different folders or drives. To alter a board, click on the BOARD button (right hand side of screen) and then click on the board you want to change. A dialogue should pop up which displays the current details of that particular board:- TITLE The name of the board which is to be displayed just above the top of the board. SOURCE PATH The folder or drive which will hold the files or folders to be shown on the board. DESTINATION PATH The folder or drive which the file or files or folders will be copied to (this MUST be given even if it is the same as the SOURCE PATH). If folders are to be displayed on the board, the destination path MUST be (i) different to the source path and (ii) outside of the source directory, i.e. it must NOT be in the source directory OR be a subdirectory of the source directory. DESTINATION FILE The name that will be given to a single file once it has been copied. If this box contains any text then only one file may be selected on the board at any one time, otherwise any number (zero to all) of files can be selected. If the board is set to use folders, this will be empty. LIVE & DEAD EXTS These are the file extensions of the files that will be shown on the board. The 'live' extension is the one that active files have (e.g. PRG or ACC) while the 'dead' extension is the one that inactive files will be given which usually terminates with an 'X' (e.g. PRX or ACX). If the board is set to use folders, these sections will be empty. FILES/FOLDERS button This button will toggle between FILES and FOLDERS. When FILES is displayed, the board will show a list of files from the source directory and when FOLDERS is shown, the board will show a list of the folders from the source directory. The folders in BOTH of the paths (source and destination) will be displayed on the board, the names of folders in the source will be highlighted to show that they are active, and the names of folders in the destination will NOT be selected. Any folders that are highlighted on the board will be moved to the source directory when Stoop sets up the configuration, and any folders that are not highlighted are moved to the destination directory. SHORT/LONG button This button will toggle between showing SHORT and LONG on it's surface. When it shows LONG, one long board will appear at the chosen position and it will display up to 34 file names, and when it shows SHORT there will be 2 short boards displayed showing up to 16 file names each. OK and CANCEL These have their usual meanings, they both let the user quit the dialogue but OK confirms any changes and CANCEL ignores them. Most of the above is straight forward, but the use of the DESTINATION FILE needs explaining. Some programs use INF (or similar) files to hold data about the program's start up settings, e.g. the Desktop is one such program and it uses NEWDESK.INF. If you want to start up these programs with different settings, depending upon your needs, the INF file has to be replaced with another version. For Stoop to do this automatically for you it needs the name of the INF file, this is what DESTINATION FILE should hold. Example #1. Suppose the dialogue holds the following data :- TITLE = NEWDESK SOURCE PATH = C:\AUTO\STOOP DESTINATION PATH = C:\ DESTINATION FILE = NEWDESK.INF LIVE EXT = INF DEAD EXT = INX first button = FILES second button = SHORT This allows a user to have different set-ups for the Desktop. Any files contained in C:\AUTO\STOOP (but not any folders within it) that have INF or INX extensions will be displayed upon the board, INF files will be highlighted and INX files will not. The SHORT button means that two short boards will be shown in the chosen column, the other board may appear above or below the board you are setting up. Suppose that the folder C:\AUTO\STOOP contains these three files:- GENERAL.INX DTP.INX SBLASTER.INF Their names will appear on the board without their extensions, only SBLASTER is highlighted as it's extension is 'live' (it has INF for it's extension). Selecting GENERAL on the board will highlight it and un-highlight SBLASTER. Clicking on the GO button will cause GENERAL.INF to be copied to drive C and named NEWDESK.INF (the previous NEWDESK file is first deleted). Example #2. Suppose the boxes hold the following data :- TITLE = ACCESSORIES SOURCE PATH = C:\ DESTINATION PATH = C:\ DESTINATION FILE = LIVE EXT = ACC DEAD EXT = ACX first button = FILES second button = LONG This allows a user to change the accessories loaded at boot up. Note that DESTINATION FILE should contain no text. With this information, Stoop will show all the files in the root directory of drive C which have either ACC or ACX extensions on the board. Files with 'live' extenders (ACC) will be highlighted while files with 'dead' extensions will not. Clicking on a 'dead' file will make it live without changing the status of any other file and clicking on a 'live' file will make it 'dead'. Clicking on GO will cause all files to be renamed according to their status on the board, highlighted names become 'live' (they are given the ACC extension) and all of the others are 'killed' (given ACX extenders). Note that although TOS 4 only allows a maximum of 6 accessories to be loaded at any one time, Stoop will not stop you from selecting more than 6 accessories. If the SOURCE and DESTINATION PATH's were different in the above example, the files would be re-named and they would be copied to the DESTINATION PATH, but please note that any existing files in the DESTINATION PATH would be unaffected. Hence avoid using different SOURCE and DESTINATION PATH's when multiple files are to be made 'live' (i.e. DESTINATION FILE is undefined) as any files copied there by Stoop during a previous boot up will still be there. The FILES button means that the board will only display the names of folders. The LONG button means that one long board will be shown in the chosen column. Editing A Board Now that you now what the boards can do, how do you change them to do what you want? There are basically two types of boxes which contain text on this dialogue, (i) Boxes which can be edited manually by placing the cursor in it and adding characters from the keyboard. (ii) Boxes which you click on and this brings up the file selector. This type is used to hold file paths and names which are selected via the file selector. TITLE If the text cursor is not in the Title box you can (i) click the mouse on it, (ii) press TAB or (iii) press the up or down arrow keys to move it into the box. You can then type the new name, BACKSPACE will delete back one character and ESC will clear all of the text. Do not press RETURN or ENTER unless you want to exit the dialogue and confirm the changes (this is equivalent to clicking on the OK button). SOURCE PATH Click the mouse on the text area of this box, the file selector will appear and you can choose the path you require. DESTINATION PATH Use the same procedure as for the SOURCE PATH. DESTINATION FILE Use the same procedure for the Title text box. LIVE EXT Use the same procedure for the Title text box. DEAD EXT Use the same procedure for the Title text box. FILES/FOLDERS Click on this to toggle it's setting. SHORT/LONG Click on this to toggle it's setting. Changing Boards There are 20 boards, but only five to ten can be shown at any one time, to show the others click anywhere on the board with your RIGHT mouse button, this will cycle through the boards for that position. Each column has four boards. If the board in a column is a long board the other three are hidden below it and 3 clicks will top each of these boards in turn, a fourth click will show the first board again. If the column has two short boards, then 2 of the four boards are already in view and each of the short boards has only one other board under it, hence 1 click on a short board will top the board underneath and another click will then return to the initial board. Deleting A Board Click on the DELETE button on the control panel, then click on the board and everything for that board will be returned to the default settings. Using Font Folders With NVDI 3 NVDI 3 can use fonts files which are held in folders within the directory or directories specified in the NVDI.INF file. This makes it possible to group fonts into families and select or deselect the group in one operation instead of having to find and alter each fint file. You may choose to group your fonts in a different scheme, e.g. body fonts, display fonts and symbol fonts, however NVDI does not provide a simple way of doing this. Stoop can help you control your fonts, either selecting individual font files or folders containing font files. The following shows how to use Stoop to control folders. Suppose your Speedo fonts are held in folders in C:\GEMSYS\SPEEDO, to set up a board the following data should be used to set up a board :- TITLE = SPEEDO SOURCE PATH = C:\GEMSYS\HIDE.SPD DESTINATION PATH = C:\GEMSYS\SPEEDO DESTINATION FILE = LIVE EXT = DEAD EXT = first button = FOLDERS second button = LONG The FOLDERS button means that the board will only display the names of folders. This allows a user to change the Speedo fonts to be used by NVDI 3. In this example, the source path must be the same as a font path set in NVDI 3 INF file (i.e. FONTPATH = C:\GEMSYS\SPEEDO\). Initially, with this information, Stoop will show all the folders in the GEMSYS\SPEEDO directory, which can have any file name extension, on the board. Folders in this directory will be highlighted. Stoop will also show all of the folders in the GEMSYS\HIDE.SPD directory, but these will not be highlighted. Once the board is displayed, the folders can be selected or deselected and after clicking on GO, the folders will be moved to their appropriate positions. If folders are selected they will be moved to SPEEDO folder and if they are unhighlighted they will be moved to the HIDE.SPD folder. The destination directory, in this example C:\GEMSYS\HIDE.SPD, should be outside of the source folder AND it must be in the SAME PARTITION, if it is not things may be go wrong. If you are using two boards with folders, DO NOT use the same destination folder as any extensions (.TTF, .DOC, etc.) are not used to tell them apart, so they will get mixed up and appear in both boards which will cause problems. Buttons At the bottom of the screen are three rows of nine buttons, all of these buttons can have a particular set-up assigned to them. There are only nine buttons per row because of the font size and number of characters (8) used for the legend on each key, if it were smaller it would not look as good. Twenty-seven set-ups should be enough for everyone but if they are not please write or email. To select them you can either click the mouse on them or you can use a function key. The top row can be accessed by pressing just the function key (F1-F9), the middle row needs the Control key to be pressed while the function key is being pressed (CTRL F1-CTRL F9) and the bottom row needs the Alternate to be pressed while the function key is pressed (ALT F1-ALT F9). To make things a little easier to remember (there are no prompts about which modifier key to use, Control or Alternate), the Control key is physically above the Alternate key on the keyboard and the screen buttons which use the Control key (middle row) are physically above the buttons which use the Alternate key (bottom row). For users who would like to use the F10 function key, this is now possible, but additional buttons are not available, instead pressing F10 is the same as pressing Control F1 and Control F10 gives the same result as pressing Alternate F1. Alternate F10 has alias and produces no result. This enables those users, who have set up the 10 function buttons on the Desktop to call programs, to use the same function buttons in Stoop to autoboot the same programs. Setting Up A Button Once you have set up the boards, you can begin assigning combinations of files, a screen resolution and a auto-booting program to one of the buttons at the bottom of the screen. There are two ways of doing this. If you want to set up only a single button, follow the following instructions. 1. Select all of the files on the boards that you want to be active for a particular task (do not forget that the hidden panels may have selected files (use the CLEAR button to de-select all files). 2. Choose your resolution, if you want to use a Falcon screen mode first choose the number of colours required by clicking on one of the five buttons labelled 2,4,16,256 and TC (top left of control panel), then adjust the number of horizontal pixels (640 or 320) and the vertical resolution (480 or 240 pixels) by clicking on the 2 buttons just below the colour resolution buttons. 3. Click on the BUTTON button (right side of control panel). Click on the button you want to assign the current set up to, a dialogue will appear. LEGEND Here you can enter two lines of text which will appear on the button, example DTP and 2 could be used to denote a DTP set up in 2 colours (monochrome). Use the mouse, TAB or the arrow keys to move to the second line. AUTO BOOT Clicking on this text box will bring up the file selector, you can then choose the program you want to run when the Desktop starts up.. OK and CANCEL have their usual meanings. The same editing keys used for the BOARD dialogue are also used with this dialogue. If you want to set up several buttons, you can repeat the previous instructions for each button or you can click on the BUTTON button first and then click on the SET UP button which then appears. You then set up the files you want by selecting them on the boards and then you click on the preset button you want to use, the dialogue for setting the title, etc., of the button will then appear. You can repeat this as often as you like, but when you finish you can click on SET UP or BUTTON to stop. Showing A Button's Configuration To show which files make up the configuration of a button, click with the RIGHT button on the button. If you want to change the parameters of a button sent to the Launch program, click on the button while holding down the Alternate key. This will also show the files belonging to that button. Deleting a Button Click on the DELETE button (lower right of control panel) and then click on the button to be deleted. If you want to make a lot of deletions, click on BUTTON and then on DELETE. Every button you click on, from now until you click on BUTTON or DELETE again, will be wiped - so BECAREFUL. Merging & Removing Files from Buttons Files can be added or removed from a button very easily. Click on BUTTON, then select either MERGE to add files or REMOVE to delete them from the button(s). Any highlighted file on the boards should been deselected. Choose the files you want added or removed and then select the button(s) that you want changed (this can be done either order or even mixed up). Finally, choose the MERGE or REMOVE button (which ever you have already selected) and the changes will be made. Copying Buttons If you want to make a configuration for a button which is very similar to another one already set up, you can copy it in two ways. You can show the configuration already set up by clicking on it's button with the RIGHT mouse button, then you can make the changes to it and assign the new configuration to another button. The other way is to click on BUTTON and then on COPY. Then you should click on COPY to deselect it and then make the changes as normal, this method also copies everything which makes setting up the same configuration for different screen resolutions easier. If you are going to make several copies, make each copy and then use the SET UP button to make the changes to each one, this means that BUTTON will not have to be reselected for each button. Swapping Buttons Buttons can be rearranged so that you can reorder or group together similar set ups. Click on BUTTON and then on SWAP. Then simply click on the two buttons you want to swap. To stop, click on BUTTON or SWAP. Using a Button Once a preset button has been set up, a single mouse click is all that is needed to use it. When this happens, Stoop displays the configuration belonging to the button and then changes the files (selected files are made active, un-selected are made inactive), it then changes NEWDESK.INF so that the correct screen resolution will be used and that the auto boot program (if there is one) is automatically run when the Desktop starts up. The preset configurations can also be activated by using the function keys, F1..F9 will select one of the top row buttons, Control F1..F9 will select a middle row button and Alternate F1..F9 will select a bottom row button. In addition, F10 is aliased with Control F1, hence pressing F10 is the same as pressing Control F1, and pressing Control F10 is equivalent to pressing Alternate F1. Alternate F10 does not have an alias. Last Configuration When Stoop starts up, it will attempt to find the previous configuration used and indicate the preset button it belongs with a red rim around the button. When you press another preset button, the red outline will be transferred to it. Passing Parameters to Auto-Booting Programs Stoop can now pass parameters to auto-booting programs, though this is not reliable as it should be because of bugs in TOS 4 or Lattice C which do not allow the path for a drive or partition to be set. Environment strings can also be set at the same time. To pass parameters to a program another program is needed, in this case Launcher.prg, which is run instead of the required program and then calls the program that you want to use. Launcher has to load in details, prepared by Stoop, which contain the program's name and the other data such as the filename(s) to be passed and the environment strings to be set. Setting Up Stoop for Passing Parameters The parameters are attached to the preset buttons so that when you select a preset configuration to be set up the parameters will be set up as well. To set up for passing parameters, set up a button for normal operation, see the section 'Button', but after you have given the button a name select the LAUNCH button on the dialogue. A new dialogue will appear which has two windows, called tail and environment. These windows can be have text entered into them in two ways, you can type directly into them or you can use the file selector to either insert the text from a file or the full name of the file in the window. Whatever you choose, the new text will appear at the cursor position. The tail window should contain the parameters to be passed to the program you want to use, this includes filenames or command line parameters. To enter text into either window using the file selector. First move the cursor to the line where you want the text to appear (see below for keyboard commands), then call the file selector with the FSEL button, select the file you want and press OK. Another dialogue now appears, this gives you three choices; INSERT, PUT NAME or ABORT. INSERT Choosing this button will put the text contained in the file into your window. (WARNING - only try this with small files of about 10k length). PUT NAME This will put the file name, including it's full path, in the window. ABORT Allows you to abort making changes to the text in the window. Example, if the program for which you are setting the button up is Gemview, you can put the names of picture files you want Gemview to automatically load and display when you auto-boot it. (Use the FSEL button and PUT NAME to enter the picture files, you can only do this one at a time.) Text Window Keyboard Commands The four cursor keys move the cursor as normal (left, right, up or down one space). Holding a SHIFT key down with either of the left and right cursor keys to move the cursor to the start or end of the current line respectively. Holding a SHIFT key down with either of the up and down cursor keys will page the text up or down respectively. RETURN will add a new line below the current line the cursor is on. If the cursor is in the middle of the line, the text will be split between the lines. DELETE will delete the character the cursor is covering. If the cursor is at the end of the line, this line and the one below will be joined, (any characters over the maximum character line length will be left on the next line). BACKSPACE will delete the character in front of the cursor. If the cursor is at the start of the line, this line and the one above will be joined, (any characters over the maximum character line length will be left on the line). TAB will change the window the cursor is in (this may also be done with a click of the mouse on the required window). CTRL - Y (hold the Control key down, press Y key before letting go of Control) will delete the current line. (BUG - the first line cannot be deleted in this way, to get around this put the cursor on the first character and press return to move the line to the next row and then delete, or just use the Backspace and Delete keys to remove individual characters.) CTRL - U (hold the Control key down, press U key before letting go of Control) will put the last line to be deleted by CTRL - Y at the current position of the cursor. These commands are fairly basic, but they are not intended to be used with large amounts of text. NB. The maximum line length is 125 characters, if this is too small, please let me know. Environment Options Just below the Environment window are two recessed displays clicking on the first of these will present options which can increase the usefulness of environment strings. These options will appear on a pop-up window in the middle of the screen, they are :- SEND TO PROGRAM ONLY This is the default setting, the contents of the environment window are sent to the launcher program which then sets them up for the program it will launch. SEND TO FILE ONLY The environment window contents are sent to a file, the name of the file can be chosen using the file selector by clicking on the second recessed display. This will allow users of MultiTos to edit a MINT or GEM configuration file before launching MultiTos. Other programs which have an editable configuration file may also benefit from this option. If this is popular, I will add the ability to edit more than one file. IGNORE ENVIRONMENT The contents of the environment window are not used in any way. Problems With Passing Parameters For some reason unknown to me, I cannot set the current path on a drive. This is a bug in either TOS 4.04 or in Lattice C 5.60. Please let me know if this is a known bug - and if a fix is possible. This only causes problems with a few programs which I believe look for their .RSC and .INF files in the current directory for their current drive. The only program that I found that does this is Papyrus and to get around it put the .RSC and .INF files it looks for in the root directory of drive C (or A if you do not have a harddrive). *** WARNING *** While Stoop does and display files containing odd characters in their names, it cannot assign them properly to a button or group. However these file names cause BIG problems if you try to hide them from Stoop (see section on the file selector later on). Groups A set of files can be assigned to a Group, this allows you to set up groups of common files this makes setting up preset buttons quicker but is more useful for when you want start up your Falcon in a one-off configuration. Example, the files UISIII(.PRG) in the AUTO folder could be grouped with CALL_UIS(.ACC) and assigned to a group called UIS, when UIS is clicked on both of these files will be selected. To set up a group :- 1. Select the files on the boards you want assign to the group, all other files must be inactive. 2. Click on the GROUP button (right side of control panel) and then click on the GROUP board, a simple dialogue will appear. 3. Type in the name to be given to the group. Then exit. The name will appear in alphabetical order on the GROUP board. To de-select all the files assigned to a group, simply click with the Right button on the name in the GROUP board. Deleting A Group Click on the DELETE button, then click on the group name on the GROUP board to be deleted. *** WARNING *** While Stoop does and display files containing odd characters in their names, it cannot assign them properly to a button or group. However these file names cause BIG problems if you try to hide them from Stoop (see section on the file selector later on). The File Selector The file selector is divided into several main parts; the PATH and FILE text boxes which can be manually edited, the file & folder display area, the drive buttons, the file utility buttons and the OK & CANCEL buttons. The file selector offers some of the extended facilities offered by enhanced GEM file selectors, namely it can COPY, DELETE, MOVE and RENAME files and folders, it can also create folders. Also, there are two Stoop specific functions it can carry out, it can re-order the AUTO folder and it can hide files from Stoop so that they cannot be displayed on the boards, but the file selector can still show them (so that you can un-hide them). To select a file, just click on it and do this again to de-select it or select another file. To enter a folder, just click on it. To select a folder, hold down the SHIFT key on the keyboard as you click on it. To select multiple files and folders, hold down a SHIFT key as you click on each one. There is NO lasso function using the mouse (I will put one in soon). Copying Folders & Files 1. Choose the files and folders you want to copy. 2. Click on the COPY button. 3. Select the folder or drive to copy them to. 4. Press RETURN or click on OK. Files cannot be copied on top of themselves, if you try this all copy operations are ignored. Moving Folders & Files 1. Choose the files and folders you want to move. 2. Click on the MOVE button. 3. Select the folder or drive to move them to. 4. Press RETURN or click on OK. Files cannot be moved on top of themselves, if you try this all move operations are ignored. Deleting Folders & Files 1. Choose the files and folders you want to delete. 2. Click on the DELETE button. Renaming Folders & Files 1. Select the file or folder to be renamed, it's name should appear in the FILENAME text box. 2. Click on the RENAME button. 3. Edit the name in FILENAME to the new name. 4. Click on the RENAME button or press RETURN or click on OK. Creating Folders 1. Type in the name of the new folder in the FILENAME text box. 2. Click on the FOLDER button. Re-Ordering the AUTO Folder 1. Click on the REORDER button, the file selector should now display the contents of the AUTO folder on the boot drive. 2. Click on the file you want to move. 3. Click on the position you want it to be moved to. 4. Repeat these actions as many times as you require. 5. Click on the REORDER button or press RETURN or click on OK, the files will then be re-ordered. Note : folders in the AUTO folder cannot be re-ordered. Hiding Files from Stoop 1. Select the file to be hidden from Stoop. 2. Click on the HIDE button. The hidden file will still be visible on the file selector but it's name will be in grey rather than black. If the hidden file was visible on a board before you hid it, it will disappear from there when you exit the file selector. The details of the hidden files have to be added to Stoop's INF file, so remember to SAVE after hiding a file. *** WARNING *** Do not hide files which contain odd characters, while Stoop can display the names of such files it has problems with them and CAN cause STOOP.CFG to crash Stoop. Try renaming the offending file. Main Controls GO & EXIT Buttons GO This causes the Stoop to change all selected files on the boards to be made active and all un-selected files to become inactive, copies required files to folders and then changes the NEWDESK.INF file so that the Desktop will start up in the selected resolution and boot the current AUTO BOOT program. Stoop then exits, the AUTO folder programs are run, the accessories are loaded and then the Desktop appears. GO is provided so that you can make and use a start-up configuration without having to assign it to a button, or make a small change to an existing configuration (e.g. change the number of colours or resolution), see the information below. EXIT Clicking on this causes Stoop to exit without making a single change to files or NEWDESK.INF. Auto-Booting Programs Clicking on the AUTO BOOT window (just above the Stoop logo) will bring up a dialogue for selecting the program for the Desktop to run after the computer has finished booting. This is only useful for configurations which you do not want to assign to a preset button. The dialogue can contain a list of up to sixty program names, these names can be easily selected and passed back to the AUTO BOOT window by clicking on one and choosing OK. This program will only be passed back to Desktop for running if the GO button is used to exit Stoop. ADD This brings up the fileselector and allows you to add another name to the program list. REMOVE This will delete the name which has been highlighted. MERGE This will search the preset button configurations and add any new program names found to the program list. FSEL This brings up the file selector, the program list dialogue will exit if OK on the file selector is used, any file name chosen will be passed immediately to the AUTO BOOT window. NONE This exits the dialogue and clears the AUTO BOOT window. CANCEL Exits the dialogue and leaves the AUTO BOOT window unchanged, though any changes made to the program list are retained. Option Controls The six buttons near the bottom of the control panel make Stoop a bit easier to use. FSEL Brings up the file selector. DELETE Used to wipe buttons, boards and groups. Simply click on the DELETE button and then on the button, board or group to be wiped. Remember to SAVE the changes afterwards! SAVE Saves all the data Stoop needs to remember your requirements. CLEAR De-selects all files on all boards. CONFIG This button allows to change the configuration of Stoop and your Falcon. When you click on it, a dialogue will appear which is in two parts separated by a groove. On the right are four buttons, SYSTEM, START UP, COLOURS and QUIT, and on the left is a dialogue. When you first click on CONFIG the dialogue will be the 'System Controls' dialogue, and the SYSTEM button on the right will be depressed. If you click on START UP or COLOURS the dialogue will change. SYSTEM Dialogue The first three controls are self-explanatory, you can turn on or off the following; (i) the CPU cache (leave it on, as it accelerates your Falcon, especially if the code has been written to take advantage of it), (ii) the system bell, this makes the high pitched ping when you an error occurs (such as clicking the mouse on another part of the screen when a dialogue is shown), and (iii) the key clicks, this is the sound made by your Falcon when a key is pressed. The Sound Level slider controls the volume of the sound from your internal speaker or from the stereo output at the back of the machine. To change it, the slider can be dragged (to the left to increase volume) or the mouse can be click on the position you want the slider to move to and the buttons on either end can be used for fine adjustment. The Sound Balance is only useful if you have stereo speakers attached to your Falcon, it controls the relative volumes of the left and right speakers. Both of these controls make a sound as you use them, this enables you to judge what you are setting. The UNDO button will remove the adjustments you have made, however once the dialogue is exited the adjustments are not remembered and subsequently cannot be undone by this button. INITIAL Dialogue This dialogue allows you to choose what resolution settings and what Autoboot program to be displayed at start up. Screen Resolution You can select which number of colours, width or height of the screen. When you click on any of these buttons a popup will appear with all of the possible settings, the current setting is highlighted. Click on the option you want and the change will be made, if you want to exit the popup without making a change you can (i) click anywhere on the screen except on the list or (ii) you can click on the highlighted item in the list. The NEWDESK option in the list allows you use the screen resolution set up for the Desktop at the previous boot up. Autoboot The Autoboot program can be set in three different way, again a popup is used to make the choice easier. NONE means that the entry in AUTOBOOT at boot up will be empty, NEWDESK means that the autoboot program from the last configuration set up will be used and DEFAULT will allow you to show the same autoboot program each time you use Stoop, this requires the Default to be set. Clicking on the small window next to Default will bring up the Choose Autoboot Program dialogue, from this point you can select a program from the list. START UP Dialogue This allows you to decide how Stoop does (or does not) start up during boot up. It is split into two sections. A. Bypassing Stoop In the top section of the dialogue you can decide if (i) Stoop is bypassed if the specified keys are held down (select BYPASS). (ii) Stoop only runs if the specified keys are held down (select CALL). (iii) Stoop only runs during a cold boot (select COLDBOOT). The row of buttons below BYPASS, CALL and COLDBOOT specify the keys you want to use. CTRL = Control key, L-SH = Left Shift key, R-SH = Right Shift key, ALT = Alternate key and CAPS = Caps Lock. These keys need to be held down when the Stoop message first appears on the screen or immediately after (if your STOOP.CFG is large, you will have more time to press the required key or keys). Caps Lock is the exception, you will only need to press and release this once at any time during the initial boot up stages. If you specify more than one key, then all of these keys need to be pressed together to have any effect. Please note, the Caps Lock is not turned off by Stoop, so all keyboard entries will be in upper case if you use it and do not cancel it's action afterwards. B. Access to Stoop In the bottom section of the dialogue, you decide if access is given by (i) entering a password to access Stoop, (ii) having Stoop wait a set period for you to use it and if nothing happens it will set up a default configuration and exit, or (iii) neither of these. Only one of these options is viable at any one time. To set the password, click on CHANGE PASSWORD, if you already have a password set up you will be asked for it before you can replace it. The password will be not be displayed but an asterisk will be used to show each character as it is entered, it may be edited by using Backspace or wiped by using Esc. The new password has to be entered twice, press return after each one. To make Stoop ask for the password when it starts up, click on PASSWORD to depress it. You will have to save these changes for them to take effect next time you run Stoop. To make Stoop do a time-out when it starts up, click on TIMEOUT. To set the time you want Stoop to wait, edit the Time delay, it can have a value ranging from 0 to 999 and the unit of measurement can be seconds (s), minutes (m) or hours (h). You do not have to leave a space between the number and the unit. To select the default configuration you can simply press the key that you require. Please note that F10 is aliased with Control F1, i.e. pressing F10 is the same as pressing Control F1, and Control F10 is equivalent to Alternate F1, but Alternate F10 has no alias. If you choose zero for the time delay value, Stoop will automatically set up the default configuration and exit. If you want to change the way Stoop starts up at a later date, you will have to run Stoop from the Desktop (minimum resolution 640 x 480 by 16 colours). COLOURS Dialogue The colours used by Stoop can be changed in this dialogue, this has no effect on the colours used by the Desktop. Simply click on the colour you wish to change and then adjust the RGB sliders. The UNDO button offers two levels of undo, if you have made changes to the colours, the first click on this button will remove the changes. The second click will offer you the choice of reverting back to the original Stoop colours, a third click will revert back to the colours you have just selected if you make the wrong choice at this point. INITIAL Clicking on this button causes all the files on all the boards to be changed to their initial setting (active or inactive) when Stoop was first started up. Manual Start Up Configurations Sometimes you may want to use a particular start up configuration just once, and as it does need to be used again assigning it to a preset button is a waste of time. This is what to do instead :- 1. Set up the files on the boards as you want them (I often show the contents of a preset (by using the right mouse button), which has the nearest configuration to what I require, to give a position to start from). 2. If you want to auto-boot a program, click on the AUTO BOOT text box (near the bottom of the control panel), this will bring up the file selector. Select the file you want and exit. 3. Click on GO. Example. How to change the resolution of a preset configuration from 16 to 256 colours. 1. Show the contents of the preset by clicking the right mouse button on the preset button. 2. Now click on the preset button. (The SHOW button will pop up.) 3. Make the change by clicking on the 256 button. At this point you have three options, you can:- (i) use the BUTTON button to re-assign the new configuration to the old preset button, (ii) use the BUTTON button to assign the new configuration to another preset button and (iii) press GO, which will use the current set-up without saving it so that it might be used again.