Suzy B Software 2/Suzy B Software CD-ROM 2 (1994).iso/bootup/boot_a2m/msbt35e/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-05-02 | 19KB | 353 lines

                       The Incredible Mock-Gem Auto Booter
                                Mouse Boot V3D.5E
                              (C)1992  SRL-Systems
                           Written By Scott R. Lemmon

 Forward:
     This is the fourth release of Mouse boot since version 3.d was initially
sent out, since then it has grown in size somewhat (but is still under 20k and
less that half the size of similar programs) many features have been added to
accommodate the needs of more advanced users, yet the simplicity of use has not
changed - on a standard system setup it will still  operate with no
configuration required. After all, extra features don't help if they make the
program more difficult for the average user.

 >> Revisions for version 3d.5E <<

 1. There are now 60 preset slots available (organized into 3 banks of 20) -
    either the arrow buttons or F1-F3 can be used to switch preset banks.
    Also, since with 60 presets you can easily run out of letters for hot
    keys, each bank has its own individual hot keys. For example, bank 1
    could have a preset named "Wordproc" and bank two could have one named
    "ardWoof" - both would use 'W' as a hot key.  If when booting you want a
    preset in bank 2 or 3 you can first press F2 or F3 then the hotkey of
    that preset - so to get "ardWoof", you would press F2 then 'W'.  Mouse
    Boot will always start off in bank one.

 2. The SAVE button has been moved from the EDIT dialog and is now found by
    pressing FILE in the main screen.  The PRESET.DAT file can now not only
    be saved but reloaded as well (reloading will reset all options to what
    they were when the program started).

 3. The method of switching between extra file types has been changed, it
    used to just cycle between available types when you clicked on the file
    type title bar - this was fine for 2 or 3 different types of files, but
    now there can be up to 6.  To make it easier to choose, when you click on
    the button a new menu will "pop-up" showing all types in use - release
    the mouse button over top of the one you want.  also pressing F1-F6 will
    switch to a corresponding type (even if it is not in use).

    F1-Desktop/Newdesk.inf
    F2-Assign.sys (shown as "-GDOS-")
    F3-Custom type one (default set to use STARTGEM.INF files)
    F4-Custom type two
    F5-Mouse Boot Batch files
    F6-TOS 1.4 and up GEM autorun

 4. Enhanced GEM autorunning - The old way to autorun with TOS 1.4 or higher
    with Mouse Boot was to save and select a desktop.inf file with a autorun
    program installed - this will still work fine, but now you have a choice.

    Since I have tos 1.2 in my computer I've had to use StartGEM to autorun
    programs.  Setting up the startgem.inf files was tedious, but I liked
    being able to choose a different startup program (or none at all)
    independent of which desktop I used.  GEM, on the other hand, saves the
    autorun program in the DESKTOP.INF file like so...

    #Z 01 D:\FISH\TROUT.PRG@

    Which forces you to choose a particular desktop to run a particular
    program.  Most other booters tend to link one autorun program to a
    particular preset which forces you to choose that preset to run the
    program (suppose you want the setup in preset 'X' but just once want
    to run the program in preset 'Y'?).

    For maximum flexibility a list of files containing desktop.inf autorun
    paths can now be put into the MOUSEBT folder naming them FNAME.RUN (or
    .RUX). then you can select any program from that list using the GEMrun
    type in Mouse Boot and store it in presets like any other file type.
    Mouse Boot will then combine that file with any desktop/newdesk.inf file
    you choose.  Doing things this way allows you to show a preset, change
    the auto run program then by clicking on CHANGE invoke it without having
    to change it in the preset first.

    To make making a list of GEM or StartGEM program files easy I've
    written a small program named ARUN.PRG.  You no longer need fiddle about
    with text editors, just run the program and select the type of autorun
    you use - a file selector will then prompt you for a program to run (pick
    any program you wish to autorun) then click on OK.  Next a file selector
    will prompt you for the name of the autorun file to save (it should find
    the MOUSEBT folder and give the file its proper name automatically -
    however, you can change the filename if you want, just keep the same
    extension).  you will then be asked for another program - add all you
    want (up to 18) then click on CANCEL to stop.

    When you next run Mouse Boot all the file added will be shown under
    "StartGEM" or "GEMrun" file type depending on which one you used.

    If you use the GEMrun method, be sure to remove any autoruns already in
    your old desktop/newdesk files (easy to do with a text editor).

 5. If you set the Mouse Boot timer to 99 seconds it will wait forever
    (to provide a way to avoid the time out if you want)

 6. Right clicking on the STORE button in the EDIT dialog will erase a
    preset and rename it to "Unused"

 7. Version 3d.5E is a little smaller than 3d.4

 >> Revisions for version 3d.4 <<

 1. TAKE NOTE: to help reduce clutter in the MOUSEBT folder, all files
    relating to the welcome screen should be placed in a folder named
    WELCOME inside the MOUSEBT folder.  These include pictures, quartet
    songs and voice sets, and singsong.prg (if you use it).

 2. Mouse Boot is now designed to work with a new program available to all
    registered users of Mouse Boot - BATCH.PRG.  With it, you can use Mouse
    Boot to select a special batch file to be run upon bootup - most
    standard batch file commands are supported (and a few special ones for
    dealing with boot-up are included as well).  This will allow
    unsurpassed power for advanced users who need to perform custom file
    operations (like copy to RAMdisk).  The documentation for BATCH.PRG
    has been included with the Share-ware release of Mouse Boot to give a
    good idea of what it can do.
    BATCH.PRG is not a part of the Share-ware release of Mouse Boot, but
    will now be sent out on the registered owner disk. Anyone already
    registered may obtain a copy by sending me a self addressed mailer and
    disk with return postage.  Mouse Boot itself still has no features
    "crippled" and I hope to keep it that way, but please send the $15
    Share-ware fee if you use Mouse Boot or I cannot continue to update it
    with requested features as I have been (Most features added since version
    3.d are in direct response to user requests).

 3. For those of you out there (like me) who hate to type a pathname, Mouse
    Boot will now call up the system file selector - but there's a hitch.
    Since there is no way I know of to call the file selector in the auto
    folder, you must run Mouse Boot from the desktop.  When you do, a
    button will appear along with any input request for a pathname - press
    the button to call the Item selector (or any custom selector you may
    have installed). Those of you who enjoy tedious things can still type
    the paths in the Auto folder if they want to.  I myself, have Mouse
    Boot set up to run from a hot key from the desktop - I find I use it as
    much this way as from the Auto folder.

 4. The path from which Acc's load can now be changed, just click on the
    Acc bar at the top of the screen - next enter the path of your Acc's,
    Mouse Boot will automatically tack on *.AC? to the pathname.  Next save
    the presets to store the new path.  If you accidentally select a path
    with no Acc files in it and the Acc bar disappears don't disappear - just
    right click on the Auto bar instead (be careful though, right clicking
    on anything else will exit the program).

 5. If Mouse Boot runs out of room on the screen to show all the Auto and
    Acc files a small button will appear in the upper left hand corner of
    the Auto/Acc bar to allow you to page between the two.

 6. You can now set the welcome screen timeout as well as the Mouse Boot
    time out (read 3d.2 - #1 for details on setting the time-outs).  Setting
    the welcome screen timer to zero will have the Welcome screen only appear
    if you press a key before hand (I don't know if this is of any real use -
    but it was easy enough to do so what the heck).

 7. The look of Mouse Boot in Monochrome has been improved slightly (due
    largely to the fact that I finally got a monochrome monitor and can see
    what I'm doing!)

 8. I've added several assembly routines to the welcome screen to make a
    few improvements including a fade in and out and the ability to rotate
    colors while playing Quartet songs.  Also a Quartet end-of-song
    detector has been added (Actually Quartet songs never really end, they
    loop forever).  Quartet songs that have a few rests at the end (to make
    about a two second pause) will allow the welcome screen to continue
    instead of re-playing them.  Also, I hope the Quartet player will no
    longer crash on some systems with TOS 1.0 (though this may be the fault
    of Singsong.prg).   Additionally, I've extended the pause before a
    Quartet song load to about 5 seconds - if you set the welcome screen to
    timeout before then, no song will be loaded (unless you press the ALT
    key).

 >> Revisions for version 3d.3 <<

 1. Better invisible mode - you can't see it unless it goes out if the
    fog.

 2. Multidesk Mode - Multidesk deluxe confounded my custom file types
    because it save a separate config file for each resolution, yet
    Multidesk by Charles F. Johnson has always been a fantastic program and
    is fast becoming (if not already) the primary way people deal with
    ACC's. Because of this, Mouse Boot now has support for Multidesk
    config. files built right in!

    To use it, first copy all Multidesk configs. into the MOUSEBT folder
    renaming them to FNAMEx.MLT where FNAME is anything you want, and 'x'
    is the number of the screen resolution for example: HIGHACC2.MLT (for
    high rez).  A 'B' in place of the number will create a MULTIBIG.MLT
    file for Moniterms.

    But Wait - there's more!  If the rez. number is left out of the
    filename, Mouse Boot will automatically select between high and medium
    resolution depending on your boot resolution.

    Next, run Mouse Boot and click on the title bar; choose the second
    button from the left; type a name like MultiDsk; and finally, instead
    of a path type MLT.  Lastly, to goto FILE then SAVE to save the change.
    Note that this makes use of custom file type two, however custom file
    type two will still work as it did before if not used in "Multidesk
    mode".

    The next time you use Mouse Boot, you will be able to select which
    Multidesk files you want to use and store your choices in the presets.
    Mouse Boot will then give copy the file to the root directory with its
    correct name.

 3. Small bug in v3d.2 fixed.

 >> Revisions for version 3d.2 <<

 1. The time-out feature is now user defined!  The amount of time it takes
    to continue can be changed from 0-99 seconds.  Just click on the Mouse
    Boot title bar at the top-center of the screen, press the time-out
    button and type a new time.  Next go to EDIT then SAVE to store the
    new time in the preset.dat file.

    IMPORTANT: although this version of Mouse Boot will read older
    preset.dat files, older versions of Mouse Boot WILL NOT correctly use
    preset.dat files created by version 3.d2!
 2. BY REQUEST, THE INVISIBLE MOUSE BOOT - if the time-out timer is set to
    zero, Mouse Boot will Immediately continue - no selector screen or
    preset dialog  will be shown.  Hitting any key (except '*') before
    Mouse Boot runs will abort this and allow you to choose a different
    preset.  Mouse Boot will no longer time out if run from the desktop,
    so if you find the program times-out before you can stop it - you can
    always run it from the desktop and reset the timer to a larger value.

 3. TO SELECT OR NOT TO SELECT - also under the time-out dialog you can set
    if Mouse Boot will select a default preset or just go on its merry way
    when the time runs out (this is saved in the same way).

 >> Revisions for version 3.D <<

 1. Mouse Boot's user interface has been totally re-designed with new 3-D
    buttons and dialog boxes similar to Windows 3.0 for the IBM or
    Workbench 2.0 for the Amiga.  After all, why should they have all the
    neat looking screens.

 2. Mouse Boot is now the only booter with a mouse driven interface to work
    on a Moniterm monitor! (Yes, even from the AUTO folder provided the
    monitor driver runs first).  Mouse Boot can get away with this because
    it is using VDI to draw its screens and not A-LINE routines; in fact,
    Mouse Boot should now be totally resolution independent!!! (Anyone out
    there thinking TT Medium?)

 3. Mouse Boot Now has a built-in AUTO folder reorderer, To use it first
    click on the Autoboot bar at the top of the screen.  Next, the screen
    should show just the AUTO programs (including ones previously hidden
    with Read Only status). To reorder a file, Click on the file you want
    to move then click on its new location - do this for every file you
    want to reposition (as of yet, no actual changes have been made on the
    disk). Now click on the bar at the bottom of the screen - a dialog box
    will pop-up asking if you want to reorder or cancel; if you click on
    reorder the process will begin.

    A very safe reorder method is used (actually the files are just renamed
    - never really moved).  The process used may not be the fastest, but
    even if the power went out in the middle, chances are no data would be
    lost.

 4. if using Mouse Boot from the AUTO folder it will now offer to reset the
    computer if you change any program that ran before Mouse Boot.  To make
    sure this works do not change the name of MOUSEBT3.PRG

 5. Any time Mouse Boot resets the computer it will automatically bypass
    itself and the welcome screen.  Note: any memory-resident program that
    forces a cold boot instead of a warm boot (like the DC Format
    bootsector) may prevent this from working.

 6. Presets may now be selected by HOT KEYS - when naming your presets give
    them a number or capital letter indicating which key you want to be the
    hot key - for example, a preset named "turbo C" would use the 'C' key
    as a hot key.  Now a preset can be selected by just hitting its hot
    key.  The space bar will abort the timeout and select the default
    preset instead of just any key - also, If more than one preset have the
    same letter the first preset to have the letter will be used.

 7. A problem with running Quick ST after Mouse Boot has been fixed
    (actually this is the fault of Quick ST which does a rather bogus check
    for the presence of a VDI workstation).

 8. Mouse Boot no longer needs a patch program to be run if it encounters
    an unknown version of TOS.

 >> Changes since Version 2.0 <<

 1. All files except the AUTO programs are now sorted by name. (AUTO
    programs are left unsorted so the order in which they will run can be
    seen).

 2. Mouse Boot is now smaller than ever thanks to compiling it in Turbo
    "C".  Because of this, Mouse Boot V 1.0 is not included (as its only
    advantage was its smaller size - and it's now hopelessly out-of-date).

 3. Holding down the left mouse button just after Mouse Boot has loaded
    will bypass the preset screen (if there are any presets stored) and go
    straight to the selector screen. (see MOUSEBT.DOC for more info)

 4. Mouse Boot and the Welcome screen program will both now run from the
    desktop.  If changes are made in Mouse Boot during this time, the user
    will be given the option of rebooting to install the changes.

 5. File extenders no longer need to be changed to ??X before placing them
    in the MOUSEBT folder.

 6. The Welcome Screen program will now load Degas compressed (PC1 or PC3)
    picture files as well as Degas uncompressed (PI1 or PI3) files.

 7. Pressing the '*' key on the keypad before the programs load can bypass
    both Mouse Boot or the welcome screen (press twice to bypass both).

 8. >>> And Now The Big One <<<
    The welcome screen will now use the PD program "Singsong" to play a
    randomly selected Quartet tune when the computer boots.

     To use this feature you must have SINGSONG.PRG, a quartet voice set, and
 one or more quartet songs in the MOUSEBT folder.  Now about one second after
 the welcome screen is run, a random Quartet song will be loaded and played -
 the delay lets you skip this if you're in a hurry.  The song will play until
 the space bar is hit ( Sorry, but I have no control over the way the player
 routine works ).  After the first song, pressing the Alternate key will load
 another random song to play.

     You can have as many songs as you wish, but they all must use the same
 voice set - also watch that the voice set and song do not exceed your
 computer's available memory ( a song file must be under 40k - the rest of
 the memory goes to the voice set ).  If I have room I'll include a sample
 voice set and some songs for you to play with - however, due to the size
 (some over 300k) of some of the voice sets, I can't include many Quartet
 examples in the Mouse Boot LZH file.  If anyone is interested in more sets
 and songs contact me at the address listed in the main DOC file.
     If you don't want to use the Quartet player feature, just don't put
 SINGSONG.PRG or a Quartet voice set and songs into the MOUSEBT folder.
 If the welcome screen fails to find any of these files it will just go on
 its merry way.

     The SingSong program is a public domain Quartet player routine written
 by the authors of Quartet (an alltogether excellent program by the way) and
 can be used in any program to play Quartet songs ( my thanks to Illusions
 for a brilliant  program ).

     QUARTET HINT - everyone says the sharp key in Quartet Doesn't work,
 everyone is wrong.  To make a note a sharp continue to hold down the left
 mouse button and press SHIFT+'#' then release all keys and "presto" a sharp
 (it takes a little practice).

                           ------------------

     Mouse Boot 3.D is the 3rd release of the Mouse Boot programs, All preset
 and data files used by the earlier version will work with this version - no
 reconfiguration is needed.

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