Whiteline: delta/whiteline CD Series - delta.iso/tools/utils/prof_208/profile2.txt

Text File | 1995-11-25 | 55KB | 1,139 lines

                             PROFILE v2.08
                          by Linnhe Computing
         Copyright (c) 1993, 1994 Mark S Baines All Rights Reserved

Mark S Baines asserts the legal and moral right to be identified as
the owner of this work.


PROFILE 2 IS A SHAREWARE PROGRAM
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PROFILE 2 is protected under UK and International copyright law, and
is NOT public domain software. Mark S Baines owns the copyright to
this program and the document files.

You are hereby granted a limited licence to use this copy. You are not
allowed to alter the program in any way, to do so is an infringement
of my rights. SHAREWARE is NOT Public Domain!

Your use of the program is restricted until you register. You cannot
use any of the Save to Disk, Save to Clipboard and Print functions and
you cannot Load or Save the PROFILE2.INF Options file.

If you use this program more than once then you obviously have a need
for it. You are therefore obliged to pay me the small sum of at least
£5.00 (five UK pounds cash, postal order or UK cheque).

Please make your payment to "Mark S Baines" and **NOT** "Linnhe
Computing" and state clearly:

1.  Your name as you want entered into the program (not more than 40
    characters)
2.  Your address and e-mail address if available
3.  Which version you have
4.  Where you obtained it.

Send your payment to:

    Linnhe Computing
    'Linnhe'
    Shore Street
    Inver, by Tain
    Ross-shire
    IV20 1SF

I will send you an e-mail or a letter giving you your 'key' which you
then enter into the Registration dialog (obtained from the About
dialog). This will save your key to a file and provide you with full
access to the program.

Bulletin Board Sysops and managers of Public Domain libraries are
allowed to make this program freely available to their users and
customers as long as the whole package remains intact and unaltered.

The FaST Club may place this program on its Disk Magazine which is
available to subscribers. Floppyshop and The FaST Club may also
include it on their Catalogue disks.

The latest version will always be available from CIX in the atari.st/
2listings topic file list or on the Internet at HENSA (via ftp,
telnet, gopher at micros.hensa.ac.uk).


PROFILE 2 and MAGAZINE EDITORS
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No other magazine, whether commercial or free, professional or
amateur, may place PROFILE 2 on a disk magazine or magazine cover disk
without the express written permission of Mark S Baines at the above
address. This especially applies to ST Format. Mark S Baines reserves
the right to demand the appropriate remuneration from commercial
magazines and disk magazine publishers for permission to publish
PROFILE 2 on their disks. If you make a profit out of selling a
magazine with a cover disk, then it is only right that some of that
profit should be distributed to the authors of the software contained
therein, just as you pay the writers that supply your copy.


PROFILE 2 and SOFTWARE COMPANIES
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No software or hardware company or distributor is allowed to include
PROFILE 2 with any of their software without the express written
permission of Mark S Baines at the above address. I am very receptive
to such an idea but you must contact me first.


PROFILE 2 - INVENTORY
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When distributed through any means whatsoever, this total package must
not be separated.

PROFILE2.PRG  The program
PROFILE2.RSC  The resource file
PROFILE2.TXT  The documentation in standard ASCII text file
PROFILE2.ASC  The documentation in reformatable ASCII text file
PROFILE2.HYP  The ST-Guide hypertext help file
PROFILE2.REF  The ST-Guide reference file
PROF2ICN.RSC  The PROFILE 2 Desktop icon
PROFILE2.NIC  The PROFILE 2 NeoDesk icon
ROCP.PRG      A Read Only Control Panel program which sets the
              DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF values as current


PROFILE 2 - WHAT IS IT?
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Atari, in their wisdom, have created a situation where there are many
different types of STs, TTs and Falcons around the world. What have we
got?

There are at least 15 different TOS versions, many different versions
of GEMDOS and the AES, different versions of GDOS (GDOS, FONTGDOS,
FSMGDOS and SpeedoGDOS), 17 different nationalities of ROM, BLiTTER
chips, different resolutions and many different amounts of RAM memory
from 256K to 4Mb on an ST and beyond on TTs and Falcons. I'll leave it
to you to work out all the different permutations.

All this can create problems for software developers and subsequent
'bug' troubleshooters. If you contact your software company for some
technical advice, reporting a bug or undocumented 'feature', it is a
great help to them to know what system the program is running on.
HiSoft provide a program called CHECKST.PRG which produces this
information but it is not Public Domain. I therefore started writing
programs which do the same sort of thing (and more besides) for all
you non-HiSoft software users!

PROFILE 2 is a development of PROFILE 1 which in turn evolved from
ST_DATA2 and ST_TYPE. ST_DATA2 and ST_TYPE have known problems
although updated versions of ST_DATA2 are available. ST_TYPE is not
supported any more and cannot be relied upon, unfortunately. You
should not be using it. ST_DATA2 ceased to be supported with the
release of PROFILE 1. PROFILE 1 ended development with v1.53 and is
essentially the same as PROFILE 2 but using the TOS interface. It also
doesn't produce such an extensive report as PROFILE 2.

At its simplest level, PROFILE 2 can tell you what TOS you have; its
date and how much memory you have; whether the installed DESKTOP.INF
configuration is valid; what the mouse double-click speed is; whether
a Cookie Jar is installed...

Power users; programmers; people who like to hack about with other
people's code and programs; hardware and system developers; repairers;
those wanting to get the best from the configuration of their system
with numerous ACCs and AUTOs and any other nosey folk, all want to
know what exactly they have in front of them and what is going on
behind the scenes. PROFILE 2 provides extensive information to help
you sort out which vectors are pointing where, what VBLs are set and
the nature of the installed Cookie Jar (if present) and more. This
level of use requires knowledge of the system and what the details
reported by PROFILE 2 mean. I'm not going to explain them all here I'm
afraid, on the basis that if you don't know what they mean then you
don't need to know what the values are. Sources of data are few and
far between and the following may help:

Modern Atari System Software (1993); HiSoft; ISBN 0-948517-63-8;
HiSoft

The Atari Compendium (1993); Sanders, Scott; ISBN 0-9638331-0-3; SDS
Publishing

The Atari A to Z; (1995); Mark S Baines; Linnhe Computing

Atari ST Internals (1988); R. Brückman, L. Englisch and K. Gerits;
ISBN 0-916439-46-1; Data Becker GmbH

Concise Atari ST 68000 Programmer's Reference (1986); K. Peel; ISBN 1-
85181-017-X; Glentop Publishers Ltd.

A Hitchhikers Guide to the BIOS (1986); Atari Corp. PD text file

Rainbow TOS Release Notes (1989); Atari Corp.

STE TOS Release Notes (1989); Atari Corp.

TT030 TOS Release Notes (1990); Atari Corp.

Atari DocSupport Developer's Kit (1991); Atari Corp.

ST Application magazine, (monthly); FaST Club

Compiler program manuals are good sources of this sort of 'inside'
information. It's also surprising what is available as text files on
the Bulletin Board networks and through PD libraries!

PROFILE 2 can be run under two kinds of conditions. Firstly, in an
empty system devoid of accessories and AUTO folder programs, under GEM
and from a floppy. This will tell you what sort of default set up you
have and be your standard for telling others, such as software
companies, what system you have. Computer repairers and upgraders
often need this information as well as the private user wanting to
confirm his purchase.

Secondly, you may run PROFILE 2 under various configurations, with
hard disk boot programs, accessories, AUTOs, desktop replacements,
hardware modifications etc. and see what effect these programs have on
your system. Changing the configuration of your system (programs like
Superboot and XBoot make this incredibly easy and convenient) will
tell you much about the effects of individual programs and what they
do to your computer and perhaps to each other. This can be an
invaluable aid to bug hunting, virus hunting, program
incompatibilities etc.


PROFILE 2 - THE REPORT
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PROFILE 2 will print a report to the screen, printer or disk of your
computer's hardware and software configuration.

A list of the pages provided is:

1   Hardware, TOS and Screen Details
    F1 key
    Most of this is self explanatory. Some of it will only appear if
    you have a Cookie Jar installed with relevant values. Some items
    default to the basic type (Machine, Floppy Disk Drive). If PROFILE
    2 reports an incorrect value then perhaps you ought to update your
    Cookie Jar with a suitable program. For full information on some
    of these items refer to the Cookie Jar page.

    Note that the two alternative numbering systems for the TOS
    version number have been used where appropriate. Therefore, TOS
    1.04 is the same as 1.4. It is my contention that Atari's attempt
    to change the TOS numbering system for the early TOSes after the
    old numbers have been accepted for several years, is ridiculous.
    To add to the confusion they still refer to both TOS numbers in
    documentation and in personal conversations. TOS 1.0 remains so or
    may be called TOS 1.00. Atari would like to change TOS 1.2, 1.4
    and 1.6 to TOS 1.02, 1.04 and 1.06. However, TOS 1.62 remains as
    such which implies a far greater upgrade from TOS 1.06 than
    actually took place! (I saw someone sadly refer to TOS 1.62 as
    1.062 recently! You can't get 1.062 from the BCD value $0162 in
    the ROM code and this just demonstrates the confusion that Atari
    have caused).
    The TOS version number is contained in the ROM at offset $02.

    As far as I know, the present TOS version numbers are thus:

        os_version    Old     New     Name
        _sysbase+2    Number  Number

        0x0100        1.0     1.00    ROM TOS or Old TOS
        0x0102        1.2     1.02    BLiTTER TOS or Mega TOS
        0x0104        1.4     1.04    Rainbow TOS
        0x0106        1.6     1.06    STE TOS
        0x0162        1.62    1.62    STE TOS
        0x0201                2.01    Mega STE TOS
        0x0205                2.05    Mega STE TOS
        0x0206                2.06    Mega STE TOS
        0x0301                3.01    TT030 TOS
        0x0305                3.05    TT030 TOS
        0x0306                3.06    TT030 TOS
        0x0400                4.00    FalconTOS
        0x0401                4.01    FalconTOS
        0x0402                4.02    FalconTOS
        0x0404                4.04    FalconTOS

    Numbers not in this list are third party modifications such as
    1.41.

    Some people have claimed to have a TOS 1.09 in the UK. It has
    always been my belief up until recently, that this was due to
    certain programs inaccurately reporting the GEMDOS version rather
    than the TOS version number. TOS 1.0 and 1.2 do have a GEMDOS
    version number of 0.19. After some recent discussions on the BBS
    networks, it would appear that a true version number of TOS 1.09
    does exist. It is not, however, a mainstream TOS and it would
    appear that it is a pre-TOS 1.2 version that Atari UK produced to
    cater for the BLiTTER chip before TOS 1.2 was made available by
    Atari US.

    There is a little confusion over the GEMDOS version number and
    whether it should be shown as hex/BCD format as with the TOS
    version number or decimal format. This gives two differing
    numbers, of course. The GEMDOS version number for TOS 1.4 could be
    0.15 or 0.21 according to which format you subscribe to. Atari
    choose the former and I make it the default here but also show the
    decimal format.

    An attempt is made to work out the effective processor speed
    compared to a 8 MHz MC68000. The reported speed does not take the
    RAM caches of hardware accelerators or CPU on-chip caches into
    account, so that the speed *is not* the hardware CPU rate but the
    effective processing speed of the CPU relative to a 8 MHz 68000.
    This figure may vary slightly depending on what processes you have
    going on in the background, for instance AUTO folder TSRs and
    accessories. Compare the 'empty system' result with other
    configurations to see how some software may affect the speed of
    your computer.

    On a Falcon030 and computers with video cards the Current Getrez
    Screen Mode will report an incorrect value except with ST
    compatible modes. This isn't a fault of PROFILE 2 but the
    resolution the computer sees itself running using the old and
    almost defunct Getrez() function. The function should return a
    value of 3 for a Falcon030, for instance, but usually returns a
    value of 2 which means ST High Resolution Mono mode. Whether this
    is a bug in TOS 4 is yet to be determined.

    Some users are confused as to what PROFILE 2 reports here. No
    program should use Getrez() to find out the resolution of the
    screen as its return values are too limited and don't allow for
    video cards, overscanned screens and the Falcon030. However, some
    programs *do* still use it and can give problems for a user when
    they come up with a "Can't run in this resolution" alert. PROFILE
    2 reports this value so that the user may know what screen mode
    the system thinks it is running in using the Getrez function and
    so help to sort out these problems.

    Apart from this use, this information is meaningless on anything
    but a standard ST(E). For the true screen resolution and other
    video details see the "Current Resolution" and following lines on
    this page.

2   Memory Details
    F2 key
    The total amount of ST RAM and Alternate RAM (TT chip RAM only) is
    reported as well as that used, free and the largest single free
    block of each, except under MultiTOS where such interrogations are
    essentially dangerous in a multitasking situation. However, on a
    TT the total amount of Alternate RAM can only be calculated by an
    undocumented feature, which is simple enough but relies on that
    memory always starting at the address $01000000. There is no 100%
    guarantee that it always will, but then there is no real reason
    why it shouldn't. If this causes problems, then please tell me.
    Which items are reported on this page depends on what is installed
    and available and whether MiNT/MultiTOS is running.

    There is a problem with virtual memory (which appears as
    alternative memory) as there is no way to know what the total
    amount installed is, just the total amount that is free. If you
    have virtual memory then some calculations can not be performed
    and do not appear. Virtual memory under MultiTOS is even worse,
    the free virtual memory component cannot be divided out because
    using Mxalloc(-1) calls are not sensible and so all memory is seen
    as ST memory by PROFILE 2.

3   Disk Drives Details
    F3 key
    Again, mostly self-explanatory. The BIOS Parameter Block or BPB of
    the current drive is shown. This information is stored on the disk
    and informs TOS of the details of the drive's format. TOS needs to
    know how big the sectors are and where the FAT and data sectors
    start.

4   pun_info Structure Details
    The pun_info structure is provided by TOS for any hard disk driver
    to make a relationship between the logical drives installed on the
    desktop and the physical units connected to the computer. Logical
    drives A: and B: are assumed to be floppies and everything else a
    hard disk. RAM disks are reported in the list of logical drives
    (as they are on page 3) but they are not included in the
    'Partitions' table as they do not have a physical unit
    counterpart.

    Not all hard disk drivers fully initialize the pun_info structure.
    As far as I know, only Atari's AHDI version 3 or later does and
    also uses the extended pun_info data at the end of the structure.
    The commonly used ICD drivers do not even properly initialize the
    table linking the logical units with the physical sectors. With
    current versions of the ICD drivers, the partition start sector is
    offset by four partitions, so that the start sector for partition
    C is that listed under partition G, partition H is for D and so
    on. However, the ACSI device number is correct for each partition.
    An ACSI device number of 7 designates that that partition does not
    exist (accepted range is 0 - 6) and should relate to the list of
    logical devices above that (RAM disks excepting, of course). I
    also list the Driver ID found before the pun_info structure for
    non-AHDI drivers but this doesn't seem to be in standard use
    except by ICD.

    I have no plans to compensate for the ICD partition start sector
    error although it has been requested several times. The job of
    PROFILE 2 is to report what it finds, not what I or you want it to
    find. Massaging the data would only lead to confusion, the user
    never knowing whether what they saw actually existed in their
    system or just in PROFILE's window.

5   ROM Cartridge Details
    F4 key
    If a program cartridge is attached then the details of this are
    reported. The cartridge has to have a program ROM installed, so
    cartridges that are just dongles or interfaces for hardware, such
    as scanners, are not seen by your system or PROFILE 2 as there is
    nothing to report.

6   Serial Devices Details
    F5 key
    These are the current values for various serial port parameters
    including the buffer lengths. The active serial port, keyboard and
    midi ports are included. These values may not match some of those
    in the AES shell buffer page unless this shell buffer is made
    active by saving the Desktop.

7   Miscellaneous Falcon030 Details
    F6 key
    Various specific Falcon030 details are reported here such as the
    video mode and whether the DSP or sound system has been taken
    over. The video mode details are the currently set ones and may
    disagree with those set on the Desktop and shown in the
    NEWDESK.INF details page if the latter hasn't been saved. This
    page is disabled on non-Falcons.

8   AES Details
    F7 key
    A report on the AES version number and other details, most of
    which is only available with AES version 4.00 and even more with
    version 4.10. This will be useful to programmers wanting to know
    about software compatibility.

9   MultiTOS (MiNT) Details
    F8 key
    If MiNT or the MiNT kernel of MultiTOS is installed then some
    details are given on the limitations of the installed version.
    This page is disabled on systems without MiNT/MultiTOS installed.

10  MultiTOS (MiNT) Details - MINT.CNF File
    A display of the current MINT.CNF configuration file. This page is
    disabled on systems without MiNT/MultiTOS installed.

11  MultiTOS (MiNT) Details - GEM.CNF File
    A display of the current GEM.CNF configuration file. This page is
    disabled on systems without MiNT/MultiTOS installed.

12  Some Important System Configuration Addresses
    F9 key
    This page contains some of the most important items that people
    may need to know at a glance. They are mostly repeats of details
    contained elsewhere (System Variables especially) but have the
    advantage of having a little explanation and contained together.
    Some of these are important if you suspect the presence of a virus
    attaching itself to the Reset Vector or Hard Disk routines, for
    instance. These details can be followed up on page 23 perhaps
    using the XBRA checks.

    Checks are made on the Reset Vector values and those for the
    Memory Configurations to note their validity.

13  Operating System Header Block Details
    F10 key
    This is simply a record of the first bytes in the TOS ROMs pointed
    to by the system variable _sysbase, where some important hard-
    coded details are kept. Some of these details do not appear on TOS
    1.0 STs. Note that under MultiTOS the OS PAL/NTSC and Country Code
    entry is modified from that actually contained within the ROM.
    This is because under TOS 4 and AES 4 these details are stored in
    Cookie Jar entries.

14  Program Basepage Details
    Shift-F1 key
    The BASEPAGE structure is detailed here for the current program
    i.e. PROFILE 2, PROFILE 2's parent process, its grandparent and
    great-grandparent processes. The parent is normally the Desktop or
    replacement Desktop or Shell program, that is, the program that
    PROFILE 2 was launched from. It is envisaged that it will be this
    list that users will find useful rather than the current process
    basepage.

15  AES Internal Shell Buffer - The Installed DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF File
    Shift-F2 key
    This is the AES shell buffer, that is, the installed version of
    the DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF file in memory and not necessarily current
    and the same as the DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF file on disk. It is
    important that you realise this. What PROFILE 2 is showing is the
    shell buffer that the system and other programs will be looking
    at. If your NEWDESK.INF file is very large it may get truncated
    here I'm afraid.

16  AES Internal Shell Buffer - The Installed Configuration
    These details are a report on the configuration of the AES's
    internal shell buffer. The AES internal shell buffer is only
    updated when the Desktop is saved and so any changes made without
    saving the Desktop will not be detected by PROFILE 2.

    Note that for the RGB Colour Values there are sixteen sets of
    three digits, each digit for Red, Green and Blue. On the ST, this
    range of digits for each colour value is 0 to 7, so that white is
    000 and black is 777. However, on the STE, the colour range was
    extended to fifteen, but instead of using the hexadecimal
    representation of numbers Atari chose to use the character set 0
    to 9 and : for 10, ; for 11, < for 12, = for 13, > for 14 and ?
    for 15. Therefore, if you get a RGB colour value of "?;<" it isn't
    nonsense but means 15 11 12.

    The representation of some of the values shown here differ from
    those on page 16. Note that the system will install a default set
    up if a DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF file isn't available at boot up. I
    really recommend a ROCP (Read Only Control Panel) program, which
    is supplied and should be run from the Desktop after boot up. It
    reads the installed DESKTOP.INF file in memory, activates the
    settings and quits.

    If NEWDESK.INF is used instead of DESKTOP.INF then more details
    are displayed. Extra NEWDESK.INF file settings for TOS 4 on the
    Falcon030 are also shown concerning the video setup. There appears
    to be an additional problem in that the XCONTROL PANEL accessory
    doesn't update the DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF file when making changes to
    the Serial port and Printer details. Here, the earlier CONTROL
    PANEL had an advantage and may be used to install a
    DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF file with the correct '#a' and '#b' lines
    before using the XCONTROL PANEL. Again note, that the Falcon030
    video mode details here may not agree with those displayed on page
    7. Save the Desktop then they should both agree.

17  Control Panel Settings and GDOS
    Shift-F3 key
    PROFILE 2 can distinguish between the four types of GDOS (GDOS,
    FONTGDOS, FSMGDOS and SpeedoGDOS). Some copies of FSMGDOS are
    available but officially it was never released by Atari. It was
    replaced by SpeedoGDOS.

    The other items reported here are controlled by Control Panel type
    programs and may be contained in the DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF
    file and these are the currently installed values. These may
    differ from those in the DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF file itself
    because another program has taken over the setting of these items,
    such as NeoDesk. Also, be aware that some of the DESKTOP.INF file
    settings are not installed unless a Control Panel program is run
    or a Read Only Control Panel.

18  GDOS - ASSIGN.SYS File
    A display of the current GDOS ASSIGN.SYS file.

19  GDOS - EXTEND.SYS File
    A display of the current GDOS EXTEND.SYS file.

20  AUTO Folder Programs
    Shift-F4 key
    This is a list of the active programs in the AUTO folder on the
    boot drive. I just look for the files with the PRG filename
    extender. Therefore, the list may not be an accurate one of those
    files that were installed in the system at boot-up if you changed
    the name of a program afterwards.

21  Accessories
    This is a list of the active accessories. I just look for the
    files with the ACC filename extender. Therefore, the list may not
    be an accurate one of those files that were installed in the
    system at boot-up if you changed the name of a program afterwards.
    However, I do check for whether they are installed or not.

    I also try to look in the right places for the accessories. If you
    have an ACCPATH environment variable set for various paths where
    you have installed them then I look there, or check the root
    directory of the boot drive. Failing that I look for folders
    called \ACC or \ACCS.

22  CPX Modules
    This is a list of the active CPX modules. I just look for the
    files with the CPX filename extender after checking in the
    CONTROL.INF file which should contain the path of the folder
    containing the CPX files. Therefore, the list may not be an
    accurate one of those files that were installed in the system at
    boot-up if you changed the name of a program afterwards.

23  Vertical Blank Interrupt Details
    Shift-F5 key
    Many accessories and AUTO folder programs need to keep doing
    something periodically after being loaded, that is, they stay in
    memory and are a form of multitasking (though not in the proper
    sense of the word). These are TSR programs or Terminate and Stay
    Resident programs. Some install routines as Vertical Blank
    routines or VBLs. These are called every time the screen raster
    scan moves from the bottom right hand corner to the top left of
    the screen when drawing the screen display. This occurs every 70th
    of a second on a mono monitor such as the SM124/5 and every 50th
    or 60th of a second on ST colour monitors or TVs. Again, you can
    check on these addresses on pages 23 - 28 to see if any of them
    were installed by XNAM compliant programs. Memory monitor programs
    can be used to see what is present at these addresses as well.

    Although it is possible, but unusual, to have more that eight
    VBLs, eight is the default number in every system. PROFILE 2 makes
    no attempt to look for any more. If there is a need for this then
    please let me know.

24  Cookie Jar Configuration Details
    Shift-F6 key
    The Cookie Jar was introduced with TOS 1.6 and is automatically
    installed in TOSes 1.6 and later. It is possible to modify or
    install your own Cookie Jar in any system with any TOS. The Cookie
    Jar is an attempt to provide programs with information about the
    type of system they are running on, especially the type of
    hardware. This would normally be difficult for any program to
    establish. Many programs need to know which processor is installed
    and whether a floating point coprocessor is available so as to
    make use of their facilities. The type of video SHIFTER and sound
    facilities are also different on various systems and a graphics
    program may need to know if the STE type video SHIFTER is
    installed to use the extra colours present.

    The Cookie Jar is a list of IDs and values, stored in memory the
    address of which is pointed to by the system variable _p_cookies
    at address $5A0. The values often just show the presence of a
    machine's facility or its type or the presence of an active TSR
    program. Other values may be addresses of routines or data
    structures in memory or a version number. There is no standard for
    these. IDs are four ASCII characters and each should be unique and
    descriptive. Atari have reserved the underline character '_' as
    the first character of their IDs.

    This page lists in order the IDs and their values in hex, ASCII
    and decimal and the size of the Cookie Jar. Note that any Cookie
    Jar program can modify the size of the Cookie Jar. Some programs
    use incorrect characters for the Cookie ID and PROFILE 2 tries to
    trap these. Atari's own MACCEL3 is one of these with the intention
    of making its Cookie ID of $AA006E look like MOOSE which is
    supposedly close enough to be mistaken for MOUSE! Absolutely
    pathetic - talk about breaking your own rules!!

25  Cookie IDs Interpretation
    This page interprets the values of the Official Atari IDs and
    other selected and significant non-Atari ones. Recognizing an ID
    is usually simple enough, for instance, "OVER" means OverScan,
    "FrmD" is FormDoIt, "LTMF" is Let 'em Fly, "NFnt" is NeoDesk Font,
    "NLdr" is NeoDesk Loader etc. etc. However, understanding what
    their values mean is anybody's guess and usually of no concern
    anyway. Some are version numbers, others are addresses in RAM
    where that program is loaded and some point to another identifier
    (usually four characters) or a version number in memory. In most
    cases it doesn't matter to the user what they mean.

    PROFILE 2 is capable of detecting all the official and semi-
    official Atari Cookies, the latter of which include the presence
    of the new GDOSes, Poolfix, TOS 1.6 patch, MiNT Kernel and the
    Diablo driver for SLM laser printer. The new International Date
    and Time Cookie and Nationality Language/Keyboard Cookie are
    included and versions of various installed software that have
    written a cookie shown, such as _NET, _FLK and MiNT.

    I also check for some other significant programs, the current list
    being: MagiC, Geneva, NeoDesk, Outside, VRAM, NVDI, OverScan,
    UIS3, VFIX, FormDoIt, Selectric (FSEL), Let 'em Fly, Virtual
    Screen (VSCR).

26  Environment Variables Strings
    Shift-F7 key
    Many alternative desktops, command line interface shells and
    programs set up environment variables in particular the PATH=
    variable which informs TOS or any program which directories to
    search through when looking for resource or data files.

    The standard GEMDOS environment string set up for the AUTO folder
    and Desktop has a bug where a nul is placed after the '=' sign as
    in PATH=$0A:\$0$0. It should not be there. The two trailing nuls
    correctly designate the end of the strings. Secondly, it is always
    drive A:\ even if booting from drive C:\. Some programs get around
    this and some others misuse it. Atari have recommended that it
    shouldn't be used. I trap this and show you it exists, if present.

27  Complete System Variables Contents
    Shift-F8 key
    This is the complete list as of TOS 4. The address and official
    Atari name is given together with the values they contain in hex
    and decimal. I've added some prefixes to some names to aid
    identification. These are where a system variable is 'divided'
    into many parts, like _themd which consists of four longs and
    _bufl which consists of two. I've given these suffixes to indicate
    which long is referenced. The same applies for each of the
    _vbl_list, xconstat, xconin, xcostat and xconout system variables
    where I've added a number on the end.

    Please note that some of these names are not the same as those in
    The Hitchhiker's Guide, Atari ST Internals and even The Atari
    Compendium. My names are taken from official Atari US source code
    and developer's documentation and are correct to the best of my
    knowledge.

28  Exception Vectors Contents - First 32
    Shift-F9 key
29  Exception Vectors Contents - TRAPs
30  Exception Vectors Contents - FPU and MMU Interrupts
31  Exception Vectors Contents - MFP 68901 Interrupts
32  Exception Vectors Contents - TT MFP and SCC Interrupts
    Only those Exception Vectors that are important and usually of
    significance are shown. Those after $1BC are undefined and not
    shown.

    By default, many of the values shown are in two parts. The last
    six hex digits are an address of a routine executed in ROM when
    that exception is called due to some sort of error when a crash
    may be imminent. The first two hex digits are the number of bombs
    shown just before that crash and is the same as the vector number
    (in hex). Because of this pattern, scanning down the list can show
    quite easily any vectors taken over by user programs installed in
    the system.


XBRA and XNAM
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The System Variables and Exception Vectors can be analysed for XBRA
and XNAM compliance providing a powerful debugging tool for software
and system developers. Some system variables and all the exception
vectors contain vector addresses, that is, addresses that point to
another part of memory that may be the start of an executable routine.

Many AUTO folder programs such as TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident)
and accessories install themselves in memory using the XBRA and XNAM
protocols. Essentially, they hook into or take over various vectors,
such as those pointed to by some system variables or exception
vectors, so that when TOS (or other programs) transfer control via
these vector addresses to run the routine pointed to by them, the TSR
routine is run instead. Normally, if several of these programs want to
do this to the same vector then problems could arise. Some programs do
not save the address originally stored at this vector and so the last
installed program usually wins kicking out the others. Most others do
save the vector address but do so in non-standard ways incompatible
with each other. The XBRA protocol, however, does introduce a standard
so that each program can store the vector address and replace it with
its own in a compatible manner. After any XBRA compliant program is
called and run, it can then call the old address thus enabling another
previously installed program to run and so on down the chain until the
last original address is reached. In this way, all the programs get to
run their routines at the appropriate time. Note, however, that if any
program intercepts a vector without using the XBRA protocol, then it
will break the chain and PROFILE 2 will not show any more XBRA IDs
even if some still exist. This is not PROFILE 2's fault but one
inherent in the system and will remain so until all programs use the
XBRA protocol.

A good example of an exception vector that gets used for this is
number 46 - TRAP #14 Instruction (XBIOS). Several programs may use
this vector to point to their routines, such as Quick ST3, OverScan,
NeoDesk etc.

XNAM protocol programs can't be chained and so don't need to maintain
the old address. They usually appear as VBL routines but the XNAM
protocol is rarely used and as such is basically just a naming device.

ST Applications Issue 11 November 1991 gives a good account of the
XBRA Protocol.


PROFILE 2 - USING IT
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The program is run by double-clicking on it from the Desktop. Most of
the data is gathered and processed at the start. It may take a few
seconds or so.

PROFILE 2 will run on all STs, STEs, TTs and Falcons and under
MultiTOS in all resolutions except 40 column modes which I won't
support! I make no apologies, please use a higher resolution.

On starting you will be presented with the main window and a menu bar.
The first page will be displayed. You can access all subsequent pages
from the Report menu or by pressing the <Return> key which will show
each page in turn. <Cntl><Return> will show the previous page. The
number pad <+> and <-> keys will also do the same. The <Clr Home> key
displays the first page and <Shift><Clr Home> displays the last page.

All the pages listed in the Report menu can be accessed by using the
Function keys as well. Some items have more than one page attached to
them and these will display a submenu for you to choose from. Only the
first page in a submenu is available through the Function Keys.

The display window can be moved, fulled, closed and scrolled with the
mouse in the usual manner. <Cntl><Esc> or <Cntl><W> will close the
window, the cursor keys will scroll the window by one line or column
or by one page if used with the <Shift> key. The window can be fulled
with <Cntl>numberpad<*>.

All dialogs are amodal and placed in windows so that you can move them
about, close them and act on them whilst also being able to view and
act on other open dialogs or windows. <Cntl><Esc> or <Cntl><W> will
close the dialog window, as will <Undo> which corresponds to the
Cancel key.

Most dialogs have the usual OK and Cancel buttons which operate in the
standard manner, i.e. 'OK' will bring about an action and close the
dialog. Some will also have an 'Apply' button which does the same as
'OK' but doesn't close the dialog window.

The default position of the dialogs can be set to the screen centre,
mouse position or non (usually at the top of the screen). This is set
in the Dialogs Position menu item in the Options menu or called with
<Cntl>D.

You may choose a smaller system font to display the text in the
Options menu and therefore have a smaller window if you wish.
<Cntl>numberpad<-> and <Cntl>numberpad<+> will also change the font
size.

Under the File menu, each page, a selection of pages or the whole
report may be saved to disk with the default filename of PROFILE2.xxx,
where 'xxx' is either:

    'Pnn' for a single page and nn being the page number
    'LST' for a selection of pages
    'REP' for the whole report
    'XBR' for a XBRA page

You may change this name and path when the file selector appears, of
course. The whole report will be about 45K long depending on your
system.

Each page, a selection of pages or the whole report may be saved to
the standard Atari Clipboard with the default filename of SCRAP.TXT.
PROFILE 2 will look for this clipboard and display a message if it
can't find it, probably because one hasn't been installed. PROFILE 2
won't install one for you on the premise that if you haven't got one
you don't want one. If you do want one then obtain CLIPBORD.CPX.

Each page, a selection of pages or the whole report may be printed via
the parallel printer port or serial port depending on where you have
your printer as installed in the control panel. You may wish to set up
your printer beforehand as some text lines in PROFILE 2 are longer
than the usual 80 columns.

Under the File menu item 'Printer Init' you can enter some Printer
Initialization codes as a series of character sequences (represented
as decimal numbers) separated by commas. These character strings are
the decimal ASCII command codes for the relevant sequences, so the
Epson control code for switching on 12 cpi Elite text is ESC M or
27,77. You will enter "27,77" (without the quotes) in the
initialization line. A Hewlett-Packard control sequence for bold type
is ESC (s3B so you enter "27,40,115,51,66" (without the quotes).
You'll need to consult your printer manual for these codes. On a page
printer (laser, inkjet) you can send a form feed to eject the page
using the 'FormFeed' button in the Printer Initialization dialog.

However, you may find it easier to set up the printer from an
accessory or CPX if one is available. If printing off more than the
odd page, then save the pages to a disk file and format and print them
from within your favourite word processor.

These functions are unavailable unless you register.

These, and other options, together with the window size and position
can be saved to a PROFILE2.INF file which PROFILE 2 looks for every
time it loads. Therefore, you can have your printer codes, font size,
dialog position and window size and position available as the default
set up each time your run PROFILE 2. In addition, if you have the ST-
Guide hypertext help system not installed as an accessory, then it's
path will also be stored in the PROFILE2.INF file.

Options can be saved or loaded at any time from the Options menu.

These functions are unavailable unless you register.

In the Systems Variables and Exception Vectors pages some addresses
are vector addresses that can be checked for XBRA and XNAM compliance.
The valid vectors are those with a number in the first column. The
XBRA check report window is obtained by double-clicking on any line or
calling the dialog to enter the number of the vector. This latter is
obtained by pressing <Cntl><X> or selecting the XBRA menu item under
the Options menu.

The XBRA check report window shows the relevant address and its value,
which should be another memory address. Attempts are made to check
this value - to see if it is in the ROM or illegal (pointing to
protected memory or outside that available to the system). If a XBRA
or XNAM compliant ID (four characters) is found then it is reported
and the next address in the chain is shown until the chain ends.
Please note that any check on a vector will only show if that vector
was installed by a XBRA or XNAM compliant program. Many programs,
especially older ones don't use this protocol. It doesn't make that
address pointed to by the vector less valid. It was installed by
something!

The contents of this XBRA window can be printed, saved to disk (with
the default filename PROFILE2.XBR) or sent to the clipboard as usual
unless you haven't registered.

The data displayed can be updated at any time by selecting the Re-Read
Data menu item in the Options menu or by pressing <Cntl><R>. This can
be useful in a multitasking situation or where accessories can change
the system, such as the Control Panel.

Rudimentary help is obtained by pressing the <Shift><Help> key or
selecting the Simple Help menu item. If you have ST-Guide a special
hypertext help document (not unlike this document) can be viewed
instead. ST-Guide can be installed either as an accessory or loaded
from within PROFILE 2. Simply place the PROFILE2.HYP and PROFILE2.REF
files in your ST-Guide HYP directory (normally called GUIDES). Press
<Help> from within PROFILE 2 to get help on the current page being
viewed or <Cntl><Help> to get the Contents page.

The program About dialog obtained with <Cntl><I> or from the PROFILE 2
menu displays some important information, the version number,
compilation date and acknowledgements as well as access to the
Registration dialog where you can enter your registration name and key
and obtain full access to the program.

The program can only be quit by pressing <Cntl><Q> or from the File
menu.


PROFILE 2 - COMMAND KEYS
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
PROFILE 2 follows the GEM-List key commands standard where
appropriate.

F1 to <Shift>F9       - Page selection
Home                  - First page
<Shift>Home           - Last page
<Numberpad>+          - Next page
Return                - Next Page
<Numberpad>-          - Previous page
<Cntl>Return          - Previous page

Cursor                - Scroll window by line/column
<Shift>Cursor         - Scroll window by page
<Cntl>Up cursor       - Top of page
<Cntl>Down cursor     - Bottom of page

<Cntl>Esc
<Cntl>W               - Close top window
<Cntl>Tab
<Cntl>U               - Swap window to front
<Cntl><Numberpad>*    - Full top window
<Cntl>I               - About dialog
<Cntl>R               - Re-read data
<Cntl>X               - XBRA chain check
<Cntl>F               - Font selection
<Cntl><Numberpad>+    - Increase font size
<Cntl><Numberpad>-    - Decrease font size
<Cntl>D               - Dialog position
<Shift><Cntl>P        - Printer initialization string
<Cntl>O               - Save options
<Cntl>L               - Load options
Help                  - ST-Guide Help - Current Page
<Cntl>Help            - ST-Guide Help - Contents
<Shift>Help           - Simple Help
<Cntl>Q               - Quit

C                     - Clip current page
<Shift>C              - Clip range of pages
<Cntl>C               - Clip whole report
P                     - Print current page
<Shift>P              - Print range of pages
<Cntl>P               - Print whole report
S                     - Save current page
<Shift>S              - Save range of pages
<Cntl>S               - Save whole report

F1, F2, F3            - First, second and third buttons in Font or
                      Dialog position dialogs


PROFILE 2 - SOME COMMENTS
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
I have written this program using legal methods everywhere, as far as
I know. It has been extensively tested on nearly all TOS versions and
all types of Atari computers all running MultiTOS. As far as myself
and the beta testers can ascertain all the information reported by
PROFILE 2 is accurate. That is, what is reported is what is found by
PROFILE 2. However, it may be that some strange figures are seen which
appear at odds with what you know to be true. In many respects this is
the point of running PROFILE 2. It will report the configuration that
exists and not what you thought existed! Be very aware that running
many different programs, such as accessories and AUTO programs,
different hardware such a OverScan, accelerators, emulators etc. all
affect the internal configuration of your computer. To make themselves
known to the system and work they may well fiddle with some system
variables, vectors, interrupts or even the apparent appearance of the
ROM - all of which may or may not be what you thought or know to
exist.

For instance, AutoSwitch OverScan messes with various system variables
such as 'exec_os'. This system variable normally tells the system
where the start of the AES is, like $E13D94 under TOS 1.6. That makes
sense because the AES is in the ROM starting at $E00000 on TOS 1.6.
But, OverScan can set this to something like $708C8 way down in RAM.
Normally you may think this is a great mistake on PROFILE 2's part as
it doesn't make sense - until you read the AutoSwitch OverScan manual
and see that this is documented. However, not all software, by any
means, documents what it is doing internally to your system - hence
PROFILE 2!

Something else you may notice is that PROFILE 2 reports that you have
less memory than you thought. This may well be because you have a RAM
Disk installed that has altered the system variable 'phystop' to
point, not to the top of physical memory, but to the memory address
directly underneath the memory reserved for the RAM Disk. PROFILE 2
will catch this.

Logbase and Physbase are two more vectors that cause concern. Physbase
will normally point to the base of memory holding the data for the
physical screen (the one actually displayed). Logbase normally points
to the base of the logical screen (the one onto which any drawing by
the GEM VDI is done). Usually these addresses are both the same but do
not have to be. For instance, a program may have a screen displayed
(at Physbase) whilst writing another (at Logbase) and swap between
them for quick, snappy screen draws. However, AutoSwitch OverScan is a
program that messes with these values to the extent that any call to
Physbase will return the Logbase value when OverScan software is
installed. If you didn't know this and are writing a program using
Logbase and Physbase calls which repeatedly return the wrong values,
PROFILE 2 will help solve this problem for you.

PROFILE 2 is as extensive as a program like this can be and yet remain
compatible on all ST/TT/Falcon030 systems. That was of paramount
importance when being written. There are some deficiencies in its
reporting. These are for many reasons.

1   I don't know about them. If you do then why not tell me what I
    missed.
2   I didn't know how to find that data whilst retaining compatibility
    across all platforms.
3   There is no acceptable means of finding that data using sensible,
    accurate and legal methods. The TT Fast RAM situation in the TT is
    a case in point. As far as I and several developers in the UK and
    Europe can ascertain, involving consultation with Atari UK and
    Atari US, there is no 100% reliable legal way to report the total
    amount of 32-bit Fast Alternative RAM in a TT. PROFILE 2 will
    report the amount of TT RAM using an undocumented feature which
    I'm taking a chance on. It should be all right.
4   A detail may be of too little importance to report or too esoteric
    and used by only one or two people.
5   Other programs do it better, like disk diagnostic programs or
    system speed analysers, such as GEMBench.
6   A detail may require the presence of third party hardware which I
    consider to be outside the scope of this program.
7   Others are moving the goal posts every day. I'm trying to keep up!

If you wish to comment on any of these points then please do, I am
very receptive to program changes and suggestions and am not the sort
of programmer that gets in a huff if someone complains of their work
although totally thoughtless and destructive criticism may well get
ignored! However, I am all too aware of my limitations and PROFILE 2
isn't perfect by any means.


PROFILE 2 - BUGS AND PROBLEMS?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
PROFILE 2 has been tested by myself and many knowledgable beta testers
all of whom have different systems. PROFILE 2 has been developed over
much time and with much thought. Most problems have been eradicated
hopefully. If you find anything wrong do tell me!

PROFILE 2 crashes under the Janus ST emulator card for the PC
(although it works with GEMulator). No idea why at this stage.

When trying to print and the printer isn't on-line, an Alert should
appear giving you the option to Quit or turn the printer on and
continue. On some systems, usually Falcons, this Alert doesn't appear.
We don't know why although I suspect it is a Lattice C library bug.

There is a limit of 250 lines of text per page, so that pages that
show external ASCII files, such as MINT.CNF and ASSIGN.SYS etc. might
be truncated if over this limit.


PROFILE 2 - VERSION HISTORY
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
V1.53
    March 1994
    The last version of PROFILE 1.

V2.0β release 1
    Beta test version tested June 1994

V2.0β release 2
    Beta test version tested July 1994

V2.0β release 3
    Beta test version tested September 1994

V2.0β release 4
    Beta test version tested November 1994

V2.0β release 5
    Beta test version tested November 1994

V2.0β release 6
    Beta test version tested December 1994

V2.0β release 7
    Beta test version tested December 1994

V2.08
    This release December 1994


PROFILE 2 - THE FUTURE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
PROFILE 2 is still in development. Plans include:

More things to report as I and users think of them.

Multiple report windows.

Dialog windows responding to window cycling.

VCSR compatibility (apart from the dialogs).

Memory Monitor window to analyse address clicked on in System
Variables, Exception Vectors and Cookies pages.

New windows library improving some window behaviour.

No limit on page display size.

Ability to pass any word clicked on to ST-Guide for it to search for
in it's REF files so enabling the user to build up there own HYP files
of data on items PROFILE reports.


PROFILE 2 - THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Thanks go to the beta testers of PROFILE 1, Lasse Eldrup; John Eason;
Daniel Hastings; Daron Brewood; Paul Hargreaves and Steve Taylor and
the beta testers for PROFILE 2, Daron Brewood; Joe Connor; Mark
Davidson; Ofir Gal; Rob Perry; Darryl Piper; Bob Samuel; Brian Robson;
Simon Robins and Jon Waite - all very generous and patient guys.
PROFILE 2 wouldn't be anywhere near as useful without them - my warm
thanks to you all for your testing, encouragement and patience.

Thanks to Jon Waite for the assembly code to calculate the effective
processor speed. It slotted in beautifully!

A special thanks to Martin Maisey for his FLDLIB amodal dialogs
library which works very well and is so easy to use and to Simon
Robins for his generous advice and help and his MENU submenu and popup
menu library which enables submenus and popups to be used on any TOS-
based computer.

In no special order, thanks also for ideas, bits of code, inside
details and encouragement to Mark Davidson, Darryl Piper, Rob Perry,
Steve Taylor, Karl Foley, Eric Chapman, Ofir Gal, Graeme Rutt, Alex
Kiernan, Chris Goodwin, Paul Alder, Stephen Nathan, Richard Gorbutt,
Jon Ellis, Mathew Lodge and Flemming Nielsen. I apologise if I forgot
anyone else who made some contribution to my knowledge or enthusiasm -
these are all my memory and comms log-book recall.

Lastly, thanks to Jane, a supportive and understanding wife who has
the extraordinary capability to listen to the complete load of rubbish
I spout forth on my computing exploits and even remember it when I
test her!! ;-)


Slàinte mhath
Mark S Baines
Linnhe Computing
18th December 1994

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