Workbench Design/WB Collection.iso/workbench werkzeuge/bildschirmschoner/garshneblanker/distribution-020/readme

Amigaguide Document | 1996-04-07 | 13KB | 242 lines

@database "Garshneblanker" -*- text -*-
@master "Garshneblanker.guide"
@author Michael D. Bayne
@width 80
@wordwrap
@$VER: Garshneblanker 38.8 (31.12.94)
@Remark AmigaGuide database for Garshneblanker
@Node Main "Garshneblanker Documentation"
@{b}Garshneblanker Release 3.6 (Version 38.8)@{ub}
Happy New Year!
It's the new Garshneblanker! Have no fear in running the Install script for
there's a Remove script if you decide you don't like it (aren't I nice). If
you are currently running Garshneblanker on your system, be sure to quit
that one because running this one will just pop up the interface for any
other currently running Garshneblanker and I wouldn't want you to confuse
yourself.
Run the installer script and read what it says while you install it. Other
than that, check out the following things:
     @{" New stuff                          " Link "New"}
     @{" Things to note when using GBlanker " Link "Notes"}
     @{" On the agenda                      " Link "Agenda"}
If you have any questions, suggestions or other comments regarding
Garshneblanker or just the state of the universe, please send them my way at
either of the following addresses:
Electronic Mail: [e-mail]
Physical Mail:   Michael D. Bayne
                 1522 La Playa Apt. 5-110
                 (Sunny) San Diego, CA
                 92109
@EndNode
@Node New "New Stuff in This Release"
History for this release:
@{" Version 38.8 " Link Version388 }
@{" Version 38.7 " Link Version387 }
History for previous releases:
@{" Version 38.6 " Link Version386 }
@{" Version 38.5 " Link Version385 }
@{" Version 38.4 " Link Version384 }
@{" Version 38.3 " Link Version383 }
@EndNode
@Node Version388 "Version 38.8 History"
Version 38.8    Release 3.6
o Johan Billing sent me a SpotLight blanker.
o Changed the interface all around so that all configuration is in the
  tooltypes. Under 3.x when you select the "Settings" button, it opens Info
  on it's icon but unfortunately under 2.x you can't do that so it just
  displays the values of the tooltypes.
o Added CPU checking support that should really work this time. It's well
  tested and has behaved reasonably for all the beta-testers.
o Made the "Info" display an asynchronous process so you can go Info crazy
  and have all sorts of info displays on your screen. (I must have a
  multi-threading fetish).
o Messed with organization of this readme.
o Reworked the Plasma module entirely so it uses much less memory and draws
  the Plasma in a more interesting manner.
o Raymond Penners sent me a Lightning blanker.
o Lot's of little fixes.
@EndNode
@Node Version387 "Version 38.7 History"
Version 38.7    Internal
o I wrote a TicTacToe blanker.
o Made the text blanker split long lines up into two or more instead of just
  truncating them.
o Separated the user interface code into it's own section so that all
  interface libraries could be closed while the preferences window is
  closed.
o Wrote MUI and BGUI interfaces.
o Rearranged the source tree more easily support different interface
  versions.
o Removed all the interface code from the blankers and made a separate
  interface interpreter that generates a preferences file that is read by
  the blanker. So now the blankers are much smaller and writing blankers is
  even easier.
o Wrote MUI and BGUI versions of the blanker preferences interface
  interpreters. (Unfortunately no GadTools version. Perhaps a BOOPSI version
  to come but since the libraries aren't open all the time, there are no
  memory concerns so I don't see any good reason to write a BOOPSI version.)
@EndNode
@Node Version386 "Version 38.6 History"
Version 38.6    Release 3.5
o Broke down and used MagicWB icons in the distribution. You 4 color non-
  interlaced Workbench having users are just going to have to cope.
o Rearranged the user interface a bit since the addition of the blank corner
  cycle gadgets made it look a bit long.
o Took out the menus since they didn't do anything important. Lost the
  "About" requester. No more shameless plug for the author. If anyone just
  can't do without the menu hot keys or something, let me know and I'll put
  'em back in.
o Made a version of the interface that uses MUI. Fell out of my chair when I
  found out that it used 250k more memory than the gadtools version. Got
  excited when BGUI came out. Weeped over the fact that it was 100k. Played
  with a BGUI version of the interface. Look for a full-on BGUI version with
  BUI modules as well in the near future. If anyone really digs MUI and has
  RAM falling out of their machine, email me for the MUI version.
o Removed all of the code shared among the blankers and put it in a shared
  library. "Shared" code, "shared" library. Isn't that keen. That made all
  the blankers a nice bit smaller.
o Reorganized the main program with regards to source file organization and
  some other groovy internal stuff. Also cleaned up the whole source tree in
  general and wrote some nifty scripts to make compiling the modules easier.
@EndNode
@Node Version385 "Version 38.5 History"
Version 38.5    Internal 3.4
o Added stuff to the blankers that people had asked for. Fading on the ones
  that copy the top screen. If you're using V39+, palette extension for
  smoother color transitions in Plasma and Interference. Unfortunately, in
  V37 the "Extend Palette" gadgets don't do anything. Oh well. Get OS3.1.
  Added some other stuff. Stared at the Puzzle source and wondered where it
  could possibly have a divide by zero error.
o Implemented the blank corners thing that a few people have suggested. I'm
  not entirely happy with it's performance because in order not to suck down
  huge amounts of CPU, I chuck all but the last mouse event. However, as a
  result of that, sometimes when you put the pointer in the corner, the last
  mouse position I looked at wasn't when the mouse was at 0,0.
o Took out reqtools.library dependancy in main blanker interface. The only
  thing still using reqtools.library in the main program was the "About"
  requester and the "Info" display. Changed those to use EasyRequests. Alas,
  no more pressing return to make them go away. Also, the "Info" display is
  no longer asynchronous. So if you are browsing through the blankers and
  run out of the house, GBlanker will be locked up because the "Info" panel
  is up. Your screen is just going to burn. Tragic, I know.
o Fixed bugs and probably changed other stuff. It's been so long since 38.4
  that I don't remember what was in 38.4.
@EndNode
@Node Version384 "Version 38.4 History"
Version 38.4    Release 3.3a
o This is mostly a bug-fix release. A number of people reported problems
  with the CPU load checking feature and others reported problems with
  the screen simply refusing to unblank at times. So I've tried to fix
  both problems. (The difficult part here being that neither problem
  occurs on MY machine. :) The CPU load checking is simply turned off but
  the unblank problem should be fixed. Be sure to let me know if it recurs.
o Also in this release is a nifty new Maze blanker that I wrote. It's cool
  have a look.
@EndNode
@Node Version383 "Version 38.3 History"
Version 38.3    Release 3.3
o If the module doesn't respond to a blank request in a timely manner
  (ie. you're compiling and it's being starved because of it's -5
  priority) a black screen is put up.
o When the blankers are running, they call a particular function every
  so often to see if they should unblank. If these are too far and few
  in between, they quit and the main program puts up a black screen.
  This means two things: one, maybe I've got it calibrated for an A3000
  matching my machine's description and this totally won't work on every
  one elses machine (I hope not, I think this should work, give it a chance
  and e-mail me if blankers bail out unnecessarily on your machine), and
  two, if a blanker starts using too much of the CPU time itself (you just
  love to watch Swarm struggle with 500 wasps on your A500) it might quit
  of it's own accord. That's too bad. GBlanker won't load your machine down
  TOO much regardless of what's running. I like this solution because it
  doesn't use any CPU time keeping track of CPU usage. I tried another
  method where I had a low priority task send the main program messages at
  specified intervals and blanked with a black screen if the low priority
  task wasn't getting much CPU time, but that used 50% of the CPU time when
  the machine was idle. Ack. Anyhow, let me know how this works because I've
  moved away from all my beta testers (they're back at school, I'm on the
  other side of the country now, happily employed. :)
o Lots of little changes to the modules that people have suggested. Like
  multiple speed toasters, puzzle moves blocks smoothly, stars are back,
  etc.
@EndNode
@Node Notes "Things to note when using GBlanker"
Ok. The interface is really straightforward. You should be able to figure
all that out, but some things have consistently eluded many people in
previous releases so be sure to note this stuff:
o Look at the tooltypes of the Garshneblanker icon! If those aren't there,
  strange things might happen. (GBlanker is not happy when it doesn't know
  where it's blanker modules are.) Check them out, it should be apparent
  what they are. This is where you can change stuff. If you want to change
  the pop key. Change the CX_POPKEY tool type to the new pop key. This goes
  for all of them.
o When you click on a blanker in the list view, it runs that process. So,
  don't go clicking like a manaic on the list view because DOS has a hard
  time keeping up with loading all those processes and such.
o The "Toggle" button tells GBlanker whether or not you want to consider
  the selected blanker when picking a random blanker. If a blanker is
  shown in parenthesis (ie. "(FlyingToasters)"), then it won't be picked as
  a random blanker. If you parenthesise ALL of them and select "Random",
  Garshneblanker will do strange stuff (it will hang out until you select
  another blanker and then blank with that one). I know. Don't do that.
  (Unless you think it's fun, in which case do it all day long, at least it
  doesn't hurt animals.)
o All the modules will default to the same screen mode as your Workbench
  screen (and differing numbers of colors). Some of them don't look very good
  in HiRes. Until I mess with the BestScreenMode() stuff in V39 intuition,
  try some of the blankers in low-res, they look a lot better and run much
  faster (like Life, Plasma, Fireworks, Interference, etc.). Resolution is
  often not as important as number of colors. In fact, Plasma looks really
  cool in 256 colors on a 160x100 screen (obscure AGA mode).
o Check out the "Info"s on the modules. Some of them say useful things. Also
  they should all give credit to those who have supported Garshneblanker by
  writing their own modules or porting them from other blankers, :).
That's about it. Again if you have any questions comments or suggestions.
E-mail me. I'm more likely to respond to regular postal mail than I was
before but it'll take a heck of a lot longer. So if you can email, do that
first.
@EndNode
@Node Agenda "Things on my agenda for Garshneblanker"
Ok. Here's where I get to list all the stuff that would be cool to have.
Some are suggestions from others, so it could be that I've gotten your
suggestion but have simply chosen to ignore it :) or more likely haven't had
time to get to it yet. My damned boss thinks that I should work for him 8
hours a day which I think is really silly, but I guess I have to put up with
Here we go:
From [e-mail]
- A bazillion things that would take a team of programmers two lifetimes
  to implement (just kidding :). However I won't list them all.
- Sound support
- Analog clock
- Fade to blanker screen
From [e-mail]:
- A Tetris blanker
- An Eyes blanker
From [e-mail]:
- Rushing through parallel squares that form a tunnel
From Ken Pierce:
- Falling cow blanker
From numerous people:
- Joystick port monitoring
- Password protection
From others who I didn't write down:
- Multiple prefs files for each blanker (like earlier and more complicated
  version 2.0 :)
- Change a .plan file somewhere to reflect that owner is away from machine
  (for netted Amigas)
Stuff I want to do:
- Make the Client-Server interaction entirely use AREXX. And add AREXX support
  to the server so that people can have strange things done when they blank
  and then run a regular blanker.
- Run MaxxonMAGIC blankers (bastard's are trying to SELL a screen blanker,
  what do they think this is, a Mac?)
If anyone feels up to the adventurous task of writing their own modules. I
suggest the following plan of action. Look at the source code for some of
the simple ones like Fade and Worms. Then change the stuff in one of those
to work for yours (this is really simple) and then clean it up and make the
prefs do what you want and voila! your very own blanker. Then hoard it to
yourself or mail it to me or make it publicly available at your local ftp
site. If you send it to me (and it's relatively bug free :) I'll include it
in the distribution.
@EndNode