Audio 4.94 - Over 11,000 Files/audio-11000.iso/msdos/music/njchime/njchime.arc/NJCHIME.DOC

Text File | 1988-06-21 | 6KB | 150 lines

NJCHIME
Nifty James' Famous Chimer
Version 1.00 of 25 June 88
(C) Copyright 1988 by Mike Blaszczak
All Rights Reserved

THIS PROGRAM MAY NOT BE REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD WITHOUT THE PRIOR
WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR.  THE PROGRAM MAY NOT BE OFFERED AS
INCENTIVE TO PURCHASE; DOING SO IS A CRIME.

"Oh, Papa, but this one, she's for you!"

     -- Breaking Away

For quite some time, my dad has supported my meanderings with the
computer.  He would be off doing yardwork while his teenage son
hacked away at the computer.  So, for all those years of
patience, I have written my dad a program that he will certainly
like.  It is for his birthday later in July.  Of course, I will
probably get him something else, perhaps for his model planes or
something.  But I sure hope he will have fun with this program.

My father, you see, seems to be fascinated with clocks.  Back
when I was much younger (yes, there is life before eighteen), he
built this big old grandfather clock from a kit.  It made three
different chimes, and it was certainly the cat's meow for some
time to come.  Now, we my parents also have a similar wall clock
in their kitchen.  I have since moved out to my own apartment to
start working and go to college.

This clock could play three different chimes.  They were modeled
after several famous tower clocks around the world.  There were
the Saint Michael's chime, the Whittington chime, and the
Westminster chime.

From the chimies of old, I have converted the old whirring and
clinking mechanisims into structures and bytes, pointers and
offests.

NJCHIME is a terminate-and-stay resident program that attaches
itself to the BIOS timer-tick interrupt.  The program counts the
time internally, so that it does not bring any overhead into
system throughput by using DOS functions.  When the program
realizes that the time is nearing the hour, the program starts
chiming.

In its default mode, NJCHIME produces "Time Tone" beeps.  These
consist of three short beeps, starting at three seconds before
the hour.  Then, at the hour, a longer and higher beep is given.
Many of the dial-up time services provide such a time tone.

NJCHIME can be given the /M option on the command line to provide
the different clock chimes.  Using:

     NJCHIME /M1

would setup NJCHIME to use the Westminster chimes.  These are the
available chimes and their codes:

     M0   -    Time Tones
     M1   -    Westminster Chimes
     M2   -    Saint Michael Chimes
     M3   -    Whittington Chimes

The Westminster chimes are the chimes that are played by Big Ben,
the most famous of all clock towers.  From its home in London,
England, the clock plays a melody based on a composition by
Handel.

The Saint Michael Chimes are also from England.  However, the
Saint Michael Chimes were cast by an English craftsman for a
church in Charleston, South Carolina during the Revolutionary
war.  However, the British captured this city by battle, and took
the bells back to England.  Amazingly enough, the American rebels
stole the moulds for the bells, and a second set of bells was
cast and installed in the Carolinian church.

The Whittington chimes were named for Lord Mayor Richard
Whittington.  Whittington started life in poverty.  However, he
made money in great volume by trading.  After his terms as Lord
Mayor of London, he became a philanthropist.

If you select the M0 option of the program, NJCHIME will only
become active at the hour.  Otherwise, NJCHIME will faithfully
reproduce the chimes for each quarter hour of the clock.  The
program will also strike the hour by "Bonging" for each hour, or
striking just once for the half hour.

Compatibility
-------------

NJCHIME takes a little less than 1024 bytes of DOS memory.  As
with other TSR programs, it is advisable to install NJCHIME
before you use SET to set up any additional environment
variables.

NJCHIME should be compatible with every program -- it is not ill-
behaved in any way.  If you use another program that accesses the
speaker port while NJCHIME is chiming or striking, the speaker
may sound fuzzled for a few notes.  However, due to the nature of
the IBM speaker output system, NJCHIME will recover gracefully
after a few notes.

Whirrings And Klunkings
-----------------------

NJCHIME is a rather intricate program.  If you are familliar with
Microsoft BASIC, you will understand that NJCHIME implements much
of the PLAY command with its "Music Background" mode.

NJCHIME basically monitors the system clock, counting the time in
its own internal representation.  At each clock tick, NJCHIME
checks through each of several modes that it can be using.  If
NJCHIME is Playing a note, resting between notes, bonging for the
hour, waiting between bongs, or selecting the next note, the
program executes slightly different code.  Of course, much of the
program is skipped over for most of the time.  The majority of
the time, the program is simply dormant.  However, while striking
the hour or chiming, the program excutes the remaining code.

Getting Fancy
-------------

I have a personal version of NJCHIME that plays the opening bars
of "Stairyway To Heaven".  I am also considering converting some
sheet music from Pink Floyd and Rush compilations that I have.
If you would like to have NJCHIME play another tune or function
when you use it, please register your copy and send me a copy of
the sheet music which you would like to have coded.  I'll do my
best to reply to each of these requests in a prompt manner!

Registration
------------

Of course, my father got his copy free.  But, if you find that
you're enjoying NJCHIME, I'd like to request that you send a
donation that you feel is appropriate for the program.  I would
request a contribution of $10, but you can send more or less, as
you see fit.

Thank you for your time!

Mike "Nifty James" Blaszczak
35 Ginger Lane #229
East Hartford, Connecticut  06118

BIX:           blaszczak
CompuServe:    76360,157
NWI:           NIFTY JAMES