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1989-09-22
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The complete GIFFIE package contains the following files.
GIFFIE.EXE
GIFFIE.DOC
GIFFIE.DVR
HPGL.EXE
GIFFIE may be distributed freely, as long as it is distributed for
free. If you find GIFFIE useful, please send a contibution ($5.00
would be nice) to:
Pat Klepper
60 Luster Dr.
Batesville, Ar 72501
If you don't find GIFFIE useful, by all means delete it from your
machine, and don't waste your valuable disk space.
GIFFIE.DOC
PAGE 1
Thanks for using GIFFIE, and for the $5 contribution you have surely
sent by now. GIFFIE was written to support the hardware I have, or
in reality, the hardware I use (It belongs to the company I work
for). It supports GIF viewing on plain vanilla VGA's, which most users
probably have, and printing on a HP PaintJet, which some are lucky
enough to have. You can print GIF's even if you don't have VGA.
Since GIFFIE is for this specific hardware, I think you will find it
quite easy to use. Hopefully, the user interface is intuitive enough,
that it will require only a little documentation. I like programming,
but documentation isn't nearly as much fun.
USING GIFFIE
To run GIFFIE simply type GIFFIE. It will find all of the *.GIF files
in the current directory, create/update a file GIF.DTA, and then
display the following menu. GIFFIE is limitted to 254 files per
directory, and will stop searching at this limit.
Show Print Directory Info Options Mode Quit
Make your choice by highlighting a selection and pressing enter, or
pressing the first character, or by moving your mouse and pressing
the left button (in general left button=enter, right=escape).
SHOW
This will provide a list of all the GIF's found, and will show
additional information about the selected GIF on the top line. To
view a single GIF simply select it and press enter. For a slide
show mark selection with the space bar, and then press enter to
start the show. The plus(+) key selects all, and the minus key(-)
deselects all.
PRINT
This provides the same information as SHOW. The selected GIF will
be decoded into memory, and then printed to a HP PaintJet via LPT1.
I have also provided a driver for HPGL plotters. This function is
provided by an external program HPGL.EXE which must exist in the
same directory as GIFFIE. This is the same driver used by PLOTGIF,
so for more information, consult the PLOTGIF document. For info on
writing your own device driver keep reading.
GIFFIE.DOC
PAGE 2
DIRECTORY
This allows you to change to a new drive or directory.
INFO
As far as I know, this very nice feature is unique to GIFFIE. This
allows you to enter a short description for each GIF. This description
along with the width, height, and number of colors for each GIF is
maintained in the file GIF.DTA. I find this very helpful when looking
for a specific GIF.
MODE (SMART MCGA VGA)
The SMART mode selects the screen mode based upon the resolution of
the GIF. This is the default mode.
The MCGA mode always uses the 320 x 200 x 256 color mode. Great for
viewing 256 color gifs of ANY resolution.
The VGA mode always uses a 640 x variable x 16 color mode. Not that
useful, but it was easy to program.
OPTIONS (REPLACE ZIP (UP or DOWN) FADE)
The REPLACE mode simply moves the GIF to the screen as quickly as
possible.
The other "fun" modes work only in MCGA mode.
QUIT
Selecting QUIT forces you to view the ShareWare notice for a few
seconds, until you press escape. If this makes you feel guilty, then
send $5 to me, otherwise just close your eyes.
GIFFIE.DOC
PAGE 3
WHILE THE GIF IS DISPLAYED
PICTURE ADJUSTMENTS
Lighten the picture with the PLUS(+) key.
Darken the picture with the MINUS(-) key.
Correct the picture with the C key.
Preview the picture with the HP PainJet palette P key (toggle).
SCROLLING
Pictures displayed in the MCGA screen mode can be scrolled around
by using the arrow keys, or with the mouse. To scroll with the mouse
press and hold the left button, and nudge the mouse in the direction
you want to scroll. Release the button to stop scrolling.
Pictures displayed in VGA mode that have more than 480 lines can be
scrolled up and down with the arrow keys.
GIFFIE was written in TURBO PASCAL, with some procedures written in
assembly with the TURBO ASSEMBLER - TASM.
If you want to write a new device driver for GIFFIE, you will need to
read the following...
Program your driver in the language of your choice, but don't try to
hog too much memory. Add the name of your driver to the file
GIFFIE.DVR. Your driver must exist in the same directory as GIFFIE.
GIFFIE will call your driver and pass the following via command line
parameters.
NAME WIDTH HEIGHT COLORS SEG(PALETTE) OFS(PALETTE) SEG(IMAGE) OFS(IMAGE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Type
palette:array[0..255][1..3] Of byte; { R,G,B }
{ range of R,G,B is 0..63 }
GIFFIE.DOC
PAGE 4
The IMAGE is found at the passed address in MCGA format, that's one
byte per pixel, either 320 or 640 bytes wide ...
line0 byte1,byte2,byte3..(byte320) OR (byte640) depends on width.
line1 " " " " "
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The HPGL driver, TURBO PASCAL, included with giffer accesses these
as follows.
{ command line parms }
giffilename:=paramstr(1); { gif file name - no extension }
val(paramstr(2),imagewidth,code); { image width }
val(paramstr(3),imageheight,code); { image height }
val(paramstr(4),colors,code); { number of colors }
val(paramstr(5),segment,code); { pointer to the palette table }
val(paramstr(6),offset,code); { segment offset}
paletteAddress:=ptr(segment,offset);
val(paramstr(7),segment,code); { pointer to the image }
val(paramstr(8),offset,code); { segment offset }
imageAddress:=ptr(segment,offset);
{ move palette to local area }
move(paletteAddress^,PaletteTable,SizeOf(PaletteTable));
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
GIFFIE will decode images of up to 640 x 600, this takes a lot of
memory. If your driver doesn't have enough memory, remove any
memory resident programs and try again.
UPDATES
19-September-1989 Fixed GIF.DTA bug where GIF's deleted/added from the
end of the list didn't update correctly.