Welcome to QwikCD... What this application aims to do is allow the user to access their CD-ROM drive, be able to easily play audio tracks, and on top of all this, the application must fit into the smallest amount of RAM so that it would be possible to run it on startup, and not notice the RAM lost.
As you will hopefully find out by running the application I have succeded on most of these points (Hopefully), except for the memory one, which is rather hard to succeed in when you've got a 50k sprite file to deal with!
The Interface
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Maybe Acorn won't approve of this applications interface; it doesn't conform to the style guide because of various things in the windows, but, well... I could name many things I don't approve of what Acorn do! Numero uno... Marketing... :-)
As the interface doesn't quite fit into the CD filer, I have written a filter module for QwikCD which allows it now to fit seemlessly into the CD filer, wow! It is the first module and filter I have ever written, and I think it's quite nifty actually! It sends out a wimp message &53464443 (ie. the hex for `CDFS`), and waits for an application to acknowledge it with a UserMessage_Acknowledge call. This will mean that only one of the QwikCD applications loaded (yes, I know what most of you out there are like; `lets load up 5 copies, and see if they all respond!`) will respond to it, and produce a menu.
You can switch off the Patch by turning it off in the config window. Once you save the configuration, the patch is automatically killed.
What does the patch do?
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When the patch is loaded, it will allow you to press the adjust mouse button on the CD filer icon, and the tracks menu will appear. Clicking on one of the option will be just as if you clicked on it from QwikCD (technically it is, but that's by the way.. ;-) )...
In Use
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This application is easy to use. So easy infact, I'm not going to tell you much about it, you can figure it out yourself, or use RISC OS Interactive help as a guideline as to what is happening.
Basically, drag the application to some place where it can be left, ie. Hard Drive/Blank Floppy, and double click on it. Seconds later, a CD with a musical note next to it will appear on your iconbar. From here, either click `Player` from the menu or click on the icon and the control window will open. From here you can use the various `CD-like controls` to (left to right) rewind, stop/eject, pause, play or fast forward.
Clicking menu over the window produces a control menu. Moving the pointer right over the menu item `Tracks` produces a submenu which contains a list of the tracks on the CD (Clicking on one will make the CD play it), as long as you have defined the names of the tracks. If not, this option will be dimmed out.
When a CD is paused, the pause indicator will slowly fade in and out. Pressing pause or play will make the CD carry on from the position.
If you insert a CD which the application doesn't recognise, a window will open. In here, you will need to type in the details, like Title etc. This window is tailored for that exact disc, ie. it will have the correct number of track icons.
The info window has various functions, click around a bit, see what happens! ;-)
With QwikCD it is possible to use an audio disc from any of the 7 possible drives, you simply configure the drive from the preferences window, and hey presto! You've got access to it! ... (If anyone at an Acorn show with one of them autochangers wants to try it??? :-) If it works, go to the AU stand, and see if I'm there, cos I wanna see it in action!)
If you need more help than this, you will need to use interactive help (Apps icon or RiscOS applications disc).
If you drag another person's `MyCDs` file to the icon, QwikCD will `merge` it with your existing one, copying CD details from the new one into the file if an entry for that CD isn't already there. It's very useful for when you want to insert the names of a bunch of CD's.. Read the end of the text file of how to get CD details by netmail! It is also now possible to export the details of the current CD, and so you can send them to people, using the aforementionned MyCDs merging utility.
Even SmartCD users can't use the get-out `But I have all my CD's in SmartCD file format`... Anyone storing the files in the way the shareware version does it can now import the datafile directly into QwikCD by opening the Edit window (or new CD window), dragging the SmartCD file to it's window, and then saving the CD's details. Simple euh?
Notable features
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There are some notable features about this QwikCD player, over any other player (PD/Commercial or whatever, and being a `normal` PD/Shareware programmer, I thought I might gloat a bit ;-);
• This application doesn't stop the computer when the CD changes from track to track. One CD playing application does do this, and it can be a real pain in the (smart) arse!
• This application can list the tracks on the CD, as well as the title of the CD, and you can pick which track you want to listen to in various easy ways (FF/Rew buttons, or direct name clicking from a menu/dialogue box)
• This application can have an INFINITE number of CDs (Is there that many :-) ) stored away in it's memory files.
• This application can work with ANY CD-ROM player (device 0 - 7), letting the user pick the device (s)he is using from a menu in the config window.
• This application is PD, unlike all the others!
• And the reason why everyone has got it; It was written by me, of course!
Note(s)
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If you press the CD-ROM eject button whilst the CD is playing, the audio CD will be ejected as usual, but when you push the drive back in, the CD will automatically start playing! Clever eh? This is not really a feature that I thought up, but is really an `after-effect` of what happens when the disc is scanned for it's positioning etc. The only thing is that the disc name will not be rescanned. This will be found in the regular scan that QwikCD does every 50 wimp polls. (only a few seconds wait, quicker than others).
I would be interested to recieve your CD list. I would like to build up a collection of as many of these as possible. I will split them up into their seperate CD sections, and place them in a special area on my BBS for people to download. This would make it so that you wouldn't have to bother typing in your CD details, you could simply either;
i) Logon to my BBS, search for that CD
ii) Or look in an archive to find that CD already stored! Clever eh?
So, can I urge you to send any MyCD files to any of the contact points below.
My other software
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I have written various other pieces of software, below is a list of them, and where you are likely to find them;
Task Devel. Released
!2ndHand - Help with buying a second hand archie S N Y
!BBSStats - BBS Stats for ArmBBS boards M Y Y
!CallConv - Convert old ArmBBS logs S N Y
!CCDoor - Call cost door, a door for BBSs users M Y Y
to use
!CD Door - A BBS door, allows users to access M Y N
the CD
!ClickCom - Click on the icon, and it issues a M N Y
star command of YOUR choice
!CMOS - A CMOS RAM settings saver M N Y
!CompComp - Compare your compies speed to an S N Y
A3000 and a RiscPC
!Contacts - An address book M Y N
!Make20 - Last 20 users on an ArmBBS bulletin M Y Y (ArmBBS)
board
!Natter - The best ever SysOp Split Screen Chat M Y Y (test)
!QwikCD - An audio CD player M Y Y
!RiscMacro - Use macros in RiscOS M Y N
!SpeedTest - Show the speed of your computer M Y Y
!STDCodes - A telephone code converter M N Y
!TrashCan - A Mac TrashCan derivative M Y Y
RGB - Show the pwetty colours of the S N Y
rainbow!
!ZAnsiDial - A little modem dialler for all you M Y Y
comms people
Key -
T - Tasking :-
m - Multitasking
s - Singletasking
D - Developing :-
y - Yes (Wow, he's actually doing some work!)
n - No (aw!)
R - Released :-
y - Yes (Wow, he's actually got something finished!)
n - No (Oh come on, release _something_ :^) )
You should be able to get all the ones marked with `released` from your local (Or not so local as it probably will be!) PD library or an Archie BBS (Northern ARM/Arcade/Digibank). There are a few other applications lurking on my hard drive, which I havent bothered to mention just yet, in case they don't turn from the primordial sludge at present to anything useful (ie. Are they are worthy of my worthy trashcan!), and may I stress that even though there seems to be quite a lot of applications up there which I haven't released to the big GAP (General Archimedes Public) ;-), they are usable, but not quite in a state worthy of release, ie. Internal Address Exceptions (`The pixies`) are rife!
Copyright
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This application is Archimedes PD. What this means is that it can be given to friends, put on BBSs, or passed to PD libraries freely. For this, the person who the application has come from must charge NO MORE than the price of a disc and postage. If you want to charge silly amounts for your discs, then you know where you can go, I write this software for free, and I am **NOT** letting other people make large profits from it (If anyone should make any cash, it should be me!).
I am allowing anyone to put it into/onto the follwing things;
CD with mass storage of PD software
Servers on any type of network
[[[ Archimedes PD (Public Domain) = PC Freeware ]]]
[[[ Archimedes Freeware = PC PD (Public Domain) ]]]
Known bugs/problems
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Below is a short list of bugs that I have found in testing the package, and as yet haven't fixed/cannot fix them (due to techie reasons, or evil pixies ;-) )
• All RiscPC users should note that whilst they have fonted windows, they will look awful if they are in a 16 colour mode. It is exactly the same with QwikCD, it looks nice in 256col modes (or above) but below, it looks awful. Most RiscPC users will be using modes with 256 cols or more (I do!). (It works the same for you folks out there that are naughty and are using RiscOS 3.26.. ;-) )
• I've had a complaint about sometimes the track numbers are not shown in the editing window, I'll check this out, see if anythings wrong!
Thanks go to
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For helping me creating this application, !QwikCD, my thanks go to;
• Me (For actually spending the time to write it)
• Cher, Heart, Belinda Carlisle, Marcella Detroit, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, Pat Benatar, Alannah Myles, Tina Turner, Pauline Henry, Deborah Harry, Voice Of The Beehive, The Bangles, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Tyler, Transvision Vamp, L7, Laura Branigan, Kim Carnes, and last but not least (?) Martha and the Muffins for being on Satin and Steel (Which I used to test QwikCD).
• The Prodigy, for playing whilst I was doing my wonderful coding!
• Kenco (`At Kenco we use only the finest beans`) for my lovely every quarter-of-an-hour coffee break!
• Asda, for making those lovelly doughnuts which make that quarter of an hour coffee break that much better!
• Acorn (For producing such a wondeful machine (RiscPC lover!)).. (Yuk!)
• And, euh... No one else (Aint I sad... or mebe not? :)
Second helping of thanks go to;
• Robin Abecasis for giving me a few little hints on what I might (!) like to include, ie. stop/eject, config coloured menu items etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ;-)
• And I don't really think there was anyone else that really helped yet ;-)
Version
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1.10
7/1/95 - This version was the first release version. It had quite a few bugs
in, but hey! thats what you get with a first version ;-)
1.20 - This version is the latest one, and the best. It has no bugs (watch
for the change to this section of the text file in the next version
;-) )...
The bug with the allocation of CDFS memory has been fixed; now I
allocate 21 bytes instead of 17, which will get rid of some unexpected
glitches that occour now and again with v1.10, like it listing tracks
98 to 99 instead of the actual ones!
This version comes with CDPatch (in the module list it is QwikCD).
This patches the CD filer with a Risc OS filter, making it so that
QwikCD fits seemlessly into the OS.
This version also lists the tracks on the disc in alternating red and
blue colours, as an option.
Contacting me
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You can contact me at the following places;
Snail mail -
15, Red Beck Vale
Shipley
West Yorkshire
BD18 3BN
England (For all you folks out in Ozy, and Norway!)
Fidonet - 2:250/372.0
Riscnet - 7:44/103.0
EMail - cjackson@digibank.demon.co.uk
`Chris Jackson` (#1) on The Northern ARM BBS << Quickest
(01274 530831) << Quickest
`Chris Jackson` on Digital Databank
(01707) 323531/(01707) 329306
`AAUC` on Arcade
(0181) 654 2212/(0181) 655 4412
Telephone - (01274) 596407
Please note that from now on, replies to mail sent to me on Arcade may take a while, as I intend to severely cut-down my access to long-distance BBS's, putting as much cash as possible into the running of my BBS. Replies on DDB may take a week or so, as well.
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BBS Advert
How would you like access to my RiscPC, which has 750Mb file space, a CD-ROM (registered/unregistered users can access it)... And much more! Call me now on 01274 530831, and complain about QwikCD or any of my other creations!
