Collection of Education/collectionofeducationcarat1997.iso/COMPUSCI/BERTAB40.ZIP/MANUAL.DOC

Text File | 1994-07-15 | 21KB | 474 lines

                        Bert's Coloring Programs
       Bert's African Animals, Bert's Christmas, Bert's Dinosaurs
         Bert's Prehistoric Animals, Bert's Whales and Dolphins

                               Version 4.1
                              User's Guide

                              Introduction

    This instruction manual covers the use of all of the different
Bert's Coloring Programs.
    Bert's Coloring Programs are enjoyable coloring programs for
children of all ages, but are especially useful for introducing young
children to the computer. Bert's Coloring Programs were designed by
educators to be used by young children with a minimum of assistance by
adults. Bert's Coloring Program series is superior to many other
children's coloring programs in that it allows the user to place the
various images, all in four different sizes, on a variety of
backgrounds. This allows children to easily create their own picture
before coloring. The opportunity to create their own picture will allow
children to take pride in their unique creation. Bert's Coloring
Programs also have a voice feature, which can be turned on or off,
allowing the images to speak their names, much to the delight of
children.
    When first started Bert's Coloring Programs displays a title screen
and then the drawing surface with eight buttons on the left. Children
can operate the program with the mouse alone. A window is provided which
allows children to write a short story about their picture using the
keyboard. The fact that they created the picture will help provide the
motivation to write about it. One of the best ways for children to learn
to read is to write, even if their initial attempts include phonetic
spelling which is not always correct. If your child is not ready to
attempt writing his/her story, then another good strategy is for you to
type in your child's story as he/she dictates it to you. Then have your
child read back the story he/she created. This is another very effective
beginning reading strategy. They will love creating a setting, writing
or dictating their own story and printing out a copy.

                              Installation

    Bert's Coloring Programs require an IBM compatible computer with at
least 512K of memory, a VGA display and a Microsoft compatible mouse. A
Sound Blaster card is optional. The program installation process is
quite easy.
    First, make a backup copy of your Bert's Coloring Programs program
disk. If necessary consult your PC-DOS/MS-DOS manual for a description
of the DISKCOPY command. Save the original program disk in a safe place
and use the copy as the working program disk.
    Second, while it is possible to use Bert's Coloring Programs on a
floppy disk system, a hard disk system is a necessity for reasonable
speed and storing a number of pictures your child has created. To
install Bert's Coloring Programs on a hard disk use the following steps:

    1. Insert the floppy disk in your computer in drive A. (or B if
necessary)
    2. Type A: (or B:)
    3. Type INSTALL A C

Bert's Coloring Programs Version 4.1                            Page 1
    Any hard drive letters can be used, for example INSTALL B D will
install the program from floppy drive B to hard drive D. The
installation will create a directory called BERT4 on your hard drive and
you will need to enter a CD\BERT4 to change to the Bert's Coloring
Programs directory before running the program. Once installed just type
BERT to start the program. If your computer gives a series of beeps when
you run Bert's Coloring Programs it is probably because it cannot find
the image files it needs to run, and other problems may be showing up as
well. All the files for Bert's Coloring Programs need to be in the same
directory for the program to operate successfully. You should not mix
the .DOT image files from Bert's Coloring Programs with those of
versions previous to 3.0 as they are in a different format.
    If you are installing more than one copy of the Bert's Coloring
Programs, ie. - Bert's Dinosaurs, Bert's African Animals, Bert's
Prehistoric Animals, Bert's Whales and Dolphins - you will get warning
messages during installation such as the following:

PKSFX: (W18) Warning! c:/bert3/BERT.EXE already exists. Overwrite (y/n)?

    You should type a letter N in response to this message, which will
speed up installation. Actually, typing a Y will not hurt anything, it
simply writes over the file with an identical copy.
    This version of Bert's Coloring Programs has an improved Sound
Blaster interface which interacts directly with the on card circuitry.
It should operate with all Sound Blaster brand cards as well as a number
of "Sound Blaster compatable" cards.
    If sound is not coming through the Sound Blaster, it is possible
that your current Sound Blaster setup is incorrect. First, check your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory. It should have some lines that
look something like this:

    SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
    SET SOUND=C:\SB16
    C:\SB16\SB16SET /M:220 /VOC:220 /CD:220 /MIDI:220 /TREBLE:0
    C:\SB16\SBCONFIG.EXE /S

    Your parameters may very well be different, depending on what I/O
port address, interrupt number and DMA channel your system is using. You
can check the SET statements by just typing SET from the C: prompt.
These values must match the hardware setting on your sound board.
    The Bert's coloring programs are DOS programs and should be run in
DOS mode, ie. started from the C:> (or D:>) prompt. Running the Bert's
Coloring programs from Windows may cause some problems.
    Operation of Bert's Coloring Programs is quite easy. The ten buttons
are configured to do the following when the left mouse button is clicked
on them:

                           The Command Buttons

    SELECT AN IMAGE

    When beginning a new picture six small backgrounds are displayed.
The user clicks with the mouse on the selected scene to have it drawn on
the screen full size.
    Next, a group of six sample images are displayed. If the stop sign
is clicked on, no image will be selected and you are returned to the
drawing surface.

Bert's Coloring Programs Version 4.1                            Page 2
    Clicking the mouse on the box between the stop sign and the green
arrows set the voice status. Voice can be set to on, off or voice only -
meaning the images only say their name through the sound card.
    If the down green arrow is selected the next group of images will be
displayed for possible selection. The up arrow returns to the previous
group of images. Clicking the mouse on any one of the images will select
it.
    The selected image appears in four different sizes. After the image
of the desired size is chosen, a rectangle outlining its size will
appear in the upper left. When the left mouse button is held down on the
rectangle it can be dragged into its desired position. When the left
mouse button is released, the image will be drawn and any previously
drawn lines under it will be erased. This allows you to place one image
in front of the next. It is best to first place all the desired images
on the drawing surface before filling with color, as some colors cannot
be drawn over with an image outline. An additional feature is that the
image figures can also be drawn in reverse. To reverse a figure simply
hold down the right mouse button as you release the left one when you
position the image on the drawing surface.

    SELECT A COLOR

    When this button is clicked a group of forty-eight colors is
displayed. When a color is chosen it fills the crayon in the button.
This color will fill the portion of the picture clicked on. Clicking
outside the color box restores the screen with no action.

    WRITING A STORY

    Clicking on this button displays a window where a story can be
typed. Along with the normal alphanumeric characters, the backspace