IconHomer Documentation

Copyright (C)1995-96 David Swasbrook, All Rights Reserved.

[ Disclaimer | Requirements | Freeware | Installation & Use | Interface | History | Index ]

Definition Of


Disclaimer

Homer is supposed to be a replacement function for the exec.library/Alert function. Operations of this type are always risky, as when an alert occurs the system is in an inconsistent and/or defective state.

I hereby reject any liability or responsibility for these or any other consequences from the use of Homer whatsoever. This includes, but is not limited to, damage to your equipment, to your data, personal injuries, financial loss or any other kinds of side effects.

Although Homer has been tested thoroughly on several different machines, I cannot rule out the possibility that Homer

It is your responsiblity to take any precautions necessary to protect yourself from these or any other effects. I explicitly reject any liability or responsibility from the consequences of you using Homer.

Requirements

The following are required for Homer to run, if they are not installed or available Homer will be unable to run.

Optional extras:


Freeware

Homer is FREEWARE, this means that you may use it as much as you like without having to feel guilty about it. You can always drop me a line or two with some comments about it. They are most welcome!

The program may be freely distributed and copied, as long as the following conditions are fulfilled:


Installation And Usage

Installation

To install just run the install script provided in the Homer distribution. This will install Homer in your "SYS:WBStartup" drawer by default. Documentation and support files are also installed.

You will be prompted for a Hot-Key to open the main interface window. Typically this would be something like "LALT a", ie. pressing the "LEFT ALT KEY" and the "a" key simultaneously would open the interface.

Usage

To run homer simply Double Click the icon.
Homer will pop up in a small window on your Workbench screen and his eyes will follow the mouse pointer as it moves. They also occasionally blink, and he also has the tendency to say things occasionally. Please feel free to add your own samples and configure Homer as you like it best!

Configuration File

In the Homer directory there is a configuration file named Homer.conf. This is a plain text file, made up of several sections as follows:

[Homer]
This is where you can configure certain aspects of Homer

[HappySamples], [SadSamples], [AngrySamples], [BurpSamples], [DohSamples]
These all define the sample filenames depending on Homers mood or current action, these files are located in the Samples directory. Please try to avoid putting spaces in the filenames. Please feel free to add your own samples

Adding Samples

This section gives you details on how to add your own samples to Homer.

To add a sample, please follow these steps...

  1. Locate the Samples directory (this is in the same directory as Homer), and copy your new samples into this directory.

  2. Then edit the Homer.conf configuration file, this is in the same directory as Homer (Load it into any standard ASCII text editor).

  3. Now decide what sort of sample you have, it can fall into one of the following categories:

  4. Locate the relevent section in the configuration file. Eg. if we have decided that the sample being added is a Happy Sample then look for the line reading [HappySamples] and enter the name of the sample on one of the lines following.

  5. Now save the configuration and re-load Homer.
If you find some samples that you think would be suitable for inclusion in the main distribution of Homer please feel free to send them to me (or at least tell me where I can obtain them from!)

Interface

The Homer window consists of an animated head of Homer, his eyes blink and follow the mouse pointer as you move it. He has also been known to say the occasional phrase.

Keys

The following keys do special things:

Homer Window Blanker

If you ever find that the Homer window has gone completely black, dont worry, just click in the window and he will come back (eventually)... he is just merely blanking his window while your screen blanks (only currently supported with SwazBlanker).

History


Author

My real name is David Swasbrook but pretty much well everyone calls me Swaz. I have lived my entire life in New Zeland and have been programming Amigas since sometime around 1991, and plan to keep programming them for some time to come!

Quite often I will be hanging out in Internet Relay Chat (Undernet mostly) in #Amiga channel under the nick of Swaz.

You can find me on the World Wide Web at http://www.ait.ac.nz/~swaz/ or if I have moved you might be able to get me via http://www.pobox.com/~swaz/.

Electronic Mail may be sent to me at swaz@ait.ac.nz, or if for some strange reason that fails you could try swaz@pobox.com.

If you would like to send me some mail the old fashioned way, my mailbox is:

David Swasbrook,
PO Box 54134,
Bucklands Beach,
Auckland,
New Zealand.

Index


Documentation written by David Swasbrook.
Last updated on Mon Apr 22 20:19:55 1996