Homer Documentation
Copyright (C)1995-96 David Swasbrook, All Rights Reserved.
[ Disclaimer
| Requirements
| Freeware
| Installation & Use
| Interface
| History
| Index
]
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
- is somehow incompatible to your equipment
- has bugs that show up on your equipment
- does not do what it is supposed to do on your equipment
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.
- Kickstart V38 or higher
- matrix.library V25 or higher (included in standard distribution)
- swazconfig.library V3 or higher (included in standard distribution)
Optional extras:
- SwazBlanker - Homer window can be blanked too!
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:
- The sales price must not be higher than the cost of an (empty)
disk plus a nominal copying fee plus costs for shipping. The total
price must not be higher than 5 US$.
- All parts of the program and the documentation must be complete.
You may howerver add or remove samples as you see necessary.
- Homer or parts of it may not be sold in combination with or
as part of commercial software.
- Program and documentation may not be changed in any way.
- Permission has been given for distribution through Aminet and
Fred Fish.
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
- ScaleFactor - how big should the image of Homer be. Eg. If you specify 200% the image will
be twice the size it normally is.
- DoBurp - weighted chance of Homer burping
- DoDoh - weighted chance of Homer saying Doh! (See also ManyDohChance)
- DoMood - weighted chance of Homer having a mood swing
- DoTalk - weighted chance of Homer saying something
- ManyDohChance - chance of Homer saying Doh! several times (See also ManyDohContChance)
- ManyDohContChance - chance of Homer continuing to say Doh!
- [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.
- Sample file names should not contain spaces
- Samples should be in a sound.datatype supported format
To add a sample, please follow these steps...
-
Locate the Samples directory (this is in the same directory as Homer), and copy your new
samples into this directory.
-
Then edit the Homer.conf configuration file, this is in the same directory as Homer (Load
it into any standard ASCII text editor).
- Now decide what sort of sample you have, it can fall into one of the following categories:
- HappySamples
- SadSamples
- AngrySamples
- BurpSamples
- DohSamples
- 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.
- 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:
- ESCAPE - Quits
- TAB - Changes homers mood
- RETURN - Say something
- Any other key will show the definition of Homer from the dictionary
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
- V1.1
- Installer Script
- Documentaion
- Images are now stored as GIFs
- V1.0
- Initial beta release, no install scripts or documentation, hey I dont want to
waste too much time writing this toy :)
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