Please keep all of the files that Cubist comes with bundled together when passing this program on to others.
For now, Cubist comes in only two formats, Application and FKEY. I'm going to assume that you don't need my help in running the application, but the FKEY version is a little trickier. In order to run the FKEY version, you must first install it as detailed below. It can then be invoked at any time from any place by holding down the Command and Shift keys and pressing '5'.
Although FKEYs have faded from the limelight somewhat in recent years, they remain as one of my favourite utility formats. While this FKEY doesn't allow for background processing or auto-activation, it also doesn't suffer from INIT conflicts and doesn't degrade system performance needlessly. If enough people ask for it, I might also release this in a cdev format, but generally speaking I'm an adherent of the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) Principle.
One of the problems with FKEYs is that they require installation. Fortunately this is not at all difficult to do, there are three ways (that I can think of) to install FKEYs:
1) Use Suitcase or Juggler to load the FKEY. If you don't have one of these programs, you should. Absolutely indispensable.
2) Use one of several available PD/Shareware FKEY installers, 'FKEY Manager' by Carlos Weber comes to mind. These should be available through the usual online services and user groups.
3) Use ResEdit to install it.
First of all, I should give you the tired old warning that always accompanies ResEdit instructions, always work with a backup copy of any file that you will be working with in ResEdit. (In fact this a good idea for all of your files all of the time). Having said that, I realize that no one (myself included) actually heeds this caution until AFTER they've ruined their only copy of Excel the day before the big budget presentation is due.
To load the FKEY, start ResEdit and open the file 'Cubist FKEY'. Double click on FKEY, select the FKEY 'Cubist', and choose Copy from the edit menu. Close the file 'Cubist FKEY' and open your system file. Double click on FKEY and choose Paste from the edit menu. If you want to assign a different key combination to the FKEY, click on the FKEY 'Cubist' and select Get Info from the menu. Type in a number in the ID field from 5 to 9, or 0 (FKEYs 1 through 4 are reserved by Apple). Close the system file, saving the changes when asked. Simple, eh?
