It's a control panel which makes cool noise when you press the mouse button or a key on your keyboard (special sounds for tab, return and space key if you choose). It'll also count the number of mouse and key clicks you’ve made.
What good is it making to me?
It makes your live at the Mac somewhat more funny...
It's a control panel, can it cause conflicts?
In this version, Clicker does’nt patch any routines. Instead, it uses a jGNE Filter to catch events before they would be forwarded to applications. It can conflict with other extensions, but it should'nt. With my long INIT row, it does’nt crash.
Are there any side effects?
Yes, one. Maybe it becomes boring to hear the sounds. But if that happens, use your own sounds.
What Mac may i need in order to use it?
Any Macintosh, but i recommend you use a 68040 or a PowerPC-Processor. Absolute minimum: 68030 Processor. You need at least System 7.0. I did'nt done any tests with System 7, but it should work. Besides, many peoples use 7.5 today.
Is it PPC-Optimized?
Not yet, but that is’nt hard. That little bit code runs very fast on a PowerMac.
How can i install it?
Just drop the "Clicker 4.0" Control Panel into your Control Panels folder.
How many RAM does it kill?
Not much. Around 32 KB for the sounds, globals and RAM-resident code. This is'nt a memory intensive extension.
The sounds are played very slow. When i'm through with typing, the Mac is still generating sounds. The sounds are not played synchronous with my keyboard types.
Just one reason: your Mac is too slow. I play the sounds asynchronously, but maybe that on some old Macs it's too slow anyway. Three things to make it faster:
1. Throw away all system extensions you won't need (or deactivate those you won't need often)
2. Buy more RAM. I recommend you have at least 8 MB real RAM installed
3. Buy a faster Mac. (but i think a Quadra 800 should be enough)
What happened when an error icon will be displayed?
There are only three reasons for Clicker to display an error icon:
1. It can’t find a sound resource
2. There’s not enough memory to load a sound
3. Clicker fails while registering its Gestalt selector.
What can i do in this case?
1. Get a new copy of Clicker.
2. If that did’nt worked, deactivate all system extensions and control panels except Clicker. If it works then, another System Extension conflicts with Clicker.
3. Make sure you have at least 4 MB real RAM installed.
How can i customize Clicker?
This version of Clicker is built as a control panel. You can customize it by double clicking on it and then selecting the options you want. Also click on the Picture at top of the window (displays an about box)! You can choose on wich actions Clicker makes sounds. Note that if you have the "Sound on Key Down" Option activated, but, for example, leaved the "Sound on Return" Option unchecked, Clicker will play the normal key sound when you press the Return key (instead of the special one). You can also choose another sound for the various actions by clicking on one of the small loud speakers at the left of the checkboxes. Choose a sys7-Sound-File and Clicker will munch the sound into itself. WARNING: the old sound in Clicker for that action will be deleted! So i recommend you always keep a backup of Clicker to replace it if you’ve imported a bad sound.
What's up with the Clicker Control Strip?
I think the name says it: it's a control strip extension wich allows you to toggle Clicker on and off. If you have Control Strip installed, just drop it into your Control Strip Extensions Folder and reboot. When you click on the small icon in the Strip, a Pop-up Menu appears. Here you can enable or disable the various actions (without the Control Panel!!) and turn Clicker on and off.
Oooh, great, what does it cost?
Not much. Just $10. You have 30 days to try it out. Thereafter, Clicker stops working and will give you an alert every time you start up your Macintosh. Use the included Program "Register" to register Clicker. You can buy as many single-user licenses (each costs $10) as you want. You can also pay $150 to register for a site license. Site licenses cover a single organisation for up to 100 miles (160 km) in radius. Or you can, for $500, register a world-wide license which covers everyone in a single organisation. You can pay with nearly everything: Cash in many currencies, Check, Money Order, Invoice, VISA, MasterCard, American Express and First Virtual. You would pay to Kagi, a Service which handles paying for me. These are Kagi's addresses:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-XX
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
E-Mail: sales@kagi.com
Fax: +1 510 652-6589
You would get a code back from me via E-Mail. If you don’t have E-Mail, check “Postcard Receipt” in Register. That'll cost $1, but you would get the code via Snail-Mail. Payments sent via E-Mail are processed within 3 to 4 days. You'll receive an E-Mail with your personal code when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days. Note that the name you enter in Register would also later appear in the Clicker control panel (and, of course, also in the Clicker control strip) YES! And the code would only work with that name. After you’ve got the code, open the Clicker Control Panel, click "Register", enter your name and the code and click OK. If the code is good, Clicker would be registered and you would always see your name instead of "Not registered". Not bad, huh? But if you don't like Clicker, throw it away and forget it. It's that easy.
Note to users of earlier versions of Clicker:
Unfortunately, your old preferences won’t be copied. Because Clicker 4.0 uses Data Structures differing from Clicker 3.x, Clicker generates a file called “Clicker 4.0 Prefs”. The old file was called “Clicker Prefs”, you can delete it. If you have a registration code for an older version of Clicker, don’t wonder if it did’nt work. I’ve changed the key calculation algorithm and the parameters to it, so your old code does’nt work. Sorry. I’ve also removed the Key LED feature. I think it is’nt funny, and some peoples wrote they hate it (really!). NEVER use the old version of Clicker Control Strip with Clicker 4.0! It'll crash your Mac! And NEVER use Clicker FKEY again with Clicker 4.0! It’ll also crash your Mac because Clicker 4.0 uses other globals than Clicker 3.x. With the Control Strip, you have a much more powerful way to access it.
Thanks to Peter N Lewis <peter@mail.peter.com.au>, Jim Walker <JWWalker@aol.com> and François Pottier <pottier@dmi.ens.fr> for "ShowInitIcon" wich helps me displaying the startup icon while loading. And thanks to the folks at Kagi for their great Shareware service.
Please don't send me Snail-Mails regarding Clicker. I won't answer them because they are too expensive here in Switzerland. If you have a question to Clicker, write E-Mail.
Tested on:
Performa 630 (with and without activated PPC-Upgrade-Card)
Mac IIcx
-- Sorry for my totally bad english. I'm from Switzerland, if this is an excuse for you.
Version History:
1.0 - First version (never released). Used synchronous sounds. Did'nt came over the borders of my Hard Disk.
1.3 - Now asynchronous with SoundHelper. Was available on Info-Mac. First released version. Only for PowerMacs.
1.5 - Now without SoundHelper (wich results in a 68K Version of this, when i used SoundHelper, the Mac freezed at startup when executing the 68K code. Wonder why.) I’ve allocated the sound channel myself in this version. That is'nt hard.
2.0 - Built as a control panel (thanks to Jason Larson of giving me the "push" to do it!). I had the idea in the first version, but after viewing some examples, i was confused with it and made an extension. But now, after 5 hours of late night hacking (it's 22:05 now), i got it. Cool!
2.01 - Whenever an update event was generated, the control panel manager redrawed the dialog and then sent me an update event. And i redrawed too. That resulted in flickering. I removed the code to respond to update events, so the problem is fixed now. Also shows a version number in the lower right corner.
2.5 - Fixed some problems. Has now special Sounds for Space, Return and Tab-Keys. Settings are saved in a Preferences File (instead in Clicker's Resources).
3.0 - Better user interface, new features. It can make the LEDs on your Keyboard shine and has a sound for the delete key. Just try it out to see what changed.
3.5 - Removed all the Registration-Code-SHIT and corrected a few bugs...
4.0 - Changed the Registration key algorithm, now Shareware, removed Key LED Feature (see above), totally rewritten, uses jGNE Filter instead of trap patch, stores globals in a pointer rather than wasting stack space, settings are stored as bits in one byte instead of using 7 bytes. New Logo (made with Adobe Illustrator, KPT Vector Effects and Adobe Photoshop). Supposed to correct LOTS of bugs. Made new features into Clicker Control Strip. Lets you use your own sounds.
Legal Stuff:
You can surely understand that I can't make any waranties pertaining an error-free function of this control panel. In no event shall Manuel Kasper be liable for any consequential, indirect or similar damages, including but not limited to any lost profits or lost data arising out of the use or inability to use this control panel. You use this control panel on your own risk.
