Die Ultimative Software-Pakete CD-ROM fur Atari Collection 1996 & 1997

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(Revised 11/29/92) Manual for SUPER BOOT V8.0 -------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- I. Overall Description II. Copyright Information What is Shareware? Registering your copy of Super Boot Disclaimer III. Getting Started - Setting up your boot disk IV. Super Boot Construction Set Specifying Disk Drives Editing Program Parameters Configuring "Other" File Selections Hiding Files From Super Boot Editing Function Keys Showing Auto Files Changing Colors Sound & Welcome Screen Utilities V. Using Super Boot Startup Welcome Screen Digitized Sound Password Date Time Difference Between a Coldboot and a Warmboot Function Key Selection Mode File Selection Mode Help Screen Saving a Function Key Exiting Super Boot VI. Calling Super Boot From Another Program VII. Tips & Tricks Extra DESKTOP.INF files ASSIGN.SYS files Autobooting GEM programs Pathnames and Search Paths Explained Using the Same Sound With More than One Picture Accessing the Built-in Clock in ICD Host Adapters VIII. Registration, Updates, Comments, and Questions I. Description ----------- Super Boot is an "all-in-one" type program that does just about everything you could ever want to do each time you boot your computer. It allows you to: o Choose which Accessories to load in o Choose which AUTO programs to run o Choose from a number of DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF files, allowing you to change your resolution, color scheme, etc. on each boot o Choose other data files used by up to 9 different programs o Display a welcome screen from any picture in Degas, Neochrome, or Tinystuffed format, even on systems with both color and mono monitors, and it can rotate colors on color systems o Play digitized sound in Digisound or DMA stereo or mono format o Set the date if you so choose o Set the time if you so choose o Choose whether or not Super Boot will run by holding down a "hot-key", by a time delay feature, or by both o Restrict access to your system by use of a password (mainly useful for hard drive owners) o Set the floppy disk seek rate o Have Write Verify turned off if desired o Select the most used file configurations by simply pressing a function key, with up to 30 function keys supported o Customize Super Boot the way you want it using The Super Boot Construction Set -- a separate, easy to use GEM program. o Auto boot any GEM program o Set a default configuration if Super Boot is bypassed Super Boot works on all Atari ST, STE, and TT models (and should work on the Falcon), from any boot drive, on any version of TOS, and on both color and monochrome monitors. On color monitors, it will automatically be displayed in 4-color medium resolution. Starting with version 8.0, Super Boot requires at least 1 meg of memory to have access to all features. It should work on a 512K machine except it will not have enough memory for the sound capabilities. If you need the sound capability you should use Version 7.4 of Super Boot or upgrade your memory. Super Boot can control up to 1824 files at once. Super Boot's file selection functions work by changing filenames and copying files. Inactive accessories and autoboot programs will have an "X" as the last letter of the filename (CONTROL.ACX or GDOS.PRX for example). Since the ST only recognizes .ACC or .PRG files as valid accessories or programs, those files with "X" as the last letter in their name don't load. Super Boot makes it easy to control which of those files are active and which are inactive. It controls the DESKTOP.INF/NEWDESK.INF files by copying one of several data files chosen by the user to the actual DESKTOP.INF/NEWDESK.INF file. Super Boot also supports the data files of other programs, allowing the user to easily activate or inactivate them. In addition Super Boot utilizes the function keys by allowing separate file configurations to be assigned to each one (for 30 different function key combinations). When a function key is pressed, all files specified for that function key will be activated, and the other files not specified for that key will be inactivated. If one of the files which is assigned to a function key is deleted from the boot disk or is renamed, Super Boot will simply ignore it and the other files will be selected as usual. II. Copyright Information --------------------- SUPERBT.PRG, SUPERBTA.PRG, SUPER_CS.PRG, SUPER_CS.RSC, and SUPERBT.DOC are Copyright (c) 1992 by Gordon W. Moore, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Compiled portions of the code are Copyright (c) 1986 by CCD and OSS, Inc. and used with the permission of OSS. STARTGEM.PRG, to the best of my knowledge, is Public Domain and is included for convenience. WHAT IS SHAREWARE? Shareware is a relatively new method of distributing software. The author directly distributes his program via electronic means (by BBS's, information services, magazine disks, etc.) and by doing so eliminates the cost of advertising, packaging, distribution, retail mark-up, and so on. The users of the program are free to try out the software for a reasonable period of time to determine if it will be useful to them. If it is, they are asked to register their copy of the software for a small fee. The user is on his/her honor not to pirate the software (continue using it without paying for it). Super Boot is distributed on a SHAREWARE basis and may be copied or distributed freely as long as all 5 Super Boot files mentioned above are included and unaltered in any way (Startgem is Public Domain and is included for your convenience). I have put a great deal of time and effort into Super Boot, working on it and updating it over a period of several years. So if you are pleased with it and find it to be of use, I ask that you send a modest one-time contribution to the address listed below ($15 suggested) to become a registered user. You can try out Super Boot for 30 days before deciding if Super Boot is for you. If you don't decide to register you must discontinue using it. So far the support for the Shareware method of distribution has been very encouraging and I hope the support continues. REGISTRATION When you register your copy, please print out a registration form using the Super Boot Construction Set, or if you don't have a printer please supply the requested information. A copy of the registration form is also included at the end of this document. As a registered user, if you have a special request for something to be added to Super Boot for your specific system, I will try my best to incorporate that feature into the next update. After registering I will also be happy to answer any questions that you might have about using Super Boot. Thanks to the continuing support of users both nationally and internationally who have sent in their fee to become registered users, I have continued to add more and more new features bringing us up to the current version of 8.0. DISCLAIMER Since it was first released Super Boot has proven to be very reliable and I know of no damage ever caused by it. It does not "hack around" with your boot disk and it uses only standard, built-in system calls. However, for legal purposes I must state the following: "I make no warranty with respect to this manual, or the programs it describes, and disclaim any implied or explicit suggestions of usefulness for any particular purpose. Use this program only if you are willing to assume all risks, and damages, if any, arising as a result, even if it is caused by negligence or other fault." III. Setting up your Boot Disk ------------------------- NOTE!!! Please set up your boot disk before attempting to run the programs. 1) If you don't already have a data file (SUPERBT.STF) for Super Boot, run the Super Boot Construction Set (SUPER_CS.PRG) and choose the drive that your computer initially boots from (usually drive A: for floppy disk users, drive C: for self-booting hard disk users, or drive A: for non-self-booting hard disk users). It will inform you that it could not find its data file (SUPERBT.STF) and will proceed to create one. It will also create any folders that it needs which aren't already present (the data file is saved as \AUTO\SUPERBT\SUPERBT.STF). The data file must be created before you can use the Construction Set. You must also choose the menu option which says "SPECIFY DISK DRIVES" (described below) and configure your disk drives before continuing. 2) Place SUPERBT.PRG in the AUTO folder. In order for it to be able to properly choose which programs are automatically run, SUPERBT.PRG should be the first program in the folder. If you already have files in the AUTO folder, the best way to make Super Boot the first file is as follows: A) Run the Construction Set and pick the option from the main menu that says "Show order of AUTO files". When it shows you a list of the files, just note the first file listed. B) Copy the file you noted to another folder and then delete it from the AUTO folder. C) Copy SUPERBT.PRG to the AUTO folder. Do not rename it! D) Move the file that you previously copied to another folder back into the AUTO folder. E) Run the Construction set again to make sure SUPERBT.PRG is the first file in the directory. Remember that looking at the date of a file does not always accurately tell you its actual order in the directory. To check the order always use the Super Boot Construction Set. Also, depending on the hardware and software you are using, there may be some programs which need to be run before Super Boot. If your hard disk is not self booting, your hard disk boot program must run before Super Boot (AHDI.PRG for Atari Hard Drives or SUPBOOT.PRG for Supra Hard Drives are two good examples). If those programs didn't run first Super Boot could not access the files on your hard drive. If something doesn't work properly, try changing around the order of your files in the directory until you get things working properly. 3) Place all autoboot programs in the AUTO folder. An autoboot program is any program which is placed in the AUTO folder and has ".PRG" as the filename extension. All autoboot programs will be automatically executed at boot time, and the programs are run according to their order in the directory. NOTE: Only programs with .PRG as an extension will run, files with a .TOS extension won't run. (For .TOS programs, simply rename them to .PRG) Also, only non-GEM programs can be autobooted (a GEM program is a program which uses features like windows, the mouse, dialog boxes, pull-down menus, etc.). 4) If you have TOS 1.4 or greater, be sure that you have a DESKTOP.INF (or NEWDESK.INF) file on the root directory. If you are not using TOS 1.4 or greater, copy STARTGEM.PRG to the AUTO directory of your boot disk. Do not rename this file to anything other than STARTGEM.PRG! If you prefer, you could copy HEADSTRT.PRG to the AUTO directory instead of STARTGEM.PRG. Headstart is a replacement for STARTGEM and is supposedly more compatible than Startgem. Be sure it is named HEADSTRT.PRG. Do not create a HEADSTRT.DAT file as is suggested in the documentation for Headstart if you want to use it with Super Boot. Headstart Version 1.1 will look for the STARTGEM.INF file that Super Boot creates if HEADSTRT.DAT is not present. WARNING: IF YOU ARE USING TOS 1.4 OR GREATER, DO NOT PUT STARTGEM.PRG OR HEADSTRT.PRG IN YOUR AUTO FOLDER! IF YOU ARE NOT USING TOS 1.4 OR GREATER, DO NOT PUT BOTH HEADSTART AND STARTGEM IN THE AUTO FOLDER AT THE SAME TIME! 5) Copy SUPERBTA.PRG to the AUTO directory. This program should optimally be the last program in the directory. SUPERBTA.PRG is an auxiliary program which works with SUPERBT.PRG so that any auto programs which cause a reboot to make themselves reset-proof (programs such as Shadow and reset-proof ramdisks) will not make Super Boot appear to run twice after the program causes the reboot. This program must be present in order for Super Boot to work correctly. If you can't make this program the very last program in the directory, just be sure it is listed after any auto programs which cause resets. As before, use SUPER_CS.PRG to check its directory order. NOTE: If SUPERBTA.PRG is not placed in the AUTO folder, Super Boot will only run when the computer is first turned on; it will not run after a reset or warmboot. 6) All desk accessories should be placed in the root directory (main directory) of the boot disk. (Users of hard disks which do not self-boot should place accessories in the root directory of drive C:, not A:.) If you use a program which can access desk accessories from a folder (like ACC.PRG or one of the many accessory stuffers) you can put the desk accessories in their own folder, just be sure to specify the folder that they are in by using SUPER_CS.PRG and selecting the "Specify Disk Drives" option. 7) Create your DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF files. A great deal of information is stored in those little .INF files. It sets your RS 232 parameters, printer settings, colors (if the Control Panel accessory is installed), sets low or medium resolution for color monitors, automatically opens up directory windows, and more. Super Boot allows you to select from a number of desktop files. To create the desktop files that Super Boot uses, do the following: A) Set up the desktop the way you want it. Be sure to be in the resolution you want, and to set the control panel, printer settings, etc. B) Save the desktop by selecting the "Save Desktop" item from the drop down menu at the top of the desktop screen. C) Rename the DESKTOP.INF/NEWDESK.INF file which is created, giving it ".INF" as the extension. Name it so that it reflects what the settings are. For example, a low resolution desktop could be named LOW_REZ.INF, medium resolution could be MED_REZ.INF, special modem settings for Uniterm could be called UNITERM.INF, etc. Copy all .INF files to the SUPERBT folder (\AUTO\SUPERBT). 8) If you have room on your boot disk, it is a good idea (but not required) to copy your other Super Boot related files to \AUTO\SUPERBT so you'll always know where to find them (SUPER_CS.PRG,SUPER_CS.RSC,SUPERBT.DOC). IV. Using The Super Boot Construction Set ------------------------------------- The Super Boot Construction Set (SUPER_CS.PRG) will allow you to configure Super Boot to suit your own preferences. BEFORE you run SUPER_CS.PRG, please set up your boot disk as described above. If SUPERBT.STF is not on the same disk drive as SUPER_CS.PRG, you will be asked to select which drive is your initial boot drive. Both the boot disk, and the disk containing SUPER_CS.PRG must be accessible at all times. If you have only one floppy drive and SUPER_CS is on a different disk, select logical drive B as your boot disk and you will be prompted to switch disks as is necessary (the easiest way is to have SUPER_CS.PRG on your boot disk to begin with). After selecting the boot drive you will be presented with the main menu. SPECIFY DISK DRIVES This menu item tells Super Boot on which drive(s) to look for the various files that it needs. It allows you to specify where the Desk Accessories and Auto Programs are located, where it needs to write the DESKTOP.INF file, and what the actual filename of the .INF file should be If you are using TOS 2.05 or greater, you need to change the name of the .INF file from DESKTOP to NEWDESK. If you're using prior versions of TOS you of course will want it to be DESKTOP. Just type in the root filename where it says "Real filename of DESKTOP.INF:" on this screen. If you do not have a hard drive, this is the configuration you should use: Disk drive for AUTO programs: A Disk drive for DESKTOP.INF: A Search Path for accessories: A:\*.AC? (NOTE: see below) If you do have a hard drive, your configuration depends upon whether the hard drive is self-booting or not. "Self-booting" means that the hard drive can operate regardless of if there is a disk in drive A: or not. If the hard drive is not self-booting, a special program (supplied with the hard drive) has to be present in the AUTO folder of drive A: or else the hard drive can't be accessed. If you have a self-booting hard drive, your configuration is PROBABLY this: Disk drive for AUTO programs: C Disk drive for DESKTOP.INF: C Search Path for accessories: C:\*.AC? (NOTE: see below) If you have a hard drive which is not self-booting, your configuration will PROBABLY be this: Disk drive for AUTO programs: A Disk drive for DESKTOP.INF: C Search Path for accessories: C:\*.AC? (NOTE: see below) Note that AUTO programs are read from A: while Desk Accessories are read from C: for non-self-booting hard drives. Also, from experimentation it appears that the DESKTOP.INF file can be written either to A: or C: on non-self-booting drives. The ST looks for it on A: first, and then looks to C: if it wasn't on A:. The ST will boot slightly faster if you specify C: for the DESKTOP.INF file, however if a DESKTOP.INF file is unexpectedly present in A: the one on C: will be overridden. Because some hard drives may be atypical in their boot software, if the configurations listed above do not work you may need to experiment a little to get it right. In most cases however, the above configurations will work. NOTE ON DESK ACCESSORY SEARCH PATH: There are some programs and desk accessories available which can alter the path that the ST uses to look for desk accessories. ACC.PRG can do this (it loads accessories from a folder called ACCS) and some Desk Accessory stuffers can do this as well. The advantage of this is not having your main directory cluttered with alot of desk accessories. If you are using such a program, enter in the proper search path to use instead of the one mentioned above. Example: C:\ACCS\*.AC?. EDIT PROGRAM PARAMETERS Selecting the "Edit program parameters" option from the main menu allows you to choose the various options available in Super Boot. All of the default menu selections in the configuration menu will be the current settings read from Super Boot's data file. MENU OPTIONS (PAGE 1) Date -- If you want, you can have Super Boot set the date for you. You can either enable or disable it from this menu. Also set the current year. The year you set here will be used as a default if you leave the year off of the date when setting it. You can also set the format of date entry: USA = MM/DD/YY, EUROPEAN = DD/MM/YY (DD=Day, MM=Month, YY=Year). Time -- You can also have Super Boot set the time for you. Either enable or disable it from this menu. Welcome Screen -- Ever since the first TOS on ROM chips came out, I kind of missed the flashy graphics display that used to be shown while TOS loaded in from disk. So, Super Boot now brings that back, only now you can choose any display you want. (Hey, if a Macintosh can show a welcome screen, the ST can do it better!). Any picture in Degas, Degas Elite, Neochrome, or Tiny format can be displayed. What's the difference between the four formats? Well, the Neochrome and Degas files take up more space, but they load in much quicker since no decompression is involved. The Tinystuffed pictures take up a fraction of the space, but it takes a second or two to uncompress them. Degas Elite compressed pictures also take up less space but take even longer than Tinystuffed pictures to decompress. Degas Elite uncompressed pictures however load in just as fast as regular Degas pictures. From the menu, select ALWAYS if you want a welcome screen every time you boot, COLDBOOT ONLY if you only want the picture shown when you first turn on the power, or DISABLED if you don't want to use a welcome screen. There are three ways to have Super Boot show a welcome screen. The choices are: SINGLE PIC, RANDOM, and SEQUENTIAL. As the name implies, SINGLE PIC will display one picture every time you boot. RANDOM will cause Super Boot to randomly select a different picture from a given directory each time it is run. If you have a hard drive it could select from an almost unlimited number of pictures. SEQUENTIAL will show pictures in the order they are stored in the directory, a different picture each boot. The advantage of SEQUENTIAL over RANDOM is that with RANDOM you may see one picture 2 or 3 times and might never see another one, whereas with SEQUENTIAL you are sure to see every picture eventually. The RANDOM feature works best on systems which have a battery powered clock/calendar, because the random numbers are generated based on the current time. If you do not have a clock/calendar, you can greatly enhance the randomness by having a large number of pictures to choose from -- the greater the number, the more random the selections each time. Also, if you select the option to show a welcome screen after every reboot (both cold and warmboots), every welcome screen shown during a warmboot will be a purely random selection whether you have a battery-powered clock or not. Those users who use both a color and a monochrome monitor and have selected either RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL MUST keep color and monochrome pictures in separate folders, otherwise Super Boot may choose a picture of the wrong resolution. You also need to enter in the search paths for your pictures. If you selected SINGLE PIC, simply click on the pathname (Color or Mono) you want to change. When presented with the file selector, locate the picture you want to use and click on OK. For those people who own both color and monochrome monitors, be sure to enter in two different filenames, one for each resolution. If you own both monitors but want only one welcome screen displayed when a certain monitor is used (e.g. only show a welcome screen when using the color monitor) then leave the filename blank for the monitor you don't want the picture displayed on. Examples: "C:\PICTURES\ATARI.TNY" or "A:\HELLO.NEO". If you selected RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL, you need to enter in the search path that Super Boot will use to randomly select a welcome screen. Be sure to pick two different search paths for color and monochrome pictures if you're using both types of monitors. Examples: "D:\DEGAS\PICTURES\*.PC?" would search for all .PC1 and .PC2 pictures (or .PC3 for monochrome) in the PICTURES folder of the DEGAS folder on drive D:. Or "C:\*.NEO" would search for all Neochrome pictures in the main directory of drive C:. (To edit the search path in the file selector, press the up arrow key and then the left/right arrow keys to position the cursor. Once you type in the new search path, click on the bar just above the filenames and then you will be presented with a new set of files. If all of these files are pictures that you want to be available, click on OK.) NOTE: Super Boot creates a new data file when the SEQUENTIAL method is used, it has an extension of .STS and the filename will be something like 00230002.STS. The first 4 digits of the filename are the next picture to show (it would show the 23rd picture in the specified directory in the above example filename) and the second set of 4 digits are the next sound it will play (it would play the 2nd sound in a directory in the example). When it reaches the end of a directory it starts over at number 1 again. You can add and delete pictures/sounds from the directory and Super Boot will have no problem with it. The .STS file is created automatically. You can delete it with no problem if you stop using the sequential method or if you want Super Boot to start over at 00010001.STS again. The reason that the filename is actually the data instead of writing the data inside the file is that it is much faster to rename a file rather than to change the data inside it. A HELP button is provided to remind you of the available Welcome Screen options and the file extenders used for the various picture formats. MENU OPTIONS (PAGE 2) Password Protection -- Allows you to restrict use of your system to only those people who know your password. Choose ON or OFF depending on if you want to use it or not. If you chose ON, select VISIBLE or INVISIBLE depending on if you want the password to be seen while typing it in. Also be sure to enter in your password. The password option is only useful on hard drive systems, since if it is used on a floppy one merely has to change the boot disk to get past it. WARNING: BE SURE TO REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD!. Cursor Actions -- This allows you to define how the cursor acts in file selection mode. One option allows the cursor to "wrap-around" both vertically and horizontally when it reaches the edge of the screen. The other option halts the cursor at screen edges (slightly less confusing, but not as flexible). NOTE: If you use Multi-page mode and you set the cursor to "wrap-around", you will go to the next page when you hit the edge of the screen instead of just going to the other side of the current screen. Program Termination Options -- This allows you to specify how Super Boot should terminate, since some autoboot programs which run after Super Boot might not look right due to the way Super Boot left the screen. If you are using a color monitor you can tell Super Boot to restore the screen to low resolution after exiting, or it can leave it in medium resolution. Both color and monochrome users can also have it restore the screens default colors, or leave the colors selected for Super Boot in effect. Note however once it gets to the desktop the colors will change yet again. Floppy Disk Seek Rate -- Since some non-Atari disk drives (IBM style 5 1/4" drives for example) require a different seek rate than the default 3 millisecond rate used for standard Atari ST drives, you can set this at boot time. If you don't have a specific need to change the seek rate, please leave it set at 3 ms. MENU OPTIONS (Page 3) This menu will let you choose how to display the individual files you can activate/deactivate. Multi-Page Mode -- If you select multi-page mode, each type of file will be shown on its own screen which will greatly expand the number of files you can control. If you choose single-page mode, all of the files you can control will be visible at once, but you will limit yourself on the number of each type of file you can display. If you enable the multi-page feature, you can ignore the "Number Of Columns" menu. Number Of Columns -- This menu allows you to choose how many columns to reserve for each file type. The file types are AUTOBOOTS, ACCESSORIES, and OTHERS. This allows you to custom tailor the file selection screen to your individual needs. Each column holds 19 files, and there are 7 columns total. If you don't want a certain type at all you can choose to reserve 0 columns for it. The total number of columns for the three file types must be equal to seven. (e.g. you can have 2 Autoboots, 4 Accessories, and 1 Other, or 1 Autoboot, 6 Accessories, and 0 Others, etc.). MENU OPTIONS (Page 4) Options for Bypassing Super Boot -- Since you most likely won't need Super Boot every time you boot up your system, there are several options available for bypassing it. There are two main ways of bypassing Super Boot, the "hot-key" method and the time-delay method. The time-delay method will wait for a user-specified number of seconds, and if no keypress was made within that time, Super Boot will be bypassed. The hot-key method checks to see if you are holding down a certain specified key (a hot-key), and based on this Super Boot will or will not be bypassed. [A] "Do not run Super Boot unless hot-key pressed" - this means that unless you hold down a hot-key until Super Boot starts to run, it will not be executed. [B] "Run Super Boot always except when hot-key pressed" - this option is probably the most useful and is my personal favorite. This means that Super Boot will always execute every time you boot your system, unless you hold down a hot-key to bypass it. [C] "Run Super Boot always, but abort if preset time delay passes while in: [WELCOME SCREEN] [FILE SELECTION SCREEN] [BOTH]" - this is the time-delay option. You must select one of the above three buttons to tell it to check for a keypress in the Welcome Screen, the File Selection Screen, or Both. The best button to select is BOTH. The BOTH button will check for a keypress in the welcome screen only if the screen is shown. If one isn't shown, it will check on the file selection screen. So actually it doesn't really check for a keypress two separate times, it's more of an EITHER/OR button rather than a BOTH button. [D] "Use options B & C above" - this lets you use both the hot-key and the time-delay method. If you're in a hurry, you can bypass Super Boot by holding down a hot-key, if you're busy doing something else while your system powers up the time-delay feature will bypass it for you. Hot-keys -- There are five different keys which may be used as hot-keys: ALTERNATE, CONTROL, CAPS LOCK, and the two SHIFT keys. Any number of these keys may be selected, but you actually only need to hold down one of them. The CAPS LOCK key is a bit of an exception however. It needs only to be pressed once to be selected, it doesn't have to be held down. Pressing it a second time will deselect it. In other words, if CAPS LOCK is on, it is the same as constantly holding down another key, like the CONTROL key. NOTE: Hard drive owners using Atari's boot software cannot use ALTERNATE as a hot-key, since that key is used by Atari's software to bypass the hard drive and boot from the floppy. Likewise, Supra users can't hold down ALTERNATE, CONTROL, and SHIFT all at once otherwise it will bypass their hard drive. Default Configuration -- If Super Boot is bypassed by one of the methods mentioned above, you can have it set a default configuration. If bypassed, it will simply look at the configuration for the function key you want it to use (depending on if you are booting with a color or a monochrome monitor) and set the configuration accordingly. If you do choose to use this option, be sure that you have set up configurations before hand on the function keys you want to use. NOTE: The function keys to use are specified on page 6 of this menu option. MENU OPTIONS (Page 5) Method for autobooting a GEM program -- If you would like to be able to have a GEM program run after you reach the desktop, choose the method you would like to use. If you are using TOS 1.4 or greater, you must choose the "TOS 1.4 Or Greater" button. Otherwise, choose STARTGEM if you want to use STARTGEM.PRG, or HEADSTART if you want to use HEADSTRT.PRG. Autoboot program sorting -- Super Boot normally puts each type of file it deals with in alphabetical order to allow you to more easily find what you're looking for. However, some autoboot programs have to be run in a certain order to work. This option will allow you to tell Super Boot not to sort the Auto programs but to show them in their actual order of execution in the directory. Write Verify -- This option tells Super Boot whether or not to turn off Write Verify. Turning Write Verify off will cut in half the time required for all floppy disk writes (note that it remains off until the computer is powered down). With Write Verify on, everything written to disk is immediately read back in to assure accuracy. Most people who leave write verify off never experience any problem at all, but it's up to you. F-key Only Mode -- This option lets you have Super Boot start up displaying all 30 function keys instead of only 10 at a time. In the "Function Key Only" mode you cannot select/deselect individual files. You can press "F" while in this mode and switch back to File Selection mode. Do you use Revolver? -- This option allows you to use Revolver and Super Boot at the same time. If you select YES, Super Boot will not be able to detect if an Auto program causes a reboot, but you will be able to use Revolver. Keyclick -- This option allows you to turn off the default keyclick sound (which I personally find irritating). If you have the Control Panel desk accessory active, the Control Panel will reset the keyclick option based upon the DESKTOP.INF file after Super Boot terminates. Default Autoboot GEM Program -- If you choose to, you can have Super Boot automatically run a GEM program when it reaches the desktop every time it is run. This is an extremely useful option. For example, you could have it run NEODESK after your system boots (Neodesk is a replacement for the regular desktop environment). Or you could have it run one of the various menu programs which let you run a program with a single keypress. When running Super Boot, this option can be modified in two ways: A) Each function key has an individual GEM program which can be assigned to it. If you select a function key which has a GEM program specified, it will be selected instead of the Default Autoboot GEM Program. B) You can cancel the GEM Autoboot feature by pressing HELP then pressing F3 (Cancel Startgem) from the HELP menu or you can change it by pressing F5 (Change Startgem) on the HELP screen. Click on the CHANGE button to change the GEM program, or ERASE to clear out the name. MENU OPTIONS (Page 6) Bypass Delay -- Welcome Screen: Enter in the maximum number of seconds you want the Welcome Screen to be displayed. Enter in 0 if you do not want a time limit at all. If you have opted for Super Boot to use the time-delay bypass method during the Welcome Screen, you must press a key during the Welcome Screen before the number of seconds you specified has expired. Do not enter in 0 if you are using this method! File Selection Screen: Enter in the number of seconds Super Boot will wait for a keypress while in the file selection screen. This is only important if you're using the time-delay bypass feature. Attention Bell -- You can have Super Boot ring a bell when it starts up to remind you that you need to press a key before the automatic bypass feature (if enabled) takes effect. Of course you could disable this feature and use a digitized sound file for the same purpose. Default F-Keys -- This is where you tell Super Boot to choose the default configuration from (if you are going to have Super Boot set a default configuration). A different function key can be used if you are using a color monitor and/or a mono monitor. Just type in a number from 1 to 30. Type in 1-10 for F1-F10, or 11-20 for ALT F1-ALT F10, or 21-30 for CONTROL F1-CONTROL F10. Digitized Sound -- You can have Super Boot play a digitized sound when it first starts up. Super Boot can play Digisound format sound samples and also DMA sound samples (on DMA equipped machines like the STE). It can be played while it displays a picture, and if it is a DMA sound played at any speed or a Digisound sound with a sample rate of 13 or less it can also rotate colors on the screen while it plays the sound in the background to give the illusion of animation. For Digisound sample rates greater than 13, all other processing stops until the sound is played, so color rotation (if present) will not begin until after the sound stops, and keyboard input will be ignored until the sound finishes. DIGISOUND FILES: Sound files in other formats can be converted to Digisound format by a program called DIGIEDIT. The sounds can have a sample rate of 1 to 40 (sample rate = 1000's of samples per second, e.g. a sample rate of 25 = 25000 samples per second). A sample rate of 10 is probably the optimal rate for use with Super Boot. To tell Super Boot what rate to play the sound at, you have to give the sound file a special extension. The first letter of the extension must be "S", and the second and third letter will be the sample rate. For example, if ATARI.SND has a sample rate of 8, the filename should be ATARI.S08. If it had a sample rate of 40 it should be ATARI.S40. DMA SOUNDS: DMA sounds are supported at 4 different speeds: 6, 12.5, 25, and 50. Of course the higher the speed the better the sound, and the bigger the sound file. To tell Super Boot this is a DMA sound, the first letter of the file extension must be "S". If this is a stereo sample, the second letter should be "S", otherwise it should be "M" for monophonic. The third letter should be the first digit of the sample rate: "6" for 6 kHz, "1" for 12.5 kHz, "2" for 25 kHz, and "5" for 50 kHz. For example, if WELCOME.SND had a sample rate of 25 and was not stereo, the filename would be WELCOME.SM2. If it had a sample rate of 6 but was in stereo, it would be WELCOME.SS6. A "Sound & Welcome Screen Utilities" option is available for determining sample rates and changing the filenames. See below for more details. Four methods of loading sound files are available: (1) SINGLE SOUND - will load the same sound (whose filename you specify) every time a sound is to be played. (2) LINK TO WELCOME SCREEN - will load the first sound file it finds with the same base name as the Welcome Screen that was displayed. For example, if Super Boot shows a picture called ATARI.PC1, it will look for a sound file called ATARI.S?? (where ?? is any sample rate). Of course if it does not display a picture and the "LINK" option is chosen, there will be no sound file played. This option is good to use if you use the RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL feature to load a picture. If you load a picture and Super Boot can not find a corresponding sound file, it will look for a default sound file, with the name DEFAULT.S?? in your sound directory. The default sound can be a Digisound file or DMA sound file. If it doesn't find a sound to play it is not a problem, it will just not play a sound. Be sure to specify the folder to load the sound from. (3) RANDOM SOUND - will load a randomly selected sound from any folder that you specify. Note that the same limitations apply to random sound selection as apply to random welcome screen selection. A random number is generated based on the ST's internal clock, so if you do not have a built-in battery powered clock, the selection will not be very random on a cold boot (power up). On a warm boot, since the clock has had a chance to change, selections will be much more random. Plus the more files you have to choose from, the more random the selection will be. (4) SEQUENTIAL - will load sounds sequentially based on the order they are stored in the directory (one sound per boot). See the explanation of SEQUENTIAL welcome screens for more information. Three options are available to specify how often you want a sound to play: (1) NEVER - will disable the digitized sound function and will never play a sound. (2) COLDBOOT ONLY - will only play a sound when the ST is first turned on. It will not play a sound if the ST is rebooted using the reset button. Only turning the power off and back on will cause the sound to be replayed. (3) ALWAYS - will play a sound every time the ST is booted, including both warm and cold boots. Click on the filename at the bottom of the box to change it, and a file selector box will appear. If the SINGLE SOUND option is selected be sure to select a single sound file. If the LINK TO WELCOME SCREEN, RANDOM SOUND, or SEQUENTIAL SOUND option is chosen, you need to select a FOLDER to load sound files from. NOTE: it is very important if you are using the LINK, RANDOM, or SEQUENTIAL options that the folder you choose has ONLY sound files in it, and each file must end in the .S?? extender (where ?? is the sample rate and/or stereo designation). MENU OPTIONS (Page 7) Reboot Delay -- Enter in the number of seconds that Super Boot should pause before doing a reboot (if instructed to). A value of zero will cause no delay. If you do need the ST to pause do not enter in a value of less than 2 seconds. DMA Sound Capable? -- If you have a machine which can play DMA sound (such as an Atari STE), select YES, otherwise select NO. If you tell it yes but your machine is not capable of playing DMA sound, SUPERBT.PRG and the Sound & Welcome Screen Utility portion of SUPER_CS.PRG are likely to crash. You can also specify the DMA VOLUME, with 40 being the loudest and 0 being silent. The volume parameter is for DMA sound only. CONFIGURE "OTHER" FILE SELECTIONS The "OTHER" columns on the file selection screen are reserved for data files not presently supported (i.e. files other than DESKTOP.INF, AUTOBOOT PROGRAMS, and ACCESSORIES). For example, if you have an autoboot program named RAMDISK.PRG, and it uses a file called RAMDISK.DAT which contains the size of the ramdisk, you would be able to select from several files each containing different sizes, like RAM_64K.DAT, RAM_128K.DAT, and RAM_256K.DAT. Or if you use a program called PLAYSND.PRG that plays any digitized sound file with a .SND extension, you could select from among several, keeping the active ones with .SND as an extension and the inactive ones with .SNX as an extension. To configure the OTHER file selection criteria, first choose the appropriate option from the main menu of The Super Boot Construction Set program. You will be presented with a menu with room for 9 different types of files. Descriptive Name -- This is a descriptive heading which will be displayed above all of the files of this type. Make up any name for this field which will best help you remember what kind of files they are. File Extender -- This is the three letter extension of the files to search for. It must be three letters in length. If it is less than three letters, the extension will be changed to .ERR indicating an error has occurred. In the previous examples, the extension for the ramdisk data file would be .DAT, and the extension for the sound files would be .SND. File Type -- There are two types of files: Type 1 or Type 2. Type 1 files are dealt with similar to the way the accessory files are. Inactive files will have the last letter of their extension changed to an X, while active files will have the normal extension. In the above examples, the sound files would be a type 1 file since we only want to make some active and make others inactive. Type 2 files are like the DESKTOP.INF/NEWDESK.INF files. Only one file is allowed to be active at once, and that active file is copied to another file. Data files of any size are supported. The ramdisk program mentioned above is an example of a type 2 file. For example, if RAM_128K.DAT was active, Super Boot would copy RAM_128K.DAT to RAMDISK.DAT. Source -- This is the pathname where all the data files are located. For example, if your boot drive is drive A: and you wanted to keep all the RAMDISK.DAT files in a folder called OTHER inside the auto folder of the boot drive, the source path would be "A:\AUTO\OTHER\", if you wanted to keep them in the root directory, the source path would be "A:\". Be sure the pathname ends with a "\" character. IMPORTANT: If at all possible you should not specify an OTHER file with a file extension which is the same as another file type supported by Super Boot (ie. don't use .INF, .PRG, .ACC, or don't use two OTHER filetypes with the same extension). If you have no choice and have to set up an "Other" type file with a duplicate extension you can, but just be sure that none of the filenames in one set are the same as a filename another set. So if you have .INF set up as a type 2 "Other" file for Neodesk, that's fine. But if you have a LOW_REZ.INF desktop file, and a LOW_REZ.INF Neodesk file, that will be a problem. Super Boot would never activate the neodesk file. In that situation you could rename the Neodesk file to LOW_REZN.INF and all would be fine. You could have also changed the extender to something like .NDS and eliminated all problems. Also, as a general rule, the Source directory must be a different directory from the Destination directory for type 2 files. Dest -- This is the destination filename for Type 2 files. In other words this is the path and filename that you want to copy the data file to. This field is ignored for Type 1 files. In the ramdisk example, the destination filename would be "A:\AUTO\RAMDISK.DAT". The following are exact replicas of the configuration screen for the above 2 examples: Descriptive Name: Sounds__ File Extender: .SND File Type: 1 Source: A:\AUTO\______________ Dest: ________________________ Descriptive Name: Ramdisks File Extender: .DAT File Type: 2 Source: A:\AUTO\OTHER\________ Dest: A:\AUTO\RAMDISK.DAT_____ As a further example (don't actually do this), if you were to configure Accessories and DESKTOP.INF files as OTHER files, this is what it would look like: Descriptive Name: .ACC's__ File Extender: .ACC File Type: 1 Source: A:\___________________ Dest: ________________________ Descriptive Name: Desktops File Extender: .INF File Type: 2 Source: A:\AUTO\SUPERBT\______ Dest: A:\DESKTOP.INF__________ When you are done making changes click on the SAVE button to save the changes or the ABORT button to cancel the changes. While editing, a HELP button is available to give a brief reminder of the above description, and a DIRECTORY button is available to help remind you of the location of any files you are trying to set up. HIDE FILES FROM SUPER BOOT Chances are there are a few files that you use every time you boot your computer. It might be a hard disk booter, the Control Panel desk accessory, Turbo ST, or whatever. If you know that you will NEVER want to boot without that file, you can hide it from Super Boot so that you don't accidentally deactivate it. Super Boot keeps a list of up to 90 files which can be hidden from it. Note that SUPERBT.PRG, SUPERBTA.PRG, STARTGEM.PRG, and HEADSTRT.PRG are already hidden and need not be put on the list. You can hide files by selecting the "Hide Files From Super Boot" button from the main menu. You will be presented with a menu with four options: Add, Delete, Save, and Cancel. Add -- Selecting this option will cause a file selector to appear. Simply choose the file you want to hide and it will be added to the list. Note that the last letter of the file extender will be ignored, so for example CONTROL.ACX and CONTROL.ACC would be considered the same file. Delete -- Choose a file to be deleted from the list by clicking on it with the mouse, and then click on the DELETE button to remove it from the list. Save -- Saves all changes to the list. Cancel -- Cancels all changes to the list. WARNING: Use this feature sparingly and with caution! One of the major advantages of using Super Boot is that bad combinations of boot programs can be easily fixed by activating & deactivating them with Super Boot. If files are hidden from Super Boot, a bad combination of those hidden files could lock you out of your hard drive. So be sure the files that you hide are safe and work well with all other hidden files. That goes for both Auto Programs and Desk Accessories. EDIT FUNCTION KEYS Super Boot provides a powerful way of selecting a commonly used set of files by allowing you to assign different file configurations to each function key. This saves you from having to select and deselect the individual files one at a time. From the main menu of The Super Boot Construction Set, you can edit the function keys by choosing the option that says "Edit function keys". You will be presented with a menu showing the current function key descriptions, buttons for F1-F10, buttons for the set of function keys to edit (NORMAL, ALTERNATE, and CONTROL), an option to Edit/Copy/Erase function keys, an option to print a listing of current function key assignments, and an option to Save or to Exit Without Saving. To set up a function key, just choose the group of keys you want to edit (Normal, Alt, or Control) and then press the button for the function key that you want to set up (F1-F10), and you will be presented with a menu screen almost identical to the one you see when using Super Boot, with the current file configuration for that key already shown. Select all the files you want to have as active (just as you would when running Super Boot). While selecting files you can press UNDO to return to the function key menu (and undo any changes to the key you were working on), you can press DELETE to deactivate all files, or you can press ESC to save the changes to the Function Key. When you press ESC, you will be asked to name the function key. Give it a descriptive name; for example, if you just set up a specific set of files for ST Writer, you could name the key "ST Writer". You might also want to indicate somehow that the key runs a GEM program when it reaches the desktop. One good method is to put a "*" on the end of the name of any key that autoboots a program, so you could name the key "ST Writer *". To have a key automatically run a GEM program, click on the CHANGE button in this menu and then select the file you want it to run. Remember that if you assign a GEM program to a function key, the GEM program assigned to the function key will be run instead of the Default Autoboot GEM program. The function keys have a higher priority than the Default Autoboot assignment. Select DONE to return to the function key menu. If you only have a few programs for which you really care if the date and/or time is set, you can disable the date and time function of Super Boot and specify by function key to set the date and time. In the box that says FORCE SETTING OF: [DATE] [TIME], you can choose if you want Super Boot to ask for the date and/or time when you press a function key. NOTE: Even if you do disable the date on Page 1 of "EDIT PROGRAM PARAMETERS", be sure to select if you want to enter the date in USA or EUROPEAN format. Each function key can contain a maximum of 40 active files (most configurations use less than 10 so this is not much of a restriction). If you try to select more than 40 active files, you will be notified that you exceeded the limit and any excess files will be ignored. EDIT/COPY/ERASE KEY(S) Selecting the "Edit/Copy/Erase Key(s)" button from the function key menu will present another large menu. There are five major functions in this menu: Copy Keys -- You can copy one function key to another function key, or you can copy one function key to a whole group of other function keys. In the box on the left which says "Keys to Copy From:", select the source function key along with the group it belongs in (Normal, Alternate, or Control). In the box that says "When copying, also copy: [Key Name] [Startgem]", you can select how much information you want copied. With neither button selected, all that will be copied is the information about which files are active or inactive. Selecting the KEY NAME button will also copy the name of the function key to the target key. Selecting the STARTGEM button will also copy the Autoboot GEM Program selection from the source key to the target key and the date/time settings of the source key as well (since setting the date/time is usually releated to which Startgem program is used). If you use the same basic files but different GEM Autoboot Programs for several keys, these options are very useful. In the larger box on the right, select the target keys you want the source key copied to. The "All keys" and "No keys" buttons can also be used here. Finally, press the COPY button to complete the operation. Swap Keys -- If you would like to swap the positions of two function keys, choose both keys in the large box on the right and push the SWAP button. All information for each key is swapped. Erase Keys -- If you wish to erase a function key, or a group of function keys, select the keys you wish to erase in the large box on the right. If desired, you can select all of the keys by pressing the button that says "All keys", or you can deselect all of the keys by pressing the button that says "No keys". After selecting the keys to erase, press the ERASE button. Mass Merge -- If sometime in the future (after you've spent hours setting up your function keys) you get a new program that you just have to add to every function key, this option will let you easily do it. Select the keys for which you want to add this new file to (in other words, the keys you want this file to now be active on) in the large box on the right. Press the MASS MERGE button and then select the name of the file you want to activate in all of the selected keys. Mass Extract -- This does the opposite of Mass Merge by deactivating a selected file in any number of chosen keys. Simply select the keys that you want to deactivate the file from (in the large box on the right) and then press the MASS EXTRACT button. Exit -- Pressing the EXIT button will return you to the function key menu. PRINT FUNCTION KEY LISTING Choosing this button from the main menu will allow you to print a listing of your function key settings to your printer, disk drive, or screen. EXITING When you have set all the function keys to your liking press the EXIT AND SAVE CHANGES button to save them, or to abort without saving press the EXIT WITH NO CHANGES button. SHOW ORDER OF AUTO FILES Selecting this option from the main menu allows you to view the true order of files in the AUTO directory. You can choose to show just programs, or show all files in the directory, and you can send the output to either the screen or printer. This option is better than looking at the order of the files with SUPERBT.PRG, because SUPERBT.PRG will not show itself or any other hidden programs in the "Autoboot" column of files. Usually viewing just the program files is all you need to do, however if data files in the directory are deleted and then programs copied over them, the directory order could change unexpectedly and in that case showing all files would be better. If output is sent to the screen and there are more files in the directory than can fit on the screen, the extra files will not be shown. If you have more programs than can be shown on one screen (175 programs), then chances are you have too many auto programs to begin with! If you're viewing the files on the screen, press either mouse button when done to exit back to the menu. COLOR SELECTION If you're running the configuration program on a color monitor you will be asked to set the screen colors which will be used in Super Boot. A sample menu screen will be shown, and color values will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Move the mouse to a number and press the LEFT button to increase the number and the RIGHT button to decrease it. If you are using an STE, you can take advantage of its expanded color palette by clicking on the "4096 COLORS" box. If you don't have an STE stay with the 512 color palette. The color palette you have selected will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. Color values range from 0 to 7 for the 512 palette and 0 to 15 for the 4096 palette. Above the numbers are descriptions of what they represent, "R" stands for Red, "G" stands for Green, and "B" stands for Blue. Once all the colors are set the way you like them, click the LEFT mouse button on the word "SAVE" to save the changes or "CANCEL" to cancel the changes. If you're running the program on a monochrome monitor, you'll be asked if you want Super Boot to show black text on a white background, or white text on a black background. SOUND & WELCOME SCREEN UTILTIES This utility will allow you to match up various sound files to pictures (if you use the RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL option for pictures and the LINK TO WELCOME SCREEN option for sound files). It will also let you determine what the sample rate is for a sound, and will let you rename a sound file with the proper extension containing the sample rate. You can also change the base name of the file to match the name of the picture you want to link it to. The top of the screen contains all the various sound rates available for use with Super Boot for both Digisound and DMA sound files. Another box on the screen will tell you the filename of the last picture you looked at, and the name of the sound file currently in the buffer. It will also tell you how big the buffer which holds the sound file is. The buffer is allocated based on how much free memory you have, so the more memory your ST has the bigger the sound file you can use. The buffer used in the Super Boot Construction Set is about 100K smaller than the one used in Super Boot since SUPER_CS.PRG takes up more memory, so keep in mind that you can use larger sounds with SUPERBT.PRG even if they don't all fit in SUPER_CS.PRG. If a sound is too big to fit into the buffer, only the portion of the sound file that will fit will be played. The other box on this screen allows you to rename the sound file currently in the buffer. You can change the base name to match a picture name if desired, but the extension is set based on the sample rate for the type of file you last played (DMA or Digisound). Press the RENAME button to rename it. The buttons at the bottom of the screen are pretty much self-explanetory. LOAD DIGISOUND will load a Digisound sound file, LOAD DMA will load a DMA sound file, PLAY DIGISOUND will play the sound in the buffer at the Digisound sample rate you have selected, PLAY DMA will play the sound in the buffer at the DMA rate you selected and in stereo or mono based on your selection, VIEW PICTURE will load and show a picture (press a mouse button when you're done viewing it), and EXIT will take you back to the main menu. V. Using Super Boot ---------------- STARTUP: Depending on the way you configured Super Boot, the first things checked are the hot-keys. Whether or not you should hold one down depends upon the bypass method you selected. If Super Boot determines you wish to bypass it (depending on the hot-keys) the program will immediately halt (but it does go ahead and set the Write Verify and Keyclick options before halting). The only exception to this is if the password option is enabled. If so, it will first get the password before halting. Also, if you configured Super Boot to set a default configuration if bypassed the default will be set at this time. NOTE: To use the hot-key feature on newer ST's, you have to wait until you see your floppy drive light come on, and THEN press the hot-key, otherwise your ST won't realize that you are holding down any keys. This is not only true for Super Boot but for any program which checks bypass keys (such as ICD's or Atari's hard disk boot software). WELCOME SCREEN: If enabled, the welcome screen will be displayed for the amount of time you specified when using SUPER_CS.PRG. You can prematurely exit from the Welcome Screen by pressing any key. If you selected one of the time-delay bypass methods for the welcome screen, you must press a key or Super Boot will halt after showing the welcome screen. If for some reason the picture file can't be read, no "file not found" message will be displayed, it will simply go on to the next function. If your welcome screen shows up as garbage, or if the ST reboots when it should display the welcome screen, it probably means that you told Super Boot to read a picture which was for the wrong resolution (i.e. a High Res picture on a Color Monitor) or that a picture was incorrectly labeled (i.e. a picture saved in Neochrome format was labeled as a Tiny picture (.TNY) instead of as a Neochrome picture (.NEO). The picture must have the standard extender on it for Super Boot to Read it. Valid Extenders Tiny = .TNY, .TN? (? = any character is valid) Neochrome = .NEO Degas = .PI1, .PI2, .PI3 Degas Elite = .PI1, .PI2, .PI3, .PC1, .PC2, .PC3 DIGITIZED SOUND: If enabled, Super Boot will play a digitized sound while displaying the Welcome Screen. If you do not have a Welcome Screen and the sound is a Digisound sample at a rate of 13 or less or a DMA sound, Super Boot will continue on processing while it plays the sound in the background. If the sample rate is higher, Super Boot will halt while it plays the sound and will then continue on. Super Boot will turn off the sound if it is still playing in the background when you are ready to go to the desktop. PASSWORD: If enabled, Super Boot will ask for a password. Super Boot will not ask for the password if it recognizes the system was warm booted. If the password is entered incorrectly, you will be asked to re-enter it. If it is incorrectly entered 3 times the system will shut down and the computer will have to be reset or rebooted. DATE: If enabled, Super Boot will prompt you to enter in the current date. If Super Boot recognizes that the system was warm booted, it will not ask for the date. Pressing RETURN on a blank date will leave the date as it is. The date can be entered in any one of several standard formats. If you want to enter the date in a European format (Day, Month, Year) be sure to specify it in the configuration program. Entering the year is optional; if not entered, the default year (specified in SUPER_CS.PRG) will be used. A default year is provided to speed up entering in the date. You may enter in the date with the day, month, and year separated by any non-numeric character. Or you may enter in the date without any separating characters, provided you enter in two digits each for the day, month, and year. Valid Example Dates: (USA FORMAT, ASSUMING 1989 AS DEFAULT YEAR) 12/5/89 = 12/05/89 12/5 = 12/05/89 1-08-90 = 01/08/90 10.21 = 10/21/89 110489 = 11/04/89 010890 = 01/08/90 0108 = 01/08/89 Invalid Example Dates: /4/89 (No month was specified) 123 (Exactly two digits needed for each field) 11/7/1990 (Year must be two digits or less) NOTE: Super Boot checks only to make sure that the date is within reasonable bounds. It does not, for example, check to see if Feb. 29 is valid, or June 31. Any date between 1 and 31 is accepted as valid. TIME: If enabled, you will next be prompted to enter in the current time. As with the date, pressing RETURN on a blank time will leave the time alone. You must enter in the time as military time. Military time is like ordinary time, except that if the time is PM, you add 12 to the hour (except for midnight and noon, where 12:00 AM = 00:00, and 12:00 PM = 12:00). Examples of conversion to military time: 12:30 PM = 12:30, 4:15 PM = 16:15, 8:00 AM = 08:00, 12:45 AM = 00:45. The time may be entered in the same manner as the date, either with separating characters or without separating characters using two digit numbers for the hours, minutes, and seconds. Entering in the seconds is optional, if you don't enter them in they will be set at 0 seconds. Super Boot will not let you enter in an invalid time. Valid Example Times: 12:30:25 = 12:30:25 PM (Afternoon) 23:2:0 = 11:02:00 PM 23:22 = 11:22:00 PM 2322 = 11:22:00 PM 232245 = 11:22:45 PM 050832 = 5:08:32 AM 0.30.25 = 12:30:25 AM (Midnight) Invalid Example Times: :30:25 (No hour specified) 12305 (Exactly two digits must be specified for each field) IMPORTANT NOTE ON TIME AND DATE: Several older versions of the control panel desk accessory have been released by Atari. Older versions could lose the date and time under certain situations or might misrepresent the proper time. Try getting the latest, greatest control panel for best reliability. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COLDBOOT AND A WARMBOOT: A coldboot is when the power to the computer is first physically turned on, while a warmboot is when the computer is rebooted either by pressing the reset button or through software. Super Boot can tell the difference between a warmboot and a coldboot, and can even tell if a program in the AUTO folder performed a software reboot. If Super Boot detects a warmboot: - It will not show the welcome screen again, since you already saw it at power up (unless you configured Super Boot to always show the welcome screen). - It will not play the digitized sound again, since you already heard it at power up (unless you configured Super Boot to always play sound). - It will not ask for the password again since it was entered at power up. - It will not ask for the time and date again, since they would have been already set at power up. If Super Boot detects that a program in the AUTO folder performed a reboot (some Auto Programs perform a reboot to install themselves), Super Boot will not run at all and the other Auto Programs will be executed. By doing this Super Boot will not run more than once during a single boot. NOTE: Occasionally the ST may perform a reboot just before reaching the desktop; this can occur whether you use Super Boot or not. If it does occur, Super Boot will run again (and hence appear to run more than once) since SUPERBTA.PRG would have already run before the reboot. FUNCTION KEY SELECTION MODE: If you told Super Boot to show only function key names, you will be presented with a display showing all 30 available function keys. You can press the "F" key to switch to File Selection Mode if desired. Active Keys In Function Key Mode: F - Toggles between File Selection Screen and Function Key Only screen S - Permanently save changes made to a function key HELP - show help screen and other options UNDO - exit Super Boot with no changes made ESC - exit Super Boot and make changes FUNCTION KEY - selects a predefined file configuration and exits program FILE SELECTION MODE: If there are no accessory, desktop, autoboot, or "other" files present, Super Boot will skip the file selection mode and exit, otherwise it will display all available files to choose from. If there is more of one type of file than is allowed (for example 22 .INF files instead of the maximum of 19 in single-page mode) then the excess files will not be displayed. All active files are displayed in inverse (highlighted) characters, all inactive files are shown as regular text. Active Keys In File Selection Mode: HOME - moves cursor to the top, left corner of the screen SHIFT HOME - moves cursor to the bottom, right corner of the screen LEFT ARROW - moves left RIGHT ARROW - moves right UP ARROW - moves up DOWN ARROW - moves down SHIFT LEFT ARROW - moves to the far left edge of the screen SHIFT RIGHT ARROW - moves to the far right edge of the screen SHIFT UP ARROW - moves to the top of the screen SHIFT DOWN ARROW - moves to the bottom of the screen RETURN - moves to the next page (multi-page mode only) SHIFT RETURN - moves to the previous page (multi-page mode only) SPACE BAR - select or deselect files F - Toggles between File Selection Screen and Function Key Only screen S - Permanently save changes made to a function key HELP - show help screen and other options UNDO - exit Super Boot with no changes made ESC - exit Super Boot and make changes W - save changes and then do a warm boot C - save changes and then do a cold boot DELETE - deselect all files FUNCTION KEY - selects a predefined file configuration and exits program ALT or CONTROL - selects a new set of function keys SHIFT + FUNCTION KEY - selects a predefined file configuration but does not exit the program To select or deselect a file, simply move the ">>" cursor with any of the four arrow keys to the filename and press the space bar. Super Boot allows only one DESKTOP.INF/NEWDESK.INF file to be selected at a time and any number of accessory or autoboot files to be selected. However, please note that the ST can currently have a MAXIMUM of 6 accessories active at once, and some files (like CONTROL.ACC and EMULATOR.ACC) count as 2 accessories each. Hold down the ALT or CONTROL key to show a different set of function keys at the bottom of the screen. "AL" will appear to the left of the function key names indicating the ALT set, or "CN" will appear indicating the CONTROL set of function keys. Holding down the SHIFT key while pressing a function key will change the files according to that key but will not exit, allowing you to temporarily alter a predefined file configuration. SUPERBT.PRG, SUPERBTA.PRG, HEADSTRT.PRG, and STARTGEM.PRG will not be shown as AUTO programs on the file selection screen. These programs should NEVER be inactive and are therefore not selectable. Make sure you do not rename these programs to anything else! Any files you specified as "Hidden" will also not be shown on the file selection screen. NOTE: HEADSTRT.PRG AND STARTGEM.PRG SHOULD NEVER BOTH BE IN THE AUTO FOLDER AT THE SAME TIME! HELP SCREEN: Pressing the HELP key will display a summary of key commands, and some current statistics: date, time, write verify, and current Startgem program. Active Keys On The Help Screen: F1 - Set Date F2 - Set Time F3 - Cancel Startgem Program F4 - Toggle Write Verify Off/On F5 - Change Startgem Program F10 - Exit Help Screen ESC - Exit Super Boot And Update Changes UNDO - Exit Super Boot But Don't Update Changes RETURN - Display more keyboard help SAVING A FUNCTION KEY: By pressing the "S" key on the File Selection Screen (or on the Function Key Screen if in Function Key Only mode) you can save changes to a function key. This is useful if you only have a minor change to make and do not want to exit to the desktop and then have to run SUPER_CS.PRG. After pressing "S", it will ask you to press the function key you want to save. Press the function key (holding down the ALT or CONTROL key if necessary). It will then show you the old function key name and ask you to type in a new one. Type in the new name or press RETURN to keep the old one. Following this it will display the Startgem program currently stored in the function key. Press RETURN and it will ask you to enter in a new one. You can type in the new one (be sure to type in the drive and the full pathname, C:\DEGAS\DEGELITE.PRG for example), or you can press RETURN to keep the old one. If the key had a Startgem program and you don't want it to have one, type in a single space and then press RETURN to erase the old one. Following this it will ask if you want the function key to force the setting of the date and the time. Press the "Y" or "N" key for each question. After that it will update the SUPERBT.STF file with the changes to the function key. EXITING: When you have set the files the way you want them, press the ESC key, or the "W" or "C" key if you want to reboot after making changes, or you can press a function key to select a predefined configuration. If you don't want Super Boot to revise any of the files, just hit the UNDO key. Super Boot will display a status screen showing what type of configuration you chose, what the autoboot GEM program is (if any) and what Super Boot's status is (either "Processing", "Complete", or "Waiting To Reboot"). In the configuration field, it will show the name of the function key you pressed, and whether or not you modified the configuration by holding down SHIFT while pressing the function key. Other messages it might show are "Bypassed", "Timeout Bypass", "Default Configuration", "Unchanged", etc. While the program status is "Processing" you should never interrupt the disk drive, either by removing the disk or by turning the drive or computer off. As soon as the status changes to "Complete" it means that the Super Boot program has ended, and TOS itself (not Super Boot) will automatically continue loading auto programs and desk accessories. NOTE: If you use the "W" or "C" keys, Super Boot will pause for a specified number of seconds before rebooting if instructed to. You can tell it how long to pause on page 7 of "Edit Program Parameters" on the Super Boot Construction Set. If your hard drive uses write-caching which may physically update the disk a few seconds after updates are made, you must enter in a delay so that your cache software has time to write out its buffer before the machine is rebooted. I would recommend initially 10 seconds and then gradually reduce it from there if needed. Why would you need to use the "W" or "C" keys? The main reason would be that if for some reason you had a program which runs before SUPERBT.PRG in the AUTO folder which you wanted to activate/inactivate, you would have to reboot before the change would take place. Another reason would be that you ran Super Boot from the desktop and want the program to reboot so that your changes take effect. Note that if you do a warm boot Super Boot should not run during that boot. If you do a cold boot, Super Boot most likely will run a second time. VI. Calling Super Boot From Another Program --------------------------------------- You can call Super Boot from another program and pass it a command line to have it automatically configure your system based on a function key. For example you can set up a .BAT file for use with Neodesk to have Super Boot set up your system based on the F5 key and then reboot. You could even put the .BAT file ontop of your Neodesk desktop and just double-click, and then away you go! You could also use a hot-key program such as Hotwire and set up keys to run Super Boot from the desktop. The command line is of the form: SUPERBT.PRG fk [drv] [-option] fk = function key: 1-10 normal function key 11-20 ALT function key (ALT-F1 to ALT-F10) 21-30 CONTROL function key (CONTROL-F1 to CONTROL-F10) drv = boot drive option = "W" for warmboot or "C" for coldboot The function key number is required and must be the first argument on the command line. The boot drive and reboot option are optional and their order is not important. If the calling program does not make the drive or partition where Super Boot resides the default drive, then you must supply the boot drive on the command line. I would recommend doing it anyway just to be safe, otherwise Super Boot will not be able to find its data files. Also, you should be calling the copy of Super Boot you boot with in the AUTO folder, not a different copy in another folder. The reboot option will reboot the machine so that after the files are activated according the specified function key, the programs and accessories will be loaded. It is recommended that the -W reboot option is used so that Super Boot will not run from the AUTO folder when the machine is rebooted. The -C coldboot option should (on most models of ST's) simulate a real coldboot in which case Super Boot would run from the AUTO folder since the program would think the machine was just turned on. If no reboot option is specified, Super Boot will just activate/deactivate the files for the specified function keys and exit without doing anything else. Examples: SUPERBT.PRG 5 -W C {set function key F5, boot drive = C:, warmboot} SUPERBT.PRG 11 -C {set function key ALT-F1, do a coldboot, current drive is the boot drive} SUPERBT.PRG 25 {set function key CONTROL-F5, current drive is the boot drive, do not reboot machine} VII. Tips & Tricks ------------- EXTRA DESKTOP.INF FILES Depending on how you use Super Boot, you may find yourself needing to use more than the maximum of 19 DESKTOP.INF files, for example if you decide to use a different file for each function key. You can extend the number of Desktop files in the following manner: 1) Select your 19 most used Desktop files, and treat them normally as specified above. 2) Create a new folder in the AUTO folder called "MOREDESK" (\AUTO\MOREDESK\). 3) Copy any Desktop files which you did not have room for into the MOREDESK folder. 4) Run the Super Boot Construction Set and select the menu option "Configure "Other" files". 5) Set up a new entry as follows: File Extender: .INF File Type: 2 Source: C:\AUTO\MOREDESK\ Dest: C:\DESKTOP.INF (Of course if you don't have a hard drive, substitute drive A: for drive C: in the Source and Dest. fields) 6) When you run Super Boot, you'll have 2 areas from which to choose DESKTOP.INF files from. This does create one slight problem however; with this setup it is now possible to have 2 active DESKTOP.INF files when there should never be more than 1 active. It won't hurt anything if 2 are active, but you may not get the file you intended. If 2 are active, the "Other" file has the highest priority and will be used instead of the normal "Desktop" file. ASSIGN.SYS FILES ASSIGN.SYS files can be added as an "Other" type file. Just set up an "Other" entry as specified below. This assumes you want to use the C:\AUTO\SUPERBT folder to hold your .SYS files. And as before, if this is running from a floppy, substitute A: everywhere you see C:. File Extender: .SYS File Type: 2 Source: C:\AUTO\SUPERBT\ Dest: C:\ASSIGN.SYS AUTOBOOTING GEM PROGRAMS GEM programs are those which use such elements as windows, variable sized text, the mouse, dialog boxes, buttons, etc., and TOS programs generally only use text output and seldom use graphics. Only TOS programs can be automatically run via the AUTO folder. GEM programs in the AUTO folder usually result in an immediate system crash. TOS 1.0 OR TOS 1.2: STARTGEM.PRG and HEADSTRT.PRG are two programs which allow you to autoboot a GEM program if you don't have TOS 1.4 or higher. One of these programs must be used in conjunction with Super Boot to take advantage of the autobooting features found in Super Boot. If you set up a program to run with Startgem or Headstart but nothing happens when you reach the desktop, there are several things you should check. First of all, check to make sure the correct path and filename are present in STARTGEM.INF (which is located in the root directory of the initial boot drive). If it is not, it was either specified incorrectly when using the Super Boot Construction Set, the function key was not saved when it was edited, or there was no room left on the disk to create the STARTGEM.INF file. If the path and filename is correct in STARTGEM.INF, make sure STARTGEM.PRG or HEADSTRT.PRG is present on the initial boot disk (in the AUTO folder), and make sure the filename is exactly "STARTGEM.PRG" or "HEADSTRT.PRG". TOS 1.4 OR GREATER: If you are using TOS 1.4, TOS 1.6, or a greater version of TOS, a DESKTOP.INF file MUST be present on your disk drive (NEWDESK.INF for TOS 2.05 and above), or you must have chosen a DESKTOP.INF file to be used if you want to autoboot a GEM program using TOS 1.4. TOS saves the name of the program to be autobooted in the DESKTOP.INF file, so if none exists, the autoboot feature won't work. If you view the DESKTOP.INF file, the filename to autostart will follow the characters "#Z" on a single line. Note that Super Boot takes complete control and on every single boot it will look at the DESKTOP.INF file and it will change the "#Z" line to whichever autostart program you have chosen (or if you have not chosen one it will not have a filename there). If you would prefer that Super Boot not take complete control, and instead you control which programs autostart by using various DESKTOP.INF files with the autostart name already in it, choose either STARTGEM or HEADSTART instead of the TOS 1.4 OR GREATER button on the "Edit Program Parameters" option, but do not put HEADSTRT.PRG or STARTGEM.PRG in your AUTO folder. Super Boot will still create a STARTGEM.INF file but it will be ignored by your ST. PATHNAMES AND SEARCH PATHS EXPLAINED A pathname is the full path needed for the ST to find a program. The pathname includes the Drive Specifier indicating the drive it is on (e.g. A:, B:, C:, etc.), the folders you must open (in order) to find the file, and of course the filename itself. For example, let's say you have Degas Elite (filename DEGELITE.PRG) in a folder called "DEGAS", which is inside a folder called "DRAWING", which is on drive C:. In other words, on a window opened to the main directory of drive C:, you would have to click on DRAWING, which would open up showing a folder called DEGAS. You would then click on DEGAS, which would open up showing DEGELITE.PRG. The search path for this would be C:\DRAWING\DEGAS\DEGELITE.PRG. If DEGELITE.PRG were found on the main directory of drive A:, the pathname would be A:\DEGELITE.PRG. A search path is a description of a set of files which should be found. As with a pathname, the Drive Specifier and folders must be specified, as well as a search mask. The mask can be made up of characters used in a normal filename, as well as the "*" and "?" characters. The "*" character means that any number of following characters will be ignored. The "?" is a place holder character, meaning that a character must be present, but it doesn't matter what the character is. For example, a search mask of *.P?3 would look for any file with "P" as the first letter of its extender, and "3" as the last letter, with any other character in between. EXAMPLES: C:\DRAWING\DEGAS\*.PI? would find: DRAWING.PI1 FALLS.PI3 Z.PIC but would not find: ABCS.PI LION.PC3 A:\ACCS\C*.ACC would find: CONTROL.ACC CALC.ACC but wouldn't find: CONTROL.ACX TURBOST.ACC A:\*.* would find every file on drive A: USING THE SAME SOUND WITH MORE THAN ONE PICTURE If you need to save disk space and you have a digitized sound which would go good with several different pictures, you can fool Super Boot in the following way. (This is for use if you use the RANDOM or SEQUENTIAL feature for Welcome Screens, and the LINK TO WELCOME SCREEN option for digitized sound files.) For example, you have a digitized sound clip of a dragon roaring called DRAGON.S10, and you have 4 dragon pictures called RDRAGON.PI1, DRAGON.TNY, DUNGEON.TNY, and FLYING.PC2. First of all, you have to convert all the pictures to Tinystuffed format. Then, rename all the pictures to match the sound name, but change the last letter of the .TNY extension to something else. For example, DRAGON.TN1, DRAGON.TN9, DRAGON.TN_, DRAGON.TNZ. When Super Boot chooses a picture, it ignores the last character of the .TNY extension, so if it chooses any of the above 4 pictures it will also play the DRAGON.S10 sound file. Note that this method only works with Tinystuffed pictures, and the last letter can be any printable character, so you could have 30, 40, or more pictures use the same single sound. This is significant considering sound files can be exceptionally large (some over a megabyte in length). ACCESSING THE BUILT-IN CLOCK IN ICD HOST ADAPTERS If you have a hard drive which uses the ICD Host Adapter which has a battery powered clock, there are two programs which come with it called ICDTIME.PRG and TIMESET.PRG. TIMESET will read the current time in the Host Adapter and then set the ST's internal clock based on the time it just read. ICDTIME will do the same thing, but it will also remain in memory so that if you change the ST's time, it will also update the internal clock of your Host Adapter. If you have an ST without a battery powered clock built and you do have the ICD Host Adapter, I would recommend placing one of these programs BEFORE SUPERBT.PRG in your AUTO folder, and then using the HIDE feature of Super Boot to hide the file. When the program runs before Super Boot it will set the ST's clock and the portions of Super Boot using the built in RANDOM function of the ST will be MUCH more random with the correct time being set. If you use ICDTIME.PRG you can also change the time on the Host Adapter with Super Boot instead of having to use the control panel accessory. NOTE: The latest software from ICD has TIMESET.PRG built into the hard disk driver, so TIMESET.PRG is not needed as a separate program. Thanks ICD! VIII. Registration, Updates, Comments, and Questions ---------------------------------------------- Please send any comments, questions, bug reports, or registration forms to the following address: Gordon W. Moore 2300 Beech St. Ashland, KY 41102 (USA) Please make out checks or money orders payable to Gordon W. Moore. Any check or money order MUST be payable by a U.S. bank. Some countries (such as Canada) have postal money orders payable through the U.S. Post Office and these are also acceptable. For obvious reasons it is not advisable to send cash through the mail, but if necessary I can accept US Dollars, English Pounds, German Marks, and French Francs. Receipt of all registration forms will be acknowledged via mail or E-mail in 2 to 3 weeks. If you would like me to send you the latest version of Super Boot on disk, you must circle option B on the registration form. So if you are registering as a new user and have an older version of Super Boot but would like the newest one, you would need to circle A AND B on the form, and enclose the $4 or $5 fee for update disks in addition to your registration fee. Updates on disk are available ONLY to registered users. I am no longer accepting pre-payment for future versions. If you want to stay current, my best advice is to subscribe to an information service like Genie. Genie is the official information service for Atari Corporation and is a wealth of knowledge, help, Atari news, and over 25000 programs available for download. If you own a computer but don't own a modem, you are missing out on a lot. To subscribe to Genie or for more information, call 1-800-638-9636 (voice). And no, I'm not getting anything from Genie for this, I just like to pass along a good thing when I see it. Also, if you are attending a college or university, many have access to Internet for free Atari info and programs - check with your computing center. And new versions of Super Boot generally appear in many magazines and on local BBS's eventually too. If you don't have access to the above resources, you can send me an envelope (full-sized envelope please, 9 1/2" wide) addressed to yourself with a first-class postage stamp already affixed to the envelope. When a major update to Super Boot is available, I'll include a page detailing the changes to Super Boot in the envelope to let you know that a new version is here. At that point you can request an update by mail - simply print out the registration form, circle option B, and include the update fee. NOTE TO USERS OUTSIDE THE U.S.: Since you obviously can't attach a U.S. postage stamp, please do not include foreign postage stamps or postal coupons. Also, please CLEARLY mark on the envelope "AIR MAIL - PAR AVION" on the far right side of the envelope, about halfway down. If you can, please include an extra 50 cents with your registration or update request to pay for the Air Mail Postage, although it is not required. If you do not follow the above rules for update notification you probably will not be notified. I am a one-man operation and unfortunately there are just not enough hours in the day to do things otherwise. I can be reached through E-mail on the following services: Compuserve : 73647,2735 Genie : G.W.MOORE Genie : Super Boot topic in category 2 of the BBS on the ST roundtable Internet : gordonm1@aol.com (i'll repeat my Internet address in upper case in case your printer doesn't distinguish between the letter-L and the number-1, but the address should be entered in lower case : GORDONM1@AOL.COM ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- REGISTRATION/UPDATE FORM FOR SUPER BOOT (PLEASE CIRCLE OPTION(S) A AND/OR B -- PRINT OR TYPE ALL ANSWERS) A -- Please register me as a new Super Boot user. I am enclosing $_________ for registration. NOTE: $15.00 is the suggested registration fee. If you feel that it is worth more or less, you may send in the amount that you feel is appropriate. B -- I am a registered user and have an older or incomplete version of Super Boot. Please send me the most current available version. I am enclosing $4.00 to cover the cost of the disk, postage, and handling (Orders outside of the U.S. and Canada please add $1.00 extra.) TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED $______________ Name: ____________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Country: ____________________________________ (if not USA) Phone Number (including area code): ___________________________ Genie Mail Address: ______________________ Compuserve Mail Address: _______________________ Internet Mail Address: _______________________ What model of Atari ST do you have? _________________________________ What version of TOS do you have? ____________________________________ What kind of hard disk(s) do you use? _______________________________ Current version of Super Boot you are using: __________________ Signature: ____________________________________ Date: ____________ Please list any changes or new features you would like to see added to Super Boot or any comments you might have. Also please indicate any possible bugs you may have found: