home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- *---------------------------------------------------------------------*
- | |
- | Leonard6, the Crash Handler |
- | by John Eidsvoog |
- | Copyright 1990 John Eidsvoog |
- | Release date: September 18, 1990 |
- | |
- | This software and the accompanying documentation are freeware and |
- | may be distributed freely as long as it remains intact, complete, |
- | and unaltered. It may not be sold or included with any commercial |
- | package without the written consent of the author. |
- | |
- *---------------------------------------------------------------------*
-
-
-
- THE INSPIRATION BEHIND LEONARD6
- -------------------------------
-
- An official at Atari (who shall remain nameless) has joked publicly that
- Atari plans to have a head with little ones and zeros appear whenever a
- program crashes on the TT. The more we thought about it, the more we
- realized that it might actually be a good advertising gimmick, not only
- on the TT but also on the ST.
-
- To show that we at CodeHead Software have a sense of humor, I decided to
- create a program that would replace the usual Atari "bombs" with little
- heads with ones and zeros in them. Since this program works on all STs
- _and_ the TT, it further shows that we do indeed know how to make our
- software TT-compatible.
-
- The little head-shaped bomb replacements have been nicknamed leonards
- after the movie "Leonard - Part VI", which was quite a bomb itself. Any
- similarities between the name or images used in Leonard6 and any real or
- imaginary figures or persons are purely coincidental. This package was
- also created with a definite tongue planted in a rather large cheek.
-
-
-
- HOW TO SET IT UP
- ----------------
-
- Leonard6 is a resident program. It can be installed from the desktop or
- from your AUTO folder. You can install it from the desktop (or HotWire)
- by simply running the program, at which time the installation message
- will quickly flash on the screen and return you to the desktop (or
- HotWire).
-
- If you want to permanently add Leonard6 to your normal setup, simply
- copy it into your AUTO folder. It will then be installed every time you
- boot up from that disk. A brief message will appearing showing you that
- it is installed.
-
- If you use a resident debugger such as TEMPLMON.PRG or AMONST.PRG, you
- should install LEONARD6.PRG so that it runs after that debugger in your
- AUTO folder. That way every time a system error occurs, the appropriate
- number of leonards will appear and your debugger will be invoked.
- You'll be able to view the leonards by flipping to your view screen (F2
- in TempleMon, or 'V' in AmonST).
-
-
-
- HOW IT WORKS
- ------------
-
- Leonard6 installs itself in the first 8 exception vectors, which
- normally point to the system's bomb-handler routine. It replaces the
- routine which shows bombs on the screen for those vectors. The vectors
- handled by Leonard6 and the respective number of leonards that will
- appear are:
-
- 2 - Bus error
- 3 - Address error
- 4 - Illegal instruction
- 6 - Chk instruction
- 7 - Trapv instruction
- 8 - Privilege violation
- 9 - Trace mode
-
- These are the most frequent types of system errors. Exceptions with
- larger numbers will be handled by the normal system bomb-handler
- routine.
-
- If you have a resident debugger, Leonard6 will fall through to the
- debugger routines, otherwise it will handle errors the same as the
- operating system does by terminating the current program (with a Pterm).
-
-
-
- CRASHER.PRG
- -----------
-
- CRASHER.PRG is a program which simulates an illegal instruction error
- with Leonard6 installed so that you don't have to install Leonard6 and
- wait for a system error to occur. This will help you decide if you want
- to install Leonard6 in your system or not. CRASHER.PRG will not harm
- your system or create any problems with resident programs or
- accessories. It will simply display four leonards and wait for you to
- press a key to terminate the program.
-
-
-
- POINTS TO NOTE
- --------------
-
- 1. Due to the larger size of the leonards compared to the size of a
- bomb image, on a color monitor you will only see the first 6 leonards.
- Up to nine leonards are supported on a monochrome monitor.
-
- 2. A divide-by-zero exception is ignored and will be immediately
- processed by an 'rte' instruction. This is useful because some programs
- have divide-by-zero errors which TOS will ignore but TEMPLMON will
- intercept. Since this can be quite irritating, Leonard6 will pass you
- directly back to the program without displaying any errors. If you want
- to test your programs for divide-by-zero errors, you should remove
- Leonard6.
-
-
-
- COPYRIGHT STUFF
- ---------------
-
- LEONARD6.PRG, CRASHER.PRG, and this document are Copyright 1990 John
- Eidsvoog. They are freeware and may be distributed freely as long as
- they are unaltered and not included with any commercial products without
- the written consent of the author.
-
- Please note that Leonard6 is not a CodeHead Software product. All
- CodeHead Software products are commercial programs which must be
- purchased through normal commercial channels.
-
- Neither this document file (LEONARD6.TXT) nor the program files
- (LEONARD6.PRG and CRASHER.PRG) may be altered in any way. Copies of
- these files may not be sold, and this document may not be reprinted,
- without the express written permission of John Eidsvoog.
-
- I've tried to make Leonard6 as bug-free as possible. Nevertheless, I
- cannot be responsible for any damages which may occur as a result of the
- use (or misuse) of Leonard6.
-