◊ Depth&Volume is a freeware Control Panel that lets you change the screen depth (i.e. the number of colors displayed) or the speaker's volume on the fly with a keystroke. I made it because many people I know were using huge commercial macro packages (requiring lots of system RAM and often causing errors) only to perform these two simple operations. Depth&Volume is very small (it uses about 2K of system memory) and very easy to use. For more complex automation tasks please check out my KeyQuencer macro engine.
• Installation
◊ Move the Depth&Volume control panel to your Control Panels folder (inside the System folder) and restart your Macintosh. Use the control panel to enable/disable the depth and volume keys, to set your preferred key combinations and to turn the startup icon on or off.
• Keystrokes
◊ The keystrokes used to change depth or volume can be configured by changing the combination of modifier keys (Command, Shift, Caps Lock, Option and Control) or the key set used (main keyboard, numeric keypad or function keys).
• Changing the screen depth
◊ The following keys may be used (where "Ω" is the modifier keys combination selected in the control panel for the depth keys and 1-8 are the keys in the chosen keyset):
- Ω1 = Change to 1 bit (black and white);
- Ω2 = Change to 2 bit (4 colors or greys);
- Ω3 = Change to 4 bit (16 colors or greys);
- Ω4 = Change to 8 bit (256 colors or greys);
- Ω5 = Change to 16 bit (thousands of colors);
- Ω6 = Change to 32 bit (millions of colors);
- Ω7 = Switch to greyscale mode;
- Ω8 = Switch to color mode.
• Changing the speaker's volume
◊ The following keys may be used (where "Δ" is the modifier keys combination selected in the control panel for the volume keys and 0-7 are the number keys in the chosen keyset):
◊ All online services and bulletin boards may make it available to their users at no charge other than the normal connection fees.
◊ All non-profit user groups may distribute it at no charge.
◊ All magazines may publish it on floppy disk or CD-ROM without asking me first, as long as I get a copy of the issue containing my software.
◊ All CD-ROM shareware collections and CD-ROM magazines may include it without my prior consent, as long as I get either a copy of the CD-ROM or an offer to buy the CD-ROM at a discounted price.
◊ All redistribution companies such as Pacific HiTech, AMUG, Celestin or Educorp may distribute it, as long as I get a copy of each media containing my software and a catalog of the company’s offerings (where applicable).
◊ You may find the latest version of all my shareware and freeware programs by anonymous ftp to ftp.alpcom.it, inside the /software/mac/LMontalcini directory. The ALM Share and ALM Free packages, which contain most of my stuff and can be registered at a very low price, are also available there.
• Version History
◊ 1.0.1 - Now freeware, updated documentation.
◊ 1.0 - First release.
• Disclaimer
◊ This software should never cause any damage, but you’re using it at your own risk. As an independent software developer, I can make no warranties whatsoever on it.
• Have fun!
◊ And don’t forget to register your shareware, so that more cool inexpensive utilities can see the light in the future.