HOW WORKSHOP WAS BORN or Re-Designing the Wheel (sort of). by Doug Groat. Ed: Here's an article for anyone interested on how to set up their own Workbench disk, what to get rid of on a standard Commodore disk, how to change a startup-sequence, what are some good utilities to use, etc.  (( 27 )) (( 27 )) (( 27 )) (( 27 )) (( 27 )) (( 27 )) (( 27 )) (( 27 )) This is an article for everybody that is trying to get that bit extra from their system. Although aimed mainly at those of us tied to using floppy disks, some of the information below may be helpful to those lucky enough to have a hard disk drive. Remember though, this is the way that I found best for me, and if you can pick some or all of the information below, for your needs, then all the better. Background..... Ever since I bought my trusty AMIGA, about five years ago now, I have been trying little bits and pieces to improve a few things. Not just the way that the hardware and software combined, but the way that I performed as well. Little things like, lazily some would say, using a Directory Utility to discover how disks were put together. Learning how a startup-sequence did what it did, trying to get to grips with the CLI first and then the SHELL. Although I can by no means call myself an expert with the CLI/SHELL, I now know enough to get myself around a diskette without getting into difficulty. It has been a long time, but I think I can say that I am no longer a beginner on my system. I have now put together several attempts at improving the WORKBENCH disk, each one being somewhat improved over its predecessor. This latest attempt being one that I feel quite happy about sharing the details with all who may be interested. My hardware setup is as follows: AMIGA 1000 - running a Phoenix replacement motherboard with 2 meg. of RAM. Second disk drive (3 1/2"). Philips CM8833 colour monitor. Pretty basic compared to some, but for the time being, suits me fine. WORKSHOP v1.0..... In the beginning there was WORKBENCH. Now, introducing, WORKSHOP. The all singing, all dancing, multi-purpose utility disk. Sounds a bit like an ad for some K-Tel product, eh! Only this is much better. WORKSHOP has come about through my natural curiosity, and to a greater degree, my inability to be satisfied with what I use to do all the 'hard' work on the AMIGA. Shortly I'll go through the processes to make your own WORKSHOP disk, but now I'll explain just what useful bits and pieces are on it, and where possible why. You will notice that ALL the utilities are 'crunched'. The larger files were processed with Turbo Imploder, whilst the smaller (under 90,000 bytes) were done with Power Packer. Whilst PP has been extremely useful in the past, Turbo Imploder 'crunches' large files much better. [Ed: Find Imploder and PowerPacker on UT 290, along with lots of other useful utilities.] Utility Purpose ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Directory Opus Pro Directory Utility. In my opinion the best of all Dir Utes. Extremely configurable and very easy to use. Although quite large in size, I have it crunched down to 108,712 bytes. KDV 5 A very good Anti-Virus utility. And, the only one that could get rid of the Saddam virus that I got from a Magazine Cover Disk. That taught me a very good lesson. Crunched size 24,932. The disk slave file (brain file) can also be crunched. Another 14,288 bytes. Turbo Imploder A very useful tool. I would not have been able to get as much on WORKSHOP without it. Crunched down to 63,808 bytes. Power Packer Pro For a very long time, one of my most used tools. Good compression results and the ability to crunch text and graphics. Size is 37,224. NewZap v3.25 Very easy to use file editor. Not used all that often, but invaluable when required. It's down to 21,608 bytes. FixDisk v1.2 This program has managed to save a lot of files that I managed to delete or otherwise lose, while moving things around. A good all round salvage utility. Size is 33,360 bytes. Hermit v1.3 Screen saver utility plus. Size is 15,280. Blitz-A-Disk v4.13 Disk optimizer. Probably the best available. I've used B.A.D for some time with no problems at all. Size down to 25,992. Turbo-Backup v1.1 My favourite copy program. I won't use any other. Size is 14,752 bytes. Help! A small very useful utility. Although now becoming a bit dated, still most helpful. Size is 11,336. That is what resides in the UTES directory. Let's continue with what I have tucked away in the C directory. CShell v5.15L I have only just started using Cshell, so I can't say too much, except that the more I use it, the more I like it. Personal choice, but a better alternative than standard. Size crunched is down to 56,232. Cygnus Ed Pro In many people's minds, the best available text editor. Also crunched, to 59,616 bytes. Boot Save/Restore Small, useful bootblock utility.Can save or games or special bootblocks, in case of mishap. Size is 3384 bytes. Boot Tool Another useful bootblock utility, but does a bit more than BSR. Size is only 2520 bytes, so there's enough room for both. DSpin Small disk salvage utility. This program can save a disk, where some others fail. Worth putting on all your utility disks. Size is 5196 bytes. Inf Disk information utility. A quick utility to see how much free space is available. At only 488 bytes, its size is negligible. VMK Vector check utility (used upon startup). Previous versions were virus specific, but now checks to see if vectors are as they are supposed to be. Size is only 1524 bytes. SetColors A colour change utility that changes the screen colours, then can save them to the system-configuration file. Only 2060 bytes. MightyMouse A screen blanker, mouse blanker/accelerator, Hot-Key activator, window activator, clock thingy utility. Crunched to 3,920 bytes. I am really only using it as a Hot-Key for a NEWCLI, and clock and window activator. And of course not forgetting the archivers - ARC, LHarc and ZOO. 'Crunched', of course at 26,000, 19,676 and 25,052 bytes respectively. Also, in the same directory are: PatchReq A patch for system requesters and arp file requester. Requesters will open up under the mouse pointer. Handler and PatchReq both come to only 2,188 bytes. RunBack Versatile alternative for run. I am actually using it as an alternative for the wait command. Only a tiny 468 bytes. PPAnim Animation player from the Power Packer stable. This utility will run most animation files and at only 5,916 bytes it is well worth including. SetClock As I have a battery backed clock on the Phoenix board, I may as well use it. This and the Date command both come to 9,092 bytes. FF Fast Fonts v1.31 to speed up any text output. Well worth including at 3,320 bytes. Find A small search utility that will look for a file and give you info about it if found. Very useful at only 4,984 bytes. CLS Will clear the screen for you, and only 128 bytes. And of course, a few standard type commands such as - assign, CD, Date, EndCLI, execute, failat, LoadWB, mount, NewCLI, Path, stack and Type. So as you can see there are a number of very useful utilities for my use with WORKSHOP. Of course, since I don't possess a printer, so there are no printer or related utilities available. For me, personally, it is not a problem. How it all comes together..... First thing you have to do if you if you are going to make a WORKSHOP clone, is to make a copy of your Workbench disk. Use whatever means are available - if you have two drives, you can't go past TurboBackup. Now, I'm not going to get into a slanging match with anyone over what copier is the 'best'. Personal choice is what it is all about. What I find works well for me may not be the case for someone that has been using another copier for two years without a problem. The suggestions I make, are just that - suggestions. Use whatever you feel confident with. 'Nuff said. If you are only a beginner, you could use the standard Workbench DUPLICATE command from the Workbench Menu. Once the copy is made, you will need to make a bit of room on the disk to fit the utilities you will want to use. To do this you will need to have access to a Directory Utility (the easiest way). Until you can make enough room on your new disk, use any available Directory Utility you can get. Check out the MEGADISC catalogue, you will find one to suit your requirements. [Ed: Get DirWork on UT287 by Chris Hames.] Boot up with your WORKBENCH copy, open up the disk and set the colours and pointer to your liking. If you do this first, then you can forget about it. And, when you next boot up the screen will be to your liking straight away. While you have the disk open, and to save a bit of time, you can delete a few 'drawers' (directories) while you're at it. You can use the DISCARD option from the Workbench Menu. Below is a list of files/directories that I did away with: Empty directory and .info file. Although they take up very little room, they don't get used, so out they go. Trashcan directory and .info file. Same as above. With a Directory Utility, the Trashcan becomes obsolete. Expansion directory and .info file. I can't see myself using these in the near future. Depending on which Directory Utility you wish to use, you now may have enough room to copy it over to your new disk. If not, don't panic. Just re-boot with the disk containing the DU, and we'll continue. Using the DU, go into the 'devs' directory first. Now you have to ask yourself some important questions. For instance - Will I need these keymaps? Very unlikely! Unless you're into foreign languages and send printed text to overseas friends. Of course, it's entirely up to you. I deleted them all. Am I ever going to use the clipboard? If you have a decent text editor you shouldn't need it. Go on, chuck it out! Do I have a printer, or will I be getting one soon? If you answered yes here, then you will have to retain at the very least, the printers directory containing the correct printer driver for your system. If you are going to get a printer soon, but unsure which one, leave all the drivers in place. Remember, you can delete the incorrect ones at a later stage. As I mentioned before, I don't have a printer, so I dumped the lot. Now we come to the other files in this directory. If you got rid of the clipboard, you can delete the clipboard.device. Same goes for the printer.device IF you deleted the printer directory. If you got rid of the printer, you can also lose the serial.device and parallel.device too. Do you want to listen to the AMIGA speak? No, either did I! Out goes the narrator.device. If you've gone the same as I did, you should now be left with the following files - MountList, RamDrive.device and system-configuration. Good. Let us move on to the 'fonts' directory. Do you like the system font? I didn't. I use one called SIESTA, which I find is easy on the eyes and quite pleasant to look at. So, I deleted all the fonts that were in here and moved over the SIESTA files. If you are using a printer, you may consider setting up a seperate disk full of your favourite fonts, and load them from there as required. This can save a heck of a lot of space. Once again, it's your choice. When you've decided what to do about fonts, it's time to move on to the 'L' directory. In here, all I have retained are - Disk-Validator. Necessary for the operating system to be able to recognise what type of disk it is. Null-Handler. Required by RunBack. PatchReq-Seg. Required by PatchReq for the requesters used by the ARP library. (more on this in a minute). Ram-Handler. Required for the RAM disk to function properly. Shell-Seg. Used by CSH. Of course, if you are using a Hard Disk, you will keep FastFileSystem, and the Aux-Handler. I'm not 100% sure about that, so if in doubt - leave it in [Ed: Chuck the AUX-Handler too - it's only used for accessing your computer by a modem from another computer, and only just works, anyway.] . Next directory to go to is the 'Libs' directory. This is where all the librarys are kept for various programs and functions. There isn't much you can get rid of here, but it may be better to tell you what I have in this directory on WORKSHOP - ARP.library Used by CSH and for the requesters. I have some of the ARP commands in the 'C' directory that also require this library. Diskfont.library Used by the operating system. Explode.library Used by Turbo Imploder. Icon.library Used by the operating system. Mathtrans.library Used by the operating system. PowerPacker.library Used by Power Packer. Requester.library Used for the requesters. StOpus.library Used by Directory Opus. Version.library Used by the operating system. O.K. that takes care of the 'Libs' directory. Now we come to the 'Prefs' directory. Some more questions for you, now. Have you got your printer setup saved? Have you set Screen preferences to your liking? If you answered YES, then you can safely delete the entire directory. If you answered NO, then you should leave 'Prefs' intact till later. Remember, you can always do a bit of shuffling with files and programs, to get things setup in a manner that you are happy with. Lets go past the 'S' directory for the time being, and move on to the 'System' directory. Without getting too drawn out, you have to decide whether you want to retain any of these files. You could perhaps move the 'Mem' files to the 'C' directory and use them from there. If you are going to be using another copier, then the 'diskcopy' file can be discarded. You may need to keep the 'InitPrinter' file if you will be using a printer (I'm not entirely sure about that one - Ed: not required). I actually got rid of the whole lot, directory, everything. The 't' directory can be deleted if you want. I did. Then we move on to the 'utilities' directory. I retained nothing in here, making room for all the other utilities that I intended putting into WORKSHOP. If you are keen on the AMIGA's speech capabilities, you'll need to retain the Say file. And if you want to dump graphics to your printer, you should retain the GraphicDump file. Though I think most printers could have graphics sent through a DU. The DU will probably have a clock as well. And as for a Calculator, look no further than Help! or CalKey for much better versions. Now it's time to bring a few of those utilities over from their respective hiding spots on all those other disks. Don't try to copy over too many at a time. Say bring in your Text Editor and then a Directory Utility, if you aren't using it already. Once you have those in their repective drawers, you may have to sit back, check out how much room you have left on your new disk, and what else you would like to have and use as well. And also what method you will be using to make them operational. Will you, perhaps, have just the DU loading from the startup-sequence or will you have a Shell or CLI window open to use. I can't answer those questions for you, but I can tell you how I have WORKSHOP set-up. My startup-sequence is as follows - cls c/vmk assign CSH: SYS:C mount NULL: Resident C:RunBack Resident CLI L:Shell-Seg SYSTEM PURE ADD Resident SYS:C/csh ADD NEWCLI FROM s:csh-startup endcli meaning line for line: cls - clears the screen, starts things off in a tidy fashion. c/vmk - runs VMK from the 'C' directory to check the system vectors, and then lists them. assign CSH: SYS:C - assigns CShell to the 'C' directory of the boot-disk, which of course is, WORKSHOP. There is another file that it will look for as part of it's inbuilt help facility, called CSH.Doc. mount NULL: - this will 'mount' the Null-Handler required by RunBack to function successfully. Resident C:RunBack ADD - makes RunBack a resident command. Resident CLI L:Shell-Seg SYSTEM PURE ADD REsident SYS:C/csh ADD - These two lines add CShell and the Shell-Seg to the resident list. (I have to be honest I don't fully understand how this works yet, but after a little bit of experimentation, I do know that when I open a new CLI window it does work a bit quicker). NEWCLI FROM s:csh-startup - Requests a new CLI window to open and continue from this script file, setting up the window with CShell and all the commands that I have set-up to function within CShell. endcli - this closes the initial window, that opens when you first boot up. So the first part of the startup-sequence has begun, and the second last line - NEWCLI FROM s:csh-startup - then continues on. This script file contains - Stack 8000 csh -r s:firstlogin.sh Again explaining each line - Stack 8000 - Sets the 'stack' space to 8000 bytes. csh -r s:firstlogin.sh - Starts CShell rolling along in resident mode (-r) and tells it to continue loading from the 's' directory a script file called firstlogin.sh. This file is the first file that CShell looks to, for information on what else to load and where to look for the next part of the startup. It contains - FF >NIL: Siesta.font runback -2 setclock load runback -2 mightymouse >NIL: runback -2 patchreq runback -2 loadwb Delay runback -2 source s:login.sh Again explaining - FF >NIL: Siesta.font - Loads FastFonts using Siesta font and sending the initial output to NIL:, meaning that nothing comes up on screen to indicate that FastFonts is loading. runback -2 - this is one way to utilise the runback command. In this case I am using it as an alternative to the standard 'wait' command. What it does is signals that the next process or file to be loaded should wait for 2 seconds before it begins. I find that although the startup is increased slightly, it makes for less disk thrashing and conflict in the disk drive as one program starts loading as the last one is trying to finish. Each instance of RunBack in this script file has the same effect. setclock load - If you have a battery-backed clock, then setclock will load it for you and in this case present the date and time on screen. mightymouse >NIL: - loads mightymouse from it's configuration file in the 's' directory. Enables auto-activtion on windows, small clock for the time and a Hot-Key combination for a NEWCLI (Left Amiga-Esc). patchreq - Patches the ARP requesters to the system. Instead of getting the usual Commodore requesters, you get a small, easy to look at, unoffensive one. loadwb Delay - loads workbench with a slight delay process. source s:login.sh - lets CShell know that it's set-up commands are to be found in another script file in the 's' directory - login.sh. This next file is the 'biggie', as it tells CShell how to set itself up. Where to position the window and how big. What to actually call the window. It sets up all the 'alias' commands to be able to use just a couple of keystrokes instead of typing in the whole command to run a program. Sets the prompt to whatever you want. And last, but not least, sets up the 'Function' keys as 'Hot-Keys'. That is all you have to do is press the appropriate 'F' key to load a program or perform a specific function. To go through this file line by line would take up far too much room, but if you study it for a while, you will be able to understand how simply it actually works. window 0 70 640 186 set _titlebar WORKSHOP v1.0 set _exit quit;endcli set _prompt "DOUG >" alias an "echo ..........Use requester to load Anim;cppanim" alias bl "echo ..........Loading Blitz-A-Disk;utes/blitz" alias bsr "echo ..........Loading BSR;c/bsr" alias bt "echo ..........Loading BootTool;c/boottool" alias c0 "echo ..........Going to check df0:;c/checkdisk df0:" alias c1 "echo ..........Going to check df1:;c/checkdisk df1:" alias cdc "cd sys:c;dir" alias cds "cd sys:;dir" alias cd1 "cd df1:;dir" alias do "echo ..........Directory Opus now loading;utes/do" alias e1s "c/ed df1:s/startup-sequence" alias ea "echo ..........Going to edit aliases;c/ed s/login.sh" alias es "echo ..........Going to edit startup;c/ed s/startup-sequence" alias fd "echo ..........Loading FixDisk;utes/fixdisk" alias He "echo ..........Loading Help!;utes/help!" alias hm "echo ..........Loading Hermit;utes/hermit" alias i0 "c/inf df0:" alias i1 "c/inf df1:" alias im "echo ..........Loading Imploder;utes/imploder" alias kdv "echo ..........KDV 5 loading;utes/kdv5" alias nz "echo ..........Loading Newzap;utes/newzap" alias pp "echo ..........Loading Power Packer;utes/pp" alias tb "echo ..........Loading TurboBackup;utes/turbo" alias we "window 0 70 640 186 alias wl "window -l" alias ws "window -s" alias vmk "c/vmk" alias key1 "echo ..........Loading Opus;utes/do" alias key2 "echo ..........Loading Blitz;utes/blitz" alias key3 "echo ..........Loading FixDsisk;utes/fixdisk" alias key4 "echo ..........Loading NewZap;utes/Newzap" alias key5 "echo ..........Loading Turbo Imploder;utes/imploder" alias key6 "echo ..........Loading Help!;utes/help!" alias key7 "echo ..........Loading Hermit;utes/hermit" alias key10 "echo ..........Loading KDV V;utes/KDV5" alias key11 "echo ..........NewShell on the way;c/newcli" set f1 key1^m set f2 key2^m set f3 key3^m set f4 key4^m set f5 key5^m set f6 key6^m set f7 key7^m set f8 key8^m set f9 key9^m set f10 key10^m set F1 key11^m So, there you have it, that's how is brought together in the startup- sequence. Although it does seem a bit over-complicated, once you get into how it all pieces together, it is really quite simple. The other files contained in the 's' directory are the configuration files for Directory Opus, Cygnus Ed , Power Packerand MightMouse. And last, but not least, the CLI-Startup file. This file is called upon whenever a NEWCLI is requested. A very simple script file containing - csh s:login.sh This tells the new CLI to go to the login.sh script and continue from there. This then makes every CLI window I call up into another CShell window, with all the features and functions that are available. Now, once you've made your decisions on how you are going to proceed with your WORKSHOP disk, it is really just a process of adding and modifying. Whether you are going to use your DU to run all of the other programs, or set up a Shell environment similar to what I have done with CShell. Transfer just a couple of programs at a time, then see how much room you have. If you are running low on space, try using one of the crunching programs to reduce the file size. The only real drawbacks (in my opinion, minor) with crunched programs are that it takes slightly longer to load them and they require more memory to run them as they have to be 'un-packed' in memory first. But, the majority of memory is returned once the program has been unpacked. The End Analysis..... Trial and error. Trial and error. To get to know how to put together useful utility disks, and get to know how our systems work is really bound by those words. I think that it is the only way to get any sort of experience, not only with the computer world, but in life as well. If you happen to make a mistake, don't worry about it. Learn from it and try not to make the same mistake next time. Do a bit at a time. Make a couple of changes, try them. If they work successfully, then try a couple more. If you find they don't work, try and find out why. Experiment. The only thing you can really hurt is the BACKUP you made. After all it is only a backup. The original is sitting safe and sound in your disk-box. I hope you found this article of some help, in some way. The Credits..... I can't sign off without thanking the people who have helped me get to know how to do things, and for their programs that have helped me to get into the learning process a bit easier. They are: Steve Wright - my brother-in-law, who has been an invaluable source of information and help, with answers to all my questions. Tim Strachan and MEGADISC - another invaluable source of information and help. And the MEGADISC library for the source of many great programs. Jonathan Potter - for Directory Opus Professional. Not only a great program, but if you go a little deeper a fantastic learning tool, too. Nico Francois - for Power Packer. This program helped me manage to get a lot more onto the earlier disks that I fiddled with. Thanks heaps, Doug Groat.  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