---===] Acknowledgments & Revision History [===--- SeePix is based on "LoadImage v1.11" by Olaf Barthel of MXM. What, you ask, is different here? Well, here goes... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I got my copy of LoadImage from a local San Francisco Bay Area BBS (I forget which one) about a year ago. I was impressed with the program, but discovered that LoadImage had a few difficulties: 1. The AMIGA-Key menu alternatives didn't all work. 2. There were two print options, both of which functioned identically. 3. There was no provision to allow for a different system font (important, I think, under 2.x/3.x). 4. There was no support for the 2.x/3.x file requester (also important, I think, under 2.x/3.x). Only the essentially obsolete ARP requester. 5. Despite Olaf's claim of being able to make LoadImage resident, I (and others) couldn't get it to perform reliably as a resident program, either when using ARP's resident command, Commodore's resident command or the PD "REZ" program. It would guru or hang the system sporadically, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. So, I had the source code and an executable which didn't work as well as I thought it could. I'm not a programmer (I'm an unemployed UNIX Systems Administrator), but I knew enough about 'C' and the Amiga to be able to make a few changes. A quick note regarding version numbers... after making changes, I started with v2.0 (following Olaf's v1.11), and continued from there. What's changed: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. The AMIGA-Key menu alternatives ALL work. (SeePix v2.0) 2. There is only one print option. Select all or any part of the picture and it's sent to the printer. (SeePix v2.0) This is a screen-dump function, therefore the area chosen is scaled to fit the "printable" area of your particular Preferences-defined printer. 3. SeePix uses it's own internal font. (SeePix v2.5) What's new: ~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Iconify - iconization is something I think all programs should be able to do, and SeePix does. (SeePix v3.0) 2. Modify Colors - Tweak the colors for your particular printer (i.e. BLUE prints BLUE not PURPLE). (SeePix v3.1) Now, you're no longer AUTOMATICALLY put into print mode, hitting the CANCEL gadget bypasses printing, while only the OK gadget sends you to the presses... (SeePix v3.2b) 4. SeePix (while maintaining the ARP interface) now uses the wonderful PathMaster File Selector. (SeePix v3.2) Now, you can cancel SeePix from the File Selector, if you decide after invocation that you don't want to see any pix (why you'd WANT to do that is a mystery), just hit the File Requester's "Cancel" gadget. (SeePix v3.2b) Added a "Delete" gadget to the PathMaster File Selector, so if the you don't like the pic you see, you may delete it. (SeePix v3.6) Due to quite a few requests, the ARP File Requester has been reinstated (as a compile-time option). This has the advantage of making the final executable smaller, but doesn't allow for file deletes, or cancellation of the program from the requester. (SeePix v4.0) 5. Removed all calls to GetPrefs() which means that the menu colors are determined by the Pic palette (instead of your Preferences settings) and resulted in a size decrease of the executable by about 230 Bytes (Hey, it ain't much, but every little bit helps!). Also, this no longer causes a reset of your color modifications with the next menu action, allowing for easier trial & error color modification for each successive printing. You may reinstate the GetPrefs() calls as a compile-time option by defining FANCYMENU in "Defines.h". (SeePix v3.3) 6. Removed unnecessary escape sequences from Shell/CLI output, and revised some text strings, resulting in size decrease of the executable by another 270 Bytes. (SeePix v3.4-3.8) 7. Changed the font. Now using a reduced version of the PD venus.font containing fewer characters than the original, allowing for a still smaller executable (by 1,060 Bytes!). (SeePix v3.9) What's "in the works" (in no particular order): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Support for X-Specs 3D glasses. (If Haitex ever sends the developer's kit I ordered!). 2. DCTV support. (If I get a job, and can afford DCTV!) 3. ANIM support. (Well, maybe... seems to be a simple matter to show ONE frame, but playing all frames is a different story!) 4. GIF 87a & 89a support. (Anyone know where I can get the GIF specs and examples in the Bay Area? I'm not on CompuServe.) 5. Residency? Residentablity? You know what I mean. 6. Support for SAS/Lattice "C" (currently not capable of being compiled by my version of the SAS compiler). 7. Eliminate dependancy on arp.library... for TRUE 2.x/3.x compatibility. I've been using SeePix in its' present form for about a year and it seems stable on my (much enhanced) A2000 under 1.3.2. No, I haven't upgraded to 2.x yet (not to mention 3.x and a 4000!), since I'm unemployed, and the upgrade costs $$$ that I can use for other things, like rent, food and phone bills. SeePix was compiled with MANX Aztec C v5.2a, using the Amiga 2.x header files, so it should be compatible with 2.x (as long as you still have arp.library lying around in your LIBS: directory), though no guarantees are made by me on this. Acknowlegements (in no particular order!): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Olaf Barthel: for providing the basis for SeePix, with his "LoadImage" program. R.J. Mical: for the palette requester (Taken from his "Programmer's Suite, Book I", from which I've learned lots about "C" on the Amiga). Leo Schwab: for his slick "iconify();" function. Gregg Tavares: for his "ExtractFont" program which was used to generate the code for SeePix's compiled-in font. Justin V. McCormick: for his wonderful PathMaster File Selector (though it was a real bear to implement, especially for a novice programmer!). Ric Gazey, Glenn Jetton & Doris Reller: my "Beta" testers. "The Benchmaster": for pointing out a couple of minor (and MAJOR) bugs in some of the previous releases (which weren't caught by anyone else). Commodore: for building the best damn home computer in the world. Hey Commodore, get off your butts and ADVERTISE that fact!! If you'd like to contact me for some reason, here's the poop: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hank Schafer 22 ½ Hill Street San Francisco CA 94110-2313 (415) 824-6255 Alternately, I can also be reached on these Bay Area boards: Benchmaster 415-968-8580 (IMHO) The Best Bay Area Amiga Board Giraffe-X 415-346-9147 Amiga/MAC/IBM DTP Board Radical Eye Radio 415-327-2346 AmigaTeX Board Scratching Post 510-656-7439 Amiga/IBM/UNIX Board The Mission 415-967-2021 Neat Amiga Board I hope you enjoy SeePix as much as I've enjoyed "re-sourcing" it. Hank Schafer - November, 1992