"WORRIED" Lemmings Hall Forever Warwickshire 28 th Jan 1993 Dear Doctor, Having finally wrestled the computer away from my 6 year old to view the latest copy of "Bounty" I felt compelled to drop you a note asking you for some help just as you outlined. The problem is really quite simple. Having collected a large number of coverdiscs from an assortment of magazines I want to compile some of the simple games onto one disk that is "self booting" for my children to use. This is vital if my Saturday mornings are not to be continualy interrupted by shouts of "Dad where is the disk that has got Mouthman on". To set the scene as to the level of instruction required I can use WORKBENCH to list out the files on the cover disk. However assuming that this disk contains one games that I want to retain I am not sure of : * which files I need to retain for the disk to continue to be selfbooting. * how do you know which of all the other file names that are listed are needed for a game like mouthman to run? From my feeble attempts so far I think that some of the graphics for the games are accessed from a draw and are not shown as separate files. As you can see there is a very low level of operator skill currently available to complete this task. A good result would be a set of idiots instructions that would enable me to compile a disk with the following games\demo's on: MOUTHMAN CROAK QUICKSILVER PINBALL SPACE INVADERS Trust you can help, DESPERATE of Lemming Hall Dear DESPERATE, Well what can I say. What I believe you are suffering from is a severe case of acute Amigafrustratus. The symptons you describe are very common amongst new computer owners, especialy Amiga 500, 500+ and A600 owners. The cause for such a condition is quite complex. Firstly it is obvious that you , Desperate of Lemming Hall, do not spend a sufficient amount of time tapping the keys. Couple this to the terrible habbit of Collectucoverdiscus and the picture becomes more clear. Consider the consequences of having a number of children who realise that their darling parents bought them the best thing since slice bread and that they should most definitely use it every hour that God sends, especialy when their sleeping parents can not interupt them, the we can almost see this picture. Abyway where the hell did this picture analagy come from ? Well all is not lost. In your specific condition I can recommend a selection of actions to choose from, which I guarantee will work. Some will obviously be more practical than others and your choice, I believe will be dependant on time constraints. One or more of the following actions can be undertaken: 1) Get rid of those kids. I believe some charity organisations offer intrest free credit on any kids over 3 years. 2) Get rid of the coverdisks. Couple this with the purcahse of some commercial software. This can be an expensive business and often disspointing especialy if you play lucky dip and buy Ocean products !!! 3) Purchase a lockabel 40 capacity disk box. Then each night before settling down collect all the coverdisks together and lock them in the box. Alternatively use your well known persuasive, senior management skills to "encorage" your young ones to fill the box. Then quite simply place the box strategicaly alongside the computer with a little note saying that the key is hidden in the garden. If this fails to keep them amused for a few sleepy, restful hours then be well prepared. Cunningly have the key on your bedside cabinet (preferably in a highly noticeable position). Now your cold, wet frustrated children will finaly see the key and in desperate relief snatch it away and walk off in a huff! Often they slam the door in frustration behind them. This latter action is good news for you as it keeps the ensuing noise from Quicksilver Pinball away from your ears. 4) Alternatively you can plum for the option most sufferers finaly take: Learn how to complie their own disks. I shall explain. I will not speak specificaly about coverdisks because much of the software on such disks, although distrubuted "free" on the magazine, still remains copyright and hence can not be copied. (Backing up for personal use is acceptabel but you must not fragment the programme). In saying this many coverdisks cram on small PD utilities which you are free to use under the PD rules. There are two ways of compiling progrmmes on to disk. One easy and one more tricky. The more difficult way, that our accomplished member, TREKKER uses, is to start straight from scratch. He will format a disk and build up the required directories by compiling from various sources. This method is the best system to use and takes a fair degree of operator skill. If you do wish to pursue this route then a more experienced club member will show you on a personal basis. The easier way is as follows. Firstly select the disk that has the majority of your required programmes on it. Then try to identify the excess programmes. Ok you will not be able to identify all but some of the larger files you will be able to remove. It is time consuming but always worth dry running any mods as soon as you have undertaken them. Do a little at a time, back up and test. Now once you have made space available on your Destination disk you can begin to transfer programmes and files across. If you have never copied a file using the Shell or Cli then check your manual, it is very easy (copy filename from sourcedisk: to destinationdisk:). Alternatively you could forget about finger tapping and use the tools you have got to the fullest (steady on this is a family magazine...Ed.). File handleing utilities are a real Godsend... we use them all the time in generating the Bounty Magazines. They are big business too. Directory Opus (see review in November Edition of Bounty) is a commercial package weighing in at around fifty pounds. Even at this price it sells very, very well. Alternatively choose one of the excellent file exchangers found on the PD scene. Sid is very popular and can also be found on the Noveber copy of Bounty. Also DirWork as the name more clearly suggests than Sid is also a file exchager. Yes you guessed it was included in the February copy of Bounty !! These file handlers do much more then just remove the potential disastors of using the shell when shifting and deleting files. They also allow you to view unpacked files such as pictures or texts. If the sound module is of the specified type you can even listen to top tunes. Now you may start to realise how powerful thes tools are. Thats why they were distributed on our magazines. The authors deserve much credit and many registration fees. Anyway back to the question at hand, Once you have identified what needs to be transfefered (I shall help you later on this one) then use the File Exchange Utilities Two windows showing Source and Destination to copy then across. Once this is done you can load the compiled disk into workbench and provoiding you have copied across the icons as well as the programmes you should be able to fire them up. Note: (Filename: Mouthman Iconname: Mouthman.info) Alternatively your disk may have been self booting to a workbench screen where the new programmes should appear. (Use cleanup from the menu) Your question about knowing which additional files are needed to execute a programme is one that most new users ask and some experienced ones too. The simple answer is that you do not know !!! You can find out by trial and error if the progrrammes does not crash (refer to EDENS most excellent artical "How this was done" in previous issues of Bounty). Frequent messages appear such as..... ......Need Req.tools v38+ or Higher to Run...... ...and you think say what !!! Then you realise you should have copied the Req.Tools files from your source Libs Directory (short for Libraries) to your Destination Libs Directory. This blind method is OK but not ideal. A far better method which is much more scientific in its approach is to use a most incredibly, excellent programme called Snoopdos. This programme once running tells you of the computers actions, a bit of a snitch really. For example after loading Snoopdos you run your original untouched programme from your source disk and copy down what Snoopdos is reporting. It will tell you all the files that are being acessed. Bingo that is exactly what you wanted to know: which files does the main programme require to allow it to run !!! Most ecxcellent Ted. And yes you guessed it Snoopdos was distributed for your appraisals on a previous edition of Bounty. Anyway Desperate I trust that gives you some food for thought. Cheers Big Ears...... .......I.K.B.....