POWER-PREFS: The Preferable Preferences Copyright © 1989 Jonathan Potter --------------------------------------- This program is placed in the public domain and may be freely redistributed as long as this document file accompanies the executable. PPrefs is designed to replace the standard Amiga Preferences with one that is shorter, more efficient and easier to use, and it does just that. The standard 1.3 Preferences is 56K long; PPrefs is 18K long - a saving of 38K. PPrefs does everything Preferences does, and more. I have tried to make PPrefs as similar to Preferences as possible, to avoid confusion, and to make switching to PPrefs easier. Even so, all the functions are documented below. USE - Accept the current preferences settings, but do NOT save them. CANCEL - Return to the preferences settings in use before PPrefs was run. SAVE - Accept the current preferences settings, and save them. DEFAULT SETS - Get the default 1.3 preferences settings. LAST SAVED - Load the last saved preferences settings from disk. Workbench color - The four large colored squares choose which color to work with. - RESET COLOURS resets the colors to those in use before PPrefs was run. - R, G and B proportional gadgets select the amount of RED, GREEN and BLUE in current color. These amounts are displayed after the appropriate gadget. Keyboard Repeat - DELAY proportional gadget selects the delay before key begins to repeat. - SPEED proportional gadget selects the speed of repeat. Text Size - xx COLUMN TEXT selects either 60 or 80 column text. INTERLACE - Selects Workbench interlace either on or off. This modification will only take effect if you save the settings, and then reboot. Mouse - SPEED selects the speed with which the mouse moves. DOUBLE CLICK selects the time between the two clicks of a double click. Screen Position - Large horizontal/vertical proportional gadgets selects the current screen position. Screen Size - SCREEN WIDTH selects the width of the screen from 640 to 767. The width is displayed after the gadget title. SCREEN HEIGHT selects the height of the screen from 200 to 327 for NTSC, or 256 to 383 for PAL (double these values if INTERLACE is on). The height is displayed after the gadget title. These modifications will only take effect if you save the settings, and then reboot. SERIAL - Takes you to the SERIAL settings window. PRINTER - Takes you to the PRINTER settings window. POINTER - Takes you to the POINTER settings window. SERIAL SETTINGS BAUD RATE - Selects the default baud rate of the serial port. BUFFER SIZE - Selects the default buffer size of the serial port. PARITY - Selects the default parity of the serial port. HANDSHAKE - Selects the type of handshaking to use. READ BITS - Selects the number of read bits. WRITE BITS - Selects the number of write bits. STOP BITS - Selects the number of stop bits. USE - Accept the serial settings and return to main PPrefs window. CANCEL - Reject the serial settings and return to main PPrefs window. PRINTER SETTINGS PRINTER TYPE - Select either parallel or serial printer. PAPER TYPE - Select either fanfold or single sheet paper. PITCH - Select either pica, elite or fine pitch. LEFT MARGIN - Select the left margin. RIGHT MARGIN - Select the right margin. PAPER SIZE - Select the size of paper being used. QUALITY - Select either draft or NLQ print quality. SPACING - Select either 6 or 8 lines/inch spacing. PAPER LENGTH - Select the length of one sheet of paper in lines. SELECT PRINTER - Select which printer driver to use. CUSTOM PRINTER NAME - Select the name of the custom printer if Custom is the selected printer. GRAPHIC 1 - Takes you to the Graphic 1 window. GRAPHIC 2 - Takes you to the Graphic 2 window. USE - Accept the printer settings and return to main PPrefs window. CANCEL - Reject the printer settings and return to main PPrefs window. GRAPHIC 1 THRESHOLD - Determine the threshold for B&W printing. ASPECT - Select either horizontal or vertical printing. IMAGE - Select either positive or negative image. SHADE - Select B&W, gray scale or color printing. USE - Accept the Graphic 1 settings and return to printer settings window. CANCEL - Reject the Graphic 1 settings and return to printer settings window. GRAPHIC 2 SMOOTHING - Select smoothing of diagonal lines on or off. Is mutually exclusive with Floyd-Steinberg dithering. LEFT OFFSET - Select the horizontal offset for a printed picture in inches. DENSITY - Select the graphic print density. COL CORRECT - Select RED, GREEN and BLUE color correction on or off. CENTER - Select horizontal centering on or off. DITHERING - Select dithering to use. SCALING - Select fraction or integer scaling. LIMITS - Select type of print limits. WIDTH LIMIT - Select the width limit. HEIGHT LIMIT - Select the height limit. USE - Accept the Graphic 2 settings and return to printer settings window. CANCEL - Reject the Graphic 2 settings and return to printer settings window. POINTER SETTINGS Pointer Colour - The three large colored squares choose which color to work with. RESET COLOUR resets the colors to those in use before you entered Pointer Settings. R, G and B proportional gadgets select the amount of RED, GREEN and BLUE in current color. Drawing - To draw in the current color, click the left mouse button inside the square containing the magnified pointer image. To delete a point, use the right mouse button. RESTORE - Restore the pointer to its settings when you entered Pointer Set- tings. CLEAR - Clear the pointer area. HOT SPOT - Select the hot spot (point) of the pointer. X FLIP - Flip the pointer along the X axis. Y FLIP - Flip the pointer along the Y axis. USE - Accept the Pointer settings and return to the main PPrefs window. CANCEL - Reject the Pointer settings and return to the main PPrefs window. The only feature present in the regular Preferences that is missing in PPrefs is the time/date gadget. If anyone desperately wants this included, let me know, but I find it hard to believe that anyone seriously uses Preferences to set the date and time.