Test reports

Tests and Progress reports

1. Little helpers for everyday Amiga usage (by Christian Aichinger)

Welcome to "Little Helpers" for the May edition.

This time the Aminet was a real adventure trip -- not because the ultimate tool was uploaded, but because of the number of viruses and fakes which were around. Unfortunately "Bobek" also got me - although the tiny joker cannot do more than crashing. In addition to this digital misbehaviour I found some tools which seem to be quite useful for daily work. But let's stop chatting and let's talk business!

This month you will find reviews of "WB-Tidy", "LatinMap", "SystemViewer" and "MiraPLOT". Have fun while reading!

WB-Tidy

A dustfree monitor, a clean keyboard and a clearly arranged Workbench - what more does an "Amiga user" want? For the first two items try a damp cloth and dish cleaner. For the clearly arranged Workbench try WB-Tidy.

Well, what does WB-Tidy do? That's easy, folks: WB-Tidy arranges any windows on the Workbench in various formations. After you start WB-Tidy the Workbench opens a small settings window, where you can define the parameters for arranging windows.

Using the "Mode" cycle gadget you can define the arrangement mode. You have 4 variations available:

The "Tile" mode will move and reduce any window on the Workbench that the shape of the windows (frame, close gadget, magnify gadget) will not be covered by any other window and will butt up to the next window.

In "Cascade" mode the windows will be arranged so that each window overlays the next with a freely definable X- and Y- offset.

In "Stack" mode windows are laid over each other with freely selectable Y-offset, so that you still can reach the drag bar with the mouse pointer. Using the "Child" mode the windows are just laid over each other.

In addition to the ordering mode you can also define more parameters, i.e. the offset between the windows, a size the windows will be scaled to, if you just want to move Workbench's windows or also windows of applications. You can also define the original x- and y-coordinates of the windows you want to lay over each other.

It becomes a bit tricky if you have opened so many windows that you can't reach the WB-Tidy window. But the author anticipated that: WB-Tidy can read all parameters from its Tool Types. So it is possible to include WB-Tidy into AmiDock or into any other start commodity. With a simple mouse click all windows on Workbench are tidied up.

WB-Tidy is a real tool in the classic sense. No patching or tricking or doing anything perverse with the AmigaOS. WB-Tidy doesn't need any additional fonts or libraries and doesn't need many resources. Even though a bit long in the tooth (built in 1999) WB-Tidy runs fine on my AmigaOS 3.9 system.

But you should watch out if you open lots of windows (approx. 200-300 windows -- I didn't count them) and you don't have much free RAM left. During my "Stress tests" the "Arrange"-button usually sent WB-Tidy into Nirvana. But it should be quite rare to have that many windows open on Workbench.

The minimum requirements for successful usage are OS 2.0, an Amiga with some free RAM and a few open windows on the Workbench screen. The program can be installed into any directory on your Workbench disk.

LatinMap:

I've been looking for a program like this for a long time and I think other people who type a lot, like letter writers, editors, foreign language teachers and students, have been too. Those who don't have any problem in typing in the following special characters can skip this review.

"±","Ñ", "¤"

Any other person should keep reading ;). Well, how did I do that without searching for those characters for years? Of course, I used LatinMap. LatinMap is a tiny commodity which lists, in a clearly arranged table, all those special characters which can usually only be reached by pressing the "Alt" or "Ctrl" key.

The user clicks on the required character with the mouse and LatinMap copies it into the clipboard. Back in the editor, the text processor or the eMail program you just press "left Amiga+V" or use "Paste" from the menu of the application and the selected special character will be pasted at the position of the cursor. LatinMap supports up to 255 clipboard units, selectable with the lowest slider gadget. Most programs just support one clipboard unit, which makes the choice of which clipboard unit to use very easy. An exception to this rule is GoldED4, which supports up to 3 different clipboards.

LatinMap requires MUI version 3.8 and an Amiga with OS 2.0 or better. Install LatinMap by copying it to any directory on your hard disk.

SystemViewer:

SystemViewer is a system monitor àa la ARTM or Scout. You can take a peek at all sorts of system structures, lists, tasks, windows, screens, interrupts etc. In terms of graphic design SystemViewer is not cutting edge -- the author does not use ReAction or MUI -- and in terms of functionality you miss some things you might know from Scout or other programs of this type. On the other hand this program is freeware and, best of all, the author includes the sources in the programming language "C". Programmers or wannabe programmers will surely discover some interesting details about the internals of AmigaOS. Some useful functions are also available for "normal" Amiga users. You can close "remaining" windows or screens from crashed applications or change priorities of different tasks. But you should be extremely careful. System crashes can be easily produced by using SystemViewer. So don't do anything if you don't know what you are doing!

Usage is quite easy. After you start SystemViewer you can get the information about the desired OS functions by selecting from a list.

At the bottom of the information window you find some buttons, which can remove libraries or devices from memory, or show additional information about the desired system module.

Unfortunately you will notice that SystemViewer is "incomplete". However, the program is stable. During my tests SystemViewer didn't ever crash due to bugs.

To install SystemViewer keep the directory as it is and copy it anywhere on your hard drive. For using SystemViewer you need an Amiga with 68020 CPU and OS 3.0.

MiraPLOT:

And finally a program which is nearly too big for the "Little Helpers" section, because MiraPLOT is more than a "little helper" -- more nearly a professional tool for fans of rendered computer graphics. MiraPLOT is easy to explain: This program computes with 3 mathematic functions for X-, Y- and Z-axis a 3D TDDD object, which can be used with the render software "Imagine". In addition to the 4 basic math functions, trigonometric functions (Sine, Cosine etc.), logic operators (and, or, not), comparison operators (IF, <, > and =) and the 2 constants Pi and e available.

The graphical user interface of MiraPLOT, which by the way uses MUI, is divided into 3 different windows. The first window is used for file operations like loading and saving of function parameter sets or saving the computed object. An unlimited number of function parameter sets can be loaded.

The second window, the parameter window, is for editing the selected function parameter set and defining the resolution (or the number of junctions) of the object. The MiraPLOT archive includes some parameter sets so getting started and understanding how to enter functions should be easy.

The last window displays the object which results from the function parameters that have been entered. On one hand there is the "Wireframe" mode, which shows a simple but in real time rendered wireframe model of the object. On the other hand there are "Solid Wireframe", "Z-Buffer" and "Raytraced" modes available.

The "Solid Wireframe" mode uses shaded areas and simulates a light source. In my opinion the "Z-Buffer" mode and the "Raytraced" mode differ very much in computing time but not that much in display quality compared to the "Solid Wireframe" mode. The last thing to mention is that you can open up to 9 different 3D views, you can rotate the object using the cursor keys and you can scale the object with the slider gadget, which can be found on the right hand side of the window.

MiraPLOT is localized in English, Italian and German. It also includes a short but satisfying manual in AmigaGuide format, which is also available in the other languages. System requirements: the faster the Amiga the better. A 68000 CPU should do -- according to the manual. But a 68030-CPU, a FPU (which is not necessarily required) and a graphics board or AGA to get nice quality are recommended.

Well, that's it for now. If you find mistakes or want to make suggestions or criticism or you know some nice programs, then send me an eMail. I am happy with any response.

Christian Aichinger <christian@aakt.de>