Chop 1.0 User Manual Nov 1, 1989 Preface ======= This program is freeware, this means that you can copy it freely as long as you don't ask any more money for it than a nominal fee for copying. If you want to distribute this program you should keep this document with it. If you have suggestions or remarks about this program, or if you find any bugs, please let me know. Write to the following address: Nico François Corbielaan 13 3060 Bertem BELGIUM Contents ======== 1. Introduction 2. Usage 3. Qualifiers 1. Introduction ================== Oh no !!! Not another input handler !!! 'fraid so ! But wait, there's something new: The main function this program was written for is the chopping of bitplanes, hence the name 'Chop'. Chopping of bitplanes ???, well imagine this: You have got no REAL fast memory (*) and you run a program that opens a screen of more than 4 planes lo-res or 2 planes hi-res, bingo, your Amiga slows down up to 50% of its normal speed ! This is because both the custom chips and the processor have access to the same memory area. Now, wouldn't it be nice to chop the extra planes off on screen, but keep them internally so the processor can run at full speed ? Yes !!! Lo and behold: Chop 1.0 ! When you chop a screen only the display changes, internally the program will still continue to work with the full color palette. Unchop the screen and everything will be back to normal. For example: In DPaint III, you are working in hi-res 4 planes (16 colors), you start a perspective fill (this can take a while). The calculation will take TWICE as long as in hi-res 2 planes (4 colors) !! With Chop you can remove the two extra planes while the calculation is going on and bring'em back after it's finished, voila, a perspective fill that is twice as fast !! Also included in this input handler are some of the more seen features, like a mouse accelerator, clicktofront (also with keys) and sunmouse. Keys and qualifiers are user definable. (*) In general you have real fast memory when you expand an Amiga 2000 or when you expand and Amiga 500 EXTERNALLY (not with the A501). 2. Usage ======== You can start 'Chop' from WorkBench or CLI. To start it from the CLI type 'Chop ', there is no need to 'run' chop because it will just install a handler and exit. To start it from the WorkBench select the icon and put 'ARGLINE=' in the tooltypes (using 'Info' from the WorkBench menu) and then double-click it. This way you can start Chop with your favourite options from WorkBench as well as the CLI. When you start Chop it will try to load the Chop-Handler, copy this to your L: directory (or your current directory). Chop uses less than 2K of memory once installed !! Type 'Chop ?' at the CLI prompt to get a usage message. Chop accepts the following options: -c# : Chop on/off -C#.# : Set hex keycode and qualifier for chop ( Use the key set with -C#.# to chop or unchop the front screen. You can chop upto 8 screens. Screens with user copper lists can not be chopped. ) -w#.# : Win2Front on/off (1 = clicks, 2 = key, 3 = both) and # of clicks -K#.# : Set hex keycode and qualifier for win2front (key) -W# : Set hex qualifier for win2front (clicks) -b# : Front2Back on/off ( use -w#.# with 0 to 3 and any number of clicks to select the mode for win2front. When 'key' mode is selected you can move the window under the pointer to the front by pressing the selected key, this key can be set by -K#.#. If you switch on front2back, with -b1, now the window will be pushed to the back if it was already in front of all the others. With 1 (or 3) you select 'click' mode, now you can bring a window to the front by clicking in it. When you are working in the WorkBench the machine can hang up if you use click2front when you are selecting an icon, e.g. when you double-click an icon to start a program but you've also set the number of clicks for click2front to 2. Therefore it's best to use a qualifier in the WorkBench for the click2front. This qualifier is automatically set to 0x30 when you start chop from the WorkBench, so press either key when you want to use click2front in the WorkBench. ) -s# : SunMouse on/off (1 = movement, 2 = rawkey, 3 = both) ( When SunMouse is switched on the window under the mouse pointer is always selected, so when you move the mouse over an inactive window it will be automatically activated. ) -a# : Mouse accelerator speed ( This is for all who think the top mouse speed in Preferences is not fast enough. Accelerate the mouse N times by using -aN. ) -q : Remove Chop-Handler (or execute twice from WB) Where # stands for a (hex) number. (1 is on, 0 is off) Default options are: Chop -c1 -C5f.30 -w2.0 -W0 -K5f.0 -b1 -s0 -a2 (CLI) Chop -c1 -C5f.30 -w2.0 -W30 -K5f.0 -b1 -s0 -a2 (WorkBench) This means press to shuffle the windows, to (un)chop the front intuition screen. Back2front is on and SunMouse is off. The mouse is sped up 2 times. When started from CLI click2front qualifier is 0x0, when started from WorkBench default qualifier is 0x30 (either ALT key). 3. Qualifiers ============= Useful qualfiers for Chop (in hex): 0000 No qualifier 0001 Left shift 0002 Right shift 0004 Caps lock 0008 Ctrl 0010 Left alt 0020 Right alt 0040 Left AMIGA 0080 Right AMIGA 1000 Middle mouse button (if you can find it :-) 2000 Right mouse button 4000 Left Mouse button Or (or add) these together to get a combination of qualifiers. Enjoy ! PROGRAM HISTORY: ***************************************************************************** VERSION 1.0 First release. ***************************************************************************** Chop 1.0 written by Nico François (Yes, Nico is my first name :-), bitplane chop function by Philip Marivoet. (c) 1989 Nico François / Philip Marivoet