HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: fgd3@nifty.UUCP (Fabbian G. Dufoe, III)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re:  A Style Guide Question
Distribution: world
Date: 21 Nov 92 12:23:28 EST
Organization: Fabbian G. Dufoe, III

In article <56468@dime.cs.umass.edu> barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett) writes:
>   And then, there are the programs that use <RETURN> or <ENTER> to
>move from string gadget to string gadget.  In such a program, using the menu
>key equivalents is nearly impossible!  And yet, it's a common practice
>that (IMHO) is intuitively a reasonable thing to do.

   The behavior of string gadgets in Workbench 1.3 (and earlier) was an
unfortunate mistake.  You don't get a GADGETUP message until the user
presses the "Return" (or "Enter") key.  So that's the key you have to use
under 1.3 to move from one string gadget to another.  It's much better to
use the "Tab" key to move to the next string gadget, the "Shift-Tab"
combination to move to the previous string gadget, and the "Return" key to
bring about the default action.  It's going to be hard to change now,
because so many people have grown accustomed to using the "Return" key to
move between gadgets.

   Is there any way to modify the behavior of string gadgets under 1.3 so
they will respond to the "Tab" and "Shift-Tab" keys instead of the "Return"
key?  I'm not talking about rolling your own version of string gadgets, just
making the existing string gadgets behave differently?  

--Fabbian G. Dufoe, III
   350 Ling-A-Mor Terrace South   | GEnie:    F.DUFOE3
   St. Petersburg, Florida  33705 | internet: fgd3%nifty@tct.com
   813-823-2350                   | uucp:     ...tct!deep6!nifty!fgd3

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: etxpihl@eua.ericsson.se (Tomas Pihl)
Subject: Re: AutoDoc -> AmigaGuide ?
Reply-To: etxpihl@eua.ericsson.se
Organization: Ellemtel Telecom Systems Labs, Stockholm, Sweden
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 11:37:58 GMT

In article 1efmn2INN4bn@uni-paderborn.de, fillg1@uni-paderborn.de (Michael Illgner) writes:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I am looking for a tool to convert the standard AutoDoc files to AmigaGuide
> documents. Does such baby exist in the PD ?

Someone posted a source to a program just doing what you want. It was posted in this
group yesterday. If you can't find it, send me a mail.

________________________________________
/ Tomas Pihl
/ ELLEMTEL Telecom Systems Lab, Sweden
/ email:   (etxpihl|Tomas.Pihl)@eua.ericsson.se
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: oahvenla@snakemail.hut.fi (Osma Ahvenlampi)
Subject: Re: How to visualize control chars? (Was: Re: Fast Text output...)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
	<1992Nov17.205949.27174@sth.frontec.se>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 10:23:05 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.205949.27174@sth.frontec.se> bjst@sth.frontec.se (Bjorn Stenberg) writes:
>Opinions Wanted:
>----------------
>How should my text applications (such as editors or viewers) visualize
>control chars (0x00 -> 0x1f) and all chars without an equivalent graphic
>block in the font?

>Lots of editors use inverse characters for control chars and the (infamous)
>'box' for chars not in the font. I don't really like that.

>I'm into an 'Emacs' way of displaying it, using '^' as prefix for control
>chars and displaying chars not in fonts as '\hh' where hh is the hexadecimal
>value of the character.

What's wrong with both modes? I mean, if you just write the characters on
screen, they will show whatever there is in the font. If you do translations,
you can easily translate all non-graphic characters to inverse video, ^<char>,
\hh, \ooo (octal), or whatever. Make it user selectable.
--
Osma Ahvenlampi  -  oahvenla@snakemail.hut.fi   * Workstation power for micro-
All my opinions are not necessarily really mine * computer price: Amiga := FUN
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: dbenn@leven.appcomp.utas.edu.au (David Benn)
Subject: Re: Attn Commodore: You are making a Big Mistake (Hardware Manual)
Organization: University of Tasmania at Launceston
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 21:45:33 GMT

I am reminded of the film Name of the Rose - set during the time of the
Inquisition - in which thousands of volumes of books brim-full of wonderful
and sometimes dangerous knowledge, were hidden in a tower by the head of a
monastry owing to his belief that the books contained "forbidden
knowledge".

Sound at all familiar?

It's true that many people don't but their Amigas for "serious" purposes
(whatever they are), and even if they do, don't you think that people
should be given SOME credit for self-discipline? Failing that, what's so
darn catastrophic about playing around at the hardware level sometimes?

Sometimes I think that the attitudes surrounding the maintainance of Amiga
standards border on the paranoid. YES, let's have standards and stick to
them, but for cryin' out loud, don't prevent the distribution of knowledge
in order to achieve this end.


-- 
dbenn@leven.appcomp.utas.edu.au
David Benn - Applied Computing, University of Tasmania at Launceston.
Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler. 
(Albert Einstein)
From: gs@teetot.acusd.edu (Greg Simon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Looking for C PARALLEL PORT example
Date: 17 Nov 92 17:42:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: teetot.1992Nov17.174228.11482
Distribution: usa
Organization: usd


I'm looking for some C code (2.* compliant) which demonstrates digital
IO using the pins of the parallel port.  I *KNOW* this is possible, so
does anybody have any examples? 

The 2.04 RKMs aren't much help. :-(

Thanks!  Greg  

gs@teetot.acusd.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: GadToolsBox
From: dave@dogbox.acme.gen.nz (David Dustin)
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 21:03:26 +1300
Organization: The Dawghaus BBS, Palmerston North, New Zealand (+64 6 357 9245)

Is Jan can den Baard on the net, or is he strictly Fido Dreck only?

'Cause I have a real annoying problem.  I was sent a version of GTB (1.4) 
as a pre-release for me to play with after registering.  Then when the 
new version appeared in the FishDisk (#731), I installed it, and it 
crashed everything I tried to run it..

It seems to open a custom screen (which is brought to front), and behind 
this (on the workbench screen) is a bordered window, with NO gadgets, and 
no way to swap it behind something.  On this window, I get a 
system-failure requstor.

It seems to have happened with this new version, because the version that 
I was sent by Jan works fine.


Also, is there a new version available out there??

                                                                 :)ave

--
David Dustin             |  "Nice jail.  Looks strong."
Dave@Dogbox.acme.gen.nz  |                               - H. Houdini
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.misc
From: arothfus@iastate.edu (lunatic)
Subject: opinion on jforth p3?
Keywords: forth,jforth
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 17:34:03 GMT

Does anyone have any comments on JForth Professional 3.0? ( or
even any earlier versions?)  Does this system require any outlandish
memory or diskspace ?  
Please either post or email your comments. thanx....


bitnet:tnay5@isuvax
internet:arothfus@iastate.edu

"The Truth Shall Make You Free."

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: New hardware reference guide?
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 13:54:12 GMT

In <1992Nov16.134153.6356@ifi.uio.no> olavka@ifi.uio.no (Olav Lur}s Kalgraf) writes:
>Have you ever tried hitting the hardware with pure optimized assebly????
>I can tell you that it can't be compared to OS snailcode. I mean, there is
>a reason why most games are written in 'trash the metal' code......

The reason is that many game programmers came form other machines (or
still write for other machines) where OS support is NIL. And they only
considered the Hardware manual to be useful like in the old C64 days.

And of course it can be easier to learn about the hardware than to learn
about the OS if you are used to the former kind of programming.

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.programmer:16184 comp.sys.amiga.misc:17252
From: brandt@point.cs.uwm.edu (Robert Allan Brandt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: LaTeX available for Amiga?
Date: 22 Nov 1992 01:48:57 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.2.5


I was wondering if anybody knows if an Amiga port of LaTeX is available.

I have seen a version of TeX on some Fred Fish disks, but to my knowledge

it doesn't have LaTeX support.  I also know that you can buy the entire

TeX package (LaTeX, MetaFont, etc...) from some company for about $200.

I was curious if anybody knew of any ftp sites.

Thanks for any and all help in this matter,

Bob Brandt brandt@miller.cs.uwm.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: New hardware reference guide?
Supersedes: <92325.150801K3023E2@ALIJKU11.BITNET>
Organization: Johannes Kepler University Linz - Computing Center
Date: Friday, 20 Nov 1992 15:19:47 CET
From: <K3023E2@ALIJKU11.BITNET>
From: rock@lakes.trenton.sc.us (Rockerboy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: New hardware reference guide?
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 92 20:57:11 EST
Reply-To: rock@lakes.trenton.sc.us (Rockerboy)
Organization: Lakes Public Access

oahvenla@snakemail.hut.fi (Osma Ahvenlampi) writes:

> In article <Bxv4n4.JJ3@cck.coventry.ac.uk> csg019@cch.coventry.ac.uk (-~=Zaph
> >>The point is that you have to reboot your computer even to _start_ the
> >>demo.
> 
> >Jeez it must be murder pressing the 3 keys together...
> 
> Not to go into detail, but some Amigas are not treated as game consoles.
> Mine, for example, although it is only a 68010 A500, is running constantly,
> and I like to avoid even reboots. That's the reason why I think Cube'o'Matic
> is the best demo I have seen yet. If only all would be like that, it's not
> like it's HARD to allocate your memory and check what you're running on..
> --
> Osma Ahvenlampi  -  oahvenla@snakemail.hut.fi   * Workstation power for micro
> All my opinions are not necessarily really mine * computer price: Amiga := FU

I have a simple include file called demostart that opens a requester, 
asks for permission to take over the machine, then sends my routine 
control of the machine in a shutdown state.  Very simple and handy.  I 
even have definitions so that I can automatically have routines called to 
initialise a protracker mod.  So, no, it isn't hard.  However, if you're 
dealing with something really huge, it is easier to boot and load things 
where you want them, etc.  Figure, a small demo can be started from the 
cli, etc.  A bit one will probably need to be booted, or else assume it 
has the whole machine and wipe everything out _anyway_.  (i.e., if it's 
very big, it probably needs more space than is available anyway.)  Maybe 
not 100% true, but at least 75%.  Besides, would you trust something 
important running and maybe have a demo wipe it out?  Not me!
From: kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent Dalton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: GCC and streams
Date: 19 Nov 92 10:32:46 GMT
Organization: NCR Microelectronics, Ft. Collins, CO
In-reply-to: charro@ee.ualberta.ca's message of 18 Nov 92 01:17:43 GMT

>>>>> On 18 Nov 92 01:17:43 GMT, charro@ee.ualberta.ca (Dan Charrois) said:

Dan> I have a question regarding the gcc compiler (2.2.2).

Dan> Since no include files came with gcc, I told it to use those which
Dan> came with Lattice C..  but I have a small problem...

GCC has all the Standard ANSI headers (and then some) included in the
full distribution. Sounds like you only got a partial GCC distribution.
I recommend grabbing the complete gcc kit off of any of the aminet sites
and not bother even trying to get the Lattice headers to work (unless
you think it'd be fun ;^). At that point, all you need to do is set up
the Commodore includes/amiga.lib to work with GCC (easy) and you're set.

--
/**************************************************************************/
/* Kent Dalton                   * EMail: Kent.Dalton@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM */
/* NCR Microelectronics          * Phone: (303) 223-5100 X-319            */  
/* 2001 Danfield Ct. MS470A      *   FAX: (303) 226-9556                  */
/* Fort Collins, Colorado 80525  *                                        */
/**************************************************************************/
SHHHH!!  I hear SIX TATTOOED TRUCK-DRIVERS tossing ENGINE BLOCKS
 into empty OIL DRUMS..
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: csg019@cch.coventry.ac.uk (-~=Zaphod=~-)
Subject: Re: AutoDoc -> AmigaGuide ?
Organization: Coventry University
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 13:25:46 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.113758.11929@eua.ericsson.se> etxpihl@eua.ericsson.se writes:
>In article 1efmn2INN4bn@uni-paderborn.de, fillg1@uni-paderborn.de (Michael Illgner) writes:
>> Hi folks,
>> 
>> I am looking for a tool to convert the standard AutoDoc files to AmigaGuide
>> documents. Does such baby exist in the PD ?
>
>Someone posted a source to a program just doing what you want. It was posted in this
>group yesterday. If you can't find it, send me a mail.

Er, what is an AutoDoc?
I've heard it mentioned before, email me please!


-- 
*******************************************************************************
*        ///  A member of S.H.I.T. (Super High Intelligence Team)    ///      *
*       ///        Fight, defeat and kill organized laming.         ///       *
****\\\X//********Steven Haggerty**csg019@uk.ac.cov.cck ok?*****\\\X//*********
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: cpc@shell.portal.com (Chris Cebelenski)
Subject: Re: 2.1 Installer Docs?
Organization: Portal Communications Company -- 408/973-9111 (voice) 408/973-8091 (data)
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 04:05:58 GMT


[Reference to 2.1 Installer program not repeated...]
It seems that a lot of upcomming commercial software is using the 2.1
Installer program too.  The script language it uses isn't all that
complex and should be figure-outable with just a few examples.  I
do not know if this is licensed for other companies to use, or
has commodore finanly gotten (somewhat) smart and released this
in order to provide some order. (sic)  If so, there should be
some docs floating around...
cpc@shell.portal.com
From: Roger_Martensson@p3.nola.bbs.bad.se (Roger Martensson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: Icons for assigns?
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 20:54:40 +0000
Reply-To: Roger_Martensson@p3.nola.bbs.bad.se (Roger Martensson)
Distribution: world
Organization: The Third Point, Mellansel, Sweden 
OD-Comment-To: Ross_Smith

Let me quote something Ross Smith said on 16-Nov-92:

 RS> E.g.
 RS>    makedir work:docs
 RS>    copy work:disk.info work:docs/disk.info
 RS>    assign docs: work:docs
 RS> ... and viola :-) a new disk icon appears on my WB, which I can open
 RS> and find the docs: directory (I don't mind if I have to do a reset
 RS> before the new icon appears). The idea is that an assign should look
 RS> just like a real drive to the GUI, which it already does to the CLI. I
 RS> tend to have a lot of nested directories, and I'd like to be able to
 RS> reach some of the more remote ones without going on a hunting &
 RS> fishing expedition down through my Work: partition...
 RS> Any thoughts? ("So don't nest your directories so much" doesn't count
 RS> :-)
 RS> (My Amiga is a 2000 with 2.05)

Why not:

makedir work:docs
Create an Icon. Use DirWork/DirOpus or copy an icon from an another drawer. go 
to WB and find that icon. Highlight it and leave it out. (Under the icon menu)

Viola, you have the drawer icon on the workbench.

/Rm - InterNet: Roger_Martensson@p3.nola.bbs.bad.se 
---
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: rittle@supra.comm.mot.com (Loren James Rittle)
Subject: Re: New hardware reference guide?
Organization: Land Mobile Products Sector, Motorola Inc.
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 19:45:18 GMT
Keywords: n

In article <37025@cbmvax.commodore.com> chrisg@cbmvax.commodore.com (Chris Green) writes:
>	An intuition screen under 3.0 (or a view under <3.0) provides exactly
>the same capabilities (+ more: 8 way 60hz scroll, sprites, etc.). Open
>a screen or ViewPort and then bang the bits either with the CPU or
>blitter (via OwnBlitter). If you're careful (like don't assume that you
>"know" what the BytesPerRow will be for a given screen size), you're
>a LOT more likely to remain compatible then if you bang on the copper
>and display stuff directly.

Can anyone explain in what way certain games (see ``The Problem''
below) are breaking under AGA?

From Chris' comment, I have a sneaking suspicion that it has to do with
games assuming that they know what the BytesPerRow will be for a given
screen size.

What changed ECS -> AGA and OS 2.0 -> OS 3.0 to cause this problem?

The problem:
It looks like each line of graphics are smeared or/and offset by a
few bytes.  Ultima 6, as well as other games, displays this problem.
Of course, this makes it very hard to play... :-)  If one boots in
ECS mode, the games look fine.

Regards,
Loren
--
Loren J. Rittle (rittle@comm.mot.com)
Systems Technology Research (IL02/2240)
Motorola, Inc.
(708)576-7794
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: koren@fc.hp.com (Steve Koren)
Subject: Re: Unusual SAS6.0 results
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:18:20 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1.3 PL5

Doug Walker (walker@twix.unx.sas.com) wrote:
> 
> We fixed a bug in GENPROTO for the upcoming 6.1 patch that may fix

Sounds good.

> No idea what is going on without source code or a runnable program to 
> look at.  There is nothing in 6.0 that should have caused this.

I could give a runnable program to SAS tech support, but it would be a
_lot_ of stuff.  (about 12000 source lines and a 400 Kb executable).

> For such a dramatic difference, there has to be something different
> in the way the program is linked - different library functions,
> different startup, something.

I'm not so sure.  The only changes I've made between 5.10b and 6.0 are:

  - Fix the makefiles: lc->sc, blink->slink, etc, -v -> NOSTKCHK, etc.
  - Add a few function prototypes here and there which I was missing
    before.

The source is otherwise the same.  (In fact, I was pleasantly surprised
at how easy it was to convert a fairly large project from 5.10b to 6.0).

> Use the MAP and MAPXREF options to generate a linker cross-reference
> and see who is calling strncpy.  You'll find some lines in the cross-

Ok, I'll do that.  I don't doubt that strncpy is somehow being
referenced.  I still find it odd, however, that when I run the program
under CPR it never once hits strncpy, yet the profiler claims I'm
spending ~95% of the time there.  Something's fishy...

The only trouble is that I'm not sure how to package up a nice concise
example for SAS tech support.  I don't think its reasonable to expect
them to dig through something large, but trying to come up with a small
test case could be a whopping lot of work.  In fact, if I trim much, my
program won't work any more.  I guess this is the standard problem when
trying to report potential compiler/profiler problems.

> we were testing.  6.0 uses shared libraries for speed.  Sometimes 
> what happens on an A3000 or some other machine with a 68020 or
> higher is that all FAST memory gets used up by the compiler libraries,

Nope; I've got 12 Mb of fast mem, about 8 of which is free the entire
time.  And that's even with GNU emacs loaded.

Other than this, though, my impression of SAS 6.0 is favorable overall.
I think it has the expected problems of any new major release, but once
they get ironed out, it'll be a great improvement.  I wouldn't program
with anything else :-)

Thanks for the response.  I'll do what you suggest.

  - steve
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: ken@cs.UAlberta.CA (Huisman Kenneth M)
Subject: C and ARexx
Keywords: C, Arexx, SQL
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:34:17 GMT

I recently downloaded a freeware program called SQLDB.  It is an Alpha version
of a SQL engine.  It has an Arexx port you can send it commands from.

My question is this.  I would like to write a C program that used ARexx
within it to call the SQL program ( and retrieve data from the database for
use in my C program - basically, I want to use ARexx as an interface layer
between my C program and the SQL program).

Is there a way to integrate C and ARexx like this?
I don't know much about ARexx, admittedly, and there isn't anything in my
libraries manual on it (I guess you have to order some book seperately).
If this is feasable, I'd appreciate a brief explanation on how to do it.
(I'm using the Aztec compiler if it matters).


Additionally, this freeware Alpha-version of SQL is the *only* SQL I have
seen for the Amiga - is anyone aware of any others?

(Email Preferred, thanks)

Ken

ken@cs.ualberta.ca

Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.programmer:16007 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:19850
From: stelmack@eggo.tmc.edu (Gregory M. Stelmack)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Attn Commodore: You are making a Big Mistake (Hardware Manual)
Keywords: hardware reference manual
Date: 13 Nov 92 22:11:16 GMT
Organization: University of South Florida, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Except that Commodore has already stated they have more chipsets in the pipe,
and third party companies are releasing graphics boards like crazy. Software
written to be published has GOT to start following the OS, or it simply won't
work on many machines. Look at the fits we went through finding games that
would work under 2.04 / 68030, and that is only now getting straightened out.
If you want to publish commercial software, you shouldn't be going to the
hardware any more (at least past ECS), and Commodore is providing a
sufficiently optimized OS to reduce the need for direct hardware banging.
If you don't want to publish, but just tinker, then you'll probably be able
to figure enough out to do what you want, and don't need to know the rest.
Just don't try to sell it to me...

I for one support Commodore's decision NOT to release a new Hardware manual.

--
-- Greg Stelmack (stelmack@eggo.csee.usf.edu)
-- FullTime Grad Student, PartTime Amiga Salesman, PartTime Amiga Developer
-- Author of: Spades, Pro Port Analyzer Plus, more to come...
-- DISCLAIMER: The opinions reflected here are mine and mine alone.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
From: pochanay@cae.wisc.edu (Adisak Pochanayon)
Subject: Bug in ViewPorts under 2.0
Organization: College of Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin--Madison
Date: 16 Nov 92 06:50:00 CST

    I have been writing some code that performs horizontal scrolling of
extremely large bitmaps (quickly).  This code works properly under both
1.3 and 2.0 in lowresolution.  It also works under 1.3 in hi-res fine.
However, when I use 2.0 and hi-res I get a wierd problem.  The RxOffset
in the RasInfos structure shifts the offset into the bitmap by two
pixels instead of 1.  Is this a bug under 2.0???  Or do I have to set
any special flags in the view or viewport that I'm using.  Has anybody
tried horizontal scrolling with a hires screen???  Why can 1.3 be accurate
in scrolling to a single pixel and then 2.0 only to multiples of two
(actually, it multiplies RxOffset by two or at least that's the way I
can duplicate the result in 1.3).

    Please e-mail me with any help at pochanay@cae.wisc.edu asap.
Thanks.


Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer,comp.sys.amiga.hardware