Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!jason
From: jason@madnix.UUCP (Jason Blochowiak)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Control Panel Puzzle under Sys 5.0x
Message-ID: <1188@madnix.UUCP>
Date: 19 Mar 90 10:29:59 GMT
References: <jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU!throoph@CS.ORST.EDU> <9003122256.AA25609@apple.com>
Reply-To: jason@madnix.UUCP (Jason Blochowiak)
Organization: ARP Software, Madison, WI
Lines: 30


	[Didn't include old articles - they were complaining about Test Drive
][ changing some of the battery RAM parameters]

	I'm particularly annoyed by behaviour like this, as it's really easy
to get around... You can do a GetBParam() (to save the old value(s)), then a
SetBParam() (to set the new ones), then call TOREADBR() (at $e1/0084) and
TOBRAMSETUP() (at $e1/0094) with the carry bit set (so as to not confuse the
OS, etc., by switching which slots are available) to "install" the new value.
Then call SetBParam() with the old values, and, voila!, you have 1) A set of
non-disturbed BRam values, and 2) A //gs set up like you want it, without
doing _anything_ illegal. I use this method for a project I'm finishing up
now to set the border color of the screen, without mucking about with
CLOCKCTL (which is easy enough, but quite definitely not legal).

	For the time being: I wrote a little utility called BRam (which I
distributed over comp.binaries.apple2) which lets you save your current
settings to a disk file, and then restores them with a temporary Init. This
should take care of the problem adequately. Someone else wrote a quite
similar program, but the value saving program is desktop based (seemed a
waste to me - mine just uses text), and lets you read as well as write the
value set. The archive sites should have it... Btw, the program was
designed for folks with dead or dying lithium batteries, but can be used when
programs modify the BRam when they're not supposed to, or to allow you to
bring "your" configuration to a //gs that you're dealing with on a temporary
basis (be polite, tho', and restore the old values...).
-- 
                      Jason Blochowiak - jason@madnix.UUCP
or, try:         astroatc!nicmad!madnix!jason@spool.cs.wisc.edu
       "Education, like neurosis, begins at home." - Milton R. Saperstein