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From: CC004049%BROWNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga
Subject: Garbled Voice, Creating Icons For Programs
Message-ID: <632@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Thu, 5-Dec-85 23:03:21 EST
Article-I.D.: caip.632
Posted: Thu Dec  5 23:03:21 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Dec-85 17:11:44 EST
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: George S. Musser Jr.

(1)  Mike Farren recently wrote, in response to my cryptic posting,

>> I think the voice is garbled because 4 bit planes steal a lot of
>> cycles from the 68000.
> I couldn't find the original article, but a couple of points are in order:
>    1.  4 bit planes don't steal a lot of cycles from the 68000, unless you
>        are in the 640 x 200 mode.
>    2.  If you are talking about the voice in the "voice demo", I have noted
>        that that voice is pretty garbled under the best of conditions.

My note responded to S.S. Barer's observation that narrate/translate produce
garbled voice when ABasiC is in 80 columns mode.

I've found the distortion -- which sounds vaguely like a record played
too slowly -- doesn't always occur when ABasiC is in 640x200 mode.
Generally (though not always), it happens when I've got a background task
running, I'm low on memory, or when I've just run Mandelbrot or the audio
demo.  Perhaps the 68000 and/or sound chip are bogged down with
"something else".

The apparent fact that one task can grab onto a piece of hardware and not
let another task use it effectively (e.g. audio demo not letting narrate/
translate work) seems to contradict the whole idea of "virtual terminals".
Each task is supposed to think it has its very own 68000.  The audio demo
(i.e. the power chord toy) shouldn't harm ABasiC when it's not active.

Am I off-base?


(2)  Icons

When I got those impress-your-friends graphics demos (Robo, et. al.) from
my dealer, they didn't have associated icons.  But I found a little utility
called IconEd on the WorkBench 28.8 disk.

IconEd lets you create icons.  Get into IconEd, draw your little icon
(it's not easy to draw freehand with a mouse), FRAME IT using the Frame
Object option in the Misc menu, and then save.  If you don't Frame Object,
Amiga will crash.

The icon is stored in a file with extension "info".  WorkBench displays
any program with an associated info file.

Apparently, the info file also has some other information, e.g. where the
icon is displayed on the screen. Sometimes, if this information isn't
there, WorkBench can't display the icon or let you select it.  To get
around this, get into IconEd, Load a working icon, draw your own, and
Save it.  IconEd will Save the working icon's info with your new icon.

This technique will also let you un-snapshot an icon.

If you have any questions, drop me a line and I'll try to answer them.


(3)  Does anyone know how I can get on a Beta-test list?  Thanks.

                                   Happy Amiga season!!

                                           George Musser Jr.