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From: hsgj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Modem, Astartup.obj, Copyright questions
Message-ID: <1710@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: Fri, 5-Dec-86 00:45:07 EST
Article-I.D.: batcompu.1710
Posted: Fri Dec  5 00:45:07 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Dec-86 20:46:17 EST
Organization: Theory Center, Cornell U., Ithaca NY
Lines: 76
Keywords: Emacs Modem Astartup


	first I would like to thank everyone to replied about my
concern that the new (V1.2G1) Amiga-Emacs has some bugs.  Apparently
it does indeed "lock up" occasionally when the Global-Replace and
Insert-File commands are used.  No one seemed to know why, but
hopefully it will be fixed by next release.

Three Quick (and hopefully non-boring) Questions:

1) I just bought the Commodore 1200 bps Modem.  I really like it and
it works fine with AmigaTerm (included).  I leave the modem plugged
in all the time.  Question: Is this ok?  I don't want it to overheat,
but there is no "on/off" switch, and it is a pain to keep unplugging
the power-transformer from the wall socket.  So does anyone know if
bad things will happen to the modem if I leave it plugged in all the
time?

2) I have Lattice C.  When possible I try to compile WITHOUT lc.lib
and use Astartup.obj.  This works fine (assuming I use no stdio
functions) but I always get undefined variables "__base" and "__xcovf"
when I BLINK.  However, the application still runs.  I have been
putting "char *base" and "char *xcovf" declarations to silence the
errors, but this is a real kludge.  What the heck are "base" and
"xcovf" for anyways?  Note:  "base" is not IntuitionBase or ExecBase
or GfxBase, but just plain, old "base".  I.E. it does not seem to
be a library entry point.  I have no idea what "xcovf" is.

3) I am thinking about commercially distributing an Amiga program
I wrote.  However I used Sam Dicker's "vtbeep" to get a bell sound
for a certain part of the program, because I don't like DisplayBeep().
Obviously I have to give credit to him for the beep.  However, I
do NOT want to have to put up a requester on program startup saying
"vtbeep courtesy Commodore Amiga".  For all the moral and ethical
lawyers out there, would it be "OK" to merely give credit for the
beep in the documentation, and not in the program itself?  Please
realize that the beep is an extremely trivial part of the program,
but something I want to keep.  I have no urge to fool around with
the Audio Device, which is why I am using Dicker's code.  Note: vtbeep
is "copyrighted" public domain but it has one of those "you must
include this message if you use this code" stipulations.

End of questions, and now a final comment:  The Notepad has been
getting better and better, but the print function, while working
fine, is not that fast.  I noticed when I attempted to print a two
page note (in "Emerald font" to look cool) that even though 3/4 of
page one was blank, the Notepad apparently just trudged along sending
the bitmap pattern of 80 "Emerald" spaces to the printer.  In other
words, it took just as long to print a blank line as it did to print
a text line.  On my Epson compatible where you have to program
each dot, this means that it takes about 2 seconds/line.  Perhaps
in future NotePad (take note Wordprocessor authors) the print routine
could scan the line to be output, and if it is all blanks, just
output a carriage return instead of hundreds of blank graphic pixels.
This would speed prints trememdously for sparse pages.  Also, Notepad
has, not a bug, but a Bad Feature.  Notably, never ever re-size the
Notepad window while you are printing!  Hasn't Commodore-Amiga heard
of the SIZEVERIFY flag?  If you size the window while printing, the
window is not refreshed (because the program is busy sending pixels
to the printer).  The printer then starts printing the window borders,
or the "null space" where notepad text and paper background should be.
A feature I would like added to Notepad, beyond fixing the window, is
that a requester saying "Printing in Progress, please wait" should pop
up when printing.  This is because the print takes so long that you
might forget it is printing, and try executing a Notepad command.  The
command obviously won't execute until the print is done, making it
appear that Notepad is "hung".  The requester (or maybe just a window
title message) would remind you that printing is still going on.

I'd appreciate any comments on either the questions or the Notepad
suggestion.
-- Dan Green


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