³ The Silicon Frog, Inc. ³ ³ John Hancock 3.0 ³ ³ The JH3CFG Program ³ ³ Version 1.0 ³ ³ (c) 1992 The Silicon Frog, Inc. All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Introduction...............................................1 Starting JH3CFG............................................1 The Main Menu Screen.......................................2 Left-Handed Mouse Users....................................2 Mouse Button Naming & Use Standards........................2 Back to the Main Menu......................................3 The Logo Option............................................4 Confirmation Prompts.......................................4 The PreFlight Checklist....................................4 Navigating the PreFlight CheckList.....................5 Keyboard use...........................................5 Mouse use..............................................5 FECP Switch Settings...................................5 Sound F/X..........................................5 Window Wrap........................................5 Wild Gambler.......................................6 JH2 Mode...........................................6 JH.TAG Autoload....................................6 Stash Detect.......................................7 Alpha Loc..........................................7 WordSearch.........................................7 TurboHyperZapper...................................8 Butt-O-Matic.......................................8 The Great Wurlitzer................................8 The Beg Screen.....................................9 The Crayola Box (tm).......................................9 ColorSets.............................................10 Navigation / Element customization....................11 The Gallery...........................................11 The Great JH3 Color Gallery Contest...............12 The Palette Screen....................................13 Color Theory .....................................13 Customizing Colors....................................14 DisneyLand................................................15 Mouse ON/OFF..........................................16 The Horizontal & Vertical Sensitivity Dials...........16 The DoubleClick Delay Dial and Grand Prix Test Track..17 The Warp Factor.......................................18 Ballistic Acceleration Drivers....................18 Video Adapter Override....................................18 The End, and Some Good Advice.............................19 JH3CFG Page 1 Introduction The JH30.CFG file contains all the pointers, directories, color, and mouse parameters required by the various JH3 programs. JH3CFG is a state-of-the-art tool used to customize your JH3 configuration file (JH30.CFG). In addition to JH30.CFG, JH3CFG requires the following files, in the same directory as the JH30.CFG file: - JH3CFG.SCR, which contains JH3CFG option screens - JH3CFG.LGO, which contains JH3CFG logo screens Starting JH3CFG Start JH3CFG by typing the program name at the DOS prompt; no command-line parameters are required for normal operation. If the screens are difficult to read on a monochrome display attached to an EGA or VGA adapter, see the "Video Adapter Override" section at the end of this document. JH30.CFG contains a number of cosmetic parameters and other program options whose default values can be used. The only configuration variable which *must* be customized is the location of your tagfiles, which is defined in JH3CFG's PreFlight CheckList screen. If you do not tell JH3 and JH3MAINT where the tagfiles are, these programs will issue critical error messages such as: "Yo! Bozo! Where did you put my tagfiles?" And will unceremoniously return you to DOS or wherever you came from. If you have a mouse and you are left-handed, you may also want to take advantage of JH3's SouthPaw feature, described within the next few paragraphs. JH3 produces sounds and plays moosik. Depending on where and at what time you do your BBS mail (e.g., at night in my bedroom while my [wife|husband|mate|dog|parents] is|are asleep), you may wish to disable these features to force JH3 to operate in "quiet" mode. JH3CFG Page 2 The Main Menu Screen JH3CFG uses a Lotus-style "LightBar" main menu. To select an option, cursor to it and press , or click the mouse on the desired option. To NOT select an option, do nothing. Left-Handed Mouse Users JH3 does not pick on southpaws. No Sir|Ma'am, not with a vocal left-handed-rights activist attorney beta tester. As a result, and also because I am a nice and considerate fellow, JH3 fully supports left-handed operation. To activate this feature, select the "Disneyland (tm)" menu option, and click the LEFT mouse button on the "ON" position of the SouthPaw switch. The switchplate will flash red a few times and a message will be displayed at the bottom of the screen telling you that the mouse has switched to left-hand mode. Mouse Button Naming & Use Standards In order to eliminate confusion, and to promote kinder, gentler communications with left-handed, right-handed, and ambidextrous rodent users, JH3 designates the mouse buttons as "Inside" and "Outside" rather than "Left" and "Right". The inside button is the one nearest you -- the one you press with your index finger. In all JH3 programs, the inside button is used to select something or perform some action. The outside button is consistently used as an exit or escape key; in almost all cases, clicking the outside button yields the same result as pressing the key or selecting the "Quit" option. To simplify things even further, the process of locating the mouse cursor over an area of the screen is always implied, and the INSIDE button is always assumed. For example, where old-style, verbose documentation would have read: "Move the mouse cursor to the Palette Option on the bottom line of the screen and click the left mouse button (Note: left-handed users, please click the RIGHT mouse button)." New-style, verbose documentation now reads: "Click on the Palette option at the bottom of the screen." Only when the OUTSIDE button is directly involved in the process will that button be named: JH3CFG Page 3 "To exit the program, press , select the "Quit" option, or click the OUTSIDE mouse button." Now, Maurice, one of the pickier Silly Frog áatty testers, asked "What if a kook wishes to use the mouse to his right but in southpaw mode? 'OUTSIDE' is really 'INSIDE' then, and vice versa. You can't be too careful." The answer is simple: if you're right-handed, but you want to use the mouse in left-handed mode just for fun or because you're some kind of masochist, you probably won't even need button references because you'll keep being dumped to DOS when you hit the wrong button. If you are left-handed and you insist on using the mouse to your right, but in left- handed mode, you're really missing out on a great feature and I will ask Michael, the militant left-handed attorney áeta tester, to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. Of course, if you still don't see the light, Guido and Carmine, my vice-presidents of Customer Relations, will convince you that my way is better than yours. Back to the Main Menu JH3CFG's main menu options include: The PreFlight Checklist, where you set most of JH3's switches and toggles and other nonsensical operating parameters, The Crayola (tm) Box, a.k.a. the Different Color Underwear For Each Day of the Week Drawer where you define JH3's colors, window styles, and mouse cursor shapes to suit your wildest tastes, DisneyLand (tm), where you set JH3's mouse parameters, The Logo Selector, which allows you to select among different JH3CFG logo screens until you find one you like, or until you get tired, The Farewell option, which always saves the changes made to the configuration file and unceremoniously dumps you back to the DOS command prompt or wherever it was you called JH3CFG from (prepositions are not words to end sentences with). JH3CFG Page 4 The Logo Option JH3CFG comes with 8 logo screens, a feature which prevents boredom and caters to varying tastes. The screens were handcrafted by Bobbie Sumrada, well-known PC Artiste and Sysie of Cheers, the Silicon Frog's Silicon Home. Each time you select this option, a new logo screen is displayed. JH3CFG automatically loads the last-used logo screen. Confirmation Prompts Whenever you modify configuration parameters and exit back to the previous menu, JH3CFG will prompt you to save the changes. You may press or , or click on the letter Y or N in the prompt text. The PreFlight Checklist When you select this option, JH3CFG displays its Flight Engineer Control Panel (FECP), which is somewhat similar to that found on a 1949-vintage Lockheed Connie aircraft. The FECP features twelve (12) individually-controllable switches used to set various program options, and a box at the bottom of the screen used to specify the directory which contains your .TAG files (unlike JH2, JH3 does not require a command-line parameter pointing it to a .TAG file). Each switch consists of: - An outside switchplate which contains the switch's legend and ON/OFF markers. - An inner toggle box in which a solid block represents the switch lever. On color monitors, the switch lever is green when the switch is ON and red when the switch is OFF. The current switch's switchplate, toggle box, and legend are highlighted. JH3CFG Page 5 Navigating the PreFlight CheckList. Keyboard use To move from switch to switch, you may use: - Cursor keys, which allow you to move in any direction, - , to move to the next switch, - , to move to the previous switch. To toggle a switch, move to the desired switch and press . Mouse use To select a switch, move the mouse cursor inside the switchplate and click the inside button. You may also click directly on the "ON" or "OFF" legend of the desired switch, whether it is selected or not. This will move the highlight to that switch AND set its value in a single mouse operation. FECP Switch Settings Sound F/X The Sound F/X switch controls JH3's beeps, bells, and other miscellaneous noisemakers, including the ScrollBar Trombone (tm). Note that this switch does NOT control JH3's Great Wurlitzer Player Organ. To deactivate sound effects, turn the switch OFF. Note that this switch can be temporarily or permanently changed within JH3 itself. Window Wrap This switch controls JH3 and JH3MAINT's window display wrapping feature. When the feature is ON, the tagfile display will "wrap around" once you reach the top or bottom of the tagfile display. For example, pressing when the last screen is displayed will display the file's first screen, while pressing on the Down key when the last tagline is selected will reposition the display at the first tagline. If this switch is OFF, the display will stop scrolling when it reaches the top or bottom of the file. JH3CFG Page 6 Wild Gambler This switch controls the operation of the Carmine and Guido features in JH3. These two characters can be great fun on a rainy evening when you have nothing else to do but play with JH3. For additional information, try the Carmine or Guido commands in JH3. JH2 Mode All mail reader programs _except_ Sparkware's DeLuxeý require that JH3 operate in JH2 compatibility mode. Although JH3 is able to determine the presence or absence of DeLuxeý automatically, some environmental factors may prevent the JH3/DeLuxeý interface from operating properly (i.e. multitaskers, task switchers, or certain shell programs). If you are NOT using DeLuxeý, the JH2 mode switch must be ON. If you are using DeLuxeý, set this switch OFF and experiment with JH3 and DeLuxeý. If taglines are passed properly, leave the switch ON. If any problems occur, or taglines are not received by the reader, turn the switch OFF. When running in JH2 mode, JH3 stores the selected tagline in a JH?.REP file which is detected, read, and eventually deleted by your mail reader program. When using DeLuxeý, JH3 passes the tagline directly to the reader without need for an intervening disk file. Although JH3 can detect the presence of DeLuxeý automatically, certain environments (shells, multitaskers) will make detection impossible. In addition, DeLuxeý will disable its JH3 interface if the reader's SuperShell option is active or whenever DOS memory is insufficient. Last, but not least, there is a one-in-a-million chance that JH3 could incorrectly detect DeLuxeý's presence. If you use DeLuxeý and the taglines you select aren't received by the reader, disable the DeLuxeý/JH3 interface by turning the JH2 mode switch ON. JH.TAG Autoload JH3 normally loads the last-used tag. When this switch is ON, JH3 will automatically load the JH.TAG file instead. Personally, I don't use this feature, but a prominent Delaware attorney asked for it, and surely he must have had a reason. Come to think of it, it may not be a bad thing: use this feature to always know where you'll go when you use JH3. Note that the Stash Detect, described next, takes JH3CFG Page 7 precedence over JH.TAG Autoload - if JH3 detects new loot, and both switches are ON, the STOLEN.TAG file will be displayed. Stash Detect This fantastic feature, if active, causes JH3 to automatically load the STOLEN.TAG file if new loot was added to it since the last time the file was used. STOLEN.TAG is created and updated by the New Text Thieves which are a part of the bonus sent to registered JH3 users. If you registered JH2 after October 1990, the New Thieves were included on your bonus disk and the stash detect feature will work for you. As you steal taglines with the New Thieves, the loot is stashed into the STOLEN.TAG file; if the Stash Detect feature is active, JH3 will automatically load STOLEN.TAG and position the tagline selector on the last entry in the file. If you are not a registered JH2 user, you may still use this feature to your advantage: add your latest and greatest taglines to a file called STOLEN.TAG, turn Stash Detect ON, and JH3 will load the file automatically if new taglines were added to it since JH3 was last used. Alpha Loc The AlphaLocator feature enables very fast positioning of a tagfile display by pressing the shift key and a character key at the same time -- the tagfile window will be positioned to the first tagline which starts with the desired character. If this switch is OFF, pressing shift- character causes JH3 to display the following explanatory message: Hey, Bozo! This feature is turned OFF! WordSearch This feature affects the operating mode of JH3's Find Text command. When WordSearch is ON, JH3 will only look for taglines that contain an entire word which matches the search argument. If the feature is OFF, JH3 will return all taglines which have a partial match. For example: JH3CFG Page 8 With WordSearch OFF, searching for ASS will locate all the taglines that contain the words "KASS" as well as the taglines that contain the word "ASS". With WordSearch ON, searching for "IDIOT" will only locate the taglines which contain the word "IDIOT" -- taglines which contain "IDIOTIC" will not match. TurboHyperZapper Since it is imperative that you see THZ in action, we recommend that you leave this switch ON at first. THZ determines the method used to, er, send the selected tagline to the reader. It is harmless and terminally cute, as is much of JH3. Butt-O-Matic JH3 visually "presses" command buttons when the corresponding command is issued. This effect belongs to the "cute" category, although it does also provide a visible confirmation of the command being used. Because the buttonpress process takes approximately 2/10th sec., some extremely impatient beta testers DEMANDED that the Butt-O- Matic feature be added so they could turn the ButtonPresser OFF. I personally _like_ JH3's buttons and the cute ButtonPress effect, but if you're a grinch in a hurry and can't tolerate *anything* that delays program operation beyond what's absolutely necessary, then you may set Butt-O- Matic OFF. The Great Wurlitzer JH3 will provide cheap but varied musical entertainment even though you may not own a SoundBlaster, AdLib, or Midi adapter. A few tunes are included with JH3, and they may be played by using the Wurlitzer command. You may also create your own tunes if you so desire (registered users receive the Maestro JH3 Tune Editor which makes the task easier -- unregistered users must use a text editor or, preferably, a Basic interpreter to customize tune files). For additional information, see the JH3.TXT Appendix. When you register, you may also order the JH3 Hall of Fame collection, which includes a large number of almost professionally-written Wurlitzer tunes. JH3CFG Page 9 The Beg Screen JH3's only "registered user-only" feature. JH3 uses a state-of-the-art algorithm to determine when to beg based on how long and/or how many times you have used the program. If you are a registered user and activate this feature, JH3 will *thank* you for having registered, as well as keep you aware of how many times you have used the program. This feature has no effect if you are not a registered user; you'll get the beg screens no matter what. JH3 will give you ample time to evaluate the program and beg screens will not start for quite a while. Once they do, however, the easiest way to disable them is to register the program. The Crayola Box (tm) The Crayola box is the most advanced feature of JH3CFG. It allows you to completely customize the cosmetic appearance of your JH3 screen: colors, window types, mouse cursor, etc... Needless to say, JH3 was designed for color systems, but it will operate flawlessly with monochrome monitors as well. Come to think of it, and after having visited my 18- year-old daughter's room, I probably should have named this feature the Makeup Case instead. The Crayola Box color selection screen reminds me a lot of a lady's eyeshadow paintbox. You know, the ones with the 128,000 little color squares you can get for $8.95 at the corner discount store. Either that or the teenage section of them gaudy nail enamel displays in the same stores. Or the parking lot at the local high school where *male* teenagers show off their custom-paint-job, er, vehicles, if you can call them that. JH3 fully supports the color capabilities of the IBM and 100% compatible CGA, EGA, and VGA: CGA -- 16 colors (8 low intensity, 8 high intensity) EGA -- 16 out of 64 colors VGA -- 16 out of 262,144 colors. Yes, ladies, anything from Peach Melba to Hot Tamale. Both EGA and VGA colors are customized by adjusting their Red, Frog Green, and Blue (RGB) contents. The Crayola screen contains three selectable lists and a Faux JH3 screen (reminiscent of the mini JH2 screen in the old JHCFG program). JH3CFG Page 10 The leftmost list shows all customizable JH3 screen elements: Selection letter >Window frame Window label Window text Selected text Tagline editor >Scrollbar arrows >Scrollbar track >Scrollbar pointer Error message Program prompt Heeeeelp line >Mouse Cursor The items preceded by a "greater than" sign (>) are screen elements whose type AND color can be customized. Items NOT preceded by > are screen elements or areas whose colors _only_ can be customized. The next two lists show the 16 available foreground (FG) and background (BG) screen colors. ColorSets JH3 supports 16 different color/screen element combinations called "ColorSets". By default, JH3 uses colorset 1, but this default can be changed easily -- simply select a different colorset in JH3 and that's the one JH3 will use from then on until you select another. Similarly, JH3MAINT also supports the same colorsets and it will also remember the last colorset which *it* used (which may not be the same as that used by JH3). We aim to please, folks, so we make sure that you have variety in your TagLine Life. To select a different colorset, press <+> or <->, or click the + or - signs on the left side of the menu at the bottom of the Crayola screen. If you make a change to a colorset other than the one currently used by JH3, you may switch JH3 to that colorset with the - command. Similarly, pressing Alt-J in the Crayola screen will immediately switch to the colorset used by JH3 (the Crayola screen automatically loads the last colorset that you customized in JH3CFG). JH3CFG Page 11 Navigation / Element customization Press or or / to move from one list to another. Use the / keys to move vertically within the selected list. If you have a mouse, you may select a list AND the item or color in the list by clicking on it. In addition, you may select a screen element by moving the mouse cursor to it in the Faux JH3 screen and clicking on it. To customize the TYPE of an element (e.g., the window frame style, scrollbar arrows, or the mouse cursor), select the desired element and press to cycle through the available styles. To change the color of an element, select the screen element first, then move to the FG and BG windows and select the desired colors. The Gallery Many pre-defined cosmetic selections are available to get you going or confused very quickly. The list of Gallery selections is different for each video adapter type, since video adapters vary greatly in their support of color. For example, a CGA can only produce 16 fixed colors, while an EGA can do 64 and a VGA 262,144, with each adapter's colors being a subset of the next better adapter to come along (kinda like the $4.95, $9.95, and $19.95 eyeshadow selectors mentioned earlier). Of course, monochrome displays can produce 128,990,896 colors as long as they're all medium green or amber. To select the Gallery, press or click on the "Gallery" selection on the bottom line of the Crayola screen. JH3CFG will display its Gallery screen, where a selection box allows you to pick one of the pre-defined colorsets for your type of video adapter. Gallery selections are identified by their names, such as "It's no fun being green", "Red Badge of Courage", "Purple Passion", "USA Today", "My Blue Boxer Shorts", "Pink Lace", or some other highly inspired titles. Gallery titles were assigned by their authors, who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons. To select a Gallery, cursor to its name and press , or doubleclick on the desired name. You may scroll through the list with your mouse by clicking and dragging the JH3CFG Page 12 scrollbar pointer on the right side of the Gallery selection window. In the likely event that you find the selected Gallery's colors putrid, despicable, or otherwise not quite to your liking (e.g., "Frog in a blender"), press to restore the colors you started with (before you entered the Gallery). With a mouse, click on the word "Restore" on the bottom menu line. The Great JH3 Color Gallery Contest Registered JH3 users will receive the GALMAKER program, which extracts customized colorsets from JH30.CFG and turns them into readily usable Gallery files. The Silicon Frog will hold a Gallery Contest regularly; the most original color and cosmetic combinations -- as determined by a panel of highly qualified, independent, and impartial judges -- will be awarded a Silicon Frog T-Shirt. Details on the contest are included in the FANTASTIC BONUS PACKAGE that you'll receive when you register JH3. To return to the Crayola screen, press or click the OUTSIDE mouse button. IMPORTANT WARNING If you do NOT restore the original colors, and you had spent hours customizing them, you're in trouble (a.k.a. S.O.L.) Once a Gallery has been selected and you've returned to the Crayola screen, there is NO WAY to get back to the previous colorset. Don't come and complain to ME if this happens; you have been given a fair warning. For safety's sake, make a copy of your JH30.CFG file with a different extension so that you may restore it in the event your colors get utterly bent out of hue. If you are a registered user, then you may use the GALMAKER program to save your own Crayola Box masterpieces. This useful program will effectively allow you to recover a clobbered, damaged, mangled, or otherwise spun or mutilated colorset by simply re-loading its corresponding Gallery entry. JH3CFG Page 13 The Palette Screen The Crayola Palette allows you to define custom colors, but only if you have an EGA or VGA adapter. To select the Palette, press

or click on the word "Palette" on the menu line at the bottom of the Crayola screen. In the Palette screen, the Crayola selection boxes are replaced by a 4x4 color selector patch and a set of Red, Green, Blue, and Intensity control boxes. Using the palette is very simple: first pick the color to be customized, then change its Red, Green, Blue, and/or Intensity values to yield a new color. EGA color components have four discrete steps ("none of that color", "some of that color", "some more of that color", and "a lot of that color"), which yields a total of 64 possible combinations (4x4x4). VGA color components have sixty-four (64) steps, ranging from "none of that color" to "a hell of a lot of that color". As a result, the total number of colors available on the VGA is 262,144 (64x64x64, go ahead, use your calculator to verify this). Color Theory If theory bores you, skip this section altogether and go directly to the paragraph titled "Customizing Colors". Most folks think of colors in paintbox terms. With a child's paintbox or an artist's mixing palette, we all know that mixing red and blue yields purple, yellow and blue yields green, green and red yields brown, etc. Paintbox principles state unequivocally that one cannot "make" certain colors such as red, yellow, blue, and white. However, one can approximate black by mixing all the &^#!@ colors in the paint box in large quantities. In computers and photography where colors are expressed in terms of transmitted or reflected light, things aren't quite the same -- you can make any color you want by increasing or decreasing their Red, Green, and Blue components (R, G, and B are referred to as "Primary Colors"). Also, as the intensity of a color changes, so may the color itself. So, here are a few rules to remember while playing with the palette: 1. Absence of color is called "black". JH3CFG Page 14 2. Maximum intensity of all primary colors is called "white". 3. Equal amounts of all colors yields "Neutral Density", a.k.a. "gray". This is opposed to Non-Neutral Density. For example, Manny Noriega and Saddy Hussein are Very Dense, but not at all Neutral. Adding the same amount of R, G, and B to an existing color does not change the color itself; it only affects its intensity (of course, changes in intensity changes may yield attractive results and a radically different mood). Try high-intensity vs. low-intensity light and blue vs. red light during a romantic episode and you'll see what I mean. 4. Mixing two primary colors in equal amounts yields a color which is complementary to the third primary color (complementary colors "cancel each other out"; they yield neutral density when mixed in equal amounts). For example, red and green yield yellow, which cancels out blue (no, Ladies and Gentlemen, Yellow and Blue DO NOT make green on an RGB compooter monitor). 5. Color mixing rules: Red + Green = Yellow Red + Blue = Magenta Green + Blue = Cyan Cyan + Magenta = Blue Magenta + Yellow = Red Cyan + Yellow = Green Customizing Colors To select a color from the color patch, use the cursor keypad -- all cursor keys are used to navigate the color patch. You may also click on the desired color with the mouse. To select the primary color to be changed, use or until the desired color control box is highlighted. To select the primary color with the mouse, click inside the desired color control box. To increase or decrease a color, press <+> or <->. With the mouse, click on the + or - areas in the color control box. If you have a mouse, you may increase or decrease the rate at which the color values cycle: press to double the color cycling speed; press to cut the speed in half. The starting speed is approximately 5 color steps per second. In all cases, the color values wrap around -- for JH3CFG Page 15 example, on a VGA system, once you reach a value of 63, the next value will be 0, and vice-versa. Changing intensity increases or decreases all colors at the same time (i.e., adds or removes neutral density). As you customize colors, the changes are reflected in the color patch and in the Faux JH3 screen, allowing you to immediately evaluate the effects of your cosmetic experiments. Note that the starting R, G, and B values for the currently selected colors are shown at the bottom of each color control box, just in case you'd like to restore them to their original status. If you aren't satisfied with your color selection, pressing restores the original settings. Press to accept the changes you have made and return to the Crayola screen. DisneyLand DisneyLand, as we all know, is where Mickey Mouse(tm) ((c) 1935-1992 Disney Enterprises) stuff happens. In their much less-than-infinite wisdom and in a show of near-infinite gall, Microsoft decided to use the word "Mickey" to designate a unit of mouse travel, believe it or not. Of course, if you ain't got a rodent on your system, you can't go to DisneyLand. To access the DisneyLand screen, select that option from the main menu. By the way, you MUST use the mouse to do stuff in DisneyLand, except for one special case described later. The Disneyland screen contains: - Two mouse parameter toggle switches similar to those in the PreFlight Checklist, - Four digital parameter control boxes (a.k.a. "Dials") similar to absolutely nothing in the PreFlight Checklist, but loosely reminiscent of the NAV/COM frequency dials used by the Microsoft Flight Simulator (tm), - One USAC-, CART- and NASCAR-sanctioned Mouse Grand Prix Test Track, except that only one mouse rides on it, JH3CFG Page 16 - A mouse cursor selection window. NOTE that the cursor shape you select in this window is used by JH3CFG ONLY. Cursor shapes for JH3 are stored in each colorset, along with screen element colors and styles, and, - Absolutely NO color selection patches. Mouse ON/OFF An interesting switch, to say the least. The only thing I'll tell you at this point is, just try to turn it OFF. The Horizontal & Vertical Sensitivity Dials These dials, whose values range from 1 to 99, control the relationship between mouse and mouse cursor movement on both travel axes. The higher the value, the more sensitive the mouse is -- i.e., the more the cursor will move given the same amount of physical mouse movement. Too large a value will yield an uncontrollable cursor. Too small a value will yield the dreaded Desk Space Starvation Syndrome (DSSS), or the even worse Calloused Index Fatigue Disease if you own a Trackball (an upside down mouse by any other name). The default values of 50 and 50 work fine for most users and are highly recommended as starting points. Testing mouse sensitivity is simple: move the mouse around the screen and see how the cursor responds to mouse movement. Of course, the sensitivity values you set in JH3CFG will be used in all JH3 programs which support a mouse. Heeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllpppppp! I screwed up! What if you assign too low a sensitivity value and end up with a mouse cursor that barely crawls around? Well, there are five solutions: 1. Reinstall an original copy of the JH30.CFG file. This will wipe out all your previous customization efforts, and this solution is NOT recommended. JH3CFG Page 17 2. Show a small, innocent child how to roll the mouse, in which direction to roll it (the sensitivity box with the low value), and come back in an hour or so. This solution is NOT recommended, unless your name happens to be W. C. "Anyone who hates small children can't be all bad" Fields. 3. Use a very large magnet on the left side of your monitor in an effort to attract the mouse cursor. This solution is not recommended, primarily because it is totally preposterous and will not work. 4. Roll the *^%$@ mouse yourself. 5. Press . This will restore all mouse defaults. The DoubleClick Delay Dial and Grand Prix Test Track To select a tagline in JH3 requires a doubleclick of the mouse (or , of course). A doubleclick is defined as two mouse clicks in rapid succession. As the human behind the mouse, *you* get to define what constitutes "rapid succession" (the delay beyond which two consecutive clicks will no longer be treated as a 'doubleclick'). The doubleclick delay is measured in clock ticks (there are 18 of them per second), and the default delay is 6 ticks, or 1/3 second. This default value is a good starting point. To change the doubleclick value, click on the + or - sign in the doubleclick dial box. The minimum doubleclick delay is 2 ticks (approx. 1/10th sec), and the maximum is 18 ticks (one second). Stay away from extreme values (i.e., less than 4 ticks or more than 12 ticks). To test the doubleclick setting, click the mouse inside the Test Track. The Test Track will light up, and the line on which you clicked will be highlighted. Wait a second, then doubleclick on any line inside the Test Track. If a doubleclick is detected, the test track will be de-activated and the mouse will be repositioned inside the doubleclick dial. Too low a doubleclick delay will make doubleclicking impossible. Too high a value will yield a completely different problem: you'll end up selecting a tagline you don't want -- clicking once on two different items will be interpreted by JH3 as a doubleclick on the second item, and that tagline will be sent to the reader. In any case, a *short* delay is preferable to a long one -- you can always press to select a tagline. My personal minimum is 3, and I don't like it. My personal setting is 5, but some JH3CFG Page 18 of my beta testers are almost senior citizens and no longer have the swiftness of youth, so I had to make them happy. The Grand Prix Test Track is intended solely for testing your doubleclick setting. All other settings can be readily tested by moving the mouse around the DisneyLand screen. The Warp Factor As Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott would put it, "If you ain't got warp, you might as well stick bagpipes up your nose." (a loose translation of an old but colorful Scottish Proverb). The mouse warp factor, whose clinical term is "double-speed threshold", controls the amount of travel and speed at which mouse speed will be automatically doubled. When mousing over long distances, a properly set Warp Factor can be very helpful in that it allows you to set reasonable sensitivity values to allow increased control while moving the mouse slowly and precisely, but increases the mouse speed when positioning the cursor all the way across the screen. Instead of reading lengthy and boring theoretical discussions, experiment with this parameter and see what happens. Ballistic Acceleration Drivers The Microsoft mouse driver, release 7.0 and above, features "ballistic acceleration", a feature which completely overrides the double-speed threshold (other, non-Microsoft mouse drivers may also have this feature). Ballistic acceleration allows you to define multiple acceleration steps, as described in your mouse manual. If this feature is available, I recommend that you use it instead of the Warp Factor -- it allows much tighter control over mouse behavior. Video Adapter Override The JH3 default colorset was designed to produce a readable display on all video adapters. Some adapters, especially older EGAs and early VGAs, may exhibit unusual behavior when attached to monochrome monitors. Early Zenith EGAs, for example, had video BIOS bugs which caused them to switch from EGA to CGA mode unpredictably. This could fool the JH3 INSTALL and JH3CFG programs, and, as a result, your configuration file may contain color parameters which will JH3CFG Page 19 not yield an acceptable display. To circumvent this problem, you may start JH3CFG with the /CGA, /EGA or /BW parameter. You should NOT use an adapter which is not inherently compatible with yours -- for example, you may start JH3CFG with the /EGA, /CGA, or /BW parameter if you have a VGA and with the /CGA or /BW parameter if you have an EGA, but you should NOT start the program with the /EGA parameter if you have a CGA or MDA adapter. Once you have a readable display, you may try various Gallery colorsets until you find one that yields acceptable colors with both JH3CFG and JH3. You may then further customize the colorset to your liking. The same Gallery file may be loaded into multiple colorsets and customized differently for each. Do not override the default adapter type in JH3CFG unless it is an absolute necessity. Especially, do not force a lower- level color adapter since this could result in JH3 displaying radically different colors than were shown in JH3CFG. The End, and Some Good Advice I'm too old to give you bad examples, so here's some good advice: 1. The only mandatory parameter in JH3CFG is the .TAG file directory in the PreFlite Checklist (and possibly the left-handed switch in DisneyLand if you're of the Southpaw Persuasion and use a mouse). Once you've set those, give JH3 a try. 2. Don't try to do too much at once the first few times you use JH3CFG. A couple áatty testers compared the program to the cockpit of a 747 jetliner - lots of things to play with. For example, design *one* colorset and try it in JH3, and go back and forth between the two programs to refine it further -- the Faux JH Screen in the Crayola Box can't quite do the Real JH justice. Ditto with all the neat Preflite Checklist switches. Try some, and see what effect they have. A good example is the Stash Detect (if you're a registered JH2 user and have the New Thieves). Remember that sound-producing features can be deactivated within JH3 itself. 3. If the mouse works fine in JH3, leave the DisneyLand settings alone. Also understand that some mouse drivers may override your DisneyLand settings. JH3CFG Page 20 4. The frameless window style in the Crayola Box will get you one more tagline per screen. OK, it's not much to write home about, but one line is one line. That's about it. I hope you find JH3CFG entertaining; it was fun writing the silly thing and putting in all the crazy things the beta testers came up with. I even came up with a few silly ones myself. Remember, if you register you'll be eligible to enter the Great Silly Frog JH Colorset Contest. Waste no time. Send me your hard-earned money NOW. Thank you for your support.