HHsEGSPatch (Helmut Hoffmanns EGS Patch)
===========

Unfortunately I found a serious bug in the EGS system for the
piccolo graphics board while developing

		EGS-TV

the comfortable Desktop-Video software for EGS graphics boards.
This bug makes running several programs at the same time quite
risky. This bug seems to appear only on Piccolo and Rainbow
graphic boards.

(If you found this patch program without EGS-TV and are interested
 in an EGS video software with framegrabber support (as VLab and IV24)
 or as a stand alone video software with comfortable Desktop-Video
 functions, Blue screen keying system and unlimited number of
 grab windows, you can register it directly by me (address below)
 for 30US$ (40DM from inside of europe); Demo versions are freely
 available on the usual sources (e.g. AmiNet); since version 3.3
 handyscanners (Cameron/Reisware/ScanKing?) are also supported).

The error happens often in the following situation:

1) There is at least one Amiga screen open

2) There are at least two EGS screens open on the graphics card

3) One of the EGS screens is closed in such a way, that the
   Amiga screen appears on top after closing.

I could detect with the "mungwall"-tool, that in this constellation
a longword is overwritten in foreign memory. This can have very
different consequences (e.g. crashes). I reported this bug to
the manufacturer and hope that it is removed soon.

But as my experience lets me fear that this bug will remain valid
for a long time and esp. EGS-TV users want to use several EGS
programs, I created a little tool called "HHsEGSPatch". This
avoids the erroneous situations as far as I know.

This patch even works around another bug, which leads to memory
loss when windows with certain gadgets are opened. I integrated
this function into EGS-TV internally but with this patch you
can avoid this memory loss with all programs, which makes this
patch program useful even for owners of thoose graphics boards
which do not have the first problem.

This patch can be activated from any shell by issueing the
command

		run >NIL: HHsEGSPatch

You should copy HHsEGSPatch to your C:-Path first. As the
egs.library and the egsintui.library have to be held in
memory while this patch is active, some memory will
be used on starting this patch. This memory would have
been allocated anyway when using EGS programs.

To install this patch permanently (at least until the bugs
are fixed in the EGS system), add the above command to
your user-startup file.

You can quit the patch at any time by sending a Ctrl-C
to it's process.

Disclaimer
==========

I tried my best to make this patch program error-free. Nevertheless
I can not guarantee that this patch solves the problems in a reliable
way.

This software (program and documentation) is provided "as is" and
comes with no warranty, either expressed or implied.
The author is in no way responsible for any damage or loss that may
occur due to direct or indirect usage of this software. You use
this software entirely at your own risk.

Copyright
=========

This patch program is copyright by

                        Helmut Hoffmann
			Rubensstrasse 4
			D-41063 Mönchengladbach

			Germany

It may not be distributed separately without my permission as it is
part of the EGS-TV distribution.

Only on a private base the distribution is allowed without my permission,
as long as the patch is distributed together with this documentation and
no modifications are made.

If you are a commercial developer and would like to distribute this
patch together with your EGS products to save your customers a lot
of trouble you should contact me for permission. As service in return
(finding theese bugs and creating the patch program took several days
in the EGS-TV development) I will then expect that you help me improve
EGS-TV by your support by providing me with your software products
for my Piccolo graphics board, so that I can optimize the cooperation
of EGS-TV and your program. This is in the interest of all EGS-TV users,
who wish to get a perfect connection between EGS-TV and other programs.