A User's Guide to SpeedoGDOS
INTRODUCTION
This document describes the new features of SpeedoGDOSTM. We should begin
with a quick review of what GDOS is and what it allows you to do. GDOS is
actually an extension of your operating system. It allows the programs that you
run to output text and graphics to printers and other devices besides the screen.
GDOS also enables you to print text in many different typefaces. Instead of typing
characters in the standard system font, you now have access to Swiss (the
Bitstream version of Helvetica), Dutch (the Bitstream version of Times), and a
multitude of other fonts.
GDOS is run when you first turn on your machine. For now, don't worry about
where to put it or what it needs to run. Either your machine came with GDOS
pre-installed or our INSTALL program will set your system up so that everything
will be placed in the correct location. Please read the next two sections before
starting.
BASIC CONCEPTS
SpeedoGDOS represents the latest and by far the most powerful release of Atari
GDOS. Your first question is probably What's the difference between the GDOS
that I have now and SpeedoGDOS? The main difference between the two is that
SpeedoGDOS allows programs to print in scalable outline fonts instead of bitmap
fonts. Outline fonts offer high-quality text at all sizes, whereas bitmap fonts are
limited to a small number of sizes that become unappealing when crudely scaled
by the system. Furthermore, unlike the bitmap fonts found in regular GDOS,
outline fonts allow you to use the same font file to print a character of almost any
size on almost any output device. This is because the description of the characters
and not the character data is stored in the font file. An a for example is built using
the same set of rules whether it's built at 10 points or at 24 points. This means you
no longer need a separate font for the different screen resolutions and, more
importantly, you no longer need separate fonts for your printers and other devices.
SpeedoGDOS can create all of these characters for all devices and all sizes using
the same font description.
If you want to continue using some of the bitmap fonts that came with GDOS,
that's fine. SpeedoGDOS will still support bitmap fonts. In fact, another new
feature in SpeedoGDOS is font caching. With old versions of GDOS, every bitmap
font that you used took up memory, and your machine would quickly run out of
space. With font caching, you tell SpeedoGDOS how much memory you wish to
devote to storing your bitmap fonts. This memory is called a cache. SpeedoGDOS
will load in the font as it's used. When there is no longer any room for the next
font, SpeedoGDOS will get rid of one of the fonts to make room. As long as the
memory that you allocate is bigger than the largest font, SpeedoGDOS will be able
to use as many bitmap fonts as you wish in a limited amount of space.
GETTING STARTED
Installing SpeedoGDOS onto your system is a simple task. Either you already have
SpeedoGDOS pre-installed on your hard drive, or you have to install it from
floppies. In the former case, you don't need to do anything. In the latter, put disk
#1 into your floppy drive. Run INSTALL.PRG to put a new GDOS onto your
system. The INSTALL program will walk you through the steps needed to install
your GDOS. When the installation is complete, you will have all of the necessary
files on your system.
After the installation is complete, you must reboot your machine to enable the new
edition of GDOS. If you've installed it correctly, you'll get the new SpeedoGDOS
sign-on message while you boot up. If all went well, GDOS was installed and you
should be seeing a normal desktop. If GDOS gives you an error message while
booting up, run the INSTALL program again paying close attention to any
installation error messages which may come up. Note that the installation program
will install brand new device drivers, and that old drivers will not work with
SpeedoGDOS.
SpeedoGDOS should be compatible with whatever word processing and drawing
programs that you have now. Try running some of these programs to see how they
work with SpeedoGDOS. Note that the installation program will set up your
system so that you can use all of your new Speedo fonts immediately. To change
the setup (e.g., to add more point sizes), read the next section on how to use the
Outline Fonts and Printer Drivers Utilities.
USING THE UTILITIES
SpeedoGDOS comes with two utilities to help you customize your setup. The first
utility, Outline Fonts, will allow you to add or subtract fonts, change the available
sizes, and adjust cache sizes. The other one, Printer Drivers, will be useful if you
want to change printers or change some driver setting such as final/draft mode or
paper size.
If you have one megabyte of memory or less, the installation program installed the
utilities, OUTLINE.PRG and DRIVERS.PRG on the root of your boot drive (i.e.,
C:\). To run the utilities, treat them like any other application; we recommend
that you keep OUTLINE.PRG and DRIVERS.PRG on your desktop, so you can use
them right before or right after you exit your program.
If you have more memory, the installation program will make them accessories,
placing them on the root of your boot drive as OUTLINE.ACC and DRIVERS.ACC.
The accessories will appear in the menu bar, and will be accessible while an
application is running. You can run a desk accessory anytime by selecting it on the
menu bar. Although more convenient, accessories use up more system memory, so
if you are running MultiTOSTM or just need more memory, you could make them
programs by changing the filename extension from .ACC to .PRG.
For the rest of this discussion, we will refer to either accessory or program as a
utility and will refer to them by their respective names: Outline Fonts and Printer
Drivers. The following sections will briefly discuss how to use the utilities. If you
are an expert user or just want more detail, refer to Appendix II. For a more
concise explanation, try the Quick Reference Guide.
The Outline Fonts Utility
The Outline Fonts Utility allows you to configure SpeedoGDOS to your particular
system. Using this utility, you can tell SpeedoGDOS which fonts you want to use
and what point sizes you need for each font. After bringing up the utility, you will
notice a list of installed fonts. These are the fonts currently active, which means
that you will be able to use them in your applications. When you click on one or
more of the font names (and it becomes highlighted), you can click the Remove
Fonts button to delete the font or click the Set Points button to change the
available point sizes. To make multiple selections, hold down the keyboard's
[Shift] key and click on the font names.
Double-click on a font name to change its point sizes. The point sizes that you
choose are the ones that you can use with applications, although newer programs
allow you to choose any point size without specifying them through the utility. In
order to add different fonts, you can click on the Install All button to make every
font available, or click on the Unused Fonts button to examine the list of available
fonts. Now you can choose from the list of unused fonts and activate them. Select
some uninstalled fonts and click on the Install Font(s) button. The fonts will be
activated, and they will be available when you run your applications. You can see
the new fonts on the installed list by clicking on OK, returning to the first display.
Then click on Save to save your changes.
The Printer Drivers Utility
The Printer Drivers Utility's primary function is to allow you to select a printer
driver to match the printer that you are currently using. When you first run the
utility, the active printer driver should be displayed at the top under Current
Printer. Following that is a list of other available printer drivers. If the Current
Printer does not match the one that you are using, select the correct printer from
the list, and click on Save. You can change the settings on the current driver by
clicking on Configure. The Configure dialog box allows you to change settings
such as the paper size, the dots per inch, or the number of colors. If you return to
the main menu, you can also set the Quality of subsequent printouts for your
printer by choosing either Final or Draft. Draft mode should produce lower-quality
output at a higher speed, and Final mode should produce the highest-quality
output from your printer at a slower speed.
CONCLUSION
You now know enough about SpeedoGDOS to be able to use it to print scalable
fonts using both new and existing programs. At the end of this document is a quick
reference guide; the guide should assist you to use SpeedoGDOS and its utilities. If
you want more details about how SpeedoGDOS works or about either of the
utilities, please go on to the following appendixes.
Appendix I - A Detailed Look at SpeedoGDOS
THE EXTEND.SYS FILE
SpeedoGDOS looks for a special file, the EXTEND.SYS file, in the folder in which
you keep your Speedo fonts. The EXTEND.SYS file provides a mode of
communication between you and SpeedoGDOS. This works in very much the same
manner as the way that GDOS is given information through its ASSIGN.SYS file.
The file contains the list of installed fonts, their point sizes, the different cache
sizes, and even widthtable information. Fortunately, your Speedo utilities handle
the details of what is contained in this file, and you should never have to examine
or modify its contents.
CACHE MANAGEMENT
One of the things in the EXTEND.SYS file that your utilities will allow you to
manipulate is cache size. SpeedoGDOS maintains two caches to keep track of
Speedo font information. The first of the two, the Character cache, holds the
actual character data (i.e., the bitmap of the individual character). When a
character is requested, SpeedoGDOS builds the bitmap using the instructions
which it gets from the font file. This takes a fair amount of time. Instead of
building the character each time it is requested, SpeedoGDOS saves the bitmap of
the character into the cache. The next time SpeedoGDOS needs the character, it
simply retrieves it from the cache taking a fraction of the time that it would have
taken to build it. Obviously, the performance of your machine will improve as you
devote more memory to this cache.
The second cache (Miscellaneous) is used for internal buffers and data structures.
The size needed for this cache varies depending on how many fonts and point
sizes are included in your EXTEND.SYS file. The cache size needed also depends
on the size of the characters that must be generated. With all these variables
involved, it is hard to recommend an optimal amount of memory to devote to this
cache, although the Outline Fonts Utility recommends a minimum in the Cache
Options dialog box. It is possible to have the cache set too small to accommodate a
particular situation; the result is a Not Enough Speedo Cache Memory message.
When you see this message, save your document as soon as possible and increase
the amount of cache. You must reboot your machine to incorporate the new cache
size. When you're adding fonts or modifying the cache size in the Speedo Outline
Fonts Utility, the Outline Fonts Utility will warn you if it determines that your
Miscellaneous cache is too small. Again, experiment with these values to tune it for
your particular system. If you've got 4 megabytes on your system, you are able to
allocate a lot more cache. If you're working with 1 megabyte, you may need to
decrease these numbers. For normal usage (i.e., no 200-point characters), 100,000
bytes or so is probably the most you will need for the Miscellaneous cache.
As mentioned before, SpeedoGDOS will also handle the caching of bitmap fonts
(old-style GDOS fonts that have the file extender .FNT). It is a good idea to make
the bitmap cache larger than the biggest bitmap font that you have in your
ASSIGN.SYS file. If the cache is too small for a font, the font will not be loaded
into the system. If the cache is too small to hold any bitmap fonts, SpeedoGDOS
will ignore them altogether. If you don't plan to use bitmap fonts, you should set
the cache size to 0.
To set the sizes for all available caches, run the Outline Fonts Utility, and refer to
Appendix II. Note that after changing cache sizes, you must reboot to make the
changes take effect. In addition, fonts and point sizes may be added, deleted, or
changed freely, but SpeedoGDOS will only recognize these changes when the next
application is launched.
WIDTHTABLES
Another feature of SpeedoGDOS is widthtables. Programs need to obtain the
widths of characters to determine where on the screen or page to place them.
When the width of a character is requested, SpeedoGDOS will either get the width
from the widthtables (if they're turned on), or get the width from the font
generator (if widthtables are turned off). Most programs do not require
widthtables, even if they are turned on, and unless your program will not work
properly, we recommend that you keep them off. If widthtables are turned on, the
user may notice long unexpected delays while the application is booting up. This
delay is caused by the time it takes SpeedoGDOS to generate the tables. Obviously,
the more fonts and point sizes you have, the longer the delay will be.
If you have an often-used application that requires widthtables, the Outline Fonts
Utility may be used to pre-build the widthtables and store them into your Speedo
directory (see Appendix II). When the application is being loaded, SpeedoGDOS
sees if the widthtables are turned on, and then checks this directory to see if the
widthtables are there. If they are, Speedo will load them in and use them, saving
considerable time booting up the program. The widthtable must have been built in
the same resolution that you're currently running the application in order for
SpeedoGDOS to recognize it. Finally, it is important to note that most current
versions of popular software do not require widthtables, but certain programs
(e.g., Microsoft Write), for reasons too complicated to discuss here, need
widthtables turned on in order for them to run correctly.
USING SPEEDOGDOS WITH MULTITOS
SpeedoGDOS is completely compatible with MultiTOS, but a few precautions are
in order. Naturally, if you run more than one GDOS application, expect more
Miscellaneous cache usage; although GDOS shares most of its data between
processes, every application requires some overhead. You will know if you've run
out of Miscellaneous cache when the application isn't able to print, or when it can't
run at all. You should simply increase the size of your Miscellaneous cache and
reboot.
Another behavior that you may encounter is inconsistent font information between
applications when you use the utilities. In regular TOSTM, when you change
something with the utilities while you are running an application, you have to quit
the application and restart to invoke the change (or reboot if you've changed a
cache size). The same goes for MultiTOS, except that you should quit all GDOS
applications.
Appendix II - Using the Utilities
Two utilities have been provided for SpeedoGDOS: the Outline Fonts Utility and
the Printer Drivers Utility. The Outline Fonts Utility allows you to make fonts and
point sizes available to applications, as well as manipulate caches and build
widthtables. The Printer Drivers Utility lets you select a driver and change its
settings such as page size or number of colors. The following sections explain how
to use each utility.
NOTE: Depending on how much memory your system has, the
installation program created the utilities as either accessories or as plain programs.
As accessories, you can run the utilities while inside an application. You can
examine values and even change them, although you must exit the application or
reboot depending on the changes made. As programs, you must exit an application
in order to run either utility (unless you are running MultiTOS). In addition,
accessories take up significant amounts of system memory. If, for some reason
(e.g., an application will not run due to lack of memory), you wish to free up some
system memory, rename your accessory's filename extender from .ACC to .PRG
and reboot.
THE OUTLINE FONTS UTILITY
The Outline Fonts Utility allows you to configure SpeedoGDOS to your particular
system. Using the utility, you can tell SpeedoGDOS which fonts you want to use,
what point sizes you want available for each font, and how much memory to
devote to different caches. The following is an explanation of the utility, broken up
into sections based on either the label of the dialog box or the name of a button.
Note: Changes made through this utility will be made effective
only after you have quit all GDOS applications and restart; if you change any of
the cache sizes, you must reboot.
Installed Fonts
After bringing up the Outline Fonts Utility, you will notice a list of installed fonts.
These are the fonts currently active, which means that you will be able to use them
in your applications.
Removing Fonts
When you click on one or more of the font names (and it becomes highlighted),
the Remove Fonts button will become enabled, and it will let you delete the
font(s). The font(s) will be put on the available list.
Setting Points
When you click on one or more of the font names (and it becomes highlighted),
the Set Points button will become enabled, and it will let you change the available
point sizes. You can also double-click on a font name to change its point sizes. The
point sizes that you choose are the ones that you can use with applications,
although current versions of most programs allow you to choose any point size
without specifying it through the utility.
Unused Fonts
The Unused Fonts button will change the display so that you can look at the list of
inactive fonts. The list is labelled Available Fonts.
Install Fonts
When you select one or more fonts from the Available Fonts list, the Install Fonts
button will become enabled so that you can make them available to applications.
Set Points
When you select one or more fonts from the Available Fonts list, the Set Points
button will become enabled so that you can set the point sizes available for the
fonts.
Select All
The Select All button will select all of the fonts on the Available Fonts list. All of
the fonts will be highlighted, and you can use the Install Fonts button to put them
on the Installed Fonts list.
Options
The Options button brings up a dialog box so that you can change the path where
fonts are found, set the default point sizes, change cache settings, or build
widthtables.
Path Options
If you click on the Path Options button, the utility will display the path where
SpeedoGDOS looks for the Speedo font files. To change the path, click on the path
itself and the utility will bring up a file selector. You can then select the drive and
folder where your fonts are to be located.
Point Sizes
This button will let you create the list of point sizes that every subsequently
activated font will have. In addition, once you create the list, you can click on the
Set All Fonts button and all of the currently activated fonts will use the default
sizes. Note that most applications do not need fixed point sizes made available.
Cache Options
The Cache Options button brings up a dialog box that gives you pertinent
information about all of the GDOS caches and allows you to manipulate them.
Cache Settings. This section of the dialog box displays the sizes of all of the caches
in kilobytes. You change the values by either using the up/down arrows or clicking
on the corresponding value so that you may edit it from the keyboard. There are
three caches that you must maintain: Character, Miscellaneous, and Bitmap Font.
The first cache, labelled Character, is the cache where the individual outline font
characters are stored. Remember that Speedo must build its characters before it
displays them. You may notice a slight delay the first time that you type a
character. Because Speedo stores (caches) away the generated character data, the
next time you display those characters they will be output much faster. The cache
should be set to a minimum of 50,000 bytes, although if your system has only a
megabyte of memory, 20,000 bytes would be reasonable.
The second cache, Miscellaneous, is used by SpeedoGDOS to store internal data
structures. It should be set to at least 50,000 bytes, or 20,000 bytes if you are short
of memory. Note that the Miscellaneous required value in the Cache Information
section should be used as minimum amount of memory. Remember that if you do
have a limited amount of RAM, you should correspondingly limit the number and
size of fonts that you choose. You can use Speedo fonts effectively on small
systems with very small caches, as long as you aren't using too many fonts and you
use normal point sizes (e.g. 10, 14, 24 points). Finally, the last cache is the Bitmap
Font cache where the old-style, GDOS bitmap fonts are stored. To set this cache,
find out which bitmap fonts you use and what their file sizes are. To set the very
minimal cache size, just set the cache to be as big as the biggest bitmap font file.
Cache.
Using the Cache section of the dialog box, you are able to load, save, or flush your
Speedo character cache. At first glance, you can see how useful these functions can
be. As an example, say you had a document that contained only Bitstream Charter
in 10, 14, and 18 point characters. Since the characters are being displayed on the
screen, you know that they've been cached by Speedo. Save the cache, using a
name that you can easily associate with your document file. The next time you're
ready to load this file, flush the cache, then read in the cache which was saved out
with your file. After loading the document notice how fast the screen is able to
redraw. This is because Speedo does not need to generate any of the character
data for the document. An append function (Merge Cache) allows you to add
character data to your cache instead of replacing the already existing data. It
should be noted here that your cache is not lost when you exit your program. If
you leave your program and then enter it again without a reboot, your cache will
be preserved. If the utility detects a file named DEFAULT.SPD in your Speedo
directory when your machine boots up, it will automatically be loaded into the
cache (Note: this feature only works as an accessory).
Cache Information.
This section of the dialog box displays useful diagnostic information for managing
GDOS caches. The Miscellaneous Cache Required value is an approximate
minimum value for the miscellaneous cache; this means that a reasonable
application should be able to access the fonts that you have installed. You should
set this cache to a size above this value, although there is no guarantee that your
application will not use more of the Miscellaneous cache. The Unused
Miscellaneous Cache value will give you an approximate idea of how much
memory is available. You can check this value while your application is running to
make sure that there is sufficient memory. The Unused Character Cache value also
displays how much memory is available to GDOS to generate characters. If a larger
character or your printer characters are not generated, or printouts take an
unusually long time, check this value. The cache might be too small to
accommodate a large character bitmap, or the cache might be thrashing
(continuously flushing and reloading the same characters); in either case,
increasing the Character cache could alleviate the problem.
Widthtables
This button will bring up a dialog box that allows you to turn widthtables on or
off, and build them if necessary. You don't really need to know what widthtables
are, but they may be necessary for your application. Refer to your application's
documentation or call the software company that produced the application you are
using to see if they recommend using widthtables (NOTE: Most applications no
longer require widthtables). Otherwise, if your application handles text correctly
without widthtables, leave them off. If you must turn them on, just remember to
build them whenever you change something in the accessory when it warns you to
build them. Note that you may need to build widthtables again if you change
resolutions.
Save
This button saves the changes made to the EXTEND.SYS file.
THE PRINTER DRIVERS UTILITY
The main function of the Printer Drivers Utility is to allow you to choose which
printer you wish to use with GDOS. This is particularly useful when you physically
want to change printers (e.g., you switch from a dot-matrix printer for proofing to
a laser printer for final output). You can also select final or draft mode from this
utility. Selecting draft mode reduces the quality of output while speeding up
printing time. (Note that some printers do not support draft mode.) In addition,
the Printer Drivers Utility manipulates the configuration file called ASSIGN.SYS.
This file contains the information on where GDOS locates its drivers and bitmap
fonts and which of those GDOS should use. The installation program should have
set up your ASSIGN.SYS file so that you don't really need to change anything. The
utility will be most useful to you when you need to change printers. Novice users
should limit the changes made with this utility, although users familiar with the
ASSIGN.SYS format will find it easy to configure their systems.
Note: Some applications will allow you to change printer drivers,
modify their settings, and switch final/draft mode while the application is running.
You can experiment with your individual application, or you can always quit your
application and restart when you make changes.
Current Printer
When you run the utility, it should come up displaying the current printer. If you
wish to use a different printer, just click on a printer on the Available Printers list.
Available Printers
This is the list of available printer drivers. If there are none available, use the Set
Path button to find out where your drivers are located. To make one of the
printers the Current Printer, click on the name of the printer on the list. To change
the settings on a particular printer driver, double-click or use the Configure
button.
Quality
This allows you to choose final or draft mode for your current printer.
Remove
This allows you to remove the current printer driver so that none is selected.
Configure
This button brings up a dialog box to configure the current printer driver.
Configuring drivers should be done before running an application. You should
then see a display of the driver specifications. Note that if a box is shadowed, you
may change its value by clicking on it. If the particular printer driver you have
chosen supports a particular feature (e.g., different page sizes or color palettes),
use the pop-up menu to look at the available selections. All you need to do is click
on the appropriate selection. Note that some drivers do not have any configurable
features. Also, remember that the utility will modify the actual driver on your
floppy or hard disk when a modification is made.
Note: One feature found on all drivers is the Print Area Offsets.
When this feature is turned on, the size of the page that the driver will return to
your application includes the non-printable area. If it is off, the size of the page
will only include the printable area. Please consult your application's
documentation to see whether to turn this feature on. The default is off, since
older applications will not take advantage of it.
Custom
This button is for expert users, and the average user should never have to invoke
this dialog box. The Custom button brings up a dialog box that allows you to
change the device assignments found in the ASSIGN.SYS file.
Set Path
Clicking on Set Path will bring up the standard file selector and allow you to
change where the drivers are found.
Save
Saves out all of your changes to disk.
Exit
Exits the utility; will not save your changes.
A Guide to SpeedoGDOS
A Guide to SpeedoGDOSQuick Reference Guide
To Add Font(s):
Run the Outline Fonts Utility.
Select font names (shift-click to grab more than one).
Click on Install Fonts or Install All.
Click on SAVE.
To Delete Fonts:
Run Outline Fonts Utility.
Click on desired font names (shift-click to grab more than one).
Click on Remove Fonts.
Click on SAVE.
To Set Cache Sizes:
Run Outline Fonts Utility.
Click on Options button.
Select Cache Options.
If your application doesn't run, or only some or no fonts are loaded,
increase the Miscellaneous cache.
If you notice frequent regeneration of the screen characters or slow printer
output, increase the Bitmap cache.
If bitmap fonts that you've installed do not appear, increase the Bitmap
cache.
Save and reboot.
To Set Point Sizes:
Run Outline Fonts Utility.
Select font names (shift-click to grab more than one).
Click on Set Points or double-click on font name.
Choose desired point sizes or click on Set to Defaults.
Click on OK.
To Set Default Point Sizes:
Run Font Accessory.
Click on Options button.
Select Point Sizes.
Choose desired point sizes.
All subsequently installed fonts will use these point sizes.
To set all active fonts to the defaults, click on Set All Fonts.
To Change Printer Drivers:
Run Printer Drivers Accessory.
Select a printer from Available Printers.
Save.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Basic Concepts 1
Getting Started 2
Using the Utilities 3
The Outline Fonts Utility 4
The Printer Drivers Utility 4
Conclusion 5
Appendix I--A Detailed Look at
SpeedoGDOS 6
Appendix II--Using the Utilities 9
PLEASE NOTE: Every effort
has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this manual. However,
because Atari Corporation is constantly improving and updating its computer
hardware and software, it is unable to guarantee the accuracy of printed material
after the date of publication and disclaims liability for changes, errors, or
omissions.
Reproduction of all or any portion of this manual is not allowed without the
specific written consent of Atari Corporation.
Atari, the Atari logo, GDOS, SpeedoGDOSTOS, TOS and MultiTOS are trademarks
or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation. GEM is a registered trademark of
Digital Research, Inc. Speedo is a trademark of Bitstream, Inc. Helvetica is a
registered trademark of Linotype Company. times is a registered trademark of
Allied Corporation.
Copyright 1993, Atari Corporation
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302
All rights reserved.