Athena II
A Computer Aided Design Program
Addendum to owners manual release Version 1.8X
Since this disk has the architecture library #1 on it, and the Athena II
program on the disk is the one that we are shipping as the free update,
please disregard the free update note in the manual. However, to keep
current with Athena II, I would suggest that you keep in touch with your
local Atari Dealer. We will continue to supply update disks to your
dealer. Simply take your original disk in and have him copy the current
version of Athena II over to your disk.
WARNING !!!
This diskette is formated ten sectors (10) by eighty (80) tracks.
You must use a copy program or file at a time (a RAM disk would be very
handy for this) copy to a standard diskettes to create your working
copy.
Do to the number of support files and the large file size of Athena II
it was necessary to ship Athena II with double sided diskettes 10
sectors per track, in that the program has not been copy protected you
may transfer the files to THREE (or four) different diskettes:
(double sided disk drive users may wish to combine both steps one and two
into just one standard diskette.)
1. A BOOT diskette with;
GDOS (in an AUTO folder)
ASSIGN.SYS
FX80.SYS (or other Drivers)
ROLANDP.PLT
README.1ST
2. A PROGRAM diskette with;
ATHENAII.PRG
STD.FNT
3. A DATA / Output diskette.
FX80.SYS (or the appropiate printer driver SYS file)
(Use this diskette for the data files created by the save option.
These files should end with the extension 'AII', Parts may also be
placed here space permiting, or you may wish to have a diskette for
parts only. A parts only disk is a very good idea!)
Hard drive users: Put GDOS (found in your auto folder) into the auto
folder on your boot disk and with a word processor such as 1st word edit
the ASSIGN.SYS so that the appproiate Disk and path are on the
ASSIGN.SYS file and place that file on your boot disk. Place the
FX80.SYS or other driver in the disk/path that you declared in
ASSIGN.SYS. NOTE: if you leave all GDOS file on your boot disk, root
directory, then no editing is required.
Notice to all Athena II owners:
This disk contains version 1.80 of ATHENA II, as well as the
architectural library #1. There have been extensive changes in the
program since the manual was written earlier this year. Many of the
suggestions from you, our customers, have been implemented in this
version of ATHENA II.
We will continue to implement your suggestions as we can and we want you
to know that we really appreciate the support that we have received over
the last few months. It is a team effort and we appreciate your input.
IMPORTANT!!!! If any of your drawings have fills in them you will need
to use the older version of the program and delete out any fills that
might be in them. The data structure that stores the fill data has been
altered and any drawings which have fills in them will crash the
program. The fills can then be re-inserted into your drawings with the
new version. You will also need to create a disk for printing your
drawing. The only file you need to have on it is the "FX80.sys" file.
The program still goes to the disk for some temporary storage, but does
not use up anywhere near the disk storage that the ".GEM" files did on
earlier versions. The reason for this is that GDOS buffers a temporary
file to disk. (Notice a compiler bug does not "inform" the program of
such minor things as a full disk. We are working on a solution.)
Fills can now be printed out on a dot matrix printer. The use of fills
is very similar to the way B-splines work. Select the type of fill you
want and then digitize the control points which bound the area you want
filled. You can then move, insert, or delete control points. Before
you print your drawing select whether or not you want the fills to be
opaque and if you would like them to have a border.
Here is a short list of the many changes made to ATHENA II:
Many of the commonly used commands are now repeatable. i.e. you can
repeat them until you hit the right mouse button or select another main
menu item.
Fills can now be printed on compatible dot matrix printers.
Text has been speeded up approximately 20 times faster than before. Text
width will not be shown but will print at the selected line width.
Break entity command has been added to allow you to break lines,
circles, and arcs. This will allow you to, for example, make a break in
a continuous line and then trim the ends from the break point.
Move layer command has been added. This command will allow you to move
the contents of an entire layer.
Change layer command has been added. This command allows you to change
the layer of an entity. To change an entities' layer, first select the
layer you want the object to be moved to. (change current layer on
layer menu) then select the items you want moved to the new layer.
Array copy has been added. This option allows you to make an array copy
of an object. i.e. a plate with 4 rows and 3 columns of 1.25" holes
with a spacing of 1.75" between holes. This command will allow you to
simply select the object to copy and then type in the appropriate values
as prompted.
Zoom to value has been added: This will set the zoom factor to whatever
you type in. The center of the screen will be the center of the zoom.
IMPORTANT!!!!
The print command no longer writes a permanent file out to the disk for
you to use with the output program. This program is no longer
necessary. All printing is accomplished within the program. The steps
to print out a drawing are:
1. Select print command.
2. Select whether you would like the output to either be horizontal
on the page or vertical.
3. Next select whether you would like the output to be best fit on
an 8.5" X 11" page or whether you would like the drawing printed
out to scale. By selecting best fit the drawing will be printed
on 1 sheet of paper.
A. If you select to print your drawing to scale another menu will
come up and ask you if you would like to scale the drawing or if
you want the scale to be the current window that your drawing is
in. If you select the current window, whatever is on the screen
will be printed onto the page. If you select to scale the
drawing, type in the scale at which you want the drawing to be
printed.i.e. for quarter scale type in .25, half size = .5, full
size = 1.0.
4. Next, the information line will display how many pages your
drawing will take to print. You can then either press return
and the drawing will begin printing, or you can hit the "ESC"
key and back out of the printing routine. Drawings that are
larger than 1 page will have cut marks on the paper which will
allow you to match up corresponding pages.
ATHENA II now allows you to save off your drawing in either NEOCHROME
format or DEGAS format. This will allow you to include your drawings
in desktop publishing programs. i.e. Publishing Partner.
Default colors option has been added. By pressing this option the
current desk top colors will be used in the program. To return to
standard program colors simply press the button again.
The Roland DGY-800 driver is included in this version of the program.
Due to the capabilities of the plotter, some entities may not posses all
the attributes that are on the screen. The current implementation only
allows one pen. Future versions of the program will support all pens.
The current driver is for use with the printer port on the DGY-800.
Transformation Menu:
Rotate
-Rotates the entities as in the manual but erases the original
location.
Rotate Copy
-Rotates the entities but leaves the original entities at the
original location.
Mirror
-Mirrors the selected entities as in the manual but erases the
original location.
Mirror Copy
-Mirrors the selected entities but leaves the original entities
at the original location.
Scale
-Scales the selected entities as in the manual but erases the
original location.
Scale Copy
-Scales the selected entities but leaves the original entities
at the original location.
Information Menu:
Repaint Drawing:
Forces the drawing to be re-drawn.
Magnify Menu:
Normal;
Currently the measurement units are somewhat dependent on your
imagination IE. If Inches is first selected then all future
distances will be associated with that measurement factor, that
is one foot is twelve inches and will be displayed as 12. If you
select foot as the normal scale then to get inches you must use
decimal factions of one foot IE. six Inches will be .5 and 3
Inches is .25, it should be noted that decimal feet has just
recently been approved, as opposed Feet Inches and fractions of
inches as a industry standard.
Line Menu:
Parallel Lines;
Parallel lines have been changed to require a keyboard entry of
the offset distance that the line will be placed (This makes
creating walls in a floor plan a breeze). The location of the
new line with reference to the original line depends on which
side of the reference line that you first click as the start of
the new line.
Additional changes in the manual and program.
Athena II now works in both Low and High resolution, but not at this
time in medium. (pg. 7)
Athena II is supplied on a double sided diskette 10 sector (as
opposed to 9), in order to copy this diskette using disk copy you
must first format the diskette as a double sided diskette not
single. If you don't do this you will get an error message from GEM
when you attempt to copy. (pg. 8) If you have a single sided drive
and you are using the dealers or a friends system to create a single
sided version you must copy a file one at a time (please refer to
the first of this document to find out which file goes where in a
single sided disk system. (pg. 8)
Note:
(pg. 10) A BUG in the compiler will not pass a warning to the system
when the diskette is full.
IE. For problem free printing make sure that you have plenty of room on
your disk before attempting to print. If FX80.SYS or the installed
driver is not on the diskette in the selected drive in the
ASSIGN.SYS then the program will bomb.
Please be aware that an Isometric view may not have the exact size of
line or circle as the original, due to haveing been projected into the
Isometric plane. For maximum accuracy Dimension lines may be projected
from the original drawing just as any other entity may. (pg. 26)
One final change that has been added in the last few weeks, is the
ability to select an area, deselect an area, select specific entities
and deselect entities. When you are in a command that requires you to
select one or more entities, the following commands are available for
you to use. Press the key of the appropriate command:
A = Area select enabled
E = Entity select enabled
D = Deselect enabled
S = Select enabled
We hope that you will enjoy the enhancements that we have added to
ATHENA II and we appreciate your continued support. We are currently
working on a new manual which will include all of the changes that we
have made to the program. If you would like to receive a new copy of
the manual when it is completed, Send $10.00 to Iliad Software and we
will get you the revised manual as soon as it is published. Plotter
drivers are currently being finished and will be available in the next
incremental update.
As of October 1st, 1987, Iliad Software will no longer have a section on
the "Atari Connection" Bulletin Board system. Please contact your dealer
on questions you may have, or give Iliad a call at (801) 226-3270.
Some Monochrome monitors display circles as ellipses, this is because of
the aspect ratio of that monitor and does not affect the drawing, to
adjust Athena II to show as true a circle as possible on your monitor.
Draw a circle on the screen. Go to the information menu and select "set
screen display" then select "set aspect ratio" by pressing the - and +
keys. You can adjust the drawing so that the circle appears as circle to
you and not as an ellipse. Please remember that this will NOT change
the actual drawing as what you see is only a representation of the data
base.
IMPORTANT !!!! when loading old files you will get an error message this
simple means that the aspect ratio is not on your old drawings. If you
continue your drawing will appear as before, the next time that you save
your work the aspect ratio will be saved and no error message will be
displayed during future loadings.
The UNDO key works slightly different than before, you must have
completed any multi step commands and have the menu screen displayed
(I.E. have pressed the right button). Pressing the undo key will erase
that entity and only that entity. Be aware that pressing the undo key
prior to the menu being displayed is equivalent to pressing the left
mouse button and may leave zero length entities which will need to be
erased by hand.
Parallel lines requires a key board input to select the distance that
the line will be from the reference line not the first mouse position as
in the manual.
We will be keeping our dealers updated with new versions as they are
created. It is important that when you send in your warranty card that
you fill in completely the information about your dealer, in case that
dealer is not on our list (I.E. they may have purchased it from a
Distributor)
We are very interested in what you use Athena II for, as we have people
using Athena II for every thing from simple graphs through amusement
park landscaping, air foil design and on to SDI projects. If you have
ideas please let us know, for we do listen and will continue to improve
Athena II so that it will be an even better tool for your special needs
than it is now. If you have any special hints on how to do something, a
very nice drawing or even a question, drop us a letter. We are looking
at the possibility of a news letter and need all the help that we can
get to make it interesting to all of you. How soon and how often will
depend on how much you tell us and how much we have to say.