This is readme.txt for g15sp_f.zip, an implementation of a standard G15 PMN for Firth and DOS. This contains the complete version of G15 PMM, by intent an enduring version of this programming language and its core applications, as set forth in the readme.txt for y6all.zip, please consult it. [Upd for this: may 23, 2015.] Note that this is working fine with Y2000 style computers running this directly. In contrast to such as y6all.zip which is easy to run within RH8 virtually, running Firth virtually requires, for any graphical use of this package, a considerably higher speed of the PC than for running RH8 virtually. This has the same set of *.G15 disk files as the other standard implementations listed at norskesites.org/fic3 such as y6all.zip and y6.zip. For comprehensive overview over these implementations, pls confer norskesites.org/fic3. What follows is a readme.txt for this package written during the various stages of development of this Firth version of G15 PMN, in which a number of plans were created, after which replanning happened, several times over. However, we have kept the readme.txt as it is due to the exact precision with which it sets forth how to do things technically. * Practical note for the hard-and-smart working individual using G15 extensively to create and recreate things: the utility menu E5 has an option to 'create room', and it is stated that this can also be use to 'cleanse a disk area'. This is exactly what it does, and it is obviously a very important tool. In Firth, you also use it to fill the gap of unused cards before storing to a new higher-numbered cards. For instance, if you want to store things at L:100000 and you have only used up to L:10000 so far, use the utility to cleanse about 100.000 cards starting at L:10001 or the first card you haven't yet stored things at. This will ensure that the G15 disks grow holistically and that the .g15 files will make full sense. In Linux G15, you might do it but Linux has a feature that fills in such gaps automatically so it's not all that important there; however in G15 on top of Linux you use it to clear an area that e.g. had an earlier text in it, before you store the new text there, so that the overall appearance of the disks C..L is one of better organisation. ***************************************************** Adviced game type to be used in an enlightened context: non-addictive, not oriented towards imitation of reality whether by blurred lines or by colors or by overdone computer work. Further, each game-player must get scores EACH time, just a little higher when the smartest paths are taken through the game. Also, to be consistent, ALL motion should be made inside the mind of the game-player: where artworks of the cartoonish pulp art inspired type ENCOURAGE the idea of motion. The computer can easily mimick some motion but by being 'ascetic' about this, and 'austere', the mind of every player will learn to activate itself. If, on the other hand, simplistic motion is introduced ANYWHERE in the game, there's a breaking with this principle and a passification of mind. So it's adviced that one is consistent and refrain from the temptation to give too much output of the game. For a cartoon dimension game to have a dimension, and not just be a comics strip or a cartoon strip, it must have a minimum of alternative pathways connected to each subgoal in the sequence. The mind of the gameplayer will build up a memory of what pathways have been taken, and so the complexity of meaning can thereby be rich and varied without any need for many alternative pathways and no need at all for alternative options within each pathway. This, then, is what we mean when we say a 'first-hand curveart game'. ***************************************************** Extra image acknowledgements: a few samples from the freely available wealth of gymnastic girl-kids images at karat10.imgsrc.ru (russian rsg) have been transformed, ie, rerendered here, and added to our selection which includes strongly rerendered samples from the world of also adult beauty photo. Adult fashion has become also preteen fashion, and this is a tendency that must be welcomed as there is only good ethics in ensuring that beauty AS SUCH is honored in any part of human endavour which exists on the assumption of doing just so -- this was perhaps never more celebrated than when this [our image#1 in std series, our very strongly re-rerendered yoga6d.org/economy.htm tiny extract of] photo by Stian Foss of preteen Thylane Blondeau was put up on front of Jealouse magazine in France. Simultaneously, such as Vogue produced series such as of top model Karlie Kloss dancing at a beach with a longlegged preteen girl with pouting mouth, named Sasha -- without any photo-connotation of they having any particular mother-daughter relationship or anything such, which has been the classical 'excuse' for including children into the entirely right realm of beauty. This is a sign of less hypocrisy and more REALITY and substance in what has been, for the better or wrong reasons, called 'beauty industry'; and the rest of human society and culture must accomodate this fact fearlessly and not conceal jealousy in a form of false moralisation aiming at putting children away until they are as grey as the poltical lawmakers. This is in alignment with the text 0plsread.txt which is included both with y6.zip and g15sp_f.zip, and which sets forth the paradigm of reverence for beauty in a way which transcends the earlier cultural paradigms. Please read this before getting into use of the G15 platform, which can also be elaborated on through brain science: the activation of child- like beauty, sensually, is the prerequisite also for the adult brain to enter into a state of heightened coherent harmonious activation and deeper learning -- that's why peda-gogically there's a philo-sophical leaning towards a sense of the image of the harmoniously trained well-done photo of the child as archetype of the G15 platform. In this sense there's a full and necessary health and good moral to child-lovingness or pedo-philia; where the natural precautions involving health and freedom from violence is emphasised. Those who are conditioned by the 20th century approach to this, still, with the female liberation front going negative to any association of the very young with cherisable beauty, please, with all respect, consult the archive section of Yoga6d.org/economy.htm as at yoga6d.org/news_archive_page_10.htm and enlighten yourself before working with this platform. For this platform is for PHILOSOPHERS, not politically motivated moralists. Philosophers who are willing to take a lesson from physics, from brain science, and from the necessary freedom from false morals in order to come to a more real, more happiness- generating esthetics also in programming. With this development and with this freedom from unnecessary prejudice, we wish you good luck as a positive and constructive participant! ===**$****$**&%*****===*******$****$**&?***** Use with high-quality PCs, tested to work with Firth, tested to work fast also with B9edit Readme.txt in g15sp_f.zip AND readme.txt in y6.zip are recommended reading for use of G15, PMN, YOGA6DORG in any context. ***Go to www.norskesites.org/fic3/fic3inf3.htm for mountable apps including pedagogical programs, so as to learn to program, and regularly updated with full-fledged games and applications etc *** For very USB-compatible Laptops, which transfer 100 kb pr second, which is a respectable speed in a context where reliance on video files is seen for the rediculous thing it is -- to anything and from anything of a standard USB-nature with the disk type of compatible hardware, when plugged in during bootup, please type UP and read the notes that comes up. We have included this up.exe so that you can type e.g. up d:. so that when you unplug e.g. a camera, use it, and plug it back in all during one run where you booted with the usb apparatus plugged in, it will each time be able to refresh the dictionary by typing up d:. {There are electronic switches of this kind allowing for automatic processes to be controlled this way.} ***freeware crop500g included to cut out upper left 500x500 corner of rgb color .jpg images when they have a suitable light intensity balance, getting a bit or sometimes a lot rough but mind-challenging tonalities on their way, an 8-bit correctly geen monochrome sorted .bmp for insertion into our machine. This free little program can be used with a modification of such as ls *.jpg > test1.bat with the e editor e test1.bat will then contain the file names, and you can insert crop500g before each line, and take away the .jpg, for batch conversion of the all {e editor also has macros for editing such repetitive stuff fast}. Here's how to use it in Firth if you have a .jpg image that needs a lot of resize and selection and such: Exit G15, and -- as always, outside of G15 while using graphics in Firth, mentally adjust the widescreen to be as within G15 -- then type PN and, supposing you keep the .jpg in C:\BOEHM, which is easier while using Firth graphics editors in general for there are fewer files there, locate the image, and press F2 to Convert and select GIF as new storage format (the P program can read .jpg but doesn't write .jpg with equal correctness). Press Alt-X to leave P, and the editor N is next automatically opened. {For a lot use of this, pls learn to set the preferences section in this to 500x500 for the creation of new images, and 1024x768 256 color as standard video setting or so.} Press Alt-R to open the .gif file you made. Press upper left icon to select a square. Use mouse to extract the portion you want. Press SHIFT-INS to copy it it. Press Alt-N to make a new image 500x500. Press INS to paste it there. Press Alt P S so you see it selects 'Scale this cutout', and put in 500 and 500 as new size, but select that proportions aren't going to be changed {in other words, the cut-out becomes changed to within 500x500}. Press ALT-S to save, and be sure to use the .gif extension. Then type B16 which opens an editor which has a slightly different user interface, it takes a bit getting used to, but essentially do this: Press O to open a file and navigate the rather unsorted file-lists until you locate the new .GIF file. Then select Save, and change the suffix to .JPG. This will have created a perfectly scaled and readable .jpg of the 500x500 size. To give it the treatment towards abstract art that we recommend with photos -- which in some color intensities becomes rather identical, but which is balancing the various color rod information of the eye so as to stimulate to an understanding of how these color rods work, type STARS and ENTER and CD .. or, more quickly, just CD \BOEHM CROP500G FILENAME where the full name is FILENAME.JPG but you don't type in the .JPG. The FILENAME.BMP is then created, if all is as it should be with the image. Type HM MVFILE ..\FILENAME.BMP . or, if you want to preserve a copy there, HM COPY ..\FILENAME.BMP and be sure that you don't type a single dot as input to 'COPY', because there's an issue with the COPY command in Freedos that we haven't bothered to fix, since there is no reason to type . when one uses COPY. So that's a workaround. Now open up G15 via the NOISY command (if that's the one proper to your display) and via one of the utility menues read it in by the normal Gem Image import routine, where it finally will be correctly displayed in its proportions and can be moved to a place you like. It can be further treated in GEM at the main G:15 menu. Be sure to know that although the description above is long, the actual quantity of keys clicked and mouseclicks is small and, because of the dependability of the Firth and G15 platform, it is generally the same that is to be clicked each time, for the machine is a machine and not a wet soap that one cannot get hold of, as has been the case of all other operating platforms one has seen. In other words, it can be done really fast when one has done it a few times. ***** ***A technical security note: Firth can interactively do two-way USB with suitable electronic ASIC devices {application specific integrated chips} devices, and other electronics, including robots, cameras, sound-stuff two-way etc. This is implemented by analogy with the RS232 commands described below by PMN calling on internal extended functions 241-246 in X1..X6. This, then, is exclusively for Firth and such command calls cannot be used in Linux or or other such hierarchical platforms at all!!! It is clear that for any use in the present earthian context of the virus-infected web it is safer to use the Linux version which have no inbuilt instructions that lend themselves for access of any wires. The Firth version is supposed to be run in a safe context. ***Ram, videoram etc can be refreshed completely by turning machine off when other programs have been run than Firth, but we have included extra screensaver-like startup files which you press ENTER to go further from, into G15 PMN games etc. You can start these manually by typing REFRESH and then STARS. There is a 'forward and up' sense to this when preformed in a natural sequence, as when you type NOISY to start the widescreen compatible crunched texture version of G15 YOGA6DORG which we strongly recommend for ALL uses, after we initially thought of it only as an experiment. Some of the startup files are derived from open source and are then included in the Firth.iso standard platform with all requisite acknowledgements, a main one in the c:\scrsave folder. Green has been shown to be the supreme working color for PC use, harmonising and stimulating in just the right blend. There is a burst of blue and other colors during startup in order to stimulate in other ways, but prolonged use of other colors during computer work has side-effects, e.g. too much blue light creates sleeplessness because the human retina expects blue light in the morning mostly, and rightly wants other colors for the class of work and fun that PC use falls in under. NOISY calls on REFRESH, and it may be enough to actually refresh RAM even after vastly different applications have been run in Firth, but to get the machine switched off, and for some machines one then waits a minute, then switched on, obviously remains the supreme way to refresh. Studies of computer use suggests it should anyway be done after a run of about five hours no more. Fortunately, boot is magnificently fast with Firth. The adviced way in general is to install the AUTONATI.TXT as the cyclic runner of NOISY even if the keyboard and mouse handling is so robust that that extra carefulness inbuilt in that startup isn't necessary. This can be modified to start another form of PMN than NOISY. One can press CTR-C to quit the cyclic restart and confirm exit from the batch file by the letter A, in order to do other things. Commands in Firth include such as MVFILE source destination to swiftly move even big files, TOP for top folder, HM for boehm\boehmian folder, CD to show which is current folder, rm -f foldername to remove completely a folder and all its content, U63 for fast file search, 24 to switch to normal command line font after use of such as the U menu For AUTONATI.TXT, as listed at norskesites.org/fic3 and moscowsites.org/fic3, allows easy restart each time you have done program changes and want to ensure disk is updated; then you click CTR-C and A to exit this when you want to run other programs such as zip to make a mounted package for use in any version of G15. The AUTONATI is renamed to AUTOEXEC.BAT and injected into root folder C:\ and it is found at norskesites.org/fic3 and moscowsites.org/fic3. ***Read in the cards right after the homecard G:15 for valuable notes, tricks, precautions, also on how to use MNT in a good way! ***When you make an application, game, data, scientific program, whatever -- what we call, in G15, a "mountable app", it has a seven- digit number. If it is 1111111, then by typing dir ?1111111.g15 you will see what you have produced when you have made such a mountable app. It can be zipped by the command zip 1111111 ?1111111.g15 so that others can mount it by unzip 1111111.zip after they have got it into the standard folder from which you run your G15. Acknowledgements: For G15 Yoga6dorg and "Noisy" in general, the same acknowledgements apply as for the earlier versions, esp Firth234. For PMN {also called Primary Multiverse Noetics, and sometimes PatMtNet} on top of it, also some valuable impressions from the statistical programming language R esp. as for its graphs. This package, g15sp_f.zip, includes same set of core programs exactly, to the bit, as the linux package in y6.zip, both at norskesites.org/fic3 with mirror site at moscowsites.org/fic3, both part of the Yoga6d.org consciously incomplete, mind-stimulating, uncensored search engine websites for Fun, Beauty and Use Be sure you have a real big nice keyboard {separate set of keys for arrows, Home, PgUp and so on from numeric pad, since, in general, we do not want these keys to be combined in G15 for reason of consistency of response to keyboard}. Be also sure you have a real mouse to play with, and to do serious work with. Some helpful info about using plugged-in USB keyboard and mouse in laptops running Firth is found at norskesites.org/fic3 where it says AUTONATI.TXT -- since with some laptops this is a little tricky and some practical workarounds must be learned. But even with these workarounds the plugged-in keyboard may for some laptops 'loose its resonance' when much rapid typing takes place. By selecting laptops with care, one won't need these workarounds. The G15 is the crowning of the Firth operating approach for computers with its supernative platform, OS, fontset, graphics editor, interactive compilers etc etc. It is obviously best run within Firth. Some elements can be run within "mini-firth's" and for this see comments at norskesites.org/fic3 just beneath the listing of the newest g15sp_f.zip there (and be sure to use the newest, as a rule of thumb). There are other features -- such as NOISYR, for automatic startup when e.g. a household robot is steered by it which have components which does not start up outside of Firth. Firth has lots of self-documentation, although it is characterised by a willingness to put soul before syntax, and during the last months of 2005 and early months of 2006 there were additional changes and there not all updated in the docs; also, there are variations in what is more generally compatible and what requires certain pieces of hardware. Confer the CODEOVER text e.g. via the U menu (type U and press ENTER) for docs on all sorts of things, and for acknowledgements. Regulate mouse speed by the number in the line in AUTOEXEC.BAT which has the word CTMOUSE. Let the other characters on that line be there, vary the number just a little. For using 1024*600 mini-PC monitors with NOISTINY (or TINY, if 800x600), which are alternative startup versions of the very same platform, it makes sense to tailor-make both menues and what programs they open, and/or what settings they have in them, to accomodate the very slimmer screen. This is so easy to do when you know a bit of G15 that we haven't included such alternative menues. * * * * * The only difference between the 240 foundational functions constituting the G15 platform, and when done as Elsketch and such, its CPU, and which penetrate the implementation entirely and completely and without exception, also for the PMN high-level interactive language, for Firth and for other versions such as Linux is that Firth has RS232 whereas such as Linux hasn't unless tweaked (see below), and Firth has exact clock and date two-way determination and so allows a program like the 'Easy Timer' to be run; and that the mouse pointer presence is controlled in Firth. Also, Firth when installed on high quality PC where there have been no shortcuts as regards the core established USB standards, Note that in Firth, Elsketch and anything compatible the best-performing date is the cyclic starting-point for Firth which is also the date Firth was physically finished in its final form: April 10, 2006, 10 o'clock AM, a monday. This is autoset at startup of the G15 platform both inside the .BAT starting it, and inside the main program. {If the same PC uses date for some purposes that suggests the date should be otherwise, pls find a way to set it back after running anything of this, e.g. by type TIME and type DATE after running it.} Apart from that, there are no other differences except practically in how to probe programs runtime, how the probe data is output. For the nth time: use a good physical large keyboard and a good physical mouse. For every version of G15 it is assumed a two-button mouse -- left-click, right-click, and no other knots or gadgets associated with it. These should be connected by wires to the computer. Obviously, wires are in general a far better approach for ANY computer connection than a wireless approach with constant emission of radio waves. Radio waves shouldn't be overused, and so areas with any so-called wireless net connection should in general be regarded as vaguely (or a lot) polluted. README.TXT inside G15SP_F.ZIP WITH RS232-COMMUNICATION FOR ELSKETCH ELECTRONICS LAB WORK ALSO AS PART OF G15 MULTIVERSITY STUDIES OF ART, ELECTRONICS, AND BEAUTY PHILOSOPHY The G15 YOGA6DORG F3W YOGASM FLUX GAMEV KNIT LANGUAGE http://www.norskesites.org/firth-up.txt sets forth how to run Firth on just about every standard laptop and desktop PC in existence, and in some cases with USB enabled not just in a second partion with linux, but directly from Firth! **** To make this more possible with some **** machines which wouldn't easily access **** USB in Firth, try to type USBTRY **** and reboot Firth. When done, type USBDONE **** If the mouse pointer moves too slowly **** in Firth, modify the line in C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT **** which has CTMOUSE in it. Resolution is set **** to one, it says R1. Set it to 2 or maybe 3. Note: if you run g15sp_f.zip G15FIR.EXE on a monitor not having the exact physical layout of 4x3 = 12x9 = 1024x768 there are other startup possibilities. Firth-up.txt describes noisy.bat, suitable for 16x9. For a small 4x3 monitor of the 800x600 type there's tiny.bat. For a widescreen mini-PC with 1024*600 screen use noistiny.bat. These can run those programs exactly that's written with tiny screens in mind and cedit is a standard program, a small editor, that has been written with small e.g. robotic displays in mind. You can write more yourself! This documents how to get the dos-compatible .exe version of the PVI of G15 to run, and it is running exactly what the PVI of Linux is also capable of running. A document found at the upstream source location for ever-new updates of Yoga6dorg programming language (with all its pet names), namely norskesites.org/fic3 (and moscowsites.org/fic) tells how to use it within Dosbox on a machine that for some reason doesn't have the splendid excellent Y2000 standards fully intact (but note that Dosbox requires a PC *many* times faster than a PC running this direct). A Y2000 needs a 4'3 shaped monitor with a Vesa S3 card, IDE harddisk-controllers and harddisk, classical mouse and classical keyboard connectors and ditto mouse and keyboard, and perhaps as much as 1.5 GHz performance. A Dosbox emulation must take place on a PC that's many times faster and even then the experience will be limited because emulations ARE by nature limited; but Dosbox provides a convenient approach to the RS232 ports available on all computers. Take care, however, to realise that Dosbox must be tested to work at all, with graphics normally within a frame, and secondly that it must be tested that it also works with Rs232 in each concrete instance, as experience shows that this splendid emulator doesn't always work in both these senses with all machines and all platforms. There is no RS232 in the Linux version of the G15 PVI because we don't want to risk any too much Internet connectivity with all the virus issues that keep on cropping up at Internet, relative to this innocent virginal language. How to start this package: **** By far best, by an order of magnitude which is infinite: directly at a standard type of PC, as described in http://www.norskesites.org/firth-up.txt **** Inside Dosbox on top of some platform, it will have a speed that's a small percentage of the real thing and it isn't supposed to be run that way very much, but it enables certain interesting & useful things **** Inside a virtualisation PC such like Virtualbox.org which in some contexts isn't much faster than Dosbox, but in some other contexts (a well-installed version on Ubuntu 32 bit) some times faster than Dosbox and yet not at all as fast as on a real PC. There are workarounds -- use G15FIR rather than G15 as startup-command in such a case, cfr firth-up.txt for more workarounds (for Dos in Virtualbox may have an issue with some graphics applications upon exit, and there's a content to g15.bat which runs the program newstars which requires more compatibility than some versions of virtualbox offer). **********************HOW TO MAKE MOUNTABLE APPS: Examples of such mountable apps: www.norskesites.org/fic3/fic3inf3.htm Number one, you select a 7-digit number which is not already associated with any g15 app that you know of Number two, you make the .g15 files as described inside the command mnt when you type it at the g15 command line Number three, you make a zip called just that app number and a dot and 'zip', like 1234567.zip. This zip will contain files such as h1234567.g15 and i1234567.g15 and j1234567.g15 and k1234567.g15. As a minimum, it contains the h disk excerpt. It can also include a text file named e.g. how_to.txt which tells very quickly how to mount such stuff. The app will normally itself tell of any licensing information, especially if it is for sales. To make such a zip, supposing the number is 1234567, type: zip 1234567.zip how_to.txt ?1234567.g15 and add any extra files you want into it if any. The question-mark is also useful when you want to see how many files are associated with an app number: dir ?1234567.g15 Correspondingly, you can type unzip 1234567 when 1234567.zip is in present folder. In firth, to see which folder is present, type cd and to switch off the machine, you may want to refresh date to its standard setting and such by typing stars, then , then type maybe anew since this usually works to reboot machines, and switch it off at the moment it is 'most off' and just about to start up again by clicking once or twice on the on-off switch. Some machines requires up to a full minute or two of wait in order to truly refresh RAM. This may be necessary in order to start the vast g15 platform after use of other programs in the firth framework. If the machine freezes, try ctrl-alt-del to exit the program, then reboot, if that worked. If need be, press on-off button; in some cases, one must hold the on-off button in for ten seconds. It is a general good rule to test and correct new programs after one has exited and restarted g15, so that all info is flushed to the disks. If in doubt about whether the .g15 files have full integrity, then it certainly helps that you have done a backup so that you can unzip this backup over the existing files maybe twice, to be sure. After a long season's intense use of the platform do a reinstallation at the harddisk for best integrity of it. ********************NOTE**FOR**RS232**FOLKS********* If you use the G15 on a DOS-near i386-like Personal Computer made out of chips, running something like Firth on it, then you have a core set of programs for connecting this to elsketch works tuned for RS232, for both the G15's in these cases support that type of wire. However, the i386-like Personal Computer in this case may have to be rebooted if such a program is tested with the RS232 connection not fully operational and with the proper matching program in the other end of the wire. To reboot such a PC because an RS232 command has led it into an indefinite 'wait state' is easy enough: click CTR-ALT-DEL probably twice. Then switch off the PC as it reboots. Wait half a minute to clear RAM, then switch on again. This note is put highly up so as to tell you to do the following: if you have made any changes to the G15 disks, exit G15 fully so you're sure the disks are flushed properly, and re-enter it, before you test any RS232 program. In that way, if you have to force a reboot in the manner stated, you don't have to check the integrity of the cards there. The RS232 example programs are at card D:23. These are suitable for 1st-hand elsketch electronics also because they have a speed range that is easy to work with on a self-made electronics level. The example programs are for text and 8-bit but FDB database utilities have a conversion from and back to 32-bit formats for any other datatype. Restarting G15 in Linux when a static loop has been entered (eg by overeager testing of Rs232 which isn't implemented there) is typically easy in that all one has to do is to press the Delete button to call forth Linux, bring up the Terminal window that started the G15PVI, and click CTR-C or the like there to break it off. ***************************************************** By Aristo Tacoma w/L.A.H (ATWLAH Industries, a background extension of also our fashion/beauty/shoe orientation as hinted at in yoga6d.org/economy.htm -- the Eco Nomy section, with the greek roots 'eco' for house, household, societal household, and 'nomy' indicating such as order, pattern, law -- laws of societal household, including machinery, including education, including beauty, industry, manufacturing etc PLEASE NOTE, FIRST OF ALL, THAT THIS COMPLEMENTS Y6.ZIP, RELEASED USUALLY THE VERY SAME DAY EACH TIME: Please read this readme.txt, which is inside g15sp_f.zip more or less in parallel with y6.zip, which is inside y6.zip. Both .zip's are at norskesites.org/fic3 and the mirrorsite moscowsites.org/fic3. The y6.zip has a readme.txt which speaks correctly and up-to-date about the content of the G15 OS disks and such; while this g15sp_f.zip has exactly the same disks but gives information which is typically unchanged from one update of the pair of .zips to the next. We emphasize the same update date for both pairs to minimize confusion and heighten compatibilities. We also try and cement version of key programs despite the noticing of this or that small features which might have been ironed out, so that overall compatibility of anything made in the quintessential programming language G15 YOGA6DORG LISA GJ2 FIC3 or what we call it will run also, put simply, in a thousand years; and that goes for all the documents you make in its editors, all the drawing you make in Curveart, all the images you make by camera and through its Gem, and so on. What is the G15 PC all about? Is it a step backwards to earlier technology, long superceeded by the socalled Integrated Chips that were introduced in the 1970s and which soon came to dominate most electronics produced all over Earth? Or is it a step into the future, where the electronics components used can be produced more locally, and with more understanding spread in the population, and with more capacity for being repaired, rather than just thrown away when the tiny little IC chips don't work anymore? The techniques used are not the same as before the chips came around, but they build on that, as a logical extension. We see the addiction to chips and the addiction to gigabytes and gigahertz and overcolorisation as one vast escape from reality. The consumption of computing power is first and foremost one of entertainment, but little of it is an entertainment of a kind that serves humanity; most is produced with an intent to ensnare and enslave and reap a profit no matter what, no matter the greater ethical concerns. So the G15 PC is not a step back. It is, given a certain grand perspective, the first real step since the 1970s, where certain understandings of computation and of computer languages and interaction with human being having taken place in the forty years after that having been incorporated afresh, in a quintessential instruction set, that serves to be both a high level language in a way, and the most low level possible, so low level it practically teaches digital electronics to use it. WHAT IS A CURVEART GAME? A Curveart Game is a state of mind -- where you let go of any desire to imitate reality or movement, and rather connect to a story implemented by not too many words but rather many lines with elegant curves given in rasterized form, drawn by the Curveart Drawing program which is implemented deep into the G15 Personal Computer. It has scores, it has fluctuations -- RFFG, relatively free fluctuations generations -- it has ambitions, satisfactions, -- and it is likely to stimulate without being addictive, so it is easy to let go of each game and get on with healty exercise, work, dance, whatever -- and easy to get back on to this or other games; and comparatively easy to make your own games, though each GOOD game takes a lot of time to make, and a certain connection to a willingness to work with numbers and put them together in what we call G15 YOGA6DORG programs. To play the games, however, you don't have to program at all. You merely have to have a G15 computer ready, and mount the games you want. Note that the lower half or more of this README.TXT which is in the G15SP_F.ZIP was written when this "Firth" version of G15 for classic computers were considered more experimentative and less central than the Linux implementation in the Y6.ZIP, both .ZIPs are at the norskesites.org/fic3 and moscowsites.org/fic3 (mirrorsite) and the positioning on those pages still reflect this ordering. However, the Firth version has proven to be hugely powerful and inspirational and has sailed up to be at least as essential as far as the PVIs go. We have however kept the naming -- it is still called a 'Service Pack', but that's fine; and most of the original README.TXT is fairly much unchanged as it is technically quite correct. But you'll find a mixture of attitudes here and there about the role of the Firth G15. In Firth G15, the mouse pointer shows as a sketch of a dancer's cute foot, and it shivers when you do certain types of drawings eg in Curveart; in Linux it is controlled by its own processes and unchanged from whatever form it has been granted in the Linux control panels and such. Note that with the G15 approach, there is sometimes, esp. for programmers loving a sense of connection with the machine, an actual value in some sense of duration to the computational processes, and no need of such RAM sizes as are required in simulation- or video- oriented applications (as these applications aren't approved of in the somewhat more 'austere' notion of first-hand computer programming and use). When you're in a hurry, and read this readme.txt in such as an editor that has a ctr-f find function, the parts probably most relevant for you have the following two titles with lots of stars around them: INSTALLATION!!!!!! and INSTALLATION TOTAL!!!!!! But when you have time, look at all of the stuff in this text, maybe. This is now a main release of G15 Practical Virtual Implementation (although it started experimentally as a Service Pack). It is getting steadily more useful in ways which even can transcend the overly USB-dependent platforms one finds everywhere -- with clear-cut first-hand RS232 electronics directly available, with full compatibility with all the programs we can run at Linux, and with great speed and a good sense of direct connectedness with the hardware. The hardware for the G15SP_F.ZIP release is ultimately: Y2000 classical PC with 1024*768, or 4"3 squarish monitor, S3 Vesa compatible videocard, classical IDE harddisk, optional floppy, classical type of keyboard and mouse connectors (or USB-connected keyboard and mouse but of a kind consciously made to be compatible with the classical form). So the G15SP_F is a main release, the Firth release of G15, although we keep on the name Service Pack, though. SO THIS IS: An intel i386 PC conforming to original PC standards can run Firth with G15FIR and control e.g. machines by means of RS232. This document also has plenty of technical information which can be useful for those who wish to run the content of y6.zip in other linuxes -- here's how to tweak Fedora etc. FRESH INTRODUCTION TO FIRST-HANDEDNESS IN ELECTRONICS AND MECHANICS Some people have the peculiar idea that straight lines, geometrically shaped circles, and machines with multi-purpose functions are what reality should be composed of. But those who have a little bit more experience than such peculiar-minded theoreticians know that most reality is made of much else but straight lines and much else but geometricaly shaped circles, and that most buttons and things which can be said to have functions are typically far more suited for some purposes than for other purposes and that 'multi-purpose' more often than not is an abstraction. When you look at how nature is, and consider that machines and the mechanical, and electricity and electronics, shouldn't conceal nature but relate to it and be a sensitivised expression of it towards human purposes, something happens to the world of design inside the human mind. Design doesn't then begin with abstract notions of geometry. Rather, design becomes a way to elevate certain perceptions of nature and what is natural towards that which lends itself to be done also more in attunement with our purposes. One then begins to appreciate that function and form, and esthetics, all have to do with the underlaying substance of reality: it is not, like the invention of 'integrated circuits' or 'chips' in the 1970s or before something to be implanted onto reality in order for humans to mess about and override Nature and blaze their trails. This is not merely an ethics of mechanics and an ethics of electronics and an ethics of programming though it may sound that way, perhaps, when expressed philosophically. Rather, it is an intense reality of the joy, stimulation of body and mind, even of sexuality, that comes when you learn how to resonate more, not less, with nature through mechanics and electronics, and programming, too. But then we must take care not to over-work on any particular piece of equipment so much that its substance gets 'concealed'. Of course it isn't ever wholly concealed -- especally not to the well-educated 1st-hand electronics radio amateur, 1st-hand programmer, 1st-hand games designer, 1st-hand mechanics in any area: but the distinction between 1st hand and 2nd hand does arise. And 2nd-hand stuff doesn't incite that energy of genuine enthusiasm when one has learn to attune to reality by 1st-hand stuff. Read the y6.zip readme.txt as intro to all in g15sp_f.zip, please. Note that there is some functionality in firth that is called on when G15.BAT (command line command G15) is used to start G15FIR.EXE (e.g., a question-mark in front of the command, as in FreeDOS -- allowing the user to type in Y or lineshift to start the program; you may for instance drop this question-mark and try to put in something like the word PAUSE instead, on the line before). The suggestion is that you edit the G15.BAT if you have a slightly different but compatible DOS. At the very least, look at the text info that's inside G15.BAT, if you choose to normally start the firth PVI of our G15 CPU and YOGA6DORG programming language by means of the command G15FIR directly, perhaps after typing the command REFRESH then STARS. STARS.BAT calls on programs which are included. Note that any freeware, shareware, and open source called on, however briefly in this process are adequately and totally documented in the firth.iso which is always available in the archive section pointed to by norskesites.org/fic3. Pls skip next section for now if you haven't got any interest in wiring two computers together: Background for using extended functions beyond the 240 level: The G15 YOGA6DORG programming language is also a 'CPU assembler language', near electronics, and so stimulating to the mind and honest to what indeed the computer does in each case rather than having it wrapped up in a second-hand high-level bundle of confusingly natural language near concepts. For the functions numbered 1 up to 240, where most but not all numbers are used, there are mnemonics, such as V1V5 which means, copy content of variable 1 into variable 5, but you can use the number instead of the command name in each case. In case of any function that exists in any implementation of the G15 CPU, virtual as real, beyond 240, it is always the case that the reference is by means of number rather than mnemonics. This is also to remind the person doing the programming that the person is doing a technical piece of work which is hardware dependent. For the RS232 functions presented next, suitable both for classical PCs of the Year2000 (Y2000) standards running something like freedos.org which is used, believe it or not, to test drivers in mostly all serious big factories making new Personal Computers all the time, -- or our extremely updated version called Firth, free on the Firth.iso with its vast incredible library of dos-compatible freeware programs -- these functions are numbered 251 to 254 and an actual program with these will simply have these numbers standing in the program on their own. The language will know what to do with them. RELEVANT FOR ELECTRONICS LAB WORK: RS232 IS SIMPLER THAN MOST FORMS OF DIGITAL WIRING TO INTERACT WITH BY SELF-TINNED PIECES SOME GENERAL IDEAS ABOUT YOGA6DORG_G15 The use of extra commands to connect to background hardware involves going higher up than the standard almost 240 commands of the G15 machine. These are also implemented in one particular PVI (practical virtual implementation), namely in the G15FIR.EXE, which is in the Service Pack Firth, when the G15 CPU is implemented as a 'shell' on top of the Intel i386 type of CPU. Clearly, though, since a Y2000 type of PC can run both Firth dos-compatible and also such as Centos, the latter of which has USB and Ethernet, the RS232 at the Firth can serve as a bridge for data transfer with great ease to the Elsketch designed G15 PC (in addition, the PVIs runnable in Linux have a higher than 255-numbered set of file import/export routines which are, as far as possible, identical with the G15FIR.EXE on this point). The 1st-hand approach to meaningful computing in a holistic society, such as indicated here and there in the Eco-Nomy ('laws of societal household') section of Yoga6d.org also involves taking away such attributes of computing machinery that is apt to produce addiction and its associated degeneration and mind-numbness -- and three features that can be mentioned are: degree of resolution (1024 * 768 is affirmed as enough also for photo quality work); degree of imitation of motion (one new image pr second is experienced as a 'flick', where the sense of one moment typically is more like three second; while 25 or more images pr second gives the illusion of movement which prevents the human mind from visualising its own pathways between one image and the next); and thirdly, degree of imitation of real-life color variation, where the use of bright green to black is found to be inducive to mind-states that allows full personal visualisation of the colors that OUGHT to be associated with any image, and indeed is pleasant to work with and calming for the mind in a stimulating way, while any addition use of colors merely gives an 'over-sugared' stimulation with little practical use in comparison. The use of the mouse is found to facilitate certain graphically oriented work in some context but the use of a full QWERTY keyboard also with arrows for the main interface with programs are assumed to be complete for essentially all standard computer operations in humanity, when we add to this the possibility of the computer -- through such as RS232 -- to steer such as some domestic machinery such as air conditioning and door opening. In other words, the core of the G15 Yoga6dorg programming language is made so as to destill the essence of all computing thinking and allow any program to be run again in just about any universe. These grand results come from a sense for connecting to the core aspects of both computing, electronics and mechanics. Part of the grand results are however only achievable by accepting some minor discomforts when it comes to such as connection speeds. THE RS232 FUNCTIONS, HERE WITH A PRACTICAL TWO-LETTER MNEMONICS WHICH IS ONLY USED INFORMALLY -- in each case, set G15 CPU variable 5 to the port number, where port number 1 is the first RS232 port. Note that on typical PC hardware, several ports can be used in parallel. The first function used for a RS232 port whether to send, receive, or both, is command 251 with mnemonics "ST" (set): Introduction commentary to the RS232 commands in G15 YOGA6DORG and to the use of command 251 eg in Firth: * G15 Yoga6dorg V5 has port number 1 (which is our number for the FIRST port, which in some context may be numbered 0), and upwards, -- in principle, having several hundred ports of moderate baud may be far more stable as high-speed connection than high baud. Each RS232 port should be connected to whatever it is to be connected to before both pieces of hardware are turned on, and with care that the few wires that constitute RS232 are correctly tinned to their input/output pins (otherwise the port hardware may need repair). The most secure use of RS232 requires, therefore, the knowing of what hardware to use before the computing machinery is switched on. When all machinery is switched on, then configuration by this 251 (ST) command should happen fairly but not absolutely simultaneously. The hardware associated with each port will normally require no new configuration for as long as the port is kept at least fairly active, though for intense use, it is not an uncommon experience with RS232 that reboot of some of the associated hardware occasionally is called for to profoundly reset the ports, and after that, a new call to 251 command is called for, of course. Note that although bits pr second rate is here a tiny fraction if we speak of the possible 2GB size of each of the many G15 disks it is after all a connectedness achieved by simple, easy-to-implement in electronics means, such as by Elsketch, and that many ports may with perfect ease be steered by one and the same program and that several of these may connect to one and the same hardware, eg a robot with a small camera, so as to facilitate more transmission speed in sum total. Two Firth PC's can be connected for file transfer by the Kermit option at the U menu, given a normal cable with DB9 9-pin plugs where the pins numbered 2 and 3 lines are crossed. Smart programming can find it possible to a great deal of things without going to socalled 'broadband speeds' between 1st-hand machinery. Moving disks around is 'telekinesis', while RS232 is mere 'telepathy', and both processes are first-hand. RS232 isn't supposed to fill up a disk of a PC but to let PCs and other PCs, and PCs and electronic equipment of other kinds, COMMUNICATE. When the disk has to be filled up, it might as well be physically changed. FURTHER INPUTS: * V3 has baud rate, 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200, .. 9600 (this is for Firth dos-compatible PC's eg with the Kermit command in the Firth U menu which has a vast library of Y2000 PC relevant core functions, cfr the firth.iso available through yoga6d.org in its norskesites.org/fic3 links to the archive section for earlier versions of the language there; the D:23 RS232 G15 programs which use these functions. These won't freeze when cables are correctly connected. On other types of machines, or when a PC isn't connected to another PC ready to communicate with it, the TX and RX (transmit and receive) options on the D:23 menu will cause the PC to enter a static loop (see comments in the start of this readme.txt for how to then exit). The probe functions will usually allow exit, however. The rule then is to use the probe options on the menu first and then proceed to TX and RX only when the probes have reported success in establishing communication, and test it both ways if the cable is possibly having an issue with one of its wires. To transmit a text of the type viewable in an editor without unpacking, one can transfer it straight away when it has been copied to C:9000. A curveart image, such as a drawing, on its 35 cards, or a photo image with its finer gradings of green tone, on its 220 cards, must be expanded to 8-bit first, meaning, in each case, a multiplication of the quantity of cards to 4 times as much. This is done easily at the convert option on menu E:6. At the receiving station one will usually allow more than enough time in each case. In the example programs, using only one line and at the most robust 4800 baud with two stop bits that don't require package-resending in the normal case, there's roughly three RFFG 'stars' at the receiving screen with each card received. By looking at one third of the screen one can get an idea of how many cards have been received. At E:5 there's an option to clean up any disk area including C:9000 -- say, put in 20.000 nil cards there -- which can be a good routine to have before any use of the TX and RX options on the RS232 menu. Normally, pls try them at a fresh reboot only and when cables are plugged in and machines turned on, and not at all in Linux -- the receive routines will loop as they never get confirmation characters). * V4 has 0, 5 or 10 deciding no / odd / even parity. * V2 has 1 or 2 to set quantity of stop bits. * V1 has 1 for use of full 8-bit and 0 for 7-bit ascii text OUTPUTS: * G15 CPU variables 1 and sometimes 2 get relevant mode info (brief info on all variations of this mode info below). Command 252 with mnemonics "TX" (transmission): INPUTS: * G15 CPU variable 5 has port number (1 and up). * G15 CPU variable 3 has data to be sent (a number that is of size 0..127 (7 bit) or 0..255 (8 bit). OUTPUTS: * G15 CPU variables 1 and sometimes 2 get relevant mode info (brief info on all variations of this mode info below). Command 253 RD (read data): INPUTS: * G15 CPU variable 5 has port number (1 and up). OUTPUTS: * G15 CPU variable 3 gets data which has been received (a number that is of size 0..127 (7 bit) or 0..255 (8 bit). * G15 CPU variables 1 and sometimes 2 get relevant mode info (brief info on all variations of this mode info below). Command 254 MD (mode data): INPUTS: * G15 CPU variable 5 has port number (1 and up). This routine doesn't actively change anything about the port such as the ST, TX or RD, but it rather fetches an updated status info (to V1 and V2) which may be more or less the same information as came from the calls to any of the first three, or more complete info. When this is called after a suitable pause -- and the implementation of relevant sized pauses are a key to good RS232 programming -- this MD routine provides timely status information as to how any of the RS232 ports are doing, and, given compatible programs, quite possibly a hint as to what may be expected at the other end of a cable. Note that equipment easily run apart from one another in RS232 contexts when at 9600 baud and thus a lot of software must tick to reign in the resonances. Not so at 4800baud with well-done packages. 4800baud can be VERY stable to an extent which can make resending by and large entirely unnecessary in well-constructed contexts, especially with 2 stop bits, odd parity, and suitably constructed pause after eg 232 8-bit characters sent with a couple of standard characters then sent before a new card is begun. OUTPUTS: * G15 CPU variables 1 and sometimes 2 get relevant mode info (brief info on all variations of this mode info below). * In addition, the 'mode ready' bit in V2 is repeated in the G15 CPU variable V3; that is to say, V3 is either 32 or 0 after a call to MD. Note that RS232 involves good timing at both ends of the wire. Lack of timing may cause nilchars to arise with 'data ready' bit set, even if these nilchars haven't been sent at the other end. The clue is to look for a resonance that comes by stable data-transfer with a stable pause between rather small packages, pauses reinforced in terms of resonances by the transmitter side doing the pausing while the receiving side doing a wait for agreed-upon control chars. BRIEF INFO ON RS232 MODE INFO IN VARIABLE 1 AND 2: VARIABLE 1 Generally about both variable 1 and 2 mode info: This info is but mnemonics of the type of description typical in the 20th century jargon associated with RS232, and how it is implemented in praxis can vary. What is the case is that increased stability of a connection can take place by having a program attend to some of this mode data. The info comes in terms of bits which are set or not, in two 8-bit numbers. In some cases, several of them are set all at once. Some of them may indicate an issue with getting the port up or getting it to transmit or receive. For some RS232 hardware, the PC itself may enter into a wait state if the port doesn't respond as expected, requiring a reboot of the PC. Suitable programming may be able to avert this by early detection of the relevant mode info bits. G15 CPU VARIABLE 1 OUTPUT AFTER ANY OF THE 251 TO 254 RS232 CALLS: 1 mode: ready 2 possible issue: overrun 4 possible issue: parity 8 possible issue: frame 16 break detected 32 tx-hold data empty 64 tx-shift data empty 128 possible issue with sent data or timing BRIEF INFO ON RS232 MODE INFO IN VARIABLE 1 AND 2: VARIABLE 2 G15 CPU VARIABLE 2 OUTPUT -- THIS VARIABLE 2 IS ALWAYS CHANGED BY ANY OF THE RS232 CALLS, BUT THESE DATA ARE RELEVANT ESP. FOR ST AND MD FUNCS: 1 change in clear-to-send status 2 change in data available status 4 trailing ring 8 receive-line signal change 16 clear to send 32 data available (a call to MD copies this bit exclusively over to V3, so that V3 is either 32 or basis, since it is can be useful in order to read new data for a data-receiving rs232 program; however read note on timing connected to MD above) 64 ring indicator 128 receive-line detected Note that pausing a line and ensuring good quality of hardware and wire may have more to it than overuse of mode parameters and such, especially if you have suitable quality checks of controls in eg separate programs. When you do work with RS232 and get equipment to connect to this type of computer interface, you're doing rugged good first-hand electronics relevant work which is of the kind that ALWAYS will be easily implementable for anyone working with transistors, capacitors, and modulators, in whatever society, regardless of just how this society uses semiconductors and regardless of computing techniques. 4800 bits pr second pr wire with moderate pausing is a recommended approach, as we see it. GOOD LUCK WITH G15 RS232!!!!! FRESH INTRODUCTION TO G15 IN PARTICULAR The G15 when worked from 'beneath' in an Elsketch research lab (with the help of robots, because of the massiveness of the project) so as to erect a computer is an O.S., but it is also, when run in a more standardised type of machine of the i386 compatible form something that enables a thinking about the numbers and the bits and their transistor- like connection directly. G15 organizes all through cards in disks (which in an integrated micro-chip computer with a layer of some standardised platform with files is a set of files). These are C, D up to L, with disks A and B rather internalised for the G15 core startup bits, and some of the most common programs also as part of the in open source at C, D and some also at E. All the disks C..L are entirely open for change through and through, but caution should be applied when changing anything native to the platform such as the B9 and more. The cards are organized in terms of numbers, each having 232 characters or 232 numbers (of up to plus minus two billion, about, also called 'big numbers'). The first card is 1 and the highest card in each disk has a number somewhat above 2 million. A standard image is 500 times 500 greentone, and all G15 is greentone as found to be psychologically to an advantage when working, and such an image spans 220 cards. ("An image can say more than a 100 cards", isn't that an ancient saying?). To work with cards is a state of mind, quite meditative, very flexible, and altogether stable: there are but a few options on keyboard and mouse, but these work all the time as expected, without having all sorts of variations depending on which programs have been started. It is a key feature of meditative work that the computer doesn't have 'moods', that there is predictability and not overly many alternative routes to getting things done. Thus, ctr-c is copy of one or more cards, and ctr-t pastes it into somewhere. Ctr-l opens a card, and ctr-s saves it. When ones uses G15 O.S., one gets to know big numbers more and more, and this enhances and stimulates mind. There are also natural design features that help a person not to save things wrong things: for instance, the O.S. requires a person to type in where a card is to be saved, and doesn't automatically save to the same card when ctr-s is pressed. So one will have to LOOK at the card number before pressing ctr-s and then type it in, as confirmation. For this reason, much work happens on low-numbered cards, e.g. i1, i2,.. or j1, j2,.., or k1, k2,.. and as soon as some work is done, one copies a range of cards over to e.g. i1000, i1500, .., or k1000, k1500,.. where one makes one's own indexes over what is where e.g. in the first card of the disk one prefers to have stable stuff in. The disks f, and h up to l can be temporarily switched with those of a 'mounted app' (the word 'app' is an abbreviation for 'application'), and then switched back again. Disk h is always used for mounted apps, while the others are optional. The card h:1 must then always contain a menu, connected to the temporarily mounted app. The app has a 7-digit number, which doesn't have to be unique, but it is unique WITHIN a page on the internet that provides g15 apps. [[[Note in the present context: The processes of getting hold of the app from the internet are then normally through fetching and then manually unzipping a package and moving it to the G15 folder, for we don't want any automatic installation of programs on this a little crazy net.]]] IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE AWARE that if you have a desire to use a card that is higher-numbered than the previously used cards on the same disk -- so that there is a leap -- e.g., you have used i1..i15 and now you want to use i1000, then first copy in empty cards to fill up. [[[This pertains to Firth and Dos though not so often Linux/Unix.]]] Otherwise the disk may contain confusing pointers when looked at as file in the Practical Virtual Implementation. So here's how: suppose disk L is empty. You're about to fill up around a thousand cards from i16 and upwards with empty cards. You load in k1 or k16, press CTR-C, type 1000, load in i16, and press CTR-T and confirm the operation. It will then copy cards that don't exist -- empty cards, in other words, with the null or nil character -- from i16 and up to above i1000. Having filled the gap, feel free to use i1000. The copying process CTR-C is made in a flexible way. For instance, if you have a range of cards and want to open a space of five cards inside this range, say, of a hundred cards, you can do this in the intuitive way: say, you want to have five free cards beginning with i20, and i1 to i100 are in use. So you go to i20, select CTR-C with 100 as quantity, then go to i25, and select CTR-T. That means that what before started at i20 now starts at i25, and you can use i20 to i24 freely. You can just as easily go the other way around -- copy a hundred cards at i25 and choose CTR-T at i20. If you use an image routine that writes to C9000 -- a typical place to write stuff temporarily by many routines -- you can have a CTR-C at c9000 with 220 as quantity there, and then do CTR-T each time you have made a new image to various places -- without redoing the CTR-C! For CTR-C remembers position, not content. Also, you can easily make your own working menu at such as card G14, where you have pointers straight into the middle of programs you're working on, as well as commands to run the program, and pointers also to backups of that program, and so on. It's all a matter of putting in such as i:1 and i%1, and in the mouse menu mode, which is entered by CTR-W (looks like a female mouse) and exited by a right-click on the mouse (of course), you click on the : or on the % sign to either open the card or run the program beginning with the card. (The % sign in the fonts used in G15 is rather like an arrow or flower or so pointing up and to the right.) You can also treat cards in a series, when they finish with a fully empty card (full of nil characters, you know), as a document, opened with text editors -- just as image editor can open the 215+ cards it takes to store 500 times 500 pixels in around 60 greentones. Or the series of cards can be a database item for the FlexibleDB routines at disk E. Or it can be a Curveart sketch as part of a game. When you copy such a series of cards from one place to another, just remember to include at least one more card than the content of the series, so as to include a signal to the programs where the series complete itself. This approach to cards is NEAR the electronics and thus in the long run superbly well-organized, fast, easy for the computer and stimulating and personal for the person who learns to work with it. For advanced programmers doing eg. program correction: ===================================================== * There is a command named DISK when you use the firth.iso you get from the norskesites.org/fic3 and yoga6d.org areas, which is freeware showing the content of files. In this way you can write, at a command line, e.g. disk idisk.g15 so as to check the integrity of the i disk in G15, and look at its content in various ways. * Pls use, if u like, the fdb 'create space for db' routine to prepare a disk or disk area with nilcards. This is faster than copying from an empty disk. The DOS approach doesn't have lots of fancy flimflam to speed of disk access such as later approaches typically have. So allow time for disk access; and it's important to fill with nilcards before jumping to higher card numbers in this, in order to get a clean file. If it is clean, a nearly 2 GB file that has but some cards with content on them can by a command like zip test idisk.g15 create a test.zip which is but a few kilobyte (given, again, time). These .g15 files are linux compatible. Note that firth zip's handle up to a little larger than 2 GB files but some similar-named zips from earlier doses are 16-bit rather than 32-bit. Note also that zip -r test folder/*.g15 and such are possible but the -r must be small just as the remove folder with content rm -fr folder and use of -r in cp must be small letters. * To check how much disk use in Firth, type B11 (which is on B menu) at command line, let this freeware start, F6 gives disk properties; when back to main display, F10 exits the B11 program. * Any command involving BMP (uncompressed windows type of BMP) 256-color greyscale in Firth usually give direct acceptable input for the Import 500x500 image as long as size is 500x500. This includes command P, command N and jpg2bmp. In Linux, the conversion to Greyscale works when image is copied then pasted onto the included file muscle.bmp in the y6.zip folder. This becomes healthy bright green which is psychologically the most first-hand stimulating to work with. It is also full of highly interesting semi-abstract possibilities of association when one wants to hints on the world of color but uses only geometry in green. The mind will bring its own color to the image; later recall of well-done green- tone photos are usually in vivid color, perhaps even more so than photos which are rendered on an RGB screen. * There is an unnamed function in the CPU which is used to probe the value of the CPU variables during program correction or probing of hardware, and this is used by a brief referring to it by number --47 -- and after it has been used, it is removed from program. The precise workings of this is hardware dependent, and one shouldn't overrely on use of this number, but know how to call on it (e.g., it may give output to the surrounding generalised platform in a chip-context). In Firth, the idea is that when you test a program for the first time, especially when you use 47 'robotic led-display probe', you start by typing stars to cleanse RAM then type g15fir directly. You also REB reboot often and backup the g15 disk you have the program on. (Check out the U menu in Firth and learn such commands as cp rm and mvfile and remember that the copy command has an issue so one must omit writing a single dot as parameter to it.) For when you start g15fir directly rather than by the g15.bat you get, on the textscreen AFTER the performance, the number content of up to three calls of 47 and you also get a report of how many of calls to 47 took place in the recent run. If there also are nullcalls, take away the 47 calls and root out the nullcalls for they will overwrite the message area for 47 probe. So you use G15 which has STARS in it and also G15FIR in it -- the g15.bat has that content, in other words -- when you don't use 47 probe. Remember never to leave a 47 probe into a program even if it is half-finished. It is merely meant to be there to ensure that you know that you pass on such and such parameters or whatever, and useful just before you engage a lot into DSKW to see that nothing is wrong. Get your programs healthy and super good-looking and they will be harmonious to work with in the future. Such programs don't have probes in them. *********************** ******************* ********* THE FOLLOWING TEXT WAS WRITTEN WHEN THE VERSION WAS STILL THOUGHT TO BE MERELY AN EXPERIMENTATIVE ALTERNATIVE -- IT IS TECHNICALLY VERY CORRECT SO WE HAVE LET IT BE AS IT IS, JUST GOOD TO KNOW WHAT'S SAID HERE ON TOP IS WRITTEN A F T E R ALL THE TEXT THAT COMES UNDERNEATH THIS LINE: ======================================================================= G15 Service Pack Firth ---------------------- Please consider this as an expansion of the y6.zip where roughly all that is said in the y6.zip applies for this also; both are available at norskesites.org/fic3; the content disks for g15sp_f are exactly the same for the same-dated release of y6. This is very easy for those who know a bit of Firth or the like, but this explanation series that follows is elaborate so that those who knows less of it, or who uses some other approaches that are more or less compatible, will get the amount of hints they need to experiment with it. Date for G15 OS: See card C60 as in the main y6. If you know what this is all about, go straight to the sections called INSTALLATION beneath in this document, and good luck!!!!! Be awake when reading any of our long technical descriptions: like with anything done with soul and enthusiasm -- be it grammatical structure of sentences, sketches of human anatomy, OR lines that show how to instruct a computer, it is likely to be elements you have to correct yourself, by your own mind. Indeed, it is pretty much a standpoint of this writer that it is good that texts do have some slight issues about them, because it triggers extra awareness about the relationship between what is said and 'what is'. Apparently 'faultless' technical descriptions can hide series mistakes; while technical descriptions with obvious slight errors here and there may turn out to be more helpful seen in a broad-minded way. G15 Service Pack Firth, comes in a .zip which holds 1.4M floppy sized .zip-parts and an easy all-dos- compatible program that we made long ago to glue them together to a full .zip once they are into the PC. Whether or not you use floppy this will be easy to install. The name of the large .zip which contains the .zip parts is: g15sp_f.zip just put them both to C:\BOEHM\BOEHMIAN in the classical Firth and you can run almost anything you can run with the priority release of G15PVI for Ubuntu. What?????? INCREDIBLE! ;) G15 E*V*E*R*Y*W*H*E*R*E :) So: This is runnable in a variety of contexts, notably Firth for classical PC's (y2000). The G15FIR.EXE requires perhaps masses of RAM available compared to what ordinary dos programs dare request but works fine in the firth.iso operating approach for classical PCs -- where it also can be started by means of command G15, which refers to G15.BAT. [[[The 'art of memory management' at classical i386 PC's involves going straight from startup, a clean startup without needlessly much, into a big application. So that's why a fixing on AUTOEXEC.BAT may be necessary. Compared to the earlier Firth release, certainly the AUTOEXEC.BAT must be much, much smaller, and without anything of the large nice graphical startup programs. As said repeatedly there is a tricks: For a mild RAM cleansing type STARS (included and identical to beginning of G15.BAT), and that may be sufficient to clean RAM. The safe way is however to go straight from classical i386 PC bootup to the G15, because the PC RAM will then be excellently clean, esp. when the PC actually has been switched off. When you need the program and PC to reboot, CTR-ALT-DEL will, at least in real PC, not always in virtual PC, contexts, work so as to first close the program's graphics driver, then so as to reboot. At reboot, press the on-off button, and the PC should normally then be switched off. Physical old PC's always should have no less than half a minute of switch-off time or else drivers may carry over into next boot!]]] Normally, the G15 disks in this, as at www.norskesites.org/fic3 today, have the same update date as the y6.zip also available at www.norskesites.org/fic3 and are identical. If you run Firth or a Dos (DPMI-enabled) compatible platform within another platform by e.g. virtualbox.org it must happen on a PC which is having a speed that is very many times that which the PC needs to have if it is run direct, and not all will be working flawlessly and one must expect workarounds and restarts not happening when run in the pure mode. This pushes Dos-compatible approaches a bit to the limit so one may have to either finetune the configuration files for optionalisation of RAM for this or accept sometimes starting it more than once, and/or reboot in order to get it up each time. Note that any textual file input and output must heed the differences in lineshift method of Ubuntu (which has ascii 10) and Dos-like approaches (which is rather different). Unless otherwise specified, inside G15 normally, we run the approach of Ubuntu with 10 ascii. We have included some of the freeware that is with acknowledgements and, in open source cases, with open source, in the Firth platform as fully available always at the archived section of norskesites.org/fic3 and moscowsites.org/fic3. This runs, as a whole, by far best on totally i386 classic year 2000 PC's with screens of 1024 times 768 pixels, and the year 2000 standards as for the original keyboard and mouse type, and at least 4 MB of Vesa s3 videoram, also with floppy disks. But it can run within other platforms, given certain adaptations, when Virtualisation e.g. as on www.virtualbox.org is installed to these. This is info that concerns those who already have got the stuff installed: The AUTOEXEC.BAT simplifies the expanded AUTOEXEC.BAT that allows Ftpsrv to be started, and avoids extra calls. This turns out to maintain a cleaner virtual RAM so that this RAM-demanding package starts more consistently, after a fresh reboot. If you're running Firth, this is probably the best to put to the C:\ and so, after getting the whole unzipped as explained below, type CD \ COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BKB COPY \BOEHM\BOEHMIAN\AUTOEXEC.BAT and confirm overwrite. The backup is then .BKB and can be copied back if there is any issue. Yet more compact for a minimum Dos-like platform is AUTOLT.BAT, installed by writing, as the second COPY command in the lines above, this instead: COPY \BOEHM\BOEHMIAN\AUTOLT.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAT The general Firth platform in full is however requiring a lot more settings than AUTOLT.BAT, also note that CDROM access is handled through AUTOEXEC.BAT. During startup of the physical PC, vary BIOS settings (press ESC, F10, or the like, the first second after switching on, the PC may tell which), so as to enable more RAM and more standards and less restrictions and 4 MB videoram to Vesa, and such. The physical PC, when running Firth directly, must have squarish display type, not widescreen, to fit 1024 pixels in width and 768 in height, which is a 4 to 3 proportion. For Virtualbox.org use, here's some hints that might be of interest: if you start Virtualbox in a terminal in Ubuntu where you have logged in as adminstrator (as described, by the sudo -i command, and give your password), it will tell you if it has all modules. Start by command virtualbox & and the first time it may say that it lacks a module. By typing the name of that module either directly in terminal, or at the Dash in Ubuntu, you will usually get information at once as how to install. It will also give slightly greater priority to the virtualisation starting it this way, and so there may be greater chances of getting demanding packages to work. However when you start virtualbox as administrator you must also install the platforms in this way, for the files are kept separate from that of any other login-id. Also (as said in the FirthUp info linked to in the archive section of norskesites.org/fic3) be sure that you are plugged into Internet when you use the ftpsrv option to communicate between files within Virtualbox and Ubuntu. However Firth is very clearly for hardware that is Y2000 standard classic compatible and it is a dream to see it run on it! We have used our skills and earlier developments in our Dos-compatible Firth (with the Allegro- enabled Lisa GJ2 Fic3 language there) to make this version of G15 Yoga6dorg. Generally, any OS update of y6.zip comes simultaneously in this. During unzip and rezip of a file in between the two such subtle changes between the two may occur. Timing as for screen update is different in Firth. Mouse and keyboard implemented towards the Ubuntu a long way rather than according to the Lisa GJ2 Fic3 approach that complements this in Firth. INSTALLATION ***** WHEN YOU HAVE EG FIRTH INSIDE EG A VIRTUAL PC AS FROM VIRTUALBOX.ORG To put the g15sp_f zip to the c:\boehm\boehmian folder you answer affirmative Y Y during startup of Firth and type ftpsrv at Firth when you run it e.g. in Virtualbox, and a lineshift or two when it asks about diskettes, then you start ftp e.g. in Ubuntu, and type open 10.0.0.1 or whatever number that ftpsrv has reported during its startup as right (supposing, normally, that the Ethernet is enabled to Internet through a modem that in fact routes the connections; and for some platforms, and some forms of virtualisation, you may have to adjust settings here and there to get things going; some notes about this in Firthup.txt at our sites and in related texts there). Then type 123456 123456 as userid and password for ftpsrv in Firth. In Firth, the C:\BACKUP8 already exists. If in another Dos-context, type MKDIR C:\BACKUP8 first. In Virtualbox.org, the versions we've looked into, right-ctrl F shifts between fullscreen and within-a-frame alternative. In Ubuntu terminal, with the .zip in present folder, you type put g15sp_f.zip /DRIVE_C/BACKUP8/G15SP_F.ZIP quit Back in Firth, you click ctr-c to quit ftpsrv. Then proceed to next paragraph. (To transfer files the other way, with the Firth as extended for Lisa GJ2 Fic3 as described in the archive sections of norskesites.org/fic3, you use the word get instead of put and reverse the sequence of the parameters -- the /DRIVE_C stuff first.) ********************************************* * INSTALLATION!!!!!! * ********************************************* INSTALLATION ***** WHEN YOU KNOW HOW TO GET A BIG ZIP INTO THE PC If you have a way to get a large .zip into the Firth (or dos-compatible) PC, put the g15sp_f.zip to that PC, to folder c:\boehm\boehmian. If that folder doesn't exist, type C: CD \ MKDIR BOEHM CD BOEHM MKDIR BOEHMIAN CD BOEHMIAN first, and get the .zip over here, e.g. by COPY \G15SP_F.ZIP or, if you have it in C:\BACKUP8, try COPY \BACKUP8\G15SP_F.ZIP then, supposing you have the UNZIP in Firth, or the UNZIP32 as it is called in some other platforms, get it unzipped. In Firth, unzip g15sp_f this creates PART1.ZIP and up, depending on how many are needed to contain the present version. If there are any PART*.ZIP there already, delete them or move them first, e.g. DEL PART*.ZIP or something first. The program HENNI is also included. This puts together the PART1.ZIP etc. If they is not already in your platform (the programs HENNI.EXE and ELISABET.EXE are complementary in handling files, the latter creates the parts -- word-roots refer to 'electric bits' -- while the former puts them together, word-root refers in Greek to 'whole'), then they should now be accessible since they are included in the g15sp_f.zip. Type D HENNI G15STUFF.ZIP PART 1 [the D.EXE, HENNI.EXE and ELISABET.EXE programs also work in such as Dosbox.com, which has an easier file-interface with the surrounding platform if you explore it; the division into parts is entirely clean-cut and simple and such as cat part1.zip part2.zip part3.zip > new.zip in any linux will usually work.] and it will ask you to confirm the action by typing y; then do it, for as many parts as it finds; and then to confirm that the action is complete by your typing of x. Then proceed to 'installation -- getting it going' beneath. [If a floppy is problematic, type DIR A: FORMAT A: /U inside Firth when it is inserted into the floppy drive. Then try copying over to it afresh. It might heal it. Before copying from a floppy or a CD, and before copying to a floppy, use DIR to refresh the connection to the device; in the case of CD, DIR D: or DIR E: will normally be correct] INSTALLATION ***** USING UBUNTU TO MAKE FLOPPY DISKS ON A PC THAT HAS A FLOPPY-USB PERIPHERAL DEVICE, THEN GETTING THE FLOPPIES INTO THE DOS-COMPATIBLE PC Get the g15sp_f.zip unzipped inside ubuntu. If you open a terminal and type sudo -i and answer with password, you have administrator mode. If you have a folder named /backup1 go there by typing cd /backup1 otherwise make it first, by typing mkdir /backup1 After this, type cp /media/Patricia/Downloads/*.zip . if you have just that .zip in your Downloads folder, where Mozilla Firefox typically puts it, and where you put in your own username instead of 'Patricia'. [In Ubuntu 11 and earlier, /media/Downloads/*.zip is the correct.] Then type unzip g15sp_f and you have the part1.zip, and so on, up to how many are needed considering the approximate size of 1.4 MB pr floppy. Then put in a formatted floppy into the floppy disk and -- after you have put it into the floppy disk only! -- connect it via USB to the Ubuntu (after Ubuntu 11 floppy-handling got more correct). It will normally auto-recognise the floppy. [The command to format a floppy in Firth, by the way, is FORMAT A: and please realise that you must be awake when using the format command as typing C: instead erases the harddisk.] With lowercase L (or looking at auto-opened folder in Ubuntu), find out what the name of the floppy disk is. Type l /media/Patricia (your username rather than Patricia) Listed is the name of the floppy disk at present; it can easily be an eight-digit number with a dash. Just noticing the first number or letter is enough if only one item has this number or letter. Let's imagine that the number is 3. Then type cp part1.zip /media/Patricia/3*/ -i and after the floppy has ceased to be active, go to the folder view in Ubuntu and click the eject symbol on the floppy there. Unplug the floppy and after you have unplugged it, take the floppy out of the disk; and --> repeat for each floppy the whole process. On the final floppy, copy over the programs henni.exe and d.exe in case you're not using Firth and so need these to be included. It might in some cases be space on the completing floppy for this, or take them separately. Ie, cp henni.exe /media/Patricia/3*/ -i cp d.exe /media/Patricia/3*/ -i Note that each floppy usually have different names. Also note that some floppies last not all that long when some poorly tuned floppy drives are trying to read them; and also note that formatting floppies in one drive may give more reliable results than formatting them in another drive. HAVE THE FLOPPIES READY, AND THE FIRTH-RUNNING PC WITH FLOPPY DEVICE STARTED UP. Then: Insert each, go to the location you want them, e.g. CD BACKUP8 or, if you don't have BACKUP8 already, type MKDIR BACKUP8 and then go there by the CD BACKUP8 command. Best to work with BACKUP8 empty, as an exchange storage. DEL \BACKUP8\*.* will do this if there is nothing you need backup of there. Then type DIR A: to refresh the directory contents for the floppy; followed by COPY A:*.* and do that DIR then that COPY for each floppy. Be sure you next go to C:\BOEHM\BOEHMIAN; in Firth command HM will bring you there, and CD on its own will tell you where you are. If this doesn't exist, make it by C: CD \ MKDIR BOEHM CD BOEHM MKDIR BOEHMIAN CD BOEHMIAN then get it there by COPY \BACKUP8\*.* or the quicker way in Firth is MVFILE instead of COPY in this case, but in contrast to COPY, the MVFILE must have a blank and a dot also: MVFILE \BACKUP8\*.* . (The early kernel from freedos we use in Firth had some workarounds, don't use the single dot in the COPY command, pls.) MVFILE overwrites without asking. COPY does always ask. Then DEL PART*.ZIP if there is any residue from earlier such, or move them to a separate location if you want to store the earlier PART*.ZIP. The program HENNI is also included. This puts together the PART1.ZIP etc. Type D HENNI G15STUFF.ZIP PART 1 and it will ask you to confirm the action by typing y; then do it, for as many parts as it finds; and then to confirm that the action is complete by your typing of x. (The 'D' is not necessary if you have CWSDPMI.EXE already as part of the platform, as in the case of Firth.) Then proceed to next paragraph. ********************************************* * INSTALLATION TOTAL!!!!!! * ********************************************* INSTALLATION ***** GETTING IT GOING With the G15STUFF.ZIP in C:\BOEHM\BOEHMIAN, do C: CD C:\BOEHM\BOEHMIAN UNZIP G15STUFF (or for some platforms, unzip32 is the large-ram alternative to the early unzip, but unzip is the right word in Firth in any case). There's a couple of standard files that are duplicate, so as long as you have backups of all earlier works, including earlier .g15 files, answer A to overwrite All. If in doubt, answer n. ONLY THE FIRST TIME: Do it easy to start STARS, which is a pleasant freeware screensaver and which also cleanses RAM after doing various things, so you don't have to restart the PC that often. If you like, put the files to the top, like this, confirming any overwrite: COPY GREEN.EXE \ COPY NEWSTARS.EXE \ COPY MODE.EXE \ COPY 24.BAT \ COPY STARS.BAT \ The word GREEN will set font green, etc. The AUTOEXEC.BAT should be copied up to the top if it is Firth, the first time you install; and when Firth is run direct, answer NN to the startup questions. [[[Otherwise open C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT (and maybe C:\CONFIG.SYS) in an editor and see what you can do to make it as similar as can be, and as short as can be, in order to release the most classical PC RAM and enable the proper RAM managers.]]] E.g. type: CD \ COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT ABACKUP.TXT COPY \BOEHM\BOEHMIAN\AUTOEXEC.BAT confirm overwrites by letter Y. Type DIR to relax the disks from writing and turn the machine off. In Firth, type OFF, it will normally work. Next time you boot, answer N N to switch away any element of FTP and such, then type HM in Firth, or, in other platforms, C: CD \BOEHM\BOEHMIAN and then, either do this after a clean start of the machine, or if not, type STARS and wait some seconds and press ENTER, which is for some platforms almost just as good. Then type, if RAM already entirely fresh, G15FIR or, to include the STARS refreshment at start, and some text, type G15 The sudden request of a lot of RAM puts a pressure on the handling of expanded RAM in dos-like contexts and this pressure has some workaround issues; that's why all the emphasis on STARS and machine restart. It also means that when running hours and hours on end do check that the machine doesn't freeze. If so, press on-off button; or if it is run within a virtual context, do a power off (in virtualbox, right-ctr q followed by ENTER). or, the version that uses less RAM, and if Does it work? Congratulations! Info in the y6.zip as to what to do. (The linux version begin by a couple of presses on the mouse button, whereas the G15FIR goes straight into the command line where e.g. CAR can be typed, followed by some lineshifts, CTR-W and then e..g a click on any of the arrows on the main menu page -- e.g. the arrow that is to the right of the Photoview program.) If the G15FIR works, you have a y2000 i386-compatible PC for real. This about the same RAM size and the real G15 hardware, and about the same size (slightly less) than the Ubuntu PVI. In contrast to Ubuntu PVI, the mouse pointer is not always on, and it's good to put in the commands to relate to the mouse pointer AS IF it is sometimes shown and sometimes not, so that no matter what hardware we use this on in the future -- and the range is truly infinite -- it will be exactly compatible (or as exactly as possible). This is original work and be sure you read the yoga4d.org/cfdl.txt license for any source code reuse and for the SPIRIT of proper acknowledgement for all files also the binary type, whether you represent a company or not, if you are influenced by such generously and creatively made works like these. Note that for extra RAM cleansing before and after it calls on some tiny screen mode commands which is included in this .zip and which must be in the same folder to perform correctly (and with more documentation in Firth). They must be in the same folder when you start G15FIR. For compatibility of general public projects written in YOGA6DORG and G15 assembly, check against y6.zip for Ubuntu primarely. Repetition: wait at least 30 seconds on a physical PC to ensure RAM is really cleansed after PC off. This is, as said, a key to start large RAM-demanding applications in Firth in some contexts. In virtualisation, OFF means returning to the underlaying platform. For use of virtualbox, be sure to replace the AUTOEXEC.BAT as installed by following firthup.txt with a one that is tigher, like what comes with this release. Other commands good to know include CD which tells which folder is current (also pwd, this also in Ubuntu). Note subtle differences between the G15 Firth and the priority version for Ubuntu, e.g.: The use of high-numbered cards in Ubuntu leads to effortless filling with zeroes before the card you store something to, when the disk hasn't been used that far before; a kind of spontaneous 'formatting' of the files. This is different in Firth; while you can at once copy anything say from card K:1 to K:10000 Firth simply moves the file pointer ahead without setting the cards in between to zero. This is swift but as soon as you write something like zip mybackup.zip *.g15 to put the g15 disks over to a compact storage format you want the unused cards to be clean, rather than full of unnecessary data, so that the .zip file becomes possibly very tiny compared to the *.g15 file sizes. You can check content of any position in any card by clicking CTR-W inside CAR, then clicking with mouse on any symbol seen when the card is shown. Very much data may be there, when shown in this 32-bit good way. The workaround: if you want to use say K:10000 and earlier on you have used nothing of the K nor of the J disk, then go to J:1, press CTR-C, type 10000, go to K:1, press CTR-T, and let it work to fill up all the cards with basis blanks. FIND EACH SUCH WORKAROUND; the g15pvi's, in whatever context, never ENTIRELY resemble the real G15 hardware. GOOD LUCK!!!!! Aristo Tacoma with Lisa, Athina and Helena as always P.S. The Firth loves running in a date that fits its classic environment, the bat file STARS sets to this date -- April 10, 2006, 10:00 AM, -- and it also runs a screensaver that's kinda nice and which we made (reconfiguring our earlier work which modified a flame in allegro) when exploring the GAMEV possible extension of Lisa GJ2 Fic3 before hitting on the G15 track. This also sets the font to green and returns to the BOEHM\BOEHMIAN folder. Suggest you put the .bat file and the newstars.exe and the green.exe and such to the top folder so it's available everywhere. If I have set it to 04/10 instead of 10/04 or vice versa pls set it right again. P.P.S. An example of how to get the big zip into the PC is to install e.g. a minimal text linux as a second partition (such as an early Fedora, or the Red Hat 8.0, which became Fedora in its 9.0 version, while the main Red Hat became commersial, which is still available according to its free licensing principle at the yoga4d.org/download (or was it yoga4d.org/downloads) site, in 10 MB bundles, which must be pasted together by the freeware program Doggy provided there (which functions in analogy to the program Henny). In this second partition, installed after Firth on the same PC, where, if the Linux permits it, you choose Text login rather than Graphics login, you will get extra control over the connection of auxillary devices. You start up, give your password for administrator rights (perhaps sudo -i on some platforms first), and then the graphics is but an option -- e.g. by typing startx and it can be left again by logging out of it. Having the text available gives you the full range of background messages that Terminal will not usually give, such as when a pen drive is plugged in. A good rule of thumb is this: if you have a Y2000 classic PC, it is, given a free pen drive (or USB disk of some kind) that you can mess about with for a while, possible to transfer big files to the classic PC, but choose another approach -- floppy series for small files, burning CD's for bigger files -- to get files out of the PC. To do the latter in RH8 requires handling an early version of a CDROAST program (described in Install.txt at yoga4d.org/download, where the CD's marked R constitute the Red Hat 8.0). Of course, if you are absolutely sure that the pen disk is also of Y2000 standard, there's no problem but there have been key changes both in USB disk hardware and in software since then and many newer pen drives won't easily work as for output from the classic PC. However the more newer PC's usually are those that have the largest data volumes associated with them so it should be all right. First we need to be sure that the pen drive is having a classic format, and it should be certainly less than 30 GB. I am going to tell a way that I think is the safest although sometimes it is not necessary. I will tailor- make the following instructions to Red Hat 8.0 (RH8) on a Y2000-style PC which is going to read large files from a new PC with new Ubuntu. Don't do this without backuping all files on both machines as formatting cannot be done lightly, and only when one gives peek attention to it! In Ubuntu, insert the pen disk. Open the Dash where you can search on programs inside Ubuntu, and type the word disk and click on an icon for a disk toolbox. Click on the pen disk there and check out whether the pen disk is associated with the phrase sdc1 -- among other things. Make sure you make a precise note of this. A typing-mistake here, and we format the wrong thing! In RH8, in text terminal mode: mkdir /a to create folder a if it doesn't already exist. Insert the pen disk, and first we're going to make it unrecognisable for Ubuntu so that Ubuntu will kindly allow us to format it without the slightest protests! ;) Here's how to make it unrecognisable (where you write something other than sda1 if something like sda2 or sdb1 came up in the text screen when you plugged in the pen drive -- scan the text for a phrase like this, and use this; this is in RH8, and watch out not to mix up with Ubuntu, for there sda1 may be the main harddisk!): mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda1 Proudly now take this typically unrecognisable (early style ext3) format pendisk over to your Ubuntu machine. But we want text display there, too. So click CTR-ALT-F3 and the graphics runs in parallel and you can toggle it back by CTR-ALT-F7. Log in with usual username and password. Type sudo -i and press lineshift; if prompted for password, type it again. This is to allow us to do root actions such as format. Type mkdir /a if you haven't a folder named a already. Insert the pendisk in an USB slot. You will get up something like sdc1 again. Consult the precise note above. Using that phrase, type mkdosfs /dev/XXXX where XXXX is that phrase. [[[If you are going to use this command straight away on a stray pendisk, the challenge is to call this command fast enough after plugging in the pendisk before it is automounted by the main graphics frame of Ubuntu. A trick can be to use the up-arrow and enter to repeat the command in rapid succession, having typed it before you plugged in the pendisk, repeating the call until you get it; or else turning off automatic mounting aspects temporarily in the main graphics arena of Ubuntu -- though the latter shouldn't be necessary. Note also that there are parameters to mkdosfs try e.g. man mkdosfs | more or info mkdosfs]]] You can then engage the pen. Type mount -t vfat /dev/sdc1 /a and you use the same phrase again instead of sdc1. (Try dropping the -t vfat next time.) Assuming you have a neatly named (8 chars max, no spaces, then a suffix like .zip) big file available, type cp bigfile.zip /a and then umount /a where you wait until it's done before you unplug. Yet another advantage of the text mode. Insert it into the RH8 PC. Type mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /a or whatever the phrase was for that PC. Then cd /a ll *.zip cp *.zip /backup1 cd /backup1 umount /a unzip -t bigfile.zip which will check whether the file has good integrity. Note that we took the copying a bit slow -- an LL (small letter, though, ll) to list the file, and making the folder current. Then we go out of that folder, before we umount. Unplug the pen drive -- and call it a success! To go the other way, the cdroast program is there in all its incredible complexity, but floppies with the elisabet.exe and henni.exe programs usually work smoothly. Only write to a pen disk if it is made about the same time as the PC and the platform, and then again only by checking with unzip -t after it has been copied in again (after a fresh mount) before you assume it has been correctly stored there. So the rule of thumb is use a Y2000 PC to read from pen drives, and to write to floppies, and to burnable CD's. Using one of the first Fedora's made some years after RH8 or such as a CentOS also from this period may give some better options in some cases for some pen drives. [It is interesting, by the way, if you load in RH8 to see that in the decade after it no qualitatively new item was added of software -- all that happened was the elimination of errors, the polishing of the programs already started on, and the adding of capabilities previously alloted only to Java applets to Javascript and such; besides messing about with the standards in various needless ways, usually caused by Microsoft eager to try and enforce their unnecessary presence upon new PC's.] One more thing: in Firth, you can view files, also with binary content, by command disk. Write e.g. disk gdisk.g15 at the Lisacode prompt and you can look through it. AGAIN, GOOD LUCK!!!!! ********************* ********************* ********************* ********************* ********************* POSTSCRIPT: MORE HINTS AS TO BRIDGES BETWEEN THE NEWEST UBUNTU WITH G15 AND FIRTH WITH G15 IN THE FORM OF INTERMEDIATE LINUXES Centos is a tweaking of Fedoraproject.org (or more precisely, in some cases, of the open source aspect of the Red Hat enterprise server linux) towards the Red Hat 8.0 approach which is friendly towards programmers. Centos.org provides at the time of writing the early, little RAM-requiring, and highly Video card compatible version 5, but only the 5.9 version in this series; however I advise the use of 5.5 version for Y2000 PC's, where the CD1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 are enough to drive many PC's, and this is then done in a way that is better than RH8, but very similar; and it is done in a way that handles more video cards than such as Fedora14. Fedora14 is excellent if you get it in and tame it, but it requires somewhat newer PC, and it really only makes sense to try the install of f14 if you have a DVD not just a CD drive, as only the DVD version of f14 is free from requiring internet access to the fedoraproject.org servers at the time of installation -- which is not something one must rely on as for classic installs, of course. (In other words, if you have a year 2000 near PC with only CD, not DVD, choose Centos5 rather than f14, when they choice is between these two.) Note that some PC's near Y2000 have passwords and such nonsense hard-wired into even USB-drives in order to keep Linux out of them, and not all of them were subsequently worked out by Linux professionals. So some PC's won't deliver the goods when it comes to such as CD-burning or USB-reading even if Centos 5.5, Red Hat 8.0, or Fedora14 boots up. But for some PC's, you'll find that such as Fedora14 accesses a couple of things better than Red Hat 8.0, including a wider ranges of video cards. In going to e.g. Fedora16, we find a greatly increased demand on minimum RAM and so Fedora14 is much more widely compatible than such later versions. Fedora14 is very security-aware in ways that is unnecessary if you use it in independence from any active net usage, or even with no net connection at all. It will only yield to such measures as we want by some modification. Here's a recipe that may work at once or you may have to consult the fedoraproject.org / wiki page. First, get it from a place like: http://serverbeach1.fedoraproject.org/ pub/archive/fedora/linux/releases/14/ Fedora/i386/iso DVD size is 3.3 GB if there's a DVD on the PC, but the CD version is different than the DVD as said -- for only the DVD can be installed in freedom from internet access, which is important for any early O.S., of course. The prefix 'serverbeach1' may work or you may have to find another server for archived versions; but they generally tend to be kept stable. For CD's and for a somewhat wider range of video cards, choose Centos.org, the Centos 5. Later on I'll provide _ABOUT HERE_ a link to an archive of the relevant C5.5 CD's that I make available as extension of the RH8 cd's I also provide -- since they are both open source licensed products of wide availability earlier on, this is something that is much in tune with the spirit of the distributions of these products] but I imagine that you can get 5.9 going rather well also in most cases. Available earlier versions are presently found rather quickly by going to centos.org website. [[[Added note feb 11/12 2013: you can get the relevant CD's here, treat them with respect for the included licenses; these are unchanged GNU GPL-licensed products; you can burn each .iso to a CD by e.g. Brasero (as I seem to remember that it is called) a program in Ubuntu -- do pls reboot the PC after each Cd-creation if the Brasero program chokes, as it sometimes does on some pieces of hardware -- it's a question of resetting the CD burner it seems; follow notes in the paragraphs above and below here and you'll find that these five CD's, excluding number 5 and 6, are exactly enough for the relevant i386 Y2000-near PC hardware: yoga4d.org/c55_1.iso yoga6d.org/c55_2.iso yoga6d.org/c55_3.iso yoga6d.org/c55_4.iso stamash.com/c55_7.iso 1-4 has sizes between 600MB and 700MB, while the fifth, c55_7.iso, is between 200MB and 300MB. Load one at a time -- save to your own disk, search for a cd tool like Brasero and open each; and -- BY THE WAY -- pls keep linking to those big .iso's at our sites somewhat moderate as we use these servers for plenty of other time-intensitive things :-) Near-Y2000 PC's are normally best booted from physical CD's rather than pendisk-emulations of CD-images. For more docs, sources, licenses consult Centos.org; this is just to complement their own mirror servers of GNU GPL free software with that PARTICULAR version that doesn't consume much RAM nor many CD's but which do handle a range of video drivers very well indeed. These iso's are unchanged and should perform perfectly in the way stated here. If you find that an iso appaers to have become corrupted in that doesn't fullfill the task of being an appropriate C5.5 CD iso, please describe what you tried and the result and send to h-reusch@frisurf.no, I'd much appreciate that. So that's it! End of added note.]]] When you install C5.5 with CD 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7, you can click on 'customize now' during the installation process and select Development Tools and Development Libraries, just to be sure that libSDL and such are included. Also, you follow the installation instructions for RH8 at yoga4d.org/download in that you have US keyboard, standard answers on all things and nothing extra added; then it will install finely on most Y2000 PC's with these five CD's and not at all require any internet connection, which is important in legacy installs, of course. BEFORE you install RH8, C5.5 or F14, when you have Firth with floppy disk going, make a recovery floppy for Firth this way: insert a floppy in A: type format a: /u and erase the floppy (typically, it is best to format a floppy regularly on a classic PC rather than on a newer device). type sys a: and the floppy becomes bootable. Then, if the installation of a new Linux becomes irky, you can always get the Firth up again by overriding any Linux stuff this way: Boot by the floppy. Type C: Type MRBOOTER Press enter over the VFAT entry that comes up, usually the first. Press F10 and Enter to give it the name Firth, and then I think it is F10 again and ESC to write it to the boot sector of the harddisk. Turn the machine off, and next time it should boot into Firth again. A similar action can also be done with the Firth lisa_cd that was used in installation of Firth. (MRBOOTER is freeware with original acknowledgements included inside the Firth as with every other freeware, shareware and open source package that it is built out of.) In the paragraphs that follows you'll see how to modify the installer for Linux that comes with f14 so as to allow Firth back into the limelight ;) Note that MRBOOTER doesn't usually give any easy access to Linux at all, but rather removes the Linux installer, so it is not the usual practise to call on it after a Linux partition is installed; normally, it is used BEFORE the Linux partition is installed, right AFTER the LISA_OAC.ZIP has been unzipped. ALSO, before you install: You can, if you like, type date in Firth just before you install any such stuff that's made much later, so that the PC date isn't set earlier than the OS you try to put in there, just temporarily. This will stress the installation process somewhat less. So type a date that uses year 2012, which is after both f14 and c5.5. Before you install any Linux, note that boot sequence may have to be modified, be prepared for quick clicking at F1, ESC, INS, DEL, CTR-ALT-INS or the like during start-up of PC to modify this if it doesn't try bootup from CD; also, while looking at the PC startup parameters, switch off anything such as 'Secure boot', anything with 'fingerprint' boot, or the like, if it talks about it, and put on Legacy Boot, if that's an option.) NOTES FOR TAMING FEDORA14 (f14) AS INSTALLED FROM DVD Install it quickly, rather like RH8 (the install.txt at yoga4d.org/download has many hints, though some key things have changed). Unlike C5.5 and RH8 the f14 doesn't automatically provide a menu option for 'textual login' for its full install, that means that the video has got to work somehow; also, it doesn't allow 'root' to be specified as username when logging in graphically. So log in as a normal user. Go to System Tools -> Terminal, and there write the word for 'switch user', namely su You will be prompted for root password, which you gave during installation. Give it. [[[If you forgot it, you can boot the PC with the installation DVD again, choose Rescue mode, and select the standard options so you get a 'shell', that is, a terminal. In this, you type chroot /mnt/sysimage passwd and you type the new password for root, twice. Then get out of it, type exit or the like. In this, you can also do such as sudo -i and get some more facilities for the shell, and even start the graphics by command startx and such. Use such as command ls when the single l or double ll doesn't work, and the command ls -l gives same result as ll.]]] So, after a clean reboot, allowing graphical boot: You have just logged in as normal user, opened Terminal, you have written su and typed root password, and next you type sudo -i which means that you get a more powerful command line which has gedit and so on. [[[Typing sudo -i without typing su first makes f14 choke up a rather rude message; it's sweet but only when you know about the su of course; also note that there is supposedly a recovery mode to be achieved by holding CTR or ESC in during parts of the bootup without having the boot DVD available, but I haven't tested that.]]] cd /boot/grub gedit device.map and there's the line (hd0) /dev/sda there. If you look at RH8, it will say hda instead of sda. This means, by the way, that in Fedora14 USB pendrives aren't sda1 in Fedora14. What indeed the USB is in Fedora the text mode in Rescue mode can show, when you plug it in, or you experiment, sdb1, sdc1 etc, or get the info from somewhere else.) BEFORE the line with /dev/hda, if you have a Linux which compares to Centos 5 or earlier, after the # remark line, just insert (fd0) /dev/fd0 However, if you have Centos 6 or later, cfr the similar text about how to change this file and the next one in /boot/grub which is in firth-up.txt, which is here: www.norskesites.org/firth-up.txt It is obviously important to get the boot right or else what's on the harddisk will be hard to get back; although a LiveCD can sometimes give you access to try out more variations. To indicate that you have Firth there already. Save that file and exit the editor. Then get up the next, and we're soon done. The next is: gedit grub.conf You'll see that it talks about default and timeout. Make sure the lines are modified to this: default=1 timeout=10 I seem to remember there's also a line there about 'hide' menu or 'invisible', if so, get that line away, we want to see the menu. Then add at the bottom of the file this, and you can use the tabulator here, instead of blanks, to create the indent, so it is similar in style to what's already in the file: title Firth rootnoverify (hd0,0) chainloader +1 Again, if you have CentOS 6 or later, or a similar linux to that, rather see firth-up.txt which is at norskesites.org/firth-up.txt. I typically also adjust the title of the first menu option to just 'utility', to emphasize that RH8, and also to some extent Fedora14 and Centos5 are just bridges betwen G15 in Firth, perhaps nearer the G15 hardware in some ways (and with RS232), to G15 in Ubuntu. The syntax is the way it is because that's how grub, a program documented inside a project page in www.gnu.org, is made. Put these lines straight after the lines that are already there. Leave the other things intact. Save this file, exit editor. Then type grub-install hd0 at the Terminal command line, while still in the su mode, and it will chew on your variations as you just typed in. By the way, such as Centos5 behaves like RH8 and offer a boot menu containing the Firth, but unless you change it, you have to press ESC rather at startup to access its alternatives. Type exit a couple of times to get out of the Terminal. You can now try it, or, to save a whole lot of time, you can go into System -> Administration and unselect 'System default enforcing mode' and unselect also 'Relabel on next reboot', for the bootup next time after this or after some Rescue mode changes can be very slow indeed. Reboot, and if it works, congratulations! To experiment with correct setting for mount, do such as mount /dev/sda1 /a followed by ls /a then umount /a and then you try sda2 etc. You will see that in Fedora14 as the second installation after Firth, sda1 will refer to Firth, while sda2 will be occupied by Fedora14 resources. Then try /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc etc. You can get some hints about what's what also by typing, in su ('switch-user to super-user') mode, and then, as above, also sudo -i cd /dev/disk ll by-id and looking at the sweet mess that comes out on the screen by this command. This might cure some USB issues for some PC's. Note that there are subtle differences between the various types of releases of such operating approaches for computers. For instance, the f14 requires large filenames during transfer between Firth and itself, though the foldernames can be small. The Centos 5 and the f14 both can run a newer SDL and so more of Ubuntu's G15PVI than otherwise, whereas RH8 is too early in too many ways to run the G15PVI. Look in install.txt for RH8 (yoga4d.org/download) for hints on exploring f14 e.g. mount /dev/scd0 /a might mount a cdrom for read-in of files even if the cd isn't auto-opened by the PC hardware. Try also ll /media for cdrom and such. Note also that some PC's can switch on and off 'Legacy USB' in the initial Bios settings that present themselves right after startup. With C5.5 and/or f14 on earlier PC's these can act as a slightly newer version of RH8 as a bridge between Firth G15 and Ubuntu G15, and on their own running the Ubuntu G15 in y6.zip pretty perfectly well -- to complement the best way of running G15 altogether, which is of course at the G15 hardware proper. On some Y2000-near enough PC's USB pen disks are correctly handled all the ways through but as said elsewhere pls check this very precisely before making any assumptions about it. Obviously, when you connect a PC with not-virus- updated software to the earthian internet, you must apply extraordinary care in what you do. The works I here come with is to stimulate sound ethical creative works for individuals, groups of individuals, organisations and companies, who have found it appropriate to do the luxurious and natural thing of having a range of computers devoted to creative worktasks beyond any requirement of internet for them, where G15 is superb. And then there are bridges over to internet-enabled PC's, but these are normally not the same PC's. You must take responsibility for what you do with your PC's yourself, all this information here is given on that premise. GOOD LUCK!!!!! Aristo w/Lisa, Athina and Helena ATWLAH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~GEEEEEE~~~~~~~~\\\FIFTEEEEEN///: