Ultimate Amiga

This is the re-working project of the AMOS manuals into pdf, odt and HTML formats. The table below shows the manuals to be re-worked/converted and the status of the work in progress.

Special thanks go to François Lionet for giving permission to recreate the manuals and port the them and the code to Avolution.
François Lionet now works with Clickteam, and continues to produce game creation software at www.clickteam.com (http://www.clickteam.com)

[Progress Update Summary 24/01/13]
- Reworked version of the AMOS Pro User Guide And EASY AMOS Users Guide released.
- AMOS Club newsletters Vol 2 Released.
- Phase 1 Complete

Primary goals:

• [Phase 1 - Completed] Get all classic manuals into PDF, ODT formats.
• [Phase 2a - In Progress] Work through each manual in Phase 1 and check for errors in the text and code, then release document addendums.
• [Phase 2b] Update the AMOS Pro manual with (where applicable) incorporated corrections, linked indexes, "What's New" update supplements (Covering all updates.), Companion Disks and new content.
• [Phase 3] Build the AMOS Pro resource kit. These will be a completely recompiled set of documents. See the Resource Kit Breakdown/Plan (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9479.msg43963.html#msg43963) for more details.
• [Phase 4] Port the AMOS Pro resource kit to xAMOS and Avolution.
  ⁺⁺AMOS Pro V2.0 full includes the updates and compiler + TOME (more on this later)
• [Phase 5] Conversion and Porting (where permitted) of AMOS Books and inclusion in the resource kit
• [Phase 6] New AMOSPro\Avolution Books and inclusion in the resource kit
• [Phase 7] Updated docs for updated versions of AMOSPro\Avolution\xAmos .

Classic Manuals	Source	Status	Notes	Release Date
AMOS The Creator	Original.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS Compiler	Original.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS 3D	Original.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS 3D QuickCard	Original.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS Pro	Original + asymetix.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS Pro Compiler	Original.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS Pro Application Supplement	Original.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
EASY AMOS	Original + Echo.	-	Rev1 Released.	-
AMOS CLUB Newsletters	Original.	-	Rev1 of Vol 1 & 2 released	-

*2nd Revisions (where applicable) will incorporate Corrections, linked indexes, "What's New" update supplements (Covering all updates.), Companion Disks, etc.

- HTML Versions will be released as part of the dbODF project. -

Amos Pro Resource Kit (Ref. Post) (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9479.0.html)	Source	Status	Notes	Release Date -
Getting Started Guide	-	-	-	1st Rev -
Easy AMOS Pro	Easy AMOS User's Guide	wip	-	1st Rev -
Introduction to 3D	3D User's Guide	-	-	1st Rev -
User guide	Pro User's Guide	-	Restructured version	1st Rev -
Programmers Guide	Pro User's Guide	-	-	1st Rev -
Language reference**	AMOS Help	-	-	1st Rev -
AMOS HTML Help**	AMOS Help	wip.	-	-
Quick Reference**	AMOS Help	-	-	-
Quick Reference Cards**	AMOS Help	-	-	-
AMOS Extensions Reference Guide	Various	-	-	-

**Pro User's Guide is the base source for this documentation.
Other Sources : AMOS The Creator User's Guide, AMOS Compiler User's Guide, AMOS Pro Compiler User's Guide, AmigaCoding

Other Projects	Source	Status	Notes	Release Date
Amos Manuals Project Typesetting Guide	MadAngus.	wip.	Explains the styles and methods used for laying out the manuals	-
Online Manuals Database (dbODF)	MadAngus	ODF Spec analysis	Web db/php	Test Database -
Manuals Wiki Markup system	MadAngus	-	Web db/php	-
AMOS Developer Network (ADN) Library	AMOS PD Library, Other	-	Expanded and documented, Web db/php	Database to be in place by -
AMOS Magazine article and tutorial collection	-	-	Required for writing My AMOS books (Ref. Post) (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9418.msg43929.html#msg43929).	n/a
AMOS Developer Newsletter	Various	-	Covering AMOS Pro, jAMOS. In the style of the AMOS Club newsletters	1st Issue -
Developer Technique Guides	MadAngus	-	Fx, Motion, Games styles etc.	-
Game Design process	MadAngus	-	Management, Premise, plot, storyboarding, architechture etc.	-
AMOS Game Makers Guide	MadAngus	-	To be written to replace the Amiga Game Makers Manual by Stephen Hill, as he could not be found.	-

AMOS Books
The 3rd Party AMOS Book projects are in this thread Here (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9602.0.html).

Addendum:
Any errors in current revisions will be noted here.

Notes:
Permission has been received for the Mandarin/Europress manuals.
Permission has been received for the AMOS Club Newsletters.
The code snippets in the manuals have not been checked in AMOS itself.
Some of the page numbers do not match the original manuals, this is partly due to the restructuring and typesetting and partly by design, this will be corrected in the 2nd Revisions.

Acknowledgements:
François Lionet of clickteam.com (http://clickteam.com) for giving permission for the Mandarin/Europress AMOS manuals.
Aaron Fothergill Author of the AMOS Club Newsletters for allowing the newsletters to be converted and redistributed.Strange Flavour Ltd (http://www.strangeflavour.com)

FOL and Hungry Horace for their encouragement, support and a place to stay :) "Ultimate Amiga".
asymetrix for doing the AMOS pro manual and others and the inspiration to start this project.
spellcoder for giving permission to use his site content (AmigaCoding) (http://amigacoding.com) in the Resource Kit.
robinsonb5 over at the EAB for donating his "AMOS Pro Application Supplement" to the project.
Lonewolf10 for his contribution (AMOS Club newsletters issues 0 and 1 Scans).
skateblind for his contribution (All About AMOS newsletters issues 1 and 2 Scans).
prowler for his contribution (AMOS 3D scans) and his motivational work over at the EAB.
echo of the English Amiga Board for the Easy AMOS PDF (saving me hours of work).

DonAmiga, BooBoo, WonkeyDonkey and all those who have offered their support and encouragement.

Copyright Notices
AMOS Documents and software are copyright François Lionet and respective contributors.
AMOS Club newsletters are copyright Aaron Fothergill.

Terms and Conditions
All parts of the resource kit are freely available for download and use for both commercial and non-commercial projects. Any additional manual and tutorial source code will be distributed under a BSD license or copy-left licence so anyone can use it.
Documents are copyright François Lionet and respective contributors, Documents/Manuals/Books or materials  from this project may not be printed or sold commercially. Note, advertisement supported sited are considered to be a commercial entity.

Distribution of these Manuals/Books or materials unless otherwise stated are restricted to ultimateamiga.co.uk, and combinedworks.org, unless written prior consent is given.

The copyright holders reserve the right to withdraw consent at any time, notices of this will be given.

I think there is already a PDF of  the Easy Amos manual
but to have a look at the CRAFT manual would be great :)

Quote from: BooBoo on October 30, 2011, 09:48:39 AM
I think there is already a PDF of  the Easy Amos manual
but to have a look at the CRAFT manual would be great :)

I think they are on the Amos Factory landing page.
http://amos.ultimateamiga.com/

Seems I still need to fix urls for Amos Factory as they are pointing to wrong section.

BooBoo:

All the manuals listed as 'PDF Download' where downloaded from another site. As I said the project is to rework the manuals. Basically to improve page layout, add bookmarks and create Links from the contents and the index to their target content. Then to release them as pdf, odt and HTML on this site.

I have original copies of all listed manuals except the AMOS-Pro Compiler manual. Downloading these only saves me the time it would take to scan and OCR.

FOL:
If you are talking about the AMOS Pro, AMCAF and TOME IV manuals, the links work fine for me.

The only rework I am doing to those manuals is linked contents and index. At the moment asymetrix is currently checking/reviewing the updated AMOS Pro manual.

Although the AMOS software was placed in the public domain, would it be possible to confirm if the manuals are the same and for Craft by BlackLegend.
The Amiga Game Maker's Manual by Stephen Hill and Ultimate AMOS by Jason Holburn, as far as I am aware, have not been given permission to re-distribution. Is anyone in contact with these authors to ask for permission.

I have decided to put a few things together before I request permission to re-distribute from the copyright holders. This will take a few days, hence the changes to the release dates.

Can someone provide a scan of Page 77 from the AMOS 3D manual as I can't find my copy. If you can, could you please scan the image at a resolution of 300dpi.

I have decided to put the books on hold as I want to use the time to work on other projects.
Amiga Game Maker's Manual, Stephen Hill - OnHold
Ultimate AMOS, Jason Holburn - OnHold

Update:

Got AMOS 3D page 77 from prowler on eab, big thank you. Also awaiting a shiny new copy of the AMOS 3D manual from flip on amibay.

AMOS 3D odt and pdf now complete. Release pending permission.

Release permission has been requested. Fingers crossed.

Thunderbirds are Go. Written permission has been given  to re-distribute the manuals by François Lionet of clickteam.com (http://clickteam.com) on this site and on my own site, many thanks to the main man.

FOL: Hope you don't mind the link above, François is after all giving legal permission to distribute these. If I've earned a warning for bending the rules, then fair cop.

Requested and Granted for:
AMOS The Creator
AMOS Compiler
AMOS 3D
AMOS Professional
AMOS Professional Compiler

AMOS 3D odt and pdf are in the download section.

Quote from: MadAngus on November 13, 2011, 10:40:34 AM
Thunderbirds are Go. Written permission has been given  to re-distribute the manuals by François Lionet of clickteam.com (http://clickteam.com) on this site and on my own site, many thanks to the main man.

FOL: Hope you don't mind the link above, François is after all giving legal permission to distribute these. If I've earned a warning for bending the rules, then fair cop.

Requested and Granted for:
AMOS The Creator
AMOS Compiler
AMOS 3D
AMOS Professional
AMOS Professional Compiler

AMOS 3D odt and pdf attached.

I have no problems at all.
I can speak with Horace about giving upload rights to downloads section if you want?

Thanks FOL

Uploading to the download section makes sense.

The 'AMOS The Creator' manual should be done by the deadline.
I only need to find the copyright holders for Craft and Tomb, I'd like the same permission for these as was given by François. It would be good to have these for Project Deimos ;).

Status Update:

It was my mum's birthday at the weekend so I didn't get the rest of the AMOS Creator manual finished. I've also decided to incorporate the AMOS Creator Extras manual into the release. The release will therefore be delayed.

I'm not completely happy with the AMOS 3D manual as I didn't include a linked index in the release. I will be working on a second revision of the AMOS 3D manual. For this I will need to create a concordance file to create the index.

See first post for schedule changes.

Great job your doing there MadAngus well done  ;)

DonAmiga:

Cheers  ;D.
I was only doing 25 pages a night, but after reading prowler's work on alien breed data recovery over at eab I got the finger out and upped the anty to 50 pages a night.

Schedule changes:

I had to step away from this for a few days as OpenOffice's AutoCorrect feature was driving me mad (madder ;)). This and implementing new typesetting styles to the entire manual means another delay :(.

The new typesetting styles are required to automate the conversion of these manuals to HTML format.

The new schedules listed above account for the actual time it takes to complete the manuals and the possibility that I might go mad again.

In your own time MadAngus :)

This is valuable work, and much appreciated - we will be happy to host when it's all ready!

Cheers, only got 840 bookmarks and 840 links to do for the index's. :)

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Keep movin', movin', movin',
Even though they're awaitin',
Keep them doggies movin'
Rawhide!

Count 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, count 'em out,
Count 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide 8)

OpenOffice Strikes again: I Don't Be-lieeeeve It. LOL.

There is a bug in OpenOffice (At Least it I think it's a bug).

When you crate hyperlinks for the TOC, OpenOffice automatically crates bookmark entries for those links in the form of "_RefHeading_2937_19063537071", these are hidden bookmarks and are not displayed in the Navigator panel. However when you attempt set the hyperlink target to a document bookmark the Target Document Dialog does display them.

You can imagine the frustration when attempting to locate the bookmark you want to link to and it's nested amongst 250+ of these entries :o.
The good news is with a little bit of research I have put together some macro code that can delete the bookmarks. I'm in the process of linking this to a dialog so that only the unwanted bookmarks are deleted.

Please excuse some maniacal laughter  :) :) :D :D ;D ;D ;D :) :D ;D ;D
All better now, we persevere because we can.

Well Done Dude great progress  :)

Update: Releases.

Well finally, After 900+ manually created bookmarks and 900+ manually created links later :o, It's done. ;D

The following manuals are available in the Documentation download section.
AMOS 3d QuickCard, PDF
AMOS The Creator User Guide, OpenOffice ODT
AMOS The Creator User Guide, PDF

I have also uploaded the AMOS 3d User Guide to the Documentation download section (No changes same as previous upload).
AMOS 3d User Guide, OpenOffice ODT
AMOS 3d User Guide, PDF

Ironically, after I got the macro code debugged, tested and working, I was about to use it on the AMOS The Creator User Guide when I found an easier and faster way to set the bookmark links, go figure ???. It was fun to do anyway and I'll use it at some point.

Quote from: MadAngus on November 07, 2011, 09:24:33 AMAmiga Game Maker's Manual, Stephen Hill - OnHold
Ultimate AMOS, Jason Holburn - OnHold

right now, i'm gutted that you've put these on-hold, as I have both and I am not at home, so i would love to have a look at some stuff in them!!

Hungry Horace:
Sorry mate, had to, the Mandarin/Europress manuals are 1st priority as they are the foundations of my other project.

Craft Manual:
Permission from Richard M Holmes, whom I believe is now running www.clubv3.com, was requested on the 12/12/2011.
No response as yet, keeping fingers crossed.

Yippee! more AMOS stuff arrived.

Just received some AMOS docs.

AMOS Pro Application Supplement and
10 Issues of AMOS Club Newsletter

I'll be Adding these to the AMOS Manuals project.

The news Letter Issues are
Issue 0 - 8 Pages
Issue 1 - 20 Pages
Issue 2 - 20 Pages
Issue 3 - 20 Pages
Issue 4 - 20 Pages
Issue 5/6 Double Issue - 36 Pages
Vol 2 .Issue 1 - 20 Pages
Vol 2 .Issue 2 - 20 Pages
Vol 2 .Issue 3 - 20 Pages
Vol 2 .Issue 4 - 20 Pages

Update: Releases and change of plan.

The following manuals are now available in the Documentation download section.
AMOS Compiler User Guide, PDF
AMOS Compiler User Guide, OpenOffice ODT
AMOS-Pro Compiler User Guide, PDF
AMOS-Pro Compiler User Guide, OpenOffice ODT

As for the change of plan:
I have decided to focus entirely on the Mandarin/Europress documentation as there is a lot I wish do due with these beyond converting them to digital documents. I also intend to write some of my own material and release it as part of this project.

Therefore, with immediate effect, the following will not be converted and will be removed from the project plan.

Amiga Game Maker's Manual, Stephen Hill
Ultimate AMOS, Jason Holburn
CRAFT for AMOS

Note: If permission is ever received for CRAFT for AMOS then I will add this back into the project. However, please assume that this will not happen.

The project plan will be updated to reflect these changes.

Is there any chance of getting what youve already done of Craft?

Sorry BooBoo, there are a couple of reasons why I can't do what you ask.

Firstly, It's important for this manual project and project Avolution to not to be involved in distributing copyrighted material without permission. These project's rely on François Lionet/clickteam's permission for distribution. I would not want to risk François Lionet distancing himself from the project's and removing his permission as he has the legal right to do so.

Secondly, I was hoping that when project Avolution matures that Richard Holmes would hear about it and decided to donate his software for integration. I'll concede that this is a few years away and doesn't help much.

There is one good thing about Craft and that is it was, and still is, a popular extension to AMOS, judging by the frequency I see original copies pop up on AmiBAy and eBay. Generaly you can get an original boxed copy with manual for around £10. If you were to put a wanted add on AmiBay, I'm sure someone would offer their's for sale.

AMOS manuals page numbering.

Due to the way I'm reworking the AMOS manuals the page numbering is out of skew with the original manuals. I'm not going to change this but was thinking of adding extra page number entries in the index's and possibly the TOC to help those with printed manuals. It's not that much work as these extra page numbers wouldn't need any links created.

Even though I'll be adding index's to all manuals in the rev2 releases, they will still be out of skew with the printed manuals. Also, not all manuals have an index so you can't simply look up the manual's original index.

An example of the skew is shown below for the AMOS The Creator Manuals.

My numbering:
AMAL
--Channels 188, 207-209

Original numbering:
AMAL
--Channels 179, 197-199

Now the question is how would I display these extra page numbers in a way that wouldn't be too confusing.

Initial idea was to just do something like this:
AMAL
--Channels 188 (179), 207-209 (197-199)

An alternative method would be to provide a lookup table for all pages out of skew.

[Edit]
Page numbering and content will be fixed in the second revision.

Update: Releases:

The following manuals are available in the Documentation download section.

AMOS-Pro Application Supplement, OpenOffice ODT
AMOS-Pro Application Supplement, PDF

Temporary Upload:
In addition, for those that would like a good read (and just can't wait) I have uploaded all issues of the AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 1 and 2 in JPG format. Once I have completed and uploaded the ODT and PDF conversions I will remove these. 

AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 1 (PDF) - > (Has been released, see download section)

AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 2 (PDF) - > (Has been released, see download section)

Hi MadAngus.  I hadn't realised how many toes I was crunching when I started out to just add bookmarks and a few notes to the AMOS Pro PDF Manual.  It's the one credited to asymetrix. 

I'd like to post it anyway, if possible, as a stop-gap available now.

I'll keep everyone posted on the quick-reference guides.  The Interface Language one is just about complete - I'm just dithering over the seqence to present them in and need to add the extra syntax versions noted here http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9096.0.html (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9096.0.html).  Either alphabetical (most useful when reading existing code) or functional (most useful when actually writing the wretched stuff!).  As it only comes to three to four pages, I'll probably do both.

Great work mate.  Bonza effort.  (Well, we Aussies have another language to keep alive :) !)

Thanks mate,

I wear steel toe-capped boots, so my toes are invulnerable.

Your modifications to the PDF manual could be uploaded as "AMOS Pro User's guide (PDF Bookmarked Version)", does that sound OK to you?

[Updates and Releases]

bruceuncle has provided us with a bookmarked version of the AMOS Pro User's Guide (PDF), originally released by asymetrx.
bruceuncle has also provided a quick-reference for the AMOS Pro Interface Language (AMOS Interface Command Summary V1.00.zip)

These are now available in the downloads section. Big thank you to bruceuncle for his work.

In addition I am providing mini cover images of the manuals in 3 sets with different sizes (preview and file attached below):

Equal Height
Equal Width
Equal Height and Width
Also included is the PDF,ODT and HTML overlays I use.

HungryHorace, if you would like any of the images cleaned up let me know.

Preview (Equal Height and Width 150h x 125w)

Myself and bruceuncle have been discussing the AMOS manuals project over private message the next three posts is the content of that discussion.

Post 1
Source: MadAngus

Manuals Management:
I've updated the AMOS Manuals page with a summary of the project goals to make it a bit clearer where I want to take this project.

The manuals should be released using the same structure and styles. This will probably mean that the documents you release will eventually be re-worked to correspond with the standard structure and styles I've set up in OpenOffice. It will also make it easier to generate HTML versions.

I should note, I'm not claiming some over-lordship to these manuals, the more input the better, I just want to make sure there aren't twenty different formats/styles the end user has to contend with.

AMOS Pro PDF Manual:
Great, go ahead and do your version with bookmarks and notes. I'm currently working on the AMOS Pro Manual to add bookmarks and linked Contents/Indexes, I'll eventually collate the data you provide into one manual. Which gives me the idea of a wiki style markup document so others can do the same. That would be for the long term though.

Uploads:
Email me the updated AMOS Pro Manual and The AMOS Interface Language Quick Reference Guide I'll upload them to the documentation download section for you.

If you have any ideas or opinions about the Manuals Project fire them across.

QuoteBonza effort.  (Well, we Aussies have another language to keep alive :) !)

I get that I'm a Glaswegian from The Scotland.  ;)

Post 2
Source: bruceuncle

Thanks for filling me in on the project.  And congratulations on the work you've already done getting the permissions, etc. to make it all legit.

I completely agree with the idea of uniformity in the documentation.  It helps enormously with people's ability to digest the content! 8)

I'm not so sure about keeping the original page numbering systems (01.2.03 etc.) as it makes it very difficult to use it as a reference on screen (or eBook).  I appreciate the need to retain the style for sentimental reasons.  But maybe it would be better to use both that and a conventional page number?  So Contents pages would look something like this:

Section 03 Getting Started
     Chapter 03.01 Getting Started   ..........9
          03.1.01 Absolute Beginners   ..........9
          03.1.02 The Edit Screen   ..........10
          03.1.03 Typing in the Edit Window   ..........11
          03.1.03 Your first programs   ..........11
          03.1.04 Direct Mode   ..........12
          03.1.05 Loading a program   ..........13

One other thing that bothers me is the stuff that's 'missing' from the AMOS Pro Manual.  It's detailed in the integrated AMOS Pro Help system, but that in itself is not a very useful tool when it comes to getting a 'feel' for the language.  It's a bit like the problems I have with using the Messysoft .NET class libraries.  I'm always finding myself writing stuff that's already in the libraries and I could have used if only I knew it was there!

I tried initially converting the Pro Manual to a Word Document.  First problem was that each PDF line is a paragraph.  So tidying it up would have been a major effort.

Ideally, we should update the manual in-line with the extra stuff in the Help File.  But that is also quite a task.  I hit this problem with the Quick Ref guide for the Interface sub-system.  Using just the Manual, it was reasonably small, about 3 - 4 pages.  Adding in the stuff I unearthed in the Help File has blown it out to 6 pages.  Not quite as small as I would have liked.

Anyway, I've got the first draft completed.  I'll email PDFs of it and the bookmarked Pro Manual.  Plus an editable Interface Quick Ref in .docx or .odt format (see next para).

What format(s) can you use for editable stuff?  I'm using Word 2010, mainly to get used to using the wretched thing for commercial work.  But I realise that that may not be everyone's cup of tea.  Word does have a save as .odt facility and that does seem to work OK.  I can at least reload it into Word and the document looks the same as the .docx version.

Rather than prattle on, I'll just end with a reinforcement of my willingness to help in this project (except 24 x 7 dedication! ;D ).

Keep yourself sane,
bruceuncle

Post 3
Source: Madangus
You've hit on some good points including one that I haven't made quite made clear in the Project page, thanks feedback helps point out things I've become blind to.

Page numbering (03.1.01), I have always found numbering of this type to be confusing, read on and find out how this would be corrected.

This thing I haven't made quite clear (my error), is that the project is a multi-track project. The first track is an exact duplicate set of the original manuals, this is for the classic AMOS users. This gives them an online set as well as their printed set (if they've got one), if they don't have the manuals then this gives them the original manuals to work from. This set will always be maintained with an addendum for errors and corrections.

The second track is the resource kit focusing purely on AMOS Pro, this is what we're both aiming for. In this track we rip up the original manuals and completely restructure the document set. This is where we can use consecutive page numbering, and add all newly discovered content. We would end up with a more standard set of documents as I have listed on the project page and below. You'll know this style from many other sources.

AMOS Pro Getting Started Guide (Standard guide found in most apps)
AMOS Pro for Beginners  (I'll port the Easy AMOS Manual to AMOS Pro for this)
AMOS Pro Introduction to 3D (Use's the AMOS 3D Manual)

The next four manuals use the AMOS Pro manual, except the content is broken up and placed where appropriate.
AMOS Pro User guide
AMOS Pro Programmers Guide
AMOS Pro Language reference
AMOS Pro Quick Reference

New content can be added to any of these manuals and any other manuals/guides that are developed.

Further porting to other projects like jAMOS is just a matter of changing references and GUI screenshots.

Help File, right I'll need to add that to the list.

The method I use to create these documents is to rip out the raw text (without any formatting or structure) from other PDF's and Scans/OCR of my originals, paste that raw text into OpenOffice, manually re-typeset and re-structure the document, then export to PDF. Later this year I'll have written a OpenOffice basic program to port the manuals to both HTML and PHP/XML.


Send me the MS Office .docx files along with the other's and I'll see if OpenOffice can open the .docx, I only need to get at the text, I can get the context of the document's and structure from the PDF's.

Your hacking and discovery of new content is excellent work and takes this project to another level. The other advantage this project gets is the help from an experienced programmer who can point out when the documentation is going in the wrong direction, after all programmer's are the target audience.

As the the old saying goes "If you've got an itch scratch it", so tackle what ever area you find interesting, and as has been said to me "in your own time". :)

[Edit]
Oops! I should have attributed the method of creating these documents (raw text processing) to asymetrix, as it was due to his pointer that I decided on this method. It is the best option, trust me. ;)

Amazing reading guys :)

Really happy to see this project moving forward.

I've updated the AMOS Factory front page with a whole set of manuals. I'm sure we can add more if required.

http://amos.pspuae.com

FOL - i am very disappointed that other potential front-page url's do not work!!

MadAngus - can you point FOL in the direction of that ODF reader for him to install on the server? I have used re-direct pages for the manuals which are currently not available in HTML format.

I would like to see that front page as a "quick access" route for the purpose of AMOS Coders research/reminders (which i know is how i've found it helpful in the past, although I now keep PDF copies on my USE stick) , whilst any goals of preservation etc, we will probably keep contained within the forums and download sections - i hope this is ok?

QuoteMadAngus - can you point FOL in the direction of that ODF reader for him to install on the server? I have used re-direct pages for the manuals which are currently not available in HTML format.

Done. :)

Ouch that hurts, :(.

It was a mammoth task I had to do, took something like two weeks to fix site after hack.
I thought I had fixed everylink, :(.

Quote from: Hungry Horace on February 09, 2012, 09:14:22 PM
FOL - i am very disappointed that other potential front-page url's do not work!!

MadAngus - can you point FOL in the direction of that ODF reader for him to install on the server? I have used re-direct pages for the manuals which are currently not available in HTML format.

AMOS Pro Resource Kit Open Discussion

Provided below is a basic outline of the form and structure the manuals could have. Most coders should recognise this form and structure, older coders will definitely recognise it ;). Please post your comments and opinions about your experiences with this structure or any other structure, problems and difficulties you've had with it, and how you would suggest these issues be avoided. This will help us to provide you with a better Resource Kit.

For example:
At times it can be difficult to find what you are looking for therefore provide both an alphabetical index and a categorised index.

We will need to figure out which parts of the documentation goes where, basically we need to create a contents for each manual and move the appropriate parts to the relevant section. Some are obvious others are not, any help with the breakdown would also be appreciated.

Any other areas you think should be discussed, please feel free to elaborate.

Basic form and structure:

AMOS Pro Getting Started Guide

• Where to get the software
• Install/Uninstall
• Basic troubleshooting
• Your first program

AMOS Pro for Beginners
Use the Easy AMOS Manual as the entry level guide, except change all Easy AMOS references/screenshots/code to be AMOS Pro specific?

AMOS Pro Introduction to 3D
Same as the beginner's guide using the AMOS 3D Manual?

AMOS Pro User guide

• The Integrated Development Enviroment
• The Compiler

AMOS Pro Programmers Guide

• Language Stucture
• Libraries
• Programing techniques

AMOS Pro Language reference

• Function Name
• Syntax
• Remarks
• Return Value
• See Also
• Example snippets

AMOS Pro Quick Reference
Each Function given a brief half page summary of what is in the language reference?

Just sent an email to spellcoder to see if he is OK with us including the AmigaCoding AMOS content into the resource Kit. Hope his email on this site is current.

Just an update on where the AMOS Pro Help File stuff is at.

I've got all the help topics into a database and have a first draft of a formatted manual extracted from that, c/w Contents and Index entries.  There's still one or two topics 'missing' due to errors in the help system's mapping file - they have to be added by hand.  And there's some tidying up to do with typos in the original.  I should also be able to rebuild the original AMOSPro_Help.Map and AMOSPro_help.txt files to correct the mapping errors in them - but not until the manual's complete!  The same with the two Latest_News_*.* help file sets.

MadAngus is vetting this stuff for inclusion in the AMOS Pro Resource Kit.  I'm liaising with him as to how, when, if and where this stuff becomes available for publication as he's already laid some great foundations for this project.  And we both want a uniformity of style, etc for this stuff so it doesn't become just a grab-bag of unrelated bits and pieces.  An integrated approach is always the best way to go. :)

Thanks to his good works, there are already two extras in the downloads sections.  One is a 'bookmarked' PDF version of the AMOS Pro Manual.  The other is a Quick-Reference Guide to the AMOS Pro Interface language (note that the V1.0 in its file name is nothing to do with the AMOS Pro version - it's the document version - the info is for AMOS Pro V2).  These would best be regarded as stop-gap releases whilst we get the final stuff into shape.

I also intend to do quick-ref guides for the AMAL and Menu sub-languages 'real soon now'  ;) (or at least, after the Help File docs are finalised).

The Help File manual is not intended to replace the original AMOS Pro Manual, but to possibly supplement it and definitely act as an organised source of material for the AMOS Pro Resource Kit docs.  It's more a quick-ref of the whole AMOS Pro language, as anyone who's used the help system will realise.  The original manual offers richer explanations and examples.  The reason for it arose from the fact that the Help File has a lot of stuff in it that wasn't in that original manual  :'( .  So I started  to look at how to dig it out and make it more accessible...  Good fun!  ;D

My personal thanks to MadAngus for all his help in introducing me to where this project is going and how I may be of help.  I'm always happy to contribute whatever I can to assist. 8)

Now back to the digging...

Exceptional work bruceuncle. ;D

QuoteThanks to his good works, there are...

Nah, have to give you full credit for the data mining and exploration you have done on these. It would have taken me a month of Sunday's to do what you have achieved in such a short time. ;) Well done.


The document (Help File + Index + Contents) you refer to as, "more a quick-ref of the whole AMOS Pro language" can be used as just that, it's Ideal. From looking at this document and some of the quick reference books I have, I've got a few ideas how this could progress to complete Quick Reference.

1a.) As we have mentioned dual index's, this could provide both. The index already added and another index using the contents as a base with the associated commands listed under it (Categorised), this would simplify command searching for end-users, especially beginners.

E.G.
Array Operations
--MATCH
--SORT

Program run commands
--BREAK ON
--BREAK OFF
--COMMAND LINES
...
...

1b.) Once you have added in all the relevant content I can generate a concordance file based on the two index's and generate the linked index references that would be required for an online document (i.e. PDF). The OpenOffice basic coding will take me a while but it's something I was planning on doing anyway.

2.) Breakdown each entry into the following (where relevant)

• Function Name
• Syntax
• Remarks
• Return Value
• See Also
• Example snippets

Although there are example snippets already in the document, I'd like to see a 3 or 4 line snippet followed by the expected output. I often find that minimal snippets in other references are not always clear in their meaning or expected output. However these would be added at a later date once the Quick Reference itself was completed, a second edition maybe.

3.) Once complete the quick reference can be used as the template for the Language reference, expanding the entries with the descriptions from the other manuals. With Listings on page as well as the pointer to the example file.

4.) The quick reference books I have are usually a smaller page size (A5-ish) than normal books (B5-ish), with my c++ quick-ref being nearly 500 pages long. A5 is the book size I would be targeting for the quick ref.

I'm going to bring the quick reference forward as a priority once I've completed the newsletters. They are quite awkward and time consuming to do, due to the original print quality, lots of OCR errors, and the layout takes more work than the standard manuals. It's taking 3-4 days to do 1 issue (20 pages). I'll continue work on the classic manuals as I go along.


The quick-ref guides for the AMAL and Menu sub-languages you mentioned, are you going to do them in the same format as the interface language guide. Although the info can be added and expanded in the resource kit manuals, I also like the idea of these references as quick cards, very handy for developers.


You mentioned that MS Office cannot create linked index's. Not surprisingly OpenOffice followed suit in not providing that feature either. A bit disappointing as the OpenOffice team had all the code and implementation methods already completed. With OpenOffice you could create a concordance file and the index would be auto-generated from that. However when editing the Index properties Hyperlinks cannot be added simply because the OpenOffice team did not transfer that feature from the Table Of Contents properties page.

The unfortunate side effect of this is manually created links. For AMOS The Creator, 840 bookmarks and 840 Hyperlinks had to be created manually. 1680 manually created tags takes a looooong time, well about a week.

Definition Concordance File:
A concordance file consists of a text file that contains an index of all main words in a book. In OpenOffice the concordance file has an xml structure. OpenOffice uses this to scan the document and create references to all words matching the index entries in the concordance file. These references are then used to generate an index.

QuoteExceptional work bruceuncle.

Aw shucks!   :-[

QuoteThe document (Help File + Index + Contents) you refer to as, "more a quick-ref of the whole AMOS Pro language" can be used as just that, it's Ideal.

I like the idea of quick reference guides too.  That's why I did the Interface one already posted - I needed it for myself  :D .

I'm a bit concerned that we don't blur the distinctions between 'language and programming manual', 'tutorial'  and 'quick reference': 

-	I've always regarded a 'manual' as being the basic (bugger - another pun!) learning tool and 'bible'.  Yer sits down with it and slog through it, patiently absorbing the info and doing the examples.
-	The 'tutorial' is a learning tool that takes it a step further and explores 'areas of interest' with copious full working examples.
-	The 'quick reference' is a memory-jogger for people who have mostly waded through the first two.  It should be as concise as possible and just show a brief description,  syntax definition, parameter and return value definitions, and (especially in the case of AMOS Basic) bit-field definitions.  The odd paragraph of info is acceptable to explain syntax conventions and anything unusual about the language.

In that context, the 'snippets' in a quick-reference shouldn't really be there - just the syntax variations.  It's a memory-jogger rather than a full explanation.  The user should go to the 'manual' or 'tutorial' if they're confused by the 'quick-reference'.

QuoteAlthough there are example snippets already in the document, I'd like to see a 3 or 4 line snippet followed by the expected output. I often find that minimal snippets in other references are not always clear in their meaning or expected output. However these would be added at a later date once the Quick Reference itself was completed, a second edition maybe.

That's why I'd rather see the 'quick-ref' with minimal snippets that just define the usage syntax.  The example snippets (and more extensive examples) should go in the 'manual' and 'tutorial' docs.

Having stated that, of course the AMOS Help file on which this document is based only partially follows those rules  ;D .  At least the authors took the trouble to split them into separate chunks.  There's the 'manual' style stuff at the start (How to Use the Help System and Syntax Conventions) with the 'quick-ref' style for Editor Keys and the language itself.  Plus a few helpful 'tables' (Scancodes and Keycodes) at the end.  The 'Stop Press' at the very end is back to the 'manual' style again.

My inclination would be to chop the document into just these categories as a 'quick-ref':

Syntax Conventions	-	manual style, but brief
Language Syntax	-	quick-ref style only
Editor Keys	-	quick-ref style only
Tables	-	quick-ref style only

Any expansion on that starts to get a bit too close to being a 'manual'. 

Of course, the 'manual' itself can go to town on examples and so on as long as it doesn't attempt to become a 'tutorial'.

It's inevitable that there will always be some slight blurring of the distinctions between these document types.  But keeping them a separate as possible should be the goal.

That's why I made this point:

QuoteThe Help File manual is not intended to replace the original AMOS Pro Manual, but to possibly supplement it and definitely act as an organised source of material for the AMOS Pro Resource Kit docs.

Does that make any sense?

Quote4.) The quick reference books I have are usually a smaller page size (A5-ish) than normal books (B5-ish), with my c++ quick-ref being nearly 500 pages long. A5 is the book size I would be targeting for the quick ref.

I can see your point.  And for a commercial ref book that's probably the way to go (printing and packaging costs, etc).  But who's going to be the target for these docs?  I suspect they'll either be viewed on-screen (HTML and PDF versions) where page size is irrelevant, or printed on a home printer.  And who can handle those sizes on a home printer?   :-\  Although I must admit to printing two-up and double-sided on A4 to shrink paper usage myself sometimes ;D .  Would like some feedback from the intended audience before committing on that point.

QuoteThe quick-ref guides for the AMAL and Menu sub-languages you mentioned, are you going to do them in the same format as the interface language guide. Although the info can be added and expanded in the resource kit manuals, I also like the idea of these references as quick cards, very handy for developers

.

Yeah, I quite liked that format even though it's not exactly a pocket-sized ref-card style.  Again, I can only print on A4 although I can print on thick A4 card and chop into A5 on the colour printer.  A personal gripe is that, as I get older, I find tiny-font card-style refs a bit of a pain to read.  My e-book reader came with a manual the size of a cigarette packet (for younger viewers, cigarettes were a nasty habit from olden-times) which required a magnifying glass even for younger readers.  I'm thinking of donating it to a local doll's house...

QuoteThe unfortunate side effect of this is manually created links. For AMOS The Creator, 840 bookmarks and 840 Hyperlinks had to be created manually. 1680 manually created tags takes a looooong time, well about a week.

I've got this stuff stored in a structured database.  So please let me know what exactly you need to do this the easy way.  I always prefer writing code to do tedious jobs rather than slog through doing it by hand.  It also avoids typos and errors - assuming the source texts are error-free.  That's what computers are for!  8)  In fact it's a real nice change to be dealing with such a small database rather than the multi-million row commercial monsters I'm used to.  I've also had a lot of experience with text-formatting code over the years, so don't hesitate to ask.  I can soon tell you if any ideas are feasible or not.  And I really would hate to see anyone 'doing it the hard way'!  Your concordance file looks a likely candidate...

 ;D ;D

spellcoder 8) has just given permission to use the content of his site in the resource kit. I will keep in touch with spellcoder as to what will be used, rest assured the resource kit will give full attribution/credit to all those who have directly or indirectly contributed.

[Release]

AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 1 (PDF) conversion is now available in the download section. Happy reading.  ;)

bruceuncle with the help of Hungry Horace has provided a corrected AMOS Suuffle Extension listing (part of issue5/6). This is included in the archive.

Consists of the following Issues:

Issue 0 - 8 Pages
Issue 1 - 20 Pages
Issue 2 - 18 Pages
Issue 3 - 18 Pages
Issue 4 - 19 Pages
Issue 5/6 Double Issue - 34 Pages

[EDIT] The image below is for Hungry Horace if he wants to use it for the AMOS Factory Frontpage.

The deeper I've delved into what info is available for this project, the more I realise that my original thoughts were not really practical  :'( .

The idea of a 'quick' ref for the entire language is not really feasible as the sheer size of it rules out the notion of 'quick'.  I would humbly suggest going with the AMOS Pro Language Reference as the major work and limiting the AMOS Pro Quick Reference to sub-languages.

To explain what I mean, the first drafts of the AMOS Pro Quick Reference comes out at around 200 pages.  By no means a 'quick' document.  As I add in the 'see also' refs, basic examples and expand on the original texts, the size is blowing out even more (circa 500 pages at last estimate!).  It's only advantage over an AMOS Pro Language Reference is that it would be slightly smaller!

So, I would suggest the following:

The AMOS Pro Quick Reference becomes the AMOS Pro Language Reference.  It differentiates itself from the AMOS Pro Programmers Guide by being the 'dictionary' of the language.  Access routes being both as laid out in the original Help File format (Contents) and encyclopaedic (levels of Index).

Quick Reference Guides are produced for specialised sub-languages and useful tables:

• Interface
• AMAL
• Menu
• Ask Editor and Call Editor Commands
• Library Equates and LVOs
• Editor Keys
• Tables
• Any other bits requiring the memory jogging format

with the format for each following the Interface one already published in A4 ( :) ) size.

MadAngus provided suggested fonts for these documents and I've tried them out on the drafts.  I like what I see - especially the fixed-width DejaVu Sans Mono font for code.  I'll re-publish the Interface Quick Ref in that format so's we start as we intend to proceed.

The format for the manual being as MadAngus suggested for the AMOS Pro Language Reference and in B5 ( :'( ) size.

Progress Report:

I've just pulled all the example AMOS program sources into ASCII format and shoved them into the database.  I now know all about the Ask Editor and Call Editor commands and a bit more than I bargained for with a couple of undocumented 'features' and a bug in the equates file!  Good fun to be actually writing stuff in AMOS rather than writing about AMOS.

These sources will now be pulled into the main document using the existing links to example programs in the help file, then cut down to the few lines required for each example.  That means that the code examples in the text will exactly match their associated example program sources.  It also means that there aren't many commands and functions for which we'll need to 'invent' examples.

It leaves me with the manual task of cutting the code samples down for each topic.  Initially, they're the full source for each example - way over the top!  But hey, I can delete stuff real fast when I want to..

In parallel with that, I've been carefully editing the original help texts to expand them, correct errors, control uniformity of format, etc.  About 30% of my way through to date.  As all this is being done in the database, it's easy to shift stuff around and make changes without losing the document structure and links, or introducing errors.

The database then spews all this into an RTF file with styles and links already set, so's the 'real' work can start on the finished product in the word processor.  A trial of that bit's already been done as a 'proof of  concept' so we know it works.  Wish me luck!

Good work bruceuncle.

I suggest we differentiate between the quick references to make it clearer what the intention of the document is.

Quick Reference Cards e.g. Interface Quick Ref -> Interface Quick Ref Card
Quick Reference Guide e.g. Osbourne C/C++ Programmers Reference ISBN: 0-07-882367-6

Also, I agree that Quick Reference Cards should be in A4 Landscape as with the AMOS 3D and Interface Quick Ref Cards.

Agreed.   8)

Did you really mean A4 Landscape for the 'cards'?  The Interface one is A4 Portrait, but I've got to re-format it for the recommended fonts anyway as they push stuff around a bit too much compared to the fonts in the V1.00 doc.  I did try an A4 Landscape tri-fold format initially but gave up on it as there's simply not enough room without going to dolls house font sizes.

I'm happy either way as long as they're consistent.  Let me know.

Now back to work...

QuoteDid you really mean A4 Landscape for the 'cards'?

Landscape is only a preference.

What ever works best for the layout, some of the content will probably not work in landscape, no point banging your head against a wall trying to fit it in, I'm also easy either way. ;)

Another Idea for the resource kit I am adding here for reference purposes.

AMOS Magazine article collection.

Collate all AMOS magazine articles ever published in commercial magazines.
Gain permission to re-publish from the copyright holders
Produce a super AMOS mag containing all articles.

Also added some edits to the Resource Kit Project Breakdown -> Here (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9418.msg43838.html#msg43838)

Thanks MadAngus, I've read all those changes and like the way the project is developing.   8)

I'm in the tedious and very time consuming stage of ploughing through the database editing stuff, matching examples, testing examples and testing 'limits'.  The 'limits' are something missing in some of the original docs.  For example, Print Mid$("abcd",0,97) will not give an error, but just what is the result?  Many of the Basic statements and functions familiar to programmers in other dialects do not behave quite as expected.  In one respect this is useful as it cuts down on error and bounds checking, etc. which, in turn,  cuts down code size for those still working in limited memory.  I've included these unexpected limits and behaviour for familiar commands in the reference manual.  Which makes some entries not quite as terse as desired.  However, it's useful I think.

Note that I keep banging on about 'the database'.  All revision is being done in the database not in a final document.  Reason being that it's then a doddle to export whatever sections or level of detail may be required in other projects.  For example, if you just want the Syntax, Parameters and Return Value sections for AMAL statements and functions, it's easy to query and export it - ready formatted in RTF if required.  I can see it saving a lot of time down the track both for myself and anyone who needs organised doc text.

It also follows one of the basic tenets of data storage - "Store each piece of information in one, and only one, place."  I realise this probably makes little sense unless the database is available to everyone!  However, I'm trying to look to the future where it could maybe drive a Wiki?  As Lego says "Limited only by your imagination".

Progress Report

Well some of that's in the waffle above.  Editing and tidying up over 700 commands is taking some time.  I'll just give a weekly progress report so's you don't think I've expired or overdosed on pizza or caught amnesia or have to work on a contract or something.

All the commands, tables, examples, etc, are now in the database including the missing ones.  Without doing a trawl through the machine code in the AMOS executables and libraries , I'm pretty sure I've got them all.  But may do that trawl anyway to make sure.  Saving it up until I need a break from the manual editing!   ::)

The early sections of the manual are just about complete - the meat's there, I'm only re-checking that everything's as I want it.  So, using the section headings in AMOS Help, that's:

• Using Help
• Editor
• Direct Mode
• Syntax Conventions
• Basics of AMOS

The to-do list is:

• Screen Control
• Object Control
• Audio
• AMOS Interface
• Input/Output
• AmigaDos
• Debugging
• Machine Code
• Tables
• Appendices

The Appendices is where I'm stuffing anything pulled in from other sources.  So far, this includes (and not in any particular order yet):

• The example programs listings in full
• Ask Editor and Call Editor commands
• AMOS Equates stuff
• The 'Latest News' bits and pieces

Some of these will migrate into the main manual (Editor commands being obvious) and some chunks of example programs are already being used.  I'll decide what to do with the rest later.  I want to concentrate on the existing 'meat' for now.

Any ideas, inclusions or suggestions welcome.  Just bear in mind that this is a reference work for just the AMOS Basic core language, not for any tools (Compiler, Object Editor, et al) nor for any Extensions (3D, AMCAF, et al).

So, long a way to go yet, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates. :)

Thanks, for the update. :)

QuoteI can see it saving a lot of time down the track both for myself and anyone who needs organised doc text.

It will, as at the moment I am primarily concerned with the outlining/structure of the documents. This way your data can be dropped straight into the relevant section.

QuoteThe Appendices is where I'm stuffing anything pulled in from other sources.  So far, this includes (and not in any particular order yet):

• The example programs listings in full
• The 'Latest News' bits and pieces

Could you elaborate on why you are adding these elements to the Quick Reference, as we agreed they do not belong in this reference. ???

[Edit] On a further note I am half way through structuring the Easy AMOS Manual. I am also in the process of delving into the Open Document Format specification for designing the SQL/PHP online manuals database.

I have also moved the "Resource Kit Project Breakdown/Plan" post to a separate (locked) topic to ease the management of the breakdown/plan. Any comments should still be posted here.

Thanks for the feedback Mad Angus.  I didn't put it too well in that last post , so I can understand your alarm!  ;D

QuoteCould you elaborate on why you are adding these elements to the Quick Reference, as we agreed they do not belong in this reference.

My bad terminology!  They're only in the database, not the manual.  It's just a lot easier for me to reference them and pull appropriate text out if they're all in the same structure rather than have them in separate documents.  And the Appendices are just a good storage area for the time being.  As I put it:

QuoteThe Appendices is where I'm stuffing anything pulled in from other sources.  So far, this includes (and not in any particular order yet):
...
Some of these will migrate into the main manual
...
I'll decide what to do with the rest later.

My latest thinking is:

:'( excluded - The example programs listings in full - thanks for the reminder.  I'd already ruled them out anyway as there's over 19,000 lines!  They're there at present to pull a few example lines from.  Which has proved to be more fruitless than I anticipated as there are some holes and they haven't kept up to date with AMOS Pro 2.0.  And to check the integrity of the "See Example: xxxxx.AMOS" references from the manual.  Which, the way they're going so far, may end up instead as "See Example: xxxxx.AMOS, which won't work but may give you a vague idea"  ;D .
 
:) included - Ask Editor and Call Editor commands - these will go into the manual as sub-topics for the Ask Editor and Call Editor topics.  They're analogous to the Interface, AMAL and Menu sub-languages.

:-\  dunno - AMOS Equates stuff - may not be appropriate for the manual.  May be suitable for an appendix or a separate guide.  Need to know more before making any decision.

:'( excluded - The "Latest News" bits and pieces - these are just there for my own info as they contain bits and pieces about corrections, new stuff and so on.

And don't worry about the origin of sources for example code in the stuff I'm doing.  It all comes from either the original AMOS Pro Disks or the original AMOS Pro Manual or me.  As mentioned above, some of the examples on the disks aren't as useful as I'd hoped.  Where there's nothing suitable in an example program nor in the manual, I've made up new ones following the same style as the existing ones.

Quoteexcluded - The example programs listings in full
included - Ask Editor and Call Editor commands
dunno- AMOS Equates stuff
excluded- The 'Latest News' bits and pieces

Agreed, makes sense.

All the stuff not going into the quick reference(s) and reference cards can go in a temporary extras section for online access. The UltimateAmga's database uses MySQL so you might want to consider porting your extras to MySQL tables when your ready. Also consider the structure of the database (extras content) and how that would relate to an online front end (categories). In the first instance We'll use your table structure for the extras section(s). We can discuss the details further down the line.

Thanks and keep up the good work. :)

Nothing much to report this last week as some inconsiderate b@#!*y client called me and wanted some urgent work done.  However, that's now out of the way so I should be able to plod through some more stuff this coming week.

Slow work as I'm having to test and explore some aspects of the language as I go.  Will post again next week with, hopefully, a better rate of progress.  :)

 :) Ah! one off those weeks.

No problem, we get things done when we can. ;)

A little bit of progress after losing a week having another battle with OpenOffice, lost 4 days work, bad OOo, and 3 days trying to get OOo to do what I want i.e. turn OOo into a pseudo-DTP application.

The outcome of that battle, as well as turning OOo into a pseudo-DTP application, was progress on the style consolidation, which has turned into Object Orientated Typesetting. So I've got a good number of styles defined.

Defining the styles has allowed me to visualize the code behind the dialog, and in turn write some test parsing code to rip out the ODF styles and convert them into CSS groupings. This code will eventually find it's way into dbODF.

Nothing spectacular, I'm just in a really good mood after the current OOo battle, so I thought I'd share the joy. ;D

Now all I need to do is get psyched up for the FreeBSD scripting dance to replace my windows desktop webserver. I'm hoping eventually to be able to use my MS-Windows CD's as Frisbee's. ;)

[Edit 15/03/12] 133 styles defined at last count. All told I reckon there will be about 200-250 custom styles.

The not-quite-weekly update.

While MadAngus has been struggling with his can of worms, I've been absorbing the full lexicon of RTF markups.  Buried deep in the five-and-a-half-thousand pages was the stuff I needed ::)...  Have a look at http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm (http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm) and download "ECMA-376, Third Edition, Part 1.zip" if anyone's interested  :'(.

Anyway, I'd taken some time off the acutal re-writing-of-the-reference-manual-from-the-help-files task and concentrated on completing the database software to output the finished document.  I rejected Word 2010 and its VBA to do the dirty work for me as the b@!%#!! thing crashes every time I put a watch on one of its objects to see what its doing.  RTF is a much better alernative as, besides being portable, I now understand it :)!

The process now is to output the document direct from the database with contents and indexes already in place, with fully resolved bookmark hyperlinks but dummy field results for page numbers.  Then paginate the document in Word 2010 (no way am I going to attempt that in RTF as measuring the text is a whole different ball game) and finally tell it to refresh the fields.  Works a treat in the trials I've done 8).  I do format some of the obvious pagination in RTF - after title page, after contents pages, for major heading changes and for index start/finish pages.

The only downside to this method is that Word will no longer understand contents and indexes as fields that it can update.  I did try forcing page number hyperlink references into the indexes, but Word deftly removes  them when it refreshes the indexes.  This is because an index is just one big field as far as Word's concerned, so it rewrites the lot each time it's refreshed ::).  I don't regard this as a problem as I edit all content in the database, not in Word.  Word is now only used to manually paginate, refresh fields and output as PDF.

The hyperlinks from the indexes work fine using this method as each topic is bookmarked.  The only hassle is deriving unique bookmarks - and one reason I stopped work on the meat of the document until I sorted how they were going to be used.  A fair number of AMOS Basic instructions (the topics) are duplicates on name alone but unique in their own context.  For example, "As" appears in "Reserve Bank As xxx" four times and "Mid$" appears as both a statement and a function.  So these have to be qualified before they can be used as a topic heading and bookmark.  For example "Mid$ (Statement)" and "Mid$ (Function)" to give unique names.

Cross-referencing for the "See Also" entries uses the same bookmarking/hyperlink process and works perfectly too.

Completely off-topic - we had a foot (30cm) of rain just over a week ago, so I've also had to machete the jungle - some weeds were taller than me when the rain stopped!

Should be back to the grindstone of the meat of the document "real soon now".

MadAngus: I will mail you that sample I promised a couple of weeks back.  Some time this week.  Just a section out of the parts I regard as just-about-finished so's you can approve/disapprove the content and format, etc.  Good luck with your bits and pieces. 

Quote133 styles defined at last count. All told I reckon there will be about 200-250 custom styles.

That sounds like a mega number of styles you're playing with there!  I'm only using couple of dozen...  But then, my techo reference is a pretty boring document in some ways ;).

QuoteWhile MadAngus has been struggling with his can of worms, I've been absorbing the full lexicon of RTF markups.  Buried deep in the five-and-a-half-thousand pages was the stuff I needed ::)...

lol, no small amount of reading then, must be paddling the same boat as I am (except I haven't got a paddle). ;D

And then there's the HTML version and that's another can of worms.
Worms for breakfast, Worms for lunch, Worms for dinner, and there's even a game of Worms. *sigh* bet there's a movie too. ::)

QuoteThe only downside to this method is that Word will no longer understand contents and indexes as fields that it can update...

What is it with OpenOffice Writer and Microsoft Word Developers, it seems like the importance of outlining and indexing has taken a permanent backseat, 10+ years and little progress in these areas. :(

QuoteThe only hassle is deriving unique bookmarks...

I'm facing a similar problem with the auto-index code, some of the index entries text do not correspond to a matching word on a page. In these cases it is more a reference to a paragraph and it's not always clear which paragraph is being referenced. Have a solution at hand, so not a problem I need to worry about.

QuoteCompletely off-topic - we had a foot (30cm) of rain just over a week ago, so I've also had to machete the jungle - some weeds were taller than me when the rain stopped!

Will we just call you Indie then, Indiana 'bruceuncle' Jones and the 30 foot weeds. ;D

Be careful there could be Triffids in them there weeds.
Triffids - Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffid)

QuoteThat sounds like a mega number of styles you're playing with there!...

ODF styling is similar to CSS, even the smallest change in formatting results in an style being auto-created by OOo. By having a predefined set of styles to work from I am not generating a host of additionally auto-created styles, and in turn reducing the overall number created.

e.g. There are nearly two hundred quotations in the Easy AMOS manual and I am using frames to hold them. If each frame was positioned slightly different and/or sized to fit each quotation. OOo would create a style for each frame, 200-ish frame styles :o, I think not. By creating one quotation frame style with generic settings that can hold any quotation I actually reduce the number of styles, in this case too one.

Also, predefined styles allows the identification of styles that can be consolidated to further reduce the number.

I should mention not all the styles are used in each document, in a sense these styles sets are similar to the printing dies sets that typesetters used in the early days of printing. Pick and click, speeds up typesetting. ;)

Right, the current quarterly scheduling system is a complete disaster which I do not work well under. I'm going back to the tight deadlines I used previously. Even with delay's I got a lot more work done than I'm getting done now.

I'll be updating the scheduled release dates so keep you eye's on them for changes.

Quote

QuoteThe only hassle is deriving unique bookmarks...

I'm facing a similar problem with the auto-index code, some of the index entries text do not correspond to a matching word on a page. In these cases it is more a reference to a paragraph and it's not always clear which paragraph is being referenced. Have a solution at hand, so not a problem I need to worry about.

One solution I originally looked at was to:

• Bung all the stuff I wanted to use as bookmarks into a table, linked to the stuff each was referencing
• Generate bookmarks from <each topic name> + <a sequential number>
• Use that table to look up each bookmark as I need it

Downside is that the user then gets something like "Mid$_1234" as the bookmark name displayed as they hover the mouse over a hyperlink.  However, a bit more digging in the RTF bible uncovered an option to specify the "tool tip" text for a hyperlink, which I assume is what it would display instead.  Only just stumbled across this one, so I'll try it out after supper and let you know if it works as expected.  Would save a lot of heartache in thinking up unique bookmarks and detecting duplicates...

Quote

QuoteCompletely off-topic - we had a foot (30cm) of rain just over a week ago, so I've also had to machete the jungle - some weeds were taller than me when the rain stopped!

Will we just call you Indie then, Indiana 'bruceuncle' Jones and the 30 foot weeds.

Be careful there could be Triffids in them there weeds.
Triffids - Wikipedia

Have you ever seen the seriously baaad 'B' grade movie?  So baaad it isn't even funny.

Quotean option to specify the "tool tip" text for a hyperlink

Yeah, that works ok.  I would assume that most markup languages would support this sort of option for a hyperlink (same as HTML does)?

Browsed through the files you sent me. This is exactly what I had in mind, perfect. Yet again great work. 8)

Page number bookmarks:
I wouldn't bother with hyperlinks on these if there is only one page reference. If the function has multiple page references such as "ThisFunction........18, 38" then, at least the subsequent number(s), i.e. '38', would obviously need a hyperlink.


Blank pages:
I think your following the same standard as I am for this. For new Sections/Chapters the first page should always land on the right hand page (odd numbered page), blank pages added if need be to force this. Are you following this method?


Credits:
For credits etc, You should use your real name for credit's as you should be billed as "Edited by 'your-name'" unless you prefer "Edited by bruceuncle". "Written by..." should be the original authors/editors.

Note, for the first release I do not get credited.

For the resource kit release "Edited by 'your-name'" will be displayed on the front cover artwork, I will be lower billed on the inside credit's page as "Typesetting by 'my-name'".


OpenOffice rtf:
Opens the rtf document without complaints.
All bookmarks, tables and hyperlinks recognised.
All hyperlinks function correctly.
I do loose the leaders in the contents and Index, but this is not something to worry about. A couple of edits to the styles and their fixed, a trivial matter.
[Edit 23/03/2012] As a result there should be no need to provide an ODT version of this, I should be fine working from the rtf version.

The instruction formats, layout, formatting etc, are as I have said, exactly what I had in mind. ;D


A couple of trivial points:
Could the alphabetical index letters A,B,C... etc. be left aligned and in Bold, no underline.
Also for your release, when you are done, I'm fine with the title as is. However, for release with the Resource Kit I would prefer to title it as the "Programmer's Quick Reference".

Well done, and thanks again for the work your doing.

QuoteIf the function has multiple page references such as "ThisFunction........18, 38" then, at least the subsequent number(s), i.e. '38', would obviously need a hyperlink.

I haven't catered for multiple page references as I personally hate having to go though multiple pages to find what I'm looking for.  Each index will only ever be one page (for this reference work).  The topics are basically one instruction each and any qualification will be in the text part of the index.  Eg.  The "Left$ (Statement)" and "Left$ (Function)" entries in the sample.  For some of the more AMOS-specific instructions, where the instruction type alone is insufficient, the qualificaton will be in the topic name itself.  Eg. All Interface, Menu and AMAL instructions will have that qualification after their name.  And any other conflicts will be handled in a similar fashion.  If this does prove to be a problem (none that I can see from browsing the work-yet-to-be-done) then hyperlinks are a piece of cake to add.  All the RTF formatting definitions are contained in a single configuration object with nothing hard-coded in the RTF Writer itself.

QuoteOpenOffice rtf:
Opens the rtf document without complaints.
All bookmarks, tables and hyperlinks recognised.
All hyperlinks function correctly.
I do loose the leaders in the contents and Index, but this is not something to worry about. A couple of edits to the styles and their fixed, a trivial matter.
[Edit 23/03/2012] As a result there should be no need to provide an ODT version of this, I should be fine working from the rtf version.

Great.  That solves one problem with cross-platform portability.  The RTF as output by my writer should be version 1.5.  However, as I have to paginate in Word 2010 for the final result, the RTF after that will be version 1.9.  In theory ( ;D) anything an RTF reader doesn't understand should not be a problem as it should just be skipped.  But, I'll send you a sample after Word has had its claws into the pudding.  Word adds a whole heap (mountain?) of RTF in its save format, including Orifice Themes in hex format - file size blows out enormously!.   So please check it out in OpenOffice to see if it still behaves itself.

I've also noticed that Word 2010 changes the layout slightly (but enough to wreck pagination) if I save in *.docx or *.doc formats.  So much for Messysoft's compatibility promises.

In practice though, does it really matter?  I would have thought a release in PDF would suit most requirements.  And the data in the database is the grist for the mill for use in other applications.  What do you think?

QuoteA couple of trivial points:
Could the alphabetical index letters A,B,C... etc. be left aligned and in Bold, no underline.
Also for your release, when you are done, I'm fine with the title as is. However, for release with the Resource Kit I would prefer to title it as the "Programmer's Quick Reference".

No problem.  Just a quick change to the configuration object.

Thanks for the feedback.  Very much appreciated.  Now on with the show...

Reality check!  Editing the rest of the info will take some considerable time.  So I don't expect the final product to be ready for a matter of months, not weeks.  Much will depend on whether I get any other contract work this year (hopefully not as I really want to retire) and the extreme weather we're getting here.  I haven't even attempted a timeline as I always was a hopeless project manager.  But gut feel says "Some time this year"  :D

BTW.  That was 30 centimetres not 30 feet!   ::)

QuoteIn practice though, does it really matter?  I would have thought a release in PDF would suit most requirements.  And the data in the database is the grist for the mill for use in other applications.  What do you think?

For general release, PDF will be all that is required. For myself the final rtf would be needed. The database tables would also be handy to have (if you are releasing them) I could use those more or less as is for the MySQL/PHP online version. That is just the tables, not the code. ;)

QuoteReality check!  Editing the rest of the info will take some considerable time.  So I don't expect the final product to be ready for a matter of months, not weeks.

Valid point, applies to all parts of this project, it's ready when it's ready.

QuoteThe database tables would also be handy to have (if you are releasing them) I could use those more or less as is for the MySQL/PHP online version. That is just the tables, not the code.

No problem.  That's why I'm keeping all the docs text in the database - you can plonk whatever writer you want on it to produce whatever format output you require.  I just plug my writer into it and *.rtf pops out.  Same could be done with just about any format you want to output - just build a writer for it.

Back to the 'real' work...

I really should make these monthly or fortnightly updates.  This one could be summed up as "Plod, plod, plod..."   :)

Lots still to do.  Just a matter of knocking off a few more instructions each session.

A few changes to the format:

• I didn't like the rather messy way I was handling multiple definitions for the same instruction keyword.  So they now take up a separate entry each.  They now match the index entries by appending the instruction type (see Left$ example from a couple of posts back).
• The original list of instruction type names has been expanded to:
  
  
  
  • Command - Causes something to happen but uses no Parameters.
  • Statement - A Command that uses Parameters.
  • Function - Returns a value and may use Parameters.
  • Structure - A program flow control element (name comes from the original AMOS Manual).
  • Operator - An element that combines values in a maths or logical operation.
• Other document element names have been expanded to:
  
  
  
  • Parameters - Expressions supplied to a Statement or Function.
  • Conditions - Expressions applied to a set of Structure elements.
  • Return Value - What a Function returns.
  • Statements - Program Statements that take part in a set of Structure elements.
  • Information - Ad hoc information sections relevant to a set of elements.

The only name I'm not happy with is "Structure".   :-\ The original manual uses this as the name for program flow control elements (eg. If...Then...Else...End If, Do...Loop, etc.).

The document layout means that these names need to be fairly short.  So "Program Flow Control" is not an option as an alternative.  Anyone got any other ideas?  Or should I just stick with "Structure"?

Any ideas welcome.

"Structure" to me implies some form of data set, structures (struct) in C++, Types in VB etc. However the only alternative I can come up with is "Conditional" i.e. A Conditional element:

Conditional - An element that must be qualified before proceeding.

Yeah, "Structure" implies the same to me which is why I queried it.  Conditional doesn't really do the trick either as, for example, Pop, Gosub and Goto don't have one!  And it clashes a bit too much with the "Conditions" title in the syntax explanations.

As a definition, the instructions involved are any that change program flow from top-to-bottom sequence.

Ideal would be "Program Flow Control".  The nearest to that that makes sense is "Flow Control" - which doesn't quite fit in the 1 and 1/16 inch I allowed for the titles column on the left side.  I may go with that and either expand the titles column width or just leave the width as is and let it wrap.  We're only talking a handful of instructions here - the usual Basic ones, plus the oddball variations in the sub-languages (AMAL, Interface & Menu).  So taking an extra line when it wraps isn't going to add much to the overall document length.  (Or maybe just "Flow"?   :-\ ).

"Flow" looks good  :)

Flow sounds good to me, it's pretty much clear in it's meaning, certainly better than "structure". :)

Quote from: bruceuncle on March 01, 2012, 11:02:25 PM
All the commands, tables, examples, etc, are now in the database including the missing ones.  Without doing a trawl through the machine code in the AMOS executables and libraries , I'm pretty sure I've got them all.  But may do that trawl anyway to make sure.  Saving it up until I need a break from the manual editing!   ::)

No need to. That is exactly why I created the AMOS Extension Examiner, which has been available on Aminet since 18th March 2011:

http://aminet.net/dev/amos/ADBs_Ext_Examiner.lha


If there are extensions it doesn't work with then let me know and I'll try to fix it. I tested it with all the ones I have (60ish) with no problems. It doesn't do AMOS executables though, only the extension (.lib) files found in the APSystem and AMOS_System drawers.


Thumbs up a cool project ;)


Regards,
Lonewolf10

Been away for a while, hadn't even logged in :'(  A bit of tracking down legacy docs and code for a client occupied my time for a while.  And the far, far more important task of replacing my dinosaur mobile with a smartphone.

QuoteNo need to. That is exactly why I created the AMOS Extension Examiner, which has been available on Aminet since 18th March 2011:

Thanks for that Lonewolf10 - I'll give it a go next week.  The ones I'm specifically after are any that may be undocumented in the AMOS Pro 'core' executables.  That's how I tracked down the 'missing' stuff in the Interface sub-language - never could resist a bit of disassembly and 'pattern matching' on 68000 executables.  Only to find they were already mentioned in the original help files, just missing from the original manual.  Oh well, it was fun anyway.  ;)

Still plod, plod plod as I wade through all this stuff.  I'm not going to count them one-by-one (there's a few non-instruction 'comments' in the 'raw' help file content) but I'm up to around 850 instructions in the language.  (That's total, not where I'm up to, I hasten to add.)  And that's not counting the 97 editor commands as they haven't yet been incorporated as formal 'references'.  (My own term for what anyone else on the planet would probably call an Index entry - one per AMOS Pro Basic instruction.)  So it looks like AMOS Pro Basic has around 950 instructions in it's core dialect.  ::)

I also found some time to do the final 'refactor' on the database-to-RFT writer and do a major rationalisation of the database structure.  Now that I'm happy with the resuts (and MadAngus seems pleased with the content and format styles) it made sense to get it all properly normalised, etc. 

As I plough through this, I'm beginning to dread the pagination effort at the end.  That has to be done by hand after importing the RTF into Word.  Looks like I'm up for around 1,000 or so pages to be done!  Wish me luck.  But it will be a while yet before I get to that stage...

Also found the time to catch the first 'flu of the season (autumn on this side of the planet) so I'll end this update before any of you guys get infected  :)

@Lonewolf10, bruceuncle

Thanks for the notes and progress updates folks.

Here's my little progress report:
The Typesetting/Styles consolidation is as complete as I'm going to get it for now.
Easy AMOS Manual (Rev 1) is done except the index.
Volume 2 (Rev 1) of the AMOS Club Newsletters are nearing completion.
AMOS Pro User Guide (Rev 1) custom styles are defined and the document is about 40% complete.
jAMOS Manual has been started in earnest but I will not be releasing any wip versions for a while.
My little Amos Manuals Project Typesetting Guide has the skeleton written, just need to add the meat.

I'm working on the Index concordance file at the moment, the XML schema design (XSD) is done and now I'm working on the translation code to extract XML instances data and produce a linked index automatically.
I'll release this when it's done for anybody who might have a use for it.

I want to get a few other OpenOffice tools written as well, then I'll do a bulk release of documents etc after I've tied everything together. I'm putting a lot off hours into this now (20-40 hrs/wk) so it should be a only matter of weeks (not months) until a release.

I want to get Phase 1 complete in a final push and single release, for that reason the dates in the schedule have been removed.

Yep, definitely moved into the once-a-month update realms.

Nothing earth-shaking to report this month.  A client keeps doling out 'work' work for me to do, so time has been a little limited lately.  So it's still plod, plod, plod  ::)

I did re-visit the flow control structures section as a break from purely-AMOS instructions.  Originally, this section followed the same format as the rest of the reference - documenting keywords.  This results from the source of the material being the Help Files, where keyword look-ups are the intent.  For the flow control structures, this made for a very repetetive section (If  being documented separately from Then, Else If and End If for example).  I've revised it into two sections, one to group the keywords as flow control structures and one as purely a keyword reference.  Looks and reads a lot better and saves a lot of space as the keywords section mostly just refers back to the structures section.  Haven't come across the need for this elsewhere yet as, although there is repetition in some areas, it's nowhere near as messy as the original flow control section was.  And I can happily live with that.

Also revised the way multiple syntax formats for an instruction are handled.  These are now numbered and grouped by syntax variation.  So instead of grouping all variations under each heading, it looks like this example:

Statement	Read Text$
Description	Statement that displays some text from either a file, or a memory bank using an attractive, on-screen text reader.  It has two formats:
1:Syntax	Read Text$ Filename$
1:Parameters	Filename$ is the full path for the file to be displayed.
2:Syntax	Read Text$ Title$,StartAddress,Length
2:Parameters	Title$ is diplayed as the screen title.
	StartAddress is the memory address of the first line of your text.
	Length the length of the text in characters.
Remarks	First format loads a file into memory, and displays it on the screen in ASCII format, using Filename$ for the title.
	Second format displays a memory block on screen in ASCII format, using Title$ for the title.
	You can move through the displayed text using scroll bars, the arrow icons or via the following key combinations:
	Key Press                                       Effect
	[Up Arrow]/[Down Arrow]                Move up/down by one line
	[Shift]+[Up Arrow]/[Down Arrow]    Scroll up/down by one page
	[Ctrl]+[Up Arrow]/[Down Arrow]      Jump directly to top/bottom of text
	[Esc] or [Return]                             Exit
Example	Read Text$ Fsel$("**")
See Program	AMOSPro_Examples:Examples/H-8/Help_82.AMOS :  Read Text$

This involves a fair bit of revision over stuff already done.  But I think the results are a lot easier to use.

That's all for now.  Next report end of June.  I'll try and get the revised Interface quick ref (same as the existing one, just bringing the styles in-line with the manual) and a new AMAL quick ref out by then (a pleasant break from the main slog) but it will depend on how much time I get.   :)

I like what you've done, it does read a lot easier. With the various options in one place under one heading it has the added advantage that a reader will immediately be aware of all the options, rather than missing them if they were in under other headings.

Myself, I am currently working at an absolute snails pace as I am in the process of moving house and clearing out all my other projects, so I can concentrate on technical writing and related projects.

This means that I am no where ready to release anything not even wip docs until I get things sorted.

AMOS Professional 2.0
I'm testing out the documentation against reality for the AMAL language subset.  And I've come across an anomaly with the AMAL "mouseKey 1" and "mouseKey 2" functions:

"mouseKey 1" returns -1 (True) when the left mouse button is pressed and 0 (False) if not - exactly what the manual and help files indicate should happen.
"mouseKey 2" however, returns 0 (False) when the left mouse button is pressed and -1 (True) if not - the complete opposite behaviour and contradicts the manual and help files.

I can document this behaviour 'as is' for the reference manual and quick ref guide.  But need some confirmation that this is 'normal':

• Is this what everyone else gets?
• Was there any later 'fix' published?

My setup is AMOS Pro 2.0 ('straight out of the box' with no patches applied) running in WINUAE.
AMOSPro.lib shows up as Version 2.00 and is 98,184 bytes long (just in case my copy differs from everyone else).  Or is AMAL functionality in any other library?

A simple testbed program:

Load "AMOSPro_Tutorial:Objects/Amal_bobs.abk"
Screen Open 0,320,200,8,Lowres
Curs Off : Flash Off : Cls 0 : Get Sprite Palette : Hide
A$="AUtotest(Let RB=K2;If K1 Direct Quit else eXit) "
A$=A$+"Let X=XH(0,0); Let Y=YH(0,100); Let A=5;"
A$=A$+"Let R1=XH(0,320); Let R2=XH(0,0);"
A$=A$+"Let RA=0;"
A$=A$+"Forward: Let R0=-1; Anim 0,(5,4)(6,4)(7,4)(8,4); Move 320,0,160;"
A$=A$+"Backward: Let R0=1; Anim 0,(1,4)(2,4)(3,4)(4,4); Move -320,0,160;"
A$=A$+"Jump Forward;"
A$=A$+"Quit: Let RA=-1; End;"
Wait Vbl
XX=X Hard(0,0)
YY=Y Hard(0,100)
Sprite 2,XX,YY,5
Amal 2,A$
Amal On
Repeat
   Wait Vbl
   Locate 0,15 : Print Amreg(1);
   Locate 0,17 : Print Amreg(0);
Until(Amreg(0)<0)
Amal Off
Show
Direct  

The above code is testing out a few other functions at the same time and is obviously 'overblown'.  But that's the whole point of testing this stuff against the docs  ;) .

Any and all comments welcome.

Just a note, I'm moving house tomorrow.

All my computery stuff is packed away except my internet PC. As well as the unpacking, I've still got the kitchen to do (got to re-plaster all the walls), and only the heavens know when the broadband is going to be reconnected in the new house. :-\

When all that's done I've still got to eBay and AmiBay all the stuff I want rid off and there also uploading Lonewolf's extentions here (I haven't forgotten ;)). So basically I'm still in hiatus for a while as far as manuals are concerned.


The other half is currently brandishing a frying pan demanding I get off this computer and finish packing. ::)

See you soon - Ducks frying pan and logs off.

Good luck with it all.  We've only had to do it once and that was enough for a lifetime  ::) .

See you on 'the other side'  ;D

Quote from: MadAngus on July 02, 2012, 11:21:07 AM
Just a note, I'm moving house tomorrow.

lol, hope it went well - i'm doing the same a week tomorrow!

Hoping in a few weeks i will have a little bit of time for the site / amos / amiga....  although i expect to be internet-less for a while :o

Well, I'm in the house and still have a mountain of shelves to fit. Getting the runaround from the council trying to get things fixed that should have been done before I moved in, the house was damn well empty for eight months  >:(.

On a better note VirginMedia has outshone all others, phoned them on the Monday, moved in on the Tuesday and the phone/TV/Broadband was all wired up and connected on the Wednesday. They even gave me 100Mbit broadband, a Tivo Box and a better Phone deal for a fiver less than I was paying. Put a smile on face that did. ;D

I'm still unpacking boxes as well and still only have the internet computer running, the Dev computer is still in a box somewhere, buggered if I know which box though :P.

Anyway as suggested by bruceuncle I've added the AMOS Extensions Reference Guide to the todo list. :)

Congratulations on the move MadAngus.  Never mind the house and shelves  ;D the 100Mbit broadband - oh envy, envy :( .

We're getting the National Broadband Network rolled out here in Aus, which give us fibre-to-the-house and the same 100Mbit speed.  Luckily, our suburb is in the next batch for the rollout over the next twelve months or so.  Unluckily, the government rolling it out may not last that long and the opposition want to can anything not already built!  Something to do with the Au$43 billion cost...   ::)  Meanwhile, I'm stuck with 5Mbit/0.8Mbit at the end if a manky piece of copper wire.

On the docs front, I've reformatted, corrected and revised the Interface Commands quick ref.  It's style now matches the 'house style' for the manuals.  Gotta do one more visual scan for boo boos.

The AMAL Commands quick ref is about a week away.  AMAL itself is done and about half the associated AMOS Basic Commands.  The 'sidebar notes' are a bit more extensive for this one as it would be unintelligible without the background info and limitations in there too.  Plus I'm testing out the instructions myself to dig out the metrics and stuff that isn't in the original manual.  I'm doing both the Reference Manual and the Quick Ref together for obvious reasons.  I forget stuff otherwise (and then the bells start and I hear voices, etc, etc).  Not that it's all driving me mad.  I think I must already have been mad to have started in the first place.  ;D

With both the above, I've changed the name format to add a 'Revision n.nn' suffix.  Avoids confusion with AMOS versions  ;)  and ensures people will know which is the latest.  The first one looked a bit like it was for AMOS Pro V1.0 from the name...

MadAngus - Is it ok if I email you these direct when they're ready for posting to downloads?

No problem, I'll get them uploaded when their ready. I should be up and running in the next couple of weeks months more like ::) and can then catch up with my backlog of work.

Delayed the Interface Quick Ref release - found some stuff about usage, during testing the expander I'm writing, which isn't documented anywhere.  Not new instructions, just ways that the language can be used that are not at all obvious.  Makes it even more remarkably useful when you know how cunning some aspects of it are.  Also decided to bite the bullet and add a sidebar on how the Reverse Polish maths and logic operations work (with diagrams) - completed now.  Just have to pull it back into reasonable page formats.   ::)

Also re-started work on the Interface Program expander, to make the 'stripped out' formats in the existing Resource Banks intelligible.  Going well.  The first meaty AMOS programming I've tackled in around 20 years.  Found the best way to parse this stuff is to use stacks just like the language itself.  Will release the source soon (hopefully at the same time as the Quick Ref).  Would also like to eventually add it to the Resource Bank Editor to give the option of simple save (current version) or expanded save.

It gets too complex to keep any existing 'comments' when expanding the format.  So it's not a substitute for sources already documented.  It's meant typically for 'stripped out' stuff in existing Resource Banks.  When they're expanded and you can see what's written without constant reference back to the manual, there's some damned good examples of how to use the Interface Program language in the Default and Editor Resource Banks.

Got a bit more time available at the moment.  So, barring the traditional winter 'flu epedemic over here catching up with me, I should be able to spend more time on all this stuff.

Erm, running more than a bit late on this  :-[ .  Got a bit carried away with the Interface Program Expander.  It works fine.  Then I added an interface for it using the same sub-language and that works fine too.  So, as I'd already got all the Interface sub-language details in Data statements in the program, I thought "I might as well add an editor with templates for the instructions and functions..."  The template drop-down worked well too.  Then, as the expanded stuff tends to hide the original code a bit, I chroma-coded it.  Just have to finish off the editor and it's done.

To save a lot of waffle, I'm calling code written in the Interface sub-language DBL Programs.  That's what it's referred to as in AMOS.

Turned up one extra function that's not documented anywhere but is used a lot in the AMOS Editor Resource bank (AMOSPro_Editor_Resource.abk).  There's also an error in its DBL code...

MZ
Syntax:      address length MZ

I call it MemZtring as it will extract a string from memory, starting at address and length characters long.

Also discovered one heck of a lot about the DBL code in general.  So the Quick Ref has been corrected quite a bit - still working on it  ::) .

As an example of what the expander does, it turns this:

SI256,32;BASWSX-2/,SHSY-2/16-;SA1;BO0,0,1,SX,SY;PO1VACX,12,1VA,0,7;
RU250,%1111;EX;

into this:

SIze w 256, h 32;
BAse x ScreenWidth SizeX - 2 /, y ScreenHeight SizeY - 2 / 16 -;
SAve block 1;
BOx x 0, y 0, fimage 1, w SizeX, h SizeY;
PrintOutline x text ix 1 VAriable CentreX, y 12, text ix 1 VAriable,
ocolour 0, tcolour 7;
RunUntil delay 250, flags %1111;
EXit;

Which probably won't make much sense until you read the manual!

A couple of screen shots from work-in-progress attached.  Screen1.jpg shows an expanded program with chroma-coding.  Screen2.jpg shows the drop-down of syntaax templates.

I'm new to all this forum posting stuff, so I'll keep my fingers crossed this comes out as intended.  And, on that subject, how do I insert an image into the post (rather than attach it) and how do I insert a hyperlink with alternate text?

Finally got my computers all setup after the move and realised I've been away from this for longer than I thought. Now digging back through everything to see were I was at. It will still be a while before any manual releases are done. Just a note to let everyone know I'm back working on this.

And I still haven't got that kitchen plastered yet, my bad. I'll definitely do it tomorrow, however which tomorrow is yet to be decided. ;)

@all

great work to all involved.

One only knows how much work is being done !

<snipped by MadAngus> Asymetrix, I've located Stephen Hill via the publishers and they are forwarding the request for redistribution. So I hope you don't mind me removing this for the time being.

Anyway this project is more important, a FREE Amos like BASIC would be awsome !

I am glad, MadAngus your move is complete, I recently moved and may do so in the coming months again..

keep up the great work and constant momentum..

Welcome back MadAngus.  As long as it's only the kitchen that gets plastered.   :)  (There should be a smiley for really bad jokes.)

Congratulations on a successful move and settling in.  The stress of moving house is reckoned to be second only to a Guru Meditation error.  (There really, really should be a smiley for naff comments too.)

I'm still up to my neck in stuff and spending as much time revising the docs as doing the programming.  There are some significant errors in the manual and help files as to how things really work.  Nothing like a bit of programming to sort out the problems.

As I'm working in WINUAE on a PC, I now keep using Amiga keyboard shortcuts in Windows and wondering what went wrong.  A bit like the tablet users who try to expand a newspaper picture with their fingers before they realise what they're doing.   ;D

Did anyone spot the deliberate mistake (my excuse) in my last post?  Of course (sic) it was the BOx instruction syntax:

QuoteBOx x 0, y 0, fimage 1, w SizeX, h SizeY;

It should have been:

BOx xs 0, ys 0, fimage 1, xe SizeX, ye SizeY;

as it uses xs, ys, xe and ye (start and end corner coords, not start corner, width and height as the manual and help files state).  Just one example of why this is taking a while (excuses, excuses).  But I think you'll find the atention to detail worthwhile in the end.  (There will be questions later...)

Didn't miss out on the annual 'flu epedemic here, but it didn't knock me about too badly.

Switched to a full menu for the DBL Expander/Editor as there were too many options for the space available in a gadget interface.  So the menu docs are getting their workout too now.  Menus are tedious, but the end result is worthwhile.  A pity the Menu Editor accessory doesn't write to a Menu Bank, as that format isn't documented anywhere (not that my feeble search capabilities can find anyway).  Some of it's understandable (pointers mainly) but it looks like I'll have to delve into the code to find out what's what.  Another project for later unless anyone's already documented it?

A last few bits and pieces yet to go into the program.  I.e. just realised it would be a great help to add a save format that produces merge code (in ASCII) for a DBL program.  It can then be merged straight into your program for fine tuning without having to constantly save and reload into a bank.  You can then just save the resulting string to a file for import into the Resource Bank Maker for the final program.  The merge code format is simply:

A$="blah, blah, blah;"
A$=A$+"more blah, blah, blah;"
A$=A$+"etc, etc;"

PS asymetrix - your post just came through while I was typing this - Fantastic - I've been looking for that book everywhere!  8)  8)  8)

Cheers all.  :)

Hungry Horace / asymetrix, hope your moves go smoothly.
bruceuncle there is a smiley for bad jokes and naff comments -> :P

Just downloaded the Amiga Game Maker's Manual, another great work by asymetrix, Thanks ;D. asymetrix In case you haven't read it in the acknowledgements, you are the one who actually got this project started so the work you have done and are still doing is equally important. (I'm such an ass kisser.  :P) -> see I used it.
  I think Harrison over at Classic Amiga got permission to redistribute this book from Stephen Hill. I'll contact Harrison and see if he has Stephen Hill's contact details and see if I can get permission to distribute this book here at UA.
  If I get permission I'll add it to the download section and list it in the project as a revision 1, with a subsequent release to have bookmarks and linked contents/indexes and eventually ODF and dbODF releases sometime down the road.
  asymetrix if you are intending to do bookmarks and linked contents/indexes, please let me know so I don't hijack your project.
The book also could do with a book source disk which could be added to the todo list.

bruceuncle would it be possible for you to start releasing a monthly wip RTF doc output, no worries about structure, errors/omissions or missing sections etc as it is wip and primary for my own use.

MadAngus,It would be great if you can get permission to freely distribute/amend in any shape or form The Amiga Game Makers Manual. Its all good and proper then.
Yes I have seen the ack. Thanks all blushing now :-) cheers.
This is your project now,I really don't have time at the moment so I hesitate giving false hope to creating contents & indexes. If it comes to the crunch and the work is not started in the future I could take a look at it. (put them all on to do list)
What we need is automation tools for pagination and styles that could export to f.e. RTF or XML, EPUB looks interesting...
For now ODF is a good format, free and available.
At the moment Im busy with Amiga Format Magazines I've collected and some other multi year VB projects.

Cheers, the hunt for Stephen Hill begins. :)

And if anybody knows how or where to contact him please let me know, as I can't find him on Linkedin or ppl, it would help if I new what he looks like. Oh what the hell, add Jason Holborn (Ultimate AMOS) and Phil South (Mastering Amiga AMOS) to that list.

Quote from: asymetrix on August 21, 2012, 03:06:09 AM
What we need is automation tools for pagination and styles that could export to f.e. RTF or XML, EPUB looks interesting...

I'm assuming your referring to "Scan to PDF convert to (Choose you format)" automation tools, that would be extremely handy for the entire Amiga community.
  Hmm, there is Googles Tessaract OCR software, Apache has tools for extracting PDF content and there are a few other related open source tools, also bruceuncle has had his nose buried in the RTF specs for months now, he would be a good source of info. In light of that I think what your suggesting is entirely feasible.
  Oooooo a documentation targeted project, I'm just gong to have to add that to my Looooooong term project list. ::)

Quote from: asymetrix on August 21, 2012, 03:06:09 AM
At the moment Im busy with Amiga Format Magazines I've collected and some other multi year VB projects.

If it's not too much trouble, while your working through those mags and you happen across AMOS articles or tutorials, could you make a list of them. Issue# Page# sort of thing. No more than that as I believe there is lists out there and I could hit the 'Amiga Magazine Rack', it would help to verify if any articles or tutorials are missing of the list I'm going to make up.
  AmigaCoding could also add the info to their AMOS mags section.

Good news folks.

While endeavoring to track down the AMOS Book Authors I decided to contact Aaron Fothergill the Author of the AMOS TOME extension for belated permission to distribute the AMOS TOME extension software and manual and the AMOS Club Newsletters, I also asked permission to reverse engineer AMOS TOME for inclusion in AMOS development environments.

Here the response  ;D:

QuoteHi Joseph,
Thanks for contacting me, glad to see there's still AMOS activity out there :)
Feel free to use the TOME manuals and software as well as the AMOS club newsletters.
Aaron

Big thanks from the community go to Aaron. 8)

[Edit] Oops, can't forget to thank asymetrix for creating the PDF and HTML version of the manuals, so big thanks to asymetrix.

More Good news.

Managed to find Phil South Author of Mastering Amiga AMOS and he has given permission to convert his book to PDF etc and redistribute it.

Please note that when I'm asking for permission to redistribute I am asking permission for Amiga related sites not just Ultimate Amiga where the project is based.

I'll now add that book to the project todo list.

On behalf off the community more big thanks go to Phil South. 8)

[Edit] Found Jason Holburn on YouTube thanks to peter on AmiBay and verified by one of Hungry Horace's video posts of the book.

Quote from: MadAngus on August 21, 2012, 06:03:57 AM
I'm assuming your referring to "Scan to PDF convert to (Choose you format)" automation tools, that would be extremely handy for the entire Amiga community.

Quote
  Oooooo a documentation targeted project, I'm just gong to have to add that to my Looooooong term project list. ::)

Scanning is no problem, I would like a formattable document format,easy to parse like .GUIDE ,but with TAGS/LINKS and header/footer,page margin, styles info.
So I can read the guide to fully formatted RTF/PDF without worrying about formatting.
RTF is worth considering too.

Quote
If it's not too much trouble, while your working through those mags and you happen across AMOS articles or tutorials, could you make a list of them. Issue# Page# sort of thing.

Consider it done.
Great you have some permissions, I may have ultimate Amos .. somewhere..

I'm now extending the search to add a couple of extra AMOS books so any help locating the authors would be appreciated.

Name   AMOS in Action: A Practical Guide to Mastering AMOS on the Amiga
Author   Anne Tucker and Len Tucker
ISBN-10   ISBN 074570221X
ISBN-13   ISBN 978-0745702216
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=074570221X

Name   Writing role playing games for Amos
Author   Dicon Peeke
ISBN-10   ISBN 0745702473
ISBN-13   ISBN 978978-0745702476
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Role-P.../dp/0745702473

Oh and add Peter J Hickman to the list. Author of the "All About AMOS" Newsletters. I've got Volume 1 issues 1&2 and Volume 2 issues 1&2 to convert to PDF. There were only three issues of this as far as I am aware, I don't have the third issue.

Update on the author search, I've located Stephen Hill via the publishers and they are forwarding the request for redistribution of the 'Amiga Games Maker's Manual'. So fingers crossed he is still at the address they have on record and the outcome is positive.

 :( Unfortunately at the moment I can't find any good leads to track down Anne Tucker and Len Tucker, Dicon Peeke and Peter J Hickman.

Two members of of UltimateAmiga (shock and amigaoneproductions) have stated in previous posts that they knew them and I have contacted them but they have not been active here for quite some time.

I've contacted  Aaron Fothergill and Phil South in the hope that they might have some information.

So if anybody else can provide a lead it would be appreciated

Unfortunately Kuma Publishing was dissolved around 1997 so that option is no longer available.


Anyway On a side note a little summary - AMOS reunited, sort of :)

François Lionet as you know gave his permission for the AMOS software and Manuals and runs a software development company Clickteam (http://www.clickteam.com/) with Yves Lamoureux.

Aaron and Adam Fothergill have given permission to use and redistribute the TOME software and manual. Their running Strange Flavour Ltd (http://www.strangeflavour.com). a small UK based independent games developer.

Phil South Author of Mastering Amiga AMOS has given his permission for his book. Now a full time writer, writing coach, building his own training business, Going Down Writing (http://goingdownwriting.wordpress.com).

I've located Stephen Hill via the publishers and they are forwarding the request for redistribution of the 'Amiga Games Maker's Manual', he's somewhere in Canada.

Contacted Jason Holborn via YouTube Author of 'Ultimate AMOS', although I think he may be on a shipwreck dive somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic.

Update on the author search.

Found a good lead on Dicon Peeke and traced Dicon Peeke the graphic artist that worked for Level 9 Adventure games and I believe this is the same person that wrote the 'Writing role playing games for Amos'. I have no solid link but it seems to me that this has a high probability of being the correct person. I have contacted him to ask for confirmation of identity and permission.  ;)

If anybody has the book could you let me know if there is a mention of Level 9 Adventure games in the book or a photo of Dicon in the book. Just for the sake of confirmation.

That just leaves Anne and Len Tucker and Peter J Hickman to find.

Document Update:

'AMOS Professional Quick Reference: Interface Programs and Interface Commands v1.00' has now been replaced with an updated Revision 3.00 release. get it from the download section.

AMOS Professional Quick Reference: Interface Programs and Interface Commands v1.00

Erm, it's actually called "AMOS Pro V2.0 Interface Summary - Revision 3.00.pdf"   :)

This goes a bit further than a "quick ref" as so much of what's in the AMOS Pro Manual was out-of-date and some was downright inaccurate.  The built-in Help Files had more info, but even they weren't quite right.  Plus, the Interface sub-language (I've christened it "DBL", which I think may have stood for "Dialogue Box Language") has a few peculiarities that needed explaining in full.

No unwarranted criticism of the authors of the original AMOS Pro Manual intended, as a lot of stuff was changed at the last minute when AMOS Pro V2.0 was released.  They did a great job getting it all out there despite those changes.   8)

On the kitchen table at the moment is a DBL Editor, written in AMOS, intended to complement the Resource Bank Creator.  Refer to previous posts from me in this thread for an idea of what this does and roughly what it looks like (it's now got menus instead of being all-DBL for the user interface).

The "AMOS Pro V2.0 AMAL Summary" is nearly ready for release and follows the same format as the Interface one.  I will complete it when the DBL Editor program's finished.

An "AMOS Pro V2.0 Menu Summary" is sketched out but I won't be resuming work on it until the above two deliverables are finished.  Too many "irons in the fire" otherwise.

All the stuff learnt from writing these is obviously also being added into the main AMOS Pro Reference Manual.  The comparison between what's actually in AMOS, but got left out of the original Manual, is now complete - there's a couple in that latest download, for example.

As the AMOS Pro Reference Manual is such a loooong task, I'll see if MadAngus is agreeable to releasing some sections as "drafts samples" so's you can see what's coming.  These may look a bit strange as, although any section from a single topic upwards can be extracted already formatted from the database, each extract comes with a contents and indexes.  Even if it's just a single instruction!  These are used by me to debug and check stuff.  Cross references to other topics will also lead nowhere where they point to a topic that's not in the extracted section.  And I definitely won't waste any time neatly paginating them either as that's just a waste of time until the final publication's ready (it's the only formatting that has to be done manually).  If that idea's approved, look out for some samples after the stuff above's been completed and released.

Now, where's my stress ball got to?  Ah, I think I see MadAngus playing with it...   :)

Throws stress ball at bruceuncle, misses, should have gone to specsavers. :P

Done, the download has been renamed and the description modified.

QuoteAs the AMOS Pro Reference Manual is such a loooong task, I'll see if MadAngus is agreeable to releasing some sections as "drafts samples" so's you can see what's coming.

Well hell yeah, gimme gimme, I want some.

I'm in a funny mood today, can't find my dried frog pills.

Definitely go for it.

Big thumbs up bruceuncle.  :o

The book permissions have moved to a new thread -> "The Great Amiga Author Hunt" (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9506.0.html)

@Bruceuncle
I've created a seperate thread for the discussion of hacking, updates and future versions of AMOSPro for Amiga 68k here -> AMOSPro Evolution (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9520.0.html)

So any discussion not related to documentation can take place there. If need be it can be cross referenced.

I just want to add a note here about the lack of this projects progress on my part.

Basically it was down to moving house. I was meant to get the keys at the end of January, notice that is when progress started to crawl.
    Well after packing just about everything up I was then told there would be a delay. This delay lasted until the 25th of July when I actually moved into the house, until then I had been climbing over boxes for 6 months.
    Even though I had moved in there was still a lot of work to do as the council made a piss poor job of their work (plastering, joinery, electrics, etc.) which I had to remedy. Oh! and there was the unpacking, changing address's/new contracts with companies, getting settled in etc.
    So here we are up to present day and I thought I'd add this note as I don't want anybody to think that this project had been abandoned an any way.

     Anyway, although I've still got work to do in the house I have got the ball rolling again on the manuals and I'm back typesetting. :)

The new series of Dr Who was (is) great.  However, my brochitis got complicated by a very nasty virus has had me "laid up" (as me dear old mum used to say) for a while.

MadAngus, your output and enthusiasm are without peer.  Compared to the little I can get done in between jobs (work and home  ;) ) you're way ahead.  So don't go self-castigating when it's just not warranted.  But keep us updated on the details of the battles with council, etc.  They add a little of the "life' that's sometimes lacking in a forum  :) .

And thanks for setting up the new thread - A Mission Statement will be forthcoming in the usual "real soon now" timeframe.  Great news on that thread.  Will keep all available appendages crossed and hope like hell.

"self-castigating" - Had to look that up. :D

I'm wasn't actually doing that, although I see your point and thank you for the concern.  :)

Hope the chest is better. ;)

To all.

That post (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9418.msg44361.html#msg44361) was more of a customer service statement. Think of it as explaining to the customer that the server broke down and then how the server broke down. There is quite a few people that pop in for a view to see how things are going and End-Users/Customers do like to kept up to date. Anyway, by letting those interested know the reasons for my lack of progress also let's them know that it is still worthwhile keeping their eye on the project.

So you know where I'm coming from and why the statements made were made I've added below a typical project progress pattern as seen from the End-User/Customer point of few.

Most projects follow a pattern:
1.) Acknowledgement -"Nice idea, best of luck".
2.) Passing interest - "Things are happening on that project, I'll keep my eye on it".
3.) Possible usage - "It's now more than a few bits and pieces, I'll see if I can make use of it".
4.) Progressive Usage - "Seems the project has progressed, but does it have the features I need".
5.) Definite Usage - "I can now make use of this project, but is it worthwhile contributing a suggestion or maybe even some source code". see 8.)
5.) Wider Audience - "The word of mouth is that this project is worth taking very seriously, but does it have an adequate documentation and support framework ".
7.) Mass Audience - "Is this project at least comparable to the commercial equivalent, what does it have that would convince me to change".
8.) Future Audience - "Is this project known to have a reputation for listening to End-User needs and requirements and actually take them on board".

This project is in the 'passing interest' phase and I want to ensure that the End-User can be confident that their points of few as listed above are being met. I consider this necessary to guarantee the success of the project.

So by informing the End-User of the situation we keep the passing interest alive and thus bring those End-Users with us to the next phase.

My mind works in mysterious ways, it's a mystery to me how it works. ;D

bruceuncle could you, if/when you have the time, select your posts from here that should be moved to the 'AMOSPro Evolution' thread.
[Edit] Had a look myself and there is only 5 posts that I think should be moved. All others are heavily related to the AMOS docs.
The starting post is > Here (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9418.msg44330.html#msg44330) < and continues down to where i stated that I had started a new AMOSPro Evolution thread. Unless you can think of a good reason they shouldn't be moved, I'll move them after you have replied to this post.

I will be moving 'The Greate Amiga Author Hunt' posts from here to that thread.
[Edit] Scrubbed, just checked the posts all the Author hunt books in this thread are AMOS related, in that case the posts stay put.

As I'm back in business working on my projects I expect a release of the 'AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 2' in 3-4 weeks maximum.

Quoteselect your posts from here that should be moved to the 'AMOSPro Evolution' thread.

Fine by me.  I haven't had breakfast yet and the wife is getting anxious in case she starves to death.  So I'll leave selection to your (better) judgement.

Spring has sprung in Aus.  So 32ºC today and another sojourn into the backyard jungle to try to tame it.  A losing battle so far.  But breakfast first.

Another little update:

Got newsletters vol2 issue 1 to 3 rev1 complete.

AMOS-Pro User Guide - all the page graphics have been put in place. That is the section/chapter/subsection numbers, footer/Header graphics.

Did I say the rework of EASY AMOS user guide is ready for release, well I've said it again. I'll release this along side the Newsletters and AMOS Pro guide, before Christmas.

[Edit] Forgot to mention, I have started scanning Ultimate AMOS by Jason Holborn. 50 pages done so far.

Forgot to mention in the last post that one of the Vol2 newsletters has an article Called the Kennard Effect: Real time lens and shadowing effect.  If you remember the Predator character and how it appeared invisible with only the background distorted slightly around it's shape, then this article 1 and half pages that shows you how. Included is a Ten Liner an example, it's actually 51 lines of code including 8 comment lines.

Thought that might tease and interest you. ;)

Amiga Game Makers Manual - With AMOS Basic
We have decided to make one and only one exception to the 'No permission, No book' rule for this book.

I will keep trying to find Stephen Hill to get authorisation for this book.

Until then I have added a link to the pdf book created by asymetrix on the first post of this thread. scroll down to the Downloads: section. It's a 50MB download.

At some point I'll recreate this in ODT and export it to PDF, should be able to get the file size down below 10MB.

[Edit]
On a side note, I forgot to mention Phil South has allowed me to use any part of his Mastering Amiga AMOS book in any other AMOS documentation. This will help towards the AMOS Resource Kit Project. Another thank to Phil South  8).

A little progress update:

I've got some graphics rework to do on the manuals and then I'll be able to release the ClassicAMOS Resource Kit 1st edition in the next couple of weeks.

The ClassicAMOS Resource Kit 1st edition incorporates all AMOS Manuals, Software, Source Code, the TOME software and Manual and a few other bits and bobs.

I've started splitting the AMOS Pro User Guide into Language Reference/Programmers guide etc, so work has started on the AMOS Pro Resource Kit.

Updates coming soon.

Quote from: MadAngus on November 27, 2012, 09:42:21 PM
Forgot to mention in the last post that one of the Vol2 newsletters has an article Called the Kennard Effect: Real time lens and shadowing effect.  If you remember the Predator character and how it appeared invisible with only the background distorted slightly around it's shape, then this article 1 and half pages that shows you how. Included is a Ten Liner an example, it's actually 51 lines of code including 8 comment lines.

Thought that might tease and interest you. ;)

That sounds really cool. I'll have to take a look at that sometime :)

Some Updates: I think you've waited long enough, put a lot of hours in this month to get this done.

re-typeset the Easy AMOS Manual and added bookmarks.

re-typeset the AMOS Professional User Guide and added bookmarks.
Note: The this version of the AMOS Pro User Guide is not the same as that done by Asymetrix, this is an near exact duplicate of the original.
Note 2: Also note that the AMOS Pro User Guide only covered AMOS Professional 1.0. There was never a 2nd edition of the manual covering any AMOS Pro 2.x version

New release
AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 2, PDF
A must have for AMOS fans as these issues contain some very interesting code listings.

All Available from the download section.

Easy AMOS Manual (PDF)
A re-typeset duplicate of the original user Guide
The Easy AMOS User Guide by Mel Croucher and Kate Cameron-Dauml.
(c) Europress Software 1992
OCR by echo of the English Amiga Board (2009)
Typesetting by MadAngus

AMOS Professional User Guide 1st Edition (PDF)
A re-typeset duplicate of the original user Guide
(c) Europress Software 1992
OCR by asymetrix (2008)
Typesetting by MadAngus

AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 2, PDF
Consists of Issues 1 - 4
OCR and typesetting by MadAngus

This completes Phase 1 of this project.

Note: there is undoubtably many errors in the code listings of the above books. Over the next year I will be working through these books and correcting the errors. Addendum's will be released (regularly) and updated as errors are found and fixed.

Within the next two weeks I will be releasing the ClassicAMOS Resource kit. This will include all the AMOS Manuals, Software (unregistered versions) along with some installation guide and a couple of other things.
No, you will not need to register the software, this is just versions that have not been previously installed.

Once that is done February is reserved for AIAB which will result in a new version finally being released and updated website.

Just downloaded the Pro User Manual.  Superb work MadAngus.   8) 8) 8)

When do you get time to sleep?  ;)

And thanks for the AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 2 in PDF format.  There's even a bug fix in there that may be relevant to the AMOS Pro Redevelopment work.  Great stuff!

@bruceuncle
The bookmarked version of asymetrix's AMOS Pro manual you created, did you do any other edits to it or just add bookmarks.

There is now three versions of this User Guide in the download section.
I want to keep my version and asymetrix's original and delete the other one.

However if the bookmarked version you created is identical to asymetrix's original except bookmarks have been added them I'll keep that one and remove the unbookmarked one.

asymetrix's original matches the HTML version so the content and page layout must be remain same.

QuoteThe bookmarked version of asymetrix's AMOS Pro manual you created, did you do any other edits to it or just add bookmarks.

There are some notes I added in the Interface chapters.  They're easy to identify and remove as they've got a yellow background.
However, I also corrected a few OCR glitches.
They would be impossible to revert without a side-by-side comparison. 
If  you absolutely have to have an identical, but bookmarked, version it would be far easier to just add the bookmarks to an original copy.

I can edit PDFs with an ancient Adobe Acrobat running in XP Mode under Windows 7.

I'll  check if I kept an intermediate version next time I'm back at my PC (typing all this batch of replies on the phone -we're in a heatwave that's more suited to reclining next to a fan than sitting).

LightBulb!

Better still I'll add all you notes to the wip addendum which I'll release at the same time as the ClassicAMOS Res Kit.

Hold on for now, I'll contact asymetrix and get his take on which PDF to keep.

I'm going to be refocusing my plans concerning the AMOS Pro resource kit. The resource kit documentation I'm going to do is going to primarily focus on developing and documenting the AMOS reimplementations, both xAMOS and my own. It will still be designed around the basic outline I have already posted (Ref. Post) (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9479.0.html).

As such an AMOS Pro resource Kit will predominately consist of the work work from other sources such as done on AmigaCoding and the work bruceuncle is doing on the tech ref docs, and any back portable work I do. This will also be designed around the basic outline I have already posted (Ref. Post) (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9479.0.html). My main focus on this will be typesetting bruceuncle's work and others into a consistent document structure. I still intend to port EASY AMOS User's guide to AMOS pro so I will be adding something.

At the moment I'm writing the HTML pages for the ClassicAMOS Resource Kit. This 1st edition will be a basic version with all AMOS software, sources, manuals, newsletters (AMOS Club and Totally AMOS diskmag) and a couple of extensions (AMCAF and TOME), including installation guides etc. I don't want to add too much as I want this to be a baseline for a second edition.

Rather than have two Resource Kits, AMOS Pro and ClassicAMOS, I intend to have just one - The ClassicAMOS Resource Kit with everything AMOS inside, this will avoid confusion.

I already have some outline plans for the 2nd Edition which I expect to take 12-18 months to complete.

• Everything from the 1st edition.
• Updated and corrected AMOS Manuals.
• The 3rd Party AMOS Books Set (Ref. Post) (http://www.ultimateamiga.com/index.php/topic,9602.0.html).
• Source Disks for the manuals and books.
• More extensions (Legal distributions only).
• The beginnings of an AMOS Factory Developer Network Library (Tutorials, guides etc. Sourced from wherever I can get them).
• AMOS Pro Resource Kit (As described above).
• An updated and modified version of Mequa's AMOS for windows including an installer and launch interface for the different variants of AMOS.

The second edition might sound like a lot of work but it isn't really, well except for the only difficult part. Hacking the AMOS Installers to produce an unattended installation installer for the updated AMOS for windows.

Quote from: MadAngus on January 24, 2013, 08:52:32 AM
New release
AMOS Club Newsletters Volume 2, PDF
A must have for AMOS fans as these issues contain some very interesting code listings.

I have only had time to have a quick look at Vol2 issue 1, but that some great work there :)

Quote from: Lonewolf10 on January 26, 2013, 09:16:57 PM
I have only had time to have a quick look at Vol2 issue 1, but that some great work there :)

Cheers :)

Beware the code listing, they will be bug ridden, which includes any errors from the original doc and any errors I introduced during the conversion. ;)

2nd revisions of all docs will have everything fixed.

Note:

After discussion with bruceuncle and asymetrix I have deleted asymetrix's original version of the AMOS Pro user guide from the download section.

bruceuncles updated version with bookmarks, fixed OCR glitches and some notes has been retained. This version is identical in every other way to asymetrix's original. If you already have this you do not need to download it again.

@bruceuncle/asymetrix I have renamed the 'AMOS Professional Manual (PDF bookmarked version)' to 'AMOS Professional Manual (PDF)' as the original was named. All acknowledgements are in place.

@All
Although I have ODT versions of all the manuals, I would prefer to hold back from releasing them until I have been through them and fixed any errors. Once this is done and all unnecessary typesetting styles are removed I will release the ODT versions along with the updated PDF versions. The previous ODT versions I uploaded have been removed from the download section until then.

Does anybody else have the ODT files?  MadAngus hasn't been on for some time and I'd like to fix up the indexing of the AmosPro manual so it's easier to find stuff.

I'll have a look but I doubt it tbh.
It's not linked to any posts or anything?

Nah, same here.  All I got was the PDF (and a lot of emails with PDFs of project standards  ;D ).
I've got a fully licensed Acrobat 5 but it's barred from Windows 7.  I'll see if my XP emulator still works (haven't used it for a couple of years).  If it does, I can edit the PDF if it's not protected.  What changes did you want for the bookmarks?

I actually want to regenerate the HTML so I can use some of those "mid-page" links on the command index and the table of contents.  That way we don't have to page forward and backward on those indexes.  Likewise I want to make each chapter use those same types of links for the subheadings so the page boundaries don't break up articles.

Hi folks, kind of continued a part of the ambitious book work madAngus started, under my source code preservation project. I have a slightly angle though: I ask the authors if they can release their books under creative commons, which solves the problem with that the literature and permission is tied to a specific project or even person. That means I have contacted (again) almost every author madAngus did contact, and a few others too. So far I have been given permissions for a quite a few books, but a slightly different set than madAngus had as of yet:) I also try to contact every Amiga book author I can find, so this is not AMOS-only. I'm not trying to replace madAngus works, but he hasn't been logged in for 5 years plus, so I guess his got other interests now-a-days and really don't care.

My goals:
1) Get a general liberal permission for anyone, for as much Amiga literature I can, under Creative Commons or alike.
2) Host a pdf, in best cases one optimized and one  higher res. for archival purposes
3) In best case, also host an online version of the book. This is done by ocr->asciidoc. Asciidoc can be convertehd to many formats, example from the Total Amiga Assembler book. I invite anyone interested in helping out with this.

Note, I have used some scans found in this forum, but have been sure to  giving credits both to this forum, and the users involved in scanning.

Who should have credits for creating  amos-pro-v2.0-interface-summary-revision3? I guess "brucuncle"?

Site and code repo etc: https://amigasourcepres.gitlab.io/page/books/amos/

Again, I don't intend to duplicate AMOS Factory in any way, It is just that the project of "getting permission for amiga literature" involves AMOS literature also, so there are some overlapping there.

More AMOS-books released with a Creative Commons License. I think the only one missing now us Ultimate AMOS by J. Holborn.

Excellent work - many thanks for uploading these. FYI the 'Amos In Action' PDF contains 2 scans of the book...  :D

Jason Holborn posted on YouTube a few years back, in reply to one of my videos....