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Originally published as a letter in the July 1996 edition of the GEOS Publication

2/2/96
Dear Willis:

THANKS for another issue of GEOS Publication. The December-January double contained a lot. I have written to Bill Robblets for his list and also to Danny DeMarco for one of the disks he had for sale. A great way to keep everybody happy.

Here are a few more pointers:

In the October issue on Page 14 there was a Hints and Tips section on deleting files. As described the procedure works fine (highlight all the files you wish to scratch by holding the Commodore Key and clicking on each file - then dragging the Multi-File Icon to the garbage can). There is a much faster method to delete mass files.

Make sure that the current page contains only files you want to delete and then choose the Page menu and select Delete (the Commodore key and 'T' will accomplish the same if you remember). A dialog box will inform you that all files on this page will be lost at which point you click on OK to continue or CANCEL if you change your mind. If any of the files are write-protected a dialog box will inform you that you can't delete a page with write-protected files.

At this point you would click OK and then choose the Select Menu and Page Files to highlight all files (or Commodore Key and 'X') and then File Menu and Info (Commodore 'Q') and all of the File Info Boxes will appear in succession and you can de-select the Write-Protect box on the offending file(s). From here it is a simple process to again go through the Delete Page steps as outlined above.

The reason this method is quicker than the Multi-File delete method is simple. When you drag a Multi-File Icon to the trash GEOS deletes each file and redraws the screen after each file is deleted. These screen redraws take time. With the Page Delete method the page is only redrawn after all of the files on the page are deleted. I use this method a lot when I am cleaning out my GeoPublish files from my REU to start another project.

In the November issue, on Page 8, Ken Bronson wondered about changing existing tabs in a geoWrite file. What must be remembered here is that geoWrite V2.0 lets you format each paragraph individually. This means the margins, paragraph indent, justification, line spacing and tabs can be different for each paragraph. If you change the settings in one paragraph it doesn't affect the next one unless you create the next paragraph by pressing the RETURN key. This is the only way to have your settings transfer automatically to the next paragraph.

If Ken wants to reformat more than one paragraph he needs to click at the start of the first paragraph and then drag his pointer down to the end of the last paragraph he wants to change. Now setting the tabs, etc. will alter the settings on all of the highlighted paragraphs. To deselect the highlighting after making his settings just click anywhere on the text to get the cursor back.

If he wants to change the entire page format then choose the Options Menu and Select Page (Commodore key and 'V') to highlight the entire page. This allows all tabs margins, etc to be uniform. GeoWrite allows a lot of flexibility for users to format their documents - some of them just take a bit more time to master.

Don't forget that you can also set Decimal Tabs in geoWrite. Set the Tab as usual, then pick it up with your pointer as if you were going to delete it. Press the Space Bar and the Tab marker should become a solid. Click to place it back on the ruler. Now, if you are doing a column of numbers all of the decimal points will line up perfectly.

Now for the big one. I have seen a number of people, in this publication and others, request a method to print the GEOS documents in landscape (sideways) mode. The latest being Fred Wilson on Page 16 of the Dec/Jan issue. While I know of no single program that will accomplish the task I will outline how to do it and where to get the necessary files.

This method works with geoPublish files, geoWrite files, geoPaint files and, with careful planning and pasting, you can even print a geoCalc spreadsheet 9 columns wide by 58 rows long in sideways mode. The two main components needed for this procedure are the Paint Drivers Application from GEOS 2.0 and Paint Rotate from Spike Dethman's GEOS Disk One.

First thing to do is run the Paint Drivers program to create Paint Pages and Paint Overlay. For the sideways printout process we will want the Paint Pages Printer Driver. Select the GEOS Menu and then Select Printer option. Make the Paint Pages driver your active printer driver.

You are now ready to create your sideways printout. From GeoWrite or GeoPublish choose Print and set the options you normally would for page range, etc. The difference is that your pages will not come out of the Printer but will be saved to disk files named PAGE 1, PAGE 2, etc. For this reason you need a lot of free space on your disk - about 40 KB per page to be safe. When the 'printing' is all done return to the Desktop and select your regular Printer Driver with the Select Printer option from the GEOS menu.

Start up Paint Rotate and choose your PAGE 1 file and then enter a name for the new file that will be created. The best option to choose next is the 1/4 Turn counter-clockwise option. This is a time consuming process, which can take up to six minutes to complete. Once done, all you have to do is open your new file with GeoPaint and print it to your printer. The process can be used with GeoCalc spreadsheets by copying text scraps into geoWrite, formatting the columns by using Tab stops, and printing with the Paint Drivers as outlined above. This is necessary as GeoCalc does not support the Paint Drivers printer driver (NOTE: See GKLAND article for update to this - BT 10/2002)

Paint Rotate is available on GEOS DISK One by Spike Dethman. I just ordered this disk in November 1995 and received it promptly so the address and price quoted are accurate and valid. (NOTE: Spike no longer supports this disk as of about 1997). This disk is a collection of fine shareware programs that allow GEOS users to do things previously not possible. For the low price of $9.95 US this disk is available directly from Spike or, I am told, as an ARC file on Genie (file #15772). The disk contains 11 programs and DA's and 7 new Input Drivers for Koala Pads and Mouse/Joystick/Koala Pad in Post #2. Included are GeoPack V2.1 for converting and lynxing GEOS files, an envelope addresser, a Koala Picture Converter and a couple of Screen Saver DAs. All but the Input Drivers support the 64 and 128 and most work in 80 column mode also.

Two Paint Utilities on the disk include Click Pix, which lets you turn your masterpieces into self contained viewer files with the ability to scroll around the whole page. Paint Rotate lets you manipulate pictures in 5 ways very easily and, as we have seen, get landscape (sideways) printouts of your GEOS documents. The contents of the disk make it well worth the price even for Paint Rotate alone, and supporting GEOS programmers will ensure they keep creating more of these masterpieces.

Until next time, good health and happiness and enGEOy your Commodore!

From March 1996 GP

Selecting ERASE from the Disk Menu is also faster than throwing all of the files on a disk into the trash if you want to clear a complete disk.

As far as deleting multiple files from a Boot Disk (use a copy only and not your originals) there was a file called UNBOOT on GeoWorld Disk #4 that is an Auto-Exec. If you place this on your GEOS Boot Disk and then reboot GEOS you can treat the Boot Disk like any other disk - no more dragging files to the border before tossing them in the trash. Just don't mess with the first three Boot files. Once you have deleted the files that you want to you can remove UNBOOT from your disk.

Keyboard Shortcuts work wonders and on GEOS 64 there is a screen you can call from the Special Menu that lists some of them. Of course, there are many more and each application has its own (although the main ones are constant throughout the system). GEOS 128 has more than GEOS 64 also. Read the manual to learn these and enjoy the extra speed with which you can get your work done.