SHOWTIME.COM  ----- on-screen clock utility

DIRECTIONS:

.......To load and run, or change settings if SHOWTIME has already been
       loaded, type:

               SHOWTIME  [switch]...

       where  "[switch]..."  signifies zero or more optional
       parameter switches used to change the operational 
       defaults.  See "SWITCHES", below.

       If no switches are specified then the default settings are used 
       (or reset if SHOWTIME has already been loaded).
         
       If SHOWTIME has not been previously run then it will process the 
       switches on its command-line and terminate while remaining resident.
       If SHOWTIME has already been run since the last (re)boot then it 
       will process its switches AND COPY THEM TO THE FIRST-RUN COPY OF
       ITSELF and exit gracefully without taking up any more space.

       There will be no display on the colour screen if a graphics mode is
       in effect.   Also, if SHOWTIME is loaded while the monochrome
       screen is current, then the colour screen will not be used until the
       colour screen has been the current one IN TEXT MODE even if /C or /B
       is specified as SHOWTIME has no way of knowing whether the last mode
       used on the colour screen was a graphics or a text mode, or what
       width was used until the colour screen becomes current.   You can 
       override this by telling SHOWTIME what screen mode to use for the
       colour display with the /S switch:
            /S:8 tells SHOWTIME that the 80-column text mode is in effect and
            /S:4 tells it to use the 40-column format.
       The actual setting will be remembered if the colour screen becomes
       the current one. If you then switch back to the monochrome screen,
       SHOWTIME will remember the last mode setting and use that setting to
       determine how or whether to write to the colour screen. The /S switch
       can be used only once and then only if the colour screen has not been
       used since SHOWTIME was loaded.  After that, the /S switch is ignored.

.......To temporarily disable, type:    SHOWTIME  /N
       and turn back on by running again without specifying "/N".

       To delete from memory completely, press:

                <CTRL-ALT-DEL>

       key combination to reboot or use a "TSR management" programme package.
       One such is the pair of programmes, INSTALL.COM and REMOVE.COM in the
       August 1987 issue of "PC Magazine".  These allow you to install
       memory-resident programmes and later un-install them without rebooting.

DEFAULTS:

.......The screen used to display the time is the current screen being used.

.......The programme BEEPs when being loaded and on the hour afterwards.

.......The attributes used are:

                monochrome:   normal video  ("white" on black background)
                              high intensity OFF
                              blink OFF
                              underline OFF

                colour:       green on black background
                              high intensity OFF
                              blink OFF

.......The time will be in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

.......There will be NO wait for horizontal retrace when writing to
          the colour screen.

SWITCHES:   used to change defaults.   May be upper or lower case.

       (If you use the SWITCHAR feature in your CONFIG.SYS file with
       MS-DOS version two or a .COM routine to provide the equivalent
       with MS-DOS version three, then the switch character may not
       be "/", but some other character, such as "-".  SHOWTIME checks
       for this and will use whatever the system is using.  In that case,
       where-ever "/" is shown below, substitute what you are using,
       such as "-m -q" instead of "/m /q" )

.......Screen used to display time:  (default = current)

        /M       or       /m       .....use monochrome screen even if
                                     the current screen is the colour one.

        /C       or       /c       .....use colour screen even if the
                                     current screen is the monochrome one.

        /B       or       /b       .....display the time on BOTH screens.
                                        ( /B  is the same as /C/M )

        /N       or       /n       .....turn off time display.  May be
                                     necessary if another programme uses the
                                     top line of the screen for vital 
                                     information that SHOWTIME would 
                                     otherwise overwrite.

        /S:4     or       /s:4     .....if /C or /B is specified when you
        /S:8     or       /s:8       initially load SHOWTIME, it won't know
                                     what mode your colour adapter is in.
                                     /S:4 tells SHOWTIME that the colour
                                     adapter is in a 40-column text mode.
                                     /S:8 tells SHOWTIME that the colour
                                     adapter is in an 80-column text mode.
                                     This way, SHOWTIME can display the time
                                     immediately on your colour screen instead
                                     of waiting for a mode switch to know what
                                     mode to use.  This switch can only be
                                     used once and then only if a colour mode
                                     has not been selected since SHOWTIME was
                                     loaded.

.......Beep control:  (default is beep on the hour and when loaded.)

        /Q       or       /q       .....quiet, no beep.

.......Wait control:  (default is NO wait.)

        With the stock IBM CGA and most compatable colour graphics adapters,
        you can get flashes on the screen if the computer writes to 
        the colour screen at the same time as the display control circuits
        are trying to read from the video memory.   These flashes can
        be eliminated by waiting for the horizontal retrace time (the time
        that the monitor uses to go from the end of one line to the start
        of a new line.)   The display is blanked at this time and access to
        the screen memory will not cause flashes during this time.
        Some computers use fast memory that can intermix computer and
        display control access without flashes.   These may have no way
        to check for the horizontal retrace time and will lock up if
        an attempt is made to wait for the retrace signal.  (Few have this
        behavior but I have run up against ONE "clone" that acted like this.)
        To prevent the computer from locking up, the default for this
        programme is NO WAIT but, if your computer suffers from flashes on the
        screen when the time is being displayed on the colour screen, then you
        can specify WAIT on the command line with

                        /W       or       /w

        to eliminate the flashes.  (No computer that has the "snow" problem
        will lock up as the retrace signal is a necessity to allow the BIOS
        to write to the screen without producing the "snow".)

  ****  NOTE -- The /W switch may be necessary to prevent "snow" on your
        screen if you are using a standard CGA (Colour Graphics Adapter)
        but it will degrade the performance of your system as the computer
        will be spending part of its time waiting for a horizontal retrace
        instead of doing something useful.  A short but not-so-accurate
        test indicated about a nine per-cent slowdown with the /W switch
        engaged.  Use it only if you have to.   (Or WANT TO  to slow down that
        video game enough to give you a fighting chance against those flying
        saucers.)

.......Position on the screen: (default = upper right-hand corner.)

              /H:pos1,pos2,pos3   or    /h:pos1,pos2,pos3
                  set Horizontal position.
                     pos1 = monochrome position   (1 to 71, decimal)
                     pos2 = 80-column position    (1 to 71, decimal)
                              (pos1 used if pos2 omitted)
                     pos3 = 40-column position    (1 to 31, decimal)
                              (pos2 used if pos3 omitted, 80-column
                               position converted to equivalent 40-column
                               position)
                   If pos1, pos2, or pos3 is too large then the maximum
                   allowed value (71, 71, or 31) is used.

                   (The reason for the range 1 to 71 is that the position
                   specified is for the "T" in " TIME hh:mm ".  The leading
                   space before the "T" is omitted if you specify /h:1 and
                   the trailing space is omitted after the minutes if you
                   specify /h:71  (or /h:xx,xx,31 for 40-columns) or use the
                   default settings.)

               /V:pos1,pos2,pos3  or /v:pos1,pos2,pos3
                   set vertical position.
                     pos1 = monochrome position   (1 to 99, decimal)
                     pos2 = 80-column position    (1 to 99, decimal)
                              (pos1 used if pos2 omitted)
                     pos3 = 40-column position    (1 to 99, decimal)
                              (pos2 used if pos3 omitted)
                   If pos1, pos2, or pos3 is too large then the maximum
                   allowed value (99) is used.

                   ****WARNING****  the limit used to be 1 to 25 which was
                   the greatest number of lines possible with the older MDA
                   and CGA video adapter cards.   As new cards are available
                   that allow more than 25 lines on the screen and the
                   number of lines possible could even be increased in the
                   future,  it was felt that allowing for new, expanded screen
                   sizes was of more benefit than trying to protect the
                   user from all possible errors.  It is now possible to
                   specify a position for the time that is not on the screen.
                   REMEMBER, if you wish to specify a line greater than 25,
                   you should do so only when the video hardware and software
                   in your system supports more than 25 lines.  (Such as 43
                   lines on an EGA card.)   Also, you will want to specify
                   a vertical position other than the top line only in
                   exceptional cases such as when an un-scrollable status line
                   is at the bottom of the screen or when your monitor has too
                   much overscan to allow the top line of the screen to be
                   fully visible.   Under normal circumstances, you will end
                   up with multiple copies of the time on your screen if you
                   have any scrolling occur on the screen and the time is not
                   on line one.  The exceptions are frequent enough to warrant
                   including the option.  (Wordstar's "REPLACE (Y/N)?"
                   message is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the
                   screen.  When using Wordstar on a friend's computer, I put
                   the time on the bottom of the screen, covering one of the
                   function key labels for a formatting command used in
                   document mode only as most of my editing is done in
                   non-document mode.  On exit from Wordstar, I put the time
                   back in the upper right-hand corner.)

.......Attributes:   (default is monochrome 07 {normal},
                                 colour 02 {green on black})

       The colour/attributes for the time can be changed with the /A switch.
       You can use:

                   /A:xx      or      /a:xx

       where "xx" is one or two HEXADECIMAL digits ("0" to "9", "A" to "F",
       or "a" to "f") to set BOTH attributes or use:

                   /A:mm,cc   or      /a:mm,cc

       where mm and cc are each one or two hexadecimal digits to set the
       monochrome colour/attribute to mm and the colour screen's 
       colour/attribute to cc or use:

                   /A:mm,c8,c4   or      /a:mm,c8,c4


       where mm, c8, and c4 are each one or two hexadecimal digits to
       set the monochrome colour/attribute to mm, the 80-column colour
       screen's colour/attribute to c8, and the 40-column colour screen's 
       colour/attribute to c4.

EXAMPLES:             SHOWTIME   /q  /b   /a:70,1c

                   selects no beep, both monitors have the time on them, 
                   the monochrome time is in reverse video, and the
                   time on the colour screen is high-intensity red on
                   a blue background.

                      SHOWTIME /H:71,1,15  /V:1,1,25

                   uses the defaults for all but the position.  The time
                   will be at the upper right-hand corner of the screen
                   for monochrome, at the upper left-hand corner for
                   80-column colour, and at the bottom centre of the screen
                   for the 40-column colour display.  Only the screen in
                   current use will have the constantly updated time
                   written to it.

ATTRIBUTES:   (hexadecimal)

                        00  --- IGNORE 00 and rest of switch.

                            eg.  /A:00,57 does not do anything as the
                                     "00" terminates the switch.

Monochrome screen:
   Special:
      08  "invisible",     high-intensity   (may be visible
                                             on some systems)  

      80   invisible,                       blinking

      88  "invisible",     high-intensity,  blinking

      01   underlined

      09   underlined,     high-intensity

      81   underlined,                       blinking

      89   underlined,     high-intensity,   blinking

      70   reverse-video

      78   reverse-video,  high-intensity

f0 or F0   reverse-video,                    blinking
            
f8 or F8   reverse-video,  high-intensity,   blinking

   Normal (not special one listed above):

      First digit (if only one digit, then "first" is 0.)

         0  to  7        ---- no blink

         8  to f  (or F) ---- BLINK on

      Last digit

         0  to  7        ---- normal intensity

         8  to f  (or F) ---- high-intensity

Colour screen:  (as described in "Compute!'s Mapping the IBM PC and PCjr")            

   First digit    Background    Blink    |   Last digit    Foreground
                                         |
      0            Black         Off     |      0          Black 
      1            Dark blue      "      |      1          Dark blue
      2            Light green    "      |      2          Light green
      3            Light blue     "      |      3          Light blue (cyan)
      4            Red            "      |      4          Red
      5            Purple         "      |      5          Purple (magenta)
      6            Orange         "      |      6          Orange
      7            White          "      |      7          White
      8            Black         ON      |      8          Dark grey
      9            Dark blue      "      |      9          Medium blue
      a or A       Light green    "      |      a or A     Lighter green
      b or B       Light blue     "      |      b or B     Lighter blue (cyan)
      c or C       Red            "      |      c or C     Dark orange
      d or D       Purple         "      |      d or D     Violet (lt. magenta)
      e or E       Orange         "      |      e or E     Yellow
      f or F       White          "      |      f or F     Bright white

      (With the Enhanced Graphics Adapter, the EGA, the above colours may
      be the defaults but may be reprogrammed so that any selection, 0 to F,
      may select any one of sixty-four colours, not necessarily those above.)

EXAMPLES:

        /A:09     monochrome = underlined, high-intensity
                  colour = medium blue characters on black background

        /a:07,1b  monochrome = normal
                  colour = lightest blue characters on dark blue background

        /a:07,02  monochrome = normal
                  colour = light green characters on black background
                   (ie. no change, the default anyway)

        /A:36,A5  monochrome = normal (undefined combinations default to
                                 no reverse, no underline, no invisible
                                 and digits less than 8 turn off blinking
                                 (1st digit) and high-intensity (2nd digit))
                  colour = blinking purple characters on green background

REMARKS and DOCUMENTATION:

        Remarks may be included on the command line as well as switches.
        SHOWTIME merely ignores anything that it doesn't recognize as a
        valid parameter.  Those switches that require a value after them
        must not contain embedded remarks but remarks may precede or follow
        them.  Those switches that consist of single letters may be part of
        the remark as long as the key letter is immediately preceded by the
        switch character:

              SHOWTIME  use /Both monitors; keep it /quiet, no beep!

              SHOWTIME  /no display for now.

              SHOWTIME /Wait for retrace. /A:07,4F = white on red for colour. 

              SHOWTIME /h:35 = time in middle of top line.

              SHOWTIME  /v:2 ... move time down a line to overcome overscan.

        But not...

              SHOWTIME  set /Attribute to :07,4F



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                          THAT'S  ALL  FOLKS!
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