Romantic Robot Multiface ST User manual

present
M~'t·r~ ~C §t
IMANUA I
Connectinl! the MULllFACE
1.0
ComoatibiLitv 1.1
Ouick Steo Guide to Multiface 1.2
Accessinl! the MULTlFACE 1.3
Pressine the Macic Button 1.4
The Success Ratio -and UOlU"ades 1.5
The Main Menu 2.0
Savine 3.0
Multiole Savine
3.1
Instant SavinI! 3.2
Loadine
4.0
Multiole Loadinl!
4.1
Instant Loadimz
4.2
,Format
5.0
Multi-Toolkit
6.0-6.11
Disk Oflzan.izer
7.0-7.6
Guarantee
8.0
Designed, manufactured and distributed by
ROMANTIC ROBOT UK Ltd.
ICopYright 1989 ROMANTIC ROBOT UK Ltd. I
All rights reserved.
ROMANTIC ROBOT UK Ltd.
54 Deanscroft Avenue, London NW9 8EN
Tel. 01·200 8870.
Fax 01·200 4075
1
Original scan by: Spiny
PDF/OCR version by: Mug U.K(tm)

INTRODUcnON
MUL TlFACE ST Is a MUL TI-purpose back-upInterFACE designed exclusively for the Atart ST range
It provides fully aUlomallc and universal back-up of programs/screens on floppy/hard/RAM disks
It also Incorporatesacomprehensive MULTI-TOOLKITto study/modify/develop softwareand afast,
user-friendly and Intelligent DISK ORGANIZER for efficient copylngltranslerrlngldelellng 01 lies.
MUL TlFACE ST Is entirely menu-drivenwith clearon-screen prompts, Instructionsand error reports.
Ilusesasystem ofone-touchcommands(shownInInverse) making It veryeasy to useand'ldlot-prool.'
It Is Intuitiveand made to beused withoutawritten manual. However, not to disappointavid readers.
1.0 CONNECfING THE MULTIFACE
1.01 Switch off/unplug your computerand any peripherals which have Independent power supplies.
1.02 Firmly push the MUL TlFACE Into the cartridge port with the switch facing to the Iront.
1.03 Aemove your monitor (If any) from the AGB socket, Insert the MUL TIFACE cable Into the AGB
socket Instead and then Insert your monitor cable (If any) Into the MUL TlFACE cable extension.
1.04 Plug In the computer and switch on. Press the MUL TlFACE button and the WELCOME MENU
should soon appear.
1.05 In the unlikely event that the Welcome Menu does not appear, disconnect everything lrom the
mains, repeat steps 1.01- 1.04, but do NOT attach any other peripherals (if any) as per 1.04 this
time. II allisfine, theremay be acompatibilityproblembetween MUL TIFACE andanolherperlpheral,
although we are not aware of any. II you stili get no success whatsoever, switch off again and
contact the technical dept. of ROMANTIC ROBOT on 01-200 8870. Please read the guarantee
conditions carefully and kindly note that the guarantee must be registered.
~MPORTANT! I
Please note that you must NEVER attach/remove the MUL TfFACE while the power is ON, at
this would most certainly damage both the MUL TlFACE end the 5T and Invalldete both
guarantees
as well. Also, you should not touch the RGB extension whilst the power Is on;
thil time the dameae may not be that extensive but It II an ealv way to reset the Alar! ST.
1.1 COMPATIBILITY
MULTIFACE ST Is compatible with Ihe entire ATAAI ST ROM-based range. By being able to save
sequentially on anumber of disks, the MUL TlFACE can cope with megabytes of RAM. It Is more on
the ST 520 where the task of operating within atotally FULL computer may be diHlcult, as the
MUL TIFACE hastoSAVE morethanjust relevant partsofRAM: therearealso68000 registers, sound,
screen, keyboard parameters, etc. to be noted as they were at the moment 01 freezing aprogram.
1.2 QUICK STEP GUIDE TO THE MULTIFACE ST
2. Ue Shin NB in Welcome
menu to
gel to Desktop, Ihen
double-elick Cartridge Icon
(suitable for all disk drives)
l.1nil;ale MULTIFACE
1.britiare MULTIFACE
2. Bool aprogram from
2. PressSto 'set' MultiIace and 10
the Welcome Menu!l
3. AutomalicaUy boot aprOlttam
3. Freeu when you wisb
4. Freeu tosave· avoid disk errorsl
4. Proceed to sal'!! (8)
5. Cause adeliberateerror10 turn
5. <UNDO> torelum Instant Save
orr. if required
The tables below show step by step how 10 use or access most Important MUL TIFACE functions:
SAVING INSTANT SAVING DISK Organizer Access
1.0 in Load/Save/Main Menu
(Wlsuilable for hard disks)
l.lnitiate MULTIFACE
1. Initiate MULTIFACE
2 Go to Main Menu 2. Press1in Welcome Menu
3. PressLto load 3. Instant Save
is aUlomaticaUv ON
LOADING INSTANT LOADING Multi-TOOLKIT Access
You can access Muhi-ToolJUt
ony time from the Main Menu
bv'pressinl! T
[2

1.3 ACCESSING THE MULTlFACE
MUL TIFACE ST must ALWAYS be Initialed by pressing Its FREEZE BUnON before any operalion.
By way of design, the MUL TlFACE Is In principle INVISIBLE and UNDETECTABLE -thus when you
switch the ST ON with the MUL TIFACE aUached, it will behaveas If the MUL TlFACE was NQIthere.
Afterall, you may wish to use the ST attimesfor manypurposeswhich do notrequire the MUL TlFACE.
Onthe other hand, If you DO wish 10 use the MUL TlFACE sooner or later, you MUST nrsl set It up by
pressing the FREEZE buuon. Please BEWARE, as the MUL TIFACE will start by reseulng the ST and
Itself, soall contents of memory,registers, etc. willbeERASED to startwith. Fromthenon, MUL TlFACE
will be totallynon-destructlveand pressingtheFREEZE bUUon willhavethedesirableeffect offreezing
the program and put It under the MUL TlFACE control (to resume it later, if you wish).
It Is good practice to press the freeze bUUon Immedialely upon switching the S1 ON - It is also the
quickiest way, as you do NOT need to wait for the desktop to load. MUL TlFACE welcomes you with:
BOOT .: Boor.HIDE am BOOT .IiJESET l!1LEAR ENU INSTANT AVE-BO
AD
As on every MUL TlFACE menu, any functional key, or more precisely usually the initial letter of a
function, Is shown In Inverse. There are afew exceptions -< ESC>, < UNDO> and < ENTER>
keys are shown entirely In Inverse and In some functions It Is not the Initial letter which Is Inverse.
Quite simply, pressing whatever Is shown In Inverse does the Job. Inthe WELCOME MENU, pressing
Shifted A or B. executesan autoboot programon acorrespondingdisk (drive): If there Is noautoboot
program, theSTwill come upwiththe desktop menu. There Is aMOSTImportantdlnstlnctlonbetween
booting up by Just pressing ~B. or Shifted M: both will boot Just the same, but Mleaves the
MUL TlFACE INVISIBLE, It HIDES It, whilst Shifted AlB will result In having acartridge Icon displayed
and making the MUL TIFACE accessible to other software and hardware. There are two differences:
a) If you leave the MUL TIFACE visible, you can access the DISK ORGANIZER by dOUble-clicking
the CARTRIDGE ICON: this Is essential for hard disk owners, who would first activate the
MUL TIFACE. then load their hard disk drivers and double click for the DISK ORGANIZER -this
way Ihe ST wAI NOT be resel again and hard disk drivers will remain unaffected. For drives Aand
B you may find It qUicker to call the DISK ORGANIZER directly from the MAIN MENU
b) In all other cases the MUL TlFACE Is better off INVISIBLE, namely for programs which crash if
they can delect any hardware device In the cartridge port -with the MUL TlFACE INVISIBLE, they
sholAd load and run fine and you should be able to freeze most of theml
The function of the FREEZE BUTTON I. totally INDEPENDENT on whether the MUL TlFACf
wal left INVISIBLE (hidden) or NOT - you can FREEZE and Ule 'he MUL TIFACE ANY DME .
The only time when the MUL TIFACf Is not accessible II If a program was NOT booted from
the WELCOME MENU -the onlYway to FREEZE. program Is to first BOOT It by the MUL TlFACE.
BEWARE:Ifthe MUL TlFACE Is left INVISIBLE and you later RESET the ST by uslng the reset button,
the MUL TlFACfwill be reset as well and It will return to the PAEWELCOMEMENU state: pressing
the FREEZE button wUl reset the ST and bring the WELCOME MENU.
Other options on the WELCOME MENU are:
Cfully resets and clears the 8T so that you need not switch the power on/off (the Atarl reset button
Is lor warm reset whereby the user RAM Is cleared but the system sel-up Is preserved).
Mtakes you to the MUL TlFACE MAIN MENU (see 2) -here you may wish 10 toad (see 4) programs
saved by Ihe MUL TIFACE, use the MUL D- TOOLKIT to Inspect the Atarl ST ROM/AAM (see 6) or
format disks (see 5). Youcan aso .. ve (see 3) the contents of an empty (on power-up) or,ln the
more likely, albeit unfortunale, case, crashed Atari.
The Disk Organizer (see 7) can be accessed from the MAIN MENU as well.
INSTANT S.AVE (s~ 3.2) and LOAD (see 4.2) shortens the savlng;1oadlng processes.
E1 (a hidden option!) can rectify apartiallydisabled Joystick/mouse. Should you upon re-loadlng or
upon continuingaprogramfind thattheJoystickdoes not flAly function, pleasefreezetheprogram
again by pressing the magic bUUan, then press F1 key and return back to program.
3

You wllllnd thai some programs will not seem to be Interruptable by the mag c button In such case,
the
MUL TlFACE has a special option whereby the ST's own reset button acls n a way as the magic
button. Both the
MUL TIFACE and the ST have to be pre-programmed for this effect:
1) Upon accessing the MUL TlFACE WELCOME MENU (I.e. before booting aprogram), select the
Boot +Reset option by pressing 8.
2) Theprogramwli bootandrunasnormal.Whenyouwish to freeze It, do ltOI pressthe MUL TlFACE's
magic button, but press the Alirl ST RESET Instead.
3) The screen
wi flash Indicating that the MULTIFACE's magic button Is now ready for use. The
programwhich
coUd nothave beenstoppedusinglust AlB or Shift AlB can now be frozen, Inspected,
Its screen can be saved and/or printed and the
RAM contents can be saved
This option has adisadvantage, though: very minimal, but crucial, Informatlon Is missing and the
program maynotnecessarilyContinue
or Run upon Re-Loadlng. In fact only programs with trapped
reset can be continued or re-loaded successfully, all other programs require poking of program
counter and slack pointer with their relevant values. Frankly, this option can bring a
lot 01 fun and
successformoreexpeclencedusers,
who wMI be able to find the necessary pokes (mosteasily those
used to stal1 the program right alter loading from the original disk). Beginners may take achance
here that aprogram
wlII automatically re-start (please note that In any case the program wll ONL Y
run from the beginning each
time. Irrespective where It may have been stoppedl);' not, this option
Is best not be explored any further.
1.4 PRESSiNG THE MAGIC BUTfON.
Twopointsmust be made about pushing the switch -the 'hard' point beingthat you should push the
switchgently using your thumb whilst holding the
MUL TIFACE at the back with your forefinger. The
'soft' point concerns
tHe timing: lcIeally, you sholid be able to stop aprogram any time anywhere,
use the
MUL TlFACE as you wish, and then conllnue -or reload and continue -Ihe program from
where
It has been stopped. By way of the ST design, It may not always be possible 10 Interrupt a
program as you wish: you may either not
be able to freeze aprogram InltlaAy (In which case you
wouldthenusetheaboveexplainedBOOT +RESEToption),
or the MUL TIFACE may fall 10findenough
'breathing space' even after compressing the
RAM (on 520 ST). Thus, In the lalter case, there may
be ashort pause after which the program automatically restarts -you may succeed, though, on
another occasion when, for Instance, the screen can be more effectively compressed. The length
of thepause dependsontheamount of possible compressingand It can rangefrom underasecond
toafew seconds;
In any case, to reassure you, the screen goes Inverse andblack &white before the
main menu appears (or, !alllng that, the
MUL TiFACE returns to conllnue the program). The screen
w I
be fully restored upon leaving the MUL TlFACE or before saving the screen or dumping it to a
printer (only on the Alarl520 aminimal screen corruption
may remain -It Is highly unlikely, and then
againmostscreensarerefreshedallthetime,anyway, soanycorrupllon
Is likely to be only temporary)_
Please note,
thatlemporary screen corrupllon (such as abroken line at the lop or In the middle of
thescreen)
wll occurdurlngvarlousstagesofthe MUL TlFACE operation,which Is per1ectJy NORMAL
1.5 THE SUCCESS RATIO - AND UPGRADES.
Our record withall MUL TfFACES sofar (Spectrumand Amstrad CPC models) has beenmostexcellent
with practically 100% success rate. As any utility, though, every
MULTIFACE model has overaperiod
of lime been upgraded
In one way or another and It Is therefore very likely that the MUL TlFACE ST
will be similarly upgraded.
Alot
of thought, time and team effort went Inlo MUL TIFACE ST design It must be however noted,
that the
AlARI ST as such makes It difficult, If not Impossible, for the MUL TlFACE to succeed tOO'll,.
We believe, that In any case the MUL TlFACE ST Is quite unique In Its approach and In offering tnAy
MULTiple uses (BACKING-UP,
MULTI-TooLKfT, DISK ORGANIZER, etc.).
We hope you w
II find the MUL TlFACE S1your ESSENTIAL ST COMPANION -even If the success In
backing-up may not
be absolute or the ways of operation may differ rrom your own 'Icleal' Ideas.
If you
do encounter any shortcomings or find room for any Improvement, please do let us know.
We are always Interested and we
do care -the next upgrade may reflect your very own comments.
[4

2. THE MAIN MENU
Once the MUL TlFACE settles In, It clears the screen and displays the MAIN MENU:
I!ImI!l S)AVE [lOAD IIORMAT gOal IiIRINT ommm [iJRGANIZER
SAVE (see 3). LOAD (see 4), fORMAT (see 5) and IOOL (see 6) -have their own SUB-MENU.
< UNDO> exits the MUL TIFACE - allis restored and conllnued as before stopping. The MUL TlFACE
Is left INVISIBLE (It can, of course, be activated agalnl). Remember, that If you reset the ST, the
MUL TlFACE will need to be 'Initiated' via Its WELCOME MENU.
fAINT option Is really ahigh resolution screen dump. The current screen Is restored and sent to an
EPSON compatible printer. Make sure your printer Is ON UNE, although If lor any reason the printer
Is NOT ready, an error report will offer you to press any key or < ESC>: < ESC> will take you back
10 Ihe mainmenu, anyotherkeywill re-attempt to print, expecllng you to haveresolved the problem.
Ifyou wish to print out the contents 01 the computer, please use the MULTI-TOOLKIT (see 6l
< INSERT> brings up the screen as It was when Irozen by Ihe MUL TlFACE. This Is Ideal for screen
shots or, on ST 520, for checking whelher the screen Is Intact. Any key returns to the MAIN MENU.
ORGANIZER accesses the DISK ORGANIZER (see 7) provided there Is enough RAM available -the
DISK ORGANIZER needs just over 10K 10 operate. You can always access the DISK ORGANIZER
either Irom Ihe cartridge Icon or from within an "empty computer" (before loading any program). ST
520 users may occasionally get an error report "BO" at the bottom right. Indicating lhat under the
circumstances (the RAM being lull), lhe DISK ORGANIZER cannot function properly.
3. SAVING
MUL TlFACE does not save or change programs as such: It saves an "Image", a"snapshot" of the
computer memory (RAM) frozen at the Instant the Ireeze button was pressed. Therefore It does not
matter HOW you loadedaprogramInthefirst place. whether It was protected or not. Upon reloading,
allis fullyautomaticallyrestoredand lhe programautostarts from thepoint al which It was fI rst stopped.
Having pressed laVe. you are asked to <ENTER> a FILE NAME (8 chars. max.). There Is also an
< ESC> option which, as everywhere else, lakes you astep back. In this case to the rnaln menu.
As for the FILE NAME, only capttalletters and digits are allO'Ned. MUL TfFACE actually leIs you type
In both upperand lO'Ner case but converts 811 Into upper case; halsoruters all 'Iorbidden' characters.
Ifyou typelessthan 8characlers. press <ENTER> to proceed. Having typed the 8th character, the
MUL TlFACE will ask you to confInn the name by pressing Jes or 00.
Once aFILE NAME Is accepted. you wll proceed to the SAVE MENU with the following options:
E*]AVE IJtSK AIiBiIBI S[IREEN t9tGANIZER
f.ROGRAM.beinga defallt, will savetheentire (compressed) contents of your Alar!, Incl. the screen.
SCREEN saves Just the screen In DEGAS lormat. ST 520 owners may occasionally lind the screen
corrupted(onIywhenwlthlnlheMULTIFACE-< UNDO> usuallyrestoreseverything). This Is because
01 the lack of room If the RAM Is full. You can always 'test' the screen by pressing <INSERT>.
DISK slows you 10 select noppy disk drives Aor Ilas asavtng destInation.
The DISK ORGANIZER can be accessed here to help you with all disk your management.
Once you make III your selections (or accepllhe defaults), press SAVE. Just before the saving Itself,
MUL T1FACE compresses the contents of RAM (unless It had to do so already-most likely on a520
ST -immediately upon pressing the stop lUton). The compression only takes up to a lew seconds
and Is acompromlse between a major compt'essIon raking too long and 8n-*lor 'lightning' one At
the end 01 saving -just as l4XlfI reloading 01 the saved program· allis decompressed and restored
Mso, In the MUlTI-TOOlKIT you are woridngwith an uncompressed RAM (wilhthe above exception).
5

3.1 MULTIPLE SAVING
MULTIPLE SAVING Is the only way to put more than 410K on a disk (or 820 on a double sided one).
II alsoenables
you to use partly used disks, If you wish. In most cases the combination of Increased
formatting and efficient
compressing should succeed In backing-up a520K program ona360K disk.
MUL TIFACE always checks first how much disk space Is available and It compares It with the amount
It has to save. If It finds there Is enough space, It automatically proceeds to save. If, however, for any
reason, there Is more to save than adisk can take, two prompts will appear:
DISK SPACE OF m BYTES INSUFFICIENT. CONTINUE YIN?
SAVING: nBYTES
If you press 'J.. to continue, the MUL TlFACE will saveas much as possible on Ihe current disk and then
ask
you to Insert a disk No.2. It will then go through the same cycle -either saving automatically the
remaining
part (provided It finds enough room) or displaying the above messages, saving as much
as possible on the disk No.2 and then asking for a disk No.3 and so forth.
A1lernatlvely,
you can Insert adifferent disk and press H. The MUL TlFACE w I NOT continue saving,
but It will check the disk you just Inserted and, as above, either save automatically on the newty
Inserted
disk or display Ihe above messagesagain. You can Insert up to 254 disks and you may wish
to write the amount of disk space available on the disk Itself for future use. The comparison of the
amount of bytes to save (N) and the amount(s) available on dlsk(s) (M) lets you decide If you should
try swapping a disk or rather split a program onto more than one. If saving onto more than one disk,
please ensure to NUMBEJJ the disks properly, as they must be fe-loaded In the same order ...
Please remember, thatlhe DISK ORGANIZER can help you here to catalogue, erase unwanted liles,
transfer
them elsewhere, etc. Finally, you can < ESCAPE> If you decide to abandon the savIng
process
al any time.
3.2 INSTANT SAVING
Imagine you are playing adifficult game and you wish to use the MUL TlFACE 10 freeze It every time
as you progress and make aback-Up so that you can alleast conllnue lrom where you saved It last.
It
Is, ofcourse, ve.ry straightforward: you pushthebutton, go to savingmenu, Input probably th esame
name as before (you
may not want to end up with several disks with one game on It under dlfferenl
names),
confirm 10 the MUL TIFACE that It can replace the existing version by anew one and al the
endofeverything you return back to the game.Well, all this can be doneaulomallcally just by pressing
the freeze button! If you 'program' the MUL TIFACE by pressing S In the WELCOME MElli! then
EACH time you press the freeze button, lhe MUL TlFACE wll
a) aacI1§. the currently frozen program INSTANT.Ml T
b)
~ If aprevious INSTANT.MLT already exists and If so It wUI automatically Iilll.S.flIt
c)
~ the currentINSTANT.MLT to drive A
d)
ClHUlD. to resume the program
Also, by pressingSIn theWELCOME MENU, the MUL TlFACE Immediately ~ from drive A.
The entire error-trapping remains fully alert and
If any problem occurs (suchas amissing disk or disk
with Insufflclenl room, elc.), you will be Informed but the INSTANT SAVING will be switched off. This.
In fact, Is the
only way to bring up all MUL TlFACE menus (uness you wish 10 reset the entire ST), so
If you wish to escape from permanently saving file INSTANT.Ml T to drive A, Just cause adeliberate
error,
such as taking out a disk temporarHy.
Lastly,
you may wish to Iry INSTANT SAVING If normal saving falls· as all screen/keyboard routines
areswitched off, there
may be an extra chance here; you can always RENAME the INSTANT file later.

4. LOADING
The only way to re-load programs lIyed by the MULTIEACE Is to load them from the main menu.
First you will be asked to < ENTER> aFILE NAME and then presented with the LOADING MENU:
(lOAD [DISK A [!]RGANIZER
Bydefault. theMUL TIFACE will load fromthe Disk DriveA, but by pressing Oagaln you can advance
to and load from the drive B. PressingLslarts LOADING.
The error-trapplng
wlllinform you about any problems -unformatted, missing, corrupled disks, elc.
If the MUL TIFACE does nol lind the lIIe you specified, It will relurn to the LOAD MENU as above with:
ERROR:
FILE DOES NOT EXIST PRESS < ENTER> TO CONTINUE
Clearly, the MUL TIFACE expects you to Insert anolher disk, so thaI It can continue looking for the
FILE NAME
you specified. II you chose a wrong FILE NAME and wish to change It, < ESC> 10
return 10 the MAIN MENU and re-select the LOAD option.
After successful loading, the program Is decompressed and Butostarts from the point of saving.
The DISKORGANIZER can handily show you herewhere 10 find what you are looking for -especially
H
Ihe MULlIFACE Informs you thaI afile (you wish 10 load) does nol elClst...
4.1 MULTIPLE LOADING
The MUL TlFACE automatically delects thaI a program must load from more than Just one disk, and
having loaded Ihe first disk It wAI ask you 10:
INSERT DISK NO.2 (or 3, 4, etc.) AND PRESS ANY KEY or < ESC>
II you get Ihe disks In the wrong order, MUL TlFACE will stubbornly repeal theabove message adding
WRONG DISK INSERTED
untU you get your acl right or < ESC> .
4.2 INSTANT LOADING
II you used INSTANT SAVING 10 shorten the saving process, you may use INSTANT LOADING 10
by-pass all menu and LOAD by default afile INSTANT.MLT from drive A. Pressing Lwill ALSO set
lhe MUL TIFACE ready for INSTANT SAVING - Just one key will thus accomplish qUicklyseveral tasks.
5.0 FORMAT
Standard Atarl disks are formatted with 9sectors of 80 tracks by 512 bytes each. This Is astandard
which can beachieved and guaranteed on all disk drivesmakes. However, In most casesIhe numbe r
of both the sectors and tracks can be Increased - MUL TlFACE finds it safe to add 2tracks on each
of Ihe nine sectors (I.e. 18 new tracks) plus awhole new sector of 82 tracks -altogether 100 tracks
giving extra 50 kilobytes. Most disk drives could cope with slill another track (No. 11), but since a
few
may not liketheIdeaat all, there has to be a compromise of 10 tracks. "your particular disk drive
behaves unrellablywi1h even 10 tracks,
you havealways the option of saving programs that exceed
the capacity of asingle disk on several disks using the MUL TlPLE SAVING. The FORMAT MENU:
(lORMAT .,SK ABJEC/TRACK: 9DRACKS: 80 IDa OF SIDES: 1
Just 'toggle' the four options on the right to set Ihem to your liking and then FORMAT.
You can format on drives A and D. only - and you can always < ESC> at the last moment. ..
Since the MUL TlFACE saves programs In lust one -usually long -file, the disk should have the full
formatted
capaclty whilst being as reliable as possible. MUL TlFACE Is therefore more demanding on
the disk quality and alms at either finishing with afUlly formatted disk (NO marked bad sector) or It
rejectsthe disk altogether. The desktop formatter may stUI accept a disk rejected by the MUL TfFACE
and format It more ex less successfully. You may then use It with the MUL TlFACE, but you would be
well advised to mark It as suspectand Ireat It lhat way. MUL TIFACE gives four tries to any trackbefore
rejecting
It. The track number Is always displayed and you can thus find out which track may be
causing aproblem.
7

6MULTI-TOOLKIT
MULTI-TOOLKIT enables you to Inspect and aher anymemorylocation, or the68000 registers. You
may use find/replace options to do so. In addition, the MULTI-TOOLKIT can be used to .. ve, load,
print and fill any part of RAM. MULTI-TOOLKIT works In Hex, ASCII and Decimal
6.1 Accessing the MULTI-TOOLKIT.
ESCape <ESCAPE>key Back
to main menu
Edit)
'E' key Edltlna memory
R:eal 'R' key Display 68000 registers
AscII 'A'kev
Display In ASCII
Dec
'O'key Dlsolav In Decimal
Hex 'H'kev
DlsDlav In Hex
Block FYI)
'8' key Fill a block of memory
Find 'F'kev
Flnd/reDlace astrlna
Save)
'S' key Salle ablock of memory
Loadl
'L' key Load ablock of memory
6.11 Moving the CURSOR
The current cursor location is shown In Inverse and can be altered by pressing the cursor keys.
Pressing (CTRL]
Up or (CTRL] Down keys alters the cUllent cursor position by 10 lines at atime.
If you wish to move directly to achosen address, press the SPACE bar (see 6.4).
6.2 ESCAPE key
You can <ESCAPE> any time Irom within the MULTI-TOOLKIT and return to the MAIN MENU.
6.3 'E' key -EDIT
6.4 SPACE
key -change ADDRESS
8

Atlhe moment of pressing the button, Multlface ST stores the contents of all the 68000 registers.
Pressing the 'R' key allows
you 10 Inspect and, If you further press 'E', alter them al w I.
On theleftof lhe panel, you will seethe 8Dala registers, theProgramCounterand theStatus RegIster.
Inthecase
of thislast, any flags setwill be shown to Itsright. On theright 01 the panel, the six address
registers are shown as
AO to NJ. A7 and A7' arB the stack pointer and supervisor stack pointer
respectively
In all cases, !hecontents ofthe memory pointed to by that registerare shown, logether
with Ihe contents ol the next couple of addresses. As In the main memory display, the cursor Is
displayed and may be moved with lhe cursor keys. All dIsplays Bfa In Hex.
6.6 'W +'A' + '0' keys -HEX, ASCII or DECIMAL display
6.5
'R' key -REGISTERS display/edit
This allows you to block 1111 an area of memory. PressIng'S' prompts you for start and end addresses
(In hex
or decimal). You arethen prompted for 1111 values. Blockfill Is Intelligent, In that you can enter
asequence ol
up to 10 bytes as the values to be filled, and this sequence will be repeated unt" the
chosen
block Is Oiled. Eachvalue should beconfirmedwith < RETURN> as above, and Just pressing
< RETURN> Inaugurates the lUI process. At any moment, < ESC> ape will abort the process.
6.8 'F' key -FIND/REPLACE
This allows you to search and optionally replace any part of memory. You are prompted for start
and end addresses and then lor the values (In Decimal or Hex) or for an ASCII siring to search for.
Additionally, you can
toggle two parameters: 'P'(rompt) determines what happens when the string
Is found, and 'R'(eplace) deck:les whelher this will be asimple search, or asearch and replace.
II 'Prompt'ls ON,!hen each time the string of byles hasbeen found. you w Ibe prompted 10 continue
searching for asubsequent occurrence (saying no wlJlleave the cursor at the last address found),
II
'Prompt' Is OFF, then all occurrences are displayed continuously without stopping.
6.9 'P' key· PRINT
This option prompts lor ,tart and end addresses and then sends a memory dump to the printer, if
connected.!n Hex mode,theASC/f equivalentsare NOT printed. as Iheseare dumped In ASCIf mode.
Values are requIred In
Hex or Decimal, depending on the number base selected.
6. 0 'S' key· SAVE
Thisallowsyou to uve directly a block 01 memory, As usual, start and nd valuesshould be entered
In
Hex or Decimal, depending on the number base selected). You must also enter a legal mename.
You need NOTgtve
Ihe BMTsufflx. as IhJs Is added by MULTIFACE aUlomaUcally.
6.11 'L' key -LOAD
Thecounterpart 01 theSave option enablesyou to load a block 01 memory, It promplsfor a Illename
and load .ddre.s Again. you need not add the .BMT suffix. II you wish to reload the block 10 Ihe
same address lrom which It was saved, you need not enter the load address. b~ just press
<RETURN> when prompted; the address will be taken from thelUe header.

7. DISK ORGANIZER
MUL TlFACE STDISK ORGANIZER Is a h erarchlcaJ filing system management. It operates within a
non-GEM environment, It Is used without mouse but with keyboard drtven menu Instead.
The main features of the DISK ORGANIZER are:
1) Fast, buffered copying using all available RAM
2) Fast, full directory of floppy or hard discs
3) Deleting fileS/foiders, Creating new folders. Renaming fOes
4) The use of Wild cards
5) Neat and Infonnative Print out
6) Sorting by name. type, date and size
On the face of It, some of the features may seem to be obtainable without the DISK ORGANIZER.
There are however several striking IMPROVEMENTS ON DESKTOP'S FILE MANAGEMENT:
7.11 Reduced disk swapping in single drive copies
The DISK ORGANIZER uses all the avaUabie memory tobuffer as many files as possible at once
during copying, so users with asingle drivewill find farfewer
disk swaps necessary (If any).
7.12 Very fast movement in and out of folders
The DISK ORGANIZER k¥ps the entiredirectoryofthe source disk In RAM, so It Is not
necessary to
read the disk each time afolder Is opened or dosed.
7.13 Size Information
The DISK ORGANIZER showson-screenthe totaisize of selected files/folders (in bytes or kilobytes
rounded up to
the nearest cluster size) and the amount of free space on eachdrive. This means that
you
can tell before starting acopy whether or not there Is Sufficient space on the destination drive.
7.14 More flexible selection
The DISK ORGANIZER allows the user toselect items anywhere on the source disk. notjust In one
folder.
Also, the very powerful use of WILD CARDS makes the selection far easier and fasler. After
an operalion (copy, etc.) the Itemsare left selected so It easyto repeat the operation. orto delete a
bunch offiles just
copied off onlo anotherdisk etc. The Items are numbered when they're selected,
and operations act on Items In the order In which they were selected.
7.15 More information on screen
Hidden and system tUes (as well as normal mes) appear in the DISK ORGANIZER ourdirectory.
As well as the Information given bydesktop the DISK ORGANIZER shows:-
The total number of selected Items and theirtotal size
The amount offree space on the source and destination drives
The attributes ateach Item: read-only. hidden, system etc.
The number ofitems in each folder and Its total size (source only)
The order in which items were selected
7.16 Additional features
The DISK ORGANIZER can show the flies In the order In which they appear on thedisk. This Is the
order in which the PRG files in the AUTO tolderare executed.
The DISK ORGANIZER alsoallows the userto switch the sector verification 011 and off to speed up
copying by approx.
20%.
As well as this, there are the usual desktop functions of creatingfolders, sorting and renaming files.
10

7.2 Accessing the DISK ORGANIZER.
The DISK ORGANIZER Is avaUabie
I) from the MAIN, LOAD and SAVEmenu. Please remember this option Is nne for workingwith
drives
AlB, but It Is NOT suitable forharddisk dr;ves as their drivers are erased
b)
by double dlcklng Its Icon In the Cartridgewindow (provided you used SbI1I AlB to boot from
theWELCOME MENU. thus leaving the
MUL TlFACE vtslble In the cartridge port). Accessing the
DISK ORGANIZER this way will work nne with both floppy and hard disk drives.
7.3 The DISK ORGANIZER Display.
The MAIN SCREEN of the DISK ORGANIZER Is divided Into three sections:
1) The top three lines show ltatus Inlormallon.
The DISK ORGANIZER can know about up to 2disksat once. During a copy one disk Is the source
disk, and the other Is the destination disk. You can tell which directory Is being displayed by looking
atttle top left ofthe screen. The path names of the current nle on each disk are displayed here. The
symbol' =SRC= ' identifies the current file of the source disk, and the symbol' =DST =' Identifles
the current
fie of the destination disk. When you are looking at the source disk' =SRC='will be
highlighted. and when you are looking at the destination disk' =DST =' wlU be highlighted.
To select the AdIsk as thesource disk press the function key E1 followed bythe driveletter. In this
case
A. The DISK ORGANIZER will now display adirectory of rhe A: disk. If you wtsh to make the
B: disk rhe sourcediskpress E1 followed by 8.. and so on forotherdrives. The destination Is selected
similarly by using the function key F2 fol.lowed by the appropriate drive letter. Once you have both
sourceand destination selected you
may roggle betweenthe two using the .... key. Ifyouaccidentally
press
F1 or F2. simplypressing <RETURN> givesyouthe previously selected source or desUnatlon.
The opening screen
of the DISK ORGANIZER expects you to select asource drive by pressing the
appropriatedrive letter
Oust as If you had Just pressed F1). When It starts up the DISK ORGANIZER
checks all available drives -this
may take alew moments.
2) The cenlre section ofthe display shows a dIrectory 01 the current dIsk.
The Inwards pointing arrows In the centre section of the display are acursor Idenlifing the current
fie You may move this cursor up and down with the up and down arrow keys. You may also move
back apage
or forward apage In this display with the left and right arrow keys.
The DISK ORGANIZER can display In either
.2.5 or ~ line mode. By default, It shows 25 lines. but the
mono monitor owners can enjoy far more Information on one screen by pressing
E! to toggle 10
display up to 50 lines,
Another toggle key
Is E5 effecting the Ille length display. By default, Ihis wll be In bytes. However,
for savtng purposes, you
may wish to know Into how many "clusters" the me wRl effectively fit. For
Instance, five 1025 byte long flies may seemingly
occupy less than 6K on disk. but In real terms It will
take 10K
01 disk space, as each file Is asingle byte longer than acluster; consequently, each rile
would be shown as
2K, which may seem afunny way to round up from 1025...
11

7.4 The DISK ORGANIZER Utilities.
The ST IiIlng system allows you to organize yourflies by grouping them together In folders. These
are shown alongwith the fUes on the directorydisplay. The numberIn angle bracketsafterthe word
FOLDER on thedisplay isthe total number of Items In the folder, and the size shown Is the total size
of the folder. You may view the contents of afolder by positioning the cursor over the folder and
pressing the < INSERT> key (above the left arrow key). When you wish to move out of the folder
you may do so with the <CLR HOME> key (above the right arrow key)
Bydefault. itemsareshown In alphabeticalorderwithfolders coming In front of files, but otherorders
are possible.
Pressing the.s key brings up amenu of available sorting orders (self-{lxplanatory ... ).
You may rename the file under the cursor by pressing the Bkey. The DISK ORGANIZER wnl then
prompt you for the new name. Type the new name, and press < RETURN> .
The DISK ORGANIZER allows you to make anew folders. If you press Mapromptwill appear at the
bottom of thescreenasking you for the name ofthe folder you wish to create. Typethe name. press
< RETURN> andthefolderwill bemade In thedirectorydisplayedin themiddlesectionofthe screen.
frint option produces avery neat printout by distinguishing all folders and their relevant files (by
Indentingthem). It alsoallows you to print selectivelywhatever you maywish (tagged liles or folders,
entire disk, etc.).
Normallyahera copy theoST verifies that the rne hascopied correctly (It almost always has).You may
speed upyour copying by turning this verify OFF. Itsstatus (ON or OFF) Is shown on the help menu
and can be changed by pressing the y. key.
7.5 TAGGING.
The DISK ORGANIZERallows you totag (select) anumber of flies andlor folders on the sourcedisk
for multiple caples or deletions. Tagged Items are highlighted In the directorydisplay. If the cursor
Is on afile. pressing < RETURN> will tag the file, and move the cursor onto the next Item. If the
cursor Is on afolder pressing < RETURN> wftl tag thefolder, and all Its contents as well. But If the
Item underthe cursor Is alreadytagged pressing < RETURN> will untag It, Incl. Its contents If It Isa
folder.
The cursor position during tagging Is or utmost Importance, especiallywhen using tagging keys ..E.
Gand H.
Ewill automatically tag allfiles (butNOTotherfolders or theirrespective flies) withinthe ldJllBIl1. folder.
Hkey wDl go astep further and tag all flies AND folders whlch are In. and hierarchically t2BkJ!ti. the
currentfolder.
Gkey wftl slmplytag globallyevetythlng -all folders and all lies.
All of these keys toggle just like the < RETURN> key.
In the middle of the top line of the screen the total number of tagged items, and their total size Is
displayed. Alsowhen Items aretaggedthey are numbered on theleftofthe displayto showtheorder
In which theyweretagged. ThIs Is most Important, as the opemtlons of copying and deleting act on
tagged Items, In the order In which they were tagged. Thus It may be a good Idea to select the
tiles by size when copying - If the longer lies arecopIed first, they w I load faster, In fact by sImply
copying your disks In asultable Ofder, you may speed up loading times quite considerably!
Havtng lagged the me(s), you can press theC key to Inillateacopy, and the.Qkey to Initiateadelete.
Note howeverthat you must have selected adestination disk for the copy to work At right of the top
screenlinetheamount offree spaceonthedestination (andsource) drives Is shown_ By comparing
thiswlth tolal size of the lagged Items you can tell before you startwhetherthere Is enough room for
the copy or not
L- ~u::....- ~J

7.' WILD CARDS.
The DISK ORGANIZER enables you to, tor Instance, tag (and then copy, delete. etc.) all lUes with a
suffix .PRG
by usIng: ~ as a WILD CARD NAME. The principle of the wild card Is very simple:
whateverfollowsanasterisk eitherInthe
name or In thesuffixwill be automatically tagged (selected).
Thus
~ will apply to ties abolt.prg, aborlgln.prg, but NOT abnxal.lln or liOI.prg.
SlmUarfy, ~wnl select ALL ties with ALL 8UffIxes and ~ will select all flies named "meln" with
any suffixes whalsoever.
TheWILD CARD must
first be named by pressing Nand typingthe approprlale name with aslerlsk(s).
II can then
be either
1) globallyapplied (automatIcally foundand tagged)
by pressIng CTRL and the relevanttagging lIey
CTBL Gwill tag all matchIng names on the entire dlsll -foiders and flies Included
CIBL...E wUl tag all matching names of mes only and within acurrent folder only
CIBU:t will tag all matching names of f1168 and folders withinandhierarchically below the current
folder
2) Individually selected with two options (uslng opening Of closing brackets):
) w I find and
shift cursor to Individual occurances of matching names from the cursor pasltlon
onwards.
Yau cantheneitheruse < RETURN> to tagafile, Of press) again for the next occurance.
(acts similarly, but backwards
(or upwards. If you wish) from the cursor positIon.
WILD CARDtagging can be extremely useful In many situations -you may wish to eraseall ~ flies
or copy all or selected ~ fNes. you can copy fUes starting by ~ Into afolder named IfiIu. etc.
8. GUARANTEE.
This guarantee Is In addition to and does not affect any statutory Of other rights of consumers or
purchasers. ROMANTIC ROBOT guarantee that If within J months of the dale of purchase the
MUL TfFACE proves to be defective by reason of fauty design, workmanship or materials. It wHI be
repaired or replaced free of charge provfded that:
1) It has not been In any way misused, used with unsuitable equipment or sUbjected to
deliberate, accidental or consequential damage.
2)
no unauthorised modifications, repairs or adjustments were made to the MUL TlFACE
3) aproof of purchase (such as a dated receipt) wli be prOVided to confIrm that the
MUL TlFACE Is stUI within the guarantee partod (mal order purchasers should supply
the details of the original
order Instead)
The purchaser's sole and exclusive
remedy under this guarantee Is for the MUL TlFACE ST repair or
replacement. No other remedy Including but not limited to Incidental or consequential damage or
loss of whalsoever nature shall be avalable to the purchaser.
IPIRACY IS ILLEGAL! I
ff1ULTIFACE S1 II not designed to encoUfllge piracy! I
You may not use It to Infringe copyright In any way whatsoever, such as by seiling or passing on
caples or orIginals 01 which you have kept their coples. Piracy Is theft and ROMANTIC ROBOT
wishes to make hs position absolutely clear on this maner. If you are In any doubt as to whether
It Is legal to make back-up copies of aparticular commercial program, even if solely lor your own
use, please contact lhe copyrightowners. In order to protect copyright, the back-Upcopies taken
with the
MUL TlFACE ST will t:Kll. fe-load unless the MUL TlFACE ST Is connected.
13