BLAZING PADDLES Documentation Written by The Camel Jockey Introduction What is Blazzing Paddles? BLAZING PADDLES is a very powerful and easy to use drawing program. It allows you to use almost any input device to create drawing, diagrams, and text. It is easy enough for young children to use like a coloring book, yet sophisticated features are included for the serious computer artist. Equipment requirements 1. An Apple //c, //e, //+, //, or compatible computer with 48K minimum and Applesoft. 2. One or two disk drive. 3. A color monitor or TV is preferred, but a monochrome monitor will work fine. 4. One of the following input device (properly connected): 1) Mouse 2) Graphics Tablet 3) Touchpad (KoadlaPad or equivalent) 4) Joystick, trackball, or similiar paddle port device 5) Light Pen 5. A printer is optional. You can get a printout of your picture with most types of printers. Getting Started Before running the program, make sure your input device is properly connected. Carefully follow the installation directions supplied with the device. Make sure the power is OFF before connecting anything to your computer. Next place the BLAZING PADDLES disk in drive 1 (label facing up), and turn the computer on. When the drive stops spinning, you will see the following display on your monitor screen. At the bottom of the screen is a menu of the various input devices. The left and right arrow keys are used to make a choice from this menu. Press the right arrow [-=>] key to highlight the next selection on the menu. Press the left arrow [<=-] key to move backward through the menu. When the device you are using is highlighted, press [RETURN] to run the program. The disk will run for a few moments and then the main menu will appear. Since each input device is operated differently, you will have to learn the following techniques for your device. * How to move the "cursor" around the screen. * How to draw and select menu items using the "ACTION BUTTON." * How to delete actions using the "UNDO BUTTON." *Note - Light pens require special techniques. If you are using a light pen, refer to the chapter on LIGHT PENS. Moving the Cursor The cursor is a small flashing marker that indicates your position on the screen. *MOUSE - Move mouse to position cursor on the screen. Cursor can be moved off the screen by moving the mouse until the cursor disappears. *TOUCHPAD - Places styles or finger on the pad to position cursor on the screen. Lift styles off pad to take cursor off the screen. *GRAPHICS TABLET - The "screen" area is the lower 2/3 of the tablet. Touch the pen lightly on the surface of the tablet to positon the cursor on the screen. Place the pen near the top of the tablet to move cursor off the screen. *JOYSTICK - Joystick and other paddles port devices. Move joystick to position cursor. Move to the upper left corner to move cursor off the screen. Action Button The ACTION BUTTON is used when you want to make a menu selection or draw something on the picture. *MOUSE - The mouse button is the ACTION BUTTON. *TOUCHPAD - There are two buttons on the touchpad. The left button is the ACTION BUTTON. *GRAPHICS TABLET - The ACTION BUTTON is the point of the pen. When you press down on the pen so that the point retracts, you activate the ACTION BUTTON. *JOYSTICK - Joystick or paddles port device - There are two buttons. The left button (or button 0) is normally the ACTION BUTTON. Some joysticks may have a different layout so you may have to experiment to find out which button to press. Undo Button The UNDO BUTTON is used to remove the last item plaved on the picture. This allows you to try things out before they become a permanent part of the picture. The [ESC] key on the keyboard is used for the UNDO BUTTON. If you are using a device with two buttons (touchpad, joystick, etc.), the second button becomes the UNDO BUTTON. *NOTE - The "undo" feature will work only on the very last thing drawn on the screen.