Delirium Release 2                        Version 2.30 - February 2000
==================


Note: Please see the other documents in the !Delirium.Docs directory.
      These can be viewed by selecting "Help" from the menu on the
      Delirium icon.


I've always wanted a screen saver that uses decent fx. Sliding blocks
and swimming fish fx have been so over used that something very
different was needed. The original idea was to put demo quality effects
into a screen saver program, and that's what we've done. The power of
the RiscPC gives us 24bit graphics and full multi tasking. Hopefully the
result brings quite a bit more style to the RiscPC desktop.

The main changes in Delirium for Release 2 are in the front end. It's
now much more configurable, more stable (hopefully), and a lot of user's
suggestions have been implemented. Some of the existing savers have been
updated, and a selection of new savers are available.



Compatibility
=============

Delirium has been designed with the RiscPC in mind - and so will only
run properly on RiscPC's and A7000's. The "ideal" Delirium system will
be a StrongARM RiscPC with VRAM. We were hoping to make use of the power
of Phoebe when it was released, but that's kinda out the window now.

It's been brought to my attention that there is a problem with RISC OS
3.5. The Wimp module appears to have a bug in it that causes Delirium to
crash when launching some savers and configuration programs. One cure
for this is to use the Nested Wimp module, available from Acorn's Web
site. The other option is to upgrade to a StrongARM and RISC OS 3.7. The
latter is obviously more expensive (i.e., it's not free!), but it is
definitely worth the money (not just for Delirium, other stuff benefits
too ;-).

Delirium also requires the Toolbox modules. There is a small bug in old
versions of the IconBar module, in that it sometimes messes up when
redrawing the Delirium icon. Upgrading to the latest toolbox modules
(also available on Acorn's Web site) will cure this.



Shareware
=========

Delirium is Shareware and if you use it for more than a trial period of
30 days it would be rather nice if you registered with us by sending a
cheque (payable to Paul Wheatley) for 5 of your English pounds:

   Delirium
   Paul Wheatley
   7 Jervaulx Close
   Boston Spa
   Wetherby
   West Yorkshire
   LS23 6RY

Please include your email address (if you have one). This makes it
easier for us to keep you informed about new savers and updates.

(NOTE : if registering after October 98, please check the Delirium Web
site (address at end of file) for the latest postal address which may
have changed)

We've decided to make Delirium Shareware and to release the full version
with all the savers on the internet and from PD libraries. Delirium has
taken a lot of development time, and as far as we're concerned, walks all
over the commercial screen saver programs available for the Acorn.
Please support our choice to make this software Shareware by registering
with us. We're continually, albeit slowly(!), developing new saver
effects for the program which will be released on the Web site in the
coming months so it when they become available, so it would be cool if
you send in the tiny registration fee to pay for all that coffee that
keeps us going during those long nights of coding *:-) [ Speak for
yourself Paul! - J ]

Please support our use of Shareware, and we will continue to produce low
cost software for the Acorn market without resorting to over priced
commercial releases, which sucks really.

The program may be copied freely provided that all files in the main
program are distributed together and that none of them is changed.
Individual savers can also be copied freely as long as they remain
unchanged. Distribution is only allowed if the savers and front end are
not sold for profit.

Distribution is only allowed on CDs if we get 3 copies of the CD in
question.



A Brief User Guide
==================


Configuration
-------------

Click Select on the icon bar icon to bring up the configuration window.
As from version two, this window is split into four sections:


Saver

This window contains settings that allow you to select, configure and
test individual saver effects. These are:

         Enable: A quick way to disable Delirium. (Why you ever want
                 to I don't know! ;). Del can also be disabled from the
                 Icon Bar menu.
          Saver: Select the saver you wish to use.
         Config: Brings up a configuration window for the currently
                 selected saver. You must save these settings for them
                 to have any effect on the saver.
           Info: Opens in info window giving a few details/requirements
                 of the selected saver.
           Test: Trial run the slected saver with its current settings.
     Delay time: Time, in seconds, of inactivity before the saver
                 starts.


Dimmer

These allow you to set up aspects of Delirium's dimming. This allows the
monitor to fade out a little after a short period of inactivity (say,
about two minutes), and then have the saver kick in after a longer time.

 Enable dimming: Turns off the dimming and fading routines in Delirium.
                 Useful if you wish to preserve the current Gamma
                 settings and still use the rest of Delirium.
       Dim time: Time before partially dimming the screen.
      Dim speed: The speed at which Delirium dims. The speed also varies
                 slightly depending on the refresh rate of the selected
                 screen mode.
      Dim level: How dark you want the screen when it's in its
                 semi-dimmed state.


Corners

This lets you specify which corners of the screen are sleep/nosleep
corners.

    Corner size: This allows a corner to have a configured 'radius'.
                 This value is in OS units, rather than pixels. You
                 probably don't need to change it.

One note about the sleep corner - once a saver has finished, it is
possible for the pointer to still be in the corner. So, the corner will
be deactivated until the mouse is removed from the corner for a few
moments. This prevents the saver from re-starting immediately after it
has been stopped...


Icon

This lets you specify a few things about the desktop icon to be used,
and allows you to configure a hotkey that makes the icon appear (if
hidden).

   Desktop icon: This allows you to select between a normal, small or no
                 icon on the icon bar. If 'no icon' is selected, you can
                 bring it back temporarily by re-running Delirium, by
                 using the star command *Delirium_ShowIcon, or using the
                 key shortcut as defined below:
   Use shortcut: When on, pressing the combination of keys (specified
                 using "Key 1" and "Key 2", will toggle the visibility
                 of the Delirium icon.
                 If you specify both keys to be the same, then you only
                 need to press one key to make the icon appear.


Password

If you wish, Delirium can be given a password, which will have to be
entered correctly before returning to the desktop after a saver has
finished. Note: when running outside the desktop, Delirium cannot
password protect the screen.

Enable password: Turns on and off the password protection.
  Block special: Only has an effect if password protection is on. This
                 will block the actions of various "special" keys
                 during the password entry phase.
                 For example, it blocks the break key so that you cannot
                 bypass the password protection by pressing Alt-Break to
                 kill Delirium.
                 Note: This will also block "special" keys while a saver
                 is running, for the same reason as above.
                 Use this feature with care, as it could leave your
                 computer in a semi-unusable state if something goes
                 horribly wrong!
   Set Password: This opens a subwindow that is used for setting the
                 password.
                 
  In the subwindow are the following items:

        Current: Enter your current password, if you have one, to allow
                 you to change the password. If you have no password set
                 then this field will be greyed out.
            New: Enter your desired password in here.
          Again: Enter the password again. If the two don't match then
                 password protection will not be enabled.

When a saver finishes, the screen will be blanked and a window opened
where you must enter your password. If you "cancel" this, or get the
password wrong, the saver will be restarted.

Note: The currently set password is remembered INDEPENDENTLY of the
switch that enables password protection. This may seem odd, but has two
advantages that I can think of:

 1) If you normally have a password set then you can temporarily disable
    password protection, without having to re-enter your password when
    you enable it again.
 
 2) You can set a password and leave protection turned off. This then
    means that to set a password you must enter the current one; which
    prevents "naughty" users from setting a password on your machine
    while you aren't looking!


General

A few other bits and bobs that can be set up.

Outside desktop: Should Delirium dim/blank the screen if you are outside
                 the desktop (eg., at the command line, or using the PC
                 card). Note: The effects themselves cannot be run
                 outside the desktop, neither can password protection,
                 but the dimming/fading can.
 Use AutoVCache: Explained a little later...
 Startup banner: Display the Delirium banner for a few seconds on
                 program startup.
   Saver banner: Display the Delirium banner when the screen is dimming
                 prior to a saver starting. Yet another blatant plug for
                 the software...
      Start new: If a saver dies for some unexpected reason, Delirium
                 can either simply blank the screen, or it can start
                 another saver, chosen at random from the list specified
                 in the Random saver. This option toggles this action.
 Claim keypress: When on, Delirium will "eat" the keypress that you use
                 to stop a running saver. This means that the character
                 you press won't be typed into whatever window happened
                 to be open on the desktop at the time!
Replace windows: When this is on, before Delirium starts any saver it
                 will store the positions of all open windows in the
                 WIMP. When the saver stops, Delirium will check to see
                 if any of the windows have moved, and, if so, attempt
                 to replace them. This is an option because some
                 applications don't like Delirium doing this to them!


Hints and Tips
--------------

Here's a few suggestions to help you get used to Delirium:

 * Clicking with the Adjust button on the Delirium iconbar icon starts
   the currently selected saver - a nice quick alternative to using the
   sleep corner.

 * Interactive help is fully supported, should you need a little more
   guidance while using the program.

 * You may wish to still use the built in screen blanker on your
   computer if, for example, your monitor has a power saving mode which
   kicks in when the screen blanker starts. Simply set the blank time
   for the screen blanker to be greater than that of Delirium (say, 30
   minutes). That way, you get to enjoy the pretty effects for a while
   before your monitor turns itself off.   
   Note: When the screen blanker starts, Delirium will stop its
   currently running effect. This will free up CPU time while the saver
   is hidden. Useful for RC5 users...

 * You may wish to set a password even if you don't want to password
   protect your screen (this is possible to do!). This then prevents
   another user from setting a password on your computer without knowing
   the current one. See the Password section above for details.


AutoVCache
----------

If you have the AutoVCache module present, and loaded, on your system,
Delirium will use it to speed up some of the effects. It does this by
issuing a 'vcache on' command before a saver starts, and a 'vcache auto'
command after it finishes.

AutoVCache is only suitable for RiscPCs with StrongARM processors.

AutoVCache is by Torsten Karworth, and can probably be found on Hensa or
other FTP sites.


Extra Options
-------------

There are one or two extra options for Delirium that can only be changed
by editing the file '!Boot.Choices.Delirium.Delirium' by hand (this file
is created the first time you save the Delirium settings). You are
unlikely to ever need to change these, and certain settings may well
cause Delirium to behave oddly. Please edit with great care.

If you mess up these setting beyond all hope, the way to restore the
file is simply to: quit Delirium, delete the file, restart Delirium
(it'll use default values), and then save the settings.



Phoebe Support
==============

This is obviously out of date now, since the bad news from Acorn about
the Phoebe. I'll leave the section in though, just for old times sake...

Before releasing Delirium we contacted Acorn to see if they wanted to
use it on the new RiscPC II. Despite finding the program "very
impressive" they didn't have anyone working in the Acornsoft department
to strike us a deal, so we decided to go ahead and release it ourselves
under a general shareware release (and hence open it up to RiscPC I
users as well).

The new version of RISC OS on Phoebe includes support for proper screen
savers, and the idea to support this format was considered. However, we
decided that our format was a bit simpler, making it much easier for
third parties to create their own saver fx (Acorn's format requires each
saver to do a lot of work, and the front end to do very little). We
decided to pretty much ignore Acorn's format, at least for the moment,
and press ahead with ours. As far as we can guess, Delirium will
function okay on the Phoebe and if not, we will work to make it
compatible as soon as we can get our hands on one.



Disclaimer
==========

The Software is supplied "as is", the authors make no warranty, express
or implied, as to the merchantability or its fitness for any particular
purpose. It may or may not perform in accordance with the documentation
or your expectations.

In no circumstances will the authors be liable for any damage, loss of
data, profits, goodwill, or for any indirect or consequential loss
arising out of the use of the Software, or inability to use the
Software, even if the Authors have been advised of the possibility of
such loss.

Please note that the ideal saver to prevent burn in on your monitor is
the blank task, and that if any screen saver is left running for long
enough, there is a very small chance that monitor will still burn in
(although its gonna take a long time!). Delirium is not /guaranteed/ to
protect your monitor against burn in - but at least it looks nice! :-)



Contact
=======

Comments, bug reports, and slaggings off about Delirium should be
directed to:

	delirium@various-artists.freeserve.co.uk

Any email will be forwarded to (and ignored by ;) the most appropriate
of Delirium's authors for that particular query.


The Delirium Web site is at:

	http://www.various-artists.freeserve.co.uk/delirium/


Contact Paul (Origin) on email at : unclepaul@arcade.demon.co.uk
              Or by snail mail at : Paul Wheatley
                                    7 Jervaulx Close
                                    Boston Spa
                                    Wetherby
                                    West Yorkshire
                                    LS23 6RY



