List of contents


Introduction
Security copy, guarantee


Part: 1 The scanner


Installation of the scanner


The controls of the scanner
Loading and starting of the program
Scanning


Part: 2 Handyscan


Load and run


Mouse and joystick
Menus
Keyboard commands
Freehand drawing


Undo function
Screen management


Disk operation load
Survey function
Erasing of the graphic memory


Lines
Rectangles
Circles and ellipses
Display of co-ordinates
Fill-and pattern function
Text function, character sets


Spray function
Storing on disk, disk commands
Move, scrolling, copying


Reflecting, turning
Enlarging, reducing
Connections
Patterns and move, patterns overlapping
Sprite command, get, append, stamp
Sprite-editor and zoom function
Construction set
Erase
Printing
Printer set-up
End of the program

Part 3: Handyfox

Load and start
Mouse and joystick
Handyfox and Pagefox
Menus
Keyboard commands
Lines, rectangles, ellipses
Tabulator
Move
File and plane
Text and character sets
Erase graphic memory
Alter floppy address
Patchwork of pictures

Dear User,

With the Handyscanner 64 you possess a piece of the latest technology. The Handyscanner enables you to digitise graphic arts and photos out of magazines, books or other materials within seconds; to redraw them again with the enclosed comfortable drawing programs (character sets) and for example to use them (in the Pagefox or Printfox) for letters, invitations, club magazines and so on.

The present operating instructions are subdivided in three parts:

The first part explains the connection and use of the scanner.

The second part explains in detail - understandable also for those users, who don't know the "Scanntronik" yet - the software version, which runs without Pagefox-module (File "Handyscan" on disk).

The third part explains the software version, which only runs together with the Pagefox (Handyfox) and which uses its additional memory. The knowledge of the Pagefox graphic-editor will be taken for granted, only the differences will be explained.

The three parts of the operating instructions are almost self-sufficient. You can read as you like first the instructions for the scanner or for the software and of course you need to read only one of the chapters 2 or 3 whether you possess Pagefox or not.


First the security copy

In any case you should make a back-up copy of your original disk (for yourself). The original disk is not self-protected against reproduction, so that you can use any copy program (the best results are attained with a disk-copy program that copies the complete disk). Anyhow the lack of the anti-copy self-protection doesn't mean that you can reproduce and distribute the program for others. The development of these programs represents a lot of effort and when you pass them on to others, you deprive the author of his hard-earned profit. Moreover it's illegal and you would have to pay damages.

Regarding security

The warranty of the scanner hardware is 6 months. Technical alterations on hardware or software are subject to change without notice. For damages caused by faulty operations we don't undertake liability.


Part 1: The scanner


Installation of the scanner

In the package beside the Handyscanner itself there is an interface to connect the scanner with the C 64 and an AC/DC- adapter for the power-supply for the scanner. The additional power-supply ensures that the AC/DC-adapter of the C64 will not be overloaded.

Put the mini-DIN-plug of the scanner and the small plug of the AC/DC-adapter in the sockets provided on the interface. By the mini-DIN-plug pay attention to the right position, which is marked by a larger and two smaller notches. Please insert the plug carefully in the socket with gentle lateral movements.

Then insert the interface - with the label upwards - in the user-port of the switched off computer. Attention: whenever you connect or disconnect the interface, the computer has to be switched off, otherwise you will damage either the interface or the computer.

If you want to use a floppy-speeder and/or a printer with the scanner at the same time you will have to install an adapter at the user-port (with electronic uncoupling of the flag signal), which divides the user-port into several connections (most of the time three).

The scanner interface is built so that it doesn't disturb the operation of the floppy-speeder or the printer; it can be plugged in all the time.

There are some printers that can disturb the scanner - even when they are not in use. In this case you have to unplug the printer when you want to scan.

And now you switch the computer on and plug the AC/DC-adapter of the scanner in the socket. When you have finished using the scanner you should unplug the AC/DC-adapter again.


The controls of the scanner

After plugging in the AC/DC-adapter the scanner is in standby condition, when the LED-line is dimly illuminated. A short press of the button on the upper side and the scanner is in operation - the LED-line is now brightly illuminated. Now the scanner is able to accept graphic arts. But of course the software has to be loaded first, which will be explained in the following chapter.

You press the button on the upper side again and the scanner is again in stand-by operation in which no data can be loaded. The standby-condition helps to bring the scanner to the right position on the copy without unintentional loading of data. The window in the scanner shows you exactly the part that the scanner is reading.

On one of the narrow sides of the scanner there are two regulators and a switch. The left-hand control serves the purpose of adapting the light intensity and the right-hand control is for the contrast setting best to the copy.

Perhaps you need some practice till you have found the optimal setting.

The 4-stage slide switch between the two controls allows changing over between black & white and grey shade evaluation. For digitising diagrams, documents or other simple black and white materials you slide the switch to the left position. For photos, however, you put the switch in one of the three positions. Which position gives the best result is a matter of trial and error.

Depending on the original and the degree of enlargement a disturbing pattern can be created by the lack of blending between grey shades. This effect can be corrected by choosing one of the three other positions on the switch.

The switch on the opposite narrow side of the scanner always has to be in position 8, when the scanner is operated simultaneously with the C64, otherwise no performance is possible.



Loading and starting of the program

The loading and starting of the program is explained in detail in the software description. If you haven't read it yet, because you want to scan immediately, here is a summary:

Without Pagefox you load the program Handyscan with: 
LOAD "HANDYSCAN",8 (press RETURN) and then start with 
RUN (RETURN).

If you have Pagefox, connect it to the (switched off) computer, turn it on and leave the Pagefox (by clicking on the icon right down in the layout menu or loading of C= Q) and start it with RUN (RETURN).

Answer the question: Erase?, which appears by both versions after the start of the program with J (RETURN) for yes, so that you have a clear memory.

You start the scan routine by loading C= F1
(Commodore key and f1), or by clicking on the eye icon in the menu line by the mouse (Scanntronik mouse, Commodore 1351 or NCE in port 1, clicking with the right hand key of the mouse) or with a joystick (in port 2). You will find more about the mouse or joystick connection in the description of the software. When using the Handyscan you have to call up and reload the scan routine (file "HSCN+") due to limited storage capacity. Therefore leave the program disk in the disk drive.


Scanning

When you have activated the scan routine the question: Degree of enlargement? will appear on the screen. Please, load the desired multiplication or reduction factor in percent (%) and finish the loading process with RETURN. For example, loading 100 means that your print will be the same size as the original. By 200 the print is twice as big as the original, by 50, however, only half as big. Any size in between 30 and 300% is possible, that means you get a range between 1/2 and 3 times the size of your original.

The enlargement factor determines the length of the usable field and also the width of the area that will be covered in the graphics memory. By a maximum enlargement of 300% the maximum width of the graphics memory - that means 640 points - will be used, by 100%, however, only an area of 200 points on the left border of the memory.

The length of the usable field by a setting of 100% corresponds exactly to the height of the printout, that means half a page of DIN-A4 format (approx. 15cm) using Handyscan and a whole page (approx. 30cm) using Handyfox. In the case of an enlargement the length is reduced; by a reduction the length is increased (by 200% the length is halved).

The factors for X-axis (vertical) and Y-axis (horizontal) can be loaded separately when they are separated by a multiplication point [asterisk]. Example: The command 200*100 doubles the width without changing the height. 

After the input of the enlargement factor the user sees a blue screen. The software is now "armed" and ready for data from the scanner.

Now place the scanner on the original: the connecting cable is towards you and on the screen you see the upper edge of the material to be scanned. Watch out that the scanner is still in the standby condition (window slightly illuminated) otherwise it will have already started scanning while you bring it into position. When you have found the right position you activate the scanner by pressing the button on the topside, as mentioned before.

Then push the scanner slowly and very straight from the top to the bottom of the original.

You may move the scanner approximately 4cm per second at the most, for the height of a whole DIN A4 page you will need about 7 seconds. Scanning too fast would cause a distortion of the picture. To move or push the scanner straight - without curves or swerves - it is recommended that you use a ruler or other straight edge as a guide.

During scanning, the screen shines in pale and dark blue. After the full length of the scanning field has been stored, it will take a while till you can use the result on your screen. The program can only process scanning the data, once the scanner has transmitted it. (This happens with a speed of 400,000 bits per second) then it has to be transformed into the proper format for the screen. With
Handyscan this lasts about 20 seconds for a maximum enlargement. For Handyfox with its larger graphic storage capacity, approximately 40 seconds. With a smaller enlargement factor the process is quicker. During the conversion there is a lot going on the screen because the memory is used for work storage by the program.

If you want to stop the scanning because the original is shorter than the scanning field, simply press the STOP key on the C64. Only the entered portion will be converted then so that it doesn't last as long as it would, if you had used the complete field. For technical reasons related to the program it can happen that the table "waste" appears in the unused field of the memory.

Therefore you have to save first all images which are in the storage and which you don't want to lose on a disk even when you only want to use part of the memory for storing new images.

After finishing or stopping the scanning process, switch the scanner back to standby position by pressing the topside button.

When you want to digitise images, which are wider than 65 mm, you can store them in stripes and afterwards put them together. The Handyfox program enables you in a comfortable way to do this. That means with loading 3 stripes you have stored a complete DIN A4 page. The directions for this you will find in part 3, the instructions for Handyfox.



Part 2: Handyscan

Except for the scan routine Handyscan is identical with the graphic program Eddison, one of the most efficient and comfortable drawing programs made for the Commodore C 64. Eddison was enlarged compared to its predecessor Hi-Eddi not only with a multitude of new possibilities (for example the infinitely variable enlargement or reduction, the pixel exact move function, the patterns on ellipses) but also the operation is much more comfortable for the menus, erasers and transparencies or the Undo instruction.

The present instructions are written so that you can place them beside the computer and carry out immediately every instruction explained, every option offered or examples shown. Through this approach it's a little bit less systematic but with the help of the table of contents you will be able to find every instruction quickly.


Load and Run

Put the program disk (better: your working copy) in the disk drive and load the Handyscan with 
LOAD "HANDYSCAN",8 (then press RETURN) and start it then with RUN (press again RETURN).


Do you want to erase?

After start up Handyscan asks if you want to erase the memory. Normally you will press "J" (and RETURN) for yes, in order to draw on a clean, white sheet of paper. But if you have dropped out of the program either inadvertently by RESET and you want to start again without losing the drawing you have already laboriously done, then press N.


A kingdom for a "mouse"

When you want to draw a point on the screen, you could point with your finger on it and say, "here I want a point". But then Handyscan won't do anything because it can't either hear you or see your finger. Therefore another method of operation was created. Instead of your finger there is a cursor on the screen (a sign that shows you where you are working).

This sign is best controlled by a mouse, either a Commodore 1351 (Scanntronik mouse) or the NCE mouse. If you are the lucky owner of one of these electric rodent animals, then plug it in the control port 1 (the front one on the right side of the C64). If you possess the NCE mouse you have to connect in between the mouse interface of Scanntronik, otherwise the mouse will block the keyboard.

When nothing is working (the cursor doesn't react to the movements of the mouse or the keyboard is blocked) press the RESTORE key and/or both mouse keys. This effect results from the interrupting impulses of plugging in the mouse. This condition can be avoided, if you plug the mouse in before switching on the computer (this can cause problems with some speeders). The best method for you will be found by experimenting.

If you don't have any mice, but only a joystick, connect this to port 2. The control with a joystick is not as comfortable, but it works. Handyscan offers a quicker cursor that allows pixel exact operation and also quick bridging over of longer distances.


A menu! Does that mean food?

No it doesn't. A computer menu is a sector on the screen that indicates possible commands/instructions, shown as graphic symbols (called icons). You choose the orders by clicking on them, that means put the cursor on to the desired order and press the right hand mouse key or the button of the joystick.

The board that you see at the lower edge of the screen is such a menu. But Handyscan has more. That means three all together (two order boards and one pattern board, you will see it on a following page). This dividing in three menus was done to avoid taken space away from the drawing field.

With the left-hand mouse key you can click through all three menus one after the other. By using a joystick you have to bring the cursor down to the lower edge of the menu and then press the button. All buttons of the joystick correspond to the right hand mouse key.

You will find a survey of the Handyscan menus on the following page with an explanation of all icons. The letters above the icons indicate the keyboard instructions, because
Handyscan can be used quite normally, like the old Hi-Eddi, with the board. This, however, is only interesting for joystick users, because clicking on the icons is a little bit more complicated. But with the mouse running through the menu it is easier and more comfortable. You don't have to remember the board instructions.

Beside that, there are some more instructions that can be entered only through the keyboard, because they have something to do with the cursor position, they are rarely used or are needed quickly. An overview of these instructions you will find in the menu survey.


In some other computers or programs the mouse keys are just the other way round, the left key is the main key and the right-hand key the menu key. Handyscan can also be converted to this setting: Simply press the left-hand key of the mouse and press RESTORE at the same time. From then on the left-hand key of the mouse is the fire key (main key) and the right hand key serves to click through the menu. For technical reasons this only works with the 1351 not with the NCE mouse. There the left-hand key blocks the menu, so that no free drawing is possible.

The instruction refers to the unchanged setting in the following, which means the right hand key is the main key.

Choice of menus:


Menu board

[Figure 1 - menu board 1]


Menu board

[Figure 2 - menu board 2]


Pattern line

[Figure 3 - pattern line]


Board instructions:

F7, F8: to find the TAB and to set it
0: Set zero point for co-ordinates display
F3, F5: choose drawing colour and background colour
1, 2, 3, and 4: select one of the four monitors
Shift P: Choose new patterns

And now let's draw

Please click on the icon for free hand drawing (this is the pencil in the second field of the first menu board). This icon appears inverted and that indicates that the drawing mode is activated. Now you can set points on the drawing area with the cursor, by clicking the right-hand key of the mouse or the joystick button once you are on the right place. When you move around with the mouse by pressing the mouse key you are able to draw any kind of figure. Even when you move the mouse quickly you will get a coherent line, so that you could store the figures produced by using the fill order.

If you want to set heavier lines or points, click the brush next to the pencil and draw with it. A quicker mouse movement causes then a little bit a broken line not usable for filling.

Now try to set a point where there is already one. You will see that the mark disappears. When you move around the screen while pressing the mouse key, the brush will erase all prior points over which you are moving. You notice the brush became an eraser and it stays like this till you stop pressing the mouse key.

That means that with the free drawing option you can set points or erase without switching menus. If you get in the wrong mode by mistake - erase instead of draw or the other way round - you just press the mouse key a second time.

If there is no room left for your experiments anymore because you have drawn everywhere on the monitor you just click on the trashcan and you have a clean screen again.

And now, please draw something nice, for example a portrait of your friend, your partner, dad and mum or of whom ever you like Are you good enough now to produce a work of art like this self portrait of the author?


[Figure 4 - cartoon face]


Erase?

While drawing the portrait you perhaps found that you were quite content with the face already, but the ears were not satisfactory. You perhaps erased the ears point by point in order to draw them again. There is a simpler way: with the help of the undo order that erases the last manipulation.

And what is the last manipulation? With lines, rectangles or circles it is quite clear, undo erases the last line, the last rectangle or the last circle. But with drawing? The last point? That wouldn't be wise. Here you have to help Handyscan.

Click again the pencil or the brush to define the operation that Handyscan should erase with undo. Again the portrait example: Being content with the face, you already click on the brush before drawing the ears. If you don't like the ears now, you click undo and they are gone again. But if you like them you click the brush again for saving and go on drawing.

Generally, Undo works with the free drawing and with the sprite commands and the spraying function right back to the last input. Clicking on the brush is a command and it limits the memory of the undo order.

You have to click another command in between operations so that undo doesn't go too far backwards and erases the whole portrait. By all other drawing modes, however - such as lines, rectangles, ellipses, filling, moving, texting or zoom - only the last segment is erased.

If you clicked the trashcan on by a mistake you can also restore a monitor already cleared with the undo.


More monitors

Until now you have only drawn on one screen. But you certainly know already that Handyscan has a capacity of 640x400 points - that means 4 screens full.

Now we want to look at these 4 screens. First we load a big picture in the memory so that the screen doesn't look empty (empty screens are boring, don't you think so?)

To do this, please put the program disk in the disk drive and click the left-hand one of the three disk symbols; it's the one on which the arrow points from the disk to the monitor.

Handyscan shows you now the table of contents of the chosen disk. If it has got a length that doesn't fit in the screen, you can go further by pressing the space bar, or the left-hand mouse key. And you can interrupt the input by pressing the Stop key, which returns you to the graphic screen immediately.

We want to load now the file "Schlumpf GB" [Smurf GB].
Look for this file in the table of contents and put the cursor on it with the mouse, joystick or the cursor keys (the cursor beam has to be under the first letter of the name) and click it on with the right hand mouse key, the joystick or RETURN. Now Handyscan wants to know whether you want to load the picture or mix it. The picture on the disk would be overlaid with the one in the screen, if you take mixing, otherwise if you take load the picture of the disk overlays the one in the memory. Here too you click the desired option - in our case, load with the mouse, joystick or keys.


The picture is now filed and when Handyscan has finished, you will first see only a part of the Smurf. To see the rest of the Smurf you can move the visible screen like a window over the whole content of the file. In order to do that, click on one of the four thick arrows in the menu. As long as the mouse key remains depressed the screen scrolls over the file and stops until you release the mouse key or the screen reaches the end of the graphic file.

It takes a long time, of course, to scroll the whole graphic file in that way. Therefore there are two other possibilities: Using the keys 1 to 4, you can directly access one of the 4 graphic file sectors. 1 accesses the file top left, 2 top right, 3 bottom left and 4 bottom right.

The most comfortable way, without doubt, is the survey function. For this, click on the respective icon, which you will find on the left-hand side of the arrows. Handyscan shows you then an overview of the complete graphic file reduced by half and indicates the last visible section with two flashing edges. These edges can be scrolled with the mouse or the joystick until you click on a new segment.

Beside the survey function Handyscan offers you a second command which works similarly and this we want to consider now: The reduction of 50%. Click on the icon, fraction 1/2. During the survey function the reduced depiction disappears again once you click on another option, not so with the reduction function, it will stag. You will have a
"Smurf" as big as the monitor.

If you don't like the reduced "Smurf", you can make the reduction undone by Undo (but carefully please, only when you haven't issued another command in between, because undo affects only the last command that was loaded).
If you don't like the whole Smurf anymore and you want again room for new drawings, you can erase it with the trashcan. When you erase the 4 screens one by one you will notice that not the whole storage is cleared. The visible part is only 184 points high; the whole screen however is 400 points high, which means there will be always one field left.

But there is a possibility to erase the complete memory at once. Click on the trash can twice (but not too quickly). This function you have to handle most carefully indeed, because it can't be undone by undo since the storage of the C 64 is not big enough for it.



Rubber bands for your comfort

After the trip in the memory scenery of the Handyscan we look now at the next drawing commands: Lines, rectangles, ellipses.

Please click the line icon {right beside the fat brush), put the cursor in the drawing field again and press the right mouse key. If you want to move the cursor now you will notice that there is a rubber line following in the rear. "Rubber", because it stretches like a rubber band and lets itself pull in all directions. When the line is in the requested position, you press the right hand mouse key a second time. The line is then fixed and the cursor is without rubber band again. If you press once more, you have the rubber band taken in tow again.

If you want to draw a coherent line you have to press twice at the end of a line to fix the first one and to attach a new rubber band. Try to draw the creation on this page in one line!


[Figure 5 - star drawn with lines]


You can also easily draw rays (spokes). After you have fixed a line by the second pressing, you press the function key F7 and the cursor will jump back to the beginning of the line. From there you draw another line and, by F7, back to the beginning and so on.

F7 is the graphic tabulator which remembers always the first point of a line, the centre point of a circle or the first point of a rectangle or move frame and which always brings the cursor back to it by pressing a key. You can also use F8 to define a tabulator point: Put the cursor on any point on the monitor, press F8, move the cursor and press F7. And immediately the cursor is on the defined place again.

The order for rectangles (icon right beside the line command) you may try yourself now. When you are able to draw a 3D tunnel like on this page, you are almost en expert in handling Handyscan.


[Figure 6 - tube of rectangles]


Now we come to the command for circles and ellipses. Click on the corresponding icon and then go ahead: with the first mouse key pressing you mark the centre point, with the second pressing the radius in horizontal and vertical direction. By the way, hold the mouse key until the rubber band quiets down.
Otherwise you don't get rid of it anymore.

Now you are ready for drawing ellipses. But how to get a perfectly round circle? One possibility is to put the cursor directly under or over the centre point, which means you let the circle shrink to a line. But Handyscan draws no line, it will draw a circle.

Another way is the display of the co-ordinates.
Simply press the key 0 in the centre of the circle immediately before or after the first press on the button. The display of the co-ordinates on the right hand end of the menu board jumps to 0 and shows you the distance to the centre point by moving the cursor. The upper number is then the X-co-ordinate (horizontal distance) the lower the Y-co-ordinate (horizontal distance). When you place the cursor so that both numbers are equal, you get a round circle.

If it doesn't look round on the monitor, it's because the monitor distorts the picture: It wouldn't look round in print either. If you want to draw a circle that appears round in print, you will have-to switch the co-ordinate display to millimetres. First you click the display of co-ordinates and two m's will appear, which stand for millimetre. Now you can measure all distances in the picture in millimetres, the radius of a circle also. Now draw a round circle in millimetres and you will immediately see the difference to a circle done in pixels.

You can switch from the display of co-ordinates to pixel by clicking once more. And how big is the complete memory printed on paper? Try to find it out without actually printing. The display of co-ordinates works only with Epson compatible 9- or 24-needle printers (+/- 1% deviation). It's not compatible with the 7-needle Commodore printers. 

One remark yet to the circle function: The radius is limited to a maximum of 255 points, bigger circles Handyscan can't handle. 

Lines, circles or rectangles can be erased (it makes sense on dark background) when you press the key together with the Shift key.
The centre of a circle will also be stored like the starting point of a line - as a tabulator on the F7 function key. Thus it is simple to draw concentric circles or a pie chart like the one below.


[Figure 7: pie chart]


Handyscan the pattern program

Please don't erase the pie graphic yet, because we want to decorate it with different patterns and label them. Now click on the filling icon besides the circle.

Put the cursor now in one of the pie fields and press the right mouse key. The area will be filled completely. Would you rather have a pattern? No problem, simply select one. You can even click several, which then become overlaid. Whenever you don't like the pattern you got, click undo on and you may start again.


Storage splitting in the Edison system

[Figure 8: storage splitting pie chart]


But the pattern function is not only suitable for filling. For example, draw a rectangle. Generally with the pattern function you can cover everything and it can also be erased by Undo.

And the filling function can more than only fill: Draw an ellipse, fill it and then click again in the middle of this area. The results are similar to free drawing: Empty areas will be filled, full ones will be erased.

When you click a pattern on again after having erased the full circle area, you will notice that the filling with patterns does work here too and the circle will appear patterned again.

Later you will learn to change patterns or to overlay them in different ways. But now let's look at a new function.


Handyscan the writing expert

To our pie shaped graphic the explanatory text is still missing. Now click on ABC-icon, move cursor to the drawing area and type in the text. And here we encounter a sort of rubber function: The text is attached to the cursor like a flag and can be put anywhere.

Moreover you can modify it in different ways: with the CTRL-E (press Control key and, at the same time or one after the other, key E) you can make the text appear boldface, by clicking on CTRL-E again, the text will be normal again. CTRL-H provides for letters in double height and CTRL-B in double width. To go back to normal, you just click it again, as you already know. And of course you can combine all three functions.


In addition you can alter the writing direction with the four arrows or cursor keys, which means you can also write vertically. Here you will prefer the cursor keys to the arrow icons, because it's not so simple to go into the menu with a cursor that has a text attached like a rubber band. You have to move the cursor so quickly that the rubber band can't follow, otherwise you won't see the text anymore.

With the DEL key you can erase the last sign. Once you have selected the options for your text and have put it in the right place, you can fix it with the mouse key.

Until now we have only used the screen character sets of the C64. But Handyscan is a real writing expert because it can reload the character sets of the DTP programs Printfox and Pagefox from the disk. On the program disk, there are twelve of these character sets. An example of it you find on this page below. 

Load one of these character sets by clicking on the left of the disk symbols and click the wanted character set when the table of contents appear on the screen. There is no difference between "load" and "mix" as far as the character sets are concerned, so you may answer either. Now you can write with the loaded character sets.


[Figure 9: font samples]

Since the storage capacity of the C 64 is rather limited, Handyscan has to use it for the reloadable character sets, the pattern, move functions and also for the printer and scan routine. Therefore a loaded character set is erased when you use another option and has to be reloaded when you need it again. 

Moreover the storage capacity is not big enough to accommodate the biggest Printfox character sets completely. Thus with these character sets the last signs may be missing, for example, with the especially big ZS 100 from the Characterfox disk, the small letters v-z. The character sets on the program disk, however, fit all together into the Handyscan.

Perhaps you have also noticed that Handyfox uses a mixed American/German keyboard, as it is also used in other programs (Printfox, Pagefox, and Vizawrite). The umlauts, semicolon and colon are located according to German norm, the E is on the $ key, all the rest as they appear on the keys.


A non-polluting spray can

For fluent transitions, the spray function is suitable, which can be activated by clicking on the corresponding icon. The longer you press the mouse key or the slower you move the cursor and the key depressed, the denser the points. If you have sprayed too dense, you can erase points by pressing the SHIFT key at the same time.


The disk as drawing file

Perhaps you want to store on disk some of your works, like the pie graphic. No problem. First you need a disk on which you can store your pictures. It's best to be formatted first, however. To do this put it in the disk drive, click on the right one of the three disk icons and type in the option: 
N: picture disk, 01

Don't forget: The colon sits on the SHIFT key. In addition all disk options and file names have to be capitalised, but Handyscan itself takes care of this. More about the disk options with which you are able to erase pictures on the disk or give them another name you will find in the handbook for the floppy.

Now you can store a picture. Please click on the save icon (the middle one of the three disk symbols). In its place will appear two other icons, one with a big filled area, the other with a small one. With these, you choose whether you want to save the whole graphic memory, or only the screen (small area) which was seen last. Please click on the wanted option.


Then Handyscan wants to know the file name: 

It may contain max. 16 letters and it should be suffixed with whether the picture will be the screen (for example by the addition of .BS) or an overall picture (.GB). Should you - when loading - have forgotten how big your picture is, you could be in for a surprise. An overall picture loaded inadvertently will erase the complete memory irrevocably.

Once you have entered the file name and finished with RETURN, then Handyscan stores the picture on the disk. The pictures of
Handyscan are, of course, compatible to the other Scanntronik programs, e.g. Printfox, Pagefox or Superscanner. Also Hi-Eddi pictures and those of the special Pagefox layout format, which may be any size, can be loaded by Handyscan. But the latter ones may only be up to a height of 400 points. With bigger Pagefox graphics, the lower part can't be entered because of the smaller memory.

The storing of pictures in the Pagefox layout size doesn't work, but the ones in Hi-Eddi size work well. For this you have to store the graphic as a screen and add the two digits
0: in front of the file name. With screens, either Printfox or Hi-Eddi size, the lower field will also always be stored for reasons of compatibility.

How you can reload the pictures into the computer, you have learned before, also the loading of the character sets was already explained. Let us point out that Handyscan itself recognises what size is required (complete picture, screen, Hi-Eddi, Pagefox layout, character sets) and that the screen loaded is always the last one seen.

If the "filetype" question appears on screen you tried to load a non-graphic file or a size unknown to Handyscan. After the appearance of a "filetype" or other disk errors (for example Read-Error when the disk drive or the disk is defective), you press the mouse key to get back into the graphic editor.



King Move


Let's come to the king of the orders, the move-copy-mirror-turn-enlarge-reduce-connect order, or in" computer Chinese", "Hove". King is not only the most complex option of the Handyscan but also because there is - except for the near relatives of Handyscan (Eddison, Eddifox) - no other character program for the C64 which has such a comfortable and effective Move command.

Begin by loading the Smurf (Schlumpf) again and reduce it to the size of the screen. Then click on the icon for the move command (on the left beside ABC) and with two clicks, same as for the rectangle order, you put a frame round the head of the Smurf. The first on the left upper edge and the second press the right lower edge, as shown in the graphic on this page.


[Figure 10 - reclining Smurf]


After the second pressing the screen will be erased for a short time, then only tile head of the Smurf appears and after that everything looks as before but without the frame (if it doesn't, perhaps you have already played around with the three connecting icons). In this case, click on the left one of the three icons for the or-connection.

Actually there is now a second layer over the visible screen, much like a foil on which the first head of the Smurf is copied. You will see this by clicking on one of the four arrow icons. With these arrows, the screen no longer is scrolled, but the foil is moved about. Namely in steps of 8 points, which becomes quite clear by noting that the icon with the 8 and the 4 small arrows right beside the arrow icons is inverted. If you click this icon, the foil will be switched off again. Then you can again scroll the screen by the arrow icons, but the foil still exists. It now sticks to the screen.

This way you can move the head of the Smurf to any place in the graphic memory. To pass long distances quicker, use the keys 1 to 4 again, or the survey function key. Wherever you go, the foil with the head of the Smurf will already be there. You may of course activate the 8-icon once again, to be able to move the foil again. If you are almost at the desired place and you want to move just a little, then click on the 1 icon. Now you can move the foil with the arrow icons exactly on pixels. By the way the foil has a stop so that you can't push it out of the screen by mistake.


If you have moved the foil to the desired place, simply click into any place within the drawing area. Then the foil will be fixed on the visible screen and the moving operation is thus finished. If you don't like the results, you can eliminate it by Undo before you give your next order.

There is another possibility to stop the move order: Instead of clicking into the drawing area you click on the trashcan, which you normally use to erase the screen. With the move command, the trashcan will erase the background behind the foil and will copy the foil onto the screen. In other words: The foil becomes non-transparent and will be fixed to the screen like a sheet of paper.

Finally there is a third possibility to stop the move order in connection with the pattern function. But more about that later.


Mirror, mirror on the wall...

During our experiment with the head of the Smurf we mentioned that the marking of the area is done by first clicking on the upper left and then the lower right hand corner. Why shouldn't it work the other way around: first the upper right and then the lower left hand corner? Try it, please!

You will see that this part is reflected then. The rest will happen as before: The mirror image head of the Smurf first lies on the screen like a foil. It can then be moved to the desired position; decide on whether you want it transparent or covered and make it permanent either by clicking or by the trashcan.

If you first click the lower left-hand corner, the picture will be upside down; if you start with the lower right hand corner, the head will be turned 180 degrees. Generally speaking: Handyscan folds up or down, reflects or turns the area in such way, that the corner first clicked will be located on the upper left hand side. The following picture illustrates this fact.

[Figure 11 - fox reflections]


To practice the move options we show you a nice little game: Load from the program disk the file "PUZZLE.BS" onto a screen and erase a second screen as work area. You will probably already guess that the PUZZLE is a Smurf (whose parts are mirrored and turned upside down, too)! Have fun putting them back together!


How the Smurf's head becomes a shrunken head

When you have finished putting the Smurf back together, we then want to work with him. Mark again the head of the Smurf, but this time hold the right hand mouse key or the joystick button pressed at the second point.

As long as you hold the button pressed, you can enlarge or reduce the frame by moving the cursor. And you will certainly notice the diagonal line that runs through the frame.
This line will help you to enlarge or reduce this area without distortion. If the line runs exactly through to the opposite corner of the area, it is guaranteed that both height and width are enlarged or reduced by the same proportions. Otherwise the area is stretched in length or width. For example if it points exactly to the middle of the corner, the area is enlarged by the factor two.

If you release the button again, the foil will appear and you can continue as usual. Now you can give the Smurf either a shrunken or oversize head or draw him a long face.

Of course, you can combine the reducing or enlarging directly with the mirroring by selecting the appropriate first point.

You will soon notice that the quality suffers by reducing or enlarging the picture. You lose details by reducing, and by enlarging the edges fray out and the lines become uneven. This is due to the pixel character of the graphic and, unfortunately, cannot be avoided. Scanfox offers special equipment to smooth rough edges again, but Handyscan had no more room for this routine.


AND OR EXOR

You have already learned a lot about the move option and you know how to reflect, turn, enlarge, reduce areas or move them to an exact position. But Move can do even more.

First there are the logical connections: When the foil was moved or set (fixed) by a mouse click, it was always placed over the screen in the usual way: The background could be seen through the transparent parts, while filled areas hid the background from view. In the logic this kind of connection is called "or", because the points are set according to the points on the foil or the background.

But there are two other possible connections. To try it, draw a filled circle and move it somewhat by move option, so that the foil (don't fix it yet) overlays the original circle a bit. It should then look like the figure on the left hand below.

Now click the option for the exclusive-or connection (abbreviated EXOR) and you will get a result like in the middle of this graphic below.


[Figure 12 - AND, OR, XOR circles]


Exor you could define either/or: points are only set there where there is a point on the foil or in the background, but never when there is no point on either of them. With this you get quite nice effects.

Exor also has a very handy feature. Connect Exor with itself, and the result is nothing! Try it: Move the foil back until the two circle disks merge. What do you see? Nothing! This way you can easily erase rectangular areas of any size: You mark your move area without reflecting or change of scaling, then choose Exor and set the transparent by a click.

The third connection is the Undo Click the corresponding icon, move again the foil a little bit and you should get a result like the lower right of the last page. With the And connection a point is set only when it appears on both the foil and the background.

Figuratively spoken, you could regard the And connection as a mask because you can only view the screen through a hole (the filled disk).

The most used connection is certainly the or, the normal overlapping of transparencies, which you select by clicking on the left one of the three connection icons. The connection chosen is also effective in mixing from the disk.
Here, too, the order connection will most often be the best choice. In addition, this connection also affects the overlapping of patterns; more about it later.


Pattern, the second?

Don't be mislead by the headline, we are still dealing with the move option. As already mentioned, there is beside the mouse click into the drawing area and the trashcan still a third possibility to finish the move option and to set the transparency: The clicking on of a pattern.

First click, if not already done so, again the Or icon for the normal transparency overlapping. Second, move a filled disk a little bit, set it by a mouse click and then choose a pattern. Do the same thing again, but without the mouse click and then click for a pattern. The difference: In the first case the background shines through the pattern, in the second, it doesn't.


[Figure 13 - filled circles]


Now we finally leave the move option, but we still stay with the patterns and connections. As mentioned before, you can overlap the patterns by clicking one after the other. You can probably guess how these patterns get to be overlapping. With the connection just set, make some experiments with the various possibilities! Some examples you will find on the following page.

Hundreds of patterns result from overlapping. If this isn't sufficient for you, you can invent your own patterns. For this the patterns have to be in the first twenty 8*8 point areas on the top left consecutively. Load the file "MUSTER.BS", there you can see how it should look. From these twenty patterns, you can now alter one or several as you wish. Then you enter Shift-P to take over new patterns and immediately the new patterns in the pattern board are available.

The basic element of a pattern measures only 8*8 points. In each pattern board an area of 15*16 points for each pattern is provided to enable a better view.


[Figure 14 - more circles]


Scissors, stamp or label

Now we come to the sprite options. A sprite is a small piece of graphic the size of 24*21 points. Such graphic patches you can cut out of the monitor and use like a stamp or brush and work with them enlarged in an editor.

Let's start with the cutting out or Get. It's best to draw a small circle first (smaller than 24*21 points) then click on the Get icon (the scissors) put the visible cursor frame over the circle and press again the right mouse key. The circle is now in the sprite and Handyscan switches automatically over to
Append, which you can see on the inverted stamp icon. The sprite you can imprint on the screen by pressing the button.

If you hold the button down, the sprite may be used as a brush for freehand drawing. Try to draw something like the thing on the left below.


Please also try the stamp icon (the label). You will notice that with a press of the button first the background under the sprite is erased, and then the content of the sprite is labelled on the screen. The sprite is thus attached to the screen like a label. The result of a free hand drawing with the stamp icon looks approx. like the one below on the right.


[Figure 15 - snake stamps]


The Pixel magnifying glass

It's very difficult to work pixel-true on the screen because a single pixel is very small. Therefore, Handyscan offers a pixel magnifying glass that lets you work more comfortably through eight-fold enlargement. This pixel lens which is selected by the glasses icon has two functions:

First as a Sprite-Editor: When a sprite function (Get, Append, Stamp, Erase) is activated and you click on the "glasses" then the content of the sprite becomes eight times enlarged.

Second as a zoom function: When another symbol is clicked on (one of the nine icons - from pencil to ABC), then the zoom function becomes activated by clicking on the "glasses". The cursor will then be a frame that you put on the exact place of the screen that you want to work on pixel-true, and then you press the right mouse key. Handyscan enlarges the marked area 8 times and shows beside it the selected area and its surroundings in the original size. This survey window also helps you - when working pixel true - to obtain the survey and to be able to regard the alterations in the original size.

The processing possibilities in the Sprite Editor and zoom function are the same: You can set and erase points much like in the free hand drawing. In the small menu at the lower edge of the zoom window, the following possibilities are available. Return to the graphic screen (is also possible by pressing the left-hand mouse key); mirror sprite, turn by 180 degrees, turn by 90 degrees (here you lose the three columns on the right, because sprite is not square); invert sprite and erase it. The display of co-ordinates always shows the distance to the upper left corner of the Sprite.



The graphic building blocks

The sprite options come in handy when using the construction sets. These are building blocks with prefabricated elements, for example for analogue and digital controls. For these two applications the program disk contains construction sets called "ANALOG.BS" and "DIGITAL.BS".

Load "ANALOG.BS" and use it to construct the circuit shown lower down. This is very simple! Here are some pointers: Put both the construction set and the monitor on which the circuit shall appear in one of the four positions which you can obtain by keys 1 to 4.
Thus you can switch without scrolling or the survey function. To get any object you switch on construction set, first click on Get and then the desired element, turn it if necessary in the Sprite-Editor and place it in the exact location on the final screen.


[Figure 16 - circuit diagram]


To get all the parts in the right positions, so that the wires fit together without twisting, there are two possibilities: display of co-ordinates or screen of raster points.
The first one you already know. The raster point grid you get to know now.

So click on the corresponding icon next to the connection icon. Then an 8-point grid screen covers the monitor (this corresponds to the steps in scrolling). It's easiest to arrange the elements so that wires run along the raster lines (grid).

The grid, of course, does not appear in memory or print; it's not part of the picture. By clicking again the screen icon the grid lines disappear then.


Use the sponge!

When you click on the erase icon (the sponge), the cursor turns into a sponge as big as the sprite, which erases everything that is passed over while the button is pressed. With this icon you can erase large areas quickly.

Now you are familiar with all possibilities of Handyscan to erase. Here is a short survey:

For the finest corrections you use the pencil (or better, the zoom function) and the fat brush. Lines, rectangles and circles could be erased by the corresponding functions (Shift key with the first click) but it is very difficult to match circles or diagonal lines.


The sprite sponge is more convenient for those things. But if the sponge is too big and the fat brush too small, then you can erase with a self defined brush in the Append mode. How is that? Very simple: invert the graphic by the invert icon (the diagonally divided icon), draw with the sprite brush and then invert the graphic again. What you have drawn in the inverted screen is erased when the screen is turned again.

To erase forms of any size that are connected, the fill function is recommended. When dealing with the very complicated branched areas it is possible that the fill function doesn't manage it all at once. In this case you have to click for the rest again.

Rectangular areas of any size are erased quickest by the move option and Exor connection. Mark the area to be erased (upper left hand corner first, so that it doesn't get reflected) click the Exor icon on and then attach the transparency to the work area by another mouse click. The whole screen can be erased by the trashcan, and the whole graphic memory by clicking on the trashcan twice.


What you have got in writing...

Last but not least it's time for printing. For a black and white program like Handyscan, the most important function, of course. Consequently Handyscan has a lot to offer: for example, top notch quality through interpolation (increasing the density by additional points).

With 9- and 24-pin printers, multiple or label printing. In addition the printing routine is laid out in such way that it is compatible with all Commodore printers and almost all Epson compatible 9-pin printers without complicated adaptations. But also the adaptation for 24-pin printers is quick and easy.

As was the case with its predecessor Hi-Eddi and Hi-Eddi+ Handyscan also permits the loading of the print function from the program disk. When it isn't available, Handyscan will ask you to insert the appropriate program disk. The printing routine (the file "HSCN") you can copy on your data disk, too, so you don't have to change disks for printing.

If you have loaded a set of symbols, it will be erased, since it uses the same place in memory as the printing routine. The move and pattern functions also use this place. As long as you don't use these two options and don't reload any disk character set, the printer routine will stay in memory and doesn't have to be reloaded each time. After loading the printer menu appears, in which you can amend in different ways. The possibilities are listed in 6 lines, per line you can choose one option by clicking on.


Low Medium High Shinwa MPS

If you have an Epson-compatible 9-or 24-pin printer, you can adjust the quality of the print by clicking on one of the first three options. As Epson compatible 9-pin printer we consider printers whose control sequence is equivalent to the Epson standard and which can print up to 1920 points per line. All 9-pin printers of Epson, Star and quite a few compatible printers like Panasonic, Fujitsu, Citizen and so forth qualify here. A 24-pin printer has to be adapted first by the PRINTSETUP program. For this please read on.

The Low setting uses only 640 points per line, but it's the quickest way of printing. With Medium setting Handyscan prints 1920 points per line, which, of course, is already slower when using a serial bus printer. High-Quality finally produces the Highest quality, because here each line is printed with 1920 points twice, which means there is a density of 1920*1600 pixels in all. But this process takes the most time. 

With only partly Epson-compatible printers (for example Star NL-10 with Commodore serial ports, MPS 1000) Low won't work. Here you have to switch to medium.

With 24-pin printers, there is no difference in speed between the various qualities. Then why is there such a thing as Low and Medium? Because by interpolation grids, as they appear in grey shade pictures, become too dark. Here Low can make sense. Medium is a compromise in quality and shades.

If you use a Shinwa CP-80 or compatible printer, for example, BNC BX-80, Mannesmann HT-80 or Commodore MPS 802 with Graphic-ROM II then click on the Shinwa-Option. There are no higher quality choices.

The Commodore printers MPS 801 and 803 and all compatible ones you can address by clicking on the last option. These printers can only print 480 points per line, thus you can't use the full width of the graphic memory.


Auto-Linefeed, Linefeed

Here you control, whether the printer pushes the paper further on automatically after each line, or expects the computer to give the order. If the printer interrupts Hardcopy by double spacing, you have to click Auto-Linefeed, but if it pushes the entire print out onto one line you better switch to Linefeed.


Overall picture screen

Here you decide whether the-whole graphic memory is printed out or only the last chosen screen.


Left, middle, right

This line is only important if you print a screen. In this case you can select - by clicking on the option wanted - the position of the printout on paper.

Standard length of paper

This item of the menu is only interesting for multiple print out. By selecting Standard the paper is pushed forward one full page between printouts, usually 12". If you click on paper length, you can load any length {in lines} you wise, for example, 9 for the usual 1.5" labels. Just be careful that the text actually fits on the label.


Start: Single, multiple

Once you have chosen your options you can start the printout in the last line. With "simple" the printer starts immediately and provides you one printout, with "multiple" Handyscan first asks how many copies are needed and will then print them automatically.

The printing process can be interrupted by STOP; Handyscan will then ask you whether you want to stop altogether or continue, which you select by clicking.


Where is the printer plugged in?

A computer with Centronics entry is easiest connected to the user-port with an interface cable. This is the cheapest, most reliable and quickest way.

But Handyscan also works with a printer which is connected through a hardware interface, if this has a linear channel under the secondary address 1, or it can be set in such way that the complete data is transmitted from the computer to the printer. And the interface has to be able to transmit lines of up to 1920 bytes, which Görlitz-Interfaces cannot. But keep in mind: By using the serial bus the printout is slower than with the user-port; In the high-quality-mode or with a 24-pim printer it can easily amount to a factor 2, depending on the speed of the printer.



Printer adapting

If you have a 24-pin printer or a printer which is more or less Epson compatible, but still isn't working with the pre-set included in Handyscan, you can make your own adaptations.

SO load the adapting program in Basic with LOAD "PRINTSETUP",8 and start it with RUN. This program now asks a series of data and control sequences and stores them in file PDATA on the program disk on which there may be no write protection. The file PDATA will be loaded automatically at the start of the program.

The adapting itself is not complicated at all. The program PRINTSETUP explains itself; moreover with all questions it shows the corresponding input for an Epson-compatible printer, so that you can combine it by pressing the RETURN key. That means: For the adapting of an Epson- or NEC-compatible 24-pin printer you only have to answer the question "24 needles?" with "Y", with all other questions, you simply press the RETURN key.


All's well that ends well

Once you have scanned or drawn enough and you want to leave Handyscan, you simply click the corresponding icon, the arrow pointing outwards, and immediately you are in Basic. If it has happened accidentally, you can start Handyscan again and without losing data by loading it again and answering "N" to the question "Erase?"



Part 3: Handyfox

If you own the Pagefox, you will, of course, want to use the additional memory capacity for scanning. Handyfox program permits this. It's a drawing program with integrated scanner software, which to a large extent corresponds to the graphic editor of the Pagefox.

Compared to Pagefox, some improvements have been made. Lines, rectangles and circles may cover the entire page; by move order a pixel exact defined field can be enlarged or reduced continuously; the tabulator was extended and Printfox symbol sets can be reloaded from disk, and there are tools for editing graphics that were scanned or changed in size.

The instructions on hand refer only to these expansions. In other words, we assume you have already read the instructions for Pagefox.


Program loading and starting

To start Handyfox, insert the Pagefox cartridge into the computer. But don't forget to first switch off the computer. Then you leave the Pagefox (icon on the lower right in the layout menu or C=Q), put the Handyscanner program disk (to be exact: a copy of it) in the disk drive and type in: LOAD "HANDYFOX",8 (then press RETURN) and then: RUN (and RETURN again).

After the start Handyfox will ask you, if you want to erase the graphic memory. Normally, here you enter "Y" (and RETURN) for yes, so that you can draw on a clean sheet of paper. But if you have left the program by mistake or by Reset and want to start again without losing your laborious drawing, then type "N" here.


Mouse and Joystick

Handyfox uses a Scanntronik mouse (Commodore 1351) or NCE-mouse in Control Port 1. For the NCE, you have to plug the Scanntronik mouse interface in between, otherwise the keyboard gets blocked. And for the same reason the mouse should be ready before the computer is switched on. If this is not observed and the keyboard and the mouse get blocked you can eliminate it by pressing the RESTORE or the mouse keys.

If you don't have a mouse you can also use a joystick in Port 2. The fire-button of the joystick corresponds to the right hand mouse key. The left-hand mouse key helps to change the menu and to turn over the pages of the directory.


The mouse software of the Pagefox was improved compared to the one of Handyfox. The occasional trembling of the cursor with Commodore 1351 is suppressed and, when drawing free hand using the draw order (pencil icon) an uninterrupted line without holes is possible. The mouse keys can be changed to serve different functions so that they correspond to usual arrangement in a number of computers and programs. For this, please hold the left mouse key and at the same time press
RESTORE. From then on the left mouse key is the fire button and the right one will enable you to switch into the menu. For technical reasons this only works with the 1351, but not with the NCE-mouse. There the left key blocks the movement questioning, so that no free hand drawing is possible.

The instructions refer (in the following text) to the regular use, which means when the right key is mentioned, this is then the main key.


Handyfox and Pagefox

You can switch directly from Handyfox to Pagefox. For this you will find in the Handyfox menu the icon with the two columns, which also stands in the graphic editor. If you click on this icon, you go directly into the Pagefox without losing the graphic.

By this method, Handyfox will get thrown out of the computer, because the memory which Handyfox occupies is used by Pagefox for layout and text. But Handyfox doesn't disappear entirely from the memory; some enlargements will stay in the Pagefox:


1. The complete printer setting of Handyfox remains unchanged in Pagefox, above all the 24-pin printer routine. Also in Pagefox you use a 24-pin printer without the special PIN 24-software.

2. The new improved mouse software is also used in Pagefox, and with it the possibility to work with changed mouse key settings.

3. The possibility to alter the address of the disk drive and to use two drives in Pagefox just like in Handyfox continues to exist.

4. If you click the icon below right in the layout menu, with which you normally leave Pagefox, you have the option to either enter Basic or go back again into Handyfox. If you opt for Handyfox, it is reloaded (insert program disk) and started. Be careful: Here layout and text data get lost because Handyfox needs the memory space.
But the graphic remains untouched.


The menu

There is hardly any alteration on the menus compared to Pagefox. The only difference: Instead of the icon to get into the text editor, there is now the eye icon to act1vate the scanner. The corresponding keyboard command is C= Fl. Besides that there is the keyboard command Shift-Q with which you leave Handyfox and enter Basic directly. If this happens to you by mistake, you can restart Handyfox without loss of data by reloading the program and answering the question "Erase" with N for No.

Regarding the commands that can be only entered from the keyboard, there are some changes. Therefore here is a complete listing:

Fl/F2: Construction Set
F3/F4: Screen and background colour
F5/F6: File and plane
F7/F8: Graphic tabulator search/set
H/V: Tabulator horizontal/vertical
O: Set neutral point for display of co-ordinates
1 - 8: Choose one of the eight screens
Shift-P: Select new pattern
Shift-Q: Leave Handyfox


Lines, rectangles and ellipses

The drawing of lines, rectangles and ellipses is not limited to the visible screen. Select the line drawing function and define by a mouse click the start point of a line, but not yet the endpoint. Now scroll the screen a few steps by clicking on one of the arrow icons. The line rubber band will disappear first, but as soon as you move the cursor into the drawing field again, the rubber band reappears. You will notice that the start point of the line scrolled along with it.

Now you can scroll further until the start point disappears out of the visible screen. The selection of another screen by full-page function or 1 - 8 is also possible, the rubber band will still be displayed. With the second mouse click the line will be finally drawn.

The same is valid for rectangles and ellipses. The latter can extend beyond the visible screen without scrolling. However, the limitation, that the radius may have 255 points at the most remains in force. Larger circles or ellipses are not possible with Handyfox.

Caution is necessary in respect of the Undo function: Because of capacity limits, Undo can bring back only the visible screen consequently, this function doesn't work with all lines, rectangles and ellipses which extend beyond the visible screen.

In some cases, especially with ellipses, you don't necessarily want the ellipse extending beyond the visible screen. In this case, you press, the asterisk key * instead of giving the mouse a second click. Then only the visible part of the line or rectangle or circle will be drawn. The Undo function remains fully effective.

Another peculiarity relates to the line-drawing function: Due to the pixel basis of the graphic reproduction a diagonal line is more or less always in steps. Handyfox attempts to smooth these steps toward the ideal line, by making all such steps the same length except for the first and the last one, which have to have half this length.

But the ideal line has a disadvantage too, when it doesn't fit on the screen. If you want to draw a horizontal or vertical line over several screens, it can happen, that an unwanted step is created outside of the visible screen. To avoid this, Handyfox moves the steps quite near to the cursor, when it has extending rubber band lines, to make the first new steps much smaller. As a result no step is hidden beyond the visible cursor anymore. When the second press on the button fixes the line, Handyfox draws an ideal line again.


Tabulator

The beginning point of a line, the first point of a rectangle or the centre-point of a circle will be stored as tabulator. When you press the function key F7 you will be positioned at the stored point. This will help with drawing of vectors or concentric circles. With F8 you can define a tabulator yourself, to which you can return by pressing F7.

Whereas with Pagefox this tabulator only works within the screen, in Handyfox, however, it can be used for the whole page. In contrast to Pagefox, with Handyfox the beginning point of a line can be well outside the visible screen. New for Handyfox are the separate tabulators for horizontal and vertical. While F7 moves the cursor either horizontally or vertically until it reaches the tabulated position, H moves the cursor only horizontally (till the tabulated X-value is reached) and V only vertically (till the respective Y-value is reached). This is very useful, to put a frame with the right size around a graphic (with rectangle or move command).


The Move command

This command has become some improvements, with respect to Pagefox. The desired sector can now be marked to the exact pixel. If you hold the mouse key or the joystick button down at the second click, you can enlarge or reduce this sector infinitely. Also new is the function of the trashcan and of the patterns together with Move.

Altogether this move command corresponds exactly to the Handyscan. You will find therefore an exact description in the second part of these instructions for use.


File and plane

You have certainly noticed that each alteration of the size done by the move command causes a loss of quality. When you reduce, details get lost, when you enlarge the graphics become rough and edged. By scanning with a big enlargement factor the graphics become ultimately rough and pimply.

Therefore, Handyscan provides two tools to smooth or round pimples and rough edges.

These functions you select with F5 ("file") and F6 (" plane"). Outside of a move command these two tools always affect the whole visible screen. During a move operation, however, it effects only the transparency.


The file (F5) is the more careful tool of these two. It removes above all the pimples, which are caused by scanning. Perhaps you have to use the file several times, till all the pimples have disappeared. Of course, some fine details become lost through file use. The file can erase even thin diagonal lines, but generally the advantages of smoothness outweigh the loss of details.

With planing (F6) the shavings fly round. It's above all suitable for smoothing the rough edges, which are caused by enlargement. Several applications of the plane are hardly necessary, because it will shave more and more with every new use, until there is only a thin skeleton left. The file doesn't remove anything else, once it has taken all the pimples away.

If you use this function for the whole screen, Undo works only for the last use. With the move command, however, Undo is effectively storing the whole operation, so that you undo even a repeated use of file and plane.


Text-function

The Handyfox, in contrast to the Pagefox, can also load the twelve module character sets and any Printfox character sets from the disk for its text-functions. Simply click on the load icon and in the directory the wanted character set is on. The question: "Load Mix" you may answer as you like, because there are no differences with character sets. After loading the character set for the text function is available, click on CTRL-Z by one of the module character sets.

You should remember that the storage capacity in the C 64 (even with additional Pagefox module) is limited, and therefore the drawing set is in the part of the memory that will be used by the pattern function, and the move and save commands as well. If you use one of these commands, perhaps an additional drawing set loaded from disk will be erased and have to be reloaded if necessary.

By entering CTRL-left arrow and a number from -9 to 9 you can alter the spacing of the signs.


Erasing of the whole page

The trashcan serves to erase the screen, during the overlay phase to erase the background behind the overlay, and to fix it. But it also has a new function compared to Pagefox: If you click it on twice, it erases the whole graphic memory. But be careful: This function can't be undone by Undo.


To alter floppy address

By entering an 8 or 9 instead of a disk command (after clicking on the right disk icon), the floppy address of Handyscan will be altered, so that the use of two disk drives is possible.


Picture patchwork?

If you want to scan a copy that is wider than 60 mm, you have to patch up. It's not very easy, but with a little bit of practice you can get results where you can't see the dividing lines.

First you have to take care, that the individual sectors are really straight and parallel scanned. The best result can be achieved by moving the scanner along a straight edge, whose position you mark first (if available, a drawing board would be better). From sector to sector you should move the straight edge 60 -62 mm at the most, to get overlapping areas, which are wide enough for patchwork.

The enlargement factor for two sectors can be at the most 150% and with three sectors 100%, to get all stripes side by side in the graphic memory. So the width you can scan is 12 or 18 cm.

And now the method: First you scan and save single sectors. When saving you should choose the sector, so that a small overlapped part still exists, but that disturbing edges which result from lower brightness don't get saved.

Then you load the first, which means the left-hand, stripe, again in the storage, like normal. For the second you click on the option "patch up" in the menu line after selecting it from the directory. First you will see the whole page survey, in which you set the graphic - marked by two flashing arrows - roughly in the right position.

For an exact placement the program switches now to the move modus: A clipping of the graphic what shall be loaded - it's the upper left hand corner - appears as overlay and can be placed by the move command like usual. That means, you can move the background with the help of arrow symbols or cursor keys and you also can move the transparency after clicking on the "8" or "1" icon. But there is not much free room to move the transparency, because it already fills almost the visible screen. That means, you have to find the exact place more or less by moving the background. The transparency itself is then placed by 1-pixel steps.


If there are no characteristics on the transparency that allow an exact patching up (for example because there is an empty space), you can push down this section by clicking on the load icon. As long as you hold the mouse key pressed the visible transparency will be scrolled upwards out of the screen, while further down lines will be hanging out of the picture, which should be loaded from the disk. At the same time the visible screen will be pushed downwards, which means that you scroll along a dividing line. But be careful: This can only be done downwards but not backwards, because you can't read a disk file backwards.

When the transparency is well placed, there are, like with the move, two possibilities to set them. By a mouse click within the drawing area the graphic becomes overlaid with the latest connections, by clicking on the trashcan, it covers the background. This is to be recommended above all with grey-tone pictures. Otherwise the grey-tones become too dark in the parts where the segments overlap. 

The patchwork action can be interrupted by Undo at any time.

Here is another tip: since it is difficult to match on grey-tone pictures in the smooth transition area, it is recommended to mark the overlapping stripes on the upper edge of the copy with a cross. Then it is easier to match the different pieces.


Original English translation by Scanntronik
This English version scanned and edited by Andrew Fisher
April 2007