Diamator Homepage

All information in this homepage is dealing with the control program for reflecta diamator projectors written by Thomas Pantzer.
The program is a beta-release and there is only a DOS-version available (self inflating archive). A Linux Version is planned and will make use of the XForms library, but I have less time to work on this project and I have not such a projector anymore.

There is a preview (12kB) to take a look at the programs appearance. The cable specs (postscript) are also there.

If you want to know more about the reflecta diamator projector see

http://ebweb.tuwien.ac.at/ortner/erich/reflecta.html
http://www.bogenphoto.com/reflectachart.htm
raw files from the scanned manual
you may search E-mails that I got about this topic

contents

Features
Requirements
Installation
- DOS-version
- Linux-version
Using the program
Copyright

Features:

can control up to 4 projectors
graphic user interface with mouse support
can run a script
brightness-mixer for controlling 2 projectors with one fader

Requirements:

MSDOS 3.3 or higher
i286-PC or better
at least one free serial port,
vga-graphic-card, optionally a BGI-driver for your svga-card
if you don't have a mouse you will need a mousedriver to work around a bug with the faders
about 250 kByte free memory
you need one serial port for each projector to control,
there is no possibility to chain them in a bus,
if you have a bus-mouse you can control up to 4 projectors
only the diamator 2502 AF is supported

Installation

Put the downloaded diamat.exe in a directory of your choice, then execute it. Now there should be two subdirectories exist, one for your diashow scripts named DAT and another for the supplied BGI-driver named BGI. The program to start is named mmoffice.exe. There is also a batch file to demonstrate the use of the bgi-driver argument.

Using the program

Keyboard

select the serial port to operate on, these numbers are internal numbers without the port number of your serial mouse.
(next) pulls the next diapositive from the cartridge
(previous) pull the previous diapositive
(fade)
- dims the light down or
- pulls the next diapositive and turn the light on These are two functions are carried out alternately. I don't know how to fetch the internal state variable of the controller on the diamator projector, so the program cannot determine what action comes next. Simply press again this button to get in sync.
(delay) sets the time constant for function "FADE"
(brightness) lets you manually control the brightness
(load) parses a textfile for diashow-commands type the name of a "diashow-script" if the extension is ommitted ".rft" is used as extension, the default load path is the dat-subdirectory

Operating the faders

To activate a fader one has to press its associated (title) button (for example the key for the brightness fader). Then the fader can be operated with
, , , , , , ,
and with your mouse.
or right mouse button makes the selected value the default, or both mouse buttons aborts. Move with Cursor-Keys or with left mouse button pressed. The cursor will disappear while pulling the slider, but is shown if you leave the area of the fader. If you release the left mouse button or leave the area of the fader the value of the fader is hold. The projectors lamp will respond immediatly while pulling the brightness fader.

Faders are disabled if you have only one free serial port. To try out the faders, don't move your mouse while detecting the mouse port. Your mouse might behave strange for the next session but all of the functionality of the program can be achived with keyboard input.

commandline options

  /D            gives you a menu to select a graphic driver
  ~drivername   lets you make use of a non-standard bgi-driver,
		you may pad the name with '-' (minus) up to 8 chars to
		append a number of a mode to select
		EXAMPLE:
		mmoffice ~oakv600 [ENTER]
		    will use the file oakv600.bgi as bgi-driver with mode 0
		mmoffice ~egavga--1 [ENTER]
		    will use the file egavga.bgi as bgi-driver with mode 1

Script language

There is the possibility to write scripts to perform a more automated diashow. You must use a script if you want control two projectors to fade in and out simultaneously. Please use the demo script for a first start. The language is easy to understand, only few reserved words exist. The structure is like an assembler. One can make use of labels with jumps, subcalls and macros. A listing of the parsed script is made while loading the script to have the possibility to check for errors.

Copyright

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for noncommercial use and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of the Author not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. The Author makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.

maintained by Thomas Pantzer ,
mailto pantec@aix520.informatik.uni-leipzig.de,
PGP public key available