                      Telegrafix - RIPaint v 2.1
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        INSTALLATION: Extract RIPAINT2.zip contents to C:\RIPAINT2\

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WHAT IS RIPAINT?
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RIPaint is a graphical authoring package for RIPscrip - the "Remote Imaging
Protocol script" language that gives bulletin board systems and other online
services a real graphical user interface instead of plain text menus.

Instead of hand coding RIPscrip, you draw the screen the way you want it in
a WYSIWYG editor - lines, boxes, circles, polygons, fills, text, bitmap
icons, photographs and sound - and RIPaint writes the RIPscrip for you.
Because RIPscrip is object oriented rather than a raster/bitmap format, you
can come back later and select, move, resize or re-edit any individual
object on the screen.

The result is a compact .RIP file.  A terminal at the far end of a modem
connection redraws it from the drawing commands, which is dramatically
faster than sending a picture of the same screen.

Typical uses are BBS login and welcome screens, menus, order forms,
questionnaires, and any other screen where you would rather have clickable
buttons and mouse fields than "press 1 for ..." text prompts.


WHAT IT PRODUCES
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* .RIP scene files containing RIPscrip 2.0 / 3.0 statements
* Clickable buttons and mouse fields, each able to send a host command
* Text variables and templates, so one screen can serve many users
* Multi-column text articles that flow text in from a file
* Embedded BMP icons, JPG photographs and WAV sound

Output plays back in RIPTerm 2.x and RIPtel 3.x.


WHAT IS NEW IN VERSION 2
------------------------

Version 2 is built on RIPscrip 2.0, a substantially larger language than
the 1.54 revision that most older BBS artwork was written for.

* Higher resolutions.  RIPscrip 1.54 had no facilities for resolution or
  palette independence, so artwork was drawn for one fixed screen - in
  practice 640x350 EGA.  Version 2 supports 640x350, 640x480, 800x600 and
  1024x768, in 16 and 256 colors, across more than 170 video cards.

* Resolution independence.  Scenes are stored in a world coordinate system
  rather than in raw pixels, so the same file draws correctly on a terminal
  running at a different resolution instead of filling only one corner of
  the screen.

* Color palette independence.  A scene is no longer locked to a single
  fixed 16 color palette.

* New icon format.  The old .ICN format is replaced by standard BMP/DIB,
  which handles monochrome, 16 color, 256 color and 24 bit images and
  carries its own palette.  .ICN is not supported in 2.0 or later.

* Drawing ports.  You can define multiple drawing areas, including
  offscreen "clipboard" ports, instead of drawing only to the screen.

* XOR write mode now applies to every graphics primitive and to fill
  patterns, not only to lines and rectangles.

* Photographs and sound.  JPG images and WAV audio can be attached to a
  scene, with support for 19 audio cards.

Note:  because of the XOR and filled-area changes, RIPscrip 2.0 is very
close to, but not quite 100%, backward compatible with 1.54 files.
Chapter 1 of the manual explains exactly where they differ.


OTHER FEATURES
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* Compatible with Windows 3.1, 95, NT, MS-DOS and OS/2
* Runs under Windows 95(tm) or newer with DOS emulation
* Full / partial screen saving to BMP format
* Free-floating Toolbox and Color Picker


WHAT IS IN RIPAINT2.ZIP
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Everything in RIPAINT2.zip is meant to be extracted to C:\RIPAINT2\.  Along
with the program itself, the archive includes:

   RPMANUAL.html    The complete 362 page RIPaint 2 manual as a single
                    self-contained web page.  Opens in any web browser on
                    any operating system - no DOS or Windows needed.  The
                    text is real, searchable text, every figure is embedded
                    in the file itself, and there is a clickable table of
                    contents at the top.

   RPMANUAL.pdf     The same 362 page manual as a US Letter PDF, for
                    printing or for readers who prefer PDF.

   RIPScrip-2.0-alpha-4.txt
                    The RIPscrip 2.0 language specification, alpha revision
                    4 - the last known published revision of the spec.
                    This is the reference to use if you intend to write or
                    hand-edit RIPscrip directly.

   README.TXT       Program requirements, mouse navigation, and the
                    keyboard shortcut reference for RIPaint itself.


RUNNING UNDER DOSBOX
--------------------

RIPaint runs well under DOSBox.  Two things to know about the setup that
runs the first time you start the program:

* Video card - do NOT use auto-detect.  Choose one of the VESA entries from
  the list instead.  VESA Super VGA 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 are safe 
  choices.  Auto-detect does not reliably identify the emulated adapter.

* Audio card - auto-detect works fine here and can be used.

Click inside the DOSBox window first so that DOSBox captures the mouse.
RIPaint is mouse driven and a mouse is required.

To run the setup again later, exit to C:\RIPAINT2\, and run SETUP.BAT 
or delete RIPAINT.CNF and start RIPAINT again.

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