The text generator is just a Microsoft Small Basic program that generates 3 (short) straight lines of text 
or 2 circular lines of text for the Sisyphus table.  Text is user entered and the program outputs a .thr file
 that can be loaded and run on the Sisyphus unit.

Requirements:
1) You need to have Small Basic 1.2 installed on your system.  (download from Microsoft for free) 
2) You need to put the Combined Text.sb  file and the abcd.txt file in the same directory.
3) You open the .sb file in Small Basic and hit run - it generates .thr files in the same directory as the 
program and abcd.txt

Program Instructions
1) Program asks if you want the straight line or circular output.   (always hit Return (enter) after
 your input.

2) Program asks for the name of the output file you want - it will append the .thr so don't type that

3) Program asks to confirm that the name is correct

4A (Straight Text Output)  Program asks if you want thin or thick erase lines - thick are faster but 
thin look better

4AA (Straight Text Output)  Program asks if you want small, medium or large characters - large read easier 
but small let you say more (more letters can be written).

4B (Curved Text Output)  No Options for this – text and spiral width are fixed.

5) Program reads the abcd.txt file and sets up character arrays – takes about a minute, please be patient  
The program will terminate if it can’t find the abcd.txt file OR if the abcd.txt file is an old version

6) Program gives list of legal characters you can use and warns about lines being too long.  (Capital 
letters take more space and width is limited by the geometry of the table )

7A) (Straight Text Output)   Program accepts lines 1, 2 & 3 one after the other  (if you enter anything 
wrong, or the line is too long - it will just ask to re-enter that line).  Line 1 & 3 are the same length, 
line 2 is the longer one

7B) Curved Text Output)   Program accepts lines 1,&2  one after the other  (if you enter anything wrong,
 or the line is too long - it will just ask to re-enter that line).  Line 1 is longer, almost twice as 
long as line 2, line 2 is the shorter one here  (smaller inner circle)

8) Program converts your text into a .thr file and writes it - please be patient

9) Program asks if you want to generate another .thr and goes to 1 (but skips step 5 to save time – the 
character data has been read and can be reused)     If you don’t want another file – program exits.

10) Now copy the .thr file you generated and upload it into the Sisyphus through a browser app connected
to the table via WiFi.



The program "builds" each line of text at a time - and you are limited in space by the table geometry.  
So the top and bottom line are the same length and the middle line is slightly longer.  The characters 
you choose set the length - and Capitals consume more space.   For the circular output line one is much 
longer ( the outer circle) – almost twice the length as line 2, the inner circle.  

Legal Characters are a-z, A-Z and 0-9 , (comma)  ! $ % & ? and the space character.  Any other input 
will get an "illegal character in the line" message
I separated the data file (abc.txt) from the program to allow the characters to be added or modified.  
The abc.txt file is just the alphabet starting with space, a-z (connecting at bottom) , space, 
a-z (connecting at top), A-Z, 0-9.  Since it is cursive writing, I had to include a set of bottom to top 
connectors for the small letters (b, o, v and w connect to top in cursive.)  The data file is just an x,y map 
of each character and keys on the 0,0.1 start position to separate the individual characters.

On how the program runs - if you are interested - it builds each line you input from the character data base,
 and then centers it using the space you didn't use on the line.  After all 3 lines are generated 
(in x,y coordinates) it rotates by pi/2 (for the table orientation) and then mirrors the text (because the 
table mirrors anything you put into it (most people write symmetric images and never notice that artifact)
Then it passes the x,y image to the end part of the program that converts it to polar format (normalizing 
angles to just be between 0-and 2 pi). It then goes back and "fixes" the progression of the lines past the 
0/ 2 pi line by just adding the angles and compensating when it passes the origin angle.   Others do that 
on the fly by "counting" passage of the 0 angle axis.   This makes the ball movement smooth as angles 
never "jump" more than  a small amount.  
Finally it adds an "erase" routine as the first 2 lines to clear the table (then adds the angle to all of 
the points again to make the jumps for the smooth.   The straight text erases from middle to outside – the 
circular text erases from outside to middle
Then it writes the .thr file. 

Ray Solomon  8-26-2019