This is version 2 of the The text generator for Sisyphus tables. It is just a Microsoft Small Basic program that generates 3 (short) straight lines of text, 2 circular lines of text or one longer spiral line of your inputted text. The program outputs a .thr file that can be loaded and run on the Sisyphus unit via your browser. This version has a much improved input interface. 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 Text Generator2.sb file, abcdpkern.txt and the abcd.txt file in the same director on your computer 3) You open the .sb file in Small Basic and hit run - it will generate .thr files in the same directory as the program and abcd.txt files Program Instructions 1) Run small basic and load the text generator 2.sb file. Then select Run from small basic 2) Screen one shows your output options as buttons to press. You must select one choice from each row (the program will prompt you if you miss one and it lists what you have selected in red at the bottom. 3a) Select either 3 Straight lines / 2 circular lines / 1 spiral line at the top by pushing the button 3b) Select either the cursive font or the printed font for display (be aware the printed font is slightly wider) If you selected the 3 Straight line option - 2 more rows of buttons appear (this is only for 3 lines) i) select the size of print - small / medium / large (smaller print means more letters) ii) select the erase width - thick is faster but thin makes the print look better 4) Rotation option lets you turn the output in case your table is in a corner for better viewing. Enter a value between 0-360 or leave it 0 for no rotation. 180 would flip the upside down. ( a friend's table is in a corner with a short power cord that doesn't let him move the body easily - so he asked for this option) 5) Enter the file name of your output .thr file - just the name - don't type the .thr part - the program will do that. 6) When all of the options are selected - hit the "Check Entries" button at the bottom - if everything is there - the program will proceed. 7) Program reads the abcd.txt or abcdp.txt file and sets up character arrays – this takes about a minute, please be patient! There is a progress bar too - and when it reads it will say "success!" The program will terminate if it can’t find the abcd.txt file OR if the abcd.txt file is an old version (files must be in same directory!) 8) Now the text input screen will appear - with the number of text lines you selected (3, 2 or 1) 8a) Type into the text boxes your output. You must have some text in each box (a space counts if you want a blank) Legal characters to enter are a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and , ? ! $ % & and space. You can edit and backspace in the boxes but PLEASE don't type too fast - basic is SLOW and it can lose track 8b) on 3 lines - the top and bottom lines are the same length - the middle is slightly longer on 2 circular lines - the top line is much longer than the bottom one on 1 spiral line - the line is much longer here 8c) If you enter an illegal chacter you get a warning block, if your line is too long - another warning 8d) A mirror of what you type is below in blue - this is so you can double check nothing is missing 9) When your text is entered - you can either select to just write the .thr file OR you can see a preview of the text The preview just is intented to slow you the letters - MS BAsic draw is bad so ignore the straight lines between text lines they will not be on the output (it spirals on the table) 9a) If you preview the text - you can select to just write the .thr if you are happy or go back to the text entry screen. Please be patient when you return to this screen - it updates slowly 10) Program will convert your text into a .thr file and will write it - please be patient 11) Program asks if you want to generate another .thr files or exit. You return to the 1st screen and start over. (If you chose the same font to reuse – the character data has been read and can be reused so it's faster) 12) Now to run the the .thr file you generated ,upload it into the Sisyphus through a browser app connected to the table via WiFi from your computer. (just enter the table URL on your brower to connect). Your .thr file will appear in the library on your table. (remember to refresh your phone app to reload the library so you can see new additions ===================================================================================================================== 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. Spiral is longer. I just generate the line of text and map it to a straight line, circle or spiral form. I separated the data file (abcd.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 abcdp.txt is a printed font in the same format. The program does some kerning of characters too when it builds lines. On how the program runs - if you are interested - it builds each line you input from the character data base, and then maps it to the shape of lines you wanted as a picture in x,y coordinates all inside a circle of radius 1. The program rotates by pi/2 (for the table software correction of 0 being at the top) 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. The program is in basic so you can see the code (and use it if you want) and also be assured that the program is totally safe and does nothing other than what I described. Ray Solomon 2-11-2020 crsolomon@yahoo.com