Topic       : User Manual for TeraDesk
Author      : Wout Klaren, Henk Robbers, Djordje Vukovic
Version     : February 2017
Subject     : Documentation/Utilities
Nodes       : 87
Index Size  : 2746
HCP-Version : 3
Compiled on : Atari
@charset    : atarist
@lang       : en
@default    : Main
@help       : 
@options    : -i -t4 +z
@width      : 75
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   Contents

9 Configuration Files                                         TeraDesk

By default, TeraDesk 4.* uses two configuration files:

TERADESK.INF holds the complete configuration of the Desktop.
TERADESK.PAL holds the colour palette.

Users can  load and save  configuration files  (but not palette files)
with other names  using the  Load settings...  and Save settings as...
menu actions.

When started, Tera Desktop searches for the default configuration file
TERADESK.INF  first  in  the  current  directory,  then  in  the  root
directory,  then in the directories specified by the  PATH environment
variable, and lastly in the directory of the (Tera Desktop) program.

The configuration files of TeraDesk V4.* are in plain ASCII text form.
Information in the files is divided  into blocks which  are  delimited
by { } parentheses and identified by keywords, for example:

  icon=
  {
    name=EVEREST
    labl=EVEREST
    type=5
    tgtt=5
    path=D:\EDITORS\EVEREST\EVEREST.PRG
    xpos=7
    ypos=3
  }

Blocks  of  information  in the configuration files  are structured by
blank  lines and indentation of one or several <TAB> characters.  This
is purely a cosmetic effect.

In  order  to  save  space,  lines  in  the  configuration  files  are
terminated by <LF> only (this can be easily changed during compilation
of the  program). However, TeraDesk will not complain of <CR><LF> line
termination either.

The configuration files  of TeraDesk 4.* are  in text  form,  but they
are NOT intended to be  edited by hand,  although it is possible to do
so. The text form  of the  configuration files is  a consequence of an
implementation of the 'keyword  =  value'  concept which  enables easy
testing  of  file contents  and  maintaining of compatibility  between
upgrades. Editing of configuration files  by  hand,  unless  you  know
-exactly-  what you  are doing,  can cause undesired effects,  or even
crash TeraDesk.

However,  there is  one  item in the  configuration  file that  can be
changed -only- by editing  the file  (but normally there  would not be
any need to do so). These are:

maxd=256 - initial number of directory entries in windows

Item maxd can be changed to a lower value in order to save some memory
in very tight  RAM configurations,  or to  a higher value  for quicker
directory opening, if directories with many files are expected.

The palette file is optional and can be used to restore colour palette
after programs  that may corrupt it,  or to set  some specific palette
when Tera Desktop is started.  Whether it is used or not can be set in
Video options...  Save palette  option  should  be  avoided  in multi-
tasking environments.