HelioTADS V1.0 - Earle F. Philhower, III - earle@ziplabel.com
Jan 25, 2002   - Based on TADS 2.5.5 sources, modified GLK base
http://www.ziplabel.com/helio


HelioTADS will allow you to play many TADS (*.gam) games on your Helio.
You can find a plethora of interactive fiction titles in this format
at the IF Archive, http://www.ifarchive.org

If you want to play Z-Code (Infocom, etc.) games instead, get HelioFrotz
from http://www.ziplabel.com/helio


Based upon (but not responsible for the bugs in the Helio port...)
 /------------------------------------------------------------\
 |  TADS 2.5.5 * Copyright (c) 1992-2002 Michael J. Roberts.  |
 |  CheapGlk Library: version 0.8.7.                          |
 |   (Designed by Andrew Plotkin <erkyrath@eblong.com>)       |
 \------------------------------------------------------------/


Helio Installation:
. Start helio desktop
. Right-click on the username to bring up popup menu
. Select "Install PDA Application"
. Select HelioTADS.app
. Hit the hotsync button and voila


Making HDB Files:
- Get many free TADS games at:
     http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXtads.html
. Run MakeZHDB to convert the inform.dat file into Helio format
    ex: makezhdb inherit.gam "Inheritance" "TADS" inherit.hdb
. It is important to keep the 3rd option given to makehdb
  as "TADS".  That's how these files are detected by the APP.


Installing HDB Files:
. Copy the resulting HDB file to your hotsync upload dir:
     C:\Program Files\VTech\Helio Desktop 2.0\1\Acc
. Hotsync, and off you go


Getting Fonts into your Helio:
. Download any Palm PDB formatted font (only 1 font per PDB is allowed)
. Run MAKEZHDB with filetype as FontPDB
      ex: makezhdb HKFONT.PDB "HK Font 40x26" "FontPDB" hkfont.hdb
. Hotsync the resulting HDB file and you're set!
. Check out
        http://www.rainerzenz.de/palm/alphafonts.html
  for some good, free Palm fonts to try.
  And get the font HKFONT from
        http://www.rainerzenz.de/palm/alphafontothers.html
  to play games on a 40x25 screen.


Playing on the Helio:
* If you've played HelioFrotz, then everything is almost identical. *
. Start HelioTADS, select a game from the list, and hit Play!
. You can choose the font HelioTADS will use to display TEXT (standard
  room descriptions, etc.) and FIXED (status bar) by hitting the
  appropriate button from the startup screen.
. OK button = ENTER
. MENU button brings up a list of common words
. The crosshair next to the text entry line brings up a compass
. The arrow next to the text entry line shows your last 5 commands,
  last command will be lowest on the list (less pointer movement needed!)
. Tap anywhere on the screen or use the scroll buttons on the side of the
  Helio to advance past a MORE prompt
. Clicking on a word on-screen will copy it to your current text line
. Save and Restore games work, transcripts go to Text documents
  (Get TextView application http://www.ziplabel.com/helio to read these
   or send back to your PC!)
. If your Helio is shut off in the middle of a game, it will autosave a
  file called "TADS Power.sav".  Just restart the game file, then
  enter RESTORE, followed by "TADS Power.sav" and you should be back where
  you left off!


Programmers:
. The included "HelioGLK" is based off of CheapGLK, and doesn't implement
  the full GLK standard.  It does implement enough to run TADS, though.
. You will need my_stdio library (or your own) to implement the
  Fnt* functions and fopen/fread/etc.
  my_stdio is available at http://www.ziplabel.com/helio


Have Fun!
earle@ziplabel.com
