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The "Xcontrol" control-panel

The "XCONTROL.ACC" control panel (Extensible Control Panel) is the new style control panel ACCessory which now relies on so called "CPX modules" (Control Panel Extensions).
(If installed, you'll find it in the "Desk" menu, from the desktop or while using any program).

     

Xcontrol was designed for TOS 2.06 and might work unreliably with older version of TOS.
This is what Atari has to say about this matter (from the "Xcontrol" readme-file):

XControl is the newest newest version of the Atari control panel. It is designed to take advantage of features only available in the latest (>2.0) versions of the operating system. It is released into distribution with the following notice.

Users who don't have a MegaSTE, TT030, or machine released later must use the shutdown feature of XControl whenever changing resolutions. Shutdown will appear in the options menu of XCONTROL if your version of TOS does not support the necessary features. Failure to use the shutdown option will result in unpredictable behavior of applications executed after a resolution change. Atari Corporation is not responsible for any damage that results from the use or misuse of this program.


The "XCONTROL.ACC" control panel accessory.
The "About" window of the control panel.

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Control panel setup

Click on "Options", then on "Setup"...

Select "Setup" by going to the "Options" menu.
The "Setup" window.


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Activating and deactivating CPX modules

The icon on the left side (in the "Setup" window) allows you to activate/deactivate CPX modules...

Click on the left icon (as shown here with the mouse-pointer) to activate and/or deactivate CPX modules.

Activating CPX modules.
Deactivating CPX modules


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Reloading CPX modules

The icon on the right side (in the "Setup" window) allows you to reload your new combination of CPX modules (this will load the newly selected modules and unload those you've deselected).

An exception from this rule is when you've deselected a memory-resident CPX module. These will stay in memory until you reboot (restart) or turn the computer off.

Click on the icon near the mouse-pointer in this illustration to load/reload the CPX modules you've selected. Sometimes you will see this error message. Try rebooting (restarting) the computer as this usually loads all your installed CPX modules (memory permitting).


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CPX information and other features

The main window for the control panel showing the CPX modules...

     


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Minimum number of CPX slots

In version 1.0 of "XCONTROL.ACC" there was an option for setting the minimum number of slots....

     


Atari explains this feature as follows (taken from the "Xcontrol" readme-file):

Minimum number of slots
CPXs are stored in an external memory device (hard disk or floppy disk). During startup or reloading, only basic information about each active CPX (such as the CPX's name and icon) is loaded into RAM. When you actually open an active CPX, the bulk of the file is then loaded into RAM so you can use the CPX. When you close the CPX, the file is erased from RAM until the next time you open it.

Note: CPXs with Resident status do not follow the above pattern, but are copied into RAM at startup time.

The computer has to know how much RAM to reserve for CPX basic information. When you set the Minimum Number of Slots, you are telling the computer to reserve enough RAM to be able to store basic information for that number of CPXs. If the number of active CPXs at startup time exceeds the Minimum Number of Slots, the computer will reserve enough RAM for that number of CPXs. You can select from 5 to 99 slots.

To change the Minimum Number of Slots, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Control Panel. Select Setup from the Options menu.
  2. Use the scroll arrows to display the desired number of slots. Select OK or Save.

This user-selectable option was removed in later versions of Xcontrol as it was found to be both confusing and unnecessary. Instead (with version 1.31 of Xcontrol) it now works as follows (taken from notes accompanying the USA version of Xcontrol 1.31):


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Making CPX modules memory-resident

CPX modules are usually loaded into memory each time they're opened (double-clicked), and unloaded from memory when you close them. This saves a lot of valuable memory which you can use for other things.
But there are situations where you might want to keep (all or some of them) in memory all the time:

To make CPX modules memory-resident you can use the "Configure" CPX-module...
The "Configure" CPX module allows you to make any CPX module memory-resident. The "Deskjet on" CPX module allows you to reset Hewlett Packard printers (and possibly others as well) which otherwise have to be turned on before the computer.

Some programs steal all available memory so you can't access it without exiting that program first (which you probably don't want to waste time doing when you're ready to print).



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The CPX modules...

There are lots of CPX modules available. Some come as part of other programs, to allow the user to change certain settings, others come on their own as an enhancement to the computer.
Below follows brief descriptions of the CPX modules that come as standard from Atari.

(Please note that some of these modules can cause problems with other programs as they were written without following standard programming guidelines among other things.
They should be removed, or replaced with better alternatives if possible.
This applies to certain control-panel replacements and many programs. Refer to the user manuals for more information if available, or remove the CPX modules one by one until you find out which one is causing the trouble).



General (GENERAL.CPX)

The "General" CPX module.
On a Mega STe an additional setting for the processor speed becomes available.



Sound (SOUND.CPX)

     
The "Sound" CPX module.



Mouse-accelerator (MACCEL.CPX)

     
The "Maccel" (Mouse accelerator) CPX module.

Note: This CPX-module has been known to cause problems in certain cases and should be disabled if you notice any problems.
A better alternative is Silkmouse which has the same functionality and is more compatible.


Configure (CONFIG.CPX)

     
The "Configure" CPX module.

Note: This CPX-module has been known to cause problems in certain cases and should be disabled if you notice any problems.
The readme-file for "Zcontrol" mentions this module as one which can crash the control panel.
If it won't work, revert back to "Xcontrol" or enable it only when you need to configure a CPX module, then deinstall it again.


Colour (COLOR.CPX)

     
The "Color" CPX module lets you set the computer's colours.

Note: This CPX-module has been known to cause problems in certain cases and should be disabled if you notice any problems.


Window colour (WINCOLOR.CPX)

     
The "Wincolor" CPX module lets you change the window colours/patterns.

Note: This CPX-module has been known to cause problems in certain cases and should be disabled if you notice any problems.


Printer (PRINTER.CPX)

     
The "Printer" CPX module is used to set the printer's options.

Note: The above CPX module is pretty basic and old as it only supports either dot-matrix or daisy-wheel printers. There's no option for modern laser or inkjet printers. However, if your printer is Epson compatible it should work.
Read some of my tips on printing to learn some neat tricks and more detailed information about the TOS 2.06 desktop print options.



Modem (MODEM.CPX)

     
The "Modem" CPX module is used to set the modem options.

Note: All TOS versions including 2.06 suffer from poor modem performance. This applies especially to high speed modems (though "high speed" in this case is maximum 19200 baud which translates into 14400 baud modems being the fastest you can use).
You should disable MODEM.CPX and put SERIAL.CPX in its place. For better performance you should also install the required parts of "HSmodem" (in the AUTO folder) which gives much better modem performance and additionally supports faster modems (actually, with a small hardware modification such as "RSVE" or similar, together with the HSmodem software you can achieve speeds up to 38400 baud (or higher in some cases) with an Atari ST) making it possible to use modern modems. HSmodem also improves modem performance reliability without any speed-increase added hardware.



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Control panel alternatives

In addition to the original "XCONTROL.ACC" control panel from Atari, there are now several improved replacements available:

Out of these three I personally prefer "Zcontrol" as I find it easy to use and causes no problems (actually I've heard that it does indeed contain a few bugs, so if it doesn't work for you, go back to the original "Xcontrol"). I'm pretty happy with the original "Xcontrol" as well, but "Zcontrol" has some nice features like being able to display more modules at once and a nicer activate/deactivate window (I find the scroll bar a bit too small to my liking in "Xcontrol" when there are many modules to choose from).
However, use whatever works for you as this is largely a matter of taste and need of features.

The "COPS" control panel will show all CPX modules available whether they are enabled or disabled. On a standard ST you might find that you'll have to wait a little while each time you start the computer so all the icons can be displayed.
On the bright side you can simply double-click a disabled CPX module and use it instead of having to enable/reload it first.
"Zcontrol" looks a lot like the original, but has a few improvements over Xcontrol like the ability to show more than 4 modules at once.

"Freedom 2" is actually a replacement for the Atari file-selector (which is shown every time you open or save a file), but as it handles CPX modules it replaces "XCONTROL.ACC" as well.




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