Interface RSC Editor - latest information in 2020

[DrCoolZic]

The goal of this thread is to provide latest information about the Interface resource (RSC) editor from “nol Software”.

It is getting difficult to get information about Interface editor on the Web: first many sources for the program have disappeared and second it is almost impossible to find documentation about the program.

This is why I have decided to publish on this thread an archive that contains 5 different version of the program as well as many documents (including 1994 manual) in German, English, and French …

If you have any additional version of the program or if you have any documentation for Interface please do not hesitate to comment or upload…

First here are some thread references about interface on Atari-Forum:

• viewtopic.php?f=14&t=33133&p=339847
• viewtopic.php?f=70&t=23858
• viewtopic.php?f=14&t=26342
• viewtopic.php?f=14&t=29105

The next post will be about releases of the program and the one after about documentation.

[DrCoolZic]

Interface program various releases

Versions of Interface found on Web:

• From Atari Essential Software: https://sites.google.com/site/stessenti ... /interface
  version is described as V2.30 but seems to be V2.33
• From Kurobox server: ftp://kurobox.serveftp.net:3021/programming/
  same distribution as above
• From chapelie mirror: http://storage.atari-source.org/atari/m ... ogramming/
  same distribution as above
• From mega-hz.de: http://mega-hz.de/ATARI/ATARI%2016Bit/R ... /INTRFACE/
  Version seems to be V2.20 or V2.21

Versions of Interface I have
I have collected over the years several versions of the Interface program. Unfortunately, it is difficult to know what is the real version of the program as I could not find any string inside the executable that would indicates the real version. Therefore, we can only rely on what the RCS indicates as well as on the file timestamp.

Let’s review the different versions I have:

• Version 2.0 (?) : I don't know where I found it. This release contains: Extobfix.prg, Interface.prg, and Interface.rsc in French
• Version 2.20 (V2.21?) : This version is coming from mega-hz.de (see above). This release contains Extobfix.prg, Interface.prg, Interface.hrd, and Interface.rsc in German.
• Version 2.30 : I don't know where I found it. This release contains: Extobfix.prg, Interface.prg, and Interface.rsc in German/English/French
• Version 2.3X : It is the most widely available version on many sites (Atari Essential, Kurobox, Chapelie, .....) and therefore the most widespread. This version is reported as V2.33 but, as you will see below, I don't think that's accurate. If the timestamp is correct, it looks like this version may have been released later that V2.33. The release contains: Extobfix.prg, Interface.prg, and Interface.rsc in German/English/French. Note that the RSC files (German/English/French) are the same as for 2.30.
• Version 2.33: I got this version from someone who own the original diskettes. Therefore, I consider this version to be the real original V2.33. The release contains Extobfix.prg, Interface.prg, Interface.hrd, and Interface.rsc in German. Note that I have used Interface to compare the RSC files (in German) from V2.3X and from V2.33. They only differ slightly: The string that contains Interface’s version number, and the nol icon (for some reason in 2.3X the icon is there but hidden).

Based on the above information, we can assume that V.2.30, V2.3X, and V2.33 can use the same RSC files (no UI change).
The only way to check if the binary files are same or different is to use some checksum: so I have computed the MD5 values for all the files.
Here is a summary of the important file’s information for each release:

Code: Select all

INTERFACE 2.00
EXTOBFIX.PRG        12/08/1992  34      92E27E5E1EA20F91C01E7D20AAA11CC1   
INTRFACE.HRD
INTRFACE.PRG        16/07/1993  287     8FCD2BCDD6EC5A8AE78F789A4706B83E   
INTRFACE.RSC (DE)
INTRFACE.RSC (EN)
INTRFACE.RSC (FR)   03/10/1993  71      1616DA6990586D834BA5F8E9A72163FE   

INTERFACE 2.20
EXTOBFIX.PRG        ?           34      2008B16C93C3B3A1BC7C69CB7A07D0FE   
INTRFACE.HRD        ?           11      7FD542B8DCDC793676BFA9CDF608779C   
INTRFACE.PRG        ?           336     C7F6669E7158A89C6AF174986E51F402       
INTRFACE.RSC (DE)   ?           109     9DBE8BC17D65D182C8CDECB07BF2346A   
INTRFACE.RSC (EN)
INTRFACE.RSC (FR)

INTERFACE 2.30
EXTOBFIX.PRG        17/06/1994  53      07B46373F61451B8F5F5B7B4990166CB   
INTRFACE.HRD        22/11/1994  12      215CC94C155059D7F39C312EC7BDD316
INTRFACE.PRG        25/07/1994  362     F8BCCA0999DD26BD3E1454C2983579C4   
INTRFACE.RSC (DE)   23/12/2000  143     C50E5CCA9E49A7E9E8D020D1CBF12B80   
INTRFACE.RSC (EN)   17/01/2001  145     1688E282AF08582A5CAFF59B1FD61654   
INTRFACE.RSC (FR)   10/11/1996  143     4F88E779982153278485BA623F7EAAC4   

INTERFACE 2.33
EXTOBFIX.PRG        03/10/1994  53      E8A30A53D8BE569F10ACCAACAC3D17B4   
INTRFACE.HRD        22/11/1994  12      215CC94C155059D7F39C312EC7BDD316   
INTRFACE.PRG        22/11/1994  362     432DEA89B718E6DCB862BDF8E234CBEA   
INTRFACE.RSC (DE)   22/11/1994  143     A2D32544AA02E12E704C249FAF4946EB   
INTRFACE.RSC (EN)
INTRFACE.RSC (FR)

INTERFACE 2.3X
EXTOBFIX.PRG        02/12/1994  53      B70984C89C09ABDE69F2FEC7EB5CDBB3   
INTRFACE.HRD        22/11/1994  12      215CC94C155059D7F39C312EC7BDD316
INTRFACE.PRG        20/06/1995  363     17BC597C3D81752B2A9F8FDBC5F1E075   
INTRFACE.RSC (DE)   23/12/2000  143     C50E5CCA9E49A7E9E8D020D1CBF12B80   
INTRFACE.RSC (EN)   17/01/2001  145     1688E282AF08582A5CAFF59B1FD61654   
INTRFACE.RSC (FR)   01/11/1996  143     4F88E779982153278485BA623F7EAAC4   

LIESMICH.TXT        05/01/1996  13      F98E800EFD33C79B776B3A60A725FE2D   


I have created a rar file that contains all the versions.
The INTRFACE folder contains the following subfolders:

• INTRFACE.XYZ: This folders contains the Interface programs version X.YZ, with the resource file and the MyDial EXTOBFIX file. The localized versions of the RCS (if available) are located in the subdirectories: German, English, French. To use Interface with a specific language, copy the INTRFACE.RCS file from one of these subdirectories to the main directory.
• DEMO: This folder contains the example resource discussed in the manual.
• CPX: The CPX folder contains a CPX module for color adjustment, which also works under any graphics card.
• ARCHIVE: This folder contains several self-extracting files, related to Interface and MyDials
• There also 2 readme files: LIESMICH.TXT and README.TXT that contains release information for Interface 2.33

I would strongly recommend to use release V2.33 because it is a clean trusted version. Currently I only provide the RCS in German, but you can copy the RCS in English and in French from V2.3X. I am working on a new clean RCS in English (current 2.3x has still some German in it and some translation errors) and will keep you updated.
Here is the file

INTRFACE.rar

If you have different version please upload

[DrCoolZic]

Interface documentation

Interface is a very powerful RSC editor and I have been able to use without manual for quite some times. But having the documentation allows to perform some operations much more efficiently and to discover a lot of interesting features.

I first found a paper copy of the manual in French. There is no indication about the release associated with this manual, but I suspect it is V2.21. Here is the scan of this documentation.

interface2_manual_french.pdf

Many thanks to dhedberg for providing us with a scan of Interface manual in German published in 1994. The original scan can be found here:
viewtopic.php?f=70&t=23858#p387112
As this document is huge, contains two pages by page, and is not so cleaned I first created a clean, small, searchable version of this document. So if you are looking for latest Interface manual in German here it is (152 pages):
Interface2_manual_1994_german.pdf too big placed on my web site

If, like me, you do not speak German, you will probably be interested by an English version of this document! Well it’s done. I have translated the document in English, changed the screenshot, etc… Note that instead of translating the original chapter about MyDial library, I have translated the documentation about V2.33 provided in diskette 2. There are probably still some errors (so if you find some let me know) but overall I believe that the translation is good enough to publish. So here is the Interface User manual in English

Interface2_manual_1994_english.rar

Here you will find the PDF version of the Liesmich and Readme (translation) files associated with the release version 2.33 of the program.

readme.rar

An article about Interface was published in ST Magazine N°80 in February 1994. The article is in French and here the PDF version

interface_st_magazine_n80_02_1994_french.pdf

This is it for the documentation now. Again if you are aware of other document about Interface please upload.

[ThorstenOtto]

I have a version here that also claims to be 2.00, but has different checksums (assuming they are MD5):

Code: Select all

f50a8523cbaa888eea4afc26a863b6a1  extobfix.prg
7db1ee9607ac5291fa6db153b848671d  intrface.hrd
1cee4b105622995df2be4cb5ac7cbf12  intrface.prg
db16ba8d61ff8b2efa14ec18815986fa  intrface.rsc
2f533a4b7822792875e63a6a97317b53  liesmich.txt
d29f72efec39584bf58c19ed84b2b6c2  neu.txt


The resource file is in german. The file dates are messed up, but the liesmich.txt says it is dated Aug 18, 1992.

[DrCoolZic]

Would be interested if you can upload.
Files are messed up - means you do not have anymore original?

Anybody knows if there is a way to find about version in the PRG file. I have scanned with an hexadecimal editor but did not found any interesting string?

[ThorstenOtto]

The file dates are messed up, not the files. They are all stamped Oct 6, 2011.

[DrCoolZic]

You uploaded under name intrface.220 you mean intrface.200 ?
I have compared the provided RCS with the one I have (in French) and aprt from obvious different names the objects are not organized the same?

Files size are the same? May be the french release did not use the same executable. But this is strange

[ThorstenOtto]

Uhm yes, it is 2.00. I also noticed that file sizes are the same, but the executables are different. Maybe they used different organized resource files for different languages, which would mean you cannot just replace the resource file. But this is an old version, so...

[cb]

Many thanks for this thread an especially for the various manuals!
Here is an alternate french v2.30 from my own archives. The only difference is what seems to be an handmade translation of the main RSC. And also, here is my own translated french v2.3x (only the rsc file is translated and it says 2.30 but it definitely isn't 2.30, I think it's the same as the 2.3x from your own archive).

[cb]

Also dug out this archive with a bunch of Interface-related IMGs and text files from Gribnif Software...

[DrCoolZic]

Thanks for the info
I will check/compare the content.
If you look also at viewtopic.php?f=14&t=29105&p=388292#p388292
Seems like there many many different versions of the program even under the same revision number this does not make too much sense

[DrCoolZic]

I made an interesting discovery: It seems that Interface does not correctly follow the recommendations for GEM programs, i.e. that all language-specific information be placed in the RSC file.

This explains why when running a supposed English versions of Interface program, you still see quite a few terms in German. Indeed, it is not sufficient to change the RSC to switch completely from one language to another.

This implies that a release for a specific language must contain not only an RSC file specific to that language, but also an executable file specific to that language. Note that this remark also applies to the EXTOBFIX.PRG. This explains why, for a given version, the executables differ (i.e. have different checksum, and sometimes different size) for different languages.

Therefore, the comment you often see that to switch from German to English, you just have to replace the RSC file is not correct. However, this will only work if you accept that some messages appear in the original language.

Below you will see the same portion of the executable for German, English, and French

languages.PNG

I have collected several versions that I did not have before (thanks for publishing here and there viewtopic.php?p=388412#p388265).

The updated version table, based on information collected, looks like this:

Code: Select all

INTERFACE 2.00 - August 1992
INTRFACE.PRG FR  16/07/1993  293373  8FCD2BCDD6EC5A8AE78F789A4706B83E
INTRFACE.RSC FR  03/10/1993   72228  1616DA6990586D834BA5F8E9A72163FE
INTRFACE.PRG DE  ?           293373  1CEE4B105622995DF2BE4CB5AC7CBF12
INTRFACE.RSC DE  ?            72010  DB16BA8D61FF8B2EFA14EC18815986FA

INTERFACE 2.20 - December 1992   
INTRFACE.PRG DE  ?           343379  C7F6669E7158A89C6AF174986E51F402
INTRFACE.RSC DE  ?           110632  9DBE8BC17D65D182C8CDECB07BF2346A

INTERFACE 2.30 - April 1994
INTRFACE.PRG EN  ?           369868  376E13B8E045B5952F6A5443E0A8993B
INTRFACE.RSC EN  ?           148534  4C294B041243D081DD43949F6F2CB4D4
INTRFACE.PRG FR  ?           369696  16D6BD411E7CF2C96236D8C59AF67059
INTRFACE.RSC FR  ?           145858  2BE3BCB30578F46852FC64DC9B685945
INTRFACE.PRG DE  25/07/1994  369868  F8BCCA0999DD26BD3E1454C2983579C4
INTRFACE.RSC DE  23/12/2000  145502  C50E5CCA9E49A7E9E8D020D1CBF12B80

INTERFACE 2.33 - November 1994
INTRFACE.PRG DE  22/11/1994  370537  432DEA89B718E6DCB862BDF8E234CBEA
INTRFACE.RSC DE  22/11/1994  145500  A2D32544AA02E12E704C249FAF4946EB

INTERFACE 2.3+ ??
INTRFACE.PRG DE  20/06/1995  370905  17BC597C3D81752B2A9F8FDBC5F1E075
INTRFACE.RSC DE  23/12/2000  145502  C50E5CCA9E49A7E9E8D020D1CBF12B80

EXTRA RSC 2.3X
INTRFACE.RSC EN  17/01/2001  147567  1688E282AF08582A5CAFF59B1FD61654
INTRFACE.RSC FR  10/11/1996  145942  4F88E779982153278485BA623F7EAAC4
INTRFACE.RSC FR  ?           149116  489189C1C9D58E474E9956558BF156D6

We see that we have Program (RSC) sizes: around 286 (70) KB for 2.0, 335 (108) KB for 2.2, 361 (142) KB for 2.3, 361 (142) KB for 2.33, and 362 (142) KB for 2.3X. We do not have a description of the changes from V2.3 to V2.33 and V2.3X but, since the programs are about the same size and use (almost) the same CSR, we can assume that they are probably bugfix versions.

Therefore, if you want to use a fully translated version of the program in English or French you are limited to version 2.3 (available in the 3 languages). If you want to use version 2.33 for these languages, you can copy the corresponding RSC files but you will still get some messages in German.

It would be nice if some of you had V2.33 versions in English or French and would be ready to publish them on Atari-Forum.
It would also be great if someone could scan the latest version of the manual in English (at the moment there is only my translation) and the manual in French (at the moment the version published probably corresponds to V2.0)

When things are consolidated I will upload a new archive with the different versions well organized