Well, I won't give any hints here on how to use uCON64 itself, you have to bog the author(s) of uCON64 (not me!) for any questions/suggestions on uCON64 (and read the FAQ). I'll just make some valuable hints on using the Frontend here.

Interface Elements:

Rom Box:

• This is an essential part- here you choose the Rom/1st file. You absolutely must specify a file here, except for the "-help" option. Like with the PatchBox, you may use an OpenPanel by pushing the button, drop the file, or type a value into the TextControl. Note that not all options require a file as argument, i.e. the "-ls" parameter needs a directory. On program start, the last inputted file is displayed here.

Patch/2nd file Box:

• Some Options require a 2nd file or value as argument, i.e. "-find" and "-c". In this box you can choose the 2nd file, either by an OpenPanel, or by dropping the file into the box. You can also type the path to the file into the textbox, or respectively, a needed string (i.e. for the "-strip" Option, you need to type a Bytes value like "512" into the TextControl). Often, the second file is a Patch file, so the Patch options are also included in this box.
• The Frontend will enable the TextControl if a 2nd value/file is needed, and only parse the value on execution if the TextControl is still enabled. You can override this behaviour so that a 2nd value is always appended with the Need Two switch in the Additional Commands Tab.

Common Tab:

• This box contains the common options that are available for every (well, almost) console system. When no Option is selected, uCON64 will default to show info about the selected Rom (that is, if NO other options except force switches from the other Tabs are selected too). This means you can choose these options in addition to the ones from the other Tabs.
• If you encounter a window like the one below, you selected an option which needs another value (not covered by the 2nd Value box) as argument. Just input a bytes value like "512" and press "set", so the commandline output will be sth like -hdn=512. The number of options which use this syntax is growing from beta to beta in uCON64.

Cartridge Consoles Tab:

• Contains the options/functions for a specific selected console system. Select a new console View with the DropDown Menu, each console has it's own special view with options. See DevStatus for a list of console systems. All cartridge systems and backup units in uCON64 are supported.

Additional Commands Tab:

• This Tab is meant for use in situations where you want to do an action with uCON64, but the commandline switch hasn't been (yet) integrated as a GUI control into the Frontend. You can use the Frontend then anyway, as this Tab gives you the option to specify switches manually. To do this, enable the TextInputBar with Enable Additional Parameters and type the switches directly into it like in the Terminal. The entered switches will be added to the commandline given to uCON64 when you start execution. Entered text is also saved in settings.


• The Need Two files option is an override that tells the Frontend to always append the 2nd file/value to the built commandline, lemme explain: as noted in the PatchBox help, the Frontend normally decides from your chosen options if a second filename (or value) is needed, and enables the 2nd TextInputBar as an indication then. That's very comfortable, however in case you entered an *additional* option manually above which requires a 2nd file/value, the Frontend will not know it's needed. In such a case, just override the automatic scanning with the NeedTwo option, and you'll have the chance to enter the 2nd file or value.
  Just one more note; this can be also useful for all the Send/Receive options: normally, uCON64 will automatically scan and choose a Parallel port, and that's really reliable. But if you have multiple Parallel ports in your machine, it could be that uCON64 chose the wrong one (i.e. the one where your backup unit is not connected). In that case, enable the NeedTwo option so that the 2nd TextInputBar is highlighted (it is normally disabled for the Send options), and input the hardware address of the right Parallel port there (a value like 0x378).

File menu:

• Nothing too unusual here, I'd say. Close will quit the app as expected, Go uCON64! is another shortcut to start command execution.
• Preview commandline will show the commandline which the Frontend builds from your chosen parameters in an alert box, nut not execute it. This gives you the chance to somehow preview the planned operation before selecting Go uCON64.


• There are also shortcuts provided to open a Rom and 2nd file FilePanel (in addition to the Open-Buttons in the respective Boxes). The Open Recent... Submenus will be populated with the 20 last used files (or value, you get the idea). This is saved in settings.

Options menu:

• Show Stdout option:
  This option should always be on normally, the Frontend will display the text output of uCON64 in a new window then, which is in most cases wanted or even needed to know if an operation was successful (i.e. to see the info you were looking for :). Since version 0.8.0, the stdout mechanism is completely reworked, and furthermore uCON64 will be executed in its own thread, so the Frontend is immediately available again in all cases now (you can continue to work while a previous operation is still displaying stdout :). And btw, if you had a Send/Receive option selected, the Frontend will change it's internal display mode, so that you will see sth like a progress gauge. The progress gauge looks bad at the moment, I am working on this.
  When Show stdout is off, you won't be able to see uCON64's output unless you start the Frontend from a Terminal.
• Show Bubble Help option:
  This enables or disables the Bubble Help Tool Tips (that pop-up text in a yellow view). I suggest turning that option on if you have a question or problem, it might be answered by a Bubble Hep text you haven't seen yet. If anyone wants to help other users by writing help text for specific options, please mail me the text and on what interface element it should appear, and I'll integrate it.
• Show window in All workspaces option:
  Well, does what the name suggests, showing the Main window in all workspaces at once. Can be useful in some situations.
• Draw background option:
  This option will only take effect after restarting the app, not instantly! It affects the background pattern look of the Boxes nested inside the TabView and the RomBox. Normally, a darker background is displayed there, but you can choose to go back to a plain grey Be-Panel look with this option. I integrated this because I had a report that there are redraw bugs with the dark background and BeOS Dano. Well, just try what looks best for your taste :)
• Accept first click option:
  This option controls the behaviour of the Main window concerning mouse-clicks and active window state: When it is OFF, you have to click on the inactive window once to make it active, then click the controls (that is, if you haven't enabled "Focus Follows mouse" in Mouse Prefs). This is the normal mode for BeOS. When this option is ON, however, controls like the CheckBoxes will react on your mouse clicks even when the window is currently inactive. This mode is more convenient for users who come from an Wintel OS.
• Save settings options:
  These two options control the Frontend's saving of settings. Save Settings Now... will save settings instantly when you choose it. Save Settings on exit is an option wether settings should be saved when you quit the Frontend. Normally, you'd just want to leave Save on exit ON, and be happy.
  Btw, saved settings include recently used files, text from the Textcontrols, state of the options of this menu, window position, last used Console and Tab, and other things.

Help menu:

• HTML documentation
  launches index page of the documentation you're reading. It will only work if you haven't deleted, moved or renamed the documentation subfolder.
• About this app
  will show a window with information about the Frontend version and programmers.


• uCON64 version info
  shows extended info about the uCON64 version you are using. A warning will be displayed if uCON64 isn't installed.

Further Hints:

• A good place to ask for help or general info about emulation in BeOS is Beemulated. You can sometimes catch me there in the Forums / Comment system also.

• Use "-help" to get more info about options, and combine it with a ForceRecognition switch (i.e. -snes, -gba, etc.) in the ConsoleBox to show only the help related to a specific console system.

• The probably simplest way to start using the Frontend is to select a Romfile in the RomBox, and hit the "Go uCON64" Button. The default "Show info about Rom" operation will be executed then.

• If you have a problem with a Rom, try to override uCON64's recognition with the various "Force..." switches.

• For the "-emu" option to work properly, follow the instructions in Installation

• When building the uCON64 commandline, the Frontend will only parse the Common/Patch Options and the Options of the currently selected console, so one can freely switch consoles. In addition, the 2nd file/value string is only used if it's needed for a currently selected option.

• The window can also be moved around the screen by clicking and holding the background view (the view that has the same background texture as this html documentation). Window position is saved on exit.

• Text in the stdout window can be selected and copied to the clipboard using the standard keyboard shortcuts, or dragged to the Desktop for creating a textfile.