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Silicon Times Report Issue 0056
ST REPORT WEEKLY ONLINE MAGAZINE
Monday, OCT. 10, 1988
Vol II No. 56
===========
APEInc., P.O. BOX 74, Middlesex, N.J. 08846-0074
PUBLISHER GENERAL MANAGER
Ron Kovacs R.F.Mariano
=======================================================
ST REPORT EDITOR: Thomas Rex Reade
PO Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida. 32236-6672
Headquarters Bulletin Boards
ST Report North ST Report South
201-343-1426 904-786-4176
------------------------------------
ST Report Central ST Report West
216-784-0574 916-962-2566
CONTENTS
========
> From the Editor's Desk..............> Codehead Products.................
> The "PRESIDENT'S" Conference........> REVOLVER..........................
> ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL..............> Pro GEM Windows #7................
> NeoDesk - Points to Ponder..........> THE BEAT GOES ON..................
=========================================================================
COMP-U-SERVE ~ GENIE ~ DELPHI ~ THE SOURCE
=========================================================================
From the Editor's Desk,
We were going to release a supplementary issue this week in honor of the
Presidential Conference of 10/03/88. After seeing what went on we felt it
best not to do so for the benefit of all parties concerned. We carry the
conference here in it's entirety for our readers to see exactly what folks
saw during the conference. You can form your own opinions.
I had the good fortune to speak to the nice folks at Avante Guarde Systems
in Jacksonville and they will have a surprise "NEW" unrelated to PC DITTO
product to unveil at Comdex....congratulations are in order to Mr. and
Mrs. Teal for their continued faith and support of the ST marketplace.
Speaking of PC Ditto, we still receive mail concerning this program. Most
of the mail has praise to the high heavens for it...even tho it is a
little slow..most folks say it has definately broadened their usage of the
ST and certainly has helped to sell the ST idea to a number of their
friends.
On to more serious matters....we have been hearing form a few different
directions that people are saying Atari is "on the way out". If I never
print another word.....let me say this: NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY BE FURTHER
FROM THE TRUTH. I am sick and tired of hearing, "well, so and so told me
and after he said...." Folks heresay is pure BS! It is usually emitted
from a poor soul trying to hurt someone or look important to the listener.
Do yourselves a favor....check out these so called "facts" for yourselves.
Again, ATARI is very healthy corporately speaking. They do NEED a good
SALES and MARKETING DEPT and without a doubt, a real National Sales
Manager not a typical yes man.
The course of current events in the Atari world never cease to amaze me,
we have the ability to work together and bring forth the best of three
worlds of computing...a) Serious Productive Computing (Business, DTP,
etc..) b) Superior Entertainment (Games) c) Creative Artistry (Art
work, MUSIC [ Composition and mastery - MIDI ]) . What are we doing?
Easy, we are busy trying to second guess a group of men at Atari who would
like us to believe they really know what they are doing. Since we
already know the only real leader at Atari is poppa Jack, the three boys
are fun, but are not business giants. If Jack were not there to keep
these "majhias" in line, Atari would be history. Fearless leaders in the
Computing Industry ....they are NOT. Since that is known, let's go on to
better things.
WE..as the userbase can force ourselves on Atari anytime we wish to do so.
We MUST do just one thing.
ORGANIZE ON A NATIONAL BASIS
----------------------------
Any body game? We at ST Report will be more than happy to spearhead a
National Organizational Effort to show Atari that we the users really do
care......If you are interested, drop us a line with your address etc...
and we will send you some info and ideas.
Use the Florida PO Box listed above....please
Let us know,
Rex........
**************************************************************************
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY
COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers
ST REPORT ONLINE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE
NEW USERS SIGN UP TODAY!
Call any of the St Report Official BBS numbers
(Listed at the top of ST REPORT)
or
Leave E-mail to St Report, Ron Kovacs or Rex Reade
Be sure to include your full mailing address so your
Compuserve kit can be immediately mailed to you!
Expires 11-30-88
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
**************************************************************************
Art Gallery
===========
By Charles F. Johnson
This program originally appeared in ST-Log magazine's May 1988 issue.
Unfortunately, the version in that issue had a bug that prevented it from
working on the Mega ROMs. This version fixes that problem, and will
run on any version of the ROMs. (For the curious, the bug was in the
routine which searches memory for the text "ITEM SELECTOR"...it ended up
searching too far and crashed on the Mega ROMs.)
To install Art Gallery, just copy the file ARTGALRY.ACC to the root
directory of your boot disk and restart your computer. (Or, if you own
MultiDesk, just load it into MultiDesk and run it.)
Art Gallery shows DEGAS, DEGAS Elite compressed, Neochrome, and TNY
compressed pictures. When you're viewing a picture, hit the left mouse
button or any key to return to the Art Gallery dialog box. Art Gallery
fully supports color rotation in any of the above formats, including DEGAS
Elite's multi-channel rotation.
Art Gallery has a rather unique ability that it shares with another
CodeHead product (MultiDesk); the very same file will run as either a desk
accessory or a program simply by changing its name from ARTGALRY.ACC to
ARTGALRY.PRG.
** An expanded version of Art Gallery (version 2.0) will be offered on
the "CodeHead Utilities Disk," coming soon from CodeHead Software. Art
Gallery 2.0 includes automatic slideshow capabilities, support for
Spectrum picture loading, and the ability to import pictures directly
into DEGAS Elite.
(The CodeHead Utilities Disk will also contain a host of other useful
programs and desk accessories for various and sundry purposes. We expect
it to be available in early November.)
- Charles Johnson, John Eidsvoog
CodeHead Software
.......P.S. ....
Don't forget our other CodeHead products, G+PLUS and MultiDesk! G+PLUS
is a complete replacement for Atari GDOS that fixes many of GDOS'es
problems (and causes no system slowdowns) and adds great new features -
such as the ability to load a new ASSIGN.SYS file (with its list of fonts)
anytime you run a GEM program, and the ability to link ASSIGN files with
their associated GEM programs, automatically installing the correct fonts
and device drivers for each program you use! G+PLUS is fully compatible
with all existing GDOS applications, such as Timeworks Publisher, Easy
Draw, Microsoft Word, WordUp, etc. If you use any of these programs, or
any other program that employs GDOS, you *need* G+PLUS! The retail price
of G+PLUS is $34.95.
MultiDesk is an innovative and flexible desk accessory loader/unloader
that lets you load an unlimited number of standard ST desk accessories
into a single drop-down menu slot, at any time! (Even from within a
running program!) From the desktop, you can load entire groups of desk
accessories (for example, a group of accessories for your word processor,
a group for your terminal program, one for your drawing program, etc.).
You can configure memory any way you desire, and allocate as much or as
little memory as you need to load your favorite accessories; then free up
the memory when you need more to run a program! MultiDesk is highly
compatible with the majority of standard ST desk accessories, including
DAs that steal trap vectors, and use the GEM message pipeline.
Plus...MultiDesk can run as either a desk accessory or a program, simply
by changing its name from MULTDESK.ACC to MULTDESK.PRG! When you run
MultiDesk as a program, you can load and run accessories as if they were
programs too; without using up any permanent RAM or a slot in the drop
down menu. The retail price of MultiDesk is $29.95.
MultiDesk and G+PLUS are available now directly from CodeHead Software.
Send a check or money order for the amount indicated plus $2.00 shipping
and handling fees to:
CodeHead Software
P.O. Box 4336
N. Hollywood, CA 91607
(If you live in California, please include 6.5% sales tax.) Also watch
for CodeHead products at your local ST dealer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATARI Presidential Conference
=============================
October 3, 1988 9pm EST
Comp-u-Serve Online Information Services
# User ID Node Name # User ID Node Name
1 72411,2465 DCF Charles Crook 2 76703,4363 LIS M. Schoenbach
3 71777,2140 GBO Ron Kovacs <ZMAG> 4 76410,70 COL Ricky Costa
5 76703,1077 BNG Steve Mortimer/NNQ 6 71270,1043 WPL Vince Parker
7 75046,467 FLM JERRY C. (G.A.G.) 8 74425,145 WVA Ron Hunt
9 76004,1601 MFL Robert Birmingham 10 76703,4223 MFL Dave Groves
11 76703,254 DFL SYSOP - Ron Luks MODERATOR
12 70007,1070 TTC Julius Oklamcak 13 73637,3051 WIL =Bandit= (tm)
14 76667,3363 LAS WILLIAM COLEMAN 15 71251,1430 LOU Doug Lampert
16 76616,2374 BAK Jim Fuller 17 73710,1052 JAX Rex Reade
18 71451,1123 BUF John Spirko 19 76703,202 QFM M.Doudoroff
20 76615,2013 WBR Richard Huffman 21 76056,1332 TTC Michael Lynch
22 76214,2253 RAL Joe Fowler 23 72571,2563 MLB chris connor
24 70007,417 DCF C. Conroy /OLT 25 72310,3422 SCS Joe Schmidt
26 70347,1713 DCI Bill Halvorsen 27 76004,1666 SCE Roger Brown
28 72777,1765 QEI edward giertuga 29 76410,367 QIB frank kish
30 72477,1037 ANB Bob W. 31 71441,44 WIL STEVEN HARDWICK
32 71231,401 LAS Mark Woolworth 33 70775,712 MIA Sara Groves
34 72347,1020 TOR Bill Gallagher 35 73637,2512 CGL Chris Herr
36 73437,3140 QLA Leon Moncla 37 71550,3312 ANN Bob Retelle
38 76703,4061 GNC Bill Aycock 39 73637,42 SFM Ed Waldorph
40 71641,3024 DES SHAWN SMILEY 41 73637,1107 SYR Ken Brick
42 73765,1173 HAR Tim Early 43 76625,2430 SCE Scot Halvorsen
44 72667,3321 QLA matt chandler 45 76515,1201 TTC Paul Lantz
46 70247,1247 MEX tc 47 76004,1676 MIA Jack Durre'
48 73250,1543 LIU Rick Williams 49 76157,170 AGA Andy Dorman
50 72227,3507 TTC alan page 52 76703,2007 TTC Michael R.
53 73310,761 DEQ Chris Sorensen 54 75136,3077 AKO BYRON WALTER
55 71036,213 CNJ Bob Dolson 56 72767,1212 DET Eric Guy
57 72025,117 MFL Harry Callesis 58 70536,431 CVK lanny smith
59 70007,1135 SCS Sam Tramiel @ Atari
60 72371,3074 SLN Ben Stuyts 61 71550,1104 BOL Neil Redding
62 73577,534 DCI Brian Biggs 63 76704,41 MAU don
65 76367,3657 DNC Sandy and Me 66 73725,1611 PRV Bob Crowell
67 73217,14 SCE Bill Cranor 68 70135,563 ANY Timothy Onders
69 70305,152 SCS Jack Minns 70 73407,1217 AUR Jim Goebel
71 73157,1643 KTN Martin Hodge 72 70605,417 VAN M. Markowitz
73 74435,260 NYJ GREG CURATOLO 74 76505,2440 HON gary gray
75 72750,2007 BUD Jeff Eby 76 73637,2707 ORL Steve Blackwell
77 76157,30 ANB Rick Meredith 78 73177,2024 QFM Chris Richards
79 73657,2662 HVN Ruth Coy 80 76515,3055 LAF David Ramsden
81 73637,377 QDI Schmitz-Moormann 82 72561,2667 NRL BRUCE JENSEN
83 71521,2200 SEA ALAN REEVE 84 76370,1443 QLA abe mizrachi
85 70565,421 TOR Alan Haskell 86 73637,715 TTC Joe Chiazzese
88 70007,1072 SCS Ken Badertscher 89 73557,3602 QCE Robert Stanley
90 76703,4364 FTL Dan R. 92 72445,1155 DCI Tom Zelinski
93 73637,1256 JAX DON GRANT 95 73437,3162 WCH David Hagood
96 73637,766 TTC Richard Dong 98 75176,216 CGL john
99 74146,3222 DLQ George Halvorsen 100 73457,106 DET Billy Rodgers
101 71410,1422 WPL Sarah Chauncey 102 70007,2355 SCE Bill & Opus
104 73245,556 AUR jerry hoenig 106 76556,753 DET Ken Settle
107 72347,75 TRO Keith Joins 108 72327,3042 LSM John Nagy
Your moderator is: SYSOP-Ron Luks
(SYSOP-Ron) Hello everyone....
Conference has begun
--------------------
(SYSOP-Ron)[76703,254] Hello everyone....
Tonights special CONFERENCE with Sam Tramiel, the President of ATARI
COrp. will begin in just a few seconds. To ask Sam a Question, you must
type /QUE to get into the queue. I'll recognize the next person in line
one at a time. Please keep your questions simple and ask only one question
at a time. Mark Jansen of ATARI will be typing for Sam tonight. Does Sam
have any opening statement before we open the floor for questions?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] Sorry for not being available last
Monday night. There was a conflict with a Jewish holy day. There is
another Jewish holy day today but, I dared not do it again. :-)
So here we are.
(SYSOP-Ron)[76703,254] thanks Sam. We all appreciate you showing up here
to answer some very nagging questions. Okay, first user.
Moderator recognizes queue #1
Mark Woolworth <32>
(Mark Woolworth)[71231,401] I really dont want to start out on a negative
point, but here goes, I was one of the people that was demonstarting the
new machines at the fall COMDEX show last year, and most of these machines
were promised for sometime this year. At least at the presentt point I
have not seen any of these machines released. What is the status on them,
and when will they be out in the United States?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] You were clever not to mention the model
names at present I think that we are shipping all the models in Europe,
even the Abaq , to developers. We will start shipping in earnest to the
US market in early 1989, including the st and the line of pc compatibles
and our new members of the ST family.
The Abaq is now called the ATW (Atari work Station)...
Moderator recognizes queue #2
RICHARD MATAKA <43>
(RICHARD MATAKA)[72317,1761] Hello Sam...first, I want to congratulate you
and your sons and others who have resurrected Atari from an almost certain
death but, I am still questioning the support from Atari US. As you know,
there are only a few US publications supporting the ST. Now Compute ST
has decided to no longer publish and with the questionable support from
Atari, Word Perf Corp seems to have put their product developement on
hold. Also, other 3rd party software companies are not supporting the ST.
How will you convince these companies and others who may start a company
to support the ST? What kind of incentives will you be offering or will
you just let everything come out of Europe which is where the current
bulk of ST support is based?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] Thank you for the fine complement
regarding my sons but they are only 7 and 4 years old respectively. I am
the son of Jack Tramiel, Leonard and Garry and I are brothers. ....
I am as frustrated as you are and probably more so the present problem is
that the dram problem is causing us great delivery problems and we cannot
keep up with the demand in Europe and other parts of the world. We just
signed a major deal with a big Dram supplier and the situation will get
better I hope in early 1989. We will and do support developers all over
the world and suggest that US developers learn how to export which would
help themselves and the economy.
I am sorry to see Compute drop the ST mag but I hope that they will
revisit the issue when they see tens of thousands STs sold monthly in the
USA. Last month I was in Germany for the Annual Atari Fair in Dusseldorf.
It was incredible, over 30,000 in attendance for the weekend...
(RICHARD MATAKA)[72317,1761] Sam, I appreciate your answer but, while the
support in Europe is great, here it is another story. As you may or may
not know, I was an author for ST XPress for about a year writing Critics
Corner and the public view of Atari support is quite contrasting to
Atari's version. How will you and Atari hope to change this view of your
marketing strategy so that support will be forthcoming for the Atari
computer products?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] Right now we do not really have a major
marketing thrust as you know. However, we do think that we have user
support and good inhouse people at Atari US that more than willing to help
with almost any problem. WE * definitely * plan to bring in software from
Europe.
(RICHARD MATAKA)[72317,1761] Sam, I think that that maybe where your main
problem is user support is excellent however, development support is very
very strained and it is the development people that you have to win over
if you are going to be a serious computer competitor in the US
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] We are not strained, and are happy to
help anyone. I am sure once we are selling large quantities in the US,
any strains that exist will disappear. In the meantime, export to Europe.
We do, and we like it! :-)
Moderator recognizes queue #3
charles medley <16>
(charles medley)[72460,273] OK.... I have little time here. I have 3
questions.
1) What is REALLY in the NEW TOS.?
2) What is the news on the 68030 TT? Can a MEGA be used for it?
(SYSOP-Ron)[76703,254] just one question please, Charles.
(charles medley)[72460,273] What is the fate of the 68030 box?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] We have already published the details of
new TOS to developers and will do so for the rest of the users when it is
released. We are working on the TT, and hope to show it in early '89.
Until then, no further comments on the TT........
but, it will knock your socks off! :-)
Moderator recognizes queue #4
Michael Lynch <21>
(Michael Lynch)[76056,1332] Do you have any plans for an IBM 286 board
for the ST line?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] No.
Moderator recognizes queue #5
Steve Mortimer/NNQ <5>
(Steve Mortimer/NNQ)[76703,1077] Many developers and dealers are not going
to support the ST anymore or are on the brink of that decision. It is
essential to retain what support we have left. Will you consider
advertising to increase awareness till the "big push" or sign up a
national computer chain stocked with a few STs diverted from Europe?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] We feel that advertising without product
availability is helpful in selling our competitors' machines and
therefore, will just waste money. As far as a national computer chain is
concerned, we are already diverting machines to the US and ship them to
our few but loyal ST dealers...
Moderator recognizes queue #6
=Bandit= (tm) <13>
(=Bandit= (tm))[73637,3051] 1st, thanks for coming..
a)- BALLPARK Date/Price of new TOS ROMS to USERS?
b)- Neil's replacement?
(SYSOP-Ron)[76703,254] (Everyone Please -- just ONE question per turn)
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] Date: early 1989, depending on ROM
deliveries. Price - Reasonable. :-)
(SYSOP-Ron)[76703,254] C'mon Sam. "Reasonable"????
How about a price range?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] You know that we are always reasonable,
Ron. :-)
Moderator recognizes queue #7
Ed Waldorph <39>
(Ed Waldorph)[73637,42] There has been much talk from dealers and former
dealers and employees about the dificulty of making a business selling
the ST line in the U.S. Much criticism has been leveled at Atari for lack
of dealer support. There is some indication that the situation is
changing but in this entire forum only _one_ dealer has spoken out to
defend the company. What is Atari doing to increase its delear support?
How are you going to increase the delear base? Have you considered
setting up a section for dealers here or over at Genie so they can talk
directly to Marketing and Sevice and among themselves, and encouraging
them to use it? sorry Ron. it's really 1 question.....
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] We already have a system for Service
Centers, Sales Reps, and dealers, run from Sunnyvale.
Moderator recognizes queue #8
Rex Reade <17>
(Rex Reade)[73710,1052] Sam, Why was Mike Dendo [VP-SALES] telling people
in Michigan that Atari HAD 3 soft quarters and needed a strong 4th to
survive.
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] We just had three RECORD quarters,
and I am sure that someone misquoted Mike.
Moderator recognizes queue #10
Bob Dolson <55>
(Bob Dolson)[71036,213] Why don't you provide an easier upgrade path for
memory, drives, so that the 'poor' owners of 520 STFM's for instance would
find it easier to get double sided drives, and more memory?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] It is a tradeoff between cost and
upgradability. Adding the upgradability will increase the cost of
_every_ unit.
Moderator recognizes queue #11
Joe Fowler <22>
(Joe Fowler)[76214,2253] Mr. Tramiel. We heard a lot about the ST tonight.
I would like to know what future plans Atari has for the 8 bit line of
machines, the best made on the market?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] We agree that the Atari 8-bit line is
the best available. However, the US market seems to want more powerful
machines. We are selling many tens of thousands of the XE/XL line in
Europe, the middle east, and in Latin America,. We are trying to push
the XE Game System in the US, as a computer and a game for the same price
as the Nintendo with an exercise mat. (i.e. $149)
Moderator recognizes queue #12
edward giertuga <28>
(edward giertuga)[72777,1765] You folks make a beautiful machine, but
your marketing strategy is scaring the heck out of me. Have you read
David Small's message (#111539) regarding Neil Harris' resignation? It's
worth reading.
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari) To be honest, I have not read David Small's message. but I...
As I was saying before that "glitch". I wish Neil a lot of success in his
new job it was a pleasure to work with him over the years that I have
known him.
Moderator recognizes queue #40
SHAWN SMILEY <40>
(SHAWN SMILEY)[71641,3024] Are you planning to make any additions to the
ST like stereo sound and speech synthesis?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] No comment. Sorry, but we do not want
to promise new things until they are ready.
Moderator recognizes queue #42
tc <3>
(tc)[70247,1247] What about the portable ST? Fact or fiction?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] Fact. We are working on it, and will
ship it as soon as it is ready.
Moderator recognizes queue #43
Steve Mortimer/NNQ <10>
(Steve Mortimer/NNQ)[76703,1077] Do you see any major changes at Atari or
the ST market in the near future. This includes the possibility of a
revamped ST based on new technology like the 68020/30 while remaining ST
compatible?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] I hope so...we plan for Atari to be
number two or number three in the world personal computer market and we
hope to make the ST one of the standard machines in the US during 1989.
I would prefer not to comment on details of future ST or TT machines at
present.
Moderator recognizes queue #44
Rex Reade [ST REPORT] <17>
(R.Reade [ST-REPORT])[73710,1052] Sam, A direct answer please, What is
ATARI going to do to rectify the attitude Word Perfect has towards the
way You do business in the USA?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] What specifically are you referring to?
(R.Reade [ST-REPORT])[73710,1052] The freeze on development because of the
unstable US ATARI market caused by Atari's unpredictable moves in the last
6 months.
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] I think I answered that question before.
We plan to sell a lot of machines in the US.
(R.Reade [ST-REPORT])[73710,1052].. still no answer though, thanks .....
(SYSOP-Ron)[76703,254] I would like to apologize to all present.........
But, I just have been informed by Sam T. That he has to leave in
5 minutes. He is willing to reschedule another CONFERENCE in the
(near) future. I dont know if it would be fair to all concerned to
let 1 or 2 more go, so I'll just end it here.
Possibly, would Sam like to make some general closing comments in
these last few minutes?
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)[70007,1135] Closing comments:
I appreciate the support of all of you, and I really hope that in 1989,
you will not be such a minority in the USA's personal computer world.
It is a pleasure to see Atari so successful in Europe and I'm sure that
with more DRAM as we expect in '89, we will be able to be successful in
the US as well.
Good night to everyone.......
(Sam Tramiel @ Atari)
Editor Note...We sure hope Sam T. didn't split because of a "rough"
question or two.... Temper ....Temper Sam.........We wll concede one
thing, Sam gave us more info directly and indirectly here than we have
seen in the last few weeks. We will analyze this conference and, over
the next few weeks, publish our findings
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGH IN ATARI ST SOFTWARE
NOW AVAILABLE WITH
REVOLVER
Sarasota, FL, September 29, 1988 - INTERSECT Software today announced the
release of REVOLVER, a revolutionary package of utilities that allows
among other things the partitioning of the ST's memory (a "Switcher")
and the saving of a partition to disk ("Roll Out" - "Roll In"). This
is the first Software program for the ST that can "boast" of having
RESET PROOF partitions.
Using REVOLVER is easy. Revolver is activated by depressing the left
shift key along with the "Alternate" key. Once activated, it is
controlled via the mouse.
Additional convenience features such as Full Disk Commands, Control Panel
options and Screen Snapshot make REVOLVER the ultimate utility. REVOLVER
is not a desk accessory and is therefore active at all times, even within
TOS environments.
A partial list of REVOLVER's features follows, all readily available
within GEM, TOS and TTP environments:
- Partitioning ("Switcher") WARM RESET PROOF
- "Roll in" and "Roll out" all ST memory (includes Desk Accessories)
- Warm reset proof Ramdisk, handles large and small memory models
- 40 Folder fix, lets you select the number of additional folders
- Print Spooler, lets you select its size and turn it on or off
- Extended disk commands, support "Wild cards" and "Hidden" files
- VT-52 Emulator
- Control Panel options, setup RS232, printer and console options
- Screen snapshot to .NEO picture file
- Select "Warm" or "Cold" re-boot, with the mouse
PARTITIONING:
REVOLVER allows you to configure the ST's memory into up to 8
partitions (memory size permitting). These partitions can be of
different sizes and are totally independent of each other.
Pressing the reset button (warm booting) will only boot the
currently active partition, all other partitions remain untouched.
If a program in an active partition crashes the ST, (there are
some of those programs out there) reboot by pressing the reset
button, the other partitions will still be there, UNTOUCHED.
ROLL OUT:
ROLL OUT will save a partition, in its current state, to Floppy,
Hard Drive or Ram Disk for future continuation. REVOLVER does this by
saving the contents of the partition's memory and the values stored
in the ST's hardware registers. As the contents of memory are saved
to disk the information is compressed. A typical Roll out from a
1 meg partition will require about 300K. The actual disk size of
the ROLL OUT file will depend on the information in memory much
like the final size of an Archived file (using ARC.TTP) depends on
the type of file being archived.
Since the entire partition and the contents of all the hardware
registers are saved, the program, any TSR programs (Terminate and
Stay Resident), Desk Accessories, Ram Disks, etc. are all saved in
one step. When this memory image is Rolled back in, the computer,
programs and data will be as they were before the Roll out.
Because REVOLVER is resolution independent and saves the contents
of all the hardware registers (including the Video Chip) you can
Roll In a LOW resolution Program or Desktop from a MEDIUM
resolution screen or vice versa.
SOME OF THE THINGS POSSIBLE WITH REVOLVER's ROLL OUT:
Loading a popular Word Processor, Dictionary and 30K text file
would take 1 min 45 seconds from the desktop using a Hard Disk.
REVOLVER will load them (from a previously ROLLED OUT file) from
the same HD in 10 seconds or 4 seconds from REVOLVER's RAM DISK.
Not only is this a savings in time but it is accomplished in one
step. This perceived speed advantage is because the Wordprocessor
spent time setting up the dictionary and text file in memory
during the first load from the Desktop. After it is rolled out
all the computer has to do is put the Rolled out file back in
memory. This takes much less time to do. There are many programs
that have a long setup time, all of them can benefit from
REVOLVER's Roll out ability.
Also, since it is possible to Roll in Desk Accessories and AUTO
folder programs along with programs and data (as a package) there
is no need to have them resident with your permanent boot disk.
For Example: You can boot with GDOS installed in the Auto Folder.
Load Microsoft Write (which calls GDOS to install the screen fonts
using the list of fonts in the ASSIGN SYSTEM file) then Roll the
file out with REVOLVER. You can then remove GDOS from the AUTO
folder. It will not be needed again. When you roll the MICROSOFT
WRITE file (the one you just made) back in again, GDOS as well as
the screen fonts are already installed. This also means you can
have several rolled out programs that use GDOS, all with different
ASSIGN System files. (Currently, DEGAS, Microsoft Write and
Timeworks Publisher ST all require different Assign.Sys files.)
Setup a LOW or HIGH resolution Desktop with your favorite Desk
Accessories. ROLL it out and you can ROLL it in at any time from
within any resolution. At this time, REVOLVER is the only way to
change Desk Accessories or Resolution without rebooting.
Save your place in a Game or Business application. When you Roll
In a file it continues execution EXACTLY where you rolled it out.
Tired of having to switch to the low resolution desktop to play a
game? Once the game is rolled out from that Low Resolution
screen, you can Roll it in from the Medium Resolution screen.
HERE ARE SOME SCENARIOS:
- You're in the middle of a large spreadsheet and you find that
you need some information from your data base. Simply activate
REVOLVER and "Roll out" your spreadsheet, and "Roll in" your
data base. When you are done "Roll in" your spreadsheet and
continue at the very point where you left off!
- While playing a game without "continuation" capabilities you
decide to quit, but you would like to save your place for the
next time you play. Let REVOLVER handle it for you.
- Applications that require a long load and set-up time can be
blasted in quickly. Since REVOLVER takes a picture of the
computer's memory it can "Roll it in" in a matter of
seconds.
The "Roll out" and "Roll in" capabilities supply a much needed
convenience to the user allowing him to effectively swap back and forth
between applications at any time. Because disk is the storage medium
for "Rolled out" programs there is no limit to the number of "Swapped"
programs and, once "Rolled out" a program can be "Swapped" back in,
even after a cold boot!
For more information contact:
-----------------------------
Randy Mears at Intersect, 813-923-8774
INTERSECT Software Corp.
2828 Clark Rd. Suite 10
Sarasota, Fl. 34231
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL:
-----------------------
(the original snoops)
Littleton, CO. Dave Small HAS retracted his negative assessment of
------------- Neil's leaving.
Chatsworth, CA. Future Systems has revamped their Indus Midi 5.25
-------------- floppy drive, it's faster and better than ever.
Jacksonville, FL. ICD and SUPRA have released booter programs that
---------------- boot the Developer Tos 1.4 from hard disk systems.
La Habra, CA. An on again - off again Hard Copy Magazine is back
------------ again..CLAIMING to be: "THE WORLD AUTHORITY" on ATARI!
Come on guys...Let's get Real!!
GOOD LUCK! ........ ST EXPRESS.
Orem, UT. Word Perfect's Dan Lunt seems to speak with a forked
-------- tongue...In one breath he sez..we will stick by you and
in another, Due to the lack of direction on the part of
Atari... no further revisions...held at 4.1. Maybe, WE
were right to jump at them in issue 27! I hope the
story of the Lemmings is not true for STers!
Albany, NY. Seems a story got out that Atari caught a batch of
---------- clones in New York. It's true, but they were 2600s not
STs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANTIC PUBLISHING INC.
COPYRIGHT 1988
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
Professional GEM by Tim Oren
Column #7 - Menu Structures
This is article number seven in the ST PRO GEM series. In this
installment, I will be discussing GEM menu structures and how to use
them in your application. There is also a short Feedback response
section. You will find the download file containing the code for
this column in the file GEMCL7.C in DL3 of the ATARI16 SIG (PCS-58).
MENU BASICS
In ST GEM, the menu consists of a bar across the top of the screen
which displays several sub-menu titles. Touching one of the titles
causes it to highlight, and an associated "drop-down" to be drawn
directly below on the screen. This drop-down may be dismissed by
moving to another title, or by clicking the mouse off of the
drop-down.
To make a selection, the mouse is moved over the drop-down. Each
valid selection is highlighted when the mouse touches it. Clicking
the mouse while over one of these selections picks that item. GEM
then undraws the drop-down, and sends a message to your application
giving the object number of the title bar entry, and the object number
of the drop-down item which were selected by the user. The selected
title entry is left highlighted while your code processes the
request.
MENU STRUCTURES
The data structure which defines a GEM menu is (surprise!) an
object tree, just like the dialogs and panels which we have discussed
before. However, the operations of the GEM menu manager are quite
different from those of the form manager, so the internal design of
the menu tree has some curious constraints.
The best way to understand these constraints is to look at an
example. The first item in the download is the object structure
(only) of the menu tree from the GEM Doodle/Demo sample application.
The ROOT of a menu tree is sized to fit the entire screen. To
satisfy the visual hierarchy principle (see article #5), the screen is
divided into two parts: THE BAR, containing the menu titles, and THE
SCREEN, while contains the drop-downs when they are drawn. Each of
these areas is defined by an object of the same name, which are the
only two objects linked directly below the ROOT of a menu tree. You
will notice an important implication of this structure: the menu
titles and their associated drop-downs are stored in entirely
different subtrees of the menu!
While examining THE BAR in the example listing, you may notice
that its OB_HEIGHT is very large (513). In hexadecimal this is
0x0201. This defines a height for THE BAR of one character plus two
pixels used for spacing. THE BAR and its subtree are the only objects
which are drawn on the screen in the menu's quiescent state.
The only offspring object of THE BAR is THE ACTIVE. This object
defines the part of THE BAR which is covered by menu titles. The
screen rectangle belonging to THE ACTIVE is used by the GEM screen
manager when it waits for the mouse to enter an active menu title.
Notice that THE ACTIVE and its offspring also have OB_HEIGHTs with
pixel residues.
The actual menu titles are linked left to right in order below THE
ACTIVE. Their OB_Xs and OB_WIDTHs are arranged so that they
completely cover THE ACTIVE. Normally, the title objects are typed
G_TITLE, a special type which assures that the title bar margins are
correctly drawn.
THE SCREEN is the parent object of the drop-down boxes themselves.
They are linked left to right in an order identical with their titles,
so that the menu manager can make the correct correspondence at
run-time. The OB_X of each drop-down is set so that it is positioned
below its title on the screen.
Notice that it is safe to overlap the drop-downs within a menu,
since only one of them will be displayed at any time. There is one
constraint on the boxes however: they must be no greater than a
quarter screen in total size. This is the size of the off-screen blit
buffer which is used by GEM to store the screen contents when the
drop-down is drawn. If you exceed this size, not all the screen under
the drop-down will be restored, or the ST may crash!
The entries within a drop-down are usually G_STRINGs, which are
optimized for drawing speed. The rectangles of these entries must
completely cover the drop-down, or the entire drop-down will be
inverted when the mouse touches an uncovered area! Techniques for
using objects other than G_STRINGs are discussed later in this column.
The first title and its corresponding drop-down are special. The
title name, by custom, is set to DESK. The drop-down must contain
exactly eight G_STRING objects. The first (again by custom) is the
INFO entry, which usually leads to a dialog displaying author and
copyright information for your application. The next is a separator
string of dashes with the DISABLED flag set. The following six
objects are dummy strings which GEM fills in with the names of desk
accessories when your menu is loaded.
The purpose of this description of menu trees is to give you an
understanding of what lies "behind the scenes" in the next section,
which describes the run-time menu library calls. In practice, the
Resource Construction Set provides "blank menus" which include all of
the required elements, and it also enforces the constraints on
internal structure. You only need to worry about these if you modify
the menu tree "on-the-fly".
USING THE MENU
Once you have loaded the application's resource, you can ask the
AES to install your menu. You must first get the address of the menu
tree within the resource using:
rsrc_gaddr(R_TREE, MENUTREE, &ad_menu);
assuming that MENUTREE is the name you gave the menu in the RCS, and
that ad_menu is a LONG which will receive the address. Then you call
the AES to establish the menu:
menu_bar(ad_menu, TRUE);
At this point, the AES draws your menu bar on the screen and animates
it when the user moves the mouse into the title area.
The AES indicates that the user has made a menu selection by
sending your application a message. The message type is MN_SELECTED,
which will be stored in msg[0], the first location in the message
returned by evnt_multi().
The AES also stores the object number of the selected menu's title
in msg[3], and the object number of the selected menu item in msg[4].
Generally, your application will process menu messages with nested C
switch statements. The outer switch will have one case for each menu
title, and the inner switch statements will have a case for each entry
within the selected menu. (This implies that you must give a name to
each title and to each menu entry when you create the menu in the
RCS.)
After the user has made a menu selection, the AES leaves the title
of the chosen menu in reverse video to indicate that your application
is busy processing the message. When you are done with whatever
action is indicated, you need to return the title to a normal state.
This is done with
menu_tnormal(ad_menu, msg[3], TRUE);
(Remember that msg[3] is the title's object number.)
When your application is ready to terminate, it should delete its
menu bar. Do this with the call:
menu_bar(ad_menu, FALSE);
GETTING FANCY
The techniques above represent the bare minimum to handle menus.
In most cases, however, you will want your menus to be more
"intelligent" in displaying the user's options. For instance, you can
prevent many user errors by disabling inappropriate choices, or you
can save space on drop-downs by showing only one line for a toggle and
altering its text or placing and removing a check mark when the state
is changed. This section discusses these and other advanced
techniques.
It is a truism of user interface design that the best way to deal
with an error is not to let it happen in the first place. It many
cases, you can apply this principle to GEM menus by disabling choices
which should not be used. If your application uses a "selection
precedes action" type of interface, the type of object selected may
give the information needed to do this. Alternately, the state of the
underlying program may render certain menu choices illegal.
GEM provides a call to disable and re-enable menu options. The
call is:
menu_ienable(ad_menu, ENTRY, FALSE);
to disable a selection. The entry will be grayed out when it is
drawn, and will not invert under the mouse and will not be selected by
the user. Substituting TRUE for FALSE re-enables the option. ENTRY is
the name of the object which is being affected, as assigned in the
RCS.
Note that menu_ienable() will not normally affect the appearance
or operation of menu TITLE entries. However, there is an undocumented
feature which allows this. If ENTRY is replaced by the object number
of a title bar entry with its top bit set, then the entire associated
drop-down will be disabled or re-enabled as requested, and the title's
appearance will be changed. But, be warned that this feature did not
work reliably in some early versions of GEM. Test it on your copy of
ST GEM, and use it with caution when you cannot control the version
under which your application may run.
It is also possible to disable menu entries by directly altering
the DISABLED attribute within the OB_STATE word. The routines
enab_obj() and disab_obj() in the download show how this is done.
They are also used in set_menu(), which follows them immediately.
Set_menu() is a utility which is useful when you wish to
simultaneously enable or disable many entries in the menu when the
program's state changes or a new object is selected by the user. It
is called with
set_menu(ad_menu, vector);
where vector is a pointer to an array of WORDs. The first word of the
array determines the default state of menu entries. If it is TRUE,
then set_menu() enables all entries in every drop-down of the menu
tree, except that the DESK drop-down is unaffected. If it is FALSE,
then every menu entry is disabled.
The following entries in the array are the numbers of menu entries
which are to be toggled to the reverse of the default state. This list
is terminated by a zero entry.
The advantage of set_menu() is that it allows you to build a
collection of menu state arrays, and associate one with each type of
user-selected object, program state, and so on. Changing the status
of the menu tree may then be accomplished with a single call.
CHECK, PLEASE?
One type of state indicator which may appear within a drop-down is
a checkmark next to an entry. You can add the checkmark with the
call:
menu_icheck(ad_menu, ENTRY, TRUE);
and remove it by replacing the TRUE with FALSE. As above, ENTRY is
the name of the menu entry of interest. The checkmark appears inside
the left boundary of the entry object, so leave some space for it.
The menu_icheck() call is actually changing the state of the
CHECKED flag within the entry object's OB_STATE word. If necessary,
you may alter the flag directly using do_obj() and undo_obj() from the
download.
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T
You can also alter the text which appears in a particular menu
entry (assuming that the entry is a G_STRING object). The call
menu_text(ad_menu, ENTRY, ADDR(text));
will substitute the null-terminated string pointed to by text for
whatever is currently in ENTRY. Remember to make the drop-down wide
enough to handle the largest text string which you may substitute. In
the interests of speed, G_STRINGs drawn within drop-downs are not
clipped, so you may get garbage characters on the desktop if you do
not size the drop-down properly!
The menu_text() call actually alters the OB_SPEC field of the menu
entry object to point to the string which you specify. Since the menu
tree is a static data structure which may be directly accessed by the
AES at any time, be sure that the string is also statically allocated
and that it is not modified without first being delinked from the menu
tree. Failure to do this may result in random crashes when the user
accesses the drop-down!
LUNCH AND DINNER MENUS
Some applications may have such a wide range of operations that
they need more than one menu bar at different times. There is no
problem with having more than one menu tree in a resource, but the AES
can only keep track of one at a time. Therefore, to switch menus you
need to use menu_bar(ad_menu1, FALSE); to release the first menu, then
use menu_bar(ad_menu2, TRUE); to load the second menu tree.
Changing the entire menu is a drastic action. Out of
consideration for your user, it should be associated with some equally
obvious change in the application which has just been manually
requested. An example might be changing from spreadsheet to data
graphing mode in a multi-function program.
DO IT YOURSELF
In a future column, I will discuss how to set up user-defined
drawing objects. If you have already discovered them on your own, you
can use them within a drop-down or as a title entry.
If the user-defined object is within a drop-down, its associated
drawing code will be called once when the drop-down is first drawn.
It will then be called in "state-change" mode when the entry is
highlighted (inverted). This allows you to use non-standard methods
to show selection, such as outlines.
If you try to insert a user-defined object within the menu title
area, remember that the G_TITLE object which you are replacing
includes part of the dark margin of the bar. You will need to
experiment with your object drawing code to replicate this effect.
MAKE PRETTY
There are a number of menu formatting conventions which have
become standard practice. Using these gives your application a
recognizable "look-and-feel" and helps users learn it. The following
section reviews these conventions, and supplies a few hints and tricks
to obtain a better appearance for you menus.
The second drop-down is customarily used as the FILE menu. It
contains options related to loading and saving the files used by the
application, as well as entries for clearing the workspace and
terminating the program.
You should avoid crowding the menu bar. Leave a couple of spaces
between each entry, and try not to use more than 70% of the bar. Not
only does this look better, but you will have space for longer words
if you translate your application to a foreign language.
Similarly, avoid cluttering menu drop-downs. Try to keep the
number of options to no more than ten unless they are clearly related,
such as colors. Separate off dissimilar entries with the standard
disabled dashes line. (If you are using set_menu(), remember to
consider the separators when setting up the state vectors.)
If the number of options grows beyond this bound, it may be time
to move them to a dialog box. If so, it is a convention to put three
dots following each menu entry which leads to a dialog. Also, allow a
margin on the menu entries. Two leading blanks and a minimum of one
trailing blank is standard, and allows room for checkmarks if they are
used.
Dangerous menu options should be far away from common used
entries, and are best separated with dashed lines. Such options
should either lead to a confirming go/no-go alert, or should have
associated "undo" options.
After you have finished defining a menu drop-down with the RCS, be
sure that its entries cover the entire box. Then use ctrl-click to
select the drop-down itself, and SORT the entries top to bottom. This
way the drop-down draws in smoothly top to bottom.
Finally, it is possible to put entries other than G_STRINGs into
drop-downs. In the RCS, you will need to import them via the
clipboard from the Dialog mode.
Some non-string object, such as icons and images, will look odd
when they are inverted under the mouse. There is a standard trick for
dealing with this problem. Insert the icon or whatever in the
drop-down first. Then get a G_IBOX object and position and size it so
that it covers the first object as well as the extra area you would
like to be inverted.
Edit the G_IBOX to remove its border, and assign the entry name to
it. Since the menu manager uses objc_find(), it will detect and
invert this second object when the mouse moves into the drop-down.
(To see why, refer to article #5.) Finally, DO NOT SORT a drop-down
which has been set up this way!
THAT'S IT FOR NOW!
The next column will discuss some of the principles of designing
GEM interfaces for applications. This topic is irreverantly known as
GEM mythology or interface religion. The subject for the following
column is undecided. I am considering mouse and keyboard messages,
VDI drawing primitives, and the file selector as topics. Let me know
your preferences in the Feedback!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sample Menu Tree <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
-1, 1, 6, G_IBOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0x0L, 0,0, 80,25, /* ROOT */
6, 2, 2, G_BOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0x1100L, 0,0, 80,513, /* THE BAR */
1, 3, 5, G_IBOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0x0L, 2,0, 20,769, /* THE ACTIVE */
4, -1, -1, G_TITLE, NONE, NORMAL, 0x0L, 0,0, 6,769, /* Title #1 */
5, -1, -1, G_TITLE, NONE, NORMAL, 0x1L, 6,0, 6,769, /* Title #2 */
2, -1, -1, G_TITLE, NONE, NORMAL, 0x2L, 12,0, 8,769, /* Title #3 */
0, 7, 22, G_IBOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0x0L, 0,769, 80,19, /* THE SCREEN */
16, 8, 15, G_BOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0xFF1100L, 2,0, 20,8, /* Drop-down #1 */
9, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x3L, 0,0, 19,1, /* About...entry*/
10, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, DISABLED, 0x4L, 0,1, 20,1,
11, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x5L, 0,2, 20,1, /* Desk acc ent. */
12, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x6L, 0,3, 20,1,
13, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x7L, 0,4, 20,1,
14, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x8L, 0,5, 20,1,
15, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x9L, 0,6, 20,1,
7, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0xAL, 0,7, 20,1,
22, 17, 21, G_BOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0xFF1100L, 8,0, 13,5, /* Drop-down #2 */
18, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0xBL, 0,0, 13,1,
19, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, DISABLED, 0xCL, 0,1, 13,1,
20, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0xDL, 0,4, 13,1,
21, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0xEL, 0,2, 13,1,
16, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, DISABLED, 0xFL, 0,3, 13,1,
6, 23, 25, G_BOX, NONE, NORMAL, 0xFF1100L, 14,0, 26,3, /* Drop down #3 */
24, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x10L, 0,2, 26,1,
25, -1, -1, G_STRING, NONE, NORMAL, 0x11L, 0,0, 26,1,
22, -1, -1, G_STRING, LASTOB, DISABLED, 0x12L, 0,1, 26,1
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Menu enable/disable utility <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
/*------------------------------*/
/* undo_obj */
/*------------------------------*/
VOID
undo_obj(tree, which, bit)
LONG tree;
WORD which;
UWORD bit;
{
WORD state;
state = LWGET(OB_STATE(which));
LWSET(OB_STATE(which), state & ~bit);
}
/*------------------------------*/
/* enab_obj */
/*------------------------------*/
WORD
enab_obj(tree, which)
LONG tree;
WORD which;
{
undo_obj(tree, which, (UWORD) DISABLED);
return (TRUE);
}
/*------------------------------*/
/* do_obj */
/*------------------------------*/
VOID
do_obj(tree, which, bit)
LONG tree;
WORD which;
UWORD bit;
{
WORD state;
state = LWGET(OB_STATE(which));
LWSET(OB_STATE(which), state | bit);
}
/*------------------------------*/
/* disab_obj */
/*------------------------------*/
WORD
disab_obj(tree, which)
LONG tree;
WORD which;
{
do_obj(tree, which, (UWORD) DISABLED);
return (TRUE);
}
/*------------------------------*/
/* set_menu */
/*------------------------------*/
VOID
set_menu(tree, change) /* change[0] TRUE selects all entries*/
LONG tree; /* FALSE deselects all. Change list */
WORD *change; /* of items is then toggled. */
{
WORD dflt, screen, drop, obj;
dflt = *change++; /* What is default? */
screen = LWGET(OB_TAIL(ROOT)); /* Get SCREEN */
drop = LWGET(OB_HEAD(screen)); /* Get DESK drop-down */
/* and skip it */
for (; (drop = LWGET(OB_NEXT(drop))) != screen; )
{
obj = LWGET(OB_HEAD(drop));
if (obj != NIL)
if (dflt)
map_tree(tree, obj, drop, enab_obj);
else
map_tree(tree, obj, drop, disab_obj);
}
for (; *change; change++)
if (dflt)
disab_obj(tree, *change);
else
enab_obj(tree, *change);
}
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Definitions used in this article <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
#define ROOT 0
#define G_IBOX 25
#define G_STRING 28
#define G_TITLE 32
#define R_TREE 0
#define MN_SELECTED 10
#define CHECKED 0x4
#define DISABLED 0x8
#define OB_NEXT(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 0)
#define OB_HEAD(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 2)
#define OB_TAIL(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 4)
#define OB_TYPE(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 6)
#define OB_FLAGS(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 8)
#define OB_STATE(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 10)
#define OB_SPEC(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 12)
#define OB_X(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 16)
#define OB_Y(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 18)
#define OB_WIDTH(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 20)
#define OB_HEIGHT(x) (tree + (x) * sizeof(OBJECT) + 22)
#define M_OFF 256
#define M_ON 257
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NeoDesk: The Desktop Alternative
================================
by Dan Wilga
(c) 1988, Gribnif Software
Well, the past few months have really been phenomenal. Not only have sales
done better than expected, but our hopes of producing a program that was
as bug-free as possible also proved to be well-founded.
Rather than simply jumping right into the details of the upgrade, we would
like to take this chance to tell the one or two (yeah, right!) people that
might not have already heard just what NeoDesk can do. This is pretty much
how our first press release first appeared oh, so many months ago...
o All icons used are editible and an icon editor is included.
o All menu options have keyboard equivalents!
o The normal GEM "rubberbox" that is used to encircle a
number of icons has been rewritten so that the box can
move in any direction, not just to the lower-right!
o Up to seven windows can be open at once, not just four.
o Each window can have a search template associated with it.
If, for instance, you only wanted to see those files
ending in .ACC, you would set this to "*.ACC".
o You will never see a horizontal scroll bar. Why not?
Simply because there are never any files off the right-
hand edge! NeoDesk always draws exactly the number of
files that will fit within the window and wraps to the
next row only if there is not enough room for half of the
next icon.
o The information line in a window not only displays the
number of files and their total size, it also displays the
creation time, date and read/write flag of any file that
is selected by iteself (by single-clicking) or the total
size of any number of selected files.
o When performing a diskcopy, three options are available:
copy files only (same as dragging icon to a window), copy
with format (any format reproduceable with normal GEMDOS
calls), and, if the source and destination formats match,
copy without format. The number of disk swaps is dependent
upon free RAM and is displayed for each type of copy. It
is even possible to use copy with format to make a direct
image of a RAM-disk.
o File copying is performed in a buffer as large as the
currrent free memory. This means faster copying and fewer
disk swaps on single-drive systems!
o Show Information for disks includes the number of sides,
sectors per track, tracks per sector, etc.
o Numerous floppy-disk formats are available, rather than
just one.
o All files on a disk can be deleted without re-formatting
by merely dragging the appropriate icon to the trashcan.
o Up to ten environment strings can be defined. These are
passed to any program executed from NeoDesk. At last! You
can compile from the desktop!
o The parameter tail for TTP programs has been expanded to a
maximum of 128 characters. They are not mapped to upper-
case, as Atari's desktop does.
o Execution of TTP programs can be redirected so that input
normally taken from the console is instead taken from a
file or so that anything that normally goes to the output
portion of the console is written to a file or the printer!
o Install Application WORKS! ('nuf said?)
o If one or more filename icons are highlighted when an
application is opened, their names are automatically
passed as parameters in the command tail, assuming they
all fit, of course.
o Yes, Virginia, it runs batch files!
o Up to ten files of any type can be "dragged" to the
desktop. Once there, they can be executed or displayed
exactly as if they were in a window, so you don't have to
keep going down 5 folders just to get to your favorite program.
o When an application has terminated with any status other
than zero, this number is displayed before returning to
the desktop.
o An option is available to pause after executing TOS and
TTP programs. Too often programs that were written to be
used in a shell do not do this and their output is erased
before the user has a chance to see a bloody thing.
o Pressing the <Control> <Alt> and <Delete> keys
simultaneously will cause the system to perform a "warm-
start". <Control> <Alt> <Undo>, on the other hand,
performs a cold-start.
o A printer queue program is also included. You can drag files
right to the printer icon, go run any GEM program while they
print, and even change their order in the list!
Ok, allright, I know that everyone who already knew all this has probably
fallen alseep by this point. It's old news, right? Well, time to wake up,
cuz' here it comes. This is a complete list of changes to NeoDesk that
will be present in Version 2.0, due out November 1. The improvements are
in direct response to what owners said they wanted most. See? Somebody
DOES read those comments on warranty cards!
...And now <drum roll> for the improvements... These apply to all ST ROMs,
except where noted otherwise.
o There is now a Master program that actually runs NeoDesk. This program
allows the user to optionally configure NeoDesk so that it is re-loaded
after every program execution. This means that NeoDesk can occupy as
little as 24k of memory!
These other features are also present in the Master:
Full support for single-floppy drive owners. If you decide to have NeoDesk
reloaded after every program and it is not on the disk in the A drive,
you will be prompted to insert a disk containing the needed files.
If you have a hard disk, the necessary files take about four seconds
to reload.
You can also create a RAM disk containing the two files needed and
specify this alternate path within your INF file so that the Master
program will know where to look for NeoDesk.
The Master will also analyze any program that "bombs" the system,
printing the type of error that occurred and, optionally, allowing
you to view the 68000's registers at the time just before the crash.
This feature was designed so as not to interfere with other programs
that may perform this same function.
o All icon and text drawing has been improved for much greater speed.
Even Atari's GDOS does not slow it down appreciably.
o NeoDesk now has custom window routines. In addition to the normal
buttons, the information bar is scrollable from left to right, and
there is a new button that allows you to send the current window to the
bottom of the stack (just the reverse of "topping" a window.) All of
the functions can be repeated by holding-down the left mouse button,
and they can even be activated on a window that is not the topmost!
Just hold down the right mouse button while pressing with the left and
you can even resize a window that is underneath several others. In
addition, the volume name of the disk is displayed in the lower portion
of the window.
o Several limits have been expanded, due to popular request. You can now
have up to 32 icons on the desktop at once, with 16 program/text icons.
The number of installable applications has also been increased, to 10.
o The user now has complete control over the maximum number of files and
folders that NeoDesk will be able to access within one directory level.
This used to be a set limit of 112. The smaller text size can also be
used to display as many as 132 files in a window at one time without
scrolling.
o The ability to display files in a window, rather than icons has been
added. This option also has a few extras thrown-in:
Optionally Display in one, or more-than-one columns.
Show as small or large text (in either resolution.)
Select any combination of file size, date, and time to be shown with
the name.
o Two changes have been made to the Show Information dialog for disk
drives:
An alternate method for judging the total number of bytes on a disk is
used. This method is less accurate, but it does provide information
other than all zeroes for RAM disks that do not use bootsector info.
Volume names can be created, modified, or deleted. The name can be
comprised of any character, and up to 20 characters may be used.
o Since the ROMs dated after 11/85 support "fast" disk formats, NeoDesk
now does also, both when copying with format and when simply formatting.
o The Undo (or Control-C) key can be used to cancel a floppy disk format
operation.
o Attempting to modify a write-protected disk will always prompt you to
remove the write protection.
o Pressing a window's close box will cause a complete update, just like
the Escape key does now, to that window. If (in the case of floppies,
mostly) the disk has been switched and that folder is no longer
available, all windows for that drive will move up to the lowest
existing folder in the path.
o Data diplayed in a window's information bar is now more up-to-date with
respect to the icons that are actually selected at a given moment in
time.
o If you are changing the appearance of a window that contains selected
items, you no longer have to wait while NeoDesk first de-selects the
items and then redraws, only the redrawing necessary to achieve the
correct end result is performed.
o In addition to the automatic execution of a batch file, NeoDesk will now
autoexecute any program (even TTP's) when it is first booted.
o Sort by Type for files and folders in windows now arranges them
alphabetically by extension.
o If you have selected a template for sorting files and folders in a
window, the option for folders defaults to "Show All" instead of "Use
Template". This was so that NeoDesk would, as a default, produce
results similar to other programs that do not include this as an option.
o Files can be "moved" instead of "copied". The user can select one mode
or the other as his default. This mode can either be toggled with a
control key sequence, or the user may just want to use the "Ask"
feature which prompts for the type of operation every time an icon or
group of icons is dragged. This feature can be used to "rename" a
folder, even on a full disk.
o If an INF file is saved with one or more windows open, the positions of
the scroll bars are also saved so that whenever the INF file is read
the window opens with that portion of the window displayed.
o The user can specify either a NeoChrome or Degas picture file to be
loaded at bootup. This picture replaces the background on which desktop
icons lie.
o Programs that misbehave and do not restore the mouse pointer when
exiting caused version 1.0 to leave blocks of garbage in the mouse's
old position as things were redrawn on top of it. For this reason, 1.0
had two key combinations that allowed you to "add" or "subtract" mouse
pointers. This has been removed, however because, thanks to Alan Paige,
we now have a legal way of making sure the mouse is always right.
Thanks again Alan!
o The icon editor includes an option that lets you define your own pattern
for the desktop background when a picture is not being used instead.
o The icon editor also compares the original state of the icons and desk
pattern to the new ones on a Quit. If the two differ in any way this
means a Save has not been performed and the user is asked to do so, as
with the previous version.
o A control panel that supports the following options in less memory than
Atari's control panel is also included:
Works in any resolution.
A corner clock that supports all existing third-party clock chips, as
well as the one shipped with the Mega ST computers. It can be set to
show "am/pm" time, 24-hour (military) time, or none at all.
A screen saver is available for helping to prevent phosphor burn-in
that result from leaving the same picture on the screen for too long.
If selected, this can be set to either blank the screen (on color
monitors) or begin a cycle of toggling the screen colors (on a
monochrome system) after a period of from one to nine minutes of
mouse and keyboard inactivity. Both the corner clock and screen
saver work within most any program.
Another feature that works anywhere is the cold and warm restart key
combinations. This is especially helpful for Mega owners who do not
have unusually long arms.
A blitter chip control. Now you can activate/deactivate this feature
from any GEM program that uses desk accessories.
Standard color, key repeat, keyclick, bell and mouse configurations.
Even if the resource file is not present at boot-up, any control panel
settings in your INF file for NeoDesk will still be changed by the
control panel whenever you reload the file; you just won't be able
to change them.
o The printer queue has been improved, also:
The settings that control the type of printer you have are here, rather
than in the control panel. These settings, like those in the control
panel, are set even if the resource file is missing.
If the option to send printer output to the RS-232 port has been
selected, all output from the queue (including screen dumps) will go
there.
You can optionally select a form feed to be sent after each file in the
queue has finished printing.
A form feed can also be done at any time by selecting the appropriate
button from the NeoQueue window.
You can request a file selector so that you may add files to the queue
without returning to NeoDesk.
The window itself is much smaller, so that it takes-up less space on
the desktop when open.
o The entire package is enclosed in a bound, 100-page, illustrated manual.
Aside from what is listed above there are a few minor changes that do not
merit listing here. Overall, the program is much more complete and faster
than its predecessor.
Now for the sales pitch.
I suppose that if you do not already own NeoDesk you are probably saying
to yourself, "Why in the world should I buy the first version if 2.0 is
going to be out any day now?". The answer is very simple. Not only will
you have a great program to use until you do get the upgrade, but you'll
also save a few $$bucks$$.
Just take a look...
Suggested Retail of the Original NeoDesk.......... $29.95
Suggested Retail of NeoDesk 2.0................... $49.95
Cost of Upgrade for Owners of Original............ $14.95
Now isn't that "special"? How can you go wrong?
-----------------------------------------------
And now for the dead boring part.
Ordering information for owners of the Original NeoDesk...
Allthough we will be sending upgrade notices in the mail you can avoid
the rush by doing the following:
1. Send a check or money order for $14.95 plus $3 shipping and handling
AS WELL AS your original, installed NeoDesk floppy disk to the
address below. Please call for Visa and Master Card orders (subject
to an additional 3% charge).
2. If you haven't sent your warranty card in yet, please fill it out and
send it along with your order.
3. If your address has changed since you sent-in your warranty card or
if you purchased the program disk and manual from someone who had
already sent the card in under his name, please include your name
and address so that we can update our database (and make sure the
new version gets sent to the right person!)
Looks like that's it for now. We hope everyone will be as enthusiastic
about the new version as they have been about the first one. Only one
thing remains to be done. It might be helpful if we gave our address...
Gribnif Software
P.O Box 350
Hadley, MA 01035
(For more information or dealer inquiries, please call)
(413) 584-7887
GEnie: GRIBNIF
BitNet: Gribnif@UMASS
ARPA: Gribnif%UMASS.Bitnet@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU
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THE BEAT GOES ON
================
By Rex Reade
In these troubled times, there comes a "so-called" leader in our
industry, (pardon me while I double up in hysteria), who is gonna set the
record straight.
As an owner of an elaborate system of Atari computers and as one who had
great expectations of the "President's" conference, I feel I must
apologize to the userbase and to Ron Luks of comp-u-serve. Why should I
apologize? Well first and foremost because I feel I was somewhat
instrumental in it's being a reality, secondly, because I openly promoted
the conference both here and in speeches at various usergroups.
The conference area and system were impressive to a point and...I might
add, that's about the extent of being duly impressed by the other wise
NON-EVENT of the last quarter of 88. Never will I forgive the evasive
action and pablum answers rendered to people PAYING to gain viable, honest
to goodness information about Atari. Really, all they wanted was some
real down to earth assurance that the ST would be around for a while.
What did they get? As seen from this angle nothing that has not already
been said in ST REPORT (originally). The sad part is when it was here
some folks thought we were off the beaten path ...I even had nasty calls
and mail from underlings at Atari. << BIG GRIN>>.
BACK TO THE CONFERENCE.....Who is this man who tells us he thinks the
developers here should sell to Europe?? WTFO! Let HIM take himself to
Europe and stay there! How can you take U.S. Dollars from the stock
market and from the "little people" who own the machines (how many of the
users own Atari stock?) and then tell them you will do business in Europe
before you take care of them?? Better yet..to allow WORD PERFECT to hit
the road because you can't handle a class act is indeed very sad.
Finally, when you get hit with some pointed questions,... you leave?
This is NOT leadership in any form we recognize. Maybe in Europe <sly
grin> but not here. We have another name for it. I cannot go along with
those who will say, "He could only say certain things because of the SEC."
They NEVER had that problem when they had NH up front and outta sight!
In closing, It must be said, this conference leaves us with the impression
that we still are not out of the MUSHROOM PATCH!!
* COMDEX HANGS HIGH ON THE HORIZON for ALL TO SEE *
....How about it? Those of you who praised to the high heavens the virtue
of the WP Corp...the program is good, but the Corp. itself including chief
feather merchant Lunt, seem to have finally showed their colors...(greedy
green). Guess Atari doesn't move fast enough for these hungries eh?
Thanks WP, for the continued product modernization. WP wants us to stay
with an old outdated program frame while they cry about the way Atari does
business. FOR ALMOST 400.00 BUX they had better rethink their position
about staying at 4.1! Especially when 5.0 is out for other HIGH DOLLAR
return machines. I say if they continue to treat us as ugly step
children, then we respond in kind. The only reason they are supporting
the 4.1 version is because of all folks (me too!) who bought and paid for
this excellent program from a "Not so excellent or caring" cold,
calculating Corporation bent on profits ONLY. All the fone lines and all
the extra services are profit oriented. (#1 business principle).
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THIS WEEK'S QUOTABLE QUOTE
==========================
MASON'S FIRST LAW OF SYNERGISM
------------------------------
The Day you would be able to SELL your soul high,
there would be GLUT of saleable souls!
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ST-REPORT Issue #56 OCT. 10, 1988 (c)'88 APEInc. All Rights Reserved.
Reprint permission granted except where noted in the article. Any reprint
must include ST-Report and the author in the credits. Views Presented
herein are not necessarily those of ST-Report or of the Staff. All items
and articles appearing in ST-REPORT are copywrite (c)APEInc.
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