john13@garfield.UUCP (08/29/86)
My first time being flamed! My first >'s! This is turning out to be a big day. In article <I forget>, cbcscmst@cs1.uucp (Mike Temkin) responds to an earlier article of mine (I forget that # too), in which I review the pros and cons of both the "new" hardware and Geos, finding more cons than pros while looking at the subject both from my own perspective (2-3 years intensive experience) and trying to think like the average new-64 buyer, with whom I also have much contact: <Stuff about Quantumlink @ $9/hr deleted> >Obviously you are not a vetern C64er yourself. The price of Quantum Link is >not $9/hour, it is $9.95 per month. If you use the PLUS (+) services, you get >the first hour each month free. After that it is $0.06/minute, which is only >$3.60/hour compared to CompuServe's $6.00/hour (or is it $7.00/hour now) rate. >Besides the cost, Q-Link is heads above CompuServe for CBM users. I don't >know about you, but I hate wading through all the garbage CompuServe shoves >at you. Ah, to live in the States! To be on Quantumlink 24 hours a day! To only have to pay $9/month! I guess I should have under^'d Canada in my posting. ^^^^^^ Believe it or not, here in the Great White North it *is* $9/hr over and above the base Quantumlink price (the extra is charged by Datapac). Even the Powers that Be seem to realize how unworkable this is: when I got my 1670 modem, I, like other Canadian buyers found that the Quantumlink software had been *removed* prior to shipping. >> ...and the Preferences Manager seems unpredictable in >> its choice of colours - you set 'em up, but they usually just revert to what >> they were before. >Try reading the manual, if you can read, and you will find out that you must >save your preferences before exiting. I do agree that they should be >changeable for just the session, but such is life, maybe the future versions >will do this. Mike, I have saved, saved, exited, saved, changed, etc till I was blue in the face. Still, 4 out of 5 times that I exit the new colours stick around for maybe 5 seconds while the drive spins, then change back to what they were. I have a feeling the work disk I was using has an error on it, although that seems unlikely after being in use for such a short time. <Stuff about Geos drive speed improvements deleted> >The drive speed is *greatly* improved, maybe you have been spoiled by your >Vorpal cartridge, that you forgot what 1541 speed is really like. I admit it ;-). I've become so used to drive speedup utilities (Vorpal on *cartridge*? This is news to me!) that when I go over to someone's house who doesn't have a Fastload (hi Greg) my reaction is always "Gee, your drive seems to have locked up." What I meant in my original letter was, if Geos and associated software are to become the standard for Commodore machines, why not have BerkSoft get together with Epyx and use Vorpal (fastest drive speedup) in Geos? Why not take the best points of <insert name of favourite software> and incorporate them into Geos? The desktop utilities are well done, granted. But some other items (I chose drive speed as an example) could benefit from co-operation with other companies whose products have already been accepted as de-facto standards, rather than having to build everything from the ground up. Imagine Geos loading at Vorpal speeds, with Paperback Writer (or Pocket Writer if you prefer) as Geowrite and Doodle or KoalaPaint or Flexidraw as Geopaint. >As you have said you "paid close attention only to the beginning," after which >it explains that only the original disk is bootable. You should only use it >for starting the system, the backups are made of the geoPaint and geoWrite >programs. The reason you scratch the 3 files is because they are copy protected >and will not boot on backups, so why have them take up space. I suggest you Well, maybe "beginning to middle" is what I read. I saw all of that about "make a backup" -> "scratch these programs from backup". But one of the reasons for having a backup is in case your original goes bad (and I can safely say, as a veteran 64er of 2 years, that this does happen). In which case, if you read your Geos manual, you should copy the backup onto the original, which will still be protected and therefore boot. BUT, picture the beginner who has faithfully followed the instructions in the manual. His backup of Geos is minus those files which he scratched. When his original starts giving him "23 error on 18,00" he copies the backup onto the original. Voila! No Geos Kernal, etc and the disk won't boot. Think that this won't (hasn't) happened? I could tell you some stories about people destroying original disks :-( load "$",8 (of $100 wordprocessor) searching for...loading...ready. list 0 "disk name" id 2a (don't know whether to laugh or cry) 664 blocks free ready. >Seems to me that you are an Amiga *PRUDE*. Welllll... ;-) I do think that if Geos is going to look like the Amiga, then more than just the look should be copied. Things like menus with keyboard shortcuts are now the standard. For those of you who aren't familiar, this basically means that if I can select a function (let's say within Geowrite) by an easy-but-slow menu selection, or by a fast-but-tough-to-remember key sequence (can you say PaperClip?) then when the menu pops down, the key sequence should appear along with the selection, so that by the time you've used the program a bit, you find yourself able to remember all the key sequences without any conscious effort. <I've got to remember to WRITE LONGER SENTENCES! I've GOT to!> Anyway, here's how it works. Sample menu bar: STORAGE ------- Open CTRL-o Save CTRL-s Merge CTRL-m etc. Doesn't take up much memory, and makes a program easy to use for a beginner and fast for an experienced veteran. There are lots of little touches like this on the Amiga that could easily be added to Geos, but haven't. >I must apology for my rebuttle (refute) of the GEOS posting >as some of you may have seen, I myself griped about GEOS >a few weeks ago. Even though I feel that the software isn't >all it should be, my temper got the best of me when I heard >it being put down for faults in the hardware. I am sorry >that my temper got the best of me, and I will keep it in check >from here on out. A special apology goes out to John Russell who >got the brunt of my flaring flame ;.-( That's ok Mike. Your 2 postings arrived here one right after the other, so I was only seared for 10 seconds or so (about medium well ;-). Don't worry Mike, your wife and kids will be released unharmed at a place which I will reveal to you through private mail (if I can survive another bout with EAN). John Russell, who posts even longer letters awake (5:15 PM now) than asleep. PS What is currently available in the way of printer/device drivers and such for Geos? Are all of them on Quantumlink? If so, I may have to brave the $9/hr charge and go for it, as there has been nothing down this way since the original Geos except pictures of a shoe and a girl.
ugbowen@sunybcs.UUCP (Devon Bowen) (09/12/86)
> > Ah, to live in the States! To be on Quantumlink 24 hours a day! To only have > to pay $9/month! I guess I should have under^'d Canada in my posting. > ^^^^^^ I'm in Buffalo, NY and I can only use Q-Link from 6pm to 7am. Am I missing out on something? Devon Bowen University of Buffalo