[net.micro.cbm] GEOS questions

brown@aero.UUCP (04/23/86)

I have been told that Berkeley Softworks, 2150 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA
94704, sells a program called GEOS that acts a little like the unnamed
operating system on the Macintosh.  In particular, it runs two programs
that look a lot like Paint and Write on that machine, and will run with a
mouse.  The guy who recommended I buy these likes them very much, and knows
enough about the 6502 chip not to expect Macintosh speed and precision from
them.  I have a couple of questions for anyone who is running these programs:

 1) What kind of copy protection is used?  Will I have to surrender my
   disk to get updates or repaired disks, or pay through the nose for a
   spare copy, or just sign an agreement not to copy?  The last is obviously
   preferable.

2) Will it work with a joystick instead of the mouse?  I understand that
   GEOS runs with a mouse that sticks in the joystick port, so would a
   joystick do as well, or at least work? 

3) Does the mouse come with the system, or is that a separate hardware
   purchase?

4)  I run a dot matrix printer with graphics capabilities, and drive it
   with the Cardco+G interface.  Will GEOS be able to drive this to create
   the graphics printout I want?

5) Is the paint program color, or does it do printable b/w only?  I was 
   considering buying Printshop, but for $30 more GEOS sounds like the
   way to go for Christmas cards, PR flyers, etc.

Thanks for any help.
-- 
Leonard Brown:  brown@aerospace.ARPA
                brown@aero.UUCP
                {decvax,ihnp4,ucbvax,hplabs,sdcrdcf}!trwrb!aero!brown

porter@cbmvax.UUCP (04/26/86)

> I have been told that Berkeley Softworks, 2150 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA
> 94704, sells a program called GEOS that acts a little like the unnamed
> operating system on the Macintosh. 
> 
>  1) What kind of copy protection is used?  Will I have to surrender my
>    disk to get updates or repaired disks, or pay through the nose for a
>    spare copy, or just sign an agreement not to copy?  The last is obviously
>    preferable.
> 

Yes, Geos is copy potected and also has a fast loader routine.  If you
have a bad disk, you can get a replacement disk for $10, but you must
send your old disk back.  Commodore will be bundling this program
with the new sytle C64 starting this summer.

> 2) Will it work with a joystick instead of the mouse?  I understand that
>    GEOS runs with a mouse that sticks in the joystick port, so would a
>    joystick do as well, or at least work? 
> 

Actually, it works best with a joystick.  

> 3) Does the mouse come with the system, or is that a separate hardware
>    purchase?

The mouse is optional.

> 4)  I run a dot matrix printer with graphics capabilities, and drive it
>    with the Cardco+G interface.  Will GEOS be able to drive this to create
>    the graphics printout I want?

Yes, I am pretty sure this will work.

> 5) Is the paint program color, or does it do printable b/w only?  I was 
>    considering buying Printshop, but for $30 more GEOS sounds like the
>    way to go for Christmas cards, PR flyers, etc.
> 
I think the paint program can do colors, but if you don't have a color
printer you are out of luck.  Most of what I have seen is in B&W.


Jeff Porter
Commodore Engineering

dwl10@amdahl.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (04/28/86)

In article <151@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>, porter@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Jeff Porter) writes:
> > I have been told that Berkeley Softworks, 2150 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA
> > 94704, sells a program called GEOS that acts a little like the unnamed
> > operating system on the Macintosh. 
> > 
> >  1) What kind of copy protection is used?  Will I have to surrender my
> >    disk to get updates or repaired disks, or pay through the nose for a
> >    spare copy, or just sign an agreement not to copy?  The last is obviously
> >    preferable.
> > 
> 
> Yes, Geos is copy potected and also has a fast loader routine.  If you
> have a bad disk, you can get a replacement disk for $10, but you must
> send your old disk back.  Commodore will be bundling this program
> with the new sytle C64 starting this summer.
> 
What is a "new style" C64???? Can I get this GEOS from Commodore for my
"old style" C64????
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Dave Lowrey

"To vacillate or not to vacillate, that is the question....
 ....or is it?"
                                ...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs}!amdahl!dwl10

[ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily
  those of his most eminent employer. ]

jamesv@hplsla.UUCP (jamesv) (04/29/86)

I finally received my copy of GEOS yesterday so as an "experienced"
GEOS user I'd like to add a few comments to what Jeff has said.

>  1) What kind of copy protection is used?  ...

From the manual: "All of the files on the GEOS disk, including the 
GEOS System files and the deskTop, can be copied to another disk,
but you will not be able to boot GEOS using that disk."  This seems
to be true.  So once you boot your system you can from then on run off
of a backup disk minimizing the possibility of destroying your master.

> 2) Will it work with a joystick instead of the mouse?  ...

Also, will work with a track ball.

> 4)  I run a dot matrix printer with graphics capabilities, and drive it
>    with the Cardco+G interface.  Will GEOS be able to drive this to create
>    the graphics printout I want?

GEOS has support for several printers (sorry I don't have a list with
me) and a utility to select which one is active.

> 5) Is the paint program color, or does it do printable b/w only?  I was 
>    considering buying Printshop, but for $30 more GEOS sounds like the
>    way to go for Christmas cards, PR flyers, etc.
 
My brief look at geoPaint seemed to show that there were only two
active display colors: foreground and background, both selectable.
A flyer included with the software mentioned (I think -- I wanted to
use the s/w so didn't do much more than glance at it) a future 
release of a multicolor system.

Also of interest: the manual is easy to read and appears fairly
comprehensive.

				   James Vasil
				   hplabs!hplsla!jamesv

Unknown@hplabs.UUCP (04/29/86)

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