AWCTTYPA@UIAMVS.BITNET ("David A. Lyons") (03/15/89)
>Date: Wed, 15 Mar 89 04:31:21 CST >From: "Jeremy G. Mereness" <jm7e+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU> >Subject: To Clarify(Re: AppleSupport(wasre:ughh and the GS [If anybody can explain exactly how that subject line came to be exactly the way it is, you may be eligible for a cash reward....] >[...] Over the summer, I would like to work on optimizing the device >routines in GS/OS as well as the file structuring and the Finder >(like why does it have to wait and close all the windows before >launching an application?) My advice is to spend your time in a more useful way. I don't mean that those things aren't useful, only that (1) there isn't a whole lot you can do without working for Apple & having access to the source code, and (2) Apple is probably already working on stuff like that _anyway_, and your work would pretty much be wasted as soon as a new System Disk came out (the stuff you did would either be included already, or you would need to re-do your patches; patching is not at all easy to do to OMF files, either). I'm not sure what you mean by "file structuring"--the ProDOS FST does a good job. >There are no centralized printing facilities either, such as in the >Mac's chooser DA. The GS chooser requires one to leave the >application, and the Imagewriter Emulator used by some applications >is not supported by AppleServe. [...] There is indeed a text-based chooser that runs under ProDOS 8. There is _also_ a PrChoosePrinter call in the Print Manager, and applications that support "real" printing through the Print Manager have a Choose Printer... item in the File menu that makes this call. The text-based chooser is more convenient if you want to choose to print on a network ImageWriter or LaserWriter from a ProDOS 8 application. What's AppleServe? >My example of Softswitch was to demonstrate what could be done with >the Apple //GS's hardware. SoftSwitch allows up to nine Pro[DOS] 8 >applications to be online at once, putting 8 into stasis while >devoting CPU time to the one selected. Depending upon memory, one >16-bit application may run as well. Note that SoftSwitch does _not_ let you switch between 8 and 16 bit applications. You have to launch an 8-bit application from your 16-bit environment before you can switch to a different 8-bit application. >Why didn't Apple write something like this or pursue this idea? >Especially since the idea was inspired by an Apple product "Switcher" >that for a time was shipped standard with Mac Pluses? There is GS/OS, >but it acts like a pre-release and is sluggish and very large. How do you know Apple hasn't pursued the idea? I wouldn't mind seeing a switcher-type utility for the GS, but frankly there are much more important things that I would rather see _first_. (Like more FSTs, the promised Resource Manager, lots of Finder improvements, etc.) Your criticism of GS/OS is misdirected. GS/OS is NOT sluggish, and it does not act like pre-release software. There are lots of sluggish _applications_ that you can run under GS/OS, but those are not GS/OS's fault. The Finder is not as fast as I would like, but it is certainly usable, and I use it. (Where were you when ProDOS 16 was around? You could at least complain _less_ when things get better! :-) >Nothing innovative like Switcher has ever come from Apple for the //, >not even a shell like Davex or ECP, yet I see neato DA's and Cdevs >for the Mac pour out of Cupertino as well a debuggers like MacsBugs. I consider many aspects of GS/OS and the Apple IIgs toolbox to be innovative--on the inside, at least, if not as much from the user's point of view. I'm not sure if I would call Davex particularly innovative, but it does do some slick things, and I accept the compliment anyway. >[...] The Ensoniq chip is for the most part unexplored as a MIDI >instrument. Why? Umm...because not everybody has tried Diversi-Tune? >[...] I don't see how these concerns are unreasonable. If they are, >tell me. Your concerns are reasonable. I wish I had all the answers. >jeremy mereness >jm7e+@andrew.cmu.edu (Arpanet) >r746jm7e@CMCCVB (vax.... Bitnet) --David A. Lyons bitnet: awcttypa@uiamvs DAL Systems CompuServe: 72177,3233 P.O. Box 287 GEnie mail: D.LYONS2 North Liberty, IA 52317 AppleLinkPE: Dave Lyons