mclek@sunb.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar) (10/21/88)
I got my 1.3 from my friendly north Atlanta dealer yesterday, and we got to talking about (what else?) 1.4 features. Anyone want to add to the list of rumors? - Canonical overscan support (confirmed, no longer rumor) - FFS for floppies (confirmed?) - ARexx included - ARP included - Direct support for 16 bitplanes (!) of color (with new hardware?) - New (1.4) ROMS required for 500/2000 - Beta (Alpha?) in time for Comdex Spring, release Dec. '89 Oh, one more thing: floppy access times seem to have dropped noticeably in 1.3 -- am I imagining it? I know that screens display quicker due to FastFonts, but it seems that directory access times have sped up as well. Looks like a good job overall, C-A! -- Larry Kollar ...!gatech!dcatla!mclek The Workbench 1.3 "license agreement" can be condensed into four words: "We have lawyers too!"
ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (10/23/88)
In article <10093@sunb.UUCP> mclek@sunb.UUCP (Larry E. Kollar) writes: >I got my 1.3 from my friendly north Atlanta dealer yesterday, and we got to >talking about (what else?) 1.4 features. Anyone want to add to the list of >rumors? > > - ARP included Maybe I shouldn't say this. Every time I do, I'm accused of having a personal vendetta against Charlie Heath. I don't. In fact, I admire the guy for being able to put ARP together. However: I refuse to use ARP until Charlie Heath learns how to write a file requester properly. There, I said it. This comment comes from an experience I had recently when I was commanded to put a real file requester into Onion (it used to say, "Please enter a filename."). After exploring the Fish Disks, I found three: Peter da Silva's, -=RJ Mical's=-, and CHeath's. -=RJ's=- was too big, and PdS's was copyrighted, and he didn't make it clear whether or not I could use it in a commercial program. Rather than worry about it, I elected to use CHeath's, since it was the smallest anyway. I found his code difficult to read, even after running it through 'indent'. I found a variety of poor design decisions: The filenames were stored in a fixed-size, statically allocated table; he opens a full fledged window, and attaches it to your window's IDCMP port, which I thought was unnecessary; he pulls all sorts of obscure rendering tricks; and HE DOESN'T DO THE SCROLL BAR RIGHT. There are tons of programs out there that use his requester, and *all* of them have a broken scroll bar. After looking at ARP, I see that it's still not done right. However, there are a couple of features in his requester which I really really really like: It displays filenames as they are found, and the list scrolls dynamically as you drag the prop gadget up and down. I ended up rolling my own, taking features I liked from other requesters I've seen. My filename list scrolls dynamically, the filenames are displayed in alphabetical order as they are found (alphabetical order as strcmp() defines it), I have a "Parent directory" gadget (stolen from PdS's requester, with improvements), and a device list gadget. It ended up about twice as big as CHeath's, though. Sigh. Oh. And the scroll bar is done right. I don't know why I'm so maniacal about it, but I am. Back to ARP: I've read the 'autodocs' for ARP, and am impressed with the functions that are available. If it becomes part of 1.4, I will doubtless be pleased as punch to use it. But I really do wish he'd get the file requester scroll bar right once and for all, especially considering how prolific his requester is. This pointless and wasteful flame brought to you by: _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU \_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack") "Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor
peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (10/24/88)
In article <7448@well.UUCP>, ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes: > [Looking for a file requestor] After exploring the Fish Disks, I > found three: Peter da Silva's, -=RJ Mical's=-, and CHeath's. -=RJ's=- was > too big, and PdS's was copyrighted, and he didn't make it clear whether or > not I could use it in a commercial program. Rather than worry about it, I > elected to use CHeath's, since it was the smallest anyway. I'm sorry I ever put that copyright into there. Basically, you can use the code in any program you want, just so long as you're nice to me (smiley). Seriously, I'd like credits but I really think that if you're to creepy to give me credit you can still use it. *I'll* know, and smile to myself. Too late, now. Send me a copy of the one you came up with, anyway? -- Peter da Silva `-_-' peter@sugar.uu.net Have you hugged U your wolf today? Disclaimer: I accept full responsibility for my own typos.
ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (10/25/88)
In article <2899@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes: >Send me a copy of the [file requester] you came up with, anyway? I should have mentioned this in my original posting. I should have seen I would get a lot of mail about it. My file requester is currently proprietary to Silent Software. My boss did pay me to write it after all, and he'd like it to himself for a while. It is possible that the source will be released some time in the future, but this is sheer conjecture on my part. I'll nag him about it every so often. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU \_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack") "Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctor