[comp.sys.atari.st] Neodesk 3.01

pegram@uvm-gen.UUCP (Robert B. Pegram) (10/09/90)

	I just got my copy of NeoDesk 3.01 this weekend, in case you
haven't gotten yours yet, hang on, it's coming soon.  First
impressions; lots of new features, on the menus and in the windows.
It's a little overwhelming for now, and I had no luck converting my
old Neodeskm.inf file (like desktop.inf), otherwise everything is fine
so far.  If you read your upgrade notice, most of the new things are
described therein.  If you got an upgrade, you receive a shortish
upgrade (addendum) to your old manual, which describes the changes.
Some of them seem to have been inspired by the competition - Gemini
and DC desktop e.g. 28 instead of 16 additional icons on the desktop,
and folders can be dragged there too.  Desktop folders open a window
to that folder when clicked on.  I still have a wish list though, even
if a short one.  Gemini's (Venus' actually 8-) two icon sizes and ..
(double dot or place holder for the next directory up) icon would be
nice.  I would also like to have display presets (text or icons) set
according to the subdirectory you are entering.  This would probably
be relatively easy to do now that the display options are in place
(maybe that's the neodesk program/acc I should attempt).  I am really
finding that many of my utility programs, e.g. my auto folder organizer and
FAT zeroing program, are not necessary now, since Neodesk does those
tasks as well or better than the separate programs, and I don't have
to hunt for them or waste accessory space on them.  
Really must go now, email questions (helpfull ones would be requests
for tests and/or descriptions of specific features of Neo 3.01) to me,
I will reply on the net or via email as appropriate.

Bob Pegram

Internet domain: pegram@griffin.uvm.edu
UUCP: uunet!uvm-gen!pegram (you can *call* uunet directly if you have to 
			    you know!)

bill@mwca.UUCP (Bill Sheppard) (10/09/90)

In article <1684@uvm-gen.UUCP> pegram@uvm-gen.UUCP (Robert B. Pegram) writes:
>
>	I just got my copy of NeoDesk 3.01 this weekend...
>I had no luck converting my old Neodeskm.inf file...

Me neither. Perhaps a bug (feature?) slipped through?

>Gemini's (Venus' actually 8-) two icon sizes and ... would be nice...

I agree. However, Neodesk's Icon Editor is _very_ full featured, and you
can create smaller icons to give you more room on the desktop. Also, the
editor can read .RSC files as well as .NIC files for grabbing new icons.

Other observations: The manual (~140 pages for the non-upgrade version)
states that if an alternate text file reader is used Neodesk won't unload
itself from memory when calling the reader. However, I chose Quick View
(from Quick Tools) as my file reader but Neodesk still unloads itself
before executing it. Also, the environment from Neodesk is not recognized
by Quick CLI/Quick Env, and vice versa. I've still been unable to get
Quick Tools to autoload an environment upon booting...shouldn't the TOS
environment be accessible by all programs?

Another nice feature is that most/all operations can be performed on
windows which aren't on top - GEM won't allow resizing, backing up a
level, or closing a window which isn't on top, but Neodesk will allow
any action to be performed as long as the button/file/folder is visible.

Neodesk only uses up 35K when executing other programs, which is a very
small price to pay - Gemini gobbles ~200K, plus generally requires that
GDOS be resident.

All in all, a _very_ nice package.

>Bob Pegram

-- 
################################################################################
#  Bill Sheppard  --  bills@microware.com  --  {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill   #
#  Microware Systems Corporation  ---  OS-9: Seven generations beyond __/_!!   #
#######Opinions expressed are my own, though you'd be wise to adopt them!#######

crouland@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Enemy Skater) (10/10/90)

run DevPac ST 2.0, when I attempt to run it, I get a Bus Error <2 bombs>
Can't seem to figure out what the problem is, It will run fine under the
old version of NeoDesk, and now still runs fine under GEM. Anyone else
having similar problems? Must be the Neodesk code.
chris r
crouland@gmuvax2.gmu.edu

AlexK@tharr.UUCP (Alex Kiernan) (10/13/90)

In article <2596@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> crouland@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Enemy Skater) writes:
>run DevPac ST 2.0, when I attempt to run it, I get a Bus Error <2 bombs>
>Can't seem to figure out what the problem is, It will run fine under the
>old version of NeoDesk, and now still runs fine under GEM. Anyone else
>having similar problems? Must be the Neodesk code.
>chris r
>crouland@gmuvax2.gmu.edu

I don't know about 3.01, but previous releases caused me all sorts of
headaches 'cos of the way I load .INF files for Devpac, using the
shel_find call to get a good directory bet. Problem used to be that
after a few calls Neodesk's patch seemed to get confused, I don't
remember the exact problem. I'll try talking direct to Gribnif to try
and find a solution/exact problem.

Alex K.

crouland@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Enemy Skater) (10/14/90)

Well, another problem I thought of was that possibly the option to not unload
neodesk from ram could cause a problem with certain apps. I will try 'paging'
<ha!> neodesk back to the disk and running DevPac. Ill post how it goes...