[comp.sys.atari.st] P/D Command Driven OS?

thamer@rose.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mustafa Thamer) (11/11/89)

Although the ST DEsktop has its mouse-based advantages, I'm really starting
to miss the MSDOS/UNIX type abilities to just type CD somewhere or 
run a program anywhere by typing its name or path, or the advantages
of simple batch files.  I'm getting real tired of clicking my way through the
7 partitions of my 85 meg drive to get to the directory I want just to run
a program.
	Anyone know of a command driven TOS interpreter ala MSDOS that's
public domain.  If not, I'm about to write one.  Although utilities like
Universal Item Selector are good, I haven't seen one as useful as QDOS
is for the IBM.

-mustafa



-=-

				"Two days ago I saw a vehicle that'd
				 haul that tanker.  You wanna get out
				 of here; you talk to me."

steve@thelake.UUCP (Steve Yelvington) (11/11/89)

In article <73839@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>,
     thamer@rose.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mustafa Thamer) writes ... 

>Although the ST DEsktop has its mouse-based advantages, I'm really starting
>to miss the MSDOS/UNIX type abilities to just type CD somewhere or 
>run a program anywhere by typing its name or path, or the advantages
>of simple batch files.  I'm getting real tired of clicking my way through the
>7 partitions of my 85 meg drive to get to the directory I want just to run
>a program.
>	Anyone know of a command driven TOS interpreter ala MSDOS that's
>public domain.  If not, I'm about to write one.  

There are probably a dozen or more free or shareware command shells for
the ST. The most well-known is gulam, which uses a Unix-like command set
and includes a built-in version of MicroEMACS and a communications
terminal. I currently use John Stanley's jShell (it's small and has a nice
uEMACS-style command-line editing facility).

Others I have used include David Parsons' tsh (Teeny Shell), a Korn
Shell-like interpreter with a very powerful scripting facility, and
PCommand, which is very much like the MS-DOS COMMAND.COM interpreter. 

There are several commercial alternatives, too, including the msh program
that comes with Mark Williams' C compiler, and Dave Beckemeyer's Micro C
Shell and Multitasking C Shell (the latter for use with Micro RTX).

With many of these interpreters, you can create a batch file (shell
script), install the interpreter as a .TTP application (using the GEM
Desktop's "Install Application" menu), and run the batch file from the
desktop simply by clicking on it.

You don't have to use a command-line environment to avoid having to click
your way through 85mb of folders, though. Neodesk, a replacement for the
built-in GEM Desktop, lets you drag program icons out on the desktop where
you can reach them without having to dig into folders. And, incidentally,
you can design your own icons for the programs. Another program, Hotwire,
lets you define alt-key combinations to launch programs.
   -- Steve Yelvington, up at the lake in Minnesota        
  ... pwcs.StPaul.GOV!stag!thelake!steve             (UUCP)   

suhonen@tukki.jyu.fi (Timo Suhonen) (11/11/89)

In article <73839@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <thamer@cis.ohio-state.edu> writes:
>	Anyone know of a command driven TOS interpreter ala MSDOS that's
>public domain.  If not, I'm about to write one.  Although utilities like
>Universal Item Selector are good, I haven't seen one as useful as QDOS
>is for the IBM.
There are some MS-DOS like interpreters for ST. I have not used them so
I don't know are they worth having or not, but I do know that there is
gulam -shell that is very much like Bourne shell in Unix. I have used it
about a year now and I think it is just *GREAT*

Timo
-- 
Timo Suhonen                                           suhonen@tukki.jyu.fi
Disclaimer: The text above is from my left brain cell. The right one is for
          SeX and Drugs and Rock'n Roll. Al K. Hall has eaten the others...

glk01126@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (11/11/89)

	The best I've seen is GULAM, available at the ftp sites...

	-Spieu!

ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey) (11/16/89)

In article <73839@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <thamer@cis.ohio-state.edu> writes:
>Although the ST DEsktop has its mouse-based advantages, I'm really starting
>to miss the MSDOS/UNIX type abilities to just type CD somewhere or 
>run a program anywhere by typing its name or path, or the advantages
>of simple batch files.  ....

I know that several have answered this, and most have mentioned GULAM,
but I would like to add this:

I like Gulam, because of its large set of built-in features,
including these, which I think are its major assets:

	MicroEmacs, terminal emulator, command line editing,
	xmodem file transfer, and shell scripts.

The shell scripts are quite like the cshell I use on the VAX
at the office, and so, for quite a few things, the commmand set
is the same.  Where there are differences, I feel that I have
the control, through the use of shell scripts, to make them 
enough alike that I feel comfortable and productive in both places.

Those who know UNIX will recognise some commands in the list
below, which I see when I press the HELP key.

===============================================================================
beta-test version 1.03.04.05 121887 of
yet another shell for AtariST/TOS

(non-profit redistribution is permitted)

/gulam.  Copyright = 1987 pm@cwru.edu

62 built-in commands:
alias    dm       endwhile help     more     printenv set      ue 
cat      dirc     exit     history  mson     pushd    setenv   unalias 
cd       dirs     fg       if       msoff    pwd      source   unset 
chmod    echo     fgrep    kb       mv       rehash   sx       unsetenv 
copy     egrep    foreach  lpr      peekw    ren      te       which 
cp       ef       format   ls       pokew    rm       teexit   while 
date     endfor   gem      mem      popd     rmdir    time     
df       endif    grep     mkdir    print    rx       touch    
===============================================================================

In addition to the things here, there have been a few things 
distributed over the net that I behave much like UNIX commands
I like.  An example of one of these is LV, and later STEVIE,
which are much like "vi" .
I am not sure that UNIX is the best operating system, but I does have
some very nice advantages.  The fact that GULAM has the same set
of commands means a lot to me.

-- 
    L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo.
	ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca	ljdickey@water.BITNET
	ljdickey@water.UUCP		..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey
	ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu	

bremner@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (David Bremner) (11/18/89)

I have a whole bunch of these, and gulaam is my favourite.
Combination of csh/sh. As a die hard c-shell (on Unix) user, I can use
gulaam quite comfortably without having to remember to many gotchas.

I am almost certain this is available in the c.b.atari.st archives on
panarthea; watch c.b.atari.st for info on how to access these
archives.


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