01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) (03/15/89)
At work I use an ST full time but I have to provide technical support for PC and Mac users. When I boot my ST a Degas Elite pic comes up and displays an Apple style logo, an IBM style logo and the FUJI logo and asks "Enter M to be a Mac, I to be an IBM-PC or A to be an Atari" One keystroke later and my ST can be one of three machines. For Mac emulation I use Spectre 128; The best thing ever to hit the ST market For PC emulation I use PC_Ditto. Unlike Spectre which shows no speed degradation for Mac emulation, PC_Ditto is SLOW. While I have used dBASE and LOTUS under ditto, the slowness is tedious. Word Perfect is reasonable. Now that I have LDW and dbMAN 5 for the ST I have almost no need to use ditto. Ditto runs Norton utilities and I use this to clean up my hard disk; there isn't anything in the ST world to compare with Norton. Once Ditto II comes out I will buy it because it will perform like an XT and I won't have to jump to a PC like I occassionally do to provide user support. The following is my batch file, used with STARTUP.PRG, to select which computer I want my ST to be on boot up. I provide it as an example of how to make the switch to various modes as painless as possible. ;============== STARTUP.INF for my 1040 ST ============================= display off ; turn echo off ; clear ; clear the display ; if ($res == high) then ; display a high res DEGAS picture on graphics 23 c:\choose.pi3 ; the screen if using a mono system endif ; asks if I want my ST to be a Mac, PC or ST ; set jumper = $<< if ($jumper == e) then ; exit start up routine (quick jump to desktop) exit endif if ($jumper == m) then echo d:\spectre\1spectre.prg >c:\startgem.inf ; let's become a MAC d:\utility\startgem.prg exit endif if ($jumper == i) then echo c:\pc_ditto\ibm_pc.prg >c:\startgem.inf ; let's become a slow XT d:\utility\startgem.prg exit endif ; ; run in Atari mode if m or i not selected ; clear echo c:\neodesk\neomastr.prg >c:\startgem.inf ; autostart NeoDesk in ST mode d:\utility\startgem.prg ; res medium ; boot in med res if colour monitor is used ; d:\utility\multivec.prg ; load in the UIS file selector utility d:\utility\uis_ii.prg d:\utility\diskfree.prg ; speed up for DISPLAY INFO on a disk req. d:\utility\g+plus.prg ; install G+PLUS d:\utility\nite.prg ; screen saver clear ; accask ; select desk accessories to load in *********************************************************************** I have found that I cannot stand to run my ST without NeoDesk 2, the UIS-II or G+PLUS. Anyone with a hard disk should have at least the first two. NeoDesk has an interesting feature for Command Line Interpreter (CLI) freaks. Once the CLI and its path are defined, a simple CTL-B will start the CLI. For anyone who complains that GEM does not provide all the nitty-gritty "DOS" functions, define your CLI as GULAM, PCOMMAND, etc. and you're a keystroke away from CLI capability.