UD140469@NDSUVM1.BITNET (10/05/87)
I've decided to give a little bit more complete overview. First off: price.
To tell you the truth, it beats me (:)! I ordered Tackle Box through a special
offer OSS had to introduce version 2.0 of their compiler--The update, Tackle
Box, and some other goodies for $100 and something. This was several months
ago, and I've forgotten the price breakdown for each of the items (and even the
exact total), but I'm hoping that the receipt from OSS will tell me (if it ever
gets here!).
As I believed I mentioned earlier, Tackle Box was written by Rusty Mullins
of SRM Enterprises (in fact, I wouldn't be suprised if he IS SRM Enterprises--I
think it's a pretty small outfit). Their phone # is (303) 472-6624, and their
address is :
P.O. Box 40
USAFA, CO 80840
If you get an answering machine when you call, don't despair: they'll probably
call you back the next day (even the next morning). What follows is a brief
outline of what the Tackle Box documentation contains:
GEMDOS routines
---------------
character input/output
printer functions
auxiliary device I/O
date/time functions
disk operations
file operations
memory functions
termination
miscellaneous
BIOS Routines
-------------
character I/O
disk functions
miscellaneous
XBIOS Routines
--------------
screen functions
disk functions
I/O functions
MFP functions
keyboard functions
print functions
time/date functions
sound functions
blitter functions (actually blitter function--Blitmode)
miscellaneous functions
VDI Routines
------------
workstation library
polyline library
polymarker library
text library
graphics library
fill library
input library
inquire library
raster library
exchange vector library
mouse library
escape library: alpha and metafile routines
AES Routines
------------
application library
event management library
menu library
object library
form library
graphics library
scrap library
file selectory library
window management library
resource library
shell library
Math Library
------------
trig functions
power/log functions
base conversions
sound functions
time/date functions
get address functions
peek and pokes
Hardware Overview
-----------------
memory map of the 520/1040 ST
introduction to hardware
hardware subsystem descriptions
manufacturers technical descriptions (actual documents):
MC 68000 Microprocessor Unit
MK 68901 Multi-Functional Peripheral
HD 6301V1 Microcomputer Unit
MC 6850 ACIA
YM 2149 Software Programable Generator
WD 1772 Floppy Disk Controller
Atari Custom Chips: GLUE, MMU, DMA, and SHIFTER (will later include
BLITTER)
Pascal Tutorials
----------------
disk utilities
graphic routines
GDOS
MIDI
system utilities
(future articles to include in-depth MIDI articles, Line-A, speech, etc.)
Tackle Kit
----------
GDOS documentation
GEMFED documentation
disassembler documentation
RTX multitasking guidelines
VT 52 emulation documentation
picture file formats
Appendices
----------
TOS error codes
GEMDOS opcode reference
BIOS opcode reference
XBIOS opcode reference
VDI opcode quick reference guide
AES " " " "
math library reference guide
glossary (pretty nice!)
index
The table of contents, quick reference guide, glossary, and index supposedly
exist on disk also so that you can modify them if you ever add stuff.
It looks like the updates might be coming out in the form of newsletter.
When you send in your registration card, you get a free copy of the newsletter.
After that, it's going to be "around $4.50 an issue." Sounds a bit steep, but
we'll see if it's worth it. The two packed disks unarc to 3 or 5 disks
(depending on whether you have single or double sided drives). If you use one
of the enhanced disk formats, you could probably get them onto 2 double sided
if you really want to, but by using three you'd have room for the PPascal
system on one of the disks (the one containing just the Tackle Box library
routines). You also get the complete GDOS (font files and all--it takes up
almost a whole double sided disk), source and program files for all of his
sample programs (I'm not certain if the binaries can be passed around or not--
he has a little ad in each one, but in the introduction to the manual there's
a message saying no duplication allowed...), and some utility programs (some of
which are his, some of which are PD or shareware that the authors have given
permission for him to print). He encourages you to send in any modifications
you do to his programs for inclusion in the newsletter, or even to send in your
own articles/programs ("sample programs, articles, tidbits, rumors, or anything
you feel your peers might like to know"). Authors receive a free copy of what-
ever issue their article appears in (yeah, I know--not much). Each section of
the manual includes a fairly complete introduction to that section, and the
hardware section is monsterous (includes the actual manufacturers docs--don't
ask me how he did that!). I hope this has given some more information (gosh,
did I type all that?!).
Scott Udell
UD140469@NDSUVM1.BITNET
.