anderson@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Joel Anderson) (09/16/88)
Geos 2 - Upping the Ante
========================
Oh boy, an upgrade! As a Geos enthusiast since I got my hands on
version 1.0, getting my copy of 2.0 looked like fun! And now I've had it
for a week.
So. Do I like it?
If anyone will be disappointed by this product it will be those who
went out and bought the products Writers Workshop and Geospell. Their
investment - which more than doubled the original cost of Geos - is now
unnecessary, given the rebundling that now includes all the utilities of
Writers Workshop and Geospell (except the Font Editor - the only reason I
bought Geospell).
The best summary of the whole new set is "Upping the Ante". Both in
the number of things you can do - and in the supporting hardware you are
going to want.
Disk Management
I had already found Geos to THE recommended system to novice
computerists - no longer did I felt guilty luring trusting nieces and
nephews into the cul de sac of Commodore - instead of a whole raft of
arcane commands I could now say "point and click" whether it was file
copying, disposal or disk formatting. Nevermind that it makes "cracking"
copy protection difficult - I wasn't trying to encourage that anyway.
Well the NEW Geos is even better. You can select multiple files for
copying and disposal. Almost any desktop operation can be done with
keystrokes. It supports up to three drives (including 1581 and RAM
drives). The clock can be set much more easily (it is now always on
display on the desk pad - just point and click to reset). For the Mac
experienced and the Un-initiated this is very easy. The new Desktop
alone does away with at least three public domain add-ons I had used
routinely.
Compatability
Along with Berkeley a number of public domain authors (and
shareware) have provided wonderful programs - do they still work? So far
I have not found one public domain, or BSW utility that does not work
with the new kernal. In fact, to be precise some things (file selection
boxes come to mind) work better.
GeoPaint And GeoWrite
In Paint, bugs I had noticed ( for example, printing from inside the
application did weird things to the menus afterwards) are definitely
gone. Features are added that I sorely missed - scaling for example,
(although you are still limited to selecting screen-sized windows). Even
better - scaling offers interesting features - smoothing, transparency,
pattern masks. Also (I can't decide if I like this, but I think I do)
Photo Manager, the tool for handling picture albums, now lets you assign
names to images.
No surprise to those who bought Writer's Workshop - GeoWrite is now
a much better word processor. I expect many will opt to use the included
"Text Grabber" to write in an old-style editor [Speedscript comes to
mind] and then convert to Geos. Just to prove it works as a tool, I
am forcing myself to write this review using it - then using the
excellent Shareware tool "Wrong is Write" from Quantum Link
to create an Ascii file.
Now the price for all this improvement is increased size in all of
the various Geos Tools. Here is where the ante is really upped. With the
extra power will come the realization that having two disks drives (not
common in the CBM fraternity) is much better with Geos. It was Geos 1.3 that
led me to buy my second drive. Look at these sizes:
Program Old Geos Geos 2.0
-------------------------------------------------
Desktop 74 blocks 120 blocks (+27%)
-------------------------------------------------
GeoWrite 90 blocks(1.3) 141 blocks(2.1) (+57%)
-------------------------------------------------
GeoPaint 119 blocks 152 blocks(+62%)
-------------------------------------------------
Looking at all three - an increase in size of "precisely"
+45.9363958%. I know because I did the arithmetic and did a "cut and
paste" with the NEW calculator. A nifty (and needed) improvement in both
the notepad and calculator desk accesories is the feature that allows
them to import data as "text scraps".
So yeah, I like it. Sure - it is no Macintosh nor Sun. Even with
the disk speed up Geos offers, unless you get the ramdrive it will make you
wait for program overlays and file references. But - geez - it isn't how
good the pig sings opera, its that it can do it at all! This is the best
all around graphic and DTP tool I expect to see for the 64 in this world.
If you've got a chance at the upgrade, take it. If you are
considering getting Geos, well, it has given my 64 a much longer lease on
life.
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"..If you own a machine, you are in turn owned by it, and spend your time
serving it...." The Forbidden Tower, Marion Zimmer Bradley
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anderson@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM |UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!jpa
Joel Peter Anderson |ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!jpa@nosc.mil
NCR Comten / Software engineer |INET: jpa@pnet51.cts.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------simon@ms.uky.edu (Simon Gales) (09/17/88)
Did they upgrade Geos 128 as well? Or is now one package? I have a 1541,1571, a RAM expansion (512k) and maybe soon a 1581. It would be nice if Geos supported them all and used the hi-res 80col screen for some things. If anyone has Geos128 (2.0 or not), I would love to se a review... <--------------------------------------------------------------------------> <--- Simon Gales@University of Ky 254-9387/257-3597 ---> <--- [ simon@ms.uky.edu ] | [ simon@UKMA.BITNET ] ---> <-------------------------------------------------------------------------->
pete@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Pete Hsi ) (09/24/88)
In article <255@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM> anderson@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM (Joel Anderson) writes: > [.... lotsa praise about GEOS 2.0 deleted...] >------------------------------------------------------------------------- > anderson@c10sd3.StPaul.NCR.COM |UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!jpa > Joel Peter Anderson |ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!jpa@nosc.mil > NCR Comten / Software engineer |INET: jpa@pnet51.cts.com >------------------------------------------------------------------------- A year ago I flamed GEOS 1.(?) about its poor printer output quality... Although I never received any responses to this particular flame, I want to know if this problem is solved in GEOS 2.0. Yes, I've seen an GEOS output from a laser printer and it is UGLY! --Pete Hsi Univ of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC = "U Must Be Crazee" :-) Internet/ARPA: pete@umbc3.umd.edu -or- pete@umbc2.umd.edu Bitnet: pete@umbc
sanford@tramp.Colorado.EDU (SANFORD STEPHEN LEE) (09/27/88)
In article <1205@umbc3.UMD.EDU> pete@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Pete Hsi (C)) writes: > >A year ago I flamed GEOS 1.(?) about its poor printer output quality... >Although I never received any responses to this particular flame, I want >to know if this problem is solved in GEOS 2.0. > >Yes, I've seen an GEOS output from a laser printer and it is UGLY! >--Pete Hsi GEOS output to a laser printer looks bad unless you use fonts specifically designed for a higher resolution than a dot-matrix printer. GEOS 2.0 and the Writer's Workshop disks have those fonts (LW_Roma, etc). But if you use other fonts, especially the bigger-sized ones, the output looks really cheap... Steve Sanford Jr.
tse@pbhyd.PacBell.COM (Tom Edwards) (02/13/89)
I ran into a problem trying to load the Geospell disk onto Geos 2.0. I'm hoping someone can help me to rectify the problem. The following is what has trans- pired: On Sept 28, 1988 I purchased Geos 2.0 from Berkeley Softworks (BSW), and on Nov 26, 1988 finally found some time to try and load the software. Following the instructions to the letter (this is my first experience with loading Geos) everything went fine until I tried to load Geospell. Instead of the "Geo- spell installed" message, I got "Error Geospell not installed". So I answered "OK" (clicked the icon), closed the file (close icon), reinserted the Geo- spell disk into the drive again, clicked the closed disk drive icon, then double-clicked on the Geospell application icon (following the directions), what I got back was a white screen with: C$2B (or CB$2B, unfortunately I didn't write down the exact error but it had C$2B in it) in the middle of the screen, and the monitor froze. The only route out was to reboot the system. Now I can- not load my application disk (get: Operation canceled 1:23 disk error Drive A track 12 sector 00 (hex)). When I try to load Geospell I get: Operation can- celed 1:22 (or 1:27, or 1:28) disk error Drive A track 12 sector 00 (hex). I can however load all the other disks (including write utilities, which was loaded similarly). I called BSW the following Monday (Nov 28) and got their recording that the Technical Help Line is on Q-link, or that you could write to them and they will answer your letter in the order it is received. Since I don't have a modem for my 128 (this is being sent via a dumb terminal thru a unix box), I selected to write BSW. To this day I still haven't heard from BSW, so now I'm sending a plea out to the world for help (it doesn't appear that BSW is too timely via mail, I only live 20 miles from Berkeley). The reason it has been months since I progressed on this is, I kept hoping for a reply from BSW. The hardware I have is a 128, 1571 disk drive, Magnavox CM8562 Monitor, and 2 joysticks. Is there anyone that can help, either in rectifying the disk problem, or suggest how to get BSW off their rears...... Thanks for at least reading the letter (sorry its so long)
tse@pbhyd.PacBell.COM (Tom Edwards) (02/13/89)
> Thanks for at least reading the letter (sorry its so long) > Once again Thanks.
hhersh@pacsbb.UUCP (hal hersh) (02/21/89)
tom...i'd like to help, but you got further with geos 2.0 than i did! my experience is similar...got two bad disks, called bsw, got their answering machine, no response for two months, etc., etc., ad nauseum. i'd like to see all geos users write to bsw and complain about their 'no help except on q-link' policy. i bought geos, not q-link, and i resent their high-handed attempt to force me to subscribe to a service in which i have no interest. the president of bsw is brian dougherty; perhaps a slew of polite 'i'm angry' letters would help. even better, if you belong to a user's group, invoking the group's name might carry even more power. there's strength in numbers!
dwl10@uts.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) (02/22/89)
In article <583@pacsbb.UUCP> hhersh@pacsbb.UUCP (hal hersh) writes: > > >tom...i'd like to help, but you got further with geos 2.0 than i did! >my experience is similar...got two bad disks, called bsw, got their >answering machine, no response for two months, etc., etc., ad nauseum. >i'd like to see all geos users write to bsw and complain about their >'no help except on q-link' policy. i bought geos, not q-link, and i >resent their high-handed attempt to force me to subscribe to a service >in which i have no interest. the president of bsw is brian dougherty; >perhaps a slew of polite 'i'm angry' letters would help. even better, >if you belong to a user's group, invoking the group's name might carry >even more power. there's strength in numbers! The latest issue of "Transactor" has an editorail about BSW and GEOS. It appears that the Apple II verson of GEOS is NOT copy protected. While you are complaining about the support (or lack there of), put in a word or two about the copy protect Bulls__t. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- "This isn't Heaven, this is Cleveland!!!!" Dave Lowrey Amdahl Corp. Houston, Texas (713)-850-8828 ...!{ames,sun,decwrl,uunet,....}!amdahl!dwl10 [ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily those of his most eminent employer. ]
Brendan@cup.portal.com (Brendan P Kehoe) (02/23/89)
In article <01sG466d3b10102fnDc@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>, <dwl10@amdahl.com> David Lowery writes: |In article <583@pacsbb.UUCP> hhersh@pacsbb.UUCP (hal hersh) writes: |> |> |>tom...i'd like to help, but you got further with geos 2.0 than i did! |>my experience is similar...got two bad disks, called bsw, got their |>answering machine, no response for two months, etc., etc., ad nauseum. |>i'd like to see all geos users write to bsw and complain about their |>'no help except on q-link' policy. i bought geos, not q-link, and i |>resent their high-handed attempt to force me to subscribe to a service |>in which i have no interest. the president of bsw is brian dougherty; |>perhaps a slew of polite 'i'm angry' letters would help. even better, |>if you belong to a user's group, invoking the group's name might carry |>even more power. there's strength in numbers! | |The latest issue of "Transactor" has an editorail about BSW and GEOS. |It appears that the Apple II verson of GEOS is NOT copy protected. | |While you are complaining about the support (or lack there of), put |in a word or two about the copy protect Bulls__t. I work for an Apple/IBM dealer (anything for money, right? <grin>), and we got a copy of the Apple GEOS a couple of months ago..since I am not personally a big GEOS fan to begin with, it really didn't strike me as anything incredible. Oh, they also include a 'geoMouse' with it (it has the feel of a box of CrackerJacks on wheels)...the only reasoning behind the non-copyprotecting that I can come up with is that BSW is trying to feel out the market...you have to admit that trying to introduce a desktop environment to a line of computers that's also associated with the Macintosh really takes some guts. | |-- |------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "This isn't Heaven, this is Cleveland!!!!" | | Dave Lowrey | Amdahl Corp. | Houston, Texas | (713)-850-8828 | ...!{ames,sun,decwrl,uunet,....}!amdahl!dwl10 | |[ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily | those of his most eminent employer. ] Brendan@cup.portal.com -or- ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!Brendan
hh2x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Aaron Peromsik) (04/14/91)
> GEOS - DO everything that a MAC can do with ya 64! (Well everything MOST > people do with a Mac!) > Dude, how about not. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | Aaron Peromsik | "Please insert disk with | | hh2x@cornella.cit.cornell.edu | with the 128 deskTop v2.0" | | hh2x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------