slogan@ms.uky.edu (Stan Logan) (04/06/91)
Would anybody be interested in a JiffyDos 6.0 Kernal chip for the old C64? I have exchanged my C64 for a C64-C and the chips are different. This would be a perfect opportunity for someone running JDos 5.0 to upgrade, as the drive ROMs didn't change in going from 5.0 to 6.0, only the Kernal ROM changed. I am asking $25 (price includes shipping), which is much less than the $36.95 + $4.95 S/H that CMD charges. Please reply via E-MAIL as I read that much more often than this board. On a different tune, does anyone have the Hitchhiker's Guide to GEOS? I remember seeing something about this manual while I was on Q-Link, but never heard any comments about it. This supposedly was an incomplete reference guide which covered version 2.0 and cost $30. My main problem was that it cost $30 and wasn't even complete. If anyone has this guide, could you please let me know if it is any good, and the price you would accept to sell it if it is any good? Stan Logan
rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop) (04/07/91)
slogan@ms.uky.edu (Stan Logan) writes: >On a different tune, does anyone have the Hitchhiker's Guide to GEOS? I >remember seeing something about this manual while I was on Q-Link, but >never heard any comments about it. This supposedly was an incomplete >reference guide which covered version 2.0 and cost $30. My main problem >was that it cost $30 and wasn't even complete. If anyone has this guide, >could you please let me know if it is any good, and the price you would >accept to sell it if it is any good? I've got this. From reading through it, it is clear that this was intended to be published as a second GEOS PRG, but once Berkeley decided to jump on the IBM bandwagon, dropped the project. However, fortunately they decided not to just let the work that went into it fester in some forgotten 8-bit closet, but decided to release what was done with it. The reference manual is not incomplete in that there is stuff missing; rather, it is incomplete in that what you get is not a final draft. Indeed, in several places throughout there are proofreader's marks and comments. (Actually, I find it sort of depressing, because the text of the Guide is all gung ho about getting people to program for GEOS, which is contradicted by the abandonment of the project.) The first (and shorter) part of the Guide has several chapters (no table of contents) with information about programming GEOS. There is some overlap with the PRG, but the information is updated, and in some cases more complete. This is followed by the largest section of the book, an alphabetical listing of all of the Kernal routines, with descriptions. This includes routines which did not make it into the PRG, e.g. FetchRAM and StashRAM. The individual descriptions themselves I find more reliable than the descriptions in the PRG (e.g. regards what zero page variables are destroyed), and would trust the Guide over the PRG any day. Indeed, the Guide, in spite of not being a final draft, has much much fewer typos and that sort of thing than the PRG. The final section is a list of all of the system variables. This is in very rough form, not even laserprited but still in 17 dpi dot matrix. Descriptions of the variables are very paltry, but I still have found the sectin useful. On the top page of the Guide appears this statement: "This is a copyrighted work and is *not* inthe public domain. However, you may use, copy, and distribute this document without fee, provided you do the following: o You display this page prominently in all copies of this work. o You provide copies of this work free of charge or charge only a distribution fee for the physical act of transferrig a copy. Please distribute copies of this work as widely as possible." In other words, Berkeley has released this much the same way the released the 2.0 debugger (with the exception that you must already be a geoProgrammer owner to use the 2.0 debugger). I got my copy when I was in Bekeley. I dropped by the GeoWorks office, and they charged me $20 for it. From what I have heard, if you write to Berkeley and send them $25, they'll send you a copy. It may be cheaper if you can find someone near you who has it to take it into a copy place or something like that (although, granted, the nth generation photocopy could start to get cheesy). Is it worth it? I'm glad I got mine. It is definitely a good reference if you want to do much GEOS programming. -Rob Knop rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu