sean1@garfield.UUCP (08/12/87)
I just saw GEOS for the Commodore 128 and I was totally impressed! If you use 40 columns, you may not notice the difference right away. It begins the same way, with the blue arrow, etc... However, once you switch to 80 columns (via a menu option) it becomes so sharp and clear and totally new. It has the same basic look, only with sharper, tighter resolution. One drawback (if it can be called that) is that you can't change the definition of the mouse pointer, which doesn't mean squat to me personally. GEOpaint is improved, the resolution is twice that of the 40 column version (again, this is switchable, allowing you to use either) and you can hide the tool box (The box with all of the drawing options.) You can't use color in 80 column GEOpaint, but who needs it? Also, the screen window stretches the entirety of the page across. (Not up and down, of course). GEOwrite is much improved, allowing all 80 columns to be seen on the screen. The same fonts are there, (including a new one, BSW 128, which is effectively BSW at twice the resolution.) All of the same applications are there, and the best part of the whole thing is that all the old applications/desk accessories can work on GEOS 128 ( without modification, I believe.) I personally can't wait to get mine. If you like GEOS 64 and you own a 128, then upgrade immediately, as you get all of the GEOS 64 benefits (40 column screen, color changing, mouse pointer changing, etc...) plus the added 80 column capability which provides an unbelieveably sharp picture! -- "And remember, Evil will always prevail because Good is dumb!" - Dark Helmet "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em." - Dark Helmet / Elliot Ness / Colonel Hogan
sentinel@killer.UUCP (The Sentinel) (08/18/87)
In article <3877@garfield.UUCP>, sean1@garfield.UUCP (Sean Huxter) writes: > > I just saw GEOS for the Commodore 128 and I was totally impressed! I just got it a couple of days ago, and I am equally impressed... > [some comments deleted to save space] > > All of the same applications are there, and the best part of the whole thing is > that all the old applications/desk accessories can work on GEOS 128 ( without > modification, I believe.) More or less. You cannot use them in 80-column mode. If you try to run a 40 column application while in 80 column mode, a dialog box informing you of that fact will pop up and ask you if you wish to switch modes. If you click YES, the screen will switch and the program will be loaded. If you click NO, nothing further will happen. Programs for 80 column mode include code to check the screen mode and adjust their displays accordingly, and have a flag set in the information block to inform GEOS 128 of this fact. There is only one other restriction. Any GEOS 64 program which uses the C-64's ROM will not work. The reasons for this should be obvious. Most programs don't use the ROM directly, so this isn't a big problem. The only things this seems to affect are programs that do floating point math using the BASIC routines... this includes the Calculator, GeoCalc, and GeoFile. > I personally can't wait to get mine. If you like GEOS 64 and you own a 128, > then upgrade immediately, as you get all of the GEOS 64 benefits (40 column > screen, color changing, mouse pointer changing, etc...) plus the added 80 > column capability which provides an unbelieveably sharp picture! Well, they HAVE added a few more improvements which will be of benefit even if you don't use the 80 column screen... 1) Extra memory swap space: instead of writing a swap file to disk every time you open a desk accessory, GEOS 128 saves it in the other memory bank. This doubles the speed of opening desk accessories and makes closing them almost instantaneous. It also means you can open DA's on a write protected disk. 2) Drive support: GEOS 128 supports the 1571 in double-sided mode, and the 1581. Also, RAMdisks residing in memory expansion modules can be the size of a 1571 if you wish... a 1750 has room for one RAM 1571 or two RAM 1541's (which can be used as actual or shadow drives). With as much as 800k on a drive now, the programmed-in limits on fonts (8) and desk accessories (16) are beginning to look a little tight... 3) Speed: need I say more? GEOS 128 in 80 column mode is nice and fast. I have heard many people complain about GEOS 64 being slow... GEOS 128 should change some of their minds. It actually does 80-column screen action faster than the corresponding 40-column actions. I know they have twice as much CPU speed to work with, but I honestly didn't think the 80-column screen could move that fast. 4) Other minor differences: o The Desktop uses the 128's other RAM bank as a file copying buffer. o There are a bunch of new GEOS Kernal routines... 17, by my count. o GEOS 128 uses the same printer drivers, but needs its own custom input drivers. Probably because of the MMU register at $ff00. [NOTE: All of the above information comes from my own personal observations after owning GEOS 128 for a few days... I have no actual documentation on it other than the manual it came with, which doesn't mention a lot of the things I noticed.] > -- > "And remember, Evil will always prevail because Good is dumb!" - Dark Helmet > "Smoke 'em if ya got 'em." - Dark Helmet / Elliot Ness / Colonel Hogan -- Rob Tillotson ...ihnp4!killer!sentinel 3922-1 Newport Ave. -or- Fort Wayne, IN 46805 ...rutgers!unirot!sentinel (219) 483-2722 (top one preferred)
jamesv@hplsla.UUCP (08/18/87)
>I personally can't wait to get mine. If you like GEOS 64 and you own a 128, >then upgrade immediately, as you get all of the GEOS 64 benefits (40 column >screen, color changing, mouse pointer changing, etc...) plus the added 80 >column capability which provides an unbelieveably sharp picture! I own a C64 and am thinking about upgrading to a c128. This review makes me think that the obvious play for Commadore is to come out with a C128B which includes GEOS in ROM at some nominal price increase over the C128. Has anyone out there heard any rumors to this effect? James Vasil ihnp4!{hplabs|harpo}!hp-pcd!hplsla!jamesv
sentinel@killer.UUCP (The Sentinel) (08/21/87)
In article <6580003@hplsla.HP.COM>, jamesv@hplsla.HP.COM (James Vasil) writes: > >I personally can't wait to get mine. If you like GEOS 64 and you own a 128, > >then upgrade immediately, as you get all of the GEOS 64 benefits (40 column > >screen, color changing, mouse pointer changing, etc...) plus the added 80 > >column capability which provides an unbelieveably sharp picture! > > I own a C64 and am thinking about upgrading to a c128. This review makes > me think that the obvious play for Commadore is to come out with a > C128B which includes GEOS in ROM at some nominal price increase over > the C128. Has anyone out there heard any rumors to this effect? Nope, I haven't. Back when the C-128 came out, and later when GEOS arrived in a big way for the 64, somr speculations like this were kicking around. Some people were saying that that is what the empty ROM socket was for. But that was put to rest a long time ago. I can't speak for Commodore, but I am 99.99% sure that they won't be doing this. Of course, that wouldn't prevent BSW (Berkeley Softworks) from coming out with a GEOS ROM. But the real question is "why bother"? GEOS is disk intensive, and there's no way you could put all of it in ROM. So you would have to use the disk anyway. And the GEOS Kernal must reside at the same address in memory, to insure compatibility with GEOS 64 programs, so putting it in ROM wouldn't gain you any free memory. Also, (I think) it is self- modifying in a few spots. So, I don't think we will be seeing GEOS in ROM for the 128 anytime soon. It really doesn't seem to be worth the trouble. > James Vasil > ihnp4!{hplabs|harpo}!hp-pcd!hplsla!jamesv -- Rob Tillotson ...ihnp4!killer!sentinel 3922-1 Newport Ave. -or- Fort Wayne, IN 46805 ...rutgers!unirot!sentinel (219) 483-2722 (top one preferred)
prindle@NADC.ARPA (08/25/87)
From: prindle@NADC.ARPA (Frank Prindle) moss!codas!killer!sentinel@RUTGERS.EDU mentions that there are 17 new kernal calls in GEOS for the 128, and that this info came from just what came in the box! I'd sure like to know why I didn't get any info on the GEOS system calls with mine? I've seen the "Official GEOS Programmers Reference Manual" in the bookstores, but it only covers the C64 version of GEOS. Where are these 17 new calls documented? Thanks, Frank Prindle Prindle@NADC.arpa
sentinel@killer.UUCP (The Sentinel) (08/27/87)
In article <3281@rutgers.rutgers.edu>, prindle@NADC.ARPA writes: > moss!codas!killer!sentinel@RUTGERS.EDU mentions that there are 17 new kernal > calls in GEOS for the 128, and that this info came from just what came in the > box! I'd sure like to know why I didn't get any info on the GEOS system > calls with mine? I've seen the "Official GEOS Programmers Reference Manual" in > the bookstores, but it only covers the C64 version of GEOS. Where are these > 17 new calls documented? Nowhere, as far as I know. I found them by the tried and true method of looking through memory with the monitor. Just click on BASIC in the SPECIAL menu, go to the monitor, and look in the $c000 area above the normal calls ("normal" meaning the ones in the list at the back of the Official GEOS Programmers Reference Manual). Unfortunately, I haven't had the time nor the inclination to figure out what they all do. Supposedly, there will be a new version of the Official GEOS Programmers Reference Guide, which will cover the 128 version as well as the 64 version. I have no idea when it will be out, though. > Thanks, > Frank Prindle > Prindle@NADC.arpa -- Rob Tillotson ...ihnp4!killer!sentinel 3922-1 Newport Ave. -or- Fort Wayne, IN 46805 ...rutgers!unirot!sentinel (219) 483-2722 (top one preferred)