jkb@ms.uky.edu (Keith Burton) (11/08/90)
Last week, I picked up Aporia 1.4b (after it was reviewed by PC Magazine). I've really been favorably impressed with the package, and have been using it full-time as my shell. Good things: I like the `object oriented' concept behind the way the tools work. I've found Aporia to be much more powerful (at least for me). I drop into DOS about 1/4th as much as I used to...and I'm no fanatic about staying in Windows. I just use whatever approach seams quicker. The `tree' and `directory' tools are much more convenient and faster to use than the file manager, but everyone seems to agree file manager stinks anyway. Lastly, I like having my screen more open. It always seemed silly to me the way MS put so much work into background patterns and `wallpaper', and then covered it all up with PROGMAN. Bad things: It's slower than PROGMAN (but I'm optimistic they'll fix that soon), and I think the icons look a little amateurish by modern standards. I also don't like the way the icons `stretch' to accomodate the attached title. It's a cute idea, but often gives the icon a bad case of the `jaggies'. Icons are customizable, so you can control the way they look if you want to bad enough. Random notes: Don't judge Aporia on first glance. It isn't as pretty when you first bring it up (at least, I didn't think so), but it grew on me quickly. When I installed it, I decided I'd run it for two full days before I made any decision. After four hours, I wasn't particularly impressed. After eight hours, I was hooked. After sixteen hours, I could see a distinct improvement in my productivity over Program Manager. Initially, I organized my groups/icons much like they were in PROGMAN. By the end of the first day, I had shifted things around dramatically. Since Aporia lets you put drawers-within-drawers-within-drawers, unlike PROGMAN, an efficiently organized Aporia desktop is bound to be very different from your PROGMAN desktop. Also, since the tool icons don't reside inside windows, you have to organize the icons spacially to keep track of them. When it is installed, Aporia will scatter your icons around the screen pretty much randomly. Don't leave them that way! I ended up having my tools `growing' from the top of their drawer, and my drawers near the bottom of my screen. It works sort of like `pop up' menus, and is easy to use. Use lots of directory tools. For example, I have a drawer called `Art/Publishing'. Among other things, it contains Pagemaker. When I open that drawer, I get an icon for Pagemaker (naturally), and also a directory tool icon called `PM Files'. When I open that tool, I get a list of all my `.PM3' files, sorted by last-date-used. Clicking on one of them takes me right into Pagemaker (if you set PM3 as an Extension in WIN.INI) editing that file. I ended up doing this sort of thing a lot, as I found having the files sorted by date saved me a little time practically every time I wanted to run an application...it doesn't take long for that to add up. Also experiment with the type of icon you want displayed for your different tools. I've ended up using ALL the possibilities. I've got icons with titles, icons without titles (the icon for DOS doesn't really need a title, does it), and titles without icons (for less-frequently used programs). And some programs I just run through the directory tools. In fact, I ended up getting rid of the whole `Main' group that existed under PROGMAN. Most of those programs don't get used that often, and those that did, I'd already moved to other drawers. Now I've got a directory tool that lists all the programs in C:\WINDOWS, and just run things like Control Panel from there. Summary: I'm very happy with Aporia, and recommend others give it a try. But, be advised that it does have a significant learning curve, so you'd better be prepared to spend several hours getting used to it before making any decisions. Aporia is reviewed in PC Magazine's Nov 27th issue, page 49. The software is available from PC-MAGNET as APOR14.ZIP and APDOCS.ZIP (you need both). The files are in the Utilities forum, library 10 (the review says library 8, and is incorrect!). A slightly older version was available from cica.cica.indiana.edu, with a current one probably there by now. I would be happy to answer questions or give advice about using Aporia. Keith Burton
chaim@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Chaim Dworkin) (11/10/90)
In article <16339@s.ms.uky.edu> jkb@ms.uky.edu (Keith Burton) writes: > >Last week, I picked up Aporia 1.4b (after it was reviewed by PC Magazine). >I've really been favorably impressed with the package, and have been using >it full-time as my shell. > I got Aporia 1.3d a couple months ago and used it for nearly two weeks. It was nice but I kept having problems with the icons randomly rearranging themselves around the screen. Sometimes they'd go under other icons and I'd have to search for them and sometimes they'd go right off the screen. My AmiPro icon disappeared and I never found it again. That's when I gave up on Aporia. Maybe 1.4b solves that problem. When it appears on cica I might try it. thanks. -- Chaim Dworkin (chaim@eniac.seas.upenn.edu)
jkb@ms.uky.edu (Keith Burton) (11/16/90)
chaim@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Chaim Dworkin) writes: >In article <16339@s.ms.uky.edu> jkb@ms.uky.edu (Keith Burton) writes: >> >>Last week, I picked up Aporia 1.4b (after it was reviewed by PC Magazine). >>I've really been favorably impressed with the package, and have been using >>it full-time as my shell. >> >I got Aporia 1.3d a couple months ago and used it for nearly two weeks. >It was nice but I kept having problems with the icons randomly rearranging >themselves around the screen. Sometimes they'd go under other icons and I'd >-- >Chaim Dworkin (chaim@eniac.seas.upenn.edu) That problem hasn't occurred in Aporia 1.4b. The icons WERE scattered all over the screen when I first installed it, but they've stayed where I put them. Keith P.S. The Aporia authors tell me their goal is making the next release work at least 50% faster at updating the icons.