AtarIRC v2.04 released

Also just in time for the new year.

- gui library completely reworked for XaAes keyboard navigation
- nearly all dialogs updated with newer object types
(these objects require N.Aes, XaAes, or MagiC or compatible AES)
- new option to redirect /whois output to the console tab
- 2 minor bugs fixed

Have a safe and wonderful New Year Atari users. ;-)

Web page update

I purchased the book 'Introducing ATARI ST machine code' via ebay and it came with the original floppy disk. This is now available for download.

GFA Compiler/Linker Patch

I have taken all the patches from 'GFA Patch v1.07E' and adopted them into my patcher thus rendering this old patch program obsolete. It's rather out dated and it does not address some problems when trying to use the compiler and linker under MiNT.

GBE news

Already started on the next version of GBE. New stuff thus far:
- Auto INLINE sizing when loading inline data
- Block commenting/uncommenting
- Buit in library index generator

Well, and some minor issues fixed here and there. ;o)

Project updates

GFA-Basic Editor v1.30 has finally been released. There is also a new Run!Only version available which can be found at RUN! Software. Especially want to thank the guys at Run Software (Ingo & Holger) for their testing and bug reporting, and also GokMase.

aIRC has gone through several internal revisions and I can report now that the keyboard navigation works in XaAes. Currently not released to the public yet though.

aIRC revisited

Spent some time trying to get AtarIRC to work correctly with XaAES and the new keyboard navigation features.

GBE v1.3 news

The current GBE beta has now reached "feature freeze" status. It will be released as soon as everything checks out and the beta testers are all happy. Easier said than done. ;o)

Blog Comments Disabled

Thanks to luser script kiddies who insist on putting adverts in the comments I have disabled the comment option entirely. If you feel the need to comment, you will have to surf to my actual website and hand type my e-mail address.

Note to the script kiddies: Screw you! All your adverts were removed.
Get a freak'n life already...

GFA STuff

Started working on some graphics stuff the other day:
- generic XIMG loader
- HC/TC screen detection
- bitmap transformer for HC/TC modes

GBE v1.3 already underway

What's on the to-do list thus far?
- Blit accelorated scrolling
- Improved error handling (auto unfolding)
- Improved Compiler/Linker setup
- Saves cursor position, editor marks, find/replace strings, and more

Problems resolved:
- Very obscure editing bug
- Control-N not working right (reported by GokMasE)
- Block marking bug (visual problem)
- Problems with Find/Replace

Documentation update

Converted the NVDI v2.5 and NVDI v4.1 docs to HYPertext. These are now available on my website.

May the Fuji forever shine on him

Sad news. Toodeloo aka Anders Nilsson passed away on Monday, 1st of August 2005 at the age of 30.

He was a member of YesCREW as am I.
I didn't know him personally, but it's still very sad news none the less.

P.S. Sorry to SWE for borrowing the image from your site, but I thought it was important.

GFA-Basic Editor v1.2 released

In cooperation with RUN! Software we bring you interpreted mode. Yes indeed you read that correctly. Visit this page and download the RUN!Only interpreter.

New SETIstat project

I threw together a quick litte ditty to view the Atari Team SETI@home stats. It's a simple little GEM application that monitors the team stats in realtime. A release date is still pending.

Yet another GBE bug squashed

Control-D failed to work in the block sub menu.

Squashed more GBE bugs

Auto save failed to check the 'program changed flag' and was saving the source file even if it didn't really need to. Control-Y/Delete failed to set the 'program changed flag'. Currently the release date for v1.2 is again delayed. No projected date for release at this time.

Atari Enthusiasts Searching for ET

The original SETI@home project is slowly migrating to a new system based on Boinc. To join the new Atari team please visit this link.

The old site is at this link.

Simple word analogy

Nutritional Specialist -> Cook
Sanitation Technician -> Garbage Man
Virtual Machine -> Emulator

See how that works? Don't be fooled by fancy names.

The Merriam-Webster Online definition of 'emulator'. You will notice right away it does not state how one reaches that goal. If it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck... guess what? It's a duck.

Note that 'Virtual Machine' is not in the dictionary.

Toolbars don't work under MagiC

I coded a very simple toolbar test program for XaAes and N.Aes because I wanted to make sure they both handle them correctly. The developer of XaAes was also interested in such a test program. As it turns out they both handle toolbars quite ok.

However it totally does not work under MagiC. The call wind_set(WF_TOOLBAR...) actually returns an error condition.

A quote from The Atari Compendium:
"This mode attaches a toolbar to the specified window. parm1 and parm2 contain the high and low WORD of the address of the toolbar OBJECT tree respectively. parm3 and parm4 are unused.Set parm1 and parm2 to 0 to remove a toolbar."

This call works in Atari's AES, N.Aes, and XaAes, and maybe even Geneva? But not under MagiC. Yet another example of MagiC's lack of documented AES system calls. :o(

menu_register() fails under MagiC

A quote from The Atari Compendium:
"Applications running under MultiTOS may use this function to provide a more functional title for the 'Desk' menu than the program's filename."

Under MagiC this call always fails and you get the ugly 8+3 file name in the 'Desk' menu no matter what. Far as I know this cannot be corrected with any GEM lib.

Just one example of a documented system call that MagiC does not support.

Random thought of the day

MagiC does not fully meet the specifications as documented in my Atari Developers Kit. Also in some places it deviates from the specifications entirely. It's also been unsupported for several years. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only fooling themselves. Facts are what they are, facts.

Note: This entry has changed. I have calmed down. Be that as it may, the above statement is still 100% true regardless of ones personal preferences.

Website updated/GBE notes

Uploaded several more old book related disks to my website for download. GBE v1.2 is still delayed, but it will be well worth the wait. The next release will have the ability to interpreter the source code. How cool is that? Now you can sit on IRC and code in a GEM Editor with instant feedback.

Website updated

Made available for download the example disk from the book titled 'GFA-Basic Book'. Note that this book is rather old and most of the files are in the old *.bas format. GBE however can directly load them with an import module.

GBE now has standard clipboard key combinations and some other minor changes. It looks like v1.2 might be slightly delayed.

Solved a problem with GBE today that caused an endless loop under emulation. Actually what I did was kludge the program to avoid a bug in fVDI. :oP

If all goes as planned then GBE v1.2 will be released with in a week.

Well another year past and NAS 2005 is over. It was a real treat to see the activity on the live webcam this year. My favorite image has to be this one. I stepped out for super and when I returned there was Ozk, smack in front of the camera! In the background is GokMase coding away on his trusty FalconCT60. ;o) Wish I could have been there.

GBE can now test all compiler commands and report errors. Also updated my GFA-Basic hypertext as well with some new information and some typos corrected.

Fixed 2 more minor visual problems with GBE today, as well as adding more new features. Getting very close to a v1.20 release.

Totally recoded the import module scheme used in GBE. Loads of other changes, so many I won't bother to list them all here. However, that is what has been going on the past few days.

Took over the task of maintaining http://atari-clone.atari-users.net/ and reworked it completely.

More additions to GBE today. Parameters can be passed to the test binary now which is handy if you are creating a *.TTP or *.GTP program. Also, some improvements to PROC/FUNC folding and source code testing.

Added an archive option apon request to GBE today and some minor changes to make it feel more like the old editor.

Added the DHST Protocol (Document History) support to GBE today and slightly improved AV Protocol support (AV_PATH_UPDATE).

A couple more corrections to GBE today. Many thanks to Curly for reporting what he saw. Also tinkered some more with the STOS decoder. It works about as good as it's going to get.

Seeking information about the GFA-Basic Compiler.

If you have any information on the GFA-Basic Compiler (Atari version) command $S|, please contact me. It's not in my manual at all. I already have an idea what it does. What I am after is hard facts like a photocopy of the page from your manual, an OCR'd page, a snapshot, something in detail. Something official from GFA. ;o)

Coded a tool to convert tokenized STOS files to ASCII. Call it proof of
concept I guess. It works fairly well. ;o)

I found an English version of the DHST protocol today, so I replaced the
German version on my web page. While using GBE I discovered 2 minor
glitches that nobody reported. So it seems the next update is already
underway.

Released an update to my GFA-Basic Editor (v1.10) today.
Many thanks to those that have made suggestions and reported problems.

Welcome to my blog

My very 1st blog entry. Nothing to report today.
:o)