LP's Blog

GFA News

2012-01-29T12:56:00.000-05:00

Solved runonly bug related to BSAVE and DIR TO commands.

This bug was actually not my fault. If you find a copy of the original 3.5 runonly from GFA it should produce the same bug! When Frank built the runonly and removed parts of the editor he introduces new bugs. Since there was no 3.6 runonly I used the 3.5 version as a guide to build mine and ended up duplicating his bugs.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-15T05:05:00.003-05:00

I'd like to wish each and everyone on the planet a very Merry Christmas.

Offended? If so, deal with it.

GFA News

2011-11-12T14:41:00.000-05:00

GFA is not working on the FireBee. No plans to fix it.

GFA News

2011-06-12T08:54:00.003-04:00

Started a new text rendering engine for GBE that would support syntax highlighting, however I'll probably scrap that version and start over. The plan now is to do it all in assembler for maximum speed.

Rewrote the TEXT command for improved speed. Unreleased.

GFA update released

2010-12-06T02:23:00.001-05:00

Ok, revision 18 of the compiler is now up at my site. New compiler option $W for advanced users. Allows the insertion of assembler code directly into the binary at the line the command appears on. Read docs before use! I have also added the original editor to my download section for users who wish to code in SingleTOS, but wish to use the new compiler and library.

GFA update released

2010-10-23T03:16:00.001-04:00

GFA-Compiler v3.6 (Revision 17)
GFA-Linker v3.6 (Revision 17)
GFA-Library v3.6 (Revision 6)
GFA-RunOnly v3.6 (Revision 6)
The official GBE Library (English release)

GFA update

2010-08-05T13:03:00.002-04:00

When GFA was written the bios only had devices 0 to 5, thus it does not work correctly with bios devices 6 and up when the TT030 appeared with extra serial ports. I'm not going to go into details why it fails, suffice it to say its messy, and OUT generates strange error messages if these device numbers are used.

I've now corrected this situation so devices 6 and up are now working. Rewritten commands:
INP(), INP&(), and INP%() (byte, word, long input respectively)
OUT, OUT&, and OUT% (byte, word, long output respectively)

By some stroke of luck INP?() and OUT?() (inquire device status) happen to work fine, but I added some error checking in the runonly interpreter that should have been there.

These changes will require a new compiler and library and runonly interpreter.

OPEN does not support the extra devices. In order to fix OPEN a complete rewrite of the entire I/O sub-system in GFA would be required. Not something I really want to do. The 8 device commands above should be enough to write code for the new devices.

GFA update

2010-08-05T13:00:00.000-04:00

Some more interpreter issues resolved. I just discovered virtually every command that has a procedure name as a parameter does not bother to check if the procedure exists at all. No error message or anything. Example:

ON ERROR GOSUB blah

This will run with no error message. Also if the procedure 'blah' does exist it cannot have a parameter list. The interpreter will ignore this also:

ON ERROR GOSUB blah
PROCEDURE blah(param&)
RETURN

It ends up just ignoring the commands completely and the built in error handler is called. This happens with EVERY/AFTER, TRON proc, ON BREAK GOSUB, and all the ON MENU GOSUB xxx commands as well. I've done some work on this so the updated runonly catches all these even where the procedure should not have parameters. It will now report 'too many parameters' in such a case.

MouseBoot by Scott R. Lemmon

2010-06-08T19:48:00.001-04:00

I tried to track down the author of MouseBoot to obtain the source code. Its similar to XBoot but free as he gave me permission to distribute the registered version sometime ago. In doing so I discovered that Scott R. Lemmon passed away in 2004 at the age of 36.

Scott sent one of my programs to ST Format and it ended up in an issue. He is also the one who gave me the source code to GFA Raytrace. The only sources to anything GFA I've ever been able to get my hands on.

Scott was a really nice guy. Somewhat sad day for me. :-(

Atari clone news

2010-06-08T05:24:00.003-04:00

I have upload my patched XControl to my site. Solves the random crashes related to the cpu caches. Never liked that clone application called Cops.

Also uploaded an updated ATI Mach64 (PCI) driver. It was never 040/060 friendly either. One can now boot at full speed with the caches enabled.

GFA Status

2010-05-06T03:30:00.004-04:00

An update to the library is coming, as a few more bugs were found and squashed. A new interpreter is also in the works that is synchronized with the new library. That means all the changes that were done to the library were also done to the interpreter.

The documentation needs to be updated yet.

When this is completed, all components of GBE will finally be handled by me. I will not have to rely on anyone else.

A time to celebrate

2010-05-03T13:06:00.004-04:00

MagiC celebrates a decade of no development. Nada, zilch, zippo, lol
The last known version is copyright 2000.

MiNT rules!

Almost

2010-05-03T11:35:00.001-04:00

Another ad shows a homeless man curled up in a ball on a pile of rags. One ratty bed sheet shields him from the cold. The narrator says, "This is Jack Thomas. Today someone almost brought Jack something to eat. Someone almost brought him to a shelter. And someone else almost brought him a warm blanket." After a brief pause, the narrator continues: "And Jack Thomas? Well, he almost made it through the night."

You almost had me convinced.

That's gay

2010-04-09T12:16:00.002-04:00

You know those TV commercials that tell you that its bad to refer to something as gay if you don't like it?

Those commercials are so gay.

Frank Naumann

2010-03-23T11:47:00.003-04:00

Frank Naumann passed away on the 12th of March, 2010 at the age of 34. Very sad news. My heart goes out to his family. He will be missed in the Atari community.

GFA-Basic Library update in the works

2010-03-23T11:43:00.002-04:00

A few more bugs squashed. This update will also contain a new run only interpreter for GBE.

Coming soon...

Updated GFA-BASIC Library released

2009-09-27T01:57:00.001-04:00

Ok here it is, finally ready. This actually brings with it a new compiler and linker. If you don't read the docs please note that the components of this archive must not be mixed with older versions.

I've been working on this for a very long time and it contains 127 updated modules. The library is now interrupt free, and hopefully bug free. See the docs for a very long list of changes and corrections.

List of features:
Mostly bug fixes and enhancements.
No radical changes to the library for maximum backward compatibility.
Enhanced CPU/FPU support for machines with an 020 CPU or better (optional).
Unused code removed.
This library is actually smaller than the original library.
Improved MiNT compatibility.
Some small optimizations were done as well.
Line-A use only where it should be used.
Improved error handler with advanced debugging options.
Break key can now be cleanly used in compiled applications.
EVERY/AFTER are now cleanly implemented.
Improved hardware detection for STE only commands.
All vector hooks removed (except $B+ which is optional).

If you have any problems or the docs are unclear, please let me know. I'll do my best to help.
Enjoy.

Grab it here: Download Now!

Atari Clone Development

2009-05-03T21:34:00.004-04:00

Atari Coldfire Project
Medusa Computer Systems

GFA Compiler status

2009-03-17T21:32:00.001-04:00

Updated compiler in the works. It will now produce slightly better code in some cases.

GFA Library status

2009-03-17T21:30:00.002-04:00

More bug fixes and improvements in the works.

GBE status

2009-03-17T21:25:00.003-04:00

Been doing a lot of work on GBE lately. Mostly improvements to the code processor. It now supports constants, similar to 'C'. This makes the code more compact and a bit faster.

Clayton Walnum's C-manship Complete released as HYPertext

2008-08-06T14:36:00.000-04:00

See here.

'The ST Assembly Language Workshop' book (HYPertext release)

2008-07-23T14:06:00.001-04:00

'Volume 1'

See here.

AES & VDI Quick References (Released as HYPertext)

2008-07-22T11:58:00.000-04:00

See here.

GFA-BASIC Toolkit - Volume 1 (HYPertext released)

2008-07-14T11:19:00.003-04:00

GFA-BASIC Toolkit - Volume 1 (HYPertext released)

I have ported an old GFA book to HYPertext. It's attached to this post. You will need an ST-Guide or equivalent HYPertext reader.

Get it here:

If you also want the disk that came with the book, it's here:

Enjoy!

PS. I know the book is old and maybe some of the example code is not so great, but hey, it's free. ;o)

Released with kind permission of Clayton Walnum, aka Taylor Ridge Books.

Devpac v3 Documentation (HYP) released

2008-07-07T13:26:00.001-04:00

Devpac v3 Documentation (HYPertext) [rev .50]

Get it here.

GFA-BASIC Compiler v3.6 r15 released

2008-03-29T05:14:00.000-04:00

Reverted the '$F%' and '$X' modification, fixed the code which skips spaces
The command '$ F%' is now valid per the manual (extra white spaces)

Omikron import module halted

2008-02-29T13:08:00.007-05:00

I contacted the author of Omikron BASIC and he does not want to give out the information needed to decode the tokenized files. He more or less replied "use the Omikron editor". :-( It's rather irritating to get such replies when the software is unsupported since 1998. The sad thing is the author will probably take your money if you attempt to purchase it!

If you wish to import your old Omikron files into GFA-Basic, you will have to use the old Omikron editor and export the listing as ASCII, then import it into GBE.

Also, I recommend avoiding Omikron BASIC entirely. Not only does it create non-standard binaries (which are mostly data, with a small loader), but it also uses PMOVE and self-modifying code.

I've been told by more than two people that a proper Intel version for the Mac is not planned. When Rosetta is finally removed from Mac OS X, Omikron Basic will cease to function. It's only a matter of time. So buyer beware!

GBE Status

2008-02-03T01:27:00.000-05:00

HiSoft BASIC (Tokenized) import module completed.

GFA Compiler status

2008-01-15T13:01:00.000-05:00

GFA-Basic Compiler r15 is in the works. Reverted previous change to the $F/$X bug. I plan to make it work as the manual states. The extra spaces should be ignored.

PRINT @test
EDIT
FUNCTION test
$ F% !this would normally fail (extra space following the dollar sign)
RETURN 2.2
ENDFUNC

GFA-Basic HYPertext updated (v2.14)

2008-01-03T01:58:00.000-05:00

Article 'Debugging with GFA-Basic and MiNT' is no longer available as a PDF file. It has been incorporated into my GFA-Basic Compendium (HYPertext).

AtarIRC v2.06 released

2007-12-17T01:51:00.000-05:00

- Check Version fixed (broke when I rearranged my website)
- some other minor changes, see docs

[Download AtarIRC]

GBE Status

2007-12-16T23:20:00.001-05:00

Created a c64 BASIC import module.

GFA XRef update

2007-12-11T05:20:00.000-05:00

Lots of internal changes. Faster and much smaller.
Will be released soon.

GFA-Basic Mailing List closed

2007-12-11T05:10:00.000-05:00

The list is being converted over to a private GFA developer list.
You may or may not have receive an unsubscribe notice.

If you have any GFA coding questions, you can post them at:
http://www.atariactive.com/viewforum.php?f=16

Some may still prefer a list over a forum, but there was just little to no
traffic to speak of. The list will be put to better use. The RUN!
Software team shall remain, everyone else can remove the list from their
address books.

There is also another mailing list that covers all versions of GFA-Basic at:
http://gfa-basic.liebenstein.de/mailinglist_en.htm
If you join this one, be prepared to see postings related to the peecee. :oP

Web Site Updated

2007-11-24T06:49:00.000-05:00

Did some more work on the web pages. Hopefully a bit better organized. I moved all of the file download links to the page named 'Downloads' which seems the most logical place to find them.

Web Site Updated

2007-11-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

I tried to come up with a simple way to track downloads, however due to the large number of bots, crawlers, and e-mail harvesters this proved impossible. They surf every link on the site and generate false hits on a daily basis. Some crawlers do not adhere to the meta tag standards for blocking access. Typical. :o(

I have installed a script which forces a real human to enter a pass code in order to download files. Unfortunately this is the only way to get accurate statistics. It's better than asking for e-mail addresses. ;o)

GFA-BASIC Compiler v3.6 r14 released

2007-11-18T03:24:00.000-05:00

GFA-BASIC Compiler release 14 notes:

Missing procedures and labels are now detected
RESTORE missing_label !fixed
Program would still run, but the wrong DATA line was restored
GOTO/RESUME missing_label !fixed
ON ERROR/ON BREAK GOSUB missing_proc !fixed
EVERY/AFTER x GOSUB missing_proc !fixed
ON MENU GOSUB missing_proc !fixed
ON MENU KEY/IBOX/OBOX/BUTTON/MESSAGE GOSUB missing_proc !fixed
ON x GOSUB missing_proc1,missing_proc2 !fixed
These were all fatal! -> JSR 0.L or JMP 0.L
Code removed which was suppose to skip spaces in '$F%' and '$X'
Code always failed anyway, thus this never worked '$ F%'
Added error code -3 (Procedure or label undefined)

[Download]

GBE status

2007-10-31T04:13:00.000-04:00

I started yet another import module, this time the HiSoft BASIC token (*.t) format. The ASCII version (*.bas) is to messy to parse.

GBE is undergoing some change right now.

GBE status

2007-10-28T00:16:00.000-04:00

Added a HiSoft BASIC import module.

Blog updated

2007-10-17T13:02:00.000-04:00

Changed the look of the blog a bit, added some links finally. ;o)

If there is a link you think should be added, let me know.

GFA status

2007-10-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

Compiler:
The translations are now complete and some more testing needs to be done before the release.

GBE:
Some tweaks and changes are taking place. ;o)

GFA Compiler status

2007-10-01T13:03:00.000-04:00

Another error message has been added along with a new error code. Still need one more translation and a bit more testing before the update can be released. GBE has been tweaked to support the new error code.

GFA Compiler status

2007-09-18T13:16:00.000-04:00

The bugs related to the missing procedures and labels has been resolved. Further testing needs to be done and some translations before it can be released. A new error message has been added. GBE is now able to place the cursor on the offending line and properly report what went wrong.

I'd like to thank some people for their translation work:
... GokMasE for the Swedish translation
... kellis for the French translation
... Ozk for the Norwegian translation
... SWE for the Slovenian translation
... Curly, Juergen Liebenstein, and Ulf Dunkel for the German translation

GFA Compiler status

2007-09-16T23:49:00.000-04:00

I have discovered more bugs in the GFA Compiler. It is currently being investigated and hopefully a solution can be found.
The compiler translates these to JSR 0.l and JMP 0.l, which is very bad to say the least.
__________________________________________________

' all of these have missing procedures or labels
' none of these generate compiler/linker errors!
'
ON BREAK GOSUB break
ON ERROR GOSUB test
'
ON x GOSUB proc1,proc2,proc3,proc4
'
ON MENU BUTTON 1,2,3 GOSUB button
ON MENU GOSUB menu
ON MENU IBOX 1,2,3,4,5 GOSUB ibox
ON MENU KEY GOSUB key
ON MENU MESSAGE GOSUB message
ON MENU OBOX 1,2,3,4,5 GOSUB obox
'
EVERY 2 GOSUB every
AFTER 2 GOSUB after
'
RESTORE dat
GOTO go
PROCEDURE trap_error
RESUME error
RETURN
'
' eof

GBE Status

2007-09-12T13:14:00.000-04:00

Resolved the floating point problems in the STOS import module.

Floating point format in the amos import module also corrected. Still working on this one. ;o)

Do to the way extensions work in both of these products, files using extensions cannot be 100% detokenized. Suffice it to say, the extension scheme was poorly implemented. :-P

GBE Status

2007-09-10T01:08:00.000-04:00

Created an Integer Basic (Apple) import module. This one is completed.

Work still continues on the amos import module.

GBE Status

2007-09-09T00:17:00.000-04:00

I did some work on the STOS - The Game Creator import module. Solved the floating point conversion problems. This module is more or less done.

Work continues on the amos import module.

Current status

2007-09-03T20:15:00.000-04:00

Created an Applesoft Basic import module. This one is completed.
There seems to be documents about this format that do not agree. I also found files in both formats. My import module will now load both types.

I started an amos (amiga) import module, but it's not finished yet.

The STOS import module was never finished either.

GFA-Basic Editor v1.51 released

2007-06-30T16:47:00.001-04:00

Just in time for a NAS release. ;o)

See documentation for a list of changes.

Current status

2007-02-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

I'm ok, just busy with other things. ;o)

GFA-Basic Editor v1.50 released

2006-09-27T08:41:00.000-04:00

Please see \docs\read_me.txt in the archive for important information regarding this release.

Speech generation for MiNT

2006-09-03T11:06:00.000-04:00

I'm am currently working on an eXtended Device Driver for MiNT.
/dev/speech

I'm also working on separating the English translator from the driver.
This will most likely be a Shared LiBrary.
This way other languages can be easily supported.

GFA-Basic Compiler updated

2006-08-20T18:03:00.000-04:00

GFA-Compiler revision 11 released.
Fixed another bug related to the $X option.
See file readme.txt for details.

Current events

2006-08-20T06:33:00.000-04:00

Speech generation via GFA:
If you would like to have computer generated speech in your GFA-Basic applications then check out earx's fixed-up speech.tos.

Hades update:
Upgraded from an old 17" CRT monitor to a Dell 19" LCD monitor. I am amazed just how poor the picture was on that old CRT. Not only was it blurry, but the picture was too dark. The brightness and contrast were completely maxed out and it still looked too dark. The LCD is super sharp and will certainly make coding a lot easier on the eyes.

GFA-Compiler status:
Yet another bug discovered related to the $X option. Another update coming soon.

GFA-Basic Compiler/Linker update

2006-08-08T18:38:00.000-04:00

GFA-Compiler (revision 10)
GFA-Linker (revision 7)

- Bug related to $X with VAR fixed
- Bug related to $X with FUNCTIONs fixed
- Norwegian translation added (thanks to Ozk)

It's now possible to properly link DRI object files to any type of PROCEDURE or FUNCITION, with or without pointers (VAR).

GFA-Compiler status

2006-08-03T07:22:00.000-04:00

A new release is coming, perhaps in a week or so.

Vague changes:
- Newly discovered bugs fixed
- A new language translation also

Note: The bugs many not be new to everyone, but it's new to me. I didn't know they were there until I happened to stumble upon them. I also would classify them as serious bugs.

Stay tuned...

Atari VNC v1.08 released

2006-07-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

aVNC updated:
- window location/size can be saved
- clipboard handling is now automatic (client<->server)
- added option 'Send Clipboard' to remote system
- recompiled with updated GFA-Compiler

GFA-Basic Compiler/Linker update

2006-07-15T19:14:00.000-04:00

GFA-Compiler (patch level 9)
GFA-Linker (patch level 6)
- MSHRINK() bug fixed
- GRAF_MKSTATE() with no parameters fixed
- MAT DET/QDET/RANG with extra parameter fixed
- MAT INPUT with no channel fixed
- DIM crash fixed (too many dimensions)
- Crashes related to undefined functions fixed
- and more...

See docs for more information.

GFA-Basic Editor v1.40 released

2006-07-11T17:25:00.000-04:00

The list-of-changes is rather large. Please read the documentation for all the details.

Note: This version will not work correctly with previous configuration files. You must delete the *.gbe files in your \home\ directory before you use it!

GFA Status Report

2006-07-01T02:52:00.000-04:00

Finally some progress has been made on the old GFA-Basic Compiler.
- DIM crash fixed, issues an error message instead
- MAT INPUT crash fixed, issues an error message instead
- $U/$U+ error handling is more stable
- Added a real time line counter that is 040/060 safe, not interrupt driven
These will require a new library:
- MSHRINK() bug finally resolved
- MALLOC(), MFREE(), and MSHRINK(), moved into the lib, was hard coded
- FSNEXT(), FGETDTA(), and FSETDTA() moved into the lib, was hard coded

GBE Status

2006-05-03T23:50:00.000-04:00

GBE v1.4 is still delayed. More problems found:
- A combination of 'New Names' and updating the project can lead to a lockup.
- Editor colors are not saved or loaded correctly. (I guess everyone is using the default theme?)
- Real time line counter setting is not correctly reloaded.
- Symbol popup fails to unfold PROCs and FUNCs when selecting labels.
- Symbol popup sometimes rendered too far to the right.

New stuff added:
- Have to wait for the release. ;o)
- But I will say I am currently looking into a better way to handle the real time line counter. The method built into the GFA Compiler is not exactly stable when used on an 060 equipped machine.

Atari VNC v1.05 released

2006-04-27T23:32:00.000-04:00

Fixed the local 'Cursor' option under the 'Graphics' options.
No longer causes a sudden disconnection.

XaAES Snap v0.10b released

2006-04-18T08:35:00.000-04:00

Snapshot module for use with XaAES.

AtarIRC v2.05 released

2006-04-18T08:30:00.000-04:00

What's new in this release:
- Popup handler completely replaced, so that XaAES can properly texture them.
- Also keyboard navigation now works in popups under XaAes.

GBE Status and STuff

2006-04-10T05:37:00.000-04:00

Added an option to keep the window from covering up the taskbar.
GBE v1.4 is still unreleased as of yet.

Recoding GFA Snap... new version coming soon.

New version of aIRC coming soon with even more support for XaAes.

GFA Snap v1.01 released

2006-03-28T17:47:00.000-05:00

Not the fastest screen snapper around, but it does work with MiNT.
- Archive now contains a special version for the Milan.

GBE Status

2006-03-05T23:57:00.000-05:00

Drag & drop for importing added.
Coded a Fast Basic (Computer Concepts) import module for GBE.
Also coded a Basic 1000d import module.
Objects files can be drag & drop added to a project.
Snapshot option saves/restores the Control-U buffer.

Website update

2006-02-27T03:22:00.000-05:00

Added a list of other BASICs which came and went over the years.

GBE News

2006-02-24T11:08:00.000-05:00

GBE v1.4 is still under development. A couple more bugs have been squashed and some new features added.

GFA-Basic HYP updated

2006-02-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

Released v1.84 of my GFA-Basic HYPertext.

Website update

2006-02-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

GFA-Basic FAQ updated.
Added a small page for Turbo-BASIC XL.

Atari VNC v1.04 released

2006-02-06T12:09:00.000-05:00

Atari VNC is now a YesCREW Production.

- about dialog reworked
- form_center() for all dialogs improved

GFA-Basic Compiler version 3.6 FR released

2006-02-03T16:53:00.000-05:00

GFA-Basic Compiler v3.6 package translated to French.
Includes 2 versions in the archive:
Original version as it would have been had GFA ever released it.
A pre-patched version for use with GBE/MiNT and MagiC.

Note: Also available in Slovenian.
Thanks to SWE for the translation.

Web page update

2006-01-30T03:39:00.000-05:00

Updated the GFA-Basic FAQ.

Added a favicon to the site thanks to GokMase.

Website update

2006-01-20T06:25:00.000-05:00

More changes to the pages here an there.

Phased out my lan_doc.hyp and merged it into my hadesfaq.hyp since it was aimed at Hades users anyway.

Website update

2006-01-17T07:04:00.000-05:00

GBE now has it's own web page.
The GFA-Basic link is now called GFA-Basic Support.

More site changes

2006-01-11T05:55:00.000-05:00

Ever since FireFox v1.5 was released I've been having problems aligning items above and below the <pre> tag. It insist on inserting extra lines above and/or below the tag which it didn't used to do. I reworked the main page and the GFA-Basic page to get around this problem.

Apparently HighWire does not yet support the <span> tag so now the GFA-Basic page looks messed up. <hint> Hopefully support can be added in future releases. </hint>

General update

2006-01-05T04:17:00.000-05:00

I have added Set MMU v0.7c to my Atari clone page. This is a version of Odd's MMU auto folder program which does not scroll the configuration.

Also a general cleanup of the site. I have removed various files which have gotten zero feedback over the years.

Updated my GFA-Basic FAQ.

GBE v1.4 is still being worked on and didn't make it out the door for the holiday.

AtarIRC v2.04 released

2005-12-31T15:36:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-30T06:18:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-02T14:50:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-13T00:25:00.000-05:00

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

2005-11-03T17:12:00.000-05:00

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

2005-10-17T03:07:00.000-04:00

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

GBE v1.3 news

2005-10-13T22:48:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-23T15:04:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-23T14:18:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-14T08:12:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-05T00:38:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-18T02:45:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-10T22:51:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-09T05:20:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-05T21:14:00.000-04:00

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

Squashed more GBE bugs

2005-08-03T21:29:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-01T02:13:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-27T19:35:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-27T13:39:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-26T18:18:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-24T22:59:00.000-04:00

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.