Message-ID: <307@inuxa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Jan-85 23:13:32 EST
Article-I.D.: inuxa.307
Posted: Mon Jan 7 23:13:32 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 9-Jan-85 02:08:09 EST
Organization: AT&T Consumer Products Div., Indianapolis
Lines: 144
Another report from CES85 by the
staff of ANTIC magazine. This file
is a report on the GEM operating
environment, developed by Digital
Research for the new ST line of
ATARI computers based upon the
MC68000 cpu.
ANTIC ONLINE NEWS
SPECIAL BULLETIN
Permission to reprint or
excerpt is granted only if the
following credit appears at the
top of article:
ANTIC SPECIAL BULLETIN,
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
COPYRIGHT 1985, ANTIC
PUBLISHING INC.
Sunday, 6 January 1985
by MICHAEL CIRAOLO, Associate
Editor, Antic
Las Vegas--Officials from
Digital Research Inc. said
today their company has signed
the first in a series of
agreements with the new Atari
Corp for DRI's GEM operating
system extension.
This move, combined
with DRI's commitment to
independent software
developers, is expected to
bring a wide variety of
software to the top-of-the-line
Atari computers.
GEM (for Graphics
Environment Manager) will run
on the Atari ST line of 16-bit
microcomputers, which are based
on the 68000 microprocessor
Noted for its ability
to enable icons, pull-down
menus, windows and mice, GEM
also simplifies the job of the
software developer, according
to DRI's Tom Byers.
"Digital Research has
taken graphics abilities into
the software realm," said
Byers. "With the new Atari,
the furnishings--the windows,
menues and so on-- are included
in GEM. The technological
barriers to programming are
gone."
Digital Research is
currently working with about 10
independent software developers
now, and will be hosting a
seminar in February for about
150 major software developers.
Following next month's
seminar, attendees, attendees
will be given GEM toolkits to
aid in the development of 68000
software.
DRI's development
software will allow
independent software vendors to
write software for the Atari ST
machines on any MS-DOS
computer.
Thorn EMI/Perfect
Software, Chang Labs, Lifetree
Software and Matrix have all
agreed to write GEM software to
take advantage of GEM's user
interface, according to DRI
officials.
Future software
developers can look forward to
seminars across the country,
toolkits from DRI and one-year
access to a toll-free telephone
number for immediate technical
support.
Because GEM works
independently of operating
systems and languages, it is
compatible with PC-DOS (version
2.0 and up), MS-DOS and
Concurrent DOS.
There is no specific
development language for the
new Ataris, although Byers
recommended C.
Part of the GEM package
is the Application Environment
Services (AES) supplement. AES
includes subroutine libraries
to monitor and respond to user
input from mouse movement,
mouse button clicks, keyboard
entry and so on.
Libraries also include
software that lets a programmer
write a menu in text form and
have it translated into pull-
down menu form, and several
storage/retrieval managers to
keep track of graphics, icons
and the screen under a pulled
menu.
Contrary to earlier
reports, the ST operating
system was developed
specifically for the Atari,
although it did have its roots
in CPM 68000, according to
Byers.