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From: lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire)
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga
Subject: some answers
Message-ID: <839@gitpyr.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Oct-85 17:00:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: gitpyr.839
Posted: Wed Oct  2 17:00:02 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 07:07:04 EDT
Reply-To: lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire)
Distribution: net
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 110

< eat hot lead, sucker >

Since I am fortunate enough to have an Amiga, I am going to try to
answer some of the myriad questions that have been asked.  I hope I
can help some of you.

First of all, the Amiga is no toy.  I have always considered myself
very competent with computers, but the Amiga is, in some ways, virgin
territory to me.  Being technically knowledgable on the Apple ][+ and
IBM PC is not all it takes to be an Amiga whiz.  There is a whole lot
going on in that machine, and you can expect it to take weeks or months
to really become proficient.  I have had mine for 6 days and am just
getting past the point where everything I do sends me on a forty-minute
search through the developer's manuals.

, I am really looking forward to the day when I can
live up to the potential of the Amiga.  While it is having some growing
pains (it crashed at least seven times yesterday), it is only a matter
of creating software that can live up the hardware.  It is a remarkable
computer.

I must admit that I am not in love with AmigaDOS.  It does not quite
live up to my expectations.  For example, to get a directory of all
files that have a ".c" extension, you must type   list p=#?.c
To me, the "p=" is a nuisance, and #? as a wildcard is a royal pain.
Commands such as delete, makedir, etc. cannot be abbreviated.  You get
used to it, but, if you want to create a new operating system, I think
the point is to IMPROVE upon existing syntax, not make it more cumbersome.
The bottom line is (1) I am glad to have the WCS and (2) the OS9
discussion has taken on new meaning for me.

I have the 1070 monitor, and I am curious about the difference between it
and the 1080.  Stereo speakers do not matter, since my Amiga and stereo
are on speaking terms.  I am very pleased with the 1070.  All of the
interlace issues had me worried, but the monitor looks great.  Interlaced
and otherwise.

The Kickstart disk loads in under a minute and is truly protected.  I have
never had a crash that destroys the Kickstart memory.

ABasiC is a whole lot like IBM PC/Microsoft BASIC.  I gave up BASIC a number
of years ago, but it is a quick and fun way to see some of what the Amiga
can do.  It is pretty complete, with graphics support, sound support, and
a While/Wend structure.  The editting system is the absolute, bottom-of-Hell
pits.  You have to say "edit ", and you cannot go from editting
one line to another without leaving the first line.  I hate it.  The best
thing about ABasiC is this program:
   10 input x$
   20 y$ = translate$(x$)
   30 x% = narrate(y$)
   40 goto 10
This little baby says whatever you type in!!  You can have hours of fun
making your Amiga utter obscenities.  With slightly more code, you can alter
the parameters to change the voice, although I didn't find the results as
satisfying as they could have been.  The sound system is great, but the
speech is rumbly.  You really can't complain, and you can understand it, but
there's no way to convince people that there's someone in your room with you.
(Unless it's someone with terminal phlegm.) (ooh, gross!)

As to C programming, well, it's not going too well.  I can't seem to get
hello world to run.  It compiles okay (two pass compiler, not terribly
slow or terribly fast, in my experience).  It links okay (two pass linker
with a couple of libraries and a couple of startup files to be linked
with your object code).  But when I run it, the system hangs and I have
to reset it.  I cannot for the life of me figger out what's wrong.  

  IF ANY OF YOU OTHER SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS COULD PLEASE FILL ME IN ON
  WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET A C PROGRAM TO RUN, EVEN SIMPLE OL'
  HELLO WORLD, I WOULD BE EXTREMELY GRATEFUL!!!!

There are an official shitload of include files available.  They are used for
graphics, exec, standard lattice c, workbench, intuition, etc.  The whole
system is really fascinating.  I can't wait til I know what's going on!

As far as distributing files on the disks, I'm not too sure about the best
way yet.  It's all personal preference, of course, but I'm still shuffling
things around, trying to come up with my particular.... "idiom, sir?"
IDIOM!  Right now, I have all the executable stuff on the workbench disk,
including the compiler (both passes) and the linker (two passes in one
program), while my C code and all the libraries and include files are on the
other disk.

Execute files seem to be quite versatile, although I have not investigated
them closely.  They may be the one thing that saves me from AmigaDOS.

The screen editor is a bare-bones editor, with two modes.  In screen mode,
it is always in insert mode, except when you use control codes for such
things as deleting lines or words or characters.  In escape/line mode,
it is sort of like a line editor, but you must do some screen functions
through the escape mode (such as marking blocks (which cannot start or end
in the middle of a line), copying blocks, and exiting the editor).  All in
all the editor is certainly nothing to be excited about, but it gets the job
done without too much hassle.  There is also a line editor, which I have not
investigated at all.

I hope that this *LONG* posting has answered some of your questions.  I know
how it is to ask and not get any answers.  I will help all I can.  It would
also be great (for me, too) to hear some other developers' reactions.  Am I
a bumbling idiot who doesn't know his way around a keyboard?  What are
everyone else's opinions of AmigaDOS, ABasiC, the editor, WorkBench, etc.?
Has anyone else compiled helloworld (or anything else?)?  If so, how?
Let's USE THE NET, okay?

In summary, let me remind you not to be turned off by my negative comments.
My complaints are only with the software, which can always be redone or
replaced.  I think that the hardware is THE GREATEST!  By the way, everyone
that I have shown the machine to agrees.  I am looking forward to DIGGING
into that baby and making her sing!  (and dance)

Lee