** 1 page regular / 1059 words **
** wot no piccies :-) **

Suggestive Remarks

Mike Kerslake with some suggestions for better Atari computing and some ideas for programmers...

This issue we open with an email we received from Gavin Miller in New Zealand:

"While reading the Suggestive Remarks column in AC#12, I noticed there was a call for someone to come up with a System 3 equivalent.

As such, I have started writing a stock control type of programme this week. (It's a bit simple-minded at this point in time, only allowing you to enter supplier details and stock-item details, and is a bit clunky in its user interface with no real user configuration ATM - this will be fixed in the future)

I've heard of System 3, but never seen it, so I may not be able to make it a smooth transition for anyone who may end up converting from System 3 to it. Given the description in the letter published in the mag, I can probably make it a feature-for-feature match, however.

I wonder if Digita would be willing to release the source to System 3 so someone could work on it to make it Y2k compliant? With appropriate royalties etc going to Digita, of course."

Gavin has also told me quite recently that he has developed the program quite a bit more and I'm looking forward to receiving a beta copy in due course. Sadly, with regard to Digita releasing the source code to System 3, I think that's a non-starter. For various reasons, some understandable, some not, many software companies never release code. Sometimes it's to do with the original author's copyrights, sometimes it's because the code could still be of commercial value, but more often than not it's probably because a lot of companies just can't be bothered with the hassle of releasing the code and handling the copyright situation. If the original author of the software was aware of the situation it's quite possible he might be interested, but making him aware is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome!

Going back a couple of issues I talked about a database program for my record collection. Sadly, no one has come forward offering to write something suitable, so after seeing someone use Atari Work's database functions I'm going to give that program a whirl. I'll report back in the next issue and see if that's an option. However, if anyone is up for writing a dedicated program, I'm waiting here with help, advice, and maybe even some dosh!

Moving onto comms now (don't you just love it!). AC reader Jerry Martin in County Galway, Eire emailed us the following:

"First I'd just like to say what an excellent magazine Atari Computing is, and long may it continue. [FX gulp - Ed]
Here's a suggestion for programmers out there. You may or may not be familiar with ICQ - a free chat service offered by Mirabilis (http://www.icq.com). It has been described as a mixture of irc and email. However, with IRC two users have to be logged onto the same IRC server and in the same channel - with ICQ there is only one server. An ICQ client connects to ICQ when you connect to the internet, and if anyone in your 'contact list' is also online, it will let you know and you can send them messages. You also appear online to the people on your contact list, so it's a great way of keeping in touch with people everywhere. OK, enough ICQ propaganda."

Dan Ackerman has ported a version of an ICQ client to our platform, and it works very well - thanks Dan!. However it is a text only port, and could be so much nicer. A challenge (proposed by Dan himself in the documentation), is to put a GEM front end on all of this. Here's an extract from his docs:

"If you are a programmer that is interested in making a GEM ICQ clone client from my hack, then please do so. If you have any questions about any of the changes I have made, then feel free to email me at baldrick@netset.com. I don't guarantee there aren't any bugs left in the code. In fact like the actual author, I make no guarantees, warranties etc for it's use in any purpose. But I am willing to help anyone sort out any problems with anything I did to the code.
Enjoy and remember, please find someone else to carry on with this project. And don't forget if you really like this, the original author has some statement about liking to get a beer in remuneration."

Dan has done most of the 'donkey work' so putting a GEM front end on it shouldn't be a major problem. All of the source code is provided in the archive. One possible implementation might be a window which opens as a background process (started from STiNG's login.bat via Spawner perhaps) with icons showing the people in your contact list. They could be arranged as online/offline. Send a message by double-clicking on a contact's icon. Right click for a menu offering other options such as user info, last online, ftp and so on. A message from a contact could be displayed in a speech bubble from the icon - maybe BubbleGEM could be pressed into action here?
It would be great to have a slick GEM front end so Atarians using ICQ can hold their heads up high and make the most of this FREE service.

The archive can be downloaded from Dan's homepage at
http://www.netset.com/~baldrick
Contact: Dan Ackerman
Email: baldrick@netset.com

Well, Jerry, I do hope there's someone out there willing to take up the challenge. There will be a lot of Atari users willing to help, test and maybe even buy a beer or two for whoever comes up with something suitable! It's a great idea for a project, so let's all encourage anyone that offers to have a go at it!

Next issue I'll take a brief look back at some of our successes, as well as catching up on projects currently underway, and hopefully a final big list of ideas for future Atari software to keep the scene bubbling away for a long time after AC closes!  Ideas and suggestions are always welcome at the usual editorial contact points.