H.A.Z.E.L.: Soaring with Eagles (Who Hazel is, what she does, and how to employ her) by Henry K van Eyken The August 1994 issue of PC World gives a preview of Microsoft's Windows 4.0 ("Chicago"). "Revolution on the Desktop?" the magazine's cover asks. "A chance to soar with the eagles," the article extolls. Well, going by that article, what may be a revolution for Windows users is not necessarily a revolution for Atarians. We have been soaring for years with a variety of eagles besides Atari's in-ROM versions. Teradesk, Gemini, and Neodesk are but the most prominent among our birds. And through Spectre so is the Mac's desktop.(1) Who Hazel Is and What She Does The accompanying adaptation of a golden oldie named H.A.Z.E.L. by the original author, Mr. Greg Knauss, facilitates trying out or experimenting with a variety of desktops. It is a boot-up, TSR program that takes first spot in the AUTO folder.(2) If one presses the left shift key during booting up (after the harddisk sign-up messages have gone by), Hazel stops to offer a choice of desktops for which appropriately named desktop .INF files have been prepared. If the key is not pressed, the arrangment used at the previous session comes up. Corresponding to each desktop one may make selections for: a. just what programs in the AUTO folder to run, b. what capacity to allocate for the RAM disk, if one is used, c. what special fonts to have available (via a choice of ASSIGN.SYS files), d. what accessories to run immediately,(3) e. what configuration file to run with Geneva's multitasking program, if it is run. My Hazel is written in GFA BASIC's version 3.5 for use on my STE. I keep a .LST version on hand to permit alterations that suit my personal desires. Such, indeed, was the intention of Mr. Knauss when he put the program in the public domain way back when. But the program as modified here may suit any number of Atarians. More details about it are found in my article "Editing the Jellyfish Script" in the August/September issue of Current Notes. The disk that accompanies the magazine contains also the original Hazel by Mr. Knauss along with his documentation.(4) The present version, besides including some minor improvement, augments the program with the Current Notes article by permitting one to set RAM disk capacity from the desktop. The drive letter is fixed here as "M," but that can be easily changed. For this purpose the Jellyfish file produced and used by the program includes the capacity of the RAM disk. If no Jellyfish file (a .RSC file) has yet been created, the initial size is read off the root directory's RAMDISK.INF file that goes with the AUTO folder program FASTRAMD by Charles Smetton.(5) This part of the listing shows what has been done here: 251 ' 252 ' Set and record the capacity of the RAM disk. Minimum set at 50 K. 253 ' 254 IF ram$="" 255 OPEN "I",#1,"\RAMDISK.INF" 256 INPUT #1,ram$ 257 CLOSE #1 258 ENDIF 259 drive$=LEFT$(ram$) 260 ramsize$=MID$(ram$,2) 261 PRINT AT(7,21);"RAM disk: ";drive$; 262 FORM INPUT 40 AS ramsize$ 263 IF VAL(ramsize$)<50 264 ramsize$="50" 265 ENDIF 266 ram$=drive$+ramsize$ 267 OPEN "O",#1,"\RAMDISK.INF" 268 PRINT #1,ram$ 269 CLOSE #1 270 CLS 271 ' Line 254 states that if there is no Jellyfish file from a previous session available, the Hazel will look up the current value herself. How Hazel Does It By way of manual I'll try to make things easy by listing here the contents of my own AUTO folder in the order items have been placed there: HAZEL (a folder) HAZEL PRG POOLFX92 PRG STE_FIX PR VDIBFIX PR JAR10 PR NEOLOAD PR GEMRAM PRG NVDI PRG PINHED16 PR WINX PRG FOLDR100 PR G+PLUS PR SPDGDOS5 PR SYNC PRG SILKMOUS PR SNAPIT PRG STSELECT PRG UIS_III PR ANTIBOMB PRG AUTOFMC PRG FASTRAMD PRG MULTIGEM PR GEMRAM ENV WINX INF MULTIGEM OVL The HAZEL folder contains: DESKTOP INF TERADESK INF GEMINI INF NEODESK INF GENEVA INF MULT_GEM INF SPECTRE INF STANDARD SYS NVDI SYS NVDI_STD SYS SPDGDOS SYS GEMINI SYS TERADESK RSC (and other desktop resource files as created automatically by Hazel.) Please, realize that this choice and arrangement is to a large extent personal, to suit my own taste and idiosyncracies. When Hazel is run (by pressing left-shift) it presents a sequence of panels. The first offers a choice of desktops by reading what .INF files are available from the AUTO/HAZEL folder. The list actually begins with "Root Dir," which is the DESKTOP.INF currently found in the root directory. The selected .INF file is made to replace the one in the root directory and in the process renamed DESKTOP.INF. Thus the contents of DESKTOP.INF in the HAZEL folder and in the root directory are not necessarily the same. As an example here is my TERADESK.INF listing: #a000000 #b000000 #c7770007000600070055200505552220770557075055507703111103 #d #Z 01 C:\TERADESK\DESKTOP.PRG@ #E F9 E3 #W 00 00 10 04 1E 13 0E C:\*.*@ #W 00 00 30 04 1E 13 10 M:\*.*@ #W 00 00 0E 09 2A 0B 00 @ #W 00 00 0F 0A 2A 0B 00 @ #M 00 02 00 FF A Entry Drive@ @ #M 00 03 00 FF B In/Out Files@ @ #M 00 04 00 FF L Floptical@ @ #M 00 05 00 FF M RAM Disk@ @ #M 00 06 00 FF N STf & Packet@ @ #M 00 00 00 FF C Systemics@ @ #M 01 00 00 FF D Applications@ @ #M 02 00 00 FF E HypoCard@ @ #M 03 00 00 FF F Curr. Notes@ @ #M 04 00 00 FF G Programming@ @ #M 05 00 00 FF H Fleabyte@ @ #M 06 00 00 FF I Parking@ @ #M 07 00 00 FF J TeX / UNIX@ @ #T 00 07 02 FF To Naught@ @ #F FF 04 @ *.*@ #D FF 01 @ *.*@ #G 03 FF *.APP@ @ #G 03 FF *.PRG@ @ #G 03 FF *.PGM@ @ #P 03 FF *.TTP@ @ #F 03 04 *.TOS@ @ #P 03 03 C:\LAUNCH.TTP@ *.EXE@ #P 03 03 C:\LAUNCH.TTP@ *.COM@ #P 03 03 C:\LAUNCH.TTP@ *.BAT@  It differs from my DESKTOP.INF file by the inclusion of the line beginning with #Z. (The lines beginning with #P are strictly incidental here; they bear on my use of SuperCharger for PC emulation). After a desktop has been selected (by using the arrow keys on the keyboard and pressing RETURN) the next panel lists the programs in the AUTO folder. The ones that are currently set to run by ending in .PRG (or .TOS or .TTP) are shown highlighted. AUTO programs may be toggled on or off by using arrow keys and space bar. Pressing RETURN lets the current RAM disk capacity pop up. The value may be edited. The letter "M" is fixed for my own use, but this may be changed in the BASIC listing. Pressing RETURN then offers a choice of ASSIGN.SYS files. The choice is made with the arrow keys and fixed by pressing RETURN.(6) This leads to a choice of active accessories (highlighted). If GENEVA is run the program will also offer a choice of .CNF files in the GENEVA folder. Else it is bypassed. Just before Hazel retires she makes a resource file for the particlular desktop, e.g. NEODESK.RSC. The next time Neodesk is chosen the file is read and one does not need to rethink one's choices. (However, when the Root Dir had been picked for desktop, any changes made in the AUTO folder line up, etc. are NOT saved. This allows one to conveniently make a one-time alteration.) Of course, one must watch out for contradictions and, especially, conflicts. Maybe there is a fellow hobbyist out there who likes to further amend the program to automatically take care of these matters. MultiGEM should not run together with a RAM disk. WINX is useless under Neodesk, as is NEOLOAD with Teradesk. NEOLOAD is essential for Neodesk. The use of PINHEAD requires careful preparation. SYNC is really only for use with color. (My set-up was written for use with monochrome, but is OK for medium resolution as well.) Hazel: Personal Servant and Secretary The work discussed here is done in line with a philosophy of truly personal computing as expressed in my "Atari in the STicks" column in Current Notes.(7) I cannot at this time judge what desktop "is best" (if there is a best) but Hazel may be helpful in arriving at some sort of an answer. For comments, suggestions, or the expression of personal preferences, contact me either by writing (11 Falcon, Lakefield, Que., Canada. J0V 1K0) or on GEnie (H.VANEYKEN). REFRENCES and NOTES: 1. Some alternative desktops in the public domain are: Stefan Eissing and Gereon Steffens, Gemini. GEnie ST Lib. 32601:GMNI_ENG.ZIP. (This is an English version.) Wout Klaren, Teradesk. GEnie ST Lib. 33120:TERA_139.LZH. Jonathan Carroll, Make-a-Date. GEnie ST Lib. 20009: MDATE.LZH. 2. Previously I had such fix-it programs as POOLFX92, STE_FIX, and VDIBFIX running before Hazel, but it seems to me that when Hazel is done it terminates anyway. May be I am wrong in thinking this way, but perhaps I'll learn about such matters one day! 3. Others may be added later by means of such accessory as Chameleon, Multidesk, or Geneva's own Task Manager. 4. A copy may also be found on STart's disk of the month for April/May 1991. 5. Charles Smetton, FastRAM. ST Format disk, No. 29, Dec. 1991. Also GEnie ST Lib. 612:FASTRM11.TTP. 6. An article aboout the use of GDOS and its successors is uploaded along with the present item as *****. 7. v.E., "The Personal in Personal Computing," Current Notes, May 1993, p.50. v.E., "Teradesk at Tuxedo Junction," Current Notes, Nov. 1993, p.20.