========================================================================= (C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== Category 17, Topic 11 Message 1 Sat Dec 21, 1991 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 14:47 EST NEWS RELEASE Gribnif Software P.O. Box 350 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hadley, MA 01035 Tel: (413) 584-7887 Fax: (413) 584-2565 ========================== = = = XBoot - The Boot Manager = = = ========================== Gribnif Software has announced for imminent release the amazing new "XBoot - The Boot Manager" program for the Atari ST, TT and compatible personal computers. This program has been designed to let the user regain control of the increasing number of AUTO folder programs, desk accessories, and configuration files that are used when booting the Atari computer. Running as the first program in the AUTO folder, it lets the user independently control each AUTO folder program or desk accessory. XBoot also lets you configure special setups, which allow you to customize the system for different applications, all at the click of a button. Unlike any other program of its type, XBoot has a true GEM-like interface, which is available directly from the AUTO folder at bootup. You work with a real mouse pointer, dialog boxes, scroll bars, buttons, and alert boxes, just as if you were in a regular GEM program. Its numerous features include: o Complete GEM-like interface with dialog boxes, scroll bars, mouse, and buttons. o Fully controlled from either the mouse or keyboard. o Automatically runs in 80 column mode (on a TT color display, it runs in TT Medium). o Often used setups (for different purposes) can be saved as a SET. o The execution order of AUTO folder programs and desk accessories can be changed at will. o The programs and accessories can be listed as sorted or unsorted. o The system date and time can be set. It can even optionally prompt you for this information whenever it runs. o Even without a battery backed-up clock, maintains the correct time and date after a system reset. o Configuration of DESKTOP.INF & NEWDESK.INF options, such as key-click, keyboard-repeat, RS-232 parameters, etc. o Installation of any info file (like ASSIGN.SYS, DESKTOP.INF, etc.) can be changed on the fly. o Autostart any GEM program, regardless of TOS version. o Ability to copy, delete, and rename files, create & remove directories, check for files, and execute TOS programs from special command scripts. Useful for setting up ramdisks or directories. o A password can be specified to prevent unauthorized access to the computer. o Includes a complete, easy to read, illustrated manual. XBoot will carry a list price of $39.95. A special introductory price of only $29.95 is currently available, on orders placed directly with Gribnif Software. Shipments will begin the first week in January, 1992. To place an order, or for more information, please contact Gribnif Software directly. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 2 Sat Dec 21, 1991 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 20:59 EST Has anyone here, besides Dan and Rick :^) , used and seen XBoot? How do you like it? ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 3 Sun Dec 22, 1991 J.SPANDE [John Spande] at 10:25 EST My main gripe with Superboot has been the cumbersome process of setting up and changing the multiple desktop INF files. Each desired configuration for the desktop had to be saved, then the name changed and finally copied into the Superboot folder. Any subsequent modification to a desktop meant the same again. Does Xboot have a better idea? ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 4 Sun Dec 22, 1991 M.PERDUE [Mario] at 10:59 EST Ed - I'm using XBoot, and I love it!!!! It's real nice to be able to set up different desktop configurations for each of the application types I run. For instance, I have a games setup that boots into STLow with no ACC's (except NOIDS :^). All the games are right on the desktop, and 24BIT.PRG has been run so there are no 'bomb' problems. I also have one for writing. This one comes up in TTMed with all the programs I use when writing; 1STWORD+, CALAMUS, OUTLINE ART, etc. Then theres the one for CAD, and the one for PROGRAMMING,..... You get the picture! Mario ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 5 Sun Dec 22, 1991 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 12:11 EST Mario, All of that is fine and well, but Desk Manager (at a LOT less money) can do all of that, and can even do it from HotWire with an auto-reboot or via hot key at bootup. I think what this topic should focus on, at least in the initial going, is what does this commercial program offer that the various shareware programs (namely Desk Manager and SuperBoot) DON'T. I downloaded the screen snapshot and yes, the pseudo-GEM interface is nice, but hardly enough to make me spend $30 and give up all of Desk Manager's features. (The Desk Manager interface is more than adequate.) I'm not trying to knock XBoot, since I've never actually used or even seen it. But based on the screen snapshot and the accompanying press release, I just don't see much there to encourage me to drop Desk Manager in favor of this commercial program. If there's more than meets the eye, now would be the time to speak up. - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 6 Sun Dec 22, 1991 W.LORING1 [BL.A.ST] at 13:58 EST Terry, You're right, the ability to install desktops from HotWire (or an Installed Application on the Desktop or NeoDesk) is a definate plus. I saw the program running at the Chicago show, and asked about this feature, but I don't think that it has it... I could be wrong. ...bill ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 7 Sun Dec 22, 1991 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 14:41 EST Dan, What makes Xboot better than Superboot, or DeskManager? Does it do something these can't, or just give a nice Gem type pull-down interface? Wayne ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 8 Sun Dec 22, 1991 M.PERDUE [Mario] at 21:22 EST Terry, I'm not familiar with the other boot utilities. I'd downloaded most of the PD and SW ones and tried them, but I didn't like any of them enough to continue using them. The first and biggest improvement, IMHO, is the GEM-like interface. The ST and TT scream for this type of interface. The next biggy is the 'setups'. Being able to have different configurations defined for different tasks. At boot time you just double-click on the configuration you want. The 'setup' controls such things which ACC's and AUTO PRG's you want as well as which DESKTOP.INF and ASSIGN.SYS to use. The bottom line is XBoot is VERY convienent and VERY easy to use. Mario ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 9 Sun Dec 22, 1991 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 22:41 EST Mario, As I said before, the pseudo-GEM interface IS nice, but Desk Manager's interface is ALSO very nice and easy to use. Regarding the "double-click on the configuration...at boot time", Desk Manager offers four ways of installing preset configurations: 1. Installed as an application from HotWire, NeoDesk or the GEM desktop. This method also offers an automatic Cold or Warm start, if so desired. 2. Up to 20 function keys can be assigned to your various configurations. These can be pressed at any time before Desk Manager loads at boot up and your configuration will be set, all without further user intervention. 3. Press any assigned key at bootup to bring up the Desk Manager menu and manually select a preset configuration with the mouse or keyboard. 4. Press any assigned key at bootup to bring up the Desk Manager menu and manually select what .INF, .SYS, .PRG and .ACC files you wish to use in that situation. If any of the .PRG files are in the AUTO folder BEFORE Desk Manager, you are given the option to Cold or Warm restart after renaming them. It's not my intention to start a boot manager war here, but again, I keep hearing about features that are already in shareware boot managers that cost a lot less than XBoot. I'd still like to know what justifies making this a $40 commercial program. So far, I just keep hearing about features I already have, except the GEM interface, which is relevant only if you spend a lot of time in your boot manager. (I use my preset configurations at least 95% of the time, so I rarely spend any time IN Desk Manager.) Again, I'm not trying to put down XBoot. I consider myself a _prospective_ customer, so I really do want to learn about any bells and whistles that don't meet the eye. If it offered such things as SoundManager does for the Mac (using the STE DMA chip), THEN I'd definitely be interested. - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 10 Mon Dec 23, 1991 B.NYSTROM [Bry @ Ahh] at 01:30 EST Mario, But how much time do you actually end up dealing with the GEM-like interface? With Desk Manager you get mouse and keyboard support, and it hides itself if you don't need to use it every time you boot. $30 is a bit high. Sorry, just my opinion. --- Bry @ Ahh! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 11 Mon Dec 23, 1991 M.PERDUE [Mario] at 18:33 EST Terry & Bry, It was not my intention to be dragged into a "my boot program is better than yours" argument. Someone asked if there were any XBoot users here, and I answered. _I_ like the program and _I_ don't feel it's priced too high. If you don't agree.... well, that's your right! 'Nuff said Mario ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 12 Mon Dec 23, 1991 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 22:51 EST Mario, I agree; I don't want a boot manager war here, either. That would not be fair to Gribnif. My whole reason for being here in this topic is to learn about XBoot and see what it offers that lower priced shareware programs do not. So far I've learned very little, but I'm sure Dan will return soon. Btw, I don't KNOW if it's priced too high ... yet. - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 13 Tue Dec 24, 1991 S.GILBERT5 [Steve] at 18:29 EST I am using XBoot. It has all of the functions of the ShareWare Boot managers but uses the GEM like interface. In XBoot you create different SETs ( like the function keys in SuperBoot ) for specific program configurations. The sets contain the Auto Folder Programs, ACCessories, DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF file, ASSIGN.SYS file that you need. The thing that XBoot has that the others don't have is a mini CLI built in. One use I have found for this is my WordPerfect SET. I use the EXEC command to run CODERAM.PRG and set up a ramdisk for WordPerfect to use as it's Virtual Directory. I have only had the program a couple of days and have not had much time to spend with it but, I can see a lot of potential. Steve ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 14 Tue Dec 24, 1991 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 23:32 EST Steve, Thanks for the reply. I can see where the CLI might come in handy, but why would you use it to EXEC CodeRam? Do you mean you run it and then copy some files to it? Otherwise, I don't see why you don't just run it from your AUTO folder. Of course, there are public domain CLI's that would do the same thing, but I can see where it would be beneficial to have one built into a program you're already using. But then, it wouldn't be worth an additional $25 to me. ;^) Does XBoot install as an application (configuring your system and cold or warm starting) and does it allow you to load your "SETs" via Fkeys at bootup, bypassing it's interface completely? Those are two features of Desk Manager I simply could not give up. It would be nice to have a demo of XBoot, but it would probably be a bit difficult to do a demo of a boot manager. Perhaps allow you to do everything, but not actually rename any files. - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 15 Wed Dec 25, 1991 D.D.MARTIN at 12:19 EST TERRY -- Perhaps they can give us a demo that will only load 3 or 4 AUTOs and ACCs. At least enough for us to see the features of the program over what we may be currently using. How 'bout it Rick and Dan?? I'd be very interested. Hugs...Swamp Happy Holidays! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 16 Wed Dec 25, 1991 M.PERDUE [Mario] at 12:35 EST Terry, I'm not sure about CodeRAM 'cause I've never used it. However, if your RAM Disk can be configured via the command line, it's better to EXEC it from XBoot. That way you can have different size RAM Disk's for different applications. And yes, you can copy programs into it on boot-up. I can't tell you much beyond that 'cause I havn't used this feature much, yet. Mario ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 17 Wed Dec 25, 1991 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 22:23 EST Mario, CodeRAM allows you to set the configuration 'on the fly' if you so wish, so I really don't see how it would be "better to EXEC it from XBoot," unless you want to use XBoot's CLI to fill it with files. But then, I believe you could fill it with files with Desk Manager. :^) - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 18 Thu Dec 26, 1991 S.GILBERT5 [Steve] at 09:10 EST I found another XBoot advantage today. After installing STalker I had 2 copies of GDOS in my AUTO folder GDOS.PRX and GDOS.PRG, I also had GPLUS.PRG in the AUTO folder which is the program I wanted to use. Well with GDOS.PRG and GPLUS.PRG in the auto folder and a file existing name GDOS.PRX I was in one of those positions where normally I would have to boot from floppy and then run the hard disk boot program to be able to get to the AUTO folder and remove GDOS.PRX and rename GDOS.PRG Etc.... Not with XBoot once the bombs appear on bootup I could just press reset and use XBoot's File Tools to Delete the unwanted programs etc... Nice! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 19 Thu Dec 26, 1991 S.GILBERT5 [Steve] at 09:28 EST Terry, The only time I use CodeRam is when I want to run WordPerfect. Now that you mention it I could just move it to the AUTO folder and get the same results. XBoot does allow you to use the function keys to choose a set. You can not do it while bypassing Xboot with the use of the hot key. It is possible to bypass Xboot with a hotkey and you can have a 'default set' that will be implemented when the hotkey is used. Another option is to keep the current settings when the hot key is used to bypass XBoot. Steve ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 20 Thu Dec 26, 1991 M.PERDUE [Mario] at 18:45 EST Terry, As I said in my last post, I'm not familiar with CodeRAM. I don't know what method is best for running it. However, some RAM Disk programs will benifit from being EXEC'ed. ESAD, Mario ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 21 Sat Dec 28, 1991 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 15:03 EST Gribnif, I am currently using SuperBoot and am intrigued with some of the features of X-BOOT, but I am not willing to put down $40 just to see if it looks as good as it sounds. I will need a DEMO to see how it works to see if it is better than SuperBoot for me. Without a DEMO I will have to stay with SB. Is a DEMO possible??? ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 22 Sat Dec 28, 1991 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 15:27 EST Ok, now that I've finally gotten (almost) moved into the new apartment, I have some time to tackle the questions here... Allright, so it's got a GEM-like interface, "So what?" you ask. For starters, it means that you don't have to learn how to use something that is radically different from GEM. You just run the installation program that comes with XBoot and go. All of the buttons and file names can be selected with the mouse or the keyboard, sometimes in more than one way from the keyboard. If you want to select SET "Fubar" you can either double click with the mouse, select it with the cursor keys and press Alt-x (to eXit), or select it with a function key and then Alt-x. File tools. When was the last time you needed to rename an AUTO folder program? How about deleting a desk accessory completely? Or, even the dreaded AUTO-folder re-order? XBoot's file tools can do all of this, and more. XBoot is also very configurable. It can be set so that it will only come up if a certain combination of Shift/Control/Alt keys are held down (my personal preference.) Alternately, it can be set NOT to come up if certain keys are held. XBoot can also use a timeout: if, after "x" seconds, no keyboard or mouse activity occurs, XBoot will silently exit and continue the boot process. The "CLI" commands can accomplish things like running programs, creating folders, copying files, etc. These are saved independently for each SET. All of XBoot's SETs can be edited in any ASCII text editor, so you don't have to use XBoot to change things if you don't want to. Additionally, XBoot can be configured to change up to three different files (usually two of them are DESKTOP.INF and ASSIGN.SYS, though any file in any folder can be specified) automatically for each SET. For instance, you might have a SET called "Lowrez" that has a low resolution DESKTOP.INF so that the resolution is activated properly, which also has a special NEODESKL.INF file installed at the same time, for NeoDesk. The author of XBoot, Tassilo Nitz, is hard at work on a demo version. It should be available soon, so keep an eye on the libraries for it. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 23 Sun Dec 29, 1991 D.D.MARTIN at 11:56 EST HI DAN! -- Great, look forward to seeing the XBOOT demo! Keep us posted on the progress. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 24 Sun Dec 29, 1991 TOWNS [John@Atari] at 13:30 EST I really liked the phrase "a true GEM-like interface." Pretty impressive marketing hype! Actually, I look forward to the demo. One note: A program like this might cost $50+ dollars on the PC. If we really would like software on our platform, we must be willing to pay for it folks. You can't expect programmers to work for months or years on a program and charge only $10 dollars for it. These days, that won't cover the cost of disks, packaging, manuals, and duplication costs, not to mention the programmer's time! -- John ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 25 Tue Dec 31, 1991 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 23:44 EST John Townsend, In case my messages were misconstrued, I never questioned the value of an XBoot type of program; I only questioned its value compared to similar programs that cost a lot less. Based on MY needs, I would pay $50 for Desk Manager, but wouldn't for XBoot (unless nothing else was available). This is not a knock on XBoot, but Desk Manager fits my own needs much better, and another program would be hard pressed to replace it in my system. I do agree that we should be willing to pay 'fair' (not PERCEIVED fair) prices for quality software. - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 26 Thu Jan 02, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 11:00 EST John, I definitely agree with you about that little oxymoron. I had thought I had removed it from the final text file, but apparently I missed it. Terry, If it ain't broke, don't fix it. While we certainly would not mind if some people preferred XBoot over the shareware programs, it is more important to us to get an excellent product of this type into a larger market, by using established distribution channels. There are still lots of people who don't have a modem out there! Of course, I still encourage anyone who now uses one of the other programs to ask questions and download the demo when it is ready. You might just find a few reasons to get the program. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 27 Fri Jan 03, 1992 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 03:46 EST >GRIBNIF [Dan] at 11:00 EST > > Of course, I still encourage anyone who now uses one of the other > programs to ask questions and download the demo when it is ready. > You might just find a few reasons to get the program. Sounds fair enough. I'll certainly try the demo when it's released. Thanks. - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 28 Sat Jan 04, 1992 B.NYSTROM [Bry @ Ahh] at 00:08 EST Just to help support the justification for a fair price for this type of program......In Windows/DOS Jounal (new magazine) I noticed an ad for a program called BootCon, which would be considered the same thing as XBoot / Desk Manager / SuperBoot. The price they were asking was ~$60. The Ad Reads: "How many CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT combinations do you have on your PC? BOOTCON eliminates the confusion by storing all your configuration information in just one set of configuration files. Each time you boot your PC you can select the configuration you want to use from a menu of up to 26 choices."...... BOOTCON lists for $59.95 --- Bry @ Ahh! PS. Makes you glad you own an ST and know folks like Gribnif and the Codeheads! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 29 Sat Jan 04, 1992 K.CORDES at 02:24 EST Bry, Over in the PC world, there are lots of shareware (and even public domain!) programs that let you switch boot conifgurations. Heck, you can do it with batch files and not even bother with a special program. -Kyle ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 30 Sat Jan 04, 1992 OUTRIDER [Terry @ T2] at 02:25 EST I do think that most _quality_ software for the ST is underpriced, but "Power Without the Price" is so firmly etched in ST users' minds that it's difficult getting across to many of them that ST software developers generally like to have food and shelter like everyone else, and they don't spend hundreds of hours programming because they owe it to userbase. :^( - Terry - ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 31 Sat Jan 04, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 14:12 EST Bry, DR DOS 6.0 comes with a built-in autoexec.bat and config.sys manager. No extra program is needed. DR DOS 6.0 cost me about $75. Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 32 Sun Jan 05, 1992 R.WELLS6 at 11:22 EST dan - gribnif l like xboot alot. it makes changing the order of my autoboot programs a breeze. i found one little bug. the date and month are backwards.?? rod wells ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 33 Sun Jan 05, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 20:49 EST Rod, The reason the month and day are backwards has to do with the German origin of the program. In fact, all of Europe (and many parts of Canada, I'm told) do it this way. It looks like we are one of the few countries to do it in DD/MM/YY format. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 34 Mon Jan 06, 1992 B.NYSTROM [Bry @ Ahh] at 00:50 EST Kyle >Over in the PC world, there are lots of shareware (and even public domain!) >programs that let you switch boot conifgurations. I know, I program PC's for a living. I was using this as an example of comercially available software. >Heck, you can do it with batch files and not even bother with a special >program. > >-Kyle But with batch files you have no control over setting up things in your CONFIG.SYS file (that's where lots of the drivers get loaded) because DOS looks there before it ever runs any .bat files (including autoexec.bat). Once again, my point was just the pricing in the comercial PC market vs. the price of good GRIBNIF/CODEHEAD, ect software. Al, > >DR DOS 6.0 comes with a built-in autoexec.bat and config.sys manager. No extra >program is needed. > >DR DOS 6.0 cost me about $75. Cool...didn't know that 'cause I haven't played with it (yet). I'll have to check that out. --- Bry @ Ahh! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 35 Tue Jan 07, 1992 K.CORDES at 01:13 EST Bry, You can do something like this is a .BAT file: copy \etc\george.bat \autoexec.bat copy \etc\george.sys \config.sys reboot <--- any program that triggers one. Then have the george.BAT file end with a line to bring up the requisite software. -Kyle ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 36 Tue Jan 07, 1992 B.NYSTROM [Bry @ Ahh] at 22:09 EST Kyle, Sorry....Not what I would call a very good Autoexec/Config manager. Just my opinion, but I don't think you would find very many PC users going that route. --- Bry @ Ahh! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 37 Thu Jan 09, 1992 K.CORDES at 01:32 EST Bry, I wouldn't go that route either. I just mentioned that it's possible... :- ] I set my AUTOEXEC and CONFIG one way, and stuff that doesn't work, I don't use. The idea of having to reconfigure the system to switch software is almost ludicrous, especially as we enter the era of desktop multitasking. -Kyle ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 38 Thu Jan 09, 1992 B.NYSTROM [Bry @ Ahh] at 23:38 EST Kyle, ** Topic police, I'll Duck one last bullet then stop...Honest ** I have to use several setup's on my PC just for checking compatability of our product and TSR's and the sort. Otherwise, I would do just what you do and have one boot sequence...(except that Falcon 3.0 wants 600k free, so I do have a bare setup for that). I do have my ST set up for several configurations.....I like HotWire, My Girlfriend likes NeoDesk, and we both sometime just like to go streight into MAC mode.....Oh yea, then there is also the low-rez no DAs/inits for games mode. I know that changing those setups would be a pure PAIN without the boot managers. --- Bry @ Ahh! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 39 Fri Jan 10, 1992 SANDY.W [RT SysOp] at 14:19 EST Bry - :-) ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 40 Fri Jan 10, 1992 K.CORDES at 21:36 EST Bry, Yeah, I feel topicKops breathing down my neck... One last comment, guys! I use a standard CONFIG and AUTOEXEC with 620K free (no really fun TSRs, sorry...). -Kyle ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 41 Fri Feb 07, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 08:40 EST I have just uploaded file #22616, which is a demo version of XBoot. All features work, except for saving SETs. There is also an info box which appears for 10 seconds. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 42 Fri Feb 07, 1992 D.D.MARTIN at 21:39 EST DAN -- Thanks... I'll have to check it out! Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 43 Sat Feb 15, 1992 J.ZORZIN [Joe] at 06:24 EST I'm sure that XBOOT is a fine program and GRIBNIF has an excellent reputation, but- I've used Superboot for several years. Its so ingrained with me that I forget that its not part of the Atari Rom chips. Its author, Steve Moore, seems to do nothing else but work on upgrades. And the PD price is very low. It may not be a full fledge GEM program but it is extremely user friendly. In that light, I think the price of $50 is too much unless XBOOT has some extaordinary features. I'll DL the demo soon and try it out. Perhaps it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks. If the price warranties the effort for me to convert I'll be back in a jiffy. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 44 Sat Feb 15, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 10:17 EST Joe, Gordon Moore, I believe. Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 45 Sat Feb 15, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 11:11 EST Joe, I too have used Superboot for some time, but take a look at the DEMO of XBOOT.....it looks a feels great. And it is not $50, but only $29.95 (intro price...reg price to be $39.95). I have choosen to switch to XBOOT after using the DEMO. Don't get me wrong, Superboot has been great for me too, but try the DEMO and then make your decision. p.s. (It is GORDON Moore not STEVE Moore) ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 46 Tue Feb 18, 1992 R.CONSTAN at 23:26 EST Hi Guys. I really would'nt have butt in here due to ethical considerations. But: This topic did start off talking about XBOOT being the only boot configuration program with a GEM like interface. Well now, I take exception to that. About a year ago now I introduced ELFBOOT here on GEnie. ELFBOOT is in fact a shareware program that does so much of what XBOOT does, that it's hard to believe... well... let's just say they're cousins. ELFBOOT also has a GEM like interface with mous pointer, file selection window, and click boxes for all the same features, plus a few I dare say XBOOT does not have. I won't list all it's features here because I should really start my own topic in another category for that. But the statement that XBOOT was first with the GEM interface in a bootup program kinda bugged me. ;-) -Randy /*s ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 47 Wed Feb 19, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 23:07 EST Randy, Well...not to start a war or anything ...actually XBoot has been around for quite some time in Germany. I first saw it in Dusseldorf back in August 1990. I haven't actually seen ELFBOOT, but I'm sure it's a great program. As I've said before, the main reason for mass marketing XBoot is to give all those people without a modem or other access to shareware a chance to get a program to help with this very common task. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 48 Sun Feb 23, 1992 R.CONSTAN [Magic Elf] at 22:31 EST Hmmm... "BOOT WARS!"... ... sounds like a good name for a magazine article that would give us both good press! Seriously though... no ill feelings at all... I just could'nt resist. And if you you never heard of ELFBOOT, that's entirely my fault. A programmer I may be, but a marketing and promotional expert I ain't!!! In any case, best of luck with X-boot! ;-) ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 49 Tue Feb 25, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 22:57 EST Hey, I bought it, and I like it... Does what it advertises to do... Makes my life a little simpler... It's a solid program... And worth $29 Your welcome, -Ted- [T.EVANS21] ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 50 Wed Apr 01, 1992 VORTEXT [Daniel] at 23:58 EST Received my XBOOT, thanks. Question. Is it possible to set up multiple Neodesk desktops for one rez and choose between them? There are certain configurations where I would prefer to have some icons out and others not. Can this be done? If this doesn't make make sense, sorry, but it's almost 2 in the morning and I'm a little out of it. Daniel ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 51 Fri Apr 03, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 23:16 EST Gribnif, I have a question about XBOOT. I am wondering if it is possible to have a feature like in SuperBoot to have 2 default sets (one for COLOR and one for MONO)? This way I could bypass and boot in both resolutions. SuperBoot will boot F1 when bypassed in color and boot F11 for mono. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 52 Tue Apr 07, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 21:57 EDT Daniel, Using the XB_CONF program, you can define the last "Info File" entry to point to the appropriate NeoDesk .INF file. Then, for each SET, you simply have to define the corresponding .INF file to be copied to that name. Scott, Unfortunately, XBoot does not use resolution-dependent SETs. This is on my list of things to suggest to Tassilo, though. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 54 Wed May 20, 1992 VORTEXT [Daniel] at 02:45 EDT Well, I seem to have found the culprit responsible for some of my recent troubles with Calamus SL and the TT. It would seem that when I make a new Newdesk.INF file, rename it, then use XBoot to load it on boot-up, SL seems to think I have changed a header flag and is possibly infected. Any thoughts as to what may cause this? I realized that this is what was causing my troubles because I have recently reformatted the hard drive, several times, got a new TT, (The previous one seemed to have fritzed due to this) and had been running fine, until I decided to make up some specific INF files for different programs. The first time I tried to run SL, whamo. Looking forward to some sort of response, Thanks. Daniel ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 55 Sat May 23, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 13:21 EDT Daniel, Um, no idea. All XBoot really does is copy the correct file to NEWDESK.INF and change the one line needed for autoexecution. Your problem might have something to do with autoexecution and desk accessories loading at the same time. Are you autobooting into a program? Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 56 Sat May 23, 1992 VORTEXT [Daniel] at 19:05 EDT Dan, As to autobooting to a prg. No. I use the INF file to ste the resolution and have different icons out and such. For some reason, Calamus SL doesn't like this. Oh well. It's a great feature, I guess I just can't use it. Daniel ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 57 Tue Jun 02, 1992 N.WALKER3 [N.WALKER3] at 22:50 EDT I see in your press release that X-Boot work in the TT screen modes - does it work on a Moniterm also? ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 58 Fri Jun 05, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 23:38 EDT Yes, the Moniterm resolution is the same as the TT hirez mono resolution. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 59 Sun Jun 07, 1992 N.WALKER3 [N.WALKER3] at 18:49 EDT OK, thanks for the info on the Moniterm ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 60 Sat Jun 13, 1992 N.WALKER3 [N.WALKER3] at 12:38 EDT I received my XBoot the other day - works great. Though I did have to manually move XMON.PRG before XBoot, otherwise none of the screen was sent to the monterm. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 61 Wed Jun 24, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 00:22 EDT I just bought XBoot and am wondering why the XBoot menu is yellow. If I run XBoot from desktop it is readable. When It runs at boot up the menu is yellow. My system is a 1040STe, 2mb, SH205, 20mb. Any help appreciated. Thank you, Mike PS. The program seems to work fine otherwise. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 62 Wed Jun 24, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 01:32 EDT Disregard my last post. I read the instructions. Silly me, Mike ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 63 Wed Jun 24, 1992 S.SANDERS2 [SDS] at 22:54 EDT Just a note about a bug in Xboot. If you run the configuration program with FSM or FONT GDOS installed the APPLBLK's the programmer uses are running amok all over the screen. The v_pline calls h/she's using are getting interpreted as v_bez calls. The new GDOS uses the same opcode for both calls. Hope this helps. -Scott @ SDS ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 64 Thu Jun 25, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 06:41 EDT Mike Gardner, NICE program, eh?? You'll learn to love it & all the things it can do for you... A happy camper, <-:}Ted{:-> ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 65 Fri Jun 26, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 01:55 EDT Ted, You are right. I do not now how I got along without it. In the time it took for me to get familar with XBoot, XBoot became an all time MUST HAVE. Thank you, Mike ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 66 Fri Jun 26, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 07:51 EDT >V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] > >Ted, > > You are right. I do not now how I got along without it. In the time it >took for me to get familar with XBoot, XBoot became an all time MUST HAVE. > Mike >---------- Look everybody, Ted is right, for once... Heh, heh. <-:}Ted{:-> Enjoy, Mike. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 67 Fri Jun 26, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 23:56 EDT Ted, In the time I have known you, you have never been wrong. Of course this is the first time I have met you. But that is okay because. Well just because, and that is okay. Thank you, Mike ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 68 Fri Jul 03, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 00:03 EDT Scott, Weirdness. I'll pass that on to the author. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 69 Fri Jul 03, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 17:28 EDT Gribnif, I am having a problem with X-Boot! It adds add a few bytes. It seems to me, that it actually adds two blank lines to my desktop file. Regardless of the resolution. When ever I try to install a program as a application, I get major bombs and have to re-boot to recover. Please if you find a moment let me know what it is?? Thanks, <-:}Ted{:-> July 3, 1992 4:42 PM ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 70 Wed Jul 08, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 18:22 EDT Ted, If the DESKTOP.INF file you are starting with was trashed to begin with, this can cause what you are describing. Older versions of TOS, especially 1.0/1.2 tended to write grabage to DESKTOP.INF from time to time. Check the file by loading it into a text editor. Does every line begin with a # character, as it should? Are there any weird, non- text characters in it? You may be able to fix it yourself. If all else fails, delete the file and try saving again. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 71 Wed Jul 08, 1992 J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff - ST'er] at 20:47 EDT Dan, This is written by me for Ted as I was the one to notice this on his system when I was doing some stuff for him. This is what I would do and what I found out. He is using X-Boot V2.27 I belive. I save the desktop file to drive C. Lets say it is 600 bytes at this point. I would then copy it into his desktop folder for X-Boot to use. Re-Boot the system and X-Boot copies the desktop file from the folder to the root directory of C. When I look at the size of the Desktop.INF on drive C, it is increased by several bytes. The Desktop.INF in the desktop folder is also increased by the same number of bytes. This happens regardless of the resolution that Ted is booting up in. X-Boot seems to add several blank lines or spaces to the end of the Desktop.INF file, (the amount depends on the size of the Desktop.INF file). The result is that when we tried to install a program as a applicaton, the computer would bomb. It took me about a week to find this out, I thought it was MultiDesk causing this. But it is not. Ted has a STE with TOS 1.6 and 4megs of memory. This is not a random thing that happens, it did it everytime... Any ideas?. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ JSW ^^^^ ^^^^ ST'er ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 72 Tue Jul 14, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 12:44 EDT Jeff, Please send me a DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF that has been damaged so that adding a new application will cause a crash. This way I can check to see that this is exactly what is happening. Thanks! Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 73 Tue Jul 14, 1992 J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff - ST'er] at 18:52 EDT Dan, Okay, I will get Ted Evans to send you the files, there are several. I will also have him tell you what version of the program he has. I have played around with his system for several days and it only happens with X-Boot. I thought it might be something to do with TOS 1.6. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ JSW ^^^^ ^^^^ ST'er ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 74 Sat Jul 18, 1992 G.NORTON [G.NORTON] at 02:23 EDT Dan, I've got an interesting problem for you... We have a TT with 4MB and an Atari 1426 monitor. We just upgraded it to TOS 3.06 and are running an external ICD drive with it. Our problem is that with the new TOS and the ICD caching enabled X Boot will not run out of the Auto folder. If we diable the caches Xboot runs fine. Any ideas?? Thanks. Graham @ Quay Computers ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 75 Tue Jul 21, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 23:59 EDT Graham, Hmm...a few ideas. Which type of caching affects it? GEMDOS, FAT, read, write, or what combination? Do you have problems with any other AUTO folder programs? I am wondering if maybe ICD's booter is not setting the default drive correctly, thus preventing XBOOT from finding the XBOOT folder. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 76 Thu Aug 13, 1992 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 22:10 EDT Dan, Do you know if there's a limit to the number of ACCs and PRGs that XBoot can handle? I read in the manual that there's a per-SET limit, but do you know, or can you find out :^), if there's an overall limit? It appears at least that the ACC limit is 60. (For those of you who also read the MultiDesk topic, see what happens when people like me copy all their DAs to the root of C:? :^) Gee, maybe I should get rid of some. Nah... :^) Also, a couple of suggestions to pass on to Tassilo :^): add a Cancel to the Save Changes dialog box. Selecting Cancel will return the user to XBoot without doing anything. Also, a way to quickly deselect the autostart program would be nice -- as opposed to clicking the AUTOSTART button, hitting Esc to remove the program name from the file selector, and hitting OK. Conversely, a quick way to re-enable it, or a default program name, would be cool too, so that a SET doesn't always have to be selected. This would be great for quickly disabling and enabling NeoDesk. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 77 Tue Aug 18, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 18:14 EDT Ed, I believe that the limit of DA's and PRG's is 64 each, though I'm not sure where I remember that number from since, as you noticed, it's not in the manual. Tassilo is working on a completely new version of XBoot. I'm still waiting to see a beta... Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 78 Thu Aug 20, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 21:32 EDT GRIBNIF [Dan], >Tassilo is working on a completely new version of XBoot. I'm still >waiting to see a beta... That sounds great! I don't know if this has been mentioned before or if this is a feature that Tassilo is adding, but do you think that it is possible to mention to him the possible addition of Resolution sensistive sets? What I meen is it possible for Xboot to load a certain SET for COLOR and different SET for MONO automatically on boot up? I have seen this feature in Superboot (although I know that XBOOT is FAR better than Superboot). Any clues as to some new features yet? Scott H. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 79 Wed Aug 26, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 16:21 EDT Scott, I know that he was seriously considering resolution-sensitive SETs. I'm not sure if this made it in, though. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 80 Sat Aug 29, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 16:46 EDT GRIBNIF [Dan], >I know that he was seriously considering resolution-sensitive SETs. >I'm not sure if this made it in, though. Well, whether it makes it in this version or maybe the next it is good to hear that good programs like this one are still being worked on for perfection. P.S. Any info on the changes to the new version that you you know of that can be shared at this time? Scott H. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 81 Wed Sep 02, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 07:23 EDT Gribnif, Found a _small_ problem with X-Boot & TOS 2.06.... When you do not have X-Boot AutoStart a program for you, (Using TOS 2.06), and you have a program set up to Auto-Start on boot-up via TOS. X-Boot deletes that line from the DESKTOP.INF file that it writes to the root directory of C:. Thanks, <-:}Ted{:-> ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 82 Fri Sep 04, 1992 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 02:30 EDT Ted, I think that's a feature. :^) ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 83 Fri Sep 11, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 11:02 EDT Scott, I recently got a copy of the new XBoot, and it's been confirmed, you can optionally specify default SETs for color/mono. More when we announce the new version. Ted, Yup, that is a feature. It's one of those things that you either find helpful or annoying, depending on which phase the moon is in . Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 84 Fri Sep 11, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 20:39 EDT GRIBNIF [Dan], > I recently got a copy of the new XBoot, and it's been confirmed, >you can optionally specify default SETs for color/mono. More when we >announce the new version. GREAT NEWS! I look forward to hearing more in the future. Scott H. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 85 Fri Sep 18, 1992 C.MASON10 [Mad Dog] at 23:00 EDT Grbnif, I have a problem that may be related to XBoot but I'm not sure. I just had my Mega 2 upgraded to a 4 with TOS 1.4, and a T-25. I use NeoDesk and had it autobooting with Startgem.prg under TOS 1.0. Since the upgrade, I've been unable to get Neodesk to autoboot. I've followed the procedure you outline on page 4 of the NeoDesk 3 upgrade manual and it just doesn't work. When I get to the Atari desktop, the 'busy bee' mouse pointer comes on for a second and then returns to an arrow pointer with no further action. I installed the NeoFast.prg that came on the T-25 utility disk and it doesn't seem to work either. If I run NeoLoad and NeoFast together in the auto folder, I end up as above. If I run NeoLoad alone, I end up as above. If I run NeoFast alone, four bombs and lockup. Is this problem T-25 related, NeoDesk related, or XBoot related? HELP! Mad Dog ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 86 Sat Sep 19, 1992 C.MASON10 [Mad Dog] at 22:26 EDT Gribnif, Disregard my previous message on autobooting problems. I reread the manual again and have it working now. I wonder how many other problems I'll encounter now that I've changed TOS versions? Mad Dog ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 87 Sun Sep 20, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 09:50 EDT Carl, Try the autostart in X-boot to start NeoLoad program. Mike ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 88 Mon Sep 21, 1992 C.MASON10 [Mad Dog] at 00:59 EDT Mike, Thanks for the hint. I had already figured it out by re-reading the X- Boot manual. TOS 1.4 is going to take awhile to get used to (I am a dinosauer, aren't I?). Hey, the Mega's back and really screams now; when are we going to FOTI together? Mad Dog ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 89 Tue Sep 22, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 13:17 EDT Mad Dog, If you want to get NeoDesk to run automatically with XBoot, I suggest you get rid of STARTGEM and use the XBSTART program that comes with XBoot. In fact, if you were using both, this could quite possibly explain the lockup. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 90 Wed Sep 23, 1992 C.MASON10 [Mad Dog] at 01:47 EDT Dan, Thanks for the reply. I have things working smoothly now. Just a minor 'key actuator' adjustment was required . Mad Dog ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 91 Tue Sep 29, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 02:45 EDT Is the next version of XB going to be out soon? I found that I have a need to be able to switch between several .DAT,.CNF,.INF, and so on files. Some things I like to use different information files at different times. Thank you, Mike ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 92 Tue Sep 29, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:53 EDT Mike, The next version of XBoot will be out at WAACE. We'll be making an announcement (with upgrade info) just before the show. XBoot III still only allows for at most three Info Files (ASSIGN.SYS, DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF, and a blank, all three of which can be re-defined.) Is this what you meant? You need more than three info file types? Just so nobody else reading this is confused, what I am talking about is the names which XBoot affects; you can, of course, have any number of ASSIGN.SYS or DESKTOP.INF files. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 93 Wed Sep 30, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 02:05 EDT Dan, Yes, my wife and I use several of the same PRGs, but in most I have different prefrences in INF, CNF, and assorted DATs. Even though you can redefine the three files I would like to have more than three to use. I like the way the Auto, ACC, and Sets are set up. May make a forth row to choose from the assorted information files to be named in a SET. Kind of like having active and nonactive INF, CNF, DAT, SYS, etc. files. Thank you, Mike PS. I never relized the power of my computer until I started using several of your products. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 94 Sun Oct 18, 1992 P.POKORSKI at 11:31 EDT Hi, all: It appears that I'm having a conflict with Xboot and Quick ST II. During boot, I keep getting an error message from QST II that says QST II must run from autofolder". One has to hit a key to bypass this error msg. I've tried{ moving QST II mono and color program files to different locations in the AUTO folder to no avail (unless I haven't hit upon the *correct* workable sequence yet. Anyone else experience this? Thanks for your help! Regards, Paul ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 95 Sun Oct 18, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 14:28 EDT PAUL -- Did you know that the CodeHeads have rewriten Quick ST and sell it under the name WARP-9? They were offering a trade in upgrade to anyone that had Quick ST so you might want to Run (don't walk) over to the CodeHeads area in this RT and inquire. Warp 9 is 100% improvement over Quick ST. Category 32 - Topic 31 :-) Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 96 Sun Oct 18, 1992 A.MASON4 [Anna] at 21:09 EDT I think your best solution would be to replace Quick ST with Warp 9 from Codehead Technologies. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 97 Tue Oct 27, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 07:26 EST Gribnif, Upgraded Xboot at the WACCE show on 10/10.. Still waiting for the new program.. How is it coming along?? Will I be getting it soon?? Thanks, <-:}Ted{:-> Monday, October 26, 1992 - 9:56:20 pm P.S. Watch, it'll be in the mail box 2-morrow... :->. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 98 Mon Nov 02, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 16:09 EST Ted, The addendum manual is done and we shipped out all of our pending orders on 10/30. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 99 Tue Nov 03, 1992 V.GARDNER1 [MIKE] at 10:44 EST Dan, I am having trouble starting programs in ST low rez. I am running XBoot III on a STE 1.06 and my most of my sets are in med rez. My default set is med rez. I have a set for low rez in which is called Low Rez. and only XBoot, CPX control panel and Desktop.INF are active. The Desktop.INF is low res. that I saved to DesktopL.INF. If you would like each full save set information, let me know and I will give exact infromation. Thank you, Mike ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 100 Tue Nov 03, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:25 EST [warning...long message] PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November, 1992 ******************* ** ** **** Xboot III **** ** ** ******************* It's here! The best boot utility for the Atari ST, TT, and Falcon computers is now even better. XBoot III is faster, more compatible, and more flexible than ever. If you haven't already heard of XBoot, it is an AUTO folder program, used for defining custom boot configurations of desk accessories, other AUTO folder programs, and, in the new version, CPX modules for Atari's extended control panel. What this means is that the huge number of programs, accessories, and CPX modules you have on your hard drive can now be effortlessly organized and selected interactively at boot up time or, better yet, by predefining your own custom sets. This allows you to simply define and use setups for different applications which may have varying requirements for memory, resident programs, and accessories. One of the most unique things about XBoot is that you do all of this in a GEM-like environment, including alert boxes, popup menus, and even a mouse pointer. This doesn't seem unusual, until you realize that XBoot was the first program to do this, because GEM just isn't available to AUTO folder programs. TEN software wrote their own dialog routines, just to make it easier for you to use XBoot. So what's new in version three? First of all, XBoot now uses 100% VDI calls, rather than Line-A graphics, meaning that it now works on virtually any Atari video hardware configuration imaginable, including special color boards (like Crazy Dots), and the new Falcon. Secondly, as previously mentioned, support has been added for XCONTROL's CPX modules, so now they too can be chosen at boot up time, or added to sets. Along with this came the addition of XBoot's new "links," especially designed for those combinations of AUTO programs and accessories which work together (eg. a RAM disk, or print spooler with a CPX module, or desk accessory for configuring it). These links, once created by the user, allow any two boot files to be activated or deactivated at the same time, by a single click on either filename. Additionally, each of the CPX, ACC, PRG, and set menu lists have had scroll bars added, which allow fast, easy perusal of even the longest list. Also, the CPX, ACC, and PRG lists can now be individually set to show only the active files, if desired. This is now even more important because many of XBoot's limits have been increased. XBoot III can handle 100 ACCs, PRGs, and CPXs, with up to 50 programs and CPX modules active in each of up to 100 different sets! As many as 100 links can be defined, and even the number of batch comm ands allowed per set has been increased from 10 to 50. Continuing in the tradition of ease of use, the seperate configuration program has been done away with, and all of its features have been moved inside the main XBoot program. Therefore, you no longer need to run a different application to change start up parameters such as the hot key, timer, and password. Even XBoot's powerful file selector has been enhanced by the addition of a copy function. And much more... HOW TO GET IT (choose one): A. Call 1-800-284-4742 and one of our friendly employees will assist you in placing an order. Outside North America, call (413) 247-5620. B. Send a U.S. Check for $42.95 US (that includes $3.00 for shipping and handling) to: Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 779, Northampton, MA 01061. Be sure to include a note with your name, address, and daytime telephone number (in case we have any questions about your order). C. Ask your local dealer to order it today! HOW TO UPGRADE: A. If you have XBoot 2, you need to send us the original disk, along with $18 for the upgrade (that's $15 for the upgrade, and $3 for S&H). B. Be sure to include a note with your name, address, and a daytime phone number (in case we have any questions about your order). C. You can pay by check (issued by a US bank), US funds money order, postal money order, or credit card (MasterCard or Visa). We recommend that you do not send cash. D. If paying by credit card (MasterCard or Visa), please include the following: 1. The Credit Card Number. 2. The Expiration Date printed on the Credit Card. 3. Your printed name, as it is written on the Credit Card. 4. The name of the bank that issued the card (this is the same as the name of the bank that is written on the front of it). 5. Your signature, matching the name that is written on the Card. E. Any questions, just give us a call at (413) 247-5620! QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, or INQUIRIES: Call or write: Gribnif Software P.O. Box 779 Northampton, MA 01061 Tel: (413) 247-5620 Fax: (413) 247-5622 ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 101 Tue Nov 03, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:31 EST Mike, I think what you are trying to say is that the computer comes up in medium rez, even though you have said to go to low? If so, do the following: 1. Create two DESKTOP.INFs, one for medium (DESKTOPM.INF) and one for low rez (DESKTOPL.INF, which you already did.) 2. Choose DESKTOPM.INF for all of your SETs, except for the Low Rez one. For this SET, you should select the DESKTOPL.INF file. Assuming the DESKTOP.INF files are correct, this should work. I think that perhaps you were hitting the situation where a blank DESKTOP.INF line was using the previous setting. Let me know how things work out. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 102 Tue Nov 03, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 20:23 EST >Message 98 Mon Nov 02, 1992 >GRIBNIF [Dan] at 16:09 EST > >Ted, > > The addendum manual is done and we shipped out all of our pending orders on >10/30. > >Dan >---------- > Dan, Thanks, I got it yesterday!! NICE-O!! I like it, I like it.. All the new features are great, BTW.. Nice job.. <-:}Ted{:-> Tuesday, November 3, 1992 - 8:39:54 am ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 103 Wed Nov 04, 1992 P.GRIFFITH2 [PGRIF] at 21:50 EST A few questions about the new version of X-Boot. 1. Will X-Boot still delete ASSIGN.SYS files that are not renamed? 2. Will it allow you to leave your INF. files with their original names(DESKTOP.INF) or do they still have to be renamed? Paul ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 104 Sun Nov 15, 1992 P.GRIFFITH2 [PGRIF] at 19:18 EST I posted these questions right after the announcement of XBoot 3. No answers were offered. I would still like to know the answers. A few questions about the new version of X-Boot. 1. Will X-Boot still delete ASSIGN.SYS files that are not renamed? 2. Will it allow you to leave your INF. files with their original names(DESKTOP.INF) or do they still have to be renamed? Paul ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 105 Mon Nov 16, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:19 EST Paul, If you do not specify an info file for a particular SET, the old one is left in place. It is not deleted. Normally, this is what you should do if you do not want to modify an info file. (i.e.: always keep the same DESKTOP.INF) If you specify that the info file for a SET is the same as the name of the info file itself (like selecting DESKTOP.INF for DESKTOP.INF), then the file is not modified. Previous versions would erroneously delete the file under these circumstances. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 106 Thu Nov 19, 1992 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] (Forwarded) I think what I need is XBOOTIII from Gribnif but I wouldn't mind seeing or hearing about it more fully from others before buying. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 108 Thu Nov 19, 1992 J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff - ST'er] (Forwarded) Darlah, Yep, X-Boot III does allow you to choose the CPX's on bootup. You should check it out. If you have any specific questions, I would try to answer them. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ JSW ^^^^ ^^^^ ST'er ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Thursday, November 19, 1992 - 7:19:12 pm ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 109 Sat Nov 21, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 14:20 EST GRIBNIF [Dan], I like the new version although most of its improvments seem to take advantage of the XControl Panel and CPX's. I have TOS 1.04, but I should try XControl (I heard that it will work on TOS 1.04 too). One thing that I miss (although cosmetic) is the ablility to customize the COLOR of the XBOOT screen (I like RED, but prefer BLUE). The feature to NORMALIZE colors doesn't help me any (it just caused some strange color results when running XBOOT from the Desktop and not saving on exiting (colors reversed...made Desktop RED and XBOOT, if run again, the color of the Desktop)). Also when is the feature 'File info...' usable? It is always greyed out. I can get file info after selecting 'File selector...' One of the the really nice features is the ability to set a default Color and default Mono....thanks! Scott H. Saturday November 21, 1992 02:02 p.m. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 110 Sun Nov 22, 1992 T.SCRIVANO1 [Tom] at 16:36 EST Dear Gribnifs: The new version of XBOOT is great. I think, however, I may have dis- covered a bug. If you enable CAPS LOCK while typing in the Commands window you lose the ability to use the Backspace key and if you try to use either SHIFT key to type a character such as the colon (:), you will discover that you still get the lower case character, the ssemicolon (;). I suspect that most people enter their commands in llower case; therefore, the problem has probably not been encountered by very many users. Of course, the workaround for this problem is to disable CAPS LOCK. I also wish to say that I miss being able to manually select the colors for the XBOOT screen. My XBOOT window now defaults to using red borders instead of the nice blue color I used to have. Perhaps you can reinstitute this feature in a future version. Thanks, Tom. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 111 Mon Nov 23, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 18:35 EST Scott, Hmmm...the "Normalize Colors" option is only supposed to work when you are running it from the AUTO folder. Are you saying that it doesn't work properly now, or do you mean version 2? The reason the individual color settings were removed was because there was no way to see what color you were setting within the configuration program. This served only to confuse most people. "File Info" can be used if you first select an AUTO/ACC/CPX file with the arrow keys. Tom, I'll pass the Caps Lock bug on to Tassilo. Thanks! Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 112 Mon Nov 23, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 20:17 EST GRIBNIF, > Hmmm...the "Normalize Colors" option is only supposed to work when >you are running it from the AUTO folder. Are you saying that it >doesn't work properly now, or do you mean version 2? I mainly have no use for it and preferred the option to set the background color. I didn't see where Normalize Colors helped at all. I can't say if it is working properly or not because I don't know what it does (other than what it says in the manual). It is no big deal. As for the color....there are 2 votes for blue so far can it be changed or the feature restored? I guess it is even...other people were confused by the color setting feature, and now Normalize Colors makes no sense to me. > "File Info" can be used if you first select an AUTO/ACC/CPX file >with the arrow keys. Thanks for the info about using the File Info menu. Scott H. Monday November 23, 1992 08:06 p.m. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 113 Tue Nov 24, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 01:03 EST Gribnif, Just happen to notice tonight that Xboot III, and if I remember correctly, it did with version II also!! When deleting one or more of the 6 root accessories.. Xboot will not recognize the fact that the .Acc has been deleted, and that I have added a new .ACC! You must go into the set file with a text editor and manually delete the old .ACC.. This is dumb... Am I making myself clear here?? Thanks, <-:}Ted{:-> Tuesday, November 24, 1992 - 12:34:36 am ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 114 Tue Nov 24, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 18:32 EST GRIBNIF, I remember now...I wanted to ask of it was ever thought to add the option to sort (or RE-ARRANGE) the sets? I know that it is possible to do so with a text editor, but being built in would be easier. Scott H. Tuesday November 24, 1992 06:30 p.m. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 115 Fri Nov 27, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 18:30 EST Scott, "Normalize Colors" is there because if you boot up on a color monitor, XBoot always switches to medium rez. Normally, if you do this on older versions of TOS, you also have to change the color palette. Otherwise, the text for all the remaining AUTO folder programs comes out a very unreadable yellow. I got several calls from people who hadn't found the "Set Colors" option in version II. I'm not really sure why Tassilo even decided to make this optional. I can't think of any time when you would not want them "normalized". Nobody has really mentioned the idea of reordering the SETS, but I'll suggest it to Tassilo. I usually use the sorted (by name) method, myself. Ted, The reason it does not delete the file from the SET is quite simple. If you actually go in and manually change the name of an ACC (like renaming STALKER.ACC to STALKER.PRG to run it from the desktop) you wouldn't want this information to automatically disappear from the SETs the next time you run XBoot. Presumably, you would want to rename it back to STALKER.ACC at some future point and have things work exactly the way they did before. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 116 Fri Nov 27, 1992 M.LEE3 at 21:44 EST Hello, Does Xboot work with Crazy Dots? I thinking of getting one. Thanks, Mike L. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 117 Sat Nov 28, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 16:09 EST Dan, @(Gribnif).. Let me explain a little better what I was trying to say about the Xboot and the deleting of an accessory.. What I am trying to say is this: If you delete or rename one of the six resident accessories and are left with 5 or a sixth new, Xboot does recognize the new or renamed .ACC, but _WILL NOT_, let you save it after you have clicked on it, nor does it show the set has been changed.. This is my boot up .ACC (Here is an example)..... PopIt.ACC MultiDesk Call UIS III CardFile STeno Spelling Sentry --------------- ----------- Now I delete PopIt and add Abbreviator... Xboot wants to load PopIt instead of Abbreviator.. At this point, even though I click and activate Abbreviator & save the set,. the next reboot. Abbreviator is not activated even though PopIt is not showing.. The Set.dat file has PopIt and not Abbreviator as the ACC, which forces you to change the file with STeno... I hope now this is a little -bit- clearer... <-:}Ted{:-> Saturday, November 28, 1992 - 3:33:36 pm ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 118 Sat Nov 28, 1992 J.WISNIEWSK2 [Jeff - ST'er] at 23:17 EST Here is Ted's message, re-formatted: Dan, @(Gribnif).. Let me explain a little better what I was trying to say about the Xboot and the deleting of an accessory.. What I am trying to say is this: If you delete or rename one of the six resident accessories and are left with 5 or a sixth new, Xboot does recognize the new or renamed .ACC, but _WILL NOT_, let you save it after you have clicked on it, nor does it show the set has been changed.. This is my boot up .ACC (Here is an example)..... PopIt.ACC MultiDesk Call UIS III CardFile STeno Spelling Sentry -------------------------- Now I delete PopIt and add Abbreviator... Xboot wants to load PopIt instead of Abbreviator.. At this point, even though I click and activate Abbreviator & save the set,. the next reboot. Abbreviator is not activated even though PopIt is not showing.. The Set.dat file has PopIt and not Abbreviator as the ACC, which forces you to change the file with STeno... I hope now this is a little -bit- clearer... <-:}Ted{:-> Saturday, November 28, 1992 - 3:33:36 pm ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 119 Sun Nov 29, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 11:59 EST GRIBNIF, > "Normalize Colors" is there because if you boot up on a color >monitor, XBoot always switches to medium rez. Normally, if you do this >on older versions of TOS, you also have to change the color palette. >Otherwise, the text for all the remaining AUTO folder programs comes >out a very unreadable yellow. I can understand the reason for it now. I have TOS 1.04 and I did notice that it boots in med rez. I suppose that I would be upset if I had pre TOS 1.04 and I couldn't read the auto boot messages. > I got several calls from people who hadn't found the "Set Colors" >option in version II. Does this mean a possible update in the future? > Nobody has really mentioned the idea of reordering the SETS, but >I'll suggest it to Tassilo. I usually use the sorted (by name) method, >myself. I like to set up my SETS in order of importance and resolution (Color or Mono). I then put games at the bottom of the list (it is not as important for them to be sorted). When I get a a new utility (say Diamond Edge), I would like to make 2 SETS (1 Color and 1 Mono), but I don't want them at the bottom of the list (or together). I have my SETS listed all Color first then all Mono...then games. I have been able to move sets around using a word processor, but a feature to move them like the AUTO PRG's and ACC's would make it easier (although I know that it would take a little more work to shuffle them around). Scott H. Sunday November 29, 1992 10:55 a.m. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 120 Mon Dec 07, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 10:57 EST Mike, Yes, XBoot III works great with the Crazy Dots, in all video modes and resolutions. (XBoot 2 did not.) Ted, Yes, it is a bit clearer now . I had noticed something similar with respect to ACC's which were set to be read only. I'll pass this on to Tassilo. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 121 Mon Dec 07, 1992 M.LEE3 at 23:29 EST Dan, Thanks I got you newsletter and order it!! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 122 Tue Dec 08, 1992 T.EVANS21 [] at 18:34 EST >Category 17, Topic 11 >Message 120 Mon Dec 07, 1992 >GRIBNIF [Dan] at 10:57 EST > >Ted, > > Yes, it is a bit clearer now . I had noticed something > similar with respect to ACC's which were set to be read only. I'll > pass this on to Tassilo. > >---------- Dan, Yes, sometimes I have difficulty explaining myself... Especially with women.. :).... Glad to 'see' that you 'saw', what I meant.... .. Still a great program, and the best of the 'booters'... I mean I usually find a dozen things wrong with programs.. But not XBoot.. A well thought out and well done program.. My compliments to the chef.. I'm sending him an empty wine bottle.. :->.. <-:}Ted{:-> Tuesday, December 8, 1992 - 8:16:28 am ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 123 Sun Dec 20, 1992 P.MORALES1 [Pat] at 15:29 EST Hi Dan, I just received and installed XBoot. Great program with a LOT more control than I've seen in any Boot control program. I had previously ignored this topic, so pardon me if I repeat a previously mentioned funny. When creating Batch Commands, the examples show all upper case letters. Being the clever fellow I am, I turned on CapsLock. Boy, does that mess up the keyboard mapping. Don't do it! A quick note in a read me file may prevent future users from experiencing the several frustrating moments that I just had. But the program allows me to do things I never had the power to do before. It's great! Pat ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 124 Sun Dec 20, 1992 S.HOLMES1 [Scott H.] at 18:26 EST Dan [Gribnif], I was just wondering if you knew if any of the suggestions that have been made regarding version 3 are in the works or any other new ideas? I know that it just came out, but you people always seem to be making improvements. I know that you would not actually do the changes their, they would be up to Tassilo. Scott H. Sunday December 20, 1992 06:03 p.m. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 125 Mon Dec 21, 1992 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 13:46 EST Pat, Yup, somebody else already pointed out that bug. Scott, I always try to pass suggestions on to Tassilo though, as you say, I have little control over what actually gets implemented. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 126 Tue Dec 29, 1992 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 22:46 EST HEY! What's going on? It took only 10 days to receive my XBoot 3 upgrade! :^) I was allowing and expecting four to six weeks. Thanks! ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 127 Sat Jan 02, 1993 G.KICHOK [Gerry Kichok] at 23:33 EST Gribnif, just received my update of XBoot III, although very nice I also found a peculiar problem. I have NOCLEAR.PRG from the CodeHead Utilities Disk to remove the Clear screen commands from auto-folder programs and when I rebooted with the new XBoot the screen kept being written over itself instead of scrolling like I it should. XBoot must have something extra inside for all its graphics. The mouse seems to stay on the screen also. If this is not a common problem, I will list my setup. Gerry P.S. I dug up the originals and replace the modified programs. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 128 Tue Jan 05, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 12:31 EST Ed, Do I detect a note of sarcasm there? Actually, we have improved our order processing methods quite a bit. Gerry, While NOCLEAR is a helpful program, what it does is to modify the way programs work. XBoot III obviously needs to have the screen clears on for its normal use. I suggest you not use NOCLEAR with XBoot. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 129 Sat Jan 09, 1993 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 20:52 EST > Do I detect a note of sarcasm there? Actually, we have >improved our order processing methods quite a bit. I can't totally remember the message, but I really was being sincere! I was expecting to receive XBoot in 4-6 weeks like the order form said, but I got it in little over a week, across the country and back. Sounds pretty good to me. Regarding NOCLEAR, I've seen the same problems with XBoot III. NOCLEARed programs worked fine in XBoot 2 though. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 130 Sun Jan 10, 1993 J.EIDSVOOG1 [CodeHead] at 02:38 EST As it says in the documentation, NoClear should only be used on a backup copy of an AUTO program. Since it simply searches for the two bytes which cause the screen to clear and replaces them with a CR and line feed, results can only be determined by trial and error. The purpose of NoClear is to eliminate the clearing of the screen for those programs which simply clear the screen and display an initialization message. This provides a smooth scroll of your AUTO programs as they install, rather than the flashing accompanied by the clearing of the screen. Programs which use the screen clearing commands to display a screen which accepts user input should not be altered by NoClear, or at least some testing should be done to replace only those screen clears which appear in modes where the program does not stop for input. I assume that XBoot would not need any altering, although I've never used it. Most programs these days are written without the annoyance that prompted the writing of NoClear. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding of the purpose and use of NoClear. John ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 131 Tue Jan 12, 1993 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 01:39 EST Thanks for posting, John. But XBoot is not the program that is being manipulated. It's the programs that follow XBoot that have been changed with NoClear. XBoot 2 worked fine with these, but it seems that XBoot III does something different in that regard. The only thing that has changed in my AUTO folder is XBoot; the programs worked fine with the second version, but not the third. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 132 Wed Jan 13, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 12:13 EST Ed, Now that I understand what you mean a little better, I'll give it a try, though I must say that give John's explanation of what NoClear does, I don't really see any way that XBoot could cause the programs to act differently. I do know that after XBoot puts up its "Installing SET xxx" and "Copying xxx to DESKTOP.INF" messages, the cursor is generally a few lines down from the top of the screen. I just have to find a program that does screen clears to test this out. Got any good examples? Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 133 Thu Jan 14, 1993 G.KICHOK [Gerry Kichok] at 03:34 EST John, thanks for the note on NoClear. XBoot III needs to have those original programs to make the screen readable again. Just a tidbit of information! Gerry Dan, a good example is CSHOW63.prg, let me test first, well I just tried CSHOW63.prg without XBoot loading and it didn't CLEAR. This is strange because it was that I couldn't read CSHOW63 printout that I noticed the problem. I have to do more testing, it may have been the program just before or after. Gerry ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 134 Tue Jan 19, 1993 E.KRIMEN [Ed Krimen] at 01:33 EST >I just have to find a program that does screen clears to test this >out. Got any good examples? Formdoit 1.2e and Fujimaus. Thanks for looking into it. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 135 Fri Jan 22, 1993 AEO.5 [Ed Krimen] at 19:23 EST Dan, I've been resorting a few things from within XBoot and the process is incredibly slow. Other programs don't sort this slowly. Do you think you could probably give Tassilo a few pointers? :^) NeoDesk does an excellent job of resorting files. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 136 Tue Jan 26, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 15:12 EST Ed, You mean I put one of those nasty screen clears into FormDoIt? Yikes. I'll check it out. As far as sorting files goes, XBoot uses GEMDOS operations to do this, whereas NeoDesk read/writes to the disk directly. I offered to show Tassilo how to do it the way NeoDesk does, but he (understandably) does not like this much. In fact, I'm going to add an option to NeoDesk 4 so that it will do things the slower way, for the sake of compatibility with multitasking. Of course, there may be a way to speed up the way XBoot does it now, I can't say for certain. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 137 Sun Feb 28, 1993 AEO.3 [Lyre] at 20:27 EST Gribnif, I purchased XBoot v3.01 at the CT Swap Meet earlier this month. I am still setting everything up on my system for use with XBoot. Just two comments in regards to using XBoot. -=-=-=-=-=- I know you are aware of this (I saw the previous messages), but I'll mention it anyway since no one included a list of the effected keys. ;) If Caps Lock is enabled in the Batch Command dialog, any of the punction or keyboard number keys operates in lower case. Regardless of whether you shift them or not (while Caps Lock is still enabled). I have tried this out and found it to be true with the following keys: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = ` [ ] ; ' \ , . / NOTE: The numbers effected are the keyboard numbers, =not= the numeric keypad numbers. -=-=-=-=-=- Also, you might want to clearify the message the installion program displays when their is a Read Me file on the disk. The phrasing caused me to believe that XBoot had not been installed at all. After about three such attempts I examined everything and learned that the installation had proceeded correctly - and that the install program was just informing me of the Read Me files existence. -=-=-=-=-=- Another suggestion, although I don't know if it is possible, is to have the alert boxes related to the Batch Commands specify on which line the error occured. I had mis-typed a Folder name (I put 2 l's in Aladdin) and all I got was "TOS Error #34 - Pathname not found." Luckily I only had two lines in use so it wasn't that awkward to figure out. But it had me wondering for a while. If the command line # that has the error could be displayed, it would help the user in correcting the problem. Lyre 2:18 pm, February 28, 1993 ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 138 Tue Mar 02, 1993 R.JONES82 [Bob Jones] at 02:25 EST I agree the sorting routine in Xboot should get the boot. I don't mind the speed so much but it does not allow you to arrange multiple files as auto sort does. No big deal I just use autosort for that. All in all Xboot is great other than the sort routine. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 139 Fri Mar 05, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 15:16 EST Lyre, Hmmm...the Caps Lock bug was supposed to have been fixed for 3.01, but it looks like it wasn't completely fixed. I'll also take a look at the README file message, and pass on the suggestion about batch errors. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 140 Sat Mar 06, 1993 AEO.3 [Lyre] at 14:11 EST Dan, Thanks for responding. I tried the Caps Lock bug a couple of times on my version. (I was going to post, though better of it and decided to read the old messages here. Seeing it mentioned, I wasn't going to post and then realized no one had mentioned the keys involved - so I tried XBoot again and posted my results). Lyre 12:58 pm, March 6, 1993 ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 141 Sun Mar 21, 1993 K.CHANDLER [KEN] at 10:57 EST Has anybody been able to get XBOOT to work on a Gadget's SST equipped ST? My system is: Mega2 ST, SST with 68030 running at 33 MHz, running monochrome. XBOOT III, ver. 3.00 will not run - I get a white screen. This is with NO auto programs or accessories except ICDBOOT 6.0.7 (I have also tried various previous versions of ICDBOOT to no avail). I can't even run it form the desktop - same white screen. I CAN run XBOOT, ver. 2.59 from the AUTO folder, but it will not load SETS - it always gives an error message, something about #ENDSET expected at line XX. I have called GRIBNIF about this, but they are not familiar with the SST, so could not help me. Anybody got any ideas? Thanks Ken ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 142 Thu Mar 25, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:31 EST Ken, I've asked Tassilo to look into this, too, but he didn't have any ideas, either. Sigh. Time to coax Dave Small into looking at it... Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 143 Thu Mar 25, 1993 K.CHANDLER [KEN] at 20:19 EST Thanks, Dan. I wonder if the problem with XBOOT and the SST might have something to do with the blitter. I still have mine in the machine, but it is disabled when the NEWDESK.INF file loads - otherwise, it's lockup time for the SST. Maybe XBOOT does something to call the blitter before it has been disabled. I really didn't want to remove the blitter, because I think I will have to alter the motherboarto completely disable it. Ken ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 145 Fri Mar 26, 1993 AEO.3 [Lyre] at 06:42 EST Dan, I've been meaning to ask / suggest something. Although I realize that XBoot automatically saves the status of the Active button for each of the program windows, I wonder if their is a way to set a default. I would prefer that XBoot always load with Active enabled. Currently, when you exit, the Active button status is saved. Instead, I would like the Active button to operate by default until changed via the configuration dialog. Lyre 11:12 pm, March 25, 1993 ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 146 Tue Mar 30, 1993 VORTEXT at 21:47 EST Okay - Time for me to update to X-Boot III. How much and what do you need? Daniel A. Galant ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 147 Fri Apr 09, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 16:59 EDT Daniel, Just send us your original XBoot 2 disk and a check for $15 plus $2 S&H. If you are in Canada, change the S&H to $3. P.O. Box 779 Northampton, MA 01061 Lyre, Well, I'll suggest that to Tassilo, but I can see how difficult that would be to get across to the average user. Ken, If it locks up with the Blitter, then that is very likely your problem. XBoot always tries to turn the Blitter on if there is one. I suppose somebody could write a quick and dirty little program to prevent Blitmode() calls from doing anything. I'll see if I have time sometime in the next year or so . Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 148 Sun May 30, 1993 B.DEWITT [Nerd Perfect] at 20:17 EDT Gibnif; Any chance you are going to be doing XBoot for the Falcon? I just bought one and I miss XBoot.... Bob ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 149 Mon May 31, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 00:07 EDT One of the reasons I bought XBoot was because the literature I received from Gribnif on XBoot stated that it was for the ST, STE, TT, and Falcon. I am a little disappointed if it is true that it does not run on the Falcon now. If this is the case (I do not have a Falcon to test it on), I am sure that Gribnif will upgrade it so it does (I hope). --Lou T.-- Written: Sunday, May 30, 1993 11:37 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 150 Thu Jun 03, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 13:40 EDT Lou & Bob, As far as I know, it works fine on the Falcon. Which version of the ROMs are you using it with? I can ask Tassilo about this. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 151 Fri Jun 04, 1993 L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 00:30 EDT Dan, I use Xboot with my TT030 and have no problems at all. I do not have a Falcon030 yet, so my comment about it not working on the Falcon only comes from what I have heard from others. Maybe I should have waited before commenting ;-) --Lou T.-- Written: Thursday, June 03, 1993 11:22 p.m. EDT ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 152 Sat Jun 05, 1993 G.NORTON [Falcon Systm] at 12:42 EDT Dan, Xboot 3 does indeed fail on the Falcon under TOS 4.02. It appears it has a problem with the video. As soon as it loads, it looks as though it is trying to run in ST Low...ie it is hanging part way off the screen. It doesn't Bomb or lockup the system, so I would imagine the video routines are the only thing that need to be altered. Graham @ Falcon Systems ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 153 Sat Jun 12, 1993 S.FARWIG [STAN] at 18:22 EDT I just bought Xboot 3 and was going to post the same message as Graham @ Falcon Systems. Although the packaging claims it runs on the Falcon, it is unusable with only a tiny portion of it's screen visible on boot up. I was surprised to find no README file dealing with Falcon usage and am now dismayed that a week has passed since Graham posted his message and there has been no response. Stan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 154 Tue Jun 15, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 10:41 EDT Stan & Graham, I'm going to get a message off to the author and see if he has any idea why this happens. Tassilo is pretty good about making even small changes, so I suspect that it won't be too long before we can get you a newer version. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 155 Wed Jun 16, 1993 S.FARWIG [STAN] at 23:18 EDT I'll never understand computers. Unexpectedly, the boot up screen of XBOOT is in proper resolution on the FALCON and looks very handsome. The fix? I don't understand this at all, but after reading some messages on the folder fix problem, I realized I had not configured with the ICD Pro utility. I ran it, increased the folders tp 300 and disabled the caches. On rebooting, the resolution on the boot up screen (without XBOOT) was changed...all the messages fitted comfortably on the screen with no scrolling. When I enabled XBOOT and booted, it came up fine. So, what the folder fix has to do with screen resolution is beyond me, but I'm happy I did it. my best Stan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 156 Tue Jun 22, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 13:09 EDT Stan, You're right, that is really weird. I wonder if, perhaps this has something to do with the fact that ICD's software normally switches to ST medium rez during bootup. By making the change you did, you might have knocked it into setting a different rez (or none at all). Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 157 Sun Jun 27, 1993 BHARTSHORNE at 21:56 EDT I still have not seen a clear description of getting XBOOT 3 to look right on the Falcon-I was hoping someone would post a fix (if it is fixable-the opening screen does not boot up and the (properly I mean!!) and overlaps in four directions I have rom 4.04 in my Falcon-hope someone comes up with a solution. Thanks, Bill Hartshorne ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 158 Tue Jun 29, 1993 TOPNOTCH at 03:18 EDT Gribnif, I'd like to make some suggestions for the next version of XBoot. 1. After running XBoot from the desktop, I'd like to exit the program and be given the option of cold booting, warm booting or returning to the desktop. 2. When running XBoot from HotWire or another desktop shell, I'd like to be able to pass a command line to the program to select a configuration and cold or warm boot the machine. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 159 Thu Jul 01, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 13:18 EDT Everyone, XBoot 3.03 is now available. This version has a few minor bug fixes (mostly for CapsLock and MultiTOS.) According to the program's author, the problem with XBoot on a Falcon was fixed for version 3.02. Anyone who would like to upgrade to 3.03 can send their original disk and a check for $2 to: P.O. Box 779 Northampton, MA 01061 Topnotch, Those are good suggestions. I'll pass them on. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 160 Thu Jul 01, 1993 J.KRZYSZTOW [JEFFREY] at 20:07 EDT Dan, Hope your trip back to MASS. went ok. Tell Rick, hello. XBoot III 3.03 has a small problem. If you display only the programs that are active and start deactivating programs from the bottom of the list sometime it gives between 2-4 bombs. In order for this to happen it is necessary that there be enough active programs to require a scroll bar for programs. The display always gets messed up. The bottom arrow disappears and the scroll bar goes away. If you need more info just ask. By the way, the only thing run before XBoot is ICDBoot 6.0.8. Thanks Jeffrey ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 161 Sun Jul 11, 1993 S.DEITZ [Steve] at 06:33 EDT I can now confirm that XBOOT 3 does indeed run on a Falcon. I am running TOS 4.02 in my Falcon, and by setting the NVRAM to boot up in 80 columns, XBoot runs great. There are quite a few utilities to set the NVRAM, but if there isn't one around here, let me know and I'll attempt an u/l. ----STEVE---- ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 162 Mon Jul 12, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:29 EDT Steve, XBoot 3.02 or 3.03 should also work just fine, whether you set the NVRAM settings or not. You can get 3.03 by sending your original disk back to us with a check for $2 to cover return shipping. Jeff, You're right. I'll pass that on to Tassilo. Thanks. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 163 Sun Aug 22, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 18:49 EDT Greetings, I'm running XBOOT III and I'm using it to load/not load MultiTOS. Is there any way to select more than 6 desk accessories, i.e. could you check for loading MultiTOS or just allow more than 6 to be loaded (maybe with a warning) since for non-MultiTOS systems those over 6 will be ignored anyway ? Thanks in advance, Lee B. Middle Georgia Atari User's Group (MGAUG) Newsletter Editor. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 164 Mon Aug 23, 1993 R.WALTERS7 [Randy] at 00:18 EDT Lee Go to the parameters section of the toolbox in XBoot III. Then, just remove the X from the Limit Desk Accessories to 6 area. Regards Randy ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 165 Mon Aug 23, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:29 EDT Lee, You could use ACC.PRG for non-MTOS bootups and disable it for MTOS by turning ACC.PRG on/off in the AUTO folder through XBoot. ACC.PRG forces the OS to load DAs from a folder instead of the root directory. You create a folder called ACCS and put your DAs there. In a normal bootup, the ones in ACCS are used; in ab MTOS bootup, you have XBoot change ACC.PRG to ACC.PRX, so that MTOS uses the DAs in the root of C:. Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 166 Mon Aug 23, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 16:03 EDT Lee, Versions of XBoot from 3.02 on have an option to allow more than 6 DA's. It is in the Settings dialog. If you have an older version of XBoot, you can upgrade by sending your original disk back to us with a check for $3 to cover return shipping and expenses. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 167 Mon Aug 23, 1993 J.GNIEWKOWSK [GE-Lamp ST] at 22:45 EDT Lee, See, if you would have just went with Geneva you wouldn't been fooling with this - you'd be running it all the time! ;) Now, on first glance I would say just have a 'MultiTos' set-up and have as many DA's as you need, XBOOT III dosen't care how many you select, I just tried it with about 10 DAs, and have a 'Non-MultiTos' set-up with less than six. From re-reading your message it seems your implying that XBOOT III dosen't allow you more than six DAs. Is this what is happening? John E. Gniewkowski Editor, GEnieLamp ST ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 168 Tue Aug 24, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:44 EDT Randy, Thanks! I should have looked for such a feature (allowing more than 6 DAs). I know, RTFM. Al, Thanks for the tips on ACC.PRG. I already have "two copies" of some accessories as under TOS I use MultiDESK and keep the DAs on another drive. Under MultiTOS I've been keeping the DAs on C:\. Will ACC.PRG allow you to put the DAs on another partition or just in C:\ACC\ ? Dan, I have version 3.03 and I have now turned off the 6 DA limit. Thanks. John G., The reason I didn't get Geneva was that the Beta version required NEOdesk, which I don't have. MultiDESK was cheaper. Yes, XBOOT III wouldn't allow more than six DAs, but as Dan has said, it now offers the option of more than six DA for those of us in an "extended environment". Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 169 Wed Aug 25, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:38 EDT Lee, I need to do some explaining here, to correct a misimpression that I had fostered some time back: YOU DON'T NEED NEODESK TO RUN GENEVA. YOU DON'T NEED NEODESK TO RUN GENEVA. Read my little essay on multitasking without NeoDesk here in the library for a complete explanation. As for ACC.PRG, yep, I used it to put my DAs in odd places a few years back. But I hacked it so that C:\ACCS was replaced by something else. I can fix your version, if you'd like. Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 170 Wed Aug 25, 1993 JIM.K [Jim~ST Sysop] at 13:27 EDT Al, Are you using ACC.PRG on your TT? I haven't been able to use it on mine. It just won't find the path. Sure does clutter the root with all those accs. If I read your message correctly, you're saying that you have a fix? That would be great. Please share your info with everyone else! Jim Kudron 25Aug93 13:22:38 ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 171 Thu Aug 26, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:24 EDT Jim, Ah, the problem of using three Ataris! I had been using ACC.PRG on the STs, not the TT. I stopped using it when I started using Geneva a couple of years ago ... hm, it only *seems* like years. Yes, I played with the code so another folder could be used. It's been a long time since I did that, so I can't recall how it was done. I'll look at it again this weekend. BTW, the real answer is Geneva, of course. DAs are treated like programs under Geneva, and they can be anywhere. You can have DAs in four or five different places and have them all load at bootup, or you can skip all but the most essential DAs and just load the others when you need them. (And you can unload them, too.) Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 172 Thu Aug 26, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 05:37 EDT Al, Thanks for the clarification. I thought this would be true with the released version, but that the BETA did require it. My mistake. Oh well, my money's spent. Maybe later. Is ACC.PRG a PD program or part of NeoDesk ? Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 173 Thu Aug 26, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 06:56 EDT Al, Due to the misunderstanding about needing Neodesk to get the beta of GENEVA, ( YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE NEODESK TO USE GENEVA! ) I bought MultiTOS instead. Under MultiTOS you are not limited to six desk accessories and you can install/remove desk accessories at any time from any place. Take Care, Lee B. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 174 Thu Aug 26, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:39 EDT Lee, ACC.PRG is not related to Gribnif or NeoDesk. It's an old freeware prg. And you are right, of course, about MultiTOS. I do hope you get a chance to see a comparison between MTOS and Geneva before you assume that they are somehow similar. One is a horse, the other a giraffe. Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 175 Fri Aug 27, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 19:35 EDT Al, I will have a chance to see Geneva as a good friend of mine (who had Neodesk - YOU DON'T NEED NEODESK TO RUN GENEVA) got it when I got MultiTOS. On the one hand Multitasking is Multitasking, but I've seen enough different systems over the years to know what you mean about them being very dissimilar. Oddly I had MultiTOS running soon after I got it home and my friend is still struggling with Geneva as he followed the directions and had to update his NEODESK first which was kinda involved as you have to pass through the intermediate versions and cannot just jump to the latest version. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 176 Fri Aug 27, 1993 J.GNIEWKOWSK [GE-Lamp ST] at 23:33 EDT Lee is having problems with Geneva? Has he posted in the hints and tips category? I think I remember something about the sequential upgrade - so it might have been him. I think I might have missed it - do you need to upgrade your XBoot, or was it some switch that needed to be thrown? Take Care, John ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 177 Sat Aug 28, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:37 EDT Ben, Yep, the upgrade process is tedious. But there's just no other way to handle it. Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 178 Sat Aug 28, 1993 JIM.K [Jim~ST Sysop] at 18:14 EDT Al, Hmm..Looks like it's time to take a serious look at Geneva. Jim Kudron 26Aug93 07:57:08 ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 179 Sun Aug 29, 1993 L.W.BENJAMIN [Koloth] at 09:36 EDT John G, I doubt that Lee Mavity has posted in the GEneva category as he just recently started using Aladdin. Most of his problem has been not having time to devote to installing GEneva. I just had to "throw a switch" in a dialog under the tools button to have XBOOT allow the installation of more than 6 accessories. Take Care, (hey, that's my line! ) Lee B. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 180 Mon Aug 30, 1993 J.GNIEWKOWSK [GE-Lamp ST] at 00:42 EDT Lee, Good to hear you have XBoot working. It is nice to be able to have more than 6 DA and have them all stored away neatly in a folder somewhere! Tell Lee M to get onlone here - installing Geneva would take him 10 minutes asking Al a couple of questions.... Take Care (I knew I lifted that line from somebody ), John G. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 181 Tue Aug 31, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 10:46 EDT Al, It's been a bit of a mess, eh? All this cunfusion because we required that people own NeoDesk when getting the *beta* of Geneva, even though it's not really required in order to run it. It's a decision we made for some very specific reasons, but had I known it would cause this much confusion, we might have decided differently. By the way...is Geneva a horse or a giraffe? Maybe that should have been "nag" versus "stallion"? Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 182 Tue Aug 31, 1993 L.CHANDLER [Linda] at 23:58 EDT Can someone tell me if XBOOT version 2.59 will work on the Falcon. Thanks. ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 183 Wed Sep 01, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:44 EDT G is a stallion. :) Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 185 Tue Sep 14, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 12:32 EDT Linda, I don't know if version 2.59 will work or not. I do know that some of the earliest version 3's did not, but that 3.02 and 3.03 do. You can upgrade to version 3 by sending your original disk and a check for $15 + $3 S&H to: P.O. Box 779 Northampton, MA 01061 Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 186 Fri Sep 17, 1993 W.ORTIZ [Will] at 18:09 EDT Dan, I recently bought XBOOT III (3.01) and I just found out that it's up to Version 3.03. How do I upgrade? How much? Thanks... Will W.ORTIZ ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 187 Sat Sep 18, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:40 EDT Will, Dan's out at the Glendale Show, so you may not get a reply for a few days. He's busy with something or other.... :) Al ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 188 Tue Sep 21, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 15:01 EDT W.Ortiz, Just send the XBoot disk back to us with a check for $2 and we will return it to you with 3.03. There are really only minor bug fixes since the version you have, but this one does also come up in the correct rez on the Falcon now. Dan ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 189 Thu Sep 23, 1993 AEO.5 [Ed Krimen] at 00:14 EDT Last time it was $3. Now it's $2. Let's get three more people to ask Dan how they can get the latest version of Xboot, and Gribnif will be paying -us- a dollar to get the update. ;-) ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 190 Sat Sep 25, 1993 W.ORTIZ [Will] at 09:54 EDT Alright. I thought I was missing something major. hehe... I'll send my XBOOT 3.01 for upgrade soon. Thanks... Will Ortiz W.ORTIZ ------------ Category 17, Topic 11 Message 191 Tue Sep 28, 1993 GRIBNIF [Dan] at 17:43 EDT Ed, Dan ------------