From: danaf@vccnw07.its.rpi.edu (Frank R. Dana Jr.)
Subject: WorkBench 3.0 advanced look...
Reply-To: danaf@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 22:55:14 GMT


Whew! I've gotta admit it. Commodore does do something right once in a while.
I just took a re-scan through my 3-month-old review of Workbench/Kickstart 
Beta Release 39.97, and I'm kinda shocked at how much I really liked it! It's
a GREAT system. 

This review contains a lot of optimism. Although I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in
the new A4000, I'm still an optimist at heart. With 3 months of perspective on
it, the suggestions I made here about future upgrades still make a lot of sense,
and I hope Commodore follows through on the possibilities of their new design.

/* note: the following is, in its entirety, three-months-old text. Present-day
notes, typed online, are in C-style comment brackets, like this message. */

Bravo Commodore!

It's scary, I know, but it looks like Commodore may be turning into a real 
company after all! Witness the newest beta release of WB 3.0, which seems to 
be living up to the heavy promise of the second full-integer version upgrade 
in the last two years. WB/KS 39.97 is getting better and better in every way -
in hardware and software routines, under the Workbench AND the Shell. The WB 
again seems to be the main recipient of new features - this time, a complete 
re-working of ideas to make the system modular. Is it possible, sometime 
before 1994, that we may see WB updates coming in one-disk "upgrade" packages 
more than once a year, built only to replace outdated or improved-upon pieces 
of the system?

/* God, I hope so. It would make a LOT of sense. With the new system design,
Commodore could EASILY release single-disk upgrades every 6 months or a year,
priced something ridiculously low like $19.95. (Yeah, I know, the ENTIRE
Workbench 1.3 was only $23, but this is 1992 here...). I **HOPE** C= has the
sense to see the obvious possibilities in this. Hell, they could EVEN release
them for free over public BBS systems

..nahhh.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled message... */

The new modular design to the system software shows a lot of promise. There are far more "monitors" files than before, allowing easier updates as new modes become available. Each display mode has its own separate "monitors" file, so that new modes (for instance, the new 16-color LoRes "Productivity" mode, now shortsightedly renamed "DBLNTSC". Sure, the new name is a better description, but it lacks consumer-level pizzaz.

/* I still feel this way, but since nobody actually mentioned the DBLNTSC mode
anywhere, maybe Commodore wised up and re-named it Productivity. */

Another modular setup is the availability of custom-designed bits of code that can be used by any programmer to call "Standard" routines - things such as the new color-wheel gadget and gradient sliders, the main features of the new and vastly improved Palette selector. A six-position color wheel, containing both the standard RGB and their CMY complements, is now available to slide around instead of using the hopeless numerical sliders. For those who want the linear precision of sliders, a new DigiPaint-sty


le color gradient slider is also available. Those two gadgets are stored in a drawer reserved for gadget routines of the sort, so that any programmer (Commodore or other...) could update those routines WITHOUT having to rewrite the Palette program, or make any changes to the Kickstart.

/* This is a GREAT advance, and a revolutionary idea in my experience with 
Personal Computers in general. The Commodore-supplied gadgets are great right
now, and within a couple of years we could see some AMAZING PD requesters, 
gadgets, and the like. Best of all, no more hacks! Just pop in the new file, and
you're set. A lot of the new system seemed to be geared this way.. very plug-n-
play. I only hope Commodore didn't obliterate any of these features between 39.97
and the final release */

The Devs: area has also gone modular, with separate drawers for different DOS drivers, disk-format mounts, and other areas - I think we're finally going to say goodbye to the horrible mountlist, just like Commodore did away (partially) with the startup-sequence when they added the WBStartup drawer. again, device mount data can now be easily replaced or added, without having to re-write the mounlist, or doing one of those messy "append" operations PD programs are so famous for getting wrong.

/* I am **SO** excited over this. The mountlist was a horrible relic from the 
old 1.2 O/S, and deserves to be laid to rest. Make way for Device Mount Files
(or whatever they feel like calling them... it's a 1000% increase in utility.) */

The addition of one program makes the update worth any price - A Commodore-supplied "Multiviewer" that can read all (or most...) of the files out there today - Sound files, pictures, text, etc... Hopefully, this program will also be a modular construct when finished - with a drawer next to it for each of the individual routines, so that support for MODs or some other file could be added WITHOUT a rewrite.

/* Did anyone see the Multiviewer in action? More importantly, did it have driver
files ala DeliPlayer, or was it a fixed-code program? I'd LOVE to see a version
with modular drivers. It would make running new file types so much easier. Just
drop a chunk of code in the drawer and you're set! */

The current release is not a complete WB, just an update set, but it looks like WB 3.0 will again be a major improvement - not just in application, but in design as well.

/* Final Notes: I hope I'm right about all this. WB 39.97 showed all signs of
becoming a spectacular final release. I just hope all of the improvements I
saw, and many others that were not included in that PARTICULAR beta, were 
exploited to their fullest potential. 

As far as WB 3.0 goes, I maintain....             */


			Keep up the good work, Commodore!

-- 
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(718)             (212)                        (516)             (518)
=======Amiuser============Frank R. Dana, Jr.============Doc Ami=======     
--------My opinions rarely reflect those of any sane person,----------
	   living, dead, or undead... that's gonna CHANGE.


P.S> PHEW! Thanx for reading all that! Feel free to follow up with any comments
     you might have. I'm especially interested in hearing from people who
     actually USED the new WB. **DID** Commodore include all of this wonderful
     new stuff? (Especially the palette requester. That was wayyy cool!)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy