From: mbb@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (martin.brilliant)
Subject: Re: Shutting down Geocomm
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 23:03:44 GMT

From article <Sep.13.16.11.47.1992.2312@pilot.njin.net>, by birchall@pilot.njin.net (Shag):
> mbb@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (martin.brilliant) writes:
> 
>>But that doesn't prove anything.  ANY DOS app takes control from DOS
>>once it starts running.  That's one of the faults of a system that
>>doesn't multitask.  If the app takes control and then gets into a
>>loop, all you can do is reboot, because DOS has lost control.
> 
> GEOS replaces everything but DOS's filesystem with its own code.  I don't
> quite know the words that you want me to use to describe it.

Maybe we need to meet in the middle.  An app is anything that can be
loaded by an OS.  An OS is anything that can load an app.  Therefore
GEOS is an app to DOS, but an OS to its own apps.  OK?

>>I'm slightly annoyed now because I'm not willing to wait for v2.0.  I
>>think you're admitting that GeoComm isn't easy to get along with, and
>>if that's so, don't blame me for not getting along with it.  All I'm
>>saying is that GeoComm is not a good enough comm program for me to
>>tailor my modem to it instead of to half a dozen better comm programs.
> 
> I'm not admitting that "GeoComm isn't easy to get along with."  I will gladly
> admit that it's got less features than Procomm+, or Qmodem, or Telix.  Anyone
> at Geoworks will, I'm sure, say the same thing.  I'll be as quick as anyone to
> point out things that could be improved in it.  A dialing directory separate
> from the scripts menu, slightly better emulation of some things, a hang up
> y/n prompt... these are all things that have been suggested by myself and
> others, and I presume they're being worked on for v2.0

My reasoning is that all these improvements that could be made would
make GeoComm easier to get along with.  If GeoComm had them, it would
be as easy to get along with as any ordinary comm program.  If GeoComm
doesn't have them now, it isn't as easy to get a long with as an
ordinary comm program.  I don't see how you can deny that conclusion.

> However, GeoComm isn't one of the "major" applications for Geoworks...
> 
> If you're not patient enough to wait for v2.0, there's really not much that
> _anyone_ can do to keep you from complaining.  I'm personally very interested
> in seeing what happens when 2.0 comes out and the third-party competition
> starts.....

Give me a break.  I have MS-DOS now.  I use lots of applications now.
GeoWorks apps now have a lot of really cute capabilities, but most of
them are lacking in some features that I'm not ready to give up.
Right now, either I use GeoWorks or I use DOS, because I can't use
both at the same time.  Believe it or not, I can use two DOS
applications at the same time: many DOS applications allow me to pop
out to DOS without terminating the application and temporarily use
another DOS app in the RAM remaining.  GeoWorks works much better at
that game if I want to pop out to another GeoWorks application, but
unfortunately I need, want, insist on the capabilities I have now in
DOS applications.  So I'm not using GeoWorks.

>>By the way, I figured out what GEOS meant by the message about COM4
>>being already in use.  It meant that the AUTOEXEC.BAT that I booted up
>>with this time did not put all the port addresses in the BIOS table
>>the way the AUTOEXEC.BAT I used to use did.  That's not what I call a
>>useful message.
> 
> Um... this might sound kind of silly, but what sort of message did you want?
> If an OS told me that a serial port problem was caused by booting up with the
> wrong autoexec, I'd be quite surprised. :)

The back of the Customer Service and Troubleshooting guide has an
explanation that's almost correct, so the GeoWorks people basically
understand what's happening and feel they can explain it to users.
The message could have said that the serial port was not found, or
that its address was not posted in the BIOS data area.  Of course they
might not know why the port address was not posted, but they should
know the difference between a missing address and a port in use by
another app.

							Marty
marty@hoqaa.att.com		hoqaa!marty
Martin B. Brilliant		(Winnertech Corporation)	
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.pcgeos