Conference 7.286::atarist

    
    There are several ways to run two programs the same time. One is a
    program called K-Switch, that lets you devide your Atari into two
    virtual computers each with half of your main memory. You can switch
    between the two computers by function-keys. But the best way of doing
    real multitasking is a new operating system add-on which sells since
    few weeks in Germany, called Multi-GEM. This works 100% compatible
    with TOS and all screen resolutions (even bigscreens) and lets you open
    up to seven windows, each with its own program running in it the same
    time. This actually looks like our VT1000 with several open sessions.
    I ordered it two weeks ago but has not yet arrived. Could tell you 
    more then.
    
    Bernd
    

Yes,

MULTI-GEM is indeed the best way to achieve this. What it actually does is it
decides (or i believe you can limit it) the amount of memory to be given to a
'session'. It then allocates as this amount of memory to that 'session'.

A 'session' is in  fact a Desk Accessory Slot, so you can, memory permitting,
have up to 6 multi-tasking sessions.

I was speaking  with 1 of the guys  from RIMIK Enterprises (let me state the 
usual i have no connection etc...) and he actually gave  me a very  detailed 
explanation of  exactly how it  worked. He also said he'd send me a FAX with
full details on it (which i never did recieve ;-)).

He told me  that he was running *major* applications such as PageStream, CAD 
etc all running simultaneously on his MEGA4.

For those of  you who would  like more information  you can get RIMIK on the
following STATES number :- 619 630 1217. For those of you from Europe you 
*may* be able to get in touch with him if you call at about 7am-8am. I got
in touch with him at MIDNIGHT USA time. He told me, he sometimes stays late,
boy - that's enthusiam! ;-)

I believe it retails at $99.95. 

Regards,

				Lewis.

    I was hoping there was a free-ware or shareware program to do this. Is
    k-switch free?? If not, how much is it??
    
    Maybe I'll try to make my program a desk accessory first and see what
    happens.
    
    Jim

Jim,

Programming a desk accessory for your librarian would not be very
difficult.  The only catch is that you would have to delcare at start-up
how much memory you were going to use, and use your own malloc/free that
operated out of that pool.  If you write your own malloc/free, you can
even use the Mark Williams standard I/O routines, as they will know
enough (by virtue of the linker) to call your version of malloc.

I can help you get started, and give you a set of malloc/free routines
if you really need them.

    As it turns out, I don't do any mallocs (and hence no frees). I tried to
    turn the program into a desk accessory. I changed my code around and
    then tried to build. The Mark Williams C book that I have says to link
    using the -VGEMACC option. When I do that, it gives a link error. Its
    something like:
    libc - cant find _start_
    
    If I use plain old -VGEM, it links fine (but of course shouldn't work
    as a desk accessory). Anyone have any suggestions?
    
    Jim

That's most of it.  When you link (using cc, not ld) with -VGEMACC, cc
includes the correct startup module for desk accessories.  I'm not sure
what's wrong in this case.  Another thing that can stop you is using
getenv().  Note also that standard I/O is also forbidden, you will have
to use Fopen, Fcreate, Fread, and Fwrite.

    There IS a PD/SHAREWARE/WHATEVER one called SWITCHER which was given
    away on the ST Format magazine disk. I have it but don't use it. I did
    play with it a little and it seemed to work though I never really
    thrashed it.
    
    Jonathan

    Did anyone ever get a copy of MULTI-GEM? If so, hows about a review?
    
    Or SLICTOP? The other multitasking (actually priority-tasking) OS?
    
    Cheers,
    
    				Lewis.

    
    Sorry, still waiting...
    
    Two months ago I ordered the stuff. Two weeks ago I phoned the
    distributor and asked what's going on. Answer: we can't explain,
    it's ready to be shipped. You should have received your copy
    weeks ago. 
    
    They promised to take care of that. As soon as I have it, I write
    down my experiances. The mags are full with test articles in the 
    moment, at least they seem to have working copies.
    
    Bernd
    

    
    when I came home yesterday evening, MuliGem had arrived. Installation
    is easy, you simply run a INSTALL.PRG from the original disk, that 
    copies all the needed files from floppy to HD and modifies the
    DESKTOP.INF as well as the Auto-folder. With no accessories in the
    root directory of C you boot again and then have 6 MultiGem Slots in
    the menu-bar where the accessories had been before.
    
    Cntrl/Shift/Alt brings you a configuration popup-menu where you can 
    "tune" the system. So you must mark TOS-programs that they are able 
    to run in windows because only window applications work as tasks. Also
    some programs that are not properly programmed and use direct screen
    output must be modified. Some programs are only able to run standalone,
    so you assign them a "single"-state. That means, no other task is
    working when you selected such a program. For Neodesk for instance you
    choose the Auto-boot state to have it run as the desktop-task after
    booting.
    
    Accessories may be renamed to a certain extension (*.MUC or so,
    forgot...) and then are available as tasks running in a window. Because
    accessories are designed to be available in every program, you still
    have this feature with the means of multitasking.
    
    Using the tasks looks like this: you click on Wordplus and it comes up
    like always. Then you select a textfile and it opens up the normal
    window for that file. If you take a look into the menubar, you see that
    one MultiGem Slot now says "Wordplus". Clicking on another empty slot
    gives you back the desktop with the textwindow on top of it. Now you
    can move it around and shrink it in size or just type in that window.
    Starting Adimens now works the same. It opens up a window and there's
    an entry in one of the remaining five slots. Selecting a empty slot
    gives you back the desktop with two windows on top of it: Wordplus and
    Adimens! By clicking into one of them enables you to work in that
    window. So you simply can switch between up to 6 applications. If you 
    have a program that formats floppies and runs in a window, you can see
    the floppy beeing formatted in one window while you are drawing a
    picture in the other one the same time. In the "tuning program" you can
    assign memory to every program as well as some kind of priority,
    because MultiGem assigns timeslices to every task.
    
    To use the multitasking in a optimum way, they state that you should
    have at least 2MB of memory and a harddisk. By now I only had problems
    with KAOS operating system. So I switched to TOS 1.4 and everything
    worked ok. Also it is very important to use the configuration or
    "tuning" program and set the right values for all the programs.
    Otherwise you'll sometimes get some funny effects with redrawing the
    screen...
    
    I'm still playing around and haven't read the manual completely. If
    I find out something new, I'll keep you updated. When you have it
    working and set up correctly, it looks like a very nice feature for
    the ST.
    
    Bernd

    
    now using MultiGEM with a 16MHz STE and a 19" monitor. This is great!
    You have the wordprocessing program displaying a complete page while
    drawing pictures full-size with EasyDRAW, and the same time your
    logged in the VAX via modem in another window transferring files.
    
    With the 19" screen I won't miss the multitasking features, that's
    nearly a must!
    
    Bernd