¢DIAMOND¢¢¢ Over the next next few issues I will be looking at the amazing Diamond Operating System. This issue gives you the first part of an in-depth interview with it's creator, Alan Reeve. The second and final part of the interview will be in the next issue of Futura.¢¢ I have recently purchased the system myself and so future Diamond articles will contain in-depth reviews and analyses of Diamond GOS, Diamond Paint, Diamond Write, and various Diamond utilities.¢¢ This whole series is designed to let you have a taste of this excellent operating system.¢¢¢THE ALAN REEVE INTERVIEW¢BY BILL PIKE, 1989¢¢INTRODUCTION¢¢ Reeve Software's Diamond Operating System Cartridge brought a mouse-operated graphic interface to the 8-bit Atari, complete with windows and drop-down menus. Diamond's college-student creator, Alan Reeve of Reeve Software, has been a long standing supporter of the Atari community. This interview took place in Portland, Oregon, USA while Reeve was attending a Special Meeting of the Portland Atari Club (PAC). Interviewers were PAC Special Projects Director David Moore and PAC President Bill Pike.¢¢¢אΘ∮∮: Diamond Paint was quite impressive when you demonstrated it at yesterday's meeting. You seem to have duplicated just about all functions of most ST paint programs, and many more functions than most existing 8-bit programs. Is that a fair assessment?¢IJ∮β∈: I think so. The feature that I like best is the cut and paste. I haven't seen that on any other 8-bit system. You can cut sections out of a picture and paste them onto another picture. You can even load and save that section as clip-art.¢אΘ∮∮: About how many pages will Diamond Write let you work on in a 48k Atari?¢IJ∮β∈: A 48k machine will be fairly limited, maybe one page (there's not a whole lot of memory in there). In a 64k machine you'll be able to work on about five pages. A 130k machine has 64k of memory available, so you can get 30 or 40 pages. And it includes a Spell Checker.¢אΘ∮∮: You were talking yesterday about the possibility of coming out with multi-font capability on one document.¢IJ∮β∈: You can use multiple styles, you can only use one font but you can have multiple styles of that font on each document.¢גβ÷ΘΣ: Will the program support graphics files?¢IJ∮β∈: That is one of the limitations of this program. There just isn't enough memory on the 8-bit Atari.¢גβ÷ΘΣ: Then you could mix and match fonts also?¢IJ∮β∈: The big limitations of the program comes from memory, fonts take up a lot of memory. I really don't think that the user wants his memory cramped up with a lot of fonts when the text is already limited.¢אΘ∮∮: It appears that Writer is fully implemented and does a lot of stuff that other word processor programs won't do.¢IJ∮β∈: The really nice thing is that you can use the slider bars to go up and down through your document and you can use the mouse to position the cursor.¢¢UPCOMING APPLICATIONS¢¢אΘ∮∮: You were saying that you are thinking of putting Reeve Software's NewsStation together for Diamond. Were you also thinking about NewsStation Companion or Publishing Pro?¢IJ∮β∈: Just NewsStation right now. When the NewsStation is done we just might include NewsStation Companion.¢אΘ∮∮: What are your hopes? Some people say the 8-bit computer is dead and others say the 8-bit machine has never been fully utilized. It sounds like Diamond is starting to fully revitalize the 8-bits.¢IJ∮β∈: The Atari 8-bit system is more than powerful enough to handle 90 to 95 percent of most people need. But people usually want the biggest and the best.¢אΘ∮∮: How did you get into Atari?¢IJ∮β∈: I got into computers in the sixth grade when the school got an Apple II. Then around eighth grade I bugged the heck out of my Mom and Dad to get me a computer. The choice was between the Atari 400 and the Vic-20 and I ended up going with the Atari 400.¢ I started programming in BASIC on the Apple II and then, when I got it, a little BASIC on the 8-bit. Around ninth or tenth grade I started picking up assembly language. I thought it was sort of neat for Atari to include a little machine language routine written in that strange hexidecimal code. I started wondering why they did it.¢אΘ∮∮: Then you went into programming. I know one of the first things you brought out was the CX-85 10-key interface.¢¢BUSINESS BEGINNINGS¢¢IJ∮β∈: Around 1986 I got the idea of forming a company with another kid, but he lived 30 miles away and things did not work out, and then about four or five months later a man by the name of Bruce Kennedy talked to me about writing a PC window. I said I could do it and of course got caught up in programming. Bruce gave me a lot of starting information for Reeve Software and that is how the company got started.¢אΘ∮∮: Is there anybody involved in Reeve Software besides yourself, or are you sort of a loner?¢IJ∮β∈: Myself, I do everything, but my parents help out a lot.¢אΘ∮∮: Then Reeve Software brought out NewsStation.¢IJ∮β∈: NewsStation, NewsStation Companion, and Publishing Pro. NewsStation came out after an idea that I had from NewsRoom on the Commodore 64. At that time there was nothing like it for the Atari 8-bit.¢אΘ∮∮: When did you first get the idea of a graphic operating system for the 8-bit? I know that GEOS does that for the Commodore 64 and has been very popular.¢IJ∮β∈: I guess I started pushing Diamond when John Nagy wrote a small article about it in Computer Shopper at the end of '87. And I started getting hundreds of letters from people who wanted to see it.¢אΘ∮∮: So you've been working since 1987, almost two years now, to put the cartride together.¢IJ∮β∈: The programming really started around May 1988.¢אΘ∮∮: I imagine it was sort of difficult. You were saying that Diamond is a 64k bank-switched cartridge.¢IJ∮β∈: It started out as a disk-based program. Most of the disk program was done in August and September 1988 and the cartridge was finished in October through December.¢אΘ∮∮: Why did you change from disk to cartridge? Because you could get more stuff in it? Or were you trying to keep piracy down?¢IJ∮β∈: Basically because we couldn't do what we are doing unless we went to cartridge. There is not enough memory in the 8-bit Atari. One of the big things about the disk version is that if you quit to BASIC you couldn't get back to Diamond. You can't have both in the computer at once.¢ However, with the cartridge, when you quit to BASIC the cartridge is still plugged into the computer. And you can copy that data back into the computer and wheel it right on into the operating system right from the banks.¢¢MEMORY AND DOS¢¢אΘ∮∮: So it takes 8k of memory for that one cartridge and the rest is available for program?¢IJ∮β∈: That's right.¢אΘ∮∮: Does Diamond support the extra memory of a 130XE or the upgraded computers yet?¢IJ∮β∈: Yes. Right now we have three memory drivers - the 48k driver, the 64k driver, and the 128k driver. With these memory drivers we set up LO-Mem and the point just above the desk accessories, and the high memory point for an additional memory system.¢אΘ∮∮: Is Diamond totally compatible with the new Turbo-816 upgrade for the 8-bit?¢IJ∮β∈: Yes, we got the go ahead from Chuck, who runs Dataque Software. He says the new version works fine with the Turbo-816.¢אΘ∮∮: Well, that should be quite a shot in the arm for the 8-bit Atari, adding a high-speed operating system like Turbo-816 and a Graphics Operating Environment like Diamond.¢ At our meeting here yesterday, Diamond surprised a lot of people. A number of the people in the audience were ST users. Is there any particular thing that you can do on a ST graphics system that Diamond cannot do? I couldn't see anything myself.¢IJ∮β∈: To lasso files was mentioned. That's one thing.¢גβ÷ΘΣ: You're going to do the lasso later, right?¢IJ∮β∈: I may eventually do the lasso, but there is no guarantee that I will. It's not too big a deal. Other than that, Diamond has two windows and the ST has four windows.¢אΘ∮∮: Diamond supports up to six disk drives?¢IJ∮β∈: Seven.¢אΘ∮∮: Seven disk drives. And obviously from what David is running it will support hard-disk systems, RAMdisks, and floppy disks.¢גβ÷ΘΣ: And ICD's MIO interface box.¢אΘ∮∮: And the MIO. Is there anything it doesn't support?¢גβ÷ΘΣ: Does it work with the P:R: connector?¢IJ∮β∈: A lot of people wonder if Diamond supports this and that. It's not a matter of Diamond working with your set-up, but rather your operating system. If your DOS supports it, Diamond should work with it.¢אΘ∮∮: You just completed a patch so that Diamond will format correctly with SpartaDOS?¢IJ∮β∈: The SpartaDOS X cartridge. The problem with that was that when you called the format function it brought the format menu out in colours that were a little difficult to read. We made a little desk accessory that will give you the standard colours.¢אΘ∮∮: It works with SpartaDOS 3.2?¢IJ∮β∈: The format function of 3.2 formats in DOS 2.0. Diamond doesn't like reading a DOS 2.0 disk when it is using SpartaDOS 3.2. We're going to get a desk accessory that will work in 3.2 by calling the XINIT function of SpartaDOS.¢אΘ∮∮: You are using a 64k bank-selected Super Cartridge so you can put another cartridge with it. Does Diamond work with MyDOS?¢IJ∮β∈: Not at present. Someone did a disk version that we have that does work with MyDOS, but the present version doesn't support it.¢אΘ∮∮: How about Atari DOS 2.5?¢IJ∮β∈: Atari DOS 2.0, 2.5, SpartaDOS 3.2, SpartaDOS X, SmartDOS, and others are supported.¢גβ÷ΘΣ: TopDOS?¢IJ∮β∈: I haven't had anyone say that it doesn't work. Diamond will work with anything that uses a DOS 2.0 format. And TopDOS does that.¢אΘ∮∮: What desk accessories do you have out now for Diamond?¢IJ∮β∈: Right now we have a couple of simple ones, The Re-Booter, and X-Boot, which was written by a person in Michigan.¢אΘ∮∮: What does X-Boot do?¢IJ∮β∈: Basically it gets you back to the desktop. It does it a little neater then Re-Boot does.¢אΘ∮∮: There was some talk, before Diamond came out, that Atari might be picking up Diamond to include with all it's 8-bit machines. Have you heard anything more about that?¢IJ∮β∈: I talked with Sig Hartmann at the Atari Booth at the Anaheim show. At first I gave him three cartridges to look at, but apparently they were misplaced. The second time he gave us a list of people to send Diamond to. I think that if Atari were really interested in the product they would be contacting me rather than the other way round.¢אΘ∮∮: How are sales going on the Diamond system?¢IJ∮β∈: I think a lot of people are waiting to see what applications come out.¢¢¢End of part one.¢¢( Bill Pike is the president of the Portland Atari Club (PAC) in Beaverton, Oregon, USA. His articles appear in user group newletters around the world. You can write to him at PAC, P.O. Box 1692, Beaverton, OR 97005. )¢¢The Diamond system is available from: ¢Reeve Software,¢29W150 Old Farm Lane,¢Warrenville,¢IL 60555.¢Tel : (312) 393-2317.¢¢(Also, try B&C ComputerVisions - see Infofile for address and tel.)¢¢¢Futura conversion by S.J.Murray,¢23rd February, 1992,¢North Of Scotland Atari User Group.¢
