Many Menus¢----------¢¢I got the idea for this article by reading Allan J. Palmer's Mailbag section in 'New Atari User' a couple of issues ago. I waited to see whether anyone else thought they'd have a go at it and submit it to 'New Atari User', but nobody seems to so I thought I'd have a go at it myself.¢ All menus appear 'in order of appearance' wherever possible. I don't claim I know every menu on the 8-bit but this article goes a far way.¢ Only boot menus are included in the list and 'Speed', 'NDos', 'MicroDos' etc are excluded as these come under the heading of 'DOS compatible' and any all-density DOS menu like BiboDOS or SuperDOS can transfer from them.¢*¢Multiboot¢---------¢¢The first menu maker written for the Atari and coded by Jon Williams of 'Jet Boot Jack' and 'Timeslip' fame.¢ Early Multiboot menus were designed for the 400/800 and 810 disk drives so a translator was required for XL/XE and the enhanced density on these drives wasn't utilised.¢ The translator option was quickly fixed and then along came an explosion of Multiboot menus that worked on all computers and in either single or enhanced density.¢ When writing a menu Multiboot wrote itself to the disk which lost 49 sectors for your programs. Fine if you wanted the whole Multiboot and utilities but what if you just wanted a games menu? Many aspiring coders took it upon themselves to write a simple replacement menu including Pirate Punk's 'Short Multiboot' and Sol's 'Warpspeed Megaboot' (worked at Ultra/Warp speed on US/Happy drives). Both were fine but you couldn't recapture any of the sectors lost to the original Multiboot because sectors 48 and 49 were used as a file directory and were unmovable (the menu wouldn't be Multiboot compatible then would it?).¢ Multiboot is hardly used nowadays.¢*¢Rob.C Menu Maker¢----------------¢¢The first Rob.C Menu Maker was written (like Multiboot) with the 400/800 and 810 in mind and so the early Rob.C Menu Maker (and the menus it created) wouldn't work on XL/XE (due to illegal jumps into the OS for GETKEY and PUTCHAR).¢ Soon the updated Rob.C Menu Maker came along with its support for all computers and enhanced drives and thus the old version is very, very rare.¢ Rob.C Menu Maker was just that - a menu maker. It didn't recreate itself like Multiboot and a enhanced density formatted disk with menu would leave you with an impressive 1036 free sectors.¢ The menu maker allows you to transfer files from Multiboot and a Rob.C menu.¢ I was saddened to read in a recent 'New Atari User', Derek Fern saying all software with the name 'ROB.C' on it is illegal. This is just not true as this menu maker illustrates. It is true that Rob.C was mainly a software pirater but he was also a very good coder and this menu maker compliments this. By the way, if you have an ST then you may be interested to know that Rob.C is known as Was (Not Was) and Vapour on this computer. Interesting, huh?¢*¢1050 Menu¢---------¢¢I think this was supposed to be a replacement for Multiboot as it is XL/XE compatible and formats disks in enhanced density.¢ The screen layout is extremely similar to Multiboot and it even recreates itself to menu disks with all the utilities available.¢ It is NOT Multiboot compatible and I've yet to come across a menu maker that is able to transfer from it.¢ If you ever come across this menu - format it!¢*¢1050 Doubler¢------------¢¢Same as the previous menu but only works with true double density drives. It's still bobbins but it may have the honour of being the first double density menu on the Atari.¢*¢C.Elton Menu Maker¢------------------¢¢I actually haven't got this menu maker but I've seen some of the menus it produces. Written with only the true double density drives in mind. I haven't seen it used for a long time.¢*¢Alpha Menu Maker¢----------------¢¢Another true double density menu maker. The actual menu maker section allows you to choose between a few different menus (the Atari logo one is my favourite) and different fonts.¢ A few groups and individuals decided to add their own menus to the Alpha bandwagon and I've seen efforts from the LPS and Pirate Punk.¢ It's a good menu maker and a lot of people prefer it but what lets it down is that there's a seperate file for each function. There's a menu maker proram, a transferer, a renamer and a deleter and they're all seperate files!¢*¢Ian.K Menu Creator¢------------------¢¢There are a number of different versions of this menu creator but the one you want is v1.9+ (guess who modified it for the '+'? Shucks!). Early versions were full of bugs and I've been told that v1.4 actually adds one sector to the length of each file transfered!¢ This menu maker was written for 1050 doubler owners only and until I modified it for v1.9+ it wouldn't format on Happy at all.¢ It transfers from many other menus including Multiboot, Rob.C, Alpha and C.Elton and allows you to write the file to either Ian.K or Rob.C.¢ My favourite menu maker - it's the one I mainly use.¢*¢Mockingbird¢-----------¢¢Another rare menu that I've only ever seen used once and that had the Mockingbird menu maker on it!¢ Very similar in concept to the Rob.C Menu Maker which is ultimately its downfall. It can format disks in single and enhanced density and although the main menu maker can only transfer from Mockingbird menus, there's a seperate program which allows transfer from Multiboot and Rob.C.¢*¢Howfen DOS¢----------¢¢Not, as it says, a true Disk Operating System (like DOS 2.x), this is another COMMERCIALLY RELEASED menu maker - it is NOT Public Domain (send your disk back to Futura demanding a replacement!).¢ Versions I have seen are v3.0, v3.07 and v3.08. I assume there were earlier versions but I've never seen them. I did see an old Howfen menu once (very similar to a Rob.C menu) but I didn't see the actual menu maker.¢ Howfen DOS is the only menu maker that will work in all densities (Single, Enhanced (or Dual, as it says), US Double and True Double). It can transfer between the two quite easily and also allows transfer from Multiboot, Rob.C, Ian.K, C.Elton and Alpha.¢ Howfen DOS also has the unique feature of allowing you to transfer multi-load tapes into one menu file. Success rate isn't extremely high but if it doesn't work you can always use the 'Multi Tape to Disk' utility that comes with the master disk. This simply allows to you load in a tape and save it as a boot disk. The boot disk can then be transfered to a Howfen menu but it won't work in true double density and the file can be extremely long. It's better than having to use the awful 'Transdisk' though!¢*¢K & D Menu Maker¢----------------¢¢One of the last menu makers to be written for the Atari (1991), it was coded by Ken and Den Hill. The menu allows the most files per menu of any in this listing (a massive 44 files!) but the menu maker will only work in single and enhanced density so it's unlikely you'll ever fill it up.¢ The menu maker allows the option of transfering files from other menus but it doesn't actually tell you what it can transfer from. It just reads in the disk and if it knows it, it'll give you a menu of the files on the disk. Rob.C menu and Multiboot are recognised but I haven't tested any others.¢ I'd place this second, behind Rob.C Menu Maker, for unmodified drives. If, however, you have a US Doubler/Happy drive you'd be much better off with Howfen or Ian.K.¢*¢There are a couple of other menu makers around but they're hardly worthy of a mention.¢ Firstly there's a menu for special use with the ISP plate. Not much use if you haven't got it, I suppose.¢ Also, there's the M.Dunn Menu Maker but I haven't investigated this much as I couldn't get it to work with my drive.¢¢John E. (TEBSF)¢
