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1995-10-22
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EXECUTIVE V1.20
===============
This is the second public release of Executive. CU Amiga magazine wanted
to put Executive to their cover CD, so I made V1.10 for them. It had only
a few changes, so I decided not to spread it.
The most notable changes in this release are:
- Meter, a new client for registered users. Meter displays all kinds
of system information in a small, customizable window.
- System is now scanned during installation for programs in the
ExecutivePrefs Magic Wand list and these are added to the
preferences file automatically. Existing preferences file is
also updated.
- Some changes were made to all schedulers. I have especially spent
a lot of time improving the Queues-scheduler. The changes I have
made make it the best scheduler in Executive. It's a real killer
now (maybe I should rename it to "O.J."?)
- There's now a Common problems -section in the docs.
- Server now defaults to using CIA-B timer on 68020+ machines so the
CIA-A timer is left free for programs that aren't wise enough to
use CIA-B timer if CIA-A is reserved.
Here's a full list of changes made after Executive V1.00:
V1.10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Top-client now supports VMM. It displays available virtual memory if
VMM has been installed.
* Added ToolsDaemon And VLT/VLTjr to the Magic Wand list.
* Server now defaults to using CIA-B timer on 68020+ machines and
CIA-A timer on 68000 and 68010.
* Added a Common problems section to docs.
* A .Product-Info file is now included.
* ExecutivePrefs[_MUI] will now check for duplicate entries in task-list.
* If a new entry is created in ExecutivePrefs[_MUI] by pressing the
New-gadget but then Cancel-gadget is pressed in Edit-window, the
entry will be deleted.
* When the initial preferences file is written, system task list is
scanned for tasks that are also in the ExecutivePrefs Magic Wand list
and these tasks will automatically be added to the preferences file.
* Ps now has a new builtin format string called STACK which prints
stack usage statistics.
V1.20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Meter is a new client which displays all kinds of system information
in a small window. It very customizable and you no longer need ten
different programs to show all the information you need. See
documentation for more information. Meter requires a registered
version of Executive.
* Scheduler changes:
o ALL SCHEDULERS
- Nice-value now has much greater influence on task's priority.
o QUEUES
- Reduced the number of queues from 10 to 8.
- A task is not allowed to migrate upwards immediately, instead
scheduler forces the task to wait for one second first. This
eliminates priority "wobbling" which happens when two or more
tasks using approximately the same amount of CPU time are fighting
for the CPU.
- This scheduler now adjusts Exec's Quantum-value when a task is
launched. Lower priority tasks get higher Quantum, letting them
run for longer time before switching to another task with same
priority.
- See documentation for more detailed information.
o SUPER
- Remember task type (CPU intensive or interactive) for longer time
- Task's type now influences task's priority even if task hasn't used
any CPU time recently.
* Added a Flush memory menu item to top. This flushes unused libraries
from memory.
* If a process has empty CLI command name (Term has if it's started
from Workbench) Executive will now use task name instead when search
for a task from watched tasks list.
* ALoad[_MUI] can now display current CPU usage instead of system load
average. You can also specify which colors should be used and you
can optionally have a clock in the window's titlebar.
* Top can now be run in a shell-window, without opening an Intuition
window, so you can run top from a remote shell. Use the STDOUT-
option for this. There's also another new option, ONCE, which will
just output the information to stdout and then exit.
* Commander and ExecutivePrefs windows are now much faster and take
less memory.
* Commander now has a zoom-gadget and a new option, ZIP, for zipping
the window when Commander is started.
* If a program was set to be [not] scheduled, and it was started
using Run, it was possible that Executive didn't notice the task.
This happens because the CLI command name is not set immediately
when a task is created. And under heavy system load this may take
several seconds. I added a workaround for this problem, but there's
no bullet proof way to fix this completely. It should now work
well enough in all imaginable cases.
* Added a fix for a bug in AmigaOS 3.x which causes system to lock
up if a task that opens the Workbench screen has a priority lower
than 1. Executive will now set task's priority to catchmax+1 while
executing Intuition functions that could cause the Workbench
screen to be reopened.
(Executive, all clients, docs, sysinfo)
* Added some information to the Command problems section in docs.
* If the update interval was more than 1 second, ALoad[_MUI] and ALoad3D
displayed an average of the loadaverage, they now display the current
value.
* Stat will now show how many accounting records has been created.
Stat will no longer output "Accounting is activated" because this
should be obvious if accounting statistics are shown.
* Install-script will now update existing preferences file if it finds
tasks that are in the Magic Wand list.
* If ExecutivePrefs[_MUI] finds the preferences file from ENV: then
preferences will be saved to ENV: AND ENVARC:.
* Added a note about Delitracker MED-player to the Common problems
section in docs.
* You can now use CTRL-C to stop pstree.
* Added MagicCX, MultiCX, ToolManager, TrapDoor, MagicMenu, MCP and
JamMail to the Magic Wand list.
* Uptime is now calculated from eclock instead of RAM:-disk creation time.
* Programs started using WBStart-Handler are now accounted properly.
* Added portuguese catalog.
* MUI list headers are now shown with highlight pen, which is usually white.
* Removed text from top documentation that said it's possible that
top may cause serial transfer errors. This is not true.
* You can now use TASK+CHILDTASKS-option in the preferences file, instead
of two separate options TASK and CHILDTASKS.
* Fixed a small bug that caused a wrong item to be selected when
double-clicking an item in ExecutivePrefs listviews.
* Optimized the code that reads the preferences file, this made the
server and ExecutivePrefs[_MUI] a bit smaller.
* Fixed a bug in ctp and kill-clients. If NAME, USER, GROUP or PGRP-
options matched multiple tasks, it was possible that not all tasks
were affected.
* Registration fee is now accepted in DKK (Danish krone).
* Money transfer to my bank account is now possible. See documentation
or the registration forms.
* ALoad and top now use pens from screen DrawInfo.
* Top now has options for specifying background and text colors.
* Added a zoom-gadget to the top-client. Pressing it causes the window
to be zipped so that only the header is displayed. There's also a new
option, ZIP, for zipping the window when top is started.
* ALoad and uptime windows are now simple refresh windows, which
take less memory than smart refresh windows.
* Top will not allow a user (except the superuser) to break other users'
tasks if MultiUser has been installed.
* The clients that have a STAYFRONT-option will now check if the window
is frontmost before trying to bring the window to front.
* Changed the ShapeShifter entry in Magic Wand list so that the ShapeShifter
main task is scheduled, but not it's childtasks.
* Corrected a lot of speling erors in the docs. :) Also made some small
improvements here and there.
* Fixed a bug which caused some memory to be trashed when a client or
the server displayed the AmigaGuide document.
* Fixed a bug which caused task name to be displayed instead of CLI
command name if process has a CLI structure but no CLI number.
* Commander and ExecutivePrefs now retain listview position when
updating the list. This only worked with OS3+ before.
* Fixed the COMMAND-keyword in ps.
* All icons now have tooltypes with default values.
* Added some words to the Glossary in docs.
* When top erased a task that became idle, it sometimes outputted a few
miscellaneous characters.
* Added Brilliance to the Magic Wand list.
* When Commander's window is zipped, it's width is halved.
* Added a new option ANGLE to ALoad3D. You can now specify the initial
rotation angle. It's now also possible to rotate the bar-chart using
left and right cursor keys.
* Added a note about Term to Common problems section.
* ALoad3D's display is now rendered immediately after the window is
resized.
* Commander will now update the task list when it's window is unzoomed.
Commander_MUI does the same thing when it's uniconified.
* Top will no longer look for VMM every second if it isn't in use when
top is started.
* Added DirectoryOpus to the Magic Wand list. This is not necessary, but
DO works faster and is more responsive when it's support tasks are not
scheduled.
* ExecutivePrefs[_MUI] now checks if the Executive.guide file is in
BASEDIR. If not, it sets BASEDIR to the current PROGDIR: there
when prefs are saved.
* The server now changes its priority to 126 after it has read the keyfile
and preferences so no disk access is done at this priority.