¢ADDING A MOUSE¢¢by Kevin Cooke¢¢Part 6¢¢¢ Yes, it's the sixth part of ADDING A MOUSE. I have another PD program to look at this time - THE GOE DEMO.¢¢ For anyone who has seen Diamond GOS, you'll know what to expect. The GOE Demo is an example of what GOE was supposed to be able to do, i.e. act as a 'desktop' type operating environment. Unfortunately, it never saw the light of day, and so all we have to remember it by is this demo.¢¢ GOE is basically what is called a 'WIMP' based enviroment. WIMP stands for Windows, Icon, Mouse, Pointer. This is what each of these are:¢¢WINDOW: A box of information or options that is opened by moving the pointer over the window's name (usually at the top of the screen). When the window then 'opens' (a box becomes visible, covering anything behind) you are usually given an option to choose from in the same way as you opened the window itself.¢¢ICON: A small drawing used to represent something, for example, a disk with a number '1' on it could represent disk drive #1. So, to perform a function with a particular drive, you might first click on the relevent disk to select the drive.¢¢MOUSE: The controller often used to control the pointer.¢¢POINTER: What the mouse controls. In the same way as a joystick might control a spaceship in a game, a mouse would control a pointer which usually takes the shape of a north-west facing arrow. The pointer has to be moved onto an icon or window name to select it.¢¢ Don't worry if this sounds a little complicated. It really is easy when you see it directly in front of you - after all, ease is the object of a WIMP based enviroment! (If you would like a little more information, see the Diamond column in Futura issue 5).¢¢ Anyway, when you boot-up the GOE demo, you are greeted with a fairly standard desktop screen. The pointer is slightly smaller than that on Diamond GOS but otherwise everything looks very similiar. On the left hand side of the screen are two disks - one represents drive 1 and the other drive 2. At the bottom of the screen is the 'trash can' where anything you don't wish to keep is moved to.¢¢ At the top of the screen are the names of four windows. The contents of each window is as follows:¢¢DESK:¢¢Info - Information about GOE.¢¢Control panel - Here you can set the time, date, screen backround colour, window backround colour, choose between 40 or 64 column text, etc.¢¢Calculator - This is basically a graphical drawing of a calculator but by moving the pointer over a button you can 'click' on it and make the relevant number appear on the display bar. You can then use the function buttons (division, multiplication, etc) to perform calculations. In theory this one is very useful.¢¢FILE:¢¢Info on desk - Some more GOE info.¢¢New folder - This allows you to create a 'folder' on a disk. A folder basically allows you to save files under the same 'directory'. An example of this is as follows: You want to do some various pieces of writing for your job and so you create a folder called 'job'. When you then save the writing it is put in the 'job' folder. Getting a directory while the 'job' folder is open will reveal only what you have saved into it. Anything else on the disk will not show up on a directory, unless of course you specifically ask for a directory of all files. As you can probably see, folders are very useful for sorting files together.¢¢Add drive - GOE is normally set up to recognize two disk drives, but you can add more. This is basically the function that allows you to do so.¢¢Save desktop - This option will allow you to save your desktop to the disk. This means that the desktop will boot-up with your chosen colours, correct number of drives, etc. each time the disk is loaded. This saves you having to make it suit your tastes each time you load it.¢¢Print screen - This function seems one of the most usefull. It should allow you to print out an exact replica of what is on your TV screen. Unfortunately, it was disabled for the demo version.¢¢Format disk - Pretty obvious!¢¢VIEW:¢¢This menu allows you to view a disk directory in a number of different ways. Firstly, you can have each file appear as either a picture of a folder or in the same way as it would in DOS. Secondly, you can have the files sorted into order either by name or type.¢¢OPTION:¢¢This is the final menu, although none of the options are set up to work. They are 'Execute DOS', 'Atari BASIC', 'TOP cartridge' and 'Missile Command' which all pretty much speak for themselves.¢¢ The idea behind GOE was obviously not only to replace all other software that performed the same functions but to improve on the application of it as well. If only this had been released in a final form - it would have been brilliant. As it is, it still looks good but is ultimately not much use as a serious tool.¢¢¢-----¢¢¢Ed: THE GOE DEMO is available as an ARCed file on NOSAUG PD Disk AIM06 (AIM October 1991).¢
