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Wayne%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU (Wayne McGuire) typed:
>
>Question: has anyone on the list taken a close look at Simultask? The
>review remarks that Simultask runs within an (apparently windowing)
>interface/shell called PC 6300 Plus Office that is somewhat slower than
>Microsoft Windows and Desqview, and not quite as sophisticated as the AT&T
>7300 user interface.  How does this interface compare with the Mac/GEM
>style of windowing? Is it a suitable model for a 4-meg multitasking Atari?
>

The windowing system on the 6300 Plus is not really a general windowing
system ( at least on the ones I have seen.  The ones I have seen are kind
of old, so this may have changed ).

When you run the thing, you get a box on the screen that looks something
like this:

	XXX Office XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
	X                               X
	X -Administration               X
	X  Commands                     X
	X  Printer Information          X
	X  Unix System                  X
	X                               X
	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The "X"s are really solid rectangles of inverse video, and the command
with the "-" next to it is in inverse video.  You use the arrow keys to
move up and down the menu and hit return to select an item.

Some commands bring up other menus, for example, "Commands" makes the
screen look like this.

	.Office..................
	.                       .
	.  Administation        .
	. -Commands X Commands XXXXXXXXXX
	.  Printer  X                   X
	.  Unix SystX -Color            X
	.           X  DOS-to-UNIX      X
	............X  Logout           X
		    X  Shutdown         X
		    X  UNIX-to-DOS      X
		    X                   X
		    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the bottom of the screen are labels for the function keys.  It also
supports something that is like what a Mac user would call a Dialog Box.
For example, selecting "DOS-to-UNIX" clears the screen and draws this:

	XX DOS-to-UNIX Copy XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
	X                                                               X
	X     MS-DOS File:  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX   X
	X                                                               X
	X       UNIX File:                                              X
	X                                                               X
	X                               Replace Mode                    X
	X                                                               X
	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Compared to Mac, ST, Amiga, etc, this is not that impressive.  Compared
to MS-DOS, it is perhaps something to get excited about.

The way the 6300 Plus runs DOS tasks is kind of interesting.  UNIX runs in
protected mode, and DOS wants to be in real mode.  They have implemented
some external ( to the CPU ) mapping hardware so that they can have memory
that is not available to real mode.  They put DOS in the memory that is
available to real mode, and all the UNIX stuff in the memory that isn't.

To switch to the DOS task, they RESET the CPU ( this is the only way to
go from protected mode to real mode ).  The DOS task then runs in real
mode.  When it needs to do something that UNIX needs to know about,
the external hardware makes the CPU go back to real mode and UNIX runs.
( There is also a watchdog timer to force this if a DOS task gets into
a loop ).

The person who thought of this is either a genius, or insane ( probably
both! )
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Tim Smith       USENET: sdcrdcf!ism780c!tim   Compuserve: 72257,3706
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