Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!DS0RUS54.BITNET!VCD51661
From: VCD51661@DS0RUS54.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: GDOS - basic information wanted
Message-ID: <8911141500.AA10674@jade.berkeley.edu>
Date: 15 Nov 89 08:03:24 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 45
X-Unparsable-Date: Tue Nov 14 14:35:00 UTC 1989

Hello, out there in netland!

From time to time the same question seems to appear on the net:
What is GDOS, and more important: How can i use it? Did i miss
the answer? As i once bought GDOS myself but have no luck in
using it (it came with almost no documentation) i want to post
the question again. More specific:

1.) What does GDOS consist of? It is, as far as i know, a
    supplement to TOS/GEM. Which functions belong to it? Is
    it just some environment/kernel for device drivers, or do
    drivers belong to it?
2.) What is the general format of the assign.sys file (which
    seems to be some startup information file)? Are there other
    files needed (except for font files)?
3.) How do i use the GEM Metafile device? Can i, e.g., open a
    virtual workstation with a metafile as device, and do all
    kinds of VDI operations on it, and then - somehow and some=
    where - a metafile is produced? And how can i use this meta-
    file later? Where do i get a metafile driver, if it isn't
    part of gdos itself?
4.) How can one write own drivers, i.e. what specifications
    has a driver to fulfil?

This is a catalog of questions. The answer would be a handbook
on GDOS, i guess. I suspect that no one would like to answer
in full detail, even if he/she knows. However, every information
is welcome. Maybe some literature hint, if any. Documents in
the style of Allan Pratt's "Pexec cookbook" or Tim Oren's "Pro-
fessional GEM" would be perfect, but i doubt that such a document
on GDOS exists.

Again, every hint is welcome.

                        /*
                        **  Benno Salzgeber
                        **  Institute for Computer Applications
                        **  University of Stuttgart
                        **  Pfaffenwaldring 57
                        **  D-7000 Stuttgart 80 (FRG)
                        **  VCD51661@DS0RUS54.BITNET
                        */

-- FOOD FOR THE LITTLE LINEEATER -- FOOD FOR THE LITTLE LINEEATER -- FOOD
-- FOOD FOR THE LITTLE LINEEATER -- FOOD FOR THE LITTLE LINEEATER -- FOOD