Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!ria!uwovax!7103_2622 From: 7103_2622@uwovax.uwo.ca (Eric Smith) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: SliccTop: What is it? Message-ID: <7734.273bf76f@uwovax.uwo.ca> Date: 10 Nov 90 17:49:51 GMT References: Lines: 57 > I'm seeing vague references to yet another ST multitasker on the > Citadel BBS network. The name is SliccTop, and it supposedly > multitasks GEM and TOS programs. If anyone has further info, > especially a press release, I'd appreciate receiving a copy. > The last ST Report had a press release. The brief intro to the press release raved about how this went beyond RTX and MiNT by providing multitasking to GEM programs. Curiously, though, the press release itself says: ... "TOS" and "TTP" programs are a special case. Without SLICCDOS installed, queued processing is suspended while "TOS" and "TTP" programs are executing. With SLICCDOS installed, "TOS" and "TTP" programs run directly on the desktop in user sizable windows; and queued processing continues just as it would for any desktop application. [ "Another product, SLICCDOS, which will be released in 4 to 5 months, will completely replace the file management system on the Atari." from earlier in the press release ] ... Yes, now there is true multitasking on ATARI . . . and a system far superior to any other in the marketplace. But, that does not mean that your system is now capable of executing multiple Atari programs concurrently. Many of the developers who designed software for use on the Atari have designed it in such a way as to prevent efficient multitasking, and in some cases, even made their software totally incompatible with a multitasking system by use of what may be termed as system-hacking technology. ... To avoid the disasters of system crashes resulting from attempting to multitask conflicting hacker software, SLICCWARE has chosen to run the entire Atari operating system as though it were a single task. To further avoid problems, the major operating system functions such as disk access and window control are constantly monitored, even if the major portion of SLICCTOP has been swapped out at the user's request while an Atari program is executing. The result, the user may only run one Atari program at a time. He may, however, run that program while queued processing is taking place. In other words, SLICCTOP doesn't multitask ANY Atari programs! What it does seem to provide are background file copies, disk formatting, and printing. Modules are promised to do other applications in the background; but the bottom line is that you have to buy these modules from SLICCWARE. You can't do a compile in the background and play a game in the foreground unless either the compiler or the game is written specifically for SLICCTOP. This, of course, can be very useful; but it's hardly a new situation. RTX and MiNT both provide essentially the same facilities, with the added bonus of not requiring you to buy another product 4 or 5 months from now to multitask TOS and TTP programs. -- Eric R. Smith email: Dept. of Mathematics ersmith@uwovax.uwo.ca University of Western Ontario ersmith@uwovax.bitnet London, Ont. Canada N6A 5B7 ph: (519) 661-3638