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From: csbrod@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: MultiGEM (was Re: TT questions)
Message-ID: <1991Apr10.120813.8803@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Date: 10 Apr 91 12:08:13 GMT
References: <23274@know.pws.bull.com> <1991Apr9.135117.24365@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> <1991Apr09.180854.7134@ecst.csuchico.edu>
Organization: CSD., University of Erlangen, Germany
Lines: 61

ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes:

>>Try MultiGEM from Maxon in Germany. It's a MultiFinder-clone for the
>>ST which will soon be released for the TT, too.

>What else can you tell us about MultiGEM?  Price?  Is it compatible with 
>TOS 1.4 and STe?  Any plans for a North American distribution?  Please
>provide us with Maxon's address.

	MAXON Computer
	Industriestrasse 26
	D-6236 Eschborn
	Germany

Warning concerning everything I tell you about MultiGEM: I know the
programmer personally, so my views may be biased. Take them with a
grain of salt 8-)

MultiGEM is something like a MultiFinder clone for the ST series. I
think it also runs on 1040STe and MegaSTEs, but I'm not sure. At CeBIT,
it had some problems with TT fast RAM, but I didn't expect anything
else for it was presented as a ST-only-product _at the moment_.

MultiGEM is a small AUTO folder program (eats up 30 or 40 KB in memory)
that lets you start up several applications simultaneously from the
Desktop (or from GEMINI). This is done by faking the AES into thinking
that those applications are in fact accessories. (Yes, this means that
you can't have more than 7 applications at one time, and that you have
to sacrifice ACC slots to start up applications.) The applications
multitask cooperatively following the standard GEM concept of giving up
control from time to time by calling the AES. All the major GEM applications
work. TOS program output can be redirected to a window, so they want mess
up other programs' screens, and TOS programs will even multitask this way!

If you click into a program's window, its menu bar is switched on and
displayed in the first line of the screen. If the program owns a
desktop, this will be brought to the front, too. Alternatively,
you can switch applications by clicking into the Desk menu where
you find the names of the currently running applications.

Some programs won't multitask properly. One of them is SIGNUM. If you
start it up and click into its "window", windows from the desktop
beneath will show up and mess up the display. This is because SIGNUM
doesn't do proper GEM output. In these cases, you can force MultiGEM
into singletasking mode. Some other applications like to eat up
the complete memory available. MultiGEM can fool them during startup
so that they will leave enough room for other programs.

MultiGEM has been presented at CeBIT in March. It is not yet a real
commercial product as I understand. I heard rumors that it might
be available RSN, but I can't say for sure.
 
There will be a special TT version, but I don't have any details on
it.
 
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Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2,			Things. Take. Time.
D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, West Germany		(Piet Hein)
csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de
Claus Brod@wue.maus.de
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