Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!rh2y+ From: rh2y+@andrew.cmu.edu (Russell E. Hoffman, II) Newsgroups: comp.os.os9 Subject: OS9 Sourcebook/Catalog Message-ID: Date: 17 Apr 91 00:53:52 GMT Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 95 Well, it (they) finally came today: My copies of the OS9 Sourcebook and the OS9 Catalog. Yep, I finally decided to order them both. I snagged the OS-9000 Catalog, too, just out of curiosity. A few impressions - note that these are entirely my opinions, but I thought maybe somebody'd be interested, especially those who haven't seen these pieces of literature yet. First, I was impressed with the prompt service. I ordered the stuff last Thursday, and it arrived today (Tuesday). The books themselves are nicely put together, neat cover art and all that sort of thing. The two Catalogs are both about 200 pages, and the Sourcebook is about 340 pages. I was a little disappointed with the Sourcebook. First, it's still the same sourcebook I had a chance to see a few years back. In fact, the copy they sent me was the 1989 edition. Not exactly up-to date., but still quite informative. Both Catalogs were 1990/1991 editions, so I was rather impressed by that. For those who don't know, the Catalogs give a pretty detailed description of the features and structure of OS9, as well as a brief history. The network support packages look very impressive and thorough. I'm still left wondering a little bit about the differences between the ISP and ESP packages. At first perusal, it seems the ISP is more complete, offering the daemon ends for telnet and FTP, as well as the clients. In the Sourcebook, a LOT of OSK hardware vendors are listed, with a VERY impressive array of OS9 hardware, both 68K and 6809. Some of the platforms in there are definitely ahead of their time, especially in 1989. At least one vendor I saw listed two different 50 MHz 68030 - based systems for sale. I even noticed an Australian firm listing an OS9/68000-based music computer with a 35MB RAM, 1 68020 CPU, 1 68000 CPU, and _10_ 6809 CPU's, in addition to some 16-bit audio hardware and a very large disk array... As far as software goes, there were (as I had a sneaking suspicion) quite a few general utility-type programs (copy, move, sort-directory, et cetera ad infinitum), a lot of text-editors, replacement shells, and all THAT sort of thing. To my surprise, there were also listed a lot of programming languages and environments, many database, spreadsheet, and word-processing programs. Also, quite a few specialized industrial-type programs for process control and so forth. One vendor even sells an OS9 version of X11R3 (x-window)! The Sourcebook also lists the contents of the OS9 User Group software collection, up to and including volume 56. Much of the software ine this collection seems to be written in BASIC09 or 6809 assembly, and, again, much of it consists of utilities and filters. A few 68000 programs are listed as well. In the OS9 Catalog, Microware gives a pretty good description of their SmartWare package, an integrated Word-processor, database, spreadsheet, and communications program. From what I can tell from the Catalog, it looks fairly nice. One thing I noticed was the capability to integrate charts and graphs into text documents. Now, after all that (whew!) I have yet one more point to make. Most of the stuff in these two documents was geared towards industry and real-time control, which, of course, is the main drive behind OS9 (or so it would seem from reading this literature.) Other than a handful of accounting packages, a spreadsheet or two, and a couple word processors, most of the software I saw today consisted of either software development tools or file utilities. (And, of course, the process-controll stuff) Now, I realize that not 200 million people own OS9 based systems for their own personal computing needs. It's fair to say more people own MS-DOS or Apple-based platforms to use to do general purpose day-to-day computing type stuff. But there's no reason why more general-purpose 'personal' software can't exist for OS9 based platforms. There are CERTAINLY PLENTY of software development packages available, so where's the software that's being developed? Now, I realize that a lot of the stuff that gets developed is developed in-house for a particular company, and that software never leaves that company. That's fine. I myself have developed in-house software on OSK boxes for several people, I know how that goes. But how many people are out there (like me) who have OSK or OS9/6809 boxes and (like me) are realizing how much easier it would be to get a particular task done on another platform? I try to use my OSK box for as much as possible, but there are some things I just cant yet do. By this point, you're probably wondering why you're still reading this article, and you probably are thinking 'gee, another guy complaining about no PC-type software for OSK...' Well, partially true.. But I AM trying MY best to create some PD stuff for my own personal computing needs, and hopefully to the advantage of others. Right now, I am developing a graphics package for graphing data and doing least squares analysis, curve fitting, and that sort of thing, because I need something like that for my engineering classes. I may try to do a port of gnuplot instead; I haven't decided yet. Anyway, before i get _too_ long-winded (too late already? :-), I'd just like to make the point that there are certainly a few good OSK programmers out there who can come up with some new stuff for the 'personal' market (whether PD or not, up to you...) Maybe the new wave of CoCo fanatics who are just now getting into the OSK world can help out; they seem to be eager and willing.. (I should know.. I still have 2 CoCo II's :-) Well, that's my two-cent's worth. Cheers, Russell Hoffman rh2y+@andrew.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon University ------------------- Disclaimer: I am not an employee of Microware Systems Corp... In fact, at the moment, I seem to be unemployed!