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From: tomr@drilex.UUCP (Tom Revay)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: GEM p.d. software; Development Package
Message-ID: <222@drilex.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Oct-87 16:24:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: drilex.222
Posted: Wed Oct  7 16:24:59 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Oct-87 16:37:00 EDT
References: <3975@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: tomr@drilex.UUCP (Tom Revay)
Organization: Data Resources/McGraw-Hill, Lexington, MA
Lines: 48

In article <3975@ecsvax.UUCP> tcamp@ecsvax.UUCP (Ted A. Campbell) writes:
> 
>(1) Are there any public-domain or shareware GEM applications or
>systems utilities available for GEM on the PC (I'm using Hercules
>Graphics)?  What Bulletin Boards might carry such software?

Not when the toolkit costs $500!  GEM on the Atari ST has some hacked up
stuff by PD programmers, but I'd be surprised to see much on the PC.

>(2) The GEM Development package seems quite high priced directly
>from DRI.  Does anyone carry this at a more reasonable price?
>
I'd recommend you check with Programmers Connection of Hartville, OH,
at (800) 336-1166 in the US, (800) 225-1166 in Canada, and collect
from Ohio or Alaska at (216) 877-3781. I've bought a fair amount of
stuff from them, and they've been very good.  They're prices are
always better than average.

Now for a little additional advice ....

I started using GEM for a business graphics module for a larger
program about two years ago.  I found it somewhat buggy, and the
documentation was rather obscure.  Since I didn't need the fancy
windowed interface, I switched to the Computer Graphics Interface
software from GSS of Beaverton, OR ((503) 641-2200).  It's not much
cheaper, but it seems more reliable, the tech support is better, and
the docs are better.  Also, GEM is descended from the GSS*VDI, as is
CGI, so if you have code written for GEM, it can pretty much slip
right into CGI.

I also recommend reading Szezepanowski & Gunther's "Atari ST GEM
Programmer's Reference."  This will get you started in GEM a lot
better than the GEM docs (unless they've been vastly improved in the
past year or so since I've seen the latest).  WARNING:  It's not a
great book, and you'll still have to read the DR stuff, but between
the two you'll probably figure things out faster than I did.  It's published
by Abacus.

+--Tom Revay---------------------+----------------------------------+
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