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This article was originally submitted for Issue #7 of The GateKeeper. To the best of my knowledge The GateKeeper ceased publication after Issue #6 and this article was never published.

geoSpecific - OOPS! (problems, patches and fixing flaws)
by Bruce Thomas

My original plan for this issue was to look at some interesting utilities that allow GEOS users to accomplish routine tasks easier. I got sidetracked. What made me change my plans was a letter that appeared in the GEOS Publication regarding the topic of my last column here - GEOS Disk One. Since I had to mention this item it seemed only fair to include a few other OOPS! related items I have made note of over the years.

Disks (sources and fixing)

Spike Dethman no longer supports his GEOS Disk One due to the fact he no longer owns a Commodore Computer. Since the disk contains some very useful programs (Paint Rotate, Click Pix, Envelope, GeoPack, etc.) I have made arrangements for easy access to it. Tom Adams, President of Meeting 64/128 Users Through the Mail User Group, does disk copying for the Gatekeeper, among others. Tom has agreed to provide copies of GEOS Disk One to anyone who sends him their name, address and $2 US funds. The $2 covers the cost of the disk, mailer and postage and in no way precludes the user from actually sending Spike the low $9.95 shareware fee for these great programs (he wrote them and deserves to be paid for these excellent programs). Write to Tom Adams at: GEOS Disk One, c/o Tom Adams, 4427-39th Street, Brentwood, MD, 20722-1022

The disk is also available for download on Genie, at different Internet sites and it was included on the GateKeeper Disk #6.

Another source of disks for GEOS users is Dick Estel with a collection of Fonts and Graphics. Here is a message I received from Dick about these products.

"Dick Estel is offering over 50 disks of GEOS fonts and artwork, including many scanned images not available anywhere else. Most disks are $3 each, with quantity discounts. The material is also available on 3.5" disks. For a catalog and sample disk, send $1.50 to Dick Estel, 3487 E. Terrace, Fresno CA 93703."

This collection is a great way to expand your print options and contains some terrific items. Dick has been providing this service for quite a few years now, is fast and reliable, as well as being a great person intent on helping others push the limits of their systems.

Super Validate, by Paul Murdaugh, appears on a ReRUN disk (Mar/Apr 1992) available from CMD. While this file has no problems it helps you track down files that do. This utility program performs a disk validation but returns legible error messages if a file is bad. Armed with this knowledge, a disk editor (Maverick S.E. is a good GEOS based one) and the instructions, you may be able to resurrect some of your damaged files.

Photo Scraps

With GeoWizard there is a handy custom screen dumper that will take a screen shot without the geoWizard menu across the top. I use this for the screen shots I send to Bryan and, since it runs from geoWizard, you can get shots of screens that don't allow access to D.A.'s (like the Calendar Shot this issue).

When I first sent Scott Eggleston a picture for my articles in The Underground I sent him a WizDump Photo Scrap (you can save output as Photo Scraps or geoPaint files). Scott uses geoPublish V1.0b and this scrap crashed his geoPublish when he pasted it on the page. My versions of geoPublish both took the scrap with no complaints. If you use V1.0b you will want to create WizDump 'Paint files and then use a utility like ScrapCan or Scrap It to cut out your Scrap.

Errors & Omissions

The disk collections that RUN magazine put out (Power Pak I and II plus GEOS Collection - all available from CMD) contained lots of very good programs. The applications, games, utilities, fonts and graphics will improve anyone's time spent with GEOS. As often happens, though, a few problems and bugs creep into the works.

Fortunately, these problems and bugs were brought to light in another magazine - GeoWorld. If you ever get a chance to purchase issues of GeoWorld you will have spent your money wisely. This all-GEOS publication produced 26 issues between the Spring of 1987 and the Fall of 1991. They also hold the distinction of being the only Commodore magazine to refund my subscription upon ceasing to publish. The point of this is that two issues of GeoWorld had articles dealing with problems in the RUN GEOS disks.

Issue #16 contains a patch to repair a bug in the CardFile program from the original Power Pak disk. This little program acts like a card index with up to 8 fields of information (name, address, hobbies, or whatever you feel like cataloging). The problem with CardFile is that you are supposed to be able to use up to 30 characters in each field but if you do use 30 the data in the next field gets corrupted (erased or appended). If you use CardFile and don't have this patch (which resets the program to accept a maximum of 29 characters per field) you will want to be careful not to use 30 characters.

The next error that GeoWorld corrected was one of omission. RUN's GEOS Companion Disk contains an excellent Electronic Synthesizer called G.O. Bach. This program has lots of features that allow you to access all of the functions of the SID chip from GEOS. You can create songs, sound effects or anything else, musically, you like. In GeoWorld #25 there appeared 3 complete pages of extra documentation that didn't make it into the GEOS Companion manual. As the article states, it details undocumented features necessary to access the more complicated functions of G.O. Bach. Photo-reduction would allow them to fit on the 3 blank pages at the end of the manual. Look for #25 if you use this program.

RAM stuffing

For those of us who don't own a battery backed REU or a RAMLink we require a method of copying files to our REU's when we boot. One REU stuffer is Jim Collette's Batch Copier from the RUN GEOS Companion disk. While this program isn't an auto-exec it can be used in conjunction with Auto-Loader (also on GEOS Companion). When run during the GEOS boot procedure Batch Copier will scour the disk for a list file called AUTO COPY and place the files it specifies into RAM.

Be careful with this procedure. The file must be called 'AUTO COPY' (all caps, one space between words), not 'Auto Copy' as the manual states. I wrote to Jim in 1990, shortly after getting the disk and having troubles, and that was his response. I never saw mention of this in RUN. These programs both run under GEOS 64 and 128 (40 and 80 column).

GeoPrint

A great program for GEOS users is GeoPrint by Roger Lawhorn. It allows you to do banners, stationery, signs, posters and greeting cards using all the features of GEOS (multiple fonts, graphics any size or location/orientation). I have been using GeoPrint for 6 years now and am very happy with the results.

In the February 1996 GEOS Publication I read a release from Dale Sidebottom regarding a new Color version of GeoPrint. I immediately sent off for the upgrade ( (US) $7.50 for registered owners) even though at present I don't own a Color Printer. Shortly after receiving it I found a bug. A quick letter to Dale, followed by a couple of phone calls and a disk detailing the problem, brought the bug to light (another user, Richard Wagner, also discovered this bug shortly after). Although the program had been out for a couple of years it seems nobody uses it in the manner that Richard and I do.

The problem occurs when you use the Paint Pages printer driver to print your Card to a GeoPaint file. This allows you to add more features and smaller text and graphics. If you 'print' in this manner with Color OFF, the output file is corrupted and displays a flexible, mutated, area. After receiving the documentation, and proof that it was a repeatable bug, Roger was able to quickly find the cause and fix the problem. A new, bug-free, Color GeoPrint is now available.

Since the problem went unnoticed for 3 years no notices will be sent out to people who purchased the program. If you have Color GeoPrint and wish to receive the repaired version, then send your original disk back to Dale ( 1001 Estate Circle, Georgetown, IN 47122 ) for a replacement. If you don't have GeoPrint you are missing out on a great GEOS program and should send (US) $20 to Dale. This will get you a disk with Color GeoPrint, GeoLabel (a fantastic GEOS Label maker), Superbox (access more than 15 files from fileboxes) plus some custom drivers.

Calculator

If you own a Schnedler 4 MHz TurboMaster Accelerator you know that using the Calculator crashes the system. This fact is mentioned in the manual but they admit to not having looked for the reason. While working on fixes for the SuperCPU GEOS Maurice Randall (who also owns a TurboMaster) discovered the bug. Apparently the folks at Berkeley didn't follow their own rules for switching into BASIC to do calculations. Maurice was able to fix the calculator so that it will now run without crashing the TurboMaster or the SuperCPU. The fixed version is available for downloading from Maurice's Speed Zone BBS (1-517-322-2386). Yes, first time callers can d-load files!

New Millenium

If you have been reading the papers at all over the past few years you have no doubt read of the great Year 2000 computer date problem. While Commodore users don't have to worry about this too much there is one GEOS program that will be affected. The Calendar D.A. defaults to the 20th century. After January 1, 2000 if you select 'To Present' the Calendar will show you the calendar for the year 1900.

If you read Commodore World magazine you most likely saw my article in #10 on this problem. Included was a short patch program to type in that will fix this inconvenience. The patch changes the default from '1900' to '2000'. The fix means you will need to have one 1900 Calendar and one 2000 Calendar so run the patch on a copy. The BASIC program, along with a GeoWrite dox file, are also available for d-load on the Speed Zone and will be on this issue's Gatekeeper disk.

That is it for now. I hope these items will make using GEOS a more enGEOyable, and bug-free, experience for everyone. Until next time enGEOy your Commodore!