Dream CPC setup

[norecess464]

I don't know the firmware well enough, but it's my dream for someone to write a new BASIC rom for the Plus machines that let you type |plus and be able to access the Plus colours and sprites from BASIC, like you should have been able to do to begin with.

Totally true! For a very long time, so many users wondered what were the "Pluses" in the Amstrad Plus and how you could use them. It's a shame that Amstrad did not invest more on that side (ideally: new BASIC version with appropriate documentation in the computer manual).

Back then (~1992), @Longshot published in a French magazine (Amstrad Cent Pour Cent) a very powerful toolkit called B-ASIC. It was distributed as a set of RSXs that allowed the management of the ASIC features very easily, all from the BASIC.

It's exactly what you describe, and more. It comes with a great documentation etc.

The latest version, released in 2007, can be downloaded on the @Longshot 's website here: http://logon.system.free.fr/html/engdownloadlogon.htm

[andycadley]

B-ASIC was pretty cool, though mildly confusing at times because it has a obvious French slant (e.g. RVB Vs RGB) which is distracting in a programming language predominantly English in nature.

I did often wonder about what a Plus version of BASIC might have been like if Amstrad had been inclined to do so. Could've had more structured programming features like procedures and local variables, maybe seamless access to the extra memory. And obviously access to all the extra hardware features. I don't think it would've made much difference to sales though, by the time the Plus came out 8-bit machines were definitely relegated to being games devices, rather than programming tools.

[norecess464]

it has a obvious French slant (e.g. RVB Vs RGB)

What is the problem with "Red Vreen Blue"? 

[GUNHED]

B-ASIC was pretty cool, though mildly confusing at times because it has a obvious French slant (e.g. RVB Vs RGB) which is distracting in a programming language predominantly English in nature.

I did often wonder about what a Plus version of BASIC might have been like if Amstrad had been inclined to do so. Could've had more structured programming features like procedures and local variables, maybe seamless access to the extra memory. And obviously access to all the extra hardware features. I don't think it would've made much difference to sales though, by the time the Plus came out 8-bit machines were definitely relegated to being games devices, rather than programming tools.

Maybe Amstrad would have done it. But a significant part of the so called users wanted Amigas, ST or PC back the day. Now a part is back on CPC. 

Personally I always sticked to the CPC / Plus machines. In addition I published an article in the German magazine 'Amstrad CPC International' in which I explained how to work with the Plus features as simple as some OUT and PEEK/POKE commands.

The truth is that back the day lots of users lot interest in CPC / Plus - and what followed was the logical consequence - sadly.

[lmimmfn]

I miss computers that can't multi-task...

It was always just a legend that 8-bit computers couldn't handle multitasking like e.g. the Amiga did back in the day. It had nothing to do with reality, it was simply the ignorance and discouragement of that time. Nowadays the CPC handles multitasking better than the Amiga did back then.

While I'm a huge Amstrad fan and Amiga fan and not trying to be snarky but what exactly does it mean that "CPC handles multitasking better than the Amiga did back then."?

Well, if the Amiga needs more power for one process, one task need to be started more often (I did read somewhere here), now f.e. in Caruh you can just increase Priority. Another thing is that (at least for Caruh) applications are made from the beginning in a way that they are made for multitasking. I assume the same is valid for symbos too.

I assume by "one task needs to be started more often" that you mean context switching?
The priority of tasks can also be changed on the Amiga, the context switching rules are described on the OS wiki - https://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/Introduction_to_Exec

I was amazed when i first for my Amiga and i could run 20 clocks at the same time lol.

It is amazing to have a multitask OS on the CPC, would have been crazy if it was available back in the 80's.

[GUNHED]

Actually I prefer single tasks over crowded screens filled with (by nature) chaotic windows. However sometimes multitasking comes in handy.
Also the technical perspective is of interest of course. 

[lmimmfn]

It depends on what is required to achieve a task, back in the day on my Amiga I would listen to music played through Workbench while capturing video with a frame grabber and switch to Dpaint to tidy up the file then back to frame grabber for next frame etc. Similar with switching between 3D Rendering and DPaint.

I absolutely hate a cluttered Windows environment, and much preferred the Amiga full screen per application and switching between them which as a great OS feature has sadly been lost in modern OSs.

Even today on Windows I was using Gimp and MultiPaint and found it awful switching between them/finding window locations etc.

[Prodatron]

Complex apps are always fullscreen. Windows 3.x used child windows captured inside a parent window which was terrible

But it's still cool to have small apps running in small forms on the screen, why not? Why should a small app waste the complete screen?

I was probably not 100% correct when saying that the Amiga OS multitasking is not as good as the SymbOS one.
I am missing the Task Manager all the time, I was searching for some solutions (like "Scout" or "Xopa"), but you can't compare them with modern typical task managers, no free CPU time etc. or I missed something?
Were you able to kill a task? Please note, that I was speaking about the Amiga 500, not about the actual Morpheus monsters.

[GUNHED]

I absolutely hate a cluttered Windows environment, and much preferred the Amiga full screen per application and switching between them which as a great OS feature has sadly been lost in modern OSs.

For FutureOS Caruh I did hear that from Amiga and adopted the idea to be able to switch between complete screens (all having a common bottom line). 

Everything Amiga OS, SymbOS, Caruh I prefer over modern Windows by far. (Which doesn't mean I wouldn't work too much with it). 

[lmimmfn]

Complex apps are always fullscreen. Windows 3.x used child windows captured inside a parent window which was terrible

But it's still cool to have small apps running in small forms on the screen, why not? Why should a small app waste the complete screen?

I was probably not 100% correct when saying that the Amiga OS multitasking is not as good as the SymbOS one.
I am missing the Task Manager all the time, I was searching for some solutions (like "Scout" or "Xopa"), but you can't compare them with modern typical task managers, no free CPU time etc. or I missed something?
Were you able to kill a task? Please note, that I was speaking about the Amiga 500, not about the actual Morpheus monsters.

It's been over 25 years since I used sn Amiga for serious productivity and I can't remember what I used back in the day but yes you could kill tasks except when they had hardware hooks as the OS has no memory management, you could free up memory/CPU but not the hardware reference if the task hung on hardware.
According to EAB there's PriMan for a windows like task manager - https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=32342
I've not used it snd can't remember what I used back in the day to view tasks  maybe nothing as everything was mainly user invoked except for those tasks you added to automatically start on OS boot, I.e. the daemon/services concept didn't really exist.

Small apps are fine in a windows environment, like I mentioned I used to have a music player running in the background in Workbench exile I used dpaint or whatever, my point was really cluttering up a windows environment with apps that should really be full screen, e.g. I hated photoshop with all the windows in a windows environment compared to DPaint with its full screen.

An amazing tool on the Amiga was SnoopDos, still havnt found anything like it, it tracked all OS file requests so you could see if an application failed to launch what files were missing.

[pelrun]

I absolutely hate a cluttered Windows environment, and much preferred the Amiga full screen per application and switching between them which as a great OS feature has sadly been lost in modern OSs.

It's not lost, you just need to know the right search term - look for "tiling window manager". I've used one in linux for years now, and there's at least a couple that work with Windows if you're trapped over there.