Re: A86: Please read this!!! New shell!!! I need help!

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Re: A86: Please read this!!! New shell!!! I need help!

On Wed, 3 Sep 1997, KewlAid wrote:

> Conceptual features
> =============================================================================
> 
> Features from Aurora
> --------------------
> -Icons
> -Background pic
> -Fast cursor, 8 direction
> -Access to TI-OS
> -Off feature
> -Password protection built-in

These are all fine things to put in a shell.


> Features from Usgard
> --------------------
> -Dynamic library support

This is VERY VERY VERY BAD in a shell.  It belongs in a separate loader.
Putting this in a shell would cause incompatability and bloating.


> -Start button with programs listed inside
> -APD timer
> -Startup programs

These are also fine for a shell.


> 
> Features from Supernova
> -----------------------
> -Plugins

I haven't seen Supernova.  What is the purpose of the plugins?


> This is a highly skeptical idea, but it could give Aria the edge to blow
> all the other 86 shells away. Multitasking could be achieved by using

I can see how pausing a program would be useful, but that could be done
quite easily by the author of the program.  You don't need to do two
things at once on a calculator.


> Drive files
> -----------
<snip>
> can be changed into a 86s and concatenated to it. So a "drive" is
> actually a 86s file which holds several other files, not necessarily
> 86s. Directories within the drive files and its directories could help

This is a cool idea--especially if combined with a compression scheme.
It would be good to make a library that supports this feature.


> Enhanced library support
> ------------------------
> When libraries are installed, instead of being left in the initial 86
> memory, they are grafted onto Aria.86p, so that the 86 memory is not
> messy with libraries.

Library support is not the job of a shell.  It should be handled by a
separate program loader.


> Ability to take over TI-OS as main shell
> ----------------------------------------
> This is only possible after the TI-OS command line and Linkport software

Why does it need the command line and linkport features?  All you have to
is call the ROM power down routine.  Aurora does it.


> Aria-specific programs are enhanced
> -----------------------------------
> Programs made specifically for Aria act like programs specifically made
> for Windows95. They can run in Aria, with windows. They are faster. They
> almost always have auto-install. They make better use of the libraries.

Faster?  Give me a break!  How are you going to make an Aria program run
any faster than another Asmprgm?


This whole Aria idea sounds like it's coming from a guy that's used a
single OS his entire life. (Have you?)  I know the Win95 interface has
it's good points, but most of them don't apply to the TI-86.  Much can be
learned from other computer interfaces, and from the mistakes and
successes of previous calc shell design.


In case someone missed it the last time, the A86 program/library
format proposal web page is

     http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~eble/ti86/libform.html

Comments are welcome.  We want everyone to be satisfied with the final
format.  (That's probably an unrealistic goal.)

--------
Dan Eble (mailto:eble@cis.ohio-state.edu)
         (http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~eble)
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