A92: Re: LF: Fargo 2.0 features Announced

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A92: Re: LF: Fargo 2.0 features Announced

Does anyone have any idea if Fargo will be released on time, (July 28,
1997) and if so, if there is going to be a release party on the net? 
Stephen Grigg


On Thu, 08 May 1997 23:02:14 -0400 Bryan Rabeler
<brabeler@isd.ingham.k12.mi.us> writes:
>David Ellsworth has announced the features that will be in Fargo 2.0.  
>A
>version should be available before July 28, 1997.  Here they are:
>
>**** NEW FEATURES PLANNED FOR FARGO 2.0 ****
>
>          (in no particular order)
>
>1. Hundreds of symbols from the TIOS cataloged by their official names
>(those used in the TIOS source code). These symbols include ROM calls
>(which use the C calling convention) and the global variables used by
>those calls. Many (or possibly all) of the ROM calls will be 
>catalogued
>by their C function prototypes, with descriptions for the important
>ones.
>
>2. ROM 2.1 support; romlib will made obsolete; RAM and ROM addresses
>will be efficiently relocated by the kernel; the addresses themselves
>will be defined in a header file.
>
>3. bitplane graphics built-in to the Fargo kernel (this means
>grayscale); library calls to allocate a screen (which will consist of 
>1,
>2, or 3 contiguous bitplanes) and to switch between screens; the 
>kernel
>will automatically do the page-flipping. The LCD RAM at $4440 (or 
>$4720
>in ROM 2.1) will no longer be used by Fargo; programs will be required
>to allocate their own screens. This will not require any more memory
>than is used already, because Fargo 0.1.13 saves the TIOS screen in a
>temporary 3840 byte buffer and later restores it. If you're a 
>developer,
>be prepared to use a variable pointer to locate video RAM.
>
>4. A graphics library with integrated bitplane support, so you will be
>able to (for example) paste a non-aligned sprite, or draw a line in 
>any
>shade of gray. The library calls will of course also work for black 
>and
>white (1 bitplane). Grayscale will no longer need to be treated as a
>special case. Programs will still have the option of directly writing 
>to
>video RAM (see item #3).
>
>5. Support for passed parameters to Fargo programs from the TIOS; 
>Fargo
>functions will be allowed to return values via the estack. Fargo
>programs and functions will be allowed to have customized TI-BASIC
>forks, different from the standard "Prgm:Pause:EndPrgm".
>
>6. (if this is feasable, which I'm hoping it will be) modules will be
>loaded high, which will allow for TSR support.
>
>7. putfargo will have the capability of loading multiple modules into 
>a
>backup file. The kernel itself will probably consist of more than one
>module. (In Fargo 0.1.13, it was just one file: core.o.)
>
>8. Fargo programs will normally run in User mode instead of Supervisor
>mode; this will require that TRAP 1 be used to modify the Status
>Register instead of a straight move.
>
>9. Kernel calls to hook and unhook interrupts; an application will be
>allowed to unhook an interrupt even if some other app hooked the
>interrupt after it did. That nonwithstanding, drivers will be included
>to do some of the things that you normally need to hook interrupts to
>do, such as maintaining a matrix of the keys being held down.
>
>10. FBrowser will support plugins, filtering by file type, and 
>multiple
>views (such as icons, comments only, file stats, etc.). It will also 
>let
>you snoop inside temporary folders (such as 9998). FBrowser will also
>allow itself to be called from another Fargo program (as a library) 
>with
>the option of a callback filter.
>
>Bryan
>
>-- 
>Bryan Rabeler
>brabeler@ticalc.org
>-------------
>the ticalc.org project
>http://www.ticalc.org
>-------------------
>The Fargo Archive
>http://www.ctav.com/fargo/
>http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/5275/
>http://www.lhq.com/~bryan/fargo/
>http://www.mygale.org/01/fargo/
>-------------------------------
>
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