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#New Users – NeatStuff
13 messages in this thread
As some of you may know, I am writing a book for new users, title is The
Amiga Companion – "What The Intro Manuals Left Out". It is primarily CLI
based, done the right way, with lots and lots and lots of examples (and
organized by topic, rather than one command per page). It concentrates on
the single-drive owner wherever possible (tough to do). To provide a quick
start, I have planned that one chapter be devoted to public domain or
shareware programs that a new user might want/need to get going. Sure, one
COULD go and buy 136 FISH disks at 3-5 dollars each, but that is a
significant investment. What I need to know is what do YOU think are the
"essential" utilities and games and things – if you came from the C64 or
Atari 800 for example and knew a little bit of BASIC, what would YOU wish
someone would tell you about that would make your introduction to Amiga more
fun and more productive, without costing an arm and a leg for something you
might never look at a second time.
There is a LOT of experience here, and I'd like to be able to pass on some of
that to the new folks. C'mon – what'd you think? Thanks a bunch for taking
the time to think about it and respond.
Rob Peck – 76515,3171
Rob,
Thinking it over, in the commercial end, something like DPaint II, or
Photon Paint for graphics work, and one of the music programs for those so
inclined.
(I include here many Shareware programs. Stress what Shareware is in your
address to the newbodies 8)
PopCLI, ConMan, Uedit, Mach, etc. ad nausem to make the envoirment a
little more easier to use.
For telecommunications, Aterm, Access or CoComm, as well as Keep (for
users of major networks) mentioning VT100, StarTerm, and Ahost as well as
the many other PD/Shareware terms available. Some are better than most
commercial terms! (But Diga!, flawed as it is, still is the most flexible of
the commercial ones. Online users need not be upset at that statement! 8)
For graphics, Ushow or one of its ilk, and the animation players, like
Movie, ShowAnim, etc for the various animation schemes around. (A display
utility is a must!)
I am not too heavy into the music end of the Amiga, but a sound/music
player does go a long ways to making things that much more entertaining.
For those time friends come over and ask, "What'll it do?" A demo of the
Probe type is most impressive. As well as many others avaiable here and at
many dealers/companies for free or a nominal charge. They also get the mind
churning at the thought of what the user might whip up.
System maintanance: a diskfile editor/zapper, a DUI type interface, maybe
something like CoPilot or Browser, and some neat little instructional type
things, Like Nick/Chris's Structure Browser, from the Transactor.
I have been most general here, as most of the interesting things I can
think of are either here, or on the Fish disk sets, and my particular areas
of interest may differ from another's. Games are another topic altogether.
<to be continued>
Rob,
Thinking it over, in the commercial end, something like DPaint II, or
Photon Paint for graphics work, and one of the music programs for those so
inclined.
(I include here many Shareware programs. Stress what Shareware is in your
address to the newbodies 8)
PopCLI, ConMan, Uedit, Mach, etc. ad nausem to make the envoirment a
little more easier to use.
For telecommunications, Aterm, Access or CoComm, as well as Keep (for
users of major networks) mentioning VT100, StarTerm, and Ahost as well as
the many other PD/Shareware terms available. Some are better than most
commercial terms! (But Diga!, flawed as it is, still is the most flexible of
the commercial ones. Online users need not be upset at that statement! 8)
For graphics, Ushow or one of its ilk, and the animation players, like
Movie, ShowAnim, etc for the various animation schemes around. (A display
utility is a must!)
I am not too heavy into the music end of the Amiga, but a sound/music
player does go a long ways to making things that much more entertaining.
For those time friends come over and ask, "What'll it do?" A demo of the
Probe type is most impressive. As well as many others avaiable here and at
many dealers/companies for free or a nominal charge. They also get the mind
churning at the thought of what the user might whip up.
System maintanance: a diskfile editor/zapper, a DUI type interface, maybe
something like CoPilot or Browser, and some neat little instructional type
things, Like Nick/Chris's Structure Browser, from the Transactor.
I have been most general here, as most of the interesting things I can
think of are either here, or on the Fish disk sets, and my particular areas
of interest may differ from another's. Games are another topic altogether.
<to be continued>
<continuation of previous>
Just some thoughts,
Doug
<continuation of previous>
Just some thoughts,
Doug
Rob,
Here are some thoughts on PD/Shareware 'must have' titles:
PopCLI, ASDG's RRD, TextReader, more (or less), avail
defdisk, structure browser, browser, ARP stuff, Conman
(or Csh), Funckeys (the one by Anson Mah), ARC, ushow
REZ, GOMF (1.0), DUxx (whatever version available)
Clipit, Snipit, setbeep (or beepit), pause, setpri
assigndev, sectorama, newzap, help, whereis, remind
disksalv, setfont, SiliCON, Blitzfonts, makeacv/loadacv
aterm, Cocomm, Handhsake, VT100, Access!, Whap, pm, NGI
brush2icon, icon2brush, icontype, zapicon, journal, mandfxp
diff, sed, ro, roff, amoeba invaders, ZicZacZoe…
Whew… there are so many!
-larry
Rob,
Here are some thoughts on PD/Shareware 'must have' titles:
PopCLI, ASDG's RRD, TextReader, more (or less), avail
defdisk, structure browser, browser, ARP stuff, Conman
(or Csh), Funckeys (the one by Anson Mah), ARC, ushow
REZ, GOMF (1.0), DUxx (whatever version available)
Clipit, Snipit, setbeep (or beepit), pause, setpri
assigndev, sectorama, newzap, help, whereis, remind
disksalv, setfont, SiliCON, Blitzfonts, makeacv/loadacv
aterm, Cocomm, Handhsake, VT100, Access!, Whap, pm, NGI
brush2icon, icon2brush, icontype, zapicon, journal, mandfxp
diff, sed, ro, roff, amoeba invaders, ZicZacZoe…
Whew… there are so many!
-larry
Arc; several comm programs… Access is the best one to reccomend, though it
may require extra memory – Kieth??? A DirUtil – I like III, I also like IV.
Browser – unquestionably. IFFENCODE. SuperView, with it's attendant Author
program, and nocycle. MAKE them get Dpaint. <grin>. The only animation *I*
would reccomend is Probe; the others are just frame flippers, no "spice" at
all, excpet for one I saw recently, "Ghost Pool". FixHunk. SetFont II. For
Icons, alticon, iconize, itype, zapicon. Blitzfonts, no question. Journal;
Playback; memwatch (though I hate it, it's useful) morerows; mkidir
(essential – makes dirs w/drawers) NewZap; runback; SetPri (that's a
shameless plug, there <grin>) UEDIT; WBlace; GOMF 1.0; ChangeKickStart
(assuming they have an a1000) PrtDrvGen (printer Driver Generator) The NEWTEK
Demo; If they have or paln to use a 68010, Fix68010 is _essential_; Planes;
LED, if they have an 500 or a 2000; SpTil (A print spooler, really fine!) CZL
if they have a casio and are into midi; More; The AUX device; ASDG's VD0; Two
or more of the neat collections of fonts here in the DLs, or where ever they
originally came from; Assembler, compiler, languages of choice. Howzat?
–Ben–
Ben,
gee thanks!… Access! currently _will_ run on a 512K machinhe and I've
taken a few steps in the latest release (1.30) to help it get along in such a
'small' enviroment <grin>. (gosh, whatever happened to those programs that
would _fit_ into a C64? :-).
Keith
Ben,
gee thanks!… Access! currently _will_ run on a 512K machinhe and I've
taken a few steps in the latest release (1.30) to help it get along in such a
'small' enviroment <grin>. (gosh, whatever happened to those programs that
would _fit_ into a C64? :-).
Keith
Arc; several comm programs… Access is the best one to reccomend, though it
may require extra memory – Kieth??? A DirUtil – I like III, I also like IV.
Browser – unquestionably. IFFENCODE. SuperView, with it's attendant Author
program, and nocycle. MAKE them get Dpaint. <grin>. The only animation *I*
would reccomend is Probe; the others are just frame flippers, no "spice" at
all, excpet for one I saw recently, "Ghost Pool". FixHunk. SetFont II. For
Icons, alticon, iconize, itype, zapicon. Blitzfonts, no question. Journal;
Playback; memwatch (though I hate it, it's useful) morerows; mkidir
(essential – makes dirs w/drawers) NewZap; runback; SetPri (that's a
shameless plug, there <grin>) UEDIT; WBlace; GOMF 1.0; ChangeKickStart
(assuming they have an a1000) PrtDrvGen (printer Driver Generator) The NEWTEK
Demo; If they have or paln to use a 68010, Fix68010 is _essential_; Planes;
LED, if they have an 500 or a 2000; SpTil (A print spooler, really fine!) CZL
if they have a casio and are into midi; More; The AUX device; ASDG's VD0; Two
or more of the neat collections of fonts here in the DLs, or where ever they
originally came from; Assembler, compiler, languages of choice. Howzat?
–Ben–
ConMan is practically indespensible, especially if you came from a C64 and
are used to full screen editing of commands. Also, even if you could afford
(or were given) all 136 Fish disks, I'd hate to see anyone go through all of
them. Although there are a lot of usefull programs available in public
domain, investigating all of them for even a few minutes each (plus un-arcing
them) would eventually lead to frustration and the feeling that the new user
is accomplishing nothing with his new machine.
Claude
ConMan is practically indespensible, especially if you came from a C64 and
are used to full screen editing of commands. Also, even if you could afford
(or were given) all 136 Fish disks, I'd hate to see anyone go through all of
them. Although there are a lot of usefull programs available in public
domain, investigating all of them for even a few minutes each (plus un-arcing
them) would eventually lead to frustration and the feeling that the new user
is accomplishing nothing with his new machine.
Claude