Among the early software for any computer is a
host of utilities developed by programmers to help write their own
software and then released to the public to help others program (and
of course to make a bit of money!). The ST is no exception with a
host of utilities already released. Here is a small selection.
RAM
DISK & PRINT SPOOLER from TALENT
£24.95.
Another RAM Disk which is easily installed by
transferring all the files on the disk to a TOS disk and booting up.
It seems to work well but is spoiled by having to use the original
as a key disk. A lot of hassle each time you boot up the system. The
Print Spooler is installed as an accessory but there is little
information about how to install it and use it. The manual or 'help'
for the RAM disk is on the disk but I could not find any mention of
the Print Spooler. It appears to be used only for printing files
from the disk and for this it works well but a more useful Print
Spooler would be one that could interact with all types of software.
A couple of programs suitable for developers but not particularly
for the average user.
DISK HELP from Microdeal. Price £29.95
A utility 'designed with the non-programmer in
mind'! DISK HELP will help you check for errors on disks, repair
damaged disks, salvage data from damaged disks and more. The program
is easy to use and will help you to get the most life out of your
disks. Damaged disks can be salvaged to various degrees and used
again and you can read information from a disk, reformat it and
write it back again. One interesting possibility for users with
access to other computers is that files can be copied over from
other systems, with Apricot given as an example. Naturally this is
only useful for data or text files but it could be extremely handy.
Disk Help is primarily a pruned down Utilities package designed to
solve problems for those who don't know how to work things out for
themselves, but if you are indeed a 'non-programmer' what do you do
next when told 'Track number 12 is faulty - it has 4 bad sectors on
it'?
UTILITIES from Microdeal. Price £39.95
A much more advanced utilities program which will
enable you to read and change any byte of information anywhere on
your floppy or hard disks. As well as giving all the facilities of
Disk Help, you can restore deleted files, change file and volume
names, change file attributes and format individual tracks plus a
whole host more depending on your experience and imagination. The
program is GEM based and works well with the mouse enabling you to
simply point at a byte you wish to change and typing over the new
information. Scroll bars are used to move through files being viewed
on screen and to step through sectors.
A couple of pages in the manual describe how
records are stored on the disk to get you started but you will
require additional knowledge to use Utilities to the full. Several
suggestions for use are given such as changing disk labels or folder
names but other uses will depend on your experience. Even if you
don't program professionally it can be fun to customise or
`personalise' your disks, as anyone who has used a sector editor on
Atari 8-bit systems will testify, and Utilities will provide
enjoyment to 'hackers' as well as a useful tool to programmers.
M-COPY from Microdeal. Price £49.95
Aimed squarely at software producers who wish to
duplicate disks in quantity, this seems a strange program to release
to the general public. What it does is to read a program of up to
150K from a disk and then write that program, formatting only those
tracks that are required, to as many other disks as you wish. Saves
a lot of time and I am sure that there will be small software
developers who could use it but how many? I can't really think how
others would use this program. Even user groups who might want to
copy public domain programs would find it too restrictive as it is
not designed to copy full disks. And it is not intended for making
'back up' copies of other people's disks either, so don't buy it for
that! Maybe it is just easier to make it available to everyone than
try to seek out the developers who might find it useful.
top
