ScuzzBlog: Diaries September 2019
Entry 6th September 2019: Post 01: Atari - STOS.
Atari - STOS.
As a red blooded devoted Amigan you may think it strange that I
would ever dabble with the enemy ... that of Atari. Thing is that
I was never part of the computer wars of the eighties as I was
actually using an Amstrad. Both my sisters and dad were heavily into
the Amiga, and I recall sitting in dads study surrounded by his
Amiga gear and playing Mean 18 on his A500. However in the course
of my business I was using Macs and Intergraph at work and also
using Amstrads and Apricots for business work. When it came to my
home use I needed just a very good word processor and the PCW9512
was just that and a load more. So I was not an Amiga user until
1993.
My sister did have a Woody and we played games on that quite a lot.
For a short while I even had a Spectrum +2 having spent most of my
early computer years with Sinclair from 1982 onwards. However I
have never been party to the hate between the Atari and Amiga user
base so I guess I am not troubled mucking around with inferior
platforms.... Sorry for that. Just joking !!
So what was I doing today to warrant this post. Well I was simply
checking though a load of Atari software and was amazed to discover
a CP/M emulator inside a STOS box. For those that don't know the
STOS games creator software developed at JAWX by Francoise Lionet
and his team it is in many ways an ST version of AMOS though they do
operate very differently. In truth I hadn't intended featuring STOS
today, though it did give me the opportunity to record the contents
of the various boxes I have. But when I saw the CP/M disks I just
had to drag out the 1040ST and check them over.
I also found an Atari version of Holywood which was a major feature
on the Amiga last month. I got so tired of having to view stuff in
black and white I finally bit the bullet and ordered me a SCART
cable so I can play the Atari on the Samsung.
I was amazed at how easy CP/M loaded up, albeit missing several key
programs from the library. Even so it drew me into the Atari and
I didn't have any great issue mucking around , though it is ever
so frustrating the computer does not have a hard drive. I do have
a hard drive on the Falcon, so I know they can work inside the case.
With STOS I also have the Maestro software plus sampler which also
fired up without fault and just needed the music samples etc. I did
find a number of Atari disks with programs on and when I get the
SCART I may just have another play. Either way I will be doing more
work with the CP/M emulator version 2.2 so watch this space.
As to STOS, well it felt like a poor mans AMOS in truth and with all
the facilities I have on the Amiga I can't see me using the software.
All credit to Francois who I am a great fan of. Anyone that can give
me something that provides the many many hours of pleasure I have
had using it then deserves my applause. AMOS is just brilliant and
the best version is AMOS Professional. I couldn't live without it.
In respect of the Atari, well I find the OS, if you can call it that
very limiting. It needs the GEM formal desktop like the Falcon and
that requires a hard drive. Those that know me appreciate I cannot
use any computer seriously without a hard drive.
Whooo! Time for tea. Better go.
Atari - STOS.
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