GEOS Q & A

by Dick Estel

Because I have had the time, patience and inclination to load the program and explore its capabilities
with the manual open at my side, I am considered knowledgeable in GEOS. Some of the questions I
am asked require a fuller explanation than I may have given, so here's the complete answer:

1. What is GEOS and what can I do with it?

GEOS is an operating system and a collection of programs that work in a unified way and follow
certain conventions. Commodore BASIC is a command line interface, where you type the commands
to load and run programs and carry out other actions. GEOS is a graphical interface, Window 1988 for
the Commodore if you will, where you click on various icons to carry out certain actions. The different
programs that run under GEOS all behave in a certain way, and have certain standard characteristics.
This makes it possible for a user familiar with one program to use another program with a limited
amount of study.

You can do anything you would do with non-GEOS programs on your Commodore--word processing,
maintaining a data base, creating and manipulating graphics, spread sheet computations, etc. However,
you can transfer certain types of pictures and text files between programs more readily than with a
group of unrelated programs. GEOS' strongest point is its ability to combine text and graphics in
various ways, with a great deal more flexibility than many other programs. As an example, Label
Wizard allows you to use a Print Shop graphic on one side or another of a label. GeoLabel allows you
to place any graphic that will fit and text in a variety of sizes and fonts on a label.

2. Do I need two drives to use GEOS? 

Yes. I will have some hedging and however's and maybes elsewhere. But if you want to use GEOS,
you must have two drives (see #3 for a semi-hedge). Only a serious masochist would attempt to do
anything fun or serious with GEOS with one drive. And if you have the time and patience to do it with
one drive, you have the time and patience to study the manual and you don't need my help.

3. Do I need a RAM expander to use GEOS?

It's better that way. However, every time I have added hardware to my system, I have said, "How did
I ever use GEOS without my (fill in new toy name here)?" If I could select only one add-on hardware
item to a basic one drive system, it would be a RAM expander. Note: This does not conflict with #2,
because the REU becomes your second drive. 

Because of the necessary complexity of a graphical operating system, nearly every part of a GEOS
program exceeds the memory of a C-64. It works by temporarily saving part of the program on the
disk and swapping in other parts as needed. With a 1541 this is a slow process. It gets better and faster
with each step up in hardware: 1571, 1581, hard drive. But only with RAM expansion is it nearly
instantaneous.

4. What's the difference between the 64 version and the 128 version?

The 128 version holds your printer driver in memory. The 64 version requires the printer driver to be
on the work disk with your program (this means it has to be copied to any number of work disks).
GeoWrite is 80 columns, which means no flipping from side to side like the 40 column version. In
geoPaint you can turn the tool bar off to increase the size of the drawing window. GeoPaint also comes
in 80 columns (with a 40 column option). (An interesting note: Except for a few very rare situations, I
prefer to use geoPaint in 40 column mode, but lots of users love the 80 column.)

Less important to most users: You can copy files while using the "view by name" mode; the 64 only
copies in icon mode. You can select a group of icons by holding down the mouse button and drawing a
rectangle around them; when you release the button the icons will be selected.

5. I have an early version 1.xx. Should I get version 2.0? 

Yes. Anything new for GEOS in the last four or five years has either required 2.0, or been designed to
work will only with 2.0. Wheels, the new operating system upgrade from Maurice Randall requires 2.0
(and some type of RAM expansion). The menu features and other changes make it difficult for a 2.0
user to explain how to do things in an earlier version...they will inevitably instruct you to do something
that seems natural to them, but is not available on the older versions.

6. Where can I get GEOS?

You will often find users selling their copy, especially if they are moving from Commodore to some
other platform. Remember that each set of GEOS programs is keyed to a specific serial number. You
can't purchase the basic program from one user, and geoPublish from someone else, and expect them
to work together. CMD sells all the major GEOS programs.

From The Commodore Information Center web site (http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html)