by David Wyn Davies

Back in issue 25 I recounted my past attempts to develop software for the Atari 8-bit. Sadly it all went a little "pear-shaped". Back in September of last year I enrolled in an LLB Law course and, despite an increase in enthusiasm in getting back to the platform, nothing has materialised. Studying Law takes a lot of time and effort (mostly research) and so I haven't touched my Atari gear since.

Now that we are coming up to summer and the long break that we university students all enjoy, things could change and indeed will change. At the time of writing I am waiting for delivery of a new Sony Vaio laptop which is being provided for me by my local education authority. What is the significance of this? It simply means that I can take it into university with me, loaded with an Atari 8-bit emulator for working on my own Atari projects when I need a break from all the case law and legal journals.

To recap on Menu Print, it started life a few years ago as the most advanced disk cataloguing system on the 8-bit Atari (and probably every other platform). Just prior to its abandonment, it was capable of reading numerous DOS and menu formats. However it proved too cumbersome to use on a single-drive system with 64 KB, which was all I had at the time.

A new revised design has been developed that should make it less memory hungry and viable to those who may still have basic set-ups. It will also be capable of reading high speed file systems and will retain its ability to automatically read and correctly identify boot disks. Hopefully I'll be able to complete the project by the time I start my second year at the end of September.

Menu Print will be available as charityware. It will be available for download. You will be free to use it as you see fit but if you find it useful I would appreciate a donation. It will also be provided on disk for a small charge (probably £5).

So why charityware? Well, back in February we spent two nights in hospital with our seven month old daughter who had contracted pneumonia. The hospital here in Cardiff are currently attempting to raise the money needed to build the first children's hospital in Wales. Any proceeds from Menu Print will go towards their Noah's Ark appeal.

In the meantime I could use a little help. I presently have copies of the following menu and DOS systems. If anyone can provide something not on the list in both disk and .ATR formats then I'd be grateful to receive them. This will help me make Menu Print a complete product. The formats I already have access to include:

• SpartaDOS 3.2
• Atari DOS 2.0
• Atari DOS 2.5
• "Black" DOS
• SuperDOS 5
• MyDOS 4.5
• Howfen DOS 3.0
• Rob C. Menu
• Multiboot Menu
• DOS XE

I could also do with enlisting a little help on the project. At the moment I need as much information as I can lay my hands on with the SpartaDOS and MyDOS directory format and structure. If anyone knows how to program in assembly with MAC/65 and would like to get involved in some way then again I'd be happy to hear from them.

If this project proves to be a success then I don't see why other projects cannot be resurrected along similar lines.

You can contact me at:

David Wyn Davies
12 Pant Glas
Pentwyn
Cardiff
CF23 7EU
United Kingdom

david.wyndavies@ntlworld.com

MyAtari magazine - Feature #3, May 2003