PD & Shareware

Reviews

Software: MgFTP v1.3

Category: Comms

Reviewer: Martin Milner

Status: PD

System: All Ataris

Score: 85%

MGFTP is a GEM based File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client program for use with STiK.
It allows you to login to remote servers and transfer files to and from your computer.
MGFTP displays the directories and files on the remote server, along with their attributes, in a GEM window as either icons or text. This makes it easy to navigate remote file systems by point and clicking on directories in much the same way as using the desktop. Files can be downloaded by clicking on them and the transfer is displayed graphically in a progress bar.

The Select button displays a server hotlist where the addresses of servers can be inserted, edited or deleted. Double-clicking on any entry activates STiK which tries to establish a connection which, if successful, is displayed at the top of the main window when you are returned to it.

The Login procedure is for each server can be configured via the Open button. The username, password and the port number can be set before selecting OK to begin the login attempt.
The default login details (ftp and your email address) typically logs you in as a guest on the ftp server where you can access all public directories. If you have your own website simply enter your account username and password and you can access your www directory which makes MGFTP the ideal way to maintain your web pages. To logoff select on the Close button.
The Options dialog includes the upload and download paths, anonymous login username/passwords, icon/text display. A protocol window can be activated to monitor the communications between MGFTP and the server - useful to help diagnose problems.
MGFTP records your every move and on re-visiting a server takes you to the same directory you were in last time you logged off.

If you use STiK and need to access ftp servers MGFTP gets the job done with the minimum of hassle from an easy to use point and click interface.

Software: ST News 11.1&2

Category: Disk Magazine

Reviewer: Chris Holland

Status: Freeware

System: All Ataris HD or 2Mb memory required

Score: 92%

This is the final outing for this revered and long standing Atari computing institution edited by Richard Karsmakers, famous for his Ultimate Virus Killer (UVK).
ST News has an unbeatable reputation for the quality of its articles and high standards of literacy. In terms of quality and quantity this final issue doesn't disappoint - it's a double size issue crammed onto a high density disk.
The plain DOS lookalike shell coded in GFA is slick in use and doesn't detract from the main business of reading articles. Understandably this issue is commemorative in nature, including articles celebrating and mourning the passing of this publication.
The majority of the editorial coverage is non-computing related including some excellent fiction and music related material. Several comprehensive reference works, including the ultimate game cheats encyclopaedia and ultimate disk magazine caught my eye amongst all the other articles fighting for my attention.
Unfortunately ST owners still without a hard drive (or large RAM disk) will not be able to read this issue which builds into a working copy from two archived files distributed on two double density disks.
ST News have gone out on a suitably brilliant final issue and will be missed and remembered fondly by its many fans in the Atari community.

Software: STOS Compiler Fixer v1.0

Category:Programming

Reviewer:Martin Milner

Status: Shareware

System: All Ataris

Score: 85%

As most STOS programmers are aware, compiled programs have to be fixed for use on different machines and TOS versions.
This has always been a pain and makes STOS programs seem less than professional.
Recently a new generic fixer program was written by Anthony Jacques based on fixer code by Les Greenhalgh.
This fixer allowed the programmer to pre-fix a compiled program for up to 11 TOS versions before making it available and was a great improvement.
However, Les has now gone one better with code which patches STOS programs during compilation!
The compiler fixer is tiny, just a small STOS source file, a file containing instructions and a selection of DEF????.DAT files - identical to those produced by STOSFIX3 programmed by Robert Quezeda.

To patch a file load a copy of the compiler accessory into the STOS editor, merge in the fixer source, and save it out again.
Now copy the data files into your COMPILER folder and reload STOS.

On compiling a STOS program, tables for the appropriate TOS versions are inserted into it and everything should be fine. Up to 11 data files can be used which means program can be made compatible with most TOS versions.
It's a real shame this wasn't available years ago but better late than never eh?
An essential utility for all STOS programmers.