GNO/ME(TM) Multitasking System for the Apple IIGS Procyon, Inc. made themselves known at the Apple Central Expo at the NOMDA center in Kansas City. There they introduced an early release version of the GNO Multitasking Environment. Reactions varied, from "Really?" to "Crazy!". Multitasking is a method whereby several programs can be made to seem to be executing at the same time. It's an important concept; the industry is quickly moving towards standardization around the Unix(TM) operating system, which supports multitasking. GNO is the first such product for the Apple IIGS microcomputer. GNO is an extension to GS/OS(TM), the native IIgs operating system. GNO enhances the functionality of GS/OS, and provides changes to allow multitasking. It also keeps track of use of the ToolBox, to prevent concurrent programs from getting in each others' way. GNO is NOT a "Multi-Finder" program. GNO provides true preemptive multitasking, a method where programs do not have to be written carefully in order to keep the flow of things going. GNO switches between programs 60 times a second, to provide the most realistic multitasking effect. The v1.0 release of GNO does not allow multiple desktop programs to run concurrently. However, you will be able to run one desktop program with any number of text applications. In order to make GNO as useful as possible, it was written to be fully compatible with GS/OS and the ORCA(TM) development environment. Any shell utilities which you can use under the ORCA shell can also be used with GNO. GNO also comes with a myriad of utilities which are FREE- you can freely distribute them to your friends, no strings attatched (note that some utilities may require use of the GNO system). All of the ORCA languages can be used in the GNO system, and in fact are made more powerful and robust. GNO comes with a standard shell, called 'gsh'. It's a command line interface that mimics the operation of popular Unix shells such as 'ksh' and 'csh'. gsh allows you to run programs in the background. For instance, you can start a program compiling, then go back to editing the source code. The power this seemingly simple ability gives can be the difference between simply getting your work done, and getting it done well. Distributed along with GNO is a growing Unix compatibility package. This allows you to compile many BSD Unix programs for use on the IIGS without any modifications. Since GNO is a true multitasking environment, you will be able to run many Unix programs that were previously unavailable on the GS. GNO provides powerful commuication abilities, including high-speed serial drivers, I/O redirection and true piping, as well as Inter-Process Communication (IPC). Included with the serial drivers is support for TTYs; you'll be able to connect to your GS with a modem or terminal and use the shell without affecting the person sitting at the IIgs. MultiUser BBSs, UUCP, and other powerful telecommunications programs will all be possible (and simple!) under GNO. You might be wondering, "This all sounds very neat, but what can GNO do for me?". Multitasking is an "enabling technology"; it enables you to do things you simply couldn't before. The applications are endless, as are your imaginations. When you begin to use GNO, you'll see whole new vistas of programming possibilities open up. GNO is currently available directly from Procyon, Inc. Call or write for pricing information. Procyon, Inc. P.O. Box 620334 Littleton, CO 80162-0334 For further information or for ordering by credit card, contact Matthew Gudermuth or Jawaid Bazyar at: (303) 933-4649. Unix is a trademark of AT&T. GS/OS and IIGS are trademarsk of Apple Computer, Inc. ORCA is a trademark of Byte Works, Inc. GNO/ME is a trademark of Procyon, Inc. GNO/ME Features Kernel o Pre-emptive multitasking on top of GS/OS o Clones of many Unix system calls (fork, execve, kill, signal, getpid, wait, semaphore routines, process group control, signal, sigblock,sigpause,sigsetmask, etc.) make porting powerful Unix software easier than ever. o Traps BRKs and invalid COP instructions, terminating the process cleanly and returning control to the shell. No more endless rebooting! o Powerful 'debug' modes- detailed information on kernel and GS/OS activity is displayed on screen (or, if redirected, on another screen!) o Job control- complete control over processes via simple keyboard commands like ^c (terminate process), ^z (stop process, restartable via the shell). No special programming is needed to benefit from this feature! o Powerful terminal drivers include high speed console output and advanced keyboard buffering. High speed serial I/O allows you to easily write communications applications, and even hang a terminal off your IIGS for remote login, or new debugging power. gsh (command line interface) o Powerful regular expression facilities make choosing groups of files easy. The list of files chosen is determined before your program executes- you no longer have to use Init_Wildcard in every program. o configurable history buffer with save-to-disk option o command and file-name completion. Typing a partial filename followed by TAB will automatically complete typing the name for you. o fully customizable prompt allows items like current directory, time, history number to be displayed in the prompt o full range of variable manipulation features for configuring the shell and any program that chooses to use them. o aliases allow you to 'shortcut' complex commands, and provide another way to customize and configure software. o 'path' variable allows almost instantaneous access to executable programs in any number of directories. o job control- the user can run programs in the background, temporarily suspend programs, and change program status to foreground or background. o I/O redirection to any GS/OS or GNO file or device. o true pipes- the programs in the pipeline execute concurrently for maximum performance. o advanced command line editor that supports the Apple Human Interface Guidelines. o many built-in commands to control processes and provide information on the system Environment o Fully compatible with System Software 6.0 o Compatible with utilities and development tools (compilers, assemblers, linkers) written for APW and the ORCA shell (versions 1.x and 2.0). o GNO comes with full printed documentation; a Shell User's Manual, a Kernel Reference Manual detailing all of the new system calls available in GNO and describing changes and additions to existing GS/OS and ToolBox calls. Text versions of all documentation are provided for quick access on-line. In addition, GNO comes with a utility program which displays the original AppleWorks GS manual pages on the text screen! The documentation is provided in loose-leaf form to allow for easy manual updates, and to allow the binder of your choice. o GNO comes with a large number of utility programs common on Unix machines: banner, binprint, cal, cat, conv, dhrystone, du, grep, head, kill, ls, more, now, ps, purge, qtime, sleep, strings, sun, tar, tee, touch, tr, uniq, wc, wumpus, and microEmacs - and more are being ported every day. What's more, these utilities are FREE. You can give them to your friends, upload them, or even feed them to your dog if you like. And as icing on the cake, source code is provided for ALL of the utilities. [Many of these utilities also work under ORCA, and are available separately from GNO for a minimal charge to cover shipping and disks.] o GNO comes with a Unix compatibility library- commonly used C subroutines are no farther than a link away. Porting software from other machines was never this easy! o Extremely responsive technical support is available through the Internet (comp.sys.apple2 and info-Apple), GEnie, America Online, Delphi, and by phone. o Installation is simple- GNO runs straight off the disks supplied, and only three files need special attention when changing the configuration.