** STOS corner / 321 words **

Anthony Hoskin's Falcon Extensions

The 3D menu extension has undergone some major updating, now being the 3D menu & alerts v2.0 extension. It now allows you to invoke an alert dialog modelled on the GEM alert dialog.

** ALERT.GIF here **

The latest version of the extension may now use any colour of the 256 colour palette, which means it's no longer restricted to the lower 16 colours. In common with the 3D menu extension, the 3D alert automatically redraws the screen when it terminates it's call. This means you don't need to redraw the screen yourself.

Anthony has now added a Stars extension based upon the original by Lee Upcraft. The new version now works in the Falcon's 16 and 256 colour video modes and commands are backwards compatible with the original extension. It also still works on the Atari ST/STe machines. The upper limit to the number of stars has also been increased from 200 to 512.

** STARS1.GIF overlapped by STARS2.GIF here **
** Caption **
Example programs using the new STARS extension in 256 colour mode
** end **

Another improvement is that the new WIPE STARS ON command doesn't erase the whole screen, only the area in which the stars are displayed, which means it is now possible to display the stars, for example, a spaceship window and only that window will be erased.

JAA extension

I've recently received outline details about a new STOS extension under development by James Arthur, provisionally called the JAA extension. It includes a complete replacement for the Blitter extension, plotting and pointing commands for screens greater than 320 pixels wide (ideal for hardware scrolling), various arithmetic commands and - if there is enough support, commands for blittered sprites might be added.

James is requesting feedback about what people would like added. You can contact James at:

** BC on **
James Arthur
29 Enstone Road, Westcote Barton, Nr. Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. OX7 7AA, England
Email: jaa@arfa.clara.net
** BC off **