@2{LIBERATOR EXTENSION REVIEW @3 }By Paul Overy @4 Wow this one's colossal, enormous, gigantic, elephantine, huge, immense, sorry slight glich in my upper neural thesaurus(TM) net. Just when you though Amos developers had packed up & gone home, out comes this big Amos extension from T-Soft. Donald Cameron Liberators developer has pull Amos out of a rather nasty dive, giving Amos a compete refit. What's more he will continue to upgrade the liberator as and when the Amiga is updated. Donald is also working on a great new utility (now in its beta test stage) that will allows you to have multi-window, multi-gadget intuition Graphic User Interfaces up and running under Amos in 10 minutes..... Wow! Its now possible to write application software, competing with the system orientated languages such as C "a programming language for programmers", the only difference being the larger code size once complied. Although Amos has the advantage of checking syntax errors before being compiled, I say compiled as a few of the Liberator functions only work this way. @4 So what can the Liberator do? @1 Well think off any WB program, that's what it can do. Just as long as the task at hand does not require fast machine code processing. @5 Anyway nearly all WB programs just call up library routines, which do all the hard work. Even Amos can set up the next library call in time uncompiled. @3 All those Amos pro programmers who thought they had the upper hand. @6 i.e. through powerpacked files and Animation are no longer so. @1 You not only have access to powerpacked files, but also LH files (smaller LHA type archives) which gives a higher crunch ratio than powerpacker. @4 If your thinking of buying the Liberator to add AGA gfx to your games using normal Amos graphic commands, then think again. Amos opens up it own unusual bitmap screens which even gfx rippers have a hard time to lock onto. But there's nothing stopping you from opening up your own custom WB screen and drawing to that using the new power form the liberator to create your own gfx drawing system. @4 The Liberator comes complete with its own example programs which have to be asci merged into Amos, they must of been short on disk space. @1 Liberator comes in three parts, each of which works independently of the others. This means that you do not have to install all 3 parts if you don't want to. Each part fits into a separate extension No.(extensions 21 to 23), all of which are all approved by the Amos user group with their own official extension number. So there's no change of it fouling up any of the other official Amos extensions. @5 Their contents are as follows:- @3 Liberator 1 library =================== @1 exec.library graphics.library intuition.library asl.library gadtools.library lowlevel.library T-SOFT Custom Functions @3 Liberator 2 library =================== @1 dos.library commodities.library diskfont.library expansion.library icon.library iffparse.library layers.library rexxsyslib.library utility.library workbench.library locale.library keymap.library datatypes.library amigaguide.library(V39) amigaguide.library(V34) realtime.library nonvolatile.library bullet.library console.device input.device ramdrive.device timer.device @1 battclock.resource battmem.resource card.resource ciaa.resource ciab.resource disk.resource potgo.resource misc.resource @3 Liberator 3 library =================== @1 arp.library requester.library prtspool.library req.library rexxhost.library reqtools.library powerpacker.library octaplayer.library midi.library medplayer.library lh.library ilbm.library @4 The functions are carried out as they are in C. In addition, however, you must surround the name by F@1<@1>. Function parameters, are passed inside normal brackets as usual. @1 Here are a few examples from the Commodore libraries:- @3 VOID=F(PORT_ADR) TOOL_NME=F(TOOLS,TYPE) SUCCESS=F VOID=F(GAD,WIN,REQ) @5 Quite straightforward really. @6 For the Non-Commodore (3rd party) libraries, the function name is also kept in its original form, but this time you must surround it with F. @1 Again here are a few examples:- @3 RV=F(DEST) RV=F(FILEREQUESTER) RV=F(WIN) RV=F @4All T-soft documentation is given in AmigaGuide format. T-Soft have also converted all Non-Commodore library documents into hypertext format with filenames and links which will integrate them readily into your database. These documents along with the 3rd party libs themselves have been archived onto a single disk which has been placed in the public domain. @1 On this PD disk you will also find details on how to convert the complete set of Commodore Autodocs into hypertext format using a great little utility that does the conversion for you automatically. The bad news is that you are going to have to purchase the Docs from Commodore, all addresses are given when you buy the Amos Liberator. @5 Once you have purchased all of the above items, you will have a formidable database running under multiview, so its all a matter of point and click, no looking though vast text files. I Personally had no difficulties obtaining the extra disks, although the 5 disk set for commodore can be worked around if you have a good set of hardware books. You do however need the extra PD liberator disk, it contains all the extra WB Libraries which are vital for the liberator to operate fully. @4 A good one book buy for the liberator would be "Mapping the Amiga", ISBN No. is 0-87455-267-2. (I only wish I had bought this book sooner) @1 For information on the Amos Liberator, write to:- @3 =========== T-SOFT PO Box 598 Ayr KA6 6PJ U.K. ===========