
Quick ST 3.0 Release Notes
==========================

By Darek Mihocka, Branch Always Software  07/27/91


Thank you for purchasing Quick ST 3.0, the fastest and most compatible
software accelerator available for the Atari ST and Atari TT computers!

Due to unforseen delays, we are unable to provide a printed manual at
this time, or the companion utilities for Quick ST 3.0. These will be
mailed to you free in September. I apologize for this delay, but it will
result in a better product than had we tried to rush things.

Quick ST 3.0 is the product of 3 years of effort on my part to optimize
the text and graphics routines in TOS. The result has been the product
Quick ST, which from its early beginnings as a shareware program, is now
the software accelerator of choice for almost 10,000 Atari ST users.

But I do have help. My assistant Jan is the lovely voice many of you have
dealt with when phoning Branch Always, and she is the one who also
processes each order and ships out the disks. Then there are my good
friends Ignac Kolenko and Robert Birmingham who helped write Quick ST as
well as Quick Index and the Quick ST Desktop Customizer. Robert just
recently wrote the excellent Prism Paint graphics program.

And of course, where would Quick ST be without the dozens of beta testers
on Compuserve and GEnie who have helped to find bugs in the program. Thanks
to them (and their names will appear in the printed manual) Quick ST 3 is
as bug free as can be. Well, I'm sure a few bugs are still hanging around,
but the response from testers has been extremely favourable.

Unfortunately, due to other commitments on the part of Ignac and Robert
and myself, and the fact that many of our beta testers are on vacation now,
we simply couldn't get all the pieces together in time for our end of June
release date. This disk contains the main Quick ST 3 files for ST, STE, and
TT computers. The new versions of Quick Index and the Customizer will be
included on the disk to be mailed with the manual.

As an aside, many people have asked me what it is that I do at Microsoft,
which is my full-time day job (all of us have full-time day jobs in fact).
Well, I can't reveal that for obvious reasons (the competition!) but over
the last several years I have been involved in the development of two Top
Ten selling IBM PC applications. The product that I am currently developing
should prove to be very popular in the near future and will hopefully hit
the #1 spot. I'll be able to talk about it more later.

So where does that leave Quick ST? Don't worry, it will not be abandoned.
Quick ST has been my baby for 3 years, and I will continue to improve it
for as long as people continue using ST software. My experience with PCs
has shown me that PCs are the way to go in the future, as so my time is now
partly devoted to the development of the GEMULATOR Atari ST emulator for
PCs. When Atari computers are long dead and buried, ST software will
continue to be around running on PCs thanks to GEMULATOR. So far the
response from Atari ST users have been very positive, since many of you are
either switching to PCs completely or own both machines. Ignore the few
radical anti-GEMULATOR letters that appeared in Current Notes, because this
is NOT the feeling of the users that I have talked to. People that
approached me at Windsor and Vancouver shows we very enthusiastic about
running their ST software on DOS and Windows.

Ok, enough of the introduction. It has been a long time since the last
BraSoft News, and I will talk more about Quick ST 3 and GEMULATOR in the
summer newsletter which will be arriving in your mailboxes in August.


This disk contains the following files:

      QUICKST3.PRG - Quick ST 3.0 for ST and STE computers
      QUICKSTE.PRG - enhanced Quick ST 3.0 for computers with TOS 1.4 or higher
      QUICKTT3.PRG - Quick TT 3.0 for TT computers
      QINDEX22.PRG - Quick Index 2.2 benchmarking utility
      QST_ON.PRG   - program to enable Quick ST
      QST_OFF.PRG  - program to disable Quick ST
      MONSTER.PRG  - MonSTEr Moniterm emulator
      README.TXT   - this file

Note that QST_ON.PRG and QST_OFF.PRG also work with Quick ST 2.2 and can
be used instead of the On and Off settings in the Desktop Customizer. By
default, Quick ST 3.0 is "On" when it runs. Use QST_OFF.PRG to temporarily
disable and bring your system down to normal speed. Use QST_ON.PRG to
speed it up again.

Only one of these files must be installed on your computer. If you own a
TT, the decision is simple - use QUICKTT3.PRG. If you own anything else,
i.e. a 520ST, 1040ST, Mega ST, STE, or Mega STE, then use the file
QUICKSTE.PRG. This is the enhanced version of Quick ST 3.0 that handles any
size screen (Moniterm, ISAC, overscan, MonSTEr, etc) as well as some other
minor enhancements. If you only use the standard color or monochrome
monitor, then you can probaly use the normal QUICKST3.PRG file to save
memory. However, if you encounter any compatibility problems, try switching
to QUICKSTE.PRG.

Quick ST 3.0 can be installed either in the AUTO folder or run directly
from the desktop. I recommend installing it in the AUTO folder. When run
from the desktop, Quick ST 3.0 may interfere with desk accessories and
Hotwire. Of course, if you don't use Hotwire or many desk accessories, it
should be fairly safe to run it from the desktop.

The MonSTer program also goes in the AUTO folder. On an ST with TOS 1.4 or
higher, it will emulate a Moniterm monitor. The order in which MonSTEr and
Quick ST 3 load does not matter (as it did with Quick ST 2).

What features and improvements does Quick ST 3.0 have over earlier
versions of Quick ST? Or how does it compare to Turbo ST?

Compared to earlier Quick STs, Quick ST 3.0 is faster. It draws text
faster. It draws graphics faster. It speeds up more graphics functions than
before. It is more compatible. Several major bugs in Quick ST 2.2 are now
fixed, such as compatibility with TOS 1.0 (the missing or multiple cursor
bug), Personal Pascal compatiblity (and the many programs compiled with
it), TT compatibility, I/O redirection and support of GEMINI's text
windows, better Calamus compatibility, VIP Professional compatibility,
better VT52 emulation, better color text support, better low resolution
support, and about 20 other minor bugs. Quick TT 3.0 actually fixes some
minor bugs in TT TOS 3.01 and 3.05.

Compared to Turbo ST 1.84 (the latest from the compatition) Quick ST 3.0
is faster when tested in all Quick Index, SpeedTst, and ZoomTest
benchmarks. For the last two years, Turbo ST and Quick ST have been
exhanging the lead when it comes to "who is fastest". Quick ST 3.0 scores
significantly faster in all of these benchmarks and I am willing to bet
that Turbo ST will NEVER exceed the speed of Quick ST 3.0. Well, I won't
bet huge amounts of money on that, because I still know of a few minor
tweaks that can and will be made to Quick ST to speed it up in a few areas.
But in general, Quick ST 3.0 pushes the limits of the 68000 chip.

Now don't get me wrong. Turbo ST is a great product, and it was out
before Quick ST. But it is not designed to run on large screen monitors, or
the TT, or to handle things like custom fonts and desktop backgrounds. And
Turbo ST does require separate color and monochrome versions which each use
about as much or even more memory than Quick ST 3.0. So for more money and
more memory Turbo ST provides less features than Quick ST 3.0.

What to do if you find bugs? TELL ME ABOUT THEM! A lot of bugs in earlier
versions of Quick ST existed because no one bothered to report them to me.
Fortunately, in the 10 months since Quick ST 2.2 was shipped, I did receive
several dozen letters and emails explaining some of the problems. Many of
them were very easy to fix once I knew about them, and that is why Quick ST
3.0 will be lacking many of these bugs. Darn! But even a few dozen beta
testers can't possibly test every single combination of TOS versions,
monitors, accessories, and applications. So there is a chance that when you
run Quick ST 3.0 that something will not run quite right. If so, follow
these steps:

- reboot your machine and try to re-create the problem. Write down all
the necessary step requireds (for example, run such and such a program,
click on this command, do this, press this key, etc).

- make sure that Quick ST 3.0 is causing the problem. Either reboot
without it, or use QST_OFF.PRG to disable it. If the problem still
occurs, then obviously it is not a Quick ST 3.0 bug.

- write down all of the AUTO folder programs and accessories in use. Then
disable all of them, and try to re-create the problem. In many cases, it
is a conflict between one of these programs and Quick ST 3, and simply
re-arranging the order in which programs load will fix the problem.

- if the problem goes away when the AUTO folder programs and accessories
are removed, try enabling them one by one until the problem comes back.
Send me the list of programs at this point.

- try to recreate the problem on other monitors. If a program crashes on a
monochrome monitor, try running Quick ST 3 and that program on a color
monitor and see if the problem comes back.

- send me TOS version of your machine (run Quick Index to get that info)
and if possible, try to re-create the problem with other versions of TOS.

- try turning the blitter chip on or off and see if the problem remains.

- does the problem occur with both QUICKST3.PRG and QUICKSTE.PRG?

- if the problem is still happening, write to me immediately with the
above information. Screen dumps of the problem are helpful. A disk
containing the problem software is also helpful, although try to limit
this to public domain and shareware programs.

I will try to fix all bugs reported by August 31 and include the bug fixes
on the disk to be mailed out in September. Your participation will ensure
that Quick ST 3 will be as compatible as possible!

This release of Quick ST 3.0 has the following known bugs:

- it is incompatible with FMSGDOS. When Atari releases it, I'll fix it.
- STalker crashes when running with Neodesk.
- the IconDesk program does not work. This will be fixed.

To reach me by telephone, please dial 206-885-5893. Most evenings and
weekends are the best time to reach me, but if you get an answering
machine, PLEASE DON'T HANG UP. Many times I am busy working on the
computer and don't wish to be interrupted if it means losing my train of
thought. So I let the answering machine do the asnwering for me. Please
leave a message and I will listen to it!

To reach me by email, on Compuserve I am 73657,2714. On GEnie I am
BRASOFT. On "the net", I am darekm@microsoft or uunet!microsoft!darekm.

The disk to be mailed in September will contain the updated Quick ST 3 of
course, as well as a newer Quick Index, and the Quick ST 3 Desktop
Customizer. Robert has been doing some great work on it, such as being able
to load almost any format graphics file into any screen resolution to use
as a desktop background. The new Customizer also allows for editing of the
ST's built-in desktop font, editing of the built-in fill patterns, and
customizing of the mouse (being able to wrap it around the screen and block
it out of the menu bar). The disk will also contain many sample desktop
pictures, fonts, and some public domain utilities I think every ST user
should have. In other words, PD disks #2 and #4 are being merged into the
Quick ST 3 package. The disk will be a double sided 720K disk, so if this
will be a problem for anyone, PLEASE LET ME KNOW NOW.

Well, that about covers everything. Again, thank you for supporting Branch
Always Software and Quick ST.

- Darek
