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3]GOMF 2.0: Review
By TOM KROTCHKO
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HyperTek/Silicon Springs
120-1140 Austin Ave.
Coquitiam, BC Canada V3K 3P5
(604) 942-4577

Product Description: Memory resident utility to allow recovery from system
crashes without re-booting.

Price:$40

Advantages: Can save time during program development.

Disadvantages: Will not catch many system errors, shareware version
available that will perform most of the same functions.

     As I've told many people, I may not be the world's best programmer, but
I'm probably one of the most persistent. Twenty or thirty system crashes
(the old stand-bye GURU) are a way of life when I program. To add to my
misery, my hard drive is attached to the Amiga by way of the Bridgeboard,
making rebooting a 1 1/2 minute affair. The best thing I can say about it is
that the extra time allows me to get a drink from time to time. If something
can save me even half of my crashes during a night, it's saved me a lot of
 time.
     GOMF is a utility which promises to eliminate all GURUs. GOMF stands
for Get Outta My Face, which is the way most people feel when the GURU rears
its head.
     I have to tell you immediately that GOMF will not catch the really ugly
crashes that can occur when developing programs on the Amiga. Programs that
go rampaging through memory will crash the Amiga more quickly than GOMF can
correct the damage. GOMF works best in situations where the system is still
intact enough to give you the "Press CANCEL to reset/debug" requester. In
 these cases GOMF will take charge of the system and allow you to get rid of
the offending program. In this situation, GOMF works very well.
     The GOMF that is currently being sold is version 2.0. There is a
previous version of GOMF (1.0) which is available on Fred Fish disk #95.
This version of GOMF appears very similar to the current commercial version
of GOMF.
     The most convenient new feature of version 2.0 is the ability to use it
from the CLI. Version 1.0 would not allow the CLI window to close if run
from this environment. With this enhancement, GOMF 2.0 can now be part of
your Startup-Sequence. Also included with GOMF 2.0 is a utility called NUKE
to allow the removal of any program at any time. This is handy when your
program is in an infinite loop since you can NUKE the program to make it go
away.
     GOMF also watches "low-memory" for changes that should not occur. The
usual cause of this is a program that is out of control. Interestingly
enough, Scribble! while printing will cause a GOMF requester telling me low
memory has been damaged. It politely informs me that the damage has been
repaired, although I've never had a problem with Scribble!
     GOMF is a useful product but is probably not very valuable to the
non-programmer. If you think that GOMF might be helpful to you, my
suggestion is to try the shareware version on FF #95. If it looks to be what
you need, PLEASE send the author the shareware donation. If shareware makes
you nervous, you may buy the commercial product. Keep in mind, GOMF 1.0 is a
better value.

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