Quick ST II - Software Screen Accelerator and Desktop Customizer ---------------------------------------------------------------- Price: $19.95 U.S., $22.95 Canada, œ19.95 U.K. Now shipping. Quick ST II is a major enhancement of the Quick ST software accelerator, and includes 5 new screen utilities. Quick ST II is a must have package for anyone concerned with the performance of their ST. It includes: - version 2.0 of the Quick ST software screen accelerator, - the Quick ST II Desktop Customizer, - the Art-ST graphics editor, - version 1.8 of the Quick View fast file viewer, and, - version 1.8 of the Quick Index speed benchmarker. Quick ST 2.0 speeds up text and GEM screen output, which makes most GEM or text based programs redraw faster, respond faster, and thus run faster. Compared to earlier versions of Quick ST, version 2.0 is up to 100% faster, and is now compatible with almost all ST software. Quick ST 2.0 is a software accelerator. That means that it requires no hardware modifications, replacement of ICs, or voiding of warranties. Quick ST 2.0 does its job by making TOS more efficient at outputting text and graphics to the screen. It runs on all STs, from TOS 1.0 to TOS 1.6, color or monochrome, blitter or no blitter. In most cases, there is a 200% to 300% increase in the speed of screen output. This was verified by not one, but three different screen benchmarking utilities (including our own Quick Index). This is even faster than the performance of hardware accelerators. How is this possible? A good hardware accelerator (such as the T16 board) can only provide about a 50%-100% speed increase, and those cheaper boards are only good for about a 10%-30% speed increase. But instead of using this brute force approach, Quick ST 2.0 replaces slow screen drawing code in TOS (which contains a lot of compiled C) with small and fast assembly language code. In one case (printing strings of text to a color monitor) our code is over 15 times faster that that originally found in TOS. Quick ST 2.0 now makes even better use of the blitter chip (if present), so that even machines that do have blitter chips will execute GEM faster. If a hardware accelerator is present, Quick ST 2.0 still provides almost the same level of speed increases as without the board. In fact, the combined performance of a Mega ST containing a T16 accelerator and Quick ST 2.0 almost equals the performance of the Atari TT! (Based on benchmark figures of TOS 3.0, the version of TOS found in the TT). Quick ST 2.0 has many other features. It supports the 19 inch Moniterm monitor, making the large screen faster than ever. It is compatible with the Atari Monitor Driver and ZZ Driver, and also works with other high resolution screen drivers. Quick ST 2.0 uses only 20K of RAM, which is a lot less than most other utilities, which makes it ideal for use on 512K or 1 meg systems. Even the Control Panel uses more memory! Quick ST 2.0 runs from the AUTO folder. Simply copy Quick ST 2.0 to the AUTO folder of your boot disk and reboot. It is not copy protected, for easy installation on a hard disk. Once installed, Quick ST 2.0 is invisible and worry free. Quick ST 2.0 supports the installation of custom desktop backgrounds and fonts, to make your ST feel more friendly. Any DEGAS compatible medium resolution or monochrome picture can be installed. Like other software accelerators and the blitter chip, Quick ST 2.0 can only speed up well behaved applications (programs that do not bypass TOS). This excludes most video games, 8-bit, Mac, and PC emulators. Quick ST 2.0 does not significantly speed up low resolution (320x200 mode) since most well behaved applications do not run in low resolution. The only other product that comes close to Quick ST 2.0's abilities costs more than twice as much as Quick ST 2.0, uses twice as much memory as Quick ST 2.0, doesn't support the Moniterm, has trouble supporting custom backgrounds and fonts, and most of the time isn't even faster than Quick ST 2.0. There has never been a better time to get Quick ST! The Quick ST II Desktop Customizer is a companion program for Quick ST 2.0, which allows for the installation of custom background patterns and desktop images. Although there are other public domain and commercial utilities that install custom desktop images, none of them are as fast, as easy to use, or support the installation of background patterns (which saves memory). Here's how it works. When you first turn on your computer, Quick ST 2.0 checks its configuration. It will be in one of three modes: - normal green or gray desktop background - custom pattern - custom background image (requires an extra 32K of RAM). A custom pattern allows you to replace the solid green (in color) or gray (in monochrome) desktop background with your own custom designed pattern. No extra RAM is required. We liked the way this feature looked on the Mac, so we just had to give the ST this ability too. The third option loads a DEGAS compatible picture into memory, and uses it as the desktop background. Most GEM based programs will also use this background image. There are plenty of images that can be on the desktop. Calendars, reminder messages, digitized pictures, or just plain bizarre drawings. The Desktop Customizer, which runs as either a desk accessory or as a regular program, allows the user to instantly change modes, from normal background to custom fill to custom image, to load, edit, and save patterns, and to load desktop images. The desktop background can be changed as often as one wants, without rebooting the computer. And all configuration information is written directly into the Quick ST 2.0 files. There is no renaming of files required, and the desktop image files (.PI2 or .PI3 DEGAS pictures) can be located anywhere on the disk. The Desktop Customizer contains a built-in pattern editor, and as the pattern is edited, it is displayed on the whole desktop. On a color monitor, the pattern can include up to 4 colors. To help users create that desktop image that is just right, Quick ST II includes the Art-ST shareware graphics editor, by Robert Birmingham. Users of Quick ST II are encouraged to use this program and send a small shareware contribution to the author, who will then provide an update. Art-ST has all the features needed, including circles, boxes, text, cut and paste, and is compatible with DEGAS files. The fourth program in the Quick ST II package is Quick View 1.8. This latest version of our text file reader runs as both a desk accessory or as a regular program, and can also be installed to replace the desktop's "Show Print Cancel" function. Simply double click on any text file and it will quickly be display in 80 columns, and in 25 or 50 rows (in mono). No other text file viewer can flip back and forth through a text file as fast as Quick View. Use Quick View to read README files, online magazines, source code, or any other text, or near text file. Quick View supports standard ASCII, UNIX text files, and Atari 8-bit text files. Because it can run as a desk accessory, it is possible to do things like read documentation files while running a GEM program. Readers of ST Report online magazine will especially like the built-in table of contents generator. Just load in an issue of ST Report, press the Tab key, and instantly get a table of contents of the entire issue. Then just press a letter to choose a topic, and Quick View instantly jumps to that article. Nothing could be simpler! The fifth program in the package is Quick Index 1.8, an upgrade to our famous benchmarking utility that is used the world over to benchmark hardware and software upgrades for the Atari ST. Quick Index 1.8 has been expanded with reference benchmarks for the new Atari STe. Quick Index benchmarks your computer in various categories: CPU performance, disk drive performance, and screen output performance. Quick Index will show you just how much slower your ST is without Quick ST. It can also be used to test various hardware accelerators. Quick ST II is available from most Atari ST dealers in Canada and the United States. Prices may vary slightly from dealer to dealer. In the United Kingdom, it is currently available from: Advantage Business Systems 56 Bath Road, Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7HJ If for some reason your Atari dealer does not stock Quick ST II, or you just wish to order direct, send a check or money order to our address: Branch Always Software PO Box 2624, Station B Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 6N2 In Canada or the U.S., add $3 for postage and handling. In the U.K., add œ2. All other countries, add $5. We accept payment in Canadian dollars, U.S. dollars, and pound sterling. For fastest service, please enclose the correct amount. Residents of Ontario, please add 8% tax. If you have a VISA card, you can order by phone for fastest delivery. Have your VISA card ready and call our order line: Order line: 519-570-4340 Inquiries: 519-747-0386 Please call our inquiries line for more information.