geoBrowser v1.6
Updated in 2009 for Wheels 4.4
Download geoBrowser 1.6
Download geoBrowser Source
geoBrowser was born because I still have not found a program to easily view standard
CBM text (much less Ascii text in CBM format) from GEOS. There are plenty of converters,
but no browsers.
I wanted geoBrowser to be something special though, so almost immediately I tackled the
problem of resizable, movable windows. The kind of things PC users take for granted,
but we Commodore folks had only seen in geoCanvas or TopDesk. The results pleased
me. The windows easily move over each other, and can be resized and dragged around
with the click of your mouse.
With such differences between ASCII and PETSKII, I saw no reason to require
the user to tell the program what type of file he or she wants to open. That's why
autodetecting the file type would be a central feature of the program. ASCII, PETSKII,
LoadStar packed text files, and numerous GEOS type files should also be instantly recognized
when opened.
geoBrowser supports geoWrite v2.0 and 2.1 document files. Fonts, text styles, page breaks,
clip art, tab stops, and other standard features are also supported. geoBrowser also supports
Notes type files, Text Albums, and even Photo Albums!
And it does all this in every version of GEOS I've tested it on. That includes GEOS 64
and 128 (in both 40 and 80 columns), gateWay, and Wheels 64/128.
The newest geoBrowser feature is geoPaint support. Now you can view geoPaint images in fullcolor. Only Wheels 128 users can see color images on 80 column screens however. Thanks toMaurice Randall for great color support in his Wheels kernal. Without it, I wouldn't havebothered with 80 column color images at all.
Revision Notes:
- Program started around 8/20/97
- Multiple windows implemented.
- Window moving, resizing code done.
- Desk Accessories implemented under GEOS menu.
- Drive/File List browser window completed.
- File name double-click/file opening code completed.
- ASCII/PETSKII/LoadStar/geoWrite file recognition code completed.
- ASCII/PETSKII/LoadStar translation code written.
- ASCII/PETSKII/LoadStar output to text window code written, including word wrap.
- Page Up/Page Down buttons on text window implemented.
- Lexical analyzer implemented (for future HTML use).
- geoWrite multi-page output to text window code written, including tabs.
- geoWrite font support implemented, including all GEOS text styles.
- geoWrite pictures implemented.
- Initial HTML syntactic parser written, then disabled. See comment below.
- GEOS Text Album support implemented.
- GEOS Photo Album support implemented.
- GEOS NotePad file support implemented.
- 10/29/97 geoBrowser is in Beta. Docs being written. She's done.
- 4/13/98 80 column support for GEOS 128 v2.0 added. Will submit it later.
- 1/8/99 BIG UPDATE! Wheels support added for native directory navigation.
- Support for launching GEOS applications and desk accessories added.
- 2/14/00 Another update -- some linefeed fixes, and Shareware release!
- 5/3/00 geoPaint support added for 40 and 80 cols (80 cols for Wheels only)
- Notes bug fixed
- File limit removed. Page limit is in my sights next.
- 5/5/00 V1.6 Released!
10/28/97: Plans changed. With shrinking memory availability, and an unwillingness to
go VLIR with this application, and also the fact that the application is over-running
my self-set time constraints, I've decided to drop HTML support from this application.
It's likely that any future html browser from myself will be BASED off geoBrowser, but will
not be a part of this particular application (that is, HTML support will not be in any
future version of the "geoBrowser" application, but perhaps in a twin app). To make up
for this, I'm implementing browse support for Text Albums, Photo Albums, and limited
support for geoPaint files.
05/04/00: HTML plans scrapped. The Wave will be a full fledged Web Browser. Why shouldI reinvent the wheel?
If you find anything in here you have questions or comments about, feel
free to leave me email right here.
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