Author: Fat Rakoon (host62-7-79-17.btinternet.com)
Date: 12-09-2001 01:03
Yes, with Geneva, you get to run lots of programs in parallel with each other. This, you should already know, is called multitasking, or running multiple tasks at once!
A problem Geneva has, is that the type of multitasking is cooperative, which means that programs really need to written in such a way as to allow such a thing. Dont worry though, most are by default I think.
Both MiNT and Magic are preemtive multitasking and this means that programs should multitask whether they want to or not.
In the real world though, it makes hardly any difference at all!
The bonus Geneva has, is that its only the AES that is multitasking, so a hell of a lot more programs will run on it than people think, also its incredibly fast! - far faster than a bog-standard MiNT setup, but also far slower when you have MiNT setup properly.
From my own experience, I think that if you have an ST especially one with not a lot of RAM, then you are better off with Geneva, because to get MiNT to run anywhere near as fast as Geneva, you need to really go for it and add such things as NVDI and NAES.
This is my own opinion though, many will argue, and thats good - they can prove me wrong, which is what I would like them to do
If you have an 030 CPU & especially if you have tons of RAM, then for gods sake get MiNT there cannot be any doubt that the power it will give your Atari, wil shock the hell out of you, but I would seriously think about what you wont get if you have a low end Atari.
You could compromise of course, and go for Magic, but the networking capabilities of Magic, while great, are just not quite in the MiNT league - however, there are all the tools you need that are on the net ready to download.
In terms of support, Geneva as far as I know has none or at least nothign obvious anyway.
Magic has a few sites, but they are often just general sites and not really full of the usefull info you often need.
This is where MiNT comes in... The support for it is incredible... there is one hell of a lot of sites for it, and search long wnough you are bound to find an answer you have been looking for!
I think I am right in all of this, I hope someone will correct me where needed, and if you need any more details, just ask... We are here to help.
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