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Thing v1.27e
Thing is the alternative desktop of choice for many Atari enthusiasts. Commercial releases of Thing are also bundled with sales of the Milan TOS compatible and the N.AES alternative operating system.This Shareware release is available thanks to the mammoth effort put in by TransAction's Peter West who took over where I left off with Thing v1.20 - thanks Peter!
Replacing the Desktop can transform the way you work with your machine.
It took Atari five years to get from TOS 1.0 to TOS 2.0 and it was
during this era Thing was born where it has remained at the cutting edge
of desktop design ever since - and that includes Windows and Mac OS!
Thing's have changed!
- Try before you buy Shareware release.
- Dedicated icon manager.
This is now available as a separate English release from:
Download icon utility now! - New complete 3D-Look in 16 (or more) colours, thanks to Dirk Klemmt.
- New key required from v1.20 onwards (New key routines had to be programmed to counter piracy).
- Enhanced Kobold handling - can now be set for use with 8+3 file systems.
- New Save Display Options menu entry. This stores the sorting, appearance (text/icons/mini-icons) and the file mask of a directory window in a file THING.IDX.
- New case-sensitive sort and auto-locator options.
- New Apply button makes it much easier to persuse different background images before making a final selection.
- New Context menus
- New Memory limit option can restrict the amount of memory made available to a program. This works with Multi-TOS and from MagiC 4 onwards.
- New Auto-save Config menu entry.
- The [Page Up], [Page Down] and [End] key on Mac keyboards are now evaluated.
- Workaround for crashes under MagiC Mac used in connection with the SCSI Driver programmed by Steffen Engel.
- Inverse filemasks: ~*.TXT displays all file which do NOT match the filemask *.TXT
- Thing can, with small limitations, be removed from memory when multitasking.
- After a write to the Clipboard Thing sends a SC_CHANGED message.
- Workaround for Bug in form_center() with active MultiDialog, which could lead to incorrect location of selected icons on the Desktop.
- Thing now evaluates $SDMASTER for Shutdown program and $RSMASTER for the resolution change program. If $RSMASTER available, the Change resolution option will be available under OS's other than MagiC.
- New (optional) colour logo for Thing.
- Text in Mini-icon mode can be assigned a colour in ICONS.INF.
- Directory and Group windows can now be patterned.
- Optional interactive window placement, if not enough free desktop is available.
- Optional automatic window placement gives consideration to user defined preferences which control the distance between windows and the screen edges.
- New page in the Setup... dialog to enter the new window options.
- Files can now be cut and pasted between windows using [Control]
- C, [Control]
- X and [Control]
- V (just like in a text editor).
- New Group options Determine attributes, Automatically close fter opening group objects and Parent object.
- Eject media (via GEMDOS and XHDI).
- On File systems with use and group IDs for files and directories the attributes can now be displayed and edited via the Info dialog.
- If the file system makes the information available the Info dialog can now display the time of the last Status change or the last access.
- Symbolic links implemented (either via Drag&Drop or via "New...")
- By the Copy can now become decided, if symbolic(ally) Left as\than such or its destinations shall
- On copying via Drag&Drop the window contents will automatically scroll if top or lower window borders are reached.
- Improved Kobold and N.AES support
- Improved support for TrueColor resolutions
Registration benefits include:
- Key to remove the on-screen shareware reminder
- Position of open windows cannot be saved in unregistered version
- Registration letter and master disk containing latest version and ancillary files
- A nice warm feeling knowing you've supported ongoing Thing development!
Other reading
- Atari Computing #8/February 1998/p13: Thing 1.20e review, rated 91%
- Atari World #2/June 1995/p12,13: Thing feature, v0.31 included on Reader disk
- AtariPhile #4/Atari Computing #2 joint Desktops feature including Thing
- Atari Computing #2 Thing v1.09e included on Reader disk