Documentation for GEMINI Version 1.0

Copyright (C) 1989 by Gereon Steffens & Stefan Eissing

GEMINI is a Shareware Program from

Gereon Steffens                     Stefan Eissing
Elsterweg 8              and        Dorfbauerschaft 7
5000 Koeln 90                       4419 Laer-Holthausen
Mailbox: MAUS Bonn, 0228/254020     Mailbox: MAUS Muenster, 0251/80386
  
GEMINI is an alternative Desktop program for any Atari ST computer with
at least 1Mbyte RAM.  It can be used with TOS 1.2 (blitter-TOS), 1.4
(Rainbow TOS) or 1.6 (STE TOS).  It supports a blitter if fitted.

Use without a hard disk is possible, but not enjoyable, because of the
need to copy files from one floppy to another using a single disk
drive.

GEMINI is (as the name suggests) not one program, but two.  The basic
idea is as follows.  A mouse driven user interface is fine in
principle, but for certain types of operation the traditional command
line interface is more suitable.  For this reason we have developed
MUPFEL, a 'classic' shell without mouse or graphics enhancements, as
well as VENUS, a friendly and fast (!) graphic user interface.

A word about the naming.  [Translator says:  sorry, I don't understand
about the name MUPFEL, something about a penguin who lives in a shell.] 
VENUS is of course the naked beauty rising from a shell in Botticelli's
painting.  GEMINI (The Twins) is the combination of the two.

The two programs were written separately.

How do they work together?  First, MUPFEL is a shell, offering the
basic functions of file copying, renaming and deleting, starting up
programs, and so on.  All these functions can also be done using VENUS. 
Moreover, VENUS is able to interpret user actions such as dragging
files from one window to another, as commands like 'cp c:\test\otto
d:\otto'.  It commands MUPFEL to carry out these operations, and
supporting operations on the ST system variables.

VENUS is also a shell in its own right - a program that interprets user
actions into commands.

The other document files (VENUS.DOC and MUPFEL.DOC) explain the
standalone versions of MUPFEL and VENUS.  In this document we discuss
using the two together, as GEMINI.

First, observe the two choices in the Options menu:  "Enter Mupfel" and
"Console Window...".  "Enter Mupfel" causes the so-called "Console
Window" to be opened, for direct command input into MUPFEL.  This is a
standard AES window in which TOS programs (programs that don't make use
of the GEM AES and VDI) can be run as normal.  At the low level, these
programs use the BIOS device CON (2) and RAWCON (5) commands and
GEMINI's internal VT52 emulator.

The "Console Window..." options produces a Dialog box, in which you can
set up the parameters of the Console Window:  the Font, the font size
in points (72 points to the inch), the line spacing and the number of
lines in the window.

Font selection depends upon GDOS or the PD equivalent AMCGDOS having
previously been run from an AUTO folder, and the ASSIGN.SYS file being
correctly set up for the fonts available.  Proportional spacing is not
supported.  The best sizes to choose would be 8, 9, 10, 16, 18 and 20
point.  With the supplied fonts (in the GEMSYS folder) the best sizes
are 10 and 20 (GEMINI.FNT) or 9 and 18 (TMAIL*.FNT).

The window size can be set to any number of lines.  The actual size
will be used by the VDI Escape sequences, allowing programmers to use
windows in other sizes than 80*25.

When GEMINI starts up, start-up files can be used to set the system up
to suit your needs. The start-up files of the respective programs are
MUPFEL.MUP (see example supplied) and GEMINI.MUP.  The important
difference between the two is that MUPFEL.MUP cannot run external
programs or use the CD (change directory) command.  In GEMINI.MUP any
commands can be used.  Take care that the Environment Variables used by
VENUS (especially SCRAPDIR and TRASHDIR) are set up within MUPFEL.MUP.

Installation:

For a problem-free GEMINI installation, the following files must all be
in the same folder: GEMINI.PRG, GEMINI.RSC, GEMINIIC.RSC, GEMINI.INF,
MUPFEL.MUP and EXIT.PRG.  Make sure also that the SHELL0.PRG is in the
AUTO folder of your boot disk, as it's needed to make sure that GEMINI
works correctly after resetting your computer.

Hard disk users are advised to keep all the files in a folder named
GEMINI.

If your ST uses GDOS, then copy all the files from the GEMSYS folder
into your normal font directory.  If you don't already use GDOS then
installation for GEMINI is very easy:

a) Copy the program AMCGDOS.PRG into your AUTO folder,

b) Copy the GEMSYS folder and the file ASSIGN.SYS into the root
directory of your boot disk so that they can be found by the AUTO
folder programs,

c) If necessary, edit the PATH statement in the ASSIGN.SYS file.

Single disk drive users can boot from a complete copy of the supplied
disk for a complete GDOS installation.

The DOC and SAMPLES folders need not be kept, if not required. 
However, we suggest that you read the documentation in the DOC folder. 
This will make possible a more efficient use of GEMINI and alert you to
the wide ranging possibilities, as well as help you to solve any
problems that may arise.

We wish you happy enjoyment of GEMINI!

           Gereon Steffens  &  Stefan Eissing

[translation:  Martyn Dryden, The South West Software Library]
