Re: Anything new w/ the GS?

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article midd33@aol.com (Midd33) writes...

>I have since sold my GS in March but I'm still interested in it.

    I myself added a semi-modern PC to my desk that very same month, but
selling my GS (let alone even the thought of ceasing to use it) had ever
crossed my mind. :)

>Has anything new come out lately? I have heard very little since I've
>been off Genie.

    In the past three and a half months? Very little, mostly just bad
news as I recall; Ego System announced they are closing their doors at
the end of June, SoftDisk G-S ceased publication recently.

    I would expect any good news or surprises will happen at KFest (as
it usually does), maybe even a few vapourware titles will finally get
released with a little luck (no idea about GS/TCP, but Wolf 3-D is a
possibility).

>I heard that a graphic web browser is almost done. anything else?

    You must be referring to Spectrum Internet Suite, about the only
bright spot in those past three months. It is not quite a graphical
web browser, but rather more like a point-and-click version of Lynx
with some bonuses like different font styles and sizes, colored links,
radio buttons, text-entry boxes and even a menu toolbar very similar
to Netscape (of course there are no graphics whatsoever, plug-ins or
several of the other things you'd expect from a true web browser).

    It is a script based add-on for Spectrum, and only works with
a shell account. If your curious about whether GS's can connect and
use SLIP/PPP accounts, that is still not available at this time. As
for a graphical web browser, the only way that would be possible is
with a Second Sight board but no one is writing software for it.
Still yet another problem, resolution and color aside, the GS (even
highly accelerated) is still unbareably sluggish when it comes to
decoding JPEG image data.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca