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Graphic Interpretation - GEOS: For a good time....
by Bruce Thomas

Time. Something we all have in equal amounts no matter what our social or financial standing is. Time is one of our great constants. Every day, for every person on earth, is 24 hours long. Every year is 365.25 days. There is no escaping time. You may last from January to December without new clothes or a new car but you need a new calendar every year.

For some of us, time is more constant than for others. To see if you are one of these people, load GEOS and take a look at the top right corner of the Desktop. Does your clock say 07/06/88 01:00 PM (this is the default setting in GEOS 64 V2.0)? If it does you are definitely one of the Chronologically Challenged (C.C.) and need to pay attention to the information in this article. If your clock says something different - good for you, but read on anyway as you may discover some interesting ways to handle your time.

2K or 2 8's - which is the problem?

Every time we turn around these days it seems like there is someone else pointing out some new angle on the infamous Y2K problem. This situation will come to a head in a little over a year when computer systems have to deal with dates in two centuries.

For GEOS users the Year 2000 situation is not too serious. Only a limited number of GEOS applications will be affected by this. The Desktop Clock only displays the last two digits in the year as does the File INFO box. A patch for the Calendar program was published in Commodore World #10 and is available on the CMD web site. GeoWrite and GeoPublish will need to be fixed so that the DATE function will print the proper century (like the Calendar, only two bytes should need to be changed).

The real problem for GEOS users is not Y2K but Y88 as indicated by the C.C. users clock. GEOS stamps the date and time on every file you create. You can view this information by opening the File Info box (highlight the file and choose INFO from the FILE menu or press C= Q) or by choosing the VIEW menu and then the BY`DATE option. To avoid the Y88 problem you must make sure your clock is set when you boot GEOS.

Tick Tock, Tick Talk

Having the date and time of modification associated with your files is a fantastic help. Unless you use a very descriptive naming convention on your files it would otherwise be difficult to tell which file is the most recent one. Setting the GEOS clock is not something that all users do, but everyone should.

Early versions of GEOS made forgetting about the clock easy. This was because there was no clock on the Desktop. Once V2.0 arrived and the clock stared out at you it became easier to set, but you still had to remember to set it. There are many ways to do this - some better than others.

For starters you can simply click on the clock with your input device and then enter the date and time. If you like menus and want to use two clicks to set the clock you can choose the SET CLOCK option under the OPTIONS menu. If either of these options aren't simple enough for you there is a Desk Accessory in GEOS that lets you set the time and date among other things.

Not only can you set the DATE and TIME with the Preference Manager but you can also customize your mouse cursor and screen colors. Click the Date or Time box and enter the new values. Make sure you press RETURN prior to moving your pointer as the new values will be lost if you don't. Before Auto-Exec files were introduced in V2.0 customized fake input drivers were used to load the Preference Manager during the boot process so we could set the date and time.

A Done Deal

With the new Auto-Exec files in V2.0 there came a flurry of small files to ensure your clock was set. These files, when placed on your boot disk, would prompt you in some way to enter the time and date. Using one of these programs would ensure you didn't suffer from the Y88 problem. But which one to use?

I must admit, I tried a bunch of them. I finally settled on a 2K file by Rick Koch called AutoClock V1.5 (dated 4/1/91 12:00 AM). What set this one apart from all of the rest was one nifty feature that it has, plus it works in GEOS 128 also.

AutoClock V1.5 saves the Date and Time that you enter. The next time you boot GEOS you can see when you booted it last as you set the time for your new session. For those of us who use GEOS every day this is not a big deal, but if you are a casual user you may want to know.

But I don't want to set my clock!

Fine. And that is the way I like it too. Let's face it, we're basically lazy. That's why we use computers. Let the machine do the work for us. Check my spelling, balance my budget, calculate my taxes, set my clock (!?).

In keeping with the tradition of GEOS some people early on figured a way to do things and others have improved on that. There were some clock units produced that plugged into your joystick port (with a pass-through connector for your mouse) and GEOS would read the time and set the Desktop clock during the boot process. There are also plans available if you want to build your own clock unit (SmartWatch) and GEOS programs to access it.

Nowadays you can still get a clock unit that plugs into your joystick port. This one, however, doesn't have a pass-through connector because it is already a mouse. The CMD SmartMouse improved on the old clock and the mouse at the same time by adding a third mouse button for improved functionality.

If you are happy with your present input device and don't want to buy a SmartMouse then maybe you need a new disk drive or mass storage device. Yes, RamLink and the CMD FD-2000 3.5" floppy drive can both be ordered with an optional internal clock module (I have one in my FD). The HD Series Hard Drives come standard with an internal clock. All four of the CMD units mentioned here come with handy Auto-Exec files to set the GEOS clock during the boot process with no user intervention.

So there it is. As a GEOS user you are not going to be too badly affected by the Y2K problem. What we need to erradicate is the Y88 problem and, as you see, it is an easy one to stomp on.

Until next time, enGEOy your Commodore!