(·· AMIGA · ARENA ··) .----------------------------------. | I · N · T · E · R ·V · I · E · W | `----------------------------------' ¸========================================¸ | | | Developer: Mauro "M&F" Fontana | | | | Software: BlacksEditor | | | | Homepage: not ready yet | | | | Email: the.optimizer@libero.it | | | `========================================' *Please introduce yourself to the readers!* I am 28 years old and I have a degree in CS. I would like to specialize in process automation (you know, the software that make your microwave toast your bread ;) ). I have been programming since my very first computer, a C64, that is when I was 13 years old (wow... had I ever been so young?). I have (had, as now I have much less free time left) the hobby to learn all those strange programming languages. So I now know, at different levels, AMOS, Arexx, E, C, C++, Java, Rebol, PHP, 680x0 assembly, Fujitsu 16LX assembly and... can't remember other ones right now. Oh, not exactly programming languages, but I also know HTML, XML and SQL. *When did you start working with the Amiga?* Around 1992 (yes, quite late but I could not afford an Amiga before) *Which Amiga model do you own* I have a quite modified A1200 with a Blizzard 1240/40 and 16MB RAM housed in a huge black desktop case with "custom technology" to connect an external A1000 keyboard or A1200 in a A3000 keyboard case. I also own a CDTV. However the A1200 monitor died some years ago and I passed to "work" with UAE with my PC where I can finally exploit VGA graphics modes (so I will not get blind... ;) ). *Which version of the operating system is running on your computer?* On UAE the same as o my A1200: WB3.0 with kickstart 3.0. Couldn't find any good reason to upgrade to newer versions. *What was the reason to try to develop Blacks Editor after a long time?* I have seen BlacksEditor birth. Infact Marco Negri, the original author, lived quite near me, and we discussed much on what the editor should have and what should not. Of course all the coding work was done by Marco. BlacksEditor is one of the best text editor available with such many features and it uses so few resources. A pity to throw all that work away. And I was really curious to see Marco programming skills. *Was it heavy to get the Source Code? No. When Paul Schifferer, who bought the original source code, announced that was not supporting the program anymore I asked him for them and he sent them to me quite soon. The problem was understanding the changes he added to the original version. I finally reverted to upgrade Marco's original code (my fault). *Can you tell us something about Blacks Editor?* In short it's really a small, fast and powerful text editor. Infact it has more than 150 ARexx commands that allow it to fully work even from a batch script and supports all the basic features a text editor can have. It's fully localizable and configurable (including menus and keyboard shortcuts) and fully support 2.0 kickstart, but can take advantages of 3.0+ features. It has macros to support SAS/C and E compiler, to easily edit HTML documents and finally it works with BAH (BlacksEditor ARexx Handler) a tool that allows you to create completely configurable button panels to send ARexx commands to BED. *What do you think is the difference between Blacks Editor and other Editors for the Amiga? Beyond those advantages seen above BED is not perfect. It has still some minor bugs and does not support all those advanced features of modern text editors (firstly text colouring). However it is easy to use and configure, does not require you to lose your mind inside panels of panels of configuration panels and does not require you a big box Amiga to run: 512Kbytes are good and 1 MByte is enough to edit even the most complex of your texts, supporting OS 2.0+ based systems. *How long has the development taken so far?* It has discountinued due to some insane ideas I had (like trying to completely rewrite the program in a OOP language like E, a thing that in part I manage to do ). However some months of work were needed to understand the code and then few weeks to start changing it. Of course all this in my free time. *What can we expect of future versions?* It all depends on how many people are interested in this program and also if I can see a minimum hope to have it ported to the new OS4.0 when it will be released (and I will be able afford a AmiOne motherboard). For now a free development documentation for the new OS is not available, AFAIK. However the future steps should be: - Bug fixing (but I really need a MMU which UAE can't emulate right now). - Text colouring - Multiple projects support (different from the desktop idea) - Column mode support - Fast note support (like post-it over the screen for easy taking temporary notes) - Custom file format to retain extra data other than ASCII characters. See UDF, a file format whose specifications are on Aminet. - Maybe an XML export/import feature. - Built-in Diary/Agenda management - Other minor add-ons like a window to easily manage opened documents/projects - Text folding *Would you Support "HTML" like GoldED? I don't really know how GoldED supports HTML. I have used it only 5 minutes before giving up as I could not find the option to turn off the free form cursor and while looking for it (and so playing with all those configuration panels) the program crashed twice. May be my fault... but you know, the first impression is what counts... However if you simply want a panel from where you can insert HTML tags around text, including selections, have a look at BAH (BlacksEditor Arexx Handler) which is on AMinet as well and it's free. And if you are a bit insane like me, try using HSC (HTML Completely Sucks) supporting it with BAH. *Which Software are you using for developing?* BlacksEditor (yes, the program can evolve itself, that's the future, that's why I like embedded software for automation), BAH, SAS/C Compiler, KingCon Shell all under UAE. Enforcer should be listed but I cannot use it anymore under UAE. *For which system (AmigaOS, AmigaDE, MorphOS) are you developing?* For AmigaOS, in all its versions since 2.0. *Which OS will you support in the future?* I hope to be able to fully support OS4.0 and PPC CPUs. *What is the reason to Support this OS? If you mean AmigaOS, it's because it's the most widespread Amiga OS ;) If you mean why I do not develop for other platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS) it is because I really do not want to lose my time learning on how to open a window under those systems (have you ever tried to open a window under those systems? I saw one of those Linux wizards that allow you to build graphic interface taking 5 minutes to produce and compile the source code to open a single window!!!!!!! No, it was not a 486 with 4MB of RAM! And if it were... my Amiga is not much more powerful). *What features do you miss on the AmigaOS for developing? Surely memory protection, as a system crash (which is not that rare) means restarting all the programs you were using and reconfiguring them... Then the fact that the graphics card supports are patches to the OS instead of being integrated into it. They work, but surely they could work better. Finally a decent printer support! *What features do you wish for the AmigaOS? Memory protection, to make it somewhat interesting for professional uses like Net servers. An integrated fast TCP/IP (v6 ?) stack can also be an advantage together with a good Java VM (so we can go and use all those applications which have not been developed for AmigaOS). *Don't you lose the fun and the interest in programming if you see the small amount of feedback you get from the small Amiga market?* Yes. Absolutely. Feedback is very important to continue developing the program. Otherwise I may consider it only a programming exercice and take lots of time to insert only those features I need or want to code, which may be useless but may be interesting under a programmer point of view. *Do you receive enough feedback for your software?* Well, not. At least until now. For BAH, the tool I have been programming since Marco Negri was developing BAH, which now has been available for about 5 years as CARDWARE, I have received only one postcard. So I decided to take it slow. And the last (not latest) version has been updated on Aminet together with the first BlacksEditor's upgrade. If none is using it, none needs new features and it finally worked out its training purposes. *Which software did you last buy for your Amiga?* Sincerly it is lots of time I do not buy Amiga software as I use it mostly only for programming purpose and I use program which are freeware or I have found on some magazine coverdisk. Last software were two AmyResource CDs which were quite good. *Which software do you still use?* That which allows me to program and make web pages, so other than those listed previously, I use HSC, ImageStudio, PPaint and some tons of those small patches, hacks and add-ons applications available on Aminet. *Which hard/software are you planning to buy?* The A1+OS4.0 if it will be affordable and will be a stable and well supported (by Amiga Inc.) platform. *Do you believe in a comeback of Amiga?* Not as it was the past years. Globalization and Standardization today require you to work with a PC or however be Windows compatible (even Mac survives with its own version of Microsoft Office). Great part of our best software has been ported to the PC (see LightWave, Cinema4D, Scala, PageStream), but most important many of the people who started programming with the Amiga and know its advantages are now on the other side of the river, games programmers too. And we lost our hardware advantage going to use standard off-the-shelves technology. So we probably have not the chance to create the killer application which will bring the needed (and probably deserved interest) to the new version of the platform. I think that if the new Amiga Inc. will do a good job (as it did since now) will survive only in small lateral markets as MacOS has been doing these years. PDA and embedded devices seem to be a good marked (for volumes at least). Until Bill Gates will not convice the world that he himself was the creator of those systems as well... *Your final words for the readers?* Keep your eyes open. Remember that not always most used means the best choice. Keep on trying alternatives to the mainstream, and always use your brain to judge. .... __ -- © Amiga Arena 05/2002 -- __ .... aMIGA aRENA - fEEL tHE fIRE!