An in depth review
of a piece of
software.
Program name: Systems Server 6a
AVAILABLE ONLY TO 8 BIT MEMBERS
Reviewed by: Andrew Black.
System requirements:
BBC B, OS 1.2 or higher.
Master Series (except ET)
6502 2nd processor/HiBasic
Archimedes/A3000 with !65Host
8 Bit members and NOT pirates!
Hint, Hint to any shady people
lurking in the valleys.
Well this is it, what we all have been
waiting for...Systems Server version 6a
How will this version compare to
previous versions? (efforts) - that's a
joke Duncan, honest! (chuckle)
Will it provide us with peace of mind?
or just another pain in the filing
system?
Systems server was designed to help you
organise your files (and hence your
life) and discs into a recognisable
order. It is a comprehensive database
which can hold information on every
file you have and it is possible to run
programs directly from the server.
THE MANUAL:
The instruction manual provided is
about 30 A4 pages in length and
covers all aspects of server.
It includes an index, which is
vital unless you want to go wading
through pages of useless data.
(I do)
The manual is very good at
explaining the program and often
gives demonstrations on how it
should be done.
It also provides a help sheet at
the end so which prompts you to
write off to Duncan if you need
help. A lot of time and thought has
been put into the manual and it
shows!
Now to the program. On booting up you
are presented with a Mode 7 screen
prompting you to enter a User Name
(database file).
If the program finds a UserName corres-
ponding to the one you have entered
you will be put directly through to
the main menu. If the program does not
find the UserName it presumes that you
would like to set up a new database.
Three inputs are required for each
database - Database name, Filename and
Notefile. After you entered these you
are asked to enter the number of new
records which you wish to create, any
number between 1 and 999. (Whole
numbers only of course) You must then
confirm your choices before the
disc drive starts chugging away.
(This does mean however that you will
probably not get Can't extend errors
because the size of the database files
stay the same, like a bucket. Your
database records are water into the
bucket so to speak, at least I think
so - ED)
Anyway - the chugging can take a long
time.
After the disc drive has finished
chugging away you will be sent into
main menu of Server which contains an
array of options for you to choose
from, as well as information about the
size and state of your database at the
foot of the screen.
To be able to manipulate data you have
to have it in the first place and
when you first enter the main menu
all you can really do is to enter some
records.
THE CONTENTS OF EACH RECORD
Program name
Category - this can be GAME,
UTILITY, ROM IMAGE and so on
The disc which the program is on
Three lines of NOTES about the
program.
How the program should be loaded
The entering of records is speeded up
by having macro-menus for things like
Category and Loading option.
The other options from the main menu
are equally comprehensive. The options
for searching (or browsing as it is now
called) (Is this a result of Duncan
having an A3000?) are very powerful
indeed, allowing the user to enter
his or her own search patterns for a
file or files.
Likewise, the revising and deleting
structures are comprehensive and they
do in fact work!
I will not go into all the options as
you can try them out for yourself.
They all work very well indeed and I
have experienced no problems as yet.
There are still problems with Systems
Server. On an 80 track disc system you
can only create a database structure of
about 430 program records, which in my
case is severely constricting.
I managed to fit over 500 records on by
doing nasty things to the programs.
A better alternative would be an option
of specifying a source drive for the
data.
The program is not as friendly as it
could be. Maybe some kind of online
help suggestions, displayed when
something has gone wrong would help.
To combat the space problem, how about
a Main Database Organiser which allows
you to keep different databases on
different discs. Possibly one for games
and one for utilities and so on.
The speed of the program cannot really
be increased unless someone fancies
rewriting the filing system.
I have reviewed Systems Server as a
professional program. As a professional
program it rates very highly indeed,
this is because of the amount of time
put into developing the full program,
which includes the manual as well.
Since Systems Server is free it
represents what can be only described
as fantastic value and is surely
destined for fame.
This version of the program has been
put together not only by Duncan,
but by every member who contributed
suggestions and ideas to it.
Duncan has not achieved perfection yet
so keep writing to him!
RE-WRITING THE FILING SYSTEM:
It might be worthwhile to note that
the Wapping Editor from Watford
Electronics includes in its 64K rom
a rewrite of the DFS called
TurboDFS which might improve speed
performance.
Somebody gave me the original
of the Wapping Editor and I have
yet to plug the ROM in. If anybody
would like to do a benchmark test
with some their Server database
then contact me (Andy Nibbs) thru
Duncan.
Andy Nibbs (ED)