Magic OS

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Magic
Desktop

In January '97 I installed Magic 5 OS on my 1040STFM. This is a "must-have" for any ST user with enough RAM and a hard disk. It needs to run in medium rez or higher. The most obvious feature is even more speed. Multitasking is cool too.

Using GEMBENCH 4.03, my fastest TOS 1.4 speed with various software enhancements (inc. NVDI) was 346%. A similar Magic 5 OS set-up gave 374%.

NoSTalgia 0.65 emulator on my Macintosh 6360 PPC gave 896%! I'm not getting these speeds on my iMac G5 in OSX.

An integrated package like Magic removes the need for so many AUTO and ACC programs at boot time. There should therefore be less conflicts. (The NVDI manual suggests modem patches aren't needed with Magic, but I've always used HSMODEM.)

Now I've finished setting everything up, I doubt I'll ever go back to single-TOS, except to play games or special applications.

Master Tracks Pro 3 (MIDI sequencer) and Pagestream DTP have been the only major pieces of software that haven't worked with Magic 5 OS ("out of memory" message). Apparently there is an easy fix using LIMITMEM.TTP and editing the MAGIC.INF file I need to do, but don't understand.

The list below shows a useful working arrangement for the internet:

AUTOs

MAGXBOOT
NVDI
DRVIN
MFP
STING

ACCs

Nil

START

COPS

NOTE: The new program COPS replaces XCONTROL. It runs directly from the c:/gemsys/magic/start/ folder when needed (saving RAM). Install it as an application for CPX files if you like.

HSMODEM7 replaces the old SERFX20 routines. It is much smaller, and more compatible (they say). I've had no troubles after using settings recommended in October 1995 Atari World.

The mono emulator SEBRA 1.32 (1992) crashes when run before or after MAGXBOOT. Mike West's MONO_EMU 5 works though! Put it just after MAGXBOOT, before NVDI.

Before Dawn 1.25 (1993) is a great looking screensaver. Apparently KANDINSKY art package doesn't like it. There is a newer version 1.39, in German.

SCRNSAVE works, and uses far less RAM. Put them just after NVDI if you have lots of RAM.

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Information provided by David Macpherson
Brisbane, Australia