Berkeley Softworks Customer Service Newsletter (April 1991) - There is some really good information on the printer drivers made for GEOS, along with specific dip switch settings for certain printers.  There's also good information on printer interface cards and dip switch settings for those also.  So if any of you have a whacky dream to create a newsletter with a dot-matrix printer in the 21st century, you'll want this.

This is  the manual for the CMD geoCable II which is a hardware device that connects the user port on a Commodore 64 to a custom parallel cable that can be hooked to a standard IEEE1284 (Centronics) capable printer.  

Collette Utilities is a collection of GEOS programs and Desk Accessories for the Commodore 64 & 128 by Jim Collette.  Programs in this collection will run in both 40 & 80 column mode.

The cool thing about this updated documentation, by Bruce Thomas [November 2022], is that it's completely laid out and generated from geoPublish! The PDF is formatted to print double-sided with room for hole-punching for insertion into a binder or duo-tang. There a couple of blank pages intentionally.

Just for comparison, here is a link to the old documentation we had, what a difference!  Thank you Bruce for cleaning this up and sharing.

Here's a link to the actual GEOS Collette utilities disk images.

The new GEOS system, which includes geoPaint and geoWrite, has moved Commodore home computers into an exciting new world. Commodore owners now can access their machines through user interfacetools - pull-down menus, windows, and icons - by using ajoystick or mouse to control screen input. COMPUTE!'s User's Guide to GEOS is your key to learning to take advantage of these tools quickly and easily.

Dick Estel was a GEOS fanatic and lover of all things Font related. He created his Font Resource Directory so others could get the benefit of his obsession. I doubt there is anyone else with the GEOS Font knowledge that Dick has.

Dick began printing his GEOS fonts in 1989 and, while he tried to discontinue the FRD at numerous times, more fonts kept on coming. Supplement 14 declared it was The Final Supplement taking the FRD to Page 516. While none of the Fontastic Newsletters are dated, I know that there was at least one more update.

Although I don't have a Fontastic #15 Newsletter the final envelope I have from Dick is postmarked June 11, 1996. My FRD binder goes to Page S-520 with Pilaga, Darleen, Supra Pilaga, Supra Darleen, and Urubu being the final fonts. These fonts do not appear in the alphabetized index.

Versions of the included PDF's appear on the geoSpecific GEOS PD/Shareware CD that is available on the lyonlabs GEOS site.

I have recently re-scanned the FontMania! columns and the Fontastic Newsletters as the original scans were poorly done - perhaps reduced to keep the CD size down.

One day I may rescan the entire FRD collection but for now it does present all the fonts in readable format.

Nov 2024
Bruce Thomas

Thank you Bruce for this amazing collection of PDF's highlighting Dick Estel's work to organize and publish the innumerable GEOS fonts available.  I've included some screenshots of just a few of the PDF's in this archive, there is so much content, you'll need to download and examine for yourself.

Geopublish Tutorial by Bruce Thomas is an EXCELLENT document on how to use the powerful GEOS software application called GeoPublish to create a newsletter.  Injected / attached into the PDF document is a .D81 disk image of material that goes with the tutorial.

Here are some re-creations of the original GEOS floppy disk labels by Sleepwalk7 (AKA Sea7).  There are 21 labels in the collection covering most everything released by Berkley.

FontPack Plus expands your use of GEOS by giving you a wider choice of fonts from which to select. FontPack Plus contains a variety of fonts for use with many GEOS applications. The fonts in FontPack Plus - 53 in all - range from a wide selection of alphabet styles to special characters, such as faces and astrological symbols.

Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned computer user, if you use GEOS, then GEOS Inside and Out contains information you need. This book begins with a complete, thorough introduction to GEOS. You'll also learn how to add your own applications to GEOS. It contains the listing for FileMaster, so you can convert your programs to GEOS format and create an icon for them. Geos Inside and Out will help you:

• Master GEOS by following the detailed introduction
• Use your own programs in GEOS (includes icon editor)
• Display memory and the registers with the single-step simulator
• Add windows to your own programs
• Learn about the GEOS file format
• Study memory layout and important memory locations

GEOS Programs Directory 1990 by Peter T. Hughes (GEOS ARENA software librarian for QuantumLink and editor for GEOWORLD) - This document is a great reference for programs that were available for GEOS 64/128 in 1990 and covers every category you could think of.  Each listing includes an image of the programs Icon, the authors information, release date, program size and description.  I can't imagine how much time it must have taken to get all this compiled, especially getting all those icons extracted and put into a word processor / desktop publishing program. 

Thanks to Bruce Thomas for sharing this valuable reference.  You can find further information on where these GEOS programs can be found by checking out Bruce's location information document.

Bruce Thomas has provided this nice location reference document for the GEOS Programs Directory 1990 that lists locations of where the individual GEOS programs can be found. 

The information printed in the magazines as "absolute know-how" was often nothing more than superficial repetitions of passages from the manual, or even half-truths or less.  After a while we had our fill of this sort of reporting, and we decided to write a book of our own that on one hand cleared up the half-truths, and on the other hand presented the many tips and tricks that we had picked up in our work with GEOS.

geoShell Programmer's Development Package Manual by Maurice Randall, is designed to be an aid in developing commands for the GEOS geoShell program.  There are either three 1541 disks or a 1581 disk that accompanied this manual, but so far I've been unable to track down copies.  If you would like to share a copy, please use the Contact Us link in the banner.

Update - Bruce Thomas has tracked down the disk images, they can be found here.

geoTELEGRAPH - November 2004 by Bruce Thomas -  Nice 2 page write-up on the new features and requirements of geoPublish v1.1.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF GEOS ...

• is for the new user who wants to know more about GEOS and how to make it work for him;
• is for the advanced user who wants more flexibility than GEOS alone, offers;
• is for the programmer who wants to write his own utilities to extend his control over GEOS;
• is the book you need when the manual is not enough.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF GEOS gives you the information that you need to use this powerful program to your best advantage. A* team of experienced users and programmers examined GEOS inside and out to give you:

• shortcuts to make your work go faster and smoother;
• undocumented features that you will want to take advantage of; or avoid;
• translation utilities to import text and graphics from other popular programs;
• conversion utilities to let you transmit GEOS files to your friends via modem;
• the GEOS file structure, so Programmers can write utilities for their own special needs; and
• a map of important memory locations so advanced programmers can create their own custom utilities.

If a powerful program is simple to use, then many things are going on behind the screen. So it is with GEOS, the new operating system for the Commodore 64 family of computers.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF GEOS helps the new user discover and take advantage of the power that GEOS hides under its desktop icons. Chapters on geoWrite and geoPaint give hints on how to create your documents more quickly and easily, and on how to avoid the undocumented features.

For the user needing more power and flexibility, HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF GEOS provides utilities for importing text from other popular word processors, grabbing graphics from your favorite drawing program, translating GEOS application files into and back from sequential files that you can send over the modem to your friends, and a telecommunications program you can use to do it.

If that is not enough to satisfy your needs, HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF GEOS documents the GEOS file structure and maps the important locations of the GEOS operating system so you can custom design your own utilities and applications.

The Hitchhikers Guide to GEOS - A Potpourri of Technical Programming Notes.

The Hitchhikers Guide to GEOS - A Potpourri of Technical Programming Notes.  This version is an early edit by Paul B. Murdaugh released in 2020.  The is a much newer version considered to be complete that you can find here.

Paul B. Murdaugh (DualTop 64/128, The Landmark Series disk, Super Validate 64/128), along with help from others, has combined Berkeley Softworks' Hitchhiker's Guide to GEOS (1988), The Official GEOS Programmer's Reference Guide (BSW 1987 plus the Italian translation of 1988), Alexander Boyce's GEOS Programmer's Reference Guide (1986 & Bo Zimmerman's 1997 revisions), Wheels Kernal info, and his own personal experience to create this 860 page one-stop shopping repository of GEOS programming information.

Please see the extended description for the full announcement by Bruce Thomas, of this amazing GEOS document.

Eight-bit Commodores will never be the same again.

A desktop user interface, including pull-down menus, dialog boxes and proportionally spaced fonts, is the exciting visual hallmark of GEOS, the new Graphics Environment Operating System for Commodore 64,64c and 128 personal computers. Underlying this is a host of other features that will revolutionize the way people use and program the Commodore 64 series.

Applications developed under this new programming environment will have multitasking capability and faster disk access, and can be more data intensivebigger than previously thought possible for this machine. Developers who take advantage of these features will be able to save valuable time while increasing the quality of their applications.

However, developing applications for GEOS will require proficiency in event driven programming—a method with which most Commodore programmers are not yet familiar.

Written by Berkeley Softworks, the creator of GEOS, The Official GEOS Programmer's Reference Guide is definitive reference material for those who program under this new environment. This book provides you with all commands,
memory maps, and other pertinent reference materials needed to successfully program in this new environment, and describes in detail the input and printer drivers for some of the more popular devices. Learn everything you need to know about GEOS, including:

• Hi-Res Bit-Map Mode—Redefining the Commodore 64 screen for GEOS.
• Display Buffering—Managing the screen display under tight memory constraints.
• Input Drivers—Using the mouse to control your program.
• Variable Length I ndexed Record (VLIR)—Breaki ng u p files i nto records to speed up data movement.
• Disk Turbo—Speeding up disk access time for better memory control.
• All this and much more.