 Procyon, Inc. made themselves known last weekend at the Apple Central Expo at
 the  NOMDA center in Kansas City.  They introduced an early release version
 of the GNO Multitasking Environment (GNO/ME). Reactions varied, from "Really?"
 to "Crazy!".
 
 Multitasking is  a method whereby several programs can be made to seem to be
 executing at the same time.  It's an important concept; the industry is
 quickly moving towards standardization around the Unix(tm) operating system,
 which supports multitasking.  GNO is the first such product for the Apple IIgs
 microcomputer.
 
 GNO is an extension to GS/OS(tm), the native IIgs operating system.  GNO
 enhances the functionality of GS/OS, and provides changes to allow
 multitasking.  It also keeps track of use of the ToolBox, to prevent
 concurrent programs from getting in each others' way.
 
 GNO  is  NOT a "Multi-Finder"  program.  GNO  provides  true  preemptive
 multitasking, a method where programs do not have to be written carefully
 in order to keep the flow of things going.  GNO switches between programs
 60 times a second, to provide the most realistic multitasking effect.
 The first final release of GNO will not allow multiple desktop programs to
 run concurrently, but you will be able to run at most one desktop program
 with any number of text applications.
 
 In order  to make GNO as useful as possible,  it was written to be fully
 compatible with  GS/OS and the  Orca development environment.  Any shell
 utilities which you can use under the Orca (tm) shell can also be used with
 GNO.  GNO also comes with a myriad of utilities which are FREE- you can freely
 distribute them to your friends, no strings attatched (note that some utilities
 may require use of the GNO system).  All of the Orca languages can be used
 in the GNO system, and in fact are made more powerful and robust.
 
 GNO comes with a standard shell, called 'gsh'.  It's a command line interface
 that mimics the operation of popular Unix shells such as 'ksh' and 'tcsh'.  gsh
 allows you to run programs in the background.  For instance, you could start a
 program compiling, then go back to editing the source code.  The power this
 seemingly simple ability gives can be the difference between simply getting
 your work done, and getting it done _well_.
 
 Distributed along with GNO is a growing Unix compatibility package.  This
 allows you to compile many Unix BSD programs for use on the GS without any
 modifications.  Since GNO is a multitasking environment, you will be able to
 run many Unix programs that were previously unusable on the GS.
 
 GNO provides powerful commuication abilities, including high-speed serial
 drivers,  I/O redirection  and  true piping,  as well as  Inter-Process
 Communication (IPC).  Included with the serial drivers is support for TTYs; 
 you'll be able to connect to your GS with a modem or terminal and use the
 shell without affecting the person sitting at the IIgs.  MultiUser BBSs, UUCP,
 and other powerful telecommunications programs will all be possible (and
 simple!) under GNO.
 
 You might be wondering, "This all sounds very neat, but what can GNO do for
 me?".  Multitasking is an "enabling technology"; it enables you to do things
 you simply couldn't before.  The applications are endless, as are your
 imaginations.  When you begin to use GNO, you'll see whole new vistas of
 programming possibilities open up.
 
 GNO is currently available directly from Procyon, Inc.  The alpha release
 cost is $50, and includes a free upgrade to the final version (GNO will
 then cost $80).  We're aiming for an early October release date.
 
 Procyon, Inc.
 1005 N. Kingshighway, Suite 309
 Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
 
 For further information, contact Matthew Gudermuth or Jawaid Bazyar at:
   (314) 334-7078.
 
 Note that the alpha release of GNO is in an unfinished form.  There may be
 program errors that have not yet been corrected, or features not yet
 implemented.  Again, a free upgrade to the final version will be available
 to all buyers.
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GNO Features
 
 Kernel
   o  Pre-emptive multitasking on top of GS/OS
   o  work-alikes of many Unix system calls (fork, execve, kill, signal,
      getpid, semaphore routines, wait, process group control, signal control)
   o  traps BRKs and invalid COP instructions, terminating the process cleanly
      and returning control to the shell.  No more endless rebooting!
   o  stack overflow trapping- runaway recursion is caught and terminated 
      before the system crashes
   o  compatible with utilities written for the Orca shell by emulating the
      shell calls.
   o  job control- complete control over processes via simple keyboard 
      commands like ^c (terminate process), ^z (stop process, restartable
      via the shell)
   o  powerful TTY drivers include high speed console output. High speed serial
      I/O allows you to easily write communications applications, and even
      hang a terminal off your GS for remote login, or new debugging power
 
 Shell
   o  Powerful regular expression facilities make choosing groups of files
      easy.  The list of files chosen is determined before your program
      executes- you no longer have to use Init_Wildcard in every program.
   o  configurable history buffer with save-to-disk option 
   o  command and file-name completion.  Typing a partial filename followed
      by TAB will automatically complete typing the name for you.
   o  fully customizable prompt allows items like current directory, time, 
      history number to be displayed in the prompt
   o  'path' variable allows almost instantaneous access to executable programs
      in any number of directories
   o  job control- the user can run programs in the background, temporarily
      suspend programs, and change program status to foreground or background
   o  I/O redirection
   o  true pipes- the programs in the pipeline execute concurrently for
      maximum performance
   o  advanced command line editor that supports the Apple Human Interface
      Guidelines
   o  many built-in commands
 
 Environment
 
   o  Orca languages work under GNO, and are used through a new, 'smart'
      interface.
 
   o  GNO comes with a large number of utility programs common on Unix
      machines:  banner, binprint, cal, cat, conv, dhrystone, du, grep,
      head, kill, ls, more, now, ps, purge, qtime, sleep, strings, sun,
      tar, tee, touch, tr, uniq, wc, wumpus, and MicroEmacs - and more
      are being ported every day.  What's more, these utilities are FREE.
      You can give them to your friends, upload them, or even feed them
      to your dog if you like.  And as icing on the cake, source code is
      provided for ALL of the utilities.
      All the utilities work under both GNO and the Orca environments,
      although they will work better under GNO.  [These utilities are
      also available separately from GNO for a minimal charge to cover
      shipping and disks.]
 
   o  GNO comes with a Unix compatibility library- commonly used C
      subroutines are no farther than a link away.  Porting software
      from other machines was never this easy!
 
   o  GNO comes with full printed documentation.  Text versions of all
      documentation are also provided for quick access.
 
   o  On-line technical support is available through the Internet
      (comp.sys.apple2/info-Apple), GEnie, and America Online.
      In addition, support can be had via telephone.
