MagiC v5, the popular multitasking TOS replacement for the Atari ST and compatible computers...
MagiC has always been a fast and reliable platform for Atari programs, so what can you expect
from the new release?
Of course, MagiC v5 features all the desirable feature from former versions, including
high-speed
multitasking, background disk access, loadable filesystems and device
drivers,
a special "single mode" for problematic programs.
The most important news is the built-in VFAT filesystem which enables long
filenames
(up to 64 characters) to be used on floppies and hard disks in a
Windows 95 compatible format.
With the help of a little tool supplied with MagiC v5, it's possible to
decide which drives
long filenames should be used on. There's no need to
re-partition the hard drive, so there won't
be any data loss.
You're even
able to read from and write to VFAT partitions from normal TOS, although
the long filenames will not be usable in this case.
Not all programs are able to handle long filenames, but since every file
with a long name has a second one conforming to the old 8+3 format there's
no need to worry. It may simply happen that you are not able to create new
files with long names or see the file "MagiC-Preview.txt" as
"MAGIC-~1.TXT" while using one of these (typically older) programs.
Despite the backward compatibility, it's dangerous to use low-level tools
(such as optimisers) on partitions using long filenames and could lead to
complete data loss!
Also note that due to this backward compatibility,
VFAT suffers the same drawbacks as the normal Atari FAT filesystem: Hard
disks are easily fragmented, making access slow, larger partition sizes
lead to loss of disk space due to the larger cluster size required (one
cluster is the minimum size of a non-zero length file), maximum partition
size of 1Gb, and so on.
MagiC v5 also supports threads (where one process can be split up into
several sub-processes) and signals, making it more compatible with MiNT,
which is important for programmers. Together with some new operating
system calls it's possible to use threads in GEM applications as well.
This means programs using this new feature are able to do more than one
thing at once (in layman's terms). Currently, only the tools for the MagiC
Desk support this.
Although MagiC v5 allows the use of long filenames on hard disks, the
programming interface for external filesystems is still incompatible with
MiNT, which makes it impossible to use MiNT-Net or Minix-FS with MagiC
which seems a pity.
Until now, there are only a few external filesystems
available for MagiC, and none of them allow real alternative filesystems
on hard disks, like Minix does for MiNT.
If you simply want to use long filenames
with your Atari and have already
used MagiC, the update is well worthwhile.
If you're a happy MagiC v4 user
happy with the 8+3 format filenames on your hard disk,
I'd think carefully
before ordering the upgrade - you currently don't get much more than
the
VFAT filesystem, unless you're a programmer.
Single TOS users should take a look at
MagiC v5. It's fast (faster than
plain TOS when running a single program!), it's compatible,
and it has
pre-emptive multitasking, which makes work much easier and more
comfortable.

A directory with long filenames, MagiC 5.0 with VFAT-support active
Although there are alternatives (N.AES, Geneva, or projects such as XaAES
and oAESis)
MagiC is the best choice for most people unless you need the
extra features and MiNT tools
, such as almost full UNIX compatibility,
MiNT-Net, or the Minix filesystem.
The same directory, displayed with plain TOS 4.04
Another pro for MagiC is that it's not only available for original Atari
hardware.
With MagiC Mac and MagiC PC, you get the ability to work with
your favourite programs on
Apple Macintosh's and Intel PC's running System
7 or Windows 95/NT.
If everything you need under MagiC on your Atari, the
chances are you can continue
working with your software on a new platform,
a remarkable achievement.
UK distribution: System Solutions
Contact: 0181 693 3355
RRP: TBA
Requires: Atari ST/STe/TT/Falcon030 with 512Kb memory (2Mb recommended)