As stephanie said, the C256 should be like a successor of the C128. So in my opinion it should boot into 2 possible states.
The first one (I call it TUI Text user interface) should go directly into Basic 10 (the basic like the one of the never released C65) with some 'additional' commands for disk management in so called 'direct mode'. Catalog/Directory already exists for listing contents of diskettes. I'd like to see additional seqfile reader (similar more on DOS/unix), a simple copy command (copy 8:file to 9:file) and of course a simple delete command (del 8:file).
The second state would be GUI (Graphical User Interface). This one should (in my opinion) look like a modernised GEOS.
This PhoenixGEOS should only use 16 colors and a max. resolution of 800x600. I opt for 16 colors once for speed and second because it should be (modern) retro ;) In both modes I see no real need for multitasking. Only in GEOS-Mode I can see use for Task-Switching. Also it would be nice if PhoenixGEOS could import datafiles from C64/128 GEOS (geoWrite, geoPaint, geoCalc etc.)
But that is realy music for much much later.
Why GEOS and not Workbench or GS-OS? Well it is successor of C64/128-line, and not successor of Amiga/AppleIIGS. Simple, eh?
I agree with the 2 modes thing. Actually that choice will be able to be made by using one of the dipswitch inside the unit.
Actually, you will have a mode where it will boot directly to BASIC like the C64. The second mode without being too specific will be more like the Amiga, where the system will wait for a booting software to load which in normal circumstances ought to be the OS, whether it is a GUI or not will remains to be decided. At this point, it could be many things.
You could utlimately load a game this way.
It is will something like this:
Either it will be on the SD Card or the Flopply, if mode 2 is chosen then after the system has booted, then it will look for the file "boot.fnx" in a specific folder which will be loaded somewhere specific in RAM and then executed... Whatever happens after that will be up to the user.
a GUI for the Foenix would be great. BTW, I did take the 800 x 600 down because it ended being a lot of resolution for such a slow processor. So I scale it back to 640 x 480... Still, I think it could be great...
As stephanie said, the C256 should be like a successor of the C128. So in my opinion it should boot into 2 possible states.
The first one (I call it TUI Text user interface) should go directly into Basic 10 (the basic like the one of the never released C65) with some 'additional' commands for disk management in so called 'direct mode'. Catalog/Directory already exists for listing contents of diskettes. I'd like to see additional seqfile reader (similar more on DOS/unix), a simple copy command (copy 8:file to 9:file) and of course a simple delete command (del 8:file).
The second state would be GUI (Graphical User Interface). This one should (in my opinion) look like a modernised GEOS.
This PhoenixGEOS should only use 16 colors and a max. resolution of 800x600. I opt for 16 colors once for speed and second because it should be (modern) retro ;) In both modes I see no real need for multitasking. Only in GEOS-Mode I can see use for Task-Switching. Also it would be nice if PhoenixGEOS could import datafiles from C64/128 GEOS (geoWrite, geoPaint, geoCalc etc.)
But that is realy music for much much later.
Why GEOS and not Workbench or GS-OS? Well it is successor of C64/128-line, and not successor of Amiga/AppleIIGS. Simple, eh?
Anyway: Good work Stephanie
Best regards.
Joseph