Thing desktop, installation, configuration and review under MiNT

In this video I am continuing a mini series-in-a-series where I look at several Desktops for the Atari Line of computers under MiNT, and we select the one to use as our future home.

This week we:

- Install and configure Thing desktop
- take our Thing desktop out for a spin
- configure XBoot to boot different desktops and the click of a button

For instructions on where to find the HDD image and how to use it under Hatari,

This video is part of a series. Previous videos in this series are:

_Install configure and review of Ease Desktop under MiNT_

_Atari Falcon,Hatari and Videl graphics_

_how to install and configure MiNT in 2023_

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:11 - Installing and configuring Ease v5
02:53 - A tour of the dektop
10:50 - A tour of the menus
15:09 - Configuring Icons
17:44 - Setting up a set in XBoot
18:00 - Ourto

Links

_Atari Abandonware Page_

[AtariCrypt]

There's nobody else doing such interesting and informative videos for the ST. Thank you!

[paulwratt]

The 1.29b desktop is fine to use, it has many improvements and some crucial bug fixes, the only thing you need to know, is for Eglish, copy the language resource from v1.27 - also regarding "groups" files, they are actually .GRP text files, and there are various tools to make use of them. EG Taskbar uses Group files to create and manage its menu system - for the lack of notes in Thing, you can use an accessory version of notes

[Storm_.]

I like the file copy dialogue in Thing. It has lots of options, it has a progress bar and is reliable.

[evldhs]

Very nice with Atari desktop reviews! One thing I sort of miss is testing the desktops with long file names, which I think a MiNT desktop must support. Even if you don't have harddrive partitions with long names, you can always use u:/ram. I think you would see that Neodesk and Ease would fail this (if my memory serve me right). That's one of the things Thing 1.29 improves over 1.27; it can handle longer names than 1.27 does (1.27 still does something like 32 chars, which is sometimes not enough).

The chunky font look is likely becuase you're using a vector font, and scaling down to small size doesn't really end up well. Better install bitmap fonts for use in UI elements. There are a bunch really nice ones that are bundled with Thing, well worth adding to NVDI.

[atari-staffroom]

Great video again. Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Now Thing is an option (my fav. Desktop) just gotta decide whether to use Freedom or Boxkite for the file selector. Thanks again for all the hard work your putting in .

[stephanepitteloud]

very cool video, and very nice série! Can't wait for the final comparaison. I'm currently doing exactly that, choosing a desktop for my real Atari Falcon 030 / CT60e. What about the floppy disk icon? How did you changed it actually? I'm failed to find out how...

[marssmarss]

Thanks for the video. Where do you store the fonts?

[WinrichNaujoks]

There's all these great OS options for the Falcon, but zero fun or interesting software to run on it.