Qwik Top 2.1 tackles two limitations of the DeskTop, GEOS's file handler: its slowness (because of its 30kB size) and its ability to show you only eight files at a time. Qwik Top's small size (less than 4kB) lets it load and run in a fraction of the time it takes the Desk Top to get up and running. Qwik Top lets you see up to 64 files by showing you seven DeskTop pages at a time (plus the border files) on one Qwik Top screen. From the Qwik Top screen you can load and run any GEOS application (GeoWrite, GeoPaint, etc.) and any desk accessory (alarm clock, calculator, etc.) You can also double click an application data file, such as a geoWrite document, and Qwik Top automatically loads and runs the application just as in the DeskTop. You can also move files around the disk just as you do on DeskTop.

To replace the DeskTop with Qwik Top double click on the Qwik Top file icon just as you would any other GEOS application. You'll see the familiar command menu bar in the upper left hand corner of the screen and the disk name and number of kilobytes free in the upper right. You'll also see the first seven DeskTop pages and the border page file names on the Qwik Top screen.

The command menu has three sub-menus: "file", "disk", and "drive". There are two items under the "file" sub-menu. Click on the "info" menu to see some information about the Qwik Top program. Click on the "quit" menu to exit Qwik Top and return to the DeskTop.

The "disk" and "drive" menu items allow you to swap disks in the currently open drive (unless it is a RAM drive) or to switch between two drives if you are running a two or more drive system.

To see the next or previous seven DeskTop pages on the Qwik Top screen click on the left or right arrow icon at the bottom right corner of the screen. The border files are always displayed. Since GEOS limits us to 144 files on a disk (even on the 800kB 3 1/2" disks) there are a maximum of 18 DeskTop pages or three Qwik Top screens.

To open a file from the Qwik Top screen just double click on its name. If it is an application, desk accessory, or application data file it will be loaded and run. If the file is not one of these types you will see a dialog box telling you that it can't be loaded from Qwik Top.

Once you've entered an application from Qwik Top you will be returned to Qwik Top - not to the DeskTop - when you quit that application. To get back to the DeskTop just click on the "quit" menu item which is under "file" in Qwik Top's command menu.

To move a file to another open page click once on the file name. You'll see that file name highlighted. Click again on that file name and the arrow will change to a rectangle with an arrow inside. Move this modified arrow to the open area where you want to put the file and click again. Qwik Top will move the file from the old to new location. You cannot move the file to an area that does not have a page number displayed. (For the time being you have to open a new page from the DeskTop.) To move a file from one screen to another just move it to the border, go to the desired screen, and move the file from the border to its new page.

Qwik Top is a file handling application that takes the place of GEOS's file handler, the DeskTop. Remember, neither the DeskTop nor Qwik Top are part of the operating system. They are applications just like geoWrite or geoPaint.

Qwik Top first changes that portion of the operating system (the kernal) that calls up the DeskTop when you quit/exit an application. Instead of calling the DeskTop the system will now call for Qwik Top. Qwik Top then reads the directory of the disk in the active drive and stores the file names and types in a buffer. It then displays that buffer, up to 64 files at a time, on the screen.

When you double click on the name of a runnable file Qwik Top loads and runs that file using the same operating system routines as the DeskTop.

Quitting Qwik Top restores the operating system to its original state and returns you to the DeskTop.

If you find Qwik Top 2.1 useful and you use it often then please send a couple of bucks to:

John F. Howard (QLink - ILLINI70)

4433 Clemsford Drive

Virginia Beach, VA 23456

In future versions of Qwik Top