ST Report: 04-May-90 #418
From: Len Stys (aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/10/90-09:33:18 PM Z
From: aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys)
Subject: ST Report: 04-May-90 #418
Date: Sun Jun 10 21:33:18 1990
==========================================================================
CPU NEWSWIRE?
"Only UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
-* FEATURING *-
Current Events, Up to Date News, Hot Tips, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
CPU/STR's support BBS, NODE # 350 invites systems using Forem ST BBS to
participate in Forem BBS's F-Net mail network. Or, Please call # 350
direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging ideas about
the Atari ST computers through an excellent International ST Mail Network.
==========================================================================
AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE DELPHI GENIE BIX
==========================================================================
> The Editor's Podium?
The PACE show in Pittsburgh last weekend had many things that can be
said for it, most of which are not too complimentary. However, for now
lets look at a few of the more positive comments made and heard at the
show for the first time.
During the STReport seminar a strong indicator of things to come in
future was clearly illustrated. After polling the audience to see if any
realized just what the indicator was, (most had no idea) the indicator was
described. Atari has set a marvelous precedent with the STe. Not a soul
in the hall realized the outstanding significance of the STe. It is the
FIRST machine ever released by Atari (under the Tramiels) that is
upgradable in the field. And further, it was indicated that this was
designed into the machine at its inception. This landmarks the fact that
Atari is listening to the users and has indeed begun to positively
respond. Hopefully its not too late. The time is right for the userbase
to continue its valuable input to Atari Corp. Never, in Atari's history
have they been so responsive as now. Even though, the handwriting is on
the wall, if they don't get the product out to market NOW the developers
are not going to hang on to empty promises and broken dreams.
The course of current events is truly unbelievable at this time, the
software theft going on in the Atari arena is at what appears to be an all
time high or, in our opinion the level is the same, its the brash, blatant
manner in which they are going about their activities that is making it
all the more visible. The final analysis is that Atari has to get off its
duff and begin to ship machines in the USA ..in earnest. This business
of "talk with no action" has really gone far enough. The userbase has,
because of Atari's inactivity, received a far different message than most
of us who are in closer contact with Atari have received. They feel that
Atari has forsaken them and that its "free-for-all" time. This is sad.
While a frustrated and deprived userbase is a very dangerous and
volatile situation Atari continues to seriously procrastinate. This is
now MAY 1990 and still NOTHING of note has hit the dealers. What the heck
is going on out there? Another dealer has sadly closed his doors right
here in Jacksonville, Fla. The userbase appears to be of the opinion that
Atari is "not interested in the USA market and they (the users) are going
to "get what they can" while the getting is good. This is Atari's fault
plain and simple. Sure, time can correct this situation, but really, time
is getting quite scarce. Five months into 1990 and we still wait...
Ralph....
**********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
**** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED ****
The system will now prompt you for your information.
THE GENIE ATARI ST ROUNDTABLE - AN OVERVIEW
___________________________________________
The Roundtable is an area of GEnie specifically set aside for owners and
users of Atari ST computers, although all are welcome to participate.
There are three main sections to the Roundtable: the Bulletin Board, the
Software Library and the Real Time Conference area.
The Bulletin Board contains messages from Roundtable members on a variety
of Topics, organized under several Categories. These messages are all
Open and available for all to read (GEnie Mail should be used for private
messages).
If you have a question, comment, hot rumor or an answer to someone else's
question, the Bulletin Board is the place to share it.
The Software Library is where we keep the Public Domain software files
that are available to all Roundtable members. You can 'download' any of
these files to your own computer system by using a Terminal Program which
uses the 'XMODEM' file-transfer method. You can also share your favorite
Public Domain programs and files with other Roundtable members by
'uploading' them to the Software Library. Uploading on GEnie is FREE, so
you are encouraged to participate and help your Roundtable grow.
The Real Time Conference is an area where two or more Roundtable members
may get together and 'talk' in 'real-time'. You can participate in
organized conferences with special guests, drop in on our weekly Open
COnference, or simply join in on an impromptu chat session. Unlike
posting messages or Mail for other members to read at some later time,
everyone in the Conference area can see what you type immediately, and can
respond to you right away, in an 'electronic conversation'.
**********************************************************************
> CPU REPORT?
==========
Issue # 65
----------
by Michael Arthur
Remember When....
In 1981, a company called Metacomco Inc. introduced its first product,
a Portable BASIC Interpreter written in the BCPL language (a predecessor
of C), and how that very product was later modified to become ST Basic?
Or how (in the process of trying to get Amiga Corp. to license their
68000 Pascal Compiler) Metacomco first became involved with Commodore,
later porting what became AmigaDOS (which was also written in BCPL) to the
Amiga?
CPU Systems Roundup XXVII?
=========================
Dream Systems VI: The More Things Change....
---------------------------------------------
Part I of this Series featured a list of "Peripherals of Note", or
computer peripherals and systems which are both innovative in the
microcomputer industry, and are unique in their perspective markets. While
there were probably newer computers and peripherals that could have been
included, the list was generally accurate. In this section, a list of
"Dream Systems", or configurations of several powerful computer systems,
has been formed in order to analyze how far current computers can truly
approach the "State of the Art" using current hardware peripherals.
I have chosen not to include variables like operating systems and
software in this analysis, and to concentrate on the actual computers'
hardware capabilities, the greatest amount of mass storage you could
attain, and the best graphics that system could provide. While operating
systems and software are a definite factor in a computer system, software
can generally be easily added or ported to a computer system. Also, I
wanted to aim for the best hardware itself, to which you could add the
necessary software. However, since many of the high-end microcomputers
featured here are beginning to rival workstations in both performance and
price, this essay will now include some low-end workstations in its
analysis, in order to both study the state of high-end microcomputers as
compared to low-end workstations, and to see whether these microcomputers
outperform some workstations in certain aspects....
After doing some research, I found several configurations that could
truly claim to be "Dream Systems". Shown in no particular order, here is
my list:
(Warning: Do not be surprised by the Retail Prices Shown.)
System #1
---------
- ALR Power VEISA 110, with 33 MHZ 80486 Module -
Total Cost of System: $22,670.00 Dollars
This IBM Compatible is a system with a 33 MHZ 80386 chip, 5 Megabytes
of RAM (and a 64K CPU Cache) onboard, 3 PC AT and 3 EISA Expansion Slots,
and a Cheetah DTP Disk Controller, which (with 4 Megs of RAM onboard as a
disk cache) provides for greatly increased Disk I/O speed....
To further enhance this system, I would add a 1 Gigabyte Magneto
Optical Drive made by Maxtor, which uses Removable Cartridges to store
data, a Hercules Graphics Station Card with a TI 34010 Graphics Processor,
a 3Com Etherlink II Card, which provides an Ethernet port, and an
NEC Multisync 4D Monitor.
So with this system, you would have:
ALR PowerVEISA 110 w/4 Megs of RAM (Cost: $5800.00)
ALR 33 MHZ 80486 Upgrade Module (Cost: $3200.00)
Cheetah DRAM Board, w/4 Megs of RAM (Cost: $1000.00)
Cheetah DPT Disk Controller (Cost: $1500.00)
Maxtor 1 Gigabyte Magneto-Optical Cartridge Drive (Cost: $8000.00)
Hercules Graphics Station Card (Cost: $1024.00)
3Com EtherLink Card (Cost: $345.00)
NEC Multisync 4D Monitor (Cost: $1800.00)
VGA Graphics Resolution: 320*200 with 256 Colors out of 256,000
640*480 with 16 Colors Displayable out of 256,000
SuperVGA Resolutions: 640*480 with 256 Displayable Colors out of 256,000
800*600 with 16 Colors out of 256,000
TIGA Resolutions: 512*480 w/16 Million Displayable Colors
1024*768 with 256 Colors out of 16 Million
Faults with System: None whatsoever. Unless you think that a system's
quality is based solely on its cost....
System #2
---------
- Macintosh IIfx w/SuperMac Video Board - Total Cost: $23,750.00
This Macintosh uses a 40 MHZ 68030 with a 40 MHZ 68882 Math Chip,
Four Megabytes of RAM (and a 32K CPU Cache), 6 NuBus Expansion Slots, and
a 1.44 Meg High Density Disk Drive. It uses the SWIM (Sander-Woz
Integrated Machine) Disk Controller chip to allow the Mac to read/write to
MS-DOS and OS/2 formatted disks. Also added is a Mac IIfx DRAM Expansion
Board, with 4 Megs of RAM,
To FURTHER enhance this system, I would add Mirror Technologies'
RM600 Magneto-Optical Drive, which uses 650 Megabyte Removable/Erasable
Cartridges like those found for the NeXT drive, an Adaptec Nodem, which is
an Ethernet LAN Interface Unit that plugs into the SCSI slot, and a
National Semiconductor Maccelerate Board, which is a DMA (Direct Memory
Access) Controller that makes data transfer operations up to three times
faster than before. Also, I would add a Taxan Ultravision 1000 Monitor to
accompany the SuperMac Spectrum/24 Video Card, which lets the Mac have a
1024*768 display with 16 Million colors at the same time, and makes Mac
Quickdraw operations display 5 - 10 times faster than before.
The reason I didn't include Apple's 8/24 GC Video Board (which uses
an AMD 29000 RISC chip to perform QuickDraw operations 30 times faster
than normal) is because it only supports a 640*480 resolution, while the
SuperMac Board supports a larger 1024*768 resolution....
So with this system you would have:
Macintosh IIfx w/4 Megs of RAM (Cost: $9900.00)
One Apple Mac IIci 4 Meg DRAM Expansion Kit (Cost: $1000.00)
Maccelerate DMA Controller Card (Cost: $600.00)
Adaptec Nodem Ethernet Unit (Cost: $500.00)
Mirror RM600 Magneto-Optical Cartridge Drive (Cost: $3500.00)
Spectrum/24 III Video Board (Cost: $4500.00)
Taxan 980 20-Inch Monitor (Cost: $3700.00)
Macintosh II Resolution: 640*400 with 256 Colors out of 16 Million
With Spectrum/24 it has 1024*768 with 16 Million colors at the same time.
Faults with System: An extreme amount of add-in peripherals. But other
than that, it is a SUPERB system....
System #3
---------
- SGI Personal Iris w/Geometry Engine - Total System Cost: $25,500.00
This is a Silicon Personal Iris with a 20 MHZ R3000 RISC chip from
MIPS Computer Systems, a R3010 Math Chip, and SGI's Geometry Engine chip,
which is a graphics processor capable of calculating over 90,000 3D
Vectors per second. It also has 8 Megs of RAM standard, a 170 Meg Hard
Drive, a built-in Ethernet Port, and a color monitor....
So with this system you would have:
SGI Personal Iris system w/MIPS R3000 chip (Cost: $25,500.00 total)
SGI 170 Megabyte Hard Drive (Included in System)
Iris Resolution:
1024*768 with 16 million display colors at the same time
Faults with System: Hard Disk storage is mediocre, at best....
System #4
---------
- Amiga 3000/16 w/33 MHZ CSA Mega-Midget Racer -
Total Cost of System: $15,500.00
This is an Amiga 3000 with a 16 MHZ 68030 and a 16 MHZ 68881 Floating
Point Math Chip, 2 Megs of RAM (with no CPU Cache) onboard, 2 PC AT
Expansion Slots and 4 Zorro III (32-bit) Slots. It also has an improved
version of the Amiga's Enhanced Chip Set, which both boosts its graphics
capabilities and features a Display Enhancer Chip (known in the Amiga
world as the Amber "FlickerFixer" chip).
The reason I featured the CSA Midget Racer Accelerator instead of
the A3000/25 (which has a 25 MHZ 68030) is because the Amiga 3000 has a
16 Mhz memory subsystem that slows down system performance by inserting
wait states on a A3000/25. Meaning that the A3000/25 only provides an
increased processor clock speed (and a relatively minor speed increase)
compared to the A3000/16....
With this system would be a GVP Impact SCSI Hard Disk Controller with
6 Megs of RAM Onboard, a 650 Meg Magneto-Optical Tape Drive from Briwall
Inc., a CSA Mega-Midget Racer with a 33 MHZ 68030 and a 33 MHZ 68882 Math
Coprocessor, a Taxan 980 Monitor, and an Ameristar Internet
Package (an Ethernet board for the Amiga).
So with this system you would have:
Amiga 3000/16 with Enhanced Chip Set (Cost: $3500.00)
GVP Impact SCSI HD Controller w/6 Megs of RAM (Cost: $1200.00)
CSA Mega-Midget Racer Accelerator (Cost: $1700.00)
Briwall 650 Meg Magneto-Optical Drive (Cost: $4500.00)
Taxan 980 20-Inch Monitor (Cost: $3700.00)
Ameristar Ethernet Board (Cost: $900.00)
Amiga Resolutions: (Not including Overscan)
320*200 with 32 colors out of 4096
320*200 with 64 colors out of 4096 (Extra Half-Brite)
320*200 with 4096 colors at the same time (HAM Mode)
640*200 with 4 to 32 colors
640*400 with 2 to 16 colors (interlaced)
With Enhanced Chip Set:
640x256, with 64 displayable colors out of 4096
1280x400, with 4 colors out of 64 (interlaced)
Faults with System: No CPU Cache, and its DMA (Direct Memory Access)
capabilities aren't fast enough to compensate for
such a lack. Meaning that the CSA Accelerator Board
may have a lesser effect on overall system
performance than normally expected....
System #5
---------
- IBM RISC System/6000 Model 320 - Total System Cost: $17,000.00
This is a IBM PowerStation 320, with a 20 MHZ POWER Processor
Chipset, 8 Megs of RAM (and a 32K CPU Cache), 4 "Enhanced MicroChannel"
Expansion Slots, a Color Graphics Adapter with a Geometry Engine Chip and
a color monitor, and a 1.44 Meg Disk Drive. Along with this would be a
3Com Ethernet Card for the RS/6000, and a 240 Megabyte Hard Drive.
Interestingly enough, while the POWER Chipset does NOT use either
ROM Chips or Microcode, it IS installed into the RISC System/6000 as a
CPU Planar Board. Meaning that one can easily upgrade from a 20 MHZ Unit
to 25 MHZ or 30 MHZ performance by simply replacing the CPU Planar Board,
but that the POWER Chipset itself cannot be upgraded via the use of faster
ROM Microcode....
So with this system you have:
IBM RS/6000 PowerStation Model 320 (Cost: $17,000.00)
3Com Ethernet Card (Bundled with System)
240 Megabyte Hard Drive (Bundled with System)
Color Graphics Adapter w/Monitor (Bundled with System)
RISC System/6000 Resolution: 1280*1024 with 256 Colors out of 16 Million
Faults of System: Hard Drive Storage is comparatively lacking....
System #6
---------
- Abaq Transputer w/300 Meg Hard Disk - Total Cost of System: $30,000.00
This is an Abaq Transputer with a 20 MHZ T800 Chip having a built-in
Math Coprocessor, 4 Megs of RAM, and 4 Expansion Slots. Along with this
would be two Abaq M112 Expansion Cards, each having 4 T800 Chips and 4
Megs of DRAM onboard, and one Abaq F104 Expansion Card, with 1 T800 chip
and 1 Meg of RAM standard, for a total of 10 T800 chips and 13 Megs of
System RAM. Since Helios can read/write to MS-DOS disks, and the ATW
uses a Mega ST Motherboard as an I/O processor, an ABCO 300 Megabyte Hard
Drive for the ST should be able to be used.
So with this system you have:
Abaq Transputer w/4 Megs of RAM (Cost: $8000.00)
Two ATW M112 Expansion "Farm" Cards (Cost: $12,000.00 total)
ATW F104 Expansion "Farm" Card (Cost: $2000.00)
ATW X100 Ethernet Interface Card (Cost: $1100.00)
ABCO 300 Megabyte Hard Drive for the ST (Cost: $3200.00)
Taxan Ultravision 1000 Monitor (Cost: $3700.00)
Abaq Resolutions: 1280*960 with 16 Colors out of 16 Million
1024*768 with 256 Colors out of 16 Million
640*480 w/256 Colors out of 16 Million (Double Buffered
screens for high speed animation)
512*480 with 16 Million Colors at the same time
Faults of System: Hard disk storage is decent, but comparatively
weak. Also, it is the highest-costing system....
Here is a Graph of the features of each Dream System:
Dream Systems List:
(Comparison of each Systems' Optimal Features)
_________________________________________________________________________
Dream |Main Chips,|MHZ Rate|Mass |Expansion|Graphics Displays/ |
System |Megs of RAM| & MIPS |Storage | Slots |Best Resolution(s) |
-----------|-----------|--------|----------|---------|-------------------|
IBM 486 |Intel 80486| 33 MHZ |1 Gigabyte| Six (3)|512*480*16 Million |
System |Eight Megs | |Tape Drive|EISA Bus|1024*768*256 Colors|
-----------|-----------+--------+----------+---------+-------------------|
Mac IIci |68030/68882| 40 MHZ |650 Meg | Zero (3)|640*400*256 Colors |
System |Eight Megs | |Tape Drive|NuBus |1024*768*16 Million|
-----------|-----------+--------+----------+---------+-------------------|
SG Personal|R3000/R3010| 20 MHZ |170 Meg | One (1) | 1024*768 |
Iris System|Eight Megs | |Hard Drive|VME Bus |w/16 Million Colors|
-----------|-----------+--------+----------+---------+-------------------|
Amiga 3000 |68030/68882| 33 MHZ |650 Meg | Four (2)|640*256 w/64 Colors|
System |Eight Megs | |Tape Drive|Zorro III|1280*200 w/4 Colors|
-----------|-----------+--------+----------+---------+-------------------|
IBM RS/6000|POWER Chip| 20 MHZ |240 Meg | Four (3)| 1280*1024 |
System |Eight Megs | |Hard Drive|M-Channel|w/16 Million Colors|
-----------|-----------|--------|----------|---------|-------------------|
ATW | 10 T-800s | 20 MHZ |300 Meg | Zero (4)|512*480*16 Million |
System | 13 Megs | |Hard Drive|Abaq |1280*960*16 Colors |
-----------'-------------------------------------------------------------'
Dream Systems List:
Basic System Performance List
_________________________________________________________________________
Dream |Dhrystones |Data Transfer| Linpack | Memory |Size,Type of|
System |in VAX MIPS| Rate | MFLOPS |Path Width| CPU Cache |
-----------|-----------|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
IBM 486 |13-16 MIPS | 33 Megabytes| 1.2 - 1.5 | 64-Bits |128K Static |
System | | Per Second | MFLOPS | Wide |RAM (SRAM) |
-----------|-----------|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
Mac IIfx |7 - 8 MIPS | 10 Megabytes| 0.2900 | 64-Bits | 32K SRAM |
System | | Per Second | MFLOPS | Wide | |
-----------|-----------|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
SG Personal| 16 MIPS | N/A | 1.4 MFLOPS| N/A | N/A |
Iris System| | | | | |
-----------|-----------|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
Amiga 3000 | 5.8 - 7 | N/A | .12 - .15 | 32-Bits |No CPU Cache|
System | MIPS | | | Wide | |
-----------|-----------|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
IBM RS/6000| 27.5 MIPS | 40 Megabytes| 7.4 MFLOPS| 128 Bits | 32K SRAM |
System | | Per Second | | Wide | |
-----------|-----------|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
ATW | 60 MIPS | 20 Megabytes| 125 - 150 | 32 Bits |4K SRAM Per |
System | Sustained | Per Second | | Wide | Transputer |
-----------'-------------------------------------------------------------'
In the Mass Storage column, Tape stands for removable storage, and
HD stands for fixed, or hard disk storage. VAX MIPS is approximately
1750 Dhrystones per Second.
Also, the Expansion Slot Column now measures the number of available
expansion slots in each Dream System AFTER installing the various add-in
boards in each System Configuration. The number in parentheses is the
total number of expansion slots in the system.
CPU MacNews?
===========
Apple Lowers Price of Mac Portable - Color Laptop Rumored
---------------------------------------------------------
Apple Computer has recently announced that they are reducing the
price of their Mac Portable line by $1000.00, as well as a $150.00
reduction in the cost of the Portable's 1 Meg DRAM Expansion Kit, which
now costs $500.00. The Basic Model of the Macintosh will now cost
$5000.00, while the 40 Megabyte Model will cost $5500.00. Interestingly,
Apple says that this price decrease has been made in order to "jump start"
sales, which have dropped dramatically since January. Also, rumors abound
that Apple is planning to introduce a new version of the Mac Portable with
a Color LCD Screen. It seems that the Japanese manufacturer of the Mac
Portable's monochrome active-matrix LCD Screen is also developing a color
LCD Display....
CPU AmigaNews?
=============
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMMODORE EXTENDS POPULAR AMIGA PRODUCT LINE
INTRODUCES TALENTED AMIGA 3000 AT "MULTIMEDIA LIVE"
EXPECTED SHIP DATE: JUL 1990
NEW YORK, NY -- April 24, 1990 -- Commodore Business Machines President
Harold Copperman and his aggressive management team today dramatically
defined multimedia as the company introduced the latest in its popular
line of Amiga personal computers at a live multimedia demonstration at the
Palladium. The powerful and elegant new Amiga (R) 3000 brings enhanced
performance capabilities and a new AmigaDOS (TM) 2.0 operating system to
the company's line of multimedia products.
"The 3000 marks the first step in Commodore's new Amiga product
marketing strategy and reinforces our serious bid to capture greater
market share within the business, government and higher education
markets," said Commodore Vice President of Marketing C. Lloyd Mahaffey.
"We've delivered an incredibly competitive hardware system featuring lower
cost, higher performance and added communications capabilities."
Mahaffey said key product features include a 16 or 25 Mhz, 68030
Motorola processor, a 68881 or 68882 math coprocessor, a true 32-bit
architecture, 2 MB of memory standard (with an address space of over one
gigabyte) and, as in all Amigas, true multitasking capability. The
standard Amiga 3000 comes with a 40 MB hard drive and a 3.5-inch floppy
disk drive and features a SCSI interface for added communication
capability. Commodore also offers a 100 MB configuration.
Suggested retail price is $3,299 for the 16 Mhz version, $3,999 for
the 25 Mhz version and $4,499 for the 100 MB version. Shipments are
expected to begin in July. Demonstration units are available at
participating Authorized Commodore Amiga Reseller locations.
Commodore Director of Product Marketing Walt Simpson said the
price/performance of the A3000 results from the effective integration of
the Amiga's three custom chips with five new custom gate arrays which
serve a variety of functions including bus arbitration, RAM memory
handling, SCSI device handling and video enhancing.
The Amiga 3000 also features a new operating system, AmigaDOS 2.0,
which significantly enhances the look and functionality of the platform,
Simpson said. Besides the new look, standards have been created for all
system utilities, icons, requesters and gadgets to permit ease-of-use by
both users and programmers, he said.
In addition, Commodore announced the inclusion of the AREXX (TM)
interprocess communication protocol and programming language. The
integration of AREXX into the AmigaDOS operating system will facilitate
the control of external programs from within any application supporting
AREXX, Simpson said. This feature, coupled with Commodore's new
AmigaVision (TM) authoring system, creates a powerful multitasking
environment for the creation of multimedia presentations.
Along with the A3000 announcement, Commodore introduced a number of
strategic products ..including:
* AmigaVision authoring system;
* Networking products providing connectivity with Arcnet,
Novell (R) NetWare, Ethernet, TCP/IP and NFS standards;
* Monitors, including 2024 high resolution monochrome and
1950 color multiscan; and
* Commodore Amiga 10 Stereo Audio Compact Speakers.
Commodore further announced an AmigaDOS 2.0 enhancer kit for A2000
series machines to be available in September. Availability of a 2.0
enhancer kit for A500 series machines will be announced at a future date.
Commodore Business Machines, Inc., based in West Chester, Pa., markets
a complete line of personal computers and peripherals for the business,
education, government and consumer markets.
The multitasking Amiga (R) line includes the Commodore Amiga 2000
(TM), the Commodore Amiga 500 (TM) and two enhanced products: the
Commodore Amiga 2000HD (TM) and the Commodore Amiga 2500/30 (TM).
Commodore's line of MS-DOS (R)-compatible computers includes the Select
Edition (TM) and Professional Series III (TM).
For more information on the Amiga 3000, contact Walt Simpson, director
of product marketing, Commodore Business Machines, 1200 Wilson Drive, West
Chester, PA 19380 or call 215-431-9100.
COMMODORE UNVEILS NEW AMIGAVISION (TM) AUTHORING SYSTEM;
INNOVATIVE TOOL PROVIDES KEY TO MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS
EXPECTED SHIP DATE: MAY 1990
Commodore Business Machines President Harold Copperman today
strengthened the company's leadership position in the multimedia market by
introducing powerful multimedia authoring software. The new system can be
used to create innovative applications ranging from complex business
presentations to daily courseware.
Commodore Vice President of Marketing C. Lloyd Mahaffey said the new
software system, called AmigaVision (TM), significantly expands the
multimedia market by providing an easy-to-use and affordable method for
business, education, government and consumer users to develop new
applications by creatively combining graphics, text, video and audio
components. Shipping is expected to begin in May.
The announcement was made as part of a live multimedia presentation at
the Palladium. The company also introduced the latest in its Amiga (R)
family of personal computers, the Amiga 3000, and a full line of
networking products.
Previously the domain of programmer-level professional users,
multimedia can now be a tool for creative teachers, presentation
professionals, computer-based trainers, instruction specialists as well as
exhibit and display professionals. AmigaVision does not require previous
programming experience and is operable through an intuitive user
interface.
Mahaffey said the Amiga is the only computer that was originally
designed as a multimedia class machine. "AmigaVision is a significant
development in multimedia," said Tim Bajarin, vice president of Creative
Strategies International, a Santa Clara, California-based research firm,
and publisher of MULTIMEDIA COMPUTING AND PRESENTATIONS.
"With today's round of announcements, Commodore is positioned to make
a major play for personal computer sales. David Archambauu director of
business markets, said AmigaVision takes full advantage of the Amiga's
built-in graphics, video and music capabilities. The system used the
Amiga's native multitasking capability to allow users to run programs
simultaneously. Unlike other authoring systems, AmigaVision is a
non-intrusive environment which allows applications to run without the
AmigaVision menus being visible, he said. Enhanced design capabilities
allow for immediate on-screen preview while the presentation program is
running. This allows the user to create unique user interface elements
quickly with ease.
AmigaVision provides a flow-chart type iconic interface programming
environment featuring a single control screen/menu. The Amiga operating
system's AREXX (TM) communications protocol support allows applications to
interact with programs on the same or other networked machines.
The system will be bundled with all Amiga 2000 and 3000 series
machines. For existing owners, AmigaVision is available at Authorized
Commodore Amiga Resellers for a suggested retail price of $149.
Mahaffey said AmigaVision is a key component of Commodore's product
marketing strategy for the Amiga family. While professional users
comprise the majority of multimedia related markets today, future plans
call for penetration into the consumer market as home users begin to
discover the benefits of multimedia.
For more information on AmigaVision (TM), contact David Archambault,
director of business markets, Commodore Business Machines, 1200 Wilson
Drive, West Chester, PA 19380 or call 215-431-9100.
But ponder, if you will, this question:
1) Has any of Digital Research's GEM-based productivity software (like
GEM Draw Plus, GEM Artline, or GEM Presentation Team) appeared for the
Atari ST?
2) In what areas of the computer industry could Commodore successfully
market the Amiga 3000, and how should Atari market the 68030 TT?
> CPU STATUS REPORT? >>>>> LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS <<<<<
=================
- Mountain View, CA SUN'S NETWORK FILE SYSTEM SELECTED AS LAN STANDARD
-----------------
X/Open, an independent consortium of computer vendors currently
developing a Portability Guide for Unix-based software, is selecting Sun's
Network File System as one of its Standard Protocols for interconnecting
different systems on a LAN Network. While NFS itself has been a de-facto
standard for several years, and is featured in AT&T Unix System V 4.0,
X/Open's announcement indicates that NFS will also appear in OSF/1, the
new operating system being developed by the OSF, and in several other
dialects of Unix....
- Santa Clara, CA INTEL SUES 80287 CLONE MAKER
---------------
Intel Corp. has filed a lawsuit against Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
which charges that AMD has infringed on Intel's microcode copyrights for
the 80287 Floating Point Math Chip. This lawsuit was made after AMD
recently said that it was incorporating Intel Microcode into their
upcoming 80C287 coprocessor. AMD and Intel have a long-standing
cross-licensing agreement which (among other things) allows AMD to copy
Intel Microcode, but not to distribute it in their products. Interestingly
enough, AMD recently sued Intel, charging that this agreement meant that
Intel would have to reveal the 80386 chip's design to AMD....
- Sausalito, CA AUTODESK ANNOUNCES AUTOCAD RELEASE 11
-------------
AutoDesk Inc., has recently introduced Release 11 of the AutoCAD
Computer-Aided Design program. It will feature an advanced programming
environment called the AutoCAD Development System (ADS), which allows
other applications to dynamically link with AutoCAD to utilize its
features or access data. It will also feature multiple-view plotting (for
laying out, organizing, and plotting AutoCAD drawings from different
perspectives), file locking and other Network Tools, commands to help
reconstruct damaged AutoCAD Files, as well as several other improvements
to AutoCAD's dimensioning capabilities and User interface.
AutoCAD Release 11 will cost $3500.00, and will first be available
for the 80386 chip. Previous AutoCAD owners can obtain upgrades for
$500.00. Shipping Date: August - November 1990..
CPU Addendum: Last week's issue featured a story on the new PARSEC video
============ board for the ST. Datel Computers has recently announced
that it will be selling the Topaz GEMulator (a Development
utility allowing GEM-based Programs to be converted, so as
to take advantage of the PARSEC's imaging and graphics
processing capabilities) as a separate product. It is
rumored that the Topaz GEMulator may only be available to
ST Developers....
_____________________________________________________________
> SOFTWARE THEFT CPU/STR PROBE? Enough is Enough!
=============================
IS IT EVER RIGHT???
===================
by R.F.Mariano
From the onset of my computing experiences I have been more than aware
of the dangers of software theft.
First, let's get one thing straight, there is relatively little or no
danger of prosecution to the user or the BBS operator who downloads or
offers for download copyrighted software. This is the most common
statement heard today throughout the industry. Folks, this is so
callously untrue that it actually could mislead or "recruit" a newfy into
the conclaves of the software thieves. There is always the ever present
danger of legal action, loss of equipment and reputation.
Second, in most cases when a program is documentation intensive a
person may download it from a bbs and then purchase it after finding that
they wish to use the program to its fullest potential. Again,
horsefeathers! What actually happens is the author manages to sell a copy
only to find out that there are a half dozen thieves that will benefit
from the legit set of docs. (ala photocopier)
Third, we find the most reprehensible act of all, the thief or
prospective thief downloads the file, finds it not to their liking then
proceeds to badmouth the product. This is their way of justifying the
"try before you buy" premise. The problem is, there are those users who
may have been discouraged from even investigating the product's potential
at filling a need merely on the negative bleating of the software thief.
The most deplorable situation is the "usergroup" who establishes a
"lending library" under the club banner thus, making a feeble attempt at
legitimizing this despicable practice, for the specific purpose of
allowing its dues paying members to 'share for a fee' copyrighted
software. There are those blather at every opportunity that this practice
of renting is not illegal and will, once again, allow the user the
opportunity to "try before buying" well these days 99% of the publishers
provide FREE demos of their program offerings thus nullifying the "try
before you buy premise" and the need to "rent" a fully working version of
the program.
STReport has always been a staunch supporter of Usergroups, yet we
find ourselves facing a perplexing situation, this reporter is aware of
the acute danger the ST market is in at this time. Part of which is the
negative effect software theft has had on the developer community. Atari
itself is greatly to blame for the serious problems that exist in our
userbase, the dearth of machines the lack of proper publicity, and most
of all the obvious absence of Atari the "computer company" in the public
eye. But, getting back to usergroups, we find that there are those
groups who, by their sleazy back room activities and/or their self
righteous proclamations of legitimacy, cast a jaundiced aura of suspicion
on all usergroups. These low-life groups must be brought to either an end
or, at least, a full re-organization by eliminating the thievery they
seem to by all appearances, through the use of rental libraries, condone
and thrive upon..
STReport believes that education is the answer pure and simple. Sure,
there are costs involved, some rather high. These costs must be met by a
combination of the developers, users and Atari Corporation. All parties
involved will benefit by a significant reduction in software thievery.
The time to start is now, and start we must each and every one of us.
Those who steal the software must be made to understand that everytime
they boot, copy or trade the stolen program its the same as if they put a
gun to the developer's head.
_______________________________________________________
> PACE REPORT CPU/STR SHOW NEWS? The Bright Spots....
=============================
NORTHEAST ATARIFEST '90 REPORT
------------------------------
by Daniel Stidham
This past weekend the Atari world converged on Chartier Valley High
School in suburban Pittsburgh, PA for the 1990 edition of the Northeast
Atarifest. Bruce Markey, president of the Pittsburgh Atari Computer
Enthusiasts(PACE), organized an impressive collection of Atari
developers in an idealy large and centrally located venue. Although it
was apparent that the heroic efforts of Bruce and dedictated developers
and vendors did not recieve a proportionate recompense of reward, let me
defer critical commentary to those older and wiser. Allow me to proceed
with--"just the facts".
The PACE show definitely did not want for dedicated developer/ vendor
support. Personally I would like to thank and commend the following for
making my attendance both informative and entertaining: Alpha Systems,
Branch Always Software, Best Electronics, Codehead Software, Diverse Data
Products, Double-Click Software, Enigma Software, Gribnif(Neodesk folks),
ICD Inc., Innovative Concepts, Michtron, Talon Technology, Toad
Computers, Unicorn Publications, WizWorks Software, and Multi-Byte
Computers. Vendors included Joppa, 1ST STop, Rite-Way, Cal-Com Inc.,
2econd Childhood, and Music Sweet Music(I know that I _omitted_
someone!).
Attending in official capacity, greeting show-goers and generally
spreading good-will and cheer with her sweet smile and lovely appearance
was Darlah J. Pine, successful and dedicated sysop of GEnies Atari
Roundtable. Nathan Potechin of ISD Marketing(DynaCadd, Calamus), Canada,
was very active throughout both days of the show. Nathan gave two
excellent and thorough seminars on the Calamus DTP family of products.
These seminars alone would have made this show a worthwhile trip.
On Sunday Ralph Mariano hosted a lively ST Report workshop and
introduced as his special guest, Bob Brodie, user-group co-ordinator of
Atari Corp. worldwide. After some initial comments and rabble-
rousing(grin) Ralph opened the workshop to questions. The "Ask Bob
Brodie" show was very lively with the liveliest exchanges centering
around Atari's future plans for 8-bit computer support (for more coverage
of the ST Report seminar see the PACE VIDEO press release elsewhere in
this issue of CPU Online). Needless to say Mr. Brodie was gracious and
patient throughout, answering all questions and addressing every concern
at length. Speaking of Ralph Mariano, he flew into Pittsburgh from
Florida and was actively greeting showgoers/developers/vendors both days
of the show. As a courtesy of ST Report he also passed out several
hundred copies of a Calamus created Chaos Strikes Back spell list, which
I'm sure he will include free with all hard drive purchases.. (smile).
------------------------------------------
Plethora of PACE show releases/upgrades...
------------------------------------------
Most developers delighted showgoers with exclusive PACE show scoops on
their latest software/hardware releases and upgrades:
-ALPHA SYSTEMS...
George Morrison debuted St Protection Techniques, a software authors
security cornucopia giving him versatile security tools. George was also
demoing JAM MASTER, an inexpensive program that turns any midi keyboard
into a four voice digital sampler.
-DIVERSE DATA PRODUCTS...
Demoed a new version of Sound-Off that is able to create outputted sound
files of any format. Also debuted at the show: a slim-line version of
their popular and rugged MFD 720 renamed the 720GS; the MFD 1440 dual 3
1/2 inch drive unit that contains a built-in drive B switch; MegaBoard II,
a solderless SIMMS upgrade board that will install in _any_ ST system and
allow plug-in SIMMS memory upgrades up to 4 megs; KX prototype being
displayed--a hardware/software combo that allows hookup of an IBM AT style
keyboard.
-CODEHEAD SOFTWARE...
Debuted HotWire! 2.1 and Multidesk 2.1. The HotWire! upgrade fixed some
minor bugs, allows you to disable its screen saver animation, and install
assign.sys files with the press of a key or click of the mouse. Alarms in
HotWire! were also dramatically enhanced allowing 16 alarms and greater
power over these alarms. Just one of the many new alarm features is
a "snooze bar" radio button not unlike your bedroom alarm in function.
Say you have an alarm go off when you are talking on the phone, you can
hit the space key and send it into a timed snooze--it in effect causes the
alarm to be put on hold until you can attend to it. MultiDesk upgrades
include the ability to remove as many acc's as you want and the ability
to chain MLT set-ups to a program, thus allowing custom accessory set-up
for each application(no need to have the PageStream Appendix Acc in
anything but PageStream!).
-BEST ELECTRONICS...
Was demonstrating their new Mega Click product that gives a Mega keyboard
IBM style clicking along with their cornucopia of dynamite goodies for the
Atari computer lines.
-WIZWORKS SOFTWARE'S...
Chet Walters was demoing a pre-release version of Mug Shot, a professional
police mugger or entertainment giver. Chet will release many seperate
data files giving this program endless possibilities for various apps
including police work and all at the low price of 34.95! The tame version
of Mac-A-Mug for the Mac is 250.00, so the value is apparent. Slated for
release on June 14. W. David Parks of WizWorks was non-chalantly debuting
his Multi Viewer Graphica commercial release 1.3(MVG). He plans on adding
a scanner interface for the Migraph hand scanner. MVG looks like it may
surpass Touch-Up! in many features, but as of yet, does not run on the
big-screen monitors. Nothing like good ole American competition. Chet
also announced ImageCat will soon be GEM-based(though it already uses a
mouse in each seperate module) and have the ability to catalog GEM pics
and Neodesk files. Keep an eye on Chet!
-------------
Noteworthy...
-------------
-ATARI USER'S ASSOCIATION(AUA) was making its first of many
show appearances. Derek Signorini and Tony Parry were on
hand to explain to showgoers what the AUA was all about. A
free raffle was given courtesy of the AUA and included the
following prizes donated from various developers: four Stik
Grippers(Kevin Dugan donation), dBMAN V, Scan Art, Draw Art,
Genius mouse, and Diamond Back and Cache among others.
-MULTI-BYTE COMPUTERS displayed their Portable Power Case for
the Stacy. The unit comes standard with a 4 hour battery(16
hour battery optional), extra space and fasteners for
Spectre GCR and any other large cartridge, shoulder strap,
extra pockets for books-diskettes-the charger-and two
batteries, a zip-off top, quick blow fuses, and much more.
Intelligent charger allows the 4-hour battery to be charged
in one hour! Very attractive looking. $348
-DIAMOND BACK II was to be debuted at the PACE show but a
last minute bug forced Bob Luneski to cancel out. From the
flyers he brought it looks like quite an upgrade with the
ability to back-up Spectre partitions on GEM formatted disks!
-GRIBNIF was allowing sneak peeks at their booth of something
very incredible that is due out very shortly...wait a minute,
Dan and Rick swore me to secrecy-- I _promised_ I wouldn't say
anything. All I can say is stay tuned!
---------------
Incidentally...
---------------
Oh, and when in Pittsburgh eat at the Greentree Inn--great
soft-shell crabs! My thanks to Ralph Mariano for the tip-off. It
makes me shudder to think what a changed and cultured man I would be
if I got to hang out with Ralph _every_ weekend!
'Til next time...
____________________________________________________________
> PACE ON TAPE! CPU/STR InfoFile? The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly!
===============================
"I WANT MY PACE VIDEO!"
--------------------
Have you ever wondered what your favorite Atari developers looked
like in the flesh? You've talked to them through GEnie and by phone and
you've put all kinds of funny faces to their voices. Before I met
Charles F. Johnson I imagined a conservative, balding fellow in his mid
to late forties--anyone who has met Charles knows how far off I was!
Wonder no more!
Order your PACE video and enjoy 90 minutes of professionally scripted
coverage of the 1990 Northeast Atarifest held in Pittsburgh, April 28th &
29th.
********************
FEATURING...
********************
o A 20 minute video collage of all developers and
vendors, set to music to make it all go down better!
o Four(4) revealing and informative interviews with top
US market developers:
- Charles F. Johnson and John Eidsvoog tell all!
Little Green Footballs--THE UNTOLD STORY!
- Dan Wilga and Rick Flashman of Neodesk fame
reveal, "What's a Gribniff?"
- Mike Vederman
Double-Click's Veder-Man Uncensored!
- Nathan Potechin of ISD Marketing
Can you pick up his Canadian accent? Great
interview! Hear Nathan sing "Oh Canada!"--or
was that me...
Discover the favorite pizza toppings of the software
gods. Find out who's married, who's not and who's too
busy enjoying life to care! Plus much, much, more!
Ralph Mariano/Bob Brodie seminar footage. Some good,
some bad, and some ugly questions made this an
interesting and lively workshop!
o PROFESSIONALLY SCRIPTED(no home-movie mish-mash)
o PROFESSIONALLY DUBBED
o Would have been rated G but because of the Michael
Vederman interview parental guidance is suggested
********************
ORDERING INFO
********************
o ONLY 19.95 POSTPAID!(c.o.d. $3 extra)
o Visa/MC accepted--(1) EMAIL your order in GEnie to D.STIDHAM
o Checks accepted including your name, shipping address,
phone, Visa/MC #, and card
expiration date. C.O.D.'s may be
EMAIL ordered also.
(2) Call/write order to:
AAA Images \
3809 Feather Ln. \ make check
Elsmere,Ky 41018 / to AAA Images
(606)342-9129 /
____________________________________________________
> Stock Market CPU NewsWire? Watchin' the Sheckles Grow!
===========================
THE TICKERTAPE
==============
by Michael Arthur
Concept by Glenn Gorman
The price of Atari Stock stayed the same on Monday and Tuesday. On
Wednesday, it went down 1/4 of a point, and on Thursday, went up 1/8 of a
point. On Friday, the price of Atari Stock remained the same. Finishing
up the week at 6 points, Atari Stock went down 1/8 of a point since the
last report. Interestingly enough, while computer stocks were (on the
whole) down, trading on Atari stock declined to a snail's pace....
Apple Stock was down 1 1/8 points from Friday, April 20, 1990.
Commodore Stock was down 3/4 of a point from 4/20/90.
IBM Stock was down 2 points from 4/20/90.
Stock Report for Week of 4/23/90 to 4/27/90
_________________________________________________________________________
STock| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
Reprt|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|
-----|------------|-------------|------------|-------------|-------------|
Atari|6 1/8 ----|6 1/8 ----|5 7/8 - 1/4| 6 + 1/8| 6 ---- |
| | | | | 15,200 Sls |
-----|------------+-------------+------------+-------------+-------------|
CBM |7 1/2 -1/4|7 1/4 -1/4| 7 - 1/4| 7 ---- | 7 ---- |
|7 3/4 | | | | 84,100 Sls |
-----|------------+-------------+------------+-------------+-------------|
Apple|39 3/4 -1/2|38 3/4 - 1 |38 3/4 ----|38 7/8 +1/8|39 1/8 + 1/4|
|40 1/4 | | | |1,039,400 Sls|
-----|------------+-------------+------------+-------------+-------------|
IBM |109 3/8 ----|108 7/8 -1/2|109 3/8 +1/2|108 3/4 -5/8|107 3/8 -3/8|
|109 3/8 | | | | 981,600 Sls |
-----'-------------------------------------------------------------------'
'Sls' refers to the # of stock shares that were traded that day.
'CBM' refers to Commodore Corporation.
'----' means that the stock's price did not change for the day.
___________________________________________________________________
> MR. USERGROUPS CPU/STR Spotlight? "And now ladies and gentlemen.."
================================
ATARI CALLING!
=============
by Hank Vize
Well lightning can strike twice. Thursday, April 26, I received
another call from Bob Brodie. It was exciting hearing from Bob again. This
time I was able to get over the excitement faster. I was already sitting
down.
Bob related he needed a favor. I told him I would be more than happy
to help if I could. He stated a group of performers and an electrical
engineer were in route to St. Louis from Berlin, West Germany. (Or should
that now read GERMANY) He said they needed equipment to use until Atari's
equipment could be shipped to our local dealer, Randall's Home Computers.
Bob said the group needed a 1040 ST, 20 Meg Hard Drive, and Monitor.
Michael Fioretti, a St. Louis based video production specialist, was the
contact person. EAUG Club member Larry Hutchison offered his system, but
he did have a hard drive. Half an hour later, I called Bob to tell him we
had secured all but a hard drive. He then gave Jeff Randall a call. He
let him know of the upcoming special shipment and asked for help with the
hard drive. Jeff and Tim spent the balance of the day and evening piecing
together a hard drive from spare parts. Jeff called me the next day and
said they finished at 10 PM and that it was a 20 Meg drive.
Now that all the equipment necessary was accounted for, I needed to
get in touch with Mike. Bob had given me his number. So I called to ask
how to get the equipment to him. No luck, an answering machine. I knew
the musicians were to arrive Friday and I guessed that Mike was picking
them up at the Airport. I left a message for him to call.
Friday afternoon he returned the call and was appreciative of the good
news that we had equipment for the group to rehearse. I told him we had
the 1040 ST, HD, and a color monitor for him. Mike inquired about the
second system. Somewhat shocked I asked him what second system? He said
they needed another system that would need to be comprised of a Mega 2,
HD, monitor. This caught me off guard. I told him I would need more time
to try secure the second system. Mike said that would be fine. That
rehearsals were put off till Monday because the musicians equipment would
not clear customs till then. He said the engineer, Werner Schaller, was
mainly concerned about the computers and their compatibility with the
programming code generated in Berlin. He wanted the computers as quickly
as possible to begin any necessary adjustments of code. I told Mike I
could understand his concern and asked him what would be the best way to
get the computer system(s?) to him. He stated that the visitors would
probably not see much of the city or area while they were here. Knowing I
lived in Alton, Il. 25 miles North of St. Louis, he thought it would be a
good idea to come to my house to pick up the equipment. A Sunday morning
appointment was set.
Its now Saturday and a call goes out to Ray Perry of the MDC RCC Atari
SIG. I relay the story to Ray and ask for help. He said they could come up
with a Mega 4, Megafile 20, and monitor. Fantastic! Everything seemed to
be falling into place.
Saturday afternoon I made the usual trip to Randall's to see what was
new and pick up the hard drive. Much to my surprise was to see the German
musicians, engineer, and Michael Fioretti at the shop. Great timing. After
exchanging pleasantries. Mike informed me that the monitors must be
Monochrome. WOW! Another obstacle. Mono's are hard to come by. I knew I
could get one but the second might be more difficult. Again I told Mike,
we would try to get that second monitor.
That evening I received a call from Ray. He said everything was set up
and needed to know how to get the equipment to the musicians. I invited
him to my home Sunday to meet the visitors. I also asked if the color
monitor could be exchanged for a monochrome. Ray said he would try to get
one. Meanwhile I secured a second monochrome from another EAUG club
member, Dave Holden, just in case.
Sunday morning the visitors arrive and we all share coffee and
doughnuts. Wolfgang Thierfeldt, Michael Rodach, Werner Schaller, Michael
Fioretti, Dave Holden, his daughter, Erin(who kept the Germans entertained
with her first year German), Ray Perry, and myself had a great visit. Mike
brought with him a press kit of the performance, "Sanctuary". I will give
details in another article.
After a couple of hours of discussing the groups computer concerns,
and sharing the excitement they have of their performance, we loaded up
the equipment for the trip back to St. Louis.
Sunday afternoon, reflecting on just what took place. I was thinking
that if someone told me this time last week that I would be entertaining
visitors from Berlin, West Germany, I would have told them no way! What a
wonderful world we live in. If I hadn't been affiliated with an Atari user
group none of this would be happening. Makes being a group President
worthwhile.
_____________________________________________________________
> A CITY DIVIDED! CPU/STR Spotlight? Pittsburgh has real problems....
==================================
OF PIRATES & POLITICS
=====================
by R.F. Mariano
To picture any of the developers I know personally on a bread line,
simply put, infuriates me. For any developer to have to look to the
linings of the cupboard is an outrage. Especially in our ST world. We
have some of the finest software available for any computer and its all
reasonably priced. Without hesitation, the lending library of one
usergroup must be brought to a screeching halt and the crumball politics,
the backbiting, threats, lies and innuendo coming from both usergroups
must cease before anything positive can ever come to this area's users.
Below, STReport presents a number of candid remarks exchanged by
usergroup members of two opposing groups in the Pittsburgh area. It is
quite clear that before this entire matter in PGH is cleared up it is
going to get very nasty... The bottom line here is that the PACE show was
torpedoed by software thievery and rediculous intra-club fighting and
petty rivalry. It becomes difficult to understand how members of one
local group can bemoan the activities of the 'other' group when there's so
many "joint memberships". Clearly a choice must be made and above all
else, the Rental of software must be halted.
Msg#:16876 *ATARI_ST*
04-30-90 23:55:50 (Read 3 Times)
From: PHILIP HANZE
To: ALL
Subj: PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED
Well, the PACE show is now over! What a horror it was! The dealers
heard these things all through the two days. Oh, your selling that? My
friend has that....I'll copy it off of him! Atari and the vendors now
consider Pittsburgh as a BIG Pirate community! Atari and the vendors
also expressed a deep concern for a user organization called the ATari
Elite. The Atari Elite is a group that rents software. Atari is asking
that all members of the Elite resign immediately and put an END to the
rentals! The different vendors are planning to NO longer support members
of the Elite when they call for help. With Pittsburgh being such a
pirate community and with the Elite renting the software and making it so
mucheasier to pirate....
Pittsburgh will NOT have any new dealers until the Elite is disbanded!
One individual even had the guts to go to a vendor and ask for his money
back after telling the vendor that the software sold to him could be
downloaded!!!!! As a member of the echo you can show your support, John
Graham is the echo moderator (who has really been doing a lowsy job) and
is one of the board members of the Elite express your anger with what this
group is doing to the Atari community. Help us clean up Pittsburgh!
Msg#:17255 *ATARI_ST*
05-02-90 00:54:48 (Read 1 Times)
From: PHILIP HANZE
To: JOSEPH MUHA
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 17249 (ATARI ELITE)
Let me put an end to that JOe. I openly resign as a member of the Elite!
for the above stated reasons.
Msg#:17705 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 12:42:46 (Read 3 Times)
From: JOSEPH MUHA
To: PHILIP HANZE (Rcvd)
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 16876 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
Your message has NO place in this NATIONAL echo! I am shocked that
youfeel the need to continue to BASH the area's largest Atari computer
group! Just because PACE is dying (dead?) you feel the need to fire
another shot into a war which is LONG over. For your information, the
Elite is RESPONSIBLE for the areas ONLY ST dealer! Get SOMETHING
straight! Also, Graham has been doing a fantastic job after he got the
messages into his BBS. Stop saying that he has not as if what you say is
fact!
Software rental is LEGAL, what you propose is not going to work. The
membership of pace must feel tha same way, look how many you have lost
over the years. If members of the Atari community feel that Pgh is a
pirate haven, remember who ran the show! The ELite was not even present
at the show, so it only follows that PACE must be presenting such an
image. I know that you moderate this BBS phil, but since you posted the
first volley, I feel that you should let a response go out nationally as
well! If you do not have the guts to allow another point of view hit the
nets, let me know! I am quite angry with you and your attitude toward the
Elite. Atari cannot MAKE dealers choose to carry or NOT carry the product
in an area. The people can with their dollars. The Elite has the largest
ST membership, so it would be wise to be an ally of the Elite in
Pittsburgh and not an enemy of your own cause!
Msg#:18089 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 14:22:50 (Read 4 Times)
From: PHILIP HANZE
To: JOSEPH MUHA (Rcvd)
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 17705 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
Joe, let me post what Bob Brodie had to say about PACE and the ELITE in
Pittsburgh!
Category 11, Topic 11
Message 95 Mon pr 30, 1990
BOB-BRODIE [AtariCorp.] at 19:21 EDT
Jeff,
The group in question did not have a booth. They did have members present
at the show, I am told. What was incredible was the blatant way they
discussed their practices *RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DEVELOPERS*!!!!! They had
an obvious affect on the sales of software at this show. GRIBNIF sold
about 1/10th of what they usually do. An example: someone bought a new
paint program at the show from one of the software companies. About 45
minutes after making the purchase, he brought it back, requesting his
money back. The vendor was surprised, as he gave an excellent price on
the product, and it was still shrink wrapped. The explanation was that he
wanted to return it because "his friend knew where he could get one for
free."
As far a future show for that area, good luck. I can't go to Atari and
recommend we go back to that area. Word reached me before I got to the
show about what was going on, and I was angry when I got there. Angry
because these developers are my personal friends, angry because there are
complaints about Atari not having a dealer (and now we know why!), and
angry that the people at the show would be so cavalier in their attitude
toward the developers.
We all have to fight this type of activity any way we can. Here's what I
did: I had gotten approved a very nice selection of door prizes for this
show, a MegaFile 60, six sets of TOS 1.4, Gauntlet for the Lynx, Airball
for the eight bit, AtariWriter 80 and an XEP-80. Quite similar to what I
did for the MidWest Swapfest, except it was a 60 Meg HD instead of a 44
Meg removable. When I heard what was going on in that show, I decided to
return all of the prizes to Sunnyvale. It is a shame, as perhaps some
legitimate users might have won a nice door prize. But from what I saw, we
just would have helped the wrong people out. So, all of the product came
home with me, over $1000 worth of door prizes. I'm not going to go to
Atari and ask them to support a group/show that doesn't support the
developers and dealers that show upto support them. It just isn't right.
BTW, I was in Rochester the day before, and I did give away everything to
them that I planned to. They got the same prizes that I had planned to
give at the PACE Show.
that... was on GEnie JOe! Much more national than this! Wait to you read
STReport this time around! The Elite MUST stop rentals NOW!!! Atari is
demanding it! Your comments will be sent to Atari so they know whereyou
stand......also, we are distributing the list to software companies who
plan to not support people that endorse piracy.
Msg#:18091 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 15:06:43 (Read 3 Times)
From: JOSEPH MUHA
To: PHILIP HANZE (Rcvd)
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 18089 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
Atari cannot "DEMAND" the stop of rentals by the ELite! Send my name to
Atari, just make sure you SPELL it correctly! No one is endorsing
piracy.Also, if you read what you posted from Brodie, you will see that he
stated that "The group in question did not have a booth. They did have
members present at the show I AM TOLD. (My emphasis on the last THREE
words). "Obviously this means that Brodie HIMSELF did not see this, and
was merely TOLD by others about this. For all *I* know, it could have
been PACE members, or people of NEITHER group, both groups, whatever!
Rumours do NOTHING to help either group! You continualy preach about the
need to stop computer wars, why not make the first step in stopping "group
wars?"
Message: 150 (#6101) - Reply to #149
Title: What will THIS accomplish?
Base: General Messages
Author: Joseph Muha
To: Philip Hanze
Posted: At 4:15:52 pm On 5/01/90
Replies: 0
I am not a subscriber to GEnie. I did read your post on Harvester. Also,
I might add about your threat to send my comments to Atari, if you in
ANYway are implying that I am promoting piracy, please have the guts to do
so in-front of some witnesses. I could use a good lawsuit. If you are NOT
implying this, I would like to know exactly what your point of the threat
was.
Phil, Brodie said, according to your post, that he HEARD that the group
(he did not say Elite, but it was only a PARTIAL post, so I will give you
the benefit of the doubt here and assume that is what he was refering to)
was doing this. How can HE be sure that the people inquestion were Elite
members if HE did not see it for himself?
Why would ANYONE who pirated be so STUPID as to do it in front of
developers. Now, I do not know a whole lot about piracy, nor do I advocate
it, but ANY 3 year old knows that if you are going to steal cookies from
the cookie jar, youdo not do it in front of mom and dad. Surely NO ONE is
that stupid! If they are, then they should be prosecuted immediately!
If I were to tell you that there is not a SINGLE pirate in the Elite or
PACE I would probably be wrong. I am sure that there are pirates in every
facet of the community and probably some non-aligned people as well, but
that is no reason to attack an entire group with these petty wars. Just
because one Democrat/ Republican/Liberal /Conservative/ Black / White /
Moslem /Jew / Christian / European / American /Elite member / Pace member
... does something wrong we SHOULD not attack the entire group. These wars
are childish and you should have enough sense to stop them now!
Joseph Muha
The Digital Man
Bush Quayle '92
_/|\_ Atari Power!
Msg#:17217 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 16:45:49 (Read 10 Times)
From: RICK GIERL
To: JOSEPH MUHA (Rcvd)
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 17212 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
Sorry, Joe, but it was member(s) of the Elite that told Bob Brody that
other members of the Elite were there. Be that as it may, this whole
subject WAS NOT brought up by PACE, nor by ANYONE in PACE. It was
brought up by Atari and by the vendors and developers at the show. THEY
told us, not PACE telling them. Whether or not YOU believe software
rental is legal, THEY don't - and they are going to take legal action
against the Atari Elite AND their members if it is not stopped. My
suggsetion to YOU is to get out of the way, before you find yourself in
too deep.
Msg#:17231 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 21:10:23 (Read 8 Times)
From: JOSEPH MUHA
To: RICK GIERL (Rcvd)
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 17217 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
While I appreciate your suggestion, I would like to point out TWO things.I
am not a member of the Elite nor have I been since December. I am moving
and for that reason decided NOT to renew my membership. The second this
is that there is at LEAST one software rental company that I can think of.
Wedgewood Rental.
I beleive that rental is OKAY UNLESS there is something in/on the package
that states that is is forbidden. I can only say that I am 100% AGAINST
piracy without a DOUBT! I also can say that I was not at the show (I
wanted to go, but I was at work...RITE AID (sat) Mercy Hospital (sun) so
*I* do not know what happened by NOT being there).
I guess my entire point to you, Phil and everyone else is to let a court
decide what action needs to be taken. Individual bickering only divides
the Atari community and we REALLY need a unified voice!
Msg#:17250 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 22:36:00 (Read 5 Times)
From: RICK GIERL
To: JOSEPH MUHA
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 17231 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
Joe, I know there is at least one software company, as you mentioned. And,
there is at least one other organization that rents Atari software.
*I* will do nothing MYSELF to try to legally stop either as I have neither
the resources nor the legal standing to do anything about it (as I am not
a developer and/or vendor, I can't show any claim that those rentals have
caused me (legal) damage. But others can, and will. I am glad to see
that you are no longer a member of the Elite - although I will also say
that your reasons don't include at least one that SHOULD be there. Be
that as it may, just be aware that OTHERS (NOT PACE, not local people) are
going to do everything in their power to put a stop to the ILLEGAL abuses
of software rental.
Rick
Msg#:17252 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 23:14:25 (Read 2 Times)
From: JEFF SOLOMON
To: JOSEPH MUHA
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 16829 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
As a the only LOCAL/Regional Computer distributor in the Pittsburgh
area,I would like to post my views in regard to the statements made here
inregards to the dealer support for Atari product. I beleive I can
speakwith some expertise on the subject. First off, as Joe Muha has
stated, TheAtari Elite is responsible for the ONLY Atari dealer in the
area.
As a distributor, the definition of a Dealer is one who:
#1. Sells a full selection of the product line.
#2. Gives accessory/software support.
#3. Is authorized to repair and service product under contract to
Atari.
If The Elite, as they are called, are responsible to this dealer, it
must be in spite of themselves. As a distributor, I've been approached on
countless occasions to stock Atari & Atari related accessories and
software. I have a large and somewhat vocal dealer base...loyal as well.
And before I decided to carry these product lines, I took a poll to see if
it had the dealer support in the region.
Let me preface my next statement with a fact. Distributors and
dealers sell hardware at relatively low margins. In order to make any
product line profitable, we must be able to make our profit margins
somewhere. That margin must be made in the selling of accesories and
software. So.... as a result the effects of these rental practices are
obvious, I am quite hesitant to even carry any related products in the
Atari line. As a favor to a friend, I brought in 24 pieces of ST software
last Xmas. 12 pieces I sold to a dealer, the other 12 still remain in my
warehouse. The dealer that I sold this software to, returned the product
3 weeks ago.
As a result of the rampant piracy in the area of this product,
Pittsburgh is even lucky to have 0NE dealer selling the full line of
product. And as a distributor, I'm not one to commit financial suicide by
bringing on an unprofitable line. As those in this area well know, the
dealers that carried Atari hardware... be it 8 bit, 16bit or second party
product, have scurried to get out of the product line. Groups such as the
Atari Elite and their rental policies of software do little to further
dealer to user good will. A good way to kill a product is, to kill the
support. And this group has done a good job to kill both.
If a users group would like to promote support for their products,
they should first show a move in the direction of good will and drop this
questionable practice of renting software. I bet those developers that
attended the Atari Show held this past weekend had coronaries when they
found out that such a group existed here. And after reading some of the
posts here this evening, I wouldn't blame them is they started to develop
programs for other manufacturers instead. Anyway, you've got an opinion
from a person who knows and understands this market. They are the facts of
life, anyway you look at it. Sad... but true.
Msg#:18081 *ATARI_ST*
05-02-90 11:13:05 (Read 6 Times)
From: JEFF SOLOMON
To: JOSEPH MUHA (Rcvd)
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 18074 (PACE'S SHOW AND WHAT HAPPENED)
Dear Joe... every dealer I have, as a distributor, in this territory must
contend with mail order competition. It is very naive to believe that a
dealer stopped carrying Atari as a result of it! I'm sure is was a
combination of things that made this dealer drop the line.
All manufacturers have production and supply problems. It too, is a
fact of life in this business! Since you are a person that relies on
facts, let me make this statement. Every dealer I approached regarding
the Atari product line, be it 8 bit, software, or accessories had almost
the same standard answer. And that answer was negative.
Many of these dealers remarked that there was a user group in the area
that rented software. And be that as it may, they were more than hesitant
to carry a product that had no software user support. That fact is quite
evident by the results of the show held for Atari this weekend in
Pittsburgh.
Secondly, I was doing anything BUT complimenting the Elite for being
responsible for having the ONLY dealer in the Pittsburgh region. Much to
the contrary, it's a direct result, that groups such as the Elite have
discouraged dealers to get into the business here in Pittsburgh. Also a
distributor such as myself, who stocks a multi-million dollar inventory,
I too find it hard to step up to the bar and become a willing 'victim'. I
would appreciate it, that in the future, that you don't turn my remarks
and intentions to suit your own feelings, as you did in your reply to me.
Let me also make it abundantly clear, that these types of groups will
never get any sponsorship from me OR any of the dealer base in this
territory. I do, however, have a great amount of sympathy for the 'GOOD'
Atari users in this region. I also have a great amount of sympathy for
those who came here this past weekend to promote Atari product, only to
find that their efforts were being thwarted. Atari has proven themselves
to be an extremely innovative company. I commend them! It's most
unfortunate that groups such as PACE must be the unwilling victims to such
a questionable and debilitating rental policy, carried on by another group
that just happens to be here in the same area.
I had my own User's show 2 years ago. PACE called me and asked if they
could attend this show. I in turn, welcomed them. They acted like Ladies
& Gentleman. Their behavior was beyond compare. And the members of PACE
can be proud of their groups high standards. In conclusion, I would like
to state, the only reason I decided to post my feelings here about this
situation that occurred here at this past weekends Atari Show, was to let
in be clear how it appears to a computer distributor.
Joe, you know me, so you know that I know practically every dealer in
Western Pennsylvania. As just about the only stocking distributor in
Pittsburgh, I think my feelings echo those of the majority the dealers I
service. I wish all the Atari users well in this area. And I hope they
can overcome this problem. I am sure, that if the dealers could see a
profitable reason to support this product in the future, that they would
have no problem what so ever in doing so. But as it stands now, We/They
cannot, as a result of the untennable climate that exists here.
Jeff
Msg#:16822 *ATARI_ST*
05-01-90 10:00:02 (Read 7 Times)
From: PHILIP HANZE
To: ALL
Subj: PACE SHOW
If you have a membership to Genie....get on it and read about the
frustration of the vendors with the show because of the piracy and the
rental group called the Atari Elite!
_____________________________________________________________
> AUA News CPU/STR NewsPlus? Atari Users Association News
=========================
A.U.A. NEWSBRIEFS
"""""""""""""""""
by Derek Signorini
The buzz word for the week is the Northeast AtariFest 1990 held in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this past weekend. Everyone is talking about it.
Many are calling it a disaster, as you probably will read in this
publication or on the networks. From the AUA standpoint, many good things
came out of this show.
First of all, let me tell you that the AUA had a booth at the show
where both Tony Parry and myself met many key people and also distributed
about 500 copies of the AUA NewsBriefs newsletter to the show attendees.
We also handed out many AUA Applications and answered many (MANY)
questions about the AUA. We both were very pleased with the amount of
information we were able to hand out at the show and are confident that we
were very successful in getting the AUA publicly known. We also held a
raffle of about 15 pieces of software including: Nevermind by Psygnosis,
DrawArt and ScanArt by Migraph, a Z-Time Internal Calander/Clock by
Terrific Peripherals, and DBman V by Verasoft. Late additions to the
raffle include 4 Stik-Grippers donated by Kevin Duggan of Duggan Dezign,
and 5 software packages donated by Data Innovations, Inc. which include
Mystery Mansion(3), Diamond Cache, and Full Count Baseball. Many thanks
go out to Duggan Dezign and Data Innovations for their generous
contributions to the AUA. We appreciate your strong support of the
organization. I would also like to add that the PACE organization did a
fantastic job in preparing for the show and carried on all activities at
the show in a professional manner. Tony and I felt very comfortable at
the show and thank you for your support of the AUA.
During the course of the weekend, Tony and I met several developers
and many other "VIP's" in the Atari community including Bob Brodie and
Darlah Pine of Genie. I can not stress how important it is to place faces
to names and to meet people who you have communicated with but never
actually met. Both Tony and myself feel that we were successful in
representing the organization both professionally and accurately. I am
sure that those people whom we spoke with will relate the same experience.
Most importantly, we were able to meet several key usergroup people,
including representatives from W.A.C.O., S.A.G.E., NEO-STAG, and NOVATARI.
While most of these people were aware of the AUA and its activities,
the AUA was still a mysterious organization to them. We hope that we were
able to dispel this view and we look forward to working closely with you
in supporting the Atari community.
Furthermore, and most importantly, the AUA was greeted with a great
deal of enthusiasm. The people that we met, and the users that joined the
AUA this weekend were happy to see that the AUA was gaining momentum and
were very optimistic of the future of the AUA and the ST community. Thank
you all for your support and encouragement!
On to business. As many of you are already aware, the AUA has broken
ALL ties from the Atari Elite organization in Pittsburgh. As a result of
this past weekend, both Tony and I have taken this break one step further
by dropping the disk based magazine that the Atari Elite published to its
members as a benefit of AUA membership. We have instead, decided that it
would be in the best interest if the AUA published its own disk based
magazine, name pending, that will offer more of an inclusive view of the
AUA and its activities. With the Electronic Chronicles, we were unable to
provide the type of newsletter that our members of the AUA deserved, so we
will take this task at hand and publish our very own journal. Those
members who have contributed to the AUA to receive this magazine will
still receive the AUA disk magazine on time. We hope that you will enjoy
what the new disk magazine has to offer! I am confident that it will be a
great success! In that light, we are currently accepting articles for
publication. If you have a desire to write, then do so! We will publish
as many articles as we can in the new disk magazine. We are also looking
for an artist skilled with Degas Elite who would like to contribute art
work to the disk magazine. Please contact me at the address below for
consideration.
Next on the agenda. The AUA has changed mailing addresses again.
This time, we have moved out of Pittsburgh about 15 miles south-west of
the burgh to Canonsburg. Tony and I both agreed that driving 45 minutes
one way to get our mail in order to have a "large city mailing address"
was pointless and a waste of time. So, we have once again changed
address.
THE NEW ADDRESS IS:
------------------
THE ATARI USERS ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 123
CANONSBURG
PENNSYLVANIA, 15317
We are in the process of having all of our mail forwarded from the old
address to the new address and are also engaging in making all changes to
existing printed material and ascii files. Whew!
The AUA also has a new home base so to speak as far as Fnetting. We
will now be supported by Node #350, * The Bounty ST BBS * and are also
talking with the people of S.A.G.E. for support on their BBS. So for
those members who need to contact me or to get updated info on the AUA,
please call the Bounty at 1-904-786-4176 for the latest info on the AUA.
I can be reached on that BBS as DC Signorini. I am also pursuing access
to Usenet and hope to have an account there in the next few weeks.
On a larger scale, the AUA is holding informal conferences on GEnie on
sunday nights at 9:00 EST. If you can show up, then do so and give us
your support. Both myself and Jon Clarke, from New Zealand, will be
hosting the conferences. We can think of no better place to meet and
bring our members (and others) up dated information on the AUA. During
our conference, which usually lasts about one hour, Jon brings news of the
AUA activities down-under, and I follow with new news from the US and
Canada. This is a perfect time for you to ask questions! We encourage
your participation and look forward to meeting you there!
That is all for this article. Next week, I hope to bring you new
news on the AUA. Also, for those contributing members, the AUA NewsBriefs
should be on your coffee table as you read this. I hope that you enjoy
the first issue of the NewsBriefs! See you all next week.
Derek C. Signorini, AUA Coordinator
THE AUA, P.O. Box 123, CANONSBURG, PA 15317
April 30, 1990
TO:
The Atari Elite, Inc.
P.O. Box 18293
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236
Gentlemen,
Please accept this letter as my resignation from the Atari Elite
organization. I find that I am unable to participate in your user group
activities as long as you are practicing software rental.
While I am not a legal expert, I am however, concerned with the all
the issues that surround copyrighted software rentals. As most folks
know, I have expressed my concern surrounding the practice of software
rental for the better part of 1 1/2 years and as a result, most are aware
that I have pleaded continually to put the rentals of software to an end.
Seeing that I am unable to convince you to do so, I am therefore left with
no other choice than to disassociate myself from the organization and
tender my resignation.
I hope that you will reconsider the continued practice of renting
commercial software.
Sincerely,
Derek C. Signorini
EDITOR NOTE:
It is fully expected that there will be many more resignations submitted
to Atari Elite before the situation in PGH is improved, but one thing must
be pointed out..
STReport has it on ultra good authority that certain folks have been
threatened with physical violence by demented and misguided individuals if
they should "resign".
As publisher of STReport first and as a concerned user second, let me
tell you this.. Most emphatically, I would not hesitate to trip back to
PGH to testify in a trial to bring down any clown who resorts to threats
violence or intimidation.
BE WARNED ...If anything happens to any persons opting to resign,
ANYTHING! BE FULLY ADVISED, a complete report of all the threats we have
records of will be forwarded to the Pennsylvania State Attorney General's
Office in the form of full affidavits of disclosure. This publication
will not rest until such time as the perpetrators are behind bars should
anything occur.
______________________________________________________________
> WAACE '90 CPU/STR SHOW NEWS? "THE JEWEL OF EAST COAST SHOWS"
============================
For Immediate Release
WAACE AtariFest '90
===================
The Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts will hold WAACE
AtariFest 1990 on October 6 and 7 1990. This event will be the premier
East Coast event for people who are interested in software and hardware
for Atari computers. The show will be staged at the Sheraton
Reston Hotel in Reston, VA. Show hours will be from 10 am to 7 pm on
both days. In addition to the shopping bargains available from over
thirty vendors there will be a full round of demonstrations, tutorials,
and seminars. A banquet on Saturday evening will feature a special
speaker on Atari matters and Current Notes Magazine's "Author of the
Year" award. Special mixers will cap off the evening's festivities.
Approximately 3000 visitors from all over the USA, Canada, and other
foreign countries attended the 1989 edition of the show.
Admission charges are $5 for one day, with a 2-day pass available at
$7. A discount rate is available for ticket purchases by user groups.
Children under 12 will be admitted free.
The Sheraton Reston Hotel is a spacious, attractive facility located
in a parklike setting near Washington, DC. The hotel is offering a
special room rate of $59 per night plus tax to Fest goers who reserve by
August 6th. The hotel room rate includes 2-day passes to the show for
room occupants.
The WAACE show has established itself as the premier Atari event for
East Coast Atari fans. Bob Brodie, Atari Corporation's, goodwill
ambassador, has labelled the WAACE show as one of the two "must see"
events for Atarians held in the USA.
-----\\\\-////-----
ATTENTION
--------- Atari Vendors and Developers
The above press release sets forth a bare bones outline of
WAACE's plans for AtariFest 1990. This event has achieved considerable
stature as a well organized, well attended, feast for Atari computer
users. The 1990 event will be the 7th edition, and it marks the first
time that the show will be held in commercial exhibit space with setup
and layout handled by a professional firm. This will provide you, the
vendor, with a more attractive and convenient setting.
Since we no longer have to make way for other users of the
facilities we will be able to offer longer show hours on Saturday and
Sunday. Our demonstration rooms will also be open on Sunday. The space
for sales areas, demonstration rooms, and seminars is arranged so that
access to all facets of the show will be more convenient, thus making for
a livelier, more "interactive" event on both days.
Exhibit Booths
The basic unit of exhibit space is a booth with dimensions of 8 ft
x 8 ft. Each space will be provided with an electrical outlet. The
attached diagram shows that there are approximately 60 such spaces
available. Larger booths can be created by combining these basic units.
We should be able to handle the requirements of 30 to 40 different
vendors. The price for basic exhibit space is $500, with substantial
discounts for early registration and for larger booth spaces as shown on
the attached price schedule. Booth spaces are separated from one another
by "pipe and drape" dividers. Setup and auxiliary services are provided
by Arata expositions inc, a professional exhibit firm with experience at
shows like the Federal Office Systems Expo, The Federal Microcomputer
Expo, and the Washington MacWorld show.
Arata is the OFFICIAL SHOW DECORATOR AND EXHIBIT SERVICE
contractorand they will work with you to arrange your booth space, to
handle shipments of materiel, and other such matters. Arata will be
notified when you have registered with us and you will deal directly with
them to make final arrangements, at your own expense, for the layout of
your space and the services that you require.
Computers
Atari Corporation no longer supplies computers for use by
exhibitors at shows. Those of you who are unable to carry the equipment
that you need to the show may attempt to rent them from a pool of
personal equipment that we will endeavor to assemble from our members.
Past experience has shown that this pool is limited. WAACE will charge a
rental of $100 for each machine and we will require a check for an
additional $100 per machine as a security deposit. The security deposit
check will be returned when the user is satisfied that his machine was
returned in proper working order. Machines from the pool will be
assigned on a first-come first served basis. Washington Area dealers may
be another source of rental machines, but you will have to make your own
arrangements through this channel.
Costs
Our exhibit space is no longer essentially free. The WAACE show
has no deep pockets or personal fortunes behind it. We will, therefore
need your money soon to cover substantial "up front" costs and to
provide the kind of advertising that will attract visitors to the show.
In order to encourage organizations to book early we are offering
substantial discounts (see order form).
Since WAACE is a NOT FOR PROFIT ORGANIZATION, the money you spend
will be used to directly benefit the show. Advertising in national
Atari media requires long lead times. Local advertising in Washington
Area mass media will be scheduled as our resources permit close to show
time.
The attached pricing schedule reflects increased costs associated
with space rental, exhibit space setup, security, and utilities. This
year's price also includes advertising in the show program, which was a
separate item last year. We recognize that small developers will find
this price schedule burdensome. We advise such organizations to explore
alternative ways to participate in the Fest. Some of these are
described below. Combining forces to share a booth is one obvious way
to keep costs down.
Hotel Reservations
The Sheraton Reston Hotel is a very attractive place to hold an
affair of this kind. All of you are, I am sure, aware that the cost of
exhibit space is directly tied to the number of hotel rooms that they
rent out. Early hotel reservations on your part will keep the cost of
exhibit space down and thus allow us to spend more on advertising. The
$59 per night rate that they are offering is a good one for this area in
October, which is one of heaviest convention months. Please reserve your
hotel rooms early. Only space reserved by August 6th will be credited to
our room count for pricing purposes.
Alternative Participation
It should be noted that all interests from the Atari community are
welcome at our show, whether they rent booth space or not. We only
require that everyone selling directly to the public use paid exhibit
space to do so. Developers and publishers may, however, elect to forgo
direct sales and participate in our demonstrations and seminars. Such
participants may bring their products to the show for distribution to
dealers for resale to the public.
We have lots of space on our seminar schedule for people who want
exposure to the public. Interaction with users in our demonstration
rooms is also a good way to put your best foot forward.
We will assist people who are introducing new hardware and
software in obtaining exposure for their products in our demonstration
rooms. We have a talented pool of sophisticated users who will work with
you to set up your product and demonstrate it. If you require
confidentiality we can arrange that, too. We hope that many of you will
take advantage of this. The best way to do this is to give us plenty of
lead time so that the users can be properly trained in the installation
and use of your products.
People who are introducing new products may find this show a good
place to get the exposure they want. If these products can be featured
in our advertising so much the better for all of us.
Advertising space is available in the printed program at a modest
cost. People who cannot make the show or who want to participate in the
demonstration rooms may find this an effective alternative form of
exposure (see pricing sheet for details).
Icing On The Cake
Right at the moment we have not lined up a banquet speaker with
the necessary stature. We are also scheduling auxiliary events such as
leadership workshops for users groups. We will be happy to add other
special events to the program. Developer tutorials, programming
workshops, MIDI Concerts, hardware clinics, press conferences, etc can
all be arranged if you want to work with us.
We want and appreciate your help in adding such features as will
make this show even more attractive.
Commitments
We are asking that organizations who intend to participate in this
show provide us with early notification of their intent. We will accept
letters of intent to participate immediately. These letters should
indicate the amount of booth space you expect to use and the amount of
additional advertising space that you will need. Organizations
submitting such letters of intent will be given first opportunity in
choice of space once the official table layout diagram is published.
Exhibitor Pricing for WAACE AtariFest 1990
Exhibitor Space consists of one 8 ft x 8 ft area divided from
adjoining area by "pipe and drape". Layout of table space to be
arranged between exhibitor and Arata Expositions Inc.
Price includes booth space with appropriate signs, 1 table, one
electrical outlet, and a half page ad in the printed show program.
Additional booth space is discounted according to the table given below:
Pricing Before After
1 July 1990 1 July 1990
1 space $400 $500
2 spaces $680 $850
3 spaces $880 $1100
4 spaces $1080 $1350
5 spaces $1280 $1600
Additional electrical outlets are available through arata
expositions inc for an additional charge. Telephone services must be
negotiated between the vendor and C and P telephone company.
Advertising space is available in the printed program at a rate
of $75 for a half page ad and $125 for a full page ad. Vendors may
increase their half page ad to a full page for an additional $50. A 20
percent discount will be applied to orders paid for before 1 July.
Advertising space can be reserved in advance, the final deadline for copy
submission is 8 September.
Payment
Binding assignments of exhibit space will be made as soon as
WAACE receives a deposit of one half of your total fees for space and
advertising. Selection of exhibit space is on a first-come, first
served basis. Only orders fully paid by 1 July will be eligible for the
advance discount on space and advertising. All space not paid for by 1
July will be reassigned as payments are received.
Contacts
Further Information or clarification on matters not covered in
this document is available from either of the people listed below:
General Chairman: Russell Brown, 13757 Mapledale Ave, Dale City, VA
22193. Phone (eves) 703-680-2698. GEnie: R.BROWN3
Vendor Activities: John Barnes, 7710 Chatham Rd, Chevy Chase, MD 20815.
Phone (eves) 301-652-0667, GEnie: J.D.BARNES
______________________________________________________________
> ROCHESTER REPORT CPU/STR OnLine? Bob Brodie does it again!
===============================
EYEWITNESS REPORT
-----------------
ATARI IN ROCHESTER
==================
by Marty Saletta
Yesterday (4/28) Bob Brodie gave a talk at the Rochester Institute of
Technology. I went with 8 members of my local ST user group, The Buffalo
Region Atari Group (BRAG-ST). In total, I would estimate the total number
of people who attended the talk would be about 80 at the Webb Auditorium
at RIT.
Mr. Brodie brought along with him a 4 MB 4160(?)STe, a 4MB Stacy, a
Lynx, a Megafile 60 HD, and a 44 MB removable HD system. He spoke about
each uni which lasted about 40 minutes, then took Q&A for about 1-1/2 to 2
hours(!). Maybe longer, I lost count...:^) Mr. Brodie mentioned that all
the product he was showing were *not* vaporware, and were shipping
"somewhere"... For you Lynx fans, he mentioned that he hoped that there
would be over 20 games for the Lynx by X-mas. (The STe is shipping, but I
believe Atari is having doubts about shipping the 4 MB version.) Bob then
showed the Lynx commercial that was test-run in NYC and other places. I
see it quite often living near Canada on the CBC.
Mr. Brodie also mentioned that Atari feels that the 130XE is no longer a
"power without the price" computer, and will phase-out the 8-bits. I am
sad to hear this (I started out with a 400 many moons ago), but at the
same time it is understandable. A 130XE + disk drive is just about the
price of a 520STFM. He said that the last 130XE has been produced (a
50,000 run? but they'll be used in house for the exchange policy. Argue
if you want, but the 8-bit era is over in the 90's. After the Q&A
finished, there was a raffle of the 80-col card and the word processor
built for it (8 bit), 5 or 6 TOS 1.4 upgrades (both 6 and 2 chip sets) and
also the Megafile 60 HD he used for the demo. (Although I didn't win
anything, other members in my BRAG group won the Megafile 60 and three
TOS 1.4's...hey- gotta BRAG, right? :^) Oh yes, tickets were only $1 ea.
for the raffle, and I guess the show was free. Also the *new* Lynx cart,
Gauntlet, was a prize in the raffle.
The show concluded with an auction of Atari products of a store that
phased-out their Atari line. Several titles went under $4. VIP
Professional, still in the cellophane wrapping, went for $10. I picked up
Infocom's "Deadline" (ST), a Chinese cooking database (ST, for my
girlfriend; I'm a vegetarian...:^), a Logo book (was bundled with the
cooking program), and the 130XE and DOS 2.5 manuals (XE) all for under $6
total. After the auction the group left the Auditorium and went to a
pizza party with Mr. Brodie, with tickets costing $4. BRAG did not stick
around for the pizza.
After seeing the show itself, I left disappointed. Not at all with
Mr. Brodie; I was very impressed with him. I've been to several shows
along these line (Atari, Apple, NeXT, etc.) and Mr. Brodie is one of the
best speakers (and perhaps more importantly, *listeners*) I've seen. He
is a real credit to the Atari family, and I hope he sticks around for a
while (lifetime contract would be ok...:^) I think Atari can sleep at
night knowing that Mr. Brodie is one of the people contacting the users
who use or want to own and use Atari computers. If any Atari junkie has
the chance to see and hear him talk, I recommend it.
So why was I disappointed? Maybe because I am sick of the "game
machine image Atari has. My girlfriend who also attended teases me about
how my ST is a game machine (friendly, but others aren't that nice.)
Although I am very happy with my ST (I couldn't have survived college
without 1st Word, Thunder, Uniterm, etc.), I would like a faster unit and
Unix.
Faster unit and Unix. Ah ha! The TT! Let me state that if Atari
introduced the TT (Unix, 68030, runs ST software too) for under $3000 a
year ago I would have been first line for one (well, maybe not first, at
least until I could have raised the money.) Now I'm not so sure about
getting one ASAP, if at all. The great majority of questions was about the
Lynx, local dealer problems, etc. There was one or two about the TT, but
nothing much was said. Of course, this is because it is not being
manufactured now which is understandable, but there seemed to be zero
interest in the machine. One of the reasons I went to the show was to
find info on it, but all I got was that the TT passed FCC tests and
software was being worked on now. Mr. Brodie did not give a release date
(i.e. "very soon", "September", etc.) which I think is a good thing.
Instead of the "very soon now" or "{1,2,3,4 Quarter of next year", saying
nothing about a release date will not make him (or Atari) look bad should
the machine fail to appear (nah...that would it happen, would it? :^)
If the TT appears late this year or early 1991, I will not buy one for
at least two years. Why? First, I bought my ST in October of 1985, and I
thought that this would be the machine that would defeat the Mac (or at
lea come very close to it.) I didn't think that even Atari could mess it
up. But what happened? Instead of getting the (then) under-$1,000 512K
68000 based machine (i.e. power) into colleges and business applications,
it's sold through Toys R Us. Toys R Us? Think of Toys R Us. What do you
think of? I think of 3-to-5-year-olds running up and down the store. If
I don't want to buy a computer there, would upper-level executives? Or
people in charge of universities? And what about support? I thought that
Atari, having a reputation problem then, would give away ST's (or at least
make a *huge* discount) to universities to follow Apple's lead. That
would at least get them "in the door". And I don't think many places
would turn down a free Atari computer because at least they would have
been able to play games if nothing else. Let's hope Atari doesn't make
the same mistake with the TT.
So, to get back to the meeting: with three user groups represented, I
should be able to assume that there was a deceint sample of Atari users.
And if nobody had enough interest to press about the TT (at least get a
few more "no comment at this time"'s from Mr. Brodie, should I, an Atari
ST user, be worried? That is one thing I haven't figured out yet.
Who is Atari going to aim the TT at? (Let me assume that the TT will
be 68030-based, run some flavor of Unix, and be ST upward-compatable.)
Will Atari try to sell the TT to the current ST userbase as an upgrade? I
hope not, at least as a major source of sales. Sure, there are some of us
who would love getting a much faster ST *and* Unix, but the majority (at
least a good number) I'd guess of current ST users don't reall want Unix.
(This will be debated here since about >90% of you reading this via Usenet
are probably using Unix right now, either rn, readnews, etc.) I got to see
for the first time a bunch of ST users (ok, just 70), but they didn't seem
to know what a Unix is or if you have to feed it and burp it. That's fine,
but why should Atari try to sell them a TT? I think they shouldn't. You
can have a zillion computers sold, but how many will push Unix to the
limit? How many will even use the Unix end of the machine? Ok, then who
should Atari sell the TT to? How about schools? If they could offer a
big-fat discount to high schools and colleges for a machine that runs
both Unix and the pre-existing ST software line and bundle a bunch of PD
and/or commercial ST software that shines on it, I think Atari would
advance to the next plateau from "game machine company" to whatever in
many eyes (important ones at that.)
I would love to hear in about a year or so, people from the
educational and business world saying "Atari finally made a *real*
computer this time!" and us past and present ST owners (and 8-bitters for
that matter) would just smile and say welcome to the world of Atari...
Last week I attended a NeXT demo at my school, and I really liked the
machine. The problem I have is that at over $10,000, I don't see myself
getting one (unless I win the lottery or something, but since I don't
play I don't see myself winning. It's a really fine computer that's
worth the >$10K, but for the low-to-medium user like me? It's just not
practical for what I'd use it for at home (little word processing, and
Really-Not-Professional C programs...at least not the commercial type...)
I suspect that there are a few others out there who would like to have a
Unix computer, but can't afford the current crop. If the TT could fill
this void (be under $3000) Atari's got a hit on their hands, *if* they
sell it as a Unix computer first, ST compatable second. "Runs Unix and
has a library of programs that can already be run on it too!" would be a
nice pitch for the TT. I just can't see Atari hoping to sell the TT
*only* to the current ST user base.
To conclude (finally...), I hope no one takes the above as
Atari-bashing, which has in the past been fashionable in these newsgroups.
I've used an Atari computer since 1983, going through a 400,600XL,130XE,
and finally a 520ST w/1 MB. I've sold everything except the 600XL (still
16K, no drive) and the ST. I am hoping I will not have to leave the Atari
world. I'm really hoping Atari breaks into the "serious" market with the
TT. Should they start to sell the TT to a more serious user market (not
through Toys R Us), I'll be in line to get one. If I can play Kreskin for
a moment, in five years time, I think I'll be working on a newer computer
with a little Fuji symbol on it...
__________________________________________________________
> CPU NEWSWIRE CONFIDENTIAL? Sayin' it like it is.....
=========================
- New York City, NY ** COMPUTER SHOPPER TO DROP ST COVERAGE! **
-----------------
According to our investigative sources, Computer Shopper Magazine, the
very popular bargain tabloid and virtual source of the majority of
products available for the US computer market has plans of dropping
support for the Atari St computers and has already dropped support for
other 'orphaned' computer systems.
- Baltimore, MD **** EUTHANASIA PLANNED FOR DESK SET II ****
-------------
Reportedly, Desk-Set II has not been as well recieved by the userbase
as expected. Atari is exercising its new found wisdom by planning a quiet
retirement of this software offering, this info has been confirmed with a
number of well informed members of the DTP community.
- Los Angeles, CA. **** NEOCEPT ANNOUNCES MAJOR WORDUP UPGRADE ****
----------------
NEOCEPT has mailed notices containing upgrade information for Word Up,
version 3.0. Recipients of this notice are to return their original Word
Up disks, the mailing labels enclosed with the notice, a check or money
order in the amount of $31.00 ($28 upgrade fee + $3 S&H). Purchasers of
Word Up after 12/31/89 need only send proof of purchase (i.e., original
dealer receipt, canceled check, or charge receipt) and $3 for S&H. For
orders outside the US & Canada, add an extra $3. Upgrade requests
received by May 15, 1990 will be processed by then. No upgrade requests
will be honored after June 31, 1990.
IMPROVEMENTS TO WORD UP INCLUDE:
-------------------------------
1) Proximity/Merriam-Webster Spell Checker dictionary with 116,000 words
(140,000 for an additional fee). Dictionary is disk-based with small
RAM dictionary and cache for speed.
2) Proximity/Merriam-Webster Thesaurus has 470,000 synonyms and is disk
based to save memory.
3) Version 3.0 comes with a new set of higher quality and greater variety
of fonts. There are eight typefaces - Serif, Book Serif, Sabns, Book
Sans, Typed, Corporate, Distinctive, and Math in sizes ranging from 8
to 72 points.
4) Version 3.0 is fully functional even on a 520ST! All of the fonts are
available and usable. Word Up 3.0 bypasses GDOS and automatically
loads only the printer fonts needed to print a particular document.
5) The print quality is twice as good as before. For example, 9-pin
printers can now output in 240x144 dpi (instead of the present
120x144) and there are now true 360x360 dpi fonts for 24-pin
printers.
6) There is a new super fast text printing mode that uses your printer's
built-in fonts (also includes pictures, bold, and underline).
7) Word up 3.0 can now import and export Word Writer and 1st Word/1st
Word Plus documents. The 1st Word Plus import/export supports
pictures and footnote/endnote conversions.
8) Multiple colunmns are easier to do.
9) The Automatic Hyphenation is 100% accurate.
10) Boxes and lines can be drawn around and in between paragraphs of
text.
11) Page Preview will show a full page on the screen just as it will
print.
12) There is now a Word Count and Free Memory indicator.
13) There are now Delete Word left and right keystrokes.
14) Dialog boxes features better numeric entry, with free-form placement
of the decimal point.
15) To print with an Atari SLM804 Laser Printer or an HP LaserJet/IIP
/III/DeskJet/Plus printers, Word Up 3.0 requires a new version of
TurboJet which will be offered soon with an upgrade fee of $10.
- ST. Louis, MO. *** SOFT-LOGIK ANNOUNCES PAGESTREAM 2.0 ***
-------------
During an online conference last night, Deron K. of Soft Logik
Publishing Corp. announced the release of Pagestream 2.0.
PageStream 2.0 is fully integrated with Agfa Compugraphic's hinted
outline fonts, as well as Adobe Type 1 IBM format (without hints.)
PageStream displays these outline fonts on the screen plus prints them to
dot matrix, laser, and PostScript printers with exquisite quality.
PageStream draws polygons with Bezier cubic curves as well as the usual
straight lines.
PageStream 2.0 will load and save tags separate from a document. In
addition, 2.0 will save a document as a template for future works of
similar design. Version 2.0 allows for specifications of beginning and
ending angles of arcs in 1/100 degree increments and allows for rotation
in 1/100 degree increments. 2.0 allows the specification of font sizes in
1/100th point increments, and positions and sizes an object to the same
1/100th of a point.
PageStream 2.0 allows larger maximum page dimensions (billboard size &
beyond) plus the ability to easily 'bleed' objects off the page.
THE UPGRADE FEE will be $75, and PgS 2.0 will retail for $299.95.
Soft-Logik is also proud announce that it has signed an agreement to
distribute the Image Club series of clip art and PostScript fonts for the
Amiga and Atari markets in North America and Australia. The clip art
library contains over 2000 EPS files. The images can be reduced, enlarged
or distorted without losing any resolution. The type library, which is
Adobe Type 1 compatible, contains over 600 licensed faces. Image Club has
been developing art and type for the Macintosh for several years. This is
a significant advancement that will bring professional PostScript fonts
and EPS clip art to the Amiga and Atari markets.
________________________________________________________
> Hard Disks CPU/STR InfoFile? Affordable Mass Storage....
===========================
NEW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
============================
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P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
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FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
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_____________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
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* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADVANTAGE HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
51mb #SGN4951 529.95 65mb #SG60101 619.95
80mb #SGN296 709.95 100mb #SG84011D 839.95
170mb #SGN2962 1369.95 260mb #SG60102 1849.95
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Ask about our "TAX REFUND SPECIALS"
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- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
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65mb SQG09 $1339.00 85mb SQG96 $1399.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
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20 MB 3.5 FLOPPY DISK MASS STORAGE OPTICAL DRIVE!
uses standard 3.5" floppy disks and Floptical disks
Will access and read your present library of floppys
$789.95 approx.
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
*** ALL Units: Average Access Time: 24ms - 34ms ***
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - PC-DITTO/II - SPECTRE/GCR
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Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319
Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service
9am - 8pm EDT
Tues thru Sat
menu choice to access the Forum's Libraries.
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
***********************************************************************
> A "Quotable Quote"?
=================
"THE URGENCY OF A PROMISE MADE IS NO INDICATION OF ITS VALIDITY"
... Myron Foobar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU/STR? "Your Independent News Source" May 04, 1990
16/32bit Magazine copyright = 1990 No.4.18
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, CPU NEWSWIRE? CPU/STR? or CPU Report?. Reprint
permission is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. All reprints must
include CPU NEWSWIRE, CPU/STR or CPU Report and the author's name. All
information presented herein is believed correct, the editors and staff
are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained herein.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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