ST Report: 20-Jul-90 #629
From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/28/90-03:23:45 PM Z
From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: ST Report: 20-Jul-90 #629
Date: Sat Jul 28 15:23:45 1990
*---== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
_____________________________________
from
STR Publishing Inc.
""""""""""""""""""
July 20, 1990 No.6.29
=======================================================================
STReport Online Magazine?
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST/14.4
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
** F-NET NODE 350 ** 500mb Online **
STR'S owned & operated support BBS
carries ALL issues of STReport Online Magazine
and
An International list of private BBS systems
carrying STReport Online Magazine for their users enjoyment
__________________________________________________________________
> 07/20/90: STReport? #6.29 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
-------------------------
- Editor's Podium - CPU REPORT - CPU MACNEWS
- UScript & NEODESK - WAACE Updates - WP UPDATE INFO!
- STe DMA WOES FIXED - SM124 BLUES! - STR CONFIDENTIAL
* ATARI 24-BIT COLOR FROM LEXICOR * GFA US TO BEGIN SHIPPING! *
* NEW PORTFOLIO O.S. * REVOLVING DOOR ALIVE & WELL! *
==========================================================================
ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE?
"Only UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
-* FEATURING *-
Current Events, Up to Date News, Hot Tips, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
STReport'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?
Its summertime and that's the outdoor time of the year all over the
country. People become more athletic minded and active during this
refreshing time of year. In fact, the activity levels at Atari are
seemingly at an all time high. Elie Kenan is now in Sunnyvale becoming
fully acclimated with the 'system'. STReport and its entire staff wishes
him all the success possible and we forward, publicly, our pledge to
continue to support Atari's userbase to the best of our abilities.
From when I was a youngster, I always remembered my mom saying a "new
broom always sweeps clean". At this time, STR hopes the broom clears the
slate and the entire userbase can look forward to a clean slate both at
Atari and in the userbase. STReport has every intention of supporting the
new Director and will strive to provide any assistance needed. STReport
hopes to see the renewed enthusiasm among the users grow right along with
the many anticipated Atari successes and triumphs under the capable
guidance of E. Kenan.
Many thanks to our loyal readers and special thanks for fantastic
quantities of support mail received in E-mail and from the Postman in the
last few weeks, its certainly what makes it all worthwhile.
Ralph........
***********************************************************************
> CPU REPORT?
==========
Issue # 76
----------
by Michael Arthur
Remember When....
In December 1980, a company called Infocom introduced a text-based
fantasy/adventure game called Zork (which was ported from a similar game
running on an M.I.T. mainframe), which became one of the first popular
microcomputer games?
CPU Systems Roundup? XXXIV
==========================
COMMODORE, FLICKERFIXERS, AND AMIGA 3000 GRAPHICS MODES
-------------------------------------------------------
Here is a posting from Peter Cherna of Commodore Corp., which provides
details on the graphics capabilities of the Amiga 3000:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A3000 Graphics Modes
(Peter Cherna)
Following a specific request I received, and some general confusion, I
thought I should present a discussion of the complete set of modes
supported by ECS and AmigaOS 2.0.
Mode Name Size Color Monitor Type De-Interlacer Notes
Lores 320x200 (A) NTSC Scan-doubles (1)
Lores-Interlaced 320x400 (A) NTSC De-interlaces (1)
Hires 640x200 (B) NTSC Scan-doubles (1)
Hires-Interlaced 640x400 (B) NTSC De-interlaces (1)
Lores 320x256 (A) PAL Scan-doubles (2)
Lores-Interlaced 320x512 (A) PAL De-interlaces (2)
Hires 640x256 (B) PAL Scan-doubles (2)
Hires-Interlaced 640x512 (B) PAL De-interlaces (2)
SuperHires 1280x200 (C) NTSC disable it (*) (3,7)
SuperHires-'lace 1280x400 (C) NTSC disable it (*) (3,7)
SuperHires 1280x256 (C) PAL disable it (*) (3,7)
SuperHires-'lace 1280x512 (C) PAL disable it (*) (3,7)
Productivity 640x480 (C) VGA pass-through (4,7)
Productivity-'lace 640x960 (C) VGA pass-through (4,7)
A2024-10Hz 1008x800 (D) A2024 (NTSC) N/A (5)
A2024-15Hz 1008x800 (D) A2024 (NTSC) N/A (5)
A2024-10Hz 1008x1024 (D) A2024 (PAL) N/A (6)
A2024-15Hz 1008x1024 (D) A2024 (PAL) N/A (6)
Size:
The nominal sizes of each mode are given. The regular NTSC and PAL modes
can be overscanned. TheSuperHires NTSC and PAL modes can also be
overscanned, though less that proportionately to the regular NTSC or PAL
modes. The two productivity modes can also be overscanned. The A2024
modes may not be overscanned.
Colors Notes:
(A): 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64(EHB), or HAM, from a palette of 4096.
(B): 2, 4, 8 or 16 from a palette of 4096.
(C): 2 or 4 from a palette of 64.
(D): 2 or 4 shades of gray.
Signal Type:
NTSC: Requires NTSC-type monitor, including 1080, 1084, television.
Some PAL-type monitors also can handle NTSC.
Most (?) multiscanning monitors can support NTSC rates.
PAL: Requires PAL-type monitor, including PAL 1080, 1084, television.
Some NTSC-type monitors also can handle PAL.
Most (?) multiscanning monitors can support PAL rates.
VGA: Requires VGA-class or multiscanning monitor.
A2024 (NTSC): Requires NTSC version of A2024 monitor.
A2024 (PAL): Requires PAL version of A2024 monitor.
De-Interlacer:
The de-interlacer is a circuit on the A3000 motherboard that works with a
VGA-class or multiscanning monitor.
When enabled, the de-interlacer provides a VGA-compatible output on its
15-pin connector, from what would be NTSC or PAL or VGA modes from the
23-pin video connector. To use this, you require a VGA-class or
multiscanning monitor.
De-interlacing means that instead of pushing out two fields in alternation
at 60 (NTSC) or 50 (PAL) fields per second (30 or 25 full screens per
second), the de-interlacer buffers one field and pushes it out with the
other, so that both fields come out together, for 60 or 50 non-flickering
full screens per second.
Scan-doubling means that a single (non-interlaced) field is pushed out
twice as fast, and is replicated on adjacent lines. The result is a solid
display of color, with no visible scan-lines.
(*) The SuperHires modes require that you disable your de-interlacer. If
you do, then the output from the 15-pin connector will become NTSC or PAL
rate, and will not be scan-doubled or de-interlaced. If you leave the
de-interlacer on, you will get a de-interlaced or scan-doubled display,
though you will only see every second pixel horizontally, since the
display-enhancer is sampling for 640 (plus overscan) pixels per line, and
not the 1280 pixels that are being generated.
Pass-through means that the de-interlacer detects these modes and passes
them through directly to the 15-pin VGA connector.
N/A is because the A2024 plugs in to the 23-pin video connector, and
doesn't come near the de-interlacer and its 15-pin connector.
Notes:
(1) Requires NTSC Amiga or any Amiga with Super Agnus.
(2) Requires PAL Amiga or any Amiga with Super Agnus.
(3) Requires Super Agnus and Super Denise, and AmigaOS 2.0.
(4) Requires Super Agnus and Super Denise, and AmigaOS 2.0.
(5) Requires NTSC A2024 (with JumpStart or with AmigaOS 2.0)
(6) Requires PAL A2024 (with JumpStart or with AmigaOS 2.0)
(7) These modes take up twice the bandwidth of a comparable Hires mode,
so Super-Hires Interlaced 4 colors is comparable in bandwidth to
Hires-Interlaced 16 colors. As well, there is only one sprite
available.
Other modes:
For completeness, I should note that there are also some smaller members
of the Productivity family that output VGA-class signals, and have
resolutions of 320 x 480, 320 x 960 (interlaced), 160 x 480, and 160 x 960
(interlaced). These modes were basically "free" given that we have
Productivity mode, but they aren't particularly useful.
--
Peter Cherna, Software Engineer, Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CPU MacNews?
===========
APPLE BUYS "CLASSIC" NAME, INTRODUCES PERSONAL LASERWRITERS
-----------------------------------------------------------
Apple Computer has recently introduced a new version of its
Laserwriter printers, designed as a low-cost entry into the laser printer
market. Called the Personal LaserWriter, it can print four pages per
minute and has a print life of 150,000 pages. This is half as powerful as
Apple's more expensive Laserwriter II line, which is capable of printing
8 pages per minute, with a print life of 300,000 pages. All members of
Apple's Laserwriter line have a 300 dpi resolution....
Apple has introduced two versions of its new printer: The Personal
Laserwriter SC, which uses Quickdraw for printing and cannot be networked
using AppleTalk. However, the Personal Laserwriter NT is both
Postscript-compatible (using Adobe Postscript), and can be connected to an
AppleTalk Network. Cost: $2000.00 for a Personal Laserwriter SC with 1
Meg of RAM, and $3300.00 for a Laserwriter NT with 2 Megs of RAM....
Apple has also reportedly paid Modular Computer Systems one million
dollars for the rights to use the name, "Classic" in its computers. This
has caused several to speculate that the name, "Macintosh Classic" will be
used on Apple's upcoming low-cost Macintosh. To be introduced in
September, Apple's "low-cost Mac" is expected to replace the Mac Plus and
SE at the low-end of Apple's Macintosh line.
Rumors about the "Macintosh Classic" abound. Some say that it will
cost $1500.00, use an 8 MHZ 68000, have 1 Meg of RAM,a 1.4 Meg Superdrive,
and 1 Expansion slot. However, others speculate that it will use a 16 MHZ
68020, feature 3 Mac II NuBus Expansion slots, and have 2 Megs of RAM, for
$2500 - 3000.00.
_______________________________________________________
> LEXICOR 24 BIT COLOR! STR Spotlight? 24-bit color & ATARI STs.
===================================
ATARI 24-BIT COLOR FROM LEXICOR SOFTWARE CORP.
==============================================
With the announced availability of true color for the existing ATARI
ST and SC1224 ATARI color monitor in the form of a 24-bit color board
from LEXICOR SOFTWARE later this summer, a whole new world is now a
reality for the ATARI user. This new world will in many respects be
mystifying to the average computer user in general and the limited 16
color ATARI user in particular.
The following article dealing with color perception is the first in a
series of articles intended to inform and educate the ATARI user in
24-bit color theory and its use on the ATARI computer.
NEW COLOR THEORY
...FOR USE WITH THE ATARI ST COMPUTER
by Lee M. Seiler (c) 1990
With the creation of 24-bit color for the ATARI SC1224 color monitor
by LEXICOR SOFTWARE, comes the problem and consequences of color
perception and manipulation for the computer graphics artist, and
animator.
Currently, when it comes to selecting and working with color
effectively, even simple desktop paint programs aren't much easier to use
than those found on the sophisticated systems, The user typically will
choose colors from a fixed palette arranged in a grid such as found it
Spectrum. Colors are usually grouped into hues (that is, the various
colors, such as red and yellow based on wavelengths of the color
spectrum), often in a rainbow-like progression. Each hue is then arranged
in order from lighter to darker shades.
But there is usually little consistency. In one area of the palette,
vast differences will exist between one color and its immediate neighbor;
in another, the differences between adjacent colors will be nearly
imperceptible. No clear relationship exist between colors placed together
in vertical or horizontal rows. And the overall effect is haphazard to the
eye.
In more sophisticated color system available on the ATARI computer,
such as Cyberpaint, users can create their own palettes by specifying
percentages of primary colors (RGB) or by clicking on a slid-bar across a
primary color range, These percentages are preset in incremental amounts
equal to one seventh the total allowable for a given RGB color.
Yet even though limited to 512 variations with this interface, most
users find it difficult to navigate through color selection. The color
that appears in the selection box when you click on a color, for example,
is often unpredictable, making the process one of trial-and-error. It's
often hard to know what you have to do to move from the color you see to
the color you want. An attempt to make an incremental change too often
results in a major swing in an unwanted direction.
The reasons for this visual disorientation is because most current
color palettes are based on a faulty understanding of how humans see
color and the fact that computers deal with color in a way that makes
sense to the computer, but not the human eye. Up until now with the
ATARI 16 color limitation this reality has not had serious creative
consequences. This is now how ever a substantial and real problem when you
consider having to order 16 million colors instead of 512. The ATARI
color display, of course, generates color by illuminating combinations of
phosphors in common additive primaries: red, green and blue (RGB). Colors
are "mixed" by varying the intensity of the electron beams eliciting the
phosphor. The number of possible colors is a direct result of the number
of bits available per pixel. in a 24-bit system such as is now available
for the ATARI, 8-bit control of each of the three primaries, making it
possible to direct the electron gun at 256 different levels of intensity.
The combinations, or colors, are usually stored in the form of a lookup
table, which is accessed by the screen driver. This lookup table of
unifnormally sized increments has little relation to color as the human
eye perceives it. It is after all just a mathematical table based only on
the sequentially changing of the numbers that represent 256 possible
combinations for each pixel displayed.
In the first place, perceptual differences between colors are not
constant as one moves from one part of the color spectrum to another.
Under constant illumination, for example colors at high (lighter) values
we see more yellow than blue, and conversely, at low (darker) values, we
can see more blues than yellow. Because the increments in the current
lookup tables are constant, however, it may take a movement of a dozen
units in the high-value blues to produce a color that we perceive as
different by one pallet space. In high-value yellows, on the other hand.
a movement of only a single unit in the lookup table may be perceived as a
very abrupt color shift. This same paradox exist with respect to the
amount of chroma, that is, how saturated a color appears (a purer red, for
example, as opposed to a red that has other wavelengths mixed in and, thus
appears greyer), varies each hue at different value (lightness) levels.
This means that color locations in the lookup table, while linear from a
numerical point of view, are non-linear in terms of visual progression.
There is no clear, straight path across the dimensions of color, from one
hue to the next from a darker to lighter(lower values to higher values),
and from grayer to brighter (less saturated to more saturated).
Currently the limitations of the ATARI system architecture is in both
numbers of colors 512 but also is restricted in color dimensions, the RGB
cannot be manipulated independently. In the ATARI RGB-based system, for
example, a change in value (lightness) automatically affects a change in
chroma (brightness). To get brighter, more saturated red, you would need
to adjust the percentages of red , green, and blue in a way that is not
visually obvious. You can't simply increase the percentages of red because
that would increase lightness as well.
Up until now these realities have not been a serious problem, however
these complex relationships between color components and the lack of
visual uniformity and predictability be come a significant problem with
the new 24-bit ATARI color environment.
The obvious and intuitive solution with respect to the color
perception problem is to develop a color spectrum based on the perceptual
way in which the eye sees color. The goal then becomes; to provide a means
of numerically specifying additive color (RGB) mixtures not tied to any
specific set of primaries. The resulting lookup table would then provide
the computer with a more natural and user friendly color environment.
To do this a set of x,y,z"primaries," which are actually mathematical
abstractions is used to plot the entire range of the visible spectrum.
Light-dark, red-green, and yellow-blue are plotted along the horizontal
"u" axis, with positive values denoting red and negative values denoting
green. Yellow-blue values are plotted along the vertical "v" axis.
Light-dark values are plotted along the "l" axis, which is located
perpendicularly to the u,v plane. While this approach is not perfect, one
quite similar to this has been adopted by both KODAK and Tektronix as a
basis for desktop color systems.
One effective way to create or compose a way to move through a path of
orderly, progressive steps of "natural color is to create a color tree,
which is arranged by hue. Within each hue "leaf", colors are arranged in
a grid, with discernible progression of chroma (saturation) along the
horizontal x axis and discernible progressions of value (lightness) along
the vertical y axis. Unlike the mathematically symmetrical grids of the
typical lookup table, the resulting color space (tree) more closely
captures the geometric irregularities of the human visual perception of
color. Each "leaf" is different in size (the lookup table) because within
different hues, the number of discernible colors varies with the degree of
value and chroma. The significant points of this approach is that it
provides a straight-line progression of steps in equal increments along
both the chroma and value dimensions. This characteristic provides a
foundation for computer application in the new 24-bit ATARI environment.
The approach based on the forgoing then becomes that the user picks
colors from a pallet that " looks right" instead of being offered a choice
that is numerically right. Visual color is what it looks like, not what it
is made of. What is now offered by the computer is a display that gives us
scales of ingredient differences. What we need are scales of visual
differences.
This visual difference is just what the new LEXICOR AGE does by
providing for a uniform straight-line progressions along all color
dimensions, providing for a logical visual display closely attuned to
actual human color experience. For each hue chosen (the hue axis need not
be aligned to any specific set of "primaries"), a range of chroma
positions is allocated at each value, based on the proportion of chroma
discernible at that value relative to the total extent of chroma available
for the hue. For example, similar to the adjustments made for the
high-value yellow hues. You create yellow by combining red and green
phosphors in a transmissive, additive process. That process inherently
multiplies the luminance level. You can reduce that yellow reflective
process, by using the same luminance value. The computer has to "know"
that and then, automatically reduce onscreen luminance for you in order to
locate a corresponding color. that color won't measure the same, but it
will look the same. in this way the user need not have any basic color
knowledge to build useful color pallets that look right. The whole idea is
to provide a user interface that will lead to intuitive logical visual
display that enable non-experts to make color adjustments easily.
PRISM AGE provides visual "housekeeping tools" that organize color in
a way that makes it easy to understand color elements and relationships,
(for example, if the user wanted a green that's brighter, but not lighter,
or a red that's grayer, but not darker) it will now be possible to do this
with out knowing the math or science behind making the change. PRISM AGE
is also designed to support exploration of color relationships, for
browsing, playing and understanding how color works at the human
visualization level.
________________________________________________________
> WORD PERFECT UPDATE! STR InfoFile? Atari Maintenance Update
=================================
compiled by Dan Stidham
WordPerfect Atari Maintenance Update Information
------------------------------------------------
At or near the time of this writing, a maintenance update of WordPerfect
4.1 for the Atari ST is scheduled for a July 1990 release. The update
includes several feature enhancements and support for large screen
monitors.
Enhancements
------------
Using a set of common rules, the Auto-Hyphenation feature automatically
hyphenates words. Auto-Hyphenation can be turned on or off, and the
psoition of the hyphen can later be changed by inserting a hard hyphen.
The look feature in List Files will now show the document in a standard
GEM window, allowing the use of scroll bars to move up and down, as well
as right and left. In addition, you can directly import or export files
between WordPerfect 4.2 for the IBM PC and WordPerfect 4.1 for the Atari
ST.
The maintenance update also provides support for several new printers. An
additional print disk is sold seperately and provides improved support
for PostScript printing. The Post Script printer drivers offer several
point sizes for each font. Available fonts include Helvetica, Times
Roman, Avant Garde, Bookman, Hevetica Narrow, New Century Schoolbook,
Palatino, Zapf Chancery, and Courier.
Ordering Info
-------------
Registered WordPerfect users may obtain the maintenance update for a
$12.50 shipping and handling fee by calling (800) 222-9409, or by writing
to:
WordPerfect Corporation
Atari Products Division
P.O. Box 731
Orem, Utah 84059-0731
The additional PostScript print disk is available for $10 by itself or
for an additional $2.50 if ordered with the maintenance update.
registered users can receive technical support by calling (800) 321-3271
or (800) 226-8660.
(I would give WP a few days on ordering the update as I called this past
Thursday, July 19, and they were just a few days away from shipping)
_______________________________________________________________
> TOS 1.6 STR InfoFile? TOS 1.6 and your hard disk....
====================
From: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: TOS 1.6 & Re: Hold that computer...
Message-ID: <2236@atari.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jul 90 23:52:06 GMT
References: <1990Jul6.190229.19792@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>
<10766@chaph.usc.edu>
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 39
In article <1990Jul6.190229.19792@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>,
AAron@image.soe.clarkson.edu (AAron nAAs) writes:
>By the way, TOS 1.6 waits about 6 seconds for the harddrive to get up to
>speed before continuing to boot.
Actually, I think he meant 60 seconds. The actual number is 90 seconds.
If the manual that came with the computer didn't contain a comment about
this, it should have. The comment would read something like this:
"When you turn on your computer, the Floppy Disk Access light will
come on, then go out, then come on again. After this there is a 90 second
delay, to allow your hard disk to become ready. If the hard disk becomes
ready in less than 90 seconds, or if you have no hard disk, you can press
any key to terminate the delay and continue the startup sequence."
Believe me, people, I tried to come up with a solution which didn't
involve a simple delay. It turns out that hard disks vary widely in
their spin-up time, and also in their responses to commands between the
time they are powered up and the time they are ready.
Hitting a key too early will not stop the delay because the system
hasn't initialized the keyboard yet. Wait for the floppy access light to
come on, then go out, then come on again: that's when everything is
initialized, and you can hit a key to stop the delay.
The 90-second delay addresses the need for machines you can turn on
with one power switch, and most notably for unattended machines which
might come up all at once after a power outage. The logic goes like
this:
(A) 90 seconds is more than enough for all hard disks we're aware of.
(B) If you're there, you can hit a key when your HD is ready.
(C) If your system comes up unattended, an extra 90 seconds won't hurt.
============================================
Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp.
reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt
Conf : General Discussions
Msg# : 407 Lines: Extended Read: 2
Sent : Jul 17, 1990 at 4:28 PM
To : ALL
From : LE SYSOP at C.C.B.B.S. - Bridgeton, N.J.
Subj : It gets better
Well, I left for the far reaches of Wilkes Barre Pa on Sunday night.
My wife and I stopped in the Poconos to stay overnight (might as well make
a party out of it right?). We were only one exit away from W.B. on Monday
morning so we proceeded to find our way to Computer Garden with STe packed
in trunk and hard drive packed in back seat of car. When we got there, we
of course were met by very friendly and competent personnel. They took
the time to do a thorough test on my STe and eventually after about an
hour of warm up, it started to do the write fails. We then switched over
to an ICD FAST kit hard drive and it also had the write fails with my
STe.
Soooo, to make a long story a little shorter, they gave us the STe
that had been running on the hard drive in the store for the past two
weeks after putting my 4-1 mb simm modules into it and testing that out
for an hour or so. They called me back after I got home Monday night to
see that everything was ok and to tell me that the 'brother' to the STe
that I originally had (it came in the same shipment as my original) had
also checked out bad after warming up a bit! Good thing I took the one
that I did!! They were considering giving me THAT one, but thought better
of it since it hadn't been tested like the one that I have now was.
I waited until this morning to get things arranged so that I could
give this new STe a testing and to transfer the files from the old 42 meg.
SH-204 to the new 48 meg. 157N. Everything went swimmingly and I am
typing away on the STe keyboard with all 4 mb of memory at my disposal!
Gee, all that and super sound and graphics too!! And as I say about my
original ST, as reliable as a stone axe!
Hats off to the folks at Computer Garden!! They took care of my
problem and devoted a few hours to helping me! They will of course be
keeping a closer eye on the STe's before they go out the door. I hope
Atari will get this problem fixed soon, so others won't have to concern
themselves with it..
Category 14, Topic 40
Message 161 Sat Jul 14, 1990
P.MCCULLOUGH at 00:23 EDT
Okay... I have a reputation for being psychotically "Pro-Atari" but
this STe seems to be a product that's definitely in need of MAJOR fixes.
Yes, the Low- res boot problem was no big deal. Yes, its great that the
STe finally washed ashore! But even my Pro-Atari side winces at the
thought that some STes can't write to ANY hard drive configuration without
doing major damage to files on said drive. This is NOT a minor problem.
In fact it sounds like a joke until you realize that its true. How could
this fact have been missed? This is not a situation that'll "just go
away". It shows COMPLETE irresposibility on the part of someone at Atari
Corp.
Its almost as bad as the PC-Ditto II debacle... I say almost because,
evidently, the majority of STes (Mostly outside the US) seem to work fine.
Those users who have defective STe (Yes, if they can't write to a hard
drive, they ARE defective!) computers should bounce them back to the
dealer for replacement at once. Or, if your dealer seems unwilling to
take them back (and don't blame the dealer, after all, he's caught in the
middle, right?) send them back to Atari. Do it now, before you drift out
of warranty. We can blink at boot resolutions... but not the ability to do
something as simple as writing to a hard drive... I am very thankful that
I chose to wait before purchasing an STe, and my heart goes out to those
that plunged in... the above is NOT a flame, just my opinion.
------------
Category 14, Topic 40
Message 162 Fri Jul 13, 1990
S.WHITNEY [Steve W.] at 22:52 PDT
The neat thing is that Atari's willing to take them back! That's a step
in the right direction.
------------
Category 14, Topic 40
Message 163 Sat Jul 14, 1990
C.WALTERS1 [Chet] at 03:08 EDT
No probs on the return of STe's in warranty. However, what of the guy
who unwittinlgy buys an STe virgin and uses it with floppies only for a
good six month to a year then decides to upgrade to an HD? There have
still been no good answers to that question! Will he bite the big one on
"repairs?" Yes, there is a fix for it, but will that be public? Dunno,
wait and see. STaceys are moving and the TT is close. Atari is moving
on up! Glad to see it.
______Chet at \/\/iz\/\/orks :^{)
------------
Category 14, Topic 40
Message 164 Sat Jul 14, 1990
K.LEYDEN at 00:34 PDT
According to my dealer, who called Atari Service today (or is that
yesterday?) Atari says that they have heard a little about hard drive
problems but haven't found the cause, so no problem exists! Interesting
logic, eh? I have a SupraDrive 30, pre- clock vintage, which ran for 2 1/2
years on my 1040STf with _NO_ problems. EVER... Then I got the STe bug.
The first thing I lost was both Spectre partitions, never backed up. Then
I copied a disk to drive D: which had about 4 Megs free. Halfway through,
I got a Disk Full message. Checked with Turbo Toolkit- found 177
unattached clusters and other assorted problems. After taking the drive to
my Ste dealers, it totally crashed - couldn't even format it. So I bought
an ICD host and a Seagate 1096N drive. Couldn't format the drive with the
STe. Tokk it to the dealer and formatted it and partitioned it on his 1040
Stf. Brought it home, took my Stf apart again and reseated some chips (it
died the day I brought home the Ste). It runs beautifully with my new
drive.
The Ste, however, can't even read the hard drive correctly. When I
booted it after running on the STf, I only got the LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE
DESKTOP!!! Also got MANY bombs (I'd never seen 11 before)! According to my
dealer, Atari won't take back the computer, because it's failng on someone
elses drive. What the heck good is the 90 day warranty? My dealer is going
to let me hook up to an Atari drive next week, so maybe I can finally sent
the STf back.
To the people griping because Atari doesn't ship in a timely manner, I
say COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS. It really hurts to be a loyal Atari user, to
make the decision to upgrade to an Atari ST instead of a PCompatible with
molto superior VGA graphics, and then get screwed!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Your move, Atari ...
------------
Editor Note:
It has been rumored that Sam was made aware of the situation with the
TOS 1.6 vs 1.62 situation and other problems "thought" to be present in
the current batch of STe units. It was also rumored that he was "advised"
that the problem were "insignificant" and therefore, "would present little
or no problems". The advisors strike again. <sigh>
____________________________________________________________
> Stock Market ~ STR Stock Report? Summer Doldrums & Computer Stocks
===============================
THE TICKERTAPE
==============
by Michael Arthur
Concept by Glenn Gorman
The price of Atari stock went down 1/4 of a point on Monday, and was
down 1/4 of a point on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the price of Atari stock
went up 1/4 of a point, and stayed the same for the rest of the week.
Finishing up the week at 5 3/4 points, the price of Atari Stock is down
1/4 of a point from the last report.
Apple Stock went up 2 points from Friday, July 6, 1990.
Commodore Stock stayed at the same price it was on 7/06/90.
IBM Stock was up 3 points from 7/06/90.
Stock Report for Week of 7/09/90 to 7/13/90
_________________________________________________________________________
STock| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
Reprt|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|Last Chg.|
-----|------------|---------------|-------------|-----------|------------|
Atari|5 3/4 -1/4|5 1/2 - 1/4|5 3/4 + 1/4|5 3/4 ----|5 3/4 ----|
| | | | | 62,700 Sls |
-----|------------+---------------+-------------+-----------+------------|
CBM |7 3/4 ----|7 5/8 - 1/8|7 3/4 + 1/8|7 7/8 +1/8|7 3/4 -1/8|
| | | | | 46,500 Sls |
-----|------------+---------------+-------------+-----------+------------|
Apple|46 5/8 | 47 + 3/8| 47 ----|47 3/8 +3/8|46 3/4 +5/8|
| +1 7/8| | | |# 2,062,300 |
-----|------------+---------------+-------------+-----------+------------|
IBM | 119 + 1|117 3/4 -1 1/4|119 1/2 | 120 +1/2| 121 + 1|
| | | +1 1/2| |# 2,155,400 |
-----'-------------------------------------------------------------------'
'#' and '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.
______________________________________________________
> ONLINE TODAY CPU/STR OnLine? The wires are hummin'!
============================
:CIS IN DETAIL UPDATE:
by Oscar Steele
Please note; that during the testing of the rates of transmission, I
experienced noisy lines throughout the day. This impaired the actual
transmission rates, which after restesting turned out to average 218 cps.
Rates were as high as 224 cps, but slowed down noticeably when a larger
number of people were online. You may calculate the previous week's rates
accordingly.
Also of note, using the latest version of Quick CIS 1.52a, the cps
rates on CIS seem to be quicker. I had a number of transfers that were
233 cps.
The bottom line is that the transfers will vary on an individual's
location, phone line, modem, etc. The rates were not intended to be taken
as exact amounts.
Some users have inquired as to what transmission protocol's were used.
On CIS it was the Quick B protocol, while on GEnie it was Zmodem. Both
are quicker than Y or X modem.
___________________________________________________
> SM124 BLUES! STR Spotlight? When ..."Service is NOT Service!"
==========================
Folks, the following is not a flame, it is meant as a documented excursion
cutting through the 'red tape' that perhaps, others may follow. And thus,
avoid the typical bottlenecks so often experienced today.
From : MATT ALLARD
Subj : SM124 Monitors
Imagine sitting at your computer doing a little word processing when
suddenly the monitor goes blank. Startled, you look at your computer to
see if it's lost power. Nope it's still on, but wait, the little green
LED at the bottom of the monitor isn't on. This is exactly what happened
to my SM124 monitor. At this point you have several options. First you
can take it to your dealer and send it in on atari's exchange program.
This is probably the best idea if you aren't a trained technician.
Secondly you can take it to a T.V. repair shop and hope that it isn't the
CRT or the flyback transformer, if it's not one of these two the repair
facility should be able to fix the problem. And lastly if your just too
darned stubborn to pay someone else to do it, you can tear into the
monitor with all the zeal of a crusader off to the holy land. I've been a
technician for the last seven years and managed to trouble shoot the
problem down to a bad flyback transformer in several hours, without any
schematics. From here on the repair should be pretty standard. Little
did I know, this was ONLY THE BEGINNING of a nightmare....
I knew which part was bad, all I should have to do now is order one
from my local parts house, right? WRONG! The local parts houses said the
Astronics part number I gave them for the flyback transformer didn't cross
reference. Next I called my AUTHORIZED ATARI SERVICE CENTER to find out
additional info for the transformer. Guess what? YUP! The AUTHORIZED
ATARI SERVICE CENTER doesn't service monitors. I was told to bring it in
and they would send it to Atari who would send back a working monitor for
a nominal exchange fee. Wait a second here... I know what's wrong. Can't
I just buy the part. Nope! Atari won't even sell the part, you have to
go this route if you want the monitor fixed.
Well, I've never liked to be forced into doing something so I called a
local part store and got the support number for Goldstar, the
manufacturers of my particular monitor. Goldstar in turn, referred me to
The Astronics Company, I suspect a subsidiary of Goldstar, who makes their
monitors. Astronics took the part number off the flyback transformer
(KF2807G) but couldn't find it in their records. Astronics recommended
that I call Goldstar back and find out the model number for the monitor
since the MT-9 chassis number on the monitor didn't cross-reference.
Again, I called Goldstar and was told to call Atari for the model number
since they had no idea what the model number was.
Reaching into my desk drawer I pulled out my trusty phone book of hard
to get Atari numbers and called ATARI TECHNICAL SUPPORT. Strange that
they should have this name because not once in the many times I've called
them have they managed to support me, but I digress. The person in
technical support said they COULDN'T RELEASE THAT INFORMATION and that I
should call my dealer, who in turn should call dealer support and find out
what could be done. Well I already knew what the dealer would say. In
effect Atari was telling me the only way I could obtain a working monitor
was to participate in their expensive exchange program and wait several
weeks for a replacement monitor. I would think that Atari would freely
give out this information to their authorized service reps, but they
won't. This policy not only hurts the user but keeps the dealer from
making a few extra dollars. Its no wonder that we see less and less
dealerships in our areas with this kind of user/dealer support.
Well not everyone was blind to my plight. I called Goldstar again and
talked to a very helpful lady named Beverly. Beverly took the information
on the monitor from me and told me should would pass the information on to
her boss Mr. Kim, who she said was the general manager of Astronics. At
last I had hit pay dirt! Astronics called me back several hours later and
said they couldn't find any cross-reference to the part number but if I
called Goldstar (another division this time) they should be able to help
me. I promptly called and was shifted to several different departments
before I talked to the person who is in charge of the Goldstar line of
monitors. Collette was most helpful and told me that the MT-9 chassis
cross-referenced to Goldstar model number 1220W. Armed with this trusty
information I called Astronics again and passed the info to them. They
fed the information into their trusty computers and this time came up with
a valid part number for the flyback transformer (KF2825G) and said they'd
ship it to me the next working day for $21.50. At last I had my part on
the way. I called my dealer and passed on the info and was thanked for my
time and effort.
During this whole time, several things stood out. Every number I
called with the exception of Atari's was an 800 number. The support I
received from Goldstar was fantastic and without it, I'd still be sitting
here without a working monitor. Atari didn't give a hoot for me as a
user. I love my ST and wouldn't trade it for an IBM, BUT if this was an
IBM would I have had to go through all this? I really don't think so.
It's time that Atari recognized that users like myself that have owned
every Atari computer from the first 16K 800 to the ST are what made them a
business and kept them that way. We deserve much better consideration and
support. We DO NOT deserve to buy a computer and be left in the dark,
waiting several weeks for a replacement. We DO NOT deserve the lack of
consideration exhibited over and over again with TOS versions, drive
upgrades, and just about any other time Atari decides to change something
and charge the users astronomical fees to fix/upgrade their computers.
The current TOS 1.6 resolution situation in the STe is a perfect example
of this.
Take a moment and write a letter to Atari telling them what kind of
service and support you expect. Don't call them that doesn't seem to do
any good. Write them and tell them how you feel about their policies.
Tell them that the Atari is the computer of your choice and you will
continue to buy their products, but only if their lack of concern for
their users ceases. Atari cannot ignore us forever. We are the people
that keep them in business. Take a minute and do it today. Please...
_______________________________________________________
> ULTRASCRIPT & CLI STR FOCUS? UltraScript & NeoDesk CLI
===========================
INTERFACING ULTRASCRIPT WITH A COMMAND LINE AND NEODESK CLI
or
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF ULTRASCRIPT
by Daniel Stidham
Many users of Imagen's PostScript interpreter, UltraScript, are not
aware of some of the power it affords through use of a command line
interface. Most users print through the limited GEM interface(which could
use a major update) because of this and if they do know about the Command
Line abilities, they don't want to invoke a command line to interface (too
cumbersome, defeating many well intentioned purposes). But if you do any
type of production work (or even if you don't) you may do well to give
UltraScript's command line interface another look, especially if used in
conjunction with NeoDesk and the NeoDesk CLI (by Gribnif software) or
HotWire!(CodeHead Software) and its versatile command line capabilities.
Necessity being the Mother of Invention, I have come to exclusively
use the batch mode of US. Having a resume business, I found myself
constantly switching between PageStream(PgS) and US. Compose the page,
save, print to disk, exit, boot-up US, enter name(s) in queue, singularly
is the only way in the GEM version), enter number of copies, and hit
Control-P to print. Well! And this was just to proof! Invariably I had
something to fix-up and I had to do the whole process over again.
Something had to be done to increase my productivity so I got out the
ol' manual and dug around like Indiana Jones. I found my answer and
without further adieu let me give you US users out there some useful info
that you may not be aware of. I will then include a batch file listing
that I use with NeoDesk and its CLI, that incorporates the UltraScript
command line and its parameters to fully automate my PostScript printing
efforts. First here is the command line needed to enter into a batch or a
command line for a TTP file(neoDesk and HotWire! both offer these):
Command Syntax: uscript [-bsm][-n(copies)][-E][filename...]
uscript--calls UltraScript
b--invokes US in batch mode
s--runs US silently, status and error messages not shown
m--for manual paper feed
n--global copy count
E--places US directly into executive mode(shouldn't have to use
this)
filename--pathname that may include wildcards including ?,*
OK, here is the CLI I wrote, commented and with a few extra features.
Look it over and you may even see some way to enhance it or customize it
to your own needs. By the way, this batch file will allow you to enter up
to five filenames in a queue with _different_ copies for each
file--something you can't do within UltraScript or on a single command
line. I have found this to be very useful. If you hit cancel on a
command line it will intelligently remember the files already in the queue
and print peacefully without confusion. If you hit cancel at the very
beginning, before any input, it will peacefully exit. This version will
print the file number you are choosing for the queue in the selector box
to help you keep things in order. It also remembers that last number that
you put in for Number of Copies and defaults to that on the next prompt
for the next file. Lets get to it:
;******************************************************************
;this is a very simple batch file that uses
;Neodesk and the Neodesk CLI along with
;UltraScripts powerful command line to automate
;the printing of a PS file from the desktop. No more
;loading US and then choosing a file and no. of copies, and
;then Hitting control-P to print. THIS REVISION OF THE FIRST
;UPLOAD ALLOWS YOU TO CHOOSE UP TO 4 FILENAMES TO PRINT AND
;SET COPIES FOR EACH INDIVIDUALLY. ULTRASCRIPT'S COMMAND LINE ONLY
;ALLOWS A GLOBAL VALUE THAT WOULD APPLY TO ALL FILES IN THE QUEUE,
;THIS BATCH FILE WORKS AROUND THAT. AT ANYTIME YOU CAN CANCEL AND
;THE BATCH REMEMBERS THE FILES YOU CHOSE AND WILL PRINT THEM.
;******************************************************************
TOP;
unset *
FOR NUM IN 1..5
if $tos_ver < 1.4
null %alert "[1][Choose a PS file:][OK!]"
endif
;First you must enter the full pathname of the folder where your
;PS files reside i.e. C:\USCRIPT\*.PS. Enter this in place of the
;word pspath below(don't remove quotes!)
select "pspath" "" "Choose PS$NUM file to print:"
;Remember wildcards ARE allowed in the selection line.
if $item != 'FALSE' && %FNAME $item != ""
window 100 100 45 20
font 2
;enter the correct path where Uscript.prg resides in
;place of prgpath-i.e. C:\uscript\
cd prgpath
;you will default to 1 copy, if you want a different
;default, feel free to change the number. i.e. set tot 5
If $NUM == 1
set tot 1
else
set tot $last
endif
echo "Enter number of copies:"
getstr tot2 $tot
SET FILE$NUM $ITEM
SET CNT$NUM $TOT2
SET LAST $TOT2
else
IF $NUM - 1 == 0
exit
ELSE
GOTO PRINTING
ENDIF
endif
ENDFOR
;by pressing cancel in the item selector you will peacefully
;exit the program. Also done by hitting OK with nothing in the
;selection line.
PRINTING;
SET NUM $NUM - 1
IF $NUM == 1
uscript -bn$CNT1 $FILE1
goto lastcall
ELSEIF $NUM == 2
uscript -bn$CNT1 $FILE1
uscript -bn$CNT2 $file2
goto lastcall
ELSEIF $NUM == 3
uscript -bn$CNT1 $FILE1
uscript -bn$CNT2 $file2
uscript -bn$CNT3 $file3
goto lastcall
ELSEIF $NUM == 4
uscript -bn$CNT1 $FILE1
uscript -bn$CNT2 $file2
uscript -bn$CNT3 $file3
uscript -bn$CNT4 $file4
goto lastcall
ELSEIF $NUM == 5
uscript -bn$CNT1 $FILE1
uscript -bn$CNT2 $file2
uscript -bn$CNT3 $file3
uscript -bn$CNT4 $file4
uscript -bn$CNT5 $file5
goto lastcall
ENDIF
lastcall;
set choice %alert "[2][Would you like to print|any more PS files?|Huh
Vern?? Huh?|][YES|Bya!]"
if $choice == 1
goto top
else
exit
endif
;I call this EasyWare cause it was so easy (after reading the
;Neodesk CLI manual, of course). Feel free to distribute freely.
;But please leave intact--Daniel Stidham.
;Neodesk and Neodesk CLI are trademarks of the copyrighted programs
;of the same name, published by Gribnif Software.(I hope I got my
;ducks all lined up...)
;THE END
I hope that you can find this as useful as I have. Further info on
the UltraScript command line can be found in Appendix C of the UltraScript
manual, pages 25-27.
'Til next time!
_____________________________________________________
> The Flip Side STR Feature? A different interpretation of the 'view'.
=========================
A LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
By Michael Lee
One of the things that impresses me the most about my ST, is it's versa-
tility and how it gives me the best of all worlds. Between my ST, Dave
Small's GCR, and the many IBM emulators (I prefer the SuperCharger but PC
Speed and PC Ditto are also nice) there is very little software that my
ST can't run.
If I'm doing some DTPing and I cannot find a particular piece of software
that will do what I need (something that doesn't happen very often), it's
easy to jump into my Mac mode, pop in a real Mac disk, do what I need to
do, transfer the information back to my ST, and go on about my business.
I have a friend that's doing a full-time Desk Top Publishing business out
of his house, he uses his "old" 1040ST (2.5 megs), Page Stream, TouchUp,
UltraScript, and an SLM-804. One of his customers is the local Paralegal
Association and his job is to produce a monthly newsletter for them. The
newsletter goes out to 500-600 lawyers and paralegals every month and is
a minimum of 20 full letter-sized pages. The first time he did one, they
couldn't believe they could get that kind of quality from an 'Atari' (and
you know how picky lawyers can be). He receives the articles on Mac and
PC disks, in different formats. It is easy for him to go into Mac, or PC,
mode and convert the articles to pure ASCII, then import them straight
into PageStream. When they wanted their logo included, he simply scanned
it from an old issue, saved it in .IMG format, cleaned it up, transferred
it to the Mac mode and ran it through StreamLine (to clean it further),
then transferred it back to the ST and ported it straight into Page-
Stream. Presto!! About 10-20 minutes work and he had their logo ready
for the next issue.
Another friend of mine has to work on a XT all day long and sometimes has
to bring his work home with him. When that happens, he just boots up his
Super Charger and away he goes. His SuperCharger has been compatible
with every program that he has tried to run on it, and it runs it as fast
as the XT's that he uses at work (Note: there are programs that won't run
on the SuperCharger, but they seem to be the rare exceptions).
I know what's going through some of your minds. "Why", you ask, "should
I buy a ST to begin with? Why not just buy a XT/AT clone or a Mac?". The
best way I can answer that is, if most of us had wanted clones or Mac's,
that's what we would have bought in the first place. I know that I enjoy
my GEM interface and wouldn't trade it for anything (as I said earlier, I
use both the GCR and SuperCharger, so I'm familiar with the Mac and MS-
Dos interfaces). I find my wife and son both using my ST, where they
wouldn't touch a clone. Plus, for the price of a decently equipped XT/AT
clone or a Mac, we can have compatibility with BOTH of them and still
have the freedom and ease of use of the ST.
Another reason for owning an ST is the price of the software. Go to your
neighborhood Mac or clone store and price software. Try to find some-
thing that is as powerful and full-featured as PageStream or Calamus at
anywhere near their price. I have had to buy some Mac and PC software
(StreamLine for example) and they cost more than I paid for Page Stream!
The same goes for databases, spreadsheets, word-processors, games, etc.
In general, you'll find that they're much cheaper on the ST than on the
Mac's or clones.
It seems that the current fad is to dump your ST and buy a PC/clone.
I've been at friends homes who have done this and found that in the vast
majority of the cases, they do no more on their clones than they were
doing on their ST's or that I'm doing on my ST.
Until next week....
_________________________________________________________
> SUPERCHARGER NEWS! STR InfoFile? Supercharger News and Info.
===============================
The new version of SuperCharger Utility software will be shipping in
about a six weeks. We have not set a price for the upgrade yet, but I
will be uploading a copy to Genie. The new version will come with a new
manual. More on this later.
Gem for IBM?
I have been running Digital Research's GEM (ver 1.1) for IBM here at
Talon. It is almost the same GEM interface we use on Atari ST'S. It
follows the same rules and looks almost same as Atari's GEM interface. If
you don't want mess around with MS-DOS commands and would love to use the
same Atari style desk top on SuperCharger (or any of the other IBM
emulators), than THIS IS A MUST HAVE. I have the IBM version of GEM boot
up automatically, all I have to do to run an IBM program is double click
the icon. It works just like your own Atari's GEM. This version is
memory resident so when I leave an application (program) GEM is almost
instantly there.
Digital Research does not make this version of GEM any longer, so you
will probably have to ask around to buy an older copy.
Locks up sometimes
You might try re-seating your ram chips inside SuperCharger.
Sometimes they can bounce loose from the long trip from Germany. And if
you have a spare DMA cable you might try using it instead of the on your
currently using with SuperCharger.
FCC Class B, when?, DOS, Lotus, WP, QBasic
A class B version of Supercharger is being worked on by Beta Systems
in Germany. We were selling some kits to get around the FCC class B
requirement but have now stopped selling them. The class B version of
SuperCharger should be available before the end of the year.
Lotus 2.2, Microsoft Quick Basic 4.5 and WP 5.1 all run (CGA or
Hercules) fine on SuperCharger. You can use PC Dos 3.3 , MS-Dos 3.2 or
4.01. I have not tested any other version of DOS. If anyone else has run
another version of DOS maybe you could
help here.
Windows 3.0
Remember to configure windows 3.0 with a Mouse Systems mouse. Also be
sure to pick the right graphics card either CGA or Hercules monochrome.
More Technical Support
Mike Odegard will be helping to answer some of you on-line questions
here on GEnie. Please give Mike a little time to adjust to the new
surroundings, thanks.
ASAP!
The new version of software and manual are being translated from
German to English. As soon as it is forwarded to from our London office,
I will let you know.
Procom + does work on SuperCharger! I have uploaded a working copy to
GEnie. This copy of Procom + Test drive works great.
If you would like to make your version of Procom work use the
following instructions:
1. Run the SETUP program provided with your version of Procom.
2. Go to the Section called "Port Assignments".
3. Give Comm port 1 the Same address as Comm port 2.
The addresses are in HEX. Just make the numbers for Comm 1 look
like the numbers for comm 2 and save the new settings.
4. Procom should boot up fine now.
Thanks for your continued user support!
>Richard R Betson
>Talon Technology Inc.
________________________________________________________
> WAACE NEWS! STR SHOW NEWS? The Premier East Coast Show....
=========================
The WAACE AtariFest 90 is on a roll and looking good! We have 19
vendors signed on for the sales area and 4 additional vendor/developers
will be particiapating in the Seminars. In keeping with the international
flavor of shows past, we will again be international with representatives
from Canada and the United Kingdom.
Banquet update..... Charles F. Johnson of CodeHead Software will be
the featured banquet speaker. Charles has titled his presentation, "Atari
through the Looking Glass", a sure hit. Tickets are only $23.50 per
person.
Great News.... It seems that I and others at WAACE have had a
misunderstanding with our hotel contract. The contract requires that we
pay a deposit of 1/2 of our hotel rental charges to the hotel 60 days
prior to the event. We thought that the fees would be based on the total
number of rooms reserved at that time. Upon reading the contract
carefully I could not find any reference to this. Upon calling the hotel
I discovered that our deposit would be $1500.00. The room count that
determines the cost of our hotel rental will not be taken 60 days in
advance, but will be the actual room count on the 5th and 6th of October!
This is a major relief to those of us at WAACE since currently only 25
rooms are reserved for Fri. and 35 for Sat.
Security. We have accepted a bid from a local security outfit and
have a security force on station from 6:00 pm Friday thru closing Sun.
Guards are off duty police and will be armed and have power of arrest.
Hotel reservations. The hotel also confirmed that the room rates are
good thru 17 Sept. Rates are $59.00 single/double, $66.00 triple/ quad,
Suites $150. Suites are two rooms and include a jacuzzi (Check it out
Darlah!!).
Booth Space. A total of 32 of 60 booths have been rented. If you want
a booth and haven't told us yet, you need to let us know soon. Contact
J.D.Barnes.....
Well thats the current news folks. See you at the Fest.
Russ Brown WAACE Chairman
BANQUET INFORMATION
The 1990 WAACE AtariFest Banquet will be held at the Sheraton Reston
Hotel at 8:00 pm, Saturday, 6 October 1990. The dinner will be a
non-smoking event this year. Ample smoking areas will be provided near
the dinner area for smoking breaks. The Banquet will be proceeded by a
social hour held in the hotel. Dinner will be served at 8:00 pm. The
dinner will be followed by the Current Notes Author of the Year Awards
presentation and then the featured banquet speaker. This years banquet
speaker will come to us from Codehead Software.
The banquet will be a sit down dinner this year and a ticket will
cost $23.50. Please make checks payable to WAACE.
The menu is as follows:
Sliced Top Sirloin Merlot OR Chicken Europa
Salad with house dressing
Vegetable (to be determined)
Starch (to be determined)
Beverage (choice of ice tea or coffee)
The Chicken Europa consists of chicken breast served in a mushroom and
brandy sauce. Please specify with your ticket request your choice of
entree, beef or chicken.
Please send all ticket requests to the WAACE Banquet Coordinator,
Johnna Ogden. Johnna's address is,
Johnna Ogden
WAACE Banquet Coordinator
213 North Lincoln Ave
Sterling, VA 22170.
Tickets requests are being accepted now. Tickets will be mailed out
starting in August. If you have any questions please call Johnna at (703),
450-3992.
________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL? "BLOCKBUSTER ATARI NEWS FIRST!"
=====================
- Sunnyvale, CA. THE REVOLVING DOOR IS ALIVE & WELL!
-------------
Ken Jacobsen and Charles Cherry are the latest of Atari's folks to
take the 'trip'. Oddly enough, both have 'resigned' and both have gone to
consulting in the private sector. Private Sector? Hmmm, our roving snoop
has uncovered certain alleged facts about unhappy and even frustrating
non-results experienced by Mr. Cherry. Seems he tried and tried to keep
his word and deliver on his promises only to continually find things not
going as planned. Also, Mr. Jacobsen apparently was not quite ready for
wearing armour plate between his shoulder blades. Cherry and Jacobsen
will be missed, they were sincerly concerned about doing the "right
thing." Why does the door always seem to miss those who most need to go?
Rumor also has it that there will be another "well known" in the door
within 60 days. Also, the NEW "game" at Atari is a goofy form of office
roulette, seems a certain egotistically inclined individual simply had to
have the 'bigger' office. DUH! ....60 days.
- Rockville, MD "ATARI NZ" DENIES RELEASING TT030 INFO!
-------------
DATELINE: 07/17/90, SOURCE: GEnie OL Services, BY: A.DAVIDSON3 @ 21:37 PDT
This is a reply to B.REHBOCK (11 July) and others: 'Atari NZ' is a
privately-owned distributor, Software Supplies (NZ) Ltd. We haven't made
any public announcements about the TT, in spite of what you might read on
GEnie. We also haven't received any TT's yet, but are eagerly looking
forward to the day.
Alex Davidson,
Software Supplies (NZ) Ltd
New Zealand distributors for Atari computers.
- Oregon City, OR. FROM THE ASHES OF CMI COMES - DIGIFEX!
---------------
...from CS... Though the future of CMI has been tenuous over the past
several months, I'm happy to report that they've risen from their ashes
and back in business. There's been some management changes, although a
new company, called DIGIFEX is providing support for owners of products,
and plans to have the full line available again soon. Contact DIGIFEX in
Oregon City, Oregon at (503) 656-8818 for more information.
- Chicago, IL. NEW GFA PRODUCTS ARE ON THEIR WAY
------------
GFA Products are due to begin shipping (again) in the U.S. sometime
during the week of July 23rd.
Retail prices will be:
GFA Interpreter/Compiler Bundle...................$139.95
GFA Basic 3.x Programmer's Guide & Disk............$39.95
GFA GEM Utility Package............................$59.95
(Advanced GEM VDI/AES programming.
includes application skeletons,
code fragments, procedures, etc.)
GFA Mission Control................................$59.95
(Similar to HotWire. Has advanced parameter
passing (to and from executed applications).
GFA G-Shell........................................$39.95
(Picks up where MENUX left off)
As you might have noticed, the idea of selling the interpreter and
compiler separately has been dropped. The manuals are all translated and
written by GFA UK.
- Sunnyvale, CA. PORTFOLIO SALES ARE WHERE??
--------------
Our everfaithful snoop tells us that there is a bug free version of
the operating system for the Portfolio fully completed and ready to go.
But it seems that there are 35-50,000 units on hand in the USA that would
require updating and, of course, that would involve some costs. So, it
has been 'decreed' that the new operating system not be distributed in the
USA.
_________________________________________________________________
> CHERRY FONTS! STR InfoFile? News from Cherry Fonts and ordering Info.
==========================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 1990
Cherry Fonts
Unit #4 - 2250 Tyner Street,
Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Canada V3C 2Z1
Phone: (604)944-2923 GEnie: T.Johnson4
Date: July 19, 1990
Contact: Todd Johnson
Proprietor
Cherry Fonts announced a July release of five new Cherry FontPaks.
Each FontPak contains four to six high quality fonts for use with Calamus
Desktop Publishing software. They have been packaged so that all
currently available fonts within an individual family have been kept
together. All families consist of at least two styles and some have three
or four. Each of the fully scalable outlines can be used within Calamus
to produce type at any size from extremely fine print up to colossal
characters larger than a page in height.
Every font has been hand drawn using extremely high resolution typeface
rendering software and has been subjected to rigorous testing for weight
balance and character spacing. They have been optimized for the
resolution offered by professional imagesetting equipment and therefore,
print respectably at all resolutions.
Todd Johnson, owner of Cherry Fonts explains, "Numerous professional
graphics industry personalities have been enlisted in the choosing and
testing of these typefaces and I'm very proud of the initial response
they've received."
Five FontPaks will comprise the initial release and more will be
released as they are developed. They are being made available through the
normal Atari dealer network at a price of $42.95 US ea. ($49.95 Canadian.)
The FontPaks and the individual fonts will also be available directly from
Cherry Fonts.
***********************************************************************
: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.
***********************************************************************
> Hard Disks STR InfoFile? Affordable Mass Storage....
=======================
NEW PRICES! & MORE MODELS!!
============================
ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
_____________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-
(you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
(all cables and connectors installed)
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADVANTAGE+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
51mb #SGN4951 519.95 65mb #SG60101 649.95
80mb #SGN296 709.95 100mb #SG84011D 839.95
120mb #SGN120FH 989.95 120mb #SG120DD 1128.95
170mb #SGN2962 1369.95 260mb #SG60102 1849.95
WE HAVE A COMPLETE LINE OF 3.5 LOW PROFILE HARD DRIVES
for
USE IN MEGA ST COMPUTERS AND RELATED CONFIGURATIONS.
20mb #AI020SC 379.95 30mb #AIO3OSC 419.95
50mb #AI050SC 449.95 65mb #AI065SC 499.95
85mb #AI085SC $559.95
>>> ALL ABCO DRIVES ARE HIGH SPEED UNITS <<<
(500 - 600k per sec @ 23 -33ms)
CALL FOR SUPER SAVINGS ON ALL OUR OTHER CUSTOM UNITS
FROM 30mb @ $419.00!
Ask about our "REBATE SPECIALS"
--==*==--
SHIPPING AND INSURANCE INCLUDED
============================================
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555)>> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADVANTAGE PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
>> SPECIAL NOW ONLY __$849.00__ <<
*** SPECIAL SYQUEST OFFER!! ***
ORDER YOUR CUSTOM SYQUEST UNIT NOW AND GET A SECOND COMPLETE UNIT!
***** for $50.00 LESS! *****
-> DO IT YOURSELF BARE SYQUEST UNITS $600.00ea 2 for $1100.00
Syquest Mechanism - 2 year warranty
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED $1539.00
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $1179.00 30mb SQG38 $1099.00
65mb SQG09 $1239.00 85mb SQG96 $1299.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
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
LARGER units are available - (special order only)
NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED!
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
Keyboard Custom Cables Call for Info
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
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
***********************************************************************
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY
COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers of;
STREPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE
""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY!
Call any of the STReport Official BBS numbers
(Listed Above)
or
Leave E-mail to STReport - R.Mariano
Be sure to include your full mailing address so your
Compuserve kit can be immediately mailed to you!
NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE
***********************************************************************
> A "Quotable Quote"?
=================
....Through the Looking Glass;
"PERFUMED PARLOR SNAKES HIDE WITHIN HAIRLESS DEMONS"
..Schmohawk, last of the Happy Schleppers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
STReport? "Your Independent News Source" July 20, 1990
16/32bit Magazine copyright = 1990 No.6.29
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, STReport? CPU/STR? or ST Report?. Permission to
reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint
must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's
name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
any way without prior written permission. The contents, at the time of
publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors,
contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/misuse
of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------
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