Z*Net: 9-Jan-93 #9302
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 01/10/93-05:06:08 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: Z*Net: 9-Jan-93 #9302
Date: Sun Jan 10 17:06:08 1993
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Z*NET: ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE Copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing
Volume 8, Number 2 Issue #486 January 9, 1993 File:93-02
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Publisher/Editor..........................................Ron Kovacs
Assistant Editor...........................................Ed Krimen
Writer............................................Michael R. Burkley
Writer.....................................................Bob Smith
AtariNet Coordinator\Z*Net Research.......................Bill Scull
Z*Net News International Gateway..........................Jon Clarke
Z*Net News Service\AtariUser Magazine-Publisher\Editor.....John Nagy
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GEnie..............Z-NET CompuServe....75300,1642 Delphi.........ZNET
Internet...status.gen.nz America Online..ZNET1991 AtariNet..51:1/13.0
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CONTENTS
## The Editors Desk...........................Ron Kovacs
## The Z*Net Newswire.........................Ron Kovacs
## Dateline Atari! Conference Transcipt.................
## The Unabashed Atariophile..........Michael R. Burkley
## Updated Computer Calender..................Ron Kovacs
## Perusing GEnie..............................Ed Krimen
## AtariNet...................................Bill Scull
## Top 10...............................................
###### THE EDITORS DESK
###### By Ron Kovacs
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
This week Bob Brodie held his monthly online conference on GEnie, called
DateLine Atari!, its goal is to update the community on the status of
Atari products and answer questions from its customers.
This month Bob updated a number of areas including the Falcon release
and when it is expected, MultiTOS news, and other areas. You can read
the entire conference in this weeks Z*Net.
Z*Net is looking for TWO new staff members to do a number of different
tasks including - research, writing, editing, and assigned tasks. If
you are interested in joining the Z*Net team, please leave email on the
Z*Net BBS, GEnie or CompuServe. Address information is listed at the
top of this edition.
Lastly, best wishes to John Nagy who is recovering from a broken foot.
We will let him discuss he adventure at a later time. You can send
email to John at any of the addresses listed in this issue. Send along
some words of encouragement as he attempts to settle in a new residence
with a ball and chain around his ankle! :-) Get well soon! It had to
be a "real pain" to relocate!
###### Z*NET NEWSWIRE
###### Atari and Industry News Update
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES:
FALCON FCC NUMBER
MULTITOS RELEASE EXPECTED NEXT WEEK
SPEEDOGDOS NEAR RELEASE
ST SUTRA TO CONCEIRGE TO ATARI WORKS
FALCON DELAYED TILL MARCH
DITEK LAUNCHES DYNACADD 2D
GENIE REPLACES HOT SUMMERS DAY SALE
NINTENDO ANNOUNCES RECORD SALES
MUSITEK TO DEBUT A FIRST AT NAMM
ADAPTEC TO ACQUIRE TRANTOR
AMERICA ONLINE TO SUPPORT PALMTOP
MACUSER SELECTS PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR
MOTOROLA'S 68000 FAMILY GETS HONORS
SOUND BLASTER UPGRADE KITS ANNOUNCED
SPA HAS BANNER YEAR
FALCON FCC NUMBER
Atari announced two months ago that the Falcon had passed FCC approval.
Z*Net News has received documentation from the FCC containing the FCC
identifier which is: EBAF030ST. The certification was applied for on
September 18, 1992 and approved November 5, 1992. Some of the comments
on the Grant include: "This device must be supplied with a shielded AC
power cord if one is required to ensure compliance." "This grant is
issued to permit marketing only when a ferrite loaded video cable or
split ferrite core equivalent to the type that was used during
certification testing is marked with each unit." "This device has shown
compliance with new rules adopted under Docket 87-389 and is not
affected by Section 15.37, transition rule." The FCC file number is:
31010/EQU 4-3-4. Equipment Class: TV Interface Device.
MULTITOS RELEASE EXPECTED NEXT WEEK
MultiTOS, which recently was released to Atari developers in beta form,
is working quite well according to Bob Brodie. Atari is now focusing on
an installation program and planning to make MultiTOS run on all Atari
68000 systems. Next week Atari will have a version of MultiTOS
available for shipping, although the way they plan on distributing the
product as yet to be decided.
SPEEDOGDOS NEAR RELEASE
SpeedoGDOS, Atari's scalable font replacement for GDOS/FSM GDOS is just
nearly ready for release. Atari is currently evaluating the
installation package. The present Speedo package consists of a five
diskette set, which includes lots of BitStream fonts. Users of Speedo
will be able to call an 800 phone number that BitStream operates to
order fonts to use with SpeedoGDOS.
ST SUTRA TO CONCEIRGE TO ATARI WORKS
Atari has changed the name of Conceirge, a word processor, database and
spreadsheet program to Atari Works. When originally announced the name
was ST Sutra, then late in 1992, Atari changed the name to Conceirge.
Atari Works, the same product is still undergoing testing.
FALCON DELAYED TILL MARCH
The Atari Falcon030 has been expirencing some manufacturing problems.
The sub-contractor that has been manufacturing Atari Falcon030s for
Atari has not been able to meet Q/A or production requirements. A
number of the machines coming from this sub-contractors factory have
failed diagnostic tests. Representatives from the factory were due
in Sunnyvale last Monday afternoon to discuss a resolution of these
problems. Atari expects these problems to delay "significant" shipments
of the Falcon until March 1993.
DITEK LAUNCHES DYNACADD 2D
Ditek International recently announced DynaCADD 2D for the Atari ST and
TT computers. The package includes both versions and is now available.
The Atari Falcon version will be available in January 1993. DynaCADD 2D
is the 2D portion of Ditek's powerful 2D/3D Computer Aided Design and
Drafting solution that has been on the market for the past two years.
Features such as on-line help, context-sensitive documentation and a
well organized and intuitive graphical user interface make DynaCADD 2D
extremely easy to learn and use. DynaCADD 2D accurately sends all or
any portion of any drawing at any scale, including best fit, to all
popular pen plotters, dot matrix printers, laser printers, PostScript>
printers or disk files. Ditek's head office is located at 2800 John
Street, Unit 15, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 0E2 Tel: (416) 479-1990,
Fax: (416) 479-1882. We can also be reached on GEnie at DITEK.
GENIE REPLACES HOT SUMMERS DAY SALE
The Hot Summer Days Sale is no more! GEnie's prime time hourly connect
charge has been PERMANENTLY reduced to $12.50 per hour (in Canada the
reduction is to $16.00 per hour). (Note: GEnie*Basic pricing is NOT
applicable during prime time hours. Reduced prime time rates are in
effect in the United States and Canada only, and apply at speeds up to
2400 bps.)
NINTENDO ANNOUNCES RECORD SALES
Nintendo announced all-time records for yearly hardware system sales,
game sales and total retail sales revenues in 1992. Combined system
sales for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy portable system,
and the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System were 13.3 million
units. Combined game pak sales for the three systems were 76 million
units. Total first- and third-party revenues for all hardware and
software totaled $4.285 billion, or 80 percent of the total $5.3 billion
American video game market. Nintendo revenues in 1992 represented a 22
percent increase over 1991.
MUSITEK TO DEBUT A FIRST AT NAMM
Musitek will introduce the world's first automatic music reading
software at the NAMM winter trade show. This breakthrough product is
MIDISCAN for Windows and runs on IBM PCs and compatibles. MIDISCAN
converts printed sheet music into multi-track MIDI files. Music Reading
Software (MRS) is similar to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for
text. A scanner first captures images of the score. MIDISCAN
automatically processes each page, extracting its musical content. The
reconstructed score is displayed as standard notation within an
interactive graphic window for easy point-and-click editing. The music
is then saved as a multi-track MIDI file which can be loaded into any
MIDI sequencing or notation software for playback through a synthesizer
or MPC audio card. Musitek will exhibit at Booth No. 2628 (Hall C)
throughout the NAMM trade show.
ADAPTEC TO ACQUIRE TRANTOR
Adaptec announced this week that it has signed a letter of intent to
acquire Trantor Systems. Trantor develops and manufactures Small
Computer System Interface (SCSI) host adapters and related software.
Adaptec expects to issue approximately 400,000 shares of its common
stock to effect the acquisition. Upon completion of the acquisition,
Trantor will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Adaptec.
AMERICA ONLINE TO SUPPORT PALMTOP
America Online plans to create a special edition of America Online for
palmtop computers. At a press briefing held at the CES Show, America
Online said the palmtop edition of America Online will be built into the
personal information processor to be sold by Casio Computer and Tandy
starting this fall. The America Online communications software will be
preinstalled in the ROM of this new device, so customers will have
instant access to the online services.
MACUSER SELECTS PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR
MacUser editors announced the winners of the 8th Annual Editors' Choice
Awards (Eddys). The industry's most significant honors went to winners
in 40 categories of new Macintosh hardware and software products as well
as to three individuals for their achievements. Portable-related Eddy
winners include the PowerPad for best input device, a portable numeric
and function keypad from Sophisticated Circuits, and CPU 1.0, a suite of
utilities for the PowerBook from Connectix Corp. Multimedia - Adobe's
Premiere 2.0, software for editing video was selected as the winner in
the Desktop-Video category. The editors chose Audiomedial II from
Digidesign for its direct-to-disk stereo recording and playback
capabilities. Ziff-Davis publishes MacUser.
MOTOROLA'S 68000 FAMILY GETS HONORS
Motorola announced that several products powered by Motorola's 68000
Family of microprocessors were named among the best and most innovative
products of 1992 by FORTUNE, BYTE, BusinessWeek and TIME magazines.
BYTE (Jan. 1993) Magazine named Apple Computer's PowerBook 180 notebook
as one of the year's most cutting-edge products. BusinessWeek (Jan. 11,
1993), TIME (Jan. 4, 1993) and BYTE Magazines all honored Macintosh
PowerBook Duo as a "best product of 1992." Another Motorola-based
portable system to be honored by BYTE Magazine was Infolio, the
lightweight pen tablet for custom-designed applications from Pi Systems.
Motorola was a winner of the U.S. Department of Commerce's first Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award, in recognition of its superior company-
wide quality management process.
SOUND BLASTER UPGRADE KITS ANNOUNCED
Creative Labs recently announced two new versions of its award-winning
Sound Blaster Multimedia Upgrade Kits. Expected to ship later this
quarter, the new versions were introduced at the Consumer Electronics
Show. The Edutainment CD Upgrade Kit is a multimedia upgrade package
consisting of a Creative Labs CD-ROM drive, Sound Blaster Pro and
speakers.
SPA HAS BANNER YEAR
The Software Publishers Association announced last week that 1992 marked
the most active year for its anti-piracy activities to date. Working on
behalf of its members, the SPA investigates cases of software copyright
infringement involving corporations, educational and non-profit
institutions, commercial dealers, and bulletin boards. Most
investigations begin with a call to the SPA anti-piracy hotline (1-800-
388-7478). Information gathered from telephone conversations are then
reviewed by the SPA's in-house litigation staff. Depending on the
strength of the information and the severity of the case, legal action
can be taken using cease and desist letters, corporate audits, or Ex-
Parte seizure orders. In 1992, up to 30 phone calls per day poured into
the hotline. Based on these leads, the SPA took action against 747
organizations. This included 218 audits and lawsuits (resulting in the
payment of $3.9 million in fines and penalties) and 529 cease and desist
letters. Of the audits and lawsuits filed, 95 percent were corporate
cases, while the remaining 5 percent of defendants comprised bulletin
board services (BBS), training facilities, and schools. Also in 1992,
the SPA received its largest settlement to date in an audit action. The
company, whose identity must remain anonymous, paid nearly $500,000 in
settlement of a case involving 66 SPA members. During 1992, the SPA
supported legislation that elevates the willful copying of computer
software from a misdemeanor to a felony. The new law, passed by
Congress last October, targets professional software pirates who make
many copies of software and resell them at low prices; illegal bulletin
board operators who distribute pirated software; and PC dealers who
offer "free" but illegal software to hardware purchasers. Nearly 25,000
copies of a 12-minute informational videotape entitled "It's Just Not
Worth the Risk," and 20,000 copies of an 8-minute educational video,
"Don't Copy That Floppy," targeting computer-using schoolchildren, were
also distributed in 1992. Lastly, the association maintains an active
anti-piracy speakers' bureau. Last year, SPA representatives delivered
112 anti-piracy presentations across North America.
###### DATELINE ATARI! WITH BOB BRODIE
###### A Regular Monthly RTC Conference On GEnie
###### Captured and Edited by Ron Kovacs
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
This text is copyright (c)1993 Atari Corporation and the GEnie Atari
Roundtables. Sign-up information for GEnie is included at the end of
this and all Z*Net Online Issues.
<[Lou] ST.LOU> Happy New Year to all our GEnie members! Welcome to the
first 1993 installment of Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie. Bob is
typing at us from Sunnyvale, the home of Atari Corp. and we expect to
hear all the latest developments, especially with regard to the Falcon
and its software in-progress.
This week we saw a post from John Towns that SpeedoGDOS was very, very
close. There was also a later comment that it will be sold due to
licensing fees. Let's start there... Bob, what is the status of
SpeedoGDOS?
<BOB-BRODIE> Good evening, and a Happy New Year to one and all! I hope
that the holidays were enjoyable for everyone. I know that I enjoyed
the time that I spent with my family in the two weeks of vacation time
that I had over the Christmas holidays.
Let's get started and talk Atari!!
First I'd like to give some status reports on some projects that we're
working on here at Atari. MultiTOS has a recent beta version go out to
our developers just before Christmas. This version appears to be
working quite well, although not perfect (I found a bug today, and got
it fixed!!). We're now focusing on an installation program for
MultiTOS, which was presented to me for evaluation yesterday. You'll be
pleased to know that the entire package fits on a single 1.44 meg
floppy. At this point in time we're planning on allowing ALL Atari
68000 computers to be able to run MultiTOS. There was some discussion
that we might compile MultiTOS in such fashion that only users with
68030 boards, TT030s, or Atari Falcon030s would be able to use MultiTOS.
In speaking to the TOS group, they feel confident that they will have a
shipable version of MultiTOS next week. Still to be decided is how we
are going to distribute MultiTOS to our customers. Once that decision
is made, we'll let you know via an annoucement here on GEnie, and in
Atari Explorer Online Magazine.
SpeedoGDOS, our scalable font replacement for FONT GDOS/FSM GDOS is just
about ready, too. As is the case with MultiTOS, we're evaluating the
installation package very carefully so as to make it very easy for end
users to install SpeedoGDOS. Presently the package consists of a five
diskette set, which includes lots of BitStream fonts. I have been VERY
impressed with this system. I had lived with extreme system slowdown
when running FSM GDOS with more than 12 fonts on my system at work. I'm
now running 71 Speedo fonts, with no noticable performance degradation
at all!!
Our customers will be able to call an 800 phone number that BitStream
operates to order fonts to use with SpeedoGDOS. While not all of the
BitStream font families have Speedo fonts in them, there is over 1,000
typefaces available that do.
We've decided to change the name of Conceirge (previously ST Sutra) to
Atari Works. It is still undergoing some testing, although it is much
improved from when it was shown back at the Toronto Show last April.
Much of the work has focused on the database portion of the program to
improve the database import capabilities of the program. We're in the
process of expanding our beta test group, and we're getting lots of good
input from them for improvements in Atari Works. I'm very pleased with
how the program is improving, and am even starting to use it myself much
more often than before. Many of our staff members here at Atari, like
the Administrative Assistants are starting to use Atari Works for their
everyday word processor of choice.
Now, regarding the Atari Falcon030. I spoke at length with Sam Tramiel
about the production/shipment status of this product on Monday. The
sub-contractor that has been manufacturing Atari Falcon030s for us has
not been able to meet our Q/A or production requirements. The number of
the machines coming from this factory that have failed diagnostic tests
is completely unacceptable to Sam. He is _angry_ about this, as
producing Atari Falcon030s is of paramount importance to us.
Representatives from the factory were due in Sunnyvale on Monday
afternoon to discuss a resolution of these problems with Sam.
Regardless of the outcome of that meeting, Sam indicated to me that he
was meeting with a representative from another factory to bring on board
another manufacturer to produce Falcons for us. We expect this to delay
significant shipments of Falcons until March.
There have been some rumors circulating that the Falcon030 is not FCC
approved, and this is reason for the delay. This is simply not true!!
As Atari indicated months ago, the Falcon has met with FCC approval. I
note with some amusement that a request for FCC numbers was made by ST
Report's staff in the message bases on GEnie, AFTER our offices had
closed for the holidays. Until today, there was never a request made to
our offices for the actual FCC number via anything resembling
conventional means, like a phone call, letter, or fax. Not even a
request in email!! Today, Ralph Mariano called me and asked about the
FCC status of the Falcon, and dicussed in detail with me his attempts to
have the FCC provide him with the number. I don't understand why he has
had problems getting this information, as it is a matter of public
record.
At the time of his call, I didn't have the number at my desk...but I do
now! So, as promised, here is the FCC approval number for the Atari
Falcon030: EBAF030ST, application dated September 18, 1992, granted
November 5, 1992.
Falcon030s will continue to be available in small quantities until we
get our second sub-contractor on board, or the production problems with
the original contractor are resolved. Review units are being provided
to publications that we believe can assist us in "getting the word out"
on the Falcon.
<[JCD] NEWDIMENSION> Bob, what are Atari's plans to help deter low-ball
prices from mail-order houses? Will The Falcon only be available
through Atari or will they be available through distributors, too?
Atari only, I hope.
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Jeff, we are working on a new dealer agreement that we
think will have a lot more "teeth" to it, something akin to what some
other well known manufacturers, although not necessarily a computer
manufacturer use as their dealer agreement. We feel, as do many of our
dealers, that the issues isn't so much mail order, it's the price that
the units are sold for.
<BRIAN.H> A few people have been inquiring in the BBS about an up-to-
date list of AUTHORIZED Atari Service Centres. This would prevent some
mail order problems and keep the customers happy. Can this be done?
<BOB-BRODIE> Brian, I'd prefer to hold off on that, since we're in the
process of re-doing the dealer agreement. I can understand the concern
about some users in finding out about authorized vs. Non author.. and
I'll try to make that available AFTER we have the new set up done.
Probably happen in April or March.
<[Andreas@AEO] AEO.2> Atari Works(better name!) is a great program, and
with the addition of Speedo, even on a mere MSTe, it is fast and clean.
The output is some of the best I have seen on my DJ500. I hope we can
see this program bundled with new machines and available for older
machines too... can you expand on this Bob?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Andreas, I need to send you an updated version. You're
not up to date with some latest changes!! Atari Works is a fully
integrated data base, word processor, and spread sheet with a spell
checker and thesarus included with the program. I think as you have
indicated, everyone will be very pleased with the results of the
product. Many different printers are supported, and the new
installation program makes things a BREEZE!
<[Chris C.] C.CASSADAY> Bob, all that you have said is extremely good
news! Any comments on pricing of SpeedoGDOS, MultiTOS, and Atari Works?
And when can I realistically expect to see them on my hard drive? About
Multi-TOS: Are there seperate 68000 and 68030 versions?
<BOB-BRODIE> Thanks Chris, Re pricing on MultiTOS, I'm not sure what the
price will be for it. I'm confident that you'd love the pricing I have
in mind. I think we should UPLOAD it exclusively to GEnie, and let
nature take it's course. I'm not 100% sure that will happen at this
point, though...but it might!! Pricing on Speedo is more related to the
pricing of the fonts. We have to pay a royalty on the fonts, and that
is the real determining factor.
Works is probably going to retail for about $100, and perhaps be bundled
with all machines that are sold after it's ready.
<[Jonesy] M.JONES52> Bob, are the review units being bundled with a
'setup package' to help the reviewers get a representative look at
what's available now, and a taste of things to come? And what's in it?
<g> (Love your idea for MultiTos, btw!)
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Mark, yes they are. We also bundle a copy of the
International Software Guide. We try not to show them too much of what
the future might hold, as we want them to write about the here and REAL
SOON NOW <grin>, and yet show them that we are planning for the future.
<[Ringo] R.MONFORT1> Bob B. I notice that Computer graphics world
magazine had a Falcon announcement what other publications will have a
Falcon for review, specially the ones that does multimedia?
<BOB-BRODIE> Yes Ringo, we have made inroads with about 19 different
mags to have announcements and or reviews on the Atari Falcon030. Let
me look real quick on my desk and see if I have it handy. Applied
Techniques, Business Week, BYTE, CNN, Computer Retail Week, Computer
Technology, Computing NOW, Datamation, Design News, E.Q. Magazine, EDN
News, Eyecom Magazine, Keyboard, Mpotorolae DSP Newsletater, MultiMedia
World, New Media, Newsbytes, Noteworthy, PC Laptop Computers, Scientific
Computering & Automation, Studio Software Report and a bunch of others
that I can tell you about in email! :)
<[JCD] NEWDIMENSION> Will Jerry Pournell be getting a Falcon soon? I
understand he's had an Amiga A1200 for some time now to review. Also,
MultiTOS looks great on my TT030. I think everyone will be very
pleased.
<BOB-BRODIE> We have already spent quite a bit of time with Jerry
showing him a Falcon030, and expect him to get a review unit soon. We
opted to to provide one to BYTE Magazine first, rather than just one for
Jerry. Perhaps saying JUST one for Jerry is a bad way of phrasing it,
because obviously we want him to have one. I was present when we did
the demo to him, and he's very enthusiastic about the Atari Falcon030.
Especially the sound capabilities.
I agree with your sentiments about MultiTOS, I'm in the process of doing
everything to it that no one should do <GRIN>, and finding a few more
interesting events. Eric Smith was in my office for a while today, and
we had a nice time...and an update came out in a matter of hours.
<C.FLUEGEL> What are the current plans at the NAMM show? As the Falcon
already has a good following in the Audio Realm (I get people in
everyday asking about it, they dont know who makes it, but they here it
is supposed to be great)... How big of a showing will Atari have??
<BOB-BRODIE> We have a very large room at NAMM this year, that will
feature 16 workstations with developers manning them. There will be a
number of Atari Falcon030s there for people to see. In the event we are
able to resolve our problems with the production at the factory
(particulary with the Q/A issues) then we will be able to fill the
orders that much sooner. I expect to take orders for machines at NAMM,
we will once again, be the premier computer at NAMM, as Apple and IBM
have both bowed out.
There has been terrific coverage in the music mags have been ringing my
phone off the hook for information on the Falcon. I can also assure you
that the show will be well covered here on GEnie, and in the Atari Press
as well. Atari Explorer Online, our official online newsletter, and the
excellent Z*Net Online magazine will be covering the show, as well as
AtariUser Magazine providing the memorable print coverage for the show.
<[Kent@OakSpri] K.CAVAGHAN2> Bob, in regards to your idea on uploading
MultiTos, would disk vendors be allowed to distribute it as well or will
it be limited distribution like FontGdos (just curious :} ) I think it's
a great idea either way.
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Kent, I confess that I haven')t even considered that at
this point in time. I'm much more focused on getting the product done.
I appreciate you bringing that issue to my attention, and I'll be sure
to pass along that concern to the staff here. Good Point!
<[Matt] M.RIVMAN1> Mr. B. (Bob) I appreciate the entry level status of
the Falcon 030 and agree with it. But as one of those who long for
tower, pizzabox', detatchable Kboard what can you say about near future
030, 040 config's ? Sorry to harp on it! Re: Apple and IBM bowing out
of NAMM. Cowards!
<BOB-BRODIE> :-) Hi Matt, I've always respected someone who knows when
to do a graceful retreat! :)
Re the Falcon box, let me put it this way....we've made other entry
level home computers in the past, like the ST, and the STE. Both of
them _ultimately_ were placed in a two piece unit later on in the
products life span. So it is not unreasonable to guess that the Falcon
might one day be in a different case, many of our products have. But
the real issue is when will it happen?
With the ST, it was over a year after the original machines shipped.
With the STE, about two years.
<[Andreas@AEO] AEO.2> Atari ST Format had a comparision of the A1200 to
the F030, favoring (guess who?) AEO should have an article based on a
similar topic soon. Already there are graphics cards and accell cards
available for the F030. Bob, do you think once the crush is over we can
get the TOS crew on GEnie or Delphi to bug them about TOS hints?
<BOB-BRODIE> Sure, that would be an excellent idea, Andreas. Once the
"crush" is over, I think we can probably get someone like Eric Smith
(who will probably kill me for voluteering him) online for a CO for some
activity in the message bases. Of course, here on GEnie, John Townsend
is already online, although not as active as before. There is a topic
here on GEnie for programming q's to be left to TOWNS, I think it is CAT
3 Topic 31, could be wrong though! :)
<[Harj] H.NAGRA1> Any idea on the number of Falcons that will be
released in January to the general public? I'm very disappointed in the
delay, any chance the Falcons in March will have the much rumoured new
case design?
<BOB-BRODIE> Harj, I'd prefer not to give out actual numbers, until they
are in the warehouse. Believe me, when I spoke to Sam about the
availability of the Falcon, he was throughly disgusted with the entire
situation. The shortage of the Falcons is not a US problem, it is a
world wide problem...we're almost competing against our subsidaries
around the world to get product at this point in time. Re the case...
check out my answer from before. :)
<[Chris C.] C.CASSADAY> Bob, there are some rumors in Euro mags about
CD-ROM versions of the Falcon030. Can you comment on future variants of
the Falcon030, and whether these new machines will neccessitate (sp?)
the newer cases.
<BOB-BRODIE> Chris, No...I can't. Other than what I've already stated
about the case structure in other questions. There is no question that
the machine will mature, the question is how quickly will that happen.
Current versions of the Falcon030 are ready for a CD unit out of the
box, there will be no reason to wait. I can only guess that having the
CD included (if such a thing were done) would be reflected in the price
of such a wonderful machine. :)
<[33] Lyre] AEO.3> Bob, you mentioned that their will be developers
displaying their products at NAMM. Can you tell us which developers
will be attending and the programs they will be demonstrating?
<BOB-BRODIE> I can tell you the developers, but I'm not 100% up to speed
on what they are going to be showing. The developers are D2D Systems
Chro-Magic, CodeHead Software, Barefoot Software, Goldleaf Pub.,
Thinkware, Dr. T's, Compo, Gadgets by Small, Hotz Technology, Digitial
FX, Okital, Steinberg, and Yamaha, along with a new developer that I am
not personally familiar with name MGI. They are from Germany.
<C.FLUEGEL> Those of use using the Falcon for music will need VERY large
hard drives, where and what will be availlible? Is PLI still supporting
the Atari? SCSI-2 and 2 1/2 drives are still quite uncommon. Also,
when will WE the public and or dealers find out how the meeting with the
folks who are actually building the Falcons went?
<BOB-BRODIE> I think it really depends on the application that you're
using as for how much hard disk space you will need to get things done.
I've not had any problems with connecting any type of common disk
drives, like a Maxtor to a Falcon030. You don't have to have a 2 1/2"
drive, that's just what the IDE drive is that is internal for the
Falcon. Since the SCSI-II port is there it is EASY to connect up bigger
units. We have hooked up 340 meg Maxtor units with no problems, pulled
'em right out of a TT030, which isn't SCSI-II. Please bear in mind that
the pricing on the hard disks is not something we control, but is the
same for all of hard disks that are produced across the market.
Re the meeting...after I have a chance to speak to Sam, I'll try to pass
along the meeting. I can assure you he wasn't going into the meeting
with the reps that are NOT meeting our expectations with a smile on his
face. On the other hand, the second company that we will be bringing on
board is run by an old friend of the Tramiels, and I expect to see
results from them quickly, like within a month.
<[JCD] NEWDIMENSION> Concerning the redesign of the ST Book, what are
some of the changes it is going through? Additionally will the floppy
drives in future machines ever be replaced with Floptical drives or the
like? C.FLUEGEL: We sell fixed HD's up to 3.6 Gig!
<BOB-BRODIE> Re the ST Book, you can expect things like back lighting in
the LCD screen, and possibly floppys or PCMIA connectors. There are
some discussions about changing the microprocessor in the unit to
something that is a little bit more "contemporary" than an 8Mhz 68000.
Please bear in mind that we're focusing on the Falcon and the Jaguar
right now, the ST Book is not getting 100% of our attention at this
point in time.
<C.OATES2> Hi Bob. I already take the hypothetical nature of two-piece
Falcons as a given, but do you see it as likely that if and when such
machines ship they will contain the VME bus slot that we Mega STE and TT
owners have? I for one have already invested a good deal of money in a
Crazy dots 15 board, which surpasses current Falcon graphics (and
possibly future) and would like to think that I can take tha card with
me when I upgrade my machine.
<BOB-BRODIE> Chris, obviously I can't make promises about such a
prospective product with certainty, but I will be happy to encourage
that suggestion to the design team. We use graphics cards here at Atari
as well, and believe me, we hate spending money we don't need to just as
much as you hate to.
<[George] JMGSOFT> What is being done, if anything, for the Canadian
market. Since the Canadian Sub closed up, it has been pretty bleak and
dismal up here when it comes to Atari support. No service, information,
parts, and things just aren't ticking very well. I am still trying to
resolve issues that date back to August when the subsidiary closed up.
Is this all we can expect up here in the North? It doesn't look pretty,
since I don't think the Atari brass considers Canada too seriously
anymore.
<BOB-BRODIE> George, I was not aware that there were problems in getting
service and repairs done. We have a specialist in Canada to deal with
our Canadian dealers, who is well acquainted with Canada in the persona
of Randy Tjin. Before we went off on holidays, Sam and I personally
checked on the repair logs, and we were told that they were running
about a week to get each item out, and in fact were on target for their
dates. If there is other needs that haven't been taken care of, please
FAX the details to me at the office so we can address them. Certainly
the changeover to the US from Canada has not gone smoothly, but we are
committed to continuing to do business in Canada. If you have specific
needs as far as information goes, we know each other, George. ASK!
My address online, and phone numbers are pretty well known, and Thanks
for your continuing commitment. I'll be in touch I invite your call.
<[D. STUART] AEO.7> BOB - Greetings! Just curious ... will the initial
release of the FALCON include any 'bundled' software? And if so, is
there an opportunity to develop said software directly for ATARI?
<BOB-BRODIE> Yes, the Falcon will be bundled with 8 applications when it
is shipped. The products include Audio Fun Machine, FalconD2D, a direct
to disk recorder, System Audio Manager, ProCalc, a full scientific
calendar, Talking Clock, CalAppt, a calendar/rolodex type of utility,
and a couple of games, BreakOut and LandMines.
YES...there is an opportunity to write that software for Atari. We in
fact used outside developers for some key components of the software,
like the System Audio Manager.
<D.A.BRUMLEVE> I've seen numerous rumors about the Falcon already
shipping to dealers in small quanitities in Germany and in England, and
yet you refer here to "when it is shipped". Are the rumors false? Or
do you just mean "when it is shipped in NA"?
<BOB-BRODIE> Excellent question, Dorothy. I do in fact mean in North
America. There are small shipments of Falcon030s being sent to dealers
in other parts of the world. Some of those units have been sold without
MultiTOS, and with other minor problems. Like the CalAppt Manual that
shipped in Germany is written in English. Another example of the Q/A
problems that we've had with the factory.
<D.A.BRUMLEVE> I don't think many of us would consider an English manual
a problem. ;-)
<BOB-BRODIE> Virtually all of the machines that we've had here in the US
have gone to either review sources or developers. I agree with your
sentiments about the English manual here, but the German TOS and
Keyboard might prove challenging...or should I say educational???
<[Kent@OakSpri] K.CAVAGHAN2> Bob, there has been some concern about
registrations that are sent into Atari and what if anything they are
used for? Will the lists that are created used for follow ups and
promos or are they just being recycled :}
<BOB-BRODIE> Kent, they are indeed used, we build customer lists from
them and they are in fact used for follow ups. We expect to be using
them much more in the future than in the past.
<[Curt/ Guitar] C.FLUEGEL> The original plans were to have "demo units"
at dealers before any major rollout, is this still the plan? Even if
you have to change manufact., can we still expect to see a demo unit
here at Guitar Center? (James Grunke said we should, I hope it is true)
<BOB-BRODIE> Curt, the bidding is much higher than that at this point.
Seriously, we intend to make demo units available for the dealers and
regard this as a very important step in the process of both selling and
marketing the Falcon. We do have a demo unit plan for our dealers that
purchase directly from us, which is one of the benfits of dealing
directly with Atari, rather than thru another re-seller or distributor.
We have, when possible, shipped units to dealers for special exhibitions
on a temporary basis. If you have a specific need for a unit for a
really important event for your dealership, then feel free to contact
me.
<[D. STUART] AEO.7> BOB ... Just thought I'd mention here, then, that
I've E-mailed you a proposal re: the previous query! Aside from that,
what is the latest concerning AIM - if you know anything. I know this
is a change of topic, but one of interest to all!
<BOB-BRODIE> Duane, I always forward those things along to our dev
support group, but I'll be happy to send it along again. We do get an
awful lot of those, it's possible that they overlooked yours, and for
that, I apologize.
Regarding AIM, I really haven't spoken to Pattie or Bill in sometime
myself. I know no more than you, its been a while since I've seen an
issue of AIM, and they seem to be a bit behind in their issues. But
since Explorer is also a bit behind, I'm not about to cast stones.
But since we're now speaking about EXPLORER, I'm happy to report that
the latest issue of Atari Explorer has just come back from the printer,
and looks FABULOUS! This is the first issue under the capable efforts
of Mike Lindsay and Darren Meer since they have taken over the magazine.
Mike is lurking tonight here online as AEO.MAG, so be sure to say hi to
him!!
<BRIAN.H> What about the Jaguar? Will it be finished this year? Is it
as good as the rumours? Will this be the GAME machine? I am not trying
for rumours, just the facts [grin].
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Brian, it looks FABULOUS. Sometimes mere words are a
poor tool to describe things...and this is one of those cases. During
my discussions with Sam earlier this week, we went over to the lab and
had a peek at the Jaguar. I was astonished at the quality of the
machine. We've begun shipping developer units out now, and have had
developer symposiums for the unts as well.
The very-well-known-programmer, whose name I cannot reveal that is here
in Sunnyvanle working with us on the Jaguar is VERY enthusiastic about
the machine. The demo that he showed us was extraordinary, both
colorful and fast, the horizontal scrolling was smooth, and very, very
very fast!!!!
<BRIAN.H> Next RTC On GEnie!!
Everyone, don't forget the roundtable conference next Wednesday night
with the IAAD. What's the IAAD? The Independent Association of Atari
Developers (IAAD) The RTC begins at 10 pm EST, Wednesday, January 13.
Ask about current and future products. Meet the folks who bring your
computer to life with software and hardware enhancements!
D.A. Brumleve DMC Publishing
WizWorks! FAST Technology
Step Ahead Software Inc. ICD Inc.
CodeHead Technologies Dragonware
Missionware Ditek
Clear Thinking Oregon Research Associates
Lexicor Dr. Bobware
Beckemeyer Development Tools Paradigm Software Products
Fair Dinkum Technologies It's All Relative
TEAM Software
NewSTar Technology Management and more...
###### THE UNABASHED ATARIOPHILE
###### By Michael R. Burkley
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever noticed how nice it is to be complemented? When someone
tells you that you've done a good job, or better yet, when you hear a
person telling someone else that you've done a good job, how does that
make you feel? If you're anything like me you only hope complements
like that don't happen on a dry winter day, because of chapped lips
splitting due to the big grin spreading across your face!
I've had two programmers contact me with appreciation for the reviews of
their program(s) in this column. I can only say that the thanks is due
to them because of the fact that if they hadn't written the programs
they wouldn't have been reviewed. And yes, it was a dry day when they
told me!
Another week has gone by and another load of programs and files have
been uploaded. Here's a sampling of what I've found...
89A_87A11 is v.1.1 of a program by Damien M. Jones (dated Feb. 12, 1992.
--------- It is a simple program that converts GIF 89a format pictures
(the new standard) to GIF 87a format pictures (the old standard). In
the process, any extra information in the GIF is stripped out, so the
image may not be exactly the way it's supposed be (this won't happen too
often, though). This program will also fiddle with GIFs processed
through a PC program called GIFLITE; some programs (most notably DMJGIF)
won't take GIFLITE GIFs any other way. GEM based. Color or mono. Docs
included.
COLOREMU is a low rez color emulator for those of you with Mono monitors
-------- It's slow, but it works! Just pop it into your AUTO folder and
reboot. No docs, but you don't need them.
CURSIVE by Jan Wolter (and ported to the ST by Darin Wayrynen is a
------- simple program that you can use to generate horizontal cursive
banners. It's main use is for generating cute signatures for email.
Here's an example below. An old version of GULAM (a command line shell)
is included and set up so that as soon as you run it the cursive program
is called and you are told just what to do. Color or mono. Docs
included. STe compatible.
DRACULA is a cheat sheet by Tom McComb (dated Jan. 2, 1993) for the Lynx
------- game Dracula the Undead. It's not a complete, blow by blow
cheat, just a little help to get you through (if you use your head).
Isn't the Lynx grand!
DSP is DSP v. 1.0 by Keith Lord (dated Dec. 29, 1992). This is a Digital
--- Signal Processing program which allows you to create high pass and
low pass digital filters, and use them to process your favorite
digitized sound samples. The author wrote the program to try to get rid
of that annoying "warp drive rumble" that seems to be in the background
of all Star Trek TNG audio samples. You can modify your sound samples
any way you wish. Although DSP was written to process audio samples,
it's really a general purpose digital filter program, so you can use it
on any digital information. GEM based (and I like his moose mascot!)
Color or mono. Docs included. ST/STe/TT compatible.
EASYGO13 is Easy-Go (The Program Launcher) v.1.3 by Anthony Watson of
-------- Mountain Software (dated Jan. 5, 1993). This is "ANOTHER
program launcher!" (in the words of the author), but one with his own
personal "touch." As well as being able to launch programs with a
mouse-click, this program allows you to have a separate screen for each
resolution you boot up in. Now you can "chain" programs together to run
one after the other. Up to 65 items on each screen (though this demo
version is limited to only ten items per screen). It allows you to
rename your programs with reasonable names of up to 14 characters. It
presents you with a nice "3-D" graphical interface. Any ST/STe/TT.
Color or mono. Docs included.
E_BUTTER is another FREE picture for ECCB, The Eliemouse Complimentary
-------- Coloring Book by A. Baggetta. This sample is one of ten giant
butterfly pictures available for coloring with ECCB. Run it from any
version (including the demo) and color it away! He also has included a
list of the software he has produced (a LOT) and ordering information.
Color monitor required.
FALC_TOP is a series of "Falcon Desktop Screen Shots" (in the 40-column
-------- mode) by D.A. Brumleve. In Prism Paint format, you need a PP
viewer (such as PNTVIEW, see below) to view these six pictures (of
course, if you have PP...!). Low rez color only. See what the Falcon
looks like, dropdown menus, configuration options and all!
FCAT is v.1.1 of a concatenation program by Thomas KGOig (dated October
---- 22, 1990) for use with CLI's that do not have one built in. Fcat
concatenates its file arguments using the largest possible buffer and
prints them to standard output. GEMDOS - wildcards (* and ?) are
supported. If no files are specified, fcat does nothing; it does not
read from standard input. It works with TCSH and Korn Shell.
FLOWCHRT as uploaded by Wayne Steinert is a very interesting (though
-------- scatological) "Problem Solving Flow Chart." He must be a
student of human nature! This (ASCII) flow chart has been in use for a
LONG time!
GFMANCAL is the reference manual for GemFast v1.8 configured for
-------- printing with Calligrapher. Included are the indexs, title
pages and spine insert for a 1" notebook. If you have Calligrapher from
CodeHead Technologies this file will allow you to keep this
documentation organized and neat.
GFATOOLS by Sterling Webb, the author of Seurat (an EXCELLENT painting
-------- and .IMG manipulation program) is a collection of GFA Basic
tools for dealing with .RSC files. What you get with this is a .RSC
file analyzer program with DeskJet screen dump for resources, a large
ICON editor, a large bit IMAGE editor that saves .ICN files, a .LST file
that demonstrates how to place menu bar at bottom of screen and
"dropdown" panels anywhere on the screen, instructions on how to place
ICONS in your dropdown menus, and information on the structure of menu
resources and .RSC files in general. Some of these require a mono
monitor, others run in color as well.
HOURGLAS is a Calamus .CDK file that shows a method of filling up the
-------- interior of any graphic with the text of your choice. Requires
Calamus SL to view.
IAAD_DIR is a membership database of The Independent Association of
-------- Atari Developers. It is current as of January 1, 1993. Check
it out and see how many people really are working on the ST/TT line!
OBSETFIX by Frank Pawlowski is for all of you who got a version of
-------- OutBurST! 3.0/3.1 that gave you an initial spooler size of
1431588700 bytes when using OBSET.PRG you need this version of OBSET to
fix your problem. OutBurST! is fantastic! It speeds up your printout
(by a tremendous factor) to your HP (or other high speed printer) when
using PageStream, Calamus, and now even text based programs.
PAULA21B is Paula v.2.1b (dated Jan. 1, 1992) by Pascal Fellerich (one
-------- of the authors of TURBOASS, a fast Assembler). This .ACC is an
Amiga-MOD-file-player for the Atari TT & STE. Paula doesn't claim to be
the only or the fastest MOD player available forthe Atari, but it
certainly is one of the best. It has an excellent GEM interface along
with a Large number of features. This file also includes a utility that
allows you to "fix" some damaged .MOD files. Normally Paula is only
usable on STe or TT machines, but this archive includes PETRA by
Christian Limpach. Petra v.1.0 (dated Aug. 20, 1992) is a software
sound driver which allows all ST's which don't have DMA sound to still
run Paula. Just trust me on this one. If you want to listen to .MOD
files just get this program. Color or mono. Docs included. SHAREWARE.
PNTVIEW is the Prism Paint File Viewer by Robert M. Birmingham (dated
------- 1990). This viewer will allow you to view Prism Paint pictures
(in their appropriate resolutions) as individual pictures or as part of
a slide show. ST/STe/TT compatible. Docs included.
PRINTSPC by Greg Wageman is a printer driver for the Okimate 20 color
-------- printer. It uses the same halftoning techniques used by
magazines and newspapers to allow you to print out your Spectrum
pictures in either black & white or color in 4x5 and 7x9 inch sizes.
This program prints out much faster and in higher quality than the old
Antic Software Cyberprint program. Docs included.
RDE_V2 is RDE v.2, an all-TOS compatible reset survivable RAMdisk by
------ Alan Evans (dated March 22, 1992). This is an amazing RAMdisk
that allows you to save a set of files right inside the RAMdisk (RD)
program. Boot up with that RD installed and WAMM, your software is
already there, ready to run. You can even boot from the RD itself
(after loading the RD and doing a warm boot). This can save you lots of
time--and disk space as well). Color or mono. Docs included. If you
ever use a RAM disk you should check this one out!
ROBOWARS by Barry Summers is a nicely done .SEQ animation. You begin
-------- with a front view of an STe and a color monitor. Then on the
screen on your screen (!) appears a giant robot scorpion blasting away
with its tail-mounted ray gun. Then a humanoid robot approaches it and
begins battle. The animation then repeats. Made with vidi digitizer
and cyberpaint. Use ANIMATE4.PRG to view. 529K uncompressed, so I
would guess that you need at least one meg of RAM to view.
RRTRACE2PI is the Real Ray Tracer v.2.0 (dated January 3, 199) by Clive
---------- Probert. This program allows you to create beautiful ray
traced pictures and save them in DEGAS format. You begin with an empty
room (a really empty room, empty of walls, floor, ceiling, anything!).
Add walls, etc and spheres. Adjust colors and light sources and make
objects transparent or reflective. This version is much faster, allows
for more types of objects (such as cylinders, cones, and cubes), and
allow for page flipping animations to be created. Color only. Docs
included. $5 shareware.
RRPICS is three beautiful samples of Real Ray Tracer v.2.0 work as
------ saved in Degas format.
RSC2OBJ is a program by Dieter that allows you to create a DRI
------- compatible Object format that you can link to your program.
This means that you can create a program with no external resource file
(that is, if you're a programmer!). This also allows you to include
more than one resource file in your programs. Docs (German and limited
English) are included.
RSCARDS v.4.1 by J. Weaver, Jr. (dated 1993) is a file you only need if
------- you have a GEnie account (and if you don't you are missing an
excellent service!). This file is the front end program for GEnie's
RSCARDS Multi-player games (Blackjack, Backgammon, Checkers, Poker,
Reversi, and Chess). Color or mono.
SLID_DEM is the S_DEMO Slider Demo FOR HisoftBasic2 by Chris Roberts of
-------- DragonWare Software. This demo is for those of you who wanted
to know how to make Resource FILES with Sliders AND Arrows that update.
Source code included that is well remarked and available for your study.
SPAR4 is a text and DEGAS picture file describing Spar Systems online
----- electronic books for use with Calamus (v.1.09N and SL) and
PageStream (1.8 & 2.2). These programs can very useful for the novice
or advanced user of these programs. They come in .ACC format and so are
accessable whenever you need a hint or outright help in creating your
DTP master- pieces using these programs.
STGD0193 is the January, 1993 issue of the ST Gaming Digest by Zenobot.
-------- This is your monthly guide to new and upcoming Atari ST games.
Do you want to know what games are out on the market (commercial games
that is; if you want to learn about PD games just stay tuned right
here!)? This file is for you. He has hard facts, rumors, and
evaluations of the marketplace.
STRETCH by Annius Groenink is The Screen STretcher, an STe only
------- bigscreen emulator. Place this in your AUTO folder and reboot.
Tell it what screen dimensions you want and it will give them to you!.
Color only. Great for DTP programs like PageStream. You can have the
full screen before you and just move the screen window about and see
your whole page--no more waiting (and waiting!) for screen redraws (at
least until you really change something). Color only. Docs included.
STZIP21 is STZIP v.2.1, the newest version of ZIP for the ST by Vincent
------- Pomey (dated Dec. 27, 1992). Lots of new features! It's fast
and uses the new ZIP compression algorithm named 'Deflating.' (or older
versions as well). Using an excellent GEM interface, it compresses as
well or better (!) than the newest Quester LZH utility (LZH201L). It is
compatible with the newest version of PKZIP 2.0 (from the MS DOS world).
This version is MultiTOS compatible, allows up to 65536 files in a zip
(given adequate memory), allows you to extract files to a corresponding
folder automatically, now supports Unix's Info-Zip, and much more
(including numerous bug fixes). It also allows you to create self-
extracting files (and does it faster than the previous version)! Color
or mono. Docs included. Recommended. PostCardWare (just send him a
postcard!).
TCCP_SRC by L. Gamache is the "C" source code for "The Complete
-------- Chessplay," a BBS Chess program he created several years ago.
Since his ST died, and he's never done anything else with this program
he is releasing it to you for your free use. Update it, work with it,
compile it and then play with it!
VIEWFONT is FontView v.1.0 (dated 1992) by Sterling K. Webb (the author
-------- of SEURAT). It is a GDOS font viewer program. It will run in
all STe resolutions (maybe more), but looks best in monochrome. It
includes the GDOS Typewriter that allows you to use and GDOS font in
actual-use conditions in any combination of thirty sizes and all text
styles (bold, italic,lightened, outlined, or underlined). It DOES NOT
require GDOS to be installed to operate. ST/STe/TT? compatible.
WINSHELL by Sterling Kelly Webb (the author of Seurat) (dated Dec. 15,
-------- 1992) is for all of you GFA Basic V.3+ users out there. It can
teach you how to handle all those screen redraws that .ACC's command.
This program is designed to display multiple graphic windows, with GEM
activities being handled directly through GFA commands. Although this
example is for graphic display, it could be easily adapted to text
buffers or any variety of multiple buffer operations. It does not "do"
anything, it only provides a structure and the GFA tools to manage the
logic of GEM and the AES in a direct fashion. It also demonstrates some
management of resource files, menus in particular. It is reasonably
resolution-independent and non-hardware-oriented. .LST (Heavily
commented), .DFN. and .RSC files included (though not the executable
program).
ZNET9301 is the January 2, 1992 issue of Z*NET magazine.
-------- As always, read avidly.
That's it for now!
Take care until next week (and afterwards, too),
Michael
All of these files can be found on one or more of the following on-line
services: GEnie, Delphi, The CodeHead BBS (213-461-2095), Toad Hall
(617-567-8642), and The Boston Computer Society's Atari BBS (617-396-
4607, this week the correct number!).
Michael lives in Niagara Falls, NY. He is a former Polyurethane
Research Chemist and is presently the pastor of the Niagara Presbyterian
Church.
###### THE 1993 Z*NET COMPUTER CALENDAR
###### Schedule of Shows, Events and Online Conferences
###### ----------------------------------------------------------------
### January 12-14, 1993
Networld '93 in Boston, Massachusettes
### January 13, 1993
The Atari ST RoundTable proudly presents The Independent Association of
Atari Developers (IAAD) RTC, Wednesday, January 13, 10pm EST. The IAAD
Board and many of its members will be on hand to share their experiences
in the marketplace. Find out about the trials, tribulations, and joys
of developing for your favorite computer! Ask about current and future
products! Meet the folks who bring your computer to life with software
and hardware enhancements! Attending for the IAAD: Dorothy Brumleve of
D.A. Brumleve, President of the IAAD, Nathan Potechin of DMC Publishing,
Chet Walters, WizWorks!, Jim Allen of FAST Technology, Nevin Shalit of
Step Ahead Software Inc., Doug Wheeler of ICD Inc., John Eidsvoog of
CodeHead Technologies, Chris Roberts of Dragonware, John Trautschold of
Missionware, David Fletcher of Ditek, Craig Harvey of Clear Thinking,
Bob Luneski of Oregon Research Associates, John Cole and Lee Seiler of
Lexicor, David Beckemeyer of Beckemeyer Development Tools, Mark O'Bryan
of Paradigm Software Products, John 'Hutch' Hutchinson of Fair Dinkum
Technologies, Greg Kopchak of It's All Relative and more.
### January 15-18, 1993
NAMM is the largest conclave of musicians each year. Held in Los
Angeles at the Anaheim Convention Center, the variety of sights at the
National Association of Music Merchandisers is wilder than at
Disneyland, just next door. Atari was the first computer manufacturer
to ever display at NAMM in 1987, and has become a standard at the shows.
A trade show for music stores, distributors, and professionals of every
strata, entertainers are seen everywhere at NAMM. Contact James Grunke
at Atari Corp for more information at 408-745-2000.
### January 19-22, 1993
CD-ROM Development Workshop from Multimedia Publishing to Data Archival.
UCLA Extension Bldg, Los Angeles CA. (310)825-3344, (310)206-2815 (fax)
### February 2-4, 1993
ComNet '93 in Washington, DC.
### February 6, 1993
The Great Connecticut Trading Fair, an Atari swap meet for Atari
computer users and owners, premiers in Stamford this year. Sponsored by
ACT Atari Group, an organization consisting of seven Atari user groups
from Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, this one-day event will be
held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Benedict's Social Hall, Sound View
Avenue, Stamford. Some commercial exhibitors have tentatively signed
up (Gribnif, Joppa, BaggettaWare, Derric Electronics and Danbury
Electronic Music), but center stage is reserved for Northeastern Atari
user groups and individual traders. Bargain hunters will find plenty of
ST and 8-bit hardware, software, peripherals and accessories, new and
used. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children under 12. Traders
can rent a table for as little as $10. Contact Brian Gockley, 18
Elmwood Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605 [Phone (203) 332-1721; E-Mail
B.GOCKLEY (GEnie) or 75300,2514 (Compuserve)]; or Doug Finch, 46 Park
Avenue, Old Greenwich, CT 06870 [Phone (203) 637-1034; E-Mail D.FINCH7
(GEnie) or 76337,1067 (Compuserve)].
### March 1993
CeBIT, the world's largest computer show with 5,000 exhibitors in 20
halls, is held annually in Hannover, Germany. Atari traditionally
struts its newest wares there, usually before it's seen in the USA or
anywhere else. In '93, the Atari 040 machines should be premiering, and
this is the likely venue. Third party developers also use this show to
introduce new hardware and software, so expect a wave of news from CeBIT
every year. Atari Corp and the IAAD coordinate cross-oceanic contacts
to promote worldwide marketing of Atari products, and this show is an
annual touchstone of that effort. Contact Bill Rehbock at Atari Corp
for information at 408-745-2000.
### March 13-14, 1993
The Sacramento Atari Computer Exposition is to be sponsored by the
Sacramento Atari ST Users Group (SST) at the Towe Ford Museum in
Sacramento, California. This show replaces the earlier scheduled, then
cancelled Northern California Atari Fest for the Bay Area, to have been
held in December 1992. A major two day effort, the SAC show is being
held in the special events area of the Towe Ford Museum, home of the
worlds most complete antique Ford automobile collection. As an added
bonus, admission to the museum is free when you attend the Expo. The
museum is located at the intersection of Interstates 5 and 80, just 15
minutes from the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport. Contact Nick Langdon
(Vendor Coordinator) C/O SST, P.O. Box 214892, Sacramento, CA 95821-
0892, phone 916-723-6425, GEnie: M.WARNER8, ST-Keep BBS (SST) 916-729-
2968.
### March 15-16, 1993
Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the New York Hilton Hotel in New
York City. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing,
software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's
leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile
Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry
experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to
build or improve your world of mobile computing.
### March 16-19, 1993
Image World - Washington DC at the Sheraton Washington.
### March 20, 1993
Philadelphia, PA area group PACS is holding their 16th annual Computer
Festival from 9 AM til 4 PM. It will be a multi-computer show with
Atari showings by the PACS Atari SIG's, NEAT, CDACC, and JACS clubs.
The Fest is to be at the Drexel University Main Building, 32nd and
Chestnut Streets in Pennsylvania. Contact for Atari display: Alice P.
Christie, 207 Pontiac Street, Lester, PA 19029, 215-521-2569, or 215-
951-1255 for general info.
### March 21-24, 1993
Interop Spring '93 in Washington DC.
### March 30 - April 1, 1993
Intermedia 93 at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose CA.
### May 3-5, 1993
Digital Video New York/MultiMedia Exposition at the New York Sheraton
in New York City.
### May 4-5, 1993
The 3rd Annual Networks and Communications Show returns to the Hartford
Civic Center. Companies such as Intel, Microsoft, DEC, DCA, IBM, and
MICOM will be exhibiting. For more information, contact: Marc Sherer
at Daniels Productions, 203-561-3250; fax: 203-561-2473.
### May 11-13, 1993
SunWorld '93 exposition and conference, held in San Francisco at the
Moscone Center. The second annual event is the largest trade show in
North America dedicated to the Sun, SPARC and Solaris industry.
SunWorld '93 will feature a full day of in-depth tutorials, which are
being developed in association with Sun Educational Services, to be
followed by three days of conference sessions and an exposition. The
three-day exposition will feature more than 175 leading vendors in the
industry including Adobe Systems, AT&T, Computer Associates, Hewlett-
Packard, Informix Software, Insoft, SAS Institute, Solbourne, SPARC
International, Sun Microsystems, SunPro, SunSoft and WordPerfect. For
more information about attending SunWorld '93 call Lynn Fullerton at
(800) 225-4698 or to receive information about exhibiting contact David
Ferrante at (800) 545-EXPO.
### June 22-23, 1993
Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim,
California. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing,
software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's
leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile
Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry
experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to
build or improve your world of mobile computing.
### August 3-6, 1993
MacWorld Expo at the Boston World Trade Center, Bayside Exposition
Center and sponsored by MacWorld Magazine. This event is titled Boston
'93.
### September 18-19, 1993
The Glendale Show returns with the Southern California Atari Computer
Faire, V.7.0, in suburban Los Angeles, California. This has been the
year's largest domestic Atari event, year after year. Contact John King
Tarpinian at the user group HACKS at 818-246-7286 for information.
### September 20-22, 1993
The third MacWorld Expo, titled Canada '93 at the Metro Toronto
Convention Centre, sponsored by MacWorld Magazine.
### September 21-23, 1993
Unix Expo '93 in New York City, New York.
### October 7-8, 1993
Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the Chicago Mart/Expo Center in
Chicago, Illinois. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing,
software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's
leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile
Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry
experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to
build or improve your world of mobile computing.
### October 27-29, 1993
CDROM Exposition at the World Trade Center, Boston MA.
### November 7-10, 1993
GeoCon/93, an international conference and showcase for software
products developed outside the U.S. at the Royal Sonesta Hotel,
Cambridge, Mass. The conference program will include three days of
workshops on topics of interest to overseas developers entering the
U.S. market. Workshop presenters will discuss such issues as how to
negotiate distribution and licensing contracts, setting up a business in
the U.S., manufacturing and fulfillment, technical support, packaging,
research sources, and how to market through direct, retail, and catalog
channels. For additional information, contact Tom Stitt, associate
publisher, Soft letter, 17 Main St., Watertown, Mass. 02272-9154;
telephone 617-924-3944; fax 617-924-7288, or Colleen O'Shea, director,
Soft letter Europe, 2 um Bierg, 7641 Chirstnach, Luxembourg, telephone
35.2.87119; fax 35.2.87048.
### November 15-19, 1993
COMDEX Fall '93. Las Vegas Nevada.
If you have an event you would like to include on the Z*Net Calender,
please send email via GEnie to Z-NET, CompuServe 75300,1642, or via
FNET to node 593 or AtariNet node 51:1/13.0. Show listings are also
published in AtariUser Magazine.
###### PERUSING GENIE
###### Compiled by Ed Krimen
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Some messages may have been edited for correct spelling, grammar, and
irrelevant material.
DSP - WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
--------------------------
(Jerry Pournelle RT)
-=> In the "Computer Science" category (4)
-=> from the "Atari TT030" topic (15)
Message 193 Wed Dec 30, 1992
ATARIAUSTRIA [Johannes W.] at 12:26 EST
The Falcon's DSP owns 96K of RAM for storing its programs. This may not
sound like much, but is way enough for a DSP to do very interesting
things. It can also work in parallel with the 68030, acting as a kind
of 'programmable coprocessor' and adding its processing power (about 16
MIPS) to the system.
You can program it to do a wide variety of tasks. DSPs are the central
building blocks of fax modems and high speed modems. You only need a
low cost external adapter box and appropriate software to turn the
Falcon into such a modem. This should soon be available for the Falcon
range of Atari computers.
Other areas where the DSP shines are: picture compression and
decompression, graphics manipulation (e.g. enhancing contrast,
accelerating redraws), pattern recognition (read: _fast_ OCR
applications), voice recognition, 3D animation, noise reduction, voice
mail systems, synthesizers...
And don't underrate the sound field. A DSP gives you equalisation, echo,
reverb, chorus, flanging, phasing, harmonising, distortion, digital
mixing in real time and you should be able to use about three or four of
these effects simultanously almost without slowing down the 68030 at
all.
So the 'little' difference of having a DSP in your computer turns out to
really being a big difference. BTW, this post is by no means biased by
the fact that I happen to work for Atari. :-)
-Johannes
=====================================
STOCK PERSPECTIVE
-----------------
-=> In the "Atari Corporation Online" category (14)
-=> from the "Atari Stockholders, Let's Talk" topic (44)
Message 4 Sun Jan 03, 1993
NEVIN-S at 20:46 EST
Atari stock hit a 12-month low last week, at 1 1/16th I believe (this is
$1.06 per share). There was a lot of activity, perhaps from folks
selling the stock for losses, to balance out gains made in other stocks
(this is a common tactic used to reduce income tax liability).
Although Atari is a publicly-traded corporation, the company is
controlled by one family, and thus is not really accountable to its
shareholders in the way other publicly held companies are. For example,
it would be virtually impossible for the shareholders to elect an
outside slate to the board of directors, or to effect a change of
Atari's corporate leadership, as happened at General Motors this year.
There are plenty of other companies like Atari, where one family owns
the majority of stock, and where the shareholders are pretty much 'along
for the ride' without any real power. Walmart is another example. When
you have a genius like Sam Walton running the company, the ride is very
pleasant. Unfortunately, the Tramiels have not been able to steer Atari
in a positive direction, and this has resulted in its clearly abysmal
performance in the stock market.
Remember, as always, stocks can go up or down for a variety of reasons.
We might find Atari stock at $10 a share this time next year, or it
might be worth far less than a dollar. You never can tell.
--Nevin
=====================================
UPDATE BY SMALL
---------------
(Gadgets by Small RoundTable)
-=> In the "Welcome to the Gadgets by Small BB" category (1)
-=> from the "Merry Christmas, Gadgets RT'ers!" topic (27)
Message 1 Thu Dec 24, 1992
DAVESMALL at 20:13 EST
Gadgets wants to wish everyone the happiest of holidays!
I'm sorry to have been offline for a bit. The local cold settled into
the ol' lungs here at the Small family (probably came from the local
school/disease exchange where our kids go), and was headed towards
pneumonia. It took awhile for yon doctors to find the right pills
(e.g., most expensive) to cure it. In the mean time, we were just
zonked out.
It seems to be clearing up now, so there are signs of hope.
(Six dollars a PILL?)
On the TT/SCSI front, substantial progress has been made. Low level
assembler code now understands TT SCSI and various devices have been
tried. This involved a subtle, a partitioning scheme from Atari called
XGEM (been around since AHDI 3.02), and which I'm still leaning on real
hard to make it solid. It was Not Fun to put a Mac partition into an
XGEM "chain"; it tended to break the chain. Anyway, the front-end
(formatter, displayer, etc) is DONE except for any bugs that pop loose
(none so far) and I'm working on making removable media support
practical from *inside* Mac mode.
Spectre 3.1 HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED, contrary to press reports. The
reporters responsible have been shot.
Removable support, plus a few things I'm a hacking at while coughing
(little pun there), plus bug fixes for the cache thing and stuff, ought
to make this the best Spectre ever.
I NEED TT BASED USERS TO BETA TEST. You must have good sense about
backups! We have had bugs before that have blown away partition tables,
and you MUST be able to restore your data, for your sanity and mine.
Beta Testing is a mixed bag -- ask any of the people who have done it.
If you wish to, PLEASE send me an email describing your TT outfit (I am
particularly after people with lots of TT RAM, like the GE Soft board;
I have 8 meg TT RAM in my machine with that board, and love it!) because
of some, errr, new things I would *like* to release in this next cut.
Anyway, I'd like to get the testing rolling, get this one out the door,
then move on to Spectre 4.0. I have some news you will absolutely not
believe for that one!
-- Happy Holidays, All You!!! --
-- thanks, Dave Small & family
Gadgets by Small, Inc.
p.s. Proofread the note and I blew a sentence there. Time for another
pill. Six bucks down the hatch!
=====================================
EITHER YOU UUCP IT, OR YOU DON'T
--------------------------------
-=> In the "Telecommunications" category (8)
-=> from "The Internet" topic (15)
Message 80 Fri Jan 01, 1993
C.HERBORTH [-Chris-] at 20:38 EST
Jon, One of the people helping me set up my UUCP site was Craig Shore,
who lives in Christchurch, NZ. :) Small world, eh!
----- 8< -----
Koloth,
Getting set up as a UUCP site was, well, a bit of a pain. Here's a sort
of description of what I had to do:
1) Track down someone willing to give me a UUCP feed. What I found was
a consulting service that for $7/month allows you up to 1 hour/day of
connect time. I get email and about 20 newsgroups (the Usenet
equivalent of a CATegory on GEnie), which takes up around 3M of my
disk space, and usually takes around 20-30 minutes per day to update.
2) Found the UUCP software -- Hermes 1.04. Hermes was (is being?)
written by someone in Germany (hmm, that's _odd_), so most of the
documentation is in German. This took about 1M more of disk space.
You _will_need_ a hard drive before you can even consider setting up
a UUCP node.
3) Set up the software. This was easier said than done... Luckily, I
wasn't passing on my UUCP data (the news and email) to any other
computer, so it was at least one magnitude easier. I also had the
help of a friend in New Zealand, who's already running Hermes UUCP.
4) After you've configured the software (which involves putting things
in the right directories, creating directories, and editing a bunch
of text files to have the right setup), you activate it. The UUCP
program (uuwork) will call your UUCP feed, send any email and news
that you've written, and download any email or news for you.
Now, once a day or so, I type "uuwork tdkcs" in Gemini (tdkcs is my UUCP
feed site), and my mail comes and goes, etc.
It helps A LOT if you have someone with a working setup, especially if
they'll let you see a copy of their configuration files... ;-)
-Chris-
=====================================
MULTI-LINGUAL FALCON
--------------------
-=> In the "Atari Corporation Online" category (14)
-=> from the "Falcon 030 - Help and Questions" topic (41)
Message 86 Fri Jan 01, 1993
D.A.BRUMLEVE [kidprgs] at 20:08 EST
OK, ran some tests on the Falcon. The language configuration program I
am using provides the following choices:
US
UK
France
Spain
Italy
Germany
Swiss German
Swiss French
Using the Swiss French mode, the first 6 keys from the upper left of the
keyboard produce: QWERTZ.
Using the France mode, the first 6 keys from the upper left of the
keyboard produce: AZERTY.
Using the US mode, of course, the first 6 keys produce: QWERTY.
=====================================
256-COLOR FALCON DESKTOP
------------------------
-=> In the "Flaming - Debating - Discussions - Rumors" category (18)
-=> from the "Atari Falcon 030 Computer" topic (23)
Message 134 Fri Jan 01, 1993
J.COLE18 [John Cole] at 21:57 EST
The desktop isn't limited to 16 colors; however, the icons only use 16.
If you wanted, you could have a 256-color picture on the desktop or
whatnot, but the icons still will only use the first 16 VDI pens. Atari
programming guidelines encourage developers to leave the first 16 pens
alone in their apps since this will allow the desktop to remain in a
sane color scheme when running several programs at once under Multi-TOS.
Lexicor will have an application soon that will have 256-color icons, so
it isn't a limit, just a decision (a good one too, think of the poor
floppy folks who don't want to wait for their deskicon.rsc file to load.
The 16-color icons look very well done (the trash can is notably grody,
expecially the one with all the garbage drooling out of it. ;-)
What would really make the desktop is the background picture, and you
can have the max # of colors in the rez your in just as it is now. If
you're in a 256-color mode, the most you could have is 256. In a true-
color mode, then you could have a true-color Targa up (that would blow
the sock off of most people). The icons aren't that big anyway, there's
only so much detail you can put, there's no sense attempting to max out
an icon! Personally, I think our doing 256 ones is a bit much, but
someone has to do it. :-)
Everyone should be very impressed with the new desktop and expecially
the new AES, in this area, Atari has done a good job.
John @ Lexicor
=====================================
###### ATARINET
###### Network Overview
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
So, you've heard about AtariNet. This is a network for any BBS that
supports the Atari platform of home computer. There are already several
bulletin board systems worldwide participating and more are joining. A
listing of the current BBS's that are participating and the echos that
are available follow:
Zone 51 AtariNet Headquarters
Region 100
Host 1 - Twilight Zone, Longwood FL, Bill Scull
1-407-831-1613
4 - Steal Your Face, Brick NJ, Ed Lynch 1-908-920-7981
6 - MySTery BBS, Goose Creek, SC, David Blanchard 1-803-556-9730
8 - Alien BBS, Burlington NC, Mark Cline 1-919-229-4334
9 - Z*Net Golden Gate, Sunnyvale CA, Bob Brodie 1-510-373-6792
10 - Atari Base, Sunnyvale CA, Robert Brodie 1-408-745-2196
13 - Z*Net News Service, Middlesex NJ, Ron Kovacs 1-908-968-8148
14 - Information Overload, Riverdale GA, Ed June 1-404-471-1549
15 - Flightline BBS, Minneapolis MN, Craig Peterson 1-612-544-5118
Host 4 - Hologram Inc, Old Bridge NJ, Dean Lodzinski
1-908-727-1914
3 - Assasins Grove, Oshawa Canada, Jeff Mitchell 1-416-571-6965
4 - Aces High BBS, Matawan NJ, Richard Guadagno 1-908-290-1133
5 - StormShadow, Pasadena MD, Robert Lovelace 1-410-437-0243
Host 102 - Sunfox's Realm, Raleigh NC, Erik Williams 1-919-867-1844
Region 200 - AtariNet Headquarters II
Host 2 - AtariNet Nevada, Las Vegas NV, Terry May
1-702-435-0786
4 - Sports Line BBS, Henderson NV, Nick Hard 1-702-565-5271
5 - Left Over Hippies, Toronto Canada, Lesley Dylan 1-416-466-8931
10 - STarship, Lake Charles LA, Rich Tietjens 1-318-474-9432
11 - The Choice BBS, Las Vegas NV, Mark Woolworth 1-702-253-6527
12 - Thunder Hold, American Fork UT, Todd Harrington 1-801-756-2901
13 - Conqueror Connection, Fort Hood TX, John Curtis 1-817-539-1469
Host 201 - The DarkSTar BBS, Salt Lake City UT, Randy Rodrock
1-801-269-8780
5 - Acme BBS, Salt Lake City UT, Eric Nikolaisen 1-801-272-4243
Host 202 - The Wylie Connection, Wylie TX, Wes Newell
1-214-442-6612
7 - Aaron's Beard, Dallas TX, Troy Wade 1-214-557-2642
13 - The Wylie Connection, Wylie TX, Wes Newell 1-214-442-6612
20 - Outland Station, Ft Worth TX, John Stiborek 1-817-329-1125
21 - Psychlo Empire, Irving TX, Mark Corona 1-214-251-1175
Host 203 - AtariNet Midwest, Indianapolis IN, Bill Jones
1-317-356-5519
1 - The Zoo BBS, Indianapolis IN, Bill Jones 1-317-356-5519
2 - The Music Station, Webb City MO, Chris Richards 1-417-673-4926
3 - The Maligned ST, Urbandale IA, Mike O'Malley 1-515-253-9530
4 - The Crawly Crypt, Joplin MO, Jim Collins 1-417-624-1887
5 - BLAST BBS, Bloomington IN, Steve Johnson 1-812-332-0573
Region 300 - AtariNet Headquarters_III
Host 3 - The Space Station, Canyon Country CA, Tony Castorino
1-805-252-0450
3 - Atari ST Connection, Fresno CA, Brian Watters 1-209-436-8156
4 - Autoboss Atari Elite, Bunola PA, John Graham 1-412-384-5608
5 - The Yakima Atari ST BBS, Yakima WA, Pat Moffitt 1-509-965-2345
6 - FIDOdoor Support BBS, Vandenberg AFB, Bryan Hall 1-805-734-4742
7 - cyberSecT BBS, Cheney WA, Chuck Aude 1-509-235-4875
9 - The Mosh Bit, Vancouver WA, Mark Wallaert 1-206-574-1531
10 - Target Range, Paramount CA, Alan Dietrich 1-310-634-8993
11 - Sanctuary From The Law, Inyokern CA, Sean Price 1-619-377-3611
12 - MASATEK, Torrance CA, Valeriano Meneses 1-310-518-9524
13 - The Mind Keep, Citrus Heights CA, Jeff Fehlman 1-916-723-1657
14 - Callahan's Place, Ashford WA, Brian Lane 1-206-569-2911
15 - ST-Keep, Citrus Heights CA, Andrew Studer 1-916-729-2968
16 - H.B. SMOG, Huntington Beach CA, Jim Thingwold 1-714-969-5486
17 - Acey BBS, Yakima WA, Dick Grable 1-509-966-8555
Region 400 - AtariNet Headquarters IV
Host 5 - The Brewery, Ajax ON Canada, Don Liscombe
1-416-683-3089
3 - Rather Digital, Sudbury ON Canada, Steve Barnes 1-705-560-3115
Region 500 - AtariNet UK
Host 6 - AtariNet NW England, Stockport Cheshire UK, Daron Brewood
44-61-429-9803
2 - STun NeST Central, Stockport Cheshire UK 44-61-429-9803
3 - DigiBBS, Nykobing F Denmark, Flemming Nielsen 45-54-858385
Region 600 - AtariNet Headquarters VI
Host 501 - AtariNet Germany, Koeln Germany, Frank Brodmuehler
49-221-248285
8 - Apolonia, Essen, Peter Kaszanics 49-201-237509
Hub 100 - Hub AC, Aachen, Benedikt Heinen 49-241-408593
101 - Firemark BBS, Aachen, Benedikt Heinen 49-241-408593
102 - Dao-Lin-H'ay, Luegde, Joerg Spilker 49-5281-79372
103 - AtariNET, Milano Italy, Magic.Alex Badalic 39-382-488-515
Region 700 - AtariNet Headquarters VII
Host 701 - Peace Counter Computers, Fort ST John BC Canada
1-604-785-9512
Region 800 - AtariNet Headquarters VIII
Host 801 - Znet South Pacific, Wellington New Zealand, Chris Thorpe
64-4-4762853
||| AtariNet EchoList -- 31-Oct-92 |||
/ | \ Compiled by Terry May @ 51:2/0 / | \
-> The following echo is _required_ for ALL AtariNet sysops.
-> ONLY AtariNet sysops may have access to this echo.
Echo Name Description Moderator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A_SYSOP AtariNet SysOps 51:1/0 - Bill Scull
-> The following echoes are _required_ for AtariNet moderators
-> and hosts, but may be picked up by ANY AtariNet sysop.
-> ONLY AtariNet sysops may have access to this echo.
Echo Name Description Moderator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A_ECHO AtariNet echoes discussion 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_TEST AtariNet test echo 51:1/0 - Bill Scull
-> The following echoes are available to all interested AtariNet sysops.
-> These echoes can and should be accessible to all users and points.
Echo Name Description Moderator
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A_4SALE Atari products for sale/wanted 51:1/11 - E Williams
A_ATARI Atari general discussion 51:2/4 - Nick Hard
A_BBS_ADS Atari supported BBSes 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_BBS_DOORS Atari BBS doors (externals) 51:1/6 - D Blanchard
A_COMMERCIAL_ADS Atari Commercial Ads 51:1/11 - E Williams
A_DTP Atari DeskTop Publishing 51:1/11 - E Williams
A_EXPLORER Atari Explorer Magazine 51:1/13 - Ron Kovacs
A_FIDODOOR FIDOdoor Support 51:3/6 - Bryan Hall
A_GENERAL General discussion 51:2/4 - Nick Hard
A_GRAPHICS Atari graphics 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_PROGRAMMING Atari programming 51:5/0 - D Liscombe
A_SOUND Atari sound/music 51:2/0 - Terry May
A_TECH Atari hardware tech talk 51:202/0 - Wes Newell
A_BINKLEY BinkleyTerm ST support [ Gated from Zone 1 ]
A_FIDO_ST FidoNet ST discussion [ Gated from Zone 90 ]
A_IOS_HELP IOSmail Support [ Gated from Zone 1 ]
A_FDS AtariNet File Descriptions
###### DAVID LETTERMAN TOP 10
###### From The We Needed To Fill The Issue With Something Department
###### ---------------------------------------------------------------
Top 10 Reasons We Stopped Doing the Top 10 List for A While - 2-20-92
10. Kids spilled Pepsi in Top 10 machine.
9. Too busy working on slogan, "Pork: The Other White Meat".
8. Got tired of people calling me "Top 10 Boy".
7. Torn rotator cuff.
6. Lazy American writers too hungover to work.
5. Had crazy idea people would enjoy more banter with Paul.
4. Drunken vagrant we bought them from disappeared in the marsh.
3. El Nino.
2. Too buys spending time with my new number one lady, Gennifer Flowers
1. With the lists, the show was just too funny.
Top 10 Ways Bush Can Bring Up His Approval Rating - 2-21-92
10. Dump Barbara; marry Alberto Tomba.
9. Put entire national debt on his Mastercard.
8. Consistently refer to Democratic frontrunner as "Stongas."
7. Revive Reagan's sure-fire "free cheese" promotion.
6. Give Saddam Hussein an ultimatum; then kick his butt again.
5. Deliver next televised speech from captain's chair of the Starship
Enterprise.
4. Get it on with a happenin' lady.
3. Read my lips: fire Quayle's ass.
2. Free plastic whistles!
1. Go back to Japan and boot on Miyazawa again.
Top 10 Rejected Pepsi Slogans - 2-25-92
10. Sodium benzoate -- always had it, always will!
9. When R.C. Cola's just not good enough!
8. Guaranteed to attract yellowjackets.
7. The mild corrosive you can drink!
6. Suck me through a straw!
5. Gives you that phlegmy feeling in the back of your throat.
4. Pork: the other white meat.
3. The new official soft drink of Clarence Thomas.
2. Enough caffeine to make Buddy Ebsen mambo.
1. It's fizzy and brown!
Top 10 Signs You've Hired a Bad Campaign Manager - 2-26-92
10. His first day on the job he begins drafting your concession speech.
9. Show's up at rallies wearing "I'm with stupid" T-shirt.
8. Encourages crowds to give you a "Heil Hitler" salute.
7. He has a spy infiltrate Jerry Brown's headquarters.
6. Only photo opportunity he arranges is you in a hot tub with hookers.
5. Campaign song is "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
4. Under "past employment" on his resume you see the word "Dukakis."
3. He signs that "Hey Vern" guy to do your commercials.
2. You find yourself doing a lot of campaigning in Canada.
1. Recommends pretty-boy senator from Indiana as running mate.
Top 10 Things Overheard at Liz Taylor's 60th Birthday Party at
Disneyland - February 27, 1992
10. "Oh... birthday! I thought it was her 60th marriage."
9. "Thank you Larry darling for the lovely card and the $5 bill."
8. "Actually, Miss Taylor, we had planned to slice the cake and give
some to the other guests."
7. "A coupon for the Betty Ford Clinic! Thank you!"
6. "Is this the line to Space Mountain -- or the line to Marry Liz?"
5. "You're the birthday girl! Of course you can have another side of
beef!"
4. "How many of the dwarves are ex-husbands?"
3. "Fortensky! They need more ice water at table six!"
2. "It's the thawed-out body of Walt Disney! Run for your lives!"
1. "You were married to Liz? Hey -- me too!"
Top 10 Signs the Company You Work for Is Going Under - 2-28-92
10. They start paying everyone in sea shells.
9. The Dairy Queen on the corner is threatening a hostile takeover.
8. When you say, "See you tomorrow," the watchman laughs
uncontrollably.
7. The chairman walks by your desk and says, "Hey, Hey! Easy on the
staples!"
6. The initials of your company are "G.M."
5. Conference room has been turned into chinchilla farm.
4. Tartikoff quits.
3. Conversations at the water cooler are mainly with yourself.
2. Your boss casually asks you if you know anything about starting
fires.
1. You get a lot of memos in Japanese.
# # #
**--DELPHI SIGN-UP--** **--GENIE SIGN-UP--**
============================|============================
To sign up for DELPHI call | To sign up for GENIE call
(with modem) 800-695-4002. | (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection hit return | Upon connection type HHH
once or twice. At Password: | and hit return. Wait for
type ZNET and hit <return>. | the U#= prompt and type in
| the following: XTX99436,
| GEnie and hit return.
============================|============================
**--COMPUSERVE SIGN-UP--**
------------------
To sign up for CompuServe service call (with phone) (800)
848-8199. Ask for operator #198. You will then be sent a
$15.00 free membership kit.
=========================================================
**--ATARINET INFORMATION--**
--------------------
If you'd like further information or would like to join
AtariNet-please contact one of the following via AtariNet
or Fido: Bill Scull Fido 1:363/112 AtariNet 51:1/0, Dean
Lodzinski Fido 1:107/633 AtariNet 51:4/0, Terry May Fido
1:209/745 AtariNet 51:2/0, Tony Castorino Fido 1:102/1102
AtariNet 51:3/0, Don Liscombe AtariNet 51:5/0, Daron
Brewood Fido 2:255/402 AtariNet 51:6/0. You can also call
the Z*Net News Service at (908) 968-8148 for more info.
========================================================================
Reprints from the GEnie ST Roundtable are Copyright (c)1993, Atari
Corporation and the GEnie ST RT. Reprints from CompuServe's AtariArts,
AtariPro, AtariVen, or Aportfolio Forums are Copyright (c)1993, CIS.
========================================================================
Reprints from AtariUser Magazine are Copyright(c)1993, Quill Publishing.
All AU articles MAY NOT BE REPRINTED without the written permission of
the publisher. You can subscribe and read ALL of the informative
articles each and every month by contacting Quill at (818) 246-6277.
For $15.00 you will receive 12 issues. Send your payment to AtariUser
Magazine, 249 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 332, Glendale, California,
USA, 91203. Foreign delivery is $30.00 in US funds.
========================================================================
Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari Falcon030,
TOS, MultiTOS, NewDesk and BLiTTER, are trademarks of Atari Corporation.
All other trademarks mentioned in this publication belong to their
respective owners.
========================================================================
**--** Z*NET OFFICIAL INFORMATION **--**
=========================================================
Z*Net Atari Online Magazine is a weekly online publication covering the
Atari and related computer community. Material published in this issue
may be reprinted under the following terms only: articles must remain
unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each
article reprinted. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise
noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups
and not for profit publications. Opinions present herein are those
of the individual authors and do not reflect those of the staff. This
publication is not affiliated with the Atari Corporation. Z*Net, Z*Net
News Service, Z*Net International, Rovac, Z*Net Atari Online and Z*Net
Publishing are copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing, PO Box 0059,
Middlesex, NJ 08846-0059, Voice: (908) 968-2024, BBS: (908) 968-8148,
(510) 373-6792.
===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==
Z*Net Atari Online Magazine
Copyright (C)1993, Syndicate Publishing - Ron Kovacs
===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==
-----------------------------------------
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