Atari Explorer Online: 17-Apr-93 #0208
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 04/20/93-09:18:53 AM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: Atari Explorer Online: 17-Apr-93 #0208
Date: Tue Apr 20 09:18:53 1993
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:: Volume 2 - Issue 8 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 17 April 1993 ::
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:: ::
:: ATARI .............. News, reviews, & solutions ............ ATARI ::
:: EXPLORER ............ for the online Atari .......... EXPLORER ::
:: ONLINE ................. Community .............. ONLINE ::
:: ::
:: Published and Copyright (c) 1993 by Atari Corporation ::
:: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: Editor .................................. Travis Guy AEO.MAG ::
:: Assistant Editor GEnie................ Ron Robinson EXPLORER.1 ::
:: Assistant Editor CompuServe.......... Albert Dayes AEO.1 ::
:: Assistant Editor Delphi......... Andreas Barbiero AEO.2 ::
:: News Editor ............................... Lyre AEO.3 ::
:: Editor-at-Large ..................... Ed Krimen AEO.5 ::
:: Hardware Editor .............. Britton Robbins AEO.4 ::
:: Internet Editor .................. Tim Wilson AEO.8 ::
:: Atari Artist ..... Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek EXPLORER.2 ::
:: ::
:: Contributors ::
:: """""""""""" ::
:: Gregg Anderson ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: Editorial Advisory Board ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: President, Atari Corporation........................Sam Tramiel ::
:: Director of Application Software...................Bill Rehbock ::
:: Director, Computer Marketing ........................Don Thomas ::
:: Director of Communications...........................Bob Brodie ::
:: Corporate Director, International Music Markets....James Grunke ::
:: Atari Explorer Magazine............................Mike Lindsay ::
:: ::
:: Telecommunicated to you via: ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: GEnie: AEO.MAG ::
:: CompuServe: 70007,3615 ::
:: Delphi: AEO_MAG ::
:: Fnet: AEO Conference, Node 706 ::
:: AtariNet: AEO Conference, Node 51:1/10 ::
:: ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Table of Contents
* From the Editors ......................................... Perspective.
* Data Dayes ................. Albert wraps up our look at Atari Works by
looking under the hood at the database.
* Atari Artist ....................... A closer look at the newer Cubase/
Falcon030 offerings.
* Bill Rehbock's GEnie RTC ................... Hot new Falcon030 products
debut at CeBiT 93.
* Andreas' Den ............ Thoughts on the Pentium, monitor size, market
size, and the state of home brew beer.
* Brodie & Pradip's GEnie RTC ............... Atari Works under the GEnie
spotlight!
* Drivezilla Returns! .............. He's not done! More on Gregg's quest
for the Fujistu hard drive.
* Brodie & James Grunke's GEnie RTC ........ A look at the Falcon030 from
Atari's music meistro.
* Krimen on GEnie .............................. Ed gives us some topical
messages found on GEnie.
* Atari Users Online: Notess from the Internet ........ Power TCommuning,
Atari style.
* GEnie News .......................... New files & happenings on Atari's
Official Online Resource.
* Shutdown .................................................... Hindsight.
--==--==--==--==--
||| From the Editors ....... Atari Explorer Online: The Next Generation
||| Travis Guy
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG
-------------------------------------------------------------------
There's been a lot of focus lately online on negative aspects - some
people have expended a lot of time and effort to generate negative
news out of thick air.
In my last editorial, I asked everyone to let their dealers know that
Atari will not ship Falcon030s to them unless they return a signed
copy of Atari's new Authorized Dealer Agreement.
There, I said it in one sentence. Simple.
The response (in terms of signed ADAs) since then has floored me. Bob
Brodie told me Friday afternoon that signed ADAs have FLOODED his
office. I can't repeat the numbers, but they are on the order of many
times over what I expected.
Thanks to everyone who helped in getting the word around. A special
thanks goes to Joe Mirando of STReport, who requoted an online message
of mine! You have a class act there, Joe.
The response (in terms of wasted time and thick, hot, humid air) has
floored me as well. It seems that the same "mouthpieces" who like to
drag anyone at Atari over the coals for any imagined slight have...
imagined another slight. I could go on, refuting point after point,
but we would all end up nauseous.
Atari isn't dead or dying - despite what some would like to see happen
- as a matter of fact, here's some good news from Atari. I'm not using
rose colored glasses here - not everything is peachy keen - but there
is good news. Progress is being made.
First up, a batch of US/North American dealer demo units arrived in
Sunnyvale early this week, and are being checked out. They should be
on their way to dealers as I write. (Don't let anyone put a spin on
this event, it was announced that they were dealer demo units
Wednesday night. See Bob Brodie's Wednesday night RTC transcript in
this issue.)
Second, these units were each hand inspected and checked out by Atari
Corp. (a double check, no less!), and Atari Works was also installed
on each machine. So when you go to your dealer to check out the
Falcon030s, you can get a look at Atari Works also.
Third, as in any other corporation, the revolving door goes both ways.
People come in as people leave. Over the past few weeks, seventeen
people have been quietly hired by Atari. Gabriel Baum is assuming
duties as a new VP for entertainment software, and the game division
(Lynx and the soon to be Jaguar) is launching its first big push this
weekend.
Fourth, James Grunke will be attending the National Association of
Broadcasters convention in LA. For those of you who don't know that
much about the NAB, this convention can be roughly compared to our
industry's COMDEX. It's hard, if not impossible to rent a hotel room
in LA next week. James will be on hand to spread the word about the
Falcon030's marriage of video and audio. I will try to have a report
from him for our next issue.
Fifth, there's a big mailing going out this weekend to all of Atari's
Canadian dealers. You have not been forgotten! Watch those mailboxes,
eh.
Last, Mike Lindsay and Darren Meer are still at Atari Corp., and are
still in charge of Atari Explorer. The magazine is restructuring to
find ways to reduce its costs. Explorer has to bring its costs in line
with other magazines in the market. As soon as everything is settled
with Explorer, you will have the final word right here, in AEO.
For those of you who are worried, Atari is restructuring to make
themselves competitive in the computer market. It is not dead. Save
those lilies. Like in 1985, Atari is starting all over again: A new
computer line (that is amazingly compatible with their last line), new
dealers, etc. Look at other computer companies first, then look at
Atari. Atari Explorer is not feasible for the current market, and Mike
and Darren are working to make it so.
As editor of AEO (and not a employee of Atari), I feel it is my duty
to produce a publication to keep Atari users informed. I want to
clarify that AEO's purpose is not to divulge confidential company
policy - nor should we speculate on what Atari is going to do. It is
our job to let you know what Atari IS doing.
Enough of the foofraw. On with this week in the World Atari.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Data Dayes
||| By: Albert Dayes
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.1 CompuServe: 70007,3615
-------------------------------------------------------------------
In the past several issues of AEO, Andreas and Lyre discussed the Word
Processor and Spreadsheet portions of Atari Works. This installment
will focus on the Database part of the program.
The database module of Atari Works allows one to access a group of
non-homogenous data elements in many different ways. One method can be
as an individual record and another as a group of records.
//// Import/Export
When one first runs Atari Works, and selects "database", one is given
the option creating a new database or importing an existing database.
The options for importing a pre-existing dBASE III data file (also
known as a dbf file) is straight forward. Select "Import file" (or
SHIFT-CONTROL-O) under the FILE menu and then choose the DBF file
option. A file selector appears and the file is imported quickly.
The advantage of the DBF file is that most database programs can
import and export that file type (i.e., SuperBase, dbMAN, etc).
The other option is a delimited ASCII file and the delimiter can be
changed by the user (tab, space, comma, and pipe symbols are common
ones). This allows for a much greater variety of import/export
capability since ascii data files are generated and used by many
programs.
//// Grab and Drag
The other method is to create a database file from scratch. This is
what can be thought of the grab and drag phase. Selecting NEW
(CONTROL-N) option under the FILE menu one begins the process of
creating a database.
A dialog box appears and one inputs the name of the desired field.
This process continues until the user selects the done option. Now
the grab operation begins. The entire screen is a blank form and one
places the fields anywhere he/she wishes on the screen. All of the
fields are currently in a linear layout from top to the bottom of the
screen.
Moving the mouse cursor over the field name and pressing the left
mouse button allows one to drag the field to any position. After the
position is found one can stretch the data portion of the field
accordingly. By grabbing (selecting a region with the mouse and
holding down the left mouse button) the right end of the field one can
change the size of the field from 1 to 255 characters in length.
Also with each field comes a series of attributes of which some are
listed below.
TYPE: DISPLAY: DATE: STYLE: ALIGN:
====================================================================
text general short bold left
numeric fixed medium underline center
date currency long italic right
time percent show day comma
computed
The following shows examples of some of the different formats:
short date 2/13/1993
medium date Feb 13, 1993
long date February 13, 1993
long date +
show day Sunday, February 13, 1993
In Currency formats: (negative values are enclosed in () ).
$56.00
($403.42)
Adding the comma option yields results like:
$45,000.23
One can then try out the many other options to yield the results
he/she is looking for. It is very simple to change the field type at
anytime after creation of the database as well.
In using the computed fields one types in a formula using the fields
and or functions needed to perform a specific calculation. The
formula remains hidden until any part of the column is selected then
the formula appears on the data entry line at the top of the screen.
The dynamic nature of the database allows you to add fields specially
for calculations during the course of your work. Then can be removed
at any time so one does not have to create a new database everytime
one needs to perform some specific calculation.
If a mistake is made when spelling a field name one can just double
click on field name and change it. One of the best features of
database is that everything is dynamic. The field names can be
changed, the field sizes, fonts and more fields can be added at any
time. So as your needs change your database can change with you.
//// Two Modes of Viewing Data
There are two basic modes of operation. One being the form view and
the other being the list view. Basically one can think of the form
mode as examining a single record while the list mode can show several
records at once.
By double clicking (while in form mode) on any blank space that is
not currently occupied by a field the mode changes instantly to list
mode. This list mode looks the same as the spreadsheet but the way
data is acted upon is very different. Double clicking to the left of
all the records in list mode will take you back to the form mode.
In the list mode you can move the fields (columns) into any order you
wish at any time. Just click on the column name (field name) and hold
down the mouse. Then drag it to the new position. The fields can
also be sized as well by grabbing the vertical line that separates any
two fields. This will size the field size to the left of that line.
It very useful to have the complete freedom to dynamically change
anything about the database at will.
//// Multiple Files
In moving data around the most popular functions are:
1) CUT ( CONTROL-X )
2) COPY ( CONTROL-C )
3) PASTE ( CONTROL-V )
4) DELETE ( DEL )
The functions are also found under the EDIT menu. One of the most
useful features of Atari Works is the ability to have multiple files
open at any one time. These can be any combination of word processing,
spreadsheets, graphs or database files.
For database users this is very useful way to merge selected data from
one database file to another. Every file that is open is treated as a
completely separate entity. One can select certain records in one
database file and then paste them into another. The makes updating
databases a very simple operation.
//// Selecting the right information
To display only the information a person needs is very easy with Atari
Works. For example one needs to find all records that have the word
"ATARI" in them. Choosing the SELECT menu and the match records
(CONTROL-M) a dialog box appears. One types in the word Atari and
presses return. Within a few seconds all records that have the word
Atari in any field will be selected. This is a very simple method but
one can easily get more complicated by using the select records
function.
Other features include the ability to search all fields for a matching
value. One can search text fields for sub-strings for example. One can
include or exclude non text fields if the user so desires. It works
equally well on numeric and non-numeric fields and is a very useful
when one needs to jump to a specific field within any record. This is
very helpful when one needs to edit fields with a specific record as
well.
By choosing the SELECT menu and the option select records (CONTROL-R)
you can perform a more complicated query. This gives the user more
control over the entire process of selecting right information. The
three steps necessary for making a query are as follows:
a) choose field name
b) choose relational operator (operation to perform)
c) value to compare against
For example how does one find out how many people in New York and pay
90% in taxes? Basically this requires two parts and both parts must
be true.
1). live in New York
2). pay 90% in taxes
The relational operators that act upon a field are as follows:
is less than
is less than or equal to
is equal to
is not equal to
is greater than or equal to
is greater than
In the database there are fields "city" and "tax" which will be used.
The formula Atari Works creates is as follows:
city is equal to New York AND tax is equal to 90%
The steps one has to follow involve using the rules. The first step
involves selecting the field to act upon. City is chosen first and
the operation "is equal to" and the the value is New York. The second
step selects the Tax field, operation "is equal to" and the value 90
percent.
When selecting a field name one does not have to type in the name but
select it from a scrollable list. The same is true for the operators.
The only input required is at the rule or value input which is the
last part needed for any rule.
This is a very easy to install the rules and select how the rules
work with one another using AND or OR. In this case it would work as
follows:
1. Choose the field CITY
2. Choose operator "is equal to"
3. Input NEW YORK for the value or rule
4. Install Rule
5. Choose the field TAX
6. Choose operator "is equal to"
7. Input 90 for value or rule
8. Install rule
9. Choose the AND option
One can perform a much more complicated query than is listed here but
it is just to give one the idea how this would work.
//// How does one restart?
There is an option under the SELECT menu called show all (CONTROL-E)
which displays all the records in the database. After one has
selected specific records one can view/select all of them by using the
command show all.
//// Fonts and the Display
The Fonts play a very useful role in way one accesses the information
in the database. If one want to see more records on the screen at one
time during the list mode one can reduce the size of the font to view
even more records. So fonts can play a very important role in
addition to making the output look spectacular.
//// Report Generation
Report generation follows the same principles involved with selecting
records. The main difference is the output is sent to the printer.
There are other features as well such as the ability to sum a field,
sub-total a field and start a new page after a sub-total. Using all
of the options discussed earlier one should be able to generate
reports very quickly.
//// Conclusion
The database allows one to add and subtract fields and records at
will. The dynamic nature of the Atari Works database module is what
makes it so useful. In addition, the user can sit and down and start
almost immediately without having to read the manual too much, except
for reference purposes. The other features include the ability to mail
merge with the word processor, generate reports, and change fonts and
sizes with very little work involved. In working with Works it's easy
to forget that there are other modules in the same package other than
the one you are currently using. It seems strange sometimes that one
just has to open a different file type (spreadsheet or word processor)
to access that part of the program. All in all, Atari Works is one of
the most exciting integrated software packages I have seen in a long
time.
/*---------------------------------------------------------------*/
GLOSSARY:
ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
database = A collection of logically related records.
data dictionary = A list of all the files, fields, and variables used
in a DBMS.
data element = see field for definition.
data structures = The relationships between data elements in a
computer file.
dBASE III = A relational database program by Borland/Ashton-Tate
dbf = general name used when speaking data files in used in the
program dBASE III. An example of a filename: RADICAL.DBF
DBMS = DataBase Management System - the collection of hardware and
software that organizes and provides access to a database.
delimiter = A symbol that serves to mark the beginning or the end.
export = The capacity to write information from one program so it can
be used by another program.
field = An item of data made up of a number of characters, bytes or
codes and treated as a unit. This unit can be thought of as
a number, name or an address. Can also be thought of as a
column used to store a particular piece of information.
flat file database = General hierarchy (from highest to lowest)
1. single database file
2. record
3. field
import = The capacity to read information generated from another
program.
query = Retrieval request and is expressed as search criteria.
record = A data structure in which there are a number of named
components, called fields. These fields are not necessarily
of the same type.
relational operator = A symbol used to compare to values. It
specifies a condition that may be either true or
false.
select = To pick out a group of records from a database according to
the specifications provided by the user.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Artist
||| Pete Donoso & Fadi Hayek
/ | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [ ATARI ARTIST ] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
First off, we'd like to apologize for having missed the last issue
of Atari Explorer Online. There was a mix-up on the actual deadline,
and as often is the case the deadline had passed before we could wrap
everything up.
Speaking of which....
Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
= =
- -=-=-=- [ M U S I C N E W S ] -=-=-=- -
= =
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Last issue we told you about the excitement developing over the
release of a number of new music software products by Steinberg for
the Atari Falcon030 and the ST/STe/TT030 line of computers. For those
of you who missed it, one of the most significant releases centered
around a reasonably priced Digital Multitrack Recording system
utilizing Cubase Audio, coupled with Yamaha's CBX-D5. Coming in at an
estimated price of about $5500, the various hardware components would
include an Atari Falcon030 with a 65 meg hard drive & 4 megs of RAM,
monitor, and, of course, the CBX_D5 itself, which is capable of
yielding 4 tracks of digital recording, mixing and processing - a feat
never before witnessed by mortal musician at such a reasonable
turn-key system price. And, if you already own an Atari ST/STe/TT030
with at least two megs of RAM, a hard drive and monitor, the remaining
purchase price covering the CBX-D5 unit and Steinberg software drops
to around $3000.
For the average tight-budgeted musician however, it's still somewhat
of a small fortune. That's when Steinberg stunned the Atari community
with the decision to release another version, presently referred to as
"Cubase Audio For The Falcon", which offers 8-channel digital audio
recording on an Atari Falcon030 without the need for any other
additional hardware other than a fast hard disk! This may well end up
being the proverbial straw that finally broke the high price bracket
for purchasing an integrated multitrack recording, sampling, mixing
and MIDI sequencing workstations.
Last time we delved into the specific features of both Cubase
Audio/CBX-D5 as well as the CBX-D5 itself. Now let's look a little
further into the details of Steinberg's "other" Cubase Audio release.
//// The Hard Facts
Although the Falcon030 can achieve 8 channels of digital audio, the
SCSI II standard can only support 4 tracks of simultaneous hard disk
recording and playback. However, because of the Falcon030's unique
architecture the other four channels can be utilized - and realized -
in RAM! These four channels are manipulate by Cubase Audio as sample
voices, similar to a polyphony voice feature available on most current
samplers today. And, like the samplers of today, the number of sounds
available at any one time is dependent on both their individual
sampling time and the amount of overall RAM memory they take up in
loading. Needless to say, a Falcon030 with the maximum 14 megs of RAM
will prove to be most versatile in its overall ability to handle these
multiple samples.
Having these additional four channels, you can use them to playback
drum samples, background voices - in fact, anything that you might
otherwise use an outboard sampler for. This means another four tracks
of digital audio in RAM is available in addition to four SCSI
II-routed tracks, for an awesome total of 8 tracks of digital audio -
all playing out of the Falcon030's integrated digital-to-analog
converter. But wait... there's more!
No recording studio is complete without effects processors, so
Steinberg has cleverly provided Cubase Audio For The Falcon with the
additional ability to access the Falcon030's DSP for adding such
effects as Reverb, Delay and EQ directly to your digital recordings!
Although you're limited to having but one of these effects available
uniformly to all digital audio tracks at a time, all parameters are
user-definable, right from within the Cubase Audio environment.
//// The Soft Facts
Upon close inspection, Cubase Audio For The Falcon bears a striking
resemblance to Cubase 3.1. All the power of MIDI Recording, Score
Layout and Printing, Mixing Automation - as well as full compatibility
with all Cubase Modules - are available here as well. These features,
combined with eight channels of digital audio makes Cubase Audio For
The Falcon the first fully integrated MIDI/Digital recording studio.
As devoted Cubase users will tell you, Cubase takes a "linear"
approach to MIDI sequencing, as opposed to the more common
"drum-machine-like chained loop" approach shared by the majority of
other sequencing programs. Any and all recordings are interpreted by
the program as "Parts", both functionally as well as visually. Apart
from being able to record various instruments on each track, a track
can also be sub-divided into a number of Parts. You can use this to
display your sections as: intro; verse; chorus; etc., or label them
as: various instruments; vamp; horn hits - any way that best serves
your method of arrangement. Cut, move, copy and paste functions are
quick and easy to do, and the program's modular approach lets you
allocate a minimum of your computer's memory by allowing you to load
only those features which you really need.
Cubase Audio displays its digital audio parts the same way as MIDI
Parts - as rectangular boxes - but audio Parts appear with a graphic
representation of the digital wave displayed right in the Part. The
"parts" architectural approach makes working with digital audio
amazingly flexible. One great advantage is being able to take
different versions of a song, along with any number of Parts from each
song version's various tracks and sections, and assemble a composite
MIDI/Digital Audio track simply by cutting and pasting them all onto a
new Track. The new Audio Track Class feature keeps all your audio
Parts well organized, and digital audio editing is handled within what
the program terms as the Audio Pool.
The Audio Pool is much like a regular Cubase Arrange window, except
it's dedicated to listing digital audio "events". An event can be
anything from a short recording, which you can treat as a sample for
looping, to a full musical passage. Length is limited only by
available hard disk space. Each event is connected to an audio
channel on the Falcon030, which has already been assigned a specific
track within Cubase Audio's Audio Pool, much like Cubase's ability to
assign a specific MIDI channel to each track.
Here, within the Audio Pool, you can cut, copy and paste actual
digital audio without ever touching a razor blade. Banish Silence is
another great new digital audio related feature. This allows you to
"gate" (silence) any unwanted noise that may appear on any Part
recorded on any audio channel during moments when nothing has actually
been recorded (such as the space between passages of a horn section's
various lines or hits). You can do this using both volume level and
duration, and actually erase these unwanted portions of hiss or noise
that may plague your otherwise clean recording.
This particular function has a number of advantages. First, it
greatly increases your hard disk's recording capacity by removing
unnecessary sections of silence that nevertheless still use up disk
space. It also avoids the need for noise gating, and can be an
invaluable tool in isolating short individual sound events, such as
separate drum samples.
Double clicking on an audio Part opens the Audio Editor, where the
waveform is displayed full-size. Another new and rather unique
feature is referred to as a Q Point. This helps define the exact point
in the audio material that will align to the nearest quantized value
of your overall recording. Amazingly, you can actually quantize
digital audio Parts so that they line up in sync with your
MIDI-related tracks! Cubase Audio boasts an impressive environment for
integrating ALL of it's various-source Part elements into a
perfectly-timed sequence. Rap artists will be especially excited about
this particular feature because it make synchronizing to sampled beats
a breeze.
Finally, a feature called Normalizing lets you adjust the volume of
all your audio tracks digitally. This lets you take your audio Parts
to their maximum dynamic range before overreaching the threshold of
digital distortion. All audio Parts are scanned for the loudest event.
It then boosts all other events proportionally, which also allows for
maintaining a uniformity of volume between all digital parts. This is
sort of like performing a volume-related pre-mix, or sub-mix of all
your audio tracks.
//// File Compatibility
Compatibility and upgradeability - two very important words in the
Home Studio game. Steinberg has managed to leap both these hurdles by
making audio files created with Cubase Audio For The Falcon 100%
compatible with its version for the CBX-D5. If your needs grow, you
can simply upgrade to Cubase Audio CBX, and expand to a full 8 tracks
of independent hard disk recording. MIDI songs created using the
Falcon030 version are fully compatible with any other version of
Cubase on any other supported computer system for that matter, as long
as you can effect a file format conversion.
The concept of a computer-based super workstation, where all your
musical production needs are handled under one unified environment
has been the dream of every musician, while persistently remaining the
nightmare of most budgets and the one glaring shortcoming of each
successive new product - until now! The Falcon030 combined with
Cubase Audio is the first real hope that an Integrated Workstation can
truly provide any and all production needs and still fall at an
affordable cost. At an estimated cost of $3000.00, that dream is close
at hand. You owe it to yourself to check out this truly incredible
package.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Steinberg's Studio Module
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
In the last decade, the introduction of MIDI has sprung a myriad of
new capabilities upon a large number of musicians, producers and
composers. It's given them a degree of overall control that may have
been only dreamed about at one time, but are certainly possible now to
any average home studio owner. A few years ago a composer had to rely
greatly upon his/her own imagination to "hear" how their score would
actually sound when eventually played by a live orchestra. Today
however, a composer sitting in front of his computer can, with the
combined power of sequencing software and a couple of synthesizers and
samplers, achieve practically the same sonic results as having
actually used a full symphonic orchestra - at any time of the day or
night, and all in the privacy of their own home! But, as with any
great breakthrough, there's often a duality to the "cutting edge" of
the technological blade.
As the romance with MIDI started to wear thin, users started wanting
more from this enticing new technology. More voices meant the
possibility for even more. More control started being interpreted as a
demand for having to do less and less to set up increasingly
complicated sets of varying MIDI functions from a number of
manufacturers, all of whom use their own individual protocols. As the
capabilities of individual synths increased, offering as much as 32
simultaneous voices from one synth alone, musicians still found
themselves wanting to purchase not just one, but a number of these
latest multi-timbral MIDI products. This, of course, only poses more
of a dilemma. How do you easily control this MIDI "octopus" while
keeping the majority of your energy for creating music without going
totally crazy?
At this year's annual NAMM convention, Steinberg presented yet
another ground-breaking answer to solution to these set of problem in
the form of an add-on module for its family of professional Cubase
sequencers. The new Studio Module adds four new windows to Cubase,
along with a host of editor/librarian features that allow you to
recall and reconfigure your studio setup at the touch of a button.
After loading the Studio module into memory, a brand new entry
appears from within Cubase's drop-down Module menu. Called,
appropriately enough, "Studio", you're given four selections: Setup,
Memory Manager, Total Receive, and Total Send. Let's look at what each
one does.
The Setup command opens a window where you can assign all the
various MIDI instruments in your home studio - up to 500 of them!
Descriptions can also be entered, including make, model and individual
ID numbers, if needed (ID Numbers are used to distinguish two or more
synths from the same manufacturer that are of a similar model, such as
a Proteus 1 and Proteus 2, for example ).
The MIDI Matrix feature offers you more efficient use of your MIDI
patch bay (if you happen to use one), to help you keep track of which
synth is connected to a specific MIDI port, and you can even display
specific attributes for each synth device for quick review. These can
range from a MIDI channel to a specific audio output assignment (the
more recent multiple-sound/voice synths have increased the usual
stereo out offering to as many as 8 or more individual outs).
Often the most frustrating part of recreating a sequence is finding
all the sounds that were loaded into your synths' memories. The user
has to go around and either individually configure their MIDI sound
gear for these sounds by hand, or load them up via a separate
dedicated or universal editor/librarian.
Well, the Memory Manager selection allows you to upload either all
or one specific kind of MIDI data from the instruments you've
installed and assigned within the Setup page. When you click on the
Load button, all the sounds and setups for all your pre-assigned
synths in the Setup window start flying into the Studio Module's
portion of allocated memory. A handy Info window even reveals an
individual unit's ROM (operating chip) version, as well as any other
details that may be particular to that device.
Once the sounds are in memory, a bank option presents you with a
list of patches, MIDI files, and system exclusive info. In addition,
a Macro Edit window is now accessible for editing the sound parameters
of each patch. The downloaded patches are integrated into Cubase's
familiar Arrange Window's instrument column. Previously each
instrument was limited to representing one MIDI channel. Now, when you
click and hold down the left mouse button on any instrument name,
you'll get an expanded version of the Instrument Section of Cubase,
where each track can now use more than one specific synth. A complete
list of all assigned synth instruments is available for each track.
This is great for configuring a multi-timbral synth over a number of
both tracks and different MIDI channels.
From there the Studio Module intelligently determines the patch
setup particulars of the assigned synth, and gives you a number of
selections to choose from as well. For example, if you had a Proteus,
patch numbers range from 000 to 128 - but if you also have a Korg
0/1w, the configuration changes to display a choice of Multi,
Combination or instrument patches. There's even a separate Item List
which contains all of the patch names your current sequence is using.
The more experienced MIDI user might feel driven to interrupt this
point to say, "Hey now, wait a minute - this is nothing new. It sounds
like the old familiar sys-ex transfer, and that's been an available
feature on a number of sequencers for a while now!"
For those of you who are still somewhat new to all the different
aspects of using MIDI, every module and synth has its own specially
assigned heading that is defined by a specific string of code - its
signature or label, so to speak. This clever ID allows you to send
lots of data within a single, large MIDI data stream and still be able
to successfully have only the relevant data filtered from the larger
stream and routed to that particular keyboard or module.
Sys-ex related data can contain multiple numbers of patch
information for any number of sound patches, along with all additional
setup data that may be a part of an individual sound. Only that
particular brand and version of synth capable of reading this coded
data, will accept it - all other synths that are nevertheless part of
the same MIDI network will completely ignore it.
Well, yes, a sys-ex dump does make things somewhat easier, but
working with sys-ex can still be tricky, even for the most familiar
user, and you also still need the use of an editor/librarian software
package to audition, catalogue, edit and store your sounds. These, and
other aspects of working with MIDI, have all played their role in
contributing to some serious hair loss for a number of musicians.
The Studio Module utilizes sys-ex, but uses a much more efficient
and far easier method of handling what amounts to a fairly large
amount of data. For those users who may find themselves longing for
individual sys-ex dump capability the Total Receive and Total Send
features offer the familiar standard dump feature capability. These
also provide a quick save- and-recall of all your synths, regardless
of whether they've been previously entered in the Setup window.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Steinberg's Cubase To Have A New Name
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cubase, as most users have known it, bases itself around a sequencer
which is accompanied by a variety of graphic editors, along with a
number of additional modules, including the Scoring and Mixer
editor/modules, which can optionally be configured for automatic
loading when the program boots up, memory permitting. Although the
next version, 3.5, which will also be fully Falcon030 compatible, is
due to be released sometime in the summer of '93, its title will be
changed to Cubase Score. A version called Cubase 2.5 will also
continue to be available, but without scoring capabilities. Present
owners of Cubase will be eligible to upgrade to Cubase Score, which
Steinberg will be handling in the same way as they would for any
ongoing upgrade for Cubase.
Cubase Score 3.5 will be offering a number of changes and
improvements. The Mixer module will have a newly-overhauled graphic
display, with greater mobility for moving and placing objects, as well
as the capability to display as many as 24 faders across a standard
Atari monitor screen.
As you may have already guessed by its new title, the most exciting
improvements will concern Cubase's familiar Scoring module. There'll
be an impressive number of new things you'll be able to add to your
printed sheet music and, although the program's present scoring
capabilities have certainly provided users with a well-rounded number
of features, Steinberg will have either added to or expanded on them
with a host of additional options.
Apart from a significant increase in speed of transcription, other
improvements will include:
More comprehensive control over grace notes.
Expanded tuplet capabilities (termed as N Tuplets) which will allow for
divisions of half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes in divisions
from a 2nd to a 15th.
Tabulature capabilities for use which will allow you to define a
variable-lined staff and assign each line to a particular string.
The ability to nest time signatures within each other.
Cross-staff beaming.
8 voice polyphony per voice (doubled from a previous 4 voices maximum)
A new Automatic Layout option which will allow you to configure
page numbering. More importantly, this option will offer the user
the capability to create, save and load their own layout formats as
templates. These will be able to contain repeat bars, endings,
rehearsal marks, staff and measure distances. In addition, you'll
also be able to import these layouts from another Arrangement of
your song or copy elements from one layout to the current score
page.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Definitely On the Drawing Board!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Reliable sources have confirmed that Steinberg is indeed working on
a multi-media based program that will combine the features of Cubase
Audio with a video/animation cut, paste and editing program. The
program promises to treat MIDI, digital audio and video equally using
the same familiar techniques for editing and assembling as Cubase and
Cubase Audio.
Steinberg has been running teaser adds in Germany and using the
current working title of "Multibase". Although a release date is being
targeted for two years from now, it would seem that the decision to
advertise a product that far in advance would lend credence to the
idea that it's probably more likely to being ready by either the end
of '93 or first quarter of '94 Multibase - it's not that far off!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Well, that's it for now. Once again, we welcome your comments,
suggestions and any interesting things you may want to see mentioned
here, so feel free to write to either of us on Genie at EXPLORER.2.
Next issue we'll be talking about the direction and future of
Desktop Publishing and Graphics, along with some news on updates for
familiar products as well as what may be ready for upcoming release,
along with a lexicon of terms for these subjects. In the following
issue we'll finally begin to assemble a lexicography of acronyms and
terms commonly used in talking about MIDI, and hopefully have some
news about Notator Logic.
Until next time, just remember...
-=-=-=-=- Today Is The Tomorrow You Dreamed About Yesterday. -=-=-=-=-
--==--==--==--==--
||| Bill Rehbock: April 7th GEnie RTC
||| Courtesy: GEnie Atari ST RT
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
(C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on
GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. 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 XTX99437,GENIE
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==========================================================================
Wednesday Night Real Time Conference
April 7, 1993
Host - Brian H. Harvey
Guest Speaker - Bill Rehbock
<[Host] BRIAN.H> On behalf of the Atari ST Roundtable, I welcome all of
you to this CeBiT Real Time Conference. Tonight I would like to welcome
WIlliam E. Rehbock. Bill is Atari's Technical Director of Software
Development.
Who is Bill Rehbock?
Bill bought his first ATARI computer at K-Mark, an 800XL, for $99.00.
He started selling computers from his basement and finally joined ATARI
in the summer of 1990 to replace Charles Cherry. At that time he was
responsible for DTP market and was Director of Application Software.
Bill went on to the supervising of the software development for the
Falcon computers, and development of MultiTOS a
With that out of the way, let us proceed.
Welcome Bill, do you have a few words to begin this evening RTC?
<B.REHBOCK> Good evening everyone. I will give you a quick overview of
the goings-on at CeBIT, in case you didn't catch my posting in cat. 11.
Here is a short overview of what I found to be the highlights of CeBIT.
It is certainly not all-encompassing, but I think it does convey the
level of excitement in Europe over the Falcon. I personally would like
to thank all of the developers that pulled together and produced the
fine Falcon software that was shown at the Atari stand.
MultiTOS, SpeedoGDOS, Atari Works
Normen Kowalweski from Atari Germany drew large crowds while demoing the
latest software offerings from Atari. Many of the developers were
displaying their software running with MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS. People
were very excited to hear that the products have been released to the
factory and that Falcons would be soon showing up with MultiTOS and
Speedo pre-installed. Blackmail - Digital Optical Analog
DOA is negotiating with several large European distributors (including
Compo) for distribution in Europe. Their Falcon-based voice mail system
is currently undergoing FCC Certification and is expected to be
available publicly by the end of May.
DA's Vektor - Digital Arts Digital Arts is the programming team that
produced Retouche and Didot. DA's Vektor is a key-frame animation
package that can perform 3D manipulation to 2D vector graphics, type,
and bitmapped pictures. It's presentation graphic abilities exceed
those of Macromind Director and Micrografix Designer. It retails for
less than $200.
Profiler - Application Systems Heidelberg Profiler is Application
Systems Heidelberg's new programming tool for their Pure C and Pure
Pascal environments. It is a quality application used for debugging and
optimizing programs.
TruePaint - HiSoft Falcon-optimized True Color Paint Package that
retails for $60.00. It has a huge variety of import and export formats
as well as simple animation capabilities.
Diamond Back/Diamond Edge - Oregon Research Bob Luneski's sanity-saving
hard disk utilities were shown with full Falcon SCSI and IDE support.
Photo Studio - Eurosoft Photo Studio is a low-cost retouching package
from France that is optimized for performing special effects and
retouching on previously scanned or PhotoCD images.
Compo announced that it would handle distribution of True Paint outside
of France. Chagall - Trade It Chagall is a mid-level true-color painting
package from Germany that has a very advanced feature set, including
high-end filtering, masking, and tinting. They hope to have the
details for North American distribution worked out quickly.
Superbase4 - HiSoft/Oxxi Superbase4 should be ready for official alpha
release within two or three weeks. The new version has full SpeedoGDOS
support and support for imbedding a wide variety of graphic data formats
into your database. It retains compatibility with Superbase Professional
and allows importing forms from Superbase Amiga. The report generator
is one of the finest I've seen on any platform and has the ability to
add graphics to the output such as placing boxes around totals.
Falcon/VME - Rhothron Rhothron showed a VME expansion connector that
plugs into the processor direct slot. The cable to the VME connector
comes out of the Falcon through the space at the cartridge port. They
were showing it working with the TKR Crazy Dots 32-bit true color board.
ColorDISC PCD - Color Concepts Color Concepts demonstrated all aspects
of PhotoCD, including a PhotoCD module for Calamus SL. Phillips,
Kodak, and Toshiba were all very impressed and surprised that we had
such a full implementation of PhotoCD on the Falcon. No other platform
has complete support for interactive/Portfolio PhotoCD yet.
MPEG Decompression - Brainstorm Brainstorm demonstrated 12 frames per
second on-the-fly MPEG video decompression using MPEG video clips from
Star Wars, Michael Jackson videos, news clips, etc. This is the same
company that wrote the JPEG routines for Atari. The JPEG routines
(320x200 decompression in less than one second) will be available to
developers at the end of April.
VROOM - Lhankor Lhankor showed an extremely fast Gran Prix racing game
optimized for Falcon. The game was still running in 16-color mode with
PSG sound, but they intend to release it in September with all new 256
and true color artwork and digital sound.
Overscan Titler/Genlock - Overscan/Compo One of the main features of the
huge video wall was the Overscan Video Titler. The titler makes full
use of SpeedoGDOS and works with all ST's, but is optimized for the
Falcon's overscan, overlay bit and color capabilities. The final
product will be shipping at the end of April and there will be a
NTSC/YC version as well as PAL/YC version.
Papyrus - ROM Software Papyrus shipped the latest version of their
high-performance word-processor that now includes advanced table
creation and calculation abilities. Papyrus has full color support and
is in the same league as Microsoft Word for Windows and WordPerfect for
Windows or the Mac. They signed up a yet-to-be announced North American
distributor while at the show. The product is scheduled to be available
in North America in about 6 weeks.
InShape - Alexander Thomsen With my urging, and the support from Normen,
InShape has spent the last seven months rewriting their key-frame video
rendering package. It can be used to create photo-realistic animations
using CAD 3D objects and multiple light sources and cameras. It allows
the user to be the movie director, adjusting the positioning of
everything in the scene and directing the movement of objects.
Xenomorph (Phoenix) - Lexicor Lexicor had their German distributor
demonstrating Phoenix, Lexicor's scene rendering package. Phoenix is
unique in the fact that it integrates with the original Cyber Control
desk accessory that was written by Tom Hudson in 1987. Using Cyber
Control and Phoenix, a user can write complex scripts to automate the
movement of objects in between recording frames. This allows the user to
easily create animations of things like roller coasters shot from the
perspective of a rider in the first car.
Cubase Audio - Steinberg Steinberg showed Cubase Audio, their
Direct-to-Disk recording system that requires only a Falcon. Cubase
Audio was the hit of the Frankfurt Music Messe, where Yamaha allegedly
were extremely upset because Cubase Audio for Falcon would not require
Yamaha's several thousand dollar CBX-D5 as it does on the Mac and PC.
Cubase Audio allows the user to integrate CD-quality digital audio along
with MIDI data in the familiar Cubase user interface.
Musicom - Compo Another big hit at the Video Wall was Musicom, a
consumer-oriented direct to disk recording system. Musicom has many
fun-to-use features, including Karaoke. Armin Hirschteter, the author of
Musicom (as well as singer and musician) demonstrated the Falcon and
Musicom to crowds of well over 200 people at times, completely blocking
all four aisles at the corner of our stand.
Digitape - Trade It Digitape is another multi-track direct-to-disk
recording system. It has a unique modular approach, much like putting
stereo components together. Digitape allows the user to create
multi-track master tapes that allow the user to record on to two tracks
while playing back mixed-down previously recorded tracks similar to how
one creates professional recordings with conventional tape equipment.
Humans, Llamazap, Road Riot 4WD, Raiden, Space Junk - Atari Corp. All
of the Atari project games were very well received by show attendees.
During the Video Wall demonstrations, members of the audience were
allowed to play Llamazap on the video wall using a Falcon Controller
that was fitted with a 25 foot long cable. There were also nightly
gaming "contests" on the video wall after the show.
PAMS Net/F - PAM Software PAM Software is taking advantage of the
improved parallel port and now supporting low-cost parallel port
Ethernet adapters with their network.
Bionet Falcon - Biodata Biodata showed their network running on the
LocalTalk hardware built-in to Falcon.
32 MHz Accelerator w/ram expansion - GE Soft GE Soft showed a very
impressive hardware accelerator that plugs into the processor direct
slot on Falcon. It enables the Falcon to run at speeds comparable to a
TT. The card can accept up to 128 megabytes of TT ram using commonly
available SIMMs. When populated with expansion ram, you must use an
external keyboard however, as there is not enough room inside the
Falcon's case for everything.
Falcon Speed - Compo Falcon Speed was displayed on the Atari stand as
well as the Heim Verlag Software Distribution booth. The version they
were showing operated many times faster than most PC's running windows,
because of the fact that they take advantage of the Falcon's video
architecture. During the course of the show, they announced that they
got full color support running and would be shipping the color version
within a few weeks. (The current version does run in Windows color
modes, although it displays in dithered black and white, as on many PC
laptops.)
The Video Wall Events There were regular showings at the video wall,
hosted by Armin Hirschteter(sp?), author of Compo's Musicom. The
demonstrations were produced by Armin, Compo and Team Computer Video
Productions of Germany. The show integrated the Falcon's Video Titling,
as well as Digital recording and DSP abilities. Klaus Kramer from Team
had a remote-controlled camera attached to the stand and was able to
direct it at Armin or people in the crowd. Musicom was used to record
Armin's guitar playing and then affect it using Flanging, delay and
other effects. Next, This One's for You by Elton John was played back
from the hard disk and the Karaoke effect was used to remove the vocal.
Armin would then sing along with it instead and the audience loved it.
Toward the last half of the fair, as everyone's confidence was built up,
small alterations to the script were added. Klaus Kramer from Team had
created an little animated character that would comment on Armin's
singing during using the titling software from Overscan, which really
drove home the Multimedia aspects of Falcon as Armin interacted with the
little creature on the video wall. Theo Breurs from Compo also served as
a shill in the audience, asking people whether or not they thought it
was really Armin singing. When he found someone that said "no," that
person was offered the chance to sing instead, with the lyrics being
scrolled on the screen using Falcon.
The script to the show was altered slightly after we saw Digital
Equipment's Alpha PC demo two booths away, comparing the speed of the
150MHz Alpha against a Mac Quadra and a 66 MHz '486 PC. DEC established
that a reliable benchmark of the overall performance of a computer was
how fast it could calculate and display a 256 color Mandelbrot set. The
Mandelbrot set is the most popular example of a class of mathematics
called Fractals. When the data is plotted, beautiful pictures are
generated on the computer's screen. DEC showed that the Quadra took 12
seconds to create the display, the '486 took 8 and the Alpha took only 5
seconds. On our video wall, 60 feet away from DEC's demonstration, we
showed the same thing being done by a low cost home computer in 4
seconds - in 16-bit true color, to the irritation of Digital Equipment.
We can now start the q&a...
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Bill. I have the first question
Well, the question everyone wants to ask. How is the Falcon coming
along? When will it be shipping? Are there any problems?
<B.REHBOCK> I can't say I am surprised at that question, Brian. The fact
of the matter is that there really are no current problems with Falcon
production...
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Any word on the release date?
<B.REHBOCK> the first units are honestly (to the latest knowledge that I
got from manufacturing literally minutes ago) are supposed to be on
their way. We did make the mistake of jumping the gun on release dates
in the time-honored tradition of the computer industry and are suffering
because of it now. Right now, I can only hope that we'll see these units
within the next week or so.
The other problem that we have had (as far as motivation in justifying
getting the burners _really, really_ cranked up has been that many (not
all) of our dealers have been slow in turning in their new dealer
agreements... Bob Brodie has been very frustrated as he's been calling
dealers and they've been saying "You mean I really have to send that
in?"
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Bill, up next is Mike Schuetz. Go Mike.
<MIKE.SCHUETZ> Hi Bill, Gruesse aus Wiesbaden,Germany! I have two
questions:
1. What are the dates for this years Atari Messe in
Duesseldorf? (Word here in Germany is, that there WON'T be
one, at least not hosted by Atari.)
2. Is it furthermore true that all European offices will be
sized down to pure sales offices with minimum staff, and that
there will only be ONE warehouse for all of Europe, in the
Netherlands in the future, that will supply all offices?
<B.REHBOCK> Mike, 1) What mag are you working for now? I missed you at
CeBIT...
<MIKE.SCHUETZ> <g> As you know, Atari Journal had to go out of business
in January... so these questions come purely from a users stand point. I
don't have any more money tied up in the Atari market other than the
machines here on my desk.
<B.REHBOCK> But ST Journal did get picked up and is on the stands again,
no? Anyway... There _is_ a restructuring going on in Europe,
definitely not the gloom & doom that you have outlined.
<MIKE.SCHUETZ> St Journal? Never heard of that magazine in Germany
before. Our mag, Atari Journal ceased to exist with the 01/93 issue.
<B.REHBOCK> (I'm sorry, I meant ST Computer; that one did go and come
back, right?)
It will make operations more streamlined and is designed to increase
developer and user support. As far as the Messe goes, Atari Germany is
working on the details right now; I do hope that dates will be announced
very soon.
<MIKE.SCHUETZ> Ok, Thanks, bill.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Interesting. Thanks Mike. Up to the microphone or
terminal is Michael. Ask away Michael.
<M.HILL13> Bill, glad to have you here. When the Falcons do start
arriving in the next few weeks (fingers crossed) can you give us an idea
of what kind of quantity the USA will see? Im just wondering when the
supply will be great enough for all of us who aren't on a waiting list.
Secondly does the dealer agreement prevent mail order sales of Falcons?
<B.REHBOCK> The dealer agreement most definitely prevents mail order of
Falcons without prior authorization from Atari. Based on the numbers
that have crossed my desk, the numbers do look pretty satisfying, but I
still encourage you to go spend money at you dealer :-)
<M.HILL13> Thanks Bill, Rising star is our local dealer.
<B.REHBOCK> (The numbers for North America _are_ serious <B.REHBOCK>
quantities to make a real market here!)
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Michael. Your turn Dave. Go Dave.
<[David] FAIRWEATHER> Aside from Cubase Audio do you know of any
Sequencer software that will use the DSP to generate midi-driven sampled
sounds? Cubase Audio is out of my price range.
<B.REHBOCK> I think will be seeing several DSP synthesizers in the next
few months. Many of these should integrate into low-cost sequencing
packages. There are other MIDI/Digital audio solutions being worked on,
but I don't believe that the developers have made announcements yet and
I'd hate to pre-announce products for them. James Grunke and I are
absolutely thrilled with the developer response on the music side of
things.
<[David] FAIRWEATHER> That's good news. Will the 1st shipment of
Falcons come with Multitos installed? That's all.
<B.REHBOCK> make it, make sure you send in you warranty cards. Yes, the
first Falcons will have MultiTOS 1.01 and SpeedoGDOS installed. We are
trying hard to have Atari Works inserted here. If it doesn't make it,
make sure you send in you warranty cards.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Dave. Your turn Steve.
<[Steve@CNotes] S.KIEPE> Atari's credibility seems to be at an all time
low. I am surprised that you couldn't FEDEX a big box of Falcon's to a
dealership just to rekindle hope. Also, with the limited number of
dealerships, how do you expect to crack the market? There isn't a
dealership within 100 miles of my current home (Newport, RI) or my old
one (San Diego). How will you get these home machines into homes?
<B.REHBOCK> I think that the only thing that will truly rekindle hope
is Atari's long-term commitment to the dealer base and developer base.
We have been getting a steady stream of new dealer requests and things
do look very good. We are realists about the job that is ahead of us and
realize that Fed Ex boxes aren't going to do the trick for the long
haul. Our plans are a little more structured than that.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Ok, Andrew is up next. Go Andrew.
<[Andrew] A.STUDER1> Why 16bit RAM? Compatibility? Cost? Is video slowed
because of this? Are 16bit HiColor [:) animations feasible?
Will Atari offer a Falcon upgrade policy? How about service, support,
and marketing. If increased, sales could expand.
<B.REHBOCK> 16-bit ram... Cost and time to market; system slowdown...
our video is _really_ fast, the games and animation stuff we've been
showing proves that (as well as FalconSpeed from Compo :-) The ram is
really 32-bits to the video and memory controller, BTW.
It has not been Atari's policy to offer an upgrade path. There really
isn't room in the margin for it. I do see increased service, support,
and marketing in the future. We do realize that those are critical
elements.
<[Andrew] A.STUDER1> Re CeBit, were Falcon sales active? Do you have
numbers of Falcon's sold? The software/hardware lineup is promising.
Video is FAST, thanks.
<B.REHBOCK> 1) CeBIT is not a "sales" show for anyone. (I wouldn't give
you sales figures if it were :-) It is primarily a showcase show. The
magazine interview traffic was excellent, and the dealer inquires were
more than we expected.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Andrew. John Brenner is next.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> 1 I'd like to know if you saw any video packages
that resemble Adobe's Premiere software or Newtek's toaster.
2, You mentioned 32 mhz accelerator with RAM upgrade for Falcon, we have
heard memory expansion doesn't work on this card.
3 ... <.and do you type with one finger ? ;-0
<B.REHBOCK> DA's Vektor does a jillion things beyond the original
specification, many of which are very Adobe "Premierish". There are
several other video packages in the works, one or two that will cause
NewTek a little bit of grief :-)
Two fingers :-)
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Great news thanks!
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks John, up next is another Canadian, Connor from
the Can RT. Go Connor.
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> Hi Bill. Has the Canadian pricing for the Falcon
been set yet? And what about the Canadian dealer agreement?
<B.REHBOCK> The on-the-fly MPEG decompression will definitely open the
door to the desktop video arena.
Connor, I've got to be honest with you... I have no idea. It should have
happened during CeBIT, but I haven't had a chance to check since I got
back. Bob or I can give you a jingle via e-mail in the next day or
two...
Whoops... I've just been told that Canadian dealer pricing _was_
definitely set. Check in the dealer category here on GEnie in the next
few days. (You leave for 13 days... :-)
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> Thanks Bill.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Great news for us Canadians Bill. In the past we were
us to getting the equipment before the USA. Up next is John K. Go John
<[John] JKUEHN> Bill, John Kuehn of Rockville Maryland here. My question
regards using SCSI II CD-ROM drives on the ST. I realize that CD-ROMs
were never officially released in the states. But, will it ever be
possible to use them on the ST. That is, is ATARI still supporting the
software development efforts required to provide a working version of
Metados. I assume that a complete .XFS driver for MiNT/Multitos has
been done, but, what about the TOS users? I have been working with two
software developers on this since Nov 92. And the current status from
both of them is Quote "Waiting on a resolution from ATARI". I mentioned
this to Bob Brodie here on GeNIE last month and he replied that he would
have to talk to you for the answer. So here I am at the proverbial
Equine Oral Orifice. (Waiting for a FALCON.)
<B.REHBOCK> John, the MiNT XFS drivers _do_ work very well with just
MiNT. That is the most recommended way of doing it.
John, does that answer your question?
<[John] JKUEHN> The .XFS driver that I have only supports Kodak CD_roms
I need one that will read other High Sierra AND ISO 9660 CDs
<B.REHBOCK> John, there is a newer version that we'll get posted in the
next week or so. We'll be doing a 100% q/a inspection on the first few
hundred F030's that come in and it will be keeping us busy :-)
<[Host] BRIAN.H> GO BRUCE
<B.WELSCH> Hi Bill, What are my chances of talking you into attending
the Kansas City Show,June 26th and 27th? I realize you folks have to be
busy out there, but as this is a first time show, and the falcon a new
computer, they sort of go together. Just think you could ride down in
the semi of falcons;-)
<B.REHBOCK> Bruce, I'd personally love to come, but I can't commit right
now. I'd be happy to discuss it off-line.
<B.WELSCH> in e-mail or voice? if voice give me a number and time to
call you please
<B.REHBOCK> Voice... 408-745-2082 in the afternoon after 2:00 CA time.
Bruce, by the way... Our factory rep base is being expanded rapidly and
we can try to have a rep attend at the very least.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Bruce, up again is John B. Go John.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Sorry to ask this again but I think it is
important. Is it true that the memory upgrade does _not_ work on the GE
soft card
<B.REHBOCK> John, I'm sorry that that slipped through. When I saw it, it
was working great. There were working out some BLiTTER problems, but
none insurmountable. Who started the rumor that it didn't work anyway?
:-( I don't think GESoft would appreciate it.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> I have read the memory board doesn't work, only
the clock speed up
<B.REHBOCK> The GESoft board is not just a clock speed-up, it has a
68030 on it. The CPU and Memory both work. Definitely.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Thanks for the Truth.....seing is believing. :-)
<B.REHBOCK> (There was another board that cranked the F030's CPU up to
32+ MHz.) A little on the scarcy and not Atari recommended side :-)
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Bill and John. Up next is Bill Jones
<[Bill Jones] B.BILLJONES2> How important is New England to Atari? As
far as I know, not a dealer to be found. There was a dealer here in
Portland ME a few years back, so there are some Atari familiar folk
here. How to tap that well? I guess I'll visit Canada!
<B.REHBOCK> We have hired a very qualified rep firm in New England that
is just getting up to speed. We expect to see action in the next few
months. Ask your dealers to carry Atari and we'll make sure that the rep
beats them up :-)
<[Bill Jones] B.BILLJONES2> Good news! Thanks!
<B.REHBOCK> PLEASE do send us dealer names! We'll forward them to the
rep firms and get this boat moving!!!
<[Steve@CNotes] S.KIEPE> Will we see a real advertising push for Atari
or will it be another small scale job? I ask because the Lynx,
unquestionably the best handheld video game on the market, gets little
name recognition = low sales (comparatively), even though it got great
marks from consumer reports (zillions) and is ridiculously low priced.
The other 2 competing units are everywhere with much name recognition,
but the 2 Lynx's my kids have got get stares of 'what's that." Will
Falcon be left to the same fate? Please be specific on plans. really
<B.REHBOCK> re: Lynx, there is a wide-scale promo that will be showing
up in the next few weeks in all of the game mags. We do want to do the
same or bigger with Falcon. The more dealer area we have in the wings,
the larger the scale it will be. Sorry Steve, the dealers will get the
details first.
<[Steve@CNotes] S.KIEPE> It seems like a vicious circle - require
dealers for Atari to mount a large ad campaign, but there won't be
dealers without a market.
<B.REHBOCK> Ah, but you are wrong... we are signing up dealers right
now.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Steve, up next is Jonesy
<[Jonesy] M.JONES52> Welcome, Bill, and thanks. I'm curious about the
DEC/Alpha thing, more specifically, as to whether anyone from DEC
strolled over to the Atari stand to talk.
<B.REHBOCK> Ho, you bet they came over. The fractal thing is a loaded
benchmark anyway you cut it. We just called their bluff.
<[Jonesy] M.JONES52> That's all for now, thanks.
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Up next is Die Hard ATARI!!!!!
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> Last Friday, somebody mentioned Autodesk Animator
in conjunction with the Falcon at CeBit. Are they signed? And are there
any disgruntled NeXT devs in Germany looking to change gears for the
Falcon?
<B.REHBOCK> We have been signing up a good number of NeXT devs, but they
are taking a while to get their feet wet. The NeXTstep (software-only)
devs will be ok with the '486, but those that liked the hardware are
taking a good look at Atari.
AutoDesk U.S. is not officially doing anything active currently. There
still is some CyberPaint Falcon activity (so I've been told.)
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Thanks Die Hard ATARI Up next is John. Go John.
<[John] JKUEHN> Bill, What is new on the Kodak Photo CD front? And who
are the current players/developers doing PCD?
<B.REHBOCK> PCD Developer material is ready to go.
<[John] JKUEHN> The PCD Toolkit is done?
<B.REHBOCK> The cost of the development kit is $700 (same as the Kodak
kits) and we are taking orders as of today. The kit comes with Pure C,
GCC, bindings and Lattice bindings are being reved and will be ready in
about a week.
<[John] JKUEHN> ST or Falcon or both?
<B.REHBOCK> It will work for all TOS Systems. BTW, I do want to mention
on the animation front that Meridian from Lexicor is looking really good
and should give users a lot of flexibility
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Great Bill. Thanks for the questions John K. The last
question for the night was from Jim Ness but...
but he left to post it in the BBS:
Rumour is that Atari will not ship US Falcons unless more
dealers are signed up! Any truth in this rumour??
<B.REHBOCK> Errrrng! Wrong, Jim Ness! Thank you for playing our game.
:-) Is that clear enough?
<[Host] BRIAN.H> For me it is. Thanks for clearing up the rumour.
Thanks Jim for asking it. We're drawing to a close for the formal
portion of the CeBit RTC. Before I put the room into Frenzy Mode, do you
have any closing words, Bill?
<B.REHBOCK> Once again, I do wish to especially thank the developers
that have been working with us on Falcon030 software. There is a
boatload of great stuff in the wings from _many_ U.S. developers that
will knock everyone's sock off. Yamaha U.S. has been working with us
closely on promoting the Falcon and CBX-D5 direct to disk recording
system with pro-audio A/D's-D/A's, and I can hardly wait for some of the
apps from our old stand-bys! Thanks again!
<[Host] BRIAN.H> Great news Bill. I wish to thank you Bill for attending
tonight RTC. I also wish to thank all the attendees for their questions
and patience. In frenzy mode ...now!
End of Formal RTC
****************************************************************************
<[James] B.ABELL> James Grunke - Any news on Notator Audio for the
Falcon?
<JAMES-GRUNKE> Re: You'd have to ask them directly for an official
announcement on Logic Audio. EMAGIC has a machine and they are pretty
excited about the hardware.
<G.ZEPKA1> Bill, what is the price for dev docs on falcon
<B.REHBOCK> G.Z. please contact 408-745-2022 for dev kit details.
<B.REHBOCK> We will run as lean and mean as we have to to make Falcon
work world-wide! Jack and Sam really do believe in the product, but they
do realize that the market is rough and that margins are really, really
tough nowadays. That's going to mean even more belt tightening if
necessary, but we _will_ be here.
<[Rob] R.ANISKO> Atari has the "luxury" of some pretty loyal users which
helps out in times like these...
<B.REHBOCK> Jack made a strong commitment to me during CeBIT regarding
Falcon Software development, and he definitely doesn't intend to roll
over.
REAL TIME CONFERENCE SCHEDULE - All RTC's begin at 10:00 p.m.
---------------------------------------------------------------
April 12 - Pradip Fatehpuria - author of Atari Works
April 14 - Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie and James Grunke
Win a free subscription to Atari Explorer.
April 19 - Nathan Potechin - Outline Art 3.0
Win a FREE COPY of OL3 or equal value fonts!
April 21 - Purple Mountain Computers (PMC) RTC- Oscar, Darek, Don
April 28 - ABC Solution RTC
May 5 - Missionware RTC with John R. Trautschold
DOOR PRIZE FLASH II 2.1
------------------------------------------------------------
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||| Andreas' Den
||| By: Andreas Barbiero
/ | \ Delphi: ABARBIERO GEnie: AEO.2
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been lucky out here in the Silicon Valley, not only have I been
able to make contacts with all sorts of people, and with many
different companies, I am fulfilling a dream that started back in 1980
by getting the chance to poke my nose into Atari whenever needed and
play with all sorts of new toys. I have had the pleasure and
opportunity to help with things like the Atari Works project. Of
course, my nose may get into the place far too often for some people,
but it's the only way you get the new versions of Atari Works, and
play with a Falcon030.
As far as non-Atari news, keeping an eye on the gritty details of
other companies gives an insight into the realities of the PC and MAC
world, unembellished by news releases and public relations. One of the
more interesting things I have heard about the Pentium chip is that
some software manufacturers have warned Intel about making
performance claims about software not compiled for the chip. Several
large, and many smaller programs will not run any faster on the
Pentium chip until they are rewritten to take advantage of the chip.
There is some concern that this will detract from sales of new
computers based on the Pentium, and stall the already flagging
interest.
It seems that a couple large computer makers are reluctant to base the
high end of computers on a chip that is more expensive (486DX2 CPUs
are under the $500 mark) and has a minimal performance curve over the
price increase. The lack of a new bus standard to take advantage of
the new CPU is another rough spot. Current computer bus systems are
not fully capable of taking advantage of the DX2 series, being faster
than external architecture can support. The 64bit nature of the
Pentium is even less suited to operate in a design made for a '386 or
'486. To support these claims is an interesting point, Intel has
seemingly responded by announcing a 486-DX3-99MHz chip, which will run
regular software at speeds matching Pentium performance. Power
consumption and heat problems are going to be almost insurmountable
for notebooks, and existing computers will need to be redesigned. I
have seen recommended cases looking much like the MegaSTe and TT
cases!
//// BIGGER, AND SMALLER
Monitors, like hard drives, have varying levels of performance
results when used with radically different systems. The dot pitch of a
monitor is one of those 'number' things.... tiny millisecond access
are posted with hard drives in order to entice a buyer, and tiny dot
pitches indicate how incredible the picture will be. This is not
always so. Resolution displayed is as much an important factor with
the monitor as the physical capabilities of the tube. Most clone
games, like LucasArt's X-WING, are done in 320X400 at best, and look
extremely coarse on a monitor intended to run something like
1024X768. This is not an insult for the game, or the $700 monitors
out there, but on a 17 inch .28 Dot Pitch monitor, it will look like
the screen is made up of rather large blocks... colorful ones, but
very blocky.
Although a dot pitch like the the SC1224 monitor would make the game
look better, don't even think about using a similar dot pitch (around
.41) at 800X600, it will be like using 640X400 on a TV! SO when you
are looking for a monitor for your Atari Falcon030, or TT030, remember
that bigger is not always better.... a 21 inch monitor might be
impressive but will not do you any good with 640X480, unless you like
to compute from across the room! 14 and 15 inch monitors are
sufficient for resolutions up to 800X600, 17 inches and more should
be reserved for resolutions over 1024x768. This is not to say you
can't run these SVGA standards on a 14 inch monitor, but the size of
the information is going to be very tiny, as well as any lower
resolutions are going to look really coarse on a 17inch monitor. But
as with everything, use should drive your purchases, and what looks
good to you, or is what you like should mean more than what is
dictated by the 'power user' syndrome.
//// QUOTES FROM THE OTHER SIDE
People talk about how big the Atari market has to be to support the
backing of companies like Microsoft and game companies like
Microprose. Some like to say that it will be impossible for anyone
not PC compatible to sell enough machines to make a dent or stay in
business. NeXT only sold 50,000 machines, and got a total re-write of
Word Perfect so nice that you would be hard pressed to relate it to
anything else done by Word (IM)Perfect. They are now a software only
company, killed by the lack of competitive pricing.
In a recent article on the PowerPC chip development underway by
Motorola, IBM, and Apple, the author rebutted a comment that the chip
was doomed by the seemingly small market it would have in the first
few years, and how it would be impossible for there to be any software
made for a computer based on the chip. Not only does it have a Mac
emulation mode, BUT the computer would only have to have close to 10%
of the total market to be supported by Microsoft. It seems to be a
standing figure for most other companies too. Most game companies
will write games for computers that have around 10% market share.
This is why we see Street Fighter II from the UK and not in the US!
Atari does not need to outsell anyone, all Atari needs to do is get a
niche into the market. The music and hacker markets are big enough in
the US to support Atari in achieving enough installed units to attract
the attention of major US software firms. With the numbers that the
Falcon030 is being produced for world distribution, we can hope to see
enough computers sold to make everyone happy.
//// IN BREWSKI VERITAS
One other thing about the Silicon Valley is the predominance of
micro-brewery pubs. My favorite one out here is the Tied House in
Mountain View. In fact, I used to live only 3 blocks away from it!
The name comes from the English tradition of pubs. "Tied" houses were
required to sell beer only from one manufacturer, like Guiness, who
owns the largest number of "Tied" houses in the world, around 4000!
After prohibition, all the small breweries in the US were wiped out,
leaving only the giants, who survived by making things like
sacramental wine for Catholic services. This is why today 99% of the
beer sold is nearly identical to every other beer on the market. The
only difference I have found in it is which beer is fresher, tastes
better. Beer produced by the mega-ton sits for a while, and that is
why beer in cans is totally anathema in my house. The Tied House in
Mountain View makes a set of killer brews that most of the Pabst
swilling sailors I have been known to hang out with cannot enjoy full;
they are overwhelmed with the burden of having to actually TASTE
beer, not just chill it to kill any flavor the can imparts to it. Oh,
I drink Bud Dry, but Henry Wienhard's is better, and whenever I have
an extra $2.65 in my pocket, its down to get a pint of real beer, and
enjoy 15 minutes of a private joy.
Signing off...
--==--==--==--==--
||| Bob Brodie & Pradip Fatehpuria: April 12th GEnie RTC
||| Courtesy: GEnie Atari ST RT
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
(C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on
GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign
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type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE
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==========================================================================
Monday Night DTP Real Time Conference
April 12, 1993
Guests - Bob Brodie and Pradip Fatehpuria
Host - Lou Rocha
<[Host] ST.LOU> Welcome to the first half of this week's Double
Dateline! Real Time Conferences. Tonight we welcome back Bob Brodie
with his special guest, Pradip Fatehpuria, the author/programmer
of the spectacular integrated application - Atari Works.
The combination of Atari Works and SpeedoGDOS looks like a surefire
winner as soon as it's released. The new Atari Works topic in
Category 14 is ample evidence of the interest among the existing
userbase. I only wish this product had been available in 1987 when I
bought my first ST! No need for endless sessions editing my ASSIGN.SYS
file to make a handful of PD fonts work!
Enough rambling from me :-) It's time to meet our guests. Welcome
back, Bob and a BIG hello to Pradip from all the regulars here in the
Atari ST RoundTable. You are both in talk-mode so either one may make
opening commments. GA.
<BOB-BRODIE> Thank you Lou! What a great pleasure it is to be
here on our official on-line service GEnie to share this time with
you. We at Atari are grateful for the wonderful, on-going support
that Darlah, Lou, Sandy, Mike, Fred, Brian, and all the rest of
the ST RTC Sysops provide to our mutual customers here on our
OFFICIAL Online Resource. Tonight, we're here to discuss the
integrated word processor, spread sheet, database program, Atari
Works. Pradip is the author of Atari Works, and is well equipped
to answer all of your questions about this exciting new product.
Since there has already been a Dateline Atari! session where we
discussed Atari Works, and there is a very active topic in the
message bases about Atari Works, we're going to keep this short
tonight and head directly into questions. As is always my
practice, if you have ANY questions, I'm happy to answer them
tonight. In deference to the attendance of Pradip who is here to
answer Works questions, I would ask that you hold off on NON Works
related questions until we have all of the questions about Atari
Works out of the way. I will be back online on Wed evening for
the Dateline:Atari! Session with James Grunke as well, so you get
extra opportunities this week to question me! <grin> I know that
you will make the most of that opportunity!!!! With that, let's
take some questions, Lou!
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Bob. Just a quick reminder to everyone that
we will be giving away two subscriptions to Atari Explorer with a
skill-testing question. Hang around for that. Now our first
question is from John Brenner in Canada. Others may /RAI now.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Hi, I use an _Atari_ Portfolio to gather
data at work, I then transfer these into a WKS compatible ST
spreadsheet. I gather I will not be able to do this if I use Atari
Works. Are you working on a file translating utility? If not, do
you plan on working on such a utility and when would it be
released . GA
<PRADIP> Right now You can import Comma and Tab delimited text
files or DBASEIII files only in either spreadsheet and database.
We have a list of other file formats which we will be working on.
I can not really promise a date on that.
<[Host] ST.LOU> John, do you have a followup?
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Without promising a date, will you be
working on WKS? It seems important to me that Atari support the
Portfolio GA
<BOB-BRODIE> John, we are already doing support for the Lotus 1-2-
3 and Excel files...they are in "The Works" right now. Your idea
about Portfolio files is an excellent one and we'll give it a lot
of consideration. Most of the Portfolio users are interfacing
with DOS machines, rather than with their STs...thanks for the
pointer
<[Host] ST.LOU> Our next question is from my backup sysop, Mike
Allen. From New Mexico!
<[Curmudgeon] MIKE-ALLEN> Welcome Pradip. I wonder how complete
is the RTF import/export implementation in the Atari Works Word
Processor? I have v1.0 of the MicroSloth specs and there sure is a
lot in there. How much of it does AW handle? GA.
<PRADIP> Thanks Mike. AtariWorks imports only those RTF commands
which AW supports, i.e. mostly text formattings with header,
footers etc. ga
<[Curmudgeon] MIKE-ALLEN> How about margins, tabs and columns?
<PRADIP> All text formattings with tabs, margins, etc, are
imported. AW 1.0 does not support columns, so only the text in the
columns are imported as it is. ga
<[Host] ST.LOU> Pradip, can you tell us what graphics formats are
now implemented in Atari Works and which ones you would like to
tackle in the future?
<PRADIP> AW imports GEM BitImage files and Metafiles. At the same
time you can draw ellipse, circle, rectangles and lines with the
embedded draw commands. ga
<[Host] ST.LOU> GEM Bitimage... as in IMG files? That has been
added then?
<PRADIP> Yes "IMG" files can be imported now. ga
<BOB-BRODIE> Lou, you have downloaded the issue I sent you yet?
<[Host] ST.LOU> Yes I did Bob but no time to play lately. :-)
<BOB-BRODIE> :)
<[Host] ST.LOU> Our next question comes from a newcomer to the DTP
field <[Host] ST.LOU> who I am sure is interested in Atari Works.
Meet Tim Miller from Two Worlds Publishing. GA Tim
<[Tim@TWP] T.MILLER23> Hi. I was just wondering if AW supports
tables in a form similar to MS word. I'm sure more questions will
come to mind later.
<PRADIP> You can make tabels in spreadsheet. Tables in
spreadsheet in two ways - as metafiles and also as table of data.
All the formattings in the spreadsheet are maintained when you
paste the data in the wordprocessor.
<[Tim@TWP] T.MILLER23> How can you overlay those onto a text
document? Wrap text around? Small pieces of worksheet?
<PRADIP> The tabs are automatically placed with the new margins.
The type of tabs depends upon the way data is aligned in the
spreadsheet columns. The margins depend upon the width of the
table you copy from the spreadsheet. I think that satisfy your
question Tim? ga
<[Host] ST.LOU> Next we have the famous Dr. Bob ... <[Dr. Bob]
W.PARKS3> Concerning the IMG file importability of AW, is there
any restriction on the IMG's format (bi-level). Some other early
DTP and WP applications _did_ have trouble with super-compressed
IMG files.
<PRADIP> Nice to see you here Dr. Bob
<[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> Nice to be here :-)
<PRADIP> AW supports all IMG files that follow the standard
BitImage file formats defined by Atari GEM-VDI manual. ga
<[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> Good - that's really all for me. Thanks!
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks. Next we have Ringo Montfort from Lexicor.
<[Ringo] LEXICOR2> Question, can we take data from the Database...
and place it into the spreadsheet and create graphs & charts...
and place it into the word processor?
<[Host] ST.LOU> Good question.
<PRADIP> Yes. And as I said a while before, all formattings are
maintained when you copy spreadsheet or database data and paste it
to the wordprocessor document. ga
<[Host] ST.LOU> Ringo... thanks. Let's pause for a second and give
away a subscription.... OK, Bob?
<BOB-BRODIE> Sure, Lou. Go ahead and ask the question!
<[Host] ST.LOU> The first two people to correctly answer the
skill-testing question after I let everyone talk will win! Here
is the question: What was the original project name for Atari
Works? 30 seconds..........
Room is now in the talk mode.
<[David] D.FREELAND> setra
<K.CAVAGHAN2> Sutari
<[Rick] R.TATEM1> sutra!
<[Ron] Z-NET> Sutra
<[Tim] T.OSBORNE> Sutra\
<[Fred] FB> sutra?
<T.MCCOMB> Concierge
<J.KOVACH> Concierge
<T.MCCOMB> Sutra
<J.KOVACH> Sutra
<[Baaad Dot!] D.A.BRUMLEVE> Karma.
<[Ringo] LEXICOR2> Can anyone spell it?
<[Glendale] JOHN.KING.T> Word UP
<[Curmudgeon] MIKE-ALLEN> Rhino
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> ST Works, but that's
<K.CAVAGHAN2> concierge
Room is now in listen-only mode.
<[Host] ST.LOU> OK... we have two winners. R.TATEM and Ron at
ZNET. Please leave your addresses in email to BOB-BRODIE to get
your subscriptions.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Let's get rolling again.
<PRADIP> Congratulations Guys!!
<[Host] ST.LOU> Jeff Kovach has the next question. There is no one
else in the queue so everyone please /RAIse your hands.
<PRADIP> But this was a difficult question, Lou.
<[Host] ST.LOU> There used to it Pradip!
<J.KOVACH> There are 2 features in the spreadsheet portion that I
haven't seen mentioned, so I'm wondering if they exist, or if
there are any plans to add them... The ability to link
spreadsheets that reference each other... 2) Spreadsheet macros,
like Lotus and Quattro Pro on the PCs have.
<PRADIP> These two features are not available in AW 1.0. These are
good suggestion. We will put it in our list for future revs. ga
<[Host] ST.LOU> Another question, Jeff?
<J.KOVACH> Thanks for considering it. For heavy duty apps, they
are very handy. That's all, thanks!
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Jeff. Pradip, our next question is from
Donavan Vicha, columnist for ST Informer... the magazine that just
had an excellent preview of Atari Works.
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> With a review in the upcoming issue and
interview with Pradip...
<[Host] ST.LOU> Can't wait to read it!
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> <plug!> ;{)
<[Host] ST.LOU> Well-deserved. :-)
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> I missed the opening remarks did you guys
mention which BitStream fonts are included with the
package?
<[Host] ST.LOU> You took my question :-) GA Bob or Pradip.
<BOB-BRODIE> You got me, we didn't include that in the opening
remarks. :) The fonts that are inlcuded are BitStream Charter,
Swiss and Dutch, and their related families, like Black (kind of a
bold) and italics.
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> Thanks. Is Atari planning on packaging BS
fonts? They aren't real easy to find in stores.
<BOB-BRODIE> Donovan, I really don't know the answer to that one.
I'm not sure if we're going to do the packaging on the extra fonts
or if BitStream is. Bill's not here right now (I just ran out and
looked for him to double check) I can assure you that there are
PLENTY of fonts, I have about 200 or so on my system. :) ga
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> BitStream has a GEnie acct <plug>, so I'll
check on how they're set up for ordering Speedos and report to a
Topic here. Will there be a Genie AW topic?
<BOB-BRODIE> Already is, Topic 20 Cat 14. It's busy, too.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Yep... I opened it! Thanks Donavan. And thanks to
Mike for waiting. Now, live from New York... Mike Lipson!
<[MikeL] M.LIPSON> When will AW be available?
<[Host] ST.LOU> Another one of my questions.......... ;-)
<BOB-BRODIE> I would say realistically in about 90 days or less.
The manual is going thru the final pass, and then we have to do
the printing of it, etc. Purchasers of the Atari Falcon030 will
have it sooner.
<[MikeL] M.LIPSON> How much?
<BOB-BRODIE> The suggested retail price will be about $120, and
will include Speedo GDOS, and about 14 BitStream fonts for use
with SpeedoGDOS.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Mike. Andreas from AEO is next.
<[Andreas@AEO] AEO.2> Atari Works has been able to supplant every
other word processor I own, even Calligrapher (sorry CodeHeads!)
Pradip, could you enunciate further on the formatting capacity of
the word processor, and the advanced cursor features in the
spreadsheet (the ability to automatically have the cursor move
down, left, right, or up by default) The option lists are
amazing. GA
<PRADIP> Thanks Andreas. AW does all operations you can expect
with Control/Shift and ArrowKeys/Backspace/Delete keys. In
spreadsheet the Return key automatically follows the last arrow
key used to move the active cell. The list is so big that it is
virtually impossible to put them all here. ga
<[Host] ST.LOU> David Freeland is next. GA David
<[David] D.FREELAND> I am sure you already covered this but I got
here late and was wondering what the current status on the F030
was?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi David, actually we've just been taking questions
on Atari Works so far, you're the first one to ask that!
Congratualtions. :) The Atari Falcon030s arrived in the US today,
and are going thru US Customs. We expect them in the warehouse
here in Sunnyvale tomorrow. We'll be putting them thru Q/A, and
then sending them out.
<[Host] ST.LOU> SCOOP!!!!! Got that AEO and ZNET? OK... Rick
Tatem... our first winner has a question.
<[Rick] R.TATEM1> Thanks, 2 quick q's.. First, does the WP
include a spellchecker and/or thesaurus? and 2nd, how is
performance on a 68000 based ST (non-Falcon) ?
<PRADIP> AW Wordprocessor includes a 110,000 word Proximity
Dictionary and about 50,000 word Thesaurus with definitions for
each word. You can change the dictionaries for different
languages on the fly. AW supports multiple user dictionaries with
editable featues. AW is as fast as any wordprocessor I have seen
on Atari Platform, even if you use it on a 68K machine.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Pradip... three folks left.
<[Ringo] LEXICOR2> Does AWs handle color documents and if so what
color printers does it support. Next what B/W printer does is
suppport.
<PRADIP> AW support all printers which GDOS supports. In fact AW
allows you to select a printer from a maximum of 10 you have
installed on ID's 21 thru 30.
<[Ringo] LEXICOR2> The fonts up to what point size. GA
<PRADIP> Fonts up to 2 inches (144 points) are supported. I have a
correction here about Dictionary and Thesaurus. Thesaurus has
450,000 words with 1.4 million entry points (words that produce a
word list when you look them up) and the dictionary has 135,000
words. ga <[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Ringo. Now Connor from the Canada
RT!
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> Hi Pradip and Bob...
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> I have a question about the dictionary. Which
one is included in Canadian Falcons... the one for the US or the
British one?
<BOB-BRODIE> I believe it will be the US one, but we'll need to
double check to be certain. I'm sorry I can't be more precise on
that right now.
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> I just wanted to know if I'd have to change
all those words that we add extra letters to, like "colour" <g>.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks... learn to use the Search and Replace like
I do! :-)
<BOB-BRODIE> John, you can always add those to your user
dictionary We still basically speak the same language, eh!
<PRADIP> I would like to add something more about canadian
dictionaries. Canadian French Dictionary will be available
separately.
<[Host] ST.LOU> :-) OK, Andreas has the privilege of the final
question. Please hang around to chat with Bob and Pradip everyone!
<[Andreas@AEO] AEO.2> Pradip could you talk more about the way
Atari Works allows for saving screen, charts, and all into GEM
files, and the ability to move graphics around in a document.
Resizing and fitting them into the flow of text. Maybe you can
describe it better than me.
<PRADIP> The pictures can be selected and edited on the fly in the
word processor document. Just grab the handle and resize the
pictures or reposition them wherever you want. A hide picture
feature is available for metafiles. This is really useful when
you have a big metafile loaded in the wordprocessor document,
which may slow.
<[Andreas@AEO] AEO.2> Saving a chart MADE with Atari Works, and
then using it as a metafile within another file, in a
wordprocessor is really cool.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks Andreas. This ends the formal portion of
our RTC tonight. Many thanks to Bob and his guest, Pradip
Fatehpuria for joining the ink-stained wretches of the Monday
Night DTP conference! We look forward to Atari Works and are
greatly pleased with tonight's announcement about the arrival of
the Falcons! Please join us on Wednesday night when Bob and James
Grunke will complete this Dateline Doubleheader! Any comments Bob
or Pradip?
<PRADIP> Thanks a lot. I am sure you will be able to receive your
own copy of AW very soon. It was a great fun to talk to you guys
here. Thanks a lot once again.
<BOB-BRODIE> I'm pleased to see so much interest in Atari Works!
And I'm excited that Pradip was able to join us here tonight for
the conference. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind
everyone that Pradip is online on GEnie checking the Atari Works
topic DAILY, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please
do stop by and let him know your thoughts. We're very anxious to
make certain that you're happy with Atari Works. Thanks for
coming tonight. I look forward to seeing you on Wed. night!
--==--==--==--==--
||| DriveZilla Returns!
||| By: Gregg Anderson
/ | \ GEnie: G.ANDERSON (AEO.7)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, you've decided you like the idea of owning a Fujitsu monster
drive. Good decision because this one's a keeper. But how difficult is
it to install? Well, that's what we're going to look into now.
Because there are so many variations on the ST/TT030 theme, your
installation method is going to vary depending on what type of system
you're using. There are three basic combinations:
//// ST/STe/MegaSTe/TT: External Hard Drive Enclosures (via DMA Port)
ST and STe systems require an adapter between the drive and the DMA
port before you can use an external SCSI drive. Until recently that
meant an ICD host adapter in a custom-made external box. ICD's new Link
adapter has changed this. With the Link, Atari owners can use the
more common external SCSI enclosures from the Mac and DOS world. The
only drawback to the Link is that it must be the LAST item on your DMA
chain, eliminating any device lacking a DMA pass-through. Despite
this, I recommend using a SCSI-Box/Link combo whenever possible
because it should offer the best combination of performance and
flexibility. It's also possible to use the TT030's DMA connector with
a Link/SCSI box or older style ICD adapter just as you would on an ST
or STe.
//// TT030/Falcon030: External SCSI Box Enclosures
With its standard SCSI port the TT030 can be connected directly to an
external SCSI enclosure, especially handy for Cartridge, Floptical, or
Tape backups. With the Falcon030, however, Atari has dropped the DMA
port entirely for direct SCSI support. Be aware that the Falcon030's
smaller 25-pin SCSI-2 connector requires an adapter cable to connect
it to a standard 50-pin SCSI drive.
////MegaSTe/TT: Internal SCSI Drive;
MegaSTe and TT030 owners have an advantage because with Atari's $90
adapter kit they can install almost ANY 3 1/2" 1/2 or 1/3 height
drive in their system. Want to save money? This is the way to go.
To install a 3 1/2" Fujitsu in an external enclosure you need a $15
adapter to fit it in the standard 5 1/4" mount used by most external
drive enclosures. These come in white, tan, or black plastic by the
way. If you're not using an ICD adapter, or are using an internal
Falcon030 or TT030/MegaSTe drive, then you'll need to use Atari's AHDI
hard drive utilities. Atari recently upgraded this package to version
5 by the way, and enhanced it quite a bit. Another option is ICD's new
"Pro" Utility package ($65-$80). This commercial release of ICD's
utilities provides expanded support for flopticals and does NOT
require the presence of an ICD host adapter. If you already use an
external drive then the odds are you're already using an ICD host
adapter. If so then be sure to get the newest version of ICD's
standard utilities (6.0.7) from your dealer or ICD's forum on GEnie.
Alright, now we can actually start on installing the Fujitsu... or can
we? Before you start your upgrade there are a few things you MUST see
to before starting.
First; ALWAYS and without without exception, before you even open the
box, make a 100% backup of your hard drive or drives. Even if you're
just adding another drive BACK UP YOUR DATA FIRST. I've heard and
experienced more horror stories of lost data when it should have been
impossible than I care to think about. In other words, DON'T TAKE
CHANCES! Backup your data before making ANY kind of computer or hard
drive upgrade!
Second, read the manual. As silly as it sounds this is a must on a
Fujitsu drive. The Fujitsu M2624FA comes with a fairly complete
instruction manual and a photocopy sheet that identifies unique jumper
settings. Study the booklet and jumper sheet closely because Fujitsu
has a seriously different setup configuration that bears NO
resemblance to the SeaGate standard. Did I mention you need to do a
backup before starting any of this?
Next, plan your steps carefully. Make a list of what you'll need to
do, what jumpers you want to remove or add, and exactly how you'll
install the mechanism. Oh, and make sure you've got a brand new
backup, or did we already cover that?
Now, ground yourself. Before touching ANYTHING make sure you're well
grounded. If you have a grounding strap wear it, if not then ground
yourself by touching a power director, a metal lamp, or any handy
conductor, but do it and do it often! There's nothing in the world
that will zap that new computer or drive of your's into oblivion
faster than a good jolt of static electricity. And trust me, there's
nothing in the world easier to do than taking a few simple
precautions. Like backing up your hard drive data before you do
anything here.
MAKE SURE YOUR DRIVE HEADS ARE PARKED!!!! In the old days you had to
park your drive heads with a "park" program. Forgetting to do this was
guaranteed to trash as least part of your data as the heads bounced
off the platter with every bump and grind. Fortunately, most modern
SCSI drives are "auto parking" and automatically park their heads when
powered down. If you have any doubts then check with your dealer or
call the company that made the drive. Whatever you do, do NOT try to
"park" an autoparking drive.
Finally, leave the cover off your enclosure until you've finished
formatting and partitioning the drive. This just makes it easier to
take care of any minor problems or oversights along the way. Hmm, did
I mention doing a complete backup of your old drive and grounding
yourself before starting? Just thought I'd check.
Ok, NOW we get down to the nitty-gritty. (finally!)
When you open your enclosure (or internal drive lid), keep track of
your screws. It's awfully annoying to be putting everything back
together and find you've got some screws loose. Don't unscrew the old
drive until you've disconnected it and try not to touch any
electronic components as you remove the SCSI and power connectors. A
simple, even, "tug" should be enough. Remove the old mechanism and set
it on a lint free, non-conducting, surface. You can use the pink
plastic the Fujitsu came in since it's non-conductive. Never use plain
or bubble plastic though unless you're trashing the unit. If you're
lucky you may be able to re-use or sell the old unit so you don't want
to risk damaging it.
Now carefully pick up your new Fujitsu and look it over.
While the M2624FA has five jumper blocks on its motherboard we're
going to be working with only two of them. The first is the SCSI ID
jumper block; CNH7. While looking at the motherboard hold the drive
with the SCSI connector to your left and number the three SCSI ID
jumpers from the right. The exact settings of these jumpers will
depend on where in the SCSI chain your drive will sit. Since I wanted
to boot from the Fujitsu, I removed all three jumpers (1-2, 3-4, &
5-6). There is also a connector for an external SCSI ID "DIP" switch
if your enclosure is so equipped. Mine wasn't so I couldn't test this.
Be sure to leave jumper 7-8 (Write Protect) shorted and jumper 9-10
(Reset) open, if you alter these you'll see problems you won't want to
believe.
The next jumper block we need to work with is CNH1. For ST use the
following settings are recommended by Matt at Fujitsu Tech Support:
1-2: PER Default value (SHORTED)
3-4: SCSI-1/CCS (SHORTED), note: for SCSI-2 it must be open
5-6: Offline Self Diagnostic (OPEN)
7-8: Unit Attention Report Mode (SHORTED), note: not used by the ST
9-10: Reselected Retry (SHORTED) note: no limit on retries on reads
11-12: RESERVED FOR FACTORY USE (SHORTED)
13-14: SCSI Bus Parity (OPEN), note: shorted for MS-DOS/MACs
15-16: Synchronous Transfer (SHORTED), note: not used by the ST
17-18: LED Display (SHORTED) note: lights during access
19-20: Motor Start Mode (SHORTED) note: drive starts with power on
21-22: Terminator Power (SHORTED)
23-24: Terminator Power (OPEN)
(Note: CNH1's pins are numbered from the top down with the SCSI
connector to your left)
Finally, we have the Termination Resistor Pack. Unlike most hard
drives, finding the Fujitsu's resistor pack is NOT an easy process.
The first problem is that the location and shape of the termination
resister is NOT MENTIONED anywhere in the manual. Second is that the
Resister pack doesn't look like a resister pack; it's an IC-shaped
pack in an IC socket. On most Fujitsu drives you need to look for a
dark gray IC labeled RM92 or RM85. Be sure to use a chip puller to
remove it and hang on to it. You may want to relocate the drive in the
future. If you do need to reinstall it you'll be pleased to know that
the pack has a dot of paint on the #1 pin position to simplify
installation.
So when do you remove the resister pack? Again that depends on how and
where you're installing the drive. A good rule of thumb is to remove
the resister pack from EVERY drive except the last one in the SCSI
chain. Usually true, but there are exceptions to every rule.
//// ST/STe/MegaSTe EXTERNAL DRIVE (with no installed internal drive):
Since the ICD/Link adapter required by these systems acts as the first
unit in the SCSI chain you should remove the resisters from all drives
except the last one. On a single drive system you leave the resisters
installed.
//// MegaSTe INTERNAL DRIVE:
Remove the resisters. (((SEE FOOTNOTE BELOW)))
//// MegaSTe EXTERNAL DRIVE with an INSTALLED INTERNAL DRIVE:
Requires the use of an external adapter, remove resister from first
drive and keep resisters on last drive of chain only.
//// TT030 SCSI EXTERNAL DRIVE (with no internal drive installed):
Leave resisters installed on last drive only.
//// TT030 INTERNAL DRIVE:
Leave the resisters installed.
//// TT030 SCSI EXTERNAL DRIVE with installed INTERNAL DRIVE:
Leave resisters installed on only the last drive, internal drive
termination requirements are flexible but usually left installed.
(((SEE FOOTNOTE BELOW)))
//// TT030 DMA PORT EXTERNAL DRIVE:
Requires external DMA/SCSI adapter (ICD/Link), remove resister from
all but the last drive in the SCSI chain.
//// FALCON030 EXTERNAL SCSI DRIVE:
Leave the resisters installed on the last drive only.(((SEE
FOOTNOTE BELOW)))
<<<FOOTNOTE>>>: Based on discussions with ICD, Atari, and
Computer STudio. As not all SCSI drives are
created equal, some will require a different
termination schedule than shown above.
Though there's a "busy" light built into the faceplate it isn't
visible after installation. There is, however, a two pin white plastic
jack next to the busy light for the external light that comes with the
5 1/4" adapter. This light is polarity sensitive so if it doesn't
light when the drive transfers data you need to reverse (flip) the
connector.
Assuming everything went well with the installation, and the unit spun
up when you applied power, it's time to format the beast. Always use
the newest version of your formatting and partitioning software and
NEVER mix ICD and Atari drive utilities. Be warned that on a 520 Meg
drive this process will take a while. With ICD 6.0.7 it took me 12.5
minutes to format and 21.75 minutes to partition/sector check the
beast.
So how many partitions? Well, keep in mind that the ST is limited to
only 14 hard drive partitions (C thru P). You could use all of them
with 37 Meg partitions but I strongly recommend against that. Why?
For future expansion. I needed to keep my SyQuest active and also
wanted at least two empty partitions for "just in case" situations
down the road. That left me with ten 52 Meg partitions, two SyQuest
partitions (I had some partitioned cartridges), and two "future"
partitions.
52 Meg???? The ST is limited to 32 Meg partitions isn't it? Well, yes
and no. TOS is limited to 32 Megabyte partitions but ICD (and Atari's
own AHDI-5 utilities) have done away with it by using what's called
Big GeM partitions (BGM). ICDFormat automatically enables BGM when
partitions over 32 Meg are selected by the user.
Ok, you've formatted and partitioned your monster, so now it's time to
use your Hard Drive Utilities program to set your parameters and
install your auto-boot. When using BGM partitions you MUST change
your Maximum Logical Sector Size from 512 sectors to 1024 or put your
data at risk. Doug at ICD tells me that he usually starts out with the
default values on the Configure ICD Boot and then adjusts them as
needed. For my drive I decided to save RAM and sacrificed some
performance by just padding the defaults a bit. One nice thing is that
by using ICD's built-in TOS Data Buffer, FAT Buffer, and Extra Folder
settings we can eliminate Atari's FolderXXX and CacheXXX utilities.
Keep in mind that these settings eat up a bit more RAM than your
original drive did, one of the few drawbacks of BGM partitions.
After restoring your data to the new drive, and reorganizing your
files to take advantage of all that room, be sure to make another
backup. I strongly urge you do this on NEW media and save the
original backup in case of disaster. If everything works normally you
can reuse that original backup later.
By the way, my upgrade was done at Asheville's Computer STudio with
Sheldon Winick watching to keep me out of trouble. Why? Because it's
safer to be where they have the tools and expertise to help out
should disaster strike <grin>. Thanks again Sheldon, I owe you one.
There you have it, a step-by-step installation of the Fujitsu M2624-FA
hard drive in your standard, government-issue, generic, hard drive
enclosure. A word of caution though. Unless you've done this before,
and have a better than average clue as to what you're doing, I
strongly urge that you let your dealer handle this. Though it's not a
difficult upgrade, we're talking about a lot of money if something
goes wrong. Why am I saying this? Because there's no way to guarantee
that any non-factory upgrade will work perfectly every time. I have to
say that neither I, Atari, Atari Explorer Online, or anyone else can
be held responsible if you have a problem with this upgrade. Ok, I
guess that should keep AEO's lawyers happy. Enough of that, if you
decide you want to upgrade to a Fujitsu drive than go for it! Though a
bit expensive the drives are solid quality all the way and will very
likely outlast any computer they're installed in. Good luck, and happy
computing.
Simplified schematic of M2624FA motherboard
_____________________________________________________________
| P | |
| W | 9 7 5 3 1 |
| R | - X - - - CNH7 |
| | - X - - - SCSI ID JUMPERS |
| | 1 X X 2 10 8 6 4 2 |
|____| 3 X X 4 |
| | 5 - - 6 NOTE: XX = SHORTED JUMPERS |
| | 7 X X 8 -- = OPEN JUMPERS ][ <--EXTERNAL
| | 9 X X 10 /---------------------/ ][ | LIGHT
| S | 11 X X 12 / SCSI CNH7 / == | CONNECTOR
| C | 13 - - 14 / ID# 5-6 3-4 1-2 / == |
| S | 15 X X 16 CNH1 / 0 O O O / |
| I | 17 X X 18 / 1 O O S / |
| | 19 X X 20 / 2 O S O / |
| | 21 X X 22 / 3 O S S / |
| | 23 - - 24 / 4 S O O / |
| | / 5 S O O / |
| | / 6 S S O / |
| | / 7 S S S / |
| | /---------------------/ |
| | |
____________________________________________________________|
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- --==--==-- CompuServe Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
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--==--==--==--==--
||| Bob Brodie & James Grunke: April 14th GEnie RTC
||| Courtesy: GEnie Atari ST RT
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
(C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May
be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on
GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. 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 XTX99437,GENIE
and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information.
==========================================================================
Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie
Special Guest - James Grunke
Host - Lou Rocha
Wed., April 14, 1993
Ed. Note - Bob Brodie did all the online typing for
this RTC. All music-related answers were provided by
James Grunke. Non-music questions were answered by
Bob Brodie.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Welcome to the second half of this week's Double
Dateline! Real Time Conferences. Tonight Music Expert James Grunke
joins Bob Brodie to discuss the Falcon030's music capabilities.
James has been here before so no need to be too gentle :-) You
can ask him any technical questions you may have about the Falcon
or the music software it will run. You are also welcomed to ask
any questions regarding the Falcon in general. Without further
ado, here are our guests. Bob, please introduce James and make the
opening comments.
<BOB-BRODIE> Thank you, Lou. I'm pleased to welcome our members
to another edition of Dateline Atari! Thanks for all of the
encouraging words that were sent when I had to cancel the last one
due to illness, we appreciate your understanding.
We had a wonderful time on GEnie on Monday night with Pradip to
discuss Atari Works!!! It's great to be back online again so
quickly for another GEnie Real Time Conference on our official
online resource.
James Grunke is alongside me tonight. This is his third year as
the Director of Atari Musics. He is in charge of sales and
marketing in the US for the music channel. He is also responsible
for international music developer marketing support. James has
recently brought on board over sixteen manufacturer rep firms
specializing in Music and Pro Audio channel. This effectively
provides James a staff of over 50 people on the street carrying
the Atari flag, and supporting Atari dealers!! Simply put, these
guys are the best in the business!!!
James brings to Atari a business background in digital music sales
with companies such as Mission Bay Investments, and Delian Music
Systems. He's spent many hours on retail sales floors, and knows
the mindset of the Atari Music customer.
His music background includes time spent as a staff synthesist and
digital sound engineer with the Beach Boys/Brother Records,
specifically contributing to the Still Cruisin' album. He has
also played keyboards for the Beach Boys while on tour. Other
bands that James has contributed his musical and technical
expertise to include Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Band, and Michael
W. Smith, as well as a number of video soundtracks.
James earned a Bachelor of Science in Keyboard Performance from
the University of Wisconsin and also holds a degree in synthesizer
programming from the Grove School in Los Angeles. He is a member
of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). Recently,
James was elected to the Executive Board of Directors of the MIDI
manufacturers Association. (MMA)
Tonight, we want to talk with you about Atari Music, and the Atari
Falcon030 specifically. The Atari Falcon030 is more than a
computer, it is a musical instrument. EQ Magazine recently awarded
the Atari Falcon030 it's coveted "Blue Ribbon" Award - the only
personal computer recognized by the award winning magazine as an
important new contender in the pro music and recording industries.
By blending CD quality audio, digital signal processing, video
genlock, video overlay and MIDI, the Atari Falcon030 puts
recording and video studio capabilities directly in the hands of
pro and amateur musicians. You can't find these capabilities for
this price anywhere else, proving that sometimes you have to spend
a little less to get a lot more.
Music is about self-expression. Music video and computer
assistance are tools that allow for greater expressiveness, and
the Atari Falcon030 is the one computer that can help today's
musician master both these media to create revolutionary artistic
statements.
The Atari Falcon030 offers users "Quad Processing Power"!!! The
Falcon030's exceptional performance comes from the smooth
integration of four processors:
Motorola 68030 microprocessor running at 16Mhz
Motorola 56001 DSP chip running at 32 MHz
SDMA sound coprocessor
BLiTTER(tm) co-processor for extraordinary graphics capabilities
These function in a Direct Memory Access (DMA) environment using a
multi-tasking operating system, which results in hardware so
powerful that even inexperienced users can mix audio, video,
animation, text, and graphics right out of the box. Atari has a
long-standing relationship with the music industry. In the mid-
80s, Atari was the first computer company to market to musicians
at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention
and to distribute through music stores. Part of Atari's rapid
acceptance was due the inclusion of MIDI ports (another Atari
first), and part was Atari's "Power without the Price" philosophy.
This same philosophy has culminated in the Atari Falcon030, which
delivers exceptional audio and video as well as music performance.
The Atari Falcon030 ships with stereo CD quality digital audio out
of the box. The system is capable of eight independent sixteen
bit audio tracks. At this point in development, there are four
track systems available from third party developers, such as D2D
Systems Ltd. 4T/FX. Innovative products are also on the way from
Barefoot Software, EMAGIC, Steinberg, Dr. T's, and many other
developers. If you would like to have a complete software listing
of Atari Music developers, send James email here on GEnie at
JAMES-GRUNKE.
Although James hasn't been publically active on GEnie, he's been
lurking for quite sometime now! <grin> He follows of course, the
Atari RT Bulletin Board, and also keeps up with the MIDI RT.
When James picks up a magazine, he reads the Letters to the Editor
section first. When he logs on to GEnie, he goes to the MIDI RT
and reads the messages in the OLD ATARI USERS LAUGHING AT FALCON
(Cat 49, Topic 10/ MIDI RT). His acronym for this is OAULAF.
We're told that in Swedish that means, "Thick men crashing through
the woods". Appropriate, isn't it?? <GRIN>
James really appreciates those folks who support the positive
postings in that topic as well as the other areas on GEnie! And
with that, we're ready to take any questions that are ready for us
tonight, Lou! Let's rock 'n roll!!!
<[Host] ST.LOU> Thanks for the great introduction. I feel like
I've known James all my life! Our first question is from John
Brenner.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> Well, I had other questions in mind but
since James is here for music.....I have heard the output of the
Falcon is heavily bass boosted to use with headphones much like a
Discman. Is this equalization a hard wired circuit or is it done
with the DSP and therefore can be cancelled to get flat sound for
pro use?
<BOB-BRODIE> The bass boost section was killed at the request of
the music developers so that audio would run flat. So it's no
longer a concern, John.
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> That is great news Bob. Will there be a
listing of Canadian pricing soon?
<BOB-BRODIE> Yes, we will be doing a mailing to our Canadian
dealers this week.
<E.NIKOLAISE2> Bob, I'm the Pres. of Stun (A ST Users Club in
Utah), our next meeting will be April 21. Will I be able to
"demo" a Falcon 030 to the club by this date?
<BOB-BRODIE> It's not out of the realm of possiblity, Erik. It
depends on the relationship you have with the dealers in Utah. Be
sure to check with them, as we have several new prospects as well
as the existing ones, like J & J for example.
<[Rob] R.ANISKO> I am curious as to how I would go about
interfacing an electric guitar with the Falcon - would it be
treated specially, or could it be used with a typical MIDI
application transparently?
<BOB-BRODIE> The audio input to Falcon is a stereo mini jack. You
could for example using Barefoot SMPTE Track Audio, or D2D or soon
to be released Cubase Audio, use MIDI tracks and combine them with
your digital audio guitar tracks.
<[Rob] R.ANISKO> Also, how would MIDI be affected by accelerators
such as the 32mhz accelerator mentioned in one of the RTC's about
Cebit...?
<BOB-BRODIE> We haven't been able to test one yet specifically
with MIDI.
<[Matt] M.RIVMAN1> My local Sam Ash guru is pro Mac. Mark of the
Unicorn stuff does more than Atari software. How do we get him
back? Any port of M of U stuff in the works?
<BOB-BRODIE> Although we are working with Mark of the Unicorn, we
can't comment specifically on their software direction. However,
it is convenient that their MIDI expansion hardware shares the
same port connectors as on the Falcon. No promises, but we are
looking into that relationship. As far as getting your local Sam
Ash guru back with us, we're confident that when customers begin
to come into their stores requesting Falcons, many Americans will
re-think their perception of Atari Computers, and what they really
can do. While Mark of the Unicorn software is excellent, I'd be
hard pressed to find something that we cannot do on an Atari
Falcon030.
<[Matt] M.RIVMAN1> He specifically mentioned the many different
sync-ups allowed, SMPTE,etc. I hope the available software for
Atari is VERY flexible! He was impressed with the specs I showed
him, but still was hesitant! I'll keep trying! Thanks
<[Andy] O-ZONE> I am especially interested in the capabilities
of the D2D software. The opportunity to do real time sequencing
and direct to disk digital audio has me enthralled. How soon can
we expect availible software to offer us the use of 8 channels of
digital audio?
<BOB-BRODIE> Currently the shrink wrapped D2D software uses four
tracks. They are working directly with Barefoot Software to
integrate MIDI into Digital Audio. We expect that it will take
some time to get 8 independent channels, however we understand
that four stereo channels is on the way. This is really an issue
for the individual music developer companies to make their own
delivery date announcements.
<[STimpy] J.TORRES17> I keep defending Atari at work (Staples)
They don't think Atari exists! Are there any plans for some
mainstream ads for Atari and Atari Music (like Time, Newsweek,
etc.?
<BOB-BRODIE> Over the past year, we did six ads with Digital F/X,
6 with EMAGIC, formerly C-Lab, and over a dozen ads with the
Fostex campaign. These were all placed in publications like Mix,
EM, Keyboard. You can look for aggressive vertical marketing into
the music channel in the very near future.
<[Pat] P.FORISTER> I've heard that the sound level on the Falcon
is maxxed out when the computer is first turned on. Is this
something that can be configured in NV-RAM? Or has the sound
level been turned down?
<BOB-BRODIE> The sound system at boot up reacts just like the TT
and Mega STE there is a program you can run from your auto folder
that will configure the audio level called SNDXX that will be
available.
<[Jason] J.BRUNKEN> I am interested in the video and genlock
capabilities mentioned in the introduction. What low cost
genlocks are under development and how soon do you think that they
will be available? Also, I hear that some high powered NeXT apps
are being converted to the falcon, any truth to this?
<BOB-BRODIE> Bill Rehbock tells us that there are no less than
three under development, including the John Russell Innovations
one from here in the US, OverScan which will be distributed by
Compo, as well as the unnamed one from France, all of which cost
less than $500. One of them should come in around $249. They
will be available before June, according to the representatives
from the respective companies. They all run in True Color modes.
Re the NeXT apps, there are a number of different ones. They are
excited about the availability of the DSP Chip...for example
Singular Solutions, and DOA. Some of the other NeXT developers
are still in the TOS learning curve.
<[James] J.BRENNER1> Bob, have any Montreal dealers signed the new
Atari Dealer Agreement and if you can tell me who, I'll be the
first Montrealer to buy a Falcon. Will Atari Works ship with the
first shipment?
<BOB-BRODIE> We are just sending out the dealer agreements to
Canada this week, James. I'll be sure to put a note on all the
ones for Montreal all and tell those dealers to call you. <grin>
We just got back the manual for Atari Works... maybe it will make
the first shipment, but I'm not 100% sure yet.
<[Guitar Cente] C.FLUEGEL> OK, so I buy a Falcon. What recording
software will be available that day? I know of many in the works,
but are any finished and shipping in the USA? Also, I here that
D2D is quite crippled and unusable in any serious work (no
editing!?) Is this true?
<BOB-BRODIE> The D2D software that is bundled with the machine is
designed for consumer use. It has very limited editing.
Available shrink wrapped products from D2D include 2 and 4 track
systems with the four track system having DSP audio effects. I
believe the release date for Cubase Audio is sometime this spring,
early summer. Please contact Steinberg/Jones for confirmation.
At CeBIT, there was a program from a company called TradeiT,
reportedly using SIX tracks. We will look into obtaining a US
distributor for this product in order to ensure it's availability.
<[Jeff] J.WHITE99> James, of particular interest to dealers seems
to be the broadbase marketing plan. How will we attract new users.
Can that be addressed here?
<BOB-BRODIE> Certainly, Jeff. The machine has natural appeal to
musicians and we feel that one of the firmest ways to get
footholds in this market is by reaching out to the music
educators. Not only is the hardware exactly what musicians want,
the price point makes it reachable for educators. We know how the
recession has affected education budgets in general. Look for us
to support music educators as a base for our music launch.
<S.EAKINS> Hi Bob, just got here, so I hope that I am not reasking
a question. Will modems become obsolete with the new DSP chip?
Are there any special adapters needed to connect up to the Falcon,
I won't simply plug in my phone line, right?
<BOB-BRODIE> Scott, no problem. Glad you could make it here
tonight to join us in the Dateline Atari! Session. There is no
problem in using existing modems with the Atari Falcon030. The
serial port works just fine. I've used STalker 3 at speeds of up
to 19.2K baud, and the Supra FAX Modem as well. There is a DSP
modem that is under development. It will be about the size of a
pack of cards, and you will plug your phone line in there. This
product is projected to be available late this summer.
<[Pat] P.FORISTER> Bob, can you give us any _firm_ dates on
availability of Falcons, and in what quantity? Hopefully the
initial quantities will be enough to supply all of the starving
Atarians out there. When will your warehouse be restocked?
<BOB-BRODIE> Pat, as I indicated on Monday night, the Falcons are
here. We have them in the warehouse (I personally went over to
check.... I didn't want to take anyone's word on this!!!) They
will be going thru a Quality Assurance process that will take a
couple of days (one of which is elapsed already), so I think we
will be sending them out the door on Friday. These are the demo
units for our dealers, and the next shipment will be in about 2-3
weeks These dates are VERY firm, Pat. I'm very pleased that the
units are in stock FINALLY, and the dealer agreements have been
just POURING in since we made a little announcement in AEO, got
the reps on the phone, and of course, used GEnie on Monday night
to tell the world that the Falcons are truly here!!!
<[(Brad)] B.SUSLOVIC> Hi Bob. I understand that the new dealer
agreement has put some mail order limitations on dealers. Under
what circumstances will consumers be able to purchase Falcons via
mail order?
<BOB-BRODIE> Brad, we're trying to build a dealer network up
again. In order to do that, we need to have storefront locations
selling our product. We recognize that in some rural, or remote
areas there is a likelihood that there will not be a local dealer.
In these cases, we will make arrangements with the closest dealer
to you to handle the customer.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Let's pause for a minute. Our door prize tonight
is a subscription to Atari Explorer. What is the ID number for the
DSP chip? 30 seconds to talk-mode. First two correct answers will
win.
<[david k.] D.KAUFMAN> Motorola 56001
<[Matt] M.RIVMAN1> 56001
<[max denebian] P.HULSE2> 7
<[Rob] R.ANISKO> 56001?
<[Pat] P.FORISTER> Motorola DSP56001
<[Guitar Cente] C.FLUEGEL> 56001
<[Ringo] LEXICOR2> 56001
<[Tim @ AEO] AEO.8> Motorola 56000
<[Connor] CAN-ASST> 56001
<[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> 007
<[STimpy] J.TORRES17> motorola 56001?
<[Jason] J.BRUNKEN> motorola 56001
<V.HUTZ> 08
<[Jason] J.BRUNKEN>
<[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3> Agent 86
<[Andy] O-ZONE> 56000
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> 1
<[Network 23] R.MARTIN22> 56001
<[Fred] FB> 99
<[STEVEN CHAPM] S.CHAPMAN> 56001
<R.NEALE2> DSP56001
<[Jonesy] M.JONES52> ID? We don't need no...
<[Ringo] LEXICOR2> Dr bob, hahaha
<[Die/!\Hard] D.VICHA> car 54
<[James] J.VOGH> 56001
<[> GLENDALE <] JOHN.KING.T> Chip, we don't need no stinken chips.
<F.CUCCI> three
<J.ALLEN27> Actually NOT, it is a special version with maskrom
code burnt in it, but 56001 will do.
<[STimpy] J.TORRES17> Yak Shaving Day!
<[Ron] Z-NET> I won already! :-) Monday!
<[Fred] FB> The BIG one?
<[Host] ST.LOU> Bunch of comics :-) David Kaufman and Matt Rivman
are our winners! Please send your addresses in email to BOB-BRODIE
to get your subscriptions. The answer was 56001
<[John B.] J.BRENNER1> This is not a technical question. On a
personal note. Bob, what is the first thing that came to mind when
you received the phone call confirming the arrival of Falcons ar
customs?
<BOB-BRODIE> It was not a phone call, I was told personally by
Garry Tramiel. And I told him "You better not be kidding around
with me!"
<MIKE-ALLEN> Most of the talk about the dsp chip has been music
related. I wonder if there are other apps that have been explored?
I have particular interest in Ham Radio apps and also in using the
technology to clean up some vintage recordings. My dad was in
radio and tv since 1937 and I have some very interesting
recordings that really need help. One in particular of my dad with
Bob Hope, Jerry Colona and Frances Langford on Guadalcanal in
1944.
<BOB-BRODIE> There certainly are, Mike. Modems, Data compression,
decompression, voice mail, fractal generation, and other things
are very possible. Regarding using the DSP to clean up the
recordings, you can use the DSP as a audio equalizer to
"surgically" clean up recordings using digital audio recording to
transfer these recordings into the computer and do the editing on
screen there.
<[Pat] P.FORISTER> San Antonio has lost both of its Atari dealers.
Do you know if we will be left in the dark for long? How can I
find my closest dealer? Also, any news in IBM processor direct
cards? Have any benchmarks?
<BOB-BRODIE> Pat, I am personally working with one of the
prospects for San Antonio. He has assured me that he is very
interested in signing on. We also have a new rep firm for the
area, called Highway Marketing. They are charged with signing up
new dealers in that area. I believe they are actually based in
Dallas, and are primarily aimed at Music and Pro Audio dealers.
Re the PC benchmarks, I believe that Bill Rehbock reported a
Norton SI rating of 12.1 in his CeBIT Report CO that was held here
last week. Be sure to get the transcript out of the library here
to get the exact numbers. Bill also described the other emualtors
that are under development for the Atari Falcon030 for the PC side
of things...there is a 486SX version coming out as well!
<[Jason] J.BRUNKEN> Bob, How many commercial software packages for
the Falcon do you estimate will be available by Christmas 93? And
is that 2-3 weeks on the 4/65's a 'worst case' estimate? I've
already paid for mine!
<BOB-BRODIE> Jason, 2-3 weeks is worst case to get the units in
here to us from the factory. I'd add another week for it to get to
your dealer in order to be safe...the boat probably doesn't dock
near him! :) Re the Falcon apps, that's hard for me to say. I'd
prefer again to refer you to the transcript from Bill's CO. I've
been swamped and really haven't had much of a chance to speak to
him about this yet, and I know that he is really, really excited
about a number of applications that he saw at CeBIT. I will say
that I envision two issues for the US: 1) How many apps, and 2)
Who will sell them? We must take steps to ensure that the
products have distribution in North America.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Bob, can you tell us WHO is working on a DSP modem
at this time? And what baud could be expected?
<BOB-BRODIE> Non-disclosure prevents me from naming the developer,
Lou. Sorry.
<[Tim @ AEO] AEO.8> Whats the latest on the Jaguar and the Lynx?
I'd also like to know what the RISC chip in the Jaguar *does*?
Graphics or the main brain?
<BOB-BRODIE> Hi Tim, on the LYNX side of things, we're running a
full color eight page insert in the gaming magazines (like Game
Pro) which is hitting the stores now... it really looks terrific!
We have added an 800 number for people to call and order products
for the LYNX directly from Atari... it's 1-800-221-EDGE We're
really excited, as not only do the ads look great, but they have
an offer to buy two games, and get one for free. Be sure to look
in your favorite game magazines for the ad! Re the Jaguar, I'm
afraid that I can't tell you anything about the technical end of
the Jaguar at this time, Tim. Sorry. We're very pleased with the
number of developers that we've signed up, and the machine is
coming along VERY nicely. We have added about the staff in all of
the appropriate areas, like a new VP to head up the Entertainment
Software, Gabriel Baum, and a host of new artists, programmers,
testers, etc have been hired to help with Jaguar.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Bob and James, thank you for spending the evening
with us. We are all really excited about the imminent availability
of the Falcon and sincerely wish it provides great successes for
Atari and its loyal users!
<BOB-BRODIE> Thank you Lou, it is always a great pleasure to be
online on our offical on-line resource: GEnie. It's easy to see
why GEnie is the number one online network for Atarians around the
world. Thank you all for attending, and good night.
<[Host] ST.LOU> Everyone is invited to hang around and chat for a
few minutes. Don't forget to drop in on April 19 and you could win
a free copy of Outline Art 3.0 from DMC Publishing. Our guest will
be Nathan Potechin!
--==--==--==--==--
||| Krimen on GEnie
||| By: Ed Krimen - Messages reprinted courtesy of GEnie
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.5
-------------------------------------------------------------------
LOOK! UP IN THE SKY!
--------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 14: Atari Corporation Online
Topic 41: Falcon 030 - Help and Questions
Message 104 Tue Apr 13, 1993
T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 00:17 EDT
F A L C O N 0 3 0 ' s ARRIVE IN USA.
They leave Customs and arive at the Sunnyvale Wharehouse tommorow.
They then under go Quality Assurance testing and ship at weeks end.
YeeeHa!
-Tom McComb
{12:13 am} Tuesday, April 13, 1993
----------
Message 105 Tue Apr 13, 1993
ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 01:18 EDT
Here's the news we've been waiting for.......
><BOB-BRODIE> Hi David, actually we've just been taking questions
>on Atari Works so far, you're the first one to ask that!
>Congratualtions. :) The Atari Falcon030s arrived in the US today,
>and are going thru US Customs. We expect them in the warehouse
>here in Sunnyvale tomorrow. We'll be putting them thru Q/A, and
>then sending them out.
>From the April 12 Real Time Conference with Bob Brodie and Pradip Fatehpuria.
----------
Message 106 Tue Apr 13, 1993
C.OINES1 [Chazz] at 08:02 EDT
Damn! If they'd found another reason to hold back for a couple of weeks, I
could have afforded the 14/65 combo! ;)
----------
Message 107 Tue Apr 13, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 08:26 EDT
Chazz,
This is the first time someone actually wants ATARI to hold back the
Falcon030! Very funny. <GRIN>
Ringo
=======================================
FALCON VIDEO EXPLAINED
----------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 14: Atari Corporation Online
Topic 41: Falcon 030 - Help and Questions
Message 55 Sat Apr 03, 1993
G.MON2 at 10:49 EST
From what I understand, there are basically 3 factors which determines
which video modes are available to you:
1) The Monitor
2) The Video Adapter Plug
3) The Falcon030
THE MONITOR
-------------------------------------------------------------------
There are basically three types of monitors out there:
A) VGA monitors can only accept a video signal having a horizontal
scan rate of 31.5 Khz. This number basically determines the number of
horizontal lines it can display. If each picture frame is refreshed
60 times/sec, you can have about 525 lines of resolution.
[In reality however, some of these lines are 'blank' lines and you
will have only about 480 useable lines. This is why you usually see a
black border on your computer screen.]
Anyway, the formula below gives the relationship:
31.5 Khz = 525 x 60
B) Broadcast type monitors can only accept a 15.75 Khz signal. The
SC1224 and a standard NTSC TV are broadcast type monitors. Because
they can only handle a horizontal scan rate of exactly half of the VGA
monitor, they cannot display 525 lines refreshed at 60 times/sec.
Instead, one of these values must be cut in half.
For example, the SC1224 can have either have 262.5 (the actual number
of useable lines is usually 200 or 240) lines refreshed at 60
times/sec:
15.75 Khz = 262.5 x 60
Or it can use the technique of interlacing to effectively display 525
lines refreshed at 30 times/sec:
15.75 Khz = 525 x 30
This is one reason why an interlaced NTSC image 'flickers'. The
entire frame is effectively only refreshed 30 times/sec.
Actually, in interlacing, the entire image is not really refreshed 30
times/sec. Instead, the image is really composed of two parts.
A single NTSC image is called a frame. Each frame is composed of an
odd and even field. The odd field contains all the odd horizontal
scan lines of the image while the even field contains all the even
horizontal scan lines.
To display the image/frame, the odd field is first transmitted and
then the even field is transmitted. The fields are transmitted 60
times per second. This means that the entire image/frame is
effectively transmitted 30 times per second.
Each field is composed of 262.5 scan lines giving a total of 525 scan
lines for the entire interlaced image.
The main thing to remember is that a VGA monitor can only accept a
31.5 Khz signal while a Broadcast type monitor can only accept a 15.75
Khz signal.
C) Multisyncs are monitors that can accept multiple horizontal sync
rates. If you want to buy one for use with the Falcon030, you must
make sure that it can sync down to 15.75 Khz if you want to use some
of the 15.75 Khz modes with it (such as the 640x400 16-bit True Color
mode). Most of the newer units do not.
However, you should be aware that even if you have the right
Multisync, you will still not be able to transparently switch to all
of the graphic modes from the desktop. The reason for this is the
Video Adapter Plug.
VIDEO ADAPTER PLUG
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Falcon030 basically supports three types of monitors:
1) Broadcast type monitors (SC1224 and NTSC TV) with a 15.75 Khz
horizontal scanning frequency.
2) VGA type monitors with a 31.5 Khz horizontal scanning frequency.
3) The Atari SM124 (or equivalent) monochrome monitor with a 35.7 Khz
horizontal scanning frequency.
Atari will sell 2 types of Video Adapter Plugs: a Falcon-to-VGA
adapter and a Falcon-to-ST_Monitor (SC1224 or SM124) adapter.
The Video Adapter Plug tells the Falcon030 which type of monitor is
connected to it. This is accomplished by two monitor identification
pins on the video port of the Falcon030. The Video Adapter Plug will
connect a certain combination of these pins to ground to tell the
Falcon030 which monitor is connected.
Why would Atari want to do that? Well, my guess is that it's a safety
design.
If you try to put a 31.5 Khz signal into the SC1224, you could
accidently damage the monitor.
The Video Adapter Plug prevents this from happening. After
determining what type of monitor is attached, the Falcon030 will
prevent you from using an inappropiate video mode by disabling that
option from its menus.
What this means is that even if you have a Multisync, the Falcon030
will only see it as is either a VGA or Broadcast type monitor,
depending on which Video Adapter Plug you use.
FALCON030
------------------------------------------------------------------
The main factor that determines what video modes the Falcon030 can
produce is the bandwidth of the memory system.
For example, from what I understand, the 640x480 256 color VGA mode
is the highest bandwidth standard mode available on the Falcon030.
In this mode, each pixel is 8-bits. Hence, the total amount of memory
this modes uses is:
307,200 bytes = ( 640 x 480 x 8 )/8
Now, the image is refreshed about 60 times/sec. This means that the
video circuitry must read out 307,200 bytes from memory at 60
times/sec. This gives a total bandwidth of:
18,432,000 bytes/sec = 307,200 x 60
This is approximately the top bandwidth of the Falcon030 (I think
it's actually a little higher since I heard that the Falcon030
actually displays this mode at the standard VESA refresh rate of 72
times/sec).
But what about the 640x400 16-bit True Color Mode? In this mode,
each pixel is 16-bits. Hence, the total amount of memory used is:
512,000 bytes = (640 x 400 x 16)/8
If the image is to be refreshed at 60 times/sec we would require a
bandwidth of:
30,720,000 bytes/sec = 512,000 x 60
As you can see, this exceeds the bandwidth of the Falcon030. So, the
Falcon030 cannot display this. But what if you interlace this image?
Then the effective refresh rate is 30 times/sec and the required
bandwidth is only:
15,360,000 bytes/sec = 512,000 x 30.
This is well within the 18,432,000 bytes/sec limit of the Falcon030.
This is why the Falcon030 can only display the 640x400 16-bit True
Color mode in interlaced. It just doesn't have the bandwidth to do
it non-interlaced.
The above numbers are approximates. The actual bandwidth limits
might be different but I think the main ideas are correct.
DISCUSSION
------------------------------------------------------------------
If my understanding of how the Falcon030 video system works is
correct, then it should be easy to answer some of the commonly asked
questions:
Q1: If I have a Multisync, can I get all the Falcon030's video modes?
A1: That depends. You must have a Multisync that can sync down to
15.75 Khz. Most of the newer ones can't. Even if you do, you still
won't be able to switch to all of the available video modes from the
Desktop.
This is because the Video Adapter Plug makes the monitor look like
either a VGA or Broadcast type monitor to the Falcon030. Once the
Falcon030 determines what type of monitor is connected, it will
disable some of options available to you as a safety precaution.
What this means is that you will have to manually switch adapter plugs
in order to use all the Falcon030's video modes. Or you can buy a
third party video adapter plug.
The prototype I saw at Toad Computers contains a little switch that
changes the connections to the 2 identification pins. This allows
you to switch adapters without manually removing it. From what I've
seen, the Falcon030 will then do a soft reboot (similiar to using the
Monitor Master to switch from the SM124 to the SC1224).
Q2: If I have a Multisync, will the 640x400 16-bit True Color Mode
still flicker?
A2: Yes. As noted above, the Falcon030 can only display the 640x400
16-bit True Color Mode in interlaced. It cannot do it in
non-interlaced since that would exceed its memory bandwidth limit.
An interlaced mode will flicker regardless of which monitor you use.
You can lessen the flicker effect by using a monitor with a high
persistance (such as a TV).
Q3: If VGA monitors can only accept a 31.5 Khz signal, then how does
it display modes with 640x200 resolution? According to my
calculations, this mode (refreshed at 60 times/sec) is a 15.75 Khz
signal. In particular, how can a VGA monitor display ST-Medium
mode?
A3: The Falcon030 uses the same trick that the TT030 uses. It
basically sends each horizontal line twice. This is what is called
"Line Doubling". Since it sends out each horizontal line twice, it
effectively sends out a 640x400 (31.5 Khz) line image.
By the way, an IBM clone with a VGA card does the same thing when it
is running in CGA (15.75 Khz) mode.
RECOMMENDATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------------
My personal recommendation is to just get a nice VGA monitor to use
with the Falcon030 and use your TV or SC1224 for the 640x400 (768x480
overscan) 16-bit True Color mode.
This mode is really design for video work anyway (i.e. for producing
nice computer animations and recording it on video tape).
Some of you might think that the Falcon030's interlaced modes are a
liability. However, for video work, interlacing is a neccessity.
Sure there are inexpensive PC clones out there that can do 640x480
16-bit True Color in non-interlace. But you can't record your
animations to a VCR with that setup!
Finally, someone upstream questioned Atari's policy of not
documenting the video hardware registers. Commodore has the exact
same policy with the new AGA graphics chipset. According to
Commodore, this was done to make it easier for Commodore to upgrade
the graphic capabilities in any future Amiga model.
If they had documented all the registers, then any future chipset
would have to fully emulate them to remain compatible. This makes it
a lot more complicated for the engineer. In addition, it puts an
architectural constraint on any future chipset. An example of this
is the 80x86 family. The need to maintain 8086 compatibility is an
architectural constraint on the 80386.
In other words, if Atari documented all the video registers of the
Falcon030, it might place some constraints on the abilities of future
Falcon models.
The policy that both Atari and Commodore has adopted is that
programmers should just use the documented OS calls for most of their
graphics needs.
I apologize for the extremely long post. I only hope that it
clarifies some of the confusion surrounding the Falcon030's video
modes instead of adding to the confusion. If there are any errors, I
would be grateful for any corrections.
--Gerry
=======================================
FALCONS PROJECTING OVERHEAD
---------------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 14: Atari Corporation Online
Topic 41: Falcon 030 - Help and Questions
Message 93 Thu Apr 08, 1993
D.A.BRUMLEVE [kidprgs] at 14:07 EDT
I took my Falcon to a multi-platform user group meeting on Tuesday.
When I got there, they had a 486 set up with an overhead projector
and VGA monitor. I sat the Falcon down, sent my SC1435 back to the
car, and plugged the VGA monitor into the Falcon's adaptor. Voila!
Overhead projection _and_ a large-screen VGA monitor at once. I
believe this is the first time I've gone to a meeting where the
projector would work with an ST-family product without some kind of
rigamoroll. Neat!
I gave a short talk about the Falcon to the entire group and then
they broke up into sigs by platform and I and 5 or 6 Atarians went to
a smaller room. Only then was it pointed out to me that I'd
neglected to mention the magic words "true color" during my talk! I
guess it's become such a matter of course to me that it didn't occur
to me to put it at the top of my list. Eek. The graphics demos did
wow 'em, though. I also showed how you can record to disk with no
more hardware packed along with it than a microphone.
=======================================
WACKY THINGS IN THE WAREHOUSE
-----------------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 18: Flaming - Debating - Discussions - Rumors
Topic 23: Atari Falcon 030 Computer
Message 65 Fri Apr 09, 1993
G.LABREC [Greg @ Atari] at 18:00 EDT
As soon as the Falcons hit Sunnyvale they will be shipped to dealers
who have signed the new agreement. One of the reasons there have been
messages posted asking people to send in their agreements, might be
the same reason that the FALSE rumor got started...
There have been people calling Sunnyvale saying they want to make
sure they will get a piece of the first shipment. These people have
been told that they must submit the agreement in order to receive any
Falcons. They are being told that requests will be processed in the
order in which the agreements are being sent in. No agreement, no
Falcons.
I "suspect" that AFTER the first shipment is in Sunnyvale and
machines are on the way out, these people will finally send in their
agreement. They will then complain because they can't get any
machines out of the first shipment. They will no doubt be telling
their customers that the reason they don't have any of the first
machines is because Atari is mean to them. (I have posted several
messages on this subject with regards to dealers saying that Atari
won't send them any new LYNX game titles-- Like we just stare at them
on the shelves in the warehouse)
Seriously-- If anyone really thinks we just sit on product in the
warehouse, I would be willing to make this offer... You tell me what
you want. I will tell you if we have it in the warehouse. (I cannot
tell you if we are building anything; plan to build something; or
anything other than if it's in the warehouse) If we have it, I will
process the order personally, and ship it to you on your VISA or MC.
Just leave me E-mail. (Heck-- a couple weeks ago I found some of the
old, 2600-style, wireless joysticks. I've been selling them like
hotcakes. -- No, we aren't making them anymore. -- I can't even be
sure how many are left, or if someone bought the whole lot of them on
Thursday. -- But, if you want it, and we have it, I'll get it for
you.)
Maybe I should start a topic called "Wacky Things I Found To Sell Out
Of The Atari Warehouse".
------------
Category 18, Topic 23
Message 74 Sat Apr 10, 1993
L.TRAPANI [Lou][Machine] at 03:21 EDT
Greg,
Thanks for clearing that one up. I keep on coming across
people that think that Atari has all this stuff just sitting in their
warehouse and not shipping. Not just concerning the Falcon but other
products as well. I had always told them that I doubt this very much.
After all you can't sell something if it only stays in the warehouse,
what would be the point.
--Lou T.--
------------
Message 77 Sat Apr 10, 1993
D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 10:43 EDT
Greg @ Atari
I'll take a 1450XLD please.
_____________________
\hunderbird
------------
Message 80 Sat Apr 10, 1993
G.LABREC [Greg @ Atari] at 12:54 EDT
Sorry T-bird, the last 1450XLD went out the door about a month ago.
------------
Message 83 Sat Apr 10, 1993
D.ENGEL [Thunderbird] at 17:29 EDT
Greg @ Atari:
Well, then could you put me down for one front bezel for a "Star
Wars" arcade game. The best one I could find for mine has a small
cigarette burn in it? Thanks.
Let me know when you start the "Wacky Widgets from the Warehouse"
topic.
______________________
\hunderbird
------------
Message 91 Sun Apr 11, 1993
M.DRYSDALE [Drys] at 08:33 EDT
Greg - I'm not suprised that you find wacky stuff in the warehouse. I
remember I had the opportunity to wander around the warehouse after
AEGIS, it was crammed with all kinds of odd stuff. I asked, and was
able to walk away with some neat promo stuff.
Mike, GenTech and POWER Computers
=======================================
THE TOS ERROR LIST
------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 4: Hardware
Topic 10: HELP! General Q & A
Message 59 Sun Apr 11, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 12:16 EDT
Long post warning!
Flakes,
Here is John Townsend's famous TOS error list. John is still one of the
ranking experts on TOS, although he has been working for another company for
the last few weeks. Note that error #35 is explained in detail after the brief
listing.
========================================================================
EVERYTHING YOU NEVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT TOS ERROR NUMBERS
========================================================================
The GEM function which displays "TOS Error #..." does not display in the alert
box the actual error value returned by GEMDOS or BIOS. Those return values are
negative numbers (e.g. GEMDOS error -66 is "Invalid program load format").
Negative GEMDOS error returns are translated to MS-DOS error numbers for the
form_error() alert box you see. BIOS errors result in a "Critical Error"
alert, which gives you a chance to retry the disk access that caused the
error.
For those of you with a furniture fetish, here's a table:
GEMDOS MS-DOS
Error description error error Alert text (TOS 1.4 and later)
------------------------- ------ ------ ------------------------------
Invalid function # -32 1 TOS Error #1.
File not found -33 2 This application cannot
Path not found -34 3 find the folder or file
No more files -49 18 you just tried to access.
Too many open files -35 4 This application does not
have room to open another
document. To make room,
close any document that
you do not need.
Access denied -36 5 An item with this name
already exists in the
directory, or this item
is set to Read Only status.
Invalid handle -37 6 TOS Error #6.
Insufficient memory -39 8 There is not enough memory
Invalid memory block addr. -40 9 in your computer for the
application you just tried
to run.
Invalid drive -46 15 The drive you specified
does not exist.
Not same drive (on rename) -48 17 TOS Error #17.
Seek out of range -64 n/a TOS Error #33.
Internal error -65 n/a TOS Error #34.
Invalid prg load format -66 n/a (the infamous) TOS Error #35.
Setblock failed -67 n/a TOS Error #36.
Note that some MS-DOS error codes do not have equivalent GEMDOS errors, and
some GEMDOS error codes do not exist in MS-DOS.
TOS Error #35, probably the most common error alert that is not self
explanatory, happens when a program you are trying to run has somehow been
corrupted. What it means is that TOS can not find some magic numbers it
expects to find either at the beginning or at the end of the program file.
This error is usually attributable to operator error (as in trying to execute
an archive or text file as a program), or to bit rot.
Here are the BIOS "Critical" errors, and the alert text you see when they
happen:
Error description TOS error Alert text (TOS 1.4 and later)
-------------------------- --------- ------------------------------
Basic, fundamental error -1 Your output device is not
No paper -9 receiving data.
Unknown device -15
Drive not ready -2 Drive X: is not responding
Unknown command -3 Please check the disk drive,
Bad request (invalid length) -5 or insert a disk.
Seek error -6
CRC error -4 Data on the disk in drive
Unknown medium -7 X: may be damaged.
Sector not found -8
Write fault -10
Read fault -11
General failure -12
Bad sectors on format -16
Write protect -13 The disk in drive X: is
physically write-protected.
Media change -14 The application cannot read
data on the disk in drive X:.
Insert other disk -17 Please insert disk X
into drive A:.
Al
=======================================
STALKER TIMES TWO
-----------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 14: Atari Corporation Online
Topic 14: Mega STE
Message 197 Thu Apr 08, 1993
BOB-BRODIE [Atari Corp.] at 13:40 EDT
Great point, Al!
Wow, I've never run TWO Stalkers at once! That sounds really neat! I knew
that it could be done, but haven't actually done it.
regards,
Bob Brodie
----------
Message 199 Fri Apr 09, 1993
A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:04 EDT
Bob Brodie,
Just for kicks, you can null-modem one STalker to the other on the same
machine and watch them going merrily about their business while you do
something else...
Al
=======================================
GIF or JPEG
-----------
Photography RoundTable
Category 1: RoundTable Business
Topic 2: GIF/JPG Viewing Information
Message 1 Sun Apr 04, 1993
JWITHUN [Joel (MacII)] at 12:59 EDT
Now that I have a GIF or JPG, what do I do with it?
WHAT IS GIF?
GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is a format copyrighted by Compuserve
and placed in the public domain. It is a graphics format that is now
common to most computers and allows the exchange of images in a highly
compressed form. The format allows up to 256 colors or shades of grey.
This 256 level is also referred to as "8 bit" graphics.
(2 to the 8th power= 256)
To view a GIF all you need is a program written for your computer that
will read and display the GIF format. It is usually called a GIF
viewer. If a viewing program hasn't been written for your specific
type of computer, you may be able to find a program that will convert
the GIF to a format common to your computer. Then, perhaps you can
view it with your favorite paint program.
We have many GIF viewers/converters in our library. Select library 7
"Graphic Viewers & Converters" and use Option 3 to search for a viewer
for your computer. Enter a keyword like IBM, Mac, Amiga, Atari,
Windows, DOS, etc. to narrow the search.
CShow is an excellent viewer for IBM/compatibles.
Giffer, GIFconverter, and JPEGView are good choices for the Mac.
WHAT IS A JPG or JPEG?
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a relatively new graphic
format. It was created to compress truecolor images. Truecolor is also
called 24 bit color and allows up to 16 million colors in an image.
The file size of these images can be quite large. An uncompressed
image can take up 40 megs of hard disk space. Conventional compression
techniques were not effective in reducing these images to manageable
size. A technique called "lossy" compression was developed. It
actually "throws away" parts of the image that aren't detectable by
the naked eye. It also allows adjustable compression. The greater the
compression, the more the image degrades. Compression ratios of more
than 100:1 are possible, but at a cost. In spite of it's failings,
it's the best solution found to date and has gained widespread
acceptance.
When compression is used judiciously, the images are excellent!
As with GIF, all you need to view JPG files is a viewer written for
your computer. JPG images look best on systems capable of viewing more
than 256 colors (hicolor[32,000 or 64,000] or truecolor[16 mil]). If
you don't have such a system, the viewer will usually use a dithering
technique to approximate the colors it can't display. Depending on the
image, they'll still look pretty good on a 256 color display.
The latest version of Cshow now displays both JPG and GIF. This is a
good choice for IBM/compatible users.
If you're running Windows 3.1, try Graphic Workshop for Windows.
Mac users with the Quicktime extension will be happy with JPEGView. If
you don't have Quicktime, try PictureDecompress.
If you can't find a viewer for your specific computer in our library,
check the libraries of the Roundtable dedicated to your computer.
Genie has Macintosh, IBM, Amiga, Atari, and other Roundtables.
=======================================
DESIGN CONTEST
--------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 25: Lexicor Product Support
Topic 10: Lexicor-Newsletter
Message 64 Mon Apr 05, 1993
LEXICOR2 [Ringo] at 16:39 EDT
I just receive the latest issue of "Computer Pictures" magazine. Also for
anyone that would like to WIN prizes!
Computer Pictures ~ First Annual Art and Design Contest
Still Image Categories include.
1. Fine Art, 2-D
2. Fine Art, 3-D
3. Commercial Art, 2-D
4. Commercial Art, 3-D
5. Design
6. Technical Achievement
7. Student
First, Second and Third Prizes will be awarded in each of the seven
categories. PLUS one Grand Prize winner from among all categories.
For more information call: 800-800-5474 or 914-328-9157
Deadline for entries is June 1, 1993
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So get your Prism-Paint, 3-D2 objects, Chronos and Phoenix working
and send in a few entries. We need ATARI users to send in their
artwork.
-------------
Ringo
=======================================
GERMAN ATARI MAGAZINES
----------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 15: Atari Magazines
Topic 12: Atari Mags - they come and they go...
Message 18 Sat Apr 17, 1993
F.BELL1 [Frank @ Home] at 10:43 EDT
Here's some info on most German speaking mags:
------------------------------
Atari Journal (Die Fachzeitschrift fuer Atari ST und TT)
Gone and dead since Jan. '93, but a few issues are still floating
around. It started as a PD magazine and worked its way up to a full
fledge magazine. Concerned itself mostly with software. Sorry it no
longer exist.
----------------------------
ST Computer (Die Fachzeitschrift fuer Atari ST- und TT-Anwender)
Very well done, professional magazine. Includes much information
about hard and software (projects too). Works very close with many
German developers. Has a very large PD software collection, if not
the largest in Europe, and special PD software collection (Sonderdisk)
with exclusive distribution rights. As the magazine is owned by MAXON
Computer Gmbh which also sells commercal hard and software, some
reviews are a little one sided at times (but aren't we all). Highly
recommended. Its been in print since the first STs.
Order information:
Heim Verlag
-ST Abonnement-
Heidelberger Landstrasse 194
6100 Darmastadt 13
Germany
In Germany it cost DM80.00 per year
Other countries: DM100.00 or DM130.00 for airmail
Telephone: +061 51/944 77
Fax: +061 51/59 10 47
Printed 11 times a year. Germans love long summer vacations (me too).
----------------------------
ST Magazin (Alles ueber Atari ST, TT und Falcon)
Very well done, professional magazine. Includes much information
about hard and software (projects too). Has many articles concerning
Atari basics (both hard and software) and courses. Works very close
with many German developers. Has a very large Desktop Publishing
section, sometimes as much as a fourth of the magazine. Highly
recommended, some issues are pure gold. Its been in print since the
first STs, heck, since the first 68000s.
Order information:
ST-Magazin Vertreibsservice
Rheinstrasse 28
Postfach 400429
8000 Muenchen 40
Germany
In Germany it cost DM77.00 per year
Other countries: DM95.00
Telephone: +089/36086-352 (ask for Sabine Daehn)
Fax: +089/36086-118
Printed 12 times a year. And I thought Germans loved long summer
vacations.
-----------------------------
TOS (Magazin Plus Software fuer den Atari ST & TT)
Normal magazine plus PD diskette. Anything on the diskette has been
on the Computer services or networks mouths before. Some programs
have been recompiled to show some TOS Magazine exclusiveness. Every
few months something really nice shows up - an (amost) complete
working demo of some major software package (size is set by what will
fit on a diskette so no package is ever complete). Articles are
generally superficial but there are exceptions. Expensive.
Order information:
ICP-Innovativ Computer-Presse GmbH & CO.KG
Innere-Cramer-Klett-Strasse 6
8500 Nuernberg 1
Germany
In Germany it cost DM76.00 per half year (6 issues)
Other countries: DM94.00 per half year outside Germany
DM106.00 per half year outside Europe
Telephone: +0911/5325
Fax: +0911/5325-197
Printed 12 times a year.
-----------------------
XEST (Das Arari-Magazin von Anwendern fuer Anwender)
Very well done smaller magazine. Includes much information about
hard and software. Works very close with many Austrian and German
developers. Has many developers, hackers too, on its staff. Concerns
itself mostly with software but hardware doesn't get shorted. Has a
very large PD software collection (expensive compared to others but
discounts have been known). As the magazine is also the offical
Austrian software distributer for many companies so some reviews are a
little one sided at times. The magazine is highly independent in
other areas. Atari user support is first class (hardware test
performed too). Highly recommended although expensive. Its been in
print since before the first Atari XEs.
Order information:
XEST
Hirschengasse 8
1060 Vienna
Austria
In Austria it cost AS540.00 per year
Other countries: Unknown, but I'm sure something can be worked out.
Telephone: +222/597 30 19 ask for Ingo Heil or Wolfgang
Nimmerrichter.
Fax: +222/597 69 49
Printed 12 times a year but an issue might be delayed a few days to
include the
latest Fair information.
-------------------------
I've also heard a rumor concerning a new German speaking Swiss
magazine but, as of today, haven't seen it.
Most German speaking magazines also have large gaming review sections,
always in the back. XEST also does a good job of publishing game
cheats too, complete with maps.
Also because of the lack of Atari products or news or anything else
interesting the magazine sometimes go off into other areas featuring
information on anything concerning itself with Atari no matter how far
fetched. So it not too unusal to see an article about the Next (68030
processor) or DOS (sounds like TOS) or 'OOP' programming (we have 'C'
without the '++' don't we?). Press releases are a favorite too
(sometimes printed word for word including all errrorrs and speeling
missstakess). At times little fillers can take up whole pages and its
also possible that a carton is printed twice (but not always in the
same issue).
In general German speaking Atari magazines contain tons of
information, at times even competing with the online services. Lead
times for Europeon magazines aren't months (or years) long as is the
case with most American magazines --Antic was a good example-- so
information is more timely and up to date.
Many German developers (offical Atari developers) also love to write
(and are quite good at it sometimes) so much of the 'latest and
greatest' comes right from the horse's mouth. Want to know about
Cookies, Mint/MultiTos (no Eric doesn't write in German - I don't
think), XControl programming, GEM, Tex, keyboard controlers, DMA, THE
FALCON? The guys with the offical Atari documentation and develpment
units are out there writing away just hours, if not seconds, after
they are allowed to. (in the case of MultiTos they use Mint as an
excuse to write about Multi[backspace] [backspace] [backspace]
[backspace] [backspace] Mint and that months before anybody else ever
heard about either one.)
Frank...
============================
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- --==--==-- GEnie Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
-- --
-- 1. Set your communications software for half duplex (local echo) --
-- at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud. --
-- --
-- 2. Dial toll free: 1-800-638-8369 (or in Canada, 1-800-387-8330). --
-- Upon connection, enter HHH. --
-- --
-- 3. At the U# prompt, enter XTX99436,GENIE then press <Return>. --
-- --
-- 4. Have a major credit card ready. In the U.S., you may also use --
-- your checking account number. --
-- --
-- For more information in the United States or Canada, call 1-800- --
-- 638-9636 or write: GEnie, c/o GE Information Services, P.O. Box --
-- 6403, Rockville, MD 20850-1785. --
-- --
-- --==--==-- Atari's Official On-line Resource! --==--==-- --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Users Online: Threads from the Internet
||| By: Tim Wilson
/ | \ Internet: WILSONT@RAHUL.NET GEnie: AEO.8
-------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~
/// News from Usenet
~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Timothy Wilson AEO.8 (GEnie) wilsont@rahul.net (Internet)
{*} are e-mail adresses, " " are actual quotes of the original author.
This time, we have some news from Cebit, directly from German keyboards.
Some GFA basic news, a quick update on the new Falcon Resolutions, and
some other STuff.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// CeBit News, and opinions
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Thomas Landgraf {tl@hrz-serv7.hrz.uni-kassel.de} posted news first...
He mentions:
32MHz Falcon card by GeSoft. Space for 128 megs of RAM, and a VME
slot. An MPEG decoder from Brainstorm, he says it looked faster than
a PC/Mac.
Jon Lovstad {jonal@dhhalden.no} mentions that the VME for that new
card hasn't been implemented yet, Here's his words:
"Wasn't that just 32MB of RAM? BTW, they haven't implemented the VME
yet. (I thought the chip looked like a 50MHz thingie from the reading
of the print on it...)"
Jon wasn't impressed with the MPEG. "Well, I saw the thing and thought
it sucked. They haven't laid too much work in it yet since they don't
know if Atari buys it or not..."
So it seems this GeSoft board is floating on the edge of Rumorland. No
one posted precise information as yet. I've also heard such comments
as "Impossible" describing this board. But, after the Genie RTC with
Bill, he says it works fine.
Jon added a few more bits of info. He mentions a InShape renderer, a
new video-digitizer card by Matrix 8MB VRAM, 8MB DRAM + 1 meg on the
digitizer, ~8000DM. He saw a 32MB TT put a 'base16' (3Kx2K pixels)
PhotoCD onto the screen in 4 minutes.
Rune Hyldmo {runehy@dhhalden.no} added more to this thread.
Silminaris said they were finished with two Falcon030 specific games.
Transartica and Ishar. Both are 256 color games with 16 bit sound.
Rune only saw Ishar: "It looked good."
Vroom II from Lanchor, has a new multiplayer mode with 4 people on the
screen at the same time. Rune didn't see any slow down from this mode.
He mentions Space Junk looked good but was only a demo.
Eclipse from Eclipse (3D space game in 320x200 TC) looks smooth, but
the DSP routines aren't implemented yet. The guy at the Eclipse booth
gave a time frame of another 6 months.
Atari had a brochure listing products coming out for the Falcon030
too, lots of great software coming out, some is finished.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// GFA Basic news
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jan T. Kim {aeg03@rrz.uni-koeln.de} posted some news about GFA Basic
4.0 The interpreter will be availible in the next few weeks, and the
compiler in summer.
It's a total rewrite, with the compiler being based on GNU C. There
are also documented ways to configure and extend the GFA system. The
interpreter is fully GEM, multiple sources, and online help. Old
editing functions and F-keys are still supported.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New Falcon Resolutions. An update
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ewald Seibert {seibert@informatik.tu-muenchen.de} e-mailed me back
after I asked him about his new resolutions. The project is not ready,
but getting better every day.
880 x 660 256 colors, 60Hz
1024 x 768 16 colors ~50hz.
1280 x 960 interlaced 16 cols ~50Hz (thats TT high in 16 colors!)
He didn't mention if these needed a external box or not. My guess is
that they would need one. He seems to be very busy with exams, he
says he'll give me an update in May.
Michael Eberl {eberl@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE} talks a little more
about it. He says they have a software/hardware combo. The hardware
increases the range of resolutions and refresh rates. The software
works as stand alone (not sure if they will sell it stand alone or
not) The software can achieve 800x600 256 colors 83Hz interlaced. They
are still in the planning stages as yet. He sugguests buying a good
monitor.
A good monitor being a high resolution Multi-sync. A NEC 3fgx comes to
mind.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Other notes
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A new newsgroup was created, comp.sys.atari.advocacy. At last, the
Atari Vs. XXXX computer postings can be taken out of the other Atari
newsgroups. Hot dog!
There was some discussion of "Desktop replacements". A lot of people
sugguested TeraDesk. Its small, and runs under MiNT. Other people use
Gemini, But it has a large RAM requirement, and doesn't seem to be
MiNT compatible yet (a newer version is on the way).
Speaking of MiNT: Uwe Seimet {seimet@rhrk.uni-kl.de} spilled the beans
that MultiTOS is availible for Falcon030 users in Germany.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Microprose Civilization Problems
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Well, Microprose thankfully ported Civilization to the TOS platform.
Yet it seems there's a few problems (bugs!), with it.
Some people's games die as they are about to win. The program is
looking for a file called 'slam2.bbm'. (Johan Klockars
{d8klojo@dtek.chalmers.se} used the MonST debugger to figure this one
out.)
Johan says that he just renamed the file 'slam2.lbm' to 'slam2.bbm'
and his game then worked.
Tim Wright {wrighttj@uhura.aston.ac.uk} claimed this fix didn't work,
that it still bombed out on the power chart.
It also runs only in 8Mhz mode on a MegaSTe.
(-(-(EDITOR'S NOTE: It seems to have "mouse dropping" troubles
when run on a TT030, although it can be played.)-)-)
Peter Missel {Peter_Missel@k.maus.de}, tried it on a Falcon030, but
the colors were wrong, and one of the disks was damaged.
Uh oh! That doesn't sound good. While I haven't played Civilization,
both Andreas and Travis seem to have lost a few nights of sleep
playing the game. Look for a review of Civilization in the next AEO.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Usenet recommends a replacement mouse
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Bob Erkamp {erkamp@TITAN.ARC.AB.CA} votes for the Beetle Mouse.
Ralf von Gunten {VONGUNTENR@EZINFO.VMSMAIL.ETHZ.CH} has high acclaim for
the Logitec Pilot mouse. He's never had a problem.
Other recommendations: Alfa Data mouse, Golden Image.
Our own Ed Krimen says that he likes the Atari mouse.
(on Usenet, Ed seems to be in the miniority on this thread)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Latest ICD software, not to be had by FTP
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Since ICD doesn't allow distribution of its software, the only way to
get the latest update is to call their BBS, (815) 968-2229 and
download it. Or, (815) 968-2228 by voice and ask for a disk. European
netters are rather mifted about it, since that is quite a 'long
distance' call.
Christopher Hicks {cmh@uk.ac.cam.eng} has this to say: "Here, here.
Please, ICD, make your software available via anon ftp..."
ICD, you listening?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Oh no! *MORE* recommendations!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There seems to be a tie between Speed of Light created by Stuart
Denman {stusoft@hardy.u.washington.edu}, (fast TT030 compatible GIF
viewer), and PhotoChrome 3.0 by Douglas Little (Bunches o' color on
ST/STe's).
Stuart asks for you to register your shareware! 'Spoflite 3.0' will
"Blow you away, GUARANTEED!!!!"
I've seen both, Photochrome on my STE, and Spoflite on Britton's TT030.
Both are great!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Alternate Operating Systems
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ever hear of Linux? (Lin-ucks) Its a decent Unix clone for IBM
compatibles. The question has popped up if it will have an Atari
port. As yet...no. But there is a 680x0 Amiga version in the works.
Various programmers sugguest that those interested Atarians wait, and
then port from the more compatible 680x0 code.
Chris Faehl {cfaehl@vesta.unm.edu} says he's got the Mach 3.0 kernel
on his drive in source form. He wonders if anywone else has tried to
port it. I'm sure he won't mind if you bug him.
New files at atari.archive.umich.edu (_the_ North American Atari FTP
site)
Date Time filename path under /atari/
---- ----- ------------ -----------
Apr 7 08:23 Life_4-1.zip -> ../Games/Life_4-1.zip
Apr 8 00:39 aeo_0207.lzh -> ../Magazines/Aeo/aeo_0207.lzh
Apr 6 15:46 bs_300pd.zip -> ../Games/bs_300pd.zip
Apr 6 15:46 bstat.lzh -> ../Applications/Math/bstat.lzh
Apr 6 15:46 ccolord.lzh -> ../Graphics/ccolord.lzh
Apr 6 15:46 conn1_96.zoo -> ../Telecomm/conn1_96.zoo
Apr 13 00:38 datblz27.arc -> ../Telecomm/datblz27.arc
Apr 6 15:46 dinkum3a.zoo -> ../Games/dinkum3a.zoo
Apr 6 15:46 dspbind.lzh -> ../Programming/dspbind.lzh
Apr 13 00:38 edith1_0.lzh -> ../Editors/edith1_0.lzh
Apr 13 00:38 expand15.lzh -> ../Archivers/expand15.lzh
Apr 13 00:38 flipped.zoo -> ../Games/flipped.zoo
Apr 6 15:46 gfa4pd_e.lzh -> ../Editors/gfa4pd_e.lzh
Apr 13 00:38 gzip107st.zoo -> ../Gnustuff/Tos/Othergnu/gzip107st.zoo
Apr 13 00:38 gzip107tt.zoo -> ../Gnustuff/Tos/Othergnu/gzip107tt.zoo
Apr 6 15:46 mbrowse.zoo -> ../Utilities/mbrowse.zoo
Apr 14 01:09 mgif41b.zoo -> ../Graphics/mgif41b.zoo
Apr 14 01:09 midibatl.lzh -> ../Games/midibatl.lzh
Apr 6 15:46 pbug1_05.tos -> ../Programming/pbug1_05.tos
Apr 6 15:46 st_login.lzh -> ../Mint/Utilities/st_login.lzh
Thats it for this issue, See you on IRC!
--==--==--==--==--
||| GEnie Atari ST RoundTable News
||| Courtesy: GEnie Atari ST RT (with thanks to John Hartman!)
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Atari Roundtable Weekly News 4.3
= ATARI RT NEW FEATURE =
= ATARI INTERNET IN THE ATARI ROUNDTABLE =
We thought that you may enjoy reading Atari news from the Internet
on a regular basis. We will be posting the messages regularly and
opening up a topic for messages you wish to have sent to the Internet.
We will be mailing out messages posted at a minimum of every other
day. If you do not wish to have your messages forwarded, please do
NOT post in this Category. This is a service that we are trying out
on a trial basis. We will decide if we will continue it after 90 days.
Please let us know what you think. Internet messages are being posted
in the new Category 24. These messages are quite lengthy and are being
uploaded in quantity to the new topics in 24. If you are not interested
in this Category, please cancel your participation in CAT 24 before
you begin downloading messages.
= DARLAH'S TREAT =
NEW DARLAH'S TREAT F2_DEMO.LZH Option 9 on PAGE 475!
FLASH II DEMO - version 2.1
You'll be able to test as many of Flash II's features as possible
in this demo version. Naturally, many features of the program are
either disabled or limited. Product support is available in the
Atari RT Bulletin Board Category 8, Topic 2. Uploaded by
Missionware Software.
= REALTIME CONFERENCES =
REAL TIME CONFERENCE SCHEDULE - All RTC's begin at 10:00 p.m.
---------------------------------------------------------------
April 19 - Nathan Potechin - Outline Art 3.0
Win a FREE COPY of OL3 or equal value fonts!
April 21 - Purple Mountain Computers (PMC) RTC- Oscar, Darek, Don
April 28 - ABC Solution RTC
May 5 - Missionware RTC with John R. Trautschold
DOOR PRIZE FLASH II 2.1
---------------------------------------------------------------
Nathan Potechin of DMC Publishing visits the DTP Conference
to discuss Outline Art 3.0 - the Color Vector Graphics program.
Join us on Monday, April 19 @ 10:00 p.m. EST and you may
WIN Outline Art 3.0 or the equivalent value in Calamus fonts.
------------------------------------------------------------------
= Scheduled Wednesday RTC =
Have an idea for an Realtime Conference? Wish to promote a product,
show or service? Atari Roundtable Realtime Conference provides an
excellent platform for announcements and discussions. Contact RTC$,
for requirements and information on holding formal RTCs. We also
capture and edit the formal conferences and uploads them into the
Atari RT's Library for you.
= Monday Realtime Conference =
Stop in for Monday's Desktop Publishing Realtime Conferences. Hosted
by Lou Rocha with regular guests dealing with all aspects of DTP and
associated topics.
= Atari ST Help Desk =
Atari ST Roundtable holds a Sunday Help Desk to answer your questions
on GEnie, Atari ST Roundtable and the line of Atari computers. Stop in
and ask questions or just visit the Atari RT staff and users. The Help
Desk starts at 9:00 pm EST Sunday on page 475;2.
= RTC Transcripts =
--------------------------------------------------
28448 BRODIE8.ARC X ST.LOU 930415 13440 181 13
Desc: Grunke/Falcon Music RTC Transcript
28407 BRODIE7.ARC X ST.LOU 930413 9856 301 13
Desc: Atari Works RTC Transcript
28356 REHBOCK.ARC X BRIAN.H 930408 17024 330 13
Desc: CeBit RTC 7 Apr 93 with Bill Rehbock
28304 TOAD_RTC.ARC X BRIAN.H 930404 16512 156 13
Desc: Toad RTC dated 31 March 1993
28072 CYBER_CO.ARC X ST.LOU 930316 18048 63 13
Desc: Cybercube RTC Transcript
28067 TWS_RTC.ARC X BRIAN.H 930315 11904 46 13
Desc: TWO WORLDS SOFTWARE RTC 10Mar 93
27953 BRODIE6.ARC X ST.LOU 930306 22016 609 13
Desc: MultiTOS Preview, Falcon030 News
--------------------------------------------------
For Realtime Conference inquires and comments contact: RTC$
= LIBRARY =
Last Week's Top Downloaded Programs/Utilities:
---------------------------------------------------
28345 SYSINF83.ZIP X GRMEYER 930407 59136 205 2
Desc: Sysinfo - inspect your system status
28307 STKW0404.ZIP X J.SELLERS2 930405 218496 189 8
Desc: Star Trek Battle Simulation Game
28341 CALLFIX.LZH X M.BURKLEY1 930407 1920 143 2
Desc: CallFix, Run old prgs on new TOS's!
28361 EOSLIFE.LZH X K.LORD 930409 2432 137 21
Desc: Warp 9 EOS module runs Conways Life
28347 BMP2.ZIP X GRMEYER 930407 30848 121 11
Desc: Background Music Player II
28346 MDP_211.LZH X GRMEYER 930407 26624 71 2
Desc: MegaDepack v2.11
28296 PAD_ENG.LZH X A.VALENT 930404 12032 68 21
Desc: English docs for PAD drawing prg
28330 BSTAT245.LZH X R.WILSON36 930405 259584 57 6
Desc: B/STAT graphics and statistics
28337 COPY_INF.LZH X E.WISNIEWSK1 930406 4224 55 2
Desc: Copy desktop file to folder.
28302 BATTLSHP.ARC X J.RATKOS1 930404 88448 54 8
Desc: modem play Battleship for the ST
---------------------------------------------------
Last Week's New Demos:
---------------------------------------------------
No new Demos this week
---------------------------------------------------
Last Week's Press Releases in the Library
---------------------------------------------------
28454 ADDRCHNG.TWP X P-DIRECT 930415 1664 25 14
Desc: Falcon mag update, Addr change, more
28452 CAF93_02.TXT X B.GOCKLEY 930415 2944 19 14
Desc: CT AtariFest '93 Announcements
28417 CH_VERS.TXT X ST.LOU 930413 2944 69 14
Desc: Updated CodeHead Products List
28406 INNOVATR.TXT X D.FINCH7 930412 1792 30 14
Desc: CT ATARIANS SEEK HOME INNOVATORS
---------------------------------------------------
Contact: LIBRARY$
= COMMENTS =
You are free to use anything in this brief but files and Bulletin
Board quotes must be made in accordance to Atari ST Roundtables, Atari
Corporation and GEnie policies.
Feel free to contact me on any questions, comments or suggestions.
John G. Hartman [J.G.H.] Atari Roundtable, PR Sysop
--==--==--==--==--
|||
||| Shutdown ............................ Power off, EXIT, BYE, Logoff
/ | \ ------------------------------------------------------------------
When I first agreed to take over AEO from Ron Kovacs back in late
October 92, I sat down and wrote out guidelines for how I wanted AEO
to be ran. These were conditions I sat out for myself, and for my
publisher, outlining what I expected, and what I would and would not
do in AEO.
One item on the list was that I didn't want AEO to become entangled in
an online magazine war. I still don't want that to happen. To uphold
that, I've spent the better part of the last 18 hours writing and
rewriting my editorials.
I picked that attitude up from Mike Lindsay, editor of Atari Explorer.
Mike has always tried to maintain a good relationship with all
magazines - I know this, because I have been at Mike's right hand
since 1987, when he started ST Informer. Mike is a quiet, honest
gentleman. Mike's magazines have always been ran professionally. (If
rather informally!) He has always hoped to be treated in the same
fashion.
I've just gotten off the phone with Mike. He is extremely disappointed
at Ralph Mariano and his sources for not bothering to call him at his
Atari Corp. office this week to verify an ST Report news item. Mike
has been in all week, except for a Family Spring Break he took on
Thursday.
Despite rumors circulating about Explorer's demise, Mike and Darren
have been exploring ways to restructure the magazine to make it a more
cost effective medium for everyone involved: readers, advertisers,
Atari - everyone.
Although Ralph has reported that all he got was an answering machine,
he has not left one message - even to ask for a return call to verify
anything. Anyone who would like to reach Mike, may do so at (408)
745-2183. However, Mike says he will be occupied most of next week,
finalizing the details on Explorer's restructure. Explorer's machine
is an equal opportunity listener - please leave Mike a message.
About the items in ST Report, all Mike would say was, "I am very
disappointed that Atari Explorer, Darren, and I have been used in an
unprofessional manner to show Atari in yet another negative light."
Mike wants the users, both current and future to know one thing, "With
all of the good and the bad you have read, Atari Corp. is only going
through what most major corporations are going through. Since I have
been at Atari for the past 8 1/2 months, I can personally vouch that
Atari is striving to remake themselves our computing choice for the
90's."
Until the next issue of AEO, I remain,
Your Editor
Travis Guy
--==--==--==--==--
(This issue printed on recycled photons)
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine is a bi-weekly publication covering the
Atari 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 presented herein are those of the individual
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of Atari
Corporation.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari, ST, Mega ST, STE, Mega STE, TT030, Atari Falcon030, TOS,
MultiTOS, NewDesk, BLiTTER, Atari Lynx, Atari Jaguar, Atari Portfolio,
Atari Explorer, Atari Explorer Online, and the Atari Fuji Symbol are
all trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation. All
other trademarks mentioned in this issue belong to their respective
owners.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine
"The Official Atari Online Journal"
Copyright = 1993, Atari Computer Corporation
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A E O :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Volume 2 - Issue 8 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 17 April 1993 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-----------------------------------------
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