Z*Net: 6-Jun-93 #9318
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/08/93-12:12:07 AM Z
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From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson) Subject: Z*Net: 6-Jun-93 #9318 Date: Tue Jun 8 00:12:07 1993 ####################################################################### ####################################################################### ##########(((((((((( ##########((( ##(( ##((((((( ##(((((((( ########## #################(( ####(( ####(((( #(( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##############(( #####(((((( ##(( (( (( ##((((( #######(( ############# ###########(( ##########(( ####(( #(((( ##(( ##########(( ############# ##########(((((((((( ##########(( ##((( ##((((((( #####(( ############# ####################################################################### ####################################################################### Z*NET: ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE * Copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing Volume 8, Number 18 Issue #502 June 6, 1993 File:93-18 Call the Z*Net News Service BBS (908) 968-8148 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * Publisher/Editor..........................................Ron Kovacs * Writer............................................Michael R. Burkley * Contributing Writer.........................................Len Stys * AtariNet Coordinator......................................Bill Scull * America Online Correspondent..........................Bruce Hansford * Compuserve Correspondent...............................Mike Mortilla * Z*Net Newswire Correspondent..............................Mike Davis * Z*Net News International Gateway - New Zealand............Jon Clarke ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GEnie..............Z-NET CompuServe....75300,1642 Delphi.........ZNET Internet...status.gen.nz America Online..ZNET1991 AtariNet..51:1/13.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |#| The Editors Desk...............................Ron Kovacs |#| Z*Net Newswire........................................... |#| Dateline Atari! With Bob Brodie................Ron Kovacs |#| 20 Questions From Atari For CIS Members.............Atari |#| Z*Net Calender.................................Ron Kovacs |#| Blue Ridge Atarifest........................Press Release |#| DMC Special Offer...........................Press Release |#| Clip-Art and Image Vendors............................... |#| IAAD Member Listing..................................IAAD |#| Unabashed Atariophile.....................Michael Burkley ###### THE EDITORS DESK ###### By Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Attached to this edition are GIF captures of System Audio Manager, (SAM) software. Please note however that these captures are of an older version. Special thanks to Bob Brodie for supplying the material for this capture. We expect to perform a review of the latest version as soon as it becomes available. ###### Z*NET NEWSWIRE ###### Atari News / Industry Update ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- ATARI LAUNCHES THE JAGUAR, A 64-BIT MULTI-MEDIA GAME SYSTEM Atari has announced the launch of a revolutionary new multi-media entertainment system, the Atari Jaguar. The launch will be supported by aggressive advertising, promotion and marketing efforts to be centered in the New York market in the fall, with a national roll-out of the product within one year. The Atari Jaguar, housed in a futuristic casing, is an interactive multi-media system based on an Atari-designed proprietary 64-bit RISC processor. The 64-bit system is four times the technology currently seen in the market today. The Atari Jaguar features over 16 million colors in 24-bit true-color graphics and produces shaded 3-D polygons to be manipulated in a "real" world in real time. The Atari Jaguar also has real-time texture mapping and creates spectacular video effects. The sound system is based on Atari's proprietary, high-speed, Digital Signal Processor dedicated to audio. The audio is 16-bit stereo CD quality and processes simultaneous sources of audio data, allowing for very realistic sounds, as well as human voices, which are essential for future multi-media applications. The Atari Jaguar is truly expandable and will include a 32-bit expansion port which allows for future connection into cable and telephone networks, as well as a digital signal processing port for modem use and connection to digital audio peripherals such as DAT players. The unit will also have a compact disc peripheral, which will be double-speed and will play regular CD audio, CD + G (Karaoke) and Kodak's new Photo-CD). Currently, there are multiple software titles in development, which will be available on MegaCart. Atari, known for such groundbreaking 3-D titles as "Battlezone 2000" and "Tempest 2000," will issue spectacular new versions for the Atari Jaguar. New 3-D game titles will include "Cybermorph," "Alien vs. Predator," "Jaguar Formula One Racing" and many more. Atari will license third-party publishers to join the Jaguar family. "The Atari Jaguar system will revolutionize the state of home entertainment as we see it today," said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. "The idea of a 64-bit system is earth shattering and kids and adults will be amazed at both the imagery and manipulative capabilities. And we are proud that our entry into the multi-media entertainment category will be fully made in America." The Atari Jaguar will retail for approximately $200 and will be available nationwide next year. The Atari Jaguar packaged unit will include one software experience and a Power Pad Controller with a ten-key pad and other special features. IBM INTRODUCES PS/1 The IBM Personal Computer Company and Walt Disney Computer Software introduced two new models of IBM PS/1 computers preloaded with Disney software. Each of these new PS/1 computers will contain, in addition to the preloaded software that comes with the standard PS/1, 11 Disney software titles, fully integrated into a IBM PS/1 486 25 MHz computer. As with all IBM PS/1s, each system will come complete with everything the user needs, including a monitor, mouse and modem. These products will be available beginning mid-July at approximately 6,000 retail locations, including department stores, general merchandise stores and membership clubs throughout the U.S. The estimated price in the U.S. is expected to be approximately $1699. MICROSOFT GRANTED MOTION TO DISMISS Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ruled Tuesday in Microsoft Corporation's favor in the Apple vs. Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard copyright suit, ending 63 months of litigation of copyright infringement issues in the trial court. In March of 1988, Apple filed suit against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, alleging that Microsoft Windows version 2.03 and HP NewWave infringed copyrights in seven Apple software programs. Apple added Microsoft Windows 3.0 to the case in 1991. Over the past five years, the court eliminated from consideration more than 200 allegedly infringed visual displays. In its May 18 order, the court determined that the only copyright infringement question remaining as to Microsoft was whether a reasonable jury could compare Windows 2.03 and 3.0, each as a whole, with the Apple Lisa Desktop and find either Windows product to be virtually identical to the Apple work. ###### DATELINE ATARI! WITH BOB BRODIE ###### Captured and Edited by Ron Kovacs ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Edited Roundtable Conference held on June 4, 1993 on GEnie in the Atari ST Roundtable. <ST.LOU> Welcome everyone! What a crowd! There are many newcomers tonight. If you have not done so please use the /nam command so I can address you informally and save typing a few extra letters :-) Welcome to the June installement of Dateline Atari! with Bob Brodie, Director of Communications for Atari Corp. We are indeed privileged and appreciative to have Bob participate in this exclusive monthly conference with Atari users here on GEnie. As June flowers begin to blossom, Atari users are posting news of Falcon purchases. In the Bulletin Board there are daily messages from ecstatic new owners. New Falcon topics are opening as software notes are shared and compared. There is a very definite upbeat mood in the Atari ST RoundTable now that the Falcons have arrived in large numbers. If that were not enough, we have heard that the 65 meg hard drives have been upgraded to 80 meg units at NO EXTRA COST! I guess that is the reward for being patient :-) Tonight, Bob has returned to bring us the latest news on Falcon availability. He will also give GEnie users the first official announcements about Atari's newest product. Bob.... the curtain is rising. <BOB-BRODIE> Welcome to the June '93 edition of Dateline Atari! Settle back into your chair for a few minutes. Make sure you have your capture buffer turned on, or be sure to go to the library tomorrow morning to d/l the transcript from tonight's session; I've got lots of info to share with you tonight! First, I'm pleased to announce that shipments of Falcon030s are continuing with units for dealers to sell at this point. We presently have over 140 (yes, that is One Hundred Forty) dealers on board, in over 40 states. This is much better than where we were a year ago. We're very pleased that our decision to go with the new dealer agreement has brought us leverage to bring on new dealers! In fact, earlier today I got a call from one of our "holdout", older dealers that hadn't signed the agreement yet. He's having a change of heart, and I'm looking forward to him carrying Falcon030s. This is a very good sign!!! Also, we're pleased that we've brought on board another of our longtime partners, Pacific Software Supply, to be a distributor for the Atari Falcon030. We will be working very closely with them to ensure that the dealers that they sign up meet all of the criteria that we have established for Atari dealers. All of the dealers that Pacific Software brings on board will be signing the same dealer agreements as the dealers that we deal directly with. Of course, this means that Pacific is now also carrying a host of accessories for the Atari Falcon030 as well, like the sometimes elusive SCSI-II cables, a host of Falcon software, VGA monitors, and lots of other goodies for our dealers. In short, the dealers are getting another terrific resource to work with!! Some of you may recall that I indicated in the last Dateline:Atari! we were still a ways off from being able to ship to SpeedoGDOS and MultiTOS to existing Atari owners. Both of these products are shipping with Falcon030s. Today we received the diskettes back from the duplicators, and the manuals arrived a couple of days ago, so we're actually ahead of schedule at this point! We have begun assembling the packages so our customers will be able to purchase MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS along with 14 BitStream fonts within a couple of weeks!!! The manuals for Atari Works have still not arrived, which means that we are still ON SCHEDULE <grin> for that product. Works should be in stock in approximately fourteen more days. The retail price for the products to current users has been slightly adjusted, and is now as follows: SpeedoGDOS - $64.95 MultiTOS- $59.95 Atari Works- $118.95 We have also done an incremental upgrade to the Atari Falcon030 in our on-going efforts to provide our users with the best units we possibly can. We have upgraded the Atari Falcon030 from a 65 meg internal hard disk drive to an 80 megabyte hard disk drive. We were able to secure the new mechanisms at the very same price as the 65s, so there will be no increase in price to our customers! Currently, Atari Falcon030s are shipping with the following programs on the drives: MultiTOS, SpeedoGDOS, Landmines, Breakout, CalAppt, ProCalc, Talking Clock. They are also *supposed* to have on them Atari Works, System Audio Manager, Audio Fun Machine, and FalconD2D. A small number of machines got out the door without these programs installed on the drives. We will be shipping a mail-in card to the dealers that got these machines a card for their customers to mail into Atari so you will receive these products via mail. We apologize for the mistake. We are now in anticipation of another shipment of Falcons in about two weeks. Included in this shipment is going to be a number of units that will not have hard drives built in, specifically the Falcon030 with one meg of ram and no hard disk, and with four megs of ram and no hard disk. These units WILL NOT come with SpeedoGDOS, Atari Works, or FalconD2D. They will have everything else, including the hard disk utilities in case you have your own SCSI hard disk. We will be selling at a later date a hard drive upgrade kit, which will ship with Atari Works, SpeedoGDOS, FalconD2D, MultiTOS, etc. on the hard drive. Regarding applications for the Atari Falcon030, Bill Rehbock has passed on to me some information concerning products and availability. Please understand that I am not professing literacy in all (or for that matter, any) of these products. I am simply passing on some interesting information to our users. I hope that this will prove encouraging, and help demonstrate that the interest for Atari Computers is continuing to grow. In several cases, these applications will not only run on the Falcon030, but other Atari computers as well. Where I have commented about who will be carrying the product in North America, this is based on the best information I have at this time, and is subject to change. Notator Logic, a music applications, by E-Magic Cubase Audio, a music application, by Steinberg Inshape, a rendering application by Roald Christesen, carried by Oregon Research TruePicture, a retouching application, by HiSoft, carried by Oregon Research Harlekin3, a utility, by HiSoft, carried by Oregon Research OverGenlock, video software by Overscan, carried by COMPO Screenblaster, graphic expansion by Overscan, carried by COMPO Overlay, a video application by Overscan, carried by COMPO DA's Vector, a graphics application by Digital Arts, carried by Pacific Software Convector 2, a auto vectorization application from SHIFT, carried by Gribnif Zoom, a icon editor from SHIFT, carried by Gribnif MusiCOM, a music application from COMPO MusiCOM 2, a music application from COMPO Digitape, a music application from Trade iT, carried by Codehead Falcon Speed, a PC board, from COMPO TruePaint, a graphics application from HiSoft, carried by Oregon Research Pure C, a programming language from Pure GmbH, carried by Gribnif Pure Pascal, a programming language from Pure GmbH, carried by Gribnif Studio Photo, a retouching application from Eurosoft, carried by COMPO Chagall, a graphics application from Trade iT, carried by Codehead GT-Look II, scanner software, carried by Pacific Software Interface, a programming tool, from SHIFT GmbH, carried by Gribnif. As you can see, there really is a lot going on!!! In addition to all of that, we've been busy on the game side of things as well! We're ready to release three more titles for the Lynx: Gordo 106, Lemmings, and Jimmy Connors Tennis. I've seen eproms of these titles, and expect to have news on production in the near future. Also on the game side of things, as CES is going on in Chicago even as we speak, we've announced the Jaguar, our oft discussed new game machine. For those of you who haven't had a chance to hear about the Jaguar, here is our press release: (The Press Release is Available in The Z*Net Newswire) We did not show the Jaguar on the floor of CES. We have a videotape demonstrating the units capabilities that we are showing to developers and key retailers. We have been shipping Jaguar developer units for awhile now, and are very excited at the reception of our new unit. Rather than invest in an incredibly expensive rollout at CES, we've opted for a "special event" kind of rollout. We will conduct our event at a date to be announced in the fall. We are extremely excited about this project!!!! It has been much awaited by all of us in Sunnyvale, and we forsee it as a product that will recapture the attention of consumers throughout the world!! I've been pleased that already, in less than 24 hours after the press release has hit, a number of publications (even the foreign ones!) are calling in, and looking for as much information as possible. For the most part, we're sticking with the press release at this time. We will release specification sheets at a later time. One thing that I know the Tramiels are particulary excited about with this product, is that it will be an American product, manufactured in America! I hope that all of you share our enthusiasm for that!!! With that, I'm ready to filed any questions that our members might have tonight, Lou. Let's talk Atari!!! <ARCHIVIST> Hi again Bob, thanks for being here. A little question about the pricing of the new programs from Atari: You quoted Atari Works as having a price of $118.95, does this include SpeedoGDOS as was suggested earlier? Or is Speedo extra at at the price of $64.95? <BOB-BRODIE> Speedo is included with Works for the users that purchase it....as a separate product, Charlie. They will also get the fonts. <B.WELSCH> Will the manuals ship with the computers? And can we get a copy of the Jaguar Video to show at the show? And where can we get the Kodak CD drivers? <BOB-BRODIE> Bruce, as I indicated in my opening remarks, there were a few units that went out the door without the products, and the manual. The manuals for System Audio Manager, Works, Audio Fun Machine, FalconD2D are coming. We will be providing those via mail for the customers that already have them. Re the video, no...I'm sorry. That is not available at this time. Re the Kodak Photo CD stuff, please send email to B.REHBOCK, he will be happy to fill you in on the drivers. <Y.SIU> What will be the RRP for the Jaguar?...oh, sorry brad ;-) no hard feelings? ;-) And what price should the games be retailing at for the Jaguar? <BOB-BRODIE> Under $200. And no pricing on the games at this point in time. <Y.SIU> And more importantly, Atari appears to have lost many of it's professional base in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. What will Atari do to regain those losses? <BOB-BRODIE> Yat, the professional users that you are referring to are by and large DTP people. We expect to be able to reclaim those people as more of the apps start to take advantage of the things in the Falcon030 like the DSP chip. On the other hand, your question seems to imply that we have lost ALL of the professionals, which is simply not true. We are GROWING a new, higher level, professional audio/sound/ music class of users that recognize the Falcon030 as a world class sound system!!! These users will continue to give credibility to the Atari line of computers. <B.SUSLOVIC> Bob, just wanted to say that I had no idea of the broad nature of the Jaguar. WOW how does one develop software for the Jaguar? What immense potential!!! go team P.S. Thanks Lou <BOB-BRODIE> Brad, our developer support group here in Sunnyvale for the Jaguar is headed up by John Skrutch. Please feel free to write him, or contact him via Bill Rehbock here on GEnie and tell them that you are interested in becoming a registered developer for the Jaguar, and we'll be happy to pass along the necessary info to you. We appreciate your interest in developing for the Jaguar. <D.MUNSIE> First..Does Atari plan on having any regional reps to handle dealer sales regarding the Falcon? <BOB-BRODIE> Yes, Dave, we have a team of over 16 regional reps in place now. <D.MUNSIE> ok, there are two two dealers in the Dallas/FT worth area with over 2000 users in this area, we are waiting for the Falcon to show up, any word on Megabyte and Computer Discoveries? <BOB-BRODIE> David, I really don't care to discuss each dealers status in public, as I think that it is unprofessional as a rule...but I will in this case say that we just got the app from Megabytes a couple of days ago, and we're still waiting for the rest of the package to come back from Computer Discoveries. So, with that in mind, I'd also like to point out there are two dealers already selling the Falcon in the Dallas Metroplex area, they are both Guitar Center locations. One is in Arlington, and one is in Dallas proper. Would you like the address and phone numbers so you can contact them to purchase one? <D.MUNSIE> Maybe you could post it so I can pass it on to the others here? <J.FRENCH2> Is the Falcon a transitional machine?? Jaguar seems to have more advanced technology that would fit nicely in a full blown computer. <BOB-BRODIE> No, the Falcon is not a transitional machine. They are 100% different animals. The Jaguar doesn't have many of the Falcon hardware "computer things", like SCSI, floppies and the other drawbacks and flaws! a monitor port, etc. The Jaguar will have many other features that are more focused toward entertainment and multimedia. But the Falcon is a versatile computer. <J.FRENCH2> Can you tell us about the video hardware by Compo? <BOB-BRODIE> The hardware is really by Overscan, not Compo. Compo is going to be carrying it here in the US for Overscan. It will allow greater screen rez, like 800x600x256. It's shipping now in Germany to good reviews. I don't have pricing at this time, and suggest that you email COMPO, or bring it up in one of their topics here in the ST RT. <J.WHITE99> Naturally most of my questions center on availability. Will the forthcoming shipment of F030s be of a size similar to the last? When is peak production anticipated? Did you mention D2D Systems in your application-compatible list? It is naturally reassuring that there is going to be some sort of effort by corporate to promote some of their products. Seeing that the Jaguar is only a consumer product and the Falcon really has a lot of direction to that market as well, what's the possibility of directing some of those efforts towards the birds as well as the cats. <BOB-BRODIE> Jeff, we never comment publically on the size of the shipments. If you look at the marketplace as a whole right now, (computer hardware that is) there are a number of well known manufacturers that are being very cautious about their productions capacities. Certainly, that is in repsonse to the still poor economy, where growth in the retail end is still quite small overall. We have seen at Atari, a number of our "traditional" marketing partners disappear over the last few years, like the Highland Stores in the midwest, which were once gigantic, and are now closed. So we will earmark production as the economy continues to slowly rebound. Re the sharing of the technology...I think that there is no question that there are things that can be used in future products (note the DSP stuff in the Jag) and we will apply those across all of our products. But the Falcon is a much different product than the Jaguar, make no mistake about it. I hope I answered all of your question, Jeff. <E.NIKOLAISE2> Bob I was just wondering if you have contacted Sculptured Software about becoming a Jaguar Developer. Also, can you tell us what video output the Jag. will have? SVHS <BOB-BRODIE> Erik, we'll release the spec sheet at a later time, not tonight. And I'm not at liberty to say who are developers for the Jaguar are at this point in time, sorry. <K.BURKENHEIM> I have one of the new Falcons with the 80 meg hd. I also am waiting for the software. I LOVE the machine and am typing to you on it in High REz and In color. <BOB-BRODIE> Ken, that's great to hear, I'm glad you're so pleased with your Atari Falcon030!!! We will do our best to get you the software as quickly as we possibly can. We got another rev of SAM today and I'm told that it is solid, as well as D2D. So, it should be just a question of getting the manuals done now that the software is *FINALLY* solid. <B.GOCKLEY> Hi Bob, Two Questions: Glad to hear you're on schedule with Falcon shipments. Will there be any for sale at the CT show next week? We have three dealers attending who have signed their ADAs, but don't _yet_ have any product to sell. We're looking forward to our best show ever, June 12-13 in Hartford, sorry you can't join us this year. <BOB-BRODIE> Yes, the dealers that we have authorized to sell Falcons at the CT Atarifest are The Computer Zone of North Attleboro, Mass and East Hartford Computer Repair. Both of them should have Falcons at the show. <C.CASSADAY> Bob, how does one go about getting apps like Talking Clock, ProCalc, CalAppt, Landmine, and Breakout? I'm not going to purchase a Falcon030, but I will purchase MTOS as soon as it becomes available. Are some of these programs included with MTOS? <BOB-BRODIE> Chris, no those programs are not included with MultiTOS. MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS both come with a text file telling every user how to sign up for GEnie, that I personally wrote! :) Re the other programs, I don't know what to tell you right now. CalAppt is a comprehensive program, and requires (at least I required) a manual in order to use it. The games....I don't know what to tell you yet about that. I'll see what can be done. They are written to take express advantage of the Falcon, but will work on other machines as well. My wife is cutting into my computer time at home on the TT so she can play breakout. :) <B.STEVAN> Bob, From a dealers perspective will we get some sort of an upgrade from the 65MB HD to the 80MB as well as the other programs that were not shipped with the dealers units. Also with regard to service parts we have been unable to get just about anything since Atari Canada closed up...what is the situation with that. Also is Canada going to be getting any of those reps you were mentioning? <BOB-BRODIE> Stevan, No...there will be no upgrade from the 65 meg units. It was intended to be an incremental upgrade. Frankly, we were very surprised that it happened this fast, we thought that it would be longer before we got the newer drives. Sorry. Re the programs, I indicated in my opening remarks that there were a limited number of machines that went out the door without the programs that were supposed to be installed on them, and we apologize for the mistake. We will be sending the affected dealer (s) post cards for them to provide to their customers so that the can get the programs mailed to them once the manuals are ready. Re the Canadians, we have signed on a rep for the music side, and I'm attempting to bring on one for the Computer side as well. We'll see how it goes. I know that parts are a problem right now and we're trying to correct it. Right now, fax Shirley Taylor with your orders at 408-745- 2088 and she will do the best that she can to help you with your parts needs. Also, don't forget that there are other suppliers than Atari, like BEST Electronics in San Jose, that stock just about anything and everything for Atari products. <Y.SIU> Concerning the Central European market...there was much criticism about the fact that thre was no Falcon coming in a TT-like design, with a VME bus and/or '040? How are the plans for such a future computer...and If not an 040...what about the 16Mhz....MTOS is still too slow in my opinion to run on a Falcon030.... <BOB-BRODIE> Yat, I remind you of what I told you last month. I do not work for Atari Corporate, or the Europeans. I work for Atari US which also has Canadian responsibilities. Not Europe. I really am not in a position to comment on what the plans are Sorry...my question was not meant to focus on Europe, but on the future of maybe some probable Falcons..i.e. Atari Products... for specifically for our European markets. I suggest that you take those issues up with Bob Gleadow, the GM of Atari UK. I will be happy...IN EMAIL, to provide you his contact info. <P.FORISTER> Bob, when using a Falcon030 without MTOS loaded will I still get the 3D gadgets? <BOB-BRODIE> No, Pat. The 3D gadgets are a result of loading a new version of the AES specifically designed for MultiTOS. <R.ANISKO> Bob, - are there any plans to release any special filesystems for MultiTOS in the near future? I've heard good things about the Minix filesystem, for instance (in terms of speed, and breaking the 8.3 filename limit), and would be interested in seeing MultiTOS take advantage of such things. It would be nice to simply add a filesystem, and then pop in *any* disk format (like an Am*ga or M*cintosh formatted disk) and go from there. <BOB-BRODIE> Yes, Rob...I have spoken with Eric Smith, and there is some new things in the works for the file system, espcecially the extensions to the MINT file system. <R.ANISKO> One other question - what would be your thoughts on maybe bundling some shareware titles on the Falcon's harddisk (like Gemview, ConNect, etc) that should already be suited to take advantage of the Falcons' capabilities? I'm not sure of the legal stuff, but it would be nice for those folks without modems to get a look at some of these programs (actually, bundling a modem wouldn't be a bad idea either |-) <BOB-BRODIE> I doubt if we'll bundle modems, Rob....not until we have our own DSP modem available. Most of the time, I think including shareware diskettes are a good tool for a dealer to use to make the customer feel that he is getting a enhanced value for his purchase. I got a ton of free software back when I bought my original 1040, and really felt good about my purchase. <SAM-RAPP> Hey Bob! What were the factors that lead to the decision to market the Jaguar in the New York Area as opposed to a nationwide roll out? Also, please elaborate on the Lynx situation. What happened to the new games? (2 a month!) -more- What about the RPG's in specific? I can buy ST stuff easier than Lynx around here! <BOB-BRODIE> One of the major factors in the roll out in NY is that it is a densely populated area, with terrific media exposure that makes it easy to both sell and promote a product greatly, rather than doing a big rollout all over the US. Re the two games a month, right now it's been more like two games a quarter. I suspect that part of the reason for that is the emphasis has been to get the Jaguar ready, and we've made some sacrifices in order to ensure that that happened. <SAM-RAPP> One more question... any pricing/availability on the 16(14) meg boards for Falcon? <BOB-BRODIE> I should know that, but I don't. I know that we have a limited amount of them in stock right now, but I'm also told that Zubair is producing a 14 meg board, too. So you might want to check with them, and see what they're doing. <CAN-ASST> Hi Bob! Part of one of my questions was already answered, but I called Atari a week or so ago to find out about Canadian dealers for pricing info and was told that there were only 2 authorized Falcon dealers in Canada... <BOB-BRODIE> Whoever told you that was mistaken. <CAN-ASST> I called the one in Toronto and they weren't sure of the pricing. <BOB-BRODIE> The pricing is posted in the BB here in the ST RT. <[Lou] ST.LOU> Connor, I believe Bob is saying that only US pricing is posted because of the fluctuating exchange rate. :-) <BOB-BRODIE> Actually, I can post it again right now if you would like. OK, Connor. The prices for the Atari Falcon030 follow. These are in US dollars, due to the fluctuations in the exchange rate that are presently happening. All prices are MSRP, GST and Duty are additional Falcon030 1/0 814.98 Falcon030 4/0 1018.98 Falcon030/4/65 1324.98 Falcon030/14/80 1936.98 The price on the 4/65 is really for a 4/80, sorry. Old habits. <J.WHITE99> Trying not to incur wrath and still be pointed is difficult. Marketing... Any retailer of any product will tell you it is easier for them to support a product people are asking for. Why not advertise F030s as aggressively as Jaguars? You had mentioned the 'futuristic' aggressive advertising for the Jaguar. <BOB-BRODIE> Tell me about the Jaguar commercials you've seen, Jeff? :) Well, Jeff. It's like this...we recognize that we need to do more things to market the product. The problem is to do it a cost effective way that is going to make sense, and not burn up hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. In looking at the most recent issue of Computer Reseller News, I see that for the top ten computer mfgs of desktop computer systems last year, there are only TWO that I recognize as doing any TV advertising for at all. In fact, a couple of them are people that I don't remember ever seeing any advertisement for at all, anywhere!!! So, on the one hand, building a demand for the product is a big item, but clearly, there are a number of different ways to go about it. Dealers always want to see you spending big, so they don't have to spend. On the other hand, being from the Bay Area, you've seen how effective a good partner in promotion can be used like, Fry's Electronics. Virtually NO TV, but major print and Radio ads. And their stores are full...I know, I shop there, too. So, we'll be looking for the Falcon at doing some cost effective things in conjuction with quality partners, both retail and developers. We want to resume doing things like the campaign we did with FOSTEX, Dr. T's, Steinberg, and C-Lab once before. <ST.LOU> I want to thank Bob for bringing so much information to us tonight in the longest Dateline Atari! session so far. Given the numbers who attended, I am sure you realize how important these sessions are to Atari users. ###### 20 QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY ATARI FOR CIS MEMBERS ###### Captured from The AtariArts Forum ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- Ron, We've taken a sort of panel discussion kind of approach to the questions here. James and I have answered the bulk of the questions, and tried to drag Bill in as much as possible. Due to the demands on our time here, we're much later than we would like to be with this file. My apologies to your members for the delay. [From a US user]: What features do you think the Falcon030 has that would convince a FIRST TIME computer buyer to purchase this PC? From James Grunke: Clearly, the features that are going to sell units are the DSP, SDMA sound engine, the BLiTTER and graphics capabilities, MultiTOS, and MIDI ports. As well, it will be key for us to showcase third party products that demonstrate elegant applications for this aggressive new hardware. Simply, what will convince the first time buyer to purchase this PC is the ability to do high end applications for a lot less money than what might be available on other platforms. From Bob Brodie: We've included Atari Works as part of the Falcon hard disk bundle so that customers will have quality productivity software right out of the box. Other software included with the Falcon030 provides a good sampling of games, sound applications, and a high quality font technology in SpeedoGDOS. It really depends on what the consumer is looking for to be really honest with you. Personally, I think one of the things that has helped sell DOS machines are some of the applications on them. We feel that the Falcon030 represents tremendous capabilities of a musician! To the point that it really is a professional level work station for music. For customers that are getting a computer for music, the Falcon030 is the clear choice. After that, it gets much tougher. We have a bunch of true color paint programs coming on board, and the voice mail application from DOA that is very interesting. Also, there are about a large number of entertainment titles under development. The Falcon will be a terrific game machine, too! Perhaps one of our best assets is the way in which you can run so many O/S's from the Atari. Certainly, we're going to need other applications from our developers to address other areas of software where we are weak. Personally, I think the thing that will continue to attract users is the simplicity and ease of use of an Atari Computer. [Another user asks]: Three and one half years ago I purchased an Atari STFM because I was excited about joining the world of midi and I felt that Notator and Atari provided the best platform. As the hardware and software world expanded I went for all the Notator upgrades and one year ago bought a MegaSTE 4/50 for more RAM and speed. I like my machine very much but am very disappointed that it became a fossil in 5 months with no support from Atari. What can you tell me and others that will make us feel that this is not likely to happen to us if we purchase a Falcon for our Music and Midi computer now that there are other "030',"040", and "486" machines with good music and Midi support? From Bob Brodie: I'm not really sure what you mean by "fossil", other than the fact that it is no longer being manufactured. Have you had specific support problems with the Mega STE? It's really been one of our most reliable machines, and we have a qualified staff of technicians here in Sunnyvale that can fix just about any problem that you might have with the Mega STE (or any other Atari CPU for that matter). On the software side, we're supporting the Mega STE in many of the new software products that are coming out. MultiTOS runs on a Mega STE, SpeedoGDOS works on a Mega STE, and so does Atari Works. That hardly qualifies as "no support from Atari"! On the hardware side, we built the Mega STE to accept industry standard 3-1/2" SCSI hard disk drives specifically so you would have an easier time getting the HD you want. You should be able to upgrade to even a 1.2 Gigabyte drive in your Mega STE. It also comes with a VME port, so you can install one of the graphics cards to upgrade your video as well. Again, the support for the machine is there on the hardware side as well. Like all computer companies, we are constantly working on new technologies that will improve on todays products. However, as long as the Mega STE that you bought continues to serve your needs, what is the problem? With the Atari Falcon030, we've introduced a new family of computers with an additional set of apabilities. It is a fact of our industry that what you buy today will be replaced by another machine. Check out how quickly Apple is bringing new machines to the market; virtually every six months! From James Grunke: Notator running on a Mega STE is still one of the most powerful music combinations in the world!! A lot of records are being made with this duo. As well as products from Steinberg, Barefoot, Dr. T's, and many others. If that's a fossil, how come it still eats 486s for lunch? At home, I still use Notator on a Mega ST (with TOS 1.2), and even that will smoke a 486! :) With the Falcon's new hardware, and our track record in music, I'm quite confident that the Falcon will remain a viable tool in your arsenal for many years to come. [Another US member asks]: Will ATARI still offer support for it's existing lines (ST , MEGA, TT..) or will all their effort be put behind the FALCON? From Bob Brodie: In terms of service, we will support all of the existing lines. However, I don't think you will see us bring out new products *specifically* for the older machines. We did created TOS 2.06 expressly so one of our strategic partners (Artifex) could produce an adapter board to allow owners of the ST series of computers to upgrade to the new desktop. In TOS 2.05, the system would crash if it found non-STE hardware. That was changed in TOS 2.06 (as well as some bug fixes) specifically so users of older machines could enjoy the benefits of the new TOS. I also indicated that our new software products, Atari Works, Speedo GDOS, and MultiTOS will also work on older machines as well. You may want to consider upgrading an 8Mhz machine with an accelerator board, though. For several years now, we have said that the minimum hardware standard for computer users was an STE. There will be some features on some products that will simply not work on an ST family computer because the hardware isn't up to the task (like not enough colors, no DMA sound). We will provide service for all of our products as long as practical. However, there are of course, limitations to that. We still get phone calls asking for repairs for the Atari 5200 (a product that stopped manufacturing over 8 years ago!) We do sell joy sticks for it, btw. Nothing will last forever, but we will support the machines as long as it is practical. [Multiple members ask]: Will the programs that run on the ST line run on the FALCON? (What level of backwards compatibility can we realistically expect? How does it compare to the TT compatibility-wise?) From Bob Brodie: The Falcon030 is much more STE compatible that the TT030 is. We really feel that the STE is the correct compatibility barometer, not the ST. Again, this relates to the hardware capabilities of the machines. We expect Pacific Software Supply to release a study that they have done on software compatibility should provide a more concrete answer to your question. They are the leading suppliers of Atari software in North America, so they have lots of products to test! As a rule, applications usually work fine. Games tend to have the greatest area of drop-off in compatibility. We found a few things that didn't work, but were mostly older products that hadn't been updated in a long time, like Microsoft Write. Some utilities will also fail on the Falcon, too. [From the UK]: The decision to include MultiTOS on disk and not to commit to ROM might suggest a lack of confidence in that product on Atari's part. Can we expect to see MultiTOS in ROM in the future (maybe switchable with an older TOS) or is multitasking seen as secondary to the future of Atari computers? From Bob Brodie: We do not have a lack of confidence in MultiTOS, and regret that you see our decision as such. Many other OS's are disk based. We felt that having MultiTOS on disk allowed easier updates. We have TOS 4 in ROM for users that choose not to use MultiTOS. It's not the same as a PC or a Mac where you can't do anything without loading the OS from disk. I don't see this as making multitasking "secondary" at all. Rather I see it as another manifestation of our view that the Falcon030 is primarily a home computer. We've indicated that there will be other products in the future that will aimed for the higher end. Multitasking will be an important tool for those machines, as well as any accelerator boards for the Atari Falcon030. [From the sysop staff]: Specifically, what software can the purchaser of a new Falcon030 expect to get with his purchase? And if any of the items are not included with his purchase, when/how can he expect to receive them? From Bob Brodie: Specifically, users in North America get MultiTOS, SpeedoGDOS, FalconD2D, Audio Fun Machine, BreakOut, Landmines, CalAppt, Talking Clock, ProCalc, System Audio Manager (S.A.M.) and Atari Works. Falcon D2D is not shipping with the units at this point in time, and neither is S.A.M. (System Audio Manager). Bugs in both products are preventing our shipping them. These are not Atari in-house products, they are contracted from outside developers, so we're not in total control of this situation (i.e. Don't come out of your office unless it's fixed!). We do expect the developers to rectify the problems to fulfill their contracts. Customers will be find cards in their Falcons so they can mail in to have these programs sent to them as soon as they are completed. What recording software is being bundled with the first shipments of Falcons? What exactly can be done (with HD recording) right off the shelf? From James Grunke: Off the shelf, FalconD2D will provide stereo record and playback, with limited editing, such as cut and paste. It does a great job of giving the consumer the ability to do intro level digital audio applications. For more advanced users, they should look to products from Steinberg, D2D, Digitape by Trade It, Yamaha, and others. You can expect Falcon integrated MIDI/Digital Audio products to be some of the most aggressive on the planet in terms of features per dollar. From Bob Brodie: FalconD2D *should be* shipping, but is not. As quickly as it is available, we will provide it to the owners of Atari Falcon030s. We've always had the point of view that FalconD2D was an introductory recording package to give a glimpse of what was possible with Digital Audio with the Falcon030. So while we're upset that FalconD2D isn't shipping, neither is it the end of the world for higher end users. On the HD recording front, there are other applications, like MusiCOM from COMPO Software that are excellent products. When BYTE Magazine wrote about the Falcon030, MusiCOM was the product they used for their testing. At less than $75, it's a real bargain. Since it has additional capabilities not found in FalconD2D, MusiCOM is a reasonable purchase for many musicians anyway. What does the hardware audio interface currently consist of? Was the bass boost scrapped? From James Grunke: The hardware interface on the Falcon uses mike and headphone mini-jacks, exactly the same as walkman-like products. The 16 bit stereo CODEC is good quality Crystal product. Yes, I'm pleased to say that the bass boost has been scrapped. As of last testing, current specs are: Signal to noise ratio 84dB Frequency response 20-20K Crosstalk -60dB Most outboard MIDI interfaces have multiple INs and OUTs for increased numbers of MIDI channels. Are there plans to include multiple MIDI jacks on the Falcon (or future versions of the Falcon)? From James Grunke: The plans are to use third party outboard MIDI interfaces with multiple INs and OUTs. Check with Steinberg and E-magic regarding their plans for products in this area. There are no plans to include additional MIDI ports. On an interesting side note, we did, however, rewire our MIDI ports back to spec! No more bastardized MIDI ports! Will there be a cartridge port on every Falcon (and future models)? From Bob Brodie: There is a cartridge port on every Atari Falcon030 made, and has been since the product was first shown. We have no comment on any specifications of future computer models at this time. I know that isn't what you want to hear...sorry. It was recently announced that Atari Corp. licensed compression software from Cinepak. Is this for the Falcon line or the Jaguar? From Bob Brodie: Actually, the name of the product that we licensed was Cinepak. It is from SuperMac. We will use that technology on both the Falcon030 and the Jaguar. The Falcon is supposed to have the same extra joysticks ports that the STe has. My question is, are there any plans to use these ports? (don't tell me about third party companies) I'd really like to be able to use IBM joystick/accessories. From Bob Brodie: The Falcon *does* have the same analog joystick ports that the STE has. Yes, there are plans to use these. They are not the same pin outs as on IBM joysticks/accessories, though. We have 15 pins, they have 9. We showed, as early as COMDEX, a special controller pad that we are manufacturing for the Falcon030. It will be used by a number of games coming out, like LlamaZap. The controller has a joypad similar to the Lynx's on it, pause and option buttons, three fire buttons labelled A-B-C, and a keypad with numbers 1-9 , plus * and # It's designed to be a two handed controller. Every game developer that is working on the Falcon has one of these controllers, and will use it for their games. Re your comment about "don't tell me about third party companies", OK... but keep in mind that we're primarily a hardware company, not a software company. We try not to compete with our developers. It's their job to come out with products that make use of the hardware. [A US developer/vendor asks]: Without any significant changes to the Atari corporate structure in the last seven years, why should Atari owners believe that Atari will change from its previous pattern of little (or no) marketing, late delivery, and short shelf life products? From James Grunke: There have been significant changes in the corporate structure of Atari over the last seven years; engineering, management, distribution, manufacturing, and sales. This industry is incredibly dynamic. We don't need to repeat the stories of the US market. However, we remind you that in Europe, we have always maintained a strong market position. Sam has always made quite clear that when we have leapfrog technology in good supply then and only then does it make sense to invest in marketing programs such as advertising and PR. As a developer, you should be aware that we have made a bold move with our dealer agreement to expand and strengthen our North American dealer base. This approach is similar to successful companies such as Pioneer, Yamaha, and divisions of Sony. What this means to the end users in the long run is more healthy, quality dealers in their area for them to choose from. Late delivery? Call Microsoft! This ain't the pizza bidness!!! <grin> Short life products? Why are dealers still screaming for 1040STEs that are four year old technology? Seriously, we are as frustrated as anyone by the product delays. PRODUCT IS NOW SHIPPING! From Bob Brodie: I get the feeling that when you speak about the corporate structure, you're really speaking about the Tramiels. There seems to be a feeling among our userbase that they are incompetent, and all the European success is a result of good managers being far enough away from Sunnyvale to do what they want to do. I cannot let such a misconception continue. Atari is emerging from a period of about four years of when it's products were not technologically superior any longer, and where we had extreme problems in our engineering group. A little over four years ago, we lost most of the key staff members we had in our engineering group. When they left, they left "no trails" of their progress on their work. We had no idea what had been tried, if it had worked and if not, why not, etc. In short, we had no clue about what was happening with our products! So, first, we had to figure out what was going on. Then we took steps to ensure that we would never be placed in this position again, which meant that we had to enact fundamental changes in the way we did things with our staff. This was not an easy task, and certainly didn't happen on the first attempt. Along the way, we had to acquire some new people that we could work with, too. That didn't happen on the first attempt either. We also went through and took a long look at where we needed to be and where the market was heading. It seemed to make sense to proceed with some projects that had been heavily invested in, like the TT. You might recall that the TT originally was supposed to be a 68020 based machine. As our engineering situation evolved, the product did, too. Other products that had been discussed were scrapped. We made decisions on what we needed to do product wise, and also took a good look at the economy. About the point in time we were beginning to come out with some interesting technology, the economy was in a tailspin. In fact, in California, it's still just awful!!! To us, it doesn't make a lot of sense to aggressively market products that you don't believe it, or that the economy will not support. In fact, it's pretty silly! You can *waste* an incredible amount of money, truly _vast_ sums of dollars in this business if you aren't careful. We've been very careful about what we've been over the last three years or so. This is not to say that we haven't made mistakes. We put a lot of effort into the STylus, a pen based system that really looked promising. However, it looking at the pen based market, the products were simply not selling. In fact, a company that was founded on a pen based product had a lot of our former engineers, Momenta, was born and died during this time frame. The pen based systems still aren't selling well to this day. We created the ST Book, based on the premise of long battery life for users, only to find that our US dealers insisted on a back lit screen that would have killed the battery life of the product. We created the Panther game system, which would have competed against the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis as a 16 bit game product. We killed that project when it was obvious that we needed to leapfrog the competition again, and go beyond the 16 bit systems. We know that we've been far from perfect. We have harbored our resources in preparation of a proper launch for two milestone products: The Atari Falcon030, and the Jaguar. You will see us market those in an aggressive fashion. And as the sales of the Falcon030 grow, you will see those sales fund additional efforts. So, in my view, the corporate structure that is in place is exactly what has kept the company afloat in contentious times where many of the hardware giants have fallen. They had the vision to forsee the poor economy, and the wisdom to recognize the limitations of their products. They now have innovative new products in the queue that the marketplace will embrace. I think your comment about the last seven years is an exaggeration. If you look back that far, you're in the hey-day of the 520ST and 1040ST. Atari made all the right moves in the US then, and we can do it again. In this day and age of extremely short 'windows of opportunity' to bring a product to market, Atari seems to be taking unusually long to ramp up Falcon production. Is Atari having difficulty getting Falcons produced, are you deliberately keeping production runs small, or will large numbers (defined as thousands) of Falcons be arriving for sale to consumers any time within the near future (defined as 'within six to eight weeks')? From Bob Brodie: I don't agree with your comment about "the short window of opportunity" comment on the hardware side of the business. On the software side, there is no question that it is an extremely small window. On the hardware side...not so. Witness the PC clones; all the innovation going on over there is just an ever faster microprocessor. The real innovation is going on in software. With the Falcon030, we have innovative hardware. The window of opportunity is quite large, and will be so for quite some time to come. We are keeping production runs small at this point, until the economy picks up. This seems to be a trend in the industry right now with other companies as well, like Compaq. We're certainly not the only hardware company that acting cautiously in regards to production right now. Globally, we will be shipping large numbers in the near future (in accordance with your definitions). From James Grunke: Production is ramping up, and we expect larger numbers to arrive over the summer. The first waves of Falcons were gobbled up immediately, and there are more sell-thru units "on the boat". In the UK we have Falcon users with both TOS 4.01 and 4.02 and just starting to circulate round the comms scene is the falcon patch, there are claims that this patch doesn't fix all the bugs in those releases of TOS, can Bill spread any light on this? Also does the patch fix any of the known bugs in TOS 4.04 which is shipping on the next batch of machines (I presume?). From Bill Rehbock: FPATCH.PRG does fix issues with the serial port with bconmap() This applies to all versions of TOS 4 at this time. TOS 4.04 is available for $60 US, although the policies and prices in the UK may differ. The tweaks up to TOS 4.04 relate mostly to esoteric kind of things, like overlay bit control, and involves vset masks mode, although there are not that many applications that use it. The other changes that FPATCH takes care of are connecting the audio system in such a fashion that STE and TT sound applications can make sound, and then bcomap() got changed going into TOS 4.04, but not enough. So you will still need FPATCH for TOS 4.04. Overall, there are very few changes between 4.01 and 4.04. From Bob Brodie: Having bugs in your OS is just a fact of life. Every single OS has them, bar none. I think that it is unavoidable. DOS 6 is taking a terrible beating over problems it has, Windows 3.1 is far from bug free, and Apple's System 7 has had their share of problems, too. Windows NT is getting raked over the coals in the computer media severly because of it's bugs. (Granted, it's in beta form) This isn't to say that we're not looking to eliminate all the bugs, but that it's almost unavoidable that they will happen in some degree. Does ATARI plan on telling the general public (not everyone has access to an on-line service or a BBS) about the new FALCON or is it just between us? Specifically, what are your advertising plans? Which magazines? TV? etc. From James Grunke: Atari does plan to tell everyone about the Falcon. However not until we have enough product to fulfill that demand. Remember the Stacy ads that created a large demand, and then we couldn't fill it? We don't want a repeat of that!! In terms of specific plans, the initial strategies will involve teaming up with key developers to attack niche markets, such as music, video, graphics, etc.. Typically, this approach would utilize print ads (both national and regional), special events (i.e. trade shows), and key referenceable accounts such as artist endorsements, cutting edge educational institutions. When general consumer applications (and I mean killer applications) are available and our production is tooled up to meet demand, only then does it make sense to do a national TV awareness campaign. From Bob Brodie: On a local level, we have a market development fund program in place with our dealers that is very flexible...almost like make us an offer, and let's talk about it. We're certainly willing to work with dealers to help fund their well planned efforts. Even though our dealer sign up campaign is going along well, there are still some states that we don't have dealers. In my mind, this precludes a national campaign at this point in time. I suspect that our primary media will be print, and as far as which publications, that really depends on what is the best deal at the time. Typically, you purchase a "media bundle" with a number of publications in it that fits the basic demographics of your target audience. This is something that changes frequently (the media bundle that is) so it's impossible to tell what the publications might be at this point in time. Certainly, we'll continue to target the music publications. But as for the rest of the mags, I just don't know the answer to that today. Cost is an obvious factor in choosing which bundle that we would go with, as in how many people per dollar you get in the bundle. Television advertising is extremely expensive. In looking at an industry trade publication showing the top ten computer (desktop) vendors for last year, only 2 of the top ten are companies that I recognize as doing television advertising; IBM and Apple. Among the other companies, there are names that I recognize from their co-op advertisements with their dealers or chain stores, but not stand alone advertising on their own. There are also names there (like Olivetti) that I don't think I have ever seen an ad for anywhere in the US in any form! One of the leading retailers in the San Francisco Bay area is Fry's Electronics. I don't believe they do ANY TV advertising. Very heavy print ads (multiple full page color ads in the newspapers) and hip, attention getting radio advertisments as well. I guess the point that I'm getting at is that I know our users *want* to see us do TV ads, but I'm not so sure that TV is a wise investment for us. We had projected to be at a point in time to be ready to start our advertising campaign. However, the continuing poor economy warrants a cautious approach. Again, this is a part of the business where it is very, very easy to spend truly _VAST_ sums of money, and get very little return on the dollar. Previews of the Falcon have been spotted in many of the major music magazines, but the machine has yet to undergo a technical review, if I'm not mistaken. Such reviews can greatly speed the acceptance of a new machine into the marketplace. Are review units now being sent to these magazines (Keyboard, EM, EQ, Mix, H&SR), and when do you expect reviews to begin appearing? From James Grunke: Firstly, Keyboard, EM, and MIX are all located in the Bay Area, right by Atari. I have travelled internationally with editors from KEYBOARD, I occasionally lunch with key EM and MIX editors. As far as H&SR, Editor Lorenz Rychner was my advisor at the Grove School of Music. EQ gave the Atari Falcon030 a Blue Ribbon Award at AES and continues to give Atari fair coverage. So the relationships are there. In order to give an accurate technical review a writer requires a production machine. Now, with the release of the Falcon, and TOS 4.04, developers require a short time to make sure that their products are solid on the latest rev. I expect this to take 30 days or so, at which time I will prepare evaluation units for the publications to hammer on. With a lead time of 60-90 days, look for the coverage toward late summer/early fall. We want to be well prepared, a bad review is just as influential as a good review. Now that the first wave of Dealer Agreements has gone out and been returned, what CONTINUING efforts are being made to expand the dealer network? From Bob Brodie: Actually, we're well past the first wave of dealer agreements. The first wave consisted of the dealers that we were already doing business with. We've been signing up new dealers (i.e. never carried Atari) for quite a while now. We've signed on a team of manufacturers representatives, that are among the best in the business to help us grow and train our dealer network. As they are regionally located, they are better suited to know who and what is available in each locale. We are not looking for explosive growth at this point, though. Once we get to a certain number of retailers, we'll cap our growth until we can support additional resellers. At this point in time, we have over 140 locations in over 40 states, which is dramatically better than we were doing a year ago. We've also made arrangements to ship Falcons via a single distributor, with the provision that he has the dealers sign up according to all of our requirements (real store fronts, etc.). To what degree is Atari pursuing music stores, and how much of the effort is directed at computer stores? From James Grunke: The initial demand from the music channel has been staggering!!! Following the path of least resistance, and emphasizing the fact that the music software houses are shrink wrapped and ready to go, we are aggressively attacking this side of the business. Falcon030 opens up computer music to a whole new customer, including guitarists, vocalists, educators, etc.. We intend to grow this channel into a major distribution center for Atari. Our efforts in the music channel by no means downplays the regard we have for computer dealers. Those Atari computer dealers that have been with us for a long time are a high priority in our allocations. They actually benefit from the new music users who seek them out for support in non-musical applications. We are planning a drive for more computer dealers, but we need for the consumer software side, i.e. applications and entertainment software, to catch up with the level of the music software. Ideally, we should be at a 25-75% music to computer dealer ratio. From Bob Brodie: In terms of the amount of effort, we're putting a lot more effort into signing on computer dealers than music dealers. However, the music dealers are certainly a much easier sale. They've been quicker to come on board with the Falcon030 than the computer dealers have. So, the music side of the business is just growing faster than the computer side right now. I agree with James, in that this is primarily due to the applications that are available for the Falcon in music. They are truly world class applications. In a number of instances, having a quality music dealer in the area actually makes it easier for the computer dealer. The music dealers typically carry MIDI specific products. Yet, musicians are just like regular computer users....well, not quite regular, but almost! <grin> They want to play games, write letters, buy modems, printers, and all kinds of other peripherals that music dealers don't carry. So a quality music dealer works well with a computer dealer in a symbiotic relationship. The music dealer might sell the customer the Falcon030, but the computer dealer will have additional sales opportunities with the customer as well. What efforts, if any, will be made to have industry standard software (i.e.- Windows and Windows NT, Word Perfect) made available to purchasers of the Atari Falcon platform? From Bob Brodie: You're bringing up a couple of different things in your question; applications software (Word Perfect) and operating systems (Windows NT). First, we've had the ability for a long time to run different operating systems on our products. We foresee that continuing into the future with the Falcon030. COMPO Software is bringing a 286 board and a 486 board to run DOS, and Windows 3.1. I assume that since the board has an actual PC chip on it, will be able to run other things as well, like OS/2, NeXT Step, etc. But I want to be clear that I haven't seen those things run on Falcon Speed. I have seen Windows 3.1 run on Falcon Speed, and was impressed. Windows NT might be starting to ship just now, although Microsoft enjoys an excellent reputation, I can't in good conscience go along with describing it as industry standard at this point in time. As for Word Perfect, I think the only factor that they are interested in is a large installed base of users. Once they see that, they will resume development for Word Perfect. What is the current status of the "other platform" hardwares emulators (PC and MAC) for the Falcon030? From Bob Brodie: The PC emulator is called Falcon Speed, and is being produced by COMPO Software. You can contact their US office at 415-355-0862, or fax them at 415-355-0869. At this point in time, we don't believe the product to be shipping. We have seen it at several trade shows, and it looks very impressive. The 286 board is something that you would expect to be wimpy, but with the very fast Falcon030 bus, it's pretty quick. The Mac board is a product of Gadgets by Small. I haven't heard from Dave in quite a while, neither has Bill Rehbock. We had hoped to see him at NAMM in January, but he wasn't able to attend. I'm afraid that we're no better informed on this that you are. I can tell you that from our end, we got him one of the first Falcons in the US, so he could pursue this project. We'd really like to see it done. Dave has an account here on CIS, so perhaps you can email him a request for an update on his product. ###### THE 1993 Z*NET COMPUTER CALENDAR ###### Schedule of Shows, Events and Online Conferences ###### ---------------------------------------------------------------- ### June 5-10, 1993 Special Libraries Association 84th Annual Conference & Info Exposition. Cincinnati Convention Center, Cincinnati OH. Special Libraries Association, Alisa A. Nesmith, 1700 Eighteenth St. NW, Washington DC 20009 (202)234-4700, (202)265-9317 (fax). ### June 12-13, 1993 CT Atarifest '93 at the Windsor Court Hotel in Windsor Connecticut. This year the Atarifest has relocated to a new hotel with excellent room rates ($35.00 per room), free and plentiful parking, easy access from Interstate 91, I-95, I-90, I-84, I-80, an in house Sports Bar, a bigger ballroom and is located just 1 mile from Bradley International Airport (free shuttle service for hotel guests). Tentative commitments from A&D Software, Gribnif Software, Barefoot Software, Toad Computers, Computer Studio, Baggetaware, Derric Electronics, E.Hartford Computer Repair, MegaType Software, Wizztronics and GFA Software Technology. For further information, call Brian Gockley at 203-332-1721 or Doug Finch at 203-637 -1034. E-mail can be directed to B.GOCKLEY or D.FINCH7 on GEnie or to 75300,2514 or 76337,1067 on CIS. ### June 15-17, 1993 Multimedia '93 - Earl's Court 2, London England. Blenheim Online, Cat Maclean, Mktg Mgr., Blenheim House, 630 Chiswick High Rd., London England; +44 (0)81 742 2828, +44 (0)81 742 3182 ### June 22-23, 1993 Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing, software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to build or improve your world of mobile computing. ### June 23-26, 1993 Digital World '93 - Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills CA. Seybold Seminars, 29160 Heathercliff Rd., Suite 200, PO Box 6710, Malibu CA 90264-6710; (800)433-5200, (310)457-8500, (310)457-8599 (fax) ### June 26-27, 1993 The Kansas City AtariFest '93. The location for the show is Stadium Inn, 7901 E 40 Hwy. Ticket prices at the door will be 5.00 dollars each day. Advance tickets will be 4.00 dollars each, for advance tickets, please send 4.00 dollars per ticket to: Kansas City AtariFest, P.O. Box 1653, Lee Summit, MO 64063 or if you belong to a user group please mail a request for a user group information pack. To make room reservations please call 1-800-325-7901, we are also working with a local travel agent to get special airfares for the show. You may call 1-800-874-7691 to take advantage of the special fares. For more information please leave Email as follows; GEnie, B.welsch, J.krzysztow, for CompuServe, Leave for Jeff Krzysztow at 74027,707, or you can call (816)224-9021, or mail to the address listed above. ### June 29 - July 1, 1993 PC Expo-NY - Javits Convention Center, New York City. ### July 24-25, 1993 The Blue Ridge Atari Computer Enthusiasts (BRACE) and Computer STudio host the Fourth Annual Blue Ridge AtariFest in Asheville, North Carolina. Saturday show time is from 10am - 6pm and Sunday show times are from Noon to 5pm. Free booth space is available for Atari developers. This Atarifest will be taking over the Courtyard Shop (mall) area at the Westgate Shopping Center (location of Computer STudio), and also plan on using vacant store spaces for seminar sessions. Seminars will be 45 minutes in length, and developers are welcome to conduct a seminar on their product line or approved topic of their choice (seminars are limited, so first come, first served). For additional information, please contact: Sheldon Winick on GEnie - S.WINICK or at the Computer STudio at (704) 251-0201 or contact the show coordinator Cliff Allen on GEnie - C.ALLEN17 or call (704) 258-3758. ### August 3-6, 1993 MacWorld Expo at the Boston World Trade Center, Bayside Exposition Center and sponsored by MacWorld Magazine. This event is titled Boston '93. ### August 23-27, 1993 Interop '93 (#2) at the Moscone Center in San Fransisco, California. ### August 25-29, 1993 ONE BBSCON '93 at the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is a four day exposition presented by BoardWatch Magazine. There will be three days of educational services, a trade show exhibit area with over one-hundred vendors on hand. For further information on this event and for registration information contact: Peg Coniglio at ONE Inc., 4255 South Buckley Road, Suite 308, Aurora, Colorado 80013. Voice: (303) 693-5253; Fax: (303) 693-5518; BBS: (303) 693-5432. ### August 31 - September 2, 1993 Fed Micro '93. Fed Micro CDROM and Multimedia Conference & Exposition. Washington Convention Center, Washington DC. ### September 18-19, 1993 The Glendale Show returns with the Southern California Atari Computer Faire, V.7.0, in suburban Los Angeles, California. This has been the year's largest domestic Atari event, year after year. Contact John King Tarpinian at the user group HACKS at 818-246-7286 for information. ### September 20-22, 1993 The third MacWorld Expo, titled Canada '93 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, sponsored by MacWorld Magazine. ### September 21-23, 1993 Unix Expo '93 in New York City, New York at the Javits Convention Center. ### October 4-8, 1993 Image World New York, Javits Convention Center, New York City. ### October 5-7, 1993 NetWorld 93, Dallas Convention Center, Dallas TX. ### October 7-8, 1993 Lap & Palmtop Mobile Computing Expo at the Chicago Mart/Expo Center in Chicago, Illinois. Exhibitors will show the latest in mobile computing, software, pen, peripherals and communications from the industry's leading manufacturers. In conjunction with the exhibits is the Mobile Systems Solutions Conference series. Featuring over 80 leading industry experts speakers, the conference provides vital information needed to build or improve your world of mobile computing. ### October 19-21, 1993 PC Expo-Chicago, McCormick Place East, Chicago IL. ### October 27-29, 1993 CDROM Exposition at the World Trade Center, Boston MA. ### October 27-29, 1993 EDA&T Asia '93. The Electronic Design and Test Conference Exhibition at the Taipei International Convention Center in Taiwan. Exhibit space is still available. For more information contact: Betsy Donahue, Chicago, fax: 708-475-2794. ### November 1-3, 1993 Online/CD-ROM '93, Washington DC. ### November 7-10, 1993 GeoCon/93, an international conference and showcase for software products developed outside the U.S. at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, Mass. The conference program will include three days of workshops on topics of interest to overseas developers entering the U.S. market. Workshop presenters will discuss such issues as how to negotiate distribution and licensing contracts, setting up a business in the U.S., manufacturing and fulfillment, technical support, packaging, research sources, and how to market through direct, retail, and catalog channels. For additional information, contact Tom Stitt, associate publisher, Soft letter, 17 Main St., Watertown, Mass. 02272-9154; telephone 617-924-3944; fax 617-924-7288, or Colleen O'Shea, director, Soft letter Europe, 2 um Bierg, 7641 Chirstnach, Luxembourg, telephone 35.2.87119; fax 35.2.87048. ### November 15-19, 1993 COMDEX Fall '93. Las Vegas Nevada. ### June 4-11, 1994 GEC '94, Milam ITALY. Centrexpo, Sheila Palka/Delia Associates, PO Box 338, Route 22 West, Whitehouse NJ 08888 (800)524-2193, (908)534-6856 (fax). If you have an event you would like to include on the Z*Net Calender, please send email via GEnie to Z-NET, CompuServe 75300,1642, or via FNET to node 593 or AtariNet node 51:1/13.0. ###### BLUE RIDGE ATARIFEST '93 ###### Press Release - June 3, 1993 ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- The Blue Ridge Atari Computer Enthusiasts (BRACE) and Computer STudio invite you to participate in the fourth annual Blue Ridge AtariFest on Saturday, July 24 and Sunday July 25, 1993. The show will take place in the Courtyard Shop area of Westgate Shopping Center in Asheville, North Carolina (Home of Computer STudio). We are still signing up additional exhibitors, but those who have already made a firm committment to attend include (Alphabetical Listing) Accusoft-ST PD/Shareware Software (Clip Art Libraries) Barefoot Software Professional MIDI Software applications (SMPTETrack, EditTrack Platinum, GenEdit, EZ Score Plus, etc.) Codehead Technologies Productivity software & enhancements (G+Plus, MultiDesk Deluxe, HotWire, CodeHead Utilities, Warp 9, Calligrapher, MaxiFile, Lookit & Popit, Avant Vector, MegaPaint, TOS Extension Card, etc.) Computer STudio Visit a 'real' Atari Dealership in the mall (Atari computer systems, software and accessories) DMC Publishing Desktop Publishing System Solultions (Calamus/SL, PKS Write, Outline Art, Invision Elite, tms Cranach Studio, etc.) GEnieLamp/GEnie Telecommunications and Electronic Publishing Magic Software Entertainment Software (New products unveiling!) Missionware Software (Flash II, lottODDS, Printer Initializer, etc.) Showtimes are 10am - 6pm on Saturday, and noon-5pm on Sunday. Seminar sessions will be scheduled throughout the show. Since this year's show coincides with Asheville's annual Bele Chere Street Festival, we are not having a Saturday evening banquet, but are instead encouraging guests to hop the shuttle bus at the front entrance of the mall and spend Saturday evening downtown enjoying the outdoor festivities (live entertainment, food booths of all types, dancing, etc.). Advance registration is only $3, or $4 at the door. Additional information about the show and Asheville's Bele Chere festival will be mailed to all who pre-register in advance. Door prize winners will also be selected from registered guests. Advance registration checks should made out to "COMPUTER STUDIO" and mailed to: Computer STudio Westgate Shopping Center 40 Westgate Parkway - Suite D Asheville, NC 28806 For additional information, please contact either: Sheldon Winick Cliff Allen, Show Coord. GEnie: S.WINICK GEnie: C.ALLEN17 Computer STudio Internet: CALLEN@UNCA.EDU Westgate Shopping Center phone: (704) 258-3758 40 Westgate Parkway - Suite D Asheville, NC 28806 (704) 251-0201 or the Blue Ridge AtariFest topic on GEnie (Atari Roundtable, Category 11, Topic 13). ###### DMC SPECIAL OFFER! ###### Press Release ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- DMC PUBLISHING, INC. CONTACT: NATHAN POTECHIN 2800 JOHN STREET, UNIT #10 TEL: (416) 479-1880 MARKHAM, ONTARIO FAX: (416) 479-1882 CANADA L3R 0E2 GEnie: ISD or POTECHIN Compuserve: 76004,2246 Delphi: ISDMARKETING DMC IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE A SPECIAL OFFER FOR ALL THOSE DESKTOP PUBLISHING WITH PAGESTREAM ON THE ATARI PLATFORM!! In conversations held on both GEnie and Delphi, we have been approached to offer existing Pagestream customers the ability to upgrade to Calamus SL. As many of you are aware, we have long-since made available Calamus 1.09N to anyone that owns any other existing desktop publishing software on the Atari. It became clear that it was time to broaden that offer slightly to include the option of upgrading directly to Calamus SL from Pagestream. Specifically, I am pleased to announce that effective immediately, DMC Publishing will offer those of you that currently own Pagestream 2.0 and above, the option of also obtaining Calamus SL. You keep your copy of Pagestream, while expanding your possibilities with Calamus SL. Our thousands of Calamus customers worldwide, continue to insure that the Atari version is improved, that new modules are added and that we persist in pushing the envelope on the Atari platform. And yes, Calamus SL is Atari Falcon030 compatible. If you choose to participate in the DMC upgrade offer, you will receive a complete package of Calamus SL, be automatically fully registered and eligible for any and all future upgrades. This offer will run until August 31, 1993 so order your copy of Calamus SL today. You will be really pleased that you did. *** UPGRADE OFFER *** Pagestream 2.0 and above to Calamus SL for only US $200.00 Simply put, I am offering you the exact same upgrade price that I offered to my own Calamus customers. I think you'll agree that I cannot do better than that. Please take advantage of our offer. You will not be sorry. To place your order, send DMC a photocopy by mail or fax of your original Pagestream program disks, your name, address, telephone number and a listing of the computer equipment that you own, PLUS the upgrade fee of US $200.00, $250.00 CDN. and $10.00 for shipping and insurance, within the United States and Canada only. Payment made be made by Visa, Mastercard or Money Order. Note: DMC recognizes that you can become comfortable using a program. Further, we acknowledge that there are many excellent features in Pagestream which may be of value to you. We do not ask you to trade in your original disks. Use them both. You'll never look back! Here's what you get: Calamus SL As was anticipated, the new modular design of Calamus SL has become the centre of a powerful and ever-expanding universe of desktop publishing tools. We are proud to include our Macro Keyboard Template, free! Done under the auspices of our USER to USER TIPS program, Mike Valent's contribution - 250 key bindings - has been produced to sit above your keyboard. It will be included, at no charge, with your Calamus SL order. Our Printer Driver Generator is also included, at no charge. As a Calamus SL owner, you will be able to purchase modules to suit your specific needs. Development continues on many additional modules. WYNIWYG - "What You Need Is What You Get" DMC brings "WYNIWYG" to desktop publishing. The modular concept means that you purchase exactly what you need today, with the knowledge that additional modules are available when you require them. Your choice is now easier and more economical, since you will be purchasing specialized modules, rather than entire packages. The standard Calamus SL upgrade package contains: with twelve standard modules: NOTE: The above, along with the main Calamus SL shell, contains over 1,000 features! For those of you familiar with Calamus 1.09N, new features and powerful enhancements from Calamus 1.09 to Calamus SL include: |!| Above all else, the ability to accept modules, internal or third party. |!| The ability to process and pre-process large passages of text with speed and precision. |!| Extended raster control with freely definable raster angles and widths. Intensity and contrast can now be corrected, while an integral histogram allows you to optimize an image for your output device. |!| The PKS-Write Module provides standard wordprocessing functions plus the ability to edit layout information. |!| The addition of Cache and Virtual Memory speeds up and extends memory-dependent functions. |!| Create hundreds of macros, each assigned to a definable key binding which can be saved and automatically installed in each work session. |!| Open up to seven documents at a time. |!| Cut & paste to our new scrolling clipboard. |!| Create and assign master pages (style sheets). |!| Create and save text style lists. |!| Expand, compress and skew text. |!| Rotate and mirror frames, including group frames. |!| Control frame placement and size to (7) seven decimal places. |!| Print parts of pages (tiling). |!| Define more than 16 million colours and save in colour lists. |!| Set units of measurement for pages, fonts and lines. |!| Choose from three frame display modes: Transparent, Opaque and Inverse. |!| Align frames to other frames. |!| Define vertical alignment settings. Currently, more than a dozen modules and scores of drivers are available for use with Calamus SL. We will publicize the availability of new modules, drivers and upgrades through our normal Customer Support channels, as well as through periodic mailings to our registered users. OPTIONAL MODULES Here is a sampling of some of the external modules optionally available: COLOR SEPARATION Our color separation module allows you to define separation filters, including the definition of undercolor removal (UCR) and adornment (spot color). This module allows the use of CYMK, CMY and IHS systems, as well as the capability to support new systems such as FOCOLTONE. You must own this module to print in color. Your cost is US $50.00 or CDN $60.00. SPEED-LINE AUTOTRACER Speed-Line provides monochrome autotracing in Calamus, converting illustrations to vector graphics. It automatically creates vectors, utilizing Bezier curves, lines and areas. The simplified user interface offers several optimizing functions to enable you to define line, angle and pixel correction together with conversion options for Bzier curves and line art. The Speed-Line Autotracer converts a raster graphic to a vector graphic within seconds. This can then be modified by any of the existing Calamus drawings tools, particularly those contained in the Vector Graphic module. Your cost is US $50.00 or CDN $60.00. VECTOR GRAPHIC MODULE Our Vector Graphic Module allows the creation and editing of monochrome or color vector graphics, editing of polylines for irregular text flow and much more. See snap shots of the many features below. This is the perfect modular tool for editing autotraced graphics. You can join sub- paths, distort and freely rotate all elements or even apply different colous to every vector graphic part, including those created in Outline Art. This module goes hand in hand with Speed-Line. Your cost is US $100.00 or CDN $125.00. DATAFORMER |!| The Dataformer module comes in two parts: Dataformer Raster and Dataformer Vector. As the name implies, each part works on the respective type of frames. The essential use of Dataformer is to convert Calamus graphic frames or pages to other file formats for export. |!| Dataformer Raster will export to Degas (PI?), Doodle (PIC), NeoChrome (NEO), STAD (PAC), GEM Image (IMG), Enhanced Simplex (ESM), Block (BLK), PC Paintbrush (PCX), IFF|ILBM (IFF), TIFF (TIF), Targa (TGA), Calamus (CRG), and GIF87a (GIF). |!| Dataformer Vector will export to Calamus (CVG), GEM Metafile (GEM), Autocad (DXF), HPGL Plotfile (PLT), PostScript (PS) and Encapsulated PostScript (EPS). |!| Dataformer has an array of options that are specific to each export file type. In all formats the output can be frame or full page size. The graphic can be exported according to the original size or according to a user-selectable size including A5, A4, A3, B5. |!| In some file formats, there are choices of saving with Monochrome, Grayscale or Color; in others you can specify ALL or STANDARD (VDI) colors and FILLED or OUTLINED fill patterns. |!| There are also options to save 1-, 4- and 8- bit grayscale or 8- and 24/32-bit color. |!| For PostScript files, the options include FILLED or EMPTY fills and you may choose to save an image with the file. For EPS you may choose to attach a TIFF with the converted file. Your cost is US $100.00 or CDN $125.00. (Note: At this time not all frame types convert 100% successfully to PS or EPS.) MOUNT Mount is a newcomer to the array of Calamus SL modules. Mount allows the user to print more than one page on each sheet of printed paper. Paper sizes must be two or four times the size of the working page format. For example, if you are working on half-size pages (5.5 x 8.5) you could use Mount to print two pages on each piece of letter size paper. You can also print multiple copies. The Mount module is "smart". It can collate and mount your pages automatically. For example, a 12 page booklet (half-size pages) can be printed in camera-ready order: 1/12, 2/11, 3/10, 4/9, 5/8, 6/7, thus eliminating the need to paste up your work. You can also choose to print consecutive pages or multiple pages on the printed page. Your cost is US $50.00 or CDN $60.00. BRUSH The Brush Module is a raster graphics editor that looks and works like any of the basic external modules. It has two command groups - the first allows you to select from a palette of 20 brush sizes and shapes, including one that is variable. The second command group accesses the same color table that is available in the other modules. This means you can now color your raster graphics! To use Brush, you must have a raster graphics frame selected. The frame must contain data from one of the Calamus import formats - IMG, STAD, NEO, PI?, PC?, RAW, CRG, CRD. Your cost is US $30.00 or CDN $35.00. There is much more available for the Calamus family of products. Our latest customer mailout was over 10 pages of product information, many of them new products or modules just released. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Place your order now. Sincerely Nathan Potechin President - DMC Publishing ###### CLIP-ART AND IMAGE VENDORS ###### Cross Platform Information ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- 3G Graphics, Inc. 800 456-0234 U.S. & Canada Orders 114 Second Avenue, South, Suite 104 206 774-3518 Edmonds, WA 98020 Fax 206 771-8975 EPS Images With Impact, separable complete components; some human figures with repositionable limbs. $99.95 - $189.95, CD-ROM $499.95 ARRO International 201 746-9620 P.O. Box 167 Fax 201 509-0728 Montclair, NJ 07042 613 591-1406 Canada Fax 613 591-3642 Canada ARROGLYPHS Environment Collection: pollution, recycling, life on Earth EPS, black and white, 200 images editable to 400+, Mac & PC. Brochure Environment 1 Sampler U.S. $10 Artbeats 800 444-9392 Box 1287 503 863-4429 Myrtle Creek, OR 97457 Background collection (Marble & Granite, ???), 40 high-resolution and 40 medium-resolution color images CD-ROM $349. Special laser printer images on 3.5" disks $99.95 ArtRight Software Corporation 1130 Morrison Drive 613 820-1000 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2H 9N6 Fax 613 820-2651 EPS and other Baseline Publishing 1770 Moriah Woods Blvd., #14 901-682-9676 (voice) Memphis, TN 38117-7118 901-682-9691 (fax) FM Waves 400 dpi TIFF cartoons, several subjects C.A.R. Inc. 800 288-7585 7009 Kingsbury 314 721-6305 St. Louis, MO 63130 Fax 863-7212 CLIPables: The EPS Graphics Library. Over 1400 images, 18 major topic areas, Mac/IBM, 3-1/2" diskette and CDROM; $39.95 per topic, $299.95. Dream Maker Software 800 876-5665 925 W Kenyon Aveue, Ste 16 303-762-1001 Englewood, CO 80110 Fax 303 762-0762 Cliptures EPS Electronic Clip Art, Mac & IBM Dynamic Graphics, Inc. 800 255-8800 6000 N. Forest Park Dr. 309 688-8800 P.O. Box 1901 Fax 309 688-3075 Peoria, IL 61656-1901 Subscription art service. Clipper (paper) $32.50/month + s&h 70 camera- ready images on paper; layout, copy, and design ideas; Clip Bits magazine of layout and design; pictorial index. Electronic Clipper $67.50/month + s&h Mac 800K, PC 3.5"/5.25" diskettes; 60% TIFF, 40% EPS, some layered); Options, monthly supplement of electronic how to tips & ideas; imageQUEST electronic indexing system; printed pictorial index. Electronic Clipper CD-ROM $67.50/month. Each subscription includes custom storage binder, 5-year Clipper index to select and order low-cost camera-ready from entire library DeskTop Art, EPS ... Image Club Graphics, Inc. 800 661-9410 orders 1902 Eleventh Street Southeast, 403 262-8008 Suite 1902 Fax 403 261-7013 Alberta, Canada T2G 3G2 CIS 72560,2323 24 volumes of DigitArt EPS Clipart; PS & TT fonts. CD-ROM of unlockable fonts and images $99 (includes $400 credit). Innovation Advertising & Design 800 255-0562 41 Mansfield Avenue 802 879-1164 Essex Jct., VT 05452 Fax 802 878-1768 EPS for Mac or IBM; logos and trademarks, other; CD-ROM available Islandview/MGI (Marketing Graphics,Inc) 6502 Dickens Place 804 673-5601 Richmond, VA 23230 Fax 804 285-7822 4401 Dominion Blvd., Ste 210 804 747-6991 Glen Allen, VA 23060 PicturePak, CGM, PCX, color and black and white, $59.95? per pak. Letraset 800 343-8973 Fontek DesignFonts. PS Type 1 and TrueType fonts for both PC & Mac; six collections, 75-100 images, $89.95 each. Masterclip Graphics, Inc. 800 899-4448 5201 Ravenswood Road, Ste 111 305 983-7440 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312 Fax 305 967-9452 CGM, SYM/SY3 (Harvard Graphics?) MediClip 800 998-8705 310 315-3470 Medical anatomy and art library for Mac or IBM, EPS & other major formats. $99 per volume of 100 images, save on multiple volume purchase. Metro ImageBase, Inc. 800-525-1552 18623 Ventura Blvd, Ste 210 Tarzana, CA 91356 EPS?, Mac and IBM. 18 categories, 100 or more per package, $74.95 per package. 2,000 image CD-ROM $149.95 Cartesia (formerly MicroMaps Software) 800 334-4291 P.O. Box 757 609 397-1611 5 South Main Street Fax 609 397-5724 Lambertville, NJ 08530 IBM: EPS, CGM, PCX; Mac: EPS, Pict, Paint; NeXt: EPS. MapArt EPS, 4 world maps, 12 world regions, 25 countries with states and provinces $179. Global Perspectives 18 globes $49. U.S. by County, 50 state maps $99. 25 U.S. Metro area maps $49 ea, all $299. High Detail country maps, by region $49, 12 megions $299. New Vision Technologies 38 Auriga Drive, Unit 13 613 727-8184 Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2E 8A5 Fax 613 727-8190 Presentation Task Force clip art, 3,500 color CGM images $199 U.S. One Mile Up 800 258-5280 7011 Evergreen Court 703 642-1177 Annandale, VA 22003 Fax 703 642-9088 7 collections, Federal, military, aerospace, EPS. Free brochure Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation 800 829-8608 11131F South Towne Square 314 894-8068 St. Louis, MO 63123 Fax 314 894-3280 The currently available volumes are: 3D Flags of the World (Mac, PC, Amiga) (Illustrator 88 EPS): 190+ international flags. Amiga Computer Art (Amiga only) (Illustrator 3 EPS): 75 Amiga computer and peripheral illustrations. Coming in June: Real Computer Art (Mac, PC) (Illustrator 3 EPS): 75 Mac and PC computer and pheripheral illustrations. Coming soon: Real Technology Art (Mac, PC, Amiga) (Illustrator 3 EPS): 75 illustrations of office equipment and other equipment. RT Computer Graphics 800 245-7824 602 San Juan de Rio 505 891-1600 Rio Rancho, NM 87124 Fax 505 891-1350 Santa Fe Collection, Native American & Southwest Clip Art for Mac & PC 500 EPS Images $129, 125 EPS Borders $99, Both $179, with Santa Fe font, EPS slide viewer, mousepad, free s&h, Free brochure. EPS Sampler $15 Taco Clipart Company 1-800-233-TACO (8226) voice/fax 1208 Howard Street Omaha, Nebraska 68102 Taco Clipart Company supplies custom clipart in formats for PC and Macintosh. Macintosh images available are AI, EPS (illustrator), TIFF bitmap, and rasterized EPS. PC bitmap formats available are TIFF, PCX, BMP, TGA, GIF; vector formats are CDR, DRW, AI, WPG, CGM, DXF, GEM, GRF. (Coreldraw, Designer, Illustrator, WordPerfect Presentations, Computer Graphics Metafile, AutoCad, Micrografx Graph). Taco Clipart Company also supplies interface designs and ICO and BMP buttons to Windows Software Developers. Packages available in Vector and Bitmap formats: European Landmarks Collection, Business Collection, Ethnic Business Collection 1, Ethnic Business Collection 2, Ethnic Business Collection 3, Holiday Collection, Relaxation Collection, Food Collection, Icon Collection, Misc Collection, Cellular Industry Collection, Factory Collection, Money Collection, Court Related Collection, Animals Collection, Hands Doing Things Collection, Pizza Collection, Background Collection, Aquaculture and Fish Collection, Compuserve "You asked for it, you got it". $39.95 base price, added charges include electronic delivery through Compuserve Mail which we basically pass the surcharge on if over $2.00 for us. Taco also has an extensive collection of Public Domain images that range from borders to shovels to landscapes, to exotic people. Taco supplies clipart collections to Software Companies as an added value product, therefore many times, if a person is looking for a particular image, Taco will send free if easy to create. A newly created collection custom made for a customer costs $212.00 for about 20 images. T/Maker Company 800 395-0195 orders 1390 Villa Street 415 962-0195 Mountain View, CA 94041 Fax 415-962-0201 EPS ClickArt collections, packages of varied numbers of images $129.95. Color Graphics for Presentations WMF, EPS, PICT2 $149.95. Bitmapped ClickArt collections (72 dpi, MacPaint, PCX) $59.95. TechPool Studios 800 777-8930 1463 Warrensville Center Road 216 291-1922 Cleveland OH 44121 Fax 216 382-1915 LifeART Collections - over 2000 medical and health images, full color & black & white professional medical illustrations. Anatomy, Emergency, Super Anatomy, Health Care, Dental Format not stated in ad, however, TechPool Software, 216-382-1234, publishes Transverter and Transverter Pro, and provides, per ad in June 98 Publish Magazine, a "free file translation " utility" which "provides files for all Windows, Macintosh & DOS graphics applications." $89 for 150 images Totem Graphics Inc. 6200-F Capitol Blvd. 206 352-1851 Tumwater, WA 98501-5288 Fax 206 352-2554 18 Collections, high-resolution color bitmap art, Free brochure Volk Clip Art 800 227-7048 P.O. Box 347 Washington, IL 61571-0347 Fax 309 688-5873 Paper clip art by subscription; Clip art books -- 4/month or 48/year, each a complete subject category with a variety of art on one popular theme; strong on everyday siutations of people of all ages, at home, at work, at play. ###### INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATION OF ATARI DEVELOPERS ###### Member Listing - June 1, 1993 ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- The IAAD is an organization of third-party hardware and software developers supporting the Atari ST family of computers. Unique in the industry, the IAAD works to provide its membership with help in marketing, packaging, technical matters, and other issues of interest to third-party commercial developers. This listing has been prepared to familiarize the public with our members and some of their products. We hope you will find it useful. Each entry has the following format (when applicable): Member Name Company Name Mailing Address Phone(s) Product Names The listing is provided below in ASCII format. An additional file is available in CardFile format. Please note that the product listing is not comprehensive nor detailed, and new products are continually released. Please feel free to contact individual members for information about their listed products. For more information about the IAAD, contact any Board Member. IAAD Board Members: Dorothy A Brumleve, President James C Allen Nathan Potechin Nevin Shalit Chet Walters Member Listing: James C Allen FAST Technology 14 Lovejoy Road Andover MA 01810 USA 508 475 3810 (fax) 508 475 3810 Turbo25/TinyTurbo030/Turbo030/TurboRAM Albert Baggetta Baggetta_Ware P.O. Box 759 Agawam MA 01001 USA Eliemouse Complimentary Coloring Book/The Comic Book Collector/The Mis-Adventures of Eliemouse/Shakespeare: The Sonnets Judith Baumgardner Anthill Industries P.O. Box 361 Mt. Vernon OH 43050-9998 USA 614 393 1524 David Beckemeyer Beckemeyer Development Tools P.O. Box 21575 Oakland CA 94620 USA 510 530 0451 (fax) 510 530 9637 Hard Disk Sentry/Hard Disk Toolkit/SCSI Tape Kit Robert M Birmingham 13630 SW 101 Lane Miami FL 33186-2814 USA 305 385 1942 Dorothy A Brumleve D.A. Brumleve P.O. Box 4195 Urbana IL 61801-8820 USA 217 367 9084 (fax) 217 337 1937 Kidpublisher Professional/Super Kidgrid/Kidpainter/Multiplay/Telegram/ Creative Discovery Packet/Learning Games Packet John Buckner SuperSoft 731 North Clinton Grand Ledge MI 48837 USA 517 627 6965 TeleView Tele/TeleView BBS/D.A.M.I./The Fisherman John Cole Lee Seiler John Stanford Lexicor 1726 Francisco Street Berkeley CA 94703 USA 510 848 7621 (fax) 510 848 7613 Chronos-3D/Prism Paint/Phoenix Object Render/CyberColor/Prism Render/ Genesis Jim Collins chro_MAGIC Software Innovations 516 North Jackson Joplin MO 64801 USA 417 623 7393 Guitaristics/Pianistics/Pianistics Encyclopedia/Pianistics Professor Phil Comeau Wintertree Software Inc. 43 Rueter Street Nepean ON K2J 3Z9 Canada 613 596 1575 (fax Attn) 613 825 6721 The GramSlam Grammar and Style Checker/Grammar Expert/Spelling Sentry Brad Cox Barefoot Software 19865 Covellow Street Canoga Park CA 91306 USA 818 727 0632 (fax) 818 727 7143 SMPTETrack/EditTrack/GenEdit/EZ Score+/Hybriswitch Manfred Doewich Cybercube Research Ltd. 126 Grenadier Crescent Thornhill ON L4J 7V7 Canada 416 886 3261 (fax) 416 882 0294 CyReL SUNRISE M16-1280 True Color High Resolution Graphics Card/CyReL SERENADE M16-1280 True Color High Resolution Graphics Card/CyReL VidiMix8 Desktop Video Module/CyReL Serial Mouse Manager/CyRel Palette Master Paul Dube Elan Software 550 Boul. Charest Est P.O. Box 30232 Quebec G1K 8Y2 Canada 418 683 9189 (fax) 418 692 0565 Solutions John Eidsvoog Charles Johnson CodeHead Technologies P.O. Box 74090 Los Angeles CA 90004 USA 213 386 5789 (fax) 213 386 5735 G+Plus/MultiDesk Deluxe/HotWire/CodeKeys/CodeHead Utilities/Warp 9/ Calligrapher/MaxiFile/Lookit & Popit/MIDIMax/MIDI Spy/Avant Vector/ MegaPaint/Cherry Fonts/Genus Font Editor/TOS Extension Card Robert Engberson Compo 104 Esplanade Avenue Suite 121 Pacifica CA 94044 USA 415 355 0869 (fax) 415 355 0862 That's Write/Write On/C-Font/CompoScript/That's Address/Musicom/PC Speed/AT Speed/AT Speed C16 Lauren Flanagan-Sellers Goldleaf Publishing Inc. 700 Larkspur Landing Circle Suite 199 Larkspur CA 94939 USA 415 257 3515 WordFlair II Rick Flashman Dan Wilga Gribnif Software P.O. Box 779 Northampton MA 01061 USA 413 247 5622 (fax) 413 247 5620 NeoDesk 3/NeoDesk CLI/STalker 3/STeno/XBoot/CardFile 4/Convector Professional/Arabesque Professional/XBoot III/Crazy Dots 8/Crazy Dots 15 David Fletcher Ditek International 2800 John Street Unit 15 Markham ON L3R 0E2 Canada 416 479 1882 (fax) 416 479 1990 DynaCADD George Geczy David Thompson JMG Software International, Inc. 892 Upper James Street Hamilton ON L9C 3A5 Canada 416 575 0283 (fax) 416 575 3201 HyperLINK Tyson T Gill GT Software 12114 Kirton Avenue Cleveland OH 44135-3612 USA 216 252 4272 CardFile (distr. by Gribnif) Tom Harker Doug Wheeler Hans-Peter Labude ICD, Inc. 1220 Rock Street Rockford IL 61101 USA 815 968 6888 (fax) 815 968 2228 The Link/AdSCSI Micro ST/AdSCSI ST/AdSCSI Plus ST/AdSpeed ST/AdSpeed STe/FA-ST Hard Drive Kit/FA-ST Tape Backup/Cleanup ST/ICD Professional Hard Drive Utilities/ICD Tape Backup Software/Advantage Micro ST/ Advantage ST/Advantage Plus ST/STHA/Personal Pascal Doug Harrison P.O. Box 66236 Baton Rouge LA 70806-6236 USA Opus (shareware)/Lookit & Popit (distr. by CodeHead) Craig Harvey Clear Thinking 2753 Plymouth Road Suite 137 Ann Arbor MI 48105 USA 313 971 6035 (bbs) 313 971 8671 EdHak/Metapsychology Primer Harlan Hugh Power Thought Software 116 Sumach Street Toronto ON M5A 3J9 Canada 416 594 9355 (fax) 416 594 9355 INVISION Elite (distr. by DMC) John 'Hutch' Hutchinson Fair Dinkum Technologies P.O. Box 2 Los Alamos NM 87544 USA 505 662 7236 CrossWord Creator II/Word Search Creator/Cryptographer/InfoDisk/ Cyberdrome: The Hoverjet Simulator/Puzzle Pack Gene Kane Xerox Corp 101 Continental Blvd. M/S ESC1-257 El Segundo CA 90245 USA 310 333 2707 Printer Drivers For Xerox Printers Deron Kazmaier Mark Wetzel Soft-Logik Publishing P.O. Box 510589 St. Louis MO 63151-0589 USA 314 894 8608 or 800 892 8608 PageStream/ImageClub Clip Art/ImageClub Fonts/Business Forms Alex Kiernan David Link Dave Nutkins HiSoft The Old School Greenfield Bedford MK45 5DE England +44 525 713716 (fax) +44 525 718181 Devpac 3/HiSoft BASIC 2/Lattice C/HighSpeed Pascal/FTL Modula-2/WERCS/ Harlekin 2/HiSoft C/ProFlight/K-Spread/K-Comm/K-Word/K-Data (HiSoft products distr. by Oregon Research Associates) Gregory J Kopchak It's All Relative 2233 Keevan Lane Florisant MO 63031 USA 314 831 9482 It's All Relative/BookMaker/Forecaster3/AbbreviatorST/PhotoCD Conversion Marshall Lake TEAM Software P.O. Box 7332 Washington DC 20044-7332 USA 703 538 4598 (fax) 703 533 2132 A Day at the Races/A Day at the Races Companion/3 Days at Gettysburg Bob Luneski Oregon Research Associates 16200 S.W. Pacific Highway Suite 162 Tigard OR 97224 USA 503 624 2940 (fax) 503 620 4919 Diamond Back II/Diamond Edge/Knife ST/Ultimate Virus Killer/DevPacST 3/ DevPacTT/HiSoft BASIC 2/Lattice C 5.5/HiSoft C/HighSpeed Pascal/FTL Modula-2/Tempus 2/WERCS/Harlekin 2/True Paint/ProFlight Henry Murphy Carl Stanford MS Design 611 West Illinois Street Urbana IL 61801 USA 217 351 6412 (fax) 217 384 8469 FontPak 1 & 2/Wheeler Quick Art CD-ROM/Wheeler Quick Art Image Disks Tom Nielsen eSTeem, inc. 72 Shades Crest Road Hoover AL 35226-1014 USA 205 987 9208 eSTeem PILOT Mark T O'Bryan Paradigm Software Products 1369 Concord Place Suite 3-B Kalamazoo MI 49009-2201 USA 616 372 5972 Omni-Banker ST W. David Parks Dr. Bobware / Wizworks! P.O. Box 45 Girard OH 44420 USA 216 539 5623 ScanLite/MVG: MultiViewer Graphica/MVG Modules Disks 1, 2, & 3 Frank Pawlowski Straight Edge Software P.O. Box 6407 Nashua NH 03061 USA 603 672 8150 FPPRINT/OutBurST! William Penner Medical Designs Software 3235 Wright Avenue Bremerton WA 98310 USA 206 479 2157 (bbs) 206 373 4840 ECTStat/IOLCALC/MultiWriter/SERIALFX Mario Perdue M.P. Graphics Systems P.O. Box 501289 Indianapolis IN 46250-6289 USA 317 335 3775 Noids-II Nathan Potechin DMC Publishing 2800 John Street Unit 10 Markham ON L3R 0E2 Canada 416 479 1882 (fax) 416 479 1880 Calamus 1.09N/Calamus SL & modules/Calamus Font Editor/The Guide to Calamus Desktop Publishing/Outline Art/INVISION Elite Roger Richards Synergy Resources 754 N. Bolten Avenue Indianapolis IN 46219 USA 317 231 4158 (fax) 317 356 6946 GEMvelope!/SynthView DW-8000/SynthView K1 George Richardson Merlin Group, Inc. 96 Hoyt Street Kearny NJ 07032-3311 USA 201 998 0932 (fax) 201 998 4441 Tony Ridley Canoe Computers 11006 150 Street Edmonton AB T5P 1S1 Canada 403 487 6838 FrankenSTein/Warp 16 Accelerator/Tiny Ram Chris Roberts DragonWare Software Inc. P.O. Box 1719 Havre MT 59501-1719 USA 406 265 7300 G Man/Satellite Locator ST/Smoke Art/Dragon Battery/Battery.ACC/Omikron Basic/FreeWay/DBRS ST/D_Graph ST Eric Rosenquist Strata Software 94 Rowe Drive Kanata ON K2L 3Y9 Canada 613 591 1922 (fax) 613 591 1922 STalker & STeno (distr. by Gribnif) Nevin Shalit Step Ahead Software, Inc. 496-A Hudson Street Suite F39 New York City NY 10014 USA 212 627 5830 TrackerST/Tracker For Windows David M Small Gadgets by Small, Inc. 40 West Littleton Blvd. #210-211 Littleton CO 80120 USA 303 791 0253 (fax) 303 791 6098 Spectre GCR Charles Smeton NewSTar Technology Management P.O. Box 122 Columbia MD 21045-0122 USA 410 544 1329 (fax) 410 544 6943 The STraight FAX! Josh Snyder Cali-Co. Superior Software P.O. Box 9873 Madison WI 53715 USA 608 255 6523 Mah-Jong Solitaire Gene F Sothan Sothan Software 9395 North Wall Portland OR 97203 USA 503 283 4566 IB Harddisk Backup and Restore/Autosort/Writeboot John Trautschold Missionware Software 354 N. Winston Drive Palatine IL 60067-4132 USA 708 359 9565 lottODDS/Printer Initializer/Flash II Melinda Turcsanyi MUSICODE Software P.O. Box 1109 Oakhurst CA 93644 USA 209 642 2380 Clayton Walnum Taylor Ridge Books P.O. Box 78 Manchester CT 06045 USA 203 643 9673 C-manship Complete/ST Assembly Language Workshop/GFA Basic Toolkit/ VDI Quick Reference/AES Quick Reference/TRB Shareware Companion Chet Walters WizWorks! P.O. Box 45 Girard OH 44420 USA 216 539 5623 Image Cat/Mug Shot!/Coalesce Image Merger/Ma Hubbard's Cupboard/Mug Shot Data Sterling K Webb SKWare One P.O. Box 277 Bunker Hill IL 62014 USA 618 462 2171 (evenings) Seurat/ColorScan/Auto*Art/PS-2GDOS Norm Weinress Weinress Consulting 3236 Velma Drive Los Angeles CA 90068 USA 213 876 7704 D.E.K.A. James D Yegerlehner Apprentice Software 22205 Swan Road South Lyon MI 48178 USA 313 437 0526 Neural-network Construction Set ###### THE UNABASHED ATARIOPHILE ###### By Michael R. Burkley ###### --------------------------------------------------------------- I'm a bit behind in my reviews this week. I have 105 files which I've downloaded and not yet described for you. There's not room in this article for 105 descriptions! So I think I'll do some condensing of my reviews. Here's an example: "All the recent .PCS pictures I've found (on Delphi and GEnie) are excellent! Get them if you like stunning color pictures on your ST/STE!;" and, "You already know that I think that any program David Becker writes is great. Well, he's done it again with AGITATION, SEARCH ME 2, and Talking Mumbo Jumble (all on GEnie). Agitation is an amazingly difficult picture puzzle program, Search Me 2 is a superb Word Search generator, and Talking Mumbo Jumble is a mixed- up word puzzle that talks. Excellent!" "Albert Baggetta has released a new working demo of his Eliemouse Complementary Coloring Book v.7.0 with an astounding list of fun features." "A new demo of 'Buttonz Awari' from Majic Soft has been released. It stretches my mind, an excellent game." You might notice that I will often be telling where you can find the files I review. Often times you will be able to find a file in multiple places, but sometimes you can't. I've been asked (thanks for the letters) to let people know where I find the files. Well, your wish is my command! Here's just a sampling of the rest of the files I have (whew!)... ALFRED_E is the Alfred_E (What, me worry?) German-English translation dictionary compiled by Mike Valent (dated May 1, 1993). It is designed to be used with GER2EN19.PRG or GER2EN21.PRG. This dictionary has a limited purpose: to make possible (I didn't say easy) translation of German Atari related writings. This includes program documentation, on- disk magazine articles, and German .RSC file text. That's how he compiled this file--by translating computer-related publications (which means that you have 500K of useful stuff here!). A good companion program to use with GER2EN19 (or 2.1, or now 3.0) is MULTLANG, the single word translator. Docs included (they tell you how to do the work of making your rough translation readable.). AQUADUCK is a .DLT animation by Kevin Fanning that demonstrates some of the advanced animation techniques which he has developed. This is an animation of an angel fish swimming around in an aquarium, trying to get out and not succeeding. So it tries something different! It changes into a duck and flies off! After a bit it returns to the water and changes back into an angel fish. It is very smooth, and quite good. Color only. REQUIRES ANIMATE 3 or 4 program to view. GEnie. ATAX by Tom Barker of Australia is a very nice vertically scrolling "shoot'em up. You are a freedom fighter seeking to overthrow an oppressive dictatorship. You have a high-tech ship that you fly through various environments (ice craigs, jungles, columns, etc.) as you blast away at the bad guys. There are numerous levels (I haven't gotten to the end yet!). Joystick controlled. Color only. This game now resides on a floppy to be used by my kids...and by me! STe compatible. AUD_CD20 is CD AUDIO v.2.0a by Nima Montaser (dated May 20, 1993) is an .ACC that allows you to play audio compact discs from a CD-ROM drive in the background while working at another GEM application (if you wish!). The code for the Sony DCU541 and the NEC machines is already included, but you can now enter the correct SCSI commands for your CD ROM player just by using a text editor (you have to know what they are though!). It will allow you to Play all, Choose the track to play, Pause, STop, and Eject your CD (gracefully, of course). This version has been improved with several functional and cosmetic changes. It is also now fully working, with an option to upgrade to a newer and even more powerful version on upgrading. GEM based, ST/TT MultiTOS compatible. This program will work in all resolutions. SHAREWARE. Docs included. GEnie. BLRMIDI2 is v.2 of a set of 41 MIDI files created by bud rasmussen. Bud's a nice guy, and you can tell that he put a lot of feeling into these pieces. CHEMTEX is a set of Tex Macros relating to printing out chemical formulae using Tex. These files refer to specific reference works that I don't have available. I think it's part of someones thesis. Even though I'm usually interested in Chemistry-related materials, I'm not keeping this file. Delphi. COCATGIF is the CO-CAT GIF Demo from Dr. Bobware (dated May 6, 1993). This is a working pre-release version of CO-CAT, the Cataloger for color graphic files and CVGs. This demo will allow you to catalog your color GIF files and print them out on your HP Laser or Desk Jet, or your Atari Laser printer at 3x4 or 4x6 images per page (or save it to an .IMG file). It works in any ST/TT resolution, ST-Falcon compatible. 2.5 meg of RAM recommended, and more is better. Co-Cat presently supports GIFs, SPCs, and PNTs, and in the future will support TIFs, TGAs, and BMPs. Docs included. DSP_ASM is a DSP56001 Assembler by Quinn Jensen (dated Dec. 14, 1991). It's in English and I have no idea of how to use it! Delphi. DTMT101 is the DeskTracker MultiTask .ACC/.PRG v.1.01 by David Oakley (dated April 22, 1993). This .ACC for the STe/TT will allow you to play NoiseTracker modules in the background with an animated graphic display of the tune. It operates like a CD player allowing you to load, play, reset your tunes, set up a playlist, and more using the 3-D buttons or keyboard controls.. You can play at 6, 12, 25, or 50 KHz (50 KHz is only available on accelerated machines). This did a good job of playing in the background. While it slowed up my 8 MHz system (I'm getting my T-25 installed soon!) it was still possible to do other work. Docs included. SHAREWARE. I recommend this one. Delphi. DUPFIND is the Duplicate File Finder v.1.08 by STeve of ///Reachout. If you have a Hard Drive you likely have duplicate copies of the same file scattered about. This program will allow you to scan all of your HD partitions at once and output your files to either the screen, a file, or the printer. (Z*Net BBS) EDDA is a simple .ACC text editor by Passport Designs. It features cut, copy, paste, mouse control, print, search, and replace. SHAREWARE. ELVIS fans! There are four recent 300 dpi .IMG scans of Elvis on GEnie (scans of pictures that is!). All the files are rather dark, but good otherwise. FD327UD is a file that will update your FidoDoor files to v.3.2.7. By Bill Jones, FidoDoor is the door program that allows you to access Fidonet, and similar technology networks such as AtariNet, NeST, and others from your BBS. The update consists of making the program more compliant with FTS-001 standards and with JetMail v. 0.84beta and newer. This version limits you to access only up to 5 Fido message bases on your BBS until you register your copy of FidoDoor. Once it is registered, you will have access to up to 128 message bases on your BBS, across various networks! Works with ST Keep BBS, FoReM BBS, Turbo BBS, QBBS, and BBS Express! ST--Falcon compatible (MultiTOS compliant). Docs included. GEnie - Z*Net BBS. FRACJRNY is a "Fractal Journey into Outer Space" by Johan Karlsson of Magical Science. This program will enable you to create those mathematical pictures called Mandelbrot and Julia fractals. The program is very fast and only requires a couple of seconds to create a standard full screen fractal. You may also create some nice animations which uses real time unpacking, this provides space for more frames in memory than usual. Some other nice features are the real-time scrolling and the possibility of making 24-bit color pictures (.RAW) for use with Photochrome. Delphi and GEnie. GER2EN30 is v.3.0 of Carlos Varela's German to English translator (May 18, 1993). This program will take a German ASCII text and translate it into English. This version's German/English dictionary is over 550K in size! Plus you can add as many German/English words as will fit on your disk. I would recommend ALFRED_E, a German/English dictionary by Mike Valent. This program has been speeded up, a GEM interface is now used, and the program is now compatible with Quick ST and Warp 9. A previous version included automatic background music and the ability to display text in 20 different fonts. This version doesn't. I'm glad! Color or mono. Online Docs. This program really works. It still leaves some untranslated but it does enough (about 70%) that you can do a lot of puzzling out of what a doc file is really talking about. ST/STe/Mega STe/(TT?) compatible. SHAREWARE. Recommended. 560K uncompressed. Delphi. GLORLOVE is a a very nice .MOD file, "The Glory of Love" from Karate Kid 2. The lyrics are included in a separate text file. I'm using DTMT101 (see above!) so I can enjoying listening to this as I type! GREECE by Stefan Brausch is a Tetris-type game (dated Summer, 1989). It is controlled by the mouse, which makes control very difficult for me. I found that I was constantly overshooting the mark and stacking the blocks where I didn't want them to be stacked. Color. STE compatible. Since there are so many excellent Tetris clones available I would recommend that you pass on this game. GUI4GFAD is a demo of the GUI-4-GFA@ Construction Kit v.1.1 (formerly named FRONTEND) by M.J.Matts (dated Oct. 11, 1992). GUI-4-GFA@ is a collection of GFA v3.x routines which allow you to create impressive graphical interfaces (3-D buttons, slider bars, all sorts of neat things) for you own programs with the minimum of effort. It also includes a Construction Kit program that allows you to easily (that is, if you know what you are doing!) create your own routines. This demo shows the variety of effects that can be produced (moveable dialog boxes, defineable response buttons, all sorts of neat things) _AND_ shows the small bits of code that is all that is needed to do it. Ordering infomation included. For an example of the FrontEnd interface in action see JCLABL12 in the LABELS category. Color or mono. Docs included. This file can be found on both Delphi and GEnie. HIRES is a demo for the Falcon030 that allows the Falcon to put out a 1600 by 600 resolution with 16 colors. It will display fifteen 320 by 200 Neochrome pictures on your screen at one time! It requires an SC1224 color monitor. I wish I could see how this works, but I don't have a Falcon--yet! Delphi and GEnie. INSIGNIA is really two files in one. The first is Insignia and the second it Tri_Mod v.2.5. The Insignia Tri-Sound Sequencer v.1.0NL by "Visible Perfexxion" and "Wiz" and "Mig" is a midi compatible (it also plays through your monitor speaker), three voice sequencer that allows you to edit and create sound files for use in your programs, or just for plain fun. It allows you to mix samples and YM sounds (whatever they are!). Unfortunately, it is not STE compatible. Color only. Brief on- line docs. TriMod v.2.5 by Eagle of Sentry is a SHAREWARE program that allows you to take your Tri-Sound music files and easily insert them into your games. This program is STE compatible, and allows you to convert the Tri-Sound files so that they play through the STE DMA chip (upon which they don't take up ANY processor time!). Since I'm not too musically oriented, I'm not too sure if I've gotten this description correct. If not, let me know! 590K uncompressed! Delphi. MAGI is a french program wich may make your games work on Falcon030. It allows you to control the Falcon030's cache, cpu speed, STe DMA sound emulation, trap catching, and other goodies. If you set these to match older ST machines, software compatibility on the Falcon030 increases tremendously. Source code (.S) and English docs included. Z*Net BBS MGDPK212 is Mega Depack v.2.12 by Mike Watson (dated April 22, 1993). This .PRG/.ACC (just rename it) will uncompress/unpack just about any packed with a zillion different packers (actually 53 packers supported with 89 different file formats, including DC Squish, Pack Ice, Pompey Packer, PFX and MANY more). Mouse or command line controlled. Batch processing available. This is a very "intelligent" and versatile program which I highly recommend. Color or mono. TOS 1.0--Falcon compatible. SHAREWARE (I've registered). Docs included. GEnie. MOUSE2 is a program from Germany (with Germany Docs) that will allow you to use a serial mouse with your Atari. MTQWK11C is the microTalk QWK-Reader v.1.10c by Wolfgang Zweygart (dated May 2, 1992). This program will allow you to read and reply to messages that you have downloaded from a BBS through a QWK compatible door such as Qmail for the PC & Turbo Board ST or Maxidoor for Forem. Message bases of your choice are scanned on the BBS, compressed and, after downloading the prepared QWK packet can be read and replied to offline, resulting in not only considerable savings both in time and costs, but also the added convenience of replying at leisure without the time constraints in force on most Bulletin Boards. The microTalk reader is feature packed, making full use of GEM and has such features as multiple windows, allowing instant movement from one message base to another, user defined Macro menu, standard block commands, Clipboard, full mouse or keyboard operation and much more. This version has corrected the bugs that were found in previous versions. Color or mono. Docs included. CodeHead BBS. NH311GEM is NetHack v.3.1.1, the Graphical GEM version of this astoundingly detailed dungeon and dragons type game for Atari Computers by Warwick Allison. This port of NetHack 3.1.1 gives you full-color graphics, plus a completely GEM user interface. This game gives you 16x16 pixel, 16 colour graphic icons for EVERY OBJECT IN THE GAME - that's about 850 different icons. But that power comes with a price-- it only really works with 16 colors and at least 640 by 480 pixels. That leaves most of us out (for now!). You need a TT, a Falcon, or a color board. You can run it in ST-medium to see the basic interface (but lose the detailed graphics), or in ST low to see the excellent color graphics (but lose the playability since the controls don't fit on screen anymore). This version also requires a hard drive and at least 2 Meg of RAM: the program itself is 1.15 meg, and the graphics consume 350K. It is similar in style to ROGUE, but NetHack is much richer in character. The game includes multiple dungeons that branch off the main dungeon at different locations, monsters (who can read scrolls and cast spells, wield weapons and fight!) and highly varied magic. The motivation in NetHack is to descend through the dungeon to find the Amulet of Yendor, then return to the surface. It's not so straightforward as all that though. You have to complete all sorts of tasks in the various dungeons before you can undertake your main goal. As you travel you will meet various creatures (most of them nasty), find objects (some having magical properties), and experience many hazards in the dungeon itself. Docs included plus lots of helps files. Mouse and/ or keyboard controlled. If you want this file, but don't have the equipment to run it check out NETHAK31, on GEnie and Delphi. That version, which doesn't include the GEM interface and pictures, will run on any color or mono 1 meg machine. 2 meg uncompressed! GEnie. NOFRILLS is the No Frills Label making program v.1.02 by Ron Weldin. No Frills is not a fancy label program. It is designed to get the job done as quickly and painlessly as possible. Most options are selected by a single key stroke. Although the program is Not GEM it does use the GEM File Selector to make it easier to load that file you just forgot the name of <smile>. You can create, edit, save, load, and print out your label files (on a 9-pin printer), as well as several other options. ST- -Mega STe compatible (perhaps more, too). Unfortunately, this program is not compatible with UIS 3.3. Color or mono. Docs included. CodeHead BBS (I think Delphi and GEnie, too). NSP_DEMO is the No Second Prize motorcycle racing demo. It is an excellently playable demo. Mouse controlled, this demo allows you to race against computer opponents, select your race track, use automatic or manual transmissions on your bike, and more. I really like it. The animation is smooth and "realistic." The mouse control is not jumpy at all, and mouse sensitivity is adjustable. This looks like a winner of a racing game. Docs included. Color only. At least one Meg RAM required. STe compatible. GEnie. NVRAM1_1 is a .CPX by Richard Short that allows you to easily configure the NV-RAMS of your Falcon or TT. It also contains a utility to restore your original configuration. SHAREWARE. German docs (see GER2EN30 for a translation utility). PAULA22A is Paula v.2.2a (dated Feb. 20, 1992) by Pascal Fellerich (one of the authors of TURBOASS, a fast Assembler). This .ACC is an Amiga- MOD-file-player for the Atari TT & STE. Paula doesn't claim to be the only or the fastest MOD player available forthe Atari, but it certainly is one of the best. It has an excellent GEM interface along with a Large number of features. Updated to make the program even more Falcon compatible. This file also includes a utility that allows you to "fix" some damaged .MOD files. Normally Paula is only usable on STe or TT machines, but this archive includes PETRA by Christian Limpach. Petra v.1.0 (dated Aug. 20, 1992) is a software sound driver which allows all ST's (the program docs say ALL ST's while the uploader said TOS 1.4 and above) which don't have DMA sound to still run Paula. Just trust me on this one. If you want to listen to .MOD files just get this program. Color or mono. Docs included. SHAREWARE. GEnie. RAYSH402 is Rayshade 4.0.2 compiled for the Atari TT and MiNT (you must also have a C pre-processor called cpp for this to work). Rayshade is a capable Ray Tracing and animation program. Example files and TEX docs included. Delphi. RUNLOW10 is Run Low v.1.0 by Anthony Watson of Mountain Software (the author of The Recipe Box and other fine programs). Run Low lets you run low resolution programs directly from the medium resolution desktop! Run Low will run approximately 70% to 80% of your low resolution programs. Many others will run, but those that use the AES (GEM Dialogs, Fileselector, etc.) generally don't work too well. Any program which avoids the AES will probably do well with Run Low. Run Low saves your current desktop colors, switches to low rez, and runs your program. When you leave your program, Run Low switches back to medium and restores your desktop colors. ST--Mega STe compatible (at least). Docs included. GEnie. SCOOK212 is the Cookie CPX v.2.10 by Andreas Mandel (dated Feb. 7, 1993) I'm not really too sure of what this CPX does. It seems from the German doc file that it will list the "Cookies" available in your system, and tell you their contents. Any resolution and TOS 1.04--TT compatible (Falcon?). Requires Atari's XCONTROL. SPOFLT26 is the Speed-of-Light, High speed GIF (87a) viewer v.2.6 by Stuart Denman (dated May 25, 1993). This is a fast (according to the author, the fastest) GIF viewer for the ST--Falcon, but it allows you to display 256 colors at once (even on an ST) and allows a color palette of tens of thousands on an STe/TT. This program provides excellent contrast in colors. It even allows you to convert your GIF's to Grayscale images for viewing. Lots of options to "fine tune" your pictures. This version incorporated several bug fixes over versions 2.1/2.5, *increased* drawing speed, interlaced picture display, and other inhancements. Low Rez color on ST/STe, TT medium, and all Falcon resolutions, too. Docs included. SHAREWARE. Z*Net BBS. STARPLAY is PLAY_340 program, a simple .MOD-player with nice graphics by Ninja III. It is compatible with all ST (at least that's what the docs say, but it doesn't work on my 1 meg TOS 1.0 ST), STe (at least that's what the docs say, but while it "runs" on my TOS 1.62 STe, it doesn't play and the controls don't work), Mega STe (though a user said he had some problems with his Mega STE and this file), and Falcons (TT, too?). On running the program you see a simple point-and-click interface. After selecting a .MOD file you see the online directions flowing on the screen and the .MOD files name waving about. I think you could safely pass this one by! STONES v.1.0 by Carsten Kauschmann is a program that I can't say much about since it would not run on my STe in color or mono and on my ST TOS 1.0 in color (I didn't switch over my mono monitor to check there). I would suggest that you pass on this one). TARGAVIW by Bjvrn Brauel is a program that will allow you to view 24-bit color Targa files. STE, Falcon and MultiTOS compatible. German docs. Z*Net BBS. THRILLER is Thriller PD by Martin Hintzen and Jurgen Verwohlt (dated 1990). At first this mono-only game was very frustrating because I couldn't read the online docs and so I had no idea what to do. But I figured it out in the end, and the game got very interesting and challenging. A small ball is moved about a track using the cursor keys. The object of the game is to pick up all the hearts scattered about the track in little alcoves. Unfortunately there are several little guys out to get you. They roll around the screen and try to catch you (in a mindless sort of way). You have to move into an alcove, getting the heart, and then waiting there until the bad guys have passed. What makes the game interesting is that you can't enter all the alcoves in any order. You have to do it in the order the game wants, but it doesn't tell you! You have to find that out for yourself, and with the bad guys rolling down on you you don't have much time! STE compatible. TOXIC is the Toxic Disk Magazine #4. This is a huge set of files (four Magic Shadow archives totalling nearly 1.2 megs of LZHed files!). But I'm glad I downloaded it. It is full of graphic demos, .MOD files, a music sequencer, numerous games, contest entries in writing entertaining programs 3.5K or less long, and lots more. Color. A few of the programs are in French, but most are in English. VIPER2 by Dan Bordonaro is a nicely done .AVS animation with sound that shows a set of three "colonial vipers" flying by. You see them approaching from a distance, zoom by, and fade away. The sounds are appropriate for the animation. Created with Chronos and Cyber paint. GEnie. WARPFNT2 is a collection of 113 Warp 9 font files (.FNT) that you can use for all three standard ST screen resolutions. Some of these fonts work in all resolutions and some don't (Warp 9 itself will tell you which ones will work and which ones won't). 383K uncompressed. GEnie. WINREC13 is WinRec v.1.3 by Andreas Binner and Harald Schvnfeld (dated May 1, 1993). WinRec is a direct to disk recording program for the Falcon computer. One enhancement (and it seems to be a big one) is that this version will allow you to record and playback in the background. One minor way you can use this program is to amuse yourself (or rather your friends!) is by doing Karaoke with a mike!). Supports real-time sample packing which can be unpacked during play. The pack rate is 50% and the loss of sound quality is VERY small. From what I can see in the docs this is an excellent program (now I wish I had a Falcon to test it!). Requires a Falcon. SHAREWARE. WINTRIS is a very nice .ACC Tetris-type game. There is no author or date attached (programmers--identify yourselves!). Keyboard controlled (and you can adjust which keys to use), color or mono, STe compatible. This game doesn't have a whole bunch of bells and whistles, but I like it. Delphi. WRAPMOUS is Wrap-Mouse v.1.5 by Richard Kurz (dated 1993). This SHAREWARE .CPX will allow you to use a serial mouse with your ST--Falcon AND to use your Joystick to emulate your mouse! You can program the third mouse button on your serial mouse to do a specified common action for each program you use. MultiTOS compatible. German docs. That's a pile of files, and yet it's less than half of the files I've downloaded. Keep it up, you programmers! I don't need to sleep or anything like that, after all! Talk to you next week. All of these files can be found on one or more of the following on-line services: GEnie (M.BURKLEY1), Delphi (MRBURKLEY), The CodeHead BBS (213-461-2095), Toad Hall (617-567-8642), and The Boston Computer Society's Atari BBS (617-396-4607) (Michael R. Burkley). Drop me a line! ======================================================================= **--DELPHI SIGN-UP--** ---------------------- To sign up for Delphi call (with modem) 800-695-4002. Upon connection hit return once or twice. At Password: type ZNET and hit <Return>. ======================================================================= **--GENIE SIGN-UP--** --------------------- To sign up for GENIE call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH and hit return. Wait for the U#= prompt and type in the following: XTX99436, GEnie and hit return. ======================================================================= **--COMPUSERVE SIGN-UP--** ------------------ To sign up for CompuServe service call (with phone) 800-848-8199. Ask for operator #198. You will then be sent a $15.00 free membership kit. ======================================================================= **--ATARINET INFORMATION--** -------------------- If you'd like further information or would like to join AtariNet please contact one of the following via AtariNet or Fido: Bill Scull - Fido 1:363/112 AtariNet 51:1/0, Dean Lodzinski - Fido 1:107/633 or AtariNet 51:4/0, Terry May - Fido 1:209/745 or AtariNet 51:2/0, Tony Castorino Fido 1:102/1102 or AtariNet 51:3/0, Don Liscombe at AtariNet 51:5/0, Daron Brewood - Fido 2:255/402 or AtariNet 51:6/0. You can also call the Z*Net News Service at (908) 968-8148 for more info. ======================================================================= Reprints from the GEnie ST Roundtable are Copyright (c)1993, Atari Corporation and the GEnie ST RT. Reprints from CompuServe's AtariArts, AtariPro, AtariVen, or Aportfolio Forums are Copyright (c)1993, CIS. Reprints from Delphi are Copyright (c)1993, Delphi and the Delphi Atari Advantage SIG. ======================================================================= Reprints from AtariUser Magazine are Copyright(c)1993, AtariUser. NO AU article MAY BE REPRINTED without the written permission of the publisher. You can subscribe and read ALL of the informative articles each and every month by contacting AU at (818) 246-6277. For $15.00 you will receive 12 issues. Send your payment to AtariUser Magazine, 249 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 332, Glendale, California, USA, 91203. Foreign delivery is $30.00 in US funds. ======================================================================= Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari Falcon030, TOS, MultiTOS, NewDesk and BLiTTER are trademarks of Atari Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned in this publication belong to their respective owners. ======================================================================= **--** Z*NET OFFICIAL INFORMATION **--** -------------------------- Z*Net Atari Online Magazine is a weekly online publication covering the Atari and related computer community. Material published in this issue may be reprinted under the following terms only: articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each article reprinted. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups and not for profit publications. Opinions present herein are those of the individual authors and do not reflect those of the staff. This publication is not affiliated with the Atari Corporation. Z*Net, Z*Net News Service, Z*Net International, Rovac, Z*Net Atari Online and Z*Net Publishing are copyright (c)1993, Syndicate Publishing, PO Box 0059, Middlesex, NJ 08846-0059, Voice: (908) 968-2024, BBS: (908) 968-8148, (510) 373-6792. ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~== Z*Net Atari Online Magazine Copyright (C)1993, Syndicate Publishing - Ron Kovacs ===~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~==
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