ST Report: 25-Apr-97 #1317
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 05/11/97-09:16:04 AM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 25-Apr-97 #1317
Date: Sun May 11 09:16:04 1997
Silicon Times Report
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April 25, 1997 No.1317
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04/25/97 STR 1317 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97!
- CPU Industry Report - E-Stamps Online - HP Buys Verifone
- Frankie's Corner - Fraud on the Net - Shareware Listings
- No AOL/CIS Merger? - STR Mailcall - 3Com cuts $$$
- UnAbashed Atariophile - People Talking - Classics & Gaming
Feds Warn of 'AOL4FREE' Ruse
Intel Readies 300MHz Chip
Symantec, McAfee Going to Court
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>From the Editor's Desk...
This week's issue is running late. I know it. Its my fault for
allowing some company to tie me for most of the afternoon. They were
lovely people though, so believe me it was worth it. Check out this week's
news boards as there is a great deal going on.
I'm still evaluating Word Perfect vs Word 7 and so far, Word 7 is
still on top. Primarily because the PDF generator doesn't like Word
Perfect at all. <sigh> Yet. I must admit however, that this week's issue
had certain articles come in that were in what appeared to be 40 col.
Format. It took forever to re-format that thing. I thought forty column
`putes were all in the grave yard. Changing all that was a real time
killer.
Ralph....
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STReport Headline News
LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Clinton, Gore Join NetDay
Characterizing it as the 21st century version of an old-fashioned barn
raising, President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore joined yesterday's
volunteer "NetDay" efforts to connect schools to the Internet and ponied up
$11.8 million to help. Also, the president urged the Federal
Communications Commission to give schools and libraries $2 billion in
annual discounts for Internet service, notes Associated Press writer Sandra
Sobieraj. The FCC is expected to vote on the discount May 6.
In his weekly radio address, Clinton commented, "This can make all the
difference for communities struggling to make sure their students are ready
for the 21st century. Now more than ever we can't afford to let our
children be priced out of cyberspace." Clinton and Gore used video and
computer equipment to link from the Oval Office to NetDay activities around
the country, as parents, teachers, corporate officials, communications
workers and retirees ran high-capacity cable through classrooms to connect
them to the global computer network.
Notes AP, "Since the first NetDay last spring, which Clinton and Gore
incorporated into their re-election campaign, about a quarter million
volunteers have wired 50,000 classrooms." Clinton yesterday called the
effort "a great example of how America works best when we all work together
... like an old-fashioned barn raising."
In addition, Gore announced $11.8 million in technology literacy grants for
classroom computer equipment and teacher training were being awarded to
seven states: Alaska, Connecticut, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota
and Tennessee. Also sharing the Education Department funds were schools in
the U.S. territories of Northern Mariana and American Samoa and schools
administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The department awarded $57
million to 14 other states earlier this year.
The wire service quotes research from Market Data Retrieval as estimating
27,000 to 40,000 public schools -- about one-third to one-half of the
national total -- use the Internet. Other surveys indicate that the
connection reaches less than 10 percent of the classrooms, computer labs
and libraries where students actually sit. As reported, Clinton made a
campaign promise to help wire every American classroom and library to the
Internet by 2000 and has included a request in this year's budget for an
additional $2 billion in technology literacy grants over the next five
years.
President to Surf the Net
As part of NetDay celebrations today, a computer terminal is being
temporarily installed in President Clinton's Oval Office and even will
venture into cyberspace. White House press secretary Mike McCurry told
United Press International the president is "going to try to get computer
literate." UPI notes Vice President Al Gore, whose cyber knowledge is
extensive, plans to join the president in the Oval Office event and both
will chat with schoolchildren around the country. The White House says
Clinton already has a laptop computer with Internet capabilities in the
Oval Office.
Rebates Set in Screen Settlement
Practically every computer maker, from IBM and Compaq to Apple Computer
Inc., and 11 retail chains, including Tandy and CompUSA, have agreed to a
settlement of a class-action lawsuit alleging buyers were misled about the
size of computer monitors. The settlement of the suit -- filed in San
Francisco Superior Court and covering purchases between May 1, 1991, and
May 1, 1995 -- means major computer makers and retailers will offer rebates
to literally millions of consumers.
The Associated Press reports consumers taking advantage of the settlement
can get a $13 cash rebate on new purchases of $250 or more. The rebates
will be available between Sept. 8, 1997, and Sept. 8, 2000. And people who
make new purchases between September 2000 and March 2001 can receive a $6
rebate. AP notes the complaint alleged the manufacturers and merchants
confused consumers about the size of the screens by not setting a standard
for measurements.
"Monitor makers often advertised the diagonal size of the glass that covers
a screen, the same way television screens are measured," AP comments, "but
since a portion of the glass on a PC monitor is framed by plastic, the
viewing area was smaller. The settlement requires a measurement of the
monitor's viewable screen area from now on." Attorney Robert Green, who
represented consumers, estimates some 45 million PC sales are covered in
the lawsuit, but told the wire service that not that many buyers will
qualify for the rebates because bulk purchases are excluded. He and other
lawyers involved declined to estimate the settlement's value. For further
information on the settlement or to receive a copy of rebate coupons, call
1-800-789-0311 or visit the Web site at http://www.computermonitorcases.
com.
Web Directories Hit Newspapers
A Eugene, Oregon, company company called WebLink Express plans to publish a
Web directory in both Parade and USA Weekend magazines in Sunday newspapers
nationwide for 13 weeks beginning in May. A weekly online electronic
publication called NetCetera notes that "given that the combined
circulation of the two publications is nearly 90 million households (about
200 million people), the effort could reach millions of potential new users
of the Internet."
The newsletter reports the business model of the one-page directory is
based on charging more than 300 site owners $4,000 to have their site
listed in the guide, adding, "The print guide will be supplemented by an
online site with easy access to the advertised sites using four-digit
numbers rather than URLs." On the Internet, WebLink Express is reached at
Web address http://www.weblinkexpress.com.
Feds Warn of 'AOL4FREE' Ruse
A strong warning has been issued by the U.S. Energy Department's Computer
Incident Advisory Capability team about a new Trojan horse called
"AOL4FREE." Interactive Week Online says the rogue program -- downloadable
from various Internet sites and sometimes sent as an attached binary file
in electronic mail -- is 993 bytes in length and will erase a PC hard drive
if run. CIAC officials tell the publication that downloading the program
will not cause harm -- as some reports have said -- but that running the
application will. An advisory on CAIC's Web page (http://ciac.llnl.gov)
says, "If you are e-mailed this file, or if you have downloaded it from an
online service, do not attempt to run it. If the program was received as an
attachment to an e-mail message, do not double click open it."
Dial-Around Codes Alert Issued
A consumer organization is warning telephone users to study closely the
advertisements for those five-digit codes filling their mailboxes to make
sure the strings attached don't unravel the savings. The so-called
"dial-around" offers try to lure customers with promises of reduced long
distance rates. The companies' marketing places a heavy emphasis on the
calling code, a five digit number starting with "1-0," (i.e., 10XXX) which
connects the consumer to a different long distance company for that call
only, bypassing their primary long distance carrier, (the company that
completes their 1+ calls). The calling method is not new, but it is being
promoted to consumers in new and aggressive ways.
"Consumers need to be careful shoppers when choosing their long distance
carriers -- and they should be especially careful with the dial-around
codes," says Angela Ledford, executive director of Tele-Consumer Hotline,
an independent consumer education service founded by the Consumer
Federation of America and the Telecommunications Research and Action Center
(TRAC). "With some dial-around offers, the strings attached can unravel
potential savings." Tele-Consumer Hotline warns that consumers need to
consider carefully the special fees and requirements that can be associated
with dial-around codes. VarTec Telecom, for example, advertises its "Dime
Line" at a rate of ten cents per minute on all calls over three minutes but
also charges a $5 monthly fee. On that plan, if you make only one call a
month that lasts only 2.5 minutes, it will cost $5.30 -- not a quarter.
Telecom USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of MCI, advertises 50 percent off
AT&T's non-calling plan rates, but if you talk for at least 20 minutes. If
the call is shorter than 20 minutes, the call is billed at rates that are
one penny per minute less than AT&T's non-calling plan rates. The
Tele-Consumer Hotline offers these tips for using dial-around codes:
z Read the Fine Print. Beware of the monthly minimums, time requirements
and fees.
z Compare with Your Long Distance Company's Rates. If you are not on a
calling plan with your long distance carrier, ask about one before choosing
dial-around. If you are already on a calling plan, check those
z rates against the dial-around rates.
z Don't Use Dial-Around for Local Calls. Some local calls require you to
dial the area code. If you have any doubt about whether a call is a toll
call, call the operator. If you use a dial-around code on a local call, you
will be billed at the toll rate, even though you could have dialed for free
if you have flat-rate local service.
z Be Careful of Using Dial-Around on Nights and Weekends. When you
consider the surcharges and minimums, the per minute rate offered by
dial-around codes may not be much, if any, cheaper than your regular long
distance company if you are on a calling plan.
California Passes Net Child Law
State legislation to make it a crime to use the Internet to seduce or
distribute harmful material to a child has been passed by the California
Assembly and sent the state Senate for consideration. In Sacramento, GOP
Assemblyman Steve Kuykendall told United Press International his bill would
close a loophole that allows pedophiles to exploit minors on the Internet
because the medium isn't covered by current law.
UPI reports, "The bill would add e-mail or any other Internet source to
categories identified under child protection law, but it stops short of
addressing Internet censorship issues. Supporters cite more than a dozen
U.S. cases of pedophiles seducing minors on-line, including a 14-year-old
Livermore girl who was raped by a Vacaville man. He met her at an online
chat room." The measure is opposed on the Assembly floor by Public Safety
Committee Chairman Robert Hertzberg, a Democrat, who suggested "a more
thoughtful approach," adding the bill needs work to deal with the
complexity of a global communications tool that gives users anonymity.
Symantec, McAfee Going to Court
Escalating what observers call one of the software industry's bitterest
rivalries, Symantec Corp. has sued McAfee Associates Inc., alleging
copyright infringement. Reporting this morning in The Wall Street Journal,
writer Don Clark notes the suit, filed in federal court in San Jose,
California, alleges McAfee illegally copied Symantec software that allows
PC users to save their data when their machine crashes. "The complaint,"
says Clark, "asks for an injunction to stop McAfee from selling a program
called PC Medic, and seeks damages that include all of McAfee's profits
from the product. McAfee said it was studying Symantec's complaint and had
no comment." Clark notes Symantec, based in Cupertino, California, in
September introduced a crash-recovery program called CrashGuard that it
incorporates in products called PC Handyman and Norton Utilities. The
company estimates it has sold 500,000 copies of products incorporating
CrashGuard since then.
McAfee, based in nearby Santa Clara, began offering crash-recovery
capability with PC Medic in March. Symantec says in its suit that major
sections of the McAfee program had computer code containing instructions
identical to the Symantec product, and the company said the copying was
verified by an independent consulting firm. "Most software-copyright
battles are far from clear-cut," Clark comments. "In some cases, juries
have concluded that the products of companies accused of infringement
didn't meet a test of being 'substantially similar' to rival programs. In
other cases, courts ruled that there are limited number of ways for
programmers to accomplish certain functions, so similarities are
permissible." Symantec suit also accuses McAfee of copyright infringement
for distributing PC Medic through its Web site. Because of this, San
Francisco copyright attorney Ronald Laurie told the paper the case may test
whether courts will view electronic distribution of copyrighted software as
a potential infringement.
Apple MessagePad Sales Brisk
Initial sales of Apple Computer Inc.'s newest mobile computer, the
MessagePad 2000, have been brisk since the product was launched a month
ago. Reporting from Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters, the
Reuter News Service quotes Vice President Sandy Bennett of the Newton
Systems Group as saying, "The sales we have achieved in our first 30 days
and customer response validate our claim that the MessagePad 2000 is a
compelling business machine." Reuters notes the MessagePad 2000 is a
member of the line of handheld Newton computers. Some of its features
include e-mail, fax and Internet access, and it weighs only 1.4 pounds.
Intel Readies 300MHz Chip
Intel Corp. will launch a 300MHz microprocessor early next month, reports
Computer Reseller News Online (www.crn.com). Intel plans to roll out its
first Pentium II microprocessors with internal clock speeds of 233MHz,
266MHz and 300MHz on May 7, says the webzine, which adds that pricing of
the fastest chip has been set at $1,980. A November price cut will bring
the chip's cost down to $1,870.
Computer Reseller News Online states that "Intel plans to position Pentium
II so that over time it will be considered the best chip for use in
desktop machines -- a kind of super-successor to today's mass market
Pentium chips." Intel's other high-end chip, the Pentium Pro, will continue
to be used in powerful workstations and servers, eventually narrowing its
market to high-end servers.
First DVD-RAM Drive Set to Ship
Hitachi America, Ltd. plans to begin shipping sample verisons of the
GF-1000, the industry's first announced PC DVD-RAM drive, on June 20. The
Brisbane, California, company notes that the new drive, which allows
both the recording and playback of data, complies with the DVD-RAM format
announced last week by the DVD Forum. DVD-RAM is a rewritable DVD format
that offers a storage capacity of 5.2GB using both sides of a 5-inch disk.
The technology offers full compatibility with other DVD formats.
The Hitachi GF-1000 family consists of three members: the GF-1000, which
has an ATAPI interface, and the GF-1050 and GF-1055, both of which have a
SCSI interface. The GF-1000 and GF-1050 are internal drives while the
GF-1055 is an external device. Internal versions of the sample units will
be priced at $794, while the external models will sell for $953. Maxell
Corporation of America, based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, will offer DVD-RAM
sample disks.
"Hitachi was the first manufacturer to ship samples of single-speed DVD-ROM
drives, in June 1996, and in March this year was the first to ship samples
of a double-speed DVD-ROM drive," says Werner Glinka, director of
marketing for Hitachi America's storage products group. "As the chair of
the DVD-RAM Working Group of the DVD Consortium, we played a central role
in the process of reaching agreement on a single format, and will now be
the first supplier to ship drives implementing that standard. This
represents a further strengthening of our lineup of DVD drive products."
Companies Want to Offer E-Stamps
At least two companies -- postage meter giant Pitney Bowes and tiny firm
called E-Stamp -- wants to make it possible for you to log into a Web
site, buy postage and then have any laser printer run it out on envelopes
along with an address. Both are waiting for the U.S. Postal Service to
authorize the plan, saying they could be up and running by the end of the
year, says Associated Press writer Elizabeth Weise.
"In the E-Stamp Corp. vision of the future, putting postage on a letter
would be as easy a printing it out," Weise reports. "The Palo Alto,
Calif.-based company has developed a small adaptor about half the size of a
pack of cigarettes that plugs into a computer's printer port at one end and
the printer at the other. Users will be able to go to the E-Stamp Web site
and, using secret codes, buy postage with a credit card. The amount would
then be downloaded onto their computer."
AP says the E-Stamp software would integrate with the user's word
processing and printer programs so that with a simple click on a menu, a
bar code would be printed on the upper right hand corner of an envelope --
after giving the computer a secret number so that no one can "borrow"
stamps from your PC. E-Stamp has also patented a two-window envelope,
which would allow users to print a stamp directly on a letter itself. Fold
it in thirds and the address shows through one window, the stamp through
another.
Adds AP, "With Pitney Bowes' solid hold on the mass-mailing market, E-Stamp
plans on going after home office workers who don't need a postage meter,
but also don't want to run to the post office for stamps. E-Stamp
estimates the printer adaptor and software to run it would cost under
$300." The Stamford, Connecticut-based Pitney Bowes Inc., which introduced
postage meters in 1920, also is eying the online stamp market.
Weise says that last year the firm introduced a product that lets customers
use their own laser printers to produce the traditional postage meter
strip. In addition, Pitney Bowes customers have been able to refill their
postage meters by phone since 1979. "But," she adds, "moving from a
proprietary computer network where users dial directly into a Pitney Bowes
computer and selling postage over the Internet is a leap the company is
still exploring." Pitney Bowes Vice President Mike Stecyk told the wire
service, "When we do PC Metering, we will provide capability either over
the public network like the Internet or a private network."
Teens Value Computer Over TV?
A new Gallup Organization survey conducted for the National Science
Foundation suggests teenagers today are more likely to give up their
televisions than their computers. The poll, also backed by USA Today and
CNN, reports teenagers embrace technology much more readily than their
parents and grandparents do, "not surprisingly," adds a statement from
Washington, "since more than half the teens were under 10 the first time
they used a computer." In addition, says the statement, "the kids feel
they won't be able to make a good living without computer skills and an
understanding of other technologies."
Other findings in the poll that surveyed a random sampling of 744 teenagers
across the country included:
z Just two-thirds of the teens have computers at home.
z An overwhelming 99 percent have used computers before.
z While teens from lower income households are less likely to have
computers or Internet access at home, they are just as confident as their
more affluent counterparts about working on computers, and are just as
eager to learn more about computers.
Julia Moore, director of the NSF's Office of Legislative and Public
Affairs, termed the survey results "a wake-up call to parents and
educators," adding, "In fact, our kids could be teaching us."
The survey also segmented respondents into five usage categories:
1. Techno-Whizzes, defined as "high-achievers in everything they do. ...
most likely to be involved in after-school activities, have the highest
educational aspirations after high school and are more likely to rate
themselves as top students." This group last week they spent seven hours on
their computers, about half of that on the Internet, the poll says.
2. Computer Specialists. The group spent less time at the computers (6.4
hours last week), but has "the highest level of confidence in their ability
to do so," says the pollsters' statement. "In addition, they prefer
spending time on computers to other forms of technology included in the
poll, such as VCRs, boom boxes and other stereo equipment and calculators."
3. Moderates, who "do everything in moderation -- except talk on the
telephone, listen to music and use the VCR."
4. The Wary, who "have extremely high educational aspirations, yet the
lowest level of confidence in their ability to use computers (2.9 on a
scale of 1-10)." Still, notes the poll, this group has almost as much
access to home computers as the Techno-Whizzes (76 percent).
5. Low-Techies, who, with the exception of TV, "uses hardly any form of
technology cited in the poll, from computers to VCRs to video games to
answering machines." The poll says this group's access to computers and
educational aspirations are the lowest.
More Juice Found in PC Market
Don't write off the first-time PC buyers market. A new survey by Computer
Retail Week and The Verity Group suggests many non-computer owners are
still just waiting for a bargain. In a statement from Manhasset, N.Y.,
pollsters say:
z About one-third of the respondents from households without a computer
said they had heard of full-featured PCs being introduced at prices around
$1,000.
z And 12 percent of those people said that they were more likely to
purchase a computer if such a system were available.
Roger Lanctot, editorial research director at Computer Retail Week, says
the finding suggests more than just the fact that the first-time buyer
market is not dead, adding, "Here's an indication that the market may well
be stimulated by the availability of new, lower-cost systems." The poll,
which surveyed an even number of men and women, found younger respondents
and those in the 15,000 to $24,900 annual income range most likely to be
more interested in buying a computer if a $1,000 PC were available. Said
Lanctot, "Twelve percent of the 60 percent of U.S. households that do not
currently own a personal computer represents more than six million
potential customers that are test-driving the hard drives of $999 PCs in
the coming weeks."
Other findings:
z More than one-quarter of the respondents in the 26- to 35-year-old age
group said they would be more likely to purchase a PC if it were available
for less than $1,000, and 28.6 percent of the respondents who were under 25
years old indicated a similar inclination.
z Only 7.3 percent of respondents between the ages of 36 and 55
responded that they would be more likely to make such a purchase, as did
5.4 percent of respondents 56 years old or older.
z Awareness of the availability of PCs for less than $1,000 was highest
among younger people.
z One-quarter of respondents in the $15,000 to $24,900 income category
said they would be more likely to buy a computer now that $1,000 computers
were available, while only 6.1 percent of households earning less than
$15,000 annually showed a similar interest.
z About 14 percent of households with between $25,000 and $49,900 in
annual income, and 18.8 percent of households earning $50,000 annually or
more, indicated a greater interest in such a purchase.
z Awareness of PCs for less than $1,000 was greater in higher-income
households than in lower-income households.
A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
LEXMARK OPTRA C
COLOR
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For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to
you that demonstrates LEXMARK Optra C SUPERIOR QUALITY 600 dpi Laser Color
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sized envelope please) to:
STReport's LEXMARK Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the LEXMARK Optra C has to be the very best yet in its price range.
It is far superior to anything we've seen or used as of yet. It is said
that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. The out put from the Lexmark
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If you would like a sample printout that's suitable for framing. Yes
that's right! Suitable for Framing. Order this package. It'll be on
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A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N
Shareware Treasure Chest STR Feature "The Latest & Greatest"
Shareware Treasure Chest
By Lloyd E. Pulley
lepulley@streport.com
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Stats 97 1.0 4/23/97 380kb Freeware
Disk utility collects numerous disk statistics for Win95 including file
types, file ages, age distribution, and file size distribution. Works over
multiple disk drives. All graphs are 3D.
Home Page Site - http://www.contactplus.com/index.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
NoteBook 32-bit 4.1 4/19/97 .60mb Shareware $15
There is one and only one point to this program - to replace Notepad.
Notebook is not a word processor. It's sole purpose is to view and edit
text files. Notebook does have 6 major features (and several minor ones)
which make up for Notepad's inadequacies:
1. It will open very large files, and allow you to edit them. People have
successfully opened, edited, and saved files in excess of 5 megabytes!
2. It features complete font control - you can set the font name, style,
size, and color, and your settings will be saved when you exit the program.
It will look better on your screen, and do a much better job of printing.
3. Notebook has a taskbar which keeps track of your cursor position, and a
toolbar, complete with help balloons. The taskbar, toolbar, and the help
balloons can each be turned on and off at will.
4. Notebook features Drag and Drop text editing. If you want to move a
block of text, just use the mouse to select it, and drag it to where you
want it.
5. Notebook supports overtype mode. While the default editing mode is
insert, hitting the INSERT key on your keyboard will change that to
overtype.
6. Notebook can both print and save to a file selected text only, if so
desired.
Home Page Site - http://members.aol.com/ron2222/note95.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Internet-Dial 1.6 4/18/97 1,200kb Shareware $22.00
Intelligently configures your Windows 95 PC for Internet Access.
Automatically installs, Dial-Up networking, TCP/IP & Dial-up adapter Edit,
create or delete Windows95 Dial-up profiles. Built in scripting utility,
edit, create & review custom login scripts. Set Profile specific usernames,
passwords, tel numbers, scripts etc. Connect, disconnect, show terminal,
modem status, line status etc. Maintain many unique profiles for different
ISP's with unique DNS,Ip etc. Pre-define upto 8 Internet apps plus
parameters to launch on connection. Minimize to the sys tray & connect,
login & launch an app from a PopUp menu.
Home Page Site - http://www.legend.co.uk/~andrew/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Plugsy 32-bit 1.00.04e 4/19/97 .62mb Shareware $29.95
Digigami Plugsy is the only solution for eliminating conflicts among
Netscape Navigator plug-ins. Easy to install and simple to use, Plugsy
gives power users and system administrators the unique ability to configure
Netscape Navigator's plug-in configuration. You'll be able to mix and match
third-party multimedia players as well as Navigator's own built-in players
by individually assigning each MIME type (multimedia format) to either a
plug-in or helper application. Note: Only good with Netscape Navigator.
Home Page Site - http://www.digigami.com/plugsy/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
April '97 definition update for Mcafee 4/19/97 1.03mb Freeware
This file is a complete replacement for any previous definitions set for
all of the Mcafee products. Usable by: WebScan (the antivirus helper
app),NetShield, VShield, and VirusScan for DOS,, or Windows (3.x, 95, or
NT)
Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Microsoft Netshow 32-bit Player 2.0 beta 2 4/19/97 1.40mb Freeware
NetShow is the easiest, most cost-effective way to stream audio,
illustrated audio, and video across intranets and the Internet. Normally, a
user has to wait for an entire file to be transferred before using
networked multimedia content. Streaming lets users see or hear the
information as it arrives, without having to wait. Unlike other streaming
products, NetShow lets content providers generate compelling productions in
which audio, graphics, video, URLs and script commands can be synchronized
based on a timeline.
Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MidiMaster 32-bit 7.0 Official Release 4/19/97 1.00mb Shareware
$20
MidiMaster is a multimedia player for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 that
supports MID, RMI, AVI, QuickTime and WAV formats. It is not only a media
player but also a media file organizer. It is specially designed for those
who like a desktop media player which brings convenience whenever they play
and manage their beloved media files. Users can either minimize MidiMaster
to taskbar or shrink it to the TaskTray of Windows 95. MidiMaster also
provides library functions for managing or categorizing media files. It
has many extensive functions which make media files playing extremely
simple and controllable. There are many more functions available to make
your life of playing media files easier.
Home Page Site - http://www.cs.ust.hk/~paul/mm/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
The Realm 4/19/97 13.00mb Demo
The Realm is an ever-evolving online world of monsters, magic, and
medieval society. Discover the future of interactive adventure games, and
explore a new world of quests and companionship with thousands of players
from across the world. You play a customized character who explores
different towns, forests, and dungeons while defeating wolves, ogres, and
demons. You have to make friends, battle beasts and earn money to buy
armor, weapons, food, and magic spells.
Home Page Site - http://www.realmserver.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
My Wedding Companion - Wedding Planner 2.0 4/19/97 4.0mb Demo
MWC is commited to ensuring that you succeed in planning your wedding
with this program. Your wedding day will be the most memorable day of your
life. Do not let the wedding planning details interfere with your feelings
of joy, excitement and anticipation! Make sure the memories are good ones
by using My Wedding Companion. Think of this easy-to-use software package
as "aspirin" for your wedding planning headaches.
Home Page Site - http://users.southeast.net/~fivestar/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
MusiFind Pro 1.4a 4/17/97 728kb Shareware $5.00
The ultimate database for your music collection, whether its on vinyl,
cassette, compact disc, or other media! It will help you get organized and
find your music fast! Now with several easy-to-use wizards, and label
creation for CDs (jewel cases) and cassettes (J-labels). Written by a DJ
with over 15 years experience - both in the booth, and in software
creation.
Home Page Site - http://www.dlcwest.com/~sorev/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Business Card Creator for Word 2.0 4/19/97 224kb Shareware $10.00
It has never been so easy to make great looking, professional business
cards. Uses ten card stock. Easy to use -- almost no effort required for a
great looking output. Easy to use and effective. Fast & Simple; Yields
Great Looking Results. Works with all 10 Card Stock including the Avery
Brand. Imagine Printing Your Own Business Cards in Seconds! For Word 97!
Home Page Site - http://www.execpc.com/~amfsoft/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Polyview 32-bit 2.90 beta 3 4/20/97 1.40mb Shareware $20
PolyView is a BMP, GIF, JPEG, photo-cd, PNG, and TIFF graphics viewer,
file conversion, and printing utility for Windows NT and Windows 95.
PolyView features fast image rendering, panning, and zooming that is
optimized for Windows 95 and Windows NT. PolyView is a 32 bit application
that uses multithreading to enhance usability and allow time consuming
operations, such as image file reading and writing, to be performed in
parallel with user interface operations. PolyView's multithreaded nature
also allows the reading and writing of multiple image files at the same
time. With its image appearance manipulation, copy and paste facilities,
and DDE execution capabilities, PolyView is an excellent companion to your
favorite Web browser.
Home Page Site - http://www.netins.net/showcase/polybytes/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Snadboy's Revelation 32-bit 1.1 4/20/97 1.20mb Freeware
Windows 95 is great at remembering many of your passwords, e.g. the
password of your dial-in ISP. Unfortunately, this is also a problem - since
you seldom enter the passsword it tends to be forgotten. What are you to do
when you need to know one of the saved passwords? The password is staring
right at you, but is hiding behind a row of asterisks. SnadBoy's Revelation
allows you to see over that wall in order to reclaim your password.
Home Page Site - http://www.snadboy.com/revelation.shtml
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
RAS+ 95 Beta 4 (Build 136) 4/19/97 1.0mb Shareware $29.95
Adds automatic redialing, billing, automatic app-launching, multiple-
phone number and provider dialing, and MORE to your standard Windows Dial-
up Networking.
Home Page Site - http://www.lambsoftware.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Scripture Reminder 1.0 4/19/97 180kb Freeware
Simple program for Christian Win95 users that sits in your startup folder
and presents you with a random scripture each time you start Windows. Comes
with scriptures in a file that can easily be added to.
Home Page Site -
http://homepages.enterprise.net/crimperman/christian/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
GolfHand 1.0 4/07/97 4,852kb Shareware 16.00
A complete golf statistics and handicap generation program. It includes
many inquiry, reporting and management features so users can quickly and
accurately determine their golf handicap, see how their complete game is
going, their driving statistics, their putting statisitcs. Users can look
at their stats for individual golf courses or all the golf courses that
they may play for the season. Can keep backups of the database for safe
keeping or to transfer to other machines.
Home Page Site - http://www.stratec.ca/GolfHand/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Head Hunter 2.01 4/20/97 5.0mb Shareware $50.00
Candidate tracking application for Technical Recruiters or Human Resource
departments.
Home Page Site - http://www.pcisys.net/~jason/headhunter.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
DL- The Dive Log 1.5 4/11/97 1,972kb Shareware 30.00
The Dive Log is designed with the regular Scuba Diver in mind. DL is
extremely easy to use with most options right up front--no hard to use
options or setup.DL includes support for multiple divers, starting your log
at any number, photos, printer output, html output, textfile output, and
many more options.
Home Page Site - http://www.pond.net/~bsackett/dl/index.shtml
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
SubSpace 1.24 4/20/97 3.0mb Demo
A truly interactive game that is a cross between Super Astroids and Super
Defender. The best part of Subspace is that you play the game in real time
with not 30-40 players, but, more like 50-70 players in each of 4 Public
zones and One league zone.
Home Page Site - http://www.vie.com/subspace/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
VolleyStat 2.0.4 4/16/97 4.8mg Demo
The fastest, and easiest stat program ever. Enter all of your Teams and
Players and you will be ready to go. Just start up a game and choose the
starting line-up for both teams. It takes only two keystrokes to enter each
stat. It also has a Report Wizard which, after a serious of questions will
produce a report that will have answered all of your questions. This Demo
version is full featured but does delete all of the matches that were
entered on exit of the program.
Home Page Site - http://erlenbaugh.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Dart Trainer 1.5 3/27/97 1,128kb Freeware
A dart training aid. The main purposes of the program are to stimulate
training at home and to give some "interesting" statistics so one can
compare with previous sets played.
Home Page Site - http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-26087/DTeng.htm
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Search 4 32-bit 2.0 4/21/97 .14mb Freeware
Search 4 runs in your System Tray, It serves as a "quick-launch" to four
of the most powerful Search Engines on the web (Alta Vista, Lycos,
WebCrawler, or Yahoo!) in the form of a pop-up menu.In addition to simply
linking you to powerful seach engines, Search4 also allows you to specify a
word, group of words, or phrase to search for - before your browser is even
running. Simply click "Search" and it queries all four search engines and
returns the results from those queries together, in the form of four framed
windows in your browser (Supports Netscape and Internet Explorer)
Home Page Site - http://www.intermania.com/search4/index.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Surfin Shield Xtra 32-bit 2.0 4/23/97 .80mb Shareware $49
SurfinShield Xtra 2.0 protects your desktop from both ActiveX and Java
Internet attacks. Xtra runs on the desktop, monitors both Java and ActiveX
activities, prevents suspicious Java and ActiveX applets from loading, and
kills undesired applets before they can damage your computer resources.
Home Page Site - http://www.finjan.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
EoEdit 32-bit .74 4/23/97 .03mb Shareware $5
EoEdit is a stripped-down text editor with the programmer in mind. It is
a simple, fast text editor.
Features include:
*Font Style, Size, Color and Background Color Selection
*Multiple Document Interface so you can work on several files at once
without having to open more than one instance of the program and more.
Home Page Site - http://vtg.org/bsmith/eosoft/software/EoEdit.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Cookie Pal 32-bit 1.0a 4/23/97 .18mb Shareware $15
Cookie Pal is a complete internet cookie management system for Windows 95
and Windows NT 4.0. It lets you automatically accept and reject internet
cookies from all or user specified web sites, without having to click on
the web browser's annoying "Cookie Alert" messages all the time. Cookie Pal
works with Internet Explorer 3.0 or later and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or
later as well as Compuserve WinCIM 3.01 to give you complete and
transparent control over the cookies which are accepted by and stored on
your system. You can also view and delete existing cookies on your system.
Home Page Site - http://www.kburra.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
My Yahoo News Ticker 1.6 Build 1601 4/23/97 .30mb Freeware
A new program that delivers news, sports, stocks, weather etc to your
desktop. It resides directly on your Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 task bar
and works with existing applications, including screen savers. It uses the
preferences you've established in your MyYahoo! account to do this.
Home Page Site - http://www.netcontrols.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Norton Anti-Virus Update 95.0B 4/23/97 3,700kb Freeware
Updates your copy of Norton Anti-virus 95 to the Newest Version of 95.0B
which adds FAT-32 Support and Support to the latest virus definitions Apply
only to copies that have your NAVW32.exe is dated earlier than June 1,1996.
Failure to Use this update will cause unexpected detections of non-existant
viruses.
Utilities 95 Patch 2.0 4/23/97 1,382kb Freeware
NU95 2.0 Update.
Norton Anti-Virus Montly Update 4/23/97 1.2mb Freeware
Definition Update for Norton Antivirus
Home Page Site - http://www.symantec.com/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
McAfee Virus Scan Monthly Update April 4/22/97 1,081kb Freeware
This is the April update for Mcafee VirusScan version 3.0. Note: This
will not work with earlier versions of VirusScan.
Home Page Site - http://www.mcafee.com/down/dat.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
GremlinSoft Organizer 97 1.1 4/23/97 188kb Shareware $7.00
A Personal Information Manager and Notes Organizer. It allows you to
organize notes into groups and automatically saves all text that is copied
to clipboard into a special 'Clipboard' group. This means that you can add
new note to it by simply selecting text and copying it to clipboard. It can
edit notes as well (in fact, each note can be up to 4MB each). It also has
a Tray Icon which allows you to copy favorite notes to clipboard with just
a mouse-click.
Home Page Site - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/4146/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
LaserUp! Simple Calendar 2.0 4/21/97 323kb Shareware $12.50
Really useful calendar, log, and diary program. It allows you more
versatile printing than the Windows 3.1 Calendar and some other nifty
features including: Almost unlimited notes (32K) for every date, mark dates
with any alphanumeric mark or code, record transactions by code and
description for any date including hours, milage, income, and expenses,
report transactions by code and/or description, search calendar by marks
and text, print month at a time or week at a time, select fonts for display
on button and for printing.
Home Page Site - http://www.santhony.com/laserup/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
TreeSize Professional 1.0 beta 4 4/22/97 1,020kb Shareware $30.00
A powerful and flexible harddisk space manager for Windows 95 and Windows
NT4. Find out which folders are the largest on your drives and recover
Megabytes on it.Treesize Professional shows you the size, allocated and
wasted space, the number of files, 3D bar and pie charts and much more
information for several folders or drives you choose. The application has
an intutive Explorer-like GUI and it is fast and multithreaded. You can
print detailed reports or export the collected Data to Excel or an ASCII
file. TreeSize Pro can be started from the context menu of every folder or
drive.
Home Page Site - http://www.informatik.uni-
trier.de/CIP/marder/treesize.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Parallel Port Monitor 1.0 4/22/97 120k Freeware
Utility to spy on the parallel port. Provides a graphical view of the
connector, indicating pin high/low status with different colors. Also has
editable decimal, binary, and hexadecimal fields allowing individual
registers to be viewed and modified.
Home Page Site - http://www.okanagan.net/users/fred/
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
CU-SeeMe 32-bit 3.0 beta 4//24/97 5.80mb Shareware $49
Enhanced CU-SeeMe is desktop videoconferencing software for use over the
Internet. Currently, it's one of the most popular. This new version
features: TCP/IP multicast support for LAN/WAN conferencing
* New Phone Book with Graphical Contact Cards
* Directory Services for locating other CU-SeeMe users
* Whiteboard and Chat for multiuser collaboration during conferences
* View up to 12 participant windows simultaneously
* Caller ID for incoming connections
* Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) video codec for high quality video over LANS and
ISDN or higher
connections
Home Page Site - http://www.cuseeme.com/cu-seeme.html
Check This page for the serial number you need -
http://www.cuseeme.com/cu30-download-demo.html
Name/Version Release Date Size Price
Freeloader Gold 2.5 4/24/97 3.0mb Freeware
FreeLoader downloads Web sites for you and saves them on your hard disk.
FreeLoader's caching feature automatically converts downloaded Web page
links from HTTP addresses to paths that work on your hard drive. You choose
how much hard drive space you want to allocate to caching. Downloading goes
on in the background, so you don't waste time waiting on the Web.
Home Page Site - http://www.freeloader.com/
EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed
Edupage
Contents
Apple And Ellison Headed For A
ShowdownProtonic Chips Never
ForgetAirTouch ExpansionNSI Says
FCC Should Assume Internet
Registration FunctionsAT&T Loses
Out To MCI And BT In South American
DealMSN Mail Service Goes Down,
Comes UpBarnstorming At NetDay
Farmer On Computer Security
Rules For Online Ads For
ChildrenAOL, CompuServe Merger In
DoubtThe Fight Over Apple's
SoulComputers Promote "Community Of
Learning"Intel Builds Cheaper
Networking HubCourt Rejects CD-ROM-
Based AppealExponential Misses The
Mark
AST Cuts 25% Of Its Worldwide
Workforce
Windows 97 Delay Meets With Big
Yawn
Overcoming Science Illiteracy
HP Acquires VeriFoneMIT Ranks No. 1
In Wired College CompetitionWeb Ads
Get More PushyPCs Go Postal3Com
Cuts Network Hub Prices
Symantec Says McAfee Copied Its PC-
Crash Program
Immigration & High-Tech Workers In
Canada
Fraud And The Net
Intel Exec Predicts The Future
Net Stats
APPLE AND ELLISON HEADED FOR A SHOWDOWN
Apple Computer has begun taking defensive measures against any possible
hostile takeover bids by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who is considering
turning the ailing computer maker into an NC factory. Apple has retained
investment bankers Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Wall Street PR firm Abernathy
McGregor Group, just in case Ellison decides to make his move. Meanwhile,
Ellison has called on Apple's major institutional shareholders, trying to
enlist their support for his takeover, and reportedly even offering a
modest premium for each Apple share. Ellison's actions have put
considerable pressure on Steve Jobs, a friend of Ellison's, who says,
"He's my best buddy, but there are some things you don't know about your
best buddy. I have made it clear to Gil (Amelio) that Gil doesn't have to
be afraid that I'm trying to help someone else take over the company."
(Wall Street Journal 18 Apr 97)
PROTONIC CHIPS NEVER FORGET
Researchers at the University of New Mexico and Sandia National
Laboratories are investigating the use of protonic memory for making cheap
forget-me-not computer chips. In 1995, they noticed during experiments on
silicon wafers that protons deep within the wafers were responding to
electrical signals on the surface. "Nobody had seen these moving protons
before," says one scientist. Further research showed the protons can be
precisely controlled with standard microcircuits -- and are thus able to
store data. Protonic chips won't need the fancy processing used in
"flash" and other so-called nonvolatile memory chips, and can operate at
very low power levels, thus prolonging battery life in laptops. Protonic
chips currently are being tested at Texas Instruments. (Business Week 21
Apr 97)
AIRTOUCH EXPANSION
If it can survive an effort in Washington to eliminate a tax break it had
expected to receive, AirTouch Communications in San Francisco will buy the
domestic mobile-phone business of U S West Communications for $2.3
billion, making the combined company the nation's 2nd-largest wireless
phone company, smaller only than AT&T. (USA Today 18 Apr 97)
NSI SAYS FCC SHOULD ASSUME
INTERNET REGISTRATION FUNCTIONS
Network Solutions Inc., which currently registers all top-level domain
names under contract to the National Science Foundation, has suggested
that the Federal Communications Commission temporarily assume that
function until an international legal authority can be created to manage
the system. The transition period would allow for public comment on the
plan in order to incorporate any new processes or structures deemed
necessary. The plan is in contrast to an earlier proposal announced by
the Internet International Ad Hoc Commission to create seven new shard
generic top-level domains to be administered by 28 new registrars. NSI's
president says the IAHC plan risks Internet instability, creates "too
much bureaucracy," and will contribute to increased domain name legal
disputes. (BNA Daily Report for Executives 16 Apr 97)
AT&T LOSES OUT TO MCI AND BT IN SOUTH AMERICAN DEAL
Telefonica de Espana S.A. is pulling out of an alliance with AT&T in order
to form a new alliance with MCI and British Telecom. MCI and BT are
proceeding with a merger to form a company called Concert. (New York
Times 19 Apr 97)
MSN MAIL SERVICE GOES DOWN, COMES UP
Microsoft Network's e-mail service, which is used by 2.5 MSN subscribers,
was shut down for one-and-a-half days this week because of technical
difficulties, but service has now been restored. The shutdown period was
used to double MSN's capacity. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 19 Apr 97)
BARNSTORMING AT NETDAY
In a radio broadcast, President Clinton and Vice President Gore praised
"NetDay" activities that involve parents, teachers, business people and
others in the work of wiring the nation's schools to enable access to the
Internet. Clinton called NetDay "a great example of how America works
best when we all work together -- it's like an old-fashioned barn
raising." (Associated Press 19 Apr 97; see also http://www.netday.org )
FARMER ON COMPUTER SECURITY
Internet security guru Dan Farmer, who attained notoriety for inventing
SATAN software that specializes probing (hacking) computer systems for
security holes, has a fatalistic outlook on human nature when it comes to
secure systems: "By and large, people don't really care about security.
To some degree, even I don't care. I take the standard precautions, but
people still break into my machine. I mean, I don't even lock my door when
I go out at night. If it takes an additional 5 percent of my time to run
a really secure ship, I'd just as soon go see a movie or drink some more
wine." (Scientific American Apr 97)
RULES FOR ONLINE ADS FOR CHILDREN
An advertising industry group called The Children's Advertising Review Unit
has developed new voluntary guidelines on "responsible marketing to
children" over the Internet, and has submitted them to the Federal Trade
Commission. The FTC has already received a different set of guidelines
from a group created by the Consumer Federation of America and the Center
for Media Education. One difference between the two sets of guidelines is
the positions they take on how children might be asked to furnish personal
information about themselves or their families. The industry guidelines
ask advertisers to make "reasonable efforts" to persuade children to get
parental permission before supplying such information; the guidelines from
the Consumer Federation/Media Education group take a harder line, and
specify that no personal information should be solicited from children
unless parental permission has been verified -- even if verification is
difficult to obtain. (New York Times 21 Apr 97)
AOL, COMPUSERVE MERGER IN DOUBT
A proposal in Congress to close a perceived tax loophole known as the
Morris Trust could threaten America Online's proposed $1.2-billion
acquisition of CompuServe. "If the Ways and Means Committee had not come
down the way they came down, this deal would have gone through," says an
executive familiar with the talks. "But now the chances are slim to
none." The Morris Trust provision allows companies to separate their
businesses into two corporations and combine one of them with an acquirer
on a tax-free basis. An AOL- CompuServe merger would have created an
online giant with more than 10 million subscribers and over $2- billion in
revenue. (Wall Street Journal 21 Apr 97)
THE FIGHT OVER APPLE'S SOUL
Stunned that Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison wants to buy Apple not
for its Macintosh technology but as a builder of the stripped-down
"network computers" (NCs) he wants to promote, some Apple loyalists are
calling Ellison "a fool," "a villain" and a man who would "destroy Apple as
a company." Ellison says his vision for Apple includes both Mac NCs and
standard Macs: "I intend to use the Mac OS to build Mac NCs. Big Macs
will continue. I am a Mac user. Have been since 1984. The only way to
save the Mac is to increase unit volume. Big Macs -- like the one you and
I have grown to love -- will continue. Networks of low-cost Mac NCs will
be sold to schools and add to the overall Mac volume. At $500 for a Mac
NC, more people will be able to afford a Mac. Big Macs plus little Mac NCs
make for good business at Apple...and better schools." (San Jose Mercury
News 22 Apr 97)
COMPUTERS PROMOTE "COMMUNITY OF LEARNING"
Seymour Papert, who created the Logo programming language for children,
says that computers should be used to create a "community of learning"
shared by students and teachers: "Socialization is not best done by
segregating children into classrooms with kids of the same age. The
computer is a medium in which what you make lends itself to be modified
and shared. When kids get together on a project, there is abundant
discussion; they show it to other kids, other kids want to see it, kids
learn to share knowledge with other people much more than in the
classroom." (Christian Science Monitor 21 Apr 97)
INTEL BUILDS CHEAPER NETWORKING HUB
Intel is marketing its 10/100 Stackable Hub for as little as $100 per
network connection -- about half what competitors are charging. The new
device moves data through a computer network at speeds ranging from 10
million to 100 million bits per second. Intel also reports it plans to
integrate several older networking chips into a single chip that
manufacturers could use to replace network-interface boards used in many
PCs. Rival 3Com says it plans to cut its stackable-hub prices to compete
with Intel, but scoffs at the network chip news, saying that few customers
really want network chips installed on their motherboards, and that most
who would, would prefer 3Com chips to Intel. "People assume that Intel is
hard to beat in the chip game," says an analyst with Deutsche Morgan
Grenfell. "But 3Com is hard to beat in the networking game." (Wall Street
Journal 22
Apr 97)
COURT REJECTS CD-ROM-BASED APPEAL
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., last week refused to accept a
legal appeal contained on a CD- OM, apparently the first time such
technology has been used to file a case in any U.S. appellate court. While
the judge praised the cyber-brief, he noted that the appeal raised
questions of fairness, as the opposing side didn't have computers that
could read the CD-ROM. The CD-ROM brief was put together by the firm of
Fish & Richardson. (St. Petersburg Times 21 Apr 97)
EXPONENTIAL MISSES THE MARK
Exponential Technology says its first prototype chips, which were predicted
to blaze at 533-MHz, are chugging along at rates below 500-MHz, and a
company VP says Exponential won't hit its target speed until the second
half of the year. The new chips are destined for Apple Computer's
Macintosh and clones. Exponential says it will ship the slower chips this
quarter, as planned, and continue working on the speed problem. (Wall
Street Journal 21 Apr 97)
AST CUTS 25% OF ITS WORLDWIDE WORKFORCE
In the process of being bought by South Korea's Samsung Group and having to
report first-quarter losses of $110 million, computer manufacturer AST
Research is eliminating 1,000 jobs -- a quarter of its worldwide workforce
-- because "our turnaround efforts require more aggressive actions than in
the past." (New York Times 22 Apr 97)
WINDOWS 97 DELAY MEETS WITH BIG YAWN
Computer makers and consumers seem unfazed by Microsoft's announcement that
Windows 97 will probably become Windows 98 instead. "We don't see it as a
big demand issue at all," says a spokesman for Gateway 2000. "Obviously
there's interest in it out there, but there's no rabid interest." For
starters, some PC manufacturers say there are already too many Windows
products on the market -- 3.1, 95 and NT -- which confuses consumers. "I
don't think people are looking for Memphis (Window 97's code name). I
think the financial markets are looking for Memphis," says a spokesman for
Hewlett-Packard. And there's still plenty of room for growth in Windows
95 sales: a Forrester Research survey shows that 71% of corporations are
still using Windows 3.1. Only 13% were using Windows 95, more than a year
after its introduction. (Investor's Business Daily 21 Apr 97)
OVERCOMING SCIENCE ILLITERACY
Nobel-Prize winning physicist Leon Lederman says Americans lack the
"scientific literacy" necessary to make daily decisions about medical
care, diet and exercise, even product purchases, and thinks U.S. science
and math instruction need to be overhauled. He wants all high school
students to study computers, technology and the physical sciences for at
least three years, and wants elementary school teachers retrained so that
they understand science and math well enough to make it exciting for
naturally curious youngsters. (Associated Press 21 Apr 97)
HP ACQUIRES VERIFONE
Hewlett-Packard will pay $1.18 billion to buy VeriFone Inc., the dominant
supplier of machines that merchants use to validate credit-card
transactions and the manufacturer of devices that process smart cards that
store money and other information. The VeriFone acquisition will make HP
a major force in electronic commerce. VeriFone has developed a device --
now being tested by Citibank -- that connects to a personal computer and
allows a consumer to deposit or withdraw money on a smart card.
(Washington Post 24 Apr 97)
MIT RANKS NO. 1 IN WIRED COLLEGE COMPETITION
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology came out on top in rankings that
attempted to measure how well higher education institutions use the
Internet. The survey, conducted by Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, queried
300 schools on how many courses were taught using the Internet for online
homework, research and course home pages; the number of computers
available to students and sufficiency of technical infrastructure; the
number of nonacademic services such as chat rooms, newsgroups and space for
student home pages provided by the institutions; and availability of
online student resources. Numbers two and three on the Yahoo! list were
Northwestern U. and Emerson College, and there were some surprises, such as
Stanford University coming in at No. 84 and Harvard ranking No. 64.
Kenneth Green, who conducts an annual Campus Computing Survey, says the
survey's authors admit that it may not be entirely accurate: "They were
very clear about what they set out to measure." Yahoo! also gave extra
credit for "unique aspects of wired life on campus," such as the computer-
interest floor in a dorm at University of Rochester and Ohio State
University's chat room dedicated to underwater hockey. (Chronicle of
Higher Education 24 Apr 97)
WEB ADS GET MORE PUSHY
Advertisers are moving toward more aggressive advertising methods for the
Web, including "robot" programs designed to deliver animated sales pitches
in chat rooms and full-screen ads that must be downloaded before users can
see the content they've requested. The shift is driven in part by
advertisers' concerns that click- through rates are dropping as Web surfers
tune out the traditional banner-type ads. "It started happening last
spring or summer," says the chief technology officer at SF Interactive,
"when users started figuring out that the flashy banners were ads," rather
than graphics designed as part of the site. The robot ads are the
brainchild of Black Sun Interactive and are designed to pop up in response
to information you divulge about yourself while "chatting" -- for
instance, if you say, "My house is dirty," you might get a response like,
"Hi, I'm Dusty -- would you like to know more about Black & Decker's
Dustbuster?" Dusty is an avatar that looks like a dustbuster with big
eyeballs and is programmed to zero in on words like "messy" or "clean." So
far, only sites that use Black Sun's server can offer them. (Wall Street
Journal 24 Apr 97)
PCs GO POSTAL
Postage meter behemoth Pitney Bowes and a tiny company called E-Stamp both
have plans to sell postage on the Web, which can then be downloaded to a
PC and printed out on envelopes via laser printer. The U.S. Postal
Service is expected to authorize the plan by the end of the year. In E-
Stamp's process, the stamp (which looks something like a bar code and
includes information on the date and time the letter was stamped, as well
as the zip code) would actually be printed out on a patented two-window
envelope, allowing users to print the stamp on the letter itself. The
stamp would show through one window, and the address through the other.
"This means you don't have to run your envelope through the printer," says
E-Stamp's president. (Miami Herald 24 Apr 97)
3COM CUTS NETWORK HUB PRICES
3Com has unveiled a new, inexpensive SuperStack II hub, and has lowered the
price on its older Super Stack II Dual Speed hub. The move evens up the
playing field between 3Com and Intel, which announced a cheaper networking
hub earlier this week. (Investor's Business Daily 24 Apr 97)
SYMANTEC SAYS MCAFEE COPIED ITS PC-CRASH PROGRAM
Symantec has sued McAfee Associates Inc. for copyright infringement,
alleging that McAfee illegally copied its CrashGuard computer crash
recovery program. McAfee's similar product is called PC Medic. Both
programs allow users to save their data before rebooting in the event of a
frozen screen. In its suit, Symantec says that major sections of the
McAfee product are identical to Symantec code. The success of Symantec's
suit will depend on whether the court finds McAfee's PC Medic product to
be "substantially similar" to CrashGuard, and whether there were other
ways that McAfee could have chosen write the code, but didn't. (Wall
Street Journal 24 Apr 97)
IMMIGRATION & HIGH-TECH WORKERS IN CANADA
The Commons immigration committee urged the federal government to reward or
punish firms for their performance in providing high-tech training, and
has endorsed plans to relax immigration barriers to speed the entry of
experienced software experts. The report also suggested that high-tech
industries are devoting insufficient resources to training and retraining
workers, and not working closely enough with educational institutions to
increase the supply of qualified Canadians. (Ottawa Citizen 24 Apr 97 C1)
FRAUD AND THE NET
A Deloitte & Touche report commissioned by the European Union says that
cross-border fraud involving Internet abuse, banking and investment
frauds, and smuggling is costing society $77 billion a year. The report
suggests that perhaps the largest single threat comes from fraud through
the Internet, because encryption technology remains vulnerable to
sophisticated computer vandals. (Financial Times 24 Apr 97)
INTEL EXEC PREDICTS THE FUTURE
Intel chief operating officer Craig Barrett says that the technology now
found in $50,000-75,000 workstations of the kind capable of producing
images such as found in the film "Jurassic Park" will be available in
$2,000 PCs in just a few years. He also predicts that PCs in the year
2011 will use a billion-transistor chip, compared with about 8 million in
the most advanced chip today. (New York Times 23 Apr 97)
NET STATS
Did you know that Chrysler expects that 25% of its sales in 2001 will be
conducted online (only 1.5% are online currently)? Or that the estimated
number of new jobs worldwide created in 1996 by the Internet was 1.1
million? Or that the estimated total Internet advertising revenues in
1996 were $266.9 million? (Internet Index 16 Apr 97)
http://www.openmarket.com/intindex/ .
Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas
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Editor's MailBag
Messages * NOT EDITED * for content
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 14:10:32 -0400To: "Ralph F. Mariano"
<rmariano@streport.com>From: Laura Shook <lshook@cerious.com>
Subject: Re: ThumbsPlus 3.0f, Network Install guide
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
X-UIDL: 7d9d2d0f30be96897200582d388bcd14
Dear Ralph,
For your information, I'm pleased to let you know...
As reported by WebStar, Cerious Software, Inc. received more hits in the
month of March from STReport's site than from any other site except search
engines.
We know that Ralph loves Microsoft, but we are pleased that he supports the
little guys like us!
Laura Shook
Vice President
Cerious Software, Inc.***
Thanks again for everything Ralph!
Laura
Editor.
Laura!! Thak you ever so much for the report. It does my heart good
to know such fine folks as Cerious Software are getting the action deserved
for such a fine program as Thumbs Plus is. Thanks again for the
encouraging information.
Ralph.
To: rmariano@streport.comSubject: Your Control Freak ArticleX-UIDL:
8919ccfdd6ab69ee211f34ab919313c9
RalphWhere would we have been had the USA not intervened? The dark ages,
and that includes you. The USA had no choice about entering W.W.II, Europe
was crumbling and few nations were able to defend themselves against a
thoroughly efficient and modern army, i.e. the Germans. Had they managed
to conquer the entire
continent and the U.K. then we would have seen various peace treaties being
hastily signed by the Russians, Germans and Americans. We know these would
have been short-lived, as all nations would seek to rebuild their military
machine and go at it again.
It's like saying where would the USA be if it hadn't been for the British,
the Dutch, the Spanish the French and the native Indians who all fought
bitterly over control of the new continent. The USA didn't exist until
people sought to control it, so it was and so it always shall be.
Remember, greed is paramount, Gulf War for oil while looking good at the
same time.
Out of interest, did you know that there was a secret plan drawn up during
W.W.II for the USA to wrest control of Britain?
The German Authorities are trying to create a case out of nothing,
otherwise it would be Joe Public in the stand rather than Mr. Executive.
Rgds
Stuart
Editor.
Stuart. I canot disagree with you. In fact I believe we are in full
agreement. The point I tried to make was that the German Nation, after all
these years hasn't learned a thing. They're trying to act like they must
lead everyone's lives for them. To try to indict and then set up trials
with the trumped up, hairbag charges, the Bavarian DA or whatever its
called "over there" ought to get a real job like ferreting out the
remainder of the war criminals still on the German retirement rolls etc..
About that secret plan.. Care to elaborate?? I bet it would make for
some great reading.
Ralph.
From: jcaser01@fiu.edu (Juan Jose Casero)
>Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: Linux Group For South Florida
Some others, and I want to start a Linux User Group in the South
Florida Area. I am new at this but I will try to get the ball rolling.
Anyone who is interested can email me at the address below. Everyone is
welcome of course but I have in mind a group comprised of members from Palm
Beach, Broward, Dade, and Monroe counties.
Cheers.....
Juan Casero Department of Chemistry
email: jcaser01@fiu.edu Florida International Univ.
__ _ Miami, Florida
/ / (_)__ __ ____ __
/ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / . . . t h e c h o i c e o f a
/____/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\ G N U g e n e r a t i o n . . .
Kids Computing Corner
Frank Sereno, Editor
fsereno@streport.com
The Kids' Computing Corner
Computer news and software reviews
from a parent's point of view
In the News
A New Software Give-Away
As promised, The Kids' Computing Corner and the Silicon Times Report are
sponsoring another software give-away promotion. Thanks to the fine people
at MECC, I have one copy of Storybook Weaver Deluxe to give to a lucky
reader. This excellent program encourages children to develop their
writing skills and to express their creativity with words and pictures.
It's recommended for children ages 6 and up, and the software comes on a
hybrid format CD-ROM for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
The rules are very simple. Send an entry by e-mail to Error! Bookmark not
defined. or Error! Bookmark not defined. using the title Storybook. Please
include your correct e-mail address. Entries must be received by 12:01am,
Thursday May 8, 1997. The winner will be announced in the May 9th edition
of the magazine. Winners of any contests held within the last 60 days are
ineligible. Taxes, if any, are the responsibility of the winner. So flood
my mailbox, gang!
Strategy Challenges
Collection II: In the Wild
Windows and Mac hybrid
Street Price: about $40
for ages 9 to adult
Edmark
P.O. Box 97021
Redmond, WA 98073-9721
1-(206)-556-8484
http://www.edmark.com
Program Requirements
IBM Macintosh
OS: Windows 3.1, Windows 95 OS: System 7.0
CPU: 486DX/33 CPU: 68030/25
HD Space: 5 MB HD Space:
N/A
Memory: 8 MB Memory: 8 MB
Graphics: 640 by 480 with 256 colors Graphics:
256 colors, 13" monitor
CD-ROM: Double-speed CD-ROM: Double-speed
Audio: 8-bit Windows compatible sound card
Other: mouse
review by Jason Sereno (jason.sereno@mules-ear.com)
Many programs teach your child information that they can memorize and use,
but few programs make your children think and use logic to solve problems
and plan out courses of action. Edmark designed Strategy Challenges 2 to
teach children to use logic and problem-solving skills while playing games
that appeal to them. Besides the difficulty levels changing, children will
also see many characters and settings while playing the game. If your
child wants to learn about wildlife, this program has text and video about
different predators and their prey in QuickTime video. With the exciting
information and the three great games in Strategy Challenges 2, this
program should be a hit with your kids and you.
Strategy Challenges 2 helps your kids to plan out their courses of action.
It makes your child plan out their moves at least two or three steps in
advance for them to be successful. The same strategy will not work every
time, however, because the computer will change its game plan according to
the moves that the player has made in past games. Each player that plays
the game will save their name for future play. Not only does the computer
save your name, it also saves the strategy it uses against you that was
most successful. This makes every user's experience different in some way.
There are three games in all and each has its own distinct characteristics.
Tablut is a game in which you try to capture your opponent's pieces by
trapping them between two of yours. Like all three of the games you can
have your own defensive or offensive strategy. You can play against six
different people depending on the skill level and type of strategy you have
decided to use. The pieces can only move horizontally and vertically such
as rooks in chess. There are two ways to win the game. You can take all
of the opponent's pieces by capturing them or you can surround an
opponent's king. The king holds the center of the board with four pieces
protecting him when the game starts. If you become anxious and try to
capture a piece with one that is surrounding the king, you may lose your
spot and risk losing the game. There is only one king in the game. When
playing against the computer, you have the king. For a match between two
people, either player can choose to have it. This game is great for
children to play because of its simplicity and high fun factor.
The second game is Jungle Chess. This game is more complex and takes much
more strategy and decision making to win. This game is basically the
legendary board game Stratego but it substitutes the soldiers and tanks for
wild animals and their place on the food chain. Movement is horizontally
and vertically. The game consists of sixteen pieces in all, eight on each
person's side. The pieces rank from one to eight with eight being the most
powerful and one being the weakest. The way to capture a piece is to
jump on it with an equal or greater number of animal. For instance, an
elephant, which is eight, can jump on a cougar that has a lower number and
then capture him. However, the only animal that can capture the elephant
is a rat which is number one. Water holes can really effect the game play.
Certain animals can jump over them and the mouse can swim in them. To win
the game, you must use your pieces wisely, especially when it comes to
using the rat.
Surakarta is the third game. This is the most complicated game of the
three. The object of the game is to slam your pieces into your opponents
and destroy them. When a person has no pieces left, they lose. There is a
track in which you will slide your pieces around. This track consists of
an outer and inner ring. The rings intertwine to form a butterfly shape.
It also resembles two figure-eight's lying perpendicular to each other.
You will have to create a strategy that will let you destroy the other
pieces while salvaging yours. This game is fun to play because of its
originality.
All three of the games possess their own special characteristics that make
the games unique. Each game uses different sounds, music and video that
add depth to the experience. Strategy Challenges 2 uses QuickTime movies
to add neat animation to its games. Each setting is very different and
each game sparks different ideas into your child's imagination.
If your children wish to learn more about the animals in the program, they
can view information about how the animals hunt, survive, and care for
their offspring in the program. This accessory is very interesting and
shows footage that is comparable to nature programs such as National
Geographic. Your child can get information about the animals' hunting
style and the ways that they catch their prey. When utilizing this
accessory, the user can gather many ideas about different strategies.
This is a great program. Strategy Challenges 2 is a great buy for parents
who wish to give knowledge and important thinking skills to their
children. Strategy is necessary in sports and many other aspects of life.
This is a great buy for parents or adults who wish to improve on their
children's' or their own strategy skills.
COREL PHOTO-PAINTT 7 PLUS:
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE (Second Edition)
by David Huss
Reviewed by Donna Lines
This book is officially endorsed by Corelc Corporation as THE guide to
Photo-PaintT 7. David Huss is a Photo-PaintT expert and author of two
previous Photo-PaintT books. He also writes articles for Corel Magazine
and Corel DRAW Journal and maintains an area called Paint Shop on the Web
(www.Corelnet.com). As if that does not keep him busy enough, he also
teaches Photo-PaintT at seminars worldwide.
Although this book was written for Photo-PaintT 7 Plus, Photo-PaintT 7
users will be able to follow the tips and all but two of the hands-on
workshops (lenses are exclusive to the Photo-PaintT 7 Plus). Incidentally,
you can upgrade to the Plus version for $49. The Plus version includes the
lenses mentioned in Chapter 9 and Corelc has recently added the Squizz 1.5
filter for warping effects.
The author covers everything you will need to know -- how to configure the
program, calibrating your equipment, tips on scanning, creating scripts,
right down to creating professional results almost instantly. David also
included a sixteen-page color insert which shows you the results you will
get from many of the hands-on workshops. The examples give you an
excellent idea of what a powerful program Photo-PaintT 7 really is.
At the heart of the book are fifty (50) hands-on workshops. David begins
by teaching the very basics of the program and then builds upon each lesson
as the techniques become more difficult to master. Unlike some built-in
program tutorials or the ones you find in user manuals, I could imagine a
real-world use for the skills that each workshop was teaching. At times
during the workshops I did have to resort to using Photo-Paint'sT help
feature to locate a command or identify an icon. For the most part I was
able to follow the instructions without any difficulty.
The author has included extensive tips for Photo-PaintT 5 users and even
provides hints for those more familiar with Adobec PhotoshopT. Throughout
the book the author recommends resources to obtain additional information
on specific techniques, tools or plug-in filters. David has included, in
his words, `a short, opinionated list of books' that he has found useful
with using Photo-PaintT or with photo-editing in general.
Overall, I found David's writing style very easy to read and comprehend.
He uses humor throughout the book to break up the monotony that usually
accompanies learning a complex program. Whether you are a beginner or an
experienced user looking to tap the newest features, you will benefit from
this book.
Published by: Corel PRESS, a division of Osborne (McGraw-Hill)
Suggested retail: $34.99 (USA)
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rmariano@streport.com
STReport International Online Magazine
Classics & Gaming Section
Editor Dana P. Jacobson
dpj@streport.com
>From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
I don't have a lot to say this week, but thankfully, our good friend
Michael Burkley saved the day with his latest installment of his world-
renown column: The Unabashed Atariophile!
Busy, yes. Not only has work been a madhouse lately, but my wife and I
have added to our "normal" stress by deciding that it's time to do some
serious house-hunting. Most spare time has been devoted to checking out
real estate papers and the like. We're also trying to make appointments to
look at various houses - with our schedule, it's rough! But, it's time. I
want to buy one before I'm too old to enjoy it!
So, as I mentioned, I'll let Michael fill in the gaps this week. I'm
continuing to work on the HTML commands compilation and hope to have that
available in the coming weeks. Let's see what Michael has in store for us
this week!
Until next time...
The Unabashed Atariophile
by Michael R. Burkley
April 24, 1997
Has it been two months now, or more, that I haven't written this article?
Whatever the time, it's been too long! My saga of the horrible PC upgrade
seems to have finally come to an end, temporarily, I assume. I've finally
got my Windoz 95 machine up and running, reliably (but, see below). The
technician at the computer store that has been "fixing" it doesn't really
know why it's working now, but it is, and I guess that's good enough for
me. Every card is in a different place, with a different address, the video
card has been switched - twice, and the SCSI card once, Windoz 95 has been
re-installed six or seven times (I had to order the CD version of the
upgrade because my floppies developed problems and wouldn't work anymore!),
the tech formatted one of my hard drives that he thought was empty (it had
2 gig of compressed files on it - but I had a backup!!!), and many other
things were done. So now, when I turn the computer on, it doesn't crash on
me! I still like my TT better.
~~~~~~~
This is written a week later than the above....
Well, it seems that I've miss-spoken when I said that my Windoz 95 machine
was working reliably again. This time I'm not sure if it is problems with
my machine or with my monitor. Sometimes when I turn on the computer the
monitor stays blank, while other times the display pops right up. I took it
back to the computer store and the dealer removed the card and replaced it
with a new one...no display. He moved the card to a new slot...no display.
He tried a different type of card...no display. Then he started really
shifting things around! Finally, he switched the position of two banks of
RAM and the display popped on. The interesting thing is that I was having
this trouble before that second bank of RAM had been added to the computer
the week before. So, he came to the conclusion that it was my monitor
causing the trouble (huh? My monitor was at home at the time! But, once it
didn't work for my TT after it didn't work for the clone--who knows!).
Anyway, since then I haven't had any trouble, with the monitor, that is.
He also sold me (inexpensively) a used 4X speed IDE CD ROM drive. My SCSI
2X drive had died while the computer was in his shop (let me see, that
makes a 2 gig drive, a SCSI Card, and a CD ROM drive that died while under
his care--geesh!). I was looking forward to the increased speed of the 4X
CD over the 2X, at least. But alas, it is not to be so. The sound skips,
the animations are jumpy, and load times are drastically longer with the 4X
IDE drive as opposed to my 2X SCSI drive. I think something is not right,
but the dealer says "That's normal." Yah.
I guess even though some people say that the Atari platform is dead, it's
still very much alive for many of us (though it's kicking me a lot less
than my Windoz platform!)
Oh well, on with the descriptions, some new, some old....
This first set may be found on Delphi. I'll list files from other locations
later in the article.
I've seen the demo of CAB 2.0, the graphical Web Browser from ASH that's
great. CAB is the original creation of Alexander Claus and has now been
purchased for commercial distribution by Application Systems Heidelberg
(ASH). ASH is the company that brings you MagiC, MagiC-Mac, MagiC-PC, NVDI,
Ease, F/A-18 Hornet, and more. This demo is for all ST-Falcon computers (I
expect that you need at least one meg of RAM to run this, or at least to
make it usable) and for all res other than ST low (which won't allow you to
see all of the dialog boxes). This browser is fast, supports viewing of
online pictures (in Mono and in TT medium the pictures show up quickly and
look pretty good, even though they are dithered down), allows use of
frames, online sound, GIF animations, and more. The demo is limited in that
you can't save your favorite online addresses, but must type them in each
time. I've downloaded two versions of this from Delphi, one which is in
German and contains all the files needed to show you what's in the various
hypertext links on the homepage and another version (considerably smaller)
which has an English resource file (which you need to move from the ENGLISH
folder to the main directory) but which doesn't have all of those extra
files. Either one will show you what this program can do! You can even use
it online if you get STiK v.1.21 and a SLIP or CSLIP connection! With this
and the Internet tools soon coming out of Oregon Research Associates, it
will be much easier for Atari people to browse the Internet!
(note: I am online through Delphi and Genie, but I do most of my Internet
access through AT&T Worldnet Service. Since July of '96 I've not had access
to my account for a total of five months because of all the problems I've
had with my clone computer. I called them up and asked them if there was
any possibility of a refund for part of that time. They refunded it all!
Pretty good!)
Here are some animation related files...
AQT_P096 is a simple Apple QuickTime player v.0.96 for the ST-Falcon
computer (in mono, 16 or 256 colors) by Dieter Fiebelkorn (the author of
that wonderful picture viewer/manipulator GEMView). This program will allow
you to view CVID24, RLE8, RLE16, RLE24, RAW, SMC8 animation formats.
Unfortunately, you can't listen to the sounds as you view the animations. A
utility is included which will allow you to extract the sound information
as a WAV file which you then can play on your computer (On the Falcon, you
can finagle to play the sound at the same time the animation is running,
but you have to work at it). There are versions available for the standard
ST/STE (indeed, all 680x0 Atari's), a version for any 68020/30 based Atari,
a version for computers with a math co-processor, and a version just for
the Falcon. The speed of the 68000 version (on the 8 MHz ST) is quite slow
(one frame ever couple of seconds) but it works fine otherwise. There are
ways of speeding up the display by skipping a set number of frames between
displayed frames. This allows you to see more of the animation more
quickly. German & English docs included. Postcardware.
AVIPL095 is a simple AVI animation player v.0.95 for the ST-Falcon computer
(in mono, 16 or 256 colors) by Dieter Fiebelkorn (the author of that
wonderful picture viewer/manipulator GEMView). This program will allow
you to view CRAM8, CRAM16 and uncompressed, RLE8, RLE4 (untested) and CVID
animation formats. Unfortunately, you can't listen to the sounds as you
view the animations. A utility is included which will allow you to extract
the sound information as a WAV file which you then can play on your
computer (On the Falcon, you can finagle to play the sound at the same
time the animation is running, but you have to work at it). There are
versions available for the standard ST/STE (indeed, all 680x0 Atari's), a
version for any 68020/30 based Atari, a version for computers with a math
co-processor, and a version just for the Falcon. The speed of the 68000
version (on the 8 MHz ST) is quite slow (one frame ever couple of seconds)
but it works fine otherwise. There are ways of speeding up the display by
skipping a set number of frames between displayed frames, in fact there are
lots of keyboard controls to tailor your animation display. German &
English docs included. Postcardware.
CYBERWAR is a true color .FLH animation created on the Falcon using Apex
Media. It shows two warriors battling it out with a skeletoid being. Use
the Falcon Apex viewer to see this animation. By Barry Summer.
MOON is an .MPG animation by Sean O' Hara (?) showing a mischievous alien
landing on the Moon, exiting his saucership, and bounding across the
surface (in an excellent rendition of the Apollo astronaut's "Kangaroo
walk"). The alien comes up to the flag left by the Apollo 11 astronauts,
picks it up and ruturns it to his spaceship, where he stores it with
several other items of interest he shouldn't have either. Check out
PEPSI_ET.MPG for another animation featuring this alien. 1ST_GUIDE will
allow you to view this animation (slowly) on any ST-Falcon computer. There
are other MPG viewers (mostly for the Falcon, such as MPEGDSP viewer) that
might allow you to see this faster and better.
PEPSI_ET is an .MPG animation by Sean O' Hara (?) that shows an alien
landing his saucership at a 24 hour gas station/convenience store. He gets
out and walks into the store, visits the bathroom (!), and checks out the
soda vending machine. He puts in his change and gets out a Pepsi can, pops
it open, takes a swig, and walks back to his spaceship which then takes off
into the unknown. Maybe he was on his way to the Moon. Check out MOON.MPG
for another animation featuring this same alien. 1ST_GUIDE will allow you
to view this animation (slowly) on any ST-Falcon computer. There are
other MPG viewers (mostly for the Falcon, such as MPEGDSP viewer) that
might allow you to see this faster and better.
RIPPLE is an .FLI animation a rock that falls into a pool of water. It was
created using POV Ray v.2. Unfortunately, this animation will not work with
Brainstorm's MoviePlayer. It will work with the FLI players available for
the Falcon or with the SUMMIT player if you have a video card.
SNOWMAN is The Snowman, a Christmas demo brought to you directly from the
Atari Land of Plenty -- (the then) West Germany. This demo was created
using ST Replay 4 to digitize the music and The Grabber to digitize and
animaae the graphics. It requires a color monitor, a D.S. drive and at
least one meg of RAM. I think this is an absolutely WONDERFUL story of a
boy and his snowman, their travels together, and heart-wrenching ending.
Get this one. I've seen this before, but have always had a portion of the
animation messed up. This version, recently uploaded to Delphi, is complete
without that fault.
STONEHDG is the Stonehenge .FLC animation created by Barry Summer using
Apex Media and more (see below). This shows two older animations spliced
together. He used the CAMERA movement option of CHRONOS to follow a flying
saucer through a "buzzing" of the ancient Stonehedge ruins, and then fly
off into space to fly across a planet's landscape, before blowing a cargo
ship into pieces. In the upload description Barry goes on to tell that the
original CHRONOS animation were .FLM format, so he used Prism Paint to
convert the .FLM to DELTA, then used Cyberpaint to convert the .DLT to .SEQ
format, then finally, using Apex Media, loaded the .SEQ segments and saved
out as an .FLC animation (Whew!!!). This animation is designed to be viewed
on a Falcon or PC, but if you have a graphics card check out SUMMIT to view
this file on any ST-Falcon computer.
SUMMIT is Summit a fast viewer for 256-color STs, MegaSTes and TTs equipped
with graphics cards by Mike Hill (dated Sept. 9, 1995--my birthday!).
Summit will display the following varieties of files: GIF (the 87a variety
and the newer ones, interlaced or standard), FLI, FLC, and DL animations,
and SAM, SPL and MOD (requires Paula running as well) sound files. Summit
can be configured to display a series of pictures, animations, or sound
files using a simple script. You may run Summit as an installed application
or drag and drop a graphic or sound file on those newer versions of TOS or
alternative desktops that support that feature, or finally, you can just
run it and use the item selector to select the file you wish. As far as I
can tell Summit doesn't work on my TT without a graphics card even in TT
low res (with 256 colors available). It displays a picture or animation,
but with many lines left out of the display and with the colors so mixed
up the ghostly view is useless. I don't know about a Falcon. It was
designed to work with graphic cards (Crazy Dots, Nova, Cyrel) so if you
don't have one of those.... 68000 and 68030 versions are included. Docs
included. E-mailware.
TOP3D is a 3D .FLI animation of a raytraced top spinning on a wood surface.
To view this file in 3D you will need a set of Red/Blue glasses.
VISION1 is an FLC animation created through Apex Media. It shows a view
through a window looking outside from the perspective of control station.
The window shows an old Cyber .SEQ animation of a spacecraft under attack.
That animation was created using Chronos and Cyberpaint and then imported
into Apex. You may view this animation using a Falcon or a PC with a FLC
viewer. By Barry Summer.
WARS is the TT Wars demo by Tony Barker converted for use with an STE or
Falcon (converted by Maennlein of TFM). This is an excellent video capture
and animation demo that shows a lot of cuts from the Star Wars movie where
Luke Skywalker is attacking the Death Star. It shows the scene from many
different viewpoints, allows you to control the animation speed, sound
(stereo), and animation overlays on the video via the keyboard. When run at
the original speed the animation lasts about 1.5 minutes. Directions are
included. Requires at least 2 meg of RAM. Color only. This version includes
the original TT version and the files required to run it on the STE or
Falcon.
XMAS1988 is a Christmas animation in .FLC format by Barry Summer.
Originally a .SEQ animation he converted it into .FLC format for the wider
computer market. It shows Santa riding on a sleigh traveling over the
ground. A Christmas Tree is in the sleigh.
XMASSEQ is a Christmas animation in .SEQ format by Barry Summer (done for
Christmas 1988). It shows Santa riding on a sleigh traveling over the
ground. A Christmas Tree is in the sleigh. See XMAS1988 for a .FLC version
of this file.
Now for some Databases
INTCH152 is the In-Touch Personal Database v.1.5 by Lorne White. In Touch
is a powerful and flexible database system for organizing and managing all
your personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers and
calender events. With a touch of the keyboard or mouse you can easily find
and select records, or search for text and dates, get date reminders,
categorize records, and print a wide variety of envelopes, labels,
addresses, date books, and calendar labels (using SpeedoGDOS). A calendar
window provides a view of any month of any year and provides a listing of
all events in that month. You can also import and export all the data into
and from other programs, making it your "master" database of personal
information. Lots of features! This demo is limited in that you may save
only five records per file and print only five labels per record. Numerous
samples are included. ST-Falcon compatible. Shareware. I had originally
tried to run this program within three nested folders (my hard drive gets a
bit complicated), but I was unable to load the sample files when doing so.
Running from less than three nested folders or from the root directory was
fine. STE and Geneva compatible (at least).
STFINDER is STreet Finder v.1.0 by John Buchanan. STreet finder is an
address book that looks like an address book! Run the program and you find
yourself looking a a spiral ring address book. At the bottom of the book is
a series of "chicklets" with the letters of the alphabet imprinted on them.
Click on the letter beginning the name you are searching for and the book
opens to that page. There's some neat animation of the pages turning, too!
One very nice thing is the cross-referencing of names in STreet Finder.
You may place "Michael Burkley" under the "B" letter, but because "Michael"
begins with "M" the reference will also appear in the "M" page. Now those
names won't get lost, no matter how you file them! The archive contains
both an .ACC and .PRG version (the author recommends that you use the
program for inserting your data and printing it out, but that you use the
.ACC for all the other times. That's because the accessory is always handy,
but it is limited in that you can only add 10 new addresses each session
due to memory limitations). Docs included. ST-TT compatible (at least).
Shareware.
TWSTDEMO is the demo of the Twist 2 database from HiSoft (distributed
through Oregon Research Associates). Twist 2 is a very nice address,
phone, contact, and just about anything you tell it to record "graphical"
database program with GDOS/SpeedoGDOS/NVDI display support, but which uses
your internal printer fonts for printing (it has a built-in printer queue
as well). You can only save your files which have less than ten records in
this demo. ST-Falcon and Geneva compatible.
I always like Games...
3DLAB010 is 3D-Lab v.0.1 by Dirk Hagedorn (dated Aug. 27, 1995). This
awesome program is a GEM-based 3-D maze (Labyrinth) creation and
negotiation program for the ST-Falcon computers. Just run the program and
run with it! You find yourself in a set of corridors and you must find
your way to the exit door (using the arrow keys). At first I thought this
was so easy it was dumb. That was my first try when the maze was only a 4
by 4 grid. When I succeeded in that maze the program redrew it as a 5 by 5
grid, then a 6 by 6, and so on. By the time it was 11 by 11 I was really
struggling! 3D-Lab is TOS, Multi-TOS, MagiC, MagiCMac, and Geneva
compatible in ST mono or higher res. Run this as either a program (.APP)
or as an .ACC (just rename it to suit). Text docs and online ST-Guide help
file included (but they are in German, which doesn't really matter as the
game doesn't really need many instructions.
ALIEN_TH is the Alien Thing game demo. Your mission, and you have no choice
but to try to complete it or die--after all, you did double-click on the
game!), is to repair the two control panels and to exit to the next level
(which is only available in the full game). Along the way you have to
find ammo, weapons, access cards, and something else....Oh yes, you have to
avoid being killed by all those nasty aliens who are out to eat you (or
something worse)! You're on the alien ship which is on its way to crash
into the earth. You have to stop that from happening. Excellent graphics
and gameplay. Docs included. Available as a commercial game. ST/STE
compatible. At least one meg of RAM. Color.
DEADLAND is the ST/STE/Falcon game Deadland by Justin Ward (dated January
6, 1996). It's a lot like Cannon Fodder, but with its differences. Your
ship has crashed on Usula Minor, and you need to get back home. Not only
that you need to take as many crewpersons with you as you can (after all,
they are the ones who have to build the new ship for you. You have to
budget your resources, exploit (in a gentle way, of course) your
environment, defend against the native Ursulan's, and survive. Not only
that, but you need to complete your ship and leave, all in only 31 Ursulan
days. This is a graphically oriented game, controlled by the mouse. Docs
included. At least one meg and a color monitor (ST low res). Shareware.
GENOCIDE is the demo of Genocide - Extermination of a Nation, by Paradise
Software (dated 1995). Genocide is a one or two player game (only one
player in this demo) of a fast 3D Shoot'em up for the Atari STE. This
program uses most of the STE's Hardware capabilities (blitter, DMA sound,
scrolling, etc.) so unfortunately it won't work on an ST(fm). Do you
remember ST Invaders where you have to battle off waves of enemies flooding
down on you from the sky? Well, that might be the great-grandfather of
this graphically oriented, colorful game. The play area is much larger than
your screen (just move to the edge of the screen using your joystick and
the playing area will scroll with you), and you have to defend it all. In
this demo you have to complete 10 waves and destroy the BOSS (well,
actually you don't have to do that, you could lose instead). Docs included.
Check your Atari store for the full game.
MAZECMBT is Maze Combat v. 1.095 by Sean Dougherty of Two Worlds Software
Production (dated August 2, 1994). This shareware game (limited in that
you can only play it five times without either registering or uncompressing
it from archive again and no null-modem option) provides you with a
massive number of realistic looking mazes, robots, missiles, and mines
which you can use to battle things out with friends or enemies. With
another computer using Maze Combat (both equiped with modems or null-modem
cables), you can battle it out, or you can play in single-player mode (not
nearly as much fun!). Chatting windows are provided as well. ST, STe,
Falcon, and TT compatible in ST Low. Keyboard controlled. Docs included.
MAZEWAR is Mazewar ST by Andrei Ellman. The object of this game is to
negotiate your way around a maze and shoot anything blocking the path
between you and your opponents (and, of course, to shoot your opponents as
well!). It will allow you to play with 0 (computer vs. itself) to eight
players (wow! This requires use of a centronics parallel port adaptor and
adaptors for the STE extended joystick ports--docs for both adaptors
included). If you shoot a wall sometimes it will blow up, catching anyone
too close to it in the explosion. Sometimes the wall doesn't blow up and
you have figure out your way through the maze with finese rather than brute
strength. A new maze is generated each time. You may play in teams or
individually. You can even play against the computer, and the computer is
pretty smart! The author says that it will run on "all ST versions", but I
don't know if that means the TT or Falcon. Joystick controlled. Docs
included. Written in STOS basic. Shareware.
MISERMND is Miser Mind v.1.0 by Dennis Miquel (dated August, 1994). This
game, which works on all ST/STE/TT/Falcon computers with either mono or
color monitors is an expanded clone of the game MasterMind. You can choose
four to eight pegs and six through 12 colors (shaded circles are used in
mono or in ST med. res). You get twelve chances to guess the order and
color of the pegs the computer has hidden. It's not too hard to do with
four pegs and six colors, but it gets a lot harder the more pegs and colors
you add! There is both an English and French resource file included. Mouse
controlled. Docs (English and French) included. SHAREWARE.
MUNSIE01 is the first (and last, so far) Munsie Video Newsletter (on Disk).
Run this (on your ST-Falcon with at least one meg of RAM and a color
monitor) and check out the Munsie line of Shareware Games and utilities.
He has included text, screenshots, and more here, all in an excellent
animated interface. Uploaded May, 1995. I haven't heard anything from Dave
for ages, but his games are still excellent, and I recommend them to you
(hey, why not, I'll give you a description of some of them, following).
ASTR_ST is Asteroidia ST for all ST/STe/TT/Mega STe users, by David Munsie.
This is one of those "must have" games. It's the best Asteroids style game
I've ever seen. If you don't know what that is I'll tell you (I'll tell
you anyway!). You fly around in near-Earth space trying to destroy all the
asteroids that are heading towards home. You'll also have to contend with
little alien thingys that want to destroy your ship! Zap them all with
your energy cannon. The rotating 3D asteroids are astounding and the
debris when you blast them are cool (and sometimes dangerous!). The sound
effects are excellent (and on the 2 meg+ STE/TT you can use the separate
ASTR_DMA file to get even better sound) and the background picture of the
earth is beautiful. This takes advantage of my accelerated STE for faster
and smoother play, and exits cleanly back to the desktop. STE owners can
use the Jaguar joypad for control, everyone else uses the standard
joystick (note: if you are using the joystick don't select the
Joystick/Joypad option or you won't be able to do anything on the computer
until you re-boot). Shareware with docs and registration information
included. Until you register you only get one life per game. Any color
res.. I recommend this game!
ASTR_DMA is a file for those of you with STE's or TT who want great sound
with your Asteroidia ST (see description ASTR_ST). If you have at least 2
meg of RAM in your computer I recommend that you get this!
ASTR_FAL is Asteroidia Falcon, the Falcon only version of David Munsie's
Asteroid-style game. This has all of the features of the ST-TT version (see
ASTR_ST for that description) and more. Featuring 50KHz MOD sound (get
ASTR_MUS for this option) played in the background (you can even add your
own MOD files), fast and smooth play action. I haven't seen this in play,
but if it's better than the Asteroidia ST I have used (and registered),
WOW!. Check it out! Shareware with docs and registration information
included. Until you register you only get one life per game. TV/RGB/VGA. I
recommend this game!
ASTR_MUS is a file for use with ASTR_FAL. It adds amazing 50HHz MOD music
to your Asteroidia Falcon experience!
FRANTICK is Frantick v.1.1 by David Munsie (dated Jan. 3, 1995). This
version will run (and run fast, too!) on any ST-Falcon computer (with at
least one meg of RAM). David has done it again by making Frantick even
faster and more compatible than the previous version (now works with Warp 9
and quits cleaning from my hard drive). Frantick is aptly named for for it
provides you with a reflex-challenging, frantic experience of blasting
just about anything that comes at you on the screen. I find it hard to even
make it past level one! Make it past the savage mutates, defeat the shrill
assaults of deadly raptors, outlast the intense salvos of the blazer
fighters, and you might become a hero. Don't celebrate too soon, for the
head hunters, hardheads, sidewinders, sparkers, swarmers, and xasers will
light up your life if you let your guard down. Can you defeat all 100 waves
of the combat simulator (and meet a digitized picture of the maker)?
Probably not, but you're welcome to prove me wrong! Do all of this to the
tune of multi channel arcade sound effects, digital music with digital
sound effects, DMA background music (see FRANTRK1 and FRANTRK2 for two
different sound files for use on STE and newer machines with at least 2
meg of RAM), and much more. It is even compatible with the Jaguar Powerpad
controller (on STE and Falcon machines)! On a TT or Falcon (and accelerated
ST/Es) there is a super fast Frenzy mode where you can really rack up the
points (and die pretty quickly, too!). There's even a two player mode!
This game is previewware. Try it and if you like it enough to register you
will get a key which will enable all the bells and whistles of the game
(not many of which are disabled in the first place!). Docs included. Best
when run from a hard drive, but a floppy system works, too. Color only.
Joystick controlled.
FRANTRK1 is the original music which goes with Frantick by David Munsie. If
you have a 2 meg STE-Falcon then get this or FRANTRK2 (or both!) for some
excellent music to go along with your excellent FRANTICK game.
FRANTRK2 is the second (in a series> of music/sound disks for use with
David Munsie's Frantick. This file is for STe-Falcon computers with at
least two meg of free RAM. The samples are taken from "Anthrax - Bring the
Noise!" Requires Frantick, that excellent shoot-em-down arcade shareware
game by Dave Munsie. Just pop this file in your Frantick folder and you're
off! Docs included.
DOODL1B is ST Doodle v.1.0b by David Munsie, the author of MAGE, the
excellent GFA Basic Game creator and more. This is a very nice mono- only
painting program with a pile of useful and unique features. Kid tested,
but you don't need to be "any five year old" to understand and use this
program. It contains over 40 drawing modes which allow you to draw 3D
figures quickly and easily, make beautiful flowing shapes, and much more.
If you register this you can print out (on an Epson compatible 9 pin
printer) pictures 14 feet wide y 9 feet high (in multiple passes!).
Sample pictures and docs included. Requires at least one meg RAM, a hard
drive, or a Double-sided floppy drive.
SQUAROFF is another excellent shareware game from Dave Munsie (date May,
1995). It features good graphics and sound effects, and multiple music
tracks. Square Off! is an update to Tertris(tm) with three different modes
of play. The Classic mode is a one player game where you seek to stack the
falling blocks in such a way as to complete an horizontal line. When you
do that line will disappear, freeing up its space. When you don't complete
enough lines and the blocks reach the top of the playing field, you lose.
One nice thing about this mode is that the blocks fall in the same pattern
each time. This allows you to fairly judge your gaming skills against
yourself or other players. The Arcade Mode features 20 levels of increasing
challenge (only seven in this non-registered version). To get to the next
level you have to clear a set number of lines (increasing with each
level). You also get bombs to blow up some mis-placed blocks (though since
they appear randomly, they might just mess things up as well!). The final
mode is the two Player Battle Mode. Go head to head against an opponent.
Survive longer than (s)he and you win. What makes it especially fun (or
gruesome) is that when you clear two or more lines at once those lines
(minus one) get sent over to your opponent. You can really pile them up!
Lots of other options, points, graphics, etc., but you get the idea.
Shareware. Register and you will get a key to unlock your unique copy. You
may register through Dave, Steve's Atari Sales, Suzy B's Software, or
L.A.P.D.. ST-Falcon compatible, at least one meg of RAM required. Runs from
floppy (2 DS Disks) or hard drive. Color only. To uncompress this archive
on a floppy system you must first place the archive either in a RAM disk
or on a second floppy drive. Then use STZIP26 or DCX220C and select the all
the files in the archive EXCEPT the DISK2 folder and its files. Uncompress
those on a blank DS floppy disk. Then repeat the procedure except select
only the DISK2 folder and its files. Uncompress those to a second floppy
disk. If you have a hard drive system just uncompress the whole batch at
once (if you don't already have a hard drive I recommend that you get
one!).
G_SHELL is G_Shell by David Munsie. G_SHELL is an interactive easy to use
enviroment for use with GFA ASIC 3.5/3.6 which will work on any ST-Falcon
in color or monochrome (TV/RGB/VGA monitors). It rovides quick and
efficient interface that allows you to edit, compile, and debug your
programs more easily and horoughly than ever before. Now you never need to
use the MENU.PRG which came with your GFA Basic (which I understand a lot
of GFA Programmers detest). David Munsie has written this to fulfill his
dreams of a GFA Shell, and since he is SOME GFA programmer, you can
imagine that it will do just about everything you might wish it to do (he
lists just 23 different features and I'm sure there are more). Shareware
(with multiple ways to register) with a few features disabled (register
and get a key which will enable everything). Also included in this archive
is the text part of the 2nd GFA Basic Manual v. 3 by Han Kempen (dated
December 1993) with an interactive viewer thrown in (see GFA2MAN3 for the
full file).
Back to the rest of the games...
PACMEN is Pacmen, another excellent 8-player game by Andrei Ellman of Wacko
Software (dated Jan. 9, 1994). Believe it or not, this pacman game can be
played by up to eight players simultaneously (two from the regular
joystick ports, two using the printer-joystick adaptor, and if you have an
STE, another four using those ports on the sides (Instructions on how to
build the nescesary adaptors are included)). Any non-human players can
either be controled by the computer, or completely switched off. There are
other differences between this and the original PacMan game. In this
version each player has an infinite number of lives, and the game only
ends when all of the dots are eaten. The winner is the person who's eaten
the most (Burp!). There are also missiles which you can fire, at the other
players, other missiles, or at the ghosts. The author says that it will run
on "all ST versions", but I don't know if that means the TT or Falcon. Docs
included.
ROLLER_C is a demo of "The Roller Coaster Experience" game from Solution
Software (dated 1995). You have to figure out the best way to build your
rollercoaster with the materials on hand in the limited time allowed. You
also had better not make any mistakes, as once you place a section of the
track it is welded in place. Only if you attempt to place track where it
cannot fit are you able to move it again. You had better not make any dead
ends or flying leaps, as you are going to have to be in the roller coaster
as it tests the course (not really, but it sounds good). You must start
the ball rolling down your track before time runs out. This demo is
limited (of course), but the full version has over 1,000 levels! Color
only. Docs in opening screen. This is a STOS game, and I am not sure on
what machines it will play (I'm sure the ST and STE, but I've not tested
it on my TT or on a Falcon). If it doesn't work on those machines you can
always use STOSFX30 to fix it for your machine (though keep a copy of the
unfixed program to pass on to your friends).
RUMY5001 is the TOS 1.00-1.62 demo version of Red Cat Rummy 500+ by Thomas
J. Starace of YAM Software. Until now, if you wanted to play Rummy 500 you
needed a deck of cards, a table, maybe a rainy day, and most importantly,
another human being. Well now you can play Rummy 500 any time you want with
this, the only Rummy 500 game program for Atari Computers! Red Cat Rummy
500+ features high quality graphics, sound, gameplay and the ability to
Load and Save extended games against the computer. And with the 'plus'
feature you can actually play Rummy 1 Million if you want! For those who
really like a challenge, play on the hardest setting to see how good you
really are. Red Cat Rummy 500+ features an easy to use interface that
allows you to handle the cards intuitively. And if you still prefer to play
against another human being, (always more fun), you can play online via
modem with another person! This demo version doesn't include the Load or
Save game feature, the ability to set the score total which wins, and plays
for 15 moves and then quits (you can re-start it again to play anew, if
you wish). Red Cat Rummy 500+ comes in versions for TOS 1.xx, TOS 2.05
and 2.06, TOS 3.xx, and the Falcon (See RUMY5001-4). You must get the
program for your specific machine. Requires at least one meg RAM, a color
monitor, and a DS floppy or hard drive.
TEMPEST is the Tempest 2000 demo game for the 386DX-40 or higher computer
with MS-DOS 5.0 or higher or Windows 3.1/95. Now, you normally wouldn't
expect me to review a program for a non-Atari machine, and I'm not going
to do so, really. It's just that Tempest 2000 for the Jag is one of my
favorite games and I thought that I would look at this port to the "PC"
world. Tempest PC allows a two player mode (only with two computers and
it's disabled in the demo), music (with compatible sound card), and
excellent play (so I've been told). This game is commercially available
and comes on a CD (not required for the demo, obviously). It is joystick
or keyboard controlled. It also looks like it is a royal pain to get to
work on your system. Directions for the required modifications of your
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT file are included. It ends with (my
paraphrase), "If you still can't get it to work ask someone who knows what
they are doing" I guess I'll just play his on my Jaguar!
TOWRS_D1 and TOWRS_D2 are two archives making making up Towers v.1.5, a 3D
one or two player dungeon Game from JV Enterprises (dated 1995). If you
liked Dungeon Master you'll like Towers. Run it from your floppy or hard
drive. Choose from one of four characters and then travel through the
Tower/Dungeon gathering up the supplies you find on the way, battling
enemies who seek you out, and trying to find your way o the end--and to
survival. The graphics are nice, the controls(mouse and/or keyboard) are
easily used and controlled), and the sounds are excellent (who is that
tapping on that door?). Towers will only run on a completely bare one meg
system. Towers will run from a hard drive or floppy (Double-Sided only). It
allows you to save and load games, too. Connect with another Atari
computer using a null-modem, MIDI cables, or Hayes AT command compatible,
14.4K or more Error Correction modem for dual player action (this feature
now works on ST-Falcon computer with just one meg of memory, or more, of
course). Towers even includes a simple text routine so you can communicate
with your partner during the game! Save and reload your games (this only
works if you remember to save your game BEFORE you die!) ST-Falcon
compatible. Detailed docs. Color only. Towers used to be slightly
disabled shareware. Now it is fully playable, at all levels, and is
"Tryware." If you like the game send the author $5 (wow! Only $5! That
sounds like a honey of a deal!).
T_ORI210 is a demo of "The Original" v.2.10 shareware game by Gerrit Meyer
(dated July 20, 1994). Have you ever played the game Boulder-Dash? It's
fun, maneuvering about, avoiding being crushed or trapped by the boulders
crashing down around you, gathering the necessary gems to open the cave
exit, and all the while, outwhitting those monsters out to get you. The
caves are four times the area of your screen, and you utomatically and
smoothly scroll about as you move "Rockford" about the cave. The Original
is an ST-Falcon (one-meg RAM and color monitor or TV required) game with
excellent graphics and sound, that emulates Boulder-Dash very well,
except for the fact that it adds lots of improvements. This demo is limited
in that only one player, instead of up to four may pay, only ten caves may
be accessed, you only get two lives (instead of three) and no bonus lives
are available, you can't load any additional game files (extra caves), and
you must start at the starting cave each time instead of being able to
start at any of your solved caves. Those limitations don't stop you from
having an enjoyable time with "The Original." Just imagine what it would
be like when you register! Joystick controlled. Docs included. Shareware.
Run in ST Low res.
ULT_AREN is the playable demo (one level with one set of characters-- Kato
and Ted) of the STE/Falcon game Ultimate Arena v.1.3. If you like jumping,
kicking, and bashing, then this game is for you! It is a "Mortal Kombat"
type fighting game featuring excellent graphics and sound. It is controlled
by a joystick or the Jaguar Power-Pad and may be run from either a floppy
or hard drive. The demo and docs are in French (but you can figure it
out), but the complete game is available commercially in English.
And now for a bunch of Utilities, Sounds, Pictures, Text files,
etc...
REFRESH is Refresh v.1.00 by Robert W. Stiles (dated 1995). This is a great
program for all of us who have had floppies laying about for he past
nearly 10 years! It will allow you to refresh the magnetic field on floppy
disks without the loss of any data. It does this by reading the format of
your disk and then copying a track into memory. It then writes that track
back to the floppy in the exact same place. It will work with single-,
double- end high-density disks. If it finds an error in the disk it will
identify it by track location. The program will also allow you to format
disks, too. ST-Falcon compatible in all res. Online help, docs, and source
code ("C") included.
UPCA is the "Universal Print Control Accessory" by Mark Slagell, the author
of the simply fantastic SilkMouse (see SILKMOUS which is v.3.2 of that
excellent Mouse Accelerator/Smoother/Screensaver). UPCA (dated 1995) is an
accessory (or PRG, just rename it) that sends any string or strings of your
choice to a printer hooked to the parallel port of an Atari TOS computer
automatically at bootup or at any time you wish. A string (which you may
create, edit, and save) may hold up to 33 characters, each of which can be
drawn from the entire 0-255 range. This allows a great deal of control
when, for instance, printing a text file from the desktop or from within a
text editor. You might use UPCA to reset the printer, change fonts or print
quality, set margins, or do any number of other things depending on your
printer's capabilities. Comes with a sample data file with some codes for
the Panasonic 1124i printer. Check out your printer manual and then get to
work! This is a great little utility! Docs included. Freeware.
WORDWRIT is a group of printer configuration files (PRINTER.CFG) for
WORDWRITER II (I am not sure if his is TimeWorks WordWriter ST v.2.0 or
some other program--the former, I suspect). Some may or not work. The
compiler (Harry Hill) has tried them with his Epson Action Laser II in the
HP Mode. DeskJet users should e able to use at least one DJ.CFG file.
Hopefully this will help those who like WW II and cannot currently print on
a laser printer.
C_PSLIB is a demo of the PostScript library by C-Graph Software (formerly
Barton Creek software) for C. It works on all ST/STe/TT computers and
includes track and pair kerned text demos as part of the demo of 12
aspects of the library. This will allow a C programmer to have all the
benefits of PostScript without having to learn the postscript language.
The Font library has now been linked in so track and/or pair kerning can
also be demonstrated in addition to the other font specific information.
Basically the demo is a menu program that one an choose the different
options. And the postscript code will be generated automatically into a
file called default.ps or directly to the printer. It only works with the
file default and not with the printer. The postscript output file is just
a plain ascii file so one can look at it using a text editor or word
processor. Dated April 28, 1993). Docs included.
M2GEM147 is Crystal, a highly-portable GEM-Library for GEM and Modula-2
systems under PC-DOS (with PC-GEM), GEMDOS (with ATARI-GEM), FlexOS (with
X/GEM) and UNIX (with X/GemOnX) v.1.47 by Ulrich Kaiser (Dated May, 14,
1995). This appears to be a work in progress. Docs are in English and
German (more German than English).
STOSGAME is the STOS Game Idea Generator for STOS Programmers v.1.80 y
Andrei Ellman (dated 1994). This program will put together a random
assortment of ideas which might be useful for you STOS programmers out
there who are struggling with creative ideas to use in your games. I'm not
exactly sure how this works, but it sounds like a good idea! It has been
created using a fixed version of STOS and will run on all TT/STE up to
TOS 2.06. Supposedly it will work on TT and Falcon computers as well (but
if it doesn't you can always fix it with NDP11 -- to unpack the program
file, and STOSFX30 - to write the new TOS information to the program.
Directions within program. STOS .BAS file is also included. A Printer is
recommended. Color only.
AUTIOTXT is the digitized Sound Format FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
v.3.01 by Guido van Rossum (dated March 23, 1993). This text file(s) gives
detailed descriptions of a variety of digitized sound formats for a wide
variety of machines. It also will provide you with some interesting tips on
digitized data file compression. It even mentions Atari computers!
CDPLR13D is CD-Player v.1.3d by Alexander Clauss (dated Nov. 13, 1995).
This freeware audio CD-Player for the ST-Falcon runs as an .ACC or a .PRG.
With all of the functions of a normal audio CD player, this program shows
you how much fun it can be to play audio CD's off of your computer! From
the German docs it appears that you can also copy the audio tracks to your
hard disk in DVS, AVR, WAVE, AU, or SND formats in 8/16 bit, mono/stereo.
Sounds good! You must have a CD ROM driver installed on your computer
MetaDOS v.2.6 from Atari is free. ExtenDOS by Roger Burrows already has a
CD audio player included, so you wouldn't use this with that, though I
suppose you could for the copy functions). This version works with the
newest version of ExtenDOS, so they both may be used. The program comes
with resource files in German, English, and Spanish are included. Use the
English resource to learn the program and then switch to another RSC file
to learn a bit of the other languages! English (a bit) and German (a lot)
docs.
GEMCON10 is GEMCon v.1.0 by Forrest Blood (dated May 6, 1993). GEMCon's
sole purpose is to convert digitized sound samples to GEMSound format.
There is an option to convert ST Replay samples to a format useable by the
STE Stereo sound chip. GEMSound is a control panel extension (CPX) which
will allow you to assign a unique sound to each system event, ie. open
window, close window, key click, etc. GEMSound will ONLY work on an Atari
computer with the DMA Stereo sound chip - the STE, MegaSTE, TT and
hopefully the Falcon. While GEMCon will run on any ST, the converted
samples will only be useable on a computer with Stereo sound. The GFA
Basic source code is included along with detailed docs.
CAO_496 is the Classic Atari Online magazine, vol. 1, Issue 1 (dated April,
1996). This is an excellent ASCII magazine published by David Schmudde and
edited by Snappy. I enjoyed reading this, even though I don't have an
Atari 8-bit computer! It is full of reviews of games and productivity
software, information about the hardware, and more. It provides you with
addresses and phone numbers where you might buy the various carts and
software, which is very valuable if you want to get something new or
replace something broken. Well done.
CD_LIST7 is the Atari CD Rom Master List - Issue 7 - December 1995 from
Greg Kopchak of It's All Relative Software. It's packed with over 1,500
CD's that are accessible on your Atari. That doesn't mean that they are all
Atari Specific (though there are 31 Atari specific CD ROMS listed--for
example: The Atari Software Treasury, aka The Suzy B's CD). What it does
mean is that the CD must contain over 75% of its value in files and
applications that can be used with the Atari line of computers. Do you want
a reason to get a CD ROM drive?
Well, here it is!
ETEXT is a presentation by Dr. Jeffery Triggs of the North American Reading
Program of the Oxford English Dictionary at the Tenth Waterloo Conference,
1994. I found this article entitled "Varieties of Electronic Experience,
or, What Should an Electronic Text Be Like?" very interesting. He covers
all manners of entering text into computer form from image files (great
for reproducing text exactly as it is in the book but very poor for
searching for specific information), Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
programs, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), and SGML, the author's
favorite (unfortunately, he obviously knows so much about that markup
language that he never defines it!). The text is in ASCII format, with
marks within it which define italics, opening quotes, etc. At the end of
his article he appends a variety of texts marked using a variety of
methods.
BIGBEN is Big Ben by Uland Taffner (dated 1990). This is a small PRG/ACC
(just rename) that displays both the time and the date (in European
format) in the top right menubar. Designed to work with any ST/TT computer
in all resolutions (though in ST medium it only shows the time as there is
not room in the menubar for the date as well), this program will not mess
up your display when you select the desktop SHOW routine (you know how
most corner clocks leave a series of times down the right side of the
screen). Documentation is in German, but you really don't need the docs
(as far as I can tell).
BIG_BOB is Big Bob the Finder v.0.92 by Mark Slagell (dated 1995). Mark is
the the author of SilkMouse and numerous other fine programs, and he's
done it again with Big Bob. Big Bob is an .ACC/.PRG no-wildcard item
finder. It quickly finds files and folders by identifying character
sequences in their names in much the same way a word processor finds text
strings in a document. Optionally, it can also look for strings in the
files themselves (which is GREAT!). When you not only don't remember where
something is buried in your gazillions of nested directories, but also
aren't quite sure of its name, you will find Bob indispensible. The
interface is easy to use, and the docs are clear. This is another program
to hold on to!
DISKL333 is DiskList v.3.33 by Peter Seitz (dated Sept. 7, 1995). This is
an excellent disk cataloging utility which will allow you to catalog not
only your floppy disks but also your hard drives as well. It's always nice
to know what's on your floppies, but for floppies the real question for me
is "where" they are when I want them! With hard drives I always know
where they are, but "What" is on them is something else! The docs are in
German, but the program resource file has been translated into English so
it's easy to use (the German resource file is also included). STE and
Geneva compatible (at least). My note says I found this on UNI-KL (hmmm,
but I had it in the Delphi folder? Who knows!).
ELFBAK29 is ELFBACK v.2.9 by Jay Kormylo of E.L.F Software (files dated
January 25, 1996). ELFBACK provides an easy way to do hard disk backups
and restores to floppies or other disk drives (requires TOS 1.4 or better
with 2 meg or more of RAM). It can use data compression to reduce the
number of floppies needed, and stores files in RAM to speed up I/O. It
uses the "archive bit" in the file directory to indicate that the file has
een archived (for use with incremental backups). It also allows you to
inspect each floppy before you write on it, and to either reformat, erase
(faster than reformatting), or use the remaining space on the floppy and
preserve the existing files. It has built in HELP features. Almost every
dialog has a HELP button in the upper right corner. Docs included.
Shareware. ST-TT (Falcon?) and Geneva compatible. Note, he has produced a
newer version (in Feb, 1997) which I have not yet reviewed. That's faster
and better all around. It's ELFBK211, which is Elfback v.2.1, yes, v.2.1.
I guess the author decided that his old version 2.1-2.9 were really
2.01-2.09. Not too confusing if you check out the dates!
MEMFIL31 is MemFile v.3.1 by Dan Wilga of Gribnif Software (dated July 16,
1996). MemFile is an .ACC/.PRG that allows you to view and edit any
portion of your computer's memory, a file on any disk drive, or the
individual sectors of any drive. Because MemFile can be used as a desk
accessory, it has the added advantage that it is available from any GEM
application, so you can easily call it up if, say for instance, you are
debugging a program and you want to make sure that it has written a file
correctly without having to leave the program you are working on. It is
also a moveable window which means that you can re-position it to another
location on the screen or even click on another open window. Of course it
works with NeoDesk and Geneva! Docs included. One problem with this
program (a major one for me) is that MemFile can only access disks with
sectors up to 1024 bytes per sector. Since all of my hard drive partitions
use more than that...
NEO_003 is contains a patch program which will update an original NeoDesk 4
release 002 disk, changing its contents to release 003. This new version
includes the ability to assign more custom drive icons, has improved
loading speed, new window and button color options, support for the XACC
and AV-Protocols, can copy files with Kobold, and has many other small
changes. BUT! once you upgrade to this version keep on going using NEO_004
and NEO_005!
WRLDCLKA is World Clock v.1.0a by Dan Wilga of Gribnif Software (dated
1995). I really like this program (and accessory--just rename to suit). It
shows a map of the world with some dozens of cities and countries marked
on it. Just click on one of the marked locations and the current time and
date of the location pops up onscreen. The program's database takes into
account which locations observe daylight savings time, too! If you click
on an area of the map not specifically marked the latitude and longitude is
shown. There are several options you may select as well. Dan uses this to
avoid calling someone across the world at a time when they would likely
resent it! I use it just to see how big the world is compared to the corner
I am so comfortable in. It's a good educational tool for children (and
growing adults). It will run on any TOS version, on a single-tasking or
multi-tasking system (such as Geneva, of course!), and in all video
resolutions (including graphic cards. Docs included. If you use this send
Dan some Chocolate (with or without nuts!). He likes chocolate!
SRW is the STOS ReWriter v.1.02f by Andrei Ellman (dated April 17, 1994). I
enjoy this program. As the author says, it is an "artificial insanity"
generator. It takes any text file which you create in the SRW format and
massages it and outputs a riotous parody of it for you to read and share.
There are a number of examples for you to chuckle over. It prints the
output to the screen and to the printer. It has been created using a fixed
version of STOS that is good for all TOS up to TOS 2.06. I tried using
STOS Fix 3.0 on this file (after using New De-Pack v.1.1 to uncompress the
program), but could not get it STOSFX30) to correct the file for my TT.
So...apparently it won't work on a TT.
GEMNMR is a program by Uwe Seimet that will allow you to simulate dynamic
NMR Spectrum (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imagery--the same thing that the
medical profession has prettified up as MRI, dropping the "Nuclear" name).
Many molecules exhibit temperature dependent NMR spectrum, and by using
this program you can simulate what you should see for specific temperature
levels in your sample. Docs and program all in German. ST-Falcon
compatible (a TT and Falcon version taking advantage of the math
co-processor is available for a fee).
Here are some Portfolio programs Jens of Germany sent over to us (posted
on Delphi).
ATADEMO is a small program for the Atari Portfolio that will automatically
display a series of text files you create. You may use this as an
advertising tool, a way to memorize something (like a biblical text), or, I
imagine, for lots of other things. Three texts are included (it looks like
they are formatted to completely fit on
the Port screen. No docs.
CLOCK is a little Portfolio program that displays the current time and
date. You can switch between HH:MM:SS and HH:MM by pressing the space bar.
Depending on the mode the program is in, the power drain
can be considerable, so the author (as represented by Paralax Software
Publishers) recommends you use an adaptor if you run this program often.
Docs included.
EDIT is a text editor for the Portfolio by an unknown to me author (no name
in docs or in program file as far as I can see). Edit allows you to edit
files of up to 160 characters per line and up to 2730 lines. The screen
will display up to 23 lines of text and 79 characters. You can scroll
through the text to see more of your document if needed. Features like
insert/overwrite, wordwrap (or not), delete/ undelete, case change, ASCII
code insert, search and replace, printing, and many more are featured.
PFBOOT is a set of program compiled by Michael D. Weisner that will allow
you to make serial port transfers between your Portfolio and an MS-DOS
compatible machine. The programs are XTERM1.COM, BINHEX.COM, HEXBIN.COM
and CHKSUM.COM by Jim Strauss and the author's own PFLOAD.EXE, PFBOOT.BAT
and LOAD.BAT. PFLOAD is a program that ties them all together so making it
easy to do these transfers. Docs included.
RPNCALC is RPNCALC by Scott T. Schad. This Portfolio program is the
author's attempt (successful, I expect), to turn his (your's, too)
Portfolio into a scientific calculator as well as all that it usually is.
RPNCALC emulates a Reverse Polish Notation scientific calculator on the
Atari Portfolio. I LOVE calculators that allow me to use RPN. It is really
an excellent way to do complicated calculations. RPN does take a bit of
getting used to, but it's worth it. This calculator program does
everything a scientific calculator can do. It looks like the author has
done a good job here. Docs included.
ST_FOLIO is Portfolio Partner v.1.9 by David Becker. This program will
allow you to input all of your portfolio database information into you ST
and then transfer it into the Portfolio (via the Port's Parallel Interface
and an IBM PC or via the Serial Interface with a null modem cable and your
ST). This saves a lot of time and effort because it's a lot easier to type
on your ST than on your Portfolio! Docs included. Freeware.
UPDT104 is the v.1.04 update from Atari of the Portfolio's operating
system. This fixes the "Space-Return bug in the editor. Docs included.
XTERM1 is the second generation Terminal with XModem and Text File Transfer
for the Atari/DIP Portfolio by Jim Straus (dated Nov. 24, 1989). It is a
simple terminal program for the Serial Interface. It allows files to be
sent or received using the XModem protocol. It also allows files to be sent
with no translation and files to be captured. Docs included.
Back to regular ST-Falcon files...
CDI_105 is the Compact Disk Indexer (CDI) v.1.05m for BBS systems and BBS
ready CD-ROMs. It provides you with an easy way to access your CD-ROM
online. Up to 255 individual file areas can be accessed, and descriptions
of the files on the CD to be displayed online (alas, only one line
descriptions allowed, which leaves all of my descriptions out!). The
program allows for support of CD changers, multiple CD-ROMs online,
offline CD roms, and more, all from one copy of CDI. Shareware, or rather,
"Lazyware" as the author calls it. CDI is 100% functional Mondays through
Thursdays. However, on the weekends, it becomes lazy and refuses to work.
Registered versions have no limits at all. Note, the author has updated
this program to v.1.10D and now released it as freeware. I'm trying to get
a copy of this version to distribute it, but I haven't yet. I'll let you
know.
DUFTP1_1 is DUftp, v.1.1 by Craig Graham (dated Sept. 24, 1995). This is a
GEM based FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program for use with MiNT
(Multi-TOS, too) and the MiNT-net networking drivers (by Kay Roemer). You
may use DUftp to fetch files from any FTP server on the Internet (or any
other TCP/IP based network). You must have MiNT v.1.12 or higher and
MiNTNet v.0.70 or higher to use this program. You can use DUftp to fetch
files from any FTP server on the Internet (or any other TCP/IP based
network). As well as the just transferring files (now with improved
directory cacheing to speed up access on remote systems) you get the
following extra's:
Web-browser style bookmarks for fast access to your fave sites.
Automatic logins.
Full GEM interface.
Runs under MultiTOS or plain GEM (with MiNT installed).
Drag & Drop style file transfer (with Gemini or Thing Desktops)
Multiple connections at the same time (under MultiTOS).
Fast, reliable transfers (code based on the BSD Unix ftp).
New progress indicators ("received n of m bytes" and a progress
bar).
Envy from PC users who have to pay for this sort of thing.
AES 4.1 iconify support.
No command lines.
Integrated with DIP to handle your dial-up SLIP connection
for you (simple Connect/Disconnect menu options).
Only uses 200K when running.
Context sensitive help (using an ST-Guide Hypertext file)
DUftp is "advert-ware" for the Data Uncertain's upcoming World Wide Web
browser "Distant Earth." Also it is intended to prove that GEM+MiNT can
support easy to use networking software, and in particular, that Data
Uncertain can provide that software. Docs included. Hensa through Delphi.
D_ORACLE is Delphi Oracle v.1.34, originally by Paul Lefebvre and now
upgraded and debugged by Bob Semaan of Binary Sounds (date Sept. 21,
1995). Delphi Oracle is a wonderful BackTalk Script for use with Gribnif's
STalker 3 telecom program/accessory. Using this allows you to do much of
your work offline and save your money to boot! Download files, send and
receive mail and forum messages, and more. Docs included. Shareware, with
all fees going to Paul rather than Bob. Thanks Bob for improving an already
great product! Requires Stalker 3.03 or above. STeno 2.x is a wonderful
addition to STalker as well. The original version (1.3) of which Paul
released the source code is also included. Docs included. I've registered!
EASY_PGP is the Easy PGP shell v.0.23 by Manfred Ssykor (dated May 21,
1995). This shareware program is a GEM-based program which will allow you
to use Pretty Good Privacy (I see a mention of v.2.62I in the docs, but
probably almost any version will work) to encrypt, decrypt, generate
signatures, and more with your data. PGP is one of those "Secure"
encryption technologies that our government doesn't allow to be exported
(which is rather foolish, as the current version of PGP comes from
overseas in the first place!). With PGP no one is going to get into your
messages and data unless you want them to! PGP is also a command line based
program, which makes it difficult to use for many people. Easy PGP takes
care of that! While the Docs are in German, the program is in English,
and isn't hard to figure out at all. Online ST Guide Hypertext docs, too.
E_MAIL is "The Atari Community E-mail Address Book" Revised as of Nov. 5,
1995 by Dan Mazurowski. This list has been compiled to provide Atarians
worldwide with the addresses to contact other members of our ever-changing
Atari community. There are 4 distinct sections - user groups, Atari
computer contacts, Jaguar and Lynx contacts, and World Wide Web pages.
Please note that addresses that are of interest to both Atari computer
users AND Jag/Lynx owners will be found in the computer section. It's
excellent, and it even lists me in the file (I like his choices!).
Obviously, much of this is now out of date, but it's the most current
listing I know of.
EMOTICON is an alphabetical listing of most acronyms and abbreviations
you'll find online (nearly 680!) It's huge, amusing, and sometimes gross!
ESSCD64 is ESS-Code v.6.4, the MIME-Encoding/Decoding, UUE/UUDecoding
utility (and BTOA, and SHIP files, too) by Michel Forget of Electric Storm
Software (the programmer of MasterBrowse, an excellent desktop text SHOW
replacement and general file viewer--see MB48_BIN). This file (dated June
9, 1995) will allow you to quickly (very) and easily (it uses GEM with
keyboard shortcuts to everything and more) convert binary files to ASCII
text files and send them over the Internet or commercial online service to
your friends, or return ASCII text files to their original binary state as
you have received them. It includes an expanded command line interface for
those of you who like such things, and the manual can now be read online.
Compatible with TOS 1.0 through MultiTOS (Geneva, too), with online help,
and much more. The author has put a lot of work into this program. Color
or mono. Shareware (register this and you get an optimized and personalized
version of this program, free registered versions of MasterBrowse and his
other shareware programs and $5 in coupon discounts from Suzy B's
Software!). I can't recommend this utility enough if you encode or decode
files from online. It's easy, quick, and very compatible! Support
Shareware authors!
FEXT_V22 is the Fexthor v.2.2 BBS online game's GFA Basic Source code and
data files. Fexthor is best described as a Dungeon's and Dragon's type
text adventure game. To use this you much compile it with the GFA Basic
compiler and a machine with four megs of RAM. According to the enclosed ad
you can now "BASH players who are off-line, as well as on-line! Enjoy The
Realistic Experience Of Multi-Player Combat in a HUGE COMPUTERIZED WORLD!
Search to Destroy! Hit to Kill! So, Come Brave Adventurers, to Prove Your
Bravery and Daring in an Arena Beyond Compare!" This game requires combat
skills and magical abilities to survive (at least while you're playing the
game, that is).
FKLOADER is the Function Key Loader v.1.0 by Jon Emery (dated Sept. 20,
1993). This is a BackTalk script for STalker 3.+. This script will read a
data file that tells it what functions to assign to which function keys. I
guess I really don't understand what this does as the funtion keys
mentioned do not seem to designate the F1-F10 keys on the keyboard, but
rather three options that the script presents you with when you run it.
But, if you understand what this does, (I should probably read my STalker
manual!) then this script will make it
easy to load whatever function key settings you wish. Docs and a sample
data file are included along with the script itself.
FLS300D is the Flash II demo v.3.00 from Missionware Software. As you are
probably already aware, Flash II is an awesome telcom program for the
Atari ST-Falcon computer line. This demo, while limited (50 minutes per
session with an upload/download limit of 50K per file), brings you into the
world of modern modeming with a full-featured, high standard, and
well-supported program. I can't even begin to list all of Flash II's
features (I ried and the file was nearly 4K long!). The things I like
best about it are its full multi-tasking ability, its ackground
downloading capabilities, its easy auto set-up, its "macros," its
full-featured GEM text editors, online picture viewing, and much, much
more. Supports all 4 serial ports on the TT and MegaSTE. ST--Falcon
compatible. Color or mono. Docs and ordering info included.
MIND_15R is the Mindless v.1.5r BBS door for the ST by Andy MacCallum. This
fully enabled, registered version (the author has released it) is free for
the using. This Door presents you, via ANSI graphics, with multiple games
and doors hidden inside an innocent looking grafitti wall! Enter and win
(or lose!). You must configure it for the games you have available.
Mindless provides you with a "Scrawl Wall", a area for your Ripping Yarns
(an endless story door), a Majic Qball (on online prophet--remember what
the Old Testament said to do to prophets who aren't 100% right!), a Rumor
Mill direct from your computer, Online Bingo, the ability to put words in
other people's mouths, and more. Mindless will run on most Atari BBS
systems, all it needs to operate is for the BBS to be able to launch
external programs and for the BBS to create a standard DORINFO1.DEF file
or a custom file with the users handle on the first line (call it
Player.Nam). Docs included.
QUOTE12 is Quick Quote v.1.2 by Philip Hough. This is a small program that
displays a random quote from its database on bootup. It will run from a
hard drive or a floppy. You may add or delete quotes from the database as
you wish. You can also set up the program to wait for a keypress before it
continues booting, or not, as you wish (I like that feature). The quotes
included are more in the computer humorous mode than otherwise. Shareware.
QUOTER is Ducky's STalker Quoter Script v.1.0 by John Duckworth (date May,
1994). This allows the user to send the contents of the Stalker clipboard
to the modem port while reformatting it in quotation style like this...
> This is an example of how a quote would appear in a message after
> being sent from the QUOTER.BTK.
Wonderful when you reply to messages online! I tried it and now I'm
hooked! Thanks Ducky! Docs included. Freeware.
RJD10 is The Rejoinder v.1.0 by William Wong of Probe House Software
(dated March, 1995). The Rejoinder is a fully-functional GEM based
Freeware QWK reader (with Hot Keys for most features) for the Atari
ST-Falcon range of computers. Here is a listing of it's features...
* View and/or reply to up to 5 different mails at any one time.
* It can even read your mail aloud if you wish!
* Built-in windowed editor with many advanced features.
* Configurable tab size and word wrap position.
* Size of file being edited up to the limit of your computer RAM.
* Cross quote capability - quote from several different emails.
* Quoting can include mail author initials at beginning.
* Configurable quoting character.
* Able to re-edit your already replied mail.
* Change your reply mail header anytime.
* Display all mails to you in a single window.
* Display of all your replies in a single window.
* Display mails of interest you you in the HitList window.
* Replies will automatically enter your name in the From field,
with the To and Subject field automatically filled in.
* Private mail reply feature.
* Customerise to your favorite archiver.
* Advanced filter function - display only mails you want to view.
* Twit Filter to filter off mails you don't want to read.
* Display NEWS, BULLETIN and NEWFILES files in separate windows.
* Randomly selected tagline.
* Option to turn off tagline if desired.
* Automatic append of signature file to replies.
* Option to turn off signature file append if desired.
* Replies can have quote header line added.
* Option to turn off quote header line.
* Auto insertion of To , From Date & Time into quote header lines.
* Integrated quote header line, tagline, signature file, Hitlist
and Twit list edition.
* SpeedoGDOS supported.
* External editor spawning capability.
* Don't need QWK index files, save on your download time.
* Online and context help with ST Guide (not included).
Rejoinder can be installed anywhere on your system (even on a floppy!).
The program and docs are in English.
SCRIBE is the Scribe Backtalk script by Jon Emery. Scribe is a Backtalk
script that will record an online session, conference, or anything else
that is received by STalker. You can send the Text you receive to your
rinter, a disk, or to STeno. Also included is a simple modem intializer
that sends a AT&D2&C1&M0 to the modem. Docs included. You must have
STalker v.3.x to use this, or any, Backtalk script.
STALK304 is the STalker 3.03 to 3.04 patch program from Gribnif. This patch
program will only work on the US versions of STalker and requires an
original v.3.03 master disk to update. It fixes a minor problem with GDOS
font use and selecting blocks of text. Now the menu bar will appear in the
normal place when STalker is run as a program in single-TOS. Docs
included. Upgrade! Then when you have check out the STALK305 patch program
to update to version 3.05!
STKRDEMO is the demo version of STalker 3, the telecom program from Gribnif
and Strata Software. STalker is a full PC-ANSI/VT-100/VT-52 terminal
program which operates in a GEM window, both as a desk accessory (so you
can up/download files while doing other things with your computer) and as a
stand-alone program. STalker is compatible with all ST-Falcon computers,
with any available modem port, with any graphics hardware, and with all
multi-tasking systems. This demo allows you to use BalkTalk scripts
created using the supplied BalkTalk scripting language. You can write
BalkTalk scripts to automate practically anything! STalker requires no
external programs to download or upload files. This demo is limited in that
you can't save your configuration files or even the files you download
(they download, but don't get saved to disk). Uploading is disabled, too.
STalker is the terminal program I use all the time, and I recommend this
demo to you. Docs included.
STKRPATH is a short STalker BackTalk Script by Bob Semaan of Binary Sounds
(date Sept. 21, 1995). This script will display all Stalker path settings
and allow you to change them. Docs included. This is very nice in that it
eliminates your guesswork in which paths are set for which functions.
Requires STalker 3.03 or higher to compile the script.
WHITEFAQ is a text document that you will receive if you send a message to
the White House via the Internet. It's full of information on how to
direct your contacts to the various branches of government (including the
First Lady!), how to find out information about new laws and regulations,
how to download audio files of the President, and more. Interesting! Dated
August, 1994).
RAYPICS is a series of Raytraced pictures found in one upload by BSUMMER
(Barry Summer) on Delphi. Here are the descriptions of those pictures
2MECHS is an excellent JPEG raytrace of two robots. One is
humanoid and is aiming a raygun somewhere past where you are
sitting, and the other is a huge carrierbot in the background.
Behind both is a beautiful picture of a tree and sky at sunset.
By Troy Dunnaway.
ATTACK is a raytraced view of the "Attack of the SD Intrepid."
This shows an X-Wing fighter from "Star Wars" attacking the much
larger ST Intrepid (Super Dreadnaught?, Space Destroyer? I can't
remember!). The battle rages, blasts burst out, Empire fighters
seek to engage, etc. By Anthony Yu.
BEHEMOTH is a GIF picture showing a huge fighting spacecraft. It
looks like one I'd like to avoid! It reminds me of a space-going
Hawk with teeth. Very clean and crisp drawing.
BUGSHIP is a beautiful GIF raytraced picture of two alien
spaceships flying past a star surrounded by glowing gas and its
planet. The ships look like they were modeled on a queen ant with
wings when she is flying off to start a new nest.
CAR is a JPEG raytraced picture of a futuristic sports car driving
along a city street. On the sidewalk is a "Litter" can. The
building alongside the road has mirrored windows which reflect the
image of the car. Lightpoles cast shadows, etc.
DEATHCOM is a raytraced JPEG picture showing a sculpture (or
robot) in the shape of a sitting man. The sculpture is really
just a skeleton of metal rods and balls. It's "sitting" on
something that might be an extension of its body or might beaa
chair. It is holding a lollypop extended in its left hand and
appears to be contemplating it.
FIREHOLE is a raytraced JPEG picture showing an army humanoid
robot in a basement-like setting. It appears that it has just
crashed through a wall, leaving a wall of fire behind it. It is
now firing a machine gun (which in actuality is its right arm) at
something off to your left. I wouldn't want to tangle with this
robot!
FLOAT2 is a raytraced JPED picture showing a surrealistic blend of
ancient Egypt and ...something. There is a sphynx in the
foreground that isn't really a sphynx. In the bacground is a
series of hills that merge with castle-like buildings. In the air
above are a group of floating jellyfish-like somethings with
stylized faces. It really is quite a pretty picture.
FLYBY is a beautiful raytraced JPED picture by Wayne Daigle. It
shows two alien fighter planes streaking lengthwise through a
valley with cliffs on either side. The planes are well done, but
what really attracts my attention is the detail in the valley and
canyon walls.
FUTURE is a raytraced JPED picture showing a closeup of a sports
car of the future. The interesting thing about this is that the
artist has included a lot of 50's (and earlier) style in his
future car. It's interesting, and plausable! An aircar flies in
the midground and a city is in the background.
HBATTLE2 is a raytraced JPED picture created by Barry Summer using
Apex Media (dated 1995). This picture shows two spaceship
circling the Earth (you can see Africa on the globe). The glow of
the sun is peeking around the edge of the globe.
MAGNUS_7 is a JPEG cartoon picture showing a hugely muscled guy
picking up and tossing some robots that are coming after him.
Other, police robots are firing on the robots that are attacking
the man. Of course, the obligatory beautiful, but wilting, female
is in the picture as well. It is titled, Magnus, Robot Fighter.
Here are some files from the University of Michigan Atari Archives (via the
Internet)...
CPP114 is v.1.1.4 of CPP by Scott Bigham (dated March 13, 1995). This is a
stand-alone C preprocessor intended for use with C compilers such as HSC
which do not provided access to preprocessor output. It implements
translation phases 1 through 4 as specified by the standards document
ANSI/ISO 9899-1990 describing the C programming language, including
trigraphs, token pasting and stringizing. If you are a C programmer I am
sure you know what all of this means. I have not a clue, but have taken it
from the included manual.
EKED_M1 is EKED-M1 : An Editor for the Korg M1/M1R Synthesizers v.1.0 by
Steven M. Eker (dated Feb. 19, 1995). This program should run on any
ST-Falcon computer, allowing you to manage up to 10 banks at a time
(memory permitting). It features an editor window for programs,
combinations, global data and drum kits and provides graphical display for
envelope shapes. Live editing is available is your Korg M1 is connected and
you may drag and drop copy whole banks, programs, combinations, effects and
global data. Auditioning of multisound samples is allowed if the Korg M1
is connected and if you have a Korg M1R the program provides you with a
virtual keyboard for live editing. There are several other features as
well, but since I'm no music man, I really can't tell you much more.
Detailed docs included. ST med. or higher resolution required (though it
will run in ST low, you just can't read all of the dialog boxes!).
GTHOR_2 is v.2.0 of GTHOR, a French language version of Othello for any
ST-TT (perhaps Falcon) and a mono monitor by S. Quin and B. de La
Boisserie (dated October 20, 1991). This is really quite good, and I was
able to figure it out (mostly) even without any significant knowledge of
French. It is pretty fast and has piles of options. The program is also
freeware, but the authors wouldn't mind you encouraging them with a small
amount of cash! French docs included. I just played this again, and I
remember that I don't like it all
that much...I haven't won yet!
MEMSPEED is Memspeed v.1.0 by Torsten Lang (dated Nov. 1994). This program
may be the first benchmark for the memory-interface of Atari computers.
What does it do? Well, MEMSPEED checks the available bandwidth for reading
and writing of the 1st level cache, the 2nd level cache and the mainboard
memory. This is done for ST and TT memory areas as far as they are
available and if there is enough free mem. On my TT it recognizes the ST
and TT RAM (the TT RAM writes are twice as fast as writes to the ST RAM!).
This program has neither a GUI nor other special features, just click on
TEST and wait for the results to appear. One last thing: This program
checks the bandwidth you can really use e.g. a 68030 can access the memory
in 2 cycles
(non burst) but in reality it does 50MB/s (1st level cache, 50MHz) instead
of the awaited 100MB/s. Docs are in German, but there are some English
docs included (you've just read most of them).
MEDVD2 is the Virus Demon II by The Medway Boys. This program will allow
you to check your ST/STE's active memory and floppy disk for virus code
and place a protective anti-virus on your bootsector of your floppy disk.
The anti-virus causes the screen to flash if everything is OK. If you don't
get the flash you're infected. If you run this program and already have a
virus in memory it will not return you to the desktop, and will thus force
you to reboot (use a different floppy, or no floppy in the disk drive to
get a clean system). This doesn't work on my TT.
VACCINE is a small program which will check your floppy disk for a
boot-sector virus. It will warn you if one is detected and give you the
option to quit or to ill the virus. It will also check for virus code in
memory.
VIRUSKIL is the ST Virus Killer by M.S. Powell (dated Aug. 30, 1988). This
program will allow you to check your "A" or B" drive for boot sector
viruses. It will tell you if there is executable code in the boot sector of
your floppy, indicating a possible virus. The code could be the boot
program for a commercial game, so you have to be careful not to erase
that! The program also gives you an option to install an anti-virus which
will tell you if your disk is virus free each time you boot from it (and
it will also check each disk you use afterwards). There are nice docs and
a short article about boot sectors included.
But...if you really want a good, current, Virus Killer, check out
Richard Karsmaker's "The Ultimate Virus Killer." That's the best
on the market, IMHO. He has also released his "Th Ultimate Virus
Killer Book" on disk as shareware. I have reviews of both of
those ...somewhere....
I found the following two demos on the Wildfire Homepage (wherever
that is!). They are available in many other locations as well.
LIFEBEAT is an STE-only demo by Wildfire entitled, "Life's a Beat."
Released in May, 1993, this music and graphics demo presents you with an
opening screen of pictures and text. It has an interesting vertical
scrolling display that I liked. Hitting the spacebar places you in
interstellar space where you get to fly about picking .MOD titles to focus
on. When you center in on one and hit the RETURN key that .MOD file is
loaded and played. You have normal mode which leaves enough of the
processor available to continue scrolling around the starfield while the
.MOD is played, or the higher quality option which takes all of the
processor time (HELP is high while UNDO is normal). Eleven .MODS are
included.
WFDENTRO is the Wildfire "dentro" color STE only demo. It requires at least
one meg of RAM. It begins with, what is on my STE at least, a riot of
colors scrolling to the left. This looks like it is something scrambled,
but perhaps it is meant to be that way. Then a waving flag made of points
of light is displayed. Then a drawing of a man fades in, though this is
never a clear-cut in focus picture. Then a rotating starfield appears and
the credits scroll from the foreground into the distance, al la the Star
Wars intro. This demo stems from Dec., 1995.
And finally, a game that I have no idea from where I got it...
HAYWIRE is Haywire by John Hodskinson. This ST-TT game (Falcon?) pits you
against eight alien landscapes over which you must capture a bunch of
escaped aliens. Your mother ship leaves you off on planet number one and
you must fly low to pick up each alien (they look a lot like giant mice)
and then fly them back to the mothership. Keep at it until all the aliens
are captured on that level. You have to watch out for atmospheric
conditions, volcanoes, and more. Watch out that you don't get hit too many
times as you can only withstand five impacts. Joystick or keyboard
controlled (though the joystick is required on my TT as the key telling
the ship to go to the right doesn't work). Haywire is brought to you at 50
frames per second and on a single bit-plane. Docs within the program. This
is another one of those "I know I'll do better next time" games. It runs
from ST medium or TT medium (but looks to turn the mouse pointer to the ST
Low size) and from ST High (though I'm not sure that it will really run
from ST High as it seems to change the res. to ST low when run).
I guess that's it for this time (22 meg of compressed files--I guess I'm
slipping). It's Thursday afternoon, so I have to get this off to Dana
ASAP!
Take care, and drop me a line to say hello. I'm always glad to get mail!
May God Bless,
--Michael R. Burkley
The Unabashed Atariophile
p.s.: You may contact me at MRBURKLEY@DELPHI.COM,
MICHAEL-R-BURKLEY@WORLDNET.ATT.NET, or at
M.BURKLEY1 on Genie
Michael is a former Polyurethane Research Chemist, the co-owner of Suzy B's
Software, and currently the Pastor of the Niagara Presbyterian Church
Gaming Section
Iron Soldier 2!!
CDR Use?!
Speed Tribes! And more...
>From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is!
Most of my time this past week has been trying to get some feedback
regarding the use of CDR technology with regard to its use in Telegames'
soon-to-be-released "Iron Soldier 2". Something seemed "odd" when there
was so much discussion on the topic and Telegames' decision to go with it;
I had to ask. I got in touch with a few people and asked them for their
impressions, including their reactions to the Telegames announcement and a
few posting on Usenet. The comments that I was trying to solicit are meant
to be informative and should be viewed as such. All of the private
correspondence that I received will remain anonymous due to the
correspondents' current and past positions within the industry.
Personally speaking, I believe that people are going to buy this game,
and future ones if available, on any media. People want to play new games
on their Jaguars whether it be CDR, eproms, unboxed, or whatever. But, as
I've been told and mention below, there are some potential disadvantages.
We feel that you should hear about them in case you want to make an
educated purchase rather than an emotional one.
Until next time...
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
THQ to Launch "Speed Tribes" for Sony PlayStation, PC
CALABASAS, CALIF. (April 22) BUSINESS WIRE -April 22, 1997--THQ Inc.
(NASDAQ/NMS:THQI) Tuesday announced that it has signed an agreement with
Nemicron, an original content developer, to publish and distribute "Speed
Tribes" for the Sony PlayStation and PC CD-ROM platforms. The games are
scheduled to be released in the United States the first half of 1998.
"Speed Tribes" combines real-time 3-D with strategy elements in a game that
propels players into the dangerous domain of heavily armed aercycle riders
who are dedicated to the speed of their machines, violence and the glory of
survival. Both THQ and Nemicron are currently in negotiations for the
further development and marketing of "Speed Tribes" as a comic book,
television series, theatrical release and toy line.
"We are thrilled to be teaming up with a company like Nemicron whose 'Speed
Tribes' property was the hit of last summer's Comicon, one of the largest
comic book trade shows, worldwide," said Steve Ryno, THQ vice resident of
product development. "Nemicron's unique content combined with THQ's
extensive videogame publishing experience is a perfect match to create a
winning, hard-core game title for the large installed base of 32-bit and
computer systems."
"Nemicron is pleased to have found an ally in THQ," explained Mark
Alamares, Nemicron's chief executive officer. "Both companies have forged
a strong working relationship, primarily because THQ has demonstrated not
only marketing and distribution strength worldwide, but a firm commitment
to the development of original content for both individual platform play,
as well as Internet multi-player gaming." Alamares continued, "We share
the same philosophy -- to develop and produce entertaining hybrids of pop
culture and technology for the global marketplace."
Jaguar Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr!
JAGUAR NEWS FLASH
From: Songbird <forhan@millcomm.com>
Date: 19 Apr 1997
Have you been waiting anxiously for some new Jaguar games -- ANY new
Jaguar games -- to be published?
Would you like the opportunity to own a limited release Jaguar game?
What would you say if, as an added bonus, the game supported up to EIGHT
Jaguars networked together?
Coming soon...
*** AIRCARS ***
Check out:
http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/aircars.html
for more details. This is not a vaporware announcement!
Carl Forhan
forhan@millcomm.com
>From the Usenet and miscellaneous correspondence from private e-mail
(permission granted to re-print by the authors), here's some information
regarding Telegames' use of CDR technology with regard to Iron Soldier 2.
>>The latest date is April 29th...apparently they have resorted
>>to pressing the disc in Germany (home of Eclipse) for some reason.
>
>Correct!
>
>Marc Rosocha/Eclipse Software produces all Iron Soldier 2 CDs himself.
So does that mean that the disks are going to be CDRs? If so, I'm not
buying it. CDRs degrade over time and become useless. From my research a
CDR can become unusable in as little as 6 months depending on the
environment it is stored in and how often it is used.
[Editor's note:] I asked a few people about CDR technology because I
really had no idea what the difference was between CDR and what I interpret
as a "normal" CD. My first question was to ask what a CDR was! <g>
> D'uh!! I should have realized it, but I didn't consider the
> possibility of it being recordable. Why would a publisher consider
> this possibility; wouldn't it be possible for someone to overwrite
> the data?
No problem. I miss the meaning of acronyms a lot myself. ;-) One reason
is money. Although CDRs are kind of expensive, pressing normal CDs is
more expensive until you pass a certain number of units. If you don't
think you are going to pass that number, and you want to keep price down,
you can go with CDRs. Personally I would never buy any software on a CDR
due to the reliability/longevity problems with them. Another reason is if
you don't know how well your product will sell, and you think it may be at
or below the price difference crossover and you don't want to wind up
sitting on unsold inventory.
No, you can't overwrite the data on a CDR. They are write once only. I
don't know of any software that will let you even try to modify data
already written to a CDR. If a disk is not closed after the last session
is created, though, you can add on to the end of the disk, which would be
BAD on a Jaguar CD. It would no longer pass encryption if you did that.
> Yeah, that would kinda suck.
Yes, it would. Spend $60+ on a game only to have it go bad and become
unusable after 6 months (under bad conditions) to 5 years (never using it
and storing it away in a dark, dry environment). No thanks, I'll pass.
> In an announcement on Telegames' web site, it appears that IS2 will be
> coming out on CDR. I'd like to do an article on the possibilities of
> this game CD going bad after awhile, for STR. Can you give me some
> pluses and minuses that I can print? I'd like to give our readers
> some background on this media so they know
> what they're likely getting. Thanks.
Sigh, I was worried about that based on [a] message on the newsgroup. For
a consumer there aren't any plusses to CDR that I can think of, other than
the gold disks look cool compared to a pressed silver disk. The only real
minus is that the disks go bad over time, and not due to misuse. Since you
use light to create the disks (a laser), exposure to light causes them to
degrade. Well, reading a CD uses light (a laser), so you are exposing it
to light, which degrades the information stored on the disk, so just by
playing the game, you are destroying it. As I've said in other messages,
I've read information that CDRs can last as little as 6 months if they are
not stored properly (left sitting out exposed to light all the time) or as
long as 5 years if they are stored in a dark, dry location (in other words,
not used unless absolutely necessary).
This information on longevity, btw, comes from one of the CDROM developers
forum on CompuServe. I don't remember which one off hand since I read
about it almost 2 years ago while I was still at [edited]. I'm sure they
have information on this in their libraries somewhere, and if not, there
was an almost continuous conversation going on in there about the subject.
>From another message thread:
Telegames says,
"Although Atari's "officially" licensed replicator has had the gold masters
of IS2 since February 20th, they have been unable to create problem free
glass masters that are required for mass production. Their problems are
partly related to the sophisticated security encription on the Jag CDs."
"We have come to the conclusion that the only way to make Iron Soldier 2
available is to program the product on CD-R media rather than mass
replicate CDs. We have already undertaken this expensive and time consuming
solution and project that sufficient quantities should be available for
release by April 29th. Since this method of production costs even more
than cartridge manufacturing, we are only making a quantity that is
estimated to cover initial demand."
So I write,
Hmmm, I used to work for (and personally handled the roll out of all the CD
pack in's, the Readysoft titles, Battlemorph and Primal Rage) one of the
"officially" licensed replicator's and still know a few people there. Hey
Telegames, why not give KAO Infosystems a call and see if they can work out
the encryption? I remember a hard time with the Battlemorph CD and it
worked out fine. And since the cost of CD-R producing is "even more than
a cart" and you were still able to keep the msrp of $60, if KAO comes
through for us and is able to reproduce, I'm sure you'll pass the savings
onto the consumer.
Telegames, I have contact names and phone numbers at KAO and am willing to
help. Last time I posted about the inflated cost of Telegames titles (CD
vs. cart) I got numerous flames about "Hey, they're 'helping' out the Jag
community so chill out".
Well, this time I'm trying to help out the Jag community. I have contacts
at one of Atari's "officially" licensed replicators who would be more than
happy to get the business, no matter what the quantity. If it gets done,
I'm sure since Telegames is "helping us out" they would be more than happy
to reduce the MSRP...
Tony
And a continuation:
Chris Knape wrote:
> I just read this on Telegames web site and frankly can't believe it.
> Wonder how or if they'll do World Tour Racing:
>
> Iron Soldier 2 Resolved
>
> The projected release date of Iron Soldier 2 (CD) for Jaguar had been
> delayed due to
> a CD replication problem. Although Atari's "officially" licensed
> replicator has had
> the gold masters of IS2 since February 20th, they have been unable to
> create
> problem free glass masters that are required for mass production. Their
> problems
> are partly related to the sophisticated security encription on the Jag
> CDs.
The encryption excuse is extremely lame. The *few* ex-Atari employees that
are now working at JTS (namely John Skrutch), primarily for managing legal
rights and Atari properties, all say that the encryption is not an issue
for any Jaguar games that have yet to be released. JTS is "willing to
provide" software encryption/protection keys for Jaguar games that are to
be released through licensed Jaguar publishers. I think it comes down to
one possible scenario... When JTS says that they are "willing to provide,"
they mean for a 'small' fee. Now either the fee isn't so 'small' and it's
not worth Telegames paying it or it is a trivial sum and Telegames is too
cheap because they think that only a few hundred copies will sell, uh,
which is probably right.
> We have come to the conclusion that the only way to make Iron Soldier 2
> available is
> to program the product on CD-R media rather than mass replicate CDs. We
> have
> already undertaken this expensive and time consuming solution and
> project that
> sufficient quantities should be available for release by April 29th.
This makes no sense at all! If they can make a CDR image of the disc, then
they can for sure make a final production master. I'm willing to bet this
is a cover up for, "Send us your money and we'll burn copies as needed."
It's cheaper to burn a copy here and a copy there as needed up to a few
hundred copies than it would be to produce a production master and running
off $1,000+ copies only to sell 300 of them over the next
1.5 years.
> Since this
> method of production costs even more than cartridge manufacturing, we
> are only
> making a quantity that is estimated to cover initial demand.
More expensive than cart production? I wonder how they figure that...
Let's see, blank CDR media in bulk lots of 1,000 can be purchased for
nearly $3.00 per piece. Let's see, if they have a CDR duplicator which can
burn about 30 CD's per hour (costs about (US)$8,500) and time and effort
costs an additional $2.00 per disc... Then they're at $13,500 to produce
1,000 copies. That's $13.50 per disc, plus packaging (jewl case,
instruction insert) for another $3.50, that's $17.00 per copy. Not bad,
really and I'm willing to bet that the CDR duplicator has been in their
posetion for other purposes and for far longer, thus dropping about $5.00
(or more) off that final $17/copy price tag. So it looks to be about the
same price as cart development and potentially a bit cheaper. Even if
they silk-screen labeled the CDR's, that would still only add another $1.00
per disc cost.
That leaves a pretty hefty profit margin there and you know they're not
going to spend a dime on advertising or promoting it. Well, maybe a few
flyers sent to key retailers.
> Accordingly, we would
> encourage you to order your copy from your local Atari dealer, or
> Electronics
> Boutique, or directly from Telegames as soon as possible to ensure that
> you are able
> to get the best product ever released for Jaguar.
Yup, better hurry before they put their CDR duplicator to 'better use'
after the first 300 copies are burned. BTW: My price figure on the CD
replicator unit above was EXTREMELY inflated. Just flipping through the
back pages of Computer Shopper magazine as revealed a couple that can burn
16 CD's at 2X speed simultaneously for under $6,800.
Cheers,
Jeff [at Dark Science]
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
On CompuServe
Compiled by Joe Mirando
jmirando@streport.com
Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, there is STILL no joy in
Mudville tonight where my internet setup is concerned. MiNTnet and CAB
are still giving me fits and I don't know why. One thing is for sure: I'm
learning a lot more about the internet than I would have if I had simply
popped in a floppy or CDRom and hit 'Setup". For folks who don't care
about how the internet works but want access to all of the information it
offers, that's a good option to have. But if you're like me and NEED to
know how and why things work, simply installing a program or two doesn't
do it for you. Do I continue to use my Atari simply so I'll have to do
battle every time I want to access the latest and greatest features of the
computing world? No, that would just be stupid. The fact is that, with a
little research, thought, and trial and error, my MegaSTE can do just about
anything I want it to. So I'll keep on playing with settings, searching
out arcane tomes on both the internet and the ST, and asking lots of
questions of those who know more than I do about both.
Well, let's get on with the reason for this column in the first place...
all the great news, hints, tips, and info available every week right here
on CompuServe.
From the Atari Computing Forums
At the top of our message sheet today is a continuing conversation about
file descriptions being posted in english while the actual program or file
is actually in another language. Having seen this happen on occasion, I
post:
"No one seems to be saying "keep the 'foreign' language programs
and files out of here", only "give us some warning about whether
or not some of us will be able to make sense of it".
I too have on occasion downloaded a file that sounded great, only
to find out that I couldn't read the documentation or menus.
On the reverse side, when I upload a file or program, I don't
usually put 'english language' in the description, so I'm guilty
too.
It's far too easy to forget things like that when you find a great
program that you want to share with people here."
Myles Cohen tells me:
"As you might remember, Joe...I also belong to the PSION
forum...and they also have German...French...etc...contributors....
But the program descriptions are always uploaded in their
respective languages or are described in English with a warning
that there is no English translation...
What I'm getting at is that when you said, ". . . so I'm guilty
too. " you were not guilty at all...If the description is in
English...it is automatically assumed that the rest of the program
will be too...No special note need be made to that effect...
On the other hand...I have also seen programs described in English
that also have a note that there are French and German versions
enclosed...
BOTTOM LINE: If the description is in English and there is no
English in the program...then that description should say so..."
Douglas Erickson posts:
"I have a 520ST. I heard once you can add a meg of memory to this
unit by buying some accessory. Does anyone know what that accessory
is and where I could buy one?"
Bob Matiska tells Doug:
"The early Atari ST's could be upgraded to as much as 4 meg,
either by soldering parts to the motherboard or by plugging in an
upgrade board. A 520ST that our club's BBS was using had 16 RAM
chips piggybacked onto the existing 16, most of the legs soldered
together and some jumper wires soldered here and there. A mess and
not something for the squeamish. Another 520 we used before that
had some kind of an upgrade that had the 16 RAM chips on a long
board with a connector pushed onto one of the existing RAM chips.
It gave 2.5 megs and would work fine until the connection oxidized.
Then the connector had to be reseated and it would work again for a
while. Other upgrades came and went, which brings us to the
present. The only upgrade I've seen for a while has been from the
XtraRam people in England. Toad Computers used to sell it and
still may, but I just visited their web site and was shocked at the
lack of Atari hardware and software listed. You can call them at
1-800-448-8623 to order it or call their info line at 410-544-6943
if you just want to see what your options are. Or send email
through the net to: info@toad.net. Also check out System Solutions'
web site at ssolution.com for info about the upgrade. You could
order it from them. The Toad price is $79 without the necessary 1
meg simms, which you could probably get from a local seller rather
than paying their somewhat high price."
On the subject of CAB (Crystal Atari Browser), Jondahl Davis asks:
"Is there anything special about the setup of CAB for the '030? I,m
using the RSC from CAB 1.5. The RSC and OVL files are in the same
folder as CAB. Ackerman sent me a message saying it might be the
direction of the slashes in the URL. I very much doubt that, but
I'll give it a try. It's good to know somebody got it to work."
Joe Villarreal tells Jondahl:
"The '030' version of Cab 1.5 is optimized for the TT and Falcon.
It's faster on my TT than the normal version. The setup is exactly
the same for both versions.
I've found a file somewhere on the Internet that mentions Stik2.
It will have support for PPP. So, maybe a connection to the
internet using Stik and Cab will be possible on CompuServe."
Jondahl tells Joe:
"Thanks for the good news. I've been hoping for an update to STik.
I'm using it on Homenet with a SLIP connection,but it would
probably be better to use PPP. Do you use Newsie? I'm having some
problems on Usenet;it's probably file corruption on the server
rather than the reader. Some files stop loading before the whole
message comes in. The next thing I read is always the rest of the
previous message. After that,all messages are the last half of
other messages. The only way to get messages after that is to log
off,exit and restart the program. The Newsgroup overviews are never
the same length twice. I can read the overview of a group 4 times
and it's different every time. Netscape can't download those funny
files, either.
Joe tells Jondahl:
"I'm using a SLIP connection also, using Sprintnet to connect to
Delphi.com. I've tried Newsie somewhat and it seems to work OK. I
don't get corrupt files. The problem I have is that I seem to
download some of the same Usenet messages that I read and deleted
in my previous connection. This might be my fault since I haven't
read the docs completely."
In the world of MIDI music, Craig Barnes asks:
"Can anyone tell me what is required to remove the bass boost
circuit on the Falcon audio output."
Frank Heller tells Craig that it's...
"More work than you could possibly believe. Definately not worth
the effort. Roll off the bottom 3-5dB @100Hz when you pass it out
into your mixer. If you make a mistake there aint no more spare
parts."
Gary Partington asks for help with his new DTP program:
"I have purchased a copy of Pagestream and Timeworks but have
never used a DTP before and I am having a few problems First
problem is the lack of any docs whatsoever Pagestream seems easier
to use but when I try and import text it either locks up or seems
to accept the loabut then I can't find any text to work with!
Graphics load OK but I am spending a lot of time getting nowhere.
Can anyone give me a quick guide to getting started with a DTP?"
Rick Detlefsen tells Gary:
"I'm using Pagestream 2.2SE, and it comes with a manual. To
import Text you need the Text function selected, choose a file,
then paste it where you want it. You may need to choose a font/
size. I do not use the postscript type 1 fonts as PS always locks
up when I do."
Well folks, I know this has been a short visit, but the rest of the
stuff on CompuServe this week was a bit lame. There was one interesting
thread about freedom of speech versus protection for the youth of America,
but it's far too long and involved to go into here. I would like to state
my opinions here though, and since you are free to either read on or not,
here I go <grin>...
The theory goes that, since the internet makes access to pornography
so easy, it must be a threat to our children. Actually, I have no
children, so I'll use yours as an example, okay?
First of all, pornography has been with us since the first Sumarian
artisan decided to mold a clay bowl into the shape of a woman. Literally
thousands of generations have come and gone and this influence is still
with us. True, civilizations have risen and fallen throughout the ages,
but I believe that is the natural way of things.
Second, it is still the parent that should decide what is acceptable,
not society the state or national government and certainly not popular
opinion.
Easy access to pornography does not necessarily mean that a child will
instantly be turned into a raving sex fiend, drug user, or psychopath.
What it does mean is that parents need to take control of what children do.
This is not society's job, and I surely do not want to see it decided by
something as ethically challenged as government. The very fact that some
see pornography as art while others see it as depravity is the basis of
freedom of speech. No, the Founding Fathers probably never envisioned
today's pornography and its accessibility, but that is irrelevant. While
a lot of pornography is garbage, it has the constitutional right to be
garbage. You are free to view it or not, and to allow or prohibit your
children from doing the same, but let's not give up yet another one of our
responsibilities to the state. Child rearing has always been hard. It's
just that now we have a government that is more and more willing to 'help'
us with our responsibilities. Nancy Reagan would probably be upset at my
quoting her in this way, but "just say no!"
Well, I'll step off of the old soapbox for now. Be sure to tune in
again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what
they are saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
EDITORIAL QUICKIES
Favorite Acronyms
PCMCIA => People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms
ISDN => It Still Does Nothing
APPLE => Arrogance Produces Profit-Losing Entity
IBM => I Blame Microsoft
DEC => Do Expect Cuts
CA => Constant Acquisitions
CD-ROM => Consumer Device, Rendered Obsolete in Months
OS/2 => Obsolete Soon, Too.
SCSI => System Can't See It
DOS => Defunct Operating System
BASIC => Bill's Attempt to Seize Industry Control
WWW => World Wide Wait
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