Z*Net: 14-Sep-90 #537

From: Len Stys (aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 10/06/90-10:19:33 PM Z


From: aa399@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Len Stys)
Subject: Z*Net: 14-Sep-90  #537
Date: Sat Oct  6 22:19:33 1990



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       Z*NET ATARI ONLINE MAGAZINE   September 14, 1990   Issue #537
                                 (actually done on 9/17/90)    
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Publisher/Editor : Ron Kovacs      Assistant Editor  : John Nagy
     Z*Net New Zealand: Jon Clarke      Staff Columnists  : Terry May
     Advertising  :  J K Tarpinian      Z*Net Canada: Terry Schreiber
     Distribution : Bruce Hansford      Z*Net Germany  : Mike Schuetz
     Z*Net England : Paul Glover        Contributor  : Dr. Paul Keith
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 What Happened to Z*NET?
 by John Nagy
  
 They say, Better Late than Never.  I don't believe it.  But  we've
 been accosted by the faithful readers who "want their Z*NET"  this
 week, so here is a mini-issue to tide you over til Friday.

 Ron and I did Glendale all weekend.  Ron flew in to LAX from New
 Jersey after a full day of work on Friday, September 14 (yes, he
 has a real job too!).  I met him after my full day of work (yes,
 me too!) and some hours at the hall checking preparations.  We
 began working on collecting parts for Z*NET #537, which by then
 was already late.  Our intent was to get the issue ready and just
 insert some Glendale impressions on Saturday, and be just a day
 late.  Well, one thing tends to follow another, and Saturday
 became Sunday, and we grew progressively busier and more zombie-
 like (though I think we know how little sleep we can live on
 now).  By Sunday night at 8, we were sitting down to try again at
 Z*NET, but got a call to come see the new desktop on the TT...
 and maybe even do some of the issue on it.  Off to Burbank... and
 hours later, yes we saw it... but no closer to getting the issue
 done.

 By midnight we needed coffee just to remember to breath.  So instead
 of writing, we dozed in front of the videotape (lots of vidi-pix to
 come!!!)... then decided that, since I had to work at 7:50 AM and Ron
 had to fly back to Jersey Monday morning, Z*NET went back on hold...
 
 This morning we decided that the world could continue without Z*NET
 #537.  By this evening, the phone calls and messages convinced us
 otherwise.  So here is a MINI issue... just enough to get us all
 through til #538 on Friday, September 21.
 
 Look for the NEXT issue for more news than is normally allowed by
 law... we really hate to sit on this stuff, but there is just to much
 to cover quickly.  This issue is just a few quick impressions... the
 full tilt story will all be in Z*NET #538.
 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             ~~~ EDITORS DESK ~~~              BY RON KOVACS
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 SATURDAY AT GLENDALE 
 Here we go again with another issue "almost" live from the floor.  This
 time around we don't have to worry about working from a hotel room or
 show floor because John Nagy lives rather close to the Glendale Civic 
 Auditorium, site of the fourth Glendale Atari Show.
 
 This is a first time visit for me to California and I am impressed, if
 with anything it's the weather.  The surroundings are pleasant and
 the people enjoyable.  This is a big change from New Jersey where we
 deal with weather problems from time to time, worry about what is going
 to stab us in the ocean and ponder moving out since the recent election
 gave us a new and fabulous governor.
 
 Remember that this is just a visit and I leave in two days and return
 home with memories and a videotape, (I hope).  I have met more people
 who have been faceless behind the messages and phone conversations, and
 surprised at the overall attitude received by many.  Since I travel
 once a year, I am not close to any member of the community and only
 deal with them on the phone or through the medium you now are reading.
 
 The Glendale show seems to be a success to me.  I have no prior 
 attendance to speak differently.  There were only 15 people waiting to
 get in on Saturday, but 15 minutes later there were 600 people wandering
 around and quickly things got busy.  I was an assistant to John Nagy who 
 was in charge of the seminar scheduling and getting them started on 
 time.  In my opinion, the star of the Saturday seminars was Leonard 
 Tramiel who spoke for an extended period at two seminars, and David
 Small who sang Neil Young LIVE during his afternoon seminar.
 
 The seminars started with Bob Brodie who welcomed the members and 
 entertained over 180 people.  In attendance during this first seminar 
 were Elie Kenan, John Townsend, Ken Badertscher, Leonard Tramiel and many
 others.  Bob took questions from the crowd which ranged from TT to STE.
 
 In all, Atari made an appearance with its staff at three seminars.  The
 morning welcome with Bob Brodie, Atari Tech Talk with John Townsend,
 Ken Badertscher and Leonard Tramiel.  The third with Leonard soloing
 questions and answers specifically about the TT.  There as supposed to
 be a TT on display during his talk, but it never made it down to the
 conference area.
 
 Leonard's speaking was very concise during all of his appearances on
 Saturday.  He was patient with the crowd, very direct and would not
 fluff a response.  When asked directly about TT prices, delivery or
 other pointed questions, he would simply say no comment or attempt to
 make his point clear by actually saying he would not answer that
 question.  When asked about reports in the press, he wouldn't name names
 but asked everyone to think about what was being published and to think
 about it before believing it.
 
 Leonard seemed to enjoy his appearances during the day.  He was relaxed
 well spoken and humorous at times.  Atari shined and I think that most
 felt comfortable with Atari's response and commitment to the show.
 

 SUNDAY AT GLENDALE
 
 These are only my impressions of the day and full reports are being
 generated.  The official paid attendance figures were 1607 for Saturday
 and 852 for Sunday or 2459 total.
 
 During the day today there were OTHER fun things that took place that 
 are worth mentioning here.  I hope not to offend residents of the area, 
 but thought you might like to hear something humorous.
 
 Since we hadn't eaten yet at 1pm, and the GEnie node being down AGAIN,
 John and I decided to go to a fast food joint in town, a McDonalds would
 have been nice, but anything that served food quick was fine.  Well,
 driving around Glendale seems a chore and there must be an ordinance in
 the city books that state "Golden Arches and Burger King Signs are NOT
 permitted".  We did find a Jack-In-The-Box, and I had the "Ultimate 
 Burger" and John had something that was toast squashed around some 
 hamburger meat and to top it off, he poured catsup all over the fries 
 which I am still tasting now.
 
 After the hearty meal, a smokers dream is a cigarette, well 'WRONG 
 ANSWER FOR RON!!!", no cigarettes, hey, no problem, go to a store and 
 get some........ Hmm but where......  There are NO 7-Elevens, convenience 
 stores, mom/pop places or even a cigarette machine available.  We drove
 around looking for a place to purchase a pack through the "afternoon 
 haze", as John Nagy called it.  I had earlier seen the "morning haze,
 and would later see the "evening haze".  L.A. is big on haze. They don't
 recommend that you breathe it.  We finally stopped in a gas station and
 did purchase a pack.
 
 I will leave the actual reporting to John Nagy who is typing his first 
 report now which will be followed with a FULL report next week.
 
 I want to thank John King Tarpinian for his hospitality.  He is a 
 remarkable person who is needed in the Atari arena.  He has put together 
 an interesting show that I hope will be more successful next year and 
 without the worry of another show scheduled on top of it.  The show went
 well and I look forward to visiting the area again in the future.
 
 Next, Z*Net goes on the road to WAACE.  If you are on the 
 East Coast, please make an effort to attend.
 
 
 -----------------------
 
  Z*NET did a pair of live mini-conferences from the show floor at
 the Glendale Atari Show.  Although there were four conferences
 scheduled, the Burbank node of GEnie had other ideas.  Nevertheless,
 we managed to do one each day.  Here are the transcripts, courtesy
 of GEnie and the CODEHEADQUARTERS BBS, who graciously allowed us
 to use their phone line to do our reporting.

 
 SATURDAY AT 1 PM:

 <[John] Z-NET> The Glendale show is doing very well so far, although
                only 15 people were waiting when the doors opened at 10.
                within 20 minutes we had 600!
 <DARLAH> How's sales?
 <[John] Z-NET> In the first hour, we got 1,000 people thru the door...
                and about 5% of them are user group members.
                Sales look very good as usual..
 <DARLAH> that is great!!
 <[John] Z-NET> most people carrying bags of goodies.
                Bob Brodie spoke to 180 people at the 11 AM seminar
                and the Codehead seminar is just wrapping up.
 <C.BRODEN> John, any new word on the TT
 <DARLAH> Who else is speaking today?
 <[John] Z-NET> Next is a change of schedule, a tech talk with Towns and 
                Badertscher
                The TT will be shown in seminar fashion at 3:45 (Pacific)
 <DARLAH> Really..they are showing the TT...hmm
 <DARLAH> Anyone selling machines at the shows?
 <[John] Z-NET> Yes, although they were NOT going to, Elie Kenan
                decided to do it anyway
 <[John] Z-NET> Not the TT of course!
 <DARLAH> Good for Elie
 <[John] Z-NET> there are 4 retailers here, they have hardware.
 <[John] Z-NET> I am calling via the CODEHEADQUARTERS BBS booth
 <C.BRODEN> How are prices looking for the STe s
 <DARLAH> That is good to hear
 <[John] Z-NET> Sorry, haven had time to look at prices yet...
 <[John] Z-NET> I"m running the seminars and its a busy schedule.
 <DARLAH> Are you mostly seeing STE's for sale?
 <[John] Z-NET> Codehead is introducing a NEW program today
                called CODEKEYS
 <[Mike Schuetz] HILCHNER2> Hey John did you put the duesseldorf 
                            article in ZNET? 
 <C.BRODEN> Any good seminars??
 <J.BRENNER1> has left.
 <[John] Z-NET> Z*Net will be out late today, Mike, we WILL be using 
                it, unless you have more...
 <[Mike Schuetz] HILCHNER2> Not yet...(sorry)
 <[John] Z-NET> Dave Small does the one at 3...
 <C.BRODEN> Dave always does good ones.
 <[John] Z-NET> The Hard Drive for the PORTFOLIO is CUTE!
 <[John] Z-NET> Dorothy Brumleve lost her luggage...
 <[Vince-Cubed] V.AVERELLO> Upload pictures later, John
 <DARLAH> sigh....
 <[John] Z-NET> with her new product that she was to introduce.
 <[John] Z-NET> She is BUMMED.
 <[Vince-Cubed] V.AVERELLO> I can imagine....
 <DARLAH> oh great...such fun..sorry to hear
 <G.KOPRIVA> my thoughts exactly
 <[John] Z-NET> Atari staff on site are Bob Brodie, Elie Kenan,
                Ken Badertscher, John Townsend, Don Thomas, 
                Art Morgan, and more...
 <[Vince-Cubed] V.AVERELLO> Art Morgan...?
 <[John] Z-NET> Art has been around a while
 <[Vince-Cubed] V.AVERELLO> The rest of the names are familiar but
                           that one's new to me.....
 <[John] Z-NET> Turning things over to Ron now.
 <C.BRODEN> Any Tramiels?
 <[John] Z-NET> Yes.. Leonard is here..
 <G.KOPRIVA> has left.
 <[Mike Schuetz] HILCHNER2> Any new software for the TT ?
 <[John] Z-NET> Ok we are going for now and will be back at 4pm 
                pacific...  OK???
 <DARLAH> Will try to see you then
 <C.BRODEN> See you at 4pm.
 <C.BRODEN> has left.
 <[John] Z-NET> Later and thanks for staying...
 <[John] Z-NET> has left.
 
 
 SUNDAY at 4 PM:
 
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Hello everyone!
 <JEFF.W> Hi there!
 <[Vince-Cubed] V.AVERELLO> Hi John 
 <[Greg] G.TRECARTIN> evening
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> Hi John..
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Sorry to be so late... still have node trouble 
                     here in CA
 <JEFF.W> So what's the news, John?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Glendale show still in progress
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> the attendance is lower today
 <C.BRODEN> How were sales????
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> of course... looks to be about 1K to me.  Maybe
                     less, maybe
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> loved the digi-pc1's John and Ron.
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> sales look slower but everyone is very happy
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> lots more digi pics to come
 <JEFF.W> For an Atari show, wouldn't you say the attendance is good?
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> neat!
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Just finished a publisher seminar with Start, ST
                     INFORMER, ST JOURNAL, us, and ... unm.... somebody?
                     The attendance is ok.  Just ok.  The show is great,
                     and I fear that we are reaching those who still 
                     care to come to these show.
 <C.BRODEN> What is the TT news???
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> And there are less of them.
                     Lots of TT news, we have a GREAT hands on report in
                     the ZNET we hope to finish tonight.
                     A NEW TOS.... and more.  A new desktop.

 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> the multi tasking TOS?
 <C.BRODEN> Any idea when Znet will be posted
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> We will post ZNET probably late tonight.
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> when is the release date John?
 <JEFF.W> New TOS?  For current ST's?
 <[Greg] G.TRECARTIN> is that the ICD TOS?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Sorry.  This is what happens when 100% of the staff
                     is here. Not 100% really, but production. 
 <DARLAH> hey I know how that goes
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> and here :)
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> NO, not a new TOS for the ST, this is the TT
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> That was the question.
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> Ok the new desktop, John?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Same, the Tt
 <JEFF.W> Is Sliccware selling their desktop?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Still very busy on the floor.
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Sliccware is still not for sale.
 <DARLAH> That is good to hear
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> I don't know how they can afford to come for just
                     Beta
 <DARLAH> the business that is
 <C.BRODEN> How did the Lynx area look??
 <JEFF.W> Any date for  Sliccware that you know of, John?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Nope, just soon...  maybe two weeks?
 <[Vince-Cubed] V.AVERELLO> They've been at the last 2 or 3 shows
                            haven't they?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Yup.
 <JEFF.W> They were at the Anaheim WOA.
 <[Greg] G.TRECARTIN> Was Gadgets showing there 030 at the show?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> The 030 is NOT here.
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> Any news on the 32mhz version of the TT John?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> from Small.
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> The TT will be 32. That is official today.
                     Yesterday actually.
 <JEFF.W> Besides CodeKeys and Neodesk 3, anything new (and available)
         being shown?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Leonard had LOTS to say...
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> Finally Yhea, wonder if a chap will say
                           sorry :)
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> at two seminars
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> two!
                     MEGATALK from Small...
                     TELEGRAM from Brumleve
 <C.BRODEN> Any new games out??
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Not a lot in games here for the ST, but new LYNX
                     titles have lines that wont quit.  LYNX 
                     competition did not happen.
                     Anything else specific?
 <DARLAH> What new titles?
 <JEFF.W> I hear that SlimeWorld is shipping.  Anyone have it to sell at
          the show?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Sorry, have to get them.  They were announced
                     before, but are here now. Not much LYNX stuff
                     for SALE....
 <DARLAH> Babbages locally here says Slimeworld in 2 weeks
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> this is mostly computers.
 <DARLAH> or so they were told
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Think so, Darlah.
 <[Greg] G.TRECARTIN> Anyone using the Stacy to demo software?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> Several others too, I know.
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> any news on the CDAR504 John?
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> There is a CDAR here at the Atari area, the comment
                     yesterday was that Leonard says it will be released
                     as soon as product is available in the format.
                     Chicken or the egg anyone?
 <JEFF.W> I don't suppose he said when product will be available?
 <DARLAH> ;-)
 <[John Nagy] Z-NET> I will turn this over to Ron now...
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> They have a warehouse full of them! EGG!
 <[Ron] Z-NET> We have 5 minutes left then we are off..
 <[Ron] Z-NET> Hi all.. It has been interesting...
               What else can I tell you??
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> Any news on the new midi tasking tos?
 <[Ron] Z-NET> No.....
 <[Jon@Znet DU] J.CLARKE6> ok..
 <JEFF.W> Is Wordflair talking about Wordflair II yet?
 <[Ron] Z-NET> Simple answer.. <grin>  I really have to give this back
               to Codehead who are giving us this space.
 <JEFF.W> Give our best to Charles and John.
 <[Ron] Z-NET> Not sure Jeff.. The issue will be out 11pm PDT.
               Ok.. Talk to you later.. Bye
 
 -----------------------------------
 
 Needless to say, the issue came out later than anticipated.  But
 that means that next weekend's issue will be PACKED with news of
 Glendale and all over.  Thanks for your remarkable show of support...
 it does our hearts good to find that a single missing issue of Z*NET
 can cause such an uproar!
 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  ~~~ DUESSELDORF ATARI SHOW REPORT ~~~
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                             Z*NET GERMANY CORRESPONDENT
 
 
 Annual Atari Show - Duesseldorf (West) Germany
 Compiled by Christian Strasheim, Kai-Uwe Wahl & Michael Schuetz
 Courtesy of Atari PD Journal
 
 
 This year the annual Atari show in Duesseldorf, Germany, was held from
 August 24th til 26th, 1990.  This year the show once again attracted
 more visitors than last year - all in all more than 42.000 visitors
 strolled through the two exhibition halls during the three days.  And
 there really was a lot to see. 209 vendors, compared to last year's 155,
 were showing off their ST related products on an exhibition terrain of
 20.000 square meters.  This year for the first time Atari Germany was
 also happy to welcome vendors from Australia and the Soviet Union.
 
 The main attraction at the Atari booth was naturally the TT.  Before the
 show a lot of rumours and dementis concerning the speed and availability
 of the new Atari flagship could be heard both overseas, in the states
 and in Europe.  But since August 24th all discussions will have an end,
 it is official now: The TT will run at 32 megahertz.  More surprisingly
 than this fact was also the new TOS version 3.1 that the TT's at the
 show were using.  At first sight it will remind the user of programs
 like Neodesk or Gemini Shell.
 
 The other new product by Atari itself was the new low cost laser printer
 SLM605.  Just like its predecessor, the SLM804, the new little brother
 has to be connected to the ST via the DMA port.  The much smaller unit
 is able to print 6 pages per minute and will retail for approx. DM 2.500
 (~ $1.600 US).
 
 But now let's focuse our attention on some of the highlights that third
 party vendors had to offer at the show:
 
 HEIDELBERG
 The ST professionals from Application Systems Heidelberg have always
 been good for surprises.  This year was again no exception.  Under the
 noteworthy name Phoenix they presented a new database program that took
 the competition in this market field totally by surprise.  The authors
 of this program, the Geiss brothers, are no strangers to insiders.  They
 are also the authors of another database classic for the ST, namely
 Adimens.  Phoenix is looking very good and it might hit the market by
 the end of the year.  Another Application Systems product, the
 wordprocessor Script, was also shown.  The new version 2.0 now runs also
 on the TT and is compatible to all regular Big screen monitors.
 
 BETA SYSTEMS
 Beta Systems, creators of the famous MS DOS emulator Supercharger,
 showed off a LANADAP-SC card that plugs into the internal expansion port
 of the Supercharger and makes it possible to connect the PC emulator for
 example to Novell based PC network systems.
 
 Also sold at the show was the new PC emulator AT Speed, that was created
 by Hans Sack, who is also 'responsible' for the well known MS DOS
 emulator PC Speed.
 
 CCD
 CCD ran another beta version of Tempus Word.  The program right now is
 already at the Version state 1.00 and the final product is supposed to
 be ready within weeks.  Compared to the old 0.9 version more features
 such as graphic import and page numbering have been added.  Tempus Word
 will naturally run on big screen monitors.  A TT adaption is on its way
 too.  Meanwhile CCD did also some touch up work on their classic editor
 Tempus.  The program is now up to Version 2.10.  The new version is
 available for DM 129.-.  Updates from the versions 2.0x are available
 for DM 25.-.

 EICKMANN
 The Frankfurt based company Eickmann computer had as usual some
 interesting hardware devices to offer.  The newest project is the so
 called Eickmann Towers - completley redesigned and modified ST Tower
 units with all kinds of configurations.  The high class model is called
 ET-1/20.  It offers a 16 MHz 68020 processor, 3 disk drives, a 100 MB
 hard disk (accesstime: 18 ms !!) an exchangable hard disk and several
 other features.  Besides these complete computer units, Eickmann added
 several new hard drives to its already long ST hard drive collection.
 The offer ranges from external units in different sizes to internal
 drives that can be installed within Mega ST models.
 
 GFA
 GFA right now enforces the development of PC products.  Soon some of
 their products will be available for DOS, Windows 3.0, OS/2 1.2 and
 Unix/386 V3.2.  Later on they will engage their efforts again in the
 Atari resort.  GFA Basic 4.0 for the ST/TT is already in the drawing
 board stage.
 
 OMIKRON
 Omikron presented the new version of their database program EasyBase and
 also a new game called Goliath3, which is the interesting adaption of
 the classic game GO! for the ST.  Professional Go players said it could
 not be done - but Goliath 3 takes the ST up to a strength factor of
 approx. 15 kuy.  The program will retail for DM 99.-.
 
 TKR
 TKR demoed a big screen expansion board with the name crazy dots for the
 sensational price of DM 1298.-.  The board offers 1 MB of video RAM with
 direct access to the blitter chip.  Through a video application slot a
 genlock-/or a true color expansion can be added.  The standard
 configuration of crazy dots offers resolutions of 1664 x 1200 pixels
 (16 colors), 1280 x 800 pixels (256 colors out of 262144 colors)
 
 Stay tuned for more.............
 
 
 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        ~~~ Z*NET PUBLIC DOMAIN UPDATE ~~~           BY TERRY MAY
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                                         STAFF COLUMNIST
 
 
 Bradford W. Mott         [*>  Fast GIF v1.0  <*]              Shareware
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEnie: FASTGIF.ARC             Grade: B-            CIS-ART: FSTGIF.LZH
 
 If you're lover of graphics, like me, you've no doubt been frustrated
 by the lack of quality GIF viewers.  To get a decent rendering of all
 but the simplest GIF pics, it has been necessary to convert your GIFs
 to Spectrum format; a slow process, at best.  And even then, you're
 often left with a poor picture, due to the ST's limited graphic
 resolution.
 
 Is Fast GIF the answer to all your prayers?  Not quite -- but it's a
 start.  Fast GIF is both a slideshow and a conversion (to PI1) program.
 It offers two types of dithering, ability to keep same ratio or resize
 to fit the screen, and two display speeds.  Picture quality varies, but
 is generally decent; in most cases not quite as good as GIFSPC
 conversions.  The PI1 conversions offer you the same quality as what is
 shown in display mode, and are in fact displayed during the conversion
 process.  In other words, WYSIWYG.
 
 The best thing about Fast GIF is it lives up to its name; it is FAST!
 Its display speed ranges from 3 to 10+ times faster than other GIF
 utilities.  And it holds the current GIF on the screen while it loads
 and dithers the next picture, meaning there is no blank screen or
 annoying conversion process to watch between pics!  Naturally, this
 takes a bit of buffering.  However, the docs state that it will display
 most GIFs on a 1/2 meg machine, provided there are no TSRs or ACCs
 loaded.  I had no problem displaying any GIFs on my 1 meg machine, with
 several TSRs and ACCs in memory.
 
 At worst, this program provides an excellent method of previewing GIFs
 to see if they're worth taking the time to convert to Spectrum.  As a
 viewer it is far and away at the top of its class.  Its interface could
 use a few improvements, such as the ability to display/convert a single
 GIF, but overall it is very easy to use.  It is only version 1.0, and
 the author promises many improvements, including even _more_ speed!  If
 you're into graphics at all, I urge you to download this program and
 support the author to ensure additional development of this fine
 program.
 
 Fast GIF runs in LOW and MED resolution only.
 
 
 Tom Hayslett           [*>  TLC File Namer  <*]          Shareware: $15
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEnie: TLC_NAMR.ARC            Grade: A             CIS-PRO: TLCNAM.ARC
 
 If you've ever felt limited with the basic ASCII characters when naming
 your files, then this program is for you.  It will allow you to use any
 of the ST's internal characters, including copyright symbols, Atari Fuji
 logos, etc.
 
 Operation is extremely simple.  You simply choose your file with the
 file selector, and then you're shown the old name above a prompt for a
 new name.  Below this is a box that contains all of the ST's internal
 character set.  In order to include one or more of the unique
 characters, you simply click on them with the mouse and they show up in
 your new filename prompt.  Once you're satisfied with your new name,
 click on the appropriate box to change the filename and you're done.
 
 TLC File Namer runs as both an ACC and PRG in MED and HIGH resolution.
 
 
 Tom Hayslett         [*>  TLC Sound Machine  <*]         Shareware: $15
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 GEnie: TLC_PLAY.ARC           Grade: A              CIS-ART: TLCPLA.ARC
 
 This is a nice, easy to use program that allows you to load, save, play
 and manipulate the sound of _any_ file.  Note that I didn't say "sound"
 file.  This program will literally play _any_ file!
 
 Oh sure, it will load and play various digitized sound files just fine,
 but it will also 'play' binary files, picture files, text files, and any
 other file you feel like loading.  Your only limitation is memory...and
 imagination.  If you've ever wondered what Flash 'sounds' like, well,
 now's your chance to find out!  (It sounds kind of weird!)

 You have the ability to amplify, stretch, soften, squeeze, loop,
 reverse, speed up and slow down the sound of your files.  In addition,
 you can save your sounds in DigiSound or SoundOff! (ST Replay) formats,
 or as a raw data file.  Yes, besides being a unique and fun program, it
 is also a handy utility.

 The TLC Sound Machine runs in either MED or HIGH resolution.  As with
 TLC File Namer, $15 gets you 5 TLC utility programs personalized with
 your name and GFA Basic source code.  A good value, to be sure.
 
 
 
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