ST Report: 31-May-91 #722
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 06/13/91-09:40:39 PM Z
From: aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 31-May-91 #722
Date: Thu Jun 13 21:40:39 1991
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
from
STR Publishing Inc.
""""""""""""""""""
May 31, 1991 No.7.22
==========================================================================
STReport International Online Magazine?
Post Office Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida
32205 ~ 6672
R.F. Mariano
Publisher - Editor
-----------------------------------------
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST
BBS: 904-786-4176 USR/HST DUAL STANDARD
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST
-----------------------------------------
** Fnet 350 * Fido Node 1:112/35 * NeST Node 90:3000/350.0 **
privately owned & operated STReport support BBS
ALL issues of STReport International Online Magazine
are available along with
A worldwide list of private bbs systems carrying STReport
__________________________________________________________________
> 05/31/91: STReport #7.22 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
-------------------------
- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - MAC REPORT
- GADGETS UPDATE - MSTE BenchMarks - JRI Upgrade Review
- GramSlam 3.20 - Sources Revealed? - ST is STILL #1!
- HIGHSPEED PASCAL - UserGroups pIII - SOFT-LOGIK RTC
-* MAILORDER MSTE IS LOWBALLED! *-
-* ATARI SALES BRISK! *-
-* PAGESTREAM VER. 2 HOT! *-
==========================================================================
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE?
The _Number One_ Online Magazine
-* FEATURING *-
"UP-TO-DATE News and Information"
Current Events, Original Articles, Hot Tips, and Information
Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
==========================================================================
STReport's support BBS, NODE 350, invites systems using Forem ST and Turbo
Board BBS to participate in the Fido/F-Net Mail Network. Or, call Node
350 direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging infor-
mation relative to the Atari ST computer arena through an excellent Inter-
national ST Mail Network. All registered F-NET - Crossnet SysOps are wel-
come to join the STReport Crossnet Conference. The Crossnet Conference
Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All systems are welcome and
invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today!
==========================================================================
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON: GENIE ~ CIS ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ F-NET
==========================================================================
> The Editor's Podium
In the last 4.5 months, we have been witness to a "new" Atari, an Atari
that is alleged to be more "progressive", a gentler, kinder, Atari...
Here's the Gig,
Do you see it that way? Do you think Atari is doing the right
things in the USA? Let's get a REAL discussion going here, you never
know who may reading/forwarding these messages.
The US market for Atari, in general, seems to be on the neglected
side. WHY?? Anybody know? Could it be Atari is headed toward a high
priced niche market with a very slim future for anything else as far as
support and development? Seems PageStream and Calamus are the ONLY HOT
areas to be found in the Atari community. The Pond is apparently getting
smaller and the BIG fish seem to be eating each other.
Will Atari go down in history as the only company that managed to
snatch FAILURE from the JAWS of success? Let's hear from you! Of cour-
se, none of this is meant as a jab at Atari but rather a catalyst toward
encouraging constructive user/reader input. STReport is looking for
solid, substantive suggestions, observations and opinions that could pos-
sibly be of real value in helping Atari build toward the future. We will
present the best of the suggestions here in STReport and all letters
received will be forwarded to Atari.
STReport its staffers and editors have always maintained that Atari
hardware is among the very best available for the dollar. That opinion
has never changed and most likely never will. Recently however, certain
occurances have raised our eyebrows, like the headlines in Israel that a
certain deadline was apparently missed. And of course, news of certain
offshore facilities having been sold. This morning, after approximately
25 phone calls from serious Atari supporters complaining about the "low-
ball" listing of the MegaSTe4/50 in the NEW J&R catalog, I decided it was
time to ask WHY?
There is nothing wrong with mail order, its simply the lowballers and
the full strokers that make this situation almost impossible. There must
be a median plateau for pricing in the mailorder world. Mailorder is,
after all, the fastest method attainable for Atari to increase its market
penetration. What would YOU suggest that would work for ATARI and its
FUTURE? Developers, Dealers and of course, the users are urged to
participate. After all, its YOUR computer too!
What about the story of the 520STe computers in the warehouse? Those
that were supposed to be "bundled". Why not sell them through the cable
sales networks? INSTANT National TV coverage at no cost to Atari and the
basic value in the machines comes back to Atari as cash. Not bad. This
particular suggestion has been rolling about in the hallowed halls of
Sunnyvale for almost three months with NO DECISION! WHY? Come on Guys
this is also an excellent way to minimize the summer slump and increase
the basic size of the userbase in this country. Your dealers, developers
and users NEED this infusion of "fresh blood".
Ok fellow Atarians and readers, lets hear from you! Believe it, your
opinion counts and will be presented to the powers that be in Sunnyvale.
If the response in puny... we will tell it that way too. So get on the
stick and lets make sure Atari knows we are still out here, ready to keep
on keeping on.
On another note, the MSTE and 1040STe sales have been brisk, most dea-
lers exclaim that they can sell all they can get. Trouble is the pipeline
is sending only a trickle. The MSTE4/50 is a very powerful package and
one well worth the money. If you are considering purchasing an STe, get
the MegaSTe4/50 package its super good.
We want to hear from you! Thanks for your support!
Ralph......
TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors!
================
Publisher - Editor
------------------
Ralph F. Mariano
Staff Editors:
--------------
Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Walter Daniel
Oscar Steele Robert Allbritton John Szczepanik
Dan Stidham
Contributing Correspondants:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Ed Krimen
Tim Holt Andrew Learner Norman Boucher
IMPORTANT NOTICE
================
Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc...
via E-Mail to:
Compuserve.................... 70007,4454
GEnie......................... ST.REPORT
Delphi........................ RMARIANO
BIX........................... RMARIANO
FIDONET....................... 112/35
FNET.......................... NODE 350
NEST.......................... 90:19/350.0
***********************************************************************
COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME
to the Readers of;
ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE?
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
"The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine"
NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198
You will receive your complimentary time
and
be online in no time at all!
WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (May 31)
ST WRITER ELITE 4.1!
Version 4.1 of ST WRITER ELITE is now available in LIBRARY 1 ("New
Uploads") of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO). This new version
contains one bug fix and one added feature over version 4.0. Download
file(s):
STWEL4.ARC - ST Writer Elite 4.1 English Version.
STWELG.ARC - ST Writer Elite 4.1 Word Processor German/Spanish.
REAL TIME MAGNIFIER
DC Real-time Magnifier, available in LIBRARY 13 of the Atari Vendors
Forum (GO ATARIVEN) as DCRMAG.ARC, will give you an 8X blow-up of the scr-
een! Move the mouse, and the magnified screen moves with it! Another
program of the week from Double Click!
PRICE/VERSION UPDATE
The latest prices, version numbers, and update information for all Code-
Head Software products is now available in LIBRARY 16 of the Atari Vendors
Forum (GO ATARIVEN).
DEMO OF OUTLINER PROGRAM
Jim Straus has uploaded a demo version of an outliner program he is wor-
king on. He would like to get your feedback before proceeding with fur-
ther development. Download OUTLIN.COM from LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Portfo-
lio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO) and send your comments to Jim at CompuServe User
ID number 70116,667.
NEW VERSION OF PBASIC
BJ Gleason has uploaded a new version of his BASIC interpreter, PBASIC
v4.5, now available in LIBRARY 1 of the Atari Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFO-
LIO).
Additionally, the following files are also available in LIBRARY 1 of the
Atari Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO) courtesy of BJ Gleason:
STOPW.ZIP - A multidisplay stopwatch/event counter.
Up to 10 timers/event.
CLOCK.EXE - Turn your Portfolio into a BIG clock!
BM2.ZIP - Battery Monitor Version 2; smaller than the old version.
ADDRES.EXE - Address Viewer for the PC, Version 1.0
BATTST.ZIP - Battery Test for the Portfolio, version 1
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION
"GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"
Of special Note:
Compuserve has attained over 800,000 ACTIVE users worldwide. Active
accounts are those that have activity within a 60 day period.
***********************************************************************
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #23
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
- Toronto, Ontario DYNACADD AVAILABLE FOR DOS, AMIGA
----------------
Ditek International has begun shipping versions of its DynaCADD
computer-aided design software for IBM PCs and compatibles, as well as
for the Commodore Amiga. DynaCADD was previously only available on the
Atari ST line of computers.
DynaCADD is a general purpose design and drafting program for
electrical, mechanical, architectural, and civil applications, Ditek
said. It handles both two- and three-dimensional drawings. The Amiga,
Atari, and DOS versions are able to exchange files, the company said.
All three versions retail for US $995.
A Windows version of DynaCADD and one for the Apple Macintosh are also
being developed, Ditek said.
- White Plains, New York IBM HAS SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE
----------------------
VoiceType, a speech recognition system meant to allow users avoid the
keyboard and based on technology from Dragon Systems, has been added to
the IBM Independence Series of products for disable computer users.
VoiceType is mainly meant for people with disabilities that keep them
from typing, but is not limited to these users.
VoiceType requires IBM's Multimedia Attachment Playback Adapter. The
software also needs a computer with at least an Intel 80386SX micro-
processor, 6 megabytes of RAM and a hard disk.
The software keeps a vocabulary of about 7,000 words in memory, 2,000 of
which the user can choose. When it cannot match spoken input to one of
those words, it asks the user to spell the word and turns to an 80,000-
word dictionary on disk. When a new word is recognized, it replaces the
least-used word in the memory-resident dictionary. The software can
adjust to each user's accent and pronunciation. It also has on-line
documentation which is accessible through voice commands.
- San Francisco, California YOU WANT FAST? LIGNTENING WILL GIVE
------------------------- YOU FAST WITH ITS NEW 50MHZ 486 PC
Lightening Computers has announced shipment of a 50 MHz Intel 80486-
based speedster that offers CPU speed of 22 MIPS (million instructions-
per-second), and, what the company claims, is a 50 percent performance
increase over 33MHz 486-based machines.
According to the company, the performance increase has been achieved by
integrating a solid-state cooling module that lowers operating CPU
temperatures to between zero and four degrees Celsius. This allows the
33 MHz 80486 chip to run at 50 MHz with no loss of reliability.
Additionally, the Lightning 486/50 uses three separate processors to
speed up graphics, numeric and disk-intensive operations. Disk-intensive
tasks are accelerated by a four to 16 megabyte RAM cache and a 16-bit
Z280 CPU that offloads I/O from the 80486 and handles, reads and writes
in the background.
Retail prices for complete systems range from $8955 to $30,000. Standard
warranty terms are one year for parts and labor with on-site service
available as an option.
- Canberra, Australia 10% TAX LEVIED ON SOFTWARE
-------------------
A recent Australian Taxation Office (ATO) draft ruling may see the Aust-
ralian software industry contribute AUS$50M to the Government's coffers.
The tax involves a 10 percent levy on invoiced amounts of royalties for
software master copies usage by local computer companies.
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has objected to
the ruling, and claims if other countries introduce similar levies, it
will have a detrimental effect on Australian software exports. The AIIA
has been lobbying the ATO, Treasury, and Department of Industry,
Technology and Commerce (DITAC) to have the ruling rescinded. The tax is
not being applied retrospectively, as it was generally thought it did
not apply to shrink-wrap software.
- Cupertino, California APPLE TO GO WITH COMPUTER SUPERSTORE CHAIN?
---------------------
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is considering selling its
low-end microcomputers through computer superstores like computer dis-
count chaing CompUSA. Apple Spokesperson, Lisa Burns wouldn't comment
on this report but did confirm that "Apple is looking towards super-
stores as a distribution outlet for high volume products."
If confirmed, the move would mark another milestone in the company's
change in strategy that began really with the introduction of the low-
end Macintosh Classic and color Macintosh LC late last year in an effort
to increase market share in the face of heavier competition from IBM and
compatible DOS-based machines, especially those employing Microsoft's
Windows 3.0 graphical user interface.
- Beijing, China DEMOCRACY VIRUS HITS CHINA PCs
--------------
With the approach of the second anniversary of the Beijing massacre in
which democracy campaigners were brutally attacked by army tanks on 4th
June 1989, there are reports of widespread contamination of personal
computers with a virus that displays a pro-democracy message on the PC's
screens.
The virus is believed to have infected computers in government offices
as well as in businesses and educational establishments.
The Hong Kong Standard newspaper quotes sources as saying that many
official establishments have been ordered to switch off their computers
and not use them again until after the anniversary has passed. It is be-
lieved the virus will cause little if any damage beyond disrupting
screen displays.
There have already been numerous reports of student protests at univer-
sities in the lead-up to 4th June.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
As a reader of STReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to
take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. For only $29.95 ($20
off the standard membership price!), you will receive a lifetime subscrip-
tion to DELPHI, a copy of the 500-page DELPHI: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE and over
$14 worth of free time.
NOTE: Special offers can be found in your favorite Atari magazines:
START CURRENT NOTES ST INFORMER
ATARI INTERFACE MAGAZINE
SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
======================
Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
--------------
1. Dial 617-576-0862 with any terminal or PC and modem (at 2400 bps,
dial 576-2981).
2. At the Username prompt, type JOINDELPHI.
3. At the Password prompt enter STREPORT.
For more information call:
DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005
or
at 617-491-3393 from within Massachusetts or from outside the U.S.
DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
--------------------
The 20/20 Advantage Plan IS FANTASTIC! And it features 20 hours online
for just $20 a month! The $20 is a monthly fee that covers your first 20
hours online via direct dial into one of DELPHI's two direct-access lines,
or via a special Tymnet 20/20 Access code. It also gets you additional
hours at just $1.20 per hour. And you get free access to several services
on DELPHI as part of the Advantage Perks.
Other telecom services may have additional charges. Canadian Tymnet users
have an additional telecom charge. Office Time access (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
weekdays) may have an additional charge. And of course, other restric-
tions may apply. But this is still an amazing deal!
For more information please contact:
DELPHI at 1-800-544-4005 and ask for Member Services.
DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> The Flip Side STR Feature "...a different viewpoint..."
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
My readers might notice a difference in the way that I handle posts from
the different networks. There's a good reason for it, each network has
their own "flavor and personality".
On Genie, when a question is asked, the replies are fairly straight
forward and the sysops make sure that the topic stays on the subject
(thread). On Delphi and CIS, the threads have a habit of 'fraying' and
splitting into sub-topics, all under the same, original topic. Someone
might ask a question about a particular hard drive, someone else might
reply to that question but then add something about a host adaptor, then
someone else will reply about the host adaptor and add something about
the new 2.88 meg floppy drives. Pretty soon what's being discussed has
nothing to do with the original topic. And Delphi is even more casual in
the way it handles threads.
None of this makes any of the networks any bettor or worse than the
other (all have pluses and minuses), it just makes them different. And
it makes how I have to handle their posts different.
----------------
From Bob Brodie (Atari), cat. 14, topic 14, message 209 - from the ST
Roundtable on Genie...
...the Mega STE is indeed a Class B machine.
----------------
Comments about the new Calamus upgrade from Nathan Potechin
(ISDMARKETING) on Delphi...
For those that own Calamus 1.09N the upgrade charge to Calamus S is
US $69.95. Calamus S contains every feature 1.09N has plus dozens of
new features and it is totally modular. That means you can then
choose to purchase whatever additional modules you might require ie;
the new vector line art module for use within Calamus and you are not
locked into buying all the capabilities at once. For your infor-
mation, I anticipate no less than 2 dozen new modules for Calamus
before the end of this year.
Comments about DynaCADD from Nathan Potechin (ISD), cat 28, topic 6,
message 15 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
DynaCADD will be released the end of this week for the TT [Late
breaking information, the TT version of DynaCADD will be held up for
one more month]. Yes, a re-compiled TT version that takes full
advantage of the TT's capabilities. While 16 million colors aren't
that relevant in CADD, we will run with every configuration from VGA
on up. We WILL USE the built-in math coprocessor. And we have added
quite a few new features finally, now that 68030 is here.
A few examples include: Hidden Line Removal, Bi-directional 3D DXF,
3D Faces etc etc.. We are also in the process of insuring
compatibility with Ray Tracing and Rendering packages on other
platforms with DynaCADD. I'm wondering out loud if we should do the
same on the ST with any existing Rendering software????
[Addendum: In addition to the long list of features already added to
the not yet released new TT version of DynaCADD, we have decided to
go even further. Now being added are: A Compiled Programming
Language, a fully integrated multi-document editor, configurable
command line interpreter, a script language and non-graphical
properties. We had initially thought to add these features later but
finally decided to do it all now. It will be worth the wait, of that
I can assure you.]
By the way, TMS Cranach Studio, which will be released about the same
time as SL, is an amazing 16 million color electronic scanning and
editing program with an incredible array of features And of course,
Calamus SL will be compatible with all the 16 million color cards.
And of yes, a Canadian firm located a few minutes from us, Cybercube,
will be releasing such a card in the near future.
----------------
More on the Cybercube graphics board that Nathan was referring to - from
Ken Brooks - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
...contact the following for an astounding bit of info on a new
graphics board coming out for the Mega, MegaSTe and TT030:
CYBERCUBE RESEARCH LTD.
126 Grenadier Crescent
Thornhill, Ontario, CANADA
L4J 7V7
Phone: 416-882-0294 FAX: 416-886-3261
Maximum Display - 1280 x 1024
Refresh Rate - 60 frames/sec
non interlaced with PAL/NTSC support
Video RAM - 2Mb standard of Fast Video RAM-up to 262 screen buffers
Bit/Pixel - 24, 8, 4, 2, or 1
plus optional 8bit depth buffer in 24bit
Colors - 16,777,216 max
Processor - 32 bit RISC with FPU 20mips
plus 3 - 20 MBit LAN ports
VDI - driver software or ROM allows any VDI application to use the board
The company has received hundreds and hundreds of calls from all over
the place about this board. No pricing announced yet but we are in
line for that info as soon as available. This sounds too good to be
true and I hope the old saw isn't true on that count!
----------------
From Nevin Shalit (Sysop) on the Soft Logik RT on Genie...
According to the folks at SoftLogik the upgrade time frame WILL BE
EXTENDED. They did not say for how long, they just said it depends
when the program actually begins shipping. So have no fear, you will
have time to upgrade..!
----------------
About Flash 2.0 from Lee (Lexicor Software) on CIS...
Flash 2.0 is finished. Charles Cherry has dropped off the manual for
consideration at ANTIC. If they don't pick up the new version I can
assure you that it will get published. [Since this post, it has been
reported that ANTIC has declined to market Flash 2.0.]...What I do
know is that if ANTIC does turn it down...Flash V2.0 will be
published. I personally like it very much...:-) hint.
----------------
From Dave Hudspeth on CIS...
I have a NEC 3D multisync monitor and an Atari 520 ST-FM. Somebody
told me that there's a box or cable I can buy to connect the ST to
the monitor's analog input...Any info you could give me would be
greatly appreciated.
Answer from Richard Whitsell on CIS...
You CAN connect your ST to a multisync monitor (and the NEC 3D is a
good one!) using a box or a cable set-up. If you just want to use
your ST in color mode ONLY (or mono ONLY) then you can get away with
just a cable. If you want to be able to switch between color and mono
you will need some sort of switchbox, either bought or made at home.
Dave Hudspeth did a direct cable connection...
...I finally figured it out. I got a cable for $18 that has a 9-pin D
shell connector at one end (Atari on the other, of course), and the
NEC included a 15-pin to 9-pin adapter. Went to Radio Shack and got a
9-pin female plug ($1.49), cut the 9-pin male off the NEC connector,
and resoldered the wires for straight VGA signal...The low and medium
resolutions are fantastic on the NEC--really good color saturation
and resolution compared to the Atari color monitor. Haven't tried
resoldering for monochrome, but would bet it looks pretty good as
well.
Response from Brian Converse on CIS...
...I bought a Talon Omniswitch to run my NEC Multisync...It gives a
1040ST owner composite video out to drive a VCR or TV, color/mono
switching, multiple floppy switching, RCA audio out jack, etc. It
also has a couple of jacks: 15 pin mini and 9 pin D's like EGAs and
VGAs use.
If you don't have cables, make sure and price them. Atari monitor
cables (you'll need one) aren't cheap, about $25. The Talon is $80
itself, when you add all the cables to fit out all the disk & video
features (2 Atari monitors, 2 disk drives), it's $$$! My Omniswitch
works fine, but looks truly disgusting and cheap.
----------------
There have been some rumors circulating recently about Electronic Arts
dropping support for the ST. Here is a post that I hope will squash the
rumor. From Bob Brodie (Atari Corp), Cat. 14, Topic 31, Message 111 &
115 -from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
The statement concerning Electronic Arts dropping support for the ST
line is incorrect. I have already spoken with Electronic Arts and ST
Informer about this.
What has happened is that Electronic Arts has realigned their company
to handle certain products in various offices. In the area of
entertainment software, EA has decided to handle all of the MS-DOS
software out of their US office. All of the 68000 based machines
(Apple, Atari, Amiga) will be handled via EA's United Kingdom office.
The MS-DOS products will be exported to Europe, while the ST, Mac,
and Amiga products will all be imported here.
EA has dropped their affiliated labels program. They used to publish
a number of other titles under the EA name, among them Lucasfilm. Not
any more! All of the companies are on their own now, for all of the
platforms, not just the ST.
The only product line that they told me they were going to
discontinue support for was the entire Apple II line, including the
II GS. They feel there is no further market for the II GS.
Hope this clears up any confusion about EA's support for the ST!
----------------
Some comments about the correct way to clean edge connectors - from Cat
4, Topic 2 from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
From Dave Small (Gadgets by Small), message 90...
...a NEAT way to clean edge connector contacts is with a simple
pencil eraser. It works like you wouldn't believe. All the old
experienced mainframe repairman out on a service call would whip out
a "big chief" red eraser and "erase" the edge contacts; it takes the
oxide off like nothing you would believe. That'll handle the 34 and
20 pin connectors on an ST 506 type drive.
From Todd Johnson (Cherry Fonts), message 91....
...try CRAMOLIN spray. It's the ONLY contact cleaner that works. It's
REAL expensive though. On every concert tour, there'll be a road case
containing at least 2 cans of it hanging around somewhere.
From Leo Taylor (H-P), message 96...
An eraser is OK, but a dollar bill is more handy (usually found in
your back pocket). Honest, the bills seem to have just the right
abrasiveness...My company (H-P) advises against this kind of stuff.
In the last decade manufacturers have economised by plating a VERY
thin layer of gold on contacts. A few passes with an eraser will
expose the shiny under layer which will tarnish soon after you put
the unit back together.
From Bill Pike, message 103...
I would like to suggest the method that I use on edge contacts. You
will need a CLEAN sheet of at least 20 lb or higher rag paper, not
glossy also some NO RESIDUE contact cleaner. Cut a strip about 2
inches wide and 8 inches long, fold it length ways in half. Saturate
one end of the strip with the cleaner leaving the other end dry. Rub
the paper, with moderate pressure over the contacts so that the
cleaner then the dry areas rub over every contact, repeat this for
the contacts on the other side of the board. Don't scrub the
contacts, moderate pressure is all that is needed. This will clean
the contacts without removing the gold plating. I have had very good
results with this method. BTW you will need to change the paper when
you see residue on the paper. A set of contacts may need several
cleanings before it is OK.
From John Stanley, message 110...
On cleaning edge connectors. The standard pink erasers do have the
potential (under some conditions) for removing the gold layer on edge
connectors, that's why I started carrying an artists (soft white
plastic material) eraser. Less abrasive and it gives better control
while cleaning contacts. It also does a better job (cleaner results)
and is much much less likely to smudge (almost impossible to smudge)
when erasing lead pencil marks from paper.
----------------
About Just Another War from John Thornburgh on CIS...
...I wouldn't call this a boardgame. It is more like Red Storm Rising
(submarine simulator) if you've played that. It is a real-time
starship simulator. It only runs in med-res. And yes, it is fun. It
has a great feeling of depth and realism, many options, and
challenging play. Although the manual is long, it's really not that
hard to get the hang of, although developing good strategy isn't
easy. I got slaughtered in my first "real" battle (I did fine in the
initial tutorial before that.) But now I'm doing better. (BTW, there
are no artistic graphics. This is a purely functional game, if that
matters.)
----------------
From Gerry Scott Moore on using Band in a Box (BIB) with various midi
equipment. From the ST RT on Genie...
BIB generates really hip piano accompaniment, bass, and drums. I
figure you could use the MT32 for drums AND keyboard, since the
keyboard only uses 4 or 5 voices. I would then assign the bass to the
CZ101, but if possible I would cram it into an available MT32 slot.
The bass is the best part of the program- -very realistic player
emulation. Part of this is its velocity. Sometimes the bassist will
pop the heck out of the bass and it really FEELS right. So if
possible I would shift it there.
In the end though, it is the perfect accompaniment machine, or comp
generator. If you play a "real" non-midi instrument and you know some
tunes you can really have a ball with this.
I was a professional musician for many years and I play through bop
and jazz tunes with this thing. I supply the guitar or keyboard
melody, and then a few trillion verses of solo. It's the greatest
with a glass of wine.
Additionally this is a BLATANT port from a PC environment. It's kind
of non-ST-ish, and a little cumbersome. Nevertheless what it does it
does VERY well. I have just upgraded and I love the newest version.
If you are a player, it is highly recommended.
----------------
Questions about the GCR/Roms from Christopher J. Kaufman on CIS...
What exactly is required to make my 1040 ST able to emulate a MAC
with Spectre GCR? Where can I get roms? Atari of San Jose just got
some Mac ROMs in. The price is now $250!
Answer from Bob Retelle (Sysop) on CIS...
...all you need is the Spectre GCR cartridge and the software that
comes with the cartridge. You simply plug the Spectre cartridge into
your ST, run the Spectre software, and your ST thinks it's a Mac!
It's best if you have a monochrome monitor, but it'll also work on
the color Atari monitor too...
The Spectre cartridge also needs a set of 128K Macintosh ROM chips
installed in it, as Gadgets by Small doesn't sell the cartridges with
the ROMs...obtaining 128K Mac ROMs has become a problem since the
Hayes case, and also since Apple has tightened up the supply...
----------------
Comments about the SLM-605, toner and other laser printer stuff - from
the ST Roundtable on Genie...
From Bob Brodie, cat. 14, topic 11, message 86...
The toner that is in the 605 is exactly the same as the toner that is
used with the Epson EPL-6000 laser printer. The SLM 605 is close
cousins to a number of other laser printers, like a Mannsmann Tally,
a Packard Bell, a Toshiba, the Epson, etc. The main difference in our
unit is that we have place the high speed DMA port on the system to
allow for the fastest printing possible, while the other units all
still have serial interfaces. Some also come with a small amount of
RAM onboard.
From Bob Beauchea, cat. 14, topic 11, message 87...
I use toner carts for the Epson EPL-6000 (about $20). The internals
of the two printers are identical but not manufactured by Epson.
----------------
Information on the new Syquest 88mb drives - Compiled from 2-3 posts
from the folks at ICD - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
The new 88mb Syquest drives will only read 44mb carts, they cannot
write to them...The biggest problem now, is the price. I can get 3
44MB SyQuest drives with 1 cartridge each for the price of just 1
88MB drive with 1 cartridge.
----------------
Until next week.....
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
**** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED ****
The system will now prompt you for your information.
-> NOW! GENIE STAR SERVICE IS IN EFFECT!! <-
GEnie's ST Round Tables will be sponsoring an RTC on June 3rd at 10pm
eastern that will discuss DTP. This will be a weekly event with Ron
Grant being the RTC leader.
During the RTC, 10 FREE hours of online time will be awarded in 2 hour
increments. This means 5 winners. The prizes are for the 1st night
alone.
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> GADGETS UPDATE STR Feature MegaTalk board and SST ('030) board
==========================
GADGETS BY SMALL ROUNDTABLE UPDATE
==================================
by Michael Lee
Recently there has been some questions on the major on-line services as
to when Gadgets MegaTalk board and SST ('030) board will be available,
also if Apples new System 7.0 will work with the GCR. So I decided to
let the Gadgets people tell you themselves exactly what is going on. I
kept Dave Small's replies verbatim (except for the last post where I cut
out the part that was duplicated in the previous post) because I enjoy
his writing style and think you will too. All posts are from the Gadgets
by Small RoundTable on Genie...
----------------
Question about the Gadgets MegaTalk board from Rob (J.ALLBRITTO2)...
Does anyone know exactly why MegaTalk is taking so long to ship?
Answer from STACE (Sysop) - from the Gadgets by Small Roundtable on
Genie..
The biggest chunk of delay was the addition of the SCSI port. The
board Gadgets showed about 1 year ago did not have the SCSI port. More
recently, the boards were delayed due to a bad batch from the board
maker.
----------------
When will Gadgets SST ('030 board) ship? From Dave Small, Cat. 9, Topic
2, Message 103...
About the Eternal WhenZit Shipping Dave Question:
Gosh and golly, folks, I wish I knew. That's being honest. I really
*hate* to set dates because so many things can happen. Those of you
who endured through Raving Idiot Chip Supply know how bad it can get
manufacturing stuff; it makes software look easy.
You're at the end of a long chain of events that ALL must come out
perfectly. Any one of the chain can break, and everything stops.
Furthermore, it's a dynamic process. Say we set up an outfit to
assemble and shrinkwrap final units, and then Raving Idiot cuts off
our AS02 chips. That outfit has nothing to shrinkwrap and gets mad at
us. So we tend to be cautious.
Since SST is new, we are also being VERY careful not to release some
disaster on the public. Spectre 3.0 was delayed while we went through
*18* Beta releases and *3* Gamma releases, adding things and fixing
bugs the whole way. We were terrified that there were still bugs when
we shipped it to the duplicators! And I must tell you, one of the
Gamma releases fixed Hypercard 2.0, a program I would certainly call
"vital" to have running...it had broken somewhere in the Beta releases
and we had to do some fixing to get it back working. That scares me,
because changing ANYTHING in Spectre is like tugging on a spiderweb;
things can fail. I remember once a Microsoft product...Word?...failed
because it broke the rules, did a zero read that pointed to my code,
read random data ... and in the last version, that random data hap-
pened to not cause trouble. In the new version, the program had moved
around some, and the data DID cause trouble. Stuff like this makes you
paranoid and gives grey hairs.
So, SST is going into Beta test, and we're going to be bloody *sure*
it works on ST's out there. So you know, we have *already* tested all
the well-publicized "problems" that accelerators are supposed to have,
and ... well, they just don't happen to us. We don't know why! But the
IMP chipset works just fine, "weak" blitters fly right along, even
horrid SGS373's and weak power supplies are working out great. I'm
actually looking forward to getting SST's to Beta testers.
Right now, the SST design is purty much done. George may have a final
tuning thing he wants to do (he always wants another 50% on Quick
Index), and the board is singing right along. One ran six days
straight in my Mega maxxed-out, running Boink! until I'm sure the
68030 never wanted to move a ball around again! Considering that's 33
million cycles per second and 3600 seconds per hour, and, and, and,
that's a LOT of working RAM and CPU cycles.
We got some disinformation that screwed up the board design from a
chip maker. Until we set that straight, George was getting "flakies" -
- non repeatable errors that crashed things. Finally, we got to talk
to someone that knew what they were doing at the plant, and
straightened it out; the documentation, to be charitable, was
"unclear". (I will not say "wrong". I will not say "wrong".) That set
us back a bit.
Anyway, from here, the present boards, which have a couple patch wires
on them for what I call "honest mistakes" (grin) will head for
BetaVille, and we'll let them stew while we finish stocking up on
parts and get the new boards through production; it takes a fair
amount of time to build just the circuit board with no parts. Then, we
go to a place that stuffs the board with parts, runs it through a
soldering machine, and sends it back to us. We test. (A lot of work
for two words!) Then we send it to a place that packages it with
manual and stuff, and shrinkwraps it, and they send it to us. Then we
send it to you.
If it sounds long and involved, well, it is. But that's the nature of
the beast!
Early this year, Raving Idiot Board Supply (a division of Raving
Idiot, WorldWide) stopped supplying GCR boards; their gold plating
machine died. We had to bitch and moan to get them to ship the boards
to Santa Clara, my old hangout, to be plated, and shipped back. THEN,
one part became UNAVAILABLE -- a single source part, dammit. BUT,
because of the delay in getting boards, the part became available
again. (Murphy's Law Twice cancels out? I dunno.) But that's where the
"unavailable GCR's" were. They are all shipped now, and the next batch
is being cooked.
Raving Idiot Board Supply also managed to get us a batch of MegaTalk
boards with "feedthroughs" -- the little holes that go through a board
-- that were not plated. Feedthroughs get electricity from one side of
the board to the other THROUGH this plating! No plating, no
electricity. And no board. MegaTalk boards now on second try. (The
nice thing about a place that screws up is they feel guilty and try
harder. And every place screws up. Look for the guilt-ridden ones.)
Anywho, if you think the whole process sounds like a year, please
apply Sandy and Barb to it. They have this amazing way of overlapping
tasks and feeding me caffeine that compresses days into hours, weeks
into days... they did it with GCR, which came out in record time,
despite unreal delays. (Remember the mold machine that broke the guy's
hand?). We'll ship and soon.
But, if I give you a date, Murphy will make sure I miss it. And I hate
that a WHOLE BUNCH!
My primary tasks are a manual (fun! for me; I loved writing the GCR
manual), and software (double fun!, because the SST can do things I
always wished for). For instance, I've had to come up with three
different ways to handle severe compatibility problems with ST
software, which other 68030 boards will simply roll over and die with
... but we WILL run. (They run now in the experimental mode). It's
basically a lot of testing and time intensive, which is why I have
been absent from GEnie too much; I want my software done by the time
the SST is out of Beta and ready to rock. My feeling is, if you buy a
68030 board, and LOTS of stuff dies with it, you're going to be hacked
at me; and that's going to happen to some 030 boards. (no names.) But
if it works, and faster than you will believe, you'll be happy. The
RAM and burst mode and George Video are other neat things no one else
has to my knowledge.
I guess my not being here more often has made it look like not enough
is happening. It's 1:26 AM here, and usually I'm hacking on the
software, but tonight it was GEnie time. I'll try not to get so far
behind.
-- thanks, Dave / Gadgets
p.s. We think, 1-2 months at worst.
----------------
Comments about the GCR and Apple's new System 7.0 software...
From Larry Rymal...
System 7.0 definitely does not work with 3.0. I spent a full day
massaging my setup, trying various methods to get it to work. It just
won't work.
From Dave Small, Cat. 1, Topic 20, Message 1...
FINALLY, System 7 showed up in Denver. A distributor problem caused
our regular dealers to not get System 7.0 on the glorious May 13
release. In fact, they still don't have it.
I finally managed to find *ONE* dealer, here in the "Silicon Mountain"
(quote from R. Reagan), the Denver Area, who stocked System 7. I
hustled down there a few days ago, got in ten minutes before closing,
and got the Official System 7 package. (I wanted the manuals, if
nothing else).
Paid $99, like everyone else ...
The salesman commented that they had had 150 System 7 packages in
stock that morning and had 15 left; if I'd showed up the next day, I'd
be S.O.L. (no translation is offered).
Right now, as of this moment, System 7 doesn't appear to work with
Spectre 3.0, after some time spent on some serious hacking with it.
* Installer does not fully boot. It stops with an "out of memory"
error in what appears to be a System Error dialog, with a "Bomb" icon.
It also says to hold down the shift key to reduce memory needs. I
tried that, it also fails, to the same page.
During this, I was monitoring bus faults (zerostores are the wine and
cheese of this sort of software), and none happened, which makes the
tracing a tad harder. I'll be moving some equipment around to chase
Sys 7 (printer, another ST to capture output from the debugger, etc --
thank heavens Atari replaced the stolen Stacy!!) and I'll backtrace
from the A9C9 SysError trap that sets this off.
* I next installed a Mac Plus System onto a Syqeust cart using a IIfx.
Install went fine. I brought the cart over to the ST, booted it, and
got the above message again. How creative. Interestingly, the message
is formatted incorrectly; the sentence is sort of cut off in the
middle.
I tried a few weird and arcane things, but it looks like the standard-
old-same-thing-beat-on-it-until-it-works stuff.
This is nothing new. We had to make a special fix for a table bug in
6.0.5; we had to fix the Mac Plus mode (SysEnvirons) in 6.0.3, and so
forth. I look forward to new Apple System cuts with the anticipation
of a visit from the mother in law.
However, again, as with the many other Systems that required minor
tweaks to bring up, we'll do what's necessary to make it work. It's
easier for me when there's a bus error or address error; that points
me at the problem. However, disk message and line-A message tracing
are equally effective in cases like that, and folks, I've done this
practically in my sleep.
The planning *as of this moment* (this is not a commitment, just our
thinking) is to release an interim Spectre. This Spectre will fix the
annoying cache bug in the Mega-STE and ICD Adspeed accelerator, where
machines with less than 4 megs of RAM fail unless the cache is
dropped, and will also fix up System 7. Since most of you have
upgraded to 3.0, we're considering the possibility of putting the
interim upgrade online for you to download, here in the scenic Gadgets
RT. Again, this is NOT our final, we're-gonna-do-it plan, just some
thinking on how we can get fixes out to many, many customers.
Finally, let me draw your attention to the Sys 7 compatibility list,
included with the package. Briefly, if I reduced Spectre's compati-
bility to that level, I would expect to be hung from a lynch mob of
Spectre users. *sigh*. Were I you, I would not expect a LOT of things
to work for awhile as people "settle in" to Sys 7.
BE CAREFUL.
This is an *ultimate* application for a dual-boot partition. Set up
partitions boot6,boot7, and main on your hard disk. When you want to
run System 6.0.x (say, 6.0.4 or 5) then select boot6 to boot from, and
use the stuff in "main". When you want to run Sys 7 and take your life
in your hands, boot from boot7. I regularly keep about 5 different
boot partitions on the hard disk, each about 2 mb long, just enough to
hold the System Folder and so forth.
No guarentees on the timeframe, folks. I'm also doing SST, which has
high priority, and Kids, which have, well, you know. They insist on
it. However, I've chased worse bugs, like the thing in Hard Disk 20,
and have developed some real time-saving tools which I hope will help
me on this one.
So, hang in there; we're working on it.
Note: I own two IIfx machines and two Mac Pluses in Gadgets... well,
Sandy might say she owns them (grin!!).
-- thanks for being patient, Dave / Gadgets
More from Dave Small in Cat. 6, Topic 11, Message 41...
...Believe me, folks, I have tried == everything == to get 7.0 up,
even weird ways, and it's just not going to happen with 3.0.
However, the *good* news is we've been wanting to fix the ICD and
Mega-STE cache bug for awhile, so we can zap them both at once.
So, I'll keep after it, and keep you posted. Right now I'm tasked with
SST software, which is a short and intense project, and the 7.0
bugfix, which is, well (be honest) tedium tracking down a bug. SST
stuff is about whacked; I know how to make it work, and it's simple
ASM, no snags left in the implementation logic, so I just have to pour
it into the computer. MegaTalk is flat finished.
Anywho, that's the word. Sit back, let OTHER people beta-test, if you
will, System 7 for a little while, and I'll get this puppy fixed.
Seems like every system since Finder 1.1g (a favorite of mine) has
required something new in Spectre ... and System 0.97 had stuff too
weird to believe!
Thanks for being patient. I wish I could have gotten a final 7.0
before release so it could have worked, but I'm not in a position to
do that. A couple Beta 7.0's worked! So, it's some addition since
then.
Again, not to worry -- we've done this before. And I feel a certain
precognizance that we'll be doing it again with the 7.x bugfix
releases.
______________________________________________________________
> PGST RTC! STR InfoFile Tuesday, June 4th, will be "Font Night"
======================
WIN FREE PAGESTREAM FONT DISKS DURING
"FONT NIGHT" IN THE SOFTLOGIK ROUNDTABLE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This coming Tuesday, June 4th, will be "Font Night" in the SoftLogik
RoundTable. We'll be having our first monthly PageStream Real Time Confer-
ence and the theme will be "Fonts for Atari and Amiga PageStream." All
PageStream users (and other interested parties) are invited to join our
panel of Font Masters to ask questions about the fonts they create. The
font makers will discuss the various disks they offer, what programs they
use to create their fonts, where they get their inspiration for fonts, and
much much more. Learn what "hinting" is, how to get the most out of your
PostScript and Non-Postscript printer (as concerns fonts), and more! Of
course, when the formal conference ends we'll be happy to answer ANY
PageStream or non PageStream desktop publishing question, even if it has
nothing to do with fonts.
PRIZES
~~~~~~
Each of the font creators has donated a high-quality PageStream font
disk for this event, and we'll be randomly selecting winners of these
disks throughout the evening. In addition, one lucky winner will receive
every Adobe Type 1 font in the SoftLogik RT by US Mail--no downloading
time or expense! These Adobe fonts can be printed using PageStream 2.1
which is currently available for the Commodore Amiga and will be available
very shortly for the Atari ST.
WHEN
~~~~
Tuesday, June 4th, from 9:45 to 10:45pm Eastern Time.
WHERE
~~~~~
The SoftLogik Real Time Conference Room on GEnie. Type "M385;2" or
"SOFTLOGIK" (without the quotes) at any GEnie prompt.
WHO
~~~
In addition to the team of SoftLogik Sysops, we'll be joined by Safari
Fonts President Jay Pierstorff, Cherry Fonts President Todd Johnson, font
creators Dennis Palumbo, Bernie Lagrave and others..!
YOU'RE INVITED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We hope to see many of you at the conference. There will be lots of
door prizes and lots of excitement. See you on Tuesday, June 4th, during
Font Night in the SoftLogik RoundTable!
_______________________________________________________________
> MSTE TESTS STR InfoFile Benchmarks for the Mega STe
=======================
Mega STe Quick Index Benchmarks
*******************************
+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| 8MHz - no cache | 16MHz - no cache | 16MHz - cache |
+-------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|CPU Memory | 100 | 100 | 165 |
|CPU Register | 100 | 100 | 204 |
|CPU Divide | 100 | 182 | 204 |
|CPU Shifts | 100 | 179 | 208 |
+-------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
Results for disk tests were the same regardless of CPU mode of operation.
Results in Medium Resolution
+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| 8MHz - no cache | 16MHz - no cache | 16MHz - cache |
| Blit On Blit Off | Blit On Blit Off |Blit On Blit Off|
+-------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|TOS Text | 105 98 | 110 104 | 167 117 |
|TOS String | 103 99 | 107 103 | 161 121 |
|TOS Scroll | 128 100 | 129 100 | 130 130 |
|GEM Dialogue | 138 105 | 142 110 | 172 166 |
+-------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
Results in Low Resolution
+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
| 8MHz - no cache | 16MHz - no cache | 16MHz - cache |
| Blit On Blit Off | Blit On Blit Off |Blit On Blit Off|
+-------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|TOS Text | 111 98 | 117 106 | 167 128 |
|TOS String | 107 98 | 112 104 | 160 127 |
|TOS Scroll | 126 99 | 127 99 | 128 111 |
|GEM Dialogue | 114 83 | 117 86 | 140 137 |
+-------------+-------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
Quick Index reported the machine as having TOS 2.5. The above are results
compared against TOS 1.4.
The results were obtained by using Quick Index v2.1 run on a Mega STe 1
with 2Mb RAM. The Mega STe 1 was running ICDBoot v5.2.0, and XCONTROL.
ACC. No other AUTO programs or accessories were present.
Further Benchmarks obtained using "BENCHMARK" a new program by Jim Ness
Test Mode M4/8mhz M4/16mhz MSTE4/8mhz MSTE4/16mhz
""""""""" """"""" """""""" """""""""" """""""""""
MATH TEST (cache)........: 17.79 10.67 17.99 09.54
MATH TEST (no cache).....: 17.79 10.66 17.98 09.52
MEMORY FETCH/STORE.......: 16.46 12.05 16.65 11.57
DISK DRIVE READ/WRITE....: 06.71 04.95 06.69 04.73
GEM DIALOG DRAW..........: 23.37 10.85 13.07 10.73
TOS VERSION ID...........: 0104 0104 0205 0205
All tests ran with ICD Booter 5.2.0 in a fully medium rez booted system.
In the tos 1.4 machines, poolfix and tosfix were booted. Overall, the
MegaSTe is a first rate performer.
The benchmarks using Jim Ness' program were done by R. Mariano the other
benchmarks were performed by a friend from Canada. And they were very
well done.... I might add. :-)
________________________________________________________________
> GramSlam STR InfoFile "The GramSlam Grammar and Style Checker"
=====================
=========================
P R E S S R E L E A S E
Release Date: 1 June 1991
=========================
Phil Comeau Software, of Ontario Canada, announces the release of Ver-
sion 3.20 of "The GramSlam Grammar and Style Checker" for the Atari family
of 16- and 32- bit computers. GramSlam is the first and only grammar and
writing style checker for the Atari computer line. GramSlam helps improve
the quality of written documents prepared using word processors or desktop
publishing programs. GramSlam checks for over 1200 common grammar and
writing style problems, and reports any problems found in easy to underst-
and terms, along with a suggested correction. GramSlam can be run as a
desk accessory or from the desktop. Version 3.20 adds several new
features that make GramSlam easier to use.
THESE ARE:
1) Accessory suspending: GramSlam users can suspend the GramSlam desk ac-
cessory at the point where a grammar or writing-style problem is dete-
cted, return to their word processors to correct the problem, then
reopen GramSlam. GramSlam will resume checking the document from the
point where it was suspended. This new feature makes interactive docu-
ment checking and correction possible.
2) Improved problem reporting: GramSlam now shows problem words and
phrases in context in bold letters (red on color monitors). Also, the
problem word or phrase is shown near the middle of the context.
3) Selective problem-report saving: GramSlam users can select which gram-
mar or writing-style problem reports are printed or saved to disk.
Problem reports are saved or printed only if the user decides they are
significant.
4) TT support: GramSlam works with the new screen resolutions available
on Atari's TT computer.
5) Other improvements: Several minor improvements and fixes have been
made, including: faster loading, more accurate readability grade,
fewer "noise" problems, and improved compatibility with word proces-
sors.
GramSlam 3.20 will debut at the Pacific Northwest Atarifest in Vancou-
ver, on June 15-16 1991. The price of GramSlam remains at $39.95 US. Gram-
Slam can be purchased from Atari dealers or directly from Phil Comeau Sof-
tware (Atari dealers can purchase GramSlam through their usual distributo-
rs). Registered users can upgrade to Version 3.20 for $5.00 US. Registered
users will be contacted by Phil Comeau Software via mail in early June 1-
991. For further information, contact:
Phil Comeau Software
43 Rueter St.
Nepean, Ontario Canada
K2J 3Z9
(613) 825-6271
_______________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
================================
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
=========================
On CompuServe
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
There were two interesting uploads to the forum this week. Jim Str-
auss posted a demo version of an outliner that he is developing. It looks
like we may soon have a choice between two Portfolio specific outliners.
Jim is requesting comments or suggestions.
HARDDR.ZIP is a device driver for the Flashdrive hard disk. The Flashd-
rive is connected through the parallel port.
Our Prolific Portfolio Programmer, B.J. Gleason, is on vacation in the
Arctic.
Discussion of the use of external drives continued this week. There
are several alternatives being considered. David Stewart is continuing
development of a 60 column terminal program. Forum members are welcome to
offer suggestions for desired features.
______________________________________________________________
> MAC REPORT
==========
Issue #011
----------
by Robert Allbritton
MacReport*** Will It Ever End?
Seems as though the Apple vs. Microsoft lawsuit has gone back to
square one. Now Apple wants to claim that they were strong armed by
Microsoft back in 1985 into signing the original windows licensing
agreement from Apple. Apple is claiming that Microsoft used "lies and
threats" claiming that if Apple did not license key features of the Macin-
tosh to Microsoft, then Microsoft would stop development of applications
that Apple needed to insure the success of the new micro. Meanwhile
Microsoft claims that these are the efforts of a "desperate" company.
Never the less, it seems at this point as though Judge Walker is agreeing
with the Apple line. Interesting how times have changed. Now that
Microsoft is in political hot water with implications of monopoly, no one
seems to trust them as much as before. That's too bad, because bias is
wrong, under any circumstance.
*** Classic to Get '030 Power
This is a rumor, but Apple dealers have been told to expect the SE/30
(the 68030 version of the now discontinued Macintosh SE) to be in short
supply starting in July. This usually means that Apple is getting ready
to change production lines. In combination with this are rumors of an
'030 version of the Macintosh Classic. Inside sources report that it will
be in the same form as the current Classic and will sport a 16Mhz 68030
with no math co-processor and no expansion slot. Estimated price is
$2,000. While the price is better than the current SE/30, the value may
not be. The SE/30 comes with a math co-processor, and is capable of color
display through its expansion slot. It is also perfect as a server as it
is quick, and the expansion slot can be fitted with an Ethernet board that
delivers performance on par with the top of the line Macintosh IIfx.
*** Where is MegaTalk?
Production delays are being blamed for the late arrival of the Mega-
Talk board. It is still not shipping as of yet and no firm ship date has
been set either. The MegaTalk was originally slated to arrive in October
of 1990. This was pushed back to January 1991 for the addition of a Mac
SCSI port, and again to April 1991 because of FCC testing. "Sound
familiar?"
___________________________________________________________
> JRI UPGRADE STR Review "...I talked with John Russell himself.."
======================
INSTALLING THE JRI RAM+ BOARD
=============================
by Ben Hamilton
Sysop; Virtual Reality BBS
Copperas Cove, TX
SIMM module memory upgrades are rapidly becoming the new "standard"
for memory upgrades to computers, and JRI (John Russell Innovations) of
California have brought the SIMM upgrades to the 520ST and 1040ST with the
introduction of their RAM+ Board.
Many computer supply companies, including ABCO Computers, are recom-
mending JRI's upgrade, so I took advantage of the recommendation and or-
dered JRI's "Type C" board. The Type C is designed for many ST models,
including the 520/1040ST with RAM chips under the keyboard, the 520/1040ST
with RAM chips under the power supply, and the old-style 520ST without
internal floppy drive. I assume that they also provide other models of
the board for each type of ST. A quick call to JRI (the number is listed
at the end of this article) should answer any questions you might have.
When I called JRI, I talked with John Russell himself, who knew which
type of board I needed, and he recommended that he do the installation,
which costs an extra $50. If you feel uncomfortable opening your ST and
if you have little or no experience with a soldering iron, then this is
indeed best left up to a qualified electronics technician. I used to work
for an electronics repair shop, and although I don't have any "official"
training, I felt that I was qualified to do the installation. I couldn't
do without my ST, as it runs my BBS, so I was really "forced" to do it
myself anyway.
After a little thought, I also decided not to try to find a better
price, but to go ahead and order the SIMMs directly from JRI. One meg x 8
SIMMs are $50 each from JRI, which is a quite reasonable price. I have
heard that they sell for as little as $38, but I was worried that they
would be somehow incompatible with the upgrade board. JRI's docs to the
board mention that low-profile, 120ns or faster chips are required.
John suggested that he send the board and modules by UPS Blue, and I
received them in UPS's usual timely fashion. The board sells for $125,
and each SIMM (you need two for 2.0 or 2.5 meg and four for 4 meg) was
$50. Shipping and COD was an extra $10 total.
After I received the board, I read the included instructions several
times to familiarize myself with the procedure. Of course, I hadn't had
my ST apart yet, so I didn't know which type of motherboard I had.
PC-board artwork is included in the instructions for each type of ST
motherboard.
The installation procedure is fairly simple, once you do it and rea-
lize what you've done! Everything is included in the installation kit,
right down to the wires, the solder, and the cable ties. Installation
involves removal of the ST Shifter chip, which is moved into a new board.
At this point, a second chip can be installed which allows your ST to sup-
port a 4,096 color palette. A floppy disk is included in the kit which
has several demos for the new color support. I did not elect to get the
extra chip from JRI (which costs $25) because this computer is dedicated
to my BBS, and I have no need for the extra colors there. But installa-
tion and support of the chip is easily done by just popping in the new
chip to the board socket.
Next the boards (the one that holds the Shifter and the one that holds
the SIMMs) must be secured by a supplied heavy gauge stranded wire. Con-
venient grounding points are provided on each board. I felt uncomfortable
securing the RAM board only with the grounding wires, so I placed a piece
of cardboard (the same cardboard that earlier supported the boards under
shrink-wrap during shipping!) between the RAM board and the ST main cir-
cuit board. I didn't want to take the chance that any of the contacts on
the underside of the RAM board might touch any of the motherboard conta-
cts.
After the boards are mounted, a few wires must be run from the RAM
board to the motherboard, and each connection is well-documented in the
instructions. Some of the connections require that various resistors are
removed, and wires are run from the pads where the resistors used to be.
This is perhaps the most unnerving part of the installation--once you clip
those resistors, you have the feeling that there's no turning back. Ano-
ther of the connections goes directly to the MMU, which I believe is the
ST's memory management chip. This is also documented, although the instru-
ctions fail to even casually mention that two of the chips in the ST rese-
mble each other, the MMU and the other chip, and since I'm a novice, I'm
unfamiliar with the other one. But fortunately, the instructions also
include the possible Atari part numbers of each chip, so I was able to
determine which one was the MMU by its number.
After installation was complete, I put it all back together and fired
it up. Viola! About one hour's work, and I now have a 1040ST with 2.5
megabytes of RAM! And I can upgrade to 4 meg with the addition of two
more SIMMs and a few more changes to the installation. Instructions for
changing to 2.0, 2.5, and 4 meg are included in the documentation. Upgra-
ding to 2.0 or 4 meg requires the disabling of all of the internal RAM,
and these instructions are also included. The floppy disk contains a mem-
ory tester TOS program, and the remainder of the programs deal with the
4,096 color option.
If you're living with your ST with only 512K or one meg of RAM, I hope
you decide to upgrade soon, and I give you my personal recommendation for
the RAM+ Board from JRI.
Ben Hamilton, Sysop
Virtual Reality BBS
Copperas Cove, TX
817-547-1734
1200/2400/9600/14.4K bps
HST-DS v.32bis/v.32/v.42/v.42bis
Fnet #422, Fido-Net 1:395/6
JRI (John Russell Innovations)
P. O. Box 5277
Pittsburg, CA 94565
415-458-9577
___________________________________________________________
> STRAIGHT STUFF! STR FOCUS
=========================
STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH
==============================
Issue #1
By Lloyd Pulley
In the past, ST Report has been criticized (sometimes fairly, sometimes
unfairly) about using information without providing the names of the
persons who supplied the information. Most of the time there is a good
reason for this, usually someone wants the information to get out but
doesn't want to be known as the one who leaked it. Almost all publica-
tions have some "Deep Throat" type of sources.
The problem with this type of information is that it isn't always veri-
fiable. Many times people use this as a way to 'test the water', to try
out a new idea (politicians do this all the time). Other times, things
change and the information becomes invalid (but the informant does not
always inform ST Report). So there have been times when ST Report was
"left hanging".
This column isn't to debate whether this type of information should be,
or should not be used, that is Ralph Mariano's (the publisher) decision
to make. What this column will attempt to do is provide a forum for
quotes "straight from the horses mouth". Quotes that can be attributed.
Sometimes these quotes might disagree with something that Ralph says in
one of his editorials (the same thing happens in 'real' newspapers all
of the time). There's nothing I can do about that, I don't attempt to
edit Ralph and he knows better than to attempt to edit me _grin_. The
only thing that I can promise is that the quotes supplied WILL be used
in context. (I am human, if I do misquote someone, all they have to do
is let me know and I will give them space in this column to correct my
mistake.)
Just how this column will finally evolve, I can't tell you. Maybe it
will be weekly, maybe monthly or maybe it'll fade into 'nothingness'.
It could become a forum for people to say what they think, respond to
Ralph, correct misinformation...who knows (I don't really want it to
become a 'Letters to the Editor' column although it was a comment about
that by John Townsend - Atari on-line rep - that gave me the idea for
the column).
Since none of the columnists (I believe that Ralph gives us the fancy
title of "ST Report Editor's" _grin_) make any money for writing these
columns, it is cost prohibitive to attempt to call everyone to get
quotes. And I'm not egotistical enough to fancy myself, or this column,
important enough to warrant everyone calling me with information to
include (it would be nice though _grin_), so if you have anything that
you feel should be included in this column, drop me an e-mail on one of
the three major networks:
Genie - LEPULLEY
Delphi - MADMODIFIER (an old handle, don't ask _grin_)
CIS - Lloyd Pulley, 72637,745
I just got the idea to write this column late Thursday evening, so I do
not have a lot of quotes to use to start with. Let's hope that this
situation improves with time.
From Mark White (Supra Corp):
"Supra's major source of income is from our modems. We are currently
selling a 2400, a 2400+ and our new SupraModem 9600. The SupraModem
9600 is a v.32/v.42bis modem that can handle speeds up to 38,400 bps.
It retails for $699, but we have a sysop special where sysops can order
1-4 modems for their BBSes for only $440 each and over 4 for only $420
each. It only takes us 1-2 days to verify the BBS and ship the modems."
[For more information, contact Supra Corp., 1-800-727-8722.]
From Bob Brodie (Atari User Group co-ordinator) about the 'Panther Pro-
ject' [as reported in last week's ZNet]:
"The Panther project has been cancelled. To the best of my knowledge
there is no other project in the works to replace it."
From Tom Harker (ICD) concerning unprotecting ICD's hard drive software
and selling it separately:
"Twenty dollars is about the most we could charge for the hard drive
software since that is what Supra charges. It's possible we might get
some software sales but not enough." "At the current time we have no
plans to unprotect our hard drive software."
From Mark White (Supra Corp):
"While the US ST market only accounts for less than 2% of our companies
gross sales, we are getting ready to move into the European ST market.
We expect our total ST sales to increase dramatically once we get
established in Europe."
From Tom Harker (ICD) concerning a special MegaSTe or TT version of
their hard drive software:
"At the current time we have no plans for a special MegaSTe or TT ver-
sion of our software."
From Bob Brodie (Atari User Group co-ordinator):
"The STacy has been cancelled and the ST Notebook will replace it."
I asked when the ST Notebook could be expected to be released, if it
was one of Atari's Real Soon Now's (RSN). Bob said, "Oh no, much sooner
than that, probably within the next 6 months." "Much sooner is the
new, improved Atari RSN."
_________________________________________________________________
> HS Pascal STR Review THE NEWEST PASCAL FOR THE ST
====================
HIGHSPEED PASCAL
================
by David B. Chiquelin
The newest Pascal for the ST was recently released here in the US and
it is HighSpeed Pascal from D-House I Aps. I received my copy from Gold-
leaf Publishers, the US distributor, a couple of days ago. My initial
impressions follow.
HighSpeed Pascal is touted as Turbo Pascal 4.5 compatible. That is
pretty much true, although everything in Turbo Pascal is not in HighSpeed
Pascal, (called HSP from now on) the major components are. So far the
only things missing I have found are the Peek/Poke type functions (Mem,
MemW and MemL), but I have not looked for everything yet of course. I
will be trying the same Peek and Poke functions that had to be used with
the early Personal Pascal compilers to see if they work. I sure hope they
do, as I need those to convert the FoReM net mailer program.
HSP's managing software engineer is Christen Fihl, who before working
on HSP was on the Turbo Pascal team for six years. His knowledge of how
Turbo does things seems to have greatly benefited the ST world. A quick
comparison of a program I converted to HSP today from Personal Pascal 2.02
shows the following:
Personal Pascal HSP
Time to compile & link 37 secs 8 secs
Program size 42068 bytes 36824 bytes
Run time of program 32 secs 25 secs
This was for a program containing approximately 1900 lines of source
code in about 54 Kbytes. (Approx, since the sizes differed slightly after
making the changes required for HSP.) The program was not optimized for
HSP, only the changes that *had* to be made to get it to compile were
made. It is a program without user input other than input files, so the
run times are not impacted by user interaction. Both compilers were set
to no error checking in order to obtain the smallest program size possi-
ble. Even with range, stack and IO checking the HSP program was smaller
than the Personal Pascal version with no error checking.
Now that you know HSP is a capable compiler, let me tell you a little
about the package. HSP comes in a binder so it will lay flat on your
desk. The program (and documentation it would appear) were written in
Denmark and translated into English. As with most translated texts, it is
sometimes difficult to read and contains some grammatical errors. A minor
error example is the use of "their" and "there" - the usage is reversed.
A nice feature of the manual is the comprehensive index - a real must for
a language reference. A note of warning though, don't expect to learn Pas-
cal from this manual. In fact, don't expect to be able to use all of the
features of the language from this manual! If it has a drawback, outside
of the translation errors, it is that it the manual is too small. Where
Turbo Pascal comes with four books now that stack up to about 3.5 inches,
HSP comes with the one manual about an inch thick. The different units
that come with the compiler have very little explained. In fact, the BIOS
unit, which you use to access the BIOS and XBIOS calls, simply states the
functions it contains without specifying the calling format. ie., it doe-
sn't show what parameters are required or returned by the call, only the
function name. So you will definitely need to do some outside research to
use these calls.
I just looked to see if there was any file documentation on the dif-
ferent units, and found a utility unit source code that said "you might
find these handy", or something like that. Indeed I did! Included is a
routine to read the ST's 200 hz timer counter. To do that you need to do
a Long Integer Peek in other Pascals. In HSP you can use inline assemb-
ler. Yes, just as Turbo Pascal has inline assembly coding, so does HSP.
With the included "peek" assembly coding I can modify it as required to do
any peeks I need. That will come in handy and will probably be faster
than what I had been using before. (Actually, that routine code is not
inline assembler as in Turbo Pascal, where you have to provide the machine
instruction code itself - which is still allowed - but *real* assembly
language code using the full 68000 instruction set.)
I must say that this is a very nice implementation of Pascal for the
ST. Make no mistake about it, my impression so far is it is the best one
available. I have used Personal Pascal extensively, and have owned Prosp-
ero Pascal for over a year (but have hardly used it at all due to the slow
editor). Prospero is close in the features available, it might even have
more, and has better documentation. Prospero though does not create tigh-
ter code than Personal Pascal like HSP, and is not as fast as HSP either.
The real reason I don't use Prospero though is I just can not stand a com-
piler that won't let me use Tempus! Which brings me to the what I don't
like about HSP.
HSP is designed primarily as another integrated development environ-
ment, where the editor, help features and compiler/linker are all in one
file. This makes using the compiler easy but restricts the use of outside
editors. HSP though, is thoughtful enough to have included a command line
driven compiler *and* a HighSpeed Pascal Help desk accessory. So you can
still obtain the same context sensitive help even when using your own edi-
tor. Nice.
The built-in editor is capable enough, but is no Tempus. It is fairly
fast but does have a few bugs. The main bug is sometimes when you try to
close a window it refuses to do anything except highlight the top line of
text in the window. Strange. This is a know bug though, and they advise
you to switch windows and come back and try it, which has worked for me
each time it happened.
Another problem I noticed with the editor is if you hold down the del-
ete key to delete some text, the deletion is slow and the key buffer is
active meaning when you release the delete key things continue to disap-
pear! Don't be too alarmed if this happens to you though, pressing the
Undo key brings back everything that was just deleted. I don't even reme-
mber that feature being in the manual, (which I have not read all of I
must admit) but I tried it and it worked.
If you are not used to Tempus you will probably not find the built-in
editor bad. It loads source code fast and doesn't do a bad job of moving
you around. So far the only way I have found to mark a block to delete,
move or copy though is through use of the mouse. I wish it had block sta-
rt/end key codes.
Another thing I didn't like about the compiler is that they give you
access to the BIOS and XBIOS calls but not the GEMDOS calls that have to
do with file manipulation. This means you must use the Pascal file handl-
ing routines. It is not a big drawback though as they run very fast in
this implementation. (The reason I started using GEMDOS file manipulation
was due to the slow speed of Personal Pascal when reading a file or wri-
ting a file. Now, I have to rewrite my code to use Pascal conventions).
Enough of my first impressions, I need to get to work converting the
FoReM Net mailer program. In closing I'd like to include some text from
the Introduction of the manual.
"The first version of HighSpeed Pascal is available herewith. We will
continually improve our HighSpeed Pascal with enhancements and new featur-
es. So if you ask "Is there a new version of HighSpeed Pascal on it's way-
?", the answer will always be "Yes, we are working on it!".
"To make this work as good as possible we will need your help so
please report any bug you identify as well as proposals for enhancements
to:"
[address of D-House Aps provided but I'm not typing it in... <grin>]
"For usable proposals we promise to send a gift (Free upgrade, free
add-ins etc.)"
The commitment to continued development on the ST is nice to see.
Support these guys. If you use HSP, *buy* HSP.
David B. Chiquelin
May 25, 1991
P.S. Goldleaf Publishing is having a sale on their new products from now
until July 15th. HighSpeed Pascal is $143.95 (regularly $179.95) Their
phone number is (415) 461-4552 and the address is:
Goldleaf Publishing, Inc.
700 Larkspur Landing Circle, #199
Larkspur, CA 94939
Or, order it through your local Atari dealer (I did). They should offer
the same discounted price until July 15th also.
_________________________________________________________________
> ATARI IS #1! STR Feature "..he got rid of his Mac for an Atari ST!"
========================
DOING WHAT THE OTHERS COULDN'T!
===============================
by Dana Jacobsen
This seems to be an appropriate time to try something different for
a change. I'm really getting tired of writing and reading about what
Atari is and is not doing these days. It's like an endless cycle that
doesn't seem to want to quit. The cycle has to end, and begin anew, som-
ewhere. When, is anybody's guess. These last few months have been noth-
ing much more than hearing about how people have been abandoning the Atari
line and moving on to what they consider to be bigger and better
platforms. I view these moves, for the most part, as downward mobility.
These people didn't realize just how fortunate they were while using
their Atari computers. Now, with their Macs and PCs, they're finding out
that everything is _not_ the bed of roses that they were expecting.
I've been reading with great interest some of the recent stories,
articles, and interviews in some of the Atari magazines. In them I found
pieces about one Atari user who did just the opposite of those mentioned
above: he got rid of his Mac and stuck with his 520 ST. You may be saying
to yourself, so what? What's so unusual about one person getting rid of a
Mac to use an ST? There's usually one exception to every rule.
Possibly, but I don't think so. There are more people who have deci-
ded to stick with the ST than you realize. The problem is that we never
hear of these people; we only hear from the chronic complainers. The bad
side of everything always seems to travel a lot faster than the good. It
must be our nature. Let me be one of the exceptions to that rule, as
well.
Rick Keene, a "local" boy from suburban Boston, was interviewed by ST
Informer about his work with the ST. Current Notes recently carried an
article by Rick. What makes this something more than "just another inter-
view and article" is that Rick discovered something that the "Atari
jumpers" wouldn't accept: the ST did what the Mac wouldn't, pure and
simple. Rick is, simply put, an artist. He does his work on the ST. He
does animations, cartoons, graphics, and desktop publishing. He does
most of it on a souped-up 520 ST.
Having read the ST Informer interview, I decided to ask Rick to at-
tend a SSAG meeting and talk a little more about his work. I've always
been a fan of computer graphics, and the interview piqued my interest to
hear and see more. I contacted Rick via GEnie, made the request, and he
accepted readily. He was at our April meeting. I, and all those who at-
tended, were impressed with his talk. Although he had "stage fright", he
handled the meeting very well. He did bring with him many examples of his
work. These included some animations, end-result desktop publishing, car-
toon drawings, game graphics, and other artwork. Personally, I want to
see and learn more about his work. With all of the available platforms to
choose from, he stuck with the ST because it did what he needed it to do -
the others fell short. To me, this is an example of intelligent thinking.
You don't have to buy more expensive and bigger to get the job done. Big-
ger and costlier doesn't equate with better, no matter what the marketing
folks might have you believe otherwise.
This article is just the preface to what I hope is to be a series
that I have started for ST Report and my own user group newsletter mess-
ages focusing on Rick and some of his work. Samples of his work can be
found on Delphi in the ST Advantage area. I recommend that you check them
out. Current Notes has also stated that they will be doing some follow-up
stories of Rick; and that he will be doing another article or two for the
magazine. I applaud this idea as Current Notes has also solicited other
people to write about people who do unique things with their ST. It's
about time we started to hear some of the positive sides to using the ST
line of computers!
My favorite part of Rick's interview in ST Informer and his presenta-
tion to the group was his cartoon character Willy Weasely. Willy reminds
me of a 'seedy' character that I equate with the days of the underground
comics from the early '70s. Anyone remember Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural,
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Zippy, and all of the rest? I wish
that I still had those comic books; I remember them fondly. Well, Willy
Weasely struck me as a current character from that long-gone era. From
what I understand, Rick does Willy in black and white, but he wanted to
see what the characters would look like in color. Well, he also decided
to put some of the frames together in comic book format, as well. He used
the program Talespin (which I know nothing about) and created his color-
ized comic book, including dialog "balloons" and a sound effect or two.
The two we saw were short, but _very_ well done.
According to Rick, Willy was developed during one of his experiences
"in life." As we all have, and ironically, artists portray them, there
are down times in our lifetimes. Willy Weasely is a character that many
of us can (somehow) relate to at one time or another, and humorously!
Willy seems to be a great way to express himself, and draw at the same
time!
I'm looking forward to learning more about Rick and his work. It's
refreshing to see work of this caliber and also see it rewarded. I hope
that you will also enjoy hearing more in these next few weeks in STReport.
I think you'll be hearing much more about Rick Keene in the near future.
For now, I'll just let you think about it, enjoy the artwork currently
available for you to view from Delphi, and get fidgety with anticipation
to see and learn more...
Until next time...
_______________________________________________________________
> Start A Usergroup STR Feature Keeping the NEW in the idea!
=============================
SO YOU WANT TO START A USER GROUP?
==================================
Part III
A primer for starting
your own user group
by Tim Holt
ACCEPT of El Paso
How to Keep it Fresh!
Last time, we looked at how you go about getting and keeping members
in your group. Remember, getting members is easy, KEEPING them is the
hard part. Okay, so you got a group of people, some you know, some you
don't. What do you DO with them? This time, we will look at ways to make
the actual meeting an interesting and educational opportunity for you and
your members.
First of all, you hopefully have chosen a meeting place that can ac-
commodate a few computers. Ask members to bring their systems (thats
right the entire system), to the meeting. I know, it is a real pain in
the tush to rip out your system and bring it to a meeting. (This is one
area where Macintosh has us beat.) However, the more computers you have
at a meeting, the better it will be for everyone. Trust me. Think about
a meeting of 25 people. Now, think about those same 25 people all trying
to look at your ONE 13 inch monitor. Get the idea? Now imagine those
same 25 spread out over 7 or 8 monitors and computers. Believe me, Billy
Joe in the back row is gonna get bored REAL fast trying to see ONE
computer way at the front.
Okay, you have a bunch of computers, and they are all humming away at
the meeting. Now what? Well, most members expect a demonstration of some
kind. What kind of demonstration? (Remember how I said most people plop
down the membership fee and expect a song and dance? Well, get out your
tap shoes... This is where you can let your imagination run wild. You
can demo ANYTHING. Games, utilities, accessories, hardware, software, mod-
ems, you name it, you can demo it. Chances are, there is a game on your
shelf collecting dust that NO ONE in the group has ever seen before. (Can
you say Harmony by Accolade? Sure, I knew you could...) Make a demon-
stration of it! At ACCEPT, we like to make a meeting have a THEME, like
"Word Processors". If you chose to do this, invite several folks to bring
the word processor they are most familiar with, set the computers up side
by side, and demo away! Here are a few examples of THEMES that we can
have had at our meetings. (Feel free to steal, as we stole these from
other groups...)
Word Processing
Compare several programs, such as WordPerfect, WordWriter, WordUp, and
ST Writer Elite,etc. Actually, you could probably give a demo each on
each one of these,so that is 5 meetings worth of demos..
Games
Everyone has a favorite game, or as the Messy-Dos people call them:
Entertainment Software. You could even break this down into a sub-theme
such as Arcade, or Fantasy, or Role Playing. Again, several demos going
at once is better than one at a time, so folks can stroll behind the users
and get a nice view of what is going on.
Desktop Publishing
Timeworks, Calamus, Pagestream all could easily take up an entire
afternoon or evening's meeting. However, running them side by side, and
showing the output of each is a tremendous selling point, and these demos
are essentially someone trying to convince someone else that this program
or that hard drive is so good that they just cannot live without them.
Again, if you just have one computer per meeting, you have three meetings
worth of demos in just this one theme.
Telecommunications
Compare all the different modem programs, and if the club has a BBS
you can get the Sysop to demo how to use the system to it's best
advantage. (Don't try this in a room without a phone jack. The results
are pretty sad...)
Best of Public Domain
This is where the club librarian comes to do his or her thing. Let
the librarian show the club a small selection of the finest things in the
club's library. Here the choices are unlimited. Don't think there is a
lot of PD stuff out there? Before American Express started wanting me to
actually PAY them for using Genie, I counted over 17,000 files in the
Atari ST area alone. Who knows what it's up to now...Many of the PD
programs can be used with the other themes as well, such as Vanterm for
the Telecommunications theme.
Art
How do all those art programs work? Drag out your old copy of NeoChro-
me, and boot it up against Spectrum, Prism Paint etc. See what happens
when you load up a nice picture of Christie Brinkley and start drawing a 5
o'clock shadow on her... Give her some chest hair, and make her bald at
the same time. This is always a crowd pleaser.
Are you getting the idea yet that the area of demonstrations for club
meetings is virtually unlimited. Want some more? Okay, twist my arm...
Macintosh Emulation
Someone in the club has to have a Spectre Cartridge from Gadgets by
Small. These little beauties are the most fun you can have without
laughing. Invite your hardened "Mac friends" to your Mac meeting, watch
their faces as they watch seven or eight Atari ST game machines boot up
with a Mac logo, and have it say "Welcome to Macintosh". I almost guaran-
tee that at least one club member will run out and but a Spectre GCR after
coming to this meeting.
MS DOS emulation
PC Ditto, Ditto II, PC Speed, they all work well, and all work on your
ST. Demonstrate how someone that works on the IBM at work can come home at
night and crank up the old ST. Have speed comparisons, have games. Any
of the themes that you used for the ST can now be used as sub-themes for
the Macintosh and IBM emulators. Actually compare prices, and show the
members what is the best buy.
Midi music, Accessories, Utilities, all are fair game for demos. Just
remember, ANYTHING in a computer store can be demonstrated. Okay, you now
have before you, about a year's worth of meetings planned. Pretty
easy,eh? Well, it is to a point. You do not want to get on a
teacher/pupil relationship with your members. They probably know just as
much as you do, they just don't speak in public. This is a condition
called "Groupus Interruptus", and is common in all user groups. Don't
expect each meeting to be perfect. Sometimes, you will have ten people in
front of you, and the demos go just as you planned. At other times, fif-
ty people will be watching as your hard drive refuses to boot, or you
can't get the paper into your printer. Hey, it happens to all of us, and
it isn't any big deal. If your demo screws up, it screws up. If anyone
complains(Which they won't), tell THEM to get in front and make a demo.
This usually shuts them up pretty fast.
The key to successful demonstrations is finding out who in your group
knows what. Is that quiet kid in the back able to destroy every living
thing in the known and unknown galaxy? Well, he would make a great
demonstrator of any new game. And usually, people don't mind demonstra-
ting something they know. Don't ask Billy, who has never seen the actual
keyboard, to demo a word processor. On the other hand, don't ask Rev.
Smith the minister to do a demo on converting GIF porno pictures to the ST
format. KNOW your group.
And please, don't limit yourselves to just ST related shows. Have a
demo of basic computer repair. Any computer user can relate to that.
Have a meeting where the police come in and give a talk about anti theft
devices used in the home to prevent theft of computers. Don't be afraid
to ask non club members in to give demonstrations. It gets kind of stale
after a while if just one guy is doing all the talking. Have you conside-
red getting a musician to give a talk about midi? He doesn't have to give
a talk about ATARI midi. Just midi. See how it goes? You could probably
think of all sorts of new and exciting demonstrations that I haven't even
mentioned.
This time, we talked about how to give a successful demonstration.
Next time, we will talk about special interest sigs, and common problems
faced by user groups.
__________________________________________________________
> Hard Disks STR InfoFile ***** ABCO PRICE CHANGES! *****
=======================
** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **
ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
_________________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
*-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-*
(you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
(all cables and connectors installed)
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
Deluxe 2 bay Cabinet w/65w auto-switching PS
Model Description Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN4951 51Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 479.00
SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 5.25" Y 549.00
SGN2055 105mb 19ms 3.5" Y 679.00
SGN6277 120Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 789.00
SGN1296 168Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1019.00
==================================================
ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY Super Cabinet w/250w PS
PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
CPU ACCELERATOR & MEMORY UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED
>> ABCO is now taking orders for 1040 & MEGA STe Computers! <<
Call for VERY special Introductory prices!
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
--->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<---
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
Cart and Utility Software Included!
EXTRA CARTS: $ 74.50
DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 349.95
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1019.00 **
Includes TWO cartridges!
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $ 819.00 85mb SQG96 $ 1019.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations)
*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
* SLM 804 Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 *
* Toner Starter Kits $49.95 *
* Replacement Drums $183.95 *
>> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319
Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service
9am - 8pm EDT
Tues thru Sat
ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION!
____________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quotable"
====================
"...To Criticize the Competition is....
to COMPLIMENT their ORIGINALITY!"
...Ziggy Zircon
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport International Online Magazine?
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport? "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" May 31, 1991
16/32bit Magazine copyright = 1987-91 No.7.22
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors, staff, STReport? CPU/MAC/STR? or ST Report?. Permission to
reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint
must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's
name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
any way without prior written permission. The entire contents, at the
time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors,
contributors and/or staff are not responsible for either the use/misuse of
information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-----------------------------------------
Return to message index
