ST Report: 15-Nov-91 #745
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 11/17/91-08:48:02 PM Z
From: aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 15-Nov-91 #745
Date: Sun Nov 17 20:48:02 1991
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
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> 11/15/91: STReport #7.45 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
-------------------------
- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - IBM vs ATARI?
- SST 030 UPDATES! - CHERRY FONTS! - SILHOUETTE 1.25
- CODEHEAD NEWS! - TRACKER ST REVIEW - STR Confidential
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (November 15)
LIBRARY CHANGE
Now that CompuServe's Forum Libraries support "Across Library Searching",
we have closed down our exclusive "NEW UPLOADS" Library. All new files
will now be made available in whichever Library can best classify them.
Use the powerful BRO LIB:ALL command to browse through all of our Forum
Libraries. Files will be displayed in reverse chronological order -from
most recent to oldest.
Download file NEWLIB.TXT from LIBRARY 1 of ATARIARTS or ATARIPRO (now
called "Forum Help/Info") for complete information on other new and power-
ful Library commands.
UPCOMING CONFERENCE!
Please join us this coming Thursday (November 21) for a VERY SPECIAL
conference with Atari software publisher DOUBLE CLICK SOFTWARE! The
conference will begin at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time in Conference Room 1 of
the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO). DOUBLE CLICK will be
discussing all of their software products, including DATA DIET.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
A FREE COPY of DOUBLE CLICK SOFTWARE's DATA DIET will be given away at
this conference. Don't miss the opportunity to win - mark your calendar
for Thursday, November 21, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time in ATARIPRO.
EDHAK DISCOUNT FOR ATARI FORUM MEMBERS
Download file EDHAKD.LZH from LIBRARY 2 of the Atari Productivity Forum
(GO ATARIPRO) for a full demo of EdHak version 2.25. This version can be
used with the soon-to-be-released QuickCIS version 1.70. Craig Harvey (the
author of EdHak) has also announced a special discount for CompuServe mem-
bers who which to order the full functioning version. Contact Craig at
User ID number 73047,600 for details.
ATARI ST MODEM-TO-MODEM GAMES
The CompuServe Modem-to-Modem Challenge Board (GO CHALLENGE) now supports
the following two modem games by Forum member David Becker. Both of these
games are available in LIBRARY 2 ("Games") of the Atari Arts Forum (GO
ATARIARTS):
Download these games, find an opponent through the Challenge Board, and
even play them against your opponent through CompuServe at reduced
connect rates via the MTM Gaming Lobby (GO MTMLOBBY):
PAIGOW.ARC
Las vegas style PaiGow poker. Play against the computer or over the phone
line with a friend! Monochrome freeware.
BGAMMO.ARC
Online backgammon can be played over the phone lines with a modem. Many
options including the ability to play the computer make this a fun and
challenging monochrome game. Freeware.
LEXICOR TAKING ORDERS...
LEXICOR announces plans to begin taking orders for its 24-Bit True Color
video upgrade boards. Read the file VIDBRD.TXT in Library 9, the Lexicor
Software library of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN), for details on
how to place an order and reserve a place on the waiting list.
ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM (GO APORTFOLIO)
New calculators, lots of graphic files, and a new launcher program are
some of the latest entries in our Portfolio Programming Marathon. Check
out the latest uploads by going into *any* library and typing BRO LIB:ALL.
The programmers are requesting feedback on their efforts -- good, bad or
otherwise. Please help us encourage their mighty efforts!
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION
"GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"
***********************************************************************
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #45
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
-- ATARI SHOWS PROFIT
This week, Atari Corp. reported operating results for the third quarter
ending September 30, 1991 with sales of $49.2 million and an income of
$1.6 million compared to $89.1 million is sales and a loss of $3.9
million for the same quarter in 1990.
During the third quarter of 1990, the company repurchased a portion of
its 5 1/4% subordinated debentures which resulted in an extraordinary
credit of $6.9 million. As a result of the extraordinary credit, net
income for 1990 was $3.0 million as compared to net income for 1991 of
$1.6 million.
The company believes that sales have stabilized at this new level. In
addition, the company has restructured its overhead to be in line at
this level of operations.
Atari Corp. manufactures and markets video games and personal computers
for the home, office and educational marketplaces throughout the world.
Atari headquarters are located at 1196 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif.
94089.
-- Demand Too High for Apple's New Notebook Computers
Demand for Apple Computer Inc.'s new notebook portable computers is so
high the company is unable to keep up with consumer demand. The business
community is expressing a strong interest in the new notebook computers.
According to a source at Apple, Apple is not suffering production prob-
lems, and they expect the supply problem to ease soon.
The PowerBook line, officially unveiled just a few weeks ago at the Las
Vegas Comdex computer show, are small and lightweight enough to fit in a
briefcase. They range in price from $2,299 to $4,599.
-- Japanese Software Firms in Decline
Japan's software industry, which has posted annual growth of nearly 30%
over the past years, is facing a slew of bankruptcies. According to the
Jiji Japanese press service, 37 software firms became insolvent in the
first 6 months of this fiscal year to September compared to a total of
33 bankruptcies in all of fiscal 1990.
The wire service reported officials with Japan's Ministry of Interna-
tional Trade and Industry predict "the spiralling number of software
bankruptcies will set off an industry-wide shakeout."
-- Microsoft and Digital Plan Pact
Microsoft Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp. will announce next week a
new alliance that analysts say will escalate the feuding among com-
panies atop the computer industry. The announcement is expected to
combine Microsoft's strength in developing software for desktop com-
puters with Digital's expertise in linking computers in global networks.
Beyond the technology, observers say the move stands to widen the rift
between Microsoft and IBM while allowing Microsoft makes friends with a
large computer maker.
-- NEC to Market Notebook in US
NEC Technologies Inc. says it has started selling a $2,555 32-bit note-
book-size personal computer in its 9800 series in the US. The Foxbo-
rough, Mass., subsidiary of Japan's NEC Corp. earlier put 9800-series
desktop PCs on sale in the US, but this is the first notebook NEC has
marketed here.
NEC says the system can run about 8,200 kinds of software currently in
use for NEC's 9800-series PCs in Japan.
-- Supercomputer Shrinks
Wavetracer Inc., a small computer maker, will introduce what it calls
the first supercomputer small enough to sit beside a desk. The machine
packs up to 8,192 microprocessors and will cost as little as $85,000,
compared with the millions of dollars most supercomputers sell for.
-- NEC Wants to Use Sun's Unix-Standard O/S
Japan's NEC Corp. wants to use Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Unix-standard
operating system on its PC-9800 laptop personal computers, according to
a NEC spokesman. The spokesman noted that Sun suggested its use to NEC
last month. NEC is expected to start using the system software, which is
still under development, in 1992. NEC's PC-9800 is the most popular PC
in Japan.
-- Toshiba Develops 40 Megabyte Floppy Disk
Toshiba has developed a 3.5-inch 40 meg floppy disk and the disk drive,
and the firm is preparing to market them within two years.
Toshiba has developed this 3.5-inch 40 meg floppy disk by applying a
special magnetic material called "super barium ferrite." With this
magnetic material, the density of data recording has been increased a
great deal.
Toshiba has also developed the floppy disk drive for the floppy disk.
The firm has applied an interesting technology called "backward metal in
gap" (BMIG). Using this technology, the magnetic head rotates against
the disk and it creates a symmetrical signal. As a result, the recording
density increases, claims a company spokesman.
According to the company, this 3.5-inch 40 MB floppy disk is compatible
with current 4 MB floppy disks.
Toshiba hopes to make this 3.5-inch floppy disk and the drive an indus-
try standard. It is expected that the firm will get ready for quantity
production of the products by the year 1993.
-- Western Software Firms Battle Piracy in Eastern Europe
In an attempt to battle the East European software pirates, Western
software manufacturers are selling their products at rock-bottom prices
in the former Eastern Bloc nations. 1-2-3, the popular spreadsheet from
Lotus Development Corp., sells for the ruble equivalent of $50 in the
Soviet Union, compared to the $300 it costs in the United States.
--Sierra On-Line Entering Educational Market
Sierra On-line is entering the educational software market, investing
more than $1 million in its first three educational software titles that
are fun enough to steal children away from television, the company
claims. The three new titles are expected to be available before the
holiday season this year.
Mixed-Up Fairy Tales, a sequel to Mixed-Up Mother Goose with a suggested
retail price has been set at $49.95.
Ecoquest 1: The Search for Cetus -- This game is an environmental lear-
ning game that takes place completely underwater with a suggested retail
price is $59.95.
Castle of Dr. Brain -- Analytical and problem-solving skills are the
focus of this game with a suggested retail price is $49.95.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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> GREENER PASTURES? STR FOCUS "ATARI HARDWARE IS RIGHT UP THERE!"
===========================
WAKE-UP, SMELL THE COFFEE
THE TOAST IS ALREADY BURNED
ATARI, IBM, & THE REAL WORLD
ctsy DELPHI LIBRARY
In the age of the new 68030 Atari TT and Mega STE, and the coming SST
68030 turbo upgrades from Gadgets by Small for various Atari's, it's easy
to overlook the revolutionary aspects of the ST, which is only now begin-
ning to be emulated in the IBM world.
Giving credit where it's due, here's a quick overview of the latest,
greatest IBM world from the standpoint of a "yesterday's" technology, my
old ST.
The Mega 4 on which I'm typing is placed barely a foot away from an IBM
386, 33 MHZ, with 64K cache and 4 megs of RAM. This DOS machine was
recently purchased by my friend, who is an Atari and Amiga user as well,
for the purpose of video game development and testing.
Which brings up the first issue:
Atari, the GAMES machine?
One of the first criticisms of Atari, and the stigma that has kept it from
blossoming in the public's eye (aside from Atari Corporation's apparent
fear of the U.S. market), is that Atari is first and foremost, a games
machine.
The Fact:
My friend is a devoted player and more recently, developer of computer
games. New to this arena (signed his contract with a computer games
publisher in August, 1991), he tells me of what he has learned in resear-
ching the computer games market:
If you are a developer of computer game software, you'll be wise to
develop it first for IBM, well noted to have the largest base of computer
GAMES machines and players in the world. Period. More than a ten to one
margin.
"Ah!" you'll say, "There is no comparison! A ten to one margin over Atari
in the U.S. would only total only a small fraction of the total IBM user
base in this country!"
Not quite...
The fact of the matter is that the bulk of the IBM user base consists of
antiquated machines that cannot do justice to the advanced games (such as
the ones continually being played at my side). No way...
Games playing (of this complex, new software) requires at least a 386 com-
puter, like the one mentioned above, with expensive sound boards and the
like to be tolerable in terms of playability. That is, of course, if
anything above two color vector "stick figure" graphics is what you want
on your Super VGA monitor.
So, the question is raised;
"How many high-speed 386's are out there? 486's?"
"A LOT more than there are ST's!" you'll scream.
Okay.
What difference does a fast 386 make in word processing, still one of the
primary uses of computers? Take the drive-intensive programs like Word
Perfect. The difference a 386 makes in many such programs is
insignificant, even meaningless next to the average speed of the end user.
No sum gain.
Now, what difference does a high speed 80386 and math coprocessor make in
number crunching? Throw in the works, high power machine, coprocessor,
etc. and a highly complex spreadsheet on an IBM.
The job:
Create from scratch a spreadsheet 985K in file size with more than 1000
calculation cells with the average calculation requiring, say, 75 charac-
ters to define with at least 4 data cells called upon for manipulation and
5 levels of parentheses.
Throw the same complexity at an Atari running, say, LDW Power.
"Oh, but you can't! LDW doesn't compare to Lotus Release X..."
Ah, but it does. Look at the facts:
POINT 1: The average IBM Lotus user accesses only a fraction of the
program's power. Average user for average user, the spreadsheets will al-
most certainly sport the same complexity and use of functions (most over-
lap anyway: that's why files from an Atari work on the IBM and vice ver-
sa).
POINT 2: Make the computers STOCK, with no routines whatsoever to call
upon 'extended memory.' In this case, only the Atari can do the work in
the first place, because the IBM is lost in the quagmire of the DOS 640K
limit!
On to the job--
O.K., it's 9 a.m., and the work has got to be turned in fast! In a toe--
to-toe free-for-all, under this comparison, both users (IBM and Atari)
will go to lunch at the same time, despite the Atari user's lack of math
coprocessor.
The painful truth:
The 'mammoth' speed difference might amount to a 1000% comparative
increase in recalculation speed on the IBM over the Atari, but recalcula-
tion speed only accounts for, perhaps, 2% or less of the time of a spread-
sheet session. Even in a very complex spreadsheet, the 'miserable' Atari
is going to do the recalculation in a few seconds. The IBM may do the
same job in a quarter second, but this falls under the heading "so what?"
The time-intensive activities in MOST computer work amounts to THINKING
time, DATA ENTRY time, and, of course, relative TYPING SPEED.
I wouldn't have dreamt of whipping this discussion up were it not for the
fact that I'm an ace-typist. Fast and few mistakes.
And for this reason, I'd make a bet with anyone any day that a wicked fast
typist with a strong working knowledge of a given program will always make
mincemeat out of anyone - regardless of machine make or speed.
What about that 985K spreadsheet file?
I've got several... and any IBM user would tell you, many programs just
don't access memory past 640K... and after loading the program, how much
overhead is left to load a file? Now, are you going to compare IBM hard
drive caching or paging to ST RAM?
Remember, no matter how big and expensive and fast the IBM, it is, in the
end, a 640K machine that needs significant coaxing to go beyond 640K, and
even that does not ALWAYS guarantee the user access past the 640K barrier!
Now, try to think of a way, aside from making HUGE ramdisks or something,
to PREVENT and Atari, like a Mega 4, from accessing every bit of RAM up to
the full computer memory...
Asking the wizard of a programmer working with my friend on his game about
the 640K barrier, he merely replies, "the new DOS helps a bit."
"A bit." (And enough beating of the dead horse!)
A Heartwarming Tale:
A member of my family has worked at Abbott Laboratories (always in the top
half of the Fortune 500) for over 20 years. This company routinely spends
millions of dollars on every sort of computer imaginable, from mainframes
to Macs to IBM 386 portables (and then some). The stories they tell about
IBM woes (try using Windows 3 on a network, chuckle-chuckle!) never fail
to warm my heart, restore my faith in my 'ugly duckling' Atari, and keep
the grin on my face.
Admissions:
I work principally in monochrome. But I do like the Super VGA color and
quality on the IBM (clone) screen not even arm's length from my keyboard.
The color in those games can be breathtaking.
But the DOS prompt and silly blinking cursor (Do you know the names of the
six directories you're about to laboriously type out trying to access that
deeply buried file? How's your typing accuracy? Is it one or two
backslashes? And when you realize it's on E: rather than C:?)
Yes, you can access the DOS shell, but on a stock system, you are going to
be fudging around, regardless of your skill.
And face it, DOS is ugly, and even with the shell, too close to the com-
mand line to call it 'user friendly.'
So you add the high power stuff. You get Windows 3.
Okay! A graphic interface! It boots up and that VERY PROFESSIONAL, BEAUTI-
FULLY EXECUTED Windows desktop comes up!
I do like the 'pretty' interface of Windows 3. All the applications have
a nice look, in terms of buttons and window borders. But is it intuitive?
Not by a huge stretch of the imagination.
So you add THE NORTON DESKTOP!!!!
With the 33MHZ 386 IBM at my side, booting all the way to the Norton
Desktop for Windows takes 59 seconds (it's actually closer to 60, but
let's be forgiving).
My Mega, with TOS 1.4, booting off a Megafile 44 Syquest drive (notably
slower than the IBM internal hard disk), and loading DC Shower with its
ARC, LZH, ZIP, and ZOO viewer/extractors, plus its PIC and TXT viewers,
plus loading DCLITOFF, DC_BHELP, FPPRNT, LGSELECT, my TOS patches, plus
loading the accessories CARDFILE, DCPICK, MAXIFILE, STENO, AND TURBOMONO,
PLUS autoloading NEODESK 3, boots in 24 seconds flat (actually 28.92
seconds).
That's a 35 second savings, enough to say that all that speed in the
cached 386 will never catch up in an average day. Not unless the machine
is turned on to do something like high grade fractal generation or 16 mil-
lion color renderings...
No, for the average user, doing average things, the ST would save time
over the IBM.
Especially if the user needs to quickly check and decompress a ZIP'd file
or preview a few text files or pictures from the desktop or inside any
program.
Talking common turkey, the Norton Desktop is very much like the Neodesk
environment, only that Norton is MEGABYTES in size versus Neodesk's paltry
140K.
And try as you will, on the spur of the moment, you're not gonna type a
note on the Norton Desktop. What's a desktop for, anyway? Just ask
Neodesk.
In using Windows and the Norton desktop, you get the feeling that a whole
lot of people obsessed themselves with trying to find a way to make some-
thing very primitive and oppressive into something user friendly. The key
word is TRYING.
Somewhere along the line they missed getting a KISS across:
( K_eep I_t S_imple, S_tupid! )
Windows, for sure, needs a BIG manual, and MUCH getting used to, if not
TRAINING on the outside. (Ever NOT seen Windows classes?)
The Norton Desktop is relatively pleasurable by comparison, and somewhat
obvious to an Atari user, but the obtuse and somewhat confused array of
buttons and controls in the windowed environment (shared by Windows and
Norton alike) has much (SPEED!!!!!!!!) to be desired! Click to close, and
worry about the multiple ("I just want the window CLOSED, thank you!!")
options presented.
Again, for the average user...
Just count the mouse clicks (oh, you mean the mouse that came in the
original box with the computer, or that add-on option needing a software
driver because it is alien to your system?).
The 386 at my side has only one mouse, but so far has gone through two
mouse drivers, and in no uncertain terms, the mouse is still KLUNKY!
Unsmooth, and with TWO mostly unused buttons out of three. It is a con-
tinual grin to watch the poor mouse support being reflected in various
game designs, which, although laden with on screen selector buttons, some-
times (often) loses the mouse pointer ENTIRELY.
To this clone, and, I suspect, many IBM's like it, mousing around is not a
fun business.
Still, now you've spent your big bucks, have that nifty IBM running, got
Windows up. Let's run that software...
WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED THE WINDOWS VERSION????!!!!!
Don't fret, a reasonable publisher will upgrade your old software for a
small fee, and a week or so later....
THE CHALLENGE:
Windows 3 is the be-all, end-all of graphic interfaces, right? If so, take
a computer neophyte and teach him how to use it in five minutes. You
won't be able to do it even with an experienced computer user. That's why
the manual is HUNDREDS of pages, and still cryptic to the average user.
Now, do the same thing, but teach Neodesk to someone. Five minutes should
just about do it... at least enough to make most functions intuitive.
THE JOKE OF IT ALL...
In the Atari world, we have Neodesk, Maxifile, Steno, D.C. Shower,
Cardfile. If an IBM'er only knew...
...that a desk accessory didn't necessarily have to load off a hard
drive, delaying its availability.
...that nearly any graphics file can be viewed within any application
prior to its selection and/or use in the program.
...that 'extended memory' is not the software-patched exception, but
the high-headroom norm...
...that he could decompress any .ARC, .LZH, or .ZIP file from within
ANY program for use IN the program or otherwise...
...that a path name would almost NEVER have to be typed...
...that notes can be typed directly on the desktop. No need to load
up a memo page. Unless you want to. This document is an ST Memo
Page from Steno...
...that any disk drive can be opened, viewed, and files manipulated
in EVERY way, instantly on the desktop itself or from within any
program.
...that all programs written for his computer took advantage of a
windowed environment for the last six years.
...that if his floppy disks burned, and hard drive smoked, that his
computer will still boot as a full-function window-based computer.
...that his programs, oft-used folders and files could be right
there, on the desktop awaiting his use, no matter how far they were
buried in directories.
...that, a good friend could teach him the ins and outs of his
windowed environment within five minutes, and that computer class
and wading knee deep in manuals would never be necessary...
...that the sophistication he can enjoy is matched by a truly user
friendly system.
...that any file could be found, no matter where it was, in seconds,
from within any program or the desktop.
A Last, Little Note
And a Smattering of Understatement
----------------------------------
It's a wonder how anything can get done using such an antiquated computer
system like the Atari. I've just finished my second month three thousand
miles from my home finishing up some feature films for our production /
distribution company called Mutual General Pictures. We've only been
around for 25 years, so we don't really know what we're doing.
On my pathetic, lowly ST, I seem to remember screen writing (and having to
'do' lunch with actor-types), budgeting (to the penny), doing title lists,
desktop publish the titles for use in actually movies themselves,
organizing the various shoots, making demo cassette labels -- whatever it
took to make it happen in what amounts to a paperless office.
When I do print, I often print in PostScript, but I do not need a
PostScript printer (too big and too delicate to tote mine cross-country).
Instead, I use a portable Canon Bubblejet, even when printing EPS files
and real Type 1 (not Ultrascript) fonts without bitmaps. That's because I
use PageStream, not PageMaker (ALONE, without strap on programs like AT-
M)...
At our Beverly Hills office, the boss put in a 486 superduper IBM multi-
user system. THEY got the BIG, office model Canon Bubblejet. Yet, with
all their users and terminals and "high-end" software, they can not begin
to match the ST and PageStream. Not on a Bubblejet. Not without spending
EXTRA money on software to print with the same fonts (EXACTLY) that I use
in PageStream.
Sometimes, another party gives me IBM disks with things I need, so I tell
them to bring it on a 2DD. Then I use them. Including full color/full
gray scale images, etc.
I keep track of all our crew members, production equipment and prop sour-
ces in an electronic rollodex that also dials without the need to touch
the phone 'till the party answers.
I'm used to 100% WYSIWYG, and like it that way.
My spreadsheets approach 1 meg with over 2500 calculation fields. Many of
the formulae are 40-90 characters across with 5 or more levels of nested
parentheses. Gosh, I can take one luxurious sip of Diet Pepsi waiting for
that recalculation to occur. Two, if I'm fidgety...
And on the bottom line, currently, our company has five features being
readied for delivery to the world market. Granted, they are mainly low
budget action films for foreign distribution -- but in low budget, one
person must 'wear' many 'hats.'
If only my Atari could keep up.
Almost forgot. It did...
AND WE'VE BEEN COMPARING THE LATEST IBM OFFERINGS WITH VERY EARLY, '6
YEARS OUTMODED' ST TECHNOLOGY!
It's almost to say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...
See you at the Festivals! (Film Festivals, that is...)
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service:
Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo)
Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and weekend access to
more than 100 services including electronic mail, online encyclopedia,
shopping, news, entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards on
leisure and professional subjects. With many other services, including
the biggest collection of files to download and the best online games, for
only $6 per hour.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month of membership if
you are not completely satisfied, just ask for your $4.95 back.
GEnie Announcements (FREE)
1. NEW FCC COST INCREASE THREATENS COMPUTER SERVICES...........*FCC
2. October Billing Complete -- Type *BILL for details..........*BILL
3. Admiral, a new Windows PC program for Stellar Emperor.......EMPEROR
4. Meet Steve Hudgik of HomeCraft Software. FREE RTC in........TANDY
5. HOT IIgs System 6.0 Programming RTC in ---->................A2PRO
6. Wetmore talks about GEnie BB's..............................STALADDIN
7. Win FREE connect time before time runs out..................COLLEGE
8. The adult space fantasy is now twice as big.................FED
9. What's up tonight in your favorite Computing RT.............COMPUTING
10. How Much is That Thingy - Unique Holiday Gifts..............GENIEMALL
11. HAYES BB free for November's CompuCopia.....................HAYES
12. Who joins High IQ societies and why. Find out in............*PF
13. Meet Ken & Roberta Williams during COMPUTE's Sierra Week....COMPUTE
14. Technical Support from Quarterdeck..........................IBMPC
15. Visit the GEnie Info Library today..........................*LIBRARY
Atari ST RT
From The Program of the Week to the only Atari realtime compression
program Data Diet, Double Click Software has been providing the Atari com-
munity with the products they demand. Please join Double Click Software
for a GEnie realtime conference on November 20, 1991 (10 PM EASTERN) as
they celebrate the beginning of their sixth year of supporting the Atari
userbase. Double Click Software will be giving away at least one copy of
Data Diet to some lucky person during their conference!
Soft-Logik RT
SOFT-LOGIK will have a freebie night this TUESDAY from 6pm 'till 6am
in the BB areas. Also, there will be a free Online Conference from 10pm
EST till 11pm EST in the conferencing area. Type M-385 to get to the
Soft-Logik RoundTable. "A great place for all DTP enthusiasts."
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> The Flip Side STR Feature "... a different viewpoint..."
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
I've devoted this weeks' issue to one person and topic -- Dave Small
(Gadgets by Small) and his new SST (68030 accelerator) and his MegaTalk
board. He recently visited CompuServe (CIS) and answered many ques-
tions about himself, the SST and the MegaTalk board. I've included the
whole series of his replies even though some of the information was
duplicated because, well, because I find Dave's writing entertaining and
I hope you will too.
----------------
Misc. posts by Dave Small from CIS...
I would like to go on record, and anyone who wants to can quote me.
The first PRODUCTION - e.g., real, live, going-to-customers - Mega-
Talks were picked up by Sandy, Jamie, and I (Jamie is our 3 year old)
on Nov. 8, Friday. We are now in the process of hauling you-know-
what to get them put in the right boxes with manuals and software
disks and shipped.
*** The Wait Is Over ***
As for SST, I wish the news was so concrete. Raving Idiot Chip Supply
flat gave us *hundreds of defective chips* -- then told us at the
last second. I made it a personal goal to ship SST's THIS WEEK (Nov.
12 - Nov. 11, Monday, is Veteran's Day). Frankly, people, if I have
to wade into a parts place with a bunch of $20 bills from an Anytime
Machine and get working chips, I will do it. I am SICK of not
shipping SST's and having extremely totally awesomely dubious things
said about it. I would like you to e-mail me Friday, November 15,
and see if I haven't shipped some. I will answer all emails.
*** The Wait Is Over ***
I *SAID* online,for the record, that SST was one foot and three toes
out the door. It is. I'm damned if I'm going to let Raving Idiot
stop me now.
----------------
It is my personal goal to ship SST this week and this means a great
deal to me. I have been saddled with a bunch of penny-ante defective
chips by the idiots at a part company, but it is a COMMON part and I
can (and will) find it elsewhere.
Let me repeat: I am determined to ship SST this week, November 12
(after the holiday / Veterans Day). I don't think Sandy likes the
glint in my eyes at all.
----------------
I would literally be putting boards into boxes and making mailing
labels with the LabelWriter (tm) NOW if we had not gotten a boatload
of defective chips. (Not to worry, they are cheap ones, not 030's!).
I am dead serious about plunking down cash, retail, and buying out
every mail order place and Denver "Silicon Mountain" (*chuckle*)
place I can find. 'cause once I get these chips, in they go, we test,
we put into package, we ship.
It was my personal goal, in red letters on my dry-ink board, quote,
SHIP SST'S THIS WEEK!, unquote. In the hardware business it is always
hard, and you know your sales reps real good.
Like the badge says, NO MORE REAL-SOON-NOW! I totally agree.
Fundamentally, notes about how someone else's outfit screwed up DO
NOT MATTER; there are people out there trusting me, personally, with
their ause I delivered with Spectre 128 and Spectre GCR and they feel
the SST design is right for them.
I fully expected, with good reason, to ship in September. It would
give the competition *major* trade secrets to detail why we have not;
it was really, really, really hair. Even Minoxodil can't keep my hair
in when I pull it out that hard.
I promise that in the process of debugging the September bug, SST
become EVEN FASTER than has EVER been quoted. You will see the
notes. I give you my word.
----------------
In reply to the base note, I have much hands-on with the SST. I am
willing to answer ANY questions about it, have written articles about
why the way it is, and even stripped copyright from them so they can
be reprinted by anyone who wants. I want people to know why the SST
is the way it is; I believe in power without major bucks, to "coin a
phrase".
Performance figures on the SST, of course, depend on how much power
you pack into it; it is VERY flexible and runs at a variety of clock
speeds. But that is not dodging your question. What figures would you
like? Q-Index says about 160% of a TT when we have the pedal flat on
the floor. There is Jim Ness' fine benchmark, whose figures I would
post if I could access them (their storage media is down for another
2 hours). Tell me what you would like!
... kinda, draw your own conclusions ...
----------------
....you need to bear in mind that we have in-waiting lines of liter-
ally hundreds of people (and remember ten hundreds is a thousand) for
product. We have told people repeatedly to "get in line as fast as
you can" because of this.
* Spectre GCR has ->never<- gotten out of back-order, ever, in all
the time it has been for sale. I have NEVER been able to grab say 20
off the shelf, go to a show, and sell them. They have all been pre-
sold. <- SST and MegaTalk are the same way.
You will *see* users that have gotten their boards discussing them
online, but as for ordering them, well ...
It is a damned difficult business, requiring 100% perfection, to line
up all the parts needed for a board, the board, get it scheduled for
soldering, test it, get the manual and virus-free disk, and finally
put it all in a nice looking box. It's like a 100-input AND gate. Any
ONE thing goes wrong, ptooey. And needless to say there is an
avalanche effect ... must schedule things, and one little thing going
wrong meets you must break about 7,124 dates and schedules.
People like Tom Harker [ICD] that regularly get hardware out are
heroes every day.
----------------
The SST is TOTALLY user configurable. You pay for speed as you want
it; if your groceries need the money that week, that's cool. When YOU
feel like it, plug in more or faster SST RAM and watch your speed go
up; when YOU feel like it, pop in a faster oscillator or CPU or FPU.
George has done a remarkable job of making the board so flexible.
SST gives you ALL sorts of options to help you keep compatible with
your software -- I mean, you want the board to work with your stuff,
right?
I have long loved slots, user options, letting the user decide,
speed, and compatibility, as Spectre 128/GCR show. I have seen WILD
Spectre configs and they work fine. I believe in what we're doing and
I do not believe I know better than you what you need.
----------------
The specs on the SST have never changed since it debuted at WAACE a
year ago -- except, and I can prove it, it has gotten faster, more
compatible, and does things that even Motorola doesn't believe
possible. It is nice developing on a *stable* hardware platform. (I
have worked at outfits where things changed every week - *shudder!*)
----------------
I personally believe that the user community is pretty much bewil-
dered about this 68030 stuff, and is just going with the company they
trust.
Gadgets has a real good rep for speed and compatibility, and you will
see some things in the 68030 SST that are being called "impossible"
right now. That makes my day! Hey, it's impossible to run Mac stuff
on the ST, too ...
I also STRONGLY believe that this IS the ST market, and that you MUST
put out a product at a reasonable price. We pulled every chip off the
SST we could and when it broke we stop. That cuts our costs, then it
cuts yours. We DIDN'T succumb to the urge to put the latest nifty-
keano widget toaster controller on it. We DID give you a board you
could populate ON A BUDGET -- and heck, one of our Beta Testers is
posting notes on how to beat our prices on the parts like RAM and
CPUs. We're not suppressing him; we're not deleting his notes. We
think it is great.
The SST was built from the ground up for the user to configure. You
can buy as much speed as you want, until your ears bleed when you
open a window. (Don't laugh until you see, say, 40 Mhz running on 60
ns. RAM, with Dave's Little Performance Thingo in your AUTO folder).
You are going to forget, as I have forgotten, the *sight* of the
"open / close" window animation -- it happens too fast.
When you've maxxed the board, we gave you an expansion slot (which is
really many of them). We've already SHOWN a WORKING product for it --
and we have something insanely, wonderfully great we're brewing for
it. You are not going to believe it, and I'm totally psyched!
There is so much cool new software -- Dynacadd TT, Avant Vector...and
it needs an ST of the 90 's to fly. I mean, you should SEE "Sudden"'s
demo at 40 Mhz ... it becomes, "Oh-My-Gawd!"
----------------
I have a Toshiba-San with a 286SX at 16 MHZ. I compare to ST. And
there is NO comparison. I believe that that operating system belongs
in the dark ages, with witch burnings.
I *fundamentally* believe that what we are all in search of *is a
better way to keep track of our data* -- and the ST is no slouch. 1:1
hard disks, indeed! Try that on a PC (*chuckle*)
Sure,I have thought about going Mac or Windows. But I am in a small
pond (no pun intended) and I'm dealing with people I *like* -- I
hardly ever get a loonie-tunes-type phone call -- and I like my life.
Do I REALLY want to start shelling out, I dunno, $50,000 for one full
page color ad in MacWorld that people will flip through? Heck, no.
I honestly believe ST users, despite everything, have one of the best
kept secrets, and the best machines, you can find. Lordee, just try
moving directories on the Toshiba. The Mac is slightly better ...
well, that is you don't get a crash. They need a crash recoverer BAD.
It's like 2:30 AM and I'm up; Sandy is in the next room getting SST
and MegaTalk boxes ready. People have given us money for GCR and in
turn we've given them back new stuff that keeps the ST *more* than
competitive for the '90's. And I see a resurgence in ST software that
makes my whole week -- check out Codehead GT stuff. Try it with an
SST and you can't go back.
Maybe I ought to just loan an SST to every user group for a while...
David Small, engineer, bottle washer, & hacker
Gadgets by Small, Inc.
-----------------
Until next week.....
____________________________________________________
> Tracker ST 3.0 STR Review "TrackerST 3.0 is a terrific program.."
==========================
*** TRACKER/ST 3.0 ***
THE MAILING LIST/DATABASE & MAIL MERGE TOOL
by Dana P. Jacobson
Do you maintain your user group membership listing? Do you keep
track of newsletter subscriptions? Do you have hundreds of business cards
all over the place? Does your business maintain any kind of customer
list? Do you send out regular mailings to clients? Do you need an easy
way to send out those 'thank you' letters for wedding/graduation gifts?
Class reunion coming up soon?
If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions; or you can
substitute a similar task - Tracker/ST is the software tool that will do
it all, and much more.
Assuming that most of you belong to a user group or any organized
club or association, there will probably be a membership list. Most or-
ganizations have annual memberships, newsletters, dues, etc. Tracker/ST
will allow you to easily keep track (no pun intended!) of members' yearly
dues and newsletter subscription renewal dates. Also, you can maintain
unlimited notes about each member and/or subscriber. Tracker/ST will also
allow you to create letters, reminders, and announcements to the member-
ship without the need to type each one individually. It even has its
own text editor for creating letters and various notes. Tracker/ST also
allows you to create, edit, and save multiple mailing label formats.
The minimum hardware requirements are a 1-meg machine (color or mono)
and a double-sided floppy drive. It's recommended that you use Tracker/ST
on a hard drive system because of speed and the capability of maintaining
large databases. Obviously, you'll probably want to have a printer for
taking advantage of the program's hard copy features (letters, labels,
etc.). Installation of the program is quick and painless. Once you've
got the program installed, finish reading the manual and take advantage of
the couple of tutorials included. Once you've done so, using the program
will be very easy, almost intuitive.
Tracker/ST has three main areas: The "Entry Screen", the "Power
Station", and the "Quick Letter". Each area has its own drop-down menus,
buttons, and keyboard commands (quick keys) to make moving around and ac-
cessing various functions a snap. Whichever method, or combination, works
best for your - use.
The "Entry Screen" is pretty straightforward. This is the area where
you'll enter all of the data that you want to include in your listings.
This includes first & last names; a salutation (how you want to address
this person in your letters); company name (if any); 2 street address
fields; city, state, ZIP,and country; home, work, and FAX numbers. There
are also fields for a "category", "rank", "date", "I.D. number", short
"notes", "source", and the option to include "long notes" for each entry.
These last few fields can be set up for your various needs. For instance:
category can signify a member or non-member; rank can be used to determine
months left in membership or subscription; date can signify renewal time;
I.D. number is self-explanatory (or you can devise something entirely dif-
ferent); notes can be used for anything, usually a reminder of some kind
(ex.: John has 20 friends who are buying STs and want to join the group
next month!); source could signify how each member learned of the group;
and long notes can be used to create a memo on each person entered which
might include info about each member's system, favorite programs, etc.
The Entry Screen also allows you to move back and forward, one entry at a
time; or you can fast-forward or rewind which will display each entry
quickly. You also have the ability to add a person at any time; search
for any entry, edit an entry, or delete one.
One of the best and unique features of the Entry Screen is the
ability to set defaults for _any_ of the fields that you wish to include.
In one of the drop-down menus, you can access a "default" menu and fill in
whichever defaults you wish to include, saving you the trouble of typing
them all in individually for each entry. For example, if your entries are
all from the same city, state, and zip code - you can put those items in
the default menu and those fields will already be 'completed' when you
enter new names (provided you chose to use defaults!). It makes a time-
consuming task a lot easier.
You can create new databases, load an existing one, rename an exis-
ting one, delete one, import names into a current database, and more. You
can edit, browse, update, view, and sort any and all fields, at any time,
as well. And, there are even more options available!
The "Power Station" is another of the integral areas of Tracker/ST.
The Power Station is the area where you can display the various Tracker
reports that are available. It's here that you can also print labels and
mail merges. The Power Station consists of three main areas: "Report Set-
tings", "Mail Merge Settings", and "Label Settings". You're also given
the opportunity in this area to set a "filter" so you can display only
those entries matching the filter setting, i.e., all entries listed from
Texas.
The "Report Settings" area is defined by choices you make in a
Reports drop-down menu. You can display the report type, primary sort,
and grouping. You have the option to display headers and footers; and
also choose between a full or summarized report.
The "Mail Merge" settings are also defined from a drop-down menu. The
primary setting here is which letter template you want to use (if any).
The other setting options refer to how you want to position various parts
of your letter: top margin to allow for pre-printed letterheads; and date,
return address, and sender's address offsets.
The "Label Settings" are fairly obvious. Just select the correct
settings from the menus. The label area is also where you can select your
printer type.
At the bottom of the Power Station screen, there are six selector
buttons, two for each of the three settings areas. The "Run Report" but-
ton will allow you to run a report, according to your settings, to either
the screen (a great preview option!) or to actually print out a copy.
"Page Width/Length" allows you to set your paper size (width by characters
and length by lines). "Mail Merge-Print" allows you to determine how your
merge will be sorted (filter) and then the merge will print. "Form Feed"
will allow you to send a form feed command to your printer, if needed.
"Labels Print" allows you to set a filter also (which entries to print
labels), how many of each, and then print. "Test Print Labels" is a good
way to dt shelling out, I dunno, $50,000 for one full
page color ad in MacWorld that people will flip through? Heck, no.
I honestly believe ST users, despite everything, have one of the best
kept secrets, and the best machines, you can find. Lordee, just try
moving directories on the Toshiba. The Mac is slightly better ...
well, that is you don't get a crash. They need a crash recoverer BAD.
It's like 2:30 AM and I'm up; Sandy is in the next room getting SST
and MegaTalk boxes ready. People have given us money for GCR and in
turn we've given them back new stuff that keeps the ST *more* than
competitive for the '90's. And I see a resurgence in ST software that
makes my whole week -- check out Codehead GT stuff. Try it with an
SST and you can't go back.
Maybe I ought to just loan an SST to every user group for a while...
David Small, engineer, bottle washer, & hacker
Gadgets by Small, Inc.
-----------------
Until next week.....
____________________________________________________
> Tracker ST 3.0 STR Review "TrackerST 3.0 is a terrific program.."
==========================
*** TRACKER/ST 3.0 ***
THE MAILING LIST/DATABASE & MAIL MERGE TOOL
by Dana P. Jacobson
Do you maintain your user group membership listing? Do you keep
track of newsletter subscriptions? Do you havs, bold, and underlining. There
is also an optional ruler to set margins. Unlike most text editors,
however, you cannot move Tracker's around on your hard disk, or to flop-
pies. Tracker's text files are part of the program itself, so must remain
where "placed" by the program.
According to Nevin Shalit, many of the suggestions made by Tracker
users have made it to this upgrade. Some of the "significant" (my term,
not Nevin's) are duplicate name warnings, telephone dialing (this may NOT
be used as a telecommunications program!), auto salutation field,
unlimited filters, and the ability to open a second file in the background
(allowing you to copy names from the Entry Screen). Also, the export/im-
port menus are now combined into one menu item.
Tracker/ST includes printer support for Epson printers (9 and 24
pin), the NEC 24 printers, Diablo-compatible daisy wheel printers, the
SLM804, and the HP DeskJet and DeskJet Plus, BubbleJet printers,
LaserBrain printers, and the Star NX 10 printers. Supposedly, the
Panasonic laser printers are supported using the HP driver, but I had no
luck with it. It's been promised that the problem will be alleviated
shortly. There's also an area within the manual that describes how you
can create your own printer driver by just writing the correct printer
codes into your favorite word processor (save it in ASCII). A sample is
included in the manual, or display any of the .PRT files on your Tracker
disk for more. It will also help if you have your printer manual handy to
find out the correct codes required! I managed to write a driver for my
Panasonic laser, but was only successful getting italics and underlining
to work; bold is being stubborn!!
Overall, if the need presents itself in such a way as I described
early on in the review, TrackerST 3.0 is a terrific program to utilize. I
recommend it highly, and wish that I had picked it up earlier. If you
have an earlier version, upgrade it now or at the Chicago Atari Show, be-
cause the upgrade is significant according to Nevin.
______________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
================================
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
=========================
On CompuServe
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
They keep going and going and going...Our programming marathon is in
full swing! FW.BAS is a fuel monitoring program for small aircraft.
Uploaded by Robert Kelsoe as a companion to the other aircraft programs.
PA06.TXT contains issue number six of Portable Addiction. We have a host
of calculator and conversion type utilities. WEEKDY.BAS uploaded by bj
Gleason will give you the day of the week and other information about
a given date. MATHFC.ZIP is a command line calculator modified by bj
to run on the Port. PRIME.BAS will choose the prime numbers from a
given range.
CC30.BAS is a conversion calculator by Hugh Campbell. This Pbasic program
will do conversions between various units of measure. CVERSI.ZIP is a
worksheet uploaded by Bruce Martin for converting among US, Imperial,
and metric measurements.
PMAP.COM is a memory map to show programs loaded into memory by bj
Gleason.
BALANC.ZIP contains a worksheet for keeping your checkbook balance
uploaded by Bruce Martin.
PTRS12.ZIP is a version of Portris modified for those using the German
keyboard.
Don Messerli has created a new version of Pgedit.
PGED12.ZIP lets you create and edit a PGC file on a desktop PC.
PGCONV.ZIP by bj Gleason will convert among various graphic file formats.
PGL.ZIP contains a .PGC file launcher by David Stewart. You will be
presented with a menu of the PGC format files in order to select one
for viewing. There are two new collections of .PGC pictures.
PFPICS.ARC uploaded by bj Gleason contains an assortment of pictures.
AUTOS.ZIP by Don Messerli contains pictures of 14 auto emblems including
BMW, Ferrari, Saab.
DBSH12.ZIP is a new version of Dbshow by Don Messerli. Featured is a new
field type which lets you store music in a database file.
CVT.ZIP, an accessory, lets you convert dBase III character files to
Dbshow graphic or music files.
BOX.ZIP is a utility to draw ASCII boxes on an 80 by 25 screen by David
Stewart.
CAROL.BAS is a Pbasic program to play Christmas Carols.
POORSP.ARC is a simple speller to lookup words in an address book.
BJ Gleason has written two utilities.
DVORAK.ZIP will remap the keyboard to the Dvorak layout.
CLOCK.BAS will put a real-time clock on the screen.
TW12.EXE is a shareware program from RSE. This trip organizer will handle
to do lists, flight itinere, schedule, expenses, etc.
_____________________________________________________
> Chicago STR SHOW NEWS CHICAGO ATARI SHOW; MIDWEST EXTRAVAGANZA!
=====================
CHICAGO COMPUTERFEST INFO
=========================
Compiled by Michael Lee
The Chicago ComputerFest is just around the corner, only about one week
away (the weekend of November 23th and 24th). The Chicago show looks to
be one of the hottest shows of the year. Almost everyone who is anyone
in the Atari community will either be there or be represented. If you
are going to be in the Chicago area that weekend, this is a show that
you shouldn't miss!!
I know that you've seen all of the blurb's about the Chicago show in the
online magazines but I thought that the following posts would give you a
few more details about some of the folks who are going to be there and
what they're going to show. From the ST Roundtable on Genie (Category
11, Topic 10).
Chicago ComputerFest by Atari
C/O LCACE
P.O. Box 8788
Waukegan, IL 60079-8788
708-566-0682 (Order and Show hotline)
Please Make Checks Payable to "Lake County Area Computer Enthusiasts"
We accept Master Card and Visa for all orders
GEmail - M.Brown56, L.Grauzas
Compuserve - 70416,144
America Online - SteveK7611
----------------
From Mike Brown (President of LCACE - One of the show's organizers) -
Msg's. 256/223/225/258/285....
In talking with the nice people at Atari Entertainment - I am told that
there will be a limited quantity of collectable gifts given to the first
Chicago ComputerFest paid admissions on Saturday morning.
I'm not at liberty to tell you specifics about what will be given away,
but I am told that everyone receiving one will be most happy that they
took the time to get to the show early to get one!
Hats off to the good folks at Atari Entertainment (you know, the LYNX
people) for their generous donations!
Stop by the Atari Entertainment booth and play pre-production versions
of the _newest_ LYNX games, and speak with the Atari Entertainment staff
about game playing tips and techniques all day Saturday and Sunday.
I have a very good friend at Motorola-Chicago, and he has promised me
that one of their MPU techs will be available for a seminar. It could be
quite enlightening.
From what I understand, the Motorola guest will be an "in the trenches"
tech
guy and not a sales person.
I spoke with our good friends at USRobotics today, and they regret that
they will not be able to attend the ComputerFest in person as they had
originally planned to.
To "make it better" they are planning to send us a Courier Dual Standard
9600 modem for the door prize raffle.
Cool, huh?
Anyone who is interested in ordering a show T-shirt can have one for a
special price of $8.50 (XL and XXL $9.00). Order by leaving credit card
info in GEmail or call the show hotline. You must order before Nov 17th
to get these prices.
The shirts will be teal blue with the show logo in white- very snazzy.
----------------
From Bob Brodie (Atari) - Msg. 264....
Excitement is really growing here in Sunnyvale for this show! We have
had an incredible number of our employees come as ask to attend this
show and exhibit "the latest and greatest".
This is the current list of our representatives, subject of course to
change:
Bill Rehbock, Director of Technical Services
Art Morgan, Technical Marketing
Don Thomas, Director of Portfolio Marketing
Bob Brodie, Director of Communications
Mike Groh, Dealer Sales Coordinator
James Grunke, Director of Music Markets
Art Pruzynski, Project Manager, Atari UNIX
Dianne Guerrero, Atari UNIX support
Greg Pratt, President Atari Computer Corporation
And as our special guest for our Canadian friends, making this a truly
international event, Geoff Earle, General Manager of Atari Canada Corp
and Mark Campbell of Atari Canada will also be on hand!!
----------------
From Bob Brodie (Atari) - Msg. 248...
Looks like this show is shaping up to be a great one! We at Atari are
grateful for the fine, professional work being done by the Lake County
ACE in putting on this show.
Bill Rhebock and Greg Pratt have arranged for three of the workstations
that we have used at COMDEX, Seybold, and other professional exhibitons
to be shipped to Chicago for display in our booth. While this is just a
small example of the type of professional booth we use, I hope that the
attendees will find it to be much different that the "traditional" type
of table & drape look. No doubt we'll have some of that, too! :)
I'm looking forward to seeing all of you at the show! Chicago is a great
town, and the Ramada is a perfect site to take the family for a get a
way kind of weekend...let them relax while you enjoy the show, then join
us all for the banquet!
----------------
From Bob Brodie (Atari) - Msg. 157...
I was pleasantly surprised to get a call at the office yesterday from
Liz Mitchell of Migraph! She and Kevin will be exhibiting at the Chicago
Computerfest!! They have some exciting new OCR software that they plan
on unveiling at the Chicago show, in addition to a couple of other new
products.
Atari Canada has also expressed an interest in attending the show,
either as an exhibitor, or to offer seminars of interest to our North of
the border friends! In the absence of a TAF Show this year, this may be
the best opportunity for our Canadian Atarians to attend a major show,
close to home!
----------------
From Henry Murphy (M.S. Design) - Msg. 201....
P R E S S R E L E A S E
We at MS Design spent our summer vacation working for you! We will debut
30+ totally new fonts at the Chicago Atari show November 23rd and 24th,
1991, at fantastic introductory prices.
Plus, we have licensed, from a major Mac clip art company, a library of
over 7000 images!! All these clip art pictures are new and never before
available on the Atari! They will be in EPS, CVG and/or IMG format and
color EPS will be available soon after. While all 7000 won't be ready
for the Chicago show, we will have plenty there and will keep cranking
them out over the next year or two.
Come to our booth in Chicago! Save big money on your DTP needs! Make us
happy! Make yourself happy! Help support Atari DTP!
Power Without The Price
Henry & Carl & Brian & Brenda & Kim & Bob &...
PS. Bring a copy of this to the show and we'll knock $5 off of whatever
price we have given you...
----------------
From: John J. @ Atari Explorer - Msg. 238...
Atari Explorer is headin' out to the LCACE show, and are we psyched!
We'll be givin' away the usual thousands of copies of magazines, taking
subscriptions at ridiculously low discount prices, and in-between, doing
as much scoping of new product as will fill the next three or so issues.
See you all there! Don't be strangers! Introduce yourselves! Ask
questions about journalistic integrity! Make pointed suggestions about
content! Above all, subscribe!
Note to musicians: Pete Donoso and I, hot off our MIDI special issue (on
newsstands RSN!) will be bringing keyboards and guitar, respectively. We
are going to do a redux of the infamous "WAACE 2:00 AM Sheraton Reston
Jam," so don't plan on getting much sleep! Leave a message for me (John
Jainschigg) at the hotel, if you want to receive a special "come to the
party" call to tell you where the party is.
This time, however, we'd like to formally invite other Atari musicians
to join in. The theme is (nod to Chicago) "The Blues." So get those axes
tuned up, and put those shades on, and get ready to play down the Atari
Explorer staff -- "Not only the most-literate, but the most-musical
Atari magazine around!"
Be there, or be a quadrilateral planar section, characterized by equal
sides and 90-degree interior angles!
----------------
From George at JMG Software - Msg. 240....
I'd like to give a few more details about our presence at the Chicago
Computerfest.
JMG Software will be showing off the long awaited Version 1.6 of Hyper-
LINK featuring new object linking features, report generation, networ-
king, and lots of other goodies.
Version 1.6 is scheduled to start shipping at the Chicago show, and we
will also be introducing information about run-time and run-only ver-
sions of HyperLINK as well as programmer's information for module deve-
lopment.
Best of all, we'll be featuring examples of some of the latest applica-
tions developed under HyperLINK, to help people get an idea of what this
program can really do.
Look forward to seeing you all there!
----------------
From: Darek M. @ Branch Always Software - Msg. 247...
This is to confirm that Branch Always Software will be attending the
Chicago Atarifest. To avoid the sellouts like we had at Glendale and
WAACE, we will be bringing 200 copies of Quick ST 3 to the show. The
first 200 people to upgrade or buy Quick ST 3 will get it at the show,
after that we will have to take orders.
I will personally be there and I will be bringing a notebook PC to
demonstrate a very early prototype of GEMULATOR. I will be hosting one
of the seminars where I will demonstrate this, and if necessary I will
hold private demos after the show.
At the booth, I will be demonstrating both the ST and TT versions of
Quick ST 3. If anyone requests it, I can also demonstrate the ST and TT
versions of Xformer (the 8-bit emulator) as well as the PC version of
Xformer (running on the notebook PC!). Note that a very limited number
of Xformer disks will be available for sale (i.e. 5 or so).
If you have any further questions, feel free to call me any week night
between now and the Chicago show between 9pm and midnight Pacific time.
I will be around to answer your calls. At other times (midnight to 9pm)
you will get the hated Branch Always answering machine. The number is
206-885-5893.
----------------
From: John Nagy @ AtariUser - Msg. 255...
I'll be there at the show with plenty of the latest issues of AtariUser
for everyone too. I won't get to Chicago til 6 AM on Saturday morn. Hope
I don't wake ya'll up!
----------------
From: Linda Peckham @ Electronic Spinster Graphics - Msg. 262....
Hi, everyone! Mike suggested that us seminar-types should post a des-
cription of what they're talking about, so here goes...
"Spinning Bits Into Images" will be a talk about creating clip-art from
scanning, to finished product. Talk will include tips on using a hand-
scanner, and Migraph's Touch-Up. Silhouette and Avant Vektor may also be
mentioned. The talk will be given by Linda Peckham, owner of Electronic
Spinster Graphics, a supplier of IMG and vector clip-art.
PS -- Anyone who likes lots of clip-art is invited to find me at the DTP
Headquarters, booths 32-34. I'll have *all* my clip-art available, with
printouts of everything available to look at. And my prices are very
good (I've had two people tell me the prices are too low!) :)
----------------
From: Charles Johnson @ Codehead Software - Msg. 263...
Hi folks! Just a quick note to remind everyone that we will be both
showing and _selling_ our new product, MegaPaint Professional, at the
Chicago Computerfest! MegaPaint is already priced well under $200, and
we'll have a show special as well; so stop by the CodeHead booth and
check it out!
Oh yes ... and be prepared to HANG ONTO YOUR SOCKS. Because MegaPaint is
going to redefine your concept of what a paint/draw program can do.
Really.
----------------
From: D.A. Brumleve @ Kidprgs - Msg. 266...
Yes, we'll be there, stocked to the gills with copies of our popular
offerings for your holiday giving! What child wouldn't be thrilled with
a copy of Kidpublisher Professional, Kidpainter, Super Kidgrid, or
Telegram? No child of _mine_, let me tell you! And we are offering our
typical Show Special!
$10 off with the purchase of any two programs!
What's that you say? Your child already _has_ Kidpublisher Professional,
Kidpainter, Super Kidgrid, _and_ Telegram? Fret not, Dear Customer,
because we know your child will be thrilled with our...
ComputerFest Surprise!
Yes, indeed! Our booth also will contain some marvelous surprises, never
before seen by human eyes outside our beta-test sites! New programs, new
versions of old programs, and kid-friendly, child-tested Atari parap-
henalia as well!
In addition, a major shock to many will be the presence of my mysterious
educational consultant, the invisible man whose efforts have made the
difference between great kidprgs and superb kidprgs! Michael L. Marks,
M.Ed., educational consultant and teacher extraordinaire, will regale
Fest-goers with anecdotes from his classroom experience in a seminar on
Saturday morning: "Using the Computer to Foster Creative Thinking". Mr.
Marks will also be available for educational chit-chat in the D.A.
Brumleve booth throughout the show.
So see you there! - Booth #16
----------------
Gordon M. (Aladdin) - Msg. 274...
Tim Purves and I will both be at the show representing GEnie. If you
read the last conference schedule you will note that there will be
conferences about GEnie on Saturday and Sunday. I hope to see you there.
----------------
From: Deron K. @ Softlogic - Msg. 275....
Hands on PageStream Classes
Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation is proud to present In Depth, Hands-
On, Desktop Publishing training courses using PageStream page layout
software. Two courses, "An Introduction to Desktop Publishing with
PageStream" and "Advanced Publishing Solutions with PageStream" will be
offered at the Chicago ComputerFest by Atari on November 23-24.
The Instructors
===============
The lead instructor, Dan Weiss, is Vice President of Research and
Development at Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation. Dan has extensive
computer based publishing experience on several computer platforms as
well as a background in hands-on, group training. In his position as VP
of R&D, Dan sits on the "bleeding edge" of computer based publishing and
is well versed in today's technologies.
Assisting Dan will be Mark Wetzel. Mark is Director of Product Support
at Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation, and the "face" of Soft- Logik
Publishing Corporation at most trade shows. Mark has headed up the
technical support team for PageStream since it's introduction and is a
storehouse of knowledge concerning the product.
The Classes
===========
"An Introduction to Desktop Publishing" will focus on getting to know
what computer based publishing is, and what it can offer you. Using
PageStream on an Atari computer, each student will be able to design,
create and modify several projects ranging from fun to serious.Finished
examples, class outline, course materials and related literature will be
provided to each student as part of the class.
This class is recommended to anyone who has an interest in finding out
what desktop publishing is and what it has to offer them. No prior
training or experience is required.
"Advanced Publishing Solutions with PageStream" dives into the sometimes
confusing world of professional computer publishing. Major topics will
include color publishing, PostScript imaging, graphics manipulation, and
large document control. This session will focus on using PageStream in a
professional environment to provide solutions.
Finished examples, class outline, course materials and related litera-
ture will be provided to each student as part of the class. This class
is recommended to those with at least some background in computer based
or traditional publishing that want to better understand color and high
quality publishing.
Reservations are highly recommended to attend the classes. Class cost is
$15, plus admission to the Chicago Computerfest by Atari!
----------------
J.Trautschold @ Missionware Software - Msg. 280....
Missionware Software is proud to annouce the introduction of:
***** FLASH II *****
at the Chicago Computerfest!
This is the long awaited update to one of the most popular ST terminal
programs ever. It's been completely rewritten in assembler and includes
a TON of new features! Here are just a few:
~ Compatible with old Flash DO files
~ Individual setups for each BBS and includes 20 separate macros
for each BBS!
~ Displays RLE & GIF pictures either on or off line!
~ Supports: TTY, VIDTEX, VT52, ANSI, VT100, VT102, VT200 & VT300
~ Includes an Automatic Answer Mode!
~ Includes full featured GEM text editor with block commands, cut
& paste, search & replace, paragraph reformatting, adjustable
tab settings, page widths and more!
~ Supports the ST, IBM and DEC character set!
~ Includes Silent Line for background file transfers!
~ Has built in support for ASCII, Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem, CIS B+,
Kermit and other protocols.
~ Logs all on line time and keeps track of costs!
Again, these are only a few of the many new features of Flash II. Make
sure to stop by Booth 17 for full details, including a chance to play
with this exciting new program. A fully functional version will be
available for you to try. An official demo is also being scheduled.
Check the seminar times for details.
Although the program will not yet be ready for sale, we plan on handing
out coupons so that you can get on the mailing list and be one of the
first to receive your copy when it's ready for sale, sometime in
December. The program is 99% completed and a professionally produced
manual is in the works.
This is one program you won't want to miss checking out!
----------------
From: Craig Harvey @ Clear Thinking - Msg. 284...
Clear Thinking will have EdHak 2.25 available at the show for the spe-
cial price of $16.00. Updates are just $5.00. This update includes
features such as tab <=> space conversion, output to midi port for musi-
cal hackers, automatic search (& replace) continuation for files larger
than the buffer, automatic continuation of a RAM search if the match
found isn't the desired one, abortable/suspendable printing, faster text
display, etc. Also available will be the Metapsychology Primer, inc-
luding a 200 question personality analysis, tutorial, and mental exer-
cises to play around with. Just $10. Or get both this and EdHak for just
$23.00.
----------------
___________________________________________________
> SILHOUETTE VERSION 1.25 STR InfoFile "ADVANCED AUTO-TRACING"
====================================
RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT!
SILHOUETTE VERSION 1.25
DEBUTING AT CHICAGO COMPUTER-FEST
Power Priced Affordably and.. at a GREAT price at the Show!
New Features:
Improved auto-tracing, advanced duplication methods, grid/ruler, new GEM
display, full documentation, 68881 and TT support, Postscript output.
Maxwell Computer Products Unlimited will debut Silhouette Version 1.25
at the Chicago Atari Computer-Fest. Silhouette is a bit-image and vector
graphics drawing program with auto-tracing function. Version 1.25
enhancements include new drawing functions, improved interface and
advanced auto-tracing function.
In keeping with Atari's motto of 'Power without the Price', Maxwell
has advanced the drawing capabilities of Silhouette while maintaining a
modest price. While Atari users can now pay $200.00 or more for imported
software, Silhouette is being offered for just $94.95*.
Silhouette offers a formidable array of drawing features; some you
will find nowhere else. The program's GEM interface has been improved by
placing the toolbox permanently to the left of the screen. The dropdown
menus and tools are presented in a no-nonsense GEM display.
Silhouette Features:
- ADVANCED AUTO-TRACING FEATURE:
Load bit-images and automatically convert them to vector graphics
(which offer higher quality and more editability). The auto-tracing
function has been advanced beyond V.1.0 and much closer to auto-tracing
functions which cost hundreds more. Further details below.
- DRAWING TOOLS:
~ LINES. Depress the CONTROL key for horizontal/vertical lines or ALT
key for multiple lines (star pattern).
~ POLYLINES convertible to/from multi-point beziers, standard 4 pt.
beziers or to b-splines.
~ Multi-point BEZIERS or standard 4 point bezier curves and B-SPLINES
curves.
~ FREEHAND PENCIL which can also draw with the B-spline smoothing on.
~ Sizable bit-image ERASER and SPRAYCAN, FLOODFILL.
~ ROUND EDGE BOX. Each corner independently adjustable.
~ RECTANGLE. Begin rectangle from left corner or from center and/or
restrict to a perfect square.
~ ELLIPTICAL/CIRCULAR ARCS. Hitting the SPACE-BAR will shift the mouse
pointer amongst the three defining pts. (center, 2 angles).
~ ELLIPSES/CIRCLES. Ellipses and circles are convertible to BEZIER
curves (allowing warping).
~ STARS. Create multi-point stars (up to 99 points). While defining
size and location, also define the inner diameter of the star
and the number of points with the ARROW KEYS.
~ POLYGONS. Create polygons with up to 99 sides adjustable while you
size and locate.
~ PARABOLAS. A conic section (e.g., ellipses, circles, hyperbolas)
common to optics and a great addition to the drawing family.
~ SPIRALS. Employed by the nautilus, the DNA structure and now
available in a ST/TT drawing program. As you draw, adjust the number
of windings, the steepness of the wind or unravel the spiral.
~ TEXT. Type with GDOS fonts. Includes FSM-GDOS support, skewing and
rotation to 1/10th degree.
~ Also in the TOOLBOX is a scrollable array of FILL PATTERNS.
~ WILD CARD TOOL ICON. Select a favorite drop-down menu option and
declare the icon as its controller.
- EDITING TOOLS:
~ POLYLINE EDIT. Edit any line, polyline, freehand line, bezier or b-
spline. Polyline points snap to other points by depressing the
CONTROL key. SCROLL the mouse pointer from point to point by hitting
Q or E(directional) and DELETE/ADD POINTS by hitting the key A or D.
~ ROTATE, MIRROR, FLIP. Define the amount of rotation to the 1/10th
degree.
~ WARP, SIZE. Select any number of objects and reshape. One can skew,
trapezoidally skew, stretch/resize or free-corner warp. And all a
quickly selectable by depressing a CNTRL/ALT/SHIFT key combination
(the choice is shown on the info line). If unsatisfied with the
edit, just hit the ESCape key to return to the original shapes.
~ DUPLICATION. Duplicate in three ways: along a polyline, distributed
along a line or duplicated by input horiz/vertical displacement.
While duplication occurs you can choose to have the size, rotation,
line width or fill adjusted as it duplicates.
~ CONVERT TO. Convert polylines to and from b-splines, beziers or
simple polylines.
~ CUT or MERGE POLYLINES. Cut any polyline or curve at any point. Or
merge any two lines at any two ends.
~ CLEAR, INVERT, RASTER OUTLINE in bit-image graphics.
~ WORK and OBJECT CONTROLLERS. One can set a ruler system, snap to
grid, snap to INDEPENDENTLY SET SNAP POINTS or snap to object
geometric points. Group objects, bring to top, send to bottom. Bit-
images have two CLIP buffers and vector graphics has a separate
COPY and CUT buffer. Buffers remain as files which can be reloaded.
THREE WINDOWS are available. One offers bit-image drawing, the
second vector graphics and the third, pixel editing. Vector Graphics
can be magnified up to 16 times, giving the equivalent drawing
resolution of 3200 DPI.
AUTO-TRACING:
Auto-tracing is a form of artificial intelligence. The Silhouette
auto-tracing function is presented a clip-area and with its special
rules searches the complete image area for image outline. The
outline is saved as polylines and optionally the image's outline is
purged of un-needed points and the curves are smoothed by bsplines
or beziers.
As vector graphics, images can be more easily edited and without
losing image quality. Furthermore vector images are usually smaller
files and processed by printers more quickly.
FILE INPUT/OUTPUT:
~ BIT-IMAGE. Loads DEGAS (compressed), MacPaint, IMG, TINY. Outputs
IMG bit-image files.
~ VECTOR GRAPHICS. Load GEM and GEM 3.0 metafiles. Saves vector
graphics in GEM metafile (including 3.0), DXF universal CAD format,
and POSTSCRIPT EPS format (readable by Adobe Illustrator, Pagestream
and Calamus).
DOCUMENTATION:
Full documentation is now offered in a three ring binder and case. A
simple HELP menu is available from the HELP key.
COMPATIBILITY:
Silhouette runs on all ST and TT computers in High ST resolution, or
in TT high resolution and on big screen monitors. It supports the
MATH COPROCESSOR with the ST and also is offered in a special TT
version which takes advantage of the 32 bit architecture of the TT
(upcoming update will support the 68881/68882 in the TT). Silhouette
requires just 1 Mbyte. Silhouette has been recompiled in an advanced
compiler offering greater efficiency and compact code.
LOOK FOR US AT THE CHICAGO-FEST SHOW.
Purchase Silhouette directly from its U.S. developer:
$94.95 + handling (call for shipping choice, overseas
shipping at reasonable cost)
Maxwell C.P.U.
2124 W. Centennial Dr.
Louisville, CO 80027
(303)666-7754, Mon-Sat, 8-5PM MDT.
VISA, MASTERCARD, personal check, COD.
________________________________________________
> CODEHEAD NEWS! STR InfoFile ** GENUS FONT EDITOR & CHERRY FONTS! **
===========================
For immediate release
CodeHeadQuarters
Friday, November 15, 1991
-------------------------
.........................................................
: :
: CodeHead Software announces the Genus Font Editor :
: Plus :
: A Full Line of High Quality Calamus Fonts :
: The Cherry Font Collection :
:.......................................................:
CodeHead GT is proud to present the next release in our new line of
graphics tools -- Genus, the full-featured font editor for Calamus
typefaces! And to go with our new font editor, a complete line of
top-notch Calamus fonts: the Cherry Fonts for Calamus collection.
GENUS
-----
At last, a font editor for Calamus that's easy to learn and use, but
powerful enough to create professional results. Used by top ST type
designers, Genus is the editor of choice for Calamus typefaces. Its
interface is easily learned, and remarkably powerful -- all your commands
are on-screen at once, with automatic help functions that remind you what
each command does as you pass the mouse cursor over it. You manipulate
fonts simply by dragging points, lines, and curves around. And many of
Genus's features are specially designed to aid in the creation of vector
fonts, like the ability to automatically generate smooth curves with one
simple command, and its unique global and optical kerning methods.
Here are a few of Genus's excellent features:
:: Utilizes the full screen of the SM124 monochrome monitor
:: Easy cross-hair cursor and alignment rulers
:: Four freely positionable zoom levels with pan and scroll.
:: Character cell change anytime with one mouse click.
:: Load two fonts at once and transfer characters between them.
:: Two clipboard buffers with copy, move or shuffle mode.
:: Large font name label editor.
:: Full function calculator with easy single entry configuration for
Rotation, Italics, Vertical Horizontal Mirror, Expansion and
Condensing.
:: Freely placed rotational center point.
:: All calculator and kerning functions can operate globally.
:: Kern bar offset or tab kerning options.
:: Scanned bitmapped image loading for easy tracing.
:: Rubber box for quick selection of multiple points.
:: Save any character as a single Calamus Vector Graphic file.
:: Loads ALL Calamus format fonts.
:: Import Publishing Partner or PageStream fonts for conversion to
Calamus fonts.
:: Single click access to all installed desk accessories.
:: Built in screen saver.
:: Large screen compatible.
:: Absolutely no royalty fees for commercially produced work.
:: The Genus disk includes FIVE FREE high quality fonts, including
Calais Medium and Italic, Cherry Stems (dingbats), Chisel Nib
Black, and Punch.
Watch for a demonstration version of Genus to be posted on the major
online services very soon.
CHERRY FONT COLLECTION
----------------------
Whether you design corporate reports, edit a newsletter, lay out
advertisements, or just send greeting cards, you'll discover the solution
to all your font requirements under one roof in the Cherry Fonts for
Calamus collection. Each and every scalable outline font is carefully
drawn by a type professional and spaced properly using techniques
perfected by the type foundries of old. The quality and variety of these
typefaces is comparable to the expensive fonts sold by other companies --
but our reasonable prices and enormous selection will let you build a
library of professional fonts without breaking the bank! Cherry Fonts can
be used by any application that loads Calamus format fonts. They are not
copy-protected and can be easily modified with the Genus font editor.
AVAILABILITY
------------
The Genus Font Editor is available NOW, and retails for $175.00.
Cherry Fonts will be available starting December 1, 1991; there are 13
different "font packs," some containing more than one typeface, and their
retail price is $42.95 per pack. Please call for a more complete descrip-
tion of the many high quality typefaces available. A poster showing all
fonts in the collection is also available on request.
For more information, contact your local dealer, or:
CodeHead Software
PO Box 74090
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Tel (213) 386-5735
Fax (213) 386-5789
_______________________________________________________________
> STReport's Editorial Page "SAYIN' IT LIKE IT IS!"
=========================
From the Editor's Desk
----------------------
The Chicago Atari "super" Show is right around the corner. At this
time, I am broken hearted to announce that I will not be attending this
promising event. Without going into detail, let's just say its due to
circumstances beyond my control. That does not and will not affect
STReport/ABCO's pledge of a Grand Prize, a complete Quantum 105mb hard
disk system with ICD host and software. The show's offerings are detailed
in this issue for everyone's information and help in planning their atten-
dance. This show has promise.
It appears that Missionware Software is the winner in the "Who will
import Flash II" scenario taking place for the last few months.
Congratulations are in order for Missionware Software. Originating from
Australia, Flash II has been firmly guided along its path to the USA by
the very capable Charles Cherry for the author Paul Nichols. A number of
rather well known north american software publishers have been involved in
considering the marketing of Flash II. STReport wishes all the success
possible to Mission Software in this fine undertaking.
With the economy taking a real dive this weekend, the market is down
over 100 points today, along with the colder than usual weather... It
wouldn't hurt for all of us to remember the homeless and needy in our own
areas. After all.. what goes around, comes around. Since its already a
proven fact, children are definitely among the homeless this year, let's
pay particular attention to and for them. Normally I try to avoid the
stark, harsh reality of the overall news, this is however one subject that
needs addressing. So, please, if you have extra, send it their way.
After all, its only the right thing to do.
Be sure to check out the Press Releases from Codehead GT and Maxwell
Software's about product debuts for the Chicago Show.
Thanks for your superb support!
Ralph......
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
=============
STReport's MailBag
==================
from GEnie ST RT
Category 14, Topic 22
Message 34 Tue Nov 05, 1991
M.MURRAY18 at 03:35 EST
Ed & Dan & others who've helped so far--
The 745-2000 number worked and I finally got to talk to Carl after a
week of trying. Sadly, he says my only recourse since the 90 warranty has
expired is to give him $300 and ship my computer to him and he'll give me
a new one. He admits that my computer was probably one of the one's
shipped with a flaky DMA but says he doesn't have a list of serial
numbers to check.
I've never bought a product before that a company admitted was defec-
tive and didn't have some kind of fix-it plan. I guess the next step is
to call service centers and see how much it would cost to replace the DMA
with a good one. How does one check this port within 90 days if they
don't own a hard disk yet? I have to wonder about other items on my com-
puter that I've never tried. Do all the joystick ports work? How about
the external floppy drive ? Are we really expected to test everything on
the computer in 90 days ?
Sorry for the soapbox, but frustration is mounting.
--Thanks again.
Michael
__________________________________________________________
STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors!
----------------
Publisher - Editor
------------------
Ralph F. Mariano
PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION
----------- -------------- ------------
Robert Retelle Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON
STReport Staff Editors:
-----------------------
Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner
John Szczepanik Dan Stidham
Contributing Correspondents:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt
Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Ben Hamilton
Neil Bradley Eric Jerue Ron Deal
Robert Dean Ed Westhusing James Nolan
Joe Mirando Vernon W. Smith
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
____________________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "REPORTING ABOUT ATARI...NOT FOR ATARI!"
=====================
* "Rumors - Tidbits - Predictions - Observations - Hot Tips" *
========================================================
An observation......
What a wonderful manner in which to gain plenty of joyful, enthusiastic
support for one's company.... One Atari employee's way of winning
friends and influencing people favorably for Atari...
From GEnie's ST RT
------------
Category 26, Topic 2
Message 361 Fri Nov 01, 1991
TOWNS [John@Atari] at 19:57 EST
I would like to point out for the record, that Atari has NEVER
announced that TOS 1.6 could be used on any 680x0 processor.
TOS Versions are guaranteed to work on the hardware they are designed
to work with. Nothing more, nothing less.
To be honest, I am disgusted with the way you are bannering this in
the section describing the file. You are alarming alot of people about
something that most won't care about and is isn't a problem. It does
NOT affect the operation of your STE computer at all.
I plan to ask the SysOps to remove the reference to Problems with TOS
1.62 in the header to ST Report. It is completely deceptive and just
an attempt to get people to download ST Report.
-- John Townsend, Atari Corp.
------------
Category 26, Topic 2
Message 362 Fri Nov 01, 1991
DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 23:40 EST
John:
I did indeed get your letter but in reviewing it, I decided to place it
out. The banner is indeed a leader but no worse than any others in ST
Report or the other magazine.
------------
Editor Note;
Thank God there are still level thinking heads in this frantic world.
Category 36, Topic 20
Message 174 Mon Nov 11, 1991
TOWNS [John@Atari] at 03:29 EST
Atari has no comment on anything that isn't announced. We can't comment
on anything called a Jaguar, because as far as Atari is concerned, it
doesn't exist.
How can you expect me to confirm or deny specification details on a thing
that doesn't exist?
-- John
PS. As far as I know, none of the Jaguar cars that I have seen have
any kind of dual processors, VHS capabilities, etc. as standard
equipment :-)
Category 36, Topic 20
Message 184 Thu Nov 14, 1991
TOWNS [John@Atari] at 22:04 EST
In a previous message, S.JOHNSON10 [Steve] writes:
- TOWNS - Now John, how can you say that "as far as Atari is concerned,
- [the Jaguar] doesn't exist."? Is Sam T. no longer any kind of official
- voice of Atari (WE WISH!!! <grin>)? If Sam T. says that Atari is
- working on the "Jaguar", which is a "64-bit" "RISC-based" "well under
- [$300]" "[game] console", how can Atari say now that the Jaguar doesn't
- exist? PLEASE, just simply state that Atari can't comment if it can't
- rather than going on about this smart-ass "what's that?" BS. C'mon!
- EVERYONE knows Atari's working on the Jaguar, and it has been more than
- just Sam T. publicly acknowledging its existence, so Atari _HAS_ in ef
- fect acknowledged the Jaguar's existence. Did someone just overhear Sam
- T. talking in his sleep (which has to be the ONLY way he can talk)?
Yes, Steve.. you are right. You are always right. I still refuse to com-
ment on anything called a Jaguar or any projects that Atari has not
specifically shown at a trade show. (i.e. Announced Publicly!)
Sorry if this doesn't suit your needs, but I like my job and I intend to
keep it. ;-)
-- John Townsend, Atari Corp.
------------
Editor Note;
This inclusion of these "colorful messages" was meant to portray the
"trick bag" many Atari employees are inadvertently placed in. It is NOT
meant to ridicule or chastise any of the individuals responding in such a
manner. If the head of the company elected to "tout" a product, for
whatever reason in an international publication and in an online conferen-
ce, then it stands to reason the very same executives of the company
should prepare the employees to answer questions about the same products
made mention of. They should Not be threatened with their jobs. At the
same time, a "feisty" employee should be well prepared to receive the
equivalent of anything dished out in a "weak moment or two.".
_____________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"
==================
"FRANK AND EXPLICIT -- that is the right line to take...
when you wish to conceal your own mind...
and confuse the minds of others..."
..... Benjamin Disraeli
__________________________________________________________
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(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
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*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
Atari SLM 804, SLM 804PCV Laser Toner Kits
Memorex 2108, 5287
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===================================
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-------
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=========================
P.O. BOX 6672
Jacksonville, Florida, 32205-6672
904-783-3319
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Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" November 15, 1991
16/32bit Magazine copyright 1987-91 No.7.45
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