Z*Net: 30-Nov-91 #9150
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 12/02/91-03:38:38 PM Z
From: aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: Z*Net: 30-Nov-91 #9150
Date: Mon Dec 2 15:38:38 1991
| (((((((( | Z*Net International Atari Online Magazine
| (( | -----------------------------------------
| (( | November 30, 1991 Issue #91-50
| (( | -----------------------------------------
| (((((((( | Copyright (c)1991, Rovac Industries, Inc.
| | Post Office Box 59, Middlesex, NJ 08846
| (( |
| (((((( | CONTENTS
| (( |
| | * The Editors Desk............................Ron Kovacs
| ((( (( | * Chicago ComputerFest Report.................Mike Brown
| (((( (( | * Chicago ComputerFest By Atari Action...Steve Kostelnik
| (( (( (( | * MARC Awards of Excellance....................Hank Vize
| (( (((( | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| (( ((( | * Z*Net Newswire........................................
| | * Perusing The Internet...................Bruce Hansford
| ((((((( | * Perusing GEnie......................................EK
| (( | * ST-Connection Offer...................................
| ((((( |
| (( |
| ((((((( | ~ Publisher/Editor............................Ron Kovacs
| | ~ Editor.......................................John Nagy
| (((((((( | ~ Z*Net Newswire Ltd.(NZ).....................Jon Clarke
| (( | ~ Contributing Editor.....................Bruce Hansford
| (( | ~ PD Software Reviews.....................Ron Berinstein
| (( | ~ Reporter....................................Mike Brown
| (( | ~ Assistant News Editor.......................Mike Davis
=======================================================================
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=======================================================================
* EDITORS DESK by Ron Kovacs
=======================================================================
* SPECIAL CHICAGO COMPUTERFEST BY ATARI ISSUE *
Hope your Thanksgiving weekend has been enjoyable and you ate your
share of the bird. I know I did and still feel full! Sheesh!!
Starting next week we begin our annual Year In Review series. This year
we have changed the format and have some surprises planned. If you
would like to participate please leave email!
Also, next week we will include the transcript of Greg Pratt's speech
at the Chicago ComputerFest, and more news from the show.
Happy Holidays!
=======================================================================
* CHICAGO COMPUTERFEST REPORT by Mike Brown, President- LCACE
=======================================================================
The following is Copyright 1991, Lake County Atari Computer Enthusiasts,
and Atari Corp. Permission is granted for inclusion in Atari User Group
newsletters as long as the entire text is kept intact. Other use must
be approved by LCACE, Atari Corp. and Z-Net Online.
As most of you probably know, last weekend the Chicago ComputerFest by
Atari was presented jointly by LCACE and Atari Corp. Before I get into
talking about details of the show that most likely won't be covered in
other reports, I'd like to take a moment and praise LCACE's Special
Events Chairman, Larry Grauzas, and the members of the Chicago
ComputerFest organizing committee (in no particular order): Dwight (JJ)
Johnson, Steve Kostelnik, Dave Moriarity, Joe Julian, Larry Grauzas Sr.
and Steve Yeaton. These gentlemen, (and their families) put their
personal lives, non-show interests, and in some cases, their jobs, "on
hold" for months to assure that we would have a professional and well
presented show for all of you. I have nothing but praise and admiration
for the fine performance shown by all of "our people" involved.
I would be remiss if I did not call your attention to the significant
contributions made by our sister Atari User Groups - MilAtari (gaming
area), MAST (security), RACC (8-bit and staff), SCAT (staff), and GCACE
(staff). The 9 member groups of the Midwest Atari Regional Council (ACE
St Louis, ASCII, BLAST, CUSTUG, EAUG, IMAGE, MDC-RCC, PAUG and STar)
also contributed significantly by supplying volunteer labor for set-up,
breakdown, and day-of-show activities; not to mention sponsoring the
first annual MARC Excellence awards (more on that later).
Those of you out there who believe in "no Atari support", should have
been there to help unload the _two truckloads_ of computers, display
equipment, literature, promotions and handouts that Atari sent to the
show site.
Each and every volunteer worker reporting to the Ramada convention
center Friday night for show set-up nearly fell over with the sheer
volume of equipment sent by Atari to be loaned to exhibitors or intended
for show sales stock. Added to that were the nice cloth patches and
other promotional items provided to the show by Atari for the attendees
(was there anything left in Sunnyvale, Bob?).
Atari Corp. supported our efforts to get the news of the show out to the
general public by sponsoring a LYNX giveaway contest on WLUP radio's
"Steve and Gary" show, "Chet Coppuck on Sports", as well as the award-
winning "Jonathon Brandmeier" morning show. In addition, we placed
newspaper ads in all of the local college papers, and well-designed ads
appeared in the "Friday" section of the Chicago Tribune (thanks Dave!).
Our advertising budget alone for this show eclipsed the total show
budget of both prior LCACE- sponsored AtariFests.
In addition to hardware, Atari provided over 25 Atari employees. They
were not nameless folks either; Greg Pratt, Geoff Earle, Mark Campbell,
Bill Rehbock, Mike Groh, Mike Fulton, Bob Schuricht, Art Morgan, James
Grunke, Don Mandell, Sue Ruck and Don Thomas all joined Fest-meister Bob
Brodie in working the show (just to drop a _few_ names). The Atari
staff didn't just stand around and "look cool" either - they were
clearly in attendance to "take care of business", and did just that!
Greg Pratt was particularly impressive, always having time for even the
smallest of questions posed by the show-goers. I saw Mr. Pratt in
attendance at many of the seminars, including sitting in on the DTP
hands-on classes (more about that later too!). I was left with the
impression that Mr. Pratt cared very much about the success of this
show, and truly enjoyed being in attendance - Mr. Pratt is truly "one of
us" and we should be happy that under his guidance Atari Corp. is
willing to take significant risks, like the Chicago ComputerFest.
Atari Corp's display - taking up a full 60 feet of floor space, was
dominated by the same professional display stands as used at COMDEX and
CEPS. All manner of professional solutions were shown in this area -
there was an Atari representative or Atari business partner at each
workstation smiling and offering assistance to the attendees.
Somewhat of an unexpected surprise for most show-goers was the showing
of Atari UNIX system V running on the TT030. Art Pruzynski and Diane
Gurrero of Atari's UNIX team were in attendance to show off their
progeny. I only got a peek at UNIX on the TT - but it looked quite
complete. BTW - the version being shown is the UNIX version currently
being shipped to developers.
Nearby, the Atari Entertainment display offered a row of LYNX kiosks
loaded with the latest releases (and a few not yet in release) for the
Lynx system. Atari provided game designers and staff members to help
the new players get started, and to provide insight into the secrets of
the games for experienced Lynxsters. I hate singling out people, but in
this case it is really deserved - Louie Moskalski of Atari Entertainment
was the "man who got things done" for Atari Entertainment. Gawd, I wish
I had that level of energy during the show days, Great job Louie!
Hours prior to the actual opening of the show on Saturday, people were
beginning to line up in anticipation of getting one of the free
promotional items offered by Atari Entertainment and Atari Corp. As a
matter of fact, when I stumbled down to the foyer of the convention
center at 7:00 AM Saturday, there were already people in line waiting
for the 10:00 general show opening.
I would estimate that there were more than 300 people waiting for the
opening of the doors at 10:00 Saturday - the waiting line stretched from
just outside the convention center, past the Quest nightclub and the
gift shop, nearly to the front desk itself. The crowd was most patient,
and the extra security that th hotel provided was not needed.
To ease the crowd situation somewhat, the Gaming Area in Grand Ballroom
"B" was opened at 9:30 by the MilAtari crew. This enabled people to
relax and have something to do prior to the actual opening of the show.
I must interject that the MilAtari crew led by Lee Musial did just an
OUTSTANDING job of handling their area - but this is no real surprise as
they have been doing an excellent job of handling the computer gaming
portion of the GenCon gaming fair for many years now. Sincere thanks to
Clinton Smith of Atari Portable Entertainment newsletter for helping in
the gaming area with the LYNX competitions.
The Chicago ComputerFest was the debut of the Lynx "Value Pack", which
adds an AC Adpater, Game, ComLynx Cable and carrying case to the basic
Lynx package - all for a very special price. The Lynx value packs sold
so well during the show that Atari had to take back some of the units
that were loaned to MilAtari for the gaming room so that customer orders
could be filled! More than one Gameboy diehard had their mind changed
by the "hands on" sessions with the Lynx. If Atari would set up a few
manned Lynx kiosks on the weekends at malls around the Chicago area
(Gurnee Mills, anyone?), they would move a ton of Lynx systems before
Christmas.
The opening of the show was barely controlled pandemonium as you would
expect - the exhibitors being VERY, VERY busy for the first few hours of
the show. Advance ticket sales through local user groups eased the job
of the ticket sales people, but attendees were still buying additional
tickets at a furious pace all day Saturday.
Most of my time Saturday and Sunday was devoted to keeping the 48
general seminars humming; unfortunately, we had a couple of AV equipment
failures that required projection equipment to be shuffled around from
room to room so presenters would have what they needed. The presenters
took it all with good humor, even those that were scheduled against more
popular presentations that drew big crowds.
In addition to these more conventional "presentation" seminars, we
offered a series of "instructional" seminars geared to teaching
participants the basic and advanced techniques of page layout and
desktop publishing on Atari systems. Atari loaned us enough equipment
for 20 "hands on" workstations and instructor equipment; we provided a
color LCD projection system so that all in attendance could see what the
instructor was doing.
ISD Marketing provided master instructor Mario Georgiou to present
Calamus classes, and SoftLogik provided the highly talented Dan Weiss to
teach the secrets of PageStream. Although some balked at the $15.00
materials cost for these 3-hour presentations, those that attended the
sold-out sessions (SoftLogik scheduled a second Intro Class Saturday
night to handle those that were on a waiting list and Tim working
together at the show; the cross pollination can only do both "worlds"
good.
I must say that our exhibitors were truly generous with their door prize
donations - among them were the 105 MB HD unit donated by ABCO, the
Migraph Hand scanners, and the TT030 Color system donated by Atari. A
good estimate of the retail value of the goods given away would approach
$10,000.00.
Saturday night brought the Gala Chicago ComputerFest by Atari Banquet
and MARC Excellence awards ceremony. The banquet had it's share of
surprises (a fire alarm was pulled just prior to the actual start of the
Banquet by one of the many Jerry Garcia fans in the hotel for a concert
at the nearby Rosemant Horizon), but the biggest surprise was the
outstanding turnout - we had to ask the hotel to bring additional tables
in for latecomers! The formal portion of the program begun with the
presentation of the first annual Midwest Atari Regional Council awards
for excellence. The MARC award winners were selected for their
outstanding contributions to the betterment of the Atari community by
the officers of the previously mentioned 9 MARC member-groups.
MARC chairman Hank Vize gave the attendees a brief overview of the
purpose and goals of MARC before the actual presentation. It was my
pleasure to present Double Click Software, SoftLogik Publishing, and
Codehead Software with their nicely enameled plaques as a reminder of
their fine work. John Eidsvoog and Charles Johnson clowned on stage
during the presentation, but the "table talk" afterwards revealed that
both Charles and John were truly moved by the recognition of their
efforts.
Next, Bob Brodie, Atari's spokesperson said a few short words, then
introduced Atari's President - Mr. Greg Pratt. Mr. Pratt gave a very
moving talk about the importance of everyone seated in the room as
"Atari's Business Partners" and outlined the immediate plan of attack
for Atari in the domestic and international markets. Mr. Pratt's
remarks gave the folks assembled a first-hand flavor of what Atari
exceutives are thinking and planning for the immediate future. The
assembled group apparently liked what they heard based on the standing
ovation given Mr. Pratt and the assembled Atari guests.
After the banquet, most participants beat a path for the Double-Click or
MilAtari sponsored cocktail parties which (I am told) went on _very_
late.
One of the most gratifying things about hosting a national show of this
nature is the cross-section of the Atari community that you meet. One
of the more colorful groups in attendance at this show were the
Electronic Music / MIDI folk. The music-industry personalities ranged
the full spectrum from the dynamic Kest Carter-Morgan and the people of
ASTMUM (Montreal Canada User Group), to the multi-talented Bob Lytle of
Guitar Plus, to the beautiful Dana Byrd (redheads get my attention every
time) of Hybrid Arts. Guitar Plus sponsored a series of "hands on" MIDI
instructional seminars that were, unfortunately, sparsely attended. I
guess that musicians don't really get cranking until later in the night
on weekends, right Bob?
Press coverage of the show was outstanding, with John Jainschigg and
Peter Donoso representing Atari Explorer with John Nagy representing
AtariUser magazine, and an international contingent representing such
far-flung places as Peru!
The one question that was on everyone's lips during and after the show
was "will you do it again next year?". I must say that ball is firmly
in Atari's court - LCACE, as the "little group that could", does not
have the financial resources to handle the equipment, hotel, and
advertising commitments that Atari was able to guarantee. On the other
side of the coin, the physical and emotional demands on the LCACE staff
were truly crushing, we are just now starting to recover from the strain
of squeezing this puppy out; thinking about next year is just unbearable
right now.
Will there be a Chicago ComputerFest by Atari 1992? If you think that
there should be, you can help by sending a letter of thanks to Mr. Jack
Tramiel or Mr. Greg Pratt of Atari Corporation for their sponsorship.
Bob Brodie tells me that letters of this kind make a _big_ difference in
shaping Atari policy. Please take the time to make your opinion heard!
I feel badly that I was not able to spend more time with each of our
exhibitors and participants - problem solving and unexpected situations
kept me busy both days. When I finally did sit down on Sunday after
breakdown, I developed severe verigo due to the my body not being in
motion. I realize that this is a poor substitute for a personal
handshake, but thanks to everyone who participated. I hope that you all
enjoyed our efforts as much as it appeared you did.
For myself, after I catch up on a week's worth of sleep, I plan to get
my guys together and buy them a beer, maybe two.
=======================================================================
* CHICAGO COMPUTERFEST BY ATARI ACTION
=======================================================================
Eyewitness Report by Steve Koselnik, LCACE
* The following article is Copyright 1991, Lake County Atari Computer
* Enthusiasts and Atari Corporation. This article may be reprinted in
* user group newsletters as long as the article is reprinted in its
* original form, with no deletions or additions. Any other use must be
* approved by LCACE and Atari Corp.
Saturday 11-23-1991
At 8:00 am they were waiting in the halls for the Show to open at 10:00
am. The vendors were busy making final adjustments and finishing their
booth setup. Atari Corporation had used two semi-trailers to ship
systems and components for the exhibitors to use in their booths.
Everyone was busy. At 9:30 am the pressure was on. Tickets were being
taken for those who wished to enter the MilAtari Gaming Area. MilAtari
sported two 16 ST computer MIDI rings setup for competition. ST and
Lynx Systems were available for open gaming.
At 10:00 am the doors opened and the show filled with the attendees.
The main show floor was made up of 58 booths. Attached ballrooms were
used for the MilAtari gaming area with 25 tables and the 8-Bit area
utilizing 15 tables. The 8-Bit area held surprises for most. Atari
Corporation had used part of one of the semi-trailers to clear out
remaining 8-Bit equipment at very low prices. As an example, 65XE Game
Systems were going for $25.00, also available at very low prices were
trackballs and light pens.
The attached "D" concourse was used to house the four seminar rooms and
the swap areas. Across the Ramada Hotel was the Plaza and Salon areas.
The Plaza area was used to host the hands on Desktop Publishing classes
given on Calamus and PageStream. SoftLogik scheduled an additional
class to handle the overflow from the first class. Only six people
showed up for the second class, but SoftLogik did not turn them down,
they gave it anyway. The Salon area was used for the large
presentations by Atari Corp.
By 11:00 am the Fest was in full swing. The hall was filling up, the
first two seminars had started, a third was about to begin, the Calamus
"Beginning Desktop Publishing" class had started, the 8-Bit area had
people going crazy after the GOOD deals, the gamers were just finishing
their first hour in the MilAtari gaming area, and the Swap area was
going strong.
Atari had the ST Book in their booth and the Atari PC 386DX in the GEnie
booth. The Atari area was shared with the Entertainment Division.
There were Lynx's everywhere. Some Lynx's had unreleased games in them
for you to play. The whole design staff from the Entertainment division
was there. Atari Computer division had over 25 people in from
Sunnyvale. Don Thomas had a area set up just with all the latest
Portfolio goodies.
The day continued to be very busy with seminars scheduled hourly until
4:00 pm. The official count was 1,700 attendees on Saturday. Vendors
reported sales a bit slow, but Sunday was yet to come.
Saturday evening a Banquet was held in the Salon Area for over 150.
Greg Pratt - President, Atari US, was the featured speaker. He talked
about Atari's marketing plans and the contract with GE for Atari
computer repair service. The MARC Excellence Awards were awarded to
Soft-Logik and CodeHead for their support of the User Groups, and Double
Click for their program a week releases of public domain software.
Editors Note: See following article on the MARC awards.
Sunday 11-24-1991
Saturday night it started to storm as the Fest closed. Sunday continued
with everything outside covered with ice and a very cold brisk wind.
This apparently didn't stop some from attending the Computerfest. At
7:50 am there were a few early birds trying to find out what the days
activities had to offer for them. The Computerfest opened at 10:00 am
with a small crowd lined up and waiting to enter. The "Advanced Desktop
Publishing Class" presented by SoftLogik started at 10:30 am. was sold
out.
The Sunday Seminar schedule was full. Seminars started at 11:00 am. and
ran hourly throughout the day. Most vendors said they were having a
very good sales day even though the crowd was smaller than Saturday. A
few vendors were sold out of product by 2:00 pm. Sunday. The official
Sunday attendance was 675.
A TT was donated by Atari Corp. as a door prize and was won by a Tod
Latam of the Windsor Atari Users Group.
The Volunteers and Officers of Lake County Atari Computer Enthusiasts
wish to thank all those who attended the Computerfest.
=======================================================================
* MARC ATARI EXCELLENCE AWARDS by Hank Vize
=======================================================================
MARC Selects First recipients of the "MARC Atari Excellence Awards"
Last weekend, at the Chicago Computerfest, MARC awarded plaques to three
developers that showed continued support to our beloved computer
platform. The awards were not restricted to developers. Any and all
computer events, Atari periodicals, software and hardware developments
were considered.
The plagues were presented Saturday night at the Chicago Computerfest
Banquet by Mike Brown of LCACE, the co-sponsor of this excellent event.
Preceding Mike, was a brief explanation of MARC, its concept, and goals,
presented by Hank Vize of EAUG.
The Midwest Atari Regional Council's first selection went to Soft-logik
for introduction of PageStream 2.1 and its continued support of user
groups by offering each registered User group two free copy's of their
DTP program.
The second award went to DoubleClick Software for their public domain
"Program of the Week" campaign. The weekly efforts to the benefit of the
general Atari community are truly appreciated.
The final award went to Codehead Software. Dynamic duo, Charles Johnson
and John Eidsvoog, were selected for their improvements to their utility
programs. Hotwire 3.0, Maxifile 3.0, and introduction of Multidesk
Deluxe.
MARC was founded in February 1990 as a means to link local
communications for ACE-St Louis, Eastside Atari User Group of Alton, IL,
MDC-RCC Atari SIG and STar of Belleville, IL. The focus of the group
was expanded shortly thereafter to a truly regional entity now serving
12 user groups in the midwest area. MARC's goal is to act as a common
communications channel between the member groups, and from the member
groups to the manufacturers including Atari. MARC is a non-profit
organization and charges no dues to groups for membership in MARC.
User groups, Software and Hardware Developers, etc., can submit requests
for information via GEnie E-Mail to Hank Vize. GEnie address: H.VIZE.
Please consider supporting or joining this worthwhile endeavor.
=======================================================================
* Z*NET NEWSWIRE
=======================================================================
CHICAGO ATARI SHOW NETS 2,300
Atari's first attempt at a co-op show with user groups was a success in
Chicago last weekend, with over two thousand attending. Read the
details in the eyewitness reports in this issue.
EYE SEE INC. OFFERS PC MARKET TO ST DEVELOPERS
A new corporation has been formed by Double Click Software and Rimik
Enterprises, two Atari developers. Eye See, Inc. is intended to be a
channel into the IBM PC marketplace for developers of Atari products.
Venture capital is available for full scale marketing and world-wide
representation of PC converted ST software. According to Rimik's Rich
Betson, Eye See Inc. will allow ST developers to remain in the Atari
market that they enjoy by allowing the PC market to fund them. Contact
Eye See at 619-630-1217.
IAAD PRODUCT GUIDE TO EDUCATE NEW ATARI OWNERS
A 24 page two color booklet from the Independant Association of Atari
Developers premiered at the Chicago Computerfest last weekend. An
impressive layout of offerings of the many IAAD members, the book is a
primer for showing the scope of available products for Atari computers.
Of course, phone numbers and addresses of the developers are included.
The booklet will be included with all new computers sold, and should go
far to keep "Discovery" bundle buyers from using the machine for the
proverbial doorstop. Atari Corp. paid for the production of the booklet
in support of the IAAD.
ATARI BUNDLES AVAILABLE FOR SALE
The Discovery XTRA and Home Curriculum packages were available for sale
at the Chicago show, and are in the Atari warehouses for delivery now.
The bundles are to feature an upgradeable 520STe, Color Monitor, and a
software selection worth over $1,000 and sell for around $600. The XTRA
pack includes Sim City and other hot games, while the Family Curriculum
goes far beyond education with a competent word processor, database, and
spreadsheet that many experienced users will recognize as mid and high
line products.
ANTIC INC TO DISSOLVE BY JAN 1
Infamous for their closing of operations of START magazine without
payment of authors, printers, and disk duplicators, Antic Publishing,
Inc. is said to be planning to dissolve the corporation at year's end,
1991. The company solicited renewals on subscriptions (some $80 and
more) even after it announced the suspension of publishing, and has been
unresponsive to subscriber inquiries. Insiders have said that START
revenues were regularly diverted into the production of PC HOME JOURNAL,
Antic's other publication, which will be spun off to a legally new and
unrelated corporation as of January 1, 1992. The debts of START are
apparently intended to die with the name ANTIC, but legal responsibility
might be proven by lawsuits to survive into the new corporation. A
development group has been researching the liabilities of producing a
START MAGAZINE CD to include all of the text, graphics, and programs
ever included in the magazine, but are worried that their efforts will
only bring them lawsuits as well, regardless of contractual protections.
ATARI'S CD SHELVED; METADOS TO GO PUBLIC
According to Bill Rehbock, Director of Technical Services at Atari
Corporation, the announced and expected CDAR505 will NOT be produced at
any time soon. Intended for a fall 1991 release, the unit is really a
Chinon CDX451, readily available at many dealers today. The sole Atari
influence was to be the silkscreened name on the front panel and the
METADOS driver software to be included. It now appears that these
additions, along with Atari packaging, will drive the minimum price of
the CD ROM players to about $50 above what everyone else can get the
drive for, making it a loss proposition for Atari. Now, Atari plans to
promote the use of the 500+meg devices by encouraging production of
disks and software by releasing METADOS into the community as freeware.
This will enable any Atari user to buy any SCSI CD player and use it
immediately on any TT, or with a host adaptor, on any ST. ICD is
expected to shortly release a revised HOST software system that will
allow their Advantage series of host adapters to address the CD devices
without effort or confusion. Chinon CDX451 drives are currently
available at prices as low as $380 from discounters.
ATARI'S PAD COMPUTER BACKBURNERED
Where's the STylus? Maybe gone. The pad-based ST that was said to be
the future of computing and was at one time expected to be the "WOW"
unit at COMDEX has been tabled by Atari. Market studies show that
everyone is interested in pad computers, but nobody expects to buy one.
Rather than offer a machine without a market, Atari is putting the
project into mothballs until and unless the market shows that money is
to be made. Despite the 98% accuracy of the outstanding Atari
handwriting recognition software as compared to the 75% accuracy of most
PC based units, the STylus is presently judged to be a novelty whose
time has not yet come.
TT AND STE: "ATARI'S MAINSTAY FOR NEXT TWO YEARS"
Atari's President, Greg Pratt, said while addressing the banquet crowd
at Chicago's Atari show last week that the new machines coming in 1992
from Atari will be shown at the Spring CeBIT show in Germany, and will
be dazzling. However, he then added that the machines will then see a
12 to 18 month development before commercial availability, and that the
current TT and Mega STe will be the mainstay of Atari for most of the
next two years. This realistic comment throws cold water on some of the
hopes of the Atari community who expected an Atari Falcon 68040 on their
desks in 1992. A full transcript of Pratt's address will be included in
next week's Z*NET.
PLI TO ADD ATARI TO PRESTIGIOUS HARDWARE SUPPORT LINE
Atari's move to standardize their ports and accessories has born fruit
in the closing of a support deal with PLI, billed as "the most trusted
name in removable hard drive technology". Atari will be added to Apple
and NeXT in the lines that PLI will offer Syquest technology removable
drives, hard drives, rewritable optical library systems, and more. The
sexy and tiny PLI boxes are as affordable as any in the market, and the
Atari name and symbol will begin appearing on all PLI literature between
those of Apple and NeXT. SCSI devices, the PLI units work instantly
with a TT and Atari's HDX software, or with a host adaptor, on any
Atari. CO-OP ads with PLI and Atari will begin appearing in Atari and
other magazines in January. PLI, 47421 Bayside Parkway, Fremont CA
94538, 800-288-8754.
HYBRID ARTS GETS NEW CEO, OUTLOOK
After years of restriction in Atari support due to a CEO that appeared
to have a grudge against it, Hybrid Arts is happy to announce that a new
boss and a new outlook is allowing a new growth and support for Atari.
One of the pioneers in MIDI software and hardware, Hybrid "fired" their
old boss and replaced him with Chris Pelzar. The result is a complete
turnaround of attitude, support, advertising, and development for the
Atari platform. Genedit 2.0, an outstanding MIDI editor, was marketed
many months ago in germany, but was withheld from the US market by the
old Hybrid. It was shown and sold to enthusiastic musicians last week
at the Chicago show. Digital Master is also going over big, part of a
new effort by Hybrid to sell what they have rather than what they
thought they could eventually produce. Efforts have also begun in
payment of royalties and fees that have been owed for years to some
developers of Hybrid's early products. Hybrid Arts, 8522 National
Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, 310-841-0340.
FLASH II SHOWN, AVAILABLE IN JANUARY
You couldn't buy it yet, but a coupon offered at the Chicago Atari show
will give a discount on "FLASH II", to be marketed by Missionware
Software of Illinois. Flash II is a totally new product, not related in
any way to the original and very popular FLASH terminal software that
was sold by Antic Publishing. Rights to the name and appearance were
bought by an Australian developer who has created an impressively
updated clone. Loaded with new features and protocols, the new Flash
will be familiar in operation to all the owners of the original.
"Upgrade" discounts will be offered despite no real obligation to do so
by the new company. It'll be well under $50 when it is released,
hopefully in January 1992. Missionware is doing the documentation,
packaging, and worldwide marketing. 354 N. Winston Drive, Palatine, IL
60067-4132, 708-359-9565.
CRASWELL SHOWS, OFFERS 16 MILLION COLOR BOARD - $400
Maker of AlberTT and ISAC resolution and color enhancement boards Jay
Craswell brought his just-completed "LEONARDO 24" card to the Chicago
show. Using a standard monitor, it gives over 16 million colors on
screen at once. To be eventually bundled and sold with Lexicor's
software by Lexicor, Jay's company Dover Research offered a $400 price
for those few who buy the board now from him directly. The final price
will be higher, but has not been set as yet. The pictures shown by Jay
in the Atari booth were incredible. Unlike the AlberTT and ISAC boards
which offer increased resolution and more colors available from a
palette, the 24-bit Leonardo card works within the "normal" Atari
resolution but offers all the colors at one time. More details to come.
SONY, APPLE, MOTOROLA COMPUTERS
Sony, Apple and Motorola will link up to develop multi-media personal
computers. The personal computers are part of the next generation of
machines that will allow users to store and retrieve moving images,
voices and data. Representatives of the three companies had no
immediate comment on the report, although IBM, which recently announced
an agreement with Apple, is expected to be a part of this joint
development.
IBM CUTS BACK
IBM Chairman John F. Akers announced further actions to streamline the
company and outlined a plan to reshape IBM into an organization of
increasingly independent businesses and companies. The streamlining
action will primarily involve additional reductions in the company's
worldwide workforce, resulting in a charge to earnings. The primary
focus of the restructuring will be an additional worldwide workforce
reduction of approximately 20,000 employees. This will result in a
charge of about $3 billion against fourth-quarter earnings. The
restructuring actions are expected to result in savings of about $1
billion in 1992 and about $2 billion each year thereafter.
Z*NET ENTERTAINMENT UPDATE
W. Axl Rose has confirmed that rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin' has
resigned from Guns N' Roses (GNR). According to Rose, the band and
Stradlin' were "going in separate directions and he's not really into
touring or video or anything like that."
Mercury Records and the members of Kiss, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and
Bruce Kulick, today released the following statement: Eric Carr, our
drummer for the past 11 years has died after a relentless and valiant
battle against cancer. The end came Sunday night, Nov. 24, 1991.
Family and close friends, including Elton John, gathered Wednesday for
the cremation of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock group
Queen, who died of AIDS during the weekend. Wreaths lined the entrance
of the West London Crematorium where a 25- minute private service was
conducted by two Parsee priests.
=======================================================================
* PERUSING THE INTERNET Compiled by Bruce Hansford
=======================================================================
Date: 16 Nov 91 20:47:42 GMT
>From: ....transfer!bu.edu!bucsf.bu.edu!harryk@arizona.edu
Subject: MultiGEM
Well, I just received MultiGEM and I'm very *very* impressed...
Guys (listen Greg and Richard), this beast blows MultiFinder away.. it
does everything MultiFinder does, plus that you can specify a list of
programs with each program running in a different configuration. For
each program you can set the following:
- max amount of memory to be used by the program
- if the app is a desktop alternative or a shell you can tell MultiGEM
to unload the parent every time a child is launched, and load it back
after the child has terminated (save memory space)
- some programs like demos, mac/pc emulators, games, etc replace
completely the current contents of memory and they take complete
control of the system...you can have MultiGEM to warn you every time
you try to run such a program so you can save your work
- you can set up to 6 autostart programs (to be loaded automatically at
bootime), and you can even specify data files to be read by these
progs
- any program can be set to execute in Single-Mode...meaning that when
this program runs all others progs stop multitasking (but remain
resident in memory)
Furthermore, TOS and TTP programs are run in their own GEM window,
accessories are executed by just double-clicking on their icons (as if
they were normal programs)...you can still have accessories loaded
normally in the Desk menu but then you limit the number of applications
you can multitask....
MultiGEM requires TOS 1.2 or later and it's said to be compatible with
most applications....
However I haven't managed to marry it with Gemini successfully...during
installation MultiGEM says that Gemini has to be autostarted from the
GEM desktop...but I think it assumes I have TOS 1.4 or later...alas, I
have TOS 1.2 and I tried to "autostart" Gemini with "startgem.prg"
through superboot...although they both run successfully (MultiGEM
*after* startgem) while inside Gemini I had several problems ... and try
quitting Gemini resulted in system freezing
Does any of our german friends have a solution for my problem?
Unfortunately the manual (which is not lengthy at all) does say anything
about alternative desktop programs and MultiGEM.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Date: 18 Nov 91 17:59:42 GMT
>From: ...mips!apple!fernwood!portal!atari!kbad@arizona.edu
Subject: FSMGDOS - GDOS
(Gerald Greenberg) writes:
|> I am currently using WordUp3 and Turbojet drivers for an HP Deskjet
FSMGDOS requires its own drivers because of the new features of scalable
fonts. Drivers are supplied with FSMGDOS for the following printers:
DeskJet 500, Epson FX80, HP LaserJet, Star NB15, NEC P-series, NX1000,
Oki 120, HP PaintJet, SLM804, SMM804, Canon BubbleJet. Of course these
drivers will work with printers compatible with those above. Other
printer drivers are also available.
(Greg Granger) writes:
|[...]
| So much for the famed FSM GDOS. You need *at least* 2.5 megs to run
it.
Not true. With some creative configuration, you can run FSMGDOS in a 1
meg machine. All you have to do is use the FSM CPX to set the font
caches small enough for your machine. You obviously can't print to an
Atari laser printer, but other printers use spooling so they don't
require a full-page buffer in memory. On the other hand, a hard disk is
pretty much required if you want to use scalable fonts.
If memory is really really tight, you can use FONTGDOS. Smaller than
FSMGDOS, this new version of GDOS gives you unlimited bitmap font
availability. It's also more flexible and MUCH faster than older GDOS
versions.
--
||| Ken Badertscher (ames!atari!kbad)
||| Atari Corp. System Software Engine
/ | \ #include <disclaimer>
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Date: 19 Nov 91 04:36:54 GMT
>From: psinntp!ultb!ritvax.isc.rit.edu!JGM8260@uunet.uu.net
Subject: More Atari Sales Info
Again, more information you would never have wanted to know if I didn't
post it :
Atari sales, 1989 :
-------------------
European : 73%
N. Amer. : 18%
Exports : 4%
Other : 5%
Atari sales, 1990
-----------------
European: 83%
N. Amer.: 11%
Exports : 3%
Other : 3%
Because of so much overseas sale, Atari's profit/loss also depends a lot
on exchange rate fluctuation .........
Can't prove it or post it as yet, but I came across something, I believe
a SEC filing or something of that nature, where Atari mentions "table-
top game consoles" for release in the first quarter(?) of 1992 ....
guess the Jaguar isn't all rumor after all ..... Unless they've socketed
a 68030 into the 2600 VCS machines .......
-Joe
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Date: 19 Nov 91 08:15:41 GMT
>From: ....uhccux!uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu!jww@ames.arpa (Jack W. Wine)
Subject: Motorola/Atari article
There was mention earlier of a Computer Design article about Atari's use
of Motorola processors in their present and planned computer/game
systems. The article in the Oct. '91 issue deals with the theme of RISC
processors providing tough competition for Motorola in the embedded
control market. The authors are Jeff Child and Dave Wilson.
The sections regarding Atari and some of the Motorola processors being
considered/used by Atari are excerpted.
-------------------- Begin article...
"RISC Champions Challenge Motorola In Embedded Control"
/\
/--\
/ \S the dark ages of CISC-based embedded control draws to a close,
the curtain seems certain to rise on the RISC renaissance. But CISC is
unwilling to abdicate it's throne. Instead of playing dead, it produces
many heir willing to fight for the future of CISC in embedded control.
[The right panel illustrates a jousting match with Motorola as a lone
knight astride a stallion in elaborate panoply, readying a lance against
a line of knights who wield weapons and shields bearing their corporate
insignia.]
The assault on the 68000 family is coming from RISC-based embedded
machines that promise a two- to five-time performance improvement at a
similar cost. To counter this attack on its design base, Motorola has
dressed up and stripped down the 68000 in an attempt to make it appeal
to a broader audience. Currently, the company offers an integrated 32-
bit microcontroller family, the 68300, as well as a cost reduced family
of derivatives, dubbed the 68EC000 series. The result is a range of
processors that offer "near" 68K software compatibility at prices that
will eventually start at $1.
Through the EC series of processors, Motorola is trying to accelerate
the adoption rate of 68000 family processors in embedded system designs.
Cost-reduced EC versions are becoming available just month after the
mainstay 680X0 processor line. The company has already announced EC
versions of the 020, 030 and 040, and has divulged that an EC050 will be
available six months after the introduction of the 050.
Motorola currently offers the 68EC030--an 030 without an on-chip MMU.
Next will come the EC040, a 040 derivative processor without the MMU or
floating-point unit. Somewhere in between the 040 and EC040 will be a
processor that may incorporate the MMU, but not the FPU, or vice versa.
Rather than strip functions, the 68300 processor family lets Motorola's
chip designers add modular microcontroller peripherals to the 68000
architecture via an on-chip bus. In addition to a 68020 core, the 68300
series sports smart peripherals that can help off-load tasks from the
core processor. One example is the timer processor unit (TPU) found on
the 68332. The CPU can assign tasks to the TPU, and the timer controls
the task to completion, only then interrupting the CPU. This approach
minimizes the interruptions to the CPU, freeing it to perform other
functions.
[Parts skipped about Houston Instruments and other companies using
68Ks.]
Like Houston Instruments, Atari has used the 68000 as a workhorse
processor for years. But unlike Houston Instruments, Atari's game
applications could use all of the power that dedicated RISC processors
could deliver--if only they were less expensive. Presently, a common
Atari design approach uses a 680X0 as a system controller, talking
across a common bus to several pipelined digital signal processing (DSP)
chips that perform dedicated graphics operations--matrix, perspective,
translation, clipping and filling calculations. The results of the DSP
chip calculations are fed to a common frame buffer, where a Texas
Instruments TMS34010 performs the graphics drawing function.
The 68EC020, an EC part is now being designed into a new Atari arcade
game. The EC020 has helped Atari improve the graphics performance of
the system. "The removal of the MMU wasn't critical in our
application," explains Richard Miller, Atari's vice-president of
engineering. "What helped was the reduction in the processor cycle time
that meant memory accesses were preformed faster. For a standard
operation like a memory fetch, a 68K takes about four cycles. The EC020
brings that down to three," he says. That feature helped improve the
graphics performance. Having previously used the 020, Miller said it
was easy to use the EC020. "Even though Motorola added a couple of new
instructions in the instruction set," he explains.
Beyond the EC020, Miller admits that he's interested in RISC. "But
we're limited in the prices we can charge for our products. We have to
go to the lower end for processors," he says. "typically, we max out
the capability of whatever system we design. What happens is that the
programmers have to write some of the key software routines in assembly
language. The big benefit we would get out of RISC is that our
programmer can write code in C, saving them the time of having to
optimize the code. It's a question of time-to-market and being more
efficient with the design staff," he concludes.
Atari has looked at a number of RISC processors. "But to move over to
RISC, the price/performance would have to be there," say Miller. "At
present, most RISC solutions aren't quite where we would like them."
Another concern Miller raises is the availability, quality and cost of
development systems, languages and compilers. "Poor to good," is how
Miller describes them. "It seems like the best processors that are
being supported by tools are in the PC family, and that's not really
suitable for our particular applications," he adds.
---------------------- End article
Something that isn't clear in the article is whether Atari will apply
their game design to their ST/TT systems. I'm also not sure if the
"arcade game" actually was something for the home. Someone posted that
a Mega STe with a 68020 was being designed, but it seems likely that it
will use a 68300 series chip. And if Atari is looking for a RISC chip
that is cheap, then the PgC 7600 deserves a look, because it is 200 mip/
$20. I don't have the address for Sinclair Research/PgC Ltd/Taos
located in Cambridge, U.K., but I would trade a can of macadamia nuts
for the information.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Date: 19 Nov 91 08:30:38 GMT
>From: ....uhccux!uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu!jww@ames.arpa (Jack W. Wine)
Subject: ST ads in mags
Although Atari may not advertise much, there's still some indication of
their presence in Japan. The October '91 issue of Ascii magazine has an
ad for two types of 1040 STe music packages, the "Midia Pack Alpha" and
the "Midia Pack SL/2." The bundle consists of a 1 MB STe w/ the C-Lab
Notator ALPHA or a 2 MB STe w/ the Notator SL (Ver. 3.1). Also included
with the packages is an SM-124 monitor. The price for the systems
sounds very high; the "Pack Alpha" costs about $1400 and the "Pack SL/2"
costs about $2000!
I don't know anything about MIDI software, but the prices seem too high,
especially when the same issue has ads with Mac Classic packages (2 MB,
45 MB internal HD) selling for about $1500.
Besides the Mac, Amiga and Atari, there is another 68K-based machine
>from Sharp called the X68000 and they recently introduced an enhanced
version called the X68000 XVI ("ex vee eye"). Some of its features are
a 16 Mhz 68000, 1024x1024 display w/ 16 colors (768x512 w/ 65,636
colors), hardware sprite support, 8 voice 8 octave AD PCM and FM stereo
sound, and video digitisation capability. It runs with an OS called SX-
Window and also has OS-9 as an option. A two-drive system with a 14"
color monitor sells for about $2500.
The ad for the Sharp XVI seems to be directed toward the rebel, because
it depicts a guy in half-shadow (looking more grim than happy :| ) and
it touts the 16 Mhz speed and performance of the Motorola 68000 CPU
everywhere. The actual computer is housed in a dark, "Manhattan-style"
mini twin-tower case. I know it won't be sold outside of Japan, but it
would have provided incentive for the other companies to deliver
innovative products (though I'm not sure why Sharp doesn't have a 68020/
30 version).
If there's something to rebel against, it's the stranglehold of NEC who
holds about 50% of the PC market with its line of 98-series systems
which are based on 80x86 processors. To break NEC's dominance, IBM
Japan formed the Open Architecture Developers Group (OADG) to which 23
manufacturers like Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony have joined. Their goal is
to provide systems that are compatible with each other, like the IBM
compatibles that are mostly made for export. Current IBM ads proclaim
WAO ("We are open"), but only show machines like the PS/2 50Z which is
based on an ancient 80286 processor. (There are also ads which have an
Intel slogan "Intel in it," which makes it sound like they are deep in
it!)
Ascii also has an article about computer magazines in Europe and the
pictures of German shop windows show lots of stuff! Under the heading
of "Das Magazine fur aktive PC-anwender," there are mags like Personal
Computer World, ST Magazin, c't, Kick Start, Amiga, 64'er, 128'er,
68000'er, (er 49'er?), a mag with a dark title but shows a /|\ ("Fuji"),
alles uber, VMEbus, Power Play, etc, besides the well-known American
mags. I don't understand why U.S. shops don't have that kind of
variety!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Date: 19 Nov 91 21:51:06 GMT
>From: .....nucsrl!tellab5!chinet!saj@arizona.edu (Stephen Jacobs)
Subject: Atari earnings
Atari released their quarterly earnings report last week. The quick
summary looked cleaner than any report of theirs in the last 18 months.
They reported 3 cents a share earnings for the quarter. This is right
in line with the $1.75-or-so stock price and a modest amount of
optimism.
Regarding other recent postings on Atari's business: while Papa Jack
(saves having to spell THAT NAME) is technically not an insider, and The
holdings of Warner Communications are technically not in the hands of
insiders, for any practical purpose they really should be counted as
insider holdings. That means Atari is about 80% owned by insiders, so
those of us who own a few Atari shares really are just spectators.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1991 21:46:35 -0600 (CST)
>From: Z_RYMALJL@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU (Larry Rymal)
Subject: Info-Atari16 Digest V91 #612
Jason at jdemlow@andy.bgsu.edu asks:
>I'm looking for a monochrome SM124 monitor or equivalent and either a
>good laser (Atari model is fine) or ink jet printer.
A great equivalent replacement for the SM124 is the NEC GS2A white
phosphor multisync. I have used one for three years on both my Atari ST
and more recently on my Macintosh LC and it works great on either
platform.
Ink Jet printer recommendations from here would be the Hewlett Packard
DeskJet, any model. Not only does it work great with the ST *and* the
Mac, but also has a vast library of utilities located on the various
nets. I have had my old tried and true DeskJet "Classic" ever since the
first month it was released (never upgraded) and am still quite happy.
Larry Rymal <Z_RYMALJL@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU>|>ST & Mac Users of East Texas<|
Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
=======================================================================
* PERUSING GENIE Compiled by EK
=======================================================================
Copyright (C)1991, Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables.
May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on
GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. 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
XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your
information.
Games on the Mega STE and TT
----------------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 9, Topic 28
Message 53 Wed Nov 27, 1991
MIKE-FULTON at 04:36 EST
I saw a few older messages that indicated some confusion about why some
games would work on a TT030 or Mega STE and why some games will not. I
think I can offer a little insight here which may help.
Some games use a standard GEMDOS-readable format. These games have an
AUTO folder which is supposed to get executed at boot time. We'll call
these games Category 1.
Some games do not use a standard GEMDOS directory format, and therefore
do not have files and folders that GEMDOS can understand. These games
do not have AUTO folders. Instead, they have a small amount of
executable code on the very first sector of the disk, which is called
the boot sector. We'll call these games Category 2.
When _any_ Atari TOS-based machine is booted, the system looks at the
boot sector of drive A to see if it is executable. If it is, then it
loads it and gives control to the program in it. This program can
either do something and give control back, or keep control altogether.
With Category 2 games, the program on the boot sector primarily loads a
larger program from the disk which loads the rest of the game.
However, if the boot sector on drive A is not executable, then the
system looks for a Drive C boot sector before continuing to boot from
drive A. On a Mega STE and TT030, however, there is a built-in delay
period before this happens. This is designed to give hard disk drives
time to come up to speed, so that the boot sector will be accessible
when the system asks for it.
Here's where the problem occurs, but it's easy to work around. On the
Spectrum Holobyte games, they use the regular GEMDOS-style disk format
with an AUTO folder. However, if you're on a TT030 or Mega STE with a
built-in hard disk, once the hard disk is up to speed, then the system
isn't normally going to end up booting from a floppy disk that fits in
Category 1.
There are three ways around this (at least).
First, hitting a key during the delay period ends it, even if the hard
disk is not up to speed. And if the hard disk is not up to speed, then
the system will boot from floppy. Generally, if you hit a key within
the first five seconds after turning on the machine, you are guaranteed
to not have the hard disk up to speed yet.
Second, with the Atari Hard Disk Driver, holding down the Alternate key
during booting will disable it, and the system will boot from floppy
instead. (They may use a different keystroke, but all non-Atari hard
disk drivers should have a similar feature.)
Third, there is a program in the library named NOROACH. It writes out a
small program to the boot sector of a floppy disk, but without affecting
the GEMDOS information stored there.
The boot sector program written out to the floppy does two things.
First, it displays an icon in the top right corner of the screen when
you boot. This lets you know that there is no virus on your disk
(because the icon takes up the space where a virus would go). Second,
it allows you to customize the delay period on a TT030 or Mega STE, so
you don't have to hit a key to abort the delay period.
Normally, NOROACH is used to set the delay to just slightly more than
how long your hard disk takes to come up to speed (most hard disks take
10-25 seconds). However, it could also be used to set the delay to just
1 second, insuring that your hard disk won't be ready (if booting from
power-off) and that the system will therefore boot from floppy.
This method will work in many cases but it carries a warning: Make sure
your disk doesn't already have some information in the boot sector that
the game depends upon, and that the disk does indeed have an AUTO
folder. Also, do this on a backup of your original disks only. (Most
disks which are eligable for this method will probably not be copy
protected.)
--------------------------
By the way, I found a method from Cary Gee upstairs to get FOTI up and
going on my TT030. I'd tried before without success. Since I've done
it this way, I have had no problems with using it from the hard disk,
and it may also work on a Mega STE.
First, _have nothing active_ in the AUTO folder, and _NO_ desk
accessories. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I don't care what it does. Leave
things active at your own risk.
Second, put the machine in ST-low rez.
Third, turn the 68030 cache off. (I'd try 8mhz, with no RAM cache on a
Mega STE)
Fourth, run the program.
Fifth, have a blast. The program is _VERY_ smooth on a TT030. Screen
updates are marvelous.
MIke
Future multitasking on the ST
-----------------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 14, Topic 13
Message 86 Tue Nov 26, 1991
TOWNS [John@Atari] at 15:23 EST
I would like to respond to a couple of the comments here.
1. Atari hasn't specifically said that 68000 multi-tasking is out of the
question. I believe that we have said that we are looking into the
possibility of multi-tasking on 68000 machines and we are working on
multi-tasking in general. However, we are not and have not done
anything specific to limit multi-tasking to the 68030.
2. The 68000 doesn't have the ability to do hardware memory protection.
This is really needed to do multitasking. Otherwise, programs can
and do occasionally step all over each other.
3. I don't believe a decision has been made. I think we will evaluate
the situation and see what we can do.
4. Multi-tasking on a 8Mhz 68000 is going to be VERY slow. As they say,
be careful what you ask for.. you may get it! ;-)
I will let you know when I hear more on the subject.
-- John Townsend, Atari Corp.
32meg TT-RAM board
------------------
Atari ST-Roundtable
Category 28, Topic 13
Message 78 Fri Nov 22, 1991
K.BROOKS1 [New Horizon] at 01:08 EST
Ok people......the board is HERE NOW!! The GE Soft TT RAM board arrived
and is redesigned from what Jim Allen saw this fall. The layout is more
organized. It has vertical SIMM panel slots with two sets of banks
identified in the literature as Banks 1 & 2. These are used in varying
RAM configurations for the 4Mb-8Mb-16Mb-20Mb and 32Mb setups. It is a
honey of a board. Note from GE Soft *DO NOT USE SIEMENS 4MBx8pin or
4Mbx9pin SIMMS. Recommended RAM is Samsung or Toshiba as these are the
units GE Soft has reliably tested with the board. Not sure why a TI or
NEC or Hyundai etc wouldn't work but Samsung and Toshiba are apparently
guaranteed to work properly. We've brought in some page-mode RAM and
nibble-mode to try in the board. We'll benchmark the TT using both and
let you know the results. We're also sourcing RAM prices in a variety
of locations. Maybe some of you are interested in trying mail-order RAM
but not me when I've got that much $$$ wrapped up in the board and the
TT - I don't want anything going south because I used the wrong SIMMs.
The board is larger than the Atari unit. On earlier TT's it is
necessary to alter the metal RF shielding to go over the end of the
board with the RAM installed. You must also put down non-conductive
cardboard (I prefer non-static plastic) between the bottom of the board
and the larger metal shielding so there's no chance of shorting the ends
of the pins. Newer TT's with the painted RF shielding should have no
problem whatsoever with installation.
We'll be posting new, confirmed prices for the populated boards very
shortly as soon as the selected RAM suppliers get back to us with
pricing - again its hard to pin down good prices when we have no idea of
quantity yet. If you have a TT and want to go this avenue to get up to
42Mb of RAM on board (ST/TT combined), then let us know....see CAT 4/
TOPic 19 for details.
More by this weekend. Any questions, let us know here or over in CAT 4
or by EMail to myself of Bruce (B.KLASSEN) and keep in mind GE Soft
tells us the boards will go out of stock very quickly on the next
production run as those European folk snap them up quickly! Nuff said I
hope.... ...if ya wants one, speak up sharply!
Keith Brooks New Horizon Computer Systems Ltd. Calgary, Alberta
Telephone - 403-225-1160 (M.S.T.) FAXsimile - 403-271-1398
Flash 2
-------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 8, Topic 5
Message 72 Wed Nov 27, 1991
J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:00 EST
Hi all!
(My ears were burning...)
Yes, we did show Flash 2 at last weekends Chicago ComputerFest and the
interest in it was just short of fantastic.
We have not yet announced a release date. Earlier we had hoped for a
release around the middle of December, but I doubt that we'll make it by
then. Quite honestly, it's looking to be closer to the end of January..
possibly February.
The one thing we definitely want to do is to make as sure as humanly
possible that there are no bugs floating around and that the manual is
complete. We figure that you'd rather wait a few extra months than get
a buggy product!
And what Jonsey said is true...we've got a slew of beta testers banging
away not only at the various emulation modes but at the basic program
itself. We want to make sure that it runs on all ST/TT machines. (You
ought to see my office...I've got a 1040ST, 1040STe, Mega STe and TT
sitting here just trying to break the program!)
Once the program is released, we'll open up a special topic for Flash 2
to answer all of your questions. For now though, if you didn't attend
the show and would like to latch on to the information we handed out
about the program, I'd be more than happy to send you an information
sheet. Just send me a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) and I'll
get you the promotional literature as well as a form for latching on to
our "show special"!
Our address is: Missionware Software
354 N. Winston Drive
Palatine, IL 60067-4132
Thanks for your interest!
BTW...the reason we haven't opened a topic on it yet is purely time. We
are literally working around the clock trying to get the program ready
and that leaves little time for answering questions. Thanks in advance
for your patience. I will try to answer as many questions as humanly
possible though!
And for those that are curious...the program is a brand new program by a
brand new author down in Australia by the name of Paul Nicholls. He's a
part of Sunsoft Systems Pty Ltd. Missionware Software is writing the
manual and will be handling worldwide distribution.
- John T.
News from the Chicago Computerfest
----------------------------------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 11, Topic 10
Message 366 Mon Nov 25, 1991
D.A.BRUMLEVE [kidprgs] at 19:09 EST
I want to thank the folks from LCACE, the legions of volunteers from
other participating clubs, and Atari for the Chicago ComputerFest this
weekend! It was a very unusual fest indeed...So what was different, you
ask?
I'll tell you! First of all, the show had been promoted to the general
public, and at least a portion of the general public showed up! There
were radio ads and promotions (Lynx give-aways) before the show. Many
devoted 8-bit, ST/TT, Portfolio, and Lynx users did come, but we also
met many people who didn't know Atari made computers, who came to find
out about desktop publishing in general, to play in the game contests,
etc. Since non-users did come, I think it's safe to assume that other
non-users also heard the ads and thus grew in Atari awareness. There
are pros and cons to a mixed audience such as this, but it was most
gratifying to see new users walking off with a Discovery Pack or Family
Curriculum bundle.
Did I say "bundle"? Sure did! Atari brought their new hardware/
software bundles (adopted from Atari UK) for participating dealers to
sell in their booths. I was disappointed that the STBook was not yet
ready for sale, but they did have one for show-goers to play with in the
professional display stand area. This area used the same workstations
that have adorned the Atari displays in professional trade exhibitions
such as Comdex and CEPS. Various professional "solutions" were shown
there.
Most fests I've been to offer demonstration-type seminars: a developer
presents his product(s) to the audience, takes questions from the
audience, sings Neil Young tunes, and provides insights on his
experience in the Atari marketplace. This show had seminars like those,
but it also had training workshops, opportunities for people to gain
skills in a hands-on situation with an expert teacher. In this case,
the training sessions dealt with desktop publishing with Calamus and
PageStream. These classes were so popular that they even had to add an
additional session of the beginning PageStream class! I wish I had been
free to attend one myself. While I have seen the opportunity for
education at other shows, especially WAACE, this is the first time I've
seen it formalized in the form of workshops. It would be great to see
more of these kinds of seminars covering a wide variety of interest
areas.
Atari brought truckloads of equipment, and part of this included Atari-
related paraphenalia. I'm a paraphenalia freak myself. I collect
buttons and patches and stickers and mugs and balloons and pins and pens
and hats and anything that has the Atari logo. While the show-goers
weren't treated to quite _that_ much variety, there were two kinds of
shoulder patches, balsa planes, copies of Atari Explorer...Plenty of
"free" stuff for the price of admission. (For a small fee, I picked up
a nifty Atari pin at the EAUG user group booth, too.)
Atari brought an amazing amount of equipment for use by developers, for
sale by dealers, and for door prizes. This is the first time I remember
a grand prize as exotic and expensive as the TT. But it's also the
first show I remember at which 8-bit XEs were given away as prizes
courtesy of Atari. Atari had cleared a warehouse of all sorts of 8-bit
equipment, and devoted 8-bitters had a veritable feast.
Atari and the IAAD debuted a joint venture at this show. Participating
IAAD members had contributed information on their products which was
published by Atari (via Atari Explorer) to help inform the public on
software and hardware products available to support Atari's ST/TT
series. These brochures were available at the main entrance and at the
Atari Explorer booth.
It really was a show for "firsts". Greg Pratt spoke at the banquet
Saturday night. Now, I admit it's probably _not_ the first time Greg
Pratt has given a speech, but it's the first time _I've_ heard him give
one, and that was surely true also for most of the people in the room.
It was also the first banquet I've attended that was preceded by a fire
drill, complete with alarm and yellow-coated firemen.
OK, it wasn't the first show at which the MidWest Atari Regional Council
had been mentioned. In fact, back at the MIST show in Indianapolis in
the summer, MARC organizers had been in evidence. They had held a
meeting for interested groups at that time. But the Chicago
ComputerFest was the first show at which this new coalition of users
groups in my area offered their "MARC Excellence Awards"! Nifty plaques
were awarded to the CodeHeads, Double-Click, and SoftLogik.
Congratulations to the _excellent_ winners! [Say, any group in our
general midwest region who is interested in learning more about MARC,
please contact H.VIZE (Hank) or W.LORING1 (Bill) here on GEnie.]
There were disappointments (no remote control in my hotel room!),
glitches, no-shows, but my overall impression of the show is one of warm
enthusiasm. Over half the members of my own user group attended, and
all were glad they had. One of our main MIDI-enthusiasts spent Saturday
talking to Roland's representatives. One member won a t-shirt from OPI.
Another won one of those Atari XEs _and_ a computer toolkit. One
brought his family and concentrated on the gaming areas. Another friend
claimed to have seen and done _everything_; I don't really think this
was possible. ;-)
I brought my sister along to this show as I sometimes do. She's a
computerphobic from way back, but she really got into this show. She
strutted around in her ComputerFest shirt, helped me lug my equipment,
attended the banquet and _enjoyed_ it! I had my educational consultant
on hand tending my booth, so I was free to do some shopping myself.
While I'm on this subject, I should mention the well-planned show
program. The LCACE desktop publishers did a fine job, from the color
scheme selected (blue on gray) to the arrangment of the segments.
Believe me, my ad's appearance on the inside front cover has no bearing
on this judgment. ;-)
I debuted my Learning Games Packet, a collection of 10 mainly pd/
shareware instructional programs. I also debuted my fuji rubber stamps
in the guise of "instant tattoos". We offered a one-time tatooing free
of charge; to maintain the effect, customers would just have to shell
out for the actual rubber stamp. Didn't sell very many of 'em, but I
sure did see a lot of skin!
Weird, fun show! Thanks to Mike, Larry, JJ, Joe, and all the LCACE and
other volunteers! Thanks to Mr. Pratt (somehow, I just can't quite say
"Greg" here ;-), Bill, Bob, John J. and all the Atari crew! Same time,
next year?
--D.A. Brumleve
Member, IAAD, speaking for herself but just pointing that out in case
somebody wonders what the IAAD is and wants to ask me
---------
Atari-ST RoundTable
Category 11, Topic 10
Message 369 Tue Nov 26, 1991
JMGSOFT [George @ JMG] at 00:11 EST
David and I got back this morning from Chicago (for some insane sort of
reason, David decided to check out last night and spend the entire night
driving back home, a good 8 hours in normal weather; with the blowing
snow and iced roads, it took over 10 hours).
I must give a big thanks and "good job" to both LCACE and Atari, each
did a terrific job in putting this show together. Well organized, lots
going on, and Atari support to an extent I've never seen before.
It is a pity about the snowy, blustery weather on Sunday, many think
turnout would have been more with a little nicer day. Still, turnout,
especially on Saturday, was quite good, and there were lots of
interesting people to talk to.
We ourselves managed to show a few firsts at a trade show, and impressed
a lot of people by showing them new things that the didn't know there
Atari's could do. Among our list of new things was demonstrating
HyperLINK running on a network, in this case between a TT and Mega STE.
We were showing loading applications and accessing databases over the
network, including file sharing. To my knowledge, this is the first
"regular" Atari application to use network database features if present,
supporting Atari's new file and record locking specifications. The
network driver we were using was Universal Network, also being shown at
the A&D Software booth at the show, and it performed very well indeed.
Another show first for us was being able to show off HyperLINK running
on a large screen monitor, in this case a TTM194 19" screen. Sure, we
had ordinary machines and monitors showing as well (HyperLINK was
running on a Stacy, a MegaSTE, and two TT's at our booth), but a large
screen monitor shows off some of HyperLINK's features even better. We
were able to show five or six things going on at the same time in
different HyperLINK windows.
And the Chicago show also represented the introduction of our latest
version of HyperLINK, 1.6, and our new "point and click and drag" report
generator. In the end, our demos were very well received and sales were
pretty good too.
A final thanks to everyone who dropped by, whether to buy a copy, to see
a demo, or just to say hi. It was a fun show for both David and myself.
In this case, I can't say that much about the rest of the show, since
most of my time was spent in our own booth, but from my brief wanderings
I can say without hesitation that anyone who missed this show missed one
of the most diversified, impressive displays of ST software and stuff in
North America to date.
As this was the last show of the season, David and I can now get back to
every day sort of work (putting out a new newsletter, adding to our
manual, putting some more demos together, etc); however I look forward
to seeing everyone sometime next year.
-- George @ JMG Software.
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