NOTICE: This article originally appeared in the February issue of Atari Interface Magazine and may be freely distributed or reprinted in non-profit User Group publications as long as the article's author and Atari Interface Magazine are credited AND this notice is reprinted with the article. All other publications must obtain written permission from Unicorn Publications, 3487 Braeburn Circle, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, Phone: (313) 973-8825 before using this article. Atari Bulletin Board by Bill & Pattie Rayl Atari Corp News Atari reportedly made a good showing at the Winter CES in Las Vegas, NV. In the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Lynx and California Games was being displayed with the help of two bikini-clad women on rollerskates and a "day at the beach" backdrop. Meanwhile, back at the private suite in the Mirage Hotel, Atari was signing up dealers and showing the Lynx, Portfolio, 2600 and 7800 game machines and the ST. According to Andy Marken of Marken Communications, Atari's PR firm, Atari is projecting 1990 production of one million Lynx machines and the game development system for the Lynx is now available for companies interested in making games for the hand-held color system. Bob Brodie, Atari's not-so-new-anymore user group manager, recently held an online GEnie conference where he discussed his upcoming plans (including a visit with Michigan area user groups on Feb. 18) and other Atari happenings. It seems nearly unanimous that hiring Bob Brodie was the best thing Atari did in 1989. Canada has the STe and dealers have been selling them anywhere from $699 to $899 Canadian (approximately $600 to $800 US). With built-in Blitter, easy memory upgrades using plug in SIMM modules, full stereo sound capability and more, the STe is already a big hit in Canada, causing decreased sales of normal STs and even Megas! Reports from dealers across the US indicate they have not been able to order 520STs from Atari since mid-December. Some of these dealers indicated they had heard Atari would be dropping the 520ST, although Atari has denied this. A handful of dealers have also reportedly received word the STacy2 and STacy4 laptops should be on their shelves in two to three weeks from this writing. That means dealers should, hopefully, be able to get them by the time you read this. Developer News MichTron of Pontiac, MI, has announced availability of the Fast FAX modem and software, giving Group III FAX capability to any Atari ST. The software includes a phone directory that can store over 1000 company names, contact persons and FAX numbers. List price is $699. Contact MichTron, 576 S. Telegraph Rd., Pontiac, MI 48053, (313) 334-5700. Universal Item Selector III has been released, offering a number of enhancements over previous versions, including an UNDO function, movable window allowing users to place the item selector anywhere on the screen, ability to lasso multiple files and more. Retail price is $24.95 and upgrades are $5 + $2 S&H. Contact Application and Design Software, 120 NW "E" St., Grants Pass, OR, 97526, (503) 476-0071. Gribnif has an upgrade to NeoDesk (version 2.05) with support for the ST's "GEM Pipeline." This allows special "NeoDesk Accessories" such as the recent freeware NeoDesk Recoverable Trashcan (found on this month's AIM Disk). The Trashcan will store deleted files, which can be recovered until the Trashcan is "emptied," much like the Macintosh. Gribnif has also announced plans to release NeoDesk CLI, a command line interpreter in a GEM window (similar to .ACCess! from Rock Digital) that will utilize NeoDesk's capabilities to the fullest. Also coming from Gribnif is the NeoDesk Developer's Kit, so others can write NeoDesk Accessories. For upgrade info or more details, contact Gribnif Software, P.O. Box 350, Hadley, MA 01035, (413) 584-7887. Another contender in the "improve your ST desktop" arena should be shipping by the time you read this. DC-Desktop from Double Click Software offers a number of "desktop enhancements" and features similar to NeoDesk. DC-Desktop can even use icons from NeoDesk and, since it isn't a desktop replacement, DC-Desktop works in all resolutions and reportedly with no compatibility problems. List price is $39.95 and owners of NeoDesk can get DC-Desktop for $20 with original NeoDesk disk. Contact Double Click Software, P.O. Box 741206, Houston, TX 77274, (713) 645-3759. PC Ditto II has been shipping in quantity and many people have been experiencing problems installing Ditto II in their machines. In some cases, because PC Ditto II is a 4-1/2x7 inch board, reports are coming in that the board simply will not fit in some machines! Most problems, however, are occurring with the chip clip that is supposed to allow solderless connection to the ST's 68000 chip. It seems the clip isn't giving a good, solid connection for many people. Owners who have soldered the board in are reporting Ditto II works like a champ! Ditto II even has a Norton SI rating of 4.0, a 33% speed increase over the figures in Avant-Garde's original ads. List price is $299.95. Contact Avant-Garde, 381 Pablo Point Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32225, (904) 221-2904. Disgruntled do-it-yourselfers with no real hardware experience are looking seriously at an alternative in Supercharger. Supercharger is a hardware IBM emulator from Germany that plugs in to the ST's DMA port. At $399, Supercharger is a bit more expensive than PC Ditto II or PC Speed from MichTron, but Supercharger doesn't require opening your ST and comes with MS-DOS 4.0. Contact Talon Technologies/Medionix, 243 N. Highway 101, Ste. 18, Solano Beach, CA 92075, (619) 755-8808. Beckemeyer Development, makers of the MTC-Shell multi-tasking environment for the ST has recently changed phone numbers. Their new voice number is (415) 530-9637 and you can reach their BBS at (415) 530-9682. Ralph Turner, author of "The Atari ST Book of Tips and Instructions," has released a new book entitled "Intermediate and Advanced Atari ST Subjects." Written in Mr. Turner's concise and understandable style, this new book helps the ST owner get through often confusing topics such as hard disk management and optimization, IBM emulation, building your own hard drive system from scratch, sector and file editing and much more. In all, 158 pages of valuable information. List price is $16.95 + $2 S&H. Contact Index Legalis Publishing Co., P.O. Box 1822, Fairfield, IA 52556, (515) 472-2293. Games and Game Accessories Following closely on the heels of the original game, the Bloodwych Data Disk #1 has been released by Mirrorsoft of the UK. As the game story goes, by defeating the Dark Lord in the original Bloodwych game, you actually only sent him back to his original plan of existance. Now, he's MAD and transports you to his turf to take his revenge. Although Mirrorsoft has not found a US distributor, the Data Disk is available from many dealers or from mail order. The best price I've seen as yet is $18.95 from Joppa Computer Products, 3909 Pulaski Highway, Abingdon, MD 21009 (800) 876-6040 for orders or (301) 676-1948 for information. For gamers who want the ability and freedom of one-handed joystick operation, like in the arcades, Duggan Dezign has released Stik-Gripper. An all-steel joystick clamp that secures your favorite joystick to a tabletop or desk, Stik-Gripper is designed to fit a wide variety of joysticks and is built to last. A number of online users have been praising Stik-Gripper as a great bargain at only $18.95 retail. Contact Duggan Dezign, 16 Oak Ridge Dr., West Warwick, RI 02893, (401) 826-0140. On a similar note, Canadian-based Advanced Gravis has begun shipping their new MouseStick. This nifty product emulates both the standard joystick and the ST mouse. The MouseStick supports screen resolutions of 320x200 to 640x400 and allows you to customize a number of features via LCD menus. List price is $129.95. Contact Advanced Gravis Computer Technology Ltd, 7033 Antrim Ave., Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5J 4M5, (800) 937-0062. Online News Z*Magazine, Ron Kovac's long time 8bit online publication, has formally called it quits, citing lack of new 8bit news and products as the cause for its demise. ST*Zmagazine has also been discontinued and, in its place, Z*Net Online has been born. As the name implies, it is the online complement to Kovac's Z*Net hardcopy user group newsletter supplement. With this change, the GEnie Z*Mag accound is no longer active and all email on GEnie should be addressed to the new Z-NET account.