Info-Atari16 Digest Wed, 24 Apr 91 Volume 91 : Issue 228 Today's Topics: ``Standard'' colors for desktop computers ASSIGN.SYS for OPUS spreadsheet/Charting program Atari advertising Atari Questions... Atari System for Sale Mega ST2 Upgrade Questions Other FTL games? (2 msgs) Revenge of the Mother of All ST Fire Sales Spectre GCR / ST Disks tos dump TOS version TT mentioned in May issue BYTE Virus VKILL381.LZH VT220 - 8 bit Terminal Emulator Required Wanted: Phone # for MWC Support line Weird TT hard disk thingy Welcome to the Info-Atari16 Digest. The configuration for the automatic cross-posting to/from Usenet is getting closer, but still getting thrashed out. Please send notifications about broken digests or bogus messages to Info-Atari16-Request@NAUCSE.CSE.NAU.EDU. Please send requests for un/subscription and other administrivia to Info-Atari16-Request, *NOT* Info-Atari16. Requests that go to the list instead of the moderators are likely to be lost or ignored. If you want to unsubscribe, and you're receiving the digest indirectly from someplace (usually a BITNET host) that redistributes it, please contact the redistributor, not us. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 Apr 91 07:51:06 GMT From: noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka !bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs!neil@arizona.edu (Neil Forsyth) Subject: ``Standard'' colors for desktop computers To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes: >Jeff "The GOD of Arcade Games" Minter has a resprayed Atari ST. It's black >with starfields and rainbows and geometric shapes in neon colours and similar >bizarre decorations. I always wanted to paint mine black too (I think I'll pass on the stars and rainbows though) but you'd have to watch that the paint didn't flake off at a later date and make your ST look really bad. I imagine some sort of thick car body laquer is in order to avoid the flaking. What do Atari do when you send in a painted ST for repair? Send back a vanilla grey one I guess. BTW: If you are going to call anyone a GOD of arcade games then surely the Bitmap Brothers deserve to be called that more than Jeff Minter does. Not only that but when it comes to documentation, Jeff couldn't write a manual to save his life. The Trip-A-Tron manual was written by Jeff, for Jeff, and was totally useless. Not only that but he spent a lot of time, and ST memory, on those stupid colourful menu/consoles each with it's own unique exit box. >mathew +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own ! ! ! ! Neil Forsyth JANET: neil@uk.ac.hw.cs ! ! Dept. of Computer Science ARPA: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk ! ! Heriot-Watt University UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil ! ! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK "That was never 5 menus!" ! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 08:40:25 GMT From: noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintak a!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!milfield!ndch@arizon a.edu (Dave Halliday) Subject: ASSIGN.SYS for OPUS spreadsheet/Charting program To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1991Apr22.170659.28977@lut.ac.uk>, M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk (Mohammad A. Rahin) writes: |>Many recently, once again showed their frustration for not being able to draw |>fancy charts with the OPUS program. All this is mainly due to OPUS's rather |>strict rule on printer font selection. The main requirement is that one must |>use the exact corresponding printer font as for the screen font. If this |>requirement is satisfied, one is more or less assured of hassle free |>operation. There is one other thing one must do, i.e., run FONTWIDT.PRG in |>order to set up font metrics for OPUS's internal use. Any way, here is my |>ASSIGN.SYS file. It works perfectly OK with me and hopefully will work for you |>as well. |>[ I'm using a mono screen and a 24-pin Epson LQ800 compatible printer. ] |> Another problem is that the fonts _must_ be in the same order for every device in the list. If you do not have a printer font for a screen font that you are using you can simply use the screen font as a printer font but I wouldn't use it in opus or the printed output will be minute. For example when running gemini, you may wan't to have the gemini font for the console window and this font has no printer version. Dave Halliday (D.C.Halliday@newcastle.ac.uk) ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 20:56:33 GMT From: chinet!saj@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Stephen Jacobs) Subject: Atari advertising To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I watched a couple of New York Mets baseball games. For several days in a row, they announced that guests on the post-game show would get Atari Portfolios. Picture shown on TV, description of what it was. Hey, it's SOMETHING. Steve saj@chinet.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 23:17:14 GMT From: noao!ncar!news.miami.edu!umiami!dlk0ms9s@arizona.edu Subject: Atari Questions... To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I have three questions regarding Atari's recent machine releases... 1. Why is the TT being shipped with the old MEGA keybooard? 2. Why is the MEGA/STE being shiped with the old MEGA Keyboard? 3. Becasue the old keyboards are being shipped in these machines, does it mean that I can upgrade my keyboard to the newer version??? Just wondering... Mark Santora dlk0ms9s@umiami.ir.miami.edu ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 01:14:28 GMT From: noao!ncar!news.miami.edu!umiami!dlk0ms9s@arizona.edu Subject: Atari System for Sale To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu For Sale: MEGA ST 2 with TOS 1.4 installed SC 1224 Color Monitor Megafile 30 Panasonic KX1224 24 pin printer Tweety Board(installed in MEGA) and some software. I want $1700 for the package. All items are in EXCELLENT condition and will be shipped in their original boxes. Mark Santora dlk0ms9s@umiami.ir.miami.edu ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 17:57:39 GMT From: aurs01!whitcomb@uunet.uu.net (Jonathan Whitcomb) Subject: Mega ST2 Upgrade Questions To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I wouldn't have believed it a year ago when I bought it, but I now have to expand the memory on my Mega ST2. Those MIDI programs and essential utilities really eat up the memory! I would appreciate advice or pointers to references on the following topics: 1. Impressions of the Z*RAM Mega 2-to-4 board. Specifically, how reliable is it, and will the board get in the way of the expansion slots or an internal hard drive? Also, how likely is a solderless board to shake loose? 2. Companies that will install a memory upgrade by mail: experiences, reliability, cost, turnaround time and so forth. 3. Articles or instructions for a DIY memory upgrade. Listings of chips (with part numbers) and good sources for parts would be great. I know how to use a soldering pen, but it's been a while, so advice on how tricky the job is would also be useful. 4. In the "as long as I've got the hood up" department, I'd like to know how people who've upgraded from TOS V1.2 to V1.4 have fared. Was it more trouble than it was worth? Did you lose any program compatibility? Should I just hang around until the fabled STE Mega upgrade board comes along? 5. Is there a list of boards that make use of the Mega expansion slot? 6. Has anyone had experiences installing an internal hard drive in a Mega? Of course there is always the option of unloading my Mega 2 and upgrading to a Mega STE... Thoughts, opinions, dirty limericks welcome. ********************************************************************** Jonathan Whitcomb UUCP: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh, NC Delphi: JBWHIT ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 02:42:49 GMT From: arizona.edu!cerritos.edu!nic.csu.net!usc!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr. columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cunixa.cc.columbia.edu!am66@arizona.edu (Alexander Maldutis) Subject: Other FTL games? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1991Apr23.004900.23858@wam.umd.edu> dmb@wam.umd.edu (David M. Baggett) writes: >In article <7197@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM> ricks@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM (Rick Silverstein) writes: >>Does FTL produce any other games similar to the quality of Dungeon Master >>and Chaos Strikes Back? > >How about * Sundog *, one of my favorites. > >Dave Baggett >dmb%wam.umd.edu@uunet.uu.net Is this available on the Amiga - I've got awesome memories of playing this on the ST unit device. I guess they didn't, but hope springs eternal. ****************************************************************************** HA HA! YOU THINK THIS IS THE REAL .SIGNATURE? IT IS! Total Computing!**********************************am66@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu* ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 11:34:22 GMT From: noao!asuvax!ukma!rex!wuarchive!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!uflorida!mail er.cc.fsu.edu!nu!boyd@arizona.edu (Mickey Boyd) Subject: Other FTL games? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <7197@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM>, ricks@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM (Rick Silverstein) writes: >Does FTL produce any other games similar to the quality of Dungeon Master >and Chaos Strikes Back? > >Rick Silverstein You might try Oids. A great game for which Asteroids is a distant cousin. The game is quite old, but is still being sold for full price (which should tell you something). -- ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ." email: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 03:23:01 GMT From: arizona.edu!cerritos.edu!nic.csu.net!usc!wuarchive!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!bra dley.bradley.edu!pallas!lbert359@arizona.edu (Lee Bertagnolli) Subject: Revenge of the Mother of All ST Fire Sales To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu This is the absolute final, everything must go, get it out of here, ST sale! Best offer on everything: Astra two-monitor switch Set 64K Mac ROMS Unison Printmaster (original shrink wrap) MaxPak Desktop Accessories (original shrink wrap) Beckmeyer MicroMake (original shrink wrap) (4) Antic MacroMouse Mouse recorder (3 in original wrap, 1 open) Antic A-Calc spreadsheet (open) Chat! communications program (open) Start Mags with Disk, one each March, June, and August 1989. Somebody please take these things off my hands. Prefer you pay the mail/freight. -- + Lee Bertagnolli + Voice: (217) 529-0359 + + Minnie BBS + Data: (217) 529-0261 + + 34 Hazel Lane + UUCP: {bradley,uunet}!pallas!lbert359 + + Springfield, Illinois 62707 + Internet: lbert359@athenanet.com + ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 11:44:39 GMT From: noao!asuvax!ukma!rex!wuarchive!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!uflorida!mail er.cc.fsu.edu!nu!boyd@arizona.edu (Mickey Boyd) Subject: Spectre GCR / ST Disks To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <5486@wucc.waseda.ac.jp>, ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji) writes: >You are right in saying that without additional hardware ATARI ST >cannot emulate a MAC. Actually, there are several pirate versions of the Spectre, which load the mac OS from a disk image. Dave Small goes to a lot of trouble to make this difficult, but unfortunetely there are those that spend the time to do it anyway. These pirate versions are totally disk based, requiring no hardware whatsoever. Of course, hardware is needed to emulate the group coded record disk format that the mac's use (hence GCR). -- ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ." email: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 11:56:14 GMT From: noao!asuvax!ukma!psuvax1!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!uflorida!mail er.cc.fsu.edu!nu!boyd@arizona.edu (Mickey Boyd) Subject: tos dump To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <8767@crash.cts.com>, chuckie@pro-odyssey.cts.com (Chuck Schul) writes: >how can one get tos on a disk i got 1.2 and i wanna run 1.4 to see if i >should upgrade my machine.if i can get tos 1.4 on disk then i can see if i >wanna upgrade.i know it is possible since i read about tos 2.0 pirate file >being around the east coast(the usuall place for pirate files i guess?)but >you guys fill me with knowledge.! >---- Well, if the TOS 2.0 file is a PIRATE file, then any TOS 1.4 file would also be a PIRATE file, right? That means that the Internet is the WRONG place to ask for it, right? Don't be a shithead, Chuck. The benifits of TOS 1.4 have been well discussed both here and in most ST publications. If you have a hard disk, you probably want it. If not, spend your $80 on blank disks. -- ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ." email: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Apr 91 11:51 GMT From: MIKE Subject: TOS version To: INFO-ATARI16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I have just upgraded to a 1M STE and have a couple of questions concerning the version of TOS. If I run the TOS_VERS.PRG from the archive, I get 1.6 back but when using STOS, I get 1.62. Can someone tell me which is correct and what (if any !!) bugs there are in my version. On an unrelated note, I'd like to know how to combine horizontal and vertical sync in order to get a composite sync for use with a non-atari monitor. Replies by e-mail please Mike Jenkins ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 04:25:33 GMT From: ccncsu!lamar!sytang@purdue.edu (Shoou-yu tang) Subject: TT mentioned in May issue BYTE To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Hello there: Just got my Byte in the mail. If you got yours but have not open it, turn to page 93. Mr. Pournelle gave a short impression of TT. The article title is Atari Revisited. Tang sytang@lamar.colostate.edu ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 09:55:24 GMT From: IFI.UIO.NO!larserio@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (LarsErikOsterud) Subject: Virus To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Does anyone know WHERE to get the newest version of AVK (Atari Virus Killer) Any company that sells it will do (or the adress p} the author if he can sell me one). We got serious problems with a unknown link-virus over here andthe old version doesn't find it, and since sagrotan is a bit unsure about many files I would like a newer version of AVK to be sure. Any help is great !! Lars-Erik / ABK-BBS +47 2132659 / ____ ______ ________________________ Osterud / larserio@ifi.uio.no / /___ / The norwegian ST __________/ ______________________/ ____/ / Klubben, user association ------------------------------ Date: 24 Apr 91 05:41:42 GMT From: arizona.edu!cerritos.edu!nic.csu.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jarthur!petunia!csu chico.edu!ekrimen@arizona.edu (Ed Krimen) Subject: VKILL381.LZH To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I had mentioned earlier that Virus Killer 3.81 was at atari.archive. Well, someone pointed out that it actually wasn't. I thought I had obtained my copy from there, but I guess not. Anyway, it's there now; I just sent it. -- Ed Krimen ............................................... ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0 ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 10:14:41 GMT From: noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beac on!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!syma!lezo@arizona.edu (Lez Oxley) Subject: VT220 - 8 bit Terminal Emulator Required To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I am searching for a VT220 terminal emulator which can handle VT200 - 8-bit cursor and numeric keypad ESCape Sequences. For example it should be able to send the following cursor control sequences in Application mode: Application Up 8F A 8F (hex) = 143 (dec) Down 8F B Right 8F C Left 8F D Can anyone help? Ideally I would have liked to have used Uniterm but my reading of the manual (see Page 26 (para 6.3.2) 'C0/C1 modes') would seem to imply that only VT200-7bit cursor keys can be sent by the cursor and keypad keys and that you can not send VT200-8bit sequences. Furthermore, I don't think you can re-program the unshifted cursor keys. So if you know of a good VT220 emulator which can satisfy my purposes or indeed if you know how to reprogram Uniterm to achieve the same effect please let me know. Many thanks. -- Lez Oxley, Administration, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RH, UK Tel: +44 273 606755 x3808 Fax: +44 273 678335 JANET: lezo@uk.ac.sussex.syma ARPA: lezo%syma.sussex.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk BITNET: lezo@syma.sussex.ac.uk UUCP: lezo@syma.uucp ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 16:56:34 GMT From: chinet!saj@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Stephen Jacobs) Subject: Wanted: Phone # for MWC Support line To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1400001@hpgnd.grenoble.hp.com> laurent@hpgnd.grenoble.hp.com (Laurent JULLIARD) writes: >My understanding is that the Mark Williams Company is now closed ! > >So I can hardly imagine you find any support line. > Mark Williams company is still operating (MUCH MUCH more successfully than ever). They seem less inclined to do anything for the ST as time goes on, but their commitment to continue supporting the products they've already sold seems firm. Their present flagship product is the COHERENT operating system for PCs (a small, modular UNIX-alike). I got some particulars mixed up in a previous message (now cancelled). They've changed phone numbers again, and I think they've moved, but they're still in the suburbs, not back in Chicago. Anyway, if you call the main number (708)291-6700 and say you need support for their C compiler for the Atari ST, you should do alright. What you get is going to be essentially whatever a bright guy who hasn't used the ST C compiler lately (or perhaps ever) can give you with online access to the source code and the problem reports/fixes database. That's enough for most stuff that'll come up. Steve saj@chinet.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Date: 23 Apr 91 20:33:20 GMT From: imagen!atari!apratt@sun.com (Allan Pratt) Subject: Weird TT hard disk thingy To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu D.C.Halliday@newcastle.ac.uk (Dave Halliday) writes: >In article <1991Apr16.195300.1906@jato.jpl.nasa.gov>, >hyc@hanauma.jpl.nasa.gov (Howard Chu) writes: >|>In article <1991Apr16.042133.20872@mailer.cc.fsu.edu> >boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu writes: >|>>My friend managed to get his external Supra HD connected to his TT >|>>(which has an internal SCSI device). The TT differentiates between >|>>SCSI and ASCI devices. The internal drive is set at SCSI 0, so my >|>>friend set his Supra at SCSI 1, so they would not confict. This >|>>turned out to be the problem. BOTH drives had to be set to SCSI 0 >|>>to work. Extremely weird. Anyone have an explination? >|> >|>What did he plug the Supra into, daisy chained off the SCSI port, or >|>the Atari DMA port? If DMA port, then the answer is that you're using two >|>separate buses... >Yes, but why does this explain why it will not work with an id other >than 0? I can see that if TT SCSI and ASCI are seperate buses then it is >ok to use the same id. Does this meen that the TT ASCI port only >supports one device not the full 8 on the ST. If it supports the full 8 >then with two buses or 16 SCSI devices the TT can handle some serious >backing storage :-> [I posted this earlier, but from the look of it the message didn't leave my site.] It's not the least bit wierd if you work through the logic of the busses. The fatal flaw in your reasoning is that you think since both drives are SCSI drives, they should have different SCSI unit numbers. What's actually happening as far as the TT is concerned is that you have one SCSI drive and one ACSI drive. The Supra drive is connected through a controller which lets you plug the SCSI drive into the ACSI bus. The controller, in essence, creates a tiny SCSI bus between it and the drive you connect to it. This controller will only control one unit, and it has to be SCSI unit 0. The controller probably has a switch of its own, to tell it which ACSI drive it should respond as. This is a SCSI bus | ---------- | | TT | | | | v ------------------------------------ | SCSI --X<---->| Internal SCSI drive, SCSI unit 0 | | BUS | ------------------------------------ | | | | -------------------- ------------------ | ACSI --X<---->| Supra Controller |<---->| External drive | | BUS | ~ | ACSI unit 0 | ~ | SCSI unit 0 | | | | | ACSI <--> SCSI | | ------------------ ---------- | -------------------- | | | This is an ACSI bus This is a SCSI bus If you add another Supra controller (or ICD controller or any SCSI-to-ACSI converter) to the ACSI bus, you would have to make it ACSI unit 1, but the drive it controls would still be SCSI unit 0, and there's no conflict because it's the only SCSI drive on the SCSI bus that the controller creates between itself and that drive. Get the picture? More minutae: HDX asks "SCSI or ACSI" when you select a drive; it's talking about SCSI or ACSI as the TT sees things, not necessarily which kind of mechanism it is. Almost all Atari drives are now SCSI drives with an ACSI-to-SCSI converter inside the case, where you don't see it. The Megafile 44 is a good example. Some used to be (and may still be) ST-506 drives with an ST506-to-ACSI converter inside the case, so don't count on one or the other without checking. The chief difference between SCSI and ACSI in the TT is that the SCSI bus supports the full SCSI command set, and ACSI doesn't. One important command which ACSI does not support is "inquire capacity." When you can do "inquire capacity" you don't need to know anything else about the drive to format or partition it, ergo no wincap and no "click on the drive type" box. Wincap is still required for HDX to be able to format and partition some (all?) ACSI drives. A final note: Mega STe's have an internal SCSI drive like TT's, but again, there is a SCSI-to-ACSI converter inside the box, so as far as TOS and HDX are concerned, it's an ACSI drive. Mega STe's don't really have SCSI, even though it kind of looks like they do. ============================================ Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari16 Digest ******************************