Info-Atari16 Digest Wed, 26 Jun 91 Volume 91 : Issue 354 Today's Topics: Amiga is better then what??? Another Atari write-in campaign... Atari-To-Amiga Convert Info Source! How is Atari doing in Europe? Ian Lepore: e-mail address ? Info-Atari16 Digest V91 #352 Problems with Ghostscript (2 msgs) ST and Multisync Sybex STe/TT systems book This week's program (2 msgs) TOS ERROR #35: What is it? Whoops! 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: 26 Jun 91 04:27:44 GMT From: esseye!jdbbs!wybbs!therip!FredMail@uunet.uu.net (Rod Fulk) Subject: Amiga is better then what??? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Tom, Apparently you have not really used an Atari computer... There are many offerings available on the ST that are not available on any other computer to date. Since atari does not make the ST computer any more that I know of you must compare the capabilities of the STe to that of the amiga. A 1040 Ste compares VERY favorably to an amiga 500. The ONLY thing the amiga 500 has over the atari is the fact that the atari can not do as many colors on the screen at the same time... However there is a 24bit card available for $800 with a coprocessor of some sort for really good graphics... Adding things to the ST come alot cheaper over all then on the amiga and the standard equipment atari sells is of better quality on average. Compare.... An Ste with tos 1.6 and blitter performs pretty well... Compared to an Amiga 500 the amiga only has a slight edge over the Atari.. (Note: for the price no other computer even comes close... ) Compare OS's... The St is built with a much more complete OS then ANY of the amiga OS's.. (The 2.0 doesnt really count at this point since last time I looked it was not available on amiga 500's yet) If you compare the amigas 2.0 to the Mega Ste's 2.x and the TT's 3.X the atari beats it hands down. (Beats it in all areas of ease of use and of pure power...) Of course the amiga does multi task but I have very little use for multi tasking.. (I use a 25 mhz '386 with desqview.. On the BBS multi tasking is nice..) VERY few people I talk to use multi tasking more then ocassionally. As to sound? Well The ST is the only one so far that has the capability of 3d sound. The STe series computers have the capability of using 3 seperate speakers with different sounds out of each.... 2 of those full 8 bit digital.. It is easy to use HD floppies on an ST.. I have yet to see on on an amiga... Since the ST uses standard parts it is easy to get most of the items... Comparing an ST to an Amiga at purely CPU intensive things the Amiga can not be compared very favorably. The amiga has a hand up on the serial port since the ST is limited to 19200 baud... ALL the memory can be used in an ST as compared to the amigas limitation of chip memory... (Note the ST does not waste memory... You must waste memory on an amiga to do double buffered graphics and digital sound at the same time.) Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.. The Standard ST is MUCH better suited to bussiness then an amiga. However the Amiga is better suited to games and higher resolution color work... Start comparing at the TT to amiga 3000 level and the difference is alot less.. The TT can do some graphic modes the amiga would be jelous of and visa versa. The sound systems are for the most part the same.. Differences can be over come by the speed of the processor. If you REALLY push it the amiga can do a few things better in the graphics arena though.. Over all though you have no bussiness stating the ST is no where as good as the amiga.. It is not true.. However Atari USA is missing the boat.... Actually someone shot the boat they were on while they were sipping a toast to what they thought was going on... Then federated almost killed them.. From the current trends I would predict that the Atari will come on very strong in the next five years.. If Atari ever gets over their fatuation of keeping low graphics to keep the price down and offer a multi tasking environment then there will be nothing any amigaite can say against the ST... ;-) (Multi tasking doesnt make a better machine but since most people dont realize they are not gonna need it they think they need it and might lewt it make some sort of an effect on them..) * Origin: The R.I.P. (616)235-2313 [HST] (1:228/24) ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 04:14:48 GMT From: fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle@uunet.uu.net Subject: Another Atari write-in campaign... To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu WordPerfect IS succeeding in the US market... in fact, it's one of the largest software companies in the entire world..! It's Atari Corp which has screwed up the US market, virtually assuring us that we will NEVER see an upgrade to WordPerfect 4.1 for the ST. WordPerfect can't sell product to non-existant customers with non-existant computers. What may or may not have happened in Germany isn't going to affect the US market much, if at all... BobR ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 91 11:22:01 GMT From: littlei!intelhf!agora!robart@uunet.uu.net (Robert Barton) Subject: Atari-To-Amiga Convert Info Source! To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <5910@wucc.waseda.ac.jp> ytsuji@wucc.waseda.ac.jp (Y.Tsuji) writes: >This has been really horrible. Will you please use 'Amiga' word in the >subject or in the summary so that we can ignore you easily? "Amiga" is in the subject line. What are you talking about? ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 12:49:00 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia .edu!ira.uka.de!fauern!faui43.informatik.uni-erlangen.de!csbrod@arizona.edu (Claus Brod) Subject: How is Atari doing in Europe? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu adamd@rhi.hi.is (Adam David) writes: >From a historical viewpoint, TOS started off as a RAM based OS probably because >it was still being written. It stabilised into TOS 1.0 the first ROM version. >Since then we have had infrequent updates usually with only minor changes. A few >bugfixes are made (sometimes in the wrong direction :-() and a few utilities >added. Suddenly in recent times versions 2.x and 3.x appear with a few more >bells and whistles. A completely new GDOS is arriving (in RAM of course). TOS >and GEM almost became fossils in ROM. Some of the material in the ROM should >(IMHO) rather be made RAM resident so that updates can be made available and >to give better system flexibility. Manipulation of system-specific hardware >obviously belongs in ROM but I would like to be able to load GEM when I need >it, and reclaim its space when I don't. TOS is making its way in just the direction you're pointing at; it is becoming more modular. MetaDOS essentially replaces GEMDOS. GDOS is disk-based and allows for external screen drivers. (NVDI is such a GDOS/screen driver combo.) In fact, TOS is quite modular in itself due to the hierarchical architecture. If you like, you can work without GEM on your ST today. Just place a command shell into your AUTO folder. Isn't MiNT meant just for purposes like these? >>The XBIOS floppy routines worked with HD drives from the day they were >>created, likewise for BIOS and GEMDOS. Now, isn't that a sign of >>thoughtful design? >Yes. The low-level stuff for this is all in place, as it should be. Only very >recent versions have a GEM format option for other than a simple choice >between single and double sided disks. IMHO the only sensible sector size to >use on HD disks is 1024 bytes (except for MSDOS compatibility when needed). >If I understood correctly, only the first and latest versions have been able to >handle these. In which version number was it fixed? The current TOS versions cannot handle a physical sector size of 1024 bytes. It's not unreasonable to suppose that this won't ever find its way into TOS again due to compatibility problems. Older TOS versions won't understand the new format. It isn't even sure that new machines will have a 1772 built-in that offers such capabilities. As I stated a while ago, I tested a third-party floppy driver some time ago which offered 1024-bytes-per-sector support. I also haven't given up the idea of writing a floppy driver on my own. It's not impossible. The German magazine 'ST-Computer' recently had a full-featured listing of a replacement for the standard floppy driver allowing for up to ten disk drives connected to one ST. >Wouldn't it be sensible to have reasonable control over disk format >built into the desktop? A choice between 9, 10, 18 and 20 sectors per track would be nice, yes. >Shouldn't a decent ramdisk be included in the ROM? Dunno. I don't like the idea very much to include such a beastie into ROM. I would like to have some more RAM disk support in TOS when it comes to making memory reset-resident. >A simple text editor would not be out of place in the ROM. I disagree. This would be completely out of place. Except perhaps as a new GEM object type. (NeXTStep offers things like this.) >It could be worked on in-house as a non-optimised version and then run through >an optimiser for production. Both speed and space are at a premium even in these >days of multi-megabyte accelerated systems (Whoever thought back then that 4 MB >wouldn't be enough RAM). Optimisation could be made almost automatic, the only >handwork necessary would be to mark which parts of the code must not be changed >because they are in some way critical. The time-critical sections are already written in assembler, especially the BIOS and the lower screen driver routines. They could and should be faster, however. >Just eliminating redundant reassignment of variables and making absolute long >references into absolute short where possible would save enough space to fit >STE TOS versions into older ST computers without having to move ROMbase to the >newer (and lower) address. D'accord again. >Enough said for now. This is meant as constructive criticism. And, IMHO, it is! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2, Things. Take. Time. D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, Germany (Piet Hein) csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de Claus_Brod@wue.maus.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 08:00:58 GMT From: lll-winken!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!spool.mu. edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve@ames.arpa (Steve Yelvington) Subject: Ian Lepore: e-mail address ? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu [In article <1991Jun25.111424.27940@newcastle.ac.uk>, L.B.Brown@newcastle.ac.uk (L.B. Brown) writes ... ] > I need to know Ian Lepore's (author of the Gemfast AES and VDI bindings) > e-mail address so I can bring to his attention some small bugs I have > found. I can't find one in the gemfast V1.5 documentation. Does he have > an e-mail address? Does anyone know how to contact him? Ian doesn't seem to have an Internet address, and mail sent to the Citadel BBS in Denver that he used to call has not been answered. However, Mike Dorman, the person from whom I obtained GEMFAST 1.5, seems to have a channel to him (perhaps through BIX). If you'll send the report to me I'll try to have it forwarded to Ian via Mike. (Oh, by the way, I now have the MadMac source code for GEMFAST 1.5, and I'll mail it off to atari.archive sometime soon.) Here's a note from Ian that was reposted on GEnie. |Category 3, Topic 23 |Message 13 Mon Jun 24, 1991 |M.DORMAN2 [Mike Dorman] at 22:24 EDT | |The official word from Ian Lepore: | | GemFast is one of the few things I'm willing to put a lot of support effort |into. If folks want to pass bug descriptions along to me, I'll do my best to |fix them. I don't require source code fixes. GemFast is a strange and |convoluted critter internally, it'd be unfair of me to ask other folks to wade |through it and find my bugs. If they can't give a good description of the |bug, I'm willing to accept their executable file and a description of how to |navigate my way in their program to the point where the bug happens. I have |good tools for logging what the AES and GemFast are doing internally, so I may |be in a better position to debug than they are. | | The first thing to ask folks when they mention a GemFast bug is: what version |are you using? If not v1.5, all bets are off, I *know* there's bugs in |earlier versions. :-) I don't guarantee 2-day turnaround on bugfixes or |anything, but I can often find a workaround real quickly, and if it's a major |bug, I start thinking about a new release. (Speaking of which, I've been |thinking of v1.6 for a while now anyway, I have no bug reports in yet, but I |do have some outstanding requests for new functions. Now would be the time |get those bug reports in...) | | In fact, a new GemFast release is the next thing on my to-do list after I |finish the 'heat-and-serve' release of Sozobon, which ought to be within a |week or so. (That's what I said a week ago, however!) I don't know what he means by heat-and-serve Sozobon C, but it does sound interesting, doesn't it? ---- Steve Yelvington steve@thelake.mn.org ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Jun 91 08:16:57 CDT From: Mike Dorman Subject: Info-Atari16 Digest V91 #352 To: Atari List On Tue, 25 Jun 91 14:30:18 MST Info-Atari16 said: >Date: 25 Jun 91 11:14:24 GMT >From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!turing!n1xxq@uunet.uu.net (L.B. Brown) >Subject: Ian Lepore: e-mail address ? >To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu > >Hi, > >I need to know Ian Lepore's (author of the Gemfast AES and VDI bindings) >e-mail address so I can bring to his attention some small bugs I have >found. I can't find one in the gemfast V1.5 documentation. Does he have >an e-mail address? Does anyone know how to contact him? You might try sending mail to ianl@bix.com--this might not work, though and I *do* know that it's not likely to get you a response, since it's a premium service to send to the Internet from BIX. However, I am sort of responsible, indirectly, for the postings, and have taken the responsibility to move messages back and forth about GemFast, so feel free to mail me, with as good a description as you can manage (or a binary and a description of the problem--Ian says he could probably track the problems down with a low-level trace through the binaries). Ian's in the process of working on another project (I'm beta testing it), and has a day job, but he's planning on working on a GemFast upgrade as soon as this other project is out of the way, so get in those bug reports! Mike. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Michael Alan Dorman : : : MDORMAN1@UA1VM.UA.EDU : Hobbies are things people do when they should be : : BIX: syssupport : sleeping. --M.A.D. : : GEnie: M.DORMAN2 : : : PostalNet: : : : Box 8068 : Stonehenge was built by two drunks with no : : Tuscaloosa, AL : witnesses. --P.S.McGhee : : 35486 : : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 10:06:46 GMT From: noao!ncar!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!shama sh!timbuk!marc@arizona.edu (Marc Bouron) Subject: Problems with Ghostscript To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1991Jun26.033501.2626@cs.wayne.edu>, pbh@jake.cc.wayne.edu (Patrick Haggood) writes: > I just downloaded ghostscript the other day and have loaded it into > my E: drive under \ghostscr.ipt directory. In my cli (MT-C shell) I've > set GS_LIB to both e:/ghostscr.ipt and e:\ghostscr.ipt in the profile. > I try to print one of the example files as 'gs chess.ps' and get: > > reading ghost.ps (Printing in memory, please ..etc) > ghost.ps read > Cant find Fontmap! > (copyleft info) > GS<4> (and a prompt) > > What am I doing wrong? What's this fontmap it's looking for? The fontmap file maps between the PostScript font names (e.g. /Times-Roman) and GhostScript font FILES (e.g. ptmr.gsf). It live in the ./fonts subdirectory. Now, to make the rest of it work, you need to modify your GS_LIB variable: GSLIB=e:\ghostscr.ipt\fonts,e:\ghostscr.ipt\ps Basically, it's a search path for any file GS wants to open. Can't remember if the slashes face forward or back (forward in the variable, backwards on the command line?). > -- > Patrick B. Haggood > Wayne STate University > Detroit, MI > Physics - Class of 1991 (-2?) Hope that helps :-) [M][a][r][c] ################################################################################ # # marc@sequoia.cray.com # . . # # Marc CR Bouron # M.Bouron@cray.co.uk (ARPA) # _|\ /|_ # # Cray Research (UK) Ltd. # M.Bouron@crayuk.uucp (DOMAIN) # (_|_V_|_) # # +44 344 485971 x2208 # M.Bouron@uk.co.cray (JANET) # | | # # # ...!ukc!crayuk!M.Bouron (UUCP) # # ################################################################################ ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 10:31:20 GMT From: otter.hpl.hp.com!hpltoad!ghiggins!gjh@hplabs.hp.com (Graham Higgins) Subject: Problems with Ghostscript To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu ++ What am I doing wrong? What's this fontmap it's looking for? If anyone else sees this error, it's covered in the readme file. The GS_LIB env-var hold the pathnames to the subdirectories 'ps' and 'fonts' and should be (in the example) e:/ghostscr.ipt/ps,e:/ghostscr.ipt/fonts. BTW - The postscript generator in the software suite accompanying the Yale Bright Star catalogue appears to generate valid PS files. Ghostscript successfully produces prn_1000 files from the PS output. Looks good. Graham ====== ------------------------------------------------------------------ Graham Higgins | gjh%ghiggins@hpl.hp.co.uk Hewlett-Packard Labs | gjh%ghiggins@hplb.hpl.hp.com Filton Road, Stoke Gifford | gjh%hplb.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Bristol, U.K. | ...!mcvax!ukc!hplb!gjh Tel: +44 272 799910 x24014 Fax: +44 272 790554 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: My opinions above are exactly that, mine and opinions. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 10:20:56 GMT From: IFI.UIO.NO!larserio@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (LarsErikOsterud) Subject: ST and Multisync To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu That's right... The monochrome image is small and placed to one side. The best soulution is a multisync with individual adjustment for EACH mode on the back panel (my friend has one like that). Else you have to adjust HEHT, HORISONTAL and VERTICAL offset all the time :-( Lars-Erik / ABK-BBS +47 2132659 / ____ ______ ________________________ Osterud / larserio@ifi.uio.no / /___ / The norwegian ST __________/ ______________________/ ____/ / Klubben, user association ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 09:35:50 GMT From: psuvax1!psuvm!dearn!dmswwu1c!onm07@rutgers.rutgers.edu Subject: Sybex STe/TT systems book To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <13612@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>, kiki@uhunix1.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Jack W. Wine) says: > >Has anyone in Germany purchased the new 1500 page Sybex book on the Atari >STe/TT? The author is Reschke and the German edition ISBN is 388 745 8885. >To order, contact: > Smile. Nobody has it -- yet. It's not finished. > Sybex Verlag GmbH > Vogelsanger Weg 111 > D-4000 Duesseldorf 30 > West Germany > Phone: (49) 211 618020 > FAX: (49) 211 6180227 > >If you have it, could you please elaborate on the contents? Also, I would >like to know the price and if there is any indication that it will be trans- >lated to English (or your willingness to do so!). > It contains all information you need about TOS and GEM (well, I HOPE so...), including all new features up to TOS versions 2.05 and 3.05. The second half of the book contains lots of technical details about the hardware (again including the STE/Mega STE and TT hardware; SCC, SCSI and so on). The price will be DM 89.- oder 99.-. And yes, we (the authors) and Sybex *ARE* interested in translations. Please contact Sybex U.S. or an other US book company, if you are _really_ interested that this will be done. >Thanks, >Jack ___________________________ cut here _____________________________________ Julian F. Reschke, Hensenstr. 142, D-4400 Muenster, Phone: ++49 251 861241 fast eMail: ONM07@DMSWWU1A.BITNET, slow: jr@ms.maus.de (++49 251 77216) ____________________ correct me if I'm wrong _____________________________ ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 00:49:18 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.u iowa.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!kuhub.cc.ukans.edu!wsuiar.wsu.ukans.edu!mwjester@ arizona.edu (loki) Subject: This week's program To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article , bammi@acae127.cadence.com (Jwahar R. Bammi) writes: > [...] > Actually, what would be infinitely more useful (to me anyways) would > be a short technical description of all the neat tricks you guys come > up with, how you did it etc, and maybe the source. > -- Hear, hear! Have you considered writing a book on system programming on the ST? If you ever do, put me down for a copy. Max mwjester@wsuiar.wsu.ukans.edu mwjester@twsuvax ------------------------------ Date: 25 Jun 91 14:52:58 GMT From: rlgvax!ccicpg!dorjam!paulm@mimsy.umd.edu (Owner and User) Subject: This week's program To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <2087@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>, warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison) writes: > >This week's program will copy a file that has a bad sector(s) somewhere in the > > >100% assembly > > > ~ Oh. In that case, I will not use it. By all means, PLEASE DON'T! :~) I guess I just don't understand that line of thinking...... -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- \ Paul Moreau Orange, California UUCP: ..!ccicpg!dorjam!paulm \ --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 04:46:07 GMT From: fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle@uunet.uu.net Subject: TOS ERROR #35: What is it? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu TOS Error 35 generally means the program is corrupted somehow... Your FLASH disk has probably developed a bad sector which renders the program useless... The best defense against this happening is to back up every disk and only run programs from the backup disk... if anything happens to the programs on that disk, you can always copy the original disk onto a new disk and use that... BobR (Sorry for not quoting the original message, but my ST has died, and I'm being forced to use an IBM system with PROCOMM.. about 10% the functionality of an ST with FLASH...) ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jun 91 10:06:39 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!uc!shamash!timb uk!marc@arizona.edu (Marc Bouron) Subject: Whoops! To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1991Jun25.012540.7397@bdt.com>, JONNIE_SANTOS@bdt.COM writes: > Hello... > > I was reading through some of the messages here and saw a phone number > for the U.K. (44-344-485971) Thinking there was a modem at the other I > called > with my modem and got a person instead of a squeal. I wasn't able to > apologize in voice so I hope you accept my apologies here in print for the > disturbance. > > Regards, > > Jonnie Santos > San Diego, California Apologies accepted :-) Please email rather than try to connect to our non- existent modem if there *is* some way I can help you! BTW, excuse the bandwidth wastage, but the return email address does not work :-/ [M][a][r][c] ################################################################################ # # marc@sequoia.cray.com # . . # # Marc CR Bouron # M.Bouron@cray.co.uk (ARPA) # _|\ /|_ # # Cray Research (UK) Ltd. # M.Bouron@crayuk.uucp (DOMAIN) # (_|_V_|_) # # +44 344 485971 x2208 # M.Bouron@uk.co.cray (JANET) # | | # # # ...!ukc!crayuk!M.Bouron (UUCP) # # ################################################################################ ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari16 Digest ******************************