Info-Atari16 Digest Wed, 17 Jul 91 Volume 91 : Issue 397 Today's Topics: 1040STe and a Star Gemini II printer Amusing insites re Amiga owners (For ST owners only) Atari 1040 + monitor for sale DC Click software Double Click programs GhostScript 2.2 (was Two questions) GRC or Mac ROMs wanted MEGA STE problems (Summarise) Reset-Proof Ramdisk SLM605 vs Mac Lasers Spectre backups STe and a Star Gemini II Printer (2 msgs) The demise of ST World tos bugs TT compatability... Video Key Wanted - info on Mega ST 8/16 MHz accelerators (2 msgs) What are the Specs of the TT? what I think about GEM 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: 10 Jul 91 11:49:44 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!samsung!know!daemon@arizona.edu Subject: 1040STe and a Star Gemini II printer To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu A local computer user (I use the term loosely because she has a Commodore 64), w a 1040STe. However, she wants to keep on using her Star Gemini II printer. I am Comoodore products and do not have info on the interface used on the printer (no Anyone have any info on whether or not we can connect the printer to an STe with cabling. The printer's cable looks like: / | \ | | | i.e. 6 pins (definitely not a Centronics standars!!!) Any help would be greatly appreciated! ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jul 91 15:48:58 GMT From: munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!qut.edu.au!lunnon@uunet.uu.net Subject: Amusing insites re Amiga owners (For ST owners only) To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Funny people, some Amiga owners Last night we had a careers evening here and gave some tours to prospective students. In my part of the tour we showed our Apollo network and our Silicon Graphics 4D35 2048x1024 GT 56 plane Z buffered 3d Graphics system. One 15 Y-o decided to tell me that his Amiga could do that !!!! Granted, I like my Machine at home but I would *NEVER* Pit it against A 4d35 even if it were a TT (040 model) SGI is just the ants pants when it comes to graphics. Tis ever amusing... PS for the Die-hard Amiga readers out there reading this, Please ***NOTE*** I am posting this to Comp.sys.ATARI.ST not Amiga.advocacy so please flame by email. This item was intended ONLY for ST owners flame-wars and credit cards will not be accepted ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 14:11:13 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watcgl!electr o.com!carlo@arizona.edu (Carlo Sgro) Subject: Atari 1040 + monitor for sale To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu For sale: Atari 1040 (with single 720K disk drive and mouse) Colour Monitor Much Software (purchased and public domain; nothing really of high profile but all of the basics (spreadsheet, database, word processor, communications program, tons of games)) Dead PC-Ditto II Asking $550 U.S. (negotiable). I'll pay up to $20 of shipping, you pay the rest. -- Carlo Sgro Not a card-carrying member of the watmath!watcgl!electro!carlo Laurie Bower Singers Fan Club. carlo@electro.com System Administrator, Electrohome, Ltd., Kitchener, ON, (519)744-7111x7210 ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 22:44:34 GMT From: world!azog@uunet.uu.net (azog-thoth) Subject: DC Click software To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Well, this may be a bit farfetched from the type of programs that DC Click people write (useful utilities, acc's), but Ill throw in my two cents... About the only thing Ive ever envied MicroSoft Windows 3.0 for is the stock game, solitair. Its a great diversion to help while the hours away when work gets real slow, and it would be kinda fun to have a GEM based solitair game for home... Ive neither the tools needed (assemblers, compilers) or the knowledge (GEM internals) needed to write such a program.. +---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ | Billy D'Augustine | Come as you are, reclaim your identity!!! | | azog@world.std.com | -- MOD -- | +---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 10:07:38 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!qmw-dcs!icdoc!syma!grahamt@uunet.uu.net (Graham Thomas) Subject: Double Click programs To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu From article <1991Jul16.031556.2739@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>, by boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd): > > I would like to see a .ttp version of DCShowit for us Neodesk users. > DCShowit is by far the best ASCII file viewer for the ST (IMHO), and I miss > it!! I agree that DC Showit is a fine file viewer, and as a confirmed NeoDesk addict I miss it too. I think I read somewhere that DC have now put out a commercial release, called DC Shower (easy to confuse with a way of cleaning yourself, but I guess there's a limit to the number of <=6 character combinations to follow the letters DC). No doubt someone else can remember the price and availability details. It would be nice for some magazine to compare all the various offerings, including Doug Harrison's Lookit! and 101 PD alternatives. For the moment I'm sticking with Moshe Braner's MORE.TTP, which is not quite as comprehensive or convenient as some others but works fine with a hard disk and judicious use of 'install application'. Graham -- Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK Email: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk Phone: +44 273 678165 Fax: +44 273 685865 ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 20:00:01 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wupost!m.cs.uiuc .edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!timothyg@arizona.edu (Timothy Gallivan) Subject: GhostScript 2.2 (was Two questions) To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1991Jul16.195825.15511@cs.mcgill.ca> jon@nabob.cc.mcgill.ca (Jonathan Carroll) writes: >I noticed someone awhile back mentioned Ghostscript (postscript viewer) for the >ST but haven't seen it anywhere. I'm almost sure he said it was at >atari.archive.... Anybody seen it? This question sounds like a good opportunity to tell everyone that GS 2.2 for the ST will be available soon (I hope to upload it this weekend). If you are thinking of downloading GS (a rather lengthy proposition), you might want to wait for 2.2. Version 2.2 fixes various GS bugs and supports improved fonts. In addition, the ST version of 2.2 provides monochrome screen support (the resolution is adjustable--Thanks to Hauke Hess for this driver) along with support of 24-pin epson and deskjet printers. In GS 2.1.1, every device had a separate executable (very ugly). If you want some other standard GS driver included, email me before this weekend. GS 2.2 also takes backslashes in filenames. GS 2.1.1 is known to run on STs, at least one TT, and to correctly process ouptut from dvips, gnuplot, and gem2ps. I expect the same from 2.2. In case you can't wait for 2.2, here is where 2.1.1 resides at atari.archive. I expect that the 2.2 distribution will replace these files. /atari/printing/gsprev.zoo This is GS2.1.1 with Hauke Hess's screen driver as the only device. This is in the wrong directory. /atari/gnustuff/tos/ghstscrpt/ghscrptb.zoo This archive contains the 2.1.1 binaries. It is rather large because it contains seperate binaries for three printer devices. In 2.2, all devices will be in a single executable. /atari/ghustuff/tos/ghstscrpt/ghscrpts.zoo The GS2.1.1 source. You need GCC 1.39 to compile this. There are also some fonts in /atari/ghustuff/tos/ghstscrpt. I assume that they are for 2.1.1. I am unsure at the moment about the compatibility between 2.1.1 and 2.2 fonts. -Tim Gallivan timothyg@ncsa.uiuc.edu ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jul 91 14:36:52 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!know!dae mon@arizona.edu Subject: GRC or Mac ROMs wanted To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Someone in the US was going to sell me his ROMs then said that he changed his mi he prefers to sell them in the US because he's worried about losing his money. C however, there's nothing I can do other than ask netters if anyone else has or k for sale! ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 21:51:31 GMT From: noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.c olumbia.edu!ira.uka.de!fauern!forwiss.uni-passau.de!scotty!wieninge@arizona.edu (Christian Wieninger) Subject: MEGA STE problems (Summarise) To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Hello, all the problems you described occure also on my MEGA STe, but have you also the following one: If cache is on, blitter off, and external harddisk connected, pixels occure on the screen, when I am on the desktop. I get them when I goto the menuline and leave it. It seames as a byte was written on the screen, cause it`s about 8 pixels. They are in the upper left corner. My dealer said, an explanation could be,that you should have blitter off, when cache is on. He said this is written in the newest Atari manuals you buy with the machine. Is this right? By the way, his opinion to all these errors was, " THIS IS ATARI LIVE ". See you later, Christian. ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jul 91 23:47:58 GMT From: noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hplsla!andyc@arizona.edu (Andy Cassino) Subject: Reset-Proof Ramdisk To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu malay@sae.com (Bob Malay) writes: | I'm looking for (either PD or commercial) a reset-proof ramdisk that will | run on a 4Meg 1040Ste without bombs. I tried the eternal2 from a.a and I | get two bombs. I then tried eternal from ST-Format and it gave two bombs. The latest CodeHead Utilities contains what has to be the absolute coolest ramdisk around. Not only is it reset-proof and bug-free, it works properly with POOLFIX after a reset (e.g. POOLFIX doesn't bail out because it found the ramdisk got there before it did). And, with this ramdisk you can install a second ramdisk drive, which can be used as a reset-proof print spooler! There's also about a jillion other features for this ramdisk that I'm not too familiar with, 'cuz I don't need 'em. Disclaimer - I'm just a happy CodeHead customer, is all! %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Andy Cassino % % Hewlett-Packard - Lake Stevens Instrument Division % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ------------------------------ Date: 6 Jul 91 09:33:36 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!samsung!know!daemon@arizona.edu Subject: SLM605 vs Mac Lasers To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In response to a query, have I seen the new Mac lasers, sure - there is a very big Mac user community on site. When it comes to bit mapped graphics, the 68030 in the Mac laser won't help if you're waiting for the file to go from the Mac to the laser via Appletalk. Via the fast DMA with the ST/SLM605, bitmapped graphics zoom out. I agree that Postscript is great and rally makes things faster but, sorry, it means squat for bitmapped graphics cause dots-is-dots. Do a lot of DTP with digitiezed pix and you'll see why the ST/SLM605 outperforms the pack!!! Finally, the Amiga user who said that ST users are too defensive is right! I love the feedback from other groups even though I am an avid ST user. ------------------------------ Date: 17 JUL 91 18:04:51 CDT From: Z4648252 Subject: Spectre backups To: Steven Selick writes: > >Has anybody found a program (mac or atari) that will back up a mac >partition in Spectre 3.0? > Two programs work great in backing up Spectre partitions: DiskFit and Redux. Both are in the $40-$55 range, I think and work perfectly. In fact, I have yet to see anything for the ST that comes close to either program for hard drive backup. Larry Rymal |>Atari ST Users of East Texas<| Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas ------------------------------ Date: 16 Jul 91 00:06:30 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!samsung!know!daemon@arizona.edu Subject: STe and a Star Gemini II Printer To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Once again, does anyone know if it is possible to connect a Star Gemini II printer (one with a Commodore 64 interface) to an Atari STe? ------------------------------ Date: 18 Jul 91 01:18:30 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!cc.usu.edu!cache .usu.edu!kurto@arizona.edu (869883 Olsen Kurt_Consultant) Subject: STe and a Star Gemini II Printer To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu >Anyone have any info on whether or not we can connect the printer to an STe with >cabling. The printer's cable looks like: > > / | \ > | | | > >i.e. 6 pins (definitely not a Centronics standars!!!) > >Any help would be greatly appreciated! > Looks like it's a serial port of some kind. Don't know much about the c64 though. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 12:30:58 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!turing!q1rse@uunet.uu.net (Dave Johnson) Subject: The demise of ST World To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Well its no confirmed ST World is no more, ST User is claiming that is is going to change some more, the section on games will form a tear out section, while the best of ST world will be introduced to the pages of ST User, the ST World product tests will take place form time to time. Also claimed by ST User is the the WHICH consumers organization rated the ST(E) as a best buy in the sub 500 pound price range. Yours Dave J -- +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | David M. Johnson | If the radiance of a thousand suns | | c/o Electrical and Electronic Eng. | were to burst at once in the sky, | | Merz Court | That would be like the splendor | | Newcastle University | of the Mighty One... | | Newcastle upon Tyne | I am become Death | | NE1 7RU | The destroyer of worlds. | +-------------------------------------+ | |Janet : D.M.Johnson@uk.ac.newcastle | | |ARPA : D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk | The Mahbharata. | |UUCP : ...ukc!newcastle!D.M.Johnson | | +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 19:37:30 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!bucsf .bu.edu!selick@arizona.edu (Steven Selick) Subject: tos bugs To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu I am looking for a list of all of the known bugs in tos 1.4 and also tos 1.6. Also, what are the keyboard differences between different countries and where are these changes in tos 1.4 and 1.6? ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 23:21:56 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu !yale.edu!ox.com!math.fu-berlin.de!unido!ish!miramar!dietmar@arizona.edu (Dietmar Hendricks) Subject: TT compatability... To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In <9107150906.AA07661@ucbvax.berkeley.edu>, ford@tardis.computer-science.edinburgh.ac.uk writes: > 1st Word+ Works in ST high, except for having the wrong text font size. There is a brandbew release of 1st Word+ that doesn't have any problem on working with a TT. It's available from Atari or GST and it's version number should be 3.20TT. > PS. Should the TTs internal speaker sound as if it's blown? Is this important for any serious application? ciao dH -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Dietmar Hendricks UUCP: dietmar@miramar.ish.sub.org | | Buchenstr.3 or dietmar@miramar.ish.de | | W-4150 Krefeld 1 (FRG) ...!uunet!unido!ish!miramar!dietmar | | +49 2151 39 02 47 FIDO: Dietmar Hendricks on 2:247/816.1 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 18:52:30 GMT From: rti!mozart!snoret@mcnc.org (Rick Tatem) Subject: Video Key To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Has anyone any experience with a product called a Video Key? Supposedly it's an RF converter that allows an ST to be used with a standard TV or VCR. My monitor recently "blew up real good", and I'm a little strapped for $$. If this thing works at all, it's got to be better than going without (gasp! :). Any info?? Thanks a bunch in advance, /\ | | Rick Tatem | | snoret@unx.sas.com /| |\ /_|__|_\ SAS Institute, Inc. Cary, NC "" -- /\ | | Rick Tatem | | snoret@unx.sas.com /| |\ ------------------------------ Date: 17 JUL 91 17:58:55 CDT From: Z4648252 Subject: Wanted - info on Mega ST 8/16 MHz accelerators To: Another comment in favor of ICD's AdSpeed. I've had one in my Mega 4ST since December of 1990. My Mega is heavily abused, used about 14 hours/day by several clients. In addition, it may go on the road a lot, working under terrible power conditions (I'm still irritated by the guy who stated that the ST had poor quality control on design...grrrr!). The ICD AdSpeed has worked flawlessly, evidenced by great window refreshing. In addition, I'm using the Spectre GCR and the ICD AdSpeed makes a more profound difference in "Mac" operations than a real Mac Plus with a $500 accelerator. The difference is so obvious that benchmark testers such as Speedometer aren't even necessary. ICD's installation is easy once the older 68000 is removed. A socket is provided and the accelerator is plugged in. 8 and 16 mhz operation can be by either software or hardware switching. I'm very impressed with ICD's work. I would like to mention that Jim Allen's Turbo20 accelerator also installs rather easily and is a great enhancement to the quality of a well-built machine, the ST. Note that I have had an ST product since 1985 and have been a rather critical person of Atari's U.S. doings. But hardware-wise, the ST takes to items like accelerators rather well. I'm most impressed with add-ons like this. Larry Rymal |>Atari ST Users of East Texas<| Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 17:54:05 GMT From: noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wupost!m.cs.uiuc .edu!vela!wsu-cs!jake!pbh@arizona.edu (Patrick Haggood) Subject: Wanted - info on Mega ST 8/16 MHz accelerators To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu In article <1991Jul17.142309.186@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> dhbutler@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (David H Butler) writes: >I have heard rumors of the 20mhz board, and unless >there have been improvements in the 68000, they should burn out much faster >then at 16mhz, I guess it depends on how long you intend to keep your computer. Burn out? As long as your machine keeps cool the IC's should last indefinitely. Is this 20MHZ 68xxx attached to a heat sink? You might want to look into one of those if you're having heat problems with the chip itself (although I'd much rather have a fan). -- Genie - P.HAGGOOD2 Internet -pbh@jake.cc.wayne.edu PRODIGY - Not anymore, Jackson. Bitnet - phaggoo@waynest1 Phone - (313) 577-0669 Voice - "HEY, YOU WITH THE BAGGY PANTS!" ------------------------------ Date: 17 Jul 91 12:26:10 GMT From: mcsun!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!turing!q1rse@uunet.uu.net (Dave Johnson) Subject: What are the Specs of the TT? To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Hello, Could some one who owns a TT or has actual facts (not rumours) about the TT E-mail them to me. I am interested in what it can do (graphic, sound etc). The basic purchase package cost and what it consists of (In the UK so price in pounds please). Cheers for any infomation Dave J. -- +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | David M. Johnson | If the radiance of a thousand suns | | c/o Electrical and Electronic Eng. | were to burst at once in the sky, | | Merz Court | That would be like the splendor | | Newcastle University | of the Mighty One... | | Newcastle upon Tyne | I am become Death | | NE1 7RU | The destroyer of worlds. | +-------------------------------------+ | |Janet : D.M.Johnson@uk.ac.newcastle | | |ARPA : D.M.Johnson@newcastle.ac.uk | The Mahbharata. | |UUCP : ...ukc!newcastle!D.M.Johnson | | +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 10 Jul 91 18:31:14 GMT From: noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!k now!daemon@arizona.edu Subject: what I think about GEM To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu Repeatedly, someone crabs about GEM. I agree that the various ST releases of TOS 1/GEM are limited. However, I find that versions 2 and 3 are very good. I am hoping that the CPX implementation will take on the flavour of the Mac system folder approach (especially combined with FSM). WINDOWS looks great but, compared to GEM or the Mac OS, it is quite clumsy. If you want to copy a file, you have to run the File Manager, find the file you want to copy and then TYPE out the destination INCLUDING pathways! Yikes, gimme a break. The best thing about WINDOWS is WINDOWS applications, NOT WINDOWS itself. Even that has to be qualified. Try using Corel Draw on a 25 MHz 386SX, like the Compaqs we have. I just do not have the patience to wait so long for screen updates. An 8MHz ST running Calamus and Outline Art makes Corel Draw look like a kiddie application in both speed and elegance! I am a die hard Atari enthusiast but the Mac OS is still the most elegant OS I have ever used. I cannot speak for GUIs under UNIX (like MOTIF) because I do not have a system that can take it (I am writing on a 4 meg TT with a 50 meg drive; from what I am told to use UNIX/MOTIF comfortably I need 8 megs of RAM and a 120 meg drive). This is not the start of a FLAME war nor the ravings of a pro ST lunatic. In my opnion, and that's all it is, MY OPINION, GEM, especially version 3, is very good. I suspect that those who say GEM is brain dead are referring to the truly brain dead version on the PC. I'll repeat something I said on the NET before. I wish I could see an Amiga in action. Locally (town of 4000), there are > 150 STs and TTs and only a handful of Amigas (I know of 4). I'd like to see the OS for myself and to see the types of applications available. Why, because I am not narrow minded enough to write off another computer just because I do not own one (one exception is VMS based systems; when I said I was writing on a TT what I really should have said was that I was writing on a VAX station using STalker on a TT). ------------------------------ End of Info-Atari16 Digest ******************************