_______________________________________ ST-REPORT 15 December 30, 1987 _______________________________________ Final Edition of 1987 Publisher: Syndicate Publishing Editor: Ron Kovacs Circulation Assistant:Susan Perry _______________________________________ (c)1987, 1988 Syndicate Publishing ZMAG BBS (201) 968-8148 300/1200 24 hrs _______________________________________ ST INDEX 15 _______________________________________ <*> Syndicate Newswire ......................Antic Publishing <*> Atari News Update.........................................Business Newswire <*> Feature Article Computer Health...........................................AP <*> Garbage On The Line.......................................Calamity Jane <*> Probing Your ST...........................................Mr. Goodprobe <*> Discussion On Atari Drives ..........Bill Wilkinson <*> Continuing Sage Of The Mega...............................Bill Grab <*> GFA Help ..............................John Holder _______________________________________ SYNDICATE NEWSWIRE _______________________________________ ANTIC PUBLISHING INC., COPYRIGHT 1987 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. NEW ATARI PLANT In an attempt to boost personal computer sales in the United States, Atari Corp. plans to open a 100-person small manufacturing plant somewhere in Silicon Valley early in 1988 and a larger factory in either Texas or Nevada later in the year, according to Atari President Sam Tramiel. Tramiel said that domestic sales were strongly affected by the heavy European demands for the ST line of computers, manufactured exclusively in Taiwan -- about 80% of STs manufactured this year were sold in Europe. "We never had any product left over to bring to the U.S.," he said. In late 1987 Atari's IBM PC-compatible went on sale in Europe, but Tramiel says that the Atari PC same won't reach stores in the United States until well into next year. ATARI NO-SHOWS CES Atari Corp. will NOT be in Las Vegas at CES in January, 1988 -- but ANTIC ONLINE will: whatever Atari news there is will be uploaded as soon as we get it. _______________________________________ ATARI NEWS UPDATE _______________________________________ WP BW617 DEC 21,1987 5:21 PACIFIC 8:21 EASTERN (BW) (ATARI)(ATC) U.S. Marshals seize counterfeit Atari games Business Editors SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BW)-- In a unique, highly coordinated effort with U.S. government officials, Atari Corp. Monday seized 2,000 pirated model "2600" video game machines and accessories. In an aggressive attempt to stop Fund International Co. Ltd. of Taiwan from further production and importation of counterfeit Atari game products, Atari enlisted the aid of the U.S. Customs Service, agents of the U.S. Marshal and Congressman Ernie Konnyu of the 12th District and his staff to seize the counterfeit products at Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles, before they could be returned to Taiwan. The seizure was made pursuant to a court order issued by federal District Judge Terry Hatter in conjunction with a raid on the Los Angeles warehouse of P.S.D. Inc. on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Atari and many other manufacturers of electronic equipment have had to deal with an increasing problem of the production of pirated products which infringe upon U.S. patents, trademarks and copyrights. "It's hurting our country's industry, depressing sales and effecting the development of new technology," remarked Sam Tramiel, president of Atari Corp. Tramiel, who has instructed his staff to take all measures necessary to stop the counterfeit production of Atari products, stated, "We must let the manufacturers of pirate products know that we are very serious and will not tolerate their criminal behavior. Atari will cooperate wherever possible with U.S. government officials to stop the infringing actions immediately." The goods, which had entered the Los Angeles port earlier this week, had apparently been ordered for sale through the U.S.-based company, P.S.D. Inc. in Los Angeles, but had not been cleared through customs. Officials at Atari Corp. believe that after the raid on P.S.D. last week, P.S.D. officials sought to stop the pirate goods enroute from Taiwan from entering the United States to avoid further incrimination. Records obtained during the P.S.D. warehouse raid indicated that further shipments of counterfeit goods were on their way. Upon receiving information about the arrival of the "knockoff" products, Atari personnel along with officers of the U.S. Marshal moved in and seized the entire container. According to Dennis Hawker, director of security for Atari, "This is a victory for Atari and just the beginning, but should demonstrate that companies like Atari can take action to protect their rights and the industry." Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale is a growing manufacturer of business and home computers and video game equipment. The company, in existence since July of 1984, stands by its motto of "Power Without the Price." Tramiel commented, "We want to deliver to the public the best products at the lowest prices. It's unfortunate that companies producing illegal, often inferior and even dangerous imitation products, affect the market and force consumer prices up. We want this stopped." _______________________________________ FEATURE ARTICLE _______________________________________ AP 12/21 13:00 EST V0605 NEW YORK (AP) -- When Matt Kramer vacationed in Alaska, he took friends along via his laptop computer. If overseas pilot and union officer John Mitvalsky needs to do union business at 3 a.m. in Rome, he dials a computer line. When journalist Mike Greenly wants a source for a story, he turns to his computer. The three are among a growing cadre, including business professionals and young hobbyists, who use computers to reach friends, colleagues and contacts at any time, from anywhere. By using electronic mail, computer bulletin boards and now, computer conferencing, it is possible to go online, send and receive messages and even have long conversations, unhampered by time zones, calendars or distances. "There's an underground network operating from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. in this country. All you need to join is a computer and a modem," said Don Rittner, a Troy, N.Y., social worker who uses computer networking to spread ideas on ways to help the homeless. In the past, computer users sent and received general messages through electronic mail. New software makes it possible to have extended "conferences," where users can converse directly with one another about specific topics. There are computer conferences for psychologists, genealogists and born-Again Christians. Parents with missing children, peace activists, union officials and corporate researchers stay in touch through phone lines and computer screens. Some universities have begun experimenting with classes taught over the computer networks. "Conferencing allows you to structure information" by topic or correspondent, said Kramer, an editor with the computer publication PC Week. He said it would be difficult to estimate how many of the 15 million personal computer owners are involved in conferencing. Conference participants do not have to be sitting in front of their screens at the same time. They can read what's been "said" and enter their thoughts at their convenience. The programs that run the conferences keep track of what's been written, distribute it to the intended recipients and list the text in sequential order. Networkers have even developed a written body language to make communications more personal. A passage may include a (grin) or a (wink) to let other conferees know when humor or irony is intended. "You're talking about the same kinds of sharings that can take place in person, except it's an electronic meeting," said Greenly, a former Revlon vice president who abandoned the boardroom to cover political conventions, President Reagan's 1984 inauguration and the Academy Awards with his portable computer. Now a computer consultant, Greenly practices what he calls "interactive journalism" as a hobby. As he sends reports over the computer network, readers can send in questions and comments while he's still at the scene. "At the Academy Awards I had people who were watching their TV sets and their computer terminal at the same time, and they would tell me what to ask Steven Spielberg when he came off the stage," said Greenly. Computer conferencing is not just for entertainment. Companies such as Kodak and Exxon, even the Army, have computer networks that allow employees to bypass traditional and slower forms of communication. The presidential campaign of Sen. Paul Simon uses a conferencing network to link the candidate with his staff. "Instead of the frustration of getting a busy signal in Washington, they can quickly get something in print in front of the candidate," said Lisa Carlson, a Washington-based computer consultant who helped set up Simon's network as well as conferences for business organizations. _______________________________________ COMPUTER HEALTH _______________________________________ AP 12/22 07:49 EST V0900 By The Associated Press Lighting can be an important part of creating an office in the home. What kind of lighting is needed around a desk or home computer terminal to keep eyes from tiring? The most comfortable and effective work or "task" lighting is distributed evenly over the work area and in balance with surrounding light, according to studies by General Electric and other lighting authorities. "General room and 'task' lighting should function together to create a comfortable environment without harsh contrasts or distracing glare," says Nancy Christensen, lighting specialist at GE in Cleveland. She gives this advice for lighting your home office: -- Position the desk against a plain, light-colored, non-glossy wall. The desk surface should be non-glossy to avoid reflected light. -- If the desk faces a window, relocate it at an angle to reduce glare. If you can't avoid a "busy" wall pattern, hang a light-colored tack board in front of the desk. Do the same for a computer or word processor, to mitigate reflections on the screen. -- Desk lamps provide the most common lighting in home offices. "It may seem simple, but it is important that a right-handed person place the desk lamp to the left of the work, and a left-handed person place it to the right. Also, the bottom of the shade should be 15 iunches above the work surface for the best results," says Christensen. As for brightness, the brighter -- minimum of 150 watts for ordinary desk work -- and more diffuse the light, the better, she says. _______________________________________ THOUGHTS ON BURNOUT _______________________________________ Breaking up is hard to do...Thoughts on BURNOUT By John Nagy, Michigan Atari Magazine [Recent comments and questions in ZMAG and elsewhere seem to require answer and clarification. What follows is a somewhat revised version of my parting comments as publisher of MICHIGAN ATARI MAGAZINE. The comments on BURNOUT are should be heeded by all those crazy enough to be reading all this!] This [November 1987] is the last issue of MICHIGAN ATARI MAGAZINE that will be published by the original CHAOS Lansing crew (Richard an Judy Barnes, co-editors). And it's NOT easy to let go. But the time has come. Burnout is more than a future threat- it is here. Better to turn things over to an enthusiastic new group before the project advances past the "burden" stage and on into the "pain" stage. Especially since such an entusiastic group is NOW presenting itself; this opportunity might not come again soon! Beginning with the DECEMBER 1987 issue, MAM will be the adopted child of BILL and PATTY RAYL, members of both WAUG (Ann Arbor) and MACE (Detroit). On their adgenda is a merger with the MACE JOURNAL and incorporation of GLASS (Detroit's ST club) and, with any luck, CACE (Jackson) and STING (Grand Rapids ST), as well as continued service to the existing seven Michigan clubs. A circulation of well over 1,500 is likely. So, expect CHANGES. What you have seen so far has been largely MY vision of what MAM should be... with new management comes a new vision. I hope that all member clubs and readers across te country will be as supportive and as outspoken about the magazine with Patty and Bill as they have been with me. (YIKES! How's that for a mixed message?!) As for me, I will now actually have time to WRITE more than a few lines and compilations for the magazine (as well as for COMPUTER SHOPPER, which has been very LIGHT on ATARI of late!), as I have a stack of clippings and notes for MANY articles that have been patiently awaiting their turn... so you haven't seen the last of me. This MAM project has been one of the most satisfying (and time consuming), educational (and frustrating), and creative jobs I have ever had. I am happy to have have done it; I am at once happy and sad to pass it to another. Long may it grow and prosper. While pondering my own history in CHAOS and MAM, I also recollect the final moments of other ATARI (and other) CLUB officers I have known. The symptoms of BURNOUT form a relatively standard set of events and attitudes that merit comment. Here's a typical and non-comprehensive review: 1. Only people who BURN can BURN OUT. The occasional volunteer (OH TO BE ABLE TO KEEP MY HANDS IN MY POCKETS AND MY WORDS IN MY MIND!) somehow knows his (her) limits and can say NO when it is appropriate. Others are habitual DOERS that can't let things slide. 2. Real DOERS can't just do ONE THING for a club. The Librarian becomes the SYSOP/Librarian, then the President/SYSOP/Librarian. The Treasurer adds the publications co-ordinator duties. The editor becomes the Vice President. More and more, fewer and fewer people do more and more jobs. Condition 2 above has several results: 3. Things GET DONE. Prosperity and MOVEMENT mark the early stages of the consolidation of jobs in the small, active, resposible, enthusiastic group. 4. "Regular" members get used to watching the progress, usually quite pleased at the results. They volunteer less since, after all, the DOERS know what needs to be done, and are doing great. 5. The DOERS get used to making decisions for the group. It is only natural that the ones doing the bulk of the work should determine not only HOW to do it, but WHAT to do next. In fact, the "regulars" will encourage the DOERS to use their own judgement, and not bother them with trivial votes, etc. 6. More praise and recognition is given to the DOERS for remarkable accomplishments. The DOERS realize that they individually are making the club a success. At about this point, practices within each division of activity are becoming familiar enough to become ritualistic. 7. What were once exciting challenges becoming everyday duties for the DOERS. The thrill may be gone, but it is replaced with pride and confidence. 8. Eventually the constant run of duties becomes a perceptable drain. Tasks that once kept the DOER up all night in creative frenzy now wait for a night with nothing really good on TV. After all, this is a volunteer job, right? 9. Things slow down for the club. Some things go out late. Some never happen at all. The DOERS get mad because nobody seems to want to help. The membership isn't used to having to help. The membership isn't pleased to be bawled out for being "regular" members. 10.Stirred by the bawlings and seeing an opening, some new people come into the ranks of the DOERS, eager and inexperienced. The DOERS have little patience with this, and even less interest in changing anything from the way they have developed so successfully. 11.Resentment becomes the new bylaw of the organization. DOERS think they are being pushed or replaced with incompetent newcomers, or else they think that nobody cares about what they are doing enough to become involved. The new DOERS get disillusioned by the resistance from the old DOERS and either revolt or retreat. The "regulars" begin to drop out, because they see no movement, because they dislike the "elitest" attitude of the officers, or in order to avoid being assailed by the DOERS. Finally, 12(a). The original DOERS resign, disappointed to see that support just "wasn't there anymore" for what was once, after all, a GREAT club... (or) 12(b). The Club folds up. Now this scenario sounds pretty grim, but it is and has been the fate of a number of our sister clubs and organizations. It isn't always this way, of course. We have the power to recognize ourselves in one of these stages and redirect ourselves to a different outcome. I think I have spotted a singular common indicator of IMMINENT BURNOUT: When an officer (or director) simultaneously complains about too much to do, but refuses to allow others to help in THEIR OWN ways. That's STAGE 9 or even 10, and the end may be near. For myself, I see that I must retreat from a DIRECTOR to a PARTICIPANT while I still can enjoy participation. As much as it will tug at me to volunteer both advice and effort on each and every project the club takes on, I will have to meter my involvement. Other officers will have to arise from the "regulars", and they will have to make their own policy and procedures. I won't like them all, but not everyone liked all of mine, either. It is a hard lesson for a DOER, and one that goes against reason: Often the only way to assure that a job is done, or even to determine if it needs to be done at all, is to NOT volunteer for it. Not everything NEEDS to be going smoothly in a club... not every project HAS to be a roaring success... not EVERY owner needs to be IN the club... for the club to be an active, fun, and profitable part of every member's life. None of this should be taken as a discouragement to people who have and will put massive efforts into their clubs. Without them, the really GREAT things that some of our ATARI clubs have accomplished would simplye never have been possible. But beware courting BURNOUT. You may burn more than just yours. _______________________________________ GARBAGE ON THE LINE _______________________________________ By Calamity Jane I have thoroughly enjoyed getting in on the ground floor of ST-Report. But this can't be a success without _you. We all thank you. And I thank the SysOps of the boards I send the file to, who have so graciously set up space in their data bases for ST-Report. I hope ATARI continues in 88 some of the advances they gained in 1987. Support the programmers who work hard developing software and be patient with the vaporware. May 1987 have been good to you, but let's all have a spectacular '88 !! I know a few who could use it. For 1988 >>>>> I want to get into the on-line games for the BBS's, the ST programmer's doing marvelous new things, the discovery of just what the FoReM Network is being used for, the facinating world of Hard Drives, and just anything and everything else. If you have something you would like to offer, or suggest to me, you can contact me on the ZMag BBS, thru the FoReM NetWork Node # 45. Or call The Prairie Chip BBS in Wild Wonderful Wyoming. 303-635-0148. 1200/2400 bps -- open 24 hours.... I have made many new friends this past year, thru ST-R and the use of my modem. The birth of the FoReM BBS Networking has made friends far away, seem so close. Let the power and magic of the computer continue to grow and pull us closer together. We need it... _PAX_ Well we all shine on............... Like the moon and the.............. stars and the sun.................. Well we all shine on............... Come on and on and on and on....... John Lennon... -=-CJ-=- _______________________________________ PROBING YOUR ST _______________________________________ by Mr. Goodprobe The Practical Juggler ( Multi-tasking on the ST) This is absolutely amazing, I created this text file while downloading a program from a Macintosh bbs! If you care to find out how I accomplished this minor miracle...read on!. There is a new file transfer protocol for use with PC Interlink that allows multi-tasking with your ST. You load it into the ???? button on your file transfer menu, and needless to say it works like a charm. The file called ILNMULTI.ACC must have been on your Interlink boot disk and loaded into memory. This neat little protocol allows background downloading and uploading, editing of the buffer (the mini word processor built-into Interlink), perform other various disk functions, and the execution of other programs from within Interlink's framework. Some of the programs that have been tested with this multi-tasking protocol are: Word Writer II by Timeworks (Yea!), Dcopy 1.91(will cause an error though during disk access, but board will resend so its of no big consequence), SuperBase, Data Manager ST, Swift Calc, First Word, Tempest, DC Format 1.3 (Mono version) and I assume many others will work. I tried Procopy, and it appeared to work, but after you escape the program to come back to PC Interlink, you have no arrow, and have no control over what happens after that. Also, my 1 meg machine acted as though it only had less than 1/2 meg as it took 3 passes for a normal single sided disk. The reads were noticeably slower than normal too. Picswitch 1.7 didnt work as it said I had not enough memory. Music construction set works if you are editing or composing a tune or instrument, but will not work while you are attempting to play a song. One important thing to remember is the sequence of events...they seem to be...: After the Interlink program is entirely loaded up, go to the file transfer menu as if you were going to receive/send a file and click on the block which contains the multiple question marks. You will then be given a file menu, and load the multixy .txf file. Proceed with your calling as normal. When you wish to multi-task, simply start the file transfer, and then go to the execute program section of your menu. Choose execute, and click on the name of the program you wish to run. Make sure the disk that ends up staying in your drive is the blank disk you wish to receive your file on. Neat eh? And you can quit the program, and it will immediately take you back to Interlink. Make sure your volume is up so you can hear the end of the file transfer. The tones will help you determine the status and progress of your file transfer. You will hear Interlink's pleasing completion tone at the successful finishing of a file transfer. You will hear a "blat" tone if the download/upload was unsuccessful, or there was a block error. You will hear a "tick" with the receipt of each successful block of data. A "tock" signifies a bad block of data. If you care to check on the progress of your transfer, you simply take "el mouse" and go up to the accessory area of your menu. There you will see: BL=569 ER=00 or Interlink Waiting. BL stands for the block it is on, and ER is short for Errors. If you see Interlink Waiting it is either completed the transfer, or waiting for the handshaking to begin the transfer. You will not see the numbers on this display change as it must be redrawn. Just go to a different area of your menu, click, and then come back to this and you will see updated stats. I believe if you plan to use a program regularly such as Word Writer II it would also be a good idea to fit Word Writer right on my Interlink disk so they will be together. The swapping of disks might be hectic, and it may easier to keep track of things if the two were on one disk. I guess you could say this is almost as good as getting a free second computer system! Please pardon this article as it isn't written in my usual style, trying to keep track of things is a bit harrowing, but rewarding to be sure! Enjoy! Oh yes, PC Interlink is available from your favorite software distributor or computer store, and the multitasking file transfer protocol is free to registered Interlink owners. Keep those Atrai's hummin! Mr. Goodprobe (on lend from) Midtown TV (216) 633-0997 Atari 8/16 Repair/Sales _______________________________________ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FoReM BBS Coupon Offer * * The Most Powerful BBS System for Atari ST & IBM * * Exclusively for the Readers of Zmagazine/ST-Report * * * * NEW 2.0! * $59.95 * * * * Fifteen dollars off if you send in this coupon to: * * * * Commnet Systems * * 50 Eaton Road * * Framingham, MA 01701 * * (617)877-0257 (Voice) * * (617)877-8756 (BBS) * * Specify ST or PC Please * *12/30/87 ST-Rpt * * This Offer May be Withdrawn At Any Time * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * __"Giving the thing away"____ DISCUSSION ON ATARI DRIVES _______________________________________ EasyPlex Date: 27-Dec-87 22:49 EST From: BRUCE KENNEDY 72327,1500 [72327,1500] Subj: THE FIRST FROM THE GREATEST ATARI DRIVES Fm: Bill Wilkinson [OSS] 73177,2714 Bill offers the following summary of drives available for Atari computers, based on a question on Compuserve. If you haven't tried Compuserve, ask a computer friend about it, get a hold of an issue of Compuserve's fabulous ON-LINE magazine, or better, yet get online with a friend. Here's Bill's fabulous knowledge of Atari at it's best, and I'll bet most of it is off the top of his head! "I will give you all I remember, even though I will duplicate ones given by others: Percom: 3 models, SSSD, SSDD, DSDD. I don't remember all the model numbers. Indus: just the GT (SSDD), though they did have a couple of versions of the ROMs. Now sold by Future Systems. Trak: Two models, as I recall. Same drives (SSDD) but either 1 or 2 in a cabinet. (Oh, yes...Percom offered a two-drive system for a short while...in any case, Percoms had a controller that could handle a total of up to 4 drives...you could add your own industry standard drives.) Amdek: Perhaps the best Atari-compatible controller ever done (able to read just about anything, including off-speed disks), but it came with one or two 3-inch (_NOT_ current 3.5" standard!) drives. You could hook up a total of 4 drives, any mix, 3-inch, 5.25", 8". SWP's ATR8000: This was/is considered the elite of controllers. It could run CP/M (or, with add-on board, MS-DOS!) _in the controller_! The Atari computer functions as a terminal to the controller. It could/can take virtually any kind of drives, since it is only a controller. Many early Atari users put 8" CP/M drives on their machines this way...and the 8" drives had capacities up to 1 MB. (Almost forgot: Indus GT has an optional add-on 64KB memory board. With it, you can run CP/M inside Indus in same manner as SWP). Concorde: Went bankrupt (owing us money, sigh) before ever got into full production. Heard about a few people who found this drive at surplus sales. SSDD, similar to Indus, with DSDD planned. Back to TRAK: Found model numbers: ATD1, ATD2, ATS1. Rana: model 1000. SSDD, similar to Indus. Designed by same people, I think. Astra: 1620, a dual-drive, SSDD machine. "The One"--DSDD. A dual drive version of "the one" but I don't remember model number. There was a company in CA (Sacramento, CA, I think) that had an early SSDD drive that competed with Percom. California Peripherals? I forget. But they did sell a few. Saw a question about one up here recently. As for Atari: 810, of course. SSSD only, though a company in Southern Calif made a board to turn it into SSDD. 1050: SSED (Enhanced Density, a kludge.) Happy and ICD both make add-ons to turn this into true SSDD instead. Buy one!! The ICD US Doubler is most popular (price is fantastic!!). The Happy is favored by pirates and others who want to copy protected disks. 815: almost forgot this ghost. Never produced in quantity. A few (100??) floating around. XF551: newest. ======================================================= Hard drives: MPP, later Supra: 5, 10, 20 MB. Only hooks up to 800XL or 130XE. ICD: MIO, gives 256KB to 1MB of RamDisk plus printer port plus serial port plus hooks to most hard disks. The one from our friends in Southern Cal, as mentioned before is the lowest cost way to go. Definitely roll your own (don't think it even has a case). =================================================== SSSD == 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 128 bytes per sector. SSED == 40 tracks, 26 sectors, 128 bytes per sector. SSDD == 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 256 bytes per sector. DSDD == 2 sides of 40 tracks each, 18 sectors, 256 bytes per sector. Other formats are possible with Amdek and ATR8000: e.g., DSQD == 2 sides, 80 tracks per side, 18 sectors, 256 bytes per sector. ================================================== Only drives currently on market: All the hard drives, Atari XF551, a few Atari 1050's still floating around, INDUS GT, Astra "the one". Buy a USDoubler or Happy Doubler _NOW_ if you have a 1050!!! Best bargains in Atari market. Downloaded with permission from Compuserve. Posted by Bill Wilkinson, guru of the Atari DOS, and wizard of all Atarians want to know (look for his column in Compute! magazine). Submitted here by Bruce Kennedy of Rhode Island ACE. _______________________________________ CONTINUING SAGA OF THE MEGA _______________________________________ or Emulation is the most sincre form of Flattery by Bill Graf This is the second report on my progress in using my MEGA ST4, SH204 hard drive, and I.B.DRIVE's 5.25" floppy drive with both the MAGIC SAC and PC DITTO. Last time, when I wrote a sort of road test and experience report FILE 4603, the 2.0 version of PC DITTO would not run any applications on the MEGA. Bill Teal's hard work has now produced version 3.0 and the result is truly amazing. I can now run every IBM program that I use at work. A few things did happen on the way to making everything work together so if your interested read on. My main reason for wanting the MEGA, aside from the fact that it is really neat, was to provide me with the ability, at home, to communicate with big BLUE and big MAC at work. This emulation of course to be provided by PC DITTO and MAGIC SAC respectively. Well until today only the 'SAC produced results, and lugging that mac home to port applications and files back and forth hasn't been much fun either. I will soon get their drive transformer gadget, to directly read and write mac disks. So the last few months waiting for version 3.0 of PC DITTO were a little disappointing, then at last it arrived! I rushed in to my home, loaded the new program and low and behold....it worked, well more or less. It seems that ATARI in their infinate wisdom let their format program HINSTLL.PRG and their autoboot utility HDX>PRG write trash on the volume table or root boot sectors of all hard drive partitions of the SH204. AVANT-GARDE's talented wizard, Bill Teal, quickly whipped up a cure and made it available through GEnie as file numbers 5188 and 5198. The program AHDFIX.PRG works well. OK, now DITTO likes the SH204 and PC DOS [I use 3.3] will self boot from drive C: just like it does at home in a big blue XT. Nice! However, when I put the ATARI autoboot back (C:\SH204DVR.SYS), oh no... if I tried to load DITTO no go! Only a message "This is a US version of PC DITTO not for use on non US machines ". What....? The bad guys again? Now what? It seems that even running the AHDFIX.PRG won't allow the MEGA to autoboot from C: and still run DITTO. The fix for this is to use the autoboot utility from SUPRA. It works well just follow their instructions in the doc file. I made a temporary boot disk using my DESKTOP.INF and SUPRA's utilities in the root directory and I put I.B.drive's floppy handler, RES.PRG in the AUTO folder with SUPRA's SUPBOOT.PRG. After booting up with this disk I ran the SUPUTL.PRG; the utility installed its autoboot program, SUPBOOT.SYS, on C: and all now works fine and reformating of the hard drive again wasn't necessary. The SUPBOOT.SYS file is hidden so don't look for it in the directory. By the way, an auto folder on C: should contain only ATARI's AHDI.PRG and I.B.DRIVE's RES.PRG and NOT repeat NOT SUPRA's SUPBOOT.PRG. A DOS CONFIG.SYS file is needed to get proper formatting in 80 tracks on 3.5 inch disks. The file I use is as follows: DEVICE=PC_DHD.SYS DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:0 /T:80 /S:9 /F:2 DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:1 /T:40 /S:9 /F:0 DEVICE=C:\DOS\VDISK.SYS 100 512 64 DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS BUFFERS=25 FILES=25 This produces the equivlent of two 3.5 and two 5.25 drives and a 100K ramdisk. My SH204 is partitioned as follows [0 or C:=6.3meg], [1 or D:=4.0meg], [2 or E:=4.0meg], 3 has been given to MAGIC SAC and is not read by DOS or GEM. DOS assigns A: the logical drive letter F:. FORMAT A: makes 40 track 3.5 disks, FORMAT F: makes 80 track 3.5 disks in the same internal drive. Using logical drive letter G: for the physical 5.25 I.B.DRIVE permits copying from one disk to another [COPY B:\any.fil G:] and DOS tells you to insert target or source disks approperately. Logical drive letter H: is assigned to the virtual or ram disk. I hope this can be of some help, I spent quite a few hours getting it all to work but it really was quite rewarding. BYE for now, Bill Graf PS:my GEnie mail adress is ABGRAF _______________________________________ GFA BASIC HELP _______________________________________ Constructing a System Drive Map By John B. Holder Senior Software Engineer, Marathon Computer Press This is the second in a planned series of tips on how to get the most out of your GFA Basic Interpreter/Compiler. The topic is Mapping your System. What this means in plain english is: "Determining how many logical drives are connected to the system". Why do we need to know that you may ask? Unless you will never write programs for anyone besides yourself, this will be a good technique to learn for reasons described below. What will this do? Well, it will give you a binary presentation of your system's drive status. Imagine each drive hooked up to the system as a single digit. By this I mean that if you have 3 drives attached to the machine the drive map will be represented by the symbols 111. If there were 10 drives connected to the system the drive map would be 1111111111. Starting to make sense? Now it gets a little complicated. So you say, Wow! that's great; all we have to do now is call the Drive_map procedure and get Len(Num$) to find out which drives are attached. Not completely true. If the user has 4 drives attached and they are in the sequence of A B C D then you could do that. But the first problem comes into play when you consider that the BIOS always returns a value of 11 for drives attached. That's so you can make those handy dandy full disk backups by dragging Icon A to Icon B and sit back while it copies all of the files for you. So if it always returns a signal that says that Drive B is connected whether or not it really is, how do you get around it? Well, the answer is you don't. The operating system handles this condition by telling the user to insert disk B into Drive A and vice versa to get around it. So not all's bad with this condition. Ok, so we can now accept the fact that we'll always get a return of at least 11 no matter what. Now how do we tell if another drive is missing or out of order? At this point we must go back to the above analogy of 1 digit per drive. Take the following configuration: A B C D _ F The underscore is represented above to show that the user has somehow managed to install a Ram Drive or something in Drive F's slot, thus bypassing drive E. Now if you call the Drive_map procedure and use: Print Len(Num$) You'll see a 6 appear on the screen, but we know right off that it's not right because we cheated and saw which drives were connected, after all we own the machine right?. But if you use: Print Num$ You will now see the system as it really exists. The following will appear on the screen 101111 Pretty handy if you don't want your latest and greatest program to hopelessly crash because Joe BetaTester had a Ram Drive out of Normal Sequence. Now getting an actual picture of the system is as simple as: Drive_map ! Gosub Drive_map For X =0 To Len(Num$)-1 step 1 If Mid$(Num$,Len(Num$)-X,1)="1" Print "Drive ";Chr$(Asc("A")+X);" Is Online" Else Print "Drive ";Chr$(Asc("A")+X);" Not Connected!" Endif Next X I hope this little routine and explanation of how it works will assist you in getting the most out of your investment in a wonderful Interpreter and Compiler. Comments are welcome, good or bad. I've included the sample source code in a Basic .BAS file in the archive for you to run as is. Have fun! ' Drive_map Returns two values for you; they are: ' Num% = a bit vector containing active drives ' Num$ = a binary representation of connected drives ' If you had drives A,B,C connected num%=7 and num$=111 ' In this way you can count up the active drives from A-P by ' looking at the resulting bit vector representation. ' If drives are not in order there may be zeros in between ' numbers. Example: You have drive A & B, plus a Ram Drive M ' M__________BA ' drive map = 1000000000011 ' ' Or the more classical situation: ' CBA ' drive map = 111 ' ' ' Example: Drive_map Print Num% Print Num$ ' ' Procedure Drive_map Num%=Bios(10) Num$=Bin$(Num%) Return _______________________________________ ST-REPORT 15 December 30, 1987 Volume 1 Number 15 (c)1987 Ron Kovacs, Syndicate Publications _______________________________________