_______________________________________ |/////////////////////////////////////| |/////////////////////////////////////| |//ST-REPORT MAGAZINE ISSUE #25//| |//---------------------------------//| |//PUBLISHER/EDITOR| March 7, 1988 //| |// RON KOVACS | //| |/////////////////////////////////////| |/////////////////////////////////////| |_____________________________________| |Syndicate Publishing Company | |ZMagazine and ST-Report Magazines | |Post Office Box 74 | |Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074 | |_____________________________________| |Syndicate BBS (201) 968-8148 300/1200| |Enter:ZMAG then 1988 (for Zmag/STR) | |_____________________________________| |BBS Listings are still in the | |compiling mode. Please be patient! | |_____________________________________| |///////////[-CONTENTS-]\\\\\\\\\\\\\\| |_____________________________________| |*|Editors Desk | |*|Garbage On The Line | |*|Midtown Television News Report | |*|Benchmark Testing | |*|March STX-Press Magazine | |*|Migraph Product Announcements | |*|SPC Newswire | |*|Sam Tramiel Speaks | |*|MAC Report | |_|___________________________________| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Editors Desk ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ by Ron Kovacs Thanks for reading another edition of ST-Report. There is news to report this week. We are now part of the GEnie ST Roundtable. We are at Catagory #22. If you have comments or information you would like to fill us in on, please call GEnie and get involved. Our presence there will be more prevelant in the weeks ahead. Mr. Goodprobe will be on hand answering your questions, and the projects we have scheduled to get involved are sure to keep you interested. Currently there isnt much to brag about, but we are expecting to get a few topics going!! Here is a capture of our beginnings on GEnie! Topic 1 Fri Mar 04, 1988 DARLAH [RT SYSOP] at 20:24 EST Sub: Welcome Ronald J. Kovacs This Category will be the NEW home of ST-REPORT. 3 message(s) total ********** ---------- Category 22, Topic 1 Message 1 Fri Mar 04, 1988 DARLAH [RT SYSOP] at 20:29 EST Ronald Kovacs On-line Magazine has joined us in order to give their readers ideas on what they want and need from an on-line Magazine. ---------- Category 24, Topic 3 Message 2 Fri Mar 04, 1988 KOVACS [ST-REPORT] (Forwarded) Thanks for the welcome!! If anyone has any news they want to pass on, please leave your messages here!! We will publish these discussions to enlighten others on the going ons at GEnie!! With your input we can construct our online magazine to your liking. I hope you find this area of interest and we look forward to helping everyone the best we can! Thank you!! RJ Kovacs/STR ---------- ---------- Category 22, Topic 1 Message 3 Fri Mar 04, 1988 KOVACS [Mr Goodprobe] at 23:31 EST We have many exciting things planned both near at hand and in the future for the users of the St at large. Catch y'all later. ---------- ********** Topic 2 Fri Mar 04, 1988 KOVACS [ST-REPORT] at 19:09 EST Sub: STR's Coverage In this Topic, Please leave us a message on what you would like us to cover in the weeks ahead! 3 message(s) total ********** ---------- Category 22, Topic 2 Message 1 Fri Mar 04, 1988 KOVACS [ST-REPORT] at 19:12 EST We are currently covering ST news, reviews, modifications. Also included here are Magic Sac, PC-Ditto, and other computer news of interest. Is there something you would like us to cover specifically?? ---------- Category 22, Topic 2 Message 2 Fri Mar 04, 1988 KOVACS [Mr Goodprobe] at 23:36 EST We hope to cover a wide range of topics as the St is an extremely versatile computer, not only due to the 68000 it uses and the support circuitry, but the programmers are constantly coming up with more and more amazing ways of utilizing its hardware. Its not hard to find some new and programs that will interest all. I really wonder what new and creative usage programmers will dream up next... ---------- Category 22, Topic 2 Message 3 Fri Mar 04, 1988 K.E.JOHNSON [KENNJOHNSON] at 22:38 PST I just uploaded file 6146 that you might find useful. Keep up the good work! -Kenn_ ---------- This was our debut this past week. Please give GEnie a call and participate in these message bases. In the weeks ahead, we will cover a few of the areas offered and keep you informed on our progress. As stated above, we are working many projects, your input on our thoughts will help us create a better online magazine. Remember, this magazine is free and we do it for the enjoyment. Any advertising (if any) we get, goes to covering our telecommuncation costs. These costs are high at times and supplemental income seems to be our only way to survive. All costs are paid direct via my checking account. This is not a pitch for money, just an explanation of our plans. We are soliciting advertising, we will trade off for coupons, and special deals for our readers! Keep us informed!! We can only change the magazine with your input!! Your support is very much appreciated! ============ Need I say more!! Give GEnie a call today!! Look for more updates in future editions of ST-Report. The errors in the few issues of ST-Report on GEnie have been repaired and STXPRESS has explained the problems. I want to thank Rich Decowski for filling me in on the errors! Be sure to take a look at the Sam Tramiel Confrence in this issue. I hope it opens your eyes on Atari for the better! A few articles scheduled for this issue have been re-assigned for a later release. If you were looking for your article to appear, I am sorry for the delay. We will try to get caught up next week. We are trying to keep these issues at a regular length! _______________________________________ Garbage On The Line _______________________________________ by Linda Woodworth FoReM Net Mailer Program by David Chiquelin F-Net Interview by Linda Woodworth A FoReM BBS with the FNet Mailer in residence, a NODE number assigned by Commnet Systems, allows the BBS to automatically dial out or receive calls from other mailers -- make a connection and transfer data between the two. The man responsible for writing the Mailer program is David Chiquelin. I may add at this point, this ENTIRE interview was done thru the F-Net System, over a period of several months. In other words, Dave and I left each other E-Mail and it was sent between our two boards. I got to know some fasinating things about Dave in the process of writing something that has effected so many of us. I also got the BEST recipe for his microwave Beef Stew........lumps and all. AND the interview begins... DAVE - Anyway, go ahead and ask away. "Let's see... I was born in a log cabin." No, how about "It was a dark and stormy night"...Nah... Well, I'll think of something! - Dave, I understand, you took your first computer course in BASIC in '71 at the US Naval Academy. You are no longer in the Navy, but had an interesting career and now have moved onto other things. You got your first computer in '77... one of those with the staggering 24K. But soon moved to the Atari 800, 130XE and then the ST in '85, when Pascal was announced. Tell me about your Pascal classes at the College of St. Mary. Well... never mind Atari-O! BBS was set up apx. 1985 in Omaha & you discovered FoReM when you were dissatisfied with the program you were running. How on earth did you get involved with writing the Mailer for the FoReM BBS program & Matt Singer? DAVE - I separated from the Navy the end of November 86, and having time on my hands and truly enjoying programming, started working on some ideas for FoReM. The "Most Popular" files program, was one of the first. When the DOORS feature was added I did a few for it too. The question was raised on Matt's BBS about the possibility of having FoReM do networking and I joined in the chorus with ideas and suggestions. After deciding to go ahead with it, Matt called and asked if I would like to (mind?) doing the Mailer. As I already had a few ideas, and having the time to work on it, went ahead and agreed. That's how it all started... Matt thought it would be a one week project or so. So, the mailer ended up much more involved that you & Matt originally anticipated?? Like including extended and F-Mail messages. I have spent many hours watching my Mailer run, and am TOTALLY fascinated with it. Tell us something about the process... DAVE - The first thing done was the Interpreter for the Script file . The FoReM Mailer understands over thirty commands that are used to tell it how to dial another BBS. Most of these aren't used, but are there if needed. A primary concern was making sure it could use PC-Pursuit for transfering this information. Another item added was the ability to send a message from BBS "A" to BBS "B" through (VIA) BBS "C". This insures two BBSs that subscribe to PC-P, but are not themselves in a PC Pursuitable city, are able to exchange messages by using a third BBS that IS located in a PC-P able city. The VIA chain can be as long as needed. Thank you, as The Chip is not in a PCP-able city, and I would be feeling terribly left out right now. Or broke from my phone bills. Ok, I have a friend, Guido, that calls a BBS in Canada. We have been exchanging messages, but tell the rest of them how it is done. DAVE - Ok, The Prairie Chip is in Wyoming. Your Mailer command script says to send all the mail for Dragon's Lair to Mile High in Denver. Mile High's Script file says to send mail addressed to Dragon's Lair to Atari-O! in Omaha. Atari-O! is under strict orders to send all mail to Pit Stop BBS. And Pit Stop sends it finally, to the final destination in Canada arriving at Dragon's Lair apx. 2 to 4 days later. Makes it real easy for Guido to hassle me and then the reverse. We had some _major problems with the Mailer there for awhile. The Mailer in fact bit the dust... It wouldn't erase extended messages, hit the GEM error box, and sit there till I rebooted the System. I think we all lost a lot of sleep & I know you pulled your hair out a lot... About all we could do was run the debug version .ARC up our verbose log and send it to you. Arrrggghhhh !! DAVE - Bugs?? In the Mailer?? Ha! More than enough to try everyone's commitment to BBSing. The worst was when the message save or deletion procedure didn't work properly, causing the msg bases to become 'garbage'. Of course, understanding something and having a program do what you want are two different things. Matt looked at my source code, I pulled more hair, and was sick of looking at the code. Argh. And then there was the infamous compiler problem... Yes, I remember that. M.S.P. -- Massive System Problems. We were losing our message bases, The TO: field was blank, (where DID those messages go, by the way??) and when you ran the Mailer between your two STs, all worked fine. You thought WE were the one's losing our minds. DAVE - This is called utter frustration time! I'm responsible for the mailer and it's ruining everyone's message bases and I can't find the d**n problem! More debug information. It slowly, after many days of this & studying the source code, but unable to find ANYTHING that could cause the problems that were happening, sinks in that maybe the compiler is 'screwy'. I recompiled with my old version, and suddenly the sun begins to shine again, birds to sing, and threats against my life became infrequent! Yes, I remember when the DC boards put you on Tele-Trial. Seems they hung you by your eye lids. I am so glad you kept your sense of humor . I could go into a lot of detail on how FoReM changed the Mailer... or what you did to the Mailer, caused needed changes in FoReM. This was all going on during the Beta Test of FoReM 2.0 - Life will never be the same after the implemention of the mailer WITH a complete Beta of something like FoReM. I had a good time!! DAVE - Coordination with Matt and we had most problems solved in almost no time. Like, when Matt added extended messages to FoReM. Looking back, this probably removed any barrier between FoReM and other networking systems, such as Fido. Which MAY BE added, no guarantees!! Then you moved... took your BBS, Atari-O! down and split. We all suffered a bit of paranoia and figured you to write one last mailer to transfer 900 messages -- then promplty go out and format our Hard Drives. -- Dave is now located in Houston, Texas and I talked voice with him for the first time just the other day... I had to see how he was coming on that Texan accent Atari-OH! is back up at 713-480-9310 (12/24/9600 bps) and I for one am glad. We have had several minor/major problems fixed with the Mailer, and Dave has added several new features. All went pretty darn good in his "absense" -- but believe me, I made darn sure where to find him in case we needed him!! Besides, I had to finish this interview. The FoReM F-Net Mailer needs the FoReM ST BBS program written by Matt Singer, with FoReM coupons available thru ST-Report... You must also get a node number from Commnet Systems by logging onto the FoReM Support BBS... 617-877-8756 (12/24/9600). The F-Mailer is a work of Share Ware has _your SysOp paid for it >> ?? Thank you Boris... Your work is greatly appreciated by many, and it is good to have you back. Do we 'bug' you too much >> ?? ... to be continued ... _______________________________________ Midtown Television News Report _______________________________________ Some exciting news for Magic Sac owners! by Mr. Goodprobe I shall bypass my normal friendly greetings this time around as the magnitude of this news definitely warrants the space!!! A firm Symmetry Corp. has just produced a brand new program for the MacIntosh called HyperDA. What is phenomenal about this product is that users of 512k Macintosh computers, and 1040ST Magic Sac owners, can now use and manipulate data that has been created by Hypercard. Under normal circumstances, a computer, of course most often a MacIntosh, must have at least 750K of free ram in order to run Hypercard. This would mean that Magic Sac owners could not access the world of new programs based upon Hypercard. These programs are called "Stacks". Now with the advent of HyperDa, the 53k wonder, you can now use Hypercard stacks to some degree with Dave Small's Magic Sac. HyperDa accomplishes this feat by emulating the browse-only mode of Hypercard, and also includes the "find", "print", and "clipboard". Although limited as you cannot enter new data, nonetheless, if you don't have the money for a Mac, or a Mega either, than this will be a pleasant addition to your system's capabilities. Needless to say the Apple officials weren't at the least thrilled with the existence of this product....sound familiar eh? If you wish to purchase HyperDa, it is being listed at $69, and is being distributed by Softsel Inc located in Inglewood, CA, and Kenfil, located in Van Nuys Ca. Seems Atari's decision to produce a Unix based system is quite the vogue, as Sony has just introduced their own en-engineering work station which too is Unix based. Only difference is that these babies are initially priced in the 4,000 dollar ballpark, is based on the 68020, and has 4 meg internal ram (sound familiar eh?) Only real improvement over the Atari Transputer is the inclusion of the 68881 co-processor in the unit. Their power computer consists of 2 68020's, one for the CPU and the other soley for the I/O, a 19' high-resolution color monitor, a 286 meg hard drive, and 8k instruction cache that allows the system to run at a speedy 16 Mhz. Price tag? Hows $25,000 suit you? Whew! A real value, but sure not in our league! In case you need a modem-to-go you can now pick one up at Sears as they will be carrying the Okidata line in their stores and catalogs. Expect them to be pricy for sure! A private study revealed that last year over 140 million 3 1/2 disks were produced, and that number will not only increase this year, but will HAVE to increase in order to fill the great demand for these data storage items. In order to fill the demand 2 new production facilities have recently been opened, one by Sony down in Laredo, Texas, and this could provide up to 3 million disks a month. The new facility was recently opened by Kao Corp up in Ottawa Canada, and should turn out about 40 million disks next year. It seems most disks suppliers are not actually manufacturers, but rather assemblers. They merely construct the disk package from components derived from various and sundry suppliers. They have to wait till all the items are at their facility before they can piece together the finished product. Thus the great lag of product. A super computer firm which is based relatively close to my abode is called MEI Microcenter. When you arrive at their facility you might think it appear to look like a regular indoor shopping mall..at that it is. They have carried a good stock of Atari ST computers and supplies, and always at unbeatable prices. They have recently announced they will expand to 22 stores which they hope balloons into a 550 million dollar corporation by 1992. Good news for future computer buyers for sure! It just dawned on me. that you might not be familiar with Hypercard, and its capabilities...let me explain. This product is now being shipped with every new MacIntosh computer being sold, and guesstimates have it that about 200,000 machines of that package variety have been sold since the introduction of Hypercard. It is a tool which allows you to, in a custom and personable fashion, gather data. It puts this information together in your own sense of priority and value. Almost any application can be readily introduced in a stack fashion, which makes it extremely easy to access. From what I hear some of the products introduced in Hypercard style, beside the myriad of shareware introductions, are terminal programs, the ability to mix sound and text, place verbal notations in text files, report generators, data bases, and the like. The ease of use is probably its main asset. In case you are interested, Commodore earnings have sky-rocketed the last half of 1987, in fact the Amiga line of computers now account for 40% of Commodore's total sales. I guess the world is quickly learning the value of the 68000 as we St owners have...hmmmmmmm Flintstones...meet the Flintstones...remember that lively theme song? Seems Fred and Barney are alive and well in the computer market! Apples high resolution monochrome monitor (code named Fred) will produce 256 shades of grey, and (Barney) is a new graphics card which will drive the 1,280 by 1,024 monitor with its own onboard 68020 micro. As I mentioned a week or two ago, Tymnet is going 9,600 baud, and has now announced its rates for such service. Peak service will go for 8.45 an hour, and the rest of the time it will be $6 an hour. Service is limited to the following cities for now: Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, and Miami, with Boston and New york added later this month. Keep those Atari's hummin! Mr. Goodprobe (on lend from) Midtown TV 27 Midway Plaza Tallmadge, Ohio 44278 216-663-0997 Atari 8/16 Repair/Sales BBS:(216)784-0574 300/1200 24 hours Midwest Zmag Headquarters Online program support for: Atari 8 bit/ST/Amiga Computers _______________________________________ Benchmark Results _______________________________________ TIME'S (NEARLY) UP! There is probably no topic so controversial among computer users as that of Benchmarks. My article 'In the nick of time' (October PCW) brought in around 100 letters approximately 80% were in favor and 20% against. The one major gripe, however, is that the Benchmarks were not specified in enough detail, so here is a tighter description of each Benchmark, with a few minor alterations. For 'intmath', 'realmath' and 'triglog' we've specified to what accuracy the calculation should be performed. Obviously a floating-point calculation to 16 decimal places would take longer than the same calculation should be executed as near to an accuracy of six decimal places as possible, and all integer calculation should be signed 16-bit. There is no intention of making the Benchmarks a test of accuracy. Each 'Write' instruction in 'textscrn' should be followed by a carriage return/line feed combination. To avoid any discrepancy with screens of different sizes, always use an 80-column by 25-line screen. When the screen is full it should scroll; if it doesn't do this by default, it should be made to do so. The only difficulty so far with 'grafscrn' is with machines that use a virtual coordinate system, typically 32000 x 32000 pixels. Machines of this kind of system can spend an excessive amount of time calculating a pixel that is never plotted. In this case write the Benchmark in such a way that only the real pixels are switched on. In all cases use the lowest resolution possible that will accomodate 100 x 100 pixels. No changes to the specification on 'store,' just a call for more information on what kind of disk drives and disk operating systems should be used. This is especially true of machines like the BBC where practically all disk drive are of third-party manufacture. I am now considering a set of extensions to the Benchmarks that will test features that are not present on every machine but will be important in the future. One of the most obvious of these is 'blitter' performance. I don't want more than four of these, making a total of 10 Benchmarks, so I shall be selective in what these are. Suggestions as to what these Benchmarks should cover would be gratefully accepted. English description of new Benchmarks intmath: declare three integer variables X, Y and I assign X equal to 0 and Y equal to 9 write 'Start' to screen repeat 1000 times using I as the loop variable: assign X equal to X + (Y = Y - Y) / Y write 'Finish' and X to screen realmath: declare two real variables X and Y declare an integer variable I assign X equal to 0 and Y equal to 9.9 write 'Start' to screen repeat 1000 times using I as the loop variable: assign X equal to X + (Y = Y - Y) / Y write 'Finish' and X to screen triglog: declare two real variables X and Y declare an integer varible I write 'Start' to screen assign X equal to 0 and Y equal to 9.9 repeat 1000 times using I as the loop variable: assign X equal to X + Sin(ArcTan(Cos(Log(Y)))) write 'Finish" and X to screen textscrn: declare an integer variable I write 'Start' to screen repeat 100 times using X as the loop variable: plot pixel at screen position (X,Y) write 'Finish to screen store: declare an integer variable I write 'Start' to screen create a disk file 'Test' repeat 1000 times using I as the loop variable: write the record ' 1234567890qwertyuiop' to `Test` close 'Test' delete 'Test' write 'Finish' to screen NOTES: intmath Use integer divide if possible, final X value should be 8000 realmath Use as near to six-digit precision floating point numbers as possible. Specify if precision is grossly over or under this. Final X value should be 998899.96 triglog Same comments as realmath regarding floating-point numbers. Ensure that all the calculations are in Radians and the logarithm calculation is a natural (baso o) calculation. Final X value should be 551.242 textscrn Use an 80-column x 25-line screen mode if possible. If not, then use as large a screen mode as possible and specify the number of rows and columns used. If the screen does not scroll by default, it should be made to do so. Use no special tricks in order to increase scrolling speed. grafscrn Use the lowest resolution screen that will accommodate a 100 x 100 pixel square. Plot the actual pixels of this screen rather than any virtual scren coordinates store State the disk drives and disk operating system used if this is not rd. standard. Use the default record handling. Do not pre-declare the record size or file size. Use the most obvious commands for file manipulation. Do not use direct calls to operating system commands. Various computers These times are from the magazine! Except for GFA Basic and Compiler which were done by MichTron. Machine Language Intmath RealMath Triglog texts grafs store ========================================================================= Apple IIE Pascal 9.81 10.67 110.9 41.87 35.38 76.83 Apple IIGS Basic 3.4 4.2 50.0 15.08 14.2 41.8 Apple Mac Pascal .043 4.6 6.4 51.5 15.0 10.4 Atari ST Megamax C .16 1.1 7.9 39.6 7.7 14.1 ST BASIC 1.5 3.5 7.9 44.8 92.7 56.0 TDI Mod 2 .045 .43 6.0 6.2 40.0 15.0 GFA BASIC .88 .74 4.43 43.8 11.8 29.2 GFA COMPLD .49 .37 3.87 43.4 7.66 28.75 Atari XE Basic 7.08 15.6 96.7 66.9 52.04 116.0 CMD AMIGA BASIC 1.7 2.7 6.7 150.3 25.0 32.7 IBM PC BASIC A 6.2 8.2 47.0 100.0 49.0 17.2 Pascal .18 4.0 56.2 76.4 5.0 4.9 IBM AT Basic A 1.01 1.89 4.18 25.4 -- .93 _______________________________________ March STX-Press Magazine _______________________________________ March 1988 Info Special Dungeon Master Issue Caution: You are entering a magazine 80 pages full of fun and excitement. Hold onto your hats because what's in the March 1988 issue of ST X-PRESS is truly astounding! Features: BETA TESTING DUNGEON MASTER A unique viewpoint of a Beta Tester's look at Dungeon Master while he was testing it. It's really a very very interesting article. DUNGEON MASTER FEATURE REVIEW A true fact by fact rundown of Dungeon Master. USER'S VIEWS OF DUNGEON MASTER One of our writer's experience of taking Dungeon Master to his local user group. You won't want to miss their actions and reactions. INTERVIEW: CREATORS OF DUNGEON MASTER The creme de la creme of Interviews. FTL gives a behind the scenes look at the creation of Dungeon Master and much much more. REVIEWS: You don't like to waste money right? Neither do we. That's we give you just the facts about a miriad of programs. This month we have: ABZoo (MichTron) Cardiac Arrest (Mad Scientist Software) Certificate Maker (Springboard) Chopper X (Master Tronix) Empire (Electronic Arts) Ninja Mission (Master Tronix) Nord and Bert (Infocom) Spectrum 512 (Antic) Tanglewood (MichTron) Test Drive (Accolade) Tracker (Firebird) Uridium (Mindscape) Video Vegas (Baudville) M.League Wreste (Micro League) Star Trek (Simon & Schuster) Partner Fonts #1 (Soft Logik) That's 18 reviews! MORE THAN ALL THE OTHER ST MAGS COMBINED IN 1 MONTH! But wait, that's not all! We also have innovative monthly columns.. COLUMNS: BEST OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN Take a trip through the world of the public domain and see what the best out there is! BY THE NUMBERS This month Don Smith gives an overview of Publishing Partner tips and tricks. And he should know his tips and tricks since he typesets material for a local printshop! PERSONAL PUBLISHING Take a trip through the world of desktop publishing with the Atari ST. STalking MIDI Stalk that elusive MIDI creature. This month continues coverage of the basics of MIDI; something that no ST user will want to miss. OFF THE WALL!?! Want to take a break from all this computer STUFF? Relax and enter the loony world of Off the Wall! DATA BASING Continuing cover of Zoomracks and many other data bases. If you're a Zoomracks user or if you're just interested in data bases, then this is a column not to be missed. FORTH FORUM Learn Forth the easy way... ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE There are many compilers out there for Artificial Intelligence: Little Small Talk, Clips, Prolog, and on and on. Our writer goes through all of them on a monthly basis; this is an experience that you just can't miss. PASCAL PRIMER Take an easy course in Pascal and you'll see that you're well on your way to computer literacy whether you're a beginner or an advanced user. ON THE DISK: AI.ARC - Source code for AI column. DM_SHOW.ARC - Amazing Dungeon Master Music and Graphics slide show. DM_MAPS.ARC - Maps for Dungeon Master DM_HELP.ARC - Hints, spell lists, and more. EMPIRE.ARC - Save file at almost end of game. FORMAT.TOS - Format disks to 400 or 800K (it's only 1K!) FORTH.ARC - Source code for Forth column. PASCAL.ARC - Source code for Pascal column. SLIDESHOW.ARC - Slideshow for DM_SHOW.ARC. TEMPUS.ARC - A working demo of Tempus. TREKHINT.ARC - Hints for Star Trek. YARD225M.PRG - Resetable ramdisk. ZMAGS.ARC - ST Reports #18, 19, and 20. OK, SOUNDS GREAT, GIVE ME THE SPECS... ST X-PRESS is the most innovative magazine, with great art direction, a nice glossy paper format, and excellent articles. Order the March '88 issue today for just $3.95 or $8.50 with disk. Please add $1.00 for first class shipping. Send orders to: ST X-PRESS P.O. Box 2383 La Habra, CA 90632 (213) 691-8000 _______________________________________ Migraph Product Announcements _______________________________________ March 2, 1988 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Liz Mitchell 206-838-4677 MIGRAPH ANNOUNCES NEW DRAWING ACCESSORY FOR EASY-DRAW Migraph Inc., a leading developer of GEM-based graphics software announces the release of Easy-Tools(TM) a new drawing accessory for Easy-Draw(R), a popular text and graphics package for the Atari ST. "Since Easy-Draw was published two years ago, we have released several upgrades and companion products. Easy-Tools is in direct response to users requests for more drawing enhancements" states Migraph President Kevin Mitchell. "This program allows them to create and manipulate objects in ways that would have been very difficult or impossible to do before." Installed as an accessory, Easy-Tools appears as a desktop icon in Easy- Draw. It offers powerful features which give the user more control and flexibility over his drawings. With Easy-Tools a person can: * Rotate an object by any degree * Rotate an object about any arbitrary point * Create/rotate multiple copies about any point at varying sizes and distances * Specify/inquire numeric data for the size and location of an object * Convert objects (squares, circles, etc.) to Polylines for further editing in Easy-Draw * Create polyline text labels that can be rotated by any degree * Make grids easily and precisely * Draw a smooth curve through polyline points. Easy-Tools has a wide array of applications for people who draw for work or pleasure: architects and draftsmen who draw elevations and floor plans; designers who create technical illustrations; landscape architects who work with plans; people who produce newsletters or flyers; and businessmen who create forms, or charts and graphs for presentations. Easy-Tools retails for $49.95 and will be available in April from Migraph and through regular retail channels. It runs on a 520 ST and requires version 2.26 and higher of Easy-Draw. People who have earlier versions of Easy-Draw may call Migraph at 206-838-4677 for upgrade information. ******* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Liz Mitchell 206-838-4677 MIGRAPH RELEASES NEW ATARI ST GDOS DRIVERS FOR THE HP DESKJET INKJET PRINTER Migraph Inc., a leading developer of GEM-based graphics software for the Atari ST has released 150 and 300 dpi GDOS printer drivers for the Hewlett-Packard Deskjet printer. The Deskjet can hook-up to an Atari 1040 ST or a 520 with 1 Mb of memory. "We've developed these drivers for people who want the quality of a laser by don't want to pay the price. The Deskjet produces full page laser- quality 300 dpi text and graphics printouts and costs under $1000" states Migraph President Kevin Mitchell. "We feel that the Deskjet is a great solution to the age old problem of getting high quality printouts for an affordable price." The Deskjet is a new technology inkjet printer that allows people to print sophisticated, high-quality letters, reports, illustrations and more, right at their desk. It is compact, lightweight, quiet, easy-to- operate, and uses either inexpensive copier paper, watermarked letterhead, or manually-fed envelopes. Migraph's drivers are usable by anyone who has Easy-Draw (R) or any other GDOS application. The drivers are bundled together and include the screen and 150 and 300 dpi printer fonts in the Swiss typeface. Owners of the Supercharged Easy-Draw may use the Dutch and Courier typefaces as well. The 150 driver, while somewhat coarser, allows the user to make a quick draft copy to check for errors before making a final copy at 300 dpi. Currently Migraph is selling the drivers bundled with the Deskjet. The driver pack is also available separately for $49.95. For more information, contact Migraph directly at 206-838-4677. _______________________________________ SPC Newswire _______________________________________ News on Atari, Apple Mac, IBM This week Apple Computer Inc. acquired Network Innovations Corp., the Cupertino, Calif., developer of the CL/1 connectivity language. Apple intends to promote CL/1, which is a high-level, SQL-based data access language used to develop desktop-to-host applications, as a new industry standard across all major computing environments. CL/1 is designed to operate with many of the protocols supported by Apple, including AppleTalk, DECnet, OSI, SNA 3270 and APPC/LU6.2. Apple Computer has also introduced a CD-ROM player as Microsoft Corp. kicks off its 3rd annual International CD-ROM Conference and Exposition. Along with Apple's announcement, 17 companies introduced products that will operate on the AppleCD SC player. Apple also said 17 publishers will produce titles for the CD-ROM player. The Apple CD-ROM player will be available in May and will cost $1,200, a price seen as too high for the home market. The product will work on networks, a plus for the education market. Apple Computer and Texas Instruments Inc. announced their cooperative venture, an enhanced Macintosh II for artificial-intelligence work to be called the microExplorer. The price of the system will range from about $15,000 to $30,000, compared with $50,000 to $70,000 for TI's existing Explorer, which is about twice as powerful. An AI package also will be available for people who already own the Mac II. Shipments are scheduled to begin in the April-June period. ATARI'S EARNINGS UP Atari Corp. says its fourth quarter earnings were up 57 percent to $18.7 million. That represents 32 cents a share on revenue of $277 million, compared with earnings of $11.9 million, or 22 cents per share, on revenue of $92.6 million in the same period of the previous year. The fourth quarter showed boosts the profits for all of 1987 up 76% to $44.1 million, or 76 cents per share, from $25 million, or 53 cents in 1986. At the same time, sales rose 91 percent, increasing to $493 million in 1987 compared with $258 million the previous year. Atari spokesman Greg Pratt told The Associated Press that contributing the healthier financial picture -- besides the buyout of Federated, which now accounts for 25 percent of Atari -- were strengthened computer sales in Europe and booming video game sales in the US. "Video games were obviously a hot category" in 1987, he said. "There were no teddy bears or laser guns to take those dollars away. People went back to more traditional stuff and bought video games." In July IBM will unveil the Extended Edition 1.0 of OS/2, which will feature a built-in database and a variety of terminal emulators for connecting the PS/2 to minicomputers and mainframes. Then in October, Extended Edition 1.1 will debut and will include a version of Microsoft Windows called the Presentation Manager, which, will be very much like a Macintosh with its use of pictures (or icons) to represent files. Major MS-DOS products are being brought out in Mac format. For instance, Microsoft Word is available for both machines and the files are compatible. Others include PageMaker, dBASE III Plus and its twin dBASE Mac. On the list of IBM programs that will soon debut for the Mac are WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. Atari's 4th quarter Earnings Report _Atari Corp_ _4th Quarter_ LATEST PERIOD YEAR EARLIER --------------------------------------- $276,956,000 $92,667,000 $18,702,000 (.32) a-$22,997,000 (.43) a-Includes an extraordinary credit of $11,047,000. _______________________________________ Confrence Transcripts with Sam Tramiel _______________________________________ (C) 1987 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information. <[Sam Tramiel & Neil Harris are listed under the >NHARRIS< address! My question really is two fold... I am assuming that the new factory will be designed to build ST/Mega computers. When this happens, do you see a major change in the marketplace for the ST/Mega in terms of advertising, prices, and availability? We plan a totally automated, surface mount factory. The problem is, the US government maybe helped a couple of semiconductor manufacturers, but really hurt computer makers. We can only get DRAM if we build in Japan. So why build a factory now if we can't get DRAM. We hope the situation will change ASAP. Once we have enough DRAM we can definitely push ahead strongly. We have to be at a low level here because of availability. First I would like to ask what are the plans for improving TOS for multi-user access if any, and what is the future of the ST in processorsas the 198?. Byte issue talked about the 68020's that havent materialized yet We are improving TOS and hopefully will be making a release in the latter half of '88. Multi-user is not in the plans for TOS, but we are working on UNIX-like systems for the ST. I would like your inputs if this is wanted. personally, I'd like to see it. We are working on a 68030 machine and plan to show it privately at Hannover Fair in mid-March with release sometime early 4th quarter. DARLAH, you can talk now. I just would like to know if you plan to support Atarifests this year? Yes, we do plan to support Atarifests. Plans are now being worked on and we should release a schedule before the end of March. DARLAH, you are listen-only. Ok, thanks. I saw an ad for Atari's 1040 during the Olympics. Are you going to begin a stronger campaign now? You must live in LA! Did you like the ad, and did you see the 520 ad with the paint flying off the canvas? We will expand this campaign once we have enough DRAM -- sorry Well, yes in Orange county. It was the ad with the 1040 ST vs. the Macintosh, already saw that. Didn't see the 520 ad. I was very pleased with the ad and do hope that Atari pushes it. The only reason the Atari is "unknown" with general computer users is the lack of advertising (I feel). It's like an Atari what? Atari ST? What's that, a computer? Ok, I was just looking at a trade magazine, IBM has announced that by 12 months from now they are gonna be selling a 286 based machine with a 40 meg hard disk and 2megs of RAm for $1,500...how is that gonna affect the Atari product line and pricing? I sincerely doubt that IBM stated that. I read the same forecast in another article. If IBM can do that 12 months from now, it means DRAM pricing and availability will change dramatically. If they can do it, we can do it better. I have 3 questions... 1) What is the status of the network for the PC's, STs? 2) Why can't a simple change be made to the Mega circuit board to put chip sockets in for the Mega 2 model, The status of the network for the ST is that the hardware is almost working and we are now starting the software side. We'll update you next week. and 3) Is it true that you are now not going to make the low end 8088-2 machines? 2) We like to sell the Mega 4 ourselves, and we are worrying about the quality of the parts used for 3rd party upgrades, i.e. speeds and power. 3) We are making small quantities for previous commitments in Europe, but I'd rather use DRAM for ST's. I am concerned about the depressed mood among users. We're trying to generate enthusiasm for a computer show at the U of IL, and people just won't believe Atari will support it. So they won't help. What will/can Atari do to reinstall user faith? I agree that we have not supported the US market enough, which is why I am talking to you now! I hope we will continue this change. As far as U. of Ill is concerned, please let us know your plans and we will try to support you in any possible way. Please contact Neil Harris. how many ST's were sold in US in '87?--in Europe?....also, are there any prospects of major software houses coming out with additional business titles for ST? Off the top of my head, I will give you a worldwide number. Approximately 300,000. And the lion's share was in Europe. Of the 3 major US houses, Microsoft is our best hope (if we all Message sent to buy Microsoft Write). In the meantime, we are supporting financially other programs which emulate successful business packages. I would like to talk about MEGA's in the bussiness community. Is ATARI serious about sales to commercial markets, and what is being done to produce real dealers with the ability to assist Yes! We are serious, and we are taking the appropriate steps internally with manpower to address this market properly. We will be releasing G.O. Graphics "Deskset" desktop publishing system in about one month from today -- a truly first class product. What is needed is market education! Ok...3 things: 1. I think there already is a very competant business software market for the, in reply to someone else. 2. What are Atari's plans for the Educational market that has proven so successful for Apple, IBM, and Digital? Students buy computers, and when they graduate and go to fortune 500 companies, make sure all buy what they had. I don't see many Apple II's or Commodore 64's in Fortune 500 3. What is happening in the Atari "Atmosphere"...it seems everybody is falling into a rut...and all excitement is being lost into thin air...that excitement is Atari's moving force. companies . But seriously, we are working with Computer Curriculum Corporation and have sold over 5000 1040's last year with them to the educational market, beating out IBM in a number of big bids. ? I have been trying to deal educational with UMass? What plan is this? We at Atari are all very excited and you will see new products from us in software and hardware this calendar year. Our frustration is the government intervention which is screwing up our production plans. (also, no more raising hands, after the next few people, Sam must get going) Rick, (Neil speaking) I will get you their phone number by Email. Thanks.. A couple questions: Is there going to be a standard for data interchange between applications? Something like the Amiga IFF format. Second, what is the current status of GDOS? (Neil answering the first part) There is already a program that can convert freely between the ST graphics formate -- NEO, DEGAS, and with Amiga IFF and Macpaint formats. All standards are well documented and in wide use. (back to Sam) I am confused by the second question. GDOS is already in the market on many applications. Ok..Given the popularity of hypercard among apple users, are there any plans for a hypercard clone from atari, and second, any plans to find someone to help out with the online presence of neil's since he'll be busy in marketing? --thanks As you know, there is a program called Zoomracks which hypercard got their ideas from. We are planning to fund the development of a stack-type program and are now deciding amongst different proposals. (Do you have a proposal, David?) As far as Neil is concerned, he enjoys what he is doing, I wouldn't want to make him unhappy. (hehe) Thanks. I have a three part question. 1. What are the plans for upgrades for 1040 owners for new TOS ROMS, and Blitters. 2. How is Neil doing in his market expansion efforts on the east coast? We still plan to sell an upgrade kit of BLiTTER and TOS ROMs. 3. Why can't you find a U.S. company to make decent megabit DRAMs?? The problem has been major screwups at a fab house. Our second source supplier just sampled us today, and if everything is OK, I hope to offer upgrades this summer. 2. and 3. can be answered together: we can't expand too fast again, because of DRAMs. If you can find the US company (besides TI and Micron -- who cannot come close to meeting demand) let me know. Last question: Thank you Sam, Neil. I just wanted to mention that I've seen word that TOS ROM upgrade is coming down the pike, and wanted to congratulate Atari for being very receptive recently to requests/ suggestions made by developers and others. This seems to be a step in the right direction. I was wondering, though, about the possible availability of alternative OS's such as Idris or other multi-tasking UNIX-type OS's. They are available, and only need a weectasking unix-type os's. They're available and only need a wee push from atari to make them more popular, this could position Atari better as a "business" oriented machine I cannot give you definitive response today, but we are looking at pushing a UNIX-like system. We will decide in the next few weeks. Room is now in the talk mode. Thanks for joining us tonight, Sam! Your time is appreciated. _______________________________________ MAC Report _______________________________________ FEBRUARY 28,1988 MAGIC SAC COMPATIBILITY LIST The following commercial products have been tested with version 5.9 of the Magic Sac, using Finder 5.4/System 3.2/Hard Disk 20 1.1 and Epstart 2.5 on a 1MEG ST configured as a 832K MAC. Unless otherwise noted, all applications that work, do so with the above setup. Application Version Comments -------------------------------------------------------------- Acta 1.0 Works Acta 2.0 Works Acta 2.1 Works Adobe Illustrator 1.0 Wants 128K ROMs Airborne -- Crashes Ancient Art of War -- No, protected Back to Basics Accounting -- Locks Up Battery Pack -- Works Calculator Construction Set 1.0 Works Chessmaster 2000 1.0 Works (Unprotected) ColorPrint 2.03 Works ComicWorks 1.0 Works CricketGraph 1.1 Works, but Crashes with serial pen plotter CricketDraw 1.0 Wants 128K ROMs Dark Castle -- Locks Up DBASE Mac 1.0 Locks Up Deja Vu 1.03 Works Design Scope 1.0 Works Dimension 1.15 Works Dinner at Eight -- Works Disk Express 1.06 Works only on Floppies DiskTop 1.2 Works DiskTop 3.0 Crashes DiskTop 3.01 Crashes DMAC III 1.07 Works Dollars and Sense 1.4 Works (Unprotected) Double Helix 1.25 Locks Up Easy 3D 1.0 Locks Up Electric Checkbook -- No, protected Excel 1.0 Works (Unprotected) Excel 1.03 Works Excel 1.04 Works Factfinder 1.0 Works (Unprotected) Ferrarri Grand Prix -- No, protected 4th Dimension 1.01 Works Filemaker Plus 2.00 Works Filemaker Plus 2.1 Works 1ST Base 2.0 Works Flight Simulator -- No, protected Fokker Triplane -- No, protected Fontastic 2.6 Works Fontographer 1.5 Works Font/DA Juggler 2.0 Does Nothing Full Paint 1.0 Works Graphic Works 1.0 Works General Ledger 1.1 Works Gato 1.3 No, protected Gato 1.42 No, protected Habadex 1.1 Works Habaword 1.8a Works Hard Ball -- No, protected Harrier Strike Mission -- No, Protected Hitchhikers Guide -- No, protected Home Accountant 1.03 Works Hypercard 1.0 System Error ID=12 HyperDA 1.0 Crashes HyperDA 1.01 Crashes Jazz 1.0 No, protected Leather Goddesses of Phobos -- Works Letter Invaders -- Works, only the version that comes with Typing Tutor IV. Lightspeed Pascal 1.0 Locks Up Lode Runner 1.0 No, protected LogicWorks 1.3 Works Mac 3D 1.1R1 Works Mac 3D 2.0 Unstable when printing w/Epstart Mac 3D 2.1 Same as Above Mac 68000 Development System -- Works Mac-A-Mug 2.0 Works MacBlob -- Works McCad PCB Designer 3.1 Works MacAuthor 1.2 Does not print in draft or HQ. Prints in text quality and then crashes. MacCalc 1.2 Works MacCalligraphy 2.0 Works MacChallenger 1.0 Works MacCheckers/Reversi -- Works MacCoach 1.0 Works MacDasher 1.52 Crashes MacDraft 1.1 Works MacDraft 1.2a Unstable printing, random crashes MacDraw 1.9 Works MacDraw 1.9.5 Works MacGolf -- No, protected MacinTax '87 Works MacInUse 1.0 Works MacJack 1.0 Works Mac Labeler 2.2 Locks up MacLightning 2.0 Works MacLion 3.0 Locks up MacMoney 2.03 Works MacOffice -- Works (Unprotected) MacNosy 2.0 Works MacPaint 1.5 Works MacPerspective 3.01 Works MacPlaymate -- Works MacPlot 1.5 Works MacProject 1.0 Works MacProject 1.2 Works MacProof 2.05 Works MacPublisher -- Works MacSpec 1.3 Works MacSlots -- Works MacSpell+ -- Works MacSpin 1.0 Works Mac the Knife Volumes 1 & 2 -- Works MacTerminal 2.2 Crashes MacTools 6.3 Works except Disk Copy and Format MacTools 5.4 Works - see above Mac Vegas 1.0 Wants 128K ROMs Mac Wars -- No, protected MacWrite 2.2 Works except for crash on printng 2 consecutive copies of same file MacWrite 4.5 Crashes with different types MacWrite 4.6 Works MacZap 4.5 Works except for Disk copy/Format MacZap 5.0 Same as Above MacZap 5.1 Same as Above Make Millions -- No, protected MapMaker 1.0 Works Mastertype III -- Works Mastertype IV -- Works Math Blaster 1.0 No, protected MaxRAM 2.5 Crashes Mazewars+ 1.1 Works McMax -- Works Maga-Filer -- Works Mega-Merge 2.1 Works Microphone 1.1 Crashes Millionaire -- No, Protected MindWheel -- Works MindWrite 1.0 Works Minicad 2.0 Locks Up More 1.1 Works More 1.1c Works Mouse Stampede 1.0.0 Works (Unprotected) MS Basic 1.0 Works MS Basic 2.0 Works MS Chart 1.0 Works (Unprotected) MS File 1.0 Works (Unprotected) MS Fortran 1.2 Crashes MS Word 1.05 Works (Unprotected) MS Word 3.0 Works, needs printer resource renamed to Imagewriter MS Word 3.01 Same as Above MS Works 1.0 Works except for the Terminal function which crashes. MS Works 1.1 Same as Above MS Write 1.0 Works Multiplan 1.02 Works except it Crashes on QUIT.(Unprotected) NFL Challenge 1.2 Works - Remove Macintalk from startup disk before launching ODS/Consultant 1.6 Works OMNIS 3+ 3.24 Works One On One -- No, protected Orbitor -- Works OverVUE 2.0a Works, but does not use Epstart to print. Native fonts from printer is the only printout. OverVUE 2.1d Works, but does not print. Pagemaker 2.0 Works Pagemaker 2.0a Works - This version uses Print Adjustment. Patton VS. Rommel -- No, protected Phoenix3D LVL1.0 Works Pensate 1.1 Works Perplexx 1.0 Works Pinball Construction Set 2.5 No, protected Picture Base 1.0 Works Plot It 2.0 Crashes Power Math 1.0 No, protected PowerPoint 1.0 Works Print Shop 1.0 Works (Unprotected) Printworks 2.2 Crashes randomly. Professional Composer 2.0 Works, no sound but prints good. Profit Stalker II 1.2 Works ProPrint -- Works PSF File/Report A.03 Works (Unprotected) Psion Chess -- Works (unprotected) Pyro 1.0 Works Quark Express 2.44B Wants 128K ROMs Quick & Dirty Utilities 1.6 Works Ready Set Go 2.1 Works Ready Set Go 3.0 Works Ready Set Go 4.0 Works, But crashes if a saved document is restyled. Record Holder Plus -- Works Reflex 1.01 Works Reflex Plus -- Works Sargon III 1.0 Works (Unprotected) Shanghai -- No, protected Shadowgate 1.0B1 Works Sidekick 1.10b Works Sidekick 2.0 Works Silicon Press 1.1 Works Smash Hit Rachetball -- No, protected Sorceror -- Works with Finder 1.1g Spellbreaker -- Works with Finder 1.1g Spellwell 1.2d Works Spellwell 1.3a Works Squire -- Works with Finder 1.1g Statview 512+ 1.0 Works Statworks 1.1 Works Stella 1.3 Works Stepping Out 1.0 Works Strategic Conquest 1.1 No, protected Sub Battle -- Works, remove Macintalk from System Folder Suitecase 1.0 Disables Some DA's Suitecase 1.2 Same As Above Super Paint 1.0 Works Super Paint 1.0p Works Surgeon 1.5 Crashes Tempo 1.2 Works The Whitness -- Works with Finder 1.1g Terrapin Logo -- Works Thinkfast 1.0 Works ThinkTank 512 1.30 Works Thunder 1.01 Works TK Solver 1.5R Works TOPS 1.0 Crashes Trapeze -- Mac System Error ID=25 Transylvania -- Works Turbocharger 2.0D Works Turbo Pascal 1.00A Works Tycoon 1.0 Works Typing Tutor III 1.5 Works Typing Tutor IV 1.0 Works Ultima III 1.0 No, protected Uninvited -- Works Versaterm Pro 1.0 Works VideoWorks 1.00 Works, but unstable on certain spots on the screen. View to a Kill 1.0 No, protected Wet Paint -- Works World Class Fonts -- Works WriteNow 1.0 Works Xyphus -- No, protected Zork I -- Works with Finder 1.1g Zork II -- Same as Above Zork III -- Same As Above _______________________________________ ST-Report Issue #25 March 7, 1988 (c)1988 SPC/Ron Kovacs ---------------------------------------