ST REPORT WEEKLY ONLINE MAGAZINE Monday, AUG. 8, 1988 Vol II No. 47 =========== APEInc., P.O. BOX 74, Middlesex, N.J. 08846-0074 PUBLISHER MANAGING EDITOR Ron Kovacs R.F.Mariano ======================================================= ST REPORT EDITOR: Thomas Rex Reade PO Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida. 32236 Headquarters Bulletin Boards ST Report North ST Report South 201-343-1426 904-786-4176 ------------------------------------ ST Report Central ST Report West 216-784-0574 916-962-2566 CONTENTS ======== > From the Editor's Desk..............> ST REPORT ART CONTEST RULES....... > Open letter to Atari................> SLM 804 REVEALED.................. > Is this the SAME Atari?.............> The Alarm Rings On................ > NOSTALGIA - Remember When?..........> Gem Windows....................... * ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL * ========================================================================= EXCLUSIVELY ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ GENIE ~ DELPHI ========================================================================= From the Editor's Desk: A very interesting experiment is to have a group of forty or so people read a paragraph and then to write out exactly what they read. Not verbatim, but from memory. Most of us are amazed at the different interpretations of a simple paragraph by different folks. ie: Who had their opinion influenced by the day's events, level of health, state of mind etc....yes, I am leading up to something...and here it is. Recently, we saw a letter from Sam Tramiel which was available in this publication as well as almost everywhere else in the Atari world. I found that after having read and reread it I felt like I was being patted on the head and being told, "now be a good little boys and run along". I feel this needs to be said about "THE OPEN LETTER". In this "open letter", Sam mentioned that he was distressed over all the negative comments and articles...Sam, YOU should have been distressed over the CAUSES of all the comments and articles. Whether "Negative or Positive", THAT is your perception of what you read, we saw all the articles and comments as STRONG CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM that apparently, Atari needs. We see you ask us to be "EVANGELISTS", we have been just that for almost three years while Atari was busy romancing Europe and leading us down "primrose lane" here in the good ole' USA. We will continue to promote the ST/MEGA not because you ask at this late date, but because the ST/MEGA computers are indeed quality computers. However, since you are in an asking mood, We ASK ATARI TO: (a) DISTRIBUTE AND ADVERTISE THE ST/MEGA COMPUTERS IN THE USA... (b) REBUILD THE DEVELOPER - ATARI RELATIONSHIP It is at it's lowest! (c) MAKE SURE NO USER MUST TRAVEL MORE THAN 50 MILES TO VISIT A DEALER FACE TO FACE. (d) DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO... (e) STOP TREATING THE US USERBASE LIKE WEDNESDAY'S CHILD... We see various incidents occur constantly that crank up the "ire" of both the Dealers and the users ie, 520STFM shipped with D/S drives to Federated and regulars get the machines with S/S drives...that is a low blow to both the dealers and the customers. We have been waiting close to a month for a reasonable explanation for this incident. My guess is we will never hear the straight story. While waiting, we have received reports that stores on the east coast now have 520stfm computers with D/S drives in them. Where does that leave the customer who just purchased a 520stfm in the last ninety days? STUCK? I don't want to believe that, but your silence on the issue is highly suspicious. You can be sure that by ignoring this and other little problems they will not go away. Problems are solved... Not ignored. You will find an open letter of suggestions in this issue from a very concerned and concientious user. We felt sufficiently moved by this letter to publish it for all our readers to see. Sam, we are not convinced yet that Atari is going to be responsive to the needs and future of the marketplace. What we want to know is will you take the time to answer the "crys" from the depths of the userbase ...from those who honestly care? Oh, and as an after thought: "It is not what you say....but how you say it". (Right Neil? [grin]) Rex......... I INCLUDE "THE OPEN LETTER" TO ELIMINATE ALL POSSIBLE MISQUOTES: TO ATARI USER GROUPS AND ALL ATARI ENTHUSIASTS: I was disappointed to read the negative letters and articles regarding comments made by Neil Harris at the West Coast Computer Faire. We at Atari feel that our computers are the clear technological leaders in their classes. The XE/XL line is superior to the Commodore 64, and the ST series beats any '286 or 8088 MSDOS machine; it also beats the touted Macintosh (68000) machines, and even surpasses the Amiga in all areas except for internal sound. The educational, productivity, and entertainment software available for the Atari machines makes for an excellent combination which yields many uses. My family knows, as we use an 800XL, an XE Game Machine, and a 1040STf. Neil was only saying that the future will bring EVEN MORE POWERFUL computers which will be easier to use, and I am sure he is right. This statement is not meant to belittle today's models or users. While I am communicating with you, let me clear up a few things and also ask for your help. The DRAM shortage is still with us and it is inhibiting our distribution in the U.S. We hope this will get better in the 4th quarter of '88. In the meantime, we will CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ATARI COMPUTER presence in the U.S. We will advertise this fall to keep our presence in the U.S. I ask all of you two things: first, please do not pirate software. Talk your friends out of it also. The software community is suffering and complaining, please police pirating so Atari software companies can thrive. The other favor I ask of you is to be the evangelists of the Atari world. Tell your friends, associates, teachers, etc., how great the XE/XL and ST are. LET'S WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE THE ATARI MACHINES A STANDARD IN THE U.S. --- Sam Tramiel, President, Atari Corporation Got any comments?...send them to Rex at ST Report South or on Delphi, GEnie, or Compuserve.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE JUDGES LIST =============== Service Name ------- ------------ CIS Ron Luks CIS Dan Rhea CIS Mike Schoenbach GEnie Darlah Hudson GEnie Fred Beckman GEnie Sandy Wilson -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ST-Report Official Contest Rules ================================ No purchase necessary. Deadline for consideration in this contest is midnight August 31, 1988. Winners will be announced in ST-Report on September 12, 1988. We guarantee to award all prizes. The prize list will be announced during the contest. All readers are eligible to enter except employees of APEInc. Publishing, CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi and their immediate families. This contest void where prohibited or restricted by law. We are not responsible for lost, mis-marked, or delayed art/work. All submissions must be drawn with any Atari ST drawing program. All submissions must be drawn by the original artist. Copyrighted art work will not be accepted. All submissions become the property of APEInc. All submissions must be uploaded to specified BBS systems by the deadline date. All systems have time and date stamping capability. Any entry dated after 8/31/88 will be void from the contest. Art Work Requirements --------------------- All art work considered for this contest must be drawn with any Atari ST drawing program. Any person submitting art work must leave an address, telephone number, and drawing program used. Artwork must contain the following: ST-REPORT The winning entry will be used at a later date for a newsletter or magazine cover. Where to Send ------------- All art work may be uploaded to the following systems. Syndicate BBS (201) 968-8148 Bounty ST BBS (904) 786-4176 Entries by mail are also permitted. Be sure to use a 3.5 floppy S/S! You may send to: ST-Report Logo Contest Post Office Box 74 Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074 (Please include your name, address and telephone number) Updates ------- This contest will update uploading areas every two weeks. Contest rules will not be changed, but judges may be added during the run of the contest. Current judge listing will be published next week. This contest commences May 2, 1988 and will end Midnight August 31, 1988. If you have any questions, Please leave email on the services at the following addresses: CompuServe: 71777,2140 GEnie : ST-REPORT : R.KOVACS DELPHI : RONKOVACS The Source: BDG793 Rules and Regulations: 1). Use any full color program written exclusively for the ST to draw your own personal design of an ST-Report logo. 2). Art work ported over from any other computer is void. 3). No X-rated art work will be accepted. 4). Winners will be announced by mail, email, phone call or equivalent on or before September 12, 1988. 5). Judges decisions are final. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AN OPEN LETTER TO ATARI CORP ============================ Here's a proposal for Atari. It seems to me (from what I've heard at the superworkstation company I'm working for this summer and experienced during three years at Stanford University) that there are a few things Atari needs to do now to avoid _losing_ market share as well as to gain more. This starts out sounding negative, but ends up positive so bear with me. Any replies are welcomed. Dear Atari: 1. Even people who _know_ about the Atari ST computers see them as stagnant, especially as far as graphics are concerned. Someone who works with me (and is very familiar with Macintosh II computers) was shocked to hear that we only had 512 colors available. His response was "Do you mean at one time?" Then when he heard sixteen at one time, his interest ended. It shouldn't be too difficult to modify SHIFTER and the MMU to provide, say, 256 colors in low rez, and sixteen in medium from a palette of 4096 or more. While you're at it, how about making the MMU support 8 or 16 meg? For the graphics, all you have to do is read more information at a time. You could still support the same monitors. Or how about gray scaling on the graphics, even using the same resolutions as the current ST monitors, you'd sell twice as many computers and regain the interest of the academic world. 2. The same people see the ST as a dead end. It's not even possible to upgrade the memory without soldering or buying "special trick" boards which plug into all sorts of different sockets. How about using SIMM's like everyone else, Atari? You could make ST's easy to expand (what a concept!). I find it hard to believe that even your "high end" Mega computers can't be expanded. (And many others too.) 3. Three cheers for the GDOS installation program! That's the right way to go. For one thing, GDOS is a very advanced system as graphics go. biggest problem has been that people can't figure out how to use it. Your installation program makes that easy! I couldn't believe what a simple matter it was to change from high resoultion to medium resoultion fonts on my boot disk. One thing I really think you do need is outline fonts, though. People familiar with Macintosh expect to have a good number of fonts available. This is easy when your printer fonts are the same as your screen fonts, (as in the Macintosh computer), but to be device independent has its price in memory. If you can implement scalable outline fonts _in_ _addition_ _to_ raster fonts (like current GDOS fonts), people with little memory will be able to use a variety of fonts, and those with more memory will still be able to enjoy the speed of raster fonts. All this without rewriting anything but the device drivers and GDOS! 4. Few people know that Atari makes computers, and many of those who do don't think very much of them. I suggest that you make up a large number of bumper or window stickers that have a brightly colored Fugi on them with the words "Atari Personal Computers" or something to that effect. You might want a picture of an ST and a MEGA. I see people all over with Apple stickers on their cars, and I think that if you distributed these, free of charge, to user groups and people who wrote requesting them (even on GEnie) you would get widespread, "advertising without the price." Be sure to put the word computer on them! 5. Finally, a good educational discount is essential! When students get a computer, that's often what their parents end up with, and that's the computer they'll lean towards when _they_ are making the purchasing decisions for their company when they graduate. To get this going, you will need to compete with Apple. Atari will probably need to donate a few computers and a laser printer or at least offer them a deal they can't refuse. Stanford students buy Macintoshes not only because they can find them (at a very good price) at the Stanford bookstore, but also because they can go to the library and print their papers on an Imagewriter there (or, for a price, on an Apple LaserWriter). Please keep in mind that these opinions have been formulated over my very nearly three years as an ST owner. I believe in my computer's potential, and in that of Atari, but other people still need convincing. Don't rest on your laurels, Atari! The Amiga already has more flexible graphics, and the 2000 model's memory, CPU, and graphics are upgradeable! Steve Whitney S.WHITNEY Editor Note: We felt this letter made some very strong and valid points for the Atari Genius Designers to ponder..thanks Steve, maybe ..just maybe they may listen or perhaps a third party developer will release an expansion cabinet that will allow us to use expansion cards etc... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ATARI SLM804 REVEALED ===================== by T."Rex" Reade Not trying to be negative toward Atari all the time is rather difficult when we find information arriving in "Brown manilla envelopes" with a letter explaining why it was sent to us and a few other publications. Below is a list presented for your examination, please look it over carefully and if you have any questions or solutions please send them in and we will be happy to foward them to the proper parties. [A] Loading any desk accessory or tsr that picks up trap #13 vector will cause the Diablo Emulator to be lost. It must then be reloaded (along with its fonts). This can be duplicated with ST Informer's RAM disk / spooler, DeskCart! Spooler, Turbo ST, and WP_spool, it looks like every spooler would have the same problem. [B] The SLM804 laser uses microspacing to set proportional spacing character widths and space. In microspacing the printer controls the width of the character and its position. The only thing the software needs to know is how far the print head actually moves. This is the preferred method because it is faster, cleaner and less likely to have unevenly or incorrectly positioned characters. The problem that arises is in the fact that a Diablo is an HMI controlled printer where the width of each character is set before the character is sent and has no provisions for controlling the printer on its level. Therefore, it is difficult to get properly spaced text. [C] The SLM804 prints in 1/300 inch increments but, the Diablo uses 1/120 inch increments. This causes frequent round off errors. In cases like WordPerfect and other high quality programs, where the program is capable of printing in 1/300 inch, you must measure characters to 1/300 inch, convert them to 1/120 for the Diablo, (which causes round off errors), send them to the Diablo, which takes the 1/120 inch character width, converts it to 1/300 inch (which causes round off errors) then prints. On a multi column document with few characters per column this can look completely unacceptable. WHY? [D] The buffer in the SLM804 DRIVER is only 38K bytes.!! This was done to make it fit on a 520 ST. A laser printer however needs more RAM because it must image an entire page at a time. Most Laser printers have 512K RAM minimum and occasionally, that is insufficient. Although you can access the additional RAM of the 1040 or Mega by sending a pointer to a graphic image in RAM, (completely non standard), this is not the method used by most applications that were written to use the 500 or so other printers in already in existence. AGAIN, WHY? [E] If more than 38K is sent to the Diablo emulator before a form feed is encountered the incoming data will begin to CORRUPT the Diablo emulator code. If it doesn't get confused and quit taking characters it will eventually bomb...... In any case, you are WIPED out!. [F] HP, Quadram, Cannon, Texas Instruments, Apple Laserwriter and many other laser printers will print the page as it is imaged,(progressively), as their buffers fill rather than overwrite there own control code. The lack of error checking in the diablo emulator makes it easy to send enough data to trash the emulator itself and ultimately cause a system crash...... GOOD THINKING! [G] There is no provision to move the print head by x/300 inch in microspaced units (the actual amount used by the printer). Being able to move in these small increments with out actually printing would enable very fine micro-justification. Instead, it is necessary to set the HMI value to 1/120 inch, send a space, then reset the width to that of the next character, then send the character. Unfortunately this can make up to 65K per printed page and would then overflow the SLM804 buffer which would definitely crash the computer thus rendering the entire effort as useless. .....AH YES, PROGRESS! JUST FOR YOU.....GREGG. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IS THIS THE SAME ATARI? ======================= Here we present a conference that took place in Canada on July 10, 1988. After you read this folks, see if, in your heart, you can honestly say Atari has and is treating the United States userbase fairly. Edited transcript of a conference held on CBCHAT July 10, 1988 with Julius Oklamcak of Atari Canada. This transcript may be freely distributed provided that it is not altered in any way. CBCHAT is available on iNET in Canada and iNET America in the US. For further information contact Paul Lantz on Compuserve (76515,1201). Welcome to the CBCHAT Atari16's Sunday night conference. Tonight we have a guest, Julius Oklamcak of Atari Canada. Julius will tell us some of the current developments at Atari and then will take questions. Glad to see you got here Julius 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Well...first off my official title is Technical Support. This entails many things of technical nature in respect to Atari hardware and software. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: What's new: In the last few weeks we have had the arrival of the PCF-554 5 1/4" disk drive. Originally meant for the PC1, it works (with a step rate slow down utility) on ST's and MEGA's. MSLP is $299.95 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Just recently arrived is the SFP-004 (errr...Motorola 68881 math co-processor board for MEGA's). This card will speed up floating point math anywhere from 3 to over 20 times (function dependant). 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: In about two weeks we will be selling the develo per documentation seperately. There will also be a support package available seperately that will make you a registered developer and you will receive newsletters, etc. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: R&D input: A new system of feedback from Atari subs has been put into place with the beta testing of the new TOS. Right now, we (and YOU!) have a heck of a lot of input capability as to what we want to see done to TOS. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: CD-ROM: We have developer units in the warehouse *right now* (including developer documentation)*. I really don't know when the players themselves are going to arrive. Right now Atari is in the process of having software developed or ported for the playe 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Another interesting development is in the form of third-party add on cards for the MEGA's. Right now there are three high-rez (1280x960) boards in the prottype stage. It is really nice seeing Timeworks DTP or PPP on a 19" monitor! 04 [C18] bmackay: Anything new in the way of upgrades for us old foggies with 520's and 1040's? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: bmackay: The only upgrade I am aware of for 520's and 1040's is the infamous blitter chip . Right now it *looks* like a fall release with the newest TOS. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: We are also starting to see some very heavy duty software (i.e software that will compete with the brand name titles in the PC world like AutoCAD and Ventura), Canadian developed DynaCADD (2D and true 3D CADD) and Calamus has turned...heads at shows like CAD/CAM & Robotics and Comgraph. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: We are also starting to market the MEGA as a solutions system (CADD and DTP) through VARs and specialty retailers. On the home front you will see a fair amount of advertising and promotion to get the 520 and 1040 in folks homes. 04 [C18] bmackay: What kind of RAM requirements for some of the heavy hitting software packages? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: bmackay: DynaCADD and Calamus prefer two megs. Howev er, Calamus has planned a smaller version for 1 meg machine owners. Of course, Publishing Partner Professional will work on a 512k machine...so the choice is there. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Okay, have you seen any of these Turbo boards that are being put out by these third party people and how compatible are they with TOS? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: James: No, I haven't. I have only heard third hand reports. Bruce... 04 [C18] bmackay: I've seen messages about Beta testing of new TOS chips. What kind of availability and price are they going to come in at? I've given up on the blitter, but is that part of the ROM release you mentioned for fall? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bruce, since the TOS is still under Beta Test, it is difficult to say when they will arrive (something may come up). Price wise I would say the same as the current ROMs are (under $100) 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Yes. The TOS under test is part of the fall release. In Canada we are also doing a French-Canadian TOS with all the menus and dialogs in French for the Quebec and Gov't markets. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Julius, are there any plans for a version of Gdos, that will allow the 520 and the 1040 to output to the laser printer.. who wants to go after Ian? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: James, no can do. To build a 8.5x11 page requires 990,000 bytes of RAM. GDOS 'writes' the image into this buffer then prints it. The whole page needs to be sent to the printer in real time, i.e., you can't pause, build, send, pause, build, send, etc. 11 [C18] ianmac: Julius: I seem to sense more 2 Meg than 4 meg machines, though I am very satisfied with 4. What have been relative sales and what is the strategy? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: MEGA's have been selling rather well in the last few months. The folks in Sales are very happy with things. Because of the promotions, the MEGA 2 has been what we have focused on recently... 03 [C18] Bob G.: Julius> What is Atari planning to improve on it's retailers support...it has been noted as very sparse at best so far? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Sales has come up with "The MEGA Solution" - things like "Birth of a New Breed" for CADD. The whole thing is built on a machine that is powerful, yet costs usually half the price of the competion. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: We are opening up more service centres where technicians come in here (or someone from Atari goes out) for training. To help retailers with advertising we have set up a system where ads are created by professionals for them. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: We have reps in all major areas of the country so the dealer has someone to talk to right there, and then the rep gets back to us...just as a side note, I'd like to hear from dealers on the technical side more often! :-) 00 [C18] Vance: Have you heard of any new virus's that we should worry about? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Nope, haven't heard of any new viri (?sp :-) 13 [C18] bb: one comment, I was just in Vancouver and visited two Atari retailers, they had all the hardware on display but the software selection was almost nil...I was surprised. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: bb: Maybe someone should show the dealers the latest software list. It almost approaches 2000 titles world wide. We usually suggest to the dealer that he get the top packages in (like Timeworks, Publishing Partner, etc.) 08 [C18] James [GOD]: With a Forth Quarter release of the Abaq, and a hopeful Jan release for the 68030 Unix machine, is Atari's development team not wearing itself a little thin? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: James: "No comment" 13 [C18] bb: We have a 520 and a 1040 at work. They will not run a printer without a buffer attached, any reason for that? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: bb: Some printers have ridiculously (?sp) low pull up resistors. The ST uses the parallel port on the sound chip to drive the printer. With some printers there just isn't enough umph to drive it. Usually with daisy wheels and some lasers I have seen this 04 [C18] bmackay: In the hard drive department, are there 40, 60, 80, etc... drives soon (already?) available? I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my SH204. Other than voiding my already expired warranty are there any hardware problems with dropping a larger hd inside t 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bruce: Sometime in the fall you should see larger and faster hard drives. Many people have replaced the 20 meg inside the 204 with a 40, 60, or even 80 meg unit and no problems have resulted. I am toying with the idea of popping a fast 40 meg SCSI drive 11 [C18] ianmac: I have "imposed" ST on students who are nervous about availa bility of math support in Pascal or Fortran... 11 [C18] ianmac: By this I mean Fourier transform, bessel functions, curve fitting, etc. Any suggestions? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: If you can get the sources for FFT, Bessel, etc, you should be able to compile them on the ST with few problems. The ST is strong in languages in terms of variety and capabilities. I would start to find the sources for the various math that I need (or even make it an 'exercise for the student' ) 13 [C18] bb: Is it true that there will _not_ be any upgrading of Micrsoft Write? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: bb: Can't say. Microsoft Write was contracted from Microsoft, who in turn delivered what 'we ordered' :-) If, (note: *if*) Atari wanted upgrades or new versions, they would no doubt have to be contracted for with Microsoft. It all depends on the demand 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Julius, I have been reading about Dbase II, etc available in Europe, have you heard of any plans for it to be released it to be releas ed here.. Also games like Rolling Thunder Available there.. will they work on these Machines or is there a ROM conflict. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: I haven't heard of dBASE II in Europe(!). All properly written software should work on all machines (wherever they are). Some software makes assumptions (I saw a game that put the video hardware into PAL mode) and does not work, properly or at all. 04 [C18] bmackay: Any speculation as to why the cartridge port on the ST has been so under-utilized? There's been a few clock cartridges, desk cart, magic sac and that's about it so far. BobG is next 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: I think that it is partly because of price, and that you can have only one installed at a time. It would have also been nice if it had been Read/Write instead of Read only . 04 [C18] bmackay: There's a hack around somewhere I believe from a U of Toronto student for a read/write cartridge interface. Any interest from Atari in producing something like this? What about an official Atari clock for the 520/1040? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Yes, it is possible to 'fake' writes on the cart port. But extra logic and programming is required (drives the price up). I don't think that there will be a clock for 520/1040's from Atari. Third party has already done a good job! :-) 03 [C18] Bob G.: Julius> There has been a definite crop of defective drives with batches of 1040 and Mega STs..is there going to be a technical bulletin released to dealers on this ie. recall... 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bob, our Service department is handling that (very well I must say) by replacing drives which are found to be defective. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Do you think that Atari will be putting out some end user documentation on GDOS like how to change the assign.sys file.. etc.. you don't know how many systems I have had to reconfigure because someone wanted to add a font, and killed something? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: I'm hoping that we will see a better GDOS install program, in the meanwhile I will be writing some GDOS docs for folks (after the dev docs are done! :-) 13 [C18] bb: I was wondering why Atari has not supported (or developed a) the 8 bit emulator? (I have $1500.00 of software on the shelf and room to run the ST only). 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Because we still want to sell 8 bit machines? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Seriously, to properly and *FULLY* emulate the 8 bit at a useable speed would require hardware add-ons for the ST. In such a way that it wouldn't add to the ST easily (cut trace, solder, cut trace, solder, etc.) and the price would... be higher than a 65XE or XEGS. 04 [C18] bmackay: There's a 68000 based game machine coming out. I know marketing is not your dept, but are they going to make darned sure it isn't associated with the ST/Mega's? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bruce: re: your question. I dunno and can't rightly say. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: I just want to say that I think it is great to have the support of folks like you! The time and effort to run a service like this is not small. You help out fellow Atari owners by providing a place they can get answers to questions... 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: public domain software, and someone else who owns the same machine. A big Thank you from us at Atari! Paul: what do you do with that demo ABAQ on your desk? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Play with Helios, watch the ray-traced demo, and wait for the developers kit to arrive. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Just throw money at my feet. It is going to be a hot machine. The workstation makers better watch out. Fully loaded with transputers it specs at 170 MIPS and 25 MFLOPS (that is 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Julius, any Idea how many add-on CPU's will be easly added to the ABAQ. 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: 170 million instructions per second and 25 million floating point operatios per second). People start to call machines with specs like that "Personal Supercomputers". James: 4 farm cards, each with 4 T-800's , for a total of 17 transputer chips. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Great but is it not true that Commodore has just got the rights to use Helios as well? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Helios will hopefully become that standard operating system for transputers. This will make the acceptance of the transputer that much easier. Besides, for the specs I've seen on their transputer board, it is, well, not as fast as it could be! 04 [C18] bmackay: What's the DRAM limit in the old original 520's? I've upgraded using the old piggy back and solder for 6 hours to 1 meg. What kind of upgrade could I do on it with the new 1 meg DRAMS? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bruce, using 1 meg chips you could go to 4 megs. If you don't take out the original 512k, then only 2.5 megs. The MMU allows two 'banks' of different RAM chips...you can mix 1mb and 256k chips...but only in certain ways. If you... 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: already have 1 meg in yer 520, then some of it will have to go. 04 [C18] bmackay: But if I tear it all out and replace with 1 meg chips it will be 4 megs then? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Yes! 04 [C18] bmackay: And no problems from the power supply end? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bruce: Dunno. PSU should be rated at 50 watts. Though, third party boards seem to run without a hitch. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Do you know of any plans for add-on to the ST's to allow it to use the new Atari Monitor using 1Meg internal Ram and a 68000 to drive the graphics, Hmmm? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: James, I see you have been reading ST-Log. :-) Their ain't no such thing. 03 [C18] Bob G.: Any possibility in upgrading the 68000 to a 68020? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Bob: Some changes would have to be made to the OS. And because the way the ST is designed, you would not see the same speed incre ase as you would from a machine designed with the '20 from day one. Some folks in Germany have done this though... 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: they added their own 32 bit RAM to get the raw speed up. 04 [C18] bmackay: The Amiga (can I say that word here?) crowd have been replacing the 68000 with 68010's. Any advantage to doing this on an ST? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: For the 5% speed increase in some cases? Dunno... Though, if you do it, you would have to make some changes to TOS because of something called "stack frames". Better to save up the pennies for one of them 16 Mhz 68000 boards. :-) 08 [C18] James [GOD]: I have been hearing alot about the ST and MIDI lately (one of the reasons I bought the thing in the first place) from Europe and the US, is there anything that you know about in Canada.. Name Dropping perhaps ? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Oscar Peterson? A MEGA is one of the machines he uses. MIDI and Music stores are doing really well with the ST. Right now it is a choice of the Mac or ST, with the ST offering the better price and software that is just as good. James: 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Mac, I heard that unless you are using a Mac II ($7000) the ST is the only machine that can do real time MIDI.. Also have you seen the Hawk Scanner for the ST.. 400dpi scanner, FAX, photocopier.. etc? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Hawk Scanner? Yes. Looks really neat. Paul:>I have a question that is basically what do I buy next? What is the main difference you see between the Transputer and 68030 paths? Where should home and small business users be looking. Supplementary can you estimate relative costs of abaq and 68030 machines 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Paul: Home I would suggest a 1040ST. For small business, depending on the needs, a MEGA or (yech) PC. Down the road something that runs Unix, as I think that will be the next wave (like MsDOS appears to be right now). 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: Above $5000, below $10,000 (possibly...subject to change...just a guess :-) 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Julius, is there any truth to the rumor that someone is trying to port UNIX over to the TRANSPUTER, one that will spread the kernal over the CPU's? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: They would have to do that. Right now, Helios runs a 20-30k 'kernal' on each transputer. Problem is, Unix was never designed for parallel and distributed processing. It needs major hacking and the way apps are written and work. Helios...on the other hand was designed that way from day one. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Now onto everyones favorite.. As of late I have been hearing quite a bit about companies pulling out of the ST market because of Piracy.. What is Atari's view of the perceived problem of piracy on the ST? anybody else? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: All computers have a piracy problem. We are doing our part by shutting down pirates and taking them to court. The thing is, these 'people' are causing great harm to the ST. Software appears pirated before it is released. People don't buy it, thus... software companies can't make money. They move onto another market where they can make money. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: I have been reading about a Tranputer based cartridge for the ST in Europe.. do you know of any plans for anyone to bring it over here? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: You mean the K-MAX system from Kuma in England? It is a bit pricey, and there appears to be no demand for it. So...no one wants to bring it over. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Or the Spectrum analyzer, or the Oscilliscope etc.. 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Does it work like advertised? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: There was a STart article back a year or so about it... :-) 08 [C18] James [GOD]: Any news of any more large software developers signing on the ST since WP corp? 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: How about Turbo C in Germany? ;-) 08 [C18] James [GOD]: NIce but turbo C is a little late, once you start playing with Laser C's new version of megamax 01 [C18] Julius@Atari: The guys in Germany tell me it runs circles around Laser C. It generates the best 68000 code of any compiler so far (this is word from the beta testers). :OF NOTABLE NOTE: ================= So this is the way it is in Canada, more information, more hardware and they have the documentation to the CD-ROM in the Developer's Kit! Egad....what's the story in the USA? 300.00 antique developers kits, no 5.25 inch drives for the St, no Atari PC . What has Canada got that we in the USA do not have? Why the big solitaire? Does it not seem strange that Atari in Canada has MUCH MORE to offer it's userbase? LIKE THEY SAY IN FLATBUSH...WHAT'S THE STORY JERRY? Under whose butt must we light a fire to make things happen as well here? After reading the contents of this conference I am shocked at how easy it is for Atari to hand us, the US Userbase, the SHORT end of the stick! Thanks Sam...... Sam, are you sure you wanted Evangelists? and not easy marks? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ALARM RINGS ON! =================== By T."Rex" Reade If we all were to vote on the top ten graphics people in the Atari World I am sure that Tom Hudson would be among them. It hurts my heart to hear that Tom, in his quest for financial security, has left the Atari arena for the greener pastures of IBM land. Whom do we blame? What is the cause? Why has the Atari ST community lost this magnificent mind? In my humble opinion, Atari IS the bottom line here. First, by claiming that there are only 220,000 or less STs in use in the USA, (everybody must own at least four store bought copies of Dungeon Master). Second, a total lack of advertising OF THE ST AND MEGA has given the industry and public the impression that those products are dormant. Third, this is the most serious in my opinion, developer support is still super bad and the attitude is ..."you don't like it, rewrite it" ..or, if Atari didn't write it, you can be sure it is flawed. Richard Frick is gone, and now we suck wind to see updates of any consequence for the Developer's Kit. One developer seems to pop in mind because of the loud and clear message he made when he said: "They promise all kinds of help, but when you call looking for some, you either get stonewalled or told it is your problem not ours.... this lead us to the point of practically having to re-invent the wheel (OS)." Here of late, we see a number of people who signed non-disclosure agreements with Atari concerning the beta program for the new TOS in ROM YET we see all kinds of messages about what they will do and how they will enhance the machine etc....Clearly, these folks are not malicious nor are they egotistical maniacs who must wave the "new mega roms" in our faces. They are merely trying to keep the interest level up in the area of Atari ST/MEGA computers. No matter where we look, we see all kinds of hype for ALL the other computers and NOTHING about the ATARI computer(s). The task these people are trying perform is Atari's responsibility and nobody else's. Atari is truly a wimp in the Advertising and Promotion areas. It is now AUGUST.......SEPTEMBER is a few weeks away, (THE FALL) ATARI SAID: IN THE FALL (LAST QUARTER OF '88)....WE WILL 1- Begin a strong ad campaign 2- Have the new ROMS for you Granted we heard already that there may be delays, but being optomistic, let's give Atari a chance to BE ONTIME FOR ONCE!! Atari may wake up when they find all the programmers and developers of any quality have since moved on to greener pastures or, perhaps this is just what they want! Make the machine, create the software, develop the hardware,..monopolize the whole nine yards..I don't believe this for a minute but it sure looks this way. With what we have received in the way of confidential stories from Developers and Programmers, the darn file reads like an industrial horror story. We at ST REPORT truly feel the ST and the MEGA are indeed the best to be had for the dollars in the USA today. I know, for myself, there is no other computer in my immediate future. The bad part is I have no idea at all where or what the future of the machine is. This is Atari's fault and squarely on Atari's shoulders..the only picture presented by Atari is one of reliable confusion. The revolving door, vaporware, dealership vs. mail order, the concept that the folks who purchase the ST/MEGA computers are really gamers first and computer operators second, and a host of other inconsistancies continue to magnify the problems with the company and continue to overshadow the fantastic products. We still feel that certain members of the board need to be taken out of the areas that directly effect the daily business of Atari and placed where they will be of less harm. Know-it-all attitudes and techie recluses have no business making profound decisions that effect the entire National Scene for Atari. An open plea to Tom Hudson: "Please do not abandon us, but in fact, think of us as lost in the abyss of Atari indecision! Once Atari gets it's act together and begins to advertise and distribute the ST and MEGA on a grand scale the Great Starship of ATARI will be on the right heading". For now, it remains, The Atari Ship of Fools. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL OFFER FROM WORD PERFECT =============================== Special User Group Purchase Agreement ------------------------------------- WordPerfect Corporation is offering WordPerfect 4.1 for the Atari to user group members at a special reduced price of $155.00. This special offer will only be available from July 15th through September 15th. Please complete the information requested below and return form to: WordPerfect Atari Orders 288 W. Center, Orem, UT 84057. Name______________________________________________ Street____________________________________________ City________________________State____Zip__________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Below, you will find the new "official" Registration Form Atari is requesting all Usergroups to complete and send in. Do this folks, show Atari just how many of us there are. It sure is nice to see Atari on the positive side of things again, the Usergroup News Letter is alive and well. YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS FORM TO RECEIVE THE NEWSLETTER. ATARI U.S.1988 * USER GROUP APPLICATION * ---------------------- USER GROUP NAME (IN FULL): ABBREVIATION OR ACRONYM: WHEN WAS THE GROUP FOUNDED (DATE): MAILING ADDRESS: NAME: ADDRESS: CITY/STATE/ZIP: PHONE NUMBER FOR GENERAL PUBLIC: NUMBER OF REGISTERED MEMBERS: WHAT ARE YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES?: $__________ NUMBER OF MEETINGS PER YEAR: ARE THEY REGULARLY SCHEDULED?: YES / NO IF YES, WHEN: WHERE: DO YOU HAVE A BBS: YES / NO IF YES, WHAT IS THE NUMBER: HOURS OF OPERATION: DO YOU PUBLISH A NEWSLETTER? YES / NO IF YES, WHAT IS THE FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION: NAME OF THE PUBLICATION: HOW MANY ISSUES HAVE YOU PUBLISHED IN THE LAST YEAR: WHAT IS YOUR AVERAGE PRINT RUN? DO YOU ACCEPT ADVERTISING? YES / NO IF YES, WHAT IS THE COST PER PAGE: NAME OF CONTACT PERSON FOR PUBLICATION: ADDRESS: CITY/STATE/ZIP: PHONE(S): WHO SHOULD POTENTIAL MEMBERS CONTACT FOR MEMBERSHIP: NAME: ADDRESS: CITY\STATE\ZIP: PHONE(S): DO YOU OFFER HELP OR SUPPORT FOR NEW USERS? YES / NO DO YOU HAVE A NEW USERS SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP? YES / NO DO YOU SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING ATARI SYSTEMS? GAME SYSTEMS: YES / NO 8-BITS: YES / NO ST: YES / NO MEGA: YES / NO PC: YES / NO OTHER: DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS OF EACH SYSTEM? YES / NO DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL MEETINGS FOR USERS OF EACH SYSTEM? YES / NO PLEASE LIST LOCAL SHOWS, AND APPROXIMATE DATES, IN WHICH YOUR GROUP ANTICIPATES PARTICIPATION: (I.E. LIBRARY, SHOPPING MALL, SCHOOL, OR LOCAL COMMUNITY COMPUTER SHOW): NAME _________________________ LOCATION DATE APPROXIMATE (EST) ATTENDANCE _______ NAME _________________________ LOCATION DATE APPROXIMATE ATTENDANCE THERE SHOULD BE ONE, AND ONLY ONE, ATARI CONTACT/USER GROUP SPOKESPERSON REPRESENTING YOUR GROUP; THE NAME OF THE EXECUTIVE CONTACT IS (FOR ATARI USE ONLY): NAME: GROUP TITLE: ADDRESS: CITY/STATE/ZIP: PHONE(S): NAME OF ATARI RETAILER WHO WILL SPONSOR OR OFFER AFFILIATION: RETAIL STORE NAME: CONTACT: THIS APPLICATION COMPLETED BY: NAME: SIGNATURE: DATE: PLEASE NOTE: FOR OFFICIAL ATARI USER GROUP AUTHORIZATION, THIS APPLICATION MUST BE COMPLETED IN FULL. PROOF OF MEMBERSHIP MUST ACCOMPANY APPLICATION. (PROOF OF MEMBERSHIP CAN BE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: MEMBERSHIP NAMES AND ADDRESS, A GROUP MEETING PHOTO, OR ANY OTHER ITEM THAT WILL PROVE THAT YOUR MEMBERSHIP EXCEEDS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.) PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN TO: USER GROUP COORDINATOR ATARI CORPORATION 1196 BORREGAS AVE SUNNYVALE CA 94086 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOSTALGIA - REMEMBER WHEN? ========================== The new hardware item now shipping from Atari is the "crown jewel" in the product line, the Mega. The first production units were finally shipped out recently and the blitter WAS included. Atari is now off on a "Mega rollout tour" as they seek to introduce the new machines to "professional" dealers throughout the country. Atari has also lined up a number of "professional" software publishers, such as WordPerfect, which will be debuting the ST version of WordPerfect on the tour, to accompany them. Yes, "professional" seems to be the operative word here, as the Mega will have "professional" dealers, "professional" software, and a "professional" price! The retail price for a Mega 2 is $1699 for a mono system and $1899 for color. The Mega 4 goes for $2399 mono and $2599 color. Add this to stringent Mega dealer qualifications and a STRICT no mail order policy, and it becomes evident that discounts on these prices will be very hard to come by, at least for now. This may account for the recent surge in sales of the 520ST and 1040ST, as people who were patiently waiting for the Megas to arrive got wind of the new prices and decided that "Power without the Price" was better than "Power WITH the Price". In any case, other "professional" features of the Mega include a attachable keyboard with much improved feel, an internal expansion socket, a 68000 bus extender socket (for external expansion), a battery-backed internal clock, new ROMs, an internal DMA port and power supply tap, and, of course, the long-awaited blitter chip. OTHER ATARI HARDWARE STILL AMONG THE MISSING All is not peaches and cream with Atari's promised hardware, however. A number of new products have still not made their appearance and Atari is not being very helpful in providing information about them. First and foremost is the Atari Laser Printer, which was supposed to be out BEFORE the Megas. Atari claims that the printer is working fine, but the INTERFACE that allows the printer to pass along the ST DMA bus is still having problems. They say it should be ready to ship "any day now". Of course, by the time it is ready a $1500 laser printer with no on-board RAM and limited to use with one brand of computer might not seem to be as much of a bargain as it seemed back in January. Cold on the heels of the Laser Printer is the Atari PC. Still missing after months of on-again, off-again announcements from Atari, the Atari PC, like the Laser Printer, might not be much of a bargain by the time it makes its appearance. After almost being killed by a doubting Sam Tramiel the PC is apparently on again, but Atari does not seem to be very enthusiastic about it. A $700 PC clone with a monochrome monitor and no slots doesn't seem like such a great deal when a local electronics store here in Brooklyn is selling Blue Chip PC clones for $438 complete with mono monitor and six slots. NON-ATARI HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE Magic Sac users now have hard disk support and compatibility with more than 90% of present Macintosh software thanks to version 4.52 of the Magic Sac boot software, now shipping from Data Pacific. Present Sac owners can get the new software, along with a completely re-written manual, by sending their original Atari boot disk, along with $20, to Data Pacific. Ver. 4.52 is also now shipping with all new Magic Sac cartridges. The long-awaited Translator ONE, which will allow STs using the Magic Sac to read original Mac disks, was supposed to begin shipping on October 1, however a shipment of mislabeled chips from "Raving Idiot Computer Chips" began trashing Translator mother boards being assembled and played havoc with Data Pacific's shipping schedule. David Small is picking up the pieces (and preparing his lawsuit), so expect delivery to be delayed a couple of weeks or so. Electronic Arts has finally admitted that the ST market does exist and has just released a number of their programs, including Music Construction Set (not Deluxe), The Bard's Tale, and the long-promised Marble Madness, to try to make a few bucks off of it. I wonder if Trip included any "buy an Amiga" messages with the new programs? Another long-time Atari nay-sayer, Epyx, has also released some new ST programs, including Boulder Dash Construction Set. ICD Inc., makers of the P:R:Connection the MIO board, the US Doubler and SpartaDOS, among others for the Atari 8-bit line, has just introduced their first ST product. The ICD SCSI Host Adaptor retails for $134.95 and allows use of standard SCSI controllers and hard disks with the ST. There are a number of other products on the market that do the same thing (from Berkeley Micro Systems and Supra) for about the same price, but the ICD is the only one that has a second DMA port to allow another DMA device to share the DMA bus. This means that an Atari, Supra, or Astra hard drive could be used at the same time as an ICD setup. Packaged with the Host Adaptor is a disk of ICD hard disk utilities that allow, among other more usual functions, a hard disk to be formatted to give about 10% more storage space than it would if it were formatted using conventional software (approximately 2 extra megs on a 20 meg hard drive). ICD also announced that they will be selling a complete hard disk assembly using their host adaptor. It will be housed in a low-profile case that can also serve as a monitor stand, and it will contain either one or two hard drive mechanisms of 20, 30, 40 or more megs, depending on the configuration ordered, and it, like the host adaptor, will have a second DMA connector to continue the DMA bus. It will also have a SCSI port to allow up to 7 additional SCSI devices to be controlled by the host adaptor. This will allow flexible and relatively inexpensive expansion of hard disk storage (great for BBSs!). Final prices were not announced, although ICD said that they expect a single 20 meg system to be comparable in price to the Atari and Supra 20 meg units. Speaking of hard disk utilities, Beckemeyer Development has released a package called the Beckemeyer Hard Disk Tool Kit which features an excellent hard disk backup program. Finally, Future Systems Inc., current makers of the Indus GT disk drives for the 8-bit computers, has just released the GTS-100, a double-sided 3.5" floppy drive for the ST. Except for the usual avalanche of games and such for the ST, and the renewed interest in the 8-bit computers (a.k.a. the XE SGS), that's it for now. LATE BREAKING FLASH! Word from Neil Harris on GEnie is that the IBM hardware emulator box, which had been "on the back burner" while Atari fiddled with the PC, in now apparently back under full development at Atari. My guess is that Atari discovered that they could sell the Megas to the business market much more effectively if they featured MS-DOS compatibility (in fast hardware rather than slow software), much like the Mac SE/II and the Amiga 2000. Of course, no price or release date was mentioned. These things were the sole source of excitement last year or could have been last month?......you tell me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANTIC PUBLISHING INC. COPYRIGHT 1988 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. ANTIC is proud to present the first of Tim Oren's bi-monthly columns exploring the GEM programming environment. These columns are aimed at professional ST developers, but we encourage everyone to join in and collect the columns for future reference. Professional GEM by Tim Oren Column #1 - Windows, part 1 HELLO, WORLD! For those whom I have not met in person or electronically, an introduction is in order. I am a former member of the GEM programming team at Digital Research, Inc., where I designed and implemented the GEM Resource Construction Set and other parts of the GEM Programmer's Toolkit. I have since left DRI to become the user interface designer for Activenture, a startup company which is developing CD-ROM technology for use with the Atari ST and other systems. The purpose of Professional GEM is to pass along some of the information and tricks I have accumulated about GEM, and explore some of the user interface techniques which a powerful graphics processor such as the ST makes possible. GROUND RULES I am going to assume that you have both a working knowledge of the C programming language and a copy of the ST Programmer's Toolkit with documentation (available from Atari). If you lack either, don't panic. You can read the columns to get the flavor of programming the ST, and come back for a more serious visit later on. For now, I will be using code samples that will run with the Atari-supplied C compiler, also known as DR C-68K, or Alcyon C. I will be using the portability macros supplied with the Toolkit, so that the code will also be transferable to other GEM systems. Both of these items are subject to change, depending on reader feedback and the availability of better products. If you do not have a copy of the source to the DOODLE.C GEM example program, you should consider downloading a copy from SIG*ATARI. Although it is poorly documented, it shows real-life examples of many of the techniques I will discuss. Getting started with a windowed graphics system seems to be like getting into an ice-cold swimming pool: it's best done all at once. Anyone who has looked at "Inside Macintosh" has probably noticed that you have to have read most of it to understand any of it. GEM isn't really much different. You have all the reference guides in your hand, but nothing to show how it all works together. I am hoping to help this situation by leading a series of short tours through the GEM jungle. Each time we'll go out with a particular goal in mind and follow the path that leads there. We'll look at the pitfalls and strange bugs that lurk for the unwary, and show off a few tricks to amaze the natives. The first trip leaves immediately; our mission is to get a window onto the ST screen, with all of its parts properly initialized. WE DO WINDOWS One of the most important services which a graphics interface system provides for the user and programmer is window management. Windows allow the user to perform more than one activity on the same screen, to freely reallocate areas of the screen for each task, and even to pile the information up like pages of paper to make more room. The price for this increased freedom is (as usual) paid by you, the programmer, who must master a more complex method of interacting with the "outside world". The windowing routines provided by ST GEM are the most comprehensive yet available in a low-cost microcomputer. This article is a guide to using these services in an effective manner. IN THE BEGINNING In GEM, creating a window and displaying it are two different functions. The creation function is called wind_create, and its calling sequence is: handle = wind_create(parts, xfull, yfull, wfull, hfull); This function asks GEM to reserve space in its memory for a new window description, and to return a code or "handle" which you can use to refer to the window in the future. Valid window handles are positive integers; they are not memory pointers. GEM can run out of window handles. If it does so, the value returned is negative. Your code should always check for this situation and ask the program's user to close some windows and retry if possible. Handle zero is special. It refers to the "desktop", which is predefined as light green (or gray) on the ST. Window zero is always present and may be used, but never deleted, by the programmer. The xfull, yfull, wfull, and hfull parameters are integers which determine the maximum size of the window. Xfull and yfull define the upper left corner of the window, and wfull and hfull specify its width and height. (Note that all of the window coordinates which we use are in pixel units.) GEM saves these values so that the program can get them later when processing FULL requests. Usually the best maximum size for a window is the entire desktop area, excepting the menu bar. You can find this by asking wind_get for the working area of the desktop (handle zero, remember): wind_get(0, WF_WXYWH, &xfull, &yfull, &wfull, &hfull); Note that WF_WXYWH, and all of the other mnemonics used in this article, are defined in the GEMDEFS.H file in the ST Toolkit. The parts parameter of wind_create defines what features will be included in the window when it is drawn. It is a word of single bit flags which indicate the presence/absence of each feature. To request multiple features, the flags are "or-ed" together. The flags' mnemonics and meanings are: NAME- A one character high title bar at the top of the window. INFO- A second character line below the NAME. MOVER- This lets the user move the window around by "dragging" in the NAME area. NAME also needs to be defined. CLOSER- A square box at the upper left. Clicking this control point asks that the window be removed from the screen. FULLER- A diamond at upper right. Clicking this control point requests that the window grow to its maximum size, or shrink back down if it is already big. SIZER- An arrow at bottom right. Dragging the SIZER lets the user choose a new size for the window. VSLIDE- defines a right-hand scroll box and bar for the window. By dragging the scroll bar, the user requests that the window's "viewport" into the information be moved. Clicking on the gray box above the bar requests that the window be moved up one "page". Clicking below the bar requests a down page movement. You have to define what constitutes a page or line in the context of your application. UPARROW- An arrow above the right scroll bar. Clicking here requests that the window be moved up one "line". Sliders and arrows almost always appear together. DNARROW- An arrow below the right scroll bar. Requests that window be moved down a line. HSLIDE- These features are the horizontal equivalent of the RTARROW above. They appear at the bottom of the window. Arrows LFARROW usually indicate "character" sized movement left and right. "Page" sized movement has to be defined by each application. It is important to understand the correspondence between window features and event messages which are sent to the application by the GEM window manager. If a feature is not included in a window's creation, the user cannot perform the corresponding action, and your application will never receive the matching message type. For example, a window without a MOVER may not be dragged by the user, and your app will never get a WM_MOVED message for that window. Another important principle is that the application itself is responsible for implementing the user's window action request when a message is received. This gives the application a chance to accept, modify, or reject the user's request. As an example, if a WM_MOVED message is received, it indicates that the user has dragged the window. You might want to byte or word align the requested position before proceeding to move the window. The wind_set calls used to perform the actual movements will be described in the next article. OPEN, SESAME! The wind_open call is used to actually make the window appear on the screen. It animates a "zoom box" on the screen and then draws in the window's frame. The calling sequence is: wind_open(handle, x, y, w, h); The handle is the one returned by wind_create. Parameters x, y, w, and h define the initial location and size of the window. Note that these measurements INCLUDE all of the window frame parts which you have requested. To find out the size of the area inside the frame, you can use: wind_get(handle, WF_WXYWH, &inner_x, &inner_y, &inner_w, &inner_h); Whatever size you choose for the window display, it cannot be any larger than the full size declared in wind_create. Here is a good place to take note of a useful utility for calculating window sizes. If you know the "parts list" for awindow, and its inner or outer size, you can find the other size with the wind_calc call: wind_calc(parts, kind, input_x, input_y, input_w, input_h, &output_x, &output_y, &output_w, &output_h); Kind is set to zero if the input coordinates are the inner area, and you are calculating the outer size. Kind is one if the inputs are the outer size and you want the equivalent inner size. Parts are just the same as in wind_create. There is one common bug in using wind_open. If the NAME feature is specified, then the window title must be initialized BEFORE opening the window: wind_set(handle, WF_NAME, ADDR(title), 0, 0); If you don't do this, you may get gibberish in the NAME area or the system may crash. Likewise, if you have specified the INFO feature, you must make a wind_set call for WF_INFO before opening the window. Note that ADDR() specifies the 32-bit address of title. This expression is portable to other (Intel-based) GEM systems. If you don't care about portability, then &title[0], or just title alone will work fine on the ST. CLEANING UP When you are done with a window, it should be closed and deleted. The call: wind_close(handle); takes the window off the screen, redraws the desktop underneath it, and animates a "zoom down" box. It doesn't delete the window's definition, so you can reopen it later. Deleting the window removes its definition from the system, and makes that handle available for reuse. Always close windows before deleting, or you may leave a "dead" picture on the screen. Also be sure to delete all of your windows before ending the program, or your app may "eat" window handles. The syntax for deleting a window is: wind_delete(handle); THOSE FAT SLIDERS One of ST GEM's unique features is the proportional slider bar. Unlike other windowing systems, this type of bar gives visual feedback on the fraction of a document which is being viewed, as well as the position within the document. The catch, of course, is that you have two variables to maintain for each scroll bar: size and position. Both bar size and position range from 1 to 1000. A bar size of 1000 fills the slide box, and a value of one gets the minimum bar size. To compute the proper size, you can use the formula: size = min(1000, 1000 * seen_doc / total_doc) Seen_doc and total_doc are the visible and total size of the document respectively, in whatever units are appropriate. As an example, if your window could show 20 lines of a 100 line text file, you should set a slider size of 200. Since the window might be bigger than the total document at some points, you need the maximum function. If the document size is zero, force the slider size to 1000. (Note: You will probably need to do the computation above with 32-bit arithmetic to avoid overflow problems.) Once you have computed the size, use the wind_set function toconfigure the scroll bar: wind_set(handle, WF_VSLSIZE, size, 0, 0, 0); This call sets the vertical (right hand) scroll bar. Use WF_HSLSIZE for the horizontal scroller. All of these examples are done for the vertical dimension, but the principles are identical in the other direction. Bar positioning is a little tougher. The most confusing aspect is that the 1-1000 range does not set an absolute position of the bar within the scroll box. Instead, it positions the TOP of the bar within its possible range of variation. Let's look at our text file example again to make this clearer. If there are always 20 lines of a 100 line file visible, then the top of the window must be always be somewhere between line 1 and line 81. This 80 line range is the actual freedom of movement of the window. So, if the window were actually positioned with its top at line 61, it would be at the three-quarter position within the range, and we should set a scroll bar position of 750. The actual formula for computing the position is: pos = 1000 * (top_wind - top_doc) / (total_doc - seen_doc) Top_wind and top_doc are the top line in the current window and the whole document, respectively. Obviously, if seen_doc is greater or equal to total_doc, you need to force a zero value for pos. This calculation may seem rather convoluted the first time through, but is easy once you have done it. When you have computed the position, wind_set configures the scroll bar: wind_set(handle, WF_VSLIDE, pos, 0, 0, 0); WF_HSLIDE is the equivalent for horizontal scrolling. It is a good practice to avoid setting the slider size or position if they are already at the value which you need. This avoids an annoying redraw flash on the screen when it is not necessary. You can check on the current value of a slider parameter with wind_get: wind_get(handle, WF_VSLIDE, &curr_value, &foo, &foo, &foo); Foo is a dummy variable which needs to be there, but is not used. Substitute WF_VSLIDE with whatever parameter you are checking. One philosophical note on the use of sliders: it is probably best to avoid the use of both sliders at once unless it is clearly appropriate to the type of data which is being viewed. Since Write and Paint programs make use of the sheet-of-paper metaphor, moving the window around in both dimensions is reasonable. However, if the data is more randomly organized, such as a tableau of icons, then it is probably better to only scroll in the vertical dimension and "reshuffle" if the window's width is changed. Then the user only needs to manipulate one control to find information which is off-screen. Anyone who has had trouble finding a file or folder within a Desktop window will recognize this problem. COMING UP NEXT In my next column, we'll conclude the tour of the ST's windowing system. I'll discuss the correct way to redraw a window's contents, and how to handle the various messages which an application receives from the window manager. Finally, we'll look at a way to redesign the desktop background to your own specifications. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL ====================== New York City The ST game system persists and does, for all intents and ------------- purposes, exist. Seems this firm was given the inside track to being the first one to be able to sell the "new" game system Sunnyvale The portable ST is a full scale reality, seems it's even --------- nicer than the one displayed at Hanover. Denver A number of dealers have unified and are preparing a formal ------ request to be sent to Atari asking for more sales oriented professional area representatives. Albany IBM has now gone after the midi market with a vengeance, ------ with a keyboard that has both the video and audio controllers built in and full audio spectrum available with full video potential also available. Sunnyvale Transputer system is a fact but not for the USA for many --------- months to come.. watch for it in Europe (UK) first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ST-REPORT Issue #47 AUG. 8, 1988 (c)'88 APEInc. All Rights Reserved. Reprint permission granted except where noted in the article. Any reprint must include ST-Report and the author in the credits. Views Presented herein are not necessarily those of ST-Report or of the Staff. -------------------------------------------------------------------------