*---=== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ===---* """"""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original Online ST Magazine" ------------------------------- December 19, 1988 Monday Volume II No.66 ========================================================================== ST Report Online Magazine ½ ------------------------------ Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor _________________________________________ Headquarters Bulletin Boards ---------------------------- North South 201-247-8252 904-786-4176 Central West 216-784-0574 916-962-2566 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlights ========== ~ From the Editor's Desk............. ~ FOND FAREWELL................. ~ CPU REPORT (A sneak Preview)....... ~ A Different Viewpoint......... ~ ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL............. ~ INTERLINK Ver. 1.85!.......... and....much more! ======================================================================== AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ THE SOURCE ======================================================================== From the Editor's Desk: ----------------------- Can you imagine what Christmas 1988 would have been like if Atari hadn't cut-off ALL mail order sales and HAD diverted a large quantity of ST Computers to the US market? It is possible ... After snuggling up is a very comfortable overstuffed chair beside the warm fireplace, it became very easy to allow the imagination to go to work. Lo and behold, the very first image I see is happy, jubilant faces sitting in front of brand new ST computers all over the country! The fireplace crackles loudly and I begin to see a different picture. The vivid colors of the advertisements are absolutely stunning! It is almost too good to be true, but there it is, right in front of me. Atari ads saying they are the leaders in personalized mail order sales and service. Just above the bottom of the flyer I see the Federated name. Now the whole thing becomes quite clear, Atari had placed a mail order operation under the Federated roof where they could keep a tight reign on rampant discounting, (the previous mail order effort was terrible), and as a result had reached more customers in a scant 12 month period than they had in the previous 36 months. Slowly a picture of a fold out advertisement begins to take shape in front of me, as I silently watch this dramatic presentation, I said to myself, pretty neat! This ad was as good as any made for a major motion picture. Color, depth and 3d headlines all were there, proclaiming Atari Computers to be the number one computer for Mr. and Mrs. America, the best part was the marquee, (like MacDonald's), showing the 2 millionth machine had been sold. What a warm wonderful feeling I had, my ST gear would live and prosper. The best part is the ads were in non-computer specific magazines like Time, Reader's Digest, People etc...I guess they finally realized that the best way was to reach those who hadn't made up their minds completely yet. As the fire let loose with another loud crackle, I saw a beautiful winter wonderland of rooftops covered by a fresh snowfall..what a thrill to see such beauty! As I stood there mesmerized by all the splendor, I heard a light thump, thump, thump, behind me. Slowly I turned to see a an older gent, quite jolly I might add, spryly climbing into his sleigh. As he reached for his reigns he glanced over at me grinning and pointed at a bulging sack. It was easy to see the sack was filled to the top with white boxes marked with blue Fuji symbols flashing non-stop. I looked back at the jolly man and saw his face, his white beard glistening in the bright moonlight. The expression of joy on his face was one I will never forget! The bells jingled briskly and as the sleigh started to go, I heard the words of the ole 'gent as he zipped through the snow..... "MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!" 'suppose there really is a Santa? Ralph...... ************************************************************************** NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers ST REPORT ONLINE ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE FOR NEW USERS! SIGN UP TODAY! Call any of the St Report Official BBS numbers (Listed at the top of ST REPORT) or Leave E-mail to St Report or R. Mariano Be sure to include your full mailing address so your Compuserve kit can be immediately mailed to you! NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE ************************************************************************** Farewell Washington =================== When I started working in this business, fresh out of college in May of 1982, Atari was a strong & exciting company. Our competitors at the time were retailers such as Computer Age, The Math Box (became MBI Business Centers), Sears and several "discount" stores such as Circuit City, Toys-r-Us and Reliable Home Appliances. What I saw at that time is many of these retailers selling the "boxes", but few of them providing any support or after-market products (ie. software, books, modems, etc.). That niche is what Applied Computer Associates filled. Anyone familiar with the history of Atari, knows what the crash of the video game and home computer worlds did to the market's view of Atari. In those years, most people figured Atari was out of, or was going out of business. Most people, except for the Atari computer owners. The Atari Computer owner is a rare breed. Most of them bought an Atari because they saw the quality and performance of the computer, over that of the Commodore Vic & 64, was worth paying for. They saw the support that was available in the form of user groups, magazines, software, and stores like Applied Computers. They also saw that other Atari Computer buyers were not a bunch of hackers & teenagers, but professionals looking for solutions to their business and personal computing needs. The Atari owner continued to have faith in their computer, and that faith was rewarded when Jack Tramiel took over Atari in July 1984. I was in Las Vegas in January of 1985, when Jack Tramiel unveiled the 520 ST. I marveled, as did the rest of the industry, that a man could take a company, clearly in dire financial straights, and in only 6 months, release a computer that "knocked the socks off" everything else in the industry. 1986 was an tremendous year for Atari, and for Applied Computers. The new ST computers were the talk of the industry and the pride of every Atari owner. Sales of the ST were strong, Atari was advertising, product was available, and once again Atari was an exciting computer company. They say all good things must come to an end, and in 1987 that's exactly what happened to Atari's honeymoon with the U.S. computer market. 1987 was a disastrous year for Applied Computers and the U.S. Atari community. Price increases in late 1986 took full force in early '87, Atari released no new products, did no advertising, got no public relations. At the same time the prices on IBM clones were falling like lead bricks and new graphic standards rivaled those of the ST. Atari made no efforts to support the U.S. market or its dealers, citing a shortage of product because of strong European sales. During this time, our competitors changed. No longer were we competing with any of the previously mentioned stores, but instead with a new generation of competitors. Black Patch Computers, with their double-page ads, drastically effected what the Atari consumer was willing to pay for product. Merchandise that had been fairly priced by the local stores, was now being "given away" by Black Patch. Applied Computers stood up to them and challenged their pricing and services, and eventually Black Patch faded away. My fondest hope was that the local market would learn its lesson. No one can survive on 5-10% margins, you must make fair profits in order to survive. Alas, the market didn't learn a thing. L & Y Electronics picked right up where Black Patch left off, trimming margins to the bone, thinking that with lower prices they could increase their volume. What they didn't realize, is that it wasn't higher prices that limited their sales, but rather the market's lack of demand and Atari's nonexistent efforts to create that demand, which was causing the slow down in sales. By mid-87 and into 1988 those buying an Atari computer could be lumped into two categories; those that owned Atari or had friends that owned Atari and those businesses whose employees owned Atari and had been convinced to purchase them instead of PCs for the employee. Basically the people buying an Atari were not buying based on price, but rather on recommendation, therefore, price cutting was not needed because they would have bought it anyway. All this brings us the present, December 1988. I have evaluated the Atari marketplace and Atari's recent efforts to improve it, but I see no way to recoup the losses we suffered in 1987, and it is with much regret that we have decided to cease operations on December 31, 1988. If it seems that I am bitter about the whole thing, I'm not. I worked hard these past 6 years, and my efforts to serve the Atari community have not gone un-rewarded. I received fair compensation for my work, and I am proud that our customers were all treated fairly and honestly. My greatest rewards have been in dealing with a group of dedicated and professional people, the employees and vendors I have worked with, and most of all the Atari Computer owner. I hope the closing of Applied Computers will send a message out to the Atari community and to Atari itself, that the U.S. market is in real trouble. In order to survive we must all work together. Dealers should provide fair prices and service to their customers. Customers need to support those dealers and recognize that the lowest price only benefits in the short run. Lastly, Atari Corporation must commit to the U.S. marketplace by increasing product availability, increasing brand awareness by advertising both locally and nationally, and by introducing new products that will once again make Atari the vibrant company it should be. My sincere thanks goes out to all the customers and vendors that have supported us over the years, I hope you will continue to support the Atari community every chance you get, and help bring Atari back to the fore-front of the industry. With these thoughts and my best wishes I bid you.... Farewell Washington, Chris A. Amori Vice President Applied Computer Associates, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CPU REPORT - A SNEAK PREVIEW ============================= CPU REPORT #1 ============= By Michael Arthur What is CPU REPORT? ------------------- In many ways, ST REPORT is a very good magazine, providing the latest information on the state of the Atari ST. It has shown some interesting developments in Atari itself, and provided a way for all ST'ers to have knowledge on new developments, not only with the ST itself, but on other Atari products such as the 68030 TT and the Abaq. But one thing that it lacks is a section on OTHER computer systems. While ST REPORT might have some info on other systems now and then, there isn't a definitive way for ST'ers to gain the same type of information about other computer systems that ST REPORT provides for the Atari ST. Hence, CPU REPORT..... CPU REPORT is a new feature of ST REPORT that is dedicated to providing current news on developments for other computer systems, just as ST REPORT provides current news on the Atari ST. Based on this, you might think this is a sort of "Amiga Report". While CPU REPORT will provide information on the Amiga, it will also show the latest developments in the Macintosh and IBM fields, while not neglecting other areas, such as the UNIX world, and showing how a lot of them directly relate to the Atari ST. CPU REPORT will currently have two sections: 1) CPU REPORT CONFIDENTIAL: This is the equivalent of ST REPORT ----------------------- CONFIDENTIAL, providing concise information on other systems. 2) CPU REPORT: This is the Essay section, and will ---------- have weekly articles on developments in the computer industry in general. --====-- Over the next few weeks, CPU REPORT will have articles on Digital Research's X/GEM Multitasking Interface, Dream Computer Systems, and other topics. Maybe even a dissertation on the differences between the ST and Amiga.... But ponder this question for a few moments....... If you could have any microcomputer for Christmas, configured with any hardware necessary to its performance (like a hard drive), what would this "Dream System" be? Dream Computer Systems: Which is really best? --------------------------------------------- Part I: Now, as Christmas approaches, all of the computer companies are announcing new computer systems, showing this or that system's features, and saying that theirs is the best computer. While these computers are often very good, the most powerful ones are often VERY expensive. So we try not to pay attention to them. But after seeing computers like the NeXT system, we tend to fantasize about what would be our Dream System, the one computer that we would REALLY want for Christmas if we had the money. And we start bickering over which Dream System is the best.... To attempt to determine which Dream System really IS the best, I have made a list of the most powerful microcomputers on the market, comparing their features to make an objective opinion. I ignored variables like operating systems and software, and concentrated on the actual computers' features and speed, the largest hard disk you could attain, and the best graphics that system could provide. While operating systems and software are a definite factor in a computer, I wanted to aim for the best hardware itself, to which you could add the other items. After doing some research, I found several configurations which could claim the title of "Dream System". Shown in no particular order, here is my list: (Warning: Do not be surprised by the Retail Prices Shown.) System #1 --------- - ALR FlexCache Model 300 - Total Cost of System: $19,000.00 Dollars. This IBM Compatible is a 25 MHZ 80386 system with 2 Megabytes of RAM, a 300 Megabyte Hard Disk, and 8 expansion slots. To FURTHER enhance this system, I would add a 25 MHZ 80387 Math Coprocessor, a Four Megabyte RAM expansion, Orchid's Designer VGA card, and a Relisys VGA Monitor. With this system you have: ALR FlexCache w/300 Meg Hard Drive, and 80387 Chip (Cost: $14,798.00) 4 Megabyte RAM Expansion (Cost: $2995.95) Designer VGA Card (Cost: 495.95) Relisys VGA Monitor (Cost: 795.95) VGA Graphics Resolution: 320*200 with 256 Colors out of 256,000 640*480 with 16 Colors out of 256,000 Extended Mode has 640*480 with 256 Colors out of 256,000 800*600 with 16 Colors out of 256,000 800*600 with 256 Colors out of 256,000 1024*768 with 16 Colors out of 256,000 Faults with System: An extra 4 Megabytes of RAM would be nice.... System #2 --------- - Macintosh IIx w/Priam MacDisk Hard Drive - Total Cost: $18,100.00 This Macintosh uses a 16 MHZ 68030 with a 16 MHZ 68882 Math Chip, Four Megabytes of RAM, and 6 NuBus Expansion Slots. It also comes with a 1.44 Meg High Density Disk Drive, and uses the SWIM (Sander-Woz Integrated Machine) Disk Controller chip to allow the Mac to read/write to MS-DOS and OS/2 formatted disks. To FURTHER enhance this system, I would add a Priam MacDisk, which is a 300 Megabyte Hard Drive, and a SuperMac Spectrum/24 Video Card, which lets the Mac have a 1024*768 display with 16 Million colors at the same time. With this system you have: Macintosh IIx w/4 Megs of RAM (Cost: $7769.00) Priam 300 Megabyte MacDisk (Cost: $4800.00) Spectrum/24 Video Board (Cost: $2000.00) Taxan 980 20-Inch Monitor (Cost: 3500.00) Macintosh II Resolution: 640*400 with 256 Colors out of 16 Million With Spectrum/24 it has 1024*768 with 16 Million colors at the same time. Faults with System: Should be faster than 16 MHZ.... System #3 --------- - Amiga 2000 w/Hurricane 68020 Card - Total Cost of System: $11,300.00 This is an Amiga 2000 with 1 Meg of RAM and 7 expansion slots. Along with this would be a Hurricane Accelerator Board having a 16 MHZ 68020 and 68881 Math Coprocessor, and 2 Micron Two Megabyte RAM Expansion Cards (for 4 Megs of additional RAM). I would also add C Ltd.'s 150 Megabyte Hard Drive (there aren't any larger Amiga Hard Drives), Moniterm's 19-inch monitor, which lets the Amiga have a 1008*800 display in monochrome, and Microway's FlickerFixer, which lets the Amiga have a noninterlaced 640*400 display. With this system you have: Amiga 2000 w/color monitor (Cost: 2400.00) Hurricane Accelerator Card (Cost: 999.95) 2 Micron Two Megabyte RAM Expansion Cards (Cost: 1995.95 total) C. Ltd 150 Megabyte Hard Drive (Cost: 3300.00) Moniterm Viking I High Resolution Monitor (Cost: 1995.95) Microway Inc. FlickerFixer (Cost: 600.00) Amiga Resolutions: (Not including Overscan) 320*200 with 32 colors out of 4096 320*200 with 64 colors out of 4096 (Extra Half-Brite) 320*200 with 4096 colors at the same time (HAM Mode) 640*200 with 4 to 32 colors 640*400 with 2 to 16 colors (interlaced) With Moniterm: 640*400 using Monochrome (noninterlaced) 1008*800 using Monochrome Colors With FlickerFixer: 640*400 with 2 to 16 colors (noninterlaced) Faults with System: As you can get 20 MHZ 68020's, speed is not a problem, but the high price of Hard Drives is intolerable. System #4 --------- - NeXT System w/670 Meg Hard Drive - Total Cost of System: $10,500.00 The NeXT computer features a 25 MHZ 68030 w/68882 Math Coprocessor, Eight Megs of RAM, 4 NuBus Expansion Slots, and a 256 Megabyte Optical Drive with Removable Cartridges. To FURTHER enhance this system, I would add NeXT's 670 Megabyte Hard Disk Drive. That's it.... With this system you have: NeXT Computer w/256 Meg Cartridge Drive (Cost: $6500.00) 660 MB Winchester Hard Drive (Cost: $4000.00) NeXT Resolution: 1120*832 Pixel Display using Monochrome. (Keep in mind that these prices are for Universities only, and that actual market prices will be much higher) Faults of System: 256 Meg Tape Drive is MUCH too slow, and there is NO Color Display, a terrible and glaring omission.... System #5 --------- - Mega 4 ST w/Turbo ST, ST Expander - Total Cost of System: $9250.00 This is a Mega 4 ST with 4 Megs of RAM, 1 Expansion Slot, and both Color and Monochrome Monitors. Along with this would be a Turbo ST, having a 16 MHZ 68000, and an ST Expander, which gives the ST Eight expansion slots and an MMU chip letting the ST support 16 Megs of RAM. I would also add Moniterm's 19-Inch Monitor, which allows the ST to have a 1280*960 display using Monochrome, and a 250 Megabyte Hard Drive made by Supra Corp or a 320 Megabyte Hard Drive from ABCO. With this system you have: Mega 4 ST w/Color & Monochrome Monitors (Cost: $2700.00) Turbo ST Accelerator Board (Cost: $200.00) ST Expander (Cost: $250.00) Supra Corp. 250 Megabyte Hard Drive (Cost: 3995.95) SG320 ABCO 320 Megabyte Hard Drive (Cost: 4495.95) Moniterm Viking II High Resolution Monitor (Cost: 1995.95) Atari ST Resolution: 320*200 with 16 Colors out of 512 640*200 with 4 Colors out of 512 640*400 using Monochrome With Moniterm: 1280*960 using Monochrome Faults of System: Not fast enough, not good enough graphics, NO ability to expand its capabilities, even through expansion cards, and NO support for the 68881, 68020, or 68030 chips.... Notice I did not mention products that are not shipping shortly, like the 68030 TT (read: until Atari tells us its features, it is only a dream, not a Dream System), or products which have not been fully announced, like the Abaq (no word on price of peripherals, expansion cards, or date of introduction). The ONLY reason I chose to have a Mega ST Dream System is because of the 68030 TT and Abaq not being currently available, so if you notice a disparity between the other systems and the ST.... In Part I of this series, I have given a list of the best systems to be found currently in the market, and shown their individual features. In Part II these Dream Systems will be compared to each other, in order to determine the "best" one. Based on this article alone, though, you could safely say that either the NeXT System or the Macintosh IIx System was the best, but the IBM system is VERY powerful, and the Amiga System comes out surprisingly strong, meeting the "Power without the Price" test for Dream Systems.... Ponder on these questions, though, for next week: 1) What is it that makes a Dream System? 2) Which type of Dream System is better: a Computer System that is inherently powerful, or a small system that can be greatly expanded? -----====***====----- CPU REPORT CONFIDENTIAL ======================= Redmond, WA Microsoft Corporation has introduced Windows/286, a ----------- 286 version of Windows, to replace Windows 2.0, which allows 690K of addressable memory and is 40-60% faster. West Chester, PA Commodore has announced the A2286, a new BridgeCard for ---------------- the Amiga 2000 that comes with an 8 MHZ 80286, to be shipping in February. No word on OS/2 compatibility. Rumored cost: $1000.00. Armonk, NY IBM and NeXT have made a $10 million licensing agreement ---------- which allows IBM to use the WorkSpace, NeXT's Graphical User Interface, on its UNIX machines. Hannover, FDR Commodore-Germany is working with a German Institute to ------------- develop a Transputer Board for the Amiga 2000, which will run under the Helios operating system. Longview, TX Cheetah International, an IBM Compatible Company, is ------------ planning to introduce at Spring COMDEX a 33 MHZ 80836 system. Cost: EXTREMELY expensive....The Atari ST (without a Turbo ST) only runs at 8 MHZ. West Chester, PA Commodore is working with Sun Microsystems to develop ---------------- a version of their TOPS Network for the Amiga. TOPS is a VERY popular AppleTalk compatible LAN System for the Macintosh and IBM. They are THINKING about making one for the Atari ST, though. Their number is 1-415-769-9669, in case you wish to contact them.... Carrolton, TX Haitex Resources has introduced X-Specs 3-D, a pair of ------------- LCD Glasses for the Amiga that can display 3-D Images with startlingly realistic depth to the wearer. No software currently uses its capabilities. (Note: Antic Software has made StereoTek 3-D Glasses for roughly a year, providing the same capabilities to the ST. It works with the Cyber STudio. and much software uses its features) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Audio-Visual Sequencer ========================== Player Program -------------- This is a player program for files created with the Audio-Video Sequencer (AVS) in the November issue of START (on sale now). AVS by Jim Kent is a mixing program that lets you add sound to your Cyber Paint animations. To run the AVS Player program, use ARC to extract all the files from ADEMO.ARC and APLAYR.ARC. Now, double-click on AVSPLAYR.PRG. Then click on Load to load an AVS sequence. To see Jon Bell's space war demo, download AVSDEMO.ARC in the software shelf. (This is the same demo that's on November's START disk.) Click on Play once under the drop-down menu to see the AVS sequence; click on Play loop to play it over and over. To get out of a loop, press the Escape key. The movie will show to the end of the sequence and then AVS Player will return to the menu screen. The Memory option tells you how much memory is being used in how many tracks; Quit exits AVS Player. START's Audio-Video Sequencer is compatible with ST Replay sound samples, but you don't need Cyber Paint or ST Replay to run AVS; all you need are sequence and sound files, which you can download from CompuServe. From AVS, you can save your movie "script" with the extender AVS, and play it back either inside AVS or by running AVSPLAYR.PRG. Both the AVS Player program and AVS itself are copyrighted by Antic Publishing, Inc. The AVS Player may be freely distributed, but the Audio -Video Sequencer is available only on the November 1988 START Disk. ***** Call 1-800-234-7001 to order. ***** AVSDEM.ARC ---------- Jon Bell created this demo with the Audio-Visual Sequencer (AVS), from the November 1988 issue of START (on sale now). AVS lets you combine sound and animation for great ST movies. The public domain AVS Player program (AVSPLY.ARC on this month's software shelf) lets you sample and show AVS sequences. This is the same space-war demo that is on November's START disk. Requires AVS or AVSPLAYR to run. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 520ST One Meg Upgrade ========================= by Russell Vail WHAT IS REQUIRED ---------------- To do the upgrade, you will need: 16 256K RAM chips, 150 ns access time, e.g. NEC 41256C-15 or TMM4256-15 which is what I used. You can order them from MICROPROCESSORS UNLIMITED, INC.,24000 South Peoria Avenue, Beggs, Oklahoma 74421 (918) 267-4961, or if you know of a place locally. A good miniature soldering iron, with a small tip. Approximately four foot of wire. If you have it, use wire-wrap wire. But you can use ordinary thin single strand wire. De-soldering equipment. E.g. a sucker. Normal tools, such as a screwdriver, tweezers, pliers etc. How it's done: -------------- 1. Open up the 520ST case; pull off the keyboard connector; if there is shielding round the circuit board, take that off, and remove the board. 2. Identify all the RAM chips (U45,44,43,42,38,34,33,32,30,29,28,25,24,18,16). Desolder and remove all the capacitors adjacent to them. This is to give you more room to do the soldering of the chip pins. Using a solder sucker, open up the holes that used to be occupied by the capacitors. Do this step carefully to avoid damaging your ST board. 3. Take each of the new ram chips in turn. Bend pins 4 and 15 so that they are horizontal to the package, and cut off the tips of pins 4 and 15 so that they are about half length. Place the RAM chip on top of the old one (same way around!)with all the pins except, 4 and 15, touching the chip underneath. Carefully solder each pin, except 4 and 15. The best way to do this is to put the tip of the iron on both pins, heat them both for a second(no more) and add a little solder, which should flow around both legs. After doing each chip, check all pins with a magnifying glass. 4. Replace all the desoldered capacitors and solder them back exactly as they were. Please note that your should not attempt to power up your ST until you have completely finished step 6. 5. Now for the wires. The first one connects the RAS on pin 4 of all the new chips, to pin 18 of U15. If you are using wire-wrap wire, then strip off five inches of insulation, Solder the end to pin 4 of the new U45. Measure the distance to the next pin, and shift over that much insulation before soldering. Continue until all the ships are done. Route the wire through the hole in the PCB next to U15 and connect to pin 18 of U15. 6. The second wire connects all the pin 15's of the new U45-U32 to U15 pin 22. The third connects from pin 15 of the new U30-U16 to U15 pin 21. 7. Now sit back and think. Read through these instructions again. Have you done everything? look at the board. Are all the joints good? If you have a meter, check for continuity on all the wires. Applying power with errors might destroy a lot of chips. If you are confident, then put the board back in the case (your workbench is probably covered with bits of wire and solder), connect it to the monitor, disk and power supply, and switch it on. 8. If it boots, then you are probably there. If you have SID (supplied to the developers only) or Kissed, then look at the phys-top variable($42E) which should read $100000. If it is only $80000 then you have only 512K. If you don't have SID, load basic and type in this program. 10 def seg=0 20 loc#=1070 30 print peek(loc#) This should print a result of 1048576. If you get half this (524288) then you have only 512K. DISCLAIMER: The author of this doc file or ST Report are not responsible for your workmanship, success or failure on this upgrade project. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT ===================== By: Chris Thompson I've read ST-Report since about issue #35. Ralph always has had something to say about Atari, some good, some bad. I began to see a trend starting. It seemed that more and more, Atari was losing serious amounts of ground in the home computer race. I've also been a loyal Atarian since the days of 400's and 810 Disk drives. Back when only the Ultra-Rich owned 1200 baud modems. Through all the times I've remained true to Atari computers. I began losing hope. Now, Atari appears on the move again,(If somewhat haltingly). I breathed a sigh of relief and was happy that Atari was safe once more. Then, I was shocked and made to realize exactly how deep Jack and the boys are in the obsolete pit, (the place that TI-994A's and Adam's are kept). It's almost silly actually. On Family Feud one day the question was "Name a company that makes home computers." Simple enough.. right? Wrong. Atari was not listed. The company that brought the second personal computer to the world (The Apple II being the first "Real" Home computer. I'm not counting the Atari as a real computer) was not listed. IBM, Apple, and Commodore were. This is out of a 100 person survey. If not even one out of one-hundred people can remember that Atari makes computers, can we assume that less that 1% of the ENTIRE USA doesn't know? I want more than anything for Atari to be a major computer force. I'd love to see Companies like Lotus and Microsoft falling over each other to write ST or even TT software. But Jack has to ask himself, can Atari come back from these depths? Over the past several issues, the public has seen Ralph blast Atari to the point of embarrassment. (I'd be embarrassed if I was Jack Tramiel) He's attained a sort of 'reputation' for writing a 'Tabloid type magazine' and having 'Nothing good to say about Atari' (not my words) I know Ralph, and nothing is farther from the truth. Ralph, too, is a loyal Atarian. He is frustrated seeing his computer being shunned by people because of the idiocy of its parent company. Ralph, however, is alot more outspoken than alot of people, myself included. At this point in time, I feel that maybe if Atari heard those same type comments from a person who had no vested interest in it (Like Dave Small) or didn't have a 'Reputation' like Ralph's, maybe it'll do some good. I don't claim to be a business whiz, but even a complete idiot can see that unless Atari shapes up, Commodore will RULE the personal computer world. If the 'DRAM Crisis' is over at Atari, why aren't thousands of ST's flooding the market for Christmas? Why also isn't Atari even following the basis of any marketing plan, and ADVERTISING! I see Amiga 15 second spots all over the place. Now they are giving away a free VCR with the purchase of Amiga to show off its Video capabilities. If Atari has a superior machine, as I believe they could with an AMY chip and a Graphics board, (Anyone who has ever used Workbench knows that GEM blows it away in user friendliness. It borders on hostile), why are people flocking to the Amiga in DROVES?!? Steve Jobs releases the NeXT and people go nuts. Atari announces the ABAQ (Now ATW) and people say "Oh, Atari's trying to put out a transputer." Then promptly change the subject to the NeXT. It's time for a change boys and girls, and I have a feeling that if we don't see it soon, it may be too late. I just read ST-Reports #64 and 65 about an hour ago. I saw some notes in ST-Report Confidential about how certain market analysts say that Atari of '89 is going to be much better than Atari of 1987. I also saw where the ST is #1 in Europe and near #1 in the UK. This is fantastic. I can't wait to say to someone "I own an Atari" without explaining that it's a NEW Atari ST Computer, not the game machine. ----------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL ====================== Winter Park, FL Wayne Buckholtz, author of Turbo ST has announced --------------- the new super smart version 1.4 of TURBOST! This version is 100% compatible with Timeworks DTP and performs flawlessly with G+Plus. Jacksonville, FL Avante Guarde Systems has been consuming copious ---------------- quantities of midnight oil in their quest of a quicker Ditto and a "Lil Black Box" along with a super monitor setup...We know one thing, if it's done anything like Ditto, it will be a picture of programming perfection. Rockville, MD GEnie Information Services has joined in an ------------- agreement with NEC Japan to provide GEnie in that country, hmm GEnie in the "FAR EAST"! Portland, OR An Atari spokesman said that Atari hopes to have ------------ at least 1.1 to 1.2 million ST Computers in use worldwide and better than 100-200 thousand in use in the US marketplace as quickly as possible. We would love to see that too. Sunnyvale, CA TOS 1.4 as some of us know the 'new' tos, will be ------------- an in chip reality midyear 1989 and it is likely to have a new designation along with some real powerhouse features ie; large capacity drives etc. Houston, TX Again?....Yep, this time the heated discussion ----------- table sez it's going to be an Atari Chip Manufacturing Facility. Now, that's worth bragging about. Sunnyvale, CA Industry Observers say that we will see good ------------- things from Atari by mid '89, like the 68030 and the now famous laptop, whose formal name is the STACY....but wait it's name has been changed to the STACY II and it's sleek and slimline all the way! Even the hard disks are the thin line. Expected to appear in time for Fall Comdex 89 Los Angeles, CA The highly touted and expected to be shown MAC --------------- portable (laptop) simply will not be ready for the MACWORLD show in Jan 1989, it is however, expected to make it's appearance by late summer. La Habra, CA ST X-PRESS in it's triumphant come back appears to ------------ have fully survived the ST magazine 'shakeout' that recently occured, it's fine new 'look' and quality are more than worth the subscription. Sunnyvale, CA Atari and Nintendo are at each other's throats ------------- again, seems this is over who got over whose protection schemes...hmmmmm. Camarillo, CA WORD-UP ~ An "exceptional" Word Processor using ------------- G-Dos/G+Plus, has released Ver 1.30 dated 11/10/88 the manual is revised. Those of you who have the 'older' manual can update by calling 805-482-4446. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- An Inside View ============== The responsibilities of an Editor of any magazine are truly awesome. Let's take a look at a few points here and see. An Editor has to choose between many articles and items every day to put together a quality magazine. He has to always keep the reader in mind and be expertly sensitive to all the readers of the magazine. The readers must always be placed above all else. Realistically speaking, the Editor has few tools at his disposal besides his avenues of communication that enable him to verify and gather first rate information. He has, however, one other very decisive tool called ethics at his disposal and believe me it probably comes into play more often than any other tool. He has three major questions to ask himself, first, "does this item effect our readers and in what manner?".. second, "has this information been verified"? and third, "do we have both sides of the issue?". Purposely one killer question was omitted and that is "WHAT WILL OUR ADVERTISERS THINK OF THIS ARTICLE?" thankfully, many editors have "trained" both the publishers and the advertisers that they must not attempt to sway the embodiment of the articles to fit their own convictions and opinions. Now to succeed with the special interest groups and others who still make vain attempts to do such nasty things. In this day and age, it is easy to communicate rapidly on a world wide basis and therefore many situations are able to develop and must be either handled, looked into, or passed over. In the Atari arena very little is passed over, perhaps the best way to say that is," nothing except the personal lives of the participants in the Atari area is passed over." Consider the facts, almost 100% of the information flow in the Atari world reaches the users, (all the users, modems or not), and it is almost totally attributed to the thousands of modem users worldwide. Just about each and every one of us owe a debt of gratitude to these folks. Many of the folks with the modems belong to usergroups and are sincerely dedicated to making sure the information is passed along. ST Report has long been suspect of the "so-called" studies that say around three out 10 users do not have a modem, we would like to know and the only way to find this out is for you to tell us, please, check in your Usergroup, and let us know how many members you have overall, how many of those members have modems and (surprise!) how many have MORE than one modem. It is time we, (all of us), set the records straight. When you think of how many active dedicated usergroups there are in the USA today, it becomes very clear that the modem is the second most powerful communications tool behind the telephone. There comes with the swift communications ability, a responsibility to provide ALL the news, information and topics available to the user regardless of the source or depth of controversy. The editor must keep in mind that if he does not present the information, it will appear in any case and then he will be forced to assume the posture of: showing partiality, concealing certain items to protect people or products or last and perhaps the most damaging having betrayed the public trust "To provide ALL the information" (legally and morally correct) and allow the users the right to arrive at a conclusion of their own free will. We, at ST Report, believe the userbase is very capable and quite able to choose between right and wrong and therefore will continue to present all sides of every issue. Having seen a number of issues develop in the past year, allowed us to mature and become able to see things more clearly. We will, in the coming year, strive to bring forward all the news and information aimed at or concerning the Atari userbase and computing in general. We will most certainly remain responsive to the majority of our readers who have, in recent months, expressed encouraging comments about the magazine's progress. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- JANUARY 1989 ST - LOG ===================== TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= FEATURES -------- The Trans-Warp Drive...................David Small & Dan Moore Double the speed of your floppy-disk operations! DeTab Utility............................Matthew J.W. Ratcliff Replace the tab characters in source code files with the proper number of spaces for print-out. Cartridge Port Interface.........................Randy Constan For readers with electronic experience, here's an interesting build-it-yourself project. Software Engineering: Module Madness...............................Karl E. Wiegers This month, the ST-Log software engineering guru discusses program modularization. Omni-Life...........................................Tom Hudson Atari veteran Tom Hudson presents a new twist to the game of life--with eye-popping results. Drama-cide.........................................A. Baggetta Is it murder, or is it suicide? How did it happen? Who is responsible? It's up to you to explore the castle and find the answers. REVIEWS ------- DynaCADD (ISD Marketing)..........................Ian Chadwick Impossible Mission II (Epyx).........................Andy Eddy BB/ST (QMS).......................................Blake Arnold Desktop Publisher ST (Timeworks)..................Ian Chadwick NeoDesk (Gribnif Software)...........................Andy Eddy COLUMNS ------- Assembly Line.....................................Douglas Weir Ian's Quest.......................................Ian Chadwick Database DELPHI......................................Andy Eddy ST User.....................................Arthur Leyenberger Step 1.......................................Maurice Molyneaux DEPARTMENTS ----------- Editorial............................................Andy Eddy Reader Comment................................................ ST News....................................................... Footnotes........................................Kevin L. Pehr -------------------------------------------------------------------------- REWARD - REWARD =============== As of Nov. 01, 1988, "The Atari Advantage Collector Promotion" began offering prizes to consumers based on the number of Atari Video Games for their Atari Game System (2600,7800 or XEGS). Atari video game retailers can provide consumers with a free Atari Advantage Poster and catalog, the consumer then attaches proof of purchase seals from Atari Games to that poster. Collecting five games earns the consumer a free Atari Advantage T-shirt, while 15 games purchased earns a free Atari cartridge for any Atari game system. Die Hard collectors with 25 proof of purchase seals will earn a reduced price on one item of Atari hardware (7800 for $25.00, XEGS or Disk Drive for $50.00). Consumers who submit a 25 word essay describing why they like Atari video games along with their 25 seal poster are also eligible to win the Grand Prize: A seven day trip for two to California, including a tour of the Atari Headquarters Facility. Yes..folks, they are serious.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERLINK 1.85 UPDATES ====================== 12/12/88 Program Updates --------------- TA Buffer is no longer filtered (allows foreign fonts to be used). TA Buffer bug when used with both word wrap and half duplex has been fixed. Redraw bug associated with file selector override is fixed. New version of VT100 fixes some bugs related to line feeds and graphics modes. PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS: ------------------------- Auto load of .TXF / .EMU can be specified in the Startup Parameters. Message can be left Private (for high access only) in Answer Mode. Numerous shortcut keys have been added including: Execute Program Alternate-x Quick Draw Alternate-q Open window Alternate-w Save Buffer Alternate-s Clear Buffer Alternate-b Set Block Start Alternate-g Set Block End Alternate-e Clear Settings Alternate-h Delete Block Alternate-y Move Block Alternate-m Copy Block Alternate-k Find String Alternate-n Repeat Find Alternate-t These shortcuts are ALSO reflected in the drop down menus. Find command has been speeded up. Buffer garbage collection has been speeded up. New version of MULTIXY adds Batch Ymodem to the background. INTERLOG.PRG now has the ability to save the cost per hour/min for the phone buttons. German version handles date in dd.mm.yy format and time in 24 hr. German version does not strip high order bit in VT52 mode. * Intersect's Ongoing Support for the ST * ====================================== NEW ADDITIONS: -------------- A DEVELOPER'S KIT has been released for .TXF and .EMU protocol development (MEGAMAX C compatible), this kit is FREE and may be down loaded from GENIE, COMPUSERVE and our BBS (813-924-4590). Release Notes for REVOLVER Version 1.1 -------------------------------------- Q & A: ------ A text file with common questions and answers has now been included on this disk. TIME: ----- The ST has a software clock and a hardware clock. The hardware clock is not changed during switching or rolling in programs but the software clock will lose accuracy during switching and when rolling in programs. If you prefer to have the clock reflect accurate time you should add REVTIME.PRG to your AUTO folder. This program will cause all accesses to the ST's clock to be made from the hardware. NOTE: The Set Time & Date function in REVOLVER set the hardware clock. PARTITION COPY: --------------- Partition copy is a new feature that copies the contents of one partition to another one. To use it click "COPY" on the main menu, then select the target partition. An example of a good use for this feature would be if you have partitions that are the same size, you only need to boot one of them, and copy the others, making startup faster. SYSTEM CRASH MESSAGE: --------------------- Revolver 1.0 intercepted system crashes 2 and 3 by displaying a message in the upper left hand corner of the screen. This display has been removed in Version 1.1 so that a system crash is handled by the operating system in the normal manner. FLOPPY DRIVE MEDIA CHANGE: -------------------------- Revolver 1.0 could be fooled into not making a media change when switching between single and double sided floppy disks. Version 1.1 forces a media change to occur whenever a partition is switched to, thus fixing the problem. FORTY FOLDER FIX: ----------------- Version 1.1 will not activate the Forty Folder Fix when used with the Version 1.4 Operating System (since this problem is solved in 1.4). PYROTECHNICS: ------------- Version 1.1 allows the user to turn off REVOLVER's sounds and visual slide in effect (selectable in the Configuration Menu). FOLDER RENAME: -------------- A folder rename has been added the the Disk Commands Menu. FILE SELECTOR: -------------- The file selector will now show folders when using a wild card pattern for the file name. EXIT USING RETURN KEY: ---------------------- REVOLVER dialogues may now be exited using either the left mouse click on the EXIT button or by pressing the Return Key. MOUSE ACCELERATOR: ------------------ The Mouse Accelerator in version 1.0 conflicted with Word perfect and several other programs that used their own mouse drivers. This has been fixed in version 1.1 thus allowing the use of such programs with REVOLVER. However if problems occur simply de-install the mouse driver and reboot without it. PARTITION SIZE ALLOCATION: -------------------------- The partition allocation block size has been decreased from 256K to 128K thus allowing for a greater combination of partition sizes. This is of particular benefit to 1040 users. Additionally, the allocation of REVOLVER's overhead across partitions can be handled in two ways... EVEN allocation will allocate the overhead equally across all partitions (this was the way Version 1.0 did it), PERCENTAGE will allocate the overhead based on the percentage of memory in each partition. PERCENTAGE is recommended if you wish to allocate a minimum size partition (1 block). PARTITIONS TOO SMALL FOR GEM: ----------------------------- Version 1.1 will force partitions with less than 160K of memory to become TOS only partitions. You may run only small TOS applications in such a partition but REVOLVER will be accessible through them. This will allow you to use REVOLVER with minimal overhead should you desire not to use the GEM switching functions. MOUSE COLOR CHANGE: ------------------- The mouse color has been changed so that it is easier to see on monochrome systems. RIGHT MOUSE DOUBLE CLICK: ------------------------- The mouse driver has an added feature selectable in the Mouse Configuration Dialogue that allows you to use the Right Mouse Button to simulate a Left Mouse Double Click. BOOT MANAGER: ------------- A boot manager has been added and can be turned on in the Configure Dialogue. It allows you to select auto programs and desk accessories as each partition is booted. Simply select ACC or AUTO on the lower left of the dialogue then use the mouse to move your selections to the USE column (if you want them) or the POOL column (if you wish to boot without them). Pressing Return or clicking on Desktop will allow the boot process to continue normally, clicking on the CLI will cause the booting partition to boot only to TOS. CALLING UP REVOLVER: -------------------- Normally REVOLVER can easily be called up using the ALT-LEFT SHIFT key combination and switching to the next partition can be quickly accomplished by pressing the CONTROL-ALT-LEFT SHIFT combination. Some programs will not respond to these combinations unless you depress another key (such as the space bar) while waiting for REVOLVER to acknowledge (the screen flash). Some example programs that demonstrate this are DCOPY, DBMAN and GULAM. Also sometimes pressing a mouse button helps. PROBLEM PROGRAM TYPES: ---------------------- Most programs that do not work with REVOLVER are those that place the keyboard into Joystick Monitor and/or Fire Button Monitor Mode. This includes many games. You can often successfully rollout then rollin such games from their title screen or menu screens. Rolling them out from the action screen will cause them to be fully restored when rolled back in except that the Joystick Fire Button will not work. Programs that boot directly from the master disk will not allow REVOLVER to load (since REVOLVER is not on the master disk). This category is also usually games. Programs that make changes to the architecture of the operating system (such as PCDITTO and MAGIC SAC) will remove REVOLVER and all of its Partitions and should be run without REVOLVER loaded (Hold down the ALT-LEFT SHIFT while booting to boot without REVOLVER). REVOLVER ROUTINES: ------------------ REVOLVER has several functions that can be called through the trap 13 handler. They were designed to aid in integration of REVOLVER with standard applications. See REVBIND.C for examples. THE REVOLVER DISK CONTAINS: =========================== REVINST.PRG REVOLVER Installation Program REVINST.RSC Resource for REVINST.PRG REVLOAD.PRG REVOLVER Loader REVOVLER.SYS REVOLVER System File REVTIME.PRG REVOLVER's Clock Access manager (use AUTO folder if you want synchronized clock). RELEASE.TXT This file. Q&A.TXT Questions and Answers text file. REVBIND.C Examples of programming binding for REVOLVER. TO ORDER EITHER REVOLVER 1.1 or INTERLINK 1.85 ------------ -------------- Call or Write: ============== Intersect Software 2828 Clark Road Suite 10 Sarasota, Florida, 34231 TOLL FREE FLA ONLY --------- -------- 1-800-826-0130 1-813-923-8774 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS WEEK'S QUOTABLE QUOTE ========================== An EXPERT'S Credo ----------------- The 'Expert' is the person who deftly avoids the small errors, while sweeping on to the GRAND FALLACY! *** Happy Holidays to all our Friends *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ST-REPORT Issue #66 December 19, 1988 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ½ copyright 1988 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Views Presented herein are not necessarily those of ST Report/CPU Report. Reprint permission granted, unless otherwise noted. All reprints must include ST Report and the author's name. All information herein is believed correct, ST Report, it's editors and staff are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained in this publication. -------------------------------------------------------------------------