*---== ST REPORT ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original Online ST Magazine" ------------------------------- February 24, 1989 Volume III No.76 ========================================================================== ST Report Online Magazine ½ ------------------------------ Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236 ~ 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST BBS: 904-786-4176 ~ 12-24-96 HST _________________________________________ ** F-NET/FIDOMAIL NODE 350 ** Our support BBS carries ALL issues of STReport¿ and An International list of private BBS systems carrying STReport¿ for their users enjoyment -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlights ---------- ~ From the Editor's Desk ~ CPU Report ~ STReport Reader - 1st Class! ~ Leisure Suit Larry ~ Turtle 3.0 ~ Manual Maker 2.0 ~ ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL ~ Fleetstreet 2.0 **** ST REPORT'S CPU NEWSWIRE LIVES! **** ** MEGA FAMILY SOON TO EXPAND! ** **** LYCO SEZ 1040 "OLD & DISCONTINUED"! **** ======================================================================== AVAILABLE ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ THE SOURCE ======================================================================== From the Editor's Desk: ----------------------- With Atari Corp. planning a systematic uphill reclaiming of the home computer market in the USA, how can any true Atarian sit still? Here at STReport the wave of excited anticipation has never been so high. Usually, you hear well, let's wait and see. Not this time though, we are confident of Atari's forward thrust and can readily see the positive, enthusiastic attitude of the folks at Atari. We have noticed that a few other "publications" have felt a need to put us down for our editorials and commentaries. In the great words of Rhett..."Frankly ..etc." We feel we provide a viable service to the Atari computing community and judging by the positive mail we are receiving from both the States and Europe, we have been mandated to forge ahead and continue as we have been. In the past, we have been "pro" mail order, it appears we may have to "eat crow" because of the behavior of two rather prominent mail order houses, LYCO for saying the 1040ST is discontinued and worse yet is CMO who likes to use it's customers money (interest FREE!) Both items appear in this issue. Happily, in the year of the FUJI, STReport has begun the first mail out to our faithful readers and supporters! If you're not on our mailing list, please leave your full address in E-Mail or drop us a post card with your address on it to our PO Box 6672, JAX, FL. 32205. Thanks for your support, 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 MAGAZINE 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 - 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 ************************************************************************** > CPU REPORT¿ ---------- Issue 10 By Michael Arthur Remember When.... In 1985, the 520 ST didn't have TOS in ROM, but Atari was showing a 260 ST (which would have had 256K of RAM), which just happened to have TOS in ROM, with the result that the 260 ST with TOS ROMs had almost as much memory free for applications as did the 520 ST without TOS ROMs? CPU Systems Roundup II¿ ======================= WORM Drives, Floptical Disks, and the Future of Storage ------------------------------------------------------- In the time of the computer industry, advances in chip technology, graphics, and RAM have occurred at an incredible rate. While these areas are very important, one field which (although it is just as vital to computers) has not achieved the level of recognition as areas such as microprocessors is the matter of storing all the information that computers handle. As computers became more powerful, operating systems gained in capabilities, and applications had more features, the need for ways to store the data generated by all these computers grew exponentially. While Five Mb hard disks were reserved for power users as late as 1985, now 20-40 Meg hard drives are the norm, with 150-300 Meg Hard drives being the Power User's dream. But as computers improve even more, it is a certainty that even MORE storage will be needed. In the past few years, four technologies have emerged to fill the present and future need for information storage: CD-ROMs, WORMs, Bernoulli Drives, and most recently, Magneto-Optical disks. CD-ROM's (or Compact Disk - Read Only Memory) read data from Compact Disks through a pretty interesting process. First, a laser emits a beam of light which is reflected by a mirror into an objective lens, which focuses it onto the optical disk. Embedded into the disk are tiny pits (or dots), and when the disk is rotated under the lens, the raised pits reflect a greater intensity of light back to the lens than the rest of the disk. This increase in intensity is then detected by the read head, to denote the digital data stored on the disk. Laser technology is used to pack an enormous number of "dots" onto the disk, resulting in that vast amounts of data are densely compressed in Compact Disks. CD-ROMs are made in an unconventional manner, with disks being formed by stamping them, or cutting them out of a smooth sheet of plastic film. This, by the way, is exactly how phonograph records are made in the music industry.... CD-ROMs might be perfect for storing large databases of general info that doesn't require revision often (such as encyclopedias, digitized sounds, and dictionaries), but if you need to store huge amounts of your OWN data (such as a series of AutoCad 3-D files with full schematics of the space shuttle, or a complete catalog of ALL the source code produced by a programming team from the program's inception) for archiving etc, WORM (or Write Once, Read Many) drives may be your only option. WORM drives read data in a fashion similar to CD-ROM drives, but they can also write data to disk (though this writing is permanent; hence the term, "Write Once Read Many"). This is done by using a laser to burn holes directly onto the surface of the disk. Since these holes reflect much less light than intact disk areas, the decrease in beam intensity which is caused is used to denote the data stored on the disk. As with CD-ROMs, the lasers are used to mark a great number of tiny holes in the relatively small area of the disk, causing great information density, and greater data storage capabilities.... Most of us identify Bernoulli drives with the 20 Megabyte Removable Cartridges made by Iomega Corporation. This technology, though, is based on a principle of physics that is used everyday.... Bernoulli's Principle states that an increase in the flow of a fluid on one side of a surface produces less pressure on the other side, and that a decrease in fluid flow on one side results in an increase in pressure on the other side. For example, a plane's wings are made so the speed of the airflow below the wing is greater than the speed above it, resulting that the pressure below the wing is greater than the pressure above it, producing a lift that helps the plane take off. Iomega used this principle in the Bernoulli Box by having a flexible magnetic disk rotate very closely to a circular plate which contains the magnetic read/write heads. When the disk is spinning, the circular plate draws in and manipulates air flow, lifting the disk up towards the plate close enough that the head to disk spacing is VERY small (50 microns for the Bernoulli Box). Since the magnetic head does not actually touch the disk (doing so would create pressure that would push the disk away from it, and nullify the Bernoulli effect), head crashes are practically impossible. Also, since the disk is closely (but safely) aligned with the magnetic head, more data can be stored and accessed, since the head can accurately read/write from more tracks than otherwise possible. Also, given the general basis of this method, Bernoulli technology can be used with other storage methods, in order to achieve even MORE reliable ways of storing MUCH more data than before.... Although these three technologies will be important, most of them deal with archival storage, or storing massive amounts of data for later retrieval. Recently introduced, however, magneto-optical drives seem certain to revolutionize the area of floppy disk storage. The most famous of these drives is the Sony drive that comes with the NeXT Computer. The disks for the NeXT drive use the same material as CD-ROM disks, with a reflective "mirror" layer on top of a plastic film. NeXT disks use a single laser to both read and write data. To write data to the disk, first the drive applies a magnetic field to the disk. This field is oriented to write the binary digit 0 on the disk. Then, a laser is used to heat a sector on the mirror layer to its Curie point, or the temperature at which the crystals in the mirror layer change their polarity to match that of the magnetic field. This makes all binary data in the sector consist of 0s. The drive then orients the magnetic field to write the binary digit 1 on the drive. The laser then heats all the sector's areas where a bit must be set to a 1, to the mirror layer's Curie point. To read data onto the disk, the drive first removes the magnetic field. When it uses the laser to aim a beam of light at the mirror layer, a phenomenon known as the Kerr effect causes the crystal alignment to alter the polarization of the reflected beam. The amount of beam polarization determines its intensity, and a polarizing filter in the read head then determines whether a 0 or a 1 was read on the disk by the level of beam intensity. As in CD-ROMs, lasers enable a large amount of data to be written in a very small space. But the NeXT technology, at $1500 a drive, and $50 a disk, is too expensive, slow, and big (not all of us need 256 MB disks in regular use) for conventional microcomputers. To satisfy the needs of personal computers, Insite Peripherals has developed the Insite I325 Drive, which uses removable "Floptical" 3 1/2 Inch disks, each capable of storing up to 25 Mb of data. Designed by Jim Shugart, one of the engineers behind the original 5 1/4 inch floppy disk, Floptical disks are very similar to high-density floppy disks used by IBM to hold 1.44 Megs of data, and can be used by any computer with an SCSI interface. One serious problem with current floppy disks is that they tend to wobble, making it difficult for the magnetic read/write heads to track the data on the disk accurately. So as to make it easier for the drive's magnetic heads, floppy disks always have had a limited amount of tracks per inch. Insite Peripherals solved this by embedding an optical servo track (using lasers to precisely etch the track markers) onto the surface of conventional high-density disks. An infrared LED is used to follow the tracks, so magnetic heads can be aligned more precisely, preventing disks from wobbling. Since the read/write heads are made more accurate, lasers can etch tracks on the disk more densely, and the LED can easily follow the tracks, this allows MANY more tracks (15,000 per inch, as compared to regular 3 1/2 Inch disks, which only hold 135 tracks per inch) to be used on Floptical Disks. Roughly translated, this means that MUCH more data can be quickly stored and accessed from disk. In fact, Insite's drives have the same seek time (65 milliseconds) as a Seagate 225, and the I235 is planned to match the cost of Seagate's SCSI 20 Meg Hard Disk (at around $250.00), so it can go head to head with current hard disk technology.... Most of us take disk storage for granted. While we get excited over the newest computer, powerhouse microchip, or the latest and greatest in computer graphics, no one really seems to consider what we all use to store our data, whether it be the IRS 1040 Tax Form, the church newsletter, or Falcon. But while information storage has received relatively little acclaim in the computer field, it is unquestionably a vital part of all computers, both now and in the future.... But ponder, if you will, these questions: 1) With Magneto-Optical Drives, will current hard drives become obsolete? 2) When will the technologies discussed above be widely used in low to middle-end microcomputers, and who will first utilize them? ------==========***==========------ > CPU REPORT CONFIDENTIAL¿ ======================= Sausalito, CA AutoDesk Inc. has started shipping AutoCad Version 10 ------------- for the Macintosh II. Cost: $2995.95, but for the most powerful CAD package for microcomputers.... Chatsworth, CA NMB Technologies has introduced the first 1 Megabit -------------- DRAM chip with an access time of 60 milliseconds. **NOTE** This new DRAM chip will allow computers running at 25-30 MHZ to be made without needing complex memory caching schemes, which will dramatically reduce their cost, and without having wait states, which will greatly increase their speed. West Chester, PA Commodore displayed a new Graphics Card for the Amiga ---------------- 2000 which will GREATLY expand the Amiga's dominance in the graphics arena. Not much is known at this time about this board, but it is rumored to use 16 million colors at the same time, and have a top resolution of 1280*960 w/256 colors at the same time. There WILL be more info on this board next week.... Flowery Branch, GA DayStar Digital has just come out with the 33/030 ------------------ Accelerator II, a new coprocessor for the Mac II/IIx that uses a 33 MHZ 68030 and a 33 MHZ 68882 math chip. Cost: $7000.00, not including the 4 Megs of 32-bit RAM required to use it. Since that will cost an added $1600.00, maybe 8 or 16 MHZ isn't so bad after all.... Besides....It's only money.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STReport InfoFile¿ ================= NAVARONE INDUSTRIES =================== Navarone Industries currently has five products. All of our products are for the ST (both 520 and 1040) and all of the MEGA series. All products include a cartridge which plugs into the cartridge port of the ATARI. The five are: 1. TimeKeeper: The Navarone TimeKeeper is a battery operated clock/calendar cartridge which always knows the time and date. Software included provides several choices for versatile use of the TimeKeeper, including updating the computer with the current time and date when powered on. The TimeKeeper cartridge is 'flow-thru', meaning another cartridge may be plugged into it so as to not lose the cartridge port. Retail price is $29.95. 2. Video Digitizer: Connect a video camera, surveillance camera, VCR or any other video signal (not RF) and see the image on the ATARI screen. Several grey scales are available as well as animation capabilities. The images shown may be captured to disk in several formats for later use in desktop publishing programs. $79.95. 3. Sound Digitizer: Similar to the Video Digitizer, but samples of sounds are captured instead. These sounds may be viewed through a pseudo oscilloscope on the ATARI screen or played back through the cartridge and externally powered speakers. Any of the sounds may be modified by stretching, squeezing, patching, even played backwards. Imagine what a drop of water sounds like played backwards. Both the Video and Sound digitizers are quite educational. $99.95. 4. ST-SCAN-S: A combination of the Canon IX-12 sheet fed image scanner, cable, interface cartridge and software for a complete package to be used in the desktop publishing arena. A page of information (max. 8.5 x 11) may be scanned with several options including line art and half tones, along with adjustments for light and dark copy. Four densities of 75, 150, 200 or 300 dots per inch may be chosen. Formats for storing the images are DEGAS, GEM (IMG) and PostScript. A mini editor is also provided to 'clean up' any scanned images, including 'fat bit' manipulation. The retail price of ST- SCAN-S $1239.00. 5. ST-SCAN-F: The same package as #4 above, but including the Canon IX-12F flatbed image scanner instead of the sheet fed. With the sheet fed scanner, the item to be scanned is 'pulled' through the scanner, scanning as it goes. The flatbed scanner is much more like a copy machine, in that the object to be scanned is placed on a flat glass and the scanning mechanism moves across (beneath) it. This method allows scanning most anything; boxes, bound pages in books, even your hand. Everything else mentioned about the sheet fed scanner above is true for the flatbed except for the price. The flatbed scanner retail price is $1779.00. There are other products in the works, but that's the future... We accept Master Card, Visa, COD and pre-paid check. We ship UPS to the USA and Canada. Please call for pricing and availability. Generally, all orders are shipped the same day as ordered or the next day if UPS has already picked up today. Our address and phone numbers are: Navarone Industries, Inc. 454 Kenneth Avenue Campbell, CA 95008 (800) 624-6545 (USA except California) (408) 378-8177 (in California, Canada or foreign) (408) 378-3920 (FAX) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STR Spotlight¿ ============= STReport READING PROGRAM ======================== (c)ASDE Inc. 151 Jolicoeur Hull, Quebec J8Z 1C8 CANADA The [STReader.prg] program in is a shareware contribution Copyrighted program by ASDE Inc. and produced exclusively for STReport. The program permits very quick loading of text files so that it is almost as quick to use as the desk top option. It is however vastly more sophisticated than the desk top reader, since it permits you to go back and forth from one page to the next or previous page. It also permits you to jump forward or back to any page number. The program does not scroll a page on screen but displays it all at once, this greatly diminishes eye fatigue while reading long texts. The title of the text being read as well as the present page number and last page number are displayed on the last line of the screen. A book like frame has been added around the text to create an more pleasant reading environment. Page changes, either forward or backward are graphically displayed by a figurative page flipping of the right or left top most corner. If you enjoy this program and would like to sample our other fine ST/Mega programs, send $5.00 and a blank disk together with a self addressed envelope. In return we will send you a functional demonstration version of GEOGRAPHY TUTOR the Electronic Atlas and GFA_BILD the program building utility which makes your GFA BASIC enormously more flexible and easy to use. Ed: Since the great surprise of being treated to this neat reader, we have no regrets in endorsing this program. We realize you really do not need a reader program, but...this one is quite nice and has some really nice special effects. In fact, we recommend it's use to each and every one of our readers and respectfully request that all who use this reader follow through and support the author. We thought so much of the efforts of the author we sent him a check to help his new company along and, as a result, he has promised enhancements for the STReport Reader. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STR Review¿ ========== LEISURE SUIT LARRY II ===================== by Bill Baugh Leisure Suit Larry II or by its official name, Leisure Suit Larry goes Looking For Love (In Several Wrong Places), is a new inter- active graphic adventure from the folks who are synonymous with adventuring, Sierra. As the title states, it is a continuation of their first LSL game, with nerdy ol' Larry Laffer being the main character. Graphic adventures have always fascinated me. Being able to live out a characters life, as in a book, is great for relaxation and escapism. But up until recently, most of the graphic games have been, well, quite blocky. With the insurgence of games like Chronoquest, Captain Blood and the grandaddy of them all, Dungeon Master, we are finally able to see some of the true power the ST possess in the realm of graphics. Well, Sierra has never truly taken the ST to its graphic limits; but they're trying. With recent releases of Manhunter, Police Quest II, Kings Quest IV and of course LSLII, you can tell that they are doing more than just porting over Apple programs. You can see the improvement immediately; from the title screen until the last hoorah with Larry. The game is also much larger than its predecessor. Whereas the original came on two, single sided disks, LSLII comes on three double sided disks! (For 520ST owners with SS drives, you may send your disks back for single sided ones for a nominal fee.) Al has added options, such as picking the level of nastiness that you will play at, and hiding the parser cursor when you are not typing (allows for larger screen display). Now on to the story. After the first LSL, Larry has gained (surprisingly) more of a compassionate view towards women. Rather than looking for a good time, Larry is ready to find "Mrs. Right" and settle down for awhile. The only problem is that Larry has accidentally bought something the KGB wants desperately; and will stop at nothing to get at (even seduction!). This is probably one of the few games in which you will enjoy dying in. The story takes you from L. A., to a cruise ship, to a resort island, to a plane then finally to a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. I would like to say more but I can't without ruining the game for everybody. I will say though, if you like adventures, this one is for you. It is very challenging and best of all, enjoyable. Also, Sierra deserves all the support we can give them. They are really putting out some quality games, all available for the ST. So if your in the mood for some fun, check out Leisure Suit Larry II, you won't regret it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STR Review¿ ========== Turtle 3.0 ========== The Premier Hard Disk Back-up Utility ------------------------------------- There are a lot of different hard drive back-up programs out in the public domain, but none (to me) stand up to Turtle 3.0 by George R. Woodside. Mr. Woodside incorporates an ingenious scheme in that he uses a RAM disk that is exactly the same configuration of the destination floppy disk. This program flies! Having the hard drive writing directly into the RAM disk and then whole disk copying out to the floppy; it's quite amazing to see how fast it actually works. The program is full of great features, all accessible through drop down menus. You are able to set an archival bit so that in later back-ups, you may skip over programs that have already been saved, select the number of copies you want to back-up and use the query mode to pick and choose which files will be copied. Also, you have a wide variety of destination disk formats to choose from, with the RAM disk conforming to whatever is chosen. Since the program copies the files using TOS and no special compressions, you may restore the drive using the desktop. This may seem tedious, but with having very recent experience with this, I have found that it is definitely the way to go. -----=====**=====----- Manual Maker 2.0 ================ Manual Maker is a new program from Craig W. Daymon that takes any ASCII file, such as a README file or docs for your favorite program, and turns it into a fully formatted, double sided, font selectable, page numbered printout. The program must run under either GDOS or G+DOS, with GEM fonts and printer drivers. None of these are included. Once loaded, you have the ability to set page configurations, select what fonts you have available, select justifications and print qualities (whether draft or final). You also have the ability to embed commands to perform functions like centering, boldface, etc. As stated above, you also have the ability to print on both sides of the paper to make it look like an actual "manual". The program is very well written. It may seem a little slow on formatting your document, but you must remember that it is having to reformat and "re-font" your entire document. Give this a try, I think you'll like it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL¿ ====================== - Orange, CA. ***** SIG HARTMANN CAMPAIGNS FOR ATARI ***** ----------- Sig Hartmann, Executive Vice President of Atari Corp will be present at the main meeting to discuss 'Where Atari is heading'. The meeting usually lasts about 1 1/2 hours, and there will be a room set up after the meeting, where you will be able to talk to an Atari Rep., and dealers. Our usual meeting is held at 11:00 am. The meetings are at Chapman College, 333 N. Glassell Orange California. The 11:00 meeting is in Wilkenson Hall, Room 221. The main meeting is held at 1:00 pm in Hashinger Lecture Hall. For More Info: call Dain Leese at (714)552-5185 or Bill Bencivenga at (714)633-4665. - San Francisco, CA. **** SPECTRUM HOLOBYTE TO UNVEIL E.B.S! **** ----------------- In a bold move to maintain the lead in innovative gaming software, preliminary plans for a superb Electronic Battlefield Simulation is right around the corner. It could mean you and the guy next to you, (that's right, next to you!), will fight a common enemy ..the neat part is your buddy can be a thousand miles away! Six NEW titles are on the way for 1989! G. Louie is an ST Fan! - N.Hollywood, CA. ***** CODEHEAD = HIGH LEVEL PROGRAMS! ***** --------------- Chas. F. Johnson and John Eidsvoog continue to make "magic" with assembly programming. In plain terms; "these guys are good!" Codehead Software, the name of their company, is planning a number of superb releases in the very near future: Codehead Utilities [2 disks], HeadStart [Extended Version] and FatBack [30-60 days]. Codehead also has G+Plus Dos [2.1] and Multi-Desk [1.70] available ..folks, these programs have a proven track record and are among the very best available for the ST in the "make your life easier" area. On top of all this action CFJ has also released to shareware ..version 1.98 of his world famous "ArcShell". Since this program is shareware, it up to all of us to show our sincere appreciation for his fine efforts and loyal support. If you are using the program send him the few ducats he asks for...Arcshell has made all our lives just a little easier. - Rockville, MD. **** GEnie Assigns a NEW SYSOP **** -------------- Darlah Hudson Pine, Head SysOp GEnie Atari Sigs, announced this week the appointment of Douglas N. Wheeler to the position of sysop in the Atari ST RT. To Doug we wish all the luck and success possible. His 'new' address will be Doug.W... - New York, N.Y. **** CLONING THE MAC **** ------------- Cloning the MacIntosh. Many companies think about it. Some have even tried - for example, the Brazilian company Unitron. But Apple's threats of legal action have always put a damper on the idea. Now, Taiwan-based Happy Joiner Company has shown two Mac-compatible gate-array chip sets at the Computex trade show in Taiwan. The gate arrays include a real-time clock chip and floppy disk controller that's capable of managing two 800k Mac floppy drives. The company, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) vendor, hasn't cloned the Mac ROM yet. But according to Asiatrends, a newsletter on Asian sources of computer products that is published by the Trade Media in Hong Kong, Happy Joiner also exhibited a prototype Mac-compatible at the show. Since Happy Joiner maintains the chip sets don't violate any existing Apple copyrights, the company apparently isn't worried about Apple lawsuits. Happy Joiner doesn't plan on selling the Mac-compatible computers itself, but will sell its chip sets to anyone who wants to design legal Mac ROM and legal software to run it. - Sunnyvale, CA. ***** NEW ADDITION TO MEGA FAMILY! ***** -------------- Rumor has it that there is a 1mb MegaST in the works. The gain here is the use of the expansion buss. The Mega family will soon become the backbone of Atari Corp. According to our source.. - Jersey Shore, PA. *** LYCO COMPUTER SEZ 1040 IS DISCONTINUED *** ---------------- Talk about SOUR GRAPES!! Just because Atari will not supply mail order, they now have their representatives telling folks the 1040STF is outdated and discontinued... just ask Joe! - London, U.K. ***** APPLE MUSIC LTD. sues APPLE COMPUTERS! ***** ----------- The group that revolutionized rock 'n roll wants the company that revolutionized the personal-computer industry to stop the music. Apple Corps Ltd., the British-based concern once owned by the Beatles, said Apple Computer has violated a trademark agreement that prohibited the computer maker from marketing any musical product with the name "Apple." In a lawsuit filed this week in London, the Beatles' company asked a court to prevent Apple Computer from selling some of its most popular models, which are capable of playing or synthesizing music. (CTSY CIS) - London, U.K. **** ATARI UNVEILS POCKET SYSTEM IN UK **** ----------- Atari Corp. displayed at London's Which Computer? Show this week an MSDOS pocket computer that was designed by Distributed Information Processing Ltd. and made by Atari in Japan. Atari hand held device weighs about a pound and measures eight by four inches. The 80C88 system offers a 40-col. by eight-line liquid xtal display and comes in 128K and 256K memory sizes. ROM software includes OS, address book, diary, spreadsheet, calculator and editor, it uses AA batteries." You first read about this goodie here in STReport before the Fall Comdex Show in Las Vegas. - Williamsport, PA. **** CMO USES FREE MONEY AT BUYER'S EXPENSE! **** ---------------- COMPUTER MAIL ORDER CO. received an order for a monitor on the 13th of January, 1989 and the customer received it on the 18th of January, BROKEN & CRACKED! When CMO was called they said they had no more in stock and would refund the purchase price and S&H upon receipt of the defective monitor. CMO received the monitor back on the 27th of January..the customer still has not received his refund, in fact, after much discussion with 5 CMO representatives, it came to light that CMO cuts refund checks only after they have a certain amount of refunds to do. It seems they are "pressed" for time or manpower...or maybe your money??? How many of you remember BLACK PATCH!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STReport InfoFile¿ ================= FLEETSTREET PUBLISHER 2.0¿ ========================= MICHTRON proudly announces the release of Fleet Street Publisher 2.0¿. When it comes to publishing on the Atari ST¿, no one does it better than Fleet Street and YOU!!! Your wait for a full featured, bug-free Desk Top Publishing program ended when you discovered Fleet Street Publisher 2.0¿. Now your publications can have the extraordinary impact that only a Professional Desk Top Publishing program can give them. You can begin creating impressive newsletters, advertisements, business reports, and bulletins immediately with the most advanced Desk Top Publishing program available for the Atari ST¿. Fleet Street Publisher 2.0¿ has the features you want at a price you won't believe (Read about MICHTRON'S Special Introductory Offer below!!). Fleet Street Publisher¿is not a scaled down DTP program for the ST, but a full-featured program rivaling the critically acclaimed Aldus Pagemaker¿ for the Macintosh¿ and Ventura Publisher¿ for the PC¿. Just think how much more impact your communications could have if you could, for example: o Lay out your pages with headlines and columns o Add graphics to illustrate or emphasize points in your text o Use different type styles and typefaces o See your page on screen as you work on it exactly as it will appear when you print it Desktop publishing allows you to do all this and more, while retaining complete control over what goes on your page and where. If you have a laser printer, or can obtain access to one, you can get near typeset quality fonts that can be controlled and used by Fleet Street Publisher¿ to further enhance the appearance of your printed documents. Fleet Street Publisher 2.0¿ provides all the features you would expect of a high priced system, but at the affordable price you have come to expect from MICHTRON. The program runs on any Atari ST¿ under GEM¿, so it's friendly and very easy to use. The pull down menus & WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) screen display lets you design and produce high quality documents after a short time with the program. Advanced Text features allow you to: ----------------------------------- o Type directly onto the page and/or read text from any ASCII word processing file. This includes files created on IBM and compatibles with appropriate software. You can even strip out word processor control codes automatically. o Hyphenate (by algorithm), justify, kern text and create proportional spacing. o Choose background ink tones (Shadings). o Search and replace words and phrases. o Place multiple tabs and indents. o Vary line leading. o Utilize the included typefaces in varying sizes from 4 to 216 points with 1 Meg of memory. Graphics features include: ------------------------- o A complete library of ready-to-use graphic images. o The ability to import graphic screens and scanned images from other software. o A Pixel Editor for creating, adapting, and touching up work. o A box and rule drawing tool that allows multiple line weights and shades. o The ability to Intermix text and graphics easily. Page make-up functions provide: ------------------------------ o Full page composition with multiple columns. o Text editing while in page make-up mode. o Easy picture re-sizing and cropping. o The use of linked text blocks. o Rotation of picture blocks in single-degree steps. o Variable page sizes. o Variable sized text blocks that can be set anywhere on a page. o Function keys can be used to store text attributes. o Page dummies that can include text style information. Printer Drivers are included for a host of printers including: the Atari SLM 804¿ Laser printer and the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet+¿ and Series II¿ Laser Printers. Fleet Street Publisher 2.0¿ is available from MICHTRON for $149.95. But now, for a limited time, MICHTRON makes an extraordinary offer. We know that many of you have already purchased Desk Top Publishing programs; we also know that you deserve and want the best available. So, until March 31, 1989, if you send us the actual Copyright page (No Photo Copies Please!) from any Desk Top Publishing program manual, we will send a copy of Fleet Street Publisher 2.0¿ for only $50.00, that's right, a $149.95 value for only $50.00. Don't wait, order your copy today! NOTE: Please include 5.00 for shipping and handling. FLEET STREET PUBLISHER¿ - MichTron Inc. 576 S. Telegraph Pontiac, Mich. 48053 (313) 334-5700 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STReport InfoFile¿ ================= Michigan Atari Expo Update --> Michigan Atari Computer Enthusiasts PO Box 2785, Southfield, MI 48037 As you know, the Michigan Atari Computer Expo is scheduled for May 6&7, at the Detroit Metro Airport Hilton, located in Romulus. Show times are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The Exhibitor Kits were mailed on February 1, and we already have half our booths committed for by large and small developers. Some names you may recognize are ICD, Migraph, Alpha Systems, Innovative Concepts, SofTrek, USA Media, CodeHead Software, Gribnif Software, BEST Electronics, ST Informer, Index Legalis, Mars Merchandising, Total Control Systems and others! Local dealers coming to the Expo include Rite Way, Computer Concepts, Joppa Computers and Basic Bits 'N' Bytes, just to name a few. The list of names increases weekly from "maybes" to "YES, I'll be there!" User Groups will be able to obtain booths free of charge at the show by simply reserving a table with MACE. User Groups in the Midwest region should be receiving information packets on the show in the next week or two, but they may wish to contact us to make sure a kit is sent. The kit will also contain information on how they can participate in advance ticket sales and make some money for their club's treasury! User Group booths will be placed near the ticket sales for maximum benefit to the clubs, as many attendees will want to take advantage of the User Group Discount Program mentioned below. User Group members will be able to obtain discounts from vendors participating in the User Group Discount program. This discount would be above and beyond any special show prices! For more information concerning the show, or to request a User Group Kit for your club, please call Pattie Rayl MACE Convention Coordinator at (313) 973-8825 or, write to MACE Expo. 3487 Braeburn Circle Ann Arbor, MI 48108 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STReport InfoFile¿ ================= STReport PROUDLY welcomes the following BBS's to our system. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ST Place BBS 512-653-1248 Texas TNT BBS 301-871-2552 Maryland The Golden Gate 817-547-1734 Texas STing BBS 616-891-8740 Michigan Dragon Keep 904-375-3500 Gainsville As we receive the listings from the sysops we will post them here to allow everyone to update their STReport BBS list and keep it current. Please help us keep this list up to date, it will be made available on a regular basis for verification. If you have any additions or deletions to make, please let us know at the BOUNTY 904-786-4176 or, in E-Mail to STReport on any of the major services. Thank you for your continued support! Ralph...... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > STR Spotlight¿ ============= Conf : ST Report Msg# : 115 Lines: Extended Read: 6 Sent : Feb 18, 1989 at 11:47 PM Recv : Feb 20, 1989 To : STReport From : TODD HENDREKS at Node 3*Atari-OH!@Houston, TX Subj : ! Hi! Thanks for making ST REPORT a great ST Magazine! If you were a hard back magazine, I'd get a subscription! I really enjoyed issue #75. There's a new deal for the Atari/Ultrascript thing. For a limited time only, you can get the ST Laser for $1300 and with Ultrascript (with 30 or so Postscript FONTS and 10 or so Ultrascript FONTS) for $1500. This deal will go in effect soon.. I hear. Down here, in HouSTon, we already have some Atari commercials showing on Cable. A 520STF is seen floating in the background and in the foreground is a guy working on a business program and the ST "locks-on" to the other computer and blowing it up. All these charts and graphs fly in formation and swoop inside the ST disk drive. Then it shows a guy painting on a wall, and the ST 'Locks-On" to that blows up the wall, with some of the paint splashing on the painter, and all the paint flys in formation and "SWOOSH" goes inside the disk drive. Then there's this stand up arcade game a kid is playing and the ST "Locks-On" to that and blows it up. At the end it has a plug for the name/location of an ST dealer. (We have four in HouSTon) So, the ST emphasizes on Business, Graphics, and Entertainment in that particular commercial. All is well down here in HouSTon. All the stores are doing well selling ST systems. I just recently got Police Quest 2 and I love it. I plan to get a Mega 4 soon (Hopefully) BUT, if this 68030 hurry up and works well and runs all or most of the ST stuff, I might get that. When I get a Mega or 68030 (I doubt I really need a 68030) I'd get HEAVY into animations and sound digitizing, with maybe some DTP'ing and perhaps programming. I have a 520ST and I mainly use it for telecommunications. I've had the ST since June '86. Thanks Again Ralph! Todd "1989 - ATARI'S QUEST" --------======***======-------- Conf : ST Report Msg# : 20 Lines: Extended Read: 2 Sent : Feb 21, 1989 at 5:34 PM Recv : Feb 21, 1989 To : SYSOP From : CEREBUS Subj : ST Report It has certainly been my pleasure visiting your fine BBS. I spoke with you on the phone during my first call, and briefly mentioned that I co-Sysop an Atari ST BBS (Express) in Gainesville, FL called Dragon Keep. Don't let the name fool you. We have a lot of very serious Atari users, and act as a BBS for the AGUG group in G'vlle. We are very committed to the Atari (we have2 back-up ST's with hard-disks), and as I mentioned, have been considering a move over to Forem. We actually have the sware in hand, and haven't finished our evaluation. Our biggest complaint is the lack of a script lanquage for setting up 'sub-systems' like Forem does with it's bulletins. We would also like to be able to change the option letters on the main menu. We are are very picky bunch of people. We have also been considering a move to an MSDOS clone since we could get mulit-line capabilities. Have you heard anything about second serial ports for the ST? About your wonderful ST Report Online Magazine: WE WANT IT!!! What do I need to do? Is there any other way besides me calling long distance to get your weekly updates? (I work in Jax, but cannot download files from the system I work on). I probably won't be in Jax to call back till next week. Once again, it has been my pleasure visiting your most impressive realm... CEREBUS of DRAGON KEEP (904)375-3500 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > THIS WEEK'S 'QUOTABLE QUOTE' ============================ HATLO'S Crumbled Cookie ======================= "The Fatal Disk Error occurs ONLY after you've done several hours of work without performing a back-up!" "1989 - ATARI'S QUEST" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ST-REPORT¿Issue #76 "Your Independent News Source" February 24, 1989 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ½ copyright 1989 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of ST Report¿ or CPU Report¿. Reprint permission granted, unless noted otherwise. All reprints must include ST Report or CPU Report and the author's name. All information presented herein is believed correct, ST Report or CPU Report, it's editors and staff are not responsible for any use or misuse of information contained in this publication. --------------------------------------------------------------------------