SILICON TIMES REPORT ==================== INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ============================= from STR Electronic Publishing Inc. A subsidiary of STR Worldwide CompNews Inc. April 07, 1995 No. 1114 ====================================================================== Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32221-6155 R.F. Mariano, Editor Featured in ITCNet's ITC_STREPORT Echo ----------------------------------------- Voice: 1-904-783-3319 10am-4pm EST STR Publishing Support BBS * THE BOUNTY INTERNATIONAL BBS * Featuring: * 45GB * of Download Files Operating with * Mustang Software's WILDCAT! BBS v4.10 * Fully Networked within the following Nets: ITCNet 85:881/253 JAX HUB ~ FIDO Net 1:112/35 Prowl ~ USPOLNet ~ FNET 350 ~ Nest 90:301/3 Delivered via Subscriber List through Internet 904-786-4176 MULTI-NODE 24hrs-7 days 2400-115.2 bps V.32-34 v.42 bis 28.8 Hayes Optima 28.8 V.FC Data/Fax USRobotics D/S Data/Fax 28.8 V.34 Everything FAX: 904-783-3319 12am-6am EST ----------------------------------------- The Bounty STReport Support Central .... 1-904-786-4176 FNET. 620 : Leif's World ................1-904-573-0734 FNET. 690 : PASTE BBS....................1-206-284-8493 FNET. 489 : Steal Your Face BBS..........1-908-920-7981 MNET - Toad Hall BBS.....................1-617-567-8642 ______________________________________________________________________ > 04/07/95 STR 1114 "The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine!" """"""""""""""""" - STR INDUSTRY REPORT - Lion King Review - Norton & Win'95 - EditMaster 2.5 - SATAN ..ONLINE!! - CREATIVE GOODIES - Mscape & DOONESBURY - GIFIASCO Cont. - TVRO NewsWire - Activision Online - People Talking - Jaguar News -* PUBLISHERS WIN RENTAL LAW TEST *- -* APPLE REORGANIZATION REPORTED *- -* CANON DENIES APPLE RUMOR *- ========================================================================== STReport International OnLine Magazine The Original * Independent * OnLine Magazine -* FEATURING WEEKLY *- "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================== STReport's BBS - The Bounty BBS, invites all BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the ITC/Fido/Internet/PROWL/USENET/USPOLNet/NEST/F-Net Mail Networks. You may also call The Bounty BBS direct @ 1-904-786-4176. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of excellent International Networking Systems. SysOps and users alike worldwide, are welcome to join STReport's International Conferences. ITC Node is 85:881/250, The Fido Node is 1:112/35, Crossnet Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is #620. All computer enthusiasts, hobbyist or commercial on all platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate. ========================================================================== CIS ~ DELPHI ~ GENIE ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ ITC ~ NEST ~ EURONET ~ CIX USENET ~ USPOLNET ~ CLEVELAND FREE-NET ~ INTERNET ~ PROWL ~ FNET ~ AOL ========================================================================== SOFTWARE CREATIONS BBS is proud to distribute Silicon Times Report STReport International OnLine Magazine -------------------------------- With more than 130 Lines of PCBOARD access, Internet, Telnet and X.25 local access in every major city world-wide through SprintNet Software Creations delivers the files! -------------------------------------------------- Silicon Times Report joins names like Apogee Software, Borland, id Software, TriSoft, Interactive Gaming, PC Techniques, Coriolis, Fastgraph, PC Information Group, and many more. -------------------------------- Real-Time Credit Card Approval and Membership Upgrades The Software Download Store - for on the spot purchase/approval and download ability! -------------------------------- Call 1-800-4SWCBBS (479-2227); Fax 1-508-365-7214 for more information! ----------------------------------------------------- So, Get the latest releases from SOFTWARE CREATIONS BBS "Home of the Authors" * Software Creations, Voted #1 BBS for 1993 & 1994 * 1200/2400 V.42/MNP Lines : (508) 365-2359 2400-14.4k HST US Robotics Lines : (508) 368-7036 2400-16.8k V.32/V.42bis US Robotics lines : (508) 368-7139 14.4-28.8k V.32/V.42bis/V.fc Hayes Optima lines: (508) 365-9352 14.4-28.8k V.32/V.42bis/V.32terbo/V.fc US Robotics lines: (508) 368-3424 ======================================================================== COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; STREPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit OnLine Magazine" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198 You will receive your complimentary time and be OnLine in no time at all! "Enjoy CompuServe's forums; where information is at its very best! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" LottoMan V1.3 Results: 04/01/95: six 2# matches ---------------------- > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" Editors usually have a great deal to say...I'm no exception. I have one major request to make... The level of mutual respect has dropped alarmingly on the major OnLine services, private BBS's and Internet. What is going on?? There was a time when one could drop in on the services, read the messages in most any area and feel comfortable if the wife or kiddies were sitting next to you. Not these days!! You never know what you are going to come across. SysOps.. Take heed... if you don't police yourselves and your users.. You'll soon find that you'll have it done for you in the form of some sort of stern rule making or legislation. The pendulum of public attitudes is beginning to swing the "other" way. Away from all this "liberated free speaking, free loving", etc.. As such, we had better take it upon ourselves to "clean up our acts" lest it be done for us. While its a favorite whipping boy, the television (boob tube) is certainly behind much of the "liberalized speech" we are finding popping up in the weirdest of places. Prime Time TV seems to be one or more of three "things" these days.. Glorification of (a) lousy language, (b) putrid programming and (c) sleaze, lowlife characters. The first one is doing the most damage. The little ones are picking up this type of language and getting slammed for using it both at home and in school. I hope the TV writers are proud of themselves. What sleaze bags they must be if they need to write in this sort of rotting garbage to create a saleable interest in their efforts. The second two can be controlled very easily. You, like myself, have a vote in the life of every show they hit us with. If you don't care for the programming content, the characters and/or the language. Don't BUY the sponsors products!! Also, to add impact to your sponsor boycott, drop a card or two to the sponsor telling them of your decision. Things will change quickly. OnLine, its easy to see the negative influence, just go to the areas where one is likely to find large amounts of lively message posting by mostly youngsters and young adults. Guaranteed you'll soon find the slop language flowing as if its straight from Yale or Oxford. Its a disgrace! Let's clean it up... please?? Ralph... Of Special Note: ---------------- STReport will be branching out further to Internet's userbase in the very near future. We've received numerous requests to receive STReport from a wide variety of Internet addresses. As a result, we're putting together an Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wish to receive STReport on a regular basis, and we'll UUENCODE each issue and mail it to you. If you're interested in being added to our mailing list, please, send your requests to either "dpj@delphi.com" or, RMARIANO@DELPHI.COM. Look for mailings to begin by October first. We are also considering a number of Internet ftp sites in which to post our issues for as well. Whatever we can do to make STReport available to you. we'll try it! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! """""""""""""""" Publisher -Editor """""""""""""""""" Ralph F. Mariano Lloyd E. Pulley, Editor, Current Affairs Section Editors """"""""""""""" PC SECTION AMIGA SECTION MAC SECTION ATARI SECTION ---------- ------------- ----------- ------------- R.D. Stevens R. Niles J. Deegan D. P. Jacobson STReport Staff Editors: """"""""""""""""""""""" Michael Arthur John Deegan Brad Martin John Szczepanik Paul Guillot Joseph Mirando Doyle Helms Frank Sereno John Duckworth Jeff Coe Steve Keipe Guillaume Brasseur Melanie Bell Jay Levy Jeff Kovach Marty Mankins Carl Prehn Paul Charchian Contributing Correspondents: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Dominick J. Fontana Norman Boucher Clemens Chin Eric Jerue Ron Deal Mike Barnwell Ed Westhusing Glenwood Drake Vernon W.Smith Bruno Puglia Paul Haris Kevin Miller Craig Harris Allen Chang Tim Holt Patrick Hudlow Tom Sherwin Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: CompuServe................... 70007,4454 Delphi......................... RMARIANO GEnie......................... ST.REPORT BIX............................ RMARIANO FIDONET........................ 1:112/35 FNET........................... NODE 620 ITC NET...................... 85:881/253 NEST........................ 90:21/350.0 America OnLine..................STReport Internet.............RMARIANO@DELPHI.COM IMPORTANT NOTICE ---------------- STReport, with its policy of not accepting any paid advertising, has over the years developed the reputation of "saying it like it really is". When it comes to our editorials, product evaluations, reviews and over-views, we shall always keep our readers interests first and foremost. With the user in mind, STReport further pledges to maintain the reader confidence that has been developed over the years and to continue "living up to such". All we ask is that our readers make certain the manufacturers, publishers etc., know exactly where the information about their products appeared. In closing, we shall arduously endeavor to meet and further develop the high standards of straight forwardness our readers have come to expect in each and every issue. The Staff & Editors """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > STR INDUSTRY REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS """"""""""""""""""" IBM/POWER-PC/PC SECTION (I) =========================== Computer Products Update - CPU Report ------------------------ ---------- Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Issue #14 Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. ******* General Computer News ******* >> Chip Sales Up 28.6 Percent << Worldwide microprocessor sales were up 28.6% last year over 1993, topping $10.7 billion. Officials with the Semiconductor Industry Association trade group are also quoted as saying: -:- Sales of 16- and 32-bit microprocessors have doubled since 1992. -:- 1993 sales of $8.3 billion represented a 59.1% increase over the 1992 sales figure of $5.2 billion. -:- Sales of non-embedded microprocessors used in PCs and workstations reached 58.7 million units in 1994, a 16.6% hike over the 1993 sales level of 50.4 million units. -:- Figures for sales of embedded microprocessors, such as those used in laser printers, totaled 54.5 million units last year, a 3.4% increase over the 52.7 million sold in 1993. >> Canon Denies Apple Rumor << Japan's Canon Inc. is denying a rumor that it intends to buy Apple Computer Inc. An Apple spokesman said that the company had no comment to make on the rumor, noting, "This is just the latest of a long line of rumors." The report comes just two days after Apple announced a sweeping corporate restructuring. The computer maker aims to expand its presence in high-growth customer segments, including home, education and business markets >> HP Unveils Graphical Calculator << Hewlett-Packard Co. has announced the HP 38G, a graphical calculator for high school math teachers and students. The unit incorporates a concept the Palo Alto, California-based company calls "ApLets." HP notes that the feature, an abbreviation for "small applications," provides a simple, intuitive way for students to use the calculator to explore and solve math problems. The ApLets dynamically represent a mathematical problem, the problem-solving process and the solution, says HP. ApLets for the HP 38G will be available free of charge to teachers through online services, the Internet and the HP calculator bulletin board, as well as by mail from HP and at educational conferences. "By incorporating ApLets into the HP 38G, we have created an easy to use and affordable graphic calculator that introduces a whole new level of teaching mathematics in the classroom," says Kheng-Joo Khaw, general manager of HP's Asia Pacific PC Division. The HP 38G will cost $79.95. Product documentation will be available in several languages. The unit is scheduled for a May release. >> Ergo Debuts Big Screen Notebook << Ergo Computing Inc. has added a wide-screen model to its NoteBrick notebook computer family. The new Ergo BigScreen NoteBrick features an 11.3- inch, high resolution, 256- color display that the company says is comparable in image size to the usable screen area on a 14-inch desktop monitor. The PC also offers a 100MHz 486DX4 CPU and up to 1GB of storage capacity. Ergo notes that the system weighs 6.5 pounds, is thinner than a ream of paper and has a footprint that's only slightly larger than a sheet of paper. The Ergo BigScreen NoteBrick is available in configurations starting at $3,095. >> Tektronix Cuts Printer Prices << Tektronix Inc. has announced price reductions of 18 to 30% on three of its color printers. Prices of the company's Phaser 220i and Phaser 220e models have been reduced from $5,995 and $3,995 to $4,195 and $3,695, respectively. The Phaser 140, which sold for $1,695, now costs $1,395. Tektronix says the Phaser 220i and the Phaser 220e are designed for workgroup environments and are capable of printing at speeds of up to two pages per minute. The Phaser 220i and the 220e can print on most common laser papers. Tektronix describes the Phaser 140 as an economical color printer for people who are beginning to use color, or for professional users who want a printer featuring more memory, faster processing and brighter colors than other ink- jet printers on the market. All three printers come standard with Adobe PostScript Level 2 software. >> Doonesbury Software Readied << Software publisher Mindscape Inc. is teaming up with political and social cartoonist Garry Trudeau to develop a line of software products based on Trudeau's Doonesbury characters. Doonesbury Toonscapes, as the line will be called, will include three titles: Doonesbury Screen Saver; Flashbacks: 25 Years of Doonesbury; and FrontRunner '96: the Doonesbury Election Game. The Doonesbury Screen Saver will debut this spring, with the other titles set to follow later in the year. "Microsoft was my first choice, but then I heard about Mindscape, which had a cooler name, and the people seemed smarter. So I went with them." Trudeau says he will donate all creator royalties to charitable causes. Bob Lloyd, Mindscape's CEO, adds, "We are excited about bringing Garry Trudeau's perspective on current events, which has been an important part of American culture for a quarter of a century, to generations of computer users." >> SATAN Worries Security Pros << A new program called SATAN, available on the Internet, has computer security people wary because it is designed to find chinks in the armor of online systems. The program already has cost one of its designers his job. SATAN -- which stands for "Security Administrators Tool for Analyzing Networks" -- could enable managers to plug cracks in security, keeping unauthorized people from breaking into off-limits areas to steal or scramble valuable data, but it also could help malicious hackers, showing them weak spots in defenses where they could concentrate an attack. The program was made available for downloading this week on several Internet-connected computers around the world, despite fears that vandals will use it to execute break-ins. SATAN co-designer Dan Farmer said, "As far as abuse goes, I think it will actually decrease because people can make better decisions about improving their security." There have been similar programs, and that serious vandals already are familiar with ways of breaking into systems, but "experts say SATAN is significant because it is easy enough for novices to use." "It's like any other powerful tool: It can be used for great good and great harm," said Donn Parker, a computer security consultant with SRI International, a consulting company in Menlo Park, Calif. Farmer, who lives in San Francisco, developed SATAN with Wietse Venema, a security expert at the University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. They had planned to release the program on April 1, but because that was Saturday, they delayed the release to today, Farmer's 33rd birthday. Parker said he believed Farmer should have sold SATAN only to experts guarding computer systems, and he disputed the argument that SATAN will help protect against electronic intrusion. Meanwhile, security experts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory already have developed a program to alert operators to SATAN attacks. Dubbed Courtney, the software sounds an alarm and identifies the computer where the intrusion originated. It also is available free on the Internet. Reports about SATAN led to a disagreement between Farmer, a computer security expert, and his employer, Silicon Graphics Inc. in Mountain View. Farmer quit last month over what a company vice president, Bill Kelly, described as a difference in philosophies. >> CPU Sales Top $10 Billion << The worldwide sales of 16- and 32-bit microprocessors has doubled in just two years, reaching almost $11 billion, reports the Semiconductor Industry Association. >> Fujitsu to Increase PC Output << Tokyo's Fujitsu Ltd. plans to almost double its output of personal computers to a million units a year by reorganizing the operations of its affiliated manufacturers. >> Apple Reorganization Reported << Reports indicate that the chief of Apple Computer Inc.'s largest division is leaving amid a restructuring that's aimed at ending the split between the company's hardware and software operations According to stories in the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News, Apple's four product divisions will be combined into separate research and development and marketing divisions. Manufacturing will remain a separate unit, the reports said. The stories also claim that Ian Diery, Apple's executive vice president of worldwide sales and chief of the computer maker's PC hardware division, has resigned. Diery is reportedly taking the blame for slowness in getting the PowerPC microprocessor, which Apple co- developed with IBM and Motorola, into all of its computer models. Apple is declining comments on the reports. >> Publishers Win Rental Law Test << Software publishers have won the first case to test the Computer Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990. The Software Publishers Association reports that a federal court ruled in favor of its members in a civil copyright infringement suit against Global Software & Accessories Inc. for the unauthorized rental of computer software. The SPA notes that Global, which operates three stores on Long Island, New York, offered software on a "Deferred Billing Plan." The plan allowed customers to take software home for up to five days for a "non- refundable deposit." If the customer kept the software for more than five days, the customer was charged the difference between the deposit and the purchase price. Global Software argued that the practice did not constitute a rental. In practice, however, the software was returned by the customer 99% of the time, and U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler rejected the defendant's argument. Wexler ruled that the plan constituted copyright infringement that the plaintiff software publishers were entitled to a permanent injunction. He also ruled that the plaintiffs, which included Central Point Software Inc. and other SPA members, were entitled to an award of costs and attorneys' fees, which will be set by the court at a later date. >> Apple Offers New Macs for School << Its most powerful line of Power Macintosh computers, tailored for U.S. schools, is being introduced by Apple Computer Inc. this week, part of the company's strategy to roll out systems built around the speedy PowerPC microprocessor to every market. Reports say the new Power Mac LC series, available immediately to educators and to schools for grades kindergarten through 12th grade, start at $1,699. They join the Power Mac that was introduced a year ago. Apple Product Manager Carlos Montalvo said Apple plans to make changes in the models and eventually deliver them to the consumer market, adding, "We'll be gearing up for new production cycles in June/July." The new Power Macs are built around the new PowerPC 603 chip and are priced well below current Power Macs sold through retailers. Apple, which typically offers schools discounted rates, already commands about 60% of the schools market, making it the leading player, Reuters says. >> HP's Home PCs to Roll Mid-month << Stores should begin receiving Hewlett-Packard Co.'s new line of home PCs by the middle of this month. The computer giant today is introducing three HP multimedia PCs priced from $1,699 to $2,299. The systems, based on Intel Corp.'s 60-, 75- and 90- megahertz Pentium chip, are being aggressively priced to further HP's strategy to compete with IBM Corp. Compaq Computer Corp. and Apple Computer Inc., according to the Reuter News Service. >> Compaq Offers New Pentium Units << Compaq Computer Corp. has launched 12 new Presario PCs, including its first consumer models to be based on Pentium-class microprocessors. Compaq says three new models of the Presario 500 Series -- CDS 524, CDS 526 and CDTV 528 -- range in price from $1,849 to $1,999 and include an integrated monitor, built in stereo speakers, speakerphone and television capability. These models are based on 486-DX2 microprocessors. The Presario 900 Series are mostly based on Pentium-class micro- processors and range in price from $1,799 to $2,999, without the Presario multimedia monitor. >> Toshiba Cuts Prices Up to 15% << Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.'s Computer Systems Division is reducing prices up to 15% on its high-end T4800CT and T4850CT notebook computers featuring a 75MHz Intel Corp. DX4 processor. Toshiba says that also estimated street pricing on the Satellite Pro T2400CT and T2450CT Series were reduced 7 to 11% and the Satellite T1960CT models were reduced 15 to 16%. ____________________________________________________ > NORTON UTILS WIN'95 STR FOCUS! FOR THE WINDOWS 95 PREVIEW PROGRAM """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" SYMANTEC ANNOUNCES.... THE NORTON UTILITIES PREVIEW FOR THE WINDOWS 95 PREVIEW PROGRAM - The only automated system and data protection solution designed to prepare for and self-tune the Windows 95 Preview Program. KEY BENEFITS OVERVIEW --------------------- * The only 32-bit integrated utility product that provides continuous system protection for the Windows 95 Preview Program * Pre-Installation Tune-Up to guarantee successful installation and operation of the Windows 95 Preview Program. * New System Doctor continuously monitors vital system resources and data integrity, self-tuning the system with automatic launch of the appropriate utility. * New Space Wizard frees up disk space for the new operating system and applications. * 32-bit Norton Disk Doctor operates in conjunction with Speed Disk and Norton System Doctor to provide continuous and automatic system and data integrity and supports compressed drives.** * 32-bit Speed Disk optimizes system performance using safer and faster methods that also reduce future file fragmentation. * New in System Information -- SI-32, a new standard setting 32-bit system performance benchmark. * UnErase Wizard provides the highest level of protection against accidentally erased files. * A set of DOS extended tools help protect the user in the most difficult situations * Windows 95 logo software (applied for) ** To ensure safe and reliable operationof NU/Win 95 Preview on the Windows 95 Preview Program, compression support in both Speed Disk and Disk Doctor has been disabled. CUPERTINO, Calif. -- April 3, 1995 -- Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) today announced the Norton Utilities Preview Edition (NU/Win 95) for the Preview version of Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system, the only 32-bit utility that provides automated and continuous system protection for the Windows 95 Preview Program. As a vital software partner, NU/Win 95 is specifically designed to leverage Windows 95 Preview Program architecture and deliver a true 32-bit utilities solution. With NU/Win 95, PC professionals and enthusiasts can prepare systems prior to Windows 95 Preview Program installation and ensure system reliability and data security in the new operating environment. NU\Win 95 is the only automated and most advanced set of data and system preparation, protection and recovery tools for the Windows 95 Preview Program. "Not only does the Norton Utilities Preview prepare your system for the installation of Windows 95, it also provides automatic protection and integrated background monitoring following installation," said Karen Black, general manager of the advanced utilities unit of Symantec's Peter Norton Group. "The Norton Utilities Preview is an excellent companion product for the Windows 95 Preview Program," said Brad Silverberg, senior vice president of the personal systems division at Microsoft Corporation. "Norton Utilities is tightly integrated with and takes advantage of many of the new ease-of-use features in Windows 95." FOUR LEVELS OF PROTECTION ------------------------- As the only utility solution available for the Windows 95 Preview Program that provides proactive, automatic protection, NU/Win 95 offers four levels of protection. At level one, the NU/Win 95 pre-installation tune-up frees up disk space and readies a system for the Windows 95 Preview Program installation. After installation, level two protection in the new System Doctor (SysDoc) continually monitors and analyzes vital system resources and data integrity, offering proactive responses to problem conditions. Level three protection provides a comprehensive set of tools including, Space Wizard, Disk Doctor, Speed Disk and System Information for performing analysis and repair in the Windows 95 Preview Program environment. An extensive safety net of extended DOS utilities -- Disk Doctor, Norton Diagnostics (Ndiags), UnErase, UnFormat, Disk Edit -- provide level four protection on a bootable emergency disk, even if the operating system cannot be run. BEFORE INSTALLING WINDOWS 95 PREVIEW PRODUCT ============================================ Pre-Installation Tune-Up ------------------------ NU/Win 95 is an essential PIT (pre-installation tune-up) stop on the road to using the Windows 95 Preview Program that lets users "fine-tune" their systems. NU/Win 95 provides an automated set of extended utilities that run under previous versions of DOS (3.3 and above): Norton Disk Doctor for file system analysis and repair; Space Wizard to free up disk space; Norton Diagnostics (Ndiags) for complete system and hardware diagnostics; Speed Disk to perform disk optimization; and a bootable Emergency Disk. These new and significantly enhanced utilities support long-file names, take better advantage of extended memory and protected mode, and support any size hard drive. A special Tune-Up utility guides the user through the step-by-step tune-up process. These tools also support the new Windows 95 Preview Program file system in the event of an emergency. NEW CENTRALIZED MONITORING, PROACTIVE RESPONSE AND RECOMMENDATIONS ================================================================== Norton System Doctor -------------------- Norton System Doctor (SysDoc) introduces a new architecture which allows NU/Win 95 to provide centralized, proactive and automated functionality. SysDoc is an active monitoring tool which stores historical system information and alerts the user to potential problems that could result in system lock-ups, crashes and subsequent system damage and data loss. It runs continuously in the background and takes full advantage of the advanced capabilities of the Windows 95 Preview Program. SysDoc takes the guess work out of knowing which utility to run in which situation. A periodic system scan allows SysDoc to automatically launch utilities like Disk Doctor and Speed Disk as appropriate, removing the burden of decision from the user. Continually Monitors and Analyzes Vital System Resources and System Integrity System Doctor can monitor and analyze over 60 parameters, including CPU usage, disk integrity, disk fragmentation, disk space and network throughput, as well as Windows 95 Preview Program memory and other system vitals, making it possible for individual users and MIS managers to easily customize hardware and software according to a user's computing habits. Offering a higher level of protection than Windows 95 System Monitor, SysDoc also monitors the behavior of 16- and 32-bit applications. Alerts Users to Potential Problems ---------------------------------- System Doctor continually compares system parameters to pre-set, default thresholds. Users can also reset thresholds to different values to provide custom alerting capabilities. When SysDoc detects that a threshold has been exceeded, the user is alerted (audible alarm, if desired) and can then "head-off" problems before they result in system or data damage and/or loss. For example, SysDoc will alert users to low memory conditions before any system lock-up or data loss can occur and then recommend both temporary and permanent methods for fixing the memory situation. Recommends Action ----------------- When it detects and reports a threshold being reached, SysDoc recommends the appropriate action for the user to take, including advice on which other Norton utilities to run. This provides the user with an easy way to correct reported problems. Automatically Launches Other Norton Utilities --------------------------------------------- System Doctor provides true automatic protection as it launches the appropriate Norton utility, without user intervention, when it detects a problem condition. For example, SysDoc can launch Disk Doctor if a file system error is found; Speed Disk if fragmentation is high; or Space Wizard if free disk space is low; or Rescue when an update is necessary. Provides Centralized Control and Launching of Other Norton Utilities -------------------------------------------------------------------- All level three protection utilities can be run from the user-friendly System Doctor graphical user interface. These include Norton Disk Doctor and Speed Disk. Space Wizard ------------ Space Wizard, the new freespace management utility, safely frees up disk space for installing the new operating system. SpaceWizard looks for temporary files, files in temporary directories, older versions of graphics and backup files, leftover install program files, Readme, help and tutorial files, and makes intelligent recommendations on which files to delete or move. In addition, Space Wizard shows disk space allocation, a critical resource for safe operation of the Windows 95 Preview Program, and quickly determines which files will free up the largest amounts of space. A 32-bit version of Space Wizard helps users locate space for other new 32-bit applications after installing the Windows 95 Preview Program. AFTER INSTALLING WINDOWS 95 PREVIEW PRODUCT ------------------------------------------- NU/Win 95 provides a level of data and system protection, recovery, and optimization that is not possible with the Windows 95 Preview Program alone. All the new NU/Win 95 utilities are true 32-bit applications, providing continuous protection without adversely affecting system or user performance, and are unaffected by other running applications. Additional 16-bit, DOS-based utilities are provided only for emergency situations as a last line of defense against data loss. Norton Disk Doctor ------------------ The new 32-bit version of Norton Disk Doctor provides the most advanced diagnosis and repair of standard and compressed drives (to ensure safe and reliable operation of NU/Win 95 Preview product on the Windows 95 Preview Program, compression support in both Speed Disk and Disk Doctor has been disabled). Disk Doctor can run with System Doctor, or it can be run automatically in the background to provide continuous protection, scanning and correcting problems in the file system and physical media on an ongoing basis. With more extensive capabilities than ScanDisk, the Windows 95 Preview Program disk repair utility, Norton Disk Doctor also diagnoses and repairs partition table damage, and offers superior handling of cross link errors and complete diagnosis/repair reporting. Speed Disk ---------- Speed Disk, launched independently or by System Doctor, automatically performs disk defragmentation in the background, resulting in faster file system performance and a greater level of recoverability in the event of a disaster. Speed Disk supports larger disk drives and compressed drives and uses several new methods, such as file usage, to reduce the future level of fragmentation on the drive. Speed Disk performs defragmentation faster and safer due to its true 32-bit implementation and ability to communicate with the Norton Disk Doctor when necessary. UnErase ------- With NU/Win 95's UnErase feature, users can recover accidentally deleted files even if the files are erased in a DOS box or application program. While UnErase provides automatic and manual methods of recovering lost files, configuration options let the user protect selected files and directories, e.g., users can specify protection of document files or spreadsheets, but not temporary files. UnErase guarantees one-hundred percent recovery if files are accidentally erased while SmartCan is running. Because SmartCan dynamically utilizes unused disk space only when needed, the user does not have to set aside hard disk space for protecting files. UnErase can also be run in a wizard-like interface, making it easier to recover accidentally erased files. Rescue ------ NU/Win 95 allows the user to create a Rescue disk which, in the event of a system failure, contains all the critical system files needed to quickly get the user up and running. Rescue makes copies of files that are not included by standard backup software or the Windows 95 Preview Program startup disk, such as startup files, Windows 95 Preview Program Registry, CMOS, hardware drivers and compression drivers, which are unique to each system. In addition, the user can add other files to be copied onto the Rescue disk. Rescue also copies a complete set of emergency recovery utilities on a bootable diskette, placing all recovery needs at a user's fingertips. System Information ------------------ System Information (SysInfo) provides a complete inventory of all the components in the system and benchmarks their performance against standard equipment. In an easy-to-read chart and graph form, SysInfo gives detailed information -- data on hardware, peripherals, software running in the environment and the new Windows 95 Preview Program plug-and-play capability. A new 32-bit benchmark, Norton SI-32, provides feedback on system performance -- so users can ensure that their hardware is operating at full capacity. PRICING AND AVAILABILITY ------------------------ The Norton Utilities Preview for the Windows 95 Preview Program is available for $30 through June 30, 1995 by calling 1-800-453-1190, extension NU95. Minimum requirements for the Norton Utilities Preview for Windows 95 are a 386 DX2 with 4MB RAM (8MB recommended). Symantec Corporation develops, markets and supports a complete line of application and system software products designed to enhance individual a n d workgroup productivity as well as manage networked computing environments. Platforms supported include IBM personal computers and compatibles, Apple Macintosh computers as well as all major network operating systems. Founded in 1982, the company has offices in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Information on the company and its products can be obtained by calling (800) 441-7234 toll free, or (503) 334-6054. The Norton Utilities Preview for Windows 95 is designed exclusively to run only with Microsoft's Windows 95 Preview product. Brand and product references herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. ___________________________________________ > Frankie's Corner STR Feature """""""""""""""""""""""""""" The Kids' Computing Corner -------------------------- DISNEY'S ANIMATED STORYBOOK, THE LION KING Windows and Macintosh CD-ROMs for ages 3 to 9 DISNEY SOFTWARE 500 S. Buena Vista Burbank, CA 91521 IBM Requirements Macintosh Requirements CPU: 486SX-25 CPU: 68030/16 RAM: 4 megs RAM: 5 megs Video: 256 color SVGA Video: 256 color, 13" monitor Hdisk: 10 megs HDisk: 5 megs CD-ROM: Double-speed CD-ROM: Double-speed OS: Win 3.1 OS: System 7.1 Sound: 16-bit sound card Sound: 8-bit by Frank Sereno Disney Software tries to hit a home run with this multimedia extravaganza but the ball falls just a bit short of the fence. The Lion King Animated Storybook is similar to Broderbund's Living Book series of titles. The program features an abridged and modified animated story of the Lion King movie. Children can play noncompetitive games, read pages, learn vocabulary and search for hotspot animations. The Lion King features a friendly and intuitive interface complete with audible help from Timon the Meerkat. He will explain the child's playing options each time the program starts. The child can choose to PLAY, READ, PICK-A-PAGE, HELP or EXIT. In the READ mode, the computer reads the story to the child does not allow him to interact with the story. PICK-A-PAGE allows the child to choose his favorite part of the story or to go directly to the three included games. In HELP, Timon will explain all the functions and options of the program. EXIT allows the child to leave the program. PLAY will allow the child to explore each page after it is read to him. The page will compose 80% of the screen. Each side of the page has a column of three icons. The top left icon is Zazu, the bird. Clicking on him will cause the program to read the page again. Below Zazu, but only on select pages, is an icon featuring Nala and Simba. Clicking on these lion cubs will start a fun game. The final icon is a left-pointing arrow to go to the previous page. On the right side, the top icon is Rafiki, the wise ape. (I'm not certain of the exact species!) Clicking on Rafiki starts an Action Dictionary. Key words in the text will be highlighted. Rafiki will define the word by animations and words. Timon is the next icon. Clicking on him takes the child back to the intro screen. The final icon is a right-pointing arrow which will lead to the next page of the story. Within in each page, the child can move the tiger paw cursor. When the cursor becomes solid black, the child can click the mouse to start a hotspot animation. The graphics are filled with vibrant color with much attention to detail. The animations are smooth and use realistic motion. Lion King uses digitized voice tracks from the actors in the movie. It uses the music from the movie but it does not digitize the original recordings. My son was very disappointed that Simba and his friends did not sing any of the big musical numbers. The program occupies 220 megs, or only one-third of the disc. Space was available for portions of the original soundtrack had the producers desired to use it. In READ mode, the complete animated storybook is displayed in only fifteen minutes. In PLAY mode, each page has about ten hotspots which should keep the child's interest for quite some time. I guesstimate that most children would use the program about a dozen times before becoming bored with it. Educational value is good but it could be improved. While Rafiki's dictionary is excellent, I feel more words should be defined. When the program pronounces the text, groups of words are highlighted rather than individual words. Only words in Rafiki's dictionary can be individually pronounced. In Living Books, each word can be clicked on to hear its pronunciation. The Living Books also offer multilingual software with each program. Disney offers four multilingual editions but you must purchase each directly from Disney for an additional $6.95 plus sales tax. The four languages paired with English are Spanish, French, Italian and German. If one or more of these languages had been offered on the original disc, the Lion King would have more value. The Lion King has a limited ninety-day warranty which only covers defective media. Satisfaction with the program is not guaranteed. Technical assistance is available free of charge via telephone, mail, fax, e-mail and a company-sponsored electronic bulletin board system. The Lion King is sold at many stores for $30. It has good play and educational value giving it adequate bang for the buck. I will say that if your Windows PC does not have a 16-bit sound card, I would not purchase one solely to run this program. The Lion King refuses to even install unless a 16-bit sound card is present. Most people are unable to discern between 16-bit samples and 8-bit ones anyway due to inexpensive speakers or ambient home noises. The Lion King is a good product, but it is not worth spending $80 or more for a sound card to use it on your computer. One final note, the Lion King includes a mousepad featuring a graphic of Mufasa and Simba. I wonder if someday people will collect mousepads in the same way that salt shakers and porcelain figurines have been collected over the years? Ratings Graphics ........... 9.0 Sounds ............. 8.5 Interface .......... 9.0 Play Value ......... 7.5 Educational Value .. 7.5 Bang for the Buck .. 7.5 Average ............ 8.16 Thanks for reading! _________________________________________________ > Editmaster 2.5 STR InfoFile The "Editor's Editor" """"""""""""""""""""""""""" EDIT MASTER FOR WINDOWS Version 2.5 (c) 1994 Princeton Computer Consulting All Rights Reserved. Edit Master for Windows is a replacement for the Windows notepad. It features unlimited file sizes, MDI, search & replace, recent file list, word wrap, drag and drop from file manager, and more. Version 2.2 now supports drag and drop moving and copying, automatic UNIX conversion and much more. You can get the most recent version of Edit Master via ftp at... ftp.njcc.com (pub/bmurray). Login as ftp with your address as a password. You can also get it on the world-wide web at... http://pluto.njcc.com/~bmurray/Shareware.html. You may contact me (Brad Murray) by E-Mail at pcci@pluto.njcc.com. I would like to hear suggestions for updates as well as overall comments. REGISTRATION ------------ Edit Master for Windows is distributed as "shareware." It is not free software. You are being given a chance to use this program for a period of thirty (30) days before buying it. If after this time you continue to use Edit Master, you are expected to register it. Registration gives you the right to continue to use this software as well as news and discounts on future upgrades. You are encouraged to distribute this software, providing it is distributed in its entirety and without charge (except for media and handling, if applicable). I reserve the right to change these restrictions in future versions. If you find this product useful and continue to use Edit Master after thirty days, you are required to register it by making a payment of $15 (US) to Princeton Computer Consulting. Include an additional $5 (US) if you would like the most recent version mailed to you. This fee will license one copy of Edit Master for use on any one computer at any one time. To register Edit Master, print out the form called REGISTER.WRI using Windows Write and send with your payment to: Princeton Computer Consulting 16 Pennington-Hopewell Road Pennington, NJ 08534-3612 Edit Master can also be registered on Compuserve. Go SWREG and use Registration ID 3638. DISCLAIMER ---------- Edit Master is distributed without warranty, either expressed or implied. No guarantee as to its suitability for a particular task is given. No responsibility is assumed for any consequential loss or damages arising from its use. PACKING LIST ------------ This program is distributed as a ZIP file. Unzip EDITMAST.ZIP to a temporary directory or floppy disk and run SETUP.EXE. If SETUP.EXE is not in the zip file, make a directory for Edit Master and put copy all of the files into that directory. See the IMPORTANT note below about where to put the DLL and VBX files. EDITMAST.EXE - The Windows executable EDITMAST.HLP - The Windows help file README.TXT - This file REGISTER.WRI - Registration form in Windows Write format VBPRINT.DLL - See Below VBRUN300.DLL - See below CMDIALOG.VBX - See below EMEDIT.VBX - See below THREED.VBX - See below IMPORTANT --------- You must have the following files: VBPRINT.DLL VBRUN300.DLL CMDIALOG.VBX EMEDIT.VBX THREED.VBX in your Windows\System directory for Edit Master to work. If these files were not on the distribution disk that you received, they are available on Compuserve, America On-Line, or most local bulletin boards. If you are just evaluating Edit Master, you can just put these files in the directory where you installed Edit Master. RELEASE HISTORY: Version 2.5 ----------- Added left and right trimming functionality Added support for saving a .BAK file Added an option to ignore Temp Files from the frequent file list Expanded the grep utility to take multiple expressions Added a printing library to eliminate a lot of the printing problems Added printing margins ASCII 12 character for printed page breaks Read-only command-line parameter (either -r or -ro) Visible modified flag on status bar Added paste from file Turned off drag-drop on read-only files and disable save button Made tool bar buttons enable and disable according to selections Added more information on the about screen Added a single bookmark with set and goto functionality Added a button on the find/replace screen to run character map from the Windows directory Version 2.4c ------------ Fixed the setup so that it doesn't say that it failed Fixed the priting bug so that Print is enabled as long as you have an installed printer Version 2.4a ------------ Fixed "Bad DLL Calling Convention" error when printing Fixed hanging when a word-wrapped window is minimized Fixed saving of an untitled file when quiting Added disabling of printing when no printers are installed Added an option to have word wrap as a default Slimmed down help file size Version 2.4 ----------- Fixed text conversion so that the selection is correct afterwards Fixed error if not cancel is selected on UNIX save Made sure Read-Only files aren't automatically saved over themselves Added a new setup program that does not cause random problems Added a Save All function to the Window menu Increased maximum open windows to 45 Completely removed introduction screen from registered version Added multi-select to Frequent File List Added multiple files under one Frequent File entry for opening groups at a time Changed Unix Save to a switch that makes the file save in Unix format every time it is saved Added an option to automatically turn on the Unix Save option whenever a file is in Unix format Added an exit button to the tool bar Added simple Grep functionality Version 2.3 ----------- Fixed Save As bug when running from the command line Made command line running accept multiple files Made command line with multiple arguments work when it is already open Fixed Frequent Files screen so that it displays correctly on large font systems Removed lock-up after hitting OK on registration screen with an invalid registration number Added run minimized by using a -min command line argument Version 2.2 ----------- Fixed backspace key so that it deletes the selected text Removed intro screen on registered version when run with a command line parameter Fixed the word wrap so it wraps while you type Fixed the word wrap so it wraps based on the window size Fixed overwrite mode so it adds at the end of a line Added drag and drop to move/copy selected text Added automatic detection and conversion of UNIX text files Added saving of text in UNIX format Version 2.1 ----------- Added drag and drop support from file manager Made the tool bar configurable Added tool bar tips Added file deletion Added option to not print the file name header with printed file Got rid of rare File Not Found error on exit Fixed error from sizing the form too small When maximized child is selected, new windows are maximized Added UNIX file conversion Added ROT13 encoding/decoding Added ASCII inversion Added configurable width word wrap Background and foreground text colors are now set based on your Windows settings Version 2.0 ----------- Added ability for very large text files Added editing of the file dialog filter list Added tab width control Added left margin size control Added setting of text selection type (none, stream, line, column) (Warning - line and column mode are still a little bit buggy) Added ability to set Edit Master as the default text editor Added auto indenting option when return is hit Version 1.1 ----------- Changed name to Edit Master since MultiEdit was already taken Fixed file dialog box so Save As always works Added multi-select to File Open dialog box Fixed child windows so that they retain the selection when inactive Fixed left and right shift so that it doesn't lose the selected text Made tool bar appear as a default Added window management tool bar buttons Version 1.0 ** FIRST SHAREWARE RELEASE ** ----------- Help file added Setup program created Startup window position added to the INI file Added Find/Replace functionality to the Edit menu Made disabled tool bar buttons turn grey Added a pop-up edit window brought up by a right mouse click Version 0.3 ----------- Added undo functionality to the Edit menu Added left and right shifting of text Added recent file list Added tool bar Version 0.2 ----------- INI file added MDI capability added Added upper and lower case conversion Version 0.1 ----------- Initial version - never released. INSTALLATION ------------ To install this program, make a directory for the EDITMAST.EXE and EDITMAST.HLP files. If they are not already there, copy the VBX and DLL files to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. A default EDITMAST.INI file will be created in the directory where the EXE and HLP files are the first time you run the program. Editor's note; ------------- Editmaster 2.5 has proven itself beyond "the call of duty" not only does it do an excellent job of search and replace, it also runs perfectly in Win'95. Do yourself a favor.. try this editor its called a replacement for Notepad.. But its far more than just that. This Shareware is a bargain for the features you get. Look for it and download it from your favorite service, FTP it or, download Editmaster version 2.5 from our support BBS 904-786-4176. _______________________________________ > CREATIVE GOODIES STR InfoFile Blaster is the Master! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" CREATIVE LABS PRODUCT CATALOG ============================= The Creative Labs Catalog provides a brief description of the Creative Labs Family of products. Spec Sheets containing additional information, are available on most of the products. A list of products and their corresponding spec sheet can be found on the last page of the catalog. Audio: ------ Sound Blaster Value Edition Family ---------------------------------- Now the best-selling PC sound cards in the world are an even greater value. Chose from 8-bit mono, 8-bit stereo or 16-bit stereo versions. Best-selling software and utilities are included. * Sound Blaster Value Edition - 8-bit digital mono sampling and playback * Sound Blaster Pro Value Edition - 8-bit digital sampling and playback with 4-44.1 kHz mono, 4-22.05 kHz stereo * Sound Blaster 16 Value Edition - 8- and 16-bit stereo sampling and playback from 5-44.1 kHz Sound Blaster 16 MultiCD ------------------------ The highest quality 16-bit stereo sound card now supports three industry- standard CD-ROM interfaces. Bundled software allows you to voice annotate your documents or e-mail, add CD-quality audio to presentations, or control Windows applications with your voice. Upgradeable with Wave Blaster -- for true instrument sounds -- and the Advanced signal processor for Qsound Virtual Audio, Creative TextAssist and hardware compression/decompression. * 8- and 16-bit stereo sampling and playback from 4-44.1 kHz * Enhanced 4-operator, 20 voice, stereo FM music synthesizer * CD-ROM interface for Creative Labs, Mitsumi and Sony CD-ROM drives * Wave Blaster and Advanced Signal Processor upgrades * Built-in power amplifier * Software controls for volume, bass, treble, input & output gain * Microphone, stereo line-in and CD-Audio jacks, stereo output jack * Joystick/MIDI interface, microphone included * Software includes Creative VoiceAssist speech recognition system and state-of-the-art audio utilities Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2 ----------------------- The ideal tool for rich CD-quality stereo sound, this industry standard Sound Blaster supports up to seven SCSI devices including CD-ROM drives and hard drives. Enjoy CD-Quality stereo sampling and playback for both business and home applications. The bundled software allows you to voice annotate your documents or e-mail, add high-quality sound to presentations or control Windows with your voice. Upgradeable with Wave Blaster -- for true instrument sounds -- and the Advanced signal processor for QSound Virtual Audio, Creative TextAssist and hardware compression/decompression. * 8- and 16-bit stereo sampling and playback from 4-44.1 kHz * Enhanced 4-operator, 20 voice, stereo FM music synthesizer * SCSI-2 interface for connecting up to seven SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 devices * Wave Blaster and Advanced Signal Processor upgrades * Built-in power amplifier * Software controls for volume, bass& treble, input & output gain * Microphone, stereo line-in and CD-Audio jacks, stereo output jack * Joystick/MIDI interface, microphone included * Software includes EZ-SCSI configuration software, Creative VoiceAssist speech recognition system and state-of-the-art audio utilities. Wave Blaster II --------------- A General-MIDI add-on daughterboard for Creative's line of standard-setting Sound Blaster 16 audio cards, Wave Blaster II improves upon FM synthesis with realistic instrument sounds, reverb, chorus, and QSound Virtual Audio. Wave Blaster II uses E-mu Systems' DSP wave synthesis technology for creating great sounding music. Use Wave Blaster II with a MIDI instrument by connecting a MIDI device to the Sound Blaster 16's MIDI port. * General MIDI compliant * Presets: 128 instruments, 10 drum kits, 46 sound effects * 32-note polyphony * 2 MB of sampled sounds in ROM * Reverb, chorus, Qsound 180 degree soundscape technology * 16 MIDI channels * Connects to sound Blaster 16 series of audio cards for a single-slot solution (Does not connect to Sound Blaster 16 Value Edition or Sound Blaster AWE32 Value Edition) * Includes Cakewalk Apprentice for Windows -- a professional-quality MIDI sequencer and MIDI adapter cable for connecting MIDI instruments to your Sound Blaster 16. Sound Blaster AWE32 ------------------- Sound Blaster AWE32 is designed for power users, multimedia presenters, developers, and serious musicians who demand CD-quality digital audio and real instrument sounds and effects. Includes a special effects DSP, Advanced WavEffects and Advanced Signal processor for compression and decompression of audio files. * 8- and 16-bit stereo sampling and playback from 4-44.1 kHz * E-mu Systems Advanced WavEffects for realistic sounds, chorus and reverb effects, and downloadable SoundFont technology * 32-note polyphony * Supports General MIDI, Sound Canvas and MT-32 standards * Advanced Signal Processor DSP, Qsound 180 degree soundscape technology and Creative TextAssist advanced text-to-speech synthesis * 20-note, 4 operator FM synthesizer ensures backward compatibility * Joystick port/MIDI interface with MPU-401 UART support * High-performance condenser microphone * CD-ROM interface for Creative Labs, Mitsumi and Sony CD-ROM drives * Add up to 28 MB of additional memory * Software includes Cakewalk Apprentice for Windows, HSC Inter Active SE and several state-of-the-art audio utilities * Windows 3.1 and MPC level 2 compatible Sound Blaster AWE32 Value Edition --------------------------------- Sound Blaster AWE32 Value Edition is a cost effective-solution for users who demand the highest quality digital audio and real instrument sounds and effects. Sound Blaster AWE32 Value incorporates a special effects DSP and Advanced WavEffects wave sample synthesis technology. * 8- and 16-bit stereo sampling and playback from 4-44.1 kHz * E-mu Systems Advanced WavEffects for realistic sounds, chorus and reverb effects * Downloadable SoundFont technology * 32-note polyphony * Supports General MIDI, Sound Canvas and MT-32 standards * 20-note, 4 operator FM synthesizer ensures backward compatibility * Joystick port/MIDI interface with MPU-401 UART support * CD-ROM interface for Creative Labs, Mitsumi and Sony CD-ROM drives * 512 KB RAM onboard * Software includes Monologue for Windows, and several state-of-the-art audio utilities * Windows 3.1 and MPC level 2 compatible Multimedia Kits =============== Creative OmniCD 2x ------------------ Upgrade you PC with Creative Omni 2x, a cost-effective double-speed CD-ROM upgrade solution. Now you can unlock the power of all the newest, most dynamic games and applications. Included are top-selling productivity software titles. * Includes Aldus PhotoStyler SE, Gallery Effects, Altamira Composer SE, Digital Morph, Kai's Power Tools, and the award-winning New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. * CD-ROM interface card and all cables - Connects directly to Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16 Value, Sound Blaster 16 MCD, AWE32 * Double-speed internal CD-ROM drive - 300 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 320 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 64KB RAM buffer - Multi-Session Photo CD compatible, XA-Ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications - Software controlled, automatic tray-loading drive - Daisy-chain up to 4 Creative Labs drives Creative OmniCD 3x ------------------ Upgrade your PC with the Creative Omni3x, a cost-effective triple-speed CD-ROM solution. This high-performance SCSI-2 drive lets you unlock the power of all the newest, most dynamic games and applications. Included are top-selling productivity software titles. * Includes Aldus PhotoStyler SE, Gallery Effects, Altamira Composer SE, Digital Morph, Kai's Power Tools, and the award-winning New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia * SCSI-data cable and CD-Audio cable (Audio cable connects to Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2. Contact your nearest reseller for audio cables for your system) * Triple-speed, internal SCSI-2 CD-ROM drive - 450 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 195 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 656 KB RAM buffer - Multi-session Photo CD compatible, XA-ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications - Caddy-loading drive Sound Blaster Discovery CD 16 ----------------------------- Get leading multimedia technology and cutting edge value. Discovery CD16 gives you everything you need: best-selling multimedia software titles, CD-quality stereo sound card, stereo speakers, and a multi-session, Photo CD compatible, double-speed CD-ROM drive. * Includes The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Aldus PhotoStyler SE, Altamira Composer, Kai's Power Tools, Digital Morph, Gallery Effects and much more * High performance stereo speakers * Industry-standard 16-bit stereo Sound Blaster * Creative Double-Speed Technology CD-ROM Drive (internal) - 300 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 320 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 64KB RAM buffer - Multi-Session Photo CD compatible, XA-Ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications - Daisy-chain up to 4 Creative Labs drives Sound Blaster Digital SchoolHouse --------------------------------- Discover how much fun learning can be with the Sound Blaster Digital Schoolhouse. Along with industry-standard 16-bit audio and CD-ROM hardware, you'll receive 14 innovative, top-selling educational titles, including the award-winning New Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia. Exciting sound utilizes are included. * The New Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia, 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, Speed, Allie's Playhouse, Kid Works 2, Spell It 3, The Cruncher, Four Footed Friends, Stradiwackius, peter pan: A Story Painting Adventure, Scooter's Magic Castle, Eagle Eye Mysteries The Original, Eagle Eye Mysteries in London, Gus Goes to Cybertown, plus Creative Ensemble, Creative WaveStudio, Creative Soundo'Le, Creative Mosaic, Creative Talking Scheduler and Monologue for Windows * Industry-standard 16-bit stereo Sound Blaster * Double-Speed CD-ROM Drive (internal) - 300 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 320 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 64KB RAM buffer - Multi-Session Photo CD compatible, XA-Ready CD-ROM drive - Easy tray loading * Stereo speakers included Game Blaster CD16 ----------------- Every serious gamer will want to own Game Blaster CD 16 -- a multimedia kit that combines the hottest hardware and the coolest software. Award- winning, number one selling CD-ROM titles are featured along with high- performance hardware including a double-speed CD-ROM drive, Sound Blaster 16 sound card, stereo speakers and high-performance joystick. * Includes Rebel Assault, Return to Zork, Iron Helix, Sim City 2000, The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and Creative Labs utilities. * Stereo speakers * Industry-standard 16-bit stereo Sound Blaster * Creative Double-Speed Technology CD-ROM Drive (internal) - 300 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 320 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 64KB RAM buffer - Multi-Session Photo CD compatible, XA-Ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications Sound Blaster Edutainment CD16 ------------------------------ For individuals or families who want the best in multimedia and want it now. Edutainment CD 16 features over 40 titles, including best-selling education, entertainment and productivity software. Includes all the hardware you need for CD-Quality stereo, double speed CD-ROM performance and Photo-CD viewing. * Top-selling titles including Quicken Deluxe CD-ROM, Rebel Assault, The new Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Aldus PhotoStyler SE, 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, Wing Commander II, Digital Morph, Gallery Effects, Kai's Power Tools, Peter Pan: A Story Painting Adventure, Scooter's Magic Castle, Eagle Eye Mysteries, SSN-21 Seawolf, Pagan, Ultima VII, Syndicate Plus and much more.. * 16-bit stereo Sound Blaster * Double-Speed CD-ROM Drive (internal) - 300 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 320 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 64KB RAM buffer - Multi-Session Photo CD compatible, XA-Ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications - Easy tray loading * Stereo speakers and microphone Sound Blaster Multimedia Office ------------------------------- Multimedia Office combines industry-standard Creative Labs hardware with the hottest business software suite, Microsoft Office Professional. Also includes Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia, Personal Training Systems' interactive Microsoft Office tutorial, and innovative audio software for business. Perfect for home office or corporate use. * Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power Point, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Mail, Microsoft Encarta, Personal Training Systems multimedia training program for Microsoft Office, Windows Sound System, Creative Voice Assist, Creative TextAssist and 6 other utilities that add speech recognition and sound capabilities to your PC * Industry-standard 16-bit stereo Sound Blaster with Advanced Signal Processing * Double-Speed CD-ROM Drive (internal) - 300 KB/second transfer rate, fast data access of 320 ms - Large 680 MB data storage with 64KB RAM buffer - Multi-Session Photo CD compatible, XA-Ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications - Easy tray loading * High performance headphones and microphone Sound Blaster Digital Edge 3x ----------------------------- For uncompromising performance, choose the Sound Blaster Digital Edge 3x, a SCSI-2 compatible multimedia upgrade kit. Today's leading-edge triple- speed CD-ROM technology will supercharge your multimedia software. Included are top-selling software titles, state-of-the-art audio utilities, 16-bit stereo sound with advanced digital signal processing, and a multi-session Photo CD-compatible triple-speed CD-ROM. * Top titles include Intuit's Quicken Deluxe CD-ROM, the New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Rebel Assault, Aldus PhotoStyler SE, Altamira Composer, Kai's Power Tools, Gallery Effects, Speed, Creative TextAssist, Creative Voice Assist and a variety of sound utilities. * High-performance stereo speakers and condenser microphone * 16-bit stereo Sound Blaster 16 SCSI-2 with Advanced Signal Processor * Triple Speed NEC CD-ROM Drive - 656 MB(Mode 1) or 748 MB (mode 2) data capacity - 450KB/sec data transfer rate, 195 ms access time, 256K cache - Multi-session Photo CD compatible, XA-ready CD-ROM drive - Exceeds MPC level 2 specifications Video: ====== Creative TV Coder ----------------- Specifically developed to complement Creative's Video Blaster, Creative TV Coder is a VGA to Video signal encoder for low-cost video output. Creative video presentations using Video Blaster then display them on a TV monitor or record them to VCR. * Supports NTSC 4.43 50 Hz, NTSC 4.43 60 Hz, NTSC-M 60 Hz * Supports PAL B/G 50 Hz, PAL-M 60 Hz, PAL-N 50 Hz * Flicker Filter improves stability of video display * Supports SVGA display up to 640 x 480 resolution with 256 colors * Compatible with all popular VGA cards * Control Panel provides software controls for video selection, color enhancements and special effects * Can connect to a VGA monitor and a Tv for simultaneous display * S-Video output jack, RCA output jack, two 15-pin D-shaped output jacks -- one for connecting to VGA monitor, one for connecting to VGA card or Video Blaster Video Blaster FS200 ------------------- This versatile digital video capture card combines live analog overlay, still image capture, and digital video sequencing. Users can integrate live audio and video from an array of sources including video cameras, VCR's and laserdiscs. Ideal for multimedia presentations and applications, Video Blaster FS200 supports chroma and color keying and print-to-video capabilities. * Software selectable video source from 2 composite inputs and 1 S-Video * Supports NTSC and PAL * Interpolation on playback * video overlay via graphics color keying up to 64K color * Export live video to other applications utilizing chroma and color key * Supports JPEG, PCX, TIFF, BMP, MMP, GIF, and TRA formats * Resolution up to 800x 600 at 64K SVGA displays up to 2 million colors * Re-size, flip, fade, and crop images * MCI overlay driver, DOS driver Video for Windows supports Video Blaster RT300 ------------------- Creative multimedia presentations completely on you PC with Video Blaster RT300. Capture and playback true full-motion video at 30 fps at 320 x 240 pixels. Plus, anybody with a 386-33 or greater PC can playback RT300 videos without buying extra hardware or software. Includes Adobe Premiere and Asymetrix Compel PE * Record and compress video at 30 fps in windows up to 320 x 240 * Further reduce file size by compressing and optimizing off-line * Intel Indeo technology lets you playback on any 386-33 or better * Software automatically adjusts playback to individual Pcs * Includes Adobe Premiere software for professional editing, transitions and special effects * Includes Asymetrix Compel PE for creating multimedia presentations * Captures video still images at full frame * 3 composite/1 S-Video input, NTSC or PAL formats * Upgradeable to the ShareVision teleconferencing system 3DO Blaster ----------- 3DO never looked or sounded so good! 3DO is acknowledged as the most realistic and exciting game platform. It's even more spectacular on your high-resolution PC monitor! This ISA expansion card works with any 386-25 or higher PC and requires no external box. Includes a 3DO control pad and two of the most incredible 3DO titles. * Photo-realistic graphics, images and full-motion video on your high resolution PC monitor * 3DO control pad for ultimate control * 64-million pixel per second animation * On-board DSP for CD-quality stereo soundtracks * 32-bit RISC CPU and twin graphics processors * Works as a standard Windows application * Requires Creative Labs CR-563 CD-ROM drive and Soundblaster with CD Audio connector and speakers * Includes SHOCK WAVE: A Sci Fi Movie Experience and GRIDDERS ShareVision PC300 ----------------- Now, over a single ordinary phone line, you and a colleague can simul- taneously talk and collaborate on shared documents. It's like working in the same room, even if you're continents apart. ShareVision PC300 includes everything you need -- audio card, software, hands-free headset, high speed fax/modem and cables. * Simultaneous voice and data over a single telephone line * Simultaneous control over shared Windows documents, even if only one user has the application * Whiteboard feature lets you brainstorm and display ideas graphically * High-speed fax/modem for all your communication needs * Includes audio card, software, hands-free headset and cables * Autodialing Phonebook stores names, numbers, even faces * Requires 486 SX-25 or higher, with open ISA slot, 8 MB RAM and available 6 MB hard disk space, Windows 3.1, VGA or SVGA display * Requires two ShareVision PC300 units for operation ShareVision PC3000 ------------------ ShareVision PC3000 lets you and a colleague talk and see each other in full color video windows, while you simultaneously collaborate on documents. Requires only a single ordinary phone line. Save time and money spent on travel. Increase communication and productivity. Includes all necessary components. * Full color, two-way video plus document sharing over an ordinary phone line * Includes Whiteboard for real-time brain-storming and auto-dial Phonebook * Sizable video windows can display both you and your colleague * Simultaneous control of any Windows document, even if only one user has the application * Includes 1/3" CCDColor Video Camera and Stand, RT300 video card, audio card, high speed fax/data modem, software, hands free headset, all cables * Requires 486 SX-33 or higher, with two open ISA slots, 8 MB RAM and 6 MB hard disk space, Windows 3.1, VGA or SVGA display (16 or 24-bit VGA card recommended) * Requires two ShareVision PC3000 units for operation BlasterWare =========== Blasterware: The Gus Series ---------------------------- GUS GOES TO CYBERTOWN 1994 CES Innovations Winner, this acclaimed educational title features GUS, the hippest, most lovable dog in all Cybertown. Join him on an interactive search for the CyberBuds through five interactive playgrounds, each chock full of puzzles and lesson on counting, spelling, letters and shapes. Designed for kids 3 to 7, featuring original songs by David Maloney. Chosen as one of MacUser's Top 50 CDs of 1994 GUS AND THE CYBERBUDS SING, PLAY & PAINT-A-LONG Now Gus, the hippest, most lovable dog in CyberTown, enters a unique world of sing-a-long, paint-a-long creativity. All-time favorite and original children's songs are played aloud while kids use stamps, paint buckets, pens, backgrounds and erasers to illustrate the lyrics. It's a ton of musical and artistic fun for kids 3 to 7, from the makers of the award- winning Gus series. GUS GOES TO CYBEROPOLIS The sequel to the acclaimed Gus Goes to Cybertown, this fun-packed CD-ROM features six new interactive environments where kids can observe, experiment and learn. They'll practice dictionary and geography skills, travel through a global restaurant, create stationary and compose letters while searching for the CyberBuds. * Macintosh Version: - LCII or faster including Performa, Quadra, and PowerMac Series - 256 Color - 13" monitor - 5MB RAM - System 7.0 or later - a CD-ROM drive * Windows Version: - (MPC) CD-ROM 386/25 MHz or faster - VGA color monitor (or larger) and graphics card running at 256 colors - 8 MB RAM - Windows 3.1 - Sound Blaster or compatible sound card - Mouse - CD-ROM drive Blasterware: ------------ A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME By Stephen Hawking - An Interactive Adventure Steven Hawking's universe comes to life in this interactive environment based on the book and film documentary "A Brief History of Time". You'll have access to a graphical universe where icons and artifacts lead to adventures based on Hawking's theories. Graphics, movies and animations combine to express abstract ideas in humorous, understandable ways. You'll travel to distant galaxies, black holes, alternate dimensions and across centuries of scientific thought to confront the supreme questions. The Complete text of the book can also be accessed. * Macintosh version: - LCII or faster including Performa, Quadra, and PowerMac Series - 256 Color - 13" monitor - 8MB RAM - System 7.0 or later - Double Speed CD-ROM drive * Windows Version: - (MPC) CD-ROM 386/25 MHz or faster - VGA color monitor (or larger) and graphics card running at 256 colors - 8 MB RAM - Windows 3.1 - Sound Blaster or compatible sound card - Mouse - Double Speed CD-ROM drive Blasterware: ------------ AMERICAN VISIONS 20th Century Art From the Roy R. Neuberger Collection American Visions is a whole new way of viewing art, an interactive museum that Wired Magazine lauds as "indisputably drop dead gorgeous". Winner of the 1994 Invision Award, American Visions features over 80 works of art in full color, each linked to related information, including photos and Quick Time movies of the artist, and comments from critics and historians. * Macintosh version: - LCII or faster including Performa, Quadra, and PowerMac Series - 256 Color - 13" monitor - 5MB RAM - System 7.0 or later - CD-ROM drive * Windows Version: - (MPC) CD-ROM 486/25 MHz or faster - VGA color monitor (or larger) and graphics card running at 256 colors - 8 MB RAM - Windows 3.1 - Sound Blaster or compatible sound card - Mouse - Double Speed CD-ROM drive Blasterware: ------------ CREATIVE VOICE ASSIST Activate your PC with sound of your voice. Creative VoiceAssist allows you to quickly and effortlessly create personalized commands and customize Windows applications. This speaker dependent, single utterance speech system uses minimal hard disk space and features high accuracy, quick response command recognition as well as simple verbal representation of complex-action macros. * Customize 1,024 voice commands -- 32 generic and 996 application-specific 29,760 total commands * Supports up to 256 individual users * Control up to 30 Widows applications -- automatically loads the user's file for each active Windows applications * Easy to train -- train each command only once * Takes minimal hard disk space * Requires 386 SX /Windows 3.1 or higher, 4MB RAM, Sound Blaster or equivalent sound card with Windows audio drivers and microphone jack * Microphone included Blasterware: SCREEN SINGER Each Screensinger CD-ROM lets you enjoy music, graphics and video on your PC in four different ways: 1. MTV-style music 'videos' give you 640x480 graphics in 256 colors, plus animation and video clips 2. Karaoke mode lets you sing-along with lyrics and dazzling graphics 3. A clip image library and 20 PowerPoint templates can be imported into your presentations 4. Screen saver mode makes you PC come alive with crystal clear music and images * Each Screensinger CD features 7 to 10 songs professionally arranged and recorded in the style of the original artists. Screensinger offers a selection of children melodies, Christmas memories and folk tunes. And Screensinger CDs can also be enjoyed on you home or car CD. * Requires 386-33 MHz or higher (486-66 MHz recommended), 4 MB RAM (8 MB recommended), 2 MB free disk space, Windows 3.1 or higher, Sound Blaster series audio card or 100% compatible, CD-ROM drive, speakers or headphones, microphone and mouse (optional) Accessories: ============ AeroDuet -------- AeroDuet offers a mouse, pen and 3-D digitizer in one wireless solution. Infa-red technology detects which function is being used and automatically makes adjustments. Which means you don't have to change ports, slot in new cards, or switch system settings. Four best-selling graphics applications and 3D games are included. * Includes Kai's Power Tools, Digital Morph, Spectre VR and a special 3-D version of Fractal Designs' Dabbler * 3D detection along X, Y, Z axes * Wireless infra-red input technology * Requires only one serial port for all three functions * Supports relative and absolute modes in 2-D or 3-D * Compatible with Microsoft Mouse * Operates in Windows 3.1 and MS-DOS. * Requires 386-33 Mhz or higher, MS-DOS 3.3 or higher Developer Kits -------------- If you're interested in developing applications that incorporate Creative's audio, video and speech technologies, please call Developer Relations at 1-408-428-2345. * Developer Kit for Sound blaster Series, 2nd Edition * Sound Blaster AWE32 Developer Kit * Video Blaster SE Programming Information Kit * Video Blaster FS200 Programming Information Kit * VoiceAssist Developer Kit Sound Upgrades -------------- Advanced Signal Processor Upgrade for Sound Blaster 16 The Advanced Signal Processor provides real-time compression and decompression of sound files and QSound audio. The Advanced Signal Processor is a programmable digital signal processor (DSP) that reduces files up to 75% without sound quality degradation and frees the CPU for other tasks. Also includes Creative TextAssist which provides nine predefined voiced for realistic text-to-speech synthesis. Fine-tune voices by adjusting pitch, phoneme length, speed and volume settings. Have your Windows-based spreadsheets, electronic mail and documents read back to you. Vienna SF Editor ---------------- The ideal complement for Sound Blaster AWE32, Vienna SF Editor allows you to edit your own samples or presets to create entire SoundFont banks. Features sample downloading, sample preset editing and supports multi-sampling and multi-layering techniques. Add effects such as reverb, chorus, tremolo, and vibrato or manipulate pitch and volume envelopes. All SoundFont banks can be directly downloaded to your Sound Blaster AWE32 for enhanced MIDI playback. * Requires 386SX or higher - 4MB RAM - Windows 3.1 - Sound Blaster AWE32 or AWE32 Value Edition with Windows drivers Sound Blaster CT-38 Speakers ---------------------------- This is a portable, efficient pair of stereo speakers. The Sound Blaster cards can directly drive these speakers or they can be powered to provide additional amplification. These speakers run on 4 "C" batteries or 6V DC (not included). Sound Blaster SBS300 Speakers ----------------------------- Enhance your multimedia experience. The Sound Blaster SBS300 speakers provide endless hours of deep acoustic audio reproduction. This high- performance duo can be placed near magnetically sensitive equipment, such as a computer, monitor, or electronic instrument, without compromising sound integrity or quality. Includes 14v DC power supply. MIDI Accessories ================ MIDI Kit -------- The MIDI Kit includes a MIDI connector box or MIDI adapter cable and sequencing software enabling you to connect a MIDI instrument to your Sound Blaster's MIDI port and compose or play MIDI music * The kit includes Cakewalk Apprentice for Windows sequencing software, a highly rated professional sequencer that includes all the essential features for recording and editing MIDI files. * View music in piano roll, event list, and staff notation, have multiple window editing, and drag-and-drop measures MIDI Adapter Cable ------------------ Connects to the Sound Blaster MIDI/Joystick port. Enables you to connect a joystick as well as provides MIDI in and out connectors. MIDI Box -------- Used to connect a MIDI device to your Sound Blaster card. Contains one MIDI in, four MIDI out and one MIDI through connector plus joystick connector. SPEC SHEETS ----------- All Spec Sheets can be found on Compuserve in Creative's Support Area (Go Blaster) in Library 1, General Information: Audio: ------ Sound Blaster 2.0 - SB20.TXT Sound Blaster Pro - SBPRO2.TXT Sound Blaster 16 Value, MutliCD & SCSI-2 - SB16.TXT Wave Blaster II - WVBLS2.TXT Sound Blaster AWE32 - AWE32.TXT MultiMedia Kits: ---------------- Creative OmniCD 2x - OMNICD.TXT Sound Blaster Discovery CD16 - DISCCD.TXT Sound Blaster Digital SchoolHouse - SCHOOL.TXT Game Blaster CD16 - GAMECD.TXT Sound Blaster Edutainment CD16 - EDUTCD.TXT Sound Blaster Multimedia Office - OFFICE.TXT Sound Blaster Digital Edge 3x - DIG3X.TXT Video: ------ Creative TV Coder - TVCODR.TXT Video Blaster FS200 - VFS200.TXT Video Blaster RT300 - VRT300.TXT 3DO Blaster - 3DO.TXT ShareVision PC300 - PC300.TXT ShareVision PC3000 - PC3000.TXT BlasterWare (all titles) - BLSTWR.ZIP Accessories: ------------ AeroDuet - AERODT.TXT Vienna SF Editior - VIENNA.TXT Spec sheets are available for the following products that are not listed in the Creative Product Catalog: Discovery CD New Edition - DISCOVNE.TXT Starter CD - STARTRCD.TXT Value CD - VALUECD.TXT Multimedia Home 4x - MMHOME4X.TXT Creative Text Assist - TXTAST.TXT Modem Blaster Voice 19.2 - MBVOIC.TXT Modem Blaster PCMCIA 14.4 - MBPCMC.TXT Video Blaster MP400 - VMP400.TXT """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to you that demonstrates FARGO Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY 600dpi 24 bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to: STReport's Fargo Printout Offer P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155 Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet. Its far superior to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as much. Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. Send for this sample now. Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please, allow at least a one week turn-around) A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N -- A T T E N T I O N """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo) Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. The 2.0 version of GEnie for Windows is now available ----------------------------------------------------- winfe200.exe : The self-extracting archive winfe200.hlp : The help file, rename to FE.HLP after installation *** GENIE Information Services copyright 1995 by General Electric Information Services/GENIE, reprinted by permission """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > GEnie Windows Front End Version 2.0 STR FOCUS! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" GEnie for Windows Version 2.0 ============================= Wow! Have we got a new program for you! --------------------------------------- If you have used a previous version of GEnie for Windows you won't believe your eyes! If you've used other programs to access other online services, you're going to be delighted. If the world is going to Windows then the NEW GEnie for Windows is a good example of the reasons! The NEW GEnie for Windows is designed to help you have the most fun and get the most benefit from your GEnie time. We know you have a choice in online services and we want you to choose GEnie. New Look -------- Genie for Windows has a new look. There's an attractive desktop with 18 icons. A single click on any of the icons will take you directly to any of those areas. New Signup Procedure -------------------- There's a new, easy-to-use signup procedure. If you're not a member, you will be presented with the signup screen after you install GEnie for Windows. If you are currently a GEnie member, you can use the signup for friends and family. As their Buddy, you can get credit for their signups! New Animated Logon ------------------ Are you tired of staring at an unmoving screen while your modem dials the phone? You won't be when you see the new, animated logon in GEnie for Windows! New Sounds ---------- You can put that sound card to good use with GEnie for Windows. While some sounds are supplied, you can easily add others. And change them as you wish. A fanfare makes moving to your favorite RoundTable special! New Auto Configure ------------------ It's easier than ever to configure GEnie for Windows with Auto Configure and the list of modems that require special strings for best access. New Logon Announcements ----------------------- There's always something special happening on GEnie. With GEnie for Windows you'll see the announcements of these events as soon as you logon. You can move to the area featured in any of the announcements with a quick click. New E-Mail Manager ------------------ You've got the world in your mailbox with the NEW GEnie for Windows. One click on the Mail icon on the desktop takes you to the new E-Mail manager. You can get your new mail, compose new letters, open the Address Book or File Cabinet and send your Out Box (To Do Manager). New Address Book ---------------- One click will send mail to another GEnie member or across the Internet to other services. Best of all, after you enter a name once you'll only have to remember the easy name that you choose. New RoundTable Menus -------------------- Now all the features of GEnie RoundTables are yours with a single click: About the RoundTable, News, Bulletin Board, Software Libraries and Real Time Conferences. One click opens the RoundTable banner or selects any of the special areas such as a KnowledgeBase, Quiz or Survey. New Real-Time Conference and Chat Features ------------------------------------------ Using Conferences and Chat Lines has never been easier! The NEW GEnie for Windows makes it a pleasure to join the fun! New See-As-You-GIF Downloading and Uploading -------------------------------------------- See what that picture (GIF) file looks like while it's being downloaded (or uploaded). New Faster Response ------------------- Even with all the new features, GEnie for Windows is faster than it has ever been. New Internet Access ------------------- One click on the Internet icon on the desktop will take you to Genie's Internet Services. And There's More... ------------------- Enjoy exploring the NEW GEnie for Windows as you enjoy exploring Genie. Keep an eye out for even more new features. (Hint...look at the lamp in the lower right corner of the screen.) _______________________________________ ___ ___ _____ _______ /___| /___| /_____| /_______/ /____|/____| /__/|__| /__/ /_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/ /__/|____/|__|________|__/ /__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/_____ /__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/ ________________________________________ /_______________________________________/ MAC/APPLE SECTION (II) ====================== John Deegan, Editor (Temp) > GIFIASCO STR InfoFile """"""""""""""""""""" The GIF Controversy: A Software Developer's Perspective ======================================================= January 27, 1995 - Text revision 2 - March 31, 1995 by Michael Console Battilana Copyright (c) 1995 Cloanto Italia srl, All rights reserved Parts are quoted with permission from CompuServe Information Service Parts are excerpted from the PNG specification Permission granted for non-profit electronic distribution Suggested file name: "giflzw1.txt" Keywords: GIF PNG LZW WELCH COMPRESSION UNISYS PATENT HISTORY TEXT Free by mailing before April 30, 1995 This article was written with great care. It may reflect personal opinions of the author, which are not necessarily shared by the publishers, who cannot assume any responsibility for mistakes or misprints. Nothing in this article should be regarded as legal counsel. If you require legal or other expert assistance, you should consult a professional advisor. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are trademarks. The author of this article has made every attempt to supply trademark information about manufacturers and their products. GIF and Graphics Interchange Format are service marks of CompuServe Inc., an H&R Block Company. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc. TIFF is a trademark of Aldus Corp. Abstract During the past eight years, GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) peacefully became the most popular file format for archiving and exchanging computer images. At the end of December 1994, CompuServe Inc. and Unisys Corporation announced to the public that developers would have to pay a license fee in order to continue to use technology patented by Unisys in certain categories of software supporting the GIF format. These first statements caused immediate reactions and some confusion. As a longer term consequence, it appears likely that GIF will be replaced and extended by the new PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format. Introduction This is a very interesting case, which could teach more than one lesson on the theory and practice of software and the laws. There are many entities involved. Fingers have been pointed at lawmakers, Unisys, CompuServe and developers. In theory, it may have been possible for any or all of these parts to prevent the matter from creating so much anxiety in the first place. Yet we are all here, debating on this issue. This article intends to provide a collection of information from the history of the controversy to the most recent events, as they were perceived by a software developer. CompuServe released GIF as a free and open specification in 1987. GIF soon became a world standard, and also played an important role in the Internet community. It was well supported by CompuServe's Information Service, but many developers wrote (or acquired under license) software supporting GIF without even needing to know that a company named CompuServe existed. GIF was relatively simple, and very well documented in books, articles and text files. GIF images are compressed to reduce the file size. The technique used to compress the image data is called LZW (after Lempel-Ziv-Welch) and was first described by Terry A. Welch in the June 1984 issue of IEEE's Computer magazine. Unisys holds a patent on the procedure described in the article, but the article describing the algorithm had no mention of this. The LZW procedure was simple and very well described, and it soon became a very popular technique for data compression (just as GIF would become a standard in its own field). It appears that neither CompuServe, nor the CompuServe Associate who designed GIF, nor the computer world in general were aware of the patent. GIF is not alone in the use of LZW. The TIFF file specification also includes LZW-compression among its compression methods, and so do dozens of very popular file archiving programs (such as Compress). While having the right to pursue legal action or seek damages against infringing LZW developers and publishers, Unisys has so far been very accomodating and fair. It is likely that the success of LZW and its thousands of implementations, especially among small developers, caught Unisys unprepared. Otherwise, it would be difficult to understand how Unisys could first allow a very large number of small and big developers to use LZW for years, and then, after the establishment of various standards based on LZW, change its attitude. The original CompuServe/Unisys licensing agreement text which had upset so many developers was immediately followed by clarifications from both CompuServe and Unisys. Given that the online community tends to be suspicious about anything that is big, has a legal department or owns software patents, Unisys had to face a particularly delicate challenge. But it probably wasn't easier for CompuServe, who had to explain the patent issue to its own developers, some of whom felt "betrayed". The outside world would learn about this issue from the press in the following days. Even Time Magazine reported about this matter, although like most of the newspapers it concentrated on GIF more than on TIFF, LZW, Unisys or software patents. In the meantime, a group of leaders of the online graphics community began working on a patent-free future of GIF. These efforts would later converge into the PNG specification (scan this text for #1). The full texts of official statements from CompuServe and Unisys are also included at the end of this article (scan this text for #2). Among the first reactions, some bulletin board systems had all GIF files deleted from their hard disks (or converted into JPEG format). Common remarks included: "PROTEST OF NEW COMPUSERVE-UNISYS GIF USAGE TAX !!" "They [CompuServe] seem to think that GIF is the greatest thing since free online magazines." "The announcement by CompuServe and Unisys that users of the GIF image format must register by January 10 and pay a royalty or face lawsuits for their past usage, is the online communications community's equivalent of the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor." These reactions may require some clarification. Unisys, and not CompuServe, has been "trying to impose" a royalty. The problem is not specific to GIF, but includes TIFF and archiving software. GIF files are not covered by the patent. There is no risk in distributing GIF files or in using the GIF name. According to a CompuServe spokesperson, "Recent discussions of GIF taxes and fees are totally without merit. For people who view GIF images, who keep GIF images on servers, or who are creating GIF images for distribution, the recent licensing discussions have no effect on their activities." Only the software employing the LZW algorithm for writing GIF files is "at risk". The Unisys patent includes claims which specifically cover the decompression of LZW-compressed material, so it may also affect simple GIF readers. Several patent attorneys consulted on this matter have concluded that decompression-only programs do not infringe upon the Unisys patent. Unisys however does not appear to share this opinion. A format such as JPEG cannot be used as a substitute for GIF. Unlike GIF (and PNG), JPEG was designed as a "lossy" format. This means that it slightly changes an image as it is compressed. This is unacceptable for many applications. Also, while JPEG excels in compressing real world true color images, it offers no support for palette-based images. The CompuServe licensing agreement was intended as a voluntary service to the few dozen developers creating software for use primarily in conjunction with the CompuServe Information Service (CIS). This includes applications such as CompuServe "navigators", but does not apply to general purpose GIF readers/writers (which are not intended for use primarily in conjunction with CIS). On January 27, 1995, Unisys announced new licensing policies regarding "The Welch Patent". These include a .45% royalty on the total unit selling price of GIF/LZW products (minimum $0.10, maximum $10.00 per unit) and a .65% royalty on GIF/TIFF/LZW products (minimum $0.20, maximum $25.00). For further information and a copy of the written agreement it is possible to call Unisys at +1 215 986-4411, or send E-mail to . Any organization using LZW should look at whether they have an infringement on Unisys' patent. CompuServe is not involved in any of these discussions - they are between Unisys and outside developers. Software Patents Normally, procedures such as LZW are published in magazines so that they can be shared by the community of software developers. LZW itself is a refinement of other algorithms published in the years before (Ziv-Lempel and others). Software is usually protected by copyright law, but in recent years (since 1981 in the USA) in several countries it has become possible to patent software. Initially, only software used to control hardware could be patented. This interpretation was soon extended to include all types of software (except for "pure mathematical algorithms"). While software patents have become an opportunity for many, they remain a controversial danger for others. Any programmer or publisher might be trapped at any time by a patent infringement claim that could not be foreseen or avoided. Publication of an algorithm in a magazine does not automatically exclude a patent application. In many countries, including the USA, it is possible to apply for a patent and still publish the paper without mention of the application. In the USA (but not in many other countries), the patent application may even be filed within 12 months of the publication. Under such regulations, the only algorithms that might be used freely and without risk would be those published prior to 1981 (e.g. Donald Knuth's "The Art of Computer Programming"). Today, even designing a graphics file format can become a programmer's nightmare. One very active member of the Internet community has collected information on more than 350 patents on lossless data compression and 100 on lossy image compression. Lempel, Ziv, Cohn and Eastman patented their original LZ78 algorithm (US patent 4,464,650). The LZW algorithm which is now attracting so much attention is patented by both IBM (4,814,746) and Unisys (4,558,302), while British Telecom holds a similar patent. The IBM patent application was filed three weeks before that of Unisys, but the US patent office apparently failed to recognize that they covered the same algorithm. (The IBM patent is more general, but its claim 7 is said to be exactly LZW.) 10 Years of LZW While the original article on LZW was published in 1984, the LZW patent issue first surfaced in the press in 1989, when the BTLZ algorithm (a procedure similar to LZW developed and patented by British Telecom) was to be approved for data compression into the V.42bis modem standard. Unisys said on at least one occasion that it first began to learn of the widespread use of LZW in connection with the development of this standard. The first licensing arrangements put into place included those with modem manufacturers ($ 20,000 for each one-time license) and with Adobe PostScript developers ($ 10,000). An article on "LZW Data Compression" was published in the October 1989 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal (see the Bibliography section for more details - scan this text for #4). A reader replied in the December issue explaining that the algorithm was patented. The author of the article added that he was unaware of any patent on the algorithm. More readers wrote, and in the March 1990 issue the editor-in-chief dedicated his Editorial to this topic, which in his words "sparked a forest of fires". The same issue also contained an official statement by Unisys Corporation, which confirmed that LZW was patented, mentioned the modem industry, and indicated how developers could contact Unisys. In the October 2, 1989 issue of PC Week a columnist wrote: "Alas, there's no consolation for developers of archiving programs that rely on the LZW data-compression algorithm. While cruising the bulletin boards last week, Spencer learned that Unisys has a patent on the algorithm, upon which a slew of data-compression programs are based. Watch out." In about the same period, an article in InfoWorld mentioned the fact that modem manufacturers were facing the possibility of having to pay royalties to Unisys and to other patent holders for the right to use LZW. Page 132 ("LZWEncode Filter") of the PostScript Language Reference Manual, Second Edition, published in December 1990, contains the address of the Welch Licensing Department at Unisys Corporation. In the March 1991 issue of Byte, Steve Apiki ("Lossless Data Compression") explained that LZW is used in GIF, and that "The [LZW] algorithm itself is patented by Sperry [now Unisys]." At this point, at least the readers of some publications were potentially aware of the LZW patent. But still, there were few links to GIF. Unisys apparently didn't know about GIF, nor did most GIF developers know that GIF contained LZW technology. And those who may have known, not necessarily knew about the patent. This issue was also discussed among a small group of the better informed members of the CompuServe PICS Forum (now GRAPHSUP). The general feeling at that time was that "Unisys only intends to get royalties from hardware vendors," and there was some consensus on the idea that Unisys "wouldn't do anything about pure software implementations". Until the end of 1994, discussions on CompuServe's Information Service showed no clear mention of the requirement to get a license from Unisys for using LZW in GIF applications. During 1988 at least one developer stopped working on GIF tools because of considerations regarding the LZW patent, and reportedly "made CompuServe aware of it". This apparently was limited to private verbal conversations, and information on this behalf could be found neither in the press nor in CIS. Among the developers who contacted Unisys between the end of 1990 and the beginning of 1991, there was at least one GIF developer. He recently described his experience: "Finding the right person was the most difficult part of licensing LZW, but hopefully it's easier today (perhaps only 5 phone calls would be needed!)... When talking to Unisys back then, my recollection is that we had to basically tell the people at Unisys, 'Believe me, you DO own a patent on LZW; who do we talk to about LICENSING?' When we finally reached the licensing/legal department, THEY knew they had a patent, and spelled out the terms. I recall the person we were dealing with saying something like, 'They [Unisys] laugh when I make all these $1 deals, but we have to charge something to protect the patent.'" In those days, the standard license fee for PC-based software products was $1 per copy sold (or a 1% royalty), after a $100 advance payment. Apparently, Unisys still didn't know that GIF was based on LZW. In January 1995, Unisys stated: "Two years ago, Unisys learned that the LZW method was incorporated in the GIF specification and immediately began negotiations with CompuServe in January of 1993. We reached agreement with CompuServe on licensing the technology in June 1994..." Two years before the Unisys statement, at the end of 1992, Cloanto, an Italian software house, contacted Unisys because it was interested in a license for the possible use of LZW in its PostScript Level 2 drivers. That correspondence also mentioned GIF and TIFF as using LZW, and anticipated some of the controversies which would follow 25 months later. Unisys replied: "... You raise a number of interesting issues which require consideration..." While disclosing the full contents of this correspondence would probably not serve anyone's interest, the text of two letters sent to Unisys in 1992 is included at the end of this article (scan this text for #3), because the author feels that this 1992 perspective could complement the article with a few interesting ideas. The letters have not been edited, so some details (such as the reference to ZIP) may be incomplete with respect to current knowledge. Unisys offered Cloanto a $ .25 per unit royalty (1% of the net income) as an alternative to the PostScript one-time license, but did not answer the question raised by Cloanto: "If we implemented a software GIF or TIFF image file loader and saver (both formats are based on the LZW algorithm), would we need a license from Unisys Corp., as far as U.S. Patent 4,558,302 is concerned?". According to public statements, Unisys did however contact CompuServe the following month. December 29, 1994 - The Days After Between 1993 and 1994, the majority of developers still didn't know that GIF employed a patented algorithm, although both Unisys and CompuServe were aware of this (as the developers would learn in December 1994). Different opinions have been expressed on this. Some developers feel that reaching an agreement behind the scenes was the least destructive thing that could be done. Other (at times passionate) opinions picked up on electronic media are similar to these three: "Consider this. CompuServe admits to knowing about patent problems with the GIF file format as early as January of 1993. ... We added GIF support to Fastgraph months after CompuServe admits knowledge of the patent problem... We relied on the information that was supplied to us by CompuServe. If CompuServe had told us the truth when they knew it, we never would have added GIF support..." "If I chose to put GIF encode/decode functions in my software development toolkits, my main threat of legal liability would not come from Unisys, but rather from one of my customers being sued by Unisys, who would turn around and sue me for selling them some code that contained patented algorithms." "I still don't have a clue what my situation is if I want to sell source and object code that imports and exports GIF images. I am not in the end-user app business, but my customers are, and they certainly will have to have an LZW license, but what about me? I've talked with Unisys by voice and E-mail, and the voice discussion was entirely unsatisfactory as I posted when it happened - basically the Unisys guy said anyone who sells code for $100-$300 a pop was a total _____ for selling it that cheap. The E-mail discussions I've had said 'OK - we hear you - we'll get back to you.' Never happened." Unisys replied in part with reassuring clarifications to the general public, explaining that if the software was developed prior to 1995, or if it is public domain or freeware, the developer need not to worry: "... Unisys does not intend to pursue previous inadvertent infringement by versions of GIF-based software products marketed prior to 1995... Unisys does not require licensing, or fees to be paid, for non-commercial, non-profit GIF-based applications, including those for use on the online services... Commercial developers... are expected to secure a licensing agreement with Unisys for software products introduced beginning in 1995, or enhancements of products that were introduced prior to 1995." However, these statements were followed by far more restrictive interpretations. It soon became clear that Unisys could be demanding royalties for everything "manufactured" after 1994. One developer contacted Unisys and reported: "I called the Unisys lawyer you referred me to and he confirmed this position. Even a book or CD containing *pre 1995* freeware is subject to royalties if the disk is put together in 1995... Royalties must be collected *again* for each update release." While the new Unisys licensing policies (announced on January 27, 1995) enabled many software publishers to again ship their products after a month-long pause, other developers preferred to wait, hoping for a patent-free evolution of GIF. Comments included: "What if I sign up and then they announce a new GIF specification which does not use LZW?" "Labeling and user notification requirements in the agreement are ridiculous. I understand their desire to 'spread the word' about their patent, but they're telling me that I have to provide far more info on their ownership of the patent than they require in the docs/packaging of modem manufacturers and other users of LZW. Fair is fair. A blurb in the online help and docs should be sufficient; a 'non-defeatable' splash screen at startup is going too far." "Unisys is attempting to control how we (and other shareware authors) do business, and to make us billboards for their LZW patent... By making me tell my users how many security backups they can make, etc., they're telling me how to run my business and how to interface with my customers." "Imagine the nightmare of having to pay royalties to 10 patent holders, each of whom tells you how to run your business..." "Unisys has given us a chance to work together to change the system - rather than waiting to be sued one by one for this patent or that. We can win the fight against software patents, if we speak loud and clear against them." Some of the most active developers decided to collaborate on the design of a patent-free evolution of GIF (and TIFF's LZW compression mode). A variety of different procedures and data structures (such as Shannon-Fano and AVL trees) have been used to compress data in ways similar, if not equivalent, to LZW. But this diversity apparently does not escape the patent. As one expert said, "If the output data is GIF, the compressor infringes the Unisys patent regardless of the algorithm." On January 16, 1995, CompuServe declared its intention to coordinate the development of GIF24, a freely usable successor to GIF capable of 24-bit lossless compression. Several developers invested a lot of time and energies to solve the Unisys patent problem, and rapidly worked out different modifications to the GIF specification. One of the better known efforts was the project for a "GEF" graphics-exchange format. GEF and GIF24 converged into PNG (official abbreviation of "Portable Network Graphics", unofficially "Png is Not Gif"). The open architecture of PNG preserves the simplicity that made GIF so popular, and adds features such as true color. Test results indicate that PNG is capable of (losslessly) compressing true color images better than any other widely used image format. It is also more effective than GIF in storing palette-based images. (More information on PNG is included in the Reference and Bibliography sections.) At the end, it appears that if so many efforts converge into a new, improved standard, we still have to give part of the credit to the LZW patent... The author of this text can be contacted at . Any comments, or experience you would like to share, would be very appreciated. Reference [search key: #1] If the excerpts from the PNG specification are not included here in order to keep the file size reasonable ("lossy compression"), please check for another file accompanying this text (suggested file name: "giflzw2.txt"), or send E-mail to before April 30, 1995. The latest hypertext version of the full document is available on the World Wide Web: ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpts from the PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Specification, Ninth Draft - Revision date: 7 March, 1995 [The text is not included here] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [search key: #2] If the official texts from CompuServe and Unisys are not included here in order to keep the file size reasonable, please check for another file accompanying this text (suggested file name: "giflzw2.txt"), or send E-mail to before April 30, 1995. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AGREEMENT FOR USE OF GRAPHICS INTERCHANGE FORMAT(SM) [The text of the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) Developer Agreement, released by CompuServe on December 29, 1994 is not included here. It became obsolete when Unisys announced its new licensing policies regarding "The Welch Patent" on January 27, 1995.] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- %: 174559 S19/GIF/LZW Discussion [GRAPHSUP] 04-Jan-95 17:07:50 Sb: #GIF/LZW Clarification Fm: Larry Wood 76703,704 To: All [The text is not included here] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- #: 181065 S3/Hot News and Rumor 07-Jan-95 19:12:19 Sb: #Unisys GIF Clarification Fm: Steve Ahlstrom/SYSOP 76703,2006 To: All [The text is not included here] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: rmarks@ecdcsvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Richard Marks) Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 22:09:14 GMT Unisys LZW Patent FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS January 6, 1995 [The text is not included here] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [search key: #3] If the texts of the two letters are not included here in order to keep the file size reasonable, please check for another file accompanying this text (suggested file name: "giflzw2.txt"), or send E-mail to before April 30, 1995. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From Cloanto/Unisys - November 6, 1992 [The text is not included here] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From Cloanto/Unisys - November 12, 1992 [The text is not included here] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bibliography [search key: #4] [Author Unknown - Information Appreciated] "Spencer the Katt" PC Week, October 2, 1989 Adobe Systems Incorporated "LZWEncode Filter" PostScript Language Reference Manual, Second Edition Addison-Wesley Publishing Company ISBN 0-201-18127-4 Apiki, Steve "Lossless Data Compression" Byte, March 1991, pages 309-314, 386-387 Association of Shareware Professionals Forum CompuServe GO ASPFORUM Bell, Timothy C., Cleary, John G. and Witten, Ian H. "Adaptive Dictionary Encoders" Text Compression Prentice Hall ISBN 0-13-911991-4 Boutell, Thomas (Editor) PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Specification Ninth Draft - Revision date: 7 March, 1995 Hypertext version available on the World Wide Web: Clay, Betty "Texas Tales" ICPUG Newsletter, January/February 1995, pages 18-23 Cloanto Italia srl Supplement to Personal Paint Manual Version 6.1/1995, January 27, 1995 CompuServe Graphics Developers Forum (GO GRAPHDEV) CompuServe Graphics Support Forum (GO GRAPHSUP) Console Battilana, Michele "LZW Data Compression without Hashing" University of Udine Exam Project, July 9, 1987 Elmer-Dewitt, Philip "Will Gates Get the Net?" Time, January 30, 1995, Page 47 Erickson, Jonathan "Patent Letter Suits" (Editorial) Dr. Dobb's Journal, March 1990, page 6 Erickson, Jonathan "The Green, Green Cash of Gnomes" (Editorial) Dr. Dobb's Journal, April 1995, page 6 Gardner, Ray "LZW Patent Issues" (Letter) Dr. Dobb's Journal, December 1989, page 8 Internet comp.graphics Newsgroups Internet comp.sys.graphics Newsgroup Knuth, Donald E. The Art of Computer Programming Volume 3 / Sorting and Searching Addison-Wesley Publishing Company ISBN 0-201-03803-X Landy, Gene K. The Software Developer's and Marketer's Legal Companion Addison-Wesley Publishing Company ISBN 0-201-62276-9 Miles, J. B. "Patent Issues May Stall Approval of New V.42bis Modem Standard" InfoWorld, approximately fall of 1989, pages 43-44 [Author, Article Title and Exact Date Unknown - Information Appreciated] [InfoWorld Article on LZW and Modem Implementations - Is this it?] Nelson, Mark R. "LZW Data Compression" Dr. Dobb's Journal, October 1989, pages 29-36, 86-87 Nelson, Mark R. "LZW Patent Issues" (Reply to Letter) Dr. Dobb's Journal, December 1989, pages 8-12 PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Information and support material available from: Internet comp.graphics Newsgroups Internet comp.sys.graphics Newsgroup CompuServe Graphics Support Forum (GO GRAPHSUP) Via FTP from The PNG specification is also available on the World Wide Web: Unisys Corporation "Patented Algorithms" (Letter) Dr. Dobb's Journal, March 1990, page 8 Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Saving Space", "Squeeze, Squash, and Crush" and "Legal Seagull" Byte, March 1990, pages 237-243 Welch, Terry A. "A technique for high-performance data compression" IEEE Computer, June 1984, pages 8-19 Ziv, Jacob and Lempel, Abraham "A universal algorithm for sequential data compression" IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, May 1977, pages 337-343 Ziv, Jacob and Lempel, Abraham "Compression of individual sequences via variable-rate coding" IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, September 1978, pages 530-536 Special thanks to Dave, David, Diana, Frank, Jason, Jean-loup, Jon, Kevin, Larry, Pierce, Richard, Tim, Tom and many others for their precious help. ____________________________________________ > TVRO UPDATES STR Feature "from the inside track..." """""""""""""""""""""""" Welcome All, This is a new feature of the STReport. TVRO information from the field. My Name is Paul Guillot and I install Satellite equipment for a living. Needless to say, I must keep up with all of the ins and outs of the business. Satellite TV NewsWire ===================== by Paul Guillot In the past few months, the satellite business has been buzzing about the various satellite and transponder changes. This however, is not the real worry for the users at this time. Many people are concerned that the changes will make their system and services less attractive and useful because they can't receive all the satellites due to their geographical location. My real concerns are mainly concentrated in another area. It seems that Houston Tracker Systems has allowed rumor to spread saying that they are getting out of the business and will no longer produce the HTS series. If true, its a tremendous loss! That would leave a large gap in the satellite business where the stability of small companies depend almost entirely upon reliable equipment. From the time we began installing the HTS hardware series to be used as our primary system, our service calls have dropped to almost nothing. The system is a real pleasure for all users and their Premier 70 is literally the cats meow. That leaves Uniden as a backup system. At best, its a very shaky backup. In the past, we used the Uniden President series as our primary system and the system was relatively stable, but something.. happened at the factory and now the system is a nightmare and I mean a bad one reliability wise. I fully expect flack on this one.. but here are my reasons: 1. The system stores all your settings whether they are right or wrong. 2. If you program a satellite in the middle and reverse polarity with the POL button, it reverses the entire database. 3. If the CALL button gets stuck (which it can) and you press 2,3, and 5 in succession, you reset the DISH AT location to a point outside your limits. The system is now rendered "stupid" and must be completely reprogrammed. What a painful headache this is! 4. A call to the company in an attempt to resolve the problem revealed the following; Their answer is to install a static grounding wire to the receiver and the ground plug to bleed off any ground potential voltage. But that effort is meaningless because some homes do not have proper, safe grounding installed. A grounding rod helps a great deal. But some units still require the CALL kill. I feel this is due to a bug in the program. 5. The system runs VERY HOT! You could cook an egg on the system if you left it there long enough. I guess Uniden copied Chapparell's power supply problem. As with all my reports, They are strictly my opinions and you are welcome to disagree. But I might add the service I am doing involving these units really proves my point. Uniden apparently needs to fix these problems in their lines. Especially if they want me to recommend their systems anytime in the near future. I am talking about the President and 4400 series. Too many mistakes have been carried forward they must be examined and corrected. Satellite UPDATES ----------------- As of the beginning of the year, The following changes took place to the birds high in the sky. ASC 1 C-Band and KU-Band are gone... The satellite is Out of Service. Galaxy 6 C-Band has replaced the Dead Galaxy 2 satellite. It was moved from its old position and now subs for G2. Satcom F2R C Band went out of service as of March 1, 1995 Telstar 402R is scheduled to launch in 1995 but I wouldn't hold my breath, It could be as late as 1996 before we see anything from it. We heard AT&T is suing Martin Marietta because of the repeated delays. I get my information from SAT TV WEEK, ORBIT, ONSAT, and the grapevine. Pick up a copy and read the changes too. ********************************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= STReport International OnLine Magazine is available every week for your reading pleasure on DELPHI. STReport's readers are invited to join DELPHI and become a part of an extremely friendly community of enthusiastic computer users there. SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN --DELPHI -------------- Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002 then... When connected, press RETURN once or twice and... At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN. DELPHI's 20/20 Advantage Plan 20 Hours for Only $20! ----------------------------- Advantage Members have always enjoyed the lowest DELPHI access rates available. On the new 20/20 Advantage Plan, members receive their first 20 hours of access each month for only $20. If you happen to meet someone OnLine or find some other diversion, don't worry because additional usage is only $1.80 per hour. 20/20 Advantage rates apply for access via SprintNet or Tymnet from within the continental United States during home time or via direct dial around the clock. Home Time is from 6pm to 6am weekdays. Access during business time carries a surcharge of $9 per hour. These rates apply for most services, but note that there are some surcharged areas on DELPHI which are clearly marked with a "$" sign. Who is eligible to take advantage of the plan? Any DELPHI member in good standing. Applications are reviewed and subject to approval by Delphi Internet Services Corporation. It's easy to join. If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can apply OnLine -- at any time -- for membership in the DELPHI 20/20 Advantage Plan. Your membership becomes active at 4 a.m. Eastern Time on the first billing day of the following month. The $20 charge will be billed to you at the beginning of the month to which it applies. Any portion of the 20 hours not used in any month does not carry forward into the next month. Advantage rates may be changed with 30 days notice given OnLine. TRY DELPHI FOR $1 AN HOUR! For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only $5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan, where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum $10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry, this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press once or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll officially be a member of DELPHI! DELPHI-It's the BEST Value and getting BETTER all the time! -* ANNOUNCING: DELPHI INTERNET JET *- -------------------------------------- Windows-based graphic interface for the otherwise text-only Delphi online service. In addition to providing the user with a graphic interface, Delphi Internet Jet can be configured to automatically gather Delphi Internet e-mail and forum messages, and place them into a QWK packet for the user's existing QWK mail reader! Complete instructions for setup, operation, Delphi membership, and a FREE five hour trial included in the INTJET.TXT file. ************************************************************ ATARI/JAG SECTION (III) ======================= Dana Jacobson, Editor > From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Was it me that said, a couple of weeks ago, that Spring was in the air? I wonder whether or not I specified exactly where?!? Typical New England weather here!! The old saying "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute" certainly holds true!! One day it's summer-like temperatures, the next it's winter again! It's COLD out there! I think I'm going to wander off and see if I can find one of those blankets that we put away recently, to get warmed. While I'm away, why don't you all catch up on the news! Until next time... __________________________________________________ > Speed of Light! STR Update! - Speed of Light 3.7 Release A Fixes Bug! """"""""""""""""""""""""""" From SOL's Stu Denman: I have just put out a new RELEASE A of SOL version 3.7. Please erase the old version 3.7 and replace it with this version 3.7a. Release A fixes a bug with monochrome on older Atari computers. The new version should be up on my WWW page now, but not on all the ftp sites yet. Please be sure to overwrite any old copies of SOL 3.7 that you might have uploaded to BBSs or other sites. The new filename is spolt37a.zip. The bug cause SOL 3.7 to say "Speed of Light does not work in Truecolor Modes" when you tried to run it on STs or STEs in monochrome. It worked fine on the Falcon and TT. I will try to post to comp.binaries.atari.st, but who knows if it will ever show up. I'll post a list of FTP sites later. Thank you, Stuart Denman sdenman@cs.washington.edu http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/sdenman/ [Editor's note: As of 04/04, there was another bug discovered during the registration process - look for version 3.7B as the most current.] -/- Sun's Dress Code Is for Fools -/- "Are blue jeans and Hawaiian shirts really appropriate for representatives of a $5 billion company?" So asked Sun Microsystems Inc. CEO Scott McNealy last week in a general e-mail to his 13,000 employees worldwide. The Washington Post this morning reports that after reading the somber message, employees were asked to click on an electronic image of the new dress code, which showed McNealy himself donning a full tuxedo. "No more grunge look," he says from their speaker-equipped computers. "We're taking our competition to the cleaners, so we might as well have something to drop off." April Fool. The Post notes Sun is renowned for its April Fools' Day antics. One spoofed employee was heard to exclaimed, "Now he's a marked man for next year." -/- Publishers Win Rental Law Test -/- Software publishers have won the first case to test the Computer Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990. The Software Publishers Association reports that a federal court ruled in favor of its members in a civil copyright infringement suit against Global Software & Accessories Inc. for the unauthorized rental of computer software. The Washington-based SPA notes that Global, which operates three stores on Long Island, New York, offered software on a "Deferred Billing Plan." The plan allowed customers to take software home for up to five days for a "non-refundable deposit." If the customer kept the software for more than five days, the customer was charged the difference between the deposit and the purchase price. Global Software argued that the practice did not constitute a rental. In practice, however, the software was returned by the customer 99 percent of the time, and U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler rejected the defendant's argument. Wexler ruled that the plan constituted copyright infringement that the plaintiff software publishers were entitled to a permanent injunction. He also ruled that the plaintiffs, which included Central Point Software Inc. and other SPA members, were entitled to an award of costs and attorneys' fees, which will be set by the court at a later date. -/- GAO Says Schools Not Data-Ready -/- America's schools lack even the basics to take advantage of new online information technologies, according to a new study by the government's General Accounting Office. And heralding the report, Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Illinois, announced creation of the National Education Technology Funding Corp. to finance schools' and libraries' efforts to get onto the Internet. Moseley-Braun told United Press International the corporation will be a public-private partnership under the leadership of former Sen. John Danforth, R-Missouri, former Fannie Mae president James Murray and Mary Hatwood Futrell, former president of the National Education Association. Murray added that currently, the corporation has no private partners nor public funding. Futrell told the wire service the corporation will work with other national public-private school partnerships. The GAO report, "School Facilities: America's Schools Not Designed or Equipped for 21st Century," reveals most schools do not fully use modern technology, 40 percent of schools don't have basic facilities, more than half of schools don't have space and two thirds of schools cannot meet needs of before - or after - school care. Said the study, "Although at least three-quarters of schools report having sufficient computers and televisions, they do not have the system or building infrastructure to fully use them. Moreover, because computers and other equipment are often not networked or connected to other computers in the school or outside world, they cannot access the information superhighway." FCC member Reed Hundt praised the report, saying it "adds to the growing body of evidence that advanced communications technology is lacking in most of our nation's schools and preventing us from training our children for the 21st century workplace." -/- Record Software Sales Reported -/- Sales of application software in the U.S. and Canada topped $7.38 billion in 1994, a 16.6 percent increase from a revised $6.33 billion in 1993, according to the Software Publishers Association. The SPA says Fourth Quarter 1994 sales were a record $2.48 billion, easily surpassing the previous record quarter (Fourth Quarter 1993), where sales were $2.04 billion. "For the year," said the SPA in a statement from Washington, "unit sales in North America increased 77 percent, and were up 74 percent for Q4 '94. Worldwide unit sales increased 77 percent for Q4 '94 and 78 percent for the year." Some findings: -:- Windows applications accounted for 65 percent of the application software sold in the U.S. and Canada in 1994, with sales of $4.78 billion. -:- DOS and Macintosh applications split most of the balance, with sales of $1.28 billion and $1.25 billion, respectively. -:- For the year, Windows application sales increased 45.2 percent, DOS application sales fell 37.2 percent, and Macintosh applications increased 18.7 percent. -:- Macintosh applications sales and growth in Q4 '94 were the best of the year, increasing 23.6 percent to $397 million for the quarter. -:- In the final quarter of the year, DOS sales declined 26.9 percent to $415 million, as Christmas season sales of entertainment software buoyed the category. -:- Nearly half of the DOS application sales was in the entertainment segment in Q4 '94. "The entertainment segment was the only segment in which DOS sales increased in Q4 '94 and the full year when compared with year-ago sales," the SPA statement said. -:- Word processor and spreadsheet software remained the largest application software categories in 1994, with sales of $1.03 billion and $830 million, respectively. But, while unit sales growth in these categories remained solid, price declines limited revenue growth for the year. -:- With sales of $358 million (up 64 percent), entertainment was the largest category in Q4 '94, surpassing both word processors and spreadsheets. -:- Home education was the third largest category in Q4 '94, with sales of $233 million, an 81 percent increase from Q4 '93. Commenting on the findings, SPA research director David Tremblay said, "The past year has been one of turmoil in the application software industry. Application segments which have traditionally led the industry had little or no revenue growth, while other segments emerged as growth leaders because of new users (e.g. the home market) or new technologies (e.g., the PowerPC Macintosh)." _____________________________________________ JAGUAR SECTION ============== JEFF MINTER CONFERENCE!! ACTIVISION 2600 COLLECTION CONFERENCE! DOUBLE DRAGON V & SENSIBLE SOCCER OUT! > From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is! """""""""""""""""""""""""""" Well, Sensible Soccer and Double Dragon V are the latest games to hit the streets. There has been mixed reactions to Sensible Soccer, and very little so far with regard to Double Dragon. We hope to have more news about both soon, including reviews. Speaking of reviews, review carts have been slow coming our way as of late, so that's why some of our reviews are late. We hope to have a number of them making these pages shortly, so look forward to seeing them (I know I plan to!). The CatBox has hit the streets, but I haven't seen any activity from anyone who's received theirs yet. We're hoping to get some feedback, as well as our own review, soon. Seems like everything will be coming "soon"!! Sounds like someone else we all know! ACK! I missed the Jeff Minter conference on GEnie last week, unfortunately. But, we have the transcript available here in case you missed it also. We also have the transcript of the CIS conference with the folks at Activision. They discussed the 2600 Collection that's currently out. I realize that this collection isn't for the console hardware (yet!), but since this collection is made up of all of our 2600 favorites, I thought you might be interested. I know I thought it was pretty cool info! Things are happening on the Jaguar front. The 3rd party developers are starting to get those games out. I just wish that they'd be a little more active online to keep us posted on these releases!! It's almost out of the blue when we see a random message somewhere saying that the game was seen on the shelf at a local store! Let us know folks!! Still nothing concrete on the JagCD release date, but all indications are that it won't see daylight until sometime in May. Let's just hope that the games are ready AND worth the wait (and more waiting). Until next time... ________________________________________ > Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile - What's currently available, what's """"""""""""""""""""""""""" coming out. Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER J9000 Cybermorph $59.99 Atari Corp. J9006 Evolution:Dino Dudes $49.99 Atari Corp. J9005 Raiden $49.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp. J9001 Trevor McFur/ Crescent Galaxy $49.99 Atari Corp. J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp. J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $69.95 id/Atari Corp. JA100 Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95 Telegames J9008 Alien vs. Predator $69.99 Rebellion/Atari Corp. J9029 Doom $69.99 id/Atari Corp. J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $59.99 Atari Corp. J9003 Club Drive $59.99 Atari Corp. J9007 Checkered Flag $69.99 Atari Corp. J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari Corp. J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari Corp J9020 Bubsy $49.99 Atari Corp J9026 Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari Corp J9060 Val D'Isere Skiing $59.99 Atari Corp. Cannon Fodder $69.99 Virgin Syndicate $69.99 Ocean Troy Aikman Ftball $69.99 Williams Theme Park $69.99 Ocean Sensible Soccer Telegames Double Dragon V $59.99 Williams Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER CatBox $69.95 ICD Hover Strike $59.99 Atari Jaguar CD-ROM $149.99 Atari Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER J8001 Jaguar (complete) $189.99 Atari Corp. J8001 Jaguar (no cart) $159.99 Atari Corp. J8904 Composite Cable $19.95 J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp. J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95 ________________________________________________________ > Online With Minter! STR Game Console NewsFile """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Atari ST RoundTable Real Time Conference Special Guests - Jeff Minter and Dan McNamee March 29, 1995 Thanks to everyone for coming tonight. This is the first formal conference with famous game developer Jeff Minter and I would like to welcome Jeff to GEnie... the home of loyal Atarians! Yeah! I would also like to thank Dan McNamee from Atari for joining us and I am sure that Dan will have some interesting things to tell us tonight. Finally, thanks to Atari for providing some neat prizes tonight. As you read in the banner, we will give away 3 copies of the Tempest 2000 game cartridge plus 3 copies of the newly released Tempest 2000 CD soundtrack and 3 Jaguar T-Shirts. The lucky winners will be the first ones to answer a skill testing question. There will be three questions in all. Each time we have a question, the first answer judged to be correct will have first choice of a Game, CD or T-Shirt. Second answer gets the next choice. Third answer gets the remaining prize. OK Let's meet Dan McNamee and Jeff Minter. Gentlemen, your mics are open. GA please Baaa! this thing on? Time to open my Inca Kola. Yep. Step up and speak into the mic Lance here, I'm sharing the space, but no Kola? Well, you all know me. I'm Dan McNamee, and I've been at Atari a long time. 7 years and 1 week now. ;-) Well, you may know me, and I'm very strange indeed. I've worked almost every position available in the company, and I now work in software test. I currently work in a poky apartment. ;-) poky? We do have a cube for you though, Jeff. Poky=small, constrained ah But better than a cube :):) I need to get myself a place with a llamasworth of space (He just doesn't want to have to sit next to me) hehe My this Inca Kola is llovely! OK fellas. Thanks for the intros. *urpp!* Please describe some of the user configurable fx of VLM. How does it compare to Trip-A-Tron and Colourspace, (earlier Minter lightsynths)? What musical qualities are tracked? Beat? Amplitude? Frequencies? Just tell us all about it! Well, there is not as much control as in TaT... some parameters are configured to respond to joypad movement and button presses... basically there is an FFT of 128 bins, sometimes all the values are used to draw something which is thrown into a symmetry generator.. there are also five trigger bands, which bracket groups of frequencies, which are used to trigger some one-shot events.. the bands can be moved to select which part of the spectrum to use, and the thresholds can be varied. TaT had more user config stuff.. but then again, there you had a mouse and keyboard! VLM is meant to be a more naive-user oriented thing ...but VLM effects blow away TaT bigtime okay? Jeff, what is your opinion about the current state and future of Atari home computers and consoles? Well, obviously I believe the Jag has a future, or I wouldn't be here. I think what we need now is a lot of high-quality software. Sure, we're not about to outsell Nintendo this year.. but I think that there's prospects for a good solid Jaguar market. As for the computers... well, I still use a TT and a Falcon, and I suspect the Falcon will continue to sell to the music biz ok... gA Thanks. On to Kodogr Yak, any chance for a Total Carnage mode in Robotron 2K? Any Chance that you'll be doing work on Adventure 2K? well, I haven't been granted the Robotron license yet! You can rest assured that it would *be* total carnage... Not sure I'd particularly like to copy their game exactly.. I'd rather have a Llamatron mode! As for Adv2K... not been asked to do that! It'd be cool though... I have been playing a version on the PC which sadly cannot be released.. the guy wants to do it as shareware but atari don't want him to as adv. is their copyright... shame! ga Yak, did you ever finish hardcore and are you planning any STE games such as perhaps an STE version of Llamazap? (registered user of Llamatron here)ga No, I never finished Hardcore, as I had to break off to do Falcon Llamazap and after that I was straight into the Jag. Can't see myself doing any more ST/E/Falc thangs while I'm busy with Jag... ga Hi Jeff. Thanks for all the great games and light synthesizers for Atari products over the years. I can't wait to get my hands on your VLM and Defender 2000. What I really want to know is, can I register my shareware copies of Llamatron, Revenge of the Mutant Camels, and Trip-a-Tron here in the US? How much and where can I send my US dollars? I need the manual for Trip-A-Tron, so please let me know if you need additional money for it. Thanks and sorry for getting off the topic of the Jaguar. P.S. Thanks for Llamazap. It was well worth the wait! GA Hi... glad you liked the games so far... as for registering the games, yeah, the address is: Llamasoft, 49 Mount Pleasant, Tadley, Hants RG26 6BN, UK and the phone is 0734814478. I am not sure how much the games are for overseas at the moment, normally just a bit extra from the UK prices for postage.. you ought to ring them up and ask them how much, my mum'll sort you out. ga Jeff, how "successful" ($$$) have your shareware games been? And man, LLAMATRON is still my FAVORITE game. It's terrific! Llamatron is kinda fun :) On the ST Llamatron made quite a bit, probably about 20K pounds. On the Amiga and PC, users are obviously not so honest and the game's not made a huge amount there. Revenge didn't make nearly as much as Llamatron; I guess it wasn't so universally addictive. Atarians revere their developers, Jeff. :-) Mind you you should play the TT version, it kicks @ss!! ga Is there a demo version? You can get the TT version if you register the game :) Sounds like a plan Jeff> You can leave a copy on my TT when you finish the CO tonight. Yak, a quick Q about yer Web page -- will you be updating it anytime soon? (I know yer busy n all...) The last update for D2K was on the 12th :-) (I'm looking at it right now. Sounds GREAT. 60Hz...drool ) GA Yeah, about the web page, I'm sorry. You see, the guy who gives me space is at Uni.. and he has to xfer my updates from where I upload them to the web server. If he isn't there, or is busy, it languishes, and I guess he musta been on spring break or sommat. I will update again sOOn.. ga Hey, it's time for TRAVIS! All hail Yak! Greetings and welcome to our humble online home. About VLM, you mentioned a "symmetry generator" earlier. Will all effects & gizmos go through that, or will there be asymmetrical aspects to the displays? GA Some are symmetrical and some are asymmetrical. There's plenty to choose from. The sym generator, when deployed, uses rotational symmetry followed by mirror symmetry... it's much better than the TaT one! ga Sounds great. One more question for now. Can you give us a -brief- update on the status of D2K? Everyone's dying for more info! GA And thanks again. Sure. Plus is nearly complete. We have been overhauling the graphics.. now, all the enemies in Plus are pre-rendered and look cool. I just put in a new ship, which tilts as you move it up and down, has an IPAZ flame out the back.. and as two gun tubes are now visible I doubled the firepower :) Right now, most of the tiling stuff for 2K is running, got 11 layers of parallax in a little demo mode.. so backdrops should look great. IPAZ? I am currently working on some trix with the OLP/GPU IPAZ is that p-system generator they have in 3D Studio. Also, new sounds are in Ah. Ok. I only knew that they looked cool. there is a great sizzle on the Llightning Llaser! Yak-mode is in as well (all humanoids become llamas, and you fly Flossie) ga Dooz saw the Plasma Fire (?) in Plus at ECTS and said it was lovely. Sort of like the aurora borealis. Yeah, the plasma is cool. The Plasma is great! I llove blitter fx :) I'm done for the mo'. ga Tony is next. Mr. Wetmore? Hiya yak -- i think this question has been asked before, but... Does the Jaguar CD (and VLM) have the ability to accept line input from a stereo? 5 Floyd discs are better than one, and all that. (ga) Well, the hooks are in the software but it would need a small amount of external hardware to do it Not much... maybe VLC might make some... ga something a user could rig together if given pinout specs? Probably. I don't know exactly what is needed. ga good enough -- thanks. (done) Jeff, how difficult was it to get used to the new "64-Bit"code and was it a pain or easy to get used to? Actually it was pretty easy. Not real likely. I think it has to go through the cart port (I could be wrong) which could make things difficult. The GPU instruction set is quite easy to understand for a 68K coder (^ referring to homebrew VLM interface) and the co-processors, well, if you have used an amiga you are halfway there, you are used to the idea... and I had a headstart, I worked on the Panther for awhile, which had something a lot like the OLP in it. So.. you can get up on the Jag in a few days, then you get better as time goes by and you learn how everything works together. ga Hi Yak... we enjoy your stuff so much that I thought it would be interesting to know which Jag games (released or not) impressed _you_. What stuff do _you_ think really "kicks bottom"? BTW, thanks for coming here tonight... GA Hi TB, no worries... well, I like Doom, Val D'Isere and Iron Soldier the best so far. IS has great poly handling.. Val D'Isere is one of the few to keep 60Hz, and the hill effects are well done, and it's a hoot to play too. Mind you, I haven't seen all the Jag games so I'm not saying others aren't as good. Yeah...we've been inspired by the explosions in Iron Soldier and want ours to be even COOLER. The Jag is incredibly powerful! ga yeah, it's nice to be on a machine where you can do so much... I am having fun doing OLP stuff this time... Hassen got bumped off so I am letting him in now.... Hello Jeff. I work retail part-time at a software store. Can you give me any advice for selling Jags. You and I both know it's the way to go, but these people are wondering how it stacks up to The PlayStation, Saturn and Ultra 64. They're also worried about the lack of software. Any advice? Run Doom... run T2K with the sound turned up... Speaking of Tempest 2000... ...run IS.. basically, you need to run some of the better s/w on there, after all the games are what will sell a system, more than the soecs Specs I mean ga I am going to stop here and ask the first prize question. All people will be put in TALK mode at the same time. Type your answer but don't hit RETURN until you see the TALK mode prompt OK. Dan, Jeff, you ready? Yep! Question ONE: the Soundtrack. The style of music used in Tempest 2000 can be described as: A. Rock and Roll B. Techno-Rave C. Rap D. Industrial OK we need the first person to get the right answer Looks like Eggs. Do the judges agree? Yep, I got Eggs first here. (Jeff is in the little yaks room, though) (Back from my slash) Lance, you there?! WHEEE!!! Eggs Yahoo!!! Pick a prize... Tempest 2000 GAME, CD or a Jag T shirt. Congrats, Eggs! yeah, Dan? The game for sure! You got it. Send me your address in email after the conference. Email to ST.LOU. Got it? YEP! Don't forget to mention the prize you chose. hehe... another addict... Looks like GregLeg is second Then Gary W Yay. Already HAVE the game, so I'll take the shirt (which is what I wanted anyway ) That's what I have too. You got it! Email your choice and mailing address to ST.LOU after the conference. That means Gary gets the CD! Gary, you there? DUDE! That's great! Sooper! (I already have the game.. heh.) Email address and choice to ST.LOU. OK? gaspacio! Thanks! I like it when everybody gets what they really wanted :-) What say we give away a second round of prizes? Right NOW! :-) On account of all the great questions we had so far.... So here we go.... Trick Question: TWO answers needed! The most evil enemy in Tempest 2000 is: A. Level 64 B. The Flopmeister C. Pulsar Tankers D. Trip Hawkins I think the answers are A and C. Can the judges verify that? Yup Steve, Vernon and Matt look like the first three to get BOTH A and C Dan, we asked for TWO answers in the leadup to the question. Steve, Vernon and Matt it is. Yippee! As I already have the game and CD, I'll go for the ... Lance here-yeah Steve, first pick to you T-shirt! Thanks! ga Great! Send your choice and address to ST.LOU in email. ill take the CD. You got it! thanks! Send choice and mailing address to ST.LOU after the conference. That leaves MATT Matt, do you have the game? Sure do.... Lance here, did we mention that Jeff was kind enuf to put his jon hankok on the CD's?? it's true Hmmm, judges... would you allow Matt a trade for the CD or T shirt? well I think he should.. OK Matt. Pick T shirt or CD Then spin me a CD, Lou... Lou, I don't that that should be a problem. You GOT it. Thanks! Send address and choice to ST.LOU okey! OK, judges. Thanks for the help. Thanks Dan and Jeff! We will have one more round of questions in a few minutes. Dim ots duude! Congrats guys! At that time we will have 2 games and one tshirt left. Back to our questions. Next is Pat Forister coming back as Job 11 GA Pat Any chance you could upload a few pics in gif and true color formats of D2K ga umm... I don't have any Defender shots in a PC format to upload although I could ask and see if they will let me upload maybe one or two things like maybe the ship.. or some of the enemies. Thanks... GA Thanks Pat. Trouble is the screen is so full of *moving* shit anyway that a static shot doesn't do it justice! Jeff, I just ordered LLamazap yesterday. I know little about the game except for the pictures I've seen in ST Format. Can you tell me a bit about the game? I also wanted to tell you that T2K is still the best Jag game around! GA Well, Llamazap is a h/scrolling blaster which incorporates a lot of references to Llamasoft games... it starts out with AMC, and you get references to Gridrunner.. Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time, Sheep In Space and Llamatron... as well as a couple of new thangs. The h/scrolling sections feature some nice GFX and there are bigtime weapon powerups on the ships. And the title page with the big llama with the gun and cybershades kicks @ss. ga Well T-bird took my initial question, so, what does your development system consist of and what's your next serious project? I vote for Sinistar 2000! well, I got a PC that I have a Transputer board in; I use the F folding editor running on the Trannie to edit, shell out to run the Atari development tools, and squirt it all down via the Alpine board to a development Jag. It's quite a compact dev system, just the PC, 2 monitors and the Jag (and a small pottery statue of a llama, and 2 empty cans of Inca Kola). As for what's next, well, I will have to talk to the bossdude come the end of D2K. There was talk of Major Havoc.. (although I wouldn't mind the Robotron thang... and Sinistar... yeah... *I HUNGER!!!!* ga Carlos is next Thanks for joining us here on Genie, hope to see you here more often :) Were those options seen on the dealer tape left in the final version of VLM.. I am talking of the extra options you were displaying.. GA Well, they're there... somewhere. Is all I can say :) ga How big is T2K and approximately how big will D2K be in Megs? GA. well, the cart size on t2k is 2Meg, and about half that is audio. D2K is going to be on CD though, so we will have plenty room for kickin' audio and a shitload of levels! So... half a gig odd, if we fill that CD ga T-bird? Well STORMY KNIGHT took my second question, so, perhaps instead I'd like to ask you what "Panther" game you wrote, and what (if any) options can be _saved_ in VLM?!?! GA The Panther game was to be kinda a cross between star raiders and defender, I only got as far as doing a few demos of stuff for the game before the P. got @xed. On the VLM, not a lot is saved - the last effect you were in, I think. Dunno what CD parameters are saved. Dave S. is doing all that code. ga Doug? Finished? Speaking of Jaguar games.... you give much thought to multi-user games? VLM saves the volume level and the last effect you set. GA Well.. I'd like to do multi-user, particularly Llamatron/ Robotron In Defender, maybe, I haven't decided for sure. ga If everyone has finished, I will hie me hence and eat the flesh of dead chickens.. What about Pink Floyd and Roger Waters? Think they ever could/should get back together? I enjoy both of them, separately, in slightly different ways, personally. (Is that considered heresy?) Well, I think it would be *great* if they got back together.. ..but the acrimony, especially with Roger, seems too strong... Me, I like them both, in slightly different ways, as you say... I agree. I like Waters and Floyd together, but not if it would tear the band apart. although I do think Rog's lyrical content is superior, if a bit bleak (but that's our Rog, innit?) ...but Dave sure does know how to play that cheesegrater... ga No question, just a comment (and hint) that I hope you get some =serious= vacation time before you start on Sinistar 2000! I'd hate to see a burned out Yak. ;) GA I will do my be(a)st to do that. Maybe I'll pop back to the UK and visit Flossie Albert is next How well does the Rotary controller work in Tempest 2k? BTW, Several years ago Nick Mason and Rick Fenn did an album together called Profiles, and Watters did the vocals on a couple of tracks. It's a great album. Pick it up! Do you have parts list? ga Thanks Albert well, I don't know for sure... all I had was a converted Indy 500 driving controller, and it lacked the flywheel weight to really give it any kind of Tempest feel. As for parts and pinout details... you'd have to ask Atari. ga Unfortunately, the pinout is covered under NDA. (I think some people have scoped it out and posted lists, though. ) Matt is next It's me again, Jeff! Will D2K support external hardware, that is the VLM, etc.? Will the ability to save into a cart be used? GA. Hi Matt... well, the VLM is a separate entity, it won't be running when the game is! I guess when the save cart is ready I could include code to use it - I guess most CD titles will. ga Is VLM complete and burned in to ROM? If not can you add stereo pair imaging for 3d fx via the VR headset? Or have you already done that? We really can't do anything more on VLM at this time. I have D2K to do! However it would be possible to maybe do an upgrade to VLM on CD or cart later.. ga Yak: I LOVE T2K! Great game. I really appreciate your enthusiasm for keeping frame rate up. I think that has gotten lost in games these days. T2K is my favorite Jaguar game, and I'm not just saying that.... (I want the rotary ctrlr!) (I've been told that I should mention that I'm a 3DO owner as well.. don't everyone shoot me all at once! ;-) ) Glad you like T2K... yeah... I figure a h.scrolling game should keep frame rate. Oh, I like Soccer on the 3do! ga So, do you think Gary fell for that joke about winning a prize? hehe Stormy is back.... I can't wait to get my hands on the ROM drive! I'm dying to see what Led Zeppelin will do on the VLM. What's your favorite bit of music on the VLM? probably just about any Floyd.. VLM loves Floyd! And Ozric Tentacles, an' Eat St@ic.. ga Will any enemies/features from Defender:Stargate make it into D2K (such as Firebombers and Inviso)? Also, are the controls set up with the new 6button controller in mind? (I'd love to see a Yak version of Sinistar!) Love T2K! GA All of it! I've been having fun with Nine Inch Nails recently and with Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s Well, the Stargate is in there, I may sneak Firebomber- equivalents into Plus.. Inviso is replaced by Llightning Llaser, in Plus... Anyway, dudes, it has been fun but I really have to go ingest dead chicken sometime soon. So... a couple more and I'm outta here ok? ga OK, let's end the formal part of our conference by giving away the third and final set of prizes. I would like to thank Atari once again for their generosity in donating these prizes. Previous winners are not eligible. :-) Jeff's getting PECKish. Before we do Thanks Jeff and Dan for spending the night with us. No worries, it was a blast I am sure I speak on behalf of our attendees when I say it has been lots of fun. No Problem. B5 was a rerun anyway. ;-) Here goes the last question (and the Inca Kola was lovely) ;-) Jeff, you MUST get a GEnie account! :-) Maybe we can get you a free one! Interested? Well... yeah, why not? after all, I do have a modem And PLEASE consider joining the IAJD, the best outfit around for developing Jag Games. OK... although I can't promise too much as I have a lot of online commitments already Question Three: Classic Defender can best be described as being: A. A texture mapped RPG. B. A vertical scrolling shooter C. The precursor to the "Mario" series. D. A horizontal scrolling, finger-pounding shooter. Dave Fairweather I got David Fairweather, Vernon and STumped JR and STumped Vernon won already! :-) Yeah, JR second love that Aladdin message buffer! Got any Xtra Large T-Shirts? Oops, missed JR. ;-) You GOT it! They are all XL. Alright! They used Brodie for a model :-) Next is J.R. J.R. your pick of the CD or the game I'll go for the CD David, send me your choice and your mailing address in email to ST.LOU. Same for you J.R. well already got the cart, but I guess I'll have a spare. Unless an xtra cd is lying around Pat, I guess you have to take the game. Do you own it? its Pete BTW CD... OK. You can trade down Pete. Cool! thanks LOU! Send me your choice and mailing address. We want everyone to be happy :) I want a llama. Can I have my llama please? Well, that's about it folks. Thanks for coming and thanks to my buddy Travis for riding backup and helping with the transcript A llama lives on my street Uh.. yes. The llama is back behind the store. How about if we ship Flossie out? Send her over! its a strange animal Llamas are llovely. spits a lot, however Thanks again Jeff and Dan. Good night everyone. ==================================================================== (C) 1995 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. ==================================================================== > ACTIVISION & YOU! STR Game Console NewsFile """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" TALK TO ACTIVISION *TONIGHT* IN A FREE ONLINE CONFERENCE AND WIN PRIZES! GO CONVENTION AT 9:00 PM EASTERN TIME! The Video Games Publishers Forum will host an online conference with the design and production team of Activision's ATARI 2600 ACTION PACK in the Convention Center (GO CONVENTION) on Wednesday, March 29th, at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT). Three copies of the ATARI 2600 ACTION PACK as well as three copies of the classic RETURN TO ZORK will be given away to attendees. Connect time for this conference will be *free of charge* to CompuServe Basic Service subscribers. So stop by to win some free classic game software. The ATARI 2600 ACTION PACK brings the best of the all time classic Atari 2600 video games to the PC including PITFALL!, River Raid, Kaboom!, Chopper Command and many more. Each of the four volumes will contain 10-15 of the classic games. Browse through Library 15, "Activision", for SCREEN SHOTS, WAV SOUND BYTES AND PRESS INFORMATION. New files will continually be added! % The Activision Atari 2600 Ga conference is beginning Your moderator is MODERATOR-Ron (3) (MODERATOR-Ron) On behalf of CompuServe and the Video Game ... Publishers Forum, I'd like to welcome you to our ... Activision Atari 2600 Action PackConference. My name is ... Ron Luks and I'll be your moderator tonight. ... - Tonight, our guests are the design and programming ... team that brought the classic Atari 2600 video games... to your home PC. - At the conclusion of tonight's conference, ... We'll be giving away some great prizes including copies of the 2600 Action Pack and Return to Zork. - Before we begin, I'd like to mention a few items of... online protocol. First, when typing your questions ... please end each line with "..." to indicate you are... still typing, and end your question with "GA"... meaning "GO AHEAD" so that the speaker will know to... begin his answer. - Second, please ask only ONE question at a time... If you have other questions, get back into the... queue and wait to be called again. - To get in line (into the queue) to ask a question,... type the command /QUE. You will be recognized by... the moderator when it's your turn to speak. - If you need help with any of the online conference... facility commands, type /? or /HELP. - A final note-- if time permits, we will try to answer ... your other Activision questions, but we request that ... you focus your questions on the Atari 2600 Action Pack. - okay, and now a few opening comments from Activision... Go ahead Shawn. GA (Activision) Activision, Inc.Us Atari 2600 Action Pack (PC Windows ... CD-ROM and Floppy Disk) will give former Atari 2600 ... game fans the opportunity to re-play their favorite ... titles for the first time on their Windows-based ... personal computers. ... - The Atari 2600 Action Pack, the first in a four volume ... series, each a compilation of 10-15 best-loved ... Activision titles for the Atari 2600 game systems, will ... be available starting this April. Designed both for ... children, who will have the chance to play these classic ... games for the first time, and seasoned game fans, the ... game includes such popular titles as Pitfall!, Kaboom!. ... River Raid, Chopper Command and Grand Prix. ... - The Atari 2600 Action Pack is available from Activision, ... Inc., a worldwide publisher and developer of interactive ... entertainment software for IBM-compatible, Macintosh ... and other computer platforms, as well as Nintendo, ... Sega, 3DO, Atari Jaguar and Sony PlayStation video ... game systems. -... With offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo ... and Sydney, the company sells and markets products ... under the Activision and Infocom trade names. Recent ... Activision releases include the blockbuster hit video ... game Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, the best-selling ... multimedia computer adventure Return to Zork and the ... new multimedia strategy game Shanghai: Great ... Moments.... Joining us tonight will be... Diana Mack, Mike Livesay... Rachel Ruben, Brian Clarke... Maryanne Lataif, Eric Johnson... and Rawson Stovall as the Beaver. (MODERATOR-Ron) okay, Thanks Shawn.... (MODERATOR-Ron) Now- to get in line to ask a question... type /QUE and I'll call you. ... Remember-- this conference is FREE to all Basic service subscribers... and we will be giving out some free software shortly. And now for the first question: % Moderator recognizes question #1 Greg Hegstrom (17) (Greg Hegstrom) How well will the games work with a mouse instead... of a joystick. Like pitfall? GA (Activision) The only game that uses the mouse.. as a controller is Kaboom!... The mouse takes the place of ... the paddle control. GA % Moderator recognizes question #2 Animaniac (26) (Animaniac) Okay, has the color or sound been updated or are these direct... ports from the Atari? GA (Activision) Mike?GA (mike livesay) The games are not really ports.. they are the actual game cart... ROM images running on a ... software emulator of the Atari 2600... They therefore run EXACTLY like the originals. GA % Moderator recognizes question #3 Dave (44) (Dave) I loved the old games, and ever since I saw... the ads for them in magazines, I've been... impatiently waiting. I called your sales... office in NY, but they didn't know of the product... When will it actually release and hit the streets? GA (Activision) It's on the streets now, Dave!!GA (MODERATOR-Ron) (It's available in South Florida as of this week. % Moderator recognizes question #4 Jeremy (30) (Jeremy) Hi. What kind of stores could this game be bought at? It's available now?? That's cool! (Activision) Hi, Jeremy! Check out your local software retailer. GA % Moderator recognizes question #5 Andrew Horne (20) (Andrew Horne) how can i win the free stuff, sorry if i sound rude (MODERATOR-Ron) We will ask some trivia questions... and draw some random winners at the end of the conference. % Moderator recognizes question #6 Eddie Brown (28) (Eddie Brown) will the faster computers make running the old... games difficult? GA (Activision) Mike? (mike livesay) Eddie, there should be no problem... (Eddie Brown) thank you (mike livesay) running on faster computers. GA (MODERATOR-Ron) Mike-- will Pitfall run at the same speed on a Pentium 100mhz... as on a 486 or 386? GA (mike livesay) The speed that a game runs depends on a number... of factors, including processor speed,... video card performance, etc. I put in some code.. which will limit the speed of the games to... no more than 60 frames per second. So the... games will not run wild on a P90. GA % Moderator recognizes question #7 Richard Malsch (4) (Richard Malsch) When can we expect to see a fix for Win'95? I try to run a friend's copy ... the machine freezes up within 5 minutes ... GA (Activision) Good question, Richard!!... This product is intended for Windows 3.1... and we are investigating upgrades for... Windows '95! Remember, Windows '95 ... (Richard Malsch) Not to Do you know anything of why the ... (Activision) is still in Beta!! GA (Richard Malsch) program runs slower in Win'95's implementation of WinG than it does on the... WinG that you ship? I am... a preview site, so yes... this is all legit!!! GA (mike livesay) That's probably a question... for Microsoft. Win95 is supposed... to be backward compatible. We targeted... Win31. Once win95 is more stable, we will... most likely generate a compatible version. GA (Richard Malsch) Why did I know you were going to say that? :) % Moderator recognizes question #8 Christopher Fallen (38) (Christopher Fallen) how many games... are in each pack? ga (Activision) Action Pack Volume 1 is the first... volume in a four volume series.... Each volume will have from ... 10 to 15 titles. GA % Moderator recognizes question #9 David I. (9) (David I.) Greetings Activision programmers! ... Greetings Activision programmers! ... Which commercial compiler did ... you use to write the games ... for Windows? [GA] (Activision) Hi there!! Mike? GA (mike livesay) My company, LTI, did all of the software development... I used Borland C++ and Turbo ASM. The emulator was... written 90% in 486 assembly and the rest in C++. GA % Moderator recognizes question #10 John Harris (23) (John Harris) Are there any plans to license... the emulator to other companies... to release other old Atari... 2600 titles? GA (Activision) Since we are doing a four volume.... series of Action Packs, we.... will be needing the emulator... for awhile longer! GA (John Harris) Thanks! GA (mike livesay) I think that this.. (MODERATOR-Ron) I think what John may be asking... (mike livesay) will probably working reverse. Activision may end up licensing games from other publishers. GA (MODERATOR-Ron) (Thx, Mike.) % Moderator recognizes question #11 Laureano Giraldez (1) (Laureano Giraldez) Are you going to include the game were frog has to cross the highway and gets squashed if it is not careful wityes ga (mike livesay) I think you are referring to Frogger? GA (Activision) Frogger was a great game!... Try Freeway in Action Pack... It's a similar kind of game... where you have to get your chicken... across the freeway without getting... squished! GA % Moderator recognizes question #12 ByteHead (12) (ByteHead) I "cut my teeth" on games like these. After all these years, what... prompted you to bring them back? (I'm glad somebody did)! ga (Activision) Well, a bunch of us here, namely... Rawson, our Atari expert.... thought it would be a great... idea! And a lot of people... who played them years ago... wanted to play them on their... PCs. GA % Moderator recognizes question #13 Jim (29) (Jim) What about multiplayer, head to head and modem play?... Will any of the games provide this?... What about my joystick too? GA (Activision) The games that originally supported two... players still do! There is no support... for head to head, network, or modem play.... since we are emulating the original... (Jim) How will two players play each or take turns GA (Activision) games. The Atari 2600 didn't have those options either!... You play a two player game... using different locations on the keyboard... or having one person on the keyboard and... (Jim) Thanks! GA (Activision) the other on the joystick or mouse! GA (mike livesay) Very interesting idea, Jim! Modem % Moderator recognizes question #14 Atari_8bit_Power! (18) (Atari_8bit_Power!) Will Activision be modifying these old 2600 titles to be more "up to date" with current audio/video technologies? Although I still own all of my original 2600 carts, it'd still be nice to play a 3d perspective Pitfall or Commando! GA (Activision) Sorry, Atari_8bit_Power!... We didn't catch all of your message. GA (Atari_8bit_Power!) Will Activision be modifying these old 2600 titles to be more up-to-date with current PC audio/video technologies.. Although I still own all of my original 2600 equipment,.. I'd still like to one day be able to play a 3d perspective... Command, Pitfall, Chopper Command or River Raid.. GA (Activision) Great idea! All of the Action Pack... volumes have emulations of the original... games and are not modified in any way... But we are developing updated versions... of some of these games. Look for... Pitfall : The Mayan Adventure on... SNES, SEGA, and SeG Sorry! SNES, SEGA, and SEGA CD. GA % Moderator recognizes question #15 mike n. (15) (mike n.) you stated that this will... will be available on the jaguar... when? and will it be on cd? GA (Activision) Yes!!... If you are referring to Pitfall... the Mayan Adventure, that is..... It will be on the Jaguar soon... and possibly other platforms. GA (MODERATOR-Ron) (A few more questions then the prizes) % Moderator recognizes question #16 Dale Dobson (57) (Dale Dobson) For Mike: Was it more difficult to ... emulate the scan-line graphics mode... in a frame-buffered world or to come up... with a means of mimicking the 2600's... sound chip using FM synthesis? (BTW, add my vote for a Jaguar version of... the Action Pack! Nostalgia city! :) GA (mike livesay) Dale, the scanline graphic emulation... (Activision) We'll note your vote, Dale!! Mike? (mike livesay) was a real bear. Sound turned out... to be a bit difficult because there was... no way to get FM to do some of the explosion... type sound effect (ie: white noise). I had to..\ therefore use both PCM and FM sound channels. The CPM sound effects are actual samples from a VCS unit. GA % Moderator recognizes question #17 Robert Montague (Ro (31) (MODERATOR-Ron) Robert? (Robert Montague (Ro) "I don't have a lot of time left so can we get on with the prizes."GA % Moderator recognizes question #18 karl schwinck (22) (karl schwinck) as a shareholder of activision, i've attempted.... to reach the shareholder relations dept but w/no luck... any idea what these games will do to the earnings of atvi... and when the company plans to release their next earnings report? thx. ga did my ? go thru? (Activision) Yes, ... (MODERATOR-Ron) (We saw it, Karl) (Activision) Try calling (310) 473-9200 Pacific Time... and the operator will help you out.... Of course, buying Action Pack... wouldn't hurt either! GA % Moderator recognizes question #20 Daniel Delisle (2) (Daniel Delisle) Just as a matter of comparison ... What is (roughly) the size of these ... ROM dumps from the cartridge? It would ... Just as a matter of comparison... What is (roughly) the size of these ... ROM dumps from the cartridge? It would ... be interesting to compare that to the ... Multi-megabyte games of today. GA (Activision) Mike? GA (mike livesay) Good Question, Daniel! Back in the... early 1980s, most games were measured... in kilobits, rather than megabits. The... average size of a VCS game cart is 4..8K... although, during the late 1980s, some companies... actually started to put in extra RAM, sound chips,etc... in their carts. GA (MODERATOR-Ron) okay folks... Sorry if we didn't get to your question.... but I want to give away some games now [grin].... In a moment, I will open up the floor and let everyone shout out an answer to a trivia question.... and everyone who gets the answer right... will be eligible for one of the 6 prizes... (We have to ask one trivia question to meet certain state laws...) Everyone who gets the answer will have their online job number... eligible for a random number drawing. .... so here's the question: (Activision) OK, folks!... (MODERATOR-Ron) What is the model number of the first successful.... Atari VCS system: % Discussion period beginning (mike n.) tha2600 (Jimmy Tonn) 5200 (Joe from ENSONIQ Co) 2600 (David I.) 2600! (Bill) 2600 (ann) 2600 (Erik) 2600 (pedro) 2600 (Mike) 2600 (John R./GS (VIDPUB)) 2600 (John Harris) 2600 (Richard Malsch) "uXn2600 (Judah Warshaw) 2600 (Jim) 2600 (Gabe Wiener) 2600 (Greg Hegstrom) 2600 (karl schwinck) 1200 (Kevin Hall) 2600 (Dustin R. Newton) 2600 (Dave) 2600 (David Dyer) 2600 (Dave) 2600 (John Smetzer) 22600 (Jim Montoya) 2600 (Falcon030) 2600 (Tam-puter) 2600 (karl schwinck) 2400 (Edwin Iskandar) 2600 (Atari_8bit_Power!) 400 (Bob) 2600 (John Morris) 2600 (karl schwinck) 2600 (Christopher Fallen) 2600 (ByteHead) 2600 (tom) 2600 (Aleks) cx2600 (Andrew Horne) 2600 (Rob Argy) 2600 (Eddie Brown) 2600 (Judah Warshaw) 2500 (Roy Wagner) 2600 (Richard Masclh) 2600 (Jake E. Hamby) 2600 (Daniel Delisle) 1200 (BILLY WALKER) 26000 (Dale Dobson) 2600 (previously known as the Video Computer System) (John R./GS (VIDPUB)) (VCS) (Andrew Horne) 2600 (Eddie Brown) 2600 (Dustin R. Newton) 2600 (Judah Warshaw) 2500 (mike n.) 26-- (Edwin Iskandar) 2600 (John Smetzer) 2600 (Richard Malsch) 2600 (Roy Wagner) 2600 (Judah Warshaw) 2500 (mike n.) 2600 (Eddie Brown) 2600 (Richard Malsch) 2600 (Roy Wagner) 2600 (Judah Warshaw) 2600 (Jake E. Hamby) 2600 (mike n.) 26600 (Andrew Horne) 2400 (Roy Wagner) 2600 (David Andrus) 260026002600 (Joe from ENSONIQ Co) 2600 (John Smetzer) Command (Eddie Brown) 26002600 (John Harris) This is surreal. (David Dyer) 26/2600 (karl schwinck) 200 (Eddie Brown) 2600 (Aleks) cx2600 (MODERATOR-Ron) okay okay okay... (tom) 2600 (BILLY WALKER) BILLY WALKER 2600 (Andrew Horne) 2400 (Kevin Hall) 2600 (John Smetzer) 2600 % Discussion period ending (MODERATOR-Ron) Except for a few wrong answers... most of you qualify... So here's the first random number.... Job 27.... Bob 75430,2726 wins a copy of the Action Pack... Second random number is:... 18... Atari 8-bit power.... 76571,454 wins a copy of Return To Zork... next random number:... Job 37.... Ann 76766,1003 wins an Atari Action Pack.... next random number:..... job 50.... Heather Keesecker 73142,3206.... Wins a copy of Return to Zork.... (2 more prizes to go)... next random number.... job 11.... John R. 76421,2325.... Whoops! John's a VIDPUB staff member now... so he's disqualified... (sorry John!)... re-rolling... job 26 Animaniac 71643,1355.... Wins an Atari Action Pack... and the last winner... job 28 .... Oh no! Another forum sysop.... (sorry Mike)... re-rolling... job 14... Tim Sartain 76552,3114 wins the copy of Return to Zork.... Okay, thats 6 winners and 2 angry sysops. [grin]... Winners will be contacted in EMAIL. Any last comments from Activision now?\ GA (Activision) That's all we have for tonight. We would like to... thank you all for attending and hope you got... something out of it. I'm sure we did. Thanks. GA (MODERATOR-Ron) Thanks to everyone attending tonight's ... conference. Prize winners will be contacted ... by Activision via EMAIL within the next 48 hours ... to make arrangements for sending your prizes. ... - We will have a transcript of tonight's session ... posted in the Activision library of the Video ... Game Publishers Forum sometime tomorrow. ... - If you didn't get a chance to ask your question ... during tonight's conference, please post it in ... the Activision message section of VIDPUB. - Goodnight everyone! % The conference has ended Thank you for attending ________________________________________________ > Jaguar Developers STR InfoFile - Current Developer Lists & Titles """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Game Title Date Game Type MSRP Publisher ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Air Cars 1Q/95 Racing $59.99 Midnight Ent. Alien vs Predator NOW Role Play/Adventure $69.99 Atari Arena Football 2Q/95 Sports TBD V Reel Assault 2Q/95 Action/Combat $59.99 Midnight Ent. Barkley Basketball 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari Battlemorph 2Q/95 Flying/Action $59.99 Atari Battle Wheels 2Q/95 Racing/Combat TBD Beyond Games Blue Lightning (CD) 2Q/95 Flying/Action $59.99 Atari Brett Hull Hockey (CD) 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari Brutal Sports Football NOW Sports/Combat $69.99 Telegames Bubsy NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari Burnout 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari Cannon Fodder NOW Action/Adventure $69.99 Virgin Checkered Flag NOW Racing $69.99 Atari Club Drive NOW Racing $59.99 Atari Creature Shock (CD) 2Q/95 Adventure/Sci-Fi TBD Atari/Virgin Cybermorph NOW Flying/Action $59.99 Atari Dactyl Joust 2Q/95 Action TBD Atari Demolition Man 2Q/95 Action/Combat $59.99 Atari Doom NOW Action/Combat $69.99 Atari Double Dragon V NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Williams Dragon:Bruce Lee Story NOW Combat $59.99 Atari Dragon Lair (CD) 2Q/95 Adventure TBD Ready Soft Dreadnought (CD) 2Q/95 Adventure TBD Atari Dungeon Depths 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Midnight Ent. Evolution: Dino Dudes NOW Puzzle/Adventure $49.99 Atari Flashback 2Q/95 Action/Adventure TBD US Gold Fight For Life 2Q/95 Combat TBD Atari Hardball Baseball 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari Highlander (CD) 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari Horrorscope 2Q/95 Combat TBD V Reel Hover Strike 2Q/95 Action/Combat $59.99 Atari Iron Soldier NOW Action/Strategy $59.99 Atari Jack Nicklaus Golf(CD) 2Q/95 Sports TBD Atari Kasumi Ninja NOW Combat $69.99 Atari Rage Rally 2Q/95 Racing TBD Atari Raiden NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari Rayman 2Q/95 Action/Adventure TBD UBI Soft Robinson Requiem 2Q/95 Adventure TBD Atari Sensible Soccer NOW Sports TBD Soccer Kid 2Q/95 Sports TBD Ocean Space War 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari Star Raiders 2Q/95 Space Simulation TBD Atari Syndicate NOW Simulation $69.99 Ocean Tempest 2000 NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari Theme Park NOW Simulation $69.99 Ocean Tiny Toon Adventures 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari Trevor McFur NOW Action/Adventure $49.99 Atari Troy Aikman NFL Ftball NOW Sports $69.99 Williams Ultimate Brain Games 2Q/95 Puzzle TBD Telegames Ultra Vortex 2Q/95 Action/Adventure $69.99 Beyond Games Val D'Isere Skiing... NOW Sports $59.99 Atari White Men Can't Jump 2Q/95 Sports TBD TriMark Wolfenstein 3D NOW Combat/Action $59.99 Atari Zool2 NOW Action/Adventure $59.99 Atari [Editor's note: Titles, scheduled release dates, and prices are verified from Atari and Edelman Public Relations - all subject to change] ___________________________________________________ > Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr! """""""""""""""""""""""""" CATnips... Jaguar Tidbits from Don Thomas ========================================= I regret that I was unable to attend last evening, but, I hear the Jeff Minter conference on GEnie was a smashing success! I have not yet a chance to read the transcript, but I understand it will soon be available in the Genie download libraries. Jeff was the popular author of "Tempest 2000" and the upcoming new "Defender 2000". Congrats to the prize winners. The Jaguar Forum on Compuserve has a new Forum logo for WinCIM and MacCIM users. After giving a "weak" crack at doing a logo myself, I understand Atari's own Scott Sanders did the nifty new replacement that comes up bold and proud now. It looks great! Check it out. I have confirmed that Sensible Soccer by Telegames IS in stores and is now shipping. If you cannot find it in your nearest gaming store, check out one of the following mail order firms for fast service: ~*~ GREAT MAIL ORDER PLACES TO BUY JAGUAR GAMES ~*~ B&C Computers ...................... (408) 986-9960 Steve's Software ................... (916) 661-3328 Toad Computers ..................... (410) 544-6943 Please send me some feedback on Sensible Soccer. I want to know what the gamers think of it. The newest issue of Atari Explorer Online is out. It is in the Jaguar download areas of GEnie, CompuServe and Delphi as well as popular Jaguar support cites worldwide and on CATscan [209/239-1552]. Steve Kipker of Steve's Software shared with me an issue of Next Generation magazine. WOW! The cover is a slick black with the Jaguar eyes and the magazine is full of high-tech gaming stuff including Jaguar coverage. You can order an issue direct from Steve's Software at 916/661-3328. Atari recently mailed to key audio/entertainment targets a press release and sample of the Tempest 2000 soundtrack. Hundreds of the nations top (applicable) stations and media points will receive their copies this week. I welcome suggestions from our online friends... If you know a hot wave station or club in your area, send me their name and address and I will make certain we follow up. If you have a copy of the great audio soundtrack on compact disc, you know what the hype is about. I urge you to call your local stations and ask them to play your favorite track. Copies direct to onliners are available direct from Atari for $12.99 plus $3.50 S&H. (North America only-other restrictions may apply.) Write 75300.1267@compuserve.com for more info. ### END OF FILE ### CATnips.... Jaguar Tidbits of news from Don Thomas """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" I have verified that "Double Dragon V" is shipping and has arrived in some stores today (4/5/95). The Jaguar version of "Double Dragon V" is a GREAT kid's approach to fighting games with outstanding Saturday Cartoon characteristics in graphics and animation. If you cannnot find Double Dragon V in your local retailer, contact one of the firms below for fast delivery. ~*~ GREAT MAIL ORDER PLACES TO BUY JAGUAR GAMES ~*~ B&C Computers ...................... (408) 986-9960 Steve's Software ................... (916) 661-3328 Toad Computers ..................... (410) 544-6943 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Also ask you dealer for the CATbox by ICD. Reliable sources tell me that units have started to ship. The CATbox offers an high-tech assortment of connections to the Jaguar such as various video out formats, stereo audio outs including two headphone jacks, JagNet ports and much more. See your dealer for details. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the Internet.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: IN%"kepper@rs6000.ivcc.edu" "Talonz" 5-APR-1995 14:32:50.18 To: IN%"jaguar-l@ctrc.fs.saci.org" "Atari Jaguar List" Subj: Tempest 2000:The Soundtrack Just got the Tempest 2000 Soundtrack, and it totally rocks!!!!!! This techno-rave stuff is just awesome!!This disc is definatley worth the money. I'd recommend it to anybody. -Talonz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: khaley@nova.gmi.edu (Kevin Haley) Newsgroups: rec.games.video.atari Subject: Jaguar taking off? Date: 3 Apr 95 16:08:15 GMT What a weird week. Consider, for the past 5 months, I have only known 1 other Jaguar owner in my social circles. Now, consider the following, all of which have happened in the past 10 days: 1. At a video rental, renting a Jaguar game, clerk there I know mentions that she just got a Jaguar... 2. Driving downtown when, to my surprise, I see a car with a "Jaguar" bumper sticker. 3. My sister asks me the other day if I have the cheat codes for Alien v. Predator. Asking why she would need the cheat codes, she tells me that a friend of hers just got a "new 64-bit Jaguar" and he says that "Alien v. Predator is simply awesome". 4. A friend of mine, whom I see about once every 2 weeks, just told me that he will be buying a Jaguar right after Easter. In 10 days, the number of Jaguar owners in my social circles has increased by 4, which I consider to be quite significant, especially considering how quickly this has taken place. Weird coincidence? Or is the cat starting to come to life? I believe the price reduction has made the Jaguar a much more attractive deal to a large # of people... /Kevin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy Gaming!!! --Don Thomas Atari Corporation Sb: Jaguar Game Ratings Fm: SYSOP*Jeff Kovach 74777,3071 To: All Newsgroups: rec.games.video.atari,alt.atari-jaguar.discussion From: paiement@pascal.info.polymtl.ca (Nick) Subject: <<<<< Nick's Jaguar Game Ratings >>>>> Date: 4 Apr 1995 00:51:50 GMT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Nick's Jaguar Game Ratings <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ========================================================================== New entries since last post: Theme Park Syndicate Number of votes this week: 21 Date of Compilation : 03/27/95 THE TOP 3 ========= ========================================================================== # of Year Ranking Name of Game Rating Voters Released Company ========================================================================== 1= Tempest 2000 9.223 233 1994 Llamasoft 2= Aliens vs. Predator 9.143 203 1994 Rebellion 3= Iron Soldier 9.073 123 1994 Eclipse ========================================================================== LISTING OF ALL THE GAMES EVALUATED ================================== ========================================================================== Name of Game Game # of This Last # of Desc Rating Voters Week Week Players ========================================================================== Aliens vs. Predator 9.143 203 2 2 1 Fighting Brutal Sports Football 5.898 59 12 12 2 Sports Bubsy 5.889! 27 13 14 2 Platform Cannon Fodder 7.000 10 - - 1 Arcade Checkered Flag 5.384! 86 15 15 2 Racing Club Drive 4.655! 58 16 16 2 Racing Cybermorph 6.468 265 8 9 1 Flight Sim. Doom: Evil Unleashed 8.986 141 4 4 2 Shooter Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story 5.918! 61 11 11 2 Fighting Evolution:Dino Dudes 5.874! 135 14 13 1 Strategy Iron Soldier 9.073 123 3 3 1 Shooter Kasumi Ninja 6.571! 77 7 7 2 Fighting Raiden 6.312 170 10 10 2 Shooter Syndicate 9.000 1 - - ? Tempest 2000 9.223 233 1 1 2 Arcade Theme Park 8.000 1 - - ? Trevor McFur/Crescent Galaxy 4.174 144 17 17 2 Shooter Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowb 7.649 37 5 5 1 Skiing Wolfenstein 3D 7.203 158 6 6 1 Shooter Zool 2 6.440 25 9 8 1 Platform ========================================================================== 20 games reviewed Games are ranked from 1 to 17. The minimum number of votes required to qualify is 15. GLOSSARY ======== ! - Game in which you find a lot of discrepancies in the voting. This document is written by and copyright (c)1995 by Nicolas-M. Paiement Thank you for voting... Nick ________________________________________________________ > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" PEOPLE... ARE TALKING ===================== On CompuServe ------------- compiled by Joe Mirando CIS ID: 73637,2262 Hidi ho friends and neighbors. A full week has gone by and very few of you have sent me your opinions about opening up a topic in the message base to help the poor lost souls who haven't the common sense to use CompuServe. C'mon, don't be one of those people who think that their opinion won't make a difference one way or the other. As a brief re-cap, what I would like to do is have folks with questions and Internet accounts send the questions to me, which I would then post in the message base. When our highly qualified and ever-helpful members answer, I'll include the posts in this column... Whaddaya think? Drop me a line and let me know (Internet users can send their opinions to me at 73637.2262@COMPUSERVE.COM). Well, let's get on with all the useful hints, tips, and news that can be found every week right here on CompuServe... From the Atari Computing Forums =============================== Myles Cohen posts: "There seems to be a new way of listing the files in the MUSICARTS LIBS i.e. they are putting the name and CIS Id number of the uploader before the name of the file... What can I do to make QCIS cope with this new format... Here is an example... This plays hell with your program and also with UIS III... [70007,1112] MARC SCHILLER Lib: 8 NETNEWS1.TXT Bin, Bytes: 18441, Count: 0, 01-Apr-95 Title : HOB NET NEWS 1.0 Keywords: HOUSE BLUES SCHEDULES This is an ASCII text file of House of Blues Net News 1.0, a bi-weekly email newsletter from House of Blues Entertainment. It contains monthly concert schedules, "Live From the House of Blues" updates, House of Blues Radio Hour playlists, etc." The author of QuickCIS, Sysop Jim Ness tells Myles: "This change to the file format (it'll be active in all forums soon) does pretty much mess up the way QuickCIS parses out the filename and User ID. As you know, I don't update QuickCIS anymore. About the only way to handle this is to write down the filenames of any files you wish to download, and enter them manually in the Files List. QuickCIS will accept either the filename only, or the filename followed immediately by the User ID in brackets (no space between). As in: NETNEWS1.TXT or: NETNEWS1.TXT[70007,1112] The only reason to include the User ID is if you think there might be two files of the same name in the same library (uploaded by different users). CompuServe's reason for doing this is that they wanted to include the user's name in the file description, so people would know who uploaded the file. That caused space problems with other things on that line, so many listing styles were reorganized. As far as I know, every auto-navigator was broken by these changes, and there are still a few being fixed." David Bulpitt asks Jim: "...Is this the reason that I see "String Overflow" everytime I try to see a library download file on quickcis for the last 2 days?" Jim tells David: "Probably. Myles had't mentioned that specific error, but since the size of the file description header has grown, I'm not surprised that it would now overflow. Too bad about that, because the files part of QuickCIS did some things that no other navigator does, and did other things better than the competition. I'll check to see if there is a way to tell CIS to present the libraries in the old-fashioned manner. They sometimes offer that capability, for this very reason." Sysop Keith Joins tells Jim: "One can get the old library presentation by logging on with a switch of ;OLDFORUM. Of course QuickCIS doesn't allow you to do this as there isn't room in the Configuration window nor can you edit this part of the CNF file and have it sent at log-on. Sure we can't talk you into one more update? :)" Jim tells Keith: "[One more update??]...That's like one more salted peanut... There's always another. You can't use ;OLDFORUM, because QuickCIS already tags the User ID with ;TTY. In the past, don't I recall another way to get OLDFORUM functionality? The OLDF command, or something similar?" Keith tells Jim: "Back a few years ago when the first installment of the New forum software was introduced you could switch back and forth between them by issuing the commands OLDF or NEWF at any ! prompt--at least I think those were the commands. That type of command isn't available for this change. Only the log-on switch can be used and I would bet that this will not be available for any great amount of time. I don't recall--does QuickCIS allow a manual call to start with and then continue on automated? If so I guess one could get online in a manual call, issue the command LOG and relog with the switch and then proceed to the automated session." Jim replies: "Yeah, I thought of that, too. It would work, I guess." Keith tries it out and tells Jim: "I just tried it and it works fine." Ethan Mings adds a few of his own suggestions: "A possible work around for downloading files is .... 1. Select the desired files using Qcis 2. Use Edit to edit the files list. Specifically, remove the author CIS ID number.) 3. Save the 'revised' files list. 4. Exit Edit and go back into Qcis. 5. Use a quick call and get the files in questions. It worked for me. :-) Any chance of hoping for a Qcis update to work with the new forum software?" Hal Scheie says: "Why not just release the code and let someone else hack a fix? if its not supported what difference does it make?" Ethan Mings agrees with Hal: "Good point. However, I think you need to ask the author of the software, Jim Ness if that is possible. In all fairness to Jim, he did a large volum of work on the software. I think in the end, enough was enough. Maybe, just maybe, if we made a short list of the five most important changes he *might* consider. Something to think about." John Damiano of Transierra adds: "yeah...I would pay actual money [for an update]. This is disappointing. I guess CIS has not heard the old saying "If it aint broke..don't fix it." Ethan tells John: "Sometimes people can't leave a good thing alone. If you look at past posting explaining why they have made this move, the rational is very week. Never the less, we have a current problem and we need to get it fixed so we can move on. Good point about money. How much would it cost to get the software fixed. I mean, like $10.00 US per member or user. Is money the reason for the lack of fix. IF so, it would be good to know. After all, any problem has a infinite number of solutions. .. and when it comes to atari users, solutions is our first name." Simon Churchill tells Jim Ness: "You may have seen messages from fellow members and one has asked: 'If you do not wish to support and upgrade QuickCIS how about letting someone else?' If a version of the source file was supplied and data for the new operation of the forum's then I am sure someone would be interested in updating the software. A small provisoe might be your name must stay in the program and be displayed when the software is first run. You have created a very useful program and it would be a waste to loose it, I currently use a PC to log on and was hoping to set up my ST in the future and use that as the PC belongs to the old man. Without something like QuickCIS I would not be-able to contact CIS efficently from my ST, I don't want to buy a PC just to log on, but I would with my ST if I had the software. I and other's who use an ST would like to log on to CIS and without QuickCIS our forum would soon loose members and these forums would soon become dead themselfves. It's a plea I know but consider it, you enjoyed your ST to write a program for it which helped us all log on. How about letting someone else build on the foundations you started so this forum can be used by those without a MAC or PC. I'm no programmer but my ST dose get alot of attention and I would like it to talk to the world as it has the capacity to do so. Thank you for attention. P.S. - In england we get charges for ALL call's, be they long distance or local. An off-line reader is a MUST! Consider our request, PLEASE." Jim tells Simon: "At this point, I have no objection to giving the source code away to someone who could work with it. But, I don't want to give it to just anyone who may have a friend who may be able to get hold of Personal Pascal and may have some time to work on it. If someone who legitimately is interested, and has the programming tools, asks about getting the source code, I'll consider it." Myles Cohen tells Jim: "But Jim...don't you see...it is precisely "at this point" that you need to let go of the source code...while we still may have a few programmers left in this rapidly shrinking market... What do you gain from hoarding it...nothing as far as I can see...and if you "publish" it with no restrictions...we all might all benefit... "IF IT'S OUT THERE...THEY WILL COME!"..." I think what Jim may be worried about is that someone will either build up our expectations and then lose interest in upgrading QuickCIS, or someone doing a bad job that disappoints us and having people think that he was involved in the upgrade. Maybe Jim will clarify it for us at a later date. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Sysop Keith tells us: "As some people have remarked, the new forum software has broken the library scan feature of QuickCIS causing a string overflow error when you read the files. Here is a work-around for this problem. Start off by selecting Manual Call to get on-line. Once you are connected and at the ! prompt enter the command LOG. This will take you back to the User ID: prompt. Now enter your User ID: number followed by ;OLDFORUM. For example I would enter 76702,375;oldforum. Then enter your password. You are now logged back on and by using the ;OLDFORUM switch the library display will be presented in the old format that QuickCIS can handle. If you use a terminal type at GO TERMINAL other than vt52 or tty then enter the command SET TER TTY now. If your setting at GO TERMINAL is other than for Brief prompts then enter SET BRIEF YES now. After these are entered select ALT-N to switch to a normal automated call. If you always use QuickCIS for your calls then you can GO TERMINAL using any comm program or QuickCIS in manual mode to change your terminal type and brief prompt settings permanently. You can do this even if you use another comm program interactively but things will look a bit different perhaps when you are connected with that program. Your list of files can now be browsed and download selections made. Use the Quick Call option to retrieve the files. If you use the Normal Call option to download the files then simply remove the library selections from that forum in your View Configuration window before making the call. Not a perfect solution, but......" Ethan Mings tells Keith: "I really think we need to come up with a better solution. Why not see if we can fix qcis. I'm concerned this amount of 'work arounds' will make the forum and access to CIS 'too complicated'. Again, is possible to ask the author to create a fix for this problem or let some other programmer work on a work around. Time is ticking and in the great scheme of things, this should be fix to the software so we move on to bigger and better things." Jim Ness explains some of the changes to the forum software: "The new library description format moves some data around, and increases the line length of some lines. The latter causes a string overflow, and the former causes necessary info to be in different places. It's not that big a fix, but there are other problems with the code and other fixes would be necessary before a new version would work. I figure about 40 hours of coding and testing. The code had become convoluted enough that I started to rewrite it from scratch back in late 1993. That was such a task that I eventually ran out of ambition. I'm not all that interested in working on QuickCIS anymore, and I'm up to my ears in spring stuff, as usual (I'm an umpire and both kids play ball - every night requires careful time management). I sympathize with the remaining ST crowd, but I just won't be continuing to work on the thing." On the subject of "Mouse Problems", Robert Bannister tells us: "I have a 1040ST with an uncooperative mouse. It looked like a problem with the mouse itself - so I got a new mouse. It still doesn't work. The pointer moves erratically in response to mouse movement and will not track across the screen but gets "stuck" in a small area. Is this a motherboard problem? Any one got any ideas?" Albert Dayes of Atari Explorer Online Magazine tells Robert: "Have you checked for viruses? Does the new and/or old mouse work on other machines (ST)?" Robert tells Albert: "Thanks for your suggestion re viruses. I'm confdent that isn't the problem as the computer has not been in contact with any other. Perhaps some more detailed description is required? HISTORY The computer is old and in semi-retirement but my young children now want to use it - and I would like to encourage them. The original atari mouse suffered terminal mechanical failure - it got broke! The mouse is BRAND NEW! purchased mail order from Maplin in the UK. It is a Primax unit made in China. The box suggests refers to a readme.txt manual but no disk is provided - neither are there any instructions / guarantees / packing notes etc. SYMPTOMS Move the mouse smoothly in any direction and the cursor twitches as if it is trying to follow. It will occassionally move an inch or two, but not necessarily in the same direction as the mouse. HELP I need to know where the problem lies so that I can either a) fix it, b) abandon it, or c) complain to the right person." Frank Heller tells Robert: "This is gonna sound silly: Is it plugged in the correct port?" Robert tells Frank exactly what I would have: "that's not silly... it's worth checking... but the answer is yes it is in the right (correct) port." Simon Churchill adds his own thought: "It might sound stupid but is the mouse ST AND Amiga compatable? If it is then look for a small switch on the side or underneath, if you find one move it to the oposit position and try again. I have a dual mouse and the sympoms you report are the same when I flicked the switch. (I was bored and wondered what it would do, I soon found out! it gose haywire, just like the sounds of your new one.) If there is no switch then the plug under the keyboard will need attention, yes I have had this as will, it requies the keyboard to be taken to bits and the joints all resoldered on the connector. I've had a fare share of problems with mice and cured most so I hope this helps." Alberto Sanchez posts: "Hi Folks! A friend of mine has read on Internet that Atari is working in a PowerPC-based new line of computers. Any of you have heard about this? Atari is still alive! Europe stands with Atari!!" Sysop Bob Retelle tells Alberto: "There have been rumors about new Atari computers since there WERE Atari computers... The only thing that's certain at this point is that Atari is putting their full attention and resources into making the Jaguar game system a success. If there are plans for any new Atari computers, we probably won't see them for quite some time." On the subject of Atari including Vidgrid as the 'pack-in' game to come with the Jaguar CD, Derek Steiger posts: "If they pack Vid-Grid for the CD Player, that would be a total shame. Battlemorph or Blue Lightning.. but NOT Vidgrid.. yikes! What would cause them to think of doing such a thing? It would only hurt their reputation even more. Vidgrid - Nay! Battlemorph - Yay!" Our own Atari Section Editor, Dana Jacobson, tells Derek: "I can't begin to guess why VidGrid might be the pack-in. Well, I guess that I could speculate, but would be the point? It doesn't matter which game it is. The point is that there has been 99% negative feedback on this potential pack-in that Atari needs to sit up and take note. People are saying that they don't want this game, even if it's _free_! That's significant feedback, in my opinion." Mitch Crane adds his thoughts: "If they give it to me free, I may just put it in the microwave and watch it sparkle. That's what I do with my useless music CDs, and it's great fun to watch. I figure that way I'll get at least 3 seconds of fun out of the game." From the Graphics Support Forum =============================== On the subject of Unisys deciding to enforce their patent on the compression algorithm used in GIF pictures, Steve Wagy posts: "I just read this thread so I'm getting in on the end of this. I'm just a guy sitting at home developing a graphics viewer for my own use and maybe one day it will become a $5-10 shareware product, but probably not. My program supports GIF decompression but not compression. Maybe these events will be an advantage for me since I have never figured out how to create a GIF. How much would the "Unisys GIF license" be for me? I'm programming on a Mac (Think C 5) and the compression code is not available. If I pay something to someone can I get a code snippet for GIF compression? BTW, to all: is there any PNG code (or documentation) for the Mac floating around? I've never heard of PNG but I would like to get in at the start of something for a change ." Timothy Wegner tells Steve: "Royalty for you would be $.10 a copy. Plenty of free code abounds right here in PICS. I forget where it is at the moment. But if I were you I'd forget it. Some PNG sample files exist already as well as some sample code. The official reference sources will be out this weeek (hopefully.) You are at the start [of PNG]!" Steve tells Tim: "Gee. Doesn't seem like much. I wonder what all the fuss is about. So I assume you mean $.10 a copy for each registered shareware owner? "Plenty of free code abounds right here in PICS." In PICS? I'm sorry, but I'm unaware of the nomenclature. Do you mean this forum? "But if I were you I'd forget it. Some PNG sample files exist already as well as some sample code. The official reference sources will be out this week (hopefully.)" Well, what I think I will do is provide full support for GIF in my personal graphics application and maybe in the near future release a shareware application which revolves around PNG, PICT, JPEG, and GIF24 (hopefully will not use LZW). That sounds like a good plan. I'll look around for some PNG files and code here in the forum." Tim replies to Steve: "...$.10 a copy for each registered shareware owner?... Well it all depends. Doesn't seem like much, but there are a whole lot of requirements for auditing etc. Some folks can make a business case, others can't. Most can't. It depends on the contribution LZW makes to your program, if substantial it might make sense. But now you are in bed with Unisys. They will tell you how to structure your shareware license, when to report to them, what kind of records to keep etc. What will they do for you? Nothing. Not sue you I guess. No support for GIF, no help coding LZW, no debugging, no answering technical questions. You'll be paying for initiative some guy named Welch took in patenting an obsolete, inferior compression algorithm, that you are stuck with because it was used in GIF. (Newer, free algorithms are faster and compress better. The free ones even have people who will *help* you with them!!!) I'm an author, and the $.10 represents a huge hunk of my royalty, which might be $1 or $2 on a book. Would you cheerfully give away 10% of your income? The royalty is calculated on the gross selling price. For many forms of distribution, the author receives a fraction of that. Then the $.10 looks huge. Oops, PICSis theold name of GRPHSUPPORT. Still works to say GO PICS, but I'm sure the staff wishes PICS would go away." Diana Gruber tells Tim: "Don't forget, for many people the royalty is considerably more than $.10 per sale. Also don't forget, the real problem here is the whole concept of paying for software patents. A large portion of the online development community does not want to set this important precedent. So, for some of us it is the money, and for some of us it is the principle." Ray McVay asks Diana: "Are they willing to go back to 2400 bps modems? The horse is already out of the barn." Diana asks Ray: "Do you see hardware patents as equivalent to software patents, then? I realize, when we are talking about eproms, the distinction is blurred. Still, I think the distinction is there. Eproms are physical, algorithms are intangible." Ray counter-asks Diana: "Have you ever seen Ken (shoot, can't remember his last name)'s patent covering a Unix security mechanism? He describes a mechanical device that embodies the security mechanism and then sort of says, "Oh, by the way, this can be accomplished with software, too." I think the thing most likely to be patented is a PROCESS that is usually realized in the context of a machine. I'm not necessarily against patents for processes realized only in software but I think the patent office has done an abysmal job of researching prior art and "obvious" processes. Programmed PROMs are covered by copyright, BTW, regardless of the patentability of their content." Diana posits an interesting thought: "Too bad the modem manufacturers didn't get organized and fight back like we are doing. They could have come up with an alternate algorithm if they tried. Probably they are so competitive they don't talk to each other like we do. I still think patenting algorithms is wrong. Algorithms are not invented, after all. They are discovered. They were always there. They pre-existed everything. Kind of like Calculus was always there, even before Newton and Leibnitz discovered it simultaneously." David Holm brings up an interesting point: "LZW in modems is done by software, just like LZW in GIFs. The use of LZW in modems is most assuredly *not* coverd by a "hardware" patent. It covers the SOFTWARE used to implement the LZW algorithm (although Unisys considers it to be a patentable process, as does the US Patent Office). The fact that the program is stored in an EPROM has no bearing on the patentability of LZW (according to Unisys, anyway)." Well folks, that's about it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > A "Quotable Quote" A true "Sign of the Times" """"""""""""""""" CYBER WHAT?? TOP 10 WARNING SIGNS THAT YOUR SON MAY BE A HACKER By John Edwards 10. Your phone bill lists 1,987 household lines. 9. Your son tells you that his private interview with the Secret Service agent was for a social studies class essay. 8. You receive mail addressed to Phil E. Phreak. 7. The kid cheers Lex Luthor whenever a Superman movie runs on TV. 6. The CEO of a regional Bell operating company appears on your doorstep, sobbing uncontrollably and begging forgiveness. 5. You find a copy of Phrack magazine hidden under the underwear in your son's bedroom dresser. (The Playboy magazine is next to the handheld scanner, of course.) 4. The kid asks for a Novell Access Server for his birthday. 3. The little silver-colored wheel on your electric meter spins so fast it flies off, slices your neighbor's elm tree neatly in two and flattens a tire on a Chevy Monte Carlo three blocks away. 2. Your son's English teacher calls, sounding really curious, to ask why the kid selected the Oklahoma City phone directory for his monthly book report. 1. He names Robert Morris Jr. as his "Most Admired American." """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport International OnLine Magazine -* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *- AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE ON OVER 70,000 PRIVATE BBS SYSTEMS """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STR OnLine! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" April 07, 1995 Since 1987 copyright 1995 All Rights Reserved No.1114 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of The Fair Use Law of The Copyright Laws of the U.S.A. Views, Opinions and Editorial Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff of STReport International OnLine Magazine. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue number and the author's name. STR, CPU, STReport and/or portions therein may not be edited, used, duplicated or transmitted in any way without prior written permission. STR, CPU, STReport, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. STR, CPU, STReport, are trademarks of STReport and STR Publishing Inc. STR, CPU, STReport, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible in any way for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""