*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Original 16/32bit Online Magazine" January 17, 1992 No.8.03 ========================================================================== STReport International Online Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205 ~ 6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher - Editor ----------------------------------------- Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST BBS: 904-786-4176 USR/HST DUAL STANDARD 1200 - 19.2bps V.32 - 42 FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST ----------------------------------------- FNET 0350 - STR S-East: The Bounty **** 1-904-786-4176 FNET 0489 - STR N-East: Steal Your Face BBS 1-908-920-7981 FNET 0075 - STR West: Bloom County BBS 1-415-965-9347 FNET 0018 - STR Canada: ///Turbo Board BBS Support 1-416-274-1225 FNET 1031 - STR Europe: <<< INTERNET - UK>>> 011-44-296-395-935 __________________________________________________________________ > 01/17/92: STReport #8.03 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine! ------------------------- - The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - GEnie NAMM Conf. - CIS Portfolio NEWS - MAC -> 16" Color - PC Prices down 50% - WAACE OCT 10/11-92 - DEV KIT OFFER - SUPRA MODEM SPECIALS - ST PLUS REPLIES - TURBO BBS REVIEW - STR Confidential -* ATARI AT NAMM, BIGTIME! *- -* GADGETS SST -> UPDATE INFO! *- -* TOS 2.06 & 1.44MB UPGRADE INFO! *- ========================================================================== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE The _Number One_ Online Magazine -* FEATURING *- "UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Hot Tips, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================== STReport's support BBS, NODE 350, invites BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the Fido/F-Net Mail Network. Or, call Node 350 direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging information relative to the Atari ST computer arena through an excellent International ST Mail Network. All registered F-NET - Crossnet SysOps are welcome to join the STReport Crossnet Conference. The Crossnet Conference Code is #34813, and the "Lead Node" is # 350. All systems are welcome and invited to actively participate. Support Atari Computers; Join Today! ========================================================================== AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON: GENIE ~ CIS ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ F-NET ========================================================================== COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; ST REPORT 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! WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (January 17) "HIDDEN" TREASURES IN ATARI PRODUCTIVITY FORUM (GO ATARIPRO) DO YOU HAVE THIS FILE? STARTKEY - A desk accessory keyboard macro system for your Atari ST. This programs enables you to assign commonly typed phrases and command strings to a single keystroke. Also useful for accessing foreign symbols directly through the keyboard. File: STARTK.ARC in Library 4 ("Utilities"). Also download... File: STARTK.DOC in Library 4 ("Utilities") for documentation. DO YOU HAVE THIS FILE? CAPITAL FUN - A program for the Atari ST that makes discovering the fundamental capitalization rules fun! Features color and digitized sound. File CAPFUN.ARC in Library 5 ("Applications"). NEW FROM MAXWELL CPU! For MIDI Enthusiasts, Maxwell CPU has released a freeware MIDI controlled slide show program. DEGAS image colors are controlled by the tempo, dynamics, chords and notes input through the MIDI port. GO ATARIVEN and download file DANCE.LZH from LIBRARY 6 ("Maxwell CPU"). NEW SUPRA MODEMS ANNOUNCED! Please read file SUPRA.V32 in LIBRARY 15 ("Supra Corp.") of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN) for information on Supra's new 9600 and 14400 baud fax-modems. TEASER! Just a little teaser ... We've already received commitments from Atari Corp. and other vendors who have donated prizes to be given away during the 24-hour Port-A-thon to be held on Feb 21-22. So far over 54 hardware and software prizes have been donated. A list of prizes and vendors will be published shortly. THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION "GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM" *********************************************************************** > CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS ================= Issue #03 Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. -- Each US Home to have 2.2 Computers by 1999 According to a survey by Channel Marketing Corp., there could be more PCs than children in each US home by 1999 with an average of 2.2 PCs in each home. It is estimated that 7 million home computers were purchased in 1991, up from 5.1 million in 1990 and there were a total of more than 30 million PCs in use in more than 28 million US households. -- IRS Expects 10 Million Electronically Filed Returns This Year According to the Iternal Revenue Service, taxpayers in every state may file their returns electonically this year even if they owe taxes. The IRS expects 10 million couples and individuals to take advantage of this electronic filing, up from 7.5 million last year. -- "Blue Book" Estimates Used Computer Values After publishing automotive "Blue Books" for 18 years, Orion will be introducing a new "Blue Book" for the computer market in March. The Orion Consumer Computer Blue Book will have 25,000 listings of the estimated value of computers and related equipment and will contain no advertising. According to the company, the computer blue book will offer consumers the opportunity to search alphabetically, then by model for the new, used and wholesale prices of computers. The book also takes into account the condition of the item, whether or not it is in "mint" or average condition, in estimating the wholesale value. A clip from the computer blue book shows an Apple IIe, with 128K of RAM, a 10MB hard disk, and a 143K floppy disk drive as retailing for $3,495, but when used is only worth $245. The new Apple Quadra 700, type 68050 with a keyboard, 4MB of RAM, 400MB hard disk, and a 1.44 MB floppy disk drive is listed as retailing new for $7,699 and worth less than half the new price used, or only $3,400. Orion says that the 1992 computer blue book will retail for $39.95. The book will contain disks, faxes, modems, monitors, plotters, dot matrix, band ink jet, thermal and laser printers, scanners, computer systems, tape, and terminals. -- Ten Computer Firms Adopt 3-D Standard A technical standard for the way computers display three-dimensional graphics has been endorsed by 10 computer firms, including Hewlett- Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Digital Equipment Corp. According to reports, the firms say the standard should make it easier to link different brands of workstations in networks and give all of them the ability to display the same 3-D graphics. The 10 said the standard also should help 3-D break out of narrow markets such as scientific and engineering fields and allow for increased use in such things as computer animation and business graphics. However, the standard is not compatible with the technology used by Silicon Graphics Inc., a leading 3-D computer maker, the wire service noted. The seven other companies are Convex Computer Corp., Evans & Sutherland, Hitachi Ltd., Ithaca Software, Kubota Corp., SHOgraphics Inc. and Tektronix Inc. -- Apple Unveils 16" Color Monitor Apple Computer has unveiled a 16" color monitor for its high performance Mac line that features a Sony Trinitron picture tube with a 832 x 624 pixel display area. The new display also features many ergonomic fea- tures such as a tilt/swivel base, anti-glare, anti-static coating, and up-front ports for plugging in a mouse, keyboard, microphone and headphones. The display has a suggested retail price of $1,599. -- Wordperfect 2.1 Ready for the Mac According to Wordperfect Corporation, Wordperfect 2.1 is ready for re- lease for the Macintosh and is scheduled to ship this month. WP 2.1 is compatible with Apple's System 7 operating system, and can take advantage of "publish" and "subscribe" features, TrueType, Apple Events, and Balloon Help, as well as Apple's new QuickTime technology. The suggested list price for the upgraded program is $495 in the US, and $595 in Canada. Present users of any previous version of Wordperfect for Macintosh can upgrade for $89 in the US and $110 in Canada. Users can also purchase a disk upgrade, which includes disks and license only, for US$39. Owners of Wordperfect 2.1 receive toll-free support. The company also has a trade-in offer for owners of some competitive programs. Owners of Microsoft Word for Macintosh, MacWrite II, WriteNow, FullWrite, or Nisus, can switch to Wordperfect 2.1 for US$150 or C$179. The trade-in offer is available through resellers or directly from Wordperfect until March 31, 1992. -- Japanese to Increase Purchase of Foreign-Made Chips The Japanese government has sent a letter to 226 Japanese manufacturers, asking them to purchase general-purpose foreign-made chips in order to help foreign firms gain a 20% share of the Japanese market. According to reports, foreign chips had a 14.3% share of the Japanese market in the July-September period last year, according to US figures, though Japanese figures showed a 16.2% foreign share. -- DEC to Cut PC Prices by 50% According to a company spokesman, Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) has intentions of becoming a major player in the PC market and is set to launch a major marketing campaign next week by cutting prices on its personal computers by about 50% and offering the machines by mail-order. The company has set aside $5-$6 million for advertising through June for the campaign and will also use direct mail and catalog sales. -- Wyse Cuts Prices of Six PCs Wyse Technology today reduced prices by 7 to 37% on six of personal computers, including its SX PCs, two 486-based models and the DecisionMate notebook PC. *********************************************************************** :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ To sign up for GEnie service: 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. GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and weekend access to more than 100 services including electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news, entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards on leisure and professional subjects. With many other services, including the biggest collection of files to download and the best online games, for only $6 per hour. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month of membership if you are not completely satisfied, just ask for your $4.95 back. GEnie Announcements (FREE) 1. SUPERBOWL Recipe Contest - WIN FREE TIME in.................*FOOD 2. Make a New Year's Resolution to pay for your education......CASHE 3. Chat about *TAROT* with noted author, M.J. Kramer...........CHAT 4. Last Chance To REGISTER For WINTER COURSES..................CALC 5. NEW Apple II stuff for YOU in ------------------->..........A2 6. SHOWDOWN, join the world's biggest game show................TRIVIA 7. Passports - Gems of genealogical information................GENEALOGY 8. MEET Wild Card Science Fiction Authors (RTC)................SFRT 9. Knights Of the Black Rose Author Coming To..................TSR 10. Program your APPLE II like an EXPERT in ---------->.........A2PRO 11. ROBIN HOOD designer in conference...........................SCORPIA 12. RTC 1/19:COPYRIGHTS in the electronic information age.......HOSB 13. Air Warrior Map of European Terrain now available...........KESMAI 14. Get 1991 INCOME TAX shareware and templates -->.............HOSB 15. There's help available for Type 1 Fonts in..................DTP From the ST Roundtable NAMM Realtime Conference Transcript Available The transcript of the Jan. 15, 1992 RTC with Atari's James Grunke is available in Software Library 13. Download NAMM_RTC.ARC (file #22311) for news about Atari's push at the NAMM Show. Announcements about the formation of Atari Music, a new marketing co-op, the Music Developers Council, an upcoming ad campaign, the selection of a national rep firm, and much more are included in the transcript. GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission *********************************************************************** > GENIE NAMM CONFERENCE STR FOCUS "Online with James Grunke" =============================== January 15, 1992 <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Before I upload my prepared text, I want to point out that Bob Brodie is with James, so both James and Bob are available to answer your questions. Now, on with my prepared text... On behalf of the Atari ST Roundtable, I welcome all of you to the Atari/NAMM RealTime Conference. Before getting started, some business about how an RTC works. While the RTC room is in Listen-Only mode, you can only address our guest when I let you talk. To get my attention, just /RAIse your hand. Just enter this from your keyboard: /rai I'll acknowledge your raised hand as soon as I can, but please be patient. I -WILL- let you know when your turn is coming up. Some other RTC commands are: ? - Lists all RTC commands. /sta - Status (list) of everyone in the RTC room. /exi - Exit the RTC, but you remain logged onto GEnie. /bye - Log off of GEnie directly from the RTC. /rai - Raise your hand. Lets me know you wish to address our guest. And now, let's get started. We have James Grunke as our guest this evening. James is Atari's Corporate Director of Music Markets. James is representing Atari at this year's NAMM show. This show is attended by music professionals, including music dealers and musical artists. James is here to tell us a bit about what's happening at NAMM, where Atari fits in, and to answer your questions about Atari's future in the music industry. Let's get this rolling now... James, do you have any opening remarks to make before I start taking questions from the floor? First of all, I'd like to recognize and welcome our friends from the MIDI RTC that are here tonight to join in the Atari RTC. Thanks for your support online. We've been watching with great interest and working closely with John Morales to make things even better in the MIDI RTC. We're interested in your input in what we can do to make things better for you in both the Atari and the MIDI RTC. We have some announcements that we will make in a few minutes, but for now, we'd like to take some questions from the floor, to get things rolling, Jeff. So let's rock! <[Flakes] A.KELLOGG2> James, What, IYHO, is the most exciting new product you saw today? I'm really excited about Cubase 3.0 on the TT. I think that is going to open up a level of performance for all musicians that is going to outshine any other platform. <[Flakes] A.KELLOGG2> Oh, how I wish I could convince my wife to afford a TT. I'd also have to say that Hybrid Arts gets an award for the quickest turn around for new product and development direction. And of course, MIDI Spy is going to be a close friend of mine! :) <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Let's cover some basics...James, explain what the NAMM Show is and why it is important to Atari to attend. Then please tell us about the Atari exhibit (what are you showing, how is the interest, etc.) The NAMM Show is the National Association of Musical Merchants It's held once a year in Anaheim, and it's the premier showcase for new musical products and technology. The show officially opens this Friday, and we will be online live from the show floor, with a promotion that we're calling NAMM COMM, so feel free to log on and chat with us live from the show floor. Bob Brodie will be handling NAMM COMM at the show. We will be showing the ST Book, the only Notebook that we know of with MIDI Ports. We're sure that musicians are going to love the product. And of course, the TT will make it's musical debut, and the 1040 remains a huge seller in to music channels. <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Where will NAMM COMM be taking place? Here in the ST Roundtable or in the MIDI Roundtable? And what hours will you be online? NAMM COMM will be taking place in the ST RTC and the MIDI RTC, and in Basic Services as well. We're going to be showing everyone just what they're missing by not being online here. We'll be online 10-6 PST here in Calif. So feel free to look for us for a chat. We don't have a set schedule on this yet. <[DragonWare I] S.FREIER> Have you seen any Midi thru boxes that have ST phantom power yet? We are working on an 18 output box now but don't want to be .... Wouldn't phantom power disrupt data integrity? <[DragonWare I] S.FREIER> NO! We have a working proto now. Sounds interesting. Please send me e-mail on the product. Are you close to production and distribution of this product? <[DragonWare I] S.FREIER> We are finalizing (sp) with a off-shore mfg now hope to have FCC and all by June! Good luck, I'll look forward to your mail. <[Sysop] JEFF.W> For the unwashed (like me), what is phantom power? <[DragonWare I] S.FREIER> Phantom power is a way of supplying power from the ST midi port not BATT or ac. <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Thanks for the definition. Do you have a follow up for James? <[DragonWare I] S.FREIER> Yes. Will the ST book MIDI ports have the same config and power req as the ST/TT? It should be identical to the ST, but the MIDI plugs are smaller than on an ST in order to get them on board. Product option will be available to adapt to spec size plugs as an accessory. If you're a registered developer that info is available. If not, please contact Bill Rehbock (B.REHBOCK here on GEnie) or write him at Atari. <[DragonWare I] S.FREIER> Thank you, James, for your time!! First of all S.freier, the documentation I have on the ST book recommends limiting the current used on the NEW st book bus so I'm sure that this phantom power product of yours is out of the question on the ST BOOK it would drain the battery. My question to James is You mentioned that you are highlighting the ST BOOK at NAMM will Atari dealers who support MIDI be given priority over other dealers if ST BOOK supply becomes short? And if so when will MIDI dealers begin to receive ST BOOKS? We don't prioritize any category of dealer. Priority is first come, first serve. I don't want to promise a firm date on the ST Books, until we really know. I hope that you understand that we'd like to talk about what's here today. <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Thanks, A.RIDLEY1. At NAMM we're launching an International Division called Atari Music. This division consists of a cooperative group of dealers, developers, and sales representatives. The function of this group will be marketing, sales, and development support. The first salvo we're firing is the FOSTEX Co op ad. This co op ad combines C-Lab, Dr. T's, and Steinberg along with Fostex and Atari in a major advertising, PR, and sales effort. Some of the publications will be KEYBOARD, EQ, and Electronic Musician, as well as some regional campaigns. We're also excited about the inception of the Music Developer Council. Through this organization we will combine our efforts in marketing and development directions. We are happy to also announce that we have retained the services of D.K. Sweet to handle PR for the Atari Music Division. Another major, significant development is Mike Groh's organization of a National Sales Force. This will be a major benefit to all the Atari Community. Many of the reps have extensive music and pro audio backgrounds. And we're looking to cross pollinate DTP and other markets within the music channels. Last but not least, I just saw the Atari Music issue of Atari Explorer. The insert, entitled Atari Artist, is probably the most important piece of marketing collateral that Atari has ever produced for the Music market. It is also the most complete guide for music software we know of. It's excellent for everyone, from the beginner to the professional. RUN, don't walk to EXPLORER's email with your subscriptions!!!! <[Sysop] JEFF.W> You guys haven't been TOO busy lately, have you? This is the beginning of a strong push by Atari. The idea is to sell a lot of Atari systems to music professionals. But what about after- the-sale support. Any news on the GE service agreement? Jeff, the contract is signed. We're just cleaning up the details on implementing the program. Does Notator run on the TT yet? That's crucial if I'm going to upgrade. Not yet, and I can't speak for them...but we're encouraging them to make the adjustments in their software to make it happen as soon as possible for our users. If you really want it to happen, please contact C-Lab, as they are really responsive to user feedback. I'd just like to say I hope you keep the power without the price philosophy. That's a major reason why I went with Atari over Apple because the software is there, and I liked the price. Thanks, sometimes you have to spend a little less to get a lot more. <[Flakes;MIDI] A.KELLOGG2> James, I'm pretty much a devoted Dr. T's fan. What can you tell us about any new hardware at NAMM? P.S. Are you using Aladdin? P.P.S. Is "EQ" worth subscribing to? P.P.P.S. How do you pronounce your last name? (Sorry, I'm musing.) Omega screams on the TT, and the Copyist is being upgraded. Dr.T is making a strong showing in our booth. Yes, I use Aladdin, on my system at home. Bob's inflicting FLASH on me here...:( EQ is a very good magazine, if your interested in audio it's very worthwhile subscribing to. Can you say FUNKY.... <[John Cole] J.COLE18> James, With the new Cubase 3 for the TT, will there be enough TT's in the US to go around for the DTP/CAD/UNIX/MIDI markets? We don't see any problem in long haul, but supplies are short at the present. <[John Cole] J.COLE18> Also, I'd like to know how up on the competition you are, so could you size up what Apple is planning for NAMM and how Atari is going to beat them :-) Well, for starters, I have on NAMM letterhead that Apple is not showing this year. In fact, I am looking forward to their first salvo. The extra competition is going to triple our business. If I were going to open a music store, I'd open it on 48th ST in New York City, I'm really proud to compete with Apple and IBM there, or on any main street in the US. We have the finest computer for music applications. I could have had any computer I wanted, I chose Atari. <[Sysop] JEFF.W> On the subject of available TT's, what's the latest on Class B systems? I know the music pro's can run with the Class A FCC-certified systems, but is Class B available now (or soon)? The machines continue to be class A at the present time. I'm sorry, but I don't have any further information on that at this time. Howdy, James. We're going to have to start calling you "funky Grunke" now. Oh gee Geoff, that's funny! I've never heard that before! :) :) Yeah, like I've never been called Gomer Pyle before. hahahaha So how has set-up been today?? The booth structure is up, and looks great. We have a sound room where your demonstration will be looks awesome. This is the biggest NAMM Show ever for Atari!!! I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I spoke with Chester Thompson today. He and I will do a little chit chat, followed by an impromptu jam session right into Cubase. For those that don't know, that's Chester Thompson, drummer for Phil Collins and Genesis. I'm sure that your demo is going to be one of the major highlights of the show!! <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Thanks, Geoff. I wish I could see your demo! We need to let James get to a meeting he has shortly. Any closing comments, James? Thank you everyone for coming. I'm really excited about the Namm Show. I'm looking forward to spending more time on GEnie this year. Thank you, and good night!!! <[Sysop] JEFF.W> Many thanks for taking time out of a very busy day to be with us, James. (And you too, Bob!) Please feel free to drop in on us on Wednesdays any time. Also...please let us know your schedule for the NAMM COMM when you have it ready so we can banner it here and in the MIDI RT. Thanks again! <[Bob] JAMES-GRUNKE> I'll get back to you on that as soon as possible, Jeff. ========================================================================= (C) 1992 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. ========================================================================= > NAMM SHOW STR SHOW NEWS EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS REPORT! ======================= ANAHEIM NAMM 1992 ================= by John Deegan The Show Hours are: Friday January 17 - 10:00a - 6:00p Saturday January 18 - 10:00a - 6:00p Sunday January 19 - 10:00a - 6:00p Booth Allocations ----------------- AB Systems 656 Allen & Heath 1510 Atari 2701 Audio Technica 1573 Cerwin-Vega 433 Denon 9203 DOD/Digitech/Audio Logic 430 Gallien-Krueger 1829 Hybrid Arts 1006 Kawai 2000 Leprecon/Littites 259 Mackie Designs 4193 QMI/Genelec/Drawmer 2167 Renkus-Heinz 4769 Steinberg-Jones 2631 Sabine Manufacturing 3332 Stewart Electronics 3200 Its only the first day, and some of the booths are not fully operational yet. But this is, without a doubt, a Musician's show with a very heavy Atari presence. John Eidsvoog is here (an Atari codecrunching Guru for Codehead Software) demonstrating his prowess as an accomplished professional musician. Sound, Sound everywhere. From Denen's superb twin drive CD player to the new Audio Technica DT100, a fantastic teleconferencing system. The DT100 is a true, digital second generation teleconferencing interface unit. It contains everything needed to run a full tilt teleconference. Atari's Band in a Box promises to be a big hit at the show. Of course the real demand is for the ST Notebook! Every midi lovin' musician is asking for one. Atari's booth is quite impressive. In fact, its a pleasure to see the "big push" going on here by Atari. The booth is bright, well stocked and quite lively. A number of Atari luminaries are present and showing Atari's goodies off. You can be sure they'll put Atari's best foot forward. I'll have much more in next week's installment about this show. ________________________________________________ > The Flip Side STR Feature "...a different viewpoint..." ========================= A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT ================================== by Michael Lee ---------------- From Charles Hoffman - Cat. 1, Topic 26, Msg. 1 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... Greetings, The Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts are currently planning the 1992 W.A.A.C.E Atarifest. This show in the past has been called "the premier East coast Atari event". We are holding the show on October 10th and 11th at the Sheraton Reston hotel in Reston, Virginia. We feel that the best way to plan a new show is to first evaluate the previous show. We would like to make this the best Atarifest ever, and to do this, we would welcome your comments on the previous show. If you were not at Atarifest 1991, then we would like you to tell us what you would like to see at Atarifest 1992. Thank you for your comments and suggestions. Charles Hoffmann Acting President, WAACE Inc. ----------------- Discussion about the HP Laserjet IIP printer from Delphi... From Gordie (sysop).... I just thought I'd jump in and say that I'm very happy with my HP Laserjet IIP. The disadvantage to any inkjet printer is that the ink is water-soluble, which means that if you aren't going to photocopy it, or spray it with a fixative, any moisture that hits the ink will cause some blurring or running. That may not be a problem with what you want to use it for, but it would be for me. But the output of an inkjet printer is very good, and I'd recommend it over a dot-matrix printer. By the way, non-scented hairspray can be used as a fixative. Spray it lightly and let it dry before folding or stacking the sheet. And the cheaper brands work just as well as the expensive ones! And either are cheaper than the spray fixatives specifically marketed for image fixing! From Michael Burkley... Re. paper for the DeskJet 500. You need to use a high quality smooth non absorbant paper when you print with a DeskJet. Otherwise the ink is absorbed into the paper and is spread out causing a bad case of the blurs. From Bryan (BBKBRYAN)... Something that not everybody knows about the DJ500C is that it only uses the three primary colors when in color mode. That means that you can't do true blacks w/ color. You get a really muddy brown (combo of all of the colors). The new inks for the DJ's are no longer water based. In order to smear the new inks, you have to touch them when they are wet. Lasers, BTW, do a great job for labels! Just look at the C-manship Complete disk labels! All you have to do is purchase laser labels, from Avery. I know they are more expensive that fanfold, but they work great! ---------------- About Shaeffer Skrip ink - From Fred Percival - Cat. 4, Topic 9, Msg. 96 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... ...I've tried several times to refill cartridges using colored Shaeffer Skrip ink. Each time I've done this, I had good performance while the color changed from black to blue/red/green. Then, when the color was finally pure, the cart would suddenly clog up between printer uses, and nothing I did could unclog it. My conclusion is that the Skrip colored pigment particles must clump and become too large for the perforations in the cartridge. I would sure like to hear from someone who has successfully done a home refill with color ink! ---------------- Discussion about whether the TEC board w/TOS 2.06 is over-priced or not - From Lloyd Pulley - Cat. 14, Topic 8, Msg. 210 - from the ST Round- table on Genie... I believe that $139 is a very fair price for the TEC board and TOS 2.06. Before I heard the price announced, I figured it would be in the $160- $199. When you figure in development and manufacturing costs for both, a nominal profit for both, duty costs on importing the TEC board, a nominal profit for both manufacturers, then add in packaging and documentation, shipping, and a nominal profit for the Codeheads and you'll find that a $139 price tag isn't bad at all. I feel, it is _ONLY_ the TOS 2.05 owners who should get a discount from Atari to upgrade to TOS 2.06. ---------------- Question and Answers - From John Carter - Cat 4, Topic 4, Msgs 43-44 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... Does it matter if I have 7 out of 32 memory chips on my Z-ram a different speed? All but 7 of my chips are Siemens HYB511000A-10 and the 7 are HYB511000A-70. I have had this for about a year and NEVER noticed the difference in chips when I was putting them in. Answer from Mark Dodge.... ...The ST requires a refresh rate no slower than 120 nsec. So the chips that you are using should work just fine. I have mixed speeds in the past on several different types of computers and have never had a problem. As long as the slowest speed meets the minimum demand of the computer design, all should work fine. ---------------- About the ST Book - Cat. 14, Topic 7, Msgs 190-191 - from the ST Round- table on Genie... Question from Steve Johnson... One big question that arises in my mind is whether or not the ST BOOK at around $2000 can compete with the Mac PowerBook 100 and 140, both of which give you a 16MHz 68000, backlit 640x480 display, a 1.44MB HD floppy drive in addition to the built-in hard drive for around the same price? Answer from Bill Rehbock (Atari)... The PowerBook 100 does _not_ come with a floppy drive, the external floppy for the STBOOK is 1.44meg. You can not even begin to compare the power management systems between Atari and Apple, the way that 'save and resume' on the PowerBooks work is ridiculous! Please go to an Apple Dealer, run an application and in the middle of the application, put the PowerBook to 'Sleep'. Now remove the battery. Ask how long the battery life is. Ask how long it takes to recharge the battery. There are enough comparisons that we best the PowerBooks at, that the price is fair. ---------------- Discussion about TOS 2.06/1.44 Meg drives - Cat. 14, Topic 8, Msgs 227, 235, 238, 251 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... From Bill Rehbock (Atari).... If you are interested, please place your orders for TOS 2.06 now. Dealers that are on-line on GEnie were notified as of Thursday night that they will be available. They should be on their way to dealers toward the end of next week. The retail price on the Two-Chip set is $60.00. These are 32-pin EPROM packages. There are some STE's with 28-pin masked ROMs that are either soldered in or in 28-pin sockets that will have to be removed and have 32-pin sockets installed. I am giving advanced notice to dealers and end-users, so that no one is suprised when they open up their STE to "pop the chips in". A very good percentage of the STE's in the field have the 32-pin EPROMs, and it will be just a swap. When going from the 28-pin package to the 32- pin package there are solder pads that need to be altered. Instructions will ship with the ROMs. By the way... the 1.44 megabyte drive kits are on their way too. The price on the upgrade kits are: $139.00 for the MegaSTE --- $149.00 for the TT The kits include: 1.44 meg floppy drive, AJAX High-Density Controller, and the corresponding TOS, either 2.06(MSTE) or 3.06(TT) -Bill Rehbock, Atari Corp. Permission is granted to reprint this posting only if it appears in its entirety. Question from Lloyd Pulley... What about 1.44 megabyte drive kits for the MegaST owners that have a T16 installed...so we already have the 16mhz spped? Answer from Jim Allen (Fast Technologies)... ...I would think that a couple extra parts, plus the stock 1.44/2.06 Atari upgrade could make your Mega act just like a MegaSTE as far as the floppies are concerned. The Wuztek kit, my TOS installation kit for T16/T20/T25 folks, and Atari's 1.44drive/2.06rom kit are the parts you need. I'm sure Paul will figure out how to make 2.06 happy with his 1.44 floppy adapter board. Some wise advise from Sheldon Winick (Computer Studio)... You can order the new TOS ROMs from any authorized dealer. However, keep in mind that they are NOT yet available. Atari has announced their pending release, but they have NOT yet begun shipping them. I really don't expect a long delay, but until any new product actually arrives at the store, my position is that it still doesn't actually exist (at least as far as I and my customers are concerned). Choose any reputable dealer you prefer to order from and place your order, or get on his waiting list. BUT..... as with any product that isn't yet actually available, my recommendation is to choose a dealer that DOES NOT require prepayment and will NOT process a charge or check until the product actually ships, or is willing to accept your order for a C.O.D. shipment to ensure you won't be prepaying for something that he cannot guarantee you a delivery date on. And no dealer can guarantee a delivery date on a product that is not in stock or has not yet been released. If you don't have a local dealer, you should have a good choice from among the better dealers who are active here on GEnie. Drop one a note in E-mail for specific ordering information. One note of caution to anyone planning on doing their own upgrading. The internals of your computer contain sensitive electronics, which can be easily damaged through improper handling. Unless you are qualified to do the work yourself, and know how to properly handle IC's, please have the work done by a qualified service technician. You'd be surprised how many systems we see in our service department that wouldn't be there at all if the user hadn't chosen to open the system up and do something himself. ---------------- Need to contact Fujitsu? - Cat 4, Topic 2, Msgs 97-98 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... Question from Joe Mardo... Can anyone explain the switch settings on a Fujitsu 2249SA? Anyone have a phone number for Fujitsu?? Answer from Bill Rupp... The phone number to Fujitsu is 1-800-826-6112. This is one of those computer run voice databases. I'm sure it will have the jumpers for ya. I did have to talk to a rep. though to get the parity jumper. For some reason it wasn't on there recordings. I run a 2611 45Meg unit.. It performs flawlessly. ---------------- Cheap floppy disk storage - Cat. 8, Topic 2, Msg 53-54 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... From D.D. Martin (Swampy)... I've found that the cardboard boxes for 3x5 index cards are GREAT disk storage boxes for floppys. You can get about 50-60 diskes in one box. There are two styles of boxes.. one with a lid and the other that is a pull out drawer. I prefer the drawer style. These are available at any office supply store. Office Depot sells them for about $14.00 each. From Jim Kudron... Have you tried old Velveeta boxes? They're a lot cheaper. ---------------- From A. Bitton - Cat. 9, Topic 26, Msg. 37 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... I talked to Peter Molyneux at CES, and this is what he said: "Populous II will be out in 2 days (ie: Sat 11th Jan '91)." "There will be 2 different versions of it. One for 512K machines, and one for 1 meg machines. Read the sticker on the box." "Powermonger Disk 1: WWI will be out in 2 months." ---------------- From Paul Wu (Wuztek Opti) - Cat. 4, Topic 17, Msg. 47 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie... HDrive is compatible with ALL TOS versions. The only difference with a TOS 2.06 is that you'll be able to format a HD under the format disk option on the Desktop. If you have an older TOS, you must format HD diskette with our program or other software such as Diamond Back II which supports High Density disks. On the note of disk drives, we may be selling a version of HD disk drives with the same face plate as the Atari disk drive "real soon now". This drive will only fit in newer STe and TTs. The price will be a little higher than our Teac drive and will require our new HDrive+ controller board which will contain a special chip. More on that later. ---------------- Until next week..... """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= As a reader of STReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. For only $29.95 ($20 off the standard membership price!), you will receive a lifetime subscrip- tion to DELPHI, a copy of the 500-page DELPHI: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE and over $14 worth of free time. NOTE: Special offers can be found in your favorite Atari magazines: START CURRENT NOTES ST INFORMER ATARI INTERFACE MAGAZINE SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN -- DELPHI -------------- 1. Dial 617-576-0862 with any terminal or PC and modem (at 2400 bps, dial 576-2981). 2. At the Username prompt, type JOINDELPHI. 3. At the Password prompt enter STREPORT. For more information, call DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005, or at 617-491-3393 from within Massachusetts or from outside the U.S. DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT -------------------- Beginning September 1, 1990, DELPHI will begin offering a new plan that will save you money! The new plan is called the 20/20 Advantage Plan and it features 20 hours online for just $20 a month! The $20 is a monthly fee that covers your first 20 hours online via direct dial into one of DELPHI's two direct-access lines, or via a special Tymnet 20/20 Access code. It also gets you additional hours at just $1.20 per hour. And you get free access to several services on DELPHI as part of the Advantage Perks. Other telecom services may have additional charges. Canadian Tymnet users have an additional telecom charge. Office Time access (7 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekdays) may have an additional charge. And of course, other restrictions may apply. But this is still an amazing deal! For more information, contact DELPHI at 1-800-544-4005 and ask for Member Services. DELPHI- It's getting better all the time! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > DEVELOPER KIT OFFER STR InfoFile Special offer of Dev kit ================================ January 15, 1992 Atari Corporation Official Announcement I am pleased to announce that Atari is making all of the released TOS development information available to the general public. We are making the kit available to fulfil the needs of programmers that already have purchased a third-party development package, Atari owners that are curious about the 'nuts and bolts' of The Operating System, and anyone else that wants to have a detailed understanding of TOS software development. If you wish, you may purchase the entire kit for $150.00 (U.S.) and also get one year of technical support from Atari via the private Atari Developer Roundtable on GEnie, 6 issues of the bi-monthly Developer Newsletter, ATARI.RSC, and one year of on-going developer kit upgrades. If you wish to renew after one year, there is a fee of only $40.00. If you wish information on only certain aspects of Atari TOS computers, we also sell sections of the kit separately. The items that are available range from every issue of the developer newsletter since 1985, to the release notes for the exciting new STBOOK. Every detail a software or hardware developer could want is outlined, including MegaSTE/TT VME Bus specifications, STE DMA sound, FSM GDOS programming information, and more. Please see the order form for details. You must purchase the $150.00 full kit to be eligible for on-going support. I'm sorry, but at this time, you may not purchase a part of the kit, and later "upgrade" to the support level. Developers that are currently not registered with Atari, and have a commercial product on the market, or have a product in development, or have any other special needs requiring direct unlimited telephone support should sign up under the Atari Commercial Developer Program. There is an additional fee for this program, but there is no renewal fee required as long as you continue product development and support. (Educators, universities, and businesses may fall into this category.) Please contact Gail Bacani on 408-745-2022 for more information on the Commercial Developer Program. The complete order form follows, outlining all of the documentation that is available. Please note that several items include disks containing software relating to the documentation. We want to assure that you get the most out of your Atari Computer experience! Sincerely, Bill Rehbock, Director of Technical Services, Atari Corp. Atari TOS Developer's Kit -- Order Form -- January 4, 1992 ________ $150.00 Complete Developer's Kit, including all documents and disks. Includes 1 year of support via Atari-RSC Developer Roundtable on GEnie, on-going developer kit updates for 1 year, and 6 issues of ATARI.RSC, the bi-monthly developer newsletter. ________ $40.00 One year renewal fee -- 1 year of support via Atari-RSC Developer Roundtable on GEnie, on-going developer kit updates for 1 year, and 6 issues of ATARI.RSC, the bi-monthly developer newsletter. Document and Disk Packages ________ $10.00 Atari.RSC Newsletters (Dec. '89, Jan. '90, Feb. '90, Mar. '90, Apr. '90, May '90, June '90, July '90, Aug. '90, Sept. '90, Oct. '90, Nov. -- Jan. '90-'91, Apr. -- May '91, June -- July '91) The Atari Forum (Mar. '88, May '88, July -- Aug. '88, Sep. -- Dec. '88 Fuji Stripe Newsletter, pages 3 -- 7 (undated) Q & A Bulletins (Feb. '86, Mar. '86, Apr. '86, May '86, June '86, Feb. '87) ________ $20.00 Atari GEMDOS Reference Manual Table of Contents (Apr. 4, 1986) Introduction (5/22/86) Calling, filenames, fileops, processes, vectors, errors (4/4/86) GEMDOS functions by number (undated) Funcs (4/10/86) except pages (9), (21), and (25) (1-23-89) and page (13) (3/7/90) Prg (4/4/86) Pexec Cookbook (6 Sept. 1991) Hitchhiker's Guide to the BIOS (Nov. 26, 1985) New pages: 5, 7, 12, 16, 38, 56, 75 (1-23-89) New pages: 15, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 37a (3-5-90) AHDI 3.00 Release Notes (April 18, 1990) Atari CHKDISK3 Documentation (April 22, 1990) TOS Developer's Kit Disk #4: HDX / System Utilities / STE Programming Examples / CHKDISK3 ________ $40.00 GEM Programming Guide Volume 1 -- VDI (Third Edition: January 1989) Volume 2 -- AES (Third Edition: January 1989) GDOS/FSM GDOS Developer Guide (10/91) GEM Resource Construction Set (undated) TOS Developer's Kit Disk #2: MicroEMACS / Source Code Examples / RCS ________ $40.00 Gem DOS Programmer's Tools (undated, copyright 1989) Command Shell AS68 MADMAC Reference Manual (ver. 1.00) & (ver. 1.07) ALN Docs. (8/12/88) and update sheet (90/01/24) AR68 (Archive Utility) (undated) DUMP SIZE68 DB Docs. (Release 2, 90/01/24) Motorola S-Record Format TOS Developer's Kit Disk #1: Alcyon C Compiler / ALN Linker TOS Developer's Kit Disk #3: MADMAC / DB Debugger / Programming Utilities / CHKDISK3 ________ $15.00 Engineering Hardware Specifications (7 January 1986) Intelligent Keyboard Protocol (26 February 1985) Chip specifications: 6850 ACIA, MC6850 (undated) 68901 MFP (undated) AY-3-8910 PSG (undated) Programmable Sound Generator Manaual (Feb. 1979) GIACCESS (page 1, March 7, 1990; page 2, 1-23-90) WD 1770/1772 Floppy Disk Controller (undated) Atari Monitor Summary Specs (May 14, 1986) 128K ROM cartridge schematics (1-2-85) Blitter Chip (17 June 1987) ________ $25.00 STE Hardware Developer Addendum STE features list Genlock and the STE Video Modifications How to Implement Fine Scrolling on the STE STE Digitized Sound Developer Information TT030 Hardware Reference Manual VME Bus Specifications for TT030 and MegaSTE Rainbow TOS Release Notes STE TOS Release Notes TT030 TOS Release Notes STBook Expansion Bus Electrical Specification TOS Developer's Kit Disk #4: HDX / System Utilities / STE Programming Examples / CHKDISK3 TOS Developer's Kit Disk #5: Demonstrator / eXtensible Control Panel $____________ Subtotal $____________ Tax (CA 8.25%, IL 6.75%, TX 8.25%) $____________ Total Check #:______________ Date:_____________ Company Name:___________________________ Contact:____________________ Ship to:____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ******* Make sure you return both pages of the order form. ******** Please allow 2 - 4 weeks for processing. Make checks payable in U.S. funds to Atari Corporation. Direct all orders to: Atari Corp. 1196 Borregas Avenue Sunnyvale, Calif., U.S.A. 94086 Attn: Gail Bacani _____________________________________________________________________ > SST UPDATE STR InfoFile Update info about the SST and shipping dates ======================= Item 8125045 92/01/16 18:57 From: DAVESMALL David M. Small To: ST.REPORT R.F. Mariano cc: DAVESMALL David M. Small Sub: SST Status Jan. 16 SST STATUS: JANUARY 16 1991 =========================== Howdy folks -- I thought I'd let you know what's been going on with the SST, and why you're not unwrapping them by now. It's been REAL interesting, like the ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." They've been SO interesting that I've not been online much; I've had some real high priority interruptions here and zero time. INTERESTING SOFTWARE STUFF We had originally planned to be well into shipping by now, and had the software pretty well whacked. The Beta Testers were happy. Unfortunately, I was still getting VERY odd intermittent crashes, with no rhyme or reason to them. The Beta Testers were solid. 'twas one of those things where you crash, and there is totally no debugging information available. I wasn't getting "bombs", which would have left some "blood marks" in the $380 crash area; it would just freeze. There are so many different things that can cause this that I was really stuck as to the problem. Were MMU tables being clobbered and we were double-bus-faulting? Was there a defect in the hard disk support software? And why were my Beta Testers not reporting problems? I replaced hardware like mad (found a slow PAL in the process, by the way)... didn't help. I call these bugs "hair pullers" when I can't use hideously obscene language, because you have NO IDEA WHERE TO EVEN START! I've written well over 20,000 lines of code for this project -- was it there? Were two programs fighting? Was it a conflict with TOS? Already I've worn out my welcome at the Atari software dev group discussing possible TOS bugs that turned out not to be their problem...no callbacks there! I pulled out my hair, then ran Minoxodil over my head to make it grow back. (See, that's how the computer biz works. You pull your hair to make money; you make money to grow your hair back). But it IS getting mighty thin in back, as Patty Rayl pointed out. I did many, many sessions that ended with the sky growing light outside. Those are really bad when you have kids that must be driven to school. I played Neil Young on CD, trying to help exorcise the software. Well, a common factor showed up that was too obvious for anyone to see at the time (because I was convinced the bug was elsewhere). The people who ran fine were running Atari's Hard Disk Software, AHDI/HDX 4.03 or 5, and I was running ICD software, 5.2 or 5.4.2 (newest, I believe). They had no, zero, absolutely NO BUGS. They were *astounded* that I wasn't shipping -- but I kept crashing! What on earth?, I thought. I started looking intensely (and I do mean with a microscope) at the hard disk software interface. I made absolutely, positively, and 12 other Federal Express advertising words that I was feeding ICD the proper parameters for a hard disk call, including all the rwabs() parameters in the read/write flag that most people don't know about, and the buffer=0 media-change hack, too. You see, this was deep trouble. The manual was on its final editing pass, you know, where you clean up the places where you spell "the" as "teh" and such. And I had already written up the hard disk section believing all was well, because at the time I thought I was fighting an MMU bug. Sandy was NOT PLEASED when I told her the manual had to be put on "hold" and could not go out for duplication. We'd already been through interesting hassles on test prints (one time they got the cover SR-71A Blackbird art *reversed*, so the "USAF" was backwards -- wow, I thought that would impress people a LOT!) and so forth. Sandy was busy doing a good, good index on the manual (which is a *lot* of work -- if you didn't know, there are professional indexers that make their living doing just that!) and I had just told her that parts of her index might change. There are times that working with one's marital partner can be stressful. I didn't *quite* have to go sleep at the Ramada Inn after telling her I hadn't nailed the hard disk problem completely. I emphasize "Quite" to show you that Sandy is really a very fine person; I had told her I felt the software was okay, and I was just having some flaky machine troubles. So my hard disk fumble had just held up about all the shipping parts of the operation. We could not proceed on the manual without a "working" hard disk chapter; we could not make master disks, get sample duplications, and get a production run (you *must* check first items; I have been badly burned by duplications that copy, say, 9 of 10 sectors per track "because it was so obviously an IBM format disk.") In desperation, I called up Doug (Wheeler), at ICD, who used to work here and who is no fool at all. Doug and I chatted about possibilities for bugs to show up, the _FRB buffer (a 64K disk transfer area Atari ruled Shall Exist on a TOS 2 or 3 machine) that hard disks and floppy disks worked. He gave me some very intelligent suggestions on trying to "catch the crash". In all honesty, I wish I had had Doug here during this debug; he has a devious mind that works in a different way than my devious mind, and we find more bugs that way. I wrote a lot more software, and wrote a baby debugger (ok, I ripped part clean out of Spectre; *I was in a hurry!*) to try to catch bugs. I made self-booting floppies that rammed things into the system "Cookie Jar" at early-boot time. I pulled more hair. See, I still couldn't get ANY debugger information on WHERE the crashes were! If I could get that, I could look at the code and go, "aha." And the crashes were maddeningly random. I crashed a lot just loading up the debugger! For a while, I have to tell you, I thought it was the ICD software. I eventually reached a point where I could make it bomb with 2,3,4, or 11 bombs fairly reliably by doing things in a certain order. (Wow! What an accomplishment! He broke it!) But this made no d*mn sense to my intuition. As I said, Doug is no fool, and he worked on that stuff with Howard. Then, in a mad coding session, I added a LOT more debugging code, and suddenly, BAM! ... -all- the crashes stopped. I had added code to "catch" the 2,3,4, 11 bombs, and was sitting there literally rebooting and rebooting, running Boink and NBM11 and Tempus and DB and TRYING TO CRASH, and it wouldn't crash (to my debugger, where I could see what was wrong). I was totally hacked off because NOW I WAS READY to stomp the bug, see what was wrong ... and it WOULD NOT CRASH. I was doing every foolish thing you can do to an SST/ST to try to crash. I'm still mad it didn't crash. It was a WIMP way for a bug to go away, and maximum-effort way. And a very, very old thing came to mind. It was from back in CP/M days (I kid you not) and when I did an 8080 emulator for a machine called the Dimension 68000. (I really ought to give that code away. Remind me. It's interesting -- emulates 8080 on 68000. I learned 68000 while doing it.) Anyway, I had had a bad disk buffer problem there. I started checking REAL carefully just where every one of the disk buffers was. Random crashouts, like I had just seen, can result when your program gets overlayed, or stepped on, by data coming in off disk, and I had had that problem on the 8080 emulator, talking to the 68000 portion of the machine. Guess what? Oh, yes, there was a problem! After getting a debugger to load (tenth try or so), I found it out. One disk buffer was pointed at the heart of the disk handler code. Adding all that debugger code had made the rest of the code *JUST FAR ENOUGH* farther down in memory that the runtime code was not clobbered by a disk input to one of the disk buffers. In short, by adding debugger code, I sort of fixed the problem. (The true fix is making enough room for the disk buffer, of course). I had been fooled by the stuff you need to do to write a program that stays in memory after it ends, a "terminate and stay resident". For some reason (which I could detail, but this is getting long), the TOS was not telling everyone to stay the heck out of my program's section of memory. AND DEPENDING ON HOW *LONG* THE NEXT PROGRAM I LOADED WAS, it either did or did not kill off my disk handling code. DB was long; it killed things off. QIndex was short. It did not. The key was 64K. In addition, the Atari GEM Desktop was using SST RAM (TT RAM equivalent; Fast-RAM) as a place to store files in memory while copying. And, you guessed it. If the file to be copied was too long, crash. What really hacks me off is that I should have triple checked that after asking for X amount of memory to be locked away, it really DID lock it away ... and all the time I spent tracing bugs that didn't exist, like with ICD's software. I had just never seen this lock-away thing fail and didn't suspect it. And poor ICD. ICD was getting an "avalanche error", where things get so screwed up at the start of the avalanche that they are hopeless by the time ICD had any part to play. It was NOT THEIR FAULT. The carefully traced-out calls were made, of course, with DB in there, shielding the disk handler by its sheer length from the disk. So. I went and tested Atari's AHDI/HDX 3.02, 4.02, and 5, ICD 5.2.0 and 5.4.2, and Supra's 3.43 hard disk software (can you tell I was seriously not going to tell Sandy again that the hard disks were flaky?) and ALL WORK FINE. Oddly, Atari's 4.02 and 5 DO NOT REQUIRE the disk handler code -- hey, guess why the Beta Testers were flying? The others do. In fact, on Atari's software, someone seems to have done a particularly excellent error-checking job in their code. Ken, tell Min she did good, will ya? Net result is that NOW, I have right here the master "SST Software 1.2" floppy disk and have re-written the manual to reflect all that I learned the really hard way. If you read that portion of it and it seems a little like I was stressed out while writing it, I was. Interesting TOS: But then a funny thing happened on the way to shipping... *Because* we had been delayed in shipping while I researched the hard disk bug, suddenly TOS 2.06 became available. We looked over 2.06 (we were running 2.05, which required considerable "life support" for things like floppy disks talking to SST RAM and other patches) and 2.06 was really cool; someone even bent Allan's arm and he kicked on the IFDEF equate that puts TT fastRAM for floppies into the code. (Thank you, someone; I owe you about a thousand chocolate chip cookies). This was SERIOUSLY COOL. It fixed other bugs, too, but I was twitchy on the floppy code. And the funny thing was because we had been delayed, there was still time to erase and go for TOS 2.06 in the SST. I spent some time Ultraviolet Erasing the EPROMs that hold TOS, and tried to make some new TOS chips. When I stuck them into an SST and turned it on, they spat out, "ROM CRC ERROR ON CHIP E" or something like that, indicating Atari or someone had built in a self-test for the ROM chips (YEAH!!) and it was seeing a problem in the TOS ROMs. Applause for Atari on this one, folks... So I burned another set, and it did the same thing. I "dropped back five and punted" (a phrase any Denver Bronco fan should know!), went to the original chips, and made a VERY CAREFUL copy of them through the EPROMmer, making every paranoid assumption I can think of. Gee, maybe the SCSI card in there for the WORM drive is conflicting. Out. Perhaps it's because it's an 8086 processor instead of an 8088 with effective faster throughput. And to this raving paranoid approach, I added, yes, Neil Young: Live Rust, CD-ROM, auto-repeat. These next EPROMs worked perfectly. Hokay, I said, let's find out what went wrong with those other idiot ROMS. I compare/tested them on the IBM EPROMMER system. Identical. I stuck both sets into the SST, read them in, and did a file compare. Identical. I have NEVER SEEN THIS before and don't know why it happened. It could be I just happened to get two bad sets of EPROMS that used to work perfectly and killed them somehow, just a little bit, enough so they still worked, but not all the way. Except the Atari cannot see the problem, the IBM cannot see the problem ... except if I plug in the bad ones. I don't know what's wrong. Help! (Doug?) All I can think of in my bag of tricks is the EPROMMER went funny the first burn runs, when I wasn't being paranoid, and over-voltaged the EPROMS or something else really weird, so they are slow or aged or crusty. Perhaps there is sorcery involved. Anyway, after reporting to Sandy that I could not reliably burn EPROMS on our machine, and being nearly exiled to the couch where the cat sleeps (it just smells .. great ..), I could now tell her I could make them. Miscellaneous Interesting Times: When you put the new After Dark modules on to the Mac IIfx where the manual is being edited, and your husband (choke) forgets to tell you about the Installer, they cause a VERY HARD TO FIND crash. Yes, the manual tells you to use the Installer. Looks like the System file was getting corrupted -- thing would try to wake up, and say, "Finder has been damaged, you can use System Tools to re-make it." After re-making it a couple times and selectively killing INITs, we narrowed it to After Dark, completely deleted and re-installed it, right this time, and got it working. It's so easy AFTER you know the problem, but there are so many things that could be wrong. For a time it looked like a SCSI termination bug, which is no easy AT ALL on the FX -- even worse than the original Mac Plus, where termination is state of the art Vodun (voodoo). This lost Sandy three days work on the manual when the main Quark X-Press file became corrupted. The manual right now is 2.5 megabytes in length, including all the EPSF diagrams and stuff. Like I tell people, she graduated Computer Sci with a far better GPA than I did, and she had done a good job on backups, so it wasn't a disaster -- just really annoying. It runs to around 120 pages of 8 1/2 x 11. We Tell All. Then, your 3-year old collides with an 80 pound German Shepherd and breaks his nose, as they both round the corner of the stairs. Dog flees in terror when child cries. Off to the doctor. X rays. (Imagine how much fun this is by turning your radio to, oh, Motley Crue howling on Volume=10, and driving around; Jamie is LOUD). Turns out his nose wasn't broken; he wasn't grown enough for the bone to be out there. It was just going to be one of those Kid's Tylenol things for a week or so. (The doctor was sure it was broken, too!). Jamie looks like me; we both have "raccoon eyes", me from lack of sleep, him from That Dog. Cat likes sleeping on the UNIX-PC (AT&T 7300, an older machine) because it is real warm. Cat also likes the FAX machines, but we were getting mad about the number of cat hairs in the outgoing faxes (thin vertical lines -- LOTS), so we "encouraged" her not to sleep on the FAX. Cat apparently took a jump to wake up one morning, and our "out in the open" phone wiring got scrangled; the wiring is only a foot above the 7300 and has some hand-twisted "pairs" where we've had to run new phone wiring for the FAX, etc. One side of the phone wires snagged twists with the ground I keep around for de-static'ing for computers. It spazzed out the phones; they would give around half a ring, then abruptly stop. It took me a few days to find this one; we thought the snow (it has been blizzarding here several times) had, like before, seeped into the underground phone wiring and screwed it up, so we expected the Telco to find it. We expected wrong; the underground portion was fine. If anyone technically into phones (*chuckle* - not THAT way!) wants to tell me the effect of grounding one "side" of the phone line, I would really like to know. It was eerily quiet in here. I know the 48V - 6V DC part; I don't know how it relates (or IF it does) to ground. People tell me they got weird half-rings or busy-outs or That Phone Number Sucks messages. So, after all these interesting times, as of Thursday: The boards have long been done. They are starting to yawn when I walk by. Ever seen a SIMM yawn? "Ship me, Dave, Ship me." Honest, they're talking. It is NOT too much Neil Young. Last night it was the D-RAM controllers arguing with the SIMMS, real distracting. The software is now at 1.2 and is going into duplication. The manual is on final-typo-edit; we laserwrite it, then off to the printers for.. well, printing!, and heaven help them if they reverse the SR71 again! We've tried very hard to make this better than the GCR manual. The current plan, Murphy's Law Willing, is to ship this Monday, January 20, 1992 Sandy and I are both very sorry for the delays in getting the SST out; we sure didn't plan it this way, but it happened. I'm sorry for not keeping more up-to-date online and answering questions, but as you can see, *I didn't have answers* ... until that hard disk bug was found, there was NO shipping, for example. Still, with network systems, people are not used to us dropping offline; I should have checked in with a status report earlier. It's just a hard thing to say, "Well, I still don't know what the heck is wrong." when you're the Shell Answer Man, so to speak. I hope that this detailed report on where we went off the rails and got back on them will help you out. Feel free to re-post it if you know someone that needs the information. This isn't copyrighted and can be freely copied; please don't alter it if you do, ok? (That's why software people hate weekly progress report meetings at companies; it shows how little they've accomplished all too well.) As you might imagine, when I focus this tightly on a problem, I try not to switch gears. System 7 hasn't seen a lot of work other than tracking a get-extended-parameter-RAM into location 0 and above!! call (which is a BIG mistake for the 680x0 processor!); need to look into it. The MegaTalk boards have had their defective PAL's swapped out and are being tested, about 75% of the way through on that. (The serial I/O PAL was bad; we have been seeing some really bad failure rates on these chips.) I didn't do many of the dishes, need to make that up to Sandy. Jennifer didn't do her Mt. Fuji picture (I kid you not) until the night before, up late, and WOW was she grouchy this morning at 6:30 AM; she's doing a report on Japan and needed to draw a landmark. And I grew a beard. Sandy says it isn't scratchy, quote, "anymore". When they actually, definitely are in the mail, we'll post a note. Murphy Never Sleeps, neither does Neil. -- thanks, Dave Small Software Engineer & Bottle Washer Gadgets by Small, Inc. __________________________________________________________ > CHEEKY! STR FOCUS An article about Atari in Business Publishing! ================= A CHANCE TO BE CHEEKY! ====================== Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Atari-ST RoundTable Category 15, Topic 23 Message 1 Sun Jan 12, 1992 D.VICHA at 16:01 EST Jeff Williams asked me to start this topic in the midst of personal uproar in my moonlighting time. Nonetheless, we've put our foot in the door at a mainstream magazine that could help Atari promote the TT and its superb desktop publishing capabilities. Thus, I'll try to explain how it came about that Business Publishing is running a feature article on Atari computers in its January 1992 issue. Business Publishing, I must quickly point out, is the new name for Personal Publishing, a magazine that has been covering DTP for six years and one which has in the past covered Atari computers quite fairly and in good, measured doses. Over the past few years I have made attempts to get somemthing going in this locally based magazine--Carol Stream is a boonie subarb of Chicago. This summer, the new editor of Personal Publishing contacted Bill Rehbock, Director of Technical Services at Atari for information concerning Atari's Professional Systems Group and Direct to Press systems, apparently in response to the recent Corporate Electronic Publishing Show (CEPS). I was in the process of contacting them, having learned of the editorial change, and so a certain synchronicity presented itself: the new editor wanted to have a feature in its January issue on alternative DTP platforms. Amiga, Atari, NeXT, and Unix would be covered as alternatives to Macs and PCs. I was given the task of writing about Atari in 1,000 words or less. Not easy: give a brief history, describe hardware and prominent software, and provide an example of a business (they preferred 100-plus employees) using Atari computers for DTP. A thousand words go pretty quickly. The editor-in-chief originally discussed taking a cheeky, chip-on-the- shoulder approach, but that would have required spending valuable words denigrating a PC system in comparison with an ST system. I could have done that with my experience using networked PCs and Ventura Publisher where I work. I could have used 2,000 words just for that! The Technical Editor, who was in-charge of handling my article, kept me away from "cheeky" and more on the course of the way the article turned out. My problem with the whole thing was it needed cheekiness, it needed length. You can describe all the virtues of any of the systems mentioned, but if you don't take the swipes that Macs and PCs deserve, I don't think you can make DTP managers change direction, even with an economic crunch going on. Nonetheless, Business Publishing is a mainstream magazine, with a 90,000 circulation. Atari users need to respond, both in terms of letters and in terms of subscriptions. Actually, you might check your newsstand to see if its even carrying BP. A Software Etc dealer told me he thought Personal Publishing went out of business! The January 1992 issue has BUSINESS in tall yellow letters, flush right above a short gradient- scaled bar and PUBLISHING in white caps below. It gets a little weird from there, mixing purplish blue, little robot- type figures, and boxes with the respective logos of PC, NeXT, Commodore, Atari, and Unix. The main headline says: "Shoping For Something New?" In smaller letters, it reads: "Check out the Amiga, Atari, Unix, NeXT." The editor-in-chief and tech editor both discussed the possibility of having an Alternative Platforms column, revolving among the four platforms covered. I would hope to be able to handle the Atari coverage in the future, but I haven't been contacted in regard to such an endeavor. If I weren't so occupied with other projects, I would try to get the tech editor over to see my system and ask about whether they're ready to print reviews of Atari software. I hope that's what Jeff wanted. From here, I'll let everyone else comment. I don't need to be stroked. Give Bill Rehbock and Atari the strokes for making good impressions at CEPS and Seybold shows, and for getting the Euro software into the competent hands of people like Flashman, Eidsvoog, and Flannegan-Sellars. If you've got a dramatic story about how you've used Atari DTP to outgun a PC or Mac system, leave it here in detail for all to marvel and for me to use to continue Atari's case in the mainstream. I may yet get a chance to be cheeky! _________________________________________________________ > STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date... ================================ THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ========================= On CompuServe by Judith Hamner 72257,271 As soon as the programming marathon was ended, plans were announced for a new marathon. See the file THON.DOC for news of a 24 hour on-line marathon scheduled for February. Mark your calendars, you don't want to miss this. The entire set of 1991 forum reports has been archived by BJ Gleason. If you just joined or missed some of them check out NEWS91.ZIP. Atari marketing is looking for volunteers. The details are in TGTEAM. Don Thomas has announced a new product from his Artisan Software. FSELEC.ZIP is a file selector program that runs with PowerBasic. Source code is available for Basic programmers. Another file selector offering comes from David Stewart. FILSEL.ZIP contains the code for a bare-bones file selector. FF.BAS is a code example for doing the wildcard filename searches necessary for creating a file selector program. Don Messerli has brought another breakthrough to Portfolio graphics. FLIXRT.ZIP is a program that will let you creat a stand-alone PGX animation. It will no longer require PGfliX to run. Don Thomas has created another animation for us. GE.ZIP will display the GE logo. We had previously described rle.exe by BJ Gleason which would display weather maps. Now we have MAPS.TXT to explain how to download the maps from CompuServe for viewing with the program. ________________________________________________________ > TURBO BBS V2 STR Review "makes everything else.. seem second rate" ======================= TURBO BOARD ST VERSION 2 ======================== by Steven Leser, President of P3ACE SysOp of Laser BBS 719-527-1374 fidonet 1:128/78 I have seen reviews of other BBS systems in AIM magazine and elsewhere, so... I had to make sure I had an opportunity talk about my favorite BBS program, ///Turbo Board ST. Turbo Board is written by Bill Miller. Version 2 of Turbo Board makes everything else out there seem second rate. Like Michtron advertised about its own BBS , Turbo 2 is FULLY user configurable. You can set up your own menus, and affix whatever function to whichever key your heart desires. You can also have Turbo 2 run any external program from any menu. With these options at your disposal, submenus, submenus within submenus etc. are possible. (In fact, I have a Main menu for P3ACE members only, from my setup, with a separate games, and utilities menu underneath that one). These menus are all in addition to the standard main menu, and games menu that other users see. The advantage of Turbo 2 is that there is no cryptic language to have to learn. You can accomplish basically anything using simple batch file commands in conjunction with the configurable menus. Turbo 2 is modular in design. Bill Miller realized that he could not incorporate all of the features that he wanted to provide for us in a standard stand alone system, and still keep memory requirements down enough for a 512K system to be able to run it. His solution was that he created 11 separate system modules. When a user selects the file transfer area, for instance, the BBS exits the standard system module, and loads the files module. This opens up enormous amounts of memory for TSR's, more complicated games, and makes running Turbo with external mailers (i.e. Binkley for FidoNet) much more stable than under any other platform. Amazingly, switching between modules is lighting fast. My users never knew the difference. One of the huge advantages of Turbo 2 is its message SIG system. No longer are you stuck with one message area filled (Often with several pages) of message bases. Now, you can organize your similar message areas into SIGS. For example, my BBS is organized into seven SIGS. 1 - Local message areas (with 8 message areas) 2 - P3ACE message areas (8 local message areas on Atari Computers) 3 - FidoNet computer areas (7 FidoNet network areas on Atari computers anti Virus areas, antipiracy areas, etc...) 4 - FidoNet Domestic issues! (8 message areas on cooking, crafting, and various other domestic type issues...) You can assign access levels to each SIG, and you can still allow different people access to only certain areas under each SIG. This is probably my favorite feature of Turbo. It is more of the roundtable idea. As GEnie and Compuserve have discovered, organizing common message areas in this manner is a VERY much more comfortable operating environment for the user. Batch uploading is another wonderful feature! Users simply hate having to sit by their computers while uploading files one by one. Now, with batch uploading, the user can upload dozens of files at once, and return near the end of the session merely to type in descriptions. Turbo offers Ymodem, Ymodem G, Sealink, and Zmodem batch uploads!!!! Turbo BBS Ver 2 is also fully FoReM compatible, that is to say, that virtually every program, online game, nifty doodad that works with FoReM and Turbo 1 will run on Turbo 2. Turbo creates Forem.dat, and Dorinfo1.def files that most external programs and games look for when they run. Most games are made to be run under these platforms! As the Millers, of Bitblit Software say, Turbo 2 is simply the most advanced, and powerful BBS system available for the ST, period! Turbo Board Version 2's additional Features """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" - Expanded User privileges and Bitmaps for Passwords - KByte/File Ratio System - BBS Handles/Real Name system - Full User File Editor - Masked Sysop commands ( For Co-sysops) - Many NEW Sysop Functions, including new File Editor and Password Editor - Execute files from Main menu commands - Many New Copy and Save Functions for Fmail, and other files - Quick help edit prompt in message editor - NEW Database, you can use archives, and users can easily upload new database entries, entries have access levels - BBS handles line answering instead of modem - NEW Turbo System Generator with expanded features - UPDATE program for Turbo V1 and Forem ST Sysops to convert to V2 - New Version 2 Manual (addendum for Version 1 Turbo Owners) Version 2.1 is now under development and will be a free upgrade for those Sysops running Version 2.0 New features will include: - New Gem BBS Executive Version 3 - Qmail system in Message Base - Integrated Full Screen Editor - Some new Surprises... Bitblit Systems 1580 Liveoak Dr. Mississauga, Ont. Canada L5E 2X6 Pricing: ~~~~~~~~ $89.95 US - USA and International MSRP $69.95 US - Special price for FOREM ST V2 and EXPRESS ST SYSOPS (With proof of ownership - manual cover or valid Fnet node) $29.95 US - Special Update offer for Registered Turbo Version 1 Sysops (Canadian residents may send CDN dollars instead of US) _________________________________________________________________ > CRAZY DOTS! STR InfoFile Crazy Dots video display adapter card ======================== Gribnif Software News Release January 15, 1992 =========================== = = = Crazy Dots = = Video Display Adapter = = = =========================== Gribnif Software has announced the imminent North American release of their new "Crazy Dots" video display adapter for the Atari Mega ST, Mega STE, and TT/030 personal computers. The Crazy Dots video display adapter allows the Atari computer to drive a variety of VGA, Multi-Sync, and other high end color and gray scale displays. The adapter supports resolutions up to 1,664 x 1,200 pixels, and can display up to 256 different colors or gray levels at once. Developed by TKR in Germany, the adapter is the fastest of its kind, offering the ability to switch the display's physical resolution from within any GEM program. Its numerous features include: o Display up to 256 colors or grey levels from a palette of 16.7 million, in any resolution from 320 x 200 up to 1,280 x 800 pixels. o Extended resolution support up to 1,664 x 1,200 pixels in mono, four, eight, and sixteen color modes. o Software uses an exclusive "line-a-emulator", for maximum software compatibility (depending on the selected display mode). o Mouse controlled hardware panning, which allows for the display of any virtual resolution, regardless of the monitor's maximum physical resolution. o Connects to any Multi-Sync displays via a regular 15-pin VGA connector. o Uses Tseng Labs's powerful ET-4000 graphics controller. o Includes one full megabyte of display memory, with full Blitter access. o Complete math co-processor support. o Megabus model includes a bus "pass through" and socket for an optional math co-processor. o Includes a special "Video Application Slot" for future expansions options, including: ECL adaptor, Genlock, and True Color display. Crazy Dots is available in two models. The "Crazy Dots Megabus" model, designed to fit into Atari's original Mega ST2 and Mega ST4 computers, is available for $949. The "Crazy Dots VME" model, designed to fit into Atari's Mega STE and TT/030 computers, is available for $999. To place an order, or for more information, please contact Gribnif Software directly: Gribnif Software P.O. Box 350, Hadley, MA 01035 Tel: (413) 584-7887, Fax: (413) 584-2565 ______________________________________________________________ > Supra Specials! STR InfoFile SUPRA'S NEW 9600 MODEMS ============================ SUPRA'S NEW 9600 MODEMS!!! ========================== Supra will be releasing 2 new 9600 modems - the 9600 Supra FaxModem v.32 and the 14400 Supra FaxModem v.32bis at a retail price of $299.95 and $399.95 respectively. The v.32bis will be available in late January 1992 and the v.32 will be available in February 1992. Supra will offer these two modems at a special price for Sysops. Both modems support 300-2400bps (Bell 103/212A, V.21 / 22A&B / 22bis / 23), v.32 (9600bps), MNP 2-5/10, V42bis, 9600 send/receive fax (v.27ter/29), class 1/2 (fax software-fax modem communication standard), caller ID and voice. (Voice and caller ID can be enabled through low- cost, user-installable firmware upgrades available mid-1992.) The v.32bis model adds v.32bis (14400bps) and v.17 (14400 fax). This is all packaged in Supra's famous small case (1" high x 4.5" wide x 6.5" long). The modems will have 4 lights (RD/SD/OH/TR) and a LED display. The display will show the connection rate, compression protocol, error correction protocol, etc. in a rotating fashion. ->>> HOW CAN SUPRA SELL A 9600 MODEM FOR 1/2-1/3 THE PRICE OF CURRENT MODEMS? This year the price of v.32/v.32bis technology will tumble to new lows. Supra is continuing its proud tradition of being a leader in using new chipsets to lead the modem industry to a new price point. ->>> IF SUPRA IS USING A NEW CHIPSET, HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT THE NEW MODEMS WILL NOT HAVE SOME PROBLEMS WHEN THEY ARE RELEASED? Supra is using a new Rockwell chipset which condenses several of their older chips into 1 chip. Rockwell is the leader in building modem chipsets. A majority of current 9600 modems are based upon the older Rockwell v.32 technology. We do not foresee any problems, but if a problem does occur, Supra is committed to solving it as quickly as possible. Supra also offers a 30 day Money Back Guarantee for products that are purchased directly from Supra. ->>> MY LOCAL USERS USE USR HST MODEMS. WILL I BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE AT 9600 BAUD WITH THEM? The maximum baud rate you will connect at with a HST modem is 2400. Depending on the age of the HST modem, you may also get a v42bis data compression connection. If the user uses the USR Dual Standard modem, and it is setup correctly, you will connect at a baud rate of 9600 (or 14400 if using v.32bis). We expect that most owners of the HST modems will be upgrading to v.32 modems. ->>> I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF SUPRA. HOW RELIABLE ARE THEIR MODEMS? Supra Corporation has been providing personal computer users with high-quality, low-cost peripherals since 1985. In addition to manufacturing a very successful line of modems, Supra makes a variety of peripherals for Mac, IBM, and Amiga computers. Supra has excelled because of its unique combination of quality products, competitive prices, and excellent customer support. Supra has a complete line of modems from a standard 2400 modem to a 2400 v.42bis, a 2400 FaxModem, a 9600 FaxModem and a 14400 FaxModem. We have internal versions of most of these modems for the IBM and Amiga. As with most of our products, every modem that we manufacture is tested and burned in on our test machines. To obtain one of the new modems under this Sysop offer, please complete the following information and send it to: Supra Corporation 7101 SW Supra Dr. Albany, OR 97321 ATTN: Sysop Order or FAX the information to 503-967-2401. If you have any questions, please contact either Supra's Sales Department or the Technical Support Department at: 503-967-2400 (main 8-5pst) 503-967-2401 (Fax) 503-967-2410 (Sales 7-5pst) 800-727-8772 (Sales 7-5pst) 503-967-2440 (Tech Support 9-4pst) 503-967-2444 (BBS, 2 line v32bis) CompuServe 76004,565 GEnie SupraTech Bix SupraCorp American Online SupraCorp2 ============================================================== SYSOP INFORMATION ----------------- BBS Name:________________________ BBS Software:________________ BBS Phone:_______________________ Type of System:______________ No. of Phone Lines:______________ Type of Modem used:__________ No. Calls per Month:_____________ No. of Modems:_______________ How long in operation:___________ ORDER INFORMATION Date______________ BILL TO:_________________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________ City______________ State_____ Zip________ Phone____________ Contact Name:____________________________________________________ Circle one of the following: VISA MASTERCARD COD Card Numbers__________________________ Expiration Date_________ SHIP TO:_________________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________ City______________ State_____ Zip________ Phone____________ Referred by:_____________________________________________________ PRODUCT Model: Price: Quantity: SupraFAXModem V.32 $199.95 (modem only) _____ SupraFAXModem V.32bis $249.95 (modem only) _____ SHIPPING Route: Price: Quantity: ___ Ground $ 5.00/pc _____ ___ Blue Label $ 8.00/pc _____ ___ Express $12.00/pc _____ COMMENTS:_______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Supra Breaks Price Barrier With Powerful SupraFAXModems 14,400 bps Fax and Data (V.32bis) Modem for only $399 ALBANY, OR, January 1992 A wide range of features - fax, data, voice, caller ID, unique status display, small case, and very attractive price - all combine to make the new SupraFAXModem(tm) family of modems from Supra Corporation an intriguing new opportunity for computer users. The SupraFAXModem(tm) V.32bis features 14,400 bps fax and data for $399.95 retail, and the SupraFAXModem V.3atures 9600 bps fax and data for $299.95 retail. On the fax side, both modems feature Class 1 and 2 commands, compatibility with Group 3 fax machines, and the ability to send and receive faxes directly from the computer. On the data side, both modems support communication at speeds ranging from 300 bps to 14,400 bps (9600 bps for the SupraFAXModem V.32), plus they also support CCITT V.42bis, MNP 2-5, and MNP 10 data compression and error correction protocols. When using V.42bis (4:1 compression), the SupraFAXModem V.32bis provides up to 57,600 bps throughput, and the SupraFAXModem V.32, up to 38,400 bps throughput. Both modems also feature a revolutionary status display, which allows for an unlimited number of status messages. In a display that looks similar to a digital clock, the modems presently give the user up to 25 different messages, conveying things like connection rate and type (FX), dialing (DI), ringing (RI), and transmission error (TE). This display is a great advantage compared with most other modems, whose finite number of indicator lights limit how much information they can convey to the user. All of these features are packed into a case about the size of two decks of playing cards placed side by side (1" x 4.5" x 6.5") - a case that is half the size of many other V.32 and V.32bis modems. All that's needed to use an external SupraModem is a computer (or ter- minal) with an RS-232C interface, communications software, and a cable to connect the modem to the computer. Everything else is included: the modem, operator's manual, quick-reference card, power adapter, and telephone cable. Voice & Caller ID SupraFAXModems also support two important features - voice and caller ID - that can be enabled through low-cost, user-installable firmware upgrades available mid-1992. The voice feature allows the modems to send and receive digitized voice and implement several voice functions. The modems can compress and uncompress voice data for efficient storage, generate and recognize touch tones, and sample at various frequencies, depending on the quality level desired. This feature will be useful for interactive applications such as voice mail, answering machines, and digital announcers. Caller ID (where available) allows the number from which an incoming call was dialed to be displayed on the user's screen before the call is answered. This will be useful for secure communications, automatic identification of incoming calls, and interactive voice applications. Innovation & Chip Sets Combine For Killer Pricing At $299.95 and $399.95 retail, respectively, the SupraFAXModem V.32 and SupraFAXModem V.32bis are about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of similar modems. Supra is able to offer these prices because of innovative designs and state-of-the-art chip sets from Rockwell International. "We are very excited about the power we're putting into our customers' hands, and the outstanding quality we are able to deliver at these very affordable prices," said John Wiley, President of Supra Corporation. In addition to the stand-alone modems, packages that include cables and software will be available for IBM PC and Macintosh computers. IBM PC internal models will also be available. About Supra Corporation Supra Corporation, based in Albany, Oregon, has been providing personal computer users with high-quality, low-cost peripherals since 1985. The SupraFAXModems (including the previously announced 9600 bps fax/2400 bps data SupraFAXModem Plus) are the latest additions to the popular SupraModem(tm) family. Since the original SupraModem 2400 was introduced in 1987, SupraModems have been popular among consumers looking for excellent value in a reliable modem, and have been recommended by a variety of sour, from respected PC Magazine and MacUser columnist John C. Dvorak to the Berkeley Macintosh User's Group (BMUG). In addition to manufacturing a complete line of fax and data modems, Supra makes a variety of peripherals for Commodore Amiga computers. SupraFAXModem Packages for Macintosh and IBM PC Compatibles Provide Everything User Needs ALBANY, OR, January 1992 Supra's two newest modems - the SupraFAXModem V.32bis and the SupraFAXModem V.32 - are available as stand-alone units that work with any computer with an RS-232C port, and as packages that include software and cables for Macintosh and IBM PC compatible computers. The packages provide everything the user needs to get started using the modem immediately. The Macintosh packages are compatible with System 7 and include FAXstf(tm) fax software, award-winning MicroPhone(tm) 1.5 telecommunications software, a CompuServe Information Manager kit and software, and online service offers. Also included in the Macintosh packages are a modem cable, phone cable, and manuals. IBM packages are available with internal and external SupraFAXModems for DOS and Windows. Windows packages include Winfax software, online service offers, and all required cables and manuals. (Windows comes with its own telecom software.) DOS packages include FaxTalk Plus software, Mirror telecommunications software, online service offers, and all required cables and manuals. SupraFAXModem Retail Prices SupraFAXModem V.32bis Stand-Alone $399.95 SupraFAXModem V.32 Stand-Alone $299.95 SupraFAXModem V.32bis Macintosh $479.95 SupraFAXModem V.32 Macintosh $379.95 SupraFAXModem V.32bis IBM PC external $449.95 SupraFAXModem V.32bis IBM PC internal $389.95 SupraFAXModem V.32 IBM PC external $349.95 SupraFAXModem V.32 IBM PC internal $289.95 DOS or Windows package Various upgrade offers will let owners of earlier SupraModems upgrade to fax capabilities. Supra also has a sysop program for the stand-alone versions. The Supra Sales Department can provide customers with more information at 1-800-727- 8772 or 503-967-2410. SupraFAXModem Features Feature SupraFAXModem V.32bis SupraFAXModem V.32 Retail Price (Stand-Alone) $399.95 $299.95 Maximum Fax Rate 14,400 bps 9600 bps Class 1 and 2 commands X X Group 3 compatible X X Send and receive fax X X CCITT V.27 ter X X CCITT V.29 X X CCITT V.17 X X Maximum Data Rate (without data compression) 14,400 bps 9600 bps Bell 103/212A X X CCITT V.21/V.22/ V.22bis X X CCITT V.23 X X CCITT V.32 X X CCITT V.32bis X Error correction X X MNP 2-4, MNP 10 X X CCITT V.42 X X Data compression X X MNP 5 (2:1) X X CCITT V.42bis (4:1) X X Max. throughput, MNP 5 28,800 bps 19,200 bps Max. throughput, V.42bis 57,600 bps 38,400 bps Digital status display X X Connection status (digital) 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 120, 144, FX 96, FX Error correction status (digital) LP (V.42bis LAPM), same as V.32bis M2 (MNP 2), M3 (MNP 3), M4 (MNP 4), M5 (MNP 5), M10 (MNP 10) Data compression status (digital) DC same as V.32bis Action status (digital) DI, RI, AA, CD, TE, TM same as V.32bis Single LED status display OH, RD, SD, TR same as V.32bis Case size 1" x 4.5" x 6.5" 1" x 4.5" x 6.5" Upgradable to Voice X X Upgradable to Caller ID X X 5 year limited warranty X X Made in the U.S.A. X X "AT" command compatible X X Asynchronous operation X X Synchronous operation X X Compatible with popular telecommunications software X X Automatic adjustment to optimal protocol and rate X X Autoanswer/autodial (tone or pulse) X X Two modular phone jacks X X Adjustable-volume speaker X X Front panel ON/OFF switch X X Stand-alone version X X Macintosh(tm) package1 X X IBM(tm) PC Windows(tm) pa X X IBM PC DOS(tm) package3 X X 1) Macintosh packages are compatible with System 7 and include FAXstf(tm) fax software, award-winning MicroPhone(tm) 1.5 telecommunications software, CompuSeormation Manager(tm) starter kit and software, online service offers, modem cable, phone cable, and manuals. 2) Windows packages include Winfax(tm) software, online service offers, cables, and manuals. (Windows comes with its own telecom software.) DOS packages include FaxTalk(tm) Plus software, Mirror(tm) telecommunications software, online service offers, cables, and manuals. Supra Modem Upgrade Prices 10/91 This is the retail price of our modems and the cost to upgrade from our older modems to our newer models. You need to contact Supra for a RMA # to return the old modem. Once we receive it, we will ship out the new modem. Or you can order a new modem from us and send the old one back for a credit. Full means that you return the older modem, manuals, and power supply (if it has one). SupraModem 2400 Plus $199.95 Full-OK $ 99.95 Full-Defect $124.95 Just modem-OK $104.95 Just modem-Defect $129.95 SupraModem 2400I Plus $179.95 Full-OK $ 89.95 Full-Defect $114.95 Just modem-OK $94.95 Just modem-Defect $119.95 SupraModem 2400 ZI Plus $199.95 Full-OK $129.95 Full-Defect $154.95 Just modem-OK $134.95 Just modem-Defect $159.95 SupraFaxModem 2400 Mac $249.95 Full-OK $174.95 Full-Defect $199.95 Just modem-OK $179.95 Just modem-Defect $204.95 SupraFaxModem 2400I DOS $169.95 (Avail 11/15/91) Full-OK $109.95 Full-Defect $134.95 Just modem-OK $114.95 Just modem-Defect $139.95 SupraFaxModem 2400I Wind $199.95 (Avail 11/15/91) Full-OK $129.95 Full-Defect $154.95 Just modem-OK $134.95 Just modem-Defect $159.95 SupraModem 9600 $699.95 2400/2400I $475.00 2400 MNP $460.00 2400 Plus $450.00 SupraFaxModem v.32 $349.95 (Avail 1/1/92) 2400/I $259.95 2400MNP $249.95 2400Plus $239.95 9600 $179.95 MacFax $229.95 WindFax $239.95 DosFax $249.95 SupraFaxModem v.32bis $399.95 (Avail 1/1/92) 2400/I $299.95 2400 MNP $289.95 2400 Plus $279.95 9600 $219.95 MacFax $269.95 WindFax $279.95 DosFax $289.95 If you have any questions, please contact Supra via: Supra Corp 7101 SW Supra Drv Albany, OR 97321 503-967-2400 Main 503-967-2401 Fax 503-967-2440 Tech Support (9-4 pst) 503-967-2444 BBS 800-727-8772 Orders Only CIS - 76004,565 GEnie - SupraTech Bix - SupraCorp _____________________________________________________________ > Usergroup Starts STR FOCUS "Getting off on the right foot!" ========================== SO YOU WANT TO START A USER GROUP? ================================== Part V ------ by Tim Holt ACCEPT In the past four articles, we have looked at the pros and cons of getting a user group started, and what it all entails to do so. You, as a club founding member, must realize several things by now: 1. You will spend money on the club from your own pocket. 2. You will spend lots of time getting people to just show up at the meetings. 3. You will run into members that don't agree with you, and won't help you. 4. You will run into members that want to pirate programs at the meeting. 5. You will "burn out" mentally if you do not get help. In this column, we will look at how to solve problems 4 and 5. Hey Buddie, got any new programs??? It will happen. Some of the members of your club will try to use the club meetings as monthly copying parties. These people don't care if it is the latest programs, 10 year old programs, or programs that haven't even been released yet.(Our club once had a member that prided himself on the number of programs he had that were still in the beta test version stage. This guy had every thing.He had a software version of the Spectre GCR! I don't know how he did it, but it worked somehow...) And don't just assume it's the kids that act this way. Our "would-be pirate" was about 55 years old!) There is only one way to deal with pirating in your club: Sternly. From the very outset, your club should have some type of anti-pirate statement, either in the bylaws, in the newsletter, something. Every member should be made aware that at the time of getting a membership, pirating activities will not be allowed. Plain and simple: The board, the president, or some club officer, will have the authority to dismiss a member for pirating activities during club activities. The member shall forfeit any and all membership fees, and, will be dismissed from the club forever. I know it sounds harsh, but face the music folks, pirating killed many a company's interest in the Atari. Just ask the folks at Spectrum Holobyte. Your club is a forum to support the ST/TT, not a place to do it more harm. Please note however, that your authority is limited to the club only. What members do outside the club meetings, however unfortunate, is their business. Billy Bob may be the worlds biggest owner of non-purchased software, but if he keeps his nose clean during the meetings, then you cannot, and should not, take any actions against him. Also, be on the guard for rumors. Seeing is believing, and that's the only way it should be. There will be times when someone will offer you a program. Politely state that as an officer of the club, you cannot possibly copy software. Set the example for the rest of the club. It may not impress everyone, but that kid in the back might remember it, and that makes your example worth it. H E L P ! There will be times when you simply need help in the club. Here are a few hints and tips to keep things moving smoothly... 1. Remember that the ST/TT line of computers can emulate the Macintosh and MS DOS worlds very easily. Therefore, any demo that has been placed out for the IBM and Mac world is fair game. Believe me, almost any Macintosh program released has a demo that the company released for it. All are disabled somehow, but all can be used for your next club's meeting. Okay smarty, where do you get these demo's? Simple. If your town has a Mac club, they have MAC PD software, and demos. Ditto for the Ms Dos world (No pun intended.) 2. European magazines always have demo disks with them. ST Format, ST User, etc, always come with a disk full of demos. Lot's of games. You can get these magazines from your local dealer or through the mail order places. Also, the magazines themselves make nice reading for members. 3. Atari User magazine is one of the best buys a user group can make. Why? Because it's FREE! That's right, FREE. All your group has to do is pay for the shipping. Atari USER is very up to date, and very nicely laid out. A great magazine at a great price. AtariUser Quill Publishing Co. 113 W. College St. Covina, Ca. 91723-2008 4. Make a magazine such as AIM, your newsletter. You save tons of time, and the product is probably a zillion times more professional looking than you could do. Of course, you lose some of the intimacy associated with a locally produced mag, but the members in our club howl like coyotes when they don't get the monthly AIM. ATARI INTERFACE MAGAZINE 3487 Breaburn Circle Ann Arbor, MI. 48108 5. Remember to go for the unusual speaker: Have a policeman give a demo on home security, have a computer scientist give a speech on the history of the computer, have a local computer store owner demo his wares, even if he doesn't sell Atari.(he may change his mind after seeing 50 computer users sitting there with checkbooks in their hands...) Get a musician to give a concert at your meeting, or have an artist come in and try some art programs with the computer. 6. Use Atari. Atari has this guy named Bob Brodie (Saint Robert to his friends.), that can answer all types of questions, may be able to point you in the right direction, or will darn near kill himself trying to find out something for you. Drop him a line at Atari, or leave him a message on GEnie. Really, for all their faults, Atari does sometimes, every once in while, send out warm fuzzies to user groups. Who knows, it may be your turn to get a fuzzy.. By getting help, you will feel a lot better about the club, and you will avoid getting burned out by doing all the work yourself. Well, I hope that this series of articles has helped you set up a user group in your town. Drop me line sometime, and let me know how your club is getting along. I would like to know any unusual ideas that your club has used successfully in the past for a future article. My address is: Tim Holt 10953 Yogi Berra El Paso, Texas 79934-3283 ___________________________________________________________________ > ZEPHYR/ST PLUS STR Spotlight "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY" ============================ ZePHYR/ST PLUS - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY ============================================ By Staff Editor: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. In our STR750 issue, we printed some posts from the ST Round Table on Genie concerning complaints about Zephyr/ST Plus. As always, there are two sides to a story. The following is Bill Yerger's (Zepher/Microworld) response... ------------------------------- Atari-ST RoundTable Category 18, Topic 3 Message 67 Sun Jan 12, 1992 W.YERGER at 01:52 EST A few days ago someone notified me of this topic. They read it in ST Report. Thanks, Ralph, otherwise I might not have known. Zephyr/Microworld has been an Atari dealer since 1985. We have been told that we were the largest retail reseller of Atari computers for various long terms by Atari sales staff. We have thousands of satisfied Atari customers, many of whom would not have bought Atari if not for our enthusiastic support. We are currently in litigation with Atari over several matters including lack of support for dealers and users by Atari. The shortage of TT's in 1991 was not limited to Zephyr and all persons who did not want to wait beyond thirty days either got their money back or a TT. Although we do not buy TT's directly from Atari, this merely adds a few days to the process of a purchase. David Beckmeyer was hired by my company in 1989 to produce point of sale software which would track all credit card purchases successfully. He failed to do so and then failed to show up with the promised upgrade. Less than one in five hundred ever gets mischarged but human error does happen. When it does refunds are made. The point is, my company and myself are well known as Atari supporters and Atari critics. While it seems I may have critics also, I know that I have supporters. However, when you work seven days a week, 10 hours a day for going on seven years, primarily selling Atari's and losing ground to clones and Macs, one tends to get irritable on occasion. I hope that my good points outweigh bad ones because I like people and I like Atari computers. I would also like to make a good living selling Atari. I think we have treated most people honestly and well, and most people who come, leave feeling glad they have an Atari because at Microworld the Atari ST/TT is king, and it is used more than any other. But Atari sales are declining. Do we need to turn to backbiting while we witness that decline? I hope not. I think rather we should try to stick together. In the interest of that, I will try to correct any criticism. Microworld has grown from one desk, a half dozen 520's in 700 square feet to two stores totalling 4300 square feet and a very large selec- tion of ST software. Everyone of our technicians and salespeople has an ST in their home. If you wish to see if Microworld is an honorable establishment, I in- vite you to come to one of our two locations, either 2434 Dwight Way at Telegraph or 1514 University Ave., and judge for yourselve whether we deserve your support. I do know that when an earnest ST user comes in he or she has their loyalty and intelligence more honored than in any other place that I know of. Some come in every few days, some less frequently. Most are helped and all get a twenty per cent discount. We are staunch anti- pirates and suffer shoplifting of valuable products such as four Notator keys, one DynaCadd key, and three Spectres. I am honorred to have been Published in Current Notes and hope that these writings have been informative. I also apologise for any inaccuracies of myself or any others. I do believe that Current Notes is the best written and most informative Atari magazine in America. Once again, Zephyr/ Microworld has many supporters. We will also take seriously any criticism just as we have taken accolades from users, user groups, and even at times from Sam Tramiel, and endeavor to be an honest imaginative and fun dealership. Of course that has always been best when Atari money was flowing. As for software coming into America, F Card represents hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to try to bring quality ST software to America. Is this irresponsible? ...... Zephyr will will investigate and attempt to satisfy all complaints. If anyone wants to speak with me directly with any criticism or compliment I am available 10-6 seven days (510) 845-2000 or on the Microworld Bulletin Board, since 1986, (510)845-1789. Thank you for your help and I will read any comments in this topic now that I am aware of it. Bill Yerger/STMAN ____________________________________________________________ > STReport's Editorial Page "Saying it like it is." From the Editor's Desk ---------------------- This week's issue is BIG because, for a change, there's a great deal going on to 'perk up' the Atari Userbase. ISD is getting close to the "magic time" with Calamus SL. The Namm Show is on for this weekend. In fact, it starts today in Anaheim Ca.. The announcement detailing the offering of the Dev kit is encouraging in as much as there will now be new developers on the Atari Platform with more to offer the users and especially, the potential new users. The time is now at hand, for all Atari users who care, to join together and urge Atari to make the big push. We have asked, cajoled, begged and petitioned Atari to advertise. To 'sing the song' to the US marketplace. It has always, seemingly, fallen on deaf ears. The time to do it is now, the machines are cost effective and easy to learn to use. The other platforms are dropping prices and the OS used on those platforms is either difficult to learn or from the time of kerosene lamps. Atari pursuing the US market now in a tight but moving economy makes good sense. The products all of them have the charm, the eye appeal and with a userbase having the chutzpa it does, Atari has a very good shot at the "winner takes all" button! No question or objection will go unanswered. Will the "call" go unanswered? I sure hope not. The entire US home computer market is a real (not imaginary) computer hungry, sleeping giant. The companies on the other platforms are now beginning to realize this fact. All one need do is take note of their marketing targets. This is a golden opportunity for Atari, as it always has been. Please Atari... take advantage of it. The future of Atari series will resume next week with a look at the apparent goals Atari has had and appears to have at this time. I'd like to take a moment to thank the user who sent us a note mentioning the fact he was on the Well and someone "even is posting STReport up to USENET for worldwide distribution. Now, that's an audience..." Thanks a bunch for that info! Thank you for all your wonderful support!! Ralph............ """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > STR Mail Call "...a place for folks to be heard" ============= STReport's MailBag ================== From GEnie's ST RT User uneasy over Pratt's departure... Category 18, Topic 20 Message 141 Sat Jan 11, 1992 S.JOHNSON10 [Steve] at 00:38 EST After hearing that Greg Pratt has now ALSO left Atari and thinking about the STE/TT being the mainstay for Atari for the next 2-3 years, I am finally seriously considering, after 12 years as an Atarian (6 as an ST'er!), selling off my entire STE system and getting an IBM compatible (at least a 20MHz '386 w/ SVGA). I'd like to stay with the Motorola processors, but I can't stomach the thought of buying an Amiga and can't afford the color Mac's at present. I've already gone over 4 years without ANY local support and a low level of national support for the ST which gets lower and lower every day. It's FINALLY gotten to the point where I just cannot fight for the support any longer. If and when the new Atari machines DO come out, I may consider buying one if they have the right features and the right price. Otherwise, I think I'll buy a Mac further down the road! All of you who are staying with your Atari, you have my utmost respect as you certainly have MUCH more patience than I (and I think waiting patiently for Atari for over 5 years has been quite a lot!). I will still certainly stand up for Atari computers and continue to defend them when IBM'ers/etc. laugh at them. However, I can NO LONGER truthfully recommend that anyone buy an Atari as any kind of "general purpose" computer. As a specialized computer (MIDI and maybe DTP), I may still recommend it, though. If I DO leave, I DO promise to drop by this RT BB and harrass all of you every now and then! ------------ From GEnie ST RT Atari Online Rep calms user's fears..... Category 18, Topic 20 Message 142 Sat Jan 11, 1992 TOWNS [John@Atari] at 03:00 EST I can assure you that Greg Pratt's depature will not have a negative effect on the marketing and sales here in the United States. Bill Rehbock Art Morgan, and James Grunke handle the marketing and have been since Greg took over the US Corp. Sales is still being handled by Mike Groh and the rest of the sales group. We are still continuing our plans for a vastly improved 1992 and Greg's departure will not have any negative effect on those plans. As for your comments about the STE and TT being the mainstay for the Atari line for the next 2-3 years.. well, I can say with some amount of certainty that Atari is working on some really neat things that you will see long before the end of the 2-3 year period you mentioned. Another point: Have you ever really _used_ a DOS machine? If you have, then you would probably think twice or maybe three times before purchasing one of them. They are horrible. They have have a large software base to draw from, but if they are hard to use and make your life harder, what is the point? -- john ------------ From GEnie ST RT Good advice from S. Winick of Computer Studio Category 18, Topic 20 Message 143 Sat Jan 11, 1992 S.WINICK at 08:26 EST Steve (Johnson): Spend a little time on one of those MesSyDOS machines before making such a committment. Play with "Windows" a little -- gosh, didn't my old 8-bit Atari scroll text faster than that 386/25 with Windows? How may of those 'great' DOS utility programs will you have to buy and install just to give you a useable level of utility to that cludge of an operating system? Lets see...... Windows looks really neat onscreen but is a kludge and quirky as hell. Norton makes some really good patches. Perhaps Deskview might be better. Well...... all those levels of subdirectories we're used to using on our Atari's that keep the directory structure so simple..... why do they seem so complex and unwieldy on that 'clone'? Lets, see..... how 'bout adding a couple more SIMMs.... hmmmmmm, which jumpers do I have to change on the mother board just so the stupid thing knows they're there? And where the heck did I put those instructions on how to modify the CONFIG.SYS file to tell DOS they're there? Gosh, it was so easy on the ST. Hmmmmm, that external modem worked just fine on my ST. Oh, yes, I have to go back and reconfigure the system to tell it something's connected to COMM port 1 --- or is it 2? How 'bout looking at a directory of a program. Gosh, it's so simple and short on the Atari ..... just the main program, perhaps an INF file or two to store our defaults, and a few supplemental files for the rest. Ever wonder why the DOS versions of even the simplest of programs require a directory full of independent files? Ever watch how busy the hard drive gets on those DOS machines whenever you do ANYTHING? Hmmmmmmm..... seems like they're really running at disk access speed more than that 33MHz the processor is rated at, aren't they? The bottom line is that any computer is merely a tool to accomplishing a task. Select the best tool for the task at hand. If you have a task that requires a software package that's only available in an MS-DOS version, then by all means that SHOULD be you computer of choice. Or if you want a great 'game machine' with VGA graphics, stereo sound (you'll need to add a SoundBlaster or equivalent and a set of powered stereo speakers, of course) and a good selection of game software, then a clone may also be a good choice. But better plan on a real large hard drive --- the current crop of games and simulations in DOS versions frequently require between 6-9 megs of hard drive space, EACH! And while the clone market offers a huge selection of software, I'm sure that you'll quickly discover that perhaps 90% of it is going to be 'trash' when compared to what you're used to on the Atari platform. And.... better be prepared to spend around $50-150 for each of those really neat utilities and accessories that you're so used to seeing as PD or shareware on the ST platform. On the other hand, if you're looking for a great all-around computer that offers real ease of use, and excellent selection of well-written software, look no further than that 1040STe sitting peacefully on your desk. Your concerns about the shortage of local dealerships and support are quite valid. Those problems are being addressed, and the situation will hopefully improve as time goes on. But in the meantime, there are several excellent dealers right here on GEnie that are more than willing to assist you in whatever your needs or desires require. And Atari's online representatives are ready to provide you with accurate information regarding what's really going on. Don't let Mr. Pratt's leaving affect your decision. Personnel changes are not all that uncommon in any business. People move around between companies all the time. We're all going to miss Mr. Pratt, and wish him our best in his new position. But I'm certain that Atari's FUJI will not crumble merely because of his departure. Under his reign, we saw many personnel changes, including the coming onboard of many of the Atari folks who are so active right here in this category providing direct sources of communication between ourselves and Atari. I realize that it's hard to not get disillusioned when you're faced with such overwhelming sheer numbers of MS-DOS machines and users, but an occassional visit to an Atari user group, regional dealership or AtariFest once in a while for a dose of Atari-pickup will do wonders for morale. Sheldon Winick (IADA/Computer STudio - Asheville, NC) ------------ From GEnie's ST RT About TOS 2.06 & 1.44mb Drives... From CIS RE: UNIX & Atari #: 55374 S10/New Products 16-Jan-92 00:59:38 Sb: #55275-Mice for the ST Fm: Greg Wageman 74016,352 To: bob wilson 72355,1637 Exactly! Someday, Unix may be come the home-computer operating system of choice, but if it does, Atari Corp. is not going to be the driving force for it. If I were shopping for a Unix box, Atari/IBM/Apple/Commodore would be the *last* systems I'd look at, because their Unix solutions (if any) are second-rate at best. I'd look at the vendors who have been providing Unix solutions all along: Sun, Apollo, Silicon Graphics, etc. I prefer Sun because I work with them and know them, but any of the others will be similar. The small-computer Unix offerings tend to be crippled in some way or make compromises that are limiting. I see the TT as a way to extend my ST investment into a later generation of computing hardware, with the possibility of moving to Unix if it proves practical, but I'm not counting on it. By the time I outgrow the TT, Suns may be affordable... or something entirely new may be available, like Crays-on-a-chip. One can only hope.... -Greg From the FNET Conf : STReport Online Msg# : 18094/18094 Lines: Extended Read: 3 Sent : Jan 17, 1992 at 10:14 AM To : Mr. B From : -=[the Geek]=- Subj : ATARI COMPANY Well, Atari insists that there are over 4000 programs availale for the STe/Mega STe/TT030 computer line in their literature. Unfortunately, they are also touting the availability of Microsoft Write (which is still at version 1.0) and DeskSet (Leonard Tramiel's software project which works only with the Atari laser printer, I believe). They also do not state that of the 4000 programs available, a _HUGE_ chunk haven't been upgraded since late 89/early 90 (and even that time limit is being gracious!). I had read a book about marketing high-tech products, and the author gave Atari a thumbs off for blowing fluff... The book is called "How to Market High-Tech Products". Interesting... NOTE ==== This message was copied over from the 16/32 base... Its topic and strength is that its an almost identical string thats now appearing on the major services. It would be a great idea to pursue this string. Perhaps the whigs at Atari will get the message. Mark Williams C, remember that program? Well, WE DO... it seems that STReport carried an item about 18 months ago about them dropping (quietly) ST support for a number of reasons including the Atari market. Well, a certain individual at Atari went "ballistic" over the matter and demanded a retraction. We didn't. So a parallel story was pumped out saying the story came from a software tech at MWC who was recently fired and therefore, the story was sour grapes. Now, the facts are clear by the performance of MWC. Folks here it is 18 months later, MWC has yet to do a thing for the ST platform. Shall we now begin a constructive thread in this base about the software available on the Atari platform and its lack of updates and support? Wouldn't it be wonderful if the software we are using was able to take full advantage of our new 1st. class hardware? How sweet it would be indeed, if the software companies like Word Perfect etc., aggressively updated and upgraded their software on the ST platform as they do on the MAC and IBM platform. What programs do you use and how is the support for them. Also, what programs do you wish would be updated and suported on the ST platform? Let's her from you... maybe just maybe... Atari will listen and DO some- thing constructive instead of another dumb vendetta. Ralph @ STReport Friday, January 17, 1992 - 10:24:36 am """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors! ---------------- Publisher - Editor ------------------ Ralph F. Mariano PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION ----------- -------------- ------------ Robert Retelle Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON STReport Staff Editors: ----------------------- Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Judith Hamner John Szczepanik Dan Stidham Joseph Mirando Doyle C. Helms Contributing Correspondents: ---------------------------- Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Tim Holt Andrew Learner Norman Boucher Ben Hamilton Neil Bradley Eric Jerue Ron Deal Robert Dean Ed Westhusing James Nolan John Deegan Vernon W. Smith IMPORTANT NOTICE ================ Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Compuserve.................... 70007,4454 GEnie......................... ST.REPORT Delphi........................ RMARIANO BIX........................... RMARIANO FIDONET....................... 112/35 FNET.......................... NODE 350 NEST.......................... 90:19/350.0 ____________________________________________________________ > STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Reporting ABOUT Atari...not FOR Atari!" ===================== * "Rumors - Tidbits - Predictions - Observations - Hot Tips" * ======================================================== It would appear there are those at Atari who feel the contacts are eliminated. That's good. Now the folks still there can relax. One was telling us about the changes in marketing strategies in Europe. Also of the changes in the South Pacific. All termed as .."conservation of resources". Which, by the way, is ok within reason. The same birdie mentioned about there being less than 20 full service Atari dealers nationwide. But at the same time it was emphasized that the numbers of un-registered dealers is growing rapidly through distribution sales. The bundles are being heavily discounted.. but at least they are getting out there into the hands and homes of new users. Our contact also told us of big doings in the R&D areas. "They do things in a big way in the _Lone Star State_!" "The Zigster!" ____________________________________________________ > A "Quotable Quote" "Words of Infinite Wisdom" ================== "EVEN BEES, THE LITTLE ALMS-MEN OF SPRING BOWERS, KNOW THE RICHEST NECTAR IS FOUND IN DANGEROUS FLOWERS!" ....... A wise, old marketing guru __________________________________________________________ > ABCO SPECIALS! STR InfoFile * NEW 1992 Prices! MORE Products! * =========================== ** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! ** NOTICE: ABCO will beat or match * ANY * Invoiced price. We will NOT be undersold! ABCO COMPUTER CONSULTANTS P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672 Est. 1985 _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT _________________________________________ HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET _________________________________________ All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s). *-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-* (you are NOT limited to two drives) (all cables and connectors installed) - Available for all Platforms - * ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS * * ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED * * SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS * -- QUANTUM: THE "ROLLS ROYCE" OF HARD DRIVES -- WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE!!! >UPS!< (Cont. USA) Deluxe 2 bay Cabinet w/65w auto-switching PS TIME PROVEN to be the most reliable! Model Description Autopark Price ================================================== SGN4951 51Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 439.00 SGN6277 65Mb 28ms 5.25" Y 469.00 SGN1096 85Mb 28ms 5.25" Y 549.00 SQN2055 105mb 12ms 3.5" Y 599.95 SQN1296 210Mb 12ms 3.5" Y 879.00 ================================================== FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES DEDUCT $60.00 ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250+w PS EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAIALABLE Call for Info! PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only! FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES DEDUCT $60.00 ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250+w PS EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAIALABLE Call for Info! PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only! CPU ACCELERATOR & MEMORY UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED >> ABCO proudly offers the fabulous 1040 & MEGA STe Computers << Call for ABCO's Introductory prices! ATARI COMPUTERS * STILL THE BEST VALUE! If you don't see what you want listed here, call us. Odds are, we either have it or, can get it for you! * GUARANTEED * AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE! ** 800-562-4037 ** "We service what we sell" ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ****** * SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCOFILE "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE * - SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A - ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable - Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply (1) 44 MB Syquest Cart. --->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<--- **** SCSI UNITS -> ONLY $549.00 **** WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE! >UPS!< (Cont. USA) COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN! Cart and Utility Software Included! EXTRA CARTS: $ 74.50 DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 349.95 ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ****** * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT * SPECIALLY PRICED ** $995.95.00 ** Includes: * TWO * cartridges! * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS * - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives - ** 50mb SQG51S $789.00 105mb SQG105S $989.00 ** LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE ** ANNOUNCING THE NEW! -> ABCO CD-ROM! ** :Special Introductory offer: ABCO CD-ROM $389.95 (limited time only) Listed above are a sampling of the systems available. Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited) * IBM - MSDOS - AMIGA - ATARI - APPLE - MACINTOSH * ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations) *>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<* - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets - Atari SLM 804, SLM 804PCV Laser Toner Kits Memorex 2108, 5287 Oasys Laserpro 5287, 5308, Express 830, Express Series II Silver Express, Gold Express ** $41.95 shipping Included ** Atari SLM 605 Laser Toner Kits AT&T 593, CAF Laser, DSI Laser, DTP Systems, Epson EPL-6000 Facit P6060, Fontx Syslaser, Harris3M 2006, M-Tally MT905 Microtek Turbo PS, OAS Laserpro Executive, Packard Bell 9500 TEC LB 1305, Toshiba PageLaser 6 ** $41.95 shipping included ** (TWO Toner Carts Incl.) Panasonic Laser Toner Kits Panasonic KX -P 400 series, Panafax UF-750 Facimile ** $41.95 shipping included ** -- ALL TONER KITS * IN STOCK * -- * Toner Starter Kits-$62.95 * * Replacement (804) Drums-$186.95 * ABCO's Replacement Toner Advantages =================================== >> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED << ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED -* 12 month FULL Guarantee *- (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE) WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE! >UPS!< (Cont. USA) QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE! _________________________________________ DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED! please, call for details Personal and Company Checks are accepted. ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY! CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319 Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service 9am - 8pm EDT Tues thru Sat ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION! CALL or WRITE for a copy of your ABCO catalog today! ABCO COMPUTER CONSULTANTS ========================= P.O. BOX 6672 Jacksonville, Florida, 32205-6672 904-783-3319 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport International Online Magazine Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" January 17, 1992 16/32bit Magazine copyright 1987-92 No.8.03 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff, PCReport, STReport, AMReport, MCReport. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. The entire contents, at the time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors, contributors and/or staff are not responsible for the use/misuse of infor- mation contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""