*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
                  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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                                   from
                              STR Publishing 
                              """"""""""""""


 March 20, 1992                                                     No.8.12
 ==========================================================================

                  STReport International Online Magazine
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                               32205 ~ 6672
  
                               R.F. Mariano
                            Publisher - Editor
                 -----------------------------------------
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 > 03/20/92: STReport  #8.12  "The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!"
   -------------------------
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     - AIM HITS BIG TIME!     - POWERPOINT OPEN!  - PORTFOLIO NEWS
     - PHASE 4 REVIEW         - ARCHIVERS!        - PAPYRUS ANNOUNCED!
     - EASE ANNOUNCED!        - MAG!X ANNOUNCED!  - STR MAIL CALL
                       -* POURNELLE & SUDDEN VIEW *-
               -*** EXCLUSIVE!! CeBIT EYEWITNESS REPORT!***-
                         -* POWERNET ANNOUNCED! *-
                          -* MULTI-TOS & MINT *-

 ==========================================================================
                  ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
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     Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
             Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports
 ==========================================================================
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                 WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (March 20)

                        ISD MARKETING ANNOUNCES...

 ISD Marketing announces the  details of  the TINYTURBO030  board from FAST
 TECHNOLOGY.    See  messages 24879-24882  in sec.  17 of the Atari Vendors
 Forum (GO ATARIVEN).

              MACDONALD ASSOCIATES JOINS ATARI VENDORS FORUM!

 Please join us in welcoming  MacDonald  Associates  to  the  Atari Vendors
 Forum!   MacDonald Associates  publishes ST INFORMER Magazine, and are the
 publishers of UNIVERSAL ITEM SELECTOR and UNIVERSAL NETWORK.

 Message Section 5 and Library  5  have  been  established  for  their use.
 Please feel  free to  send them  a message  at User  ID number 75300,2514.
 MacDonald Associates has also uploaded a  patch to  update version  3.3 of
 their  Universal  Item  Selector  to  version  3.32.   Get UIS332.ARC from
 Library 5, MacDonald Assoc.

                      PATCH FROM GRIBNIF FOR STTALKER

 Download file STKR01.LZH from Gribnif's Library in the Atari Vendors Forum
 (GO ATARIVEN) for a patch to upgrade STalker version 3.00 to version 3.01.

                          NEW IN PORTFOLIO FORUM

 Thanks  to  Phil  Payzant,  we  now  have the public domain version of the
 Original Adventure (Colossal Cave) available for downloading in Library 4.

                  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 #12


    Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
  

  -- Amiga 600 Introduced in Brussels
  
 The A600, a new addition to the Amiga line of personal computers, has 
 been unveiled by Commodore Belgium. The A600 has a redesigned keyboard 
 with the keypad omitted, a motherboard that has been reduced in size and 
 is only 35cms wide and 24cms deep but still contains enough room for a 
 2.5 inch hard drive to be mounted internally.



  -- Sanyo Makes Super Transistor
  
 Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has developed what it calls the world's first 
 superconducting transistor.  Sanyo officials say the transistor has a 
 theoretical speed 10 times that of existing semiconductor transistors 
 and that it consumes a hundredth as much electricity, giving it poten-
 tial for use in the next generation of supercomputers. However, accor-
 ding to company officials, it will be five years before samples appear, 
 with products not expected on the market until the next century.
   
  

  -- Production of Windows 3.1 Begins
  
 According to Microsoft officials, Windows 3.1 production is underway and 
 its debut is planned for April 6th. Microsoft plans to ship at least one 
 million copies on April 6th, and Bill Gates, chairman of the company, is 
 predicting Windows 3.1 will be sold out in 30 days.
  
 Right on Windows tail is OS/2 from IBM Corp.  It is expected that IBM 
 will soon announce its latest version of OS/2, a product that IBM hopes 
 will succeed MS-DOS as the world's most popular operating system.
  
 Both Windows 3.1 and OS/2 2.0 offer a graphical user interface, and 
 IBM's OS/2 will operate many Windows-based programs faster and easier 
 than Windows 3.0
  
  

  -- Electronics Jobs down 3.6%
  
 The American Electronics Association says domestic jobs in that industry 
 were down 3.6% in December on a year-to-year basis, with 90,000 jobs 
 disappearing. The group says that since August 1989, the industry has 
 lost 210,000 jobs.
  
  

  -- Mac Software Yields Clues to Brain Functioning
  
 Researchers in neurobiology are applauding new software technology under 
 development at The Imaging and Computer Vision Center (ICVC) at Drexel 
 University in Philadelphia.
  
 Using a Macintosh computer, ICVC has developed computerized techniques 
 to map neurotransmitters and receptors in the brain. Until recently, 
 research was restricted to labs at Drexel but now the ICVC is making 
 specialized research software available to anyone with a Macintosh 
 computer.
  
 "Use of our [technology] for study of receptors is very important in the 
 development of drugs that affect the brain," says Dr. Oleh Tretiak, 
 ICVC's principal investigator.
  
 Using ICVC's software, investigators are mapping cocaine receptors in 
 the brain with an eye toward negating the drug's effect. Other 
 researchers are studying potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease, 
 ischemia and epilepsy.
  
  

  -- Getting Tough on Virus Authors
  
 J.J. Buck BloomBecker, the director of the National Center for Computer 
 Crime, called for the adoption of a new nationwide set of legal guide-
 lines concerning computer crime. BloomBecker, speaking at the 5th annual 
 Computer Virus & Security Conference, proposed 5 points:
  
 1. The creation of a $200 crime law deductible. Damages incurred below 
    that figure would not be the subject of criminal action.

 2. The creation of a civil course of action for inadequate computer 
    security

 3. The making of reckless computing a felony. "Reckless computing" is 
    classified as anything which could potentially cause damage.

 4. The making a careless computing a misdemeanor.

 5. The enactment of greater protection against unreasonable search and 
    seizure.

 Bloombecker's recommendations and supporting statements were the subject 
 of much conversation at his conference session. Donald Delaney, New York 
 State Police Senior Investigator, decried the setting of a deductible 
 for computer crime, pointing out that in the struggle against cellular 
 phone call-selling operations, it is often an arrest for a single call 
 under $200 that shuts down an on-going multi-thousand dollar fraud 
 operation.
  

  
  -- New Anti-Virus Protection
  
 Lance J. Hoffman, professor of electrical engineering and computer 
 science and Paul C. Clark, doctoral candidate, both from The George 
 Washington University, have announced the filing of a patent application 
 for a Smart Card-based anti-virus device.

 In a paper issued by Hoffman and Clark, the device is described as in-
 volving the attachment of a Smart Card reader to a personal computer and 
 the installation of a special boot PROM (programmable read only memory) 
 in the host computer. The paper, "Using Smart Cards To Guarantee Boot 
 Integrity and Enforce Access Control" (GWU- IIST-92-11), depicts the 
 boot process: " The boot PROM is hardware-configurable to set an 
 identifier for the host. During system start-up, the boot program 
 authenticates the user to the Smart Card. If successful, the PC is 
 allowed to read the boot sector and other information from the Smart 
 Card memory, thus effecting system start-up."

 Hoffman said, "The Smart Card-based system allows users to always get a 
 clean 'boot.' It, therefore, defeats all forms of boot sector viruses 
 and insures that the booting process may be carried out with 
 confidence."

 Hoffman added, "We have distributed the paper to a fairly wide audience 
 and have received very positive remarks concerning our approach."



  -- Cracker Ordered to Undergo Mental Health Treatments
  
 A Lakewood, Colo., computerist who admitted invading space agency 
 computers has been ordered to undergo mental health treatment and told 
 not to use computers without permission from a probation officer.

 Richard Wittman, 24-years old, was sentenced to three years probation by 
 US District Judge Sherman Finesilver. Wittman pleaded guilty last autumn 
 to one count of breaking into a NASA computer.

 Agents with NASA and the FBI tracked him down in 1990 and prosecutors 
 said Wittman had spent four years trying to get into computer systems, 
 including those of banks.

 Wittman, in a plea bargain agreement, admitted gaining access to NASA's 
 computers "by exploiting a malfunction...in a public access NASA 
 computer bulletin board service."

 Judge Finesilver ordered Wittman not to use computers without permission 
 from a probation officer and to undergo mental health counselling.




  ***********************************************************************


                    :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. An Important Message to MasterCard Users In Canada...........
  2. Premiering ViewPort, New Amiga Newsletter at The.............STARSHIP
  3. Hot games - Big fun - Huge value - comings and goings........SOFTCLUB
  4. Sun enters sign ARIES, life achievements emphasized in the...STARS
  5. ASK Leonard Tramiel the LATEST on ATARI and the PORTFOLIO....ST
  6. FREE Software & FREE Shipping NOW at.........................OMNI
  7. Weekly New Players Night Begins in...........................ORBWARS
  8. Ultima Underworlds PLAYABLE DEMO.............................SCORPIA
  9. Meet BOOK COVER ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR Lynn Sweat in.........WRITERS
 10. Take CONTROL of your HOUSE - Learn how in RTC 3/22 in........RADIO
 11. We interrupt to bring you an important message...............BORLAND
 12. Heraldry; The Truth About Those Coats-of-Arms................GENEALOGY
 13. GeoWorks Users: Dozens of PD fonts - yours for the taking....GEOWORKS
 14. Get Answers to Income Tax Questions..........................*HOSB
 15. Shuttle Atlantis Launch Scheduled: News and Info in..........SPACE


      ==============================================================
                    LEONARD TRAMIEL REALTIME CONFERENCE
         Atari's Vice President of Software, Special Guest Speaker
                     Wednesday, March 25 @ 10:00pm EST

                     ATARI CANADA REALTIME CONFERENCE
         Featuring Geoffrey Earle, General Manager (Atari Canada)
                     Wednesday, April 1 @ 10:00pm EST
      ==============================================================
       Congratulations are extended to Jim Allen at Fast Technology
    following the announcement of his exciting 40 Mhz 68030 TinyTurbo.
           Read the details in Category 4, Topic 11, Message 82.

 Recent Popular uploads...
 23100 G_MAP.ARC                X D.BECKEMEYER 920308    8320    284   2
       Desc: GEM pgm generates a map of disk data
 23127 GOGODNCR.LZH             X T.MAYFIELD1  920310   46336    253  12
       Desc: Go-Go Dancer as a Desktop Accessory
 23070 CAL_62A.LZH (LH5)LZH     X V.PATRICELL1 920307   75520    192   2
       Desc: Cal v6.2a - Hot calendar accessory!
 23109 BLITSIM.PRG              X J.FOURNIER   920309     512    182   2
       Desc: Simulates a blitter on an ST or TT.
 23069 INFORMDA.ARC             X GRMEYER      920307    7808    129   2
       Desc: Status display DA. Lots of options
 23112 FLENCH.LZH               X D.PANKE      920309   11264    111   2
       Desc: Shrink Degas pics to any size...
 23162 PCAG.LZH                 X M.SLAGELL    920312    6528    107   2
       Desc: customizable printer accessory
 23143 MEGACHEK.LZH             X C.MULLER3    920311  210816     38  10
       Desc: The Ultimate Finance & Account Mgr.
 23136 HOMEACC2.LZH             X ABC.SOLN     920310  173568     52  10
       Desc: Demo: Home Accounts 2
 23121 BBB_DEMO.LZH             X GRMEYER      920309   77824     17  10
       Desc: Boffin Brothers Trivia (demo)
 23096 GRMRXPRT.ARC             X P.COMEAU1    920308   66816     41  10
       Desc: Grammar Expert Demo

         GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
            Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission


  ***********************************************************************



  
 > FAXMODEM GENIE CONF. STR FOCUS   Charles Smeton in Conference on GEnie
   ==============================

                              March 18, 1992

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 On behalf of the Atari ST Roundtable, I welcome all of you to the Joppa 
 Software 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.

 In this world of instant access and communication, FAX machines have 
 become a necessary tool of business.

 With the growing popularity and increasing affordability of FAX machines, 
 they are turning up in more and more households all the time.

 Personally, it knocks me out that I can order a pizza by sending a fax!  
 It probably won't be too much longer before FAX machines become as common 
 place as telephone answering machines.

 But with modems, computers, answering machines, caller ID boxes, and FAX 
 machines all vying for your consumer electronics dollars (not to mention 
 desk and counter space), it's no small wonder that some of these products 
 are being integrated.  Which brings us to FAX modems for computers and 
 tonight's Conference guests:

 Joining us tonight are Mark Carver and Charles Smeton of Joppa Software.  

 Joppa has been marketing a Receive Only Fax/Data modem/software package 
 called JOPPA FAX and now they are about to release a new software product 
 called "Straight FAX", a send and receive software package for Atari 
 computers and Class 2 compliant FAX/Modems.

 "Straight FAX" is expected to debut at the TAF Show in Toronto next 
 month, but Mark and Charles are here with us now to give us a preview of 
 a product that many have been impatiently waiting for on the Atari 
 computer platform.

 And one lucky attendee this evening will win a free copy of "Straight 
 FAX" later on courtesy of Joppa Software, so make sure to stick around!

 Welcome, Mark and Charles!  Thank you for being with us tonight.  Before 
 I open the room to questions, do you have any opening remarks you'd like 
 to make?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Yes one sec...

 Joppa Software Development proudly announces...STraight FAX!

 Send/Receive FAX Software for the Atari ST/TT Computers

 Manufacturer's Suggested List Price $89.95

 The STraight FAX! software works with industry standard "Class 2" 
 compliant FAX/modems to bring Group III send and receive FAX capability 
 to the Atari ST/TT Computers.  STraight FAX! can also work with Send FAX 
 modems that comply to the Sierra SendFAX command set, to provide Group 
 III send FAX capability to the Atari ST/TT Computers.

 STraight FAX! Features
 ======================

 Compatible with all Atari ST/TT Computer models:

     - 1 Megabyte of RAM Required
     - 2 Megabytes of RAM and a Hard Drive Recommended.
     - Shielded RS-232 cable required.
     - Compatible with Class 2 Compliant Send/Receive FAX modems.
        - compatible Send/Receive FAX Modems include:
           - Supra 96/24, 96/96 and 14.4/14.4 FAX modems
           - Zoom FMC 9624
           - other Class 2 Compliant modems based on the Rockwell chipset
     - Compatible with Send FAX modems that use the Sierra SendFAX command
       set.
        - compatible Send FAX Modems include:
           - Zoom and Zoom Generic 4800 baud Send FAX modem
           - Zoom and Zoom Generic 9600 baud Send FAX modem
           - Joppa FAX! SF-01 4800 baud Send FAX modem
           - Joppa FAX! SF-02 9600 baud Send FAX modem

 The STraight FAX! can be used with all standard serial ports on ST, STe, 
 Mega STe and TT/030 computers and peripheral serial ports tat support the
 "Bconmap" specification for additional serial ports.

 - Note: Some options are not available on serial ports that do not
         support all RS-232 signals.

 The STraight FAX! supports all TOS versions 1.00, 1.02, 1.04, 1.06, 
 1.062, 2.05/6 and 3.05/6.

 - Note: Supplied patch programs from Atari are required to be installed
         when using TOS 1.04, TOS 2.05 and TOS 3.05.

 The STraight FAX! supports all supports all ST/TT graphic resolutions 
 with a minimum screen width of 80 characters, including Moniterm and 
 software large screen emulators.

 I don't know how that came out.........

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 It came out fine here.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 But that is a brief overview of the product.

 The software allows the T/TT to send or receive FAX documents from any 
 Class 2 compliant FAX/modem.

 There are many fax/modems now available and soon available that will work 
 with the STraight FAX!

 I guess we can start taking questions.......

                            <[SDS] S.SANDERS2>
 Does the Fax software work in the background and will there be a FSM-GDOS 
 or Calamus driver for it?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 The FAX software does not operate in the background at this time.  With 
 the release of Multi-TOS background capability will be investigated.

 Yes, there are drivers for both Calamus and FSM GDOS as well as 
 PageStream.

                            <[SDS] S.SANDERS2>
 Great!

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Let me add one more thing...

 The software as it is written will allow scheduled outgoing FAXes while 
 waiting for incoming FAXes, while waiting other Desk Accessories may be 
 used.  However, if these Desk Accessories block GEM events, then a 
 scheduled FAX may be delayed or an incoming call not answered.

                              <MICKEYANGELL>
 I have the Joppa SF-02.  What upgrade path is available for me?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Mickey we have several upgrade paths that include buying an enhanced send 
 only version, the full software or the full software and a send/receive 
 FAX modem.  

 Mark, can you give the upgrade prices?

 Also, registered Joppa FAX! owners will be receiving a letter shortly 
 with the options.

                              <MICKEYANGELL>
 Thank you. That is all.

                        <[Mark @ Joppa] JOPPA-SOFT>
 Ok.

 Option #1 Send Only enhanced version is $20.00.

 Option #2 Send and Receive Software is $40.00 and you'll need a Class 2 
 FAX/Modem such as the new Supra/FAX line

 Option #3 is a:
     BOCA Research 2400/9600 S/R FAX @ $129
     Supra 9600/9600 and software @ $269.00
     Supra 14400/14400 and Software @ $329.00

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 These options are only for registered Joppa FAX! owners.

 We are now selling the software as a stand alone product and letting the 
 user choose from the many compatible FAX modems available.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Will you also make modem/software bundles (special prices) available to 
 new customers?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Joppa Software Development will not, however Joppa Computer Products is 
 another RTC.   :-).

                           <[Lindle] L.ROMERO6>
 I will be setting up a Turbo BBS real soon and will be getting a Supra 
 Fax modem.....will I be able to put a command in my bbs so my users will 
 have access to it (i.e. from a door)?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Not at this time, the software will only allow FAX mode.

                           <[Lindle] L.ROMERO6>
 Okay, Appreciate it.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 It may be possible for the BBS to detect that a FAX is calling and run 
 the STraight FAX!

                           <[Lindle] L.ROMERO6>
 You mean via a fax switch?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 No, actually the modem will indicate a FAX is calling with a result code.

                           <[Lindle] L.ROMERO6>
 Okay....will have to look in the docs for the bbs software, thanks.

                                <G.ZEPKA1>
 can it send to a HP fax at 300 dpi?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 G.ZEPKA1, current Group III fax supports resolutions of 203 x 196 and 203 
 x 98 DPI.  The HP may be able to scale this to 300 DPI as it prints.

 This is the basic method the STraight FAX! uses to print received FAXes, 
 via FSM-GDOS drivers.

                                <G.ZEPKA1>
 Thank you.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 What kind of file is created for the incoming fax and are software and 
 printer drivers provided to print them?  Are you going to be a licensed 
 distributor of FSM-GDOS?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 The received FAX file is in the same format that outgoing FAX files are 
 in.  It may be FAXed out as is.

 The received file can be converted to .IMG format, printed via a GDOS 
 driver or viewed on screen at different scaling.

 At this time we have a license agreement to the FAX FSM GDOS driver. You 
 will need to contact Atari about purchasing FSM GDOS.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 So, what exactly will the user need to have in addition to Straight FAX 
 and a compatible modem?  FSM-GDOS and what else?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 FSM GDOS is required to print FAX files, however any program that can 
 print .IMG files can be used, since you can convert the FAX file to an 
 IMG file.  We also support the ScanLite Desk Accessory from Dr. Bobware 
 for direct scanning of FAX output.

 Minimum memory required is 1 Meg and we recommend a Hard Drive and 2 Meg. 
 We also recommend a good shielded RS-232 cable.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 The FAX-to-IMG feature is part of Straight FAX?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Yes, the program will convert from FAX to IMG, so that a user without 
 GDOS or FSM GDOS can use Calamus or PageStream or what ever to print the 
 IMG file.

                               <J.D.BARNES>
 With Jeff asking the questions we really don't need other users. 

 What scanners does Scan-Lite support?  Does it support the antique 
 Navarrone, for example?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 ScanLite supports Migraph, Golden Image, DAATAScan and Geniscan Hand 
 Scanners.  We are researching support of full page scanners such as the 
 Canon/Navarone.

                               <J.D.BARNES>
 Thanks, that is all for now.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 If anyone has the technical information on any full page scanner let us 
 know.

                              <C.NICHOLSON1>
 would U tell me what U need to use this software i.e.; supra 2400 and... 
 etc.?  what reads the fax that U send what prints the fax U receive. I am 
 a electronics tech. not a comp or comm tech. and I am fairly new to modem 
 world.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 OK, the program will take IMG, DEGAS, ASCII Text files and convert them 
 to a format we call FAX format, this file can then be sent to any Group 
 III FAX machine.

 Received FAX files may be viewed, converted to IMG format or printed via 
 a GDOS or FSM GDOS printer driver.

 Compatible FAX modems include all Class 2 compliant FAX modems such as 
 the Zoom and Supra.

 Also, this is not 100% official but the FONT GDOS program and the 
 available printer drivers should be available very soon. 

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Anything else, CN?

                              <C.NICHOLSON1>
 So a group III mach. does the send/rec through a zoom/supra and you need 
 nothing else.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 The FAX machine on the other end does not know what type of FAX/modem you 
 are using.

 The FAX/Modem and ST/TT call the destination FAX just as a real FAX 
 machine does.  Receive is the same thing, but in the opposite direction.

 You go from your ST via Zoom/Supra to a Group III FAX machine and 
 vice-versa.

                              <C.NICHOLSON1>
 we seem to be talking a different lang. so I will wait until it is out 
 and on the dealers shelf.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 The FAX/Modem, software, and computer take the place of an actual FAX 
 machine on your side, CN.  Anything else?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 You do not need a FAX machine on your end, that is what the STraight FAX! 
 program and FAX/Modem function as.

                              <C.NICHOLSON1>
 Thank you.

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 Charles, John, with the plethora of FAX-modems available is there 
 something that we should look for in the way of compatibility or can we 
 safely (or near-safely) assume that just about all the FAX-modems we see 
 advertised would work?

 oops- that was supposed to be "Charles, Mark" ... sorry ;-)

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Good Question.  The latest technology FAX/modems will indicate that they 
 comply with an EIA/TIA standard.  STraight FAX! supports FAX/Modems that 
 are "Class 2" compliant, this is an EIA/TIA standard.

 Some FAX modems also support an older standard called "Class 1".  This is 
 not supported at this time, but is being looked into.  The new Supra 
 FAX/modems are both Class 1 and Class 2.

 There is a simple test to find out what Class a FAX/modem is:

 Type AT+FCLAS=? from a terminal program.

 If the response is (0,2) or (0,1,2) the modem should work.

 If it says ERROR or (0,1) then it either is not a FAX/modem, an older FAX 
 modem standard or a Class 1.

                        <[Mark @ Joppa] JOPPA-SOFT>
 One other point about the NEW Supra line of FAX/Modems is that they will 
 have as option at a later date of Caller-ID and Voice-Mail, which is 
 being looked into by JSD.

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 I see.  So it would then be wise to ask the salesperson if the modem is 
 "Class-2" compliant.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 This should be on the box, we will post a list of what we know works, 
 such as the Zoom, and Supra.

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 Thanks.

                               <J.D.BARNES>
 Charles, is there some form of redundancy checking in the FAX modems?  
 How well does this reduce the effect of line interference?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Current Group III FAX does not support a block protocol with error 
 checking such as Zmodem, Xmodem, etc.


                               <J.D.BARNES>
 Thanks.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C..SMETON>
 Group III FAX has a self recovery algorithm that allows a raster line to 
 be lost because of line noise, but it re-syncs on the next line.  We have 
 a special method of compensating for line noise of this type, to enhance 
 the image.  We also have a clean up algorithm to remove stray dots from 
 the image.

                               <C.BALDWIN9>
 Can I send/Save Faxes directly from programs like Pagestream?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 The printer drivers that we supply for PageStream, Calamus and GDOS 
 programs allow you to print to disk from these apps directly as FAX 
 files.  You then exit the app and run STraight FAX! to send out the FAX 
 file(s).

 The quality of computer generated FAX files is quite nice.  It is not far 
 behind a Laser Printer.

                               <C.BALDWIN9>
 Great!  Where can I get one?

                        <[Mark @ Joppa] JOPPA-SOFT>
 Joppa Software Development's new address is:

               PO Box 214
               Dallastown, PA 17313-0214
               (717)428-3231 / (717)428-0424 FAX

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 That all for you, CB?

                               <C.BALDWIN9>
 Yes, Thanks!

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 We'll take another question, then pause briefly to give away a copy of 
 Straight FAX.

                              <MICKEYANGELL>
 If I have A SEND/RECEIVE FAX modem; do I only need the software or do I 
 have to send you the modem?


                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Yes, if it is Class 2 compliant you only need the software.

 Use the test listed previously or Call us and tell us what FAX/modem you 
 have.  We will step you through the method to verify it.

                              <MICKEYANGELL>
 Thanks.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Okay, now for the neat stuff.  Thanks to Joppa Software, we have a copy 
 of Straight FAX (the software only, no modem) to give away.

 You will need your own hardware so if you don't plan on buying a fax 
 modem, please let the others have a chance to win.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Jeff, this will be sent to the winner once the product ships on April 
 7th.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Good point, Charles.

 Here's what we'll do...

 I'm going to ask a question and you have to answer it.  Everyone will 
 have a chance to type in their guesses before I take the room out of 
 Listen Only mode.

 The first person whose correct answers show up will win.  Mark and 
 Charles will be the judges of who has answered correctly.

 Remember, type in your answers, but don't hit ENTER until you see the 
 room has been opened up for talking.

 Now the question...

 Name three (3) features of the Straight FAX software package.

 JEFF.W> I'll give you 20 more seconds from now before I let y'all fire 
 away with your answers.

                         [Twenty seconds later...]

 Room is now in the talk mode.

                              <D.A.BRUMLEVE>
 Kidpublisher Professional, Kidpainter, Super Kidgrid...

                                <B.KLASSEN>
 send, receive, store F

                               <J.D.BARNES>
 Receive Capability, All Class 2 MOdems, GDOS or FSM GDOS Printout

                              <MICKEYANGELL>
 Send and receive faxes, convert img

                                <G.ZEPKA1>
 SEND, Receive, transmit pagestream on

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 It works with ScanLite!
 It works with ScanLite!
 It works with ScanLite!

 That's three for me! ;-)

                              <MAG.SOFTWARE>
 It does the dishes? :)

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 It looks like J.D.BARNES is the winner, what do you think Mark?

                        <[Mark @ Joppa] JOPPA-SOFT>
 I guess it's JD Barnes.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Congrats JD

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Congrats, JD!

                                <B.KLASSEN>
 Congrats JD

                              <MICKEYANGELL>
 Congrats, JD

                               <J.D.BARNES>
 Thanks, you made it too easy.

                              <D.A.BRUMLEVE>
 Gosh...

                              <MAG.SOFTWARE>
 You mean it don't do the dishes?

 :)

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 I think Dorothy and Dr. Bob had good answers too, but not quick enough.  
 <smile>

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Well JD, if you give you name and address to us privately we will send it 
 out when it ships.

                              <D.A.BRUMLEVE>
 YO!  My answer was first!

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 JD...Send email with your mailing address.  Congrats again!

 Now we'll resume...

                               <B.LUNESKI1>
 Hello, I purchased a Joppa FAX modem & Just the FAX software about a year 
 ago and they have performed very well (unsolicited testimonial).

 What upgrade path are you offering to Owners of Just the FAX and what are 
 the upgrade procedures?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Thank You.

 The upgrade options were presented earlier in the conference, we will 
 have a transcript and a Press Release with the full details.

 You can call us at the number listed and also we will be sending out 
 letters to the current owners.

                        <[Mark @ Joppa] JOPPA-SOFT>
 Also, please make sure the registration card is sent in, we have more out 
 then registered.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Anything else, Bob?

                               <B.LUNESKI1>
 I ALWAYS send my registration cards in :-)  That's all thanks.

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 First, off: Happy Birthday, Jeff!  Many returns!

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Thank you, Dr. Bob!

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 Mark & Charles,  you'd mentioned that FSM-GDOS is required for printing 
 and we covered that pretty well, I don't mean to repeat anything.

 BUT.... did I see mentioned that ordinary old regular GDOS will work too?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Yes, if you have a older style FSM driver.

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 How about good ol' G+Plus?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Also the newer FSM Drivers will function with the older GDOS and 
 compatibles.

 The FAX FSM Driver we include will work with ANY GDOS

                           <[Dr. Bob] W.PARKS3>
 Ok thanks.  That's ALL FOR ME.

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 The only problem for the non-FSM GDOSes is a source of bit mapped fonts 
 at the proper resolution.

                              <MAG.SOFTWARE>
 Happy B-day, Jeff.  Now my questions:  

 Since I just got here, I'm probably asking things that have previously 
 been answered.  In order to use this, do I simply need the software and a 
 SEND/RECEIVE FAX modem?  About how much would a set up like this cost? 
 Will it work with ANY printer?  And, will it work with ALL Atari 
 machines?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 If everyone will pause a moment i will upload some more tech info........

 The STraight FAX! User Interface Features:

 - Full GEM Application
 - Drop Down Menus with keystroke command equivalents.
 - On screen movable Function Key Bar for most common commands.
 - Context sensitive On-line Help available by pressing Help Key.
 - Popup Menus make system preferences easy to choose.
 - Optional sound effects.
 - Enhanced Dialog Box Interface:
     Alternate Key button selection
     Arrow Key selector list movement
     Position Text cursor with mouse over any character of any text edit
       field.
     Undo Feature
     Insert/Type over Text entry modes.
     Delete to end of Line
     Insert any GEM character using Alternate Key and Numeric Key Pad
       (on any TOS version).

 FAX Features:

 - Supports from 2400 to 14400 Baud Send and Receive FAX rates (maximum 
   baud rate depends on the FAX/Modem utilized).
 - Fine Resolution (203 x 196 DPI) and Normal Resolution (203 x 98 DPI)
   FAX modes supported.
 - Tone or Pulse Dial.
 - Full control of FAX Modem speaker and speaker volume.
 - Displays 20 character FAX Identification string of Remote FAX.
 - Allows specification of 20 character FAX Identification that is sent to
   remote FAX.

 Send FAX Features:

 - 100 Number FAX Dialing List.
 - Automatic Cover Page Generation.
 - Multi-Page FAX Documents of up to 255 pages.
 - ASCII, Image and DEGAS file formats supported.
 - Full GEM Character set supported for ASCII to FAX conversions.
 - Send Logs indicates status of all FAX documents transferred.
 - Broadcast FAX documents to up to 100 destinations per FAX document.
 - Schedule FAX transmission at a delayed time.
 - Schedule up to 30 Multi-Page Multi-Destination FAX documents for
   delayed transmission.
 - Scale Image/DEGAS files during conversion with page positioning 
   options.
 - Automatic optional Page Heading added to the top of each page.
 - Automatic Redial upon busy or failed FAX transfer.

 Receive Features:

 - Receive Logs indicates status of all FAX documents received.
 - Automatic Receive FAX can be active while waiting for scheduled 
   outgoing FAX documents to be transmitted.
 - Manual FAX Receive.

 FAX View Features:

 - View up to a total of four Image, DEGAS or FAX files each in a separate
   GEM window.
 - Reduced 50% size view.
 - Stray pixel clean up.
 - Save portion of graphic in view window as an Image or FAX file.
 - Auto correction of detected errors in received FAX (due to line noise).
 - Scan into a window using a Hand Scanner and Dr. Bobware's ScanLite
   (Migraph, Golden Image, DAATAScan and Geniscan Hand Scanners 
   supported).

 Printing Features:

 - Print Image or FAX files to any printer supported by user supplied
   GDOS or FSM-GDOS printer driver (GDOS, GDOS compatible, FONT-GDOS, or
   FSM-GDOS required along with the appropriate printer driver).
 - Special support for Atari Laser Printers (SLM-804/SLM-605).
 - Convert FAX Files to Image format with optional GEM metafile for
   printing via GEM OUTPUT program or importing into any application that
   supports Image format files.
 - Auto correction of detected errors in received FAX (due to line noise).

 Printer Drivers:

 - "Print to Disk" FAX Files from the following applications:
     - Calamus 1.09x
     - Calamus S/SL
     - PageStream 1.8x
     - PageStream 2.1
     - FSM-GDOS driver for applications that support GDOS or FSM-GDOS 
       printing.
 - Printer driver output file path set program/desk accessory allows the
   destination FAX filename to be set any valid file path.

 Utilities:

 - Time Set Utility for ST's without battery backed clock.
 - Line Impedance Trimmer adjustment utility for Send FAX modems.

 OK that's it!

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 any more questions?

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Jeff - Did that answer your questions?  Anything else?

                              <MAG.SOFTWARE>
 I saw it said 'works with any TOS', does this include the new Multi-TOS?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Multi-TOS has not been released yet.  It may or may not work.  We try to 
 follow all the rules and work closely with Atari.  

 BTW, I would like to thank Atari's Bill Rehbock and Mike Fulton for 
 helping us get the FSM driver built.

                            <[CANUK] B.KLASSEN>
 Hi, will this software work with UIS III, Multi-desk?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Yes, we have tested many other utilities and there should be no problem. 
 One utility that caused a problem has been the Neodesk Control Panel, 
 however.

                            <[CANUK] B.KLASSEN>
 Will it work as a Desk Acc?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Currently it is a program, a desk accessory version would be made 
 available, but it will require 2+ megs of RAM

                            <[CANUK] B.KLASSEN>
 How about a TT with 8MB? more when I put in the RAM!

 I assume it will work in TT MED!! (hope!)


                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 TT/030 should be fine.  We will announce enhancements like Desk Accessory 
 and Multitasking when available.

 The program requires a graphics mode that supports 80 columns minimum.

                             <[Sysop] JEFF.W>
 Okay.  It's time to draw this RTC to a close.

 I want to thank Charles and Mark for being with us tonight and everyone 
 who attended.  

 Congratulations again to J.D. Barnes, our Straight FAX winner.

 Any closing words, Charles?

                         <[Joppa-Tech] C.S.SMETON>
 Yes...

 We thank the owners of our earlier products (Joppa FAX!) and look forward 
 to April 4th and the debut of the STraight FAX!

 As we now say.......

 Get the 
               STraight FAX!
                                  for your Atari ST/TT Computer!

 Thank You.


 =========================================================================
 (C) 1991 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.
 =========================================================================




 > AIM MAGAZINE GROWS! STR InfoFile           AIM hits the BIGTIME!
   ================================






 March 1991

                        ATARI INTERFACE EXPANDS TO
                     OVER 100 CLUBS, MORE DISTRIBUTORS


 Ann Arbor, MI

     In this time of shrinking economies and worries  about continued Atari
 magazine support,  Unicorn Publications  is pleased to announce that Atari
 Interface is continuing to grow.

 User Group Expansion
 """"""""""""""""""""
     With the  March 1991  issue, Atari  Interface increased  its number of
 Participating  User  Groups  to  over  100.  Currently, there are 105 user
 groups whose  members are  receiving Atari  Interface magazine  as part of
 their  club  benefits.    "We're  over  100 clubs now and we expect a fair
 number of additional clubs to sign up  in  the  next  month  or  so," said
 Editor Bill  Rayl.   "At least  20 more  clubs have indicated they want to
 start getting AIM for their members."

     As a Participating Club, US-based user groups can have copies of Atari
 Interface magazine  delivered directly to their member's doors for only 50
 cents per issue.  Canadian and Foreign clubs can get the magazine  for the
 same low rate, plus the cost of shipping all copies to one address.

 More Distributors Added
 """""""""""""""""""""""
     As  recently  announced  in  messages  on  CompuServe and GEnie, Atari
 Interface has expanded its  US distribution  to include  approximately 250
 additional Waldenbookstores.  AIM distribution to newsstands and bookstore
 chains  in  the  US,  Canada  and  overseas  is  handled  by International
 Periodical Distributors  (IPD), one of the largest world-wide distributors
 of magazines and books.  [IPD can be reached at (619) 481-5928.]

     Alternative and eclectic bookstores in the US can  get Atari Interface
 from Ubiquity Distributors of Brooklyn, NY.
 [Call Ubiquity at (718) 875-5491.]

     US distribution  of AIM  to Atari dealers is handled mainly by Pacific
 Software Supply, the largest US Atari distributor.
 [PSS can be reached at (805) 543-1583.]

     Micro-D Distributors of Weston,  Ontario,  is  now  distributing Atari
 Interface (magazine and ST disk) to Atari dealers across Canada.  [Micro-D
 can be contacted at (416) 741-9825.]

     Braden Ray Software has just signed up to bring AIM  to the Australian
 and New  Zealand market.   While  Atari Interface was already appearing on
 newsstand shelves  "down under,"  the agreement  with Braden  Ray gets AIM
 (and the ST disk) to users and Atari dealers faster.
 [Call Braden Ray at 011-61-8-390-3018.]

     UK distribution  of Atari  Interface and the ST/Mega Disk of the Month
 is now handled by Bath  Publications.    According  to  Bath Publication's
 Malcolm Burridge,  "I believe  [AIM's] quality  far outweighs  that of the
 competition."  [Bath Publications can be reached at 011-44-225-840-700.]

     Unicorn Publications has  been  producing  an  Atari-specific magazine
 since December 1987.  For more information, contact:

                               Pattie Rayl,
                           Unicorn Publications
                           3487 Braeburn Circle
                           Ann Arbor, MI 48108,
                        phone: (313) 973-8825 voice
                            (313) 973-9137 BBS.






  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

                             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!




  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""





 > The Flip Side STR Feature        "...a different viewpoint.."
   =========================




                    A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
                    ==================================



 by Michael Lee



 Comments about Sudden View from Jerry Pournelle in the Jerry Pournelle 
 RoundTable....
  
   I have a new editor, Sudden View, for ATARI that is the best editor 
   concept I have ever seen.  About $70 and it's almost worth going over 
   to an Atari in order to be able to use that editor.  VERY FAST even on 
   an old 8 mhz Atari too...
  
   ...Sudden View is by Rod Coleman who started Sage Computers. It is 
   written in Modula 2 (Workman FTL Modula 2 at that) and it's really 
   neat. Best new editor concept I have seen in YEARS.

   Only runs on Atari now. May be ported to other stuff later.

   ...it's just neat. It does things in a very strange and very logical 
   way: essentially you just do that. Not a lot of mode switching and 
   menu grabbing. You just -- do things.

   Reminds me a bit of the Lilith machines.

 More comments from Mark Matlock...
  
   I saw Sudden View editor demonstrated at the Chicago Atari show last 
   November. It was very interesting and I picked up a flyer but never 
   got around to sending off for it. I just pulled it from my files since 
   you mentioned it.

   I grew up in the DEC world and my right hand has memorized the keypad 
   layout of DEC's EDT. That is one of the major reasons I continue to 
   use my ST, it makes a great DEC keyboard. Also the are a couple good 
   EDT editors for it. One with the old learn mode of the PDP11's KED. 
   But I digress here's the address from the flyer:

                            Sudden Incorporated
                             5081 S. McCarran
                              Reno, NV 89502
                               800-421-4228

                             ----------------

 Some help for Zoom modem owners from R.MAYNARD - Cat 8, Topic 10, Msg. 
 51 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   Regarding difficulties using the ZOOM V.32 Turbo modem - I had a lot 
   of difficulty at first too. I finally paid a little attention to a 
   one-page insert in the manual discussing some alternate dialing 
   prefixes to use to work around difficulties connecting to some 
   systems. Once I made the recommended changes, I was able to access 
   systems I had been unable to access at all with the ZOOM modem. These 
   systems include GEnie via ALADDIN, local BBSs and some Control Data 
   mainframes, all at both 2400 and 9600 baud. The trick was to include 
   the following strings before the phone number being dialed:

                      AT\n3s37=9n0DT (for 9600 baud)
                                    or
                      AT\n3s37=6n0DT (for 2400 baud)

   In the case of ALADDIN, I put this string in the "Reset Command" of 
   the configuration. Be sure to set the proper "Speed" also.

   9600-baud downloads flat-out FLY but beware...it costs a LOT more  
   than 2400 baud.

                             ----------------
  
 Some comments about Word Perfect - Cat 13, Topic 2, Msgs 48-49 - from 
 the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
 From Ken Vandellen...
  
   I wrote a letter to WP Corp. after seeing a post that said thousands 
   of Europeans want a new version and we should indicate support, too. 
   The response came yesterday, explaining that "the revenues received 
   are not near enough to finance a full-fledged 5.0 development effort."
  
   They go on to describe their "Trade-Up" to WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS or 
   for Windows or for Macintosh...

 From Joe Meehan...
  
   To add to what Ken said, WordPerfect is no longer developing (however 
   they are supporting) Atari, Amiga, or Apple versions of WP. It seems 
   they don't like to "A" words. <grin>

   This information came from their newsletter.

                             ----------------

 Comments about Virtual Memory from John Eidsvoog (Codehead Technologies) 
 - Cat. 28, Topic 13, Msg. 11 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   Virtual memory is a technique which uses hard disk memory to expand 
   your RAM memory. Software tricks are used (together with special 
   powers of the latest microprocessors) to swap chunks of memory between 
   RAM and disk. This will fool a program into thinking that it is 
   running on a machine with a lot more RAM than actually exists (like 
   maybe 128 meg). With fast hard drives, efficient caching, and clever 
   programming, some nice results can be achieved. Virtual memory 
   requires at least a 68030 or 80386 microprocessor.

                              ----------------

 About VeraSoft - Cat. 6, Topic 16, Msgs 38-39 - from the ST Roundtable 
 on Genie...
  
 Question by M.ABREU...
  
   Can someone supply a phone number for VeraSoft? I'm considering 
   spending over $150 for DBMAN, but it's hard to do without finding out 
   at least a few things about the product before I do it.

 Answer from Harry Wootan...
  
                           VersaSoft Corporation
                    4340 Almaden Expressway, Suite 110
                            San Jose, CA 95118.
                                      
                            Phone: 408-723-9044
  
   Remember that they make dBMAN for other platforms. Be sure you're 
   talking to someone about dBMAN for the Atari ST.

                              ----------------

 Some comments about MultiTOS from John Townsend (Atari) - Cat. 14, Topic 
 34, Msg. 2 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   Yes, Atari did demonstrate the Multitasking TOS at CeBIT. There are 
   currently no estimated delivery dates or pricing information avail-
   able. As soon as real information is available, we will let you know.

   PS. And yes, It is based on MiNT (MiNT is _NOW_ TOS! <grin>) from Eric 
   Smith.

 [Will MultiTOS run on non '030 systems?] From Cat. 5, Topic 3, Msg. 7...
  
   According to what I know, that decision has yet to be made. At 
   present, MultiTOS will run on any ST compatible machine. Whether or 
   not we will release it for less than 68030 machines is another issue 
   completely.

   There are lots of issues to be considered. For example, you can't do 
   hardware memory protection on a 68000. This means that if a process 
   does something bad and overwrites another process, the entire system 
   could easily crash. Whereas, with a 030 and an MMU doing hardware 
   memory protection, a bad process that attempts to write in another 
   processes memory space would simply bus error and terminate, leaving 
   the other processes intact.

   These are the kinds of things that have to be considered before we can 
   safely ship a 68000 version of MultiTOS. You have probably heard all 
   of the horror stories from the Amiga and its non-memory protection 
   implimentation of multitasking on the Amiga 500, etc.

   But, basically.. I don't think the decision has been made. In the end, 
   we will see. I personally hope that we do make it available for 68000 
   machines. It will probably be slower than most people will like, but 
   hey.. it will run several programs! Anyway, stay tuned.

                             ----------------

 Comments about Captive - Cat. 9, Topic 23, Msg. 113-114 - from the ST 
 Roundtable on Genie...
  
 Comments from Mike Allen...
  
   I am enjoying Captive but I was looking forward to it being "fully 
   enchanced" when I switched to my new Mega STe. Guess what - nada. It 
   looks and sounds just like it did on my 1 meg TOS 1.4. No music. Also 
   the volume control doesn't seem to work on the captive Control panel. 
   Can anyone help me? (It's still a neat game.)

 Answers from Fred Percival...
  
   The STe enchancements are stereo sound and the larger color palette. 
   The reason the game looks the same is because the game saves the color 
   settings info. Go into the color selector and hit the default button 
   to get your 'new' colors. It's a slightly different look, which I'd 
   describe as more desert-tone than earth-tone. You also have 15 stops 
   on each color bar now, rather than 7. Have you noticed that the sound 
   effects play faster on the MSTE as well?

                             ----------------

 Comments about the upcoming TAF show in Toronto from Bob Brodie (Atari) 
 - Cat. 11, Topic 6, Msg. 112 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   We're excited to be a part of this show!! Representing the Sunnyvale 
   crew will be our Portfolio guru, Don Thomas, Director of Technical 
   Services Bill Rehbock, Manager of Sales Admininstration Shirley 
   Taylor, and myself.

   James Grunke had planned to attend but due to a scheduling conflict 
   will not be able to attend, and sends his regrets.

   This is shaping up to be a very exciting show, and we look forward to 
   seeing everyone there!

                             ----------------

 About the SLM 804 and Phantom of the Laser from Vince Patricelli - Cat. 
 14, Topic 11, Msg. 69 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   It says in the Phantom of the Laser documentation that power consump-
   tion on the SLM 804 drops from >800 watts to <2 watts with the Phantom 
   installed. Even with the "backdoor" open, it will consume over 300 
   watts to power a 1.5 watt interface. This along with the noise reduc-
   tion (it doesn't make any noise until you need to print) and not one 
   problem at all since I owned it make it a *must* for anyone with the 
   Atari laser....and it is only $30 and about an hour to install.

   The address is:
                             Widgets by Decker
                        2399 SW Palisades Crest Dr.
                         Lake Oswego, OR 97034 USA
                           Phone (503) 638-3940

                             ----------------

 Comments about the CDAR504 CD ROM from Bob Brodie (Atari) - Cat. 14, 
 Topic 28, Msg. 166 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   The information that you got off of UseNet regarding the CDAR504 is 
   wrong. One of the better titles for the CD504 is a Music Education 
   disk, called SoundScope. It comes from Australia, and plays all types 
   of music via the CDAR's audio. The examples of classical music that 
   they have are very nice in particular, especially with a good set of 
   speakers hooked up.

   The CDAR handles ISO9600 and High Sierra format CD roms. Some of the 
   Mac roms are now using a different format. The CD ROM/Multimedia 
   conferences seem unable/unwilling to settle on a single format, :-(

   Yes, it runs fine with a TT. Among the roms that are more useful for 
   people (maybe more compelling is a better expression) is the Soft 
   Logik font CD, that provides hundreds (thousands?) of fonts for use 
   with PageStream. MetaDOS is supplied with that rom.

                             ----------------

 Discussion about how to make for foreign shareware payments - Cat. 2, 
 Topic 48, Msgs 1-11 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
 Question from CHAZ...
  
   How would I make a check out for a 10 pound shareware payment? Do I 
   write out "ten pounds" and have the bank convert it? I'd like to send 
   a payment off for Multi Language but haven't purchased anything from a 
   foreign country before.

 Answer from Dorothy Brumleve (Kidprgs)...
  
   Chaz, the personal checks you write must be in $. To send money in 
   foreign currency, you can ask your bank to write a bankcheck in that 
   currency or you can send -- shudder -- cash. As there is often a fee 
   for the former, I tend to do the latter on occassion. You don't need 
   to have cash in the foreign denomination; typically, it'll be much 
   easier for the recipient to cash your US$20 bill (or any other 
   currency) than it is for we land-locked North Americans to find a 
   currency exchange. So now and then I send a $10 or $20 in the mail -- 
   and now and then I receive such. The mail _could_ go astray, but...

 Comments from Darlah (RT Sysop)...
  
   Most large cites have foreign currency exchange houses. they charge a 
   fee. I can go to downtown Toronto and find NUMEROUS ones. They also 
   compete over the rate but not to a great degree.

 Comments from Frank Bell...
  
   I would recommend a Postal Money Order made out in Dollars. If the 
   shareware author is asking 10Pounds, for example, send him $20.00. I 
   your real nice, and you really like the program, send him $25.00 - he 
   will incure bank changes in cashing your Money Order and might even 
   have to wait a few days for his money - I think its only fair.

   If your shareware author offers updates, maybe you could even up it to 
   $30.00 and pay his return postage. Postage rates are higher in Europe 
   while Air Mail is out of this world.

   If you send cash then please insure the letter or at least send it 
   registered.

   P.S. In Europe, when we send checks (EuroChecks), the checks are made 
   out in the _other_ country's currency (the receiveing country). Other-
   wise every bank that handles the checks pulls off an exchange expense 
   of a few percent along with normal handling charces.

 Another question from CHAZ...
  
   Thanks for the info - what would 10 pounds be in US dollars, 
   approximately?

 Answer from N.STEEL...
  
   At the moment it's about 1.7 dollars to the pound, but that changes 
   daily.

   If you send twice a many dollars, that will cover the cost of 
   exchange, but leave little for any extra support.

                             ----------------

 Comments from Clay Walnum - Cat. 3, Topic 19, Msg. 36 - from the ST 
 Roundtable on Genie...
  
   You can order THE ST ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE WORKSHOP, VOLUME 1 from...
     Taylor Ridge Books
     P.O. Box 78
     Manchester, CT 06045
     The phone is (203) 643-9673
   
   We take checks, money orders, MasterCard, Visa, and can even do COD, 
   although that costs extra. If you like, I can take a credit number 
   from you in email and get the book off to you almost instantly. The 
   book is $24.95 plus $3 shipping.

   By the way, big bookstores won't carry Atari books anymore, since the 
   audience for them is so small.

                             ----------------

 From STACE - Cat. 4, Topic 44, Msg. 104 - from the ST Roundtable on 
 Genie...
  
   Latest news on 68030/68882 pricing..!!!

   I haven't confirmed this myself (yet) but I've had two people tell me 
   now that they've been able to purchase *50mhz* 68030 AND 68882 for 
   UNDER $200 from Hi Tech (805-966-5454). Further, I've seen a few local 
   places that have 80ns 1meg SIMMs as low as $30 each!. Wow!! This 
   030'ing is getting cheaper all the time! :-)

   Imagine...SST bare board   $599
             50mhz 68030      $130
             4 1meg SIMMs     $120
                              ----
                              $849

   Pop in a 40mhz oscillator and for $849 you can have one SCREAMING '030 
   system that is also ADDING 4 megs (or, if you prefer, 8 megs) of 
   MEMORY to your ST system! Throw in another $60 for that 50mhz 68882 
   and you are still barely over $900 for a real HOT setup.

   Now...hypothetically speaking...I understand that there may be another 
   company's product out there that is going for $898 when equiped with a 
   68882. Again, hypothetically speaking, doesn't it seem well worth it 
   to spend an additional $11 ($909 vs $898) for *4* megs of additional 
   memory for you ST? *4* megs of 32-bit wide ultra-high-speed FASTRAM?

   Again...I would recommend that you confirm the availability of the 030 
   and 882...but I was told $190 for the PAIR is the going rate at Hi-
   Tech!

   Gee...I wonder what's going to happen when SST bare board finally show 
   up on the dealer's shelves. You just KNOW how those dealers like to 
   discount! :-)

                              ----------------

 The life of a developer from David Thompson (JMG) - Cat. 6, Topic 32, 
 Msg. 125 - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
  
   Who ever said the life of a developer is dull...

   Let me tell you all a story of a man named Jed.... Ooops, I was just 
   gonna tell you about my day today. Starts out very typically... Up 
   last night till about 6 a.m. working on the new manual and doing some 
   quotes for the store and other administrative STuff (George was up 
   almost as late working on the final touches to version 2.0)

   Of course the phone starts ringing around 9:30 a.m. with people trying 
   to sell me duct cleaning (the ducts in my house for those with gutter-
   snipe like minds :-) Get off the phone with them and get back in 
   bed... Sleep for 15 minutes before another call. This time it is one 
   of those automated sales pitches so I don't even get the pleasure of 
   hanging up on a human.

   BUT WAIT IT GETS BETTER!

   Got up around 11 a.m. and staggered down to the kitchen to get COFFEE! 
   Thens it down to the basement to get back to work on the manual and 
   other things. Today it was the ever exciting taking screen shots of 
   the program to import into Pagestream. Took a call from Atari Canada 
   (they're trying to get our store to buy their MSDOS Notebook. Geez, 
   wish they'd get their ST Book out!)

   Then took a couple of calls from the store regarding problems that had 
   come up, and then took a call from the store about a Mr. Mike Staple-
   hurst who had called regarding HyperLINK. (Ah, Finally a tie to this 
   category!)

   DON'T GO AWAY YET, THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING!

   Turns out the Mike (actually Mick) is from London and is in Hamilton, 
   Ontario for the day and had heard about our product. Whatcha doin in 
   town? (Asked much more formally) Mick is one of the sound guys with 
   Dire Straights who were in town for a concert tonight. Hmmm, finally I 
   seem to be getting to the point! Anyways, he can't get away from the 
   Colliseum to come up and look at the product, and right after the show 
   they're tearing down and moving off to Toronto, so how about you come 
   down to the concert (free tickets left at the box office) and show me 
   the product before the show.
   
   One thing leads to another (ie. Clearance from the wife to go without 
   her, after all, she is seven months pregnant) and George and I are off 
   to the concert. Free tickets and Backstage Passes later we get shown 
   into Mick's office... Below the stage! (Sign above the entrance 
   "Kingdom of the Dwarfs" and my back can vouch for the reality of this) 
   Take Mick through the various aspects of HyperLINK for about half an 
   hour and then it's back to our seats for the show.

   The show was great!!! We didn't meet Mark Knoppfler - I haven't a clue 
   if thats close to the spelling of his last name, but what do you 
   expect (a little loud for my current tastes, just in volume, 
   definitely not in content... I must be getting old!) And now we get 
   the status of having HyperLINK being used by a Roady who only last 
   year was head of the Iron Maiden Computer Club. According to Mick, 3 
   ST's, 1 PC, and 1 {spit} Amiga! His words and spittle, not mine :-)

   The moral of the story... Go out and become an Atari developer, even 
   though you might not ever get rich, you might get free Dire Straights 
   tickets!

                              ----------------
   
 Until next week.....



      ______________________________________________________________





 > POWERNET STR InfoFile          POWERNET by POWERPOINT SOFTWARE!
   =====================




                     PRESS RELEASE FROM CHRIS LATHAM,
                  AUTHOR OF UIS 3.1 AND UNIVERSAL NETWORK
                                      
                                      
             UNIVERSAL ITEM SELECTOR AUTHOR FORMS NEW COMPANY
  
     Chris Latham,  author  and  designer  of  the  popular  Universal Item
 Selector and  Universal Network  utilities for the Atari ST, announced his
 complete separation from  Application  &  Design  Software  (A  &  D), the
 publishers  of  the  software.    Latham  states,  that  as  holder of the
 copyright on the software code, he  will  no  longer  provide  any support
 for,  or  upgrades  to,  the  two  products.    At  the  same time, Latham
 announced the birth of his  own  software  publishing  venture, PowerPoint
 Software.
  
     The first product from his new company is PowerNet, billed as the most
 powerful networking system to date for the Atari ST/TT line  of computers.
 The system  allows you  to share hard disk drives or any other peripherals
 and access them as  easily as  selecting a  file from  your file selector.
 PowerNet works  with Midi,  LanTech LT101  and LT201 cartridges as well as
 the Mega STE/TT Local Talk ports.
  
     To introduce  the new  product, Latham  is offering  a special limited
 'trade-in' for  registered owners  of Universal Network or SGS Net network
 software.  The special upgrade plan  offers a  complete 2  - Node 'Starter
 Set' of  PowerNet for  50% OFF  of the regular $99 price for this package.
 To participate, owners  of  the  products  must  send  in  their FORMATTED
 Original Master  Program Disks  along with  their checks  for $49.50 (plus
 $5 S&H).  Additional Nodes are  available  for  $55  each;  Midi connector
 boxes  for  $20  each;  Local  Talk  connector  boxes  for $25 each; and a
 special 'Midi 2-Node Package' (complete with  2 connector  boxes) for $120
 ($20 savings).
  
 For further information, contact:

                               Chris Latham
                            PowerPoint Software
                               P.O. Box 942
                           Merlin, Oregon 97532
                               503-479-6635.



        __________________________________________________________


  
  
  
 > LEXICOR PHASE IV STR Review         Chronos 3D Key Frame Animator
   =========================== 
  
  


                             Lexicor Phase IV
                       Chronos 3D Key Frame Animator
                                    and
                                Prism Paint


 by Clifton Willard


     Well it arrived and I opened it with mixed hopes and fears.  To some
 extent, the Phase IV series from Lexicor will make or break the ST/TT
 graphics performance in the near future anyway.  There has been a lot of
 speculation over the last year about the future of the ST and about the
 graphics programs promised by Lexicor.  There have been no new graphics
 programs for the ST or in the Atari platform for some time and the old
 stuff was getting very old very fast. Other platforms were emerging with
 new and powerful graphics programs that were becoming more and more
 attractive to Atari owners who wanted to upgrade, myself included. The
 Cyber series just doesn't cut it any more. The competition was crawling
 all over Atari until now that is.  I received Prism Paint and Chronos 3D
 together and with great excitement.  I loaded first one and then the other
 and browsed around. Since Chronos 3D is the more significant program, I
 will review it first.

 FIRST CLASS MANUAL

     It is not my intention to rewrite the manual but to review the
 program.  The manual is first class and provides all the information one
 needs to adequately operate the program after a short period of time.  The
 beginner has not been left out of the picture as is often true in less
 considerate manuals.  The first four chapters are devoted to the beginner
 and include everything from pointing and clicking the mouse to how to use
 dialogue boxes to loading objects and running animations.  I have never
 seen such a thorough job of explanation before in any manual.  This is
 definitely a big plus for the person who wants to get into 3D animation
 but doesn't think s/he can.  In Chronos 3D you can, I promise.  The length
 of time it actually takes you to create your first 3D space saga will
 depend on your experience.  Once the beginner is brought up to par with
 the more experienced users, the manual enables everyone to comfortably and
 easily learn the basics of key frame animation.  The manual is very well
 organized and is easy to get around.  The binder is one of those D type
 that I personally find difficult.  I changed to a regular binder and put
 the index in the front of the manual.  It is easier to get to if it is in
 the front of the book and I need to get to it a often.

     The explanations are clear.  There are a few mistakes in the tutorials
 but they are in the objects provided, not in the manual.  I understand
 that they will soon or have already been fixed.  In one tutorial when you
 load the plane into the program, it is not in the position the manual says
 it is.  In another, the walking man does not have his arms attached to his
 body.  You can use your head though and make the minor adjustments.  I
 mention them only so that if you get the program and come across them you
 will know what the problem is.  These are very minor and I found no other
 problems in the tutorials.

 KEY FRAME?

     The program is "Key Frame" animation.  Key frame animation is the
 animation production style of the professionals like those at Disney. The
 master animator creates the first and last frame of a motion and the
 assistant animators create the "inbetween" frames.  This is where the term
 tweening comes from.  In the case of Chronos 3D, you are the master
 animator and the program acts as your perfect assistant and does all of
 your tweening.  You create the key frames that contain the beginning and
 ending of your object's changing movement.  You then decide how many
 frames you want to be inbetween and Chronos 3D provides them by generating
 the splines between the two positions.  This is key frame animation.

     One of the main advantages of this type of animation is that the
 animator does not need to know any programming at all.  In the past on the
 Atari, you had to know a basic like programming language to program Cyber
 Control and create 3D animations from within CAD 3D Studio. Chronos 3D
 replaces both programs and enables you to do more because you do not need
 to know programing to accomplish the movement.  

 NO PROGRAMMING NEEDED

     Chronos is an intuitive program and in a way is the opposite end of
 the spectrum from Cyber Control or ST Control.  In both those programs you
 used numbers, mathematical expressions, and numerical positions in space
 to create your object movement.  In Chronos 3D, you use a mouse and point
 and click.  It is important to realize that this is a different style of
 thinking.  I found that I had to learn to think differently about
 animation in Chronos.  You can't easily use numbers to create the perfect
 circular or perfect spiraling movement.  At first I found this very
 frustrating.  With practice I became more comfortable with this free hand
 style and now I find it liberating.  For alignment purposes, Chronos 3D
 provides a grid that is adjustable.  You can set this grid and position
 your objects using the grid as a guide.  An artist that is gifted in
 visualizing spacial relationships correctly will have no trouble with this
 concept.  Though I am good at it now, I miss the access to the numbers. 
 One problem with the lack of numbers is that you do not know where your
 object has been moved.  Every time you call up the "explicit" dialogue
 box, used to enter exact numbers, it shows zero (0).  If you have rotated
 an object several times or even once, there is no way to know how far you
 have rotated that object up to that point.  If you make a mistake in one
 of your key frames, you must click on each one and visually determine
 which one has the error and then judge the correction needed.  This is
 frustrating and at times difficult to deal with.  I do find this a
 drawback to the program.  I understand however that there is some interest
 in doing something about providing a history for either each key frame or
 object.  This might be in the form of an Desk Accessory.

     There is one feature however that is great help in the number problem
 and that is a feature called trace.  If you click on an object and then
 click on trace, the program will generate a thread like line showing the
 movement of that object from the beginning of your motion to the end. 
 This is wonderful and with a little practice you find that you can do
 quite will without the numbers.

 OPEN TYPE PROGRAM

     It is appropriate at this point to explain that this program and
 series for that matter may be considered a shell type program. Independent
 programers can and are encouraged to develop modules or utilities that
 provide additional power to the programs.  This is a real plus for the
 series.  Interested programers should contact Lee Seiler at Lexicor.

     The desktop of the program provides easy access to all of the
 features, dialogues and sub menus of the program.  There are also key
 board equivalents to most of the features, menus and dialogues.  I can't
 stress enough how powerful this program is and the variety of things it
 can do.  Though I can't cover all of the assets of this program I will try
 to cover most of the main features that give it it's power.

     First let  me state that there are no limits to the number of objects
 of the number of points in each object as in the Cyber series. The only
 restriction is your computer memory.  There is also no restriction as the
 length of your animation.  This is also dictated by your hardware and
 memory.  Also chronos 3D will load any 3D object form the Cyber series
 including Cyber Texture objects.

 TIMELINES AND RAILROAD TRACKS

     Chronos 3D uses what are called timelines to record the motion of an
 object.  You can think of a time line as a railroad track and the object
 as a single railroad engine with no cars following.  The idea is that you
 draw the tracks any way you want and the train engine will follow them
 just like a real train.  If you can lay out model train tracks on your
 living room floor then you can animate with Chronos 3D. You lay the tracks
 in chronos 3D by moving the object with the mouse. You decide how long the
 track will be by adding sections to the track. In Chronos 3D, these
 sectioned are called frames.  If you want your object or engine to take a
 long time to go from point A to point B, you add a lot of sections to the
 track or in Chronos 3D, you add frames. This metaphor will hopefully help
 you understand the concept of time lines.

     One of the unique features of Chronos 3D is that you can copy these
 time lines and apply them to other objects.  You can make a copy of the
 tracks and put another engine on them.  You can also copy any part of the
 track and put any engine on it you want.  The limits are your imagination.

     To take this metaphor a little further, Chronos 3D will let you do
 different things to your engine as it travels along it's track.  The
 engine or object can get bigger, smaller, wider, narrower, taller,
 shorter, longer, turn in any direction or combination of directions with
 just a click or two with the mouse.  Also Chronos 3D has no limit on the
 number of tracks or engines, time lines or objects.  In addition to moving
 engines, you can move the camera and any or all of spot lights or point
 source lights.  The tracks, time lines hold everything together.  You can
 cut and paste tracks/time lines the same way you cut and paste clip
 buffers in drawing programs.  It is no more difficult then that.  

 NO NEED FOR HIERARCHY, JUST CYCLE

     Another feature that really sets Chronos apart from other 3D animation
 programs is a feature called cycling.  Cycling is sort of like changing
 engines several times as it travels down the track.  The tutorial in the
 manual is as good example as any I could think of for demonstrating this
 concept.  There are 15 different variations of the same object that you
 load in as one object.  In this case the object is a walking man.  Each
 variation is a different position in the total walking motion.  You load
 each into the cycling feature in a specific order.  The cycling feature
 then plays them in the order in which you entered them.  The feature
 cycles through the objects and the result is motion or in this case a man
 walking.   It is very impressive and very simple.  As a comparison, in CAD
 3D and Cyber Control you had to develop a hierarchy of objects and then
 move this hierarchy and it's parts individually.  It was complicated and
 difficult for those of us who are not experienced programmers.  In Chronos
 3D, this same effect is accomplished easily and simply with no
 programming.  All you really do is to load the objects in the sequence
 you want them to be played. This is really nice.  You create the different
 variation of the objects in Cyber Sculpt or Dynacadd if you are really
 serious and load them into Chronos 3D.  This is a powerful feature and
 enables anyone to easily create movement that before has been restricted
 to the pros.

     There is an undocumented variation of this feature call object
 instancing.  Essentially you create several different variations of a
 single object cycle.  Chronos 3D does not use the actual loaded object as
 the object manipulated in the program.  chronos 3D makes copies of the
 loaded objects and uses them for the movement.  Using different first
 objects in the cycling feature, you can have as many copies of the cycle
 as you want.  I created an army of walking men using this technique.  I
 used a through away object, (box1, box2, box3, ...) as my through away
 objects.  I then varied the starting object.  In the first man I used box1
 and man01, man02,...  In the next I used box2, man04, man05,...  You must
 complete the cycle so that in the second man, the last man loaded into the
 cycling feature was man03.  You hide the through away object box1,
 box2,...  and record your animation.  It is very powerful.  Do the
 tutorial in the manual and then try this instancing.

 TURN A MAN INTO A BIRD AND FLY AWAY

     Another feature that is part of the cycling feature is morphing.
 Morphing comes from metamorphing meaning changing completely from one form
 to another.  This powerful technique is also very simple.  You create an
 object in CyberSculpt and save it.  You then change that same object into
 another from using the editor and the listed tools.  You then save that
 object and quit.  In Chronos 3D, you load each object, and in the cycle
 feature you load the first object into the morph box and then click the
 number of frames you want the change to take place over and load in the
 second object.  Go to preview and check it out! Using this feature, you
 could turn a man into a bird and have him fly away right in front of your
 eyes and dazzle every one even yourself.  These two features, cycling and
 morphing are worth the price of the program alone.  

 THE CAMERA TRACKS AUTOMATICALLY

     The camera in Chronos 3D is no less powerful then the other features. 
 Keep in mind that many of the greatest films in history were shot with one
 camera and many still are.  You can move the camera in any position you
 want and save that position for future use.  These saved positions are
 called tripods and you can save up to 8 of them in any one film.  There is
 one exciting feature in Chronos 3D that really makes complicated things
 easy and the amateur look professional and that is tracking.  You can
 easily with just a few clicks of the mouse have the camera track a moving
 object.  This is very nice.  This tracking feature can be used with
 anything.  You can have objects track each other and start the tracking at
 any point in the track/timeline you want.  You could have a ball come into
 the camera view and then have the camera follow/track the ball until it
 hits the window pane and breaks it into a thousand pieces.  You can also
 track an object with the spot light.  It is a nice feature.

     Not only can you move and manipulate objects in Chronos 3D but you can
 also determine how the object looks and the degree of its visibility.  In
 the appearance menu you can choose from three styles of shading; Flat,
 Gouraud and Phong.  In Flat shading, each triangle is shaded individually. 
 Gouraud on the other hand calculates how light affects each point or
 corner of a triangle and then dithers and blends the color of these points
 toward the center of the triangle.  Phong shades each pixel in each face.

     You can also choose the dithering style you want.  None means that
 only solid colors are used in the rendering.  Fixed means that the dither
 patterns are the same from frame to frame.  Random means that the dither
 patterns vary randomly from one frame to the next.  This latter mode
 creates a nice glittering effect and adds to the sense of movement in
 space of an object.

     You can even decide if you want the faces to be blended together
 giving a smoother object.  This can really make a round object look really
 round without those face edges that are so telltale of low rez and 16
 colors.

     Each object in your animation can be treated independently of other
 objects in these appearance modes.  One object might be flat shaded but
 another may be Phong shaded in the same animation.  This feature can among
 other things help distinguish objects from one another and create effects
 not otherwise possible.

 FADE IN, FADE OUT

     Another powerful feature is called visibility.  This feature has to do
 with the how visible an object is in any given frames.  100 percent
 visibility means that the object is fully rendered.  50 percent means
 that 50 percent of the object is transparent and 0 visibility means that
 the object is invisible in the animation.  This visibility can be tweened
 over any number of frames creating a fading in or out effect. Using around
 50 percent visibility can give an object a transparent look like glass or
 fog or water.  Objects can come and go within an animation or the whole
 animation can fade in or out.  Again as in so many of the features of
 Chronos 3D, the only limits are your imagination and your hardware.  

 CHRONOS 3D IS FIRST CLASS

     It must be apparent by now that I think Chronos 3D is a first class,
 simple to use, 3D object animator.  It must be kept in mind however, no
 matter how good a 3D animation program is, there is no substitute for
 pre-planning your animations.  Should you purchase Chronos 3D and I
 strongly recommend that you do, read the manual and methodically do the
 tutorials.  Then decide to create a simple animation of your own and do it
 in chronos 3D.  It is the best way to learn the program.  This is a
 powerful program and one needs to approach it purpose and forethought
 (pre-planning).  Chronos 3D does not create objects nor does it tell you
 where to move them.  If you really want to create good animations and
 learn to be comfortable with chronos 3D, you must pre-plan.  Get a piece
 of paper and make some sketched ideas of what you want to happen to those
 objects of yours.  Think it through first.  Have some idea of where you
 are going and then use Chronos 3D to get you there and always reserve the
 right to change your mind.  That is your part.  There is help though. 
 Unlike any other company that I have known about in the Atari platform,
 Lexicor is providing classes on Compuserve to teach you how to use their
 series to create your prize winning animation <no grin>.  These classes if
 you will include everything you ever wanted to know about and be able to
 do in 3D animation.  Lee Seiler is an accomplished artist and is in a
 position to really help anyone from the novice to the expert with these
 classes. Though I have been doing 3D animation for a few years now, I plan
 on attending every class and do every homework assignment.  That's right
 homework assignment.  These classes provide an opportunity to learn how
 to do this stuff.  I know of no better way.  It seems to me the ultimate
 educational opportunity for "Chronies" <grin> both new and old.  The
 syllabus is now on Compuserve and I suggest that you look it over.  If
 you do not have a modem or are not a member of Compuserve then get it
 from someone who is.

     Nothing is perfect and Phase-4 is no exception.  Keep in mind that
 chronos 3D is only one of several parts to a complete graphics animation
 package for the Atari ST and TT.  As I said in the beginning of this
 review I received both Chronos 3D and Prism Paint, the first two parts of
 the Phase-4 series.  Chronos 3D no doubt is a first rate program but Prism
 Paint falls short of the power that you would expect from the developers
 of Chronos 3D.

 PRISM PAINT DISAPPOINTING

     I believe that part of my disappointment in Prism Paint was my
 expectation that it would be an update/upgrade to CyberPaint.  It is not
 and does not even come close.  With a few differences, Prism Paint is on
 a par with Degas Elite.  Prism Paint is a first rate basic drawing
 program that was created as a tool to touch up Chronos 3D animations. In
 addition to standard brushes, boxes, circles, rectangles, lines, rays,
 k-lines spray, draw, you can have unlimited frames and splined curves and
 it runs in all ST and TT resolutions.  It will also run is the 24 bit
 color board rez of 512 X 512 with some 262 thousand colors on the screen
 at once out of a pallet of 16 million.  For single pictures this is a
 great program.  Slides and other graphic stills can be created easily and
 comfortably.  But that's all.  There is no tweening, no pixel effects, no
 font importation, no ADO, no bluing, and so forth.   Because of this there
 is no way to create a traveling background or any background for that
 matter for your Chronos 3D animations in full TT resolutions.  You can
 load Chronos 3D DTL files into CyberPaint but that limits you to
 CyberPaints resolutions.  I may be the exception but I used Cyber
 Control/CAD 3D2 in conjunction with CyberPaint to create complete
 animations.  My expectation was that PrismPaint would enable me to
 continue this combination of 2D backgrounds, mats and tweened touch-ups
 and 3D object animations.  Not so at this time anyway.  I would not
 however let this prevent me from using Chronos 3D.  I have a feeling that
 this situation will not last too long.  The need and demand are there,
 either Lexicor or some other developer will fill the gap.  There are
 several programs that could be updated to surpass CyberPaint including
 Prism Paint.  I think that the idea is that users expect that new programs
 will be upgrades of existing programs.  This is not the case with Prism
 Paint.  

 OPINION

     As should be apparent from the review I could not recommend Chronos 3D
 more.  It is a first rate program with few flaws.  I would like to see a
 history system for object movement to help hone the movements.  I
 understand that there is an anti-alias feature and a spot shadow feature
 in the currant release update but I have not received the update yet so I
 cannot comment.  Chronos 3D comes with a key that you must plug into the
 printer or serial port of the computer for the program to work.  There are
 many who might complain about this security device but I am not one of
 them.   would rather have a security device and the program then no
 program.  Giving a program to your buddy or pirating programs can kill
 the company that brought you that program. These developers are not
 multi-billion or even multi-million dollar concerns.  They are people like
 you and me and they work hard and invest a great deal so that we can have
 programs of Chronos 3D's quality.  It would be foolish not to protect the
 investment.  Enough said about the security device.

     I also recommend prism paint.  Though it is a basic program, it is the
 only one that will take full advantage of the resolutions of the TT and
 the new resolutions of the new 24 bit color boards.  You do need it for
 touching up Chronos 3d animations even if you have to do the touch up one
 frame at a time.  Both programs are well worth the expense and Lexicor
 seems to be putting the Atari ahead of the other guys.  The support that
 Lee Seilor is giving on Comp-u-serve is unprecedented and should be taken
 advantage of by anyone the least bit interested in computer graphics.

     The ability to easily put graphics on video with the new 24 bit color
 boards lets desktop video "chronies" almost compete with the big boys with
 an ST.  Keep in mind that the phase-4 series works on the ST as well as
 the TT.  The cost of the series is small in comparison to the increase in
 quality.  I look forward to seeing the other programs in the series and
 also in getting my 24 bit color board.



       ____________________________________________________________





 > STR Portfolio News & Information              Keeping up to date...
   ================================



                         THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
                         =========================

 On CompuServe


 by Judith Hamner  72257,271

     WTP700.BAS is a PBASIC program that will convert Wizard telephone
 files to Portfolio .adr format.  This will be welcome for users of both
 machines.  Thanks to Tony Davids for a useful upload.  The code should
 also be easily  converted for use with other Basic's.  PBASIC is available
 in the forum library.

     Don Thomas has several new entries in his series of graphics files of
 corporate logos.  REVLON.PGC is the Revlon Cosmetics logo. PGSHOW is
 required to view .PGC files.  BBUY.ZIP contains an animation of the Best
 Buy logo.  IBM.ZIP is an animation of the IBM logo.  WINTEK.ZIP contains
 an animation of the Wintek logo along with some .PGC images.  TAF.ZIP
 contains several .PGC screens of the Toronto Atari Federation in honor of
 their upcoming ACE '92 show.  All of the animation files will run
 standalone.

     SECURE.ZIP is an animation routine for those worried about losing
 their Portfolio.  Put it in your autoexec.bat to get a laugh at the
 expense of those who dare try to use your machine.  LOST.ZIP is another
 humorous animation to try to help find lost Portfolios.  It will encourage
 the finder to return it to you.

     David Stewart has good news for those who have trouble deciding which
 .PGC screens to take along on their ram card. PGCVIE.ZIP is a Windows 3.0
 program to view .PGC files on your desktop computer. David has also
 uploaded some .PGC files of his own. RECYCL.PGC is a graphic of the
 recycling symbol.  If you've been curious, DAVE.PGC contains a picture of
 Dave himself.  This file demonstrates what is possible with inexpensive
 equipment. You might even decide  to have the Portfolio boot with your own
 picture.
  

      _______________________________________________________________



 > ARCHIVERS! STR Spotlight            "...a brief over-view.."
   ========================




                            One Man's Opinions
                            ==================



 by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
 Senior Staff Editor


     This article is meant to be a brief over-view of the four major
 compression programs in the ST market; ARC602 (shareware from Darin
 Wayrnen), STZIP1.1 (Postcardware from Vince Pomey), ZOO2.1 (author
 unknown), and LZH201 (shareware from Thomas Quester).
  
     All of the programs were used with a shell (in my opinion, without a
 shell available, the .TTP extension means Trash This Program). Charles
 Johnson's ARCShell 3.1 (shareware from Little Green Footballs) was used
 with ARC602 and LZH201.  ZOOShell .06b (freeware from Steve Yelvington)
 was used with ZOO2.1.  STZIP1.1 comes with its own shell.  (BTW, you have
 sent in your shareware payments haven't you?) Now on with the overview...
  
     Due to some incompatibility problems between DCSea and TOS 2.05 >, in
 the last few months I have been forced to use ARC602, LZH201, STZIP1.1 and
 ZOO2.1 files in my PD Watch disks for ST Informer. (Sometime one
 compression method with work with DCSea where another one will not.)  So I
 have gotten fairly used to the idiosyncrasies of all four formats.
   
     LZH201, ZOO201 and STZIP1.1 _can_ all create a file that is relatively
 close in size (within 500 bytes on an average 30-60k file), so created
 file size isn't that important of a consideration between the three.  All
 four handle folders, so that is also a tossup between them.
  
 ARC602
 ------
     Probably the most compatible between various systems. Also the one
 that most ST owners have. It's 99% backward compatible with older Arc'ed
 files. It has the worst compression of all four - sometimes making a file
 that is 50% larger than any of the other three.  This might not seem like
 much until you start working with 100-400k files (which are not the
 exception anymore). It is also the slowest compressing and decompressing
 of all four.
  
 STZIP1.1
 --------
     Probably the fastest in compression of all four.  However the current
 version's still buggy and can create files that are considerably larger
 than they should be.  Sometimes you have to manually go through each file
 in an archive and compress each one in different modes to get the file as
 small as it should be (this is important to me because I want the files on
 my PD Watch disk to be as small as possible so I can get as many files on
 each disk as possible).

     The shell is nice but limited (the author doesn't seem to realize
 there are people that have partitions greater than drive L).  Also, I have
 had to reset my system several times once I exit from the shell as my
 system has frozen up after using it. The program/shell has great potential
 - but it is "not there yet".
  
 ZOO
 ---
     The slowest in compression among ZIP/ZOO/LZH. As I noted earlier, it
 does create as small of a file as the other two.  However, I've seen no
 viable reason for the average ST user to use ZOO.  It doesn't do anything
 that STZIP1.1 or LZH doesn't already do...and do faster.  I understand it
 does have some commands that LZH doesn't have (I don't know about
 STZIP1.1) but I don't think they are commands that the average ST user
 would miss (I know I don't).
  
     ZOOShell .60b is nice and complete. It is fully GEM with drop down
 windows and on-line help screens and the author should be commended for
 making it easy to use but still powerful.
  
 LZH201
 ------
     Not as fast compressing files as STZIP but faster than almost anything
 else in the ST market. From what I've seen on the major on-line services
 and private Bbss that I'm on, LZH201 is rapidly becoming, if not the
 defacto standard for the ST, at least the second standard.  Next to ARC,
 probably most ST owners have a copy of this program on their systems.
  
     It's 99% compatible with the older LZH'ed files (XLHARC files are the
 exception, but they're also the exception to most other LZH programs). 
 When it comes to de-compressing files, it is a tossup whether STZIP or
 LZH201 is faster. If STZip is faster, it is by a negligible amount.  The
 author is constantly upgrading the program and its speed (sometimes too
 often...IMO). If you don't want your LZH'ed files in 201 format, LZH201
 has the ability to switch back into Level 1 mode (which is needed with
 DCSea). One thing I don't like is that only one version out of five
 (approx.) has been translated into English before it reaches the US
 shores.  While this isn't that important (if you use ARCShell 3.1), I do
 like my programs to be in English if possible.
  
     However, to be completely fair, I feel the only reason it's as usable
 as it is because of Charles Johnson's ARCShell 3.1.  Before ARCShell 3.1
 came along, I would not use LZH201 because it was too command
 incompatible with the older versions of LZH and ARCShell.  However, with
 the introduction of ARCShell 3.1, it has made using LZH201 and getting to
 all of it power a breeze.
  
     In summation, when you combine LZH201 and ARC602 with Charles
 Johnsons' ARCShell 3.1, you have an awesome triad that can handle 98%+ of
 all ST files that the average ST owner will run into.

     No matter how good STZIP1.1 and/or ZOO2.1/ZOOShell60b are, you still
 have to own a LZH pro-gram and an ARC program of some kind (and probably
 ARCShell 3.1) as the vast majority of the ST files come in one of those
 two formats.  Since neither ZOO or ZIP give many (if any) advantages over
 LZH201 in features that the normal ST owner will use and need, I feel that
 all they do is 'muddy the water' - make a user have to have more
 compression programs on their drives in order to be compatible.
  
     Of course, there are users who have to be ZOO or ZIP compatible due to
 types of files they handle (UNIX) or who need some particular feature of
 one of these two programs. But I feel these are the exception and not the
 rule.
  
                           Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
                        Staff Editor for ST Report
  

 Editor Note:
 Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. is a long time staff editor for ST Report but also
 has produced the PD Watch Disk for ST Informer for the last 3 1/2 years
 under the ED OTEY pseudonym.
  



        __________________________________________________________






 > CeBIT 1992 STR INTERNATIONAL HOTLINE   CeBIT 1992 in Hannover, Germany
   ====================================



                   -** EXCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS REPORT! **-
                   """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""



     Before leaving Karlsruhe for a little vacation in Paris tonight I
 finally managed to write a little CeBIT report for STReport and meSSAGes. 
 As usual, please correct my typos and my style.  I know it's not as good
 as it used to be, but I haven't had too many chances to speak English
 lately, and also I'm in kind of a hurry (a train is not waiting...)





                      ===============================
                      CeBIT 1992 in Hannover, Germany
                      ===============================



 by Oliver Steinmeier

     New records concerning the number of visitors and exhibitors were
 reported from Hannover, where the world's largest computer fair took place
 from March 11 - 18.  To give you an impression of how big this show is let
 me just list some figures: 500,000 visitors, 5,000 exhibitors from 40
 countries, 20 huge fair halls.

     Of course, Atari had its traditional booth in Hall 7 where Atari
 itself and about 50 developers showed their (new) products for the ST/TT
 and Portfolio.  As expected, the booth was crowded by people of all ages
 all the time; and it sure was a pretty stressful time for everybody
 working there.  Answering the same questions over and over again must be
 pretty boring ("No, this program won't be available before May...").

     The most important news from the Atari booth in my eyes was something
 that couldn't be seen there.  I'm talking about the fact that NO NEW
 MACHINES WERE SHOWN THERE, at least NOT TO THE PUBLIC.  A couple of ST
 Books were shown, lots of STEs and TTs could be seen, but no Falcons, no
 Sparrows and no Turkey...

     Instead of showing new hardware, Atari surprised the visitors with the
 first presentation of the new MultiTOS that is based on MiNT, looked
 pretty good to me, and will be available for all STs and TTs.  The
 average user, however, will have to wait a couple of months before he/she
 can start a compiler in the background while editing the source file. 
 Atari says that MultiTOS will not be available before fall. Hopefully,
 this year's fall...  MultiTOS does not restrict the number of processes
 running simultaneously.  The only limitation is the size of the Atari's
 memory.  When running on the TT, MultiTOS makes use of the MMU to protect
 programs against each other.

     Atari's second new product is ATARI UNIX which is now available for
 the TT.  According to a demo shown on the ST Books, Atari's smallest ST
 will finally be available here in April.  The STylus, the sensation of
 last year's CeBIT, wasn't shown, and I didn't hear anything about it.

     Independent developers showed a variety of new software. Application
 Systems unveiled 'PURE PASCAL', developed by the same people who already
 gave us 'Pure C'.  'Pure Pascal' is said to be compatible to Turbo Pascal
 on MS-DOS platforms; and although this is hard to believe, a friend of
 mine who got a demo version said that it is even faster than Pure C.  The
 price for Pure Pascal is 398 marks ($240).

     Maxon announced a new version of MultiGEM called MultiGEM II.  The
 limit of six parallel processes has been removed.  Also from Maxon is
 MultiTeX, a new TeX implementation that kicks in some kind of
 multi-tasking which allows you to edit a file while printing a DVI file,
 for example.

     Bela is offering another multi-tasking extension for TOS called
 'MAG!X' (pronounced 'Magics') which, according to Bela, is available right
 after the fair.  It looked pretty good to me.  16 simultaneously running
 programs with a maximum of 16 windows, new GUI, new desktop and a price of
 only 149 marks ($90) are the most important facts about 'Mag!x'.

     A new word processor called 'PAPYRUS' is hitting the market, the
 program will have to prove that it's worth 298 marks ($180).

     The German version of DataDiet was shown for the first time and caught
 a lot of interest.  Artifex also presented the new desktop replacement,
 called 'EASE'.

     And now the latest news about Atari's top secret project called
 'FALCON 030':  All I know about it comes from a pamphlet called "Inside
 Falcon 030 - The official non-technical report", which according to the
 subtitle is covered by a non-disclosure agreement.  But since I didn't
 sign anything...  A kind developer let me have a brief look into the
 document, and -- except for that cover page, it was just a collection of
 blank pages!  Rumors say that a German software developer played this hoax
 on Atari.

     The German Atari magazine 'Atari Journal' covered the show in special
 editions every day.  These were produced live at the Atari booth in a
 special DTP center.  Visitors were able to see the entire process of
 making a magazine.  Everything from writing the articles to printing the
 magazine was done in public.

     What else was there to be seen in Hannover?  Of course, lots of other
 products for the ST that I missed seeing or wasn't interested in.  MS DOS
 book computers with color displays were presented by many PC companies,
 with prices around 12,000 marks ($7,200).

     Apple, of course, featured the MacIntosh PowerBooks, and gave away 10
 'PowerBook 100' computers in a lottery every day (still waiting for my
 prize...).  The smallest PowerBook 100 now costs less than 3000 marks
 ($1800).

     At the Commodore booth the new Amiga 600 was unveiled, a complete
 Amiga 500Plus in a case as small as a C64.  The Amiga 600HD comes with a
 20 Megabyte hard disk installed in that tiny case.  The entire thing looks
 like a toy, is aimed at the consumer market and supposedly is meant to be
 the successor of the meanwhile nearly 10 year old C64. The new machines
 will be available right after the show, at least that's what Commodore
 said.

     One thing I nearly forgot to mention is the new Atari ABC N386SX
 notebook, a 80368SX machine (20 MHz) with a 40 or 60 MB hard disk, VGA
 graphics and all the other stuff that makes it a typical MS-DOS notebook.
 I didn't see it myself, but a CeBIT magazine had a report about it.

     If you asked me for a resume I'd say that even though there was no new
 hardware.  The presentation of MultiTOS at least showed Atari's dedication
 to the ST line.  Sure, I'd have loved to see a neat new machine, but -- to
 be honest -- what does it help us (and Atari) if we know about it and
 can't buy it right away?  The ST Book was shown in Hannover last year, and
 it looked pretty good already, and it, nevertheless, took Atari more than
 a year to get it out to the dealers.  Atari has to do some improvements to
 its development team, other (PC) companies bring out new notebooks twice a
 year.  But bashing Atari all the time for not shipping a machine that
 obviously wasn't ready to be shipped doesn't help to keep the Atari scene
 together.  One conclusion Atari apparently has drawn from this bashing is
 that they won't show anything anymore before its development is nearly
 finished.  Let's hope they find a way to speed up the development of new
 machines...

 If you have asked yourself what 'CeBIT' stands for here is the answer:

 It's an acronym for:
          "Welt-Centrum - Buero, Information, Telekommunikation"
                ^^        ^      ^            ^
 and in English this means:
          "World Center - Office, Information, Telecommunications."


                             Oliver Steinmeier
                               Atari Journal
                                  Germany
                        Email: uk14@dkauni2.bitnet

 P.S.
     A Happy St. Patrick's Day I want to wish you guys over there.  Last
 year I was able to celebrate it in Miami - with GREEN BEER.  Brrr, that's
 some of kind of strange drink for a German :-)



       ____________________________________________________________





 > COMPOSCRIPT STR InfoFile    "state of the art PostScript interpreter"
   ========================




                                CompoScript
                                ===========



     Goldleaf  Publishing,  Inc.  is  proud  to  announce  the  arrival  of
 CompoScript, the state of  the art  PostScript interpreter  for your Atari
 ST/TT.

     CompoScript enables  you to  print PostScript  files on non-PostScript
 printers. In addition, a PostScript file  can be  shown on  the screen and
 there  is  an  option  to  convert  it  to a graphic file, so that you can
 subsequently import it into a  graphics  or  DTP  program  which  does not
 support PostScript.  

     If you  use DTP,  Text, CAD,  Graphics, Music Notation or Presentation
 software, then you will almost certainly  benefit from  CompoScript.  Many
 programs can  produce PostScript  files, and by using CompoScript you know
 you will get the best quality possible, both on screen and printer. If you
 use programs on other operating systems, such as Macintosh, MS-DOS, Amiga,
 or  Windows,  you  can  save  your  files  to  disk  and  print  them with
 CompoScript, providing flexibility and compatibility. 

  

 CompoScript obsoletes other PostScript interpreters
 with its amazing features : 

 Compatibility
 -------------
     A  high   degree  of  compatibility  means  no  specialized  fonts  or
     customizing your software for the interpreter;

 Flexibility
 -----------
     CompoScript can  be configured  to automatically  print selected files
     without any user input, and automatically delete files after printing.
     It can drive your  printer directly  or through  the operating system.
     You may  configure memory  usage and  the built-in virtual memory, and
     edit resolution for file conversion  or  screen  display;    even edit
     screen angle and frequency for grey scale output!  

 Typefaces
 ---------
     CompoScript uses  hinted PostScript  Type 1 fonts, the highest quality
     font format available.  It includes the standard 35 font set (designed
     by  Bitstream)  and  not  only  can  these  fonts  be  used  by  other
     applications, but  any Type  1 font  may be  used in  CompoScript as a
     built-in font,  simply by  telling CompoScript  the font location!  In
     addition, the  entire Bitstream  Typeface Library  of Type  1 fonts is
     available - over 1000 fonts!

 Screen Preview
 --------------
     Optionally view  your file  onscreen, at any resolution up to 600 dpi.
     Then press a key to immediately print the file.

 File conversion
 ---------------
     Convert PostScript files or clip art  to  GEM  Image  (.IMG)  or TIFF,
     popular file formats supported by almost all applications.

 Font Control
 ------------
     Define or  edit font  aliases for  printing files with fonts you don't
     own, or for changing font definitions.

 Printer Support
 ---------------

 CompoScript supports the following printers :
  
     Atari SLM 804/605 laser printers -  Epson, Star,  NEC, Panasonic, OKI,
     Seikosha  &  compatible  9  &  24  pin  printers - Canon BubbleJet and
     compatible bubble jet printers - HP DeskJet, DeskJet Plus, and DeskJet
     500 ink jet printers - HP, Epson, NEC and compatible laser printers

     CompoScript  supports  360x360  dpi  printing,  data  compression, and
     unidirectional /  bidirectional  printing  for  printers  that include
     these features.


 Price
 -----
                  Despite it's incredible feature list...
                  CompoScript has a SRP of only $349.95.

     CompoScript runs  on any Atari ST/STe/TT with at least one megabyte of
 memory and a hard disk.  For more information, please contact us.

                         Goldleaf Publishing, Inc.
                   700 Larkspur Landing Circle Suite 199
                        Larkspur, California  94939

                            Tel : 415/257-3515
                            Fax : 415/454-8106

                     *** SETTING NEW STANDARDS ***




        __________________________________________________________




  
 > SFAN ALIVE & WELL! STR FOCUS  "SFAN is starting out on the right foot"
   ============================
  



                         SFAN.. MOVING RIGHT ALONG
                         =========================



 by Kevin Fason
 Director of Viewer Relations


     The Trimbles have been hinting about new jobs and possible move from
 Houston, but we've had to be very secretive about details.  Now we can
 tell you exactly how thrilled we are to be a part of The Space, Fantasy &
 Adventure Network (SFAN)!  It is exactly the project that every fan, at
 one time or another, has dreamed about; a special television network
 especially for the genre.
  
     SFAN is starting out on the right foot:  no fancy promises, no
 grandiose plans.  Just good, solid programming with professional
 production crew and businessmen who'll see that we stay on the right track
 during the growing pains.  SFAN won't have big production shows right
 away, but it's a possibility, down the line, if you help SFAN become a
 real network.
  
     So what do the Trimbles have to do with SFAN?  Well, I'm going to be
 <ahem!> Director of Viewer Relations.  I'll get _paid_ for what I've been
 doing free all these years -- helping people, talking to fans, going to
 conventions, writing newsletters!  John will be Traffic Control (TV
 production title for Tape Librarian) with his own bailiwick; wildlife
 posters on the wall and many shelves of old SF movies to care for.
  
     Mike Kelley is an amazing man who makes things happen.  He's the SFAN
 Founder (read:  "dreamer with a goal"), a long-time fan who talks so
 convincingly about his ideas that you'll believe in them, too.
  
     Now is the time to make our own specialized network happen.  Miss this
 chance and fandom may never have another; the industry will just shrug and
 turn away from us once more.
  
     We are calling on friends, fans, clubs & newsletters to help in a mail
 campaign to support SFAN!  Call your friends and pass the news. Remember
 the original _Save STAR TREK_ mail campaign?  If you were in on it, here's
 another chance to make history.  If you missed that one, this is an
 opportunity to be able to look back, years from now, as you enjoy SFAN and
 say, "I was part of making that dream come true!"
  
 Help us make SFAN a reality!
  
      (Just a note...if you will check the January '92 issue of ATARI
  EXPLORER and the interview with Walter Koenig, you will find my name.)
  

 Letter from the Founder (me):
  
     Enclosed please find information on The Space, Fantasy & Adventure
 Network (SFAN) which we are releasing to fans and interested groups  in
 advance of our pending nationwide press release.  We feel it is vitally
 important to give priority to fandom before the news media hears about
 SFAN.
  
     We did not wish to live down premature public announcements, so the
 difficult task of forming SFAN has been accomplished mainly out of the
 public eye.  The project moved slowly and steadily through careful
 planning and funding projections necessary for a solid business.  We have
 carefully combined science fiction writers with the scientific community,
 celebrities, hard-edged business acumen _AND_ the fan world for an
 unbeatable combination of talents to work for SFAN and make it a reality.

     The cable and television industry, as well as fandom itself, has been
 barraged for several years with conflicting claims and press releases
 about an attempt to launch a supposedly similar concept.  The result of
 this multiple media blitz is a genuine cynicism among cable and
 entertainment executives about the viability of any such project.
  
     SFAN can convince these executives that the necessary programming
 exists to support our specialized network for many years.  However, these
 same people need to know that a large audience is impatiently waiting for
 SFAN.  Fans will have to demonstrate their support for this project to
 lend it credibility with the powers that be.
  
     Please pass word to your membership, family, and friends.  You are
 authorized and encouraged to reprint this information (or the entire
 pages) in your newsletters or correspondence, especially the addresses of
 the cable multi-system operators (MSOs).  Ask everyone to help by writing
 letters to the five MSOs at the listed addresses, making known their
 wishes for SFAN, a viable Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, and Horror
 network.  Aim these letters at the MSOs to arrive beginning in mid-to-late
 April...but if word is passed to you later, it's _never_ too late to add
 your letter to the stacks.
  
     Fans are discerning enough to understand their influence.  They were
 the determining factor in major national efforts:  the SAVE STAR TREK
 campaign in 1968, the naming of the first space shuttle, and the saving of
 the space program, as well as many regional campaigns. That's why we are
 making a direct appeal to fandom.
  
     SFAN cannot happen without its potential viewers:  we need you and
 your invaluable support.  We know that fans, if addressed with the honesty
 and respect they deserve, will do whatever is needed to make their dreams
 a functioning and successful long-term reality.
  
                                   Michael Kelley Founder
                                                                           
      
 Just what is the...
  
       SPACE, FANTASY & ADVENTURE NETWORK
  
               and what is it offering you?
  
     The Space, Fantasy & Adventure Network (SFAN) is the first and only
 satellite/cable television channel to be developed by a team combining
 enough imagination to understand the needs of a specialized audience and
 the practical business expertise necessary to make it a viable reality. 
 Development has happened primarily under wraps so SFAN would not have to
 live down unrealistic public promises.
  
     Our special recipe for SFAN:  began with Walter "Chekov" Koenig as a
 spokesperson and host/producer of a movie/TV oriented talk show, add HIGH
 FRONTIER space advocacy group, stir in Atari Computer Corporation,  throw
 in Bjo Trimble (whose letter-writing campaign saved STAR TREK in  1968: 
 she afterward worked with Roddenberry), throw in industry  development,
 executive, marketing, production, and engineering  professionals, fold in
 a programming content and format _nothing_ like  a cross between MTV and
 The Disney Channel, spice with our slogan from  Arthur C. Clarke ("Science
 fiction is the only _genuine_ consciousness- expanding drug!"), and mix
 all this in the determined hands of a Science  Fiction, Fantasy,
 Adventure, and Horror devotee. Combine it all and serve SFAN to an eager
 fandom.
  
     At this moment, we are in the final stages of negotiation with other
 STAR TREK original cast members.  Cooperation from a number of renowned
 science fiction and fantasy writer awaits only SFAN's successful
 acquisition of funding.
  
     SFAN is in negotiation for funding at this moment and we are taking
 this opportunity to give STAR TREK and _other_ enthusiast groups a "sneak
 preview" of our existence and forthcoming public announcement and ask for
 your support.  We need you to help convince the cable industry of the
 existing audience and support SFAN can expect.  They only understand the
 concrete reality of numbers.
  
     Successful negotiation for funding will enable SFAN to launch promptly
 (within six months of funding), but that does not guarantee carriage by
 the largest cable multi-system operators (MSOs).  The top five MSOs
 constitute almost 40% of the nationwide cable systems and are on record as
 doubting the audience and availability of programming for a channel like
 ours.
  
     Back in 1968, NBC received over one million letters to save STAR TREK
 from cancellation after its second season; a half million letters resulted
 in naming the Space Shuttle Enterprise; and a half million letters twice
 helped save the space program budget.  The source for all of these
 letter-writing campaigns has been, and continues to be, dedicated fans. 
 Bjo Trimble was pivotal in all these efforts and, as our Director of
 Viewer Relations, has made as our goal delivery of a half million letters
 demanding SFAN to each of the top five cable multi-system operators.  It
 is the sort of reality they understand.
  
     You can make yourself and your friends part of the success of SFAN by
 writing to the cable MSOs, proving you do exist and that you demand more
 than "The Persian Shopping Channel".  However, writing to your local cable
 company is a waste of your time and stamps.  Your letters serve only to
 fill their wastebaskets.  You have to hit the cable MSOs at the Executive
 level.
  
     The addresses and names of the top five cable MSOs, as well as a
 sample letter and Bjo Trimble's revised "How-To", are provided for your
 convenience.  SFAN looks forward to hearing from you and serving you for
 years to come.
  
   Target date for that flood of letters is mid-to-late April, 1992.
  
   It can _only_ happen with you.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 FIVE LARGEST CABLE MULTI-SYSTEM OPERATORS:
  
 #1  Tele-Communications Inc.
     John C. Malone, Pres. & CEO
     Suite 600
     4643 South Ulster Street
     Denver, CO 80237
     Phone 303-721-5500
  
 #2  (ATC-Warner-Paragon)
  
     American TV & Communications Corp.
     Joseph P. Collins, Chmn. & CEO
     300 First Stamford Place
     Stamford, CT 06902-6732
     Phone:  203-328-0600
     Fax:    203-328-0690
  
     Warner Cable Communications
     James L. Gray, Pres. & CEO
     400 Metro Place North
     Dublin, OH 43017
     Phone:  614-792-7000
  
     Paragon Communications
     James P. Cottinham, CEO
     300 First Stamford Place
     Stamford, CT 06902-6732
     Phone:  203-328-0600
  
 #3  Continental Cablevision Inc.
     Amos B. Hofstetter, Jr., Chmn. & CEO
     Pilot House
     Boston, MA  02110
     Phone:  502-223-3401
  
 #4  Comcast Corp.
     Ralph J. Roberts, Chmn.
     1234 Market Street
     Philadelphia, PA 19107-3723
     Phone:  215-685-1700
  
 #5  Cox Cable Communications
     James O. Roberts, President
     1400 Lake Hearn Drive
     Atlanta, GA 30319
     Phone:  404-843-5000
  



     I strongly support The Space, Fantasy & Adventure Network (SFAN), a
 new cable television channel about to launch its services.

     As an enthusiastic viewer of this type of programming I urge you to
 carry this service as soon as possible.
  
     Based on the success of science fiction, fantasy, adventure, and
 horror movies, box office revenues as well as the amount spent on books,
 souvenirs, and collectibles, SFAN is an obvious choice for your systems.

     I again encourage you to immediately make SFAN available to your
 subscribers.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     These are Bjo Trimble's rules on how to write effective letters...this
 has worked before on some major efforts.  If you want to see us succeed,
 may I suggest that you write both to the cable MSOs and to Atari
 encouraging them to increase their involvement (looks very good right now,
 but it couldn't hurt!).  I'm tired of being an orphan computerist!
  
 HOW TO WRITE EFFECTIVE LETTERS:
  
 1.  Write a short, sincere individual letter to EACH multi-system operator
 (MSO) saying that you want The Space, Fantasy & Adventure Network (SFAN) -
 When mail is counted, your letter will truly make a difference.
  
 2.  THEN:  Ask 10 people to write letters.  They write letters and ask 10
 people to write letter.  They write letters and ask 10 people to...(get
 the idea?).  Don't be judgemental; there are many "closet" science fiction
 fans out there:  fellow workers, neighbors, church groups, classmates,
 civic & other clubs, etc.
  
 3.  Don't address a V.I.P. (executive) familiarly, act smart, use
 insulting language or tell a corporation their business - you are asking a
 favor; the privilege of getting SFAN, your own special-genre network.  The
 wrong attitude will nullify your letter.
  
 4.  Be pleasant.  Corporations seldom get anything but complaints, so a
 cheerful, upbeat letter can make a CEO more receptive.
  
 5.  Don't use form letters, mimeographed letters or multiple carbons -
 Such letters give the impression that only a small segment of fans are
 doing all the writing. (But computer letters are okay.)
  
 6.  Sign the letter - anonymous mail is sleazy & it is either thrown away
 or put in the "nut" file.
  
 7.  Use company letterheads or club stationery if you have a right to it.
 Corporations are sensitive to potential "pressure" groups.
  
 8.  Don't misrepresent yourself - Corporations are geared to ferret out
 spurious claims.  Such tricks will not help SFAN and someone may check it
 out for a news story.
  
 9.  Don't barrage local cable companies with letters.  They aren't
 interested unless MSOs accept SFAN first.
  
 10. Use petitions to get names from those who won't bother to write a
 letter.  Corporations understand that only a percentage of people will get
 off their fat apathy to write letters; signatures on a petition can show
 how many MORE people want SFAN on their cable.  The petition should have
 at least one contact address.
  
 11. Keep letters on the subject of getting SFAN on cable everywhere.
  
 12. Don't send your letters to SFAN; we'll just have to remail them. Send
 letters directly to the five MSOs listed in this mailing.  SFAN would like
 to know about your mail campaign, however.
  
 13. For this mail campaign, it's not necessary to use business-sized
 envelopes; personal stationery is fine.  Postcards may also be used.
  
 14. Target:  Mid-to-late April, 1992.
  
 Letters to Atari:
                                      
                         Mr.Sam Tramiel, President
                        Atari Computer Corporation
                              P. O, Box 61657
                            Sunnyvale, CA 9408
                                      
                          SFA Network, Suite 372
                         1807 Slaughter Lane, #200
                           Austin, TX 78748-6200
  
 That's all...remember we'll be glad to send the printed version if you
 request it. So let's write and get the SFA channel to our local TV's!!
 Sounds like SFA will deliver, unlike the sci-fi channel!  And hell, since
 atari's are being used, maybe Atari will help out, so write to them too!





        ___________________________________________________________





 > ///TURBO BOARD BBS VER. 2 STR Spotlight
   =======================================


                   TURBO BOARD ST VERSION 2 INFORMATION
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Turbo Board ST Version 2 is a total rewrite of  our original  BBS program.
 Over a  year's work has gone into the total rewrite of Version 1, and Bill
 Miller has really outdone himself this time!  We think we have a very good
 BBS program indeed!

 The ///Turbo Board  Support bbs is running at bps rates from 1200-14400 if
 you would like to give us a call, the number is 416-274-1225

 Our F-net number is node 18,  if you  are calling  from an  ST bbs  in the
 Fnet.

                                        John Miller, Bitblit Systems

 Turbo Board Version 2's NEW Features
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 -Expanded User privileges and Bitmaps for Passwords
 -KByte/File Ratio System
 -Smart Batch uploading & User File Description Editing
 -Ymodem-g uploads for HST users
 -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
 -Sysop definable Menus and Prompts
 -Main Menu commands and functions fully programable (also Submenus)
 -Many New Copy and Save Functions for Fmail, and other files
 -Quick help edit prompt in message editor
 -Modular BBS, (Main Module only uses about 80K of memory) for greater 
  free memory -lots- when running Binkley (Fido Mailer)
 -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 SIG system for grouping message bases, fully configurable by Sysop
 -Quick Chat and DOS keys from local console
 -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)
 -And many other new small features not listed here that are improvements
  over our Version 1.0

 Additional Features of Turbo 2.1
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Version 2.1running Version 2.0

 New features include:

 -New Gem BBS Executive Version 3.0 Totally rewritten and enhanced version
 -QWK compatible Qmail system in Message Bases
 -Integrated Full  Screen Editor, with Merge and Copy file features for    
  sysop
 -Binkley Mailer may be run as front door, or from BBS
 -New Event Scheduler for all batch files
 -Many smaller enhancements

 Under Developement
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 We have been promising this for a long time, and the Next version of Turbo
 Board will  contain  -fully- Fidonet Compatible message bases.  No need to
 run Fifo, or Fidodoor.  This new version is presently under developement.

 $89.95 US - USA and International List price for new Sysops
 $69.95 US - Special price for Current BBS Sysops (Supply current BBS
             number and information)
 $29.95 US - Special Update offer for Registered Turbo Version 1 Sysops
             (Turbo 2 addendum instead of Turbo 2 manual)

 Write or call for more information.

 In Canada:              The US:                         Europe & UK:

 Bitblit Systems         ABCO Computer Consultants       L.B. Van Bokkem
 1580 Liveoak Dr         PO Box 6672                     100 Broughton Ave
 Mississauga, ON         Jacksonville, FL                Aylesbury, Bucks
 Canada  L5E 2X6         USA  32205-6672                 England  HP20 1QB
                         800-562-4037
 bbs#                    bbs#                            bbs#
 416-274-1225            904-786-4176                    +44-296-395935





       ____________________________________________________________

                                                                      




 > STReport's Editorial Page           "Saying it like it is."


  From the Editor's Desk
  ----------------------

     Lets see now........ we've heard of the Sparrows and Falcons what's
 next?  Cockatoos and Cockatiels??  Maybe, but if one reads between the
 lines.. one finds some real progress being made.  I said that and I may
 have to pay for it later but I want to believe that progress is, in fact,
 being made.  The low and high end product mysteries are a delight to
 dabble with as they sure keep the interest levels up and brightly shining.
   
     One product is not a mystery, the NEW USR Dual Standard HST modem. 
 This is one fast, sure footed telecommunications tool.  When connecting
 with a similar modem an HST 16.800bps connection is made and announced as
 "CONNECT 16800".  At all other times including V.32 with all other modems,
 a 14.4 connection is made.  In tests, this modem was checked with a 
 similar modem and 100k files transfered at better than 2000bps repeatedly
 using normal phone lines.  One of these modems has been in use on the 
 Bounty for approximately 3 weeks operating flawlessly with solid connects
 with everything from 1200 baud to the maximum.  If you have a Dual 16.8 
 and would like to try it out with a similar modem give us a call at
 904-786-4176. 
   
     The "rumored" new machines are, to say the least, very exciting.  But
 please remember since it is all rumor, we must not take what we are
 hearing too seriously.  For example, the rumor that the ASCSI port is
 being _dropped_ in favor of a SCSI port.  Far too many users have called
 us; "all shook up and upset" about the loss of the DMA port.  They're
 lamenting about "how are they going to connect their SLM 804/605 laser
 printers to the new machines?"  I think the added SCSI port is a grand
 idea.  I also think that Atari has taken the DMA port into consideration
 and that matters are well taken care of.  Rumors can be fun... but you
 must remember they are just that.. RUMORS and they must not be taken
 seriously. 
    
                                               Ralph...........




             """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""




  STReport's Staff                      DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU!
  ----------------

                            Publisher - Editor
                            ------------------
                             Ralph F. Mariano


          PC DIVISION         AMIGA DIVISION           MAC DIVISION
          -----------         --------------           ------------
          Roger D. Stevens    Charles Hill             R. ALBRITTON


  STReport Staff Editors:
  -----------------------
          Lloyd E. Pulley Sr. Dana P. Jacobson         Michael Arthur
          Lucien Oppler       Brad Martin              Judith Hamner
          John Szczepanik     Dan Stidham              Joseph Mirando
                    Steve Spivey        Doyle C. Helms

  Contributing Correspondents:
  ----------------------------
          Michael Lee         Richard Covert           John Deegan
          Brian Converse      Oliver Steinmeier        Tim Holt
          Andrew Learner      Norman Boucher           Harry Steele
          Ben Hamilton        Neil Bradley             Eric Jerue
          Ron Deal            Robert Dean              Ed Westhusing
          James Nolan         Vernon W. Smith          Bruno Puglia


                             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   


       ____________________________________________________________




 > STR Mail Call             "...a place for the readers to be heard"
   =============


                            STReport's MailBag
                            ==================



 From GEnie

 Category 16,  Topic 7
 Message 7         Mon Mar 16, 1992
 L.ROCHA1 [Lou Rocha]         at 16:04 EST
  
 This is a long message. Turn on your text capture if you are NOT using
 Aladdin.

 Welcome back to USER to USER. Here is a listing of the USER to USER files
 in LIB 30 with a more detailed description.

 PLEASE NOTE that you need to have SL in order to LOAD or PRINT the ARC
 files listed below.  The TXT files are compatible with any text reader or
 wordprocessor.


 LIBRARY 30 - ISD PRODUCT SUPPORT

  No.  File Name             Type Address      YYMMDD Bytes   Access
  """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 23260 DBL_3.ARC                X L.ROCHA1     920316   14720      1
       Desc: Convert 1.09 double pages to SL

       This CDK explains how to restore the master page (header/footer
       frames) to the left page when you convert 1.09N double pages to
       SL format. 23260 is an update on 23203 but info is same.

 23207 DBL_4.ARC                X L.ROCHA1     920314   30848     35
       Desc: How to convert 1.09 to SL format

       This CDK is the same as DBL_3.ARC but has screenshots added.

 23171 DBL_PAGE.TXT             X L.ROCHA1     920313    1920     45
       Desc: How to convert double-page CDK's

       This file is an ASCII export of the CDK in  DBL_3.ARC. READ
       online if you wish.

 23264 PANTONE1.ARC             X D.SIMMER1    920316   32128      1
       Desc: 1st 2 of 4 Pantone palettes with CDK

       This file contains a CDK explaining Pantone Color Matching and 2
       files containing specific Pantone settings for loading into SL.

 23265 PANTONE1.TXT             X D.SIMMER1    920316    7296      1
       Desc: Pantone Color System palettes/SL

       This file is an ASCII export of the CDK in PANTONE1.ARC. READ
       online if you wish.

 23259 PG_NO_3.ARC              X L.ROCHA1     920316   12032      1
       How to do page numbering in SL

       This CDK demonstrates a workaround for creating automatic page
       numbering in SL. The master pages do not accept the [PG]
       placeholder in this version.  23259 is an update on 23184 but
       info is the same.

 23208 PG_NO_4.ARC              X L.ROCHA1     920314   31488     36
       Desc: How to do page numbering in SL

       This CDK is the same as PG_NO_3.ARC but with screenshots added.

 23170 PG_NUMBR.TXT             X L.ROCHA1     920313    1280     53
       Desc: How to use page numbering in SL

       This file is an ASCII export of the CDK for PG_NO_3.ARC. READ
       online if you wish.

 23172 RULERS_1.TXT             X L.ROCHA1     920313    1408     61
       Desc: How to adjust text rulers

       This file is an ASCII export of the CDK for RULERS_3.ARC. READ
       online if you wish.

 23209 RULERS_3.ARC             X L.ROCHA1     920314   14080     33
       Desc: How to adjust margins/indents in SL

       This CDK will explain how to set left/right margins and indents
       right on the text ruler.

 23210 RULERS_4.ARC             X L.ROCHA1     920314   28544     38
       Desc: How to adjust margins/indents in SL

       This CDK is the same as RULERS_3.ARC but with screenshots added.

 23206 SL_MAP.ARC               X L.ROCHA1     920314   81152     43
       Desc: Chart of SL Command Groups

       This is a 22 x 30 inch wall chart of SL's command groups,
       command icons, function names and chapter references. You must
       print using the TILING function and SCALING at 40% on legal size
       paper.

 23215 SL_MKEYS.LZH             X A.VALENT     920314   15616     30
       Desc: Calamus SL keyboard template inc PKS

       A very nice reference sheet for the various keybindings active
       in the release version. Combine with the SL_MAP for quick recall
       of functions, locations and access methods.

 23221 TEMPLATE.ARC             X L.ROCHA1     920314   29568     23
       Desc: Ready-to-use CDK for writing TIPS

       A CDK with information for those interested in writing a TIPS
       page. Text Styles and Master Pages are ready for you.  Just
       apply your text and screenshots (for level 4 projects).


 Coming REAL SOON NOW....

 K_SHORT.ARC     K Settings for use as a color table.

 TSTYLE.ARC      A tutorial on using the 8 command groups in the Text
                 Style module.

 STY_DEMO.ARC    Sample pages showing the incredible variations and
                 control over text styles with a ready-to-use Text
                 Style List.

                                  *******

   USER to USER  TIPS Forum is supported by ISD.  Write a TIPS page and
   earn cash discounts on ISD products.




           ____________________________________________________






 > A "Quotable Quote"               "....a virtue often forgotten"
   ==================




                         "TO ERR IS ONLY HUMAN......
                     ....TO FORGIVE IS SIMPLY DIVINE!"


                                           




  """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""




 > ABCO SPECIALS! STR InfoFile      * NEW 1992 Prices!  MORE Products! *
   ===========================        --------------------------------

       ****** TAX TIME SPECIAL!!  TAKE 10% OFF _ANY_ PACKAGE!! *****


                       ** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **

                 NOTICE:  ABCO will BEAT OR MATCH * ANY * 
         Advertised or 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 *
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                  WE PAY SHIPPING & INSURANCE!!!  >UPS!<
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            ==================================================
                SGN4951      51Mb  3.5"      Y       439.00
                SGN6277      65Mb  5.25"     Y       469.00
                SGN1096      85Mb  5.25"     Y       549.00
                SQN1055     105mb  3.5"      Y       599.95
                SQN2055     170Mb  3.5"      Y       689.00
                SQN3055     240Mb  3.5"      Y       939.00
                SQN4055     426Mb  3.5"      Y      1610.00
            ==================================================
                 FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES DEDUCT $60.00
              ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY "SUPER CABINET" w/250+w PS

              EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAILABLE 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 AVAILABLE Call for Info!
              PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!

        FAST TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED

                                   *****
     >> ABCO proudly offers the fabulous 1040 & MEGA STe Computers <<
           Call for ABCO's * VERY SPECIAL * 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 **

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     * 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 ****

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                  COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
                    Cart and Utility Software Included!

                        EXTRA CARTS:      $  69.50
                        DRIVE MECH ONLY:  $ 329.95

                      ****** 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 **
                  Or, YOUR choice of Hard Disk Mechanism!

                 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 Facsimile
                      ** $41.95 shipping included **

                    -- ALL TONER KITS  * IN STOCK * --

                       * Toner Starter Kits-$62.95 *
                    * Replacement (804) Drums-$186.95 *

               ABCO is PROUD to announce the  acquisition of
               the exclusive  U.S.A. distribution rights for
               ** Bitblit Software's; ///Turbo Board BBS. **
               This fine Atari ST  BBS  system  software and
               user support is available through ABCO to all
               Turbo customers in the USA.  Call for current
               pricing.

               >> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
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                     DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
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           CALL: 1-800-562-4037   -=**=-    CALL: 1-904-783-3319
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