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Info-Atari16 Digest Vol. 90 Issue 206
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INFO-ATARI16 Digest Fri, 16 Feb 90 Volume 90 : Issue 216
Today's Topics:
Ataris across US/Canadian border
Becoming an Official Atari Developer!
GEMDOS / MSDOS Disk Corruption
Key virus NOT harmless
Make my STe sweat...
Monitor advice sought
Single-sided drive problems
SPECTRE GCR & THE SC1224 (yes, it can be done!!!)
ST-Xpress
Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is
XEDIT-type editor for ST
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 90 14:26:42 EST
From: Don Spear <spear@acbsun.nrl.navy.mil>
Subject: Ataris across US/Canadian border
Message-ID: <9002161926.AA20250@acbsun.nrl.navy.mil>
I have carried my 520 (purchased in the US) both ways across the border
at Champlain NY with no problems or questions from US or Canadian customs.
My guess would be that if you purchase an STe in Canada and declare it
through customs, they will not care or know about FCC certifications. That
was our experience bringing in a 'Canadian Honda'. We had more trouble
from the Commonwealth of VA than from customs.
Don Spear
SFA/NRL
spear@acbsun.nrl.navy.mil
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 16:15:29 GMT
From: swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!mcdphx!hrc!force!covertr@ucsd.edu (Richard
E. Covert)
Subject: Becoming an Official Atari Developer!
Message-ID: <48ae32db.14a1f@force.UUCP>
In article <9002141920.AA05746@decwrl.dec.com>, peters@rodney.enet.dec.com (Don
Peters, CTC2-1, DTN 287-3153) writes:
> Subject: Becoming an Official Atari Developer!
>
> fresh, following these guidelines:
>
> 1) You must have a commercial product
>
> 2) Shareware definitely qualifies as a commercial product
>
> 3) Having your program published in some magazine qualifies
>
> 4) Public domain submissions generally don't qualify
>
> 5) If you are just starting, you most likely won't have any product
> yet. In that case, you must submit a business plan, describing the
> product you are working on and the timeframe for release.
> Finally, while I tried to accurately convey the significant points of our
> conversation, I no doubt omitted an important thing or two. You may want
> to talk to Charles Cherry yourself to clarify some issue. Give him a call
> - he seems friendly enough to talk to.
I agree with Peter, and wish that I could have expressed what I heard from
Charles
Cherry as well as Peter did! :-)
But, for you who want to become a registered developer, you have an excellent
opportunity to get published in a new mag called ST JOURNAL. I called Neocept
to ask about WORD UP 3.0 (which I wanted to upgrade to from WordUp 2.), and
the Technical Support guy at Neocept (sorry I didn't write down his name :-( ),
gave me the phone number to ST JOURNAL. I lef the number at home but will post
it later today.
Anyway, ST JOURNAL will publish its preimer issue in march with a cover date of
April. And the best news is that ST JOURNAL is looking for articles. I suggested
a couple of ideas that I am working on, and so I want to try to get published in
ST JOURNAL myself. So, that would qualify me as a Developer according to Peter's
above comments.
I will post a complete message about ST JOURNAL soon.
P.S. After discussing the situation with others on GEnie, I have come to the
conclusion that the $250.00 price is a fair price for the ST Devloper package.
I have talked to other developers who couldn't say much, but they all did agree
that it was worth the money. So, after I get published, or finish a couple more
ShareWare programs, I am going to submit for a Dev. kit.
P.P.S. Anyone interested in some ShareWare PageStream templates for various
AVERY Laser Printer Labels?? I am developing some PgS templates for the entire
line of AVERY Laser Printer labels, as well as some utilities to gather data to
be imported into the labels. For example, I am writing some code to convert the
various disk cataloging datafiles into ASCII files to be imported into 3.5"
and 5.25" AVERY LASER LABELs. Just a few things that I am working on.
--
Richard E. Covert, Lead Engineer of Software Tools Group
AG Communications Systems, Phoenix AZ (602) - 581-4652
TCP/IP: covertr@gtephx
UUCP: ?ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!zardoz!hrc | att?!gtephx!covertr
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 13:26:01 GMT
From: usc!srhqla!quad1!ttidca!woodside@ucsd.edu (George Woodside)
Subject: GEMDOS / MSDOS Disk Corruption
Message-ID: <10001@ttidca.TTI.COM>
I've stumbled onto one sure fire way to do this, and thought that I may
not be the only victim. Actually, this doesn't require an MS-DOS
system, just any other computer with a compatible disk structure
(including another ST).
Read or write anything on a disk in an ST. Remove the disk, and put in
the other system. Alter its contents. Put it back in the same drive in
the ST (assuming you have not accessed another disk in the same
ddrive). Write something on it. Poof. Disk corrupted.
Why? Simplicity. I would have kicked myself if I had the agility
required for such acrobatics.
The ST identifies disks via the serial number. When a disk is removed,
or inserted, the ST hardware recognizes that the media "may have
changed". GEMDOS then checks the serial number before accessing the
disk again. If the serial number has not changed, GEMDOS diagnoses the
situation as "same disk", and deems the current buffers to still be
valid. These buffers most likely contain portions of the directory and
FAT. When you write to the disk again, the buffered directory and FAT
are used, rather than re-read them from the disk.
If you are running from the desktop, you can cure this situation with
an ESCAPE in TOS 1.4, since that forces a disk re-read. In older TOS
versions, or most shells, you have to access a different disk, then
re-insert the one you want. Note that if both disks have the same
serial numbers (like all disks formatted on MS-DOS machines do), you
are really out of luck. You'll probably trash both of them.
Is this a bug in GEMDOS? No. The operating system is behaving exactly
according to the specifications. This is a more insidious problem: the
dreaded Operator Error!
Signed,
STUPID in Santa Monica.
--
* George R. Woodside - Citicorp/TTI - Santa Monica, CA *
* Path: woodside@ttidca *
* or: ..!?philabs|csun|psivax?!ttidca!woodside *
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 12:32:19 GMT
From: usc!srhqla!quad1!ttidca!woodside@ucsd.edu (George Woodside)
Subject: Key virus NOT harmless
Message-ID: <9989@ttidca.TTI.COM>
In article <2059@mrsvr.UUCP> krieg@jupiter.UUCP (Andrew Krieg) writes:
>I have been infected by a virus. Using VKILLER 2.2 I have learned that I
>have the 'Key' virus that everyone is talking about. It is waiting for a
>certain disk to be inserted before it does its damage. Thankfully, I never
>inserted that disk. By the spread of the virus (about 25 of my disks) I have
>determined that I have had the virus for about 3 weeks. Now, I probably still
>have the program that generated the virus in the first place. Is there any
>way to test for that? I'd like to determine where I picked it up from.
I know of no programs which spawn the "KEY", or any other virus (on the ST)
as of this date. The only way to get infected is to boot your system from
an infected disk.
As for testing for a "spawn" program, I'm about to submit the new VKILLER
to the binaries group. It will provide a means of installing a tiny
monitoring program which will check all passing floppies for executable
boot sectors. If you run a program which installs a virus on a disk,
the next access to that disk will cause an alarm to be triggered.
The new version has been beaten to death by some of my long suffering
friends (to whom I express my gratitude for their patience and efforts)
and is heading for the net, Compuserve, and GEnie this weekend (Feb 17).
It still does not deal with hard disks, because I have no concrete
information about any virus which is hard disk specific. It does not
deal with link viruses, for the same reason.
I have developed some new software to deal with link viruses, or
program alteration in general, but it is a bit too large to install
into the working version of VKILLER. I'll be submitting a separate
program to deal with those, in the near future. Please be patient.
--
* George R. Woodside - Citicorp/TTI - Santa Monica, CA *
* Path: woodside@ttidca *
* or: ..!?philabs|csun|psivax?!ttidca!woodside *
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 21:44:25 GMT
From:
zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!image.soe.clarkson.edu!news@tut.cis.ohio-state.ed
u (,,,2684025)
Subject: Make my STe sweat...
Message-ID: <1990Feb16.214425.8758@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>
Anyone in Europe or Canada have programs that will take
advantage of the STe's new features?
I have Derek's 4096colors demo, it's kinda neat, but...
Are there any scrolling/stereo sound/blitter/more 4096 color
programs or demos out there?
I want to see for myself what a beast this machine is...
AAron nAAs
opielask@clutx.clarkson.edu
P.S. My STe is Serial number 310, bought in Canada, and label
says that its a US machine!!
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 21:20:11 GMT
From:
zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.cs
.toronto.edu!omicron.cs.fsu.edu!fsucs.cs.fsu.edu!boyd@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
(Mickey Boyd)
Subject: Monitor advice sought
Message-ID: <9002162040.AA00949@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu>
In article <9002160814.AA13241@watsun.cc.columbia.edu>,
sajima@WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Takahiro Sajima) writes:
>
>Hi folks,
> I apologize if I'm beating a dead horse, but I'm new to ST's -
>ich bin neu hier. I'll keep this short.
>
> I understand that ST monitors come in two flavors - color and
>monochrome. Monochrome has high resolution (good text, but can't run
>anything written for the color monitor), and that color has medium (?)
>resolution (garbage text - no offense intended. Has impressive color
>graphics). I'd REALLY hate to have two monitors sitting on my desk. In
>other words, I want a monitor that can handle BOTH color and monochrome
>capabilities with a switch to select one of the modes. On an unrelated
>note, if the monitor can also accept TV/VCR signals, that would be nice
>too :-). I heard that someone on this newsgroup is very happy with a
>Magnavox monitor; what's the model? Any other suggestions are
>appreciated.
>
>/Taka Sajima
>sajima@watsun.cc.columbia.edu
E.A. Brown offers two different interface boards that one can use to hook
up a Multi-sync monitor to the ST. The output for color is superior, the
output for mono is good but not quite as nice as an ST mono (one must
view everything through the color mask, which slightly blurs the mono
image). Very acceptable though, well worth it if you have the cash for
the monitor itself. Costs for both are under $100, one is a multi-function
switchbox (drives, monitors, audio & composite outs, etc), the other is
strictly for the multi-sync connection (this one is about $50, I think).
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
Mickey Boyd | "Nobody can be exactly like me.
FSU Computer Science | Even I have trouble doing it."
mail: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | - Tallulah Bankhead
---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 19:09:18 GMT
From:
zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!markez@tut.cis.ohio-state.ed
u (Mark R Zbikowski)
Subject: Single-sided drive problems
Message-ID: <2412@uwm.edu>
My drive is having difficulty reading bought (or rented) programs. I
also have problems when I swap disks with other people. They don't
always like to work. Sometimes I get a directory, but it looks
completely mangled. I have a drive speed tester, and the speed is
right on 300. I opened up my drive to see if there was anything else
wrong with it (well, curiosity mostly drove me to that). Does anyone
know what could be wrong? Also, there are two pots (or variable caps)
on the top of metal case housing the drive. Which is drive speed and
what does the other one do?
markez@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
------------------------------
Date: 16 FEB 90 14:37:10 CST
From: Z4648252 <Z4648252%SFAUSTIN.BITNET@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: SPECTRE GCR & THE SC1224 (yes, it can be done!!!)
Message-ID: <900216.14370871.037058@SFA.CP6>
Hello folks,
FIRST, THE BACKGROUND:
A few days ago, line noise so froze up my modem that I decided to
power the modem off and power it back on. Upon powering it back up, my
SM 124 monochrome monitor suddenly gyrated, displaying the screen in
two halved parts. A few seconds later, everything went black. No, it
was not from my passing out! I powered the ST down and rebooted, using
my RGB monitor. The computer ran fine and the RGB looked great. The
monochrome is STILL dead.
I have no idea how switching modem off and then back on caused my
monochrome monitor to die but, at any rate, I don't have monochrome. And
nope, there are no other STers within 250 miles of me so that I can test
the monitor on their equipment. I assume the monitor is dead and not something
on the computer. But I don't know. If anyone with some documentation (what
is documentation on an ST???) can come up with a clue, please let me know!!!
To end the background to this, I run Dave Small's wonder Spectre GCR!
NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY:
With fear and trembling, I decided to use the SC1224 with the Spectre.
Well, Dave (bless him!) has an explanation with suggestions on setting
the pallette with optimum color combination so that the display is
readable. However his explanation does not fit my Control Panel settings
too well. But he does tell us that if you use two shades of grey that
the display might look pretty good.
So, that is what I did. Using the Atari Control Panel, I fooled around
with the colors and I managed to get an acceptable display. SERIOUSLY!
Just leave the white and black squares alone. Change the remaining two
squares to two shades of grey with the values 333 for one of the squares
and 444 for the other. It does work. In fact, I'm typing this
using Red Ryder while viewing with my SC1224.
A final note and most important. You almost GOTTA have four megs
to do this right. I am running MultiFinder with 900k setup in the system
heap to insure that MultiFinder runs perfectly. The cursor key is just
too slow without MultiFinder!!!! To get the cursor key to move at a useable
rate, you have to use MultiFinder.
CONCLUSION:
Well, we STers are a hardy lot, making do with what we can muster. I've
no documentation for my ST, none is available except for the $250.00
developer's kit. I have no idea if my monochrome monitor is dead or not
since no other STs are in my region, and, thanks to Dave giving at least
some support to the RGB monitor, I still have a workable, albeit fuzzy,
Mac display.
If any ST techies out there feel that the problem is not the monitor,
please let me know!!! THANKS
Larry Rymal: |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 20:26:23 GMT
From: zephyr.ens.tek.com!orca.wv.tek.com!pogo!bluneski@beaver.cs.washington.edu
(Bob Luneski)
Subject: ST-Xpress
Message-ID: <8561@pogo.WV.TEK.COM>
>has anyone heard anything about st xpress? i bought it on the
>newsstand occassionally last year, decided i liked it and send in $$
>for a subscription, only to get two issues in four months and no more
>issues since november or so. i had heard rumors of trouble... any
>official word on this (fairly good) magazine? if they have failed,
>what is the likelihood of getting some of my money back?
ST-Xpress went the way of ST-Log -> belly up. The November issue was their
last. After a financial reorganization and recapitalized by
Quill Publishing it will be reborn in April as ST Journel. It is my
understanding that they will honor at least part of the unused portions
of ST-Xpress subscriptions. You can find out more by writing to
Quill Publishing
113 W. College St.
West Covina, CA.
____________________________________________________________________________
Bob Luneski
Diamond Back Support Hotline: bluneski@pogo.WV.TEK.COM
Genie: B.LUNESKI1
The opinions expressed herein are my own and in no way reflect the
opinions of Tektronix, Inc.
____________________________________________________________________________
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 12:38:00 GMT
From:
mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!tmsoft!masnet!canremote!david.megginson
@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (DAVID MEGGINSON)
Subject: Tick-tick-tick-CRASH! is
Message-ID: <90021610511168@masnet.uucp>
You're right, that bug has nothing to do with any program, TEMPUS,
Calamus, or what have you. My guess is that the phantom typist appears
because the keyboard buffer has overflowed, but who knows? I get it (or
something like it) maybe once every two or three months.
---
* Via ProDoor 3.1R
------------------------------
Date: 16 Feb 90 12:29:00 GMT
From:
usenet.ins.cwru.edu!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!tmsoft!masnet!canre
mote!david.megginson@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (DAVID MEGGINSON)
Subject: XEDIT-type editor for ST
Message-ID: <90021610511157@masnet.uucp>
I've spent half my life trying to escape from CMS (Xedit, etc.). Well,
OK, not half my life, but it's close. The University of Toronto gives
free accounts to grad students on the IBM mainframe, but not on the Unix
machine. I did not think there was anyone in the world who actually
liked CMS, but it only goes to show that each of us wants to make our
home computer act like something familiar -- be it Unix, the Mac, or
even (gag!) CMS. There's even a command-line interpreter (Pcommand)
which mimics MSDOS, which is sort of like ripping the engine out of a
Porsche and putting a Volkswagen engine in instead!!!!! And isn't there
a CP/M emulator out for the ST?
So far, I have not seen anyone insane enough to want to make the ST act
like it's running VAX/VMS, but maybe that poor fool exists, somewhere.
---
* Via ProDoor 3.1R
------------------------------
End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #216
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