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Info-Atari16 Digest Vol. 90 Issue 202
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INFO-ATARI16 Digest Wed, 14 Feb 90 Volume 90 : Issue 202
Today's Topics:
Becoming an Official Atari Developer!
Bug in TURBO-C V1.0
Frontier memory upgrades
How to boot from external drive?
PCDITTO II
XEDIT-type editor for ST
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Date: 14 Feb 90 19:20:51 GMT
From: @decwrl.dec.com (Don Peters, CTC2-1, DTN 287-3153)
Subject: Becoming an Official Atari Developer!
Message-ID: <9002141920.AA05746@decwrl.dec.com>
Subject: Becoming an Official Atari Developer!
Richard E. Covert Comments on becoming an Official Atari Developer:
>I called Gail Johnson in early January 1990 to inquire about becoming an
>Official Atari ST/TT Developer. I was sent a large envlope withing a
>week. The envelope contained a description of the current plan which is a
>single level plan costing $250.00. The Developer MUST be developing a
>COMMERICAL product for the ST. The Developer MUST submit 3 copies of said
>product to Atari Corp. the Developer MUST re-register annually. The
>packet I received said a LOT about what the Developer must do, but very
>little about what the Developer receives for his $250.00.
>Basically, all the Developer gets for his $250.00 is some mailing lists
>from Atari Corp. And the option of having his products (demos thereof)
>being distributed by Atari Corp to all Atari dealers.
.
.
.
>So, as of Jan 1 1990 there is only one Developer Program which costs
>$250.00. And it doesn't even include the MWC C compiler. It contains the
>OLD OLD Alycon C compiler, which I have heard is VERY VERY bad.
Maybe I can shed some more light on the situation. Like Richard, I was
also confused by Atari's new developer contracts and discussions.
Developers can now get good discounts on Atari hardware, but I didn't
know if I qualified, since, although I was an official developer for 4
years, I had no commercial product. No one in our ST computer club knew
either.
So, a few days ago, I called Charles Cherry, the manager of Developer's
programs at Atari (408-745-2082). Things are still a bit up in the air,
since he has only been on the job for a few months, and he is still
attempting to expand benefits. But here's how things stand so far.
There are now TWO classes of developers - one that is developing a
commercial product(s), and one that is chiefly developing for oneself.
Unfortunately, there are no specific names to attach to these two classes
- they are working on that. For convenience, I'll refer to them as
commercial and non-commercial developers.
For either class, you send in your $250 with a non-disclosure agreement,
and in return you get:
- a developer software kit supporting the ST, TT, and STe
. Alcyon C compiler
. MADMAC assembler
. Debugger
. Linker
- a newsletter subscription
- online support
If you are a commercial developer, you also get:
- customer registration address database
- marketing support
Mark Williams C is not included, but available separately for a
discounted price of $99.
Why become an official commercial developer? Well, mainly because you get
some hefty discounts on Atari hardware, as well as extended marketing
support. Atari is doing this to encourage the generation of new software
products in the marketplace.
You are probably wondering what you need to do to become a commercial
developer. First of all, if you have been a developer, you are
"grandfathered" in, and have no problem. Otherwise you have to apply
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.
Of course, you could try to lie like crazy, pay your $250, and go for the
discounts, but Charles says Atari will periodically review applicants and
remove them from the list of developers if no product appears to be
forthcoming. (I expect policy updates here, since policing this could turn
out to be a nightmare.)
All in all, I got the impression from Charles that Atari was really
serious about its claims of increasing developer support. I know I've
received several developer updates recently, each of good quality. In
fact, I'd say developer support was probably better now than at any time
in the past.
Charles also says to be sure to write him on suggestions. For example, he
recently asked a group of developers what kind of UNIX they wanted on the
TT. In spite of the wide audience, he only received two responses!
Hearing this, I asked if he monitored USENET (where he would get an
earfull). He said that while he didn't, there were others in Atari who
did monitor it (such as Ken Badertscher).
Oh, incidently, I asked him about the developer mailing that I recently
received whereby I got several disks of address data of all the ST buyers
that sent in their warranty cards. He said this was confidential
developer info, and couldn't be given to Atari clubs. On the other hand,
it was OK for the developer to make up mailing labels from these disks,
and for the developer to send out club meeting announcements along with
any product advertisements.
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.
------------------------------
Date: 14 Feb 90 17:37:46 GMT
From:
snorkelwacker!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!agate!stew.ssl.berke
ley.edu!ericco@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Eric C. Olson)
Subject: Bug in TURBO-C V1.0
Message-ID: <1990Feb14.173746.28244@agate.berkeley.edu>
>Look at this C-code:
> #define MAX -32768
> main()
> ?
> printf("1: %d\n", MAX);
> printf("2: %d\n", (int)MAX);
> ?
This is not a bug, its a feature. MAX is not a number, its an expression.
Thus, the evaluation of MAX is a long int. The first printf only prints
the high word of the long int MAX. The second printf properly casts the
long int to an int and prints the correct result. Try:
printf("3: %ld\n", MAX);
Eric
ericco@sag4.ssl.berkeley.edu
Eric
ericco@ssl.berkeley.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 90 18:09 GMT
From: Vision Newspapers <SOCS18%vaxb.york.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Frontier memory upgrades
Frontier _is_ a UK company. They started out as the UK supplier of Supra hard
discs. They now also supply a large range of memory add-ins:
Basically, you buy the Xtra-RAM board, and add as much memory as you like. The
prices are as follows:
Xtra-RAM board, unpopulated : 69.99 pounds
Xtra-RAM plus 1/2MB RAM : 99.99 pounds
Xtra-RAM plus 2MB RAM : 299.99 pounds
Postage and packing are _EXTRA_. They take Access and Visa, and can be contacted
at:
Frontier Software
P.O. Box 113
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
HG2 0BE
United Kingdom
Phone : +44 423 567140 or +44 423 530577
Fax : +44 423 522874
------------------------------
Date: Wed Feb 14 13:22:28 GMT 1990
From: craig%scol.uucp@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK
Subject: How to boot from external drive?
Message-ID: <9002141716.aa00709@flopsy.specialix.co.uk>
I have just bought a 1M external 3.5" floppy for my 520STFM,
and everything's hunky-dory except I can't run some games
that expect to be booted rather than double clicked.
I've heard that there are two options - fitting a switch
in the ST to swap the drive select lines, or a PD utility
that allows a warm-boot from drive B.
Can some kind soul help me by either telling me whereabouts
the relevant lines for the switch are on the circuit board
(mine is Rev D), or mailing me the utility?
I'd appreciate a quick answer on the hardware question,
since my machine is in bits right now while fitting a
memory upgrade, and I'd like to avoid the hassle of putting
it back together and then taking it apart again!
a v n e
T H A N K S
d a c
---
O__ .... Craig R.P. Heath Europe:
/| bang Santa Cruz Operation Ltd. ...!ukc!pyrltd!scol!craig
/ \ +44 923 816344 x417 Internet: craig@sco.COM
------------------------------
Date: 14 Feb 90 19:14:29 GMT
From:
wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!deimos!uafhp!uafhcx!dhe@decwrl.de
c.com (David Ewing)
Subject: PCDITTO II
Message-ID: <3703@uafhp.uark.edu>
Since there hasn't been any mention of this subject for awhile I though
that I'd ask....What's the current status on PCDITTO II? The last I heard it
was halted from shipping because of a bug that make it fail on certain ST's. I
apologize to anyone who is getting tired of seeing these messages, but I could
really use PCDITTO II.
-Dave
==============================================================================
dhe@uafhcx.uark.edu David Ewing, University of Arkansas
dhe@uafb15.uark.edu "DON'T PANIC!!!" Computer Science Engineering
==============================================================================
------------------------------
Date: 14 Feb 90 15:58:12 GMT
From: psuvm!bgb100@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Bruce Blanar)
Subject: XEDIT-type editor for ST
Message-ID: <90045.105812BGB100@psuvm.psu.edu>
Hi all:
With working on an IBM mainframe everyday at school, I have grown a bit
used to the XEDIT editor. I am interested in making an Xedit-type editor
for the ST, with the same kind of power (macros, full configuration settings,
etc.) I know that a commercial product exists for the IBM PC series of
computers called Kedit (Mansfield Software). Does anything exist like this
for the ST, either PD, shareware or commercial? If something like this
does exist, can someone please give me references to companies or FTP/mail
sites to get a copy? Any help would be appreciated.
By the way, I know Kedit works on an ST running PC-DITTO; it's slow, but
it works.
On a related note, is there anything similar to REXX available for the
ST? That's another idea that has been brewing over in my mind for a while
now too. (I know...if I want a mainframe environment, use a mainframe. But
I like my ST!)
Thanks all! I hope something good can come out of this!
Bruce Blanar
________________________________
| ___ || BGB100@PSUVM.bitnet
| / )____ _|_ / | || :::::::::::::::::::prefered
| /| / | | | __\_ | || BGB@psuhcx.psu.edu
| | / | \ \/ | || BGB@psuecl.psu.edu
| | | /\ \/ * || BGB@psuecl2.psu.edu
|________________________________|| blanar@math.psu.edu
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 90 18:08 GMT
From: Vision Newspapers <SOCS18%vaxb.york.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Keywords : Fonts, UK, Europe, STE
Re : <9001150805.AA1590@ucbvax.Berkely.EDU> on 24-pin font editors
You need Fontkit Plus, which allows you to edit GDOS fonts, downloadable
printer fonts and .RSC free images. It covers a huge range of printers, and
this includes the NEC P6, _all_ Epsons and compats. and a few more esoteric
printers.
It is an excellent font editor - easily the best font ed. for the ST (excluding
the Calamus font ed.) It really does have too many features to mention here. It
is published in the UK by an ST user group, for the princely sum of 15.95 pounds
stirling, from
The ST Club,
49 Stoney Street
Nottingham, United Kingdom
NG1 1LX
disclaimer : I have no connection with the writer of Fontkit Plus, nor with the
ST Club - it's just a damn good program.
Re : <9001122253.AA25532@ukcbvax.Berkley.EDU> Home of the ST
If there is a true home of the ST, then it must be Germany. The wealth of
products available and the esteem in which the machine is held is incredible.
In the UK, we have similar problems getting all those products released. For
example, a friend of mine in the ST business has tried extremely hard to get
Turbo C/ST released over here. He would have done all the manual translation,
layout, publicity etc. himself, but Borland/Heimsoeth in Germany say that
Borland UK have Turbo C/ST and they can't do anything about it. Borland UK
do not want to be associated in any way with the ST, to the point of
paranoia. It would be funny if it weren't such a crime.
As far as machines _actually shipping_ goes, the current status is
520STEs are arriving in volume. This was something of a surprise for the
dealers, who ordered ordinary 520STFMs and got STEs instead! I have yet to
see a 1040STE, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.
The TT _IS NOT SHIPPING IN VOLUME_, contrary to reports I read in this
newsgroup. I don't know of any developers who have machines.
TOS 1.4 is not shipping either. Every time you ask Atari UK about this
(assuming you can find anyone who knows) you get a different answer. A lot
of people are _very, very_ annoyed about the delay.
The magazine ST World will be running a series on programming the STE soon
(probably starting in the April edition). I covered STE DMA sound in my
"Programmer's Clinic" column for the March edition. You can get ST World
in the USA and CANADA, as well as most of Europe. Similarly, I had someone
cover the correct generation of GEM Metafiles in the current (February)
edition. I will cover more on the STE hardware in later issues.
I have good Atari technical documentation for the STE. I cannot see any reason
for not posting it to this group, if anyone is interested.
As of 3/2/90, Gollner Publishing (which produces ST World) has been merged
with the Database group of magazines, forming a new company, Interactive
Publishing. This now means that Interactive Publishing owns ST World, ST Action,
Atari ST User, Amiga Action and Amiga Computing. I do not think the new company
will continue to run five magazines when it can get away with two.
Therefore, I do not think that ST World will survive for long (the owners of
the Database group, Europress, own Interactive Publishing).
Re : HiSoft WERCS
The version I have is 1.12, dated March 1989, and it works for me
This is my second attempt at a posting - hope this one makes it...
*************************************************************************
* Mathew Lodge, University Of York, UK ?A black hole in the universe of *
* * electronic mail? *
* c/o Dept. of Computer Science * "Baldrick, fetch me a turkey _SO_ *
* University of York * big, you'd have though it's mother *
* Heslington * had been rodgered by an Omnibus" *
* York, UK * - Blackadder *
* YO1 5DD * *
*************************************************************************
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #202
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