Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Info-Atari16 Digest Vol. 91 Issue 394
Info-Atari16 Digest Tue, 16 Jul 91 Volume 91 : Issue 394
Today's Topics:
3D Animation/Lexicor
An idea for DC Software? (wish list)
APPLE + IBM Agreement
Atari's monitors
atari amiga inc. (2 msgs)
comp.sys.ibm.pc (2 msgs)
Corrupted GPLOT.ARC file .. (2 msgs)
Diamond Back II latest version
gcc / g++ for the ST?
NROFF
Portfolio in Terminator 2?
Problems with FATSPEED.
Ramdisk assisted booting
Reset-Proof Ramdisk
Supra vs. ICD controllers
Wanted - info on Mega ST 8/16 MHz accelerators
weather fax (wefax) satellite images on atari
Welcome to the Info-Atari16 Digest. The configuration for the automatic
cross-posting to/from Usenet is getting closer, but still getting thrashed
out. Please send notifications about broken digests or bogus messages
to Info-Atari16-Request@NAUCSE.CSE.NAU.EDU.
Please send requests for un/subscription and other administrivia to
Info-Atari16-Request, *NOT* Info-Atari16. Requests that go to the list
instead of the moderators are likely to be lost or ignored.
If you want to unsubscribe, and you're receiving the digest indirectly
from someplace (usually a BITNET host) that redistributes it, please
contact the redistributor, not us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 04:31:44 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-
state.edu!bmakuch@arizona.edu
Subject: 3D Animation/Lexicor
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Has anybody heard of a company called Lexicor Software? They
are producing a 3D package called the Phase-4 Animation system
for the ST as well as a 24 bit graphics card. Any info, like
their address or articles in magazines about their product,
would be much appreciated.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 15:55:28 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve@a
rizona.edu (Steve Yelvington)
Subject: An idea for DC Software? (wish list)
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
[In article <2436@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>,
warwick@cs.uq.oz.au (Warwick Allison) writes ... ]
> mforget@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Michel Forget) writes:
>
>>timothyg@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Timothy Gallivan) writes:
>>>
>>> How about a spooler that tests
>>> the size of a spooled file, mallocs enough memory, then shrinks itself
>>> when the file has been printed.
>
>>Sometimes I want to print something that is only two or
>>three kilobytes, and it seems like such a waste to keep a thirty-two
>>kilobyte buffer.
>
> I'm in the opposite position: I'd like a spooler that spooled to disk,
> and read back in chunks (eg. 4K) for printing. That would make printing
> from PageStream much more pleasant on my 9-pin. I believe the lpr stuff
> with MiNT did this.
>
> What are the pitfalls of having a TSR access the disk? If I knew them,
> I would gladly write such a spooler.
I think that Malloc() and file handling share the same primary pitfall,
which is that under GEMDOS, only the current process may ``own'' either
dynamically allocated memory or file handles. If the current program
terminates, the memory and file handles will be invalid.
If this is the case (and I'm not a developer, but merely repeating what
I've been told on the net), then the method that Timothy suggested
couldn't work -- at least not with Malloc(). There might be a workaround
using high memory, or there might not.
The way around the file handle problem is fairly easy -- open a file,
read a chunk, and close it. Keep track of where you are. Then reopen, seek
the old position, read some more and close. Be sure that you never allow a
task switch while a file is open. (If you're a DA, beware of AES
functions.) That way you could keep replenishing a static buffer without
running a risk of losing a file handle.
----
Steve Yelvington <steve@thelake.mn.org>
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jul 91 15:29:28 GMT
From: uupsi!mpoint!ritz@nyu.arpa (Chris Mauritz)
Subject: APPLE + IBM Agreement
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul11.143617.11866@crash.cts.com> chuckie@pro-odyssey.cts.com
(Chuck Schul) writes:
>In-Reply-To: message from shawl@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
>
>it is the best thing to happen ever!ibm running apple o/s ,apple using
>advanced ibm technology!next year should be interesting now suddenly
>nothing else compares!the end of windows is near!!!and now we can have the
>power to be our best!(maybe specture will even run system 7 one day!!!
I think the technology sharing aspect of this deal was secondary. IBM
is probably doing this to avoid wasting time/money on litigation with
Apple over their "Maclike" GUI in OS/2.
Cheers,
Chris
--
------------------------------------+---------------------------------------
Chris Mauritz |People are strange
ritz@msb.com |when you're a stranger.
Copyright (C) 1991 |The Doors-
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 15:58:30 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve@a
rizona.edu (Steve Yelvington)
Subject: Atari's monitors
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
[In article <1991Jul16.033229.11046@world.std.com>,
azog@world.std.com (azog-thoth) writes ... ]
> Anyways. What I want to know is why Atari didnt make _one_ monitor for
> _all_ resolutions.
In 1985, when the ST came to market, a monitor capable of displaying all
three resolutions would have cost several times as much as the computer.
You can buy such monitors now, but they compromise the quality somewhat.
----
Steve Yelvington <steve@thelake.mn.org>
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 03:18:23 GMT
From: noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!apple!netcomsv!seitz@arizona.edu
(Matthew Seitz)
Subject: atari amiga inc.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <A0b8ia7i@mwowm.mantis.co.uk> mathew@mantis.co.uk writes:
>
>CDTV is very much a case of "What can we throw together quickly in order to
>grab some market share before everyone else?" And that's the sort of
>attitude which has killed countless products in the past, the one real
>counterexample being the IBM PC which has staggered on regardless of its
>fundamental design flaws and incompatabilities with the standards of the
>time.
>
>But Commodore aren't IBM. They can't hope to push CDTV into being a de facto
>standard when they're faced with companies like Sony and Philips.
>
>
>mathew
>--
><< baby mother hospital scissors creature judgement butcher engineer >>
I work for a company that is heavily involved in CD-ROM publishing equipment.
Frankly, we've seen very little happening in either CD-I or CDTV. Many
companies are just getting into CD-ROM, and those that are already in CD-ROM
seem happy to stick with ordinary CD-ROM.
We've been interested in looking at supporting CDTV. Unfortunately, Commodre
CDTV division seems to have a similar attitude to Atari's developer support.
We can either purchase (through barter) a full CDTV development system complete
with Amiga, or we get nothing. All we want is a specification at this point,
and we can't get it.
I crossposting this article to alt.cd-rom and directing Follow-Ups there, since
my posting has very little to do with Atari (or any particular computer).
--
Matthew Seitz
seitz@netcom.com
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jul 91 15:26:30 GMT
From: uupsi!mpoint!ritz@nyu.arpa (Chris Mauritz)
Subject: atari amiga inc.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul11.111620.4736@crash.cts.com> chuckie@pro-odyssey.cts.com
(Chuck Schul) writes:
>apple and ibm,soon atari and commodore will see eye to eye,cdtv a step
>forward what a concept!@
What would Commodore gain from this? In all seriousness, I think getting
involved with Atari in the same manner as IBM-Apple wouldn't gain them
anything except increased debt. Commodore seems to be getting on its
feet, both financially and technology-wise, all by itself. In short,
I think the vast majority of the benefits for such a union would go
in one direction Commodore >>> Atari so Commodore would have no incentive
to seek such a union.
Cheers,
Chris
--
------------------------------------+---------------------------------------
Chris Mauritz |People are strange
ritz@msb.com |when you're a stranger.
Copyright (C) 1991 |The Doors-
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 12:32:48 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!pcsbst!dude!me@uunet.uu.net (Michael Elbel)
Subject: comp.sys.ibm.pc
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In <1991Jul15.144652.9009@convex.com> rosenkra@convex.com (William Rosenkranz)
writes:
>pbm is too big to send. get it on your own from a.a. it is not a single
>program, more like a library of general purpose utilities (lots of them)
>to manipulate images of various formats. as far as i know there is no
>support for TIFF, however, which is somewhat suprising.
Isn't there, then someone must have left it out of the atari port.
I definitely have a 'tifftopgm' in my sources of pbmplus.
Michael
--
Michael Elbel | Wollen haetten wir schon moegen
PCS GmbH, Muenchen, Germany | aber duerfen haben wir uns nicht getraut.
me@dude.pcs.com | - Karl Valentin
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 07:52:45 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!robin@uunet.uu.net (R C Smith)
Subject: comp.sys.ibm.pc
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <50966@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> messina@king.ico.olivetti.com (Gianni
Messina) writes:
>I need to convert an Atari ST graphics file (IMG or PI3 format) to a
>PC IBM Windows 3 (TIF, BMP or GIF format).
>
>Is there someone that have a PD available program for ATARI ST or
>IBM PC that can send me?
The portable bitmap plus (PBMplus) can convert IMG and PI3 to TIF or
GIF, I think this program has been ported to both ST and IBM PC..
Cheers
Robin
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jul 91 15:01:09 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!warwick!nott-cs!lut.ac.uk!elmar@uunet.uu.net (Mohammad A. Rahin)
Subject: Corrupted GPLOT.ARC file ..
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
It seems that the file gplot.arc recently sent to atari.archive is corrupted.
I've tried to unarchive this under UNIX as well as under ST. In both cases
the attempt failed with CRC error check. My file transfer is quite ok and I've
been doing this for some time. Would the original sender please send the file
once again to atari.archive.
Thanks in advance.
- Rahin
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 12:54:07 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!sbsvax!sbuvax!univwa@uunet.uu.net (Bernhard Stumpf)
Subject: Corrupted GPLOT.ARC file ..
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul14.150109.11886@lut.ac.uk>, M.A.Rahin@lut.ac.uk (Mohammad A.
Rahin) writes:
>
> It seems that the file gplot.arc recently sent to atari.archive is corrupted.
> I've tried to unarchive this under UNIX as well as under ST. In both cases
> the attempt failed with CRC error check. My file transfer is quite ok and I've
> been doing this for some time. Would the original sender please send the file
> once again to atari.archive.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> - Rahin
Rahin is right, I was also disappointed making the same experience.
- Bernhard
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dipl. Ing. Bernhard Stumpf phone : ++49-681-302-4143
University of the Saarland e-mail: bestu@sbuvax.rz.uni-sb.de
Geb.5 - Zi.218
Im Stadtwald |||
D-6600 Saarbruecken |||
Germany / | \
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 03:37:05 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!samsung!rex!uflorida!mailer.cc.fsu.edu!
nu!boyd@arizona.edu (Mickey Boyd)
Subject: Diamond Back II latest version
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Is 2.01 the latest version of Diamond Back II?
--
---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear
FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down
Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ."
email: boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu |
---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 10:29:47 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!ira.uka.de!ira.uka.de@uunet.uu.net
Subject: gcc / g++ for the ST?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
For a friend of mine I'm looking for the GNU C or GNU C++ compiler.
Does anyone know if it's ported and how to get it INCLUDING DOCUMENTATION?
please MAIL me, because I'm not reading this group!
thanx, angelo
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 07:35:20 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!ljdic
key@arizona.edu (L. J. Dickey)
Subject: NROFF
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul14.224236.11159@netcom.COM> seitz@netcom.COM
(Matthew Seitz) writes:
>Is there a utility available to print out nroff files?
The archive: atari.archive.umich.edu has nroff.
It is available by "ftp" or by mail.
--
Prof L.J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, U of Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1
internet: ljdickey@watmath.UWaterloo.ca BITNET/EARN: ljdickey@watdcs
obsolescent?: ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu
UUCP: ljdickey@watmath.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!ljdickey
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 04:32:09 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!samsung!noose.ecn.purdue.edu!cb.ecn.pur
due.edu!whitehe@arizona.edu (Drew D Whitehead)
Subject: Portfolio in Terminator 2?
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I heard that at least the upper mgmt had no knowledge of the Portfolio in
Terminator 2.
Astalavista...
Drew
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 14:58:13 GMT
From: richsun!chuck@uunet.uu.net (Chuck Menard)
Subject: Problems with FATSPEED.
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <GJH.91Jul10103404@ghiggins.hpl.hp.com> gjh@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Graham
Higgins) writes:
>
>I have been asked by M.Bouron@uk.cray.com (Marc Bouron) to post this for him.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>I am having a few problems now that I've downloaded FATSPEED. I cannot write
>to any HD partitions ("disk full"!!) and `show information' eventually crashes
>with four bombs (illegal instruction). Delete and rename work fine :-|
>
>I have NeoDesk 2.06 running over TOS 1.0 -- does anyone know any problem with
>such a configuration? I have stripped out my AUTO folder, so I am just running
>ICDBOOT.SYS, FATSPEED.PRG, and STARTGEM.PRG -- this had no effect...
>
I was wondering if you or someone else had posted this question already. So,
since
there was no answer yet, I'll try: I have NeoDesk 3.? with TOS 1.0 and many
other programs in my AUTO folder along with half a dozen accessories starting up
at boot time. Initially, I couldn't get FATSPEED running (I think that was with
my old version of NeoDesk 2.?). Just recently I read a post, from this net I
believe, that mentioned to put FATSPEED first, even before PINHEAD. Well, now
everything is working fine and FATSPEED helps out a lot, especially since my
hard drive (Supra 30M) is near full. Maybe your HD has problems(?). Possibly,
someone else can shed some light on this problem?
CUL,
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 04:28:30 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!clarkson!sun
.soe.clarkson.edu!AAron@arizona.edu
Subject: Ramdisk assisted booting
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I have a 4meg STe, and no harddrive. I didn't realize that others were
dealing with problems like setting up their ramdisks upon booting also...
My solution: a BOOT DISK to create and fill the ramdisk and
a REBOOT DISK to do minimum to restore ramdisk and control.
GEMINI booting with a 2.8 Meg ramdisk
-------------------------------------
BOOT DISK -- Used on cold boot to get into the GEMINI environment and
set up the RAMDISK file system.
Contains AUTO folder with: Resetable ramdisk program,
GEMINI stuff,
Screen saver,
GDOS equiv. (looks for fonts on A:),
etc...
Contains ACCESSORIES
Contains GEMINI: Program, Fonts, ...
(GEMINI.APP is set from the
desktop as an AUTO GEM program)
Contains MUPFEL.MUP: Sets environment, runs A:LOCAL.MUP
(NOTE: Calls LOCAL.MUP on FLOPPY)
Contains A:LOCAL.MUP: Creates Ramdisk file system,
Copies files to ramdisk
(Including all of GEMINI),
Uncompresses files to ramdisk
(To save LOTS of space on floppy)
REBOOT DISK -- Warm boots quickly since ramdisk is already set up
with GEMINI and any other applications. Still has ACCs
and \AUTO. Used if STe ever crashes.
Contains SAME FILES AS BOOT DISK with the following diffs:
GDOS looks for fonts on RESET PROOF RAMDISK,
GEMINI files are not on floppy,
GEMINI.APP in the RAMDISK is set from the desktop as AUTO GEM,
A:LOCAL.MUP contains no file system creation commands
MiNT/MGR booting with a 2 Meg ramdisk
-------------------------------------
BOOT DISK and REBOOT DISK follow the same concept of GEMINI disks.
My MiNT boot disk creates a Ramdisk file system, sets up environment,
unarchives \BIN (which contains BASH among other things) and \MGR,
then runs mgr...
-------------------------------------
Leaving me in a system where I can pop the floppy and be functional without it.
(I end up with GEMINI/MGR, BIN stuff, EMACS and UNITERM/MGRTERM in ram)
AAron nAAs |\ \ Ptht...
'O.o /
Disclaimer: Beware of my ego =( )()=
AAron@sun.soe.clarkson.edu U
P.S. Doesn't the most recent SI Ramdisk DA allow you to create ramdisks,
copy files to them on boot, and has print spooler stuff? Plus there
are a few programs that you can put in the autofolder and read a
data file for info on what to copy where.
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 14:18:37 GMT
From: sae!malay@uunet.uu.net (Bob Malay)
Subject: Reset-Proof Ramdisk
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
I'm looking for (either PD or commercial) a reset-proof ramdisk that will
run on a 4Meg 1040Ste without bombs. I tried the eternal2 from a.a and I
get two bombs. I then tried eternal from ST-Format and it gave two bombs.
I have a commercial piece of software that gives me bus errors when it is
run on the 4MB STe - if I run it on a 1MB STe or a 1MB STf it works fine.
I've run all kinds of memory-intensive stuff without problems so I'm
assuming there's a bug in the commercial piece of software. Is there another
way I can "fool" this program into believing I only have 1MB (short of
yanking the SIMMS). I thought that if I would set up a 3MB reset-proof ramdisk
and warm boot the buggy software that it might just work????
Bob Malay
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 07:36:34 GMT
From: mcsun!ukc!edcastle!hwcs!neil@uunet.uu.net (Neil Forsyth)
Subject: Supra vs. ICD controllers
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul15.040751.4163@mailer.cc.fsu.edu> boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu writes:
> ... ICD software is far better than Supra's. ...
I beleive they were both, at least initially, written by the same person,
namely a Mr. W. Brown. Just another net curio. :-)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own !
! !
! Neil Forsyth JANET: neil@uk.ac.hw.cs !
! Dept. of Computer Science ARPA: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk !
! Heriot-Watt University UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil !
! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK "That was never 5 minutes!" !
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 04:38:38 GMT
From:
noao!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!spool.mu.e
du!agate!stanford.edu!leland.Stanford.EDU!jerzy@arizona.edu (J. Czaplicki)
Subject: Wanted - info on Mega ST 8/16 MHz accelerators
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
Hello,
I'm considering buying an accelerator for my Mega ST2, but first I'd
like to ask more experienced users, which of the accelerators currently
available (from Gadgets by Small, Fast Technologies, ICD Inc.; are there
any more?) is the best ? In particular I'd like to know the following:
- how easy it is to install a given accelerator;
- what is the effective gain in speed (for computations,
graphics, etc);
- limitations (what programs won't work);
- is it really worth the price.
Besides, are T20 trustworthy ? What warranty comes with them ?
I'd really appreciate comments on the above.
Thanks in advance,
--
Jerzy
| When you ask a question you seem to be |
| Email: | silly for a while. But if you don't, you |
| jerzy@leland.stanford.edu | remain silly for all your lifetime. |
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 91 14:21:02 GMT
From:
noao!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!cs.utexas.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!lj
dickey@arizona.edu (L. J. Dickey)
Subject: weather fax (wefax) satellite images on atari
To: Info-Atari16@naucse.cse.nau.edu
In article <1991Jul12.223022.14357@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
banko@lisboa.ks.uiuc.edu (Brad Banko) writes:
>several years ago, there was a circuit and program for 8-bit atari computers
>(i apologize for posting this to .st, but i'll bet many of you have upgraded
>to the st from 8-bit machines.) which could capture weather fax radio
>signals and display the images on an 8-bit atari.
>
>are there any wefax enthusiasts out there who might be using such a system
>on st machines or apple macintosh computers?
A couple of years ago Mike Gore ( magore@watserv1.UWaterloo.ca ) used
his Atari ST to process weather satelite images. He used two methods...
One was direct processing during reception from his inexpensive short
wave receiver and the other was to process tape recorded audio from the
same. He did have a simple AD circuit that transformed the sounds from
the radio to something that could be processed by software on the ST.
He printed his images on his dot matrix printer.
--
Prof L.J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, U of Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1
internet: ljdickey@watmath.UWaterloo.ca BITNET/EARN: ljdickey@watdcs
obsolescent?: ljdickey@watmath.waterloo.edu
UUCP: ljdickey@watmath.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!ljdickey
------------------------------
End of Info-Atari16 Digest
******************************
